End of an era: Jim Leach leaving WMAY
Thursday, Jun 22, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From Don Howard at the Illinois Times…
Jim Leach is leaving his longtime role at WMAY to take a position as public information officer with the Illinois Department of Public Health. His last day at WMAY is June 28 and he starts at IDPH on July 5.
Leach started at WMAY as a part-time disc jockey in 1983, while he was in college. Back then, the station format was country music, and Leach played vinyl records. Sometimes they got recordings of live music shows and played them for 15 minutes at a time, then a station break. […]
According to Leach, ideology is secondary to being engaged. “One of the things we prided ourselves on was a wide range of views,” said Leach. “Consultants thought we needed to have one political viewpoint or the other, but a lot of important local issues like what the city government is doing or how the school district is performing aren’t necessarily ideological.” […]
Other events that stand out during his long career is the collective grief expressed by his listeners after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the tornadoes that struck Springfield in 2006. “I was on the air 14 hours straight,” he said. Without power, transistor radios were one of the few reliable sources of information in those tense hours after the disaster.
Leach also said that a career in radio can be strange and wonderful, sometimes both at the same time. “I have had the privilege of interviewing both Barack Obama and Weird Al Yankovic, my two favorite interviews ever.” He’s also allowed himself to be tased live on air and broadcast while undergoing a colonoscopy in order to raise awareness about cancer screening.
I remember listening to Jim in my basement during that 2006 tornado. I even called in once or twice. Dude is a total pro and a really good guy. Go read the whole thing.
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Afternoon roundup
Thursday, Jun 22, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Greg Hinz…
Chicago now is averaging nearly one mass shooting a week, and has been since at least 2020.
That’s the bottom line of some disturbing — and revealing — new figures from the University of Chicago Crime Lab that underline just how much mass violence has worked its way into the city’s collective consciousness not as an aberration but the norm. […]
For one, shootings in poor Black neighborhoods still haven’t “garnered the outpouring of support or mobilized the kind of action” as shootings in wealthier, whiter neighborhoods, [U of C Crime Lab Executive Director Roseanna Ander] said in an email to Crain’s. “The fact that gun violence — including mass shootings — has been in some sense ‘normalized’ when it happens in Chicago should force us all to look in the mirror and question our priorities.” […]
Ander said the answer includes better deployment of police, so that officers are located where they’re really needed; better data for police dispatchers to make decisions; and an increase in proactive social service, so that young people are reached before and not after they get in trouble.
* Center Square…
Some Illinois concert venues will soon be required to have overdose-reversing drugs on hand. […]
State Sen. Karina Villa, D-West Chicago, advanced a measure aimed to prevent overdose deaths at concert venues. The legislation requires for-profit music venues that have an occupancy of 1,000 or more to have opioid-overdose antidotes on hand and trained staff available to administer the drugs. […]
Fentanyl now accounts for nearly 70% of all opioid-related deaths in the U.S., with a growing number of overdoses occurring at events such as music festivals. Music festivals like Lollapalooza have become hotspots for party drugs like ecstasy and cocaine.
* Crain’s…
Argonne National Laboratory has finished building a $500 million supercomputer that’s shaping up to be the fastest in the world.
The new computer, called Aurora, is among the first examples of a new class of blindingly fast machines to reach “exascale,” or the ability to do a quintillion — or 1 billion-billion — calculations per second.
To put that in perspective, Aurora can do in one second what it would take the Earth’s population 40 years to accomplish if everyone was doing one calculation per second. It’s the sort of speed in handling staggering volumes of data that enables cellular-level simulations of parts of the human body or models of the universe, which weren’t possible before.
* New national poll…
In a new USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll, one in four Americans say state efforts that have followed to impose strict limits on abortion access have made them more supportive of abortion rights. […]
The nationwide poll of 1,000 registered voters, taken by landline and cellphone June 5-9, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
By almost 2-1, 58%-30%, those surveyed opposed the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. […]
Americans overwhelmingly oppose the next goal of many anti-abortion activists, to enact a federal law banning abortion nationwide. By 80%-14%, those surveyed opposed that idea, including 65% of Republicans and 83% of independents.
* Keep in mind that this ILGOP plan would cost local governments hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues…
Friend,
With the COVID pandemic in the rear-view mirror, a tax exemption put in place for groceries is set to expire soon!
