The average Chicago property tax bill is going up about 10 percent this year following City Hall and Chicago Public Schools tax hikes to pay for police, fire and teacher pensions, according to calculations released Tuesday by the Cook County clerk’s office.

As a result, the owner of a city home determined to be worth $224,500 will pay nearly $4,000 in property taxes this year — an increase of about $363.

Homeowners in Northwest Cook County can expect an average bump of about $560 on property tax bills that will go out later this month.

That’s based on tax rate and reassessment values released Tuesday by County Clerk David Orr’s office.

Before she took over as Grant Township assessor in 2010, Jeri Barr was already uncovering property tax shenanigans.

Digging up properties with illegal tax exemptions was one of her campaign issues, and they were easy to find.

Some Mattoon property owners are demanding several Coles county board members resign.

On Friday, June 9th, the owners filed a federal 26-page class action lawsuit on behalf of Mattoon Township commercial and industrial property owners. They claim the county is unfairly taxing them in order to fund the Mattoon school district.

The courts have played a crucial role in deciding how the state spends money during the budget impasse.

Monday, the Fifth District Appellate Court had a hearing to decide if a lower court’s ruling to pay state employees without a budget should be overturned.

Parents and youth advocates are growing concerned as the budget crisis continues.

Illinois is one of the best states for children’s well-being, but parents want lawmakers to act now before the statistics plummet.

More than 30 area elected officials have written to Gov. Bruce Rauner urging him to “move forward quickly in seeking a development partner” for the long-planned South Suburban Airport.

The letter, dated June 9, is signed by area mayors as well as state and federal legislators “to express our collective support” for construction of the airport.

Sears Holdings Corp. on Tuesday said it would eliminate 400 full-time jobs, with most of the job cuts coming at its Hoffman Estates headquarters.

The announcement means Sears’ head count in Hoffman Estates has been cut by more than a third since 2011, when it employed 6,200 people at its headquarters and received a package of tax breaks after threatening to leave Illinois.

It looked like a huge victory for workers’ rights last October when Cook County followed in the city of Chicago’s footsteps by increasing the minimum wage and requiring employers to provide paid sick leave.

Now, just as those laws are set to go into effect on July 1, that victory has been significantly diminished by suburban officials across Cook County who are racing to exempt their towns from the requirements.

Two individuals who contacted Mayor Rahm Emanuel through his personal email broke the city’s lobbying laws, the Chicago Board of Ethics determined Tuesday.

The panel voted without dissent to find the two people violated the law by seeking to influence City Hall action without registering as a lobbyist. Ethics board President William F. Conlon said the individuals would be identified on a city website, but not until later this week after they are notified of the ruling.

At a packed Village Board meeting Tuesday night, Lakewood trustees voted to abolish the village’s tax increment financing district at Routes 47 and 176.

A previous Village Board created the TIF in 2015 to help spur economic development at the intersection on the west side of town.

Fairgrounds in Springfield and DuQuoin will be ready for state fairs later this summer, though major updates will await private fundraising and eventually a state spending plan, Illinois Department of Agriculture Director Raymond Poe said Tuesday.

Poe said prior to the opening of the Midwest Charity Horse Show that steps also have been taken to prevent the kind of disruption caused by flash flooding during the 2016 Illinois State Fair in Springfield.