-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
Top Illinois Stories
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.
Lawmakers are considering House Bill 1429. The proposal would ban local governments from arresting or fining homeless people who are doing things like sleeping, eating or resting outdoors, or anything considered to be a life-sustaining activity. Local governments would also be required to provide social services to anyone being removed if possible.
It’s an ambitious effort that could reshape housing from Chicago to Peoria and across downstate Illinois. But while Pritzker is trying to build support for a far-reaching proposal backed by housing advocates and many developers, he faces opposition from local leaders who say the sweeping approach is wrong for their communities. More Highlighted Illinois Stories
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.
The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals directed the federal government to release former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore on bond pending a new trial. The appellate court also ruled that codefendant Michael McClain is entitled to bond because “he is not likely to flee or pose a danger to the safety of any other person or the community” and because the appeal raises “a substantial question” that will result in an order for a new trial.
State Rep. Adam Niemerg, who serves as a Republican spokesman on immigration issues, argued the policy creates inequities for U.S. citizens living in neighboring states. “You have students from Indiana who are citizens of this country who can’t get in-state tuition, but someone here illegally can," he said. “One question we’re looking into is whether foreign nationals could use this same pathway."
The only cost of the program is minimal foregone income tax revenue to the federal government. There is no cost to participating states, only the benefit of more help flowing directly to students. A number of taxpayer-participation scenarios show that “even modest taxpayer engagement could translate into significant resources,” according to an analysis from Education Reform Now.
The department allowed employees to earn overtime hours while working during paid leave, violated state purchasing rules and failed to maintain a list of paroled inmates who moved to other state facilities, according to the audit. “I don’t know why the two worst-run departments in the state are the ones that deal with lives of people … We are being fleeced – the taxpayers,” said commission co-chair Sen. Chapin Rose.
Director Raven DeVaughn said the 9 percent increases have been due to several factors, including growth in the state’s workforce. Since 2019, she said, the state has added about 10,000 employees. She said the health plan now covers about 470,000 lives, including employees, retirees and qualifying dependents.
IFT spent a total of $52.3 million in 2025. Just $14.4 million of that was on representing teachers — not even 28 percent of the total. In total, IFT spent $13.4 million on its own officers and employees’ salaries.
The poll of 800 likely voters shows nearly 70 percent support the bill after a short description. That number rises to 75 percent when people hear more details. In some areas, data centers make up about 1 percent of electricity demand but are linked to a 595 percent increase in certain capacity costs. That cost pool totals about $1.7 billion, with most of it being passed to other customers.
Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Adam Telle is directing management and execution of the Brandon Road project to be "immediately" transferred from the Corps' Rock Island District in Illinois to the Detroit District in Michigan. "Our partners in the Great Lake States can't allow one state to have undue influence and use it to play more games," Telle wrote. "This is great news for every state in the region, including Illinois."
Pritzker, who visited with the pope earlier this year in Rome, said that Leo has a “higher calling” when it comes to speaking out on moral issues, and that his remarks on the Iran conflict fit with that calling.
LaHood, a Catholic and ally of Trump, said in a statement: "Faith teaches us to show grace and respect, even when we disagree. The President's comments toward Pope Leo fell short of that mark." Other prominent Illinois Republicans, including gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey, were also critical of Trump's remarks.
The Will County Board will soon consider the 600-megawatt Manhattan solar farm proposal - across 45 square miles of prime Illinois farmland - and a similar 260-megawatt facility in Crete. They’ll also reconsider six smaller projects they’d already rejected. They’re doing so after the solar operators involved sued, and a judge ordered the county to issue the permits.
The Civic Federation report found that Illinois has 8,923 local government units, over 3,000 more any other state in the nation.
ComEd customers in Illinois will see an average $19 monthly reduction to their electricity bills over the coming months, thanks to a policy in the state’s landmark climate bill.
Not all faculty members in the union are participating in the strike. Some professors are covered under a different collective bargaining agreement, meaning classes are continuing for many students.
From 1996 to 2016, state education spending increased by $5.4 billion. But two-thirds of that growth, or $3.6 billion, went to pensions rather than students. During that time, pension costs grew from just over 8 percent of state education spending to more than one-third. That trend has continued.
One of the proposed amendments would allocate all of the potential $4.5 billion yearly windfall toward property tax relief in the form of $1,500 rebates per property owner. A competing plan would allocate half of the millionaires tax’s proceeds to public schools and the rest toward property tax relief. Top Chicago Stories
"When looking for a specific car, you got plate readers. When you're looking for specific suspects that are wearing certain types of clothes, cameras can zoom in," Ald. William Hall said. "You're telling me that a social media company doesn't have the tools to zero in on certain images that are being reported to them, certain phrases that are been reported to him, or certain problematic accounts that are be identified over and over and again? So we're asking for a bigger step, not just one step."
