“Thanks to the leadership of the Biden-Harris administration, hundreds of thousands of Illinois taxpayers who received unemployment benefits in 2020 are receiving additional money at a time when people need it most,” Gov. JB Pritzker said. “I’m proud Illinois was one of the few states in the country to automatically adjust these refunds, giving residents faster access to funds.”

The state won’t be sending out refund checks; The money will be refunded to taxpayers as a credit on state tax returns submitted next year. Some of the extra money will also go toward a teacher pension fund.

The YouthCare program provides payments for the medical and psychiatric treatment of roughly 20,200 youths who are wards of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, as well as 15,700 former DCFS wards. But documents detailing the contractor’s performance are a “trade secret,” state officials say.

Signed by more than 20 business leaders and organizations, the letter reads, in part, “In Illinois alone, there are tens of thousands of unfilled jobs. Employers are offering substantially higher wages, employment bonuses and taking other steps to encourage people to return to work. The problem is employers cannot compete with the approximate $35 per hour unemployed workers have received over the last four months as a result of enhanced UI benefits, tax credits, and stimulus payments.”

A team of researchers found that nearly two thirds of convictions in Illinois for gun crimes are for simple possession of a firearm, not for actually shooting or wounding someone. “For the most part, they’re not being caught,” said Dave Olson of the Department of Criminal Justice at Loyola.

Rep. Mark Batinick said in a statement that Pope’s resignation letter “speaks to glaring issues that prevent this position from providing meaningful accountability to the General Assembly.”

In an order released Thursday, the Supreme Court said during that window, it will implement a triage period in which Illinois courts will focus on referring newly filed cases to state programs providing financial assistance to landlords and tenants.

Standing with the governor Thursday in Chicago, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx dismissed questions about policies some say are too lenient leading to violent criminals being put back on the streets after being arrested with monitoring devices. “I’m not here for political games. We’re here to work collectively and collaboratively with our state, local and federal officials to address the violent crime.”

Pope decried the lack of reform on several issues on which she testified in 2020 and 2021, including the need for the inspector to be able to initiate investigations and issue subpoenas without approval from the Legislative Ethics Commission, the need to publish founded summary reports on lawmakers and the need to add a nonpartisan citizen member to the commission to avoid investigations being stymied by the 4-4 partisan votes among the commission’s lawmakers.

A Volcker Alliance report on truth and integrity in state budgeting finds Illinois lacking. Debt, budget gimmicks and thin reserve funds gave the state poor marks.

Illinois state revenue estimates are routinely wrong: 19 of the past 26 estimates have been off, some by billions. Worse, the Illinois General Assembly has not even officially adopted a revenue estimate since 2014. This leaves the public in the dark about assumptions lawmakers use when crafting the budget, and makes it nearly impossible to hold Springfield accountable for statutory and constitutional requirements to balance the budget.

Frerichs sidestepped a question about the role of federal stimulus funding in shoring up the state budget. He also said a tax on retirement income is not needed, and downplayed a suggestion he made last year about how it would be politically easier to enact taxes on retirement income, if voters approved a graduated state income tax. “I think, comments I made were taken out of context.”

Carol Pope said the new legislation not only largely ignored most of her testimony from last year and earlier this spring, but also weakens the LIG’s role moving forward. “Instead of expanding the role and the power of the legislative inspector general, it’s been restricted. And as a result, I just don’t feel like I can be effective in this job anymore.”

Pritzker signed SB 2122 along with three other measures: Senate Bill 64, which provides that anything said or done during restorative justice practices may not be used in a future proceeding without consent; Senate Bill 2129, which allows a county state’s attorney to petition for resentencing if an original sentence no longer “advances the interests of justice;” and House Bill 3587, which creates a task force to study ways to reduce Illinois’ prison population with resentencing.

This is an 8% increase from the previous week, when 20,464 people filed.

The first new lottery for 55 licenses includes any firm that scored at least an 85 percent on its initial application that has not hit a 10-license limit. The second new batch of 55 licenses would be available to firms that scored 85 percent or higher that also have at least 51 percent ownership meeting social equity requirements, including living in an area impacted by the war on drugs for at least 10 years, having been arrested or convicted of a marijuana crime eligible for expungement, or being a member of a family impacted by the war on drugs.

The Pediatric Palliative Care Bill, which has passed the Illinois General Assembly and is on Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s desk, provides a pediatric-focused reimbursement structure so that healthcare providers can recommend palliative services to parents and guardians, knowing that the families will not have to incur additional costs.

Morning Consult chief economist John Leer cautions against concluding that this completely validates calls to cut unemployment benefits early. “Getting people to move from relying on unemployment insurance to wage income doesn’t just automatically happen. There’s going to be some searching and matching frictions at work.”