More than 160 years later, the prophetic words of the most famous speech Abraham Lincoln delivered in Illinois remain well known.

“A house divided against itself cannot stand,” Lincoln told his audience on June 16, 1858. “I believe this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved – I do not expect the house to fall – but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other.”

GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Fall veto session set to begin in Springfield. The lawmakers of the Illinois House will gather on Monday, October 28, to consider new business and take action on the vetoes signed by the Governor. The members of the Illinois General Assembly are mandated by the Constitution to meet for two three-day annual veto sessions every year. The first veto session will be in the final week of October, and the second week of veto session will be in the second full week of November.

When Major League Baseball held its first World Series in 1903, the league was made up of 16 teams all concentrated in the northeastern quarter of the nation. Five cities were home to multiple teams, and over the years some of the greatest World Series moments came from cross-town series: the hapless St. Louis Browns’ one taste of success, winning the American League pennant in 1944 (before being swept by the Cardinals in the Series), the Brooklyn Dodgers finally breaking through and winning a title in 1955, Don Larsen’s perfect game for the Yankees the following year.

But MLB’s very first crosstown series happened right here in Illinois in 1906, when the White Sox bested the Cubs in six games.

JOBS
Illinois unemployment rate down. A net 4,800 new Illinois payroll jobs were created in September 2019. The jobless rate fell from 4.0% in August to 3.9% in September, signaling so-called “full employment.” These numbers are statewide numbers that do not take account of pockets of higher unemployment in specific regions within Illinois. 

No matter how hard he tried, the lanky young man could not get the small wooden boat unstuck. Finally conceding that there was no way to get his loaded barge any further down the river, Abraham Lincoln decided to offload his supplies and maybe lighten the load enough to get past the obstruction. Perhaps by asking one of the gathering crowd of spectators where he had become stuck, he would have learned that the settlement’s name was New Salem.

Just after he turned 21, Lincoln found himself alone. He had moved to central Illinois with his family, but after the brutal winter of 1830; which came to be known as the “Winter of the Deep Snow;” his parents had decided to abandon their new home near present-day Decatur and head back to Indiana. Abraham had no desire to go back to the Hoosier State, so he stayed behind.

ECONOMIC GROWTH
Lawmakers join Governor to celebrate bipartisan work to attract data center construction to Illinois. A bipartisan coalition of lawmakers joined Governor Pritzker in Chicago on Monday to discuss how new data center incentives will help bring new jobs to Illinois and grow the state economy. The ceremony, held at the Digital Reality Data Center near McCormick Place, was also attended by business leaders, labor leaders, trade groups and existing data center business representatives.

President Kennedy, Congressman Yates, and Governor Kerner
sit in the back of a convertible, Springfield, Illinois, 1962.
Photo from the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum.

In October 1962, an American U-2 reconnaissance plane photographed a series of Soviet missile bases being built in Cuba. Alerted to this serious threat, President John F. Kennedy and his defense and foreign policy advisers launched an effort to remove the missiles, either through diplomacy or by force. Global tensions soared to a point where any spark might have ignited World War III.

Four days into the crisis, that spark nearly happened; not in Cuba or Berlin or any other Cold War flashpoint, but in Springfield, Illinois.

ENVIRONMENT
Sterigenics to permanently shut down troubled Willowbrook plant. The plant, located in Chicago’s suburbs near Interstate 55, emitted ethylene oxide, a poisonous chemical used to sterilize medical equipment and other devices. The Willowbrook plant was in operation until 2018, during which time Sterigenics assured neighbors that the plant was “safe” – that it operated a sealed cycle that did not release the ethylene oxide as poisonous vapor into the Chicago-area atmosphere.

Manufacturing is one of Illinois’ largest economic engines, providing more than 592,000 jobs across the state and accounting for twelve percent of the Gross State Product.

This year, House Republicans led the charge to modernize and make permanent the Manufacturer’s Purchase Credit (MPC) to save Illinois manufacturers more than $40 million and help them thrive in the Land of Lincoln. Under the new law, manufacturers will not pay state or local sales tax on consumables used or consumed in the manufacturing process. These include things like fuel, solvents, coolants, oils, adhesives, hand tools, protective apparel, and fire and safety equipment.

In September of 1982 a series of random murders in Illinois shocked and horrified the nation. Over the course of two days, seven people in Cook and DuPage counties died after taking Tylenol capsules which had been tampered with and laced with cyanide. The crime led to a massive investigation, one of the largest product recalls in American history and drastic changes to the safety features on medicine bottles and other containers on store shelves across the country.

It is also a case that was never solved.