Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Chicago Sun-Times: Rauner delays leaders meeting, wants Dem budget proposal
Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration and Republican leaders are delaying a planned legislative leaders meeting Thursday in Chicago, saying they’ll reconvene when Democratic leaders are prepared to present a budget proposal.
“The governor and Republican leaders remain ready to negotiate on a balanced budget with reforms to grow jobs, lower property taxes, improve schools and implement term limits,” Rauner deputy chief of staff Lance Trover said in a statement. “However, Democratic leaders continue to discuss internally whether they are prepared to present a budget proposal, so we will schedule the next Four Leaders meeting when we receive confirmation that they are ready.”
Chicago Tribune: Rauner postpones meeting with top lawmakers
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner’s office has put off a scheduled Thursday morning meeting with legislative leaders, leaving it unclear when the two sides will reconvene talks on a spending plan for state government.
Following a Tuesday huddle in which the two sides emerged with differing ideas about the way forward in negotiations, Rep. Greg Harris, a Chicago Democrat who has been attending the meetings, said Rauner had asked Democrats to provide a budget proposal of their own. Democrats, led by House Speaker Michael Madigan, “did not agree to that,” Harris said.
Associated Press: Rauner signs bill sparing 2 nuclear plants
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner has approved a plan providing billions of dollars in subsidies to Exelon Corp. to keep two unprofitable nuclear plants from closing prematurely.
The Republican appeared at Riverdale High School in Port Byron on Wednesday to sign legislation he said will save thousands of jobs by rewarding Exelon for producing carbon-free energy.
Chicago Tribune: ComEd customers face $2 bump in delivery charge after rate hike OK'd
The Illinois Commerce Commission has approved a 5 percent increase in the annual delivery rate for ComEd, expected to generate $127.5 million in additional revenue for the utility in 2017.
Most ComEd residential customers will see their bills go up by about $2 per month beginning in January, the company said Wednesday.
Chicago Tribune: Second Chicago Public Schools budget OK'd; third may have to be drawn up
The Chicago Board of Education on Wednesday signed off on a $5.5 billion operating budget that features a gaping hole left by Gov. Bruce Rauner’s veto of legislation that would have provided $215 million in pension help.
While school officials expressed hope the General Assembly would overturn Rauner’s veto, they acknowledged the district could be forced to refigure its budget for the third time this fiscal year.
Chicago Tribune: CPS' watchdog says district is blocking his probe of top attorney
Chicago Public Schools’ top watchdog told the school board Wednesday that the district has stalled his investigation of a possible ethics violation involving its top attorney by invoking attorney-client privilege.
Inspector General Nicholas Schuler’s office had been looking into whether a $250,000 contract awarded to Jenner & Block, the law firm where CPS general counsel Ronald Marmer was formerly a partner, amounted to a breach of the school board’s ethics policy. In a March 30 disclosure statement, Marmer acknowledged he receives severance payments from the firm.
Chicago Sun-Times: Parents say CPS pits special ed students’ needs vs. others
Chicago Public Schools officials gave a lengthy presentation Wednesday to the Board of Education about how special education students are the district’s first priority.
To put it mildly, that is not a widely held view of the people who rely on the district for special ed services, which is why the presentation was necessary in the first place.
Chicago Sun-Times: Parents protest CPS changes in special-education funding
Caroline Bilicki’s son does not have special needs, but that did not stop her from joining a group of LSC members at City Hall Wednesday to protest changes in Chicago Public School special education spending.
Bilicki, a parent representative on the local school council at Disney II, has seen her son’s language class balloon to 35 students as the school tries to deal with funding cuts while meeting the needs of its special education students. She believes the needs of special education students — already massively under-supported in many cases, she said — are intruding on her son’s education.
Associated Press: Comptroller: State employee bonuses on hold during impasse
Comptroller Susana Mendoza says state employees promised bonuses will now have to wait to receive them during the ongoing budget impasse.
The office that controls Illinois’ checkbook announced Wednesday that payments to social services and public safety come first.
Belleville News-Democrat: Removing corruption with cold water, rag when bleach, power-washer is required
Don’t ask. Don’t tell: That’s how corruption seeps into the many, many cracks of the metro-east. Not to see Fred Bathon is to be clueless; to see his corruption is an inconvenience. Best to ignore or plead ignorance because scrubbing it clean is a hard, messy job.
We just saw Oliver Hamilton take $230,000 on a government credit card, defraud East St. Louis of $25,000 to fix a shack that wasn’t fixed and enrich himself with drywall and landscaping jobs that came to him because he was connected. All the while living above it all atop the bluffs — not among the area’s poorest residents where this parasite went to feed.
The Southern: Illinois Community College Board adopts formula to distribute $3 million in emergency funds
The Illinois Community College Board adopted a formula Wednesday to distribute $3 million in emergency funds to community colleges in need.
Under the 2017 Budget Implementation bill, the Illinois Board of Higher Education must consult with the ICCB for community college financial emergencies. At a Nov. 23 special meeting, the IHBE passed a resolution reserving $3 million for community colleges in the state.
State Journal-Register: Jimmy John's settles non-compete lawsuit with Illinois AG
The Jimmy John’s sandwich-shop chain has agreed to end a non-compete clause with Illinois workers through a settlement announced Wednesday by the state Attorney’s General’s Office.
The Champaign-based company drew national attention by requiring workers, including delivery drivers, to sign agreements barring them from working for competing sandwich chains for two years after leaving the company or from working for businesses within three miles of a Jimmy John’s that earned more than 10 percent of revenue from sandwiches. There are more than 300 Jimmy John’s locations in Illinois, including five in Springfield and a location in Chatham.
Daily Herald: Rejected tollway engineers may come back -- for six months
After previously dumping longtime consulting engineer AECOM Technical Services, Illinois tollway directors renewed a $8.5 million contract with the firm — for six months.