-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
Despite the decision not to formally participate, Illinois may still have some presence at the fair. The state will be represented by the Peoria Riverfront Museum.
“Pritzker has been sharply criticized for quite a while for focusing more on the national political front than on governing Illinois. And while all or parts of several bills on his priority list did pass, the danger for Pritzker is that this Bears failure will overshadow everything else and highlight his national ambitions because it’s something that transcends the statehouse. His attendance record, while not a complete look at his work, does him no favors.”
An additional 285 bars and restaurants have applied for state licenses to offer video gambling in Chicago, records show.
The law immediately bans the sale of intoxicating hemp products to people under 21. A new set of hemp regulations will kick in this November, including child-proof packaging and a ban on marketing and packaging catered to children.
“We lose 50 percent of our students already,” said Sen. Jason Plummer. “It’s actually slightly above 50 percent to out-of-state colleges and universities. Legislation like this will only increase that number. It will push more of our young minds to other states.”
The General Assembly established the Illinois Independent Tax Tribunal in 2013 to resolve taxpayer disputes with the Illinois Department of Revenue. After Gov. JB Pritzker sought to transfer the tribunal’s responsibilities back to the Illinois Department of Revenue, the tribunal’s chief administrative judge, James Conway, turned to the Senate Appropriations Committee.
President Trump’s Executive Order No. 14398, issued March 26, directs federal agencies to adopt new contract terms prohibiting federal contractors, including state agencies and instrumentalities, from engaging in “racially discriminatory DEI activities” in connection with their contract work. Illinois and its agencies regularly contract with the federal government, and the coalition states collectively hold existing federal contracts worth billions of dollars.
Chicago is required by state law to develop a balanced budget. However, unlike New York City, there are no legal requirements to balance the operating budget on a structural basis, develop and adhere to a multi-year financial plan, or refrain from issuing debt unless it is in line with a formal financial plan.
Chicago Public Schools Superintendent Macquline King, who appeared under subpoena, could neither confirm nor deny whether the district withholds information about a child’s “gender identity” in the classroom from parents.
Turner agrees with Gov. JB Pritzker’s pause on data center tax credits. “I see no need for the tax credits, because those companies have plenty of money, and if they are going to build a data center, they don’t need any tax credits,” Turner said.
“The city’s substitution of massive developer subsidies for a comprehensive affordable housing approach has seen the cost to build new city-funded affordable housing surge, rising from an average of $400,000 to nearly $750,000 per unit since 2019.”
In the lawsuits pending against DuPage and the other northern and central Illinois counties, the counties have again filed a so-called third party complaint, seeking to either escape liability or force some of the larger private “tax buyers” to join in any liability and potential payout to people whose homes were unconstitutionally taken. In March, U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis rejected the counties’ attempts to also force the state of Illinois to shoulder some of the blame.
The indictment alleged Suhaib Ahmad Chaudhry orchestrated a scheme to use laboratories — some of which were allegedly operated by Mahmood Sami Khan— in Illinois and Texas to submit nearly $900 million in false claims to the government from April 2021 to June 2022, prompting more than $293 million in fraudulent reimbursements.
Anthony Riccio, who retired as the second-ranking Chicago police official, said the spike in air bag thefts likely means criminals have noticed that police aren’t doing much to combat the problem. Of the more than 1,260 theft cases opened this year, almost 60 percent had already been suspended.
David Berger, who co-founded Ivy Hall, was found guilty last year in federal court of laundering hundreds of thousands of dollars in drug proceeds by converting cocaine money into private jet flights for a trafficker. His cannabis license was terminated May 11. A separate development involving a newer Fox Lake cannabis shop raises new questions about the opaque system for licensing cannabis businesses and Berger’s continued role in the industry.
The money was established under bipartisan legislation Gov. JB Pritzker signed last July. The bill, known as the Prescription Drug Affordability Act, put new regulations on pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, companies that are responsible for negotiating drug prices between employer health insurance plans and pharmaceutical drug companies.
CTU leadership and other proponents of the sustainable community schools model argue that they will uplift neighborhoods and provide students needed support services. But at the eight CPS high schools that have used the model since 2018, proficiency is lower while absenteeism and spending is higher. Those eight schools also are seeing enrollment fall as families flee them.
Audio and summary linked here.
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