Get the latest news from around Illinois.
The Center Square: Some parents would quit job to home school if Invest in Kids not extended
Some Illinois parents say they will opt for home schooling over public schools if the state chooses not to extend the Invest In Kids school choice scholarship program, which is set to expire at the end of the year.
The program allows donors to receive a 75% Illinois income tax credit toward donations to fund school choice scholarships for qualified families throughout the state. However, the program is set to sunset at the end of the year. With lawmakers soon to be in veto session, many are looking for an extension.
Chicago Tribune: Chicago Bears say they won’t pursue legislation on stadium development during fall session in Springfield
The Chicago Bears said Wednesday they don’t plan to pursue legislation to help build a new stadium during the Illinois General Assembly’s fall session.
That means proposals drafted by legislators this spring to help the Bears create a “megadevelopment” in Arlington Heights, where they purchased the former Arlington International Racecourse site, will likely not be on the agenda in Springfield during the two-week veto session that begins in late October, slowing a potential move to the northwest suburb.
Chicago Sun-Times: Tent city tensions: Residents split on migrant camp landing on Far South Side
Lester Pigue, a lifelong South Sider, has had his troubles finding housing, but that doesn’t mean he begrudges help going to new migrant arrivals, even those potentially setting up camp in his own community.
“It’s just human rights,” said Pigue, 67, looking at a vacant parking lot at 115th and Halsted streets that’s been floated as the place where Mayor Brandon Johnson’s first migrant tent shelter might go. “Just because they’re from another country doesn’t mean they’re any different. They have dignity.”
WGN: No cash bail set to start Monday in Illinois: Here’s what you need to know
No cash bail. Rarely has an issue animated politicians and voters the way this one has. In Illinois, money is gone as a condition of pre-trial release.
So how is it going to work?
On Monday, in Room 100 of the Leighton Criminal Courthouse, history will be made.
Daily Herald: Merge Metra, Pace, CTA into a mega-agency? CMAP suggests massive changes, but there's pushback
Rescuing transit from a fiscal free fall could require higher taxes or fees and possibly kneading Metra, Pace and the CTA into one mega-agency, Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning officials said Wednesday.
The three organizations face a combined $730 million annual budget shortfall starting in 2026, when federal COVID-19 funding dries up. In 2022, state lawmakers required CMAP to report on the crisis and offer solutions.
WCIA: Central IL community colleges strive for pre-COVID enrollment levels
Enrollment numbers at some Central Illinois community colleges are slowly but surely inching back from the COVID pandemic’s educational upheaval.
During the pandemic, community college enrollment numbers decreased across the board nationally. The National Student Clearinghouse said that two-year institutions’ first-time enrollment fell almost 20% compared to 2019. Now, they are trying to get back to pre-pandemic levels.