With three weeks until Election Day, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has reversed himself on school choice. On Tuesday the Chicago Sun-Times released Mr. Pritzker’s answers to a candidate survey. He answered yes to the question: “Do you support Illinois’ tax credit scholarship program that provides financial support for students to attend private and parochial schools?”

Call it Pritzkerville – eerily like Potterville from “It’s a Wonderful Life,” with pot stores and a massive casino planned to fill the holes ripped in Chicago due to the loss of great businesses and decent people pursuing their dreams.”

A republication of our Wirepoints column.

“It’s rare in American politics for a party to receive the unvarnished gift from the gods—or at least the Feds—that Illinois Republicans did Friday when the U.S. attorney’s office in Chicago indicted former House Speaker Mike Madigan on a new charge of misconduct, barely three weeks before the 2022 general election.”

Unions tried this gambit in Michigan in 2012 and lost 57% to 42%. But if Amendment 1 succeeds in Illinois, expect to see it on the ballot in many states—especially California, Washington, Oregon and New York.

Labeling J.B. Pritzker a failed governor who has let prosperity and public safety slip away on his watch, GOP nominee Darren Bailey Wednesday offered a mix of tax and spending cuts and tough law-and-order moves that he said would get Illinois back on track.

This report grades governors on their fiscal policies from a limited‐​government perspective. Governors receiving an A are those who have cut taxes and spending the most, whereas governors receiving an F have increased taxes and spending the most.

With Illinois not yet luring big facilities such as those recently announced in Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and other states, Illinois could use a big deal-closing fund, Pritzker said—essentially a pot of money the governor is empowered to dip into to sweeten economic development deals when the competition with other states is tight. “Michigan has, I believe, a $1 billion fund. They can just write a check,” he said. “It would be great if we had a closing fund in Illinois.”

That’s the question as word swirls of backbenchers setting their sights on House Minority Leader Jim Durkin’s post in an increasingly volatile General Assembly.

An unscientific form of poll that is still in progress, but as of Saturday morning, Bailey up 57% to Pritzker’s 43%.

Republican Congressional candidate Keith Pekau: “In the dark of night, the Illinois Legislature forced through one of the most anti-public safety bills in the country. The now infamous SAFE-T Act, which was authored and whipped by our attorney general and signed without amendment by our governor.”

During an Illinois Chamber of Commerce event in Chicago on Thursday, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Charles Evans said the economy is stressed with “very high” inflation and an acute labor shortage. He said workers have different attitudes these days, especially after the pandemic.

“Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker is emblematic of white progressives eager to enact polices that seemingly protect minorities, while actually doing them harm.”

A response to a recent Wall Street Journal column based on a Wirepoints report.

“If we come out of this next fiscal year and the majority party cannot demonstrate that they can have sustainable fiscal discipline, I’d say at least half of what Fitch writes about goes out the window,” Maisch said.

The agency urges residents and visitors to the area to avoid contact with the river until further notice.

Tyson said Wednesday that it is closing offices in Chicago, Downers Grove, Ill., and Dakota Dunes, S.D., which currently house many of its prepared-foods and beef-division employees. Employees will be given the chance to relocate to the company’s Springdale, Ark., headquarters in early 2023. Roughly 1,000 employees work in the two Illinois offices and the Dakota Dunes location, the company said.

On the table right now is a House bill (HB 5799) that would pull $200 million from the state’s Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity for rebates to customers of downstate utility Ameren Illinois. The bill won’t be acted on until the legislature reconvenes in November. But rates in Ameren’s service area appear unlikely to decline by then.

Though crime and other issues have attracted most of the media attention, Chicago Democrat Pritzker and downstate Republican Bailey are outlining radically different views of the state’s finances and what to do next.

Jim Dey: “It’s time once again to dive in to another round of quick takes on the people, places and events that were being talked about over the past week.”

The regional index dropped sharply to 45.7 in September from 52.2 in the prior month. Economists polled by the Wall Street Journal forecast a 51.8 reading. Readings below 50 indicate contracting conditions.

Illinois is fifth highest.

All sides of the emotional debate on this pending law raise valid points here and there. But the high-octane rhetoric overshadows some very real flaws in this gigantic legislation.

When it doesn’t contain journalism. And that’s the line the Daily Herald’s parent company just blurred—much to its leaders’ apparent regret.

Two former teachers ultimately pushed out of their jobs for blowing the whistle about political indoctrination in American school systems spoke to The National Desk about their experiences and what this all means for future generations. Tony Kinnett, a former science director in the Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) system, and Frank McCormick, who spent 12 years teaching before he was pushed out of the Waukegan Public Schools system located outside of Chicago, both went on to establish organizations — Chalkboard Review and Chalkboard Heresy — which push back against the politicization of our nation’s school systems.

“The big loser in all this is the Daily Herald, which lost an incalculable amount of respect for its integrity that it may never regain because of its active participation in a tsunami of viral disinformation during dangerous times. Pritzker prevailed and was able to keep the focus off other important campaign issues. And Proft got attention for himself and his radio show and a platform to say things like calling Pritzker a “bedwetting, spoiled brat.”

Bailey’s persistent anti-Chicago rhetoric presents a political quandary for the candidate: His criticism of the city and its Democratic leadership is cheered by his hard-right supporters, but he also needs the support of voters in Chicago and its surrounding suburbs to win in November.

Madison County State’s Attorney Haine said Illinois Governor JB Pritzker’s office has made false statements about state’s attorneys being able to request defendants held without bond once the new legislation is in place. Haine said prosecutors will only be able to ask a judge to hold a limited group of defendants without bond. Pritzker sent a letter to Haine on Friday in response and said Haine is defending a “criminal justice status quo” where accused murderers, domestic batterers, rapists, and other dangerous criminals “can buy their way out of jail pending trial if they have enough money.”

So far, such gambling is legal in only six states: New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Michigan, West Virginia, Delaware and Connecticut. But panelists at the conference predicted three or four additional states could soon adopt internet gambling, including Indiana, Illinois, Iowa and New York.

llinois basked in a brighter fiscal picture as it met with the buy side this week than it did at its last event in 2019 when its ratings sat on the verge of junk, but investors still fret over how the state would weather a potential recession and its prospects for further progress.

Transitioning to a carbon-free electric grid by 2045 is no small task. And no state should better understand that setting energy goals and achieving them aren’t the same. In 2007, Illinois adopted a law to get 25 percent of its electricity from renewables by 2025. As of last year, it was at 10 percent. Building a carbon-free grid comes with an array of dizzying technical and policy challenges and unanswered questions.

