Among the large metros, Birmingham and Phoenix pay the smallest percentage of their home value in property taxes. Homeowners in these metros each have an effective tax rate of 0.48%, ahead of Las Vegas and Denver at 0.50%. Conversely, the highest rates are in Buffalo (2.11%), Chicago (2.08%), and Cleveland (1.74%).

“If you don’t want your kids learning social studies, U.S. history from people who hate our country, if you don’t want them learning from people who think your children belong to them then you should be empowered to make different choices,” Empower Illinois’ Jonathan Greenberg told The Center Square Tuesday.

An advocate for the Illinois business community says lawsuit-challenged legislation approved by the General Assembly could cost the state dearly.

Over the past 10 years, women have held fewer than one in 10 construction jobs.

Although hemp legislation has stalled in the Illinois General Assembly, a move to prohibit intoxicating hemp-derived tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) products advanced in Congress this week.

A new abortion business in Chicago is now committing “all-trimester” abortions, and said it will carry them out for “any reason” up to 34 weeks — despite state law allegedly restricting abortion after “viability.”

The 33-page document outlines 2025 legislative activity and the chamber’s engagement in seven core areas: employment, energy, environment, healthcare, infrastructure, tax and technology.

“With so many ideas for how Illinois should be run and so little attention to the cost, there is little surprise Illinois set a new record for spending with the fiscal year 2026 budget: $55.2 billion.”

Gov. JB Pritzker signed a new law Friday to make a series of changes to the Prisoner Review Board after it released a man who would go on to commit murder, leading to intense scrutiny in Springfield.

After SB 19 was signed by Pritzker Friday, McClure and state Sen. Jason Plummer, R-Edwardsville, released a joint statement saying the enactment of the bill is driven by the governor to keep activists happy rather than prioritize the safety of constituents.

An attempt by the U.S. Department of Transportation to withhold infrastructure funding to states resisting the Trump administration’s immigration restrictions has been thwarted by a federal judge.The states listed as plaintiffs opposing what’s been dubbed the “Duffy Directive” include California, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Michigan, and Wisconsin as well as Nevada and Vermont, which have Republican governors.

Illinois government employees who unsuccessfully challenged the state’s Covid-19 vaccine mandates on religious grounds failed to convince the US Supreme Court to take a look at their dispute Monday.

The former Chicago mayor is considering a run for president in which he could face Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, along with other prominent Democrats.

Opinion of this Forbes columnist: “Illinois lawmakers appear to be considering a revival of the vehicle miles traveled (VMT) tax—an idea that was first floated in 2019 but proved dead on arrival. Instead of recoiling from it as ‘just another tax,’ perhaps we should ask a more interesting question: what if the VMT tax is exactly what is needed to internalize the actual cost of road usage—not only in Illinois, but nationwide?”

“If you had any interaction with a state legislator since the shootings, you know this horrific crime has struck many of them at their very core.”

Pritzker: “At my request, federal authorities, @ILStatePolice, and local law enforcement have kept me updated on any potential physical and cyber threats to the homeland that could affect Illinois. We will remain vigilant and publicly communicate if there are related incidents or concerns.”

Neil Bluhm seems to want more than everything is revenge against two of the country’s biggest sports betting and online casino companies. His grudge against FanDuel and DraftKings has lasted for at least a decade, driven millions of dollars in political donations, and found validation from another of Illinois’ wealthiest men. Over the past five years, Gov. J.B. Pritzker has helped turn Bluhm’s personal vendetta into a nine-figure revenue stream for the state.

Many of those last-day bills saw the text replaced with new, entirely unrelated language. They were not quick reads, so what are the chances lawmakers fully read, much less understood, what they were voting on? Plus, the practice violates the Illinois Constitution, but state courts have given lawmakers a wink and a nod to continue the practices.

The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a push from two Illinois toy companies asking for a quick decision on the legality of President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling affirming Tennessee legislation that restricts gender-affirming care for minors is likely to have ripple effects in states with strong protections of transgender health like Illinois, which will be asked to take on more out-of-state patients.

“If the governor doesn’t veto this measure, he’ll undo much of the work he and his economic development partners have done to attract new investment to the Land of Lincoln. Because the message SB 328 sends to businesses everywhere is loud and clear: Do business here and expose your company to a new, unfair and potentially costly risk.

Pritzker “believes that healthcare is a right and we should protect the most vulnerable,” but that “passing a balanced budget required the difficult decision that reflects the reality of Trump and Republicans tanking our national economy and attempting to strip away healthcare,” a spokesman for the governor said. Illinois began extending health insurance to undocumented people in 2020, starting with seniors aged 65 and older and by 2023 it was covering adults aged 42 and up. In 2023, enrollment reached nearly 69,800, or double what originally projected, according to the state’s auditor general. Spending from 2021 to 2023, was $897.6

From boardrooms to classrooms, Juneteenth now feels fraught.

Newsom, Hochul, Pritzker and Walz are all too typical of sanctuary state governors. They couldn’t care less about the will of their constituents—the vast majority of whom favor Trump’s border policies and mass deportation of illegal immigrants. But the sanctuary state confederates insist on repeating the rhetoric and pursuing the policies that cost them the 2024 election. They shout, “Trump is a dictator,” believe that “non-citizen” is a synonym for “Democrat voter” and openly embrace political violence. They are no less dangerous than their Nineteenth Century forebears.

For decades, Northwestern celebrated—and relied on—its growing pot of government funding. Now it’s a liability. The sudden collapse of the once-symbiotic relationship between the federal government and higher education is torpedoing a half-century-old university business model and upending how science is done.

Greg Bishop talks with former state Rep. Jeanne Ives about her efforts to highlight a billion Illinois tax dollars being sent to non-government organizations. Ives has a new webpage on this matter here at DogeIL.com.

“People are sick and tired of the sanctuary city policies, and they’re sick and tired of the crime that is being committed by illegal migrants who shouldn’t be here. But they’re welcomed into the city of Chicago and other parts of the state under these policies,” LaHood remarked.

The 2026 budget package which includes corporate tax changes that will significantly impact multinational corporations and domestic corporations operating in multiple states, including Illinois.

Last-minute changes approved by Illinois lawmakers in the waning days of the session will cost Chicago taxpayers tens of millions of dollars in their first year and billions over time by giving some police officers and firefighters more lucrative pensions.

Stellantis still plans to reopen its shuttered assembly plant in Belvidere, Illinois, but it has canceled its plans to bring in a new electric vehicle battery facility and parts hub to the state, Matt Frantzen, president of UAW Local 1268, said in an email to Automotive Dive.

Gov. JB Pritzker said that under Hitler’s rule in Nazi Germany, Jews also became known as immigrants: “They were attacked as if they were outsiders. … It was a democracy before Hitler took power. It took 53 days to rub out a constitutional republic in Germany and to turn it into a dictatorship that can happen anywhere, and it can happen here in the United States.”

Just last week, when the Illinois General Assembly passed a record-setting $55.2 billion budget for 2026, the legislation was so rushed that even bill sponsors seemed unclear on the exact amount taxpayers would be asked to pay. They rubber-stamped another year of spending that follows a familiar fiscal playbook: spend more and hand Illinois residents and businesses the bill.

In the closing hours of the Illinois General Assembly’s spring session, Senate President Don Harmon tried to pass legislation that would have wiped clean a potential multimillion-dollar fine against his political campaign committee for violating election finance laws he championed years ago. Harmon’s move came against the backdrop of the former Illinois House speaker’s upcoming sentencing for corruption and abuse of power and almost instantly created a bipartisan legislative controversy that resulted in the bill never getting called for a vote.

Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.) said it was “deeply disturbing” that a Sikh delivered a prayer in the House chamber on Friday — after apparently mistaking him for a Muslim man.

Rauner: “State Superintendent of Education Tony Sanders recently proposed that Illinois lower its state assessment standards to ‘provide us with more accurate data.’
Lowering the standards doesn’t make the scores more accurate. It sends the wrong signal to students and creates misinformation for parents and educators that results in more students falling through the cracks. “

Illinois ranked 40th in overall score, 41st in economic activity, 26th on innovation potential and dead last on economic health. Wallethub used three economic categories including economic activity, economic health and innovation potential, then applied 28 relevant metrics, running everything from GDP growth, start-up activity and share of jobs in high-tech industries.

Illinois has 63.8% fewer homes listed for sale than it had in the last pre-Covid year, 2019. One Connecticut was worse, losing 72.9% of its inventory.

