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State Journal-Register: Illinois Republicans frustrated with legislature's progress on ethics, financial reforms
With six weeks left in the spring legislative session, Republicans have several priorities they want addressed but think Democrats are ignoring key areas like ethics reform and financial problems.
“Here we are with 45 days until session adjournment and a Democrat-controlled legislature has failed to put forth any meaningful or substantive legislation dealing with fighting corruption, providing tax relief, and unfortunately no plan put forth to adopt a balanced budget,” said state Rep. Amy Elik, R-Alton.
Capitol News Illinois: Affordable housing tax credit bill advances out of committee
A bill that would offer state tax credits to owners and developers of affordable housing units passed out of committee last week at the Illinois Capitol.
Senate Bill 2445, also known as the Build Illinois Homes Tax Credit Act, is an omnibus bill that aims to address the shortage of affordable housing stock in Illinois by offering incentives to landlords who maintain qualified affordable housing properties and for the purchase of building materials to be used for the construction of new affordable housing units.
The Center Square: Villages across Illinois planning summer events, some ditch mask requirements
Villages large and small across Illinois are looking to attract pent-up demand with outdoor events. And despite COVID-19, some are already announcing masks won’t be required.
Last week, Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson said the village’s Memorial Day event will go on with no social distancing requirement, but masks will be required. After that, he said events for the community of around 33,000 will go on without a mask mandate.
Better Government Association: Surviving the Pandemic: Black-Owned Businesses and the Paycheck Protection Program
As the federal government’s main initiative to help small companies survive the coronavirus pandemic, the Paycheck Protection Program has become a focal point for businesses across the nation and praised by Democrats and Republicans alike. But questions remain about how well PPP loans have worked — and who they worked for best.
Early surveys and studies repeatedly showed Black and Latino businesses struggled to get assistance from the program while white-owned businesses benefited. Most of the data released last year by the U.S. Small Business Administration, which administers the loans, didn’t detail how much minority-owned businesses received. The small amount of data that did include information about race or ethnicity of business owners who received PPP loans indicated Black-owned businesses “received less than 2% of the loans, and 6.6% of the loans went to Hispanic-owned businesses,” according to a report by the Center for Public Integrity.
Chicago Tribune: Editorial: Slow clap: Chicago high schools among the last in the country to reopen
Finally after more than a year of remote learning and countless stall tactics from the teachers union, Chicago Public Schools high school students headed back to classrooms on Monday. They won’t be in school full time — the district and the union only settled on two days a week — but it’s better than the full-time remote learning that has robbed kids for a year of in-person instruction.
Families who want to continue the remote option for the remainder of the school year can do so. That was the plan proposed last July by Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
The Center Square: Lawmakers call for mediation between Lincoln Library and Museum and foundation
Illinois lawmakers are urging representatives from the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation to work out their differences through mediation.
Earlier this month, the museum cuts ties with the foundation after neither side could come to an agreement on a memorandum of understanding.
Chicago Sun-Times: Proposed ordinance requires monthly updates on city revenue collections
Chicago aldermen had no warning before learning the coronavirus pandemic had blown a $2 billion hole in the city’s 2021 and 2022 budgets.
They wouldn’t be blindsided again, under an ordinance championed by downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd).
Chicago Tribune: US appellate court denies full hearing in record $45 million CPD shooting case
As the Chicago Police Board contemplates firing an officer who city officials now say shot his childhood friend in the head and lied about it for decade, a federal appellate court declined to hear further arguments about the Police Department’s own culpability in the tragedy.
Chief Judge Diane Diane Sykes and Judge Michael Kanne signed an order last week denying Michael LaPorta Jr. his bid to have the entire 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals consider reinstating the record-breaking $44.7 million a jury awarded him after a bullet fired from a police officer’s service weapon pierced his skull and left him with catastrophic injuries that require round-the-clock care.
Chicago Sun-Times: Villegas forges ahead with guaranteed basic income pilot program
Undaunted by a colleague’s warning that reparations must come first, an influential aldermen is forging ahead with an ordinance establishing the parameters to bring a $30 million universal basic income program to Chicago.
Last month, a seemingly harmless resolution calling for the city to use part of the $1.9 billion avalanche of federal relief funds headed to Chicago to launch that guaranteed income pilot turned into an emotional debate about reparations.