In a new bill sponsored by state Sen. Kirk Dillard (R-Hinsdale), anyone that falsely claims to be the parent or guardian of a minor in order for the minor to get tattooed could potentially face jail time or a fine. The bill makes it a criminal offense to pretend to be a minors parent or guardian whether they have the intention of getting tattooed or pierced. more ›

The State Board of Elections has spoken and by a very narrow margin of 193 votes, state Sen. Bill Brady has been ruled the winner in the GOP's gubernatorial race. That's just .025 percent of the vote. But it's enough that Brady's opponent, state Sen. Kirk Dillard, will very likely concede the race to Brady at a press conference this afternoon, setting the stage for Brady to take on Gov. Pat Quinn in this fall's general election. [Tribune] more ›

The state GOP may soon have their gubernatorial candidate. Kirk Dillard, who's in second place behind Bill Brady in the state's GOP governor's race, looks like he'll concede the nomination to Brady. He's scheduled a press conference for tomorrow afternoon at which point he's slated to announce "an update on the status of his campaign." [Crain's] more ›

We're less than a week away from next week's big primary and a new Rasmussen Poll shows Andy McKenna with a slim lead in a tight race for the GOP nomination for Governor. The poll, conducted on Monday, January 25, surveyed 527 likely GOP voters and broke down like so: more ›

• A barricade situation on the city's West Side was peacefully resolved this afternoon.
• An off-duty Chicago Police officer was killed in an early morning car crash on the Kennedy Expressway.
• Kirk Dillard got an endorsement in his race for governor from former governor Jim Edgar.

Yesterday Illinois State Congressman Mike Quigley threw his support behind Pat Quinn for a full term as governor in 2010. At a press conference Monday morning, Quigley said “Our state has been paying the cost of corruption for too long; now more than ever, we can't afford it.” With the state still reeling from the omnipresent punchline that is former Governor Rod Blagojevich, Quigley joked that “Hunting for corruption in Illinois is like hunting for cows. They come up to you and moo. It's hard to govern when people are laughing about this government instead of functioning.” more ›

With the recent announcement by Republican Andrew McKenna that he's entering the fray for Governor in next year's election, the Illinois gubernatorial election is heating up. With the primary election on February 2nd 2010 quickly approaching, plenty of candidates have stepped up to fight for the right to lead Illinois. Here is a quick run down of some of the major candidates: more ›

After a lot of hootin' and hollerin', it's finally done: we have a state budget. And one without an income tax hike. But with the state facing somewhere in the neighborhood of a $9 billion budget gap, how will the state actually manage to make ends meet? In a word: borrowing. The $26 billion spending plan depends on borrowing $3.5 billion to pay state worker pensions and around $3.2 billion in bills is pushed off to next year's budget, but the move means that most of the state services that were on the brink of getting cut will now remain. For now, anyway, as Gov. Quinn has the option to cut any additional money as he sees fit. Still, Quinn said the budget still puts the state between $4 billion and $5 billion down. more ›