The ticketing program has helped slash the number of asylum seekers reliant on the city. The top destinations for migrants asking to leave the Big Apple include Illinois.

The Minority Teachers for Illinois Scholarship Program is not a private initiative; it is funded directly by appropriations from the state budget. The program received $1.9 million, $4.2 million, and $7 million from Illinois taxpayers in fiscal years 2022, 2023, and 2024, respectively. The scholarship program discriminates not only against white applicants, but women and non-black minorities as well.

In Illinois, the average four-year in-state tuition (and fees) costs $15,320, well above the national average ($11,610). With all costs including room and board, the average tuition in Illinois is closer to $33,000.

The top five destinations for outbound-Illinois movers in 2023 were: Indiana (29,426), Florida (27,109), Wisconsin (26,943), Texas (24,181), and California (21,982).

McHenry County State’s Attorney Patrick Kenneally said there was a 280 percent increase in the number of criminal defendants who didn’t appear for their hearings. Another area he highlighted with the end of cash bail is the diminished victims compensation fund. “If people are no longer required to put down any deposit of money, what that means is that even if you say, ‘hey, you have to pay a victim this amount in restitution’ … a very little amount of that money is being paid,” he said.

Pacific Legal Foundation filed a federal civil rights lawsuit on behalf of the American Alliance for Equal Rights challenging the state’s Minority Teachers for Illinois Scholarship Program, saying it discriminates against non-minorities. The law states that at least 35 percent of the fund appropriated for scholarships shall be reserved for male minority applicants, with priority being given to qualified Black male applicants beginning with fiscal year 2023.

Treats containing flour such as Kit Kats, Twix and Snickers are all considered groceries, not candy, and are taxed at a lower rate than are other items designated “candy” and prepared without flour, such as Starburst, Skittles and M&Ms. The absence of that one ingredient can cost you more than six times the sales taxes. Candy is taxed at 6.25 percent, groceries at 1 percent.

Within a handful of years, the utility went from being on the brink of financial ruin to investing $2.6 billion in massive infrastructure upgrades, all made possible by a few key pieces of legislation in Springfield.

Jim Dey: “By June 30 — the end of the state’s 2023-24 fiscal year — there were 48,176 video-gambling terminals operating statewide. … The commission report stated that ‘the adjusted gross revenues of Illinois casinos’ have struggled since the legalization of video gambling. It said a ‘significant amount of wagering dollars have been converted to video’ gambling.”