During a protest outside the governor’s mansion in early July, Davis Smith, executive director of the Illinois Family Institute, said local school districts should make local decisions. “Let the parents, along with their priests, rabbis and pastors, teach sex ed and the birds and the bees to our kids.”

According to the report, Illinois is projected to have the worst unemployment rate in the Midwest over the next five years. “They compared Illinois’ overall job market to others across the country, and looked at job prospects, ability to find a job and likelihood to build a career in Illinois,” explained Bryce Hill, of the Illinois Policy Institute. “They found that the prospects in Illinois are not as good as in other states.”

With job increases this past month, four sectors have recovered the job losses suffered at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and state-mandated shutdowns. Construction, information, trade, transportation and utilities, and professional and business services have all recovered and are now above pre-COVID employment levels.

In prepared remarks for a meeting of Florida Democrats last weekend, Gov. JB Pritzker said, “So like a spoiled rich kid, Griffin announced he was taking his toys and leaving Illinois. Where did he move to? You guessed it. His $400 million, 20-acre Palm Beach estate. And he’s one of Ron DeSantis’ largest donors.”

Corinn Crippin, a student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, doesn’t think the new law is in the best interest of Illinois schools or their students. She added that if the Illinois “government would actually like to see the best for the next generation they would allow school of choice for elementary, [junior high,] and high school students.”

Ameren Illinois bills are skyrocketing due to inflation, increased consumption, and the closure of many coal plants causing energy shortages; Most people have seen information about the rising wholesale power prices in pamphlets with their Ameren bills for months now. But lawmakers say MISO is failing to approve renewable energy projects to meet the demand.

Illinois Democratic governor J.B. Pritzker celebrated the departure of two GOP billionaires and one of the state’s biggest businesses in remarks delivered last weekend to a group of Democrats gathered in the Sunshine State.

Steve Huntley: “Polling reflects growing interest in education alternatives. One survey found that support for school choice had jumped to 72% among registered voters. That support was widespread. The canvassing, by RealClearOpinion Research, reported that 77% of Hispanics and 70% of African Americans backed school choice. A poll in Democrat Illinois showed backing for school choice legislation rising to 61% from 54% in just a little over half a year.”

The end of cash bail is one of the well-known provisions of the state law, but there are a lot more pieces of it that will have big effects. Among them, it becomes more difficult for judges to issue warrants for people accused of crimes who fail to appear for a court date. “They now have to issue a contempt proceeding and have that paperwork served on the defendant before a warrant can be issued, which as you can imagine is a little crazy under how things actually operate within the confines of a criminal case,” said Judge Mark Fellheimer.

Sen. Dick Durbin’s legislation would establish a new Food Safety Administration. It would be run by food safety experts who are focused on protecting the nations food supply. On the floor of the U.S. Senate Durbin pointed to the death of Mary Billman, 79, of Pesotum in Champaign County.

“Mark Glennon of Wirepoints hinted at a potential 2024 presidential run by Pritzker back in December 2021. If re-elected, President Joe Biden would be 82 years old, and vice president Kamala Harris’ poll numbers were declining, Glennon suggested that a Pritzker run for president would really be feasible”

It’s a massive amount of money — more than a third of the $68 million the group raised in the first two quarters of the year.

“In multiple states, Democrats have meddled in Republican primary races, always on the side of the far-right fringe-y candidate. Their cynical assumption being that the MAGA candidate will be easier to defeat in a general election…In Illinois, Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the DGA spent $35 million on ads to help “a far-right state senator” win Illinois’ Republican gubernatorial primary.”

“Pritzker should know this, because his very own family was one such group of freedom-seeking refugees. During the spring 2020 lockdowns, when Pritzker issued draconian shelter-in-place rules for all Illinois residents and banned non-essential travel, his own family jetted off via private aviation for his ultra-luxury equestrian estate near Palm Beach. The one that J.B. purchased for $12 million in 2018.”

The state prioritized developments in areas disproportionately affected by COVID-19, contracts with disadvantaged and underreported businesses, project labor agreements, and contracts with registered apprenticeship programs. Two of the projects are in Chicago, seven are in the Chicago metro area, six are in other metro areas of the state, and five developments are in rural communities.

Courts recently lifted the stays that prevented the licenses from being issued.

“The state attorney general filed to dismiss the whistleblower’s lawsuit, which would mean allegations of improper political influence will not be probed. But the now-public allegations tell a disturbing tale of corruption and patronage in the Land of Lincoln.”