-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
The lawsuit asserts the compelled public disclosure ordered by SB2930 violates two constitutional freedoms: the First Amendment right “to speak freely and the right to refrain from speaking at all” and the constitutional right to “to be free from state-ordered racial discrimination.”
The city will not borrow on behalf of Chicago Public Schools a spokesperson for Mayor Brandon Johnson, said on Thursday in response to a proposed budget amendment from the district. School officials suggested another entity issue debt to help cover a portion of the roughly $300 million of additional expenses related to pending teacher and principal contracts as well as an outstanding pension bill that it owes the city.
Through the end of Fiscal Year 2024, the Office of the Executive Inspector General had conducted 374 investigations of potential PPP fraud. It determined 305 of those investigations were founded with more than 40 additional cases reported in Fiscal Year 2025 across 18 state agencies. The legislature passed a measure in 2023 which allows criminal prosecution for these types of cases for up to 5 years from when the fraud was discovered.
“The Welcoming City policy has been around for 40 years. We comply as a city with all laws, local, state and federal,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said. “We know that the Illinois Trust Act that had bipartisan support, that Gov. Bruce Rauner signed into law, and that it also compliments our efforts to ensure that local law enforcement focuses on local issues.” Johnson said he does not know the number of people that ICE agents have arrested in Chicago.
“We have banned Behind Enemy Lines – which is not, nor ever was, a registered student organization at DePaul – from campus because they promoted violence. We will enforce DePaul’s policies to keep our students safe and ensure this group does not gather on campus. We are also working closely with the Chicago Police Department,” said a DePaul spokesperson.
The proposed ban includes several exceptions, including emergencies or in response to imminent threats.
“Absolutely, I think that this will be a way for the states to see the real benefit [of] the shrinking D.C. swamp-type governing, so I think it will be a blessing for the people,” state Rep. Chris Miller said.
House Bill 2827 would require all Illinois private schools to report personal information about students to local and state authorities. Teachers unions – ardent opponents of parents’ ability to choose alternatives to public school – have invested over $3 million in the 16 sponsors’ campaign committees, according to records with the Illinois State Board of Elections.
While Gov. JB Pritzker touted the state’s rainy-day fund balance of just over $2 billion during his annual State of the State address as a serious achievement, the reality is the state has less money to brace for budgetary uncertainties than any other state. Illinois’ total reserves are capable of funding less than one month of state spending. The typical state has nearly three months’ of total reserves.
Renzo Jose Sira Parra, 27, returned to the shelter at 640 West Irving Park shortly after the crash, according to a Chicago police report. When Chicago police went to the shelter recently to arrest Sira on behalf of the Iowa State Patrol, an employee denied knowing his whereabouts, the report said.
Several Republicans suggested that the mayors might be guilty of obstruction of justice and that the attorney general should investigate them.
House Republicans told reporters that this is unnecessary red tape for families when lawmakers should be addressing problems with public schools. “The homeschool growth is tremendous in Illinois, so a lot of families are finding individual reasons to remove their children from the public school environment,” said Rep. Regan Deering.
The Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk, has been cutting spending by ending leases in every state. This week, it announced more cuts with nearly 750 real estate leases across the country on the chopping block, including four buildings in Springfield and two in Champaign.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants from the Build Illinois Bond Fund. “Harris and ‘relationship expert’ Latosha Davis, who is “vice president” of TMH Behavioral Services, co-host a podcast, ‘Raw with a Purpose’ that they describe as ‘a journey of decolonizing therapy’ where they ‘talk about black mental health, relationships, parenting, entrepreneurship and more.'”
The announcement said that the offices would be relocated to “less costly, more accessible locations,” but did not elaborate on where the offices would be moved to.
On the heels of the Trump administration’s new portal EndDEI.Ed.Gov, where citizens can submit examples of discrimination based on race or sex in publicly-funded K-12 schools, New Trier Neighbors announces the release of ClassroomChamp.com, a free web-based transparency tool for parents, students, teachers and citizens to track local examples of questionable classroom content.
“At this time, the commission feels that a more cautious approach is warranted given the economic uncertainties related to the current volatile geopolitical climate, potential tariffs, changes in the federal workforce and outcomes of other potential policy changes at the federal level,” the Illinois Commission on Forecasting and Accountability’s Eric Noggle said.
Also filing a motion to dismiss are Cook County President Tony Preckwinckle, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson. “Illinois’s constitutionally protected decision not to provide various forms of assistance to federal immigration agents … may result in federal immigration agents expending their own effort to enforce federal immigration law,” the state’s filing said.
