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Top Illinois Stories
A clarification to Illinois’ biometric data privacy law made by state lawmakers earlier this year limits the size of damages that can be claimed in lawsuits over Biometric Information Privacy Act violations, a federal judge ruled last week. It’s an early indication that the courts are willing to apply a recent amendment to the biometric privacy law – once viewed as the strongest in the nation – to cases that are already in progress.
"Ensuring every Illinois student has access to a safe, validating learning environment where they can be their true self is a top priority for my administration," Pritzker said. In Illinois, biological males can compete with females under Pritzker's guidance in school or club sports. Additionally, "use of restrooms, locker rooms and changing rooms may not be restricted based upon a student’s physical anatomy or chromosomal sex.
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State Rep. Adam Niemerg said whatever the Democrats come up with won’t work. "The governor has said that law enforcement will not cooperate. Well, law enforcement doesn’t like JB Pritzker. There’s federal funding tied to this, and all Trump has to do is cut federal funding. We are looking at an over $3 billion deficit, mainly because of the bad policies coupled with the open borders and the $3 billion we’ve spent on illegals in Illinois."
State Rep. Bill Hauter, also an emergency room physician, said mandated staffing ratios are not the way to address shortages. Hauter suggested Illinois become a Compact Nursing State, of which there are currently 42. "That way we can have free-flow of man-power from other states, traveling nurses, and we could expand mid-level providers and aids. We need to get faster licensing, we need to incentivize education and training, there’s all sorts of ways but imposing staffing ratios is just wrong."
“We are going to miss out on opportunities because we can’t supply the electricity at an affordable rate,” state Rep. Dan Caulkins said. “And if we don’t fall in line with the rest of the country, we are going to be the rust bucket. We will continue to decline. Companies are gonna leave.”
A change in state law extended the time for wage recovery to three years to give the Illinois Department of Labor more time to find employees who are owed back wages. The law also states that after three years, IDOL can send unclaimed wages to Treasurer Frerichs’ Unclaimed Property Trust Fund, so workers can still claim their money.
The Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office is under investigation by the U. S. Department of Justice for civil rights violations, but the probe may go beyond the fatal shooting of Sonya Massey. The U.S. Department of Justice’s civil rights probe will investigate the sheriff’s department, but also Sangamon County Central Dispatch and the county itself.
Since the prison closed, the eponymous village a couple miles east still looks for an economic north star. Women are still incarcerated in sordid conditions at the prison they were transferred to. Layoff concerns were largely remedied by filling nearby correctional vacancies. And the shell of the prison sits as a sore reminder to some.
"The groups that chose a new national direction are the same groups of people Pritzker has consistently failed in our great state of Illinois. ... Instead of taking the 2024 presidential election as a call to do better, Pritzker apparently views it as his golden ticket to the White House. He should have seen it as a reason to take a long, hard look in the mirror."
"Governor Pritzker’s postelection press conference was the sole heartening thing I have heard since the debacle of November 5."
Gov. JB Pritzker said the state has distributed more than $69 million under CEJA since June of last year to support EV chargers across the state. “There will soon be a charging station along every highway every 50 miles in Illinois. That’s just the start,” the governor promised.
In late October, the Republican National Committee and Judicial Watch partnered up and won a lawsuit reversing a lower court ruling allowing vote-by-mail ballots to be counted five days after election day as long as it was postmarked by Election Day. Illinois law gives elections officials two weeks to count vote-by-mail ballots with election day on the postmark.
A federal judge is hearing a case on allowing Illinois lawmakers to ban certain fees on sales taxes and tips.
A state-by-state analysis of the federal report by MoneyGeek predicts Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Illinois and Kansas will see the largest increase in natural gas bill, expected to be $10 to $15 more per month when compared to last winter.
Several Will County board members have, as solar projects come up for votes, said they are constrained by a state law that takes authority to regulate solar and wind projects out of the hands of county government. The law states counties cannot have more restrictive standards than the state when regulating solar and wind energy facilities and that if the solar energy facility meets all the state requirements, the county should approve it.
His decision to join the Illinois Freedom Caucus makes him the first senator to join and launching the Caucus into the Senate.
