When Gov. J.B. Pritzker and state lawmakers doubled the gas tax in 2019, they built in automatic annual increases. The next boost hits July 1. Perfect timing, as Pritzker spends $6 million to ask Illinoisans to take a drive.
It has been a year since George Floyd died beneath a Minneapolis police officer’s knee, setting off riots in Chicago and protests across Illinois. Lawmakers vowed reforms, but nothing will change as long as police contracts overpower state law.
An amendment to Illinois House Bill 2789 could result in a flurry of complaints against private and public schools for alleged violations of COVID-19 protocols, provides harsh penalties, including punishing teachers, and expands state authority over private schools.
A proposal in the Illinois General Assembly would prohibit right-to-work laws in Illinois, making Illinois the only state to ban worker freedoms in its constitution.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker gave fellow Democrats a very clear signal to gerrymander state legislative maps when he backed off his veto threat and said he trusted them to be fair. Mike Madigan-style maps place 23 Republicans into races against other incumbents.
Job losses peaked in April 2020 amid COVID-19 and state-mandated shutdowns. In the year-long recovery since, Illinois’ has been among the nation’s slowest.
Chicago had planned to use half of its federal relief funds to pay down pandemic debts, but new federal guidance may prevent that. Regardless, without pension reform the city will continue drowning in debt.
"It’s truly ridiculous to realize that unions trump state law. There are some things in the contracts that impede disciplinary reforms."
While total payrolls were up 300, private sector jobs took a beating in April and lost 4,000 positions. Illinois’ labor market completely stalled as the national economic recovery slowed.
“I’m praying and hoping that the Empower scholarship stays in place because there are so many families that could use it."
Illinois is listed as one of the states under ‘extreme’ danger of partisan gerrymandering of its state legislative and congressional redistricting maps. Gov. J.B. Pritzker can stop that threat.
Each of Illinois’ metropolitan areas got smaller from July 2019-July 2020, census estimates showed.
In-person learning will resume in the fall, the Illinois State Board of Education has decided. Whether kids will still be required to wear masks and sit behind plastic shields in the fall remains to be decided.