After navigating Chicago Public Schools’ selective enrollment process, in which students can apply to schools outside their neighborhoods, Yuridia Alcantar was crushed.
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The Center Square: Despite 17% raise in January, Illinois lawmakers get cost-of-living raise
Despite the Illinois Constitution prohibiting lawmakers from increasing their pay during the term they were elected, some are wondering how Illinois legislators have received two bumps in pay in the last six months.
In the latest state budget, Illinois lawmakers included a 5.5% pay raise. This is on top of the nearly 17% raise the previous General Assembly that ended Jan. 10 gave the current General Assembly that began Jan. 11.
Chicago Tribune: Cook County says employees and pensioners can breathe a little easier with long-awaited fixes
Following years of consternation about whether Cook County’s two main pension funds would fulfill its obligations to its 39,000 employees and retirees, county leaders are saying they are on track to reform.
A pair of moves within the past year has freed up access to more pools of cash to help shore up the county’s long-underfunded pensions, though fiscal experts say the county will have to be careful not to overcorrect and tie their hands on spending for other needs.
Chicago Sun-Times: Parking meter deal keeps on giving — for private investors, not Chicago taxpayers
Downtown office occupancy is still only half of what it was before the pandemic, but Chicago parking meter revenues have made a comeback and then some.
Results of the latest parking meter audit by accounting giant KPMG shows meter revenues reached a record $140.4 million last year, up from $136.2 million in 2021 and $91.6 million during the stay-at-home shutdown of 2020.
WTTW: As Chicago’s City Commissions Start Meeting in Person Again, Future of Online Access in Doubt
For the first time in more than three years, all city boards and commissions are once again meeting in person to handle the city’s business — putting an end to the virtual meetings that became a hallmark of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But there are no rules ensuring those meetings will continue to be streamed online or allow members of the public to weigh in virtually, either by Zoom or by phone – putting at risk Chicagoans’ ability to keep tabs on their government with a simple click of a button.
Daily Herald: Link finally admits he wore a wire to secretly record fellow lawmaker in 2018
Former state Sen. Terry Link publicly acknowledged for the first time this week that he’d worn a wire to secretly record a fellow lawmaker in 2019.
Link, a Vernon Hills Democrat, has spent years denying news media reports that he was the legislator-turned-cooperating witness described in charging documents made public after the arrest of ex-state Rep. Luis Arroyo in October 2019.
WICS: Governor Pritzker signs 90 new bills into laws
Friday, Governor JB Pritzker took the following bill action:
Pantagraph: Backers of Illinois private school tax credit aim to save it
It wasn’t that her daughter, Jahayra Flores, didn’t get into a high-performing high school. The problem for Alcantar as a single parent was getting the eldest of her three kids to Lane Tech College Prep on the North Side every day from the family’s East Side home.