Data centers are a hot topic in Illinois and around the country. Alongside more construction comes more public scrutiny.

Gov. JB Pritzker signed the eighth budget of his tenure on Tuesday as he and Illinois Democrats gear up for an election-year battle centered around affordability.

The new law will close a “loophole” that contributed to children, teens and young adults ingesting misleading or poorly labeled products, Gov. JB Pritzker said.

In a statement from Bears Chairman George McCaskey posted Friday afternoon, the team confirmed they will be heading to Hammond, Indiana, with an exact site still to be determined.

The $56 billion spending plan awaiting Gov. JB Pritzker’s signature explicitly prohibits the City Council from imposing a version of the tax that would send new revenue into the city’s cash-strapped coffers.

Gov. JB Pritzker says he intends to sign legislation imposing a statewide ban on cellphones and other wireless communication devices during instructional time in public schools and charter schools.

Mayor Brandon Johnson took a victory lap Monday, hours after the General Assembly passed a $56 billion budget that authorizes the Chicago City Council to impose a tax on digital advertisements seen by Chicagoans.

Hours after Illinois lawmakers failed to approve a stadium incentives structure aimed at keeping the Chicago Bears in Illinois, Gov. JB Pritzker acknowledged that the “pride and joy of Illinois” may take a deal to build a football palace in Indiana.

The budget totals $55.9 billion, supported by a similar amount of revenue. The spending plan included an $830 million supplemental current-year spending plan, meaning the upcoming fiscal year 2027 budget is essentially flat.

Despite a Hail Mary heave from the Illinois Senate in the final hours of the spring legislative session, state lawmakers ultimately failed to reach the end zone on a bill incentivizing the Chicago Bears to build a new stadium in Illinois.

A federal tax-credit scholarship program created last summer under the “Big Beautiful Bill” could send millions to Illinois students, if Gov. JB Pritzker or the Illinois General Assembly decides to opt in.

Illinois grows more soybeans than any other state, harvesting more than 639 million bushels in 2025. But almost none of those millions of bushels end up as food on Illinois plates. According to the Illinois Soybean Association, 60% of soybeans grown in the state are exported.

The so-called “megaproject” bill would mean tax breaks for the Chicago Bears of more than $1.5 billion during the 40-year term of the agreement, according to the analysis.

The tax credit, passed under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act in 2025, is a dollar-for-dollar non-refundable federal tax credit for donations of up to $1,700 a year to authorized scholarship-granting organizations.

President Donald Trump directed the Commerce Department to explore whether the broadband funding could be withheld from states with artificial intelligence regulations that did not align with national policy.

“There is a mismatch here in terms of what the people of Chicago and Illinois are most concerned about and how government is responding and reacting,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said.