A just-released trove of documents show it was more than Madigan associates hitting up the utility. Cullerton and Durkin were in on the game, too.

Fraudulent unemployment claims have soared in Illinois with scammers directing jobless benefits to their own accounts even as record numbers of residents sought relief due to the coronavirus pandemic, state officials said.fraudulent claims for unemployment benefits have been filed since March 1.

“I have never in my entire career seen a budget deficit the size of what we are talking about next year. This is Armageddon type of stuff, it’s beyond doomsday,” Chicago Transit Authority president Dorval Carter Jr. told the Regional Transportation Authority of Illinois board at its monthly meeting Thursday. “It’s unsustainable, which is why we need” additional federal dollars.

“Illinois business and civic groups led the fight to kill a proposal for a graduated income tax. How now would they avert a state budget crisis? Let’s have no more ducking.”