The roar of a wood chipper woke us this week as ComEd sawed foliage away from power lines in the alley. Here's why you might be hearing the same thing very soon. more ›

The lawsuit is part of a muti-agency effort to target attorneys and companies who practice such methods. more ›

Air monitors placed on the nearby Manuel Perez Jr. Elementary School registered .24 micrograms of lead per cubic meter of air. The federal limit is .03 more ›

Calling it "over the counter napalm," Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has started a campaign to have all gel fuels banned. 37 people nationwide have been burned by gel fuel, and 4 of them were in Illinois, leading Madigan to demand their recall. We're sure that caterers everywhere cried at the news - gel fuels are most commonly used for keeping chafing dishes hot during service. more ›

The Illinois House approved a bill that would which would give government more power to delay Freedom of Information Act requests. more ›

The Illinois General Assembly approved by a 42-1 vote a bill that would prohibit the names of Firearm Owner's Identification Card owners to be released. If Gov. Quinn signs the bill into law, it would reverse a ruling by State Attorney General Lisa Madigan, who ordered the Illinois State Police to release the names of FOID owners under the Freedom of Information Act. more ›

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan wanted the names of every Illinois resident owning a gun. Her request got shot down Friday by the Illinois State Rifle Association, which was successful in securing a temporary restraining order against the release of personal information belonging to persons holding Illinois Firearm Owner Identification Cards. more ›

To own a firearm in Illinois, you have to have a Firearm Owner's Identification Card (FOID). According to the Illinois State Police, "the FOID card is required for any resident of Illinois to possess or purchase firearms. During the FOID application process, the applicant’s identification and background information is checked. Individuals with prohibiting factors are disallowed from obtaining a FOID card." Last year the Associated Press filed a Freedom of Information Act requesting the names of all FOID card holders in the state, and their expiration dates. The state police, however, don't want to release the information. more ›

Since the General Assembly passed a bill outlawing execution as punishment for criminals in Illinois, Gov. Quinn has yet to take action on the bill. Quinn has said that he's considering the bill, although he hasn't indicated what he ultimately intends to do with it. more ›

(Cue the jokes about lawyers in 3,2...) Attorney General Lisa Madigan siad her office raised nearly $1 billion for the state's coffers last year through litigation and collection of estate-tax revenues. more ›

Attorney General Lisa Madigan has promised to fight legislation in Springfield currently being championed by ComEd that would lock in rate hikes automatically over the next decade to finance a $2.6 billion infrastructure improvement project. more ›

Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed a lawsuit today to immediately strip former Chicago Police Lieutenant Jon Burge of his pension, which was saved last week when the four cops elected to the eight-person pension review board deadlocked the vote to revoke Burge's pension. more ›

As expected, Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed a motion with the Illinois Supreme Court yesterday asking for a stay on the ruling from an appellate court that put a halt to the state's $31 billion public works program. more ›

Strutting Leo. Prancing Michael Cera. Sad Keanu. Now, to the pantheon of memes, we'd like to add the following: Boogie-ing Lisa Madigan. more ›

The city's parking meter situation is certain to be a major issue in the upcoming mayoral election. With only $76 million left of a $1.2 billion lump sum payment for turning over control of the city's parking meters to a private consortium, Voters and media pundits will ask the prospective candidates in the next few months their positions on privatizing city services and whether it's wise to have done some privatizing of services the way Mayor Daley did: rammed through witha City Council rubber stamp and in secrecy. more ›

The shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Maybe Sun-Times columnist Michael Sneed forgot this with her speculation that Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan was considering a run for Mayor. more ›

In the spring, payday loan reform passed the Illinois legislature, capping high interest rates for consumers and expanding a tracking system to keep tabs on lenders. While the measures certainly benefited borrowers of high interest loans, the Sun Times reports that the Madigan family benefited from the loan as well. more ›

Illinois has become the first state in the nation to require DNA evidence taken after a sexual assault be sent for testing. Currently over 4,000 rape kits are sitting in evidence unanalyzed. more ›

