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“The latest estimates shows that our ability to increase spending beyond the Governor’s introduced levels is limited,” said Deputy Gov. Andy Manar.
"The Illinois Tollway board has a choice. It can approve a record-setting unnecessary increase that drivers and businesses cannot afford, or it can decline the increase and recognize that Illinoisans already pay enough. Nothing will change; the state still has enough money to run road projects and has a surplus sitting in tollway reserves right now."
The lawsuit seeks to declare the Illinois Voting Rights Act as violative of the Fifteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, which would essentially cause the current map to be redrawn in compliance with the Fifteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. Former State Representative Jeanne Ives filed this lawsuit.
"This is the moment for bipartisan discipline."
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State Sen. Steve McClure said Illinois currently has the sixth-cheapest auto insurance rates in the country. “Why would we want to do anything to spoil that?” McClure asked.
“We’re not trying to completely recreate the wheel here,” said state Rep. Daniel Didech. “This is something that California and New York are already implementing and we think Illinois has an opportunity to play a leadership role in this as well, to ensure that these models are actually safe for public use.”
Pritzker's office said in a statement Monday, "At this time, there is no reason to believe there are passengers from the MV Hondius located in Illinois. However, after many days of uncertainty, the federal government still has key questions to answer." Pritzker's office went on to question why the federal government hadn't provided states with full passenger manifests from the cruise and whether Illinois residents had been exposed to hantavirus.
House Bill 4767 would create new requirements for banks and credit unions to report potential financial exploitation of elderly and disabled adults. Bank and credit union groups oppose the bill over the new requirements that would be imposed on their operations.
Justices heard arguments Tuesday in People of the State of Illinois v. Jesse Post, a case involving a man charged with sexually assaulting children in 2023 and his argument against a circuit court’s decision to keep him detained.
Illinois’ burden is driven by property, sales and excise taxes that exceed national averages and those in neighboring states.
Sesser Mayor Jason Ashmore, Des Plaines Mayor Andrew Goczkowski, Lexington Mayor Spencer Johansen, and Oak Park Mayor Vicki Scaman: "The reality is simple: Too few homes are being built. Constrained by a patchwork of outdated zoning rules and overly complex approval processes, our current system limits supply and drives up costs."
“States may not use race to allocate power,” the Public Interest Legal Foundation’s president and general counsel, John Christian Adams, said.
The lawsuit against Cook County was filed in 2022 in Chicago federal court. A separate action has been lodged against a group of other county governments, including Illinois' second and third largest counties, DuPage and Lake counties. And yet another lawsuit is pending in federal court in southern Illinois. The cases all center on one common accusation: That Illinois and its county governments have all but illegally ignored a recent landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision and continued to seize homes over unpaid property taxes.
Cahokia Mounds is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and National Historic Landmark. The site is where tens of thousands of the Mississippian people once lived. Officials announced the closure in March 2022, anticipating a $5 million project to replace old systems and a weathered roof would take a year or more.
The bill would require drivers who commit two offenses within a year to install the speed limiting device in their vehicle. Participants would also pay $30 per month into the Intelligent Speed Assistance Program Permit Fee Fund. This comes as sponsors said 75 percent of people with suspended licenses continue to drive.
Sen. Bill Cunningham said research shows texts are very effective in helping people make their court dates. The bill would require pretrial service agencies to send two reminder text messages to people on pretrial release before their required court dates.
“At this point, it seems unusual and targeted that the U.S. Department of Commerce had the capacity to complete in-depth reviews and approvals for every single state except for Illinois and California,” Gov. JB Pritzker wrote in his letter to Secretary Howard Lutnick. “Illinois families and businesses in rural areas are the ones paying the price.”
"The scale of the problem is staggering. It has been reported that Cook County alone has 72,000 active warrants, 72,000 individuals wanted by the courts and not in custody. Based on that number, a credible statewide estimate for all active criminal warrants in Illinois would fall somewhere between 40,000 and 80,000 at any given time. And here is the most troubling part: Illinois has no statewide database that tracks the true total number of active warrants. We are operating in the dark..."
Last week, Indiana's governor announced the suspension of the state's gasoline excise tax, which is 36 cents a gallon. On top of that, he also extended the usage tax suspension for another 30 days, which is 23 cents for the month of May. Between those two suspensions, Hoosiers will save nearly 60 cents per gallon at the pump this month, about a 12.4 percent discount per fill-up. The suspension is expected to cost the state of Indiana at least $100 million in tax revenue.
“We have seen tremendous increases in state-level funding, but it hasn't translated into any sort of decreases for property tax funding either,” state Rep. Blaine Wilhour said. “Should we just expect property taxes to increase exponentially for forever?”
Illinois lawmakers rely on secrecy and shortcuts in the budget process. In 2015, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities ranked Illinois’ process among the nation’s worst, citing lack of long-run cost or revenue forecasts. Over a decade later, it’s only deteriorated further.
