Illinois tax relief plan taking effect today offers small savings on gas and groceries – Chicago Tribune

Good morning, Chicago.

The $1.8 billion tax relief plan Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker has been touting for months in ads for his reelection campaign takes effect today, offering temporary breaks at the gas pump and grocery checkout along with one-time checks going out to many taxpayers between now and the Nov. 8 general election.

The Tribune’s Dan Petrella reports the relief measures are kicking in as part of the $46 billion state spending plan for the budget year that begins July 1, and are sure to remain a major talking point for Pritzker and other Democratic candidates heading into the fall as they seek to maintain their dominance in Springfield in a year of record-setting gas prices and high inflation.

Here’s a look at the tax breaks kicking in Friday.

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When Arcan Abu-hashish saw the black swastikas painted on his Jefferson Park smoke shop, he felt broken, he said, and scared. “I just wish he’d leave us alone,” Abu-hashish said about the vandal. “It’s very disappointing, to see someone carry hate.”

The swastikas were painted on the shop’s back door, boarded-up front door and street sign on Tuesday night. The white supremacist graffiti also appeared at another nearby shop owned by people of color, Abu-hashish said. As of Thursday, police have not made any arrests and said they are continuing to investigate.

The ranked choice voting item on Berwyn Township ballots Tuesday was just a concept, not a commitment, but it won a landslide victory that would make Franklin D. Roosevelt jealous.

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The electoral method lets voters rank candidates instead of selecting just one, which advocates say is fairer and more efficient than the traditional system, and 82% of township voters said yes to a nonbinding referendum that asked whether the state should allow it. The referendum was one of the first official endorsements for ranked choice voting in Illinois, but it might not be the last.

From small business owners to the operators of resorts and water parks with multimillion dollar budgets, pent-up demand from Chicago-area travelers who paused their vacation plans during the first two summers of the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to lead to a stellar summer for the tourism industry.

“With gas prices so high, what we’re seeing is an uptick in business this summer from families and couples who still want to vacation together, but realize they can drive a much shorter distance and still get a beautiful escape,” said Dave Sekeres, general manager at Lake Lawn Resort in Delavan, Wisconsin, and the chairman of Visit Lake Geneva.

Two-time All-Star guard Zach LaVine entered unrestricted free agency for the first time after helping the Bulls end a four-year playoff drought —and his first postseason appearance — last season. Although the Bulls front office has been optimistic about re-signing LaVine to a maximum deal, the two parties didn’t come to an agreement at the opening of free agency.

Although the Bulls didn’t close the LaVine deal on the first night of free agency, they made their first move to improve bench depth, finalizing a deal with Andre Drummond on a two-year, $6.6 million deal, according to ESPN.

This column is not about trashing Tom Hanks in “Elvis,” writes Michael Phillips.

“In ‘Elvis’ the visual conception of Col. Parker matches the accent, unfortunately,” Phillips says. “More LBJ than Parker, Hanks’ rent-a-jowls provoke a new round of questions regarding how much prosthetic makeup an actor can, or should, rely upon to convincingly portray a famous or semi-famous or even a wholly fictional person.”