Union endorses gross receipts tax plan

SPRINGFIELD – Just a day after Gov. Rod Blagojevich withdrew a controversial proposal to lay off 203 Department of Corrections workers, the union representing those workers endorsed his proposal for a $7.6 billion gross receipts tax.

Henry Bayer, executive director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31, said the timing of the endorsement was a coincidence.

AP Video

Also on this date

• More charges filed in prostitution ring case
• Advisory questions to be on '08 ballots
• Champaign council backs merchant shoveling
• Curtis Orchard owners say apple crop survived cold snap
• With recent thefts, police remind to watch belongings
• No one reported injured in rural house fire
• Employees say they'll wait, see on closings
• Rantoul residents worry about impact of closing
• Banana Republic to open this fall
• Enterprise zone project gets nod from Vermilion board
• Danville police cars may be fitted with new video equipment
• Obituaries