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“Chicagoans love their teachers, but not the union’s militant leadership, and not former CTU organizer Brandon Johnson. And that’s having downstream political consequences.”
Mario Santoyo, 38, is accused of entering the Dirksen Federal Building at 219 South Dearborn Street around 10:30 a.m. July 22, seeking to speak with the FBI. According to a federal complaint, when a court security officer told him the FBI doesn’t have an office there and he needed to leave, Santoyo pulled a knife and held it to his throat, threatening to harm himself.
A native of the Cabrini-Green rowhomes, now-former Ald. Walter Burnett said former residents of the rowhouses often return to the area after moving away or being released from prison, reigniting old conflicts. “All these outside folks coming to the neighborhood, I think it’s a detriment to the neighborhood,” Burnett said. “It’s hard to stop those incidents when folks are drinking or getting high and they get into it.”
President Aondover Tarhule said the administration has changed ISU’s budgeting process for the first time in decades, basing spending on projected revenues. For example, administrators are assuming student enrollment will increase 2.6 percent in fiscal year 2026, and they expect a 3 percent increase in state funding, although ISU has contingency plans in case the university receives just a 1 percent gain.
Mayor Brandon Johnson last week submitted Tax Increment Financing (TIF) proposals to City Council to support the adaptive reuse of the Clark Adams Building and the Field Building — two prominent Art Deco-era office towers — into a combined 786 apartments, 30 percent of which would be set aside as affordable housing.
The Edgar County Watchdogs sued Dolton in February 2024 after failing to receive documents requested the month prior. The lawsuit claims the groups made two separate requests Jan. 5, 2024, neither of which received a response from Henyard’s office.
While Mayor John Laesch’s presentation did not give a specific number on the budget gap, he did note a few places where costs are going up. The city is set to spend an extra $7 million next year in paying off its debt, Laesch said, which has now reached $327 million; The total amount the city will need to pay each year going forward is $27 million. The Aurora City Council has approved over $100 million in additional debt this year and late last year.
Marching through the streets of West Loop, hundreds unified in their opposition to cuts by the Trump administration. In Illinois, people also gathered in Rockford, Champaign and Carbondale.
The 108 students are owed a combined amount of just under $100,000. The Southland Juvenile Justice Council has been around for 10 years and this is the third year for the career project, but the first time students did not get paychecks.
The Illinois Freedom Caucus’ lawsuit challenging the $55 billion state budget advanced with its first substantive hearing in Sangamon County Court. The group alleges Democrat leaders forced through the budget at midnight using unconstitutional procedures.
Essentially, U.S. District Judge Lindsay C. Jenkins said, Illinois and other states are free to ignore ICE and federal immigration law completely, if they wish, under the federalist system of government established under the U.S. Constitution, so long as state and local governments don’t actively interfere with federal enforcement actions.
Pritzker is one of several governors Democrats are checking for 2028. California’s Gavin Newsom, Minnesota’s Tim Walz, Maryland’s Wes Moore and Kentucky’s Andy Beshear are other notables visiting annual state party conventions
During the Illinois General Assembly’s 2025 spring legislative session, state Rep. Michael Kelly introduced House Bill 2990. The measure would allow Chicago to opt out of video gaming instead of having to opt in, but the bill failed to advance out of committee. Kelly said the VGT’s would bring in projected revenues of $250 million for the state of Illinois and $50-70 million for the city.
“Progressives’ latest gimmick should be dismissed as grandstanding and an attempt to complicate or delegitimize immigration enforcement.”
“These state Democrats have the morals of a tomcat,” Illinois Freedom Caucus Chair Chris Miller tells Axios. “They will lie to the public, just like the last map that they drew. They said it was the fairest map that’s ever been drawn in Illinois. It’s laughable.”
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