Get the latest news from around Illinois.
WBEZ: Embattled Illinois state Sen. Martin Sandoval resigns amid corruption probe
With a “heavy heart,” embattled Illinois state Sen. Martin Sandoval announced his resignation late Wednesday amid a widening federal public corruption investigation.
The Chicago Democrat had his office and home raided by federal agents in late September as part of a multi-pronged federal probe into Commonwealth Edison’s lobbying activities, and potential wrongdoing in multiple southwest suburbs within his Senate district.
Chicago Tribune: Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s budget challenge: Do it again next year.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s 2020 budget passed with little drama this week, buoyed by Chicago aldermen who were delighted she wasn’t leaning on them to approve a massive citywide property tax increase.
In her first budget cycle as mayor, Lightfoot successfully shepherded through a city spending plan that closes an $838 million deficit. As a reward, she gets to do it again next year — except she’ll be facing a potentially uglier financial forecast for 2021 and much less ability to blame her predecessor for the city’s financial woes.
State Journal-Register: New Illinois parking excise tax set to start Jan. 1
When Illinois officials were looking for revenue to finance a capital works plan, much of the focus was on a doubling of the gasoline tax to pay for road construction and expanding gambling to pay for buildings and other projects.
In the end, lawmakers raised a number of other taxes to pay for projects, including a tax on many parking spaces that will go into effect on Jan. 1.
Chicago Sun-Times: Lies affected the feds’ ‘ability to file charges against Dorothy Brown,’ document says
The lies told to a federal grand jury by a longtime Cook County employee “affected the government’s ability to file charges against Dorothy Brown,” according to a court document made public Wednesday.
Further, it said federal officials concluded the lies told by Beena Patel and Sivasubramani Rajaram “prevented the FBI from moving forward with their investigation of Dorothy Brown,” the clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County.
Chicago Tribune: Chicago Park District proposes property tax increase for 2020 but won’t raise fees for day camp and summer camp
The Chicago Park District has proposed a modest tax increase for homeowners but is keeping program fees the same in its proposed $487 million budget, the first following a new labor agreement reached for Park District workers.
The proposed 2020 budget includes a tax increase amounting to about $3.99 for the average homeowner (with a property value of about $262,000), generating about $5 million in revenue, according to the Park District. It last increased property taxes in 2017, and before that in 2014. A small fraction of a taxpayer’s overall bill, the property tax accounts for the district’s largest source of revenue.
Chicago Tribune: Dorothy Brown’s office debuts upgrade to criminal court computers to wide ridicule
The rollout of a long-awaited upgrade to Cook County courts’ archaic case management system by beleaguered Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown’s office has caused disarray at the county’s main criminal courthouse on Chicago’s Southwest Side.
Attorneys and clerks interviewed by the Tribune since the rollout two weeks ago complained the supposed advancement has instead resulted in incomplete case information, poorly trained staff and lengthy delays in securing the most basic documentation.
Chicago Sun-Times: Many CPS teachers, students skip school on 1st makeup day after strike
Many teachers and students cut classes Wednesday, the first of Chicago Public Schools’ makeup days after this year’s contentious teachers strike.
While CPS said it could not provide an official count, teachers and students at several schools said absences appeared higher than usual on a day that had originally been scheduled to be the first day of Thanksgiving break.
Crain's Chicago Business: Wall Street mostly likes Lightfoot's budget—but wants more proof of turnaround
But a careful look at reports from three bond-rating agencies suggests they still want more proof that the city has tamed its financial demons before responding with upgrades.
Chicago Sun-Times: State lobbyist makes millions running video gambling company from Chicago movie studio
Frank J. Cortese has spent his life in the shadows of government.
Cortese started as a “patronage guy” in the Illinois secretary of state’s office more than 30 years ago, helping oversee political hiring, later working in the governor’s office as a liaison to unions.
People who know Cortese say he got his nickname — “Frankie the Wheel” — because he was a “wheeler and dealer” who got things done.
Chicago Sun-Times: Overnight parking ban in Chicago begins early Sunday
A warning to holiday travelers: Chicago’s overnight parking ban begins early Sunday, Dec. 1, so be careful where you park.
The parking ban is enforced regardless of snow on 107 miles of main streets in the city between 3 a.m. to 7 a.m., according to the Chicago Dept. of Streets and Sanitation. The ban lasts through April 1, 2020.
Chicago Sun-Times: Lightfoot urges CHA to offer ‘clarity and fairness’ when dealing with pot
Less than a month after the Chicago Housing Authority told tenants they could still be evicted for using cannabis after the drug is legalized in Illinois, Mayor Lori Lightfoot is urging the agency to educate public housing residents on the conflicting state and federal pot laws and to use discretion when reviewing weed-related cases.
The mayor’s call for “clarity and fairness” is a direct response to a sternly worded notice the CHA sent last month to housing voucher recipients and tenants in public housing buildings that reaffirmed its no-pot policy. That notice stated that “CHA can TERMINATE all assistance” if residents or guests are found using or possessing both recreational and medical cannabis.