* Daily Herald…

Illinois, already 11 months behind in the race to come up with a budget for this year, has now been lapped by several U.S. states.

Eleven states have approved two state budgets in the time Illinois has failed to finish one, according to research from the National Conference of State Legislatures.

After Pennsylvania approved a stopgap plan in March that ended its monthslong stalemate, Illinois became the lone state without a budget for the fiscal year that began July 1.

Not all states adopt a yearly spending plan. Of those that do, 11, including Florida, Maryland, New York and Colorado, have a spending plan for the current fiscal year as well as the next.

* Related…

* Editorial: School funding system fundamentally unfair to many: Rauner has stated he’s in favor of education reform, although most of his actions thus far have been to maintain the status quo. In the best interests of the state’s students, Rauner and the Republicans should quit playing political games with Manar’s proposal and work to reform a system that is fundamentally unfair to many.

* Enemies Rauner, Madigan not at odds when it comes to business

* Chicago State University graduation rate drops to 11 percent: Chicago State has long argued that it’s unfair to judge it on the graduation rate of first-time, full-time freshmen since that national standard fails to include the many students who transfer into the institution later in their studies — or leave and graduate from other institutions. The university’s six-year graduation rate for transfer students was 49 percent in 2015. “The uniqueness of Chicago State University is that it primarily serves transfer students,” Land said. [Emphasis added.]

* List of Executive Mansion donors not being released yet

* Illinois budget impasse puts summer training for teachers in jeopardy

* Industry, lawmakers: Struggling Fairmount needs gaming expansion