Gov. J.B. Pritzkers “fair tax” received endorsements from several metro-east mayors Monday.

Pritzker spoke at Belleville City Hall Monday on his proposed graduated income tax that would tax the wealthiest of Illinoisans.

Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration has agreed to pay wage increases for home care and child care workers, as well as about $44 million in back pay that his Republican predecessor withheld.

Under an agreement with the Service Employees International Union Healthcare Illinois announced Monday, the Pritzker administration will give 28,000 personal assistants in the state’s home services program raises of 48 cents per hour. Workers in the state Department of Human Services program, which provides in-home care for people with disabilities, currently earn $13 per hour.

Changes at the top continue at the Illinois Tollway with the departure of Executive Director Elizabeth “Liz” Gorman.

Gorman, a former Republican Cook County commissioner who has led the Tollway for about a year, is “no longer employed” by the authority as of last Friday, Board Chair Will Evans said in a memo to staff. Chief Operating Officer Kevin Artl will act as interim director.

Recent declines in U.S. housing market indicators are hinting at an economic slowdown. However, four major cities are bright spots in a somewhat gloomy forecast.

The Washington, Dallas, New York and Chicago metro areas are experiencing increases in both new home construction and maintenance spending, according to a report by property data provider BuildFax.

Few controversies in Chicago have been more nauseating to watch lately than the Lincoln Yards mega-project, greased up by a compliant City Council.

The council last week approved zoning for Lincoln Yards, a sprawling residential and commercial development along 55 acres of riverfront property between Bucktown and Lincoln Park. Most of the land until recently was zoned for industrial use as the onetime home to A. Finkl & Sons steel plant, which developer Sterling Bay bought in 2016 as it was also accumulating adjacent parcels. Critics have called the new project “SchaumburgYards” for its dense, cheesy design. That’s bad enough.

The head of the Chicago Teachers Union is telling members to start setting aside at least a portion of their upcoming paychecks in anticipation of a possible teachers strike this fall.

CTU President Jesse Sharkey last week suggested the union’s rank-and-file “start saving” at least 10 percent of each paycheck “to make sure we can stand strong on the picket line” in the event contract negotiations with Chicago Public Schools break down.