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Agents “were not permitted to speak to any students or staff,” CPS spokesperson Mary Ann Fergus said. “Teaching and learning continued throughout the day at Hamline.” More than 90 percent of Hamline’s students are Latino and about two-thirds are English learners, according to district data.
The University of Illinois Springfield will charge 2 percent more. Both the Urbana-Champaign and Chicago campuses will see tuition go up 2.2 percent. The base tuition for full-time, in-state undergraduates will be $12,992 per year in Urbana-Champaign, $11,424 in Chicago and $9,840 in Springfield.
This Illinois bill could ban state and local governments from creating criminal charges against the basic needs of the unhoused. The plan would add to a previous bill, adding a new term called “life sustaining activities.” These would be protected rights of the unhoused to sleep, lie down, eat, drink and hold personal belongings under shelter in public property.
According to IDES, the unemployment rate fell -0.1 percent to 5.2 percent in December based on preliminary data provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Illinois’ unemployment rate was still 1.1 percent higher than the national unemployment rate last month. That state’s unemployment rate was also up 0.5 percent from a year ago when it was 4.7 percent.
State Superintendent of Schools Tony Sanders, who met Friday with district leaders from Aurora and Elgin, said, “So, I’ve been in many schools this last week and I’ve talked to many superintendents that have seen a decline in attendance this week, especially among our Latino population who are fearful of sending their child to school. They’re hunkering back at home. They’re not separating as a family.”
Business owner Tiffany Kamara took legal action when she said she was not able to obtain liquor licenses from Mayor Tiffany Henyard, who also serves as liquor commissioner.
“Those Illinois residents too afraid to pray in person together are just a handful of the 1.8 million immigrants — 14 percent of the state’s population —who call Illinois home and contribute immensely to its prosperity. … Immigrants make up 18 percent of the Illinois labor force, including 25 percent of entrepreneurs, 26 percent of STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) workers, and 19 percent of nurses.”
“This was something that was asked for when Laquan McDonald was assassinated by police [in 2014],” state Rep. LaShawn Ford said. “Everyone looked for a way to deal with the administration and they searched to find out how to remove the mayor. They realized that there was no mechanism in place. They asked for a recall bill to be filed for the mayor of the city of Chicago.”
Author Andrew Handel said one category saved Illinois from receiving an “F” grade. “The one bright spot in Illinois was that it was one of a handful of states to get an “A” grade for its homeschooling environment,” he said.
Smart Start Illinois is an initiative of Gov. JB Pritzker that’s designed to expand publicly funded preschool programs and increase the number of preschool seats available to 80 percnt of all working families in Illinois. Lawmakers first approved the program in 2023. Since then, the state has added 11,000 seats.
“Whatever job you hold, can you imagine how ecstatic you’d feel if your employer told you today that you’d be making nearly one-third more than you are now after four years? Guaranteed money in the bank. No goals to hit. No pressure to perform. … Unless (Mayor Brandon) Johnson shocks everyone and joins (Gov. JB) Pritzker et al. in telling CTU the truth, Chicago has the unprecedented misfortune of not even having a mayor representing taxpayer interests in this travesty.”
The $50,000 given by the Chicago Latino Public Affairs Committee in June 2023 “exceeded the contribution limits set forth in” Chicago’s city code. Unrelated to the Johnson contribution and refund, the committee is the defendant in a lawsuit the state elections board filed last year seeking nearly $50,000 in penalties for not following the public reporting guidelines required of political committees.
The state’s second-largest housing authority, which was flagged by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as “troubled” in part because of an absentee board, low-grade property inspections, incorrect reporting on leases, high outstanding balances for tenants behind on rent and failure to submit financial reports on time, says The trips were held in lieu of holiday parties that HACC threw in past years at a similar expense.
“So now we’ve put (Illinois Department of Corrections) staff in a position where they have to decide, do they want to violate federal law or do they want to violate state law. And in this case, I don’t want them to do either,” Bryant said. “The (Trust Act) doesn’t say they can’t come to me. It just says they can’t go to ICE.”
