With at least 165 wineries and over 100 miles of wine trails, the wine industry in Illinois is thriving and the growth has been exponential in the last 30 years. Illinois is now the 12th-largest wine producing state in the country, which is remarkable considering there were only 12 wineries in the entire state in 1997. Award winning wines in Illinois are made from Native American, French Hybrid and Vinifera grapes, as well as a local fruit. Rose wine is the official wine of Illinois. 

UNEMPLOYMENT FRAUD 

Audit finds Illinois paid out $5.2 billion in fraudulent or excessive unemployment “overpayments” during COVID-19. An audit report released this week by the Illinois Auditor General revealed that the State of Illinois paid out more than $5.2 billion in fraudulent or excessive unemployment claims during the COVID-19 pandemic, including $46 million in payments to incarcerated or deceased persons.

This summer the Illinois House Republican Caucus welcomed more than 40 high school and college students from around the state to participate in Leader Tony McCombie’s paid internship program. 

Interns were assigned to legislative district offices and other divisions within the Office of the House Minority Leader where they gained valuable insight into the day-to day operations of legislative offices as well as the responsibilities of legislators and their support staff.

House Republicans Ryan Spain (R-Peoria) and Jennifer Sanalitro (R-Hanover Park) have led the charge to address diaper shortages for families in need in their respective communities by hosting Diaper Drives. Spain has hosted a Holiday Diaper Drive for six consecutive years in the Peoria area, while Sanalitro just hosted her first Diaper Drive from April 14-May 12, with six drop-off locations in the Carol Stream, Bloomingdale and Itasca areas.

Home delivery of alcohol in Illinois is here to stay, as the cocktails-to-go law has been extended for five years through August 1, 2028. Illinois restaurants and bars first began selling cocktails to-go in June 2020, three months after Gov. Pritzker used his emergency powers to order all food and drink establishments to close. The mixed drinks to-go policy was necessary to keep struggling businesses afloat, advocates said.

Shark Week is being celebrated July 23 -30, and it involves a week of shark-based programming on the Discovery Channel. A study conducted and published in the Marine and Fishery Sciences confirms two known sightings of sharks in Illinois, the first in 1937 and the second in 1995. Researchers and experts have also confirmed that stories of bull shark sightings in the Great Lakes as hearsay or hoaxes.

CRIMINAL LAW 

Illinois Supreme Court Upholds Elimination of Cash Bail. The Illinois Supreme Court has announced its opinion on the Pretrial Fairness portion of the SAFE-T Act, and by a 5-2 decision, they have ruled it as constitutional. This strikes down a lower court ruling in December 2022 which found that the portions of the SAFE-T Act that abolished cash bail were unconstitutional. Thus, the elimination of cash bail is now set to go into effect on September 18, 2023 in Illinois. Illinois becomes the first state in the U.S. to totally eliminate cash bail, and it comes at a time when crime in the state remains at the top of the nation.

The Illinois Supreme Court has announced its opinion on the Pretrial Fairness portion of the SAFE-T Act, and by a 5-2 decision, they have ruled it as constitutional. This strikes down a lower court ruling in December 2022 which found that the portions of the SAFE-T Act that abolished cash bail were unconstitutional. Thus, the elimination of cash bail is now set to go into effect September 18, 2023 in Illinois.  Illinois becomes the first state in the U.S. to totally eliminate cash bail, and it comes at a time when crime in the state remains at the top of the nation.

A report by the National Insurance Crime Bureau puts Illinois at the top of a dubious list. Illinois had the largest increase in vehicle thefts in any state in 2022, with a 35 percent increase from 2021. In overall car thefts, Illinois is fifth on the list for 2022 with 38,649 thefts, behind only California (202,685), Texas (105,015), Washington (46,939) and Florida (45,973). The theft rate in Chicago is even higher, with automobile thefts increasing 73 percent in the last 12 months compared to the average of the last three years from January 2017 to May 2023.

Personal property replacement taxes are revenues collected by the state of Illinois and paid to local governments to replace money that was lost by local governments when their powers to impose personal property taxes on corporations, partnerships, and other local business entities were taken away in 1970 by the Illinois Constitution. In 1979, the General Assembly enacted a law to provide for statewide taxes to replace the revenues lost to local governments.

Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery that occurs in every state, including Illinois. Statistics show that Illinois ranks in the top 10 nationwide in human trafficking cases. In 2021, the National Human Trafficking Hotline identified 243 cases in Illinois, with 355 victims reported. Human trafficking involves the use of force, fraud or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act. These acts involve victims of all ages, races and genders, and the victims can be lured into these situations by violence, manipulation, false promises of well-paying jobs or romantic relationships.

Earlier this year residents of northwestern Illinois watched with concern as a far-away weather event threatened their communities. As a few days of abnormally warm weather settled in over the state of Minnesota, the late spring snowmelt revved into high gear, sending river gauges spiking and unleashing a rapidly-rising Mississippi River on downstream communities.

As the sandbags started getting filled and as nervous eyes turned toward earthen levees, residents of many Mississippi River communities throughout Illinois might have reflected on the river’s rise as another fact of life on the river. And for many, memories of 30 years ago might have come to mind, for no one had seen anything like the Mississippi River flood of 1993.

