The repairs are underway on the Executive Mansion’s roof.

The official residence of the governor, a few blocks east of the Capitol in Springfield, is getting an $8-12 million rehab, the first significant non-emergency work since the early 1970s. The building is about 160 years old.

Henson Robinson Company in Springfield was chosen for a nearly $500,000 roof replacement.

There is now an Executive Mansion Association, and the money is being raised privately.

In other State news, children under 18 can no longer be placed into “gay conversion therapy” in Illinois.

The legislation makes it illegal for mental health specialists to try to change the sexual orientation of minors. Mike Ziri, public policy director of Equality Illinois, says these practices have proven to be harmful.

Ziri says the ban is limited to people under the age of 18 because they were determined to be the most common targets of these therapies, and this provides protection from being placed in these programs against their will by their parents.

Illinois is the fourth state to ban the practice for minors, along with Oregon, New Jersey, and California.