The Illinois unemployment rate continued its decline, falling to a surprising 4%, only four-tenths of a percentage point above the national level. Illinois tax revenues were relatively strong with both individual income and corporate tax receipts up in inflation-adjusted terms compared to the same month last year while sales tax receipts were down slightly in real terms.

“Communities most harmed by violence need support to heal and recover,” said Aditi Singh, the Illinois director for the Alliance for Safety and Justice. “Passing public safety reforms that prioritize healing and redemption will improve safety for everyone.”

“This part will work on a shotgun that’s legal. It will work on an AR over here that’s illegal,” gun rights advocate Todd Vandermyde said. “How do you delineate that?” Vandermyde expects more legal challenges to try and block the registry.

TCCI in Decatur is using funds from the Reimagining Energy and Vehicles, or REV, Act to build the facilities, getting just over $21 million in grants.

Neil Olson, general counsel at the Illinois Office of the Executive Inspector General, said the review is “systematic,” involving multiple state agencies and the other governing bodies under OEIG’s jurisdiction, which include state universities, boards and commissions, and regional transit boards. In late June, a spokesperson confirmed that at least 30 IDHS employees were in various stages of the disciplinary process for inappropriately taking PPP loans.

The program was previously set to expire at the end of the year and limited to defendants under 21 with no prior convictions for violent crimes. In addition to striking the expiration date, the new law does away with the age restriction. The measure is among the latest criminal justice reforms approved by Gov. JB Pritkzer, who signed it last Friday, the same day he held a news conference to herald his signature on legislation that loosened restrictions on people who remain under state supervision after being released from prison.

“The judicial branch is exempt from providing information to the public under the Freedom of Information Act, and because the county detention centers fall under the jurisdiction of Illinois courts, they aren’t legally obligated to respond to requests for information…A bill introduced in the General Assembly this spring would have brought the Freedom of Information Act to the state’s court systems, including county juvenile detention centers, court finances and other judicial entities.”

Under provisions of the bill, full-day kindergarten will need to be offered by school districts by the 2027-28 school year, though some schools could qualify for an extension of that date; half-day kindergarten will still be offered for parents who request it.

(The Center Square) – Questions persist on how Illinois taxpayers will be able to afford the subsidies for undocumented immigrant health care. “I would prefer if we had universal health care. I think that every person on the ground had access to the health care they need,” Gov. JB Pritzker said. “We haven’t done that in the United States, and we are trying very hard to do that in the state of Illinois.”

Iowa, Missouri, Ohio and Tennessee are all offering sales tax holidays on clothes or school supplies. Families in Illinois are out of luck. Last year was the first time Illinois had such a tax holiday in more than a decade, coincidentally in an election year.

Opening Doors is designed, the governor’s office said, to help underserved populations and households of color when applying for a mortgage and buying a home. IHDA will provide a 30-year first mortgage with a competitive fixed interest rate and $6,000 to help with both down payment or closing costs.

Jim Dey: “The new law calls for civil prosecutions of what it calls ‘misinformation’ about abortion spoken to pregnant women at the pregnancy centers. The lawsuit contends the law really is aimed at promoting pro-abortion speech and improperly silencing anti-abortion speech.”

Brad Weisenstein, of the Illinois Policy Institute: “The problem here is public employee unions have a lot of cash and too much sway in Illinois – AFSCME only spent 21% of its money on representing workers in 2022, with the rest going to politics and other union priorities and costs. Pritzker was elected not to be a friend of the state unions, but to be the champion of taxpayers. We taxpayers expect him to control what government costs us.”