Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Chicago Tribune: Illinois faces major challenges amid COVID fallout as Speaker Madigan struggles to hold on to power
One of the best examples of Michael Madigan’s deft use of power quickly unfolded more than 30 years ago. In just six hours, the Illinois House speaker orchestrated the introduction and approval of an income tax hike, using only Democratic votes.
Then-Gov. Jim Thompson was caught by surprise. Madigan had rebuffed the Republican chief executive on the tax hike for two years, and suddenly, it was on his desk to sign. Said Thompson of Madigan’s maneuver: “It is bold. It’s audacious. And it might even be diabolical.”
State Journal-Register: Three women set for historic challenge to Madigan
On Wednesday three Democrat state representatives will mount a historic challenge to Illinois Speaker of the House Michael Madigan for his office and to be the first female speaker of the Illinois House.
State Reps. Stephanie Kifowit, D-Oswego; Kathleen Willis, D-Addison; and Ann Williams, D-Chicago, have announced challenges to Madigan after he was implicated in July in a federal bribery probe involving Commonwealth Edison.
The Center Square: Despite historic unemployment claims, fraud and other issues, no oversight hearings expected
A committee that oversees the state’s unemployment agency is refraining from providing public oversight while the state’s Attorney General and the FBI investigate fraud in the system.
Saturday was the first meeting of the committee that oversees the Illinois Department of Employment Security since the COVID-19 pandemic began last year, and the government’s restrictions on the economy bringing historic levels of unemployment claims. There’s also been large backlogs, fraud and other issues, but no public oversight.
Rockford Register Star: Nowlan: Remap too important to leave to Madigan
The dance of democracy continues in 2021 with the once-a-decade ritual of drawing new state legislative and congressional district lines in Illinois and across the nation. In two-thirds of the states, including Illinois, the legislators themselves draw the lines. This means the party in power draws maps that favor incumbents and enhances its partisan control.
This is done rather simply by “cracking” (breaking apart) pockets of opposition party strength or, conversely, by “packing” (concentrating) a party’s voters so as to limit the numbers of districts the opposition can win.
State Journal-Register: Proposed criminal-justice reforms debated during General Assembly's 'lame-duck' session
Supporters of a far-reaching bill that would eliminate cash bail in Illinois and make it easier to fire and sue police officers began to make their case in the Illinois General Assembly in committee testimony Saturday.
Opponents said many of the proposed reforms would hamstring law enforcement, make it harder to recruit people to become police officers and carry and an unknown price tag. They called for the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus to seek consensus rather than use Democrats’ super-majorities in the Senate and House to muscle the provisions through the legislature in the next few days.
Chicago Tribune: New Cook County Circuit Court clerk wants to leave her predecessor’s era behind, focus on updating the nation’s second largest court system
When newly elected Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Iris Martinez waded through the mounds of boxes in her office, she found case files dating back to the John Wayne Gacy trial four decades ago, she said.
“I said this is a fire hazard,” Martinez told the Tribune in a recent interview. “Everything should be at the warehouse. … I think it’s just laziness. I think people just saw it there, they just walked past it. It became a routine.”
Shaw Media: Illinois higher education reform bill unveiled
A bill aimed at making college education and teacher preparation programs more accessible and affordable for people of color began working its way through the General Assembly on Saturday with the formal introduction of language that lawmakers have been negotiating for months.
The action came on the second day of the General Assembly’s lame duck session, which is focused heavily on a racial and social justice agenda developed over the summer and fall by the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus.