Chicago Tribune: Have you thought of a visit to Mr. Madigan?
Toni Preckwinkle, president of the Cook County Board, visited the Tribune Editorial Board this week to warn that for lack of payments from the state, she’ll soon have to lay off workers and curtail programs that enforce child support payments, reduce criminals’ recidivism and promote public health initiatives. She made a strong case for the value of these programs.
She also said she fears that the Springfield standoff may continue until voters in the November general election side one way or the other, give a little more power to Illinois Republicans or Democrats. That’s a long way off.
Budget gridlock in Springfield is genuinely damaging many Illinois citizens, and the costs are mounting.
ABC 7 Chicago: State lawmakers anticipate Obama's return to Springfield
President Barack Obama will travel to Illinois Wednesday to address the state legislature, nine years to the day after he launched his campaign in Springfield for the White House.
As technical crews prepared the Capitol, lawmakers who once served here with Barack Obama agreed on the emotional aspect of his homecoming.
“The most important fact is his presence. He’s in the building. He did not forget about us. He came back,” said State Sen. Mattie Hunter, D-Chicago.
Chicago Tribune: Chicago to send $800,000 to Evanston, Oak Park for Divvy stations
Chicago will send $800,000 to Oak Park and Evanston to help fund a suburban expansion of the Divvy bike rental program under a MayorRahm Emanuel-backed ordinance that got the go-ahead Tuesday from a City Council committee.
The long-planned addition of bike rental docking stations is set to finally happen this spring and also will include stations stretching into the Chicago neighborhoods of Austin next to Oak Park and Rogers Park near Evanston.
Under the ordinance approved by the City Council Budget Committee on Tuesday, the city will send $320,000 in federal infrastructure grant money to Evanston and $480,000 to Oak Park to help pay for the Divvy installation. The full City Council will vote on the proposal Wednesday.
Lawsuit: ‘Orange Crush’ guard unit terrorized, humiliated Southern Illinois inmates
Inmates know them as “Orange Crush.”
They are an elite, mobile Illinois Department of Corrections tactical unit, which civil rights lawyers say regularly humiliated and terrorized more than a thousand Illinois inmates on various occasions using tactics such as forcing them to march naked in single-file, tight formations, causing men’s genitals to press against the buttocks of men in front of them.
The special squad calls the exercise “nuts-to-butts,” according to a civil rights class-action lawsuit. The lawsuit was filed in federal court in East St. Louis, and state prison officials aren’t commenting on it.
Members of the tactical unit begin the tactic by running onto a prison tier when female guards are sometimes also present, “whooping,” banging on metal tables and shouting to prisoners: “Get butt-naked.”
NBC Chicago: 128 Cook County Jail Workers Called Out Sick on Super Bowl Sunday
A total of 128 workers reported ill to Cook County Jail on Super Bowl Sunday – about a third more than a typical day of sick calls, NBC5 Investigates has found.
This comes after NBC 5 Investigates found that seven out of the top 10 sick days at the Cook County Jail, one of the largest county jails in the country, happened either the day of, or the day after, a major televised sporting event.
Over the past year, the Cook County Sheriff’s Office has blamed excessive sick calls at the jail for several lockdowns – and the office has speculated publicly that some of the absenteeism appears to be connected to several high-profile sporting events, such as the Super Bowl.
Daily Herald: Rauner tells Wheeling leaders: Illinois should aim 'to be average'
Gov. Bruce Rauner lamented Illinois’ economic standing in comparison to Texas and said the state should at least try “to be average,” during a town-hall meeting Monday with business and community leaders in Wheeling.
Rauner toured the facilities of the business IcarTeam before starting the town-hall session with guests including U.S. Rep. Bob Dold and Lt. Gov. Evelyn Sanguinetti.
Sun-Times: Wrath of Khan: The Sequel — Ex-Council IG blasts aldermen
Chicago aldermen are proving once again that they “don’t want any oversight” by tying the hands of Inspector General Joe Ferguson, even as they empower him to investigate the City Council, former Legislative Inspector General Faisal Khan charged Tuesday.
One day before a showdown vote that could be one of the closest the City Council has seen in years, Khan lambasted aldermen for maneuvering to amend the ordinance in a way that will cut off half of the oversight that Ferguson exercises over the rest of city government.
WANDTV: $100K Salaries For University Administrators
he Illinois Policy Institute has released a new report showing excessive levels of administrative overhead and steep pension costs has led to a doubling in tuition rates in the past decade, putting college out of reach for many low and middle income students.
“The number of administrators has exploded and there’s a cost to that,” Kristina Rasmussen of the Illinois Policy Institute told WAND’s Doug Wolfe. “Where is that money going if students are still struggling to afford tuition? It’s going to administrative salaries as well as increasing pension costs.
Among the findings:
- More than half of Illinois’ 2,465 university administrators received a base salary of $100,000 or more in 2015.
- More than half of state university retirees will retire in their 50’s and will see their annual pension benefits double over the course of their retirement.
- The average career university administrator will earn more than $3 million in lifetime retirement benefits.