The SJ-R has a subscriber-only story (but I was still able to access it) that the City of Springfield had access to, but failed to use, the citywide alert system during the Dallman 4 ash plume release on Aug. 31. During the energy bill special session.
The Illinois Times is reporting that all Springfield hotels will have taxes hiked 1% to fund the Legacy Sports complex by Scheels. A complex that straddles the border between District 186 and Ball-Chatham school district (if not entirely within the Chatham district).
- Grandson of Man - Thursday, Sep 16, 21 @ 9:55 am:
The Daily Herald editorial board is giving a very positive review of Illinois’ comprehensive new climate law, including for programs that would help coal/carbon workers transition to a growing green energy sector.
anyone else see the 20 minute Facebook live rant from Devore? it was shared on my county’s info page, and meanwhile my small population county is reporting at least 100 more new cases each week.
let me know when everybody is done patting themselves on the back for passing the energy bill so i can return to twitter. I’ve been choking on that all week!
Cable Line, I saw the video, including the part where he rolls up his sleeves. Did you also see the FB post that asks people to donate to Devore’s “Liberty Initiative Fund” — to help bankroll more freedom-fightin’?
- Give Me A Break - Thursday, Sep 16, 21 @ 10:54 am:
Maybe my family is odd, but I have never, ever, not once checked to the see what a hotel tax was before booking. May the anti-tax gut everything gang does.
==Maybe my family is odd, but I have never, ever, not once checked to the see what a hotel tax was before booking. May the anti-tax gut everything gang does.==
I don’t either but the aldermen representing Springfield’s East Side (Shawn Gregory and Roy Williams) voted No for the tax increase since any east or north side of Springfield projects were going to be left out of the tax revenue. And the infamous Joe McMenamin (Ward 7) also voted No too even though Scheel’s borders his ward.
Listening to DeVore on WMAY this morning boasting about his victories yesterday. Bishop threw him the typical softballs questions about due process. This is all about due process and anyone who challenges the orders from yesterday are just UnAmerican. Since a mask is equal to a quarantine he is going after Governor Pritzker over the vaccine and tests for teachers next. He’s all but claimed victory on that.
Then it was funny he says well I guess it’s OK to say we taking two more districts to court today and we’ll get them resolved also.
You’d think he has these Judge’s in his pocket, but it’s DeVore. They were celebrating this morning.
==Since a mask is equal to a quarantine he is going after Governor Pritzker over the vaccine and tests for teachers next. He’s all but claimed victory on that.==
I wonder if he will also go on the side of AFSCME regarding the employee vaccine mandate too. Unless his view of Labor is similar to that of Rauner.
= I have never, ever, not once checked to the see what a hotel tax was before booking. =
Nor have I. When I choose a hotel, I’ll compare facilities within a general price range and look at location, amenities, etc. As all the hotels in a given location will have the same tax rate, that’s not going to make a difference to me.
Anybody else get an AFSCME mailer asking to join the AFSCME Illinois Retirees Chapter 31? For $36/year they’ll do something for their retired members (I wasn’t even in 31 as an IMRF annuitant) to fight attacks on retirement security. They claim 26,000+ have already joined. (Rich, a copy of the letter and dues card is available if you want it.)
3 yo 4 times a week I drive by Knighthawk Coal on county line rd. Hundreds of trucks per day head to the Mississippi River where it is off loaded on to barges. I thought the destination is over seas. But I am not exactly sure of that. It’s a bit puzzling to me,now that we have passed the energy bill, what’s going to happen down there.
Per WBEZ in this date in 1926 Charles Lindbergh crashed his plane into a cornfield near Ottawa. He was flying mail to Chicago so the next day he grabbed the mail and took a train to Chicago, which is where and when he learned about the prize for flying from New York to Paris.
= I have never, ever, not once checked to the see what a hotel tax was before booking. =
People who don’t have kids in travel sports likely don’t know this, but sports complexes like this are used to host tournaments that draw large numbers of teams from out of town. These events are typically “stay to play,” meaning players’ families have to stay at one or more specified hotels or pay a fee to get out of that obligation. Nice facilities draw more tournaments, tournaments draw visitors, visitors generate revenues in the form of hotel taxes, hotel stays, restaurant visits, gasoline fill-ups, souvenirs and more. This isn’t a new concept and it works well in lots of cities much smaller than Springfield. As visitors, everyone hates it, but it’s the price of doing business.
