Logan County Board member Michael DeRoss said he wants to see data centers built in Logan County, noting how other counties or states could build the data centers which would increase energy costs for Logan County without the direct benefit of added jobs. “If they stick it in Kentucky—and parts of Kentucky that are on the grid—we’re still going to see the negative effects of energy usage with none of the positive externalities,” DeRoss said.

“Greg Bovino won’t just get to walk away — he will be held accountable and responsible for the damage he’s done to our nation,” Gov. JB Pritzker said on the social media platform X. “We won’t forget, and neither should you. No one is above the law.”

The funding cuts would have targeted HIV tracking, lead-poisoning prevention, family planning and other public health initiatives across Illinois, Minnesota, Colorado and California. In Illinois, the planned cuts targeted at least $29 million in grants funding the American Medical Association in Illinois, which supports gender-affirming care, and various HIV prevention programs.

Election integrity advocate Carol Davis said Jean Kaczmarek’s statement is aimed at energizing Democratic voters ahead of the primary. “Kaczmarek is throwing red meat to the Democrat base because she is in jeopardy of losing her seat as county clerk,” Davis said. “This is a desperation play on her part to turn out her base to vote for her.”

In its biennial report, the nonpartisan research and advocacy group Advance Illinois reported that as of 2023, only about 57.4 percent of adults had finished a degree or credential program. That was still a significant improvement from 41 percent in 2008. In his executive order Friday, however, Pritzker cited workforce projections that indicate by 2031, more than 70 percent of all jobs will require education or training beyond high school.

In one effort to rein in the platforms, State Sen. Michael Hastings introduced legislation last week that would require prediction market operators to pay a $1 million fee to the Illinois Gaming Board to obtain a “master prediction market license” and empower the state to collect a tax equal to half of a licensee’s adjusted gross receipts from bets made by in-state users.

Illinois Senate Bill 3838, dubbed the Broadband Deployment Act, would streamline how internet service providers secure access to land along roadways, a change supporters say is needed to meet federal deadlines and avoid losing the funding. Opponents warn the shift would weaken longstanding protections for property owners.

No one has ever bothered to study the way 1,396 localities authorized by the state to enact zoning actually deploy that zoning authority. In other words, Governor Pritzker and the supporters of the BUILD Plan are missing key information that could help them show why their Plan is sorely needed—or how it would play out on the ground. As it stands today, they can’t even tell their constituents whether these localities have chosen to enact zoning—much less whether they allow accessory dwellings or duplexes, impose large lot sizes, or issue parking mandates.