Illinois has more lead water-service lines than any other state, but the formula used to allocate federal lead removal money fails to take that into account. Last year, Illinois received just $106 million of the $15 billion earmarked for lead removal in President Joe Biden's massive infrastructure bill.
A largely unasked question is becoming glaring: Is Illinois doing all it should to use artificial intelligence to make government cost less and work better? So far, the evidence says no.