Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Associated Press: University of Illinois chancellor says Chicago campus won't drain resources
University of Illinois’ chancellor says expanding the university’s presence to Chicago won’t drain resources from Champaign-Urbana, saying two new initiatives there will do “just the opposite.”
Chancellor Robert Jones is also committed to expanding the UI Research Park in Champaign, The News-Gazette reported. He says the Research Park, which has 100 companies, 2,000 employees and $60 million payroll, will be a major draw for Chicago innovators looking to develop startups and use the university’s expertise to become more competitive globally.
Chicago Tribune: A focal point in governor’s race, Quincy veterans home now part of budget talks
A focal point in the already contentious race for governor has now become a focus for lawmakers negotiating a new state budget, as they assess Gov. Bruce Rauner’s call for $246 million to rebuild the veterans home in Downstate Quincy that has been plagued by fatal outbreaks of Legionnaires’ disease.
Since a 2015 outbreak of the disease led to the deaths of 12 residents and sickened dozens more, the post-Civil War era veterans home has seen annual occurrences of the disease, including an additional death last year.
Northwest Herald: Algonquin Township Highway Commissioner Gasser denies plan for paving pro Rabine to take over road district duties
After he won the election but before he took his oath of office, Algonquin Township Highway Commissioner Andrew Gasser consulted paving magnate Gary Rabine to rate the roads.
For free, an employee of the Rabine Group – a multimillion-dollar company known for its work in roofing, snow removal and paving – drove township roads gathering data with a 360-degree camera to condense into a report for Gasser before his first day in office.
Crain's Chicago: Illinois is a car state? Yes, and let's double down.
Quick: Name a big auto manufacturing state. Michigan springs to mind first, right? Maybe Ohio and Indiana. And given the industry’s southward drift to nonunion states over the past few decades, you might also think of Alabama, Georgia or South Carolina.
You’d be right, of course. Lots of American and foreign-branded cars are built in all of these locales. But you probably wouldn’t have guessed that Illinois is No. 5 on a respected industry research group’s list of the 10 biggest states in auto manufacturing, ahead of Mississippi, Alabama, Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee.
More surprising yet is that despite Illinois’ reputation as a legal, fiscal and managerial hellscape for big manufacturers, the Land of Lincoln turns up third, after Michigan and California, on Global Trade magazine’s list of the friendliest states to carmakers.
Pantagraph: Lawmakers hopeful for budget in last days of session
With just a few days left, Central Illinois lawmakers remain hopeful that a budget deal can be reached by the scheduled end of the legislative session on Thursday.
That optimism comes as legislative leaders from both parties and representatives from Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner’s office attempt for the first time since 2014 to approve a budget during the spring session.
The current $36 billion budget was approved last summer after Democrats and a handful of Republicans came together to override Rauner’s veto of the spending blueprint.