Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said Monday he believes former President Trump’s roaring victory in the Iowa caucuses could actually be a bad sign for his campaign. “Almost half of the base of the Republican Party showing up for this caucus tonight voted against Donald Trump. Think about that,” Pritzker said.
“‘It’s simply a question of whether you like your MAGA Trump agenda wrapped in the original packaging or with high heels or with lifts in their boots,’ Pritzker added. If anyone needed further confirmation that Democratic lawmakers and political professionals alike do not actually believe that Donald Trump represents a unique threat to the American constitutional order, Pritzker provided it.”
Ferguson served as City of Chicago inspector general from 2009 to 2021. Prior to that, he spent 15 years with the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois.
The Corporate Transparency Act of 2021 requires most companies doing business in the United States to file reports about the people who own them to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Up to 900,000 small and midsize businesses in Illinois may be impacted, Illinois Deputy Secretary of State Scott Burnham estimated.
Inspector General Deborah Witzburg’s determination that Chicago Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin violated the city’s Governmental Ethics Ordinance is the second time in six months that Witzburg has found probable cause that an elected Chicago official violated city ethics rules.
Last year, a federal judge ruled that Chicago’s failure to aid blind pedestrians violated the Americans With Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act, ordering the city to come up with a plan to fix the long-running and potentially deadly problem. The Chicago Department of Transportation only installed nine signals in 2022 — one of which was an upgrade to an existing signal — and 12 signals in 2023, bringing the total number of accessible pedestrian signal across the city to 45.
Attorney General Kwame Raoul and the 21 other attorneys general argue that the proposed FDA Rules, which are supported by ample evidence, are years overdue.
As a result of the implementation of the Pretrial Fairness Act in September 2023, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of appeals from pretrial release decisions by the circuit courts, the Illinois Supreme Court said. The Task Force will convene to review pretrial release appeals and their impact on the caseloads in each of the five districts of the Illinois Appellate Court.
Mayor Brandon Johnson and several top staffers, including Department of Family and Support Services Commissioner Brandie Knazze, were warned by email of alleged unsafe conditions at the shelter Oct. 27: insufficient bathrooms, exposed pipes with raw sewage, cockroach infestation, a possible outbreak of illness with many people being sick, and an insufficient provision of meals and water. On Dec. 17, Jean Carlos Martinez Rivero died at Comer Children’s Hospital after falling ill at that shelter.
Erik U. Chandler, Jr. is charged with two counts of aggravated assault, one count of fleeing or attempting to elude a peace officer, one count of endangering the life or health of a child and one count of resisting a peace officer.
The manufacturing industry directly provides 650,000 jobs throughout the state and needs to be supported, according to state Sen. Sue Rezin. “Our state has a robust history of manufacturing, and to build on our successes, we must ensure our policies allow for businesses to flourish here.”
A group of Republican state lawmakers is introducing a package of bills in connection with the mounting costs of migrant care. State Rep. John Cabello said Illinoisans should not have to pick up the tab for migrant health care. “With the bills mounting on their table, trying to pay for health insurance, yet you come here illegally and you get health insurance. That just doesn’t make sense.”
Taylor Anderson from the Illinois Association of County Board Members said that the state’s budget situation will not be as easy to deal with as in the past couple years. “The numbers we’re starting to see for that are far less rosy than the last year’s budget picture. Right now we’re looking at a pretty significant deficit and so we’re not anticipating the budgetary process to be as smooth this upcoming fiscal year as it was for our current fiscal year.”
New permanent rules will soon go into effect spelling out how people who own assault weapons and related items that are now heavily regulated in Illinois can register them with the Illinois State Police. The legislature’s Joint Committee on Administrative Rules voted along party lines Tuesday to let the rules go into effect, ending months of negotiations and debate between supporters of the law and gun rights advocates.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency classifies cannabis as a Schedule 1 drug, meaning the federal government believes it has “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.” But Attorney General Kwame Raoul and his counterparts in 11 other states are calling on a reclassification to Schedule 3, meaning it has “a moderate to low potential for physical and psychological dependence.”
“The senator will be 82 when his fifth term expires in 2027. He will have tied Shelby Moore Cullom’s record of 30 years as Illinois’s longest-serving senator…Durbin has not yet announced whether he will run again — he has said only that it depends on his ‘physical and mental abilities’ — but there’s already a shadow primary to replace him. ‘It’s going to be a free-for-all,’ predicts political consultant Don Rose.”
Jim Dey: “There is, however, one troubling aspect to the December revenue report — corporate income taxes. They dropped by $224 million in December, falling from $1.184 billion in December 2022 to $960 million in December 2023. That’s a decline of 18.9 percent. Other smaller revenue categories were all over the map.”
“Nothing. No juice. Still on zero percent,” said Tyler Beard, who had been trying to recharge his Tesla at an Oak Brook supercharging station since Sunday afternoon. “And this is like three hours being out here after being out here three hours yesterday.”
