Most of the grandstand music lineup for the 2019 Du Quoin State Fair was announced Monday morning.
Here’s what we know so far: […]
Tuesday, Aug. 27: Confederate Railroad, Shenandoah and Restless Heart. Confederate Railroad has been a hit-making force in Southern rock since the 1990s, with two releases going platinum in the ’90s.
A band named Confederate Railroad. In Illinois. The Land of Lincoln. Playing at a state-owned facility.
I’ve never heard anyone claim that the group has Confederacy-loving song lyrics or anything (although there is this). It’s just… well… Allow me to turn this one over to you…
* The Question: Appropriate or not? Don’t forget to explain your answer.
If the prospect of Illinois wildly expanding gambling doesn’t make you nervous, this should: Gov. J.B. Pritzker and lawmakers evidently are considering stacking the state’s oversight agency with friendlier gatekeepers.
State Sen. Terry Link, D-Waukegan, a longtime sponsor of gambling legislation, recently predicted a push for more “pro-gaming” influence at the Illinois Gaming Board, the agency that regulates casinos and video gambling.
Pritzker’s office declined to answer our questions about his plans. But if Pritzker allows a shift away from the strict protocols that have kept Illinois casinos corruption free, he’ll be the third governor — after George Ryan and Rod Blagojevich — to make the colossal mistake of meddling in gambling oversight. This is no time to appoint regulators in a hurry to please lawmakers. With so much gambling expansion imminent, Illinois should double down on vetting, transparency and deliberation. […]
Pritzker’s team has only released a statement on the prospective shake-up: “All of the governor’s current appointees will all comply with the language contained in (the bill). We look forward to having a skilled and diverse board that will both regulate and effectively support gaming in Illinois.”
“Effectively support?” To what extent?
As I wrote just the other day, that would not be a smart move. At all.
Also, that Link quote was reported by the Sun-Times. Credit where credit is due.
* And while they’re right about avoiding friendly gatekeepers, where’s the Tribune been the past four years? From 2014…
Springfield lawyer DON TRACY is doing advertisements on the radio again, this time to promote BRUCE RAUNER for governor.
And he says he’s using “a more pro-Springfield message” for the local crowd than the “shake up Springfield” slogan that Rauner ads feature.
Judge Aaron Jaffe will not be re-appointed to head Illinois’ Gaming Board. Instead, Governor Rauner is looking to Springfield corporate attorney Don Tracy to fill those shoes. […]
“Don is a friend and he and his family have done a lot of good things for the State of Illinois, for the citizens of Illinois, and for the Republican Party,” said Jason Plummer, who won the lieutenant governor spot over Tracy in 2010.
Gov. Bruce Rauner’s office ended a monthslong fight over details about his workday Friday, releasing more complete appointment calendars in response to an attorney general’s decree that he was withholding more information than allowed under state records-access law.
A lawyer for the first-term Illinois Republican disclosed fresh versions of his calendar from early 2015, nearly four months after the state public access counselor’s ruling. The new versions revealed little new information.
The issue over what Rauner is doing, when and with whom has been contested by The Associated Press, the Chicago Reader and the Illinois Times, whose staff writer, Bruce Rushton, filed a lawsuit over the matter, an action Rauner lawyer Don Tracy of Springfield blamed for the delay in disclosure.
As a $15 million renovation of the Illinois governor’s mansion nears completion, a fight over a piece of land across the street has taken Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner’s long battle with organized labor to his front lawn.
At issue is nearly 2.5 acres owned by the city of Springfield that lies just north of the mansion’s gated grounds. The block has sat vacant for more than a year after the city demolished a YWCA building there. Since then, a nonprofit group backed by Rauner was picked to turn the lot into a park, featuring mounded hills, a sidewalk cafe and pools of water that could feature light shows in the summer and ice skating in the winter.
“They are renovating the mansion and this would provide a Washington Mall-type vista in front of it,” said Don Tracy, an attorney long involved in Republican politics who Rauner recruited to lead the effort. “We hope it would be a destination park to sort of help rejuvenate downtown Springfield, which needs lots more people.” […]
“I didn’t realize it was this hard to give away money, that’s what we are trying to do, and every time we turn around there is some new obstacle or objection,” said Tracy, who also works as Rauner’s Illinois Gaming Board chairman. “But that’s Springfield, and that’s Illinois.”
What we need at the Gaming Board are independent-minded members who are neither explicitly pro- nor anti-gaming and who don’t work directly with or for the governor.
The White Sox make their latest visit up north to Wrigley Field to face the Cubs this week, but their former longtime announcer appears happy he’s not joining them.
Hawk Harrelson, when asked by local television reporters whether he’d miss covering games at one of baseball’s legendary stadiums, told reporters he’s got no plans to step back in the Friendly Confines again anytime soon because “that place sucks” for visiting teams.
“You couldn’t give me a $5,000, $10,000 bill to put another foot in that place,” Harrelson, who covered White Sox games for 33 years until his retirement in 2017, said Monday. “I’m telling you what, that place sucks, for the visiting team.” […]
“Now for the fans, it’s great,” Harrelson said of Wrigley. “The venue is great. You can walk from Wrigley all the way downtown if you want, you can walk from downtown to Wrigley. So the venue is beautiful, and once you get on the field it’s great. […]
So when is Harrelson going back? “Never again.”
