The U.S. Supreme Court will not take up an appeal from Chicago’s Saint Anthony Hospital, which had sought to sue the state of Illinois to force the state to more quickly pay Medicaid payments when the hospitals believe the state’s network of managed care groups aren’t paying enough money, quickly enough, to satisfy Medicaid law.

“You either support public education or you do not, ” Johnson warned Springfield (speaking at the Illinois Federation of Teachers’ convention the day Davis Gates was elected president). “I am tired of lip service when it comes to the education of working people. You will stand for righteousness and stand for public education or get the hell out of the way,” he said to thunderous applause.

“If Gov. Pritzker doesn’t want to do his job then get out of the way and let the people who do want to do their jobs come in and do it,” Bryant said during a radio interview.

The commission’s goals include researching local histories of discrimination, creating a “harm report,” engaging and educating the community, and identifying funding sources and potential reparations models. Commission Chair Jeffrey Trask said they already have support from the City of Urbana, which has committed $25,000 from its own budget.

Google said the new power plant with over 400 MW of generating capacity will be built on site. Google said the commercial operation should be up and running by early 2030, creating around 750 full-time jobs over the next four years.

Nicor, which delivers natural gas to 2.3 million customers in northern and western Illinois, asked for a $314 million rate increase in January — equivalent to about $91.50 per year. Ameren, which has 800,000 customers throughout downstate Illinois, asked for a $129 million increase in January, or about $100 per year. But administrative judges overseeing the cases have released proposed decisions which suggest cutting Nicor and Ameren’s requests by about one third.

Illinois is one of ten states that taxes most candy items at the full sales tax rate of 6.25 percent, so stocking up on the sweet stuff could cost you. But anything made with flour, Kit Kats, Twix and Snickers, are considered groceries. Grocery shoppers pay the 1 percent rate instead of the 6.25 percent sales tax.

But Gotion is proceeding with its project in Manteno, Illinois, subsidized with $530 million from the state.

The DOJ’s lawsuit filed back in February had accused the local, county and state governments of blocking federal immigration law, specifically rules in place preventing local and state law enforcement from participating in immigration enforcement, as well as the sharing the status of criminals in custody/when they would be released.

In simple terms: House Bill 4058 lowers the minimum size for a “megaproject” from $500 million to $100 million, meaning smaller projects can now get the same huge tax breaks. Brian Costin, deputy state director at Americans for Prosperity Illinois, warns this lets more developers take advantage of the program, while regular homeowners and local businesses end up paying more in taxes to cover the difference.

“Before the General Assembly even thinks about expanding (the 340B Drug Pricing Program), lawmakers — both in Congress and Springfield — must make sure 340B dollars are being spent on the underserved. They must demand transparency on where hospital 340B revenues are going, require hospitals to reinvest profits in the communities that qualify them for the program, and end the abusive practice of linking South and West Side hospitals to suburban luxury clinics.”

Between 1996 and 2016, the state increased its contribution to education by $5.4 billion, an 87 percent jump. But 66 percent of that increase, or $3.6 billion, went to pensions rather than the classroom. During that time, pensions grew from just over 8 percent of the state’s education spending to more than a third. Property taxes for school districts rose 66 percent after inflation, much of it to cover costs the state no longer shouldered.

California-based Rivian, which builds all of its electric pickups, SUVs and commercial vehicles in downstate Illinois, gave notice Thursday to more than 600 employees, or roughly 4.5 percent of its workforce, the company said. No manufacturing operations employees are affected by the layoffs, the company said.

“Ted Dabrowski, who is running against Bailey in the Republican gubernatorial primary, wrote, ‘We want Darren and Cindy to know we grieve with them.’ So do we.”

The $8 million a year program provides “tuition, fees, and room and board costs,” according to court documents. White applicants are prohibited from applying for the scholarship. Pacific Legal Foundation said the state has not yet addressed how the scholarship squares with the 2023 Supreme Court decision which prohibits affirmative action in higher education.

Pritzker said, in part, “Here we are in 2025. He is becoming more unpopular. He is likely to lose the 2026 elections and he’s sending troops into American cities and particularly in blue states, in blue cities, to put them on the ground, get us used to the idea of having military on the ground. I believe because he then will say, well, I’m going to go protect our polling places in Illinois. And then if he is losing the elections, meaning the Congress, he will frankly just seize the ballot boxes.”

Illinois Federation of Teachers President Stacy Davis Gates said, “We believe that wealthy corporations that are receiving a benefit from the Trump administration should see that benefit manifest and put in a little more in Illinois.”

Gov. JB Pritzker reacts to the Trump administration’s immigration raids in Chicago and explains how he thinks federal and local governments should “properly get the bad guys off the street.”

Board member Brian Sager, of McHenry County, said the situation is “a little bit bleak” for his region, since the last accepted reform package is stacked against suburban voices.

But Gotion’s project in Manteno, Illinois continues on.