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Champaign News-Gazette: State's economy off key
It’s important for people — and states — to be realistic about what they have to offer others and shore up what needs improvement.
That’s why Illinois, if it’s ever to fix its serious financial and governance woes, needs to get cracking on a self-improvement program aimed at bolstering its economy. Unfortunately, there’s no sign that the people who run this state have any interest in doing so.
Perhaps that’s why Crain’s Chicago Business recently ran an article by the Illinois Policy Institute’s Orphe Pierre Divougnuy that was headlined “Illinois: Land of Laggards.”
“I am an economist. So here’s what the numbers say about Illinois: This state does not have a healthy economy, and its business climate is unfriendly to job creators. It’s been this way for decades.”
Crain's Chicago Business: Rauner's big health care headache in 2018? Medicaid.
Gov. Bruce Rauner’s move to shake up a major Illinois Medicaid program and further privatize it sent shock waves around the state in 2017.
In managed care, the state pays private insurers to administer benefits to Medicaid recipients, with a focus on preventive care. The idea is to keep close tabs on recipients to improve their health, leading to lower medical costs.
Chicago Tribune: For sale: Historic bridge in Jackson Park
There’s a historic bridge for sale in Jackson Park.
And it’s not a con game.
The Columbia Bridge, widely known as the Clarence Darrow Memorial Bridge, is to be rebuilt in 2019.
But before the Chicago Department of Transportation can start construction on the new pedestrian bridge, the agency has to offer the old one to the public for possible reuse, said Mike Claffey, a spokesman for CDOT.
Chicago Sun-Times: Ballplayer sues White Sox over injury at Guaranteed Rate Field
An outfielder who was seriously injured during his Major League debut at Guaranteed Rate Field last summer is suing the White Sox and the state agency that manages the ballpark.
Dustin Fowler’s lawsuit, filed Friday, claims that the Sox and the agency were negligent in not securing the unpadded electrical box he collided with along the right field line during the June 29 game.
Northwest Herald: McHenry County Board passes resolution for state pension plan alternative
The McHenry County Board passed a resolution Tuesday night to approve an alternative for countywide elected officials who wish to opt out of the $35.8 billion Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund.
Approved with a 23-0 vote, the resolution creates a plan that would offer elected officials in nine county offices the opportunity to enroll in a deferred compensation plan with a one-to-one contribution match – but only if they do not participate in the IMRF.
Northwest Herald: McHenry County voters to weigh in on school district taxes
The McHenry County Board’s push for countywide tax relief has prompted an advisory referendum aimed at urging local school districts to reduce their property taxes.
The question, which will appear on the March ballot, comes on the heels of the county board’s decision last month to cut its own property tax levy by 11.2 percent. It will ask voters whether school districts should follow suit and cut their levies by at least 10 percent by 2020.
Decatur Herald & Review: ISU board OKs bonds
The Illinois State University board of trustees issued $60 million in bonds Saturday to refinance debt and acquire the Cardinal Court housing complex, with an eye toward savings related to proposed changes in federal tax law.
The decision, made during a special meeting, allows the university to maintain tax-exempt debt status on the new bonds. Total cash flow savings are estimated at least $24 million over the life of the new bonds.
The Southern: Hidden dangers: Additional cases of lead exposure in Cairo public housing complexes revealed
Over the course of roughly a decade, from 2004 to 2015, when James Wilson and Martha Franklin were in leadership roles at the Alexander County Housing Authority, 13 children living in ACHA properties tested with elevated blood lead levels of at least double — and in some cases triple or almost quadruple — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommended public health intervention level, according to data provided to the newspaper by Southern Seven Health Department.
Of those cases, each representing a unique child, 11 of the children were residing at the time at Elmwood or McBride, family public housing complexes in Cairo that Housing and Urban Development has slated for demolition. Two of the children were residing in the family public housing complex in Thebes known as Mary Alice Meadows.