Pat Devaney, of the Illinois AFL-CIO: "The solution is the Fair Retirement and Recruitment Act, introduced in the Illinois General Assembly. This legislation would bring the final average salary pension calculation back in line with Tier 1, align Tier 2’s retirement age requirements with Tier 1, implement an across-the-board 3 percent simple interest cost-of-living adjustment for all Tier 2 members, and adjust the pension salary cap to comply with federal Social Security requirements."
The Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) announced that nonfarm payrolls fell by 2,400 jobs in October, while the state’s unemployment rate held steady at 5.3 percent.
The cozy, at times co-dependent, relationship between lawmakers and lobbyists, coupled with some of the flimsiest regulations in the country, contributes to the greed and graft that permeate Illinois politics. And while it’s clear there is good money to be made in the lobbying business, there’s no way for the public to know exactly how much is being spent to shape state law on behalf of powerful interests because, unlike the federal government, about half the states and even the city of Chicago, the state of Illinois doesn’t require lobbyists to disclose any information about their compensation.
"If past is prologue, the people of Illinois will be hearing quite a bit about both issues in the coming months. They should remember that, despite multiple pledges to address the property tax issue in the past, the legislature has done little to nothing. In that respect, rhetoric promoting a progressive income tax amendment would have the same negligible impact on the property tax issue."
As the nation’s leading nuclear energy producer, Illinois is uniquely positioned to capitalize on or fall victim to the latest rush for the carbon-free but controversial power.
“I think people express their frustrations in a variety of ways,” Pritzker said. “This is not something that will actually make any change in the state of Illinois.” Voters in the Metro East county made it the 33rd in downstate Illinois to approve the symbolic measure.
Across Illinois and California, more red counties that feel steamrolled by blue-led governments are trying to split off.
The CRI was made possible by a partnership between Illinois and City of Chicago. It’s housed within Discovery Partners Institute, which is part of the University of Illinois System.
"Remember, the state suspended the tax statewide for all of fiscal 2022. In so doing, it agreed to cover the shortfall for local governments, which ended up costing $252 million. With 12.5 million Illinoisans, that’s $20.16 per person — almost 39 cents per week. Certainly, there are people who don’t qualify for government aid for grocery purchases but find $20 per year meaningful. But that population isn’t going to move the political needle away from the type of budget cuts a community might need to cover a seven-figure budget hole."
Gov. JB Pritzker — who warned at a news conference two days after the election, “You come for my people, you come through me” — announced a new initiative Wednesday with Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, himself a potential presidential aspirant, branded “Governors Safeguarding Democracy.”
Top Chicago Stories
State Rep. Anthony DeLuca’s House Bill 5913 would redirect unspent state budget dollars intended for migrant issues and instead create a one-time property tax rebate for low and moderate-income homeowners. This rebate would be available specifically for those who live in Bloom, Calumet, Rich, Thornton, or Bremen Township in Cook County.
“How does it feel that Trump is in office right now? You see, Mayor Brandon Johnson, you underestimate us. You underestimate the black people and underestimate Chicago red,” Chicagoan Dennis White said. “We are a thorn in your side. If you don’t stop what you’re doing, we’re going to take matter into our own hands. Illinois is turning purple. We gonna turn red."
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Several aldermen have said they will not support any property tax hike, and despite his own campaign promise not to raise property taxes, Mayor Brandon Johnson said those drawing a line in the sand against any level of property tax hike might need a wakeup call. "Some of the steps and measures that are being taken, these are some individuals that are having tantrums right now. It's time to grow up. The people of Chicago don't have time for that," he said.
"The 'defund the police' movement is not over. It’s now taken the form of restrictive legislation and policies and procedures that reduce police officers’ ability to protect themselves and the public, such as tight restrictions on police chases."
A band of thieves who swiped $3.8 million during at least 15 armored truck and ATM heists across Chicago’s south suburbs was undone by a series of hapless mistakes — including crashing a car, failing to discover a tracking device in a bag of money and keeping a wrapper from a stolen roll of quarters, the FBI revealed in a court filing unsealed last week.
On top of the budget deficit, CTU contract negotiations are ongoing. “So many of the things they’re asking for, I support,” new Board member and community organizer Aaron “Jitu” Brown said. “All the children that are homeless in Chicago Public Schools, there’s an opportunity to provide resources for those families, to give those families stability. I think it makes sense. You cannot educate children on the cheap, and if you have Black and Brown children that have been neglected for decades, the needs are deep.”
