-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
Among their proposals, Senate Bill 1235 would repeal the 2030 and 2045 forced shutdown dates for coal and natural gas plants and allow for the construction of new natural gas peaker plants to ensure reliability during extreme weather.
“While the country is outraged over a billion dollars or more of fraud being exposed in Minnesota, the fraud identified in just one official Illinois State Agency, the Illinois Department of Employment Services, makes Minnesota’s fraud look like child’s play.”
Union President Stacy Davis Gates said that she’s not surprised that the CTU, under her leadership, is being attacked. As a Black woman, she said she knew she would be vulnerable to being maligned and painted as a crook, which is a historical racist trope.
Rights to the meters were sold in 2008 by then-Mayor Richard Daley for more than $1 billion. It is believed that revenue since then has more than double that price. Ownership of the meters is now back up for sale, and it could cost whoever buys them billions.
More than 1 in 10 Chicago Public Schools employees owe the city money, and more than 1 of every 3 CTA workers owe such debt. Employees of the Chicago Board of Education owe nearly $10 million, and CTA employees owe nearly $9 million.
“Remember the national uproar last November when U.S. Rep. Chuy Garcia bowed out of his reelection race at the last minute and quietly passed petitions to put his chief of staff Patty Garcia on the ballot? … This sort of resign-and-replacement move is far more common at the Illinois Supreme Court than in any other body of government.”
Illinois received three letters on Jan. 6 laying out which documents were required for three separate programs targeted in the freeze. Each letter cited concerns that Illinois was providing benefits to immigrants lacking permanent legal status, but none provided proof.
“The amount of debt we have and the way we manage debt is symptomatic of a much deeper issue,” says Justin Marlowe, director of the Center for Municipal Finance at the University of Chicago. “We haven’t really figured out what kind of city government we really want or need. We’ve just kind of assumed that what we had in the past should continue, even though circumstances have changed a lot.”
David Greising, of the Better Government Association: “The City Council Office of Financial Analysis is a well-intended entity. But since its establishment just over a decade ago, it has fallen far short of its objective to establish itself as an independent voice on budget analysis.”
“We must stand together as Illinoisans to prevent our State from being out of the NFL business altogether, and support the Mega Projects Bill,” Arlington Heights Mayor Jim Tinaglia wrote. “The Chicago Bears should not get special treatment just because they are ‘the Bears,’ but they shouldn’t have it held against them, either. They should be treated the same as any other entity.”
Illinois becomes the 13th state to create an automatic records relief process for individuals with non-violent criminal convictions. The Clean Slate Act does not apply to serious crimes like murder, sex offenses, DUI and domestic battery.
A newly introduced bill that would bar former Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from working in state and local law enforcement in Illinois is sparking intense debate, with supporters calling it a necessary accountability measure and critics warning it could worsen police shortages and undermine public safety.
The state dropped to 38th in a nationwide business tax climate ranking.
On Thursday night, all four leading major Republicans candidates for governor — Rick Heidner, Darren Bailey, James Mendrick and Ted Dabrowski — in the Tazewell County Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Forum. The video is a bit blurry, but the whole program is linked here.
In 2025, Illinois became the first state to mandate universal screening, requiring annual screening for students in grades 3–12 beginning in the 2027–28 school year. While widespread implementation has occurred somewhat inconspicuously, empirical evidence has shown that universal mental health screening does not improve clinical or academic outcomes and indeed has harmful effects.
Downtown office vacancy hit a record high for the 14th straight quarter at the end of 2025, capping a year that showed signs of leasing stability but failed to reverse the post-pandemic real estate crisis infecting the city’s urban core.
District officials told the board this week they estimate that delays in receiving property tax revenue from Cook County have cost the district more than $70 million over the past eight years. Cook County is helping some smaller suburban taxing districts weather the delays with a bridge loan program, but CPS does not qualify.
Despite a continued downturn in wagering, Illinois sportsbooks notched all-time monthly highs in revenue and handle for November. (“Handle” means total amount wagered.)
Open The Books created a database of “child care” spending by State after the Minnesota fraud came to light. Here, the reporter considers allocations in the Bloomington area.
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