So @amandashires made a record and the best way I can describe it is she went to musical outer space Abe brought back a diamond from an asteroid. It has a 1000% out of 10 stars and it's glued to my turntable and brain. What a record. Holy moly. LISTENhttps://t.co/ClCO4MK9nf
Gov Rauner has signed into law a bill that resulted from the outbreaks of Legionnaires' disease at the Quincy veterans' home. The new law requires veterans' homes to notify residents and families of an outbreak within 24 hours of it being diagnosed
It’s just kind of ridiculous that we even need this law.
* Press release…
A new Illinois state law sponsored by State Senator Tom Cullerton (D-Villa Park) will protect veterans at state homes from epidemics like the deadly Legionnaires’ disease outbreak at the Illinois Veterans Home at Quincy.
Cullerton’s legislation, which was signed into law on Friday requires Illinois veterans homes to notify facility residents and their emergency contacts within 24 hours if two or more residents in the home have been diagnosed with an infectious disease in a period of one month or less.
“This new law will put the health of our veterans ahead of government bureaucracy,” Cullerton said. “When your loved one is in harm’s way, you have a right to know. Now that right is the law.”
House Bill 4278 was pushed in response to Rauner’s mismanagement of the Legionnaires’ disease outbreaks at the Quincy Veterans Home. Despite signs of the spread of bacteria reaching epidemic proportions, the state did not notify the public about the deadly 2015 outbreak until nearly a week later.
“In 2015, the families of the servicemen and women residing in the Illinois Veterans Home at Quincy should have been notified of the Legionnaires’ disease epidemic, but Gov. Rauner’s administration left them and their loved ones in the dark,” Cullerton said. “This is simply unacceptable and we can’t let it happen again.”
The new law also requires veterans homes to post notification of the incidence of the infectious disease in a visible place near the facility’s main entrance. Once those requirements have been met, they must notify the Departments of Veterans’ Affairs and Public Health.
In Quincy, a workplace safety reprimand was issued by the state Department of Labor, which said the Department of Veterans Affairs failed to effectively notify all employees of the outbreak.
“Our veterans have put their lives on the line for us and it’s our duty to protect theirs in their golden years,” Cullerton said. “If the governor’s administration is refusing to use commonsense, the General Assembly will put protocols in place to ensure our nation’s heroes receive the best possible care and service we can offer.”
House Bill 4278 was supported by the Better Government Association, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and Illinois AMVETS. It goes into effect immediately.
After nearly a year-long process, the City and the Illinois Attorney General today produced a draft consent decree aimed at guiding reform of the Chicago Police Department for years to come. This is an important step in the long process of reform; but it is a draft that will need to be supplemented before presented to the court.
Today, the organizations who have sued to bring about reform, including the ACLU, have started to examine the draft to see whether it is designed to meet the needs of Chicago residents. There is no simple and quick fix, and this document deserves our careful attention.
Incredibly, this draft still does not require officers to record when they point a weapon at someone. The City of Chicago just settled a case for $2.5 million where police held a gun to the chest of a 3-year-old child. Given the absence of this provision, we need to examine this draft very closely.
The movement toward reform of CPD did not culminate today—but it has moved one step forward. We must all review and respond comprehensively to the draft to ensure a revised decree will successfully bring about the reform we have been waiting for.
*** UPDATE *** It appears that AG Madigan isn’t giving up on the drawn gun issue…
@LisaMadigan: As you are aware, we have one outstanding issue (of whether officers will have to report every time they point a gun). We are continuing to negotiate on that issue. We will litigate if necessary, but we hope to avoid that. #cpdconsentdecree
Lisa Madigan: "If someone has a gun pointed at them, you have a situation where somebody has been seized. We need to know when and why that is happening."
Attorney General Lisa Madigan, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson today released a draft consent decree for the Chicago Police Department (CPD) that will require enforceable police reform. The draft consent decree is the result of months of negotiations by Madigan’s office, the City of Chicago and CPD, and engagement with Chicago communities, organizations and police officers.
Under the draft consent decree, Madigan is seeking sustainable reforms of CPD’s policies, practices, training and accountability mechanisms to address use of force, discriminatory policing, improve public safety and build trust between CPD and Chicago’s residents. The draft consent decree will ultimately be a court order enforced by a federal judge. The judge will be assisted by an independent monitor, who will continually evaluate CPD’s progress to implement reforms required by the consent decree until the City and CPD achieve full and effective compliance.
As part of the process of drafting the consent decree, Madigan engaged members of the community and law enforcement for their feedback and input on police reform. Madigan’s office held 14 community roundtables across the city and reviewed feedback from residents through paper and online feedback forms. Madigan’s office also held 13 focus groups with CPD officers of all ranks. In conjunction with the release of the draft consent decree, Madigan also released reports that summarize and include all the comments received from Chicago residents and police officers during this engagement process.
For decades, efforts to reform CD have failed, resulting in a profound lack of trust between the police and the communities they serve,” Madigan said. “The consent decree will mandate reforms to ensure constitutional policing and, ultimately, make Chicago safer for residents and police officers.”
“Reform and public safety go hand-in-hand, and today Chicago is taking an important next step, but not our final step, on the road to reform and the journey to a safer, stronger Chicago,” said Mayor Emanuel. “This agreement will help ensure Chicago police officers have the training, resources and support they need to do their difficult jobs and help rebuild the bonds of trust, respect and understanding between officers and the communities they serve.”
“This consent decree represents our future - with an emphasis on 21st century training, stronger community partnerships, enhanced supervisory leadership, as well as emotional support and resources for police officers so they can effectively safeguard and strengthen our city,” said Superintendent Eddie Johnson. “Once finalized, CPD will work aggressively to implement the reforms embedded in the document, which will fundamentally enhance the Department. We look forward to working in the weeks ahead to select the independent monitor who will oversee this agreement.”
The draft consent decree is the result of the lawsuit Madigan filed in August 2017 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against the City of Chicago seeking numerous reforms outlined by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in its investigation of CPD. Madigan filed her lawsuit to obtain a consent decree for CPD after DOJ did not pursue a consent decree in Chicago, despite its own recommendation to do so.
