Illinois
Best of #StateReads: Abuse Suits Against Scouts Hinge on State Laws
This week’s collection of #StateReads details how state statutes of limitation affect the ability of sexual abuse victims to sue the Boy Scouts of America; explores the ins-and-outs of the booming medical marijuana business in Colorado; and outlines how write-in candidates prevent many Florida voters from determining their state legislators. These examples of extraordinary journalism […]
Heat Wave, Budget Cuts Strain Utility Safety Net
(AP) Faced with a July in which triple-digit temperatures and a historic drought left many of Illinois’ most vulnerable citizens struggling to keep cool, the state decided to step in. But with no regular cooling assistance program or emergency federal dollars available, options were limited. So Illinois borrowed more than $10 million from its winter […]
Illinois Passes on Pensions, Boots Lawmaker
Illinois lawmakers emerged from a special session Friday (August 17) with one fewer lawmaker and no plan to address the state’s soaring pension obligations. Despite Governor Pat Quinn’s late efforts to float anything — even a watered-down proposal — past the gridlocked legislature, lawmakers in both parties refused to take the bait. As a result, […]
States Crack Down on Mental Health Prescriptions
In the past two years, Illinois has done just about everything it could to reduce the amount it spends on prescription drugs for mental health. It has placed restrictions on the availability of 17 medications used to treat depression, psychosis and attention-deficit disorder. Doctors now have to explain to Medicaid why the drugs are necessary […]
Best of #StateReads: Illinois Fails to Investigate Abuse and Neglect in Deaths of Disabled
This week’s collection of #StateReads looks at the failure of an Illinois agency to investigate the deaths of disabled patients who suffered from abuse and neglect, the methods payday lenders use to avoid New York’s usury laws, and the sudden attention paid by Kentucky mine inspectors toward a mine that had been closed by the […]
Illinois Gov. Quinn Unveils $1.6 Billion in Transit Projects
Illinois Governor Pat Quinn Tuesday set in motion more than $1.6 billion in new transportation projects, an effort his office says will create 20,000 jobs and relieve both vehicle and rail traffic congestion across the state. The measure also invests nearly $800 million in additional state funds to help relieve one of the country’s worst […]
Best of #StateReads: California Diverts Funds From 9-11 Plates
This week’s collection of #StateReads details how California is diverting money from its September 11th memorial license plates to areas other than homeland security, how Illinois legislators feathered their own nests when rewriting pension laws and how a political spat could keep 200 candidates off the June 12th South Carolina ballot. These examples of extraordinary […]
Illinois Rushes to Finish Budget, Medicaid and Pension Changes
What may be the nation’s most fiscally troubled state is in the middle of a fateful week. Illinois legislators are racing to approve a new state budget and changes to the state’s Medicaid and public employee pension systems ahead of their scheduled adjournment tomorrow. On Medicaid, legislators already approved $1.6 billion in cuts last week. […]
Registry Catalogs Over 2,000 Exonerations Nationwide
After four days of police interrogation in October 1992, then-19-year-old Juan Rivera confessed to the rape and murder of 11-year-old Holly Staker in Waukegan, Illinois. Rivera was sentenced to life in prison for a crime that DNA later proved he did not commit. In 2011, Rivera was exonerated after serving 20 years in prison, becoming […]
Best of #StateReads: Illinois’ Busy Fundraising Circuit
This week’s collection of #StateReads includes articles on a one-night flurry of political fundraising in Illinois, the personal stories that swayed Republican lawmakers on same-sex marriage and a national trend of questioning solitary confinement. These examples of extraordinary journalism about state government were recommended in tweets using the #StateReads hashtag on Twitter and in email submissions to […]
Illinois Governor to Deliver Grim Budget Proposal
While some states are increasing their spending levels for the first time since the recession began, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn will be presenting a much less optimistic scenario when he unveils his fiscal 2013 budget on Wednesday. Quinn, a Democrat, will call for the closure of several state facilities, including a “supermax” prison that opened […]
Illinois Tightens Medicaid Without Federal Approval
The 2010 federal health law has a so-called “maintenance of effort” requirement, which expressly prohibits states from doing anything that would reduce the number of people who qualify for Medicaid. But it’s not clear whether the ban includes measures aimed at winnowing out people whose incomes are too high or who don’t actually live within […]