Here's a roundup of recent political news:
- As Democrats battle scandal, there's one trouble spot President Barack Obama has stayed away from: his home state of Illinois.
- Running for Obama's old Senate seat, Rep. Mark Kirk is set on derailing the president's plans.
- He's from the same state and from the same party as they are, but the president still hasn't been able to convince some Illinois Democrats to back the final health care measure.
- Lawmakers and judges in Illinois might need to wait longer to retire and collect on their pensions.
- A bill crafted by Illinois U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin was supposed to equalize penalties for possession of crack cocaine versus cocaine in powder form. But he's fine with a "bipartisan" compromise: a penalty 18 times as large for those who carry crack than for the whiter, richer folks who carry powder.
- Illinois' experiment with one of the earliest primaries in the country has come to an end. The state will now hold primary elections in late March, rather than freezing early February.
- A federal judge refused to delay the June 3 corruption trial of former Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
- U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, one of Obama's staunch Chicago supporters, says he'll vote against the president's health care bill. He says the bill leaves out immigrants, producing "a change for the worse."
- Faced with DNA evidence that Asian carp have moved into Lake Michigan, the U.S. Supreme Court will reconsider whether to close two Chicago-area locks to the Great Lakes.
- Illinois House Rep. Ron Stephens as been charged with driving under the influence. The Greenville Republican is an assistant minority leader.