I haven’t been to Wrigley Field in almost 20 years. I refuse to step foot in that place. I won’t even go to a rooftop event. Sports makes you weird, I guess.
* Video…
Hawk Harrelson is ready for #Cubs & #WhiteSox rivalry to reach new heights
But don’t expect to see him at Wrigley anytime soon
Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she tried for the city-owned casino her predecessors favored, but ultimately agreed to a privately owned facility more than triple the size of existing Illinois casinos to get the help Chicago desperately needs to bankroll police and fire pensions.
“It’s not that I didn’t [insist on municipal ownership]. We tried, but it was very clear that was a proposal that wasn’t going to make its way through the General Assembly,” she said. […]
“Chicago is the economic center of the state. But the dynamics built up over many decades [that] Chicago can’t be treated differently or in a special way by members of the General Assembly. … Particularly for people Downstate, they’ve got to go home to their constituents,” Lightfoot said.
“The legislative process is about compromise. We were able to get an important marker down to start the process for a Chicago casino. … People have been talking about a Chicago casino since casino gambling came to this state almost 30 years ago. This is the first time we’ve actually got concrete steps in the right direction to make that hope a reality.”
Unlike previous proposals, this will not be a city-owned venture (though Chicago is set to get a third of the casino’s adjusted gross receipts, so it’s in the city’s interests for any eventual operator to succeed).
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Tuesday that’s at the city’s request, though he backs the decision because he believes a “business-oriented partner” will “make it a more effective endeavor.”
* The Reader’s Deanna Isaacs tried to get to the bottom of this discrepancy…
So I called Lightfoot’s office to ask for an explanation. Deputy communications director Lauren Huffman responded with a written statement that ducked the question but made the point that a casino “will create a new revenue stream and will allow us to shore up underfunded police and fire pensions.” She thought maybe I should ask the bill’s sponsors.
In the Illinois House, that would be 28th District rep Robert Rita. His answer came from spokesman Ryan Keith, who told me Rita himself had proposed a city- or state-owned casino in the past, but, in this instance, “I think they just decided it was cleanest and simplest to do it the way they do all the other casinos”—that is, with private owners.
Who decided? “The negotiators,” Keith said, “representatives from all the different legislative caucuses, the governor’s office. The city obviously was involved.”
Northeastern Illinois University economics professor Michael Wenz, who studies gambling as an economic development strategy, says that, compared to past Illinois casino deals, the city did well. “A third of AGR [adjusted gross revenue] is a good deal,” Wenz told me. “They can do that without having to worry about the costs, without having to worry about anything. And it’ll be wildly profitable.”
Casino revenue has been flat or even down recently, cannibalized by the spread of video gambling, but Wenz says it’s reasonable to expect that a well-located city casino could do three times what Rivers Casino in Des Plaines does in volume. Figures from the Illinois Gaming Board show that Rivers’s AGR in 2018 was $441 million.
State Rep. Michael McAuliffe (R-Chicago) today released the following statement announcing his retirement from the Illinois House of Representatives, effective today:
“I have had the honor of representing the families and businesses of the 20th District in the Illinois House of Representatives for 23 years. While I never set out to spend 13 terms in Springfield, I felt a higher calling for public service and responsibility to my community. I’ve worked extremely hard to represent my constituents and bring their minds and hearts with me on every 200-mile drive to Springfield, but I’ve decided it’s time to yield to an even higher calling, my family. While this decision did not come easy, I’ve offered my resignation as State Representative of the 20th District effective today.
My family has always been the most important thing in my life, which was instilled into me by my parents, Roger and Judy. Now that my children, ages 7 and 9, are more active in and out of school, I realize that I have already missed too many of their milestones.
Throughout my career, I’ve been proud of the work we’ve done championing for healthcare by making breast cancer screenings more accessible to women, raising awareness for Hepatitis C, and improving life-saving disease-screenings for newborns. And I’ve always worked to ensure that those who need our help the most, the elderly and disabled, have access to the care and support services they need.
As spokesperson for the House Veterans Affairs Committee, we worked collaboratively to enact legislation to better protect our veterans and ensure that the state’s veterans homes have the resources they need to ensure the health and safety of our nation’s heroes.
I know that our neighborhoods are better when our schools and teachers have the support they need, so I was proud to back the landmark school funding reform legislation that put more money into the classrooms while expanding education options for children from low-income families. And I have always, always fought for our first responders, the men and women keeping our neighborhoods safe, and their families. We can never thank them enough for what they do for us, each and every day.
I am proud of our accomplishments and will continue to be an active part of this community. It has truly been an honor serving the wonderful people the 20th District.”
McAuliffe insisted that he does not have a replacement in mind. He’s obviously been thinking about retiring for a while, and he said he made the final decision when he received a letter about nominating petitions. “I’m done,” he said. “My dad was there 23 years, I was there 23 years,” he said about his father, the late Rep. Roger McAuliffe (R-Chicago).
McAuliffe’s Senator, John Mulroe, announced last week that he was stepping down to accept a judgeship. The other House member in the district, Robert Martwick, might be replacing Mulroe. So, it’s conceivable that all three slots in that Senate district might change hands in the coming days.
