#springfield

#springfield

Good morning, Chicago.A South Side hospital has earned an F for safety, while another has clawed its way from an F to an A, according to new ratings from the nonprofit Leapfrog Group.Statewide, about 26% of hospitals earned A's, making Illinois 28th in the country for its percentage of hospitals with top scores - the same ranking as the last time grades were released in the fall.

The jury has reached a verdict in the "ComEd Four" bribery trial centered on a group of former executives and lobbyists accused of conspiring to bribe then-House Speaker Michael Madigan to advance the utility's legislative agenda in Springfield.The panel of seven women and five men announced it had reached a decision Tuesday after 4:15 p.m., court personnel said, following more than 27 hours of deliberations that began last week.

Interstate 55 reopened early Tuesday morning after a series of traffic crashes that killed six people within a two-mile stretch near Springfield during a Monday dust storm, Illinois State Police officials said.Both northbound and southbound lanes near milepost 76 were reopened about 6 a.m.Tuesday.At least 72 vehicles were reportedly involved in numerous crashes on southbound I-55 from milepost 76 to milepost 78, police said.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot sending a letter to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott reflects grandstanding and hypocrisy at its worst.She rebukes him for sending busloads of immigrants to Chicago and other "sanctuary" cities.But isn't this what we Chicagoans wanted when we declared ourselves a "sanctuary" city?

The role lobbyists play in Springfield politics took center stage Thursday in the "ComEd Four" bribery trial, where the government's star witness acknowledged on cross- examination that maintaining a good relationship with powerful House Speaker Michael Madigan was an imperative part of legal lobbying.

Shortly after being confronted by FBI agents in 2019 and deciding to cooperate in an ongoing bribery probe, then-ComEd Senior Vice President Fidel Marquez secretly videotaped a lunch meeting in Springfield with one of Speaker Michael Madigan's most trusted confidants.The FBI had instructed Marquez to ask Madigan's associate, Michael McClain, about what he should tell incoming ComEd CEO Joseph Dominguez about their scheme to funnel payments to a roster of Madigan-approved allies through a consulting company owned by Jay Doherty, a longtime ComEd lobbyist.

SPRINGFIELD - Two dozen staffers in Illinois House Speaker Emanuel "Chris" Welch's office said on Tuesday they intend to unionize in a bid for higher wages and better benefits.The staffers, members of the newly-formed Illinois Legislative Staff Association, issued a statement on Twitter saying that since Welch, a Democrat from Hillside, became speaker in early 2021, "it has been more of the same for his legislative employees."

At least six people were killed and more than 30 people were injured in crashes caused by excessive winds that blew dust onto Interstate 55 in Farmersville, Ill., on Monday morning, leading to zero visibility conditions, the Illinois State Police said.The crashes, which took place just before 11 a.m. in a rural area south of Springfield, involved about 20 commercial vehicles and 40 to 60 cars, including two tractor-trailers that caught fire, the police said in a statement.

Much has been made of a new progressive era in Illinois politics, and a series of recent public remarks by elected Chicago officials formed a triptych of the promise and the problems of being a progressive leader at this time in Illinois."The vanguard for progressive policy all over this country" is what Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson called Illinois before a joint session of the state legislature last week.

A small plane crashed near a central Illinois church filled with worshippers, injuring two men who were aboard the aircraft, authorities said.The single-engine Piper Cherokee Six crashed Wednesday night in the parking lot of Open Arms Christian Fellowship in Lincoln, coming to rest nose-down in a landscaped area with its left wing sheared off and other damage.

Schools The calls came a day after six people were killed in a school shooting in Nashville.More than two dozen Massachusetts schools were targeted by hoax calls reporting school shootings Tuesday, just a day after six people died in a school shooting in Nashville.There are no reports of injuries from the Massachusetts schools.

A measure that would allow multiple occupancy public restrooms to be labeled gender-neutral was passed by the Illinois House on Thursday with the bare minimum of votes.The bill, which now moves to the Senate, would amend the Equitable Restroom Act of 2019, which required all single-occupancy public restrooms to be available to all genders.

After a long weekend, a federal jury has returned Monday for a fourth day of deliberations in the "ComEd Four" trial of a group of executives and lobbyists who allegedly conspired to bribe then-House Speaker Michael Madigan to win his influence over the utility's legislative agenda in Springfield.

A federal jury deliberated for a third day Thursday without reaching a verdict in the "ComEd Four" trial alleging a group of executives and lobbyists conspired to bribe then-House Speaker Michael Madigan to win his influence over the utility's legislative agenda in Springfield.So far, the panel of seven women and five men has deliberated for about 15 hours over three days.

Multiple vehicle crashes with injuries have shut down a section of Interstate 55 in central Illinois amid low-visibility driving conditions due to severe blowing dust in the area, according to Illinois State Police.The crashes occurred about 11 a.m. on Monday on I-55 near milepost 76 in Montgomery County, south of Springfield.

It's crunch time in the minors.Both Boston Bruins affiliates are primed for the postseason, with their remaining regular season games proving vital for playoff seeding purposes.After an up-and-down second half so far, the Providence Bruins seem to have rediscovered their identity at the right time, winning five straight games.

The St. Louis Blues are in DC for a cross-conference matchup with the Capitals on Friday night and they're bringing a rookie starting netminder with them.Joel Hofer is that netminder and will be tasked with stopping Alex Ovechkin and crew inside Capital One Arena.Hofer was recalled from the Springfield Thunderbirds on Thursday on emergency recall status due to the suspension of Jordan Binnington.

Real Estate Non-New Englanders are flocking to the Granite State to buy a slice of heaven within an hour of Boston, the beach, and the mountains.A new real estate report ranks two New Hampshire cities among the nation's most coveted places to buy a house.On Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal and Realtor.com

After the April 4 mayoral runoff, all eyes will turn toward Chicago's foray into an elected school board, the most consequential transformation in governance of the city's public school system in a generation.In 1995, Illinois' legislature handed Mayor Richard M. Daley control over Chicago Public Schools.

SPRINGFIELD - Following the heat-exposure deaths of three seniors in their apartments on Chicago's Far North Side last year, the Illinois Senate on Thursday passed a measure requiring all state-funded affordable housing to have air-conditioning installed and controlled by residents.The measure, which applies to any housing that is financed under the state's affordable housing program, passed in the Senate by a 54-3 vote and moves to the House for consideration.

SPRINGFIELD - The Illinois House on Wednesday approved a measure that would allow the Illinois secretary of state's office to deny grant funding to public and school libraries if they ban books or fail to devise policies against removing titles from their stacks.The 69-39 party-line vote in the Democratic-led House reflected the partisan divide on the book-banning issue both in the state and nationally.

The former general counsel for Commonwealth Edison testified Wednesday that he helped allies of then-House Speaker Michael Madigan hunt down jobs in law firms and at the utility itself, including a coveted position on the company's board of directors.In one of the central allegations in the government's case, Tom O'Neill, ComEd's former chief lawyer, testified that Madigan wanted former McPier chief Juan Ochoa to get placed into a rare vacant seat on the company's board in late 2017 and that CEO Anne Pramaggiore was behind the move because Ochoa's resume came from Madigan.