The draft consent decree is based on DOJ’s findings that revealed a pattern of civil rights violations, including the unconstitutional use of deadly and excessive force by officers, caused by systemic deficiencies within CPD, that include inadequate training on appropriate tactics, lack of supervision; a failure to adequately investigate officer misconduct and discipline officers; and inadequate wellness and counseling programs to support officers. The draft also took into account recommendations from the Police Accountability Task Force report.
* Sen. Kwame Raoul…
It is great to see Attorney General Lisa Madigan stepping up where Jeff Sessions stepped back. It reminds us how important it is to have a proactive attorney general who is ready and willing to defend civil rights when the federal government neglects or attacks them.
As a state senator, I’ve had the opportunity to pass meaningful law enforcement reform, including standards for body cameras, a ban on chokeholds, and training in the appropriate use of force. Through the creation of the Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission, I’ve also helped bring about justice for those whose lives were devastated by past police abuse.
Chicago has a painful legacy to confront and an urgent need to reform, and this must be done openly and with the full involvement of the communities being policed for the consent decree to be successful.
I look forward to reviewing this draft and listening to the public’s contributions over the next few weeks.
…Adding… Lori Lightfoot…
“I would like to thank Attorney General Lisa Madigan for stepping in where the federal government would not and negotiating a draft consent decree with Chicago. This document will serve as a roadmap to creating a culture of accountability within the Chicago Police Department and building trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve.
“At first glance, there are some clear issues in the draft consent decree. I will be releasing a detailed response once I have had an opportunity to examine more thoroughly how the document reflects recommendations made by the Police Accountability Task Force and the Department of Justice. As the final consent decree will redefine local policing for the foreseeable future, I encourage every Chicagoan to join me in providing feedback and being involved in this critical process.”
…Adding… Erika Harold
I applaud the Parties’ efforts to bring much needed reform to the Chicago Police Department and, as Illinois Attorney General, will vigorously pursue compliance with the final consent decree entered by the Judge. I look forward to reviewing the draft decree and hearing public comment over the coming weeks. While the entry of a consent decree will not be a panacea, it will offer a constructive way forward in reforming CPD, protecting Chicagoans’ safety, enhancing community policing efforts, equipping police officers with the tools necessary to meet their responsibilities, and upholding Constitutional rights and civil liberties.
…Adding… Positive press release from the MacArthur Justice Center…
MacArthur Justice Center’s Sheila Bedi, lead counsel for Campbell v. City of Chicago, the community-driven class action seeking federal court oversight of the Chicago Police Department’s (CPD) operations, issued the following statement following the public release of the City of Chicago and Illinois Attorney General’s consent decree.
CPD Consent Decree Includes Unprecedented Community Accountability and Enforcement Rights
A meaningful consent decree must be developed by those most impacted by police brutality and violence and must ensure real community-based oversight and enforcement. The robust enforcement rights secured for the community coalition behind the Campbell v. City of Chicago lawsuit have been fully and formally adopted into the proposal released by the City of Chicago and Illinois Attorney General. This community coalition has an unprecedented right to monitor and enforce this decree – including the power to seek contempt sanctions against the City and CPD if they fail to comply. But the consent decree cannot be judged merely on the enforcement rights won by the community. The Campbell Plaintiffs released series of demands in May—and those demands must be the measure of whether this proposed consent will truly reduce the harm caused by the racism and violence that permeates the CPD.
* Before I moved to a downtown Chicago high-rise several years ago, I just assumed window washers stood on platforms that operated on tracks moving them up and down the buildings.
So, imagine my surprise one day when I heard a “thump” on my apartment’s living room window and rushed to the room to see a window-washer literally dangling from a thick rope while he squeegeed my windows. The thump I heard was his shoes hitting the window as he was lowered to my floor. I stood there and watched in awe as he “jumped” from window to window, high above the street below. I’d never seen anything like it.
I remember thinking how crazy brave that guy had to be. I mean, it’s not like Chicago isn’t known for windy days near the lake or anything. I also figured he and his co-workers made a good living. Wrong again. From earlier this month…
The window washers who dangle from Chicago’s glassy high-rises traded in their squeegees for picket signs Monday as they went on strike to demand higher wages and better benefits. […]
“It’s a dangerous job,” said Efren Salas, 27, who carried a bullhorn as he and other window washers marched near Trump Tower chanting for a new contract. “You put your life on the ropes every day.” […]
The union is asking for starting wages to increase from a range of $12 to $20.50 per hour now to a range of $16 to $25.
It also is seeking increased life insurance coverage, to $100,000 from $50,000, and a better deal on health insurance.
* I have the utmost respect for people who can do things that I could not or would not ever do. And being a Chicago window washer is most definitely right up there on both of those lists. So, congratulations on the new contract…
After nearly a month on strike, the window washers who dangle from Chicago’s downtown high-rises have ratified a new contract that includes the 27 percent wage hike they had been seeking.
The agreement raises the base hourly wage to $26 over the life of the five-year contract, and doubles their life insurance to $100,000 from $50,000, Service Employees International Union Local 1 said Friday.
* The Question: What are some jobs you would never do, regardless of the money? Explain.
McCann’s spokesman told the Daily Line that the candidate wasn’t able to meet the president. People I talked with who were at the event said they didn’t seem him inside the venue. He didn’t tweet anything, either.
* From a Republican operative yesterday…
Sam McCann tried to get into the Trump event today and they wouldn’t let him in.
You have to be on a special list to get into a presidential event. You’d think he would know that.
I reached out to McCann’s spokesman last night and still haven’t heard back. So, I figured this post might smoke him out.
Rep. Peter Roskam on Thursday tried to paint political newcomer Sean Casten as a liberal President Donald Trump of sorts — accusing the Democratic challenger of being a bully with words and tweets.
The Republican incumbent has been accused of voting in lockstep with the Trump Administration, but on Thursday, Roskam tried to turn the tables.
“What you’ve heard in a litany of descriptions of what I’ve brought out about my opponent and how he characterizes people, how he ridicules people, how he demeans people — I think is really Trump-like,” Roskam said.
This was no off the cuff remark. It was a planned hit. Roskam’s people had a handout explaining the allegation, according to Tina Sfondeles’ story.
In the debate streamed live online and to be televised on Fox-Ch. 32, Casten characterized the Republican federal tax overhaul Roskam helped usher through Congress as too focused on helping wealthy people. Roskam said the tax cuts will help usher economic growth.
