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Illinois' combined state and local taxes are over 50% higher than the national average.
House Bill 5112, proposes that businesses charge 10 cents per carryout bag starting in 2027. The tax would be increased by five cents a year until 2030, when it would cap at 25 cents. However, fees would continue to increase by five cents a year until certain goals regarding the reduction of bags are met. This increase would continue until statewide bag usage drops to 90 percent below 2027 levels.
"An approximation of the cost to upgrade our system is $50 million," U.S. Sen. Mike Simmons said. "Upon renewal, the new contract needs to include the transition to smart card chips."
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A letter from IDFPR Secretary Mario Treto Jr. stated that the agency reduced the average processing time from 7.5 weeks in 2024 to 5.7 weeks in 2025; the average processing time for physician assistant license renewals is 24 hours. State lawmakers suggested last week that physician assistants were going to Iowa to get licensed due to long wait times in Illinois.
Now former Carlyle Police Chief Mark Pingsterhaus spent more than $100,000 of public money intended to combat drug use and support a local fire protection district on personal expenses, including basketball tickets, travel, and diamond engagement ring. The federal indictment further alleged that Pingsterhaus engaged in this fraud for more than eight years, in part, to conceal that personal relationship with a public official in a neighboring county.
The state already struggles with competitiveness, with the fifth-slowest-growing economy in the nation since 2019. More taxes risk further hurt long-term growth.
Many of the plaintiff states also successfully sued over Trump’s tariffs imposed under a different law: the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).
U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez, who last week met with Noem and reminded her that her days were numbered, wrote on X, “Good riddance! We still have to impeach her, Melt ICE and dismantle DHS.” Sen. Dick Durbin reacted to Noem’s exit by saying she was “unfit for the job” and accusing her of lying under oath before Congress.
Of that group, about 532 employees work at the Riverwoods location, 69 are Illinois residents who work remotely, and 538 are non-Illinois residents who work remotely but report to the Riverwoods location.
He said the agency is nearing $1 billion in revenue solely through online services this year, primarily made available to Illinoisans in recent years.
“When the state reduces shared revenue, costs do not disappear,” said Illinois Municipal League President Sheila Chalmers-Currin, who is also village president of Matteson. “Costs shift. They shift to property taxes, local sales taxes, and service reduction.” She said it flies in the face of lawmakers’ affordability message.
With these initiatives, the state would simply be trying to offset the costs of its regulatory and fiscal environment by compensating developers to build homes they otherwise choose not to build. If the projects were financially viable, developers would already be building them.
Punish the winners and subsidize the losers? Is that the state strategy for recovering the 13,062 students lost in the past 20 years by the 12 state universities?
According to filings from the FEC, the Pritzker family has donated the vast majority of Stratton's $6.3 million in contributions to her "Illinois Future PAC." Records indicate that the family has donated $6.1 million — or 82 percent — of that figure.
Jim Dey: "While personal income-tax revenues have provided a steady source of good news, the other two sources of the Big 3 — corporate income and sales taxes — remain stuck in the mud."
Intent on electing representatives who will resist further taxes on the gaming industry, American Future, a super PAC bankrolled by DraftKings’ wholly owned subsidiary, DK Crown Holdings, has become the largest outside spender so far in the Illinois state legislative primary slated for March 17. American Future’s biggest beneficiary is Emil Jones III, a state senator who was indicted in 2022 on federal bribery charges.
Nearly 55 percent of Illinois voters support the state opting into the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit Program. But it’s up to Gov. JB Pritzker to opt Illinois into the program. More voters supported than opposed it across all ages, regions, races and ideologies.
“A sitting governor shouldn’t be heavy-handing the race. Quite frankly, his behavior in this race won’t soon be forgotten,” Caucus Chair U.S. Rep. Yvette Clarke, D-N.Y., said.
“These are our citizen soldiers. These are the people who have everyday lives and yet volunteer to serve,” she said. “Take time out of their everyday to serve and stay ready so that when the nation calls them to take off their suit jackets, to take of their hard hats and put their uniforms on and go into combat, they respond. And many of them, like I did, volunteer to go into the combat zone. And frankly, they deserve leadership that will not waste that sacrifice, that willingness.”
