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Isabel’s morning briefing
Tuesday, Jan 31, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller * Interesting…
* Here’s your morning roundup…
* Tribune | Cook County prosecutors to drop all charges against R. Kelly, State’s Attorney Kim Foxx announces: Four years after announcing bombshell new charges against R&B superstar R. Kelly, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx revealed Monday that her office would not be taking the cases to trial due to “limited resources” and the fact that Kelly is already facing decades in federal prison. * Sun-Times | Springfield man who waved Trump flag on U.S. Senate floor on Jan. 6 found guilty of federal charges: An FBI special agent explained in a court affidavit that authorities first noticed Adams because of an interview he gave to the publication Insider following the riot. The article said Adams trampled over police barricades, made his way into the Capitol and eventually reached the Senate chamber after lawmakers had been evacuated, according to the affidavit. * Todd Maisch | Illinois needs both business and labor, so they must cooperate:Tolling our interstates, allowing public private options and deciding how we fund our waterways and airports are absolute musts. They may not be instantly popular, but we cannot wait for these complicated issues to be addressed years from now. These issues must be addressed now. * AP | President Biden to end COVID-19 emergencies on May 11: It comes as lawmakers have already ended elements of the emergencies that kept millions of Americans insured during the pandemic. Combined with the drawdown of most federal COVID-19 relief money, it would also shift the development of vaccines and treatments away from the direct management of the federal government. * Tribune | Legal experts fear Chicago’s slow police reforms could lead to a Tyre Nichols incident here 8 years after Laquan McDonald firestorm: A common thread between both Nichols’ and McDonald’s cases was perception of a cover-up by police to protect their own. In the McDonald case, a spokesman for the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7 initially provided a statement that described the teen as the aggressor despite police dashcam video evidence that later showed the knife-wielding African American teen backing away as he was shot 16 times by Van Dyke, who is white. * Vandalia Radio | Rep Wilhour talks about his new district, passage of the gun ban: A major topic of discussion throughout the state right now is the gun ban passed earlier this month that is facing a number of court cases at this time. One major issue to many is the passage of the bill during the final moments of the past General Assembly. Wilhour says that was not surprising. * SJ-R | Income tax credits abound in early bills introduced to Illinois General Assembly: More attention has turned, however, to talk of a new graduated tax proposal. A group of Republican Senators dismissed the possibility on Wednesday. The ballot measure originally failed in the 2020 General Election. The minority party filed a resolution calling for no legislative effort to follow. * WGN | Officer Exodus, 1,000+ Chicago cops left the job last year: Delayed response is just one impact of an exodus of Chicago police officers. Last August, the number of sworn officers plunged to 11,611, its lowest level in years. The department was down 1,742 officers from its peak four years earlier. * Sun-Times | Chicago organizations brace for greater need amid changes to SNAP benefits: February will be the last month Illinois recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will receive an additional allotment that had been part of coronavirus pandemic relief efforts. * Greg Hinz | Tax breaks aren’t always bad policy. But sometimes, they really, really are: The top example is the ongoing campaign by Gov. J.B. Pritzker to bulk up the state’s nascent electric vehicle manufacturing business, and particularly to convince Stellantis to convert its Belvidere plant to EV production rather than shipping out the work to Michigan. Pritzker is going to have to put real money on the table because other competing states are. The type of property tax breaks the Bears want might be helpful, too, though not for the Bears. I wish him luck because the loss (or gain) of thousands of well-paying factory jobs that can support a middle-class family is really at stake in this one. * WBBM | Survey suggests Illinois teacher shortage as bad as ever: The Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools’ sixth annual survey paints a picture of a crisis among the 690 districts that responded (80 percent of the state). The group’s president, Dr. Mark Klaisner told reporters on a Zoom call about a colleague who recently told him a middle school in rural central Illinois did not have a single teacher with the proper qualifications to teach their subject. * The Center Square | Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police weighs in on Memphis police video: “Their [the officers] actions will be judged by a