Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Northwest Herald: Illinois House approves doubling fines for drivers who pass stopped school buses
Drivers who do not stop for school buses could see their ticket fines double under a proposed state law that passed the House on Thursday.
House Bill 1873, sponsored by state Rep. Darren Bailey, R-Xenia, doubles the fine for first offenses from $150 to $300 and from $500 to $1,000 for second offenses.
Champaign News-Gazette: The search for savings
Illinois’ public pensions have received so much attention in the news media over the past few years that this staggering problem borders on old news.
But that’s mostly related to the state’s public pensions, entities like the Teachers Retirement System and the State Universities Retirement Systems.
Chicago Sun-Times: Lightfoot says budget shortfall more ‘dire’ than she thought, but how much more?
The transition from one Chicago mayor to the next normally follows a familiar script.
Paint the worst possible picture of the budget shortfall you inherited. Blame your predecessor for leaving behind a bigger mess than you anticipated. And make the painful choices on taxes and budget cuts early in your first term in hopes that Chicago voters forget about it before the next election.
Chicago Sun-Times: Foxx could start pot expungements in months; will also review weed sales cases
Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx said she is still on track to begin wiping clean thousands of minor cannabis convictions in the coming months, but acknowledges that her office is still trying to determine how exactly to implement her bold plan.
She also said in an interview with the Sun-Times last week that her office was also taking a look at her office policy toward prosecuting those arrested for the sale of marijuana, but said the review was still in its early stages.
Northwest Herald: Woodstock council to consider sales tax rebate for Kunes Country Auto Group
Woodstock City Council members will meet Tuesday to consider a sales tax incentive deal for Kunes Country Auto Group.
Kunes Country bought the Benoy Motors site, 1790 S. Eastwood Drive, last year and is planning a $3.6 million expansion project, according to city documents. Kunes Country owns 16 dealerships in Illinois and Wisconsin.
Daily Herald: Ex-Wauconda Twp. highway department employees allege they were fired as political payback
Two former Wauconda Township highway department employees claim they were fired because they supported the losing highway commissioner candidate in the 2017 election, according to a federal lawsuit.
Plaintiffs Joseph Wightman and Donald Rowe are suing Wauconda Township Highway Commissioner Scott Weisbruch, Wauconda Township Supervisor Glenn Swanson and the township highway department.
Daily Herald: Leaders seek more flexibility on spending hotel tax revenue in DuPage County
State lawmakers from DuPage are pushing legislation that would give the county’s municipalities without home rule the ability to spend some of their hotel tax dollars on something other than tourism.
Those towns now are required to use all money collected from their tax on hotel and motel stays to promote tourism. As a result, towns such as Itasca and Lombard are limited in how they can spend large amounts of revenue.
Rockford Register-Star: Broken program costs Winnebago County taxing bodies more than $1M in lost revenue
Local governments lose more than $1 million a year in property tax revenue because of a Winnebago County program that perpetuates blight and neighborhood decay.
The lost revenue is the result of “sales in error” petitions granted by circuit court judges to people who buy debt associated with tax-delinquent properties.