With the May 31 deadline looming to get a budget passed without a super-majority, the state House managed to pass a $4 billion borrowing plan to cover the state's five public employee pension plans. It took two votes to get the legislation passed as it fell one vote short of passage earlier Tuesday before being passed with the necessary 71 votes last night. The swing vote, according to the Tribune, turned out to be Rep. David Miller, D-Lynwood, who also happens to be running for state comptroller. Miller apparently had a change of heart after a pow-wow with House Speaker Mike Madigan and House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie in Gov. Quinn's office in which Miller insists he wasn't promised anything in exchange for his vote, telling reporters after the vote, “You’ve got to do the mature thing which is to at least get us through this crisis, no matter how bad it is... At some point you have to do some soul searching about why you’re here in the first place." You can check out the voting breakdown here [PDF]; GOP Reps Bob Biggins and Bill Black voted with Dems on the plan. more ›

• While everyone was focused on the State St. Old Navy store shooting, two people were injured in a shooting on the Dan Ryan Expressway.
• Amidst the sexual harassment investigation, Chicago Fire Commissioner John Brooks has resigned retired.
• A multiple car accident near Kedzie and Archer also resulted in cars striking a bus shelter, injuring pedestrians.

After a summer filled with debate amongst the Cook County Commissioners in regards to the sales tax rollback, Board President Todd Stroger's veto, and the commissioners inability to garner enough votes to override said veto, the state legislature has gotten involved. Yesterday, both the House (by a 66-49 vote) and the Senate (by a 49-1 vote) passed a bill that sets the new requirement for a veto override at three-fifths of the commissioners (11) rather than the current requirement of fourth-fifths (14). Now all that's left is for Gov. Quinn to sign it. The bill was specifically aimed at Stroger and the tax rollback. The bill's sponsor, Sen. Dan Kotowski (D-Park Ridge), said, "This is a great win for taxpayers in Cook County." Stroger spokeswoman Chris Geovanis said, "We're disappointed that the legislature chose not to use logic and decided to change the rules in the middle of the game." Stroger has previously said he would fight any such legislation in court if it was passed. more ›

The Illinois state house was working late in the night last night, attempting to hammer out a new budget before the midnight deadline. In the end, the house defeated Gov. Quinn's proposed income tax hike and passed a temporary budget that, while not containing higher taxes, still has giant holes, meaning they'll be back to hash out another budget soon. To pass the income tax hike, Quinn needed 60 votes for; the measure was defeated with 42 votes for to 74 against (the Trib has how they voted - PDF). more ›

Laws required the newly sworn-in State House to vote again on the impeachment of Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Today's vote wound up at 117-1 in favor of impeachment. Today's lone "no" vote came - unsurprisingly - from freshmen Rep. Deb Mell (D-Chicago), who just happens to be Blago's sister-in-law. [Previous 'no' voter Milt Patterson is no longer a member of the House.] more ›

The State House passed legislation on Tuesday designed to bring Illinois into compliance with a 2005 U.S. Supreme Court ruling by limiting the amount of sales an Illinois winery can directly ship to a customer to 12 cases a year. The 5-4 decision in Granholm v. Heald ruled that laws in Michigan and New York permitting the direct sale and shipping of wine produced in state to customers while prohibiting out-of-state wineries from doing the... more ›

Rep. Bobby Rush and two co-sponsors introduced a bill to the U.S. House of Representatives in January that would allow groups to hand out condoms to inmates. The Tribune reports that inmates are 5 times more likely to contract HIV than others. A similar bill was struck down by an Illinois State House committee 6-5 on Thursday, leaving the controversial and unpopular issue in the hands of the U.S. Senate. The AIDS foundation of Chicago,... more ›

State Representative Jack Franks is a pro-life, pro-gun, anti-tax Democrat. He's also just about the friendliest guy you could ever meet and dominates politics in his home county, northwest exurban McHenry County. He also doesn't want to be a state rep for ever. He clearly wants more. And so he seems to be riding pretty hard a bill he's authored for honesty in advertised movie start times. The guy seems to be everywhere. Today he's... more ›

In a teary press conference held today, Ald. Dick Mell (33rd) insisted he was right to take a stand against his son-in-law governor, Rod Blagojevich, for closing his distant nephew's garbage dump in Will County. "What was done is regrettable, I think. I'm hoping there's a possibility of repairing it," Mell said. But oh yeah, the dump is reopening. So something must have been repaired, right? more ›

While Senate President Emil (D-Chicago) said yesterday that a gambling expansion bill is very much alive, both Minority Leader Frank Watson (R-Greenville) and a confidante of Mayor Daley said they don't expect any sort of gambling deal to come out of this Fall's veto session. As Chicagoist predicted yesterday, it looks like you won't roll any dice in Chicago until at least spring. The State House and Senate adjourn next Thursday. more ›

With the Illinois General Assembly's veto session beginning Monday, quite a bit of important legislation could be passed. Leaders of the State Senate and House met with Gov. Blago Thursday to discuss the agenda. Legislators will discuss increasing the number of armed security guards at the capitol (in light of the September shooting of security guard William Wozniak), the CTA bail-out, more casinos in Illinois (as one possible source for the CTA bail-out) and one... more ›

On Tuesday residents of Cicero, a suburb just west of Chicago, elected a candidate many people had written off as a ghost. Michelle Chavez ran against incumbent Republican Frank Aguilar for the Illinois State House of Representatives and Telemundo found her at her challenger's planned victory party when she heard the news that soon she'd haunt the Illinois House. She also celebrated with Aguilar when they each won their primaries. Chavez received 53 percent of... more ›

Illinois Republicans have begun taking the whole Mike Ditka thing pretty seriously. Although a few other names for the vacant Republican US Senate nominee position have been bandied about, former Chicago Bears Coach Mike Ditka seems to be in the lead for the job. more ›