Get the latest news from around Illinois.
The Center Square: Progressive tax opponent skeptical progressive income tax will help reduce Illinois’ high property taxes
Illinois voters decide whether to change the state’s flat income tax to a progressive one this November, but the chief proponent and opponent have been separately debating what it could mean for Illinois’ high property taxes.
Illinois has a flat income tax. Lawmakers have changed it several times over the past decade. Those changes affect all taxpayers the same, regardless of income. Democrats in the Illinois Legislature passed a proposed constitutional amendment to voters this November to change the flat income tax to a progressive structure with higher rates for higher earners.
Chicago Tribune: Chicago aldermen move to try to tighten up rules on outside employment for city officials
Amid questions about a red-light camera company paying government officials as consultants, Chicago aldermen on Thursday moved to tighten up rules on outside jobs for Chicago government employees with authority over city contracts.
The City Council Ethics Committee passed an ordinance designed to prevent commissioners and others in city departments who have decision-making power on who gets lucrative government deals from working for firms that are subcontractors on projects they oversee.
Daily Herald: Conversation on ending cash bail, mandatory minimums begins
Criminal justice reform is high on Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s agenda this year, but a legislative committee hearing Thursday in Chicago showed that reform advocates and the law enforcement community have widely differing views on the issue.
In January, Pritzker said ending cash bail and mandatory minimum sentences would be among his top priorities during the 2020 session, and those two subjects were the focus of Thursday’s hearings.
Chicago Sun-Times: Fired CPD Supt. Eddie Johnson and ousted Law Department spokesman land on city’s do-not-hire list
Former Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson and former Law Department spokesman Bill McCaffrey were both fired by Mayor Lori Lightfoot in December.
Now they have something else in common: Both have been added to the city’s do-not-hire list.
The Center Square: Bipartisan group of lawmakers, advocacy groups push for Illinois fair map amendment
A group of lawmakers from both sides of the aisle and several advocacy groups is turning up the pressure on the Illinois Legislature to pass an amendment to allow voters to change how legislative districts are drawn in Illinois.
The goal is to prevent gerrymandering of the state’s political boundaries. In Illinois, politicians control how legislative boundaries are drawn every ten years. This type of redistricting has been criticized as politicians picking their voters rather than voters picking their politicians.
Daily Herald: Franks tells McHenry County Board: 'I've done nothing wrong'
McHenry County Board Chairman Jack Franks maintained his innocence Thursday in the wake of revelations about an ongoing Illinois State Police investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct and asked that citizens reserve their judgment.
“I’m not going to say much about it today besides saying once again that I’ve done nothing wrong,” Franks said during a county board committee of the whole meeting. “And I will have more to say at the appropriate time.”
Chicago Sun-TImes: What does Lori Lightfoot value more in new top cop — community connection, or continuity?
In choosing a permanent replacement for fired Chicago Police Supt. Eddie Johnson, Mayor Lori Lightfoot must decide what she values most: community relations or not missing a beat on fighting crime.
Her choice is likely to come down to former Dallas Police Chief David Brown or Sean Malinowski, former chief of detectives for the Los Angeles Police Department. Brown is black, Malinowski white.
Chicago Tribune: Chicago to consider earlier Sunday liquor sales, in response to soccer fans
The image of the hard-drinking, or at least morning-drinking, soccer fan apparently has some basis in truth, at least in Chicago.
Fans of European soccer who want to drain pints while watching early Sunday matches in local watering holes helped prompt the City Council to move forward with a plan to push back the start time for liquor sales, an alderman said Thursday.