We in the Illinois Republican Party are a party that believes in fiscal responsibility and low taxation so that hard-working citizens can keep more of their earned money.
It’s bad enough that the Illinois Democrats implemented a variety of terrible laws during the pandemic, but ending this tax exemption is another blow to families across the state who are already feeling the weight of Democrat-made inflation and rising prices for goods.
We are committed to electing Republicans across the state at all levels who will put our state on a better path away from the fiscal disaster that the Democrats have created. And we’d love your support to make it happen!
Can you support our efforts today by signing our petition? >>
Alert Tax Hike Incoming
SIGN OUR PETITION TO SUPPORT LOW TAXES >>
SEND A GIFT TO THE ILGOP >>
* Give him credit, the new mayor seems to understand how to pass ordinances, and will even work with problematic alderpersons…
The Chicago City Council passed an ordinance Wednesday allowing people who grow food on their property or in community gardens to sell their fruits and veggies.
It was a resurrection: The Urban Agriculture Business License Enhancement Ordinance, as it’s called, was introduced last year by then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration. But Ald. Raymond Lopez had concerns that it didn’t address enough issues, including raising livestock on personal property. When he and Lightfoot’s team couldn’t reach an agreement (no surprise, given they butted heads for four years), Lopez moved to “defer and publish” the measure — which meant it would not get a vote.
Enter the Johnson administration, which approached Lopez to unlock the ordinance.
Lopez reiterated his concerns, and Johnson’s team created a working group to examine the livestock issue. “I was more than happy to usher in the ordinance that I stopped as a sign of good faith that we can in fact work together to resolve some of the outstanding issues from the past,” Lopez told Playbook.
In Wednesday’s pre-council meeting, Beth Beatty, who’s the interim head of Intergovernmental Affairs, said she’s never seen a measure brought back to life like that.
* Hacked again /s…
* Press release…
The Board of Directors of The Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership (The Partnership) today announced the appointment of George Wright as chief executive officer. Wright comes to the role after a distinguished career in banking and community investment and after serving as the co-chair of The Partnership’s Board of Directors since 2015. In April, he stepped down from The Partnership Board and retired as director of community relations for Citibank’s Global Consumer Group. As director of community relations, Wright led all aspects of Citi’s community development portfolio in Illinois and across the Central Region. The Partnership is a non-profit entity that oversees the largest workforce system in the country in Chicago and Cook County.
* Isabel’s roundup…
* WTTW | Chicago to Pay $8.8M to Settle 3 Police Misconduct Cases: The Chicago City Council voted unanimously to pay $7.25 million to Arthur Brown, who spent almost three decades in prison after being convicted of arson and a double murder before being exonerated. He was released in 2017 after a judge overturned his conviction, prompting Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx to drop the charges against him.
* Block Club | Police Oversight Agency Clears 2 Cops In 2019 Arrest Over Ex-Gardiner Staffer’s Lost Phone: The Civilian Office of Police Accountability found there was probable cause to arrest Benjamin George after he was accused of stealing a cell phone belonging to Charles Sikanich, the former 45th Ward superintendent, according to the final summary report looking into responding officers’ conduct in the incident.
* Crain’s | Opinion: 8 takeaways from the ‘ComEd Four’ convictions: Two Commonwealth Edison executives and contract lobbyists are facing substantial jail time after recent federal convictions of engaging in a wide-ranging corruption scheme involving their Springfield lobbying. The corporate entity previously had entered into a deferred prosecution agreement, which included a $200,000 fine.
* SJ-R | ‘We in Illinois stay strong in our support’ Springfield leader honored in pride month ceremony: “As we have seen recently in other states, the rights of our LGBTQ friends can never be taken for granted. We in Illinois stay strong in our support – we passed marriage equality before it was federal law,” Mendoza said. “We have enshrined protections for our transgender residents, but we must stay vigilant, and we must continue to set the standard for other states to follow. We must continue to show what is possible when you truly believe in freedom, liberty and justice for all.”
* Sun-Times | Sox park hit-and-run victims got help from stranger with emergency medical training: But he has a good idea what placed him at Guaranteed Rate Field when a speeding car barreled into a crowd of people Tuesday night. “It was God’s calling,” Eastling said Wednesday. “When you see someone in need, you help them. You don’t turn your back on them.”
