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Chicago Sun-Times: Lightfoot still confident teachers strike can be avoided
Denied the agreement she had hoped to reach by the first day of school, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Tuesday she remains confident of avoiding a second strike in seven years by a Chicago Teachers Union that was among Toni Preckwinkle’s biggest supporters.
“Whatever it takes, we are prepared to do it . . . We stand ready to get it done. If I need to get personally involved, I’m happy to do that,” the mayor said.
Crain's Chicago Business: S&P leans on Lightfoot to find pension fix
In a statement, S&P Global Ratings says the city’s commitment to solving its pension woes, a commitment first made by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel, is “at the core” of the city’s current BBB+ rating—above junk, but only by two levels.
Chicago Sun-Times: Lowering Chicago’s pension contributions would be seen ‘negatively’: S&P
A major bond rating agency said Tuesday that “any measure that would lower annual contributions into Chicago’s pension systems” would be seen as a negative — potentially jeopardizing the city’s current BBB+ rating.
In a three-page report released Tuesday by S&P Global Ratings — titled “How Chicago Closes Its Fiscal 2020 Budget Gap Will Be Pivotal To The Rating” — the agency noted that “outside of a massive property tax increase, [the city] has limited options to raise significant, predictable revenues through a single tax or fee increase without state legislation that would expand the city’s revenue-raising authority.”
Chicago Tribune: Illinois colleges ramp up pursuit of rural students: ‘Colleges need to understand more about rural areas — they are kind of in a bubble.’
Until recently, high school senior Anna Girten had considered only the schools typically sought out by students in her town of about 6,600 near the Iowa border, such as University of Iowa and Iowa State University. The big city about three hours in the opposite direction was not on her radar until she visited University of Chicago for a summer program designed for rural students.
“I’m just not exposed to different schools and opportunities,” said Girten, 17, who attends Geneseo High School in northwest Illinois. “I didn’t really know much about University of Chicago. But going there and having that experience showed me that there’s a lot more possibilities than the few schools that a lot of the kids go to at my high school.”
Chicago Sun-Times: Cook County Finance Committee to approve $3 million settlement in medical malpractice case
The Finance Committee of the Cook County Board of Commissioners is poised to approve a $3 million settlement in a medical malpractice suit Wednesday to the family of a woman who died after surgery on her adrenal glands and kidney.
Jacqueline Brooks, 74, had an adrenalectomy in November 2015 after a surgeon at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital determined she likely had cancer due to a mass on her adrenal gland, an attorney for the family, Daniel Pylman, said.
WBEZ: Here’s Why Cook County’s Property Tax Freeze Might Thaw
Cook County government could end a 25-year-old property tax freeze to generate more money for two of its core missions: public safety and health care.
It’s not something that would be immediate. It wouldn’t happen even in 2020, said Ammar Rizki, the county’s chief financial officer.
Daily Herald: St. Charles considering 3% tax on recreational marijuana sales
With St. Charles leaning toward allowing up to two recreational cannabis dispensaries in town, aldermen now are considering imposing a tax on marijuana sales.
The government operations committee voted 5-3 Monday to implement a 3% municipal cannabis retailers’ occupation tax starting next year. That would tack onto an existing 2% local sales tax, meaning St. Charles would collect 5% of gross recreational marijuana sales, pending city council approval.
Champaign News-Gazette: Urbana council approves 3 percent tax on recreational cannabis
Anyone who buys cannabis for recreational purposes in Urbana when it becomes legal Jan. 1 can add another 3 percent tax to the total bill.
On Tuesday, aldermen unanimously approved implementing a Municipal Cannabis Retailer’s Occupation Tax, which could help the city address its pressing structural deficit.
Bloomington Pantagraph: Consultant: Uptown TIF 'investment' paying off for Normal
Before the Normal City Council got a presentation from an urban planner on the past, present and future of uptown, members voted 5-2 Monday to return $150,000 in future sales tax to spur the opening of the Fiala Bros. Brewpub.
Though the rebate is not through tax increment financing (TIF), town officials said it’s the latest step in a highly successful plan to revitalize uptown that since 2003 has brought in the Children’s Discovery Museum, two hotels and a five-story mixed-use building — with another on the way — much with TIF money.