With a new governor in office, Democratic lawmakers are charging ahead on legislation Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner blocked as he pursued his pro-business, union-weakening agenda.

The Illinois House and Senate voted by wide margins this week to approve a bill that would raise the legal smoking age to 21. The House also overwhelmingly approved a bill that would prohibit employers from asking job applicants about their salary histories. Those votes come after new Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a bill last month that will raise the statewide minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2025.

Illinois lawmakers are sending Gov. J.B. Pritzker a bill that would raise the legal age for buying tobacco and vaping products from 18 to 21 statewide, hoping the Democrat will put his signature on legislation his predecessor vetoed last year.

The Illinois Senate on Thursday voted 39-16 to approve the measure, which also would do away with penalties for underage possession of cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco and e-cigarettes. The House approved the bill Tuesday by an 82-31 vote.

University of Illinois students will see an increase in their health insurance costs for the upcoming academic year.

The university’s Board of Trustees set student health insurance premiums during its Thursday meeting. The steepest increase will come at the Springfield campus, where premiums will rise 63 percent, going up to $866 per semester. School officials say that’s because of an enrollment decline in the insurance plan and increases in claims. The UIS student insurance plan is underwritten by Academic Health/Blue Cross Blue Shield.

Members of the Chicago City Council are allocated $190,000 out of the city budget to hire three staffers to work in their aldermanic offices. But many aldermen feel that’s not enough to dutifully manage their wards.

Enter Ald. Ed Burke.

The next mayor should have a chief mobility officer to handle issues like ride-share regulation and self-driving cars, as technology continues to change how we get around, according to a new report.

The report from Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s mobility task force also recommends a pilot program this year for electric scooters, and an increase in the state gas tax.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel might have left money and bicycles on the side of the road when he chose Lyft to become the exclusive partner and operator of Chicago’s bike sharing program, records show.

Uber owns the dockless bike-sharing company Jump that ran a 300-bike pilot program on the South Side last year. The company offered the city 20,000 bikes in all 50 wards by May, according to a proposal shared with the Chicago Sun-Times.

Larry Goldstein, a Lake in the Hills resident who operates three vape shops in McHenry County, said during Thursday’s Lake in the Hills Village Board meeting that ordinance changes raising the age to buy tobacco and electronic cigarette products to 21 in the village makes no sense.

Not only would the ordinance hurt sales in the local businesses that sell such products, but there also are concerns about the regulation of this ordinance, Goldstein said. The ordinance also has the potential to be challenged in court, as it has been in other municipalities that have approved similar measures, he added.

Mimi Solt is bracing for the worst when it comes to plans to widen Busse Road between Central and Golf roads in Mount Prospect.

For Solt and her neighbors living along Busse, the project threatens to bring higher traffic volumes and lower property values, a trade-off they’ve rallied against with Facebook pages and petition drives.

Representatives from the Warren Township High School District 121 teachers union and the school board reached a tentative agreement at 12:30 a.m. Thursday after another daylong negotiation session, virtually ending the chance of a teachers strike.

Over the next few weeks, both the union and the school board will have to ratify the new contract.

Winnebago County Board Chairman Frank Haney’s power to help develop annual budgets and negotiate contracts would be gutted if the County Board approves a sweeping overhaul of his duties and responsibilities.

The proposal, sponsored by board member Dave Fiduccia, R-11, was approved Thursday by the Personnel and Policies Committee, which Fiduccia chairs. More discussion may come at a committee meeting next week, but the soonest the board could approve or amend the proposal is at its next meeting, March 28.

For a second time in recent weeks, the city of Belleville has decided not to replace a departing department head and instead will reorganize departments under the leadership of current employees who will get raises as part of a one-year pilot program.

Public Works Department Director Jason Poole will also oversee the Parks and Recreation Department after Debbie Belleville retires as parks director next month.