…Adding… Leader Durkin…
For the first time in 45 years, there won’t be a McAuliffe representing the Northwest side communities of Chicago. It has been an honor to serve with Mike McAuliffe in the Illinois General Assembly for almost twenty years together. Mike has seen Illinois in its best and worst of times - and he has been a part of making this state, and his district, a better place for Illinois residents. Throughout Mike’s tenure in Springfield, he fought resiliently for the priorities of the families in the 20th district and hard-working men and women who would turn to Mike for solutions to their community issues. Mike is a symbol of the Illinois House of Representatives and has been a respected leader of the House Republican caucus. He will be sorely missed by all under the dome in Springfield and throughout Illinois.
…Adding… Hmm…
Updated with most recent retirements (and to correct an error in my spreadsheet). Only three House Republicans have served for 10 years or longer. pic.twitter.com/kWqBx57Yp9
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, issued an executive order Monday stating that the rainbow flag will be flown over the state Capitol building in recognition of Pride month.
The rainbow flag is a symbol of the LGBTQ social movement and is widely displayed during Pride month. […]
According to the Illinois Secretary of State’s office, this is the first time ever Illinois has flown the rainbow flag over its Capitol.
* A pic from Twitter…
Our State Capitol is flying a Pride Flag by order of @GovPritzker. This flag is very special, since it came from The Phoenix Center–the LGBTQ Community Center for Central Illinois🏳️🌈🇺🇸 #twill#Pride2019pic.twitter.com/8OzfMQEThq
COLLEEN CALLAHAN, director of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, has taken on another role — as a member of the Democratic State Central Committee.
Democratic county chairs from the 18th Congressional District last month unanimously picked Callahan to take the place of SHIRLEY McCOMBS of Petersburg, who died in October at age 81.
The Democratic committee includes one man and one woman from each of the state’s 18 congressional districts. The man elected to represent the 18th is BILL HOULIHAN of Springfield, and he told Sangamon County Democrats at a recent meeting that Callahan will be a “great partner.” He noted she is a cousin of U.S. Rep. CHERI BUSTOS, D-Moline, and niece of Bustos’ late father, GENE CALLAHAN of Springfield.
Colleen Callahan, 68, lives near Kickapoo, and in 2008 was the Democratic candidate for Congress in the 18th. She lost that year to then-state Rep. AARON SCHOCK. […]
“I am happy to step up to the plate as it relates to communicating the issues,” she said of her new party post.
I dunno about this. IDNR has been known as a patronage dumping ground. So, a director who is also a state Democratic Party official who has to run for election could become a problem.
Your thoughts?
…Adding… For those defending this in comments, let’s go back to 2016…
A bipartisan pair of state senators are introducing legislation that would ban directors of state agencies and other high-level gubernatorial appointees from using their “official authority or influence” to sway elections.
Announcing the proposal Wednesday at Statehouse news conference, Sens. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, and Sam McCann, R-Plainview, touted it as an important expansion of the state’s ethics laws.
Manar said the measure will close “a gaping hole” in existing law and is similar to restrictions at the federal level and in other states.
“I’m of the opinion that agency directors should not spend their time campaigning,” he said. “They should spend their time managing the agencies that they have been entrusted to run and to manage when the Senate confirmed their appointments.”
…Adding… Sen. Manar just told me “My position hasn’t changed” regarding his 2016 legislation.
…Adding… A commenter makes an excellent point…
Every time a grievance is filed, someone might claim that whatever slight they experienced was because the director is a dem party official who dislikes them because they voted republican in the past
I’m told the governor’s office was not informed of this. I can’t believe they’re going to allow this to stand.
* Dean Olsen has written a highly informative story about MCOs. Yes, it’s a complicated issue. Eyes tend to glaze over when you even mention Medicaid managed care. But try to take a little time to read his piece…
Years of finger-pointing by Illinois hospitals and managed-care organizations about what the hospitals said were high denial rates for Medicaid claims ended last month with legislation that both sides hope will reduce friction between the two and benefit low-income patients.
“This is a really good step forward,” said Jay Roszhart, president of Memorial Health System’s ambulatory group. “I’m fairly optimistic that the intent of the bill will resolve these issues.”
Samantha Olds Frey, executive director of the Illinois Association of Medicaid Health Plans, said Senate Bill 1321, if signed into law by Gov. J.B. Pritzker as expected, would lead to hospitals sharing more information with companies hired by the state to carry out the state’s Medicaid managed-care program, HealthChoice Illinois.
The legislation, Olds Frey said, would make sure hospitals and the managed-care organizations, or MCOs, “are talking to one another instead of at one another … to ensure cohesive care-coordination and discharge planning with a focus on the Medicaid members.”
Illinois’ managed-care system covers 2.1 million Medicaid beneficiaries, or more than two-thirds of the state’s 3.1 million population in Medicaid.
The folks who put that truce together did an excellent job.
Governor J.B. Pritzker, a first-term Democrat, “surprised the heck out of everybody” when he struck a series of pro-business compromises as the clock ran out in his first legislative session at the statehouse, Illinois Chamber of Commerce President Todd Maisch said on Capitol Connection.