jury and rightfully so,” Winslow said. “I’m sure that they will spend a little time in prison if I was a guessing man, but it is one of those things where we don’t have all the facts, but I do not need all the facts to know that use of force is not what those in professional law enforcement use.” * Tribune | Chicago police lieutenant accused of shoving flashlight between teen’s buttocks during arrest found not guilty: Lt. Wilfredo Roman, 46, was charged with felony counts of aggravated battery and official misconduct after Cook County prosecutors alleged he used unjustifiable force on a 17-year-old during his arrest for carjacking on Feb. 9, 2021. Before walking away from the teen, prosecutors alleged, Roman said, “That’s what you get for carjacking.” * Chicago Reader | ‘She was somebody to us’: In 2022, six people I know from Lower Wacker and the Loop died. The first passed the day after Valentine’s Day, the last on December 2, when I was midway through my first draft of this story and had to adjust my word count to fit in a sixth death when I thought I was mourning five. * US Bets | Illinois Casinos Post $114.4 Million In Revenue For December: The Illinois Gaming Board (IGB) reported casino revenue totaling $114.4 million for the month of December, as the gaming discipline generated $290 million in state tax revenue for the 2022 calendar year. * WLS | Pilot program will make city clear sidewalks, which people with disabilities say impairs mobility: Alderman Gilbert Villegas plans to propose a pilot winter sidewalk clearing program in some neighborhoods, which would eventually expand to include all city sidewalks. He pointed out that cities like Toronto, Rochester and Syracuse already provide sidewalk clearing services. * Fox | Illinois school district worker accused of taking $1.5 million in chicken wings: An official at a Chicago, Illinois-area school district was arrested for stealing $1.5 million worth of food – mainly chicken wings – from the district during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to reports. The Associated Press reported that Vera Liddell, 66, was held in the Cook County Jail on $150,000 bond, according to WGN-TV out of Chicago. * CBS Chicago | Illinois to spend $74 million to prevent beach erosion: The Department of Natural Resources is allocating $74 million to build underwater reefs as well as offshore ridges to protect the shoreline from waves and currents. * STLPR | Illinois task force to study warehouse safety after Edwardsville tornado: “The fact that we had such a tragic result makes me wonder if we don’t need to look at those building codes and see that maybe Illinois needs to go above and beyond what’s already expected,” said state Rep. Katie Stuart, D-Edwardsville, who will serve on the 16-member Warehouse Safety Standards Task Force. * WLS | Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, officials to cut ribbon on O’Hare Airport Terminal 5 expansion: Officials will show off the results a $1.3 billion expansion and renovation project. The expansion includes ten new gates and many new amenities. * Sun-Times | Chicago mom fought Lurie Children’s Hospital for 3 years to get overbilling for newborn reversed: Illinois law bars insurers from charging out-of-network rates for neonatal care at in-network hospitals. But that didn’t keep it from happening to Brenna Kearney and her husband Casey Trumble. Only a reporter’s questions got things fixed. * Stateline | ‘Ghost Buses’ Haunt Transit Agencies and Frustrate Riders: The ghost bus phenomenon stems largely from two problems: a bus driver shortage that agencies have been grappling with since the COVID-19 pandemic and technology that doesn’t give riders accurate, up-to-date information. Transit agencies that have ghost bus problems say they’re aware of riders’ frustrations and are trying to address them, by updating their tracking systems and by hiring more drivers. * Tribune | A running club in Pilsen mobilized to help tamaleras who had been robbed. The event’s success inspired other efforts.: When more than 200 people, including members of diverse running crews from across the city, showed up on Jan. 22 to buy tamales from Alvarez’s stand and other nearby vendors who had also been robbed and assaulted, Pasqual Ruiz was touched. * Tribune | Chicago Bulls still are seeking mental toughness as their season threatens to slip away: ‘We’ve got to become more desperate’: This Bulls team has plenty of tactical concerns: a lack of offensive rebounding, a dearth of 3-point shooting, injuries sidelining key role players such as Javonte Green. But the main issue comes down to mentality. * Fast Company | Here’s what Frank Lloyd Wright’s unbuilt designs would look like today: Over the past four years, however, one Spanish architect has been painstakingly reimagining some of Wright’s unbuilt buildings (and some demolished ones) into elaborate 3D renderings. Together with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, David Romero has created over a dozen virtual models of Wright’s buildings, many of which are known to Wright’s most reverent fans only.