Just noticed that the attorney representing Parkview Christian Academy in their lawsuit against ISBE opposing mask mandates - Carlo Colosimo - just happens to have the same name as a member of the Kendall County Board of Health… same dude?
==People who don’t have kids in travel sports likely don’t know this, but sports complexes like this are used to host tournaments that draw large numbers of teams from out of town.==
Unless travel sports never make a comeback after COVID, why not expand the facilities that already exist in Springfield? There’s a huge softball facility by UIS, maybe expand that. Also renovate Robin Roberts Stadium and reuse and renovate Chamberlain Park on the east side too. And I know it’s up the road from Glenwood HS, but there’s Spartan Sports Park on Iron Bridge Road too. Spread the wealth to other parts of the city. Maybe even add a few baseball fields to The Gym on the north end (near Vets and Lincoln). Expand and build upon the ones that already exist in the area rather than take special tax funding to have something totally new that may not ever get built (such as Xanadu and the Calvary Church sports complex proposed by Southern View).
“Legacy Sports complex by Scheels.” Isn’t that where that Xanadu sports park (or whatever it was supposed to be called) started and quickly failed and then Calvary Church was going to build a huge school and didn’t?
==“Legacy Sports complex by Scheels.” Isn’t that where that Xanadu sports park (or whatever it was supposed to be called) started and quickly failed and then Calvary Church was going to build a huge school and didn’t?==
That’s the same general area of town, but Xanadu and the new Calvary school was to be east of the railroad, and near 2nd south of Southern View. (Calvary’s church did get built out there but the school is still on West Jefferson).
It also hasn’t helped for that area of south Springfield and Southern View that the Lincolnshire extension from Chatham Road to the 6th Street Walmart in Southern View has not been built yet (if it even gets built at all). It would have gone south of Scheels and would have had a railroad overpass.
It also hasn’t helped that MacArthur extension only stopped at 72 when it opened in 2010. Should have been extended to Iron Bridge and Woodside Roads at the same time it was built to 72. Fine highway planning there isn’t in the Springfield area (and that’s only the tip of the iceberg).
T. G.’s serial and incredulous claims… “A mask is a quarantine”… should be the end of the kooky story…and then sanctions for the frivolous and dangerously disrespectful filings.
=Unless travel sports never make a comeback after COVID, why not expand the facilities that already exist in Springfield?=
All good questions, for which I can only hazard a guess. I assume that if a land developer thought there was a profit to be made in upgrading existing facilities, they would have done so already. A lot of the logic behind the need for a “public-private partnership” on this project was discussed in a July 29, 2020 article in the State Journal Register. Experts estimated the project would bring 65,000 additional hotel nights per year.
For reference, the the so-called “huge” softball complex by UIS has 250 parking spots, 7 recreational fields and single tournament-grade one. The SportsCore 2 complex in Rockford dwarfs that with 2000 parking spaces, 26 grass soccer fields, 7 tournament-grade artificial turf softball/soccer fields, and a full-sized *indoor* soccer field. Teams come from around the country multiple times a year to play in those tournaments and stay in the dozens of hotels conveniently located less than five minutes away. And that SportsCore 2 complex is in addition to the original SportsCore 1, which adds 18 soccer fields and 8 lighted turf softball fields. And yes, there is a local hotel tax which we pay every time we stay in the area. Combined, those complexes add an estimated $17 million annually to the local economy.
This is Rockford, not Chicago, so I don’t think it’s an unfair comparison with our capital city. But until a developer is confident enough to start moving dirt here, I suppose we’re left with dreams of Xanadu.
- Frank talks - Thursday, Sep 16, 21 @ 9:27 am:
I believe as of today the Magic number is Lucky #7
Let’s Go White Sox
- NonAFSCMEStateEmployeeFromChatham - Thursday, Sep 16, 21 @ 9:29 am:
The SJ-R has a subscriber-only story (but I was still able to access it) that the City of Springfield had access to, but failed to use, the citywide alert system during the Dallman 4 ash plume release on Aug. 31. During the energy bill special session.
https://www.sj-r.com/story/news/2021/09/16/cwlp-unit-4-ash-cloud-decision-disciplinary-action-forthcoming/8348238002/
- OneMan - Thursday, Sep 16, 21 @ 9:30 am:
It will be interesting to see what the sportsbook handle in the state will look like for September with the return of the NFL vs a year ago.