More than two dozen people have been charged in Illinois with fraudulently obtaining pandemic relief money, with authorities alleging that some of them were behind bars when they used their relief money to post bond and free themselves from jail.

Comment: It’s not as simple as he describes, but he’s at least directionally correct that it’s a bad law.

“One cause that seems to be especially important to the Pritzkers is influencing the rapid transition of society away from a binary understanding of human reproductive sex to an understanding based on self-perception of one’s place along a spectrum, or perhaps not on that spectrum at all.”

Citing Wirepoints.

A republication of our Wirepoints column.

Chicago’s Charles Lipson: “The immigrants are being transported from Republican-led border states to northern Democratic enclaves, which have long proclaimed themselves “sanctuaries” for the migrants they are now so appalled to find arriving. Democrats charge that it’s a stunt, and they are partly right. But it is a very shrewd stunt with a far-reaching impact. Although the buses carry a vanishingly small number of the illegals arriving daily in Texas and Arizona, they are making several big points.” Comment: The Spectator is excellent, and you can register for free for three articles per month.

Perhaps hoping to shift the subject away from crime, Gov. J.B. Pritzker today trumpeted one of his political strengths, praising his pro-union moves as governor and dubbing GOP nominee Darren Bailey “Bruce Rauner’s ‘Mini-Me.'” But in the process, Pritzker may have left himself open to attacks that his actions have the bottom-line impact of raising costs for taxpayers. And the Bailey campaign immediately responded that the biggest thing that’s occurred under Pritzker is that taxes on the typical family have risen by what it says are $2,000 a year.

“A lot of smart legal folks all around the state are in disagreement over how this section of the law should be interpreted,” said Lemont Police Chief, who serves as legislative chairman for the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police. “And if all these people can’t agree on what the law says, the law needs to be fixed, or we at least need clarification.”

“So make no mistake, Trump is on the ballot. His name is Darren Bailey. And we need to send him back to the farm,” Lightfoot said. “Trump is on the ballot in every single one of the Republicans that you are going to face when you go into the voting pool. And you must remember that we are Illinois. We are a state that believes in people’s rights and that we’re going to treat everyone with dignity and respect.”

In Sept. 14 letters to U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona, U.S. Department of Education Inspector General Sandra Bruce, and education officials in New York, Illinois, and California, the Republican lawmakers claim federal relief money is being directed to initiatives for “LGBTQ+ cultural competency,” “environmental literacy,” and “racially biased curriculum and programs based on Critical Race Theory” rather than to learning recovery efforts. Illinois, the letter said, received $5.1

“Members of Illinois’ law enforcement community are united against a new law taking effect Jan. 1 that eliminates cash bail under most circumstances… Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed the bill into law last year. It will abolish cash bail on Jan. 1, making Illinois the first state in the country to do so. The bill also includes a provision that will allow most people charged with crimes, including some violent felonies, to be released without posting bail.”

As the popularity for both medical and recreational marijuana grows in Illinois, education on the manufacturing, cultivation and management of cannabis is following close behind. This fall, in addition to the University of Illinois, 11 community colleges across the state — more than ever before — will offer courses aimed at preparing students for jobs in the cannabis industry. The list of courses is increasingly sophisticated, from “cannabis and the law” at Oakton Community College to “cannabis flower production” at UIUC.

Illinois should aim to build up a now $1 billion rainy day fund by more than $2 billion to manage through future economic crises, state Comptroller Susana Mendoza said in pressing for passage this fall of legislation that would funnel more revenue to the once-barren fund. States on average hold reserves that would allow them to manage for 35 days. Illinois only this year tipped the scales over the $1 billion mark, reaching $1.039 billion, but that equates to just one week worth of operations, Mendoza said.

The disaster declaration will allow the Illinois Emergency Management Agency as well as Chicago and Cook County officials to provide transportation, housing, food, health screenings and medical treatment to the immigrants. The 75 members of the Illinois National Guard will help coordinate services, Pritzker said. Pritzker said Abbott’s actions are a clear “stunt,” since the immigrants are only being sent to cities where the leaders are Democrats

Joy V. Cunningham was appointed by the court to serve out Burke’s remaining two-year term. Cunningham, a Democrat like Burke, will be just the second Black woman to serve on the state Supreme Court. Because Illinois’ primaries have already occurred and the general election looms in November, Cunningham won’t face voters until 2024. In fact, of the seven state Supreme Court Justices, only one, Republican David Overstreet, was elected to the court without first receiving an interim appointment.

Growth in overall sales and tax revenue is slowing, largely because Illinois has far fewer retail locations per capita than other states. Meanwhile, the effort to give Black and Brown entrepreneurs a fair shot at potentially lucrative retail licenses has also been hobbled by bureaucratic delay. Now hey’ve hit another snag. The state of Illinois says the applicants can’t take on investors until they have their shops built out, inspected and open for business. Yet to build out those shops, some applicants need capital. Most banks still aren’t willing to lend to marijuana businesses because

In more than a century of state income taxes, only four states have ever transitioned from a graduated-rate income tax to a flat tax. Another four adopted legislation doing so this year, and a planned transition in a fifth state is now going forward under a recent court decision. In what is already a year of significant bipartisan focus on tax relief, 2022 is also launching something of a flat tax revolution.

In Illinois, beginning January 1, 2023, 2nd degree murder suspects will be released without bail in the name of social reform; arson, kidnapping, drug induced homincide, and 9 other types of crime will be considered non-detainable at the start of the new year.

The influential Chicago-based Fobazi Ettarh, 32, who was most recently a librarian at Rutgers, is another example of what many call a modern “radical librarian.” Ettarh, who is also an educator and writer, says she represents “librarianship, education, activism, and all the intersections in between…. People that say what librarians do in their own time, out of the library, is their own

Jim Durkin, IL House Republican leader and former assistant Cook County state’s attorney: “Starting Jan. 1, those accused of being large-scale smugglers, traffickers or distributors may end up not being detained or subject to a bond hearing. Suspected street gang and cartel members could be released immediately. The courts will have to tell them to follow the honor system and attend their next scheduled appearance. What are the chances of that?”

A group of House Democrats on Friday called on Congress to provide $50 million in federal funding to house and feed migrants bused to northern cities from Texas and Arizona. In a letter led by Reps. Jesús García (Ill.) and Adriano Espaillat (N.Y.) and District of Columbia Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, 23 Democrats called on heads of the Homeland Security Appropriations subcommittee to add the funds to the 2023 budget for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP).

Brown County, Illinois officials are joining a growing litany of justice system and law enforcement representatives taking a stand against a change that in a few months will do away with a cash bail system in Illinois.

