While 47 states celebrate freedom with fireworks blazing across the sky, Illinois clings to a 1942 ban that limits autonomy and ignores safety data. Illinois residents cross state lines to partake in fireworks fun, while the state loses revenue and credibility.
Red-light cameras on Chicago’s South Side issued more than triple the number of tickets per intersection as on the North Side between June 2024 and May 2025. Fines citywide dropped over $12 million from the previous 12 months.
Climate change education, gender inclusiveness, birth certificates, prostitution privacy, court translators and insulin costs all received attention from the Illinois General Assembly. Laws involving them take effect July 1. Plus, the state gasoline tax goes up.
For most bills filed in Springfield, taxpayers will have to guess at how much more will be demanded of them. Illinois General Assembly members only worried about costs 10 times for 3,859 of their bright ideas about how to improve the state.
Illinois General Assembly members raced the clock to pass legislation. Of the 416 bills sent to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s desk this session, 155 were passed in the final week and 96 of those were on the last day.
6,745 bills were filed in the Illinois General Assembly this session, but only a small fraction passed both houses. Of those, 86% were introduced by Democrats. That big disparity is rooted in Democrats drawing legislative districts that shrink opposition.
Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan will face 7.5 years in prison for a bribery scheme involving the state’s largest utility company. When it comes to public corruption, he’s Illinois’ convict of the week.
Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison but his allies now run the Illinois House and Illinois Democratic Party. The rules he created to run his machine still work for new operators.
Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s sentencing to 7.5 years for bribery, conspiracy and wire fraud ends his active role in Illinois politics. But his legacy of gerrymandering will continue to shape Illinois politics long after he’s behind bars.
Think former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s influence ended when he resigned or was convicted of bribery? Maybe not. Fifty-seven Illinois General Assembly members who received funds from Madigan’s political committees are still in office.
Illinois will have spent over $2.5 billion on migrant care by the end of 2025. Costs have shattered projections and left taxpayers poorer.
As Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker positions himself as the foil to President Donald Trump, a look at his record as governor is telling. What it is telling is not good.
Illinois is the most inefficient state in the Midwest and the 14th-most inefficient in the country. That’s driven in part by excessive units of local government – more than in any other state. High property taxes are one result.
Illinois townships are sounding the alarm on the state’s biggest issues. Eight townships voted in support of state lawmakers fixing the state’s pensions crisis, gerrymandering and unfunded mandates.