Nearly 200,000 people are losing their health insurance, and 600 people are potentially losing their jobs.

Illinois has spent about $2 million on the program to relieve a total of $345 million in debt for residents, according to a news release.

Will County prosecutors have charged Michael Dascenzo with threatening a public official and harassment by electronic communication. According to Illinois State Police, on Jan. 9, an email associated with Dascenzo allegedly sent threatening messages to Pritzker’s Office of Constituent Affairs.

House Bill 43 would create a task force to look into what it would take to require insurance for Illinoisans who own firearms. “This would be like an insurance rider,” state Rep. Bob Morgan said. “We all have insurance on our home that you might have flooding insurance that would just kind of be a rider on your underlying homeowners insurance or you might have cybersecurity insurance for small business.” State Rep. Adam Niemerg sees it as “a penalty for those trying to exercise their Second Amendment rights.”

It comes amid a push for Illinois counties to separate which has been ongoing for at least a decade, with those in favor of secession arguing that Chicago’s dominance in Illinois government ensures strong Democratic control, despite the majority of the state’s land being rural and Republican-dominated. Illinois has a population of almost 13 million, with roughly half residing in the greater Chicago area. The “Illinois Separation Referendum” movement says it is for those who “no longer consent to being governed by the Cook County-dominated legislature.”

“Wirepoints documents that Illinois’ post-pandemic economic recovery has lagged the nation as the state continues to trail its Midwestern neighbors. Illinois ranks near the bottom for state job growth the past decade, with most growth coming from government employment as Illinois’ private sector added just 500 jobs since 2020 and 14,900 government jobs were added.”

In a letter Tuesday to the White House Office of Management and Budget, a letter cosigned by all 16 Democratic members of the state’s U.S. House and Senate delegations, Gov. JB Pritzker demanded answers from the Trump administration about why the funds were being withheld and when the state could expect to see the funds it is owed.

Comment: We’ve been demanding an explanation for why the state won’t produce its audited financial statements. None since FY 2022.

Business dynamism in Illinois lags in part because companies are leaving. High-profile firms have fled Illinois for friendlier business environments including Boeing, Citadel, and Tyson Foods. The New York Stock Exchange recently announced it’s closing its Chicago office after 143 years and leaving for Dallas. When companies move their headquarters or reduce their operations in Illinois, the state loses thousands of jobs and burdens increase for those who stay.

Illinois’ spending on core services has fallen 20 percent, when adjusted for inflation, between 2000 and 2022 as total state spending increased by 21 percent.

Despite Illinois voters rejecting Gov. JB Pritzker’s statewide progressive tax proposal in 2020 and several other states recently transitioning from a graduated income tax to a flat tax, lawmakers in Springfield continue to push for the power to tax residents at different rates.

Illinois is now the first in the U.S. to offer free test preparation for anyone at a public university. It includes courses for the LSAT, the MCAT and other post-grad tests.

Some officials in Democratic-led states have already pushed back. Illinois State Superintendent Tony Sanders told school districts they should keep teaching Black, Asian American, and LGBTQ history as required by state law. Chicago went ahead with the rollout of a much anticipated plan to promote Black student success in school, but kept the launch event closed to the public. A conservative parent group almost immediately filed a complaint about the plan.

Hannah Schmid, of the Illinois Policy Institute: “With improved reading policies and a back-to-basics approach to reading instruction, Illinois can improve. But not if it follows the example of neighboring Wisconsin where lawmakers lowered the state standards to hide struggling students behind inflated proficiency rates. … Eight Illinois education organizations recommended the same for Illinois.”