Welcome to the Reader‘s morning briefing for Friday, December 30, 2016. Have a great New Year’s weekend!
Rahm considered a Chicago-only lottery to generate revenue
Mayor Rahm Emanuel considered launching a Chicago-exclusive lottery to help the city get out of its financial crisis, according to the recently released trove of his e-mails. Former Illinois Lottery director Michael Jones suggested the idea in a memo to senate president John Cullerton, who then forwarded it to Emanuel, who passed it on to deputy mayor Steve Koch and Chicago Public Schools chief Forrest Claypool. Jones believed that a lottery could generate $500 million or more in revenue for the city per year. A spokesman for the city told Crain’s Chicago Business that the mayor is also looking for “new ideas and creative solutions” to generate revenue but that “this particular idea is not being pursued at this time.” [Crain’s Chicago Business]
