Afternoon roundup
Wednesday, Jun 21, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller
* NASCAR news from the CTA…
More than a dozen CTA bus routes will detour around road closures for the upcoming NASCAR Street Race course.
The race at Grant Park is set for July 1-2, but most detours run from June 26 through July 5. […]
All buses except the No. 151 will be blocked from going their normal route through the Loop, according to the CTA.
* WCIA TV…
The Illinois State Museum announced it will host community discussions about the 1908 exhibition proposed for the Springfield Sangamon County Transportation Hub, beginning at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, June 24 at the museum.
The second meeting is scheduled at 3 p.m. on Saturday, June 24, at the Springfield and Central Illinois African American History Museum.
The museum reported they have partnered with Sangamon County to create a community-focused exhibit highlighting artifacts and materials discovered during the archeological excavations for the rail relocation project. They said this is to preserve the history and culture of the Springfield community.
The objects found were remnants of homes built in the 1840s that were burned to the ground by a White mob action in 1908, commonly referred to as the 1908 Race Riot, officials said.
* Coming late to this because I lost the link in an email I never sent and subsequently found this afternoon…
The Chicago market led the U.S. meetings and events industry by volume for May for the second month in a row, according to new data from Knowland. Second place—again—went to Washington D.C., with Los Angeles/Long Beach in third. […]
Chicago was in the lead of the top five markets by event volume, hosting national association meetings followed by weddings and pharma/biotech. Washington D.C., Los Angeles/Long Beach, Dallas and San Diego rounded out the top five.
* Press release…
Governor JB Pritzker and the Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA) Board announced conditional awards totaling nearly $26 million in federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits (LIHTC) that will fund 18 affordable housing developments in 12 counties throughout Illinois. Once sold to investors, the tax credits will generate an estimated $235 million in private capital to finance the creation and/or preservation of 1,159 affordable units for low- to moderate-income families, seniors, and people with disabilities. […]
According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, 73 percent of extremely low-income renter households in Illinois are severely cost burdened or spend more than half of their income on housing. This problem is aggravated due to a severe shortage of affordable units for extremely low-income families. Illinois will need to create and preserve over 293,354 housing units to close the gap and ensure these households are less burdened and have more security in making their rent payment.
* Press release…
Legislation approved by Illinois lawmakers will expand identification options for undocumented immigrants and make Illinois roads safer, according to Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias who helped craft the measure currently awaiting the governor’s signature.
Giannoulias hosted a press conference alongside the sponsors of House Bill 3882, State Representative Barbara Hernandez (50th District – Aurora) and State Senator Ram Villivalam (8th District – Chicago), as well as advocates and stakeholders, to raise awareness and highlight the importance of this legislation.
House Bill 3882 – which passed the Illinois General Assembly last month – would allow non-citizen residents who are eligible to receive a standard driver’s license with the wording “Federal Limits Apply” printed atop of the cards per the federal REAL ID Act. These types of licenses would replace the current Temporary Visitor Driver’s Licenses (TVDLs), which undocumented immigrants have been able to obtain to drive legally in Illinois. […]
Those eligible for a TVDL must have lived in Illinois for more than a year and do not have a Social Security number. Individuals must provide their U.S. immigration documentation, a passport or a consular card – requirements that remain the same under the new proposal.
Applicants for a standard driver’s license would be required to follow the same process as applying for a TVDL. Still, the license they receive would be the same as one issued to any other Illinoisan whose ID does not comply with federal REAL ID guidelines.
* IDOT…
The Illinois Department of Transportation announced today that bids on 236 contracts for highway and bridge projects were accepted at its June letting, representing a potential investment of more than $910.4 million in infrastructure in communities throughout Illinois. This month’s bid letting is the largest in the department’s history, fueled by Gov. Pritzker’s historic, bipartisan Rebuild Illinois, which is putting people to work and enhancing quality of life while improving safety and mobility in every part of the state.
“This bid letting is an historic achievement for Illinois and further illustrates the kind of transformational investments being made in the state’s infrastructure due to Rebuild Illinois,” said Illinois Transportation Secretary Omer Osman. “Up and down Illinois, communities are experiencing the benefits of an improved, modernized transportation system that gets you and your family where you need to go safely and reliably.”
