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Isabel’s morning briefing
Wednesday, May 24, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller * Here you go… * WTTW | Illinois Lawmakers Set to Return Wednesday In Push to Pass a Budget: They’re scheduled to be in the capitol for a few days starting Wednesday, but they could stretch things out through May 31. Come June, it gets tougher to pass because it requires a supermajority versus a simple majority to pass, which needs to happen as the fiscal year ends in July. * Tribune | Under pressure on ethics, Illinois lawmakers consider tightened rules on red-light camera industry: A measure introduced and approved in the Illinois Senate late Friday seeks to place new ethical guardrails around an industry that has been at the center of multiple federal probes that have ensnared a host of state, county and local officials, including two state senators. * Center Square | Illinois legislators return Wednesday to reveal, pass state budget: Gov. J.B. Pritkzer in February proposed a nearly $50 billion plan, up from around $37 billion in fiscal year 2014. Since the governor’s budget address earlier this year, revenues have come in below expectations. The Illinois Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability projected revenues for April 2023 were $1.8 billion less than the same month the year before. * Tribune | State deploying 30 ‘peacekeepers’ in Chicago over Memorial Day weekend in effort to prevent violence through de-escalation: The workers are with the Illinois Department of Human Services’ Citywide Crisis Prevention & Response Unit, whose goal is to address street conflicts through mediation and de-escalation. According to the governor’s office, the unit will send out over 30 workers — whom the state is calling “peacekeepers” — to various neighborhoods. The unit will work with community groups and various city and state agencies on the violence prevention efforts. * WSJ | Will Illinois Still ‘Invest in Kids’?: Started in 2017 under then-Gov. Bruce Rauner, the Invest in Kids program provides privately funded scholarships for low-income children so they can escape failing public schools. The program so far has funded more than 40,000 scholarships, with all recipients qualifying based on financial need. But the current program expires at the end of this year and needs to be renewed. The futures of some 9,000 children hang in the balance. The scholarships are in high demand every year with about five applicants for each place offered, according to Empower Illinois, the largest scholarship organization. * Tribune | ComEd’s proposed $1.47 billion rate hike challenged by watchdog group: The filing Monday with the Illinois Commerce Commission seeks to reduce ComEd’s proposal by at least $914.5 million, with additional testimony by other watchdog groups and the Illinois attorney general’s office expected to bring the cumulative recommended cuts to over $1 billion. * WBEZ | Cook County Health is bracing for a financial storm to pay for migrants’ health care: There’s the cost of running the clinic for migrants and the possibility more health services will be needed as this population continues to swell. The state stopped contributing money to the clinic in February. Add to that, Cook County Health is bracing for a deluge of low-income patients losing their public Medicaid health insurance and becoming uninsured, yet still needing treatment but with perhaps no way to pay. That’s because after a three-year pause during the pandemic, the state is back to requiring that people prove they qualify for Medicaid. * WBEZ | A plan to spend $51 million to aid migrants rekindles a heated debate in a new Chicago City Council: Having received only a small fraction of the hundreds of millions of dollars in federal and state funding requests since last year, the City Council is expected to vote Wednesday on using $51 million set aside for “unanticipated emergencies.” If approved, the funding would go toward staffing for seven city shelters, three so-called “respite centers,” meals, legal services and transportation for migrants. * Tribune | Plan to house migrants at Far Northwest Side college met with boos, support as total new arrivals reach 10,000: Before the meeting kicked off, the crowd’s polarization was already reflected in the presence of pro-law enforcement Blue Lives Matter flags as well as rainbow posters reading: “A better Chicago starts with US!” City officials then began their briefing on the temporary shelter but were often drowned out by alternating waves of boos and applause. Lastly, a question-and-answer portion saw residents verbally clash over purported safety and public health concerns and whether