(The Center Square) – Based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Illinois Department of Employment Security says the state’s unemployment rate was 5.1% in June, unchanged from the revised May number.

Total nonfarm payrolls saw a fourth consecutive over-the-month increase, up 1,500 to 6,164,400.

The industry sectors with the largest monthly payroll jobs increases included leisure and hospitality at +3,000, professional and business services at +2,300, and private education and health services at +1,600.

SMALL BIZ OPTIMISM INDEX RISES

The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index rose 2.1 points in June to 97.4, nearing its 52-year average of 98.0.

The Uncertainty Index fell 2 points from May to 89, remaining well above its historical average of 68.

NFIB Illinois State Director Noah Finley said small business owners remain wary of market and policy fluctuations.

LAWSUIT FILED OVER BLOCKED TEMPLE CONSTRUCTION IN ELGIN

A religious group has filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Elgin, claiming that a 59-year-old court order is unconstitutionally blocking the construction of a Hindu temple.

Umiya Mataji Sanstha Chicago Midwest filed the complaint on Tuesday. Elgin’s city council gave preliminary approval to the plan but suspended final approval due to the 1967 order that restricts the land for industrial uses.

Plaintiffs say the order is unconstitutional because it violates the free practice of religion under the First Amendment.

CYCLOSPORA CASES

With about 60 cases of cyclospora reported in Chicago this year, city officials are urging residents to take precautions when handling fresh produce.

The Chicago Department of Public Health says people are usually infected with the parasitic illness by eating contaminated food or drinking contaminated water. The agency encourages residents to wash fresh produce under running water, scrub firm fruits and vegetables with a produce brush, remove damaged or bruised areas and wash hands, utensils and surfaces before and after handling food.

(The Center Square) — Illinois State Rep. Carrol Ammons, recently federally indicted on multiple charges of wire fraud, pleaded not guilty in her first court appearance Thursday morning.

With the courtroom gallery at its maximum capacity of 49 people, roughly 30 people, consisting of members of the public — along with friends, family and supporters of the representative — were sent to watch the hearing in an overflow room in the Urbana federal court building.

Ammons, charged with eight counts of wire fraud and one count of witness tampering, entered a not guilty plea beside her two lawyers, Mutaquee Akbar – who is from Florida – and Angela Reany – an attorney from the Carbondale area.

Federal Magistrate Judge Eric Long, of the Central District of Illinois, scheduled a virtual discovery hearing for 11:30 a.m. on Aug. 24.

After being processed, Ammons, and her husband, Aaron Ammons – who is the Champaign County clerk – addressed reporters outside the court building, flanked by their lawyers, family and supporters.

Ammons gave her first in-person statement since being charged.

“I want to offer my appreciations to everyone who’s reached out with encouragement, prayers and support. I respectfully ask for patience as this process moves forward. My legislative record is clear and speaks for itself, and today is about protecting the judicial process,” Ammons said. “I maintain that these allegations are not true and I look forward to responding to them through the legal process where the facts can be formally examined.”

One self-described “reparations activist,” Kamm Howard of Chicago, announced the establishment of a Representative Carol Ammons and Aaron Ammons legal defense fund, and described the indictment against both as targeting the movement advocating to give reparations to Black Americans.

“We are now witnessing a disturbing change in passive resistance to active federal enforcement against reparations initiatives. In September last year, the Department of Justice warned officials of Asheville and Buncombe County, North Carolina, that it stood ready to investigate and enforce federal law if they added recommendations to develop a community reparations process,” Howard said.

Howard also referenced a motion last month by the DOJ to dismantle Evanston’s reparations program.

“We’ve done resolutions recently so that African Americans can close what’s ethnocide that’s happened to us as a result of the trafficking period. That’s House Resolution 453,” Ammons said.

In the 2023-2024 legislative session, HR 453 encouraged Illinoisans to participate in the Illinois Family Roots Pilot Program, a taxpayer funded genealogical testing program aimed at tracing heritage back to ancestral homelands.

Ammons also sponsored HR 211, which called for the return of artifacts known as the the Benin Bronzes, which originated in Africa and were taken from slaves by slave traders, and subsequently obtained by the British Museum.

If found guilty of the charges, Carol Ammons could face up to 15 years in prison, and potential financial penalties, plus payment of restitution for funds she is alleged to have defrauded the state of, according to Long

There is no minimum to the potential punishment if she is found guilty, according to the judge.

As for the special legislative committee in the Illinois House, a spokeswoman for Minority Leader Tony McCombie told The Center Square they expect more details on the timeline to convene sometime before the end of the week.

Asked if the representative would seek to use her right to representation and attendance at special investigative committee hearings, Akbar said they want the legislature to hold off for now.

“We’re looking into that part as well. Of course, we don’t want that proceeding to get in the way of this proceeding,” Akbar said. “Hopefully we can postpone that so we can focus our attention on her due process rights in federal court.”

Long set a trial date for Sept. 22.

(The Center Square) – Calls for stronger oversight of the Illinois Department of Corrections are growing after a former department payroll employee pleaded guilty to stealing nearly $125,000 by falsifying her husband's overtime and holiday pay records.

Jennifer Vollen-Katz, executive director of the John Howard Association, said the case highlights the need for broader transparency and accountability within the agency, extending beyond financial oversight.

The John Howard Association thinks legislators should be calling for far more transparency and accountability over the Illinois Department of Corrections in a lot of different ways, not just financial accounting," Vollen-Katz told The Center Square.

The Illinois Department of Corrections received nearly $2.6 billion in taxpayer funds in the fiscal year 2027 operating budget.

Vollen-Katz said lawmakers should demand greater insight into how those taxpayer dollars are spent and strengthen measures that hold the agency accountable.

"This situation is deeply concerning," she said, noting that recent inspector general audits identified other deficiencies in the department's financial practices. "This isn't the only situation that's been identified where financial accounting practices haven't been particularly effective in ensuring that tax dollars are not being wasted."

Vollen-Katz said the payroll fraud represents more than an isolated theft because it diverted taxpayer money for personal gain.

"This person was stealing money from the Illinois taxpayers because it is our dollars that fund state agencies," she said. "The problem here is the illegal skimming of funds, redirecting them to places they do not belong for individual financial gain."

She argued lawmakers should expand their oversight beyond payroll practices, pointing to aging prison facilities, inmate treatment, ongoing litigation and prison healthcare.

Vollen-Katz criticized the state's prison healthcare system, saying Illinois continues to spend significant taxpayer dollars while many medical positions remain vacant.

"We're paying $500 million, and what are we getting?" she said, referring to the state's contract with prison health care provider, Centurion. "I think legislators are well-positioned to ask those questions and get responses from the Illinois Department of Corrections."

She said Illinois should establish an independent prison oversight body through state law to improve transparency and identify problems more quickly.

"I think Illinois needs to create stand-alone, independent prison oversight that is authorized, empowered by the state through statute and resource so that more of these issues will be caught more quickly and corrected in a more expedient manner," Vollen-Katz said.

State Sen. Terri Bryant, R-Murphysboro, a 20-year veteran of the Illinois Department of Corrections and former IDOC auditor, said the case demonstrates that existing auditing procedures ultimately worked.

"It is unfortunate when people think they can game the system and never get caught," Bryant said in a statement. "As a former auditor for IDOC, I'm glad to see the audit system worked. Justice is being served.”

(The Center Square) – According to the National College Attainment Network’s Free Application for Federal Student Aid Tracker for the Class of 2026, Illinois ranked second in the nation with 71.9% of students completing financial aid applications.