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- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Jan 31, 23 @ 7:49 am:
There is not a worse resume in the industry of governing then one that has “Illinois Policy Institute” and “Governor Bruce Rauner” affixed to it.
Not a worse resume.
“Realizing” that Uihlein is finding a bunch of grifting sillies that couldn’t understand policy or governing if you held their hand… it’s embarrassing for the IPI folks… but their checks get cash because fundamentally working there must mean that ethics ain’t all that important to the mission of their work.
What I’m saying… “you pay $19 million to folks, they’ll say whatever you want them to say”
Am I being harsh, am I?
Please. When Diana Rauner was worried about “brand” she orchestrated the IPI influx, an influx so ill-conceived that some likely didn’t stay long enough for the implementation of direct deposit of their check to take hold.
IPI lacks any fundamental to governing, refuses to see the reality that their half baked conclusions are not respected as honest, and frankly you can do “Ad Libs” to nearly every position the Uihlein believes that this group “touts”
This “revelation” of Uihlein ruining any chance of smart or professional policy takes or leanings is lost… to the whim of Uihlein’s silly whims.
An important tweet to finding and a reminder why IPI lacks… the paymaster requires fealty not policy.
- Southside Markie - Tuesday, Jan 31, 23 @ 8:22 am:
I loved the article on Wright. Thanks for highlighting articles like that which many of us would not have otherwise seen.
- Red Ketcher - Tuesday, Jan 31, 23 @ 8:23 am:
Like Roundup format - Thank You
- Baloneymous - Tuesday, Jan 31, 23 @ 8:31 am:
Kudos to Isabel’s news roundups. This is an incredible source of news. And I love that chicken wings article. Glad that person was caught. That’s horrible.
- Occasional Quipper - Tuesday, Jan 31, 23 @ 8:33 am:
I’m trying to wrap my head around $1.5 million in chicken wings. I get that it was over a 19 month period, but wow.
- JoanP - Tuesday, Jan 31, 23 @ 8:36 am:
Thanks for the article on FLW.
I’d like to point anyone who enjoyed that to a couple of videos reconstructing two demolished Wright buildings: the Larkin Administration Building and the Imperial Hotel: https://flwright.org/explore/thelostworks
- Blitz - Tuesday, Jan 31, 23 @ 8:39 am:
I’m curious if a certain mayoral candidate has had a response to any additional questions about “taking the handcuffs off our police” since the Nichols video.
- Pundent - Tuesday, Jan 31, 23 @ 8:41 am:
I can’t think of anything worse than spending over a decade giving away $19M, still having all that anger, and seeing the adversaries you’ve been fighting only become stronger. It seems like the only thing the Uihlein’s want to get rid of more than Democrats is their money. I would think there are less painful ways to go about it and you might actually feel good or have something to show for it when it’s all said and done.
- MisterJayEm - Tuesday, Jan 31, 23 @ 8:42 am:
“A common thread between both Nichols’ and McDonald’s cases was perception of a cover-up by police to protect their own.”
No, beloved Tribsters — the common thread was the blindingly obvious fact of a cover-up by police to protect their own.
The inability of the press to call a police cover-up a police cover-up is one of many reasons why decades of police “reforms” have delivered us to this moment.
Holding individual officers accountable for their criminal activities is well and good — but if we ever hope to end police violence, then our policing system must be held accountable for its culpability in their crimes.
But as long as we, and our friends in the press, refuse to acknowledge even the most obvious police cover-ups as police cover-ups, we can expect things to continue as they are.
At best.
– MrJM
- PublicServant - Tuesday, Jan 31, 23 @ 9:16 am:
No wonder chicken wings cost more than any other part of a chicken nowadays.
