Tag: illinois

Illinois Plans Tax Break for Billionaires and the Chicago Bears. Everyone Else Could End Up Paying More.

The Illinois Legislature is busy advancing a bill that’s one of the most egregious examples yet of the grift between professional sports teams and state and local governments. 

Under House Bill 910, projects designated as “megaprojects” would have their assessed value frozen at a base-year level, effectively shielding all new construction from property taxation for up to 45 years. Just two developments would qualify for the maximum duration under the current language: the proposed Chicago Bears stadium in Arlington Heights and the One Central mixed-use development near Soldier Field in Chicago.

Rank-and-file property owners in Illinois pay the highest property taxes in the nation, but middle-class taxpayers get no relief under the bill. Instead, it’s likely their taxes will go up even more. The language says “megaproject” developers (for projects that cost at least $100 million) would be able to negotiate a payment in lieu of taxes with local taxing bodies, with the duration of the tax break varying by the total cost of the development. For example, if a property tax analysis of the Arlington Heights stadium estimates it to be a $5 billion development on land currently valued at $100 million, this bill would reduce the developer’s annual tax liability from roughly $350 million to approximately $7 million.

What happens to the difference of $343 million in this example? Local governments can still count the full value of the megaproject when calculating how much they’re allowed to tax and borrow—they just can’t actually collect taxes on most of the megaproject. Given the record of local governments in Illinois, it’s a pretty good bet they’ll find that revenue elsewhere by raising taxes. The legislation, as it stands, does basically nothing to address this.

The bill passed the Illinois House in April. The bill passed 78–32, with 10 Republicans crossing party lines to support it. Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker is busy pressuring the state Senate to get it across the finish line before the end of May. Pritzker (and the rest of the Legislature) are feeling pressure to pass the bill due to the looming threat of the Bears moving to northwest Indiana. Hoosier lawmakers, especially Republicans, have a standing offer for the Bears to relocate just across the state line for over $1 billion in public subsidies. (At least Indiana is in better fiscal health than Illinois.)

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Plainfield adopts ban on sale of controversial drug kratom

The village of Plainfield has joined other communities in banning the sale of kratom, which the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has called “a drug of concern.”

Village trustees on Tuesday unanimously approved an ordinance that not only bans the sale or transfer of kratom, but also bans the sale or transfer of any novel synthetic or psychoactive drugs.

Those violating the ordinance could face a $250 fine. There is a statewide ban on the sale of kratom to anyone under the age of 18.

Kratom is an herbal extract from leaves of an evergreen tree called Mitragyna Speciosa, which grows in Southeast Asia. Kratom can be chewed, swallowed, brewed or added to a liquid.

In a memo to Plainfield Mayor John Argoudelis and village trustees, Plainfield Police Chief Robert Miller and Plainfield Village Administrator Joshua Blakemore recommended the board approve the ordinance.

“People who use kratom report that in low doses, kratom acts as a stimulant and in higher doses, it is reported it reduces pain and acts as a sedative,” they say in the memo. “Some people take kratom to ease the symptoms of quitting opioids, but it has its own risk of addiction. Kratom has not been shown to be safe or treat any medical conditions. The FDA has warned people not to use Kratom because of the possible harm it can cause.”

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PARENTAL RIGHTS OUTRAGE! Illinois Mother Sues School District, Alleges Officials SECRETLY Socially Transitioned Child After Mental Health Crisis

An Illinois mother has filed a federal lawsuit accusing Community Unit School District 300 of secretly socially transitioning her child at school, withholding key information from her, and cutting her out of a “gender support” plan even after the student had been hospitalized for suicidal ideation.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, names Community Unit School District 300 and Superintendent Dr. Martina Smith as defendants. 

The mother, identified in the complaint only as S.K., alleges that the Algonquin-based district violated her constitutional rights by allowing school officials to make major identity and mental-health-related decisions involving her minor child without parental consent.

“This case challenges a public school district’s policies, practices, and customs of subjecting minor students to psychological and identity-based interventions, while deliberately excluding their parents from participation, consent, and even knowledge,” the complaint states.

