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Reps. Weber, La Ha, and Reick Demand Accountability Following Repeated DCFS Failures. At a press conference this week, State Representatives Tom Weber, Nicole La Ha, and Steve Reick called for urgent reforms to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). Findings from the Illinois Auditor General’s July 2025 compliance report revealed 34 violations at DCFS, 29 of which were repeat failures. Also, the death of 18-year-old Mackenzi Felmlee in a foster home in Fairview Heights has raised serious concerns about accountability within the Department of Children and Family Services.
Rep. Weber, who chairs the House Republican working group on Sustaining & Protecting At-Risk Kids, said, “This isn’t about funding. It’s about a culture of mismanagement that continues to put children at risk.”
Rep. Nicole La Ha, a member of the House Adoption and Child Welfare Committee, emphasized the need for bipartisan urgency.
“This isn’t a partisan issue,” Rep. La Ha said. “DCFS placed Mackenzi in a home where she was abused for years. When concerns were raised, as they should have been, the Governor dismissed them as political talking points. That’s unacceptable and extremely concerning.”
HB 1797, introduced by Rep. Weber and co-sponsored by Rep. La Ha, updates the Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act to require that any report received by DCFS alleging child abuse or neglect, regardless of who the alleged perpetrator is, be immediately shared with the appropriate local law enforcement agency. Currently, only specific categories of alleged abusers prompt automatic notification to law enforcement.
Rep. Steve Reick, who has long called for systemic reform following the death of AJ Freund in 2019, reiterated the need for legislative oversight. He is championing two bills, HB 2497 and HB 2498, aimed at improving transparency and workload equity within the DCFS. HB 2497 directs DCFS to establish a comprehensive caseload tracking system that monitors the relationship between client case plans, departmental workflows, and staff responsibilities. The system must prioritize equal distribution of caseloads across personnel and trigger reorganization if disparities emerge. HB 2498 builds on this effort by requiring DCFS to submit an annual report to the General Assembly detailing active case files, staffing ratios, and recommendations for how appropriations can be structured to reduce individual burdens and improve case management.
All three lawmakers urged Governor JB Pritzker and DCFS Director Heidi Mueller to implement the recommendations outlined in the Auditor General’s report and to support legislation that prioritizes transparency, caseworker accountability, and child safety.
AGRICULTURE
Democrats Failed to Deliver for Farmers. Illinois farmers are no strangers to hard work, long days, and generational commitment. But when it comes to passing on the family farm, they’re facing a tax burden that threatens everything they’ve built. Despite bipartisan calls for reform, Democrats in Springfield have failed to act.
Illinois is one of just 16 states that still levy an estate tax, and its exemption threshold, currently set at $4 million, hasn’t been adjusted for inflation since 2013. That might sound like a lot, but for farmers whose value is tied up in land and equipment, it’s alarmingly easy to cross that line. The result? Families are forced to sell off acreage or assets just to pay the tax bill.
“Too many families receive a big tax bill from the state when a farm owner passes away. Grieving family members find themselves having to consider selling when there is a death in the family,” said Rep. Jason R. Bunting, a sixth-generation family farmer from Livingston County. “This tax burden hits family farms especially hard during the most difficult time in their lives, having just lost a loved one.”
In early 2025, lawmakers introduced House Bill 2677, a bipartisan proposal to raise the estate tax exemption for farms from $4 million to $6 million and tie it to inflation going forward. The bill had support on both sides of the aisle, the Illinois Farm Bureau, and farmers across the state, yet it was never given a hearing. Instead, it was quietly sent to a subcommittee and left to die in the House Rules Committee.
“This important legislation helps keep farms in the family that has worked them for generations,” Bunting said. “It increases the estate tax exemption so that the burden of these taxes will fall on fewer families.”
Meanwhile, Democrats floated a separate proposal to lower the exemption to just $2 million, a move that would have hit farmers even harder.
Even Governor JB Pritzker, who once called estate tax reform a “shared priority,” has remained silent on the issue. While some Democratic lawmakers did co-sponsor reform bills like the Family Farms Preservation Act (SB 2921 / HB 4600), leadership failed to prioritize them in budget negotiations.
The numbers speak for themselves: 96% of Illinois farms are family-owned, and nearly 70,000 families rely on agriculture as their livelihood. These families deserve action.