STATE GOVERNMENT
Lawmakers Call for Hearings into New Reports of Abuse and Neglect at Illinois Group Homes and Developmentally Disabled Facilities. State Senator Terri Bryant, State Representative Charlie Meier, and State Representative Dave Severin held a press conference on Wednesday where they issued new demands for joint hearings of the Illinois House and Senate Human Services and Behavioral and Mental Health Committees after news reports surfaced this week detailing horrific instances of abuse, neglect, sexual assault, and torture of individuals living in Illinois-run facilities serving developmentally disabled citizens.

Vehicles powered by batteries that are charged by electricity are becoming more and more popular, and many states are passing laws centered around certain percentages of vehicle sales that must include zero emissions. In California, where nearly 40 percent of the current electric vehicle fleet exists today, government mandates call for all new cars sold in 2035 and beyond must be zero emission vehicles. The pros and cons to this movement to EVs are many, and there’s no denying that electric vehicles will play a significant role in Illinois’ economy now and into the future.

Families maintain and grow a number of fruits and vegetables in their own gardens in Illinois, and in many cases they produce more food than what they can consume. Once the harvest is complete, instead of letting this excess food go to waste, families can consider donating their fresh food to a local food pantry.

There are a number of organizations in Illinois that accept food donations, including churches, local food pantries, larger food banks and the Salvation Army. Residents can use search engine tools online to look up donation centers near them, or consult your local health department. Ampleharvest.org is a non-profit organization that makes it easy for gardeners and farmers to find local food pantries to donate their surplus of fresh produce.

The Local Government Distributive Fund (LGDF) was enacted in Illinois following the passage of the state income tax in 1969. A key element of the agreement was the establishment of revenue sharing, with local governments receiving a percentage of the income tax revenues on an annual basis. From the establishment of the state income tax until January 2011, this percentage held firm at 10 percent.

Illinois is home to some of the largest freshwater fish in the world, and recently a commercial netting crew working to reduce invasive carp populations caught a giant 109-pound carp on the Illinois River near Morris, according to this Facebook post by the Illinois River Biological Station. A 90-pound carp was caught in the same area a day earlier.

Big fish are common on a number of Illinois rivers and lakes. A lake sturgeon is an extremely rare species, and it is also the largest fish species in the state. The largest fish ever captured in Illinois waters was a lake sturgeon from Lake Michigan in 1943. The fish weighed 310 pounds and was seven feet, 11 inches long. Some of the other largest fish on record include a 124-pound blue catfish that was caught in 2005 on the Mississippi River and a 78-pound flathead catfish caught on Carlyle Lake in 1995.

FENTANYL 

How much fentanyl crosses our southern border? One of the most dangerous and deadly drugs pervading our nation currently is fentanyl. The flow of this powerful drug coming into the United States from Mexico continues to skyrocket, with the Customs and Border Patrol seizing over 19,800 pounds of fentanyl crossing the southern border in FY23, compared to 7,600 pounds in FY22. Fentanyl seizures at ports of entry nationwide quadrupled from 2019-2021, added a report from CBS News. Mexican cartels often use the powerful drug to cheaply and deceptively boost the impact of other, less lethal drugs, such as cocaine or Adderall.

One of the most dangerous and deadly drugs pervading our nation currently is fentanyl. The flow of this powerful drug coming into the United States from Mexico continues to skyrocket, with the Customs and Border Patrol seizing over 19,800 pounds of fentanyl crossing the southern border in FY23, compared to 7,600 pounds in FY22. Fentanyl seizures at ports of entry nationwide quadrupled from 2019-2021, added a report from CBS News. Mexican cartels often use the powerful drug to cheaply and deceptively boost the impact of other, less lethal drugs, such as cocaine or Adderall.

One of the great aspects of life in Illinois are the unique County Fairs that are held from June through October all over the state. Find the full list of county fairs at FAIRS | IAAF - Illinois Association of Agricultural Fairs (illinoiscountyfairs.org). There are over 100 County Fairs in Illinois, all offering wholesome fun for the whole family. The vast majority of county fairs in Illinois are held in the summer months of June, July and August.

In our lifetime the 4th of July has meant cookouts, fireworks and travel but throughout Illinois’ history the July 4th date has had other significant historical importance. Here are a few July 4th dates beyond 1776 that impacted Illinois:

On July 4, 1778, George Rogers Clark, the highest-ranking Patriot military officer on the northwestern frontier during the Revolutionary War, reached Kaskaskia, seizing it from the British and bringing the colonies’ battle for independence to the western edge of British territory in North America. Villagers celebrated by ringing a bell that is known today as “the Liberty Bell of the West.” The bell, cast in La Rochelle, France in 1741 and sent to the French settlers in Kaskaskia by King Louis XV, is older than Philadelphia’s Liberty Bell.

It’s summertime in Illinois, and that means everyone has to be aware of the high heat and humidity that can be common for days and weeks at a time. And while we do all we can to keep ourselves and our families cool during these months, don’t forget about your four-legged friends as well.

Many dogs and cats spend significant time outdoors during the summer months, and it’s important to bring them inside as much as possible or make sure they have adequate access to shelter or cooler areas. And of course, make sure you don’t forget your pet’s safety if they are traveling in a car with you to the vet or just around town. Keeping your pet on a leash, securing your pet in the back seat, and being careful with your dogs not hanging too far out the window are important safety tips. Do not leave your vehicle unattended with your pet inside, and you must be mindful never to keep your pet locked inside a hot vehicle.