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Top Illinois Stories
Actual students have become irrelevant to budgets. In Chicago, there are schools that remain open despite 80 percent vacancy rates. Chicago Teachers Union spent a record $4.2 million on politics and lobbying but less than 18 percent on representing teachers. More Highlighted Illinois Stories
Government affairs strategist and former Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady said JB Pritzker's political skills are not to be underestimated: "Don't underestimate his ability to communicate, his likability, and he's got all the money he needs."
A federal judge sided with Kalshi, finding that prediction markets are more like financial swaps, which are federally regulated, than gambling, which is subject to state oversight.
Dennis Hastert, whose rise to US House speaker in 1996 was as unexpected as the criminal conviction that sullied his reputation and sent him to prison years later, has died. He was 84.
Michigan-based BFG Supply Company notified the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity that it plans to eliminate 35 positions at BFG's Danville facility, and the permanent layoffs are expected to begin in late October or early November.
Jim Dey: "Pritzker has told reporters he’s undecided on the issue, looking for information about how the program will be administered. But it’s a fair bet he knows what he’ll do and is waiting for a good time — after the November election — to announce it."
"... (W)e've successfully investigated a lot bigger fish than you. So think about that and act like a decent human being," the Illinois General Assembly's acting ethics watchdog David Risley said. 
The race to replace retiring Democratic U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin is the first open Senate contest in Illinois since 2010, when Republican Mark Kirk beat Alexi Giannoulias, now secretary of state and a candidate for Chicago mayor. Tracy, a 76-year-old attorney and eldest son of the founders of one of the state's largest family-owned businesses faces Democratic nominee Juliana Stratton, Illinois' lieutenant governor.
Democrat Julianna Stratton said she supports eliminating the filibuster. “There’s so many issues that we’ve been able to tackle here in Illinois and get done that have been held up in Washington, D.C.,” Stratton told The Center Square. “I want to see us be able to move past that.” Her Republican opponent, Don Tracy, says he would keep it.
For the most part, it’s legal conduct. But campaigns not disclosing influencers’ official campaign involvement appears to be illegal under current state law, which we will get to in a bit. And since the state statute doesn’t specifically mention “influencers,” some folks want to make extra special sure that they’re covered.
A retired couple’s first Indiana tax return shows a $3,827 bill. In Illinois, the same retirement income cost them nothing in state tax.
Democratic state attorneys general from states including California, New York and Illinois, have lined up to urge the court to not pull the plug on the Boulder case, saying to do so could also strip them of the flexibility to use their state courts to target the same companies from that same industry, and potentially a long list of others, for potentially massive paydays.
"To be clear, we are not demanding that the Board cease and desist from the dissemination of factual information related to the (sales tax) referendum. Rather, we are demanding only that the Board cease using public funds to urge voters to vote one way or another."
Introduced by state Rep. Amy Briel, the bill would give municipalities and counties the authority to require permits for any open burn. The legislation would require paying for a permit for backyard fire pits, leaf piles and recreational campfires. The enforcement mechanism sparked a firestorm: as written, violators who conduct an open burn without a permit could face a fine of up to $100,000, skyrocketing to $500,000 if the burn happens on a designated no-burn day.
Kinzinger traded less than $1,000 on two pardon-related Kalshi markets in late 2024 and early 2025, sources said, and betted that he would get a pardon from Biden. He acknowledged making the trades but said he never had any insider information about the pardons. He was a private citizen at the time of the trades - out of Congress and not running for office.
In early June, Gov. JB Pritzker unveiled a new instrument of governance: He modified the state sales tax by press release. The governor’s unilateral suspension of a statutory exemption, exposing future data centers (but no other industries) to sales tax on their equipment purchases, is both economically and legally dubious.
The Court will also return to the Second Amendment in consolidated challenges to bans on AR-15s and similar semiautomatic rifles, Viramontes v. Cook County and Grant v. Higgins. Cook County (Chicago) and Connecticut prohibit possession of rifles with specified features that are commonly grouped under the political label “assault weapons.”
"We scored all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia on five major education categories (gender and sexuality, “diversity, equity, and inclusion”, parental rights, teacher policies, and foreign influence), and ranked them based on their performance. Tennessee earns the top score in 2026, while Illinois ranks the worst, only over the District of Columbia which takes the 51st spot."
"The report details how Democrat-controlled Illinois's radical statewide sanctuary policies ensure criminal aliens are free to reoffend, even after committing brutal crimes against Americans. New, nonpublic documents and data obtained by the Committee and Subcommittee reveal the startling extent to which Chicago and Illinois actively obstruct the enforcement of federal immigration law and shield foreign national criminals from accountability." 
The deal that brought it was negotiated under a nondisclosure agreement that kept the company’s name from the public for more than a year, according to records reviewed by The Epoch Times. Manteno’s residents found out about the Gotion deal as it was being signed.