Also what impact a Sox run in the playoffs has.
- NonAFSCMEStateEmployeeFromChatham - Thursday, Sep 16, 21 @ 9:33 am:
The Illinois Times is reporting that all Springfield hotels will have taxes hiked 1% to fund the Legacy Sports complex by Scheels. A complex that straddles the border between District 186 and Ball-Chatham school district (if not entirely within the Chatham district).
https://www.illinoistimes.com/springfield/council-approves-hotel-tax-hike/Content?oid=14080093
- jimbo - Thursday, Sep 16, 21 @ 9:34 am:
Forgive me if it was covered already, but the very first Rivian rolled off the assembly line a couple days back.
- hisgirlfriday - Thursday, Sep 16, 21 @ 9:44 am:
Just saw my first harvested corn field of the year. Guess this fall thing is really happening despite the temps.
- Old Illini - Thursday, Sep 16, 21 @ 9:52 am:
The White Sox look good, but not dominant - yet.
- Grandson of Man - Thursday, Sep 16, 21 @ 9:55 am:
The Daily Herald editorial board is giving a very positive review of Illinois’ comprehensive new climate law, including for programs that would help coal/carbon workers transition to a growing green energy sector.
- Cable Line Beer Gardener - Thursday, Sep 16, 21 @ 9:55 am:
anyone else see the 20 minute Facebook live rant from Devore? it was shared on my county’s info page, and meanwhile my small population county is reporting at least 100 more new cases each week.
- blue line - Thursday, Sep 16, 21 @ 10:03 am:
let me know when everybody is done patting themselves on the back for passing the energy bill so i can return to twitter. I’ve been choking on that all week!
- Southern - Thursday, Sep 16, 21 @ 10:10 am:
Cable Line, I saw the video, including the part where he rolls up his sleeves. Did you also see the FB post that asks people to donate to Devore’s “Liberty Initiative Fund” — to help bankroll more freedom-fightin’?
- blue line - Thursday, Sep 16, 21 @ 10:17 am:
not sure why my previous comment wasn’t posted. It expressed a valid opinion with just a little snark…
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Sep 16, 21 @ 10:18 am:
===not sure why my previous comment wasn’t posted===
Learn the rules (banned punctuation mark)
- NonAFSCMEStateEmployeeFromChatham - Thursday, Sep 16, 21 @ 10:26 am:
Scott Reeder has a profile of Jesse Sullivan in today’s Illinois Times:
https://www.illinoistimes.com/springfield/jesse-sullivan-enters-governors-race/Content?oid=14080098
- Old Illini - Thursday, Sep 16, 21 @ 10:31 am:
==Learn the rules (banned punctuation mark)==
Happy to learn the rules. Where are they posted?
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Sep 16, 21 @ 10:35 am:
===Where are they posted? ===
lol
It’s more like being in a legislature. Sit back, stay quiet and learn a little before opening your mouth.
- jimbo - Thursday, Sep 16, 21 @ 10:35 am:
Driest September in 41 years for much of the Northern portion of the state. 0.1″ compared to 1.73″ normally by this point.
- blue line - Thursday, Sep 16, 21 @ 10:39 am:
thanks for the clarification.
- Anon221 - Thursday, Sep 16, 21 @ 10:46 am:
hisgirlfriday- There was a LOT of multiple disease pressures that brought on early harvest in corn. Lots of corn acreages being harvested in Central Illinois right now. https://www.agweb.com/news/crops/harvest/ferrie-disease-pressure-bringing-corn-its-knees
- Give Me A Break - Thursday, Sep 16, 21 @ 10:54 am:
Maybe my family is odd, but I have never, ever, not once checked to the see what a hotel tax was before booking. May the anti-tax gut everything gang does.
- NonAFSCMEStateEmployeeFromChatham - Thursday, Sep 16, 21 @ 10:58 am:
==Maybe my family is odd, but I have never, ever, not once checked to the see what a hotel tax was before booking. May the anti-tax gut everything gang does.==
I don’t either but the aldermen representing Springfield’s East Side (Shawn Gregory and Roy Williams) voted No for the tax increase since any east or north side of Springfield projects were going to be left out of the tax revenue. And the infamous Joe McMenamin (Ward 7) also voted No too even though Scheel’s borders his ward.
