Government - State

SPRINGFIELD – Illinois legislation allowing public possession of concealed guns would wipe out local firearms ordinances.

SPRINGFIELD – Illinois public schools that teach sex education will have to include information about contraception and sexually transmitted diseases instead of a curriculum focused solely on abstinence, according to a plan that cleared the state Senate on Wednesday.

The Illinois Virtual Charter School at Fox River Valley will be delayed for a year if Gov. Pat Quinn signs into law a moratorium on charter schools like it.

SPRINGFIELD – A groundbreaking deal to regulate high-volume oil and gas drilling in Illinois cleared a top House committee Tuesday, setting up a floor vote on a measure that supporters say would bring tens of thousands of jobs to struggling areas in the southern part of the state.

CHICAGO – Gov. Pat Quinn said Illinois lawmakers have a chance to make history on two fronts this month by approving a plan to fix the state’s decades-old pension crisis and legalizing same-sex marriage.

CHICAGO – Gov. Pat Quinn says he's reviewing a bill that would legalize the medical use of marijuana.

SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois General Assembly has just two weeks left in Springfield before it adjourns for the summer, leaving lawmakers with a tight deadline for action on issues including tackling the state’s pension crisis, gay marriage and how guns will be allowed to be carried in public.

SPRINGFIELD – Illinois Senate Democrats want to boost general education funding by $156 million next year, not cut it, key budget negotiators said Friday, but acknowledged the increase would only keep per-student funding level.

DeKalb County's state senators split their vote

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 determine who is fit to carry.

CHICAGO – The Illinois House is gearing up to consider a key part of President Barack Obama's health care law, an expansion of Medicaid that would provide coverage to low-income adults who don't have children at home.

SPRINGFIELD – An Illinois senator seeking to keep some concealed carry limits 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 concealed weapons.

DeKALB – The DeKalb Taylor Municipal Airport is the Illinois Department of Transportation’s 2013 General Aviation-Public/Category A Airport of the Year.

DeKALB – DeKalb County’s child care centers hope the Illinois General Assembly hears their call for more funding.

ST. LOUIS – Six federal marshals were honored Monday for bravery for their actions during a 2011 St. Louis gunfight that killed one of their own, along with a drug suspect they were looking to arrest.