Isabel’s morning briefing
Thursday, Mar 30, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller * Here you go!…
* Patch | IL House Progressive Caucus Supports Key Legislation in Springfield: The Caucus is endorsing more than 20 House Bills that cleared the House last week and are now headed to the Illinois Senate for further consideration. If they pass the Senate, they only need Gov. JB Pritzker’s signature to become law later this year. * Tribune | Gun rights advocates rally in Springfield, deride the ‘insanity’ of weapons ban passed by Democrats: Two days after an assailant gunned down six people at a school in Nashville, a couple hundred gun rights advocates were joined by a number of Republican lawmakers outside the Illinois State Capitol on Wednesday to protest gun control measures such as the one passed by the Democratic-controlled legislature earlier this year. * Crain’s | With a $150 million infusion, Illinois’ rainy day fund hits a record: Even as political pressure to boost spending grows, Illinois has taken another step to build up its cash reserves. Comptroller Susana Mendoza reports she transferred $150 million today into the state’s Budget Stabilization Fund, more commonly known as the rainy day fund. With the new money, the fund now has $1.22 billion set aside for a recession or other downturn — a new record. * Sun-Times | Chicago won’t have clear winner on election night, Vallas team predicts: Veteran Democratic political strategist Joe Trippi, advising the Paul Vallas campaign, said the number of mail-in ballots is almost certain to be bigger than the margin separating Vallas and Brandon Johnson Tuesday. * Tribune | Joliet prepares for Election Day amid warehouse boom, city hall turmoil, neighborhood concerns: As another massive warehouse complex takes shape in the area, Joliet’s courting of the booming logistics industry and the repercussions of those developments on formerly rural areas south of town loom large among the myriad issues facing Illinois’ third-largest city as its residents vote next week to decide a hotly contested mayoral race. * WBEZ | Chicago’s next mayor needs to change this police PR ‘strategy’: WBEZ’s recently completed Motive podcast season tracked the lives and efforts of anti-violence workers on Chicago’s West Side. In the early stages of the project, WBEZ made multiple requests to CPD to also shadow police officers in their fight against violent crime. Those requests, repeated over the course of many months, went nowhere. * Block Club | $3.8 Billion Bronzeville Lakefront Megadevelopment Breaks Ground At Former Michael Reese Hospital Site: Mayor Lori Lightfoot, outgoing Ald. Sophia King (4th) joined developers Zeb McLaurin and Scott Goodman, Plan Commissioner Maurice Cox and Transportation Commissioner Gia Biagi for the milestone event at Prairie Shores, 2937 S. King Drive. The hospital, which closed in 2009, once was eyed as a site for the athletes village when Chicago bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics. * Sun-Times | Congress to consider new no-fly list for unruly passengers: Proposed legislation would let the Transportation Security Administration ban people convicted or fined for assaulting or interfering with airline crew members. * Tribune | Officer Rex Engelbert, Chicago native and ‘gentle giant,’ was part of team that took down school shooter in Nashville: Engelbert, an officer with the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, was part of the five-person team that entered the small, private Christian school just south of downtown Nashville after receiving an active shooter call about 10:15 a.m., police spokesperson Don Aaron told The Associated Press. Hearing shots being fired on the second floor of the building, two officers opened fire in response, killing the shooter about 10:27 a.m. * Tribune | 4 things to watch for as the Chicago White Sox begin the 2023 season, including fresh faces on the roster: “Our expectations are extremely high, and that doesn’t change based on whether we’re sitting here now coming off a year where we underachieved or a year ago when everybody throughout baseball is picking us to run away with the division and potentially make some noise deep into October,” general manager Rick Hahn said after the workout. * Sun-Times | Baseball quiz: Starting the season in style: Is there a better way to welcome back baseball than with a quiz about Opening Day? We don’t think so, and the quizmaster is here to do the honors.
|
- Roman - Thursday, Mar 30, 23 @ 8:19 am:
It’s certainly possible that the mayoral race is so close it takes days to count mail ballots and declare a winner. But wasn’t it more likely that such a scenario would play out in the first round when there were nine candidates? Not only did that not happen, the results were all but determined 90 minutes after the polls closed.
- Forever906 - Thursday, Mar 30, 23 @ 9:03 am:
Johnson’s team sounded far more confident than Vallas’ team on the Fran Spielman show.
- Rich Miller - Thursday, Mar 30, 23 @ 9:04 am:
===sounded far more confident than===
lol
They get paid to sound that way.
- Forever906 - Thursday, Mar 30, 23 @ 9:18 am:
== They get paid to sound that way ==
Ha ha of course! But don’t Vallas’ people, also?
- Friendly Bob Adams - Thursday, Mar 30, 23 @ 9:19 am:
I did not do well on the Sun-Times baseball quiz…
- MOON - Thursday, Mar 30, 23 @ 11:49 am:
I am following the trial on Twitter and cannot help but think that Marquez is stupid and spineless.
He testifies he did nothing illegal but pleas guilty. He testifies that the FBI’s visit scared him.
Any chance the FBI coerced and intimidated him to the point he was willing to say anything to walk?