Latest News from Prairie State Wire

Needle exchange legislation before Pritzker will litter streets, playgrounds with dirty needles, reports show

By W.J. Kennedy | Jul 2, 2019

Dirty needles littering Illinois sidewalks and playgrounds will almost certainly be one of the side effects of legislation establishing a statewide needle exchange program for intravenous drug users, news reports of exchange programs in other states show.

Possible legal challenges to sweeping new abortion law limited in scope, pro-life legal expert says

By W.J. Kennedy | Jun 20, 2019

Legal challenges to the newly minted Reproductive Health Act (RHA) that lifts all restrictions on abortion in Illinois will come in response to narrow applications of the law, Clarke Forsythe, senior counsel at Americans United for Life, told Prairie State Wire.

Pritzker’s claims of paying down pension debt “simply dishonest,” fiscal watchdog says

By W.J. Kennedy | Jun 17, 2019

The recently approved state budget hardly makes Illinois the beacon of fiscal prudence that Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker and legislative leaders claim it is, budgetary analysts at Wirepoints say.

Air quality expert predicts media will target industry when EPA lowers Chicagoland’s air quality status

By W.J. Kennedy | Jun 14, 2019

Sometime this summer the U.S. Department of Environmental Protection (EPA) is expected to move the six-county Chicago region from a “moderate” nonattainment category for ground-level ozone (smog) to a “serious” one.

New Trier, other wealthy school districts shifting their built-in pension spiking costs to taxpayers statewide

By W.J. Kennedy | Jun 6, 2019

To spike their pensions, New Trier high school teachers, a few years from retirement, had six percent annual bumps in salary written into their 2016-2019 contracts.

Sen. Jim Oberweis compromise plan ignored as teacher pension spiking provision slips through

By W.J. Kennedy | Jun 5, 2019

State Sen. Jim Oberweis (R-Sugar Grove) believed he had a gentleman’s agreement with his Democratic counterparts to keep a cap in place that prevented teachers from spiking their pensions. And then at the last minute he didn’t.

Senate leader Bill Brady’s undisclosed gaming interests 'worthy of a Chicago alderman'

By W.J. Kennedy | Jun 4, 2019

Senate Republican Leader Bill Brady’s undisclosed financial interests in the gaming industry, and his public celebration with Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker over legislative approval of a massive expansion of gaming in the state, the budget and other controversial bills marks a new low point for the Republican Party.

Abortion on verge of becoming limitless right in Illinois, topping freedom of speech

By W.J. Kennedy | May 29, 2019

A pro-life legal expert says the right to abortion would become the “summit” right in Illinois if the Senate, as expected, passes the Reproductive Health Act, which the House approved Tuesday.

Madigan 'bullying' income tax increase through legislative process

By W.J. Kennedy | May 24, 2019

House Speaker Michael Madigan used his absolute power over the legislative process to move legislation to the floor on Friday that exchanges Illinois’ constitutionally mandated flat income tax with a progressive tax.

Heartland Institute: progressive income tax would only worsen state’s budget problems

By W.J. Kennedy | May 10, 2019

In a recent article critical of a proposed move to a progressive income tax, the Heartland Institute’s Matthew Glans and Lennie Jarratt point out that one of the arguments for the tax is an empty one: revenues the state has been collecting through the current flat tax are among the most robust in the Midwest.

Billionaire casino mogul Neil Bluhm seeks to shut down competition through amendment to sports wagering legislation

By W.J. Kennedy | May 10, 2019

Sports wagering legislation in Springfield punishing two online gaming companies is a blind for protecting the in-state interests of billionaire casino mogul, Neil Bluhm, according to one of the nation’s leading legal experts on gaming.

New study shows Illinois’ fiscal mess is a drag on recovery

By W.J. Kennedy | May 8, 2019

Illinois is missing out on the economic boom benefiting most states, a fiscal update from the Pew Charitable Trusts shows. Years of overspending and fiscal mismanagement has the state actually contracting in some economic categories.

Thousands of taxpayers could miss out on tax credits under Department of Revenue policy

By W.J. Kennedy | May 3, 2019

Under a new policy, the Illinois Department of Revenue (IDOR) has been rejecting income tax credits it verified and accepted in the past, a top certified public accountant (CPA) says. As a result, thousands could overpay on their income taxes.

Government unions defying Janus ruling face uptick in legal pressure to comply

By W.J. Kennedy | May 2, 2019

Legal pressure is ramping up on government unions to abide by a nearly year-old U.S. Supreme Court decision, Janus v. AFSCME, making it unconstitutional for them to deduct dues from the paychecks of non-union employees.

Former Rep. Ives calls former GOP chair Brady “a traitor” for donating to ultra liberal Dick Durbin’s campaign

By W.J. Kennedy | Apr 29, 2019

Former GOP Chairman Pat Brady delivered yet another sucker punch to his own party by donating to far-left Democratic U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, former State Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton) told Prairie State Wire.

Correctional officer training standards have reached an embarrassing low, IDOC official says

By W.J. Kennedy | Apr 26, 2019

A high-ranking official with the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) said that the training and fitness standards for correctional officer trainees have plummeted so far under IDOC Director John Baldwin that he fears for the safety of the guards and inmates in the state’s 35 prisons.

Conservative GOPer asks for help in former State Rep. Bob Winchester’s battle against the ILGOP

By W.J. Kennedy | Apr 23, 2019

A Republican State Central Committee member is appealing to conservative Republicans statewide to donate to former State Rep. Bob Winchester’s (R-Rosiclare) nearly year-long legal battle to have him declared the rightful victor in the race for Central Committee in the 15th Congressional district.

Revered Illinois Republican Totten dead at 86

By W.J. Kennedy | Apr 5, 2019

Now a top political consultant, Chris Robling says he considered longtime friend and mentor Don Totten one of the “immortals, a mythical figure” of conservative Republican politics in Illinois when Robling was starting out in the early 1980s.

McGlasson discouraged by lack of response to meeting request

By W.J. Kennedy | Jan 25, 2019

All Republican Committeeman John McGlasson says he is likely to get out of his call for a special meeting of the state GOP after the shellacking the party took in November is a chance to speak his mind at the party’s regularly scheduled meeting on Feb. 9 in Bolingbrook. If he can make his way onto the agenda.

Outgoing Ives worries about transparency in school board-teacher negotiations

By W.J. Kennedy | Jan 11, 2019

Jan. 8 marked the end of the 100th General Assembly in Springfield, and almost certainly the end of any chance at transparency in contract negotiations between Illinois school districts and the all-powerful, politically connected teachers’ unions, says an outgoing legislator.

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