Scott T. Holland

These questions don’t have easy answers, but asking them helps move our state forward.

The Department of Health and Human Services says investments in these centers have helped reduce homelessness, substance abuse and reliance on emergency rooms and hospitalization, all of which ease tension on the social safety net.

Quite a bit of administering a government happens between seemingly interminable campaign cycles, and a key to understanding the next election is observing what incumbents do when they’re not on the stump.

Pro soccer doesn’t maintain nearly the same stature in the civic pride firmament as other major sports, but that could change with a Fire franchise owned and operated by a local guy.

Another takeaway – regardless of whether a jury decides Madigan was corrupt – is the political importance of leading without becoming poisonous.

No idea should be off the table. Think beyond trains and large fixed-route buses to paratransit and potentially even subsidized taxi service. Explore how community planning and civil engineering might evolve to increase the efficiency of public transportation.

Sarah Boettcher is a junior at Naperville North High School. She is responsible for KnowYourStateJudges.org, a new website that helps voters outside of Cook County cast informed ballots in judicial elections.

“Long” John Wentworth, who died this day in 1888, served six terms in Congress representing Chicago – first as a Democrat, then a Republican – and among a legendary career played a role in formally ending the border dispute with Wisconsin.

If you ever need to feel ancient, strongly consider spending three hours with high school sophomores.

As revenue gambits go, relying on legal wagering to bolster state coffers has been a macro success. But that big picture is composed of micro markets with varying qualities of future forecasts.

Japanese employers have more than 56,000 Illinoisans working across 1,600 locations under 450 corporate subsidiaries.

Information doesn’t have to be sensational to be interesting.

After a long wait, Illinoisans are finally about to see the actual criminal trial of former House Speaker Michael Madigan.

The picture painted depicts an agency unable to fully meet its statutory purpose and unpersuaded by falling short.

We’re dealing with a nationwide challenge, given both the federal government’s role in student lending and the propensity of high school graduates to want to move away from home.

Known as CBRAP, the Court-Based Rental Assistance Program aims to serve tenants at risk of eviction by covering up to $15,000 in past-due rent, $500 for court expenses and up to two months of future rent.

Six weeks from today the voting will be officially over. In Illinois, that process begins tomorrow, as Sept. 26 is the first day for mail-in ballots to be sent as well as the beginning of in-person early voting.

Threats have very real consequences. They waste public resources and stoke anxiety and fear, perhaps inciting downstream concerns. However if someone is found incapable of physical harm, is the isolation of prison going to cure them or ultimately better society?

Elected office isn’t always thankless. General Assembly work pays well! But campaigning and serving aren’t free of downsides. Even drawbacks less significant than death threats can be discouraging. Getting to 354 may be a pipe dream.

Party officials can work to give all their voters better choices, but that effort is meaningful only if it gets voters to the polls.

I don’t think the average person will push for reform until they understand what problems we’re facing and what solutions are practical. We’re a long way from even that baseline.

We can’t make policy choices based only on what we personally encounter. But we also know macro data is only a starting point toward functional government. Balance and perspective are essential.

Last month I wrote fondly about Missouri voters placing three meaningful petition initiatives on the November general election ballot in stark contrast to Illinois, where Democratic lawmakers this spring quickly crowded the ballot with toothless advisory questions.

No health care is free, and we have to pay professional providers. Yet prevention remains a bargain too often overlooked.

We all might like government more if it weren’t populated with so many politicians.

A U.S. District judge ruled that Illinois cannot end federal oversight of disability services, highlighting the need for an informed financial estimate to address the severe conditions in developmental centers and the shortage of community-based care options.

U.S. District Court Judge Iain Johnston’s opinion on gun laws offers a textbook example of the way various leaves on government branches subjectively decide where to place a boundary.

Big plans require big money. Yet inaction and reticence have their own inescapable costs.

No one is alive who remembers the way elevators transformed architecture, but we all now live with the consequences of the working world making obsolete billions of square feet that are otherwise in literal good standing.

People bound by HOA covenants still have to navigate the fine lines between personal intentions and neighbors’ sensibilities, albeit with a bit more legislative clarity.

Trial lawyers spend remarkable effort arguing technicalities because that might help avoid getting to the actual discussion of who did what and why.

On Friday, Illinois Supreme Court and Board of Elections action ensured Democrats’ attempt to change ballot access rules during an election cycle won’t actually take effect in 2024.

When the panel heard arguments on the case a few months ago, I noted it was Scudder who observed that many other states allow counting of mail-in ballots after Election Day

The power-driven nature of national political parties contrasts with the more practical, community-focused work of local governments, highlighting the importance of civic engagement in local elections.

When you swipe your credit card – at the gas station, the grocery store, the fast food joint – do you really know where all the money goes?

The struggle between taxing bodies is an eternal concern. Illinois’ last decade has offered textbook examples.

Gov. JB Pritzker releases Executive Order 2024-02: “To Establish Multi-Sector Plan For Aging.” The order calls for the Department on Aging to hire a chief planning officer, and that person will create a 10-year strategy.

The Department of Corrections is long past overdue for a complete and total reinvention. Illinois could lead the country in protecting society while rehabilitating criminals and allowing them to provide for their families and perhaps even their own confinement.

It’s also easy to understand the security concerns of putting even more information into the cyberverse.

Classes begin at Western Illinois University next Monday with the school in a financial free fall.

After asking readers to share must-eat food stops throughout Illinois in 2021, I started focusing on cuisine at the State Fair, running through Aug. 18. StateFair.Illinois.gov lists 131 individual food stands.

Reliably providing clean water seems like the kind of thing folks might expect from government, but for-profit utilities are common in Illinois with the state getting involved through regulations.

Even if you’re not still paying attention to former Gov. Pat Quinn, chances are good you’ll eventually hear about the Illinois Property Tax Relief Amendment Referendum.

Here's another installment of Election Math, a quick rundown of Illinois General Assembly races to project the likeliness of meaningful change.

In May, Democrats abused the legislative process to ram through Senate Bill 2412. That bill’s provision banned political parties from appointing candidates to a general election ballot after sitting out a primary.

The Federal Trade Commission is conducting an antitrust probe of pharmacy benefit managers, the for-profit companies that negotiate drug purchase rules and prices with pharmacies and insurers.

Local control. Economic development. Are they compatible? I posed that question in the context of the power to choose locations for wind and solar farms in a January 2023 column, and nearly 18 months later the answer remains inconclusive.

There are two primary challenges to legislative plans to regulate homeschooling in Illinois.

When you care for someone with a disability or work in any capacity of providing service to that community, it’s impossible to become anything but intimately familiar with the way the state and federal government manage agencies.

“We can’t allow this violence to be normalized.” Cortland Town Trustee Randi Olson included that quote in her statement about a threat made against her political opponent, state Rep. Jeff Keicher, R-Sycamore.