With a last-minute deal at the end of May on a $694 million subsidy for Exelon to support three of its unprofitable nuclear power plants to avert closure, other issues freed themselves from the logjam. And since then, unions and environmentalists had been pointing fingers over which side was injecting “new” elements into negotiations, specifically in two areas: decarbonization and prevailing wage.

Four Republican lawmakers issued a joint statement which reads, in part, “We must act now to pass the provisions there is broad agreement on…We are committed to passing these items now and coming back to the table to negotiate the more long-term aspects of Illinois’ energy future with the various stakeholders between now and the General Assembly’s Fall Veto Session in October. “

Among his chief complaints include contending that he was never allowed to question witnesses or hear the full audio of the wiretaps that were used against him in court. “Long before I was even arrested, Madigan was talking about impeaching me,” Blagojevich said. “It was a rigged process, an unconstitutional impeachment process. I truly believe that Madigan engineered this.”

In addition to those bills, Pritzker also signed an executive order establishing a Welcoming Illinois Office within the governor’s office to develop and coordinate policies to make Illinois a more welcoming and equitable state for immigrants and refugees.

Three of Illinois’ neighboring states are opening schools without statewide mask mandates. Many parents argue their children’s health is their responsibility, and some educators and experts question the developmental and emotional impacts from masking young students.

State Rep. Adam Niemerg, one of 40 lawmakers in the House that voted against the bill, said it’s not going to stop criminals getting guns but will further burden legal gun owners from exercising the Second Amendment rights. “We’re on an island here in the state of Illinois in the midwest.”

“The poor practices that allege to have led to the loss of life of at least 36 Illinois heroes in the state’s care are well documented, especially in the Acting Inspector General for the Illinois Department of Human Services report dated April 26th of this year,” said a letter House Republicans sent Attorney General Kwame Raoul Friday. “To date, your office has not responded to this investigation request. This is not acceptable.”

When the state gives landlords the official go-ahead to file evictions again on Aug. 1, researchers from LCBH and Loyola University Chicago predict a backlog of roughly 33,500 eviction filings in Chicago alone.

While a swarm of lawsuits were filed, courts have persistently rejected attempts to limit Pritzker’s powers, permitting him, to this point, to continue for more than 16 months to use the state’s emergency management law to govern the state largely through executive order, citing emergency powers.

HB 562 also modernizes the Firearm Owners Identification (FOID) card system, which hasn’t been updated since its creation over 50 years ago, according to officials.

Our Wirepoints article republished.

Ralph Martire, of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability: “The political process simply does not reward politicians for proposing long-term solutions to complex problems — especially when those solutions come with short-term costs.”

“I could legally run for President of the United States, but I can’t run for alderman of the 33rd Ward,” Blagojevich said. He supposedly has no actual interest in ether position, but Monday he will go to the Dirksen federal courthouse with a lawsuit alleging the legislative actions that now prevent him from running for statewide office were unconstitutional.