Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar » 2023

Friday, Jul 21, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

For my money, Tony Bennett is the best singer in the business. He excites me when I watch him. He moves me. He’s the singer who gets across what the composer has in mind, and probably a little more.

RIP…

When I come home to you

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Afternoon roundup

Friday, Jul 21, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

* A reminder that the Yvette Shields Memorial Fund is still accepting donations. Please, click here if you can give. Thanks.

* Press release…

Today Governor JB Pritzker joined Senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, local officials, and business leaders to celebrate the official opening of Lion Electric’s newest electric vehicle manufacturing facility. The 900,000 square foot facility is the largest all-electric U.S. plant dedicated to medium and heavy-duty commercial vehicle production and builds on Governor Pritzker’s years of investment in EV manufacturing and production across the state.

“My administration has made investing in the EV sector a priority, because we know that the future of Illinois relies on dependable clean energy jobs as we transition to a carbon-free future,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “Companies like Lion have recognized the many resources Illinois provides, including our uniquely talented workforce, and together we have set the state on a path to thousands more jobs and increased EV capacity.”

Governor Pritzker, Lion Electric CEO Marc Bédard, U.S. Senators Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth attended the event alongside Lion executives and other area representatives. The event was also attended by nearly 150 students from the Boys & Girls Club of Chicago and Com Ed’s Youth Ambassador Program, to tour the facility, ride a zero-emission school bus, and learn about future career opportunities in green engineering and manufacturing.

This event followed a successful week of meetings regarding EV’s and manufacturing during the Governor’s delegation trip to the United Kingdom. The Governor attended the Goodwood Festival of Speed and met with executives and government leaders from around the UK to promote Illinois’ many opportunities for business development and trade. Illinois’ burgeoning EV industry and the many incentives Illinois provides to EV manufacturers were crucial aspects of these conversations.

* Another press release…

Governor JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) launched $37.9 million in funding for the Illinois Clean Jobs Workforce Network Program or “CEJA Workforce Hubs.” The program represents the largest training component of the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA), establishing a network of 13 community-based hubs across the state offering training, job placement services, barrier reduction support and more. The organizations that will run CEJA Workforce Hubs will be selected through a competitive Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) process.

“It’s been our priority since day one that as Illinois moves into the clean energy future, we make sure to continue to build strong career paths for those breaking into this growing industry,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “Investing in these workforce hubs is a cornerstone of that commitment, working in collaboration with educational institutions and businesses to build on our successes as we move towards a greener and more equitable state.”

The CEJA Workforce Hubs are at the core of a highly interconnected set of statewide clean energy workforce development and community support programs. The Hubs will provide training and certification in alignment with the Clean Jobs Curriculum Framework to prepare people for entry-level clean energy jobs, including an introductory bridge training program and at least two job-specific training programs in the clean energy space, which will be selected by each Hub based on the local clean energy workforce needs. Participants can attend free of charge, receive a stipend, and access support services through barrier reduction funding.

* Farm Week…

JUST IN: Illinois @usdafsa Executive Director Scott Halpin says 5 counties — Adams, Hancock, Pike, Randolph & Schuyler — now authorized for emergency grazing on #CRP acres due to extreme #drought conditions limit. pasture quality/availability. Big deal for livestock producers. pic.twitter.com/JK98qHfXAm

— Tim Eggert (@TimothyMEggert) July 21, 2023

* WBEZ…

From July 2 to July 18, more than 12,000 [Chicago] basement flooding reports were filed with 311, more than the number of basement flooding reports filed in all of 2021 and 2022 combined, according to a WBEZ analysis.

No other month since 2019, the earliest year 311 flooding data is available online, comes close to July’s current volume of reports.

“I’ve been here [at the Department of Water Management] for 19 years now, and we’ve seen some bad storm events before, and I mean bad, but this one was unbelievable,” said the department’s commissioner, Andrea Cheng, who was on the West Side on July 2 assessing the impact of the rainstorm.

* Springfield city council coverage…

Ward 6 Ald. Jennifer Notariano had some cross words for the Illinois Freedom Caucus and the Independent Women’s Forum, organizers of last Thursday’s rally against the YMCA of Springfield.

