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Capitol News Illinois: Pension debt grows to $139.7 billion
Illinois’ unfunded pension liability grew by $9.8 billion, or 7.5 percent, in the fiscal year that ended June 30, due in large part to market losses in a volatile economy.
The Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability reported Thursday that the total unfunded liability in the state’s five pension funds reached a total of $139.7 billion, leaving them with a funded ratio of just 44.1 percent.
Daily Herald: Police reports related to AJ Freund can be used as evidence against DCFS workers
Nineteen police reports that Department of Children and Family Services employees failed to seek during an investigation into the abuse of Crystal Lake boy AJ Freund can be admitted as evidence in an upcoming trial, a judge has ruled.
Judge George D. Strickland will allow the reports over the objection of the defense attorneys for former DCFS investigator Carlos Acosta and his former supervisor, Andrew Polovin.
WTTW: Latino Communities ‘Shocked’ By Property Tax Increase, Neighborhood Advocates Say
Many Cook County residents received an unwelcome surprise this month when their new property tax bill arrived with a hefty hike.
The increase was especially noticeable for those living in largely Latino communities, according to an analysis by the Cook County Treasurer’s office.
Crain's Chicago Business: Aldermen will have to make a tough vote on property taxes two months before facing voters
The Center Square: Report: Illinois sees biggest increase in cigarette smuggling
A new report shows that many Illinois residents are going out of state to purchase their cigarettes, costing the state hundreds of millions of dollars in lost tax revenue.
A joint report by the Mackinac Center for Public Policy and the Tax Foundation shows that due to Illinois’ high sales taxes on tobacco, many residents have been smuggling in the product from other states.
Daily Herald: How much cash are suburbs holding in reserve? And what are they planning to do with it?
Seventeen suburbs are holding on to enough cash to fund municipal operations in those towns for at least one year.
That includes Pingree Grove, which has more than two years’ worth of the village’s operating expenses in an unassigned reserve account, according to a Daily Herald analysis of 84 suburban municipal audits.
Journal Star: Peoria police officer earned more than $300,000 in wages while on paid leave
A Peoria police officer has earned more than $300,000 in wages and almost half that in benefits without putting on a uniform or going on patrol.
Jeremy Layman has been on paid administrative leave since Dec. 23, 2019, while the city has been challenging that arbitration ruling which gave him his job back after he was fired in February 2018.
Chicago Tribune: The Satanic Temple of Illinois won the right to put on a holiday display in Springfield. Members say it’s about religious freedom.
Minister Adam of the Satanic Temple of Illinois looked ready for the holidays.
He was dressed in a black suit accented with a pair of Satanic symbol lapel pins, his flowing blond locks recalling Robert Plant, circa 1971. He smiled benignly, taking in the Satanic Temple’s latest seasonal display, installed in the rotunda of the Illinois State Capitol, alongside a two-story Christmas tree, a large menorah and a traditional Nativity scene. He launched into an invocation for his assembled flock, recalling foundational beliefs: “Let us stand now, unbowed and unfettered by arcane doctrines born of fearful minds. … Let us demand that individuals be judged for their concrete actions, not their fealty to arbitrary social norms. … Let us stand firm against any and all arbitrary authority that threatens personal sovereignty …”