They oppose taxes on cryptocurrency, fantasy sports, sports betting, social media, and digital ads. The taxes and fees were included in the state’s budget, but mostly weren’t counted on for revenue due to legal uncertainty. “They are, however, projecting costs because the lawsuits have already started and the Attorney General will have to defend them in court,” state Rep. Travis Weaver said. “These taxes can cost more money than they take in. That's a wild concept. The entire point of taxes, literally the only reason they exist, is to raise money for the public good.”
Union Pacific and other railroad operators have been among the largest employers targeted by such class actions under BIPA in state and federal courts in Illinois. The potential financial stakes are quite high in the actions.
State Rep. Nicolle Grasse has proposed a bill that would limit when police can access license plate reader data. "Part of why we know of this misuse by various law enforcement officers in those places is because they do have audit tools. I think the bigger concern is there are places that have no audit tools, so we don't even know how it's being misused," she said.
According to the Meyers Family Farm, pumpkin thefts have been impacting local farmers throughout the Poplar Grove and Capron areas.
Gov. JB Pritzker’s office released a statement saying the governor was grateful to meet in Illinois with National Football League Commissioner RogerGoodell, Pat Ryan, Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, state Rep. Kam Buckner, and state Sen. Bill Cunningham.
A taxpayer could donate to any government-approved scholarship-granting organization, regardless of where the taxpayer lives. That means Illinois taxpayers could still claim the tax credit by donating to scholarship-granting organizations in other states if Gov. JB Pritzker does not opt into the program.
“Families need this support, right? We shouldn't block families from having this type of dollar for dollar program,” Chicago homeschool advocate Latasha Fields said, adding that Illinoisans can still make donations. “The way the program is outlined, we can still give, but unfortunately, if Gov. Pritzker does not opt in, our children in this state would not benefit,” Fields said.
Top Chicago Stories
What is a big boon for Miami’s burgeoning tech sector is an epic tragedy for Chicago, where Griffin — and Citadel — was based for 33 years before he decided he had had enough of Illinois’s punishing taxes, regulation, and crime, and moved to Miami in 2022.
Over the past 20 months alone, illegal aliens have gone on to commit murder, domestic violence, and robbery after the Chicago Police Department (CPD) released them back onto Illinois streets in defiance of ICE detainers.
More Highlighted Chicago Area Stories
"If Chicago wants to discuss reparations, it should ask what it owes students who lost years of learning while schools were closed, what it owes children pushed through a system with inadequate academic results, and what it owes families denied quality education alternatives. An honest discussion must include the union’s role in those decisions — and accountability for the people who made them."
A video last month in which Brandon Johnson does a robot-style dance and lip-syncs to Kiesza’s “Hideaway” while surrounded by online influencers is one of several promoting the mayor that are now online, including a post in which one influencer dances as statistics about improvements in life expectancy during the mayor’s term flash on the screen and another where creator Tanya Lozano Washington makes avocado toast alongside Johnson while giving him a platform to recount his cooking skills.
The city collected $47.1 million from those camera violations last year, with $22.3 million coming from late fees. Overall revenue from red-light camera tickets has fallen in the past decade, but late fees have remained a substantial part of the amount.
"The mayor's use of the 'three-fifths compromise' term was hardly accidental, given his history as a middle school social studies teacher and his frequent references to issues of race and class. ... 'I can't speak to anyone's motives,' he responded. 'The only thing I can speak to is what was asked: who would be impacted?' He went on to discuss the 'Black and brown' business owners and residents on the South and West sides' ..."
Mary Wagoner, of Civic Committee: "Chicago’s police officers and firefighters put themselves on the line for this city, and they deserve a secure and dignified retirement. But the way to honor that commitment is to keep the system solvent, not to add obligations the city has no ability to fund. Yet only a year ago, legislators did exactly that, increasing pension benefits for police and firefighters."
The program has served over 2,600 people since its launch, Borderless reported. The expanded hours were made possible by a recent round of hiring and training for the “latest expansion of CARE under the Johnson administration,” according to a press release.
“There was a lot of stuff being thrown. They started throwing stuff back, and then they tried to plow the cars through us, it was kind of a mess,” one protester said of an appearance by Jake Lang. Things began to settle down until Lisa Fleischmann was spotted in the parking lot. The 53-year-old is the owner of the Trump Truth Store in Crystal Lake.
Even if Mayor Brandon Johnson were to sign the ordinance recently passed by the City Council establishing a three-fifths threshold for new borrowing, Chicago would still be the only one of the 15 largest cities where politicians alone can approve a deal like this, with no voter approval and no limits on how it’s repaid.
Court records show the woman has had an outstanding felony warrant for more than 18 months. She pleaded guilty in November 2024 to aggravated battery of a CTA bus driver in South Chicago and received a two-year probation sentence. The following month, she was arrested again for misdemeanor battery and assault, a probation violation.
According to new data from the Chicago Police Department, there have been 321 homicides throughout the city through the end of September, a 3 percent decline over the same time last year and a 29 percent decline over that period in 2024. That comes after Chicago saw 31 homicides during the month of September — 14 fewer than the same month last year.