Notariano called them “outsider agitators” who had come to Springfield “to sow discord.”

“We all appreciate that the YMCA strives to offer a welcoming space, so I choose to highlight the staff, the administration and the members who make it that way, rather than the politicians who traveled 100 miles out of their way to use our community as a backdrop for their manufactured outrage,” said Notariano towards the end of the meeting. […]

Emails provided by the YMCA to The State Journal-Register also suggested Wheeler’s parents voluntarily removed her from the swim team and canceled their membership.

* Heh…

Tribune: "To feature your luxury listing of $1,000,000 or more in Chicago Tribune’s Dream Homes…" https://t.co/ukxqJEZ1FL

Also Tribune: https://t.co/dOvnG31Zuq

— Capitol Fax (@capitolfax) July 21, 2023

* Isabel’s afternoon roundup…

* ABC Chicago | Lion Electric opening electric vehicle plant in Channahon Friday: The creation of this electric vehicle plant is going to generate an estimated 1,400 and produce up to 20,000 vehicles per year. This is major news for Illinois and the greater Chicago area. The creation of Lion Electric’s new plant in Channahon is the first dedicated vehicle assembly plant in the Chicago metro since 1965.

* BND | Illinois Gaming Board files third disciplinary complaint against a businessman from Highland: Lucky Lincoln Gaming, which is owned by Jeff Rehberger Jr., has nearly 1,200 machines, officially known as “terminals,” in about 200 bars, restaurants, gas stations and other locations throughout Illinois. That includes 10 in the metro-east, according to its website, along with central and Southern Illinois locations in McLean, Livingston, DeWitt, Macon, Christian, Franklin, Crawford, Fayette and Marion counties.

* Chalkbeat | Will Chicago meet an Aug. 21 deadline to train staff on how and when they can restrain students?: If Chicago does not follow state law, the Illinois State Board of Education warned that the district could be placed under probation in a letter dated April 18. If the district does not comply, Chicago could lose state recognition meaning that it could lose state funding.

* Tribune | Migrants are leaving Chicago shelters with the help of rental assistance. Some landlords are skeptical, others step in to help: But while many migrant families like Ari’s have received rental assistance and signed leases for housing units around the city, more than 11,000 new arrivals remain in limbo, housed in city and volunteer-run shelters and police stations, waiting for their turn. Some are unaware of the assistance available.

* Sun-Times | Pioneering environmental justice organization threatened with eviction from South Side headquarters: Johnson said she’s not been told why CHA or its property manager would want her out other than the office could be used for a family. On Thursday, representatives from the management company tried to enter Johnson’s office and told her they wanted to make sure the unit was vacated, she said.

* Dewitt Daily | Lincoln Mayor: Lincoln College Will Reopen: On the WHOW Morning Show Friday, Lincoln Mayor Tracy Welch told Regional Radio the school will reopen. What it will look like though remains to be seen. If it were to come to fruition, the Mayor calls the re-opening of Lincoln College a huge positive for the community.

* Crain’s | Toxic posts on economist job site traced to users from UChicago, Notre Dame and other elite schools: Economics Job Market Rumors, a site started in 2008 to aid newly minted doctorate holders in their job searches, has become notorious for hateful and damaging content, all anonymous. A trio of researchers from Boston University and Yale University said they unmasked internet addresses connected to two-thirds of posts and determined many of the users’ physical locations, though not their identities.

* Sun-Times | Beyoncé at Soldier Field: Bag policy, transit options, tickets: Soldier Field has a strict clear bag policy that does not allow any purses larger than a clutch bag, briefcases, backpacks or fanny packs. Any bag you bring into the stadium must be see-through and can’t exceed 12”x6”x12” — one-gallon clear plastic freezer bags are also permitted.

* Block Club | At Friday Morning Swim Club, Thousands Of Swimmers Go Jump In Lake Michigan: In the two years since, Swim Club has amassed thousands of attendees. Commuters on DuSable Lake Shore Drive can’t help but notice the crowds of Divvy bicyclists on the Lakefront Trail, draped with inflatable floaties over their shoulders and pool noodles sprouting out of their bags. Thousands of attendees crowd the harbor at Montrose Beach around 6:45 a.m. every Friday. Swim Club even earned a pin on Google Maps, marking exactly where swimmers meet to take their Friday morning plunges.

