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Isabel’s morning briefing
Tuesday, Jul 11, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller * Here you go…
* WGN | Illinois lawmaker looks to create student-athlete bill of rights: Illinois State Representative and former University of Illinois football player Kam Bucker has turned focus on gender equity, guaranteed education benefits and more to protect student-athletes moving forward. * Tribune | ‘Infuriating.’ Northwestern students, former players and Illinois leaders react to football program hazing reports: Northwestern President Michael Schill said in a statement Monday that 11 current or former players had acknowledged that hazing “has been ongoing within the football program,” based on an independent investigation that was spurred by a former player’s allegations in late 2022; the full report, however, has not been released publicly. * SJR | CWLP’s Brown: Storm’s cost to utility already near $20 million: Doug Brown said 75 CWLP workers and some 175 outside workers from utility companies around the country working through mutual aid replaced over 1,000 pieces of equipment, including poles, crossarms, fuses, switches and transformers after the derecho, packing 100-plus mph winds, raced through Springfield. Brown cautioned that is a rough estimate and “we won’t know exact costs for some time.” * Center for Illinois Politics | The confusing saga and upcoming next steps for an elected Chicago School Board: During the November 2024 election, ten members of the Chicago Board of Education will be elected by voters, and ten members and the board president will be appointed by the mayor. Elected members will serve four-year terms, while appointed members, including the appointed board president, will serve two-year terms. Following the November 2026 general election, the board will be fully elected, beginning their terms in January 2027. * Block Club Chicago | Calls To Move Migrants Out Of Police Stations Grow Louder After Cops Accused Of Sexual Misconduct: Ald. Andre Vasquez (40th), who oversees the City Council’s Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights, said the allegations are “reprehensible.” “If the allegations ring true, the officers must be removed from the force swiftly and brought to justice,” Vasquez said in a statement. “A police station is no place for anyone to live, and the inherent power dynamics, the potential language issues, the vulnerability of a teenage woman coming from another country with no other option for shelter — all of those factors make these allegations particularly heinous if true.” * Illinois Newsroom | A “Pattern of Problematic Conduct”: Urbana Officer Tests Police Accountability: In December 2018, while responding to a complaint of a fight during a house party a block east of the university campus, Franquemont kneed a resident of the house in the stomach and pushed him to the ground after the resident became upset that he was receiving a noise citation and tried to walk away from officers. Inin June 2019, he repeatedly closed the door of his squad car on the knees of an arrestee who claimed his legs were bruised and couldn’t place them in the car, and could be heard mocking him on his bodycam. In January 2020, he shoved a detainee who was inquiring why he was being arrested into his squad car. The man later told investigators his head was “slammed” into the bars in the backseat of the car. * Fox 2 Now | Illinois Treasurer provides new loan options for students: Frerichs’ office will be partnering with ISL Education Lending, a non-profit company, to offer affordable private student loans to Illinois students and families who qualify. * KHQA | Quincy city council narrowly passes no confidence vote in Mayor Troup: The Quincy City Council on Monday voted 7-6 in favor of a resolution declaring they had no confidence in Mayor Mike Troup. One council member abstained from voting. * Tribune | Kina Collins announces third straight run for Congress against veteran US Rep. Danny Davis: Collins this week announced her third straight bid for the Democratic nomination in the overwhelmingly Democratic 7th Congressional District, arguing the progressive political organization she’s built and the connections she has with voters will finally carry her to victory. * Tribune | Ex-Ald. Patrick Daley Thompson accused of failing to pay restitution in tax case: Thompson, 54, the former 11th Ward alderman and scion of the Daley political dynasty, was sentenced to four months in prison in July 2022 for tax evasion and lying to banking regulators. He served his time at the minimum security facility in Oxford, Wisconsin, and was released five days before Christmas, records show. * Sun-Times | Bitwise bankruptcy ends plan for tech-training venture on South Side: The California-based firm closed abruptly, laying