Illinois Quick Hits: State opens $9.6M housing development
(The Center Square) – The Illinois Housing Development Authority has announced the opening of a $9.6 million development of 24 homes in Champaign County for people described as chronically unhoused and medically fragile.
State taxpayers provided $7 million in funding for Hope Village, and $2 million in grants were provided by Carle Health and the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign. IHDA said all residents are referred from the Champaign-Urbana Coordinated Entry System and must earn at or below 30% of the area median income.
Housing Authority of Champaign County vouchers subsidize the rent for all 24 homes.
Ex-governor, state rep push millionaire’s tax
Former Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn and state Rep. LaShawn Ford, D-Chicago, scheduled a press conference in Chicago on Wednesday afternoon to urge support for a 3% income tax surcharge on millionaires.
A ballot measure in Cook County asks if the state should enact the tax and provide 50% of the revenue generated for property tax relief and 50% for public education.
Ford’s constitutional amendment resolution, HJRCA 21, failed to clear the General Assembly last spring but could still be passed in the coming months to place the millionaire’s tax amendment on the general election ballot in 2028.
A press release from Quinn said Illinois has the highest property taxes on families and businesses in the nation.
Pritzker-supported PAC launches ads in Mississippi, Kanss
Ready for the Fight, the political action committee chaired by Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, has announced a $1 million ad buy in Mississippi’s U.S. Senate race and $500,000 worth of ads in Kansas’ U.S. Senate race.
In addition, the PAC said it is funding voter mobilization ads aimed at boosting Democrat voter turnout in Mississippi and South Carolina.
Earlier this month, Ready for the Fight PAC announced anti-MAGA Republican ads in Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee and New Mexico.
Feds announce election integrity plan
The United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois says it is prepared to enforce federal election laws along with federal law enforcement partners.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the office said it announced its plan in coordination with the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division to safeguard federal voting protections and receive complaints related to the voting process Tuesday.
The agency said federal laws protect against such crimes as impersonating voters, altering vote tallies, discrimination and intimidation at the polls, threats of violence directed at election officials and poll workers, and election fraud.
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