The short-term future of Arlington International Racecourse rests in the hands of the Illinois Racing Board, which on Tuesday plans to press parent company Churchill Downs for answers about its long-term plans for the storied racing mecca. […]
The board a week ago delayed its annual vote on racing dates after leveling criticism at Churchill for its decision not to apply for long-sought slots and table games at Arlington. Revenue from those casino-style games would help boost declining horse race purses and, supporters believe, resuscitate Illinois’ declining horse racing industry. […]
[Churchill Downs] also hasn’t committed to racing at Arlington beyond 2021.
The Illinois Racing Board voted unanimously today to award 68 racing dates next year to Arlington International Racecourse, erasing concerns that last week’s races may have been the last in the storied track’s history.
The 9-0 vote comes a week after board members lambasted track owner Churchill Downs over its decision not to seek a casino license that had long been hailed as a lifeline for the struggling racing industry. […]
In the 9-0 vote to award race dates to Arlington from May through September, board members said they didn’t want to disrupt the upcoming racing season.
Churchill argued that not granting the 2020 racing dates would have meant an immediate loss of jobs, an argument that ultimately won over racing board officials.
Tony Petrillo, senior vice president of Churchill Downs, read a letter from Arlington Heights village President Thomas Hayes at today’s meeting, in which he noted the roughly 4,000 people who work at Arlington each season. […]
Brad Blackwell, senior vice president and general counsel of Churchill Downs, told the board today that they “did not say we would not race past 2021. In fact, we didn’t mean to say anything about that at all” in a recent statement, but he did not elaborate on the company’s future plans regarding gaming at the site. “We’re still trying to figure this out.”
* Just about everyone, from Gov. Pritzker on down, has said that consolidating the 600+ local first responder pension funds would be a good thing. It would save on administrative costs and perhaps improve investment returns. But the group that represents those funds is, unsurprisingly, opposed. Press release…
Illinois Public Pension Fund Association (IPPFA) President James McNamee issued the following statement regarding the imminent release of the Governor’s Pension Consolidation Task Force report. The report will soon be available for review, and McNamee is urging careful study of each of the report’s recommendations before any action is taken:
“We caution against a rush to push through any possible changes in the local control of police and fire pension fund assets based on this report. Pension fund board members are local volunteers who are responsible for the management of their local funds and the setting and awarding of benefits to police officers and firefighters who have earned those benefits in their communities. This gives pension recipients a direct link to the people managing their money. Any suggestion of moving that control to the state needs to be thoroughly vetted, studied, and absolutely must include input from the police officers and firefighters whose hard-earned money is at stake.
“The IPPFA has commissioned independent, outside studies that have shown that the downstate police and fire pension funds are well managed and meet or exceed their investment benchmarks, so if it isn’t broken, why fix it? What does need fixing is a key restriction for local police and fire pension funds with less than $10 million in assets that limits their investment power. If that restriction were eased, and the police and fire pension funds could operate by the same rules as the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund, the higher returns they could generate means it wouldn’t cost taxpayers extra to keep these pension funds healthy.”
Those “local volunteers” are required to complete 32 hours of training every year. Here’s one session to be held October 1-4 at a popular Wisconsin resort…
For over 30 years the IPPFA has offered Public Pension Trustees the best and latest in trustee training. With the recent far reaching changes in pension law and with the difficult challenges yet to come, the IPPFA strives to prepare pension trustees for the future. Please join us for training in Ethics, Investment Procedures, Fiduciary Responsibilities, Legal and Legislative Updates, and much, much more and all with nationally renowned speakers.
The Trustee Workshop will be offered on Tuesday, October 1st. It is designed for those trustees that need a refresher or for those who are new to their board. Additionally, the Heroes Family Fund Charity Golf Outing will be held on October 1st, before the conference.
After a busy day attending the conference, enjoy one of the many recreational facilities the Grand Geneva has to offer or dine, relax, and network at one of the several restaurants and lounges on-site. Need to get out? Drive less than 10 minutes to one of Downtown Lake Geneva’s many restaurants.
