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Top Illinois Stories
U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Lindsey Graham are expected to soon introduce a bill to sunset Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which largely protects technology companies from being held legally responsible for third party or user consent. “I’m under no illusion it will be easy to pass legislation to protect kids online and finally make the tech industry legally accountable for the harms they cause,” Durbin said.
State Senator Robert Martwick (D-Chicago): "Any financial adviser will tell you that the benefits provided by Tier Two do not meet even the most basic retirement security standards."
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State Rep. Travis Weaver wants to entice more recruits to stay home by exempting up to $100,000 in name, image and likeness earnings from the state income tax. To him, it’s more about helping the mid-major schools in the state such as Bradley, Illinois State, Western Illinois and Loyola Chicago than the Big Ten’s Illinois and Northwestern. “If those schools are just a little bit more successful and you get that extra 10% bump in applications more periodically, they can help Peoria, Ill., Bloomington, Ill., Macomb, Ill.,” said Weaver, a Republican from Peoria.
The former Illinois governor has agreed to lobby on behalf of the Republic of Srpska, a Serb-majority territory in Bosnia and Herzegovina long mired in the bitter ethnic tensions of the region. Dubbed “the Bosnian Bear,” for his physique and crude antics, Srpska's president, Milorad Dodik, has fled to Moscow.
His attorneys claimed in a motion that the trial judge made a series of errors, including allowing prosecutors to present as evidence the now-infamous wiretap recordings in which Madigan said some ComEd contractors "made out like bandits."
Illinois has long been a bastion for homeschool freedom because of a 1950 Illinois Supreme Court ruling in People v. Levisen, in which the court found that homeschooling falls under the private school law in Illinois. But the new proposal would essentially reverse that decision, with parents no longer able to homeschool their children at home under the private school law.
A bill would create a centralized website, where a graduating student could apply to all public Illinois colleges with just one application. State Sen. Christopher Belt said this is just another policy from lawmakers to keep Illinoisan to stay in the state.
As a result of the pause, 900 workers at the company's Warren Stamping and Sterling Stamping plants in Michigan, as well as its Indiana Transmission Plant, Kokomo Transmission Plant and Kokomo Casting Plant, are being laid off.
“While the concept may seem ambitious and complex, this bill does not enact the transfer itself, but rather creates a structured framework for thorough analysis and planning,” said Indiana state Sen. Scott Baldwin. “It should be important to note, (Illinoisans) initiated this conversation. They have all asked to be a part of this.”
State Rep. Nabeela Syed has introduced House Bill 1442 that would establish curbside voting during early voting and on election day. During a House Ethics and Election Committee hearing Wednesday, she said during the November election, some voting lines were too long for some people.
Mexico was Illinois’ second-largest export market in 2024 with $32 billion worth of goods being sent to the country. Another $19 billion worth of Mexican goods came to Illinois that year, making the country Illinois’ third-largest import market.
SB 1976 would prevent state agencies from making “workers’ rights or worker safety” rules less stringent than federal laws. It would also allow the agencies to make the regulations more stringent than those provided in federal law as it existed on Jan. 19, 2025, which is the day before current U.S. President Donald Trump took office.
In its filing, the DOJ said Illinois’ migrant sanctuary policies “work an extraordinary assault on the Federal Government’s enforcement of the immigration laws at a time when the United States is facing a ‘national emergency’ from the unprecedented ‘illegal entry of aliens’ into the country.”
Addison, Homer, Lemont, Leyden, Palatine, Palos, Wheeling and Winfield townships all sent a message to state lawmakers with votes on a series of advisory ballot questions. The results were an overwhelming “Yes” to pension reform, “Yes” to fair maps not drawn by lawmakers and “No” to unfunded mandates on local governments that drive up property taxes.
The Governor’s proposal to eliminate townships, state Sen. Chapin Rose argues, will not necessarily lead to more efficiency, but will instead force counties and municipalities to shoulder additional burdens for snow plowing, road repairs and cemeteries. In many areas, the shift in duties will result in higher property taxes and/or significant cuts to essential services.
In Illinois, the position of County Recorder is elective in counties with a population of 60,000 or more. According to the Secretary of State, County Clerks have served as ex officio County Recorders, since 1963, in counties with populations below 60,000.
