“Ironically, such union apologists seem far more invested in sowing fear and doubt about new student or teacher-oriented solutions than in recognizing the depth of failure pervasive in the status quo. Take, for instance, the outcomes of public school kids and the caliber of teaching standards in safely blue states like Illinois…This year 100% of Chicago teachers were evaluated as excellent or proficient. The students are failing but the teachers are great? That contradiction shows the system is corrupt as well as incompetent.”

“As public officials, it is our highest responsibility to protect the safety of our residents,” said McHenry County Board Chairman Mike Buehler. “By opposing the SAFE-T Act and House Bill 3447, McHenry County is sending a clear message to Springfield that we oppose legislation that could put criminals back on the streets and decriminalize illegal drugs in our community.”

Across the 95 counties that provided 2021 data, circuit courts clerks collected a total of $6.8 million in bond processing fees in 2021. Bond processing fees represented 8% of total bonds applied ($83.1 million). These bond processing fees will be eliminated with the abolition of cash bail beginning in January 2023.

Prosecutors say they obtained a flurry of emails involving former AT&T President Paul La Schiazza and the lobbyists showing that they discussed the allegedly fake consulting deal for Edward Acevedo and sought assurances that it would lead to the favorable legislation the company had been seeking in Springfield.

“White leftist media types just can’t stand black people leaving the Democrat Party political plantation. And so, they just hated it when Thomas told other black voters to run away from that plantation before an election…Thomas sees the Democrat Party as hurtful to black people in America.”

Presidential endorsements in the race for Illinois governor are revealing what issues the candidates champion.

Illinois state law says immunizations shall be required in accordance with rules created by the Illinois Department of Public Health. The agency wouldn’t say Friday if they plan to make such rules after the CDC’s recommendations.

During a recent town hall meeting, Adams County State’s Attorney Gary Farha called the SAFE-T Act “terrible”, and the claim that 100 out of 102 state’s attorneys around the state are against the legislation is no exaggeration because he was on those conference calls. “State’s attorneys were yelling and screaming, Democrat, Republican, it didn’t matter. There were two counties, Cook County and Lake County that were for it, nobody else was for it.”

The Joint Committee on Administrative Rules issued an official objection to ongoing emergency rulemaking from the Illinois Department of Public Health. “The issue was one not of the legitimacy of the rule,” state Rep. Steven Reick said. “The problem was one of IDPH has got very broad emergency rulemaking power.”

According to prosecutors, AT&T Illinois admitted that in 2017 it arranged for a Madigan ally to receive $22,500 in payments from the company, which would be paid out through an intermediary — a lobbying firm that performed services for AT&T Illinois.

The balance of the state’s Supreme Court, which brings with it questions over major issues like abortion; races that could determine control over the U.S. House of Representatives; whether or not Illinois’ constitution will change and more could all be decided.

$100,000 of that came from progressive organizations that don’t disclose their contributors even though Budzinski is now running as a Democrat for Congress from a downstate district on a platform that includes getting “dark money” out of politics. State workers generally are barred from accepting compensation as a lobbyist for one year after leaving government, but Budzinski was not a registered lobbyist; She instead worked as a consultant to the lobbyist paying her.

A letter signed by Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, and U.S. reps. Mike Quigley, Sean Casten and Jan Schakowsky, reads, in part, “Postal employees in Chicago continue to have to perform their jobs while fearing for their lives.” Reports of robberies of letter carriers rose from 80 robberies in 2018 to more than 260 robberies last year.

Sangamon County state’s attorney Dan Wright said there is an argument for ending cash bail, but had concerns as to how the bill as written limits what judges are allowed and not allowed to do in regard to danger assessment. “I think we can eliminate that (cash bail) and still ensure public safety, but the way to do that is not by depriving judges of their discretion to assess danger to the community.”

“Most of all, follow my friend Beth’s example. Speak up. Get involved. I know so many people that don’t want to “be political” and are tired of all the stuff that is going on. They just want to be left alone. But, the leftists won’t leave you alone until you get rid of them.”

In Illinois and other states still carrying loan balances, officials say they’ve had other priorities to spend on. Even with the federal aid they’ve received, states have asked for more relief in paying back the advances they’ve taken out for unemployment. Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza, for instance, has been pushing for a bill sponsored by two Democratic senators from her state, Majority Whip Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, which would retroactively wipe out millions in interest costs for the advances that have piled up. Illinois has seen its debt rise by about $1 million thus far this fiscal year because

The state auditor general has blamed Pritzker’s Public Health Department for failing to adequately respond to a COVID-19 outbreak at a state home for veterans that led to the deaths of 36 residents. And child-welfare advocates have repeatedly hammered the administration’s oversight of the Department of Children and Family Services that resulted in a judge ordering Pritzker’s hand-picked DCFS director to be held in contempt of court a dozen times for failing to find appropriate placements for children.