State News

ST. LOUIS – More than eight decades since bootlegging gangster Charlie Birger became Illinois' last person publicly hanged, the southern Illinois city that has clung to his legend finally has the case's biggest and most-elusive relic: the gallows from which he swung for his role in the killing of a nearby mayor.

CHICAGO – A scowling Donald Trump raised his voice on the witness stand Wednesday while an attorney grilled him and then rolled his eyes at the “Apprentice” star’s answers, leading a federal judge to scold both men in open court and order them to behave.

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.

CHICAGO – Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon said she is in favor of a bill allowing the medical use of marijuana, explaining Sunday that testimony from seriously ill veterans and other patients helped change her mind.

SPRINGFIELD – Eleven Illinois counties that suffered damage from last month’s flooding have been declared federal disaster areas.

DIXON – The city of Dixon is citing a deposition by a former branch manager in its lawsuit against the bank, where former city Comptroller Rita Crundwell had a secret account that she used in her theft of nearly $54 million.

SPRINGFIELD – New estimates show the state of Illinois will lose $212 million in unpaid sales taxes from online purchases during 2013.

CHICAGO – One of the most liberal members of the U.S. Supreme Court, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg could be expected to give a rousing defense of Roe v. Wade in reflecting on the landmark vote 40 years after it established a nationwide right to abortion.

SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois House approved legislation Friday aimed at cracking down on violent “flash mobs” like those that have occurred on Chicago’s Michigan Avenue and in other tourist areas.

PERCY – Authorities charged a 33-year-old man with the murder of four young siblings, ranging in age from 5 to 12, who perished in a house fire early Friday in the small southwestern Illinois village of Percy.

NORMAL – Illinois State University has chosen a new president.

SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Senate voted Thursday to send a union-supported pension reform bill to the House, leaving lawmakers with two competing proposals for dealing with the nation's worst state pension problem just weeks before the Legislature is scheduled to adjourn.

SPRINGFIELD – A Senate committee approved a union-backed approach for dealing with Illinois’ pension crisis Wednesday, saying it gives the state its best chance at surviving an inevitable court challenge and getting out of its nearly $100 billion mess.

SPRINGFIELD – Leading Illinois law enforcement organizations stepped up their opposition Wednesday to legalizing marijuana for medicinal use, warning Gov. Pat Quinn in a letter about lax motorist safeguards on a day a committee moved the measure to the Senate floor.

WASHINGTON – Seventy-two airport towers and other air traffic control facilities that were slated to close at night due to budget cuts will get to stay open, the Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday.