The three members removed Tuesday for disobeying mask mandates included Reps. Dan Caulkins, Blaine Wilhour, and Adam Niemerg. They were all allowed to participate remotely.

Speaking to a Senate budget committee Tuesday, Susana Mendoza said the state is nearly caught up on its bill backlog and that those two programs are no longer needed. “This program has allowed private lenders to loan money to state vendors, then rake in the 12 percent interest that state taxpayers were on the hook for with these late bills.”

On Tuesday, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul filed four motions to the Illinois Supreme Court, including an emergency motion for stay pending appeal and a request for expedited consideration. It was unclear Tuesday if the state’s highest court would take up the case.

Former Chicago Bears great Gary Fencik, a former lottery control board chairman, wrote, “For the last three fiscal years, the lottery has been managed by a U.K. company owned by a Canadian pension fund, optimistically named Camelot. It is paid a $24 million fee each fiscal year. And all expenses. Camelot ranked 20th in lottery performance in fiscal 2021. While many state lotteries have set all-time records each year since the pandemic started, Camelot has missed our record FY13 revenue total by about $40 million each year.”

“This piece of legislation would require that mental health resources be taught to children in our schools,” state Sen. Mike Simmons said. “Both how and where to access those resources.”

DCFS director Marc Smith neglected the teen’s right to suitable housing, according to the judge. The agency will face $1,000 daily court-ordered fines until she’s appropriately placed.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot said mandates could make a return should numbers rise in the future.

Jim Dey: “No elected Democrat, of course, will acknowledge that their opposition to the school-mask mandate is driven by public opinion. But it’s clear from the rules panel’s vote that legislative Democrats are not as enthused about publicly supporting Pritzker’s mandates as they once were.”

In January, the state Supreme Court laid down a widely anticipated decision, effectively ending efforts by some Illinois employers to use Illinois’ workers’ compensation law to find relief from the growing burden of the legal actions brought under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act.

Though state residents 65 and older are more likely than most older Americans to have some form of retirement income, pension payments for retired public sector workers in the state are on relatively shaky ground.

“Depending on what type of facility you’re in, we were finding that between 30 and 50% of providers were finding lead in their drinking water,” said Elevate’s Caroline Pakenham.

“To be sure, these are arcane matters of structure that shouldn’t burden the average tollway user…But it would be a mistake to declare that this simple change of personalities puts everything right with the world again.:

Mark Denzler, of the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association, and state Rep. Tim Butler: “Our state’s highly educated workforce, access to reliable energy and water resources, and centralized location in the heart of our country make Illinois an ideal location for the manufacturing of these specialized technological parts, which are commonplace in everything from laptops and cellphones to microwaves and hairdryers.”