“Basically if this bill passes, then a resident of Illinois could have his or her firearms confiscated if a family member alleges that the person in question is an immediate threat to himself or others. All they have to do is file a petition and report that allegation to the government. I say allegation, because under this bill, no real proof is required to take away someone’s firearms.”

Illinois Republicans in Congress are split on whether the plan to move past Obamacare care is on the right path.

What state officials described as a “troubling” loss of 16,700 jobs in December turns out not to have been so bad after all. In fact, Illinois gained 2,000 jobs in December, according to revised figures released Thursday with the state’s January unemployment report. The state added another 1,700 jobs in January. “We acknowledge it’s a big revision, but the revisions don’t change the fact that Illinois continues to lag behind many other states and is still playing catch up to jobs numbers from 17 years ago,” said Bob Gough, spokesman for the Illinois Department of Employment Security.

On March 9, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the Service Employees International Union in its dispute with a group of home-based providers of personal care for those with disabilities and child care providers, saying the union can serve as the state-recognized representative of those caregivers, against the care providers’ wishes.

The Senate’s “grand bargain” contains a one-year spending “cap” that won’t improve fiscal responsibility. A real cap must come with structural spending reforms to return spending to a level that taxpayers can afford.

Comment: This gets right to the point, and represents how I think most Illinoisans will react to the grand bargain: “Why should any taxpayer expect the General Assembly to get it right this time? Based on the out-migration rate of this state, the taxpayers understand this already and are leaving Illinois for surrounding states with lower tax burdens and cost of living.”

Sound familiar?

He may be governor, and the Illinois Constitution may give extraordinary powers to its governor, but other people and organizations have a big say in whatever changes, if any, are made.

“The public’s instincts are right on the money about the state of the state.”

The grand bargain bill on government consolidation is only permissive and only for townships that share a border.

The Bond Buyer’s Yvette Schields on Illinois’ recently released financial statements for FY 2016.

Only in Illinois, the line makes a trick turn and shifts a large chunk of federal funds meant for poor children to pay down the state’s pension debt in the teachers’ retirement system — a loss of at least $59 million for school districts outside of Chicago.

Calling a one-year, $37.9 billion limit a “cap” on spending – especially when the Senate deal calls for a nearly $7 billion tax hike – is disingenuous. After just one year, lawmakers will be free to spend under the same old rules and policies that allowed them to create the budget crisis in the first place. Comment: It has become entirely clear that the “grand bargain” is little more than a collection of gimmicks concocted to dress up a tax increase.

The car manufacturer is going to bring more than 1,000 jobs to Normal, Ill., after being offered $49.5 million in state tax credits and more in local tax credits and abatements.