Illinois House Speaker Emanuel "Chris" Welch has a warning for Mayor Brandon Johnson: getting help from Springfield this year could be an uphill battle.

Thank God we live in Illinois because, we’re already Trump-proof,” Welch told the Sun-Times. “We did a lot of the hard work the first time. … We took him at his word the first time when he said he would overturn Roe v.

The Land of Lincoln still isn't at the point where people can feel fully confident that lawmakers aren't making decisions based on who gave them political donations.

We want to be very attentive to these issues. We want to hear from the stakeholders. We want to get this right," says Speaker Emanuel "Chris" Welch.

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s continued insistence on looking to Springfield as a magical pot of gold for additional city revenue is being greeted with a stern warning from one powerful voice — Democratic House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch.

To enact his progressive agenda, Mayor Brandon Johnson is looking to Springfield for an assist, but powerful Speaker of the Illinois House Emanuel “Chris” Welch warns that money is

State lawmakers who stood in the way of recent legislation that would've regulated intoxicating hemp products have received significant campaign cash from the industry — while some backers of the proposal got money from the rival marijuana industry.

Bronzeville is on the rebound and could use infrastructure investment. Illinois as a whole needs to fix crumbling roads and bridges. But $466 million in public money to help along a $6.4 billion NFL franchise at the Michael Reese site?

In many ways, Welch’s political career has been defined by his handling of critical moments. That was especially true in January 2021, when then-Speaker Michael J. Madigan, struggling under the weight of a burgeoning corruption scandal, began losing the grip on the power he had held for most of the previous 40 years.

The change follows a Chicago Sun-Times report in 2024 that the former NFL player-turned-politician took on an "investor" role with a southwest suburban insurance brokerage firm.

State and federal legislators are preparing for the Trump administration’s plans to make Chicago “ground zero” for mass deportations.

After nine months of ham-fisted stabs at power politics, the Chicago Teachers Union’s leadership says a strike is likely. Teachers could walk off the job as early as March. The irony couldn’t be any thicker,