The final scheduled filings have been made in the Southern District of Illinois federal courts in the consolidated challenge of Illinois’ gun and magazine ban. The next key date is oral arguments next month.

Comment: These myths are the very foundation of how state and local public finance work in Illinois, as we’ve written often.

The lawsuit against CheckpointID and IDScan.net means the two companies have become some of the latest facing potentially massive financial damages under the law known as the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act.

The legislation would mirror a federal program administered by the Illinois Housing Development Authority and Chicago Department of Housing which helps finance affordable housing across Illinois and cost Illinois $35 million annually for ten years.

In an unusual move, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has quietly begun a new competition for the contract to run the United States’s sole dedicated particle physics laboratory. Announced in January, the rebid comes 1 year after Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), which is managed in part by the University of Chicago (UChicago), failed an annual DOE performance review and 9 months after it named a new director.

Illinois plans to sell up to $2.5 billion of general obligation debt before the fiscal year closes June 30 in its first primary market outing to benefit from upgrades that put two of its ratings in single-A territory. The state plans to sell up to $1.5 billion of new money and is eyeing another up to $1 billion of current refunding bonds.

Trading spreads on Illinois GO bonds narrowed this week after the state’s latest rating upgrade, and an uptick in tax revenues could help keep the positive ratings momentum going if the state makes more headway on paying off debts and building reserves.

“In the last few weeks, some have suggested that white people don’t really experience violent crime, or that the attention being paid to the issue is a consequence of the spillover of such crimes as carjacking into traditionally more affluent neighborhoods.Black Chicagoans are far more likely to be the victims of crime, which is why so many voted for Vallas or businessman Willie Wilson, who ran far to Vallas’ right on the issue.”

For the first time in 26 years, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has issued new guidelines for drinking water safety. Municipal utilities will be required to install expensive filtration systems to lower the amount of PFAS in water supplies. The new EPA drinking water guidelines are expected to cost Illinois municipalities billions of dollars.

A bill before the Illinois Senate would give participants in the state retirement system the opportunity to choose an additional option for their retirement plan coverage. Sen. Dan McConchie (R-Lake Zurich) introduced SB 1516, which would require plans by July 1, 2025 to prepare and implement a defined contribution plan that aggregates state and employee contributions in individual participant accounts that would be used for payouts after retirement. The bill would:

“We should not allow inadequate examination of a potentially damaging, dangerous technology and unverified promises from an industry incapable of meeting budgets or deadlines be the final word on Illinois’ energy future. Those who worked hard for CEJA’s passage in 2021 should be most alarmed that these moratorium repeal bills are Trojan horses for SMNRs designed to sabotage the renewables goals of CEJA.”

The legislation — HB 3098 — would nominally limit these companies’ ability to require use of their own payment processing systems. What it would actually do is inhibit Apple, Google and other software store providers from honoring commitments to customers and safeguarding digital financial transactions. It is based on flawed assumptions and would have consequences for the state’s economy.

Mr. Frerichs said in an interview that he supported SB 2152 stressing “this bill fights for workers’ security” and noted that his office manages $50 billion in a variety of state funds with a strong focus on active proxy voting to urge corporations the funds are invested in to make long-term decisions in managing their companies.

Despite multiple prior constitutional referendums to change the way courts handle pre-trial release of accused criminals, lawyers for the state’s top Democrats told the state Supreme Court that Illinois lawmakers did not need to follow the same procedures when abolishing cash bail altogether, because lawmakers should be left free to define “bail” in whatever way they believe best fits the state’s policy goals.

Prosecutors and sheriffs from more than half of Illinois counties filed civil suits, which were consolidated last year. They argue the Illinois constitution requires a system of monetary bail and the legislature doesn’t have the power to remove it.

Questions over the influence of campaign cash on the public’s perception of judges’ ability to remain impartial has long been a subject of concern among the legal community in Illinois and elsewhere, resulting in relatively recent calls for a strong rule to make clear when judges should step aside from hearing cases involving people or organizations that fueled their election campaigns.

A recent study suggests that, for the first time in nearly 100 years, Americans’ average intelligence quotient (IQ) is declining. The professors who authored the study, including one from Northwestern, theorize that the quality of education could play a role in reversing the IQ gains enjoyed by previous generations.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker rarely passes up a chance to brag about his landmark clean energy law, which requires all fossil fuel-burning power plants in Illinois to shut down by 2045. Yet Pritzker’s signature legislative triumph could backfire if he ignores warnings about its potential impact on electricity reliability.

Many startups and their investors worked around the clock, scrambling to come up with loans and other sources of capital to keep them afloat before regulators stepped in late Sunday and said SVB customers will have access to funds Monday.

She is seen as relatively dovish on Fed policy, analysts say.

Calvin Miller, associate director of the Illinois Council on Problem Gambling, has heard some heartbreaking stories in his work on the council. “People can lose their life savings in a weekend,” Miller told The Center Square. “But there is always a way out. If you

More than 60,000 foster children have been stuck in a vicious cycle of moving from one place to another – four, 10, 20, and even more homes and institutions. Children often suffer trauma as they constantly start over with new caregivers, communities, schools, and friends. Their paths should have been different.

Actuary Mary Pat Campbell: “Wirepoints has several features, and the best part is the daily email. Wirepoints has helped give me more detail on the players, and the specific tactics being tried out so I don’t look like a complete ass from the East Coast when I write about the Midwest. So if you want to know about one of the most important incipient public finance disasters….check out Wirepoints!”

The full interview is here.

In the House and Senate, there are 6,545 bills filed for consideration. Many of those are what is referred to as a “shell bill.” State Sen. Steve McClure, R-Springfield, gave his take on shell bills “Shell bills can be used after deadlines have passed to get sometimes important bills passed but more often than not they’re used to ram a piece of legislation at the very last moment where you can change the bill number by attaching an amendment to a brand new shell bill,” McClure told The Center Square.

The state’s new CDCRC website.

A national republication of our Wirepoints column.

The power grid operator serving northern Illinois and points east to the Mid-Atlantic is sounding the alarm about potential electricity shortages over the coming seven years, driven in part by state policies like Illinois’ clean-energy law that are forcing power plants to close. The report explicitly cites Illinois’ Climate & Equitable Jobs Act, or CEJA, enacted in 2021, as a contributor to the issue.

Joe Cahill: Rivian will have to consider whether it makes sense to go it alone in a fast-growing but increasingly competitive EV market. Rising costs and increasing competition are stiff.

The Times Higher Education has prompted a debate in the teaching academy over a call for “Black bereavement leave” by Angel Jones, a visiting assistant professor teaching educational leadership courses at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville. Jones wrote that Black educators need time off to cope with the killings of black individuals in society. The leave would not depend on the educators knowing or having any relationship to the deceased. The question is whether such race-based leave would be constitutional.

Court records show Montano was arrested near two handguns last summer after running from a stolen car that was wanted in a shooting. He was only charged with a misdemeanor count of resisting arrest, and that charge was later dropped in return for Montano performing community service.

Deerfield-based Walgreens says it will not sell abortion pills in states in which Republican attorneys general have threatened legal action – despite the drug being legal in some of those states.

Where are our counselling services? Where is our grace for missed meetings and deadlines while we mourn?” she asks. Her university biography reads something like the profile pages of woke-parody Twitter accounts:Expertise: “racial microaggressions, Racial Battle Fatigue, and gendered-racism”; research focus on “The impact of racism on the mental health of Black students at historically White institutions”; recent work on “How Black graduate women respond to and cope with gendered-racial microaggression”; Next study on “Exploring the experiences of Afro-Latina students with Racial Battle Fatigue.”