A divided Chicago Board of Education narrowly passed a budget in late July that required the district to reverse hundreds of school-based layoffs, relying on additional state funding that has not yet come. CPS has rehired 350 people so far under the complex budget mandate, or about one-third of the school-based staffers eligible to have their layoffs reversed. But it’s unclear how long those jobs will last if CPS doesn’t receive an additional $100 million this fiscal year.
Chicago's "leverage came from an unlikely place, one of the worst privatization deals in history: the 2008 sale of Chicago’s parking meters to private equity. ... (T)he bottom line is the council, backed by an informed public outraged by President Donald Trump’s continued assault on their city, found a way to split the billionaire class from the fascists, providing a blueprint that can be replicated in other communities."
Nearly three years after Chicago struggled to shelter thousands of migrants arriving from the southern border, Mayor Brandon Johnson is pointing to an unexpected outcome of that crisis: money recovered through enforcement actions against bus companies is being redirected to help qualifying homeowners in Englewood, South Shore and the Lower West Side avoid losing their homes over delinquent property taxes.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson was left out of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell’s recent meeting with Gov. JB Pritzker and state lawmakers. “The meeting happened yesterday, right? We’re always going to remain in conversation with all of the stakeholders,” Johnson said.
"40th Ward Chicago Alderman Andre Vasquez, the failed 'battle' rapper formerly known as Prime, has an interesting position on surveillance technology. He is not against cameras watching you. He is not against technology recording your automobile. He is not even categorically opposed to license-plate readers. What he is against is ShotSpotter, the technology designed to tell police when and where somebody is firing a gun. That distinction deserves some attention."
The Chicago Bears’ potential path to building a new stadium in Arlington Heights is veering toward a model that would leave ownership of the venue to a new public authority rather than the team itself.
Twenty members of the U.S. House and Senate, including Senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth and Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García, signed the letter, which questioned how the relocation would save the government money, the moving timeline and how much square footage is “underutilized” at the facility.
A seven-time convicted felon accused of shooting of two Chicago police officers was wanted for evading parole, escaping from electronic monitoring, and had two pending felony cases against him at the time, court records confirm. Similar cases of habitual offenders on pretrial release in Cook County have sparked outcry, scrutiny of the judges making those decisions, and calls for politicians to repeal policies that allow for defendants charged with certain crimes to be released pending trial.
"The smaller projected deficit is a positive development, but it does not change the fundamental financial challenge facing Chicago. The City continues to face a structural imbalance between recurring revenues and expenditures, while significant pension and debt costs crowd out the ability to fund city services."
The Obama museum's celebration of the power of ordinary people may ring hollow, given the high-profile donors required to fund its $850 million budget. It's difficult to sustain the cognitive dissonance of seeing an Occupy Wall Streetdisplay funded in part by Goldman Sachs and Bank of America, or stomach an exhibit about labor organizing after having wandered past a sign thanking Jeff Bezos. Even more ironic is the Obama Foundation's apparent hostility to community organizers on the South Side.
Exploding revenue growth in the special taxing districts has been increasingly diverted toward bread-and-butter government operating costs, allowing local leaders to lean on TIF districts for more and more property tax dollars while avoiding the blame for directly hiking taxes, even as homeowners get squeezed. 
Dowell does not believe that charging higher parking rates for suburbanites and out-of-town motorists would discourage people from driving downtown to go to restaurants, concerts, theaters and museums, or spend the weekend in Chicago.
“I’m going to do what’s necessary to protect working people, regardless of whatever efforts or motives that, you know, members of City Council might have,” Johnson said.
"World Business Chicago is supposed to sell Chicago to the world," said Ald. Samantha Nugent. "City and state funding, taxpayer dollars go towards World Business Chicago and taxpayer dollars should not be spent on political advertising, and this appears to be a political advertisement, and that is why we wanted to bring World Business to Chicago to come in for a conversation."
Two Chicago aldermen threatened to cut off city funding for World Business Chicago after the economic development group skipped an ethics committee hearing today over ads featuring Mayor Brandon Johnson that have drawn questions about whether they cross the line into political promotion.
Pastor Corey Brooks believes his center might have been targeted because his conservative views have made him less than popular in certain circles of the overwhelmingly Blue city. He has been unapologetic about his longtime Republican affiliation and he regularly appears on FOX News. In a 2024 essay, he denounced the “victimhood mentality” of the Democratic Party.
Wirepoints Research and Commentary
To top it off, Stratton is funded mostly by Gov. JB Pritzker, who has long purported to be a rock solid supporter of Israel's right to exist. El-Sayed is anything but. 
What Pritzker doesn't tell you that it cost taxpayers billions, not millions, in higher taxes to get those upgrades, vastly exceeding the savings. 
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Ballots start going out next week and Stratton has yet even to attempt to show that she’s qualified for the Senate. She has assessed that Illinois' media environment and one-party political culture will let her get away with hiding. 
State investment totals have skyrocketed since 2015 from about $10 billion to over $41 billion and political abuse of the money has been common. The money is currently returning just 3.7% per year.
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