Although funding ratios for three of the state’s five public sector pension funds increased, a public finance watchdog said Illinois taxpayers still face a debt crisis.

The Auditor General released financial audits of the State Employees, Judges and General Assembly retirement systems.

Illinois lawmakers have filed a number of bills they hope will give the public more information about potential conflicts of interest in the General Assembly.

Two pieces of legislation, Senate Bill 2318 and House Bill 3895, would put restrictions on lawmakers’ ability to earn money from gambling interests.

Chicago Teachers Union leaders continued their fight over veteran teacher pay with Chicago Public Schools on Wednesday, urging the district’s board to reach an agreement on the issue stemming from last fall’s teachers strike.

Appearing in front of the seven-member board at its monthly meeting, CTU Financial Secretary Maria Moreno accused CPS of changing the terms of a $25 million agreement on extra pay for the district’s longest-serving and most experienced teachers.

Chief Judge Andrew Gleeson says he’ll be relieved to have the 20th District Court back to full strength once Illinois Supreme Court Justice Lloyd Karmeier makes an appointment to fill the vacancy on the bench.

That spot officially became open Jan. 10 when the Illinois Courts Commission removed St. Clair County Ron Duebbert’s judgeship for ethics violations. But Gleeson’s court has been a judge short since January 2017, when he limited Duebbert to administrative duties as the ethics investigation against him ran its due process.

Hoping to nail shut a door that former Gov. Bruce Rauner tried to pry open, a major state labor group is moving to put Illinois permanently off-limits to efforts to ban so-called union shops in the state.

The move is being led by International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150, a large, well-funded building-trades group with considerable influence on both sides of the aisle in Springfield.

Illinois lawmakers have reversed a longstanding state policy that suspended the licenses of Illinois drivers with unpaid parking tickets or other non-moving violations and restored driving privileges to more than 50,000 people.

The Illinois Secretary of State’s Office said it was still researching just how far back such policies went, but noted the most substantial was a suspension for drivers who had 10 or more unpaid parking violations. That became law in 1996.

An Illinois lawmaker wants to realign Illinois’ tax on inheritance to federal thresholds, something long sought by family farmers.

Currently, Illinois imposes an estate tax, sometimes called a “death tax,” of up to 16 percent. Combined with a top federal rate of 40 percent, some heirs face a tax of up to 56 percent, but the federal estate tax kicks in at just under $12 million while Illinois’ estate tax applies to any inherited value above $4 million.

Two months from the township elimination ballot, the steering council of Save McHenry Township, made up of township residents, hosted an informational meeting Wednesday evening at the McHenry Township Hall to inform the public on what McHenry Township does and what is likely to happen if the township is dissolved.

“Some of the McHenry County trustees want to dissolve the township they were elected to serve. That is one of the biggest things we have a problem with when we go to these meetings,” said Jamie Rouse, a lifelong resident of McHenry.

The aging communications building at Southern Illinois University Carbondale will soon become what Gov. J.B. Pritzker calls a “state of the art” facility thanks to state funding.

Pritzker visited SIUC Tuesday to announce the initial $8.3 million installment to renovate and expand the 56-year-old building. It is slated for a complete overhaul with an estimated $83 million over the next six years from the Rebuild Illinois capital plan, a state-funded infrastructure program.

The Chicago Housing Authority’s board of commissioners on Tuesday approved a revised policy that looks to protect some residents from potentially being evicted for using marijuana.

In November, the CHA sent a sternly worded letter to all 63,000 households under its watch warning that residents could still be evicted for cannabis-related violations even though the use of weed in Illinois had been made legal.

An Oakbrook Terrace alderman has been chosen to finish the term of former Mayor Tony Ragucci, who resigned Friday, just weeks after news surfaced that federal agents had seized $60,000 in cash from his home last year.

Paul Esposito will serve as the city’s acting mayor until the next general municipal election in 2021, officials said. The longtime resident was appointed to the position by other aldermen during a special meeting Wednesday night.

After more than 100 years, Prohibition could end in Gardner Township.

Jessica Podany, a partner and manager of Bomke’s Patch about three miles west of Springfield on County Lake Road, says she favors a proposal on the March 17 ballot that would allow alcohol sales in the township. Podany’s sister Jordan Byers, who heads human resources for the family business, also supports the proposal, which would allow the addition of more events for adults.