On abortion, Roskam said he’s “not going to be defensive about being pro-life” and criticized Casten for favoring expanding the availability of taxpayer-funded abortions. Casten said abortion should be a choice between a woman and her doctor, not “Peter and anyone else in Washington.”
“I view abortion as a medical procedure like a gall bladder surgery,” Casten said. “I don’t want anybody to have to have one. I can’t imagine the pain that someone would go through to do that.”
“Abortion is not gall bladder surgery,” Roskam later replied.
Much of the health care discussion Thursday centered on a bill Roskam supports to expand access to health savings accounts. The measure passed the House Wednesday.
Roskam said the addition of pretax health savings accounts will help counter one of the main problems of the health care law: high premiums and deductibles.
Casten said the savings accounts will do little good for those who need help paying for coverage the most.
“HSAs are wonderful if you have the disposable income to set aside,” Casten said. “They’re not helpful for folks who don’t have that income.”
Roskam characterized Trump’s work in office as “middling.”
“Good on the economy, jumbling on other issues, but when it comes time to standing up against the administration on things, I’ve been consistent on doing that, reflecting the interests of our constituency,” Roskam said.
To Casten, Trump is putting the country in danger.
“I think President Trump is the worst president of our generation,” Casten said. “Every day he is in the office is a risk to our country and to the global order that we fought to create after World War II. The problem, though, is not Trump. The problem is a Congress that is not fulfilling its obligation to act as a check and balance on the president.”
A burning hot center of the debate was Trump’s controversial $1.5 trillion tax cut plan that Congress sped into law in December.
The topic offered a moment for Casten to use Roskam’s voting record –
94.4 percent in line with Trump, according to election predictor Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight blog – as a referendum on his opponent’s time in office.
The Illinois Education Association (IEA) today encourages the Illinois General Assembly to consider SB 3622, a bill introduced by State Sen Dale Fowler (R-Harrisburg) that will revert the end-of-career retirement benefit for educators in the Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS) and State Universities System (SURS) from three percent back to six percent.
“Governor Rauner and the Illinois General Assembly did a disservice to our educators by capping end-of-career benefits at three percent,” said IEA President Kathi Griffin. “Passing SB 3622 is one step to address the issue. We encourage lawmakers to stand with Senator Fowler in support of our teachers’ and our students’ futures.”
The TRS and SURS shift to three percent was hidden on page 741 of the BIMP bill (HB 4332) and passed along with the budget back in May sparking immediate outcry from teachers across the state. Because educators can qualify for retirement benefits after five years of employment, the three percent cap encourages school districts to limit all educator salary increases to three percent. The cap limits financial compensation and deters teachers from furthering their education and taking on additional coaching or tutoring roles. All of this makes the teaching profession a less desirable career choice and ultimately lowers the quality of education our students receive.
“Many parts of Illinois are in the midst of a teacher shortage crisis – and I believe lowering the cap will only make that worse,” said State Sen. Dale Fowler (R-Harrisburg). “This is why I’m sponsoring this legislation.”
Additionally, the three percent threshold shifts the state’s financial responsibility onto already cash-strapped school districts, limiting their ability to fund the educational needs of their students without considering other revenue options, like raising local property taxes, to alleviate the new financial burden.
The IEA remains committed to repealing the three percent threshold. To date, we have collected more than 11,250 signatures from IEA members and community supporters on our petition demanding the Illinois General Assembly rescind the three percent.
So, you’ve got two Republican legislators running for reelection sponsoring an IEA bill to shift some pension costs back to the state in direct opposition to the GOP governor, who has been pushing this concept since 2015.
But, hey, you gotta do what you gotta do and Rauner has shown very little interest in contributing much if any money to the Senate Republicans.
* The horse racing industry, which benefits lots of Illinois farmers, has been a mess for a lot of years. Maybe this will help. I don’t know. But I cannot understand the logic of allowing video gaming at just about every truck stop in the state while the tracks are cut out…
Citing desperate times, the Illinois Racing Board moved ahead Thursday with plans to introduce a form of video gambling at horse racing tracks.
The board agreed to develop a set of rules to govern “historical horse racing” at the racetracks — despite questions about whether the latest proposed expansion of gambling in Illinois could be introduced without approval by state lawmakers.
Although the state had steadily introduced more forms of legal gambling over the years — from casinos to the lottery to the relatively recent proliferation of video gambling parlors — horse racing tracks have long argued they’ve been left out as they’ve watched their own revenues and purses decline.
“The Illinois horse racing industry is in a desperate economic condition,” board member Tom McCauley said. “It is not hyperbolic to say that its viability is in doubt.”
Racetracks have long sought state permission to operate slot machine in hopes of bringing in more bettors. Critics say the racing board’s move on Thursday is tantamount to allowing slot machines without legislative approval. They say historic horse racing or HHR — where players bet on a randomly chosen past race without knowing the names of the horses involved — is essentially a game of chance akin to slot machines.
Donald Trump got 12 percent of the vote in Chicago. Bruce Rauner got 21 percent (which might be more than he’ll get this time).
I’m not seeing an easy path here.
* Other stuff…
* Horner Park Mayoral Candidate Forum Kicks Off 2019 Mayoral Race: LaRaviere was far from the only candidate who leveled populist criticism at Emanuel, particularly at his penchant for siphoning money and resources from neighborhoods and social programs and handing them over to corporations looking to move to the Loop or another rapidly gentrifying neighborhood. “There doesn’t seem to be a sense of urgency in this administration that we need to be better stewards of our tax dollars,” said former Police Board President Lori Lightfoot. Businessman and former 2015 mayoral candidate Willie Wilson said that tax dollars should “represent neighborhoods” and be a reflection of those communities, not just downtown. Public policy consultant Amara Enyia, who was also a brief contender in the 2015 mayoral race before being pushed out thanks to a petition challenge by Wilson also hit the mayor with a tale of two Chicago’s comparison.
* Should Lightfoot’s GOP work be an issue in mayor’s race?: Lightfoot made her own charge in the interview, saying that if Emanuel supporters are so worried about cozying up with Republicans, the mayor ought to return a $50,000 campaign contribution he got from Trump in 2010 and not take large contributions from another prominent Republican, Citadel’s Ken Griffin. Still, “he has the audacity to challenge my beliefs.”
