Isabel’s morning briefing
Wednesday, Jul 19, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller * Here you go…
* WCIA | 60 days until the Safe-T Act is in effect, some officials feel ready and others want more time:Julia Rietz, the Champaign County State’s Attorney, said her team is ready to go. She knows they have been since the original January 1st date. Tyler Heleine, the Coles County Chief Deputy, doesn’t think this is the right move and wants to see more work done. “I think there’s a little disappointment,” he said. “We were hoping it would go the other way.” * WBEZ | The new Rainbow PUSH leader vows to fight recent Supreme Court decisions: Jackson said Tuesday the U.S. Supreme Court has “threatened 60 years of work,” and his successor the Rev. Dr. Frederick D. Haynes, III cited the high court’s recent decision rolling back affirmative action in higher education as one area the civil rights organization will push back on. “We’ve got to go to the Supreme Court, lie down on the steps of the Supreme Court and tell the Supreme Court that we’re going to stay right here and have our own affirmative action,” Haynes told attendees at the organization’s annual convention on the University of Chicago’s campus. * Tribune | Chicago’s IG says Ald. Jim Gardiner hit a constituent with a phony fine. The Board of Ethics should whack him back in the wallet: Last week, Inspector General Deborah Witzburg released her findings. Though she didn’t name Gardiner in her report, the Tribune confirmed she was speaking about him. Witzburg concluded that the alderman worked with two office workers to conjure up the retaliation. Czosnyka still was cited for the weeds even though Gardiner and his people had previously been told that Czosnyka’s garden did not violate any city ordinance. * Block Club | Police Oversight Agency Says It Can’t Find Migrants Who Were Allegedly Sexually Abused By Cops: The police oversight agency began its investigation July 6. Since then, the agency has uncovered another claim of “sexual misconduct” involving a migrant and one or more officers in the 19th Police District, Civilian Office of Police Accountability chief Andrea Kersten said. But, after nearly two weeks of investigating, the police oversight agency is still working to substantiate whether this alleged abuse in fact occurred, Kersten said. * WTTW | How a Group of Community Leaders Worked to Choose 3 Finalists for Chicago’s Next Police Superintendent: The three finalists for the city’s top cop were selected from a total of 54 applicants by the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability (CCPSA) after unprecedented community and police input. The choice now rests with new Mayor Brandon Johnson to make what will likely be the most consequential hiring decision of his administration. * Sun-Times | City Council members to propose 2-year timeline for eliminating ‘sub-minimum’ wage:With a progressive mayor who is a champion of the “One Fair Wage” campaign, it was never a matter of if, but when, Chicago eliminates the “sub-minimum wage” for tipped workers and how long restaurants would have to do it. The answer will come Wednesday, when Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th) and rookie Ald. Jessie Fuentes (26th) introduce an ordinance that would give restaurants two years — until July 2025 — to phase out the sub-minimum wage for tipped workers. * Sun-Times | Scientists test South Side air, rain to find ways to tackle climate-related problems: Researchers at Argonne National Laboratory say they want to help South Siders understand why their communities experience perennial flooding as well as climate-related bad air quality and extreme heat. With the aim of providing the most specific information they can, scientists on Tuesday installed monitors at Chicago State University that will measure temperature, humidity, air quality and other metrics to gauge the impact of climate change. * AP | 1st lawsuit filed against Pat Fitzgerald and Northwestern leaders stemming from a hazing scandal: The player, identified in the lawsuit as John Doe, alleged Tuesday in the Cook County Court in Chicago that Fitzgerald, Northwestern University President Michael Schill, the board of trustees and athletic director Derrick Gragg enabled and concealed sexual misconduct and racial discrimination. * Sun-Times | Inbound Kennedy construction enters new phase Wednesday, with lane shifts at Division:Beginning 5 a.m. Wednesday, construction shifts to the right side of the inbound lanes at Division Street, forcing drivers to go left onto new pavement until Ohio Street. * Block Club | Obama Foundation Gives $1 Million To Prevent Summer Violence By Funding Safe Spaces For Young Black And Brown Men: More than 30 community groups, mainly on the South and West Sides, received $30,000 to organize summer violence prevention programs for young Black and Brown men. * NBC Chicago | Who’s eligible and more: what to know about Illinois’ $68M Instagram settlement:According to a press release, the suit, filed in DuPage County, claims Instagram owner Meta violated the Illinois’ Biometric Privacy Act, which prohibits companies from collecting and storing biometric information like physical characters that can be used to identify individuals. * Block Club | Chicago Is Unsafe For Cyclists, Report Shows: It ‘Reflects How We’re All Feeling,’ Advocates Say:Chicago was ranked 161st out of 163 big cities for bikeability in 2023, according to a report by PeopleForBikes. The city also got low scores for its accessibility of bike lanes to other transit hubs, recreational amenities, connectivity to core services and getting to different neighborhoods.
