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Top Illinois Stories
Many communities in Cook County and neighboring suburbs have already enacted ordinances, causing bus operators and the politicians directing them to seek unregulated areas for these drop-offs. This measure, sponsored by state Rep. Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz, expands these regulations statewide.
"When NPR faced criticism this week, it shot back with deceptive statistics, claiming less than 1 percent of its money is from the government. That’s three-card-monte accounting."
When Illinois enacted a law allowing students to take five mental health days each year as excused absences, educators like Mike Lubelfeld, the superintendent of North Shore School District 112 in Highland Park and Highwood, said it added to absenteeism.
"While policies can favor one class of technology over another, neither political rhetoric nor financial largesse can make the impossible possible. ... Delivering reliable 24–7 electricity using episodic power sources (wind and solar) unavoidably necessitates both over-building (to supply extra energy) and some kind of energy-storage system. The combination of these two requirements leads to a doubling or tripling of delivered energy costs compared with the 'spontaneous' cost of one machine operating."
Kimako Patterson, chief of staff at the Illinois State Board of Education, said that in the last two years, a total of 62,644 “newcomers” have arrived in the state’s schools: people age 3-21 who were born outside of the 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico and have been attending school in the U.S. for less than three years. She said those students come from 147 different countries, led by Mexico, Colombia, Ukraine, India and Venezuela.
More Highlighted Illinois Stories
The tollway agency announced a plan back in March to lay off 147 workers. The news came as the union continues negotiating for a new contract.
The Illinois State Board of Elections released its official canvas of the 2024 presidential primary and found 19 percent voter turnout. That’s the lowest voter turnout since 1972.
Illinois' recent 2023 Report Card shows that 65 percent of the state's 1.86 million public school children can't read at grade level.
Illinois farmers, in a news conference this week, said there’s a concern about drinking water security. One farmer said not only is there a risk the carbon pipeline will pollute an aquifer in McLean County but also the sequestration process itself consumes massive amounts of water.
In addition to several restrictions, the bill would give the Illinois Department of Insurance authority to review and either approve or disapprove rate hikes in large-group insurance plans, similar to the rate review authority the agency was given last year over small-group plans.
The Cape Girardeau metro, which is only partly in Illinois, area saw the largest percentage increase in non-farm employment, growing 0.43 percent this past month. Leading the losses was the Peoria area.
Illinois saw modest job growth in March 2024, adding 26,100 jobs compared to March 2023. However, this growth rate ranked Illinois 47th among all states for non-farm job growth at 0.4 percent. Nationwide, states added 2.93 million jobs during that time, growing at 1.9 percent.
By closing two facilities in Wisconsin and California, the company expects to see at least a $7 million pre-tax income improvement.
“Bans on kangaroos and exotic cats made the cut while Republican bills to reduce taxes, hold criminals accountable and strengthen families were blocked by Democrats,” Rep. Tony McCombie, the House Minority Leader. “The priorities of this chamber are upside down.”
Senate Bill 2637 would ban certain additives and chemicals in food. Foods containing the banned chemicals include strawberry-flavored Ensure drinks, Skittles and Warheads candies, packaged corn tortillas and some medications.
The decision placed portions of the Shab-eh-nay Reservation land into trust for Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, coming 175 years after the U.S. government illegally auctioned off nearly 1,300 acres of Prairie Band's Reservation land in northern Illinois. This move confirms the land as "Indian country," ensuring the Nation can exercise sovereignty over the land.
State Rep. C.D. Davidsmeyer said there may be good things in the Healthcare Protection Act, but questioned the cost and impact. Davidsmeyer also questioned how the measure would impact the state’s taxpayer-subsidized health insurance plans for non-citizens, something costing Illinois taxpayers nearly $700 million a year.
The average fuel price in the Midwest region has risen about 16 cents since last month.
Note: Lion Electric and Rivian, two of those three makers, have production facilities subsidized by the State of Illinois.
The company would not say how many workers are employed at the Joliet plant.The number of employees in Joliet, however, could affect more than $8 million in state and local tax incentives provided Lion Electric if the job numbers don’t improve.
"While no real child may be harmed with AI-generated content, the harm is that it normalizes abusive behavior mainly when it purports to depict the sexual abuse of a child," state Rep. Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz said.
