Kimberly Lightford

— The push to pass a more restrictive concealed carry measure stalled late last week as support began to drop off before a key vote in the Illinois Senate. The legislation represents the latest attempt to address a federal appeals court order...

To address a devastating pattern of elementary-grade absenteeism in Chicago Public Schools and across the state, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Gov. Pat Quinn have thrown their support behind legislation to lower Illinois' compulsory attendance age from 7 to 6 or...

It won’t be easy for Democrat Gov. Pat Quinn to find enough lawmakers to vote for the minimum wage increase, what with business groups pronouncing it a “job killer.” But the best news for Quinn is that key Democratic lawmakers...

The cartoon image in my mind's eye today is of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, his schools chiefJean-Claude Brizard and various public education reform advocates standing in a semicircle, their clothes and faces speckled with the sooty residue of an explosion. Their....

The Illinois Senate today overwhelmingly approved the elimination of a century-old legislative scholarship program that has come under federal investigation and long been abused by politicians who passed out the tuition waivers to relatives and the...

The Illinois Senate today voted 32-20 to require that students in kindergarten through fifth grade get at least 20 minutes of recess. Schools also would be permitted to require recess for 6th through 8th grades. The bill also seeks to block teachers...

Lawmakers who want to end an often-abused legislative scholarship program were hopeful for a breakthrough after a top leader in the Illinois Senate got on board today. Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago changed his position from wanting to reform...

Posted by Ray Long and Monique Garcia at 9:45 p.m. SPRINGFIELD — The Illinois Senate tonight sent a budget to Gov. Pat Quinn, but are holding out hope to spend a little more on education and social services. Senators approved......

Posted by Ray Long at 2:50 p.m. SPRINGFIELD ---State lawmakers today started to clarify who gets to weigh in should the Chicago Teachers Union ever decide to pursue a strike vote. At the heart of the matter was the wording......

From Judge Ann Claire William's dissent in Friday's 2-1 Federal Appellate Court ruling (.pdf) in Sherman v. Koch upholding an Illinois law mandating that public school students begin their day with a moment of silence: Let’s call a spade a......

Posted by Ray Long and Todd Wilson at 2:10 p.m.; updated at 4:59 p.m. SPRINGFIELD --- Sweeping education reforms that would make it tougher for teachers to strike and easier for districts to fire poor teachers and lengthen the school......

Editor's note: The following story was set to run in Monday's paper. It even briefly made an appearance on the home page Sunday night. And then the Osama bin Laden news hit and it ended up on the cutting-room floor.......