Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Daily Herald: Illinois leaders should resolve to foster economic reform in 2023
If there’s a New Year’s resolution the Illinois business community needs from its political leaders in 2023, it’s this: Stop relying on short-term tricks to drive business growth and start acting on the need for long-term structural changes that attract businesses, encourage entrepreneurship and draw residents.
It’s clear that quick fixes are not helping our state. Illinois suffers from one of the worst unemployment rates in the nation and one of the worst economic recoveries from the COVID-19 pandemic. Illinoisans have been leaving for better opportunities in other states for nine years straight.
The Center Square: Op-Ed: Illinois state leaders see taxpayers’ ‘no’ as reason to just ask again
You’ve been in the supermarket and seen the beleaguered parent bugged by a child for a package of cookies. “No” is followed by asking again, and whining, and asking yet again.
Illinois taxpayers are seeing this scene, only they are the parents and state leaders the needy youngsters.
Capitol News Illinois: DCFS, director face lawsuit filed on behalf of jailed wards
The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services on Thursday was named in a federal class-action lawsuit on behalf of children in state care who have been held in juvenile detention centers after a judge ordered their release.
Cook County Public Guardian Charles Golbert is a plaintiff in the 32-page lawsuit in the Northern District of Illinois, alleging that children in the care of DCFS are being held in detention for months without necessary medical and mental health treatment, educational opportunities, or consistent access to friends and family.
Chalkbeat Chicago: Illinois public school enrollment continues to drop, preliminary numbers show
A first glimpse at public school enrollment in Illinois shows continued declines in the overall student population, but an uptick in the number of students learning English.
Preliminary data released last week by the Illinois State Board of Education shows overall enrollment dropped by about 31,000 students — or 1.7% — between last school year and the current one, according to numbers as of Dec. 14. Chicago Public Schools accounts for at least a quarter of the decline. The district lost 9,000 students and its place as the third largest school district in the country.
The Center Square: Chicago imposes largest 911 fee in the nation
Residents of Chicago are facing some of the highest wireless taxes in the country when compared to other cities, and those bills are even higher due to the city’s 911 service tax.
According to the most recent data by the National Emergency Number Association, a non-profit organization focused on improving 911 services, Chicago charges the most in the country for the service, ahead of New York, North Dakota, and West Virginia.
Chicago Tribune: Ethics board sends Lightfoot campaign complaints to watchdogs
The Chicago Board of Ethics decided Monday more thorough investigations needed to be done before rendering judgment about whether Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s campaign violated local ethics rules when it solicited Chicago public school teachers to encourage students to help her reelection efforts.
The board tasked the inspectors general for both City Hall and Chicago Public Schools to conduct investigations into the matter, even though both offices were already aware of or probing the matter.