Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Chicago Tribune: Cullerton blames Rauner for latest snag in attempt to end impasse
Senate Democrats on Wednesday sought to pressure Republicans to vote for a sweeping plan designed to end the nearly two-year stalemate, an effort that fell flat as the GOP said final details needed to be worked out before they could sign off.
The move by Democratic Senate President John Cullerton amounted to an attempt to publicly point the finger at Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, whom he repeatedly has blamed for pulling Republican support for the measure. Cullerton’s Capitol news conference followed a series of closed-door meetings with the governor in recent days that left the Senate president “frustrated” and questioning the governor’s leadership, suggesting Rauner doesn’t understand the difference between governing and the business world he used to inhabit as a private equity investor.
Chicago Tribune: Madigan accuses Rauner of trying to 'change history' of government
Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan contends that Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner is offering proposals that would “change history” by stopping government’s role of encouraging better wages and standard of living.
Madigan, speaking in a rare interview with WGN Radio’s Patti Vasquez, said that’s the fundamental difference in his efforts to block Rauner’s agenda, which the governor has said is a prerequisite to reaching an end to the state’s historic budget impasse.
State Journal-Register: Senate tries to revisit ‘bargain’; GOP not ready
With just about three weeks left in the spring legislative session, Illinois Senate President John Cullerton said Wednesday it was time to try again to pass a “grand bargain” to resolve the state’s two-year budget stalemate.
But the chamber could approve only one minor component before the effort again sputtered to a halt. Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno refused to call for a vote the workers’ compensation reform and property tax freeze bills she is sponsoring.
Chicago Tribune: Emanuel won't say why he waited so long to reveal depth of CPS money woes
Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday would not say why he didn’t reveal the extent of Chicago Public Schools’ money woes sooner, instead blaming state government for the problem.
The mayor’s attempted blame-shifting came a day after Chicago Chief Financial Officer Carole Brown told reporters CPS is owed $467 million in state school aid held up by the budget impasse. That’s on top of $215 million in state pension assistance Gov. Bruce Rauner vetoed late last year.
Chicago Sun-Times: Emanuel says he’s ready to do ‘very difficult things’ to save CPS
Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Wednesday he is prepared to do “some very difficult things” to keep the Chicago Public Schools afloat and argued that the nearly bankrupt school system is $596 million in the hole only because state government is Illinois’ “largest deadbeat.”
“I understand that the governor wants to blame [Comptroller] Susana Mendoza, wants to blame the speaker, wants to blame the Senate president, wants to blame me, wants to blame the Supreme Court. I would like him to do his job just like the Chicago Sun-Times editorial said,” Emanuel said.
Chicago Tribune: More jobless Illinoisans are giving up the job search, study finds
Though people often focus on unemployment rates as a measure of economic health, another telling data point is how many people are so discouraged with the job search that they’re dropping out of the labor force altogether.
A newly released survey found good news: Fewer unemployed Americans are giving up looking for work. But that’s not the case in Illinois, where more people seem to be throwing up their hands.c
WBEZ: Illinois Struggles To Expand Charter Schools Despite Giant Pot Of Federal Money
Blaming the state’s budget crisis and a hostile political climate, Illinois education officials are dramatically scaling back the number of charter schools they estimate will open in the next several years, putting at risk millions of dollars meant to fund the expansion of charter schools in the state.
Illinois won a $42 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education in 2015 to encourage dozens of new charter schools to open over the next five years. But those schools have not materialized, and Illinois has now told the U.S. Department of Education it expects fewer than half the original number to open. Charter schools are privately run but publicly funded.
Chicago Tribune: After 3 kids die despite DCFS involvement, it urges faster probes
They found him wrapped in a Superman T-shirt, his burned body so tiny that first responders thought he was 9 months old.
Authorities would later discover that 4-year-old Manuel Aguilar spent the last months of his life in the unheated storage room of a Southwest Side two-flat, naked and scared, pounding on the door to beg for food and water.df
Chicago Tribune: Illinois Lottery director questions privatization model
Seven years after Illinois heralded privatization as the cure for lagging lottery sales, the state’s latest lottery director now says he’s not sure the model works.
The private firm hired to manage the Illinois Lottery never met its lofty bid projections, and for 2½ years the state has said it’s been working to replace it. But the process has dragged on, even as Tribune investigations have exposed questionable actions of and payments to the firm.