* Crain’s | Companies rushed to stake their claims on Threads. So what’s next?: “It’s important for us to be where the conversation is and planting the United flag early as a brand that’s utilizing Threads and having fun with it,” says Maggie Schmerin, who oversees advertising and social media at United.

* The Southern | SIU Foundation brings in record number of gifts, awards and scholarships: Through 38,621 gifts, the Foundation raised over $31.2 million. It also awarded a record number of scholarships (1,645) and total scholarship dollars ($4,931,584) to students. More than 14 percent of all SIU students received an SIU Foundation scholarship in FY23.

* Daily Herald | Nervous about carnival ride safety? Here are some things to keep in mind: State officials vetted 2,608 rides in the last year. “We put a sticker on all rides and amusements that have been inspected by our inspectors,” said Paul Cicchini, a spokesman for the Illinois Department of Labor. “It’s green this year.”

* Herald-Whig | Despite dry weather, expert not writing off Illinois crop year: Recent scattered rains throughout West-Central Illinois and Northeast Missouri have brought “a pretty remarkable revival” of the corn crop, said Emerson Nafziger, University of Illinois professor emeritus and a featured speaker at Wednesday’s Orr Agricultural Center Agronomy Field Day.

* Daily Southtown | Robbins Park District lawsuit calls for candidate disqualification after too many candidates elected to the board: The Robbins Park District filed the lawsuit in May against Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough and the three candidates certified as elected, Ryan Buckley, Angelia Murphy-Watts and Terry Lee. Edward Brener, attorney for the Yarbrough’s office, said he will file a motion to dismiss the case with a hearingset for Oct. 6.

* Illinois Times | Repurposing MacMurray Hall:
Michael Woods and Tim Smith have purchased the old MacMurray Hall building, a large 1920s-era brick-and-stone science classroom structure on East College and South Clay streets and are transforming it into the Midwest Agricultural and Arts Complex. As the building’s metamorphosis continues, the two men have already started to teach farming and music through the educational edifice, and room by room they are setting it up as a vibrant community center for locally grown products, artwork and music.

* Sun-Times | Tony Bennett, iconic interpreter of the Great American Songbook, dies at 96: Tony Bennett, the eminent and timeless stylist whose devotion to classic American songs and knack for creating new standards such as “I Left My Heart In San Francisco” graced a decadeslong career that brought him admirers from Frank Sinatra to Lady Gaga, died Friday. He was 96, just two weeks short of his birthday.

* Bond Buyer | A tribute to Yvette Shields: The untimely death of Yvette Shields has left an irreparable void in the municipal bond business. This void may never be closed because it represents a deep pain in our collective hearts.

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University of Chicago study shows social-emotional learning reaps benefits for students, schools

Friday, Jul 21, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* The 74…

A recent study out of the University of Chicago showed high schools that prioritized social- emotional development had double the positive long-term impact on students as compared to those that focused solely on improving test scores.

As part of their work, researchers determined school’s effectiveness based upon its impact on students’ social-emotional development, test scores and behaviors. They concluded that the most effective schools provide a welcoming environment for students, an experience that shapes their later years. […]

Researchers drew their data from six cohorts of 160,148 of eighth and ninth grade students who attended CPS between 2011–12 and 2016–17: 42% were Black, 44% were Hispanic and 86% received free or reduced-price lunch, a key indicator of poverty. The college attendance-related data came only from those who attended ninth grade for the first time between 2012 and 2014. They totaled 55,564 students. […]

The study found that students who attended a highly effective school — one ranked by the researchers as being in the 85th percentile based on their collected data and student and teacher survey responses — saw their test scores improve more than those at other CPS campuses. They noted, too, that attendance increased for this group while suspensions and disciplinary infractions dropped. The likelihood of graduation by 2.41 percentage points and the chance of attending college within two years of graduation by 2.57 percentage points. They also were 20% less likely to be arrested on campus as compared to the average rate of arrest for all high schoolers in the district.

