Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Chicago Tribune: Feds raid home of second Speaker Madigan ally, ex-Ald. Mike Zalewski
Federal agents have raided the home of a second ally of Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, this time former Southwest Side Ald. Michael R. Zalewski, his attorney said Saturday.
Thomas Breen, the former 23rd Ward alderman’s lawyer, confirmed that a search warrant was carried out at Zalewski’s home. Breen told the Tribune that he could not comment further.
Chicago Tribune: Illinois gambling expansion could take a while. Here’s a look at what’s to come.
Two weeks after Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a law authorizing a massive expansion of gambling in Illinois, the state has taken the first small step toward creating a Chicago casino.
The Illinois Gaming Board on Friday announced the selection of Las Vegas-based Union Gaming Analytics to study the feasibility of a city casino. The selection came four days after the law’s deadline for choosing a consultant, perhaps an early sign that it could be a while before the myriad gambling options offered in the new law will be available.
Daily Herald: Why you might pay more to buy a car in Illinois: a trade-in tax credit cap
Car buyers are on the hook for an estimated $40 million extra in sales taxes thanks to an Illinois law starting next year that will cap trade-in tax credits for most motor vehicles at $10,000.
Currently, car buyers pay sales tax on the difference between the value of a new car and the value of the car they’re trading in. But starting Jan. 1, car buyers will receive sales tax credit on only up to $10,000 of the value of their trade-in.
State Journal-Register: Money grab not Legislature’s finest moment
Pretty much everyone has probably had to deal with a situation where a distant family member did something so embarrassing it made you want to cringe.
Now you may have some sense of how some state lawmakers feel right now.
Champaign News-Gazette: They’re in the money
Illinois may be a failing state, but its legislators are flush.
God bless the black-hearted members of the Illinois House and Senate — they stand to get a windfall pay raise that will place them among the top-five highest-paid state legislatures in the country.
Two former state legislators filed a lawsuit challenging the propriety of pay freezes members of the House and Senate voluntarily — and symbolically — took between 2009 and 2016 to show hard-times budget solidarity with the public. Now a Cook County judge has paved the way for the lawsuit to proceed, creating the likelihood of a salary bonanza.
Chicago Sun-Times: Carrie Austin grand jury also looking into family who has made millions on City Hall deals
A federal grand jury looking into Ald. Carrie Austin’s purchase of a new home has also subpoenaed records regarding businesses connected to a family of suburban entrepreneurs whose companies have been paid more than $100 million on City Hall deals in the past 17 years.
All but one of the companies are owned by Lemont businessman Boris Nitchoff, his sons Alex Nitchoff and Constantino Nitchoff and his granddaughter Lauren Nitchoff. The other company is owned by Antonia Tienda, who city records show formerly worked as a project manager for one of the Nitchoff companies.
Chicago Sun-Times: CTU accuses Lightfoot of provoking another teachers strike — just like Rahm Emanuel did
Mayor Lori Lightfoot was accused Friday of provoking a strike by Chicago Public School teachers — just as Rahm Emanuel did — by reneging on her campaign promises to rebuild neighborhood schools and deliver an elected school board.
Chicago Teachers Union President Jesse Sharkey and CTU Vice-President Stacy Davis Gates said the dramatic difference between what Lightfoot promised and what she has delivered is leaving teachers virtually no alternative but to walk off the job.
Crain's Chicago Business: The CTU's strike threat is astonishingly tone-deaf
As Crain’s political columnist Greg Hinz was first to report July 11, the CTU issued an explicit strike threat—an our-way-or-the-highway declaration that followed weeks of increasingly sharpening rhetoric.
Chicago Tribune: City of Chicago fines seven scooter companies
The city of Chicago has issued citations with a maximum fine of $1,000 to seven scooter companies for failing to meet the guidelines set forth by the city when the shared electric scooter pilot launched.
The city penalized Bird, Bolt, gruv, Jump, Sherpa, Spin and Wheels after the companies failed to ensure the scooters remained within a designated area, promptly respond to complaints or address the city’s equity requirements, among other infractions. Additionally, Wheels was cited for failing to limit scooters to 15 mph.
Chicago Tribune: 'Effectively dead’: Illinois Tollway puts the brakes on Route 53 extension study through Lake County
Citing a lack of support from Lake County officials and financial constraints, Illinois Tollway officials announced Friday that they are ending their current multimillion-dollar efforts toward a Route 53 extension north of Lake Cook Road.
“As of (Friday) afternoon, the Illinois Tollway has asked the Federal Highway Administration to rescind the Notice of Intent for the Tri-County Access Environmental Impact Statement,” Tollway Executive Director José R. Alvarez said in a statement, referring to a projected $25 million plan to collect environmental data along the proposed Palatine-to-Grayslake corridor.
Rockford Register-Star: Rockford plans $7M police support building
City officials plan a $7 million renovation of an industrial building into a new home for the Rockford Police Department property and evidence unit, crime scene investigations unit and shooting range.
In March, Winnebago County terminated the city’s lease at the downtown Public Safety Building and gave Rockford a year to move out. The Public Safety Building was for decades the headquarters of both the Rockford Police Department, until it mostly moved out in recent years, and the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Department, which moved out in 2007.