Ted Dabrowski, president of the nonprofit Wirepoints, said Illinois’ high taxes are just part of the reason people are leaving. “It is also the high level of corruption and overall, a lack of opportunity because high taxes and corruption are job killers in the end,” said Dabrowski.

“If the state of Illinois had funded its pensions at the point in time at which they were accrued, it would not matter whether the state’s population is now increasing or declining. But that didn’t happen. Instead, the state depends on future generations of taxpayers.”

Plans include the construction of an underground parking garage, elimination of the circle drive on the north side of the Capitol and the addition of a new entry that improves access and security.

A spokeswoman for Gov. Pritzker praised the new mandate: “…Chicago (is) implementing evidence based strategies already at work in other major cities. Illinois was one of the first states to reinstitute a mask mandate and remains one of only a handful of states where masks are required indoors. The Governor has urged local communities to follow the mask mandate, get vaccinated and boosted and physically distance when possible.”

State Sen. Sally Turner said it’s the state’s high taxes, one-party rule, increased crime and corruption that are to blame. “When people look at those things they think ‘do I want to raise my family here with those types of issues.'”

“One of the things I really like about Illinois was because it has pretty detailed spending descriptions,” said research analyst Katie Furtado. “There are a lot of states that just say we spent $3,500 on sewer. OK, what does that mean?”

“Throughout this pandemic, I’ve said that local governments and county governments should certainly look at stricter mitigations,” Gov. JB Pritzker said.

Traditionally, the major reasons Illinoisans are choosing to leave the state are for better housing and employment opportunities, both of which have been made worse by poor public policy in Illinois.

The majority of sitting lawmakers – nearly 88% – received money from unions. More than one-third of the General Assembly received more than 20% of their campaign funds from unions.

While the state’s unemployment rate fell to 5.7% last month, down from 6% a month earlier and 8.1% a year ago, Illinois’ jobless rate is among the highest in the country.

Sangamon County Department of Public Health Director Gail O’Neill says there aren’t any metrics she’s looking at that would trigger a recommendation for returning to remote learning, but that decision would also depend on the number of healthy teachers that are currently available.

The unfunded liabilities of Illinois? suburban and downstate public safety pensions rose to $13 billion in the last year of compiled results reported to the state, continuing a 29-year climb that underscores the deep strains on local government budgets.

The unfunded tab for the 295 firefighter funds and 352 police funds outside of Chicago grew to $13 billion in fiscal 2019 from $12.3 billion in 2018 and $11.5 billion in 2017. Police accounted for $7.5 billion of the total and firefighters for $5.5 billion, according to a new report from the state legislature?s Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability.

The endorsement comes after a report published by the federal agency found the program allowed close contacts to remain in the classroom as an alternative to home quarantine. The study looked at how the program worked this fall at Lake County schools.

“The more ground the Democrat Party gains in the suburban areas, the more they’re able to cut loose people from the rural areas,” said former Democratic U.S. Rep. Glenn Poshard, the party’s 1998 nominee for governor. “If you put together the city and the suburbs, that’s a winning combination for any candidate. A lot of people downstate feel that’s what’s happened.”