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)](https://s3.amazonaws.com/medill.wordpress.offload/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2016/11/school-board-feature-1024x692.jpg)
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
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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
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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 […]