Politics and Government

Some Uptown business owners are criticizing a proposal to raise food and beverage and hotel-motel taxes in Normal. They’re also not happy about an accelerated timeline to a council vote on Monday — just three business days after the proposal became public.

To get the decade-old Uptown underpass project over the finish line will require increases in food and beverage and hotel-motel taxes. That staff recommendation emerged at a special town council meeting on Wednesday evening.

McLean County government has offered an olive branch in its response to notice of default from the City of Bloomington and Town of Normal in a protracted dispute over shared sales tax money.

Steve Inskeep is the featured guest at WGLT's Radio Faces dinner on Thursday, Oct. 30 at Illinois State University.

McLean County Auditor Michelle Anderson is again facing criticism, this time for a late county audit that other county officials say is causing problems.

Mayor Dan Brady says he does not think a close city council vote to dedicate grocery sales tax money to infrastructure came about because of inconsistent messaging.

Another approved use of money is to replace an aging electronic record management system that integrates information for the courts, law enforcement, and other McLean County stakeholders. There has been a lot of unhappiness about that project too.

The top academic officer and CFO at Illinois State University are asking the campus to have patience in the face of the federal government shutdown.

When the state rollback of the locally shared grocery tax first passed, then-Mayor Mboka Mwilambwe said he believed there was no appetite on the Bloomington City Council to impose a local tax. Though the vote was still split, the council passed the tax this week.

Conservative Illinois GOP candidate Ted Dabrowski discusses the most pressing issues in the state and how he hopes to deal with them if elected in 2026.