President Donald Trump on Thursday used a taxpayer-funded trip to Illinois to openly advocate for electing Republicans to Congress — blurring the line between official and political events in the heat of the midterm campaign season.
“You’ve got to vote Republican, folks, you’ve got to vote Republican,” Trump said during the speech at the Hot Strip Mill in Granite City, Ill. — a steel plant that had recently reopened. “Vote for these two congressmen, they know what we’re doing. They know what they’re doing. They’re tough and they’re smart.”
Trump didn’t name the lawmakers, but three Illinois Republicans accompanied him during his tour of the steel plant, according to the White House: Reps. Mike Bost, Rodney Davis and John Shimkus. Bost represents the district Trump traveled to on Thursday and has been one of the most fervent Republican supporters of the president’s tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.
Trump headed to deep red southern part of Illinois, where he celebrated the reopening of a steel mill in Republican Rep. Mike Bost’s district.
Trump won Madison County bigly, but the region has several elected Democrats. It used to be mostly Democratic, but now it’s a swing area. Hardly “deep red.”
President Donald Trump and U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis had plenty of praise for one another Thursday as the president visited an southwestern Illinois steel mill where laid-off workers recently went back to work.
Trump acknowledged Davis, a Taylorville Republican, and U.S. Reps. Mike Bost and John Shimkus during his speech to several hundred employees and supporters at the mill in Granite City, with the president calling the trio “very special people.”
“They fight for you, those three people fight for you all the time,” Trump told the crowd. “In fact, they fight so much that I sometimes say ‘I don’t want to take their call today.’” […]
Davis had nothing but positive things to say about Trump when talking about the event, praising Trump as a “very friendly, very jovial (and) affable person” willing to meet with lawmakers to discuss issues affecting their constituents.
Davis, R-Taylorville, talked about the impacts of the foreign steel tariffs before the event.
“When you look around this room and this building today, just a few months ago this plant was shuttered and the folks that are sitting around us excited because they have a job because this decision to really focus on the steel industry, it’s for them this matters most,” Davis said. “Because just a few years ago when the Obama administration was asked to help when they see a country like China try to decimate our domestic steel industry, they didn’t help. This administration did and these families are back to work, that’s what matters the most.”
The steel plant is in the congressional district of Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Bost of Murphysboro, who arrived with Trump on Air Force One. He’s facing Democratic challenger Brendan Kelly, the St. Clair County state’s attorney.
Large groups of supporters and protesters of President Donald Trump met just down the street from one another in Granite City as the presidential motorcade swept in for a speech on trade at U.S. Steel’s Granite City Works plant.
More than 1,000 people lined 19th Street, waving flags and signs, while an anti-Trump rally in Civic Park attracted about 400, and two inflated Trump chickens.
And although only a block separated them, the two groups appeared to live in separate worlds.
At the park, the inflatable chickens were initially waiting for the arrival of a generator to inflate them, then the larger chicken — at more than 30-feet high — had to be moved. Organizers said the second chicken represented U.S. Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, who attended Trump’s speech.
Before Trump even arrived in the St. Louis-area, the United Steelworkers Union showed its support for Bost’s Democratic opponent in November.
“Mike Bost betrayed our nation when he voted for the Fast Track Authority. This not only hurts Steelworkers — it has devastated Southern Illinois,” said Steelworkers District 7 Director Mike Millsap. “U.S.W. members are proud to stand with our brother, Brendan Kelly, who will put the workforce of Southern Illinois first.”
Gov. Bruce Rauner toured an Itasca manufacturer to talk term limits and taxes Thursday but was dogged with questions about President Donald Trump.
Both Republicans were on the campaign trail — Trump in downstate Granite City and Rauner with appearances across Illinois. […]
Pritzker in a statement slammed Rauner for staying silent on Trump policies “that have and will continue to hurt Illinoisans.”
Rauner did not take reporters’ questions on why he didn’t accompany Trump or a question on potential patronage at the Illinois tollway, where GOP House Leader Jim Durkin’s sister-in-law, a former furniture sales executive, was hired as an engineering manager.
Governor Bruce Rauner had a full schedule Thursday, but one event he did not attend was President Donald Trump’s visit to Granite City.
Trump’s Granite City appearance is his first visit to Illinois as president.
“It’s curious, isn’t it, that a president of his own party is here in Illinois, but Donald Trump and Bruce Rauner are not together,” said Democratic candidate for Governor JB Pritzker.
Pritzker has used Rauner’s silence on Trump as an on-going campaign issue, accusing Rauner of attempting to play to both sides.
The station also had footage of Rauner avoiding questions, following him up a staircase, down a hall and out a door.
Bruce Rauner came to Peoria for a bill signing Thursday outside the Peoria Riverfront Museum, but the elephant on the plaza whose name the governor didn’t mention was Donald Trump.
The president had just finished speaking in Granite City some 165 miles away when Rauner took the microphone with OSF HealthCare’s future headquarters behind him — putting physical, political and metaphorical distance between the two chief executives. […]
It wasn’t a topic Rauner was eager to discuss, though it was one about which he faced questions throughout the day, from being chased out the door by a television reporter in suburban Itasca to taking three questions in 45 seconds from Peoria reporters on the subject. […]
His staff originally labeled his Peoria appearance “no additional media availability” — press jargon for not taking any questions — but indicated Thursday morning that he would accept “on-topic” questions, related to the subject of his appearance.
He did so, devoting two minutes and 45 seconds of the three minutes and 30 seconds of press questions to the historic tax credit measure he signed. The remainder of the time was spent fending off questions about why he didn’t attend the president’s speech.
The man has been president for a year and a half. You’d think the governor would have an answer by now.
While President Trump visits Illinois for the first time as president, the state’s governor Bruce Rauner decides not to join him. Instead Rauner spent his day in the Stateline, paying a visit to Midwest Aero Support in Machesney Park.
Erika Harold, the Republican candidate for attorney general, is backing an oft-proposed but never-enacted concept of allowing the state’s top legal officer to call for statewide grand juries to prosecute crimes. […]
“I also would be calling upon the General Assembly to give additional investigative tools to the office to be able to be more proactive,” Harold said. “Like the ability to issue subpoenas and convene statewide grand juries. People deserve an attorney general that will be independent, reform-minded and will hold both parties accountable.”
