Illinoisans have now wagered almost $17 billion on sports since the industry launched in the state just a few days before the COVID-19 pandemic started in March 2020. The state’s 12 sportsbooks have netted almost $1.3 billion over that time, creating almost $190 million in tax revenue.

An unexpected surge in revenue fuels the plan, with $1.36 billion paying off a federal loan distributed to Illinois and numerous other states when the coronavirus pandemic shut down businesses and sent unemployment rates to 40-year highs. That loan’s retirement carried a $20 million interest payment due next fall.

Illinois finished poorly on the list due to the impact on the middle class from the state’s flat income tax rate, average combined state and local sales tax and its high property tax burden that ranks second highest in the country.

“There is no part of HB5855 we think is constitutional,” Illinois State Rifle Association Executive Director Richard Pearson said in a statement.

On January 1, the hike is expected to increase by 2.2 cents per gallon, followed by an approximate 3.8 cents per gallon hike on July 1, according to inflation experts’ estimates.

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin has served in the role in the caucus since 2005. He will also continue in his role as Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

“The Supreme Court wants to know how our state courts can better serve the needs of survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking,” Chief Justice Mary Jane Theis said. “Changing technology, the upcoming SAFE-T Act and other legislative changes necessitate the need for a committee dedicated to these issues.”

“What I see is that there’s a number of reasons why the majority of license winners are not going to become operational, and it’s disingenuous for the state or the governor to herald success over who initially won these licenses,” said Ambrose Jackson, CEO of a company that won state social equity transportation and craft grow licenses, as well as a social equity dispensary license.

U.S Sen. Tammy Duckworth is proposing legislation requiring a new FAA seat size study looking at how real life conditions including children, seniors and the disabled as well as the presence carry-on bags impacts evacuation times. “When you’re testing with are not real world conditions, then that gets me worried,” she said.

Illinois got credit for its ambitious climate bill, passed in 2021, according to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. But the state underperformed in areas such as vehicle emissions standards and building code compliance studies.

If approved, the current proposal from state Rep. Bob Morgan is certain to face legal opposition from gun rights advocates, and the political calculations surrounding its passage are complicated, particularly given that gun control measures historically have broken down on regional as well as partisan lines.

“On its face, the optics of (Jason) Barickman and (Tim) Butler’s departures, coming less than one month after winning reelection to new terms, are not great. But, in another sense, it is fitting that they announced within a few weeks of one another. Both hold conservative political positions but are moderate in temperament. They are the types of Illinois Republicans who still managed to get some things done despite toiling away in the superminority.”

Jim Dey: “In a 5-2 decision that angered the dissenters, the court sent the case of Samuel Sauls back to Champaign County for an “in camera” review of state child-protection records…If the impending judicial review of Illinois Department of Children and Family Services investigation records finds they are relevant, (Samuel) Sauls’ conviction will be reversed and he will be entitled to a new trial.”

President Joe Biden on Thursday is announcing the infusion of nearly $36 billion to shore up a financially troubled union pension plan, preventing severe cuts to the retirement incomes of more than 350,000 Teamster workers and retirees across the United States. The money for the Central States Pension Fund is the largest amount of federal aid provided for a pension plan, the Biden administration said, and comes from the American Rescue Plan, a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package that he signed into law in 2021.

Under a bill signed into law last August by Gov. J.B. Pritzker, each local government’s annual refund tab is now added to its levy on taxpayers the following year. The problem stood out in some smaller suburbs, where one favorable tax appeal decision for a big commercial property could blow a multimillion-dollar hole in the school system’s budget, state Rep. Michael Zalewski said.