The complaint alleges that District 300 officials “socially transitioned minor students at school,” developed “gender support” plans, coordinated with mental-health providers, and withheld material information from parents. 

The lawsuit argues that these actions were “not routine educational judgments,” but rather “state-directed psychological intervention into a minor’s identity, mental health, and familial relationships.”

According to the lawsuit, school personnel began using an alternate name and pronouns for S.K.’s child, T.K., in certain classes in 2022 without informing the mother. 

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DOJ Launches Investigations Into 36 Illinois School Districts for Secretly Pushing Transgender Ideology and Gender Transitions on Kids Behind Parents’ Backs

The Department of Justice has launched sweeping civil rights investigations into 36 Illinois public school districts accused of pushing transgender ideology on students from pre-K through 12th grade.

The federal probe, announced by the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division on Thursday, is also looking into whether these districts are allowing biological males into girls’ bathrooms, locker rooms, and sports teams, which would be a direct violation of Title IX and basic child safety.

The DOJ said it will be investigating whether the schools are promoting sexual orientation and gender ideology to students, and if they notified parents to allow them to opt out.

“The investigations will examine whether these Illinois School Districts, which are recipients of hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer funding, are adhering to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and the Supreme Court’s extensive precedents on parental rights as recently reiterated in Mirabelli v. Bonta and Mahmoud v. Taylor,” the DOJ explained in a press release.

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon said in a press release, “This Department of Justice is determined to put an end to local school authorities keeping parents in the dark about how sexuality and gender ideology are being pushed in classrooms.”

“Supreme Court precedent leaves no doubt: parents have the fundamental right and primary authority to direct the care, upbringing, and education of their children. This includes exempting their children from ideological instruction that contradicts their values or decisions about their children’s health and best interests,” Dhillon added.

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Shorter Pritzker: Trump Deserved It, and I’ll Justify It by Completely and Hilariously Wrecking Myself

J.B. Pritzker’s contemptible reaction to the assassination attempt on President Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents Dinner was about as bad as one can imagine, but things devolved into a complete and hilarious self-own when Pritzker’s “Trump started it” rationale was lost in the blur of his own memory. 

Only long-time, discerning readers of PJ Media will appreciate that the joke was on Pritzker.  And, I must say, it’s hard to write when you’re laughing at him so much. I’ll bravely press on, however.

Pritzker was interviewed on CNN Monday — that’s a day-and-a-half after the crazed leftist TDS-afflicted Democrat would-be killer attacked the White House Correspondents Dinner, where Trump was a featured speaker. That means the dieting Pritzker had plenty of time to compose and lose his thoughts in one of his fat rolls before he even thought to fact-check them. 

That’s a lot of time in politics. 

But here was Pritzker, urging CNN’s Manu Raju to adopt his premise that it was all Trump’s fault because he started it. And besides trying to get Raju to ignore all the times the Democrats have called for, organized, and fundraised for political violence, he spectacularly beclowned himself with the following exchange.

“Remember that it’s been Donald Trump and the Republicans that have called for political violence,” Pritzker straight-facedly told Manu Raju. And then, beckoning Raju to take his thought-journey with him, said, “You know, Donald Trump from the very beginning — remember when he talked about a protester at one of his rallies, that they should just beat him up, punch him…

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Zionist Doxxing Campaigns Upended Their Lives. Now They’re Suing for Damages.

Areckoning could be coming for pro-Israel groups known for doxxing Palestine advocates. In March, the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Chicago) filed a class-action lawsuit in Illinois state court against the organizations Canary Mission and StopAntisemitism, as well as groups and individuals identified as their funders or board members.

“This case represents addressing a broader harm caused by organized doxxing and harassment campaigns,” Laila Ali, a Chicago-based artist and activist and one of six named plaintiffs in the lawsuit, told Truthout. “I’m hoping that it’ll establish clear consequences for those who engage in those tactics.”

StopAntisemitism and Canary Mission have histories of systematically posting the personal information of individuals (known as doxxing or doxing) who engage in pro-Palestine speech, or criticize Israel’s assaults on Palestine and the United States’ involvement, on their websites and social media channels to whip up attack campaigns. Many of those targeted have been Arab, Muslim, or Palestinian young professionals who have faced backlash on university campuses or in their workplaces, as well as online harassment and threats to their personal safety.

