* Sadly, I couldn’t get the live stream working due to my own inability to remember how to get it started after my hiatus. That said, video of the speech is here, and I did my best to keep up with him using #CapFaxXMAS on Twitter.
* Using those resources, please discuss your thoughts on the speech. What was your greatest takeaway from it?
The Illinois Department of Corrections is making headway toward the goal of a 25 percent reduction in the state’s prison population by 2025, but continued partisan gridlock over the state budget could undermine that progress.
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner set that goal shortly after taking office nearly two years ago and established a commission to make recommendations for criminal justice reforms to keep people out of prisons. The state’s inmate population has dropped from 48,214 on Jan. 12, 2015, the day Rauner was inaugurated, to 43,807 last week, a 9.1 percent decline.
The reasons this is good news are plentiful, and they come from both the social and fiscal sides of things. Here’s the troubling part…
“It’s great that we’re down 9 percent,” said Jennifer Vollen-Katz, executive director of the John Howard Association, a Chicago-based prison watchdog. “We’re seeing numbers we have seen in well over a decade.”
However, Vollen-Katz added, the system is still overcrowded and “we shouldn’t rest on our laurels.”
Alan Mills, executive director of the Uptown People’s Law Center in Chicago, which has used a series of lawsuits over several decades to push for reforms within the Illinois prison system, agreed with that assessment.
“This system would still be overcrowded if we had 35,000 people in it,” Mills said.
So if there were AT LEAST 35,000, which is 8,807 fewer people than are in the system this month, there would still be overcrowding. And, as Dan points out, the budget constraints make lowering that number even harder. Then toss in the administration’s current relationship with AFSCME, which staffs the prisons, and it seems to present an uphill challenge.
Workers who see inmates every day play a critical role in keeping mentally ill inmates stable, said Dempsey.
“What we’re asking people to do is identify, not diagnose or treat mental illness. It’s about patterns” and documenting changes in an inmate’s behavior so issues can be addressed earlier, he said.
The state also is moving forward on its obligation to open four residential treatment units for seriously mentally ill inmates.
According to Baldwin, work was completed Thursday on renovating a former youth facility in Joliet that will provide 360 beds for mental health care when it opens early next year. Work also is finished on a mental health treatment area at the Logan Correctional Center in Lincoln, and bids have been accepted for a second unit there.
Bids are expected in early 2017 for units at the Dixon and Pontiac prisons.
Related…
* With a swipe of governor’s pen, man’s life changed for the better: Even though he wasn’t in any more trouble with the law, Hendricks felt like he was still under a microscope and eventually left Edwardsville in 2005 and moved to Chicago. When he arrived in Chicago, he enrolled in the Illinois Institute of Art and earned an associate’s degree and a bachelor’s degree in culinary arts. He has worked as a chef for more than a decade.
Each time he applied for a job, though, Hendricks said he was up front with his employers. He told them about the felony conviction, something that haunted him as he got older.
“Being a convicted felon is the ultimate black mark,” Hendricks said. “Telling them you been convicted for selling drugs, it’s an uphill battle. I’ve had to fight for everything that I’ve got.
We’re taking a big step next week. And we’re inviting you to please follow us.
We’re moving from a public affairs journalism organization primarily supported by seed investments and advertising to one supported mainly by your subscriptions.
We started Reboot Illinois four years ago with the help of some seed funding from prominent Chicagoans who were concerned, like we were, that citizens were not getting reliable and fair reporting, in-depth analysis, or a wide range of commentary and infographics about our local and state governments in Illinois.
Our mission has been and remains to inform, engage and activate Illinoisans about the governments we all own.
* “Changin’ is hard. The special interest groups that like the status quo. They’re entrenched. They don’t want a change. It’s taken longer than it should.”
* When asked if he plans to run for re-election: “You know, I’m not focused on politics or elections or races….We’ll think about that in the future.”
* On Trump cabinet: “I haven’t focused very much on the federal issues at all. They’ve got their challenges at the federal government. We’ve got our challenges in Illinois, and I’m very focused on Illinois.”
* “I have long-time said I believe the immigration policy in America is broken, and I have been a strong advocate for comprehensive immigration reform. And I’ve said it repeatedly, I hope the federal government can get its act together and get comprehensive immigration reform. I’m very pro-immigration, but again, I’m focused in Illinois…”
In a stunning admission, the chief executive of a troubled network of group homes told a judge Friday that he didn’t know the whereabouts of six of his residents with developmental disabilities.
