Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Chicago Tribune: Rauner talks tax hikes, need for compromise, drawing Democratic laughter
Illinois’ broke and broken down state government was on full display Wednesday as Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner for the first time laid out his terms for potential tax hikes to dig the state out of a historic morass even as Democrats openly mocked his leadership.
Before the governor had entered the ornate House chambers to deliver his annual budget speech, at least a dozen Democrats had hung signs on their desks labeling Rauner’s proposal “fake news” and “alternative facts,” silent ribbing that later turned into outright laughter at points during his address.
Chicago Sun-Times: Rauner’s budget speech draws mix of support, signs and snickers
Amid laughter from some Democrats, a broken teleprompter and signs calling his budget address “fake news,” Gov. Bruce Rauner on Wednesday urged lawmakers to push forward with a Senate budget package and stop “pointing fingers.”
Later, the Republican governor presented a budget proposal that presses for revenue, reforms and cuts to fill a gaping $7.2 billion hole.
Crain's Chicago Business: Rauner spells out his terms to end budget standoff
Gov. Bruce Rauner today lays out his terms for finally ending the state’s two-year budget war, and they appear to be both more detailed and closer to a compromise than anything he’s produced up to now.
In excerpts of his annual budget speech released in advance of its midday delivery, Rauner made clear that, under certain circumstances, he’s prepared to support income and sales tax hikes. He also said a compromise on workers’ compensation “wouldn’t be hard to reach” and implied that even a deal on legislative term limits can be struck.
WTTW Chicago Tonight: Rauner Lays Out Budget Plan; Democrats Not Impressed
As Illinois staggers on – threatened and rudderless without a budget for the bulk of the past two years – Gov. Bruce Rauner on Wednesday was tasked with laying out a fiscal path forward.
“Now is the time to seize the moment – build on the progress made in recent weeks – and right our ship of state. Together, we can make Illinois more competitive and more compassionate. We can make the necessary changes to fix our broken system,” he said.
Peoria Journal-Star: Gov. Rauner rejects sales tax on food, medicine in budget speech
Gov. Bruce Rauner used his third budget speech Wednesday to break his silence on the Senate’s “grand bargain” and say he is against raising sales taxes on food and medicine and wants a permanent property tax freeze to compensate for a permanent income tax increase.
Rauner also outlined areas where he wants to increase state spending, including K-12 education, college grants for needy students and more investigators for the Department of Children and Family Services.
Peoria Journal-Star: Rauner's education, R&D tax credit proposals draw plaudits in Peoria
Though Gov. Bruce Rauner offered only a handful of specifics in the ritual budget speech Wednesday that came hours before his administration formally unveiled its spending proposal for the coming year, several drew approval for their potential local impact.
Those pertaining to tax credits and education received specific applause in central Illinois, where the impact could easily reach into the tens of millions of dollars.
Quincy Herald-Whig: Rauner pledges higher funding for schools, roads
After 20 months without a state budget, Gov. Bruce Rauner used Wednesday’s budget address to urge a bipartisan solution and promote a “grand bargain” put forward in the Illinois Senate.
“For the first time, legislators from both parties are standing together to say that Illinois must have structural change to grow our economy and create good jobs in every part of our state,” Rauner said.
Chicago Sun-Times: Time to come around for Illinois, Mike
So, Mike, the governor has tipped his hand that, with a little of this and a little of that, he just might be willing to sign on to this “grand bargain” budget deal being worked out in the Illinois Senate.
The question then becomes what it would take for you, the Speaker of the House, to get behind the deal, and we sure hope you agree that “just say no” no longer will fly.
Chicago Tribune: Illinois senators, fly the plane
For weeks Gov. Bruce Rauner declined to involve himself in fragile negotiations unfolding in the Illinois Senate. He finally spoke up Wednesday during his annual budget address, identifying changes he wants to see in a compromise package that would settle a budget impasse and implement pro-growth policy changes that have been tangled up in Springfield for years.
So what’s next? We say, game on.
Peoria Journal-Star: Why aren't Illinoisans blocking traffic in front of their Capitol?
The governor gave his annual budget address Wednesday. Not sure why he bothers, given the dead-on-arrival reception his proposals get in the Legislature.
Indeed, greeting him Wednesday were homemade signs placed on some Democratic lawmakers’ desks. One read, “Rauner budget = Fake news.”
State Journal-Register: Lawmakers need to agree on more than the need to work together
The reaction to one sentence spoken by Gov. Bruce Rauner during his budget address Wednesday will determine the next chapter of Illinois’ fiscal future.
“This is now a question of political will,” Rauner said in reference to the “grand bargain” budget compromise proposal that Senate President John Cullerton and Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno have been crafting since late December.
Chicago Tribune: AG Madigan, Rauner set for court clash on state worker pay Thursday
A Downstate judge Thursday afternoon will take up the question of whether or not state workers should continue to be paid in full in the midst of Illinois’ budget impasse after Attorney General Lisa Madigan called on the court to rethink its position on the matter.
The case dates back 20 months, to the beginning of the state budget stalemate, when Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and the unions who represent state workers asserted that public employees were entitled to full pay if they continued to work through the impasse. A St. Clair County judge issued an order agreeing with that stance. It has been in place ever since, giving legal cover for Comptroller Susana Mendoza and her Republican predecessor to issue paychecks even though there is no legislation in place to authorize the spending.
Belleville News-Democrat: Cook, Sangamon counties join us today for fried justice with a side of hand grenade
Well, now this is a special day and we’re wishing we’d baked a cake or fried up a mess of chicken for all the good people traveling from Chicago and Springfield to be with us here today. Locals often head to Springfield for a lobby day on behalf of education or farms or labor or guns, so it’s nice to have the state folks return the favor when they need something.
