Illinois has the strictest latchkey law of any state. A new bill looks to change the minimum age parents can legally leave their children home alone from 14 to 12.
The Illinois General Assembly is without a watchdog. The former legislative inspector general quit after saying she was just a paper tiger. Now lawmakers cannot agree on her replacement.
The Invest in Kids scholarship tax credit program helps low-income families pay for private schools. Making the program permanent and expanding it would help more students attend schools that best fit their needs.
Illinois has the second-highest gas taxes in the nation, but a new bill would let cities add a local gas tax on top of the state and federal taxes and fees. Illinois doubled its gasoline tax in 2019, part of $5.2 billion in new taxpayer costs since Gov. J.B. Pritzker took office.
Chicago and Cook County have implemented vaccine mandates, requiring proof of vaccination to enter gyms, restaurants and other venues. St. Charles, which is in Kane and DuPage counties, does not fall under the purview of these mandates, but has pre-emptively opposed such a rule.
Illinois, California and New York shrank the most and lost people fastest during the COVID-19 pandemic. Texas and Florida grew the most. Idaho, Utah and Montana grew the fastest.
While the start of the COVID-19 pandemic caused consumer spending to drop across the U.S., the decline was worse in Illinois. Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s harsher restrictions appear to be the culprit.
More Illinoisans fled for other states from July 2020-July 2021 than during any other year in recorded history, driving the state’s record population decline.
Chicago’s $1.15 billion projected budget gap is the latest in a decades-long string of structural deficits. Making Chicago’s high taxes worse is not the solution.