Get the latest news from around Illinois.
The Center Square: State commission offers uncertain forecast for Illinois' economy
The latest update on Illinois’ economy going forward offers a wide range of possibilities from an economic soft landing to a full-scale recession.
The Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability provided an update on the 2023 forecast to the Illinois State Board of Education Wednesday and said it is increasing its fiscal year 2023 revenue outlook to just over $51 billion. That is only $259 million above fiscal 2022 final levels.
Daily Herald: Could financing tool help Bears land at Arlington Park? They'll need help from state lawmakers
Could a so-called PILOT be the financing tool that helps the Chicago Bears take off from Chicago and land in Arlington Heights?
Village and state officials confirmed Wednesday the NFL franchise is exploring use of a program called Payments in Lieu of Taxes as one piece of the financial equation to help pay for its $5 billion redevelopment at Arlington Park.
Illinois Answers Project: Cook County Office Looks to Shed Anti-Patronage Monitor as Watchdog Raises Alarm
The 53-year-old legal battle designed to drag Chicago governments out of their legacy of patronage hiring could finally come to an end this month. But that won’t mean the problem is fixed, according to the veteran watchdog at the head of the campaign.
Since it was first brought by attorney and onetime political candidate Michael Shakman in 1969, the lawsuit Shakman v. Cook County Democratic Organization has spurred wave after wave of federal interventions designed to prevent public officials at the city, county and state level from doling out government jobs as rewards to political allies. Shakman, now 80, still oversees the litigation.
The Center Square: Biden's Teamsters bailout sets bad precedent, group says
With the Teamsters union receiving a significant pension bailout from the federal government, Illinois taxpayers will now be paying for both public and private pension systems.
Last week, President Joe Biden announced the federal government would use nearly $36 billion to stabilize the Teamsters union pension plans nationwide. The Teamsters union represents a variety of professions in public and private sectors. There are about 20 chapters in Illinois alone.
Chicago Tribune: Aldermen want to use COVID-19 relief money to give property tax loans to struggling Chicagoans
As Chicagoans face down a holiday deadline to pay their property tax bills, Ald. Michael Rodriguez has unveiled a proposal to spend $10 million in unallocated federal COVID-19 recovery funding to help low-income Chicagoans meet the deadline.
At a virtual news conference, Rodriguez and fellow Ald. Maria Hadden said the hard-hit Southwest Side and North lakefront neighborhoods they represent were particularly in need.
Northwest Herald: Opinion: Do we have enough legislative turnover in Springfield?
What’s the value of experience versus fresh ideas? Of connections and traditions weighed against innovation and minimal entanglements?
These and other questions inform debate about legislative tenure. Term limits aren’t a current hot topic in Illinois, but the numbers remain interesting.
ProPublica: Medical Care and Politics Go Hand in Hand at a Chicago Safety Net Hospital
In 2013, Roseland Community Hospital was looking for a new leader. Its former chief executive had alienated the Illinois governor and other lawmakers amid a messy fight over the hospital’s funding.
The small nonprofit facility on Chicago’s South Side turned to Tim Egan, a longtime hospital executive who had begun to make a name for himself as a political operative and fundraiser with an ability to navigate the insular circles of state and local government.
Chicago Tribune: With approval of Chicago casino and Red Line extension TIF, Lightfoot scores two wins amid reelection bid
Mayor Lori Lightfoot cleared key hurdles to two longtime goals of her first term Wednesday, delivering Chicago’s long-sought casino and extending the CTA Red Line south to 130th Street.
Aldermen voted overwhelmingly — 39-5 — to approve zoning changes required for the $1.74 billion Bally’s casino complex in River West, securing the final city approval needed for the sprawling project that the mayor has billed as a windfall for shoring up pension funds and stimulating economic activity.