Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Chicago Tribune: Illinois after Boss Mike Madigan? Like Yugoslavia after Tito
What happens when Boss Mike Madigan is no longer around to hold the fiscally broken state of Illinois in the palms of his tiny pink hands?
Think of Yugoslavia after Tito.
State Journal-Register: Poll says Pritzker popularity sagging
Gov. J.B. PRITZKER is not a popular guy.
So says the finding of a poll released last week that evaluated the popularity of all of the nation’s governors. But the poll from Morning Consult shows Pritzker is in good company because it found people in states with Democratic governors don’t like them.
Crain's Chicago Business: Deal near on city work-schedule law
Sources close to the matter say business groups have, with some reluctance, agreed to the concept of such a notice and to paying a relatively small financial penalty for violations.
Champaign News-Gazette: Tone-deaf police unions
If you want to understand why, unfortunately, there is such a grave distrust in certain communities for police officers, two recent incidents in northern Illinois are eye-openers. At issue is the politically charged response of police unions to two controversial shootings.
The Chicago Police Board last week fired four police officers for allegedly covering up the tragic 2014 shooting by a white officer of black teenager Laquan McDonald. The nine-member board unanimously determined that the officers exaggerated the threat posed by the 17-year-old McDonald to justify his shooting by Officer Jason Van Dyke. The board voted to dismiss a police sergeant and three officers.
The decision appeared to have been based on the much-reviewed police dashboard camera video of McDonald’s death — he was shot 16 times while under the influence of drugs, walking unsteadily and carrying a knife — that contradicted the officers’ outrageous reports about the incident.
Northwest Herald: Crystal Lake-based District 155 schools undergoing $14.5 million improvements
Daily Herald: $300 million quickly for community colleges from state capital program: Is it for the right projects?
Billions of dollars are earmarked for dozens of community college campus projects in Illinois’ capital improvement budget despite a more than 21% statewide drop in enrollment from 2014 to 2018.
That includes more than $300 million for two dozen community college projects expected to be fast-tracked as part of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s signature “Rebuild Illinois” campaign he signed into law late last month. The $45 billion campaign came with a series of tax increases, fee hikes and tax credit eliminations as well as a massive gambling expansion designed to raise revenue for the plan.
The Southern: SNAP benefits help thousands of Southern Illinois families buy groceries
In Jackson County, nearly 12,000 people benefit from a federal anti-hunger program that helps families buy groceries.
Lauren Stoelzle is among them.