Metro East Sen. Erica Harriss announced a package of bills Wednesday. Harriss said Senate Bill 3959 provides a $500 tax credit for first-time home buyers; SB 3782 creates the Fairness in Property Tax Foreclosure Task Force; and SB 3781, amending the Illinois Income Tax Act to make residential property taxes refundable.
The legislation pending in the General Assembly is a Senate amendment to House Bill 2371. Sponsored by Sen. Dave Koehler, it would prohibit anyone, including drug manufacturers, from imposing any restrictions on the ability of 340B-eligible clinics and hospitals to contract with outside pharmacies to fill 340B-funded prescriptions.
House Bill 4313 would cap excessive pricing, prohibiting alternative suppliers from charging residential and small commercial customers more than 25 percent above utility supply prices. State Rep. Kimberly Du Buclet said the issue of alternate suppliers came onto her radar particularly via complaints from seniors, who may be more at risk of signing up from aggressive door-to-door or telemarketing campaigns.
“The State of Illinois and our federal congressional delegation are receiving numerous requests from U.S. citizens seeking additional support to return to the United States,” Gov. JB Pritzker wrote in the letter. The governor listed “immediate actions” he wants in place to help U.S. citizens, including a public commitment to use charter flights, military aircraft or both to assist Americans attempting to leave the region, and exploring using emergency contracts with charter companies or commercial airlines.
“This legislation preserves local control by allowing municipal officials who are accountable to their residents to determine whether to adopt the tax, at what level and for what purpose,” Mt. Vernon Mayor John Lewis said.
Jim Dey: "The ongoing Champaign County audit is in shambles, leading to a war of recriminations between Auditor George Danos and county board members who stripped him of his audit duties in order to have it done by the county executive’s office. ... Among the problems cited were 'millions of dollars not recorded, entries booked to the wrong fiscal year, monthly reviews not completed.'"
The legislation that created the Medical Debt Relief Program for the state – based on the Cook County program – was signed into law in July 2024. The state partnered with nonprofit Undue Medical Debt, formerly known as RIP Medical Debt, committing to provide $10 million in grants to pay off debts.
The plan is an expansion of the current state law that bans public and private schools from prohibiting hairstyles associated with race, ethnicity, or hair texture. Sen. Mike Simmons said rabbis asked him to file the plan to protect Orthodox Jewish students who have beards.
"Obviously, as fast as we can get this done through the legislature, and that's going to be up to the legislators to do it that, you know, we want to get it done for the Bears," Gov. JB Pritzker said.
Gov. JB Pritzker acknowledged that bureaucratic red tape “unnecessarily increases costs, delays construction, and frequently kills projects altogether.” Since January 2015, Illinois has permitted an average of 848 private housing units per month. The national average over that time was 1,426 units.
Senate Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment 4 and House Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment 16 would eliminate the constitutional requirement that income be taxed at one flat rate. That means lawmakers could impose as many tax brackets – and rates – as they want.
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Inspector General Deborah Witzburg, who is set to leave office next month after serving just one term in office, said her office obtained the records by submitting an “anonymous” Freedom of Information Act request for the records at the center of the dispute. Witzburg has now raised questions several times about whether the leadership of the Department of Law has attempted to shield high-ranking officials from public scrutiny.
The borrowing for firefighter back pay and police misconduct settlements was "sold as a five-year deal," not a ten-year deal with a backloaded debt structure, said one analyst. "Spreading it out over ten years makes it feel like we are now committing the cardinal sin of debt financing an operational need," he said, noting that at five years, it didn't necessarily feel that way.
It was reported last week that Mayor Brandon Johnson is structuring the city’s debt with a $500 million deal to cover back pay owed to firefighters and anticipated lawsuit costs.
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"That reflects the reality of Chicago’s city council: independent on paper, and nominally the branch of government with final control over the pursestrings, the legislature still relies heavily on the mayor’s administration for budget data and analysis."