off 900 people, and filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy amid several lawsuits and a report of an FBI probe. * NYT | Heat Down Below Is Making the Ground Shift Under Chicago: Since the mid-20th century, the ground between the city surface and the bedrock has warmed by 5.6 degrees Fahrenheit on average, according to a new study out of Northwestern University. All that heat, which comes mostly from basements and other underground structures, has caused the layers of sand, clay and rock beneath some buildings to subside or swell by several millimeters over the decades, enough to worsen cracks and defects in walls and foundations. * Brownfield Ag News | Former Illinois AG Director Larry Werries dies : Werries also served as Director of Intergovernmental Affairs for the USDA before moving to Chicago where he was a member of Chicago Farmers and served on an advisory committee for the Chicago School of Ag Sciences. He eventually returned to the Jacksonville area as a realtor and upon retirement there served as a consultant to the American Farmland Trust. * Crain’s | Tribune parent buys San Diego paper: The billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Times, Patrick Soon-Shiong, sold the San Diego Union-Tribune to MediaNews Group, a chain controlled by hedge fund Alden Global Capital. * Sun-Times | Swifties, post-pandemic travelers help Illinois break hotel revenue record: ‘Our tourism industry is back and it’s booming’: The state’s hotel revenue for the fiscal year ending June 30 reached $309 million — beating a pre-pandemic 2019 record of $296 million. In total, 111 million visitors spent $40 billion on all tourism in 2022. That’s 14 million additional travelers who spent $12 billion more than the previous year.
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- Good Riddance Fitzee - Tuesday, Jul 11, 23 @ 8:10 am:
Can Patrick Daley Thompson do a GoFundMe?
- Three Dimensional Checkers - Tuesday, Jul 11, 23 @ 9:09 am:
Restitution is like mortgages — payment optional.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Jul 11, 23 @ 9:19 am:
In the end, a bad dude, Pat Fitzgerald, who stayed way-way too long, over 24 years in capacities of player, assistant coach and head coach… and Pat Fitzgerald allowed a festering culture to exist and continue, pretending “he didn’t know”
After 24 years of culture you “cultivated” and wanted, you didn’t know what was going on, that’s far worse… and frankly…
Fitzgerald, in a weasel move now wants the likes of Dan Webb to “look into” why Fitzgerald was fired for such a toxic culture. You can’t make this up.
So… the problem with suing is “discovery” for Fitzgerald, and the more folks are deposed on 24 years, over three decades, of possible hazing, it will behoove NU to first remind Fitz, and if that doesn’t work, take him and his legacy down.
Like I said, Pat Fitzgerald is a bad guy. Good riddance
- ChicagoBars - Tuesday, Jul 11, 23 @ 9:27 am:
To beat my broken drum on the state of the Illinois hospitality tax industry…if you adjust for inflation (which I think I heard has been quite high lately) the State of Illinois hotel tax revenues are still well behind 2019.
Happy it’s recovered as much as it has, largely without much of the expected increase in Asian travel since China reopened but industry employment is outright lower since 2019 and if you do Econ 101 and adjust for inflation? Not back to 2019 either.
- Big Dipper - Tuesday, Jul 11, 23 @ 9:28 am:
Webb wasn’t able to do anything for Fox News and he won’t be able to for Fitzgerald either.
- Donnie Elgin - Tuesday, Jul 11, 23 @ 9:32 am:
“People with developmental disabilities living in Illinois’ publicly run institutions have been punched, slapped, hosed down, thrown about and dragged across rooms:…Peter Neumer, the IDHS inspector general, said his department regularly encounters cover-ups at facilities across the state,”
This is a disgrace for the state and so sad that the most vulnerable are subject to abuse. Grace B. Hou, IDHS Secretary was appointed by JB in 2019 - she has been in charge of scandal after scandal. As stated before, JB has done a less-than-stellar job in managing state agencies. He needs to get a change at the top and to bring in AFSCME Council 31 to have meaningful change.
- Big Tent - Tuesday, Jul 11, 23 @ 9:33 am:
“Calls To Move Migrants Out Of Police Stations Grow Louder After Cops Accused Of Sexual Misconduct”
With the need to identify, sign for, or even acknowledge who has filed the complaint due to “SafeTAct,” considerations, ANYONE could have filed an anonymous complaint…a purported victim, a political enemy, or even another cop. Signed affidavits, as previously required would cut to the chase very quickly.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Jul 11, 23 @ 9:36 am:
- Big Tent -
Just so I’m clear, you don’t think anything has happened?
