While motor vehicle-related deaths are on the decline as the result of a successful decades-long public health-based injury prevention strategy, firearm deaths continue unabated—the direct result of the failure of policymakers to acknowledge and act on this ubiquitous and too often ignored public health problem.
Firearm-related fatalities exceeded motor vehicle fatalities in 21 states and the District of Columbia in 2014, the most recent year for which state-level data is available for both products from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That year, gun deaths (including gun suicide, homicide, and fatal unintentional shootings) outpaced motor vehicle deaths in Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, District of Columbia, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, and Washington (see table on next page for additional information). The number of states where gun deaths exceed motor vehicle deaths has increased from just 10 in 2009—the first year of data analyzed by the Violence Policy Center.
According to the study, Illinois recorded 1,075 vehicle-related deaths in 2014, compared to 1,179 gun-related deaths.
It should be remembered that Rauner wasn’t elected in a state that leans heavily Democratic because of a charming smile and a clever political strategy.
He was elected because of a simple truth: Illinois has become a state of disrepair. Just last week, another report came out showing people fleeing in droves.
This much should be clear: We can’t repair ourselves with the status quo.
I’m more than just willing to stipulate that the status quo is lousy. I would second that motion with gusto.
But I would apply that to both the pre-Rauner status quo and the Rauner status quo.
What this state did before Rauner was not good, to say the very least. Pat Quinn deserved to lose. But now, after a year of Rauner at the helm, we have a new status quo, and quite a lot of things have gotten worse.
I don’t want to go back a year, and I don’t want to remain in this crazy impasse, either.
But from the looks of things, we’re pretty deeply stuck in the quicksand of ego, power and ideology, which means neither status quo will be overcome.
The Supreme Court appeared ready Monday to bar public sector unions from collecting “fair share” fees from non-members, a move that could reduce union membership drastically and drain union coffers.
At oral argument Monday in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, four justices appeared skeptical of the court’s own holding in the 1977 Abood decision, which ruled the fees constitutional. Under current law, public employees covered by union contracts may opt out of paying any fees toward the political activity of their union. But states may pass laws that require those dissenting members to pay a fee to cover their portion of collective bargaining costs. Such provisions, on the books in about two dozen states, are being challenged in the case by Rebecca Friedrichs and eight other California teachers. […]
The conservative swing vote in Friedrichs, somewhat surprisingly, is Justice Antonin Scalia, who has supported fair share fees in past decisions. But in Monday’s oral arguments he seemed sympathetic to the plaintiffs. “The problem is that it is not the same as [in] the private sector,” he said, adding that the issue “may require a rule change.” […]
The central question of the case is whether collective bargaining is an inherently political activity. The Friedrichs teachers say it is, and argue that it’s a violation of their First Amendment rights to make them pay for it. At Monday’s arguments, Scalia appeared to agree with this premise. “Everything that is collectively bargained with the government is within the political sphere,” he said.
Democrat Brad Schneider (IL-10) launched his first campaign television ad of 2016, highlighting his commitment to confronting gun violence. The ad comes out as President Obama unveils executive actions on curbing gun violence.
The 30 second ad features Schneider’s personal connection with gun violence and highlights that his very first speech in Congress called for action on background checks for gun purchases.
After winning election in 2012, Schneider’s very first speech on the House Floor called for action on confronting gun violence. That speech can be viewed HERE.
During his entire time in Congress, Schneider was a tireless advocate and leading voice for gun safety measures, voting to increase funding for the National Instant Criminal Background Check System by $19.5 million, while also cosponsoring the Gun Trafficking Prevention Act and the Public Safety and Second Amendment Rights Protection Act of 2013.
For his votes to prevent gun violence, Schneider earned an ‘F’ rating with the NRA.
Schneider’s primary opponent Nancy Rotering has been making the gun issue a top priority in her campaign.
Laurence Msall, president of the Civic Federation of Chicago, said Rauner deserves credit for refocusing everyone’s attention on the state’s budget crisis, even if a permanent state budget hasn’t been enacted.