Alongside Ali, the named plaintiffs in the new case include two physicians, an IT professional, a former University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign student organizer, and an English lecturer at Loyola University Chicago. The class includes anyone residing in Illinois who has had their personal information shared by StopAntisemitism or Canary Mission without their consent and experienced harm as a result. CAIR-Chicago Staff Attorney Noah Halpern told Truthout his organization expects the group to include about 300 people. The organization is still soliciting outreach from Illinois residents who may be part of this class.

“The goal is to have relief for everyone and do that through this vehicle of a class action,” Halpern explained to Truthout. The lawsuit seeks injunctive and declaratory relief and damages, meaning CAIR-Chicago would like to secure a judgment prohibiting the defendants from doxxing Illinois residents, requiring the defendants to remove existing content about Illinois residents from their social media channels and websites, awarding damages to compensate for harms to the plaintiffs, and assessing punitive damages.

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Arraignment set for transgender woman in decade-old murder of 13-year-old

An arraignment hearing for a person accused of killing a 13-year-old boy nearly a decade ago will be held later this month.

That’s the result of a very brief hearing in Tazewell County Circuit Court where Keith A. Brackett made an initial appearance on the murder allegations.

Brackett, 48, wasn’t in the courtroom, rather appearing via video conference from the county jail. Brackett was arrested Wednesday morning and charged with strangling and then hiding the body of Robert “Bonzai” Bee in a wooded area off Illinois Route 29.

During the initial appearance, Brackett requested the court address her as a woman.

The charges — murder and concealment of a homicidal death — allege that Brackett asphyxiated the boy and then hid his remains in a wooded area of property he was maintaining.

Brackett, who was recently paroled from the Illinois Department of Corrections, was arrested Wednesday morning and served with the warrants.

The first-degree murder charges carry a possible 20 to 60-year prison term. The concealment of a homicide carries a possible 10-year prison term.

Prosecutors have asked Presiding Judge Chris Doscotch to order Brackett held pending the outcome of the allegations. However, Public Defender Luke Taylor said his office wasn’t ready to proceed on that hearing on Thursday.

Taylor said there were around 4,000 pages of discovery—evidence—that would be delivered to his office after the hearing.

As such, Taylor said his office would allow Brackett to concede detention without prejudice, meaning she could come back at another time and ask to be released. That’s an important legal distinction. Once a detention is ordered, a person can only contest it if new evidence is presented.

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OpenAI Supports Illinois Bill to Limit AI Companies’ Liability for Mass Casualty Incidents, Financial Disasters

OpenAI is backing an Illinois state bill that would protect AI companies from legal responsibility when their technology contributes to severe societal harms, including mass deaths or catastrophic financial losses.

Wired reports that the ChatGPT maker has testified in favor of Illinois Senate Bill 3444, legislation that would shield frontier AI developers from liability for critical harms caused by their models under certain conditions. The bill represents what several AI policy experts describe as a notable evolution in OpenAI’s legislative approach, which until now had focused primarily on opposing measures that would increase liability for AI companies.

SB 3444 would define critical harms as incidents causing death or serious injury to 100 or more people, or at least $1 billion in property damage. Under the proposed law, AI labs would be protected from liability as long as they did not intentionally or recklessly cause such an incident and had published safety, security, and transparency reports on their websites. The bill defines frontier models as those trained using more than $100 million in computational costs, a threshold that would likely apply to major American AI company including OpenAI, Google, xAI, Anthropic, and Meta.

The legislation specifically identifies several scenarios of concern to the AI industry, including the use of AI by malicious actors to develop chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear weapons. It also covers situations where an AI model independently engages in conduct that would constitute a criminal offense if committed by a human, provided such actions lead to the extreme outcomes defined in the bill.

Jamie Radice, an OpenAI spokesperson, said in an emailed statement: “We support approaches like this because they focus on what matters most: Reducing the risk of serious harm from the most advanced AI systems while still allowing this technology to get into the hands of the people and businesses—small and big—of Illinois. They also help avoid a patchwork of state-by-state rules and move toward clearer, more consistent national standards.”

