Afternoon news update: July 28, 2015

Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan has filed legislation that would block a controversial pay raise for lawmakers and one of his co-sponsors expects an almost-immediate vote. The 2 percent cost-of-living increase pay-raise issue has become a flashpoint in the budget stalemate between the Democratic Legislature and Gov. Bruce Rauner. The governor has criticized a pay raise while the state has no budget for the fiscal year that started this month.
Gov. Bruce Rauner's office says the state doesn't have the authority to distribute video gambling profits to municipalities across the state without a state budget. His office announced Monday that municipalities hosting video gambling in bars and restaurants won't get their cut until the state budget is in place. Some local governments reap thousands of dollars each month from the machines.
Rockford Police are searching for five men suspected in two armed robberies in the past 24 hours. Monday afternoon two black men held up the 11th Street AutoZone at gunpoint. Witnesses say the two brandished handguns and demanded money. They left in what later turned out to be a stolen purple Honda van with Illinois license plates reading S-311565. The van had been reported stolen earlier in the day. The suspects are described as follows: 1- Black male, 21 years old, 5'3'' and 250 lbs, wearing a black t-shirt and gray shorts. 2- Black male, 5'5'' and 185 lbs, wearing a black t-shirt and blue jeans. Anyone with information on this incident is asked to call Rockford Police at (815) 987-5824.
Three men used a machete to rob the Quik Mart in the 2200 block of Kishwaukee Street. A worker told police that three Hispanic men pulled out the weapon and forced her behind the counter. They took an unknown amount of cash before fleeing the scene.
The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, Office of Tourism says there were more than 109 million visitors to Illinois during 2014, generating nearly three billion dollars in sales taxes for the state. To spread the good news, officials will kick off a four-day, 12-stop tour around Illinois in Rockford on Thursday morning at nine o’clock at Prairie Street Brewhouse.
A bill aimed at helping veterans obtain jobs was signed in to law by Governor Rauner today. The bill 3122, crafted by Representative Bob Pritchard of Sycamore, creates the Illinois Veteran’s Preference in Private Employment Act. The act allows a private employer to adopt and apply a voluntary veterans' preference employment. Current Illinois law already has a veteran’s policy for employment in the public sector.

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