Next Energy LLC had asserted an Illinois state moratorium on oil and gas fracking permits, coupled with a thicket of new drilling rules, amounted to an unconstitutional taking of lease and property rights, locking out drillers looking to invest potentially billions into an economically struggling part of the state.
A split Illinois Supreme Court has given the green light to downstate prosecutors to proceed with pressing a criminal case against a man charged with violating a state licensing law governing the business of timber buying, even though the court's dissenting members noted the supposed criminal charges may not exist in the state law cited by prosecutors.
An appeals panel has affirmed a lower court’s decision the sellers of land to a west suburban forest preserve district gave up their rights to enforce a covenant to block ComEd from stringing power lines across that land, when they granted the Illinois Department of Natural Resources power to override covenant restrictions.
The former vice president of finance and operations for the National Hellenic Museum in Chicago has lost, for now, his attempt to sue the museum for allegedly wrongfully terminating him, after he claims he brought to light financial improprieties at the museum and a museum staff member claimed he stalked her.
A couple has sued Cook County, Cook County Assessor Joseph Berrios and Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas for allegedly failing to properly assess their property for tax purposes.
A state appeals panel has brushed aside an effort by a group of downstate landowners and other opponents of fracking to block from taking effect state rules to regulate the oil and gas extraction process, needed to allow the state to begin issuing fracking permits.
