The Illinois Senate passed a $38.5 billion state spending plan Wednesday, and as the midnight budget deadline looms, the House is expected to take up the measure Thursday.
The budget includes $172 million for the Obama Presidential Center and $53 million down payment on fixes to the Illinois Veterans’ Home in Quincy, where 13 people died in recent years from outbreaks of Legionnaires disease.
Democrats and Republicans in Springfield have said they want to avoid confrontation and a showdown of the last budget cycle when lawmakers were at an impasse for two years, and they seem to be headed in that direction.
Morning Shift digs into the latest from Springfield.
GUEST: Dave McKinney, WBEZ state politics reporter