- Club J - Thursday, Sep 16, 21 @ 11:00 am:
Listening to DeVore on WMAY this morning boasting about his victories yesterday. Bishop threw him the typical softballs questions about due process. This is all about due process and anyone who challenges the orders from yesterday are just UnAmerican. Since a mask is equal to a quarantine he is going after Governor Pritzker over the vaccine and tests for teachers next. He’s all but claimed victory on that.
Then it was funny he says well I guess it’s OK to say we taking two more districts to court today and we’ll get them resolved also.
You’d think he has these Judge’s in his pocket, but it’s DeVore. They were celebrating this morning.
- NonAFSCMEStateEmployeeFromChatham - Thursday, Sep 16, 21 @ 11:05 am:
==Since a mask is equal to a quarantine he is going after Governor Pritzker over the vaccine and tests for teachers next. He’s all but claimed victory on that.==
I wonder if he will also go on the side of AFSCME regarding the employee vaccine mandate too. Unless his view of Labor is similar to that of Rauner.
- JoanP - Thursday, Sep 16, 21 @ 11:17 am:
= I have never, ever, not once checked to the see what a hotel tax was before booking. =
Nor have I. When I choose a hotel, I’ll compare facilities within a general price range and look at location, amenities, etc. As all the hotels in a given location will have the same tax rate, that’s not going to make a difference to me.
- thisjustinagain - Thursday, Sep 16, 21 @ 11:31 am:
Anybody else get an AFSCME mailer asking to join the AFSCME Illinois Retirees Chapter 31? For $36/year they’ll do something for their retired members (I wasn’t even in 31 as an IMRF annuitant) to fight attacks on retirement security. They claim 26,000+ have already joined. (Rich, a copy of the letter and dues card is available if you want it.)
- NonAFSCMEStateEmployeeFromChatham - Thursday, Sep 16, 21 @ 11:48 am:
==For $36/year they’ll do something for their retired members (I wasn’t even in 31 as an IMRF annuitant) to fight attacks on retirement security.==
Sounds like their mailer hasn’t been updated since the Quinn and Rauner administrations.
- Blue Dog - Thursday, Sep 16, 21 @ 12:07 pm:
3 yo 4 times a week I drive by Knighthawk Coal on county line rd. Hundreds of trucks per day head to the Mississippi River where it is off loaded on to barges. I thought the destination is over seas. But I am not exactly sure of that. It’s a bit puzzling to me,now that we have passed the energy bill, what’s going to happen down there.
- Huh? - Thursday, Sep 16, 21 @ 12:41 pm:
Dug up a bit over 12 pounds of sweet potatoes out of 10 containers. An equal amount of regular potatoes from 7 containers.
- Cheryl44 - Thursday, Sep 16, 21 @ 12:58 pm:
Per WBEZ in this date in 1926 Charles Lindbergh crashed his plane into a cornfield near Ottawa. He was flying mail to Chicago so the next day he grabbed the mail and took a train to Chicago, which is where and when he learned about the prize for flying from New York to Paris.
- Anonymous - Thursday, Sep 16, 21 @ 1:04 pm:
= I have never, ever, not once checked to the see what a hotel tax was before booking. =
People who don’t have kids in travel sports likely don’t know this, but sports complexes like this are used to host tournaments that draw large numbers of teams from out of town. These events are typically “stay to play,” meaning players’ families have to stay at one or more specified hotels or pay a fee to get out of that obligation. Nice facilities draw more tournaments, tournaments draw visitors, visitors generate revenues in the form of hotel taxes, hotel stays, restaurant visits, gasoline fill-ups, souvenirs and more. This isn’t a new concept and it works well in lots of cities much smaller than Springfield. As visitors, everyone hates it, but it’s the price of doing business.
- Dysfunction Junction - Thursday, Sep 16, 21 @ 1:05 pm:
Sorry, Anonymous was me. Clicked Enter too fast.
