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The estimated cost includes $76,000 for the vehicle and $78,000 for a full-time driver, who CPS officials note would likely have significant downtime given the board’s meeting schedule of 2–3 times per month.
Little Village and Pilsen are neighborhoods in which the EPA programs have focused on soil cleanups and air monitoring, among other measures. Nicole Cantello, president of a union representing 1,000 EPA workers in the Midwest, worried that important EPA online postings, such as those warning Chicagoans about lead in their drinking water, would be scrubbed off the internet like the DEI sites. As of Thursday afternoon, they remained.
The legal question before the attorney general’s office was whether Timothy Mapes should lose his pension permanently because his grand jury testimony came nearly three years after he was ousted from Madigan’s government and political organizations in 2018 amid a sexual harassment scandal. Under state law, a felony conviction triggers the loss of a state pension only if the crime in question was connected to a person’s government job.
Local officials including State Sen. Adriane Johnson, Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart and Waukegan Mayor Ann Taylor have said state and local government employees will not assist in any deportation efforts. But if U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were to call for assistance, Lake County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli said deputies would respond as they would for any call for help from another law enforcement agency or member of the community.
Said Beatriz Ponce de León, Chicago’s deputy mayor of immigrant, migrant and refugee rights, “What we are doing is continuing to put guidance out in the city to our departments and our sister agencies about what they can do in the case of federal law enforcement coming to their locations. This is guidance that is based on our city ordinance as well as on the Illinois Trust Act.”
“Donald Trump and his administration — (immigration czar) Tom Homan, the Department of Homeland Security — they’re the ones who are threatening people, again, who are law-abiding, who are often the anchors of their communities, who are paying taxes in this country,” Gov. JB Pritzker said. “They’re the ones who are threatening people. We’re just standing up for people who live in our state and in our city.”
“We are not going to be intimidated by those acts of terror to radically shift our way of living,” Johnson said. “That’s what individuals who stoke fear into people want to see happen.”
A Cook County judge dismissed Henyard’s lawsuit this week alleging that a caucus improperly selected State Sen. Napoleon Harris as the Democratic nominee for township supervisor. Voters will still have the option to write in Henyard’s name on the ballot.
“There were a lot of rumors yesterday on Chinese social media about an ICE raid when it turned out that Cook County Sheriff’s Office always comes and have a presence in Chinatown Square every other Wednesday,” said Grace Chan McKibben,of the Coalition for a Better Chinese American Community. “Folks were worried, they were saying there’s more officers, there’s going to be a raid. We saw things and it was not substantiated.”
A Hapag-Lloyd shipping container mounted on the train appeared to have been pried open. The container seemed to contain giant rolls of carpet, some of which were spilling out onto the tracks.
“CPS does not ask for families’ immigration status. CPS will not coordinate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE,” Chicago Public Schools Chief Executive Officer Pedro Martinez said. “CPS will not allow — will not allow — ICE agents to access CPS facilities unless they provide a criminal judicial warrant signed by a federal judge.” Martinez said teachers are being trained on how to handle ICE agents, and what to do if the parent of a student has been detained.
The Illinois General Assembly appropriated up to $14 million to the Illinois EPA for the EV rebate program for the current fiscal year.
“We have two young ladies dead in Champaign County and Gov. Pritzker still supports a sanctuary state? The mayor of Champaign and Urbana supports sanctuary cities? The mayor of Chicago supports sanctuary cities,” state Sen. Chapin Rose said. “Whether it’s Laken Riley or these two poor young ladies in Urbana last weekend, the Democratic Party in this country and this state are getting people killed.”
The Illinois State Board of Education is encouraging local school districts to adopt clear policies spelling out how and when their staff should cooperate with federal immigration officials carrying out enforcement actions or seeking information from school officials.
“Imagine if Chicago had an unbiased media that served the interests of the public not the interests of the WOKE Democrats who it carries water for,” one user wrote on X.
Illinois ranks third highest with a rate of 9.5%.
While proponents hope voters in Evanston and Oak Park, or possibly other locales, will walk into voting booths as early as 2026 or 2027 and choose their candidates from a ranked choice voting ballot, their enthusiasm is facing headwinds. The Cook County clerk’s office, which runs elections in the county’s suburbs, has thrown a wrench into Evanston’s plans, leading to a court battle that is still pending. Meanwhile, a state task force commissioned by Gov. JB Pritzker to explore ranked choice voting is lagging months behind in mapping out a potential transition in time for the next presidential primary.
This low rate of desired residences becoming actual homes points to substantial barriers in the development process. Inequitable restrictions on the West, South, and Southeast zones – such as owner-occupancy requirements, vacant lot development limitations and permit ceilings – limit potential development where it’s most needed.