“It’s really kind of a tale of two sessions, and almost a tale of two governors over the last several months,” Maisch said. “[Pritzker] came out of the gate with a huge minimum wage increase that small businesses are not going to be able to pay. He went straight to the graduated income tax. But then at the end, [he] came around and said, ‘you know what, the elimination of a lot of these taxes, a capital bill, a new economic development incentive that is really important for a lot of people.’ There it was. Like, bam. Surprised the heck out of everybody. It is a much, much more balanced assessment than it would have been two weeks before the end of session.”
Maisch, who represents business interests spanning the state, said “the jury is still out” on whether or not Pritzker qualifies as a pro-business governor, but also acknowledged that the new governor “certainly made some real substantial movement over the last three or four days of session. No doubt about that.”
Back when this state was fairly well-run — meaning, before Illinois voters elected three anti-Springfield “populist” governors in a row — the general rule of thumb was that for every two dollars appropriated to K-12 education, higher education received one dollar.
The split wasn’t based on any sort of scientific study, as far as I know. It was just the tradition, but the tradition seemed to work pretty well. Even in lean years, everybody got something, and our state’s higher education institutions appeared to thrive.
But that all started to change with Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who believed, with some evidence, that universities were more interested in building fiefdoms than educating kids. The spigot began to dry up.
Add in two world-wide recessions which hit Illinois particularly hard (post-9/11 attack and the 2008 financial meltdown), then toss in a steep mandated increase in annual state pension fund payments, and higher education funding, like pretty much everything else, dried up.
State higher education appropriations peaked in Fiscal Year 2002 at $2.4 billion. Adjusted for inflation, that would be almost $3.5 billion today. In the current fiscal year, which ends June 30, higher education (including MAP grants) received $1.79 billion, barely more than half of where we were at our peak.
Universities have made up for much, but not all, of the deficit by raising their tuition rates. And that, in turn, has priced several of the “directional” schools out of reach because other states like Missouri and Iowa have been aggressively recruiting our high school graduates with attractive financial deals.
All of this, combined with the state government’s chronic fiscal uncertainty, has driven Illinois college students to other states in droves. In 2002, about 23% of high school students chose out-of-state colleges. By 2017, that was up to almost 50%.
As a result, Northern, Western, Southern (Carbondale) and Eastern Illinois universities saw enrollment dive 30-40% between Fiscal Years 2008 and 2018. The damaging exodus accelerated during Gov. Bruce Rauner’s term in office, when Illinois went two years without a budget.
The good news is that higher education funding will rise $150 million to $1.94 billion next fiscal year. The feat was hailed as “arguably the best [legislative] session for higher education in a generation,” by the Illinois Board of Higher Education’s interim executive director. But, overall, the appropriation is still almost $1.6 billion shy of where the state was at its peak.
When you break down education funding as a whole, K-12 received 76% of new state money in the operating budget, while higher education received 24%.
So, I asked Gov. J.B. Pritzker the other day if he was aware of the old two-thirds/one-third split and whether it might be time to return to that formula.
Pritzker didn’t directly respond. He said he wanted to “restore our higher education institutions” because they’re “the best economic investments you can make” for the state and doing so would slow the overall exodus of Illinoisans from the state. He’s said that countless times, however.
One reason the old two-thirds/one-third split wasn’t all that great for K-12 education was because the state’s antiquated school funding formula wasn’t distributing money to where it was most needed. The state addressed that problem a couple of years ago with a new “evidence-based” funding model, but that means state funding for the new formula must now rise by at least $350 million a year for ten years. Pritzker put in $375 million for next fiscal year and added other funding upgrades totaling $491 million. The governor said he wanted to continue making those sorts of investments in K-12 in the future.
Asked whether higher education needed its own “evidence-based” funding model, Pritzker said he’d heard the concept was kicking around, but couldn’t commit to something that wasn’t a reality as of yet.
Money isn’t everything. Some of our universities are much better led than others. And higher education is getting a big and sorely needed boost from the state’s new infrastructure program, which will allow the institutions to fix up their dilapidated campuses and finally move some of them into the 21st century.
Has Illinois started to turn the corner here? I would say it has taken a step in that direction. The first rule of getting out of a hole is to stop digging the hole. But solving this problem by making the state more competitive with those who love poaching our students is still a very long way off. We need more than platitudes.
Bernard M. Judge, one of the most influential editors in the Chicago newspaper business in the last half century and one of the last links to a bygone era of Chicago journalism, died at his Chicago home early Friday of pancreatic cancer. He was 79.
Judge was editor and publisher of the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin and its sister magazine from 1988 to 2007.
He held wide influence in the industry as a top editor of the Chicago Tribune and later the Chicago Sun-Times. He was also editor and general manager of the City News Bureau of Chicago before he joined the Law Bulletin.
Judge hired and promoted dozens of reporters and editors in at each stop in his career, including some who went on to great fame.
In a story first reported by Springfield TV reporter Mark Maxwell that I’ve confirmed with multiple sources, the contract for American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees (commonly known as AFSCME) will run for eight years, replacing a deal that expired on July 1, 2015.
The wage hikes are relatively modest, with workers getting no hike at all for the four years that are already gone but having instead to settle for a bonus of up to $2,500 a worker that will not go into the salary base.
Raises will kick in starting July 1, with salaries to rise 11.5 percent across the board over four years. That’s on top of the raises for experience, or “step” increases, which will continue to be paid. […]
(W)orkers over the next four years will end up putting in $624 to $864 a year more [for health insurance], depending on family size—and $420 on top of that if they make more than $125,000 a year
That’s a really good point by Greg about how this contract covers eight years because the union hasn’t had a contract for the past four.