"Mr. Biden will never admit it, but privately financed fossil-fuel production is doing far more to boost the U.S. economy than his hundreds of billions of dollars in spending on electric vehicles and green energy.... Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a climate-change obsessive, nonetheless tweeted last month that 'thanks to the Biden Administration’s vision and leadership, the US has achieved energy independence for the first time in 40 years!'"
During a House Personnel and Pensions Committee hearing, Alexis Sturm, director of the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget, noted the plan shows annual required contributions to the state’s pension funds are estimated to reach $18 billion by 2045 and afterwards “drop off drastically.”
"In this proposal there are equity tiers, which are designed quite frankly to address the failings of our K-12 school system that’s sending kids to our higher education system that aren't ready for higher education, and we all agree there needs to be compensation for that,” state Sen. Chapin Rose said.. “But they’re doing it based on race of individual students.”
“(Red dye 3) was banned by the FDA for use in makeup over 30 years ago. So, the FDA doesn't allow you to put it on your face for makeup. But yet kids are eating this in candy,” state Sen. Steve McClure said. “That to me is outrageous. So, for that reason I am voting for this bill.”
There are inconsistencies in how the law is being applied at different facilities and poor recordkeeping. Meanwhile, a lack of transparency in how prison staff are calculating sentence credits has further complicated efforts by people inside to make sure they are getting appropriate credit for the work and education they’ve completed.
This plan would give housing developers tax credits to exchange with private investors to reduce mortgage debt and make apartments more affordable for renters. Lawmakers said their $20 million plan could help build up to 1,150 affordable homes and create more than 7,000 jobs.
State Rep. Justin Slaughter noted that Illinois can pay for this program by using funds from national opioid settlements and federal grants.
President of the University of Illinois System Timothy Killeen called for a 12 percent increase in the funding provided from the state. The Governor proposed his own version of the budget, which only included a 2 percent increase to the higher education funding.
The demonstration Monday by Pro-Palestinian protesters blocked the I-190 ramp toward O’Hare’s domestic terminals, causing major traffic delays in the area and frustrating travelers. Bill 5819 would create stiffer penalties for individuals who block “an exceptionally busy public right-of-way” for not less than five minutes, or when these actions prevent the free passage of emergency responders.
House Republican leader Tony McCombie, who chose not to vote on the bill, questioned why workers from the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services weren’t part of the measure. She referred to DCFS employees, Pamela Sue Knight and Deidre Silas, who were killed during the performance of their duties at home visits in recent years.
Top Chicago Stories
Of the felony defendants charged with new crimes while awaiting trial, 4 percent (411) were charged with a property crime, and less than 1 percent were charged with a new violent crime (74) or weapons office (73).
After the votes, Johnson linked the two policies together, pushing back against opponents’ claim his administration is investing money on migrants but not long-term residents. “What people are saying is, ‘It’s our turn. When is it our turn?’ And our turn is now,” he said. “I just happen to believe that we can do both-and.”
"We need that money in my neighborhood, we need that money on my block," railed one Black woman wearing a red "Make America Great Again" cowboy hat. "So I’m asking ya’ll to use our tax money for our people, we need it." Another Black woman, donning a "No More Blue Go Red" top, issued a strong warning to aldermen: "Vote for the money for these immigrants today and we coming for those seats, you can believe that." More Highlighted Chicago Area Stories
A press release announcing the "Recall this Fall” petition drive to put a binding referendum on the November ballot notes that many cities in Illinois and across the country offer their voters an opportunity to recall poorly performing mayors; former Illinois governor Pat Quinn led a successful drive to allow voters to recall their governor. “Chicagoans should have the ability to do the same,” it says.
"This was not only a major loss for the CTU, it was also a strike against the increasingly divisive, angry and in-your-face approach that has been prevalent at Chicago’s City Hall, which lefty activists are now trying to bring to Springfield."
The mayor says a fully funded district means the state owes CPS $1 billion, money he said will go toward making sure neighborhood schools have the resources they need.
Video shows four federal agents who entered the village hall and went right to the basement looking for records. It was not known whether the FBI presence at the Dolton Village Hall was related to Mayor Tiffany Henyard in any way.
