Eye On The Statehouse Podcast

Columbus Dispatch senior editor Darrel Rowland speaks about campaign contributions in Ohio. During this episode of the Buckeye Forum politics podcast Rowland provides a snapshot of the top 16 donors in the state and give details on each of them.Top 16 donors: #1$2.31 million Virginia “Ginni” Ragan, Columbus  #2$2.24 millionFrances, John and David Pepper, Cincinnati#3$1.90 millionBoich family, Columbus, Miami Beach#4$1.34 millionRatner family, Cleveland area#5$913,000Leslie and Abigail Wexner, New Albany#6$904,000Karen Wright and Thomas Rastin, Mount Vernon#7$869,000Bill Lager, Columbus#8$838,000Geraldine and David Warner, Cincinnati#9$820,000Ronald Wilheim, Cincinnati#10$704,000Lindner family, Cincinnati#11$681,000Donald and Gayle Oeters, Cincinnati#12$607,000Richard W. Pogue, Cleveland#13$529,000Lee and Patti Schear, Dayton#14$522,000Anthony and Becky Alexander, Akron#15$495,000David Maltz, Cleveland#16$441,000Richard and Katherine Rosenthal, Cincinnati

On their final episode of the Under the Dome Podcast the State Journal-Register’s Bernard Schoenburg and Doug Finke take a walk down memory lane to reminisce over their 70 years of combined coverage of Illinois politics for the State Journal-Register.  

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 from the Illinois Statehouse and Illinois' response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This week they break down the indictment of Michael McClain, one of Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s oldest and most trusted confidants, along with three others that are charged with orchestrating an elaborate bribery scheme with utility giant Commonwealth Edison. They also take a look at what this all means for his tenure as speaker as more House Democrats say that can't support Madigan for another term as speaker.

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 from the Illinois Statehouse and Illinois' response to the COVID-19 pandemic. On this week's episode they break down the cancellation of the fall veto session and what it means for the Illinois Legislature as COVID-19 spreads across the state. 

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 from the Illinois Statehouse and Illinois' response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Doug and Bernie have survived election night and are breaking down the results and what it all means for Illinois. The results have top Illinois Democrats, including Gov. JB Pritzker, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, saying that the party should consider replacing House Speaker Michael Madigan as chair of the Democratic Party of Illinois. They also dive into Gov. Pritzker saying that “deep and painful cuts” are coming to the Illinois budget now that his plan to bring a graduated income tax to the state has failed.

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 from the Illinois Statehouse and Illinois' response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This week they discuss the Illinois High School Association rejecting Gov. JB Prtizker's order to move high school basketball to the Spring after the sport was reclassified as high risk for COVID-19 transmission. They also discuss that in the same week nine of the 11 regions in Illinois will have COVID-19 mitigation measures put in place as the state smashed the previous record for the number of new cases in a 24-hour period with 6,363 cases as the virus surges across the state. 

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 from the Illinois Statehouse and Illinois' response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This week they discuss the rising numbers of COVID-19 cases across all of Illinois and mitigations being put in place by Gov. J.B. Pritzker in four regions in the state. Gov. Pritzker has also said the Illinois State Police have been alerted to be on patrol in areas with coronavirus mitigation efforts in place. They also dive into election messages heating up as political advertisements are bombarding the airwaves and mailboxes. 

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 from the Illinois Statehouse and Illinois' response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This week they discuss Sangamon County Circuit Judge Raylene Grishow giving attorneys until Oct. 23 to submit final paperwork that could be used in her decision on arguments for three issues, the biggest being whether lawsuits filed in six counties challenging Pritzker’s authority to issue stay at home orders and other measures to fight the coronavirus pandemic should be dismissed. They also look at the issue of the graduated income tax amendment on the ballot and how that factors into the size of the state's workforce in arguments for or against the change in tax rates. 

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 from the Illinois Statehouse and Illinois' response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This week they discuss the announcement by Rep. Emanuel “Chris" Welch, D-Hillside, delaying the hearings into House Speaker Michael Madigan until after the November election to prevent the committee from being used “as a stage for political theater.” They dive into the continuing battle for the graduated income tax amendment including this week's canceled press conference by State Treasurer Michael Frerichs to "address misinformation" about taxing retirement income. 