“But while Mr. Pritzker declined to provide a yea or nay on whether he would run, he added that a last-minute swap of an understudy for Mr. Biden was ‘such an odd hypothetical if you ask me.'”

An attorney for state Rep. Dan Caulkins, R-Decatur, says he’s confident a final judgment against Illinois’ new gun ban issued by a Macon County judge Friday is statewide pending an expected appeal from the state.

Sales of recreational marijuana to out-of-state residents dropped 10% in February from the same period a year ago, even as overall cannabis sales rose 6%, according to new state data. Missouri dispensaries started recreational marijuana last month. Missouri has much lower cannabis taxes at 6%, compared with 20% to 25% in Illinois. (Local taxes and the general state sales tax can push the total rate in Illinois to about 40%.)

Illinois’ budget and pension stabilization funds would receive automatic deposits when the state hits revenue growth and bill payment triggers under legislation that cleared a House committee this week. With a series of infusions over the last two fiscal years, the state’s once-depleted rainy-day fund remains on track to hit $1.9 billion by the end of the current fiscal year on June 30, but more is needed to reach a healthy level on par with other states, state Comptroller Susana Mendoza told the House’s State Government Administration Committee.

A coalition led by the Illinois Manufacturers Association, Illinois Trucking Association, Illinois Health Care Association and others is urging immediate action by lawmakers to change BIPA.

A proposed 1,300-mile pipeline to carry concentrated carbon dioxide that would run through 13 Illinois counties is being met with pushback from residents of central Illinois.

“So, it’s baffling why some officials around the country appear to want to skip this professional responsibility by banning investment managers and banks that consider the billion-dollar risks related to climate change, environmental degradation, water shortages and poor company governance.”

“A report by Wirepoints found that more than 30 schools in Illinois failed to have even one student reading at grade level. Most of those schools were in the Chicago Public Schools District. The same report found that more than 50 schools in the Land of Lincoln failed to have any students doing math at grade level. Again, most of them were in Chicago.”

Vallas won big in the Northwest and Southwest Side wards where police officers and other first responders live. Johnson did well in Lakefront Liberal neighborhoods like Lakeview, Edgewater and Rogers Park, not to mention Lincoln Square.

“The failure of the Biden administration to recognize the amendment does not impact its legal validity, but it does have serious consequences. The Biden administration has neither published nor enforced the ERA. Congress has not passed laws to implement the ERA nor has it updated existing laws. The judiciary branch has ignored the amendment when rendering legal decisions. State and local governments have not updated their laws or justice systems to take the amendment into account. And we the people have not been informed that the ERA is in force.”

And a little over a year from now, Madigan is scheduled to stand trial in a case that federal prosecutors have been building for the better part of a decade. Along the way, the wide-ranging probes of Madigan and his associates have nabbed more than a dozen other Democratic politicians, lobbyists and business executives, upending Chicago and Illinois politics.

A bill that would trigger automatic payments into the state’s so-called “rainy day” fund is heading to the Illinois House for consideration after unanimous passage out of committee this week.

Under the proposal announced Wednesday, gasoline with higher blends of ethanol could be sold year-round in Illinois and seven other Midwestern states starting next year.

Through CZ Biohub Chicago, the state’s leading institutions will develop new groundbreaking technologies for studying human tissue to improve the understanding of inflammation, which could lead to new treatments for the inflammatory states that underlie many diseases.

“All the signs are there that it’s not going to be an automobile facility anymore,” Smith said. “That’s sad for the community and all the people who need employment.”

An Illinois House committee has approved a plan to end a moratorium on the construction of new nuclear power plants. The ban has been in place since 1987.

Glennon said another reason that is being underreported as to why people are fleeing Illinois and will continue to do so is that research shows people are moving to states that are more politically-likable to them. “If that’s the case, and it probably is more so in Illinois, we have a huge nationally re-sorting going on where the country is going to get far more divided than it is right now,” Glennon told The Center Square.

“If that progressive, 46-year-old Cook County commissioner and Chicago Teachers Union organizer Brandon Johnson, prevails in the April 4 runoff election, it will be another transformational moment for the city and the country.”

Veteran political operative Victor Reyes called White a “fantastic, proven vote-getter” who will “help Paul — not only in the Black community, but also in the white, progressive community because Jesse is a uniter and a collaborator.”

“A [Wirepoints] report recently found that there are 53 public schools in Illinois where not a single student can do math at grade level. That report made international news.”

“This race could outline the fissures that exist throughout the Democratic party all around the country. Paul Vallas represents the old guard. The governing Democrat of the Bill Clinton school of thought that wants to fix budgets, improve education, and doesn’t subscribe to pie in the sky liberal ideology. Brandon Johnson is the modern embodiment of the progressive wish list. He may not lay it out in so many words, but it’s likely Johnson would push, or sign off on, expansive spending

In proposed regulations that would touch any jurisdiction that accepts any sort of HUD funding, fair housing must mean a plan to “promote equity in their communities, decrease segregation, and increase access to opportunity and community assets for people of color and other underserved communities.” Translated that means that the route to upward mobility for disadvantaged minorities lies through their relocation to more affluent communities, where they will no longer be “underserved.” The details as to how this should be done run more than 200 pages. Those required to comply will include more than 1,200 cities and counties receiving HUD

Nearly 30 million Americans are more food insecure as of Wednesday, because the pandemic-era emergency increases in the SNAP program have now ended.

The Illinois Republican’s political organization is launching a nationwide campaign urging voters to reject extreme candidates on both sides of the aisle ahead of the 2024 election. The centerpiece of the campaign is a nearly six-minute-long short film titled “Break Free,” inspired by Apple’s “1984” Super Bowl ad about escaping the conformity of non-Apple computers.

We are in the midst of such a backlash, one that threatens to eradicate decades of progress by warping our view of the nation’s past — including all those previous backlashes — and thwart our future progress toward an equitable, multicultural society. Those very terms, in fact — “equitable” and “multicultural” — are the principal hobgoblins of the movement to preserve white supremacy by distorting history and presenting racial gaps as the result of ‘merit” and “hard work” instead of systemic oppression.

Ire is spreading among restaurant workers in several cities, including Chicago, about required food and beverage safety training programs that industry insiders say fund anti-minimum-wage lobbying efforts. The National Restaurant Association operates and administers a food and beverage safety training program by the name of ServSafe.

Rivian is searching for a pathway to profitability in what looks to be an intense period of competition, with legacy automakers getting serious about EVs and Tesla planning the next phase of its product portfolio. “The financials for Rivian are just painful right now,” Brauer said. “They’re spending lots of money and not coming anywhere near paying for it with sales.”

Senator Sue Resin: “Thanks to our state’s nuclear energy history, we are poised to take immediate advantage once our own archaic moratorium ends. However, if we continue to sit back and allow the moratorium to continue, we risk losing our competitive edge in the nuclear energy industry, especially as newer and safer nuclear energy technology rapidly emerges.”

Illinois remains the only state to allow individuals to sue over violations. Others allow state attorneys general to take action.