According to state Sen.John Curran, there are more than 1,000 homeowners in Cook County who fell victim to property tax eviction with more than 100 seniors losing their homes. He also says the average age for a first-time homebuyer in Illinois is 40.
The District 230 board has joined a coalition of other Cook County school boards in approving a resolution demanding its share of delayed distributions of Cook County property tax revenues, and and that Cook County seek reimbursement from Tyler Technologies for expenses caused by the late payments. A spokesman said the coalition of school boards are also working with a law firm that he said is suited to pursue this kind of class action.
Federal officials noted that baseline data show roughly two CTA workers each week are assaulted severely enough to require ambulance transport or result in death.
According to police, the incident unfolded around 3:50 p.m. Monday, near the National Teacher’s Academy. Following the incident, the victim was taken to the hospital for unknown injuries. While police have not released the ages or names of the offenders allegedly involved, principal Teneka Brooks described them as “school community members.”
The nearly two dozen tenants claim a prospective buyer for their building plans to rehab it or tear it down altogether. Either way, rent would go up. The building is financed by the Illinois Housing Development Authority, which aims to preserve affordable housing in the state.
"We don’t need any more of this Republican vs. Democrat talk. We’ve done it to death, and we cannot afford to succumb to false promises any longer — not when our communities have only worsened. ... It is far easier to believe in false promises than to look at the cold reality of where most of urban America, including my South Side Chicago neighborhood, stands — at the bottom of the American totem pole."
Saying the U.S. Supreme Court will decide soon if the lawsuit is even allowed, a group of oil and gas companies have asked a Cook County judge to bottle up, for now, the city of Chicago's lawsuit seeking a potentially massive payout from the energy companies for allegedly "deceiving" people and businesses into using oil and gas to heat and power their homes, cars, factories and other necessities of modern life.
Right now, they grow everything inside a 500-square-foot space in trays with a hydroponic system for drip watering that recirculates. There's no actual soil. It's a cotton-like material. And LED lights are a fine substitute for sunlight inside a 137-year-old building.
Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Mariyana Spyropoulos is leading an effort to pass a law in Springfield that would create a statewide, optional, county-level will depository. It also would maintain the ability to deposit a will without hiring an attorney, which can cost hundreds of dollars.
"Selective enrollment high schools in Chicago produce better results, at a lower cost, than the system as a whole. Far from being damaging to academically gifted black, Hispanic, and low-income students, these educational institutions act as a lifeline for them."
The announcement comes after relieving a total of $1.5 billion for people in Cook County. "There's no application, no paperwork and no tax consequences," Cook County Board President Tony Preckwinkle said. "Residents simply receive a letter in the mail informing them that their debt has been canceled."
In the 2024 lawsuit, attorneys for the families asserted the court needed to step in to ensure the verdict was paid "amid a complete breakdown of the Village of Dolton's accounting internal controls, and checks and balances," leading to governmental insolvency in the village.
Sedrick Griffin, 31, was arrested on Christmas Eve 2024 and charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm, a charge he pleaded guilty to Nov. 5. His prior convictions include possessing a stolen motor vehicle and aggravated battery of peace officers.
In July 2021, a Cook County judge dismissed the criminal charges against Michael Williams, then 66, at the request of the Cook County state’s attorney, who said prosecutors did not have enough evidence to proceed. Williams sued the city in July 2022 and asked a federal judge to ban Chicago from using SoundThinking’s ShotSpotter system.
“If the state is willing to support infrastructure spending elsewhere, either through direct or indirect subsidy to facilitate a new sports stadium, then the state should be willing to support infrastructure spending in and around the Museum Campus for a similar development,” Chicago interim Chief Financial Officer Steven Mahr was quoted.
A sharp cut in projected water use - from an initial 5 million to 6 million gallons of water per day to now 20 million gallons per year - comes as welcome news for Joliet, which,
“Many of our parents are not paying attention to what their children are doing. We have teen takeovers because parents are simply not asking, ‘What is my son or daughter doing out in the middle of the night?'” Ald. Ray Lopez said. “If they are knowingly dismissing what those children are up to, they should be held accountable.”