State Rep. Carol Ammons, State Sen. Graciela Guzmán and State Sen. Dave Koehler: "The idea that Illinois can cut its way out of this crisis — that gutting services for families already under pressure is somehow the responsible choice — is a fiction. The math doesn’t support it, and it would be deeply irresponsible to force working families to bear the cost of a budget crisis created in large part by the wealthy and large corporations failing to pay their fair share."
In the lawsuit, the Public Interest Legal Foundation asserts the Illinois VRA all but forces state lawmakers to use race when deciding how to carve up the state and its population into legislative districts. The lawsuit further asserts Illinois Democrats have intentionally done so, with the goal of artificially creating legislative districts that work to encourage and ensure the election of state and federal lawmakers who are black, Latino or of other preferred, particular races.
The Illinois unemployment rate rose to 5.2 percent in March, up from 5.0 percent in February.
“There are currently no checks and balances on data center developers, and they’re flooding the state with proposals driving up our utility bills, threatening our water supply and leaving communities in the dark,” state Sen. Rachel Ventura said.
State Rep. Patrick Sheehan questioned whether judges who release violent offenders should face greater public accountability when those offenders commit additional crimes. “I think there maybe needs to be a reexamination of the type of immunity that judges have,” he said.
Governors in neighboring states, including Indiana and Kentucky, have recently suspended gas taxes to offer drivers temporary relief. Illinois isn't following suit — at least not yet. Gov. JB Pritzker appears focused on passing his proposed budget before the legislative session ends this month.
A battle over credit card transaction fees continues after a federal appeals court Friday sent the case about a new Illinois law seeking to limit so-called swipe fees back to District Court. A recent order from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (part of the U.S. Department of the Treasury) exempted national banks from the law but not Illinois credit unions and community banks.
House Bill 34 would ban the ability to carry a firearm at any building, property or parking area of polling locations, creating a 24th restriction on open carry laws in the state.
“I can’t stress enough we’re not seeing this from one political party,” Tazewell County Clerk JohnAckerman said. “Both are just as guilty of committing the sin of throwing misinformation into the media circus, and that’s part of the problem.”
"Not all the BUILD Plan proposals would move Illinois in the right direction. One would provide $100 million “to remove upfront infrastructure barriers that prevent otherwise viable housing projects from breaking ground.” Another bill would provide $150 million to support down payment assistance programs."
Top Chicago Stories
King’s appearance before Congress would thrust Chicago Public Schools into a national spotlight at a time of intense scrutiny from the U.S. Department of Education.
Teacher losses will be capped at four per elementary school and six per high school as the district adjusts its staffing allocation formulas. The district’s smallest schools will also lose funding for assistant principals. Class size limits will remain unchanged, officials said, citing several years of declining enrollment.
U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly wrote in his decision Monday that the county was “deliberately indifferent to the need to address the … violations that occurred from property tax sales.” Since 2020, nearly 2,500 homeowners not only lost their properties but also the surplus equity in those homes after their delinquent property taxes were sold.
Throughout last year, Mayor Brandon Johnson vowed to protect Chicago’s public health dollars from President Donald Trump. But behind the scenes, his health commissioner voluntarily returned tens of millions of dollars in COVID-19 grants to the federal government months before expiration — funds that could have gone to disease surveillance to help prepare for an outbreak or racial equity programming to improve health outcomes across the city.
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In response to cuts affecting assistant principals, the Chicago Principals & Administrators Association sent the district a cease-and-desist letter this week — a formal demand to halt an action it says violates its interim agreement with CPS.
The two-term Far Northwest Side alderperson’s lawsuit indicates he plans to ask a Cook County jury to find the city, the Ethics Board and former Inspector General Deborah Witzburg conspired “to harass, punish, and drive him out of elected office” and award him at least $1 million in damages.
The student at the center of the allegations, 11th grader Jada Gray, says the fight at Perspectives Rodney D. Joslin Campus was not random but the result of ongoing harassment by a group of students.
Asked by the reporter if poll numbers showing only a third of Chicagoans view Mayor Johnson favorably give him pause for concern, Johnson asked, "Why are you worried about that?" The reporter pressed: "You are both a government leader and you're a politician, and we're talking about the vocabulary of politics." The mayor replied, "And I'm talking about the people of the city of Chicago and their ability to feel safe and affordable in their communities."
The Chicago Board of Ethics unanimously found that Paul Vallas violated the rules by accepting $202,000 in contributions during the 2023 city election from 12 individuals doing business with the city. “We, of course, will appeal the ruling,” Vallas said in a statement.
The filing is the latest development in an ongoing legal dispute between the city and the Markham Park District. The city sued the Park District last October, alleging the board had mismanaged its funds and violated a 2012 intergovernmental agreement. Under the terms of that agreement, the city was supposed to assume control of and manage the Park District’s assets.
"Over the last decade, we have seen the rise of a new kind of prosecutor: the so-called progressive prosecutor. They run on platforms promising to decarcerate, go soft on so-called 'low-level' offenses and 'reimagine' prosecution. ... Young people are not stupid. They are watching. They see viral videos of mobs overrunning downtowns and hear that "no serious charges will be filed." They see repeat juvenile offenders picked up for robberies, carjackings or violent attacks and then released right back onto the street."