After the federal funding dried up, the General Assembly allocated $50 million in the budget which was set to begin in July 2024. After nearly nine months, the funds have not been released. Advocacy groups said the delay has caused damage, with more than 27,000 students losing access to the program and more than 2,000 staff members being laid off.
"There is no way the recently elected justices can render decisions on redistricting unsullied by the political debts they owe. ... If the justices fail to recuse themselves from the current proceedings, the court will simply confirm our state’s embarrassing national reputation for politics polluted by conflicts of interest — and worse."
Jim Dey: "That’s where Father Time steps in — if Durbin wins re-election next year, he would be 82 when his next term starts and 88 by the end. Given the ravages of time inflicted on former President Joe Biden — ravages that help cost Democrats the presidency in 2024 — it would be no great surprise if Durbin pulled the plug."
Emanuel is rejoining the investment bank Centerview Partners, where he worked from 2019 to 2021. He counseled CEOs on mergers, regulation and political information.
So far, 23 state representatives, including Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, have signed on as sponsors or co-sponsors of House Bill 1429, also known as the Homeless Bill of Rights. Local governments needing to maintain public access to areas occupied by “unsheltered homeless” people “engaging in life-sustaining activities” would have to rely on options that do not involve fines or criminal penalties for failing to comply.
In the March 31 ruling, U.S. District Judge Martha Pacold sided with the state of Illinois on the legal action's core legal question: Whether the license plate reader systems violate Illinoisans' Fourth Amendment rights against warrantless searches by law enforcement. In the ruling, Pacold said scans and data collection from license plate reader systems do not amount to police "searches" limited by the Fourth Amendment.
Lake County Judge Jorge Ortiz denied Smith & Wesson’s motions to dismiss counts of unfair business practices and negligence but granted a motion to dismiss allegations around deceptive business practices in a 34-page decision.
An international student at Southern Illinois University is now in immigration limbo because their student visa was abruptly revoked late last week. The university wouldn't elaborate on the reason for the revocation or the student's country of origin.
Pritzker signed the Addendum to the Illinois-Mexico Sister-State Memorandum of Understanding alongside Mexico Governor Delfina Gómez Álvarez, affirming their commitment to continued trade and manufacturing collaborations with a focus on biotechnology and water resources.
The Consumer Federation of America said in a report Illinois premiums rose 50% between 2021 and 2024, behind only Utah, where premiums rose 59% during the same time period. The average state increase was 24%, the report said.
Raoul, along with 20 other Democratic attorney generals, have penned an open letter calling for unity in the legal profession against what they claim is the Trump administration's retaliation against attorneys and law firms that have brought cases against the administration.
Top Chicago Stories
"Chicago has 185 shelter beds (for victims of abuse). New York has 3,000. Harris County, Texas, which includes Houston, has 336 beds. While Chicago experienced 59 domestic-violence homicides in 2023, New York had 23 and Harris County had 38. Pyron points to these numbers as evidence that providing sanctuary for victims works."
Amid ongoing negotiations at the state capitol in Springfield, a coalition of civic and policy groups released a report calling for a statewide tax on services. The report, "Modernizing Illinois' Sales Tax," lays out five fiscal challenges, including public transit, that it says should receive revenue from such a tax.
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"The CPS’ new contract with Chicago is effectively an expensive $1.5 billion status-quo agreement. Under the new contract, the terms negotiated do nothing to slow the district’s movement away from high standards and accountability ... Worse, the new contract does not prevent the CTU’s mission to eliminate public school alternatives such as charters and magnets to failing neighborhood schools."
There has also been an 18 percent decline in the number of burglaries reported in 2025 compared to last year, according to CPD data, and a 55 percent drop in the number of carjackings.
SB1507 would amend the Illinois Vehicle Code to allow automated speed enforcement systems in safety zones, and allow a safety zone to include a portion of DuSable Lake Shore Drive if the Chicago Department of Transportation designates it as a "high crash corridor."
The 2021 Woodlawn Housing Preservation Ordinance was passed to protect low-income renters and existing homeowners amid construction of the Obama Presidential Center in nearby Jackson Park, which brought new development to the neighborhood. South Shore has also been targeted by developers as the Obama Presidential Center’s opening nears.
Last month she announced her office will appoint the first diversity, equity and inclusion deputy clerk. The clerk’s office also has plans to integrate more DEI measures once her transition team completes its report this month.
