Jan. 8 marked the end of the 100th General Assembly in Springfield, and almost certainly the end of any chance at transparency in contract negotiations between Illinois school districts and the all-powerful, politically connected teachers’ unions, says an outgoing legislator.

Legalization of recreational marijuana use in Illinois will almost certainly lead to a sharp increase in the number of motorists driving stoned, studies and surveys in states where pot is legal show. In Colorado, at least, fatal accidents shot up at an alarming rate during a period when legal adult use began in late 2012 followed by sales in 2014. From 2013 to 2015, traffic fatalities there rose 40 percent.

Late last month, the Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS) announced it needed an additional $400 million from Springfield next fiscal year, which begins July 2019.

Economic data and a statewide survey of registered voters show that high taxes and a negative view of a state’s economy are the leading reasons why people pack up and leave their state for another.

An election guide posted on the Communist Party USA’s (CPUSA) website said that the party is “deploying its resources” to unseat U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.), as part of a larger effort to flip 24 Republican seats the Democrats need to capture control of the House.

One of the state’s most respected fiscal watchdogs is warning taxpayers to be on the lookout for legislation in Springfield that would give new life to the practice of “pension spiking” for public school teachers.

“I have been vindicated and the matter is now closed,” state Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie) said in a statement issued on Sept. 5 after an investigation cleared him of harassment allegations.

Illinois has mastered the art of gaming the federal food stamp program to where 101 of its 102 counties continue to fall under a recession-era expansion of the program despite near record-low unemployment levels, according to a recent study by the Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA).

State Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton) surveyed cities and school districts in her legislative district asking how they plan to comply with June's U.S Supreme Court ruling that abolished 40 years of compulsory unionism.

Lobbying clients of Shaw Decremer, a former aide to House Speaker Michael Madigan, did not respond to requests for comment on allegations of harassment involving their influence peddler in Springfield.

A former aide to House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago) has maintained a healthy stable of lobbying clients five months after Madigan's office supposedly cut ties with him over multiple allegations of sexual harassment.

Chicago's Morreale Communications is certified as a Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE), meaning that it’s listed among other minority firms that by law must receive a certain percentage of any contracts bid out by the Illinois Tollway.

At a recent immigration rally in Chicago, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) goose-stepped in line with the rising far left of the Democratic Party and insulted the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE), calling them a “group of incompetents" during a CNN interview.

Rent control initiatives in Springfield were stranded when the 2018 regular legislative session ended on May 31, but landlords and property managers in Illinois anticipate a more aggressive push when the General Assembly convenes in January 2019.

Former Exelon Chairman John Rowe is playing into the hands of Democratic congressional leaders by threatening to cut off campaign funds to Republican congressmen if they refuse to sign a discharge resolution forcing a vote on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and other immigration reform bills, CNN political commentator Steve Cortes told Prairie State Wire.

Gov. Bruce Rauner is asking Illinois lawmakers to reinstate the death penalty under a burden of proof never before used in American courts.

In a surprise move, Republican state chairman Tim Schneider and his challenger, Mark Shaw, chairman of the Lake County Republicans, struck a deal to serve as state co-chairmen just a few days before party elections.

The latest skirmish in the campaign victims rights activist Denise Rotheimer is waging, nearly single-handedly, to give rights to accusers in sexual harassment charges within the General Assembly erupted before the House Task Force on Sexual Harassment and Discrimination recently.

John McGlasson can empathize with Bob Winchester and his ongoing fight in the 15th congressional district to get a true counting of the votes in his contentious battle with state Sen. Chapin Rose (Mahomet) for State Central Committee.

Two Republican state senators, Jason Barickman (Bloomington) and Chris Nybo (Elmhurst), voted for legislation that would require lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) lessons in the Illinois public schools, and the head of the Illinois Family Institute (IFI) promises their constituents are going to hear about it. Repeatedly.