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SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WTVO) — Illinois drivers: brace yourselves. The annual gas tax increase is about to kick in on July 1st, 2025. The automatic Motor Fuel Tax increases to account for inflation. Currently, Illinois residents pay the second-highest gas tax in the country, behind California. The gas tax is now 45 cents per gallon, but on July 1st it will go up to 48.3 cents per gallon. The average car holds between 12 and 16 gallons of gas, meaning drivers should expect to spend between .24 and .32 cents extra at the pump. The Motor Fuel Tax will account for...

WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader John Thune told Breitbart News exclusively he is targeting a July 4 deadline to get the big budget reconciliation plan that would extend President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts– adding no tax on tips, Social Security income, or overtime wages–to the president’s desk for his signature. This is welcome news for the president and his team, as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also has recently said he hopes for a July 4 date for the package to be wrapped up. The package is also expected to fund more of the president’s immigration priorities, as well as...

Senate Republicans may not be able to pass President Donald Trump’s border security, energy, and tax agenda until July at the earliest due to internal differences, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) reportedly warned. Thune has told fellow Republicans in the Senate that he wants a budget resolution moved forward in the “next work period” before the April recess, but added that the “finished product” is still months out from completion, a source told the Hill. “Thune and others have said they don’t think it’s realistic we’ll move the finished product until the end of July,” another Republican senator said...

The MONTHLY Gardening Thread is a gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. If you have specific question about a plant/problem you are having, please remember to state the Growing Zone where you are located. This thread is a non-political respite. No matter what, you won’t be flamed, and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked. It is impossible to hijack the...

The National Instant Background Check System (NICS), run by the FBI, shows July of 2024 is the fifth-highest July for both firearm sales and NICS background checks. According to the adjusted figures put out by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), July of 2024 is the 60th month in a row where over a million firearms were sold in the month. NICS has recorded five straight years where over a million firearms were sold through the NICS system in the United States each month. The number of firearms over the five years has been much more than the 60 million...

The U.S. added 114,000 jobs in July and the unemployment rate rose to 4.3 percent, according to data released Friday by the Labor Department. Economists expected the U.S. to add 175,000 jobs and keep the jobless rate steady at 4.1 percent, according to consensus estimates. The July jobs report comes two days after Federal Reserve officials hinted that they could begin cutting interest rates as soon as September. As both inflation and the U.S. job market keep cooling off, the Fed is aiming to bring rates down quickly enough to avoid a deeper slowdown, but slowly enough to keep prices...

The National Instant Background Check System (NICS) shows another slide in gun sales and background checks for July of 2023. According to calculations, gun sales for July 2023 have dropped 17.8% from July 2022. The NICS total background checks declined by about 16.8% from July 2022. July 2023 comes in fifth for total gun sales of all July numbers since 1999 and sixth in NICS background check numbers since 1999, which was the start of the NICS system.The number of gun sales calculated for the month is nearly a million. The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) released its estimates for...

Inflation ticked up to 3.2 percent year-over-year in July and 0.2 percent from June alone, according to new consumer price data released Thursday by the Labor Department. This marks the first increase after 13 months of falling inflation. But that doesn’t necessarily mean inflation is about to come roaring back. The so-called “core” consumer price index (CPI), which excludes volatile food and energy prices, dropped slightly from 4.8 percent year-over-year in June to 4.7 percent in July.

After a month of scorching heat across the globe, scientists have officially labeled July as the hottest month on record in world history. Copernicus Climate Change Service, a division of the European Union’s space program, announced Tuesday that July’s global average temperature was about 62.51 degrees Fahrenheit. This broke the previous monthly record of about 61.93 degrees Fahrenheit — set in July 2019. “Record-breaking temperatures are part of the trend of drastic increases in global temperatures. Anthropogenic emissions are ultimately the main driver of these rising temperatures,” Copernicus Climate Change Service Director Carlo Buontempo said in a statement. “July’s record...

July is set to be the hottest month on record. That’s according to data released Thursday that was collected by Copernicus, the Earth observation component of the European Union’s space program, and supported by the World Meteorological Organization, the United Nation’s agency for weather, climate and water. The first three weeks of July have been the hottest three-week period on record, according to a joint statement published by the Copernicus Climate Change Service and the World Meteorological Organization. This month’s record-breaking heat surpasses July 2019, the previous hottest month, and comes on the heels of June setting the record for...

