One solution is to use American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars to pay down the debt, something lawmakers chose not to do in this year’s budget. Some lawmakers are hoping for help from the federal government. “The only other solutions are that you have to increase taxes on employers, you have to cut benefits for unemployed workers or both,” said Rob Karr of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association.

In response to the university’s drive toward solving “diversity, equity and inclusion” challenges, the program will prepare scholars “to address structural inequalities in educational settings and devise and assess programs and practices that can lead to improved educational access.”

Jim Dey: “In terms of statewide politics, Republicans are the equivalent of a lost tribe wandering in the desert. In terms of policy, as weak as Illinois is, it’s still in arguably better shape than it was when Pritzker ousted former Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner in 2018.”

State Sen. Bill Cunningham, who has served as a lead negotiator in the state Senate on the energy bill, said most of the talks around the legislation have been between environmental groups and organized labor. He aid if the environmentalists and labor reached an agreement, it would be “much easier” to move forward with legislation.

“I feel like every single official from the local level to the very top with Governor Pritzker has been passing the buck,” District 200 parent Ronak Maisuria said. “There are still children who are very vulnerable to this, who have no choice in the matter, who are counting on him to do his job, and he’s not doing it because he has put his political aspirations in front of the lives of our children, and that is an outrage, that is a travesty and that is a disappointment.”

Convention of States Action President Mark Meckler said a recent poll conducted by The Trafalgar Group indicates the majority of Americans from all political persuasions don’t want any more government intervention. “And so people are fed up with it. People understand that the government has been duplicitous in the things that they’ve told us.”

HB 2878 forms a statewide higher education consortium of all 2 and 4-year public institutions to streamline the process of earning a teacher’s degree, with the option for private schools to opt-in.

The IDES fraud figure of $14.8 million was first reported to the U.S. Department of Labor in July; That money was believed lost to people working at the same time they were receiving benefits. “This does not include any number associated with identity theft-related unemployment fraud,” an IDES spokesperson clarified in an email. “IDES is one of many states still quantifying a dollar amount attributable to” that crime.

Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza says there are more than 1,200 active TIF districts across the state.

“We all have families. We want to leave a better world for our kids,” said Control Room Operator Matthew Roberts. “But, we also want to have a secure future and everybody uses electricity every single day.”

Kinzinger further slammed his GOP colleagues for treating the riot investigation as “another partisan fight,” blasting it as “toxic…It’s a disservice to the officers and their families, to staff and employees of the Capitol complex, to the American people who deserve the truth, and to the generations who went to war before us to defend self governance.”

U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger: “We need to restore some trust in this country, and that requires a full investigation of what happened and how the insurrection was able to take place…In order to heal from the damage caused that day, we must acknowledge and understand what happened, hold the responsible people accountable, learn from our past mistakes and move on.”

Todd Maisch, of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce: “For example, if the corporate tax rate were increased to 28%, Illinois companies would face a combined state and federal rate of 37.5% — more than 9 percentage points higher than China, making it harder for Illinois manufacturers to compete with foreign companies…According to the U.S. Chamber, this tax hike would hit 91,937 Illinois employers, including more than 63,000 small businesses with fewer returning employees.”