Pretty sweet, especially if your expenses and time are being reimbursed by your local government.
Robert Hunter, the poet and writer who provided the Grateful Dead with many of their vivid and enduring lyrics, died Monday night. He was 78. No cause of death was provided.
“It is with great sadness we confirm our beloved Robert passed away yesterday night,” Hunter’s family announced in a statement. “He died peacefully at home in his bed, surrounded by love. His wife Maureen was by his side holding his hand. For his fans that have loved and supported him all these years, take comfort in knowing that his words are all around us, and in that way his is never truly gone. In this time of grief please celebrate him the way you all know how, by being together and listening to the music. Let there be songs to fill the air.”
Considered one of rock’s most ambitious and dazzling lyricists, Hunter was the literary counterpoint to the band’s musical experimentation. His lyrics — heard in everything from early Dead classics like “Dark Star” and “China Cat Sunflower” and proceeding through “Uncle John’s Band,” “Box of Rain,” “Scarlet Begonias,” and “Touch of Gray”— were as much a part of the band as Jerry Garcia’s singing and guitar. […]
Hunter’s work didn’t end with Garcia’s death. In the years after, he wrote songs with Elvis Costello, Bruce Hornsby, country singer Jim Lauderdale and Dead drummer Mickey Hart. His best-known collaborator after Garcia, though, was Bob Dylan. Starting with “Silvio,” the two co-wrote many songs on Dylan’s Together Through Life in 2009.
* He deserves a much better sendoff than this, but I’m just so distracted with breaking news and other stuff right now, so this will have to do for today…
Fare you well, fare you well, I love you more than words can tell
* As we’ve already discussed, statute requires that the state develop procedures to move tens of thousands of foster kids into Managed Medicaid programs in consult the Child Welfare Medicaid Managed Care Implementation Advisory Group, which hadn’t yet met, even though the state will begin the transitions on November 1st.
With six weeks left until 17,100 children in Illinois’ foster care system and 18,800 former foster kids are slated to move into Medicaid managed care, stakeholders were finally invited to three statutorily mandated meetings last week — on two days’ notice.
Dozens of members who months ago were appointed to a working group to oversee the transition of those in foster care into Medicaid managed care finally met — mostly via phone conference — Friday morning for the first of a trio of one-hour meetings mandated by the law that set the transition into motion. The deadline for the transition is Nov. 1.
The Child Welfare Medicaid Managed Care Implementation Advisory Group will also meet Wednesday and have its final meeting Oct. 1, The deadline to complete the plan to transition the nearly 36,000 children and young adults into the care of Medicaid managed care organization IlliniCare is Oct. 4. […]
“I think they’re very much following the letter of the law, not the spirit of the law,” [Illinois Collaboration on Youth CEO Andrea Durbin] said of the three meetings. “A one-hour meeting on a topic of this magnitude is not enough to provide meaningful input.” […]
Friday’s meeting lasted approximately 80 minutes, including 20 minutes of introductions, and staff informing group members that they must complete Open Meetings Act, Ethics Act and sexual harassment training becausethe working group is a public body. DCFS Deputy Director Debra Dyers-Webster thanked group members for “rearranging your schedules” to make the call.
Gov. JB Pritzker said Monday he is “monitoring” efforts to transfer 17,100 foster children and 18,800 former youth in care from traditional Medicaid to Medicaid managed care, but didn’t commit to delaying the change. […]
After the Sept. 10 DCFS hearing held by the House Adoption and Child Welfare Committee and the Appropriations – Human Services Committee, the chairwomen of those committees said they would send a letter to Pritzker to ask for a delay.
State Rep. Sara Feigenholtz (D-Chicago) told The Daily Line on Monday that she and State Rep. Robyn Gabel (D-Evanston) are planning to meet with DCFS officials on Thursday and make a final decision on whether to officially seek a delay afterward.
