Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Chicago Tribune: Madigan's goal is to protect his enablers. They don't deserve it.
“Top Illinois Democrats huddled behind closed doors for hours Tuesday as they scurry to piece together a major income tax increase to ease the state’s long-festering budget woes before a rapidly closing window to get something done shuts in a week.”
Sound familiar? That’s the lead paragraph of a Jan. 5, 2011, Tribune story published six days before Democrats passed the state’s last major income tax hike. Without a single Republican vote and mere hours before new legislators took their seats, departing lawmakers helped spike personal income taxes 67 percent and business taxes 46 percent. They vowed the tax hikes would be temporary, and they locked in a partial rollback for Dec. 31, 2014.
Northwest Herald: Madigan has steered Illinois into crisis
This is Speaker Michael Madigan’s Illinois.
It is the state Madigan has built through more than three decades as Speaker of the House, and since 1998 as boss of the majority Democratic Party. It is a state he largely rules despite being accountable only to the residents of his 22nd Legislative District on the southwest side of Chicago.
Chicago Sun-Times: Madigan files tax bill, plans to call spending plan for vote
Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan plans to call a Democratic spending plan for a vote on Friday, amid a midnight fiscal budget deadline and the very real threat of credit agencies dropping the state to “junk” status.
Lawmakers will mark their 10th day of special session on Friday with Gov. Bruce Rauner declaring he’ll keep legislators in Springfield until “they get the job done.”
Associated Press: Budget hopes dim as Illinois House property tax freeze fails
A property tax freeze critical to ending Illinois’ historic budget jam failed in the House on Wednesday and the Republican governor who is demanding the freeze threatened to keep lawmakers in session over the July 4 holiday unless there is an agreement on a spending plan by the end of Friday.
House Democrats skeptical of capping growth of property tax revenue – the main source of funding for schools – swallowed hard and offered up a four-year statewide freeze, a key requirement of Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner before he will agree to an annual budget. Illinois has gone without a budget since 2015, the longest of any state since at least the Great Depression.
Chicago Tribune: What to expect if no Illinois state budget deal is reached
As Illinois hurtles toward a third year without a budget agreement, the state’s political leaders have managed to accumulate a series of notable, if inglorious, distinctions — the lowest credit rating of any state, just a whisker above junk status; a growing pile of unpaid bills that now stands at more than $14.5 billion; and a yearly population decline that is the highest of any state in the nation.
The standoff is costing taxpayers dearly — consider the $387 million in loans that Chicago Public Schools have recently taken to tide it over until state funding comes through. The loans came at a cost of about $70,000 a day in interest alone, the Tribune reported. Think of it as a payday loan, but on a grand scale.
Illinois Homepage: Lottery winners paying the price for impasse
Gas stations and convenience stores are bracing for the loss of sales from a couple popular lottery games. Large lottery payments to winners will be delayed.
Powerball ticket sales end at 9 pm, Wednesday and Mega Millions sales end at 9:45 pm, Friday; unless the state can agree on a budget by then. Some lottery ticket sellers worry it will hurt their businesses.
Chicago Sun-Times: Illinois Senate GOP Leader Christine Radogno will resign Saturday
Seven months after jump-starting a bipartisan Senate plan to try to save the state, Illinois Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno — praised for understanding the art of compromise — announced on Thursday that she’s resigning.
The first female caucus leader in Illinois General Assembly history, Radogno, 64, will resign as leader and as a senator on Saturday, the first day of a new fiscal year, and the looming deadline for a budget deal to be reached.
Chicago Sun-Times: State Dems whining about not getting per diem for overtime session
Sneed is told angry, frustrated voices wafted out of the Dem caucus rooms Thursday over the nonexistent state budget and their wee wallets!
“Nothing is being done,” one legislator griped.
Chicago Tribune: Pinched by state budget, City Colleges plans layoffs
City Colleges of Chicago is laying off 120 employees, part of larger cuts planned in response to the prolonged state budget crisis.
Chancellor Juan Salgado announced the cuts Wednesday to outline priorities for his spending plan for the upcoming fiscal year. Reductions also will include 10 percent pay cuts for senior leadership. City Colleges also plans to sell the district headquarters at 226 W. Jackson Blvd. and move administrative staff to the Kennedy-King College in Englewood and Dawson Technical Institute in Bronzeville.
