Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Champaign News-Gazette: Just Illinois being Illinois
A holy alliance is wholly embarrassing.
The Illinois Supreme Court has a new chief justice, an appointment that under ordinary circumstances wouldn’t mean a whole lot.
That’s because the high court’s seven justices take turns handling the chief’s administrative duties. Every three years, a new chief replaces the old chief.
WTTW Chicago Tonight: Will Illinois Become the Next State to Pass Rent Control Laws?
California this week became the third state to pass a rent control bill; Oregon and New York have already done so. California Gov. Gavin Newsom is expected to sign the bill, which would cap rents starting Jan. 1.
In Illinois, rent control has been barred since 1997 but is once again under consideration.
Chicago Tribune: Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans retains leadership post and power over $272 million budget, thousands of employees and future of local court system
Timothy Evans, a Chicago political fixture and chief judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County, retained his high-profile post atop one of the world’s busiest judicial systems after a vote of his peers.
Local Circuit Court judges cloistered inside a jury assembly room on the 17th floor of the Richard J. Daley Center on Thursday and voted 143-102 for Evans over Judge Lorna Propes. The votes were cast as part of a secretive process conducted every three years and give Evans a seventh term directing Cook County’s judiciary.
Chicago Tribune: State revenue from casinos continues to drop as Illinois prepares for massive gambling expansion
As Illinois embarks on a massive gambling expansion of up to six new casinos and the addition of slot machines and table games at horse tracks, revenue from the state’s 10 existing casinos last year dropped more than 3% , continuing a decadelong slide.
The loss in revenue from casinos, however, was more than offset by a continued increase in the state’s take from video poker and slot machines at bars, restaurants and truck stops, according to a report out Thursday from the legislature’s bipartisan Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability.
Chicago Sun-Times: 2 alderman fronted measures for embattled Ald. Edward Burke that benefit his law clients
In a sharp break from City Hall convention, two Chicago aldermen fronted measures for now-indicted Ald. Edward Burke that would bring millions of dollars in property tax breaks going to Burke’s law clients in his Southwest Side ward.
By putting their names on a half dozen measures involving businesses in Burke’s ward, Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson (11th) and former Ald. Michael Zalewski (23rd) allowed Burke to get around the city’s conflict-of-interest rules, a Better Government Association investigation has found.
Crain's Chicago Business: Loosening the shackles on distillers? I'll drink to that.
It’s a welcome development in an Illinois liquor industry shackled for generations by myriad restrictions. A raft of laws dating to the Depression era have prescribed who can sell what alcoholic beverages to whom and where.
WBEZ: Chicago Is The Only Major U.S. City To Ban Ride-Share Drivers For Parking Ticket Debt
Many cashed-strapped Chicaogans have turned to driving for ride-share companies like Uber and Lyft to make ends meet. But for thousands of those drivers, the city has yanked away that lifeline because of unpaid fines on everything from parking tickets to unshoveled sidewalks or uncut weeds.
This year alone, city policy required Uber and Lyft to suspend more than 15,500 people as part of a little-known program that deactivates ride-share drivers for their unpaid debts.
Peoria Journal-Star: Marshall County will tax pot sales – if any are allowed
Marijuana and hog farms were the main topics of discussion at Thursday’s Marshall County Board meeting.
The board followed some other area governments in enacting a retail sales tax on any future recreational marijuana commerce while postponing a decision about whether to allow retail sales or any other types of cannabis-related businesses.