Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Chicago Tribune: Slow start on Pritzker's ambitious agenda has Democrats in Springfield concerned
The election of J.B. Pritzker as governor in November ushered in a sense of euphoria for Democrats after four years of Republican Bruce Rauner, resulting in an ambitious first-year legislative agenda.
But with the first spring session under Pritzker’s watch nearing its scheduled adjournment at the end of May, many rank-and-file Democrats are concerned that the new administration’s big ideas have largely remained just that, rather than passable legislation. Republicans also have noticed the Democratic discontent.
Chicago Tribune: One way to ease Illinois property taxes? Read on.
Examine the property tax bill of just about any Illinois taxpayer, and you’ll see most of the money goes to the schools. But a close second place? Police and firefighter pensions.
Across Illinois, those pensions are gobbling up a greater share of local property tax revenue. Yet many of those pension funds are in trouble with rising unfunded liabilities, more workers retired than active, and investment returns that aren’t reaching their full potential.
Associated Press: 'Urgency is required': Pritzker promises to fix DCFS
Illinois’ child welfare agency reviewed 1,100 of its ongoing abuse and neglect cases as part of a stepped-up effort to right a department that has been criticized for failing to prevent the deaths of three children under its watch since January, the governor announced Wednesday.
Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker made the announcement hours after the release of a separate outside report that found that that the Illinois Department of Child and Family Services unit that is responsible for overseeing households in which children are left at home after allegations of abuse or neglect. That report from the University of Chicago’s Chapin Hall research center found the Intact Family Services unit is so intent on keeping children with their parents despite strong evidence of abuse that it has sometimes left those children in grave danger.
State Journal-Register: Pardons for low-level pot convictions suggested at Senate panel hearing
A Republican state senator on Wednesday suggested that Illinois’ Democratic governor issue a mass pardon of all low-level marijuana convictions to relieve legal concerns associated with a bill that would legalize possession and sale of recreational marijuana.
Sen. Jason Barickman of Bloomington said a mass pardon would pave the way for the automatic expungement of hundreds of thousands of past marijuana-related convictions, a goal of the bill’s sponsors to correct for injustices of the “war on drugs.”
Champaign News-Gazette: It's possible to run afoul of ethics rules even in Illinois
The idea of government ethics in Illinois may strike many people as oxymoronic. But even here in the Land That’s Now an Embarrassment to Lincoln, our elected officials pay tribute to the idea of not dealing from the bottom of the deck.
That’s why legislators passed the State Officials and Public Employees Ethics Act, which created a nine-member ethics commission and a paper-pushing staff who oversee a variety of duties.
Chicago Tribune: Ald. Proco 'Joe' Moreno charged with falsely reporting car stolen, trying to collect $30,000 in insurance
Ald. Proco “Joe” Moreno’s insurance was set to pay out more than $30,000 on his stolen Audi A6, Cook County prosecutors said Wednesday, until Chicago police determined the luxury sports sedan had not been stolen at all.
Instead, the 1st Ward alderman had loaned the 2016 model to a friend, prosecutors alleged. The next day he gave differing false accounts to police and his insurer about where he had last seen the car, they charged.
Chicago Sun-Times: Lightfoot outlines ambitious agenda for her first 100 days at City Hall
The Chicago Bears take the field with a scripted series of plays for the opening drive.
The same could be said of Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot. She has a list of things she wants to get done in the first 100 days.
Chicago Tribune: Chicago's 2020 budget shortfall may be more than $200 million larger than Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot expected
Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot could need to come up with more than $200 million beyond what Mayor Rahm Emanuel previously estimated in the 2020 city budget to cover higher pension payments and costs previously covered with expensive borrowing, Emanuel’s chief financial officer said Wednesday.
That would push the budget shortfall Lightfoot faces north of $700 million, higher-than-expected costs the incoming mayor didn’t know about until recently.
Chicago Tribune: Renters in Chicago's black neighborhoods 4 times as likely to face eviction as those in white areas
In African American neighborhoods like Williams’ South Chicago, landlords file for evictions at a substantially higher rate than in other parts of the city, according to a new report from the Lawyers’ Committee for Better Housing, a local housing advocacy organization that reviewed nearly 300,000 Cook County eviction court records for 2010 through 2017. In 2017, landlords in majority-African American neighborhoods filed for evictions four times more often than in white neighborhoods, the report found.
Northwest Herald: Algonquin Township Highway Department abolishment resolution voted down
A resolution brought forward by Algonquin Township Trustee Rachael Lawrence to put a referendum abolishing the township’s road district on the next general election ballot was shot down during Wednesday’s board meeting.
If the resolution had passed and the ensuing referendum put on the ballot also were passed, the highway department would have been eliminated as a taxing body and the elected highway commissioner position would have been eliminated; however, no road services would have been lost.
Rockford Register-Star: Rockford airport to add 500 jobs
A $9 million federal grant will pay for expanded parking for cargo jets at Chicago Rockford International Airport, where the nation’s 22nd-busiest airfreight hub will soon add 500 jobs.
The grant, announced Wednesday by U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth and Rep. Cheri Bustos, comes from the U.S. Department of Transportation and may only be a foretaste of what’s to come, said Airport Director Mike Dunn. The airport has asked the Department of Transportation for a total of $35 million to orchestrate a massive, 15-acre expansion of the airport’s cargo apron that would allow many more cargo jets to park at RFD.