Illinois has 6,032 local governments, the most in the nation by a wide margin – and that excludes 859 school districts. It’s the main reason Illinoisans pay the nation’s second-highest property taxes.
Pritzker gas taxes add to $72 fill-up to get kids to sports
Key indicators show Illinois’ labor market could begin adding jobs faster than the national economy if population decline and Amendment 1 don’t derail the state’s trajectory.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said making filling stations advertise his temporary gas tax suspension or pay $500 a day in fines was not forced political speech. But an association of 500 small petroleum businesses is suing because they believe otherwise.
Two bills on Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s desk would spend $20 million to add license plate monitoring cameras to 6,600 miles of highways in 22 counties. Civil rights groups fret about abuse. Illinois State Police can’t say they increase safety.
School board members in rural Illinois said district consolidation will ease staff shortages made worse by the pandemic. A statewide look at district consolidation could cut administrative overhead and put $732 million more into classrooms.
The most important issue on the Nov. 8 general election ballot is something most Illinoisans haven’t heard about yet. As it stands right now, when voters head to the polls this fall, the very first question on the ballot will ask if Illinois should amend its constitution to grant Illinois union leaders the most extreme...
Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced relief for low-income residents just weeks after an Illinois Policy Institute investigation found her lower threshold for speed camera tickets created more fines in 2021 than Chicago has residents.
Laws that go around the normal rate-setting process are driving up energy prices for Illinois consumers. These laws were central to the scandal that brought down the nation’s longest-serving House speaker.
Ex-Alderman Danny Solis handed federal prosecutors the top politicians in Chicago and the Statehouse to get out of bribery charges. His deal could let him keep his pension – a ploy too common in Illinois as voters consider Amendment 1’s potential for protecting pension abuse.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s name will be on 150,000 prepaid gas and transit cards she plans to raffle off to Chicagoans. She’s trying again after aldermen initially rejected the $12.5 million proposal as an election stunt.
Amendment 1, billed as a “Workers' Rights Amendment,” actually covers so much more that it violates the U.S. Constitution. Parents and teachers worrying about it emboldening already militant teachers unions are suing to get it off the ballot.
Springfield lawmakers will be the fourth-highest paid legislators in the nation after giving themselves a $2,700 raise in the 2023 state budget. Lawmakers’ salaries have increased 8% since Gov. J.B. Pritzker took office.