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“Texas Democrats have fled to Illinois to escape having to vote in Austin on the Republican plan to gerrymander the Lone Star State’s Congressional district map. The destination is amusing since no one knows more about partisan gerrymanders than Illinois Democrats.”
“I want to just dismantle this notion that somehow, our city is hostile… toward the interests of the business community. We are open for business. We’re just not for sale…I am a pro-growth mayor… Pro-business, pro-growth, pro-worker,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said.
The law will not allow for school closures or excused absences due to cultural reasons, but sponsors said it could assist districts with planning events around observances.
“With the passage of this legislation, the prognosis for Chicago’s long-term fiscal health has weakened,” S&P analysts led by Scott Nees wrote. “Chicago will now face a steepening outyear pension cost curve even as it currently faces a fiscal 2026 budget gap that we already expected would probably be the largest in the city’s history.”
“As much as I appreciate Illinois helping out the people from Texas, the South Side and West Side could use the same level of energy,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said.
Many of the 45 initiatives laid out in the plan prioritize modernization, streamlining procedures and updating technology. It also calls for incorporating artificial intelligence, the plan showed, but no further details were offered. The tollway’s plan also includes a directive to “regularly update toll rates and explore dynamic pricing.”
“Let’s take a tour of the 13th congressional district in Illinois. … It’s a jagged, narrow strip of territory with no obvious rhyme or reason as it traverses six counties. It’s less a congressional district than a road trip; it bears a resemblance to the original gerrymander, a long, salamander-like state-senate district in Massachusetts in 1812.”
“Look, the Bears belong in the city of Chicago,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said on the radio Monday afternoon. “And I believe that people know that. There’s a tremendous momentum. As you know, Joe Mansueto with the Fire, we’re talking about hundreds of million dollars to build a new stadium. The 1901 Project on the west side of Chicago, you’re talking about millions of dollars of investments … And the hope is that Chicago Bears fans will rally around this moment to challenge all of us to come together to figure out a path to make sure the 100-year history doesn’t
Ramirez was also criticized for her criticism of the United States as being “addicted to war” and threatening the world with its “imperialism, militarization, conquest, control, competition in its attempt at domination.”
CPS said the custodial changes will save about $40 million, which is part of the $165 million in savings that district officials already announced earlier this summer through layoffs and cutting down on some school-based services, such as hot meals and health services.
This legislation states that municipalities and fire districts can charge reasonable fees to assisted living and nursing home facilities for lift assist services exceeding six occurrences per year.
The Chicago Abortion Fund was selected through a procurement process by the county, but it was the sole applicant for the grant. The grant will fund medical procedures but is meant to provide “wraparound” services that ease the burden on people seeking abortion access. Cook County commissioners said the grant signals a commitment not only to women’s health, but to equity and social justice in Illinois.
Jay Doherty was sentenced Tuesday to spend one year and one day in prison. Previously Doherty’s co-defendants, Michael McClain, former ComEd lobbyist John Hooker and former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore, got between 18 and 24 months behind bars. Michael Madigan was sentenced to seven and a half years in federal prison and a $2.5 million fine in his own corruption trial.
“In Illinois, the rule of law matters, and law enforcement must have a legitimate legal basis to arrest someone,” Raoul wrote in a statement Tuesday morning. “Texas law enforcement officers have no authority to hunt down and make arrests of Texas legislators in Illinois based on a civil arrest warrant issued by the Texas House. The Texas House may have managed to issue civil arrest warrants without having a quorum, but those civil warrants carry no weight in Illinois.”
U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood said Illinois Democrats criticizing Texas Republicans is hypocritical as Illinois’ maps are criticized as deeply gerrymandered. And U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley said the debate should focus on a national bipartisan fair map process that some have filed in Congress. “We’d be all better off if we just took a beat and looked at this piece of legislation and said if we’re serious about this, let’s see what the public really wants,” Quigley said on stage next to LaHood.
Jack Lavin, of the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce: “The numbers are significant. Previous host cities have reported economic impacts ranging from $60 million to over $85 million, driven by increased hotel stays, restaurant visits, local transportation, retail purchases, tourism spending and more.”
Twila Hayes says her family home in the south suburbs of Chicago is slipping away. It started with a staggering Cook County reassessment; Her home’s value jumped from $116,000 to $240,000. Then, the tax bill more than doubled to more than $12,000 a year. Hayes’ property tax bill, which gets paid from her mortgage escrow, meant an increase to her mortgage payment. “I was paying $950 a month. And then, it went to $2,304 a month,” Hayes said.
Chicago had a similar head tax from 1973-2014, which penalized companies for doing the very thing the economy needs: creating jobs. The tax made hiring more expensive for companies trying to grow. Recognizing the damage, former Mayor Rahm Emanuel made it a centerpiece of his campaign in 2011 to eliminate the head tax entirely. By 2012, the tax was reduced to $2 per employee and completely repealed by 2014. At the time, Emanuel called it “a job killer that puts Chicago at a disadvantage.” That statement remains true today.
Illinois private sector job growth under Gov. Pritzker has been almost nonexistent, a fact that stands in stark contrast to his administration’s recent brag about record jobs numbers. Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows Illinois has created a meager 15,500 net new jobs since January of 2019. It’s the nation’s 4th-worst performance among the 50 states.
The Gotion plant, backed by $536 million in tax credits Gov. JB Pritzker approved, was originally pitched as an electric vehicle battery facility. At a recent village board meeting, Manteno Trustee CJ Boudreau said Gotion is instead producing large-format batteries for data centers, with strong safety measures in place. Wirepoints founder Mark Glennon warns that foreign-made components could enable spying or shutdowns of critical internet infrastructure.
“For those of us in Illinois, we find this curious since we are equally gerrymandered to what Texas is trying to do,” said Dick Simpson, a retired political science professor and former Chicago Alderman. “We are taking all the fairness out of politics and simply going to winner takes all.”
“There is no denying that we must continue to invest in our state’s public transit system for the millions of Illinois families, students, tourists and workers who rely on it. But the taxpayers who pay for it deserve a fiscally conservative approach and reforms needed to ensure a world-class, safe and soluble system — not a short-term cash grab that hurts, rather than helps, Illinoisans, $1.50 at a time. “
“Of course, Illinois has a long history. It’s been one of the most gerrymandered states in the country.”
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