It also wasn’t clear that any of the six had their medications with them when they left homes run by Disability Services of Illinois, which lost its license because of safety concerns.
An incredulous Cook County Circuit Judge Kathleen Pantle responded by scolding the operator of Disability Services and sharply questioning his attorney….
The judge encouraged the state to file missing persons reports with police, but Durkin said that couldn’t be done because the state wasn’t given the specific date when each resident was last seen.
At that point, Durkin questioned Goodwin about when each of the five residents had left and asked for the names and phone numbers of the family members they left with. Goodwin said he didn’t have any of those details and only knew that they left sometime after Nov. 28, the date Disability Services lost its license.
Missing person reports have been filed with local law enforcement agencies for the 5 remaining individuals. IDHS and the independent services coordination agencies have been working diligently to locate these individuals and their health and safety remains our top priority. We continue to urge Mr. Goodwin to cooperate fully with our staff, the independent service coordination agencies, and local law enforcement agencies so that we can continue their transition to safe and licensed homes.
*** UPDATE 2x *** - A spokesperson for DHS says the five residents are missing from multiple facilities.
Meredith Krantz, communications director for DHS, said the missing person reports were filed with the Chicago Police Department and the Village of Homewood Police Department. Reports were disbursed among those departments based on where the residents were living at the time they went missing.
Krantz said DHS and Disability Services are due back in Court at 11 a.m. tomorrow.
That’s good as far as it goes, but remember, the people they are surveying still went this year. If they’re worried about the drop in attendance, shouldn’t they be surveying the people who didn’t go?
The answers will be interesting, especially because fair people since forever have said weather more than just about anything else determines the success of the fair. Not much the state can do about that.
Enjoyed international village, but having to dry out the truck after a rainstorm put a damper on the weekend. 2 stars. /snark
Despite provisions of the Racing Act requiring a five day racing program at the Fair, officials were able to stage only four days of races in 2015. Plus, they admit that they overcharged entrants, by requiring a $300 nominating fee, which exceeded 2% of the purses as is required in the Horse Racing Act.
An Auditor General’s report released this week, says that the higher fees were charged in 16 of 36 races in 2014, and 27 of 30 races in 2015.
The report says Fair officials admitted they were forced to charge the higher fees in 2014, “due to the purses for Championship races greatly declining over the years due to less appropriations.”
*AFL-CIO President Michael Carrigan writes in the News-Gazette about parallels he sees between Gov. Rauner’s handling of the budget impasse and the AFSCME contract…
If that sounds familiar, it’s because Rauner’s similar hostage-taking tactics are the cause of the state’s long-running budget standoff. Throughout his term in office, he has refused to work with lawmakers to develop a state budget, instead demanding unrelated — and regularly shifting — changes to state law.
Legislators have rightly refused to knuckle under, but as far as Rauner is concerned, it’s his way or the highway. As a result, everyone from students to seniors is suffering.
Likewise, we all have a big stake in a fair resolution to the contract dispute involving state employees. The 360,000 men, women and children covered by the state health plan — including state and university employees, their dependents, and retirees — need and deserve insurance they can afford. The steep cuts to workers’ income that the governor seeks to impose — averaging $10,000 per employee over three years — would hurt families and communities.
But instead of working to find common ground, Rauner has vowed to force workers out on strike — and to “do it proudly”.
*** UPDATE 1 *** The Governor’s Office sent this in response to the editorial, which was penned by Dennis Murashko and appeared over the weekend in some Gatehouse papers…
What the union now describes as a “scorched-earth approach” is a contract that is nearly identical to contracts that have been agreed-to by 18 other unions, such as Teamsters, the Illinois Federation of Teachers, and Operating Engineers Local 150.
The “outrageous” demands that the union refuses to allow the state to implement include requiring employees to work 40 hours a week, instead of 37.5 hours, before being paid overtime. Moving to a 40-hour overtime requirement is consistent with the private sector, federal law and contracts entered into by other state employees outside of AFSCME.
Related…
* Jim Dey: Madigan still king, but his crown is tarnished…In other words, Drury is thinking it over. In Illinois even that halting explanation counts as a rare display of political courage. Because Der Speaker takes no prisoners, even the fact that a challenge is being discussed marks a major change from the past.
Though he might be leaving the Legislature, Moffitt has not entirely ruled out the possibility of running for local office. He said he would consider running for the Knox County Board within the next few years if a position opened and he felt he could “make a contribution.”
Board member TONY DelGIORNO, D-District 22, posted a copy of Sullivan’s prayer on Facebook, and he also wrote that it is routine for board members to give the invocation.