The Illinois Student Assistance Commission and its partners conducted almost 3,400 FAFSA outreach events and held more than 12,230 financial aid workshops during the school year. The ISAC’s budget appropriation for fiscal year 2027 includes $8.36 million for agency outreach and research and $9.0 million for operations, a 6.6% increase over fiscal year 2026.

The Illinois FAFSA Mandate requires every Illinois public high school student to complete a financial aid application or submit a waiver as part of their graduation requirements.

STATE ENHANCES SENIOR FARMERS MARKET VOUCHERS

The Illinois Department on Aging and the Illinois Department of Human Services are offering enhanced Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program vouchers for income-eligible older adults to purchase fruits, vegetables and harvested honey at participating farmers markets and roadside stands.

Participants will receive up to $40 per person in benefits, up from $25 in 2025.

FUEL PRICES RISE

The average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gasoline in Illinois has increased to $4.13, up nearly 5 cents from yesterday, according to AAA.

The national average rose just over a nickel to $3.94 on Friday. The average Illinois price one year ago was $3.45.

FINANCIAL STRESS INDEX DIPS

The St. Louis Fed Financial Stress Index dipped to -0.88 in the week ending July 10 from the prior week's -0.72.

The index measures the degree of financial stress in the markets and is constructed from seven interest rate data series, six yield spreads and five other indicators. Values below zero suggest below-average financial market stress, while values above zero suggest above-average financial market stress.

(Legal Newsline) - A federal appeals court says a lawsuit brought by the city of Chicago, seeking to extract a potentially massive payout from some of the largest oil and gas companies over alleged climate "disinformation," belongs in Cook County's Democrat-stacked and famously plaintiff-friendly courts.

On July 15, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the ruling from U.S. District Judge Franklin U. Valderrama, who ruled against the group of oil and companies, including Chevron and BP, and granted Chicago's request to send their case back to Cook County Circuit Court.

The Seventh Circuit's ruling was authored by Judge Rebecca Taibleson. She was joined in the ruling by judges Nancy Maldonaldo and David Hamilton.

Taibleson is an appointee of President Donald Trump. Maldonaldo was appointed by former President Joe Biden and Hamilton, by former President Barack Obama.

In the ruling, Taibleson and her colleagues said Valderrama was correct to reject the energy companies' assertions that the case actually belonged in federal court, not state court.

And the judges said a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling did not change the answer that question, despite assertions by the energy companies that the ruling dictated a different result, or at least, made the question a closer call.

The dispute centered on the energy companies' assertion that a legal exception under the so-called "federal officer" theory. In effect, the oil and gas companies argued that because some of their past work in extracting oil and refining it into fuels was performed at the direction of the federal government for national security and other purposes, then any lawsuit against them for producing and selling fuel must be heard in federal court.

In the ruling, however, Taibleson and her colleagues said they believed any energy production the companies may have performed for the federal government is "too attenuated from Chicago's claims" in its lawsuit to allow the companies to use the federal officer theory to escape Cook County's court system.

The city had initially filed the case in Cook County court in February 2024.

In that lawsuit, the city, joined by a collection of prominent trial lawyers, seeks to make Chevron, BP and other petroleum producers and distributors pay for allegedly misleading consumers and the public for decades about the alleged climate altering affects of using oil and gas products in transportation and many other economic sectors.

The lawsuit claims so-called "climate change" has in turn led to more frequent bad weather events, such as floods, droughts and severe storms, among other alleged harms, costing the city large amounts of money to address.

The Chicago lawsuit asserts this makes oil and gas use a "public nuisance" by allegedly also contributing to racial and social "inequities" for the city's low income and minority communities.

The lawsuit particularly takes aim at what it calls "disinformation" from the oil companies, which the city claims has misled consumers into continuing to use the products for decades after the energy companies allegedly knew of the supposed harms caused by the use of their fuels.

The city's lawsuit largely copies a path blazed by other local government lawsuits against the same energy companies, as well as by earlier litigation against tobacco companies, pharmaceutical companies and others who have supplied many of the products common to American life.

To date, those claims have met with mixed results in court, at best, with most courts snuffing out the lawsuits as improper attempts to use lawsuits in state courts to punish an industry for emissions and conduct that are regulated by the federal government.

Some lawsuits, however, have been allowed to proceed. Notably, these have included cases originating out of Hawaii and Boulder, Colorado.

And in the coming months, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide if such climate suits are permitted under federal law and the U.S. Constitution. The high court is scheduled to hear arguments in the Boulder case in October.

In the meantime, however, the Seventh Circuit panel said federal courts have consistently rejected attempts by energy companies to use the "federal officer" theory to escape lawsuits in state courts.

And in state courts, like Cook County, particularly, the incentive is high for the companies to have the case heard in federal court, rather than state court.

Cook County courts have consistently been named among the top destinations of choice for trial lawyers suing businesses. The American Tort Reform Association, for instance, has consistently awarded Cook County's courts the distinction of standing as one of America's worst "judicial hellholes." Court systems are selected for such criticism by business advocates and court reformers because they assert business defendants struggle to receive a fair opportunity to defend themselves against lawsuits.

Cook County's courts are also heavily dominated by Democrats. In 2024, for instance, a Republican candidate made news as the first non-Democrat to even seek election to a countywide judgeship in Cook County in 14 years.

The Democratic Party in recent years has become increasingly hostile to the use of oil and gas and to the companies who extract and refine the fuels, as they seek to use the cause of combatting so-called "climate change" to enact laws and regulations that increasingly force Americans to abandon the use of internal combustion powered cars, landscaping tools and other implements, while also shutting down reliable traditional power plants in favor of so-called "renewable" energy sources, such as solar and wind.

And across the country, city governments run by Democrats have partnered with trial lawyers to sue the companies, in a move the companies have asserted amounts to improper attempts to use the courts to financially punish the companies and use lawsuits to advance their anti-oil policy goals.

In Chicago's case, for instance, the city is joined in the action by trial lawyers from the firms of DiCello Levitt LLP, of Chicago, and Sher Edling LLP, of San Francisco.

The Sher Edling firm has also served as counsel on dozens of virtually identical climate-related lawsuits against the oil and gas industry throughout the country. Published reports indicate Sher Edling has received millions of dollars in funding from a dark money group backed by billionaires, known as the Collective Action Fund for Accountability, Resilience and Adaptation." That funding has drawn scrutiny from members of Congress, who have noted it pays for the firm's lawsuits on behalf of local governments aimed at bankrupting the nation's oil and gas companies.

Earlier this year, Chevron secured what they hoped would be a big win at the Supreme Court, when the high court agreed courts in Louisiana had improperly refused to allow the energy company to remove a climate-related lawsuit in that state to federal court under the "federal officer" theory.

At the Seventh Circuit, the energy companies asserted that ruling, known as Chevron v Plaquemines Parish, should also undo Valderrama's ruling sending Chicago's "climate disinformation" case back to Cook County court.

However, Taibleson and her colleagues said the Plaquemines ruling changed nothing in the Chicago case. While the Supreme Court agreed with Chevron that its work in Louisiana was connected with the coastal erosion and other climate-related claims in the Plaquemines case, in this instance, Chicago's claims aren't actually connected to the city's claims.

They noted the city's lawsuit expressly claims the city is not seeking to force the energy companies to pay the city for any alleged harm allegedly caused by the companies' work on federal land or to support federal directives or orders.

Rather, the city is demanding the oil and gas companies pay for allegedly using "disinformation" and "misrepresentations" to allegedly dupe American consumers into using more oil and gas to power their lives and businesses and the national economy, increasing emissions and alleged climate harm in the process.

"There is no allegation — by the City or by the defendants — that these alleged misrepresentations were directed at the federal government or involved the defendants’ federal work, or that the federal government increased its own fuel purchases due to the alleged misrepresentations," Taibleson wrote.

