Illinois continues to shed jobs at a furious pace. According to state officials, Illinois' unemployment rate jumped from 6.8 percent to 7.3 percent in July -- the state's highest jobless level in almost 15 years and well above the national average of 5.6 percent. The Tribune has more:

The number of people without a job surged to 491,300, IDES said. In the three months beginning in May, the number of unemployed workers in Illinois has soared by 121,900. During that period the state's unemployment rate, which has been moving up faster than the national rate, rose a total of 1.9 percentage points. Just a year ago, Illinois unemployment stood at 5.1 percent.

That capital bill couldn't come at a better time.