“It’s something many of us have learned about this governor: offer any resistance or opposition to his policies and he’ll resort to blaming, mischaracterizing and shaming, even when there are legitimate questions at hand.”

“I can just say that Senator (Tammy) Duckworth and I continue to present our case to the White House, that the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois should be allowed to continue until a successor is chosen. I am hopeful that that will end positively when we’ll know, I hope soon,” Durbin said.

In his State of the State and Budget speech last week, Gov. J.B. Pritzker made ethics reforms a priority. “We need meaningful disclosure of conflicts of interest. We must end the General Assembly’s revolving door allowing legislators to get paid as lobbyists the day after they leave office. Restoring the public’s trust is of paramount importance.”

State Sen. John Curran, R-Lemont, who was a prosecutor in Cook County for years, said the cash bond provision reflects what New York city did “that has been replete with burdens” and brought “additional impairment to public safety.”

The reason Illinois is last in the second shot column? The governor said a delay in starting the 1B group means a lag in second shots for that huge number of Illinoisans. Pritzker said a ramp-up, and a catch-up, will happen quickly.

“We’re basically just sending money to states that don’t need it,” said Ted Dabrowski, president of Wirepoints. “States like Illinois, New Jersey, and Connecticut have massive pension problems, massive debt and mismanagement. They have deficits that started way before the pandemic ever showed up.”

On Feb. 21 he was asked about when he planned to resign and said: “I have no idea. I don’t feel a need to step down.” On Feb. 22 the need was suddenly there: “I’m confident the Democratic Party of Illinois will continue to cement our place as a beacon of progressive values.”

“One can understand the logic of making it costly for defendants to withhold payments they’ve been ordered to submit, but to impose a punitive deterrent on defendants simply for exercising their right to dispute a claim against them is both unjust and vindictive.”

From Ron Kotrba, editor and publisher of Biobased Diesel Daily: “This tax incentive has helped Illinois become a leader in the consumption of biodiesel blends. Illinois uses 180 million gallons of biodiesel a year, providing an estimated value of $600 million to Illinois farmers.”

Among the changes is the elimination of monetary bail, which allows judges to release many people before trial. The bill was praised by Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, who called it a “step in the right direction.”

“Most of the headline grabbing political corruption events of 2019 were reports on investigations, subpoenas, FBI raids, indictments, or other beginning steps in criminal prosecutions. Actual convictions take place at the end of the process, usually a year or more later. Nonetheless, the DOJ statistics show that since the department began collecting the data in 1976, Chicago is the most corrupt federal judicial district in the nation, and that Illinois,on a per capita basis, is the third most corrupt state.”

Illinois House Speaker Emanuel Chris Welch speaks in favor of ending corporate tax breaks and the power of the supermajority, among other topics.

“Ask yourself a question: First, if the old, Daleyesque way of recommending U.S. attorneys had attracted bold, crime-fighting candidates decades ago, would Chicago and Illinois still gained a reputation for wink-nod public corruption? Would more politicians have been pursued for turning public service into serving themselves?”

“It will be months before our supply comfortably outpaces demand — an obstacle we always expected, and the very reason we have devoted so much time and thought to the phases of prioritization,” Dr. Ngozi Ezike wrote. “Everyone deserves their turn to get the vaccine, and it’s my promise to Illinois that we will get there — as efficiently, quickly and equitably as we can.”