“Chicagoans in search of reliable political coverage in today’s fractured media environment have a new source this campaign season. But whether that source is news or recycled propaganda from a prominent political activist is most debatable. As are the actions of the big donor who’s apparently picking up the tab. At issue is the recent appearance in mailboxes all around town of Chicago City Wire, a broadsheet publication that bills itself just below its nameplate as ‘Real data. Real News.'”

An alien worldview has invaded our nation’s schools…. The evidence abounds.  First introduced in New York, BLM-inspired curricula teach schoolkids to challenge the nuclear family, resist “white culture,” and free themselves from the “tight grip of heteronormativity.”  Schools in Illinois teach grade-schoolers to celebrate the transgender flag; break the “gender binary” established by “white colonizers”; and practice using “ze,” “zir,” and “tree” pronouns.

A republication of our Wirepoints column.

“Pritzker’s first term as governor and his actions toward business owners and economic growth in Illinois offer the best indicators of how his policies might look at the national level. Looking into that crystal ball to see the future, the outlook for the nation and its business sector isn’t good.”

Chicago is one of the nation’s gun violence hotspots and a seemingly ideal place to employ Illinois’ “red flag” law that allows police to step in and take firearms away from people who threaten to kill. But amid more than 8,500 shootings resulting in 1,800 deaths since 2020, the law was used there just four times.

A woke Illinois middle school teacher recently admitted that she routinely lies to parents about what she is teaching children in a video that should not only act as a warning to parents.

When Michigan and Illinois decided to legalize recreational cannabis use, the debate mostly centered not on what might happen to demand but on the benefits of decriminalization and new tax revenues. A new study supported by the National Institutes for Health has found that marijuana and hallucinogen use among young adults reached an all-time high last year. There is the distinct matter of whether this new industry should be allowed to be so successful as to dominate the vistas of the interstates and spark the kind of increase in demand for its products the NIH-supported study

Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s vision of Illinois as an electric vehicle production hub is in danger of becoming a pipe dream. After landing a couple of assembly plants early on, the state has fallen behind in the race for the fast-growing new industry’s top prize. Illinois still hasn’t landed a factory that produces the most valuable component of electric vehicles—the batteries that make them go. Illinois is 0 for 18 in the competition for battery plants so far. Pritzker’s clean energy legislation added a new worry. The Clean Energy Jobs Act is expected

A pension expert examines 24 funds, including two big ones in Illinois. “The results paint an unflattering portrait of the stewardship of public pension funds in the United States.”

“In short, industrial policy is a public-private partnership in which a government uses a coordinated strategy that employs tax policy, incentives, public purchasing power, research grants and public enterprises to encourage economic development. Often all at once, and when done well, it works on the supply and demand side simultaneously. For examples, look no further than satellite technology, the internet and the COVID-19 vaccine.”

“Rosenberg ably excerpts some of the most remarkable assertions of the video, but in order to fully grasp the level of hatred being expressed, it is worthwhile listening to the almost 7 minutes of the rant, in which the speaker, author Kimberly Jones, credits participating on Operation Push (Jesse Jackson’s old outfit) for her level of economic sophistication (such as it is).”

Illinois is one of 10 states with the largest bonded liabilities that make up 66% of the country’s total state government debt, amounting to over $810 billion. Illinois accounts for nearly $58 billion of that total, and that doesn’t include public pension debt and other retiree obligations. The other states are California, New York, Texas, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Washington, Connecticut, Virginia and Michigan.

The federal infrastructure package will boost Illinois’ six-year transportation spending by $4 billion, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Friday. The state will spend an overall $24.6 billion under the six-year program for roads and bridges with $3.7 billion in spending during the current fiscal year. About $18.8 billion goes to roads with the remainder spent on bridges. Another $10 billion of additional spending is planned for ports, rail, transit, and airports under the updated six-year multi-modal program with $6.5 billion for transit, $2.5 billion for passenger and freight rail, $817 million for aviation, and $150 million for ports

After years of operating in Illinois, three major companies—Boeing, Caterpillar and Citadel—are moving their headquarters out of the state. In this video, WSJ looks at the economic and political implications.

“Darren Bailey’s Trump-style conservatism has taken over the Illinois Republican Party, which may doom it in November.”

Mike Thoms, mayor of Rock Island and the GOP candidate for Illinois’ 36th District, joined state treasurer candidate and State Rep. Tom Demmer of Dixon in a news conference Wednesday.

Social media posts by the GOP gubernatorial nominee and his wife—a campaign committee member—are likely to cause a stir just as the flap over the candidate’s previous Holocaust remarks had started to settle down.

Steve Huntley, a retired Chicago journalist: What do you call what the Tribune guild did? Simple standards of decency and fair play were breached. It was something ugly, perverse and offensive to the concept of justice. It tracked closely with the kind of race-baiting that progressives resort to in hurling a racist label against anyone who disagrees with far-left politics.

“From California to Illinois, legislators are moving to boycott any state contracts with businesses in states with anti-LGBTQ legislation or restrictive abortion laws. At the same time, many Democratic leaders are pressuring companies to boycott red states too.”

Run for Something established its Clerk Work project with the goal of electing clerks, election supervisors, registrars, recorders and other local officials charged with running elections. The PAC says it will promote thousands of election administrators in the years ahead. But for 2022, it reports endorsing 11 candidates competing in races in California, Colorado, Illinois, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina and Tennessee.

Chicago’s Charles Lipson: Sites “like Substack, host hundreds of serious columnists, including some, like Bari Weiss, who was driven out of the New York Times newsroom for apostasy. John Kass, until recently the Chicago Tribune’s most prominent columnist, left the paper for similar reasons and started his own website. Weiss and Kass are hardly alone…. The days of general-interest local papers like the Memphis Commercial-Appeal are gone. Those of big-city papers like the Chicago Tribune are fading fast.”

A strategy to “support and finance a cynical political strategy to support pro-Trump candidates in Republican primaries, on the theory that they would be easier for Democrats to beat in the fall general election” is being widely used by Democrats around the nation. That includes Illinois, “where Democrats were able to help a far-right Republican candidate for governor win his primary over a more moderate

The declaration applies statewide, and will allow the Illinois Department of Public Health to coordinate logistics so as to aid in the distribution vaccines, and in treatment and prevention efforts. The declaration will also help coordinate the state response with the federal government.

This mindset will likely ensure Gov. JB Pritzker’s re-election in Illinois, where the billionaire Republican donor and part-time Chicago resident Ken Griffin was willing to largely underwrite the campaign against Mr. Pritzker until his party nominated a far-right state legislator, Darren Bailey. Mr. Bailey benefited from Mr. Trump’s endorsement in the primary as well as an overt effort by Democrats to prop up the Republicans they viewed as weaker general election candidates. The meddling was particularly brazen in Illinois, where the billionaire Mr. Pritzker and the Democratic Governors Association plowed nearly $35 million into ensuring Mr. Bailey’s nomination.