The Illinois Sustainable Investing Act, passed by the General Assembly and signed into law by Gov. J.B. Pritzker in 2019, provides that public fund investment officers should integrate “material, relevant and useful sustainability factors into their policies, processes and decision-making.” But it leaves them latitude in how they evaluate risk. IMRF, for example, has focused on adding diversity to its managers and their suppliers. And investment officers in Illinois could find money managers picking sides — either casting their lot with red or blue sides of the divide. If that happens, managers worry that it will limit choice, restrict

“Last week, my suicidal 15-year-old grandson ingested and smoked a cocktail of several drugs. His loving parents found him nonresponsive, with a heart rate near 200 beats per minute. The emergency responders and doctors saved his life. Sadly, it was not his first attempt.”

“Exports are absolutely crucial to the agricultural sector, particularly in the Midwest,” University of Illinois agriculture economist Gary Schnitkey told The Center Square. Soybean farmers, for example, export 50% of their crop. One of the failings of U.S. trade policy in the past few years, Schnitkey said, is the failure to remove non-tariff trade barriers with

“There is being destitute, oppressed, exploited or crushed — and then there is America’s inner-city student population, most of them minorities…. As the authors of the Wirepoints report stressed: Defenders of the current system are sure to invoke COVID as the big reason for the low scores. But a look at the 2019 numbers shows that the reading and math numbers were

I’s time the Illinois Supreme Court steps up and revisits the issue of “repeated ethical lapses associated with gut-and-replace legislation,” which was used to create two controversial state laws that have since drawn national attention: bans on so-called “assault weapons” and cash bail. That was the sentiment of the three-justice panel of the Illinois Fifth District Appellate Court in Mount Vernon

The Democratic Party of Illinois began by initially looking at 400-some races and then identifying more than 100 what they call “fringe” candidates in 60 different school board districts. All of those districts and most of those candidates will be targeted in what party officials say will be a “robust” campaign. “It’s going to be very much a voter education program,” explained a Democratic Party of Illinois official. The state party will be “shedding light on the fact that there are candidates supported by these national extremist groups that are on their ballot.”

Gov. JB Pritzker on Friday released a blueprint for transforming what the state acknowledges is a confusing patchwork system for families who need greater access to mental health care for their children at a moment of overwhelming need both in Illinois and across the country.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker and other statehouse Democrats heralded the news as a sign of their budget management. “Our continued fiscal responsibility and smart budgeting will save Illinois taxpayers millions from adjusted interest rates, and my partners in the General Assembly and I look forward to building on that success,” Pritzker said in a statement. “I’ve been saying for a while now that I prefer 7’s to 6’s so I’ve been looking for today’s 7th credit rating upgrade from Standard & Poor’s,” Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza said. “This is a testament to the responsible budgeting we’ve done along with the Governor,

At its meeting yesterday, the board agreed with a hearing examiner that “justifiable grounds” exist “with some basis in fact” to believe that Proft coordinated with Bailey’s campaign in efforts to promote Bailey, then a state senator, and bash his Democratic rival, incumbent Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who was re-elected.

Under legislation filed by state Sen. Rob Martwick, a Northwest Side Democrat, tax rates on low-income single filers would be cut to as low as 4%, well under the state’s current 4.95% flat rate and the 4.75% rate the governor proposed. The tax rate wouldn’t even hit the 4.75% mark until a person’s annual income tops $100,000. At the opposite end, rates would max out at 6.95% on annual income above $500,000 for individuals and $1 million for couples

State Sen. Celina Villanueva, D-Chicago, said her Senate Bill 1345 is an extension of a bill that already allows for undocumented residents to vote on local school councils in Chicago. She said this needs to be expanded across the state because these families have children in public schools where they pay taxes

The decision appears to be the first from a federal judge considering whether the ban comports with a U.S. Court Supreme decision. A federal judge in Chicago has denied a motion seeking a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction against Illinois’ assault weapons ban and a similar ordinance in Naperville. U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall ruled Friday that both Illinois and Naperville’s bans on selling assault weapons are “constitutionally sound.”

Prosecutors from across Illinois on Friday urged the state’s highest court to affirm a Kankakee County judge’s ruling that a no-cash bail law that was set to take effect at the beginning of the year is unconstitutional.

Able-bodied people without dependents must work 20 hours a week or be in job training to qualify for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). But during the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress suspended the work requirement. Eighteen states and territories have kept the work waiver across the entire state. They are Alaska, Arizona, California, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Guam, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Washington.

A divided Illinois Supreme Court on Friday ruled that claims under the state’s Biometric Information Privacy Act accrue with each alleged violation of the law, a decision that may expose businesses using fingerprint-based sign-ins to computers or timekeeping machines to stiff penalties. The court ruled 4-3 in support of the interpretation of the law by a manager at a White Castle System hamburger outlet, Latrina Cothron, who says the chain did not obtain her consent before requiring her fingerprint

A detailed look at Illinois’ economy prepared by Moody’s Analytics for the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability.

Employers in Illinois could face potential financial devastation under Illinois’ biometrics privacy law, the state Supreme Court has ruled, with little recourse but to appeal to judges’ sense of equity or to persuade lawmakers to rewrite the law to reduce the potential dire economic consequences.

On Thursday evening, Pritzker put out a statement on his Twitter account, denouncing DeSantis and his visit, saying the Florida governor’s “dangerous and hateful agenda has no place in Illinois” and that every candidate in Illinois should “condemn this event.”

“I wholeheartedly agree with (Illinois Gov. J.B.) Pritzker that there is simply no place in Chicago for a right-wing extremist like Ron DeSantis, and I am disappointed in FOP leadership for inviting him to speak to officers,” Vallas said in a statement.

Analysis of state tax burden rates and the change in population from 2021 to 2022, as estimated by the U.S. Census Bureau, shows that taxes and population growth are related in some states.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker unveiled a $49.6 billion general fund fiscal 2024 budget that banks on still-healthy economic trends to allow deposits into the budget and pension stabilization funds while lifting spending for education and other areas.

“The Pritzkers have a history of legally skirting tax payments.”

Jim Dey: “While devoting much of his speech to undeniable improvements in the state’s financial picture, he once again went out of his way to denigrate those who contend that the state still has serious financial problems. Combining his two favorite insults — ‘carnival barkers’ and ‘spelunkers of misery’ — Pritzker denounced ‘misery’s carnival barkers.’ He was referring partially to the financial analysts at Truth-in-Accounting and Wirepoints.”

“They are doing historical things and the folks who operate in history are really no different than who they are,” said Dr. Lionel Kimble, an Associate Professor of History and Africana Studies at Chicago State University. And Rep. Cyril Nichols (D-Burbank). “If you break down the word history, it’s his story, right.”

Pritzker’s $49.6 billion spending request is an increase of nearly $3 billion from last year’s proposal. It includes a nearly billion dollar boost for education. That includes allotting $250 million toward early childhood education, with increased pay for child care workers and added preschool slots.

The “Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade” is concerned that their research balloon may have been taken out by the US military.

David Greising, CEO of the Better Government Association: The Civic Committee idea [of a “surcharge” of an additional 0.5% on income tax] is strong, and perhaps Pritzker and legislative leaders could be persuaded over time.”

The Cook County Treasurer’s Office is backing two bills geared to hold delinquent property tax investors more accountable for their real estate purchases and ease the burden on individual taxpayers who have fallen behind on their tax bills.

“Chicago and Illinois are in trouble. You know it. I know it. Your neighbors know it. Yet, somehow, it’s considered rude, bordering on sacrilege, to acknowledge in polite company. Best to sweep this inconvenient truth under the rug. To obscure it behind a façade of inspiring lakefront imagery.”

Comment: Arab Americans want out of the disfavored “white” category. Who wouldn’t?