"The sum the City hopes to recover is thus independent of the defendants’ federal work."

Taibleson noted both the city and energy companies have cited the Plaquemines decision in their new filings, with each arguing the case backs up their own claims over how closely the companies' energy production for the federal government "must relate" to the city's claims.

And "those dueling citations are possible because neither the Supreme Court nor our court has answered that question directly," Taibleson wrote.

"And we see no reason to here. Even under the broader formulation favored by the defendants, Chicago’s suit is insufficiently related to the defendants’ federal duties to support removal."

Meanwhile, in Cook County court, the judge assigned to the case has refused to put the case completely on hold, despite the potential for the Supreme Court to pull the plug on such climate cases in coming months.

In April, after the Supreme Court agreed to hear the Boulder case, Cook County Circuit Judge Allen Walker indicated he believed Chicago's lawsuit could still survive, no matter how the Supreme Court rules in the Boulder case.

In refusing to put the city's case on hold, the judge's ruling appeared to back the city's assertions that much of its lawsuit rests on "pure consumer protection claims that do not seek relief for emissions injuries."

The oil and gas companies have been represented in the action by attorney Patricia Brown Holmes and others with the firms of Riley Safer Holmes & Cancila, of Chicago; Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, of Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., New York and San Francisco; Susman Godfrey LLP, of Houston; and Stern Kilcullen & Rufolo, of Fordham Park, New Jersey.

The city has been represented by attorneys with the city's Department of Law; attorney Daniel R. Flynn, and others with the DiCello Levitt firm; and Matthew K. Edling and Victor M. Sher, and others with the Sher Edling firm.

(The Center Square) – A bipartisan group of senators introduced legislation that would fast-track a floor vote on Social Security's looming insolvency, using an independent board to draft a starting plan Congress could no longer easily ignore.

The Protecting Retirement Opportunities and Maintaining Income Security for Everyone, or PROMISE Act, would direct the Social Security Advisory Board to submit a base bill guaranteeing at least 50 years of solvency. Congress would then be forced to debate, amend and vote on it within 100 hours, bypassing the inaction that has left the retirement trust fund six years from depletion.

Eight senators from both parties are behind the bill: Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., Tim Kaine, D-Va., Thom Tillis, R-N.C., Angus King, I-Maine, John Cornyn, R-Texas, Chris Coons, D-Del., and Alan Armstrong, R-Okla. Three of them – Durbin, Cassidy and Tillis – are leaving the Senate at the end of their terms.

More than 70 million Americans receive Social Security benefits. The 2026 Social Security Board of Trustees report found the retirement trust fund will be depleted in 2032, triggering an automatic 22% cut to benefits – about $450 a month for someone receiving the average benefit of $2,071, according to the senators' release.

"Here is our chance to agree on a bipartisan process to rescue Social Security this year," said Durbin. "We were elected to solve problems — and there's no greater problem than the solvency and future of Social Security."

The PROMISE Act follows a House effort. Reps. Tom Cole, R-Okla., and Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y., introduced the Bipartisan Social Security Commission Act in June, which would create a 13-member commission to develop a 75-year solvency plan, with its own expedited path to a floor vote if Congress fails to act within three legislative days of receiving the commission's report.

Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, called the bill "a thoughtful bipartisan process to help Congress do its job."

"Social Security is going to need to collect more revenue, slow projected cost growth, or some combination," she said. "There's no magic third alternative that doesn't involve borrowing hundreds of trillions of dollars and thrusting the country into a debt spiral."

Anqi Chen, associate director of savings and household finance at the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, said the PROMISE Act does not itself solve Social Security's shortfall but could help.

"The PROMISE Act is a process bill, so it does not provide any solutions," Chen told The Center Square. "Think of it as a teacher setting up interim milestones or check-ins so students don't wait until the last minute to do their assignment."

Chen said a 50-year solvency requirement, short of the traditional 75-year standard, is still meaningful given the timeline.

"The Social Security Trust Fund will be depleted in six years," she said. "A 50-year solvency plan would be a celebrated improvement from no plan."

Chen said routing the process through the Social Security Advisory Board gives lawmakers a starting point rather than a blank slate.

"This process can hopefully help lawmakers get started," she said.

A spokesperson for Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.

Shai Akabas, vice president of economic policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center, said the bill's forcing mechanism sets it apart from past reform efforts.

"With Social Security's primary trust fund just six years from depletion – and an automatic 22% benefit cut the legally mandated consequence of inaction – Congress simply cannot afford to keep letting this issue stall," Akabas told The Center Square. "What makes the PROMISE Act credible is that it doesn't just ask Congress to act; it changes the procedural calculus to make action harder to avoid."

Akabas said the bill's decennial review requirement means the 50-year solvency bar isn't a ceiling.

"Fifty years of solvency would be a monumental achievement," he said. "The PROMISE Act also mandates a once-per-decade solvency review, with the same fast-track procedure triggered automatically if future shortfalls are projected – so 50 years isn't a ceiling, it's a floor."

AARP and the Alliance for Retired Americans, two advocacy groups representing older Americans, did not respond to requests for comment by publication time.

Three of the bill's sponsors will not be in the Senate to see whether it succeeds.

(Legal Newsline) - An Illinois appeals court has thrown open a new avenue for personal injury lawyers and others to claim potentially massively enhanced verdicts, as the court upheld a $45 million verdict awarded by a Cook County jury to the family of a woman who died of mesothelioma, allegedly caused by exposure to talc in Johnson & Johnson baby powder — a verdict that included $30 million in damages awarded to the family for the woman's "reduced lifespan."

A divided three-justice panel of the Illinois First District Appellate Court delivered the ruling on July 10 in Chicago.

The majority opinion in the 2-1 decision was authored by Justice Michael Hyman. Justice Aurelia Pucinski concurred in full with the ruling.

Justice Celia Gamrath concurred partially with the ruling, but split with her colleagues on the question of whether Illinois law clearly allows the courts to use the state's so-called Survival Act to force Johnson & Johnson and certain successor corporations to pay an additional $30 million to the family for suffering the plaintiff will no longer endure in years she will no longer live.

In dissent, Gamrath worried her colleagues had stretched prior rulings too far to uphold the unprecedented $30 million addition to the verdict and, in the process, had created a new path for trial lawyers to similarly grab millions of dollars more in wrongful death cases.

"The majority’s decision will now turn shortened life expectancy damages into a routine component of every survival action paired with a wrongful death claim," Gamrath wrote in her partial dissent. "If Illinois is to adopt this sweeping expansion of survival recovery, it should come from our supreme court or the general assembly." (sic)

The decision tees up a potential date before the Illinois Supreme Court on the question.

In a statement following the verdict, a Johnson & Johnson spokesperson said the company intends to "immediately appeal."

"We remain confident that further review will confirm that the law does not permit the unprecedented recovery allowed here," said Erik Haas, J&J's Worldwide Vice President of Litigation, in the statement.

The decision comes about two years after a Cook County jury directed J&J to pay $45 million to the family of plaintiff Theresa Garcia.

Garcia had filed suit against J&J and a collection of successor companies and other co-defendants, accusing them of negligence for selling talc-based baby powder products, which allegedly contained naturally occurring asbestos.

Johnson & Johnson sold its consumer health unit, which included its baby powder product line, to Kenvue in 2023. As part of that deal, J&J would maintain liability for litigation related to baby powder products sold in North America.

According to court documents, Garcia filed suit after she was diagnosed with mesothelioma in January 2020 at the age of 52.

Garcia died in July 2020, after she filed the lawsuit. The courts then allowed her daughter, Stephanie Salcedo, to take her place, as administrator of Garcia's estate.