* I used the BLS inflation calculator to see what a union member making $50,000 a year as of July 1, 2015 would be making now if her wages had kept pace with inflation: $53,653.41, which would’ve been a 7.3 percent increase.
So, the $2,500 bonus (only for employees who’ve worked four solid years) won’t even cover inflation for that particular worker in one year, let alone four. And those who earn higher wages will lose out on even more.
Not to say this is a bad contract. At all. It’s pretty good. By my calculations, it works out to be about a 10.9 percent increase after higher insurance costs, which should put them a few points above CPI by the time this contract ends. However, those calculations don’t include step increases (which have been raised) and other contractual increases.
* And if you think union members should be paying more for insurance, keep this in mind…
It is the first increase in premiums or out of pocket health costs in four years. Insurance costs were not increased during the contract standoff with Rauner. AFSCME said Rauner was seeking premium increases of 120 percent and other changes that would have put Illinois state health insurance benefits near the bottom of those in any state.
As with almost everything else, Rauner demanded the moon and got nothing for four years. Such a great negotiator. All he did was defer costs to the future, like the step increases he unlawfully refused to pay. Cleaning up after this guy’s hubris-fueled mess is gonna take a long while.
The Employer will establish email safeguards in an effort to prohibit outside organizations from using state email to spread anti-union messages.
That’s obviously aimed at the Illinois Policy Institute, which is not happy with this contract, even though it’s been trying to convince AFSCME members that the union is no good…
The union will also be allowed to conduct new employee orientations during workers’ first two weeks on the job.
* More importantly for workers, perhaps, is increasing maternity/paternity leave from the current four to ten weeks. If both parents work for the state, they can take that leave together or consecutively. And all of Gov. Rauner’s privatization demands were withdrawn by the Pritzker administration.
In Illinois, children can obtain religious exemptions from mandated vaccines. In 2015, Illinois tightened the religious exemption requirement—parents claiming a religious exemption now must obtain certification from a physician that they have received education on vaccine safety. The logic at the time was that the number of religious exemptions in Illinois would fall.
Unfortunately, we were wrong. In 2013, before the law’s passage, there were 13,000 Illinois children claiming a religious exemption. This past year, the number of religious exemptions was up 46 percent, to over 19,000. Today, more than 100,000 Illinois schoolchildren attend a school with a measles vaccine rate of less than 95 percent. This is the threshold for “herd immunity,” meaning these schools are at increased risk of an outbreak. The large increase in religious exemptions also makes clear that parents opt-out of vaccination because of misinformation, not religious practice. The social media echo chamber has so frightened parents that some now don’t even trust their pediatrician.
So now what? The General Assembly needs to take up legislation in the fall veto session eliminating the religious exemption. That is what California did after a 2014 outbreak that started in Disneyland infected nearly 150 people. At that time, the vaccination rate in California was 92 percent. It is now nearly 98 percent.
In the meantime, there are steps the state can take now. The Illinois State Board of Education should issue a public report listing schools with low vaccination rates. Parents deserve to know if they are putting their children at risk. Additionally, the IDPH religious exemption process must be redesigned to prevent fraud. At present, all someone wanting a religious exemption for their child must do is give a doctor a form to sign that says the parent received vaccine-safety education. It’s all done on paper and there is no process to verify that a licensed clinician signed the form.
We all had hoped the law passed in 2014 would increase vaccination rates. We were wrong. The General Assembly must again step in and prevent Illinois from becoming the next ground zero for measles.
There are no constitutional protections that allow you to put the population at risk of deadly disease outbreaks. Look it up if you don’t believe me.
The governor has taken some unilateral actions to step up vaccinations. But it’s not gonna be enough as long as legions of clever dimwits and grifters are fooling more and more people into thinking they and their children don’t need to be vaccinated.
The Thomson prison is not a new subject and to imply it has been a long journey is an understatement. State and federal governments have made large investments in this prison and I realize the local communities have matched these efforts.
The Administrative United States Penitentiary (AUSP) at Thomson currently employs nearly 400 staff, with a future full staffing complement of over 600. While a majority of our staff and their families are from the local area, a large number have transferred from other institutions and now reside in your communities. They are a diverse group with diverse needs and their presence has a compounding effect as salaries are redistributed throughout the local area, in housing, food, goods, services, and taxes.
As our staffing levels continue to grow, the demand for homes and other amenities also increase. Affordable and desirable housing along with good quality schools and day care centers determine where Bureau of Prisons’ staff reside. They need apartments, rental houses, starter homes, and larger homes for their expanding families. Unfortunately, for some, commuting a long distance is necessary, with some staff traveling as far north as Dubuque and south beyond the Quad Cities.
AUSP Thomson is now offering new Correctional Officers a sign-on bonus of 10% of their salary and after successfully completing one year of service; new staff will receive a one-time bonus of over $4,000. However, this may not be enough to entice staff to reside in the local community. Therefore, I humbly request your assistance in advocating for more housing development. Please do what you can to create conversations among community leadership and residential developers. I fear that without noticeable development, the lack of housing may become a determining factor against relocating to this area.