The city’s arrest rate for aggravated assaults rose to its second-highest level in the past five years. Still, just 1-in-6 cases resulted in an arrest.
Former Highland Park Mayor Michael Belsky: "I put the news of (Chicago's) deficit and the uncertainty around how to manage it up there with the annual news about the low funding levels of the city’s pension funds. These conditions become headlines. Reading them is stressful for residents and local businesses. While hard to measure, who knows how many businesses, trade conferences and tourists spurn our fair city because of this annual noise."
"Just as Chicago looks to blame certain carmakers for the City's inability to stop auto thefts in the City, Chicago seeks to place the blame on Glock, Inc. for crime involving the use of Modified Glock Pistols," Glock wrote in a recent court filing. "Chicago does not claim that Glock pistols fail to function properly when they are sold by Glock, Inc. and, in light of their popularity and reliability, does not seek to restrict their sale to, or use by, law enforcement."
Ald. Andre Vasquez said, “The mayor presented himself as the collaborator-in-chief, [but] there’s not a lot of collaboration here. ... If he’s the collaborator-in-chief that he says he is, it’s not about grabbing the steering wheel. We’re all in the car together figuring it out.”
"What's really important, of course, is to put the right people around you," said Political Science Professor Stephen Maynard Caliendo. "He's making a series of curious decisions that doesn't seem to acknowledge that he has some public opinion trouble."
"Short of a massive federal bailout and state subsidies, there’s no financial solution to the present budget crisis without restoring ridership. Transit agencies have threatened to cut services by 40 percent, but draconian fare increases and service cuts will only decrease ridership and hurt finances further."
Chicago hosts hundreds of street festivals each year, with approximately 1,300 events held between 2021 and 2023. During that period, nearly 2,800 Chicago police officers logged a combined total of 27,000 overtime hours to patrol these events, according to a CBS News Data Team analysis of police overtime records and special event permits.
About 40 percent of the state’s after-school programs have been slashed this year, following delays in the 21st Century Community Learning Centers grant, and the number is expected to rise to 87 percent, totaling about 290 sites, by the end of this year. The problem is that the governor’s office is at a standstill with the money, and there has been no communication on when funds will be released.
“They’re looking for revenue instead of looking for fat and inefficiency,” Ald. Anthony Beale said. “If they could cut the $300-million increase in half miraculously in a couple of days, it means they’re still trying to hoodwink the people of Chicago instead of making the spending cuts needed to put the city back on track.” Southwest Side Ald. Marty Quinn predicted that it would be “very difficult” for Johnson to get 26 votes for “any property tax increase” let alone $150 million.
The same block in Rogers Park has been the site of an untold number of shootouts and shooting attempts that ended without injury.
Foxx is confident she would have won a third term as Cook County’s top prosecutor, saying the criticisms of “a minority who didn’t vote for her” have been over amplified by the media. “I would not have won so handily in 2020 if people believed that I didn’t care about crime and that we needed to reform the system,” she said.
The Building Owners and Managers Association of Chicago is pushing for a business improvement district, or BID, allowing commercial property owners to collectively fund security, infrastructure upgrades and attracting tenants.
State Rep. Dan Ugaste said, “We can't keep increasing prices on things. It's chasing everyone away. Chicago has always been a great destination for tourism and conventions and we just aren't getting what we used to because of how much it costs to come here.”
The second level will feature the history that made Obama's presidency possible. The third level will feature the history of the two terms of the Obama presidency, organized not in chronological order but thematically, focusing on issues like health care, the economy, education, immigration, wars and the military. The fourth level will explore the idea of making the White House the "People's House," with a more inclusive set of visitors than ever before. and Level Five will focus on the social movements that continued after Obama’s term.
“When you say supplemental it sounds like extra,” Chief Financial Officer Jill Jaworski said. But the city’s four pension funds are in such dire straits, the supplemental payments only help stop the bleeding, she said. Continuation of the smallish payments now would help shrink the city’s pension contribution tab by $3.9 billion through 2055, according to Jaworski.
