Scott T. Holland

As with facial scans and voice recognition, technology falling under the blanket descriptor of “artificial intelligence” is advancing far more rapidly that any legislation could hope to match.

Holmes argued there are 'over 20 guardrails in place' against coercion, abuse and forgery, including potential felony charges. No doctors, providers or pharmacists would be required to participate; some health systems have already announced they’ll abstain.

'What they have today is a joke compared to what we had in earlier years… and what we had was non-polluting.'

HB 3146 remains idled in the House Rules Committee, but Kennelly’s opinion ought to be a major wakeup call.

State officials have long discussed a KRM commuter rail line (Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee) but the new focus is on the MARK Rail project (Milwaukee Area-Racine Kenosha Passenger Rail).

That means ignoring thoughts about the federal minimum wage or Medicare for All but exploring ideas like tax incentives for home builders, tax credits for first-time buyers and broad zoning changes as the commercial real estate landscape changes.

Selfishly I enjoy retelling this story because I support any efforts to use the justice system to actually correct and improve lives and repair brokenness for the benefit of larger society.

It’s impossible to ignore the dichotomy of one school celebrating the infusion of federal cash while another demonstrates the possible peril if such funding streams are throttled.

The overwhelming majority of proposals involve framing maternal mortality as a public health issue and therefore wielding governmental resources in response.

When wading into the murky waters of how Illinois funds essential operations, it’s common to be only ankle deep before wondering if the confusion is intentional.

There’s room for a healthy debate about political considerations at play in the policy shift, but whether someone endorses or rejects underlying motives, the situation illustrates the perils of delivering state services with federal money.

Nine of the governments that did submit plans took note of a fundamental challenge: they don’t control their residents’ salaries.

The present reality, at best, makes it harder for taxpayers to advocate for better allocation of public resources. At worst, the system offers an inviting shield for elected officials to deflect blame for poor (or intentionally harmful) decisions.

Density, infrastructure and other factors vary widely by ZIP code, but every state agency deals with similar regional discrepancies and SB 2111 simply didn’t go far enough in addressing concerns about the shared basic need to get from here to there.

The projects might’ve cost less if started earlier but the Department of Natural Resources budget was shuffled down the priority list during years when even social service agencies weren’t close to adequately funded.