Latest news with #CTA
Yahoo
15 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
Police sources: Woman sexually assaulted at gunpoint on Blue Line train
CHICAGO () — According to Chicago Police Department sources and a report reviewed by WGN News, a man was taken into custody after an alleged sexual assault at gunpoint on a CTA Blue Line train Thursday night. According to sources, officers responded to the Western stop at 430 South Western Avenue just before 11:30 p.m. for a report of a person with a gun. When officers arrived, a witness pointed toward a man on the platform and identified him as the person with a gun. The suspect, a 30-year-old man, veered behind a metal platform to hide from officers, but was taken into custody. A gun was recovered near the train tracks, sources said. The man, who is being held, has not been charged. A CTA rider told police the suspect was on a train with him and his fiancée, a 57-year-old woman, who was the victim in the alleged sexual assault. According to police sources, the suspect approached the victim, pulled out a handgun, racked the slide, and then exposed himself. He then forced the woman to perform sexual acts at gunpoint. The victim reportedly told investigators she knew she had no choice but to comply. After the assault, first reported by news organization CWBChicago, the suspect allegedly walked down the aisle of the train car, racked the slide of his gun again, and shouted 'where they at.' Investigators, according to police sources, recovered evidence from the scene, including biological evidence from the train and the victim, and items left on the train by the suspect. The suspect, who claimed he was injured, was taken to Mt. Sinai Hospital. As officers later attempted to transport him back to the police district, a report indicates he 'mulekicked' an officer in the chest and headbutted another officer in the chest. It is not clear whether either officer was injured in the assault. CTA riders told WGN they were not aware of the assault, but that the allegations concerned them. Tamia Carroll, who goes to school in the area, said she tends to feel safe on the trains, but always keeps her head on a swivel. 'You never know what could happen outside. I don't want to say it's a dangerous place, it's just dangerous mindsets of people,' Carroll said. It is not clear how many riders were in the train car or whether there were other witnesses aside from the victim's fiancé. 'There's always consequences for your actions and I think that people should be upheld to those consequences,' Carroll said. 'It is a very traumatizing experience, so if you ever see something that's happening, even if you don't know what's happening, say something. It might not be the best to step in, but make people aware, let somebody know, cause a scene.' WGN is not naming the suspect because he has not yet been charged. Cook County court records indicate he has previous convictions for public indecency/lewd exposure, and aggravated battery of a peace officer. Prosecutors previously dropped an attempted murder charge against the man. WGN News has reached out to the CTA for a statement. This is a developing story. Stay with WGN News for any updates. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
CBS News
17 hours ago
- Business
- CBS News
Clock ticking for Illinois lawmakers to pass state budget, transit funding before spring session ends
With just hours until a crucial deadline, Illinois state lawmakers were working to pass a $55 billion state budget plan for the next fiscal year. The budget plan unveiled Friday night by Democratic leadership would include new taxes on gambling as well as tobacco and vape products. Another source of new revenue in the budget proposal is a delinquent tax payment incentive program. The program is designed to help the state recover overdue tax payments. The program was proposed by Gov. JB Pritzker and is estimated to generate about $198 million in revenue. A health care program that provides benefits to undocumented immigrants in Illinois between ages 42 and 64 also appears to be eliminated. Pritzker proposed eliminating the program to save the state $330 million. The proposed budget also provides $307 million in additional funding for K-12 schools, but does not include $43 million in property tax relief funds called for under the state's evidence-based school funding model. Chicagoans also have been keeping an eye on additional state funding for the area's mass transit system. Transit officials have said the system is facing a $770 million budget deficit in 2026, and if state lawmakers don't come up with that funding by the end of the spring legislative session Saturday night, CTA, Metra, and Pace must start laying out plans for service cuts of up to 40% for next year. "I think right now, there's wide understanding that we can't have these draconian 40% cuts. I mean, it just would be very painful, disruptive for the city. The economy would really suffer at the same time," DePaul University professor and transportation expert Joe Schwieterman said. Lawmakers spent hours Thursday debating another bill that would overhaul the state's mass transit system, but that bill did not