Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Chicago Tribune: Democratic lawmaker says she resigned Cook County sheriff post because she felt pressure from Madigan allies
A Democratic state lawmaker has resigned from her part-time job at Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart’s office, saying she felt pressured to leave after speaking out about how claims of sexual harassment were handled at the Capitol.
Rep. Kelly Cassidy, a Democrat from the North Side, said she submitted her resignation last week because she felt allies of House Speaker Michael Madigan were targeting her position. The sheriff’s office, though, contends Cassidy left amid a “philosophical difference” over legislation Dart is pushing to increase penalties for inmates who repeatedly expose themselves while in custody.
Chicago Tribune: Watchdog report: Rauner administration mismanaged patronage positions
Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration was scolded by a top state watchdog for “serious mismanagement” that allowed seven state employees to hold patronage positions when their duties did not justify the special job titles, according to a report released Monday.
The Republican governor’s office also was reprimanded for providing incomplete information to executive inspector general investigators.
Champaign News-Gazette: Taxpayers taken for a ride
A new leasing arrangement screams incompetence by state officials.
The verdict has been rendered on a suspect lease of a former Springfield furniture store that state officials signed, and it does not reflect well on those who have the responsibility for making the deal.
WGN 9 Chicago: Some Cook Co. residents calling for reform over rising property taxes
Rising property taxes are hitting some Cook County homeowners hard, and some are calling to reform the system for determining fees.
So far, two North Side areas of Chicago have gotten the assessments and they are up double digits.
Crain's Chicago Business: Cook County real estate is $100 billion behind
Years after the Great Recession ended, total real estate values in Cook County are still lagging, down more than $100 billion from their prior peak, according to a report being released today by the Civic Federation.
The annual Full Value of Real Estate study finds that the area is continuing a steady if slow recovery, faster in Chicago proper than in the suburbs. But the average person who bought property here at the 2006 peak would still be short about 15 percent if they’d sold their property in 2016, the latest year for which complete data is available, the study found.
WTTW Chicago Tonight: After Homeowners Complain, Cook County Assessor Defends Higher Property Assessments
If you live in Chicago, you may want to keep your eye on your mailbox.
New property tax assessments are being mailed out over the next several months by the Cook County Assessor’s Office. The assessment is the basis for the amount you pay in property taxes. Several North Side residents have already received theirs and say assessments have skyrocketed.
Chicago Tribune: It's only $165 million, Cook County. So who cares?
In most workplaces, the loss of $165 million in potential revenue because of clerical errors would cause heads to roll. That’s not a balance sheet oversight. That’s not an “oops.”
But a side effect of chronic distrust in government is apathy. We’ve got Stage 4 apathy disease in Illinois.
Chicago Sun-Times: CPS CEO Janice Jackson: Goal is to right ‘sins of the past’ in special ed
Less than a week after the Illinois Board of Education appointed a monitor for CPS’ special education program, district CEO Janice Jackson maintained that improving the quality of the program was still “a top priority.”
Last week, the board unanimously voted to appoint a monitor after they said CPS has violated federal law protecting special education students.
Chicago Tribune: Take the brick off the City Council's number cruncher
Last November, Chicago aldermen signed off on a city budget that raised taxes for the sixth time in seven years. The vote was 47-3.
The Tribune noted at the time that an average Chicago family would pay $1,813 more in taxes and fees than it did before Mayor Rahm Emanuel took office in 2011. It also noted that on average, aldermen approved those budgets by a vote of 45-4.
Chicago Sun-Times: Ald. John Arena under fire for demanding parking perk before Cubs-Sox game
Parking around Wrigley Field is notoriously hard to find on Cubs game days. Fans lucky enough to find space in the precious few surface lots pay a premium for it.
That is, unless they happen to be Chicago aldermen.
Quad Cities Dispatch-Argus: RI council approves $800K TIF for McLaughlin
A TIF package worth $800,000 will allow McLaughlin Body Company to consolidate operations and renovate the former International Harvester Farmall Works.
The company plans to invest $10 million into renovating the facility which was built in the 1930s.
Quad Cities Dispatch-Argus: Airport's push to expand tax district fails
Though a bill that would expand the Quad-City International Airport’s taxing authority didn’t take off as planned this legislative session, officials are hoping the issue isn’t grounded.
At last week’s Rock Island County Metropolitan Airport Authority meeting, outgoing aviation director Bruce Carter said a bill that would widen the Quad-City airport’s taxing district failed to move forward during the spring session. The local airport, along with the Central Illinois Regional Airport Authority in Bloomington and the Chicago Rockford Metropolitan Airport Authority in Rockford, joined together in filing the bill.
Decatur Herald & Review: Decatur council approves Love's truck stop using up to $750,000 in local gas tax proceeds
The Decatur City Council on Monday unanimously approved a first-of-its-kind development agreement for a new Love’s Travel Stop & Country Store to be off Illinois 121 near Interstate 72 on the city’s northwest side, leveraging revenue from the city’s two-year-old local motor fuel tax to lure the truck stop company.
City officials will spend as much as $750,000 in local motor fuel tax revenue to make way for the 18,000-square-foot full-service truck stop, about six months’ worth of revenue generated from a 5-cent-per-gallon surcharge at the pump at gas stations in the city. The tax charges 1 cent per gallon for diesel. Money would be used to reconstruct County Fair Drive, which would be connected to the truck stop.
State Journal-Register: Some aldermen want to cancel TIF money for stalled downtown building project
Some Springfield aldermen are tired of waiting for a long-stalled downtown redevelopment project to get off the ground and want to rescind the city’s investment of downtown tax-increment financing funds into it.
The project, which encompasses the historic Ferguson, Bateman-Kennedy and Booth buildings at Sixth and Monroe streets, is being developed by Bright New Day Investments and is led by Rick Lawrence. In January, Mayor Jim Langfelder broke the tie on a 5-5 vote to give Lawrence $1.1 million in TIF funds and an $800,000 low-interest TIF loan, which elevated the total amount of TIF funds obligated to the project to $3.8 million.