If you want to piss voters off, mess with their commute. Those concerns might explain some surprising action taken by local pols related to a bill in DC that could have big impacts at home. more ›

The Federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services put the brakes on new Medicaid requirements Illinois put in place in the hopes of preventing fraud. more ›

Chicago isn’t exactly known for its pristine, healthy air, given our smoggy history and one of the nation's highest asthma rates. But air pollution issues have soared to unusual prominence of late with highly visible battles around the coal plants in the City, concerns about pollution wafting over from just outside of town, and even some of the local commuter trains. Those issues don’t seem to have dented the consciousness of much of Illinois’ Congressional delegation in DC, where the local battles pale in comparison to open warfare on the Environmental Protection Agency and pollution laws. more ›

While everyone is getting themselves in a tizzy over this Obama Birth Certificate issue, one of the major local political stories continues to be Sen. Durbin's (pictured right) letter to President Bush asking for a commutation of former Governor George Ryan's sentence. While Gov. Blagojevich has already come out in favor of Durbin's request (no surprise as he will probably be facing a similar fate to Ryan's very soon), earlier this week, U.S. Congressman Mark Kirk (Rep.) sent Pres. Bush a letter disputing Durbin's request and State Attorney General Lisa Madigan also said she was opposed to a commuting of Ryan's sentence. more ›

We talked a few days ago about the high demand for Obama inauguration tickets and the high prices being paid for them, even though they're technically free. Well, any hopes Illinois residents had of the state getting a few extras to hand out since we're Obama's "home" state have been dashed. It seems that each Congressional district in the country will get a paltry 198 tickets to hand out to those who signed up with their respective offices. Jesse Jackson, Jr. spokesman Ken Edmonds said, "We received about 1,500 requests in 48 hours on our Web site, not including the thousands of calls since last week. We're disappointed that we'll have to disappoint some of our constituents." more ›