Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Chicago Tribune: Chicago Public Schools' huge pension debt just got $1 billion deeper, new estimates show
Less aggressive investment return estimates have carved an additional $1 billion hole in the severely underfunded pension system for Chicago teachers, reviving questions about how a retirement plan for tens of thousands of public workers can survive without additional money from taxpayers.
Consultants for the Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund now conclude the system is about $11 billion in the red and faces an even steeper climb to comply with a state law that requires it to be 90 percent funded by 2059, financial documents show.
Chicago Tribune: Committee recommends approval of $4 billion in bonds for Emanuel's O'Hare overhaul
Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s giant O’Hare International Airport modernization plan passed a big test Monday as the Chicago City Council Finance Committee recommended approval of a $4 billion bond issue to help pay for the work.
The preliminary green light came even as aldermen continued pressing the Emanuel administration to seek more diversity in the companies that get the work.
Associated Press: State group assessing the impact of Illinois Safe Roads Amendment
An Illinois advocacy group wants to determine the impact of a state transportation lockbox amendment more than a year after voters approved the measure.
Nearly 80 percent of voters in 2016 approved the Safe Roads Amendment, which committed gasoline tax money and related fees to transportation-related purposes, the State Journal-Register reported.
Daily Herald: Algonquin Town Center could get multimillion-dollar facelift
The revival of the largely vacant Algonquin Town Center could begin this year with a multimillion-dollar facelift.
A new building facade, updated signage, a restructured parking lot, and landscaping improvements are proposed for the 30-year-old strip mall on East Algonquin Road, according to village documents.
Rockford Register-Star: Rockford City Council approves utility tax
Residents and businesses may see bigger natural gas and electricity bills in a few months, following the City Council’s passage of a utility tax Monday to close a nearly $3.9 million budget deficit.
Aldermen approved the utility tax following voters’ rejection last week of a referendum to restore Rockford’s home rule powers. Home rule, had it been approved, would have allowed the city to adopt other tax and fee hikes viewed by many as less regressive than a utility tax, including an additional tax on hotel stays, restaurant tabs and packaged liquor, a higher fee on video gaming machines and a fee on nursing homes to allow the city to recoup costs for lift assists. Nearly 54 percent of voters voted against the home rule question. Passage of the utility tax did not require home rule status.
Peoria Journal-Star: Peoria seeks state help to tap $800,000 in unpaid parking tickets
The city of Peoria wants to go after motorists who haven’t paid their parking tickets, but a state that desperately needs revenue isn’t being cooperative.
City Treasurer Patrick Nichting was among a select group of city officials from around Illinois who helped work out a debt recovery plan five years ago.
Bloomington Pantagraph: Council again backs library expansion at current location
Two aldermen voted against a resolution Monday night that supported expanding Bloomington Public Library at its current location and rejected calls by some downtown advocates to move it to the Market Street parking deck site.
Aldermen Amelia Buragas of Ward 4 and Scott Black of Ward 7 cast the dissenting votes on a resolution endorsing library trustees’ unanimous decision Feb. 20 to expand at the current location, 205 E. Olive St.