Illinois News

SPRINGFIELD, Ill (Reuters) - Illinois lawmakers unveiled a plan Sunday they believe can fix the state's huge pension crisis, but labor unions blasted the proposal and vowed to sue to protect their benefits.

The Illinois women’s basketball team looked to its leader Sunday in a 79-73 big Ten Conference victory over Ohio State. Karisma Penn scored a career-high 34 and grabbed 12 rebounds for the Illini. The win was Illinois’ first at Ohio State since 2001, and snapped the Buckeyes’ 31-game home win streak.

Editor’s note: This continues a series of reports on what happened in Southern Illinois 150 years ago during the Civil War. Reports will appear on days of significance to Southern Illinois – known at the time as Egypt.

November news was woeful, with Peabody Energy’s Willow Lake coal portal mine shutdown in Saline County resulting in 400 workers getting let go. And 50 or more American Coal mine workers in Galatia were laid off.

Illinois football coach Tim Beckman says he has fired co-offensive coordinator Chris Beatty.

Seth Tuttle and James Anthony scored 19 points each as Northern Iowa defeated Illinois State 70-60 on Saturday night.Marc Sonnen added 16 points for the Panthers (8-7, 1-2 Missouri Valley), who have won seven of their last 10 games at ISU.

Know a great community volunteer? The Illinois governor's office is looking for nominees for the fourth annual Governor's Volunteer Service Awards.

Illinois football coach Tim Beckman announced today that co-offensive coordinator/quarterback coach Chris Beatty has been let go.

The stalling of Illinois' gay-marriage push - at least for now - shows the difficulty of approving legislation to legalize it, even with a nudge from the home-state president, steadily rising support in the polls and national momentum from the November elections.

CARBONDALE — Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s Illinois Small Business Development Center/International Trade Center will offer a series of workshops for those interested in starting a new business or considering enhancing or expanding an existing enterprise.

Illinois is in the midst of one of its worst influenza seasons in recent memory.

CHAMPAIGN — One day after being out-toughed in a 68-61 loss at Purdue, coach John Groce rounded up his University of Illinois basketball players and put them through a gauntlet of high-intensity rebounding drills.

SPRINGFIELD—Since her first day on the floor of the Illinois House, two-term state Rep. Deborah Mell has built a legislative career where her family and politics have intersected. Her first vote came on Jan. 14 2009, the date when the House impeached her brother-in-law, former Gov. Rod Blagojevich. She was the only member in a 117-1 decision to vote against his impeachment. “The charges in the ...

SPRINGFIELD Ill -- The Illinois House is preparing for its lame duck session this weekend following very little progress by the Senate.

You may have started 2012 determined to boycott the tollway after rates nearly doubled, but you just couldn't break the habit, new statistics reveal. Though transactions were down last year, they didn't dip as much as expected. And the agency still received a 42 percent boost in revenues, data shows. The percentage of decline for passenger vehicles was only 4 percent, dipping from 682 million ...

Illinois is currently experiencing one of its worst influenza seasons in recent memory.

Illinois may lose some clout in the U.S. House as the new session of congress starts.  This year Illinois has 18 representatives, the smallest Illinois delegation in the last hundred years, thanks to new Census numbers. With Jesse Jackson Jr.’s seat up for grabs, Illinois also has the largest percentage of freshmen in the last 40 years, about one third. But newly elected U.S. Representative Brad ...

SPRINGFIELD — The Illinois Senate on Thursday again endorsed a limited fix to the state’s massively underfunded retirement systems, but it remains unclear if any significant pension reform legislation will emerge during the legislature’s lame-duck session.

SPRINGFIELD — There’s not enough support in the Illinois Senate to impose tough new restrictions on semiautomatic weapons and high-capacity ammunition clips.

SPRINGFIELD, Illinois (Reuters) - A panel of Illinois lawmakers voted on Thursday to send legislation legalizing gay marriage in President Barack Obama's home state to the floor of the state Senate, setting up a possible vote on the issue next week.