Without climate change, the heat waves impacting the U.S.-Mexico region and Southern Europe this month would have been “virtually” impossible, according to new research. The research, from the World Weather Attribution initiative, also found that heat impacting China would have been “about a 1 in 250 year event.” At the start of July, heat waves hit the Southwestern U.S., as well as Mexico, Southern Europe and China. In California’s Death Valley, temperatures reached more than 125 degrees Fahrenheit, while Phoenix has seen 25 days straight with temperatures of at least 110 degrees. As all this occurred, the World Weather Attribution...

Lake Tahoe was transformed into a “landfill” Tuesday after Fourth of July partygoers left behind a record-breaking 4 tons of trash surrounding the massive freshwater basin. Over 8,559 pounds of cigarette butts, plastic food wrappers, beach toys, beer boxes — and even barbecues — were collected Wednesday by environmental cleanup volunteers during the 10th annual July 5th “Keep Tahoe Red, White & Blue” Beach Cleanup. It took 402 good Samaritans three hours to rake up the colossal piles of trash that the Keep Tahoe Blue collective said was “tragically an all-time high.” Lake Tahoe needs your help. This is the...

Chinese authorities have warned of extreme weather and "multiple natural disasters" in the coming month, as heavy rain in parts of the country led to thousands being evacuated. An alert was in place on Tuesday (Jul 4) for rain-triggered disasters in large swathes of central and southwestern China, according to the Xinhua news agency. Meteorological authorities have warned the country will face "multiple natural disasters in July, including floods, severe convection weather, typhoons and high temperatures", Xinhua said.

In 1776, patriots in the USA declared independence from England. In July, we honor those who started the ball rolling to give us the freedoms we enjoy today. We remember those heroes on July 4th. But with everything else we celebrate in America, is one day enough to honor the men and women who sacrificed their all that we might have our freedom? Hardly. Let’s declare the whole month of July to honor those patriots, living and dead, who made sacrifices for us. Let’s make July “Patriot Pride Month!” We owe it to them. Here’s what you can do to...

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) on Sunday said he’s “seriously considering” a Senate bid, with plans to make a decision on whether to run for an upper chamber seat by July 4. “I’ve not decided. I love the House of Representatives. I love the people I serve. And I love being in the people’s House. But, as some of my House colleagues have pointed out, these Senate seats only open up every 25 or 30 years,” Raskin said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

While many people will celebrate America's independence with cookouts and fireworks, the Tucson Women’s March will host a "F*** the 4th" event. The Pima County Democratic Party drew backlash on Twitter after posting a graphic for the event before deleting it Friday, while continuing to encourage followers to attend, citing the need to protest the recent Supreme Court decision that scrapped the nationwide right to an abortion. "We were eager to share the event, and in our haste, we used the graphic provided by the event organizer. That was a mistake, and we will do better," the local party branch...

Former President Trump and two of his adult children are scheduled to sit for depositions on July 15 in a probe by the attorney general of New York into Trump’s business dealings, according to a court filing Wednesday. New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) and lawyers for Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump reached an agreement that will allow the former president time to appeal if he wishes to. The Trumps have until Monday to ask the state’s Court of Appeals to hear the case.

Following two years of suffering under some of the strictest lockdown measures in the Western world, New Zealand will finally lift its Chinese coronavirus border restrictions in July, leftist Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on Wednesday. New Zealand’s borders will be fully reopened on July 31st, two months before the government had previously planned as the economy inches closer to a recession.

President Joe Biden has not held a press conference since July 15, the Republican National Committee’s research team stated Thursday. As of Friday, it has reportedly been 92 days since Biden held his last press conference. The delay in holding a press conference comes as polling the last two months reveals American workers and families believe the president does not possess enough “mental soundness” to be president.

The region hit that number largely in part to seven earthquake swarms, including a massive swarm that rattled the region starting July 15. The swarm, which was centered beneath Yellowstone Lake, had more than 764 quakes. The largest was a magnitude 3.6 on July 16. Swarms are typical in Yellowstone and account for about half of the total seismic activity in the region, USGS said. Larger swarms have happened before in Yellowstone. In 2017, more than 1,100 earthquakes shook the region in June, in part because of a swarm of more than 2,400 quakes that lasted three months... In 1985,...