But, DelGiorno said, the prayer “was anything but usual in my opinion. As the grandson of Italian immigrants, a group that 100 years ago was discriminated against because of our Catholicism, I find religious elitism abhorrent to the 1st Amendment principle of religious freedom in a nation and a community that is made better by our friends of all faiths.”
Sullivan, in an interview later, said he was “merely stating some factual history.”
The department cited concerns about the condition of the buildings at Rend Lake Resort and Conference Center, including mold, peeling paint and other possible health and safety related issues. The resort operator notified IDNR of the plans to close the facility.
According to numbers provided to the newspaper, the number of traffic fatalities statewide has risen from 924 in 2014 to 998 in 2015 to 1,029 for this year through Friday.
While that number is up the past two years, it is still significantly lower than 15 years ago. In 2001, there were 1,414 fatalities, and in the 1970s, the number of fatal crashes each year was in the 2,000 range.
The year with the most fatalities on Illinois highways was 1941, when 2,600 people died, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation.
A one-time mentor to President Barack Obama, Jones explained that UIC received his donation because that university already has a vast collection of political papers. “Those papers are very, very important,” he offered. The papers bear tremendous social relevance because Jones’ first term in the legislature coincides with the rise of his former colleague, Harold Washington’s ascent to the mayor’s office in Chicago.
I had hoped to create middle ground based on social moderation and spending moderation, which is increasingly necessary for the future of the country.
I always sought to be a problem solver, thinking about not being with the extreme right and extreme left. And my model was always a 45-year-old married woman with children who lives in Arlington Heights in Illinois, which might be the geographic center of common sense.
* WATCHDOGS: More tax money for Chicago’s booming TV, movie studio
The investigation of IDOT’s Emergency Traffic Patrol Division by the executive inspector general’s office ran from 2012 to 2016. The probe concluded that several IDOT drivers made up reports about helping motorists to make it look like they were doing more work than they were, the inspector general’s report said. In other cases, the drivers recorded inaccurate information in reports about people they actually had assisted.
The $2.7 billion plan, which is not likely to see construction begin before 2020, also would add a lane in each direction between the key bottleneck span of I-290, between Mannheim Road and Austin Boulevard.
* As Bernie pointed out in his column last weekend, a number of Statehouse reporters are leaving the press room for new posts in other bureaus. Amanda Vinicky and Mike Riopell have left their respective bureau chief posts to accept assignments at other outlets in Chicago. Ed Cross is crossing over from the media side to be a government spokesman. Kelsey Gibbs and Ivan Moreno are leaving Illinois entirely, and Seth Perlman was forced into retirement after more than 30 years of filling rolls of film and memory cards for the AP.
Those departures (hopefully) mean a new crop of reporters are headed for the Capitol press room.
* QUESTION: What should these incoming writers and broadcasters know about covering the Illinois Capitol?
Related…
* Robservations: WLS drops Michael Savage….Salem Media news/talk WIND AM 560 has renewed Dan Proft as morning host in a multiyear extension announced this week.
“Well, I’ve commissioned artist Bill Chambers to do it. It will be different. It will be unveiled sometime next year. I’ve been posing on and off for the past two years.”
• Q: Will Quinn be wearing his lucky purple tie?
• A: “I think it would be safe to expect that,” he said.
After her husband was elected governor in 1969, Dorothy Ogilvie and her family found that the mansion, then over 100 years old, had not aged gracefully. The couple found the executive mansion in Springfield to be in serious, even dangerous, disrepair, with temporary braces in place to support the structure.
“It was anything but a showplace,” said Kathy Wonderlic Kolbe, who was special assistant to Ogilvie at the time. “Mrs. Ogilvie worked with the preservation team. … She was very encouraging of that preservation and very proud of the result.”
The family moved into rented quarters to make way for the restoration work.
“She was willing to forego the trappings of the wife of the governor,” said John McCarter, who was the budget director in the administration.
* I am the “old buddy” whose coming was foretold to you.
Rich is in transit to the City Club of Chicago for his annual “Christmas with Rich Miller” speech. We will have full coverage, including a live video feed thanks to our good friends at BlueRoomStream, later on.
* Many of you know the deal from previous experience. I work full-time, and blogging while on the clock is frowned upon. With that, a good portion of today’s content will be posted this morning. Anything that breaks, updates, and anything I ran out of time to finish before having to head downtown will be posted during the lunch hour.
With that in mind, please keep it civil in comments.
*repeats cliche line about banishment hammer of death*
