SPRINGFIELD – State tax revenues grew by $5.5 billion in the fiscal year that concluded on June 30, exceeding $50 billion for the first time in Illinois’ history, according to a new report from a state budgeting agency. The 12 percent base revenue growth in Fiscal Year 2022 gave lawmakers near-unprecedented flexibility in the current budget year….
SPRINGFIELD – Four months before the general election, six incumbent state lawmakers appeared primed for an early rejection by voters based on unofficial tallies this week. The longest-serving of the incumbents to lose their primary election was Democratic Rep. Mike Zalewski, of Riverside, a founding member of the House’s “Mod Squad” of moderate Democrats. He…
A mass shooting in Highland Park at a Fourth of July parade prompted questions about how the suspect was able to obtain a gun in a state with some of the strictest gun laws in the nation. Law enforcement officials have said that the Highland Park shooting suspect, Robert Crimo III, 21, legally purchased and…
On July 1, Governor J.B. Pritzker froze a proposed gas tax hike, while suspending the grocery tax on certain items. These were two of many initiatives meant to quell rising inflation. Dean Baker, a senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research, described inflation as a time when “most prices are rising,” as…
Monday, July 11, 2022 Today’s headlines: An Illinois lawmaker wants to prevent minors who have hurt themselves or others — or tried to — from legally buying guns. Illinois is receiving nearly five thousand doses of the Jynneos monkeypox vaccine from the national stockpile. A new coal mine planned for southeast Champaign County is no…