Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Chicago Tribune: CPS strike updates: Expect crowded streets, traffic congestion around City Hall for Chicago Teachers Union rally on strike day 5
Chicago police and the Office of Emergency Management Wednesday warned of traffic congestion and large crowds that are expected to descend on the area around City Hall as part of a march and rally in support of Chicago Teachers Union on the fifth day of the teachers’ strike.
If possible, commuters may want to consider using public transportation rather than driving, if travel will bring you to the Loop later this morning. Supporters will meet at four locations downtown then march to City Hall, 121 North LaSalle St., around 9 a.m., to arrive ahead of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s 10 a.m. budget address.
Chicago Sun-Times: Negotiations back on track, but still no end in sight to CPS teachers strike
First they were stalled. Then there was progress. Then hopes were “dashed.” And now they’re back on the right track.
The whirlwind that’s followed negotiations between the city and the teachers union since a strike began last week didn’t end on Tuesday, but it might have stabilized a bit.
Chicago Tribune: Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s budget plan seeks to avoid property tax hike with help from Springfield to close $838 million deficit
Mayor Lori Lightfoot will step to the microphone in City Council chambers to deliver her first budget speech Wednesday morning with plenty of questions hanging over a 2020 spending plan that will detail her roadmap for filling an $838 million hole but also give her a chance to define what she called “a statement of values” for the city.
To reduce or avoid what could be a massive, politically dangerous property tax hike, Lightfoot wants the state legislature and Gov. J.B. Pritzker to come through with a graduated real estate transfer tax so she can start charging way more starting next year for sales of high-end residential and commercial properties.
Chicago Tribune: Kentucky puts up billboards along I-57 in bid to lure Illinois companies
Motorists heading down Interstate 57 might have noticed a billboard put up by Kentucky targeting Illinois companies who are tired of the state’s high tax burden and regulations.
The Bluegrass State on Monday launched a six-month marketing campaign to lure Illinois businesses across the border with the promise of lower taxes and better weather.
Chicago Sun-Times: Preckwinkle touts balanced Forest Preserves budget, but admits district’s not out of the woods
Cook County Board president Toni Preckwinkle said Tuesday that she “remains serious and committed” to making sure the Forest Preserves have the money to grow — even though she nixed a proposed referendum that would’ve let residents decide whether that commitment should include a property tax increase.
The increase was described as adding less than $5 a year to the property tax bill for a $100,000 home, but Preckwinkle said “now is not the time.”
WTTW Chicago Tonight: Cook County Assessor’s Office Criticized Over Pace of Reforms
Fritz Kaegi’s promises to fix a broken property tax system and end political patronage hiring led to his surprising win last year over Joe Berrios, the county’s longtime assessor and former Democratic Party chairman.
But a court-appointed monitor recently reported that the assessor’s office is not complying with a series of federal court orders known collectively as the Shakman decrees, which mandate federal oversight of hiring in Cook County government jobs (the decrees were the result of a lawsuit filed by Michael Shakman in 1969, which argued patronage problems were rampant in Cook County government).
Naperville Sun: DuPage County Board says no to recreational pot sales, the first county in Illinois to do so
DuPage County Tuesday became the first county in the state to ban recreational marijuana dispensaries.
However, board members also voted 12-6 to approve a 3% county sales tax on the sale of recreational marijuana in municipalities within DuPage County.
Northwest Herald: Grafton Township board OKs computer purchase orders following threat of lawsuit
The threat of legal action provided resolution to a monthslong dispute between the Grafton Township Board of Trustees and Assessor Alan Zielinski over the purchase and installation of computers from a vendor not approved by the board.
On Monday, the Grafton Township board approved roughly $15,000 in purchase orders for new computers in the assessor’s office from Entré Computers Solutions. The vote was tabled until after an executive session where “probable litigation” was discussed.
Daily Herald: Addison elementary teachers rally as potential strike looms
With a possible strike that would impact 4,000 students just two days away, several hundred Addison Elementary District 4 teachers and supporters rallied Tuesday to put pressure on the school board to return to the bargaining table.
Teachers in red shirts met outside an Addison restaurant for the demonstration Tuesday night, insisting they’re willing to resume talks with the school board. But no new negotiating sessions have been scheduled, bringing teachers closer to the district’s first strike in 28 years.
Peoria Journal-Star: Peoria council moves closer to finalizing budget
The budget process in Peoria is beginning to get into the home stretch as the second informational meeting concluded Tuesday with deep discussions about TIF fund districts.
The meeting had little of emotion in past years where council members wrestled with cutting jobs, firefighters, police officers or other big ticket items.