Scott T. Holland

Even as cash bail formally ended in Illinois Monday, its proponents couldn’t stop banging the rhetorical drum.

“Rebuilding the child welfare system in Illinois is not a single nor simple task; it requires innovation and a commitment to hard work.”

Did the system fail an individual or did individuals fail the system? It’s impossible to cleanly distill something so unspeakably tragic as the short life of AJ Freund, but an ongoing McHenry County trial aims to assign additional blame for the boy's death.

EOI: Do you have plans for Aug. 19, 2024? The mid-August Monday some 50 weeks hence is significant primarily to those deeply invested in political machinations, as it represents the opening of the Democratic National Convention at Chicago’s United Center.

EOI: A thousand dollars is a drop in almost any government bucket. But to the optimists, who favor more aspirational aphorisms, it might also be the single step of a thousand-mile journey.

EOI: Oftentimes one of the crucial steps to solving a problem depends on getting the right people to agree a problem exists.

EOI: Readers weigh in.

EOI:No matter which politicians are smiling at the next ceremony celebrating some major economic development “win,” be sure to remember the initial excitement always fades, especially so when promised jobs don’t materialize and local governments are left with gaping budget holes.

EOI: What are elected officials for if not navigating competing concerns? Our 1970s General Assembly composition translates to the 2020s, but Illinois’ voice in Congress has seen substantial dilution.

EOI: When making a list of all-time government debacles, be sure to include the Thomson prison.

EOI: Last week a federal jury convicted Tim Mapes, former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan’s top aide, finding him guilty of perjury and obstruction of justice because he lied to a grand jury investigating Madigan and his inner circle.

EOI: Amid the ongoing, justified angst about how much Bears ownership can leverage to supplement real estate dreams for the site of the old horse track in Arlington Heights, we learned this week the White Sox might try a leverage play of their own.

EOI: The legislative merry-go-round keeps spinning.

EOI: Campaign contributions should fund politics, not legal bills, but lawmakers won’t put themselves in a position of being unable to afford defense from meritless litigation.

EOI: If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.Don Tracy might not have used that phrase exactly, but it’s the sentiment the Illinois Republican Party chairman expressed this week in Springfield.