Prairie State Wire

Guilty plea but no bail revocation for driver in Cottrell's hit-and-run death

By W.J. Kennedy | Jan 27, 2020

Jose Rodriguez, an illegal immigrant from Honduras, remains free on bail after pleading guilty to the hit-and-run death last June of 39-year-old Corey Cottrell of Normal, a father of two.

Property Tax Relief Task Force poised to miss another deadline

By W.J. Kennedy | Jan 22, 2020

The Property Tax Relief Task Force, an 88-member legislative leviathan, missed one deadline for presenting its final recommendations for property tax relief in Illinois, and it’s about to miss another for putting those recommendations into action.

Illinois businesses await guidelines for new sexual harassment-training law

By W.J. Kennedy | Jan 21, 2020

Employers in Illinois are anticipating an increase in lawsuits stemming from a new sexual harassment-training law, and three weeks into the new year they still await guidance from the state on how best to comply.

Senate GOP Leader Bill Brady said to have voiced private support for abortion funding, gun control legislation

By W.J. Kennedy | Jan 17, 2020

Former high-level aides to Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner has revealed that Senate Republican Leader Bill Brady (R-Bloomington) told the then governor he was right for signing HB 40 in September 2017, the law requiring Medicaid funding of abortions. At a separate meeting, Brady also recommended that the governor sign gun control bills should they reach his desk.

Students running afoul of the law now eligible for grants under new RISE act

By W.J. Kennedy | Jan 14, 2020

A controversial new Illinois state law provides financial aid to two groups of prospective college students.

Reports: Illinoisans continue to flee, taking their tax dollars with them

By W.J. Kennedy | Jan 8, 2020

In ever-higher numbers, Illinois’ tax-weary residents are staking their futures in other states, recent reports by Wirepoints and the Reason Foundation show.

McSweeney jumps into Brady/Plummer dispute over gaming interests while watchdogs urge ethics reform

By W.J. Kennedy | Dec 16, 2019

State Rep. David McSweeney (R-Barrington Hills) pumped more life into a dust-up between two legislative colleagues over the limited disclosure required of lawmakers with financial interests in the gaming industry.

Illegal immigrant charged with killing Normal’s Corey Cottrell free a month before victim’s family learns he’s out

By W.J. Kennedy | Dec 12, 2019

The legal system is compounding the grief of the family of Corey Cottrell, the 39-year-old Normal resident struck and killed in Bloomington last June 22 by a van allegedly driven by illegal immigrant Jose Rodriguez.

Moody's Analytics: Other states fattening reserves in booming economic times, but not Illinois

By W.J. Kennedy | Dec 6, 2019

Illinois bests only Louisiana in its ability to take a fiscal hit in a moderate, or in a severe recession, according to Moody’s Analytics Stress-Testing States 2019.

Co-chairing of Ethics and Lobbying Reform Commission by lawmaker/lobbyist Sims raises questions

By W.J. Kennedy | Dec 2, 2019

The irony of state Sen. Elgie Sims (D-Chicago) recently being named co-chair of the newly created Joint Commission on Ethics and Lobbying Reform hasn’t gone unnoticed.

'Terrible verdict' in Planned Parenthood undercover video case sets up promising appeal, pro-life attorneys say

By W.J. Kennedy | Nov 19, 2019

Attorneys with the pro-life legal group, the Thomas More Society, said that the “terrible verdict” on Friday in the federal racketeering (RICO) case brought by Planned Parenthood in California against David Daleiden and other undercover reporters is nonetheless a sign of a promising appeal, if not a potentially drawn out one.

Market downturn could wipe out Illinois' public pensions, Wirepoints fiscal analysis warns

By W.J. Kennedy | Nov 13, 2019

Even an unprecedented 10-year growth in the market can’t rescue Illinois’ struggling public pension plans.

In Springfield, family ties bind lobbyists, lawmakers

By W.J. Kennedy | Nov 12, 2019

It was a rainy February Tuesday evening in Springfield, and lobbyist Matthew O’Shea was treating State Rep. Robert Rita (D-Blue Island) to dinner.

'One big mushy gray area' when it comes to Illinois lawmakers cashing in on side deals, good government advocate says

By W.J. Kennedy | Nov 5, 2019

Nearly non-existent prohibitions against state lawmakers making money on the side are the root cause of a string of recent corruption charges against lawmakers and investigations into their money-making schemes, a good government advocate says.

Court's showing of news report on fetal body parts harvesting hurts Planned Parenthood's case, lawyers say

By W.J. Kennedy | Oct 24, 2019

Attorneys with the Chicago-based Thomas More Society were elated when a federal judge on Tuesday permitted jurors to view an ABC News “20/20” episode that defendant David Daleiden said was the inspiration for his own undercover films into the harvesting of fetal body parts.

Wirepoints: Raising Illinois taxes will drive even more taxpayers away

By W.J. Kennedy | Oct 23, 2019

Bankrupt Illinois needs precisely what it has less and less of – taxpayers.

From East Central Reporter

Gloves will be off at Coles County hearing tonight over cooked up property tax assessments, watchdog says

By W.J. Kennedy | 3 months ago

Illinois’ leading government watchdog is predicting a showdown tonight during a legislative hearing in Coles County over a move by the county to increase its borrowing power by artificially inflating property values.

Illinois families of those allegedly killed by illegal immigrants are in Washington to demand change

By W.J. Kennedy | Sep 23, 2019

Members of Advocates for Victims of Illegal Alien Crime (AVIAC), a nationwide grassroots group that includes a number of Illinois residents, are in Washington D.C. this week, lobbying Congress for change – including closing loopholes that allow some alleged offenders, who are here illegally, to escape prosecution.

Investigation into aborted remains in the hands of pro-life Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill

By W.J. Kennedy | Sep 19, 2019

An Illinois pro-life leader said that he was encouraged that Will County authorities turned the investigation into more than 2,200 aborted remains discovered in abortion provider’s Ulrich Klopfer’s garage over to the Indiana Attorney General.

Plea deal discussed for immigrant in country illegally charged in hit-and-run death of Normal’s Corey Cottrell

By W.J. Kennedy | Sep 12, 2019

The family of 39-year-old Corey Cottrell, the Normal resident who was struck and killed in June by a van allegedly driven by, Jose Rodriguez, who was in the country illegally, is alarmed that a plea deal could be in the works in the hit-and-run case.