U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood confronted Gov. JB Pritzker about the state’s population trends during the hearing. “People continue to flee Illinois,” LaHood said. “We have the fifth highest unemployment rate in the country, the second highest property tax rate in the country, the fifth highest illegal immigration population in the country, with over 500,000 illegal immigrants living in Illinois.”

In 40 years, Illinois saw 2,310 public servants convicted by the federal courts. That is from 1983, the year Madigan took over as speaker, to 2023, the most recent data available.

While federal prosecutors exposed the corruption, Illinois Democrats protected their leader. Voters were denied transparency, and the insiders who shielded Madigan were rewarded with promotions instead of accountability.

“Gov. JB Pritzker said during a congressional committee hearing last Thursday he would ‘stand in the way’ of Trump border adviser Tom Homan, ‘going after people who don’t deserve to be frightened in their communities, who don’t deserve to be threatened, terrorized. I would rather that he came and arrested me than do that to the people of my state.’ But there may not be a whole lot the governor can do when push literally comes to shove.”

“To put it bluntly, it was a nauseating display,” the judge said during the former speaker’s long-anticipated sentencing hearing Friday. Then, the judge locked eyes with Madigan, the man once regarded as the state’s most powerful politician. Judge John Blakey looked down at him from the bench and said, “you lied, sir. You lied. You did not have to. You had a right to sit there and exercise your right to silence. But you took that stand and you took the law into your own hands.”

Illinois has joined in on more than 20 legal challenges to Trump actions, including suits over triggers that can make semiautomatic rifles fire faster and cuts to public health and medical research funding, among others. Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul has become a key figure in the fight.

The Illinois Legislature passed a bill to the governor’s desk that would ban the use of therapy offered by Artificial Intelligence. The National Association for Social Workers said while artificial intelligence could be a promising tool in the future, right now it is not bound by ethics.

“I have the highest duty to protect the people of my state, and if Tom Homan were to try to arrest me, I can say first of all, he can try,” Pritzker said. “I can also tell you that I will stand in the way of Tom Homan going after people who don’t deserve to be frightened in their communities, who don’t deserve to be threatened or terrorized. I would rather he come and arrest me than do that to the people of my state.”

“Many Chicago lawmakers will be boasting as we approach yet another campaign season about how they held the line on income and sales taxes in a particularly tight budget year in Springfield. Voters shouldn’t be fooled. Every single one of those legislators acted to force inevitable future property tax hikes. Pension contributions are mainly funded by property taxes.”

Florida Rep. Byron Donalds slammed the governor for not knowing the specific cost of providing services for immigrants — a figure that Mayor Brandon Johnson couldn’t pull for Donalds when the Chicago mayor was summoned to D.C. to testify before the same committee earlier this year. “I think this might be an Illinois problem,” Donalds said.