On average, only 13 percent of sustainable community school students in third through eighth grade read at grade level and only 4 percent in 11th grade. But 63 percent of third- through eighth- and 11th-grade selective enrollment students read at grade level. It is illogical for CTU to demand 180 more of these failing schools in its 2024 contract negotiations.
"(W)e need to have elected school board members who are willing to upset the apple cart to get CPS students literate, which should include shutting down CTU’s control and power ..."
Tamar Moses, 18, had been arrested for felony gun possession and fleeing police just five days earlier, after he allegedly sped away from a traffic stop and struck an unmarked squad car.
“Sometimes it feels like the only thing that’s available for us are leftovers, right?” Johnson said, nodding as he sat in a circle with dozens of students at Collins Academy on Chicago’s west side. “There’s a lot of work to be done, but unfortunately, because of a long history of systemic racism, disinvestment has left our communities in despair.”
Evans has ties to a 19th-century massacre of Indigenous Americans, but trustees argue he wasn’t directly culpable. “The institution seems more concerned with their reputation, and the name of John Evans, rather than … making sure that the Native community and other communities here can feel safe and respected,” said sophomore Olivia Bailey.
“It’s something the Legislature and I — and of course the city of Chicago — and we’re gonna have to consider the plan the CTA should have come forward with already, which we haven’t seen, but that may include changing fares and other things that will help us deal with what is clearly going to be a fiscal cliff here,” Gov. JB Pritzker said. “We’re also hoping that we see help from the federal government along the way.”
But Burke, 80, has plenty of campaign cash left on hand to appeal the jury’s verdict and delay any prison sentence. His campaign account still has approximately $8 million in investments. And because the Illinois Supreme Court upheld the use of campaign funds to cover legal defense fees in March 2022, Burke did not have to dip into his annual city taxpayer-funded pension of more than $96,000.
The Chicago Teachers Union prides itself as a leader in “bargaining for the common good” – unionspeak for contract demands related to its political agenda rather than teachers’ wages and benefits. This year’s negotiations could reverberate across the nation.
The tension among Democrats at various levels of government was evident in the response Elizabeth “Lisa” Hernandez, chair of the Democratic Party of Illinois, gave to a question about how Democrats would handle attempts to use the migrant crisis to score political points during the convention: “It’s evident that at a state level we’re doing all that we can, but we’re limited. It’s a federal issue."
A school’s degree of need is determined by what is called an Opportunity Index score, based on a formula that includes a school’s percentage of vulnerable students and community characteristics, including poverty and historical funding. Scores across the district currently range from 14 to 52. For every Opportunity Index point above 14, the district will increase a school’s funding by $12 per student at elementary schools and $18 per student at high schools.
Dan Boland lives in Lake View, where he is currently unemployed. "You have to make the mayor accountable," he said. "The mayor is accountable to all voters of Chicago, not just brown Chicago or Black Chicago or white Chicago."
"The Windy City is out of control and the mayor is blaming guns, racism, or Trump. He never blames the criminals or let the police do their work. ... The '68 convention will look like a G-rated movie compared to what we will see this summer."
A California real estate investor has purchased a distressed office building half a block from Willis Tower for 89% less than it traded for more than a decade ago, the latest example of the extreme losses that remote work and higher interest rates have dealt to office property values. Los Angeles-based Brog Properties this week paid $2.5 million in cash for the vintage 10-story office building at 216 W. Jackson Blvd.
"In Chicago, where just 15 percent of Chicago’s 8th-grade students are proficient in math and 21 percent are proficient in reading, the Chicago Teachers Union is focused on other things. As the Illinois Policy Institute documents, the union spent nearly three times more on politics in 2023 than the year before, and just 17 percent of its spending was on representing teachers."
Unlike negotiations in the past that resulted in strikes, the teachers union and the mayor CTU helped put in office are on the exact same page when it comes to union demands. "This is making sure that every single child has a library, a librarian, wrap-around services, class sizes that are manageable. There is a lot of work to be done," Mayor Brandon Johnson said.
“I think it makes sense as we wait for the elections for the elected school board in Chicago, and then the elected school board will be able to make the decisions about what the future of those (selective enrollment) schools is,” Pritzker said.
