An Illinois eavesdropping bill has passed both the Illinois House and Senate, which makes it a class 3 felony to record other people’s private conversations with police officers. Though the law was meant to offer citizens more leeway when it comes to free speech, detractors say the law is too vague to be immune to misuse by law enforcement looking to cover up bad behavior.

The bill passed with overwhelming, bipartisan majority votes in both houses; 106-7 in the House on and 46-4-1 in the Senate. It says that unlawfully recording a private conversation with police or an attorney general, assistant attorney general, state’s attorney, assistant state’s attorney or judge is now a class 3 felony that is punishable by two to four years in prison. Illegal call or video recording of a private citizen is now a class 4 felony, which earns the offender one to three years in prison.

The legislation was intended to replace a previous eavesdropping law that had been struck down by the state Supreme Court, which did make it a crime for citizens to record conversations with police or anyone else without the other person’s permission.

By adding an average of 803 new residents each day between July 1, 2013 and July 1, 2014, Florida passed New York to become the nation’s third most populous state, according to U.S. Census Bureau state population estimates released today. Florida’s population grew by 293,000 over this period, reaching 19.9 million. The population of New York increased by 51,000 to 19.7 million.

California remained the nation’s most populous state in 2014, with 38.8 million residents, followed by Texas, at 27.0 million. Although the list of the 10 most populous states overall was unchanged, two other states did change positions, as North Carolina moved past Michigan to take the ninth spot.

Another milestone took place in Georgia (ranked 8th), which saw its population surpass 10 million for the first time.

After the Chicago Sun-Times reported this week that a Chicago Board of Education member’s companies have tripled their business with the city’s school system since her appointment last year, CPS’ new inspector general said Tuesday he has opened an investigation.

Nicholas J. Schuler confirmed that his office is investigating the Sun-Times’ findings that several companies in which Deborah Quazzo has invested have received more than $3.8 million of business with Chicago Public Schools, $2.9 million of that since Mayor Rahm Emanuel put her on the board in June 2013. Schuler would not elaborate, citing the pending investigation.

Five companies in which Quazzo has an ownership stake have been paid more than $3.8 million by CPS for ACT prep or online help with reading, writing and math — with one standing to collect an additional $1.6 million this year from a district contract.

An internal Walmart memo circulated to store managers earlier this month shows the retailer estimates that minimum wage hikes in 21 states will affect worker base salaries at 1,434 stores across the United States, according to a new report Wednesday.

The memo obtained by Reuters outlines which positions will be impacted by the hikes when they take effect on Jan. 1. Base salaries for three lower-level positions — cashiers, cart pushers and maintenance workers — will be lumped together under one rate, while the minimum premium pay to workers in supervisor roles like deli associates will narrow to within a closer range of lower grade workers.

Walmart, the country’s biggest private employer with some 1.3 million workers, has struggled to boost sales after Americans lost jobs or already low incomes during the financial crisis. The company estimates that its average full-time hourly wage is $12.92, but its chief executive has indicated Walmart plans to improve opportunities so more of its workers making the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour can earn more.