The recently approved state budget hardly makes Illinois the beacon of fiscal prudence that Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker and legislative leaders claim it is, budgetary analysts at Wirepoints say.

House Speaker Michael Madigan used his absolute power over the legislative process to move legislation to the floor on Friday that exchanges Illinois’ constitutionally mandated flat income tax with a progressive tax.

Steve Lefko, candidate for the River Forest D90 school board, says that he respects the all-inclusive sentiment behind the “Investigations” math instituted last year in the district, but as a scientist he wants to see evidence that it works.

Public school boards are elected to negotiate on behalf of local taxpayers with public employee unions. Teacher's unions in Oak Park and River Forest will have representatives on both sides of the table if Ralph Martire is elected April 2 to the OPRF High School District 200 board.

Steve Lefko, candidate for River Forest D90 school board, commended the board’s decision last night to re-think block scheduling of classes at Roosevelt Middle School.

The recent news that some of the state’s wealthier school districts are eligible for property tax relief reveals not just the flaws in the General Assembly’s 2017 evidence-based funding formula that initiated the relief program, but the entire K-12 funding system itself, says former State Rep. Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton).

Maywood elementary teacher Gina Harris is a hopeful player in what education and taxpayer policy experts say is an alarming trend of union members and sympathizers sitting on both sides of the table in teacher contract negotiations.

The leader of the opposition to Hinsdale 86’s proposed $166 million referendum that the voters rejected in November says the Board of Education has resorted to scare tactics to keep hopes of a referendum alive.

Burr Ridge Mayor Michael “Mickey” Straub said that his effort to defeat Hinsdale D86’s $166 million referendum had nothing to do with his Nov. 12 announcement that he was stepping down from office. A Nov. 14 Chicago Tribune article cited Straub’s being “under fire from supporters” of the referendum as at least a partial factor in his resignation with two and a half years still left in his term.

Opponents of a $166 million Hinsdale District 86 ballot initiative have asked police to investigate social media posts threatening them.

A grassroots movement that on Tuesday defeated Hinsdale District 86’s proposed $166 referendum is now looking to run candidates for four school board seats that will be contested in April.

The local teachers union has entered the battle over Hinsdale D86’s $166 million referendum in a big way, donating about $30,000 to the “Yes” in the days before Tuesday's election.

A woman caught on videotape Oct. 26 taking down signs of a grassroots movement working to defeat the school’s $166 million referendum will not face charges.

An election guide posted on the Communist Party USA’s (CPUSA) website said that the party is “deploying its resources” to unseat U.S. Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.), as part of a larger effort to flip 24 Republican seats the Democrats need to capture control of the House.

Like some other single 30-year-olds, Bridget Fitzgerald still lives with her parents, in Western Springs.

The U.S. Department of Education’s dismissal of a discrimination complaint against Hinsdale High School District 86 has hardened the battle lines between school officials and a group of residents vowing to erase what they view as inequity between the district’s two high schools, Central and South. It has also escalated a war of words between the two sides.

Morton College is on a slippery slope of losing its accreditation, and its president and director of operations are placing at least part of the blame on the school’s attorney, Michael Del Galdo, a source close to the situation told West Cook News.

A $166 million referendum approved in early August by Hinsdale High School District 86 has a slim chance with the voters in November without school attendance boundaries for Central and South high schools in place, says Zach Mottl, a Burr Ridge trustee and co-chair of a citizens group fighting for parity between the schools.

A proposed change in the bylaws of the Cook County Republican Party that would have allowed Democrats to serve as Republican ward committeemen fizzled at a meeting of party officials July 25 and county Republicans lacked a quorum necessary for a vote after nearly 30 committeemen boycotted the meeting.

Riverside Police Chief Tom Weitzel said that a juvenile arrested recently for stealing a motorbike is why carjacking legislation introduced earlier this year in Springfield was no “overreach” as some have claimed.