- Occasional Quipper - Tuesday, Jan 31, 23 @ 9:17 am:
== I would think there are less painful ways to go about it and you might actually feel good or have something to show for it when it’s all said and done. ==
What makes you think he doesn’t feel good about his contributions to conservative causes? Whether you agree with him or not, you gotta give him credit for supporting what he believes in and putting his money where his mouth is. He bugs liberals exactly the same way George Soros bugs conservatives. Both sides think a lot of money is being wasted, but hey, it’s their money.
- Henry Francis - Tuesday, Jan 31, 23 @ 9:26 am:
Yesterday’s story about Caulkins and Devore fighting over $200 from rubes made me think about the Uhleins. I guess everything is relative.
- Friendly Bob Adams - Tuesday, Jan 31, 23 @ 9:36 am:
The Reader article on homeless people is quite good. Worth your time.
- Change Agent - Tuesday, Jan 31, 23 @ 9:39 am:
Please tell me I’m not the only one who went down a chicken wing-related internet rabbit hole. My coworkers and I have estimated this at about 5.5 million chicken wings based on some research about wholesale chicken wing prices and the number of wings per case.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Jan 31, 23 @ 9:45 am:
===What makes you think he doesn’t feel good about his contributions to conservative causes?===
Oh, he does feel good.
The goal of grifters like IPI is to make the mark (Uihlein) feel good… LOL… it’s like you haven’t grasped that’s part of making a grift work… and IPI knows a mark when they “make” them.
===He bugs liberals exactly the same way George Soros bugs…===
I mean, I *really* don’t think that this thingy you think is smart and on point is really part of the grifting checklist, creating a “whatabout” and “samesies” so the money keeps on flowing.
I really enjoyed your comment, I’m sure IPI did too.
#MissionAccomplished
- Pundent - Tuesday, Jan 31, 23 @ 9:47 am:
=He bugs liberals exactly the same way George Soros bugs conservatives.=
Uihlein doesn’t bug me at all. And that’s largely due to the fact that despite the money he’s put into his conservative causes, he’s got a lousy record of winning. What strikes me about Dick and Liz is their regular airing of grievances. They seem intent on backing unpopular candidates and causes and from where I sit it’s left them pretty miserable.
- Nuke The Whales - Tuesday, Jan 31, 23 @ 9:51 am:
===He bugs liberals exactly the same way George Soros bugs…===
I don’t recall George Soros being the top funder of the storming of the capitol. I don’t recall liberals using Dick Uihlein’s name as an anti-Semitic dog whistle because Rothschild family is too many characters on Twitter.
- Amalia - Tuesday, Jan 31, 23 @ 9:53 am:
“It’s a nudge, it’s a spanking. For the love of God, I’ve had nuns that treated me far worse,” McKay said. I hate this quote. Police officer was lucky he got that judge. Don’t “nudge” someone in the backside with a flashlight.
- H-W - Tuesday, Jan 31, 23 @ 10:23 am:
@ Amalia
My thoughts too. For a judge to suggests that since clothes were on, there is nothing sexual about the incident, is just immoral.
And to suggests that we should be allowed to assault others as long as we do not pass a certain threshold (e.g., the “nun” test is akin the the “rule of thumb” test), is just immoral.
There are a lot of things wrong with this story, beyond the precedence it establishes. Just immoral.
- Techie - Tuesday, Jan 31, 23 @ 11:32 am:
Graduated income tax would be great for Illinois, hopefully a path forward can be forged on this.
- Rayne of Terror - Tuesday, Jan 31, 23 @ 11:50 am:
yesterday WGLT aired a 20 minute story on the history of the 1978 firefighter strike in Normal and what it means for firefighters today in Illinois.
- Grandson of Man - Tuesday, Jan 31, 23 @ 11:57 am:
No surprise in the least that insurrectionists/election deniers and anti-union people are on the same team. One wants to nullify lost elections and the other wants institutional genocide and to deal a “mortal blow” to public sector unions. Couple that with the war on “woke,” social justice and women’s rights, and there’s today’s right wing and GOP.