In a Dec. 1 contract obtained by RCI, Kane County, Ill., received $2 million in grants – $650,000 in December 2022 and $1.35 million in December 2023 – and promised to spend the money on personnel, technology, and voting locations; but it is also allowed to use it for sub-grants to local political subdivisions or local governments. The contract is the same as the one used to give grants in 2020.

Given this confusion, the federal government’s efforts to squelch “disinformation,” which include pressure on social media platforms and subsidies for groups like the GDI, are especially chilling. Even “intentionally misleading” speech is protected by the First Amendment, and a government that respects freedom of speech has no business deciding how to apply that slippery label.

The state’s motion seeking a delay in its required response to a federal lawsuit challenging Illinois’ gun ban was denied Thursday. Since Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Jan. 10 enacted the state’s ban on more than 170 semi-automatic guns and magazines of more than 10 rounds

From July 2021 to July 2022, more than 142,000 people moved out of state than moved in. Only New York state experienced a faster rate of population decline. To put that loss into perspective, consider that about 127,000 Illinois residents died in that same period. In terms of state population change, Illinois’ emigration problem effectively doubled its death rate.

Out of 649 Chicago Public Schools, 22 schools have zero students who met grade level expectations for reading while no students were proficient in math in 33 schools during the 2021-2022 school year, according to a Wirepoints report. The data analyzed is from the Illinois State Board of Education annual report which details how schools within the state are performing.

“In the age old fight between happy warriors and misery’s carnival barkers, we’ve shown that if we resolve to do it, happy warriors win every time. And we are winning.”

Long version linked here.

Passengers were quick to snap the deteriorating situation: several people sleeping among a throng of belongings near Terminal 1; a man collapsed inside an entrance vestibule; another slumped over with no shoes on; and a group of half a dozen people who have taken over an indoor area next to the escalators.

A national republication of our Wirepoints column.

Joe Cahill: New taxes are never welcome, especially in a relatively high-tax state like Illinois. But a time-limited tax that eliminates a fiscal albatross and ultimately saves tens of billions makes sense, with two provisos: Legislation enacting the pension surtax must include ironclad prohibitions on extending the expiration date or using the funds for other purposes.

Food pantries are bracing to feed more hungry people in Illinois. In March, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program card holders in Illinois will see reductions of $55 to $250 per person, said Man-Yee Lee, spokesperson for the Greater Chicago Food Depository.

A republication of our Wirepoints column.

“With economic growth and jobs woven into its fabric, this new law is the most significant step Illinois has taken in a generation toward a reliable, renewable, affordable and clean energy future in a generation,” Pritzker said when

Comment: Significant the the Sun-Times would even print this.

“The states heavily relying on POBs (which are borrowed money to fund pensions) are Michigan, Illinois, Arizona, and California.”

Illinois chipped away at its long-term obligations in fiscal 2022 with healthy tax revenue growth and federal funds allowing the state to halt a decade long dive deep into negative territory, according to a recently published interim audit.

The new Megasites Investment Program will use money from the Rebuild Illinois capital improvement bond issue. It will offer grants of up to $5 million for costs typically incurred early in a project, such as site acquisition and cleanup, and road and utility improvements. Sites that could be eligible for the grants include 415-acre lakefront site of the U.S. Steel South Works plant and the 232-acre former Allstate headquarters in Glenview.

Jim Warren, executive editor of Newsguard: “[Laurence Small] did so as a member of that declining, even maligned, species: a trustworthy, authoritative “good government” expert. Our trust in people who are smart is heading south. When smart government folks urged us to wear masks, millions declined.”

“We need more teachers. Not only do we need more teachers, we need more substitute teachers, paraprofessionals, school bus drivers, food service, and maintenance staff.”

“It’s amazing,” said Kent Redfield, an Illinois campaign finance expert and professor emeritus of political science at the University of Illinois at Springfield. “It denied the public, the news media and the people who participated in the campaigns full knowledge of what’s going on.”

Pritzker’s office did not provide an estimated cost of expanding access to prekindergarten statewide, saying his budget proposal has yet to be finalized. Block grant dollars, which a spokesperson said would eventually fund the initiative, already fall short of demand, with 16 eligible full-day preschool programs denied grants due to a lack of funding in the current fiscal year, an Illinois State Board of Education report shows.

State records show that Dan Proft’s People Who Play by the Rules PAC spent almost $36 million during the second half of 2022, mostly on advertising boosting Sen. Darren Bailey’s gubernatorial bid and opposing Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider collected more campaign cash from special interest groups during the last election cycle than any other representative serving the North, West or Northwest suburbs, records show. Democrat Sean Casten collected more than $1.1 million from special interests en route to defeating Republican challenger Keith Pekau of Orland Park.

Fore the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2022.

David Kolata, executive director of Citizens Utility Board and Valeria Rincon, National Resources Defense Council’s Midwest Building Decarbonization advocate: “Chicago needs to begin implementing an exit strategy from gas and start investing in cheaper, safer, cleaner and more reliable options for meeting our household energy needs.”

The regional manufacturing business index showed its fifth straight monthly reading indicating contraction.

“Without an anti-right-to-work constitutional amendment in place, union bosses feared that it would become more and more difficult over time for their allies in the Illinois Legislature to defend maintaining the labor-policy status quo…. But no sensible person should regard the adoption of Amendment 1 as a victory for workers. Instead, by locking in a system that already foisted on Illinois a net loss of nearly 300,000 residents in their peak-earning years from 2011 to 2021, Amendment 1 can be expected to lead to even greater out-migration in the future.”

Jonathan Jackson was named to the House Foreign Affairs Committee along with Rep. Brad Schneider of Highland Park. Jackson also gong to agriculture committee along with Rep. Eric Sorensen and Rep. Mary Miller. Sorensen also going on the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, along with Reps. Sean Casten of Downers Grove and Bill Foster. Rep. Delia Ramirez is joining the Homeland Security and Veterans’ Affairs committees. Ramirez and Budzinski will be joined on the Veterans’ Affairs Committee by a fellow Illinois member and new chairman of the committee, Republican Rep. Mike Bost as well as their Democratic colleague Rep.

Soaking the rich used to be mostly a game for left-wing politicians pushing higher marginal rates on upper-income taxpayers. Now local utilities want in on the action. As my colleague Steve Daniels reported Jan. 19, gas companies Peoples Gas and Nicor are seeking regulatory approval for a new regime of income-based rates. Electric utility Commonwealth Edison plans to offer a “progressive” rate plan next year.

California lawmakers passed a law that would pay fast-food workers more—and the world’s biggest fast-food chain is slamming it. In a letter on McDonald’s website, the company’s president of the U.S. division, Joe Erlinger, says the measure “makes it all but impossible to run small-business restaurants.”

The shortage is not universal; several counties in the region, including DeWitt, said they were fully staffed. But for those who are affected, it comes as prosecutors across the state are preparing for significant potential changes under the Pretrial Fairness Act, a component of the broader criminal justice reform legislation known as the SAFE-T Act.

Democrats finally have a strategy to stop billionaires from fleeing high tax states: Block the escape routes. That’s the logic behind coordinated moves in progressive states to tax wealth. The reforms aren’t likely to pass immediately, but they illustrate the increasingly open socialist goals of progressives and their public-union backers. The Illinois plan would treat billionaires’ unrealized capital gains as income, taxed at 4.95%. The targets would

Under a proposal being introduced by Rep. Will Guzzardi, D-Chicago, anyone with a net worth of at least $1 billion would have to pay 4.95% of it off the top to the state each year regardless of whether investment markets are rising or falling and notwithstanding underlying economic conditions. “The bill’s prognosis is good,” said Guzzardi, whose measure also will be sponsored in the Senate by Sen. Robert Peters, D-Chicago. “The pandemic has only deepened the already wide economic disparity in this state. We need to act.”

