Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Chicago Sun-Times: Rauner, Madigan hopeful after meeting — should rest of state be?
For the first time this year, political foes Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan and Gov. Bruce Rauner put aside their differences to meet privately for about 40 minutes — with both signaling some optimism over a resolution to the historic budget impasse.
Time will tell whether the talk on Thursday will move the needle in ending an impasse that has stretched nearly 22 months. The two haven’t met since December when leaders’ meetings were called off by the governor, who requested that Democrats present a budget plan.
Chicago Tribune: Fact-checking Speaker Michael Madigan
In a statement released to reporters, Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan on Thursday announced he had requested a meeting with Gov. Bruce Rauner to emphasize his commitment to crafting a new state budget. If only Rauner would focus, Madigan said, the General Assembly could “pass a budget.”
The two did meet, and Rauner said he hoped Madigan finally was moving toward a compromise but that it’s “too soon to tell.” Beyond that, neither camp was talking.
Chicago Tribune: What Rauner is up against — the Boss
Gov. Bruce Rauner has made some mistakes in delivering his message, and I’ve been critical of his efforts.
But as he seeks re-election, as the state drowns in debt, as Boss Madigan rubs his thin fingers with icy glee, what is Rauner up against?
Peoria Journal-Star: Rauner reportedly rescinding layoff notices to prison nurses
A Springfield-area lawmaker said Thursday that Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration will rescind the layoff notices it sent last month to nurses working in Illinois prisons.
Rep. Tim Butler, R-Springfield, said the Rauner administration has decided to return to the bargaining table with the union, thus dropping the plan to cut 124 unionized nurses and replace them with nurses managed by a private company.
Chicago Tribune: Illinois House sends Rauner city pension bill, but he's likely to veto again
The Illinois House on Thursday sent Gov. Bruce Rauner legislation designed to stabilize two city worker pension funds, but the measure is likely ill-fated.
Rauner already vetoed a similar measure lawmakers approved during the previous General Assembly session that ended in January, and he’s expected to reject the latest measure as he presses for a broader statewide pension overhaul.
News-Gazette: Rauner withdraws Bambenek as pick for state education board
Gov. Bruce Rauner has withdrawn his appointment of former Champaign school board member John Bambenek to the Illinois Board of Higher Education.
Rauner named Bambenek, a onetime Republican state Senate candidate, to the IBHE a year ago. The appointment needed approval from the Illinois Senate, which is dominated by Democrats.
Crain's Chicago Business: How much do Illinois companies pay in state taxes?
Illinois’ Fortune 500 companies are paying less and less in state corporate taxes—and sometimes, almost nothing at all.
A new report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found certain corporations are finding ways to shelter much of their profit from state taxes. The eight-year study looked at 240 Fortune 500 companies from 2008 to 2015. Of those, 17 are headquartered in Illinois.
Chicago Sun-Times: Illinois House votes to limit busts for gang contact
Chicago Tribune: $4 billion plan to widen Tri-State won't require tax money, toll hike: officials
The Illinois Tollway board on Thursday unanimously voted in favor of a plan to widen the busy central Tri-State, an ambitious $4 billion project the agency says can be funded without tax money and without increasing tolls.
The rebuilding and widening proposal, an expansion from an earlier $1.9 billion plan to just rebuild the existing Eisenhower-era thoroughfare, would add a lane in each direction and use “flex lanes” on inside shoulders for buses and emergency vehicles.
Chicago Tribune: What's at stake in Friday rulings on CPS' school funding lawsuit
A Cook County judge on Friday is expected to issue rulings that could determine the future of Chicago Public Schools’ ongoing battle with the state over education funding.
“This could be a critical week for the future of our schools,” CPS CEO Forrest Claypool told the audience at the Chicago Board of Education’s monthly meeting on Wednesday.
Chicago Tribune: Tell parents now, CPS: Doors open or closed?
Come Friday, Chicago Public Schools students, parents, teachers and principals deserve to learn if the district will make good on its threat to close school three weeks early because of a budget shortfall.
The district is awaiting a ruling from a Cook County judge on its lawsuit that argues the state’s funding system is biased against CPS’ largely low-income, minority students. Presumably if the ruling favors the district, schools stay open, even though it is unclear where the money to fill the budget shortfall — the current consensus estimate is about $130 million — would come from, or how fast. If the judge instead rejects the district’s suit? No one is saying.
Chicago Sun-Times: Rahm likely will have to rescue CPS, no matter how judge rules
Mayor Rahm Emanuel will still need to ride to the rescue to prevent Chicago Public Schools from closing three weeks early — even if Friday’s ruling by a Circuit Court judge amounts to a total victory for the nearly bankrupt school system.
And that is a risky proposition for a mayor who has spent the last six years attempting to shore up Chicago’s own shaky finances and prevent CPS financial woes from dragging the city under.
DNA Info: New South Loop School Getting $50 Million In TIF Money — A Fivefold Jump
The new South Loop Elementary School will draw nearly $50 million in tax increment financing, more than five times the $9 million that was reported when plans for the new school were introduced last year.
An ordinance approved this month by the City Council also revealed the construction budget for the future four-story school at 16th and Dearborn streets has jumped 13 percent to nearly $62 million, up from about $55 million last year.
Chicago Tribune: Ex-CPS chief Barbara Byrd-Bennett to be sentenced Friday in bribery case
Barbara Byrd-Bennett’s fall began in April 2015 when a pair of FBI agents investigating a kickback scheme at Chicago Public Schools knocked on her door.
Byrd-Bennett, a Harlem, N.Y.-raised former teacher handpicked by Mayor Rahm Emanuel to steer the city’s district in the wake of a 2012 teachers strike, agreed to speak to the agents that day.
DNA Info: New Grants Available For Struggling Shopping Areas On South, West Sides
Hoping to breathe new life into shopping areas on the South, Southwest and West sides, a new program championed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel could send an influx of cash into long-neglected areas of the city.
With the City Council’s blessing, the city has earmarked $16 million from Tax Increment Financing districts to spruce up commercial corridors in Austin, Back of the Yards, Bronzeville, Chatham, Englewood, South Shore, West Humboldt Park and West Pullman.
Chicago Sun-Times: New FOP president claims victory in early battles with city
The newly elected president of the Fraternal Order of Police claimed victory Thursday in two early skirmishes with the city, likely to set the tone for contentious contract negotiations.
The battles stem from what FOP President Kevin Graham called the “unilateral expansion” of body cameras to all Chicago Police officers, and the Chicago Police Department’s proposed “disciplinary matrix” for “complaints registered” against officers.
Chicago Tribune: City fires head of security at O'Hare, Midway for not disclosing why he lost Tollway job
The city fired the head of security at O’Hare and Midway airports Thursday for what City Hall sources said was his failure to disclose critical details of his prior employment at the Illinois Tollway, after a confidential memo obtained by the Tribune revealed numerous allegations of sexual harassment against him.
The Tribune reported last week that Jeffrey Redding, the city’s deputy aviation commissioner of security, was fired from the Tollway in 2015 after a female employee alleged that Redding sought sex and money in exchange for work-related favors. He denied any coercion and maintained that his relationship with the woman, a toll collector, was consensual.
Chicago Sun-Times: Feds seek records from company co-owned by Clerk Dorothy Brown
Prosecutors have ordered the disclosure of financial records tied to a company co-owned by Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown.
The records sought are connected to a former employee of Brown’s, Sivasubramani Rajaram, who gave $15,000 to Goat Masters Corporation, headed by Brown’s husband, Benton Cook III.