About 8,274 Illinois taxpayers claimed the earned income tax credit on their 2022 federal tax returns but didn’t take advantage of the state EITC, according to the latest figure from the Illinois Department of Revenue. That meant an estimated $4.15 million went unclaimed by Illinois taxpayers who would have qualified.

If passed, the tax credit will not have an immediate financial impact. It will only cost the state money after people live in newly built affordable housing, which will be years down the road. And according to co-sponsor Rep. Ryan Spain this would be a relatively small tax credit at only $20 million annually.

Senate Bill 1223, introduced by Senator Laura Fine, focuses on preventing aggressive collection actions while patients are appealing health insurance decisions.

Since 2020, Illinois has given $338 million in what’s called R3 funding to organizations investing in communities impacted by the war on drugs.

“As a historian, I’d much prefer that our leaders speak in more nuanced terms about how historical precedents should shape our policies and decision-making. But that kind of careful analysis doesn’t make for good sound bites, and is predicated on the assumption that political rhetoric should be aimed at persuasion rather than merely preaching to one’s own base,” said Northwestern University’s David Shyovitz, director of the Crown Family Center for Jewish and Israel Studies.

“Chicago is the largest city in America without a city charter. No governing document, no foundational rules that define how power is distributed, how decisions are made and what rights the people have in relation to their government. That’s like buying a complex piece of Ikea furniture and tossing the instructions, only to realize years later that you screwed everything in backward and now it barely holds together.”

For years, students have taken the SAT as part of the state’s standardized testing requirement, but the state is shifting to the ACT.

Illinois State Superintendent Tony Sanders told school districts to continue teaching Black, Asian American, and LGBT history, and to provide education to students regardless of their citizenship status as required by state law: “The study of events related to the forceful removal and illegal deportation of Mexican-American U.S. citizens during the Great Depression is American history. The study of the role and contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people is American history.”

“I know the progressive tax push will be as welcome by people in Cook County as another unqualified Bears head coach would be,” McLaughlin said. “To revisit a progressive tax when we have half the growth of our surrounding states, it’s exactly the wrong idea at the wrong time.”

House Bill 2846, if passed, eliminates the state’s franchise tax, which is a tax for the privilege of doing business in Illinois. It’s a misleading name because the tax doesn’t just apply to business franchises, it applies to businesses of all sizes. It raised about $200 million last fiscal year in a state planning to spend $55.2 billion in the coming fiscal year.

The bill is one of 12 in Rep. Jed Davis’ Protecting Kids Bill Package. Other bills in the package would require online platforms distributing adult content to verify ages before granting access, and would require human trafficking awareness training for cosmetologists, barbers, bartenders, taxi drivers and teachers, to name a few.

Said Arellano, “I don’t want to pass debt onto my kids. I don’t like that it was passed on to me. Under the constitution it really shouldn’t be happening. So that’s the part I’d really push back on.”

Both Unit 5 and District 87 said in a joint news release that if the proposed County Schools Facility Tax was passed, a third of the revenue from the new 1 percent sales tax will be put towards reducing property taxes in the districts for at least five years. The financial services firm Stifel said about 35 percent of the tax revenue is expected to come from people visiting the county.

On the Senate floor, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin has spoken out against President Trump’s Executive Orders that crack down on immigrant communities, suspend refugee resettlement, and attempt to deprive U.S.-born children of citizenship.