Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Chicago Tribune: A controversial tax subsidy program will generate a record $1.2 billion in revenue. Here’s what the number means for Chicago.
Cook County’s tax increment financing districts will bring in nearly $1.2 billion in revenue this year, according to a new report from Clerk Karen Yarbrough’s office. That’s a record, spurred by a big increase in collections from Chicago.
“An amazing number,” Yarbrough said Wednesday.
Chicago Tribune: Ratings agency calls Illinois’ financial outlook ‘stable’
The word “stable” isn’t often associated with Illinois’ finances, but a Wall Street ratings agency used the term Wednesday to describe the state’s outlook.
Illinois’ credit rating remains one notch above junk status, according to Fitch Ratings, but the firm changed the state’s outlook from “negative” to “stable,” thanks in large part to a surprise influx of tax revenue in April and Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s approval of a “plausible and achievable” $40 billion spending plan for the budget year that began July 1.
Champaign News-Gazette: Humorist Madigan tries to joke his way out of lawsuit
Judging by his low ratings in public opinion polls, there are many people in Illinois who think Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan isn’t good for much.
So it might come as a surprise to them that Madigan, the ultimate alpha dog, is good for a laugh.
Chicago Sun-Times: Cook County TIFs generate $1.2 billion
Cook County tax increment financing districts will bring in a record $1.2 billion for the 2018 tax year, according to a report released Wednesday by Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough.
A reassessment of Chicago properties is largely the reason the city’s 138 TIF districts generated about $841 million in tax revenue, an $181 million increase from last year.
Crain's Chicago Business: Chicago's workforce is shrinking and aging—but there's a silver lining
But the study, an analysis of U.S. Census data by the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, does include a nugget of good news that perhaps indicates better times are on the way
Chicago Tribune: Humboldt Park alligator trapping costs add up: $33,649 for Chicago city overtime, materials, alligator trapper
The bulk of the $33,649 cost for the weeklong effort to trap an alligator in Humboldt Park Lagoon came from city workers having to put up and and remove barricades to keep people away from the lagoon, with $2,500 going to the man who trapped the alligator, according to information released by Chicago officials to the Tribune on Wednesday.
The male, 5-foot-3 alligator, weighing 30 to 40 pounds, was captured July 16. Alligator trapper Frank Robb was brought in from Florida to replace a volunteer trapper who had spent several days trying to catch the alligator after it was first spotted on July 9 .