Jim Dey: “Retention elections are designed to remove politics from what is supposed to be the nonpolitical process of deciding court cases strictly on their legal merits. But it’s well nigh impossible to eliminate politics from politics, as the ongoing judicial election battles demonstrate.”

Norma Lansing, president of the Effingham County Chamber of Commerce, said her area has fared okay with business closings with just a few, but one local business recently closed up shop because the pandemic has changed the way we do things. “Most recent ones like the Family Video store and they specifically said it was pandemic related. People are now using streaming services and people have not been able to get out and about.”

Of the nearly $64 million in total adult-use cannabis sales in Illinois for August, $17.2 million was in “out-of-state resident sales.” That’s nearly double the $8.6 million in out-of-state sales back in January.

“The multipoint plan says the state could do away with its pension woes while helping many government workers and relieving a huge strain on state finances. Is that true? Or is Wirepoints playing Ahab to the pension-reform great white whale? I suspect the truth involves a bit of each.”

Pritzker also noted that Region 1 of the state’s reopening plan, which includes Rockford in Winnebago County and several surrounding counties in northwest Illinois, has seen its positivity rate rise to 7.5 percent. That’s higher than Region 4, which includes the Metro East area along the Missouri border near St. Louis, which currently sits at 7.3 percent.

Masks will still be required, but most businesses may reopen at full capacity.

White said he wanted to file the lawsuit not only to get the money he believes he’s owed, but to also stand up for all of those who are unemployed in Illinois struggling to navigate the state’s flawed unemployment system. “There’s people that can’t feed their kids, there’s people that can’t pay their mortgage, that can’t pay their rent. This has caused them hardships that has altered their life tremendously.”

A University of Chicago professor and his colleague applied some simple macroeconomic modeling to that thought and found it’s probably more complicated than it seems: “Only workers with a low previous wage, an almost certain return-to-work offer, and very low wage losses after unemployment would turn down their old job and remain unemployed under the CARES Act.”

“The lack of additional federal stimulus increases the likelihood of a worse economic outcome,” the report said. “Furthermore, potential layoffs at state and local government levels could contribute to a lasting drag on Illinois’ economy.”

The self-described “unknown cow milker from western Wisconsin” was born on a dairy farm near LaCrosse, and got his start on radio stations in Sparta, Appleton and Green Bay. At age 26, Samuelson got the call to join 50,000-watt powerhouse WGN, where he began as farm director on September 26, 1960.

The Illinois Conservative Union sent a public records request under this provision to the Illinois State Board of Elections, requesting information about the maintenance of voter rolls, including the most recent voter registration list for Illinois. The request noted that the records “would be used solely for purposes intended by federal law, namely, to ensure the accuracy and currency of the official list of eligible voters,” the complaint said.

The State Board of Elections denied the request, claiming that only political committees or governmental bodies may receive copies of records.

“Instead of working to address the problem, Gov. J.B. Pritzker blamed the state’s financial issues on the pandemic, in April saying Illinois would have had a budget surplus if not for COVID-19. That is false. His current budget is based on federal aid that may never come and a progressive tax that voters may not approve.”

The decision was made after a Tuesday morning meeting between Pritzker and Mayor Lori Lightfoot, according to the governor’s spokesperson.