The idea of statewide grand juries to prosecute multi-county crimes, led by the attorney general, has been floated by candidates for the office for decades. Currently, the attorney general must refer prosecutions to local state’s attorneys.
But the concept has failed to gain much support as politicians fear that granting prosecutorial powers could lead to an attorney general using it to go after political enemies.
* Harold has been on a statewide “listening tour” this month and has received a ton of positive local press. WGEM TV…
She said one of her big issues that she’s campaigning on is the opioid epidemic.
“In 2016 alone nearly two thousand Illinoisans died as a result of opioid related overdoes,” said Harold, “I’m trying to figure out how can Illinois better use it’s scare resources and leverage it’s expertise in terms of being able to get ahead of that.”
Harold, a former Miss America winner, also commented on the potential removal of the swimsuit aspect of the Miss America competition and said regardless of the changes, she hopes the contest remains focused on the scholarship programs and benefits for young women.
Harold also commented on wanting to continue her work against bullying and cyberbullying, issues she spoke about during her time as Miss America.
Adams County State’s Attorney Gary Farha was among more than two dozen people who gathered to visit with the fellow Republican.
“I met Erika several months ago when she was in Quincy,” Farha said. “I think she’s got great poise, and her views are in sync with our community. Even more than the governor’s position, I think the attorney general position is something that’s very vital for Western Illinois.”
Farha said having Harold as the top lawyer in the state would provide a realistic check and balance on the political system.
Harold said that during her campaign swings, she looks for “innovative programs that should be replicated” across the state. In Quincy, she liked some of the efforts to combat truancy in the public schools and efforts to help the homeless — such as the tiny-home effort for homeless veterans.
“I think people are engaged in the fact that for the first time in 16 years, Illinois will have a new attorney general,” Harold said. “This seemed like a great opportunity to go to the communities and say, ‘This is what the attorney general can do.’”
Illinois State Senator Jason Barickman representing the 53rd district said voters need to choose which candidate can ‘paint a picture of where our state can go.’
“The people of the state they want some optimism and they want too I believe elect a leader who can move our state forward,” said Barickman speaking with WJBC’s Scott Laughlin. “There is a cloud hanging over our state. There is a cloud hanging over our community. You talk to people and people’s first inclination is to go negative [and] to talk about things that go wrong and the things that are broken. I think that the public is despite for a voice of optimism that can paint a picture of their vision of where the state can go.”
Despite having a state credit rating saddling junk, Barickman still believes Gov. Bruce Rauner has the right vision to grow Illinois.
“I’ve encouraged the Governor to focus on his vision for our state, which I do think is a good one,” said Barickman. “He believes that we need to turn our economy around not through tax increases but through reforms. I think that is a good vision. He needs to walk the public from that vision to how we get there. I think the public will reward that type of leadership that might be demonstrated at the top of the ticket. It’s up to the candidates to do so.”
Reporter 1: So, why are you here today and not in Granite City?
Rauner aide: We’re just keeping it on-topic…
Rauner: Well, I’m here because this is a very significant piece of legislation that passed at the end of the General Assembly. And this was scheduled long time ago. Uh, and today, [laughs] my day is very full. I was in Chicago and Itasca and Rockford, and I’m heading back to Springfield tonight.
Reporter 2: You didn’t think it was important to support the president in Granite City today at all?
Rauner: Well, what’s important is that we support economic growth for the entire state of Illinois. And that’s what this legislation does. We need to bring down tax burden in our communities and grow more jobs and that’s what we’re here to do right now.
* So, I asked the Pritzker campaign where the candidate stands on ICE…
Donald Trump’s administration is using ICE to separate families and communities are being forced to live in fear. This policy is contrary to what America stands for. We need real change and to do away with practices that separate families and demonize immigrants. We need to reform the culture in ICE so they’re focused on violent criminals, drug traffickers, and terrorists, not families seeking refuge.
Here in Illinois, Bruce Rauner needs to stand up to Trump and sign SB 35 and enforce and strengthen the Trust Act. Not only do we need comprehensive immigration reform, but we also need a governor who is willing to stand up to Donald Trump.
SB35 is the “Immigration Safe Zones Act.” Click here for a summary. Make sure to read the amendments, which narrowed it. The bill has been on Gov. Rauner’s desk for almost a month.
The National Sleep Foundation recommends an average of eight hours of sleep per night for adults, but sleep scientist Matthew Walker says that too many people are falling short of the mark.
“Human beings are the only species that deliberately deprive themselves of sleep for no apparent gain,” Walker says. “Many people walk through their lives in an underslept state, not realizing it.”
Walker is the director of the Center for Human Sleep Science at the University of California, Berkeley. He points out that lack of sleep — defined as six hours or fewer — can have serious consequences. Sleep deficiency is associated with problems in concentration, memory and the immune system, and may even shorten life span.
“Every disease that is killing us in developed nations has causal and significant links to a lack of sleep,” he says. “So that classic maxim that you may [have] heard that you can sleep when you’re dead, it’s actually mortally unwise advice from a very serious standpoint.”
* The Question: On average, how many hours do you sleep per night during a typical week?
Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration and Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan are close to unveiling a proposed court agreement intended to govern reforms in the Chicago Police Department, attorneys said Friday in federal court.
The lone sticking point, attorneys said, remains whether the department must document incidents in which an officer points a gun at a person.
That is indeed a big sticking point for the cops. But just last month, the Chicago City Council approved a $2.5 million settlement of an excessive force lawsuit filed by the family of a 3-year-old girl after an officer pointed a gun at her chest while striking her handcuffed mother.
CBS 2’s Derrick Blakley reports in New Orleans, a consent decree implemented five years ago had a dramatic effect on brutality complaints. An oversight report last year said, “The monitoring team did not locate any litigation for the past two years, alleging excessive use of force.”
A study of 23 departments under consent decrees, including New Orleans, found lawsuits dropped dramatically – from 23 to 36% each year, in each city.
* The Chicago FOP says that the resulting data on officers pulling their guns could be used to taint cops who are just doing their jobs. But…
[Chicago Inspector General Joe Ferguson] said police officers shouldn’t oppose the clause, since if they are behaving properly and following department protocols when they pull their guns, the data wouldn’t be held against them.
