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Northwest Herald: Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner releases school funding breakdown
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner released figures Tuesday detailing how much each Illinois school district would receive next year under his education budget, setting the stage for another battle with Democrats who have their own proposal.
The total budget for schools would be just over $10 billion for the fiscal year beginning July 1, but despite the additional support from the state, wealthy suburban school districts would see a drop in state aid.
Chicago Tribune: Madigan blasts Rauner's agenda, says governor wants government shutdown
After sitting down with Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner for the first time since December, Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan exited out the back door, providing no status update on Tuesday’s hour-long gathering.
The speaker, it turned out, was saving his impressions of how the meeting went for the House floor.
In a rare, 10-minute speech, Madigan ratcheted up his rhetoric against Rauner, delivering a scathing address in which he accused the former private equity investor of trying to make good on an early campaign threat to shut down state government by pursuing a “personal agenda” aimed at harming the middle class.
ChicagoNow: New documents detail police violence at Homan Square ‘black site’
Chicago Police Department, or CPD, documents show officers used physical force on at least 14 men already in custody at the city’s infamous Homan Square facility, according to an April 11 report from the Guardian.
The new information – which details the use of punches, knee strikes, baton hits and Tasers – flies in the face of an official denial about mistreatment of prisoners at the facility, where more than 7,000 people were detained and interrogated without access to an attorney or any public notice of their whereabouts. According to a CPD statement on March 1, 2015, “The allegation that physical violence is a part of interviews with suspects is unequivocally false. … It is offensive, and it is not supported by any facts whatsoever.”
The same day the Guardian revealed these findings and proved CPD’s statement false, the city’s Finance Committee signed off on $6.5 million in settlements for the families of two victims of police abuse, underscoring foundational problems within CPD – the subject of a federal civil rights investigation.
Chicago Tribune: Chicago police must face 'hard truths' about racist past
The Chicago Police Department must acknowledge its racist past and overhaul its handling of excessive force allegations before true reforms can take place, according to a scathing draft report from the task force established by Mayor Rahm Emanuelfollowing public unrest over the Laquan McDonald video.
The Police Accountability Task Force’s report — which is scheduled to be released as early as this week — blisters both the Police Department and its primary oversight agency, blaming them for a “broken” system rooted in racial bias and indifference. It also targets the collective bargaining agreements between the city and police union for turning the “code of silence into official policy,” according to a draft of the executive summary obtained by the Tribune.
The 18-page executive summary recommends abolishing the Independent Police Review Authority, which investigates officer misconduct, and implementing a citywide reconciliation process beginning with the “superintendent publicly acknowledging CPD’s history of racial disparity and discrimination.”
Sun-Times: Schools boss Claypool blasts Rauner’s plan to slash $74M from CPS
Chicago Public Schools CEO Forrest Claypool on Tuesday blasted a proposal by Gov. Bruce Rauner that Claypool said would result in an additional $74 million in cuts at Chicago schools.
Rauner released his education funding plan Tuesday, detailing how school districts across the state will fare. It calls for adding $55 million to education spending, but not every district will gain money.
SJR: Rauner accuses attorney general of wanting to stop employee pay, shut down government
Gov. Bruce Rauner said Tuesday that Attorney General Lisa Madigan is planning legal action in the next couple of weeks to try and stop state employees from being paid and shut down the government.
“(Democrats) are going to try to use the latest Supreme Court rulings about appropriations trumping contracts to say state employees should not be paid more, even though they’re working,” Rauner said. “And by the way, the legislature makes sure they always get continuing appropriations; the legislature always gets paid. They don’t want the state employees paid.”
The Illinois Supreme Court ruled last month that thousands of state government workers were not entitled to back pay raises owed to them because the funds were never appropriated by the General Assembly.
AP: Illinois House Democrats Pass $3.9 Billion Spending Bill
Illinois House Democrats advanced a $3.9 billion measure to fund colleges and human services programs while the state operates without a budget.
Republicans say the plan headed to the Senate is a hoax and that there’s no money for it.
In remarks before the vote Tuesday, House Speaker Michael Madigan blamed Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner for a stalemate that has dragged on since July 1. He says Rauner refuses to end the standoff because of a personal agenda.
Pensions and Investments: Illinois pension funds to receive $25 million as part of Goldman Sachs settlement
Illinois’ pension funds will receive $25 million from Goldman Sachs Group(GS) as part of a $5.06 billion national settlement over allegedly misrepresented mortgage-backed securities.
Of the $25 million, roughly $23.8 million will go the $42.3 billionIllinois Teachers’ Retirement System, Springfield; $737,500 to the $14.6 billion Illinois State Board of Investment, Chicago, which oversees the State Employees’ Retirement System, General Assembly Retirement System and Judges’ Retirement System; and $472,500 to the $15.9 billion Illinois State Universities Retirement System, Champaign; Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan announced in a news release Monday.
Illinois will also receive $16 million in consumer relief.
Chicago Tribune: Farmers get biggest subsidy check in decade as prices drop
The agriculture slump is getting so bad in the United States that farmers are about to get more government aid than at any time in the past decade, signaling the rising public cost of crop surpluses and cheap food.
About $13.9 billion of net farm income this year will be federal payments, or about 25 percent of total profit estimated at $54.8 billion, according to estimates by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That’s the biggest payout and highest ratio since 2006, as programs authorized by Congress two years ago cost more than originally forecast.
Farmers will earn less than half what they did just three years ago, before global surpluses sent commodity prices plunging. Corn and soybeans, the biggest U.S. crops, are so cheap that farmers are expecting to lose money on every acre they plant this season. That’s putting a bigger strain on government safety nets for agriculture.
Chicago Tribune: The Marquette professor who dared to speak out
Universities are supposed to be a place of exploration, open-mindedness and rigorous debate. But at Marquette University in Milwaukee, speaking up can get you banned from campus and fired from your job.
John McAdams taught political science at Marquette for nearly four decades — until he was suspended in December 2014. He hasn’t been allowed to step foot on campus since, and the university recently announced it will revoke his tenure and fire him.
What did McAdams do that was so terrible?
He wrote a blog post critical of another instructor.