Comment: Pritzker and the Democratic Party are among those who spent millions to achieve the nomination of Darren Bailey for the same reasons.

Adding hundreds of billions nationally from taxpayers to the energy financing puzzle would take some of the pressure off ratepayers, who have been shelling out via their electric bills to finance state subsidies.

Illinois’s annual pension contributions have now reached $9 billion on a $46 billion state budget, and even that’s not adequate to reduce the state’s debt. It’s so-called actuarially determined contribution—that is, the level at which deposits into its pension system would begin reducing the debt—is a mind-boggling $14 billion a year. That’s nearly a third of the state budget and a sum Illinois obviously can’t afford. On top of that, many taxpayers in the Prairie State live in municipalities with similar burdens. Chicago’s annual pension contribution is now more than $2 billion. For dozens of plans with gaping

U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), and U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Tina Smith (D-MN) requested answers from Fidelity Investments on their decision to allow 401(k) plan sponsors to offer plan participants exposure to Bitcoin, a highly volatile and unregulated digital asset. Fidelity is one of the largest 401(k) providers with around 40 million individual investors and around $11.3 trillion in assets under administration.

In the wake of recent mass shootings, incumbent U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Schaumburg, wants to ban certain semi-automatic weapons. “There’s no need for AR-15’s or other assault weapons and high capacity magazines to be available to the civilian population,” Duckworth said last week at a news conference in Washington D.C. Republican U.S. Senate Candidate Kathy Salvi said instead of looking at banning certain guns, state red flag laws and mental health should be the focus.

A republication of our Wirepoints column.

In Florida, Mr. Pritzker said Democrats like himself, Mr. Newsom, Ms. Harris and Mr. Biden were all on the same page. “Our Democratic voices are more powerful together—one doesn’t diminish another,” he said, according to a copy of his remarks reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.

“Democrats drew a new map that will likely allow the party to win one more House seat while costing Republicans two.”

Tom DeVore is the Republican candidate for Illinois attorney general.

Should Biden decide to step aside, a host of younger Democrats could be in contention. They include Vice President Kamala Harris, who is 57. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, 54, and Illinois Gov. J.B Pritzker, 57, have garnered attention for their responses to the Supreme Court’s abortion ruling and mass shootings.

The general election on Nov. 8 is projected to have at least 82 contested statehouse races, the most in 24 years. The goal should be for voters to see a contested ballot for every statehouse contest. The City of Chicago has the bulk of Illinois’ uncontested districts — 33 out of 57 — with many of the areas showing the greatest need for representatives who act on their complex issues.

Democratic-aligned groups and candidates have spent tens of millions of dollars to influence GOP primaries across the country this year, hoping that their efforts will yield less-electable, more-controversial Republican nominees in the general elections. The effort has included support for Darren Bailey in Illinois.

In the Illinois Republican primary for governor, incumbent Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the DGA, which he helps fund using his billion-dollar fortune, spent almost $35 million total trying to paint Bailey, a pro-Trump Republican, as the most conservative candidate in the race. Ultimately, Bailey handily won the nomination.

Illinois Democratic governor J.B. Pritzker celebrated the departure of two GOP billionaires and one of the state’s biggest businesses in remarks delivered last weekend to a group of Democrats gathered in the Sunshine State.

“The state attorney general filed to dismiss the whistleblower’s lawsuit, which would mean allegations of improper political influence will not be probed. But the now-public allegations tell a disturbing tale of corruption and patronage in the Land of Lincoln.”

A republication of our Wirepoints column, which was also linked in RealClear Politics.

Illinois’ Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker delivered a blistering speech in Tampa Saturday equating Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis with former president Donald Trump and condemning him for doing more to “protect” Floridians from LGBTQ children and immigrants than from white nationalism and gun violence. As keynote speaker at the Florida Democratic Party’s annual leadership conference, Pritzker urged Democrats to call out white nationalism and gun violence as domestic terrorism and to campaign against Republican candidates — including DeSantis — who do not. The text of Pritzker’s speech is linked here.

Just this week, a number of next-generation Democratic governors who have been outspoken on issues, and even critical of their own party, came to the White House. The visits may have been coincidental. But they provided the president’s team with helpful imagery — supporting him as the leader of the party — and led one prominent governor, Gavin Newsom of California, to say he thinks Biden should seek reelection, with his full support. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker made similar pronouncements, before extolling Biden’s “passion” for addressing gun violence.

Republicans are “naked and afraid,” Illinois J.B. Pritzker said in his keynote address, and that’s what’s driving their policies of fear, he told Florida Democrats at their annual Leadership Blue Gala.

“Both JB Pritzker, the governor of Illinois, and Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, have the Harris problem: they run states where Republicans are increasingly impotent. As executives, they can argue, unlike legislators, they have to make tough decisions each day that affect millions of people. Pritzker is attempting to be a national leader on gun control and Newsom is taking on DeSantis directly, running ads in Florida promoting California as a place that won’t infringe on abortion rights and meddle in the classroom.”

At least four Democratic-led states with budget surpluses this year have chosen not to fully repay the federal government for money borrowed to fund unemployment benefits, a move that will impose increased charges on businesses to help make up the difference. California, Connecticut, Illinois and New York have directed surplus funds to social programs and taxpayer rebates, among other causes, leaving unpaid debts to the federal government ranging from tens of millions of dollars to more than $15 billion.

“What interests Democrats more is the way he has put into practice in Illinois many of the policies they thought Biden was going to push for the country.”

“A FDR-style presidency is the bare minimum it will take to keep this country from lapsing into Christian Fascism, and if we are not to have a proletarian revolution anytime soon (and let us still hope that we do), we at least need a Democrat who does more than absolutely nothing. I look over the country and the only one I see who conceivably reaches that threshold is J.B. Pritzker.”

“Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker of

Mr Pritzker, reeling after another high-profile mass shooting in his state, seethed as Mr Biden looked to consol. He took direct aim at the National Rifle Association and pro-gun Republicans and demanded leaders do more to combat what has become a scourge of epidemic proportions. Commentators say this more aggressive brand of politics is what is needed to take on a mobilised and determined GOP. For “any politician who wants to gain a national platform, that message is really resonating with where our voters are,” said Sean McElwee, a progressive pollste

Comment: While Illinois is not mentioned, it, too, is vying to become an EV production center.

