“Democrats have a long tradition of actually being responsible with taxpayer dollars, though Republicans have done a much better job of portraying themselves as the fiscal watchdogs,” Senate President Don Harmon said. “But I think our actions speak louder than their words, and our balanced budget this year is the best that I’ve seen in 20 years.”

Said Mike Abrahamson, policy manager at the Partnership for College Completion, “Basically, in Illinois, right now we’re one of the few states that for the vast majority, I think 99.5%, of our funding is given out based heavily on how we gave it out last year, not necessarily on a system that considers what students adequately need to succeed. How can we turn the system from being one of the few in the country that really doesn’t have much of a system behind it to potentially leading the country in terms of equity?”

Commercial building permits through less than four months of 2022 (79) are almost half of last year’s total for the year (172). Many of those are in manufacturing that have a greater economic impact.

During the Illinois State Board of Education’s April hearing last week, Shannon Adcock from the parents’ rights group Awake Illinois told board members they’re on notice. “With two years of failed pandemic policies and an abysmal state schools report card, classroom activism and socialism is replacing academics and worrisome mental health stats of our youth. A sleeping giant has awakened, and we go by moms and dads.”

In Racine County, Wisconsin, home to some 350 industrial firms, two local economic-development groups have combined efforts to roll out a promotion dubbed the Digital Manufacturing Campaign. Its aim is to draw skilled manufacturing workers from the nearby greater Chicago area. Workers in the Windy City are a tempting target because Illinois manufacturing employment, after a steep decline in 2020, remained flat last year.

Crowe has represented the 56th District in the Metro East region since 2019; She had served as an Assistant State’s Attorney in Madison County for 12 years before joining the Senate. Her Madison County based district has trended slightly more conservative in recent years, and her redrawn district left her considered one of the most vulnerable Democrats in the Senate this fall.

The hottest job markets in America are in five different states, but they have a lot in common. They’re in midsize cities, all with a population under 2.3 million. They’re in states with fairly low income taxes, or none at all. And their climates allow for outdoor activities all year round. They are: Austin, Texas; Nashville, Tenn.; Raleigh, N.C.; Salt Lake City; and Jacksonville, Fla. Larger cities remained at the bottom of the rankings this year. New York took 41st place, Chicago was 40th and Los Angeles was 26th.

A total of 769 school districts are slated to be reimbursed for the shortfall, which officials with the Illinois State Board of Education attributed to a coding error dating back to the launch of Evidence-Based Funding for Student Success Act, which was signed into law by former Gov. Bruce Rauner in August 2017.

Dr. David Nayak, who runs the Strength to Love outreach clinic in Chicago, says Chicago is on track to see over 60 children die from gun violence in 2022. But this crisis not only affects Chicago. “For example, in Peoria, Illinois in 2021, five children under the age of 17 were killed by gun violence. And in East St. Louis, seven children were killed.”

Sens. Tony Muñoz of Chicago, an assistant majority leader, and Steve Landek, who doubles as mayor of Bridgeview, withdrew their names from the June 28 primary ballot, each likely clearing the way for their political allies to take over the respective seats. Neither Muñoz nor Landek has been accused of any wrongdoing.