Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Chicago Tribune: Facing massive budget hole, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot to give ‘State of the City’ speech followed by citywide tour on government finances
Mayor Lori Lightfoot will give a speech later this month about the city’s massive looming budget deficit, which is expected to approach $1 billion, and follow up with four town halls across Chicago, her administration announced Friday.
The city also is conducting an online survey asking people to weigh in with their fiscal priorities, as well as which taxes they would increase to offset its expected budget hole. Lightfoot’s “State of the City” speech will be broadcast from downtown’s Harold Washington Library Center at 6 p.m. Aug. 29.
Chicago Sun-Times: Lightfoot to ask legislature for power to tax high-end professional services and big-ticket home sales
Mayor Lori Lightfoot plans to ask state lawmakers to help Chicago dig out of a $1 billion hole — by empowering the city to tax high-end professional services and raise the transfer tax on big-ticket home sales, City Hall sources said Monday.
The vacationing mayor plans to make those requests during a fall veto session, when she also will seek a Chicago-only casino gambling fix.
Rockford Register-Star: Rockford public safety pension costs to soar
Public safety pension costs are expected to soar 12.4% next year and place increasing pressure on city finances.
City Council got an actuarial report Monday informing aldermen that assumptions about employee longevity are on the rise with continued improvements in health care leading to longer lives beyond retirement. And assumptions abut the city’s return on investment from pension fund interest are declining after a stock market dip in December, despite a rebound.
The Southern: Illinois Gov. Pritzker has 1 week left to sign 167 bills
Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed more than 50 bills last week and has about one week remaining to sign the final 167 of the 599 total bills sent to him by the General Assembly this year.
The most recently signed bills include a package of legislation affecting first responders, a bill striking down a 1998 state law pertaining to greenhouse gas emissions, a banking initiative of Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza and a measure to allow graduate student teaching assistants to unionize.
Chicago Sun-Times: J.B.’s ‘Windy City Rehab’: Pritzker spends $275K of his wealth to fix up Chicago offices — but leaves GOP suite a fixer upper
The governor’s aging Chicago offices just got a $275,000 face-lift, thanks to billionaire Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
“The Governor’s Office at the Thompson Center was in a very sad state of disrepair, and the Pritzkers paid personally to replace decades-old carpeting and repaint so that the space would no longer be embarrassing,” Pritzker’s spokeswoman Emily Bittner said in explaining the renovations after decades of neglect.
WBEZ: A Chicago Teachers Strike Is Looming: Explore The Issues
Chicago teachers and Chicago Public Schools are in the throes of negotiating a new teachers contract — and if no deal is reached by September 26, the Chicago Teachers Union is prepared to strike.
The teachers walked off last in 2012, the first strike in 25 years.
WBEZ: 5 Things To Know About Chicago Public Schools’ Budget
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and CPS CEO Janice Jackson heralded the new mayor’s first proposed budget for the school district earlier this month with great fanfare. But a WBEZ analysis shows the good news comes with some caveats, and it includes some bad news.
The public can weigh in on the $7.7 billion budget at two hearings — one at 4 p.m. and the other at 6:30 p.m. — on Tuesday at CPS headquarters, 42 W. Madison St.
Daily Southtown: Ex-Lincoln-Way Central employee under investigation for ‘financial transgression’: Will County sheriff’s office
The Will County sheriff’s office is investigating possible financial crimes involving a former Lincoln-Way Central High School employee, officials said.
Lincoln-Way High School District 210 administrators met with sheriff’s detectives earlier this month to discuss “an alleged financial transgression discovered on the books of the Lincoln-Way athletic boosters,” Sheriff’s spokeswoman Kathy Hoffmeyer said.
Northwest Herald: Grafton Township board once again rejects computer order from unauthorized vendor
Belleville News-Democrat: Eckert breaks tie to give TIF money to Catholic school
Belleville Mayor Mark Eckert on Monday night broke an 8-8 tie vote on the City Council so the city can give $8,890 in TIF money to Notre Dame Academy – Cathedral campus for the resealing of the Catholic school’s downtown parking lot.
Supporters of the plan said the school allows residents and visitors to use the parking lot at 200 S. Second St. during festivals such as Art on the Square and parades for decades and it’s money well spent to keep the parking in good shape.