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Chicago Tribune: Rauner and Democrats clash over State of the State
Against the backdrop of a sharply divided and dysfunctional state government, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner delivered his midterm State of the State address Wednesday saying he and other politicians have a “moral obligation” to fix Illinois.
But some Democrats, the majority party in the General Assembly that has opposed much of his agenda, questioned Rauner’s morality in governing a state that has languished for more than 18 months without a full budget. In the meantime, safety net social programs have eroded at a time when gun violence in Chicago is rampant.
Chicago Tribune: Rauner to Illinois senators: 'Please don't give up'
For just a minute, Gov. Bruce Rauner veered off script during his annual State of the State address and tapped the gas pedal on a controversial budget compromise unfolding in the Senate.
“We all know this is very, very difficult. There’s a lot of arrows,” he said. “Please don’t give up. Please keep working. Please keep trying. The people of Illinois need you to succeed.”
Crain's Chicago Business: Rauner begins to make case for re-election
Sounding very much like a candidate for re-election, Gov. Bruce Rauner today hailed the progress Illinois has made in his tenure, even as he conceded the lack of a budget is hurting the state.
In his annual State of the State speech, the GOP incumbent declared himself “deeply optimistic” and cites a long list of “important gains” he’s achieved.
NBC 5 Chicago: Democratic Leaders Criticize Rauner’s State of the State Address
Several Democratic lawmakers issued criticisms following Gov. Bruce Rauner’s State of the State address Wednesday amid Illinois’ ongoing budget stalemate.
House Speaker Michael Madigan, Rauner’s primary political adversary, said passing a budget is the top priority for Illinois legislators. He said improving the state’s business climate is also a priority, but criticized elements of Rauner’s pro-business agenda.
WTTW Chicago Tonight: Reaction to Rauner’s State of the State Address, Illinois’ Fiscal Woes
Gov. Bruce Rauner’s third State of the State address Wednesday included a recap of accomplishments followed by pleas for bipartisan cooperation to solve Illinois’ budget impasse.
Rauner, who is midway through his first term, celebrated statewide education initiatives, called for an end to the “intolerable” violence plaguing Chicago and implored legislators to let the public vote on term limits and redistricting reforms.
QC Dispatch-Argus: Local lawmakers quickly weigh in on Rauner's address
Reactions came quick from local lawmakers following Gov. Bruce Rauner’s State of the State address Wednesday.
U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Moline, who is considering a challenge of Gov. Rauner in 2018, urged him to “put aside his ideological war on working families to do the job he was elected to do and pass a budget.
Peoria Journal-Star: Bruce Rauner speech includes two issues affecting Peoria region
Two initiatives mentioned in Gov. Bruce Rauner’s state of the state message also can be tied to efforts underway in central Illinois.
Rauner has championed consolidation of Illinois’ more than 7,000 units of government – voluntarily, with choices made locally – but the progress has been slow going.
Associated Press: Rauner encourages lawmakers on budget, but Senate doesn't vote
Illinois senators, still grappling with the sticker shock of a tax increase and other far-reaching restructuring to end the nation’s longest state budget deadlock, skipped a much-anticipated vote on the massive package and adjourned early Wednesday evening.
Senate President John Cullerton, a Chicago Democrat, and Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno of Elmhurst, had set up Wednesday as decision day on their bipartisan plan to end the longest budget drought of any state since World War II.
State Journal-Register: Local lawmakers say bipartisanship is key to state budget fix
After Gov. Bruce Rauner’s State of the State address Wednesday, Springfield-area lawmakers generally agreed that bipartisanship needs to be No. 1 on the agenda.
During the governor’s speech, he called for Democrats and Republicans to cooperate to end the state’s 2-year-old budget impasse and praised the Senate’s attempt at a “grand bargain” package of bills.
Crain's Chicago Business: Wheels coming off Springfield's grand budget deal
The leaders of the Illinois Senate say they’re pressing on with their proposed budget compromise.
But a series of developments in the past 24 hours suggest the massive proposal, involving everything from billions in new taxes to workers’ compensation reform and expanded gambling, is in deep trouble, facing even steeper obstacles than when it first was unveiled.
Chicago Tribune: Chicago politicians get crash course on how Trump will govern
Members of Chicago’s political class got a crash course Wednesday on how President Donald Trump will govern, as they fretted over an executive order on immigration that could cost the city millions in federal funding and scrambled to respond to a Twitter threat to “send in the feds” to fix the city’s gun violence.
The Democratic response to the Republican president’s moves was a unified one. On gun crime: Send us money to combat violence, but don’t dare send in the National Guard. On immigration: Don’t cut our funding, but if you do, we’ll still protect immigrants from deportation and maintain our sanctuary city status.