include provisions to address the looming RTA fiscal cliff. That bill, instead, focuses on reforming the structure and governance of the Chicago area's mass transit system, and would replace the RTA with a new organization called the Northern Illinois Transit Authority. Technically, the money doesn't run out until the end of the year, and there will likely be a veto session that could provide another shot at an 11th-hour rescue. But transportation officials say they'll have to start laying out the specific cuts next week if the funding doesn't come through by then. With no end yet in sight as of Saturday afternoon, Illinois Senate Republicans expressed their frustrations with the Democratic-led budget process. "In less than nine hours, the Democrats are going to file over $1 billion in tax increases. The public are not going to see it until it is filed. They are going to pass it through the House and pass it through the Senate," Illinois Senate Republican Leader John Curran said. The state's new fiscal year begins on July 1. If the House and Senate don't pass a balanced budget by midnight Saturday night, they will need a three-fifths majority to approve a budget plan, rather than a simple majority. Ben Szalinski and Jerry Nowicki of Capitol News Illinois contributed to this report
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Illinois tolls could go up by 50 cents in Villivalam's transit proposal
CHICAGO — State lawmakers met Thursday to discuss how to avoid a large public transit budget shortfall and the plan that was discussed could mean toll increases and public charging station fees for electric vehicles. Facing a $770 million budgetary gap in 2026 due to the expiration of Federal COVID-19 grant funding, the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) has warned riders could see significant service cuts soon, if the shortfall is not addressed. Illinois lawmakers debate plan to overcome $770 million CTA budget shortfall On Thursday, State Sen. Ram Villivalam presented a plan to the Senate Transportation Committee that he says could help prevent Chicago-area transit agencies from going over the edge. The proposed legislation would create the Northern Illinois Transit Authority, which would shift oversight of the CTA, Metra and Pace from the Regional Transit Authority to a new 20-member board. IDOT: Drivers taking Kennedy Expressway from downtown to O'Hare can use express lanes again starting Saturday The plan would cover the pending fiscal cliff, but agencies say even more money is needed to make long-term changes to transit systems. The bill, if passed, would also create a unified fare system that would provide unarmed staff for customer service assistance at stations and on trains, and develop a law enforcement task force with a regional safety strategy in mind. The revenue proposals in Villivalam's plan would include toll increases up to 50 cents, a public electric vehicle charging fee of 6 cents per kilowatt hour, and the extension of the Real Estate Transfer Tax and rideshare fee to suburban Cook County and the collar counties. Negotiations on Villivalam's plan are ongoing with some changes possible. State lawmakers now have until Saturday at midnight to pass a transit budget plan, otherwise, service cuts could begin to take place. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
CBS News
2 days ago
- Business
- CBS News
Illinois lawmakers propose bill to address public transit fiscal cliff that could cut CTA, Metra Pace service
On the second-to-last day of the spring legislative session, Illinois lawmakers have finally proposed a new bill outlining how to fund CTA, Meta and Pace as the Regional Transportation Authority approaches a critical fiscal cliff. Transit leaders say there could be service cuts of up to 40% if they don't $771 million by the end of the session in Springfield. Lawmakers believe this latest bill will address that fiscal cliff. It's not yet final, but the bill includes several proposed new taxes and fees to help pay for public transit, including a 10% tax on ridesharing tips, the option to raise tollway fees, a fee for EV charging infrastructure and a real estate transfer tax for suburban Cook County and the collar counties. "This obviously, you know, the funding mechanism we've put forward, gets us above the fiscal cliff amount, and you know, obviously, we're relying on estimates, but the goal is to ensure we're funding a system, not for tomorrow, not for next year, but for decades to come," said State Rep. Ram Villivalam. State Senate revenue project documents seen by Streetsblog Chicago also detail additional future sources of transit funding, including a new $1 fee on deliveries of food and retail project. Another option would include eliminating the discount on sales tax for biodiesel fuel. Lawmakers spent hours Thursday debating another bill that would overhaul the state's mass transit system, but that bill did not include provisions to address the looming RTA fiscal cliff. That bill, instead, focuses on reforming the structure and governance of the Chicago area's mass transit system, and would replace the RTA with a new organization called the Northern Illinois Transit Authority.
