by Brenden Moore and Ben Szalinski, Capitol News Illinois June 1, 2026 SPRINGFIELD - Despite a Hail Mary heave from the Illinois Senate in the final hours of the spring legislative session, state lawmakers ultimately failed to reach the end zone on a bill incentivizing the Chicago Bears to build a new stadium in Illinois. The Senate voted to approve the amended measure 37-17 with bipartisan support around 3:30 a.m. Monday morning after working through the night. Acknowledging the late hour, S...

by Nikoel Hytrek and UIS Public Affairs Reporting (PAR), Capitol News Illinois May 31, 2026 Article Summary In the final week of the session, a handful of laws to protect reproductive rights passed the legislature. One would shield information about abortion services from digital medical records, another would allow minors to consent to receiving birth control without parental consent. Illinois is a national hub for abortion care, providing it not only for Illinoisans but also for nearly a qu...

Not a single Republican lawmaker voted for the $56-billion budget that was sent to the Governor early Monday morning, including area lawmakers. State Senator Jason Plummer says eight years under Governor Pritzker have given Illinois families a bigger government, higher costs, and fewer reasons to stay. "It's an irresponsible budget. We are supposed to have a balanced budget and it's clearly not balanced. It takes massive tax increases on Illinois families and businesses to pretend its ba...

Marion County Board member Brock Waggoner has resigned from his District One seat. Waggoner's short note, submitted on Friday, only said that it was to confirm his decision to step down. The Marion County Republican Central Committee earlier voted to caucus in Waggoner for the November election ballot for an open seat in District Two. However, Waggoner will have to obtain the necessary nominating signatures before his name can be submitted to be on the ballot. The deadline to file is Monda...

A burn victim from an unknown incident on Lake Centralia resulted in a man being airlifted to St. John's Medical Center in Springfield for treatment. The Salem Fire Protection District was called early Sunday morning to assist in creating a landing zone for an Air Evac helicopter at the fire department's training facility on the Selmaville Road. There was no police response to the accident itself, and no further details are available, including the name of the person injured.

A 20-year-old Centralia man was injured when his motorcycle struck a deer on McNeilly Road in rural Walnut Hill Friday night. Mitchell Miller of Mt. Moriah Road was taken via private vehicle to SSM Health St. Mary's Hospital in Centralia. Marion County Sheriff's Deputies say no further details are available about the crash that was reported just after nine Friday evening.

Two members of the Marion County Drug Court Program have been sentenced to prison after violating provisions of the program. Both 37-year-old Jessica Murray of North Maple in Centralia and 39-year-old John Ferguson of Pope Road in Sandoval both were sentenced to four and a half years in prison by Judge Mark Stedelin. Murray had pleaded guilty to felony criminal damage to property, felony retail theft, aggravated battery, and two separate counts of possession of methamphetamine to get into dru...

Unemployment fell by a tenth of a percentage point to 5.4 percent in Marion County in March. The rate is still seven-tenths of a percent higher than a year ago. The 5.4 percent unemployment translates into 703 on unemployment, down from 868 in February. The county's workforce also dropped by 145 people to 15,078. The lowest unemployment in the region is in Clinton and Washington Counties at 3.9 percent, both down from February but up 0.8 percent from a year ago. Jefferson County's unempl...