Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Chicago Tribune: Mayor-elect Lori Lightfoot says Chicago aldermen will 'have a voice but not a veto'
Days before her swearing-in as Chicago mayor, Lori Lightfoot doubled down on her pledge to limit the powers aldermen wield over licensing, permitting and zoning decisions in their wards.
The former federal prosecutor also took exception with the departing Rahm Emanuel administration’s most recent estimates of the city’s financial problems, saying the situation is worse than previously disclosed.
Chicago Sun-Times: Meet the New City Council
The new Chicago City Council moves further to the left and welcomes more people of color. Latinos hold 12 seats, more than ever before, but still short of their share of the city’s population. White and black aldermen each hold 19 seats. That’s the smallest number of white aldermen since the current ward system was enacted in 1923, but it’s still greater than the percentage of white people in Chicago. Asians lost their one seat.
The biggest Council gains were political. Six democratic socialists now hold seats, a six-fold increase since 2015 and more socialists than the Council has seen in more than a century. The Council includes 14 aldermen who were not there in 2015. That’s comparable to four years ago, but down from the 18 in 2011. Women hold 15 seats, three more than 2015, but short of the record 18 in 2007.
Chicago Tribune: Chicago Teachers Union president wins re-election, issues warning to new mayor
The president of the Chicago Teachers Union easily won re-election after ballots were counted late Friday and immediately issued a warning to the incoming mayor, Lori Lightfoot, who was not endorsed by the labor group.
“We hope that the new mayor makes good on her promises to transform our public schools,” said Jesse Sharkey after winning re-election with 66% of the vote. “If she does, she will find us to be a steadfast ally. If she does not, she will find us to be an implacable foe.”
Chicago Tribune: Illinois does not need to spend more than $1 billion on school administration costs
Consider: $544 per student. That’s how much Illinois school districts spend on administrative costs every year. And that number keeps rising year after year.
Not only does Illinois spend more than double the national average of $266 per student, but Illinois spends more annually on administration costs than any other state.
Peoria Journal-Star: Is division in the state at a breaking point?
Activists in the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have been pushing for statehood for decades. But they aren’t the only ones who aspire to create a 51st state.
Many rural, often conservative, residents of large Democratic-controlled states are tired of being overshadowed politically, culturally and economically by big cities.
Bloomington Pantagraph: Bill banning private detention centers goes to governor
A bill that would ban for-profit immigrant detention centers in Illinois — like one proposed in Dwight in Livingston County — is now on its way to Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
The Illinois Senate has voted 34-14 to pass House Bill 2020. It previously passed the House on April 10 by an 85-26 vote.