-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
“We should help private businesses and public businesses grow in the state of Illinois,” Gov. JB Pritzker said. “What I’m not for is that we’re responsible for building your factory or we’re responsible for building you’re new headquarters. We’re not.”
Since being sworn in for the mayor’s office, Johnson’s campaign has refunded almost $290,000 in contributions, has made several amendments to its reports and spent another $120,000 for compliance services. Together those two pots make up nearly a quarter of his campaign fund’s $1.8 million spending since he was sworn in as mayor in May 2023.
Mayoral press secretary Cassio Mendoza said Mayor Brandon Johnson’s Oct. 6 executive order can not be enforced unless there are signs clearly posted in advance of a raid carried out by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. That was not the case at the Water Department parking lot cited by Little Village residents, Mendoza said.
Turner said Illinois families should not be carrying the tax load for renewable energy companies using some of the best farmland in the country. She believes it is only fair that clean energy projects pay taxes that better reflect their true worth.
The company first announced planned layoffs in August, saying 215 workers would be fired beginning Oct. 17 and continuing through May 2026 due to a “financial restructure.”
Ald. Michael Rodriguez said the agents detained two members of his staff, Jacqueline Lopez and Elianne Bahena, the alderman’s chief of staff who also serves as an elected police commissioner. Both staff members are U.S. citizens, Rodriguez said.
Representatives for the state’s legislative leaders said they’ve not seen any proposed maps and have not taken any steps to initiate that process.
The tax increase is the largest single source of revenue in the city’s proposed 2026 budget and is expected to bring in $333 million from the hike, $1.1 billion in total. Known formally as the Personal Property Lease Tax, it’s aimed at businesses, but the added costs will most likely find their way to consumers as businesses pass them along.
To put this in perspective, the Better Business Bureau’s “Standards for Charitable Accountability” maintain at least 65 percent of a nonprofit’s total expenses should be on program activities.
“The law, touted by Gov. Pritzker as ‘historic reform to ensure pre‑trial detainment is determined by the danger an individual poses to the community instead of by their ability to pay their way out of jail,’ allowed the man who allegedly concealed and abused my daughter’s body to be released in less than 24 hours. He was released unmonitored, to his home, which is also the crime scene.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection chief patrol agent Greg Bovino further blames Gov. JB Pritzker for inciting violence against federal agents.
“We all want safe streets and strong schools. But this budget punishes the people it claims to help. The head tax is sold as a hit on big corporations, yet it lands on working Chicagoans — the servers, grocery clerks and warehouse employees — whose jobs are first to be cut or moved when hiring gets more expensive.”
“Since the Illinois Way Forward Act was enacted, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office has and will abide by the Illinois Way Forward Act,” their sheriff’s office said in a statement. “However, Sheriff Cripps advises that he hopes Illinois will change its direction in the future.”
Illinois home prices have jumped 48 percent since 2018 while available housing inventory has plummeted across all 26 tracked metro areas, creating a housing crisis driven largely by restrictive zoning laws and the nation’s highest property taxes.
A law was passed during the COVID-19 pandemic allowing cocktails and mixed drinks to be sold by restaurants for delivery and takeout. The current proposal would permanently allow bars and restaurants to continue selling cocktails and mixed drinks for delivery and curbside pickup. It is meant to help restaurants continue to recover.
A spokesman for the town of Cicero said police were called to the area around 11:15 a.m. for a U.S. Customs and Border Protection vehicle being rammed by a car. But the spokesperson said once police arrived, they determined the crash didn’t happen as initially reported. The crash, they said, involved two vehicles, but neither of them was CBP.
The Illinois House concurs with Gov. JB Pritzker’s amendatory veto to the Equality for Every Family Act, House Bill 2568, which supporters say modernizes parentage laws while critics warn it erodes traditional family values.
Economic growth in the city has been anemic and inflation rates have remained elevated, leading the cost of services to outpace revenue. Chicago’s unemployment rate still sits far ahead of the national average, and the city continues hemorrhaging residents and businesses. Mayor Brandon Johnson’s proposed tax measures won’t protect Chicagoans.
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reject the sustained bid by President Donald Trump to deploy National Guard soldiers to support federal immigration enforcement operations in Chicago and its suburbs, arguing citizens can organize to oppose and fight against federal law enforcement – even violently – without fitting the definition of “rebellion.”
The governor expressed concerns that Brandon Johnson’s plan to reintroduce the Chicago “head tax” would further Illinois’ reputation as a bad place for business. Businesses in Chicago already pay the third-highest state corporate income tax rates in the nation. They also pay the highest commercial property taxes in the U.S.
“While Harvey’s financial woes have been exacerbated by corruption over the past two decades-plus, that’s not the primary cause of this distress. The population decline and the demographic shift to more low-income households have hobbled the city’s tax base. Meanwhile, Harvey is saddled with public pension funds that are desperately underfunded. … These aren’t phenomena peculiar to Harvey, needless to say.”
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