“I think the governor has really taken the Illinois Legislature and the state Capitol building to a point of complete recognition that the budget and the financial crisis facing the state is the highest priority,” Msall said. “Everything that happens in the Capitol is now impacted or tied to the state budget for better or worse.” […]
“He came forward with his budget proposal on time without asking for an extension. He deserves credit for that,” Msall said. “The problem was, after he introduced his budget, they spent four months trying to put back the (previous) budget. That left them about four weeks to spend on the 2016 budget.”
Um, if the budget was the state’s “highest priority” it would’ve been done by now.
But, he’s right that everything is now tied to the budget, including eliminating the prevailing wage and most local collective bargaining rights, workers’ comp reform, etc.
And the time they had to deal with FY 16 had nothing whatsoever to do with it. It’s January and there’s been no concrete progress.
“I don’t think it’s fair to say that after the first quarter of a four-quarter ball game, we’re going to condemn the team or say it’s great,” Yepsen said. “It’s a new administration. There’s a lot of gears to grind. He’s new to the political community.”
Agreed, but what we’ve seen so far this month is a renewal of hostilities. There’s been no discernible readjustment.
With the first half of FY 2016 completed, a few observations regarding revenues can be offered. The performance of the large economic related sources is mixed. While the largest source, persona l income tax, has performed somewhat stronger than expected over the first six months, the same cannot be said for corporate income tax and sales tax which have failed to meet even modest expectations.
Personal income tax receipts are down 15.7 percent so far this fiscal year compared to last fiscal year, which is a bit better than expected. Corporate income taxes have plunged 33.3 percent, however, and sales tax receipts are down 1.9 percent.
It was another disastrous month for the Chicago PMI. Economists expected a bounce back from last month’s unexpected dip into negative territory. Instead the numbers reflect what’s best described as a two-month crash.
The Econoday Consensus Estimate was a guess of 50 in a range of 48 to 53. The actual reading of 42.9 was far below any economist’s estimate. […]
Service Economy Headed for a Slowdown?
The Chicago PMI is a bit different because it contains a mix of both manufacturing and service companies. That makes matters worse given economists generally consider the service economy to be in good shape.
Though the state has entered its seven month without a budget, one Republican lawmaker tells me the impasse between GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner and the Democratic-led legislature could stretch into NEXT January. Barrington Hills Rep. David McSweeney says he’s heard predictions the state could go without a budget until after the November election.
“It’s absolutely disgusting where we stand right now,” McSweeney says. The legislature begins its spring session on Wednesday.
Unless there’s some miracle, nothing’s gonna happen this January. If the final deal involves raising lots of taxes, then it’ll be tough finding votes until after the November election. So, January of next year is not outside the realm of possibilities.
However, if they do a Fiscal Year 2015-type budget deal (lots of sweeps and other one-time things, plus some cuts with no Turnaround Agenda items), then something could happen sooner.
A proposal to recall Mayor Rahm Emanuel will move onto its next phase, State Rep. LaShawn Ford said.
Ford met with House Speaker Mike Madigan Friday to discuss the proposal ahead of a Town Hall with contistuents and other lawmakers this weekend.
While the bill has been filed and sent to the Rules Committee, Ford says he’s in the process of “counting heads” to see how many would support the recall legislation. He needs 71 votes for it to pass the House and currently he has eight cosponsors.
Madigan has not yet said whether he supports the bill or would even call it. He told Ford, “You have your work cut out for you,” Ford said.
The cash-strapped city of Chicago paid $74.7 million in fees last year to banks, law firms and other businesses that helped it borrow money — a record tab that will rise as more fees get tallied and one that comes as the city pays higher costs to dig itself out of its deep financial hole.
Altogether, City Hall borrowed $4.6 billion through the municipal bond market in 2015, with firms that worked on those deals netting $28.3 million in fees, a Chicago Sun-Times examination of city records found. On top of that, City Hall paid $46.4 million in other borrowing-related fees through the first three quarters of the year; fees for the fourth quarter have yet to be disclosed.
Most of the firms that help the city with borrowing and other financial transactions have long done business at City Hall. Some also have been political supporters of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, whose plan to fix the city’s finances relies in part on ending costly and risky financial deals from the past.
