“In an interview with BuzzFeed, (University of Chicago epidemiologist and COVID advisor to Gov. JB Pritzker Emily) Landon skewered Biden for ‘doubl[ing] down on this idea that we don’t really need to worry about COVID anymore” and for suggesting that “the current magnitude of infections, death, and disability as a result of the disease is normal.'”

Madison County State’s Attorney Tom Haine said his office will later ask that the case be consolidated with similar suits filed by the state’s attorneys of other counties in Illinois. Prosecutors in Will, McHenry, Jo Daviess, Greene, Jersey and Morgan are among those challenging the SAFE-T Act.

A shift in favor of the Republicans on the court could produce big changes in how state laws and the state constitution are interpreted. The Democratic majority on the sate Supreme Court in recent years, for instance, has shot down attempts to reform the state’s pension system, and denied voters the chance to vote on a new constitutional amendment stripping power from state lawmakers to gerrymander the state’s legislative districts to their partisan advantage.

CUB is now saying Illinois could see one of the most expensive winters in history.

A Moneygeek study ranked the Land of Lincoln 17th in road roughness after researchers with the personal finance website analyzed data from the Federal Highway Administration on the overall road quality for each state.

Kane County officials are discussing its first property tax hike in a decade to fill a $3 million deficit they say are created by unfunded mandated reforms in the SAFE-T Act. State Rep. Keith Wheeler said, “The Democratic-majority SAFE-T Act is literally forcing our local governments to consider raising property taxes to make our communities less safe.”

“We need an orderly process at the border,” Sen. Dick Durbin said. “We need to make sure that we never knowingly allow a dangerous person to enter this country. We have to acknowledge the fact that we cannot accept everyone who wants to come into the United States at this time. We have to have a process that brings in the workforce that we need for the future of this country.”

Chicago Democrat Alexi Giannoulias is seeking to reenter the statewide political landscape for the first time since his 2010 loss in the race for U.S. Senate to Republican Mark Kirk by about 59,000 votes. A deputy House minority leader from Bloomington, state Rep. Dan Brady has served in the House since 2001 after spending two terms as McLean County coroner from 1992 until 2000, and he is a partner at a Bloomington funeral home.

Gibson City taxpayers were surprised to learn late last week that the incorrect and unexpected strain on their wallets won’t be fixed until next year after they were hit in August with property tax bills that were 40-60% too high, costing hundreds to thousands of dollars more than they owe. Said the mayor, “I think it’s gonna be a mess if we wait a year.”

Statewide, manufacturing has an estimated annual economic impact between $580 billion and $611 billion each year. Gordy Hulten, CEO of the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association, said manufacturing is the largest contributor to the state’s gross domestic product and Illinois manufacturers employ more than 660,000 people directly and support 1.7 million jobs.

From April through June, 81% of Illinois calls to the old 10-digit suicide prevention number were sent to out-of-state call centers. But in August, the first full month since the three-digit 988 number officially went live, that number flipped, and 85% of the 12,300 calls placed from Illinois were handled by crisis counselors within the state. Even so, it raises the question: Are Black and brown people who experience a mental health crisis in disinvested neighborhoods in Chicago well served by a crisis lifeline in Bloomington, roughly 130 miles southwest of their reality?

In the latest edition of the American Legislative Exchange Council’s economic competitiveness report, Illinois ranked 45th in the country. Chief Economist Jonathon Williams said Illinois’ property taxes are too high, and the fact that it is not a right-to-work state also is damaging.

Jim Dey: “The politics of the new law are easy to understand. Its Democratic supporters just want to get past Election Day with their power either intact or enhanced. The GOP is using the issue as a means of restoring itself to relevance. But the act represents far more than political gamesmanship. It reflects a sea change in policy best reflected by bond abolition.”

On the table right now is a House bill (HB 5799) that would pull $200 million from the state’s Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity for rebates to customers of downstate utility Ameren Illinois. The bill won’t be acted on until the legislature reconvenes in November. But rates in Ameren’s service area appear unlikely to decline by then.

“Railroads are an important part of our lives and our economy,” Sen. Dick Durbin said. “But we got to make certain that as we look to the future of these railroads that we consider the people who are affected by it…We’re not saying that it is impossible to do this merger — it could be building some rail facility west of the metropolitan area will solve the problems.”