Get the latest news from around Illinois.
The Center Square: Lawmakers could take ‘master class’ on corruption with ‘ComEd 4’ closing arguments set
The “ComEd Four” trial preparing for closing arguments in Chicago could provide what one state representative says is a “master class” on needed ethics reforms at the Illinois capitol.
Closing arguments are set in the trial where prosecutors allege a nearly decade long bribery scheme involving a utility and powerful statehouse actors.
Chicago Tribune: Brandon Johnson’s win as mayor furthers Democratic leftward tilt as party examines big tent philosophy
Brandon Johnson’s election as Chicago’s next mayor represented a further leftward movement of the state’s Democratic-led politics, fueled by generational and ideological changes that are stretching and sometimes straining the fabric of the party’s big tent.
“In my view, the state of Illinois, led by Gov. (J.B.) Pritzker and this legislative body, has become the vanguard for progressive policy all over this country,” Johnson told lawmakers Wednesday to resounding applause while making his first visit to Springfield as mayor-elect. “You’ve done it.”
Chicago Sun-Times: Bridgeport bank failure cost millions more than feds have said: Where did all the money go?
Federal officials still haven’t been able to account for all of the money that they’ve said was looted from Washington Federal Bank for Savings, the century-old Bridgeport institution that the Gembara family ran for three generations.
WGN: Are Illinois employers struggling to hire workers more than in other states?
Across the U.S., hiring is still a major challenge for employers, even as the national unemployment rate fell to 3.5 percent in March.
However, a new study suggests depending on where you live, some employers may be having a harder time finding people to work than employers in other states.
CBS Chicago: Public hearings on how to divide Chicago's new elected school board
You have your first chance to weigh in on how Chicago’s new elected school board will be divided across the city.
Illinois’ lawmakers passing legislation back in 2021, creating the Chicago Public Schools elected school board.
Capitol News: Nearly $1B in expected spending on health care for noncitizens adds to state budget pressures
The state estimates an expansion of state-sponsored health care to individuals who are ineligible for Medicaid based on their citizenship status is expected to cost $990 million in the upcoming fiscal year, far outpacing the original price tag cited when the measures became law.
In 2020, Illinois made noncitizens aged 65 and older eligible for Medicaid-type coverage, becoming the first state to do so. The Health Benefits for Immigrant Seniors program is open to individuals whose income is below the federal poverty level.
Cook County Record: Labor board judge: Chicago trampled union bargaining rights by firing workers who refused Covid vax
The city of Chicago may need to rehire, with back pay, all of the workers it fired for refusing to receive the Covid vaccine last year, if the state’s labor board signs off on the recommendation of an administrative law judge who ruled the city trampled the rights of its union workers when it refused to bargain over the consequences of objecting to the city’s Covid vaccine mandate.
On April 19, Administrative Law Judge Anna Hamburg-Gal, of the Illinois Labor Relations Board, ruled City Hall, under Mayor Lori Lightfoot, violated Illinois labor law when it began to fire city workers in 2022 who had refused to receive a Covid vaccine under the mandate imposed a year earlier, after nearly 10 months of shifting those workers to “no-pay” status.
The Telegraph: After-school programs at risk of closure
Thousands of elementary and high school students throughout Illinois could lose access to after-school and summer programs in the upcoming fiscal year but advocates are hoping that either the General Assembly or the federal government can keep that from happening.
The programs, known as 21st Century Community Learning Centers, are federally funded through program administered by the Illinois State Board of Education that targets students in low-performing and high-poverty schools.