The case is the first Biometric Information Privacy Act case to go to trial and the first to wrestle with the issue of just how much money a company found to violate the BIPA law should pay. BNSF Railway Co. Monday agreed to pay $75 million to settle the case after a jury found the company violated the privacy rights of thousands of employees, a decrease from an initial award $228 million.

State Rep. Kam Buckner, who played college football at the University of Illinois, said, “I’ve been on record that public financing for private stadiums is historically problematic and that the taxpayers of Illinois have to be protected no matter what. I also think there may be creative and prudent ways to create some partnerships between the state and these organizations.”

The Reason Foundation found that Illinois’ inflation-adjusted education revenue grew from just over $13,000 per K-12 student in 2002 to over $20,000 per student in 2020, a growth rate that ranked third highest in the U.S. “A lot of it is driven by teacher pension debt and Illinois is a pretty good example of this trend,” said Aaron Smith, co-author of the study. “During the time period we examined, their per student spending on benefits went up nearly 200%.”

“We ultimately need to replace fossil fuel emitting vehicles in this country, and so we want to be a part of that in the state of Illinois,” Gov. JB Pritzker said. “We have created incentives … sort of carrots rather than sticks to move people in the right direction.”

After last week’s State of the State address, where Gov. JB Pritzker worked in presidential politics condemning the likely Republican nominee former President Donald Trump and praising incumbent President Joe Biden, state Rep. Ryan Spain said it sounded like a stump speech. “I wish that instead of focusing on national politics and the governor’s own presidential ambitions, we can sit down and get serious about bringing economic growth to the state of Illinois.”

A measure introduced by Illinois state Sen. Dave Koehler looks to change what is traditionally included in a student’s “record” and would do away with destruction of the temporary record and make it permanent. The bill was brought forward because adults with disabilities are running into an eligibility roadblock when trying to obtain benefits from the DHS.

Flowers, in office since 1985, was stripped of her deputy majority leader title and barred from attending House Democratic caucus meetings last year amid complaints from her colleagues that she was disrespectful and conducting what Welch himself called “abusive behavior.”

Comment: This new portal is awfully incomplete, as it pretty much admits on its face. Among other deficiencies, it only covers asylum seekers, who are a small part of the issue.

Under current Illinois law, home-rule communities are permitted to assess a sales tax of their own on groceries, and Gov. JB Pritzker says he has no intention of ending that practice. “If they want to in Henry County, in Union County, in local towns and cities across the state, if they want to impose the 1% grocery tax, we will leave it up to them to do it,” he said.

Last week, Rivian, which makes an electric pickup, SUV and Amazon fleet van, announced it was laying off 10% of its workforce to cut costs due to “economic and geopolitical pressures.” The company has announced three rounds of layoffs since July 2022. It also said it expected to shut down its Normal plant sometime in 2024 to upgrade its manufacturing line.

If approved in the General Assembly, Illinois would join 12 other states that already offer digital forms of identification, while at least 18 other states are currently working toward the implementation. The legislation would not eliminate physical driver’s licenses, but instead digital IDs would act as a companion to a physical card.

The program will deliver clean jobs training, education, and support services in Illinois Department of Corrections facilities to people within 36 months of their release to prepare them to work in clean energy and related sector jobs once released.

The Equal Protection Project alleges that 16 scholarships at the university are discriminatory. The complaint states the scholarships “either restrict eligibility to students who are ‘African American,’ ‘Black Women,’ ‘Latino,’ or students who identify as ‘LGBTQI+’ or give preference to such students.”

Jim Dey: “(Adams County Circuit Judge Robert Adrian’s) stance might — or might not — strike some as the right thing to do. But judges swear to uphold the law as decreed by the legislature, not make it up as they go along.”

Stephanie Bess, associate director of the Office of Family Wellness and WIC lead at the Illinois Department of Human Services, said not getting increased funding from Congress would effectively be a budget cut due to increases in caseload, food costs and staff costs. Illinois would need about $24 million in additional funding for the 2024 fiscal year to serve its eligble population.

Winnebago County sheriff Gary Carauna said of the surge, “We’re proactive, we have intelligence out there. We try to be as proactive as we can, but at the same time it’s very, very concerning on what’s going on and the resources that it takes…”

“Disability service providers throughout Illinois continue to face serious pressures and obstacles to attracting DSP workers to provide services, including additional increases in the minimum wage this year and next to $15 an hour on January 1, 2025,”reads a statement from the Illinois Association of Rehabilitation Facilities.