The chairman of the Illinois Gaming Board minced no words about what he thought of the gaming expansion bill yesterday. Real talk, y'all. more ›

In two weeks since the bill landed on Gov. Quinn's desk, he’s had 739 phone calls and emails against the bill and 799 in support. more ›

In a busy day for the Illinois General Assembly, legislation was passed approving a major expansion of gambling in the state, including a Chicago casino. more ›

Gov. Quinn, while open to the idea of a Chicago casino, doesn't want Illinois to become "the Las Vegas of the Midwest." more ›

Even with House Republican Leader Tom Cross on board, a bill to start a three-year pilot program to legalize marijuana for medicinal use fell seven votes short of passage today. This news calls for a smoke. more ›

The last time we checked in on the efforts to make medical marijuana legal in Illinois, not even the star power of Montel Williams was enough to move the bill forward in Springfield. Now, it looks like things are gathering steam again. But don't go running for a glaucoma perscription yet. more ›

We're less than 12 hours from the deadline to pass a budget that won't completely mess with the state's finances and it seems we're no closer to having a solution than we were before. Last night, the House approved a plan to borrow $2.2 billion to help soften the blow of the expected cuts, but Gov. Quinn isn't too happy about it and, though it still has to pass the Senate, he seems hell-bent on making sure a tax increase is somehow passed. Without saying he'd veto it, Quinn did say, according to the Tribune, "If they throw that my way tonight, they will see it thrown right back at 'em. For those who might be advocating things in the budget that are unfair, are not humane, or indecent, I'm not going down that road." more ›

A bike-rental program may be in the works....[S-T] more ›

Is Mike Madigan ready to take a gamble? So it seems from a letter he wrote today to state legislators. He said today that he'd endorse a bill proposed by Democratic reps Lou Lang and Bob Molaro that expands gambling—gaming, sorry—and uses that money for roads and schools. From the AP: The new proposal includes many of the elements that already passed the Senate in September, including a huge, land-based casino in Chicago and... more ›

A couple weeks back we wrote about the Illinois House approving legislation that would restrict the amount of wine an Illinois vineyard could sell directly to a customer to 12 cases a year. The legislation, HB 429, was drafted to bring Illinois in compliance with the 2005 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Granholm V. Heald, in which they found non-reciprocal wine laws in New York and Michigan to be in violation of both interstate commerce... more ›

Governor Blagojevich’s rising political fortunes may take quite a hit as the controversy regarding his appointment of a Nation of Islam higher-up to his Commission on Discrimination and Hate Crimes (CDHC) rages on. Blago appointed Claudette Marie Johnson, the minister of protocol for the Nation of Islam, to the CDHC with last August. Little attention was given to the appointment until late last month when Johnson, also known as Sister Claudette Muhammad, invited other members... more ›

Last May the Supreme Court ruled that states that didn't allow out-of state wineries to sell their product directly to customers (be it via phone, in person, or online) were violating laws protecting interstate commerce. The ruling invalidated laws on the books in 20 states, including Illinois. It was the correct ruling. Allowing direct wine sales to customers spurs growth in the industry. Wine consumers have a wider range of choices and prices to make... more ›

The latest Chicago pol to fall into the Hired Truck spotlight is West Side State Senator Antonio Muñoz (pictured at right), cited by the Chicago Tribune as an acquaintance of former Hired Truck Program director, Angelo Torres. Torres, you may remember, has been indicted for extortion -- sending city trucking contracts to shadow companies. The connection between Muñoz and Torres is essentially through the Hispanic Democratic Organization. Muñoz' 1998 senate election is considered one of... more ›

This morning the Illinois House passed an amendment to the Illinois Human Rights Act (the Senate passed it yesterday) banning discrimination based on sexual orientation in matters of employment, housing, public accommodations (restaurants, hotels, etc.) or credit. The Senate passed the bill with a 30-27 vote and the house passed it 65-51. Activists have been trying to get a bill passed adding "sexual orientation' to the Human Rights Act for decades and the House passed... more ›