Hospital officials in Illinois say they will have to make some difficult decisions in the next few years that could involve laying off staff, cutting back services and even closing some facilities entirely. That’s the expected result of federal funding cuts built into the recently passed domestic policy bill that President Donald Trump signed into […]
PETER HANCOCK, Capitol News Illinois
Peter Hancock joined the Capitol News Illinois team as a reporter in January 2019.
Before that, Hancock covered Kansas state government for much of the past two decades. For the previous 4 years, Hancock had been the statehouse reporter for the Lawrence Journal-World. He provided year-round daily coverage of the Kansas Statehouse, state government, appellate courts, elections and Kansas’ congressional delegation. He previously worked for 8 years as a statehouse reporter for Kansas Public Radio, and with the Kansas Health Policy Authority and the Kansas Education Policy Report.
In Kansas, Hancock spent the better part of 20 years working in both print and broadcast journalism. He graduated from the University of Kansas with bachelor’s degrees in political science and secondary education. Although he was born and raised in the Kansas City area, he has deep family roots in central and southern Illinois.
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Illinois bill aims to lower cost of prescriptions, rein in pharmacy benefit managers
A bill that seeks to control the rising cost of prescription drugs while also offering financial help for many small, independent pharmacies in Illinois cleared the General Assembly May 31 and has been sent to Gov. JB Pritzker for his signature. The bill, known as the Prescription Drug Affordability Act, would put new regulations and […]
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Advocates seek support for drug price control board
A consumer advocacy group continued its push this month to drum up support for legislation to establish a state board to regulate the price of many prescription drugs in Illinois. Citizen Action/Illinois, along with other groups, convened a town hall meeting in Rockford Oct. 8 – the fifth in a series of such meetings the […]
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Illinois expanding Medicaid to nonmedical services
Many people enrolled in the state’s Medicaid program will soon be eligible to receive a host of nonmedical services that could improve their overall health, including housing and nutrition assistance, violence prevention services, and services to help them transition out of incarceration. Under a new policy that the Biden administration launched last year, state Medicaid programs can […]
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Thompson Center sale finalized with Google to be building’s lone occupant
By Peter Hancock, Capitol News Illinois After years of failed efforts that spanned multiple administrations, the state has finalized the sale of the controversial James R. Thompson Center in Chicago to a company that will make it the new Chicago home of tech giant Google. Gov. JB Pritzker made the announcement during a news conference […]
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Illinois announces first $24 million in Back to Business grants
By Peter Hancock, Capitol News Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s administration on Thursday announced the awarding of the first $24 million in “Back to Business” grants, a program funded with federal relief aid to help businesses recover and reopen from the pandemic. The announcement took place at a Mexican restaurant in the Little Village neighborhood of […]
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New jobless claims surge in Illinois
By Peter Hancock, Capitol News Illinois More than 107,000 Illinois workers filed first-time unemployment claims last week, a 45% increase over the week before as the COVID-19 pandemic continued to wreak havoc on the state and national economies. The Illinois Department of Employment Security reported that there were 107,616 new claims filed during the week […]
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Pritzker warns of looming crisis if jobless programs aren’t extended
By Peter Hancock, Capitol News Illinois phancock@capitolnewsillinois.com Gov. JB Pritzker warned Monday of another looming economic crisis for the state and nation if Congress does not act soon to reauthorize extended unemployment benefits for people displaced from their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “I can’t overstate the implications of this,” Pritzker said during his […]
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Restaurants push back as 10th region placed under mitigation
By Peter Hancock, Capitol News Illinois phancock@capitolnewsillinois.com Illinois restaurant owners are asking Gov. JB Pritzker to rethink the state’s efforts to control the spread of COVID-19 as yet another region was placed under enhanced mitigation measures on Friday. “We want to collaborate with the state of Illinois on a different path, one that addresses the […]
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Lawmakers probe barriers to Black business development. Access to capital, state contracting cited as significant hurdles.
By PETER HANCOCK, Capitol News Illinois phancock@capitolnewsillinois.com Black-owned businesses in Illinois face significant barriers to growth and opportunities that would enable them to compete with their white-owned counterparts, a problem that many Black leaders say is directly tied to Black unemployment rates and the deterioration of Black neighborhoods. That was the message state lawmakers heard […]