It’s been an open secret for weeks that at least some members of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s Intergovernmental Affairs staff would be leaving after the Democratic National Convention, including its director, Sydney Holman. That happened last week. Holman quit, and two others were forced out of the IGA office, which liaisons with both the city council and the Illinois General Assembly.

Several stories and columns appeared in the national news media shortly before and during the recent Democratic National Convention about Vice President Kamala Harris’ emphasis on the concept of “freedom” in her speeches and messaging.

Illinois House Speaker Chris Welch has said he thinks he can flip somewhere between four and six Republican-held House districts to Democratic control, upping his super-majority to between 82 and 84 seats, from his current 78. Which Republican districts are flippable? I talked with a high-level source close to Speaker Welch’s caucus who pointed to the following races.

“I support Karina’s Law,” Governor JB Pritzker emphatically told me. It’s the strongest statement he’s made about the bill which stalled in the Senate last spring. The proposal would mandate that police remove firearms from a person who has been served with a domestic violence order of protection. But there still appear to be some Pritzker caveats.