Illinois’ transit funding crisis is being reshaped by a sales tax windfall, sparking debate over whether the Regional Transportation Authority should spend the unexpected $150 million now or wait for legislative reforms.

"These tax increases are not isolated. They reflect chronic budget mismanagement and a government that continues to treat taxpayers like ATMs," state Sen. Craig Wilcox of McHenry writes.

The costs to Illinois’ government because of the new Republican congressional budget reconciliation law will be steep.

Once a brash young political outsider dubbed “The Chosen One” for his rapid rise under Toni Preckwinkle, Christian Mitchell now returns to the spotlight as Gov. Pritzker’s running mate –battle-tested, bridge-building and still fiercely ambitious.

More legislators than you may realize have received credible threats of violence or have been stalked. Most refuse to talk about it for the record, but those shootings showed what could’ve happened to them and what still may happen in the future.

Human beings tend to wait until the last minute to do things. But the leaders need to start enforcing earlier deadlines for giant issues like this energy proposal so they can deal with other time-sensitive things (the budget and revenues, for instance) at the end.

For quite a while now, most folks in politics have assumed that Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias and Comptroller Susana Mendoza will probably run for mayor of Chicago in 2027.

The U.S. House’s Energy and Commerce Committee released its recommendations for budget reconciliation. A preliminary review by the Congressional Budget Office projected that, if implemented, at least 8.6 million Americans would lose Medicaid coverage during the coming decade.

Needless to say, replacing an appropriations committee chair with barely two weeks to go in the spring session and tough budget votes ahead is not exactly commonplace. I’ve never seen such a thing in 35 years of doing this.