Garcia's family and their lawyers claimed Garcia had inhaled asbestos fibers allegedly contained in the talc.

The lawyers pointed to lab tests, which allegedly demonstrated talc products could contain small amounts of asbestos, which they say could then cause mesothelioma, a fatal cancer of the lining of the lungs that is always fatal.

The disease is typically associated with asbestos exposure, and has been the subject decades of lawsuits against industrial manufacturers and many other companies, generating billions of dollars in fees for trial lawyers in the process.

Courts in Cook County and downstate Madison and St. Clair counties have consistently ranked among the most popular court systems for such asbestos exposure cancer lawsuits.

However, in recent years, as the number of such industrial asbestos exposure plaintiffs has begun to ebb, many of those same trial lawyers have switched to suing companies like Johnson & Johnson over alleged sources of asbestos, such as talcum powder.

The studies used to justify such talc powder lawsuits have come under criticism as "junk science." Johnson & Johnson, for instance, has accused one of the most prominent talc expert witnesses frequently used by trial lawyers, Dr. Jacqueline Moline, of fraud.

They also have pointed out some other leading talc case expert witnesses have switched sides in recent years, after spending decades downplaying the possibility of talc exposure as a source of mesothelioma, when they were being paid to testify about the asbestos risks from industrial sources instead.

Some courts have thrown out talc case verdicts based on faulty testimony from such expert witnesses.

Most recently, for instance, a retired judge serving as a so-called special master reviewing evidence in a consolidated action involving tens of thousands of talc-related lawsuits against Johnson & Johnson in New Jersey federal court has recommended a federal judge throw out a key plaintiff expert's test for asbestos. That test has undergirded more than 68,000 lawsuits, yet "lacks all of the traditional indicia of reliability," the retired judge wrote in a recent filing.

In Garcia's case, plaintiffs relied heavily on testimony from two particular witnesses, identified as geologist Mark Bailey and pulmonologist Steven Haber, who testified that they believed Garcia's mesothelioma was caused by exposure to asbestos allegedly in J&J's talc powder.

Their testimony was allowed despite objections from J&J. The company had asserted Bailey's testing methods were shrouded in secrecy and Haber's conclusions exceeded his expertise.

On appeal, all three justices on the appeals panel agreed that Cook County Judge Patrick Sherlock was not wrong to allow Bailey and Haber to testify, rejecting J&J's assertions that the testimony deprived them of a fair trial.

So, all three justices agreed the jury's verdict should be upheld on the question of whether the jury was correct to award Salcedo and Garcia's family at least $15 million, including $12 million for the family's wrongful death claim.

The justices also agreed on the legal question of whether the defendants could use Texas law to allow J&J’s spinoffs, Kenvue and another entity known as Holdco, to escape joint liability under Garcia’s claims.

In the ruling, the justices agreed the Cook County court was correct to shut down the companies’ attempt to use Texas corporate law, rather than New Jersey law, to limit liability.

However, the appeals panel split sharply on the question of whether J&J should be forced to pay an additional $30 million under the Illinois Survival Act.

J&J had argued the award was improper, because, under Illinois law, those damages for a shortened lifespan should only be paid to plaintiffs who are living at the time the jury renders a verdict.

But the majority on the panel disagreed. Hyman said nothing in Illinois law or prior state legal precedent clearly states that such "shortened lifespan" verdicts can only be awarded to living plaintiffs.

Hyman and Puciniski said they believed it was enough under Illinois law and Illinois Supreme Court rulings that the plaintiff was alive at the time the lawsuit was filed and the death of the plaintiff doesn't mean their family can't then collect the same damages, on behalf of their deceased relative.

"The Survival Act damages compensate Garcia for the loss of years of life, an injury she sustained once she learned that mesothelioma would have a drastic and permanent effect," Hyman wrote in the majority opinion. "This was not a recovery by the estate for 'damages tied to lost years a deceased plaintiff never lived' but rather compensates Garcia for the loss of years of life that mesothelioma took from her while she was alive.

"Garcia experienced and sued for that injury before her death; the Survival Act permits her estate to continue the claim."

Further, they rejected the claim that the verdict amounts to an improper move to use the Survival Act to award $30 million for "future injuries" to a person who has died and can no longer suffer any injuries.

"The relevant question is when the injury arose. An injury does not become a future harm because its consequences continue into the future. Garcia’s reduced lifespan was caused and known before her death. So her death did not create the injury; mesothelioma did," Hyman wrote.

Gamrath, however, pushed back on those contentions, saying the appellate court, at minimum, exceeded its authority in finding the $30 million Survival Act award proper and may have permitted Garcia's family to claim millions more than they should under improper "double recovery" for the same injuries.

After Garcia's death, the family cannot now recover both for wrongful death and for Survival Act damages that have to this point only been awarded to people who are still alive.

The prior Supreme Court rulings on which the majority rested their ruling "involved living plaintiffs who faced an increased risk of future death but who, under the single recovery rule, would have no later chance to pursue wrongful death damages," Gamrath wrote.

"Their logic is simple: a tortfeasor (the party that is alleged to have caused harm) should not 'get off scot-free' when an injury is likely, though not certain, to shorten the plaintiff’s life. Once the plaintiff dies, however, that concern disappears.

"A wrongful death action then compensates for the life cut short, leaving no doctrinal footing for layering shortened life expectancy damages on top of wrongful death damages," Gamrath wrote.

She added later in the dissent: "Just as survival damages cannot include future pain and suffering or medical expenses a decedent will never incur, they cannot include years of life the decedent never lived."

Garcia's family was represented in the case by attorneys Trey Barnham and Lisa Shirley, with the firm of Dean Omar Branham Shirley, of Dallas, Texas.

Following the appellate ruling, Garcia's family's lawyers hailed the decision, calling it "a significant appellate victory for asbestos victims."

"We believe this decision sends a powerful message that jury findings in these asbestos cases will be upheld when they are supported by the evidence and the law," Barnham said.

In J&J's statement responding to the verdict, Haas said the company believed the decision would ultimately be overturned, noting the decision "upheld a damages theory that has never before been recognized in Illinois and that one member of the court concluded improperly expands survival-law damages beyond their established limits."

Haas added: “This decision is also irreconcilable with decades of scientific research demonstrating that Johnson’s Baby Powder is safe, does not contain asbestos, and does not cause mesothelioma. It stands in sharp contrast to recent defense verdicts and other court decisions rejecting plaintiffs’ unsupported theories.”

“More broadly, this case illustrates how plaintiffs’ lawyers continue to rely on litigation-driven junk science in pursuit of massive verdicts."

(The Center Square) – The Chicago Fire may be building their own soccer stadium, but city taxpayers will be on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructure.

The Chicago City Council met Wednesday and approved $424.9 million in tax-increment financing for the Fire stadium site in the South Loop neighborhood.

Several aldermen expressed concerns that taxpayers would be funding construction of a city-owned parking garage for the stadium.

Alderman Daniel La Spata said, according to city estimates, the garage would generate $3 million to $4 million in annual revenue.

“At best, and even if you increase that by 50%, we are maybe recouping our investment in 50 years time,” La Spata said.

La Spata said most stadiums don’t last 50 years.

Alderman Pat Dowell defended the project in her ward, saying there would be housing and retail on top of the garage.

“That podium will bring into the city’s coffers property taxes, sales tax revenue, so it is not just a parking garage,” Dowell said.

Dowell said the city would also have the opportunity to gain revenue from advertising and signage at the site.

The $750 million, privately-funded stadium is slated to open in 2028. The funding approved Wednesday is for site preparation, streets, transit, utilities, open space connections, a Chicago River wall and the parking garage podium.

