Take a close look at your next paycheck.

If you work in Illinois, the state has officially notified your employer that the boss needs to start deducting more from your paycheck and sending the money to Springfield.

In case you missed it, Illinois’ individual income tax rate is now 4.95 percent, up from 3.75 percent. For a household with an annual income of $100,000, that means an increase in income tax of $1,200 from $3,750 per year to $4,950 — only another $23 a week to be a working resident of Illinois.

Illinois has its belated state budget, but the state Capitol’s next flashpoint in the political struggle over finances is about how to fund public education with just weeks before the first day of school.

The spending plan lawmakers enacted this month over Gov. Bruce Rauner’s vetoes ended a two-year state-budget stalemate, the nation’s longest since at least the Great Depression. It includes a $350 million boost for schools.

Emma Sheikh has taken many steps to get the degree she’s paying for herself at Columbia College a whole year early — before she can legally drink a beer.

She packed her high school schedule with dual credit and AP classes, and takes summer classes at Harold Washington College at a fraction of Columbia’s prices. She works about five hours a day before starting the school day, clocking in at a downtown clothing store at 5 a.m.

If there’s one thing the citizens of Illinois can agree on regarding our upcoming 200th birthday celebration, it’s beer.

“We will begin a campaign this August at the state fair with a craft brew competition to determine which Illinois craft brewer will make the bicentennial beer,” said Illinois Bicentennial Executive Director Stuart Layne. “Of all the ideas we’ve discussed, everybody loves that.”

The union for CTA rail workers sent a cold shudder through the city last week by announcing that they had taken a preliminary strike vote, with 98 percent of those who cast a ballot saying they’d walk off the job if necessary.

The CTA said a strike would be illegal under the collective bargaining agreement and Illinois law. The union president said it could be legal under certain conditions. The CTA said that both sides have agreed to arbitration.

Lakewood terminated its deputy village manager, effective at 5 p.m. Thursday, in an effort to ensure objective communication between the Village Board and the administration.

Village President Paul Serwatka announced Thursday night in a news release that Shannon Andrews, who served as interim village manager between September and April, would no longer be a village employee. He clarified Friday afternoon that Andrews was terminated.

Illinois has a budget for the first time in three years, but there’s no money in it for several projects that the city has been expecting, in some cases, for years.

The spending plan that lawmakers approved July 6 by overriding Gov. Bruce Rauner’s veto contains a 32 percent income tax increase for Illinoisans, but none of the structural reforms that Rauner and Republicans favor, such as a property tax freeze and pension and workers’ compensation reform.