Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Daily Herald: Soda tax expected to be repealed by near-unanimous margin
Cook County Board commissioners are expected to repeal the unpopular penny-per-ounce sweetened beverage tax this week by a near-unanimous margin, a process that begins with a key finance committee vote on Tuesday.
After Republican Commissioner Sean Morrison of Palos Park said Friday he had secured the 11 votes to repeal the tax and override a veto, several more Democratic commissioners have agreed to back the effort.
Chicago Sun-Times: Poll: TV ads haven’t sweetened opinions on pop tax
As Cook County commissioners are set to vote to repeal a tax on sweetened beverages on Tuesday, a new poll finds that the millions of dollars in ads spent by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg may not have done much to sway public opinion.
A poll of 1,050 registered voters taken on Oct. 6 and Oct. 7 found nearly 86 percent opposing the tax. Pollsters asked the same question in early August, with almost 87 percent opposing the tax then — a statistically insignificant change.
Chicago Sun-Times: When government sues to keep you in the dark
As we debate the right of football players to speak freely, we also should keep in mind the right of all citizens to challenge government and gain access to public information.
In Illinois and other states recently, there have been far too many examples of public officials lashing out at the people they are supposed to serve and represent.
Wirepoints: Illinois Pension Unfunded Liabilities Worsened By $17 Billion In A Year
The Illinois Department of Insurance has now released its 2017 Biennial Report on state and local pensions, all 671 of them. It’s the most comprehensive aggregation of pension data the state publishes.
Keep in mind these are the officially reported numbers, so they reflect the pensions’ own assumptions that are subject to heavy criticism as being overly optimistic. Financial economists say real numbers are 2X or 3X worse. Also, the numbers are mostly over a year old, at least, as explained below.
NBC 5 Chicago: Chicago Officials Gather to Talk City's Bid for Amazon's 2nd Headquarters
A shared hope of winning Amazon’s second US headquarters bid brought a bi-partisan group of elected officials and leaders together Monday morning.
At an invite-only event, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and a Gov. Bruce Rauner showed a rare moment of unity as the full court press to recruit Amazon remained in high gear.
Chicago Tribune: Study: Percentage of CPS students who go straight to college up over last decade
In 2015, 63 percent of Chicago Public Schools high school graduates immediately enrolled in a two- or four-year college, a substantial increase from a decade ago, according to a new report from the University of Chicago’s Consortium on School Research.
The 13-percentage-point increase from 2006 was driven in part by a growing number of students enrolling in four-year colleges, researchers found. But the enrollment rate gains were not shared equally by African-American and Latino graduates in 2015, according to the study. Race-based gaps in immediate college enrollment that year “were much wider in Chicago than gaps seen nationally,” the report said.
News-Gazette: Changing map drawing
The day was Tuesday, the subject was the constitutionality of political gerrymandering, the location was the U.S. Supreme Court and the arguments were fierce. Sometimes they went beyond the bounds of law to include an emotional plea for the court to step in.
“You are the only institution in the United States that can solve this problem,” Paul Smith, a lawyer representing Wisconsin Democrats, told the court’s nine justices.
Bloomington Pantagraph: City Council to discuss city credit cards, and BCPA management
The City Council’s work session Monday night likely will draw a lot of attention with two weighty topics up for discussion: a new ordinance prohibiting elected officials from using city credit cards and a VenuWorks’ proposal to manage both the city-owned arena and the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts.
The items are on the agenda for the nonvoting work session at 5 p.m. that will precede the council’s regular meeting at 7 p.m. Both meetings will be at City Hall.
State Journal-Register: TIF incentives proposed for east-side housing
Ordinances intended to improve east-side housing and to make sure the city is getting its money’s worth from large tax-increment financing projects are scheduled to be discussed before the Springfield City Council on Tuesday.
Ward 3 Ald. Doris Turner is sponsoring separate ordinances that would use funds from the Far East Side TIF as incentives for homeowners to update properties and to encourage law enforcement officers, firefighters, emergency service personnel and other first responders to purchase or build homes in the district.