Crews are hanging holiday lights over the Illinois capitol dome today... a week after the Secretary of State Jesse White announced there wouldn't be any because of the budget impasse. The lights are back on ... thanks to a council of the local carpenters', laborers' and operating engineers' unions offered to pay the 73 hundred dollar power bill.
Brad Schaive, with the laborers', says the unions wanted to help bring goodwill to the community. Some see the gesture as an attempt by unions to goad Governor Bruce Rauner, who has been pushing for union-weaking measures. His insistence that they pass -- and Democrats' insistence that they don't -- is largely responsible for the gridlock. Schaive says that isn't unions' intent. The Secretary of State's office has also stopped sending vehicle registration expiration warnings by mail. You can sign up online to get a notice via e-mail.