Long-awaited elected school board bill down — but not out

Photo at top: Chicagoans, including Aiyanna Allen (far right), wait outside a packed committee room to decide the fate of the elected school board bill. (Emily Olsen / MEDILL)

By Meredith Francis and Emily Olsen Lawmakers are no strangers to the waiting game, but the public is getting antsy. In a packed education committee room in the Springfield state house, parents, students and Chicago community organizers mobilized Nov. 16 to make a fundamental change to the way the nation’s third-largest school district is led — […]

Governor Rauner advocates bipartisan reforms amid budget gridlock

By Harvard Zhang Springfield — Republican Governor Bruce Rauner called on the Democrat-controlled legislature to put aside political disagreements to institute business-building reforms together with cost reductions and revenue increases during his budget address Wednesday for the next fiscal year. Addressing a joint session of the General Assembly, the governor stressed that his budget is about jobs, opportunities and economic […]

State budget deadlock jeopardizes manufacturing industry

By Lawrence Rigby Springfield’s inability to pass a budget for fiscal 2016 threatens to make life harder for the already hard-pressed Illinois manufacturing industry. The deadlock could cause manufacturers to lose a Research and Development tax credit that encourages the innovation of new R&D projects. The possible loss of the 6.5 percent tax credit, due […]