* Interesting map…
* Isabel’s roundup…
* SJ-R | $3 million grant for SPD has technology component, outreach programs: The grant has a technology component, like adding two square miles of ShotSpotter, said SPD Chief Ken Scarlette, but it also funds outreach programs officers themselves came up with.
* Axios | Becerra to travel to Missouri-Illinois clinics to mark Dobbs anniversary: HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra will first visit the Planned Parenthood clinic in Fairview Heights, Illinois, where abortions are still legal. He will later travel 20 minutes away to a Planned Parenthood clinic in St. Louis, where abortion is now illegal. It is the same clinic where Becerra was giving remarks last year when the Dobbs decision dropped.
* Block Club | As Need For Migrant Housing Intensifies, Volunteers Say Community-Run Shelters Are A Model City Should Copy: On a rainy afternoon, three young migrant children played inside the gym at St. Paul’s United Church in Lincoln Park. They tossed a ball with a parishioner while their mothers cooked lunch in a kitchen across the hall. The church’s banquet hall has been converted into four individual rooms to house four recently arrived migrant families, each outfitted with plenty of beds and a door that locks. It’s a stark contrast to the conditions these four families lived in just two weeks ago, when they were sleeping on cold, hard floors of police stations, relying on the kindness of strangers for an opportunity to shower and anxiously waiting for space to free up in a city-run shelter.
* WCIA | $45 million from Illinois State Board of Education to help with teacher shortage: $45 million is in the newest state budget to address shortages. Jennifer Kirmes, the Executive Director of Teaching and Learning for ISBE, said that’s the biggest investment to date focusing on it. The money will go to 170 school districts with the highest count of unfilled teaching positions. 60% are in rural areas, 40% in urban. Once the districts have the money, Kirmes said it’s up to each district to decide how they’ll use it.
* Crain’s | State regulators clamp down on Nicor Gas: State regulators have ruled Nicor Gas improperly charged customers for $31 million in infrastructure spending from 2019, triggering a process that will lead to a refund and rate adjustments. The Illinois Commerce Commission last week ordered the disallowance of about 7% of the $415 million Nicor spent updating its natural gas system in that year.
* Tribune | ‘An opportunity to seize on fear’: Trial underway for Chicago pharmacist accused of selling COVID vaccine cards on eBay: Zhao, 36, is on trial on charges he sold nearly 700 authentic CDC-issued COVID-19 vaccination cards on eBay at the height of the pandemic crisis in 2021, cards that he’d pilfered from a patient immunization room at the South Side Walgreens where he worked.
* Sun-Times | Effort revs up to phase out ‘sub-minimum wage’ for tipped workers: Four years ago, then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot threw a bone to progressives disappointed by her proposed 2020 budget by promising to raise Chicago’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2021 — four years faster than the state. But she maintained the “sub-minimum wage” for tipped workers, arguing that paying them the $15-an-hour would have a devastating impact on the restaurant industry — and that even some of the waiters and servers themselves didn’t want it.
* Daily-Journal | County’s bond rating upgrades to prime in 2023: The “positive outlook” analysis documents the sustained financial improvement in Kankakee County government, reduction of debt, financial policy and execution and elimination of outside borrowing to support operations. Moody’s again increased the county’s rating, this time from Baa1 to A3, which is classified as prime-1, and puts the county in the A status.
* Crain’s | Biden biodiesel quotas deal a blow to plant-based fuel makers like ADM: Under a regulation set to be finalized today, the Environmental Protection Agency in 2023 will require the use of 2.82 billion gallons of biomass-based diesel, generally made from soybean and canola oil — just a 2.2% increase over the 2.76 billion gallons mandated last year. For 2024 and 2025, the quotas are being set at 3.04 billion and 3.35 billion gallons, respectively.
* Sun-Time | 19 City Council members push candidate for top cop; head of search calls it ‘completely inappropriate’: Nineteen City Council members have signed a letter expressing “disappointment and dismay” that a new independent commission charged with searching for Chicago’s next top cop hasn’t granted a follow-up interview to the city’s well-respected patrol chief who applied for the job.
