Get the latest news from around Illinois.
The Center Square: Advocates continue push for child tax credit in Illinois
A state child tax credit would be a game changer for thousands of low-income working families in Illinois, says Nicole Robinson, CEO of the YWCA of Metro Chicago.
“The additional influx of cash to take care of basic needs could reduce the number of Illinois children now living in poverty by 45%,” Robinson said. “I’m excited about it.”
The Chicago Tribune: Gov. J.B. Pritzker confronts migrant crisis, projected shortfall as he prepares for his sixth budget address
Funding challenges from the migrant crisis and immigrant health care to boosting early childhood education butt up against a projected shortfall of almost $900 million in the coming fiscal year as Gov. J.B. Pritzker prepares to give his sixth budget address on Wednesday.
The Democratic governor’s scheduled speech before the Illinois General Assembly follows his pledge last week to allocate $182 million in the next budget year for shelter and other services for asylum-seekers in the Chicago area. The proposed investment came just a few months after the Pritzker administration announced it was taking $160 million from the current budget to address the ongoing crisis.
Chicago Sun-Times: Early primary voting will resume Wednesday after judicial candidate was removed from ballot
Early voting will resume Wednesday morning in Chicago after a Cook County judicial candidate was removed from the primary ballot.
The Chicago Board of Elections will reopen two early voting sites at 9 a.m.: the downtown super-site at 191 N. Clark St., and at the board’s offices at 69 W. Washington St. on the sixth floor.
The Center Square: New Illinois bill looks to give abortion seekers and providers tax credits
A new measure would provide a $500 tax credit for abortion providers, abortion seekers, legal guardians of abortion seekers and public school teachers who move to Illinois due to abortion bans and content-based restrictions on educational materials in other states.
State Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago, introduced the measure and said in a social media post that Illinois wants to offer a hand up for those fleeing for their safety from states she said are banning health care and speech.
Chicago Sun-Times: CPS students’ reading gains rank among top 3 large districts in the nation, study finds
Chicago Public Schools officials are celebrating new research that shows students have recovered to prepandemic reading levels and outperformed most large school districts nationwide.
District officials acknowledge they still have a ways to go to increase proficiency and close opportunity gaps. But they see the findings as evidence that CPS has spent its pandemic relief funding wisely to stem learning loss — and as a reason for additional funding moving forward.