Center Square: As legislators consider tax credits, Invest in Kids recipients linger
As legislators return for the final weeks of session, the budget will be top of mind, but there may also be more tax credits to consider.
Chicago Tribune: Gov. J.B. Pritzker pushes increased funding to fight racial disparities in homelessness
Gov. J.B. Pritzker used the release of a report on Black homelessness in Illinois to press the case for his proposal to increase funding on efforts to address the issue in next year’s budget by $50 million, which would go toward additional rental assistance, legal aid and new programs.
Chicago Sun-Times: Illinois Republicans grapple with mail voting under mixed signals from Trump. 'We have to adapt'
While rallying his political troops last summer in Springfield heading into the primary campaign season, Illinois Republican Party chairman Don Tracy highlighted some of his top priorities to help the party regain a foothold in the Democratic-dominated state.
NBC 5: Gov. Pritzker, Speaker Welch address renderings for proposed Bears' lakefront stadium
In a grandiose press conference on Wednesday that featured the Chicago Bears revealing plans for a new lakefront stadium with a fixed roof, state lawmakers were conspicuously absent despite the team’s request for public funding.
Center Square: Progressives and conservatives can agree on poverty solutions
Talking about poverty has historically stirred partisan tension and circular ideological debates. With more finger wagging than handshaking, leaders in neither America as a whole nor the city of Chicago have improved the livelihoods of those in poverty.
School Reform News: Chicago Public Schools Announces ‘Equity’ in School Budgets
The calculation will be based on an “opportunity index” score which incorporates the number of students who come from impoverished families or other vulnerable groups. A score is assessed for each school based on need.
Daily Herald: How's cashless bail going? Here's what the data says
About seven months after Illinois ended cash bail as a key provision of the much-debated SAFE-T Act, fears that it would lead to a surge in freed criminal suspects committing more offenses or skipping court so far haven’t materialized, at least in Cook County.
WCIA: Cicadas could make an early emergence in Central Illinois
The cicada countdown continues, and an expert with the Urbana Park District said they could come sooner than expected.