“Companies should commit to re-examining their commitments to DEI and to providing greater DEI disclosures. This includes greater use of data across companies’ efforts to consider diverse talent. The current external pressures suggest companies that do not adequately and proactively tell a comprehensive story about the effectiveness of their DEI initiatives and their impact on employees, operations and the communities they serve will be called on to do so by their internal and external stakeholders.”

Tom Weitzel retired Riverside Chief of Police: If law enforcement leaders cannot stay out of the political fray and refrain from making purposefully inflammatory statements for their own personal gain, the profession is doomed.

In 1967, when many campuses were inflamed and the University of Chicago was under internal pressure to announce opposition to the Vietnam War, the university produced the Kalven Report, which said campus free speech and the academic mission depend on a “heavy presumption” in favor of institutional neutrality regarding political matters:

The Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) announced today that the unemployment rate was unchanged at 4.7 percent, while nonfarm payrolls were almost unchanged, down by just -800 in December, based on preliminary data provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and released by IDES.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker has signed a measure that would change guidelines for how defendants who are unfit to stand trial are placed in proper care. The measure, however, is being criticized by the Illinois Sheriffs’ Association.

Illinois voters rejected a proposal in 2020 to change the state’s flat income tax to a graduated tax. There are currently discussions to try the measure again. Gov. J.B. Pritzker, however, said that’s not on his radar.

The judge’s order and opinion linked here.

In New York and Illinois, for example, the proposed bills would change the rules around capital gains and estate taxes to tax unrealized gains even if an individual hasn’t sold the asset. This so-called mark-to-market form of taxation has been proposed at the federal level by Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-OR).

When asked about companies saying they are thinking of leaving, Pritzker says “that’s not what we are hearing.”

A republication of our Wirepoints column.

In a phone interview, Sen. Rob Martwick, who represents portions of Chicago’s Northwest Side and adjacent suburbs, said he still believes the state, and particularly middle-class families, need the income and lower property taxes, respectively, that a graduated income tax would bring, even though voters in 2020 rejected a proposed constitutional amendment to do that by about a 10-point margin.

“Reform in the states continues despite little notice in the national media, and the latest example comes from Wisconsin. Badger State Republicans are proposing a major tax cut and reform that includes a flat rate of 3.25% on income.”

Today’s affordability crunch in expensive coastal cities creates an opportunity for the Midwest. The trouble in Illinois is that when you add property taxes to the cost of housing, the state is no longer on par with its Midwestern neighbors. In 2022, Illinois had the second-highest property tax rate in the country. Altogether, Illinois ranks fourth in the country for the highest tax burden on residents when accounting for all state and local taxes—higher even than California, the state with the highest income taxes in the country.

Illinois restaurants continue to tread lightly as adversity hits them from multiple directions. The combination of inflation, rising costs, staffing shortages and current and potential employees demanding higher pay can be a recipe for disaster.

Open heat, double bypass surgery for columnist John Kass. We wish him a speedy recovery.

U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois John Lausch will be leading the investigation of classified documents found at the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Biden Center, nearly two years after President Joe Biden nearly fired him.

Big corporations have been fleeing Chicagoland for more business-friendly jurisdictions. But now Allstate says that its big headquarters downsizing is because employees prefer to work from home. How long before these remote workers want to join the flight from expensive Illinois governance?

An Assault Weapons Ban for the state of Illinois is still on the table after an expected vote on the bill Sunday during a Senate session didn’t take place. And though the Senate is scheduled to reconvene Monday, the clock is ticking to take action on the bill before the 103rd General Assembly is sworn in Wednesday.

During late night session over the weekend, Illinois lawmakers approved giving legislators, statewide officers and executive agency staff pay raises, amid more than $1.7 billion of other spending of tax resources.

“With this dynamic, not to mention speculation that he could be eyeing a 2024 presidential run should President Joe Biden step aside, all eyes are on the course Pritzker seeks to chart as he sets course in this second term.”

The Chicago-based burger restaurant operates 40,000 restaurants in over 160 countries with a total of two million staff in its franchised outlets. Around 13,000 of those locations are in the United States.

“A raise of 15.9% is unheard of in recent times. Secretive House action in 2019 inserted a 2.4% cost-of-living adjustment to increase base salaries to about $67,800.”

“Mr. White, 88, is retiring as Illinois secretary of state after a career that took him from the pews of Martin Luther King Jr.’s church to statewide office.”

“It’s important for employers and employees to be aware of the new laws taking effect Jan. 1, and those already in effect,” said Illinois Department of Labor Acting Director Jane Flanagan.

A national republication of our Wirepoints column.

Packed into the big omnibus spending bill that Congress approved on Dec. 22 was well past $300 million for member-designated projects. The earmarks are derided by some as pork politics at its worst. But every member of the Chicago area’s congressional delegation—except for the now-retired Adam Kinzinger, R-Channahon—sent out a press release claiming big wins for their district.

In the fight against climate change, national goals are facing local resistance. Piatt County, IL scheduled 19 nights of meetings to debate one wind farm.

Depending on who you ask, members of the billionaire Pritzker family of Chicago are either the proud descendants of a financial genius who are doing good by funding progressive causes —

The Chicago Business Barometer, a regional manufacturing index also known as the Chicago PMI, rebounded to 44.9 in December from 37.2 in the prior month, which was the lowest reading since the 2007/2008 financial crisis.

“Exporting Pritzker to the White House would let him take his Illinois record nationwide. What could go wrong?”

A national republication of our Wirepoints column.

Much of the media’s coverage of the November midterm elections was dedicated to individual races (and their surprising outcomes) that would determine control of Congress . But another critical result that slipped under the radar was Illinois voters’ landmark decision on Nov. 8 to permanently alter the fiscal future of their state.

But the political stakes are also high for key Democrats — including Govs. Gavin Newsom of California, J.B. Pritzker of Illinois and Phil Murphy of New Jersey — who have touted their records as fiscal stewards as they angle for a bigger role on a national stage.

California (343,230), New York (299,557) and Illinois (141,656) lost the most residents to other states. Businesses are also growing their workforces in states with more economic freedom. This is one reason employment lags pre-pandemic levels in California (-0.5%), Illinois (-0.7%) and New York (-2.8%). The unemployment rate in the Miami metro region was 1.8% in November compared to 4.7% in Chicago, 4.9% in Los Angeles and 5.8% in New York City.

A mounting body of scientific research shows there are specific ways students should be taught to read. But many popular reading lessons in American schools, including those used in Illinois, aren’t aligned yet with that science. Data show that, even before the pandemic, only 1 in 3 Illinois third graders were reading at grade level according to the state test.

“It will be interesting to see how the leaders of the Democratic Party in Champaign and Vermilion counties — Mike Ingram and Sandra Lawlyes, respectively — finesse a power struggle over who will replace the late state Sen. Scott Bennett.”

“It was a shock when the manufacturer, Stellantis, announced this month that the 57-year-old plant would shut down indefinitely at the end of February, putting 1,350 people out of work. And there is fear across the area, an hour’s drive west of Chicago, that “indefinitely” could mean forever.”

The U.S. Senate on Thursday passed a $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill for the rest of fiscal 2023 that Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois touts as including money for numerous projects and spending priorities in the state, including some targeted to the Chicago area.