“They were reminded that they had an advisory group that they completely ignored and they’re hustling the meetings,” Feigenholtz said of DCFS’ sudden call for meetings of the Child Welfare Medicaid Managed Care Implementation Advisory Group. “They should probably be a little more sensitive and empathetic to the concerns we have and not dismissive. We’re talking about a pretty serious transition.” […]
Cook County Public Guardian Charles Golbert told The Daily Line Monday he’d rather see a pilot program instead of rolling out IlliniCare for the approximately 36,000 foster children and former foster children.
Governors own. And this governor will own this rollout if it is botched.
Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) named Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker (D) September 2019 Porker of the Month for signing a $40.1 billion budget without any spending restraints and $1.4 billion in pork-barrel projects.
Illinois currently has a $223.9 billion shortfall, which breaks down to a debt burden of $52,600 per taxpayer. The state has $6 billion in unpaid bills and the lowest credit rating of any state in the country. Its unfunded pension liability tops $130 billion. Illinois taxpayers are so saddled with debt, taxes, corrupt local government, and dwindling middle-class jobs that 157,000 residents have left over the past five years.
Gov. Pritzker claims his budget deal means “a new era of fiscal stability has arrived in Illinois” and called it a “watershed moment for Illinois.” On the contrary, his budget contains tens of billions in new spending, including $1.4 billion for pork projects like pickleball courts, dog parks, snowmobile paths, school playgrounds, swimming pools, and arts grants. It also included a controversial $1,600 pay raise for state legislators. Rep. David McSweeney (R-Barrington Hills) said, “The Pritzker policies of higher taxes, out of control state spending and legislative pay raises will be very harmful to Illinois citizens. Republican insiders who supported the Pritzker budget should be ashamed of themselves.”
CAGW President Tom Schatz said, “Gov. Pritzker might think that his budget will somehow bring ‘fiscal stability’ to Illinois, but the deal will create an even higher debt burden per taxpayer. State officials and Gov. Pritzker have made financial decisions that will continue to devastate the state’s economy. Illinois residents should be outraged that their governor is ignoring the state’s fiscal failures. Gov. Pritzker’s reckless budget treats taxpayers as a bottomless piggy bank and is disastrous to Illinois’ fiscal sovereignty.”
They seem to be confusing the operations budget with the capital program. And that $1.4 billion number comes from the Illinois Policy Institute. Both groups are part of the State Policy Network.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced $4.2 million is now available for Small Business Development Centers in Illinois.
The funding supports universities, community colleges and business focused non-profit organizations to provide small businesses with support services through the operation of a Small Business Development Center.
“Illinois is home to more than a million small businesses that create good jobs and provide needed services and goods in their communities,” says Gov. Pritzker. “My administration is committed to making sure that these small businesses can thrive and get access to the support and resources they need to keep creating good jobs and growing our state’s economy.”
There are 35 Small Business Development Centers. Applicants could receive up to $500,000 in funding.
* We’ve seen a lot of “woe is us” news coverage lately about the state’s plan to add more casinos. But, Rockford has three major companies bidding to own its casino. Presentations were heard last night…
“I think this is gonna be an amazing project,” the Rockford native [Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen] said after ripping into quick renditions of “Hello There” and “I Want You to Want Me” on one of his trademark checkered Flying V guitars. […]
In the ensuing and decidedly less raucous presentation by Hard Rock, executives for the Florida-based corporate casino heavyweight flaunted a $310 million development plan that includes a 64,000-square foot gaming floor, a 1,600-seat Hard Rock Live concert venue — and a 110-foot guitar beckoning gamblers from the front of the building. […]
Two miles north, a group branded as Forest City Partners — which includes Chicago consultant Henry Leong, who according to a professional biography has served as a marketing specialist for a handful of gambling companies including Trump Casino — wants to bring a 136-acre entertainment complex to an undeveloped plot bordered by farmland and a residential plot near Spring Creek and Lyford roads. […]
Besides a 60,000-square foot, 1,200-gaming position casino, the [third plan by Wisconsin real estate development firm Gorman & Company] includes a rock-themed bar and restaurant with a 300-to-500-seat concert hall, a bowling alley and bocce ball court, plus an aquarium with virtual reality exhibits and “touch tanks” for kids.
