Illinois Comptroller Leslie Geissler Munger warned Thursday that continued cash flow problems once again may force a delay in the state making its contribution into the government worker pension systems.

Munger said the state is entering a particularly precarious financial period because tax receipts historically drop in October and November, meaning there is less money on hand to pay bills. While some expenses such as debt payments and those covered by court order automatically go out the door, there is more flexibility when it comes to making the pension payment.

That’s because by law, the state’s contribution into the five employee pension systems must be made on a yearly basis. However, Illinois usually chops those up into smaller monthly installments to make the cost more manageable. That means if a payment is skipped, it must be made up by July 2017.

The Illinoisans who vote for Madigan

Has there ever been a state politician as powerful as Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan?

It’s debatable. But he’s certainly the king of Illinois, and has been for the better part of the past three decades.

Anabel Perez stood before the commissioners and, with a sea of red empty chairs behind her, pleaded on behalf of her son yet again.

The state panel had twice found a preponderance of evidence that Jaime Hauad was tortured during questioning by Chicago police when he was 17, leading to his conviction for a double murder nearly 20 years ago. But Hauad’s claim was ultimately dismissed because of jurisdictional issues.

“He’s 37 years old,” Perez told commissioners. “Is he going to be 50 or 60 before he comes home?”

Free tuition for college might sound like a dream to some, a dream one Illinois lawmaker wants to bring to reality. State Representative Will Guzzardi, a Chicago Democrat, began his campaign to do that Thursday.

“I’m happy to stand here before you today with our coalition partners to announce the launch of Tuition Free Illinois,” said Guzzardi during a news conference.

Guzzardi has launched a new campaign to make public two and four years colleges tuition free.

Teachers from the UNO Charter School Network, one of Chicago’s largest charter school systems, voted overwhelmingly Thursday in favor of a strike if workers and management don’t reach an agreement before Oct. 19.

The vote was nearly unanimous, with 531 of 532 members of UNO’s unionized workforce voting, and 96 percent of those ballots cast in favor of striking if workers can’t come to a fair agreement with management by Oct. 19, the day set for a walkout by UEU, the United Educators of UNO, according to spokeswoman Erica Stewart, a fifth-grade teacher at the Sandra Cisneros UCSN campus in Brighton Park and a member of the bargaining team.

An Illinois woman will lose out on the proceeds from a $50,000 lottery ticket after a state appeals court ruled the government should keep the money because the ticket was purchased with drug money.

The Fourth District Appeals Court ruling overturns a Macon County judge who previously awarded the winnings to Tykisha Lofton, the Herald and Review reported.

Police found the lottery ticket while raiding a Decatur home where Lofton lived with her boyfriend, Terrance Norwood. Norwood told authorities that he had already turned the ticket in to claim the prize, worth more than $35,000 when paid as a lump sum.