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Crain's Chicago Business: Is rebuilding one CTA station really worth $200 million?
Ponder for a moment what $200 million can accomplish, even in government, and even at a time when money isn’t worth what it used to be.
Two hundred million dollars would pretty much fill the hole in the Chicago Public Schools budget, the one that had officials threatening to end school three weeks early. Two hundred million dollars would completely pay for the budget of the city Department of Streets & Sanitation for a year (with $50 million left over), or provide not one but two years of subsidies to keep Cook County’s hospital and health clinics up and running.
Peoria Journal-Star: The solution only seems simple
The James R. Thompson Center in Chicago is back in the headlines thanks to Gov. Bruce Rauner and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
Last week, Emanuel said he would block any sale until he had assurances about the fate of the mass transit station in the building’s basement, one of the busiest in the city. He said he didn’t want Chicago taxpayers on the hook for a replacement.
State Journal-Register: Coliseum repairs to take two years, millions of dollars
Restoring the Illinois State Fair Coliseum after years of neglect will take at least two years and millions of dollars — if the state had the money.
The assessment of the state Capital Development Board, the agency in charge of state buildings, is contained in an emergency, $600,000 contract for enclosure of a temporary facility to host horse shows and other indoor events disrupted by the Coliseum shutdown in October. Inspectors said the more-than-century-old Coliseum was no longer safe after years of neglect that resulted in significant structural deterioration.
State Journal-Register: UIS labor talks to resume Sunday as final exams loom
Labor talks between University of Illinois Springfield administrators and union leaders representing tenured and tenured-track professors continued all day Saturday and into Sunday morning as final exam week, which starts Monday, loomed ever closer.
A university spokesman said talks broke for the night at 1 a.m. Sunday, with plans to resume at 10 a.m.
News-Gazette: Top UI Springfield official caught in illegal hiring web
A top-ranking official a the University of Illinois’ Springfield campus was identified as among the wrongdoers in a court-ordered investigation of the illegal state patronage hiring scandal that occurred from 2009-14 under former Gov. Pat Quinn.
The voluminous report, prepared by independent monitor Noelle Brennan, identified Ryan Croke, a former Quinn chief and assistant chief of staff, as being among a handful of top people in the governor’s office who pressured officials at the Illinois Department of Transportation to hire clouted job applicants “with little to no regard for actual hiring need or whether the candidate was qualified to fill the stated duties of the job.”
Northwest Herald: McHenry County Board begins to brainstorm ways to cut property tax levy by 10 percent
A working group of just less than half the McHenry County Board has started looking at ways to fulfill its promise to cut its property tax levy by at least 10 percent.
Its Ad Hoc Committee on Tax Reduction met for the first time Thursday, and after 90 minutes of discussion, the committee continued its debate to a second meeting next Wednesday.
Belleville News-Democrat: More than 1,000 ticketed during ISP distracted-driving blitz
If drivers didn’t know then, they should have heard by now that last week was distracted driver awareness week.
And police around the state issued tickets. Lots of tickets.
The Southern: Carson's response to Cairo not enough
Baloney!
That’s our response to letters Ben Carson, Department of Housing and Urban Development secretary, sent to the people of Cairo earlier this week.