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WNIU: State Report Says Illinois Spending Could Exceed Tax Revenue By $13 Billion
State government is projected to spend as much as 13 billion dollars more than it will collect in taxes this year. That’s according to a recent report by the General Assembly’s bipartisan budget analysts.
Revenue manager Jim Muschinske notes that collection of sales tax has been essentially flat from July through November.
Illinois News Network: New jobs program available for SNAP recipients
Openings are still available for a pilot program the Illinois Department of Human Services (DHS) and Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) say is meant to provide job training for people who receive government food assistance, in order to help them become more self-sufficient and less reliant food stamps.
The program is called Employment Opportunities, Personalized Services, Individualized Training and Career Planning, or EPIC. It focuses on adults without children who are able to work but currently get benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
CBS 60 Minutes: Crisis in Chicago
The number of casualties in Chicago since last New Year’s Day has surged to a level more in line with a war zone than one of America’s great cities. More than 700 people were murdered. Over 4,000 shot. That’s more than Los Angeles and New York combined.
Gangs, guns and drugs have caused chaos in Chicago for years. But something new caught our attention. There’s been a drop in the kind of police work that law enforcement says is critical to preventing crime. Usually stops and arrests go up when violence is rising. So we went to Chicago to look for an explanation. What we found was a police department on its heels as the city suffered its worst bloodshed in 18 years.
NBC 5 Chicago: CPD Begins 2017 Initiatives to Reduce Violence
Following a deadly 2016, the Chicago Police Department announced plans Sunday to reduce the city’s violence in the new year.
Last year, five police districts on the South and West sides of the city accounted for the 65 percent increase in murders, according to a statement from Chicago Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. The majority of violence was not random, as more than 80 percent of shooting victims were identified by police as likely to be involved in gun violence. Attacks on officers also nearly doubled last year, Guglielmi said, which falls in line with statistics from the rest of the country.
Chicago Sun-Times: Another long-term casualty of state budget crisis
There is a lot to see at the Illinois State Museum. But few are bothering to visit.
The 139-year-old museum was an early casualty of the nasty state budget impasse between Gov. Bruce Rauner and House Speaker Michael Madigan. Rauner shuttered it in October 2015 to save money.
Chicago Sun-Times: Plenty of Illinois Dems in the mix to challenge Rauner
Two congresswomen, two state senators, a billionaire, an heir of a political dynasty, the attorney general, the state treasurer, a former governor, the senior adviser to the president and a Chicago alderman.
These men and women are among those in the mix as possible Democratic challengers to Gov. Bruce Rauner in his 2018 re-election campaign.
Associated Press: Illinois law enlists hairstylists to help prevent domestic abuse
An Illinois law that took effect Sunday aims to take advantage of the trusted relationship between hairstylists and their clients to prevent domestic violence.
Stylists, barbers, cosmetologists, estheticians, hair braiders and nail technicians in Illinois will receive an hour of mandated abuse-prevention training as part of the licensing process. The law does not require them to report any violence, and it shelters them from any liability.
News-Gazette: Presidential seal on partisan maps
President Barack Obama has sounded high-minded when he has talked about reforming how state legislatures draw political maps. But he’s working for Madigan-like maps across the country.
In a historic speech earlier this year to the Illinois General Assembly, President Barack Obama was eloquent and engaging discussing the partisan political climate facing both the state and the nation, including the hot button Illinois issue of redistricting.
His call for fair political maps was greeted with wild applause from Republicans and Democrats alike and widely interpreted to be an endorsement of the citizen-driven initiative for independent redistricting of the state, a process now dominated by political strongman Michael Madigan, the Illinois House speaker and Democratic Party chieftain. Despite enormous popular support, that effort since died at the hands of Madigan partisans on the Illinois Supreme Court.
State Journal-Register: 'Move Over Law' expands on Illinois roads
Following the deadliest year on Illinois roads since 2008, Illinois State Police are warning drivers they’re cracking down in 2017 and working to educate drivers to keep the roads safer.
Traffic fatalities in Illinois reached 1,073 in 2016, the first time the state topped 1,000 since 2008, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation. There were 998 fatalities reported in 2015.