But the Chicago Police Department and the Fraternal Order of Police oppose the measure. One retired sargent said he believes the policy would just complicate officers’ jobs further.
“We already have a report, every time a police officer has an encounter with somebody, they have to fill out a report, it’s like 70 boxes,” said retired CPD Sargent Peter Koconis. “When you add something else to this mix, you’re taking a good active police officer and you’re putting him down for 20-30 minutes, just filling out paper work for absolutely nothing.”
Ferguson said he doesn’t buy the argument that reporting every instance when an officer draws a weapon would be overly burdensome. He argued that there are “very, very easy technologically-based fixes” for reporting those incidents.
“It is not a significant added burden. And the fact of the matter is, it is far too important to leave on the cutting room floor in terms of what we are monitoring and tracking with respect to use of force,” he said.
The inspector general argued that pointing a gun — “separate from it being an officer” — is a “use of force that under the law constitutes an aggravated assault” because it involves the use of “potentially deadly force.”
That’s why it’s become a “pretty standard provision that those incidents be reported, tracked, analyzed and accounted for,” both in “the context of consent decrees and reforms outside of consent decrees,” Ferguson said.
“Beyond that — and I speak about this both from a professional context and a personal context because I’ve been on the receiving end of a gun being pointed at me in my past, it is a fundamentally perspective-changing event to occur,” Ferguson said. “To think that it has little to do with how the community perceives the police would be blinking reality. So, it’s a really important thing to fold into how it is that we monitor the use of force.”
A robber pulled a gun on Ferguson when he was young, and then the cops pulled their guns on him when they responded.
The Trump administration rightly dismissed the methodology and findings of this DOJ investigation and declined to impose a consent decree.
Despite this, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Mayor Rahm Emanuel broke new legal ground to create their own consent decree. We believe this action is not legal, not moral, politically motivated and is one of the most disturbing examples of how political careers in Chicago are built by attacking the police.
Because so much of Chicago’s media is also deeply allied to the various factions of the anti-police movement, little real debate or discussion of the merits or consequences of this bizarre and dangerous consent decree have taken shape in the City.
Photos from 35th St. viaduct next to Guaranteed Rate Field the night of White Sox Legislative Caucus two weeks ago! Holds up lots of train tracks!!! Right next to the ball park.
Brent Johnson, the president and owner of Midwest Aero Support wrote in a Facebook post that he was notified on Wednesday that Rauner would visit his company.
“I feel honored he selected MAS [Midwest Aero Support] for this occasion. What is even more humbling is that President Trump will be in Illinois the same time tomorrow in a different city,” Johnson wrote. “The governor declined the president’s invitation to join him in Granite City to visit MAS instead. How we were selected is a mystery, but I feel it is an opportunity / experience of a lifetime.”
Rauner’s campaign spokesman Will Allison said both campaign events “had been in the works for weeks.” Allison said the events were planned on Jan. 26. He said there was talk of visiting a different company in Rockford, however.
“If someone is trying to imply that we had nothing on our schedule at then Trump shows up, and we added events, that’s not true,” Allison said. “Both have been in the works for awhile.”
Schuh said the Johnson post appears to be a businessman boasting about the governors’ visit.
Also, the governor’s office denied to Tina that Rauner had declined a formal invitation to President Trump’s event and told her that they’d reached out to the White House and the president’s people knew he couldn’t make it.
*** UPDATE *** Mary Ann Ahern gave the governor what-for today when he refused to take reporters’ questions…
READI is the Rapid Employment and Development Initiative, a radical new experiment from Heartland Alliance, an anti-poverty organization, that could change how Chicago communities treat violence.
Hand-picked by a unique violence-predicting algorithm as well as referrals from outreach workers and partners in the criminal justice system, READI participants are among the most likely to be shot or shoot someone in the city.
For 18 months, these extremely high-risk Chicagoans are given transitional jobs, cognitive behavioral therapy and legal and social services to help them pave a different future. Afterwards, they also receive an additional six months of coaching to help them find full-time work.
Conceived by researchers at the University of Chicago and based on the latest violence prevention research, READI has a four-year budget of $48.7 million funded by 11 groups including the MacArthur and Polk Brothers foundations.
The program is operating in four of the neighborhoods hardest hit by gun violence in the city: Austin, West Garfield Park, North Lawndale and Greater Englewood. Since its rollout in September of last year, more than 160 men have started working. Heartland expects to connect 500 men to jobs by spring of next year.
* OK, this is not something you see every day. Reps. Dave McSweeney and Greg Harris filing a bill together. Press release…
State Representative David McSweeney (R-Cary) today introduced bipartisan legislation to protect patients who depend on medical supplies and equipment from the Rauner Administration’s massive reorganization of the Illinois Medicaid program. Assistant Majority Leader Greg Harris (D-Chicago) is co-sponsoring the legislation (HB 5930).
“The decision to ram through a multi-billion dollar reorganization of our state’s Medicaid system was done with little forethought and shows no signs of saving taxpayers a dime,” Representative McSweeney said. “MCOs are slashing rates to providers, potentially driving them out of business. This will lead to lost jobs and increased costs to the state in the future. Our bill also prohibits sole source contracts. Requiring competition will help save taxpayers money.”
“This legislation will ensure low-income individuals are guaranteed a minimum quality standard for medical supplies and equipment, while protecting small Illinois businesses from multi-billion dollar insurers seeking to maximize their own profits,” said Representative Harris. “It’s time we take action to protect Illinois’ healthcare infrastructure.”
HB 5930 will:
• Require the Department of Healthcare and Family Services to create minimum quality standards for medical supplies and equipment
• Set a floor on provider reimbursements, to ensure we don’t drive these critical small businesses out of the market
• Prohibit Managed Care Organizations from signing sole-source contracts with providers of medical supplies and equipment
• Save taxpayers money by:
o protecting a competitive medical supply and equipment marketplace
o ensuring that patients have access to high-quality products, reducing the need for more expensive interventions like hospitalizations.
McSweeney’s legislation comes on the heels of several stories from Illinois and throughout the country showing certain managed care companies taking advantage of lax oversight by slashing reimbursement rates to providers, thus resulting in poor patients losing access to vital medical equipment like breathing machines and incontinence supplies.
