Get the latest news from around Illinois.
WTTW Chicago Tonight: ISBE Doubles Budget Request, Seeks $15B to Fund Evidence-Based Model
Approving a new evidence-based funding model for public education last year was the first step in improving Illinois’ long-broken formula. Now the state has to find a way to pay for it.
The Illinois State Board of Education on Wednesday unanimously approved its fiscal year 2019 budget request, seeking nearly twice as much funding from the state – approximately $15.7 billion – in order to help districts across Illinois find equity and meet their adequacy targets.
Peoria Journal-Star: Statehouse bill would connect rural Illinois schools to high-speed internet
More than 90,000 students across 100 school districts in rural Illinois would get access to high-speed internet under a bill proposed Wednesday by state lawmakers.
Proponents say the bill takes advantage of federal money earmarked for Illinois while bridging the digital divide that puts many rural school districts at a disadvantage compared to their urban counterparts.
Chicago Tribune: Emanuel doesn’t say whether city should challenge low commercial property assessments
Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday again dodged questions about whether he’s willing to challenge the assessments of downtown commercial properties that are out of whack with their market values, an imbalance that shifts more of the property tax burden onto the city’s residential taxpayers.
The subject surfaced at Wednesday’s City Council meeting, where Ald. Ricardo Munoz, 22nd, introduced a proposal that would require Emanuel’s Law Department to challenge assessments on seven large commercial buildings in or near the Loop. The proposed order, co-signed by 21 other aldermen so far, targets buildings that Munoz said were sold for more than twice as much as Cook County Assessor Joe Berrios valued them.
Chicago Tribune: Chicago wants in on another tech office chase after Apple says it plans new campus
Chicago has another technology behemoth to woo: Apple.
The city, which is waiting to find out if it’s a contender for Amazon’s planned second headquarters, learned Wednesday that another tech company that starts with an “A” is looking for a new campus.
Chicago Sun-Times: Aldermen lock in pre-election labor peace with 21 percent of city workforce
Labor peace is now guaranteed through the 2019 mayoral election — at least when it comes to 21 percent of the city’s workforce.
The City Council made certain of it Wednesday by unanimously approving a new five-year contract with nearly three dozen unions representing motor truck drivers, plumbers, laborers and members of the building trades.
Daily Herald: Former Dart employee admits to stealing $232,000
A former operations manager at Dart Container Corp. in North Aurora faces prison after admitting to a systematic theft of more than $232,000 by using company issued checks and a credit card over three years for personal expenses, a home improvement project and other items.
Kathleen A. Kibler, 58, formerly of Port St. Lucie, Florida, pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of felony theft of more than $100,000 in exchange for Kane County prosecutors’ dismissing other, less severe charges.
Daily Southtown: Treasurer wants Will County to sue University Park over alleged misappropriation of $1.2M
The Will County treasurer’s office is calling on county leaders to file suit against the village of University Park over its alleged misappropriation of an estimated $1.2 million in surplus TIF funds.
After learning of the alleged misappropriation, which a firm auditing University Park reported to the treasurer’s office last week, Treasurer Steve Weber wrote a letter to Will County State’s Attorney Jim Glasgow and County Board Majority Leader Jim Moustis asking county leaders to sue the village to recover the misappropriated money, Deputy Treasurer Brian McDaniel said.
Northwest Herald: Algonquin Township officials to hold special meeting
Algonquin Township will hold a special meeting Friday to pay contract workers who Highway Commissioner Andrew Gasser failed to pay before the township’s last meeting, and to allow trustees to discuss the recent firing of the supervisor’s former chief of staff, Ryan Provenzano, officials said.
Gasser failed to submit payment for contract workers who plowed snow before the township’s Jan. 10 meeting, officials said.
Daily Herald: West Chicago teachers could hold strike vote in 'near future'
West Chicago High School teachers on Wednesday discussed authorizing a strike — but made no decision — after declaring an impasse in contract talks that have dragged on for nearly two years.
Union leaders held the “deliberative” meeting one day after making little headway in a two-hour negotiating session with the school board’s bargaining team and a federal mediator.
Rockford Register-Star: Rockford mayor seeks limits to home rule powers
Mayor Tom McNamara will ask the City Council to approve limits on city powers that would take effect if voters approve a March 20 referendum to restore home rule authority in Rockford.
Home rule would grant the city greater authority to solve its own problems and implement local regulations, taxes and fees, McNamara said. Without it, the city’s options for governing itself are limited by the General Assembly in Springfield. McNamara said he would introduce what he calls “self-limiting” and accountability measures in response to residents and critics who worry that home rule authority can too easily be abused.
State Journal-Register: Lopez: ‘It’s a given’ board will pursue sales tax hike for Springfield school fixes
Springfield School Board President Adam Lopez says “it’s a given” the district will pursue a countywide one-cent sales tax referendum to fund major facility improvements.
“The only way to get what we want done is by the sales tax,” Lopez said.
Belleville News-Democrat: SWIC board votes to eliminate childcare service at Belleville campus
The Southwestern Illinois College Board of Trustees voted Wednesday to eliminate the Belleville campus’ childcare service, Kids’ Club.
Faculty, staff and students could use the service while they were on campus. But enrollment had been declining over the past several years, according to SWIC.
The Southern: Chester is owed $1.2 million in Menard utility bills; state also owes Pinckneyville, Du Quoin
On Jan. 4, the city of Chester sent its second hardship letter in four months to the Illinois Comptroller’s Office requesting payment for utility bills for the Menard Correctional Facility.
“This letter is to express the urgency to remedy the $1,231,818.48 owed to the City of Chester, Illinois, for utility services provided to the Menard Correctional Center and MSU (Medium Security Unit),” the letter from Chester Mayor Thomas Page and City Clerk Bethany Berner reads. “The state is more than one hundred and twenty (120) days behind in the payments to the City of Chester.”