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"For (Gov. JB) Pritzker, the decision also presents a political opportunity. As he looks toward the 2028 presidential election and considers his legacy, opting into the scholarship credit could help set him apart. ... Leaving an available federal tax benefit on the table makes little sense when it could help Illinois families secure educational services their children need."
Northern Illinois Transit Authority interim Executive Director Jamie Rhee $350,000 annually while she collects a taxpayer-funded Chicago pension exceeding $213,000 a year. “This is not the reform that people were promised,” state Sen. Don DeWitte said. “I think this is simply business as usual by Chicago and Cook County Democrats who ultimately now control our entire mass transit system.”
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The letters were sent to Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky's office in Skokie, along with Congressman Brad Schneider's office in Lincolnshire, and Mike Quigley's office in the city. Their contents are being analyzed.
"Illinois has created a system in which judges are periodically subjected to democratic accountability while the records necessary to exercise that accountability are inconveniently accessible. That is a contradiction that violates the spirit, if not the letter of freedom of information law, which ought to concern anyone who believes in transparent government, regardless of political affiliation."
To counter public mistrust in the approved CyrusOne data center, the Springfield Sangamon Growth Alliance – a public-private economic development organization – is attempting to correct some local worries. The Growth Alliance receives $500,000 annually in public funding.
Jim Dey: "Uh, oh, one of those carnival barkers got loose and again is nipping at Gov. JB Pritzker’s heels. ... Too many Illinoisans don’t realize it, but financial analysts like (Truth in Accounting's Sheila) Weinberg and those from Wirepoints and the Illinois Policy Institute have been pulling back the curtain and revealing the ugly picture for years now, much to Pritzker’s dismay."
"Slotkin recently said the quiet part out loud in an interview at my alma mater, the University of Chicago, admitting she wants to deter young people from even considering supporting the Administration… if they know what is good for them. Slotkin seemed to go full Col. Walter Kurtz in the middle of the interview."
“They spent about $30 million on Choate, then they announced they're going to basically close most of it. How smart is that for the Illinois taxpayer?” state Rep. Charlie Meier said.
When asked why ethics reform didn’t rise to the same priority level as Chicago Bears stadium legislation or the POWER Act to regulate data centers, Gov. JB Pritzker said ethics reform ideas have been floating around for some time. Several current and recent state lawmakers have faced ethics investigations this year.
Illinois recently enacted the Transportation Network Driver Labor Relations Act, which establishes a statewide bargaining unit for rideshare drivers and creates a process through which an exclusive bargaining representative may be certified.
“Let me be clear up front: Violent criminals who are undocumented and convicted of violent crime should be deported. I do not want them in my state. I don’t think they should be in the United States,” Gov. JB Pritzker said in December 2024. Since then, Pritzker and the Democrat-controlled Illinois legislature have done nothing to tweak Illinois’ sanctuary laws.
With tight races for the Illinois General Assembly taking place across the state, some downstate races receive less attention than some of the races in the Chicagoland area – even as many downstate races may be just as close this year.
Quigley: “Putting aside the recent law we passed to sanction Russia, in 2022 we passed a law that said that we can not buy energy from Russia,“ said Quigley. “So [Trump’s] violating that law [too].”
According to the indictment filed Oct. 7, Andrea Wellington, 35, was hired by the Illinois Department of Employment Security through a subcontractor in July 2021 to work as a customer service representative to handle calls from people seeking unemployment benefits.
The Digital Asset Kiosks Act created new requirements for operators, including reporting of kiosk locations and consumer protections to address fraud and scams. This law established a transaction fee cap of 18 percent at crypto kiosks and limited daily transaction amounts for new customers to $2,500
On Oct. 2, the Illinois Policy Institute sent cease-and-desist letters to 17 school districts in Tazewell County, alleging that school boards appeared to have authorized the use of public funds to urge voter support of the referendum. Days later, Americans for Prosperity Illinois asked Attorney General Kwame Raoul and state's attorneys in Cook, DuPage, Lake and Will counties to investigate whether 24 local taxing bodies used taxpayer resources to campaign for more taxpayer money.
