The Plainfield East Bengals defeated the Hononegah Indians to book their ticket to the state championship game.

The first members of the Hall of Fame will be bands REO Speedwagon, Chicago, Cheap Trick, Ides of March and The Buckinghams; bluesmen Buddy Guy and Muddy Waters; deejays Dick Biondi and Larry Lujack; Chicago radio powerhouse WLS-AM; and Chess Records, a Chicago blues label founded by two brothers who immigrated from Poland.

We have come so far and made much progress over the past 18 months. And have much to look forward to. We don’t want to revert to where we were.

The bill expands limitations on fundraising efforts, preventing lawmakers from holding campaign fundraisers across the state on any day the General Assembly is in session.

The Illinois budget was passed on mostly partisan lines. There’s nothing new there. Those in power get to choose how to spend the money. Another constant was the timing of the budget. Despite having four months to work on the budget, lawmakers didn’t get the final draft until early in the morning the day they were to vote on it.

The bill would allow the Illinois Attorney General to use statewide grand juries to investigate cases of public corruption among other changes

Those elected at the Consolidated Election are now being sworn in, and the Shaw Local News Network Editorial Board has some advice for you.

A sizable number of Illinois residents don’t want to live here anymore and it’s not because of the weather, given how many have fled to Wisconsin, Iowa and Indiana. We face a mountain of problems created by our state’s leaders. The loss of a congressional seat just exposes our wounds.