Free Republic

Chicago’s mayor issued a warning to residents spending long periods of time outside their homes as the city tries to stem the spread of the coronavirus. Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Wednesday that Chicagoans need to follow the statewide "stay at home" order issued by Gov. J.B. Pritzker last week. She said residents should “only go out for the essentials” and warned that those violating the rules could wind up in trouble. “Be smart,” Lightfoot said, according to CBS Chicago. “Not only will our police be deployed to shut them down if you are not abiding by these orders, we will...

Polls that failed to open. Election judges that failed to show. Promised bottles of hand sanitizer that failed to arrive. And low voter turnout. With the coronavirus on the loose, Chicago’s elections on Tuesday are looking like a shaky affair. Barely 2 hours after the polls opened in Chicago, city election officials ripped Gov. J.B. Pritzker for refusing last week to reschedule the whole thing. And, lashing back, Pritzker’s office contended that it had offered Chicago reinforcements — including National Guard troops to work as election judges — but the city failed to take the state up on the offer....

Will County billboards that warned motorists about bridges stoked public-safety fears and helped convince state lawmakers of the need to approve a $45 billion infrastructure plan. The billboards and their impact arguably deserve to rank among the top political stories of the year, if not the decade. Construction unions paid to display the messages “Cross bridge at your own risk” and “Bridge ahead in critical condition” on electronic billboards near Interstate 80 bridges over the Des Plaines River in Joliet. The billboards heightened motorists’ fears about crumbling infrastructure and generated bipartisan support for the $45 billion Rebuild Illinois program. Marc...

While Illinoisans will be paying higher taxes, Gov. J.B. Pritzker says he’s going to give state lawmakers at least a $1,600 pay increase because they’re hard workers. Pritzker said he’ll sign the budget bills being sent his way, despite the ire from taxpayers that lawmakers gave themselves a raise while doubling the state’s gas tax. Pritzker was asked multiple times in Chicago Tuesday if he’d line-item veto more than $280,000 in lawmaker pay increases when he gets the budget that was passed in overtime session. “Look, this was a highly negotiated budget,” Pritzker said. “We had the Republicans and Democrats...

Dive Brief: Illinois State Sen. Martin Sandoval has resigned from his position as chair of the State Senate's Transportation Committee amid a federal fraud and corruption investigation related to state construction work, the Associated Press reported. The Democratic senator is still listed as a member of the committee, however, as of Oct. 15. The move came after the details of a federal search warrant revealed that the FBI last month combed Sandoval's offices and home for information related to architect Cesar Santoy; Santoy's architecture firm, Studio ARQ; red-light camera program company SafeSpeed; lobbyists; construction companies; and employees of the Illinois...

Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) named Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker (D) September 2019 Porker of the Month for signing a $40.1 billion budget without any spending restraints and $1.4 billion in pork-barrel projects. Illinois currently has a $223.9 billion shortfall, which breaks down to a debt burden of $52,600 per taxpayer. The state has $6 billion in unpaid bills and the lowest credit rating of any state in the country. Its unfunded pension liability tops $130 billion. Illinois taxpayers are so saddled with debt, taxes, corrupt local government, and dwindling middle-class jobs that 157,000 residents have left over the...

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) signed legislation ensuring state schools teach the role and contributions of LGBT people in American history. Pritzker signed off on House Bill 346, which was recently passed by state House earlier this year, on Friday. The law requires all schools in the state include "the role and contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in the history of this country and this State" in official textbooks.

SPRINGFIELD — Country rock band Confederate Railroad has been barred from performing at an Illinois state fair because of its use of the Confederate flag, setting off a firestorm by southern Illinois fans who believe they’re under Chicago liberals’ thumb of political correctness. The band was scheduled to appear Aug. 27 at the DuQuoin State Fair , but Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration canceled the appearance last week. “This administration’s guiding principle is that the state of Illinois will not use state resources to promote symbols of racism,” Pritzker spokeswoman Emily Bittner said. “Symbols of hate cannot and will not represent...

It’s official. Illinois is the now the most pernicious state in the country. Governor Jay “Baby Butchery Booster” Pritzker signed into law the Kill-Babies-Bill—euphemistically named the Reproductive Health Act—which has nothing to do with reproducing and nothing to do with health. Instead it enshrines in law that the smallest, weakest, most vulnerable humans have no legal rights and that larger, stronger, arrogant people have an absolute right to kill them. Illinois is now the nation’s bloody altar on which babies are sacrificed to the god of Autonomy that America worships.

Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, his wife and his brother-in-law are under federal criminal investigation for a dubious residential property tax appeal that dogged him during his gubernatorial campaign last year, WBEZ has learned. A law-enforcement source familiar with the investigation confirmed to WBEZ that the probe, which has not been revealed publicly until now, began last October and remains active. There are no signs that criminal charges are imminent. WBEZ has also confirmed that Illinois First Lady MK Pritzker’s personal assistant who was involved in the property tax appeal, Christine Lovely, is being represented by one of Chicago’s most...

