The bills that moved quickly through the House and Senate focused on challenges created by the coronavirus pandemic, such as a teacher shortage and mental health stresses on educators, and allowed Chicago principals to unionize. A flurry of bills that proposed restricting what the state board of education, the state department of public health, and the governor’s office could do during the coronavirus pandemic, as well as a number of curriculum transparency bills, did not make it past committee.

Labor unions are asking that the government systemically change the unemployment insurance trust fund that they feel has been historically underfunded and has had little change since 1980.

That includes $278.4 million wagered on about two and a half weeks’ worth of games in the men’s NCAA basketball tournament, and another $7.8 million bet on the women’s tourney, the Illinois Gaming Board reported. Only one casino saw its bracket bankroll go bust, but the overall casino win generated almost $2.2 million in Illinois tax revenue

The Create a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair — or CROWN — Act amends the Illinois Human Rights Act to make explicit that “race” includes associated traits such as hair texture and styles. Last year, Illinois passed the Jett Hawkins Act, which bars schools from prohibiting hairstyles such as dreadlocks and braids.

Four Illinois leaders debate whether the budget as passed reflects any fiscal responsibility or sustainability.

In what health officials say is an effort to align with new guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Illinois Department of Public Health will no longer track case and test positivity rates.

“That’s compelling people to utter speech that they don’t want to say, or that they don’t want to take part in,” said Josh Sharp with the Illinois Fuel and Retail Association. “The state has not only assigned a fine to that, but they’ve criminalized it.”

State Sen. Sue Rezin said it’s unexceptable that the debt lingers, especially since the state received $16 billion from federal taxpayers over the past two years. “Nothing is going to change. We’re just moving the speed bump from the summer to after the election. That’s what’s happening here. Let’s be honest here.”

That 9% drop is a strong indication union leadership is out of touch with what members want.

If Gov. J.B. Pritzker signs it, SB1915 will require state agencies to contract with suppliers only providing compostable or recyclable foodware in state parks and natural areas. Studies have shown Illinoisans produce 23% more waste than other states per resident and very little is ever recycled, according to Illinois Environmental Council Executive Director Jen Walling.

Unlike typical traffic cameras that photograph plates for an infraction, this new technology records license plate information regardless of wrongdoing.

Not only have Illinoisans consistently faced among the highest effective state and local tax burdens in recent years, state and local taxes have also risen more than virtually every state since 2019.

“Illinois’ requirement that gas stations actively advertise the state’s tax policies under threat of fines is in a league of its own. Retailers are effectively being forced to promote the political messaging of the governor and state legislators during an election year.”

State officials and environmental advocates say some states could be shortchanged hundreds of millions in bipartisan infrastructure dollars to remove dangerous lead pipes because the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has outdated information about the states’ needs. Based on the percentage of the lead pipes in the nation, Illinois’ share of the federal money should be $1.8 trillion, but it will only get $565 million, according to a Metropolitan Planning Council estimate.

“The state has proved incapable of adequately monitoring the nearly 7,000 units of government that exist within its borders, and its citizens—particularly the poor—are paying the price… Kirk Allen and John Kraft founded the Edgar County Watchdogs, an independent government-oversight organization, in 2010 after negative experiences with local government. Their goal: to root out corruption at every level of Illinois government—from the state house to cemetery districts.”

“As long as the crime and violence is contained in the hood, it was OK,” state Rep. Justin Slaughter said shortly after 4 a.m. while pushing for an amendment to the so-called SAFE-T Act. Slaughter went on to say the Republicans were telling a “steady drumbeat” of lies. “Lies that all too often reek of systematic racism,” he said.

Senate Republican Leader Dan McConchie says Democrats are growing spending at too high of a rate. “The biggest concern that I have is how much these election year gimmicks that they did in regard to tax relief is simply not going to help to stem the exodus from the state.”

According to a new annual report from the University of Michigan-based National Registry of Exonerations, Illinois recorded 38 exonerations in 2021 — 20 more than any other state — marking the fourth consecutive year it has led the nation.