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The proposal was approved 8-0 to fund a new $26.5 billion, 15-year capital plan, but the automatic, inflation-linked toll hikes will continue beyond the timeline of the proposed projects.
The emergence of a new class of data centers has garnered bipartisan opposition in communities across the state. What was once seen as an avenue for economic growth has become a political issue in Illinois, and one on which candidates from both sides of the aisle are hoping to distinguish themselves.
The new law will prohibit not only intentional discrimination in lending and credit card issuance, but also the use of facially neutral underwriting criteria or methodologies that produce discriminatory effects.
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Maryland’s tax court struck down the first-in-the-nation digital advertising tax Aug. 14, and ordered refunds to be paid to taxpayers for more than five years worth of collections, according to The Tax Foundation.
“Public employment may enable an employee’s crimes even after they have left the job,” Cook County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Donnelly wrote. “An employee still forfeits his pension when he commits a crime sufficiently related to his past government job. Thus, an employee who left the job and contacted a former coworker to sabotage an ongoing investigation properly forfeits their pension because the former employment enabled the crime.”
The first issue for Pritzker, who has championed public schools, is whether Illinois will opt into the Trump administration’s federal tax credit scholarship program by the end of the year. The other problem facing Illinois’ governor is how to respond to the Chicago Board of Education’s demand for $150 million additional state dollars to fill the district’s budget deficit during the upcoming veto session.
Randi Weingarten calls for a boycott of a company in which its members own millions of shares. Research highlighted by Northwestern University’s Kellogg School found that targeted companies’ share prices fell nearly 1% for each day a boycott received national print-media attention. The financial effects can extend well beyond the boycott itself.
Voters in school districts in St. Charles, Algonquin, Oswego and downstate Mahomet-Seymour will decide whether to approve borrowing for facility improvements.
"We're looking to make this really the center of gravity," said Christy George, CEO of the Illinois Economic Development Corporation. She says this will create 1,000 permanent jobs, with an apprentice program supplying a pipeline of community-college grads in Chicago.
If existing toll revenues have consistently covered the cost of operating and maintaining the system, why are Illinois drivers now being asked to pay even more? Special interests wanted more money
The Department of Defense said the audit is "designed to protect American taxpayer-funded research investments from unauthorized technology transfer, intellectual property theft and adversarial exploitation." The Department of Defense said that the institutions are required to report their findings no later than August 31 in order to "maintain eligibility for future federal research funding."
"I can't wait to see. I know that he believes that magic beans can take care of everything," Pritzker said. "Every one of the proposals that I've seen from him is unrealistic. He doesn't understand the state budget. He does not understand the challenges of meeting the needs of people, especially the most vulnerable in our state."
The Anti-Defamation League is sounding an alarm over the Chicago Democratic Socialists of America’s questionnaire for city council candidates. ADL Midwest Senior Regional Director Rebecca Weininger told The Center Square the DSA questionnaire’s first two long-form questions are devoted to Israel instead of how candidates would help Chicago.
Some of the $65 million will go to other candidates and causes. The governor’s campaign last week transferred $1.5 million to the Democratic Party of Illinois, for example. And Pritzker has been known to spread funds, both through individual contributions and his campaign fund, around to local party organizations, legislative and statewide candidates. He’s also made donations at the federal level, though funds from his state account can’t be spent in federal races.
“What we’re going to do is in my first year, we’re going to freeze discretionary spending and then we’re going to put in place common sense accountability measures so we can see where that money’s going, how it’s being spent and where it’s being spent wisely and unwisely.”
JB Pritzker just torpedoed the Illinois startup community. He signed a law that clawed back the QSBS exemption. Now, if the startup you invested in exits, you owe tax to the state of Illinois. 3.95% on the first dollar of profit.
IEA announced its backing of Pritzker and his Lt. Governor running mate, Christian Mitchell, over Republican nominee Darren Bailey.
Multiple drug makers in Illinois are challenging a state law that expands the scope of a federal program under Medicare, arguing Illinois doesn’t have the authority to make changes to the program.