Griffin told Pritzker he had a rare opportunity to run the state not from the political left but the center, dealing with unaffordable pension costs, such as a 3% compound annual cost-of-living increase for retirees, while stabilizing state finances with additional revenues, the Griffin account goes. “If you do these things, I certainly won’t get in your way and in fact will support you,” Griffin told Pritzker in so many words. In other words, Griffin urged Pritzker to make pension changes that could result in the governor getting some political cover from his rightward flank for a companion tax

As a result of its political divisions, America appears to now be dividing itself into prosperous, high-growth states and states that are suffering a chronic decline. But Democrat-run states believe their abortion policies could be a key factor in attracting companies back. Caterpillar and Citadel, which in June announced their exit out of Illinois, are only the latest firms to leave high-tax, high-regulation states. Tesla, Hewlett Packard, Oracle, and Remington are also among the hundreds of companies flocking out of California, Illinois, New York, and New Jersey to business-friendly places like Texas, Florida, Arizona, and Tennessee. Relocating companies have spanned industries

The Democratic Party is behaving recklessly and unpatriotically. So far, Democrats have spent tens of millions to help Trumpist candidates in Republican primaries. In Illinois alone, the Democratic Governors Association and Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker spent at least $30 million to attack a Trumpist’s moderate gubernatorial opponent.

“Designed to boost Pritzker’s re-election chances, the move will fatten taxpayer’s wallets — but not by much. Estimated to cost $1.8 billion, the package expires shortly after the November election.”

July 1 is the start of a one-year suspension in the state’s 1% grocery tax. It is also the start of a six-month delay in the next automatic inflation adjustment to the state gas tax. Gov. J.B. Pritzker has mandated grocers and gas station owners both advertise his election-year “relief.” But only the station owners face criminal penalties – $500-a-day fines that would tally $65,000 if a retailer refused to comply between July 1 and Election Day.

Democrats pumped up Mr. Bailey in advertising as a pro-life, pro-gun Trump supporter, knowing it would appeal to GOP primary voters. While many Republicans are ready to move on from Mr. Trump, Democrats find it politically useful to keep him around. It’s hard to take seriously their anguish about the condition of democracy when they gamble on helping Trumpian candidates. They’d better hope the GOP tsunami isn’t so

When asked what would be on his second term agenda, beyond staying the course, the Chicago Democrat listed two items, both dealing with education. Specifically, a college education ought to be “free” for anyone who comes from a family whose earnings are at or below the state median, Pritzker said. The second: further increase funding for child care and related pre-school programs so that anyone earning 300% of the poverty level would qualify, up from the current 225%. That would make families earning “about $50,000 a year” eligible for help.

“The same move to the extreme was evident” on both sides.

From Bloomberg: “Griffin and his company were behind the $363 million purchase of a 2.5-acre vacant site at 1201 Brickell Bay Drive, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing a private transaction.”

A national republication of our Wirepoints column.

Republican leaders think a moderate nominee for governor could beat Gov. J.B. Pritzker. But the party’s base seems to prefer a far-right state senator — and he is getting help from Mr. Pritzker.

“We will see 20,000 or potentially 30,000 [abortion seekers] because people do need to exercise those rights,” Pritzker said during his appearance on Meet the Press, adding that Illinois saw 10,000 women from surrounding states, including Texas, come to Illinois last year for abortions.

More than 45,000 people received abortions in Illinois in 2020. Most of those who got abortions in Illinois were residents, with 36,000 patients from counties across the state. Yet, the majority of in-state patients were from a select few counties in the northeastern part of the state near Chicago — Cook, DuPage, Will and Lake — as well as St. Clair County near St. Louis.

M. Todd Henderson and Anup Malani of the University of Chicago Law School: It is easy to be jealous of Griffin’s billions, but the politics of envy make us all worse off. Instead of focusing on income inequality, Pritzker should celebrate wealth creators, regardless of whether they widen the gap between the rich and the poor. Adding a few billionaires will increase income inequality here, but that would be a boon to government revenue. When it comes to policies, Illinois would be better served by ones that attract successful entrepreneurs, not ones that drive them out of the state.

“Karl the con sets his gaze upon the Illinois race for governor. He recently penned an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal, labeling leading GOP gubernatorial candidate, State Senator Darren Bailey, as a “fringe” candidate who cannot compete in the general election vs. Governor JB Pritzker. But Bailey’s policy prescriptions and worldview are hardly “fringe” within the Republican Party of the 2020s.”

Comment: It’s more than reported here. We will report our own estimate.

The decision makes Citadel the latest investment firm to move its headquarters or to open an office in a more tax-friendly jurisdiction during the pandemic, as quality-of-life factors took on new importance. D1 Capital Partners and Elliott Management are among the firms that now have a presence in Florida, making it a new satellite of New York and Connecticut for the hedge-fund industry.

The sticker that is causing the controversy reads: “As of July 1, 2022, the State of Illinois has suspended the inflation adjustment to the motor fuel tax through December 31, 2022. The price on this pump should reflect the suspension of the tax increase.” The issue will go to federal court on Friday.

“I think Joe may decide to run again in 2024, but I’ll tell you what — JB’s got a future in the Democratic Party and I think it’s higher than the governor of Illinois,” said Bill Shaheen, a DNC member from New Hampshire who attended Pritzker’s speech at the state party convention last weekend.

Recently filed campaign finance reports for federal seats representing northwest Illinois show no near challengers for incumbents.

Based on home affordability, unemployment and other measures in the first quarter of 2022, New Jersey, Illinois, and inland California had the highest concentrations of the most at-risk markets in the first quarter of 2022 – with the biggest clusters in the New York City and Chicago areas. Most southern states were less exposed.

A tracking tool installed on many hospitals’ websites has been collecting patients’ sensitive health information—including details about their medical conditions, prescriptions, and doctor’s appointments—and sending it to Facebook.

Greg Hinz: “After losing the headquarters of Boeing and Caterpillar, but gaining a chunk of a Kellogg that’s now breaking into three pieces—it’s obvious that Illinois has hope but can use some help in retaining and attracting corporate HQs and the jobs and prestige and come with it. That help has arrived, in the form of the proceedings of last weekend’s convention of the Texas Republican Party.  Whatever its intent, the party wrote a script of what not to say in an era where attracting top talent is

“Caterpillar’s departure, even more than Boeing’s, is a tacit statement that Illinois, in this Fortune 500 company’s judgment, is no longer the best place to run a business.”

The Illinois governor’s rallying cry for defeating Republicans caught the attention of Democrats in the Granite State, where presidential candidates have flocked over the years to introduce themselves.

