Free Republic

The Chicago Public Schools will pay 6.39 percent — an extraordinary interest rate by short-term lending standards — to borrow $275 million it needs to make a mandatory payment for retiree pensions before a June 30 deadline. That’s more than four times the interest rate a typical government would pay on the same borrowing deal ... It’s yet another sign of the dire financial condition of the nation’s third-largest public school system, which for months has had a “junk” credit rating from Wall Street financial institutions. CPS officials secured the $275 million on Monday from J.P. Morgan. It’s the final...

An Illinois man risked his life to assist a driver suffering from a seizure. Before the motorist could injure himself or others, Randy Tompkins jumped into the man’s vehicle — and it was all caught on a police cruiser’s dash-mounted camera.

A trip to Starbucks ended violently on Sunday, after two customers got into argument over a wrong drink order, and one of them was stabbed. The man who was stabbed was not pursuing criminal charges, but was taken to the hospital after a verbal argument took a sharp turn. “He was sitting on the curb, and his hand was bandaged up. There was blood everywhere in the foyer,” witness Kimberly Anderson said. Bloodied napkins littered the ground outside the Starbucks on Northwest Highway in northwest suburban Park Ridge. Starbucks said there was an altercation between two customers Sunday afternoon. It...

The 19-year-old man charged with attempted murder in the shooting of two young girls attending an end-of-year school picnic had flashed gang signs before gunfire erupted from the Jeep he was riding in, a prosecutor said Sunday. Raekwon Hudson, wearing a torn and tattered green sweatshirt, showed little reaction when Cook County Judge Peggy Chiampas ordered him to remain in jail. “No bail! Take him back!” Chiampas shouted to her courtroom sheriff’s deputies after voicing her disgust. “Young children in this city can’t participate in a picnic without being in fear of their lives because of gangbangers on the street...

Bernie Sanders growled while delivering the keynote speech at last weekend's People Summit in Chicago: "Part of the problem is . . . nobody wants to hurt each other anymore." Packed into McCormick Place's Arie Crown Theater, thousands of his followers roared in response, some furiously waving bloody fake heads of Donald Trump borrowed from Kathy Griffin. "Knock the crap out of them!" Sanders screamed, his index finger pointing at some invisible target like a cocked gun while red beret-wearing Bernie bros in the aisles began passing out burning torches and pitchforks.

The Illinois official responsible for paying the state's bills is warning that new court orders mean her office must pay out more each month than Illinois receives in revenue. Comptroller Susana Mendoza must prioritize what gets paid as Illinois nears its third year without a state budget. A mix of state law, court orders and pressure from credit rating agencies requires some items be paid first. Those include debt and pension payments, state worker paychecks and some school funding. Mendoza says a recent court order regarding money owed for Medicaid bills means mandated payments will eat up 100 percent of...

The state of Illinois has not passed a budget for close to three years. Arguably it’s just as well because Illinois budgets for decades have been nothing but a moth-eaten collection of lies, one time deficits repeated endlessly, and financial wizardry statements designed to disguise Illinois’ real problems: failure to rein in spending coupled with a very business unfriendly environment. As Illinois’ bond rating careens towards junk, Illinois Unpaid Bills Jumped to $14.3 Billion. Today, the state told contractors to halt roadwork other that required for safety. Dear Contractor I do not have a link, but here is the letter...

New questions are being raised over whether red light cameras in Pueblo are more about revenue and less about safety... the city is giving drivers less time to get through those intersections which potentially increases your chance of getting a ticket. ... Almost from the start, installing red light cameras has been a controversial topic, and now the focus has shifted to how they are timed. ... According to the National Motorists Association Foundation, the yellow light at that intersection should last a minimum of 5.5 seconds. News 5 Investigates discovered the yellow light is set to last a second...

CHICAGO — A published report says the multi-state lottery association overseeing Powerball and Mega Millions games will dump Illinois by the end of June if the state doesn’t end its budget impasse. Illinois Lottery spokesman Jason Schaumburg tells The Chicago Sun-Times it’s another example of why Illinois needs a budget. The newspaper also cites internal lottery communications showing concern about Illinois’ finances. The budget stalemate could enter a third year if lawmakers don’t reach agreement by July 1. Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democrats controlling the Legislature have been deadlocked since 2015. The Sun-Times says Illinois reported $99 million in...

