News | Thursday, December 6,2012

Not so fast

Chemical dumping at Clinton challenged

A consortium of local governments stretching from Urbana to Bloomington is suing a Peoria-based waste company in hopes of killing a hazardous waste landfill near Clinton in DeWitt County.The plaintiff

News | Thursday, December 6,2012

Illinois laying off 18 medical regulators

Agency asking for cash infusion and fee increase

By Patrick Yeagle

Seven state workers in Springfield could lose their jobs at the end of the year as regulators scramble to cover the increasing cost of overseeing doctors in Illinois. That’s because the fund tha

News | Thursday, December 6,2012

Going to pot

Illinois a battleground for medical marijuana

By Bruce Rushton

While voters in two states have legalized marijuana for anyone over 21, Illinois legislators may take a key vote on a much stricter measure that would allow for medical use of marijuana in the land of

News | Thursday, November 29,2012

Phone a friend

United Way’s 2-1-1 telephone service offers help in crisis

By Patrick Yeagle

Karen Zangerle dials the number and waits expectantly as a young man answers with a gentle tone. Zangerle explains that her husband has lost his job and the family won’t be able to pay an upcomi

News | Thursday, November 29,2012

Education in Illinois not getting any better

Illinois students not prepared for college

By Patrick Yeagle

More than two thirds of Illinois students won’t earn a college degree. In the modern economy, that’s not good enough to compete, says education advocacy group Advance Illinois in a recent

News | Thursday, November 29,2012

No raises for unions under House resolution

Madigan sponsors measure restricting pay increases

By Patrick Yeagle

Kevin Holmes of Springfield devotes his life to caring for a young man with severe disabilities. For that full-time work – seven hours a day, seven days a week – Holmes makes just more tha

News | Wednesday, November 21,2012

Case closed

Longtime prosecutor retires

By Bruce Rushton

It didn’t take long for things to get weird when Jay Magnuson started work as a Sangamon County prosecutor.“ ‘I’ve got a doozy for you,’” Magnuson recalls a Springf

News | Wednesday, November 21,2012

Sounding praise and alarms

Pols make nice after election

By Bruce Rushton

It was tough to tell the D from the R last Friday at a joint discussion by U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin and former governor Jim Edgar.The conversation sponsored by the Citizens Club at the Hoogland Center

News | Thursday, November 15,2012

Does UIS stiff laborers?

University support staff claim pay disparity between union, non-union workers

By Patrick Yeagle

A group of union workers at the University of Illinois Springfield claims many of their non-union counterparts got raises above the university’s own limits. The workers also claim UIS pays suppo

News | Thursday, November 15,2012

Answers, please

Federal officials seek information on Carlinville mine

By Bruce Rushton

Federal environmental regulators have joined the Illinois attorney general’s office in asking why the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency transferred a pollution permit in Macoupin County,