Illinois State Politics from the Chicago Journal.
Health
According to the CDC, 15 children aged 0-17 years have died with confirmed or presumed COVID-19 in the entire state of Illinois so far this year, while 43 children aged 0-17 years have been fatally shot in Chicago alone so far this year.
Illinois Politics
Illinois Democrats unveiled an updated version of their new Congressional map on Saturday and, you guessed it, it's even worse than the first.
Health
Illinois' weekly COVID case count has dropped for seven weeks in a row. The state has also seen new cases per day numbers drop 50% from seven weeks ago.
Law
Supreme Court Justice Mary Jane Theis wrote in a 6-0 decision that the taxes violate the constitution’s uniformity clause. She noted revenue from the tax isn't directed toward funds or programs to curb the costs of gun violence or reduce the violence.
Chicago Journal
Filed Friday, the lawsuit says race played a role in the redistricting of House District 114. The plaintiffs say the new map jeopardizes the prospects of a candidate preferred by Black voters, and is an effort to undermine and disenfranchise the Black electorate.
Chicago Journal
Democrats hold supermajorities in both chambers of the Legislature, making passage of their plan all but certain. And Pritzker, a Democrat, already has approved new legislative maps drawn by politicians despite a promise on the campaign trail not to do so.
Illinois News
Interim Director, Keith Calloway, and the Standards Board's chairman said they could not comment on the reason for Fischer's dismissal.
Illinois Politics
In a high profile example, after warnings of weak security, Kwame Raoul's Illinois Attorney General's Office was hit by a cyber attack in April of 2021 that has cost his office an estimated $2.5 million in crisis management spending.
Chicago Journal
Illinois Democrats have not yet voted on new congressional district boundaries, but with the state losing a House seat due to population loss, they are expected to remove a GOP-held district and try to make other districts more friendly to Democrats.
Chicago Journal
The Clean Energy Jobs Act provides a $700 million subsidy to Exelon with the idea of saving jobs and the large amount of carbon-free energy the plants already produce.
Chicago Journal
Central and southern Illinois lawmakers are worried about the closure of the Springfield and Marissa coal plants. They worry not only about the loss of union jobs there, but also about what they say is little detail on how their generating capacity will be replaced.
Illinois Politics
Jesse Sullivan, an Illinois native who founded Alter Global in San Francisco, released a campaign video portraying himself as an outsider who'll fight to solve the state's problems