The incumbent’s optimism seems to be cresting for a resolution arriving five years after the Bears’ drive for a new home began, 11 months after the team’s first Hoosier threat — and a few weeks after the polls close.
The institute also links to a University of Illinois Chicago School of Public Health page addressing “weight stigma and fatphobia in public health.” The UIC guide attributes historical changes in attitudes toward fatness to “racism and eugenics.”
Two weeks from the midterm election, some statehouse races are close, potentially putting some Chicagoland-area GOP seats at risk of flipping and creating more of Democrat dominance in Illinois.
Reason Foundation’s Public Schools Without Boundaries report evaluated open enrollment laws based on seven criteria, including whether districts are required to allow transfers between schools and districts, transparency requirements and parents’ ability to appeal rejected applications. Illinois and 32 other states got Fs.
Falling enrollment does not eliminate taxpayer exposure. Illinois’ payment error rate (a measure of overpayments and underpayments, not fraud) reached 14.67 percent in fiscal 2025, significantly higher than all its bordering states and fifth-highest among the 50 states. Failing to improve the error rate could cost Illinois hundreds of millions of dollars.
Jones was charged with bribery in 2022, with charges alleging he agreed to help a red-light camera company block unfavorable legislation in exchange for $5,000 and a job for his legislative intern. Shortly after, Gov. JB Pritzker called for him to resign. Jones entered into a deferred prosecution deal in December to leave him with no conviction so long as he paid a $6,800 fine, stayed out of legal trouble and admitted to certain illegal conduct, including making false statements to the FBI.
"Last fall, Illinois passed an ambitious law requiring 3 gigawatts of batteries on the state’s grid by the end of 2030. In August, the Illinois Power Agency, which procures electricity on behalf of the state’s large utilities, ran an auction-type proceeding to hand out incentives for companies promising to develop these batteries. The results were mixed. Statewide, deals were made for 600 megawatts of storage — less than two-thirds of the target that the law set for the initial procurement."
Jim Dey: "(Gov. JB) Pritzker has tried to be diplomatic about the movement, urging downstaters unhappy with the state of the state to 'stay,' 'get involved' and 'make (Illinois) a better place.' 'But if you want to leave, get up and move,' he said in a 2025 interview."
"Am I scaring anyone yet? Because the real ghouls children should be dressed up as for Halloween are the politicians who made promises with your money for services and contracts that most Illinoisans cannot afford."
It has been a rollercoaster ride when it comes to pricing for the Bears stadium relocation. A move to Indiana was priced at over 60 percent probability in May 2026. A new location in Illinois jumped to over 55 percent by July of 2026. After another flip-flop, "a new location in Illinois" has settled as the preferred outcome, at least with traders.
The ballot question asks, "Should the Illinois General Assembly establish reasonable limits on the percentage of a public school district's operating budget that may be spent on central administration, with the goal of directing more funding to classrooms?" Illinois law currently limits the growth of certain administrative spending for most school districts (not Chicago).
Land is cheaper, Indiana passed comparable tax exemptions and the sites sit about 25 miles from downtown Chicago. Andy Cvengros, of JLL’s U.S. Data Center Markets team, points first to Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act, which he said has created enough uncertainty around how AI data is handled that hyperscalers have pulled back or canceled major projects.
Top Chicago Stories
"Love looks different depending on the person giving it. Sometimes, all there is to give is a listening ear or a statement of support. But as leaders, loving people, actually loving people, must come with active investments in them, their families and their communities. It is not enough for powerbrokers to cheer at the idea of fully funded schools, reliable transit and robust mental health care, and then go silent or give excuses when they are asked to contribute to make those ideas reality."
Johnson's $17.6 billion spending proposal for 2027 is up $760 million from this year and revitalizes his corporate head tax proposal with a twist. Now named the "equitable employee tax," the $25 per-worker monthly fee for companies over 125 employees would offer a full rebate if the headquarters are located within designated areas mostly on the South, Southwest and West sides. "There is no reason to coddle or feel sorry for corporations. They are doing just fine," he said.
