After asking readers to share must-eat food stops throughout Illinois in 2021, I started focusing on cuisine at the State Fair, running through Aug. 17.

Certainly, at this point, I’ve spent enough to buy someone a new car. Or at least help the company with all its clever advertising and corporate sponsorships.

The current composition of Congress is the complete inverse of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” – the general consensus is complete frustration with the status quo and no one seems remotely interested in exploring practical solutions.

It’s the feds who put away corrupt political figures, and county prosecutors taking on DCFS’ shortcomings. But in neither case do prison sentences seem to have the deterrent effect often presumed when gavels drop.

I was oblivious, but looking back at the pictures, there was my hero, watching my kid play his position.

I was much more compelled by the top AP headline from our current location: “Man with mental health issues found naked in Minnesota Capitol, raising new security concerns.”

The U.S. Constitution leaves almost everything related to elections up to individual states, but people who don’t like the outcomes are relentless in trying to use federal courts to reach their desired goals.

The agencies combine on a rental housing study titled Out of Reach, which this year determined a full-time worker in Illinois needs an hourly salary of $29.81 to afford the market price of a two-bedroom apartment.

The point of sharing isn’t to advocate for the report’s suggestions, but to present an opportunity to explore the groundwork lawmakers and lobbyists will reference as these concepts make their way into public remarks, committee meetings and eventually legislation.

“Illinois is the only state in the country that does not prohibit rates from being ‘inadequate, excessive or unfairly discriminatory,’ which means it has no authority to reject a rate filing on those grounds.”

Needless to say, things are a little bit more consequential for the medical care of almost 30,000 inmates, and being able to see the problem coming makes it that much more frustrating.

Invest In Kids was about private schools. Illinois Gives money is available to agencies that “provide charitable grants for the benefit of residents of Illinois or charities and charitable projects located in Illinois.”

All the legitimately interesting discussion from May 2024 seems unlikely to yield any fruit, or at the very least must be repeated should lawmakers ever try to restart the process.

Serving as a professional reference or suggesting a friend hire a friend is just networking. But knowing the job is a sham or lying about someone’s qualifications is never above board. The feds have long insisted McClain knew about quid pro quos.

If one candidate breaks 50% as everyone’s top choice, the tallying ends. But absent a majority, whichever option has the fewest top-choice votes is eliminated, and any ballots listing the last-place finisher as the top choice get added to those voters’ second choice.

It’s also a local economy issue: SNAP recipients are customers and the retailers who sell them food might not be prepared to lose out on that business. After all, grocery store cash registers don’t care where the money originates.

The final 17 pages are a breakdown of all pension legislation from the recently concluded spring session from COGFA Pension Unit Manager Dan Hankiewicz.

In proposing the fiscal 2026 budget, Pritzker suggested spending $7.6 million less on housing programs. Lawmakers actually cut $14.6 million. The Court-Based Rental Assistance Program, which helps people facing evictions, is down $25 million.

How much does the marching band spend on new music each fall? Who pays to paint the school logo at midfield? What is the impact of overdue fines on the library budget? When I buy a box of popcorn at the pool, does any of that go toward lifeguard paychecks?

The Illinois Economic Policy Institute and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign’s Project for Middle Class Renewal reported that the state currently is short 142,000 housing units but would need to open 227,000 units over the next five years to meet projected demand.

I appreciate a quality professional display a few times a year yet have almost zero tolerance for amateur hour, especially when it extends across a whole weekend.

According to the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, out-of-staters spent more than $1 million per day on recreational marijuana in 2024, accounting for 22.35% of annual sales.

He won a second term in 2022 capturing almost 55% of the vote, helping pace a Democratic sweep of statewide offices where the average victory margin was about 520,000.

This also is a story about procedure, because SB 328 is a textbook example for understanding the concepts of “shell bill,” “gut and replace” and the “enrolled bill doctrine.”

Make better choices and avoid these problems, right? That’s a lot easier to say from outside the courthouse.

The issues here are specifically related to abortion and immigration, but privacy advocates could provide a detailed list of reasons anyone who drives in Illinois should be concerned about what the government knows and how well that information is protected.

When it comes to political violence, sadly, numb is normal, Scott Holland writes

Will Tier 2 pension changes be the defining political fight of 2025?

There’s no practical restitution for the damages inflicted on Illinois by Mike Madigan, Scott Holland writes. Absent fully dismantled levers of power, this sentence isn’t the final chapter on Statehouse corruption

Paying attention to IDFPR can be quite instructive in terms of what’s happening in a community and understanding the ways in which Springfield attempts (and sometimes fails) to operate.

I’m reasonably sure there’s no suggestion box at the Statehouse, but surely voters have dozens of other ideas for ways to improve Springfield’s efficiency.

Ultimately both sets, whether macro or micro, require substantial dot connecting to yield policy recommendations.

The methods we’ve selected have some noticeable shortcomings, and if the process impedes progress, then it might be time to reevaluate the rules of engagement.

A multi-sport complex at Proviso West High School in Hillside may be a great community investment. But it’s not more important than life safety issues elsewhere, and the GOP won’t let House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch shirk the spotlight.

"A candidate’s past margin of victory says nothing about the relative weight of mail-in ballots received after Election Day – and thus the strategic importance of extended poll-watching operations."

Perhaps if the Virginia Burgesses knew they could profit from gambling, sports books wouldn’t have operated under the table for hundreds of years.

Under the Senate’s plan, the Regional Transportation Authority would become the Northern Illinois Transit Authority, a better name than before provided you can get past all the territory in the northern part of the state that would still be on the outside looking in.

There’s no way to fully satisfy either camp, underscoring the importance of making sure government functions adequately for enough voters to strike a balance.

Public voting from mid-January to Valentine’s Day revealed an overwhelming preference for the status quo, with about 43% of almost 385,000 votes opting against any change whatsoever. The current flag fared better than the combined total of the next five choices.

Bringing lawmakers back to Springfield at what might otherwise be a dormant stretch isn’t – or at least shouldn’t be – much cause for concern.

But to hear Harper tell it, the issue isn’t so much inability to reach compromise as unwillingness to negotiate.

"These milestones are a testament to the dedication and commitment of CMS, which has embraced efficiency, innovation and collaboration to improve past hiring challenges."

The current party line is no pursuit of state funding for stadium construction, but even if the Bears don’t directly request money to deal with infrastructure, a development at the proposed scale would force the hands of many government entities.

It’d take the rest of the month to tell superintendents’ stories: falling ceilings, boilers repurposed from World War II ships, infested walls from schools built when Al Capone was still an elementary student in Brooklyn.

Most baseball fans don’t care how someone earns HOF induction. Many taxpayers aren’t attuned to the intricacies of which government gets their money.

House Bill 1085 attempts to tackle some of those challenges by amending the Illinois Insurance Code to impose new obligations on private policies subject to state regulation.

Article IV, Section 8, of the Illinois Constitution stipulates: 'A bill shall be read by title on three different days in each house. A bill and each amendment thereto shall be reproduced and placed on the desk of each member before final passage.'

Every parking fee proposal incites negative feedback. While the DNR isn’t the worst-run state agency, it would unquestionably be in better shape with additional revenue.

'The increase is likely due to a surge in final tax payments stemming from higher capital gains and interest earnings as a result of strong market conditions and investment returns during tax year 2024.'

Year over year it becomes clearer that those who thrive in the classroom do so because of passion.