Get the latest news headlines from around Illinois.
Sun-Times: Chicago laundromat customers to get soaked by Emanuel water tax
People who wash their clothes at Chicago laundromats will get soaked by Mayor’s Rahm Emanuel’s plan to slap a 29.5 percent tax on water and sewer bills to save the largest of four city employee pension funds, an industry trade group charged Tuesday.
Paul Hansen, president of the Illinois Coin Laundry Association, branded the new tax designated by the mayor to shore up the Municipal Employees pension fund “immoral” because of the disparate impact it would have on low-income residents who can least afford it.
Daily Herald: Protesters pay Lake County taxes with dollar bills
A small group of suburban residents protested their rising property taxes Tuesday at the Lake County treasurer’s office by paying with stacks of one-dollar bills.
Ten people participated in the orderly protest, organized by a group called Illinois Tax Revolution.
They wore matching white T-shirts depicting a dollar sign in a red circle with a diagonal line going through it.
Of the protesters, only a few actually paid their taxes with dollar bills Tuesday. Among them were Jon and Jennifer Groh of Spring Grove, who carried two leather bags containing $20,000 in banded stacks to the treasurer’s office to pay a portion of the taxes owed on the rental properties they own.
“I would’ve brought more, but the bags were getting heavy,” Jon Groh said.
Chicago Tribune: Commissioner seeks to exempt clubs featuring DJs from amusement tax law
A Cook County board member wants to change the amusement tax ordinance in response to a court case in which the county is seeking $400,000 in unpaid taxes from two West Town venues.
Commissioner John Fritchey on Tuesday filed his amendment of the 19-year-old law.
The county collects 3 percent of ticket prices for live performances of music, theater, sports and other entertainment. Cook County is asserting that Evil Olive and Beauty Bar, both in Noble Square, have ducked paying their share for years, while the owners argue their venues are too small to be taxed under the ordinance.
CBS Chicago: Chicago Man ‘Giving Up’ On Illinois, Moves To Indiana
Fed up and heading out.
One Illinois resident is so done with the state, he is outta here.
His name is David Mansfield. He is tired of everything from not having a state budget to a possible teachers strike in Chicago.
And he’s not alone, CBS 2’s Charlie De Mar reports.
Sun-Times: Emanuel backs off Sept. 14 vote, releases draft ordinance on COPA
Determined to rebuild public trust shattered by his handling of the Laquan McDonald shooting video, Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Tuesday he will not insist on a Sept. 14 vote on his proposal to abolish the Independent Police Review Authority and replace it with a new system of police accountability.
“I’m not gonna allow two weeks to be a stumbling block because we have built up a lot of good will and a lot of trust with each other. The ultimate goal we all share is to have an accountability system in place that has the integrity that everybody trusts and can rely on,” Emanuel said at an unrelated news conference outside Union Station.
Sun-Times: CPD: Fire cops for lying in McDonald shooting, not checking audio
The Chicago Police Department formally moved Tuesday to fire five Chicago Police officers in the fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald — including Officer Jason Van Dyke, who fired at the knife-wielding teen 16 times — and four other officers who allegedly lied in their accounts of what happened.
The Chicago Police Board, which metes out discipline in cases of alleged officer misconduct, received administrative charges seeking the firings of Van Dyke, Sgt. Stephen Franko and Officers Daphne Sebastian, Janet Mondragon and Ricardo Viramontes.