Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Chicago Sun-Times: End Illinois Lottery secrets and games of clout
As soon as July 1, Gov. Rauner may hire a new private company to run the Illinois Lottery, which has promised big profits for years while failing to deliver.
Here’s what we’d like to see the governor demand as part of any new deal:
Chicago Sun-Times: Trump threat could cost Chicago $13.4M in DOJ grants, city says
Chicago stands to lose $13.4 million in federal anti-crime grants if U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions follows through on his threat to cut or even “claw back” Justice Department money flowing to sanctuary cities, City Hall said Monday.
The annual funding at stake for Chicago comes in the form of three federal grants: $3.05 million in federal asset forfeiture funds; $3.2 million in Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grants; and $3.13 million under the “Cops Hiring Program.”
Wirepoints: Simple Math Shows Absurdity of Illinois’ Progressive Tax Cure
The centerpiece of the “Illinois Comeback Agenda” proposed last week is a progressive income tax. That’s the key, Illinois progressives have long claimed. Tax the wealthy more heavily, give the rest a break and most of our fiscal problems will be solved, they say.
But simple arithmetic shows that claim to be utterly preposterous. Yes, our system should be more progressive, but claims made about benefits and feasibility of their particular proposal are insane. Under the proposal proponents discussed, the top 6% of households would face a long term liability just for state pensions and related healthcare of $700,000 each plus an annual tax increase of at least $36,000 to fill the current budget hole. And that’s not nearly all. They wouldn’t put up with it. They would leave.
Reuters: Illinois budget feud deals 'unconscionable' blow to police, fire widows
Illinois owes a group of women whose police officer and firefighter husbands died in the line of duty more than $351,000 apiece for their losses, but the state’s chronic inability to pass a budget has left all of them unpaid like thousands of state vendors.
The widows’ plight in a state with a $12.7 billion unpaid bill backlog represents yet another frustrating byproduct of lllinois’ 22-month budget stalemate, a span of fiscal ineptitude unmatched by any other U.S. state.
News-Gazette: Collateral damage
When the financial wheels of state government come off, bad things happen.
The Rauner administration recently sent layoff notices to 124 prison nurses, a cost-saving measure prompted, in part, by Illinois’ continuing financial failure. The state plans to replace them with private contractors June 15 with the expectation that it will save taxpayers about $8 million to have contractors provide nursing services rather than full-time state employees.
Prison nurses currently work as much as 80 hours a week, running up staggering overtime costs — $1.4 million in the 2014 fiscal year, $1.6 million in 2015 and $1.7 million in 2016.
Peoria Public Radio: WIU Prepares for More Financial Uncertainty
Western Illinois University says it has enough money to make it through the Spring semester. But that is not stopping the administration from developing contingency plans in case the ongoing shortfall of state funding continues. Illinois Public Radio’s Rich Egger reports.
NPR Illinois: College Prezzes: Stuck Between A Rock And A Harsh Reality
Last week, when Southern Illinois University revealed that its main campus in Carbondale needs to borrow money from its Edwardsville location, the news seemed shocking. Who knew SIU was in such dire straits? It wasn’t the kind of news any school would want to broadcast.
But the truth is, with the state slashing support for higher education by almost 60 percent over the past two years, most college presidents have been in a pickle — unable to speak honestly about their desperate need for cash for fear of scaring off potential students.
WTTW Chicago Tonight: Delinquent Taxpayers Face Ballooning Interest Payments in Cook County
Cook County residents who have yet to pay last August’s property tax installment are about to see their bills skyrocket. That’s because Monday starts the annual property tax sale. It’s when the county sells off delinquent property tax payments to private companies who then charge exorbitant interest rates. Some lawmakers see it as a rigged system of private interests profiting off the backs of lower and middle income homeowners facing financial hardship.
They lined up inside the Cook County treasurer’s office Monday morning. Anxious property owners attempting to pay their delinquent taxes before the tax sale. Some, like Valerie Moody, who oversees her elderly mother’s property, where able to cobble together the money just in time.
WBEZ: Downstate Transit Agency Sues For Money Tied Up In Budget Impasse
A downstate transit agency is suing the state for unpaid funds in a case that could have big implications for public transit agencies throughout Illinois.
WBEZ: Evanston Schools Push Tax Hike As State Rethinks How To Fund Education
Evanston taxpayers will decide Tuesday whether to raise taxes for their public schools, one of several communities in the Chicago area looking to take matters into their own hands as state lawmakers debate changing how to pay for public education.
School districts in Evanston and in three other Cook County suburbs are pushing property tax hikes on Tuesday.
Chicago Sun-Times: DePaul Arena — Beautiful ‘game-changer’ or ‘foolhardy project’?
The 10,000-seat, $164 million basketball arena for DePaul University that will double as an “event center” for McCormick Place will open this fall with a pair of gala fundraisers, officials said Monday.
