State News

The state of Illinois has agreed to settle a lawsuit over its treatment of prisoners who are deaf or hard-of-hearing.

A central Illinois freight company and a road salt producer face state allegations of contaminating areas near the Illinois River with toxic chemicals.

The family of a motorcyclist who died after he hit a pothole and was thrown to the ground while riding through Chicago will receive $4 million from the city. 

Governor Bruce Rauner has vetoed legislation intended to prevent wrongful convictions.

About half of Illinois’ counties are on poverty watch or warning lists released Monday by an anti-poverty organization, the Heartland Alliance.

The number of counties with those poor ratings increased from 30 last year to 52 this year. 

Planned Parenthood of Illinois is speaking out against proposed changes to the only federal program that provides funding for birth control. Those changes include a so-called "gag rule" that could affect thousands of Illinois residents.

A proposal by reform advocates would cut the number of women locked up in Illinois prisons by as much as half.  

President Donald Trump will be visiting an Illinois steel mill that is boosting production as he faces opposition to his imposition of tariffs in international trade disputes.

Six students from Chicago and its suburbs are among more than two dozen whose anti-violence activism has earned them Giffords Courage Fellowships to aid them in organizing anti-violence prevention.

State officials have opened an underpass in Galesburg to ease traffic and improve safety. 

Gov. Bruce Rauner has named his former general counsel to serve on the Illinois Racing Board.

Decriminalizing marijuana doesn’t necessarily lead to an increase in adolescent use, according to research from Washington University.

Farm Bill negotiations have begun between the U.S. House and Senate.

The Farm Bill is a multi-year law that governs food programs and agricultural policy. It’s renewed roughly every five years. The last Farm Bill was drafted in 2014.

The House and Senate will have to agree on a final version before the current bill expires at the end of September.

Illinois is home to more than 70,000 farms, which will be affected by this bill in some way.

Illinois politicians react to President Trump's varied statements on Russian interference in the 2016 elections. Gov. Rauner signs a pair of gun-control bills while promising to veto another. And the latest campaign finance numbers show the candidates for governor continuing to burn cash at an unprecedented rate. 

A conservative political group is suing to overturn the Illinois campaign law restricting so-called independent expenditure committees.

This is part of our election-year series, Money Machines, looking at campaign spending in the 2018 election. The first article can be found here.

McLean County Sheriff Jon Sandage said Thursday he’s asked the U.S. Marshals to review courthouse security after a defendant snuck a knife into the building and stabbed himself after being convicted of a sex crime. 

Illinois prison officials are being accused of letting a transgender inmate be harassed and assaulted.

CHICAGO - A Chicago judge has ordered the release from jail of a woman dubbed a "serial stowaway" for repeatedly trying to sneak onto commercial jets without a ticket.

PROSPECT HEIGHTS, Ill. - Fire has left homeless hundreds of residents of a suburban Chicago condominium complex.

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - Authorities say a central Illinois man stabbed himself in a courtroom shortly after a jury found him guilty in a sexual assault case.

CHICAGO (AP) - Chance the Rapper says he has purchased the former news website Chicagoist, making the announcement in a new song.

A Chicago police officer charged with murder in the fatal shooting of black 17-year-old Laquan McDonald will stand trial Sept. 5.

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner on Tuesday vetoed legislation that would have gotten the state out of the controversial Crosscheck voter identification program.

Gov. Bruce Rauner says he was "deeply troubled" by President Donald Trump's seeming support for Russia and President Vladimir Putin in public comments. 

President Donald Trump has been taking heat from both sides of the aisle following his news conference in Helsinki on Monday in which he sided with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Champaign Police Sgt. Geoff Coon said he’s waiting on roughly $50,000 in federal grant money that’s due to the central Illinois police department. Another agency that uses the funding to pay for programs that focus on recidivism and re-entry and community-based violence intervention programs in the Rockford area also hasn’t received their funding this year.

Gov. Bruce Rauner has signed into law measures aimed at replacing troublesome housing units at the Quincy veterans' home. 

The University of Illinois is paying an alumnus $7,500 to stop selling T-shirts that say "Make Illinois Great Again" with a drawing of the school's former mascot Chief Illiniwek.