Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Chicago Tribune: House hearing on Rauner's school funding plan set for Wednesday
House lawmakers are scheduled to hold a hearing in Chicago on Wednesday to delve into the changes Gov. Bruce Rauner made when issuing his veto of legislation that would overhaul how state money is doled out to school districts.
The committee hearing comes a day after the Illinois State Board of Education said its initial analysis of how the change will affect schools will have to be redone following a data error. However, the hearing may be more about raising the pressure on GOP lawmakers than diving into the details.
Chicago Tribune: Officials report 'significant error' in analysis of Rauner's school plan
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner said Tuesday that a “preliminary” review of changes to a school funding bill was “consistent” with his goals, but his comments came more than an hour after the State Board of Education was told the data contained a “significant error.”
That error means a delay in the set of numbers that school officials, lawmakers and advocates have all been waiting for. A district-by-district financial scorecard could show how schools would fare under the governor’s veto of the Democratic education bill. The data haven’t been released publicly even as the Illinois Senate is planning to return to Springfield on Sunday, when it could consider overriding Rauner.
Chicago Sun-Times: Senate back in Springfield Sunday, gearing up for veto override
With the state on the path to blowing a Thursday deadline to deliver funds to schools across Illinois, the state Senate is bringing lawmakers back to Springfield on Sunday in an effort to override Gov. Bruce Rauner’s veto of an education funding measure.
Although senators will be in session Sunday, it’s unclear when the override vote will take place. Legislators are in Springfield next week for Illinois State Fair events. Lawmakers, too, are engaged in bipartisan negotiations with the hope that additional legislation will be filed to complement the override in order to gain Republican support.
NBC 5 Chicago: Suburban, Downstate School Funding Payment Expected Thursday
Suburban and downstate schools are set to open next week, but will they do so without state funding? The first payment, expected Thursday, won’t be delivered without the lawmakers agreeing to a school funding plan where does it all stand? And what’s expected? Mary Ann Ahern reports.
Chicago Sun-Times: Chance the Rapper pushing to #supportCPS
Chance the Rapper on Tuesday again took to Twitter to lament the layoffs of Chicago Public School teachers while urging politicians to find a way to fund the embattled school district.
“Mayor and Gov and House all have independent powers and capabilities to fund CPS individually,” Chance tweeted.
Crain's Chicago Business: A debt affordability study sounds wonky. But Illinois needs one, pronto.
The Pew Foundation recently found that 23 states do not publish debt affordability studies.Illinois, which we know is a high debt state, is among those that do not.
What is a debt affordability study? It is a document that describes all of the state’s outstanding debt by type. For example, there is debt supported by taxes—such as general obligation bonds and pensions—versus debt supported by a revenue stream, such as that of the tollway. The study in turn projects out future indebtedness for items such as state buildings or roads based on the capital budget.
Daily Herald: Income tax revenue from suburbs is growing. Do we get our fair share back?
A growing portion of Illinois’ income tax revenue is coming from Chicago and the suburbs, new data from the Illinois Department of Revenue shows.
But are they getting their fair share back?
Chicago Tribune: Preckwinkle ends bid to win $17 million from retailers in pop tax case
Cook County has withdrawn its legal motion to exact $17 million from retailers that sued the county over its controversial sweetened beverage tax, County Board President Toni Preckwinkle’s spokesman said Tuesday.
The move came days after Preckwinkle defended the effort during a WGN-AM 720 radio interview. The criticism was mounting, though, with newspaper editorial boards bashing the effort and county commissioners looking to curtail her authority to sue for damages in such cases.
Chicago Tribune: Emanuel warns those emailing him for favors about Chicago's 'strict lobbyist rules'
As Chicago ethics officials were reviewing nearly 30 cases of possible lobbying violations in his personal emails, Mayor Rahm Emanuel warned at least two people writing him for government favors that they should be careful not to break City Hall lobbying laws, newly released emails show.
Late last year, Emanuel made public a trove of emails from his personal accounts under pressure from lawsuits from the Chicago Tribune and Better Government Association. The suits alleged the mayor had hidden government business he conducted via email on his personal, non-City Hall email accounts.
The Southern: Carson in Cairo: 'I think by the grace of God it’s possible to save this place'
During a visit to Cairo on Tuesday, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson said that in his career as a physician, he often took on “very, very difficult cases” including people others had deemed too far gone to save. Through creative approaches, rare procedures, “and by the grace of God,” he sometimes was able to save their lives, he said.
Carson was roundly criticized by the citizens of Cairo — where a man-made crisis has placed public housing residents and an entire historic city in jeopardy — when in June he described the community as “dying” and with limited options during a Senate hearing in Washington. After touring the city and meeting with public housing residents and community leaders, Carson again affirmed that the patient — Cairo — is in serious trouble but added, “I think by the grace of God it’s possible to save this place as well.”