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Top Illinois Stories
"For decades, I led big-city school districts across the country. I’ve seen firsthand how the Department of Education’s bureaucratic expansion—in Republican and Democratic administrations alike—yielded little in terms of student achievement."
Candidate for Manteno mayor Annette LaMore is a vocal critic of the Chinese-owned Gotion lithium-ion battery plant being planned for the village and the way local officials have handled the project. The April 1 election will determine whether Lamore and her allied candidates can gain enough support to take control of the village board and block further backing of the Gotion plant. More Highlighted Illinois Stories
In all, JB Pritzker has now personally donated $1.5 million to aid the campaign of Democratic Dane County Judge Susan Crawford in the race to replace retiring liberal State Supreme Court Justice Ann Walsh Bradley. On campaign donation records, Pritzker is again listed as "Governor." And he again is using a Chicago address associated with The Pritzker Group, a venture capital firm.
If Republicans in Congress don’t act and preserve the status quo, state Rep. LaShawn Ford said continued litigation will cost taxpayers. “But I guess it is a zero sum game, you know if we have to take money from our general revenue fund to divert it to fight the case that could reduce other spending powers in higher ed,” Ford said.
“Now you have to have the county whose gonna take on these responsibilities,” says Patrick Sellers, the Freeport Township supervisor. “They can still levy up to 90 percent of the original township levy, so I don’t know where you’re saving money by doing this.”
Now, a new report from the Illinois General Assembly’s Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability, which is free from gubernatorial control, shows the state faces as much as a $1.2 billion shortfall and potential tax hikes. That illustrates the financial consequences of inaccurate projections.
Some attorneys general have organized a roadshow to take their cases directly to voters. On March 20, five attorneys general—Mayes, Ellison, Kwame Raoul of Illinois, Letitia James of New York and New Jersey’s Matthew Platkin—spoke to more than 1,000 people, almost all of them Democrats, gathered at a high school in suburban St. Paul, Minn.
Abughazaleh is a 26-year-old content creator who lives on the North Side of Chicago. She’s challenging an incumbent Democrat in a solidly blue state, in the solidly blue 9th Congressional District, which covers part of Chicago’s North Side as well as a smattering of nearby suburbs including Democratic strongholds Evanston and Skokie. Rep. Jan Schakowsky has been the congresswoman there since 1999 (the year Abughazaleh was born) and has not lost an election since.
Jim Dey: "Not too many downstaters are familiar with (state Sen. Michael) Hastings, who has aspirations for statewide office. He’s best known for conflicts with his former wife that included allegations of physical abuse on his part and prompted Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker to call for Hastings’ resignation from office."
"Across Illinois we have an opportunity to leverage unspent federal bond capacity for the 4 percent Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) allocations awarded annually to Illinois. The Build Illinois Homes Tax Credit creates a stable, predictable funding source for affordable housing development and leverages existing federal tax credit sources."
Gov. JB Pritzker recently proposed an overall $2 billion increase to next year’s state budget. But he also recommended cuts to several programs, including reducing the cover crop insurance credit budget from $960,000 to $660,000. Demand for the Fall Cover for Spring Savings program — which offers a $5 per acre discount on the following year’s crop insurance premiums — has outpaced state funding every year since its inception six years ago.
Illinois community colleges saw a record-breaking surge in enrollment this spring semester, according to the Illinois Community College Board’s most recent enrollment report, even as some four-year universities have struggled. “The pandemic had a profound effect on enrollment and Illinois community colleges continue to aggressively recruit and retain students as enrollment rebounds,” the report said, adding that the state “is outpacing growth nationally.”
The Illinois Department of Employment Security announced that the unemployment rate fell 0.1 percentage point to 4.8 percent in February, based on preliminary data provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Illinois' January unemployment rate was 4.9 percent.
“When you're a trial lawyer lobby, it’s a pretty good investment to kick in a million dollars to one party in power here in Illinois and get results from something like [the Biometric Information Privacy Act] where that generated hundreds of millions of dollars in attorney fees for in-state and out-of-state law firms,” said Phil Melin, of Illinois Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse.
The governor allocated $300 million for the remediation of five properties around the state "There's 100 acres out there," Lincoln Mayor Tracy Welch said of the Lincoln Developmental Center, one property on the governor's list. "That's a lot of land that could be put to better use than simply having properties or buildings on that property that are of no use to the state or our local economy, for that matter."