Chicago is living up to its ideal as a sanctuary city. * Sun-Times | Lightfoot’s security detail dramatically reduced: Law enforcement sources acknowledged Lightfoot’s detail has been slashed. But a police spokesperson refused to reveal specifics, fearing it could invite more threats to a former mayor who has already had her share. * Sun-Times | Head of search for Chicago top cop asks why no one called 911 after Officer Aréanah Preston was fatally shot, blames lack of trust: “The community has lost so much trust in the system that not a single person dialed 911,” Anthony Driver said during a forum on community policing hosted by the City Club of Chicago. * Tribune | Amazon pulls back from planned Bridgeport warehouse previously opposed by community groups: Amazon signed a deal for the Bridgeport site in 2020, according to CoStar. Its lease on the 112,000-square-foot facility at 2420 S. Halsted St. began in August 2022. According to planning documents, Amazon had planned to operate the facility as a distribution center. * Tribune | Suzanne Johnson, longtime U-46 administrator and EHS grad, to be the district’s new superintendent: The School Board announced Tuesday that Johnson, deputy superintendent of instruction and interim superintendent since February, would fill the job effective July 1 pending completion of contract negotiations and the board’s final approval in June. * Glencoe News | Remembering the mark Newton Minow left on friends, family during his lifetime: That is just one of many local associations to Minow, who grew to national fame in the early 1960s as Federal Communications Commission Chairman. The noted attorney and 2016 United States Medal of Freedom recipient died May 6 at the age of 97. * SJ-R | ‘The best in the world’: Vose Korndogs has a new stand in a familiar place: Ken Vose said the building, in its familiar placement on Grandstand Avenue, had long been planned and replaces a stand from around the mid-1970s. Vose bought the shells of both buildings and had been working on it “day and night” at his house since October.
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- Bothanspied - Wednesday, May 24, 23 @ 7:50 am:
What is so special about red-light camera companies that they get a special call-out regarding financial lobbying? Why can’t the legislation apply to all lobbying campaigns?
Not snark, genuine question.
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, May 24, 23 @ 7:57 am:
===* WSJ | Will Illinois Still ‘Invest in Kids’?===
Context? Easy.
“Illinois spends, like the most even, on schools, and with pensions and stuff, and so much money for schools”
Pick a lane.
- H-W - Wednesday, May 24, 23 @ 8:22 am:
Re: WSJ article
The first couple sentences seem to significantly misrepresent the nature and goals of Rauner’s “scholarship plan. As I recall, the program was not limited to poor kids, and required state funding along with some ability to pay. As such, these sorts of scholarships are more properly labeled vouchers, and are much more likely to be used by middle class and higher income working class families seeking to avoid diverse public schools. Calling them scholarships only applies in the context that middle-income families get tax credits for avoiding public schools.
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, May 24, 23 @ 8:48 am:
- H-W -
I guess one could make an argument that the monies aren’t for those most in need but for those schools that need students and money… and in turn making public schools worse off?
“Look”, it’s not like there’s a whole group (groups) of folks that would like public schools to end, amirite
- supplied_demand - Wednesday, May 24, 23 @ 9:04 am:
==$50 billion plan, up from around $37 billion in fiscal year 2014.==
This is 3.4% annual growth BEFORE factoring in inflation. That seems perfectly reasonable. More deception from Center Square.
- Steve - Wednesday, May 24, 23 @ 9:48 am:
-“Look”, it’s not like there’s a whole group (groups) of folks that would like public schools to end, amirite-
This is a true statement. Milton Friedman admitted that the long run aim of vouchers is privatize government schools.
https://fee.org/articles/friedman-and-north-on-vouchers/
- BackofYard - Wednesday, May 24, 23 @ 10:13 am:
Re: Sun-Times “Head of Search for Chicago Top Cop asks why no one called 911″
“The community has lost so much trust in the system that not a single person dialed 911,”
Eh, this isn’t a recent phenomenon. It’s known as the “bystander effect” and has been studied since the 1960’s. It’s something every quasi-expert in criminal psychology or law enforcement is aware of.
I hate to ask, but what exactly are Driver’s qualifications to lead the search for a police commissioner?
