(SPRINGFIELD) Official voter turnout for the November 5th General Election in Illinois was the fourth lowest in the past 48 years. The State Board of Elections yesterday officially released the results, showing 70.4% of the state’s 8.1 million registered voters cast ballots. While Vice President Kamala Harris won Illinois’ 19 electoral votes with 54.4% of the state’s vote compared to former President Donald Trump’s 43.5%, Mr. Trump won the Electoral College and the national popular vote. Many downstate counties had some of their highest turnouts at the polls on November 5th, many near or in the 80% to 90% percentile.
(SPRINGFIELD) A recently created Illinois state agency has a new leader, pending State Senate confirmation. Governor J.B. Pritzker announced yesterday that Teressa Ramos will be the Secretary of the Illinois Department of Early Childhood. The new agency will take on early childhood programs from other state agencies within the next year, with an extra cost of $13 million this fiscal year. The annual salary will cost taxpayers nearly $215,000 a year.
(SPRINGFIELD) Anyone who believes they may be owed back wages are encouraged to work with the Workers Owed Wages online tool from the U.S. Department of Labor. The federal agency says it is eager to return more than $4.2 million in wages recovered to more than 5,500 Illinois workers. The tool can be accessed online at the agency’s WOW website.
(CHICAGO) As the Chicago Bears continue to push for public funds for a new lakefront stadium, the team says it has reached a deal with Arlington Heights on property taxes. The team bought the site that once housed the Arlington International Racecourse for nearly $200 million in 2023, looking to build a multi-billion dollar stadium. The Bears, however say they remain focused on investing over $2 billion to build a publicly owned stadium on Chicago’s lakefront and to move out of the NFL’s oldest stadium, Soldier’s Field.