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The proposals, sponsored by state Sen. Graciela Guzmán and Rep. Will Davis, would require the state to fully fund its so-called evidence-based formula for schools by a 2027 deadline lawmakers set in 2017 — a goal the state is not on track to meet. It would also provide more funding for some school district services that the state mandates, such as transportation for students with disabilities. The lawmakers did not specify a source of the added funding.
The governor said the sales tax and revenue bonds (STAR bonds) were not written for the Bears. “This can be used by local governments. We’re not specifically looking at it that way, perhaps the Bears are,” he said.
After 25 months of contracting activity, the baseline for achieving expansion is lower, making an overall expansionary score easier to achieve relative to previous months.
Elston Flowers, of the Illinois Alliance for Retired Americans, called attention to the increasing age of retirement for those in secondary education.“I got out at 55 and I don’t have to work ’til [I’m] 67, and why is that that they’re working till they’re 67? It’s because of Springfield,” he said. “Because they can’t control money properly, they put it on the backs of the ordinary citizens who are hired by the state.”
The denial also prevents the club from doing something Campus club founder Tim Dudasik is passionate about: “The big idea [with Turning Point] is tabling – being able to be on campus, talk about politics, religion, and all these divisive topics,” he said. “But without being officially recognized by the school, you can’t do that.”
“In Illinois, Governor JB Pritzker and much of the state’s Democratic establishment have likened Trump and his supporters to Nazis. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has dismissed Trump as a ‘terrorist,’ accusing his supporters of longing for a pre–civil rights era. Johnson and his longtime ally, Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates, have gone further — comparing ICE enforcement actions to slavery. Why aren’t reporters pushing back? Such rhetoric trivializes the suffering of actual victims of slavery and the Holocaust.”
“But it is impossible to separate Pritzker’s contemptuous response to (President) Trump from the path he took to office. The desire to wield his advantages without being reduced to a caricature of them has been the central tension of his career. The family name opened doors and helped him weather setbacks that might have sunk a poorer candidate. It allowed him to spend more than $300 million on political campaigns since Trump’s first election and acquire a unique duality of influence—part officeholder, part megadonor.”
The Alden-Tribune pitch acknowledged Paddock’s unusual situation. It’s an employee-owned company and to support a bid from Alden, workers might want assurances about job security. Alden, however, is known for ruthless cost-cutting at its more than 200 daily and weekly newspapers. At the Tribune, it has reduced staff via several rounds of buyouts and layoffs since it took over in 2021.
“It completely destroys the false narrative that the curfew ordinance is motivated by a desire to keep teenagers from coming downtown, something opponents have inaccurately claimed,” downtown alder and curfew ordinance sponsor Brian Hopkins said.
Earl Thompson, owner of Galena Roasters, has called the community home for 30 years.“Iowa property taxes are lower. I think a lot of people complain that Illinois politics is dominated by Chicago. I understand what they’re saying as far as representation,” Thompson said.
Since 2020, the state’s job market has struggled to recover from the pandemic, ending 2025 as just one of 16 states to shed jobs over the last year to now rank No. 46 in the country in job recovery over the last five years. By comparison, four of the six neighboring states (Missouri, Iowa, Indiana and Wisconsin) ended 2025 with an unemployment rate below 4 percent.
Senate Bill 2981 would create the Illinois Climate Change Superfund, financed by payments from entities the state deems responsible for climate change. The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency would determine liability, set payment amounts, and direct spending. “How do you calculate that?” state Rep. Chris Miller asked. “This is legally risky and raises constitutional questions. All it’s going to do is enrich lawyers through litigation after litigation.”
A new report suggests those pumpjacks — and the inactive oil and gas wells that lie below them — are more than just relics of a bygone industry. They also could be environmental time bombs lurking underground, threatening to expose Illinois taxpayers to more than $1 billion in future clean-up costs.
From McLean County Republican Party press release: Illinois State University is reported to have maintained an agreement with NSLVE similar to the one currently under review at Tufts University. U.S. Reps. Mary Miller, Darin LaHood and Mike Bost are introducing legislation aimed at preventing third-party organizations, such as NSLVE, from having unrestricted access to private student data.
Chicagoans may not see much benefit from the White House’s recent executive order that aims to block institutional investors from buying single-family homes, but experts say those landlords are still a contributing factor to the region’s housing shortage.
In a two-page memo to staff, Yvette Loizon, Chief Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney for Policy and External Affairs, warns that the mayor’s executive order, “jeopardizes our ability to effectively prosecute and secure convictions when federal agents have committed a crime.” The process also hands defense attorneys a gift-wrapped argument that any charges brought under the executive order are politically motivated and not legitimate, Loizon advised.
Roosevelt High School in Chicago recently staged a walkout during school hours; students joined those from several other high schools in Lincoln Square, calling for ICE to leave Chicago and other cities. At Roosevelt High School, 22.7 percent of students are proficient in English. Only 7 percent are proficient in math — four times less than the state average at 38.4 percent.
Pritzker is calling for additional funds for Tier 2 public employees, those hired on or after Jan. 1, 2011. Some have suggested that the so-called Tier 2 pension benefits fall short of federal safe-harbor requirements because they may be less than those provided by Social Security. But no one has proved that Tier 2 benefits fall short of Social Security, or by how much. Better to answer those questions than commit major funds to solve a problem that does not exist.
“Strong public schools and thriving private schools are not enemies. They are the two lungs of a healthy civic body. If one collapses, the entire city — its families, workforce and moral core — will eventually suffocate.”
Of the roughly $750,000 that Midlothian Public Library levied in taxes this year, they reported receiving about $100 Jan. 14, $161 on the 20th, then seven payments totaling around $96,000 on the 21st. Another $37,500 came in Jan 23. Meanwhile, Palos Heights’ Library District received $1.76 million, equal to 158 percent of their levy request.
The victims’ ages range from 17 to 68.
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