As with the cannabis legalization plan, the complaints about expansion are coming mainly from incumbent license-holders. Some reporters (not all) have started to catch on to this with the medical cannabis companies, but it’s probably going to take more public hearings like Rockford’s to convince them the same thing could be happening with existing casino owners. I mean, of course they’re unhappy. As the constantly changing Las Vegas skyline shows, gamblers love new venues.
Look, maybe the existing casino owners are right and these new plans are doomed. But Rockford’s site is sure attracting a whole lot of deep-pocketed potential investors for a proposal that’s going nowhere.
[Olympia Fields trustee Cassandra Matz], who worked as [Sen. Michael Hastings’] chief of staff from 2015 until he fired her in October 2018, claims in her suit that Hastings [D-Tinley Park] paid her less than her predecessor, criticized her writing and manner of speaking, and treated her differently than his other employees.
When Matz, who is black, complained to Hastings that his treatment of her amounted to harassment, the senator, who is white, placed her on paid leave and referred her complaint to the Office of the Senate President for investigation, her suit claims.
Senate officials investigated Matz’s claims, but were unable to corroborate them, documents show, citing the “limited information available” to them as a result of Matz’s inability to be reached for an interview.
Upon the conclusion of the investigation, Hastings asked the legislative inspector general to investigate Matz for “conducting a private real estate business during state compensated time while misappropriating state resources,” records show.
* I’ve been hearing multiple credible reports this morning of a raid on Sen. Martin Sandoval’s offices, so I sent a friend over to the Statehouse and she reports that his office suite is blocked off and that a state officer claimed the feds are present.
Sandoval is not responding and neither is his district office. None of the legislative assistants in that suite are picking up their phones.
Stay tuned.
…Adding… From a close pal…
I’m on the phone with a secretary from the Capitol. She says there are ‘lots of suits’ in Marty’s Capitol office.
I’m told all the legislative assistants in that wing are in the elevator area, which would explain why nobody was answering their phones.
* Mary Ann is on it…
Breaking: appears to be coordinated search at @SenatorSandoval Cicero and Springfield office underway, witnessed 2 law enforcement officers leaving Cicero office, would not ID themselves, told more agents search his Capitol office (he is in Spkr Madigan’s district) pic.twitter.com/jCNZWPhjcU
…Adding… Several folks I know are claiming that the G is also at his house. We’ll see…
///BREAKING/// Feds this morning are raiding the Springfield and Cicero offices of longtime Illinois state Sen. Marty Sandoval, per sources. Story to come.
At least eight men carried cardboard boxes, brown bags labeled “evidence” and what appeared to be a desktop computer out of the Senate Democratic office suite and into 2 SUVs outside the Capitol. pic.twitter.com/3bOZk8dEVh
*** UPDATE 2 *** The presence of an IRS agent at his house is definitely not a good sign…
The agent I encountered Earlier identified himself as a part of the IRS criminal division. There were several others dressed in dark suits wearing no obvious ID. They took off with some plainclothes guys an hour ago. Several others remain inside. Those inside say contact the Feds pic.twitter.com/PUkFXoezr2
Agents from IRS Criminal Investigation were seen outside Sandoval’s political office in Cicero as well.
