Senator Dick Durbin, Democratic whip and one of the loudest proponents of his party’s Build Back Better Act—which offers work permits and de facto legal status to 6.5 million illegal immigrants and would be the largest amnesty in U.S. history—gleefully noted that the bill would put downward pressure on incomes. “If there are more workers filling those jobs, it’s deflationary.” In other words, Democrats’ talking points in favor of the bill are actually some of the strongest arguments against it.

Its passage may be a tall order, however, as the Illinois Restaurant Association successfully lobbied when lawmakers overhauled the minimum wage schedule in 2019 to allow businesses to continue to pay less than minimum wage to employees who earn tips.

Attorney Thomas DeVore filed contempt motions against CPS and District 128 in Libertyville, about which he said, “[The school district is] trying to be clever and say ‘well, yeah, if your child doesn’t have to wear a mask when they’re in the school building for education, but if they come back into the school building for any other reason like an after hours event or something like that they have to wear one,’”

A national republication of our Wirepoints column.

State Sen. Brian Stewart raised concerns: “If I was to pay staff out of my own pocket and then while they were getting state pay and they were expected to do state duties, it’s just a slippery slope. I certainly have continued reservations about that.”

Elected officials in several states have made mask mandates illegal, saying the decision should be left to parents. Here’s a state-by-state roundup of where masks are mandated and where they are optional.

Between 2019 and 2021, a quarter of gun crimes were committed by teenagers and more than half of gun crimes were by people 25 years old and younger.

“The pandemic cannot be ended through executive orders and lawsuits…Executive orders have only so much power and can be fought in court, as we see today. And they often expire with the executive who made them. But laws have more power and set precedent for generations, until a legislature votes them down or amends them. They also set guidelines.”

U.S. Department of Labor data through the first half of 2021 estimates nearly $430 million was given out in fraudulent claims instead of to unemployed Illinoisans. But security experts caution the full figure could be more than $1 billion.

A timeline detailing Midwest states’ repeal of pandemic protocols shows how other governors have already empowered local governments to make those decisions for themselves.

Griffin said, “This is not just about beating J.B. This is about having a person in office who is going to put the people of our state first, who is going to be willing to make the tough calls that need to be made to end the senseless violence that’s been gripping our state, that we put our state on a path of fiscal sustainability, and that we make Illinois a place that firms like Citadel can proudly recruit talent to and build businesses within.”