Get the latest news headlines from around Illinois.
Northwest Herald: Gov. Bruce Rauner signs bill ending pensions for elected county board members
Elected county board members statewide are no longer eligible for pensions under a law signed Friday by Gov. Bruce Rauner.
Senate Bill 2701, which took effect with Rauner’s signature Friday, disqualifies future candidates elected to county boards from participating in the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund. Existing board members already enrolled — the Illinois Constitution forbids altering their benefits — must fill out time sheets to prove they are working the minimum hours required, either 600 or 1,000 hours a year, to qualify.
The bill was spearheaded by Democratic state Rep. Jack Franks, who earlier this year touched off a political firestorm when he asked the IMRF to investigate whether McHenry County Board members, all but a few of whom are now enrolled, are working the 1,000 hours a year to qualify for pensions.
Daily Herald: More chances to snag free Wi-Fi on Metra cars
The agency is installing the free service in 50 more railcars after a pilot project received favorable reviews from riders. Metra equipped 12 railcars with Wi-Fi in February.
The extra Wi-Fi cars will be distributed throughout the 11 train lines by the end of October. Metra operates more than 1,000 railcars.
Metra is searching for partners to subsidize the expenses of upgrading the cars, which will cost about $186,000 annually.
Don’t attempt to download the last five seasons of “Game of Thrones,” however.
Sun-Times: Emanuel orders crackdown on food truck violators
There’s nothing wrong with Chicago’s 4-year-old food truck ordinance that can’t be remedied by strict enforcement, Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Monday.
Emanuel responded to an investigation by the Chicago Sun-Times and ABC7 with a promise to do what his own administration has failed to do: Issue a blitzkrieg of citations and fines against food truck owners caught thumbing their noses at the city’s much-ballyhooed ordinance.
Reuters: FBI detects breaches against two state voter systems
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has found breaches in Illinois and Arizona’s voter registration databases and is urging states to increase computer security ahead of the Nov. 8 presidential election, according to a U.S. official familiar with the probe.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said on Monday that investigators were also seeking evidence of whether other states may have been targeted.
The FBI warning in an Aug. 18 flash alert from the agency’s Cyber Division did not identify the intruders or the two states targeted.
NPR Illinois: Budget Hits Lawmakers In Their Wallets: Paychecks To Go Out, Months Late
Anxious legislators will once again see a deposit from the state of Illinois in their bank accounts. They’re getting paid Tuesday for the first time since July, when their April paychecks came through.
Chicago Tribune: Illinois emergency room visits increased after Obamacare, study says
Hospital emergency department visits increased in Illinois after the Affordable Care Act took effect — the opposite of what many hoped would happen under the landmark health care law, according to a new study.
“Emergency departments are already overcrowded, and bringing more patients in will continue to make that worse,” said Dr. Scott Dresden, an assistant professor of emergency medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and the lead author of the study.
Emergency visits in Illinois increased 5.7 percent, or by more than 14,000 visits a month on average, in 2014 and 2015 compared with 2011 through 2013, according to the study, published online in Annals of Emergency Medicine, a peer-reviewed journal.
ChicagoNow: Feds request at least 10 years in prison for center of red-light-camera scandal
John Bills was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Aug. 29 for his role in orchestrating Chicago’s red-light-camera program while taking bribes from Redflex Traffic Systems Inc.
Federal prosecutors on Aug. 15 asked U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall to consider a 10-year sentence “as a floor” for John Bills, according to theChicago Sun-Times.
Bills was convicted of 20 counts of fraud, extortion and other crimes in January for his role in steering a lucrative red-light-camera contract toward Redflex Traffic Systems Inc. In return, he received $600,000 in cash, an Arizona condo and other kickbacks from the company. He was formerly the second-in-command at the Chicago Department of Transportation.
Beyond securing $131 million in red-light-camera contracts for Redflex between 2002 and 2011, Bills appeared to do everything in his power to ensure favorable terms for Redflex while expanding the company’s presence in Chicago government.