The 17 robberies date back to Oct. 19, but 15 of them occurred between Nov. 10 and Friday, according to police. They happened in the Archer Heights, Bronzeville, Chicago Lawn, Gage Park, Hyde Park, South Loop, Washington Park and Woodlawn neighborhoods. In each case, three to six men had handguns and rifles.
"It is not a mere matter of dollars and cents. Many of these businesses are located in the South Side of Chicago, which borders the Indiana state line. This poses a particular problem given that the Hoosier State's excise tax for distilled spirits sits at $2.68 per gallon. Chicago's current rate—when combined with Illinois' state liquor tax—is already over $13 per gallon. 'It is cheaper for Illinois retailers [such as neighborhood liquor stores] to buy at retail in Indiana than to buy at wholesale in Illinois,' wrote Sean O'Leary, former chief legal counsel of the Illinois Liquor Control Commission..."
At the Irish Nobleman, owner Declan Morgan says his neighborhood pub simply can't take on any more taxes without cutting staff or passing it on to customers. "It's disappointing. it's a great city. But so many restaurants and bars are closing down all over this city and state," Morgan said. "We're definitely looking at leaving the city, so, Chicago is doing us no favors."
Ahead of a Chicago City Council vote unanimously rejecting Mayor Brandon Johnson’s proposed $300 million property tax hike, local residents addressed the council and the mayor, criticizing Johnson to his face over trying to raise taxes while catering to illegal immigrants.
The Chicago institution is popularly known for its commitment to “social justice” with President Ali Malekzadeh even being the host of the campus “And Justice For All Podcast” aimed at “exploring the relationship between education and justice, and the transformative power of inclusive education.”
Wirepoints Research and Commentary
It’s not just the projected five-year $23 billion budget deficit that Gov. J.B. Pritzker and his administration need to worry about these days. He also needs to get a handle on Illinois’ unemployment rolls, which have been creeping in the wrong direction for ten straight months. The unemployed now total 346,000 Illinoisans. 
Weekly crime statistics from the Chicago Police Department: Report through 11/10/2024. 
It would be comically hypocritical if weren’t so tragically destructive. 
Illinois SAT scores are at or near all-time lows. But few parents know about those collapsing scores thanks to a five-step process education officials use to make public education look better than it really is. 
Ted joined Jeff Daly to talk about the outcome of the election, why Gov. Pritzker is doubling down on his anti-Trump rhetoric after Trump performed better than expected and why the governor should focus on Illinois' own problems instead of challenging the next president. The state is facing $23 billion in deficits, Chicago is still swamped with violent crime and new education data shows students still can't read or do math at grade level. SIGN UP HERE FOR FREE WIREPOINTS DAILY NEWSLETTER
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Ted joined Dan and Amy to talk about Illinois' lack of change in this election despite Trump's growing success in the state, why principles and facts are so important when pushing back, why voters approving a progressive tax is a bad idea, why grievance politics are so destructive, and more. 
Ted Dabrowski joined Ray Stevens to discuss how Gov. Pritzker’s rhetoric is alienating voters, the factors pushing the state toward a red shift, the chance of projects of Chinese companies like Gotion getting shut down by the Trump administration, and more. 
The governor's budget office recently projected $23 billion in deficits over the next five years. Why? Pritzker wants to continue the pandemic-era spending he’s put together since coming into office in 2019. If the governor has his way, the state’s budget will have grown by a whopping $23 billion by 2030 – a near 60% increase in little more than a decade. 
Ted joined Greg Bishop to discuss the state's projected $5 billion annual deficits, why Gov. Pritzker is increasing spending even though the covid bailout money has finally run out, the massive increase in spending on human services and education, why tax hikes drive Illinoisans out of the state, and more. 
Straight away, Pritzker has returned to dividing people, not uniting them. Instilling fear, not comfort. Given the results, he should be chastened. But that's not happening. 
Chicago continues to a big outlier in the country for crime and, in particular, for murder. And yet the culture for addressing crime only gets worse. The mayor's "defund the police" mentality. A District State's Attorney office that refuses to criminalize crime. A Cook County judge that continues to decarcerate. A SAFE-T Act that allows more bad people to roam the streets. And a sanctuary status that invites an unknown number of criminals to Chicago.
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