Illinois continues to have the highest wireless taxes in the country at 34.9 percent, followed by Washington at 32.9 percent, and Arkansas at 32.2 percent.

Teacher at Crete-Money High School: “All you right wing conspiracy theory nut jobs who seem to think the teachers are out here just indoctrinating children into some sort of woke agenda that you can’t actually define, I’m just going to come clean,” Godbout says. “I am, in fact, indoctrinating your children.”

Stellantis has announced that it will idle its plant in Belvidere, Illinois and move Jeep Cherokee production to the Toluca plant in Mexico.

Pritzker announced in the meeting that he had a conference call scheduled at 10:30 a.m. last Friday to “land the plane” on a deal that would bring electric vehicles to the Belvidere plant. Instead, Stellantis said during the meeting that the plant would be going idle for at least six months starting in February with all hourly and salary workers receiving WARN notices.

Thirty-four newspaper entities received $27 million in forgiven Paycheck Prtection Program loans… some took more than one. That is what Open the Books CEO Adam Andrzejewski, and James Piereson, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute, discovered in their analysis of payments to various entities.

Lack of broadband access and slow internet speeds keep Illinois corn and soybean farmers from higher productivity. A new initiative seeks to improve that.

The self-described ‘liberal’ teacher, Heather Marie Godbout, said, ‘Indoctrination? yes please!’

On Thursday, Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) gave his farewell speech on the House floor. After serving since 2011, he decided not to seek reelection in 2022, after Illinois State Democrats pretty much redistricted his seat out of existence. That’s some reward for obsessively criticizing former and potentially future President Donald Trump under the bus, isn’t it? In the time leading up to his retirement from Congress, he has continuously been throwing his own party under the bus, and his farewell speech was no different.

Agriculture has benefited from consistent support on both sides of the aisle, in Washington D.C. and at the Illinois statehouse. The Illinois Farm Bureau wants to keep it that way, Bureau President Richard Guebert Jr. told The Center Square.

Vandalism and violence prompted federal agents to open an investigation in 1998 into Local 150, according to Dugan’s FBI file, recently obtained by the Sun-Times. The investigation, dubbed Operation Paving Justice, lasted six years before it was shut down in 2004 without any criminal charges being filed, though investigators estimated there had been $70 million in “equipment and property” damage.

The Student First Principles Coalition, founded just two months ago, aims to produce candidates for Tazewell County’s school boards who stand against politically-charged issues like critical race theory and COVID-19 mask mandates.

An Illinois school for students with disabilities has routinely used the police to handle discipline, resulting in the highest arrest rate of any district in the country. In one recent year, half of Garrison School students were arrested.

“Any services they need, we want to provide them,” Rockford’s mayor said. “But now, because of the federal court’s ruling, we can no longer send police out there.”

Another group of workers in Illinois have rallied and voted to kick a union out of their workplace. Workers at Tri-State Asphalt in Morris voted to cut ties with Teamsters Local 179. The vote – conducted by the National Labor Relations Board Region 25 – was one-sided, with 80% of the employees voting to reject the union. Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Foundation, said the practice is becoming more common. “A union member today is more likely to be involved in a vote to try to get the union out of their workplace as a nonunion

Pritzker said the plant converting to a full-time EV plant is not out of the question. “EV is a much larger enterprise. Typically they are co-locating, which is something Stellantis is especially focused on,” Pritzker said. “They need a lot of land, but fortunately, Belvidere has a lot of land, and they own that land. I think we are in a good position to help them into what is the next phase of manufacturing in Belvidere.”

State Rep. Deanne Mazzochi is seeking a discovery recount in the District 45 race, in which her Democratic opponent was certified the winner.

As he works with the Legislature for additional tools to lure and retain automotive jobs, including a new “deal closing” fund and tax credits, Pritzker hinted he’s trying to land an auto-assembly plant and a battery factory in Belvidere. Pritzker is seeking more flexibility with incentives to preserve or create jobs associated with the transition from conventional automobile manufacturing to electric vehicles. When Pritzker first floated the idea of a closing fund to Crain’s in October, he suggested $1 billion would put Illinois on a level

The CBS 2 Investigators conducted an exhaustive analysis of how thousands of child abuse and neglect allegations, dating back to 2016, were handled by DCFS. We obtained never before seen data revealing a deeply troubling pattern. When an allegation of child abuse or neglect is made, nine out of ten times DCFS classifies it as unfounded.

Signing a proclamation that the measure is now law, the governor said, “I am so proud to be the most pro-labor, pro-worker governor in the nation.”

“Our committee members are ready to get to work,” said Council 31 Executive Director Roberta Lynch, “but they will need the active and unified grassroots support of union members from one end of this state to the other to make sure that we continue to build on past progress and employees once again can secure the wage increases, benefit enhancements and expanded job rights they deserve.”

The Chinese government controls TikTok and can use TikTok to control users’ devices, for influence or espionage purposes.

More than 130 doctors, nurses and other health care professionals are urging Gov. J.B. Pritzker to save Illinoisans’ lives by speeding up the state’s transition to electric trucks that will reduce the amount of diesel fuel air pollution.

House Bill 5855 from state Rep. Bob Morgan, D-Deerfield, would redefine dozens of different types of rifles, pistols and shotguns as “assault weapons.” If approved, anyone who owns them would have 300 days to register them with state police. All future sales would be prohibited.

President Joe Biden on Thursday is announcing the infusion of nearly $36 billion to shore up a financially troubled union pension plan, preventing severe cuts to the retirement incomes of more than 350,000 Teamster workers and retirees across the United States. The money for the Central States Pension Fund is the largest amount of federal aid provided for a pension plan, the Biden administration said, and comes from the American Rescue Plan, a $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package that he signed into law in 2021.

Gov. JB Pritzker says cannabis delivery, which is currently illegal in Illinois but offered in other states, is an idea worth considering. “At first blush, as long as it’s regulated—and as long as we make sure the person who is ordering it gets it, and they’re legally allowed to—it would seem to me the same as someone coming into a store.”

Representatives of key retirement funds that cover teachers in Chicago, the suburbs and downstate say the financial collapse of the FTX exchange and other setbacks do not directly impact them because they did not invest in such assets. City of Chicago officials report the same for its four retirement systems.

House Minority Leader Tony McCombie is calling out Illinois Democrats for not repaying a state debt sooner.

The bill received no Republican support, although several members of the minority party in the Senate acknowledged what they described as considerable but insufficient improvements to the underlying law. They also chafed at being left out of the negotiations.

After 15 Illinois jailbirds used PPP loans to pay their bail, cynics scoffed that the program should be named the Prisoner Paycheck Program.

Despite Democrats’ changes to the SAFE-T Act, Illinois’ sprawling criminal justice reform law, a Kankakee County judge could soon take the next steps in deciding the law’s fate. Kankakee County Chief Judge Thomas Cunnington is scheduled to hold a hearing and potentially issue a decision on constitutional challenges brought against the SAFE-T Act by a group of more than 60 Illinois county prosecutors.

Illinois lowest on the list of states.

“We’re walking into a headwind,” said Akele Parnell, a 38-year-old Black entrepreneur in Chicago. His company, 11th Level Inc., last year was granted licenses to grow and sell cannabis in Illinois. A legal challenge to the state’s program kept all work on his company and other minority-owned enterprises in the state frozen until June. Now he is struggling to raise the $8 million to $10 million he said he needs to set up a grow operation and dispensary.

