Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Chicago Tribune: The quest for a pension amendment: Can Pritzker and Lightfoot save Illinois from itself?
There are certain words and phrases Democratic political leaders in Illinois don’t utter often enough: $133.5 billion unfunded state pension obligation, worsening crisis, junk bond status, ambitious solutions …
We’ve watched as pols prioritized and governed. We’ve kept tabs on General Assembly discussions. And we’ve waited, and waited, for the light bulb to go on: Illinois has a pension obligation crisis that must be solved, so here’s what we’ll do right now.
Chicago Sun-Times: Chicago’s pension debt overshadows improvements
Chicago’s mountain of pension debt increased by $558.7 million in 2018, but other vital signs of its finances showed improvement, according to an audited report issued Friday.
The report highlighted increased balances in the city’s operating funds and savings from refinancing expensive long-term debt. Jennie Huang Bennett, Chicago’s chief financial officer, said those changes are important to bond-rating agencies.
Daily Herald: Suburban watchdog: $1.2 million in pension income in 10 years of retirement
The average retired Illinois judge left the bench a little more than 10 years ago and has received more than $1.2 million in pension payments during that time.
Meanwhile, the average Social Security recipient in the U.S. has been retired for more than 17 years and has received less than $250,000 over that period.
Northwest Herald: Higher education official hopes new funding will stem tide of Illinois student outmigration
Chicago Tribune: Former governor of Rio says he paid $2 million bribe to win 2016 Olympics — defeating Chicago’s bid in the process
A jailed former governor of Rio de Janeiro state told a judge on Thursday that he paid about $2 million for the votes of International Olympic Committee members to award the Brazilian city the 2016 Summer Games.
Sergio Cabral said he paid $1.5 million in bribes through intermediaries to the former president of the International Association of Athletics Federations, Lamine Diack, originally in exchange for up to six votes in the meeting that awarded Rio the Olympic and Paralympic Games. The former governor added that another $500,000 was paid later to Diack’s son with the aim of securing three more votes of IOC members for Rio.
Northwest Herald: Algonquin Township Highway Department ordered to pay $33K in fees from union lawsuit
Rockford Register-Star: Winnebago County rethinks Public Safety Building demolition
Winnebago County will play a key role in downtown’s continued evolution as it tackles a demolition or redevelopment of the Public Safety Building during the next few years.
The building at 420 W. State St. is a planet-sized presence in the galaxy of downtown — 223,000 square feet of reinforced concrete that will cost millions of dollars to tear down. The county can’t afford to let the PSB remain standing because it is spending about $700,000 a year to heat, cool and maintain the nearly vacant building.