Alexander County had the highest annual average unemployment rate in Illinois in 2025 at 6.8%, followed by Pulaski County at 6.0% and Macon County at 5.8%, according to the Illinois Department of Employment Security. Monroe County had the lowest rate at 3.0%. Statewide, Illinois’ annual average unemployment rate was 4.6%, compared with 4.3% nationally.

A county unemployment rate is not the same thing as the percentage of adults without jobs. IDES reports these figures through the Local Area Unemployment Statistics program, which estimates the labor force, employment, unemployment, and unemployment rate for counties and other local areas. The unemployment…
Continue Reading Illinois County Unemployment Rates 2025: Full Ranking from Highest to Lowest

Part of The Schedule III Cannabis Hub
If self-certification is the customer-side mechanism that makes the OTC Therapeutic Endorsement model work, the medical cannabis consultant program is the operator-side mechanism. Without a consultant, self-certification looks like a checkbox at checkout. With a consultant — trained, certified, available on site or via telehealth, integrated into transaction records — self-certification looks like a controlled medical-access system that DOJ, DEA, IRS, FinCEN, banks, and card networks can underwrite.
Washington State has been running a consultant program since 2014. It works. This post explains the five roles in a defensible consultant program, how the…
Continue Reading Medical Cannabis Consultant Program: 5 Critical Roles for the Schedule III Era

When Cook County reassesses a condominium building, individual unit owners often focus only on their own assessment notice.
That is understandable. But it may be too narrow.
For many condominium buildings, the better question is whether the condo board should review the assessments across the entire building and consider a group appeal.
Why Condo Buildings Are Different
Condominiums are often easier to compare than single-family homes because similar units may exist in the same building.
A building may have several units with the same floor plan, same square footage, same number of bedrooms and bathrooms, same tier, similar views, and…
Continue Reading Cook County Condo Assessment Appeals: Should Your Condo Board File as a Group?

A teacher in Chicago received a major honor this past April – and the celebration was one to remember.  Ms. Bertha Velazquez of Chicago Public School’s Mary Lyon School was awarded the “Teacher of the Month” for April 2026 for her contributions for nearly three decades to her students.  Those individuals showed their appreciation for Velazquez by throwing a major celebration for the award. A number of students and faculty gathered on the second floor of the school for the official presentation ceremony featuring Ankin Law Attorney Derek Lax. From loud cheers to confetti to even the choir singing the…
Continue Reading A Great Celebration for A Chicago ‘teacher of The Month’

Part of The Schedule III Cannabis Hub
The S-1, PPM, and offering-memorandum risk factors that every cannabis fund and operator has been recycling since 2018 just got obsolete on a Wednesday. Cannabis was Schedule I when the language was written. Cannabis is — for state-medical-licensed activity — Schedule III now. The risk factors that started “Marijuana is a Schedule I controlled substance under federal law” need rewriting, and they need rewriting before your next data room goes out, your next PPM update closes, or your S-1 amendment gets reviewed by SEC staff.
This post is the Schedule III cannabis investor…
Continue Reading Schedule III Cannabis Investor Disclosure: 8 Critical Risk Factor Updates

Illinois’ first-in-the-nation Interchange Fee Prohibition Act has become more than a dispute over credit card “swipe fees.” It has since evolved into a test of state authority, federal banking preemption, payment-card infrastructure, and the practical limits of regulating national payment systems one state at a time.

The Illinois Interchange Fee Prohibition Act or IFPA, is scheduled to take effect on July 1, 2026. In general terms, the Act prohibits an interchange fee from being charged or received on the portion of a credit or debit card transaction attributable to taxes or gratuities. That means, for example, that if a customer…
Continue Reading Illinois Swipe Fee Law Update: Federal Agency Action Adds Uncertainty Before July 1

You can avoid probate in Illinois by making sure your assets have a clear way to pass directly to your beneficiaries without going through the court system. There are some common tools for doing this, such as a revocable living trust and beneficiary designations on financial accounts. An estate plan that uses these tools correctly can allow everything you own to pass to your loved ones quickly, privately, and without the time and expense of probate court. If you want to build that kind of plan in 2026, a DuPage County estate planning lawyer can help you put it together…
Continue Reading How Do You Build an Estate Plan That Will Avoid Probate in Illinois?

Speeding becomes a criminal offense in Illinois when it qualifies as aggravated speeding, which generally means exceeding the speed limit by 26 miles per hour or more. At that point, the charge is no longer a simple traffic ticket. It becomes aggravated speeding, which is a misdemeanor criminal offense that goes on your permanent criminal record if you are convicted. If you are facing an aggravated speeding charge in 2026, our Kane County, IL aggravated speeding defense lawyer can help you challenge the charge against you.
What Is the Difference Between a Traffic Ticket and a Criminal Speeding Charge in…
Continue Reading When Does Speeding Become a Criminal Offense in Illinois?