There were frequent standing ovations for Pritzker, who spoke more loudly and forcefully compared to his day-to-day in-state events. He tried to end his 35-minute speech with a rallying cry and a note of optimism.

It is an unprecedented time for Illinois farmland sales. For young farmers in Illinois, sky high land prices are preventing them from buying.

The eastern milksnake was designated the official snake of Illinois Thursday by Governor JB Pritzker.

Illinois 2020 marriage rate: 3.9 per 1,000 — #4 lowest among all states. Change in marriage rate since 1990: -4.9

Ahead of June 28’s primary, Trump’s “Save America” rally is scheduled for June 25 at the Adams County Fairgrounds in Mendon, Illinois.

Good information on the judicial process generally.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the Democratic Governors Association are spending an estimated $32 million labeling Mr. Irvin’s principal primary opponent, state Sen. Darren Bailey, as “too conservative for Illinois.” To deny Mr. Irvin the nomination, Democrats are spending far more depicting Mr. Bailey as a strong conservative than Mr. Bailey is spending on his own campaign.

Greg Hinz: “The first step toward a comeback is to recognize reality and deal with it…. I’d like to be able to report that city and state leaders are in crisis mode and furiously working to deal with the problem. I can’t. Though not everyone is talking about everything, what I’m mostly hearing is a bunch of excuses, explanations and subject-changing. ‘Look at all the other good stuff that’s happening,’ they’re saying. ‘We’ll be OK.'”

The Supreme Court Police Parity Act passed the Senate on a 100-0 vote last month.

As for the potential of brownouts or blackouts, Justice said they are currently unlikely. “I’m not saying it won’t happen, I’m not saying it can’t happen but at this point, we’re not forecasting any of that,” Justice said. While conditions are tight, Justice said the reliability of the power grid is currently not at risk.

A national republication of our Wirepoints column.

“The wealthy, powerful, and sometimes very weird Pritzker cousins have set their sights on a new God-like goal: using gender ideology to remake human biology.”

Sources close to the governor confirm he will be in New Hampshire this Saturday to speak at the annual convention of that state’s Democratic party in Manchester. New Hampshire is scheduled to hold the first primary of the 2024 presidential season; along with the Iowa caucuses, it kicks off the official part if the presidential race every four years. Visits there by politicians invariably are seen as an effort to draw attention to potential candidates.

There is a new study by psychology researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and University of Louisville that maintains that those people who maintain a “color-blind” racial philosophy are actually fostering racism. The question is whether the study in the Journal of Counseling Psychology will be used to support universities requiring affirmative anti-racism statements and other direct responses from faculty and students.

“And I think we need to suspend the filibuster in order to have this vote on some real sensible gun control legislation,” Duckworth said.

Likely Republican voters are giving Gov. Pritzker’s reelection campaign exactly what it wants, which is so unlike them.

“The issues driving voters this year are inflation, crime, corruption, taxes, and schools. These are all Republican issues. A majority of Illinois voters are ready to vote Republican on these issues this year, if we offer a candidate who can stand out in the Republican crowd.”

A national republication of our Wirepoints column.

Dr. Ngozi Ezike, in April, accepted an offer to lead Sinai Health System — one of the state’s top medical nonprofits. The Illinois Ethics Act requires department heads like Ezike to wait a year before accepting positions with companies that hold contracts overseen by their departments, or with companies their departments license or regulate. And while in office they cannot engage in job negotiations with companies that lobby their agencies.

“Illinois citizens need to understand these truths before they go to the polls and to be knowledgeable participants in the state’s tax and spending policies.”

A national republication of our Wirepoints column.

Automotive Inc.’s factory in Normal, Ill., life is anything but. Shares have been hammered in recent months after setbacks on the factory floor, in one of the auto industry’s toughest operating environments in memory. Factories around the world routinely churn out models around the clock. About eight months after production on Rivian’s electric trucks started, executives recently marked a milestone in uninterrupted work days: The company’s plant ran at

Illinois primary voters are finding themselves in new congressional districts with early voting underway for the June 28 primary. Some districts have incumbents from the same party trying to keep their position.

“Wirepoints – an Illinois-based economic research company – analyzed migration data released by the IRS for 2020. The Internal Revenue Service information divulged that not only was there a mass migration from red states to blue states, but the re-settlers took with them tremendous wealth from Democrat-controlled states to Republican ones.”

The biggest losers: New York (-$19.5 billion), California (-$17.8 billion), Illinois (-$8.5 billion), Massachusetts (-$2.6 billion), New Jersey (-$2.3 billion), Maryland (-$1.9 billion), Ohio (-$1.4 billion), Minnesota (-$1.2 billion), Pennsylvania (-$1.2 billion) and Virginia (-$1.1 billion). New York, Illinois, Alaska, California and North Dakota lost the most as a share of 2019 income.

“Wirepoints, an Illinois-based research organization, took a look at the latest migration data released by the IRS and drew some conclusions that should leave Democrat-run states in a cold sweat, wondering how they’ll ever be able to maintain their profligacy.”

A republication of our Wirepoints column.

More checks from privacy lawsuits are likely on the horizon. Google Photos and Shutterfly incurred similar class action lawsuits in Illinois, and have entered approval stages of multimillion-dollar settlements within the past year. I

“If 50% of their annual budget has seen an increase of 20% over the past year, which is a significant increase, that is going to present serious financial strain and put hospitals in a position to make difficult decisions.”

Illinois last year had made a run at the plant, which could serve Stellantis’ Belvidere plant. Insiders say the state fell out of the race awhile ago, and the Kokomo facility will be close enough to Belvidere to serve that factory if it is converted to EV production.

For passengers arriving at the rather faded terminals at Chicago O’Hare, it may not feel like it. But as of last year they are landing at America’s most important port, measured by value of trade.  For Chicago, where most flights are domestic, that was not so positive. But when people stopped flying because of the pandemic, the cargo holds of passenger planes were no longer available. Instead, more freight has been flown into specialised cargo terminals, like the one in Chicago. Since 2019 the amount moved through O’Hare has increased by 47% in value, and almost as much in volume.

If you want to know how Democrats maintain their monopoly in the Illinois capital of Springfield despite their flagrant mal-governance, look no further than their legally questionable gambit to conscript businesses into helping them get re-elected. Last week gas-station owners sued the state for violating their speech rights under the Illinois and U.S. Constitution. The lawsuit says the law requires gas retailers “to choose between making a political

Nearly five years after iPhone assembler Foxconn Technology Group unveiled plans for a factory that would transform this corner of southeastern Wisconsin into a high-tech manufacturing hub, only a few buildings occupy the 3,000-acre site, a huge power substation stands largely untapped and new roads are sparsely traveled.

