The Junk Fee Ban Act generally requires businesses to disclose all mandatory fees upfront, although it includes some exceptions for banks, credit unions, and businesses subject to federal disclosure laws. It also includes modified compliance requirements for retail mercantile establishments and restaurants.

Among the allegations are that a February public notice failed to clearly inform residents that the proposal involved a massive data center campus, that a March meeting violated the Open Meetings Act, that residents were denied a meaningful chance to challenge testimony, and that rezoning the land from agricultural to light industrial was unconstitutional.

Jim Dey: “(Bob Grogan, chairman of the Illinois Republican Party) calls for a big-tent GOP in which there is room for divergent views and no ideological litmus tests. ‘You can’t purge your way to 51 percent’ of the vote, he said, referring to internal party power struggles.”

As of May 29, 13 county boards had adopted resolutions urging Gov. JB Pritzker to opt Illinois into a new federal program that will funnel donated funds to students for tutoring, special-needs services and other academic uses. The board resolutions follow a March 17 nonbinding ballot question in 31 counties in which 63 percent of those who voted on it supported opting in.

Yorkville residents filed the first lawsuit in April to block construction of a planned 1,037-acre data center known as “Project Cardinal.” Now a second lawsuit is challenging “Project Steel.” The most recent lawsuit alleges the city did not provide public notice before holding a public hearing on the project, nearby property owners weren’t mailed notices, and the city ignored state notice requirements and approved project that conflict with its own planning documents.

Illinois received a qualified opinion, which means that independent auditors found issues significant enough to limit their assurance on portions of the financial statements.