The Chicago Bears announced Friday that its board of directors voted to advance its stadium project in Hammond, Indiana. However, two Illinois lawmakers confirmed to Capitol News Illinois that any talk of the Bears leaving the state is premature

From Capitol News Illinois: Gov. JB Pritzker says he intends to sign legislation imposing a statewide ban on cell phones and other wireless communication devices during instructional time in public schools and charter schools

The Chicago Bears’ search for a new stadium took another unexpected dramatic turn early morning Monday in Springfield when Illinois lawmakers failed to pass a bill that would help them build a new stadium in Arlington Heights. Here's what could happen next in the search.

From Capitol News Illinois: JB Pritzker acknowledged that the Chicago Bears may be on their way to Indiana. But he and Democratic leaders defended their decision not to move a bill incentivizing them to stay

From Capitol News Illinois: Illinois lawmakers approved a budget after 4 a.m. Monday, which includes the full $350 million increase in Evidence-Based Funding for public schools. Some education advocates had called for a bigger increase

From Capitol News Illinois: New taxes would be implemented on social media companies based on the number of users in the state, along with prediction markets, fantasy sports, and digital assets

From Capitol News Illinois: The Illinois House gave final passage Wednesday to bills giving the Illinois Department of Insurance authority to review and approve rates for homeowners and automobile insurance

From Capitol News Illinois: Illinois House lawmakers passed a bill Wednesday that would regulate how the largest artificial intelligence companies report on the capabilities of their models

From Capitol News Illinois: U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin delivered a farewell address to the Illinois General Assembly, reflecting on his decades in public office and warning that today’s political divisions pose a serious threat to democratic norms

From Capitol News Illinois: Former Republican strategist Collin Corbett filed to run for governor as an independent candidate. He enlisted Crystal Lake's Carolyn Schofield, a former Republican candidate for lieutenant governor, as his running mate

Illinois vaccination rates have seen a slight increase in 2025-2026 among students, despite growing vaccine skepticism around the country

Gov. JB Pritzker’s office responded Tuesday to a Cook County Treasurer report that raised questions about the megaproject legislation he backs to keep the Bears in Illinois.

Gov. JB Pritzker joined local leaders on Friday to celebrate the construction of new Interstate 80 bridges that cross the Des Plaines River in Joliet. 

Governor JB Priztker visits Joliet to kickoff the new Interstate 80 Des Plaines River bridges on Friday.

From Capitol News Illinois: Senate Republicans are calling on their colleagues and the governor to opt into a federal school choice tax credit program.

From Capitol News Illinois: A bill heading to the House would allow minors to consent to receiving birth control without parental consent. The governor also says he will sign a measure to ban “junk fees,” or unlisted charges tacked onto the total of cost of ticketed events

Republican allegations emerge day before big vote on 6,100-acre Earthrise solar complex.

With less than two weeks to go in the General Assembly’s spring session, Gov. JB Pritzker expressed confidence Monday that megaproject legislation that could bring the Chicago Bears to Arlington Heights would get done.

From Capitol News Illinois: Public school advocates have rallied against the tax credit, arguing it is a voucher program, in which the state directly funds students’ private school tuition

The Illinois Municipal League has proposed the Reducing Expenses and Advancing Local Housing Act as an answer to Gov. Pritzker's housing plan that calls for relaxing zoning restrictions.

From Capitol News Illinois: Advocates are calling for the General Assembly to pass the POWER Act to regulate data centers before the legislative session ends on May 31

From Capitol News Illinois: Growing pessimism over the direction of the global economy is leading budget analysts for the governor’s office and Illinois’ legislature to temper revenue expectations

From Capitol News Illinois: JB Pritzker sent a letter to U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Tuesday, urging the release of $1 billion in broadband infrastructure funds previously allocated to Illinois

From Capitol News Illinois: A Cook County judge on Monday pushed off her scheduled ruling on whether to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate alleged abuses by federal immigration agents during last fall’s “Operation Midway Blitz.”