Thomson is a northwestern Illinois tiny town of 590 people. It had been the site of a state prison, but the state decided it didn’t need the facility and it was eventually unloaded on the feds.
“It’s hard to believe we have no retail in Thomson and we have limited housing,” [Thomson Village President Vicky Trager] said. “The housing that we do have is mostly older, small, single family homes. We have some income-based multi-unit apartment buildings.”
Michelle Horst is a Human Resource Specialist for the Bureau of Prisons. She says this lack of amenities means employees commute an average of 30 miles to work.
She says most employees reside in the Illinois cities of Thomson, Savanna, Mount Carroll, Fulton, Morrision and the Sterling/Rock Falls area, as well as Clinton, Iowa. “However, we do have some employees that commute as far as 50-70 miles or more, including a significant number in the Quad Cities area,” she said. […]
Since the release of the warden’s letter, [prison spokesperson Nicole McDowell] says several communities have responded with commitments to new development.
“Outside of Thomson, Mt Carroll let us know that they’re doing a renovation that’s going to provide lots and lots of housing, and Clinton let us know that they are about to do another housing area like the ‘landing’ that they have that will also house a lot of staff,” she said. […]
For now, the Bureau of Prisons has designated Thomson a “hard to fill” institution, allowing staff to offer a variety of hiring and pension incentives. As for Thomson itself, Trager hopes the warden’s recent letter can get the word out about new job hires and attract future developers.
Diversity concerns have prompted a battle over an appointment to a West Side judicial seat after Illinois Supreme Court Justice Anne Burke nominated a white attorney to fill a spot held by a retiring African American judge. […]
“We challenge Justice Anne Burke’s decision to replace Justice Marianne Jackson with someone who is not from our community,” said Rev. Marshall Hatch, New Mount Pilgrim Baptist Church, speaking to a group of community leaders from the west side gathered in the Austin community with concerns about judicial diversity. […]
“To find that she’s been replaced by someone that’s not from our community is a travesty, I think it’s a slap in the face to the residents of the West Side of Chicago,” said 28th Ward Alderman Jason Ervin. […]
“That basically says that there is no qualified African Americans on the West Side of Chicago that are able to take that seat, and I find that highly offensive,” [Ervin] said.
“We don’t know who she is, never seen her at any events on the West Side of Chicago and for her to be representing us as a judicial appointment is a slap in the face to residents of the West Side,” Ervin said. […]
“The subcircuit back in the 1990s was designed to bring more African-Americans and Latinos to the bench. And clearly, that person does not fit either one of those characteristics,” Ervin said.
Smith’s appointment runs through December 2020. Ald. Ervin is already vowing to challenge her with a candidate from the West Side who he supports in next year’s elections.
On Oct, 29, 2018, Ald. Jason Ervin came to my office and asked me to appoint Pamela Reaves- Harris to an upcoming 7th Subcircuit vacancy. I let Ald. Ervin know that Ms. Harris was welcome to apply and that she would need to be reviewed by my Judicial Selection Committee. […]
Pamela Reaves-Harris submitted an application which included an evaluation by The Chicago Bar Association Judicial Evaluation Committee. The evaluation, executed by then President Patricia Brown Holmes, found Ms. Harris to be “Not Recommended” for the office of Circuit Court Judge and stated, in part, that while Ms. Harris was “a dedicated, busy and hardworking public servant,” her “limited practice and court experience would make it difficult for her to effectively serve as a Circuit Court Judge.” My Judicial Selection Committee similarly concluded that Ms. Reaves-Harris was not a qualified candidate. Cara LeFevour Smith was found “Highly Qualified” by both the Chicago Bar Association and my Judicial Screening Committee. The Supreme Court unanimously voted to appointment Cara LeFevour Smith to the 7th Subcircuit vacancy.
Having qualified judges is in the best interests of public safety and promotes confidence in the justice system.
Derrick Smith was appointed to a vacancy in the Illinois House of Representatives in March 2011. In March 2012, just a week before the Democratic primary, Smith was arrested on federal charges. An informant caught Smith on tape accepting a $7,000 bribe to promote a grant to a day care center. On tape, Rep. Smith can be overheard telling the man passing the money to just ‘leave it in the envelope.’ […]
Well, Smith won the primary with Democratic Party support (he was running against a one-time Republican operative for the Democratic nomination), but got booted out of the House thereafter. Despite his expulsion, Smith stayed on the ballot, beating a “Unity Party” candidate who was recruited and endorsed by the Democratic Party in Smith’s stead.
Smith could not be expelled from the House a second time for the same offense — and his case hadn’t gone to trial by the time the 2014 primary rolled around. So the party put up Pamela Reaves-Harris to oppose him. She won. (Smith was convicted in June 2014.)
Reaves-Harris did not run for reelection. As a result, Melissa Conyears-Ervin, the wife of Ald. Jason Ervin, wound up unopposed in the Democratic Primary and won that seat, holding it until her recent election as City Treasurer.
Ald. Ervin raises some valid questions about diversity. But he should’ve backed a more qualified candidate so as not to give Justice Burke such an easy way out.
* On June 2nd, Sen. Jim Oberweis (R-Sugar Grove) rose to speak on Sen. Martin Sandoval’s SB1939, the bill which raised several taxes and fees to fund the horizontal infrastructure bill…
First of all, I would like to thank my good friend Sen. Sandoval. The guy put in incredible amounts of time. I assume that most of you know that. Traveling all over the state to meet with people to discuss needs and lining up support for this, as did our Sen. DeWitte on this side of the aisle.