* Tribune | Prosecutors drop charges in Clifton Lewis cop-killing case plagued with allegations of police, prosecutorial misconduct: In a surprise move after months of contentious hearings and a labor-intensive process by the city to try to comply with discovery obligations amid allegations that officials buried evidence, Assistant State’s Attorneys Craig Engebretson and Kevin DeBoni told the court during a hearing Wednesday at the Leighton Criminal Court Building that they were dropping charges against Clay and Colon.
* Crain’s | Blackhawks seek rights to add residential, hotel units near United Center: Included in a zoning application for the NHL team’s planned $65 million, two-rink expansion of its Fifth Third Arena practice facility is a request to allow the mix of residential, hotel and retail uses in “future phases” of the development. The application, filed by a venture controlled by the Blackhawks-owning Wirtz family, does not include detailed drawings of the mixed-use plan and notes that such future projects would require site plan approval from the city.
* Daily Herald | If you see yellow planes above, they’re spraying to keep the spongy moth off trees: Historically known as the “gypsy moth,” spongy moth caterpillars have a feeding period that lasts between seven and 10 weeks through spring and summer. A single spongy moth caterpillar can eat 11 square feet of vegetation during its lifetime.
* Vice | I-95 Collapse in Philadelphia Didn’t Cause a Traffic Disaster, Data Shows: Rather than being some shocking twist, this was an entirely predictable outcome. It is what happens every time a section of a major highway is closed, even unexpectedly due to an emergency. In 2017, a section of I-85 in Atlanta collapsed. The ensuing commute was “not so horrible.” In 2007, a bridge along I-35W in Minneapolis collapsed, but subsequent analyses showed its impact on travel times was minimal. There are many more examples of anticipated “carmageddons” not materializing for planned closures of major highways due to construction, such as the OG “carmageddon” in Los Angeles and the 90,000 cars that “just disappeared” off of the roads daily when the Seattle viaduct was closed.
* Daily Herald | Schaumburg abandoning plans for performing arts center, shifting $27.5 million already saved: Schaumburg is officially moving on from its long-standing plans for a 2,400-seat performing arts center west of the Renaissance Hotel by reallocating the $27.5 million gradually saved for it over the years to the village’s building replacement fund.
* Tribune | Lurie, Advocate Children’s, Comer named best children’s hospitals in Illinois: The report ranked Lurie as the seventh best children’s hospital in the Midwest. No Illinois children’s hospital has ranked in the top 10 nationally since Lurie last scored a spot there in 2018. U.S. News does not rank children’s hospitals nationally beyond the top 10.
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Two steps forward…
Wednesday, Jun 21, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The Tribune’s Vivian La traveled to Petersburg, Illinois ahead of its first-ever Pride fest…
Saturday’s event, which will include live music, specials at local businesses and art activities for families, is one of many Pride celebrations being held around the state and across the country this month.
Illinois is known for the Chicago Pride Parade — the biggest in the Midwest — which kicks off Sunday. But even a state considered to be a haven for LGBTQ rights has not been immune to attacks on LGBTQ businesses as the national political climate has turned more heated. […]
“The City Council unanimously voted to shut down the streets for Pride in Petersburg,” Pope said. “And, you know, that probably wouldn’t have happened 20 years ago.” […]
The community members organizing Pride hope to make the event an annual tradition. They’re all confident that it will last.
Olesen said Petersburg has seen change before — the town used to be all farmers — so this is the next step for a community that always tries to support one another.
It’s a good read.
* Lake County State’s Attorney press release on an alleged hate crime at College of Lake County…
Today, the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office filed a three-count information consisting of two counts of Aggravated Battery and one Hate Crime count against Jason D. May for an attack against two CLC employees on the CLC campus at Grayslake.
The Aggravated Battery charges are Class 3 felonies, and the Hate Crime is a Class 4 felony.
On June 15, 2023, May approached a CLC staff member while they were at their desk and tore down a Pride flag the employee had hanging behind them. As May attempted to take the flag, there was a struggle between the staff member, May, and a second CLC staff member who tried intervening. May attacked and struck both staff members. CLC Police were called to assist the victims, identify the offender, and begin an investigation.
