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Champaign News-Gazette: Speaker shouldn’t get a pass
The workplace culture in the Illinois House of Representatives, just like everywhere, is established from the very top down.
A ship’s captain has an executive officer for the same reason a top public official has a chief of staff — to do the dirty work of keeping everyone sharp and making sure the job gets done right.
If that requires stepping on toes, so be it. Everyone knows the score, especially the captain or, in the case of all the unpleasantness in the Illinois House of Representatives, Speaker Michael Madigan.
State Journal-Register: This time the bullying wasn’t on the playground
It’s no secret that working for one of the legislative caucuses can be a path to bigger things in government or public service generally.
As with any line of work, it’s expected the people who work the hardest and pay their dues will have the greatest chance at success and future rewards. What maybe wasn’t so well-known until last week was the price people in the House Democratic operation had to pay to work there.
Champaign News-Gazette: Probe into state auditor's missing campaign cash bouncing around system
What happened to the $500,000 in the campaign account of former state Rep. Frank Mautino?
No one is ever going to find out all the dirty details. But a state appeals court ruled last week that undetermined portions of the funds were obviously “used for personal purposes,” not that that’s any surprise.
Chicago Tribune: 75 new marijuana store licenses will be up for grabs soon in Illinois, but some worry ‘people of color are going to be left out’
Advocates are concerned that the state has not yet set up a funding program meant to make it easier for those with marijuana-related arrests on their records to start businesses in the industry. The application process for 75 new dispensaries opens Oct. 1, and time is running out, they say.
The applications will be the first path into the industry for entrepreneurs who don’t already operate a marijuana facility, and those applicants could face stumbling blocks if there isn’t clarity on the promised financial aid.
Chicago Sun-Times: City says booming Fulton Market district needs a checkup
In the last few years, the old Fulton Market meat and produce district has been transformed into an extension of downtown, with corporate offices and hotels joining a tide of new multi-family mid-rises throughout the Near West Side.
But is it getting to be too much for what those new developments must rely on — streets, sewers, water mains and utility lines that were designed for another era? City Hall has funded a study that aims to find out.