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Frerichs has scheduled a press conference for Sept. 3, ahead of the Labor Day weekend, where labor leaders will join him to announce the state’s investment in the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust.
The nonprofit said it would put money from the sale of its former charter school built with $27 million in state grants into an account it cannot access until a judge decides its fate. Previously, Aspira had planned to use some of the proceeds for its own operations. State officials have not responded to questions about whether they will go after the proceeds, nor have their attorneys shown up in court.
Dominique Pollion, 37, had fallen asleep on the train Jan. 10 when a man entered the train — holding a knife and recording with his phone — and stabbed him in his chest and abdomen. A lawsuit filed Monday in Cook County court alleges the CTA and its private security officers failed to respond until the train arrived at the Clark and Lake station. And as first responders tried to revive Pollion, the security guards stood by as his attacker stuck around and continued recording Pollion, according to the suit. He then was able to leave the scene without being
In 2014, state officials asked the public for help finding old maps of the mines, saying they had records for only about 2,000 out of the 4,000 coal mines that had operated across Illinois over about 160 years.
Funds for the act stem from a diversion of roughly $860 million annually from the state’s Motor Fuel tax, an already in effect 0.25 percent increase in sales tax in the NITA region, and $200 million in its first year and adjusted annually after from the state’s Road Fund.
Political and government leaders in the county have said Four-term elected McLean County Auditor Michelle Anderson’s 18 years in the role has led to unnecessary risk and costs to county taxpayers, especially in recent years.
When people in the audience began protesting loudly, Citizen’s Voluntary Advisory Committee on Data Centers chairman Jerry Stocks said those who were shouting did not understand enough to engage in intelligent debate. “I’m not gonna have my community pirated by people of your ilk that are ill-informed, that seek nothing but the deconstruction of the progress of this community,” Stocks said.
A federal judge ruled the 2024 approval of the project under President Joe Biden violated the Endangered Species Act. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service identified the roughly 70-acre project area as home to the federally protected Indiana bat.
The Illinois House unanimously passed a plan to educate more drivers about vehicles transporting hazardous materials following the tragic accident in Teutopolis that killed five people and left 11 others injured last October. This proposal could require the Secretary of State to include education on hazardous material placards in the Illinois Rules of the Road book students read during driver education courses.
“While Illinois employers have long been required to provide employees with protected time away from work to fulfill jury duty obligations, the new law fundamentally changes who bears the financial burden of that leave. … As a result, what was previously an operational challenge of covering for an employee’s absence will now also become a potentially significant payroll expense.”
“I find him to be a sorry individual and if he was serious about driving violence down not just in Chicago, but across the country, he would not be engaged in endless illegal wars,” Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said.
According to AAA, the average price for a regular unleaded gallon of gasoline in Illinois was $4.29, up in recent days but down 6 cents from a month ago. Despite a rise in cost statewide, fuel prices in Illinois are 5 cents lower than the national average.
In the M3 poll, just 28.7 percent of respondents had a favorable view of the mayor, compared with 64 percent viewing him unfavorably. Both Alexi Giannoulias and Susana Mendoza had higher favorable ratings.
Even politicians who have supported data centers are turning. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker once courted data centers but now has turned them a cold shoulder.
Of the nearly $65.7 million SEIU Healthcare spent in 2025, just over $13 million went to representing members. That’s not even 20 percent. The rest went to overhead, politics and other priorities set by the union’s bosses.
“We need to examine the working conditions at some of these delivery centers,” said Ald. Julia Ramirez of Amazon and other delivery services. “Are these workers getting the protections that they need?”
Crafted by a local nonprofit, the pledge also calls for eliminating school screen time before third grade and limiting it in later grades. It demands that the district hire a chief privacy officer and ban the collection of student biometric data, such as voice recordings captured by literacy software.
“The challenge for Pritzker and Johnson is therefore to demonstrate that their opposition is based on operational and constitutional concerns rather than partisan politics.”
Cook County’s sprawling safety net health system is counting on the county board to fill a budget gap of $40 million this year. CCH is projecting it will lose $138 million in patient revenue and shoulder more than $100 million in new charity care costs next year. CCH leaders already instituted a hiring freeze, cut agency staffing and are scaling back ICU and mental health stabilization units.
“While the tension between the executive office and the City Council has been described by some as a historic shift away from Chicago’s traditional ‘rubber-stamp’ mayoral politics, it is far from it. Rather, it reflects the mayor’s need to scapegoat aldermen who oppose his heedless spending, administrative failures, and fiscal incompetency.”