May, who was a student at CLC at the time of the incident, has been in custody of the Lake County Jail being held on $50,000 cash bond since June 17. Prosecutors sought a bond of $150,000, but that request was denied.
State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart made the following statement Wednesday:
“This was an unprovoked attack not only on the CLC employees, but also on the LGBTQIA community. It is important to point out that this offender went out of his way to enter the workspace of the CLC staff so that he could pull down the Pride flag which proudly represents tolerance, love, and equality.
We appreciate the efforts of CLC police and the CLC administration. Our office will support their community, and we have been in close contact with those who were attacked in order to support them and provide them with any services they need. We know that hate crimes against the LGBTQIA community have been on the rise in this country. Hate has no home in Lake County, and this State’s Attorney’s Office will do everything to protect those who are subject to intolerance or violence simply because of who they are or who they love.”
Based on a report published in 2023 by the United States Department of Justice, there was a 70% increase nationwide in hate crimes against the LGBTQIA+ community between 2020 and 2021.
The LGBTQ+ Center of Lake County, a local 501(c)(3) organization released the following statement:
“Unfortunately, we are in a time where stigma and violence against the LGBTQ+ community — and specifically against the transgender community — is on the rise. It is so important that we are combating this hatred with adequate support and resources for the LGBTQ+ population as well as increased community education and advocacy. If you are in need of resources including LGBTQ+ support groups and therapists, you can visit our website at lgbtqlc.com”
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Lacking context and perspective
Wednesday, Jun 21, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller
* A 4.1 percent unemployment rate is setting their hair on fire…
With Illinois’ unemployment rate now tied for fourth worst in the country and the state having only added in the neighborhood of 2,500 jobs in May, Republican state Sen. Steve McClure says there have been warning signs for years.
“It shows that the attack against businesses by Gov. [J.B.] Pritzker and Democrats that has been going on for years is really taking a toll,” McClure told The Center Square. “Doing business is a struggle for many in this state and it’s not hard to see why that is.”
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows that the state’s overall unemployment rate dipped to 4.1% in May, down one-tenth of a percent from the month before, but McClure argues that hardly tells the story.
If they’re gonna focus on unemployment rates, I’ll note that the pro-business bastion of Texas has the same unemployment rate as Illinois. And while Illinois’ unemployment rate has declined during the last twelve months, Texas’ rate has risen.
Minnesota’s May rate was 2.9 percent, and they’re hardly a conservative outpost.
But, really, both Texas and Illinois are less than a half a point higher than the national average of 3.7 percent.
We have our troubles, for sure. But screaming about the inadequacy of what is essentially full employment seems silly to me.
* Now, scroll all the way to the bottom of the Center Square story…
“And there’s no relief in sight,” added McClure, noting that the grocery tax and a second gas tax are set to kick in on July 1.
Sen. McClure voted in favor of doubling the Motor Fuel Tax rate in 2019 and tying it to inflation. Last year, McClure voted against the BIMP but did vote to temporarily freeze the Motor Fuel Tax and lower the grocery tax by a percentage point. [Note change.]
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* David Roeder back in January…
Prolific stadium builder Bob Dunn, advising the Lightfoot administration on how to fix Soldier Field to keep the Bears in Chicago, released detailed plans Sunday for transforming the isolated stadium into a year-round commercial and entertainment hub, served by a transit station that would underpin his goal of residential expansion on the Near South Side.
Dunn estimated that his proposal to dome Soldier Field, working within its existing footprint, would save the Bears at least $1 billion over the cost of building from the ground up in Arlington Heights, where the team has a contract to purchase land.
Dunn, president of Landmark Development, said the proposed new Soldier Field and surrounding activity would fatten city tax coffers while giving the Bears and the team’s fans a facility that would be among the tops for NFL teams. […]
The other assumption is that he can change how fans get to Soldier Field. Most drive now, but Dunn said that, with a transit connection next to the stadium, 40% of the crowd could arrive by rail, comparing the game-day commuting patterns to Wrigley Field.
The transit hub is a clue to Dunn’s vested interest in helping Soldier Field. It’s a principal part of his plan for a megadevelopment of up to nine highrises built over Metra’s tracks west of the stadium. The plan is called One Central and, as previously sketched out, could cost $20 billion and include more than 9,000 residences.
