In 2017, for instance, fewer than 60 BIPA lawsuits were filed. But 2019 marked the first of six consecutive years in which more than 300 BIPA class actions were lodged, until lawmakers took action in 2024 to rein in the potentially big paydays for plaintiffs and their lawyers. The report indicated trial lawyers had filed just 150 new BIPA class action suits in 2025.

“(Illinois House Speaker Chris) Welch strongly defended the state law throughout his comments, insisting that the SAFE-T Act ‘is working’ and that judges and police officers ‘will tell you that the bad guys are in jail because judges are locking them up. The SAFE-T Act is allowing judges to do their job.’ I dunno about judges, but one doesn’t hear many, if any, cops say such a thing. That doesn’t mean they’re right, of course.”

“Congress enacted this critical funding to support families and help working parents access child care, and the president does not have the authority to withhold it in this way,” Attorney General Kwame Raoul said in a statement. “This move comes with zero justification, and in the administration’s own words, targets only Democrat-led states.”

In the governor’s race, JB Pritzker is unchallenged in the Democratic primary.

Consumer groups challenged the assertion that these investments are necessary now, saying the company has tripled its infrastructure spending over the past decade and that Nicor has already replaced its old iron pipes that were at a high risk of failure.

The Illinois TRUST Act and the Illinois Way Forward Act, in part, prohibit local and state law enforcement agencies in Illinois from complying with immigration detainers or civil immigration warrants. It also prohibits law enforcement agencies from transferring any person into an immigration agent’s custody unless presented with a federal criminal warrant or otherwise required by federal law. Despite that, in 2024, the Madison County Sheriff’s Office reported transferring 18 individuals into federal custody; the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office reported three; the Kane County Sheriff’s Office reported two; and the Grundy County Sheriff’s Office reported one.

In the case prosecuted by Raoul’s office,a judge found Chad Hampton, 49, of Victoria, and his mother, Cheryl Hampton, 70, of Streator, violated the Illinois Hate Crime Act by engaging in intimidation and disorderly conduct toward their neighbor, Gregory Johnson. Raoul alleged in his lawsuit that the escalating harassment came to a head with the Hamptons using a noose to lynch a bound and chained effigy of a Black man made to resemble Johnson from a tree directly in view of Johnson’s home.

The Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act (CRGA) will fund battery storage, grant greater authority to state utility regulators, create new options for “virtual power plants” and lift a longtime ban on new large-scale nuclear power plants.

Jim Dey: “Little has changed on the political landscape since 2022, with the exception that the Illinois Republican Party has become even weaker due to internal power struggles and a shortage of financial resources. That puts Pritzker in a dominant position to win in November, even if he does not get the opponent of his choice.”

Governor JB Pritzker is accusing the Trump administration of twisting the facts about what the ICE agent did and how the the shooting victim, Renee Good, responded.