FUNDING WITHHELD: Capitol News Recap | Saturday, Jan. 24
The same week the state announced it will withhold nearly $500 million in spending this year amid federal uncertainty, the Trump administration directed federal agencies to review all funding for the state and more than a dozen others.
The Associated Press reported President Donald Trump’s budget office directed the agencies to compile data on federal money sent to 14 mostly blue states with the stated goal to “reduce the improper and fraudulent use of those funds.” One week earlier, Trump said he intended to cut off federal funding to states with “sanctuary cities.”
A federal judge, meanwhile, ruled the Trump administration must keep funding child care subsidies in five Democratic-controlled states, at least for another two weeks, in an update to a story we covered two weeks ago.
The latest developments underscore the challenges state lawmakers will face this year as they begin their annual budgeting process, which kicks off with the governor’s budget address on Feb. 18.
Federal policies already enacted by Congress will likely blow a hole in the state’s Medicaid budget in the coming years. And cuts yet to be announced by the Trump administration could have a far more disastrous effect.
“We expect that most agencies will not see their funding requests fulfilled” in the upcoming fiscal year, Gov. JB Pritzker’s budgeting director said in a memo announcing the current-year funding reserves.
Ben Szalinski has a story breaking down what funds will be held in reserve below. Peter Hancock has a story on the state’s higher ed funding request.
In immigration news, a federal jury acquitted a man who was charged in a murder-for-hire plot involving Border Patrol Commander Gregory Bovino. It’s the first case related to Operation Midway Blitz that has gone to trial, although several others have fallen apart before getting there.
The Illinois Department of Human Rights, meanwhile, has launched an investigation into the owners and managers of an apartment building in Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood that was raided by immigration agents last year.
You can also scroll down to watch the first in a series of candidate interviews that we will be rolling out in the coming weeks focusing on two of the most competitive races for statewide office — the Democratic comptroller primary and GOP governor primary.
We sat down with Lake County Treasurer Holly Kim for the latest special edition of Capitol Cast. You can find it on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts, and like and subscribe so you won’t miss further interviews ahead of the March 17 primary.
In other news, we cover Commonwealth Edison’s latest grid plan filing, a push by rideshare drivers to unionize, a case of Legionnaire’s disease at a state-run developmental and some good news when it comes to highway shootings.
Illinois budget
Illinois to withhold nearly $500M in spending, citing federal uncertainty
Gov. JB Pritzker’s office plans to hold back nearly $500 million in spending for the current fiscal year as the state faces constant uncertainty over the economy and federal funding. The reserves make up less than 1% of the state’s budget and largely focus on cost savings such as forgoing hiring in certain agencies for the rest of the fiscal year, which ends June 30.
Illinois higher education board seeks 4.6% budget increase for next fiscal year
The board that governs higher education in Illinois voted Wednesday to request $2.7 billion in general revenue funding next year, an increase of $121.6 million, or 4.6%, over the amount lawmakers approved for the current fiscal year. But that request came at the same time Gov. JB Pritzker announced he was reducing this year’s higher education budget by $30.5 million.
Immigration enforcement
1st Operation Midway Blitz-related trial ends in acquittal after other cases fell apart
The case of Juan Espinoza Martinez, who has spent more than three months in jail since his Oct. 6 arrest, ended in acquittal. It marks the feds’ first trial attempt on charges stemming from Operation Midway Blitz.
In the fall, prosecutors saw a spate of cases fall apart, including a handful in which protesters were charged with impeding immigration agents from doing their jobs. Prosecutors in several cases asked judges to dismiss charges after litigation repeatedly revealed evidence contradicting the Department of Homeland Security’s claims about incidents between agents and members of the public.
State investigating landlord of Chicago apartments raided by immigration agents
Shortly after midnight on Sept. 30, 300 federal law enforcement agents, including some rappelling from Black Hawk helicopters, raided a Chicago apartment building in search of Venezuelan gang members. Many of the building’s residents were rounded up and detained, regardless of citizenship status, as their homes were ransacked by federal law enforcement.
The Illinois Department of Human Rights now alleges the building’s landlord tipped off the feds based on stereotypes.
Capitol Cast
Capitol News Illinois interviews comptroller candidate Holly Kim
In the first episode of a series focusing on contested races for major-party nominations in the March 17 primary elections, Capitol News Illinois reporters Ben Szalinski and Brenden Moore talk with Lake County Treasurer Holly Kim about her campaign for Illinois Comptroller. Find the podcast below or wherever you get you podcasts.
From the Statehouse
Illinois rideshare drivers rally for unionization bill
Rideshare drivers rallied at the Illinois State Capitol Wednesday to ask legislators to support their effort to unionize. The legislation, which had not been filed as of Wednesday afternoon, would grant rideshare drivers the right to unionize and to collectively bargain with transportation network companies like Uber and Lyft through that union.
As Illinois House returns to Springfield, Democrats focus on Trump
Illinois House Democrats kicked off their spring session this week in a mostly symbolic fashion, denouncing President Donald Trump’s policies in series of resolutions criticizing immigration raids, and cuts to health care and child care programs.
Energy grid
ComEd files $15.3 billion grid plan proposal addressing rising demand
Electric utility Commonwealth Edison has asked regulators to review a $15.3 billion, four-year grid plan that it says will help meet growing energy demand and protect infrastructure from severe weather events.
The filing is part of the state’s grid planning process laid out in the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, a landmark decarbonization bill that passed in 2021. It details the technology and infrastructure investments ComEd hopes to make from 2028 to 2031 to promote grid reliability.
State high court rejects challenge to Grain Belt Express transmission line
Developers of a proposed massive transmission line that would bring wind-generated electricity from western Kansas to Illinois and other Midwest states cleared a legal hurdle Friday when the Illinois Supreme Court rejected a challenge to their state permit.
The court made that ruling despite a decision by the Trump administration last summer to cancel a $4.9 billion federal loan guarantee that had previously been approved by the Biden administration to finance the first phase of construction of the power line across Kansas and Missouri.
State agencies
Illinois saw no fatal expressway shootings last year
For the first time in at least a decade, there were no fatal interstate highway shootings in Illinois last year, Illinois State Police announced. The number of these shootings dropped significantly for the fourth year in a row in 2025, police said. Expanded use of technology, including the deployment of automated license plate readers on highways, has been central to the decline.
Case of Legionnaires’ disease confirmed at state-operated developmental center
The Illinois Department of Public health has confirmed a case of Legionnaires’ disease at the state-run Shapiro Developmental Center in Kankakee, Capitol News Illinois has learned. In a joint statement from IDPH and the Illinois Department of Human Services said: “Immediate control measures were taken to restrict use of potential sources of exposure, and testing those sources is underway.”
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government. It is distributed to hundreds of newspapers, radio and TV stations statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, along with major contributions from the Illinois Broadcasters Foundation and Southern Illinois Editorial Association.