"What's happening in Illinois exemplifies modern socialism's playbook. Today's Marxists don't seize businesses outright; they control them through suffocating regulations. In education, where government already holds a near-monopoly, they fight vigorously against parental attempts to find alternatives that better serve their children's needs."
The bill would amend the Retailers’ Occupation Tax Act to recognize cannabis as prescription and nonprescription medicine and drugs as long as a buyer purchases it from a dispensary and has a medical cannabis card.
"Here’s where a little known fact comes into play. While most people are unaware of township government, the world will come to an end if it is modified in any way. At least that’s what one might suspect when politically influential township officials get on the horn and warn/threaten legislators of the consequences of any changes, however slight."
A new study by 24/7 Wall St shows the states where home foreclosure rates are the highest. Illinois ranks ninth, with a foreclosure rate of 1 foreclosure in every 3,753 housing units.By comparison, Missouri has a foreclosure rate that is less than half of Illinois, with only 1 in every 7,112 homes facing foreclosure.
"Proponents of (Illinois House Bill 2827, the Homeschool Act) argue that additional oversight will protect vulnerable children. But from my firsthand experience as an educator and homeschooler, I know this bill would do the opposite — it would burden an already overwhelmed public system, potentially criminalize parents seeking educational freedom and ultimately make no meaningful impact on child safety."
"To understand how burdensome rules keep people on the sidelines, consider what aspiring barbers have to navigate before they can become licensed (in Illinois): 1,500 hours in an approved barbering school, which can cost as much as college tuition. By comparison, New York requires just 500 hours — a third as much — yet suffers no apparent decline in public safety or service quality."
The House Committee on Education and Workforce criticized Northwestern for “indications” that it used federal funds to support an alleged antisemitic group in a letter sent Thursday.
Ald. Lakeisha Purchase’s hiring is part of a broader shift in Johnson’s intergovernmental affairs efforts in Springfield, where since taking office nearly two years ago he’s had minimal success working with Gov. JB Pritzker and some lawmakers.
State Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth said sealed records can open doors to job opportunities and allow people who served time to rebuild their lives. She stressed this is a key reason why groups from the business industry like the Illinois Retail Merchants Association and Illinois Manufacturers' Association support her plan.
Prosecutors argue the forfeited money (more than $3.1 million) represents proceeds from Madigan’s illicit dealings, including his influence over the state’s largest utility, ComEd.<
“I don’t have to remind you that in the last few years, under his leadership, we’ve lost Caterpillar, Citadel, Boeing, Tyson Foods, Guggenheim Partners, and TTX. That just scratches the surface. Many, many smaller businesses have shuttered and families are moving out of Illinois in droves,” Illinois Republican Party Chair Kathy Salvi said.
McLean County school districts asked voters to approve a 1 percent sales tax on their taxpayer-funded websites, a move that has one resident accusing officials of a criminal offense. Dean Fletcher, an Illinois resident, lodged a complaint with the Illinois State Policy Special Investigations Unit and the Attorney General's Public Integrity Bureau, but both agencies declined to investigate. "They're infamous for not investigating Mike Madigan,” said Fletcher.
"Pretty much everyone at the statehouse has said that funding won’t happen without reform. But the transit leaders are still demanding lots more money without interference with their governance. 'It’s something that I think we all understand is necessary soon,' the governor repeated, emphasizing the word 'soon.'"
Top Chicago Stories
Protesters showed up to Tesla dealers in Chicago's Gold Coast neighborhood, north suburban Northbrook and west suburban Westmont with chants and signs – some calling the electric vehicles Swasticars – as part of the "Tesla Takedown" movement.
Andrew Boutros, a former federal prosecutor, co-chairs government and white-collar investigations at a Chicago law firm.
The county will now run all electronic monitoring through the court system, merging parallel programs that have previously operated separately under the authority of Sheriff Tom Dart and Chief Judge Tim Evans. With dueling political philosophies, labor conflicts and budget issues on the horizon, the county will begin the transition Tuesday, though a full switch is likely at least six months away.
More Highlighted Chicago Area Stories
"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."
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.
Several local groups are calling for greater transparency from the city and private developers and a Community Benefits Agreement—a legally binding contract between the developer and a community—for the site. Others oppose the project altogether, arguing that the site should fulfill more immediate local needs like grocery stores, green space or affordable housing.
"In theory, the law is meant to keep longtime residents in their neighborhoods. In practice, it punishes small landlords, discourages investment and reduces the overall housing supply."
