As one who scribbles largely about things Illinois, I feel almost obligated to observe on the bombshell, certainly for the small fraternity that follows Illinois politics, news that utility ComEd has agreed to pay a $200 Million fine for bribery of Illinois officials. The announcement by the U.S. attorney’s office
By Raymon Troncoso More than 200 federal agents will head to Chicago this week when State and local officials take a more measured tone of acceptance after railing against a potential federal surge earlier in the week. That’s because the Donald Trump Administration has offered assurances that the Illinois operations,
By Peter Hancock Republicans in the Illinois House Tuesday, July 21 called on Democratic governor JB Pritzker to convene a special session of the General Assembly to focus on ethics reform. During a video news conference, repsentatives Grant Wehrli, Deanne Mazzochi, and Dan Ugaste said there is an urgent need
Congressman Bill Foster (D-IL) issued the following statement Monday, July 20 on reports that the Donald Trump administration is preparing to deploy 150 federal agents to Illinois, without sharing information about their mission or scope of duty: “Once again, the Trump administration demonstrates its disdain for the protections of the
Remaining accessible to the community, State representative Stephanie Kifowit, D-Oswego, will be host to a virtual town hall discussion at 5 p.m. Wednesday, July 29 on Zoom in addition to streaming it on her Facebook page ILDistrict84. “I believe that there are a lot of individuals that do not realize
By Jason Crane – At the Aurora city government Committee of the Whole meeting Tuesday, through the Zoom video conferencing platform, the City Council discussed an ordinance granting additional time for compliance of the Special Use for a cannabis dispensing facility at 1415 Corporate Boulevard that was granted in January.
By John W. Whitehead For those old enough to have lived through the McCarthy era, there is a whiff of something in the air that reeks of the heightened paranoia, finger-pointing, fear-mongering, totalitarian tactics, that were hallmarks of the 1950s. Back then, it was the government, spearheaded by senator Joseph
By Rebecca Anzel The Illinois Supreme Court announced last week that it approved a change to rules governing eviction proceedings that will simplify the process for both landlords and tenants. The rule change mandates that property owners must file all related documents simultaneously when they file a complaint. That includes
By Jerry Nowicki Governor JB Pritzker encouraged Illinoisans to complete the 2020 U.S. Census and touted a State investment in youth employment programs Thursday during two public appearances in Rockford. The state has a 66.9% census self-response rate currently. That’s nearly five percentage points better than the 62.1% national rate,
By Jerry Nowicki Hours after filing a court document implicating, but not charging, Illinois’ house speaker Michael Madigan in a years long bribery scheme, federal officials took to the courtyard of the Dirksen Federal Building in Chicago on Friday to deliver a message to those engaging in public corruption: “We
By Jason Crane Discussions at the Aurora City Council meeting Tuesday, through the Zoom video conference platform, included requiring a certified statement of expenses detailing line items to a contractor’s statement and an owner’s statement to be included as part of an amendment to a redevelopment agreement before the City
As part of the National Census Surge Week, Aurora, Elgin, and cities in Kane County are joining forces to literally make some noise about the importance of completing the 2020 Census. With lights, sirens and horns activated, a caravan of vehicles from the Aurora Complete Counts Committee will make a
By Jerry Nowicki The State’s COVID-19 test positivity rate remained at three percent Monday when the Illinois Department of Public Health reported 883 new confirmed cases of the virus. The 30,012 test results reported Monday followed more than 70,000 total reported the previous two days, driving Illinois to more than
By Peter Hancock Illinois House speaker Michael Madigan Thursday, July 9 called for removing statues and portraits of the 19th Century U.S. senator Stephen A Douglas from the Statehouse along with other known slaveholders. “While reading Sidney Blumenthal’s book ‘All the Powers of Earth’ concerning the pre-Civil War period a
Applications for vote-by-mail ballots for the November 3 general election are available. Kane County Clerk John A. Cunningham recently announced applications can be obtained in two ways, online and by paper copy. In a July 2020 letter to Kane County voters, he said the first method is to complete an
By John W. Whitehead What exactly is going on? Is this revolution? Is this anarchy? Is this a spectacle engineered to distract us from the machinations of the police state? Is this a sociological means of re-setting our national equilibrium? Is this a Machiavellian scheme designed to further polarize the
A hot weather streak will bring air temperatures in the 80s and 90s for at least the next two weeks, with some days reaching triple digits the heat index. The city government of Aurora is advising residents to take necessary precautions to stay safe and has opened a centrally-located cooling
By Jerry Nowicki Days after the governor donated $51.5 Million of his personal fortune to a committee supporting a graduated income tax constitutional amendment, a new coalition has begun an effort to defeat the measure. At stake is governor JB Pritzker’s signature policy proposal, a constitutional amendment scrapping the state’s
Now that Illinois has moved into Phase 4 of the Restore Illinois Plan, which permits groups of up to 50 to gather, the Naperville Park District Board of Commissioners will resume in-person meetings beginning July 9. Both of the July meetings will be held at Fort Hill Activity Center Multipurpose
By Jason Crane At the Aurora city government Committee of the Whole meeting Tuesday, through the Zoom video conference platform, the City Council gave consent to approximately 15 agenda items to be voted on at the full City Council meeting next Tuesday. Consent was given to a resolution authorizing the
