The $674 million the $1-per-pack tax is expected to generate would offset proposed cuts to state healthcare programs, Quinn said, which already comprise the brunt of the governor’s plan. more ›

The tough proposals did not go over well with either party. Gov. Quinn proposed adjustments to health-care eligibility that could affect more than 215,000 poor Illinoisans. Quinn also proposed a $1 per pack cigarette tax to help close the state’s $2.7 billion Medicaid budget gap. more ›

Illinois State Senate President John Cullerton is proposing a $1 increase in the cigarette tax as a means of financing the state's troubled capital improvement program. The $31 billion program has been deemed unconstitutional by an appellate court because it relies too heavily on other sin taxes. An appeal of that ruling is to be heard before the Illinois Supreme Court. more ›

It's April 1 which means you're paying more for a pack of smokes. Starting today, a new tax hike on cigarettes imposed by the federal government ups the tax from $0.39/pack to $1.01/pack, meaning the cost of a pack of cigarettes in Chicago now stands at $9.36. But wait, smokers, there's more. Part of Governor Quinn's budget proposal would raise the state tax on a pack of cigarettes even further: by $0.50 this year and by another $0.50 next year, all to help pay for a backlog of Medicaid bills. Currently, according to the Tribune, a pack of cigarettes is still a bit cheaper in Cook County at around $8 a pack and $5 a pack in surrounding counties. Still, the high price isn't even the most expensive in the nation: that honor goes to (who else) New York, where smokers pay $3.76 total in taxes per pack, as opposed to places like South Carolina where the total tax per pack is $1.08. [Trib, CBS 2] more ›

• Roland Burris will be sworn in as Illinois' junior senator Thursday afternoon at 1 p.m. (Chicago time) by Vice President Dick Cheney.
• Chicago's "Debonair Bandit", suspected of up to five area bank robberies, was arrested earlier today in Atlanta.
• Work on the city's Michigan Ave. Bridge began yesterday and will interrupt pedestrian traffic likely until June.