In Illinois, the link between the crime and the property can be very loose in forfeiture cases, said Ed Yohnka, spokesperson for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois. Prosecutors alleged the vehicles surrendered in these three cases were used in the commission of crimes, but instead of filing a civil action to take possession of the vehicles, prosecutors opted to have defendants surrender them as part of a plea bargain.
Mayor Brandon Johnson and the CTA announced Thursday that digital display ads will appear at more than 400 locations across the city. They will feature a QR code that calls up resources for people who had a family member detained by ICE along with tips for free immigration legal services. “Chicago will always be a Welcoming City, not just by ordinance, but also with our inclusive and loving spirit,” Johnson said.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers currently operates a 43-acre “confined disposal facility” in neighboring Calumet Park, which stores material dredged from the Calumet River and five other federally maintained waterways in the city. The facility is on land owned by the Park District, which does not charge the Army Corps for its use.
Investigators from Areas Three, Four, and Five have issued a bulletin about a robbery crew that they believe committed at least 11 robberies on January 17 and 18, mostly in Humboldt Park and West Town, but also in Old Town. Similar robbery sprees have been popping up in an area stretching west from the Near North Side to the West Side since November 22.
This fact-finding process involving an arbitrator has been used three times since it was established in state law in 2010. Twice, teachers still ended up going on strike. Under the timeline required by the law, the soonest a strike could now occur would be mid-April.
Senate Minority Whip Sen. Dick Durbin said that “We should continue to encourage” government agencies to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives despite the order from President Donald Trump to the contrary. (with video)
“While significant bills were passed, I believe the legislature missed a critical opportunity to address Illinois predicted $3 billion budget shortfall. Creating a responsible budget should be our priority, and we must ensure that it is not finalized at the last minute. Avoiding another tax hike on Illinois residents is crucial.”
The Illinois General Assembly passed legislation during the lame-duck session that would allow for a judge to order a search of the house for any firearms when an Order of Protection is filed.
HB1227, the Enslavement Era Disclosure and Redress Act, mandates that any corporation or institution with ties to enslavement or the transatlantic slave trade disclose their historical involvement and provide redress if they wish to do business with the State of Illinois.
Jim Dey: “When Champaign County voters emphatically rejected three tax hike proposals in November, their actions raised the following question: How will the powers that be respond? City of Champaign Township Supervisor Kyle Patterson wasted no time in thumbing his nose at voters. Barely two months later, Patterson and members of the township board are back with virtually the same proposal for the April 1 consolidated election.”
Evanston city code states that “no employee while on compensated time shall intentionally: Use any City property or resources in connection with any campaign or political activity,” and that “No political activity may take place on any City property or at any City Ward Meeting.” What’s unclear, though, is how the city defines “political activity,” and if wearing a Trump mask rises to the level of engaging in a political activity.
“Our city council, along with the mayor, has raised wages for restaurant workers, has increased paid time off for a lot of workers across the City of Chicago. I think he’s in favor as well of raising wages for our child care workers,” Ald. Michael Rodriguez said.
Trump, his tariff threats and four days of meetings last week between Stellantis and Trumps team got the results, but Pritzker won’t even mention Trump’s name.
Ted joined the hosts of NewsTalk St. Louis to talk about why all hope isn’t lost in Illinois, what creating a successful Opposition will require, what a successful disruption by Illinoisans will entail, why it’s so important for people to learn the facts and speak up, and more.
Between January 21 and January 22, ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) arrested individuals with charges or convictions including sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, and drug offenses in several states, including Illinois. While specific details on arrests in Illinois were not disclosed, the state’s inclusion reflects its role as a focal point for immigration enforcement.
Ald. Ray Lopez argues that the city would be better served if they enable deportation officers to focus on criminals instead of the immigrant community at large. “The left is coming after folks like myself who are trying to find a middle ground,” Lopez said. “Because I’m not trying to make Donald Trump the enemy for the next four years to win my re-election. I’m trying to protect people in the community.”
Jim Dey: “What’s a state like Illinois to do about its crushing public pension debt of nearly $144 billion? One option under consideration might surprise taxpayers. H.B. 5909, legislation being pushed by the state’s most potent lobby group — organized labor — would increase benefits and consequent costs to taxpayers by nearly $30 billion by 2045.”
“The Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Public Schools have been battling over a new collective bargaining agreement for nine months, a spectacle that has taken the focus off what actually happens in schools every day and placed the spotlight on the adults haggling over money. … What’s clear is that too many parents are frustrated and struggling to navigate the CPS bureaucracy, which can be a minefield even when labor relations are peaceful.”
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