Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Peoria Journal-Star: House looks at school funding, but not budget
Day four of the General Assembly’s special sessions Saturday focused on school funding reform while any deal to actually pay through education next year through a state budget remained out of sight.
Republicans have called Senate Bill 1, which was crafted by Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, a bailout for the Chicago school system. They are behind Senate Bill 1124 which they said will provide more money to the neediest school districts while also not giving the Chicago schools benefits that other districts do not receive.
Illinois Homepage: Leaders meeting canceled
House leaders almost met this morning, but Republicans canceled meeting at the last minute. Democrats are blaming Governor Rauner for pulling the plug on the talks.
Senate President John Cullerton tried to arrange a leaders meeting with House Speaker Michael Madigan, and Republican Leaders Jim Durkin and Christine Radogno. Instead Madigan and Cullerton met to talk about their own strategies.
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Associated Press: Illinois could be 1st state with 'junk' credit because of budget
Illinois is on track to become the first U.S. state to have its credit rating downgraded to “junk” status, which would deepen its multibillion-dollar deficit and cost taxpayers more for years to come.
S&P Global Ratings has warned the agency will likely lower Illinois’ creditworthiness to below investment grade if feuding lawmakers fail to agree on a state budget for a third straight year, increasing the amount the state will have to pay to borrow money for things such as schools, building roads or refinancing existing debt.
Belleville News-Democrat: Teachers should vacation in Springfield, tell lawmakers to get to work
Illinois’ state representatives and state senators are back in Springfield for a 10-day, last-ditch effort to get a state budget passed. Today is the halfway point, and there is little evidence that anything other than the usual partisan platitudes are coming out of the state capitol.
You know the why: A $15.2 billion bill backlog after three years of uncontrolled deficit spending, debt about to get more expensive as the state’s bond rating slips to “junk” status if we enter a third year without a budget, colleges hemorrhaging students and talented professors, millennials fleeing for job opportunities elsewhere, social services and charities crashing and burning with the state’s most vulnerable taking the impact.
Decatur Herald & Review: State budget mess could close Decatur's only domestic violence shelter
LaSheka Young knows just how valuable the services provided at Dove Inc. in Decatur can be.
Young, 36, of Decatur is a mother of two who received supportive housing from Homeward Bound to get on her feet, then worked at Dove’s domestic violence shelter as she put her life back together after a bout of homelessness.
Chicago Tribune: Elusive goal? State wants 90% of students proficient in reading, math by 2032
Like plans on paper that can falter in real life, the downfall of the old federal education law, called No Child Left Behind, came when thousands of schools in Illinois and elsewhere were considered failures because too many students flunked state exams.
The goal that 100 percent of students from all backgrounds would pass state exams by 2013-14 spiraled from elusive to unattainable.
Daily Herald: Small businesses could struggle with minimum wage hike
For nearly 60 years, Jarosch Bakery Inc. in Elk Grove Village has made cakes and pastries by employing local people.
While 54 of the more experienced workers earn a higher salary at the bakery, eight earn the current minimum wage of $8.25.
Daily Herald: Minimum wage, sick leave opt-outs leave patchwork in Cook County
Some minimum wage workers in Cook County will get a $1.75 hourly raise and paid sick days July 1, but it depends where they work.
A Daily Herald survey of 134 municipalities in suburban Cook County shows more than two-thirds — by vote of local village boards and councils — have opted out of two county ordinances that would raise the minimum wage and mandate businesses pay employees for at least five sick days. Some towns are scheduled to take votes this week, before the county ordinances take effect Saturday.
Daily Herald: Kane County considering 'Cupcake Law' to allow home baking businesses
Kane County officials want to bring legitimacy to in-home baking businesses by signing on to the state’s “Cupcake Law.” The plan would follow a course some other counties shun.
The health department pitched a plan to adopt the “Cupcake Law” Wednesday. State lawmakers created the law in 2014, allowing for the direct sale of certain goods baked in home-based kitchens. Any such sales for any reason other than a religious or charitable purpose are illegal unless a local municipality puts the law into its own provisions.
Bloomington Pantagraph: 5 years in, video gaming ringing up huge numbers
Five years after the first legalized video gaming machine went online, Illinois now has one terminal for every 481 residents — a ratio so small, so unexpected, that even some operators and lawmakers are surprised by the proliferation.
The upturn of the chiming, flashing machines perched in diners, truck stops and sleek gaming parlors has sent millions of dollars into government coffers statewide, but also has raised serious questions about whether the trend has gone too far.
News-Gazette: County executive's salary remains up in air
Supporters of last November’s citizen vote to establish a county executive position in Champaign County — mainly the county chamber of commerce and the county farm bureau — insisted that switching to an elected executive to oversee county government wouldn’t necessarily require more money.
That’s even though the only county executive in the state, Will County’s Larry Walsh, makes $144,050 a year. By comparison, Champaign County Board Chair C. Pius Weibel, who would be replaced by the powerful executive, makes about $29,500 annually.
State Journal-Register: Scores highlight inequities among District 186 buildings
Behind the tattered curtains where Lanphier High School rehearsed last year for its musical, “Alice in Wonderland,” sit several rolled-up wrestling mats.
It makes sense the mats are tucked away at the back of the nicked-up stage, because the same space periodically used by fine-arts students is actually designated for wrestlers.