“There’s greater evidence of working people being pushed out of the city of Chicago than any sort of claim of the possibility of a business leaving Chicago. Working people are being forced out of cities across America. Corporations are not,” Johnson said.
"... Mayor Brandon Johnson is expected to propose borrowing $480 million to pay for police-related lawsuit settlements in the budget coming Wednesday. ... If cases involving people shooting at and fleeing from police result in large settlements, that hardly is a disincentive for such behavior."
Prosecutors allege Rajesh Patel, 53, of Schaumburg, fabricated approximately 380,000 negative COVID-19 test results for tests the laboratory never completed and submitted them to a federal program that reimbursed providers who administered tests to people without health insurance.
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The Sports Betting Alliance, which represents DraftKings, FanDuel and other sportsbooks, is also lining up to oppose the mayor’s plan to nearly double the Chicago tax on sports betting.
Special education students at Prescott Elementary School in Lincoln Park are being taught in offices, hallways, storage rooms, stairwells and in classrooms with asbestos, some parents say. They learned in June of this year that special education students would be losing some of their spaces in the basement to make way for a music room and a dance room.
Johnson again plans to declare a large surplus from the city’s tax increment financing districts. He’s proposed declaring a surplus of $522 million across the city’s TIF funds, which would net the city $118 million in revenue. A large portion of the surplus — more than $286 million — would go to Chicago Public Schools, while the remainder would be distributed to other local governments.
From 2019 to 2026, pension fund contributions made up the largest spending increase, growing by over $1.54 billion, or 113.4 percent. Over that period, Chicago more than doubled its pension contributions to address a severe pension crisis caused by years of overpromising benefits without having the money on hand to pay them. The increased contributions are nowhere near enough to get Chicago’s pension plans to a more secure financial footing.
"I want people to see this film because it names something that has genuinely hurt my community. The politics of white guilt have taught a generation of young people in Woodlawn that they are permanent victims of an irredeemable system. That story robs them of agency. It tells them that nothing they do matters as much as the color of their skin and the history attached to it."
County Commissioner Alma Anaya said the amendment includes a private right of action against companies that violate it.
The ballot question does not say where a permanent space would be, how much it would cost or who would pay for it. It also does not spell out which events would move there.
Republicans have slowly seen their representation trickle away in the city’s outskirts over the past decade amid gerrymandered maps and President Donald Trump’s unpopularity. While Democrats outnumber Republicans 78-40 in the House and 40-19 in the Senate, they’re targeting several legislative districts currently held by Republicans to expand those margins.
He plans to lean on funds allocated to the groundbreaking and controversial social media tax, which collects 50 cents per Chicago user after the first 100,000 users. The city has collected more funds than anticipated from social media companies, and it’s on pace to collect $49.2 million by the end of the year. But those funds are being held in escrow pending litigation on the tax.
Mayor Brandon Johnson has faith alderpeople will sign off on his plan after a majority supported his $40 million investment last year to improve seven shelters for people experiencing homelessness, mostly on the South and West sides. With local governments being asked to step up more in the wake of federal funding cuts, Johnson is “demanding that there’s a fair share of responsibility, that there’s a fair share of equitable distribution of those resources."
"I again encourage courts considering this issue to take care that due deference to state police powers does not eclipse constitutional rights,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote.
U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer noted the requirement "involves not only the consent decree, but plain language of state law."
In a letter to Ald. Emma Mitts, chair of the Contracting Oversight Committee, Chief Procurement Officer Sharla Roberts informed her "the city is preparing to launch pilot programs to evaluate a range of violence interruption and public safety technologies, including gunshot detection systems." It was also not clear how much the pilot would cost, although Johnson a year ago added a $5 million line item in the city budget for a "gunshot detection system."
Institute for Public Good: "If Springfield grants the city that authority, Chicago could adopt measures already used and proven across the country, such as a local corporate income tax that exempts small businesses, a payroll tax on the highest salaries at the largest employers, a local income tax that focuses on the wealthiest and a data center electricity tax. Together they could raise up to $3 billion a year for Chicago."
