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State Week: Rauner Speaks, Nasty Debate, Veto Wrap-Up

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Brian Mackey
/
NPR Illinois

Gov. Bruce Rauner held his first news conference since losing re-election. He would not say why he thinks he and his fellow Republicans lost, but he did tell reporters he's “scared” for the people of Illinois.

Meanwhile, the legislature wrapped up its annual fall veto session, overturning the governor on a number of bills. That included legislation to raise the amount of money people can seek to recover from the state for injury, death, or other wrongdoing from the current $100,000 to $2 million.

The debate on that turned dark when Democratic state Rep. Stephanie Kifowit — choosing her words poorly, she later said — suggested injecting a “broth of legionella” into the water supply of Republican Rep. Peter Breen’s “loved one.” Kifowit at first said she’d been misunderstood, but by the next day she apologized and — with prompting from Republicans — moved to strike her remarks from the offical transcripts of House debate.

Sean Crawford hosts with regular panelists Charlie Wheeler and Brian Mackey, and guests Jaclyn Driscoll of NPR Illinois and Hannah Meisel of The Daily Line.

Brian Mackey formerly reported on state government and politics for NPR Illinois and a dozen other public radio stations across the state. Before that, he was A&E editor at The State Journal-Register and Statehouse bureau chief for the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin.
Hannah covers state government and politics for Capitol News Illinois. She's been dedicated to the statehouse beat since interning at NPR Illinois in 2014, with subsequent stops at WILL-AM/FM, Law360, Capitol Fax and The Daily Line before returning to NPR Illinois in 2020 and moving to CNI in 2023.
The former director of the Public Affairs Reporting (PAR) graduate program is Professor Charles N. Wheeler III, a veteran newsman who came to the University of Illinois at Springfield following a 24-year career at the Chicago Sun-Times.
Jaclyn has an MA in Journalism from DePaul University and a BS in History form Monmouth College. Prior to reporting, Jaclyn was a social science teacher and department chair at Greenfield High School. Previously, Jaclyn reported for WICS Newschannel 20 where she covered a variety of assignments including courts, politics, and breaking news. She also reported at Siouxland News in Sioux City Iowa, the shared CBS/Fox television newsroom. Her internships included WGN and Comcast SportsNet in Chicago.
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