After-School Matters, the award winning arts and education program founded by former First Lady Maggie Daley, will hold its annual fundraiser at Wintrust Arena on Sept. 18. Last year, the event drew 800 movers and shakers to Navy Pier.
Chicago Sun-Times: Chance the Mayor? Website aims to draft rapper to challenge Rahm
Before his Grammys, before his meeting with Gov. Bruce Rauner and before his generous donations to kids in the Chicago Public Schools, Chatham native Chance the Rapper included the following lyric in his 2015 song “Somewhere in Paradise:”
“They say I’m savin’ my city, say I’m stayin’ for good. They screamin’ Chano for mayor, I’m thinkin’ maybe I should.”
DNA Info: Proposed Wicker Hotel's Look Still Too 'Suburban,' Alderman Says
A City Council vote on a zoning change for a proposed 99-room hotel at the North and Ashland avenues intersection was tabled by Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd) because he wants to see a better exterior and “greater curb appeal.”
“We requested one final round of aesthetic improvements,” Hopkins said on Monday. “It still doesn’t look like it is at home in Wicker Park and Noble Square. It looks more suburban and we are trying to get away from that.”
Chicago Sun-Times: Elementary students still will ‘double test’ as CPS keeps NWEA
Chicago Public Schools will continue to double test its elementary students next school year, saying the state hasn’t committed to continuing its own standardized test.
So Chicago’s third- through eighth-graders will continue to take both the NWEA test CPS uses for school rating and teacher evaluation purposes, as well as the PARCC test required by the Illinois State Board of Education, chief education officer Janice Jackson told parents in a letter late Friday.
Chicago Sun-Times: Dart supports plan to keep warrants from languishing for decades
More than half of the 41,000 warrants on the books in Cook County are at least a decade old — and they can come back to haunt people who have moved on with their lives, according to the sheriff’s office.
Someone stopped for a traffic violation can end up in jail for weeks without bond until a judge resolves a warrant issued decades earlier, said Cara Smith, chief of policy for Sheriff Tom Dart.
Chicago Sun-Times: Feds’ memo casts doubt on significant Chicago Police reforms
The potential of a consent decree between the Trump Justice Department and the Chicago Police Department was thrown into doubt on Monday, when Attorney General Jeff Sessions said pacts covering other cities done in the Obama era would be subject to a review.
The order for a review came in a two-page Justice Department memo ordering officials to “immediately review all Department activities,” including “contemplated consent decrees” with local law enforcement agencies.
Rockford Register-Star: RVC overload pay story was hard news, not opinion
When I started working at the Register Star on Nov. 5, 1984, most people seemed to understand the media’s role in society, and they knew the differences among business relationships, news stories, opinion columns and editorials.
I no longer think that’s true, even for many highly educated people. The latest example concerns the front-page story in Sunday’s newspaper and on rrstar.com about how some Rock Valley College professors are able to use the faculty union contract to “spike their base salary by 60 percent or more.”
Rockford Register-Star: Belvidere aldermen tap reserves to balance $17.1 million budget
Belvidere City Council approved a $17.1 million spending plan tonight for the fiscal year starting May 1.
The budget taps about $1.1 million of the city’s reserve cash to avoid layoffs and program cuts. The city’s reserve cash will now drop to about $6.5 million — enough to pay for five months of city operations instead of six months, said Becky Tobin, the city’s budget and finance officer.
Peoria Journal-Star: PPS board president suggests charging families for school bus transportation
Peoria Public Schools officials have heard a lot from parents about how a proposal to change starting and dismissal times would affect them. Board President Martha Ross wonders how many of them are willing to pay for transportation.
“People want us to make it convenient for them but how can they partner with us?” Ross asked Monday after broaching the idea of parents paying a yearly fee for each child that rides a bus to school.
Quincy Herald-Whig: Moore: 'Honest mistakes' led to purchase of single cab truck rather than quad cab
Mayor Kyle Moore on Monday said series of “honest mistakes” led to the purchase of a different truck than aldermen thought they approved for Quincy Regional Airport last year.
Corporation Counsel Lonnie Dunn said the purchase of a single cab pickup, rather than a quad cab, was a modification of a contract and would not have repercussions for the city. That did not keep several aldermen from asking why the truck purchase was tweaked without the City Council’s knowledge.
Belleville News-Democrat: Illinois lawmakers failing colleges because they won’t turn in any work
Illinois state lawmakers weren’t content with an Illinois taxpayer leaving every five minutes, they decided to wreck the link between higher education and higher taxes.
Fewer people and less education for those left behind: Now there’s a formula for fixing $12.8 billion in overdue bills and a $130 billion pension deficit.
The Southern: Chester School District could lose $20,000 in state funds for hosting wake of fallen officer
The wake of a police officer killed in the line of duty last November could end up costing the Chester School District over $20,000.
On Thursday, Nov. 3, 2016, hundreds of people gathered in the Chester High School gymnasium to pay their respects to Officer James Brockmeyer, 22, who died from injuries he suffered in a crash after a high-speed chase.