In Illinois, $5.1 billion in ARP ESSER funding was awarded to the state Board of Education for its reopening plan that implemented strategies with “an emphasis on equity and diversity.” The plan provided school districts with training on topics like “anti-racism” and equity, and allocated a percentage of funds to create a statewide coalition to help school districts offer grants for projects addressing “issues pertaining

Chicago allocated $293 million to mitigate negative economic effects of the pandemic and $179 million in cash transfers, job training and community violence interventions. Chicago is receiving $1.9 billion in ARPA relief after tapping $1.3 billion for budget relief to make up for lost revenues. Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration is using the remaining $600 million of funds along with $660 million of new general obligation borrowing to fund more than $1.2 billion of social, climate, environmental affordable housing, violence prevention, homeless reduction, economic, health and other infrastructure investments.

The Illinois Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers graded the state on everything from roads to drinking water. Since the last time the report was released was 2018, there were some improvements. Roads and transit went from a D to D-plus, dams went from C to C-plus and inland waterways from D-minus to D.

The budget package lawmakers approved in the early morning hours on the final day of session earlier this month creates the Statewide 9-8-8 Trust Fund. The Department of Human Services will use the fund to establish and maintain a suicide prevention and mental health crisis system. To fund the new 9-8-8 program, the budget transfers $5 million from the Statewide 9-1-1 Fund.

Illinois ranks among the biggest producers of soybeans in the country. U.S. Department of Agriculture data showed the state to be the largest producer of soybeans in 2021, producing over 672 million bushels. Illinois is currently fourth among all states in biodiesel production and third in consumption with around 160 million gallons consumed annually.

While demand for employees and a large pool of still-unemployed workers will likely be enough to continue driving Illinois’ current labor market recovery, population decline – particularly among those of prime working-age – threatens the long-term stability of the state’s labor market.

Three separate lawsuits, filed by the states and environmental groups Thursday in New York and California, ask judges to order a more thorough environmental review before the Postal Service moves forward with the next-generation delivery vehicle program. Plaintiffs contend that purchases of fossil fuel-powered delivery vehicles will cause environmental harm for decades to come.

“It’s not like we lock people up who are innocent, awaiting trial,” Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow said. “I do everything I can to make certain that if I can’t prove a case beyond a reasonable doubt, I dismiss it.”

Jim Dey: “(Mike) Madigan, of course, doesn’t have much to do with (Secretary of State candidate Alexi) Giannoulias’ primary campaign against Chicago City Clerk Anna Valencia. But in a contest with no real issues, he must figure being seen as anti-Madigan is more effective than promising winter-resilient license plates.”

Rounding out the Top 4 are diffraction gratings used in VR glasses made in Champaign, spacecraft parts for the Orion Capsule made in Rockford and the snack Fruit by the Foot manufactured in Belvidere.

Pritzker paid for his own flight; Intersect Illinois, a nonprofit business and economic development group funded by an Illinois state grant, paid for the flights of five members of Pritzker’s staff to attend the conference. Pritzker and his staff members also attended business meetings with trade groups, electric vehicle companies and officials from CME Group and BP Pulse

“The bottom line is that growing up without a father is a huge factor in America’s violence problem and one that needs to be addressed. The state laid the groundwork with the creation of the Illinois Council on Responsible Fatherhood in 2004, 18 years before Florida signed its bill. It’s high time that Illinois commits to funding it.”

Among them, the Better School Lunches Act removes the requirement that certain school districts must accept food-service agency contracts based on the lowest price bid and puts tax dollars to work to request that schools make a good-faith effort to increase purchasing of food and services from local, healthy, humane and sustainable businesses in Illinois.

So far, the state is on track to exceed last year’s haul, but the rate of growth has somewhat plateaued. Industry experts say this is in part due to the tax structure of legal products, which incentivizes some to obtain their weed through illicit street sales. The growth of new dispensaries has also been stalled due to a slew of lawsuits over the lottery process for awarding new licenses.

Across Illinois, police are ticketing thousands of students a year for in-school adolescent behavior once handled only by the principal’s office — for littering, for making loud noises, for using offensive words or gestures, for breaking a soap dish in the bathroom. Another state law prohibits schools from notifying police when students are truant so officers can ticket them. But the investigation found dozens of school districts routinely fail to follow this law.

In Illinois, the estimated cost of living for a family of four stands at $86,153 for 2022, slightly lower than the national average and the 17th highest among states.

The nuclear bailout was expected to cost ComEd ratepayers $700 million over five years, but rising energy prices combined with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have suddenly made the three nuclear plants more profitable.

State Rep. Jackie Haas: ” It was more clear this year than in the years before that Democrats wanted to pass this budget under cover of the night and without input from Republican legislators. This budget might be the most blatant political budget we’ve ever seen.”