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- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Jul 19, 23 @ 8:08 am:
===Block Club | Police Oversight Agency Says It Can’t Find Migrants Who Were Allegedly Sexually Abused By Cops===
From the reporting…
===“There can be profound and sometimes impenetrable barriers, which prevent survivors of sexual misconduct from recording their experiences or participating in our systems of justice,” Kersten said. “These barriers are often magnified when an act of sexual misconduct is perpetrated by a person in a position of trust, such as a police officer.”===
This quote and statement isn’t an exoneration of any alleged wrongdoing that hasn’t existed, nor is it an indictment either that anything happened.
What it is, sadly, is a harsh reminder of the police culture from within their ranks and perception other may have, as stated in that quote.
- Demoralized - Wednesday, Jul 19, 23 @ 8:25 am:
==Tyler Heleine, the Coles County Chief Deputy, doesn’t think this is the right move and wants to see more work done. ==
The decision has been made. The Court has ruled. Move on and implement it. If you’ve not already been preparing to do so because you “hoped” for a certain outcome then shame on you. You aren’t a very good leader.
- Steve - Wednesday, Jul 19, 23 @ 9:11 am:
-lie down on the steps of the Supreme Court and tell the Supreme Court-
It’s about winning elections and putting justices on the court that agree with your judicial philosophy. Now that the Harvard opinion is out: it doesn’t seem to be too unpopular.
- Rich Miller - Wednesday, Jul 19, 23 @ 9:14 am:
===Now that the Harvard opinion is out===
If the result of that opinion is lawsuits filed against lots of universities and colleges which don’t subsequently reduce Black enrollment, that’ll likely change.
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Jul 19, 23 @ 9:20 am:
===it doesn’t seem to be too unpopular===
What do you base that on?
As a harsh example Charles Barkley is now more involved in scholarships for POC students wanting to attend Auburn, because Barkley knows that it’ll be popular at schools like Auburn to disenfranchise attendance at universities that don’t even reflect the diversity of its state.
From BET
https://www.bet.com/article/epi3rn/charles-barkley-will-auburn-university-affirmative-action
===In my will, I am leaving Auburn $5 million,” Barkley said Friday, according to AL.com. “I’m going to change it to be just for scholarships for Black students. That’s just my way of trying to make sure Auburn stays diverse.”
“I love Auburn,” he added. “I’ve actually changed it to be used for kids from poor homes. But after that ruling yesterday, my phone was blowing up. I was talking to my friends and said, ‘I need to make sure Black folks always have a place at Auburn. So, I’m gonna change my will and make it exclusive for Black students—all $5 million.’ It’s just for me the right thing to do. I always want to make sure that Auburn’s diverse.”===
If you can cite that’s not that unpopular, why is there such worry?
- Big Dipper - Wednesday, Jul 19, 23 @ 9:24 am:
I don’t think a fine is going to dissuade Alderman Gardiner when the FBI claimed he accepted $5,000 in a bag from a developer who wanted him to harass another developer.
- JoanP - Wednesday, Jul 19, 23 @ 9:44 am:
= If you’ve not already been preparing to do so because you “hoped” for a certain outcome then shame on you. You aren’t a very good leader. =
This exactly. You plan for ALL scenarios, what you don’t want to happen as well as what you do. Don’t sit on your duff, get caught flat-footed, and then whine about it.
These SAs who knew this was a possible (even probable) decision and didn’t prepare for it have no business complaining.
- Steve - Wednesday, Jul 19, 23 @ 10:15 am:
-What do you base that on?-
I based it on this polls.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/americans-approve-supreme-court-decision-restricting-race-college/story?id=100580375&cid=social_twitter_abcn
https://www.wcvb.com/article/affirmative-action-supreme-court-national-poll-harvard-unc/44298993#
https://docs.cdn.yougov.com/kpnwbn3sup/econTabReport.pdf#page46
- Oswego Willy - Wednesday, Jul 19, 23 @ 10:28 am:
===I based it on this polls.===
The splits of party
===A majority of Republicans (75%) and independents (58%) approve of the ruling, while a distinct minority of Democrats approve (26%).===
Don’t you think racial makeup of the parties is a factor, and further the idea of “angry white” but not Republican, that’s not a thing either?
If anything, it’s the polarization of popularity to a policy that can’t be implemented in the military academies, as cited in the ruling, why is that, the academies are exempt?
I think - John Lopez - put it best about “popularity and USSC ruling…
===It’s the end of June, and last year and this year, been memorable thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court:
Roe v Wade = GONE
Affirmative Action = GONE
Student Loan Forgiveness = GONE
Constitutional Carry = SECURED
Business Religious Freedom = SECURED
Yes, it’s been a great 2 years for freedom and right to life of the unborn.===
… because I can’t imagine any Republican that wants to win in a competitive district running on this list.