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Passed in 2024 and set to take effect this July, the state law bans certain so-called swipe fees on the tax and tip portions of customers’ bills, with a goal of lowering the amount that credit card companies can charge retailers. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, an independent bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, plans to put out an “Order Preempting the Illinois Interchange Fee Prohibition Act."
The plan requires school districts to include Latin American history curriculum in social studies classes starting with the 2027-2028 school year. Rep. Eva Dina-Delgado said students could learn about Latino contributions to the economic, cultural, social and political development of the United States and Illinois.
This comes seven months after the Trump administration filed a lawsuit aimed at blocking the state from lowering the cost of college for undocumented immigrants.
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Deputy Governor Andy Manar placed blame for the job losses and rising unemployment on the Trump Administration.
Senate Minority Leader John F. Curran said his party’s focus in the Senate, other than attempting to pass their agenda, is to improve legislation from the opposing party.
The bill does not limit social media use to certain ages but does require platforms to allow users setting up an account to input their age, which would trigger certain settings on the device for users under 18 years old.
State Rep. Laura Faver Dias argued that American history education too often centers on the study of white males. “That isn’t history,” she said. “That’s a fairy tale, and this mandate will not raise your property taxes.”
"I'm mostly concerned about the left tackle position,” joked Illinois Senate President Don Harmon. Harmon said members of his caucus had no interest in spending on a new stadium and said if Indiana is convinced to pay billions for Bears facility, “We might have to help them pack.”
"This really needs to be fixed, and if it means making you guys full-time employees, I think maybe that's what needs to happen because $150,000 a year to lose 2,600 vendors, it's just unacceptable," state Sen. Chapin Rose said.
Two men promised a $1.1 million 3D printer could fix Cairo, Illinois’, housing crisis. More than a year later, the one duplex it printed still isn’t finished.
Nearly 64 percent of Illinois voters in 33 jurisdictions supported opting into the federal tax credit scholarship program in a non-binding question on the ballot.
Illinois’ 4.9 percent unemployment rate in January ranked eighth-highest in the country, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Michigan was the only state in the Midwest with a higher rate.
The Illinois Gaming Board reported a sports betting handle of $1.17 billion for February, a figure that hides the continuing sharp year-over-year decline in the number of wagers placed in the Land of Lincoln. The state’s 10 mobile sportsbooks accepted 20.6 million wagers in February, down 25.2 percent from last year.
“I am a proud son of Haitian immigrants, so this issue is personal to me,” Raoul said. “TPS protects the health and safety of Haitian and Syrian immigrants who significantly contribute to our state and national economies.
Nearly 70,000 calls for help were made last year to the Illinois Domestic Violence Hotline – a 181 percent increase since 2019.
Jim Dey: "Illinois is among the biggest losers, its migrating taxpayers taking $6 billion in taxable income with them in 2023."
“This isn’t about stifling innovation … but you need to have guardrails to protect minors,” said Sen. Sue Rezin. “This bill is about ensuring that as technology moves faster than the law, we don’t leave consumer protections in the dust, especially when it comes to minors.”
Trinity is among a field of other small, private colleges and universities that have shuttered in recent years like Lincoln Christian University in 2024, due in large part to the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Adding a new wrinkle on Wednesday, the federal office of the Comptroller of the Currency, a subset of the U.S. Treasury Department, appeared poised to issue an order preempting Illinois’ law.
The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services initially opposed the bill due to the potential cost for state employee health insurance coverage. However, the current language exempts state employee insurance from the mandate. "If the cost was significant enough that the state cannot absorb it within its own health plan, it raises important affordability concerns for those in the marketplace as well," said Kate Morthland from the Illinois Life & Health Insurance Council.
The three-judge panel issued a short order barely four hours after it finished hearing consolidated appeals arguments in the cases. In it, they wrote that “Both (former Commonwealth Edison CEO Anne) Pramaggiore and (longtime Springfield lobbyist Mike) McClain are entitled to release” on bond while awaiting a new trial. It’s unclear when the judges will publish their longer opinion formally ordering a new trial.
Job loss news serves as a warning about Illinois’ business climate. The state has dropped to 38th in a nationwide business tax climate ranking, and in recent research ranks 45th in the country for entrepreneurship and economic growth.
The Illinois State Board of Education plans to eliminate several measures from its school rating system, including college and career readiness and 9th Grade on Track — a widely cited metric used to predict graduation rates.
