Ill. Senate gun opponents decry 'moral' standard

SPRINGFIELD | An Illinois Senate panel approved a measure Thursday allowing the carrying of concealed weapons, but the committee's move followed sharp questioning from Republicans concerning whether packing a gun in Chicago should require special permission and how authorities would determin…

Cities could restrict places for guns

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. | An Illinois senator seeking to keep some restrictions on concealed guns in place after a federal judge found the state's ban unconstitutional said Tuesday that his compromise plan would allow large cities to customize their lists of places that are off limits to otherwise…

Illinois Senate committee OKs medical marijuana

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. | An Illinois Senate committee has approved a proposal that would allow the use of marijuana for medical purposes.

Illinois House OKs Madigan pension-reform plan

SPRINGFIELD | The Illinois House approved a plan Thursday that would tackle the $97 billion shortfall in the state's retirement system by increasing employee contributions and decreasing benefits, the first victory for across-the-board pension reform in four years of debate.

Audit: Racing industry waiting for millions

SPRINGFIELD | Illinois lawmakers never changed state law to allow the transfer of tens of millions of dollars due to the state's horse racing industry, so the money is sitting unused in a Gaming Board account, an audit released Thursday found.

Dwight prison to close by month's end

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. | The maximum-security women's prison in Dwight will close by month's end in a complex shift of inmates that involves the conversion of a men's prison to a penitentiary for women and the transfer of hundreds of overflow inmates to other lockups around the state, according t…

Illinois House GOP OK with new cost-shift on pensions

SPRINGFIELD | The top Illinois House Republican and the Democrats' pension point person proposed yet another solution Wednesday to the state's public retirement system debacle, one that signals the GOP's first concession toward shifting teachers' pension costs to local school districts.

Illinois GOP blasts process for House gun votes

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. | The Illinois House on Tuesday completed seven hours of debate on the contentious issue of public gun possession by adopting a comprehensive plan long pushed by advocates.

House to consider road funds, child-welfare money

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. | The Illinois House is poised to consider more money for state programs in a plan that takes advantage of new road building funds and shifts money saved from prison closures to child-welfare services, sparing up to 1,900 jobs.

Backers seek quick approval for Ill. road projects

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. | Legislators have $675 million in unanticipated money available to spend on Illinois transit projects but must act quickly if they want to see road-graders moving this spring, supporters said Thursday.

Illinois Dems: Limit guns in state, Chicago

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. | Illinois Democrats said Wednesday they won't wait for Congress to act on gun-control legislation and planned to press ahead with a statewide ban on assault weapons and tighter firearms restrictions in Chicago in the wake of the Connecticut school massacre.

Illinois' 2013 laws to cover fins, funds, Facebook

SPRINGFIELD | Drivers will pay more to renew their Illinois license plates next year in order to help fund repairs to state parks, strip clubs will have to contribute to rape crisis programs and employers will no longer be allowed to ask job applicants for their social media passwords.

Illinois lawmakers hope to OK gay marriage in January

SPRINGFIELD | Two Illinois lawmakers said Thursday they will seek to legalize gay marriage when the General Assembly reconvenes early next year — a push that comes just 18 months after the state started allowing civil unions for same-sex couples.

House holds purse in battle over prison money

SPRINGFIELD | Gov. Pat Quinn vowed Wednesday to continue fighting to steer state money from prisons to child protection, after being rebuffed by the Senate on his plan to shutter state facilities.

Dem majorities remake Illinois legislative landscape

CHICAGO | A huge election night gave Illinois Democrats unprecedented power at the state Capitol, allowing them to set budgets, borrow money and override vetoes by the governor without any input from Republicans.

Report to present magnitude of Ill. fiscal woes

SPRINGFIELD | A report due Wednesday on Illinois' fiscal crisis is heavy on definition but light on recommendations for repair, one of its authors said Tuesday.

GOP facing long odds for gains in state legislature

SPRINGFIELD | The state's unemployment rate is above 9 percent, Democrats in the Illinois Capitol have been in charge as budget and pension deficits soared, and Republicans are energized by Mitt Romney making it a close race against President Barack Obama.

Judge extends order barring Ill. prison closures

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. | Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn's plan to save money by closing seven correctional facilities was halted again Wednesday when a southern Illinois judge ordered the Democrat to negotiate terms with a union representing prison workers.

Illinois prisons mum on who gets tours

SPRINGFIELD | First, Gov. Pat Quinn rejected reporters' requests to tour Illinois prisons as he plans a major shakeup in the state's corrections system. Now his administration is refusing to reveal precisely who has been allowed to see inside state penitentiaries during his three years in office.

Illinois judge bars Quinn from closing prisons

SPRINGFIELD | Prison closures planned by Gov. Pat Quinn could "make the prisons that remain more dangerous," a southern Illinois judge declared Tuesday in prohibiting shutdowns until the administration answers state workers' concerns.

House expels Rep. Smith

SPRINGFIELD | In a gesture unseen in corruption-rich Illinois for more than a century, the state House expelled one of its members Friday for allegedly taking a bribe.

Quinn: Reporters visiting prisons a security risk

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. | Illinois prisons "aren't country clubs," Gov. Pat Quinn said Friday in rejecting the notion that news reporters should be let inside to see conditions in the crowded system for themselves.

Audit: Big problems in Ill. tuition savings plan

SPRINGFIELD | An Illinois college-tuition investment program was beset by shoddy management, including possible conflicts of interest by top officials, as it went underfunded and administrative costs tripled, according to an audit released Wednesday.

U.S. investigating IDOT payments for jobs program

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. | Federal authorities are investigating the Illinois Department of Transportation for improper spending on a 2008 summer jobs program.

