A top legislative budget negotiator last week said rank-and-file legislators will very soon have to come to terms with a state budget environment unlike anything many have ever seen before.

If Pritzker’s governance does start slipping because he’s running for higher office, I pledge to let my opinion be known. I will not stand for it. This state is far too important.

Gov. JB Pritzker said last week that the extreme uncertainty with the U.S. government and the international economy might mean that the legislature may have to reconvene to reconfigure the state budget after it adjourns at the end of next month.

You’ve probably read about the Republican Party’s implosion last week in suburban municipal and township campaigns, particularly in DuPage County.

The state imposes an additional sales tax in the Regional Transit Authority’s jurisdiction. Last week’s study found that expanding those specific RTA sales taxes to services could generate an additional $315 million a year.

State Rep. Marty Moylan, D-Des Plaines, chair of the House Transportation: Rail Systems, Roads & Bridges Committee, is heading into the transit funding discussions armed with an inch-and-a-half-thick binder filled with CTA salary data.

Advocates say a major storm is brewing that could overwhelm the state’s child foster care system.

The latest report from the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability shows that spending on “core” state services in the governor’s proposed fiscal 2026 budget will be 9.1% less in real dollars than it was in fiscal 2000.

Illinois House Speaker Chris Welch didn’t sound all that enthused about passing any new ethics reforms during an interview last week.