"For years, aldermen have routinely approved massive settlements with little scrutiny and even less accountability. Time after time, the legal department recommends a settlement, aldermen rubber-stamp the payment, and taxpayers pick up the tab. Then the same politicians act bewildered when Chicago’s financial condition continues deteriorating."
“We know times are tight but we have to focus on our children,” said board member Michilla Blaise, adding that CPS is a greater economic driver than the Bears. “If we get our schools right, think about how many people will stay in the city..."
A male suspect was on a CTA bus just before 2:40 a.m.when he pulled out a knife and demanded the 57-year-old female driver not stop the bus, Chicago police said. The bus operator tripped a silent alarm, the CTA said.
This naming of the pavilion for Nancy Pelosi, the first woman who served as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, reflects the Foundation’s continued commitment to building a campus that honors the significant contributions of the visionary and courageous individuals “on whose shoulders we stand.” The Nancy Pelosi Garden Pavilion is made possible through a donation by philanthropist and business leader Ron Conway.
"I am just elated that the pope is from Chicago, right? And so I'm looking forward to this visit at the end of the month," Mayor Brandon Johnson said. "And the first thing that I'm going to say to him? I'm going to thank him for his moral clarity, standing up for the most vulnerable, making sure that the people who are the least of these have more than what they need."
Could additional progressive measures still be passed by Chicago's City Council? “Not in this term,” Ald. Andre Vasquez says, referring to Mayor Brandon Johnson’s remaining time in office, “because he bungled it that bad.”
"Patrol units need to do a mix of two things: respond to calls for service, and spend time on ‘proactive policing,’ which can include building community relationships, understanding crime patterns in a neighborhood, and being positioned in high visibility places to deter crime. If officers are stretched thin, they lose the opportunity to do that proactive work, which is a necessary part of building a safer city in the long run."
As of April 3, the court’s electronic monitoring program included 21 people with pending murder cases, 13 facing attempted murder charges, 103 charged with criminal sexual assault, 78 charged with robbery, and 16 with pending carjacking cases. How many of those, if any, were missing is unknown.
The Evanston Reparations Committee has doled out at least $6.36 million in payments through a constitutionally suspect program.
"Lives are at risk. Just in the 10th ward alone, I have had multiple victims lying in the alley for hours and hours," said Ald. Peter Chico.
Letouer Turner is a disabled veteran who spent 15 months serving in Iraq but is currently at risk of losing his Chicago Heights home due to property taxes he should not have been paying; court records show Turner as owing more than $243,000 as foreclosure proceedings continue. Cook County officials have issued a “certificate of error” and refunded some of the money Turner’s paid, but it is not enough to cover the costs and stop the foreclosure.
During another takeover two days later, masked individuals were seen banging on a Chicago police cruiser and preventing it from moving. It's unclear if any arrests were made.
“In Chicago, when you think about the Great Migration, what people were running from, and what they were coming to, how has that impacted how the legal system looks currently?” said Andre, Chicago’s new deputy mayor of community safety. “If we’re serious about root causes, we cannot not look at history.”
"The billable hours logged as Salvatore Prescott Porter & Porter chased their tails obviously amounts to a rounding error for a school system exceeding $10 billion in annual spending. But the symbolism of taxpayer funds wasted on Harden’s temper tantrum over news leaks reverberates well beyond the price tag. This is not evidence of a school board president focused on the right priorities."
After several Latino aldermen questioned developers about how Latino contracting firms would be involved in construction, Ald. Nicole Lee, one of two Asian aldermen, reminded them that “we live in a very diverse city.”
"By treating children as a captive audience for a specific political agenda, the CTU is stripping them of the very thing education is supposed to provide: the intellectual autonomy to navigate the world as free-thinking and upstanding citizens. Instead, they are being used as political props to give the illusion of a youth-led mandate for CTU’s platform."
Store representatives said the store loses 16 percent of its inventory to theft, four times the company’s average. Walgreens hired security guards at a cost of $400,000 per year and locked up its most frequently stolen merchandise, but executives said those measures failed to stop the losses.
Wirepoints Research and Commentary
Everybody needs a side hustle these days, and mine is Ukraine, where I am now.
Audio and summary 
If this bill passes, say goodbye to local control over all Illinois parks and expect to see open drug and alcohol use, needles, no sanitation and fire hazards, but no ordinary park users.
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Chicago’s political leadership is floating a pension buyout program as evidence it is seriously addressing the city’s thirty-six-billion-dollar unfunded pension liability, but Mark Glennon, founder of the Illinois policy research organization Wirepoints, said that the proposal moves debt from one column to another rather than reducing it, and that the broader fiscal picture facing the city continues to deteriorate across every measurable dimension. Audio here.
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do. 
The state's existing buyout program for its own pensions is the precedent for Chicago, which should be a warning: Look out for similar exaggerated claims and shoddy analysis. 
Illinois lost another 54,000 tax filers and dependents, net, according to the IRS. Since 2000, fleeing taxpayers have taken $94 billion of annual adjusted gross income with them. 
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