The survey, conducted in mid-March, found that 85 percent of likely Illinois voters supported legalizing accessory dwelling units and 65 percent supported allowing the construction of “modest duplexes, triplexes, or four-unit homes on larger residential lots.” But when told it’s a one-size-fits-all approach that’s “really a way for Springfield politicians to override local decisions,” 39 percent are less likely to support versus 21 percent who are more likely.
"The uncomfortable tension here is that this bill prioritizes the rights of unsheltered individuals without equally addressing the effects on other people who use public spaces ..."
The amendments to Rule 711 will extend the length of time a law graduate may qualify for a temporary license after graduating from law school by allowing a graduate who does not pass the first bar examination administered following graduation to retain their 711 license and practice law through the next administered bar exam.
Among the key drivers of the health care affordability crisis is the federal 340B Drug Pricing Program. The 340B program was created in 1992 to help safety-net hospitals and clinics stretch limited resources by purchasing outpatient drugs at deep discounts. In theory, those savings would be used to expand care for low-income and uninsured patients. In practice, the program has evolved into something different — and much more costly.
Sponsors said the bill also allows survivors to request a remote order of protection hearing so they don't have to be in the same room as their abuser.
Bailey said the president’s posts were totally inappropriate. “There's no doubt about that. Secondly, we all make mistakes. We say things in the heat of the moment, and I know that firsthand. A simple apology and a little humility can go a long way to fixing that,” Bailey said.
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The conflicts were over the former alderman and his wife, Darlena Williams-Burnett, having an “ownership interest in” three properties that are occupied by CHA housing voucher holders, as well as him not meeting a one-year revolving door restriction until September.
Johnson has now issued three vetoes in three years and made all of them stick. The first killed a snap curfew ordinance. The second killed a proposed ban on the sale of most hemp-derived products in Chicago, and the third killed efforts to freeze the hourly pay of restaurant servers, bartenders and other tipped workers at 76 percent of the minimum wage.
A tenth city worker, identified as an aldermanic employee, also obtained a fraudulent PPP loan and then filed a false police report claiming someone had stolen their identity and used it to submit the loan application, according to the OIG’s first-quarter report. OIG recommended that the alderman who supervises the worker fire the employee and add them to the do-not-hire list, but the alderman failed to respond by the deadline.
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The archdiocese operates nearly 150 Catholic schools in the Chicago area, and reports more than 800 students with disabilities. Though the students attend private schools, they are entitled to federally funded support services under the Individual with Disabilities Education Act. CPS distributes the funding to Catholic schools within its attendance boundaries.
“I think there’s a great deal of room for improvement, to say the least, in the city’s cooperation with oversight,” Deborah Witzburg said. “If we are not all working in the direction of building a government that more closely resembles the one Chicagoans deserve, then at least some of us are in the wrong line of work.”
The report revealed antiquated systems and policies dating back decades that prevent the city's Department of Finance from tracking and collecting all of the money owed. No single city department tracks all debt it is owed, different departments use different systems to track debt, and they don't talk to each other.
Quentin Williams, 38, is accused of setting multiple fires aboard a CTA Blue Line train in the Loop and threatening passengers with a box cutter, according to court records. Prosecutors said Williams has a prior felony conviction for stabbing a random person in the leg with a box cutter on a CTA train.
At $30, adult admission to see the 44th president’s story is more than at any other U.S. presidential library, a Wall Street Journal review shows. That is 59% higher than the average for presidents from John F. Kennedy through George W. Bush.
“I have very deep concerns about the former mayor of the city of Chicago. What he did in Chicago — from school closures to privatization to austere budgets,” Johnson said during a radio broadcast before a live audience. Johnson talks often about having “taken an arrest” while protesting Emanuel’s decision to close Dyett High School.
"We ask for detention in every violent crime on the CTA ... We're getting detention in 81 percent of the cases. That's up significantly from where it was 15 months ago. And the way that we do that is make sure judges have the fullest picture possible on why this person presents a danger," said Cook County State's Attorney Eileen O'Neill Burke.
“It certainly is another example of the Council stepping up and sort of rescuing an item to fill a void of what’s not happening on the Fifth Floor [mayor’s office] that’s consistent with what took place with the budget,” said Ald. Marty Quinn.