…Adding… They took a computer from his house? Oh, man…
Four agents just left the home carrying boxes and a computer. One told reporters that Sandoval wasn’t at home during the raid. pic.twitter.com/2CVDT2Um37
This year most suburbs and city neighborhoods have seen home sales droop or prices weaken—and in many cases both. But in Flossmoor the number of homes sold is up (by 23 percent, to a total of 159 this year at the end of August) and so is the median sale price (by 2.5 percent, to $210,000). Homes are selling a smidgen faster, in an average of 130 days compared to 132 in the comparable period in 2018. […]
No other suburb in the four counties has such vigor in its year-to-date sales data. Western Springs comes close, but its inventory hasn’t been slashed as much, and in several other suburbs—Alsip, Glendale Heights and Zion among them—the decline in inventory is slight and largely mathematical. (CAR and MRED provide data for only these four counties. Crain’s leaves out of the analysis any suburb where fewer than 25 homes sold during the period, because small sales figures result in skewed percentages.) […]
As in most parts of south Cook County, Flossmoor homeowners pay far higher property tax rates than their counterparts in western and northern suburbs. The current rate, released in June by the Cook County clerk, is nearly 18 percent of a home’s taxable value. (Taxable value is a fraction of the home’s market value, typically about one-third, which would mean property taxes in Flossmoor are about 6 percent of the home’s value.)
The article claims the main reason for all this activity is the local school quality. Good schools cost money to operate, which is one reason (of several) why their property taxes are so high. Click here to compare rates.
There were two more pension setbacks last week, this time associated with local communities’ often underfunded fire and police pensions. Slowly, the noose is tightening around the necks of taxpayers and public officials statewide, proving once again that ignoring pension woes won’t cause them to go away but, instead, to get worse.
For starters, the city of Peoria, being crushed under the pension costs for firefighters and police officers that are eating up virtually all of its property tax levy, passed a special three-year tax to raise money to cover pension costs. It’s akin to similar action taken in Danville.
Property owners are now scheduled to receive a bill in October that will generate $1.2 million for police and firefighter pensions. Patrick Urich, Peoria’s city manager, said the costs of employee pensions are the fastest-rising portion of the municipal budget.
To raise the money needed to make the required contributions, city leaders implemented a new public safety pension fee in their 2019 budget.
Like many cities, Peoria ignored its unfunded first responder pension liabilities for far too long. They subsidized other spending by accumulating pension debt, but now they have to pay up. Nobody is happy, but anyone who wants to just come right out and say “Slash pension benefits for retired and/or current firefighters and cops who put their lives on the line for their local communities!” can be my guest.
The bills have to be paid somehow. Wishing on a star won’t make that happen.
Today, Representative John Connor announced his candidacy for the November 2020 election for Illinois Legislative District 43 in wake of Senator Pat McGuire’s announcement to not seek reelection.
A resident of Lockport who was born and raised in Joliet, Representative Connor spent nearly 20 years serving Will County as a criminal prosecutor in the State’s Attorney’s office, including indicting Drew Peterson and being on the team that tried and convicted him in 2012. In the Illinois House of Representatives he has put his legal background to use serving on the Judiciary Committee among others.
Representative Connor’s tenure in the House of Representatives has focused on supporting progressive issues like creating good paying jobs, ensuring Illinoisans have access to quality, affordable healthcare, and broadening the opportunities students have for higher education. Most recently Representative Connor worked on preventing the Fairmont area’s water system from being privatized, expanding broadband access throughout Illinois through his seat on the Governor’s Broadband Advisory Council, and chairing an Election Cybersecurity subcommittee to examine the state’s election security in advance of the 2020 election.
The 43rd Legislative District is located primarily in Will County with a small portion of DuPage County and includes the communities of Bolingbrook, Channahon, Crest Hill, Elwood, Fairmont, Ingalls Park, Joliet, Lockport, Preston Heights, Rockdale, Romeoville, and Woodridge.
Connor was appointed to the seat in June of 2017. The other House member in the district is Rep. Larry Walsh. But he has built up some seniority and chairs a prime committee (Public Utilities). House members lose their seniority when they move to the Senate.
In April’s non-partisan Joliet City Council elections, incumbent Larry Hug captured 65 percent of the vote in his race against challenger Marc Ragusa. Hug’s was the largest margin of victory of the five contested council races. On Monday evening, Hug confirmed to Joliet Patch he “is about 95 percent sure” he will run for the seat of State Senator Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant.
Bertino-Tarrant is the Shorewood Democrat who has already announced she is running for Will County Executive. She is hoping to replace Elwood Democrat Larry Walsh Sr., who will not seek a fifth term of county government office in 2020.
