Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Daily Southtown: Illinois' highest paid superintendent fired after misconduct investigation
Less than a week before he was set to retire, the highest paid superintendent in Illinois was terminated Friday for allegedly padding his own pay without authorization, destroying or altering documents involving when he worked and misrepresenting the district’s financial status, documents show.
Troy Paraday, who made more than $430,000 this past year as Calumet City District 155 superintendent, was fired following a school board investigation into alleged misconduct, according to a board resolution authorizing his discharge.
Chicago Sun-Times: Judge nixes Madigan organization bid to toss ex-campaign aide’s retaliation suit
A federal judge on Tuesday rejected efforts by Mike Madigan’s Democratic Party of Illinois to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a former campaign aide who accused one of the powerful speaker’s longtime political operatives of unwanted attention and harassment.
The decision means the case will move forward in U.S. District Court against the state party, Friends of Michael J. Madigan, Democratic Majority and the 13th Ward Democratic Organization.
WBEZ: 4 Out Of 5 Illinois Public Schools In Top Tiers Despite State’s Low Test Score Averages
A remarkable 80 percent of public schools in Illinois were classified as either “exemplary “or “commendable” by the state on Wednesday, conjuring images of Lake Wobegon, the fictional Minnesota town where “all the children are above average.”
It’s the first time the Illinois State Board of Education has rated individual public schools, which is a requirement under the country’s current education law, the Every Student Succeeds Act. The overwhelmingly positive school designations come even as 69 percent of Illinois elementary school students tested below proficiency in math; 63 percent missed in reading.
Daily Herald: Government lawsuit alleges air pollution violations at Sterigenics
Attorney General Lisa Madigan and DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin filed suit Tuesday against Sterigenics U.S. LLC, alleging air pollution violations due to the release of the toxic chemical ethylene oxide, or EtO, at its Willowbrook plant.
In addition to filing suit, Madigan and Berlin called on lawmakers to address the public health impacts from use of the chemical.
Champaign News-Gazette: Study concludes Pritzker's promises are illusory
If the public opinion polls are correct, more than a million Illinoisans will go the election polls Tuesday to vote — happily and enthusiastically — for higher state income taxes.
That’s what Democratic gubernatorial candidate J.B. Pritzker — the expected winner — is promising, and that’s what he’ll get.
Chicago Sun-Times: Acero charter school teachers vote to authorize strike
Teachers at 15 Chicago charter schools voted on Tuesday to authorize a strike, taking another step toward becoming the first group of charter school educators in the country to hit the picket line.
Ninety-eight percent of the more than 500 Acero school educators voted to approve a potential work stoppage, though Chicago Teachers Union leaders held off on announcing a strike date ahead of a bargaining session scheduled for Friday.
Chicago Sun-Times: Homeless tax proposal caught in Ed Burke’s web
An ambitious proposal to ask Chicago voters to approve a tax increase on the sale of high-end real estate to fight homelessness has hit a snag before it even gets started.
The snag is Ald. Edward M. Burke.
WTTW Chicago Tonight: Chicago Plans to Expand Bike Sharing to ‘100 Percent of City’
Chicago plans to use part of a new $2.5 million award for addressing climate change to expand bike-share programs to all parts of the city, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office said Monday.
Chicago was one of 20 cities selected by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s philanthropic foundation for a two-year program designed to accelerate efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that fuel global warming.
Northwest Herald: Woodstock cancels planned informational meeting on proposed TIF district
The city of Woodstock canceled an informational meeting about its proposed tax increment financing district Tuesday.
One resident showed up for the previously scheduled 6 p.m. meeting. City staff on-site said the lack of information about the cancellation on the city’s website was an oversight. The next meeting is planned for 6 p.m. Nov. 13 at City Hall, 121 W. Calhoun St.
Daily Herald: Gavin District 37 returns to voters seeking funding for school improvements
For the second time in eight months, Gavin Elementary District 37 is asking voters to approve a funding plan for life-safety repairs and improvements at its two school buildings in Ingleside.
Fresh off a 140-vote defeat of a March referendum attempt, District 37 officials said they’ve reached out to taxpayers and used the feedback to design the Nov. 6 ballot proposal that’s more in line with what residents want.
Peoria Journal-Star: Peoria council turns down water company bid
Another five-year window has passed without the Peoria City Council approving an effort to look into buying the water company.
That’s despite the fact that a 6-5 majority wanted to accept the CEO Council’s offer of $400,000 to fund the due diligence required to get an appraisal on what the water company is worth.
State Journal-Register: City council creates new TIF targeted to lumberyard
The Springfield City Council Tuesday voted 9-1 to form a new tax-increment financing district targeting one of piece of land in the 3400 block of Lumber Lane that a Peoria-based lumber supplier is hoping to renovate.
Normally, a TIF district — which freezes the amount of property taxes going to governmental bodies and diverts future property tax revenue increases into a fund that can be used to improve the district — covers several pieces of land. The city has eight TIF districts that follow that model.