Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Chicago Tribune: Taxman cometh (again): Emanuel budget raises taxes for 6th time in 7 years
Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday revealed his seventh budget, and for the sixth time, he is raising taxes and fees, moves he said are needed to keep stabilizing the city’s finances and foster economic growth.
Even as the mayor declared “Chicago is on firmer financial footing than we have been in many years,” he wasn’t ready to say Chicagoans are off the hook from more fee and tax increases in the near future. Asked twice after his budget address if taxpayers soon would be out of the woods on more tax increases, Emanuel did not directly answer.
Chicago Tribune: Illinois no longer a contender for Toyota-Mazda plant or its 4,000 potential jobs
Illinois is no longer a contender for a manufacturing plant Toyota and Mazda want to build in the U.S., losing out on as many as 4,000 jobs the Japanese automakers expect to create.
Mark Denzler, vice president and chief operating officer of the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association, confirmed Wednesday that Illinois is no longer in the running.
News-Gazette: Whoopee, we're not New Jersey
Illinois ranks near the bottom on all measures of fiscal health, according to a new report.
Everyone who’s been paying attention knows that the state of the state’s finances is dire.
But the Mercatus Center at George Mason University in Virginia adds some discouraging details in its voluminous report “Ranking the States by Fiscal Condition 2017 Edition.”
Daily Herald: State's video gambling revenues outpace casinos for first time
Video gambling is now more profitable than casino gambling for Illinois.
The state made $296 million from the machines during the 2017 fiscal year that ended June 30. Meanwhile, Illinois’ 10 casinos generated just $270 million for the state, a $7 million drop from the previous fiscal year.
Chicago Tribune: University of Illinois plans public-private Chicago innovation center with Rauner backing
Gov. Bruce Rauner and the University of Illinois are pursuing a sprawling innovation center in the South Loop with two other research universities, but the project’s backers have yet to forge a political consensus and a lack of detail about how it would be funded has created uncertainty about the project.
Rauner is backing the University of Illinois-led Discovery Partners Institute, a public-private facility for conducting specialized research in an array of fields, including computing and big data, food and agriculture, and health and wellness.
WBEZ: At CPS, More Special Education Dollars Go To White, Wealthier Students
Major differences in special education spending exist across Chicago schools, according to a WBEZ analysis of spending in the 2015-16 school year. Schools with wealthier student populations spent the most per student while schools where nearly all students are low-income spent the least, the analysis shows.
Chicago Tribune: Legislators want answers on Illinois' failure to screen babies for deadly Krabbe disease
Outraged by a Chicago Tribune report, state Rep. Mary Flowers, D-Chicago, is asking officials from the Illinois Department of Public Health to explain at a legislative hearing next week why they never implemented a 2007 law that mandated screening Illinois babies for a deadly genetic condition.
Flowers, chair of the Illinois House Health Care Availability and Access Committee, was a co-sponsor of the law that added Krabbe disease to the state’s newborn screening program a decade ago.
Northwest Herald: Crystal Lake High School District 155 approve tentative tax levy increase
Residents, real estate agents and a state representative crowded the Crystal Lake School District 155 boardroom to voice concerns over the proposed increase on the tax levy, which board members tentatively approved Tuesday.
The school board met to consider its annual levy, which this year includes a requested 4.45 percent increase over the previous year. The $3.2 million hike could mean tax payers will see a higher property tax bill. Although the district is asking for a $75.8 million levy, it expects to receive a $74.3 million extension, which is about a 2.4 percent increase, according to district documents.
Daily Herald: District 15 strike ruling on nurses, aides could set precedent
An expert on Illinois labor relations laws says Palatine Township District 15’s success in asking a judge to prohibit teachers aides and nurses from striking could prompt other districts to try the same legal maneuver.
Chicago Kent College of Law Professor Martin Malin says it’s likely Cook County Judge Neil Cohen’s Tuesday ruling to send 168 nurses and classroom aides back to work will be appealed to a higher court.
Daily Herald: Kane County to spend $100,000 more on naloxone to fight overdoses
Kane County will spend another $100,000 to order more than 2,000 additional doses of naloxone, a drug used to save the lives of people overdosing on heroin and prescription painkillers.
County health officials said opioid addiction is at “epidemic” levels, but there are few opportunities to keep residents from getting hooked or getting them off the drugs.
Rockford Register-Star: Winnebago County sheriff cuts $2M so far, more to come
Winnebago County Sheriff Gary Caruana has made a priority of keeping boots on the street as he attempts to slice $4.3 million from his budget.
Nearly three weeks after the Winnebago County Board approved a balanced fiscal year 2018 budget, which included $6.8 million in cuts, the sheriff as of Tuesday had identified just less than $2 million in reductions.