One Central needs that transit station — seen as a junction for the CTA, Metra and Amtrak — to get people to the future buildings. But its cost is estimated at $6.5 billion. Dunn has promised to fund the construction, provided the state repays him from sales taxes resulting from the development.
* David Roeder the other day…
Here’s a bold prediction: The Bears are not going to Naperville, Waukegan, Rockford or any other johnny-come-latelies. This is strictly between Arlington Heights and Chicago, and the contest is closer than some people think.
Similarly and for the big city’s partisans, the Bears are not going to any other site within Chicago that planners may offer up. Sources who have been involved in the process say the Bears have never shown much interest in this option. […]
Developer Bob Dunn has been making that case [a redesigned Soldier Field should be the goal] for months. His vested interest in Soldier Field is that he wants to build a residential and commercial complex near it called One Central, and he needs a state-funded transit hub to make the project viable. […]
In a brief interview, [Dunn] stuck with his main point that reusing 70% of Soldier Field would save the Bears — and maybe taxpayers — $1 billion compared with setting up in Arlington Heights.
“That’s how you crack the economic code for building a stadium here,” he said.
* The state is now in the process of conducting a feasibility study on the One Central project. The Sun-Times editorial board wrote that the result should be “a resounding no”…
Landmark Development President Bob Dunn wants to build the transit center as part of One Central, a nine-tower, $20 billion mixed-use development proposed for the Metra Electric Line from 14th Street to near McCormick Place.
Under Dunn’s plan, the state would reimburse him $6.5 billion for building the transit center, and would take over ownership of the facility after 20 years. […]
But what good is a multibillion-dollar transit complex that’s five miles from Metra’s and Amtrak’s hub at Union Station, two-and-half miles from the nearest CTA Red Line stop at Cermak, and yet only four blocks from the McCormick Place stop on the Green Line?
The Metra Electric would stop there, presumably, but with no other direct rail connections, the center reads more like a jumped-up bus station to us, transitwise.
Dunn proposed a tram-like circulator connecting One Central with Navy Pier and the museum campus, but who will pay for building and operating that?
If the proposed center somehow survives the state’s examination, we’d then like to see a thorough, independent transit study that takes a critical look at the actual need for such a facility.
Because as we see it, Chicago has legitimate transportation infrastructure problems. The $6.5 billion transit station solves none of them.
Your thoughts?
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* From an Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy report on the 75 percent state tax credit given to Illinoisans who donate to the Invest in Kids program…
Illinois is among the states that have chosen to open the door to a highly problematic—and legally dubious—loophole that some high-income families are using to avoid state and federal tax on their capital gains income. These families send their stock holdings, rather than cash, to voucher-bunding groups and claim that their gifts do not give rise to capital gains income, even though they received a payout from the state worth most of their stock’s value. Fenwick High School, just outside of Chicago, has encouraged families to exploit this convoluted scheme, calling it “double tax savings.” When capital gains tax avoidance is stacked on top of the tax credit itself, the combined revenue loss to Illinois can go beyond 75 percent of the amount contributed.
* From Fenwick’s site. Pay special attention to the last paragraph…
The IL Tax Credit Scholarship program is in place for at least two more years: 2022 and 2023! You can “pay” your Illinois income taxes in 2022 by taking advantage of the Illinois Tax Credit Scholarship program as follows:
• Make a contribution to a scholarship granting organization (SGO) like Big Shoulders Fund or Empower Illinois.
• Direct your contribution to Fenwick
• Get a 75% state income tax credit (not a deduction, a credit!) for the amount of your donation
Take advantage of this program now for 2022! If you do not use all your tax credits in 2022, you can roll them forward for up to five years!
The stock market is still trading near all-time highs! Take advantage of double tax savings by contributing long-term appreciated stock to an SGO (thus avoiding capital gains tax), direct your gift to Fenwick, and receive a state income tax credit of 75% of the amount of your gift!
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[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Since 2018, Uber and Arizona State University have provided 5000 qualified drivers and their families with 100% tuition coverage.