"It’s worth poking around the entrails of the returns for the agonizingly close and, given the pre-primary polls, surprising results of recent Democratic primaries in the key swing Midwestern states of Michigan and Wisconsin, with a side look at Minnesota."
A report from Illinois Auditor General Christopher Meister released Tuesday revealed that the state paid Favorite $78.5 million for workers on standby. Meaning: not actively working.
The automaker announced Friday, Aug. 14, the next-generation Jeep Cherokee, slated to be built in Belvidere, will be the first U.S. vehicle assembled on Stellantis’ new STLA One platform.
"Stakeholders in Illinois are already laying the groundwork for a more responsible path forward. Environmental advocates put forward the POWER Act (S.B. 4016/H.B. 5513), led by two Democrats, state Sen. Ram Villivalam of Chicago and Rep.
"As Gov. Pritzker and Mayor Johnson push this project through, they are continuing to make the people of Chicago complicit in war crimes across the globe. Do Illinois politicians want this escalation in Big Tech militarism to be their legacy? More importantly, are we as Chicago residents at ease with the unprecedented horrors of quantum and AI warfare coming out of our own backyards?"
Phil Melin, executive director of Illinois Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse, pointed to two issues with the legislation. “It adds a new surcharge on successful, profitable workers' compensation insurance companies, and then it adds new restrictions on potential liability on employers,” Melin told The Center Square.
Last year, House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch convened working groups on property taxes and pensions. Not much actually changed. Welch’s most recent iteration is a new “culture and accountability” working group. And the wheels are already falling off.
"I’m not advocating here for reducing the term limits to six years or whatever. But what I am saying is that Illinois government will not crash and burn if Welch and Harmon don’t serve their full five two-year General Assemblies as their chambers’ leaders."
"For 30 years, I wore a badge. Recently, I have observed a coordinated, well-funded misinformation campaign aimed at convincing Americans that automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras, or "Flock cameras," constitute illegal surveillance. They are not. It is time for someone with real law enforcement experience to state this clearly."
Robert Reed: "There aren’t enough ominous adjectives to describe what’s happened at a Far South Side funeral chapel, where authorities found 56 bodies improperly stored and decomposed. Abhorrent, horrific, degrading, disrespectful, even blasphemous don’t go far enough to describe what’s occurred, nor do they gauge the lasting impact this catastrophe will have on the victims’ families, Top Chicago Stories
The CTU is framing the suit as Davis Gates “standing up to the multimillion dollar marketing firm, Illinois Policy Institute,” the Liberty Justice Center and Austin Berg, the nonprofit’s marketing vice president. More Highlighted Chicago Area Stories
"The sad story is that many in the Chicago media have less integrity than the worst street thugs in the city. They have not exercised the First Amendment; they have abused it, violated it. Their willingness to support the most vicious, violent offenders as a war on the system should be kept in one’s mind as they publish virtually daily attacks on police officers."
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi denounced the hearings as the “latest effort to weaponize the immigration courts to facilitate mass removals” at the expense of due process, in a five-page letter sent Tuesday to U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche.
"CTU is trying to have it both ways — to be a political mover-and-shaker while claiming it should be immune to public criticism because all it's trying to do is represent its members."
The race contract between NASCAR, the city and the Chicago Park District has received criticism from numerous alderpeople for being a more lucrative deal for NASCAR than for the city. NASCAR was also seeking a $15 million grant from the state for next year’s event, but only received $5 million appropriated in next year’s budget.
The first installment of 2025 property tax bills — which arrived in mailboxes at the height of the primary for Cook County Board president — was a month late, with payments due April 1, records show. The second installment of 2024 property tax bills was four months late, creating a cash crunch across the county that forced cities, school districts and other agencies to scramble to pay their bills.
Bally’s Chicago recently announced it would pause construction on facilities aside from the permanent casino following a dispute between the company and the Chicago City Council over what they called in a statement “an uncontrolled proliferation of video gambling terminals is in breach of the City's commitment not to expand gaming.”
