“You don’t snap your fingers and these things happen. … We need to do more,” Pritzker said of his efforts to court businesses in the U.K. and elsewhere. “Illinois needs to do more on the international scene. So this is another step in that direction.” Pritzker said he foresees more overseas trips, including possibly to Mexico and South America. He said he’s been invited to visit Israel and that

Guns Save Life Founder John Boch filed a lawsuit against the state in 2019 because he feels it is unconstitutional for Illinois to require people to have a license and pay a fee before they can buy guns. There are multiple lawsuits before circuit and state courts regarding the FOID card and assault weapons ban.

State Rep. Steven Reick said that this is the first time since he’s been in office that a plan for addressing pensions has been formed. “We’re starting, and that is something that hasn’t been done since I’ve been in the General Assembly,” Reick said. “We’ve actually taken the bull by the horns and have started to actually make plans for how we are going to fix this thing.”

During a virtual press conference Wednesday from London, Gov. JB Pritzker talked about the intent to pursue a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the UK to advance trade and economic development goals: “It really covers a big, broad swath of industries. We have over 850 UK companies that are already doing business in Illinois with 90,000 Illinoisans who are employed by UK-owned companies.”

Sen. Cristina Castro, an Elgin Democrat and member of the Illinois Legislative Latino Caucus, said that the Department of Healthcare and Family Services failed to consult stakeholders in the immigrant advocacy community when developing the rules. On the Republican side, Rep. Steven Reick said that the rules represented an “abdication” of the General Assembly’s responsibility and that they should have been considered in legislation, not in administrative policy.

Gov. JB Pritzker and others are touting Illinois’ financial improvements, but a new report by Equable Institute shows just how little improvement has been made on Illinois’ biggest financial problem – pension debt. Not only are Illinois’ pension systems most likely to default, the state has the lowest capacity to pay the debt compared to other states.

Our Wirepoints column republished.

The social media giant, which has already paid $400 each to Illinois Facebook users, has agreed to pay $68.5 million to settle claims regarding its Instagram platform, according to court records filed in DuPage County Circuit Court.

Between August 2021 and March 2022, the two men being charged worked together to steal catalytic converters from vehicles in Cook, DuPage, Kane, Will, DeKalb, Lake, McHenry, and Winnebago counties, according to Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s office. They are accused of stealing more than 35 catalytic converters.

The new law will mean major changes in court operations. For example, state’s attorneys will have to present more information and evidence to hold someone in jail. They will also have to notify victims of detention hearings. And many predict that without the cudgel of pre-trial detention, fewer defendants will strike plea deals, meaning more criminal trials. All that will take more resources.

The change repeals existing language that allowed factories, refineries, power plants and other facilities to exceed their emission limits during shutdowns, startups, and malfunctions. The previous rules also gave the owners of those facilities a certain level of immunity from civil lawsuits.

DeWitt County Sheriff Mike Walker echoed other law enforcement officials, saying, “I think (the decision) was expected just simply because of the political climate in Illinois.” But his chief concern is that the new system will hurt counties financially — not because defendants won’t have to post cash to leave jail, he said, but because it could strain county offices after hours and on the weekends. He said the change is going to cause staffing issues and require guards to be posted at the courthouses on the weekends.

“The Illinois Constitution of 1970 does not mandate that monetary bail is the only means to ensure criminal defendants appear for trials or the only means to protect the public,” Justice Mary Jane Theis wrote in the ruling Tuesday. “Our constitution creates a balance between the individual rights of defendants and the individual rights of crime victims. The Act’s pretrial release provisions set forth procedures commensurate with that balance.”

Jim Dey: “(Champaign County State’s Attorney Julia Rietz) said the abolition of bond will make it much harder to collect fines and court costs from defendants convicted of crimes. Under the current system, the judiciary can take fines and court costs out of a defendant’s bond, if there is one. That will no longer be the case, creating a collection issue that Rietz said will be difficult. ‘The county board and the legislature are going to have to address these issues,’ she said.”