James Hodgkinson, the Belleville man accused of shooting congressmen and aides during practice for a ...baseball game Wednesday, has written a number of letters to the editor of the Belleville News-Democrat. [snip] Following are the letters: Sept. 12, 2012 The path out of our deficit The best book I’ve read in a while is “Aftershock” by Robert B. Reich. He explains that the lowering of taxes on the richest Americans was a major cause of the Great Depression. He also states that it is a major cause of the Great Recession, which started in 2007. He states that the year...

WASHINGTON—U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) released the following statement:Our hearts go out to the victims of a tragic shooting this morning. We owe an enormous debt of gratitude to the United States Capitol Police who put their lives on the line this morning and each and every day to keep members, staff, and visitors safe.

Eric Hummel said he wanted to show his two sons why they shouldn’t play with guns on Saturday. His actions led to him accidentally shooting his 9-year-old daughter in the head and killing her, police say. The two boys were cleaning their room in their Indiana home on Saturday afternoon when Hummel walked in with his Glock. He told them they should never play with guns, and the boys said he pointed it at each of them and made a “pop” noise, according to the Chicago Tribune. The gun was originally unloaded, but Hummel then loaded it and forgot he...

<p>ALEXANDRIA, Virginia -- Details are coming in about the suspected gunman in a shooting at a congressional baseball practice in Virginia Wednesday, who apparently volunteered for a presidential candidate's campaign last year.</p> <p>ABC News reports multiple law enforcement sources have identified the suspected shooter as 66-year-old James T. Hodgkinson of Belleville, Illinois.</p>

Illinois has long been the poster child for a dysfunctional state fiscal policy. The state’s Republican governor, a formerly wealthy businessman, and the Democratic-controlled legislature have been perpetually locked in a race to the bottom as the Land of Lincoln has repeatedly flirted with near- bankruptcy and junk-bond level credit ratings.

At least six people were fatally shot and 37 others were wounded in Chicago over the weekend in attacks that included two rifle homicides in Back of the Yards, nine people shot in a single incident in Lawndale and double shootings on the Riverwalk and at 31st Street Beach. The violence, on the warmest weekend of the year, brought the number of homicides in Chicago this year to at least 275 -- nine fewer than last year but substantially higher than in other years going back to 2013, according to data kept by the Tribune. At least 1,520 people have...

Jane Addams Tollway (I-90) drivers can expect those inscrutable black gantries towering over the roadway to get chatty this summer. The Illinois tollway has completed installation and testing of 29 digital message signs between Barrington Road and O'Hare International Airport. The displays will provide real-time traffic updates and safety advisories and direct drivers to shift lanes when crashes occur. The system will go live around the end of July or early August, Chief Engineer Paul Kovacs said at a Wednesday committee meeting. "All the construction is done and we've completed the testing so we know it's operational. Now we're training...

After years of angst over whether to extend Route 53 north into Lake County, the Illinois tollway moved with dizzying speed last week approving a $25 million study of the project. But while the board's vote took seconds, there were hours of fraught testimony from environmentalists fearful of pollution, residents worried about losing their homes, commuters sick of sitting in traffic and construction industry representatives lobbying for jobs. Here are five take-aways from a momentous week: 1. Promising to pay for the extension could be a game-changer. Unlike his predecessors, Chairman Bob Schillerstrom pledged that if Route 53 is extended,...

As a former staffer and now a member of Congress, one of my goals is to ensure this institution I have the incredible honor of serving in is transparent, efficient, and accountable to those we represent. After all, it is the People’s House.As members of Congress, we have asked the American people to trust us with their hard-earned tax dollars so it’s critical that we lead by example and ensure each dollar we spend to operate our offices is done efficiently and to help serve our constituents.At the start of my second term, I requested to serve on the Committee...

Weeks after a federal judge ruled against a gay man who'd sued over his firing from a suburban Catholic parish, Colin Collette said he still struggles with a "sense of abandonment by the church." Collette, the music director at Holy Family Catholic Community in Inverness, was with the parish for 17 years before he was let go in 2014 after announcing he was engaged to his same-sex partner. He filed a lawsuit against the church and the Archdiocese of Chicago last year, alleging discrimination and seeking reinstatement of his job, lost wages and damages. Collette said Wednesday that the decision...

Five people were killed and at least 25 others were wounded in shootings across Chicago between Friday evening and Monday morning.(snip) The rest of the attacks continued a violent start to the month, with 52 people shot by the end of the fourth day of June. At least 318 people were shot in May, and 1,408 people have been shot this year, according to records kept by the Chicago Sun-Times.