The Illinois General Assembly passed a $55.2 billion budget but sent nothing to Gov. JB Pritzker on public transit before its legislative session ended this weekend, pushing Chicago-area transit agencies closer to the fiscal cliff.

Wall Street is left wondering if other states will follow Illinois’ lead and try and plug their budget deficits by either adopting or increasing online sports gambling taxes. Both chambers of Illinois’ state legislature passed a budget that includes a tax of 25 cents per wager on the first 20 million online sports bets made each fiscal year, rising to 50 cents per bet after.

Illinois Democrats introduced what a leading budgeteer described as a $55 billion budget Friday evening ahead of a Saturday deadline to pass the fiscal year 2026 spending plan. The 3,363-page spending proposal was unveiled after 6 p.m. At the time the Senate’s lead budget negotiator, Sen. Elgie Sims, D-Chicago, briefed reporters on the plan; an exact proposal for raising about $1 billion

The budget is the most expensive spending plan for taxpayers in state history and includes a $2.5 billion supplemental for the current fiscal year.

Despite clear warnings, the People’s Republic of China, with help from the Biden administration, Democratic governors, and members of Congress, has established footholds in America’s emerging electric vehicle battery sector. Gotion, a company with deep ties to the Chinese Communist Party, has begun building plants in Michigan and Illinois despite strong local pushback.

Rahm Emanuel, never humble about his political skills, is trying to accomplish something that seems far-fetched even for him: push his Democratic Party—rooted in the identity politics of the left—to the center.

“In states like Illinois, where two Democratic members of Congress are running for an open Senate seat, they’re going to have to run defending a vote that would have increased taxes significantly.”

Since Floyd’s murder, the intersection of 38th and Chicago has become a sacred space. Two iconic murals were painted at the site, including a blue-and-yellow tribute on the side of the Cup Foods where Floyd was accused of spending a counterfeit $20 bill, prompting the fatal police response. The community installed a raised-fist sculpture at the center of the intersection and headstones engraved with the names of Black people killed by police.

Proposals to expand gambling further to allow internet casinos may be stalling in Illinois with the end of spring legislative session approaching. But one legislator says anything is possible.

The allegedly discriminatory scholarships include the African-American Achievement Scholarship, the Black Undergrad Education Scholarship, the Hispanic-American Fund, the SIUC Minority Scholarship Fund and the Inspiring Women Scholarship.

Proposals to expand gambling further to allow internet casinos may be stalling in Illinois with the end of spring legislative session approaching. But one legislator says anything is possible.

At a time when Democratic insiders have never been more distrusted, the ultimate Democratic insider thinks he can be president in 2028.

“Despite these clear warnings, the People’s Republic of China, with help from the Biden administration, Democratic governors, and members of Congress, has established footholds in America’s emerging electric vehicle battery sector. Gotion, a company with deep ties to the Chinese Communist Party, has begun building plants in Michigan and Illinois despite strong local pushback…. As a first step, the Senate must mandate no U.S. tax credits to any PRC-affiliated companies. None.”

The city’s recommended contribution is nearly three-fourths of the police department’s current payroll. The city’s situation is similar to towns all across the state. Illinois law controls the terms of police pensions.

Nearly two years after the Supreme Court overturned affirmative action, an Illinois medical school admits black and Hispanic students with lower average MCAT scores and GPAs than the average scores of white and Asian students it rejects, according to data shared with The Daily Wire.

This migration didn’t happen by accident. It was driven by specific policy choices. States such as Tennessee, Alabama, South Carolina and Texas have aggressively courted manufacturers by promising business-friendly policy environments. You can see this on several different fronts. Florida, Georgia, Texas, Tennessee, South Carolina and North Carolina, all built more housing per capita than all of Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, California, New York and Massachusetts.

Macomb, Illinois, is at the heart of a new Rust Belt: Across the U.S., colleges are faltering and so are the once booming towns around them. Enrollment is down at many of the nation’s public colleges and universities, widening the gap between high-profile campuses and struggling schools. Starting next year, there will be fewer high-school graduates for the foreseeable

“Sixty-five percent of its spending was on political activities and lobbying,” Smith told The Center Square.

A Kankakee County judge ruled on May 14 that most claims in a lawsuit filed by Concerned Citizens of Manteno against Gotion Inc. and the Village of Manteno can proceed. The ruling is seen as a significant step in the legal battle over Gotion’s proposed battery plant and its potential use of toxic chemicals.

Fuyao is making a $400 million expansion in Illinois. According to Made In China Journal, the company is also heavily embedded with Chinese Communist Party members. The journal reports that “over 70 percent of Party members occupy key positions in the management or technical leadership, including 22 senior executives.”

Pritzker funneled millions of state tax dollars to non-profits like “Centro de Trabajores Unidos,” which train illegal aliens on ways to avoid capture by federal immigration agents, and how to frustrate federal immigration courts. Last year, Pritzker and the Illinois Legislature approved seven state grants totaling $4 million for the organization, nearly four times its entire $1.1 million 2022 budget.

Pritzker, Durbin and others initially emphasized that the Lion Electric factory, located in a leased 900,000-square-foot building at 3835 Youngs Road, was the first auto assembly plant to open in the Chicago area in more than 50 years.

Said Gov. JB Pritzker, “With this investment of more than $31.5 million–supported by state incentives–Damera will expand into our state and create 90 new full-time jobs.” Lion Electric, which opened a plant in Joliet to build electric school buses, recently filed for bankruptcy.

The Democratic contest for an Illinois Senate seat is shaping up as a test of the political power of Gov. JB Pritzker over a primary field of candidates who enter the race with deep animosity for one another and skepticism about the governor’s influence.

“The results from expanded choice should be enough to protect it from political attacks, but the opponents never sleep. The key to choice success in the long run is letting the money follow the child no matter the school, public or private. Indiana has taken another step toward that ideal.”

“News of the battery plant cancellation comes as a setback in Illinois’ objectives to become an electric vehicle manufacturing and supply hub.”

Republican members of Michigan’s congressional delegation noted they had asked Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker to move on the project after the delay.

“The coup de grâce was the extraordinary April 27 speech by Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a man known more as a liberal than a radical but now sounding like Bernie Sanders on steroids.”

“Somehow we can follow some laws and we don’t have to follow other laws, but who’s accountable for this?” Abraham said. “You talk about this due process … Katie didn’t get any due process.”

“The Stellantis and Lion setbacks also raise serious questions for the Pritzker administration. Are EVs the golden ticket the state once thought they were? And, if not, where else should the state’s economic development cheerleaders look for the next wave of much-needed growth?”

Plans by Stellantis for a battery factory and a regional parts hub in Belvidere are off the table, a United Auto Workers official says. The maker of Dodge, Jeep and Ram vehicles still plans to build a midsize pickup truck at Belvidere in two years, which would employ about 1,500 workers, as announced in January. But the $3.2 billion battery plant and a much larger regional parts hub are no longer part of the plan, UAW Vice President Kevin Gotinsky told Crain’s sister brand Automotive News. Local officials have been hearing the same thing, says state Rep. Dave Vella, who

An Illinois law that would automatically initiate massive cuts to Medicaid funding could derail health care in the state if threatened federal cuts to the program come to pass. If Illinois were to repeal the trigger law, and then fund the ACA Expansion beneficiaries at the lower traditional Medicaid percentage of 51% to keep these individuals covered, it would cost $3.2 billion annually — money the state simply does not have

As Harvard Corporation’s senior fellow, Penny Pritzker stands at the center of the most consequential battle between a school and the U.S. government in more than half a century.

Richard Porter, former National Committeeman to the RNC from Illinois: “Pritzker’s lies in the cause of his ambition to be the Democratic Party’s nominee for president are more outrageous – and more perilous – than Smollett’s lies to make himself a civil rights icon.”

Municipal Tier Two pensions include local police officers, firefighters and municipal employees. These pension systems differ substantially from the state’s pensions, which include the teachers and state employees. Unlike the state pension systems, the municipal pension systems already meet or exceed federal safe harbor standards for the Social Security exemption. Consequently, legislative action should be targeted to account for the nuances of Illinois’ complex pension landscape. As the state and municipal pensions are distinct systems, reforms to Tier Two should also be distinct to protect taxpayers from paying the price of unnecessary changes. Tier Two issues within the state systems

Ultimately, Illinois is among the most heavily taxed and least equitable states in the nation — and that is no accident. Punishing tax burdens, broken criminal justice policies, worsening corruption, and an anti-business climate will continue to drive out tens of thousands of taxpayers each year. Mass, subsidized migration nor constantly attacking Trump, whether deserved or not, is no substitute for effective policies and responsible governance.