Over the same period, inflation rose less than 91 percent, and average wages climbed about 161 percent. Cook County government itself has kept its property tax levy comparatively low, increasing just 26 percent over the 30‑year period studied. Cook County instead raised its sales tax to cover rising costs.
"Reliance on hotel taxes reflects a destructive pattern in Chicago’s fiscal policy: turning to narrow, politically convenient revenue sources instead of addressing core issues driving fiscal gaps. The city has used this approach with taxes on streaming services, sports betting, and social media to cover broader structural gaps."
More Highlighted Chicago Area Stories
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.
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.
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.
"Let’s try a simple thought experiment. Imagine, for one moment, that the CTU had gone in the opposite direction. Imagine they had become a conservative union. Imagine they were organizing a May Day walkout in support of Donald Trump. Imagine preschoolers making pro-Trump signs and high schoolers studying a curriculum titled 'Why Trump Was Right.' The outrage would be instantaneous — and justified."
Other large companies are also listed on the state's most recent WARN report, including 101 workers from the Saks Fifth Avenue department store on Michigan Avenue, which is set to close. Others include employees at Trinity Christian College in Palos Heights, which will close at the end of the academic year due to financial challenges, and more than 100 Walmart employees when the Matteson distribution center closes.
Bowman and Johnson have a great deal in common: they’re both Black former educators known for their unapologetically leftist politics who just turned 50 years old and have faced their share of negative press. Guests paid between $50 and $7,000 for a ticket enjoyed rum punch and hors d’oeuvres.
Sendy Soto was candid about one of the central limitations of her 137-page, five-year “Blueprint on Homelessness.”, namely, that there remains no dedicated funding source for homelessness services in Chicago. The city draws from a patchwork of federal grants, philanthropic dollars and line items in the corporate budget, none of them guaranteed year to year.
"May Day has a long and important history rooted in workers’ rights. But using it to disrupt classrooms crosses a line. Solidarity means standing together. Solidarity is not forcing working families to bear the burden of a political message they did not ask for and cannot afford."
The proposal from Ald. Matt Martin would ban Chicago cops from engaging in “extremist activities,” defined in the measure as any attempt to overthrow any level of U.S. government through violence or “unconstitutional means.” The prohibition also applies to the planning, execution or “material support” of hate crimes.
"The (Johnson) administration’s numbers simply don’t add up. Spending hundreds of thousands in subsidies to produce a handful of units is unsustainable. Chicago needs a cohesive plan that expands available housing by removing regulatory barriers, enabling more homebuilding, and supporting the rehabilitation of vacant properties — all while protecting residents from gentrification through property tax stability."
The Finance Committee also signed off on a $470,000 settlement to a husband and wife who were seriously injured after their motorcycle hit a pavement buckle on Lake Shore Drive near McCormick Place that had been the subject of 27 complaints to the city’s 311 emergency system in the prior two years before the 2023 accident.
That includes $1.3 million earned by officers in January, February and March to patrol what CPD lists as “planned gathering/march/civil unrest,” according to data published by the inspector general. Officers earned an additional $1 million in overtime to police the funeral of civil rights icon the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr.
"[Owner Dawndria Murray] told me a father came up there with his son by the collar — old school. He said he saw his son in the video and wanted to personally apologize. He also made it clear she would never have an issue with his son again," businessman and philanthropist EarlyWalker wrote to his followers on social media, saying, "this is what accountability looks like."
The ages of the victims range from 14 to 46, according to Chicago police.
The protests were held Saturday outside immigration facilities in Broadview, Portland and Los Angeles, as well as the ICE headquarters in Washington, D.C.,
The car's owner said she called the Law Department for more information on the denial and was told if someone had called to report the rusty pole before it had snapped, the city would have paid her claim. CDOT said of the light pole that fell, "It was last inspected in 2017, at which time, inspectors noted no observed structural issues and a routine amount of rust."
"Why is shutting down schools for a union-led protest part of a contract discussion in the first place? In part, it’s because of a state law passed in 2021 that repealed limits on CTU’s collective bargaining powers. There are now virtually no limits on what CTU can demand at the bargaining table, which means unlimited political moves and unlimited grievances."
Sundas "Sunny" Naqvi drew national attention with claims that she and five others returned from a work trip in Turkey March 5 and were held by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents at O'Hare International Airport for 30 hours, moved to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Broadview, and then transferred to the Dodge County Jail. Her supporters, including Cook County Commissioner Kevin Morrison, decried her alleged detainment before surveillance images were released to show Naqvi was able to leave O'Hare about 90 minutes after she landed.
The shooting occurred around 3:30 p.m. just down the street from Phillips Academy High School as students were let out for the day.
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.
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do. SIGN UP HERE FOR FREE WIREPOINTS DAILY NEWSLETTER
FOLLOW US
WE’RE A NONPROFIT AND YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS ARE DEDUCTIBLE.
MORE WIREPOINTS ORIGINAL STORIES
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.
Recent Comments