Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Chicago Tribune: Rauner attacks Democrats a day after they moved to override his education veto
A day after the Illinois Senate voted to override Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner’s veto of an education funding overhaul, the governor went on the attack, accusing lawmakers of surrendering to Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan.
Rauner often blames Madigan for the state’s woes, and on Monday he accused the longtime speaker of raising uncertainty about whether schools would open in an effort to force legislators to buck his veto. The governor compared it to when Republican lawmakers joined Democrats last month to enact a budget and tax hike against his veto.
State Journal-Register: Rauner calls for leader meetings on school funding
A day after losing a school funding vote in the Illinois Senate, Gov. Bruce Rauner Monday called for meetings among the legislative leaders to reach a compromise on school funding reform.
Rauner issued a statement “calling on the four legislative leaders to meet as quickly as possible on school funding reform.”
Belleville News-Democrat: Illinois House can give 831 school districts more money, or just Chicago
Math matters: Just ask the folks at the Illinois State Board of Education. Their peers at the Illinois Department of Revenue found a math error throwing off the numbers for what local school districts would receive after Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner used his amendatory veto on Senate Bill 1, the school funding formula rewrite.
Now they got the math right, the results were just released but after the Illinois Senate on Sunday voted to override. Of 923 school districts in Illinois, Rauner’s changes will give more money to 831 of them and make no difference to another 71 that are mainly alternative schools.
Chicago Sun-Times: Rahm Emanuel won’t say where he’ll find $269M to balance school budget
Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Monday refused to say where a cash-strapped city grappling with its own sizeable shortfall will find $269 million to balance the Chicago Public Schools budget.
Now that the Illinois Senate has voted to override Gov. Bruce Rauner’s veto of a school funding bill, attention has turned to the House, where there are only 67 Democrats and 71 votes are needed to override the governor.
Chicago Sun-Times: Cook County soda pop tax born under a bad sign
This soda pop tax is jinxed, born under a bad sign, a man walking under a ladder.
The tax, a penny an ounce on sugary and not-so-sugary drinks, is deeply unpopular and has been plagued by problems from the start.
Daily Herald: Rauner signs measures making it easier to abolish local governments
Two measures making it easier to abolish some units of local government were signed into law Monday by Gov. Bruce Rauner. One of the changes was modeled after 2013 legislation that paved the way for such consolidation efforts in DuPage County.
“Our families are struggling with the highest property taxes in America,” Rauner said during a signing ceremony at the DuPage Mayors and Managers Conference building in Oak Brook. “We need to bring our property taxes down, and one of the ways we can do that is to bring about a consolidation of local governments.”
Chicago Tribune: Manager of UK, Irish lotteries makes pitch to run Illinois Lottery
Six years after Illinois became the first state to privatize its lottery, Illinois officials on Monday unveiled plans for a massive do-over to try to turn around the state’s biggest moneymaker.
Illinois officials are hoping new faces and tactics can transform a moribund operation that was supposed to produce lofty profits when it became the first privately managed state lottery in the country in 2011. That first attempt instead devolved into finger-pointing over who was to blame for controversial game tactics and lower profits than projected by the current manager, Northstar Lottery Group.
Chicago Tribune: Federal judge orders Illinois to find way to pay for disability services program
A federal judge has ordered the state to figure out how to pay more toward a program that helps people with developmental disabilities live and participate in their communities.
Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman found Friday that the state has failed to adequately fund a program that helps people with developmental disabilities receive services in their homes and transition from institutions to community-based living arrangements.
State Journal-Register: State funding shortages continue to threaten autism services
Katherine Williams considers her son fortunate.
Because of financial help from Benjamin Williams’ grandparents and great-grandparents, lingering state funding gaps won’t cause the 4-year-old to lose access in the short term to therapy at the Autism Clinic on Springfield’s south side.
Crain's Chicago Business: Rauner at center of flap over Asian carp
While battles over taxes and spending have captured most of the headlines out of Springfield lately, Gov. Bruce Rauner is at the center of another emerging fight that could have an impact on his re-election: how to keep Asian carp out of the Great Lakes.
Though some details are in flux, the fight pits Rauner against the state’s powerful green lobby, including the Environmental Law & Policy Center, the National Resources Defense Council and the Sierra Club.
Chicago Tribune: Study: Illinois traffic deaths continue to climb
Traffic fatalities in Illinois have continued to increase in the first six months of this year over the same period in previous years, even as the number of such deaths has slightly decreased nationally, according to a study released Tuesday.
A study of traffic fatalities nationwide by the National Safety Council, an Itasca-based safety advocacy group, found that deaths in Illinois went up 4 percent in the first half of 2017, to 516 from 494, compared to the first six months of last year. The national rate dropped 1 percent for the same period.
Daily Herald: Elgin city manager: 'Tougher decisions' ahead on budget
Elgin city staff members began presenting their case at a special council meeting Saturday for why either revenues will have to increase or services will have to be cut next year.
City Manager Rick Kozal said the city will be facing “a crossroads,” and the council will have to decide to continue to invest in the city and the services it provides or “retreat and offer less,” he said.
The Southern: The Southern Illinoisan files lawsuit claiming Cairo Public Utility is improperly withholding public records
The Southern Illinoisan has filed a lawsuit in Alexander County Circuit Court alleging that Cairo Public Utility Co. is improperly withholding public records sought under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act.
The newspaper sought public records from Cairo Public Utility Co. earlier this summer as part of its ongoing reporting of a housing crisis in Cairo and separate but parallel issues concerning challenges to economic recovery in Alexander County.