Chicago Tribune: Emanuel: Federal help welcome, but National Guard out of the question
Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday welcomed federal assistance to help stem Chicago violence but rejected the idea of the National Guard patrolling the city as “antithetical” to the trust he’s trying to build in law enforcement.
The mayor’s comments came after President Donald Trump on Tuesday evening took to Twitter to suggest he would “send in the Feds!” if Chicago doesn’t “fix the horrible ‘carnage’ going on.”
Chicago Tribune: Emanuel rolls out plans for $14.7 million in unspent tax rebate funds
Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday responded to aldermen who want leftover property tax rebate program money to be earmarked for anti-violence efforts by laying out his own plans to spend $14.7 million on what he called “critical public safety programs and neighborhood improvement projects.”
The money is available because just 25,300 of an estimated 155,000 eligible city homeowners took part in the rebate program, intended to soften the blow of a series of record-high property tax increases. The average rebate check was for $108, and the total amount that will be spent on the rebates and running the program is $3.8 million.
Chicago Tribune: McDonald's 'vendor village' gets closer to city OK; neighborhood backlash intensifies
Plans for McDonald’s “vendor village” — a 12-story West Loop building that will house McDonald’s suppliers when the chain moves downtown next year — were introduced to the City Council on Wednesday, amid a growing neighborhood backlash against the development.
Neighbors say the $47.2 million tower, planned for 200-210 N. Carpenter St., will dwarf nearby buildings and hurt the character of the rapidly gentrifying neighborhood. Some also argue that the plan is being fast-tracked to quash their concerns. A neighborhood group, Friends of Fulton Market, mobilized phone calls to the office of Ald. Walter Burnett, 27th, and appeared at a community meeting this week following the vendor village project’s approval by the city’s Plan Commission on Thursday. Friends of Fulton Market also is fighting three other similar developments because of their height.
Chicago Tribune: Shorter school year an option as CPS faces filling budget gap
A Chicago Board of Education member on Wednesday raised the prospect of shortening the city’s school year to save money, though officials held off on publicly outlining steps being weighed to fill a budget gap.
Chicago Public Schools has ordered four furlough days for its employees while looking at layoffs and other spending reductions to cover for $215 million of state aid still in limbo after a veto by Gov. Bruce Rauner last December.
Chicago Sun-Times: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/ct-edit-rauner-speech-budget-compromise-0126-md-20170125-story.html
As the city’s school board announces a third round of budget hearings to deal with still-private plans to close most of a $215 million budget gap, one member raised the possibility of shortening the school year.
Chicago Public Schools officials declined to present their plans at Wednesday’s Board of Education meeting, but one relatively new board member, the Rev. Michael Garanzini, wondered whether the district could shorten the school year.
Chicago Tribune: Chicago still faces dozens of wrongful conviction cases
Dozens of wrongful conviction lawsuits still are pending against the city of Chicago, a high-level city attorney told aldermen Tuesday, even after a yearslong parade of settlements of such cases have already drained tens of millions of dollars from the pockets of taxpayers.
At least two of the pending cases involve allegations from the era of Jon Burge, First Assistant Corporation Counsel Jane Elinor Notz said, referring to the disgraced former police commander who is alleged to have led a team of detectives in the 1970s and 1980s that tortured false confessions out scores of African-American suspects.
Chicago Sun-Times: Reilly to downtown street performers: Stifle yourselves
Nearly 20 years ago, Chicago street performers accused then-downtown Ald. Burton F. Natarus (42nd) of “urban cleansing” for spearheading another one of his infamous crackdowns to tone down their music.
They might soon be making the same complaint about current downtown Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd).
Belleville News-Democrat: Supporters form group to push schools, public safety sales taxes
With two sales tax referenda on the April ballot in St. Clair County, one that would benefit school facilities and one that would help boost public safety, officials representing both types of entities have formed a committee to work together to promote both causes.
A group of more than 30 St. Clair County school superintendents, law enforcement officials and probation officials met Wednesday with the Belleville News-Democrat Editorial Board and are among the people who spoke about the “Yes for Safety, Yes for Kids, Yes for our Future” Committee.
Belleville News-Democrat: St. Clair Township, where spending $18,000 sounds like a better deal than $4
Horror movies made a cliche out of the monster or villain you thought was dead, but wasn’t. Massive firepower cannot eliminate the threat that returns again and again to menace the hero or heroine.
Leave it to the governmental horror show that is St. Clair Township to bring us that plot device. Call this one, “The Return of the Township Assessor.”