-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
Midway through a three-year plan initiated by Gov. JB Pritzker to move out roughly half the residents of Choate Developmental Center in downstate Anna following years of reported resident abuse, a watchdog report has found “concerning barriers” to achieving Pritzker’s goals.
Sangamon County coroner Jim Allmon said with the expedited reporting timeline, investigators should be able to track down those selling fentanyl more quickly.
“I have personal relationships with individuals who are friends of mine, which quite frankly go far deeper than a political office,” Johnson said. Despite the personal ties, the mayor has so far failed to secure funding for a new Bears lakefront stadium and collect on the $1 billion he says the state owes Chicago Public Schools.
Altogether, tens of thousands of laptops, iPads, and cellphone hot spots were lost or stolen during the 2023-2024 school year, and 8,346 of those devices were detected outside of Illinois. A majority of them ended up overseas in 140 countries—including Azerbaijan, Barbados, China, Ethiopia, Jordan and Nicaragua. Last year, the OIG estimated CPS lost more than $23 million in devices.
There was talk in Washington D.C. about clawing back a federal loan given to electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian. The governor said this week in Normal that his administration has already addressed the possibility. “Just as I am about protecting the people of the state, I am about protecting the workers of the state and the companies of the state of Illinois,” Gov. JB Pritzker said.
“If we receive these applications, and the person has a driver’s license number, and checks the box that says they are a citizen, whether intentionally or not, we have no way to verify that they are indeed a citizen of the United States,” said Sangamon County Clerk Don Gray. “This opens the process up to serious potential for fraud.”
Rep. Steve Reick agreed that cooperation and compromise are needed to solve the state’s problems. But he also criticized “people on both ends of the political spectrum” for pushing “ideas on which there is nothing resembling a social consensus. … What results are laws that offend the heart-felt beliefs of people whose voices are not being heard and toothless resolutions that call for us to separate this state from a world class city that’s being driven into the ground.”
One robbery crew has “targeted people walking their dogs and in the street—taking phones, wallets, purses, and other valuables,” Ald. Gilbert Villegas said. “Since the closure of the old 13th [District] station at 937 N. Wood St, there has been a gap in coverage and patrols. “Enough is enough; our 36th Ward residents deserve to be safe.”
The schools often pushed kids into JROTC as a replacement for physical education classes to avoid having to hire a gym teacher. JROTC instructors are funded by the federal government and CPS.
Homebuyers have far fewer homes to choose from now than they did in the last normal days before the COVID-19 pandemic, and the shortage is especially acute in Illinois, according to a new study.
Hawaii lost the greatest share of its population to other states (0.65 percent). Not far behind were New York and California, which each lost 0.61 percent of their residents to other states, followed by Alaska (0.51 percent) and Illinois (0.44 percent).
U.S. Rep. Michael Bost and two other Illinois Republicans filed suit in the weeks leading up to the November 2022 general election, seeking a court order blocking Illinois from counting mail-in ballots received after Election Day, if those ballots included votes for federal offices, including U.S. House of Representatives, Senate or President. The lawsuit took aim at the law enacted by Gov. JB Pritzker in 2020, which used the Covid pandemic to greatly expand mail-in voting in Illinois.
For this mayor, apparently, growth in sales of unregulated synthetic THC is considered ‘economic development.'”
The report questions how CPS used $2.8 billion in federal COVID relief funds to support e-learning. The report also mentions the district spends more than 55 percent of the money meant for elementary and secondary school emergency relief to cover the salaries of more than 11,000 new and existing employees.
The OIG found basketball coaches recruited at least 17 varsity players who were not eligible to play at the school. In some instances, a coach helped families create false proof-of-residency documents. In addition, the watchdog found 36 former CPS employees on the “Do Not Hire” list who worked as CPS sports officials.
A previous version of the bill changing the Prisoner Review Board passed both chambers, but the governor did not sign the bill. Some reforms under the bill include letting impacted victims write a statement on parole petitioners, keeping 30 days to open comment on before they were discharged, and increasing the pay of board members.
The proposal could also ensure the grid is built and maintained by union labor.
Kyle Patterson, City of Champaign Township supervisor, emphasized that additional funding would allow the shelter to expand services and staffing: “The way that it was set up initially was COVID relief funds fund it, and those are expiring soon. So, we need additional funding in our budget to be able to operate this homeless shelter, you know, which is a lifeline for many people.”
“I think being able to have robust conversations about how we respond to congestion, and of course, how we generate revenue, particularly from individuals that take full advantage of our city resources, but don’t necessarily live here … I’m all for that conversation,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said.
The total number of bills filed over the past two years was nearly 10,000. Legislators approved about 500. “We’re not talking about helping people put food on their kids’ tables. We’re not talking about economic instability of this state. We’re not talking about the debt crisis that’s looming. You’re not talking about crime,” state Sen. Chapin Rose said.
“When government unions bargain for higher wages and greater benefits, they are demanding that taxpayers pay more or prioritize money away from other services. That, in turn, makes the demands of government unions inherently political. As the U.S. Supreme Court has said, ‘decision making by a public employer is above all a political process.'”
“As Tim Daly has suggested on his Substack The Education Daly, teacher absenteeism may be one symptom of a multifaceted problem in which schools have lost their sense of purpose. Student achievement is down, stories of fights and other forms of disruptions are rampant and teachers are being lenient when grading students even when the kids aren’t attending school or haven’t mastered the content.”
Two veteran real estate developers are closing in on a deal to buy one of Chicago’s tallest office skyscrapers, 311 South Wacker, for less than 25% of what it traded for over a decade ago, a deal that would complete one of the biggest losses of value ever for a downtown office building.
Imagine you work for a major company that’s looking to expand its footprint somewhere in the country. Chicago is an option, but then you then see two stories that rapidly dissuade you from considering the Windy City. That was the reality for any business person reading the news last week.
Ted joined Amy and John Anthony to discuss Illinois’ population growth in 2024 due to the tidal wave of illegal migrants into the country, why homelessness is, “coincidentally,” on the rise, why Illinois Republicans lack a set of core principles, why so many cities in Illinois make the top-20 list of the nation’s highest property taxes, the need for e-verify, and more.
“I was tremendously disappointed that this is a demonstration, from my perspective, of the power of special interests and the money that they spread around to thwart health and safety of the public,” Gov. JB Pritzker said, adding that the hemp bill’s demise resulted from “the choice by a number of people to go for profits over people.”
When asked how he responds to critics who say Chicago politics have been “chaotic” under his watch, Mayor Brandon Johnson said his leadership should be described with another word: “transformational.” And he maintained his constituents are not concerned with how often he talks to various politicians, despite the fact Pritzker and the General Assembly hold the purse strings for many of the mayor’s funding asks.
“As a middle child, I think I’m actually relatively gifted at working with multiple sides,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said.
Chicago saw eight homicides in the first six days of 2025, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. Another 28 people suffered nonfatal gunshot wounds, and three of them were initially listed in critical condition.
The recommendations, made in the Office of the Inspector General’s annual report, follow an investigation into former Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s campaign staff emailing teachers to solicit student volunteers. Although Lightfoot is no longer in office, the inspector general’s report noted that the findings in this case raise important questions for CPS with the advent of school board elections in Chicago.
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