“Maybe the governor believes he can skirt the need to be transparent about his use of the funds because he thinks it’s a windfall. But it’s not money raining from the sky. It’s money raised from federal taxpayers.”

If this legislation gets passed, small businesses in the state offering benefits like dental, vision and life insurance to its full-time employees would get tax breaks. Said state Rep. Dave Vella, “If we lose them, we lose a big chunk of not only the entrepreneur class but also a lot of working men and women lose their jobs.”

Right now, state law says that districts may employ enough counselors to meet the recommended ratio of 1 counselor for every 250 students. The new bill would mandate a counselor for every 150 students, and counselors would be required to meet with their students every month.

These schools and districts either have mask optional or mask recommended policies, which go against the governor’s order for masks to be required in schools. Since August, more than 60 schools and districts have been put on probation.

“The appointment has to be made within 30 days,” State Rep. Kelly Cassidy said. “There has to be publicly available applications, there has to be a public meeting where the candidates can make their presentations and the selection is made.” The first uniform process under the new provisions played out with Democrat party officials in Chicago replacing John D’Amico with Michael Kelly.

The legislation allows for a business that has a sports betting license to legally be allowed to take a bet on an Illinois college team, provided the bet is made at a betting facility in person.

State Rep. Mike Murphy announced he will be stepping down from his position representing the 99th House District in the Illinois House of Representatives effective immediately. He was first elected into office in 2018.

Illinois Tollway’s automatic toll payment machines cost as much as they collected in four years, but are now permanently idled. Most were incapable of making change, so overcharged drivers nearly $500,000.

“The bill has a focus on equity and expanding economic opportunities for disadvantaged communities and people of color in the clean energy sector. Environmental justice communities, including Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, Blacks in Green and Clean Power Lake County, were central to both the policy design and political push for the legislation.”

“It will keep going until Illinois’ politicians discover they cannot keep the cycle going any longer. Then it will stop and that’s when things will really get interesting, because state governments cannot declare bankruptcy.”