AFFORDABILITY
Tollway Board Approves Largest Toll Hike in Illinois History
Chicago-area motorists will soon be paying an additional $1 billion a year to the Illinois Toll Highway Authority (ITHA), operator of Illinois toll roads. The massive fee hike, which will be supplemented by further inflationary escalator increases, is meant to support a spending program of $26.5 billion over a 15-year period. The new toll road money will go into funds designated to pay interest on the bonds to be sold to carry out the program.
The increases take effect Jan. 1.
The measure will increase tolls by about 45 cents each for passengers to an average of $1.24 per toll, costing a commuter who passes through two tolls a day for 50 weeks $225 more in 2027. Commercial vehicle tolls will increase 30%, which could increase the price of consumer goods transported through Northern Illinois.
Worse, starting in 2029, automatic inflation-linked increases would be imposed every two years without additional board approval. The Illinois Policy Institute projects that passenger toll prices will triple from current levels by 2055.
The proposal was approved 8-0 to fund a new $26.5 billion, 15-year capital plan, but the automatic toll hikes will continue beyond the timeline of the proposed projects.
The authority to increase toll rates was approved by the Democratic majority in the Illinois General Assembly in the fall 2025 veto session. The increase, which will be the largest single increase in Illinois Toll Highway Authority history, was authorized as part of the Chicago Mass Transit Bailout package.
CORRUPTION/ETHICS
Editorial: Illinois has rules against harassment. The Harry Benton scandal shows the system still isn’t working.
In Springfield, there’s a time-honored way to deal with a crisis and give the impression that lawmakers are doing something without their actually having to do anything at all.
Form a working group.
That way, you can buy some time until (hopefully) everyone moves on.
Last year, House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch convened working groups on property taxes and pensions. Not much actually changed.
Welch’s most recent iteration is a new “culture and accountability” working group. And the wheels are already falling off.
Read the rest of the Chicago Tribune’s editorial.
CHICAGO BEARS
Time could be running out on Illinois as a host for the Chicago Bears
Prospects appeared bleak in mid-August for Illinois to remain the host state of the Chicago Bears. Although the Bears have played in Chicago for more than 100 years, team President Kevin Warren has confirmed that the franchise is continuing and intensifying its active negotiations process with the state of Indiana. Indiana’s stadium development venture, the newly created Northwest Indiana Stadium Authority, is taking the lead role as Indianapolis’ partner in these talks with the Chicago Bears.
In sharp contrast with Indiana, Illinois is conducting what the Bears front office calls “minimal” outreach to the team. The team has stated that their asks from Illinois are property tax certainty and infrastructure certainty. The Illinois General Assembly has not enacted any legislation in response to this request. Attempts in the closing days of the Illinois legislature’s 2026 spring session went nowhere, and lawmakers left for the summer without taking action on the Bears issue.
Two Illinois House Republicans, Dan Ugaste and Martin McLaughlin, have filed bills to deal with the property tax and infrastructure needs of the Chicago Bears. House Bill 5802 (Ugaste) provides property tax certainty to developers of sited-in-Illinois megaprojects, with protections for other local taxpayers and property tax reform for all property taxpayers statewide. House Bill 5797 (McLaughlin) provides property tax standing and infrastructure standing to a major developer in Illinois and provides that the agreement also provides a broader public benefit to the region in which the project is located. Even though these measures contain provisions that meet the negotiation request of the Chicago Bears, the majority Democrats have not moved forward to consider either bill.
EDUCATION
Illinois classroom cellphone ban takes effect
As the 2026-2027 school year begins, Illinois has joined the states that have banned the use of cellphones in classrooms. The bans or sharp restrictions, which apply to most students in most classrooms, are meant to completely cut off students from using their phones to play games or chat with friends during instructional times. Narrow exemptions have been included in the new law for students who, for health reasons, must have their phones with them at all times, but they are forbidden from using them with the exception of certain necessary reasons.
The new law, which applies at different levels of intensity to all public elementary schools and public high schools in Illinois, is being imposed through the local school boards of Illinois. The school boards have been asked to adopt policies that will ban students from taking out or using cellphones during instructional time within the 2026-2027 school year. Now a statewide policy, bans of this type have already been locally adopted by many school boards and individual schools before August 2026.
The new State law does not apply to Illinois private schools, but most of these schools have already banned cellphone use by students in class. In some cases, some Illinois private schools never allowed the devices into their schools in the first place.
GAMING
With Hawthorne’s sale, live horse racing ends in greater Chicago
Under orders from a federal bankruptcy court, the owners of Hawthorne, the West Cook County horse racetrack, have sold the track and its real estate footprint to “Allimac 223 LLC.” The new Delaware-based owner is a limited-liability private equity firm that is expected to pursue non-horse racing redevelopment opportunities. Hawthorne was the final track to conduct live horse racing in greater Chicago, but under the $90 million bankruptcy sale, the final Hawthorne sprint between live horses took place on July 19, 2026.
Adjacent properties in Cicero, Stickney, and other localities close to Chicago’s Midway Airport have enjoyed strong demand for warehouse construction and light industry, with growing support from the booming data center marketplace. The compact, 119-acre Hawthorne real estate parcel that changed hands in the August 10, 2026, bankruptcy sale is suited for a redevelopment of this type. The final bankruptcy sale led to the direct loss of 300 jobs at the track itself, as well as eviction notices for the 500 horses and their personnel in the track’s stables. The track personnel and animals must leave no later than Monday, August 31.
The Chicago Tribune last week published a look at the former thoroughbred horse racing industry of the Chicago area, including thoroughbred racing at now-vanished tracks Arlington and Sportsmen’s Park, and harness racing at Balmoral and Maywood.
JOBS
Illinois’ unemployment rate down in July
The Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) announced Thursday that the unemployment rate was 4.9 percent in July, down -0.2 percentage point from June, and up +0.6 percentage point from the same month, one year ago, based on data provided by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The revised June unemployment rate was 5.1 percent.
Total nonfarm payrolls saw a fifth consecutive over-the-month increase in July, up +11,700 (+0.2%) to 6,176,400, a record high. The June monthly change in payrolls was revised from the preliminary report, from +1,500 to +1,800. The July payroll jobs estimate and unemployment rate reflect activity for the week including the 12th.
The industry sectors with the largest monthly payroll jobs increases included: Private Education and Health Services (+6,200), Trade, Transportation and Utilities (+3,800), and Professional and Business Services (+3,700). The sectors with over-the-month jobs decreases included: Leisure and Hospitality (-3,800), Financial Activities (-2,200), and Information (-600).
Compared to a year ago, total nonfarm payroll jobs were up +11,900 jobs. The industry groups with the largest jobs increases included: Private Education and Health Services (+13,000), Construction (+12,700) and Government (+6,100). The industry groups with the largest jobs decreases included: Financial Activities (-14,500), Trade, Transportation and Utilities (-4,500), and Professional and Business Services (-3,600). In July, total nonfarm payrolls were up +0.2% over-the-year in Illinois and up +0.2% in the nation. Still, Illinois remains behind the unemployment rate at the national level of 4.1%.