Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Chicago Tribune: Miss the food, not the taxes: Chicagoans explain why they left for neighboring states
Many Chicagoans wouldn’t trade the city — its lakefront, skyline, energy and diversity — for the world.
Others, after sticking it out for years or decades, opt to leave for neighboring states like Indiana and Wisconsin for a variety of reasons.
Chicago Tribune: With Chicago teachers strike looming, city boosts efforts to win public’s hearts and minds
Mayor Lori Lightfoot stepped up the public relations battle in her standoff with the Chicago Teachers Union on Monday by launching a website that lays out the city’s contract offer and the sequence of events in the ongoing negotiations.
With a teachers strike possibly imminent, the contract fight is taking on the added dimension of a struggle for the hearts and minds of Chicagoans, with both sides trying to demonstrate they have broad support to strengthen their position in the event teachers walk out.
Chicago Tribune: Lawsuit alleges state Sen. Martin Sandoval used position as transportation chairman to get his son a job at Pace
Longtime Democratic state Sen. Martin Sandoval, whose offices and home were raided last week by federal agents, was accused in a lawsuit last month of using his clout as chairman of the powerful Senate Transportation Committee to get his son a job at Pace in 2016.
Lawrence Gress of Downers Grove alleges in the lawsuit that he was subjected to a “sham interview” and passed over for a job at the suburban bus service in favor of Sandoval’s son, Martin Sandoval II, who the lawsuit says is some 40 years younger and vastly less experienced.
Chicago Tribune: Former Chicago Ald. John Arena hired for a $123,996-a-year job in the city planning department
Months after losing a bitter election fight in the Northwest Side 45th Ward, former Ald. John Arena has landed a new city job that comes with a pay raise.
Arena started Monday as a senior adviser in the Department of Planning and Development, where he will make $123,996 a year.
Chicago Sun-Times: Nearly $90,000 diverted from South Side public housing building by nonprofit once tied to Rev. Leon Finney, records show
Nearly $90,000 was diverted from a public housing development in Auburn Gresham run by a nonprofit long tied to the Rev. Leon Finney Jr., with payments including $50,000 to Finney’s church and $4,000 to Finney himself, court records show.
The series of payments came to light in a recent court filing by an accounting and management firm as part of the bankruptcy case involving the Woodlawn Community Development Corporation, which was run by Finney for decades.
Chicago Tribune: Community groups, Chicago aldermen want Mayor Lori Lightfoot to budget $50 million for violence prevention programs
Several Chicago community groups and Chicago aldermen want Mayor Lori Lightfoot to spend $50 million a year on programs to curb the city’s gun violence and plan to make their request on Wednesday at her final budget town hall.
Lightfoot so far has hosted four public forums to field suggestions from residents about Chicago city government’s looming $838 million budget shortfall.
Rockford Register-Star: Hard Rock Casino is Rockford mayor’s choice
Mayor Tom McNamara’s administration recommended to City Council Monday that it back Hard Rock International to receive the city’s sole casino license.
McNamara said Forest City Casino’s application for a far east side casino has uncertainties. And although Gorman & Co. officials say they identified a casino operator late last week, consultants for the city said the operator has not formally committed to the project.
Daily Southtown: Bremen High School Dist. 228, teachers ‘far apart’ on contract terms, union chief says
After some 10 months of negotiations, the head of the union representing teachers at Bremen High School District 228 says both sides remain “far apart” on key issues, such as wages and healthcare coverage.
The district operates four high schools, in Country Club Hills, Midlothian, Oak Forest and Tinley Park.
Daily Herald: Time for a property tax in Carol Stream? Mayor, others advocate it; residents don't
Carol Stream officials long have maintained they would pursue a municipal property tax only as a last resort.
But some village board members now appear ready to take that leap after enacting other taxes, freezing expenses and delaying projects in the face of sagging sales tax revenues and financial pressures caused by the state.
Daily Herald: Batavia teachers, school board agree to new contract
Teachers in Batavia Unit District 101 have a new, four-year contract that includes pay raises, officials said after the school board voted in a special meeting Monday night to approve the terms.
Members of the Batavia Education Association already have approved the agreement, which is retroactive to July 1 and will run through June 30, 2023. Salaries will increase by 3.7 percent in the first year and about 2.5 percent each year after that, according to a news release. On average, individual educators will see annual raises of about 3.6 percent, the news release said.
Bloomington Pantagraph: Bloomington-Normal EDC head pushes consistent tax breaks to lure businesses
Two months in, Patrick Hoban is pushing to change a big part of how Bloomington, Normal and McLean County do business.
“I would love to have just a standard incentive policy across the board,” Hoban, who became CEO of the Bloomington-Normal Economic Development Council in July, told a room of elected officials Monday. “If you hit certain benchmarks in certain states, it says on their website, if you do A, you get A. If you do B, you get B. … Standardizing incentives (like that) would be huge.”
Decatur Herald & Review: Decatur council votes 6-1 against cannabis dispensaries, delays decision on open consumption
After hearing from residents for more than two hours, the Decatur City Council has voted against allowing recreational cannabis dispensaries in the city.
Council members Chuck Kuhle, Lisa Gregory, Pat McDaniel, Rodney Walker, Bill Faber, and Mayor Julie Moore Wolfe voted to “opt out” of allowing sales. Councilman David Horn voted to allow the dispensaries.
State Journal-Register: Capital Township votes to approve agreement with Sangamon County
The Capital Township board of trustees Monday voted to approve an agreement with Sangamon County to have the county take over administration of the township’s general assistance program.
The board also voted to cut its property tax levy by $250,000, a 12% reduction.
Belleville News-Democrat: State education board wants public input in East St. Louis on spending for next year
The Illinois State Board of Education has scheduled four hearings in different parts of the state, including East St. Louis, to gather input for its budget request that will be sent to the governor and General Assembly in January.
In a news release announcing the hearings, Illinois Education Superintendent Carmen Ayala touted the state’s evidence-based funding formula, which was passed in August 2017.
The Southern: Murphysboro teachers' union votes down district's latest offer, sets Thursday strike date
Tensions over contract negotiations between Murphysboro School District No. 186 and its teachers’ union came to a head Monday as the teachers voted to turn down the district’s last best offer and to strike on Thursday.
The two sides have been at odds for weeks in their most recent contract negotiations. The Murphysboro Education Association, a union that represents 152 teachers, counselors, nurses and social workers in Murphysboro School District No. 186, on Sept. 19 filed an intent to strike after months of bargaining on a new three-year contract with the district stalled on a salary increase.