A small business advocate says a paid leave proposal in the Illinois Senate would be a direct tax on workers and employers. State Sen. Ram Villivalam, D-Chicago, proposed creating the Division of Paid Family and Medical Leave within the Illinois Department of Labor with Senate Bill 2413.

The Illinois House Ethics and Elections Committee heard heated testimony over the potential impact of the proposal on Illinois voters and its impact on voters’ ability to vote.

The targets are the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and, by extension, PBS television network, NPR and 1,500 broadcast outlets across the country, including Chicago’s WBEZ and WTTW. Chicago Public Media owns WBEZ and the Sun-Times.

“In Illinois, Medicaid covers 3.5 million people — or 27.5% — of the state’s population. Better yet, the feds subsidize around 69% of Medicaid’s costs, which frees up state-level revenue to cover other core services like education.”

Today the Liberty Justice Center celebrates a significant victory in Glennon v. Johnson after Bally’s Corporation announced a revised public offering for its Chicago casino project that no longer illegal discriminates on the basis of race or gender. In a new securities filing dated April 22, Bally’s finally removed the requirement that purchasers be either a woman or minority. This success now means that the project is open to the people of Chicago without regard to race or sex.

By imposing confusing rules during the employment verification process and threatening employers with penalties if they do not comply, SB0508 discourages and complicates the use of E-Verify and Form I-9 inspection requirements. E-Verify allows any U.S. employer to electronically confirm the employment eligibility of newly hired employees and Form I-9 is used to verify the identity and employment authorization of individuals.

HB 4045 and its companion bill in the Senate would allow anyone who knowingly manufactures, sells, offers to sell, purchases, receives, manufactures, imports, or transfers a “convertible pistol” to be charged with unlawful possession of a weapon; a class 4 felony in the state punishable by a minimum of one year in prison and up to three years behind bars and a $25,000 fine.

“If a Democratic leader today tells voters that the party just needs to tweak its messaging and strategy, he is also telling them that they don’t have to reexamine their beliefs on the border, and woke, and crime, and other issues on which the party embraces minority views. So, Pritzker was telling the New Hampshire crowd: You don’t have to change a thing — just fight, fight, fight. Some Democrats really like that.”

“Yet another failing governor of a struggling state is creating media excitement with promises of partisan belligerence” — JB Pritzker…. “Outside of the Pritzker household, who looks at Illinois governance as a template? The governor presides over a low-growth, high-unemployment state. The Land of Lincoln’s heavy tax burden would be even heavier if Illinois voters had not thwarted Gov. Pritzker’s effort to rewrite the state’s constitution.”

John Atkinson, Chairman of Intersect Illinois: “Gov. JB Pritzker’s leadership, Illinois is officially on the map as a national leader for business expansion and relocation.”

In addition to targeting federal funding, Trump’s administration has brought lawsuits against Chicago and New York for policies that limit local law-enforcement cooperation with federal immigration officials and, in some cases, block housing of immigration detainees in local jails. The Justice Department argues federal law overrides the city and state when it comes to immigration.

“Stop tearing down the Constitution in the name of my ancestors. Do not claim that your authoritarian power grabs are about antisemitism. When you destroy social justice, you are disparaging the very foundation of Judaism,” said Pritzker.

By actuary Mary Pat Campbell.

In a fiery address to New Hampshire Democrats on Sunday night, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker condemned what he described as President Donald Trump’s “authoritarian power grabs” while also blasting the “do-nothing” Democrats in his party — stating it is “time to fight everywhere, all at once.”

2024, a total of 10 police officers were killed in the line of duty in Illinois.

Radicals transformed the Chicago Teachers Union and hope to do the same to the Big Apple’s.

“The No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, Dick Durbin of Illinois, said Wednesday he’ll retire after the 2026 elections, and how the party replaces him could suggest whether it has learned from its drubbing in November. Mr. Durbin is no moderate, yet Illinois Democrats in the age of Trump II could also be in the mood for a more combative leftism, in the style of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.”

Illinois not in top ten.

Kathy Salvi, chair of the Illinois Republican Party, said there’s an “audible groan” from Illinois residents whenever his name is mentioned. “He is hugely unpopular here in Illinois and that’s because we see him for who he is,” Salvi told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “He’s got a soft launch of his presidential bid in New Hampshire that just proves Illinois has just been a stepping stone for him to advance his personal ambition while we’re settled here with the heavy effect of his administration’s failed policies.”

Trump’s inaugural committee reported Sunday night that it had raised $1 million from Gotion, the Chinese business that Republicans had repeatedly attacked over its plans to construct EV battery plants in Michigan and Illinois.

Billionaire Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois is one of the top Democrats being watched as the party searches for a way out of the political wilderness

Several states are promising to resist the Trump administration’s effort to root out divisive diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives from schools.

“Take New Buffalo, Michigan, for example….”

Taxpayers are paying nearly $1,600 more than they were just seven years ago and getting fewer of the services they expect or that improve the quality of life in Illinois. Still, the Illinois budget expands.

The Illinois Senate has passed legislation to expand freedom-of-the-press protections for public media on college campuses, despite concerns about lawsuit immunity.

Lake, Kendall, Macon, Rock Island, Winnebago and Will Counties in Illinois all among the top ten nationally.

In a letter to the university community, Board of Trustees Chairman Peter Barris and President Michael Schill said while Northwestern hasn’t yet received official notice that federal funding has been pulled but have received stop-work orders on about 100 federal grants for scientific research.

“They attacked me when I was down,” Trump said. “Now I’m doing great again and it’s my turn. I always said, the first time I got back on my feet, the Pritzkers would be the first people I’d go after.”

Davis said he is the primary promoter of Predominately Black Institutions (PBIs) a designation for about 75 schools including in Illinois, Chicago State University, Olive-Harvey College, Kennedy King College, Malcolm X College, South Suburban College, and Robert Morris University Illinois formerly Robert Morris College. The schools with the PBI designation must have a 40 percent Black enrollment with an equal percent low-income status.

The next time Illinois state lawmakers want to restrict corrupting influences, they should look at public sector unions. The problem is, they already blocked themselves and future politicians from ever controlling their friends in government unions.

Raoul: “Our economy, our rights and freedoms as citizens and residents, our lives and livelihoods are all protected by the fair and unbiased application of the law. I will not sit by silently as the president bullies and retaliates against law firms for representing clients who are politically disfavored or vulnerable. President Trump’s actions are an affront to the rule of law, and I urge all members of the legal community to stand strong in support of our colleagues in the face of these unconstitutional attacks.”

Illinois-based Liberty Justice Center: “No one person should have the power to impose taxes that have such vast global economic consequences. The Constitution gives the power to set tax rates—including tariffs—to Congress, not the President.”

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker on Sunday used his first-ever appearance on Fox News to take his criticisms of President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs to the network’s conservative-leaning audience, labeling the Republican administration’s levies on imports “taxes on working families.” Pritzker also forecasted a “big recession” because of the tariffs.

U.S. Reps. Darin LaHood and Suzan DelBene, along with 114 bipartisan cosponsors, have introduced NAHB-supported legislation that will improve the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) and allow builders to increase production of badly needed affordable rental housing.

“(It) is plain on the face of the Committee’s demands that it is not trying to investigate antisemitism,” the professors wrote in the lawsuit. “Instead, it is illegally singling out viewpoints and causes that it disagrees with for punishment.” The filed complaint is here.

“It’s the rank hypocrisy of it all that’s most infuriating. What the bill is supposed to address for homeschooling — truancy, abuse, educational neglect and poor accountability – are the very matters Illinois lawmakers ignore for public schools. That failure is central to why educational outcomes have plummeted.”

In Illinois, two bills before the General Assembly, HB 3350 and SB 3727, aim to keep big pharma from cutting hospitals, clinics and pharmacies out of the federal discount program. The proposals are nearly identical to bills in other states that have either passed or are in the middle of debate.

“To understand the radicalism and destructive force of the public media, Chicago may be the best place to look, for no one knows the machinations of the angry beating heart of public media ideologues more than the hardworking police and prosecutors in Chicago.”

