The Illinois Legislature has until midnight Saturday to pass a budget without the need for a supermajority. House Republican lawmakers discussed a lack of budget transparency, advocated for reform measures and no tax increases at a news conference on Thursday. State Representative Blaine Wilhour says at some point, state leaders need to be honest with the taxpayers and that there is "no reason under the sun" that government spending in the state increased by 45 percent since 2019 wh...

The theme has been selected for this year's Little Egypt Festival Parade. General Chair Jay Henke made the announcement. "The theme this year is 'Are You Board? Let's play a game,'" Henke said. "We're throwing that out for people building floats who want to theme their float after their favorite game, whether it be a board game, a video game or anything like that. We think that opens up the spectrum for a lot of different ideas, whether it be current video games, old board game...

A 48-year-old Godfrey man faces multiple charges following a traffic stop on Sunday in Centralia. Christopher Smith was charged in Marion County Court with armed violence, unlawful possession with intent to deliver cannabis, unlawful possession of cannabis, unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon and unlawful use of weapons. Centralia Police say they conducted a traffic stop on Smith at Gragg and Elm Streets. Initially, they reported seeing open alcohol and a small baggie of cannabis in ...

Ameren Illinois reports an early Friday morning electric outage that impacted parts of Centralia was the result of damage to a pole on the main 69 kilovolt power line just outside the South Centralia substation. The damage was found by a lineman investigating the outage. About 2,300 customers were impacted with power restored to all customers by 2:30 am as Ameren was able to switch the load to another source. It was raining at the time, but there was no thunderstorm activity. The Salem Wat...

A 51-year-old Salem man was injured when his car ran off Route 161 west of the Zion Hill Road east of Centralia during the noon hour Monday. State Police are now releasing additional preliminary information on the crash. They report Ralph Barringer ran off the right side of the road, struck a tree and overturned. He was airlifted from the scene to a regional hospital for treatment of injuries. Barringer has been ticketed for improper lane usage, driver required to wear a seatbelt, driving...

The day before Christmas eve in 2023, Andrew Ciaccio was up all night trying to soothe his stomach pains. When he woke, he could barely sit up. Something was wrong. "It was pretty intense," he recalled. "I was vomiting and really sweating and really feverish and just really in rough shape. [I] couldn't even put shoes on." Panicked, his partner looked up the nearest hospital: Advocate Masonic Hospital. Once Ciaccio got to the hospital, a new panic set in. What should he ex...

by Jade Aubrey and UIS Public Affairs Reporting (PAR), Capitol News Illinois May 29, 2025 SPRINGFIELD - A bill that would require gun owners to keep any firearms in a locked box whenever a minor is present will soon head to Gov. JB Pritzker. Senate Bill 8, also referred to as the Safe Gun Storage Act, is the latest gun safety measure pushed by Democrats in the General Assembly. It passed the House 69-40, with Republican lawmakers warning that it could be found unconstitutional if challenged i...

by Ben Szalinski and Jerry Nowicki, Capitol News Illinois May 28, 2025 SPRINGFIELD - Gov. JB Pritzker said Wednesday he will not sign a budget that includes broad tax hikes to fund new spending as lawmakers are in the final hours of budget negotiations. "Anything that's broad-based and would have a negative impact on working families, I would veto a budget like that," Pritzker told reporters. Pritzker said he would specifically veto any budget that includes tax increases on individu...