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ChicagoNow: Chicago’s sharing economy provides needed stability, path to middle class
Lamar Stovall worked his last day at the Chicago Park District last fall. The father of five was frustrated with the politics of his job. And he wanted more flexibility to be with his kids.
He found that flexibility in ridesharing.
Stovall was already familiar with ridesharing, even taking Uber to work most days. In fact, it was his only way of getting safe, reliable transportation in the West Side neighborhood of North Lawndale, where Stovall was born and raised.
Crain's Chicago: How much do Illinois businesses pay in taxes?
Illinois’ tax hit to business remains somewhat above average, even as state lawmakers edge closer to a big tax hike, a new report out today says.
According to Anderson Economic Group, companies here paid 10.3 percent of their operating surplus, or gross profits, in state and local taxes in 2014. That’s down from 10.6 percent in 2013, but the state’s ranking of 32nd on its total business tax burden did not change. A rank of No. 1—which went to Oregon—would have been best.
The state had been 27th in fiscal 2012, a similar Anderson study found. The drop likely is because in 2014 the full impact of the state’s two-thirds hike in its corporate income tax still was in effect. A portion of that increase since has sunsetted.
Chicago Tribune: Chicago aldermen call for privatizing security at city's airports
A powerful group of aldermen on Wednesday called for security to be privatized at O’Hare and Midway airports in light of the huge lines travelers have experienced recently at security checkpoints run by the Transportation Security Administration.
The nonbinding resolution stands little chance of going anywhere, given that Mayor Rahm Emanuel this week expressed frustration with the federal agency but stopped short of calling for it to be replaced.
But the group of aldermen, including Transportation Committee Chairman Ald. Michael Zalewski, 23rd, Southwest Side powerhouse Ald. Edward Burke, 14th, and veteran City Council members Ald. Daniel Solis, 25th, and Ald. Margaret Laurino, 39th, said in a news release that the agency has failed.
Bloomberg: Wall Street Sees Year of Progress and Pitfalls in Junked Chicago
Since Chicago was cut to junk by Moody’s Investors Service in May 2015, the city has sold more than $3.3 billion of debt, allowing it to avoid potentially devastating bank penalties triggered by the downgrade, and pushed through a record property-tax increase.
But the triage over the last year has done little to loosen the financial bind that tarnished its standing on Wall Street in the first place: A $20 billion pension-fund deficit that’s adding hundreds of millions of dollars a year to its bills, a legacy of long promising workers more in benefits than officials were willing to fund.
“All of this progress may not mean much if they don’t finish the job,” said Ty Schoback, a senior analyst at Columbia Threadneedle Investments, which holds about $300 million of Chicago debt among its $25 billion of municipal securities. “They need to start finding the money to put into those funds now. Not six months from now. Not 12 months from now. They need to do it now.”
BND: Rauner discusses jobs, property taxes in Fairmont City
As Newman Carriers President Joe Newman gave a guided tour of his facility to Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner, Newman introduced his employees and talked about the operations at his trucking company.
They discussed the cost of trailers and the work ongoing to upgrade a vehicle at the company that serves the chemical industry in the Midwest.
Newman hosted a roundtable discussion with Rauner on job creation and lowering property taxes.
WGN: Little progress made in Illinois budget talks after closed door meeting
Organized labor will be at Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner’s front door at the Capitol.
The power of unions is one of the major sticking points holding up state budget talks.
It’s been eleven months since lawmakers agreed on a spending plan.
WBEZ: Thirty Years After Conviction, Illinois Still Won’t Allow Man A License To Work
At age twelve, Tony Graham was drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana around his neighborhood on Chicago’s south side. By his late twenties his drug-usage was out of control.
“I was consuming about a sixteenth of cocaine, about an ounce of weed, and about a fifth of cognac on a daily basis,” he said. Addiction led to legal trouble for Graham: by then he had been arrested a number of times for marijuana possession, and had received a misdemeanor battery charge when he got into a fight with his cousin’s girlfriend.
But Graham into more serious trouble when he met a lawyer who told him he would be compensated if he pretended to have gotten into a car accident. Graham lied to a doctor, checked into a hospital briefly, and six months later, received a check.
DNAinfo: Dante Servin Quits, Set To Collect Pension 4 Years After Killing Rekia Boyd
The police detective who shot into a crowd while off-duty and killed teenager Rekia Boyd in 2012 has resigned, saving his pension as well as the indignity of getting fired.
Dante Servin’s resignation Tuesday came two days before an “evidentiary hearing” before the Chicago Police Board, said Max Caproni, the police board’s executive director. Any charges against Servin, a 24-year police veteran, will now be dropped.
USA Today: Illinois prep football coach rented district-owned home for $500 per month while making $110,000
Residents in a suburban Illinois school district aren’t very happy with school officials that decided to give a high school football coach a sweet deal on a home rental. FOX 32 News reported earlier this week, that the Lincoln Way District 210 rented a two-bedroom house it owned to Lincoln-Way West head coach Dave Ernst, who earned $110,000 per year, for only $500 per month.
Ernst reportedly moved out of the house last month when an investigation by parents led to the uncovering of what seems to be a below-market rental deal for the football coach. The FOX 32 story states that similar homes in New Lenox could fetch as much as $1,550 per month.