“I think that a lot of money was wasted and stolen,” U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin told reporters on Capitol Hill.

The review also found that Corrections has for years manipulated hiring for the post of intelligence officer — there are 80 currently on staff and historically, 268 have had the job. “No official position description exists and the position has never been posted centrally or available to the public,” the report by the Office of the Executive Inspector General for the Agencies of the Illinois Governor said.

“Our goal is to make sure we are accommodating in every possible way,” ISU President Terri Goss Kinzy said.

Truth in Accounting founder Sheila Weinberg explained that in previous years the property tax increase would be capped by inflation. “With inflation as high as it is, local governments will now have the option to increase property taxes to that level. This will increase property taxes even more than the already high amount they see now.”

Citing Wirepoints.

A republication of our Wirepoints column.

Robert Steigmann, a justice on the Fourth District Appellate Court in Illinois: “This legislative proposal, which fundamentally altered important and long-standing procedures of the criminal justice system, was submitted by its proponents in a 764-page bill at 4 a.m. on the last day of a lame-duck session. This regrettable episode calls to mind the ultimate example of legislative malfeasance: Congresswomen Nancy Pelosi’s statement when discussing the bill that would become Obamacare, ‘We have to pass the bill to find out what’s in it.'”

This is the third lawsuit filed by Illinois state’s attorney, two of whom are Democrats, to stop the SAFE-T Act from becoming law.

The governors of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin signed onto the Midwest Hydrogen Coalition. The coalition will accelerate clean hydrogen development, from production and supply chain to distribution in agriculture, manufacturing, transportation, and other industries.

Chicago’s Charles Lipson: “The immigrants are being transported from Republican-led border states to northern Democratic enclaves, which have long proclaimed themselves “sanctuaries” for the migrants they are now so appalled to find arriving. Democrats charge that it’s a stunt, and they are partly right. But it is a very shrewd stunt with a far-reaching impact. Although the buses carry a vanishingly small number of the illegals arriving daily in Texas and Arizona, they are making several big points.” Comment: The Spectator is excellent, and you can register for free for three articles per month.

Asked about state control over solar and wind energy project, Darren Bailey replied, “I’m sure there are things I need to learn about that, but in my administration, I seek to cut government. We must have less government in our lives. More government is what’s destroying this constitutional republic.”

“It just seems that people don’t understand and they don’t want to learn and come to experience what a joy these shows are and the joy on these kids’ faces,” drag queen Ginger Forest said. “It’s very fun. It’s very wholesome.”

Perhaps hoping to shift the subject away from crime, Gov. J.B. Pritzker today trumpeted one of his political strengths, praising his pro-union moves as governor and dubbing GOP nominee Darren Bailey “Bruce Rauner’s ‘Mini-Me.'” But in the process, Pritzker may have left himself open to attacks that his actions have the bottom-line impact of raising costs for taxpayers. And the Bailey campaign immediately responded that the biggest thing that’s occurred under Pritzker is that taxes on the typical family have risen by what it says are $2,000 a year.

Jim Dey: “Even as more and more law officers and municipal officials try to stop it in the court of public opinion, lawsuits filed in Kankakee and Will counties put the Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today Act under legal scrutiny.”

A nonpartisan task force formed under the Supreme Court, meanwhile, is working to assist with implementation in the justice system ahead of Jan. 1 and has identified unclear or contradictory sections of the bill that lawmakers should reconsider before Jan. 1.