Why did SB 2412 need to pass on May 2, in the middle of the election cycle, weeks after the primary election but still well ahead of the November general election? Many candidates had already started the complicated process of petition gathering and paperwork under the old rules. What justifies changing those rules in the middle of the game?

See who your representative backed in a historic fight for the Illinois House speakership.

The lawmaker who carried to the governor’s desk an infrastructure plan that doubled the state’s gas tax used his influence as a powerful state lawmaker to land his son a government job, a lawsuit alleges.

Federal agents raided the offices of three suburban villages, including one governed by a mayor who doubles as a Cook County commissioner. All three are in the district of state Sen. Martin Sandoval, also the subject of a federal raid.

A fourth political ally of Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan has become the latest target of an ongoing federal investigation.