"Let’s be clear: Chicago Public Schools (CPS) has no business expecting the city to cover the district’s $175 million payment for the employer contribution to non-teaching employees’ pensions. These employees are not city workers. At the same time, the city should not force the district to take out a loan to make that payment. Chicago has become a cash cow for a school district whose leadership refuses to operate within its means. ... A Wirepoints analysis suggests that only half of CPS’s $10 billion budget finds its way into schools."
Two Jewish students at DePaul University, who police say were attacked last fall while showing support for Israel, filed a lawsuit against the college Wednesday, claiming it was negligent and failed to protect their safety while on campus. They claim that “criminal activity was foreseeable,” and DePaul should have known attacks on Jewish and Israeli students were imminent.
Chicago finished the year’s first quarter this week with 96 murders, a drop of more than 15 percent from the first three months of last year.
“We vote for [elected officials] time and time again, and they vote for everything for the illegals, and not for us,” one woman said to some applause. She called on the city to encourage migrant deportations.
The vacancy was created after former Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, a Johnson ally, resigned to take over the Chicago Park District as general superintendent and CEO. Anthony Quezada was first elected to the Cook County Board in 2022 and has served as the vice chair of the Labor and Contract Compliance committees.
“We have faith in the Johnson administration,” said Cheryl Miller, with United Working Families (UWF), one of the first groups to endorse Johnson’s candidacy in the 2023 mayoral race. “And we also recognize that the Johnson administration represents more than the [interests of the] fifth floor – it represents community.”
The updated Human Relations Chapter of the village’s code does not conflict with federal law, as it still requires the village and its police department to assist federal officers in serving criminal warrants, officials said.
Despite being rebuffed by the Board of Education so far on his attempts to have CPS pay its share of the pension cost, Mayor Brandon Johnson said the “vast majority of board members recognize that securing the pensions and retirement for their workers is their responsibility.” He vowed to work with them and the Illinois General Assembly to “disentangle” city and school district finances. “It’s ultimately on my watch to ensure that we create systems that are economically solvent,” he said. “And I’m bold enough and audacious enough to take on that challenge.”
"The next leader of Chicago Public Schools will confront a brutal situation thanks to a mayor who refuses to acknowledge the urgent need to rationalize a bloated system with far too many schools for the number of students it’s serving. ... For Johnson, what an abdication of duty to the taxpayers of this city."
The estimated collective worth of the parcels is $26 million, according to a news release from Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office. Some properties have been made available at a discount — dependent on the proposed use — to encourage developers to “think strategically” about creating affordability throughout the city, Commissioner Ciere Boatright said.
“I don’t believe in retirement,” said Preckwinkle, who last month on her 78th birthday announced she will run for a fifth consecutive term in 2026. Perhaps Preckwinkle’s signature achievement has been being able to balance Cook County’s budget year after year without raising new taxes.
CPS CEO Pedro Martinez said there's enough money for the contract's first year, but not for the $175 million pension payment for which CPS is reimbursing the city. Martinez's suggestion to cover the pension payment is a tax levy. "There is a current tax levy the city has - it's part of your water tax bill and a few other bills. They have not raised it. They could raise it," he said.
“Dyett High School is a great example of a sustainable community school. When you invest in people and you invest in children, we create champions,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said, explaining that a tentative collective bargaining agreement with the city’s teachers union is a reflection of his values. Dyett won the 2A state championship in boys basketball last month. But according to the Illinois State Board of Education’s Illinois Report Card, 12 percent of Dyett students tested at grade level for proficiency in science, and the chronic absenteeism rate last year was 75 percent. Math and English and Language Arts scores
"He portrays his battles as part of an existential battle against a political establishment that doesn’t want Black Chicagoans to prosper. ... His rhetoric is little more than a political ploy to put critics on the defensive and to win back support in the Black community, where many feel abandoned by his migrant policies."
Jenn Kho, the Sun-Times executive editor since 2022, will serve as interim editor-in-chief for Chicago Public Media, a new role overseeing the content produced by both the Sun-Times and WBEZ.
"We have a political elite that is in love with criminality, that encourages criminal behavior, pushes down our police officers, demonize[s] their work on a daily basis, and elevates the perpetrators of crime as the victims of society themselves," Ald. Ray Lopez argued. "And that kind of coddling has brought us to where we are today."
"In Chicago, you would be hard-pressed to find more than a handful of teachers fired for poor performance despite abysmal student test scores and 40 percent of teachers being chronically absent in 2023."
