Dawn Patrol: No school pension shift; boy on bike killed
Plan to shift pension costs to schools nixed
While the deadline for approving the state’s budget is today, a proposal to shift teacher retirement costs to school districts will be pulled from legislation, ending a standoff by Republican lawmakers. Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan said Gov. Pat Quinn agreed with Republicans and stripped the pension reform plans of the cost-shifting language. House Republican Leader Tom Cross will now have about 16 hours to push through a plan, or else legislation starting Friday will require more votes to pass. Full story.
Boy dies after being struck by car in Round Lake Beach
An 11-year-old boy died shortly after being struck by a vehicle while crossing a Round Lake Beach intersection on a bicycle last night, according to police. The boy was crossing Rollins Road on Lotus Drive when he was struck about 6:30 p.m., police said. He was pronounced dead about an hour after the accident. Police said the driver stopped immediately after striking the boy and was cooperative. Full story.
Elgin teachers union agrees to contract
Members of the Elgin Teachers Association voted in favor of a tentative three-year contract agreement last night. The Elgin Area School District U-46 school board is set to ratify the agreement on Monday, June 4, after the teachers approved it with a vote of 1,225 to 604. The retroactive contract would be for the 2011 to 2014 school years. Full story.
CTA, Pace, Metra snap back at RTA cost-cutting plan
A letter from the chairman of the Regional Transportation Authority suggesting the CTA, Metra and Pace collaborate services to save money resulted in a joint response from those agencies calling out the RTA for increasing their numbers and budget. The joint response claims the RTA budget has grown to twice the allowance under state statute. The RTA chairman said efforts to implement interagency initiatives have failed, and he cited duplicate marketing, public relations and customer service departments. Full story.
Man, 20, found dead in Kane County cell, sheriff’s office investigating
A 20-year-old died last week after he was found unresponsive in his Kane County jail cell from a self-inflicted wound, according to the Kane County sheriff’s office. Keith Renfroe Jr. of Minnesota was arrested May 18 after police said he broke through the front window of a home in Gilberts and told the residents two people were chasing him. He was found unresponsive in his cell May 19. Full story.
Rezko admits to committing crimes, just not the crimes he’s serving time for
Antoin “Tony” Rezko, who is serving a 10½-year sentence for corruption said he was tried and convicted of a crime he did not commit, in his first television interview since he went to prison. Rezko admitted to ABC 7 Chicago he and Rod Blagojevich conspired to make illegal pay-to-play appointments, but did not commit the crimes he was charged with. “Did I do fundraising for board appointments? Yes, I did. Did I participate in that? Sure I did. Was he (Blagojevich) aware of it? Yes, he was,” he said. Full story.
Weather
Cloudy, rainy and cool today, with a high of only about 55 degrees today. Rain clouds are in the area throughout the day, so bring the umbrella. Temperatures will only be about 50 when you leave and will be about 48 degrees tonight. Full story.
Traffic
Police are on the scene of an accident at Route 45 and Winchester Drive in Libertyville, as well as on the outbound Edens Expressway near Touhy Avenue. Meanwhile, roadwork is causing delays at Diehl Road and Route 59 in Naperville and at Route 38 and York Street in Elmhurst. Full story.
Cubs sweep?!?
Cubs manager Dale Sveum wanted some “slugging percentage” yesterday, and he got it, but not from a source he expected. Second baseman Darwin Barney hit the first walk-off homer of his career, a 2-run line drive to the bleachers in left-center with two outs in the ninth inning to lift the Cubs to an 8-6 victory over the San Diego Padres and a sweep of their three-game series. Full story.
And by the way ...
The White Sox have now won eight, count ’em, eight in a row after beating the Rays by a final of 4-3. Alexei Ramirez led the way, driving in two run to push the Sox to their longest winning streak of the year. Full story.