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* WBEZ…
In terms of segregation between white and Black residents, Chicago is the most segregated city in America, according to data from Brown University.
Chicago’s white-Black dissimilarity index has declined from 90.61 in 1980 to 80.04 in 2020, according to the Brown University data. Dissimilarity index is a measurement of the percentage of either group, in a given pair, that would have to move in order for the two groups to be evenly distributed in any given area.
However, Chicago’s 2020 figure for white-Black segregation ranked first among all cities, of any size, for which data was available. Chicago has ranked first among big cities for decades — Cleveland had a higher mark in 1990 — but smaller cities have posted higher figures in previous years. […]
The Chicago-Naperville-Evanston metropolitan division, defined by the U.S. Census Bureau as Cook, DuPage, Grundy, McHenry and Will counties in Illinois, ranked fifth. The Gary metropolitan division, which covers Jasper, Lake, Newton and Porter counties in northwest Indiana, ranked sixth. […]
Illinois ranked first among all states in the nation in the share of Black residents living in census tracts that are at least 90% Black, according to a WBEZ analysis of 2020 census data.
There’s more.
…Adding… Tribune…
When Walmart shuttered four Chicago stores in April, the closures set off a familiar pattern of dialogue across the city.
Residents of the majority-Black and Latino neighborhoods where three of the four shuttered stores were located worried the closures would make it harder for them to access affordable, fresh food. Elected officials, including then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot, slammed the abrupt nature of the closures, and questions emerged about whether Walmart had received government subsidies for opening stores in the city.
Walmart did not directly receive any tax incentives for the Chicago stores it closed. But two of the stores it shuttered, a Neighborhood Market grocery store in Grand Boulevard and a Supercenter in Chatham that also included a low-cost health clinic and a job training academy, were part of developments the city subsidized with tax increment financing dollars.
Public funds for both projects went to the sites’ developers. In both cases, the city required those developers to maintain certain levels or types of retail occupancy on their properties. But those requirements expired in December 2022. Months later, Walmart announced it would close the stores down.
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Open thread
Wednesday, Jun 21, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller
* Everyone should start their day with a cute animal pic, especially if it’s Oscar…
* What’s going on?…
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Isabel’s morning briefing
Wednesday, Jun 21, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller
* Here you go…
* Press release | Giannoulias to Host Press Conference Highlighting Legislation to End the Stigma for Immigrant Drivers; Make Illinois Roads Safer: Secretary Giannoulias will hold a press conference to raise awareness on HB 3882, a measure that aims to expand identification options for immigrants while improving road safety. Where: National Museum of Mexican Art When: Wednesday, June 21, at 11 A.M.
* WGN | 52,000 more Illinois residents died during the pandemic than is typical: The Illinois Department of Public Health reports there were 52,108 “excess deaths” as they’re known. Epidemiologists track the number because simply put: The ultimate indicator of health is death. The number of people who died in Illinois (from all causes) varied by only 1,000 people in each of the three years before COVID-19 arrived. Then it soared.
* David Kraft | Two energy vetoes to consider, not one: While Crain’s and others have given deserved attention to the dreadful “right of first refusal” energy bill that Gov. J.B. Pritzker has vowed to veto, a second energy bill — repeal of the 1987 Illinois nuclear construction moratorium (SB76) — has all but vanished from the radar. Yet this bill’s implications for Illinois’ energy future may be far greater and just as detrimental. SB76 passed both chambers during legislative session, and Pritzker has given a cautious indication he is inclined to sign it. He should not.
* Media Matters | Local news outlets subscribing to The Center Square’s wire service are pushing right-wing talking points on their readers: The Center Square provides struggling and underfunded local outlets their stories for free with attribution, unlike larger, more established wire services like the AP which charge licensing fees. This model preys on vulnerable news organizations with vanishing staff and shrinking budgets that need wire articles, like those offered by The Center Square, to fill space. Outlets that use The Center Square do not typically acknowledge the explicitly conservative lean of their work.
* Illinois News Bureau | Cannabis use lower among Illinois teens living in ZIP codes with medical dispensaries: In a statewide survey, about 18.3% of the youths living in Illinois ZIP codes with medical dispensaries reported they used cannabis during the prior year compared with 22.4% of those who lived in ZIP codes without these businesses, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign found. They reported the findings in the journal Cannabis.
