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Impact Of Grounding State Government Air Fleet

flickr/Simon Sees

Dozens of state employees and top Illinois officials will be affected by Gov. Bruce Rauner's decision to ground the state's airplanes in an effort to save $3 million in the coming fiscal year.
 
The Springfield bureau of Lee Enterprises newspapers (http://bit.ly/1dhiaIh ) found documents, which were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act
request, show Democratic members of the state House and Senate, Illinois Supreme Court justices and statewide elected officials use the planes. Other state
employees also regularly use a nine-passenger commuter aircraft to conduct
business in Chicago and Springfield.
 
But as of July 1, they will have to figure out another way to travel about 200
miles between the state's largest city and its capital.
 
Rauner announced Tuesday that he was grounding the planes, which he doesn't
use.

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