Recently, the Dallas Morning News wrote several disturbing stories outlining how one Managed Care Organization, mismanaged Texas’s program for Texas Foster Children. Illinois selected the same company, Centene, to manage the healthcare of the children under the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services’ care. The stories exposed how without oversight, MCOs saved money by denying necessary equipment and care, even for some of the state’s most vulnerable children.
“I look forward to working with members of both parties to pass this bill during veto session and begin the process of ensuring that our Medicaid program works for taxpayers and patients alike,” McSweeney added.
WBEZ aired a story on the legislation this week. Click here.
* Other stuff…
* ADDED: State program can help assure secure retirement for thousands: While many state legislatures are examining this type of program, Illinois is just the second state to implement one, and as with any major change or new idea, there are skeptics. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has called Secure Choice “the wrong answer” because its leadership believes state-sponsored plans “are a poor substitute for employer-provided plans” in part because employees “are significantly limited in how much they are allowed to contribute.” This criticism completely misses the point. Whether or not Secure Choice would be better than an employer’s retirement plan is irrelevant to the thousands of small businesses, solo entrepreneurs and employees in Illinois who don’t have access to any retirement plan. Secure Choice cannot discourage employers to end a benefit they do not offer, nor will it dissuade companies from offering a benefit they cannot afford.
* Rauner Vetoes Bill On ‘Jailhouse Snitches’: The bill would have regulated the testimony of so-called jailhouse snitches. In cases involving murder, sexual assault, or arson, defense attorneys would have gotten advance notice, and judges could block the informant’s testimony. John Hanlon, with the Illinois Innocence Project at the University of Illinois Springfield, says when Illinois had a death penalty, false informant testimony was the leading cause of wrongful convictions.
* New Law Allows Kids To Unlock Potential: Thanks to an acceleration law championed by Senator Kimberly Lightford and Representative Camille Lilly, thousands of advanced learners from across Illinois will now have a new opportunity to take courses that meet their intellectual needs. The upcoming school year will be the first year the state’s new acceleration law goes into effect; requiring all school districts to allow advanced learners to enter school early, enroll in above grade level courses, or skip grades if they are deemed eligible for acceleration. This means that the 4-year-old who knows how to read can now enter kindergarten; that the sixth grader who understands Algebra can now sit in on an eighth-grade class; and, that the high school junior who has already earned all the credits they need to graduate can now graduate early.
* Why is it so good? I didn’t get to this topic yesterday, but we talked a bit about the Senate Transportation Committee’s hearing about the Tollway before it happened. The hearing was called after Marni Pyke wrote a series of stories for the Daily Herald. From her committee coverage…
Amid a call for resignations, Illinois tollway executives fielded questions from state senators about potential nepotism and politically connected PR subcontracts Wednesday at a special hearing.
“You need to fight against conflicts of interest,” former tollway director and former Democratic Sen. Bill Morris of Grayslake testified. “You need to not have these conflicts of interest.”
And to Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, who appoints the tollway board, Morris said: “This tollway board needs to be asked to resign.”
But tollway officials said they’d “set the record straight.
“What was demonstrated is that the safeguards and mechanisms enacted to ensure transparency and protection against potential conflicts of interest work,” Executive Director Liz Gorman said.
In response to questions about why the Tollway would need a multimillion-dollar public relations contract when it already has an 11-member internal communications team that costs about $1.6 million a year, Tollway officials said additional communications work is needed to reach out to hundreds of homeowners who will be affected by the planned expansion of I-294.
The most critical and colorful statements at the hearing came not from current state senators but from former Democratic state Sen. Bill Morris, a former Tollway board member. Morris has frequently expressed criticism of the current board, appointed by Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner. Morris said Tuesday that board members were not doing their jobs in properly reviewing contracts and should resign.
“There’s never a ‘no’ vote on the Tollway board anymore,” Morris said.
Morris also recommended that the state end the $30,000 annual salaries for Tollway board members and replace them with a limited $150 per diem for attendance at each meeting, and require all board members, administrators and senior executives to regularly disclose to the public any contacts with firms seeking contracts with the Tollway.
Former Democratic state Sen. Bill Morris is also a former Tollway board member. He told the committee that board members weren’t properly reviewing contracts and should resign. Morris is a frequent critic of the current board, appointed by Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner. […]
Morris said the state should require all board members, administrators and senior executives to regularly disclose to the public any contacts with firms seeking contracts with the Tollway.
But even as the Republican governor moved to distance himself from the nonpartisan mayoral challenger — to whom Rauner has given $200,000 in the last year alone — a common political link surfaced. Rauner and Wilson both employ the same man to help with black voter outreach efforts, according to their campaigns and expenditure reports filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections. […]
Rauner and Wilson have described themselves as friends. And both the Rauner and Wilson campaigns are paying the same man for outreach efforts. It’s not uncommon for consultants to be paid to work for several campaigns. Chauncey Colquitt is working outreach for both campaigns.
Citizens for Rauner paid Colquitt $12,000 in two payments for consulting in late June, with the campaign also paying Colquitt’s The Crescent Group $30,000 for legal services, expenditure reports show. Wilson’s campaign also paid The Crescent Group $9,500 in two payments in late June. Colquitt is the listed agent for the group […]
The Rauner campaign did not elaborate on Colquitt’s role, only saying Colquitt is “not the outreach director for Wilson’s campaign.”
Wilson campaign manager Scott Winslow said Colquitt is a paid consultant focusing on “African-American messaging, what’s going to resonate with different populations.”
* But, wait, there’s more! Colquitt also worked for then-Rep. Ken Dunkin in 2016 (click here). Dunkin, of course, was/is a Rauner ally who lost his 2016 Democratic primary to Juliana Stratton and then failed in a comeback bid last March.
Colquitt’s other job (separate from the campaign) is to help secure guests for WVON talk show host Maze Jackson. Rauner appeared on Jackson’s show June 19 declaring he has done more for the black community than any governor before him. The comment raised eyebrows but it isn’t inaccurate—Rauner has established programs to make sure blacks get a share of state business.
