Under the Dome

On this week’s episode of the Under the Dome podcast the State Journal-Register’s Bernard Schoenburg and Doug Finke work remotely to bring you the latest updates on Illinois' response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This week they talk about Gov. Pritzker signing the $43B Illinois budget which includes borrowing $5 billion from from a federal reserve program designed to help states during the pandemic and Pritzker calls for police accountability, more community investment at a roundtable in Springfield while visiting young organizers of Black Lives Matter protests.

On this week’s episode of the Under the Dome podcast the State Journal-Register’s Bernard Schoenburg and Doug Finke work remotely to bring you the latest updates on Illinois' response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This week they they talk about Gov. JB Pritzker's response to the protests throughout the state in response to the death of George Floyd by law enforcement and they also try break down what the Illinois General Assembly managed to pass in the budget while they were in session during the COVID-19 pandemic.

On this week’s episode of the Under the Dome podcast the State Journal-Register’s Bernard Schoenburg and Doug Finke work remotely to bring you the latest updates on Illinois' response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This week they talk about how Gov. JB Pritzker and his Chicago office staff will be working from home after a senior staff member in the governor’s office tested positive for COVID-19 and they also break down what it means economically for Springfield after the governor announced that it was 'highly unlikely' that the Illinois State Fair would happen this year.

On this week’s episode of the Under the Dome podcast the State Journal-Register’s Bernard Schoenburg and Doug Finke work remotely to bring you the latest updates on Illinois' response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This week they breakdown Gov. JB Pritzker's five-phase regional plan to reopen the state for business, education and recreational activities.

On this week’s episode of the Under the Dome Podcast the State Journal-Register’s Bernard Schoenburg and Doug Finke work remotely to bring you the latest updates on Illinois' response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This week they the dive into the ruling from Clay County Circuit Court Judge Michael McHaney issuing a temporary injunction allowing Illinois State Rep. Darren Bailey, and only Bailey, to ignore the governor’s stay-at-home order and Gov. Pritzker's response to the ruling. The also take a look at the Workers' Compensation Commission repealing the emergency COVID-19 rule after a Sangamon County judge granted a temporary restraining order against the new rule that would have made benefits available to essential employees who contracted COVID-19 without having to prove the illness was contracted at the workplace. 

On this week’s episode of the Under the Dome podcast the State Journal-Register’s Bernard Schoenburg and Doug Finke work remotely to bring you the latest updates on Illinois' response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This week they discuss Gov. JB Pritzker considering a regional approach to reopening the state during the pandemic while weighing factors like hospital capacity in the area and Illinois Senate President Don Harmon sends a letter to Illinois' Congressional Delegation requesting $41 billion to help the state recover from the damage done to Illinois' economy during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

On this week’s episode of the Under the Dome podcast the State Journal-Register’s Bernard Schoenburg and Doug Finke work remotely to bring you the latest updates on Illinois' response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This week they take a look at Gov. Pritzker's announcement that the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission has approved new rules that will provide automatic workers’ compensation benefits to some essential workers, House minority leader Jim Durkin spoke on behalf of lawmakers receiving daily constituent calls about difficulties applying for unemployment benefits and lastly Comptroller Susana Mendoza issued a list of what the state has been spending on the COVID-19 pandemic that currently totals $174 million.  

On this week’s episode of the Under the Dome podcast the State Journal-Register’s Bernard Schoenburg and Doug Finke work remotely to bring you the latest updates on Illinois' response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This week they dive into Gov. Pritzker's announcement that the state has acquired the former Vibra Hospital for an alternative COVID-19 care facility, Pritzker scoffs at the suggestion that the best way to fight the virus is to let people contract it and build up a herd immunity and lastly they jump into what the legislature might be able to accomplish and when they might actually come back in for session. 

On this week’s episode of the Under the Dome podcast the State Journal-Register’s Bernard Schoenburg and Doug Finke work remotely to bring you the latest updates on Illinois' response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This week they dive into Gov. Pritzker extending the stay at home order to the end of April, he acknowledges his budget proposal is out the window at this point and the projected spending plan will need revisions, what will legislators focus on when they are able to come back to the Statehouse including the budget and ethics reforms, a US bankruptcy judge rules against Bill Brady and his brothers and lastly how is the COVID-19 pandemic going to effect the Census in 2020.

On this week’s episode of the Under the Dome podcast the State Journal-Register’s Bernard Schoenburg and Doug Finke work remotely to bring you the latest updates on Illinois' response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This week they dive in to the latest numbers for Illinois cases of COVID-19,  Gov. Prtizker's announcement that the state is extending the income tax filing and payment deadline and a new package of emergency assistance programs to benefit small businesses in need, totaling more than $90 million. 

