“For every action, there’s a reaction — in this case, people fleeing the state because they have had all they can stand. Who can blame them when so many members of the General Assembly live in an alternative universe where political might makes right regardless of the intended and unintended consequences?”

Jim Dey: “What now for Madigan and Illinois? He’s keeping his own counsel. There are suggestions he’ll resign his House seat. But he’s still the chairman of the Illinois Democratic Party, the boss of his Chicago ward and an influential guy who has all the state’s movers and shakers on speed dial.”

The move comes two weeks after the Sangamon County Department of Public Health announced that restaurants could resume indoor service, also at 25% seated capacity.

Most Illinois regions “are on track” to see loosened restrictions in the coming days, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Friday as three regions in the state moved from Tier 3 restrictions to Tier 2. On Sunday, the Illinois Department of Public Health announced that Region 2 in north central Illinois would move to Tier 1, a day after Region 5 in southern Illinois was given the green light.

But the money hasn’t been spent yet, according to a published report. The reasons include problems with the state’s system to hand out new cannabis business licenses and numerous requests for help.

“From its introduction, the ethics reform bill was steeped in irony; 87 pages of unvetted legislation inserted into a shell bill via a floor amendment in the middle of the night amid a flurry of other bills to be considered by a lame-duck Legislature.”

Even Republicans have their share of praise for what Manar was as a legislator and a politician. Sen. Jason Barickman, R-Bloomington, said that he was the kind of person that you could work with and have a good relationship, even if he was a member of the opposite party.

The plan has drawn opposition from at least twelve business groups as burdening them with a tax hike as they struggled through a pandemic. “If they want to really, truly try to work out way out of this crisis, we have to do a couple of things, and one is to have a real discussion about the spending that we do and how we are going to fund it,” said Illinois Fuel and Retail Association. CEO Josh Sharp.

“(I)n September 2018, a considerably less forgiving Welch tweeted that Republicans should ‘do the right thing and withdraw (Brett) Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court’ over allegations that he’d groped a young woman when he was in high school more than 35 years earlier. The testimony of Kavanaugh’s accuser was ‘credible and riveting!!!’ Welch wrote.”

“Anyone who’s dreaming of a new era of growth economics or spending restraint will probably be disappointed…The old boss may be gone, but his system survives.”

“Successful organizations are always looking to improve,” Chairman Kurt Prenzler said. “This is something the voters should be asked.” The Madison County Board is one of four Illinois counties with the maximum number of board members allowed by law: 29.

Gov. Bruce Rauner signed the Evidence-Based Funding for Student Success Act into law Aug. 31, 2017. Legislators said the measure was in response to complaints that a lack of state funding for schools caused excessively high property tax bills.

One main challenge police departments will face is the cost to buy body cameras. Each camera runs about $1,000. “I do strongly support the use of body cameras, but if every law enforcement officer has to wear one, we’re going to be probably double what we’re paying now when you add in storage plus other fees,” Springfield Police Chief Kenny Winslow said.

“New Jersey, more so than any other state, stands out as an encouraging example of what is possible for reducing both incarceration and crime and doing so in a data-driven, deliberate and inclusive way,” said Roseanna Ander, director of the University of Chicago Crime Lab. “But it was years in the making, with intensive planning and consensus building across a broad array of stakeholders from civil rights groups, law enforcement, elected officials, the courts and community leaders.”

The region includes the following counties: Marion, Jefferson, Wayne, Edwards, Wabash, Perry, Jackson, Franklin, Williamson, Saline, Hamilton, White, Gallatin, Union, Johnson, Pope, Hardin, Alexander, Massac and Pulaski.

Outside the capitol building, two protesters who had gathered in protest of Illinois’ restrictions imposed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. “I think it’s terrible that people are taking what are supposed to be good, peaceful movements where people are trying to do good things in the community and turning them into these violent ordeals,” said demonstrator Ashley Ramos.

They are slated to assist with paperwork to help Phase 1-A of vaccine administration to run smoothly.