“Nearly one million people are employed in the food and fiber industry here in Illinois, and Illinois agriculture is critically important to the entire nation because we are among the nation’s leaders in producing soybeans, corn and hogs,” said Rep. Dan Swanson, a fifth-generation family farmer from Henry County. “Illinois agriculture products generate over $50 billion annually. In a district like mine agriculture is essential to the survival of each and every community. Even our urban areas need agriculture; not just for food, but because of the sheer number of jobs and economic activity tied to agriculture.”
Illinois farmers feed, fuel, and clothe our communities. It’s time Illinois Democrats stop treating them like a budget line item and start protecting the legacy they’ve worked so hard to build.
FIREARMS
Davidsmeyer Stands Up for Second Amendment Rights, Denounces Pritzker’s Failures on Public Safety. Illinois Governor JB Pritzker signed another unconstitutional gun restriction into law this week.
On Monday, Gov. Pritzker signed the so-called “Safe Gun Storage Act” into law. Senate Bill 8 imposes new mandates requiring gun owners to store firearms in locked containers when in the presence of minors, prohibited persons, or “at-risk” individuals. The bill is riddled with conflicting provisions and creates legal uncertainty for hunters, target shooters, and youth shooting clubs.
State Representative C.D. Davidsmeyer voted NO on Senate Bill 8, citing serious constitutional concerns for the rights of law-abiding gun owners.
“Senate Bill 8 is an overreaching and unconstitutional restriction on the Second Amendment rights of responsible Illinois citizens,” Davidsmeyer said. “This law creates excessive and confusing firearm storage mandates, subjects law-abiding gun owners to stiff civil penalties, and places them at risk of prosecution for simply exercising their right to self-defense. SB 8 will be challenged in the courts and should be overturned.”
Representative Davidsmeyer stood up for the Second Amendment rights of hunters and gun owners in opposition to SB 8, which narrowly passed the Illinois House at the end of the 2025 spring session.
“With limited debate, I was honored to speak on an issue that is near and dear to my heart: firearm safety, gun rights, and hunting,” Davidsmeyer said.
In a press release accompanying SB 8’s signing, Gov. Pritzker said: “Illinois has been one of the most aggressive states in the nation in combatting the epidemic of gun violence that has plagued our communities for far too long.”
“Let’s be perfectly clear about Gov. Pritzker’s record on public safety: the ‘No SAFE-T Act’ put violent criminals back on our streets; Pritzker’s Prisoner Review Board failed victims and released murderers from prison; Illinois’ sanctuary state policy makes it much more difficult to detain and deport criminal illegal aliens; and Pritzker’s gun ban has done nothing to reduce gun violence. JB Pritzker’s continued attacks on our constitutional rights have put criminals before victims and made our communities less safe,” Davidsmeyer concluded.
JOBS
Unemployment Down in All 12 Metro Areas for June. The unemployment rate decreased in all twelve metro areas for the year ending June 2025, according to data released last week by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the Illinois Department of Employment Security (DES). The St. Louis metro area unemployment rate reached a record low at 3.5% for June. Over-the-year, total nonfarm jobs increased in five metropolitan areas, leading to consecutive months with year-over-year growth: Champaign (5 consecutive months); Chicago (12 consecutive months); Springfield (20 consecutive months).
The metro areas which had the largest over-the-year percentage increases in total nonfarm jobs were the Champaign-Urbana MSA (+1.1%, +1,300), the Chicago Metro Division (+0.7%, +28,400), and the Rockford MSA (+0.5%, +700). The metro areas which posted the largest over-the-year percentage decreases in total nonfarm jobs were the Davenport-Moline-Rock Island MSA, IL Section (-1.5%, -1,300), the Bloomington MSA (-1.3%, -1,200), and the Kankakee MSA (-0.9%, -400). Industries that saw job growth in the majority of the twelve metro areas included: Private Education and Health Services (eleven areas); Government (nine areas), Mining and Construction (eight areas), and Transportation, Warehousing, and Utilities (seven areas).
