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Chicago Tribune: Illinois regional universities toil through state budget standoff
Illinois’ public university presidents went to Springfield this month to deliver a message: We are at the end of our rope.
It was political theater, orchestrated by the majority-Democratic Senate higher-education committee and aimed at embarrassing Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner as the state slogs through its 21st month without a budget. But whatever the partisan motives for the hastily planned March 7 hearing, nearly all university leaders seized the chance to be heard.
Chicago Sun-Times: Students, teachers protest cuts at NEIU
Holding aloft photographs of “missing” professors who’ve left in search of greener educational pastures, about 100 students and educators at Northeastern Illinois University led a campus protest Thursday over “devastating” state funding cuts to the institution.
Much of the anger Thursday was directed at Gov. Bruce Rauner, with many blaming the state’s chief executive for a lack of a state budget for nearly two years. A stopgap budget expired in January, cutting off state funding for higher education and social service agencies.
Associated Press: Illinois could lose $40 billion in federal Medicaid support
Illinois could face nearly $40 billion in lost federal Medicaid support over 10 years under a health care overhaul proposed last week by congressional Republicans, a health industry spokesman told lawmakers Thursday.
Three state House committees heard testimony from experts on how major changes to Medicaid outlined in the American Health Care Act could affect Illinois recipients.
Chicago Tribune: State lawmakers paychecks shouldn't move to the front of the line, judge says
A Cook County judge Thursday didn’t move state lawmakers’ paychecks toward the front of Illinois’ long line of unpaid bills but agreed to hear another set of arguments next week.
The hearing before Judge Rodolfo Garcia came in response to a lawsuit from Democratic lawmakers who complained late last year that their paychecks were months past due. The reason: Then-Comptroller Leslie Geissler Munger, a Republican appointed by Gov. Bruce Rauner, decided in April that lawmakers should wait for their paychecks just like Illinois vendors do as the lengthy state budget stalemate continued.
News-Gazette: Plugging away on prisons
State officials are taking a series of baby steps aimed at ensuring that only those people who need to be in prison are in prison.
Shortly after Gov. Bruce Rauner took office in January 2015, he made it clear that there are too many people in Illinois prisons.
The governor established a goal of reducing the state’s prison population by 25 percent by 2025, and appointed a commission made up of legislators, law officers and representatives of the judicial system to study the issues and make recommendations for change.
Fox Illinois: Seat Belt Bill Sparking Debate
Seat belts on school buses could be an added safety measure.
A bill being discussed would mandate seat belts in school buses, but it’s caused a divide over how much safer the kids would actually be and who would have to pay for it.
Chicago Tribune: River Forest opts out of Cook County minimum wage, sick leave rules
The River Forest Village Board has voted for the village to opt out of recently adopted Cook County ordinances that create new rules for minimum wage and paid sick leave. The county ordinances were due to take effect this summer.
Trustees unanimously voted to opt out of the county ordinances at the March 13 village board meeting. Trustees Roma Colwell-Steinke and Thomas Cargie were absent.
Chicago Tribune: CPS submits filing to labor board to stop 1-day teachers walkout on May 1
Chicago Public Schools has restarted a legal effort to block teachers from staging a one-day walkout after state officials rejected a district request to enforce a ruling that a similar strike last April likely violated state law.
With a filing to the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board on Wednesday, the district launched a process that could reach a judge before a May 1 strike the Chicago Teachers Union is considering to bring attention to CPS’ dismal finances.
Chicago Sun-Times: Elected school board no solution to CPS’ financial woes
The creation of a wholly elected Chicago School Board, with no one person at the helm, would be a huge mistake in a school system that, for all its financial difficulties, has made academic strides in recent years.
When it comes to public schools in Chicago, the buck stops with Mayor Rahm Emanuel. He appoints the seven-member board, and so he ultimately is responsible for the school system’s management. He owns the job in a way that no elected board ever would.