"Field of Schemes" co-author and fieldofschemes.com operator Neil deMause said it is becoming more common for team owners to say they’re not using public money for stadiums.

“It's starting to sort of creep into, you know, we're building the stadium ourselves, but of course all the stuff that allows the stadium to exist, we're asking for taxpayer money,” deMause told The Center Square.

The deal includes a shift of TIF funds from the neighboring Canal-Congress district to the stadium district.

“This doesn't necessarily mean that it's more public money. It just means that the initial pool of tax money that was going to be used to pay for this infrastructure looks like it's falling short,” deMause said.

deMause said there are a lot devils in the details with stadium deals.

(The Center Square) – Former state Rep. Harry Benton, D-Plainfield, who resigned from his seat in the Illinois House of Representatives at the start of this month following investigations into alleged misconduct while he was in office, has followed through on his promise to withdraw his name from November ballots.

The Will and Kendall County Democrats shared an open call for residents of the 97th district to apply to replace Benton, both for the remainder of his term and separately on the Democrat line of the ballot. The application closed Monday, but a candidate could be appointed by the chairs anytime before August 21, the day ballots are finalized.

Sean Reed contributed to this story

PRITZKER SIGNS SERVICE MEMBER, VETERANS-RELATED BILLS

Gov. J.B. Pritzker has signed legislation related to military service members and veterans.

Senate Bill 3737 requires universities to promptly readmit students after academic military leave.

Senate Bill 3818 incentivizes Illinois National Guard recruitment by providing financial compensation for successful referrals.

Senate Bill 3926 moves the Breakthrough Therapies for Veteran Suicide Prevention Program Advisory Council under the Department of Public Health.

All three measures take effect Jan.

IL DEPT. OF LABOR RELEASES PREVAILING WAGE RATES

The Illinois Department of Labor has published the 2026 prevailing wage rates for construction trades in each county across the state.

The rates took effect on Wednesday, following IDOL's annual statewide survey pursuant to the Illinois Prevailing Wage Act.

The law requires workers on publicly funded construction and infrastructure projects to be paid wages that reflect local standards.

The rates can be found the the Illinois Department of Labor's Prevailing Wage Act Rates webpage.

FINANCIAL CONDITIONS INDEX DECREASES

The Chicago Fed’s National Financial Conditions Index decreased to –0.54 in the week ending July 10, suggesting looser financial conditions where credit is considered to be easier and cheaper for businesses and consumers.

(The Center Square) – A ballot measure in front of Missouri voters next month could give some Illinois residents in the Metro East area a reason to move across the Mississippi River if it passes.

The measure, which will be present on ballots in the state’s primary election Aug. 4, proposes an amendment to the Missouri Constitution that could phase out income tax entirely.

Andrew Wilford, director of state policy at the National Taxpayers Union Foundation, explained the ballot measure would allow the state legislature to eliminate income tax by raising other revenue sources, such as an increase to sales tax.

“They haven't officially created the structure for that, but that would be the general idea,” Wilford said. “Currently, Missouri has a top tax rate of about 4.7%. A few years ago that was relatively low for the region, but a lot of the state's neighbors have cut taxes pretty significantly in the intervening years.”

Bryce Hill, senior director of fiscal and economic analysis for the Illinois Policy Institute, noted there’s a larger trend, and Missouri is following other states in reducing, flattening or eliminating income taxes.

“Many states did that – started this process after the COVID-19 pandemic, when state tax revenues didn't decline as much as anticipated and then subsequently grew very rapidly,” Hill said. “Illinois did not have that luxury. A lot of that excess revenue went to pay for previous debts.”

Hill said the proposed cut could exacerbate outmigration across the Mississippi River. He noted a net 7,500 Illinoisans moved to the state in 2024. If the measure is approved, Illinois’ second largest metropolitan area, the Metro East, could see some residents move, according to Hill.

“Individuals can easily relocate from one major population center to the other side of the border without having to completely uproot their lives,” Hill said. “They don't necessarily have to change jobs even. They can still be nearby to friends and family and their social network.”

According to polling by YouGov and Saint Louis University in February, the ballot measure could just narrowly pass, if the electorate votes along the lines of their findings – that 52% of voters in the state would prefer the Missouri state government rely on sales taxes over individual income taxes.

Wilford said the Missouri legislature is planning on phasing out the tax in a way that will be visible to residents, and on both sides of the border.

“There's good ways and bad ways to do it. The bad way is you tax business to business services,” Wilford said. “From what I've heard, Missouri isn't planning to do that.”

He noted that residents of Illinois who work in Missouri would have to pay income tax to Illinois even if Missouri residents vote to do away with it, while also facing increased sales tax in transactions across the river.

(The Center Square) – Federal officials came to Illinois this week to announce the results of a major crackdown on trade fraud.

At a news conference in the Chicago suburb of Bensenville on Tuesday, U.S. Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald announced that the Trade Fraud Task Force, which launched in August 2025, recently surpassed $1 billion in criminal and civil recoveries, penalties, forfeitures and charged losses.

“Our goal is to protect taxpayer dollars and stop the brazen thievery of America’s wealth and generosity,” McDonald said.

Flanked by officials from other federal agencies, McDonald said foreign actors develop schemes that can price mom-and-pop shops out of business.

“That is a core issue that we are focused on is to make sure that the American businesses are in a fair fight,” McDonald said.

The task force was established by the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security to investigate and prosecute those who defraud the government through misrepresentations to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

McDonald said the milestone case in Chicago that brought the task force to the $1 billion mark involved customs duty evasion schemes involving the false declaration of countries of origin for gold jewelry.

“Trade fraud schemes impose severe financial consequences to the United States, depriving the country of billions of dollars every year,” McDonald said.

McDonald said the fraud schemes threaten U.S. national and economic security, steal from taxpayers, undermine American businesses, fund foreign adversaries, introduce hazardous products and exploit modern-day slavery.

U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Andrew Boutros said the ground work for the task force was laid by a case he took on in 2008 that involved falsely-declared and adulterated honey from China.

“The key roads for trade fraud enforcement lead from, to and through Chicago, both past, present and now future,” Boutros said.

Boutros said Chicago remains one of the largest inland ports in the country.

McDonald said whistleblowers are highly valuable to trade fraud enforcement.

“There is whistleblower protection and there are also whistleblower payments that can come by virtue of recovering in those cases,” McDonald said.

Whistleblowers can alert the government to credible allegations of fraud through provisions of the False Claims Act or through an online form.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office estimated in April 2024 that the federal government loses between $233 billion and $521 billion annually to fraud.

Brett Rowland contributed to this story

(The Center Square) – The Illinois Supreme Court and the Illinois Judicial Conference announced on Tuesday a statewide circuit court user survey to be conducted through July 31.

The anonymous survey will be available in paper and electronic formats at circuit court courthouses across the state and will ask circuit court users about their most recent experience with the Illinois circuit courts.

Officials say the results will be used to inform future policy decisions and improve the court user experience.

The survey can be accessed online.

PRITZKER SIGNS CERTIFICATE OF INNOCENCE ACT

Gov. J.B. Pritzker has signed legislation that allows people who have been unjustly incarcerated to receive financial compensation from the state.

House Bill 3663 increases the maximum award amount for claims and expands the eligibility provisions for who can file a claim.

The new law takes effect immediately.

NONPROFIT INVESTMENT POOL BILL SIGNED

Among more than 30 bills Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed last Friday is legislation that allows the state treasurer to set up an investment pool.

Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs said in a statement that his office worked with lawmakers and the governor’s office to pass Senate Bill 2968 after Pritzker vetoed a similar measure last year.

