“Mention to anyone near Pritzker that it sure looks like he’s setting up a presidential bid, and they will tell you he’s simply trying to rally the party and the nation against Trump. His folks will also correctly remind you the 2028 election is years away and the 2026 midterms are the next real concern. But it’s obvious he can be fighting in the here and now and positioning the party for 2026 and also be trying to set himself for a 2028 bid.”

Illinois companies would still be allowed to make and sell styrene products, they would just have to sell them out of state.

HB3162 and SB2403, together known as “Home for Good,” would boost funding for housing dedicated to those reentering society after incarceration and those in community violence intervention programs. The bills would allocate $103 million for various efforts.

The Illinois Film Production Tax Credit provides a 30 percent tax credit on qualified expenditures, including salaries, and an additional 15 percent on salaries for people who live in economically disadvantaged areas. “For every one dollar issued in credits, the return on investment to the state is $6.81,” said Christine Dudley, executive director of the Illinois Production Alliance. “It really is one of the most successful programs that the state has offered and the return on investment is unequaled.”

The funding proposal calls for increasing state funding for universities to reduce their reliance on tuition and fees. The community college proposal is intended to make certain four-year degrees available through lower-cost institutions and more accessible to older, nontraditional students who don’t live near a four-year institution.

The U.S. Justice Department has hauled Illinois into court once more, this time as the federal government seeks to strike down an Illinois law styled as a “workplace privacy law,” but which the DOJ and others have said amounts to a state threat against employers who use the E-Verify system to screen out illegal immigrants not authorized to work in the U.S.

In all, ATTOM Data Solutions finds Illinois now has 27 of the nation’s top 50 counties for heaviest property tax rates. Wirepoints president Ted Dabrowski pointed to all the tax policy now coming out of Springfield as clear and undeniable evidence of the way lawmakers have grown out of touch with the residents they’re charged with being a voice for.

Bensenville let voters decide the tax’s fate in a ballot question on which 90 percent voted “no” on retaining the tax.

The General Assembly has through May 31 to pass a budget with a simple majority vote before the threshold increases to a three-fifths vote on June 1. House Democrats approved a portion of last year’s budget with the minimum number of votes required to pass a bill after several Democrats dissented over spending concerns. The state’s fiscal picture is even more challenging this year.

Today the Liberty Justice Center celebrates a significant victory in Glennon v. Johnson after Bally’s Corporation announced a revised public offering for its Chicago casino project that no longer illegal discriminates on the basis of race or gender. In a new securities filing dated April 22, Bally’s finally removed the requirement that purchasers be either a woman or minority. This success now means that the project is open to the people of Chicago without regard to race or sex.

As for the 2026 Senate race, one Democratic elected official, who asked not to be identified for fear of retribution, had a blunt message about Gov. JB Pritzker. “He’s a bully, and his staff is worse,” the official said.

Pritzker campaign senior adviser Mike Ollen said in a statement. “Illinoisans across the state are paying the price for Trump and Musk’s’ cruelty, and their stories deserve to be heard.”

Kimmel told Pritzker, “when you go to New Hampshire, it’s because you’re planning to run for president.” “Or you’re going skiing. There are other reasons to go to New Hampshire,” Pritzker said.