* From the study…

Three aspects of school climate—Supportive Environment, Ambitious Instruction, and Collaborative Teachers— were the strongest predictors of school effectiveness. These results are consistent with other evidence pointing to the importance of relationships in educational settings, which feature prominently in these climate measures.

One important implication of this work (and other work with similar findings) is that it may be more productive to understand rigor and relationships as functioning in concert rather than independently.

Consider, for example, a school community in which educators collaborate with one another to develop rigorous instructional strategies, teachers and students build relationships that enable the creation of classwork and experiences that feel relevant to students, and students feel empowered to deeply engage with challenging work given the support of their teacher and peers.

* The study also looked at the short and long-term impact of social-emotional development on students…

In the short-run, we examined the impact of attending an effective school on ninth-grade measures, including math and ELA [English, Language Arts] test scores, SED [social-emotional development], and behaviors. We found that, on average, attending a school at the 85th percentile of school effectiveness, vs. one at the median, improved test scores by 8.90% of a standard deviation, self-reports of SED by 10.2% of a standard deviation, and observed behaviors by 5.71% of a standard deviation.

In the long-run, effective schools promoted successful progression through high school and into post-sec education. Attending a high school at the 85th percentile of effectiveness, vs. the median, increased the likelihood of high school graduation by 2.41 percent- age points and college-going (within two years of high school completion) by 2.57 percentage points (see Table 2). It also reduced the likelihood of being arrested on school grounds by 0.80 percentage points. The average school-based arrest rate was 3.72%, and thus this seemingly small reduction in school-based arrests amounted to about a 20% reduction in the likelihood that a student was arrested on school grounds. […]

We found that relative to schools’ impacts on test scores, schools’ impacts on SED mattered about as much or more for students’ short-run trajectories. […]

The long-run impact of fostering SED was also greater than fostering test score growth. Fostering SED yielded nearly double the impact on high school graduation relative to fostering test score growth. Fostering SED was also 15–20% more impactful for improving enrollment in college and reducing school-based arrests relative to fostering test score growth. Comparing across all VAMs, fostering SED had the greatest impact on educational attainment and fostering behaviors had the greatest impact on reducing school-based arrest.

* Related…

* WTVO | Rockford educators learn how to better serve students with trauma: Over 170 educators from Northern Illinois were at Rockford University on Thursday of the first of its kind “Social Emotional Learning Conference.” The educators got exposed to more than 25 different workshops, diving deeper into things like trauma response.

* Daily Herald | DuPage County Regional Superintendent retires after 20 years of service: As the first female chief administrative officer of the DuPage Regional Office of Education, Ruscitti’s achievements in education have increased graduation rates, decreased dropout rates, and produced many of the top-scoring schools in Illinois. […] Because of Ruscitti’s relentless commitment to the most vulnerable student populations in DuPage, her work in Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) was lauded by the state of Illinois, and DuPage County was designated a “Hub” for providing professional development, training, and support to teachers and students. These inroads in SEL have significantly contributed to the promotion of mental wellness and a reduction of student absenteeism in DuPage schools.

* SJ-R | ISBE’s Tony Sanders wanted to be ‘the next Johnny Fever.’ He wound up in his dad’s office: The work that we’re doing already, investing in these social-emotional learning hubs across the state to try to empower teachers to help their students using trauma-informed care practices, is critical. The work that we’re doing to try to make sure that our students, the behavioral task force work that the governor established where ISBE is working with DCFS and DHS and other agencies that deal with youth around mental health, trying to make sure we’re meeting the mental health needs of kids, is also critical. That’s not an immediate fix. It’s a longer-term solution, but much like our students, our teachers also need to recall that they have resources available to them for counseling and support as well.

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Republican county sheriff downplays SAFE-T Act impact: “I don’t think we’re going to be releasing a lot when it’s all said and done”

Friday, Jul 21, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

* WCIA on the SAFE-T Act…

“The people that were currently in custody are going to have to file a motion for a hearing, to have their case considered,” Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell said. “And so it’s gonna be a tiered system depending on what charge you’re in here for, depending on your criminal history, depending on if you’re a flight risk, there’s a lot of components that come into that issue.”