* STL Post-Dispatch | Southern Illinois University investigating cyberattack tied to Russian hackers: The university said it was looking into “recent suspicious network activity” related to MOVEit, an online file transfer system that was recently attacked by a Russian hacking group.
* Sun-Times | NASCAR course takes shape at Grant Park: ‘We’ve never built anything this large this fast’: With less than two weeks to go until the green flag drops, NASCAR’s Chicago Street Race course is taking shape around Grant Park. NASCAR has begun work on all but two of its 13 grandstands and suites, according to Chicago Street Race President Julie Giese.
* Crain’s | Metra asks for public feedback on proposed fare changes for 2024: Among the biggest changes Metra is proposing are: slashing the number of fare zones from 10 down to four, restructuring fare rates based on the new zones and replacing the 10-ride pass with a pair of five-ride passes.
* LA Times | Column: The truth about our homelessness crisis: As Californians age, they are priced out: Kushel and her team found that nearly half of single adults living on our streets are over the age of 50. And 7% of all homeless adults, single or in families, are over 65.
* NYT | Report Cites More Than 350 Anti-L.G.B.T.Q. Incidents Over 11 Months: There were more than 350 incidents of anti-L.G.B.T.Q. harassment, vandalism or assault in the United States from June 2022 through April 2023, according to a new report, reflecting a climate in which bias against gay and especially transgender people has become widespread.
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Two steps forward…
Thursday, Jun 22, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller
* NRG Media…
Last year, the first Gay Pride event came to downtown Dixon and it turned into a much bigger event than anyone imagined. When attendance was tallied, over 2,700 people came to the event.
President of the organization Sauk Valley Pride, Andrew Glasscock said they are expecting 3-5,000 at the event. This meant the area downtown would be too small and the city said no to allowing it on the Peoria Avenue Bridge.
The city then turned to the Park District to see if they could hold it at Page Park. Executive Director Duane Long said the area handled Mumford and Sons, it can handle this.
About 4,000 people showed up, which is far more than last year…
Decked out in a rainbow-colored tulle skirt and wearing a crown while dancing with equally colorful streamers, 5-year-old Winnie Tomman was “living her best life,” her mom said.
Winnie and her family were among the almost 4,000 people who made their way to Page Park to celebrate the second annual Dixon Pride Fest.
“Attendance was overwhelming,” Festival Director Sam Miller said at about 7:15 p.m. Saturday. “So much love is happening.”
Page Park is about a five-minute drive from the boyhood home of Ronald Reagan.
* And now for the one step back…
A newspaper column written by Catholic Bishop Thomas Paprocki condemning Pride Month and praising a Ugandan law criminalizing homosexual acts has raised the ire of progressive Christians in Springfield.
At issue is a June 8 piece in the Catholic Times in which the bishop wrote, “The Catholic Church teaches that pride is the deadliest of the deadly sins, so it is something to be avoided, along with lust, not celebrated.”
The cleric took issue with the rainbow flag flying over the Illinois Capitol and the Governor’s Mansion as well as President Joe Biden’s condemnation of a law in the African nation of Uganda that creates criminal penalties – including death or life imprisonment – for engaging in homosexual acts.
“Our government is also promoting the LGBTQ+ movement, not only here in the United States, but around the world,” Paprocki wrote. “President Joe Biden recently scolded the President of Uganda for signing legislation that imposes criminal penalties for homosexual acts. President Biden also threatened to withdraw American financial assistance to the east African country unless Uganda repealed the law.
“Such threats are quite ironic coming from the man who has called white supremacy the ‘most dangerous threat to our homeland security.’ Apparently, President Biden does not see that it is inherently racist and arrogant for the white leader of the United States to lecture an African nation on what laws are right for their country.”
* Related…
* Danville breaks tradition and holds its very first LGBTQ pride event: A DJ, crafts, vendors, food, and much more filled Temple Plaza in downtown Danville for the first VC Pride Fest.
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Question of the day
Thursday, Jun 22, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Tribune…
A New City man faces felony reckless driving charges after authorities said he plowed through four pedestrians headed to Tuesday night’s White Sox game just outside Guaranteed Rate Field.
Authorities on late Wednesday announced charges against Condelarious Garcia, 20, for four counts of aggravated reckless driving, along with misdemeanor driving on a suspended license and three traffic citations for the collision in the 300 block of West 35th Street on Tuesday. […]
The collision had tossed one of the four victims onto the car and partially through the sunroof, police said at a news briefing Tuesday night. That victim was still clinging to the car when Illinois State Police and SWAT officers stopped the vehicle.