INMATE SENTENCED TO ADDITIONAL TIME FOR PRODUCING CHILD SEX ABUSE MATERIAL

A federal judge has added 224 months of additional prison time to an FCI-Marion inmate’s sentence after he admitted to producing hand-drawn child sexual abuse material while incarcerated.

Christopher L. Collins, 42, pleaded guilty to charges that he created drawings depicting adults sexually assaulting children and provided the drawings to other inmates.

Collins is currently serving a 20-year sentence at Marion for previous child pornography-related convictions.

RIBBON CUTTING HELD FOR $307.1M WELGE BRIDGE

Officials from two states are celebrating the completion of a new bridge connecting Randolph County, Illinois and Perry County, Missouri.

A ribbon cutting was held last weekend for the Don Welge Memorial Bridge, at the river crossing of Illinois 150 and Missouri 51. The $307.1 million project overseen by the Missouri Department of Transportation includes about $143.2 million from Illinois taxpayers.

The Welge bridge replaces the Chester Bridge that was built in 1942.

(The Center Square) – The Chicago City Council may vote Wednesday on deals to spend $424.9 million of tax increment financing on infrastructure for the Chicago Fire soccer stadium site.

On March 3, the Fire broke ground on its $750 million, privately-funded stadium in the city’s South Loop neighborhood.

Jeffrey Cohen, deputy commissioner of the Bureau of Economic Development in the Chicago Department of Planning and Development, explained the new redevelopment agreements to the city council finance committee on Monday.

“If approved, the funds would be used to reimburse eligible costs in the construction of public infrastructure, including new and modified streets, essential utilities, necessary site preparation work and open space connections, as well as a new podium that will house a city-owned parking garage and over two acres of new public open space,” Cohen said.

Cohen said the development would fill a site that has laid dormant for nearly 50 years. “The 78” is being developed by Related Midwest on what Cohen called “a 62-acre hole” in the city grid.

Alderman Bill Conway said much of the project is a bad deal.

“We are being asked to approve more than $400 million of taxpayer money, with over half of it going to a parking lot and a plaza,” Conway said.

Cohen said the parking garage cost would be about $68,000 per parking space.

Alderman Brendan Reilly questioned the deal allowing the transfer of taxpayer funds from the Canal-Congress TIF district to the Roosevelt-Clark district where the stadium is being built.

“Is there any plan, any mechanism to, at some future date, port back monies to the TIF district that is being raided to allow for future economic development and subsidy in the area where this money was originally intended to be spent?” Reilly asked.

Cohen said the idea of porting money back would not be off the table once the stadium development generates sufficient TIF revenue.

“Were I a property owner paying into the TIF on Canal, I would not be thrilled to know that all of this money that was intended to improve that community area is being sent elsewhere,” Reilly said.

Reilly said the Fire project is a good one, but he expressed frustration with what he called “hiding the football” by members of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration after Reilly found out that city officials discussed raiding the LaSalle Central TIF district in his ward to fund the Canal-Congress district.

Alderman Nicole Lee said the Chinatown community expressed concerns about additional traffic, especially with construction planned on the 18th Street bridge just south of the stadium site.

The Fire is expected to begin playing at the new stadium in 2028.

Despite Conway’s opposition, the finance committee approved the agreements by a vote of 30-1.

The full council is scheduled to meet on Wednesday.

(The Center Square) – A Democrat Illinois congressman sparked pushback after urging fellow Democrats to repeal all aspects of President Donald Trump's “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” at the earliest moment possible.

U.S. Rep. Sean Casten, D-Ill., said in a virtual town hall last week he wants Democrats to swiftly repeal the working families tax cut, among other Republican policies enacted during this congressional term backed by the president.

Casten addressed a variety of concerns constituents brought his way – many worried about cuts to federal services like Medicaid and Social Security insolvency – while on the town hall call.

“We are pursuing litigation where we can to push back on that. In some cases, we're having some success, but you can't really – the cutting and funding, that was done by an act of Congress, so you can't say they're breaking the law. And so we're basically going to keep fighting to repeal that whole damn bill once we get the gavels back,” Casten said.

Casten doubled down in a series of posts on the social platform X after Republicans were critical of his statement.

8. That’s in addition to the political benefits of a fairer tax code and the fiscal benefits of less long term borrowing. So look: if you want to be fiscally irresponsible, mean to the most vulnerable and sycophantic to rich bullies, you be you. But at least be honest.— Sean Casten (@SeanCasten) July 9, 2026

An account operated by the Republican National Committee, which reportedly operates closely with the political arm of the Trump administration, quickly captured and published Casten’s statement, criticizing him for wanting to reverse course on what it called the “the largest tax cuts in American history.”

Casten hit back, arguing that the OBBBA’s tax cuts aren’t truly helpful for working families in the U.S.

“The idea that these cuts are helping the working class is total BS, which you know. The ‘no tax on tips’ is only on the incremental tip income, only for families earning [less than] $150K/year and it expires in 2028,” Casten said in one post.

According to the June, 2026, federal Monthly Treasury statement, the nation’s deficit for the current calendar year is about $1.4 trillion.

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget responded to the deficit data, noting that it is higher than the previous year and the federal government is on track to borrow at least $2 trillion or more this year.

Casten blamed the OBBBA for worsening the fiscal conditions of the government, citing the CRFB’s projection of $4.7 trillion being added to the deficit by 2035.

The federal lawmaker commended the Illinois Legislature for its handling of federal cuts, despite criticism from some Republican state lawmakers, who have said the state paying the difference means even higher taxes statewide.

“Illinois has done a pretty good job to try to squeeze the balloon, but there's just a lot less money coming to Illinois right now,” Casten said.

Covering the difference left by cuts was a common thread during this year’s spring legislative session in Springfield, with Gov. J.B. Pritzker recently signed laws to expand state spending to the dismay of many Republican lawmakers.

(The Center Square) – The head of the embattled Illinois diversity commission has moved to a different state job after a series of investigative stories by The Center Square exposed failures at the agency and prompted bipartisan criticism.

Alexandria Wilson held the job at the Commission on Equity and Inclusion for about three years and oversaw a switch to a new computer system that upended its mission to increase access to government contracts for businesses that are owned by racial minorities, women and people with disabilities.

The computer switch eliminated an automated process by which many of those businesses were certified for preference in state contract awards. As a result, the total number of certified businesses has dropped by about half to 2,690, as of the end of May.

Wilson declined to say why she sought a different government job.

She was recently hired as chief operating officer of the Illinois Power Agency -- another state department -- and started July 1, according to an agency spokesperson. Her new annual salary of $154,000 is slightly less than what she was paid in her previous job, state records show.

"I am looking forward to strengthening the IPA’s internal operations and administrative processes in support of its mission for the people of Illinois," she told The Center Square in an email, noting her "experience in strategic planning, policy implementation, and organizational leadership."

She previously was chief of supplier diversity for the Illinois Department of Innovation and Technology. The Illinois Power Agency said Wilson will manage its "day-to-day administrative and operational functions."

"Given her years of experience in strategic planning, policy development, and operational implementation, Alexandria’s leadership will bring value to the IPA’s operations," the agency told The Center Square.

Robin Streets, chief of staff for the diversity commission, has been appointed as an interim replacement for Wilson, according to documents obtained by The Center Square.

He and the chairperson of the commission, Nina Harris, did not immediately respond to requests to comment for this article about whether the commission's direction will change under new leadership.

"A change in leadership does not eliminate the need for answers regarding the commission's operations, management, and whether the commitments made to legislators have been fulfilled," state Rep. Brad Halbrook, a Shelbyville Republican, told The Center Square. "I remain committed to ensuring appropriate legislative oversight and will continue seeking the information necessary to determine what progress, if any, has been made."