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 from the Illinois Statehouse and Illinois' response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This week they discuss the House committee investigating Speaker Michael Madigan showing strong partisan divisions after arguing over whether House Republican Leader Jim Durkin of Western Springs would be allowed to give an opening statement or question witnesses as it investigates Madigan's role in the bribery scandal involving Commonwealth Edison. They also discuss the announcement from Rep. Stephanie Kifowit that she will challenge Speaker Madigan for leadership of the chamber, trying to unseat the longest serving speaker in the history of the country.

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 from the Illinois Statehouse and Illinois' response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This week they discuss Gov. Pritzker standing firm on the decision to delay fall sports that are high risk for COVID-19 to the spring despite rallies of supporters in Chicago and Springfield. They also take a look at where the state stands financially as state agencies have been ordered to identify steep budget cuts that can be made if Congress fails to come through with more COVID-19 relief money.

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 from the Illinois Statehouse and Illinois' response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This week they take a look at the new coronavirus mitigation rules put into effect for Kankakee and Will counties by Gov. Pritzker and the controversy over why they were stricter than those put in place for the Metro East area. They also look into the conflict over prisoners with COVID-19 and the State's policy of not allowing them to be transferred from county facilities to state facilities while infected. 

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 from the Illinois Statehouse and Illinois' response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This week they reminisce about covering former Gov. James R. Thompson, the state's longest serving governor from 1977 to 1991, who passed away last Friday. They also take a look at the decision of the board of the Office of the Architect of the Capitol to remove the statues of Stephen Douglas and Pierre Menard from the Illinois Capitol grounds and what that means for the other artwork and statues inside the Capitol. 

Dispatch political reporters Rick Rouan and Randy Ludlow recap the opening night of the online Democratic National Convention on the latest episode of the Buckeye Forum. During this episode we discuss what speakers John Kasich, Michelle Obama and Bernie Sanders all had to say during Monday night’s digital DNC.

Dispatch political reporters Rick Rouan and Anna Staver discuss how things are going to be very different at this year’s Democratic National Convention. During this episode we talk about how this digital DNC will impact Ohio’s Biden delegates as they watch this convention from their homes. Finally, we mention how this virtual convention is now a series of nationally broadcast speeches, Zoom lunches, and conference calls.

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 from the Illinois Statehouse and Illinois' response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This week they take a look at Democratic lawmakers in the House and Senate proposing a nine-bill package of ethics legislation that they want the General Assembly to take up during the veto session later this year. They also break down Gov. Pritzker announcing new emergency rules for businesses to enforce rules requiring face coverings and limiting crowd sizes or they could face fines of up to $2,500 if they fail to do so. 

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 from the Illinois Statehouse and Illinois' response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This week they break down Gov. JB Pritzker traveling across the state to sound the alarm on the resurgence of COVID-19 cases including launching a $5 million mask awareness campaign.

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 from the Illinois Statehouse and Illinois' response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This week they break down Gov. JB Pritzker announcing the state will be "restricting youth and adult recreational organized sports," including changes to high school based sports. They also discuss members of the Illinois General Assembly calling for Illinois Speaker of the House Michael Madigan to resign in the wake of the alleged bribery scheme by ComEd.

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 from the Illinois Statehouse and Illinois' response to the COVID-19 pandemic. This week they dive into federal prosecutors in Chicago charging utility giant Commonweath Edison with bribery. They allege that the utility awarded jobs and contracts to associates of a top state official, that was identified as Illinois Speaker of the House Michael Madigan, “with intent to influence and reward” the official.

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 from the Illinois Statehouse and Illinois' response to the COVID-19 pandemic. On this episode they breakdown Gov. Pritzker's announcement that Illinois will be divided into 11 regions rather than the four in the original Restore Illinois plan so that mitigation efforts can be focused on areas where the virus is spreading the fastest.