Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Champaign News-Gazette: Where have all the people gone?
Gone to other states, everyone. Oh, when will our leaders ever learn?
When candidates running for public office are running around talking about what they’re going to do for the people of Illinois, it’s easy to get distracted from what they’ve already done.
Years of political and governmental malpractice have produced a governmental disaster in this state that’s driving people out. That’s not new news, but a recent report from the U.S. Census Bureau has generated some new numbers that re-emphasize the point that Illinois has become, for too many people, the land of despair.
Chicago Sun-Times: Madigan panel’s Mendoza claims independence despite ties to ousted operatives
Illinois state Comptroller Susana Mendoza is one of three female politicians House Speaker Michael Madigan named to “take the lead on facilitating a statewide discussion about the role of women” in the Illinois Democratic Party after two Madigan operatives were forced out amid allegations of harassment and other inappropriate behavior.
Mendoza and the others — U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos and state Rep. Carol Ammons, D-Urbana — have vowed their work will be done independently of Madigan and the state Democratic Party. But records show Mendoza has ties to the ousted operatives, Kevin Quinn and Shaw Decremer, who both have worked on her political campaigns.
Chicago Sun-Times: Rauner signature frees up schools to get money in April under new formula
The State Board of Education expects public school districts across Illinois to finally get their money in April under a historic new funding formula, now that Gov. Bruce Rauner has signed off on the last odds and ends of the changes needed to implement the massive reform approved last August.
“We are issuing vouchers to the comptroller’s office in April,” board spokeswoman Jackie Matthews said Friday after Rauner signed the last of the short “trailer” bills needed to allow the disbursement of billions of dollars using a new evidence-based funding formula.
Crain's Chicago Business: Cook County wants to give back $94 million in excess property taxes
As April 15 nears, an unlikely source has stepped forward to help some people raise cash to pay the federal tax man: Cook County.
According to Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas, the county is holding a cool $94 million in overpayments for property taxes stemming back as long as 20 years. And due to a change in state law and some pro-consumer work in Pappas’ office, that money now is fairly easy to get.
Belleville News-Democrat: Madison County school sales tax gets a called third strike, so it's out
The third time was not a charm, despite the close vote tally on the previous vote to impose a school sales tax in Madison County. Tuesday’s defeat of the 1 cent sales tax hike to fund school construction was a solid, hard “no” that school leaders should not interpret as anything but a message to stop asking the question.
Still, Granite City school Superintendent James Greenwald seemed to hold out some hope that it might get a fourth chance.