Get the latest news from around Illinois.
The Center Square: Report shows Illinois students are failing to meet standards
Dozens of Illinois schools are failing to meet standards, according to a new report. While the governor’s budget includes hundreds of millions of dollars more for education, one analyst believes that’s a mistake.
The report by Wirepoints shows that 53 schools do not have any student who can do math at their grade level and that at 30 schools no student can read at grade level.
The Doings: Oakbrook Terrace files Freedom of Information requests with Oak Brook concerning statements against red-light cameras
The Oak Brook village manager and a Village Board member are doubling down on their comments about Oakbrook Terrace collecting more than $275,000 from red-light camera violations at Route 83 and 22nd Street for the months of September, October and November.
Village Manager Greg Summers and Village Board member Michael Manzo both stood firm on their views after Oakbrook Terrace filed a Feb. 9 Freedom of Information Act request with Oak Brook in response to comments against the red-light cameras made by Oak Brook officials in a Feb. 8 story in the Doings/Tribune.
Chicago Sun-Times: Lightfoot denies playing politics with police pension board
Chicago has a “long and sordid history” of politicians “bending the pension code to their will,” but “those days are over,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot declared Tuesday.
One week before the mayoral election, Lightfoot personally denied allegations by Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza.
WBEZ: Lightfoot’s campaign sent 9,900 emails seeking support from CPS and City Colleges staff, documents show
When news broke last month that Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s reelection campaign had solicited help from Chicago Public Schools and City Colleges of Chicago educators to recruit student volunteers, the incumbent candidate apologized, calling the effort a “bad mistake” by one young staffer.
But the campaign had for months been sending CPS and City Colleges staff thousands of other emails unrelated to the student volunteer solicitation — some from multiple campaign staffers. The emails ranged from generic fundraising appeals to invitations to private town halls and requests for help gathering petitions, records newly obtained by WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times show.
WTTW: First Installment of 2022 Cook County Property Tax Bills Arrives
While it might seem like Cook County property owners just paid their property taxes, the first installment of their 2022 bill is available online now and headed to their mailboxes early next month, officials said.
Property owners have until April 3 to pay — a reprieve of approximately a month — after the second installment of property owners’ 2021 tax bills was more than 150 days late amid months of bureaucratic wrangling and finger pointing among Cook County officials.