The latest forecast from the Illinois General Assembly’s Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability estimates baseline state revenues will come in $737 million lower than Pritzker claimed in his 2026 budget proposal last month. This revenue shortfall will grow to more than $1.2 billion if other “revenue adjustments” proposed by the governor do not come to fruition.
The bills do not dictate curriculum or restrict teachers’ methods; they simply show parents what’s happening in classrooms.
There is even more cause for concern because this change is part of an even larger proposal being pushed by government unions to lawmakers in Springfield. House Bill 5909, filed by state Rep. Stephanie Kifowit would massively overhaul Illinois’ Tier 2 pension system and add nearly $60 billion in pension benefit increases across the State Employees’ Retirement System, Teachers’ Retirement System and State Universities Retirement system.
“Some may call it an ‘SOB’ — a seal on a bedsheet — and the vexillological (study of flags) community may hate it, but people overwhelmingly prefer our current state flag,” Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias said.
“We’ve seen, when Tom Homan was here, they were pulling people out of the community that were child sexual predators, that were cartel drug dealers, rapists … and to say that we need to be protective of them makes no sense to any of us,” Lopez said.
“The folks in the gallery should, of course, have been a stark reminder for Democrats that ordinary Americans often deal with unspeakable horrors in their lives and they now are turning to a rebranded Trump, not the party that historically championed their values, as their savior. Once again, it was revealed just how absolutely Trump has captured the working and middle classes, the blue-collar Americans without whom the Democrats cannot win.”
“Last month, Martwick filed a bill in the General Assembly to eliminate the state’s flat income tax clause in the Illinois Constitution and replace it with graduated tax rates. Martwick has been trying to ditch Illinois’ flat income tax rate since he was a member of the Illinois House. His progressive income tax rate amendment, despite Gov. JB Pritzker spending over $50 million of his own money promoting it, was rejected by 55 percent of voters in 2020. Martwick introduced a similar bill in 2023.”
Jim Dey: “A Chicago federal judge on Monday overturned four bribery convictions against onetime ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore and company lobbyists Michael McClain, Jay Doherty and John Hooker. At the same time, lawyers for the recently convicted Madigan are citing the Snyder case as a fly in the ointment of the Madigan convictions. What does this prove to Illinoisans sickened by pervasive government corruption? Here’s one undeniable: Taking down public officials engaged in sophisticated criminality is a herculean task.”
Neither threat was believed to be bonafide, and Chicago police believe the calls may have been part of a “swatting incident,” according to the spokesman.
State Rep. Kevin John Olickal and Niles Township Supervisor Bonnie Kahn Ognisanti: “That’s why we are working to pass House Bill 1429, which would ensure that homelessness is not treated as a crime in Illinois. This bill would not prevent local governments from managing public spaces or addressing legitimate safety concerns. … It prohibits municipalities from imposing fines and criminal penalties on people with nowhere else to go.”
Ask the CTU for a bit of efficiency, like shuttering the district’s nearly empty, failing schools, and all hell breaks loose. Overall, one-third of schools at CPS are half empty or worse, according to the latest 2025 district space utilization report. Closing many of those schools could save taxpayers hundreds of millions a year and give kids a chance to attend more functional schools.
During the testimony, South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace assailed Johnson for being evasive and said he had low approval ratings “because you suck at answering questions.” And Illinois Rep. Darin LaHood, not a member of the committee, joined at the end and launched into a detailed takedown of the mayor: “I’ve been amazed at how tone-deaf you have been and how oblivious you’ve been to the decline of Chicago.”
“This means (Gov. JB Pritzker) and his Democratic allies will either have to cut spending, increase taxes or both,” Sen. Don DeWitte, a member of the bipartisan Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability, said in a statement.
The amendment doesn’t include the funding for those expenses. It leaves open the possibility of a loan, suggesting it could be taken out by an entity other than CPS but not specifying what other entity would do it. It also suggests additional money could come from City Hall or budget cuts — but at this late point in the school year, it would be hard to find places to save money other than through furloughs or layoffs, which Mayor Brandon Johnson and his union allies are staunchly against.
“Since 2022, since the governor of Texas was shipping individuals to cities across this country, the city’s budget, roughly 1 percent of the city’s budget over the course of four years,” Mayor Brandon Johnson told the panel. That 1 percent comes out to about $625 million over the past four years, but according to those vendor payments, the real numbers are even higher – such as nearly $850,000 spent on moving migrants out of Chicago.
SIGN UP HERE FOR OUR FREE WIREPOINTS DAILY NEWSLETTER