State

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — The Illinois House could vote on a plan this week to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour, but inflation will largely negate the impact by the time the pay floor reaches that level in 2025. House approval…

SPRINGFIELD -- Gov. J.B. Pritzker released a report Friday that blames predecessor Bruce Rauner for the state's sorry financial condition and promises more state spending on schools, infrastructure and higher education. Two reports…

SPRINGFIELD -- The Illinois Senate approved a bill that would raise the state's minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025, putting Gov. J.B. Pritzker a step closer to delivering on a key campaign promise over the objections of business groups…

CHICAGO -- Illinois’ six Catholic bishops are asking lawmakers not to legalize recreational marijuana for adult use, saying the consequences would outweigh any benefits, including those aimed changing the criminal justice system. As the…

SPRINGFIELD -- Illinois’ senior U.S. Senator unveiled new legislation to lower drug prices during a visit to Springfield and said the effort could get support from the White House. U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin said the pharmaceutical industry…

CHICAGO -- Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker was among a host of Democrats who called on Ralph Northam to resign as governor of Virginia Saturday after a racially sensitive photo from Northam's medical school yearbook surfaced. "I agree…

CHICAGO (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday approved a far-reaching plan for court-supervised reforms of the beleaguered Chicago Police Department, two years after a U.S. Justice Department report found a long history of racial bias and…

CHICAGO (AP) — Detectives reviewed surveillance footage of "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett walking to his downtown Chicago apartment, but so far none of the video shows him being attacked by two masked men, although investigators have…

SPRINGFIELD -- A pilot program that allows pain patients to use medical marijuana as an alternative to opioid painkillers is underway in Illinois with lawmakers hoping it will help reduce the number of fatal overdoses in the state. The…

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker says state employees will be placed on the correct step of the state pay plan on April 1. The reinstatement of long-postponed, experience-based salary increases is expected to affect…

SPRINGFIELD -- Gov. J.B. Pritzker said he wants to "see the investigation play out" after news that a federal investigation into the Chicago City Council included a secretly recorded conversation between House Speaker Michael Madigan and a…

SPRINGFIELD - A freshman Illinois lawmaker wants to allow public schools to publicly display the motto “In God We Trust,” something church-state separation advocates say alienates nonreligious students. One of the first bills Lewisville…

SPRINGFIELD - The Illinois Legislature starts in earnest Tuesday and with Democratic supermajorities in both chambers and a Democrat in the executive office, they’ll have to shore up a budget while moving forward with progressive agenda…

ISPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Illinois is offering $100 million in state funds to finance low-interest or interest-free loans to federal workers going without pay during the record government shutdown, officials said Wednesday. Democratic…

SPRINGFIELD -- The Illinois State Board of Education is asking for $19.3 billion next year to adequately fund public schools, an amount of money equal to more than half the entire existing state budget. If lawmakers granted the board…