Abdellatif, who lost his CPD job after his 2021 arrest, was among nine owners and workers at several Chicago-area convenience stores charged with accepting checks from the WIC program for ineligible items at the stores, often at inflated prices.
The potential hike comes two years after the Illinois Commerce Commission granted the utility company a record $306 million rate increase. Last year regulators ordered the utility to overhaul its controversial pipeline replacement program that was years over budget and behind schedule.
"Until we stop viewing every enforcement action through the distorted prism of identity politics, we will continue to decline. And the biggest victims will be the very communities progressivism claims to protect."
Because possessing a stolen motor vehicle is not a detainable offense under the SAFE-T Act, Judge Robert Kuzas released Nehemiyah Santiago, 18, Dec. 22 to await trial. Exactly one month later, prosecutors allege, he participated in the high school shootout. Santiago is the second person accused of shooting or trying to shoot someone in Chicago this year while on felony pretrial release.
Among them, Amazon announced a fulfillment center in Bolingbrook that is expected to create some 1,200 jobs after it opens later this year; The $185 million Hollywood Casino Joliet opened last summer; and Fortune Brands Innovations, a security and digital products company, expanded in Deerfield. It expects to create at least 400 full-time jobs by 2027.
Chicago hosted the 2024 Democratic National Convention, with much of its events taking place at the United Center. The event saw widespread protests near the United Center and Downtown over the party’s handling of the war in Gaza.
"We had an entire press conference, with a proposal on the lakefront two years ago,” he said. “How do you have an entire proposal with the Bears, with the city of Chicago, with labor, with the notion that somehow the greatest, the most fruitful, economic viable prime real estate anywhere in the state, anywhere in the region is somehow not suited for world affairs?”
"The fact Chicago remains among cities with higher crime rates is due in large part to the absence of a serious strategy to keep Chicago’s youth in school, reclaim those who have dropped out, and provide the education and occupational training needed for those who have entered the criminal justice system."
Omero Morales said his Bridgeview property was assessed at 2,141 square feet when it is actually 1,273 square feet. He estimates the discrepancy cost his family nearly $5,000 in overpaid taxes. “I followed the rules,” Morales said. “I applied for the correction, and I’m still waiting to be made whole.”
Wirepoints Research and Commentary
Borrowing for current and past operating expenses, blanks for use of funds and more make Chicago's bond sale planned for next week smell mighty bad. Mark Glennon's interview is in the first ten minutes starting here.
It’s March, which means we are being subjected the dumbest annual study going about how well Chicago is doing.
“You didn’t have to be a wizard t.o see it,” Glennon said, recalling that warning signs were evident as far back as the early 2000s when state revenues faltered after the tech bubble burst. The fiscal trajectory of many major cities, he said, has long reflected a pattern of expanding government commitments without sustainable funding models. Full interview here.
Justices on Illinois' top court ran a Star Chamber. They personally comprised a cancel mob and acted in blatant disregard of constitutional rights to due process and free speech. SIGN UP HERE FOR FREE WIREPOINTS DAILY NEWSLETTER
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With just weeks remaining before Illinois voters head to the polls for the Republican gubernatorial primary, the contest has evolved into a broader referendum.
The Hispanic Chamber of Commerce is one among thousands getting billions in total from Illinois taxpayers that needs a close look, says Glennon. Audio Link Here.
Questions about how Illinois spends taxpayer money resurfaced on Chicago’s Morning Answer, as guest hosts Jeanne Ives and Jim Iuorio spoke with Mark Glennon, founder of Wirepoints, about millions of dollars in state grants flowing to nonprofit organizations with political ties. Audio and summary here.
Concerns about widespread benefits fraud, government spending, and the reliability of official data took center stage with Dan Proft and Mark Glennon, as new revelations from outside Illinois renewed questions about similar vulnerabilities within the state. Audio link here.
The cancel mob lives on. The latest example is in Illinois courts. There, the mob could hardly have been more brazen, defrocking a judge for daring to write about one of their favorite weapons – “lawfare” – abuse of the legal system for political or social goals. 
The train of abuses in Illinois when it comes to free speech -- democracy's essential, bedrock right -- is now long.
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