The minimum tax rate as part of HB 4951 is 20 percent, an increase from the current 15 percent rate at all levels of operator adjusted gross revenue. The threshold increases to 25 percent at $30 million in adjusted gross revenue; 30 percnet over $50 million; 35 percent over $100 million; and 40 percent over $200 million. Of the eight mobile sports betting operators currently in Illinois, only FanDuel ($429.3 million) and DraftKings ($350 million) would reach that maximum 40 percent threshold based on their last 12 months of winnings.

The Mahomet Aquifer may have a carbon pipeline drill right above it if Senate Bill 1289 is enacted by Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.

The Illinois House passed legislation to require the Illinois State Board of Education to draft and publish guidance for development of reciprocal reporting systems between schools and law enforcement.

“Illinois led the country when Gov. George Ryan put a moratorium on executions and commuted death sentences in 2000; the death penalty was abolished in 2011. We could lead the country again by working honestly and vigorously to abolish mass incarceration.”

Illinois Senate Democrats closed in Sunday on approving the state’s next budget, keeping much of fellow Democrat Gov. JB Pritzker’s plans in place but boosting expected spending by $400 million while also giving themselves, House representatives and many top state officials a 5 percent bump in pay.

“But as any economist can attest, there’s no free lunch when a state raises the cost of doing business — and Illinois famously excels at that practice.”

According to the Illinois Department of Revenue, the state collected $417.6 million in taxes in 2023 from sales at adult-use dispensaries.

Illinois will become the 10th state to pass clean lighting policies after Minnesota passed similar legislation last week.

The bill would ban kids from working in jobs not covered 75 years ago, including working in cannabis shops and adult entertainment facilities. It also limits the number of hours kids 15 and younger can work weekly to 18 hours during school weeks and 40 hours when school is not in session; the bill has exceptions allowing kids under 16 to work on their family’s farm.

“The idea that some place in Illinois wants to kick out another place in Illinois should not be on the ballot, shouldn’t be something that’s part of the lexicon and discussion of politicians. We’re one state, supporting each other,” Gov. JB Pritzker said.

The 1,302-page budget bill contains more than 30 provisions ranging from a tiered tax on sports betting companies to the legalization of ground-based sparklers that are nonexplosive like cones, showers of sparks, fountains, repeaters and cakes with a 3 percent tax. “Cannabis and fireworks,” said state Sen. Chapin Rose.

“Why not call a spade a spade instead of hiding behind some therapeutic view of those people who victimize others. By the way, if offenders are to be relabeled ‘justice-impacted individuals,’ what about their victims? Don’t they deserve similar consideration? In that spirit, how about ‘injustice-impacted individuals.’ It’s certainly unjust to be robbed, raped or murdered.”

The Concerned Citizens of Manteno, a group of about 500 residents, has been against the Gotion plant since it was first announced in September. Annette LaMore, a spokeswoman for CCOM, said these latest sales “are crazy.”

The news that Ashley Duchossois Joyce has been elevated to chairwoman of her family’s namesake investment firm, Duchossois Capital Management, is the latest confirmation of a trend that’s been evident for a few years now: Family firms are increasingly looking to daughters — not just sons — to lead key enterprises, and that leadership is also contributing to a golden age of female-led philanthropy.

If signed into law, the measures would expand insurance coverage of pregnancy and postpartum services, maintain abortion as a viable treatment option for women experiencing certain emergencies, and regulate how providers and authorities can keep and use abortion patient data.

Sen. Win Stoller compared short-term policies to mobile homes, which may be built of inferior materials compared to a traditional home, but which are still suitable for some people. “And I would never be so audacious to suggest that we should ban mobile homes. I think that’s absurd,” he said. “But that’s exactly what we’re doing here in relation to these short-term health plans, saying that we know better than you, we know what’s best for you. We don’t think you can make an informed decision.”

The bill would make several reforms, including mandatory annual domestic violence training for board members, with focuses on areas like the legal process regarding orders of protection and the dynamics of gender based violence.The bill would also create a task force to study a number of topics including the notification process for when someone is released and how victims can be involved in parole or supervised release revocation hearings.

More than 30 Illinois cities, towns and villages are under contract until 2035 to purchase a share of the Prairie State Generating Station’s electricity and help pay off $5 billion in construction debt. But instead of preparing to quickly shift away from the fossil fuel, like scores of other utilities across the country are doing, the Illinois communities could end up relying on Prairie State and another coal plant in Kentucky for most of their electricity until at least 2050.

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data show that the state’s unemployment rate swelled to 4.8 percent during the month of April, nearly a full point above the national average and third worst in the county.

Former Congressman Thaddeus G. McCotter on Gotion, the Chinese company building E.V. battery plants in Illinois and Michigan: “These useful elected idiots are spending taxpayer dollars to buy the CCP the razor that barbaric regime will use to cut our throat….. That this is happening at all constitutes an unconscionable affront to the citizen-soldiers who gave their last full measure of devotion for us.”