The grants are funded through Tax Increment Financing, the Neighborhood Opportunity Fund and Housing and Economic Development bonds. Finalists were chosen from 242 submissions based on location, neighborhood equity, community benefits and project readiness, according to the city’s Department of Planning and Development. Most are on the South and West sides.
The decision gives the county time to develop zoning regulations to safeguard the major source of drinking water in east Central Illinois. This comes just a few months after two leaks at ADM’s CO₂ injection site in Decatur.
P Rae Easley, a Chicagoan and host of “Black Excellence Hour,” says the city’s priorities are out of balance. “We need the federal government here,” she argued. “I don’t think that it’s fair that we’re paying federal income taxes, and we are not allowed to get federal help because our mayor has a political goal that doesn’t align with the people.”
Asked, “Are you prepared to be arrested if you don’t follow President Trump’s orders?” Gov. JB Pritzker laughed and shrugged off the question before he lectured about following the law, as his state refuses to do. (with video)
State Rep. Dan Swanson served 27 years in Army, and will be the first GOP committee chair in over a decade.
The office vacancy rate across Chicago’s suburbs hit a record high of 32 percent at the close of 2024. That marked a rise from 30.2 percent the year before and a significant increase from the 22.1 percent observed at the start of the pandemic.
“… CTU readily unites with groups who are fighting for progressive social change and against racism. For example, they were among the first unions in Chicago to come out in support of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR)’s struggle for community control of the police. This in itself makes them unique in the trade union movement because most unions don’t do that. Most unions just fight for better wages and working conditions, and that’s it. “
He said, in part, “We are issuing this guidance to remind law enforcement agencies of their responsibilities under the law and that the TRUST Act and VOICES Act do not limit them from executing their duties in criminal investigations. Both laws are meant to enhance public safety and trust in law enforcement by assuring that witnesses and victims of crimes can cooperate with local law enforcement without fearing deportation.”
With a plan to consolidate and streamline its U.S. divisional headquarters operations into a single global headquarters in Deerfield, Fortune Brands Innovations will also soon create at least 400 new jobs on the North Shore, with capacity for over 1,000 jobs. As part of the State’s comprehensive incentive package, Fortune Brands Innovations received an EDGE tax credit.
Voters who imagined Eileen O’Neill Burke cracking skulls and filling prisons have ignored her stated commitment to counseling and training programs as alternatives to incarceration. If her tenure heralds a new era for the state’s attorney’s office and law enforcement in Cook County, it will likely be because she weds strong, effective law enforcement with many of the same long-term social programs that progressives see as necessary.
“Chaos and confusion.” That’s what Gov. J.B. Pritzker claims President Trump is creating as he plans to deport illegal immigrants with criminal records. Many Illinoisans will be surprised by Pritzker’s claim given the chaos his own staunch support of open borders and Illinois’ sanctuary status has created over the last several years.
“Equity is the cornerstone of this grant program,” the governor said. “DEI is this idea that it’s a term that occurs in the back rooms of big corporations, Wall Street and otherwise. The reality is what they’re trying to tear down is something much broader: civil rights in the United States. That’s what they’re attacking.
It comes as the fourth-largest US public school district faces escalating fiscal pressures with federal pandemic aid coming to an end, underfunded pensions and rising labor costs.
“The sooner everybody accepts the reality that we’re in a hole that’s too deep to climb out of, the sooner we may find a way to lessen the pain, and there’s going to be pain. That means coming to the table with more than just demands that can’t be met. … If our public employees are serious about fixing the problem, I’m willing to talk, because the Fair Retirement and Recruitment Act is not the answer.”
“(Mayor Brandon) Johnson’s tenure has been entirely in keeping with his campaign. … The result: by November of last year, just 18 months after Johnson’s election, a poll showed that just 14 percent of Chicagoans approved of the job he is doing. That’s the lowest approval rating on record for a Windy City mayor. Now residents are exploring how they might change state law to recall Johnson.”
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