-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
U of Chicago business school Prof. Ira Weiss: “I say this with deep respect and admiration: It’s time for Gov. JB Pritzker to pass the torch.”
Inaugural podcast from Chicago Contrarian featuring Paul Vallas, Jim Bosco, Matt Podgorski, Florian Sohnke and Jeff Fiedler: Chicago faces a “perfect storm” of financial problems.
The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation will require the crypto industry to comply with protections now in place for consumers of traditional financial services, such as banks. To prevent fraud, the state will cap daily transaction amounts at kiosks at $2,500 for new customers, limit transaction fees at kiosks to 18 percent and provide full refunds to new customers who get defrauded.
The governor issued a veto late Friday on a three-page bill that would have allowed State Treasurer Michael Frerichs to create an investment pool for nonprofits and labor organizations. The treasurer would then be able to invest it in the same way he invests state treasury funds. In vetoing it, Pritzker said he had concerns extremist groups with nonprofit arms could also benefit from the pool.
“This has been an issue that continues to arise with the development of AI, and this bill will hopefully take care of that in terms of bullying,” said Sen. Meg Loughran Cappel.
“As a law abiding gun owner, I look at this and I say we have to do everything possible to keep gun violence from happening,” state Rep. CD Davidsmeyer said. “I don’t want to take any threats of violence lightly. If we can help to ensure these horrific incidents no longer happen, our gun rights will not be under constant attack by anti-gun politicians.”
The initiative will be funded by the sale of Illinois Police K-9 Memorial Plates.
The American Tort Reform Association labeled Illinois a “Lawsuit Inferno” when the General Assembly passed SB 328 in May. “Take an industry like ours where most trucking companies who operate, especially in the Midwest and honestly a lot of trucking companies across the country, they do operate at some point in Illinois, and now, every single one of those companies is now exposed, and now every one of them could find themselves the target of another frivolous lawsuit,” said Matthew Hart, of the Illinois Trucking Association.
Freedom Caucus Chairman Rep. Chris Miller gestured to the Cooks Mill Solar Project in Coles County: “If you look around at these solar panels, they’re covering Class A farm ground, food-producing farm ground, some of the greatest, some of the best farm ground that’s ever been created by our good Lord.”
The lawsuit is one of 35 such suits challenging Trump administration policies that Raoul has joined as part of a coalition of Democratic state attorneys general. That’s an average of more than one suit per week since Trump resumed office on Jan. 20.
“Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker recently signed a bill to compel all Illinois schools to offer students mental-health screenings. Pritzker proclaimed the new law ‘is a national first worth celebrating.’ But his Children’s Behavioral Health Transformation Initiative is far likelier to produce more jobs for therapists than better health for pupils.”
A law signed last week will mandate Illinois employers allow nursing mothers time to pump breast milk while on the clock.
“Even if the boy at the center of the Conant controversy didn’t have the obvious male physical advantages (on the girls volleyball team) that he clearly does, the injustice of sexually integrating girls spaces would remain.”
Though he couldn’t provide further details about the incident, principal Rickey Harris mentioned that it is being handled under CPS policies, and police will provide the school with additional safety support during dismissal.
State Rep. Kam Buckner said none of the numbers truly tell the full story. “Real safety isn’t just the absence of violence, it’s the presence and the pervasiveness of peace,” he said. “To me, peace looks like jobs that people can count on, like schools that are safe, neighborhoods where businesses can thrive, public transit that feels secure. We got to celebrate progress without ignoring gaps in accountability.”
On Friday, Bally’s Chairman Soo Kim indicated construction delays may push the opening date back a few months, suggesting the fourth quarter of 2026 as a revised target.
Each year the district gets more money to educate fewer, and proficiency is still far behind where it should be compared to spending.
“Under the new cut scores, 53 percent of students would be considered proficient in English language arts, up from 41 percent last year; 38 percent would be proficient in math, up from 28 percent last year; and 45% percent would be in science, down from last year,” ChalkBeat reported. Representative Mary Beth Canty claimed that the new benchmarks will benefit rural students, low-income students and students of color.
One case involves Alejandro Palomo-Godines, a Mexican man. In September 2024, he was arrested in Sangamon County and charged with violating federal weapons laws. An immigration detainer was issued for him on June 16. A June 18 filing shows that the federal government dismissed Palomo-Godines’ case. On June 21, he was transferred from Sangamon County to Adams County Jail in Quincy, held on an ICE detainer and was then “picked up by ICE.”
“The Blackest school district in the state, with the highest homeless student population, the highest bilingual population and the highest special needs population hasn’t just experienced disinvestment. Black and brown families in Chicago have been subsidizing the education of students outside city limits for as long as the system has been designed to deprive our own children of equal opportunity.”
The Flossmoor lawmaker, who also serves as the Thornton Township supervisor, had used the Friends of Napoleon Harris campaign fund for clothing purchases from upscale department stores, along with payments to a Mercedes-Benz dealership in Orland Park and a pizza restaurant he ran in south suburban Harvey.
Illinois law allows nonprofit private schools to register voluntarily with the state or seek state recognition, giving the Illinois State Board of Education the power to review some of a school’s practices. But state law bars for-profit operations such as The Language and Music School from doing either. “How many parents are unaware of what they’re giving up in that regulatory oversight?” asked Betsy Goulet, a Child Welfare League of America senior fellow and retired professor. “Are they taking for granted that they have that kind of recourse if something happens or that there’s an expectation there is some accountability
Illinois will fully take over operation of its health insurance marketplace in 2026, moving away from the federal Healthcare.gov platform and rebranding as the state-run Get Covered Illinois exchange.
Gate: “We are situating schools as anchors in their neighborhoods where they celebrate and reflect their specific cultures. The president is attacking those communities. We see them as instrumental in raising and educating our children…. We are situating schools as anchors in their neighborhoods where they celebrate and reflect their specific cultures…. in our city, we are honoring public education as the legacy of what formerly enslaved Africans
The ages of the victims range from 6 to 49.
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