This article in The Chicago Tribune is by Rick Pearson, Dan Petrella and Bill Ruthhart. Here is an excerpt:

Illinois Democrats are turning the spring session into a partisan tour de force, wielding their power to push legislation aimed at maintaining their control of Springfield, rewarding their allies and advancing social policies.

With supermajorities in the House and Senate under two new Democratic leaders, the moves bring home to Illinois the hyperpartisan divides of Washington as both parties move further toward catering to their extremes.

For Republicans who looked at the January departure of Michael Madigan — the embattled state Democratic Party chair and the nation’s longest-serving House speaker — as an opportunity for a fresh start, the session has been a rude awakening.

Here is an link to the article.