The census snafu should have given our elected officials and the economic teams who work for them cause to take no more than a five-minute victory lap and perhaps enjoy one round of “I told you so’s.” Now that they’ve gotten that out of their system, it’s time to get back to work on fixing Illinois’ myriad problems. The best place to start is by creating policies that attract businesses, and the jobs they create, rather than repelling them. The solutions to many of this region’s most complex problems would flow from there.

A republication of our Wirepoints column.

Illinois priced $1.64 billion of general obligation debt Wednesday at spreads on par with current trading levels that have more than doubled this year due to market turmoil despite a round of upgrades.

Comment: We wrote here why Lisa Cook, currently with the Chicago Fed, has no relevant credentials and represents the worst of the cancel culture.

Sponsors of the legislation include Sen. Tammy Duckworth and Rep. Jan Schakowsky.

Illinois is moving to create an equity-based funding formula for higher education, potentially setting up a clash among the state’s 12 public universities over a limited pot of state dollars. A commission established by state legislators is exploring ways to reallocate those dollars to help Black, Latino and low-income students. But one early and central discussion point at the Commission on Equitable Public University Funding is likely to create tension: Should appropriations be tied to the demographic composition of a school’s graduates?

Charles Lipson recounts the remarkable story of the brave Illinoisan who challenged loyalty oaths and today’s Illinoisans who betray what he fought for.

Rivian is a significant employer in Normal, Illinois and recipient of state government incentives.

Losses across both stock and bond markets delivered a double blow to the funds that manage more than $4.5 trillion in retirement savings for America’s teachers, firefighters and other public workers. These retirement plans returned a median minus 4.01% in the first quarter, according to data from the Wilshire Trust Universe Comparison Service expected to be released Tuesday. Recent losses have further eroded their holdings.

In addition to rating governments on meaningful financial criteria, in March the biggest of the top three credit-rating firms began to apply an environmental, social and governance, or ESG, rating system.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the Democratic Party will host a high dollar fundraising reception with President Joe Biden in Chicago on Wednesday evening, with the top ticket price $365,000, the Sun-Times has learned.

“Credit to Boeing, though, for inflicting their own punishment: exile. The wicked flee when no man pursues.”

To be sure, this map will most likely help Democrats in their quest to hold onto the House. But it’s also possible that they’ve bitten off more than they can chew.

By state Rep. Andrew Chesney.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed 35 bills Friday, including measures impacting education, driving and public safety retirement.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into law Thursday a measure that borrows $1 billion to extend the existing pension buyout program for Illinois state employees for two more years.

Boeing Co., a leading defense contractor and one of the world’s two dominant manufacturers of airline planes, announced Thursday it is moving its global headquarters from Chicago to Virginia.

“It’s not just that they’re taking away reproductive rights,” Pritzker said. “It’s that this is a slope that they’re headed down that is going to take away all of the rights that were granted as a result of the right to privacy. It’s a constitutional right to privacy, determined by the court 50 years ago and reinforced along the way, and now they’re taking it away.”

A national republication of our Wirepoints column.

Gov. JB Pritzker was joined by the Illinois Housing Development Authority and local elected officials in Chicago Friday to promote the Illinois Emergency Homeowner Assistance Fund for struggling homeowners.

Western sanctions on Russia have disrupted fertilizer shipments and increased shortages, driving input costs even higher than they were last fall. So, should Illinois wheat farmers increase the amount of wheat they plant in the fall? Green said it is too soon for him to decide.

With 19,000 workers still laid off, according to Michael Jacobson, president and CEO of the Illinois Hotel & Lodging Association, Illinois’ hotels and lodging businesses are struggling to find their feet. The industry was one of the hardest hit by the pandemic and government economic restrictions, but in other states like Wyoming and Montana, leisure and hospitality payrolls have recovered, Muddy River News reported.

People in Illinois whose face appeared in a photo on Google’s Photos app could be in line for as much as $400 each, under a new $100 million settlement given an early nod in Cook County court.

If House Bill 4556 is signed into law by Gov. J.B. Pritzker, pharmacists will be able to provide, for some patients, tests that determine if certain drugs have been laced with fentanyl.

“Why would anyone brag about a delay in a tax increase by implying that it is a tax cut?  The answer is that politicians gladly spread misinformation to the public when they are trolling for votes.  Is a 2-cent delay more important to consumers than the 10-cent increase in sales tax?”

When billions of funds are showering down from those dark, billowing federal government clouds, you can be sure some of those funds will fall on those really needing help. Sad to say, the vast majority of those funds will fall on those that are convinced they deserve, and thus, demand those federal funds.

Michael Mini, executive vice president of the Chicagoland Apartment Association: In the spirit of equity, the Chicagoland Apartment Association urges those policymakers to consider how increased valuations of apartment buildings will impact the price, quality and future supply of rental housing for more than half of Chicago’s residents. Any efforts to shift the burden from homeowners to other property types should not dismiss the fact that renters are taxpaying residents, too.

Civic Federation’s Laurence Msall: If members of the General Assembly are still serious about meaningful property tax reform and providing relief to taxpayers, they need to thoroughly examine the structural oddity that is Illinois government.

Illinois’ top education official urged schools to stop working with police to ticket students for misbehavior, hours after an investigation by ProPublica and the Chicago Tribune revealed that schools across the state were evading laws designed to prohibit the fining of students.

Chicago allocated $293 million to mitigate negative economic effects of the pandemic and $179 million in cash transfers, job training and community violence interventions. Chicago is receiving $1.9 billion in ARPA relief after tapping $1.3 billion for budget relief to make up for lost revenues. Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration is using the remaining $600 million of funds along with $660 million of new general obligation borrowing to fund more than $1.2 billion of social, climate, environmental affordable housing, violence prevention, homeless reduction, economic, health and other infrastructure investments.

Households and small businesses that get their power from Commonwealth Edison will be unprotected from commodity price spikes in the high-demand summer months unless state regulators take fast action. For the first time in the 14 years since the state took over the job from utilities of negotiating with power generators, the Illinois Power Agency was unable to reach an agreement on an electricity price in northern Illinois for the entire months of July and August, as well as part of June.

In Racine County, Wisconsin, home to some 350 industrial firms, two local economic-development groups have combined efforts to roll out a promotion dubbed the Digital Manufacturing Campaign. Its aim is to draw skilled manufacturing workers from the nearby greater Chicago area. Workers in the Windy City are a tempting target because Illinois manufacturing employment, after a steep decline in 2020, remained flat last year.

