Afternoon News Update: Wednesday December 17
- State revenue officials say workers across Illinois will soon notice a little more money in their paychecks. The state is reminding employers to adjust the way they calculate income taxes as the temporary income tax rate of 5 percent rolls back to 3.75 percent on January 1st.
- Portraits of Judy Baar Topinka lined an entrance at a suburban Chicago union hall today along with photos of past campaigns, her family and dogs. The state's top leaders and lawmakers were among those on hand for a memorial service for the late Illinois comptroller, who died last week after winning a second full term in November. Governor Pat Quinn, Governor-elect Bruce Rauner and former Governor Jim Thompson spoke at the memorial service.
- The body of a missing 19-year-old from Woodstock has been found in southwest Florida near the island of Sanibel. Police say the body of Chad Winter was found Tuesday about 300 feet offshore. The man was vacationing with his girlfriend when he went missing Monday while paddleboarding.
- Illinois' governor-elect says he may have to rent a house or condo while the governor's mansion is being fixed up. Bruce Rauner and his wife Diana have vowed to live in the governor's mansion in downtown Springfield after his inauguration in January. But Rauner says there is work to be done on the structure.
- Northern Illinois University is offering a live video feed of the ongoing demolition of a 51-year-old residence hall.The stream will offer viewers a wide shot of the scene at Douglas Hall so they can watch equipment and crews working to strategically dismantle the building. A planned 4.5 million road expansion project to create a major east-west thoroughfare on campus is planned after the demolition. The building is expected to be gone at the end of March.
- Gov. Scott Walker says he wants to review whether hunting and fishing fees collected by the state should be used to pay for costs related to sighting an open pit iron ore mine near Lake Superior. Walker says he would prefer that fees collected for anything to do with hunting, fishing and trapping "stay in those particular areas."
- A new analysis finds that Wisconsin is the 12th highest taxed state in the country and third highest in the upper Midwest. The nonpartisan Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance said that was based on Census data on tax collections. It analyzed the tax data as a percentage of personal income. The data shows that Wisconsin moved from 13th worst in 2011 up one spot to 12th in 2012, the most recent year available.
- Residents of a Rockford neighborhood have gotten a chance to meet with utility services to address a hydrant problem in their neighborhood. Last month a fire broke out at a home in the Mulford Wildwoods subdivision, and the firefighters had trouble battling the blaze because the hydrants are flushing hydrants. Flushing hydrants are not meant to fight fires. The utility company says the hydrants were always flushing hydrants.
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