The chief judge’s office currently monitors about 2,300 defendants placed on a curfew by a judge or facing domestic violence charges, according to Jordan Boulger of the Adult Probation Department; They expect their EM population to grow by over 900 people over the next six months. To become a 24 hour operation like the sheriff’s office — which can activate devices and respond to alerts at any time —the chief judge’s office said it will need to nearly triple the number of officers in its home confinement unit.
Lawmakers remain laser-focused on reforming the agencies as they discuss two bills to either merge the agencies or empower the RTA. But legislators have all but refused to talk about immediate funding solutions.
"When police are struggling to address serious crime, we think an obvious answer would be to take parking off their overloaded plates. Cities such as Philadelphia and Minneapolis are working toward their own versions of that solution. In Chicago, it would mean having the Department of Finance — not CPD — respond to parking-related calls in the first instance."
The ages of the victims range from 15 to 36.
"... (T)he problem is not that hundreds of teenagers come downtown unsupervised. The problem is a very small number of people within those groups who set out to cause trouble. But, for one reason or another, regardless of who the mayor is, City Hall does not have the backbone to stand up to them."
After three nooses were found in a bush in Evanston, two children were vilified as racist. A family was driven out of their home. Now, over two years later, the parents reveal the truth. 
The conversion of 79 W. Monroe is a $64.2 million investment and is expected to create at least 75 construction jobs, according to officials. In October, City Council approved $28 million in tax increment financing for the project.
The developer, Allison Davis, is an attorney who co-founded the law firm Davis, Miner, Barnhill & Galland, where Obama worked prior to his political career.
Sterling Bay is surrendering a swath of land at its planned Lincoln Yards campus to its lender, a setback for the Chicago real estate firm's stalled $6 billion North Side development that stands to substantially weaken its grip on the megaproject.
“The dangerous behavior that was on display, no one wants to see that, and our police department will continue to hold people accountable,” Mayor Johnson said. He has pushed back against ideas of pushing the curfew from 10 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Officers were reminded to make sure their uniforms were "clean and serviceable" without holes or tears, and told not to wear hoodies underneath uniforms or tactical pants. They must also abstain from having "faddish" hairstyles, goatees or wearing earrings while on duty. Only neutral colored nail polish is allowed.
CPD brought units from across the city, including officers usually assigned to patrol neighborhoods like Rogers Park and Wicker Park, to handle an estimated 300 teenagers who swarmed the downtown area as the sun set Friday. During one clash, people broke out Tasers, which they applied liberally to each other.
Spectators and stunt drivers blocked intersections across the North Side overnight, including a couple in Lakeview, setting off fireworks, clogging traffic, and squealing tires as drivers spun donuts.
State Rep. Curtis Tarver says the situation has deteriorated to a point where the state should consider taking it over.
Without the financial muscle of SEIU and CTU, Johnson would not have vaulted from single-digit obscurity to the fifth floor of City Hall. SEIU affiliates together donated over $4.5 million to Johnson’s campaign. The union also provided scores of campaign workers and materials. The CTU contributed another $2.3 million to Johnson’s campaign. State and national teachers unions gave another $3.3 million.
The mayor said, “We all benefit when our public schools are thriving. The potential agreement includes smaller class sizes for our students and librarians in dozens of schools across our city.” CPS has said it has offered teachers what amounts to a 16 percent raise over the next four years.
"This is the first time that a municipality of this size has hired off-duty and retired or off-duty police officers to patrol the neighborhood," said Steve Vitale, P4 Security Solutions president.
The three dozen-plus men flagged by the Chicago Police Department as possible Tren de Aragua members have mostly faced only drug and traffic cases, based on arrest records and other data. A review of dozens of other arrest reports for Venezuelan nationals charged with violent crimes in Chicago in recent years show only one man whose tattoo is considered a symbol of the gang.
Wirepoints Research and Commentary
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. 
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. SIGN UP HERE FOR FREE WIREPOINTS DAILY NEWSLETTER
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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. 
Weekly crime statistics from the Chicago Police Department: Report through 2/9/25 
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. 
Ted joined Dan and Amy to discuss the current scramble regarding CPS/Chicago's $175 million pension payment, the emptying out of Chicago Public Schools, the scandal of the top-paid superintendents in Illinois receiving $300K-plus in salaries despite their failures, why Illinois is full of legalized corruption, and more. 
The Lansing Journal reports that Dolton School District Superintendent Kevin J. Nohelty is set to receive a salary of $480,000. 
No state has ever been this tardy. Illinois lawmakers are now preparing the state's 2026 budget, to be finalized in May. They are doing so blind to essential information they should be considering. 
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