Brian Mackey

A new report is trying to calculate a more realistic tally of what crime costs in Illinois. 

The report looks at recidivism — that is, people who get out of prison and are convicted of a new crime. That happens to nearly half of Illinois' inmates within three years of getting out.

Illinois prison officials are being accused of letting a transgender inmate be harassed and assaulted.
 

Strawberry Hampton is 27 years old, and her lawyers say she’s lived as a woman since the age of 5. But the Department of Corrections classifies her as a male, named Deon Hampton — in keeping with Hampton’s birth certificate.

That’s meant housing Hampton in a series of all-male prisons.

Attorney Alan Mills, with the Uptown People’s Law Center, says Hampton has repeatedly been assaulted, by both guards and inmates.

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner says he does not agree with President Trump’s initial statements on Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Trump on Monday seemed to accept Russian denials about interfering in the 2016 election. That's despite American intelligence agencies concluding numerous hacks were a Russian government operation.

“We should not be defending (the) Russians’ behavior,” Rauner says. “Putin is a brutal dictator. The Russians are not our friends.”

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner on Tuesday vetoed legislation that would have gotten the state out of the controversial Crosscheck voter identification program.

The Interstate Crosscheck System is meant to identify voters who are double registered.

But an analysis by academics at Stanford, Harvard and Microsoft found one Crosscheck purging strategy would eliminate 300 legitimate voters for every one double voter.

Illinois U.S. Senator Dick Durbin says he has some tough questions for President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee. But he also says he hasn’t made up his mind.

Durbin says that’s not just from Kavanaugh’s 12 years on the federal bench, but also his many years as a lawyer in the executive branch of the government. He says that part of Kavanaugh's career could yield up to one million documents.

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan is investigating fast food restaurants over hiring practices.

At issue are so-called no-poaching agreements. That’s where restaurant franchisees are prohibited from hiring people away from other franchise owners.

So, for example, someone who works at Bob’s Burger King cannot go down the street and get a job at Jim’s Burger King.

In a telephone interview, Madigan said this is particularly hard on low-income workers.

A decision from the U.S. Supreme Court Thursday gives more power to states to collect taxes on Internet sales. It could be a boon to Illinois, but not as much as in other states.

As shopping shifted away from physical stores and onto the Internet, sales taxes began evaporating, too.

But Carol Portman, who runs the Taxpayers’ Federation of Illinois, says the state has been in a relatively good position on this issue.

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner was asked Tuesday whether he would support a shorter prison sentence for Rod Blagojevich.

President Trump told reporters last week he thought Blagojevich was “very unfairly treated” and was thinking about commuting the former governor's 14-year sentence.

Asked about that, Rauner did not take a position one way or the other.

Illinois U.S. Sen, Dick Durbin says Rod Blagojevich should have gotten a shorter prison sentence.

Ever since last week, when President Trump said he was thinking about commuting the former governor’s sentence, many Illinois politicians have refused to talk about it.

That’s what current Gov. Bruce Rauner did Monday.

But Durbin was unequivocal.