Mark Glennon, founder of Wirepoints, criticized the pension buyout program, stating that it simply shifts debt rather than reducing it. He emphasized that the broader fiscal picture facing Chicago continues to worsen across all metrics, indicating that the city's financial challenges extend beyond just the pension issue.
Thornton Township is asking a Cook County judge to impose sanctions on those who filed a lawsuit alleging sexual assault and battery by Dolton Trustee Andrew Holmes during a 2023 work trip to Las Vegas, according to court records.
"Parents, be aware of where your children are going this evening. DO NOT allow your children to attend one of these gatherings; they are dangerous and can often turn violent," Mayor Brandon Johnson wrote on social media. "Together we can keep our youth and our communities safe."
Despite the resistance he faced, Emanuel said he asked three mayors, “‘Why don’t you take over your public schools?’ ... And they looked at me and said, ‘We watched what happened to you. Why would we want that?’” Emanuel said, adding that he “had to fight” when union members went to his children’s schools and held signs that read, “Your dad’s an a------" and “Your dad sucks.”
The lawsuit also details statements made by Cook County Commissioner Kevin Morrison, who publicly amplified the claims and alleged Naqvi and five other individuals were transported across state lines by immigration agents, assertions Schmidt disputes. The complaint further alleges Morrison accused the sheriff’s office of a "cover-up" and said officials "have been lying from the very start of this."
Inspector General Deborah Witzburg says the office's work has not been welcomed by the Johnson administration, which she says has demonstrated hostility to oversight. "During this administration we have seen what I think is a pattern of decisions to challenge, disempower and to obstruct the work of this office," Witzburg said.
A 16-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl were standing at a bus stop just before 3L30 p.m. when someone approached, pulled out a gun and fired, according to police. Witnesses at the scene described a growing sense of fear and frustration in the community. One person said it feels like young people aren’t getting the chance to live their lives, calling the violence "overwhelming and heartbreaking."
“That hearing really illustrated the ‘first we get the money’ mentality of this administration,” Ald. Bill Conway said as he walked out.
Members of the city's education sector and the CTA reportedly owe 80 percent of the debt, adding up to nearly $15.7 million. The worst debtor is an employee of the CPS, a substitute teacher who has racked up a debt of almost $200,000 for building code violations, fines, and traffic tickets. CTA employee Nikita Hampton, 58, who was hired by the CTA after he spent 20 years in jail for bank robbery, owes $136,000 in fines and fees to the city.
The monitors praised CPD for making “significant progress” between July 1 and Dec. 31 in an effort to comply with the consent decree, which has been in effect for seven years. The last report from the monitors found CPD had fully complied with 22 percent of the consent decree.
The oil companies based their motion to stay entirely on the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to take up a case out of Boulder, Colorado, centered entirely on one overarching question: Whether federal law prohibits cities, like Chicago, Boulder and a growing number of others, from using accusations of alleged "deception" over climate change to use municipal ordinances and state laws to extract potentially huge paydays from the companies.
"Keeping CPS schools open on May 1 is not a contract violation; it is not in any way opposing workers’ rights. It is perfectly acceptable to honor this labor holiday by having children attend classes and having labor and civic actions on the same day."
Barbara Deer suffered multiple gunshot wounds to the chest and was pronounced dead at the scene, while Kaleb Deer, who had been shot in the head, was also pronounced dead. A weapon was recovered at the scene, and detectives are investigating the deaths as a homicide. No arrests have been announced.
The surge in costs reflects a major shift for Chicago, known as one of the last bastions of big-city affordability. Windy City rents surged on average 3.4% last year, with San Francisco being the only major US city to post a bigger increase — exactly 5.9%, according to CoStar.
Two vintage loft office buildings downtown have sold to a developer who plans to convert them to apartments, and another office building marketed as a residential conversion candidate is moving toward a sale.
CPD officials told U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer that reported use-of-force incidents fell sharply during the COVID-19 pandemic but have gradually increased each year since 2022. In 2025, CPD officers reported 3,044 such incidents — 800 more than were reported in 2023.
Two weeks ago, a teen takeover in Hyde Park turned destructive. Cell phone video shows a seemingly endless rush of teenagers jumping on parked cars. Wirepoints Research and Commentary
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.
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.
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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. 
Borrowing for current and past operating expenses, blanks for use of funds and more make Chicago's bond sale planned for next week smell mighty bad. Mark Glennon's interview is in the first ten minutes starting here.
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