“A study last month by the research outfit Wirepoints estimated that each Illinois household on average is on the hook for $110,000 in government-worker retirement debt, up from $90,000 in 2019. The burden of the state’s pension debt alone is $64,200 per household—four times more than the national average and the second highest after Connecticut ($65,400), which has a wealthier population…State and local government in Illinois is run by public-worker unions, and people are fleeing the economic and fiscal consequences.”

One finding is to change Essential Elements in education to promote “racial equity and eliminate structural racism within schools.” Said Ralph Martire, a voting member of the committee, “I think these are real valuable elements for us to explore as a panel and create some findings going forward.”

Pritzker toured the site of the collapsed Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville Monday where six workers were killed. He said building codes may have to be re-examined because of the frequency of tornadoes.

Illinois’ law is the strictest in the nation. The highest age for a child to be left alone in other states is 12, and 30 states don’t have any age restrictions on leaving kids at home. Illinois parents can temporarily lose custody simply on allegations.

Christopher Mooney, a political science professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, explains the disingenuous nature of lottery funds: “If the lottery provides $10 to the school fund, state officials have two choices: they can either spend that much more money on schools than their intended $50 dollars, or they can lower the contribution from the general fund by $10. Illinois officials have taken the second approach.”

Taxing people’s bad habits is a tough way to raise reliable revenue, but Illinois keeps trying to do just that.

Residential facilities report that they have been hit hard by staff shortages, making them unable to run safely at full capacity. This comes as experts in IIllinois say they are seeing a spike during the pandemic in the number of children threatening self-harm and harm of others.

Counties included in the disaster declaration include: Bond, Cass, Champaign, Coles, Edgar, Effingham, Fayette, Ford, Greene, Grundy, Iroquois, Jackson, Jersey, Kankakee, Lawrence, Livingston, Logan, Macon, Macoupin, Madison, Montgomery, Morgan, Moultrie, Pike, Sangamon, Shelby, Tazewell, and Woodford.

In January 2021, the governors of Michigan and Illinois agreed to cost-share millions to on pre-construction engineering and design (PED) for the Brandon Road Ecosystem Interbasin Project. Later, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Illinois agreed to complete the PED, estimated to take up to four years and cost $29 million. Illinois and Michigan have committed to pay the 35% non-federal cost share for this phase.

Answer: Only U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis. He went to Millikin in Decatur.

Said Kathi Griffin, president of the IEA. “Our locals are respectfully asking the court to respect the educators’ wishes who have asked their local to intervene on their behalf, to ensure that we can continue in-person instruction in a safe and healthy environment. We believe the governor has worked hard to provide a safe educational environment for students and that districts have been following his executive orders because they are guided by science and are focused on keeping our students and staff safe.”

“I think every town’s supposed to have mail, including us,” one resident said.

“When any government has a long-term structural deficit, it’s forced to underfund public services, which in fact Illinois has done. And that’s what leads to the other inequities referenced previously. Why? Because over 95% of all General Fund service spending goes to education, health care, human services, and public safety — so those are the programs which Illinois is compelled to cut because of the revenue shortfalls created by the structural deficit.”

Watch Gov. Pritzker’s remarks the day after a tornado caused an Amazon facility collapse that left six people dead.