Two days after that radio appearance, Rauner paid $30,000 to Colquitt’s Crescent Group business and $12,000 to him directly, according to campaign expenditure reports. I’m told those payments are for work done since Colquitt was hired in May.
Connecting the dots on Maze Jackson: He supported Ken Dunkin, the controversial lawmaker appointed to the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District. Jackson and Dunkin got to know each other when Jackson was a statehouse lobbyist and later when he was executive director of the Black Caucus Foundation. Jackson’s wife is Kari Steele, also a Water Reclamation District commissioner. Jackson’s good friend is Vince Bass, the director of public engagement and civic affairs for the governor’s office. Before that, Bass worked for former state comptroller Leslie Munger. She’s now the deputy governor. Jackson also owns a marketing company called The Intelligence Group, which was paid $91,000 by Munger for campaign work.
Colquitt is present while Maze narrates. Later, Jackson takes the microphone and says, “We’ve got an election in November. Who came to see you? Hey, gov, you want to say a couple of words real quick?” Maze then expresses disappointment that no state legislators showed up.
Rauner, wearing his biker vest, touts his expansion of child care, among other things.
“Remember the people who came to see you and took your vote importantly,” Jackson says when Rauner finishes speaking.
* The advisory is silent on media questions at the governor’s campaign event tomorrow, which starts at 12:30 in the afternoon…
MEDIA ADVISORY: Governor Rauner to Visit Machesney Park Business Tomorrow
Tomorrow, Governor Rauner will visit Midwest Aero Support Inc. in Machesney Park, Illinois. He will tour the facility and speak with employees. […]
Governor Rauner will tour the facility and speak with employees
* No press questions will be allowed at the governor’s Peoria event, according to his official public schedule…
Daily Public Schedule: Thursday, July 26, 2018
What: Gov. Rauner takes action on Senate Bill 3527 regarding the River’s Edge Tax Credit
Where: Peoria Riverfront Museum Plaza, 222 SW Washington St., Peoria
Date: Thursday, July 26, 2018
Time: 3:30 p.m.
Note: No additional media availability
* And there’s good reason why he won’t take questions in Peoria…
President Trump's Granite City campaign rally starts at 2:05 p.m. on Thursday. Gov. Rauner will be in Peoria, more than two hours away, instead signing a tax credit bill. He said Monday that he had no plans to meet with the president. #twill
“It seems to me the governor is avoiding spending any time with the president,” Pritzker said. “On the one hand, he stands with the president in so many ways and is silent in the face of so many of the president’s policies that are bad for Illinois.” […]
In the meantime, while Trump is in Granite City, Rauner will be visiting other areas of the state. Rauner said Tuesday that he was just in Granite City to act on legislation and was not planning to return right away.
“He’s obviously avoiding (Trump),” Pritzker said. “This governor seems to want to play both sides of the issue.”
* Some Illinois Republican officials will be in Granite City, however…
U.S. Reps. who will join Trump: Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro; Rodney Davis, R-Taylorville; and John Shimkus, R-Collinsville.
* And DPI’s new executive director will also be there, but I seriously doubt he’ll be on stage with the president…
DPI Executive Director to Join Local Protests Against Trump’s Proposed Health Care Cuts
Granite City, Ill. — Tomorrow, Democratic Party of Illinois Executive Director Christian Mitchell will join local protests against Donald Trump’s first visit to Illinois as president. Mitchell will highlight Trump’s attacks on healthcare and attempts to undermine Illinois working families.
State Rep. Jerry Costello II, D-Smithton, and state Rep. Monica Bristow, D-Godfrey, are applauding the steel tariffs put in place by Republican President Donald Trump ahead of his visit to the Granite City Works steel mill on Thursday.
“I am glad to see the reactivation of two blast furnaces at the Granite City mill,” Costello said in a news release. “Our region is witnessing the positive results of our country’s new tariffs on steel. As a result, middle-class families, local businesses and others are seeing the real effects of investment in our capable workforce and community. We need to continue to push policies on both the state and national level that will continue to foster the creation of good-paying jobs.”
Bristow commended the President’s efforts to bring back steel jobs in the metro-east.
“One of my main priorities in Springfield has been fighting for local jobs and to restore those that we have seen outsourced overseas,” Bristow said. “I am encouraged and excited to see the reactivation of two blast furnaces in Granite City, restoring local jobs to our communities and providing jobs for middle class families.”
…Adding… Snark from Team Pritzker…
While Donald Trump makes his first visit to Illinois as president today, Bruce Rauner is playing hooky, stating : “I, uh, I do not plan to go. I was just in Granite City just in the past week.”
Really? He really can’t visit Granite City twice in a week’s time? Everyone knows Rauner is a staunch Trump supporter — whether he’s a silent partner or cheerleader — so what’s the real reason Rauner won’t appear with Trump?
“Bruce Rauner is ditching his partner in crime on his first presidential visit to Illinois, and he’s pretending it’s a scheduling conflict,” said Pritzker campaign spokesman Jason Rubin. “It’s time for this failed governor to level with the voters about the real reason he won’t appear with Donald Trump.”
…Adding… John Shaw, Director of the Paul Simon Institute, on WSIL TV…
“Democrats believe this is a seat they can win. They believe it’s a democratic-leaning seat,” Shaw explains. “While Republicans need to hang on to this seat in order to keep control of the House, and they have incumbents. You can’t lose incumbents in a very competitive year.”
Vice President Mike Pence has already shown his support for Bost by attending a Metro-East fundraiser for him in mid-July. Shaw says President Trump’s upcoming visit to the area will further secure votes for Bost among Republican voters.
“I doubt the president is going to win over new converts to the republican party, that’s just not his style,” Shaw says. “I think he’s going to do a good job in solidifying the republican base, which is the reason I think Bost is welcoming his visit.”
However, Shaw doubts the president’s appearance will have a lasting impact on the mid-term elections. “I think its probably a helpful development for Bost in the short-term, but I’m not sure there’s going to be any permanent change in the structure of the race due to one Presidential visit,” he says.
President Trump’s trade fights with China, Canada and Europe have put some members of Congress in a tough spot. Do they stand with American steelworkers, whose mills might benefit from newly imposed tariffs, or soybean farmers, whose exports are at risk in a trade war? Brian Mackey of Illinois Public Radio reports from the southern part of that state.