* Sun-Times | History over histrionics? Bally’s nods to Medinah’s past in Chicago casino plan: ‘It’s not going to be your bright, flashy casino’: The Sun-Times got an early look inside the River North casino that is expected to open by the end of summer. “Anyone can build a temporary casino, but not everyone gets a chance to build a temporary casino in a beautiful, historic building such as this,” said Mark Wong of Bally’s Chicago Casino.
* News-Sun | Waukegan casino hopes to open sportsbook by start of NFL season: ‘It will bring added excitement, especially on game days’: Both American Place owner Full House Resorts and Circa received the necessary approvals from the Illinois Gaming Board Thursday in Chicago to open the sportsbook at the Waukegan casino, adding a new feature to the four-month old gaming facility.
* NBC Chicago | End of grocery tax suspension, changes to school holidays among measures taking effect at start of July: Chicago’s hourly minimum wage is set to increase from $15.40 to $15.80 for employers with 21 or more employees, with an increase from $14.50 to $15 for employers with four to 20 employees. Additionally, the hourly minimum wage for tipped employees will increase from $9.24 to $9.48 for employees of large businesses, while tipped employees of smaller businesses will see their minimum wage increase from $8.70 to $9.
* Tribune | Tara Stamps, ‘mentor’ to Mayor Brandon Johnson, chosen to replace him on the Cook County Board: Local Democrats met Wednesday night in Oak Park to serve as the commissioner of the county’s 1st District, unanimously selecting Johnson ally and Chicago Teachers Union leader Tara Stamps for the role. She was chosen from an initial field of 19 applicants that was later narrowed down to six. At the end of the roughly three-hour meeting, Stamps supporters erupted in cheers at the announcement.
* Block Club | West Side Lawmaker Wants Riot Fest, Big Concerts In Parks To Pay 2% Fee To Communities Hosting Them: Park District officials said profits from private events benefit the entire parks system. Ford said his proposal would ensure some of those profits go directly to the parks hosting the festivals.
* WBEZ | A last-ditch effort is underway to prevent CPS takeover of all-boys Chicago charter school: “If the empirical evidence shows the leading issue here in the city of Chicago is crime, and education is the way forward to reduce crime, then why is it that they’re going to close a school like Urban Prep as opposed to duplicate Urban Prep?” said attorney Victor Henderson, at a press conference on behalf of the Coalition of African American Leaders or COAL. “We don’t need to see fewer Urban Preps. We need to see more of that.”
* Tribune | Four pedestrians struck, two critically hurt near Guaranteed Rate Field before a White Sox game: A silver sedan with four occupants struck two men and two women just outside the park in the 300 block of West 35th Street around 6:20 p.m., Chicago police said during an evening news conference near 35th Street and Shields Avenue. All four victims were fans heading to the Sox game against the Texas Rangers, officials said.
* Chalkbeat | Latest national test results show striking drop in 13-year-olds’ math and reading scores: That adds up to a striking collapse in achievement scores since 2012, after decades of progress in math and modest gains in reading. In reading, 13-year-olds scored about the same as those who took the test in 1971, when it was first administered. Math scores were now comparable to those in 1992.
* NYT | Is the Inflation Battle Won? Not Yet.: The Fed has spent the past 15 months locked in an aggressive war against inflation, raising interest rates above 5 percent in an attempt to get price increases back down to a more normal pace. Last week its officials announced that they were skipping a rate increase in June, giving themselves more time to see how the already enacted changes are playing out across the economy.
* USA Today | Underwater noises detected: Underwater noises were detected in the North Atlantic Ocean while U.S. and Canadian crews searched for the small vessel carrying five people that vanished two days earlier in a dive to the Titanic wreckage site, the U.S. Coast Guard announced early Wednesday. A Canadian aircraft heard “underwater noises in the search area,” the Coast Guard said on Twitter shortly before 12:30 a.m. ET. The noises prompted remotely operated vehicle operations to search for the origin of the noises.
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Live coverage
Wednesday, Jun 21, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller
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