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The motor fuel tax helps pay for road, bridge and public transit improvements throughout Illinois. Now, though, vehicles require less gas — or no gas at all — so funding for infrastructure has taken a hit.
Mayor Brandon Johnson defended city spending. “If you’re asking me that the 70,000 people who are unhoused who are doubling up, that we have solved that crisis? We have not. That’s why I get to be mayor for more than one term. Because the investments that we are making in insuring that we are building more homes, building more affordable homes, responding to this crisis requires investment,” Johnson said.
Anna Valencia’s resolution directs the Council’s Committee on Ethics and Government Operations, chaired by Ald. Matt Martin, to create a subcommittee charged with “examining the process for appointing board members at sister agencies and establishing best practices relating to transparency, accountability and the democratic process.”
CPS said in a statement that it has worked hard to minimize borrowing during the school year. Shifting funds to reimburse the city for a pension payment could increase the likelihood of cuts, furloughs, layoffs and a possible strike, district officials said.
Ald. Matt O’Shea emerged as one of the most vocal Council critics of the fur ban. “Are we going to ban leather next? Are we going to ban beef? Are we going to put Ronald McDonald out of a job?” O’Shea said. “This is about personal choice. As elected officials, our job is to do whatever we can to protect our citizens, to improve our schools, to attract business. It’s not to tell people ‘you should be able to buy this and you shouldn’t be able to buy that.’”
Illinois has bet big on gambling by legalizing online sports betting and sports books at horse racetracks and casinos. The state has also permitted 16 casinos, in addition to authorizing slots machines at bars, restaurants and truck stops — collectively bringing in $1.76 billion in tax revenue last year. Now state lawmakers are considering mobile gambling.
The grant was the second round of funding for the Local Food for Schools program, which had been expanded to include child care centers. The funds were intended to provide $17.8 million to schools and $8.5 million to child care institutions over three years for purchasing fresh, nutritious food from local farmers.
More than two dozen City Council members have signed on to a letter to schools CEO Pedro Martinez demanding that CPS make the payment. Aldermen say if the city does not get that $175 million by the end of the month, the city’s budget will become unbalanced, costing taxpayers more money down the road.
Frerichs said a group of demonstrators with a bullhorn gathered outside his house at 3 a.m., demanding that he divest from “Israel bonds.” The bonds underwrite the Israeli government and military.
“The Democrats’ supermajority needs to stop tripping on magic mushrooms, and yes there is a bill for that, and they need to get down to focusing on what helps Illinois families,” said state Rep. C.D. Davidsmeyer.
Gov. JB Pritzker said his administration spends state taxpayer funds on quantum computing to gain federal dollars. “I think what we did is the right thing. We made our own investment, but it’s a kind of matching investment, so that the federal government understands we’re not just raising our hand and saying, ‘Great, toss some money this way.’ We’re actually making the commitment. We have the institutions that are appropriate to carry that research forward. We’re a good bet, because you know we’re a long-term investor.”
House Bill 3037 would create the “Right to Play Act” in Illinois and override existing rules of the Illinois High School Association, which sets eligibility rules for student athletes and strictly regulates their ability to participate in nonschool programs in the same sport during the high school sport’s season.
The concept, as described in a referral from Ald. Clare Kelly, would supposedly benefit “low and middle income residents,” “both homeowners and renters,” who “are too often forced to leave their homes and Evanston.” She suggests tapping funds provided by Northwestern University for the city’s affordable housing fund, sales tax revenue from Ryan Field events and a share of the real estate transfer tax on homes that sell for over $1 million to fund the new giveaway.
Brad Weisenstein, of the Illinois Policy Institute: “Sorry, governor, but some of us backseat bellyachers believe in magic beans and know the story of ‘JB and the Beanstalk ends with an ax.”
For Buckner, a resulting decline in the school system poses, more than any other issue including violent crime, a grave threat to Chicago. “If people don’t feel like they can send their kids to school that educates them and prepares them for the global workforce, then they will get the hell out of a Dodge,” he said.