But, to do that, the city keeps borrowing. And many of the fees associated with borrowing have gone up, a consequence of the city’s credit rating dropping to “junk” status in May. The downgrade also is resulting in the city paying higher interest rates on long-term borrowing deals — costs that can add up over decades.
It’s a trend Chicago taxpayers might have to get used to: Emanuel is planning another $4.15 billion in bond sales in 2016, starting with a $500 million deal this month, according to documents he’s shared with aldermen.
The most controversial element is $335 million in scoop-and-toss borrowing over the next three years. The proceeds would be used to pay off loans coming due with money coming in from the new loans, a technique that pushes debt onto future generations at higher cost. […]
The city also plans to borrow $700 million to convert $500 million in variable-rate water system debt to fixed-rate debt and pay a $200 million fee to terminate a related “swap contract” that provided a hedge to the original variable rate debt.
That $200 million “swap contract” debacle could’ve paid for a whole lot of stuff. Just sayin…
* Chicago’s Orange Line goes back and forth: Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration last summer sold $1.1 billion worth of bonds, with much of that money being used to rid City Hall of [Mayor Daley’s[ Orange Line deal and others that Emanuel aides say have become a financial drag… It’s not the only Daley deal the city moved to end early using proceeds from the July bond sale. City Hall also used $2.4 million to buy back the city’s 911 computer and radio system from investors. Bond proceeds also were used to pay $35 million in debt from Daley’s acquisition of the Michael Reese hospital site, which he hoped to use to house athletes for the 2016 Olympics; $62 million to settle a dispute with investors in four downtown parking garages the city privatized in 2006; $18.5 million to settle a dispute involving the parking-meter privatization deal of 2009; and $195 million to terminate interest-rate swap agreements on earlier borrowing.
Gov. BRUCE RAUNER’s family foundation gave $100,000 in 2014 to Turning Point USA, a Lemont-based not-for-profit that identifies itself as a conservative activist organization.
“For too long the left has outperformed the right in grassroots organization,” states a 2014 year-in-review group newsletter. “TPUSA is here to change that.
“Our mission is to identify, register, educate, empower, organize, and mobilize student activists that believe in free markets and limited government,” it adds, saying it will organize an “army of activists.” […]
“Throughout the spring semester TPUSA will bring its Big Government Sucks campaign to over 1,000 college campuses nationwide,” the newsletter says. […]
In the 2014 newsletter, it notes that Rauner keynoted an event for the group, and it features a picture of Rauner and Kirk raising clasped hands, and a quote from Rauner that says, in part, “One of the greatest patriots and one of the greatest advocates for limited government and great conservative principles in the entire United States is Charlie Kirk. I think the world of this young man. He’s a superstar. I personally will do everything I can to help him expand his reach throughout the United States because his vision of America is the right vision for America.”
As of today, Pat Quinn has doled out nearly $500 million in the last four weeks. In the last two days alone, he doled out $36 million.
* One of those grants was to SIU for lighting campus pedestrian pathways near the quad. Quinn announced the grant in late September, just days after his office did this…
[Kevin Bame, vice chancellor for administration and finance at SIU] said the grant came about from Quinn after his office asked school officials in September 2014 to submit to him a request for a capital project, specifically one that dealt with campus safety. SIU chose this project, as the plan to install LED lights should brighten up those interior parts of campus, Bame said.
So, essentially, Quinn begged the university to help him make a campaign point by finding a suitable project. No wonder a Democratic state legislator introduced a bill to stop that sort of thing.
The grant, by the way, has since been frozen by the Rauner administration.
“‘If you have a problem with the union, call me,’” Durbin recalled saying to the governor. “ ‘I’ll sit down at the table with you. And if they’re being obstructionist, I’ll say it publicly. I’ll back you up.’”
“He says, ‘You don’t get it,’” Durbin said. “‘This is not about negotiating with them. They just have to go away.’”
Lance Trover, spokesman for Rauner, responded later that Durbin “has a history of exaggeration and today takes it to a whole new level. The governor never said that.”
