Get the latest news from around Illinois.
The Center Square: Report: Illinois has second-highest property taxes in nation
It may not come as a surprise to residents that a new report again found Illinois’ property taxes were the second-highest in the nation, but the debate about how to address the problem continues, including among members of the Illinois Property Tax Relief Task Force.
Behind only New Jersey, Illinois had the second-highest property taxes in the U.S., according to the latest report from WalletHub. The consumer finance website found the average property taxes on a $205,000 home in Illinois were $4,700. The same $205,000 house in Kentucky or Indiana would come with a $1,760 property tax bill.
Chicago Sun-Times: Firefighters making renewed push for pension bill that could saddle city with $30M in annual costs
The Chicago Firefighters Union Local 2 is making a renewed push to increase retirement benefits for 2,200 of its members at a heavy cost to taxpayers: $18 million the first year and $30 million every year after that.
The bill was introduced by state Rep. Robert Martwick, D-Chicago, a political nemesis of Mayor Lori Lightfoot, before Martwick was appointed to the Illinois Senate to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of state Sen. John Mulroe.
Crain's Chicago Business: U.S. home prices had a good December. Then there's Chicago.
Chicago-area home values tied New York’s for the slowest December growth pace among 20 major U.S. cities, according to national indices released this morning.
Single-family home values in Chicago and New York rose 1 percent in December compared with the same month in 2018, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices. Only two cities among the 20 had growth below 2 percent for the month.
Chicago Tribune: Rod Blagojevich accused of ‘moral turpitude’ at hearing on his law license
Rod Blagojevich was famously convicted of an array of brazen corruption schemes as governor, but in a cramped administrative hearing room on Tuesday he was accused of something else.
Moral turpitude.
The Center Square: Volcker Alliance gives Rauner’s final budget failing marks
In fiscal year 2018, Illinois didn’t have a budget due to the ongoing feud between former Gov. Bruce Rauner and the Democratically-controlled General Assembly. In the months before a tenuous general election, the two sides agreed on a 2019 budget that the nonprofit Volcker Alliance now says was, in some ways, just as bad as not having a budget at all.
The New York-based nonprofit recently released its third annual report on all of the states’ individual budgeting prowess.
Rockford Register Star: Alan Beaman of Rockford renews fight against town of Normal, former officers for wrongful conviction
Alan Beaman, who spent 13 years in prison for a murder he did not commit, has taken his fight to the state Supreme Court in an effort to have a jury hear his lawsuit against the town of Normal and three former police officers.
Beaman, who lives in Rockford, filed a petition Tuesday to ask the state’s high court to take his case. His lawsuit, filed in McLean County Court in 2014, alleges that the town and officers conspired to convict him of murder by influencing officers to identify him as the only suspect, even though there was evidence that he was about 120 miles north in Rockford that day.
Chicago Tribune: City watchdog says Chicago’s arrest diversion program for youth can’t be evaluated due to poor record keeping and lack of collaboration
Ferguson’s report, however, concluded that poor record keeping — including improper destruction of records — and a lack of collaboration between the Chicago Police Department and the Department of Family and Support Services, which ran the program jointly, prevented reaching definitive conclusions.
“The city cannot determine whether over the past 14 years it has created positive or negative outcomes for over 3,000 youth processed each year, nor calculate the return on its $5 million annual investment,” a statement from Ferguson said.
Shaw Media Illinois: Project Ventus tax incentive package approved by DeKalb school board
DeKALB – An unknown knowledge-based company eyeing DeKalb’s southside is one step closer to solidifying a tax incentive package to entice it to choose DeKalb for a $800 million investment.
The development, known as Project Ventus, comes on the heels of Ferrara Candy Company’s announcement they it will invest $100 million into the ChicagoWest Business Center and build a 1.6 million-square-foot distribution facility, bringing with them 1,000 jobs. Ventus’ investment would be significantly more ($800 million to build on the 900,000-square-foot space in ChicagoWest) and bring with it 50 high-end jobs.