Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Associated Press: Janus case takes stage Monday at U.S. Supreme Court
America’s union leaders are about to find out if they were right to fiercely oppose Neil Gorsuch’s nomination to the Supreme Court as a pivotal, potentially devastating vote against organized labor.
The newest justice holds the deciding vote in a case — involving Mark Janus, an Illinois state worker from Springfield, and the union that represents him — to be argued Monday that could affect the financial viability of unions that are major supporters of Democratic candidates and causes. The unions represent more than 5 million government workers in 24 states and the District of Columbia who could be affected by the outcome. The other eight justices split 4 to 4 when the issue was last at the court in 2016.
Peoria Journal-Star: Legislators collect paycheck from Washington, pension from Illinois
Six term Wheaton Republican Peter Roskam is a powerful figure in the U.S. House, where he chairs a key panel on tax policy and wants to delay Medicare and Social Security benefits for millions of Americans by raising the eligibility age.
But Roskam — who has criticized his home state as a “fiscal basket case” and marshalled opposition to a federal rescue for Illinois’s troubled pension funds — began collecting his $37,452 annual pension from the state for his years as an Illinois lawmaker at the first legal opportunity last year when he turned 55.
Northwest Herald: Algonquin Township highway commissioner wants clerk to pay back $250 bonus from Bob Miller
Highway Commissioner Andrew Gasser wants Clerk Karen Lukasik to pay back a $250 bonus she received from former Highway Commissioner Bob Miller in 2016, according to court records.
Gasser’s attorney filed an amended complaint Tuesday tied to the highway commissioner’s June 1 lawsuit against Lukasik, Miller and Miller’s wife, Anna May Miller, who worked as road district secretary.
Northwest Herald: Algonquin Township Highway Department, Local 150 trade emails about possible settlement
Algonquin Township Highway Commissioner Andrew Gasser’s fight with the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150 now has a new legal term attached to the storyline:
Settlement.
Champaign News-Gazette: Quietly, Unit 4 expands with building purchase
Four years ago, prior to the Champaign school district paying $3.2 million for 80 acres of farmland on the city’s northernmost edge, it arranged a series of public meetings where community members could weigh in on where they thought the next Central High should be built.
But the district’s $3.4 million pending purchase of an office building at 502 W. Windsor Road didn’t merit the same kind of process, Unit 4 officials told The News-Gazette.