WCIA: Firefighter pensions to receive audit
The city of Springfield is looking into saving hundreds of thousands of dollars for taxpayers. The Department of Insurance recently found Springfield firefighters who work on holidays get additional overtime holiday pay that goes toward their pensions. The Department of Insurance found this shouldn’t be happening.
On Monday the pension board took action. Springfield’s City Council voted unanimously new firefighters will not be allowed to include that pay in their pensions. As for all current employees, they will be grandfathered in. But the debate continues over who should be affected.
The board could not decide how to deal with current firefighters and whether the board could face litigation if it stops a longtime practice.
Chicago Tribune: Fix Illinois government, fix Illinois
I am a guy from the suburbs with a great concern for the number of murders in the city of Chicago. Gangs (read: protection societies), drugs, violence, murder and vice are not new to this metropolitan area or the United States.
The cause is poverty, despair and lack of hope.
My guess is that poverty is related to a lack of jobs, a living wage and opportunities to better oneself. Politicians should be seeking to make Illinois more business-friendly. If you want a living wage, you need a job. If you want a job, you need a business. The lifeblood of a business is profit.
Daily Herald: Will Lincolnshire take on labor unions by establishing right-to-work zone?
Months after formally endorsing Gov. Bruce Rauner’s controversial turnaround agenda for Illinois, Lincolnshire officials are going further by moving to establish the town as a right-to-work zone.
Trustees are considering an ordinance that would prevent local employers from automatically deducting union dues from workers’ paychecks. Eliminating that mandatory deduction means workers couldn’t be fired if they choose not to pay union dues or fees.
Chicago Tribune: Madigan's pressure on Cullerton didn't work
Earlier this month, when the General Assembly was in Springfield, House SpeakerMichael Madigan called Senate President John Cullerton six times to ask him to move the child care program restoration bill through the Senate once it passed the House.
Yes, you read that right. Six times. Madigan is definitely single-mindedly persistent.
The deal cut with Gov. Bruce Rauner‘s office by state Sen. Toi Hutchinson, D-Olympia Fields, and others to mostly restore the draconian Child Care Assistance Program cuts Rauner made this summer involved not voting on a bill that would’ve fully restored the governor’s cuts.
Madigan, D-Chicago, wanted that bill to pass, however, and apparently believed through much of the day that his chamber would pass it — even though it seemed obvious that Rep. Ken Dunkin, D-Chicago, had again jumped into the political bed with the Republican governor. Some House Republicans were talking about voting for the bill, though, and that kept Madigan’s hopes alive.
NBC: Watchdog Group Finds Taxpayer Dollars Fund Dismissed Judges' Pensions
When she was removed from the bench for shoving a sheriff’s deputy a day after launching into a 45-minute rant about racism, officials pointedly noted that Cook County Judge Cynthia Brim would no longer be receiving a $182,000 salary.
But they neglected to mention the $152,000 she will continue to draw every year for the rest of her life.
That’s because Illinois judges, even the ones removed from the bench for serious misconduct, still receive their pensions, and those retirement plans, heavily funded by taxpayers, can amount to 85 percent of the judge’s salary.
Northern Public Radio: Budget Deal Will Bring Relief, But Also Bring Cuts
When the state finally has a budget, who will be left out?
Illinois is facing the very real possibility of going for more than half of the current fiscal year without a budget.
Over that same six months, court orders, consent decrees and the one budget bill that Gov. Bruce Rauner did sign — funding for K-12 education — put the state on track to spend well above the revenue it’s taking in. Illinois Comptroller LeslieMunger estimates that roughly 90 percent of state spending is still happening, even without a budget.
Chicago Tribune: Rauner's proposed liquor commission changes could be win for distributors
Gov. Bruce Rauner is considering an overhaul of the state liquor commission that could boost state revenue but also would more closely align the agency’s mission with the interests of some industry groups.
Rauner spokesman Lance Trover said legislators could see a bill early next year that would divert resources away from the local level to focus on larger-scale trade violations, such as merchants illegally bringing alcohol into the state without paying taxes. Alcohol distributors have long urged action on that issue, which puts them at a competitive disadvantage. Under the current setup, the commission devotes significant resources to inspecting thousands of Illinois bars and liquor stores.
An April memo also proposes abolishing the liquor control board — made up of seven commissioners with no financial interest in the alcohol industry — and replacing it with an advisory panel heavy on industry representatives. Changes to state rules regarding the manufacture, distribution and sale of alcohol would no longer require a sign-off from the commissioners.
NBC Chicago: Missing Minutes From Security Video Raises Questions
Chicago police officers deleted footage from a security camera at a Burger King restaurant located fewer than 100 yards from where 17-year old Laquan McDonald was shot and killed, according to a Chicago-area district manager for the food chain.
McDonald was shot 16 times by a Chicago police officer on the night of October 20, 2014. Nine of the shots struck McDonald in the back, according to the Medical Examiners report.
The 86-minutes of missing video runs from 9:13 p.m. to 10:39 p.m., according to the lawyers for McDonald’s family. He was shot at approximately 9:50 p.m.