For the first time since 2015 Illinois may actually have a budget in place before the start of the new fiscal year.

Illinois House lawmakers voted Thursday to approve a $38.5 billion state budget plan by a vote of 97-18. That followed a vote in the Senate on Wednesday that passed the budget bill by a vote of 54-2. The measure now goes to Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, who said in a statement he plans to sign it.

Even as the Illinois General Assembly puts the final touches on what would be the state’s first truly bipartisan annual budget in years, a major bond-rating agency is strongly suggesting the roughly $38.5 billion spending plan is inadequate and leaves the state an “an inflection point,” in which fixed costs could become “extremely difficult to manage.”

In a report issued just hours before the Illinois House prepares to vote for the fiscal 2019 budget overwhelmingly approved yesterday by the Senate, Moody’s Investors Service says the combination of debt service and required payments for pensions will exceed 30 percent of total spending in the coming year, a very high figure for any government.

New Census Bureau data show that the state’s largest cities continue to lose population.

Not that the Legislature shows any signs of noticing, but new data from the U.S. Census Bureau show that Illinois’ largest cities continue to lose population.

The figures show 39 of Illinois’ largest 50 cities experienced a population decline from July 2016 to July 2017.

A top deputy of Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan abruptly resigned from key leadership posts Thursday after a former medical marijuana advocate accused him of retaliation, verbal abuse and “inappropriate behavior.”

Advocate Maryann Loncar was still describing her allegations to reporters at the Capitol when Democratic Rep. Lou Lang of Skokie announced he was stepping down as deputy majority leader and relinquishing his spot on a committee that investigates complaints lodged against lawmakers and staff.

One day, he’s applauded for shepherding the federal Equal Rights Amendment through the Illinois House. The next day, he’s accused of threatening, verbally abusing and inappropriately touching a female activist who was working with him on legislation.

State Rep. Lou Lang, D-Skokie, a lieutenant of House Speaker Michael Madigan, on Thursday stepped down from his position in House leadership, along with his positions on the General Assembly’s ethics commission and on a committee overseeing rule-making. He announced his resignations as a news conference unfolded at the Capitol. Medical marijuana activist Maryann Loncar accused him of intimidation, retaliation and inappropriate conduct.

They were top athletes and honor-roll students, children struggling to read and teenagers seeking guidance.

But then they became prey, among the many students raped or sexually abused during the last decade by trusted adults working in the Chicago Public Schools as district officials repeated obvious child-protection mistakes.

It was seen as a sweet deal for a foul-smelling task: The city of Chicago hired three clout-heavy companies in 2010, the waning days of Mayor Richard M. Daley’s administration, to operate city-owned waste-transfer facilities, a way station for recyclables and trash.

The competitively bid deal — which, according to city officials, was awarded to companies with the best, though not necessarily the least-expensive, proposals — was supposed to be for three years and cost taxpayers no more than $79.4 million.

A Chicago police lieutenant who is married to Superintendent Eddie Johnson has filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, claiming she’s a victim of the department’s “discriminatory” promotion process.

Johnson has asked Chicago Inspector General Joseph Ferguson and the Civilian Office of Police Accountability to look into the complaint by Lt. Nakia Fenner, who married Johnson last year, according to his spokesman.

McHenry County State’s Attorney Patrick Kenneally will not prosecute former Algonquin Township Highway Commissioner Bob Miller after a nearly seven-month corruption probe.

In a 52-page, single-spaced report released Thursday, Kenneally detailed an intense investigation his office opened after “a convulsion of indiscriminate allegations” surfaced against Miller in 2017.

Barrington Area Unit District 220 teachers will start the next academic season with a new contract that will provide annual raises tied to the rate of inflation.

District 220 board members approved the five-year deal at a special meeting Thursday morning. The instructors are expected to receive raises of 2.4 percent to 3.7 percent over each of the five years, based on the Consumer Price Index.