Democratic legislators and the governor have touted the gas tax delay as a win for families, but economics professor Jeremy Groves said drivers may not see much of a benefit. “It’s really more a talking point than a reality for consumers.” Drivers may save sixty to eighty cents for every $20 dollars spent to fill the gas tank, he said, but the state also loses out on millions in revenue.

On Friday, Attorney General Kwame Raoul said Jenny Thornley made sexual assault allegations against her supervisor; Those allegations were unfunded following a wide ranging independent investigation costing taxpayers more than $500,000. “And so, we’re engaged … adverse to the person making the allegations,” Raoul said when asked why he referred the case out. “After an investigation, it’s revealed that there’s potential for fraud from that employee. It will look like retaliation if you’re prosecuting the person that you’re adverse, so it’s a typical conflict, which is common.”

Under an executive order that Pritzker said he would sign Friday, the money will flow through a new Office of Opioid Settlement Administration to be set up within the Illinois Department of Human Services. An appointed Statewide Opioid Settlement Administrator will ensure that the funds are used to fund recovery and treatment programs in the counties and municipalities with the most urgent need.

Gov. JB Pritzker was asked Friday if the rancor the fight created was worth it. He responded, “Is it worth it? Look, what we’re looking to accomplish, I think all of us who care about the Democratic Party, is to make sure that we have representation from all the diverse constituencies, and making sure that we have leadership that can accomplish the goals that we want to set out to do…”

There were 102,000 fewer job openings for Illinoisans in May compared to April, according to new data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The decline dropped Illinois’ job opening rate by 1.5 percentage points, the most of any state in the nation.

Gov. JB Pritzker insists his motives are driven by fundraising concerns. However, Rep. Robin Kelly’s team assert her fundraising is up to par with the previous chair. According to WGLT, the Democratic Party raised over $2 million since Kelly became party chair between the Democratic Party of Illinois state fund and the Federal Election Commission fund.

Mark Konkol: “When I think about it, maybe the white billionaire’s push to oust the Black woman leading the Democratic Party in favor of a Latina friend of Madigan isn’t about skin color. It could be that Pritzker prefers a leader with experience practicing politics the Madigan way.”

David Maimon, a criminology professor, says he often sees Illinoisans’ credit and debit account numbers for sale online, along with fake Illinois driver’s licenses and advertisements for “tuts” — slang for online tutorials on how to commit fraud. One user bragged about obtaining $354 weekly unemployment benefits from Illinois in May.

The financial website MoneyGeek analyzed a wide array of statistics, from health outcomes, to health access and cost to determine how states rank in terms of health care. The report ranked Illinois as the 11th best state for health care. “Illinois ranked 17th for outcomes, 21st for costs and 16th for access,” researcher Doug Milnz said.

One in every 385 housing units – or about 0.26% of homes – either received a default notice, had an auction scheduled or was repossessed by the bank. Instances of foreclosures in Illinois have nearly tripled from last year and are up 12% from two years ago.

The $522 rise in grocery bills for Illinoisans this year dwarfs the savings from Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s push to suspend the state’s 1% sales tax on groceries. The temporary suspension of the grocery tax, which Pritzker has forced grocers to advertise during his reelection campaign, will save the typical Illinoisan less than $50 based on today’s prices.

DeWitt County States Attorney Dan Markwell explained that the Legislation eliminates some fees, like the $80 booking fee at the jail, and increases departmental costs through seven-day-a-week courts. “We won’t be able to charge anything,” Markwell said. “So, that’s going to be a big hit.”

Illinois Solar for All offers virtually free solar panels and guaranteed energy bill savings for residents who meet certain income or environmental justice criteria. Since its launch in 2017, though, relatively few people have taken advantage of the program and millions of allocated dollars remain unspent.

The shortage is felt particularly in civil matters. “An order of protection is heard in civil court. Eviction court is a civil court. So people being removed from their homes. Foreclosure is also a civil matter,” said Illinois Legal Aid attorney Teri Ross. “So there’s a lot of heavy, life changing issues that affects people in civil courts where they don’t have a right to a lawyer.”

Illinois’s annual pension contributions have now reached $9 billion on a $46 billion state budget, and even that’s not adequate to reduce the state’s debt. It’s so-called actuarially determined contribution—that is, the level at which deposits into its pension system would begin reducing the debt—is a mind-boggling $14 billion a year. That’s nearly a third of the state budget and a sum Illinois obviously can’t afford. On top of that, many taxpayers in the Prairie State live in municipalities with similar burdens. Chicago’s annual pension contribution is now more than $2 billion. For dozens of plans with

A 8 statement from the Illinois Sheriffs’ Association said Gov. JB Pritzker’s new order “is merely a cynical attempt to sustain a longstanding pattern of indefinite DHS admission and treatment delays without any meaningful solutions from the state.” The statement said Illinois residents “should demand that their government solve problems…”

Two regions − Chicago and downstate − are essentially wrapped up for JB Pritzker and Darren Bailey respectively. The battleground areas, retired professor Kent Redfield says, are the suburbs primarily in the collar counties surrounding Chicago. “You can make a difference there,” he said. “You can grow or shrink.”