Isabel’s morning briefing
Wednesday, Apr 26, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller * Can’t go wrong with the morel pie…
* Here’s the roundup…
* Center Square | Illinois lawmakers grill state agency on lack of progress after last audit : The Criminal Justice Information Authority was asked about accounting issues, site visits, and other issues and what they are currently doing to fix the issues in the audit. State Rep. Fred Crespo, D-Streamwood, asked what was occurring during these site visits, but representatives from ICJIA failed to give a clear answer. * Aurora Beacon-News | Random drawing decides school board race that ended in a tie: The two candidates, who were vying for one of four vacancies on the school board, each received 1,591 votes in the general election earlier this month, a tie which was decided Tuesday by a random drawing that saw Demas declared the winner. * WTAX | Architect: Stratton down “soon”: “Obviously, a new building has got to go up before we can remove 1,200 people from the Stratton. Ideally, we hope to build a new legislative office building where all the gravel lots are to the north of Monroe Street. At that point, parking will be shifted, probably more underground where the Stratton is currently.” * Block Club | Here Are The Final Results From The April 4 Election: In all, the city saw 613,795 votes cast, making for a turnout of 38.67 percent, according to the election results. That was the most ballots cast in a municipal election since Feb. 23, 1999, when more than 623,000 ballots were cast. * WBEZ | A cannabis career? Illinois colleges and growers are partnering on classes to meet the demand for educated pot workers: “You can be the Rockefeller of cannabis right now if you position yourself correctly,” said Shelby Hennings, an assistant professor of sustainable horticulture at Western, which recently launched a cannabis production minor. * Tribune | Illinois’ Blue Cross will stop covering at-home COVID-19 tests when public health emergency ends next month: Experts worry that once the tests are no longer free to everyone, people may use them even less than they do now, potentially spreading COVID-19. The tests often cost around $10 each, depending on the brand. If a person tests positive, then that person can be done testing. But if a sick person tests negative, then that person is supposed to take a second test a day or two later, because it can take time for the virus to build up to a detectable level in the body. One negative COVID-19 test does not mean a person doesn’t have COVID-19 and can go about life freely. At-home tests are less sensitive than PCR tests. * WAND | Springfield Clinic upset over transparency of BCBS network adequacy: The vice president of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois claims the insurance company doesn’t have any regulatory issues going into Fiscal Year 2024. Although, Springfield Clinic leaders said they’re disappointed Blue Cross wasn’t transparent about ongoing problems with network adequacy. * Sun-Times | Lightfoot touts benefits of CHA land deal with Chicago Fire at groundbreaking for team’s West Side training facility: Money the soccer team pays in rent to the housing authority will go toward its projects. “I’d like to make one point crystal clear: CHA will fulfill our commitment to developing new housing in this area,” said CHA CEO Tracey Scott. * Daily Southtown | Incoming Park Forest mayor pledges return to community-based meetings: When Woods first announced his candidacy, it was to be a race against incumbent Mayor Jon Vanderbilt, whose yard signs seemed to be on every block in the village as early as last November. But citing family needs, Vanderbilt dropped out of the race two months ago, leaving Woods time to formulate what he says are crucial plans he needs to implement. * Lake Forester | Outgoing Lake Forest mayor reflects on tumultuous tenure; ‘It is never something I did for me’:From 2019 through 2023, Lake Forest officials encountered a growing downtown, a surge of new residents and large infrastructure projects. There was also a controversial campaign for the election of Pandaleon’s successor, preceded by the coronavirus pandemic and a Black Lives Matter rally. “I wanted an uneventful mayoral term,” Pandaleon said with a chuckle. “That didn’t come to pass.” * Sun-Times | NASCAR partnership donates bikes to Chicago kindergartners: Piccolo School of Excellence in Humboldt Park is one of eight Chicago public schools receiving 24 Strider training bikes and helmets, plus online support to help the schools teach their kindergartners how to ride. * Daily Herald | How Schaumburg is addressing decline in office population: While that economy remains the second largest in Illinois after the city of Chicago, village officials intend to forge a plan to better capitalize on a changed working world. As just one particularly high-profile example, Zurich North America in October 2016 moved 3,000 employees from its two 20-story towers near Woodfield Mall to an equally iconic 783,800-square-foot building along the I-90 tollway on a corner of the former Motorola campus. * Sun-Times | Harry Belafonte was ‘a major influence’ on his Chicago friends, they fondly recall: “He was kind of sitting at the feet of history,” Lymore said. “We’d sit around after church and he would talk for hours just about the Civil Rights Movement and things that we needed to do moving forward to get the young people involved in the movement.” * Sun-Times | Trump wins $1 million property tax refund on his namesake Chicago skyscraper: The refunds will come out of the property taxes due this year to the city of Chicago and eight other government agencies. The Chicago Public Schools system stands to lose the most money — about $540,000.
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- Stuck in Celliniland - Wednesday, Apr 26, 23 @ 8:14 am:
And yet Springfield-area state employees are getting mail urging them to switch to BCBS. Since May is the annual benefit choice month.
Wouldn’t anyone from the Springfield area with at least some intelligence know to avoid Blue Cross at all costs? Especially if you go to Springfield Clinic, me included. It was a nightmare in 2011 thinking I was going to have to switch to BCBS and thus leave Springfield Clinic doctors during the whole Health Alliance contract non-renewal with the State, before an agreement was reached.
- Stuck in Celliniland - Wednesday, Apr 26, 23 @ 8:34 am:
==Ideally, we hope to build a new legislative office building where all the gravel lots are to the north of Monroe Street.==
The long-vacant lot bounded by Edwards, Spring, Cook, and College (behind Court of Claims and the house at College and Edwards), is available for development too.
- RNUG - Wednesday, Apr 26, 23 @ 12:48 pm:
I’m probably one of the few people who will miss the Stratton Building. Worked there for 10 years.
Yes, it’s pretty much outlived it’s design life. And while a lot of people think it is ugly, I just see an example of stark functional Brutalist Architecture.
When it’s gone, we’ll still have the Horace Mann Building … although a lot of people consider it International Style rather than Brutalist.
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Apr 26, 23 @ 12:53 pm:
First, I’m always about pie. That is well played.
Any election decide by a “”random draw” is your reminder that every vote counts.