Get the latest news headlines from around Illinois.
Bond Buyer: Illinois Supreme Court to hear suit challenging $14 billion of state GOs
The fate of litigation seeking to void $14 billion of outstanding Illinois general obligation bonds could be settled in the coming months by the Illinois Supreme Court.
The state high court recently accepted Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s petition for leave to file an appeal of the August appellate decision that remanded the caseto the circuit court.
Chicago Tribune: Thousands of languishing vacant and abandoned properties with unpaid taxes harm Black neighborhoods and suburbs.
Every two years, Cook County conducts what’s called the scavenger sale.
Tens of thousands of mostly vacant and often abandoned properties with a significant amount of unpaid taxes go up for auction, with the aim of getting them into the hands of people who can return the land to productive use and put it back on the tax rolls.
Chicago Tribune: Illinois college enrollment down as COVID-19 pandemic disrupts higher education plans for scores of would-be students
Total undergraduate enrollment at Illinois colleges and universities is down by 7.2% this fall compared to last year, worse than the national decrease of 4.4% recorded as students returned to school during the coronavirus pandemic, according to state date presented this week.
While graduate enrollment climbed by 1.5% at both public and private institutions, it wasn’t enough to offset undergraduate losses. Overall post-secondary enrollment in Illinois dropped by 5.4% this year, data from the Illinois Board of Higher Education shows.
Sun-Times: Illinois House Black Caucus backs Madigan for speaker to ‘provide strong, consistent leadership’
The Black Caucus suggested Madigan gives lawmakers the best chance of passing an ambitious legislative agenda in response to the issues raised by the Black Lives Matter movement and civil unrest following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.