Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Associated Press: Illinois Senate leaders promise budget-deal vote Wednesday
Illinois Senate leaders plan to vote on a compromise budget deal next week, and hope the House will be willing to work with them on a measure to end the near-two-year state budget stalemate.
Democratic Senate President John Cullerton of Chicago and Minority Leader Christine Radogno of Lemont told the Chicago Tribune editorial board that the proposal will get a Senate vote Wednesday.
Associated Press: Governor extends tax incentive program
Gov. Bruce Rauner has signed a temporary extension of a corporate tax incentive program that has been criticized as expensive and too favorable to large businesses.
The Republican’s action on Friday extends through April the EDGE program – for Economic Development for a Growing Economy.
WTTW Chicago Tonight: CTU Post Claims Furlough Dates Could Violate Labor Contract
The ink has barely dried on the labor contract between Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union, but with a wave of upcoming furlough days announced, one side has made the claim that deal may have been violated already.
A posting by CTU communications on its website Thursday claims the four furlough days violate the union’s agreement with the Board of Education by denying educators a portion of the 10 professional development days afforded to them each school year.
The Southern: State Senate, House consider eliminating future lawmakers’ pensions
Illinois House and Senate members have proposed legislation in recent year that would eliminate new members’ eligibility for the General Assembly’s retirement system, but no law has been enacted so far.
However, a growing number of lawmakers are opting out of the system on their own.
Belleville News-Democrat: Illinois teachers’ pension system faces $71.4 billion unfunded liability
The pension system for Illinois teachers faces several challenges at the moment, including an unfunded liability of $71.4 billion.
“What that means for those of you who are retired, right now today, we have roughly 50 cents on the dollar for what we need to pay your benefits going forward,” said Dick Ingram, the executive director of the Teachers’ Retirement System.
Chicago Sun-Times: A key member of Mayor Rahm Emanuel's public safety team wants the mayor to create a group with the power to make sure the federal Justice Department's ideas to change the Chicago Police Department get implemented. Lori Lightfoot, who heads the Chicago Police Board and chaired Emanuel's task force that made its own recommendations for Police Department changes, said during an interview on WBBM radio's "At Issue" program that the mayor needs to "take ownership and leadership."
With Mayor Richard M. Daley’s City Hall tenure coming to a close in 2011, longtime Daley aide and political operative Richard Monocchio needed a job.
Monocchio — Daley’s last city buildings commissioner — landed one thanks to Elzie Higginbottom, a wealthy African-American businessman who’s been one of the key campaign backers for Daley, former Gov. Pat Quinn, Hillary Clinton and numerous other politicians.
Chicago Sun-Times: Wanted — again: City Council financial analyst
Three years ago, the City Council voted to create a $301,216-a-year independent budget office to provide aldermen with expert advice on mayoral spending, programs and privatization and guide the City Council through Chicago’s $30 billion pension crisis.
The reform was stuck in the mud for nearly two years because of a stalemate over whether former Ald. Helen Shiller (46th) had the independence and policy expertise to lead the office as the first-ever, $110,112-a-year City Council financial analyst.
Chicago Tribune: Chicago taxpayers likely out $4 million more to settle another Burge-era torture case
Chicago taxpayers again are likely on the hook for millions of dollars to settle a lawsuit filed against the city by a former prison inmate who alleges his murder confession was tortured out of him by a detective who had worked under former Chicago police Cmdr. Jon Burge.
A $4 million settlement in the case filed by Shawn Whirl, who spent nearly a quarter-century behind bars before his release in late 2015, will be considered Tuesday the City Council Finance Committee — which routinely recommends approval of settlements presented by Law Department attorneys. The full council would then vote Wednesday.
Chicago Tribune: Emanuel should empower 'SWAT team' to monitor DOJ recommendations, official says
A key member of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s public safety team wants the mayor to create a group with the power to make sure the federal Justice Department’s ideas to change the Chicago Police Department get implemented.
Lori Lightfoot, who heads the Chicago Police Board and chaired Emanuel’s task force that made its own recommendations for Police Department changes, said during an interview on WBBM radio’s “At Issue” program that the mayor needs to “take ownership and leadership.”
Chicago Sun-Times: ‘Procedural Justice’: A day at CPD’s sensitivity-training course
The first thing you notice, arriving at the Chicago Police Training Academy, is that it’s teeming with cadets. The Near West Side facility is the busiest it’s been in awhile, with the police department ramping up efforts to hire 1,000 new officers.
Cadets in the halls walk in formation and politely greet every person in chorus. Rookie training lectures are loud enough to hear as you pass open classrooms.
Chicago Sun-Times: Alderman demands Emanuel relax police hiring standards now
An influential alderman is demanding that Mayor Rahm Emanuel relax police hiring standards before the April 1 and 2 police exam to attract more minorities at a time of high crime and deep distrust.
Earlier this week, Emanuel acknowledged that he would have to work “double hard” to convince minorities to apply and “show the Police Department is a different police department” than the one the U.S. Justice Department has condemned as biased.
Chicago Tribune: Illinois Supreme Court rules Chicago can't tax suburban car rentals
Chicago’s requirement that car rental companies in nearby suburbs collect a tax for the city’s coffers was ruled unconstitutional Friday by the Illinois Supreme Court, which reversed an appellate court decision.
Chicago has long imposed a tax on the use of leased personal property within city limits. In 2011, the city determined that what was then an 8 percent tax should be applied to car rental companies within 3 miles of the city limits, if the vehicles were rented by city residents. The tax is now 9 percent.
Crain's Chicago Business: Thompson Center architect floats a 110-story alternative to demolition
The architect who designed the James R. Thompson Center is calling the state’s plan to have it demolished and replaced with a supertall building a “monstrosity,” and is offering his own plan: add a 110-story tower on to the postmodern structure.
Helmut Jahn is promoting the plan to preserve the Loop building known for its high, glassy atrium, after Crain’s yesterday reported that Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration is making a second run at selling off the state-owned building.
News-Gazette: Audit: $160,000 in LeRoy Replex funds misappropriated
External auditors believe more than $160,000 was funneled from the bank accounts of the Replex recreation facility into the pockets of one of its employees over a period of at least three years.
The LeRoy Park District Board released a document Thursday detailing “known misappropriation via iTunes purchases as well as suspected personal purchases through various other vendors with the bank debit card.”
Quincy Herald-Whig: Mays says system upgrades at IDES saving state millions
An Illinois state agency director said system upgrades now underway will save the state hundreds of millions of dollars a year.
Jeff Mays, a Quincy resident who heads the Illinois Department of Employment Security, told members of the Quincy Exchange Club on Friday that modernization and computerization efforts are flagging fraudulent unemployment claims and are projected to protect at least $120 million each year.
Belleville News-Democrat: Battle over St. Clair township highway department goes to court
The battle over how many employees there should be in the St. Clair Township Road Department moved into a courtroom on Friday.
St. Clair County Associate Judge Julia Gomric heard arguments about whether the St. Clair Township Board was allowed to change the budget presented by Highway Commissioner Skip Kernan.