By Benjamin Yount | Illinois Statehouse News SPRINGFIELD — Illinois’ most competitive, and perhaps most telling, race for Congress is far from Chicago. The 12th Congressional District, which runs along the Mississippi River from Metro East to the southernmost tip of the state, is now at the center of attention for Republicans and Democrats. The [...]

By Benjamin Yount | Illinois Statehouse News SPRINGFIELD — The soybeans are still standing in Dan Farney's fields in Tazewell County, but they won't be for long.

By Benjamin Yount | Illinois Statehouse News SPRINGFIELD  — Almost no one wants the state running Illinois’ new health-care exchanges. Health-care advocates, unions, doctors’ groups and business people testified in unison this week before the Legislature’s rule-making body, the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability that the state should have a limited role in running [...]

By Andrew Thomason    Illinois Statehouse News   SPRINGFIELD — Despite the threat of the federal government defaulting on its debt, a handful of Illinois congressmen on both sides of the aisle voted against the plan to raise the national debt ceiling and cut trillions of dollars in spending over the next decade.

By Benjamin Yount      Illinois Statehouse News CHICAGO — The federal government says Illinois cannot ask Medicaid recipients to prove how much they earn or where they live.

By Benjamin Yount Illinois Statehouse News SPRINGFIELD  –  The nation’s top banker is watching Illinois and California with a keen eye on their unfunded obligations and unpaid debts.