Caitlin Niedermeyer, a member of OpenAI’s Global Affairs team, delivered testimony supporting the bill and echoed the call for federal AI regulation. Her arguments aligned with the Trump administration’s opposition to inconsistent state-level AI safety laws. Niedermeyer emphasized the importance of avoiding what she called “a patchwork of inconsistent state requirements that could create friction without meaningfully improving safety.” She also suggested that state laws can be valuable when they “reinforce a path toward harmonization with federal systems.”

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Democrat Former Illinois Mayor Urges State Leaders to Accept President Trump’s Help on Rampant Crime After Her Father is Shot

After a tenure mired in controversy, former Dalton, Illinois, Mayor Tiffany Henyward is back in the news.

This time, she is urging Governor JB Pritzker (D) and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson to accept President Trump’s help in tackling rampant crime in the state.

The plea comes after her father was shot in the neck.

ABC7 reports:

The shooting happened around 5:54 p.m. Wednesday in the 1300 block South Kedzie Avenue in North Lawndale, Chicago police said.

A 65-year-old man was in an alley when he was shot in the neck, CPD said. He was taken to a hospital in serious condition.

Henyard confirmed to ABC7 Thursday that her father was the victim in the shooting.

Henyard shared a statement on Facebook, noting, “Although I am deeply saddened to have to address this issue, I want to begin by sincerely thanking everyone for the calls, messages, and prayers.  During this incredibly difficult time, your support has meant more than words can express.”

“Yes, it is true, my family has been directly affected by the senseless gun violence that continues to plague Illinois. Yesterday, my father, my hero was an innocent victim of this random and heartbreaking violence. This tragedy has shaken my family to its core, and unfortunately, it reflects a reality that far too many families across our state are facing.”

“This devastating moment only further highlights what many of us already know, and shouldn’t be ignored: the ongoing gun violence in the City of Chicago has made too many of our communities feel unsafe. It reinforces the urgent need for stronger action and meaningful solutions.”

“I urge Governor JB Pritzker and Mayor Brandon Johnson to seriously reconsider federal assistance from President Donald J. Trump to help address this crisis and better protect the residents of Illinois, particularly in Chicago. Across the country, communities that have welcomed federal support have experienced measurable reductions in crime. Cities such as Memphis, Tennessee, Washington, D.C., and New Orleans, Louisiana during the 2026 Mardi Gras period have all seen positive outcomes through collaborative efforts.”

“The difference between Illinois and those other states is simple, their leadership chose collaboration, and that collaboration produced results.”

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Pritzker Blames Trump Following Murder of Loyola University Student by Illegal Alien

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker (D) blamed President Trump following the murder of Loyola University student by an illegal alien.

Another innocent young American woman was murdered by one of Joe Biden’s illegal aliens in the sanctuary state of Democrat-run Illinois.

Very early Thursday morning, 18-year-old Loyola University student Sheridan Gorman was shot and killed near campus in Chicago.

A masked gunman approached a group of students walking in Rogers Park and opened fire.

Gorman was shot in the head and died at the scene.

On Sunday it was confirmed that the masked gunman who killed Gorman is a 25-year-old illegal alien from Venezuela who entered the US under the Biden Regime.

The Department of Homeland Security blasted the Biden Regime and Pritzker.

“Sheridan Gorman had her whole life ahead of her before this cold-blooded killer decided to end her life. She was failed by open border policies and sanctuary politicians who RELEASED this illegal alien TWICE before he went on to commit this heinous murder,” said Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis.

“We are calling on Governor Pritzker and Chicago’s sanctuary politicians to commit to not releasing this criminal illegal alien from jail back into American neighborhoods,” the DHS said.

Pritzker blamed President Trump following the murder of Sheridan Gorman.

“I agree there have been real failures. Those failures, of course, extend beyond the borders of Illinois. They are national failures,” Pritzker said blaming Trump.

“A failure to have comprehensive immigration reform. A failure of the president to follow his own edict to go after the worst of the worst,” he said.

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