Chicago Sun-Times: Hispanic leader Juan Salgado chosen as City Colleges chancellor
Under pressure to appoint more Hispanics to leadership positions, Mayor Rahm Emanuel has chosen prominent Hispanic community leader Juan Salgado to be the new, $250,000-a-year City Colleges chancellor.
“I am convinced and the board is convinced that I am the person this institution needs at this moment in time. I’m going to be an amazing candidate across the city,” said Salgado, CEO of Instituto del Progreso.
Chicago Tribune: Plan Commission OKs part of Jefferson Park project despite opposition
The fight over a proposed Northwest Side development with federally subsidized and below-market-rate apartments spilled into City Hall on Thursday as planning officials considered a different part of the project.
The planned 100-unit building and a storage facility for the Jefferson Park neighborhood have the support of Ald. John Arena, 45th, who finds himself facing off against area residents who lined up to voice their displeasure at a hearing.
Chicago Sun-Times: Groups worry clout knocking them out of Obama library discussion
A coalition of community groups active in affordable-housing and economic-development initiatives on the South Side voiced concerns Thursday that their input on the Barack Obama Presidential Center library will be drowned out by people with clout.
The coalition — which includes the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization and Southside Together Organized for Power — wants the Obama Foundation to sign a “community benefits agreement” to guarantee the hiring of local workers and construction companies for the library project, as well as establish plans for affordable housing as the neighborhoods around it are expected to get pricier.
Chicago Tribune: Woman in construction front scheme gets 12 months
The former owner of a suburban construction business convicted of acting as an illegal front so another company could secure a lucrative city airport contract was sentenced Thursday to 12 months in federal prison.
Lawyers for Elizabeth Perino had sought probation and home confinement, but U.S. District Judge Gary Feinerman said he opted for prison to send a message to “an industry that needs to clean up its act.”
WTTW Chicago Tonight: Chicago to Investigate Manganese Sources
Chicago’s top public health official said her department will examine an area on the city’s Southeast Side that faces exposure to manganese dust.
Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Julie Morita said the move was in response to a federal health study published last summer that found manganese emissions that could be harmful to residents in the East Side and South Deering neighborhoods. Manganese is a metal used in steelmaking that can affect brain and motor function at high concentrations.
Chicago Tribune: Caterpillar brings in ex-U.S. attorney general to help it face federal probe
Caterpillar is bringing in a former U.S. attorney general to help it sort out matters that sparked a federal raid on its Peoria headquarters earlier this month.
William P. Barr will serve as outside counsel to the large equipment manufacturer, according to a news release. He’ll help Caterpillar review and address issues relating to its use of a parts subsidiary based in Switzerland and tax-saving practices.
Rockford Register-Star: Strike, Day 2: Teachers union objects to staff filling in for striking workers
The Rockford Education Association has filed a demand to bargain new working conditions for about 180 certified staff of Rockford Public Schools after they spent Wednesday and today filling in for striking classroom aides and lunch room workers.
According to a letter delivered to the Rockford School Board this morning, REA members were required to fill in as classroom aides for special education students, serve breakfast and lunch to students, help unload buses, supervise recess, help students go to the bathroom and perform housekeeping duties — all of which represent a change in working conditions for the 1,950-member union.
Bloomington Panatagraph: State AG: Normal comment policy illegal
The Illinois attorney general’s office said Thursday the Normal City Council’s policy for public comment at meetings is illegal and should be changed.
“The Public Access Bureau concludes that the (town’s) rules governing public comment impermissibly restrict the right of members of the public to address public officials at public meetings,” according to a letter from Deputy Public Access Counselor Neil Olson. “The (council) violated (the Illinois Open Meetings Act) by prohibiting members of the public from addressing it more often than once every 45 days.”
Decatur Herald & Review: Decatur town hall laments school funding woes
Meridian High School has a brand-new building and began the school year with a budget in the black.
Yet three-quarters of the way into the school year, the district has yet to receive a transportation payment from the state of Illinois, and that has put its budget $300,000 in the red.