Audit: Gun permit program 'overwhelms' state police

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. | State oversight of gun ownership in Illinois is "limited" in its ability to safeguard the public because of poor follow-through, inadequate collection of mental health records and tardy action on permit applications by "overwhelmed" Illinois State Police officials, an aud…

Indicted Illinois House member wins Democratic nomination

CHICAGO | An Illinois lawmaker facing a federal bribery charge won the Democratic nomination Tuesday for election to the House this fall.

Quinn math fuzzy on prisons, parole

Feds probe Ill. job-training program

SPRINGFIELD | Federal authorities are investigating another Illinois state grant initiative, this one a job-training program run by an administrator who was fired for mismanagement but has returned to work with back pay and a raise, The Associated Press has learned.

Schools fear Quinn idea to shift pension costs

SPRINGFIELD | Making local school districts pick up the employers' portion of teacher retirement benefits could save more than $1.3 billion a year for Illinois' beleaguered state treasury. It also could mean financial ruin for some local school districts, school administrators say.

AP Exclusive: Illinois Lawmakers seek prison crowding fix

SPRINGFIELD | Lawmakers from both parties are seeking ways to reduce Illinois' growing prison population, and one has introduced legislation to restart a contentious program that let well-behaved prisoners out early.

Arbitrator: Teacher travel time is paid time

SPRINGFIELD | Illinois taxpayers could be on the hook for hundreds of hours that state education workers spent in planes, trains and automobiles on their way to assignments during the past two years.

Bills get paid faster in Ill. with lawmakers' help

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. | If you plan on doing business with the state of Illinois, you'd better learn to beg -- preferably to an influential politician.

Ill. lawmakers roll dice

SPRINGFIELD | The Illinois Senate narrowly approved a sprawling expansion of legalized gambling Tuesday, sending to Gov. Pat Quinn a proposal that could triple the number of wagering slots in the state and bring casinos to Chicago and the south suburbs.

Illinois income tax hike plan still up in the air

SPRINGFIELD | Illinois lawmakers continued scrambling Monday to craft a palatable income tax increase to help close a $15 billion budget hole.

House rejects medical marijuana

SPRINGFIELD | Fearing that it would lead to widespread use of marijuana and other illicit drugs, the Illinois House on Tuesday rejected legislation that would allow use of cannabis for debilitating medical problems.

Dems must overcome selves

SPRINGFIELD | Illinois Democrats have formidable opponents in their quest to retain large legislative majorities: themselves.

FACT CHECK: Dueling ads on Ill. early release

SPRINGFIELD | Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn and state Sen. Bill Brady have competing campaign commercials in the governor's race over the botched secret early release of prisoners last year which put more than 1,700 parolees on the street weeks earlier than they would have been otherwise.

School chief: Ill. will improve -- even without grant

SPRINGFIELD | Illinois was shut out on a whopping federal education grant for a second time Tuesday despite building support and adopting school reform laws after losing out on the first round of money.

Fellow felons in Blagojevich probe await fate

SPRINGFIELD | The investigation into wrongdoing by former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, known as "Operation Board Games," snagged more than a dozen convictions before the Democrat and his brother, Robert, were brought to trial. After the trial ended this week with Blagojevich's conviction on one cha…

Illinois Gov. hands out huge raises to his staff while promising spending cuts

SPRINGFIELD | Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn has handed out raises -- some of more than 20 percent -- to his staff while proclaiming a message of "shared sacrifice" and planning spending cuts of $1.4 billion because the state is awash in debt.

Judge still reviewing prison-release policy

SPRINGFIELD | The former appellate judge conducting a "top-to-bottom" review of Illinois' prison-release policies hopes to deliver a report early next month.

Emanuel defended Blagojevich, then sought grant

President Barack Obama's chief of staff, then a congressman in Illinois, apparently attempted to trade favors with embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich while he was in office, according to newly disclosed e-mails obtained by The Associated Press.

School vouchers nixed

SPRINGFIELD | An unprecedented plan to let students in foundering public schools transfer to private ones with state help failed Wednesday in the Illinois House.

School bias task force tussles with time

SPRINGFIELD | A task force assigned to study why black students are suspended and expelled from Illinois schools at much higher rates than whites is in danger of missing the deadline to hand in its assignment.

Protesters to lawmakers: 'Show some guts!'

SPRINGFIELD | Shouting "Raise our taxes" and "Show some guts," thousands of people rallied at the state Capitol on Wednesday to protest lawmakers' inaction on a tax hike to fix a $13 billion deficit.

State plans $12.8 billion in road construction

SPRINGFIELD | Illinois will have $5 billion of road construction under way in the next fiscal year, officials said Thursday in presenting the state's long-term highway improvement plan.

Lawmakers may let schools adopt 4-day week

SPRINGFIELD | The rural Jamaica School District in eastern Illinois spent $380,000 on transportation two years ago -- 9 percent of its budget and more than twice the percentage the average Illinois district spent.

Lawmakers may let schools adopt 4-day week

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. | The rural Jamaica School District in southern Illinois spent $380,000 on transportation two years ago -- 9 percent of its budget and more than twice the percentage the average Illinois district spent.

Senate tightens use of red-light cameras

SPRINGFIELD | Motorists angry about getting traffic tickets for violations caught on camera would get some relief from a measure the Illinois Senate approved Thursday.

Illinois lawmakers overhaul state pensions

SPRINGFIELD | A bipartisan Illinois General Assembly handed Gov. Pat Quinn a victory Wednesday, sending him an overhauled state pension system, cutting benefits for new city and state employees to save money for woefully underfunded retirement systems.