Gov. J.B. Pritzker says he won’t let news of a federal criminal probe into $331,000 in questionable property tax breaks he received on a Gold Coast mansion interfere with his push for a progressive income tax. 
Lawmakers in Springfield vowed Wednesday to take action after prosecutors dropped all charges against "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett in a case that drew international condemnation. 
The full state Senate could vote soon on a measure that would block an otherwise qualified candidate for president for refusing to provide tax returns to the Illinois state government. As Gov. J.B. Pritzker prepares for talks with legislative leaders about possible tax rates and income levels for a progressive income tax in Illinois, a pro-business group is calling for those discussions to be done in public. 
Gov. J.B. Pritzker's $39 billion spending plan relies on shoppers paying a tax for every plastic bag they take home from the store, along with higher taxes on tobacco products, revenue from recreational marijuana licenses, legalized sports gambling and a tax on insurance companies that work with Medicaid patients. Gov. J.B. Pritzker pledged that he would be transparent about using his personal fortune to double the state salaries of his top aides in the governor's office, but the billionaire has yet to release payroll records for those employees. 
Businesses from across the state came together in Springfield on Monday to urge the Illinois lawmakers to amend a proposed minimum wage increase to allow for lower pay outside the city of Chicago. 
The Illinois Legislature starts in earnest Tuesday and with Democratic supermajorities in both chambers and a Democrat in the executive office, they’ll have to shore up a budget while moving forward with progressive agenda including raising the state's minimum wage. 
A township in central Illinois that overtaxed residents for years is returning more than $735,000 to local property taxpayers, a rare rebate that one lawmaker said he wants to see happen in more of the state's 1,400 townships. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker said he’ll work with minority Republicans, but warned that partisan opponents to the idea of a progressive tax will be met with “considerable political will.” 