Lawmaker critiques

State lawmakers, often citing The Center Square's reporting, lambasted the commission's performance in legislative hearings this year as part of their budget process. They created the commission in 2022 to boost the amount of state contract money that goes to businesses they view as disadvantaged.

The lawmakers questioned the precipitous drop in certified businesses and the leadership of the agency's seven governor-appointed commissioners, who are each paid about $150,000 per year but are allowed to work side jobs for pay.

The Center Square found that most of the commissioners have worked side jobs -- often earning more than the $7,500 reporting threshold set by law -- and that they have fewer responsibilities compared with their counterparts elsewhere in government.

"We've lost half of our vendors, and yet you're some of the highest paid people in the state," state Sen. Chapin Rose, the Republican minority caucus whip, said in an April budget hearing.

Democrats were also troubled by the problems.

"I know you say we're heading in the right direction, but I'm telling you that business owners that we are talking to are not saying that," Sen. Elgie R. Sims Jr., the Democrats' appropriations leader, told the commission's staff at the April hearing.

Another Democrat, state Rep. Angelica Guerrero-Cuellar, of Chicago, said she was frustrated the commission had failed for at least a year to work with the Secretary of State's Office to contact businesses that might be eligible for certification, which she had requested. In a recent meeting, commission staff indicated they were working with the Secretary of State to distribute information that promotes the certification opportunities.

Despite lawmakers' misgivings, they approved the commission's $5.6 million budget request and gave the commissioners raises of about $5,000 apiece.

The commission reported that the state awarded about $1.6 billion of contracts to certified businesses last year -- a new high -- but that the money went to about 9 percent fewer businesses.

Calls to disband

After the legislative hearings, Republican lawmakers who comprise the Illinois Freedom Caucus said they want to dismantle the commission.

"What the Democrats claim was intended to expand opportunity in state contracting has instead become a multi-million dollar failure for taxpayers; creating barriers, reducing participation, and adding unnecessary bureaucracy," the group said in April.

State Rep. Halbrook, a member of the Freedom Caucus, said he is seeking more information about Wilson's departure and how it might affect the commission.

"This leadership change comes just months after the commission faced significant bipartisan scrutiny during the General Services Appropriations Committee hearings," Halbrook told The Center Square. "During those hearings, lawmakers were assured that the commission's ongoing operational and management issues would be addressed by July 1."

Wilson had told lawmakers that the commission was working on a solution to the computer problem that would be in place by the end of June. It's unclear whether that happened. The issue was not discussed during the commission's monthly meeting in June, and Streets and Harris did not respond to The Center Square's questions about it.

(The Center Square) – The Chicago City Council’s finance committee has approved $424.9 million for public access, road improvements, a river wall and Metra rail upgrades for the Chicago Fire soccer stadium site in the city’s South Loop.

The projects will be funded by tax-increment financing dollars, some of which would come from outside “The 78” development’s TIF district. The full council may consider the issue on Wednesday.

MAN SENTENCED FOR THREATS TO PUBLIC OFFICIALS

A Winthrop Harbor man has been sentenced to three years and two months in prison after he was convicted of making a true threat to kill public officials, including President Donald Trump.

Prosecutors said Trent Schneider, 58, made the threats in a social media video posted Oct. 21.

On the same date, Schneider told the judge presiding over his pending foreclosure case that he would burn down the courthouse.

DEKALB OFFICIALS PUT OFF VOTE ON PUBLIC CAMPING

The DeKalb City Council has tabled a proposal that would allow city government to fine people found sleeping or camping in public areas.

The Daily Chronicle reports that many people voiced opposition to the draft ordinance at a council meeting on Monday night.

The vote was put off a week after a man authorities said was homeless was charged with sexually and physically assaulting multiple women in downtown DeKalb.

IL: #19 IN HEALTH CARE FRAUD, ABUSE CONVICTIONS

A new study says Illinois ranked 19th in the country for fiscal year 2025 with 21 health care fraud or abuse convictions.

Suzuki Law said Pennsylvania recorded more than any other state, followed by Texas.

The U.S. Department of Justice recovered a record $6.8 billion through False Claims Act enforcement during fiscal year 2025.

(Legal Newsline) - Parents do not have legal rights to sue teachers unions for calling illegal strikes, which allegedly lead to learning loss and other economic and societal harms, an Illinois state appeals court has ruled.

And the appeals court said the unions may also be allowed to turn around and demand payment from the parents who sued them for allegedly attempting to use the courts to punish unions for their "speech" publicly defending their allegedly illegal labor actions.

On July 8, a three-justice panel of the Illinois First District Appellate Court upheld a Cook County judge's decision tossing a lawsuit brought against the Chicago Teachers Union by parents of Chicago schoolchildren over the CTU's attempt to thwart Chicago Public Schools' efforts to reopen schools following the Covid pandemic in late 2021 and early 2022.

The parents had filed that lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court in 2024, seeking up to $250 million from the union for allegedly causing learning loss, income loss and general headaches for CPS students and families when the union executed a labor action to protest CPS' return to full-time, in-school learning.

The lawsuit accused the CTU, as well as former CTU President Jesse Sharkey, current CTU President Stacy Davis Gates, and the American Federation of Teachers, of allegedly conspiring to engage in the labor action, which the lawsuit called an illegal strike, because the CTU asserted CPS did not do enough to protect them from the spread of Covid during that time.

The plaintiffs have been represented in the action by attorneys Patrick Hughes and Daniel Suhr, of the firm of Hughes & Suhr LLC, of Chicago.

The lawsuit centered on CTU's actions amid CPS' planned return to in-person learning, as the school system became one of the last in the country to restore normalcy to public education for hundreds of thousands of students in the country's third largest city, after enduring over a year of disruption during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The slow return to in-person learning was heavily credited not only to state and local public health restrictions imposed on all levels of society by Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, among others, but also to heavy resistance by the CTU, with the support of allies in the national teachers union. The CTU, for instance, notably posted on social media that calls to return to in-person learning were "rooted in sexism, racism and misogyny."

However, those delays in returning to in-person schooling likely affected low income racial minority students the most, according to the complaint, leading to substantial learning loss.

The complaint cited academic analysis demonstrating that such learning loss further leads to substantial income loss later in life.

That damage was allegedly exacerbated by a labor action lasting five days, from Jan. 5-11, 2022, in which the CTU refused to return to the classroom to teach students until it secured certain concessions from CPS.

CTU notably did not describe the action as a "strike," instead repeatedly referring to the refusal to report to classrooms, as ordered by CPS, as a "remote learning action."

The lawsuit, however, said the action by any name amounted to an illegal strike. They noted both former Mayor Lightfoot and CPS referred to the action as "an illegal work stoppage."

The work stoppage ended when the CTU and CPS negotiated a settlement.

The parents, however, were never given the chance to lay out the case in the courts, nor make the CTU answer for the allegedly illegal action.

Rather, Cook County Judge Daniel J. Kubasiak agreed with the CTU and other defendants in finding that Illinois law doesn't permit anyone other than public school districts, like CPS, to bring legal actions against teachers unions, like the CTU, over allegedly illegal strikes.

And those actions, the judge said, must originate only before the Illinois Education Labor Relations Board.

The parents appealed the ruling, but the appellate justices backed up Kubasiak's reading of the law.

In the ruling, the justices brushed aside the parents' "public nuisance" claims, saying they amounted solely to an attempt to sidestep "the exclusive jurisdiction of the IELRB" and bring their claims in court.

"Here, the conduct being regulated is a Chicago public teachers' strike," the justices wrote.

And that, the justices said, means the case invokes the state law governing teacher strikes. And that law, the justices said, gives only public school districts the authority to challenge illegal teacher work stoppages in court.

