QUOTE OF THE DAY
Chicago Tribune: Troubled Harvey police will be scrutinized by sheriff
In a suburb the Tribune found was arguably the area’s most lawless, Harvey’s City Council has defied the mayor and invited the sheriff to assess a Police Department long plagued by scandals and sloppy casework.
The move caps a yearlong push by Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart to take a deeper look at the troubled town — only to be rebuffed by Harvey’s longtime mayor and then the County Board.
The invitation came from the south suburb’s council, which in a show of increasing defiance to the mayor voted last month to invite Dart. Mayor Eric Kellogg vetoed the measure two weeks ago, but the council voted 5-1 Monday night to override the veto.
CBS Chicago: Waukegan School Board Adjourns Meeting Amid Parent Anger
Waukegan’s school board abruptly adjourned its meeting Tuesday night when parents angry about a prolonged teachers strike were deemed too unruly.
School officials say the audience would not come to order, making an open discussion impossible.
The confrontation came on the heels of relatively good news: Discussion between board and union representatives appeared to take a positive turn. That was the word from both sides.
Chicago Sun Times: Illinois among worst for corporate, property taxes, study shows
Not only does Illinois have one of the most unfair tax systems in the country, but it terms of overall tax climate, it finishes in the bottom half, according to a new study from the Tax Foundation.
Overall, Illinois comes in at No. 31 on the 2015 State Business Tax Climate Index, which is designed to show how well states structure their own individual tax systems and how competitive those taxes are. In the 2014 index, Illinois came in at No. 29.
Illinois’ overall ranking is boosted by its individual income tax ranking, which comes in at No. 11, but gets hammered for its corporate tax rate (47th) and property tax rate (44th).
News Gazette: Cronus’ arrival comes with a cost: $52 million
A package of economic incentives worth $52 million has been assembled by state and local agencies to bring a $1.4 billion fertilizer plant to East Central Illinois.
This morning, Cronus Chemicals announced its plans to build a nitrogen fertilizer plant west of Tuscola. Governor Pat Quinn is expected to attend the announcement.
State officials believe it is the largest private investment in central Illinois since the Chrysler-Mitsubishi plant was built west of Bloomington-Normal in the 1980s, according to Dave Roeder, spokesman with the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.
The State of Illinois on Monday proudly announced it had succeeded in bringing Cronus Chemical Company into the state to build a new fertilizer plant.
Cronus will get $52 million in various incentives from the state, according to the Associated Press and other sources.
When operational, the plant will employ 175 full-time people at the plant, and another 25 full-time office jobs will come to Chicago. Construction of the plant also will employ about 1,000, but those jobs are temporary and matter much less.
ChicagoNow: Chicago alderman offers prizes to voters
You can’t buy votes.
That bit of the Illinois state election code is sort of a big deal. Scratch that … it’s illegal, corrupt and wrong. (So much so that anyone caught violating this rule is guilty of a class 4 felony.)
So what does a violation of this law look like?
Sort of like this: A Chicago alderwomen offering the chance to enter a raffle to win prizes from local businesses to anyone who can prove they voted.
ChicagoNow: Despite drop in national gas prices, Chicago still nearly $0.50 above U.S. average
National gas prices have fallen to an average of $3.02 per gallon from$3.65 six months ago.
But while drivers across the country enjoy $3 gas prices, anyone behind the wheel in Chicago will still find themselves paying an average of $3.50 per gallon.
Chicago’s prices are consistently much higher than the national average, driven in large part by Illinois’ gas sales tax burden.
Huffington Post: Tensions Flare In Illinois After School Board Member Tells Parents To ‘Shut Up’
Tensions surrounding a four-week teachers strike in an Illinois school district escalated this week, after a school board member told community members to “sit down and shut up.”
A packed crowd at the Waukegan High School auditorium for a school board meeting Tuesday night grew agitated after board members announced they would allow only 45 minutes for public comment, according to video. In response to jeers, school board member Victoria Torres leapt off the stage and into the crowd, where she scolded teachers and parents.
“Alright, let’s go! I’m a parent too! Yeah, sit down and shut up. Yeah, shut up!” Torres told the crowd.
Politico: Obamacare brings Democrats backlash, not benefits
Most Americans don’t want to get rid of Obamacare. They just don’t share its fundamental goal of universal coverage anymore.
And not only did the political benefits that Democrats thought the 2010 law would eventually bring them not materialize, opposition has only grown, according to an analysis of multiple polls taken between 2010 and last month.
“There have been backlashes, but never like this,” said Robert Blendon, a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health and co-author of the analysis released Wednesday by the New England Journal of Medicine.
CARTOON OF THE DAY
