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Sun-Times: Now let’s see teachers union share in the pain
Illinois taxpayers will feel the pain.
As part of the bipartisan spending plan approved Thursday by the Legislature, the state will give an extra $250 million to school districts that have many low-income students, including about $100 million to the Chicago Public Schools. The state also will pick up about $200 million in CPS pension costs.
Chicago property taxpayers will feel the pain, too.
Sun-Times: Ex-Gov. Jim Edgar aims to cash in on state’s cash woes
At the same time he’s criticized Gov. Bruce Rauner for failing to pass a state budget, former Gov. Jim Edgar and his business partners are looking to profit from the state of Illinois’ financial crisis, records obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times show.
Edgar is chairman of the board of Illinois Financing Partners, which on Wednesday won the Rauner administration’s OK to advance money to vendors that have been forced to wait months to get paid by the state. The payoff for the Edgar company? It gets to keep the late-payment fees when the state finally pays up.
Northwest Herald: Illinoisans revolt against nation’s highest property taxes
Bob’s Countryside Barber Shoppe is a pillar of the Wonder Lake community.
But those conversations have taken a turn for the worse.
“When I started there were a lot of German immigrants who were buying small summer homes here. And this is where they retired,” Anderson said. “Now those same people come into the shop and all they talk about is their property tax bill. They can’t afford it anymore.”
Sun-Times: CPS pays $657 million for pensions, leaving district with $83M
Chicago Public Schools made a $657.5 million payment Thursday to the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund, the fund has confirmed, leaving the cash-strapped district of slightly less than 400,000 students with about $83 million.
But with state legislators agreeing on a stopgap budget and local property tax increase that would ship about $600 million more to Chicago’s schools, chief education officer Janice Jackson was among officials excitedly assuring families that school would open on time in September.
WSJ: Puerto Rico Defaults on Constitutionally Guaranteed Debt
The Puerto Rican government failed to pay almost half of $2 billion in bond payments due Friday, marking the commonwealth’s first-ever default on its constitutionally guaranteed debt.
Gov. Alejandro García Padilla defended the historic decision by highlighting the island’s tense relationship with Wall Street firms that own its debt.
Some of these firms stand to lose money as a result of Friday’s nonpayment. Major insurers backing Puerto Rico’s debt could also be forced to pay out as much as hundreds of millions of dollars to bondholders.
AP: Illinois medical marijuana program gets boost from Rauner OK
Illinois’ experiment with medical marijuana has earned a boost thanks to Gov. Bruce Rauner’s approval of legislation extending the state pilot program for 2 1/2 years and including two more medical conditions.
On Friday, medical marijuana advocates and experts called it a turning point that gives patients guaranteed access to the drug and provides confidence to those selling and cultivating it in the state. Rauner signed the measure Thursday night.
“It’s a very good thing for us,” said Charles Bachtell, the founder and CEO of Cresco Labs, which holds cultivation permits in Illinois. “It’s somewhat of an endorsement of the state saying, ‘You’re doing the right thing. We like what we’re seeing from the pilot program and let’s make some reasonable modifications.'”
AP: Rauner grants clemency to 6 people; denies 150
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner has granted clemency to six people and denied another 150 requests; he also granted one commutation.
A Friday statement from Rauner’s office says the 157 clemency petitions were part of dockets going back to January 2012. It says a backlog of around 500 petitions remains from previous administrations.
Rauner’s office says each person granted clemency has recently undergone a criminal background check through the state police’s Law Enforcement Agencies Data System.