The real motivation behind "evidence-based" funding of schools as proposed in Senate Bill 1 is to achieve a progressive income tax system in Illinois, according to State Sen. Kyle McCarter (R-Lebanon).

McCarter attended town hall meetings in Sandoval and Vandalia in his 54th Senate District on Tuesday where he said panels of school superintendents explained the bill's funding formu...   < read more >

EAST ST. LOUIS – Plaintiffs suing State Farm for $10 billion couldn’t ask Illinois Supreme Court Justice Lloyd Karmeier about his deliberations in a deposition, but they claim they can prove State Farm corrupted his deliberations anyway.

Class counsel Steven Blonder promised proof in a brief for U.S. District Judge David Herndon on July 31, though much of it was ...   < read more >

CHICAGO • Illinois is holding off on issuing $6 billion of bonds to help pay its hefty pile of overdue bills despite the state comptroller's public plea for the debt sale, the governor's office said on Monday.

Laurel Patrick, a spokeswoman for Gov. Bruce Rauner, said Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza should first tap more than $600 million in various state accounts to pay b...   < read more >

The Illinois Supreme Court, acting in response to a request from lawyers who claim they and others have been targeted by a “rogue” Cook County judge, has stepped in to slap a hold on potential sanctions proceedings against lawyers and litigants on both sides of an asbestos personal injury case, blocking the judge, for now, from continuing his bench investigation of what he said re...   < read more >

Illinois is surrounded by right-to-work states. Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Iowa, and Wisconsin all have right-to-work laws protecting employees from forced unionism – as do the majority of U.S. States, 28 in all.

We, however, are not a right-to-work state. We're in the minority, condemned to suffer the same long-term economic consequences endured by all members of...   < read more >

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. • Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner used his veto power Tuesday to strip millions of dollars for Chicago Public Schools from a school funding overhaul, a move that could mean no districts get state money before classes begin.

The Republican removed help for Chicago Public Schools’ pensions along with money the district formerly received in the form of a block...   < read more >

The Illinois General Assembly agreed to freeze their per diems at $111 a day and mileage at 39 cents. Gov. Bruce Rauner just signed House Bill 643 into law.

Interesting that they can come together on something so relatively inconsequential. Interesting that they agreed to anything that is other than self-interest.

Which makes you wonder whether there is some self-interes...   < read more >

In an opposition against the state’s motion to dismiss a dispute over school funding, several school districts argue that the “voluntary” Learning Standards are mandated by required tests that help define the students’ college admission.

The complaint filed in April by Despres, Schwartz & Geoghegan Ltd. in Chicago and the Law Offices of Thomas E. Kennedy...   < read more >

The Alliance Defending Freedom is a public interest law firm that fights to maintain religious liberty, free speech, and the right of people to freely live out their faith. The group was recently branded a “hate-group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which seems to think that disagreement with its ultra-left beliefs amounts to “hate.” (Major news networks repeated ...   < read more >