THE ILLINOIZE: Thursday Free for All...Overpaying corrections employees...Pritzker's budget hold back...Assault weapons ban
September 25, 2025
Good morning, Illinois.
Darren Bailey officially enters the Governor’s race today. He’s in Carterville at 10, Bloomington at 1, and Oak Brook at 5:45.
Just a note for paid subscribers: there may or may not be a newsletter tomorrow. I’m on solo dad duty tonight, so if it’s a relatively quiet day, we may skip tomorrow.
There’s nothing on Governor Pritzker’s public schedule today.
Let’s get to it.
YOUR THURSDAY FREE FOR ALL
(note: we’re not responsible for paywalls and restrictions from other news outlets, because good journalism isn’t free)
Illinois Corrections’ employees on paid leave still took overtime pay, state audit finds (Chicago Tribune)
Illinois Department of Corrections employees were allowed to work overtime on the same days they were on paid leave, raising concerns by the state’s chief auditor that prison employees were abusing overtime, according to an audit released Tuesday.
This marks at least the second time within a year that Mautino’s office has flagged a state agency under Gov. JB Pritzker’s purview for problems related to excessive overtime. In December, Mautino’s office disclosed eye-opening overtime issues from a previous two-year period among Illinois Department of Human Services employees as the agency saw an increase in misconduct allegations.
Pritzker on Tuesday said he hadn’t seen the new audit but sought to downplay its significance by noting state audits “are a year or two old when they come out” and then pivoted away from the findings to say “every industry” was having difficulty hiring, including state of Illinois departments.
“We’ve rectified that to a greater degree. We’ve hired quite a number of people. I think you’ve seen us announce that,” Pritzker said following an unrelated event in Joliet. “But, look, number one is we want our correctional officers to be safe. We want to have enough correctional officers at any given moment that are covering the prisons and all of their duties.”
Mautino’s office identified 150 instances in which the 16 workers used a full day of leave time, which is 7 1/2 hours, on the same day they also listed having worked overtime.
The audit didn’t show how much money was paid out in overtime to the 20 employees. But the report revealed that more than 2.9 million hours of overtime were paid to IDOC employees at a cost exceeding $151.7 million for fiscal year 2024, with Stateville reporting the highest amount of overtime of any state prison at about $21.8 million. Dixon reported the second-largest with close to $11 million in overtime.
“While there may be instances where this would be a needed solution to a difficult staff coverage scenario, it could be a sign of abuse of overtime and may be against Department policy,” Mautino’s office wrote.
The audit covers part of the period during which the Pritzker administration announced it would shutter Stateville and the Logan Correctional Center, a women’s prison near Lincoln, with plans to possibly rebuild the two prisons on the Stateville site. So far, Logan is still operating while people incarcerated at Stateville have largely been transferred to other facilities.
Mautino’s office said IDOC indicated employees take paid leave and work overtime on the same day due to staff shortages and “competing priorities for employees’ time.”
Pritzker directs agencies to limit spending in response to Trump’s economic policies (Capitol News Illinois)
Illinois agencies must identify spending reductions and create reserves in their budgets to prepare for an economic downturn, according to an executive order issued Tuesday by Gov. JB Pritzker.
Pritzker said the order is designed to combat federal policies by the Trump administration that are likely to increase costs on the state and put pressure on the economy. The latest order requires most state agencies to, within 30 days, “identify immediate spending reductions, including efficiencies that will result in reduced spending.”
Pritzker also directed the agencies to reserve 4% of fiscal year 2026 general fund appropriations. Lawmakers approved a $55.1 billion spending plan, meaning the order could halt up to $2.2 billion in approved spending in anticipation of state revenue declining.
Some state agencies, such as the State Board of Education and the state’s pension systems, are not subject to the order to identify spending cuts.
Pritzker also ordered agencies that find budget shortfalls to identify lines in their budgets that can be reduced. The order also directed agencies to pause nonessential purchases and travel.
“It’s a beginning of dealing with what we think could be a very severe challenge for the state budget this year,” Pritzker told reporters in Joliet. “Remember, we can only identify what we know. Here’s something that I’m very concerned about, which is that the budget is affected vastly by the economic situation of the country, and we’re already seeing that states like Iowa are in recession.”
Related: Pointing finger at Trump’s ‘disastrous policies,’ Pritzker directs state agencies to find 4% in budget cuts (Chicago Sun-Times)
Pritzker tells agencies to look for 4% budget cuts (Crain’s Chicago Business)
Gov. JB Pritzker asks state agencies to reserve 4% of funds while blasting Trump economic policies (Chicago Tribune)
Trump’s civil rights boss challenged by appeals court weighing Illinois assault weapons ban (Chicago Sun-Times)
The Trump Justice Department’s top civil rights official on Monday rejected a federal appeals court’s past decision to uphold Illinois’ assault weapons ban, arguing in court that the AR-15 and similar guns are “clearly” protected by the Second Amendment.
But Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon also found herself being questioned by Judge Frank Easterbrook, who’d joined the 2023 decision that’s helped keep the law in place. On Monday, he asked Dhillon whether a lower court judge’s fact-finding affected her view.
When she said it didn’t, Easterbrook retorted, “You don’t think the facts matter.”
“Facts, of course, do matter,” she told him.
Still, her appearance raised the profile of the hearing on the 27th floor of the Dirksen Federal Courthouse. The National Rifle Association posted a link to a live stream in an X social media post that included Dhillon’s photograph as the arguments got underway.
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, whose office has defended the law, also attended the hearing but did not participate.
It’s not clear how, or when, the panel will rule on the constitutionality of the law.
Related: President Donald Trump’s DOJ argues against gun ban signed by Gov. JB Pritzker after Highland Park shooting (Chicago Tribune)
TOP STORIES SO FAR THIS WEEK ON THEILLINOIZE.COM
POLITICAL POTPOURRI
Illinois Democrats want answers from DHS Secretary Noem about ICE operations (Chicago Sun-Times)
Durbin hopes to meet with ICE this week about Chicago-area raids (Capitol News Illinois)
State lawmaker Howard to become DuPage County judge (Daily Herald)
How Illinois’ privacy law is costing Chicago billions in data-center deals (Crain’s Chicago Business)
Illinois health officials recommend COVID-19 vaccine for all adults, contradicting feds (WBEZ)
Illinois, 20 other states win suit on disaster relief funding held up by Trump over ‘sanctuary’ laws (Chicago Sun-Times)
Protesters gather in Loop Monday to demand Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs divest state investments from Israel bonds (Chicago Tribune)
Ex-ComEd exec who testified against Madigan, others to be sentenced next year (Chicago Sun-Times)
Ex-GOP nominee for AG Tom DeVore temporarily loses law license over inappropriate client relationship (Capitol News Illinois)
Democratic congressional candidate mocked Charlie Kirk’s assassination (Daily Herald)
Second Republican announces primary challenge to Rep. Mary Miller in 15th (Bloomington Pantagraph)
Opinion: End solitary confinement in Illinois (Chicago Sun-Times)
Opinion: When veto session begins, energy legislation should vie for top billing (Shaw Media)
JOIN US