Elmhurst Democrat Jenn Ladisch Douglass’s election was certified in late November. But Deanne Mazzochi has not publicly acknowledged her loss. Even an Elmhurst GOP official who recently reported on the outcomes of local races excluded Mazzochi’s result.

With new and returning lawmakers taking office and the spring legislative session starting today, there is already buzz around addressing literacy in Illinois, creating voting districts for Chicago’s elected school board, and increasing funding for early childhood and K-12 schools in the state’s budget.

“The updated plan intentionally strives to integrate social and environmental justice perspectives into recommendations in every section to better serve economically and socially marginalized individuals and communities in Illinois.”

When Senate President Don Harmon spoke during Wednesday’s ceremony, he quoted what a long-ago Chicago police superintendent once told a group of new officers: “If you lack integrity, get out! Get out now, because you will be found out.” The Senate’s 40-member Democratic super-majority includes Sen. Emil Jones, III, currently under federal indictment.

McHenry County Sheriff Robb Tadelman said was one of numerous law enforcement officials throughout the state who shared messages on social media in the aftermath of the bill’s passage. Their arguments center around their stance that the bill, which makes it illegal for Illinois residents to purchase, transfer or manufacture assault weapons and extended magazines, violates the Second Amendment.

With counties across the state saying they won’t enforce a gun ban, or are Second Amendment sanctuaries, and some publicly saying they won’t comply with a looming registry, Pritzker said Illinois State Police will be responsible for enforcement.

Open heat, double bypass surgery for columnist John Kass. We wish him a speedy recovery.

Retailer Dan Eldridge said while future sales are prohibited absent court action, they can complete sales for regular customers who started the background check before the ban went into effect. “However, there’s no similar treatment of magazines, so the magazines themselves would not be deliverable, so now we’re in the position of delivering non-functioning firearms to people.”

“At the top of the order for my legislation is to introduce a bill to deal with people that have depression and mental health issues,” State Rep. LaShawn Ford said. “That will be to entertain and start the conversation on legalizing mushrooms in Illinois.”

More than 742,000 Illinoisans voted by mail in the November 2022 election, the most ever during a midterm year. Statewide, over 4.14 million Illinoisans voted in November, the second most during a midterm year since 1998.

“(W)e find it troubling that the Legislature refused to allow the voice of the voters to be heard in determining if the bail provisions found in Article 1, Section 9 of our Constitution’s Bill of Rights should be amended. In the past, the Legislature trusted the will of the voters to determine if amendments to the Constitution should be approved. Yet the Legislature deliberately chose to prevent the voters from having a say in the elimination of cash bail. In doing so, the General Assembly showed they did not trust the will of the people.”

Jim Dey: “News of the December report will no doubt be received with concern by Gov. JB Pritzker. He’s on record as relying on continued strong revenue gains to finance the ambitious spending plans he disclosed Monday when sworn in to his second term.”

The provisions include strengthening the policy on sexual harassment, prohibiting threatening behavior and words in the workplace and specifically banning employees and contract workers from contributing to the Secretary’s political fund.

“Unintended consequences normally go against law enforcement when legislation comes along,” Jefferson County Sheriff Jeff Bullard, a former member of the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police Labor Council, said, describing Amendment 1. “But now there’s an unintended consequence with the new government union amendment to the state constitution. It states that language in a collective bargaining agreement now will trump state law.”

To meet that future demand, Democrats included provisions in their bill meant to grow Illinois’ reproductive health care workforce, like speeding up the process for granting temporary permits for all doctors, physician assistants and nurse practitioners to address health care shortages in all areas, not just reproductive health care.

Pritzker, flanked by victims of gun violence, including survivors from Highland Park during the bill signing ceremony in the Capitol rotunda, said he took the unusual step of signed the measure right away so that it could take immediate effect “and we can end the sale of these weapons of war as soon as possible.” Signing the measure was Pritzker’s first official action of his second term.

The Illinois Freedom Caucus’s statement on Gov. JB Pritzker’s second inauguration speech reads, in part, “Spending other people’s money is not leadership. Real leadership would be addressing the long-term problems of the state and putting aside the enormous power you have accrued by finally ending the endless emergency proclamations.”

Among them, prosecutors also intend to call Ed Moody, the former Cook County Recorder of Deeds and longtime 13th Ward precinct captain, who will testify Madigan told him it was ok that he was being paid by ComEd for doing next to nothing because he was “a valuable political operative” and that campaign work “was what was important to Madigan.”