Just a year after passing major new tax incentives to lure electric vehicle makers here, the Pritzker administration is aiming to sweeten the pot. Legislation introduced in Springfield today that quickly passed a Senate committee would both widen and extend to up to 30 years payroll tax credits for those who work here under the existing Reimagining Electric Vehicles in Illinois law, known as the Rev Illinois Act.

Todd Ricketts is betting there’s still a niche in internet search for what the former Republican National Committee finance chairman calls “unbiased, uncensored” media. Ricketts, part of the family that made its fortune in the online brokerage business and owns the Chicago Cubs, recently launched Freespoke, which is described as “a search engine for the heart of America.”

RNC Committeeman Richard Porter: “We are not who they say we are. From school board meetings to the House of Representatives, Republicans strive to rebut and roll back ideas motivated by hate, anger, and envy. We support leaders who resolutely defend, preserve, and promote the equalizing power of mutual respect, and our divine rights to liberty, self-government, and the pursuit of happiness.”

“Northwestern’s nonexistent response to recent Qatari censorship demonstrates why branch campuses in authoritarian nations are a bad idea. Northwestern has lent its credibility to the propaganda of an authoritarian and anti-Western regime, whitewashing its censorship and inevitably participating in self-censorship to maintain ties…. As long as the Medill School of Journalism continues to work with Qatar, its commitment to ‘fight for the freedom of the press’ will remain hollow.”

Comment: This column is about Politico’s national Playbook but applies fully to the local Illinois edition.

Illinois’ new union amendment allows government unions to negotiate over virtually anything and override state law through their union contracts. That includes laws aimed at reforming police procedures.

“Should Joe Biden step aside (or be nudged into retirement), there are Democratic governors who could surge into the race, including Michigan’s Gretchen Whitmer, California’s Gavin Newsom and possibly North Carolina’s Roy Cooper and Illinois’ J.B. Pritzker.”

A national republication of our Wirepoints column.

The state of Illinois is reporting record tax revenue on legal marijuana, with nearly half a billion dollars in the last year. Illinois consumers pay the second highest taxes in the nation when they buy legal recreational marijuana. However, experts claim lowering taxes could mean more money for the organizations that benefit from those funds.

“It’s time for an entirely new Illinois GOP — from top to bottom, including the political consulting class. Until that happens, national Republicans can count Illinois out.”

A WBEZ analysis shows that as the district’s population is shifting, so too are its political leanings. Northwest Indiana’s blue strongholds continue to lose population while many of the areas that have gained residents are Republican-leaning or have become more red in the last several years.

A new analysis shows the federal tax dollars sent to Illinois and other states since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The funds were used to support public health, education and to temporarily aid Illinois’ financial condition.

Legislators took action Wednesday on a bill that would effectively cut all financial ties between Illinois and Russia. The Illinois Senate gave House Bill 1293, also known as the Russian Divestment Act, its third reading and passed it unanimously 50-0 with nine not voting.

Rich Miller: If legislators and others want to spend more on long-term programs or to buttress existing programs, they have to either increase revenues or reduce other spending or both.

U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D, Ill) is asking FTX to turn over documents and information as part of its investigation into the collapse of the once-prominent crypto platform.

In an e-mailed statement, Truth in Accounting, which earlier gave state finances an F, challenged the notion that Illinois is in its best financial shape in years. The group particularly picked at pensions, long the state’s top fiscal issue. Despite recent progress, the group claims, Illinois is still annually contributing around $4 billion less than is actuarially required to keep the pension funds from running up debt.

“Behold a case study in how Democrats change the rules to limit political competition and entrench one-party, public-union rule…. Abortion politics and Donald Trump helped Democrats in Illinois as in other states. But Democrats in the Prairie State have also used every lever available to entrench their power. That includes a constitutional amendment they placed on the ballot enshrining the right to collective-bargaining that will augment government

Illinois would double the size of its $1 billion rainy day fund and further pay down a federal unemployment insurance loan and other debt under proposals laid out by Gov. J.B. Pritzker to tap healthier-than-expected revenues. The latest fiscal picture came Monday in the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget Annual Economic and Fiscal Policy Report, which provides a view of the current fiscal year, projections for the next five years, and the governor’s policy objectives.

“Exit polls show “Generation Z and young millennials under 30 voted at such a high level and skewed for Dems so much we canceled out every voter over age 65 across the U.S. house races…. Now that we have shown we can take decisive action and keep Democrats in power, it is time to step back and let young progressive candidates lead. Let us protect our classmates, those seeking an abortion, our privacy, and our planet. We will be around to see the effects of legislation, let us make the calls.”

Many conservatives have vamoosed to states where Republicans stand a chance. Between 2019 and 2021, nearly 400,000 people on net moved to Florida from other states, according to Census Bureau data. During the same period, masses of people left Illinois (235,000), New York (556,000) and California (610,000).

Greg Hinz: As Chicago pivots from one election to another, one of the better questions out there is why the volatile crime issue didn’t help Republicans more—and if that means easy going for Mayor Lori Lightfoot despite steep hikes in crime rates on her watch.

“To make matters worse, reading and math proficiency rates crashed during the pandemic thanks to malingering teachers unions, which resisted a return to classroom instruction long after it was clear that COVID-19 was neither a threat to children nor easily spread by them. In refusing to show up at work, they tried to hide behind politically correct rhetoric. As the Chicago Teachers’ Union put it, “the push to reopen schools is rooted in sexism, racism, and misogyny.” Lesson: These are not people who can be worked with.

As pundits, strategists and opinionated Uber drivers wax on about the mixed results of Tuesday’s midterm election, a dark-horse candidate has emerged. NewsNation, the Chicago-based cable news network, which has struggled to build an audience since launching more than two years ago, found its mojo — and some viewers — during a breakthrough election season. While NewsNation’s audience remains a fraction of its long-tenured

Jim Dey: “The majority of voters this week dismissed public safety concerns over the proposed SAFE-T Act that abolishes the cash bond system for accused criminals on Jan. 1. But the controversy remains alive in two other venues — the courts, where a legal challenge is pending, and the legislature, where Gov. J.B. Pritzker has pledged changes will be made.”

Illinois lawmakers are set to return to Springfield for the fall veto session Tuesday. Members from both parties shared their expectations regarding potential changes to the controversial SAFE-T Act.

“Unfunded public pension obligations represent the largest liability for state and local governments in the United States,” Giesecke and Rauh point out. To give you some perspective, a $6 trillion pension fund deficit is twice the value of all the money that state and local governments owe on their municipal bonds. It is about 170% of their total annual revenues. And it is 10 times the amount they took in last year from personal (non-corporate) taxes.

“And the truth is Illinois is probably more of a 55-45 state for Democrats now, but they used the maps in a creative and aggressive way to lock in a very solid Democratic majority in the Illinois congressional delegation.”

Amendment 1, also called the Workers’ Rights Amendment, makes collective bargaining a constitutional right that can’t be legislated or contracted away. It goes further than any state ever has in barring right-to-work laws—and any other legislation that “interferes with, negates, or diminishes the right of employees to organize and bargain collectively.”

In a speech unsparing in its attacks on the GOP with contours that went far beyond Illinois’ parochial borders, the billionaire progressive Democrat and Hyatt Hotel heir called himself a “warrior” ready to take on former Republican President Donald Trump and Trump allies in the years ahead. FULL TEXT OF PRITZKER SPEECH IS HERE.

“At least a mini red wave may have swept some corners of America this Election Day. But not in Illinois, which with an exception or two remained about Democratic blue as you can get.”