Peoria Journal-Star: AFSCME wants raises for workers who care for patients with disabilities
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and others on Wednesday delivered thousands of postcards to Gov. Bruce Rauner in support of legislation that would raise the minimum wage for workers who care for patients with developmental disabilities.
Last year, Rauner vetoed increasing the wage to $15 an hour because he said the state didn’t have the money. Direct support providers now make $8.35, 10 cents higher than Illinois’ minimum wage.
Belleville News-Democrat: SIU board to vote on Edwardsville loan to Carbondale campus
Trustees for Southern Illinois University will decide Wednesday whether to approve a loan of reserve funds from the Edwardsville school to its sister campus in Carbondale.
The amount of the loan has been undetermined or not released publicly. The board meeting began at 4:30 p.m. on the Edwardsville campus. Board members immediately went into executive session.
Chicago Tribune: Seven North Side aldermen vow to add affordable housing to end 'legacy of exclusion'
A group of North and Northwest Side aldermen on Wednesday said they will seek to decrease housing segregation in Chicago by adding affordable housing units in their wards.
They made the announcement at a City Hall news conference in solidarity with 45th Ward Ald. John Arena, who has faced stiff community opposition, some of it racially charged, to a proposed apartment complex with subsidized units in the Jefferson Park neighborhood.
Chicago Tribune: Woman whose feet were run over by CTA bus gets $6 million settlement
The CTA board on Wednesday approved a $6 million settlement for a woman who was disabled when a bus ran over her feet.
Also on Wednesday, the board approved paying $54 million to overhaul more than 200 buses. Separately, a CTA official said the agency will continue to promote the No. 11 Lincoln Avenue bus pilot, which has seen low ridership and could be discontinued.
Chicago Tribune: Cook County OKs compost plant that residents fear will bring noise, stench
A food composting plant won approval from Cook County commissioners Wednesday despite opposition from nearby residents who fear it will be bad for the environment and their property values.
Some opponents shouted their disapproval to commissioners after they voted 11-2 in committee in favor of the Patriot Acres facility, which is planned on a site along the Des Plaines River outside Des Plaines.
Chicago Tribune: Cook Circuit Court clerk racial discrimination lawsuit settled for $97,500
The Cook County Board on Wednesday voted to pay $97,500 to settle a case brought by a former administrative assistant who alleged that she was fired for reporting that she was discriminated against.
Barbara A. Bush, who is African-American, had worked in the Circuit Court clerk’s office for 26 years when she was fired from her job at the Maywood branch in late 2014. Last year, she sued Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown, one of the county’s longest-serving black elected officials.
Quincy Herald-Whig: Contract talks begin between School Board, union
Contract talks began Tuesday night between the Quincy Federation of Teachers and Educational Support Personnel and the Quincy School Board.
QF spokesman Jen Drew said plans call for both sides to meet Tuesday nights in May and June in hopes of reaching a new agreement.
Belleville News-Democrat: Attorney general says St. Clair Township violated Open Meetings Act
About two years after complaints were filed, the state Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s Office has determined the St. Clair Township Board violated the Open Meetings Act when it held a meeting and did not have enough space to accommodate the large crowd in attendance.
The decision, handed down last month, cites warnings the township received that a lot of people planned to attend the Feb. 24, 2015, meeting after the township had recently approved increased sewer rates. The township meeting room has space for up to 76 people. But people had requested it be moved to a larger location such as the adjacent warehouse or Whiteside Middle School.
Belleville News-Democrat: DMV hiring embezzler for second state job enough to drive you crazy
So you work for Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, embezzle $234,000 from the bursar’s office where students make tuition payments and serve 15 months in the federal pen.
Does that disqualify you from another state job? Heck no.
Candace F. Wanzo, 55, of Centralia, is on paid administrative leave from checking vanity plates for the Illinois Secretary of State. What did she do this time?
Belleville News-Democrat: SIU board approves Edwardsville loan to Carbondale campus
Trustees for Southern Illinois University unanimously approved a loan of reserve money from the Edwardsville school to its sister campus in Carbondale, but with some of the restrictions requested from SIUE faculty.
The SIU Board of Trustees had postponed the April vote on the controversial loan from the Edwardsville campus’ reserve fund to bail out Carbondale, which had gone through $83.3 million in reserves from its own campus and the Springfield medical school and faced a possible deficit as early as this month.