Get the latest news from around Illinois.
The Center Square: Measures to place more regulations on employers and landlords advance
The Illinois House advanced several measures that would place more regulations on the state’s job creators.
House Bill 3763 would allow an employee’s legal representation to request access to personnel records, not just the employee himself.
The Chicago Tribune: A skeptical Springfield awaits after Chicago Bears pitch stadium plan backed by mayor
The Chicago Bears stood with Mayor Brandon Johnson at Soldier Field on Wednesday to launch their public push for a domed stadium on a reimagined lakefront that could cost nearly $5 billion, but the pitch was met with wariness from the triumvirate in Springfield that ultimately will control its fate.
Despite Johnson’s ringing endorsement for the plan that would see the Bears chip in about $2.3 billion in private funding, Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the Democratic leaders in the state House and Senate made clear the team doesn’t currently have the support it needs to make the architectural renderings a reality.
Chicago Sun-Times: CPS selective, magnet schools appear to take hit under new equity funding formula
For decades, LaSalle Language Academy on the North Side has offered students from across Chicago daily classes in Spanish, Mandarin and other languages, along with the unique opportunity to go to a public school with kids from different backgrounds and neighborhoods in a segregated city.
But now local school council members at LaSalle and several other selective-enrollment and magnet schools say they are facing budget cuts next fall. They’re grappling with whether they can continue the programming they say makes their schools — which have no neighborhood boundaries and admit based on lottery or academic requirements — the gems of the district.
CBS Chicago: Taxpayers could be on the hook for infrastructure around planned new Bears stadium, expert says
The Chicago Bears on Wednesday unveiled their multibillion-dollar plan for a new domed stadium on the lakefront, just south of their current home of Soldier Field—but it comes with a huge bill, and it remained unclear Wednesday how taxpayers might be on the hook for the cost of the surrounding infrastructure.
Mayor Brandon Johnson denied that the Bears’ shiny new dome could end up costing taxpayers a pretty penny.
NBC Chicago: New report reveals top 25 high schools in Illinois
Five schools from Chicago and several others in the suburbs are among the top high schools in Illinois, according to a new list.
The new list, from U.S. News and World Report, titled “2024 Best High School Rankings,” reviewed more than 24,000 public high schools in all 50 states, according to editors. Editors then categorized schools based on several factors including college readiness, state assessments, graduation rate, college curriculum breadth and underserved student performance, the report said.
The Daily Herald: ‘We are at a standstill’: DuPage County Board and County Clerk at odds over clerk’s authority
DuPage County Clerk Jean Kaczmarek continues to refuse to answer questions about no-bid contracts awarded by her office, potentially setting the stage for a legal fight with the county board.
Kaczmarek has come under scrutiny by county board members after an April 11 memo from county Auditor Bill White said two invoices, totaling more than $250,000, from the clerk’s office stemmed from no-bid contracts. On Wednesday, White said three other unpaid bills, totaling more than $135,000, also were the result of no-bid contracts. All of the bills were related to work performed for the April primary.
WCIA: Senate Republicans push back on proposed state university funding plan
A new proposal to revamp the state’s funding of higher education aims to create a more equitable approach to the process, but it’s been met with some pushback.
Senate Republicans believe a recently proposed funding model for higher education could do more harm than good for public universities in Illinois.