Last week, Vocalo's Jim DeRogatis broke the news that state Attorney General Lisa Madigan was investigating anti-trust allegations related to the Lollapalooza radius clause which limits the dates on which a band playing the festival can play within a certain radius (estimated to be as much as 300 miles in some cases) of Chicago. Interesting conversations about the actual limits of the clause broke out in our comments and in other publications. Brent DiCrescenzo had a solid write-up for Time Out that observed other local fests' similar clauses as well as the flexibility given to many bands in the clause. more ›

Search engine leader Google has found itself facing legal scrutiny after information went public last month that the company had accidentally scraped 600GB of data from Wi-Fi networks as their Street View vehicles combed streets all over the world snapping pictures for the service. Despite assuring the U.S. Congress that it did nothing illegal, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan along with her counterparts in approximately 30 other states and as well as France, Germany and Australia are starting their own investigation of the matter to see if any of Google's data collection practices broke the law. more ›

• Besides the income tax increase, Gov. Quinn is also asking for a sales tax holiday timed to benefit back-to-school shoppers.
• How about that? There's something in the city Mayor Daley sell off.
• Progress Illinois has more on today's CPS student walk-out.

The Supreme Court decides not to take up the Asian Carp case but that doesn't mean the fight is over. more ›

With the recent announcement that Supreme Court Justice (and Chicago native) John Paul Stevens will soon retire from the nation's high court, speculation has been growing over who President Obama will tab as Stevens' replacement, including a few with Chicago connections. But now a Slate feature that breaks down their Top 21 candidates includes a name we hadn't really considered before: State Attorney General Lisa Madigan. more ›

While 13 states have filed lawsuits against the federal government in reaction to the recently passed Health Care reform bill, don't expect one from the state of Illinois. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan has no plans to do so in spite of a letter signed by Republican reps from around the state. The point of contention for those lawsuits filed by other states is the mandate requiring the purchase of health care coverage. [WBEZ] more ›

The Federal Drug Administration and Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan want manufacturers of alcoholic energy drinks to prove they are safe to drink. The FDA, which hasn't given permission for caffeine to be used in alcoholic drinks, gave manufacturers 30 days to prove their safety on Friday. Madigan, worried that the caffeine and alcoholic combo may be unsafe for "young people," was one of the state attorney generals who asked for the FDA to review the drink's safety. [Tribune] more ›

After working the night shift at Pockets in Lincoln Park, Victorino Valle pulled his minivan in the garage of his Brighton Park home and just before closing the garage door, turned to see his 8-year old son Alexander in a state of shock. Alexander told his father that he heard a baby crying in the alley. His parents discovered a crying newborn lying in a trash can and immediately called 911. According to Chi-Town Daily News, when the police arrived they found a two-week old boy in the trash can which was filling with rain water. more ›

With the announcement that Roland Burris will not seek re-election and Lisa Madigan staying put in the AG's seat, Illinois's Junior Senatorial seat has become somewhat of a political hot potato. And amid the shuffling of names and personalities in potential statewide races that have been subject to speculation for months, the Washington Post reported, incorrectly, that Mark Kirk wouldn't run for the GOP slot in the general. In fact, Kirk has been in a bit of a political standoff with Illinois GOP chair Andy McKenna over who would run for an elected office in Illinois that could actually go to a Republican. more ›

• Our thoughts and prayers to the family of local National Guard soldier Derwin Williams who was killed by a road-side bomb in Afghanistan.
• With Madigan's exit from both the governor's and senate race, it looks like Republican state senator Mark Kirk is taking his aim at U.S. Sen. Burris' seat.
• Meanwhile, the Republican side of the governor's race keeps growing.

In a surprise move, it seems state Attorney General Lisa Madigan will not be running for either the U.S. Senate or Illinois Governor come next year, according to Sun-Times political analyst Lynn Sweet. Instead, Madigan will look to stay put by running again for Attorney General. more ›

While the Republicans are beginning to sort out their candidates for the 2010 governor's race, the nation's top Democrat is starting to help state Dems sort out who's running for what, including Attorney General Lisa Madigan. Though Madigan has long been rumored as a serious candidate for governor, it seems President Obama is trying to push Madigan into next year's senate race - for the seat Obama once occupied and is now occupied by embattled Sen. Roland Burris - in an attempt to take on Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk. The Sun-Times' Laura Washington has more. more ›