Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Crain's Chicago Business: Springfield stalls on property tax reform
Continued partisan over whether and how to cut soaring rates has stalled any real progress in the Statehouse. In the latest kerfuffle, Illinois House Republicans complained that ruling Democrats haven’t scheduled committee hearings on their property-tax related bills, such as a measure to freeze school district rates for senior citizens.
Chicago Sun-Times: Law limits union campaign gifts, but what if they give to allies who then give to their candidate?
The Service Employees International Union has a candidate it likes in the race to succeed state Rep. Art Turner II, a West Side Democrat who isn’t seeking reelection.
That’s Lakesia Collins, one of the union’s nursing home organizers
Chicago Tribune: Longtime Chicago political operative William Helm indicted on charges he bribed state Sen. Martin Sandoval
A longtime Chicago political operative was indicted Thursday on federal bribery charges alleging he paid off then-state Sen. Martin Sandoval on behalf of a suburban construction company for the senator’s support on a state road project.
William Helm, the onetime deputy commissioner of the Chicago Department of Aviation who went on to a high-level position with the Illinois Department of Transportation, was charged in a two-page indictment with a single count of bribery.
The Center Square: Report predicts Illinois economy will lag behind Midwest, nation
Illinois officials annually ask credit rating agency Moody’s Investors Service to look down the road and evaluate the state’s fortunes.
The most recent report said that while the Land of Lincoln’s situation appears optimistic, the agency predicted a slowdown that the state’s government isn’t prepared to handle.
Chicago Tribune: Red-light cameras have led to more crashes at Route 83 and 22nd Street, Oak Brook police chief says
Crashes at the intersection of Route 83 and 22nd Street have increased since Oakbrook Terrace had red-light cameras installed and activated in two directions in 2017, according to a study just completed by Oak Brook Police Chief James Kruger.
The cameras, for southbound traffic on Route 83 and eastbound traffic on 22nd Street, have been controversial since before they were activated and recently were part of reports about corruption involving former State Senator Martin Sandoval, who was chairman of the state’s Transportation Committee.
Chicago Sun-Times: Aldermen say they are getting frozen out of pot shop zoning process
As the battle to open Chicago’s first recreational pot shops heats up, some aldermen claim they’re being frozen out of the process.
Alds. Brian Hopkins (2nd) and Walter Burnett (27th) said Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s efforts to diminish aldermanic authority have effectively left them on the sidelines as a flood of pot stores move to open on their turf.
Crain's Chicago Business: Chicago construction costs third-highest in country
Only New York and San Francisco have higher construction costs than the Chicago market, according to a report from Jones Lang LaSalle. Construction costs here have risen 31.6 percent over the past decade, more than any other metro area in the Midwest but less than several others in the country, especially those on the West Coast, the report shows.
Chicago Tribune: Viral video of police shooting at CTA Red Line station highlights limits of CPD training
The Chicago Police Department does not specifically train officers on use of force and de-escalation methods for the city’s crowded CTA train system, a gap experts said has been magnified with the controversial shooting by police of an unarmed man after a struggle during rush hour in a downtown Red Line station.
As it stands, the department’s guidelines make no distinction between an officer drawing a gun while confronting a suspect in a vacant lot and doing the same in the busy, confined spaces of CTA rail lines. And the Red Line incident took place just as CPD was adding 50 officers to the ranks of the 200 who already patrol the “L” network, virtually ensuring an increase in the kind of encounter that touched off the shooting.
Bloomberg: Chicago Public Schools expected to get state aid hike: Deputy Governor
Governor J.B. Pritzker’s $42 billion spending proposal for the year starting July 1 includes $1.4 billion that won’t be spent unless a November referendum passes to change Illinois’s flat income tax to a progressive rate. The budget includes a $350 million jump in state aid for schools in 2021, though about 40 percent of that increase is contingent on the graduated levy going through.
Rockford Register Star: Agency collected more than $1.5 million in court fines last year for Winnebago County
A Chicago company last year collected $1,527,210 in outstanding court fees and fines owed to Winnebago County, State’s Attorney Marilyn Hite Ross said Thursday.
So far in 2020 the company, Harris and Harris Ltd., has collected $241,785, bringing the total collected to more than $14.1 million since the company started collecting on behalf of the county in 2012.
Belleville News-Democrat: Correctional officers charged with sexual misconduct
Two southern Illinois correctional officers have been charged with custodial sexual misconduct for an alleged assault on several women in their custody, Williamson County Sheriff Bennie Vick announced Thursday.
Vick said that in addition to the custodial sexual misconduct charges, officers Russel Herzog and Brandon Elam have been charged with official misconduct. Elam is alleged to have offered special treatment to three women in exchange for them “fondling their sex organs” in front of him. Herzog allegedly made the same offer to two women.