Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Crain's Chicago Business: Why didn't the new governor address Illinois' greatest crisis?
We suspect good manners had little to do with Pritzker’s silence on the topic of pensions on his inauguration day, however. As Crain’s columnist Joe Cahill observed, Pritzker’s Jan. 14 address went on for 2,600-plus words without ever mentioning the pension challenge. The governor found time, however, to vow to balance the state budget without “scapegoating state employees,” a signal he won’t ask the unions that helped elect him to share in the sacrifice necessary to put Illinois on a path back to solvency.
Champaign News-Gazette: Follow the money
Illinois can’t keep spending dollars it doesn’t have. Or can it?
A change in personalities at the top of the political ladder is always exciting, the public optimism associated with turnover usually representing a triumph of hope over experience.
That’s why Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker took the state by storm this week, starting with his inauguration on Monday and followed by a downstate appearance to promote jobs, issuing executive orders and signing legislation.
Chicago Tribune: Jason Van Dyke given relatively lenient sentence of under 7 years in prison for Laquan McDonald shooting
Former Chicago police Officer Jason Van Dyke was sentenced Friday to nearly seven years in prison for the fatal on-duty shooting of Laquan McDonald, bringing to a close one of the most racially fraught and socially significant chapters in recent Chicago history.
Van Dyke remained stoic as Cook County Circuit Judge Vincent Gaughan announced the sentence about 5:30 p.m. after a long day of often emotional testimony. Moments later, Van Dyke’s teenage daughter seated in the gallery burst into tears.
Northwest Herald: Some GOP legislators open to legal pot but not as a revenue-driven effort
During his inauguration speech Monday, Gov. J.B. Pritzker had a simple message on one of the most polarizing issues this legislative session.
“In the interests of keeping the public safe from harm, expanding true justice in our criminal justice system and advancing economic inclusion, I will work with the legislature to legalize, tax and regulate the sale of recreational cannabis in Illinois,” Pritzker said.
Chicago Tribune: Former Ald. Will Burns agrees to $5,000 fine for city lobbying violation
Former Hyde Park Ald. Will Burns has agreed to pay a $5,000 fine for lobbying the city too soon after he stepped down from the City Council and took a corporate job with vacation rental listing giant Airbnb.
Burns, a council ally of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, stepped down as alderman in early 2016 to become Airbnb’s Midwest director of policy.
Chicago Sun-Times: Ald. Edward Burke dumped as tax lawyer by developers of Lincoln Yards, ‘The 78’
For 10 years, Sterling Bay, one of Chicago’s biggest developers, used Ald. Edward M. Burke’s law firm Klafter & Burke to seek property tax cuts. But not anymore.
The firm behind the massive Lincoln Yards development proposed for the North Side has cut ties with Burke now that the alderman faces a corruption charge that threatens to send him to prison and end the reign of Chicago’s longest-tenured and most powerful City Council member.
Daily Herald: District 21 board OKs borrowing $45.5 million for AC, tighter security
Wheeling Township Elementary District 21 school board members Thursday approved borrowing $45.5 million to help fund tighter security at school entrances and air conditioning in all classrooms.
It’s the first bond issuance in a borrowing plan that totals $69 million for district capital projects authorized by voters last fall. A separate $23.5 million bond issue is planned in November 2021 as the district does facility work expected to take a total of four years.
Rockford Register-Star: Rockford: Winnebago County owes city $5M for elections
Mayor Tom McNamara will not consider supporting the consolidation of Rockford and Winnebago County election offices until the city is paid the more than $5 million he says the county owes for election services.
According to the Rockford Board of Election Commissioners, Winnebago County for two decades — from 1985 until the shortfall was discovered in 2005 — withheld payments from Rockford property taxpayers for election services. A portion of Rockford property tax revenue collected by the county on the city’s behalf under state law is designated for operations of the election board — an independent commission appointed by the 17th Circuit Court.