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4/22/2019
McHenry County is the sole subject of legislation giving its voters an option to dissolve township government. It is an effort by a state lawmaker to cut residents’ property taxes by eliminating what he calls “unnecessary” levels of government. Rep. David McSweeney said the next step would be to give the rest of Illinois the ability to get rid of township governments.
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4/22/2019
Stakeholders from northern Illinois added to the state’s list of capital funding requests Monday as lawmakers from both sides of the aisle acknowledged more revenue would be necessary to get the state’s infrastructure back in working order. “The need is great; the revenue is problematic,” said state Sen. Donald DeWitte, a St. Charles Republican.
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4/22/2019
A key supporter of an initiative to legalize adult recreational marijuana in Illinois said substantial bill language will be filed soon, and the issue could be one of the first discussed by state lawmakers when they return to the Statehouse from their two-week spring break next week.
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4/19/2019
The U.S. is on pace to shatter the record of measles cases in any year since the disease was declared eliminated in 2000. While the nation’s worst outbreak is occurring in New York City, Illinois is not immune, with seven recorded cases of measles this year. Illinois’ largest public health advocacy group is taking action.
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4/18/2019
Census numbers released Thursday show that for the first time in seven years, every major metropolitan area in the state saw population decline between July 2017 and July 2018. The Chicago metro area had the greatest raw number decline of more than 22,000 people. The Danville area had the fourth highest percentage loss in the country.
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4/18/2019
Proposed by Chicago Democratic Rep. Celina Villanueva, the House-approved measure enhances current penalties against companies convicted of wage theft — each day an employee’s paycheck is withheld would now be a separate felony offense instead of a misdemeanor. Businesses would also be barred from working with the state of Illinois for five years.
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4/18/2019
The unemployment rate in Illinois climbed one-tenth of a point to 4.4 percent in March as the state recorded a net loss of 2,300 jobs, the Illinois Department of Employment Security said Thursday. Meanwhile, the number of people counted as unemployed in March grew 1.1 percent from February, to 284,400. That was 1.3 percent higher than in March 2018.