Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Chicago Tribune: Minimum pay for teachers will ramp up to $40,000 in measure Gov. J.B. Pritzker says is aimed at easing teacher shortage
The minimum annual salary for public school teachers in Illinois will be raised to $40,000 by the 2023-24 school year under a measure Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into law Thursday that is aimed at making a dent in a statewide teacher shortage.
The law requires that school districts pay full-time educators at least $32,076 for the 2020-21 school year, and ramping up to the $40,000 minimum over the following three school years. The minimum salary would increase in line with the consumer price index after that.
Crain's Chicago Business: Supporters call for $15 Chicago minimum wage vote before September
The state is on track to raise wages to that amount by 2025. Supporters say Chicago’s higher cost of living necessitates a quicker timeline. The city’s current minimum wage is $13 per hour and will rise with inflation each July. Mayor Lori Lightfoot campaigned on minimum wage hike to $15 by 2021, and supporters say she committed to passing it next month, before city budget negotiations start in earnest.
Chicago Sun-Times: Why tearing down Englewood to save it hasn’t worked
Englewood and West Englewood have experienced the second- and third-most demolitions among Chicago neighborhoods since 2008. Still, development lags, and huge stretches of vacant land remain.
Chicago Sun-Times: $220,000 in ‘routine repairs’ underway in Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s City Hall office suite
Days before lowering the boom on Chicago taxpayers to erase a $1 billion shortfall, Mayor Lori Lightfoot has signed off on a $220,000 remodeling of the mayor’s office on the fifth floor of City Hall.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s aging office suite in the widely despised Thompson Center just got a $275,000 face-lift, courtesy of the billionaire governor’s own deep pockets.
Chicago Sun-Times: South suburban mayor scratches racetrack veto claim — but not opposition to racino
Horse-racing advocates on Thursday shot down the incorrect claim of a south suburban mayor who said owners of a soon-to-be-licensed racino can block a standalone casino from breaking ground nearby.
But Matteson Village President Sheila Chalmers-Currin says there are still flaws in the expansion, which, as written, gives substantial leeway to one of the state’s most powerful horse-racing families.
Rockford Register-Star: Winnebago County Board votes to fire HR chief
The Winnebago County Board approved a measure Thursday that sets in motion the termination of Human Resources Director Kim Ponder, but Chairman Frank Haney may ask the board to reconsider.
Whether Ponder loses her job or not may depend on how fast Haney can ask a judge — and whether the judge would oblige his request — to roll back board-approved ordinances that have stripped Haney of many of his executive powers. Among those powers: the ability to consent — or not consent — to the human resource director’s firing.
Rockford Register-Star: Illinois releases $14.7M for Rockford airport jet repair hub
Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza’s office on Thursday released a $14.7 million grant for a jet repair hub at Chicago Rockford International Airport — money that had been promised to the airport in 2014 by former Gov. Pat Quinn.
The funding was frozen in 2015 by Quinn’s successor, former Gov. Bruce Rauner, amid a budget impasse with lawmakers. State Sen. Steve Stadelman included a $14.7 million appropriation for the airport grant in a budget bill approved by lawmakers last year.
Champaign News-Gazette: With CFO on paid leave, Unit 4 has paid consultant more than $17,000 for financial services
While its chief financial officer remains on paid leave, the Champaign school district has spent more than $17,000 for an outside consultant to help manage its finances this summer.
Peoria-area consultant Guy Cahill has been working with Unit 4 since late May, providing financial services at a rate of $750 per five-hour day worked.