Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Chicago Tribune: Gov. J.B. Pritzker says lobbyist and Michael Madigan confidant should cooperate in federal probe, compares language used in ‘rape in Champaign’ email to that of a ‘crime syndicate’
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Tuesday that a powerful lobbyist and close confidant of Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan should cooperate with federal investigators, and compared the language the man used in an email lauding an official for keeping quiet about a “rape in Champaign” to that of a “crime syndicate.”
In his first public comments since top agriculture official John Sullivan resignedamid fallout over the email, Pritzker criticized Mike McClain for shrugging off a question about whether he was cooperating with federal investigators in a sweeping probe that reaches from Chicago to Springfield.
Crain's Chicago Business: What will it take for pols to get serious about our property tax pain?
Too bad the state’s political leaders don’t see it that way. Their indifference shines through in a draft report by a task force that was formed by lawmakers last spring to explore solutions to a property tax crisis that’s driving people and businesses out of Illinois while driving down property values across the state.
State Journal-Register: House GOP: State doesn’t need more revenue for property tax relief
Several House Republicans said Tuesday the state doesn’t need to raise other taxes in order to provide property tax relief.
At a Statehouse news conference, the Republicans also continued to complain that most of their ideas for property tax relief were rejected by Democrats in control of the of a legislative task force formed last year to explore ways of providing property tax relief.
Chicago Sun-Times: In about-face, Lightfoot gets behind watered-down plan to stop gentrification along the 606 trail
Mayor Lori Lightfoot Tuesday did an abrupt about-face and embraced a watered-down plan to freeze development along the wildly-popular 606 trail to prevent longtime residents from being priced out.
Instead of freezing new construction for 14 months, the revised ordinance will last for six months and apply only to demolition permits.
The Center Square: Bipartisan effort underway to end Illinois taxpayers covering 'exit bonus' for lawmakers who resign early
Elected officials are getting behind a bipartisan effort to prevent Illinois taxpayers from having to pay out what some call an “exit bonus” to state lawmakers who resign from office.
It comes after several state lawmakers resigned from their seats on the first of the month, but still got paid for the entire month.
Chicago Tribune: University of Illinois President Tim Killeen primed for 40% raise, 4-year contract extension
The president of the state’s largest public university could receive a big pay raise as trustees try to keep him in the post for four more years.
A pending contract proposal for Tim Killeen, who leads the three-campus University of Illinois system, would continue his contract as president for four more years, until July 2024 — the longest extension allowed under state law. Killeen first assumed the job in 2015, overseeing universities in Urbana-Champaign, Chicago and Springfield.
The Center Square: Republicans again criticize lack of changes to reduce high property taxes in Illinois
Illinois Republicans continued to criticize the Democratic majority for failing to produce a report with recommendations to reduce the state’s high property taxes, which have been pegged as the second-highest in the nation.
Last spring, state lawmakers passed a measure creating the Property Tax Relief Task Force. The group, made up of 88 lawmakers, was supposed to produce a report with recommendations before the end of 2019, but didn’t.
Chicago Sun-Times: State should allow cannabis cafes that serve edible pot products, aldermen say
Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s decision to call off a City Council showdown on her plan to create licensed places for on-site consumption of recreational marijuana will leave Chicagoans temporarily searching for places to smoke the weed they buy.
But, it also gave African-American aldermen an opening to recommend changes to make the ordinance more equitable.
Chicago Sun-Times: County Finance Committee set to approve $165K settlement in ‘political discrimination’ case
A Cook County committee is set to approve a $165,000 settlement for a woman fired after she objected to being overruled in her recommendation for the selection of a watchdog charged with helping to keep politics out of hiring in the office of then Recorder of Deeds Karen Yarbrough.
Jeannette Soto was the director of human resources in the recorder’s office, and in late March of 2017 she was tasked with helping to find a new director of compliance for that office, according to the suit, which was filed in 2018.
Crain's Chicago Business: Legal weed? Check. A place to consume it? Well...
While marijuana has been legal in the state for two weeks, Chicago’s attempt to give cannabis consumers a place to smoke or consume edibles outside their home halted for the second time this month, as Mayor Lori Lightfoot pulled the plug on a vote to let some tobacco shops also function as consumption sites.
Her sights seem set on Springfield to find middle ground on consumption and, potentially, a city-owned co-op. According to Lightfoot’s floor leader, Ald. Gilbert Villegas, 36th, conversations have already begun with the Chicago delegation and the state’s weed czar, Toi Hutchinson.
Chicago Tribune: Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s on-site recreational weed smoking plan isn’t going to move forward this month
Despite previously saying she had the City Council votes and wanted to move forward on a plan to allow people to smoke weed in Chicago tobacco shops, Mayor Lori Lightfoot will not present the ordinance to the City Council this week, her administration said Tuesday.
The mayor’s team will head to Springfield to try to get state lawmakers to make several changes to the laws governing where people can publicly smoke cannabis, which could delay the implementation for several months or longer as the amendments make their way through the legislature.
Chicago Sun-Times: Seniors now able to apply for multi-year homeowners property tax break this year
Senior citizens who own their own homes in Cook County can now immediately apply for a multi-year tax exemption — allowing them to more quickly avoid the task of having to apply for the tax break every year.
On Monday, Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a bill into law that will speed up the process for seniors to receive the break on their property taxes.