In their lawsuit, Republicans have noted that the results of the two elections since that ruling have demonstrated just how successful Democrats were in using the maps to entrench their political power. They noted that in 2022, Republican candidates collectively “won a majority – 50.9 percent – of the statewide votes. And in 2024, Republicans claimed 45 percent of the statewide vote, amid the election of President Donald Trump. Yet in both elections, Democrats won and held a supermajority in the Illinois state House and Senate.

The Sangamon County Veterans Assistance Commission (VAC) has filed a lawsuit against Sangamon County, claiming they are owed 0.02 percent of property taxes collected under the Military Veterans Assistance Act. County Administrator Brian McFadden expressed concerns about the potential financial burden, adding that these funds are crucial for employee pensions, road and bridge work, and other services.

Speaking about DEI, Raoul said, “So I advise those corporations to not be misled and not be intimidated into backing away from initiatives that are legal, backing away from the nomenclature even of diversity equity, inclusion. Somehow DEI or these words have been made out to be evil words, and that is nonsensical.”

The Illinois Supreme Court looks poised to review the state’s legislative maps and whether they were illegally drawn to favor Democrats. Illinois Republicans filed a lawsuit asking the state’s highest court to throw out the maps, saying they are an example of extreme partisan gerrymandering and are unconstitutional under state law.

The Department of Early Childhood is a new executive agency created last year dedicated to early childhood spending. State Rep. Blaine Wilhour asked about a slew of materials the agency featured on its website, including titles like “White Fragility,” and “Anti-racist Baby.”

The Local Food Purchase Assistance Program, which funds the Illinois-EATS program, uses federal funding to buy fresh products from farmers at a fair market value, then distributes the food to communities via food pantries and other similar programs designed to help people in need for no additional cost. More than 170 farmers have supplied food to 883 locations in Illinois through Illinois-EATS.

“What these so-called educators care about more is the racial, sexual, or gender identity of the student than actually educating the student. … The kids in my neighborhood do not have a DEI problem or a diversity problem. They’re so far behind in education because of all this foolishness.”

Current Illinois statute requires school districts to incorporate student growth data and indicators as a significant factor in rating a teacher’s performance, which means at least 30 percent of a teacher’s performance evaluation must currently depend upon student growth. If enacted, the bill would still allow school districts to use student growth in teacher evaluations, but it would no longer require districts to use student growth data.

Holcim’s $18.6 million investment in capital expenditures, bolstered by an Economic Development for a Growing Economy (EDGE) agreement with DCEO, will establish Chicago as the operational headquarters for its planned North American spin-off. This will doubleg the size of its Chicago employee base by creating 50 new full-time jobs and retaining 62 full-time jobs.

“We have a spending problem,” state Rep. Jeff Keicher said. “We don’t have a tax problem.”