A total of 453 direct descendants, those who are related to Evanston residents who were at least 18 years old and lived through racially harmful housing policies from 1919 to 1969, were given a randomly generated number. The committee expects to serve at least 80 people in 2024 but could serve more depending upon the amount of funding gathered through recreational cannabis taxes.
Chicago shelters lately have been so full, incoming migrants were kept at a designated landing zone, with minimal access to food and sanitation and only parked Chicago Transit Authority buses for temporary heat. There had been about 140 migrants on those buses, Mayor Brandon Johnson said Friday, down from a high of more than 300. As to whether
“We strongly support CPS’ efforts to reduce our carbon footprint. However, empty seats on yellow buses are the same as empty seats on green buses. They both lead to inequity in public education,” said Katie Milewski, leader of CPS Parents for Buses. A CPS spokesperson said offering transportation stipends to general education families not receiving bus services was not sustainable for CPS, citing a projected budget deficit for the next school year.
The lawsuit brought by Terry Newsome and other Illinois voters alleges that under the 14th Amendment, Biden has “given aid or comfort to the enemies” through his open border policies.
Illinois received a “weak” rating because it lacks two strong policies: Requiring districts to select a high-quality reading curriculum, and providing professional learning for teachers and ongoing support to sustain the implementation of the science of reading. National Council on Teacher Quality President Heather Peske said the latest National Assessment of Educational Progress that showed that 38% of Illinois fourth graders could not read at a basic level is sobering.
A new report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) shows Illinois has the eighth most regressive state and local tax system in the country. A regressive tax system is one where low- and middle-income families pay a larger share of their incomes in taxes than upper-income families.
Gotion High-Tech has participated in the 863 Program and Torch Program, two initiatives identified as projects designed to acquire advanced technology and research to support the People’s Liberation Army, according to a DCNF review of corporate materials. Gotion High-Tech owns the U.S.-based Gotion,
“Costs are driven by the byzantine rules of the federal tax credit system that require builders to assemble a “capital stack” of funders, each with sets of fees and requirements. On top of that comes ever more rigorous government standards for accessibility, sustainability and design. Developers and their architects win points from public agencies awarding the projects by striving for net zero carbon emissions by using materials such as solar panels, triple-pane windows and upgraded insulation.”If a Martian dropped down from the sky and looked at
The Lewis Case, as it’s known, dates back to the 1990s, when more than 100 Black Chicago firefighters said they were denied opportunities based on their race. A 2005 ruling found the City of Chicago responsible for discrimination, but attorney Chiquita Hall-Jackson said those same firefighters never received credit for their seniority.
After years of delay, just 10 craft growers are deemed operational, out of 88 licensed businesses. Most of the owners have been unable to open for business, due largely to an inability to get sufficient financing. Because the plant remains illegal under federal law, federally licensed banks are forbidden from financing such operations. The state’s arbitrary size limit compounds the problems of getting financing, craft growers say, because other lenders are leery of funding operations with such small capacity.
In each incident, the offenders forced their way into businesses by prying open the patio doors. Once inside, the offenders ransacked the businesses by taking cash registers and cash.
A glance at the news coverage of the recent Inspector General report on financial and sexual misconduct at Chicago Public Schools shows it’s the fiscal mismanagement that’s getting all the attention. But it’s the more urgent issue of sexual abuse in CPS that should dominate the headlines.
Legislators face a self-imposed deadline to approve a new 20-district map for the first Chicago Public Schools elected board, an issue they left hanging last spring and again in the fall after Democrats who control both legislative chambers failed to reach an agreement. At the same time, Gov. JB Pritzker and lawmakers have to decide how big of a role the state government should play in assisting Chicago with an even more immediate issue, the thousands of asylum-seekers who have been sent to the city by governors in Texas and other border states.
Lynn Sweet: “Pursuing the matter, over the weekend Pritzker personally paid for ads appealing to Abbott in five Texas newspapers: the Houston Chronicle; Dallas Morning News; Fort Worth Star-Telegram; San Antonio Express News and the Austin American-Statesman. Asked if he had heard from Abbott, Pritzker said, his ‘response was he rejects my call for a pause and that he will continue to send people even with this weather, even if it is dangerous for the migrants who arrive.'”
Applications for drop-offs are now required. Those drop-offs are only allowed at specific locations, on certain days and during set hours. Bus companies violating the ordinance are subject to fines.
“For years, the Illinois Commerce Commission has given the companies most of what they request in the way of rates. On the few occasions in the past where regulators dared to push back, utilities like Commonwealth Edison took their case to the General Assembly and ran roughshod over the ICC, winning their rate hikes via legislation. Now, the empire is preparing to strike back. But, since the companies themselves no longer enjoy the clout they once did, thanks mainly to ComEd bribing its way to success in Springfield, the unions representing workers benefiting from large-scale utility infrastructure work are doing
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