Notably, Kilbride appears to be the only Supreme Court justice to whom Madigan has made contributions since at least 2005, and Kilbride has ruled on multiple cases that would be of interest to Madigan since then. Among them, Kilbride penned the majority opinion in Hooker v. Illinois State Board of Elections, which struck the independent maps initiative from the ballot in 2016.

Among other things attached to this bill, the GROW Act would update existing pension systems by creating a “composite plan,” which would include elements of traditional employer-provided benefits and of 401(k) plans.

“When Chicago was suffering family flight in the ‘90s and aughts, the primary way Mayor Richard M. Daley combated that was by building top-rated high schools, a process continued by his successor Mayor Rahm Emanuel, with the result that Chicago now dominates the list of the very best public high schools in the state — a powerful draw for new residents, no matter Chicago’s numerous other problems.”

“African Americans and Black people are more likely to experience poor health outcomes as consequences of social influencers. Health inequities stem from economic instability, lack of education, physical environment, lack of food,” said Rep. Camille Lilly, of Chicago.

“In Illinois, people that are getting to the polls are not necessarily representing the people that live in the state, and that happens the most when it comes to race, but it also happens with age as well,” an analyst said.

Said Austin Berg, vice president of marketing at the nonpartisan Illinois Policy Institute, in a statement, “However, the lawsuit to address the misleading ballot language surrounding the progressive tax was not dismissed, and it continues to work its way through court procedures.”

Ten percent of the revenue, or around $10 million, will go to the state’s backlog of bills, which as of Friday was $8.4 billion.

Citizen Denise Rotheimer filed a complaint against Madigan in August after the revelations of the scandal a few weeks before. She was disappointed Durkin didn’t file his own complaint through the LIG as well, “because this is an avenue that is supposed to be for all of us in this state to hold these state officials, and elected officials, accountable, ethically,” Rotheimer said.

Eric Zorn: “The principle of equal treatment says that income is income, whether you’re young or old, whether you’re working for it or reaping it after the end of your career. And the devious effort to distract us with talk of retirement income takes our eye off the real question: Which system of taxation will best protect those toward the bottom of the income scale as we close our massive budget gap?”

Jim Dey: “Others soon will be convicted in the probe even as Madigan insists that he never did — and never would — break the law. But convictions are not the point in Springfield. Elections are.”

The Cook County Public Guardian’s office found he is just one of 314 children in DCFS’s care last year that spent an additional 50 days, on average, locked in psychiatric hospitals after they should have been discharged. A dramatic drop in residential beds and foster homes since 2012 is part of the problem.

IDPH said officials observed businesses “blatantly disregarding mitigation measures, people not social distancing, gathering in large groups and not using face coverings.”

The state has more than $8 billion of unpaid bills, about $137 billion of unfunded pension liabilities, and its rainy day fund has $858,873. Its borrowing penalty is the highest among states tracked by Bloomberg, with its credit rating only one step above junk.

Additional restrictions will remain in place in Region 1, which includes Rockford, Dixon and Galena, where the seven-day test positivity rate remains higher than 8%.

Mark Grant, the Illinois state director of the National Federation of Independent Business, said it is going to take more than money to fool Illinoisans: “[Pritzker] can throw as much money at this thing that he wants to. If it’s a really bad idea, people aren’t going to buy it.”

“If Illinois taxed retirement income in the same way as Connecticut and saw the same rate of outmigration among seniors, it would have lost 10,577 more seniors from 2012 to 2018. Connecticut’s heavy loss of retirees is likely part of the reason why the state is now reversing course, and is in the process of expanding income tax exemptions for middle-income retirees.”

There were 29,390 new unemployment claims were filed across the state last week, the week of Sept. 21.

“We must look at this economy moving forward and recognize that inside of a $40 billion state of Illinois budget, how is every department … spending that money with their constituents, Black constituents, so that they can be full participants in providing goods and services to the state of Illinois,” said Bruce Montgomery, founder and CEO of the Entrepreneur Success Program in Chicago.