“The timing of Senator Durbin’s comments are peculiar given that he never spoke out while his party ran Illinois into the ground the last 10 years. While we thank the former majority whip for his thoughts, its seems a little ridiculous taking budgeting advice from elected officials like him in Washington, who have not passed a balanced federal budget in years.”
Durbin also said during the interview that others have also told him Rauner made similar comments about unions going away.
“He’s said it to legislators, ’cause I’ve recounted this conversation,” Durbin said. “They said, ‘Oh, he said the same thing to us.’ So this is not a new statement. He’s pretty unequivocal.”
More and more school districts around Illinois are finding it harder to fill teaching positions and find qualified candidates for the teaching positions they are able to fill, according to a newly released survey from Illinois’ regional superintendents of schools.
The Teacher Shortage Survey, developed by the Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools (IARSS) and conducted at the beginning of the 2015-2016 school year, found:
* 60 percent of Illinois school districts responding report trouble filling teaching positions
* 75 percent of those districts are seeing fewer qualified candidates than in past years, with the numbers much higher in rural districts and in central and northwest Illinois
* 16 percent of schools have had to cancel programs or classes because of teacher shortages with particular problems in special education, reading/English/language arts, and math and science
Jeff Vose, the Regional Superintendent of Schools for Regional Office of Education No. 51 covering Sangamon and Menard counties and president of IARSS, said the survey results help give education officials statewide a better sense of the problem they knew was developing but couldn’t quite substantiate.
“With this survey, we now have some solid data and more detailed information. We hope this will jump start the conversation,” Vose said. “We want to work with local school districts, the Illinois State Board of Education, the Governor’s office and legislators to address this growing crisis.”
The regional superintendents surveyed all three types of school districts – elementary districts, high school districts and unit districts (which contain both elementary and secondary schools). The data showed that staffing shortages are particularly problematic for secondary schools with 80 percent of high school districts and 87 percent of unit school districts noticing fewer quality candidates applying for positions.
In an analysis of the survey, the report identified a combination of factors contributing to the teacher shortage, including: educators leaving Illinois, educators leaving the profession, fewer students enrolling in teacher training programs, out-of-state educators unwilling to relocate to Illinois and out-of-state educators who would be willing to relocate but are unable to meet the state’s licensure mandates without substantial delays and meeting additional requirements.
The survey analysis also highlighted five areas of critical concern:
· Simplify and expedite processes for applicants;
· Expand reciprocity that more closely matches other states’ requirements when comparable to Illinois;
· Enhance Illinois recruitment of in-state and out-of-state candidates;
· Modify regulations to support educators as professionals; and
· Explore possible alternative routes to licensure and/or obtaining endorsements not currently available.
The Teacher Shortage Survey was developed by (IARSS) and conducted between August 25 and Sept. 2, 2015. The survey results were submitted to Goshen Education Consulting, Inc. for the survey analysis. The survey was completed by 62 percent of the school districts in the state, or 538 districts. The survey had a margin of error of +/- 3.5 percent and a confidence level of 99 percent.
* From Rolling Stone Magazine’s interview of Rev. Gregory Seal Livingston, who is organizing protests against Mayor Rahm Emanuel…
How specifically does your organization hope to impart the changes you wish to see?
Firstly, we’re looking at applying economic pressure on January 15th. We want to affect trading at the exchanges that Friday. We want to see if we can throw them off. We believe those are the people Rahm listens to, and they won’t want us down there disrupting the trading.
This is, essentially, politics by other means. As with the Michigan Ave. marches, the idea is exactly how Livingston explained it: Push Emanuel’s pals to complain to the big guy.
Fueled by the CTU’s $48.5 million sale of a Gold Coast apartment building in 2014, the Chicago Teachers Union Foundation Inc. has handed out millions of dollars in grants.
The foundation only had assets of about $80,000 and gave just $12,000 in scholarships a couple of years ago, before receiving a huge infusion of money from the apartment building.
