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Daily Herald: District 15 strike ends; workers to return Monday
Despite contract negotiations ending without an agreement, Palatine Township Elementary District 15 support staff will return to work Monday after two weeks on strike, union leaders said Sunday.
The Educational Support Personnel Association rejected the district’s “best, last” offer, which was presented to the union during a bargaining session Friday. District 15 officials said they would begin the process of replacing employees who didn’t return to work Monday.
Belleville News-Democrat: More township corruption argues for eliminating useless layers of government
Imagine having dozens of energetic teens available for a couple summers in East St. Louis and the money to put them to work. That could be about 120 days worth of vacant lots being cleaned, little kids being mentored, elderly folks’ homes being spruced up and park equipment being painted.
That would be a teen army for good, and in a city that desperately needs it. Plus, that is two summers’ worth of paychecks that can help those youths pay for college or otherwise advance their educations.
Chicago Tribune: Programs for visually impaired students face teacher shortage
The blind and visually impaired students make their way to the second-story classrooms at Addison Trail High School, hang their canes on hooks just outside the doorway, then run their fingertips across tables until they recognize the feel of foam shapes marking their assigned spots.
For the rest of the school day, the 35 high school students who come from across DuPage and Cook counties will take advantage of special-education services guaranteed to them by law. State and federal dollars provide helpful accommodations, including shelves full of braille textbooks and tablets loaded with the latest apps designed to help students with partial blindness to see what is on the board.
Associated Press: Illinois to require veterans courts across the state in 2018
A law passed last year requires every judicial circuit in Illinois to have a veterans treatment court starting Jan. 1.
The courts allow veterans who were honorably discharged to plead guilty to a crime in exchange for a probation sentence, The Chicago Tribune reported. The sentence requires frequent court visits and mental health or substance abuse treatment.
Chicago Tribune: Chicago aldermen to consider Aviation Department budget
The second week of City Hall budget hearings starts Monday, with the Department of Aviation among the agencies under scrutiny.
Earlier this month, the city’s Office of Inspector General showed the agency had fired two of its officers involved in April’s widely publicized dragging of a passenger off a flight at O’Hare International Airport.
WTTW Chicago Tonight: Chicago to Add 10 Environmental Inspectors, Increase Fine Amounts
Chicago plans to hire 10 new environmental inspectors and increase fine amounts as it aims to crack down on sources of pollution and other environmental hazards.
The changes are part of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s 2018 budget proposal that was released earlier this month. According to the proposal, the city’s Department of Public Health will develop a “self-sustaining inspection program” to increase the number of inspections and target repeat offenders.
Chicago Sun-Times: Public defenders pushed to breaking point by masturbating inmates
Staffers in the Cook County Public Defender’s Office are used to clients who may have done horrible things, but over the last two years, female employees say their clients have become more brazen in doing horrible things right in front of them.
Masturbating inmates have become a common sight on the walk to and from holding cells where defense attorneys meet clients, and at the jail and in courthouse lockups. Last week, in a letter to Chief Judge Timothy Evans, Public Defender Amy Campanelli said her staff has reached a breaking point.
Peoria Journal-Star: Peoria council taking hard look at free city resources for special events
The finish line may be nearing for free use of Police Department and Public Works resources at races like the Whiskeydaddle Marathon as part of the Peoria City Council’s efforts to balance its budget.
Those city departments spent more than $350,000 in 2016 in taxpayer funds for off-duty officers assigned to work at 67 special events in the city, for Public Works employees closing and reopening roads, and other Fire Department staffing. There was little or no reimbursement from event organizers.
State Journal-Register: Springfield considers extending, expanding existing TIFs
An already busy year for tax increment financing districts in Springfield is not finished.
Even as aldermen prepare for final action Nov. 7 on creation of a TIF on the Peoria Road corridor, Mayor Jim Langfelder is working to extend the life an existing TIF and to expand a second.