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Chicago Tribune: What's more toxic for Democrats: Their tax hikes or Berrios?
Cook County Democrats hope the repeal of their sweetened beverage gouge will soften the party’s taxoholic image among Chicago, suburban and statewide voters. All of which overlooks another potential vulnerability for the ruling Democrats. His name is Joe Berrios.
In late February, Cook taxpayers — many of them infuriated by fast-rising taxes — will be making the first of their two annual property tax payments. On March 5, those taxpayers can express what they think of the Democratic regime at the County Building: Early voting begins for the March 20 Illinois primary.
Chicago Sun-Times: State sticks 70-yr-old with bill for food stamps from 1980s
Officials at the Illinois Department of Human Services are demanding a 70-year-old Chicago woman pay the state $741 because they say she received more food stamps than she was entitled.
Where it gets weird is that the alleged “over-issuance” of food stamps took place between 1983 and 1985.
Belleville News-Democrat: Merge colleges, update majors to stop students from fleeing Illinois
Southern Illinois University Carbondale saw its freshman enrollment drop to half of what it was three years ago. That also means less tuition money, atop the state shirking its funding promises.
The new chancellor sees the crisis. Chancellor Carlo Montemagno blames administrative bloat, ossification and red tape for SIUC’s inability to react to the fact that too many prospective students find the university’s offerings to be irrelevant.
WBEZ: Illinois Schools Falling Below High Bar Set By State
Pass rates for Illinois elementary students on state tests remain stubbornly low for the third year, results released Tuesday show, while less than 40 percent of Illinois high schoolers met state standards on a new exam.
And the vast majority of the state’s 1,500-plus elementary schools showed no growth or did worse on state tests compared to last year, even as Illinois is preparing to begin judging schools on how much they help students improve from year to year.
Chicago Sun-Times: Errors in data for CPS made preliminary numbers virtually useless
Chicago parents can expect to have a harder time comparing schools their children attend and their tax dollars fund this year, as the dedicated website the Illinois State Board of Education proudly touts won’t be ready for several more days.
ISBE will meet its statutory requirement to publish its trove of public school data by 12:01 a.m. Oct. 31, agency spokeswoman Jackie Matthews said Monday. Multi-page PDFs for individual schools should be downloadable via ISBE.net.
Northwest Herald: McHenry County Board talks 2018 budget, 11.2 percent cut in property tax levy
McHenry County Board Chairman Jack Franks on Monday applauded fellow board members and county employees for developing a 2018 budget that includes an 11.2 percent reduction in the county’s property tax levy.
“It was a wonderful, collaborative effort,” Franks said at a Committee of the Whole meeting. “This happened because we planned and we set goals, and we have to keep doing that, and we’re going to be on the right track, and I feel very confident and I’m very proud of this board and what they were able to accomplish on this.”
Rockford Register-Star: Rockford City Council to confront deepening financial crisis
Deep spending cuts and creative new ways to raise revenue could be the only solutions to a brewing city of Rockford financial crisis.
Finance Director Carrie Eklund on Monday told aldermen that without significant changes, she projects the city will face a $10.2 million general fund deficit by the end of 2018.
Peoria Journal-Star: Peoria area sees lower unemployment but fewer jobs
As with the rest of the state, the Peoria area has seen a drop in the unemployment rate since last year, according to the Illinois Department of Employment Security.
However, the number of local non-farm jobs went down, IDES said.