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Update: Dabrowski has now filed a lawsuit over the error in his name on the Champaign County ballot. Details coming.
Banks and credit unions have been in court trying to stop the first-in-the-nation legislation. Last week, a federal Judge in Northern Illinois ruled the law can be implemented.
In a deposition, Virginia Giuffre accused Thomas Pritzker of serious sexual allegations, naming him as one of several men she was trafficked to have sex with. He continued to deny those allegations.
Dispensary taxes were accurately tracked, state officials said, generating $438 million for fiscal year 2025. The Cannabis Equity Illinois Coalition urged Illinois to lower its cannabis taxes, which can reach more than 40 percent, to make the state more competitive.
A Lewis University spokesperson said, “In light of social media attention referencing the potential for protests at the site, and the community’s concerns regarding ICE, we are taking precautionary steps to support a safe, productive, and welcoming learning environment for all.”
The money will be used to create a new brewery and tap room on the Near West Side. “Craft breweries tend to be in predominantly white areas, so if they’re not in the grocery stores in the Black neighborhoods, if the tap rooms aren’t in Black neighborhoods, and the marketing isn’t geared towards Black people or other underserved groups, then you’re kind of implicitly like left out of that space,” said so-founder Rich Bloomfield.
“Right now, professors in Illinois already have this option. They can opt out of the traditional pension and contribute to a market-based retirement plan,” said state Sen. Chris Balkema. “Participation has been strong because it’s portable and market driven. This bill would give employees in the other four state pension systems the same choice, they could stay in the traditional pension or voluntarily invest in a market-based plan where they control how their money is invested and, especially for Tier 2 employees, could see higher returns over time.”
In the last two budgets, Gov. JB Pritzker and lawmakers have relied on targeted tax increases. Though the FY26 budget ultimately amounted to a $2 billion spending increase, most discretionary spending outside core areas increased by less than 1 percent. Pritzker also warned lawmakers last year that if they want to increase spending for a certain program, they must come up with a corresponding cut.
“Many housing policies that may not appear to be discriminatory on their face can still result in outcomes that unlawfully deepen the longstanding segregation and housing discrimination in our country,” Raoul said. “I join my fellow attorneys general to defend these critical regulations that help states remove barriers to housing access.”
Illinois is fifth worst.
Jim Dey: “Democratic Senate President Don Harmon threw more cold water on Pritzker’s plan by suggesting other fiscal problems might take precedence. ‘I don’t know if this is the year to do it, because I don’t think we do that in isolation,’ Harmon said. ‘There are some other competing pressures on funding pensions and level of pension benefits, and I think the price tag right now may be too much to pay …'”
The victims’ ages range from 15 to 37.
“Hit the flux capacitor, Marty, and let’s go back in time: The Illinois Governmental Ethics Act was passed in 1967, back when a first-class stamp cost 5 cents and the Sears Tower didn’t exist. … The Illinois legislative inspector general lacks the power to launch independent investigations or even receive disclosures directly. Furthermore, the Illinois Governmental Ethics Act fails to define a ‘conflict of interest,’ merely stating a legislator ‘should consider the possibility’ of eliminating one.”