The Independent
3 days ago
- Business
- The Independent
Chicago risks severe cuts to transit. Its poorest suburbs could be hit even harder
Winfred Wilson was struggling to make ends meet on less than $700 a month, so he moved in with his daughter, gave up his car and started relying exclusively on public transit to take him wherever he needed to go across Chicago 's southern suburbs. As he waited for a bus connection in his hometown of Harvey on a recent trip to the grocery store, Wilson waved at familiar travelers who regularly pass through the key transportation hub serving one of the region's poorest areas. Many, he said, encounter little resistance from drivers when they board without paying. ' People in affluent neighborhoods, they have cars and personal transportation, but they don't want to get caught up in the rush hour,' so they use transit, Wilson said. 'We couldn't live without it.' Public transit agencies across the U.S. have been grappling with a fiscal cliff spurred by declining ridership and the impending sunset of federal COVID-19 relief funding. The Chicago area faces particularly bleak service cuts that officials warn could be set in motion as early as Saturday if Illinois legislators adjourn without plugging a $770 million hole in the transportation budget. The big city's commuters would be hit hard, with the Chicago Transit Authority poised to shut down four of eight elevated train lines and 74 of 127 bus routes under the worst-case scenario. But perhaps no place illustrates the range of potential outcomes more vividly than Harvey, whose mayor, Christopher Clark — a lifelong resident — says was once 'the metropolis of the Southland' before plants and factories closed and disinvestment took hold. Suburb at a crossroads Already the busiest station for PACE, the region's suburban bus system that also serves paratransit customers, Harvey recently won state and federal grant money for a state-of-the-art facility that would put the buses under the same roof as the Metra commuter rail stop a block away. Plans eventually call for a high-speed bus line connecting the Harvey station to the Red Line L train that cuts through the downtown Chicago Loop. Such an upgrade could be an economic boon for Harvey, where now-vacant businesses are found on almost every downtown block and where more than 1 in 4 residents live below the poverty line. But even if the new station is built, ending or severely cutting the buses and trains that pass through could send the city reeling in the opposite direction. 'It would be chaos for us in the suburbs,' said Cheyane Felton, after finishing her shift at a coffee stand in the basement of Harvey's City Hall. 'It would cut us off.' Without additional state funding, PACE could be forced to halt buses in Harvey and elsewhere on weekends and after 8 p.m. on weekdays, executive director Melinda Metzger said. 'The downside for this is disastrous,' she said in an interview at the Harvey stop. 'You would be cutting back your service by at least 40%, not giving people viable rides. They might get to work, but they might have a late-night shift and can't get home, so ridership also would plummet to match the service cuts.' Transit's nationwide funding crunch Major public transportation agencies across the country have had varying degrees of success lobbying their legislatures for more support with the federal emergency funding set to expire at the end of the year. Perhaps no place mirrors Chicago's current situation more than Philadelphia, which faces a $213 million transportation budget deficit next year, even after Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro authorized redirecting some of the state's highway money to mass transit. Absent more funding, riders could see a 20% spike in fares, a 9 p.m. curfew, and the elimination of 50 bus routes and five of eight regional rail lines, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority has said. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a bailout package in 2023 to help fund New York City's subway and buses. She also opened a major new source of transit revenue by implementing congestion pricing for drivers in Manhattan, but it remains to be seen whether the new tolls will survive threats from President Donald Trump's administration to shut them down. Boston, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and numerous other transit-dependent cities have also been scrambling to avert major cuts. A moving deadline? 'No funding without reform' has been a common mantra among Illinois legislators working to hash out a solution for Chicago's transit crisis before leaving Springfield on Saturday at the end of their regular session. Technically, the money doesn't run out until the end of the year, and there will likely be a veto session that could provide another shot at an 11th-hour rescue. But transportation officials say they'll have to start laying out the specific cuts next week if the funding doesn't come through by then. 'It's not a light switch we can just turn on or off," said Leanne Redden, executive director of the Regional Transportation Authority, which oversees planning and funding for the area's transit agencies. "Even if we find funding at a future point, it's a slow process to kind of unwind the unwinding.' So far, there have been no major breakthroughs on funding, although a compromise surfaced this week to create a new umbrella organization that, among other things, would ensure the various agencies work in unison rather than as competitors for the same customers. 'They should just be able to get on and go where they want to go, and that has not been happening with the governance that we've had up to now,' Gov. J.B. Pritzker said. Chicago's transit agencies argue they're more efficient than their peers in other states and get by with a smaller portion of state funding. Clark, the Harvey mayor, said he still envisions his community benefitting from the economic promise of a new transit facility rather than enduring disappointment once again. 'I guess some people want me to paint a picture that it's a nuclear Armageddon or something like that,' he said. 'I can't paint that picture because I have to remain ever hopeful that we will get what we need to get in due time. Government is a long game.'