Republican political operatives “call it like it is” on Tuesday’s election results: “Center-right candidates got demolished on Tuesday night while the Democrats walked away as the ultimate winners. Former red areas like DuPage County and Barrington Township went blue while center-right mayors in Orland Park, Aurora, and Rock Island lost (among many others). No matter how it’s spun, this is a big deal and bad for Republicans.” Video here.

Funding included two grants totaling $500,000 from the llinois Department of Human Services for “administrative services associated with violence prevention programs, youth employment programs, and operational expenses,” a single grant of $500,000 “from the State Coronavirus Urgent Remediation Emergency Fund” through the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority “for administrative costs.” CTC received five additional grants totaling $500,000 from the “Build Illinois Bond Fund” through the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity “for costs associated with building renovations” and “for costs associated with infrastructure improvements.”

Jim Dey: “The Illinois Supreme Court has ruled politicians here can use campaign funds to pay legal debts. Previously, they were entitled to convert all of it to personal use. But the Legislature, acting under public pressure, recently modified the amount legislators can devote to personal use.”

Illinois voters should have the opportunity to send a message to politicians on the most important issues affecting their quality of life and cost of living. Unfortunately, they rarely have that chance. That’s

“Teachers’ unions such as those pushing the anti-home schooling bill in Illinois hate competition, be it from private schools or home-schooling. These unions don’t care about children. They want power.”

State Senator Robert Martwick (D-Chicago): “Any financial adviser will tell you that the benefits provided by Tier Two do not meet even the most basic retirement security standards.”

Emanuel is rejoining the investment bank Centerview Partners, where he worked from 2019 to 2021. He counseled CEOs on mergers, regulation and political information.

The Consumer Federation of America said in a report Illinois premiums rose 50% between 2021 and 2024, behind only Utah, where premiums rose 59% during the same time period. The average state increase was 24%, the report said.

Gotion, an electric vehicle battery manufacturer with ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has suspended its permit application to build a plant near a Michigan National Guard base following fierce opposition. The fight continues, however, to stop the one Gotion plans for Manteno, Illinois.

Some attorneys general have organized a roadshow to take their cases directly to voters. On March 20, five attorneys general—Mayes, Ellison, Kwame Raoul of Illinois, Letitia James of New York and New Jersey’s Matthew Platkin—spoke to more than 1,000 people, almost all of them Democrats, gathered at a high school in suburban St. Paul, Minn.

Candidate for Manteno mayor Annette LaMore is a vocal critic of the Chinese-owned Gotion lithium-ion battery plant being planned for the village and the way local officials have handled the project. The April 1 election will determine whether Lamore and her allied candidates can gain enough support to take control of the village board and block further backing of the Gotion plant.

The House Committee on Education and Workforce criticized Northwestern for “indications” that it used federal funds to support an alleged antisemitic group in a letter sent Thursday.

The letter condemns the Community Justice and Civil Rights Clinic at the Pritzker School of Law for giving free legal representation to organizers of a pro-Palestinian highway blockade to O’Hare International Airport last April.

“Everything wrong with the American left was on display at the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) dinner held on March 22, 2025, in Los Angeles…. Time permits a brief look at just three of HRC’s special guests: Illinois’ incompetent governor, JB Pritzker; AOC-wannabe U.S. Representative from Texas, Jasmine Crockett; and bisexual actress Hannah Einbinder.”

The ACLU and the League of Women Voters say requiring voters to produce a passport or birth certificate to prove citizenship will result in voter suppression for millions of people, including women who have changed their names due to marriage or divorce.

“Hegseth and every other official who was included in this group chat must be subject to an independent investigation. If Republicans won’t join us in holding the Trump Administration accountable, then they are complicit in this dangerous and likely criminal breach of our national security,” U.S. Sen. Duckworth wrote.

The Illinois Finance Authority will go to market with an $850 million deal for the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency next week, replenishing the state revolving fund loan program’s clean water initiative and refunding two series of bonds previously issued by the authority.

The federal government is pulling back $125 million in funding from the Illinois Department of Public Health and 97 local health departments for activities related to COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, the state health department said Wednesday. In all, the federal government is slashing $11.4 billion in federal funding across the country for state and local health departments and other health organizations for COVID-19-related activities.

Citing a 2017 report from the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, the brief argues economies are stronger in places where local governments have sanctuary policies. Undocumented immigrants contribute an estimated $1.5 billion in taxes annually in Illinois, according to data from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy included in the filing.

Numerous speakers highlighted the need for substantive structural change to address funding disparities, conflicts of interest, and an overall dearth of data about public defense in Illinois.

Pritzker: “We will not blindly follow illegal orders because Donald Trump wrote them down on a piece of paper. Illinois follows the laws of the land – not the decrees of an aspiring king hell bent on disenfranchising millions of voters who deserve to have their voice heard.”

New efforts to regulate homeschooling in Illinois have touched off a heated debate.

In a split with organized labor, Gov. J.B. Pritzker, D-Ill., vetoed Democratic-sponsored and union-backed legislation to protect warehouse workers.

Illinois one of 13 states with higher taxes.

“As the extreme Republican agenda in Washington impacts the state, the attorney general’s office should work with the legislature to seek an appropriate amount needed,” Gov. Pritzker’s spokesman said. “As always, the governor appreciates the attorney’s general efforts to protect Illinoisans against unnecessary encroachment by the federal government.”

The debate over hemp-infused products is far from over at the Illinois Capitol.

“Ultimately, the Department of Education’s main functions can, and should, be returned to the States,” Trump said in the executive order. But the attorneys general argue Trump is overstepping the power of the executive branch by dismantling a department established by Congress.

The order resembled ones that Trump previously issued against prominent firms Perkins Coie and Paul Weiss. These orders suspended security clearances for their lawyers and restricted their access to government buildings, officials and federal contracting work.

“What questions do they propose to put on the questionnaire?” said Jennifer Pritzker, a retired lieutenant colonel with the U.S. Army, businesswoman and philanthropist. “What is the criteria for either retention or discharge? I think it’s only fair that that be disclosed to the people who are taking the questionnaire. I don’t know why, why don’t they just give that to everybody?”

Pritzker, who has stepped up his line of attacks against Trump in recent public appearances, is heading to New Hampshire next month to be the keynote speaker for a state party event. He’s also participating in a tour with Congress members in the state to “raise awareness about the devastating impacts of the Trump Administration’s cuts to critical services and resources for Illinoisans,”

Black Researchers Collective employees purport to conduct interviews “on the street” with black Chicagoans, which have been compiled into “reports” that advocate against capitalism and for policies like slavery reparations, the mass release of black violent criminals from state jails, and free, housing, health care and college for black Chicagoans, funded by white, Asian and Hispanic taxpayers.

In what may be the first campaign announcement in U.S. history ever to use the F-word, the progressive social media sensation Kat Abughazaleh released a video Monday that kicked off her bid to unseat Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois.

After legislators ignored protections to the Mahomet Aquifer last year, a bill to protect the supply from carbon sequestration is advancing at the Illinois Statehouse.

“I believe that blood will be on their hands,” Pritzker said of Trump and Republicans. “People will lose their lives as a result of what they’re trying to do right now.”

“Child abuse is horrific wherever it happens, and public schools aren’t immune. But there is no evidence of a connection between home-schooling and abuse or neglect, and it’s unclear what purpose the new law advances other than piling on onerous and costly regulation that will result in less home-schooling. That may be the point, as unions that run the public schools back the Homeschool Act.”

Illinois taxes the sale of goods and products but not consumer services. The groups argue including consumer services in the state tax base would generate up to $2 billion annually for the state, funds that could benefit struggling public services such as education, transit and unfunded pension liabilities.

Professor Kilborn’s Civil Procedure II exam described how an employee quit “after she attended a meeting in which other managers expressed their anger at Plaintiff, calling her a ‘n___’ and ‘b___’ [sic].”

“While Pritzker did say much that needed saying before his full house at CAP, it’s hard not to think that anointing a billionaire as the guardian of a model democratic political economy is going boldly backward.”

Illinois’s Deerfield Public Schools District 109 is under the microscope on both sides of the Atlantic after parent Nicole Georgas said Thursday at a school board meeting that administrators and teachers entered the junior high girls’ locker room to force girls to change into their gym clothes after they refused to do so in the presence of a male who identifies as a girl.

Trans advocates are pushing back against a north suburban mom who says her 13-year-old daughter was forced to change in front of a transgender classmate.