CBS 2…
One of the three victims at the scene and the one from the sunroof were in critical condition and the other two were listed as serious, CBS Chicago said.
A witness told CBS Chicago the driver appeared frustrated with a traffic delay and suddenly blew past a traffic officer.
Pedestrians scrambled moments after the car rammed into the four fans.
The accused’s car…
* The Question: Do you think drivers have gotten worse and meaner since the pandemic? Explain.
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* I encourage you to read the entire SJ-R piece on the state worker contract negotiations because there’s more to it. But I did want to highlight Anders Lindall’s comments on the state’s hiring system…
Currently, [AFSCME Council 31] represents 35,000 state workers ranging from departments such as the Department of Children and Family Services and Department of Human Services. Yet, when accounting for open positions, that number would grow to 43,000.
A large reason for the high number of vacancies is due to a “very arcane” hiring process, [Council 31 spokesperson Anders Lindall] said, one that can take months to fill a position.
“If you are a person who is looking for a job and there’s a position available with state government, but you don’t hear back for six or nine months, you have probably found something else,” he said.
Perhaps alleviating some of the state’s hiring struggles, this year’s budget includes a $750 million increase for DCFS going towards the hire of 192 new workers and expanded training programs. The department has also hosted several on-the-spot hiring events throughout the state, which Lindall supports.
Convincing someone to wait nearly a year for word about a state job has to be nearly impossible in this job market. More info on one of those DCFS “On-the-Spot Hiring” events is here.
However, there’s some good news. The governor’s office says the state will be able to expand the streamlined DCFS hiring porocess to other agencies after SB2228 is signed. AFSCME initially opposed a version of the bill in veto session, but went to neutral this spring.
That won’t solve all the hiring issues, of course, but it’s a key component.
* And while they’re fixing the hiring process, revamping the state’s procurement code needs to be accomplished as well. The state has set up a ton of new programs in the past four years which have had difficulty getting off the ground because small business owners and not-for-profit leaders just aren’t equipped to deal with the state’s Byzantine contract/grant application process.
Nobody wants to go back to the bad old days. But it just takes too long to get anything done. Plus, the system rewards people with an aptitude for applying for contracts and grants (or hiring people with that knack), but that doesn’t mean those same folks will be as great when it comes to actually performing the work.
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* I went through this with subscribers earlier today, but here’s the beginning of the Tribune’s take…
Backlash continued to rain down on Gov. J.B. Pritzker Wednesday following his decision last week to close enrollment for a state-funded health insurance program for immigrants under 65 as other Illinois officials highlighted that a bill is sitting on the governor’s desk that would allow the state to issue regular driver’s licenses for noncitizens.
Though not connected, the two issues took center stage as Pritzker continues to push back against criticism from Latino lawmakers and immigrant advocates that his administration’s decision on the health insurance program was “immoral and fiscally shortsighted.” Pritzker has defended the move because program costs are skyrocketing.
But protesters gathered at the Federal Plaza downtown for a “die-in,” in which they hammered Pritzker and carried signs in both English and Spanish declaring health care as a human right.
“I’m enraged that instead of getting to celebrate the lives that have lived and thrived under this program, we have to give our office of the governor the visual that they will react to, which is the lives that will die,” said Graciela Guzman, a former campaign director for Healthy Illinois, a coalition of pro-immigrant and health care advocates. “I’m here to remind you together in unity we can continue to make this push and we need to.” […]
When asked whether the governor plans to sign the driver’s license bill into law and if that would ease any criticism he’s received for his handling for the health care program, a Pritzker spokesman said the governor “looks forward to reviewing the bill.” The spokesman highlighted the administration’s support of immigrants and refugees, which he said includes “cash assistance, housing and utility assistance, employment and job training services, and health care education.”
Giannoulias’ office clarified that their presser was planned a couple of weeks ago. But it ran smack dab into the controversy.
…Adding… The bill in question hasn’t even been sent to the governor’s desk yet.
…Adding… The House has now sent the governor the rest of the bills it had, including the Giannoulias initiative.
* Background from WTTW…
Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration announced the coming changes on Friday. According to a news release from the state’s Department of Healthcare and Family Services, highlights include:
• A “temporary” enrollment pause. When the new fiscal year begins July 1, new eligible residents ages 42 to 64 won’t be able to sign up.
