On Thursday’s broadcast of CNN’s “At This Hour,” Rep. Mike Quigley stated that increased oil production is “so critical to addressing the inflation issue,” and responded to the Biden administration canceling oil and gas leases by stating companies “can up production now on the wells they have.”

The new law makes it so if an Illinois resident lost their driver’s license within the past three years solely due to prior unpaid child support they can now get a school bus driver permit.

This tenth contempt of court order involves a young girl who entered DCFS care more than a year ago. Since entering DCFS, the girl spent about 45 days in a foster placement. The rest of the time, she has been in what’s characterized as shelters and also psychiatric hospitals.

About 3 percent of survey respondents indicated the state’s coronavirus response was a top issue.

March jobs growth was spread across eight of the 15 metropolitan areas that contain parts of Illinois, according to data recently released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. While the largest numeric increase came from the Chicago-Naperville-Arlington Heights metro area, which added 9,400 jobs, the largest percentage increase came from Kankakee, which grew payrolls by 0.47% or 200 jobs during the month.

Don Schaefer, vice president of Mid-West Truckers Association, said the high cost of diesel is affecting the cost of moving products in and out of Illinois. “It costs about a dollar a mile just in diesel fuel alone, that doesn’t include the cost of paying the driver or the benefits that go with it.”

State Rep. Tom Demmer said there are “hundreds” of examples of spending for projects from Democrat-only legislators “(t)hat simply say ‘to go to this organization for operations,’ whatever that means. The state has no ability now to tie that to any performance metric, to try to reach any specific goal with it. It just says ‘to operations.’ There is no oversight, there is no check and there is no balance.”

A newly released audit of Illinois’ troubled child welfare agency shows it has failed to provide adequate medical care for children and has not properly tracked possible neglect cases. The Illinois Auditor General’s review of the Department of Children and Family Services also found failures to conduct home safety checks before children are returned to their parents.

House Bill 4243 is an effort to keep students advancing through grades even with unpaid bills. Previous law did not address the withholding of grades, transcripts or diplomas for students for financial reasons, only academic performance and social issues.

“What the hell were they doing?” Cook County Public Guardian Charles Golbert said of that finding. “That’s the most basic, essential thing that you do when you have a report that children are at risk. Everything else flows from the safety assessment.”

Sen. Tammy Duckworth introduced the legislation in March. She says a committee would be created to review prices and the justice department would then pursue any companies accused of price gouging.

A big push for the bill is that it could save the state $800,000 a year in plate production and preserve the styling of newer and classic cars.

Kyle Hillman, director of Legislative Affairs at the Illinois chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, said this law was triggered by recent tragedies involving social workers at Illinois’ Department of Child and Family Services.

Gerrymandered legislative maps that create uncompetitive districts and election rules that test clerical skills are all part of how Illinois politicians keep Jane Q. Public from running for office.

Charles Lipson recounts the remarkable story of the brave Illinoisan who challenged loyalty oaths and today’s Illinoisans who betray what he fought for.