Governor Pritzker is kicking off the Standing Up for Illinois Tour Wednesday. He plans to travel across the state to “shed light on how the Trump Administration’s extreme agenda is hurting working families, farmers, veterans, seniors, and other Illinoisians.”

“Chicago rose from the ashes to demonstrate what American ingenuity looks like,” the Democratic governor said of the 1871 disaster. “It seems wherever we look right now, there is fire. There are embers. Trump and his bootlickers designed it that way. It should scare us, but it should not deter us, so let it instead be a call to action to all of us together (that) we can build something bigger and better.”

JB Pritzker criticized Chuck Schumer and declined to say whether he should continue leading Senate Democrats amid an escalating internal crisis over the party’s strategy in the second Trump presidency.

A little-known law in Illinois requires private companies to finance the DEI industry if they wish to do business with the state—giving a lifeline to an unpopular industry that currently finds itself on the ropes as major companies across the country ditch their DEI programs and President Donald Trump works to eradicate its influence across the federal government.

A middle school in Illinois reportedly forced a class of 13-year-old girls to change in front of a trans-identified male student in the school locker rooms after a Physical Education class, according to the mother of one of the girls involved.

Between 2020 and 2024, California, New York, and Illinois each lost more than 100,000 thousand residents. Florida and Texas, meanwhile, both gained around 2 million residents. The disparity is shocking. If the numbers hold, “the electoral impact could be disastrous for Democrats.”

Former Chicago mayor and Obama White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is laying the groundwork for a potential 2028 presidential campaign. Almost immediately after that news was broken by Politico, various and sundry Democrats began voicing negative reactions that ranged from exasperated boredom to outright disgust.

Great lines from former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and maybe it’s a sign that an inkling of sanity is returning to the Democratic Party. There are whispers that Mr. Emanuel may run for Senate or even president. But then I thought back to Mr. Emanuel’s dealings with the Chicago public-school system.

Mentions of diversity and equity have vanished from the Pritzker Family Foundation’s website amid Trump’s attack on DEI.

Democrats were confronted with two painful options: allowing passage of a bill they believe gives President Donald Trump vast discretion on spending decisions or voting no and letting a funding lapse ensue. In all, 10 Democrats, including Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., joined Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer to advance the Republican funding proposal to a final vote and avoid a shutdown at all costs.

Ugaste introduced House Bill 9, which would take 25% of the state budget, around $13 billion, and use 20% to pay off state pensions and send the remaining 5% to school districts, with a mandate that they lower property taxes.

A woman whose 11-year-old son, Jayden Perkins, was stabbed to death in front of his five-year-old brother while attempting to defend his pregnant mother against a vicious and murderous attack by her ex-boyfriend has filed suit against Gov. JB Pritzker’s Illinois Prisoner Review Board and other law enforcement agencies, asserting her son would still be alive if the IPRB had not released the boyfriend from custody the day before the attack, despite an escalating series of documented threats made by the boyfriend against the woman.

FOX News also has a report on this.

Cities like Chicago, Atlanta and Houston, which already spend a substantial chunk of revenue to cover interest on their bond debt, could face more budget strains if Congress moves to strip the tax exemption from municipal bonds. New York, Illinois, Colorado, and Connecticut had the largest share of combined state and local interest. Connecticut by far had the largest share of interest on state debt, at more than 6% of its total expenditures, followed by Massachusetts, New York and Illinois.

Raoul said his best lawyers are strained with a limited budget, adding that his office is overburdened not just fighting the Trump administration, but keeping up with the state’s regular case load.

An activist group has asked a federal district court to strike down an Illinois law requiring the disclosure of nonprofit organizations’ board demographics. The DOJ has intervened in the case, claiming that the law violates the Fourteenth Amendment. The intervention is part of the DOJ’s effort to eliminate DEI practices nationwide.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer made clear Thursday that he’d vote for the GOP bill to avert a shutdown, highlighting a divide within the Democratic Party.

“They hate that we’re succeeding in Illinois. They just hate it. It drives them absolutely crazy, and I love that it does,” the governor said.

“‘Oh, the humanity,’ you might understandably have said if you believe what you’ve been reading about Republicans supposedly slashing funding for Medicaid, the healthcare program covering some 3.6 million Illinoisans, over a quarter of the population. It’s a false alarm.”

She and her staff have said that she’s already secured the support of Gov. JB Pritzker, sources say.

The Illinois Department of Human Rights (IDHR) sent a letter Thursday reminding local governments that they do not have the authority to restrict homeless people from having camping in public spaces.

“Yes, that Rahm. And, yes, for that office — the presidency.”

But Gotion is proceeding with production at its plant in Manteno, Illinois.

Illinois once again second only to New Jersey for highest effective rate.

Walgreens was scheduled in two years to celebrate its 100th year as a publicly traded company. Now the storied pharmacist and retailer won’t honor that milestone, because it no longer will be publicly owned.

“It’s kind of like what’s been often said about what you must do to appreciate fiction, like Shakespeare’s plays. You need to have a ‘willing suspension of disbelief.'”

Hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants from the Build Illinois Bond Fund. “Harris and ‘relationship expert’ Latosha Davis, who is “vice president” of TMH Behavioral Services, co-host a podcast, ‘Raw with a Purpose’ that they describe as ‘a journey of decolonizing therapy’ where they ‘talk about black mental health, relationships, parenting, entrepreneurship and more.'”

Lion Electric was to be a key in Illinois’ EV strategy. The company nearly received another $50 million subsidy from the State of Illinois, but it failed to keep the required number of employees on staff.

Senate Democrats voted unanimously to block a Republican-led bill Monday evening that would prohibit federally funded schools from allowing transgender athletes from participating in women’s sport

Effective January 1, 2026, the Act will impose new obligations on employers operating large warehouse distribution centers in Illinois where employees are held to a quota.

Jim Dey: “Politicians like to think in dramatic terms about the years they spend ignored by the general public. They use grandiose phrases like ‘wilderness years,’ and they really have been experienced by high-profile career politicians who made dramatic comebacks — Richard Nixon and Winston Churchill to name just two. But Illinois Republicans are not lost in the wilderness. They’re trapped in the political equivalent of the Gobi Desert, surrounded by mirages but nary an oasis.”

Rahm: “We’ve gone through five years where everybody is far too permissive about our culture, which is why everything is locked up at Walgreens and CVS…. I don’t want to hear another word about the locker room. I don’t want to hear another word about the bathroom. You better start focusing on the classroom.”

“Yesterday, the US Department of Education launched a portal where citizens can ‘submit reports of discrimination based on race or sex in publicly-funded K-12 schools.’ The portal will collect information, including the school and description of the practices, which then will be reviewed to see if a federal level investigation is warranted. We look forward to seeing if the “White Anti-Racist Affinity Group” at New Trier qualifies for a federal look…It is fitting that the Department of

What induced Pritzker’s rant? The Cleveland Clinic provides a clue: “For people with histrionic personality disorder, their self-esteem depends on the approval of others and doesn’t come from a true feeling of self-worth. They have an overwhelming desire to be noticed and often behave dramatically or inappropriately to get attention. For those of us in Illinois, this comes close to describing our governor’s interesting psyche: He’s the needy billionaire.

Gov. JB Pritzker’s administration vastly underestimated the cost and popularity of a pair of health insurance programs for immigrants who are not citizens that has ended up

Comment: We’ve been demanding an explanation for why the state won’t produce its audited financial statements. None since FY 2022.

More than a week before Mayor Brandon Johnson is expected testify on Capitol Hill before the House Oversight Committee on the city’s so-called sanctuary laws, Johnson told reporters that he is prepared to defend the city’s “values.”

Fellow-to-faculty programs have seeded academia with activists. The University of Illinois Chicago has recruited 49 Bridge to Faculty Fellows since 2020.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said the federal lawsuit against Illinois was ‘garbage’ and promised his state would put up a fight. Bondi issued a stark warning to the Democrat governors on Friday telling them “you better comply.'” “‘Bring it on,” Bondi said. ‘We will protect Americans. When they say they are tough and have grit, really? You are protecting illegal aliens over American citizens?”

If you think the end of the Biden Administration means the end of cancel culture, alas, no. This month board members in DuPage County in Illinois voted 10-5 to remove former Rep. Henry Hyde’s name from the county courthouse.

“The use of Nazi imagery has become so ubiquitous among Democrats that it almost precludes notice. But Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s parallels between U.S. President Donald Trump’s political agenda and the rise of Nazi Germany during his ‘State of the State’ budget address on Feb. 19 hit a new low.”