Having said that, I’m in a position where I believe I need to vote ‘Present’ because of a potential conflict. But, again, thank you to the two of you, especially Sen. Sandoval, for putting in the time and making that happen. Thanks.
* From Oberweis’ congressional campaign Facebook page…
Sen. Rezin did vote for the bill, as did most of Oberweis’ GOP colleagues. And I dunno about you, but it sure sounded to me that night that he would’ve voted for it, too, had it not been for his unexplained conflict of interest.
On the heels of a resolution passed by the alumni council calling on Western Illinois University president Dr. Jack Thomas to resign by June 30 – or be kicked out by trustees – some school employees say he is performing well in the face of tough economic and geographic realities.
“It’s not any one person’s fault, but the leader gets blamed,” said Dr. Rick Hardy, a political science professor and dean of WIU’s Centennial Honors College. “I think our leadership should get credit for keeping this institution open and thriving.”
Most of the alumni council’s 15 members have a different view. By a vote of 15-2 in a special session June 6, the council adopted a resolution insisting that Thomas step down by the end of this month and that the university’s board of trustees terminate his contract should he not do so.
The document, signed by council president John Sanders and made public Monday, demanded other measures, including ramping up efforts to increase enrollment, cutting least-popular academic programs and establishing “tangible metrics” to gauge the effectiveness of changes.
As Western Illinois University prepares for its Summer Orientation and Registration events beginning June 4, a group of local business owners have initiated a sign campaign calling for the WIU Board of Trustees to fire President Jack Thomas.
Photos of signs outside area businesses began appearing on social media Wednesday. Perhaps the most visible was the sign on the marquee of The Forum, which reads, “Fire Jack” on the first line and “Support WIU” just below.
However, other signs have been appearing as well. One wooden sign at an unknown location reading, “Fire Jack Thomas Support WIU” in purple, spray painted stencil lettering was posted on Facebook by The Forum co-owner Roger Ward. Another, yellow sign outside of the old Farm King building on E. Jackson Street reads simply, “Fire Jack.”
If you have not heard about the recent plot to remove the first African-American president at Western Illinois University, Dr. Jack Thomas, by the incumbent Board of Trustees, listen closely. Diverse: Issues In Higher Education recently covered how the disgruntled community blames President Thomas for the pending financial shortcoming due to low enrollment. In recent weeks, Macomb, Illinois, was showered with signs declaring, “Fire Jack!” and one prominent “Fire Jack Support WIU” on the marquee of a dilapidated theater. According to the 2018 United States Census data, Macomb has a total population of 17,559 with 86.9 percent of the community identifying as White alone. Only 7.5 percent of the population identifies as Black or African-American; whereas, at Western Illinois, as of 2018, Black or African-Americans, and the Hispanic populations make up 18.8 percent and 11.3 percent respectively.
Reorganization of administrative leadership is underway at Western Illinois University following the termination of Brad Bainter, vice president for advancement and public services and executive officer of the WIU Foundation. […]
“This morning I was asked to retire effective at the end of the month. I refused. I was then terminated without cause effective today. I want to thank each and everyone of you for your service to Western. Your friendship has meant so much to me that I could never put it into words. Your service has been invaluable to Western. I am sure I will continue to see many of you throughout the coming years.”
Former Western Illinois University Trustee Lyneir Cole is accusing several of the newly-appointed board members of a “plot to fire” WIU President Jack Thomas.
Cole’s accusation is based on a series of email exchanges among trustees, retired faculty and others sent between April 25 and May 10. […]
Also in the email between Balsamo and Thompson are comments referencing concerns about perceived racism. Balsamo wrote on May 7, “I am picking up some disturbing () about the Jack situation and so is at least one other member of the group. My fear is that the Jack predicament cannot easily be separated from race. (My) guess is that right three members of the board, the two African Americans and Aguilar will be at least skeptical about any immediate move on Jack and they may be supported by some in the governor’s office and certainly some in the legislature…. I know certainly that some of the opposition to Jack is racist, but even if he were purple he has been a near total failure here.”
He later wrote on May 9, “Race hangs over this whole situation, but I have the feeling that if Jack were white or even Asian he would have been gone some time ago.”
* Check out the enrollment numbers…
Undergraduate enrollment across the nine Illinois universities’ twelve campuses fell by 11.9% from the fall of 2008 to 2018, based on a preliminary headcount. As shown in the chart, the enrollment trends vary significantly by institution: https://t.co/Yo2KCRbfbBpic.twitter.com/zZs3mOdoTj
— The Civic Federation (@CivicFederation) June 8, 2019
President Jack Thomas has announced he will serve his last day on June 30, 2019. He said he believes the university will be “best served by new leadership.”
President Thomas has requested to be moved to administrative leave for two years at current salary, with the option to return to his faculty position after two years, which has been approved by the Board of Trustees.
Unlike those who voted against the capital bill so as not to soil their political hands by going on record as being willing to pay for those projects, yet who no doubt will celebrate when it comes time to break ground on them, I voted for that [Motor Fuel Tax] increase.
