Capital Facts

Chicago Mayor, teacher union want more statewide taxes to fund its schools

Published by admin on Mon, 08/25/2025 - 12:14pm

I’ve been belatedly reading Jeremiah Joyce’s 2021 book “Still Burning: Half a Century of Chicago, from the Streets to the Corridors of Power; A Memoir.”
The former 19th Ward Alderman and Southwest Side state Senator is a conversational writer and speaks frankly about some very divisive times, particularly regarding race (it can get cringey).

Republicans better realize the unions are always here

Published by admin on Sun, 08/17/2025 - 3:15pm

Some Republicans in Illinois have taken to regularly bashing Republican state legislative leaders for seeking support from the Illinois Education Association, a teachers’ union that has for decades worked to help elect Republicans who are sympathetic to their issues.
With longtime wealthy Republican contributors and fundraisers dying, moving to warmer climes and/or retiring, the IEA and more conservative labor unions can help close the funding and precinct worker gap. But those who do are instantly declared to be persona non grata

Escape by Texas Democrats is mostly symbolic

Published by admin on Sun, 08/10/2025 - 4:03pm

I’m assuming you’ve already seen coverage of the Democratic Texas state legislators who fled to Illinois to prevent a Republican-backed redrawing of congressional district lines in their home state. Their absence means their legislature doesn’t have enough members to legally conduct business.
Like every Democratic governor, Gov. JB Pritzker needs his party to win back the US House next year to prevent further fiscal damage to his state (among many, many other things). Hence his intense attention to Texas attempting to pick up five seats with an intercensus remap.

Person with the most money will win

Published by admin on Sat, 07/26/2025 - 3:10pm

According to the 2020 Census, Cook County is 40 percent White, 26 percent Latino, 22 percent Black and 8 percent Asian. Chicago is 21 percent of the state’s population.
But the statewide ticket recently endorsed by the Cook County Democratic Party is overwhelmingly made up of White Chicagoans (JB Pritzker, Alexi Giannoulias, Mike Frerichs and Margaret Croke), with two Black Chicagoans (lt. governor candidate Christian Mitchell and Kwame Raoul) and no Latinos or Asian Americans.

Proposed real estate transfer tax increase would add thousands $$$$ to closing costs

Published by admin on Sun, 07/20/2025 - 11:49am

The Taxpayers' Federation of Illinois and the Regional Transportation Authority agree that a change to Illinois’ sales tax law will net the RTA an additional $150 million this year and another $225 million next year.
That money will drastically reduce the impact of the looming $770 million “fiscal cliff,” which begins in January.
The extra revenue was a result of the state expanding its sales tax to include more online purchases.

Illinois must act now before getting hit with $705 million a year in SNAP benefits

Published by admin on Sat, 07/12/2025 - 11:41am

The costs to Illinois’ government because of the new Republican congressional budget reconciliation law will be steep.
However, the state has some time to prepare itself, and possible Democratic gains in the US House and Senate next year might be able to reverse or mitigate some of the steepest cuts to food security and healthcare programs before the vast majority of them take effect after the 2026 elections.

Pritzker’s new running mate threw several punches

Published by admin on Sun, 07/06/2025 - 9:44am

Christian Mitchell has had strong detractors ever since Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle elevated the young Black man out of obscurity and backed him for the Illinois House in 2012.
Preckwinkle chose her trusted aide Mitchell over appointed Rep. Kimberly du Buclet (D-Chicago). Preckwinkle’s move upset a lot of people in that part of the world because the du Buclet family’s local influence had been strong for decades and Mitchell was not a born South Sider.

‘Protecting’ Illinois is one thing, but making it better is another

Published by admin on Sat, 06/28/2025 - 1:49pm

“I ran for governor in 2018 to change our story,” Gov. JB Pritzker told a Chicago crowd last Thursday morning as he announced his bid for a third term. “I ran for governor in 2022 to keep telling our story. And I am running for governor in 2026 to protect our story.”
This general theme of protecting what Gov. Pritzker maintains is Illinois’ progress from damage by President Donald Trump will be the foundation of the governor’s reelection bid - at least for the foreseeable future.

19 Democrats who refused Madigan did the right thing

Published by admin on Sat, 06/21/2025 - 1:20pm

I reached out last week to several members of the “19” – the Democratic House members who refused to vote to re-elect House Speaker Michael Madigan in 2021, thereby forcing him into retirement.
I asked for their reaction to Madigan’s 90-month federal prison sentence handed down a few days earlier. Because it was a holiday (Father’s Day), I didn’t expect to hear much back.

Pritzker said he’ll stand in the way of ICE

Published by admin on Sat, 06/14/2025 - 3:10pm

As I write this, multiple news outlets have reported that the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency is preparing to deploy its Special Response Teams to five major US cities, including Chicago, in the very near future.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s chief of staff Cristina Pacione-Zayas told reporters last week: “There will be tactical teams, mini-tanks, other tools they use in which they plan to do raids, as we saw in Los Angeles.”