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The Citizen Participation Act protects against “strategic lawsuits against public participation” (SLAPPs), and with this new amendment, news media will be explicitly added as a protected entity. Thirty-eight other states have implemented anti-SLAPP statutes
The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) announced in April it will not comply with Trump’s executive order to keep trans athletes out of girls’ and women’s sports. Transgender athletes have been permitted to compete in girls’ sports in Illinois since 2011.
“It’s easy to see who’ll be left holding the bag: The middle class, city workers, and maybe bondholders. (If the pension funds are holding municipal bond debt they will simply be obliterated. Payments to current retirees will cease. The housing market will collapse. It will be an extinction event for the city.)”
The measure passed with little controversy, partly because Gov. JB Pritzker and state lawmakers have signaled support for a potential $1.5 billion state bailout to keep trains and buses running. Officials expect the $74 million transfer to be reimbursed once that funding materializes.
The CPS long-term debt burden is $9.1 billion as of fiscal year 2026. While CPS does not repay that entire debt in 2026, the district will be spending $15.257 billion by 2049 when future interest payments are included. In fiscal year 2026, CPS plans to refinance $1.8 billion of its debt and add $600 million in new debt for capital projects. CPS will also be taking $65 million from its debt service stabilization fund to help close its budget gap.
Truth in Accounting Founder Sheila Weinberg said the audit released for fiscal year 2023 had one glaring note in a qualified opinion for the agency that handles unemployment, the Illinois Department of Employment Security. “They were not able to get a sufficient amount of evidence to determine whether the amounts reported were accurate or not, or whether the amounts that were paid to claimants, was accurate, or were those claimants even eligible for that money,” she said.
“I think having an independent commission is a good idea. It has to be done on a national basis, though. It can’t be done state by state. We’d be unilaterally disarming as Democrats if we did that,” Gov. JB Pritzker said. “I would hope that included in that language of the (Fair Maps Illinois) referendum amendment would be language that would enact an independent commission when all of the states have enacted an independent commission.”
“I don’t think he means ‘no,’” Stacy Davis Gates said of Pritzker. “I think he means we’re going to have to get together, create [a] coalition and put the pressure on billionaires to pay their fair share in this state.”
The law bans PFAS from being added to cosmetics, dental floss, children’s items, toys, menstrual products and underwear among others.
“The kind of justice I’m drawn to now is proactive,” Former Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx wrote. “It’s not about punishment after harm, but about the systems, structures, and strategies that prevent harm from occurring in the first place. What if we became willing — strategically and morally — to absorb some harm in service of a greater good?”
An Illinois workplace privacy law that slaps stringent new rules on employers who use E-Verify to check if their workers are legal and threatens them with fines and lawsuits if they break those rules doesn’t intrude on the federal government’s authority to regulate immigration, a federal judge has ruled.
“Thanks to a roaring stock market and a massive increase in taxpayer funding, Illinois is making progress in taming the unfunded pension liability monster that has haunted state finances for a generation.”
Gov. JB Pritzker signed house bill 1710 earlier this month…which requires the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority to create a database sorting cases that have been cleared or closed by law enforcement.
“The goal of the bill is to basically say that if it is minor enough to be a municipal violation like vaping or minor fights, keep it in the school,” said Aimee Galvin with Stand For Children Illinois. “School is a unique environment for discipline, unlike a business. If something happens at Walgreens, they don’t have an after-school detention or say you can’t come to the dance.”
“The very fact that the parents of one in four Chicago high-schoolers choose to enroll in a charter school indicates a higher level of trust than in district schools. Taxpayers ought to be questioning why CPS agreed, in the March labor negotiation, to place a moratorium on the founding of new charter schools.”
In February, the Northern District of Illinois told the I-Team they had 144 prosecutors. In July, they were down to 126, and that includes prosecutors who took the so-called “fork in the road” retirement in Department of Government Efficiency cuts. Despite that, a spokesperson says the indictments are up 140 percent for the first six months of this year over last year.
Four trustees made up the majority voting to cancel the contract. Those trustees cited concerns over privacy, distrust of the Flock corporation and the potential for the cameras to be used for immigration enforcement in violation of both state law and village sanctuary ordinances.
“JB has said, repeatedly, the rich should pay their fair share, now is the time act,” Jackson Potter, CTU vice president, said. “They’re doing it for transit, there’s no reason whatsoever to not take the high road and figure out a way to protect our most vulnerable assets, our children.”
Certain state and local government issuers and their attorneys have something to ponder in the wake of a recent Department of Justice announcement: What inclusion on an updated list of sanctuary jurisdictions requires from a disclosure perspective. Illinois, Cook County and Chicago are all on that list.
“We also want to make sure that when you are filling out the survey, your documentation status is not necessary to disclose,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said. “So this is for individuals who are residents or citizens, as well as undocumented individuals. That information will not be disclosed, so your status will be protected as the Welcoming City Ordinance permits.”
“So what’s the antidote for Chicago? Consolidate. Remodel. Rebuild. From scratch, if need be. ‘Changing a system,’ (U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley) said, ‘is different from someone who talks just about making cuts. We have an old car. It’s inefficient. We can’t just cut off the fender, the tires, the windshield wipers because we’d still be making the same car payments. We need a new car. A more efficient car.'”
The CPS capital budget, which funds construction and building maintenance projects for this school year, is about 9 percent smaller than last year at $556 million. Nearly all of it is paid for through borrowing, while there’s some help from the city through tax increment financing, or TIF, dollars and state funding.
In recent years, several Chicago alderpersons have appeared to cross the line of “unbecoming conduct” without punishment or consequence. Those alderpersons, outgoing Chicago Inspector General Deborah Witzburg says, “reflect poorly on the body as a whole and further erode public trust in government.”
The companies said Raoul’s use of the lawyers violates their due process rights under the U.S. Constitution because it delegates state authority to private parties with a financial stake in the outcome. They also argue the Illinois Constitution requires officers of the state’s executive branch to be compensated with state salaries.
“What the CTU and the mayor are talking about, which is providing another billion or ($1.6 billion) for Chicago Public Schools, that’s just not gonna happen,” Gov. JB Pritzker said. “And it’s not because we shouldn’t. We should. We should try and find the money, but we don’t have those resources today, and we’re not going to see the resources from the federal government level either.”
“First off, the idea of shifting mental healthcare from reactive to preventive sounds great on paper. Who doesn’t want to stop problems before they spiral? But let’s be real: Illinois schools are already dropping the ball on the basics. According to Wirepoints, only 39 percent of students—1.1 million kids—read at grade level. Math scores are even worse. If schools can’t teach kids to read and write properly, why should we trust them to play therapist?”
In granting Illinois’ motion to dismiss Tuesday, Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman found that “the federal government’s broad interpretation of its power to regulate matters of immigration would swallow the historic powers of the states over employment-related issues.”
“For years, city and state officials have marched Chicago toward a cliff. This budget season will determine if they have the will to finally pull back from the abyss.”
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