The Illinois General Assembly has passed a record-high $55.9 billion budget for fiscal year 2027. The budget includes new taxes on targeted advertising services, digital assets, social media platforms and fantasy sports. It limits certain income tax carryover deductions and raises the tax on retail tire sales from $2 t...

We have showers and storms in the forecast for this morning and there is a chance of a strong to severe storm today. Our forecast for today calls for showers and storms likely this morning, then mostly cloudy skies after that with a high of 80. Then, gradually clearing skies for tonight with a low of 58. Meanwhile, th...

City of Vandalia Clerk Carla Huhn says the new "Community Connect" program will make life a lot easier for folks dealing with the city in a number of ways. Speaking on our podcast "Talking about Vandalia," Huhn says not only will you be able to make online payments quickly and securely along with a ...

Legislation to ban the use of cell phones by students from bell-to-bell officially passed both chambers in the Illinois Capitol on Sunday, sending the bill to Gov. J.B. Pritzker's desk. Having passed the Senate in April 2025, the governor urged lawmakers to move it forward before the end of this session. After months o...

State government will have power to regulate auto insurance rates under legislation headed to Gov. J.B. Pritzker's desk. The Illinois House passed Senate Bill 714 on Wednesday night. State Rep. Thaddeus Jones said the bill would bring consumer protection and affordability to residents. Giannoulias is rumored to be cons...

(Springfield, IL) -- Governor Pritzker is praising new legislation that aims to keep patient medical records related to abortion care in Illinois private. The state General Assembly approved the Reproductive Health Records Privacy Act. The bill would require health information exchanges to limit user access to systems ...

We will be mostly sunny and mild today. We will see mostly sunny skies with a high of 79. Then, partly cloudy skies for tonight with a low of 61. Meanwhile, showers and storms come into the area early Monday morning and are expected to linger until about noon on Monday. The National Weather Service in St. Louis says s...

We could see a passing shower pop up this morning. But, after that moves on, we will see mostly cloudy skies for today with a high of 81. Then, partly cloudy skies for tonight with a low of 59. Our high will be in the upper 70's on Sunday.

We will be mostly cloudy and warm today. We will see mostly cloudy skies for today with a high of 80. Then, we'll be mostly cloudy for tonight with a low of 63. We do have a slight chance of showers in the early Saturday morning hours. Meanwhile, we have some added rain chances now in our forecast for in the early mo...

The City of Vandalia is about to make things like paying your water bill or for a boat sticker a whole lot easier. City of Vandalia City Clerk Carla Huhn was the guest this week on our podcast "Talking about Vandalia." Huhn talks about the "Community Connect" program that will launch next month. Th...

State Senator Jason Plummer was part of a committee on Thursday morning reviewing the Governor's appointees to the Prisoner Review Board, appointees that Senator Plummer has been critical of in the past. During the meeting, Senator Plummer commented that when mistakes are made by the PRB then people die. He talks abo...

As part of Gov. J.B. Pritzker's Building Up Illinois Developments, or BUILD, housing proposal, a bill that could push private equity out of homeownership in the state, has progressed just before the end of the legislative season. The goal of the bill - as said by state Senate sponsor Rachel Ventura, D-Joliet - is to sh...

An Illinois lawmaker is seeking to create a law that would allow the state to take any funds paid out to an Illinois resident through the U.S. Department of Justice's $1.8 billion 'Anti-Weaponization Fund,' created as a result of a lawsuit President Donald Trump recently settled with the IRS. According to DOJ info on t...

(Champaign, IL) -- A Tennessee man is charged in the death of a retired Tilton police chief. Quamaine Fletcher faces one count of reckless homicide. Authorities say Fletcher was driving Wednesday when he hit and killed Steven Cornett on I-74 in Champaign. Cornett was working on a road-construction crew at the time of t...

(Springfield, IL) -- Illinois turkey hunters are breaking records. Turkey hunters harvested a preliminary record total of nearly 21-thousand wild turkeys during the 2026 spring turkey season. That surpasses the previous record of just over 18-thousand birds harvested last year. The top counties for turkey harvest durin...