The SAFE-T Act is again generating controversy following the killing of a Chicago Police officer whose alleged shooter critics of the law say was only out of jail because of the state’s pretrial laws. While Republicans say the law needs to be changed to make it easier to hold a person in custody while they await trial, others say the judge who allowed the suspect’s release had the authority to detain him but made the wrong decision.

A bill to strengthen privacy protections for transgender and abortion patients passed a Senate committee Wednesday in a 9-4 partisan vote. Senate Bill 4834, would remove testosterone from the state’s Prescription Monitoring Program, which otherwise exists to protect against misuse of addictive controlled substances. It would also prohibit the Department of Human Services from adding estrogen, abortion medications mifepristone and misoprostol, and drugs commonly referred to as hormone suppressants to the program.

In an unusual move and at the request of the defendant, a judge on Wednesday set a jury trial to determine the fitness of a Sycamore man accused of murder in his parents’ violent deaths. A jury of his peers will rule whether Kevin A. Schmidt, 35, is fit to stand trial on four charges of first-degree murder after his parents, Holly S. Schmidt, 59, and Gary A. Schmidt, 60, were found beaten to death at their home in unincorporated Sycamore on Sept. 30, 2025.

The names of seven new associate judges, selected in a vote of Cook County Circuit Court judges, were announced by Marcia M. Meis, Director of the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts. Ballots listing the names of 14 finalists, chosen from 74 interviewed applicants, were distributed to 265 circuit judges. Ballots were due on April 27.

A recent Loyola University study on the impact of the Pretrial Fairness Act across judicial systems in Illinois has revealed interesting data about McLean County detainees.

Former U.S. attorney for northern Illinois Patrick Fitzgerald is representing former FBI Director James Comey in his second indictment by the U.S. Justice Department under President Donald Trump.

“Costco is poised to be paid twice for the same unlawful tariff burden: once by its customers (through elevated prices) and once by the U.S. government (through tariff refunds),” according to the complaint.

A judge on Wednesday sided with Illinois State University and refused a request by union officials to bar the use of temporary workers during an ongoing strike.

Senate President Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, told Capitol News Illinois that Senate Democrats decided not to call an amendment that passed House last week after the U.S. Supreme Court dealt a hefty blow the federal Voting Rights Act. If approved by voters, it would have rewritten the state’s redistricting rules.