Get the latest news from around Illinois.
WTTW Chicago Tonight: What’s Behind State Workers’ Potential Strike?
There’s no guarantee Illinois government employees will strike, but the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31 has taken initial steps toward the unprecedented action.
Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration began negotiating with the state’s largest public employees union even before its last contract expired the summer of 2015. Dozens of bargaining sessions failed to bring about a compromise.
News-Gazette: To strike or not? State workers to weigh in
The pot won’t start to boil for at least another month, but unionized state employees are escalating their campaign to win a favorable union contract by scheduling a strike=authorization vote.
Roberta Lynch, the executive director of the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees union, last week announced that the union will hold the vote from Jan. 30 to Feb. 19. Lawyers for the Rauner administration immediately warned that — strike or not — the state will continue operations, and that striking employees may be putting their jobs at risk if they walk off the job.
State Journal-Register: Manar: Rauner should personally negotiate with AFSCME
Gov. Bruce Rauner should personally be involved in negotiations with the largest state employee union in the hopes of averting a strike, state Sen. Andy Manar said Monday.
Manar, a Democrat from Bunker Hill, said he believes the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees has made “significant movement” in the last few days and that the Republican governor’s administration should reciprocate.
Belleville News-Democrat: Lawmakers learn from used car dealers: 4.95 percent sounds so much cheaper
Illinois lawmakers took about 735 days after Gov. Bruce Rauner took office to figure out what 98 general assemblies before them instinctively knew: You can’t govern without compromise.
Republicans and Democrats in the Illinois Senate are actually talking and horse trading their way towards progress on a budget — that would be the thing that disciplines state spending that we’ve been without for 567 days and the purpose of which some may have forgotten. A minimum wage hike is being traded for workers’ comp reform. An income tax hike is offset by a property tax freeze. They are talking about pension reforms, borrowing to pay off the $10.9 billion pile of bills, term limits on the Senate president and more gambling.
The Southern: 'Grand bargain' on Illinois budget could be key to school funding reform, lawmakers say
The first bill introduced in the Illinois Senate during the new session of the General Assembly that began Wednesday is reserved for a long-awaited overhaul of the way the state funds public schools.
But a plan hasn’t been unveiled yet because a commission that Gov. Bruce Rauner convened this summer is still working out specifics.
Chicago Sun-Times: City bolsters mental health training after scathing DOJ report
Chicago is bolstering its response to emergencies involving people suffering from mental illness to address glaring deficiencies laid bare by the Justice Department.
An eight-hour course developed in partnership with EMS System Hospitals will allow paramedics, 911 personnel, police officers and mental health providers to engage in live, “scenario-based” simulations at Fire Academy South, 1338 S. Clinton.
Chicago Sun-Times: Feds say sworn-affidavit rule undercuts CPD misconduct probes
Citizens have to give a sworn affidavit when they file complaints against Chicago Police officers — a requirement that creates a “tremendous disincentive to come forward with legitimate claims,” according to the Department of Justice.
In a sweeping report released Friday about the use of excessive force by Chicago Police officers, the DOJ said about half of the complaints filed against cops are dropped because of a lack of an affidavit.
WTTW Chicago Tonight: Will DOJ Report Finally Force Reform at the Chicago Police Department?
In a damning report, the U.S. Department of Justice confirmed what many in minority communities had been saying for years. That, based on the evidence, the Chicago Police Department engages in a pattern and practice of using excessive force in violation of the Constitution.
“For decades, certain neighborhoods on Chicago’s South and West Sides have been disproportionately ravaged by gun violence … for Chicago to find solutions – short and long-term – for making those neighborhoods safe, it is imperative that the City rebuild trust between CPD and the people it serves, particularly in these communities,” the report states. “The City and CPD acknowledge that this trust has been broken. … It has been broken by systems that have allowed CPD officers who violate the law to escape accountability.”
Chicago Sun-Times: Rauner challenges for CSU go beyond hiring Vallas
Three years ago, Paul Vallas, then running for lieutenant governor of Illinois, accused Bruce Rauner, then running for governor, of measuring success by a single standard: Money.
“I think his wealth basically drives his policy,” said Vallas, a Democrat. “He measures his success by his wealth.”
Rockford Register-Star: No Illinois budget deal is complete without a proposal for a Rockford casino
There it is again. You knew it was coming. It’s as inevitable as death, taxes and Mike Madigan’s reelection as speaker of the House.
Rockford and casino. The two words have appeared in the same sentence every time Illinois faces a budget hole and lawmakers look for new revenue to fill it – which is just about every year since riverboat gambling was made legal in the 1990s.
QC Dispatch-Argus: Iowa, Illinois lawmakers talk forfeiture reform
Illinois and Iowa lawmakers are joining a national effort to reform civil asset forfeiture laws.
“It is one of my top priority issues for 2017,” said Rep. Will Guzzardi, D-Chicago.
News-Gazette: Head of Illinois Board of Higher Education stepping down
James Applegate, who became executive director of the Illinois Board of Higher Education less than three years ago, is stepping down.
Applegate, who has a doctorate and a master’s degree in communications from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, said he is leaving the IBHE “to pursue other opportunities to serve American higher education.”
State Journal-Register: Hotel association opposes tax increase to help fund cemetery
The group representing Springfield hotels doesn’t support Mayor Jim Langfelder’s proposed one-percentage-point increase in the city’s hotel tax rate.
“We’re against any type of tax increase on the hotel side of it,” said Springfield Hotel Lodging president Darin Dame. “If there was ever one, we would want one that would generate and go back into the hotels.”
Fox Illinois: Sen. Manar Gives Update On School Funding Reform
The school funding committee is just weeks away from a deadline when Governor Rauner said he hoped they would unveil legislation to change the way the state doles out money to local school districts.
State Senator Andy Manar, who has led the fight against school funding inequality for years, is on the committee.
Belleville News-Democrat: Belleville considers $20.6M plan for City Hall, police department HQ
The Belleville City Council will meet at 7 p.m. Tuesday to consider approving new costs for the renovation of City Hall and the design plans for the proposed athletics complex at Althoff Catholic High School.
The plan to renovate City Hall and move the police department to 720 W. Main St. will cost $20.6 million, up 11 percent from the original estimate of $18.5 million.