Dan Proft, the radio host and critic of Dem politicians, confirms he has not bought or rented another home here since selling his Lake Point Tower condo. “Nor will I,” he tells Crain’s.

Internal emails from the Illinois Department of Public Health suggest Prtizker is looking into adding the covid shot to the list of school vaccines through a process that doesn’t involve full Legislative approval.

Jim Dey: “Is Cullen the first or just the latest rat to jump from the listing USS Madigan? Or are there others who’ve already flipped or are prepared to do so?”

Major General Richard Neely, the adjutant general of Illinois and commander of the Illinois National Guard, joined other National Guard leaders Friday to discuss cyber support for the election. Neely said recent history in Illinois makes this an important issue. Neely was referring to a Russian hack into the Illinois election database. The personal information of about 500,000 Illinois voters, including names, addresses and driver’s license numbers, were exposed in the hack.

“The violent rhetoric and division we’re seeing across our country is unacceptable,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker tweeted. “Hatred in any form has no home in Illinois.” In response, Bailey blamed the threat on the governor, who also has received threats. The Republican called it “exactly the product of J.B. Pritzker’s, you know, his divisiveness and his rhetoric.” “Darren Bailey has surrounded himself with racist, misogynistic, homophobic, xenophobic people and organizations, including chasing after the chief among them, Donald Trump,” Pritzker said.

Ninety percent of food banks across Illinois are reporting increased demand for food. At Willow Creek Care Center, Schumacher said they have had a 54% increase in the number of people who are coming to them for food this year as compared to last year.

A national republication of our Wirepoints column.

Gov. JB Prtizker leaned into the culture wars Tuesday night, headlining a Democratic get-out-the-vote effort at the Baton Show Lounge for a drag show and political rally.

“Perhaps the most interesting impact this amendment will be on exclusive bargaining rights…. the possibilities are endless as nowhere does the amendment define what constitutes an actual union. Certainly, our school districts are well versed on this matter and prepared to bargain multiple teacher contracts all with varying terms and conditions, no?”

The school shutdown lobby, including American Federation of Teachers’ Randi Weingarten, now want voters to forgive them. Not so fast. Teachers’ unions lobbied hard to keep them closed and succeeded in far too many places where they dominate local and state politics. Many big city school districts didn’t reopen until spring 2021. Chicago didn’t offer full in-person learning until last fall. The results in lost learning have been catastrophic.

A national republication of our Wirepoints column.

The Safety, Accountability, Fairness, and Equity-Today Act, otherwise known as SAFE-T, has flown largely under the national radar since passing on January 13, 2021, in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder and the resulting national protests that brought accusations of racism in the criminal-justice system to the fore. “As far as I can tell, it is the first complete elimination of cash bail,” he continued. “From my mind, it’s the story of the century. You have a complete revolution in the cash-bail set-up in Illinois that was passed without any understanding of what it contained.”

A national republication of our Wirepoints column.

Critics of the law take issue with some of those provisions, including ending cash bail; prohibiting judges from considering a defendant’s previous behavior when determining whether he or she is a flight risk; allowing a 48-hour period between the time a defendant on electronic monitoring leaves home without permission and the time authorities can charge that person with escape; and new police training policies without additional funding for departments.

“While not rising to the level of criminal conspiracy, Republicans like us, fighting to save our state from rising taxes and record crime, feel like we’re up against a similar ‘inside game.’ The players: the Chicago Democratic Machine and the Chicago media.”

Recent studies have shown that remote learning and school closures impacted all children. Many lost ground and regressed in their basic skills. Their lives were disrupted when their parents lost jobs. Many children were forced to move out of their homes and their familiar neighborhoods. Loved ones and caregivers died and children are still grieving.

The University of Chicago, United Airlines and U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin are among those backing affirmative action in friend-of-the-court briefs.

A north suburban Democratic state lawmaker is now under fire amid accusations he was among those who attempted to pressure a female staffer to abort her unborn child.

“For those of us who believe unions have brought benefits to workers they could not have won individually—but who also believe the answer to extremism is not more extremism—a question on the Nov. 8 ballot poses a dilemma.”

The key to breaking the cycle of arrest-jail-repeat is linking people with the services they need, writes the head of the Lawndale Christian Legal Center. And that make us all safer.

“In the governor’s campaign, heads Illinois loses; tails, it also loses. Ditto in the last two presidential races.”

“A previously unreported boom in profits for the shipping supply giant Uline has provided the funds for a deeply conservative Midwestern family to bankroll anti-democracy causes around the country.”

Charles Lipson, Professor of Political Science Emeritus at the University of Chicago: “Violent crime, in particular, has reached record levels. The problems are not limited to big cities like Chicago or Philadelphia or progressive bastions like Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco. Small and mid-sized cities face the same problems, without the media spotlight. In 2022, the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program lists the ten most dangerous cities as Little Rock, Memphis, Tacoma, Detroit, Pueblo, Cleveland, Springfield, Lansing, Kansas City, and Chattanooga.

Reader letters regarding Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner’s op-ed on the Illinois Workers’ Rights Amendment (“Unions Ask Illinois Voters to Sign Over Control of the State,” Oct. 22).

The Illinois Homeowner Assistance Fund, run through the Illinois Housing Development Authority, provides up to $30,000 in assistance to homeowners through payments made directly to mortgage servicers, taxing bodies or other approved entities. The program is funded through an appropriation from the federal American Rescue Plan Act and can be used for past-due mortgage payments and up to three months of future payments. The funding can also be used for delinquent property taxes, homeowner’s insurance, condominium or homeowner association fees, and mobile home lot rent. Funds received do not need to be repaid.

A national republication of our Wirepoints column.

The most expensive race in the country is not a particularly competitive one. Candidates in Illinois have raised almost $217 million this election cycle. Much of that has come from billionaire incumbent Democrat J.B. Pritzker, who has self-financed $132.1 million of the $132.3 million his campaign has raised, according to OpenSecrets.

Republican fundraising could not even come close to keeping pace with the Democrats.

At a recent East Coast Gambling conference, panelists say Illinois could soon adopt internet gambling behind Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Delaware and Connecticut. Indiana, Iowa and New York are also considering adopting online gambling. Sports betting is currently legal in a total of 30 states and the District of Columbia.

Property tax rates are very high in Illinois due to the fact Chicago residents pay a fortune in these taxes due to pension debt. There are eight pension funds in Chicago alone that have accumulated close to $45 billion in debt. And across all of Illinois, governments have $63 billion in total pension debt that residents have to pay.

“Most of all, follow my friend Beth’s example. Speak up. Get involved. I know so many people that don’t want to “be political” and are tired of all the stuff that is going on. They just want to be left alone. But, the leftists won’t leave you alone until you get rid of them.”

In Illinois and other states still carrying loan balances, officials say they’ve had other priorities to spend on. Even with the federal aid they’ve received, states have asked for more relief in paying back the advances they’ve taken out for unemployment. Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza, for instance, has been pushing for a bill sponsored by two Democratic senators from her state, Majority Whip Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, which would retroactively wipe out millions in interest costs for the advances that have piled up. Illinois has seen its debt rise by about $1 million thus far this fiscal year because

Comment: “Wirepoints published several pieces critical of Seminar Day, including one accusing the school of “ripping its community apart,” this says. We sure did, and we were right. We are proud to have been part of this early effort. Salute to Beth Feeley and New Trier Neighbors for their leadership in that effort, setting a precedent for other