Area News
New laws aim to shield providers of abortion meds, ban ticketing in schools
Governor completes signing of more than 430 bills from spring session By PETER HANCOCK and BEN SZALINSKI Capitol News Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker signed the final two bills from the spring session Friday [Aug. 22, 2025], giving his approval to more than 430 bills approved by lawmakers this year. The final bills signed Friday…
Read MoreGov. Pritzker joins southern Illinois healthcare leaders to discuss federal impacts
Trump’s budget bill cuts Medicaid, risks rural hospital closures On Aug. 22, 2025, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker joined the Department of Public Health, Department of Healthcare and Family Services, and healthcare leaders from southern Illinois to discuss the impacts of Trump’s budget cuts on healthcare across rural areas of the state. The budget bill from…
Read More‘Centennial on 66’: Madison County announces student poster design challenge
Madison County is inviting young artists to get their kicks on Route 66 to celebrate 100 years of the “Mother Road.” The Madison County Board and Regional Office of Education are teaming up to launch the Route 66 Student Poster Challenge, a countywide art contest inviting K–12 students to design original posters inspired by the…
Read MoreFirst Mid Bank & Trust sounding alarm on new social engineering scams
Banking experts see increase in scammers posing as bank employees As fraudulent scams grow more sophisticated, First Mid Bank & Trust (First Mid) is sounding the alarm about a new type of social engineering fraud that is gaining traction and causing people to unwittingly give scammers access to their bank accounts. Social engineering fraud is…
Read MoreCaritas Family Solutions receives grant from Ameren Illinois to support housing program
Caritas Family Solutions has been awarded a $26,000 grant from Ameren Illinois to support the nonprofit’s Community Integrated Living Arrangements (CILA) program, which provides safe and supportive housing for adults with developmental disabilities. This funding enables critical home improvements, including sidewalk and door replacements, deck and gutter repairs, and the installation of shed gutters,…
Read MoreGovernor signs legislation to protect consumers from cryptocurrency scams
Building on efforts to increase consumer protections for the people of Illinois, Governor JB Pritzker signed two bills recently that create first-of-their-kind safeguards in the Midwest for cryptocurrency and other digital assets. The Digital Assets and Consumer Protection Act (SB1797) protects Illinoisans by establishing regulatory oversight of cryptocurrencies, while the Digital Asset Kiosk Act (SB2319)…
Read MoreCUB urges Ameren customers to attend upcoming public forums
The Citizens Utility Board (CUB) is urging Ameren Illinois gas customers to attend public forums in Springfield and East St. Louis next week to protest their utility’s proposal for a fourth gas rate hike in less than a decade. CUB advocates argue that Ameren’s current $131.1 million rate-hike plan is nearly triple what the utility…
Read MoreNew study shows pre-apprenticeships transforming construction workforce
Investments in pre-apprenticeship programs have helped women and people of color become the two fastest growing demographic segments within Illinois’ construction workforce, according to new research by the nonpartisan Illinois Economic Policy Institute (ILEPI) and the Project for Middle Class Renewal (PMCR) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. As 8-to-14-week programs, pre-apprenticeships (or apprenticeship…
Read MoreGovernor signs warehouse safety bill into law
By MELISSA CROCKETT MESKE IBJ Managing Editor [email protected] Illinois Governor JB Pritzker recently signed the Warehouse Safety Tornado Preparedness Act into law. The bill, stemming from the 2021 deadly tornado incident in Edwardsville that tore through an Amazon warehouse building and killed six employees, had been led through both legislative chambers by State Representative Katie…
Read MorePritzker signs law expanding lawsuit protections for Illinois news media
Measure was spurred by former official’s lawsuit against Chicago Sun-Times By JERRY NOWICKI Capitol News Illinois Article Summary The Citizen Participation Act now explicitly protects news reporting from “strategic lawsuits against public participation.” The Illinois Supreme Court had previously ruled that news reporting itself wasn’t covered if it was not investigative in nature or eliciting…
Read More