The Literacy & Justice For All Act could, among other things, add a foundational reading exam for candidates in educator prep programs. “The candidate would take the assessment. If the candidate doesn’t pass the assessment, no problem. They still get their license. If they do pass the assessment, they earn an additional credential,” said Jessica Handy, the government affairs director for Stand For Children. “And then, we would have aggregate data on the program for how many candidates are passing that test.”

Saying a Chicago federal judge essentially ignored at least two U.S. Supreme Court decisions, attorneys for a Naperville gun shop owner have asked a federal appeals court to slap a hold on the state’s so-called “assault weapons” ban.

Here in Illinois, the number of deaths from Sept. 2021 to Sept. 2021 increased by just over 5 percent.

The reports from ADP found that Illinois workers who stayed in their role for the previous 12 months had a median salary of $59,300, a 7.6% increase from February of 2022. These stats compare to a national median salary of $57,600 and median pay growth of 7.2% for job stayers.

The judge wrote that he did “not find that the subject of this proposed testimony is so enigmatic to require expert testimony…Neither does the court see how testimony of the history of the Chicago Machine helps the jury determine a fact at issue in this present case. The court does see, however, how emphasizing the history of corruption and election fraud that marked the early years of the machine could prejudice defendants.”

“If you’re suggesting that the fact that I gave money to let’s say the Democratic Party or the committees that supported candidates means that everybody who’s received any money has to recuse themselves from anything to do with the state of Illinois, that’s ridiculous,” Gov. JB Pritzker said. “And I’ve certainly never asked anybody to vote a certain way or decide on a case a certain way. I would never do that.”

“This bill is not about restricting people’s choices,” state Rep. Anne Stava-Murray said Wednesday. “On the contrary, it’s about helping them make the best choices for themselves and their family.” She added that this is a labeling bill and does not ban gas stoves or prevent anyone from buying gas stoves.

According to the court’s order, oral arguments are scheduled to be heard sometime in May.

Doxing, as defined by House Bill 2954, occurs when an individual intentionally publishes another person’s private information, such as their social security number or home address, without their consent. Additionally, for a doxing claim to be successful, the individual would have had to publish that information with the intent of harming the other person.

“When the newest proclamation ends April 2, Pritzker will have held emergency powers for 1,116 of his 1,539 days in office. Anything lasting three years is no longer an emergency, but rather a regular state of affairs over which the Illinois General Assembly should debate and legislate as needed.”

In Illinois, the number of children who arrived in hospital emergency departments with suicidal thoughts climbed nearly 60% over a nearly six-year period ending in 2021. But the state-run Screening, Assessment and Support Services program is riddled with holes. It’s buckling under the weight of a youth mental health crisis, grappling with staff shortages and greater need. One example: the state couldn’t provide screening outcome data for about 40% of the cases that required the 90-minute response over five years.

The plan includes repurposing the Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center over three years in partnership with the SIU School of Medicine, and implementing new safety enhancements at Choate and across all State-Operated Developmental Centers.

“Illinois should not be a state where workers are forced to choose between needing time off and maintaining employment…This legislation is the culmination of years of fierce advocacy work and represents a new chapter in our state’s history, one that emphasizes the importance of creating fair and equitable conditions for all workers.”

Illinois hotels are required to charge guests a 6% lodging tax, and now the Illinois Hotel and Lodging Association is calling for short-term rentals, like Airbnb and others, to pay the same tax. The state lodging tax is expected to raise $305 million this year.

The legislation would put DCFS workers in the same class as other front line workers, including teachers, peace officers and private security officers – making committing aggravated battery against a department worker a felony for people 21 and over.

Because local suppliers will also lose the plant’s business, the city of Belvidere and Boone County will lose 2,000 jobs in total if the plant doesn’t start back up. Patty Ibraimi, owner of Uncle John’s Family Restaurant, explained, “We all thrive on that huge plant. They’re a big part of the community. We have a lot of people that work there. When they’re working, they’re eating, they’re going out. And for them to close completely, it’s devastation for the town and the businesses.”

Illinois 11th grade students scored on average 486.4 on the reading portion of the SAT and 473.8 on math in spring 2022. This marked a nearly 10- and 13-point drop in reading and math since the previous academic year, and an 11- and 23-point drop since 2019. Illinois requires all high school juniors to take the SAT to graduate from high school.

The full interview is here.

Said Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, whose office also serves as the state librarian, “We view this as protecting our libraries. They’re under assault the likes of which they have never seen. They are being thrown into the mix of a political battle, and we’re trying to give them cover by helping them, by codifying this into legislation.”