Indiana takes the first step toward welcoming Land of Priztker counties that want to secede.

Washington’s threats to state and local government funding took center stage when Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker Wednesday delivered his seventh budget address to a joint session of the legislature in Springfield. Also high on Pritzker’s list of concerns was slowing economic growth, which he said means “difficult decisions, including [about] programs I have championed.

In a first for the Midwest, a city in southern Illinois plans to use sales tax and revenue bond proceeds to fund a mall redevelopment.

One email further explained: “Gov. Pritzker’s Chief of Staff Anne Caprera will host a call with the administration to discuss lock-in asks. The emails raise the question of how they sought to plant landmines and derail Trump this time: “What information did the Biden White House pass along to assist with this ‘GSD’ (‘Governors Sock-puppeting for Donors’) project; what were these ‘priority asks;’ were any privileges or obligations violated in doing so; was Susan Rice involved, again; and, of course, will there be any accountability this time?”

But red and blue states went in different directions after the Great Recession, especially after the initial fiscal shock faded. Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, and Oregon all have higher tax burdens than in 2007. On the other hand, states like West Virginia, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Louisiana, and Arizona have seen big declines in tax burden over the last 15 years.

The Secure Communities program provides a direct link for immigration agents into data gathered by local and state law enforcement nationwide, despite any sanctuary city or state policies in place.

“Self-reliance, stable families and education will lift neighborhoods like mine to untold heights.”

Imprisoned former Ald. Edward M. Burke’s Burnham Committee gave the money to a fund for Justice Joy V. Cunningham days after her November election victory. She won’t say why her campaign took the money despite the former Chicago City Council member’s corruption conviction.

A new poll shows President Donald Trump’s approval rating in Illinois at 45 percent in his third week in office, reflecting a slight increase from his election day numbers.

“So, I asked them, so, how many of those students that are signing up and want to do this? How many are women?” Schakowsky said, adding that they told her it was at least 13 percent. “It was a low number,” she said. “And you had mentioned trying to engage more women in manufacturing. I’m just wondering if just the name manufacturing sounds like a guy.”

“The Civic Federation estimates that expanding the services subject to sales tax could raise about $2 billion.”

A white male former UIC professor has sued the school for racial discrimination, claiming he was targeted for retaliation and fired for voicing concerns about allegedly illegal anti-white racially discriminatory hiring and career advancement policies and programs at Illinois’ second largest public university.

The impact, nationwide could be $4 billion in cuts, he said, adding that the University of Illinois system alone would lose roughly $67 million annually. Universities cannot function without cutting-edge labs, high-speed data and effective support staff, Raoul said. What’s more, “it is simply illegal.” He said that in 2017, Congress specifically rejected the idea of cuts to indirect costs and that every appropriations bill since has blocked HHS and NIH to use appropriated funds from altering indirect cuts.

House Democrats attempted to enter a Department of Education building on Friday in protest of proposed actions from President Trump but were blocked. Illinois’ Jan Schakowsky is in the red and black checked coat to the left of Maxine Waters. Video here.

Chicago attorney Andrew Stoltmann discusses the Department of Justice’s lawsuit against Illinois, Chicago, and their leaders over alleged interference in the Trump administration’s mass deportation plans. Video linked here.

Lion also halted production at its 900,000 square-foot manufacturing facility in Joliet, Illinois, which opened less than 18 months earlier in a ceremony that featured Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D.) and Illinois Sens. Dick Durbin (D.) and Tammy Duckworth (D.). Pritzker said during the ceremony the “future of Illinois relies on dependable clean energy jobs” and local officials said the plant would bring 1,400 jobs to the region.

Among the challenged provisions are state laws that prohibit Illinois law enforcement officials from engaging with federal officials on enforcement of civil immigration laws. State law, however, still requires Illinois officials to work with federal officials on enforcement of criminal laws.

“Elon’s secret servants are asking millions of federal employees to give up their legal rights, agree to a vague severance, and just hope for the best – it’s insulting,” Pritzker said in an emailed statement on Wednesday. “I urge federal employees who live or work in Illinois to proceed with caution.” The federal government is the second largest single employer in Illinois behind the state’s government. Illinois is also the second-largest employer of federal workers in the Midwest.

From New Illinois advocates: “New Illinois isn’t trying to split off just Southern Illinois, or Southern and Central Illinois, to be a new state. We are talking about all 101 counties outside of Cook. We have committees in each of the collar counties.”

Long before Bondi’s directive, mayors across the country have stood up to Trump’s planned mass deportations. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson told the Washington Post in November that the sanctuary city planned to take on any threats to its funding. He added: “There will not be any cooperation” with deportations.

The bill was introduced in response to Gotion Inc., a CCP-affiliated company, exploring ways to take advantage of green energy tax credits while planning new battery manufacturing plants in Michigan and Illinois. Investigations by the House Select Committee on the CCP found that Gotion’s China-based parent company, Gotion High-Tech, is subsidized by the Chinese government and explicitly required to carry out Party activities in accordance with the CCP Constitution.

At stake is the potentially millions of dollars in home equity that homeowners have lost when buyers of their delinquent taxes get ownership of the property. Also at stake is the future of the tax sale system itself, since the high court’s ruling.

A lawsuit brought by all 22 states with Democratic attorneys general plus the District of Columbia detailed a litany of programs funded by Uncle Sam. Washington state said it received $121 million last year for allergy and infectious-disease research. Illinois claimed federal Medicaid funds made up 60% of its 2023 spending on “critical health services.”Government, social assistance and healthcare account for nearly all new jobs added in such Democrat-run states as California, New York, Minnesota and Illinois.

Six Democratic governors, including Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker Maura Healey, pressed Schumer to put up more of a fight against Trump’s agenda. That produced an exasperated response from Senate Democrats, who spoke on the floor late into the night Wednesday to highlight the impact the funding freeze ordered by Trump’s budget office would have on communities around the country. “I would say

House Bill 5164 would remove restrictions on illegal immigrants wishing to change their names. It passed both houses of Illinois Congress earlier this month and was sent to Pritzker’s desk last week.

Illinois has 44,784 federal civilian employees as of December 2024.

Another research study, this one published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Network Open, reports that both recent and lifetime cannabis users run the risks of sustaining a decline in “brain function during cognitive tasks.”

Pritzker: “The federal government provides a large portion of overall spending that occurs in not only Illinois but every state . . . maybe 30% to 40% of all funding. We’re doing our best to put together a budget that is balanced and think about contingencies that we might have to have because of what we think might be coming from the Trump administration.”

An organization that helps citizens obtain public records is demanding State of Illinois and county officials release details on how many and which illegal aliens with immigration detainers are currently in their custody.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey were most outspoken about Senate Democrats needing to stay unified against some of Trump’s Cabinet nominees, a few of which have seen bipartisan support, according to the person familiar with the call who was granted anonymity to describe a private conversation.

Law professor Jonathan Turley: “Many states and cities have reaffirmed that they will oppose any deportation efforts, including another recent chest-pounding interview by Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker.”

With ongoing litigation of Gotion plans to build an electric vehicle battery factory, the company has ceased public communications. Gotion has battery factories planned for Michigan and Illinois.

Illinois enacted a law that prohibits a credit card holder’s bank from charging or receiving interchange fees on the portions of transactions that include Illinois state or local taxes and gratuities, in effect starting July 1, 2025. Challengers won a preliminary injunction that temporarily blocks the law while the challenge proceeds.

“Equity is the cornerstone of this grant program,” the governor said. “DEI is this idea that it’s a term that occurs in the back rooms of big corporations, Wall Street and otherwise. The reality is what they’re trying to tear down is something much broader: civil rights in the United States. That’s what they’re attacking.

Illinois ranks third highest with a rate of 9.5%.

Big Three automaker Stellantis is making a number of US moves in response to the new Trump administration and its focus on building products in America. To that end, Stellantis said it would build a new midsize pickup truck at the recently shuttered Belvidere, Ill., assembly plant. Stellantis previously ended production at Belvidere for the Jeep Cherokee SUV, angering UAW representatives and workers. Now Stellantis said it will return approximately 1,500 UAW members to work, a reversal of the move by former CEO Carlos Tavares, who resigned in early December.

PJM Interconnection, which operates the largest U.S. grid from Washington, D.C., to Illinois, issued a Level 1 emergency alert for Wednesday as cold weather boosts electricity demand. PJM’s grid includes the Chicago area and most of northeastern Illinois. The emergency alert is issued when a grid operator foresees conditions where all available resources are committed to meet electricity demand and is concerned about sustaining its required energy reserves. PJM said it didn’t anticipate a need to use demand response measures that require some customers to curtail their use.