This week’s blog entry is a case that has been previously blogged on by others in the blogosphere. Robin Shea in her blog blogged on our case of the week, here. However, as readers know, there are occasions where I will blog on a case that someone else has talked about first when I think I can offer my own perspective. This week’s blog entry is such a case. The case of the week is Carney v. Emory University, an unpublished decision from the 11th Circuit decided on April 15, 2026, here. By way of full disclosure, I…
Continue Reading What’s in a Name Matters: Is it Coaching or is it Impermissible Medical Exams/Disability Related Inquiries

Part of The Schedule III Cannabis Hub
If you are reading this, you are either (a) advising a state on what to do post-DOJ Final Order, (b) deciding whether to invest in operators in a state, or (c) running a multi-state cannabis operator deciding which state license is suddenly worth the most. All three need the same answer: which state cannabis programs map cleanly into the federal Schedule III channel, and which don’t?
The state cannabis Schedule III conversion answer is different in adult-use states, medical-only states, low-THC states, and prohibition states. This post is the playbook for all four.
Continue Reading State Cannabis Schedule III Conversion: Playbooks for All 4 State Types

What the Martin v. Layman Decision Adds

Illinois’ Fourth District Appellate Court’s decision in Martin v. Layman[1] continues a line of Illinois cases that closely examine whether hospital consent forms effectively disclaim apparent agency in emergency care settings. Relying in part on the First District’s reasoning in Brayboy v. Advocate Health & Hospitals Corp.,[2] the court held that the existence of a signed consent form did not resolve the issue as a matter of law when questions remained regarding the language and structure of the form, the patient’s neurological condition, the timing of the disclosure, and whether…
Continue Reading Beyond the Signature: Context, Timing, and Continued Judicial Scrutiny of Hospital Consent Forms in Apparent Agency Claims

Part of The Schedule III Cannabis Hub
Here is the legal sleight of hand that nobody is doing on purpose but everybody is doing accidentally. Adults across every adult-use state are using cannabis for pain, sleep, anxiety, recovery, opioid reduction, and stress management. They are doing it in front of a budtender at a recreational dispensary. They could write down “I am using this for sleep” on a card and walk out with the same product that they are walking out with anyway. They just don’t, because the state didn’t ask. The state didn’t ask because the medical/adult-use distinction in…
Continue Reading Adult Self-Certification Cannabis: 7 Critical Fields for State Medical Recognition

Accident News | Evanston, Illinois

A 57-year-old man tragically died after falling from a rooftop at Northwestern University in Evanston on Thursday afternoon, according to city officials.

Authorities said the incident occurred at approximately 3:26 p.m. at the Allen Center, located at 2169 Campus Drive. The man was reportedly operating equipment on the roof when he fell nearly four stories to the ground. Emergency responders arrived at the scene, but he was pronounced dead on-site.

Officials have not yet released the identity of the victim. The Evanston Police Department is actively investigating the circumstances surrounding the fall in coordination with…
Continue Reading Man Dies After Falling Off Roof at Northwestern University Construction Site, Officials Say

In a recent decision, the Illinois Appellate Court upheld a fire protection district’s (District) denial of certain supplemental benefits to a disabled firefighter who was receiving benefits under the Public Safety Employee Benefits Act (PSEBA). Carter v. Fox Lake Fire Protection District.A firefighter was injured in the line of duty and applied for and received a duty disability pension. The firefighter was also eligible for, and received, benefits under PSEBA, which provides health insurance benefits to public safety officers who suffer a catastrophic injury in the line of duty. For six years, the District provided the disabled firefighter with…
Continue Reading Court Finds Health Reimbursement Benefits Not Covered by PSEBA

Seasonal Specialties, LLC v. Holiday Designs, LLC, No. 1:23-cv-14008 (N.D. Ill. Dec. 22, 2025) (Kness, J.).Judge Kness ruled on claim construction in a patent dispute over pre-lit Christmas tree lighting making clear the Court’s preference for plain and ordinary meaning where the intrinsic record resolved the parties’ disagreements without requiring any constructions. Applying Phillips and O2 Micro, the Court held no further construction was necessary for six disputed terms across two patents, including “an illumination element,” “a first switching circuit … a second switching circuit,” and “special lighting effect.” The court also rejected an indefiniteness challenge to “blinking”…
Continue Reading Court Finds That No Claim Term Requires Construction Beyond Plain & Ordinary Meaning

Do You Need an Operating Agreement in Illinois? What Business Owners Should Know is a common question for entrepreneurs forming a limited liability company. While Illinois law does not require an LLC to have a written operating agreement, having one in place can play an important role in clarifying expectations, documenting how the business will operate, and reducing the risk of disputes as the company grows.
What Is an Operating Agreement
An operating agreement is a legal document that outlines how an LLC will be owned, managed, and operated. It typically addresses ownership percentages, management structure, voting rights, and how…
Continue Reading Do You Need an Operating Agreement in Illinois? What Business Owners Should Know