- Big Dipper - Wednesday, May 24, 23 @ 10:25 am:
Opponents of housing migrants at Wright allegedly told a woman in support of the plan that they will laugh when she is raped. Stay classy.
https://twitter.com/peoplesfabric/status/1661154090842456064?s=20
- Donnie Elgin - Wednesday, May 24, 23 @ 10:31 am:
“As such, these sorts of scholarships….are much more likely to be used by middle class and higher income working class families seeking to avoid diverse public schools.”
First-priority scholarships are available to kids from this households that have this income :
Students who meet one of the following criteria and submitted their application before April 1 qualify for Category 1:
Are members of a household whose previous year’s total annual income does not exceed 185% of the federal poverty level.
Assume a household of three mom/dad and one kid- for 2022 that would mean income below $42,605.50- hardly “higher income” folks.
- Dr. M - Wednesday, May 24, 23 @ 11:02 am:
I’m glad to hear that the state is deploying peacekeepers in Chicago this weekend in anticipation of heightened gun violence. I’ve crunched the numbers on Memorial day shootings in Chicago, nationally, and selected cities recently.If anyone is interested I share these analyses here: https://www.datawrapper.de/_/0ghYL/ and here https://1000citiesproject.substack.com/p/1000-cities-6000-shootings
I’ll be updating with the 2023 numbers next week. Let’s hope planning ahead makes a difference this year in Chicago.
- U Thant - Wednesday, May 24, 23 @ 11:03 am:
Will the peacekeepers wear blue helmets like United Nations peacekeepers??
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, May 24, 23 @ 11:12 am:
===Will the peacekeepers wear blue helmets like United Nations peacekeepers??===
Given that there’s a whole list of CPD folks who aren’t allowed to testify due to issues of “credibility”, including the union head, I’d direct that question to CPD not on the list.
- DTown Resident - Wednesday, May 24, 23 @ 11:36 am:
Friedman’s vision was to start with vouchers and scale them back so that ultimately families were paying for their own education. Plus the scholarships administered by EmpowerIllinois and others are not forced to go away…just the extra tax breaks donors get that are different from other charitable contributions. Pretty sure private schools have other scholarship contributions besides these currently. It should be allowable as a private donation of course but without special tax breaks.
- Suburban Mom - Wednesday, May 24, 23 @ 12:31 pm:
Is it just me, or is “peacekeeper” sort-of an Orwellian-feeling name for them? I guess because of the nukes named “peacekeeper.”
I don’t think there’s a bad intention behind it, it just made me do a doubletake.
- Donnie Elgin - Wednesday, May 24, 23 @ 12:43 pm:
“The unit will work with community groups and various city and state agencies on the violence prevention efforts”
Let’s hope they will work with, or at least coordinate their effort with CPD. unfortunately, despite their best efforts to de-escalate, human nature being what it is, some situations will require police intervention. Holiday weekends can be deadly. Last Memorial Day weekend, 50 people were shot with nine fatalities.
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, May 24, 23 @ 12:56 pm:
===despite their best efforts to de-escalate, human nature being what it is, some situations will require police intervention.===
- Donnie Elgin -
If there are any deaths, will these be regrettable too?
You feel other gun related deaths are merely “regrettable”, isn’t the want to be to curb or eliminate escalation not already excuse it?
- Dr. M - Wednesday, May 24, 23 @ 1:15 pm:
Chicago Memorial Day gun violence in context, if anyone is interested: https://1000citiesproject.substack.com/p/will-30-peacekeepers-curb-violence
- H-W - Wednesday, May 24, 23 @ 6:53 pm:
@Donnie Elgin
I never said “higher income folks.” I said higher income working class families.
- H-W - Wednesday, May 24, 23 @ 7:02 pm:
@ Donnie Elgin
From the website:
“Eligible student” means a child who:
(1) is a member of a household whose federal adjusted
gross income the year before he or she initially receives a scholarship under this program, as determined by the Department, does not exceed 300% of the federal poverty level and, once the child receives a scholarship, does not exceed 400% of the federal poverty level;
(2) is eligible to attend a public elementary school
or high school in Illinois in the semester immediately preceding the semester for which he or she first receives a scholarship or is starting school in Illinois for the first time when he or she first receives a scholarship; and
(3) resides in Illinois while receiving a scholarship.