From Capitol News Illinois: Eight months after a federal immigration agent shot and killed a man in the earliest days of “Operation Midway Blitz,” the Illinois State Police has opened an investigation into the fatal shooting

From Capitol News Illinois: Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and an army of suburban mayors descended on Springfield on Wednesday to call on the General Assembly to boost funding for local governments

36 districts are under review as the Justice Department examines opt-out policies and classroom content surrounding gender and sexuality, with the potential for probes to expand to bathroom and sports team access.

From Capitol News Illinois: The Illinois Accountability Commission is also sending letters to local law enforcement agencies for potential prosecution of federal immigration agents amid Operation Midway Blitz

From Capitol News Illinois: Republican candidate for governor Darren Bailey proposed changes to electronic monitoring rules, but said his plan would not call for returning to the use of cash bail. JB Pritzker blamed the judge in the case for deciding to release the man accused

From Capitol News Illinois: Senate President Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, said the Senate will not move forward with a constitutional amendment rewriting the state’s redistricting rules after a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday

From Capitol News Illinois: JB Pritzker announced Wednesday that IBM will bring its FutureNow innovation and delivery hub to Chicago’s South Side, bringing an estimated 750 new full-time jobs in supercomputing fields, such as cybersecurity, AI and data science

In dueling appearances Friday, Gov. JB Pritzker and his Republican rival in the Nov. 3 election, Darren Bailey, outlined fixes for legislation intended to anchor the Chicago Bears in Illinois

From Capitol News Illinois: Proponents of BUILD argued that the primary driver of the current housing affordability crisis is a lack of supply caused by legislative hurdles and different municipal priorities

The Illinois Municipal League put together a model resolution for the Plainfield Village Board to approve, urging state leaders to not take zoning authority away from municipalities.

For months, the Bears had sought property tax concessions, which drew pushback from local governments, and financial aid with stadium infrastructure like roads

From Capitol News Illinois: The Illinois House voted to approve a constitutional amendment that would make a new priority list for lawmakers as they redraw legislative district lines. Even if the Senate agrees to support the amendment, voters would still need to approve it

From Capitol News Illinois: A 2025 nationwide report on statewide early childhood education found that Illinois stalled in efforts to expand preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds. A flat budget for the upcoming fiscal year may further stall Illinois’ progress

Illinois lawmakers took a major step toward keeping the Chicago Bears from moving to Indiana on Wednesday night. The Illinois House passed a Bears-backed megaprojects bill by a 78-32 vote that would help the team build a new stadium in Arlington Heights

From Capitol News Illinois: JB Pritzker signed an executive order Tuesday barring state employees and elected officials from using information obtained in their official capacity to place bets on prediction markets like Polymarket and Kalshi

From Capitol News Illinois: Democrats are also considering asking voters to approve a millionaires tax amendment in November, but it’s not clear if they will be able to pass that resolution before a May 3 deadline

The Illinois State Board of Elections released final vote totals Friday in the March 17 primary. Here are the results for McHenry County races.

From Capitol News Illinois: A federal judge on Monday officially closed the book on a lawsuit filed against the Trump administration last fall when the White House ordered 500 National Guard troops to Chicago as the “Operation Midway Blitz” mass deportation campaign escalated

The Illinois State Board of Elections released final vote totals Friday in the March 17 primary. Here are the results for Kendall County races.

The Illinois State Board of Elections released final vote totals Friday in the March 17 primary. Here are the results for Kane County races.

The Illinois State Board of Elections released final vote totals Friday in the March 17 primary. Here are the results for DuPage and suburban Cook county races.

Almost 10,000 more people voted Democratic in the March primary in McHenry County. Was that simply indicative of more competitive races on that side of the aisle, or a bigger political shift?

From Capitol News Illinois: The Illinois House and Senate approved hundreds of bills this week ahead of a Friday deadline, including a plan proposed by Gov. JB Pritzker to limit cell phones in schools

From Capitol News Illinois: Public school teachers in Illinois may soon have to add Latin Americans to the list of ethnic groups whose contributions to American history and culture must be taught in class

From Capitol News Illinois: The bill would also require social media platforms to have default privacy settings for minors that would stop addictive feeds, location sharing and transactions with digital currency

From Capitol News Illinois: In its most recent version, the bill would require elementary and middle schools to implement a bell-to-bell ban, while high schools could allow students to use their cellphones during breaks and lunch