Statewide Update—Jan. 13, 2011

• Southtown Star—Will lawmakers pay for tax hike? No way. “Voting in favor of the state’s largest income tax increase won’t make outgoing state Rep. Mike Carberry popular on his Oak Lawn block. But the vote was needed, he and other Southland Democrats said Wednesday, to avoid state insolvency.”

• Bloomington Pantagraph—Central Illinois debates income tax increases, “It was a debate taking place across Central Illinois on Wednesday after the General Assembly worked into the early morning to send Gov. Pat Quinn a controversial tax increase bill.”

• (AP) State Journal-Register—Cook County medical examiner double-bunked bodies, “The head of the Cook County medical examiner’s office says it was forced to store bodies two to a cooler tray for a short time.”

• State Journal-Register—Quinn: Will ‘follow my conscience’ on death penalty abolition, “Gov. Pat Quinn won’t say whether he will sign legislation abolishing the death penalty, but even if he does, it won’t empty death row, as then-Gov. George Ryan did before he left office in 2003.”

• Peoria Journal Star—Trial starts in IDOT suit; former state workers say they were laid off because of politics, “The trial got under way Wednesday in the federal lawsuit filed by 16 former state workers who claim they were sacked seven years ago because they were Republicans.”

• Daily Herald—West Chicago, Warrenville chambers merge, “The two chambers merged, effective Jan. 1, into the Western DuPage Chamber of Commerce. The new chamber will serve more than 400 members in the two communities.”