In 2014, the CTU’s foundation doled out about $1 million in grants, according to its federal tax returns. And the foundation increased that giving to nearly $2 million last year, labor leaders say.
Some of those contributions went to purely charitable or educational groups, including the DuSable Museum and Mercy Home for Boys and Girls. Records show hundreds of thousands of dollars from the foundation also went to groups that are highly active in the pitched policy debates between Emanuel and the CTU, which is calling for Emanuel’s resignation.
Kenwood-Oakland Community Organization.
Brighton Park Neighborhood Council.
Albany Park Neighborhood Council, now known as Communities United for Quality Education.
Logan Square Neighborhood Association.
Pilsen Alliance.
Enlace Chicago.
Raise Your Hand Illinois.
Crossroads Fund.
Blocks Together.
Gov. Bruce Rauner made some news the other day when he went on Dan Proft’s WIND-AM/560 radio show and whacked Mayor Rahm Emanuel but good.
“It’s so unfortunate the way the mayor is failing the people of Chicago and he’s looking to blame other people for it,” Rauner told Proft. The mayor has done “virtually nothing” to reform the city’s government and its schools, he added.
Rauner wasn’t totally wrong on either point.
As a buddy of mine says, Emanuel is a better mayor than Richard M. Daley was, but he’s not nearly good enough. Daley set the bar very low and Emanuel is just barely clearing it, which is frustrating to anyone who thought he would do a much better job.
Yes, police shootings are down under Emanuel, but nobody could ever say that the policy changes have been anywhere near adequate.
Yes, some crime rates are down, but shootings are up.
And, yes, Emanuel’s finally doing something that Daley always ran away from by raising property taxes. But Emanuel let the finances of the city and the schools fester for more than four long years before tackling the problem.
The school funding issue is what set off the governor. Emanuel’s budget for Chicago Public Schools has a gigantic hole in it, and he expects the state to patch it for him. When Rauner said, yet again, that he wouldn’t provide any assistance unless Emanuel helped him pass his turnaround agenda, the mayor lashed out. The city’s school kids are “not a pawn in a political game in Springfield to get an agenda done that people don’t agree with,” Emanuel fumed.
OK, but if you expect help from Rauner, then you must play ball with him. If you don’t, then you can’t put all the blame on him when you’re laying off thousands of teachers.
It might be impolitic for a governor to so heavily criticize a mayor, but it’s important to remember that this isn’t new for Rauner. As a private-equity investor, he wasn’t reluctant to use tough talk when people didn’t meet his expectations.
Remember that 2014 campaign story about how Rauner allegedly threatened to “bury” a female executive who was considering suing him? “She will never get another job anywhere, ever. I will bankrupt her with legal fees,” he allegedly said.
“He has taught us how to deal with him,” explained one top official in Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration when asked why the governor has once again cranked up his public criticism of Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.
You may already know that the governor blasted both Madigan and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel during an appearance on Dan Proft’s WIND-AM/560 Chicago radio program last week.
After accusing Emanuel of being “afraid” to take on Madigan, Rauner said the reason for this was self evident: “The speaker has been the most powerful politician in the state of Illinois for decades. It’s the main reason we’re in such big trouble as a state.”
Rauner went on to essentially blame Illinois’ “long-term, slow death spiral” on Madigan and said the majority party “likes the status quo,” claiming the house speaker is “not sensitive” to the real-world problems of the middle class. “He’s got a great system, he controls it. And right now, they’re unwilling to change. And without change, we’ll never get a true balanced budget.”
So, what the heck happened here? The governor seemed to mute his criticisms of Madigan in the closing weeks of 2015, even mostly holding his fire when Madigan skipped the last leaders’ meeting just before the holidays.
New year, new attitude, apparently.
The governor has reportedly come to the conclusion that Madigan is not now and may never be willing to negotiate in good faith. Rauner’s basically tired of negotiating against himself—pulling ideas off the table and never seeing any corresponding movement from the other side.
And he’s not completely wrong, either—at least about the negotiating part.
Madigan’s fellow Democrat, Senate President John Cullerton, has been trying to find a way to give the Republican Rauner some victories on things like workers’ compensation reform and local government costs. There was, for instance, reportedly more progress on workers’ comp during that non-Madigan leaders’ meeting last month.