The NO GOTION Act will ensure that companies with ties to the Chinese Communist Party, Russia, Iran, and North Korea cannot, in any way, benefit from the energy incentives in our tax code. Gotion is building a heavily subsidized EV battery plant in Manteno, Illinois.

Illinois among the 13 states that added the most employees per student.

Crystal M. Moten, Ph.D., the curator of collections and exhibitions at the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, will deliver a talk titled “Building a Home for Change: The Obama Presidential Center.”

Entries include classes at Northwestern and University of Chicago.

Chicago will be an early target, with as many as 200 officers being sent to carry out the operation, say people familiar with the planning.

Already, one of the two leaders tapped by Trump to lead the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, Vivek Ramaswamy, has said the incoming administration will scrutinize billions of dollars in “11th-hour transactions,” including the loan offer to Rivian.

“I’ll just say Indiana is a low-wage state that doesn’t protect workers, a state that does not provide health care for people when they’re in need, and so I don’t think it’s attractive for anybody in Illinois where wages are higher where the standard of living is higher, and we do provide health care for people in need,” Pritzker said.

If HB 1008 passes, the Indiana General Assembly would create an “Indiana-Illinois Boundary Adjustment Commission” tasked with helping those Illinois counties become part of the Hoosier State. ”That is a process that follows a Constitutional process for redrawing state boundaries,” Speaker Huston said. ”We think there might be some interest in the Illinois Legislature to do that.”

Gotion has spent a total of $183 million in its purchase of 672 acres, including the plant and surrounding land and property.

With diversity initiatives under sweeping attack nationwide, minority and women contractors in Illinois are bracing for changes, or even the elimination of the government set-aside programs that for years have ensured a steady stream of work.

Judge Caroline Glennon-Goodman was reassigned, ordered to undergo bias training and will face a state disciplinary investigation for allegedly circulating a racist meme.

“Tightening up regulation on delta-8 and other forms of synthetic THC should be a relative no-brainer…. And yet, lawmakers in the Illinois House failed last spring and failed again in this year’s veto session to pass just such a set of rules despite winning passage in the Senate — and despite the governor’s backing. In fact, House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch didn’t even call the bill, which meant the legislation was declared more or less dead on arrival on Jan. 6.”

Dr. Ngozi Ezike has agreed to pay a $150,000 fine to settle allegations that she violated Illinois ethics laws when she took the CEO job at Sinai Chicago shortly after leaving the state’s public health department. She headed the Illinois Department of Health during the Covid pandemic.

Homebuyers have far fewer homes to choose from now than they did in the last normal days before the COVID-19 pandemic, and the shortage is especially acute in Illinois, according to a new study.

Hawaii lost the greatest share of its population to other states (0.65 percent). Not far behind were New York and California, which each lost 0.61 percent of their residents to other states, followed by Alaska (0.51 percent) and Illinois (0.44 percent).

Florida, New Jersey, Illinois and New York, have 590,000, 490,000, 420,000, and 410,000 unauthorized immigrants, respectively, according to Department of Homeland Security.

TRS, the Illinois Teachers Retirement System, has 34 investments totaling over $2 billion in China.

United Van Lines 48th annual study: 60% of Illinois moves were outbound. Only New Jersey was higher. A recent, new U-Haul study ranked Illinois 6th worst.

Unfortunately, many Republican members of Congress don’t seem to understand that federal subsidies for wind and solar included in the so-called Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) are the driving forces behind the emerging reliability crisis, and any continued support for these taxpayer handouts will bring America’s grid closer to the brink of blackouts. The region most at risk, which includes roughly the southern two-thirds of Illinois, is the Midcontinent Independent Systems Operator (MISO), which could see rolling blackouts during normal summer and winter grid conditions as early as the summer of 2025, meaning it won’t take a freak winter storm or

“If you aren’t for E-Verify, you aren’t serious about controlling immigration,” says border expert Mark Krikorian, who heads the Center for Immigration Studies. Yet many blue states go out of their way to discourage E-Verify’s use. Illinois penalizes companies that “misuse” the E-Verify system, discouraging them from using the program at all.

“We’re dealing with a crisis that is about to get even worse once the shelters for migrants close,” said Antonio Gutierrez, a community organizer with Organized Communities Against Deportations in Chicago.

The next big challenge for the controversial movement: Can it win in enemy territory — that is, blue states — too? A school choice researcher sees external pressures forcing blue states like Illinois to get with the program. With school choice now in a majority of states, he says, Illinois will come under pressure to adopt it or risk losing residents to four of its neighbors with choice programs. Such peer pressure explains why public charter schools are now in 46 states.

Peoria and Rockford are number one and number two.

One culprit is a surge in migration…. Chicago reported “that an influx of new arrivals,” mostly migrants bused and flown from other states, “accounted for more than 13,600 people in emergency shelters.” Since 2019 the number of homeless has soared in Illinois (15,633).

Starting Jan. 1, many employers in Illinois that post a job opening will have to disclose the wage or salary range and benefits for that position.

In Illinois, Chicago has long been plagued with illegal border crosser crime, serving as a major hub for drug trafficking operations run by the Mexican Sinaloa Cartel and transnational criminal organizations working with street gangs, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency has reported.

“Want government money? Better surrender to the unions that back Democratic politicians.” Rivian has also struck a so-called neutrality agreement with the UAW that commits the company not to oppose unionization efforts at its factory in Illinois, where all its vehicles are made today and which is subsidized by the state. Rivian lost $107,043 on each vehicle it sold during the first nine months of the year.

In February 2019, when the law passed, the state’s unemployment rate was 4.8 percent. It’s now 5.3 percent, third highest in the U.S.

While many migrants moved to Texas (319,569) and Florida (411,322), masses also flocked to California (361,057), New York (207,161), Illinois (112,955) and New Jersey (130,692). In the latter sanctuary states, foreign migration more than offset domestic out-migration: California (-239,575), New York (-120,917), Illinois (-56,235) and New Jersey (-35,554).

According to an Illinois Auditor General report, over 100 state boards in Illinois were inactive, and 28% of active boards failed to meet the minimum number of times.

Illinois Immigrant and Refugee Rights senior official Fred Tsao is leading the charge as his organization plots strategy to President-elect Donald Trump’s deportation plans.

“Other Democrats,” including Gov. JB Pritzker, “have taken decidedly more combative stances.”

Illinois nearly 100 years ago could boast the highest national average for an entry level hourly wage, but it is currently ranks close to last amongst other states. Average entry level workers earn $14.06 hourly in Illinois, but in 1935 they would have earned $15.43 hourly with inflation adjustments.

A thoughtful look at the roots of Obama’s strategy in Illinois with David Axelrod.

“He’s one big, fat projectionist,” he added. “For him to say that Trump is a congenital liar, he frankly ought to look in the mirror. That’s him.”

“Like the kid who discovers that his shiny new toy came without batteries or a warranty, Chicago soon will figure out if it already hasn’t that Mayor Brandon Johnson’s big Christmas present is less than wonderful.”

The lawsuit also said the “egregious” polling miss in favor of Democrats came “just days before the most consequential election in memory,” and that its results were apparently “leaked” because Democratic Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker mentioned the poll’s findings during a meeting with Duke University alumni hours before the results were published.

“Among Illinois’ 17 House districts, 14 were won by Democrats and three by Republicans, which the gerrymander guaranteed. … When people criticize the threat to democracy posed by who wins the White House, one need only look more locally, where the bigger threat to democracy resides.”

Huge list of new mandates and requirements for insurers.

It’s critical that grid operators and state regulators consider and implement all transmission technology tools when planning and building a system that will enhance national security, facilitate regional economic development, and withstand new and growing reliability threats for generations to come.

University of Illinois Accounting Professor Li Zhang is under fire this week after warning students about their “unconscious and unintentional biases” against women and minorities before they completed their evaluations.

His ideas include forcing state pensions to invest 10% of assets in housing and pushing higher density on suburbs.

A report outlining public education reform in Illinois doesn’t address a core issue facing students: reading proficiency. It also lowers standards for students and threatens to muddle the understanding of students’ progress.

A federal judge on Thursday declined to acquit former AT&T Illinois president Paul La Schiazza after his September trial on charges that he bribed ex-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan ended in a hung jury.

