State

ST. LOUIS – A second Illinois prosecutor has decided to let his county’s residents carry concealed weapons even as the governor weighs whether to allow it statewide, reflecting surging impatience among local law enforcement months after a federal court tossed out the state’s last-in-the-nation ban.

SPRINGFIELD – Illinois transit advocates want to tie a tax on gasoline to the price at the pump as part of an aggressive fundraising effort to get a toehold on what they say are rapidly deteriorating roads, rails and bridges.

CHICAGO – Metra officials say they're stepping up police patrols for the northern Illinois commuter rail.

SPRINGFIELD – Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan is planning a fresh vote on his plan to overhaul the public-employee pension system, despite a request by the governor for compromise with the Senate.

CHICAGO (AP) — The lions outside the Art Institute of Chicago are wearing Chicago Blackhawks colors.

CHICAGO (AP) — Authorities say one man died and another was rescued from the Calumet River on Chicago's far South Side.

Update 8:51 p.m.: The National Weather Service extended the tornado watch for McHenry County and 10 other Illinois counties to 11 p.m.

JONESBORO — Authorities in southern Illinois' Union County are trying to locate a man who got away with drugs after they say he used a knife to rob a nursing home.

ST. LOUIS – A top corrections official pledged swift action following a report that shows Illinois’ imprisoned juveniles report more incidents of sexual abuse behind bars than young inmates in almost every other state.

CHICAGO – Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner said Democrat Bill Daley’s decision to run for governor in 2014 “doesn’t hold much promise for fixing our serious problems.”

CHICAGO (AP) — Gov. Pat Quinn's campaign says the Chicago Democrat is focused on working for the people of Illinois, not on politics.

CHICAGO – Former White House chief of staff Bill Daley announced Tuesday he is forming a committee to explore running for governor in 2014, saying Illinois deserves political leaders who are prepared to fix the state's unemployment, pensions and education woes.

CHICAGO – If Gov. Pat Quinn signs recently passed legislation legalizing medical marijuana, some say it will raise serious questions on everything from the hiring and firing of job applicants to the use of a federally controlled and illegal substance in hospitals, nursing homes and hospices.