To date, published reports have indicated the city of Chicago has paid $142 million to settle 14 lawsuits in which former Chicago Police Detective Reynaldo Guevara is linked to alleged wrongful prosecutions for murder.
The shootings come as latest data from the Chicago Police Department shows shootings in the past 12 months are down more than 27 percent from the yearly average of the prior three years.
"Faced with the choice between detention and release, judges have increasingly used electronic monitoring as a third option to split the difference. The problem is that electronic monitoring is not detention, and it should not be treated as an appropriate alternative when someone poses a danger to the public."
Actuary Mary Pat Campbell: "CTU is in the position of Donald Trump: almost certainly defamation-proof. They are a huge part of where Chicago/Cook County taxes go, not to mention other money from the rest of Illinois. Hey, CTU: you are a big political player, so act like it. Don’t be whiny. If you’re toxic, you have only yourselves to blame, with your flippant '$50 billion.'"
Roy Pughsley caught a break last year. The 53-year-old had nearly killed another homeless man with a box cutter inside a River North Walgreens. But instead of going to prison on an attempted murder charge, he pleaded guilty to aggravated battery and walked out with 30 months of probation.
"What makes this moment different is that the latest bombshell didn’t come from conservative activists or right-leaning think tanks. It came from CPS’s own watchdog.... This is no mere whiff of impropriety. It was a full autopsy of institutional rot."
The proposal is the clearest signal yet Giannoulias does not intend to cede the progressive lane in the mayor’s race if, as anticipated, Mayor Brandon Johnson runs for a second term, but stops short of calls for a $25 minimum wage championed by some Democrats — including Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton in her successful campaign for Senate. 
In a statement released today, the auto racing giant said that, despite some progress, time had run out on its negotiations with state and local officials about restarting the Chicago Street Race next year.
"Chicago’s inspector general found that roughly $639.6 million in city and grant funds was spent on services for new arrivals between August 2022 and the end of 2024. Why weren’t more unrestricted city resources directed toward our struggling schools instead?"
"Teachers union sues nonpartisan think tank for doing too much math and reading."
"Passing almost unnoticed, the mayor-appointed Chicago Board of Education has approved a budget that relies on a $300 million property tax increase and at least $285 million in diverted Tax Increment Financing (TIF) revenues."
Around 41,000 privately owned and 7,100 city-owned vacant lots take up space across Chicago’s South and West sides. These vacant lots result from many years of negative government actions, from the sanctioning of racial discrimination starting in the 1930s to poor financial leadership that has led to high property taxes. They are not just a visual nuisance; they encourage crime, which in turn discourages community connection and economic development. Less housing and fewer businesses allow high poverty rates to persist.
Tenant organizers, progressive aldermen and the Chicago DSA advocated for the passing of PRO, or the Protecting Renters Ordinance, which is considered to be a "comprehensive modernization" of the laws in place from 1986.
At a weekend town hall event, Mayor Brandon Johnson faced jeers over his support for the project from neighbors opposed to the Quantum Shore megadevelopment on the former U.S. Steel South Works site. 
Including a forum with distinguished panelists.
How Chicago Spent Millions on Migrant Shelters While Woodlawn's Obama Presidential Center Housing Promises Went Mostly Ignored
"The city is unique in how little public finance expertise lives outside the mayor’s office."
Bally's warned of “substantial doubt” about its ability to continue as a going concern as the casino operator risks failing to meet requirements under its lending agreements. The company, which is controlled by investment firm Standard General, has also secured approvals to develop major casino resorts in Chicago and the New York City area.
"Although the FY2027 CPS budget has passed, it lacks clarity on whether and how it can be implemented, and we do not yet know the final impacts that it will have on the District."
Wirepoints Research and Commentary
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Much of the routine trade and investment between China and America is entirely appropriate and in America's interest. But inserting the Chinese Communist Party into America's pay-to-play system and its economic development strategy isn't just crossing a line. It's a leap into an abyss of stupidity. 
Illinois paid the price for embracing Fauci's "science." Here's the retrospective. SIGN UP HERE FOR FREE WIREPOINTS DAILY NEWSLETTER
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