Illinois Issues

As national debate on government-mandated paid family leave continues, lawmakers in Illinois say they want it enacted here.

One was sold away from her children. Another was freed and became a businessman. Others were freed only to be kidnapped and sold back into slavery. These are just a few stories of people who were enslaved in Illinois.

Documents illustrate what happens when a student is put in an isolation room.

Last weekend, lawmakers elected Don Harmon to be president of the Illinois Senate. It’s been described as a bitter fight, but it has nothing on some of the conflicts from Illinois’ past, including one particularly “discreditable row” from the year 1857.

Tuesday marks one year since J.B. Pritzker was sworn in as governor of Illinois. Since then, the state has raised its minimum wage, legalized marijuana, and passed several other pieces of legislation long sought by Democrats. Pritzker marked the occasion with a series of interviews, including with our Statehouse reporter.

Advocates have ideas being hashed out by a state task force. Attorney Alexis Mansfield said her clients have told her troubling stories of what happens when small children reach the glass in a jail that separates them from a parent. “They’ll be so excited because they miss their moms terribly,” said Mansfield, who is senior adviser for children and families at the Women’s Justice Institute and a member of a state task force on children of the incarcerated. “They haven't known where they were.

A pair of laws recently enacted in Illinois were designed to take into account how children are affected by their parents' incarceration and to find ways to address their needs.

Buying and using marijuana will be legal in Illinois as of January 1. We asked top state experts what that does and doesn’t mean, and compiled their answers in this Q&A.

Once considered the new frontier of drugs and drug trafficking, synthetic cannabinoids have been around for years now and they’re becoming increasingly dangerous. More recently, authorities say dozens of overdoses in Connecticut occurred due to a drug called K-2 that was possibly laced with fentanyl.

Advocates say increasing access to hormonal contraceptives could help reduce unplanned pregnancies. One legislative proposal considered earlier this year aims to do just that by allowing patients to skip a physician's visit and head straight to a pharmacist. But it is having trouble catching on in Illinois.

Panelists in Moline joined NPR Illinois for the Seeking Solutions forum exploring the issue of residents leaving the state to move elsewhere. Panelists: Michael Glanz - Executive Director of the Arc of the Quad Cities Area Greg Aguilar - Director, Q2030, Quad Cities Chamber of Commerce Sonia Berg - Alderman-at-Large, Moline

But the quality of online coursework is one of many concerns for advocates.

The gap, caused mainly by homicides, is one of the biggest in the nation.

This is part of our election-year series, Money Machines, looking at campaign spending in the 2018 election . The first article can be found here .

Experts say billions in a multi-year plan won't go far enough to address infrastructure repairs and upkeep.