Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Chicago Tribune: Rauner scores victory over AG Madigan, state workers will keep getting paid during impasse
State employees will continue to be paid in full after a downstate judge Thursday opted to keep checks flowing during Illinois’ historic 20-month budget stalemate.
St. Clair County Circuit Judge Robert LeChien rejected a request from Attorney General Lisa Madigan that he undo a previous ruling, saying he didn’t want to create a game of chicken between Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and the Democrats who control the General Assembly, with state workers being left as victims in the game.
Chicago Sun-Times: Lisa Madigan to appeal denial of request to halt state worker pay
A judge on Thursday denied a request by the Illinois attorney general to stop paying state workers unless lawmakers resolve an ongoing budget impasse.
Attorney General Lisa Madigan said she will appeal the judge’s ruling, noting the state’s constitution requires an enacted appropriation for state spending.
State Journal-Register: Rauner administration says Mendoza decision on payroll could jeopardize services
Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration says Comptroller Susana Mendoza could jeopardize some state operations from her decision to pay some 400 state workers out of accounts other than the general checkbook account.
In a letter to Mendoza’s office, the Department of Central Management Services questioned the Democrat’s decision to pay the 400 workers out of two state revolving funds rather than the general revenue fund. CMS said the revolving funds support the state’s vehicle fleet and buildings.
State Journal-Register: State budget gap could be more than $7 billion
The gap between spending and revenue in Gov. Bruce Rauner’s budget plan could hit $7 billion if lawmakers don’t approve money-saving ideas sought by the governor, Rauner’s budget director told Illinois senators Thursday.
Budget director Scott Harry told members of the Senate’s two appropriations committees that there are about $3 billion in savings proposals contained in the spending plan Rauner submitted to the General Assembly Wednesday. Those proposals include such things as changing state employee health insurance, creating a new pension plan for newly hired workers and selling the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago.
NBC 5 Chicago: Illinois Sens. Low on Office Supplies Due to Budget Impasse: Report
Illinois senators were told this week to conserve paper, printer ink and toner after the Senate’s office supply vendor stopped accepting orders due to a lack of payment related to the state’s nearly two-year budget impasse, the Chicago Tribune reports.
Kristin Richards, Senate President John Cullerton’s chief of staff, reportedly sent an email Wednesday to senators outlining the situation.
Chicago Tribune: Emanuel mocks Rauner with pledge of $1,000 to charity for evidence of budget plan
Mayor Rahm Emanuel mocked Gov. Bruce Rauner in a lengthy rant Thursday, saying he would donate $1,000 to charity if a reporter could provide evidence the governor has presented a full state budget plan while in office.
“I’ve asked the Police Department to get the hound dogs out to go find it. I’m giving you a thousand dollars to the charity of your choice. Find me the governor’s budget,” Emanuel said after a reporter asked him to comment on Rauner’s spending plan. “Produce it, line by line, like every chief executive has to do.
Fox Illinois: Illinois Farmers Could Take A Hit If Mexico Ends Corn Trading With U.S.
The United States relationship with Mexico has been rocky since President Trump took office. Now, local farmers could be paying the price. A senator in Mexico wants to end the country’s corn trade with the United States, which would hit Illinois hard, considering it’s one of the country’s top corn distributors.
If the bill is passed in Mexico, the state of Illinois could lose millions of dollars. Local farmers said this will not just impact them, but the effect could hurt everyone.
Associated Press: College admissions bill advances in Illinois House
An Illinois House committee has cleared a proposal that would require public universities to admit first-time freshman applicants who finish with a GPA in the top 10 percent of their high school’s graduating class.
The House Higher Education Committee passed the bill Wednesday despite opposition from the University of Illinois and the Illinois Board of Higher Education, the Champaign News-Gazette reported.
Chicago Tribune: He raised the speed limit to 70 mph, now Jim Oberweis wants 75 mph
Is onetime lead foot state Sen. Jim Oberweis slowing down now that he’s in his eighth decade?