The hottest job markets in America are in five different states, but they have a lot in common. They’re in midsize cities, all with a population under 2.3 million. They’re in states with fairly low income taxes, or none at all. And their climates allow for outdoor activities all year round. They are: Austin, Texas; Nashville, Tenn.; Raleigh, N.C.; Salt Lake City; and Jacksonville, Fla. Larger cities remained at the bottom of the rankings this year. New York took 41st place, Chicago was 40th and Los Angeles was 26th.

Sens. Tony Muñoz of Chicago, an assistant majority leader, and Steve Landek, who doubles as mayor of Bridgeview, withdrew their names from the June 28 primary ballot, each likely clearing the way for their political allies to take over the respective seats. Neither Muñoz nor Landek has been accused of any wrongdoing.

This position will be responsible for developing college-wide programs that focus on “cultural competency, racial healing and reconciliation, counternarratives, community building, restorative justice, equity, and inclusion responsive to the ongoing needs of all constituents at NIU,” according to the description.

The pattern here is clear,” observes the Foundation for Economic Education, regarding the startling demographic shift. “Americans are fleeing highly regulated, highly taxed states. They are flocking to freer states.”

Rochelle Gutierrez, who teaches “Sociopolitical Perspectives on Mathematics and Science Education” at the University of Illinois: “YES! This attends to the Cultures/Histories dimension of RM (addressing Western/Eurocentric maths). And, we also want to attend to the Living Practice dimension (which is more about imagining a version that builds upon ancestral knowings, but does not yet exist).”

The fact that the law requires gas stations to pay for the signs or be fined and that the placards be in place when the hike would have taken effect on July 1, as the state budget year begins and just days after the June 28 primary, has emboldened critics to say the effort is little more than the latest example of old-school, gas-pump politics.

In his latest re-election ad, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker touted his election-year tax relief as lowering prices for families. He failed to mention his plan expires shortly after the election and that he imposed thousands in new taxes as his term began

The list did not fall along predictable lines. A number of GOP lawmakers who voted against recent bills sanctioning Russia were on list, while some of the leading Democrats advancing those policies were left off. Some of the most vocal Republicans supporting Ukraine were also not on the sanctions list.

Mr. Griffin and Mr. Pritzker, an heir to the Hyatt hotel fortune and the brother of former U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker, have had a running feud in recent years, lately over rising violence in Chicago. “I’ve had multiple colleagues mugged at gunpoint. I’ve had a colleague stabbed on the way to work,” Mr. Griffin said of Chicago. “That’s a really difficult backdrop with which to draw talent to your city.”

“From San Francisco, where voters ousted several left-wing, union-endorsed school board members in February, to Chicago, Massachusetts, and other blue enclaves, parents are demanding reform.”

A contrarian perspective says Illinois’ new sales tax exemption for groceries isn’t actually progressive.

In a letter, the FTC allegedly said it found evidence the NFL’s Washington Commanders engaged in unlawful financial conduct. The team allegedly withheld as much as $5 million in refundable deposits from season ticket holders and also hiding money that was supposed to be shared among NFL owners.  “Quite frankly, as you go through the allegations it reads like a description of some organization out of The Godfather and not an NFL football team,” Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi said.

“In Illinois, a Chicago plaintiffs’ firm focusing on nursing home and medical malpractice litigation says it brought 78 cases in March alone. “It’s going to be a knock-down-drag-out battle,” said Steven M. Levin, the founder and senior partner of the firm. “It’s probably going to take years to get some of these cases to trial.”

Illinois holds the worst credit rating among its peers and pays the highest penalty to borrow of any state. While it’s difficult to draw a direct line from the state’s notoriety for corruption to its bottom line, investors increasingly weigh environmental, social and governance metrics when buying or shunning securities.

The U.S. attorney’s office issued a grand jury subpoena in January to the Illinois State Board of Elections seeking records on three campaign funds controlled by Jones, according to a copy of the subpoena provided to the Tribune via an open records request.

Budget bills introduced by Illinois Democrats in the waning hours of session and that were passed early Saturday will require private-sector retailers to notify consumers of temporary “tax relief” measures included in them. Critics say the requirements are an unconstitutional violation of free speech rights and forced campaign propaganda during an election year.

“Prophecy is optional folly, but predicting a convulsive crisis for the nation’s worst-governed state merely involves understanding its present parlous condition.”

From City Hall to Springfield to Capitol Hill, the candy man and candy lady are out in force.

Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum sued the Center for Covid Control, or CCC, and its testing partner, Doctors Clinical Laboratory, for deceptively marketing testing services and for violating Oregon’s Unlawful Trade Practices Act.

And the Democrats’ summary of the budget is linked here.

“Arguably more pertinent are more recent investments by Pritzker personally. As reported in state disclosure documents, they include a membership interest of undisclosed size in funds run by Bridgewater Associates and Two Sigma Fund. Bridgewater’s investments included money in the Chinese Sovereign Wealth Fund, which effectively is the investment vehicle for the Chinese government. Two Sigma, in turn, was one of the largest investors in three large Chinese firms delisted by the New York Stock Exchange as per U.S. rules for being too close

A national republication of our Wirepoints column.

Illinois’ 90% funding target already violates best practices, but some have proposed going even lower. That’s a bad idea based on a myth, according to the American Academy of Actuaries.

Burberry cannot catch a break. The luxe retailer’s Magnificent Mile location has fallen victim to shoplifting mobs, late-night burglary teams, and looters. On Thursday afternoon, it got hit again.

The average price of a gallon of gas is currently $4.46 in Illinois according to AAA, and more than 50 cents of that price is from state taxes and fees. But in Missouri, where gas taxes and fees are only 17.42 cents, drivers are only paying $3.76 for a gallon of gas. That makes crossing the border an attractive option.

Illinois Democrats proposed legislation Friday they say will fight crime in the state, but it comes with a hefty price tag. It also comes during an election year and after Republicans have pounded Democrats over rising crime in the state.

“Their signals from Washington were, we don’t want any infrastructure projects so they cut pipelines, we don’t want you to lease off of federal lands so leases stopped, and they tried to put in certain methane taxes,” Watson said. “All these were signals to the industry that we better not invest.”

The statement indicated that Lincoln College had survived other difficult circumstances, including the economic crisis of 1887, a major campus fire in 1912, the Spanish flu of 1918, the Great Depression, World War II, and the global financial crisis in 2008, but the pandemic caused a combination of setbacks that ultimately were too much to overcome.

Ligftoot also says, “I’m going to encourage the Attorney General to look into this huge rapid escalation in gas prices,” she said. “I’m very concerned about gas gouging, and I’m not accusing anyone, but it’s worthy of the Attorney General to look at this, because the escalation is really pricing people out.”