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The National Guard troops will provide perimeter security in the center of downtown for an undefined period of time following the rioting that broke out late Saturday during a protest over the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, by a Minneapolis police officer last week. Rioting throughout downtown Saturday continued into the night.
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Farm bankruptcies are escalating in the Midwest and price drops for essential crops from the Covi-19 pandemic are expected to worsen the problem in future years, according to recent report.
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With restaurants and bars throughout the state reopening Friday, they will not have the ability to reap lost profits by serving takeout cocktails — even though legislators passed a bill last weekend allowing it.
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Illinois House Republicans on Thursday called on Auditor General Frank Mautino to delve into what they characterize as an incompetent response by the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) to process the 1.2 million unemployment claims that overwhelmed the system, resulting in website outages, long phone waits and weeks of waiting for a new system for independent contractors.
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State Rep. Allen Skillicorn (R-East Dundee) faces an uphill battle in the first steps for a special recall election for Gov. JB Pritzker over what Skillicorn says is the governor’s mishandling of Illinois’ unemployment system. More than 1 million Illinoisans have filed for unemployment benefits since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.
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When State Sen. Rob Martwick (D-Chicago) drove away from Springfield last weekend, he says he thought the votes he cast via proxy as he sat in his Capitol office to protect himself against the coronavirus may be his last.
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Most local governments in Illinois will not see a significant amount of money from the federal CARES Act under a bill passed by lawmakers over the weekend, leaving some municipalities in Illinois’ five largest counties worried they’ll have to fight for their share.
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House Minority Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs) and House Speaker Mike Madigan (D-Chicago) confer on the House’s makeshift chamber floor in the Bank of Springfield Center during special legislative session on Saturday.Ending the most unusual spring legislative session early Sunday morning, Illinois lawmakers — masked up to protect themselves from the coronavirus — approved a $41.5 billion state operating budget and pulled off passing lower rates for a Chicago casino in a last-minute feat late Saturday. -
Democratic lawmakers on Thursday advanced a bill that would significantly expand Illinois’ vote by mail program for the November election, including making Election Day a state holiday for schools, over concerns from Republican lawmakers.
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The Senate late Thursday adopted a resolution containing the language for an informational pamphlet that will be sent to voters before the November election, informing voters of arguments for and against Gov. JB Pritzker’s plan to change Illinois’ income tax to a graduated rate structure.
Democrats passed the resolution with no Republican votes, just as the chamber voted last spring for both the actual constitutional amendment and the accompanying proposed income tax rates. The resolution also contains the language that will be used on the November ballot.
The language espousing arguments in favor of the amendment decries Illinois’ flat tax — currently set at 4.95 percent for individuals and 7 percent for businesses — as unfair and uses Pritzker’s language of his so-called “Fair Tax.”
“Illinois’ current tax system unfairly benefits millionaires and billionaires and this amendment will set things right for middle-class and working people,” the pamphlet will say. “Currently, it is unfair that billionaires pay the same tax rate as regular people.”
The language for arguments against the amendment starts out with telling voters that the General Assembly has the power to go back and alter the graduated income tax rates at any time. It criticizes Illinois taxes and spending as “out of control.”
“The amendment gives the legislature the power to increase taxes on any group of taxpayers with no limits and no accountability and without any requirement to use the additional revenue to fund essential needs such as healthcare, education or public safety,” according to the pamphlet language.
Arguments for and against the amendment will both use the coronavirus pandemic as fuel for their side. For example, the argument against the tax says that in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, “now is the worst possible time for a massive tax increase.”
The argument for the amendment says that after the pandemic, “we need to do all we can to help the economy and middle class and working people.”
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