- hisgirlfriday - Thursday, Sep 16, 21 @ 1:09 pm:
Just noticed that the attorney representing Parkview Christian Academy in their lawsuit against ISBE opposing mask mandates - Carlo Colosimo - just happens to have the same name as a member of the Kendall County Board of Health… same dude?
https://www.shawlocal.com/kendall-county-now/news/local/2021/09/15/arguments-scheduled-in-parkview-christian-academys-request-for-a-temporary-restraining-order-against-isbe-over-mask-mandate-issue/
http://www.kendallhealth.org/board-of-health/
- NonAFSCMEStateEmployeeFromChatham - Thursday, Sep 16, 21 @ 1:13 pm:
==People who don’t have kids in travel sports likely don’t know this, but sports complexes like this are used to host tournaments that draw large numbers of teams from out of town.==
Unless travel sports never make a comeback after COVID, why not expand the facilities that already exist in Springfield? There’s a huge softball facility by UIS, maybe expand that. Also renovate Robin Roberts Stadium and reuse and renovate Chamberlain Park on the east side too. And I know it’s up the road from Glenwood HS, but there’s Spartan Sports Park on Iron Bridge Road too. Spread the wealth to other parts of the city. Maybe even add a few baseball fields to The Gym on the north end (near Vets and Lincoln). Expand and build upon the ones that already exist in the area rather than take special tax funding to have something totally new that may not ever get built (such as Xanadu and the Calvary Church sports complex proposed by Southern View).
- JoanP - Thursday, Sep 16, 21 @ 1:43 pm:
= Anybody else get an AFSCME mailer asking to join the AFSCME Illinois Retirees Chapter 31? =
I got one of those. I was never an AFSCME member when I was working because the Illinois Supreme Court said I couldn’t be.
- Skeptic - Thursday, Sep 16, 21 @ 1:53 pm:
“Legacy Sports complex by Scheels.” Isn’t that where that Xanadu sports park (or whatever it was supposed to be called) started and quickly failed and then Calvary Church was going to build a huge school and didn’t?
- NonAFSCMEStateEmployeeFromChatham - Thursday, Sep 16, 21 @ 1:59 pm:
==“Legacy Sports complex by Scheels.” Isn’t that where that Xanadu sports park (or whatever it was supposed to be called) started and quickly failed and then Calvary Church was going to build a huge school and didn’t?==
That’s the same general area of town, but Xanadu and the new Calvary school was to be east of the railroad, and near 2nd south of Southern View. (Calvary’s church did get built out there but the school is still on West Jefferson).
- NonAFSCMEStateEmployeeFromChatham - Thursday, Sep 16, 21 @ 2:03 pm:
It also hasn’t helped for that area of south Springfield and Southern View that the Lincolnshire extension from Chatham Road to the 6th Street Walmart in Southern View has not been built yet (if it even gets built at all). It would have gone south of Scheels and would have had a railroad overpass.
It also hasn’t helped that MacArthur extension only stopped at 72 when it opened in 2010. Should have been extended to Iron Bridge and Woodside Roads at the same time it was built to 72. Fine highway planning there isn’t in the Springfield area (and that’s only the tip of the iceberg).
- Dotnonymous - Thursday, Sep 16, 21 @ 2:32 pm:
T. G.’s serial and incredulous claims… “A mask is a quarantine”… should be the end of the kooky story…and then sanctions for the frivolous and dangerously disrespectful filings.
- Dysfunction Junction - Thursday, Sep 16, 21 @ 3:12 pm:
=Unless travel sports never make a comeback after COVID, why not expand the facilities that already exist in Springfield?=
All good questions, for which I can only hazard a guess. I assume that if a land developer thought there was a profit to be made in upgrading existing facilities, they would have done so already. A lot of the logic behind the need for a “public-private partnership” on this project was discussed in a July 29, 2020 article in the State Journal Register. Experts estimated the project would bring 65,000 additional hotel nights per year.
For reference, the the so-called “huge” softball complex by UIS has 250 parking spots, 7 recreational fields and single tournament-grade one. The SportsCore 2 complex in Rockford dwarfs that with 2000 parking spaces, 26 grass soccer fields, 7 tournament-grade artificial turf softball/soccer fields, and a full-sized *indoor* soccer field. Teams come from around the country multiple times a year to play in those tournaments and stay in the dozens of hotels conveniently located less than five minutes away. And that SportsCore 2 complex is in addition to the original SportsCore 1, which adds 18 soccer fields and 8 lighted turf softball fields. And yes, there is a local hotel tax which we pay every time we stay in the area. Combined, those complexes add an estimated $17 million annually to the local economy.
This is Rockford, not Chicago, so I don’t think it’s an unfair comparison with our capital city. But until a developer is confident enough to start moving dirt here, I suppose we’re left with dreams of Xanadu.
- Amalia - Thursday, Sep 16, 21 @ 4:12 pm:
frustrated. Sox have to get it together.