Government reform advocates in Illinois are urging state lawmakers to impose stricter rules on lobbying activity at the Statehouse, including a ban on lawmakers themselves working as lobbyists with other levels of government.

Their testimony before a special legislative committee Wednesday in Chicago came against the backdrop of a sprawling federal investigation that has focused in part on potentially corrupt lobbying practices.

Mike Madigan may be under more legal pressure than at any time in his career, with federal agents having talked to any number of associates and colleagues about what he’s up to. But they don’t call the Illinois House speaker “powerful” for nothing—pesky federales notwithstanding.

Which leads to a story about how, thanks to a hidden earmark within an earmark, Madigan’s home ward, the 13th on the Southwest Side, is receiving a special $10 million appropriation for street resurfacing, new streetlights and other improvements—a gift far larger than most and maybe all of the city’s other 49 wards are receiving.

Embattled Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s handpicked alderman was accused Thursday of engaging in “prohibited political activity” by putting his name and Madigan’s on a graffiti blaster bought in 2013 with taxpayer money.

Inspector General Joe Ferguson’s quarterly report does not identify Ald. Marty Quinn (13^th) as the alderman who used city equipment to promote himself and his political patron and used a photo of the equipment in a political ad featuring himself and his state representative.

A state lawmaker has filed a bill to end automatic pay hikes for state legislators.

Every year, lawmakers must vote to freeze their own pay, or it goes up according to the statute. In 2019, lawmakers left that language out of the budget and got raises of about $1,600 a year.

Senators plan to return to Springfield on Sunday to pick the chamber’s next leader. Whoever is picked will only be allowed to serve in that capacity for a decade.

After the Senate adjourned on the final day of the fall legislative session, Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, announced his retirement. Senators will pick his successor over the weekend.

The county’s 3% cannabis retailers tax passed the full Cook County Board of Commissioners Thursday, meaning taxes on some recreational pot products sold in Chicago could exceed 41% by July.

The tax would be imposed on “all persons engaged in the business of selling cannabis.”

Gov. J.B. Pritzker plans to make criminal justice reform a major focus in the years ahead.

The governor recently took part in a fireside chat about his administration’s Justice, Equity and Opportunity Initiative. Afterward, he laid out some of the things he wants to tackle over the next three years.

Prosecutors have charged a suburban Chicago police commander with aggravated battery for allegedly dragging a 66-year-old grandmother into a police station and slamming her face into a wall.

Cook County prosecutors also charged Dixmoor Commander Ronald Burge Jr. with official misconduct Wednesday in connection with the October altercation with Carla Bourgouis.

When the 2019 Grundy County property tax assessments were issued on Dec. 4, some residents were shocked to see assessment increases of 20% to as high as 200% or more over 2018.

Grundy County Supervisor of Assessments Tom Hougas said this week that 1,007 people appealed their property assessments by the Jan. 3 deadline.

The Cook County Board Thursday approved a $165,000 settlement for a woman who said she fired after she objected to being overruled in her recommendation for the selection of a watchdog charged with helping to keep politics out of hiring in the office of then Recorder of Deeds Karen Yarbrough.

Jeannette Soto was the director of human resources in the recorder’s office, and in late March of 2017 she was tasked with helping to find a new director of compliance for that office, according to the suit, which was filed in 2018.

The retired appellate judge who successfully petitioned for a special prosecutor to take over the Jussie Smollett investigation is now seeking to bar Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx from using taxpayer dollars to pay for her own outside counsel.

Sheila O’Brien on Thursday filed a petition for a writ of mandamus, asking Cook County Judge Michael Toomin to order Foxx to “cease and desist” using public funds to cover the costs of the attorney she hired to represent her in the ongoing probe into Smollett’s alleged hoax attack.