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The Center Square: ISP Merit Board spends $550,000 in taxpayer funds to investigate former employee twice
The Illinois Legislative Audit Commission met Tuesday with the Illinois State Police Merit Board to discuss the spending of $550,000 in taxpayer funds to twice investigate an employee who was terminated from her role in 2020 over wage theft allegations.
The Audit Commission found that the ISP paid former Merit Board CFO Jenny Thornley, also a former campaign volunteer for Gov. JB Pritzker, over $71,000 in taxpayer dollars in disability and workers’ compensation pay, even after she was fired by the merit board.
Axios: Courts may release marijuana dispensary licenses
It could be a huge week for the state’s maligned marijuana industry.
- Cook County Circuit Court may remove the injunction that has kept 185 social-equity applicants from receiving their dispensary licenses.
Why it matters: Illinois set out to be the nation’s most socially equitable cannabis state after legalizing marijuana in 2019. But almost three years later, the state has almost no operating minority-owned dispensaries.
Chicago Tribune: Michael Madigan spoke with confidant about helping lobbyist find work with gaming industry, affidavit alleges
It’s no secret that Michael Madigan, the indicted ex-speaker of the Illinois House, for years generated a conga line of Democratic staffers and others who toiled in the legislative arena and then cashed in as lobbyists.
But it was rare to catch Madigan allegedly playing matchmaker.