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Chicago Tribune: Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s agriculture chief resigns over his handling of ‘rape in Champaign’ email, governor’s office says
Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s top agriculture official resigned Sunday after the administration learned he knew in 2012 of an email in which a powerful lobbyist and close confidant of Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan sought leniency for a state worker who he said had “kept his mouth shut” about a “rape in Champaign.”
The resignation of John Sullivan, a former longtime state senator from Rushville in western Illinois, is the first tangible political fallout since the email was first reported last week by WBEZ, leading to a chorus of condemnation and calls for investigation.
Chicago Sun-Times: Mendoza seeks to end ‘exit bonus’ for lawmakers who resign in disgrace— pay for days not worked
As federal investigators hammer down on political corruption, Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza says she wants the state to stop paying lawmakers who resign in disgrace an “exit bonus” — a paycheck for days they’re not working.
According to the Illinois General Assembly Compensation Act, “a member who has held office any part of a month is entitled to compensation for an entire month.”
Crain's Chicago Business: What economists see for the Chicago housing market in 2020
If the nation’s longest recorded economic expansion somehow hasn’t already set off sparks in the housing market, three economists who spoke at real estate forecast events said last week, don’t expect this year to be any different.
“Considering we’re 10 years out from a global recession, by all measures we should be throwing a party,” George Ratiu, senior economist at Realtor.com, said at a 2020 forecast event hosted by the Chicago Association of Realtors on Jan. 9 at the Swissotel in Lakeshore East. Yet the housing market, in Chicago in particular, “is nowhere near where we should be.”
Chicago Sun-Times: Aldermen reluctantly OK $300,000 settlement tied to alleged sexual harassment at CPD
Chicago alderman on Monday begrudgingly agreed to spend $300,000 to compensate a police officer who claims she had sex with a boss who threatened to torpedo her career if she refused.
Without a word of debate, the City Council’s Finance Committee also took the highly unusual step of rejecting a $125,000 settlement to a woman who saw the police shooting of Laquan McDonald while the black teenager, knife in hand, walked away from police.
Chicago Tribune: Chicago aldermen reject proposed $125,000 lawsuit settlement for Laquan McDonald shooting witness
Aldermen took the rare step Monday of rejecting a proposed legal settlement, denying a $125,000 payout to a woman who witnessed the fatal shooting of black teen Laquan McDonald by a white Chicago police officer and said authorities afterward belittled her and accused her of lying about what she saw.
The proposed payment to Alma Benitez drew the ire of several aldermen when city lawyers recommended it last month, with some questioning why the city should pay her after she sued because of her treatment by investigators following the infamous 2014 shooting.
Northwest Herald: System Failure: DCFS investigator's death, 500-plus hours of overtime haunt child welfare system
Don Knight can’t wait any longer.
It’s been two years of waiting. Two years of pain. Two years too long.
Pamela Sue Knight, 59, Don’s wife, died from injuries suffered Feb. 8, 2018, only four months after the Department of Children and Family Services worker from Sterling was beaten into a coma by the father of a child she tried to take into protective custody.
Chicago Tribune: Chicago’s interim top cop calls Laquan McDonald scandal a ‘tipping point’ for reform
In remarks to civic leaders, interim Chicago police Superintendent Charlie Beck called the fatal police shooting of Laquan McDonald a “tipping point” that must lead the department toward reform and reestablishing trust in minority neighborhoods.
Beck, the former longtime Los Angeles police chief and Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s surprise pick last month to temporarily lead the department, drew comparisons between the reform paths that police in LA and Chicago were forced to undertake in the wake of major scandals.
Chicago Sun-Times: Marijuana consumption ordinance vote delayed again
Three days after claiming she had the votes, Mayor Lori Lightfoot Monday called off this week’s City Council showdown on her plan to create licensed places for on-site consumption of recreational marijuana.
“We continue to receive helpful feedback on our proposed consumption ordinance,” mayoral press secretary Anel Ruiz wrote in a late-afternoon email to the Chicago Sun-Times.
The Center Square: Illinois to begin replacing pickup truck plates in 2020
Trucks in Illinois with older license plates will soon need new plates, Secretary of State Jesse White announced Friday that his office will begin phasing out the oldest B-Truck plates beginning this month.
It’s similar to the program White’s office started in 2017 with passenger vehicles. B-Truck plates that were made from 2002 through 2007 will be replaced this year. In 2021, B-Truck plates that were manufactured from 2008 through 2009 will be replaced and the process will operate continuously as such.
Daily Southtown: Bremen High School District 228 teachers set Jan. 27 strike date
After more than a year of contract talks that the teachers’ union says have now reached a stalemate, faculty in the 5,000-student Bremen High School District 228 say they will walk off the job Jan. 27.
The district’s Joint Faculty Association represents more than 350 teachers, counselors and other employees in the district and notified members early Monday of the strike date after union leadership met Sunday, according to union President Greg Fitch.