The state of Illinois, under the leadership of Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker, continues to string along high school athletes. Pritzker cancelled the fall high school football season and appears slow to help get a football season going in the spring.

The senator from Illinois will be part of the team that takes the party through the 2022 midterm elections.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker last week said they continue to review when sports will be possible. “We have doctors and others that we rely upon internally to help us make some of the decisions and then when we’re at a point to have a conversation with one of the organizations or a number of them, we will do so.”

“(Businesses) that were fighting to hopefully have a good holiday season and if they haven’t been able to have that are now closing permanently,” said Andrew Challenger of Challenger, Gray and Christmas.

“Fraud schemes can go across jurisdictions, and if you just leave it to each isolated jurisdiction to focus on this problem, we’re not going to solve it,” said Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul. “We feel confident that this collaboration will lead to capturing some bad actors.”

Welch’s road to the top spot in the House was not a smooth one. In order to secure the votes needed to win the Speaker position, Welch first had to answer questions about his treatment of women. “Nothing happened that you should be concerned about. I was not arrested and charged and would I handle a situation differently, where I don’t have to go to a police station and answer questions, absolutely.”

State Rep. Mike Murphy, R-Springfield, said the industry knows how to do it right and is reaching a breaking point. “We are just going to find a dying industry here in the next month or two if we do not figure something out.”

“It’s not a threat, I think it’s more, I think it’s an education,” state Rep. Fred Crespo said. “They’re new and make sure they understand the process.”

Jessica Basham, chief of staff in the Office of the Speaker, advised that all House members and staff who were at the facility on Thursday, or around someone who was, should immediately self-quarantine.

United Van Lines research found the majority of respondents leaving Illinois – roughly 34% – cited job opportunities as the reason for their move. The next largest motivators were retirement at 28% and family at 23%.

After the number of Illinoisans filing for unemployment dropped significantly during the holidays, their numbers bounced back up during the week ended Jan. 9. Requests rose to 96,667 from 45,387.

“It just takes away an avenue for our small businesses, sole proprietors to be able to recover from this incredible economic damage that’s been done to them over the last year,” NFIB Illinois Director Mark Grant said. NFIB joined in opposition to the proposal with Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, Grain and Feed Association of Illinois, Hospitality Business Association of Chicago, Illinois Chamber of Commerce, Illinois Hotel & Lodging Association, Illinois Licensed Beverage Association, Illinois Manufacturers’ Association, Illinois Retail Merchants Association, Technology & Manufacturing Association and the Valley Industrial Association.

“Governor Pritzker tried to throw Illinois small businesses under the bus to the tune of $500 million in taxes at a time when too many small businesses are barely hanging on,” NFIB State Director Mark Grant said, warning that the issue may come up again during the 2021 legislation session that began this week.

After he was sworn in as the first new speaker in decades, Welch praised his colleagues for their work on the various Black caucus bills. “For Black communities all across the state of Illinois, the time is now to go from protest to progress.”

Elizabeth Bauer: “It would be funny if it wasn’t so serious — a legislator claiming that “they’re going to do it anyway,” when it’s he himself who had been spearheading the increase, is exactly the sort of action that is, compounded over and over, the reason why Illinois is in exactly the straits it is in.”