It’s been a big year in every aspect of society, as the second Trump administration has thrown away the playbook on how to operate the bureaucracy. From foreign policy to family policy, America is forging a new path in how we deal with adversaries and strengthen our country.
In tonight’s radio show, I recap some of the top stories from the national, state, and local levels with Amy Jacobsen and discuss top Illinois corruption stories with The Edgar County Watchdogs.
The top national story by far is the murder of Charlie Kirk. His political assassination, witnessed in person by thousands and viewed online by millions, was the result of over a decade of Leftists getting away with their intolerant behavior towards conservatives. Those in charge of our college campuses and high school classrooms have let conservatives be bullied by classmates, in lunch rooms, locker rooms, and online. How many stories have we read of conservatives being harassed for simply giving a speech or walking on campus? Riley Gaines; de-transitioner, Chloe Cole; and Jewish students headed to class – all have experienced harassment while administrators looked away. Even after Charlie’s death, the harassment continues. In last week’s newsletter, we highlighted the threat against the Olivet Nazarene University TPUSA chapter president and the kids at Carl Sandburg High School in Orland Park who were setting up a high school TPUSA organization.
Charlie’s political assassination is both the top story of 2025 and a story that has long-term ramifications that the mainstream media is ignoring.
Other Top National & World Stories In No Particular Order
2. The Border is Closed. From thousands daily climbing out to the banks of the Rio Grande and being flown in on the taxpayers’ dime, where they were released to travel freely in the U.S., to a complete shutdown.
3. Inflation is under three percent.
4. The murder of Iryna Zarutska on a Charlotte light rail car.
5. The documents released proving the Russian Collusion Hoax was created by Obama as he demanded a new intelligence report in December before leaving office, which led to the lie that Russia colluded with the 2016 Trump campaign, leading to the entire setup for an investigation.
We now know that Obama directed the investigation happen and that the entire Mar-a-Lago raid of Trump’s personal residence was to find the document that proved such.
6. Epstein Files Released.
7. Pope Leo XIV was elected as the first American Pope.
8. Iran Strike.
9. Somali Fraud in Minneapolis.
10. As with COVID hysteria, people now feel free to pushback against the false premises and hysteria around climate change as an existential threat to humanity and the transgender lies. The debunking of both is happening daily, but in Illinois, just like with COVID, the politicians will not let go of their green energy fantasies or their belief that a person can change their sex.
Top Illinois Stories of 2025 In No Particular Order Include
1. Former Speaker of the House Michael Madigan was convicted, sentenced, and sent to jail for over seven years. The longest-serving Speaker in the country, a title he was so proud of that he handed out engraved clocks to his fellow Democrats when they voted to make him such in 2017, spent Christmas behind bars. Interestingly, the Democrat is requesting a pardon from Trump, whom he likely despises but respects. The only thing Madigan ever cared about was political power and the personal benefits he could gain from it, financially or to feed his ego. Right now, he recognizes that the power to spring him from jail rests in Donald Trump. It’s an interesting turn to see Madigan make such a request.
2. ICE Immigration enforcement in IL.
3. Woman burned on CTA leads to outrage over electronic monitoring.
4. IL agencies admit energy deficit and higher costs.
5. IL passes a slew of radical legislation: mental health evals in elementary school, assisted suicide, the largest budget (AGAIN) in state history, which includes a massive tax increase.
6. New transit agency replaces the RTA and includes a bailout of the CTA, Metra, and PACE. Illinoisans will be paying higher taxes for years to feed it all.
7. Chicago Bears clinch playoff spot and threaten to leave the state if they don’t get funding for a new stadium.
8. Katie Abraham, Chloe Polzin, and Michael and Gail Clayton were killed by illegal aliens who were allegedly driving drunk.
9. Chicago residents burn property tax bills after seeing double-digit percentage increases.
10. The City of Harvey passes a resolution declaring the city insolvent and asks for state help.
The media is often referred to as the Fourth Estate, a term that emerged from the European classification of society into the clergy, nobility, and commoners, with the fourth estate being the media as watchdogs and political influencers. Fortunately, in the modern age, legacy media operations are challenged daily in the digital era by independent journalists who are reporting from different viewpoints and using video to document what is really happening. Legacy outlets still have reach, however, and as such influence.