Yes, they could have settled all that fuss about continuing to pay state workers in a Cook County or a Sangamon County circuit courtroom, but they decided to come visiting right here in good old St. Clair County. We could wonder “why here” out of the 102 counties in Illinois, when all the participants are from elsewhere, but then we all know “why here,” right?
Crain's Chicago Business: Big-money race foreseen as Pritzker eyes Kennedy
One candidate is the multimillionaire son of slain Democratic icon Robert F. Kennedy. His potential top rival is the billionaire brother of recently resigned U.S. Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker.
The Democratic primary race for Illinois governor that may be shaping up between Chris Kennedy and Jay Robert “J.B.” Pritzker has the potential to pit two of the nation’s top political and fundraising families against each other while also placing leading Democrats in the awkward spot of picking between them.
Chicago Tribune: Federal judge rejects lawsuit demanding elected school board
A federal judge this week rejected an effort by a group of residents and former Gov. Pat Quinn to force the city to adopt an elected school board.
In a lawsuit filed in October, Quinn and his fellow plaintiffs argued that a mayoral-appointed board violated the group’s constitutional and civil rights, and that the board raises the issue of taxation without representation.
WBEZ: CPS CEO Forrest Claypool Says ‘Radical Funding Gap’ Is Unique to Chicago
One day after Chicago Public Schools sued the state and Gov. Bruce Rauner over a school funding system it says discriminates against the city’s mostly-minority students, CPS CEO Forrest Claypool predicted that his suit will succeed where others have failed.
Unlike other lawsuits alleging discriminatory state funding, including a 2008 Urban League lawsuit against the state of Illinois that is ongoing, CPS’ suit is narrowly tailored and unique, Claypool said on WBEZ’s Morning Shift on Wednesday.
Peoria Journal-Star: State could face another school funding lawsuit
Illinois Valley Central School is the first area school district to vote to sue the state of Illinois for inadequate school funding.
Board members passed a resolution unanimously at Tuesday’s meeting.
Chicago Tribune: City Council advances Emanuel's Airbnb tweaks
Chicago aldermen on Wednesday recommended tweaking rules to limit access to lists of people renting homes through Airbnb and similar online platforms, a move to bring the city in line with U.S. Supreme Court precedent as it battles two lawsuits challenging its home rental regulations.
Under Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s proposed changes, people who rent out their homes would no longer have to make customer lists available to city inspectors upon request. Instead, obtaining the lists would require a search warrant or subpoena.
Chicago Sun-Times: Aldermen hear complaints, vote to stifle downtown street music
Imagine listening to the “Bucket Boys” — not one group, but three of them — for 10 hours a day. Try talking on the phone, watching TV or reading a book while enduring that racket.
That’s the ear-splitting dilemma downtown residents described Wednesday to justify the latest in a series of crackdowns on downtown street musicians.
Chicago Sun-Times: Progressive Caucus turns up heat on Emanuel over police reforms
The City Council’s Progressive Caucus on Wednesday turned up the heat on Mayor Rahm Emanuel to articulate his plan to implement police reforms recommended by the U.S. Justice Department — with or without a consent decree.
Emanuel has signed an agreement in principle to negotiate a consent decree and has promised to implement the top-to-bottom reforms tied to the Justice Department’s scathing indictment of the Chicago Police Department.
Chicago Sun-Times: Beale says he has the votes to curb honorary street signs
An influential alderman said Wednesday he has the votes to curb the City Council’s political addiction to honorary street designations but only after seven more signs are added to the list, including one honoring Oscar Lopez Rivera.
“As of right now, I do have the votes,” Transportation Committee Chairman Anthony Beale (9th) said Wednesday, on the eve of the vote.
Rockford Register-Star: New Amerock agreement could make Rockford the owner of a downtown conference center
Mayor Larry Morrissey next week will ask the Rockford City Council to back a new agreement that could make the city the owner of a 40,000-square-foot downtown convention center.
Morrissey is working with Gorman & Company on a new development agreement aimed at transforming the 13-story former Amerock factory into a $77 million Rockford Hilton Embassy Suites & Conference Center. The redevelopment project has been in the works for years. This is the third version of the development agreement that the city has considered as Gorman has struggled to obtain the necessary financing and bring the project to fruition.
State Journal-Register: Springfield aldermen: Find a way for CWLP to repay bailout
Money that the city of Springfield transferred to City Water, Light and Power to shore up the utility’s finances two years ago cannot be recovered under current city rules, corporation counsel Jim Zerkle told the Springfield City Council Tuesday.
But a few aldermen said Wednesday the city should look for another way to make the repayment happen.
NPR Illinois: Civil Asset Forfeiture Critics Complain Innocent People Pay
The police took away a 70-year-old Moline woman’s car when her grandson drove it with a revoked license. “Why am I being punished?” Judy Wiese asked a reporter last year at the Rock Island County courthouse. After the story made headlines, a lawyer stepped forward and helped her out, pro bono — and the grandmother got her Jeep back.
“There’s no way you can’t hear those stories and think something’s wrong with the system,” says Rep. Will Guzzardi, a Chicago Democrat, who has introduced a bill in the Illinois House that would overhaul the state’s civil asset forfeiture laws.
Belleville News-Democrat: After years of opposition, IDOT shelves Gateway Connector project
A protection corridor set up to allow for a possible Illinois 158 expansion between Troy and Columbia, known as the Gateway Connector, has been abolished, the Illinois Department of Transportation said.
IDOT Region 5 Engineer Jeffrey Keirn, in a notice to people who would have potentially been affected by the Gateway Connector, said the corridor had been abolished by IDOT.