"Corporate defendants often seek to move lawsuits against them to federal court to better defend themselves under the federal courts' generally stricter standards. Illinois state courts, such as Cook County's courts, have built a reputation of being notoriously friendly to plaintiffs, with much more lax standards to prove injury under the law and wider latitude for trial lawyers to present evidence allegedly backing their claims."
The taxing authorities that impose taxes on consumers in the City of Chicago include the federal government, State of Illinois, Cook County, City of Chicago, Regional Transportation Authority, Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, and Illinois Sports Facilities Authority. Many goods that are subject to specific excise taxes are also subject to the general sales tax.
Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates said, “We don’t get to a strike unless we get to an impasse. … [But] we’re a labor union that understands the power of solidarity and the power of work stoppage. … It’s part of the DNA of who we are as an entity, the right to strike. And that is something that I wish for every worker in this country.”
"This has been an issue that people want transparency on,” Commissioner Bridget Gainer said. “We do not want to make it difficult, but we also don’t want to just hand it over without being able to see the changes, because the umbrella is large.” In response to these concerns, Board President Toni Preckwinkle said that the county will receive invoices before reimbursing the City of Chicago for the food expenses.
"It's entertainment for the whole community to get the kids excited about going to school, so that's a positive thing. That's a good thing, so why take it away?" Melvin Walls said. But the parade chairwoman said police resources are needed Aug. 17 in advance of the Democratic National Convention.
The region’s three major transit agencies are hoping $375 million in Inflation Reduction Act funds will usher along their transition to zero-emission fleets by 2040.
During each crime, multiple men confront victims on the street to take phones and other valuables at gunpoint.
Wirepoints Research and Commentary
A set of state lawmakers want to extend CPS’ current school closing moratorium to February 1, 2027 – the same year CPS is set to transition to a fully-elected school board. That means schools like Manley High School, with capacity for more than 1,000 students but enrollment of just 78, can’t be closed for anther three years. The school spends $45,000 per student, but just 2.4% of students read at grade level. 
Ted joined Jeff Daly to discuss why Illinois' property taxes are such a national outlier, why Illinoisans are forced to pay the high, guaranteed salaries, benefits and pensions of the government class, why Illinoisans aren't getting their money's worth for what they pay, the teachers unions' influence over elections, and more. 
Hopefully, all media will get the message, in Illinois, too. 
Ted joined Tom Miller of WJPF to talk about Illinois' highest-in-the-nation property taxes, why lawmakers don't want to touch the tax's cost drivers, just how much Illinoisans' tax burden has grown over the decades, why Gov. Pritzker failed to meet his promise to reform property taxes, and more. 
Illinois' dismal education numbers – especially for minority students – are embarrassing to politicians and officials. But rather than admit there’s a problem with Illinois’ education system, they attack the state’s own standards for being “too high,” instead. SIGN UP HERE FOR FREE WIREPOINTS DAILY NEWSLETTER
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Ted joined Dan and Amy to talk about the free speech controversy brewing in Wilmette due to the city's refusal to fly a religious freedom flag, the city's left-wing excesses and the growing culture war, the latest money spent on the illegal immigrant crisis, and more. 
Weekly crime statistics from the Chicago Police Department: Report through 4/14/2024. 
Chicago Public Schools is failing its students in almost every way. What can be done to save the educational futures of Chicago's children? Join Wirepoints' Ted Dabrowski as he participates in an education roundtable discussion hosted by Seeking Educational Excellence (SEE). 
If you’re frustrated with Illinois’ educational results, you may want to follow the money from teachers unions. In the last four years alone, Illinois lawmakers and political candidates have taken nearly $30 million in contributions from teachers unions and their national affiliates. 
Lawmakers conveniently ignore the full impact of inflation when it comes to ordinary Illinoisans. Take the personal exemption on the state income tax. For tax year 2023, the exemption will not rise with inflation as it should under current law. And that means a higher tax bill for everyone. 
Wirepoints President Ted Dabrowski testified on April 10, 2024 to members of the House Revenue and Finance Committee at the invitation of Rep. Joe Sosnowski. Ted told lawmakers that the state's property tax burden has become dire for countless Illinoisans.
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