That vote was made somewhat easier because in 2016, almost four out of every five voters approved the Transportation Lockbox Amendment to our state Constitution, mandating that gas taxes only be spent on infrastructure.
We’ve seen what decades of neglect have done to our roads. Illinois’ infrastructure chickens have come home to roost, and anyone who tells you that all of this can be done by cutting spending elsewhere or waiting another 10 years for another capital bill is living in a dream world. I could not in good conscience expect $266 million to be spent in District 63 on such sorely needed projects and then ask everyone else in the state to pick up the tab.
Illinois stands at the center of the nation’s transportation system. Our roads, rails, airports and rivers carry more traffic than any other state in the Union. Illinois’ economy cannot grow without first-rate infrastructure. But it all comes at a price, and that bill needs to be paid.
As fiscally responsible Republicans, we should be talking about why the state needs such a higher percentage of our money to deal with infrastructure. Why does it cost so much more per mile to build roads and bridges in Illinois compared to many other states?
Like so often is the case, in Illinois we suffer under heavy mandates and an adversarial regulatory environment that drives costs upward. We have onerous prevailing wage rates and our taxpayers potentially pay up to five times what taxpayers in neighboring Indiana pay for workers’ compensation.
Road construction workers do make a good living here - when they’re working. Workers’ comp is a real problem. And our regulations could always use a revamp.
I, for one, do not begrudge those folks one penny of their federal subsidies. Then again, I also don’t have a real problem with road construction workers who can make enough money to send their kids to college.
Moody’s has issued a short, new report (attached) following the State of Illinois’ (rated Baa3/stable outlook) recent flurry of legislation and signing of the FY 2020 budget. The bills, which the governor is expected to sign into law, are credit positive for the state’s local governments because they will receive new funding for capital and potential new sources of operating revenue. The primary winners in the new budget are the state’s school districts designated as Tier 1 or Tier 2, including Chicago Public Schools (CPS – B2/stable), as those districts received a $375 million bump in formula funding.
For the third straight year, Illinois’ budget prioritizes K-12 education funding by exceeding the aggressive funding targets called for by the evidence-based school funding formula, which categorizes each school district into one of four tiers based on need. Tier 1 and Tier 2 districts, including CPS, receive the vast majority of any boost in state funding. For fiscal 2020, the state will increase formula funding by close to $375 million, including $50 million for property tax relief, following boosts of $350 million in fiscal years 2018 and 2019. Nearly 70% of districts are currently designated as Tier 1 or Tier 2 and will receive over 90% of the increased funding. Other districts will continue to benefit from the formula’s “hold harmless” provision, which prevents reductions in state aid for any school district even if it currently is considered funded in excess of need or there is a drop in enrollment.
Local governments will receive a significant infusion of capital dollars under the Rebuild Illinois capital plan. The statewide motor fuel tax rate will double to 38 cents per gallon from 19 cents per gallon, increasing each year thereafter in line with inflation. The rate hike is projected to yield an additional $1.2 billion in revenue each year, approximately 32% of which will go to local governments. Certain counties will also be able to increase their local gas tax on top of the statewide bump.
The impact of legislation authorizing a massive expansion of gambling is less certain. The legislation will add six casinos, including in four cities that we rate: Chicago (Ba1/stable), Rockford (A2/negative), Waukegan (A2), and Danville (Baa3/stable). There will also be an expansion at the current ten existing casinos and of video gaming. The new casinos have the potential to generate significant revenues, but those revenues are difficult to project, particularly as the gambling landscape is becoming increasingly competitive. Furthermore, revenue-sharing provisions will dilute the impact for the individual cities receiving new casinos. Importantly, all of the cities chosen for casinos are grappling with rising pension costs. If the new casinos were to generate significant revenues, it could have a meaningful impact in comparison with pension contribution gaps using reported assumptions. However, the revenues produced by existing locations have steadily declined over the last five years, a trend that could be exacerbated by increased competition.
While credit positive, most Illinois local governments will receive minimal tax revenue from cannabis sales, if the state’s experience mirrors other states with legalized recreational cannabis such as Colorado. For example, in fiscal 2016, Denver (Aaa/stable) collected $27.6 million in cannabis sales taxes on roughly $500 million in gross sales, which amounted to a minimal 2% of general fund revenue. However, as with gaming revenues, cannabis revenue has proven to be volatile.
Moody’s declaration of “credit positive” or “credit negative” does not connote a rating or outlook change. It is indicative of the impact of a distinct event or development as one of many credit factors affecting the issuer.
At a Capitol press conference on June 30, Pritzker told reporters that credit ratings agencies should look positively at the budget and capital bills, along with the revenues lawmakers approved to fund both.
“It took a lot of years for Illinois to get into the situation that we’re in today where the rating agencies have put us,” Pritzker said. “It’s going to take years for us to get out of it. But this is an enormous step forward.
“Think about it: a truly balanced budget where we’re actually going to pay off some of our debts,” the governor continued. “We’re beginning to address our pensions. We’re doing things that I think move us in the right direction from a financial perspective, a fiscal perspective, and I think the rating agencies will recognize that.”
Moody’s on Thursday did seem to recognize that, saying in a report and accompanying press release that the new budget and capital bills, along with the revenue from expanding gaming and legalizing marijuana will have a positive effect on local governments.
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