When Gov. J.B. Pritzker visited Crain’s newsroom earlier this month to make his case for re-election, he cited what he viewed as the two biggest challenges that have hurt Illinois’ economy and undercut its competitiveness in the state-by-state derby for corporate investment: First, the perception that Illinois has for years been a fiscal wreck, thus creating an unstable and unpredictable tax environment for companies that choose to operate here. Second, the perception that Chicago is a cesspool of crime.

Though Pritzker didn’t list it, there’s a third impediment—one the governor was eager to back away from in our Oct. 12 conversation. It’s the perception that labor runs the show in Illinois, making it costlier to do business here and nearly impossible to solve the biggest budgetary burden we face as a state—namely, the unfunded obligation of about $130 billion that every man, woman and child in this state owes to our public employee pension systems.

When federal prosecutors tied former House Speaker Michael Madigan into a conspiracy case involving AT&T this month, they included an insider at the heart of the scandal with an overarching view of Madigan’s once-vaunted statewide Democratic organization and his secretive moves at the Capitol.

That insider is Tom Cullen.

Illinois schools continue to cope with the effects of the school shutdowns during the pandemic.

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.

Not long after taking office in 2019, Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed legislation that restructured the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority, promising “transparency and accountability” and declaring: “Our new leadership will uphold the highest ethical standards, deliver the value to taxpayers and serve Illinoisans in every corner of our state.”

A new lawsuit filed by two former high-ranking tollway officials paints a different picture of the state agency under Pritzker’s chosen team, accusing now-former board chairman Will Evans of trying to steer contracts to favored firms and engaging in patronage hiring.

With Election Day nearly a week away, people voting by mail are setting midterm records in several suburban counties.

In Kane and McHenry counties, vote-by-mail totals have exceeded those of the 2018 midterm election. DuPage County’s vote-by-mail total was nearly at its 2018 mark by last week, too.