-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
The action before the Supreme Court is heating up a little over three months since a federal appeals court in Chicago overturned the ruling of a Rockford federal judge in favor of the gun owners.
“Everyone is pointing to the recently passed Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act as a possible solution because it gives the state more pollution control flexibility, but even that may not be adequate if there’s not enough will at the top to make extra sure we don’t enter a crisis stage. The governor has expressed confidence that the state can handle this. But businesspeople are rightly freaking out.”
So far, CPS officials say the delay has forced them to take out $1.6 billion in short-term loans for operating expenses, like paying staff and keeping the lights on, and another $246 million loan to keep its teachers pension fund solvent. For these two loans combined, the district will pay $33 million in interest.
Legislation taking effect Jan. 1 requires public schools to offer age-appropriate confidential mental health screenings to identify mental health concerns and link students to support. Students in grades 3-12 will participate in screenings once per school year.
That means typical residential customers of ComEd in northern Illinois and Chicago can expect to see their monthly electric bills increase by an average of $3.10 per month, according to a company spokesperson. As for Ameren, with the reduced amount approved, the company expects current electric delivery rates to remain relatively unchanged.
“Some states are using the lame excuse that the data contains ‘sensitive information’ such as Social Security numbers,” said Carol Davis, Illinois Conservative Union Chairman. “This is ridiculous considering that the federal government is the entity which assigns those numbers.”
Gov. JB Pritzker signed a law expanding the Senior Citizens Real Estate Tax Deferral Program, giving more elders the chance to get some financial relief.
West Side resident Dorothy Rosenthal, who is balancing higher property taxes with flood repairs, is frustrated by the situation. “My building is falling in, and you’re telling me I have to pay 133 percent more,” she said. “My mortgage note was $725 a month. My mortgage now is almost $1,200 a month. That’s a $500 increase, and I have not fully recovered from the flooding.”
Today, Allison S. Davis owes taxpayers $6 million for a mortgage Mayor Richard M. Daley handed him to build senior apartments — which Davis could lose for failing to pay $270,000 in property taxes, though Mayor Brandon Johnson’s Law Department is trying to block a tax buyer from getting a deed to the property.
“This ‘plan’ fails to measurably reduce incidents of assaults and improve overall safety on buses and trains. If people’s safety is at risk, so are federal funds. CTA must act to save lives and improve safety,” Federal Transit Administrator Marc Molinaro said.
The union’s recent 2025 filing with the U.S. Department of Labor reveals that less than 17 percent of IEA’s spending was on representing members – what should be the union’s focus. Instead, IEA spent a record-breaking amount on politics, with little transparency.
That’s about $20,000 more than the owners paid four years ago. A detailed breakdown of the tax bill shows the increase in property taxes was primarily to fund schools; The next-largest increase was to pay for Cook County government.
An analysis of student outcomes at the 20 schools in the program since 2018 suggests the investments have not yet led to widespread improvement in how likely students are to attend school regularly, graduate from high school, or pass key reading and math tests. This is partly due to the pandemic’s disruption to the rollout, but also a lack of clear goals and guidelines, tensions between schools and their nonprofit partners, and money left unspent.
But Johnson reiterated Thursday that his biggest beef remains the decision to replace the corporate head tax with more than $90 million in “enhanced debt collections on everyday Chicagoans.” He calls it “immoral” and “simply not feasible.”
The program allows Chicago police officers to sign up for patrols on the CTA on their days off, and is a supplement to CPD’s mass transit unit.
State Rep. Brad Halbrook urged the state to repeal the closure dates of coal and natural gas power generation. “These are not well thought out plans, they’re not well orchestrated,” he said. “You can’t just arbitrarily set dates for closure without having a plan that will work and get us to that point.”
David Greising, of the Better Government Association: “‘The can is kicked and kicked, and ultimately you kick it into a wall,’ (Ald. Bill) Conway said. ‘We are heading into a terrible situation.'”
Gov. JB Pritzker created the commission in October. The commission is tasked with gathering video evidence and witness testimony of alleged harassment and abuse by federal agents during Operation Midway Blitz in Chicagoland.
Charles Beach II said his goal is to transfer the electronic monitoring system to the statewide Office of Pretrial Services.
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