Skip to content

Area Breaking News

Biden administration responds to calls from Pritzker, other leaders, for help in migrant crisis

| |

Homeland Security will expedite work authorizations among other actions By PETER HANCOCK Capitol News Illinois phancock@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – The Department of Homeland Security will speed up the processing of work authorizations for asylum seekers and extend Temporary Protected Status to Venezuelan migrants, actions that could help thousands of migrants who have arrived in Illinois in…

Read More

Former Illinois State Police trooper who pleaded guilty in relation to deadly crash postpones hearing

| |

Matt Mitchell is seeking driver’s license reinstatement after 2007 crash that killed Metro East sisters By BETH HUNDSDORFER Capitol News Illinois bhundsdorfer@capitolnewsillinois.com Matt Mitchell, the former Illinois State Police trooper who caused a high-speed, distracted-driving crash that killed sisters Kelli and Jessica Uhl, has asked to delay his September 20 hearing for the reinstatement of…

Read More

Disparately resourced public defenders prepare for the end of cash bail in Illinois

| |

Public defenders, while supportive of reform, anticipate major workload increases By HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com Illinois on Monday, September 18, will become the first state to fully abolish cash bail through an act of the legislature, a major criminal justice overhaul spurred by the advocacy of a progressive faction of the Democratic Party…

Read More

IFB director: Complacency is a farmer’s worst enemy

| |

By TAMMIE SLOUP FarmWeek Brent Pollard’s plentiful hay crop this spring was both a blessing and a curse. On May 16, the Winnebago County dairy and grain farmer was turning off his chopper box after unloading the last load of silage for the day when his clothes became entangled in a cracked power take-off (PTO)…

Read More

‘Thunderdomes of controversy and strife:’ Giannoulias testifies before U.S. Senate committee

| |

Secretary of state testifies on Illinois’ recent effort to prohibit book bans By JENNIFER FULLER Capitol News Illinois jfuller@capitolnewsillinois.com Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias was in Washington, D.C. this week to testify before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee regarding a new state law aimed at deterring book bans. Giannoulias, whose position also includes the…

Read More

Battery manufacturing plant coming to Illinois – with $530M incentive deal 

| |

Lithium-ion plant in Manteno part of state’s ongoing effort to court electric vehicle manufacturing By ANDREW ADAMS Capitol News Illinois aadams@capitolnewsillinois.com A new battery manufacturing plant is set to open in northern Illinois next year after the state offered more than $330 million in tax incentives to make it happen. Gotion, a Chinese battery manufacturing…

Read More

Seed reps foresee another big year for wheat

| |

By DANIEL GRANT FarmWeek Illinois farmers boosted wheat plantings by 210,000 acres for the 2023 crop compared to 2022. Did it ever pay off. Prairie State farmers harvested 65.5 million bushels of wheat this summer, up a whopping 48% compared to the previous year, with a record yield of 84 bushels per acre. It made…

Read More