Gov. Bruce Rauner recently announced he will sign controversial abortion funding expansion House Bill 40 into law, which critics say will increase the number of abortions from the reported 22,892 in Cook County in 2015.

The Alsip Fire Department recently received the 2016 Life Safety Award for its fire safety efforts in the community.

The recently passed public school funding measure, Senate Bill 1947, is slated to provide targeted property tax relief to certain sections of Illinois, including several school districts in South Cook County.

A new public school funding bill recently passed by the Illinois Legislature, SB1947, includes a scholarship program that would award donated funds to students in lower-income families — up to 300 percent of the federal poverty level — to provide them the opportunity to attend private schools.

South Cook County's 63 school districts will receive an extra $26.47 million this year if the Illinois House accepts Gov. Bruce Rauner's version of a school funding bill, according to an analysis by the Illinois State Board of Education.

Acting manager of AmeriCorps’ Illinois-based programs, the Serve Illinois Commission on Volunteerism and Community Service (Serve Illinois), recently reported $17.5 million in federal grants for AmeriCorps members.

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Two nursing homes in South Cook County have been cited by the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) for violations of the Nursing Home Care Act in the second quarter of 2017.

South Cook County taxpayers will see a total of $219 million in state income tax increases after SB 9, a tax hike measure, passed the Democrat-controlled Illinois State Senate to become law.

In a rushed vote today, the Illinois Senate approved a set of three budget bills that raise taxes and outline $36 billion in spending.

The Illinois General Assembly is looking to pass a bill that earmarks $166.5 million for various projects in lawmakers home districts across the state.

South Cook County taxpayers would see a total of $219 million in state income tax increases if a tax hike measure passed by the Democrat-controlled Illinois State Senate becomes law.

Senate Bill 1, a bill that would affect school funding, passed the Illinois Senate last week. According to an analysis by the Illinois State Board of Education and obtained by South Cook News, 13 South Cook schools would lose some of their funding while 46 schools would see an increase.

Without the help of Republicans, Senate Democrats voted Tuesday to fix the budget by raising the Illinois income tax and expanding the sales tax.

South Cook County schools would be net winners of state funding under a bill that passed the Illinois State Senate on Wednesday.

A recent analysis by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which owns this publication, found almost 50,000 duplicate voter registration records, representing Illinois residents who are registered multiple times.