Joliet Patch contacted Hug after several sources indicated Hug was contemplating a run for state senate. Hug confirmed he has obtained the candidate nomination petitions, that he has talked with his wife and two college-aged children about running for state office, and he is now in the process of establishing a committee of campaign volunteers.
Hug said he would run as a Democrat. Hug works in the insurance industry. His wife is a special education teacher in the Plainfield School District. Hug grew up in the Lincoln Way area. His Joliet City Council district represents the Plainfield area.
A memo popped up Monday reminding that Mayor Lori Lightfoot is popular, no matter what the critics (media) might say about the challenges she faces maneuvering in Springfield.
The memo, though, is dated Aug. 30. It details a poll conducted Aug. 19-22 that shows Lighfoot was seen favorably at the time by 61 percent of 800 likely 2020 voters. And 77 percent at the time considered her “an honest person.”
“The public’s impressions of Lightfoot are better now than they have been at any time since we began polling her standing back in May of 2018,” the poll memo states.
“The data speaks for itself,” adds Jason McGrath, VP at GBAO and chief pollster for Lightfoot. He also wrote the memo. “Nearly eight of 10 people think she’s doing a good job. She’s still seen as an antidote to the status quo and voters seem to have more optimism about the direction of the city,” he told Playbook.
The story quickly glosses over the main take-away. Yes, she’s very popular, and yes, pols of every stripe need to keep that in mind. But according to this poll, Lightfoot’s election produced a fundamental change in the way Chicagoans view their city…
You just don’t see right track/wrong track numbers completely flip like that every day. Chicagoans appear to believe they’ve given their city a chance to succeed by overwhelmingly electing Lightfoot.
I do not know how long that attitude will last once she finally starts tackling tough issues with potentially unpopular solutions, but I do know I’d much rather start from her position than the jaded, cynical alternative.
Moody’s has issued a new report noting that new climate data measuring U.S. county heat stress based on projected relative increases in extreme temperatures, extreme heat days and energy demand indicate the Midwest and Southeast are more exposed than other regions. Roughly $190 billion (21%) of the outstanding $895 billion in debt for all Moody’s-rated local governments has been issued by entities in counties with high or very high exposure to heat stress, according to our analysis; nearly 80% of this amount is in the Midwest and Southeast combined. While heat stress is a credit risk, local governments’ economic and fiscal strengths will help manage exposure to public health, infrastructure and other threats.
The data was gathered by climate intelligence firm Four Twenty Seven, which is majority-owned by Moody’s.
The report’s highlights include:
Counties in central Midwest states will experience the greatest increase in extreme temperatures. Four Twenty Seven projects that the greatest rise in extreme temperatures among US counties will occur in large parts of the Midwest, particularly Missouri (rated Aaa/stable outlook) and western Illinois (Baa3/stable), based on comparisons between the projected 2030-2040 period and a historical period of 1975-2005. Counties in the Southeast will continue to experience a greater number of extreme heat days, but will likely be better prepared given their acclimation to high temperatures.
Outstanding debt of local governments with high projected heat stress is concentrated in the Southeast and Midwest. The Southeast, especially Florida (Aaa/stable), has the most outstanding debt exposed to elevated heat stress, followed by the Midwest, largely in Illinois. Several Northeast states with large amounts of debt outstanding have low exposure to heat stress, notably New York (Aa1/stable) and Pennsylvania (Aa3/stable).
Economic and fiscal strengths support credit quality for many local governments with high or very high exposure to heat stress. Heat stress threatens to cause local governments to pay unanticipated costs for emergency response, infrastructure repair and adaptive strategies. Nevertheless, the Southeast and Midwest each have various strengths that provide a comparatively strong cushion: the Southeast with large tax bases and growing populations and the Midwest with its healthy cash balances and median family incomes.
Well, we do have decent median family incomes, but not so much on the healthy cash balances part.
* Map…
* This is local government debt exposed to high or very high projected heat stress (in billions)…
