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Chicago Tribune: Rauner's 'High Noon' deadline on school funding bill to play out today
Call it Gov. Bruce Rauner’s version of “High Noon.”
The Republican governor gave Democrats a noon Monday deadline to send him the school funding formula bill they’ve been holding onto since the end of May, or else he’ll call them into special session. Democratic Senate President John Cullerton hasn’t indicated he’ll do so.
State Journal-Register: Schools caught in middle while waiting for state funding
Uncertainty over education funding from the state looms large for area school districts a few weeks before most students return to the classroom.
A budget deal was reached earlier this month when lawmakers overrode the governor’s veto of the spending plan.
State Journal-Register: Why two Illinois state fairs? Politics, of course
Politics and a private fair on the financial brink gave Illinois its second state fair in 1985.
The question of two state fairs has come up with recent attention on an estimated $180 million backlog of repairs at the ILLINOIS STATE FAIRGROUNDS in Springfield and the DU QUOIN STATE FAIR in southern Illinois.
Chicago Tribune: Racist emails scandal moves beyond city as Illinois opens an investigation into state employee's role
State officials are investigating a longtime employee whose personal email address is a source of racist, sexist and anti-gay emails at the center of the Chicago water department’s burgeoning scandal, including a fake “Chicago Safari” tour making light of the shootings of children in black and Hispanic neighborhoods
The state began a review into Frank Capuzi — an investigator with the Workers’ Compensation Commission and son of a former Republican state lawmaker — following Tribune inquiries into offensive emails forwarded from his address to a water department boss and others.
NBC 5 Chicago: Former Alderman Agrees to $25K Settlement for Lobbying Violation
Former Chicago alderman and mayoral candidate William Singer has agreed to pay a $25,000 fine for lobbying Mayor Rahm Emanuel through the mayor’s private emails, but failing to register as a lobbyist, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting.
For the same reason, Chicago’s reinvigorated Board of Ethics also imposed identical $2,500 fines against Marc Andreessen, Anthony Davis and Greg Prather. Jim Abrams, a close friend and heavy contributor to Emanuel, and Alan King, the attorney husband of Ald. Sophia King (4th), were also fined $2,500.
Northwest Herald: McHenry City Council sends affordable housing proposal for veterans, people with disabilities to Planning and Zoning Commission
A developer is looking to build a three-story affordable apartment complex for veterans and tenants with physical impairments.
On July 17, the McHenry City Council examined a preliminary concept from Full Circle Communities for a 25-unit project at the northeast corner of Richmond Road and Pearl Street, and advanced the nearly $7 million project to the Planning and Zoning Commission in August.
The Southern: Why are electric rates so high in Cairo? The answer is far from simple.
Countless theories abound as to what or whom marred Cairo, a once-thriving river town grappling with a public housing crisis, which is only the latest in a century-long string of tragic events to hit this small city in deep Southern Illinois.
But there’s one issue facing the city on which just about everybody agrees: The utility costs are unsustainably high.