Congratulations to all the winners of our districtwide 2019 Hometown in the Heartland photo contest. The winners include Grace Mund of Odell, Jennie Kearney and Anniah Barker from El Paso,…

School construction task force to meet again Earlier this year I was appointed to the School Construction Task Force, which has been meeting to examine the status of state funding…

We recently met with officials from several east central Illinois counties to help provide information about land banks, their purpose and how they could help with economic development. It was…

State Police—in the midst of deadliest year in history – remind drivers to move over The Illinois State Police have compiled maps of incidents such as squad car crashes and…

On Wednesday I was proud to be joined by Vermilion County State’s Attorney Jacqueline Lacy in the House Judiciary-Criminal Committee. She came to Springfield to testify in support of House…

Get Covered Illinois health insurance open enrollment now underway The open enrollment period for the Get Covered Illinois health insurance marketplace is underway from now until December 15. The marketplace…

Representative Lindsay Parkhurst and I met in Chebanse on Wednesday with Fire Chiefs Jay Hanson and Tim Kent as well as the Illinois Department of Transportation and the State Police…

Legislation introduced for pension consolidation Legislation has been filed to consolidate more than 600 police and firefighter pension funds in Illinois. The legislation, Senate Amendment 1 to Senate Bill 616,…

Illinois has been the home of four Presidents. Two of them are honored with statues at the state Capitol. I propose to add a third: Ronald Reagan, Eureka College Class…

Ethics reform, athlete compensation lead fall session agenda The short fall session of the legislature, also known as the “veto session,” started the first of its two scheduled weeks on…