I love to say I told you so, which makes sharing the lead sentence fun: “Gambling is going to expand Illinois, and if you think Gov. Pat Quinn is going to do anything to stop it, you haven’t been paying attention.”

On Monday, the panel clarified that the U.S. Attorney’s district office, under Andrew Boutros, could retry the case. Although the initial convictions were flawed, lawyers failed to show justification for outright acquittals

The contradiction reminds there’s a large gap between the accomplishment of a grant award and the optimistic press release from a lawmaker who “secured the funding” and the day the check actually clears and concrete plans can take effect.

I’m very much guilty of identifying as “not a math person” or, as written in September, an “English major who can’t help his sons with their math homework once they reach middle school.”

That said … real fixes aren’t possible without extra money, either, otherwise the problems probably wouldn’t persist. And so it’s back to the beginning: absent additional spending, no improvements will be sufficient.

To the extent these bills placate either of the competing interests at this juncture – or even after all the audits are released and scrutinized – everything is subject to change if or when Congress changes the tools in the box.

My inbox was full of releases from groups that typically lean left but had plenty to say about the General Assembly’s funding commitments for certain priorities.

The people who know all too well what consequences this lack of attention has effectuated don’t have the luxury of turning to different challenges.

I’ve spent an awful lot of time trying to figure out how to make that all fit into eight semesters for my own kids and suspect I might not be alone.

You can drop in any other policy area (property tax reform, transportation infrastructure, prescription drug access, etc.) and the question is equally applicable: Do voters want somebody with a plan or someone who is merely opposed to the status quo?

Nothing exists in isolation, least of all venues that seat tens of thousands of people.

The plan gets the biggest detail (mostly) correct: 'If a homeowner fails to pay their debt in an initial redemption period, and their property is seized and sold, they will receive any surplus funds left over from the auction.'

Some of the push for new revenue now could be an attempt to offset a deficit in fiscal 2028 – a February report suggested the figure might reach $1.5 billion – with at least one Democrat specifically targeting concerns toward uncertainty from Washington

June 23, 2021: 'Sports owners have notoriously short arms when it comes to their own deep pockets but gladly open their palms wide for public handouts.'

China is a leading importer of Illinois soybeans – a bit of a concern given recent disruptions in traditional international trade relations – and the fact that so much of the yield leaves the state overlaps significantly with transportation infrastructure concerns.

"The evidence shows the county was deliberately indifferent to the obvious risk of constitutional violations when it failed to act to address property owners’ loss of equity when a tax deed was issued."

Registering to vote is neither required nor a guarantee of actually voting, which might be partly why political types are so comfortable with the phrase “publicly owned” referring to a specific government entity and not the constituents whom that entity technically represents.

Government historians can explain how Illinois ended up with this timetable, but those recollections often explain only why it exists – not whether it’s the best approach.

Lower prices for prescription meds are positive, right? Sure, except in this instance, the purpose of the discount is so that those facilities can profit when selling the medication to patients.

Halfway through May is a fine time to revisit some of the legislation covered earlier in the session, among more than 11,800 bills and resolutions filed since the current General Assembly started in January 2025.

We also hope to sow seeds for those who can someday take our places, wherever they land, continuing the cycle of finding a little corner of life in which to make a difference.

Even if the math isn’t perfect, it helps to understand promises and projections versus the likely reality.

Remember: the Bears have a stadium. No one forced the team to spend almost $300 million to buy an old horse track without any concrete development plans.

To be fair, Frank Mautino isn’t the only person to benefit from these structures, just a convenient, timely proxy.

"On a single receipting day this month following the April 15 income tax deadline, more than $1.5 billion in income tax receipts were collected."

If approved, the bill would put a three-day retention limit on captured data absent its role as evidence for potential criminal prosecution.

Obviously, $125 million is real money. But the way it shakes out for individual customers is almost negligible.

Because the statutory language clearly applies to businesses, government units obviously are excluded.

Scudder deftly explains the case history and why Madigan’s appellate arguments failed, routinely addressing what a reasonable jury could believe based on everything shown at trial.

Lawmakers have filed more than 11,400 bills and resolutions since the current General Assembly started in January 2025.

Anti-violence might be my deepest held personal position. But that comes from understanding how much we actually have normalized the scourge.

The people’s business isn’t always done in the predawn hours of Memorial Day weekend or crammed into a January lame duck session.

IEPA estimates the remediations have an average cost of $150,000 per site and said its Underground Storage Tank Fund holds more than $80 million as of April 7. Ignoring inflation, five projects per year means it would take 106 years to burn through the entire fund.

How are supposed to kids supposed to know what’s happening on their Chromebooks if they’re looking at their iPhones?

Few love the idea of a central government database, state or federal, tying everyone’s everything into a single record.

Rose, who co-chairs the Legislative Audit Commission, dressed down DOC Director LaToya Hughes for helming an agency with 40 shortcomings in fiscal 2023 and 2024.

When ethics laws don’t explicitly ban certain conduct, the result is that the powerful are invited to dance in the gray areas until jurists ultimately define the actual rules.

Current law empowers the board to expel implicated students for up to two calendar years. Under SB 2991, the mandatory minimum would be one year.

DOC’s glowing education release stands in stark contrast to inmates who just want to hold a birthday card from a child or parent, but along with HB 4235’s broad support, it does foster optimism for commitments to prepare inmates for healthy returns to society.

Legislation contemplating a pathway to driving privileges for people who have racked up three separate license suspensions is little more than a concession that the penalty structure can never be expected to achieve the implicit goal of keeping dangerous drivers off the road.

It’s difficult to envision a restaurant, from fast food to fancy steakhouse, that lets customers pay a tab with plastic then fish out physical dollars and cents to cover the tax and tip.

Districts participating in the vacancy grant program hired more than 12,400 new teachers, according to the report, with retention numbers looking good and more than 2,300 employees pursuing endorsements or licenses in the high-need areas.

Economic projections and policy proposals aren’t guarantees. If or when plain language appears on a ballot, opponents will be quick to argue against the wisdom of giving lawmakers a blank check.

In addition to dropping the cost, it clears a path to solar for condo owners, apartment renters (who could just move the panels with them should they relocate), and homeowners whose roofs aren’t suitable but might have room in the yard for a smaller setup.

Last year the push was behind Senate Bill 98, which didn’t get a committee assignment before the deadline. This time around it’s Senate Bill 2991.

'I’m 69 and my kids have been out of public schools for over 20 years, but I am happy to fund the schools for future generations. Society is much better off with a good education system.'

Whether this version is the one that finally crosses the legislative finish line remains to be seen. If it does, one thing it won’t do is resolve a personal peeve: a lack of good information on receipts about sales taxes.

The resistance itself is evidence of the larger problem: a government structure and political culture in which our public institutions are rivals instead of partners

The Bulls and Blackhawks would stay put (and so would the stadium), they’d just be in a vastly improved area instead of surrounded by literally acres of parking lots.

It’s good to convey pragmatism rather than approaching the challenges with a bulldozer and trusting someone else to sort out the rubble.