• The state will cap at 16,500 the number of seniors who can enroll.
• Everyone enrolled will have to start paying copays of $100 to $250 for hospital visits that are not eligible for matching federal reimbursement.
Those are qualifiers that Tovia Siegel, director of the Healthy Illinois Campaign, said are rooted in bias and were made without consultation of advocates.
“There’s concerns about people who don’t know this program exists and will show up at the hospital needing cancer care or other acute care and would have been eligible for coverage and now won’t be,” Siegel said. “There’s certainly confusion and fear now and there’s also trepidation about what hasn’t happened yet that we expect to happen when a program that we’ve had for years now is suddenly closed down.”
Siegel said the copays will be too expensive for a population that by definition is low-income, and that the enrollment cap leaves little room for more seniors to join.
The argument that it’s all about cost saving is nonsense, Siegel said, because in the long run access to preventative health care saves money. She believes something else is at play.
“The narrative around not being able to spend money on health care — and especially health care for the state’s most vulnerable — does come from a place of anti-immigrant sentiment and believing some people are more worthy of health care than others,” Siegel said.
* Capitol News Illinois…
The emergency rules will now be considered by the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, a bipartisan 12-member group of lawmakers from both chambers of the General Assembly. The rules will remain in place for 150 days, although HB 1298 allows the administration to refile an identical rule after that time.
JCAR could vote by a two-thirds majority to suspend the rules. It could also object to them, leaving them in place while requesting a response from the administration. But nothing in law requires JCAR to act on the rules, in which case they would remain in place.
Advocates hailed the 2020 launch of the HBIS program as setting a “national precedent” for providing health care for immigrant seniors regardless of their legal residency status.
But it far outpaced the initial estimate of $2 million annually that was cited by its House sponsor at the time, Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Chicago, who has since moved on to Congress.
“We have to protect something so fundamental to our humanity as providing health care coverage to people, regardless of documentation status,” Ramirez said in a statement after the governor announced the changes. “It’s extremely disappointing to hear that the state administration has decided to stop immigrants from accessing life-saving health insurance under the pretense that it costs too much, especially since the alleged costs of the program are in question.”
From May 27, 2020…
Illinois will become the first state to provide Medicaid for undocumented seniors not only because of what state Rep. Delia Ramirez has heard from her constituents, but because of her own family’s experience.
Tucked in near the end of the 465-page budget implementation bill that passed the Illinois General Assembly late Saturday night was a provision giving Medicaid access to noncitizens over 65 years old and whose income is $12,670 or less, which is at or under the federal poverty level. […]
The expansion was a big win for the Legislative Latino Caucus, which Ramirez took lead on the effort through the health and human services working group leading up to the special session. She said the coverage will save the state money in the long run, costing about $2 million, which in her opinion, “is nothing to a $2 billion Medicaid bill.”
* WICS…
Grassroots campaigns are utilizing social media platforms to spread the message to enroll online through the Department of Illinois Human Services.
“It’s not that terribly difficult [to enroll in the program]. But certainly, if we’re talking about large numbers of people coming in all at once, that might be a challenge,” Executive Director at East Central Illinois Refugee Center Lisa Wilson said.” This is all coming down pretty fast and furious.”
I heard anecdotally today that the sign-up app was overwhelmed ahead of the cutoff deadline.
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Open thread
Thursday, Jun 22, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller
* What’s going on in your part of Illinois?…
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Isabel’s morning briefing
Thursday, Jun 22, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller
* Here you go…
* Tribune | Criticism continues against Gov. Pritzker’s move closing health care enrollment for immigrants: Backlash continued to rain down on Gov. J.B. Pritzker Wednesday following his decision last week to close enrollment for a state-funded health insurance program for immigrants under 65 as other Illinois officials highlighted that a bill is sitting on the governor’s desk that would allow the state to issue regular driver’s licenses for noncitizens. Though not connected, the two issues took center stage as Pritzker continues to push back against criticism from Latino lawmakers and immigrant advocates that his administration’s decision on the health insurance program was “immoral and fiscally shortsighted.” Pritzker has defended the move because program costs are skyrocketing.