- Rich Miller - Tuesday, Jul 11, 23 @ 9:38 am:
===ANYONE could have filed an anonymous complaint===
Police in every jurisdiction that I know of accept and even encourage anonymous tips.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Jul 11, 23 @ 9:43 am:
===accept and even encourage anonymous tips===
This is where I’m heading.
So it can’t be true unless it’s sworn? The victims must first publicly come forward for it to be true?
- H-W - Tuesday, Jul 11, 23 @ 9:44 am:
@ Big Tent
Anonymity is about protecting the oppressed and weak. Sworn affidavits protect the powerful. In this case, we are talking about a child being impregnated. I don’t want to know the child’s name, and oppose making that child’s family name public.
From the story: “Last week, one officer from the 10th (Ogden) Police District, 3315 W. Ogden Ave., was accused of impregnating a teenage girl, while other officers were accused of “improper sexual relations.”
- Gravitas - Tuesday, Jul 11, 23 @ 9:53 am:
Fitzgerald should have left Evanston for another position years ago when he had the opportunity.
He ought to have been fired for the exceptionally poor performance of the football team last autumn and the preceding year, but NU had foolishly given him a long term contract. Fitzgerald’s response was to fire two assistants rather than accepting responsibility for the decline of the program.
The Wildcats ought to have dumped him as soon as the hazing investigation was concluded. The initial two week suspension without pay looked clumsy and the new university president owns that. Ultimately, the university got it right the second time.
Fitzgerald’s dismissal reminds me of his former coach and mentor, Gary Barnett, who wound up in trouble at Colorado for allowing a toxic atmosphere to pervade the Buffaloes football program.
- supplied_demand - Tuesday, Jul 11, 23 @ 10:06 am:
==Big Tent==
CPD has lost the benefit of the doubt based on leading the nation in reversed convictions. I wonder how many of those had sworn affidavits that the officers “verified” while under oath?
You are asking for victims to go to the police to report abuse by THE POLICE. Does that sound like a winning strategy for migrant victims?
https://chicago.suntimes.com/crime/2022/4/22/23037244/cpd-ronald-watts-police-officer-corrupt-kim-foxx-cook-county-states-attorney
- Big Dipper - Tuesday, Jul 11, 23 @ 10:54 am:
Seeing as DNA tests will show if the cop impregnated the minor, it doesn’t really matter if the complaint is anonymous.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Jul 11, 23 @ 11:08 am:
===Seeing as DNA tests===
So only abuse exists (or existed) if a DNA test proves paternity?
That will be truthful for paternity, and all things to this instance, the concern is if things are more widespread, deciding one test is the measure is too simplified, no matter which argument one chooses.
- DuPage - Tuesday, Jul 11, 23 @ 11:11 am:
===From the story: “Last week, one officer from the 10th (Ogden) Police District, 3315 W. Ogden Ave., was accused of impregnating a teenage girl===
DNA test would verify one way or another. It should be done ASAP.
- Big Dipper - Tuesday, Jul 11, 23 @ 12:10 pm:
Yeah, I think Willy misconstrued what I was saying. I support anonymous complaints in general but regarding the minor who was impregnated it’s kind of beside the point.
- Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Jul 11, 23 @ 12:27 pm:
===but regarding the minor who was impregnated it’s kind of beside the point.===
That’s exactly why even going down a “DNA” line of thought, both avenues of even acknowledging abuse, or trying to measure abuse under paternity, the idea of abuse or it’s measure is greater than a test of paternity
- Big Dipper - Tuesday, Jul 11, 23 @ 12:49 pm:
I never said only paternity is abuse. Any sexual relationship between the cops and the migrants is improper and depending on the circumstances possibly criminal.
- btowntruth from forgottonia - Tuesday, Jul 11, 23 @ 2:57 pm:
“The Wildcats ought to have dumped him as soon as the hazing investigation was concluded. The initial two week suspension without pay looked clumsy and the new university president owns that. Ultimately, the university got it right the second time.”
Right there.