Former Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan and Chicago Ald. Ed Burke are among the politicians curbed by Chicago’s current U.S. Attorney. A bipartisan group is trying to keep him in place to continue public corruption prosecutions.
The House Rules allowed Madigan to accumulate unprecedented power in the Illinois speaker’s office and helped enable a culture of corruption in Springfield. With Madigan out, reformers have a shot at changing the House Rules.
If Illinois House members change their rules, they can give Illinoisans more say in how their state government works.
Lame duck lawmakers and the outgoing Illinois House speaker are trying to hand trial lawyers some extra cash. Gov. J.B. Pritzker is being urged to veto the bill.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she wants Gov. J.B. Pritzker to give city residents more freedom to drink and dine out. Two other Illinois regions were just granted more liberty to do so.
Lame duck session was busy even when House Democrats weren’t focused on replacing Mike Madigan as speaker. Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s small business tax hike died as 23 bills were passed, including one making Chicago’s pension woes worse.
Illinoisans watched the politically impossible become the politically inevitable.
With Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan reportedly short of the 60 votes needed to hold on to the speakership, Illinois House members will have to line up behind a new candidate before they can get down to business.
Illinois averaged over one federal public corruption conviction a week during the Madigan era. That is the most convictions per capita among the top 10 most populous states between 1983 and 2018.
See who your representative backed in a historic fight for the Illinois House speakership.
The most powerful speaker in American history may finally be stepping aside amid a wide-ranging federal corruption probe.
Illinois legislative maps are drawn by state lawmakers who pick their voters, instead of the other way around. Without independent mapmaking, nothing will be changed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s threat to veto a partisan map.
This page will be updated daily to reflect developments related to the spread of COVID-19 in Illinois.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker continues to run the state’s COVID-19 response by executive mandate, with state lawmakers still silent 10 months into the pandemic.