* Capitol News Illinois | Activists accuse governor of ‘aligning himself with anti-immigrant Republicans’: The Healthy Illinois Campaign, which advocates for health care equity for noncitizens, called the freeze “immoral and shortsighted,” saying it will force people “to forgo cancer treatment, diabetes care, mental health care, and countless other kinds of necessary medical treatment.”
* Sun-Times Editorial | A year after Roe v. Wade was overturned, Illinois is fighting hard to protect abortion rights: On a smaller scale, abortion rights are under attack in municipalities across the country, where far right anti-abortion activists are seeking to influence local city councils and target clinics in states where abortion remains legal. Their viewpoint is in the minority, but it’s a loud and dangerous minority.
* SJ-R | Contract negotiations between AFSCME, governor’s office ongoing: The end of June marks both the last day of Fiscal Year 2023 and the state’s four-year contract with Council 31 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union, the state’s largest union for public service workers. Republicans in Springfield, however, have asserted the newly passed $50.4 state budget does not account for those expenses.
* WCIS | Potential CO2 pipeline in Central Illinois faces local pushback: But local property owners and residents have concerns that the pipeline could affect their community and have tried to block the process until their questions are answered. Navigator Co2 Ventures is looking to construct a pipeline that would stretch to five states, including Illinois. It would create thousands of jobs, bring in $47 million dollars of funding to Sangamon County over 30 years, and lower CO2 levels. But residents aren’t sold on the project.
* Rockford Register Star | General Mills breaks ground on massive distribution plant in Belvidere: General Mills has had a 20-year presence in Belvidere, and the center will allow the company to increase its distribution capacity to customers throughout the Midwest.
* WIFR | Walmart brings good news to Belvidere: - With the future of the Stellantis automotive plant uncertain, Belvidere received good news Tuesday, as the world’s largest retailer announced plans to break ground on a $1.2 billion distribution hub later this year.
* Crain’s | Chicago now averages nearly one mass shooting a week: In the last year — from Jan. 19, 2022, to June 18, 2023 — there were 42 reported mass-shooting incidents, the lab found. Bad as that is, it represents a slight improvement from a total of 98 over the last two years, and 150 over the last three years. The latter averages out to 50 times in each 52-week year.
* WBEZ | Candidate Brandon Johnson wanted police out of schools. Mayor Johnson says otherwise.: At a City Hall briefing, Johnson said he would defer to elected Local School Councils, composed of parents, community members and staff at individual schools, who since 2019 have been responsible for voting on whether to keep their officers.
* WTTW | 2 More Chicago Public Schools Vote to Remove Resource Officers From Their Buildings: According to CPS officials, two high schools have voted to remove one or more of their school resource officers ahead of a Board of Education vote on a one-year contract renewal with the Chicago Police Department that otherwise will largely remain the same as this past year’s deal.
* Tribune | Inflation-boosted sales taxes and thousands of job vacancies add up to budget surplus for Cook County, but $85 million deficit is expected in 2024: “We’ve made hard decisions along the way. We raised the sales tax in the summer of 2015 so we could meet our pension obligations. I think of the publicly funded pensions in the state, we’re doing pretty well,” Preckwinkle told reporters during a Wednesday briefing. “We’ve managed, too, to deal with some pretty significant bumps in the road during the pandemic.”
* Telegraph | IDOT announces Illinois 255 project: Illinois will spend $15.2 million to resurface 10 miles of Illinois 255 between Seminar Road in Alton and Illinois 143 in Roxana. The project was the only Metro East work cited in the bid letting announcement. A schedule for the work was not announced.
* Press release | Doug Scott starts tenure as ICC Chairman following nomination by Gov. Pritzker: Effective immediately, Doug Scott will serve as Chairman of the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC). Scott was appointed by Governor JB Pritzker earlier this year to serve out the remainder of outgoing Chairman Carrie Zalewski’s term.
* Sun-Times | Vintage business signs could be saved under proposed ordinance: The proposal is aimed at protecting Chicago’s most iconic “vintage signs,” such as the Grace’s Furniture sign in Logan Square. It also would create legal protection for murals that some businesses use to tout their product.
* Sun-Times | ‘Where are the funds?’ state official asks after Ald. Walter Burnett Jr. says ‘catastrophic flood’ destroyed records on missing campaign money: Cadigan’s comment came Wednesday as the elections board discussed whether to ask either the Illinois attorney general’s office or the Cook County state’s attorney’s office to investigate the missing campaign money.
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Live coverage
Thursday, Jun 22, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller
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