The Illinois Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability reports the latest unfunded liability is $143.7 billion. That’s $1.5 billion higher than last year and the second highest since 2020 when the total was $144.2 billion.

In Cahokia Heights, Illinois, years of sewage backups have left residents grappling with bacterial infections, mold, and neglect. Will a federal order end the crisis

Pritzker frustrated several of his counterparts by trying to get them to sign on to a group he started postelection to push back on Trump, but only Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed on as a co-chair. Pritzker has his staff exploring ideas such as blocking GPS tracking on apps for women who may be traveling to the state to get abortions, so that there would not be records to potentially subpoena back home. “We all have apps on our phones that track where we go. If an attorney general or US attorney wanted to pull that

“Rather than responding to every ridiculous boast from Trump lackeys, Governor Pritzker is focused on what he was focused on during the first Trump term: leading our state with competence instead of chaos,” said a Pritzker spokesman.

Comment: More interesting in this article is the water situation. The city had to sell off its wastewater treatment plant to pay for its pensions.

Using the actuarial (smoothed) value of assets, the total unfunded liabilities of the State systems totaled $144.3 billion on June 30, 2024. Utilizing the market value of assets, the combined unfunded liabilities of the State systems totaled $143.7 billion on June 30, 2024. The combined funded ratios based on the actuarial and market value of assets for FY 2024 were 45.8% and 46.0%, respectively. Those numbers are essentially flat over the last five years.

“You come for my people, you come through me,” Pritzker told reporters last month in a warning to the incoming administration.

“Extremely frustrating. A terrible experience. A problem from the word ‘go.’ These are just some of the characterizations of the saga involving electric school buses provided to eight Maine school districts by Lion Electric, a now cash-strapped Canadian manufacturer with a production site in Illinois that was supported by the state. “These buses, which we know to be very defective, have wreaked havoc throughout the state.”

“We were deeply troubled to learn of the allegations made against a former temporary staffing agency,” a spokesperson for HelloFresh told ABC in a statement, adding, “As soon as we learned of these allegations, we immediately terminated the relationship.”

“This crap is ongoing. Plenty of old posts/’news’ are in here… but really, none of this is news. These situations have been building for decades.”

Vivek Ramaswamy, who co-chairs a cost-cutting effort for the new administration alongside Tesla CEO Elon Musk, has said he wants to undo the Department of Energy’s proposed $6.6 billion loan to Rivian. Even though the loan is for a new plant in Georgia, it’s seen as crucial to the survival of Rivian, which employs about 900 people at its factory in Normal.

Jim Dey: “November revenues jumped by $211 million to $3.274 billion thanks to an increase in federal sources. But the state’s ‘Big Three’ — personal income taxes, corporate income taxes and sales taxes — struggled.”

Liberty Steel is temporarily shuttering its Peoria wire mill as the company continues to struggle financially, facing deep debts around the globe amid a challenging steel market. The company has furloughed over 500 employees at its Peoria facility, according to the union representing workers.

The loss of manufacturing jobs in Illinois’ Madison County points to a key factor in the narrowing income gap.

Healthcare will be set back by centuries, says the president of Good Trouble Coalition. “Not years, not decades, but centuries.”

Gotion High-Tech, which owns the U.S.-based battery company Gotion, entered into a research and development memorandum of understanding with Tsinghua University, a Beijing university with a “documented history” of advancing China’s military and security state with defense research and alleged involvement in cyberattacks. Gotion, which is tied to the Chinese state through its parent company, is seeking to build major taxpayer-subsidized facilities in Michigan and Illinois, but its China connections have complicated its plans to do so by inviting scrutiny from China hawks and elected Republicans.

Operations at Lion Electric’s Joliet electric bus factory were suspended amid a layoff of more than half of its staff companywide

Lion Electric came to Joliet with fanfare for its place in the future electric vehicle industry in Illinois. The state provided the company with $7.9 million in tax incentives tied to 745 future jobs at the Joliet plan, a number that Lion executives said they would exceed .

It’s unclear how those hospitals and providers would survive, or whether they would continue to provide that care, if Trump pulled their Medicare or Medicaid dollars — major sources of funding for most hospitals and health care providers.

“The company is losing $107,043 per EV sale, and taxpayers could end up paying….. Enter the Biden DOE, which on Monday awarded Rivian the $6 billion loan to build a factory in Georgia with the capacity to make 400,000 SUVs and crossovers. This follows Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s pledge this spring of $827 million in state “incentives” for Rivian to expand production at an Illinois plant to 215,000 vehicles a year.”

Lion, with a production facility in Joliet, is subsidized by the State of Illinois.

Illinois enacted the inaccurately named “Worker Freedom of Speech Act” into law, which prohibits most employers from speaking to their employees about certain topics — religion and politics — in any setting where the employee is required to listen. It’s inaccurately named because it doesn’t protect workers’ speech at all. And it clearly violates the First Amendment by prohibiting certain employer speech.

“In fact, we might well see the most direct confrontation between federal and state power since the 1963 crisis when President John F. Kennedy ‘s deputy attorney general, Nicholas Katzenbach, challenged Gov. George Wallace over desegregating the University of Alabama.”

“He needs to park the jet, focus on the Illinois citizens he represents today, and work collaboratively with us to close that budget hole without heaping another huge tax increase on Illinois families and businesses.”

“As Wirepoints notes, Illinois is a dark blot of red ink and irresponsibility on the Midwest map compared to its neighbors. None of the six surrounding states bordering Illinois have anywhere near the pension bomb Illinois has.”

Rivian, which currently makes its vehicles in Illinois, said the funds will support the construction of its EV plant in Georgia and the production of more midsize vehicles.

“For the past 30 years, progressive policies have fueled a mass exodus of the citizens of California, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, and Massachusetts, whether with high-, middle-, or blue collar incomes…. The trend is undeniable: Americans are fleeing progressive states for conservative ones, and they are bringing their incomes with them.”

The group Judicial Watch is calling on the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse federal court rulings that upheld Illinois’ law allowing mail-in ballots to be counted for 14 days after Election Day.

Tom Weitzel, former Riverside Chief of Police: “Crime data can be misleading for numerous reasons…. The public deserves to be able to make their own decisions about safety, and the only way you can choose how to make your life safer for you and your family is to have accurate crime data released in a timely fashion. Anything else is just ‘data dump garbage.'”

The disparity in Illinois is even larger. The state’s Democratic Legislature packed Republicans into three of 17 districts while sprinkling Democrats out across the others. As a result, two Republican incumbents in safe districts ran uncontested. But Republicans won only 18% of Illinois districts even though Mr. Trump carried about 44% of votes statewide.

“We are calling on this government to grow some common sense, cut spending, give taxpayers some relief and welcome ICE and border agents into Illinois.”

“Dick Durbin has a knack for rehashing old mistakes, which is why he wants to stomp on the credit-card business. The Illinois Senator is pushing a bill in Congress’s lame-duck session that would shift the cost of processing card transactions from retailers to consumers. If it passes, rewards programs could vanish as they did with debit cards.”

“Under no circumstance should the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) be allowed to benefit from the tax dollars of hardworking American families. Unfortunately, the Biden administration’s 45X rule has left the door open for CCP-affiliated companies, like Gotion, to reap billions in taxpayer funding. That’s wrong and the commonsense bipartisan legislation we are introducing today will stop it,” Moolenaar said. Note: Gotion is eligible for $7.5 billion of tax credits for its factory being built in Manteno, IL.

“Governor Pritzker’s postelection press conference was the sole heartening thing I have heard since the debacle of November 5.”

“Ensuring every Illinois student has access to a safe, validating learning environment where they can be their true self is a top priority for my administration,” Pritzker said. In Illinois, biological males can compete with females under Pritzker’s guidance in school or club sports. Additionally, “use of restrooms, locker rooms and changing rooms may not be restricted based upon a student’s physical anatomy or chromosomal sex.

Across Illinois and California, more red counties that feel steamrolled by blue-led governments are trying to split off.

Gov. JB Pritzker — who warned at a news conference two days after the election, “You come for my people, you come through me” — announced a new initiative Wednesday with Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, himself a potential presidential aspirant, branded “Governors Safeguarding Democracy.”

Volkswagen has raised its investment in the new joint venture by an additional $800 million, signaling its commitment to its new US partner even as electric vehicle demand softens and the incoming Trump administration threatens to curtail supportive policies. The increase may ease concerns about Rivian’s cash flow problems.