Get the latest news from around Illinois.
Chicago Sun-Times: Poker-faced regulators call on lawmakers to change gambling law to make Chicago casino a winning bet
After a consultant’s report dampened hopes earlier this summer on the prospects of a Chicago casino, Mayor Lori Lightfoot joined a chorus of casino industry interests who insisted state lawmakers would have to go back to the drawing board to make the potential cash cow a reality.
Now, that word is coming directly from the Illinois Gaming Board.
Champaign News-Gazette: Minimal tax-revenue gains complicate gambling picture
Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the legislators who passed a massive gambling-expansion bill this summer are hoping their move will produce a gusher of new revenue that will ease the state’s financial problems.
But a recent state report shows that, while video-gambling revenue continues to increase at a brisk pace, other gambling options are struggling.
Chicago Tribune: Ethics board levels $25K fine on political consultant recorded allegedly arranging Viagra, sexual services for disgraced former Chicago alderman
A Chicago political consultant who federal authorities allegedly recorded offering Viagra and prostitution services to a former alderman has been fined $25,000 for failing to register as a lobbyist with the city.
The Chicago Board of Ethics concluded there was probable cause to believe Roberto Caldero “engaged in several acts of unregistered lobbying” in 2015, citing media reports from early this year on a bombshell court filing that showed the FBI spent more than two years investigating alleged corruption schemes by former longtime 25th Ward Ald. Daniel Solis.
Chicago Tribune: Mayor Lori Lightfoot calls for ban on flavored e-cigarettes, while alderman says he’ll push to block sale of all vaping products in Chicago
Mayor Lori Lightfoot called for a ban on the sale in Chicago of flavored e-cigarettes Monday, calling them “the gateway” for children to get addicted to vaping and nicotine.
Southwest Side Ald. Raymond Lopez, however, said he will introduce an ordinance to the City Council Wednesday that goes further, banning all sales of electronic cigarettes and the cartridges of liquid used to fill them.
Chicago Tribune: Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s auto ticket payment plan to help low-income motorists advances
Mayor Lori Lightfoot moved closer Monday to passing a package aimed at making the city’s fines and fees associated with automobile stickers and tickets less punitive, particularly for low-income drivers who she has said too often lose their cars or suffer serious financial problems as they try to make payments.
The City Council Finance Committee passed Lightfoot’s ordinance, which would reinstate grace periods for drivers to buy vehicle stickers, put in payment plans for people to have more time to pay their tickets and give drivers whose cars have been immobilized by the Denver boot another day to pay the fee without getting towed.
Chicago Tribune: Judge dismisses Lincoln Yards lawsuit, says advocacy organizations had no right to file
A Cook County judge on Monday tossed out a lawsuit by two advocacy organizations that wanted to undo the record $1.3 billion subsidy for the Lincoln Yards development pushed through the Chicago City Council during the waning days of former Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration.
The union-backed Grassroots Collaborative and Raise Your Hand education advocacy group did not have standing to challenge the city’s creation of the tax increment financing district that underpinned the subsidy sought by developer Sterling Bay, Circuit Judge Neil Cohen determined.
Daily Herald: COD faculty poised for strike authorization vote
Full-time faculty members at the College of DuPage are poised to take a strike authorization vote as contract negotiations continue.
The 304 faculty members, represented by the College of DuPage Faculty Association, will decide Tuesday whether to give their bargaining team the ability to declare a strike.
Rockford Register-Star: Winnebago County budget chief resigns, for the third time
Carla Paschal quit her Winnebago County job in a tersely worded email sent Sunday to a select group of board members and employees, explaining that her transition from full-time county administrator and budget chief to contractor “has become more of a distraction than a positive contribution.”
Paschal said in her email that she is “looking forward to better days.”
Rockford Register-Star: Rockford proposes ‘status quo’ budget
Mayor Tom McNamara’s administration on Monday proposed a balanced $163 million general fund budget for 2020 that keeps the city’s property tax levy flat and predicts a 4.4% property tax rate decrease.
Finance Director Carrie Hagerty called it a “status quo” budget because she said it does not include major changes in staffing or services.
Peoria Journal-Star: Washington agrees to 3% sales tax on recreational marijuana sales
The city will impose a 3 percent sales tax on the sale of adult-use recreational marijuana if Washington gets a dispensary.
The City Council voted unanimously Monday for the sales tax rate — the maximum allowed by the state — while making it clear recreational marijuana sales will not likely take place in Washington in the near future.