And Cullerton is reportedly eyeing a recommended compromise from the Illinois Municipal League on binding arbitration for local governments. The idea would allow arbitrators to take into account a government’s fiscal condition when deciding a case. They can’t do that now, so even if their compromise is a ruling forcing the existing status quo on the two sides, that might still be far too costly for a government that has found itself in a fiscal hole.
But Madigan is said to want no part of even this smallish proposal.
Madigan has raised truly gigantic amounts of money from labor unions in the past few months. Those unions are allowed to give the same amount again after the March 15 primary, and Madigan will need all the cash he can stockpile for the fall campaign.
So, angering the unions before Madigan’s position is secure appears unlikely.
OK, so why did the governor throw his longtime friend Emanuel under the bus last week?
The mayor had apparently indicated to Rauner that he would act as a go-between in the governmental impasse and try to convince Madigan to find a way to compromise.
The governor has complained for months that Emanuel is privately saying one thing to him and publicly saying another. And now the governor is convinced that Emanuel has taken sides. The mayor is “hiding behind the speaker,” the governor told Proft.
And then he piled on Emanuel, calling the mayor’s public comments about opposing a federal investigation into the city’s legal department “incredibly disappointing.”
“How tone deaf can you be?” Rauner asked rhetorically about a mayor already under intense fire for not doing enough to reform the police department and then turning a blind eye after a federal judge rebuked five lawyers in that office in the past year for withholding evidence in two police misconduct cases, according to the Chicago Tribune.
In other words, he’s attempting to punish the mayor for siding with Madigan and punishing Madigan for not cooperating.
Will it work? Doubtful, but it’ll help him feel better, for sure, and lock down his base’s support. The governor isn’t exactly a popular guy in the city, and Emanuel has effectively pivoted back on Rauner in public, blaming him for the impasse and accusing him of using the city’s public school students as pawns in an unwinnable game.
As for Madigan, his people firmly believe that Rauner has lost the match and has yet to realize it. So, expect them to wait Rauner out, at least for now.
* The takeaway for me here is that Mayor Rahm Emanuel wants to remind Gov. Bruce Rauner that he also has wealthy friends who will side with him in any war. Greg Hinz quotes some folks talking smack about Rauner’s inability to get a budget deal on background, but then turns to Ty Fahner…
But a few will speak for the record. One of those is Tyrone Fahner, a rock-ribbed Republican who once served as Illinois attorney general and now heads the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club, which represents the state’s biggest corporations.
“Not having a budget is harmful to the interests of the state,” says Fahner, echoing almost verbatim recent comments by Madigan. “What the state needs now is for the speaker and the governor to sit down and govern.”
But what about all of the changes in things like workers’ compensation and collective bargaining that Rauner is demanding as the price of a budget deal?
“He has a long term—three more years—to push (the rest of) his agenda,” Fahner says. “But things would be better if we had a budget.”
Fahner has reportedly been saying the same thing in private for a while now, but nobody has been able to convince him to come forward.
Rauner, who pretty much paid for his own election campaign, may not care about the carping, says one insider wise in the ways of gubernatorial politics. “When a guy doesn’t give a damn about where he’s going to get his financial support, he can do what he wants,” that source says. Hedge-fund mogul and fellow master of the universe Ken Griffin “could walk into the room and tell Bruce he’s worried, and Rauner would throw him out. . . .He doesn’t give a [expletive deleted] about what anyone else thinks.”
A state labor panel said last week that it will hold a hearing later this month on a complaint from the Chicago Teachers Union alleging Chicago Public Schools has failed to make good on salary increases mandated in a contract that expired June 30.
A ruling against the cash-strapped school district could force CPS to pay union members about $26 million in back pay, CPS said in papers filed with the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board.
The labor board said it will also hear the CTU’s allegation that the district has refused to enter into a final stage of contract talks known as fact-finding, which is required before a strike can take place. The CTU said the district’s stance violated state law and constituted an unfair labor practice.
