Chicago Tribune: Nearly half of young black men in Chicago are neither in school nor working: report
Nearly half of young black men in Chicago are neither in school nor working, far exceeding the share nationally and in comparable big cities, according to a new report.
Forty-seven percent of 20- to 24-year-old black men in Chicago, and 44 percent in Illinois, were out of school and out of work in 2014, according to the report from the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Great Cities Institute and commissioned by the Alternative Schools Network.
The report was to be presented Monday at an annual hearing on youth unemployment hosted by the Chicago Urban League.
Chicago Tribune: The Chicago Way on trial
One of the first times Tribune reporter David Kidwell interviewed Mayor Rahm Emanuel about the city’s controversial red light camera program, Emanuel reminded Kidwell who was in charge.
The mayor’s office was stonewalling some of Kidwell’s public records requests. It was early 2012 and Kidwell was trying to figure out the city’s justification for its robust, lucrative camera program. Safety or revenue? Emanuel believed Kidwell’s needling went too far.
“I have been in an executive position, and — I mean this insulting so get it right — you haven’t,” Emanuel snapped at Kidwell. “You have not been in the White House. You have not been in the mayor’s office.”
Daily Herald: Cook County Sheriff Dart blasts Rauner over mental health cuts
Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart and the National Alliance on Mental Illness denounced Gov. Bruce Rauner this weekend, following the announcement that Lutheran Social Services of Illinois would lay off 750 employees and shut down 30 social services programs because of the state’s budget impasse.
Fox 2: Justice, prison reforms rare chance for Illinois compromise
Gov. Bruce Rauner wants to reduce the number of inmates in Illinois’ overcrowded prison system over the next decade. And it’s an area where he’s willing to devote money at a time when he’s urging lawmakers to be prudent with spending in other places.
Reforming the state’s criminal justice system presents the first-term Republican governor with a rare opportunity to find agreement with legislators. Rauner’s first year in office has been defined by a budget stalemate with lawmakers now in its seventh month.
A group convened by Rauner has recommended several reforms, including allowing judge’s more discretion to sentence offenders to parole and improving prison rehabilitation programs.
Daily Herald: Did red-light cameras cut crashes? Not always, analysis shows
The saving grace for getting a $100 ticket from a red-light camera is the belief that the expensive fine could reduce crashes and even save lives.
But that’s not always what happens, a Daily Herald analysis of 55 intersections across 29 suburbs shows. Instead of declining, crashes — and especially more serious collisions — increased or stayed the same at some intersections after cameras were installed.
Quad-City Times: Illinois lawmakers look for budget focus in State of the State address
In his first State of the State address last year, newly elected Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner told a joint session of the Democratic-controlled General Assembly that voters “don’t want partisan bickering, political infighting or personal conflict to get in the way of serving the needs of the families of Illinois.”
As Rauner prepares to deliver his second address Wednesday, the state is about to enter its eighth month without a budget, most of his ambitious pro-business, union-weakening “turnaround agenda” remains unachieved, and he has moved to have an impasse declared in contract negotiations with the largest state employee union.
After a year characterized by the bickering and conflict Rauner said he wanted to avoid — particularly between the governor and Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan of Chicago — area lawmakers from both parties say they hope the governor’s speech focuses on resolving the budget standoff.
Northwest Herald: Tax increase not solution to state’s budget woes
There are many ideas on the table to attempt to fix the state of Illinois’ budget problems, but perhaps one of the worst ideas being pushed is a proposal to tax retirement income in Illinois.
Retirees in Illinois pay federal taxes on their retirement income, and they also pay state and local taxes, such as motor fuel taxes, property taxes and utility taxes. It’s been reported secret working groups have been discussing a massive retirement tax.
Taxing retirement income would be disastrous and would hurt Illinois senior citizens. I’m committed to stopping any Illinois retirement tax. I’m chief sponsor of House Resolution 890, which strongly opposes efforts to tax retirement income. I currently have 56 sponsors for my resolution, and it’s supported by the AARP, which represents 1.7 million members in Illinois.