Illinois RHA Makes Radical Changes to Allow Abortion on Viable Fetuses The Thomas More Society has declared Illinois Governor JB Pritzker’s signing of SB 25, the state’s extreme abortion law, to be tantamount to “legalizing the death penalty, with no possibility of appeal, for viable unborn preemies.”Peter Breen, Vice President, Senior Counsel  “The legacy of this governor, and any legislator who voted to pass this law, will be that of cruel dehumanization of unborn Illinoisans on a mass scale,” declared Peter Breen, Thomas More Society Vice President and Senior Counsel.The Honorable Peter Breen, former Illinois Representative and Thomas More Society...

Democratic Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a bill into law Wednesday establishing a woman's "fundament right" to abortion, keeping a campaign promise to make the state the most progressive in the country when it comes to abortion rights. "Today we proudly proclaim that in this state, we trust women," Pritzker said at the Reproductive Health Act signing event at the Chicago Cultural Center. "And in Illinois, we guarantee as a fundamental right a woman's right to choose." Pro-life groups have pointed out Illinois' law goes further than the one in New York, which prompted a series of states to pass...

A new statewide poll shows two-thirds of Illinois voters support Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s top policy priority, amending the state constitution to allow a graduated-rate income tax. The poll, from the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, did not ask participants specifically about the governor’s proposal. But the poll showed that a system under which higher earners are taxed at higher rates is popular throughout the state among both Democrats and independents.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WEEK) — Gov. J.B. Pritzker has ordered the state’s Medicaid program to begin covering the costs of sex reassignment surgeries for transgender people. The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services will develop administrative rules to offer coverage to people diagnosed with gender dysphoria to pay for genital and breast-related surgeries. “Healthcare is a right, not a privilege, and I’m committed to ensuring our LGBTQ community and all Illinoisans have access to that right,” said Pritzker. “Expanding Medicaid to cover gender affirming surgeries is cost effective, helps avoid long term health consequences, and most importantly is the right...

“In him was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4). On Jan. 22, 2019, the 46th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion on demand, the governors of both New York and Illinois signed laws to extend and promote abortion. “This is the evolution of humankind in America,” said New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo as he signed the Reproductive Health Act into law. In Illinois, Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed an executive order to ensure taxpayer funding of abortions, saying that it would make his state “the most progressive … in terms of...

New year, new governor, new legislature. Among Illinois Democrats, there’s a thrill of excitement only Chris Matthews’ leg during a Barack Obama speech could appreciate. In January, Democrats will increase their control of Illinois, Cook County and suburban governments. In the Illinois House, Democrats will hold 74 seats to Republicans’ 44. In the Senate, Democrats will hold 40 seats to the GOP’s 19. For the most part, voters swept out the suburban Republicans who have often served as the General Assembly’s only fiscal disciplinarians. So please, suburbanites. Stifle your complaints about high taxes. This is the government you chose.

“JB Pritzker for Governor has a serious race problem,” the lawsuit said. “Contrary to the candidate’s many public avowals, rather than working to meaningfully address discrimination, racism is perpetuated, condoned and ratified by the Campaign.” The lawsuit, filed Oct. 16 in Chicago federal court, specifically alleges the black and Latino campaign workers are packed into majority minority neighborhoods, often in unsafe working conditions, and are denied benefits and advancement opportunities available to their white colleagues. Named plaintiffs in the action include Maxwell Little, Jason Benton, Jelani Coleman, Celia Colon, Kasmine Calhoun, Erica Kimble, Nathaniel Madison, Tiffany Madison, James B. Tinsley...

Cook County’s chief watchdog has concluded that more than $330,000 in property tax breaks and refunds that Democratic gubernatorial candidate J.B. Pritzker received on one of his Gold Coast mansions — in part by removing toilets — constituted a “scheme to defraud.” Cook County Inspector General Patrick Blanchard also recommends that Cook County should try to recover the money from the billionaire. […] Blanchard writes in the report that the Cook County Assessor’s office was “the victim of sworn affidavits containing false representations.” […] “The use of these affidavits was part of a scheme for obtaining money by means of...

The beauty of being a billionaire in politics is that you can say you're not beholden to anyone. And J.B. Pritzker, Democrat and billionaire, is running for governor of Illinois. When you're a billionaire in politics, nobody can buy you. So you don't have to fall to your knees and beg the political money men, then bounce up like a medieval jester to tell voters you're an independent who'll speak truth to power. So being a billionaire isn't all that bad a thing in politics. But wealth can't save you from moronic self-inflicted wounds. If you're a Pritzker, you can...

Former federal prosecutor Patrick Collins, a Democrat, has figured out how to clean up Illinois state government: Stop J.B. Pritzker. J.B. Pritzker, a scion of one of Chicago's most prominent and most well-heeled families, gave Rod Blagojevich $100,000 for his re-election campaign in 2006. According to Collins, 400 individuals gave Blagojevich more than $25,000 and those folks, like J.B. Pritzker, are the problem, which is why we should impose the federal campaign finance regime on Illinois. I would rather light my money on fire than donate it to Blagojevich or any current Democrat-in-charge in Illinois. However, Collins is precisely wrong...