Amanda Vinicky
Amanda Vinicky moved to Chicago Tonight on WTTW-TV PBS in 2017.
Amanda Vinicky covered Illinois politics and government for NPR Illinois and the Illinois public radio network from 2006-2016. Highlights include reporting on the historic impeachment and removal from office of former Gov. Rod Blagojevich, winning a national award for her coverage of Illinois' electric rate fight as a result of deregulation, and following Illinois' delegations to the Democratic and Republican national political conventions in 2008, 2012 and 2016.
She interned with WUIS in graduate school; she graduated from the University of Illinois Springfield's Public Affairs Reporting program in 2005. She also holds degrees in journalism and political science from the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign.
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Fallout continues from the standoff between the Republican governor and Democrats — focused heavily on the future of unions. And Tuesday is a key deadline to see if a resolution can be reached.
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Illinois is entering its fourth month without a budget. While there's a fight over ideology, it has also become a battle of wills — pitting the Republican governor against the state House speaker.
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Scandinavian immigrants developed an ingenious way to feed large groups of people on the cheap: fish boils. More than 100 years later, the tradition — and the spectacle — lives on. -
The budget expires on Tuesday and there's no sign of agreement on a new one. It's the first time in a dozen years that the solidly Democratic legislature has had to deal with a Republican governor.
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The city council voted not to pay to build flood walls this year. With the Mississippi River expected to crest on Thursday, residents are hoping the walls they've built themselves will hold.
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Competition and compassion meet on the field in Springfield, Ill., Saturday, when two central Illinois high school football teams face off for a spot in the state championship. One team is a perennial powerhouse, but the other is from a town that was all but destroyed by a tornado one week ago. -
Illinois' pension gap is estimated at $83 billion — and it costs $12.6 million more every day the state does nothing to address the crisis. The state can't readily come up with the money, and while politicians say they want to help, they're unlikely to act during an election year.
