Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Chicago Tribune: Wall Street agency: Chicago will need $1.3 billion more for pensions by 2023
The pain of new taxes in Chicago is not over, a Wall Street debt rating agency predicted this week.
Still, a Kroll Bond Rating Agency report says Chicago is making progress in fixing its financial woes and can weather the continuing storm.
News-Gazette: Why not Illinois?
Illinois not only isn’t competitive with neighboring states, it’s also not trying to be competitive with neighboring states.
What’s good for Wisconsin isn’t necessarily bad for Illinois.
But that’s not the case in connection with the recent big decision by Foxconn, a Taiwanese company that, among other things, assembles the iPhone for Apple. The company announced, with considerable fanfare at the White House, that it plans to build a $10 billion plant near Janesville, Wis., that is expected to create 3,000 jobs initially and eventually at least 13,000 jobs
Chicago Tribune: Illinois budget backlog is giving health care providers, patients a headache
Betty La France found a way to deal with a doctor who demanded she pay her entire bill upfront because the state could not be counted on to pay insurance reimbursement: She stopped going.
“I’m doing my job. I’m paying my bills. But the state is not doing their job, and they’re certainly not paying their bills,” said La France, a Northern Illinois University communications professor who lives in Sycamore. Her doctor, she added, “is irritated because she’s not getting paid, and I’m irritated because she’s trying to squeeze blood out of a turnip.”
NBC 5 Chicago: Governor Rauner to Illinois Dems: 'Turn In Your Homework'
Governor Bruce Rauner and top Republican leaders met the media on Thursday to issue a challenge to state Democrats: “turn in your homework.”
That was the phrase that Rauner hammered at repeatedly during his remarks, which were made as the Illinois House and Senate engage in a special session to work on a school funding bill that will allow education facilities throughout the state to open this fall.
Associated Press: Day 2 of Special Session: Legislators meet for minutes, do nothing
Illinois legislators adjourned a second day of a special session on school funding after just minutes.
The House and Senate met briefly Thursday, but didn’t take up any action.
Chicago Tribune: Judge denies windfall to teachers union lobbyist who was substitute for a day
In Illinois, pension provisions have long been protected by the courts, which ruled that benefits cannot be lowered once they are put in place.
But then there’s the special case of teachers union lobbyist David Piccioli, who served as a substitute teacher for a single day in 2007 and then, taking advantage of newly enacted legislation, tried to use that service to inflate his pension.
Chicago Sun-Times: Alderman proposes higher fines, more inspections for gas stations
Southwest Side Ald. Ray Lopez (15th) is tired of going to the gas station only to pay more than he should because the automatic shut-off valve doesn’t work.
Gas that spills out onto motorists, their vehicles and the ground is a potential fire and environmental hazard — and costs consumers more, since they pay for gas they don’t need.
Northwest Herald: Woodstock to hold public hearing on 1 percent home rule sales tax increase
The city will hold a public hearing Tuesday on its proposed home rule sales tax increase that could tack on a percentage point to Woodstock’s 7 percent sales tax rate.
The city first proposed the increase after lowering its portion of the property tax bill by 10 percent, which took about $94 off the bill for a homeowner who has a $150,000 property.
The Southern: High electric rates are hamstringing Cairo, utility says while pointing fingers toward Springfield
Cairo Public Utility Co. has found itself in the spotlight related to the housing crisis in Cairo, but utility executives and their consultants say the fingers should be pointing in another direction — toward Springfield.
Utility representatives say their wholesale power supplier, the Illinois Municipal Electric Agency, is charging excessively high electric rates that are “sucking the life blood out of Cairo” — as it was described it in a PowerPoint presentation that has been shared with U.S. Rep. Mike Bost, Housing and Urban Development officials and others.