On this week’s episode of the Under the Dome podcast the State Journal-Register’s Bernard Schoenburg and Doug Finke work remotely to bring you the latest updates on Illinois' response to the COVID-19 pandemic. They dive into how Gov. Pritzker and the state have responded to the crisis as well as how this is effecting the operations of state government and what this means fiscally for the state's budget with the possible losses in sales tax revenue. Lastly, they dive into the results from the Illinois Primary Election, which at this point feels like it was a year ago. 

On this week’s episode of the Under the Dome podcast the State Journal-Register’s Bernard Schoenburg and Doug Finke discuss the ongoing efforts to combat the coronavirus across Illinois; Rep. Tim Butler and Rep. Avery Bourne are calling for an outside audit and suspension of the state’s automatic voter registration program, following another system glitch; four Illinois sheriffs have filed suit in federal court to overturn the state’s Trust Act they believe interferes with law enforcement’s ability to deal with undocumented immigrants.

On this week’s episode of the Under the Dome podcast the State Journal-Register’s Bernard Schoenburg and Doug Finke discuss the upcoming Illinois primary in the wake of Super Tuesday, the Illinois House GOP believes efforts to enact property tax relief have stalled in the General Assembly, how Illinois and Gov. Pritzker are responding to the novel coronavirus with public health officials in Illinois reporting that a fifth person in the state has been infected and lastly the Illinois Municipal League voices their concerns over Gov. Pritzker's plan to hold 5% of income tax revenues for local governments in reserve in case the graduated income tax isn't approved by voters in November.

On this week’s episode of the Under the Dome podcast the State Journal-Register’s Bernard Schoenburg and Doug Finke discuss the results of an early poll showing which candidate is leading going into the Illinois primary, Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich skips a hearing dealing with his law license and what that means for his future practicing law, Illinois Sheriffs go the Statehouse to make their case about a new policy that they say "aids and abets" undocumented immigrants.

On this week’s episode of the Under the Dome podcast the State Journal-Register’s Bernard Schoenburg and Doug Finke get into Gov. JB Pritzker's budget address including a large portion of spending increases that could be reduced or outright disappear if voters don’t approve the graduated income tax proposal in November. They also touch on President Trump commuting the prison sentence of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

On this week’s episode of the Under the Dome podcast the State Journal-Register’s Bernard Schoenburg and Doug Finke discuss what to expect from Gov. JB Pritzker's upcoming budget address, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is scheduled to meet with Illinois House Republicans in regards to the tax structure for a Chicago casino, Illinois lawmakers push for a "Fair Maps" redistricting amendment, how the field for the primary election for the democratic presidential nominee is shaping up in Illinois and Illinois Supreme Court Justice and former Chicago Bears kicker Robert R. Thomas announces his retirement.

On this week’s episode of the Under the Dome podcast the State Journal-Register’s Bernard Schoenburg is solo as Doug Finke has the day off, so he breaks down the week that was in Illinois politics starting with Gov. JB Pritzker making the case that Illinois should take the spot as the nation's first primary election in the wake of vote-counting debacle around the Iowa caucuses. He also dives into the current legislative session with hearings being held on the problems with the automatic voter registration system and the announcement that the state logged $39.2 million of adult-use recreational marijuana sales in January.

On this week’s episode of the Under the Dome podcast the State Journal-Register’s Doug Finke and Bernard Schoenburg discuss the programming error the occurred in the Secretary of State’s office that inadvertently led to more than 500 possible non-U.S. citizens being registered to vote, Senator Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, was elected as the 39th president of the Illinois Senate on Sunday after hours of behind-the-scenes negotiations, Gov. JB Pritzker to sign bill capping insulin costs and his upcoming State of the State address. 

On this week’s episode of the Under the Dome podcast the State Journal-Register’s Doug Finke and Bernard Schoenburg discuss the resignation of Illinois Director of Agriculture John Sullivan after it was revealed he had received the controversial 2012 email from former top lobbyist Mike McClain, who are the front runners going into Sunday's election for a new Illinois Senate President and why former U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, and former Republican member of Congress, says he will "absolutely not" vote for President Donald Trump in 2020.

On this week’s episode of Under the Dome the State Journal-Register’s Doug Finke and Bernard Schoenburg discuss lawmakers from both parties calling for an investigation of a 2012 email exchange between a government insider and then-Gov. Pat Quinn’s staff regarding a possible cover-up of rape and other criminal activity, the draft report prepared by the property tax relief task force formed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker, how the rollout for the sale of legal marijuana went in Illinois and where the current race for Senate President stands going into a vote on January 19th.