Get the latest news from around Illinois.
The Chicago Tribune: Mayor Brandon Johnson talks school funding, Bears stadium and ‘less high-profile budget needs’ during Springfield visit
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson met with Gov. J.B. Pritzker and state lawmakers on Wednesday to make his pitch for more state funding for critical city operations such as the public schools, and to discuss the Chicago Bears’ $3.2 billion domed stadium proposal.
Johnson is backing the Bears’ proposal, while Pritzker has labeled it a “nonstarter” in large part because of its large public funding component. Meeting with reporters late Wednesday afternoon, Johnson said conversations are ongoing but stressed the need to replace Soldier Field.
Capitol News: Thousands of youths at risk of losing access to after-school programs
Advocates for community-based after-school programs say as many as 40,000 youths statewide could lose access to tutoring services, recreation and other extracurricular activities this summer unless Illinois lawmakers approve an infusion of funds to keep them going.
“The time is now for legislators to act to save after-school (programs),” Susan Stanton, executive director of Afterschool for Children and Teens, or ACT Now, said at a Statehouse rally Tuesday. “We literally only have weeks left before programs have to shut their doors. Staff will be laid off and families will be in crisis.”
Chicago Sun-Times: End of cash bail in Illinois showing early signs of success in reaching 'better and fairer system'
Cook County Judge Charles Beach has presided over hundreds of pretrial hearings since Illinois became the first state in the nation to eliminate cash bail last fall.
Despite all the anguish over the Pretrial Fairness Act, Beach says he has been struck by how proceedings have significantly changed for the better in his courtroom.
WCIA: Illinois communities get $150 million for housing upgrades
Illinois housing authorities across the state are getting federal funding to modernize public housing.
Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) announced more than $150 million to build, renovate and modernize public housing across the state. The funds will come from U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Capital Fund Program.