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Champaign News-Gazette: Popular opinion and its perils
Illinois residents continue to exercise their prerogative not to like the state’s chief executives.
A recent public opinion poll — more interesting than substantive — reveals that Illinois voters are not exactly enamored with the job performance of new Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
But, instead of focusing on a single governor, Morning Consult examined the job approval ratings of governors in all 50 states. Considered in that context, Pritzker is not doing all that badly in the public eye.
Chicago Tribune: Mayor Lori Lightfoot introduces reforms to address Chicago’s ‘addiction’ to fines and fees
Mayor Lori Lightfoot proposed several reforms to how Chicago handles fines and fees, including no longer suspending the driver’s licenses of people who haven’t paid parking tickets and reducing vehicle sticker penalties.
Lightfoot’s proposed overhaul, which will be introduced at Wednesday’s City Council meeting, also includes creating a six-month payment plan that reduces required down payments and gives those with ticket debt more time to pay. It also allows people to request a 24-hour extension to pay their fines in full or get on a payment plan after their vehicles are locked with a Denver boot, though the plan does not ban use of the controversial device that has been the bane of many motorists’ existence.
Chicago Tribune: Have you spoken at a Chicago Police Board meeting? The police know more about you than you realize.
Chicago police have for years compiled profiles on every citizen who spoke at public meetings of the city’s police disciplinary panel, a process that included running criminal background checks and internet searches on activists, a police union official and even relatives of an innocent woman killed in a high-profile police shooting, the Chicago Tribune has learned.
Documents obtained by the Tribune under a public records request show the Police Department gathered the details on nearly 60 people in advance of their speaking at monthly meetings of the Chicago Police Board since at least January 2018. A police spokesman said the background checks go back further, to at least 2013.
Crain's Chicago Business: Defuse the property tax bomb
I’m not talking about mortgage payments, college tuition or the bill for a costly surgical procedure. Residential property taxes now consume a larger share of income than any of those expenses in a growing number of households.
Chicago Tribune: Chicago’s ‘fair workweek’ ordinance passes key committee, heads to City Council for approval
A bill requiring large Chicago employers to give workers at least two weeks advance notice of their schedules and compensate them for last-minute changes was unanimously approved by the city’s workforce development committee Tuesday after several business groups withdrew their opposition.
The final version of the proposed “fair workweek” ordinance limits the protections to just those workers earning less than $26 an hour.
Crain's Chicago Business: Coalition resurrects push for tax hike on property sales
Currently, the city imposes a flat real estate transfer tax (RETT) of $5.25 per $500 of property sale value, or 1.05%. Roughly 70% of revenues go to the city, while the rest goes to the Chicago Transit Authority.
Crain's Chicago Business: Home sales plummet in June in 12th straight down month
In Chicago, 2,766 homes sold in June, 13.3 percent below June 2018, according to data released by Illinois Realtors, the statewide trade group.
Daily Herald: New state law might scrub Elk Grove term limits referendum
A bill signed last Friday by Gov. J.B. Pritzker may scrub the term limits referendum in Elk Grove Village, but the attorney for the petition drive says the new law is unconstitutional.
That law requires municipal term limits approved anytime after Nov. 8, 2016, to be prospective, not retroactive — meaning Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson and his long-tenured board of trustees could still run in future local elections.
Daily Herald: Contract shows District 21 superintendent gets 6.3% raise
Wheeling Township Elementary District 21 Superintendent Michael Connolly has received a 6.3% raise, under terms of his new employment contract released by the district Tuesday.
Connolly, who was hired at a base salary of $197,500, will make $210,000 this upcoming school year, which school Board President Phil Pritzker says is more in line with the salaries of superintendents across the Northwest suburbs.
Rockford Register-Star: Embattled Winnebago County HR chief on leave due to work-related stress
Winnebago County Board members may want to fire the county’s personnel chief, but they’ll have to wait at least a month.
That’s because Human Resources Director Kim Ponder took a one-month leave of absence from her job on Monday, per her doctor’s orders. Ponder sent her boss, Administrator Carla Paschal, an email Monday to explain that she needs time to recover from work-related stress — a health issue covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act.
State Journal-Register: Error leaves Déjà Vu with skimpy tax bill
Déjà Vu, an adult entertainment club in Springfield, got stripped-down property-tax bills for two years because of a mistake by Sangamon County officials that occurred when the business sought a reduction in its 2017 assessment.
“This is our office’s clerical error,” said Byron Deaner, Sangamon County supervisor of assessments. “It’s a snafu on our part. It’s an honest mistake that we had made.”