“(Lake County State’s Attorney Eric) Rinehart’s anti-gun tirade doesn’t make sense unless you come to terms with the fact that his plea for national gun-grabbing is a solely political talking point, not one that is designed to effect change that would actually stop bloodthirsty villain wannabes in their tracks”

Governor JB Pritzker signed an Illinois bill into law that requires colleges and universities to provide mental resources on student identification cards or its website.

Griffin told Pritzker he had a rare opportunity to run the state not from the political left but the center, dealing with unaffordable pension costs, such as a 3% compound annual cost-of-living increase for retirees, while stabilizing state finances with additional revenues, the Griffin account goes. “If you do these things, I certainly won’t get in your way and in fact will support you,” Griffin told Pritzker in so many words. In other words, Griffin urged Pritzker to make pension changes that could result in the governor getting some political cover from his rightward flank for a companion tax

Since the end of May, unarmed security guards have been downtown from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, to supplement city officers. They are contracted to be there through the end of 2022. Plagued for more than a year with police staffing shortages, the city has also agreed to pay the UI to add officers who, beginning Oct. 1, will continuously patrol the area.

Wirepoints President Ted Dabrowski said it’s difficult to take that seriously if you look at recent speeches Pritzker has given, in particular a speech last month to New Hampshire Democrats. “You watch that speech, you watch him lean in, you watch his rhetoric, you watch his energy, it sure looks like it. It’s hard to say no after watching that speech.”

Illinois teachers unions and their political committees are not new to funding tax hike proposals. They donated over $200,000 to fund the failed progressive tax in 2020, which would have made it easier for lawmakers to tax everyone, including retirees. Government unions also supported doubling the gas tax in 2019 to fund Pritzker’s $45 billion infrastructure plan, including $1.4 billion in waste and pork projects.

Although Illinois’ non-tipped minimum wage is currently at $12 and will jump to $15 by 2025, it still doesn’t reach MIT’s calculation of a living wage. The living wage for one person with no children living in Illinois is $18.16 an hour, according to MIT.

As a result of its political divisions, America appears to now be dividing itself into prosperous, high-growth states and states that are suffering a chronic decline. But Democrat-run states believe their abortion policies could be a key factor in attracting companies back. Caterpillar and Citadel, which in June announced their exit out of Illinois, are only the latest firms to leave high-tax, high-regulation states. Tesla, Hewlett Packard, Oracle, and Remington are also among the hundreds of companies flocking out of California, Illinois, New York, and New Jersey to business-friendly places like Texas, Florida, Arizona, and Tennessee. Relocating companies have spanned