SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - The state Senate just approved the use of marijuana for medical use by a razor-thin margin after an hour-long debate.

The measure by state Sen. William Haine, D-Alton, passed 30-28 after tottering on the verge of failing until…

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - The Illinois Senate unanimously approved a measure Thursday that would prevent future state officials convicted of a crime or impeached and removed from office from profiting off their crimes.

The measure, House Bill 4078, overwhelmingly passed the state…

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - The Illinois state Senate is expected to take up state Sen. William Haine’s proposal to legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes sometime tomorrow.

As always, things could change.  But the latest we’ve heard from Haine, an Alton Democrat, is…

Sen. Roland Burris, D-Ill.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - The clumsy partisan dance continues over whether to hold a special election in Illinois to replace U.S. Sen. Roland Burris, the Democrat who is under fire because he allegedly didn’t come clean about his…

Pluto

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - The Illinois Senate, by a unanimous vote, has just granted “full planetary status” to Pluto (the permanently frozen deep-space object, not the cartoon dog).

Turns out the guy who discovered Pluto in 1930, astronomer Clyde Tombaugh, was born in…

McCarter

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Expect St. Clair County Board member Kyle McCarter to bring some of his familiar fiscal conservatism to Springfield when he officially takes his seat Wednesday as the Illinois Senate’s newest member.

McCarter, 46, a Lebanon businessman, has been appointed to…

Senate President John Cullerton at today

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Perhaps inevitably, the impeachment trial of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is getting political.

The state Senate Republican minority — who presumably want the highly publicized Senate trial of the Democratic governor to go on for…

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SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - David Ellis, the legislative attorney who is acting as prosecutor in the removal trial of Gov. Rod Blagojevich, is taking written questions from senators about his decisions as to what he will introduce…

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - We’re less than two hours away now from what promises to be a surreal political spectacle: Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, administering the oath of office to the new roster of state senators who will soon decide whether to…

Watson

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Illinois state Sen. Frank Watson, R-Greenville, the minority leader in the chamber, returned to the Senate floor this morning for the first time since his Oct. 17 stroke.

Watson, 63, appeared in good health, telling reporters he is…