Chicago Sun-Times: Cash-strapped state college paid big for speakers despite ‘optics’
Cash-strapped Northeastern Illinois University — which came under fire for agreeing to pay former Obama White House adviser Valerie Jarrett a fat fee to speak at graduation last month — has paid more than $260,000 to 28 other speakers since 2005, records obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times show.
Most of that’s come out of taxpayer funds that support the state university on Chicago’s North Side, which cut short its school year and recently announced it would lay off 180 employees because of the state budget crunch.
Crain's Chicago Business: No budget, but Edge lives
There’s little sign of real progress in Springfield on a deal that would give Illinois its first budget in three years and keep state debt out of junk-bond land.
But, amazingly, there is movement on another matter of significance: restoring the state’s Edge payroll tax-credit program, a key inducement for many companies pondering whether to expand here or grow elsewhere.
DNA Info: Here's A List Of Road Projects That Will Stop If There's No State Budget
At least $250 million in road projects will come to a halt if Illinois doesn’t have a state budget by midnight Saturday, officials said.
If Springfield lawmakers and Gov. Bruce Rauner don’t reach a budget deal by that point, agencies like the Illinois Department of Transportation would be unable to pay its contractors.
Chicago Tribune: Employers call new Cook County sick leave law an administrative nightmare
As paid sick leave laws go into effect Saturday in Chicago and Cook County, the souls tasked with implementing them keep repeating one refrain: administrative nightmare.
“The intention was good,” said Bruce Leon, president of Tandem HR, a human resources provider in Westchester with a lot of concerned clients. “The way it was written got out of hand. It’s unmanageable, really.”
Chicago Tribune: Judge will rule Friday on whether to temporarily halt Cook County soda pop tax
A Cook County judge is expected to rule Friday afternoon whether to put a temporary halt to Cook County’s penny-per-ounce tax on sweetened beverages. The tax is set to go into effect Saturday.
Earlier this week the Illinois Retail Merchants Association and several grocers filed a lawsuit seeking to block the tax, which they argue is unconstitutional and too vague.
Chicago Tribune: Garcia proposes restricting campaign donations to county assessor
Cook County Commissioner Jesus “Chuy” Garcia filed an ordinance Thursday that would bar attorneys, law firms and other businesses that file property tax assessment appeals from contributing to the political campaigns of the county assessor.
He will introduce the measure when the board meets on July 19. The same day, Berrios is scheduled to appear before the full board during a meeting of the finance committee, where he’ll testify about assessments produced by his office.
Chicago Tribune: CTU President Lewis criticizes district's 'usurious' borrowing deal
Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis said Wednesday that school district officials are “borrowing money at usurious rates” instead of directing scarce resources toward classrooms, criticisms that come as another education budget cycle draws to a close and school communities again look ahead to a still-unclear financial picture for the fall.
“I think we really need to consider what our priorities are,” Lewis said outside Chicago Public Schools headquarters during a union protest over a district decision to reduce the number of jobs in a preschool program.
Chicago Tribune: Lawsuit alleges racism at roiled Chicago water department
African-American employees of the Chicago water department routinely were denied promotions, subjected to racial slurs and sexually harassed because of their race, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday that could further roil a department that’s already left Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s City Hall grappling with yet another racially charged controversy.
The lawsuit, filed in federal district court, comes weeks after a leadership shakeup at the Department of Water Management as a monthslong watchdog probe ferreted out racist and sexist emails shared among department supervisors.
Belleville News-Democrat: No strike for probation officers after ‘tentative agreement’ on contract is reached
Probation officers have announced they will not be going on strike after a “tentative agreement” was reached with a federal mediator.
Andrew Gleeson, the 20th Judicial Circuit chief judge, and members of the Illinois Federation of Public Employees union met with a mediator Wednesday in hopes of avoiding the strike. Through “tough negotiations,” an agreement was reached Wednesday, according to a news release.
Belleville News-Democrat: East St. Louis Township’s new captain adds crew of cronies
Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.
East St. Louis Township Supervisor Alvin Parks thinks the best way to cast out the evil spirits left behind by his thieving predecessor, Oliver W. Hamilton, is to cast out all the old township workers and replace them with his people.