"Because of generations of disinvestment — from banning Black children from attending the city’s first public schools, to 'Willis Wagons' that crowded Black children into rotating makeshift classrooms to avoid having to integrate with white students, to the failures of Renaissance 2010 and Rahm Emanuel’s gutting of public education — we are made to fight for what should already exist, what every parent wants for their child and what families in wealthier suburbs take for granted."
The situation at the Chicago teachers pension “speaks to the potential focus on particularly poorly funded systems when the stock market is going down.”
Ald. Brian Hopkins wrote to his constituents, "To summarize this weekend’s events: 1x 15-year old was shot with a firearm; 1x teen brandished a taser during a fight, threatening to use it against another individual; dozens of minors engaged in fist fights that necessitated EMS resources being called numerous times; 12x arrests were made pertaining to incidents of battery against a police officer, obstruction, resisting arrest, and possession of a replica firearm ... These takeovers are not 'silly kids doing silly things' (to use a previous quote of the mayor’s) but, rather, breeding grounds for violence and theft."
The 150 proposals CTU and Chicago Public Schools have hammered out include more school librarians, nurses and counselors. In addition, there are four pages of new agreements for smaller class sizes, creation of green schools and protections against attacks from President Donald Trump. The proposed deal includes an annual 4 percent cost of living raise - the same offer CPS made last summer.
The Congressional Committee on Education and the Workforce sent a letter to the Evanston school last week, saying “there are indications that Northwestern has used its taxpayer-supported institutional resources” to “engage in progressive-left political advocacy.” It’s also asking for the personnel file of professor Sheila Bedi, director of Northwestern’s Community Justice and Civil Rights Clinic.
Wirepoints Research and Commentary
One of the biggest cons the CTU and CPS continue to pull off is convincing Chicagoans that the two are adversaries. After lots of supposed acrimony, they've just agreed to a preliminary teachers contract. The result is a win-win for them. Meanwhile, Chicagoans get stuck with the bill and the city digs a deeper financial hole for itself. 
The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board cited Wirepoints’ analysis of Chicago Public Schools' declining enrollment as part of its critique of the district's new preliminary teachers contract. As the board says: The union still got its money, but as usual the losers are the students. 
Ted joined Dan and Amy to discuss the latest federal economic data that shows that Illinois is still a national outlier, why the state's GDP and wage growth is so anemic, why the breakdown of the nuclear family is such a problem, and more. 
Weekly crime statistics from the Chicago Police Department: Report through 2/9/25 
Illinois continues to suck wind at creating economic growth, wage gains and job creation, according to new 2024 economic data released late last week by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. It’s a sad pattern that’s been true since before the pandemic. SIGN UP HERE FOR FREE WIREPOINTS DAILY NEWSLETTER
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Ted joined Scott Slocum to discuss the anti-homeschooling bill making its way through the legislature, why Illinois school superintendents are paid massive sums to manage failing districts, the additional millions in pension benefits they get when they retire, and more. 
Mark joined Ray and Nick to talk about how Gov. Pritzker has used schools to push radical gender ideology and why parents are pushing back on government overreach into homeschooling. 
The Chicago Tribune cited Wirepoints' research on superintendent salaries to decry the disconnect between the compensation that top school district administrators receive from taxpayers versus the actual reading and math outcomes in their districts. 
Ted joined Fox News to explain why Chicago has been the nation's murder capital for 13 years straight. The reasons are many. Start with demoralized, restricted police. Add a 1 in 20 arrest rate. Add unreported crime. Add a dismal 911 response rate. Then add city leadership that’s soft on crime. All that equals a near-zero chance of criminals ever getting punished. And so the bloodshed continues. 
Ed Bachrach of the Center for Pension Integrity and Wirepoints' Ted Dabrowski wrote a new Tribune OpEd covering the latest attempt by state lawmakers to sweeten the pension benefits of Tier 2 public employees. They warn that hiking pensions benefits – and hiding the costs using funding ramps – will lead to intergenerational inequity. 
Lawmakers won’t pursue the structural reforms needed to fix CPS, so the only real short-term fix is to cut the district’s ballooning costs. Like shuttering the district’s dozens of near-empty schools. Or rolling back the massive increase in non-teacher staff hired during covid. Or holding the line on teacher salaries, which are now among the highest in the country. 
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