Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Chicago Tribune: Mayor Lori Lightfoot offers CPS teachers a ‘significant’ 14% pay raise, but the union says her proposal is ‘not what it seems’
Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s new administration wants to offer the Chicago Teachers Union a five-year contract with what the mayor describes as “a significant pay raise” — but union officials balked at the city’s pitch to settle a brewing dispute over a new deal for public school educators.
Chicago Public Schools negotiators submitted a proposal that includes a 14% overall cost-of-living pay increase to be paid out over the course of a five-year deal that extends through the 2023-24 school year, which would cross over into a possible second term for the new mayor.
State Journal-Register: Gov. Pritzker still looking at pension fix
For the last month, Gov. J.B. Pritzker has been busy signing a number of high profile bills that came out of an unusually productive session of the Illinois General Assembly.
But as he was traveling the state earlier this week he was reminded that one of the state’s most intractable problems — public employee pensions — is still unresolved and actually getting worse.
Crain's Chicago Business: A pension fix requires leadership from the governor
What some of us didn’t foresee was how little help she could expect to get from the fellow Democrat who now occupies the Governor’s Mansion.
Chicago Tribune: Judge rules state legislators violated Illinois Constitution by voting to freeze their pay
A Cook County judge ruled this week that Illinois lawmakers violated the state constitution when they voted to freeze their pay every year from 2009 through 2016.
Tuesday’s ruling is the result of a lawsuit filed by two former Democratic state senators, Michael Noland of Elgin and James Clayborne of Belleville, against state Comptroller Susana Mendoza, who controls the state’s checkbook. Judge Franklin Valderrama wrote that the Illinois Constitution is “unambiguous” about prohibiting lawmakers from making changes to the pay they receive in their current terms.
Daily Herald: Some of the new state laws that have flown under the radar
While Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker has been touring the state to promote his signing of capital infrastructure and marijuana legalization legislation, several other bills he signed have received less public attention.
House Bill 2028, which passed the state Senate and House unanimously, became law last week. It doubles the death benefits for families of law enforcement officers and firefighters killed in the line of duty. They are now eligible for $20,000, up from $10,000.
Peoria Journal-Star: Springfield OKs another one-year contract to manage Peoria Housing Authority
Thanks to executives at the Springfield Housing Authority, morale among Peoria Housing Authority employees is on the rise, and the PHA is on track to improve its status with the federal government as a “substandard” or “troubled” agency, PHA’s board chairman says.
“You’ve got expertise there in Springfield,” Carl Cannon told The State Journal-Register this week. “They’re locked in on details and processes.”