Count us confused.
State Journal-Register: Sign of trouble as IDOT scolds Metamora
On the edge of town, there’s a sign of trouble.
For four years, a sturdy sign — brick-and-mortar columns supporting an electronic message board — has been greeting Illinois 116 motorists crossing the western village limit about 10 miles east of Peoria.
It’s big. It’s bold. It’s catchy.
And it’s illegal.
Chicago Tribune: Chicago Public Schools 'on the brink'
Chicago Public Schools leaders heaved a legal long shot this week to extract more education money from Springfield.
The Chicago Board of Education sued Gov. Bruce Rauner and the Illinois State Board of Education, accusing the state of operating “separate and unequal systems of funding for public education in Illinois.” The suit, filed Tuesday in the Cook County Chancery Division, alleges Illinois spent 74 cents to educate CPS’ predominantly minority children for every dollar it spent on the predominantly white children outside of Chicago in 2016. The suit claims CPS received 15 percent of Illinois’ 2016 school funding, despite having nearly 20 percent of Illinois students.
WTTW Chicago Tonight: CTU President Karen Lewis on CPS Funding, ‘Fake Fight’ of Lawsuit
On Tuesday, Chicago Public Schools filed suit against the state of Illinois alleging that the school funding system is racially discriminatory.
CPS chief Forrest Claypool on Wednesday laid out the basis for the lawsuit on Chicago Tonight.
Chicago Sun-Times: Aviation Committee advances Midway concession makeover
The gravy train arrived at City Hall on Thursday. It departed with a 15-year agreement to overhaul and operate concessions at Midway Airport.
The City Council chambers were filled with lobbyists, movers-and-shakers and assorted hangers on as the Aviation Committee signed off on a high-stakes contract with a clout-heavy group known as Midway Partnership LLC.
Chicago Tribune: Alderman questions political operative's piece of lucrative Midway concessions deal
A major contract for updated and expanded concessions at Midway Airport cleared an initial hurdle Thursday despite questions about the involvement of a political operative who has worked for Mayor Rahm Emanuel and former Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
The mayor has pitched the lucrative, 15-year deal as a way to create new jobs, increase the Southwest Side airport’s concession area by more than 50 percent, boost city sales tax collections and increase the amount of involvement of minority- and female-owned businesses.
Chicago Tribune: Former Obama aide fined $90,000 for illegally lobbying Emanuel on Uber's behalf
A former Uber senior executive who once served as Barack Obama’s campaign manager has been fined $90,000 by the Chicago Board of Ethics for illegally lobbying Mayor Rahm Emanuel on behalf of the ride-sharing company.
The board voted 5-0 to find that David Plouffe violated city ethics rules by failing to register as a lobbyist after contacting Emanuel to help the company on regulations for picking up travelers at Chicago’s two airports.
Chicago Tribune: Alderman: Emanuel dropped F-bomb at me over property tax rebate proposal
Since becoming mayor in 2011, Mayor Rahm Emanuel for the most part has ditched his famous affinity for combativeness and profanity — at least in public.
Not so much in private, according to multiple accounts the past six years, perhaps the best known of which came early in Emanuel’s tenure during a meeting with Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis.
Chicago Tribune: Chicago plan would make it harder for aldermen to award honorary street signs
The brown honorary street signs that sprout from light poles across Chicago likely will start to get culled under a plan that will head to the City Council next week.
For decades, the signs have been a form of political currency, a way for aldermen to reward supporters and neighborhood luminaries with a little aluminum panel of civic immortality. The City Council has approved about 1,500 of the signs the past 50 years.
Rockford Register-Star: Winnebago County may be on the hook for $300,000 sheriff's deputy buyout
Former Winnebago County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Kurt Ditzler is the subject of a civil suit filed by his former employer.
The Sheriff’s Department filed the complaint on Dec. 15 seeking to pull out of a settlement agreement with Ditzler after learning the pact would provide Ditzler a “significant benefit at a substantial cost to the county.”