Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Daily Herald: 'Crazy.' 'Ridiculous.' Metra riders not happy with another fare hike
Metra riders greeted the fourth fare increase in as many years with glum faces and wishes for improved service even as agency leaders warn more pain could come if aid doesn’t materialize.
Hikes of up to 12.6 percent instituted today will mean one-way tickets jump by a quarter, 10-ride passes are up $4.25 to $7.75 and monthly passes rise from $9 to $12.50.
Champaign News-Gazette: Abolish traffic cameras
Government is not necessarily your friend.
Consider red-light traffic-enforcement cameras. They’re the biggest scam municipalities ever embraced, bogus safety measures designed to generate revenue through automated traffic enforcement.
Chicago, naturally, is one of the biggest offenders, raking in so much cash that city officials dare not even dream of getting rid of them.
Chicago Tribune: Emanuel's developer upcharge fee for neighborhood development raking in cash faster than expected
Chicago’s building boom is bringing in more money than expected for Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s program that collects millions in fees from downtown developments and sets them aside for projects in struggling neighborhoods, according to an internal City Hall memo.
In a letter to Emanuel written last week, Planning Commissioner David Reifman said more than $50 million in such fees are expected to be paid into the mayor’s fund this year.
Chicago Sun-Times: Despite law, medical examiner investigators go to fewer than 1 in 5 death scenes
The Cook County medical examiner’s office routinely fails to send investigators to the scene of suspicious deaths, a Chicago Sun-Times investigation has found, despite being required by law to do so.
Over the past three years, the medical examiner’s investigators have gone out on fewer than one in five cases.
Daily Herald: Could higher sales tax prevent property tax increase in Naperville?
Naperville chose not to raise its home-rule sales tax last fall, but the idea is coming up again and the result could be different.
Mayor Steve Chirico said council members who hesitated to raise the tax from 0.5 percent now might be ready to authorize the increase because the city completed a review of spending, made two rounds of cuts and still had to raise property taxes.
The Southern: State ethics agency to look into hiring of chancellor's family members at SIUC
An ethics inquiry into the hiring of Southern Illinois University Carbondale Chancellor Carlo Montemagno’s daughter and son-in-law has been passed from the university’s internal ethics office to the state inspector general, according to the SIU president.
On Thursday, SIU President Randy Dunn opened up two inquiries into hires related to the chancellor. One investigation involves the hiring of Melissa and Jeffrey Germain, Montemagno’s daughter and son-in-law, as part of negotiations of the chancellor’s employment. The other involves Montemagno’s reported recommendation of former colleagues to multiple campus positions.