Illinois House passes marijuana decriminalization bill

By Hilary Gowins

05/18/2016

The Illinois House has voted to impose civil fines rather than criminal penalties for low-level marijuana possession.

TAGS: criminal justice reform, decriminalization, marijuana

Illinois will use facial-recognition technology to create new driver’s licenses, raising privacy concerns

By Amy Korte

05/18/2016

Illinois’ new program to create driver’s licenses and state ID cards with enhanced security features has generated concerns over the possibility of identity theft and government tracking of private citizens.

TAGS: drivers license

Illinois House passes local-government consolidation bill

By Hilary Gowins

04/19/2016

DuPage County is projected to save millions of dollars through government-consolidation authority it has enjoyed for years. Now, the Illinois House of Representatives has voted in favor of a bill that would expand these capabilities to all counties statewide.

TAGS: consolidation, local government

Illinois bill allows courts to ban social media and demand access to accounts for juveniles charged with crimes

By Austin Berg

04/07/2016

Senate Bill 2871 would give courts in Illinois the ability to ban juveniles’ access to social media and require them to turn over passwords to law-enforcement officials.

Illinois corruption watch: March 2016

04/04/2016

Several instances of corruption and mismanagement of public property and trust came to light in March and included new developments in cases involving Chicago Public Schools’ former CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett and former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

TAGS: corruption

Illinois corruption watch: February 2016

03/07/2016

Illinoisans’ confidence in their state government is the lowest of residents of any state in the nation, and corruption stories from February 2016 don’t help.

Illinois gets $1.2M windfall in late fees after failing to send vehicle-registration reminders

By Amy Korte

02/26/2016

Budget gridlock in Springfield caused the Illinois secretary of state’s office to suspend mailing vehicle-registration-renewal reminders in October 2015.

TAGS: vehicle registration

Illinois politician proposes bill to criminalize filming fights

By Bryant Jackson-Green, Tim Lazar

02/17/2016

A proposal to criminalize recording and posting fights would violate the First Amendment rights of Illinois residents

TAGS: criminal justice reform, First Amendment

Illinois Democrats revive union arbitration legislation that would cut Rauner out of contract negotiations

By Hilary Gowins

02/12/2016

Through House Bill 580, Democrats in the General Assembly take a second run at removing Gov. Bruce Rauner from contract negotiations with AFSCME.

Illinois corruption watch: January 2016

02/12/2016

In January several instances of corruption, influence peddling and mismanagement across Illinois were brought to light, from the College of DuPage’s expense-account mismanagement, to Chicago’s red-light-camera bribery case.

Chicago Tribune

Illinois House passes marijuana decriminalization bill

Illinois will use facial-recognition technology to create new driver’s licenses, raising privacy concerns

Illinois House passes local-government consolidation bill

Illinois bill allows courts to ban social media and demand access to accounts for juveniles charged with crimes

Illinois corruption watch: March 2016

Illinois corruption watch: February 2016

Illinois gets $1.2M windfall in late fees after failing to send vehicle-registration reminders

Illinois politician proposes bill to criminalize filming fights

Illinois Democrats revive union arbitration legislation that would cut Rauner out of contract negotiations

Illinois corruption watch: January 2016

FAQ: How the federal scholarship program would help Illinois students

Report Archive

Diana Graham

Process for unionizing non-state workers raises red flags

CBS Chicago: Illinois’ highest-paid superintendent receives $400K per year to oversee 1,200 students