EXCLUSIVE
Trump Administration Sues Illinois Over State’s Attempts to Regulate Prediction Markets
The feds argue they have primary authority to regulate the popular markets, not the states. Illinois says the move puts profits over people.
A LEGACY OF FAILURES
Proactive building inspections one step closer to reality in Chicago — but questions of funding and logistics remain
Chicago took a step toward beefing up its safety oversight of apartment buildings on Wednesday following years of criticism that the city’s patchwork of reactive building inspections has cost the lives of vulnerable tenants and fallen behind standards being set by peer cities. City officials are blessing efforts to build and publish a registry of…
Madison County judge finds name in Epstein files because of legal representation
Madison County judge finds name in Epstein files because of legal representation Article Summary This summary was written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story. EDWARDSVILLE — A man wearing a sandwich board protesting outside of the Edwardsville courthouse last month revived sleeping worries and anxieties Madison County Judge Andrew Carruthers had…
Illinois Regulators Say Prediction Markets Are Illegal Gambling, But Bettors — and the Trump Family — Love Them
Prediction market platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket rake in millions from wagers on sports and current events but pay nothing in state betting taxes and ignore regulations that govern online sportsbooks.
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more from Illinois answers
Prediction Markets Up Against Illinois’ Century-Old Gambling Law in Series of Lawsuits
Class-action lawsuits against prediction market platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi seek to make the financial giants pony up for bettors’ losses in Illinois and other states. The platforms continue to argue what they’re doing is perfectly legal.
Chicago’s Quantum Ambitions Come With a Water Question
Editor’s Note: Illinois Answers published a story last year examining the massive public investment aimed at developing the quantum industry in South Chicago. This week, we end a three-part explainer series with a look at potential water use in the 128-acre Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park, or IQMP. Residents near the planned…
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Solutions
Illinois’ Low-Cost Library Program Takes on the Justice Gap
A pilot program in 18 libraries across nine counties trains staff to help residents navigate civil court proceedings, offering a lifeline in communities where legal aid and public transit are scarce.
Illinois Is Turning to Local Jails to Treat Mentally Ill Defendants. Some Early Results Offer Hope — and Warnings
It’s not often that Menard County Jail has a detainee who has been found unfit for trial. The jail, just north of Springfield, is small. With a census that can hover around 10 people or less, and just a few correctional staff on a given shift, mental health care is limited. In 2024, the man…
Investigations
E. coli found in drinking water of Southern Illinois city that floods with sewage
Cahokia Heights residents have found E. coli in their drinking water through community-organized testing of samples from kitchen taps. The results raise new questions about infrastructure in a community plagued by sewage spills and flooding. The findings contradict test results from the city’s two water providers — private company Illinois American Water and the city of Cahokia Heights — whose own sampling outside homes…
Feds accuse former Carlyle police chief of wire fraud, theft
Article Summary This summary was written by the reporters and editors who worked on this story. A Metro East police chief spent more than $100,000 of public money intended to combat drug use and support a local fire protection district on personal expenses, including basketball tickets, travel, and diamond engagement ring, according to a federal indictment. A federal grand jury returned a four-count indictment on Tuesday charging now former Carlyle Police…
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Opinion
Greising: Chicago government can’t afford to shut down. We need good-faith budget negotiations
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready… Mayor Brandon Johnson’s proposed head tax on companies with more than 200 employees appeared dead after the City Council’s Finance Committee on Monday rejected the mayor’s budget. But oh, no, no, mayoral ally Ald. Jason Ervin, 28th, chair of the Budget Committee, said at the City Club on Wednesday.…
Greising: Gov. JB Pritzker pushed back on the transit bill. He needs to do that with pensions.
As a sweeping restructuring of the public transit systems in the Chicago area neared an up-or-down vote last week, it was loaded with enough new revenue ideas to fill a progressive’s wish list. A “billionaire’s tax” on realized investment gains? Check. Expanded real estate transfer taxes? Those, too. Taxes on delivery services and concert tickets,…
Greising: Many of the ideas for closing Chicago’s budget gap won’t make a dent
The Chicago Financial Future Task Force, appointed by Mayor Brandon Johnson early this year to give him ideas — and political cover — for closing a projected $1.15 billion budget gap, has issued its first report. It’s a smorgasbord of ideas, many of them already familiar, that comes just weeks before Johnson’s scheduled Oct. 16…
Greising: State action on pension reform is slow. That may prove auspicious in the end.
Not so long ago, there was hope that major pension reform could happen sometime this year, possibly by the end of the spring legislative session. But events are not playing out this year. Two big topics have consumed the legislature’s attention this spring: expunging a projected $3.2 billion budget shortfall in order to deliver a balanced budget,…
