Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Chicago Tribune: Rauner signs law to change rules for paying cash to get out of jail
Low-level offenders who have been arrested and can’t come up with enough money to get out of jail can get a rehearing of their bail amount, under a plan signed into law Friday by Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner.
Known as the Bail Reform Act, the new law creates new rights for people in custody at Illinois jails and aims to move away from requiring people charged with relatively minor crimes to post cash bail as a condition of their release.
Chicago Tribune: Illinois' bonds, near junk status, are 'no place for an individual investor'
The downgrade of Illinois’ bond rating to one step above junk status earlier this month makes one thing very clear: The state’s municipal bonds are no place for faint-of-heart investors.
S&P Global Ratings and Moody’s, citing the state’s budget impasse and its $14.5 billion in unpaid bills, gave Illinois the lowest bond rating on record for a state.
Crain's Chicago Business: Illinois bonds hit hard after Medicaid ruling
Illinois general obligation bond prices plummeted and yields soared in the U.S. municipal market today, a day after a federal judge ordered the cash-strapped state to find more money to pay Medicaid providers.
Yields on bonds due in 2024 climbed to 5.15 percent in secondary market trading, according to Municipal Market Data, while Illinois’ so-called credit spread over MMD’s benchmark triple-A scale jumped to as much as 380 basis points.
Crain's Chicago Business: Chicago leads the nation in underwater homes
More local homeowners are underwater on their mortgages than in any metro area in the nation, according to a new report.
In the first quarter, 162,613 Chicago-area homeowners owed more on their home than the property was worth, according to data CoreLogic provided exclusively to Crain’s by CoreLogic.
Chicago Tribune: Cook County reversal: Soda tax won't apply to food stamp purchases after all
Cook County’s sweetened beverage tax will not apply to purchases made with food stamp benefits, county officials said this week, marking the second reversal on the matter since the tax was approved in November.
That means more than 872,000 people in Cook County won’t have to pay the penny-per-ounce tax on sugar- and artificially sweetened beverages, which goes into effect July 1. Under federal law, purchases made with benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, are exempt from state and local taxes.
WTTW Chicago Tonight: CPS Announces Plans for New $75M Englewood High School
Chicago Public Schools says it’s making its most significant investment in the rising Englewood neighborhood in decades, announcing plans Friday to construct a “state-of-the-art” high school that will take in students from four other area schools the district plans to shutter.
CPS CEO Forrest Claypool said Friday the district will spend $75 million to build the yet-to-be-named neighborhood high school on the site of the existing Robeson High School.
Chicago Tribune: Unionized charter teachers vote to merge with Chicago Teachers Union
Unionized teachers in 32 of the city’s charter schools voted to merge with the Chicago Teachers Union this week, officials announced Friday.
The Chicago Alliance of Charter Teachers and Staff said that 671 of its members voted to approve consolidating within the powerful CTU, while 130 members opposed the concept.
Chicago Tribune: Court records in Ald. Cochran case detail alleged kickbacks, spending spree with ward charity cash
Ald. Willie Cochran was in the midst of pushing through a change to a city ordinance to help a liquor store owner in his ward when, in a text message, he allegedly demanded a $5,000 kickback, court records show.
“I need your help, whatever you can do,” the owner said Cochran’s text stated, according to an FBI search warrant affidavit made public Friday. Shocked by the amount the alderman was requesting, the owner instead took $3,000 in cash from his business safe and drove to Cochran’s 20th Ward office.
Northwest Herald: Jack Franks encourages Lake in the Hills board to consider consolidating sanitary district
After hearing from McHenry County Board Chairman Jack Franks, Lake in the Hills trustees decided they want more time to determine whether they want to start the process to consolidate the Lake in the Hills Sanitary District.
While a village staff report shows an estimated $400,000 in savings could come from consolidating the sanitary district, there still are many unknowns on the district’s operations, Finance Director Shane Johnson said.
Daily Herald: Former Kane Co. Board member's new job may pose ethical question
Former Kane County Board member Brian Pollock spent the past five months saving the county $100,000 per election. But that work, and his $78,000 salary, might violate the same county ethics law Pollock and others describe as weak and unenforceable.
Pollock’s new boss says any questions about the job are petty politics that would not survive a legal inquiry.
Rockford Register-Star: Judge orders Winnebago County to comply with funding request
Chief Judge Joseph McGraw today ordered Winnebago County Board Chairman Frank Haney and Treasurer Susan Goral to spend $50,000 of county funds on legal research materials after board members on Thursday rejected a budget amendment to pay for the items.
It’s the latest episode in a rift over spending between McGraw and the County Board, triggering a potential legal battle between the circuit court and the board.
Decatur Herald & Review: Do residency requirements point to larger issue?
On paper, there’s every reason to be in favor of the new residency requirement for incoming city employees.
Most new city hires will be required to live in the city for at least five years, part of the new bargaining agreement between the city and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31 and Local 268.