Get the latest news from around Illinois.
The Center Square: Illinois businesses prepare for another minimum wage increase
With the new year, Illinois will see another minimum wage hike on Jan. 1.
The state’s minimum wage goes up to $11 for hourly workers, $6.60 for those who also earn tips, and youth workers get a bump up to $8.50.
Associated Press: Victim of botched Chicago police raid to meet with mayor
A Black woman who wasn’t allowed to put on clothes before being handcuffed during a mistaken 2019 police raid on her home has agreed to meet with Chicago’s mayor, her attorney said.
The woman, Anjanette Young, will meet with Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Wednesday at Progressive Baptist Church where she is a member, attorney Keenan J. Saulter said in a letter sent Saturday to Lightfoot and several Chicago aldermen, WBBM-TV reported.
Chicago Tribune: Pot legalization was to bring expungements to many with records in Illinois. Numbers so far are low, but more are expected to be on the way.
Marijuana legalization in Illinois came with grand plans for wiping clean many criminal records involving cannabis. That aspect of the law was so important that on the eve of legalization on Jan. 1, 2020, Gov. J.B. Pritzker pardoned more than 11,000 people of low-level marijuana convictions.
Yet more than 700,000 cases could qualify for expungement, a process in which police and court records of arrests and convictions are cleared. The process is crucial to giving people with such records a better chance at getting a job, an education and a place to live.
Chicago Tribune: https://www.chicagotribune.com/opinion/editorials/ct-edit-anjanette-young-lightfoot-police-raid-20201228-dthiaq4gcvhzrc4ibsruttfj3q-story.html
Exactly where did the Chicago Police Department and City Hall go wrong in their unjust mistreatment of Anjanette Young, the innocent victim of a botched search warrant and raid?
Can Chicago residents be assured police rules of engagement will be overhauled, wrongdoers held accountable and Mayor Lori Lightfoot responds to her own failings so this doesn’t happen again?
WTTW: Former Ald. Joe Moreno Charged with Drunken Driving After Gold Coast Crashes
Former 1st Ward Ald. Proco Joe Moreno was charged with drunken driving in connection with a string of crashes that damaged at least eight cars parked along a Gold Coast street late Sunday, Chicago police announced Monday.
Moreno, 48, was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and having a blood alcohol level greater than 0.08, the legal limit, according to charges announced Monday afternoon by the Chicago Police Department. Moreno is also charged with reckless driving and faces five counts of leaving the scene of an accident that caused damage to an unattended vehicle. All of the charges are misdemeanors.