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Newspaper articles are usually your best bet for information (and sometimes analysis) of issues either at the state level, or a particular state's take on it. For issues affecting all states or a more generalized discussion, try magazine or journal articles. (Click on link above to access databases for magazine/journal articles.)
A good policy analysis magazine for Illinois is:
- Illinois Issues [print JK5701.I47, in REF and Level 3] - monthly magazine on state politics from UIS
If you are looking for newspaper articles from a particular state, try:
- LexisNexis Academic -- Defaulted to Quick News Search; general, current events, or business news from newspapers, or from popular or trade magazines; for an individual state, go to Guided News Search, then to News, then U.S. News, then narrow to Illinois (or any of the other 49 states); covers 10 Illinois newspapers and equivalents for other states
- NewsLink - hyperlinks to over 4,000 U.S. newspapers, arranged by state. This would work for current news, usually back 1-2 weeks.
Policy/Think Tanks Publications
These sources are worth exploring, since they are geared to state-level policy.
- Council on State Governments - Nonpartisan advisory group. Covers state policy issues, news affecting state governments. You may browse recent news articles, view policy resolutions. Must subscribe to access some databases.
- National Conference on State Legislatures - Nonpartisan advisory group. Covers current news affecting state governments, databases of state legislation on various issues. Can get an overview of how various states are dealing with state issues. Must subscribe to access some content
- National Governors Association - Covers "best practices" reports on a variety of policy issues; news and federal legislation affecting states, and can browse their reports
- Stateline.org - Pew Center of the States website. Covers state policy issues; news by state. Offers summaries of state news, overviews of more general issues
- Suggested State Legislation [print REF JK2431.C6x] - published annually from the Council of State Governments, offers draft versions of legislation on a wide variety of issues (available online to registered staff members)
More national-level think tank publications:
- PolicyFile (1990-present) - Indexes and abstracts public policy publications from organizations, universities, think tanks, etc. back to 1990. Over 32,000 records. If available online, a URL is provided
Background Information
If you just need some quick facts:
- Almanac of Illinois Politics [REF JK5730.A44, latest issue at Information Desk] - basic info on legislators, their policy interests, rankings by organizations
- Book of the States [latest REF JK2408.B6, back issues on Level 4] - biannual publication from the Council of State Governments, offers comparative statistics, trends and directory information for state governments
- First Reading [print DOC.IL Y4.L52/2:11] - 3 issues a year, with an annual summary of major bills, by the Legislative Research Unit
- Illinois General Assembly - links to info about Representatives and Senators
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