The justices further rejected the parents' attempt to argue that this interpretation of that state law unconstitutionally strips parents of their rights to sue teachers unions that harm their families through illegal actions.

The justices pointed to prior court decisions affirming that only a public school board of education is constitutionally empowered to sue teachers unions for calling illegal strikes, no matter how those labor actions may harm students or their families.

In their ruling, however, the justices said Kubasiak's ruling contained one error. They said the judge improperly refused to hold a hearing on whether the American Federation of Teachers should have been allowed to potentially countersue the parents for suing them at all.

That claim rested on Illinois' law forbidding so-called Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, or SLAPPs. The AFT essentially asked the judge to determine if the parents' lawsuit amounted to an illegal SLAPP action intended to punish the AFT for speaking out in support of the CTU's demands to be allowed to continue to stay home and avoid teaching students in person until such time as the teachers' union agreed the danger of Covid had sufficiently passed.

In their ruling, the appellate justices agreed Kubasiak should yet hold further proceedings on that question.

Should the AFT prevail, the parents and potentially their counsel could be forced to pay the unions' legal fees in the case.

The appellate decision was authored by Justice Leroy K. Martin. Justices Bertina E. Lampkin and Jesse G. Reyes concurred in the ruling.

The decision was issued as an unpublished order, which may limit its use as precedent.

(The Center Square) – Plans for a state-developed park just blocks from the State Capitol and in front of the Governor’s Mansion were announced last week.

The state’s Department of Natural Resources has already pledged $4 million in taxpayer funds to the project, with a transfer of the land still pending.

The city of Springfield bought the plot of land, known locally as the “Y-Block” north of the Governor’s Mansion for $1.5 million in 2014 using funds from the downtown’s TIF district.

Over the past 12 years, multiple proposals and requests to develop the property have been put forward, but the land that was once home to the city’s YWCA remains as an open grass field.

State Sen. Doris Turner, D-Springfield, told The Center Square she looks forward to the project, and noted she’s had a hand in it since the city bought the property while she was on the council.

“Through budget negotiations, we were able to get $4 million included in the state budget. And I think that that will be enough to do what we need to do,” Turner said.

Misty Buscher, the city’s mayor, introduced an ordinance to donate the land to the state at the Springfield City Council’s meeting last week, before the project was announced.

Ken Pacha, a local activist and co-founder of the nonprofit Springfield Community Broadcasters, criticized Buscher during the council’s public comment period for blaming her predecessor for a lack of development.

He was also concerned about the city handing the land back to the state.

“You can blame [former mayor Jim] Langfelder, but you've been mayor for three years [...] that is your Y-Block now,” Pacha said. “While I understand the Fiscal Year 25 budget earmarked a park, how often does the state change its mind, lose funding, decide that's not where they want to go with it?”

According to IDNR, preliminary plans for the project include a limestone amphitheater, children's play area and new landscaping.

The site has been subject to previous delays in development in part due to environmental concerns, backed by soil and groundwater sampling.

According to the proposed agreement, testing by the city is under review by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, but any costs to address previously confirmed subsurface contamination could fall on either state or local taxpayers.

Sen. Turner has pending legislation aimed at more tax increases and spending in Springfield, which was at one time attached to the “Megaprojects” bill to keep the Chicago Bears in the state.

Turner noted there is support for her bill, which would allow the state to use bonds to invest in development of the downtown area.

She said earlier this year that the bonds would be paid for through a county-wide hotel tax, along with other local taxes.

“I've lived in Springfield my whole life and I remember what downtown was and what it can be once again,” Turner said. “The legislation that I have pending, as well as the development of the Y-block, is definitely an investment in downtown Springfield that has the possibility of bringing dividends.”

A council committee is scheduled to discuss the transfer ordinance Tuesday, and a vote to finalize the change in ownership is expected during the council’s next full meeting July 21.

(The Center Square) – State Rep. Dan Ugaste, R-Geneva, has filed the latest piece of legislation aimed at keeping the Chicago Bears in Illinois.

House Bill 5802 allows certain megaprojects to be eligible for a freeze on property tax assessments.

Ugaste told The Center Square last month that the bill language will prevent a stadium development’s equalized assessed value from leading to higher property taxes for residents.

PRITZKER, STATE ELECTIONS BOARD IVES V. PRITZKER

Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the Illinois State Board of Elections have filed motions to dismiss a lawsuit filed by former state Rep. Jeanne Ives over the state’s congressional maps.

The federal complaint was filed in the Central District of Illinois following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that found Louisiana’s district map to be unconstitutional because it mandates the creation of racial districts.

In May, Ives told The Center Square Daily that state Democrats have brazenly moved to draw maps based on racial lines.

Greg Bishop and Sean Reed contributed to this story

TREASURER ANNOUNCES NONPROFIT GRANTS

Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs has announced $195,000 in Charitable Trust grants for smaller nonprofits that are funded by fees paid to the state by larger nonprofits.

Frerichs made the announcement on Monday at Care for Friends on Chicago’s North Side.

The treasurer said the grants are aimed to help with things like food insecurity, housing and workforce development.

Frerichs said more than $5.2 million in grants have been given to more than 200 organizations since he took office in 2015.

YARD POWER TOOLS RECALLED DUE TO FIRE RISK

The Consumer Product Safety Commission says Greenworks Tools has recalled Kobalt 24-volt and 48-volt trimmers, blowers, mowers, chain saws and pruning saws with USB-C batteries due to fire risk.

The products were sold nationwide by Lowe’s from January 2026 through May 2026.

The CPSC said charging the lithium-ion batteries through the USB-C port while the batteries are inserted in the tools can cause the batteries to short-circuit, posing a risk of serious injury from fire hazard.

(The Center Square) – According to a new report, a 10-time convicted felon on pretrial release was arrested in Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s back yard on the Fourth of July.

CWB Chicago reported that Dwayne Milton, 46, was on electronic monitoring for a retail theft case when Illinois State Police detained him on the governor’s property in Chicago.

Court records show that Milton began violating the terms of his pretrial release almost immediately upon being outfitted with an ankle monitor.

Around 10 p.m. on July 4, Chicago police officers were dispatched to the governor’s residence to help state troopers assigned to Pritzker’s security detail.

In a statement to the The Center Square, Illinois State Police said Milton was detained after he attempted to climb a fence at the rear of the governor’s Chicago residence.

“At this time, investigators have found no indication that Milton targeted the governor or the governor’s family, and no related threats have been identified,” the ISP statement said.

Chicago police charged Milton with criminal trespass to real property and an existing retail theft warrant.

Milton’s Cook County criminal court history includes more than 60 cases, including felony convictions for burglary, retail theft and robbery.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey said the SAFE-T Act is clearly not working.

“We're all aware it's obviously not working. We know that. Something's got to be drastically changed,” Bailey told The Center Square.

The Pretrial Awareness Act provision of the SAFE-T Act effectively ended cash bail in Illinois when it took effect in 2023.

Bailey said thank goodness the governor had state police there to protect him.

“What about any other family that would not have had surveillance, and this person could have easily broken in and done harm to property or people?” Bailey said.

State Rep. Patrick Sheehan, R-Homer Glen, also works as a police officer.

“Gov. Pritzker’s radical crime policies turned up in his own backyard,” Sheehan told The Center Square.

Sheehan wondered what Milton might have done if he had not been intercepted by the governor’s security team.

“It really just smacks of contempt for the system as they get released on electronic monitoring, and then they reoffend,” Sheehan told The Center Square.

Sheehan said he is glad the governor and his family are safe, thanks to the swift response of Illinois State Police and Chicago police.