The metro areas with the largest unemployment rate decreases were the Kankakee MSA (-1.4 points to 4.4%), the Lake County Metropolitan Division (-1.3 points to 3.6%), and the St. Louis MSA, IL Section (-1.3 points to 3.5%). The Chicago Metro Division reported a decrease of -1.2 points to 5.0%.
PENSIONS
Report Shows Illinois Government Pension Crisis Worst in U.S. Illinois has the nation’s worst public pension crisis. Nationwide analysis from the Equable Institute shows Illinois state pensions remain fiscally unstable and threaten retirees and taxpayers, underscoring the need for reform.
The Equable Institute’s annual report on the state of public pensions nationwide reaffirms that Illinois pensions continue to lag the nation in funding and are in desperate need of reform.
If the state fails to fix its pension issues, the budget will continue to be strained, people will continue leaving the state over high taxes and future pension benefits could be at risk. Preserving the cost savings of Tier 2, offering retirement choice to state employees and constitutional pension reform should all be implemented if Illinois is to have any hope of gaining fiscal stability.
Comparing pension debt to the state’s gross domestic product helps measure the state’s ability to pay based on the local tax base. By that measure, Illinois ranks as the nation’s worst: unfunded obligations equal 19.02% of state GDP, up from 18.52% a year ago. In other words, roughly one-fifth of everything produced in the state would be required just to erase the shortfall.
That’s driving up the burden on taxpayers, whose contributions to state pension systems have grown nearly 20-fold, from $614 million in fiscal year 1996 to $11.2 billion in fiscal year 2025. The heavy pension bill explains why Illinoisans pay the highest effective property tax rate in the country.
Illinois’ funded ratio, the share of promised benefits already covered by assets, is 50.6%, the second worst in the nation. The state finished the previous two years in last place, but this year New Jersey slipped below it with a ratio of 50.2%. Illinois is one of only four states that remains under the 60% threshold many analysts label as seriously troubled.
Read more on this report from the Illinois Policy Institute.
ILLINOIS STATE FAIR
Adventure Awaits at the Illinois State Fair! The 2025 Illinois State Fair is only one week away, and this year promises plenty of adventure and excitement at the state fairgrounds in Springfield.
This year’s event features a showcase of Illinois agriculture and products, as well as plenty of carnival rides, attractions, concerts and (of course) good food!
The event kicks off on Thursday August 7 with the annual State Fair Twilight Parade through Springfield and into the fairgrounds.
The fair is offering plenty of deals and discounts for visitors, on everything from parking and admission to food.
This year’s grandstand lineup features everyone from Snoop Dogg to Brad Paisley to Def Leppard and the Black Crowes at night, with horse racing and even auto racing during the day.
Every day at the fair has a theme, with special programs and discounted admission. Special days will celebrate agriculture, veterans, senior citizens, first responders and park districts just to name a few.
Read more about the Illinois State Fair at The Caucus Blog.
REMEMBERING “RYNO”
Ryne Sandberg, Cubs icon and Hall of Famer, passes away at 65. An iconic player who helped redefine the second base position and authored one of the great singular performances in the long, storied history of the Chicago Cubs, Ryne Sandberg died on Monday after battling cancer. He was 65 years old.
Sandberg left behind a legacy of a quiet superstar who may have been reluctant to find the spotlight, but demanded it with a blend of power, speed and defense that made him one of baseball’s all-time greats. He spent the majority of his brilliant 16-year career with the Cubs, earning induction into the Hall of Fame in 2005.
"Ryne Sandberg was a hero to a generation of Chicago Cubs fans and will be remembered as one of the all-time greats in nearly 150 years of this historic franchise,” said Cubs executive chairman Tom Ricketts on behalf of his family and the Cubs' organization. “His dedication to and respect for the game, along with his unrelenting integrity, grit, hustle, and competitive fire were hallmarks of his career.
"He was immensely proud of his teammates and his role as a global ambassador of the game of baseball, but most of all, he was proud of Margaret, his children and his role as husband, father and grandfather."
At the time of his retirement, Sandberg stood as Major League Baseball’s record-holder for home runs as a second baseman (277 of his 282 shots). He was a 10-time All-Star who collected nine Gold Glove Awards, seven Silver Slugger trophies and won the 1984 National League Most Valuable Player Award.
Read more on Ryne Sandberg’s life and Hall-of-Fame career at MLB.com.