McCaskill meets with Lance Cpl. Josef Lopez, center, and his mother

WASHINGTON — When U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Josef Lopez returned to his Missouri home three years ago in a wheelchair, the result of spinal damage caused by an adverse reaction to a…

Blunt

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Former Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt was in Springfield today, addressing a free-market think-tank about how Illinois might make its government spending and operations more “transparent.”

Blunt ushered in the Missouri Accountability Portal during his tenure, giving Missourians easy access…

Steele

Steele KSGF

Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele might have to do some fence mending with his candidate for Senate in Missouri.

Steele was a guest last week on the Springfield, Mo.  radio show of Vincent Jericho, who was criticizing U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt’s…

Blunt

Update: So much for that. The Springfield News-Leader reports that the advertising company has been reversed by its national office, which says politics should not have played a role in the decision.

A liberal advocacy group is learning it’s not…

UPDATE: 1 p.m.: The crowd here has swelled to the point that Capitol security has barred more people from entering the building. Quinn addressed the demonstrators a little while ago, in a short, passionate speech loaded with the familiar Abraham Lincoln references…

SECOND UPDATE, 12:25 P.M. SATURDAY - The House Revenue Committee just approved a two-year version of Quinn’s tax hike (from the current 3 percent to 4.5 percent flat-rate, to automatically revert back to the 3-percent rate in 2011). It passed…

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - About 200 dentists were in Springfield today, pushing legislation to increase state funding for dental care around Illinois.

How would they pay for it? You guessed it: A soda-pop tax.

The legislation they’re seeking would tack a 5 percent…

Haine

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - One more update on the Illinois medical marijuana issue: We were expecting another committee hearing on the subject today, but it was postponed until next week, without explanation. I just caught up with the sponsor, Sen. Bill…

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Proponents of legalizing medical marijuana in Illinois will unveil a television advertising campaign this week, the latest shot in an increasingly hot political battle over the issue.

The ad campaign - to be formally announced in a Statehouse…

Bedell

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Are Illinois lawmakers so anxious to squeeze more state revenue out of gambling that they’re trying to circumvent debate on the issue?

That’s the claim of Anita Bedell, a Springfield anti-gambling lobbyist. She contacted me today to say she…