So, in addition to recapping the top stories from 2025, it’s also important to note the most ignored stories of the year.
These are stories that were reported on briefly but then dropped from the new cycle with no follow-up or in-depth investigation.
Additional Top Stories From 2025 That Need More Attention:
1. The murder of Katie Abraham by an illegal alien. Katie lost her life, along with Chloe Polzin, when a previously deported illegal alien residing in Illinois plowed into the back of the car Katie was traveling in at 80 miles per hour. The car Katie was in was stopped at a stoplight. The illegal who fled on foot was eventually caught near the Texas border, nearly escaping justice.
Fox News reported that in addition to killing Katie and Chloe, the illegal, Julio Cucul Bol, a Guatemalan national, was also
“…indicted by a grand jury on charges of possessing a false permanent resident card, possessing a false Social Security card, false use of a passport and making a false statement on a bank application. Bol faces a potential maximum penalty of up to 10 years’ imprisonment, a $250,000 fine and up to three years of supervised release for the charges related to possession of false documents. Additionally, the charge related to the bank application carries a maximum penalty of up to 30 years in prison, a $1M fine and up to five years of supervised release.”
Joe and Michelle Abraham have spoken out about the harm of illegal immigration and the need for accountability. They have been completely ignored by Governor Pritzker. When invited to testify before Congress on the impact of illegal immigration, Gov. Pritzker was just ten feet away and did not recognize Joe or offer any words of sympathy.
Their state senator, Laura Fine, who is running for Congress in the 9th district, passed their requests for answers to important public policy questions on to a Republican state senator. That tells you all you need to know about Fine.
The Abrahams rightly want to know how the illegal was able to get a driver’s license and work permit, what taxpayer support he received, and whether anyone in the system knew he had previously been deported.
Just before Christmas, Joe Abraham penned an op-ed for The Blaze, “Christmas without Katie — and without accountability.“
In the article, Joe writes. “Forgiveness without accountability is not compassion — it is negligence.” Take a moment today and read Joe’s thoughts. No one should have their government turn its back on its citizens the way Joe Biden did, and the way Gov. Pritzker is still doing.
2. The City of Harvey is another story ignored by the media – it’s passing a resolution stating it is insolvent and requires financial oversight by the state. This resolution should have been passed seven years ago when Ted Dabrowski and I stood with one of their aldermen, who said the city was bankrupt back then. The financial distress the City of Harvey is in is not unique to them. Many other towns are in similar situations. Danville, Peoria, and others have resorted to special fees on utility bills to fund pension payments. The Chicago media would prefer to do recurring news stories of illegals afraid to send their children to school or go to work due to immigration raids, than do in-depth and recurring stories on the harm decades of bloated government pensions have done to the property owners who face escalating taxes at the state and local level.
3. The Somali Fraud – The DOGE effort under Elon Musk started out with a bang and sent shock waves around not only D.C., but the world as the U.S. defunded USAID and cut off programs funding useless indoctrination in other countries. Can you even believe someone ever thought our tax money should pay for a transgender comic book in Peru? Remind yourself of someone, the wasteful spending we were funding at this link.
While Minneapolis has been ground zero in the revelation of taxpayer fraud, there is no doubt in my mind that this fraud is happening in Illinois. Our own DOGE IL reporting has shown that over a billion dollars has gone to politically connected NGOs. From meaningless violence interrupter programs to services for illegals, Illinois taxpayers are paying for bogus services with no accountability for their impact.
The fraud stories coming out of Minneapolis should have spurred investigations by the “Fourth Estate” in Illinois and a demand by politicians everywhere that every program and every grant recipient be investigated. None of that has happened yet. But this story cannot be ignored by the media. Independent journalists and Breakthrough Ideas will be doing more with our DOGE IL effort in 2026.
Again, this has been a consequential year in America and in the world. There are numerous other stories that deserve mention:
- The return of the Israeli hostages
- The attacks on the drug cartels
- The attacks on free speech in Europe
- Illegals driving on CDLs in America and killing people
- The attacks on Jewish people on the street in D.C. and in Australia
- The killing of American soldiers by a radicalized Islamist
- Tariff surge and back-off
All these events and many more will have an impact in 2026.