(SPRINGFIELD) A conservative branch of Illinois Republicans, mostly from the downstate area, is calling out the party’s House leader. The Illinois Freedom Caucus, made up of six State Representatives and one State Senator, is accusing House Minority Leader Tony McCombie of playing “silly games” after she denied several services at the Capitol for those not voting for her as leader. Some of the services the group say they are being denied are access to their state websites, emails, and email newsletter services, plus access to all social media sites, audio, and visual services, along with press release services and more.
(SPRINGFIELD) The Capital Development Board has announced more than $60 million in investments to address deferred maintenance projects for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. The funding will focus on five areas across the state with the projects to include essential repair work, such as water and wastewater systems, trail and bridge replacements, and site preservation efforts. State Parks, like Lake Murphysboro & Starved Rock will see improvements that officials say will provide many benefits to the public.
(SPRINGFIELD) Hunters in Illinois harvested a preliminary total of 170,758 deer during all 2024-2025 archery and firearm seasons which ended two weeks ago yesterday, January 19th. That is nearly 10,000 more deer than the 160,313 total harvested for all seasons the previous year. Here’s the breakdown by seasons of the preliminary numbers according to the DNR :
- archery hunters – 73,598 deer over three and half month archery season
- youth hunters – 4,057 deer during three day youth deer season
- firearm hunters – 82,496 deer during the seven day regular season
- muzzleloader hunters – 2,832 deer during the muzzleloader-only three day season
- firearm hunters – 7,775 deer during the late-winter antlerless-only and CWD deer seasons
For more on all the numbers and other details go to the dnr.illinois.gov website online.
(VANDALIA) The Vandalia Statehouse State Historic Site in nearby Fayette County will be celebrating Abraham Lincoln’s birthday over the next several days. A free event this Sunday afternoon, February 9th, at 2:00 will feature a local historian will present the program “The Lincoln Boys in the Whitehouse” to be presented in the Supreme Court Room on the first floor of the Statehouse in Vandalia. Then next Wednesday, February 12th, the Statehouse will be open for tours during normal hours with refreshments at both times. The Vandalia Statehouse served as the Illinois State Capitol Building from 1836 to 1839.