Despite attempts to change the law, Illinois remains among the strictest in the nation for felony thresholds for theft and retail theft laws. Retailers, though, say profit margins, particularly for small businesses, are tight, and they want to see shoplifting taken seriously.
"I recently invited several Chicago police officers to visit my community center, Project H.O.O.D. They came in full Chicago blue uniforms, with their police visor caps with the checkered bands, and their guns. At first, there was tension in the room. ... The gulf was profound, and that is why I invited the police in to do my part to repair the damage done by the defund the police movement, one encounter at a time."
A DHS spokesperson said an FPS Protective Security Officer reported an active shooter on federal property, which prompted a response from the Chicago Police Department. Officers responded to the scene and took one person into custody.
Ald. Marty Quinn questioned why state lawmakers would let the city raise taxes without recouping any of the money for the state’s own budget gaps. “I think the mayor may be utilizing a Springfield agenda to distract Chicagoans from his own shortcomings in his budget-making process,” he said.
For residents trying to escape poverty, these conditions can compound each other. When violent crime is common, businesses may be less willing to open, expand or invest in a neighborhood. Residents may be less willing to spend time in local businesses or feel like they can travel safely to jobs and services.
"Black political power includes the right of Black elected officials to tell a Black mayor no. Demanding that everyone who looks like us vote alike once we reach the table isn’t empowerment. It’s obedience. ... And I won’t accept that questioning this administration’s math makes me a tool of corporations, a cause of crime or a party to anything resembling the Three-Fifths Compromise."
Keith Hill, president of Amalgamated Transit Union local 241, said the placement of 50 Cook County Sheriff's officers on CTA lines has had a positive impact on safety across the transit system where available, while Chicago Police Department efforts have been a waste of taxpayer funds.
"Sacks’ self-promoted narrative aims to portray himself as a selfless, successful businessman driven by a desire for good governance. While there is no doubt that he relishes and covets the spotlight as a major influencer while screaming persecution at the criticism, the fact remains that his company has been a massive beneficiary of earnings secured through the management of city, school district, and state pension funds."
Oscar Soto’s quest for a certificate of innocence stands apart in a sea of cases in which current and former inmates claim they were wrongfully convicted. His case raises a question: What happens when someone who maintains his innocence knowingly accepts a conviction because he believes the alternative is worse?
They included Ald. Chris Taliaferro, chair of the council’s police and fire committee, who was out of town during the hearing. Amid a deadly surge in domestic violence, the city poured millions of dollars into a floundering program that survivors and advocates called a misuse of resources.
"In the short term, Chicago’s controversial tax-increment district financing program is increasingly lucrative and serves as a much needed lifeline for the school system’s financial crisis. But in the long term, it muddies Chicago Public Schools’ budgeting process and hardens its financial dependence on the city."
The lawsuit is but one of many the city has faced in recent years related to police chases that ended in a crash in which someone has died. Most recently, the Illinois Supreme Court left the city no choice but to pay $10.5 million to the family of a man who was killed by a criminal fleeing police in 2018, rejecting the city’s appeal of a 2023 Cook County jury verdict.
"Palatine, Illinois, police allege that Alexandros Paporakis had plotted a 'mass shooting of Indian people' at a Hindu temple in nearby Aurora. ... The attempted attack is part of a broader pattern: internet-radicalized, lone-wolf shooters, often young men, plotting or carrying out bias-motivated attacks. The archetype is increasingly the face of twenty-first-century domestic terror. But the effective check against it remains the same as ever: zero tolerance, whether the behavior is based on hate or otherwise."
Wirepoints Research and Commentary
Among the consequences of economic growth that badly lags national averages are billions of lost revenue every year. Yet denial reigns in Illinois, fueling the vicious cycle of demand for higher taxes. SIGN UP HERE FOR FREE WIREPOINTS DAILY NEWSLETTER
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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. 
Wirepoints will be complementing their mission however we can. 
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.
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