Pedro Colmenares, 33, entered the U.S. in September 2022 and was ordered deported by an immigration judge in November of that year, according to DHS. While appealing the deportation ruling, he ended up in Chicago. He was arrested Tuesday on the sanctuary city’s west side in a multi-agency bust with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Chicago police and U.S. Marshalls involved.
“It’s not every day that robbery victims report that one of the guys who held them up at gunpoint wore an ankle monitor that emitted a wailing alarm. But here we are. That detail was provided to Chicago police Tuesday morning as an armed crew swept through West Town neighborhoods, including Logan Square.”
Last week, the Illinois state House of Representatives’ Immigration and Human Rights Committee voted along party lines to advance new legislation that would explicitly authorize the Cook County Public Defender’s Immigration Unit to represent immigrants with “ties to the county” facing deportation procedures in immigration courts both within Cook County and perhaps anywhere else in the U.S.
“A year and a half after I had to start making my own decisions about AI in the classroom, I still have no official guidance to turn to,” said math teacher Sarah Murmann. “I believe at this point 25 other states have official guidance. CPS recently issued its own, but smaller districts like mine don’t have the same resources.”
The Township Officials of Illinois report the 1,426 townships in the state serve more than 8 million citizens. Sen. Suzy Hilton is one of the lawmakers pushing forward with SB2504, which would affect townships with 50,000 people or fewer.
“The rest of the world, and in particular the rest of this country, they are going to understand what it feels like to have to fight policies that come from people who do not honor children and what they need in their classrooms,” Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates said at a press conference. “(Former Chicago Mayor) Rahm Emanuel destroyed our public education system. Donald Trump is about to destroy the special education system for the nation.”
The leaders of the transit agencies have pushed back against any consolidation talk and instead requested $1.5 billion in additional funding. “We’re all in favor of doing what’s best for the customer,” said Pace executive director Melinda Metzger during a previous hearing. “I do not believe that combining us into one organization will make us better.”
The federal civil rights complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Education by Awake Illinois lays out how ISBE facilitated funding through Teach Plus for “educators who identify as people of Color” and provided leadership coaching and a $2,500 stipend. The complaint further states that ISBE announced $2 million to support and retain teachers of color.
The Liberty Justice Center filed lawsuits on behalf of a laborer for the Cook County Department of Transportation and Highways and three Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) bus operators, among others.
“Yes, that Rahm. And, yes, for that office — the presidency.”
But Gotion is proceeding with production at its plant in Manteno, Illinois.
Bally’s shuttles make 30 trips daily from Chinatown to the casino’s front door. The strategy is cause for concern among some Asian community leaders, who fear their neighborhoods are being targeted.
Ted joined Dan and Amy to discuss Illinoisans’ nation’s-worst tax burden, the fact that Chicago had the nation’s most murders for the 13th year in a row, the need for an Illinois DOGE, why the federal government should stay away from the state’s own failures, the transgender ideology that continues to be promoted in elementary schools, and more.
“We as the Democratic Party of Illinois should be defending Democratic values in every single election in nonpartisan and partisan elections alike, because all of these local offices have jurisdiction over super critical controls and we think our party has the best platform for governance,” Democratic Party of Illinois Executive Director Ben Hardin said.
Find yourself the least popular politician in state history and need to pay for clout? Pass an $830 million bond deal with no payments on the principal for 20 years.
Abolishing REACH (Recognizing Educators Advancing Chicago’s Students) is one of the remaining sticking points holding the union and CPS back from settling on a new four-year contract.
Shortly before the 1 a.m. shooting, police at O’Hare received a call about a fight in progress near the baggage claim carousels. The fight continued outside the terminal doors. Moments later, one of the men involved in the fight produced a long gun, possibly a mini-AK47-style weapon, and began shooting outside door 2C. Both the man who was shot and the man who was beaten have local addresses.
“You just want to make sure that your community is safe,” Mayor Brad Stephens said. “That’s what this is all about.”
The city’s downtown apartment market reached new heights last year, when the average unit within a group of 84 buildings tracked by Luxury Living surpassed $3,000 for the first time ever. Landlords and their leasing teams pushed prices to the new milestone despite smaller units — studios and convertibles, in particular — making up a larger share of deals last year.
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