(SPRINGFIELD) The Illinois Supreme Court answered an appeals court question about whether the law regulating minimum wage has exclusions involving an employee being paid for prework activities. The ruling late last week was “no” in the case Johnson vs Amazon, which dealt with a warehouse worker being required to complete preshift COVID-19 screenings without any pay.
(SPRINGFIELD) Illinois has a legislative proposal to pump $5 million into alternative protein research at state universities, aiming to boost the plant-based and fermentation food-tech sector while making the state a hub for agricultural innovation, however not everyone is on board. In fact, many downstate lawmakers are voicing their concerns about the initiative, questioning whether taxpayer money would be better spent supporting traditional farmers directly.
(SPRINGFIELD) Illinois’ roads and bridges continue to lag behind most of the country, ranking 37th overall in the Reason Foundation’s Annual Highway Report. While Illinois dropped one spot from last year, it improved its capital & bridge spending ranking from 45th to 35th and its maintenance spending from 24th to 18th, but still trails most regional states in performance.
(SPRINGFIELD) U.S. Bank is honoring the Illinois Housing Development Authority as one of the nation’s top housing finance agencies. The honor came during the Authority’s latest meeting, highlighting the agency helping more than 5,000 Illinois households buy homes last year in 2025, nearly 90% of which were first-time home buyers.