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A report outlining public education reform in Illinois doesn’t address a core issue facing students: reading proficiency. It also lowers standards for students and threatens to muddle the understanding of students’ progress.
A federal judge on Thursday declined to acquit former AT&T Illinois president Paul La Schiazza after his September trial on charges that he bribed ex-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan ended in a hung jury.
Vanessa Schwartz, executive director of Metropolitan Family Services Southeast Chicago Center, cited environmental issues with the former U.S. Steel site .“The land has been surely contaminated. One of the concerns is, once construction starts, what toxins, if anything, will be released into the community,” Schwartz told The Center Square.
The Illinois Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability reports the latest unfunded liability is $143.7 billion. That’s $1.5 billion higher than last year and the second highest since 2020 when the total was $144.2 billion.
In Cahokia Heights, Illinois, years of sewage backups have left residents grappling with bacterial infections, mold, and neglect. Will a federal order end the crisis
The initial investment will be “in the tens of millions” and maybe reach the “low hundreds” in the next two years, IBM Chief Executive Officer Arvind Krishna said at a press conference. He declined to provide a precise figure.
“Democrats love to accuse Trump and Republicans of corruption and Constitutional violations. Yet, under their leadership in Chicago, Black families like mine face the same abuses: constitutional rights ignored, fraudulent actions covered up, and public corruption left unchecked,” speaker Zoe Leigh said.
A bill filed in Springfield almost a year ago would amend the Illinois Nursing Home Care Act to allow residents to sue facility owners over claims of retaliation for at least two months’ rent and attorney fees, plus statutory damages. Seventeen more senators have signed on as co-sponsors of the bill, but advocates worry Illinois Senate President Don Harmon could let the legislative clock expire on it under pressure from a nursing home industry trade group that opposes the bill — and that has made massive financial contributions to Harmon’s political operation.
“When the mayor took office, he promised a ‘better, stronger, safer Chicago.’ Yet, he and his closest advisers continue to show that, when facing a legal and moral crossroads, they prioritize protecting their friends and their own interests over shielding their staff from harassment and preventing a hostile work environment. “
More than 10 years after 50 CPS schools closed under then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a documentary looks at how communities on the South and West sides have coped with the absences. “It’s important to realize that half of these schools are still vacant. For half of the schools, nothing is happening with them, so we have these empty buildings in these neighborhoods and the impact is real for what that does to a neighborhood,” said Erin Babbin, the film’s co-director.
Illinois lawmakers are requiring insurance companies to cover numerous procedures and to limit the costs of prescription drugs in a variety of ways. Bills covering reproductive health care will also go into effect, and lawmakers even paved the way for students to have access to “relaxation activities” during school hours.
Legislators want to shift the financial responsibility for educating and training Illinois residents from students back to the state. The hope is that, in a decade, tuition rates at places like Governors State University in Chicago’s south suburbs and University of Illinois Springfield won’t leave students hobbled with debt — or shut out of college altogether.
“Teachers and students alike suffer from bloated bureaucracies. Chicago Public Schools will spend over $30,000 per student this year. Over half of that money never makes it to the classroom, according to an analysis from nonprofit research organization Wirepoints, and instead goes to oversized district offices and administrators. “
Pritzker frustrated several of his counterparts by trying to get them to sign on to a group he started postelection to push back on Trump, but only Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed on as a co-chair. Pritzker has his staff exploring ideas such as blocking GPS tracking on apps for women who may be traveling to the state to get abortions, so that there would not be records to potentially subpoena back home. “We all have apps on our phones that track where we go. If an attorney general or US attorney wanted to pull that
The governor’s executive order builds on a report from the Missing Middle Housing Solutions Advisory Committee that offered more than two dozen potential solutions — including state mandates to eliminate local bans on accessory dwelling units, a switch from requiring parking minimums to setting parking maximums, and requiring that multi-family development be permitted on any lot larger than 5,000 square feet.
“While poorly timed, it is healthy to see real democracy at work in Chicago. The stakes are also higher. The expenditures associated with underfunded pensions consume more than 20 percent of the operating budget. This crowds out needed services such as policing and infrastructure. Both are critical to a safe and prosperous Chicago.”
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