Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Chicago Tribune: Audit rips Illinois' oversight of group homes for adults with disabilities
A damning state auditor general report released Thursday found systemic failures in Illinois’ licensing and oversight of thousands of taxpayer-funded group homes for adults with disabilities, problems first exposed in a 2016 Tribune investigation that documented substandard conditions and widespread harm.
The nearly 230-page report also questioned whether the state did enough in recent years to ensure the safe transition of more than 400 vulnerable adults from large developmental centers into the smaller group homes. And auditors found the state used “questionable procurement strategies” when it awarded multimillion-dollar contracts to the company managing that transition.
Chicago Sun-Times: State bond rating lowest in nation — but it can’t get worse for a while. Yay?
The bad news is that Moody’s Investors has affirmed Illinois’ bond rating at one notch above junk status, with the state remaining the lowest-rated in the country.
But the good news is it can’t get any worse, at least for the next year or two.
Champaign News-Gazette: A move in the right direction
More school districts should take a close look at the possible benefits of consolidation.
Board members representing separate school districts in St. Joseph and Ogden recently made what could be a good decision for the schools there while setting a great example for the more than 850 districts in Illinois.
The two districts — St. Joseph-Ogden High School District and St. Joseph Grade School District — agreed to move ahead on a consolidation study that will cost $12,500.
Chicago Sun-Times: CPS confirms NTA boundaries, criticized by overlooked areas
Chicago Public Schools announced the boundaries for its hotly contested new South Loop high school Thursday, spurring criticism from communities excluded from the map.
The announcement — reflecting minimal changes from the draft proposal in January designates boundaries of students entitled to attend the high school, which will open in fall of 2019 to replace the current National Teachers Academy elementary school.
Northwest Herald: McHenry County Board to vote on term-limit referendum for November ballot
The McHenry County Board will discuss putting a binding referendum to voters in the November election asking whether the government should impose term limits.
Those limits would be two four-year terms for the chairman and three four-year terms for board members, said McHenry County Board Chairman Jack Franks, who is drafting a resolution to bring to the board’s July 31 meeting.
Daily Herald: Grayslake to give $200,000 incentive to developers of new Dollar Tree
The Grayslake village board has approved plans to give $200,000 to the developers of a new Dollar Tree.
Over its last three meetings, the board has approved more than $1.5 million in economic incentive packages with businesses.
Rockford Register-Star: Winnebago County projecting $2.9 million 2019 budget deficit
Numbers are still being crunched but Winnebago County officials are projecting a fiscal year 2019 budget deficit of just under $3 million in its general and public safety sales tax funds.
The deficit is less than half of what the County Board faced last year when it asked department heads to make $6.8 million in cuts in order to pass a legally required balanced budget.