On Tuesday, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled to uphold the SAFE-T Act, paving the way to eliminate cash bail in Illinois starting September 18th. When that day comes, people currently in pre-trial detention could get a hearing to be considered for pre-trial release.

“We have a lot of Class X felons that are not going to be eligible, a lot of flight risk, a lot of violent individuals, and that’s typically who we’re going to house here anyway,” Campbell said. “So I don’t think we’re going to be releasing a lot when it’s all said and done. But again, that will be up to the court to determine.”

* WGEL…

Sixty-five state’s attorneys, including Bond County’s Dora Mann, were part of a lawsuit, arguing the act is unconstitutional. […]

State’s Attorney Mann was upset about the ruling and was asked about it at Tuesday night’s Bond County Board meeting. She said Illinois will be the first state in the nation to eliminate cash bail. She said while she will follow the law, she believes this move will be detrimental to the state. Mann pointed out detainees can only be held for up to 90 days and there is one individual currently in the Bond County Jail on a murder charge who has been in jail for 18 months. She said most of those who are arrested will not be held whatsoever, which will lead to staff in her office working seven days a week.

Mann said in addition to the strain on her office, it will put strain on all levels of law enforcement as well. The mandate is unfunded and she pointed out the county will experience a $600,000 loss in revenue just from not having bail fees. The State’s Attorney said she called the county jail recently, the staff member told her the detainees were having a party as they just heard the news about the supreme court ruling and they couldn’t hear her talking on the phone. [Emphasis added.]

The claimed county revenue loss is twice what was recently estimated by Goodin Associates, which provides judicial record-keeping software for most Downstate Illinois counties. And Mann’s 90 days claim is highly misleading, to say the least. From the actual statute…

In computing the 90-day period, the court shall omit any period of delay resulting from a continuance granted at the request of the defendant and any period of delay resulting from a continuance granted at the request of the State with good cause shown pursuant to Section 103-5.

* Patch…

“What we’ve seen is circumventing the people’s will, that’s been done by legislators and a governor who passed this law and then a supreme court using judicial review to, in effect, change the language of the Constitution,” Jefferson County Sheriff Jeff Bullard told Fox News. “That’s not proper, that’s not lawful.”

And Center Square…

Gov. J.B. Pritzker said the court’s order was a “common sense ruling.” And, despite concerns of perceived conflicts of interest from the governor’s $1 million donation to each of two Supreme Court justices from when they were running for the job in 2022, Pritzker praised the jurists.

“I think every one of those jurists is a person of good repute. They’re bringing all of their knowledge and experience to the table to try and make good decisions,” Pritzker said.

Pritzker said Republicans lost on the issue in the 2022 election.

State Rep. Steve McClure, R-Springfield, argued ending cash bail would lose if put up to the voters. McClure decried the ruling and the justices who didn’t recuse themselves.

“I’m sorry, but those two justices should not be ruling on any case involving any major piece of legislation involving Gov. Pritzker. Period,” McClure said.

A little history from the Illinois Supreme Court…

In April 2020 the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Pretrial Practices (Commission) published its report on pretrial reform after studying best practices in use around the country for two years. The Commission’s final report was approved by the Supreme Court in May 2020.

That report, approved by the Supreme Court long before redistricting and the 2022 election, concluded that bail did not historically mean “cash.” This case was a slam dunk.

* WEEK…

Peoria County State’s Attorney Jodie Hoos said her office is picking up where it left off preparing for the elimination of cash bail on Sept. 18.

Local court systems knew the change was coming since last fall. The SAFE-T Act was supposed to fully go into effect on Jan. 1 of this year, but the challenges in the court delayed its implementation until now.

“We’re going to start it back up again mid-September. We’re ready,” Hoos said. “As far as Peoria County, I don’t think much is going to change. Most of the people in Peoria County Jail currently are going to stay there. I don’t think the SAFE-T act changed much of that at all.”

* Related…

* Non-profit applauds Illinois Supreme Court ruling on SAFE-T Act: However, Safer Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to helping former offenders transition to life after prison applauds the ruling. The organization has locations throughout Chicago, its suburbs and one in the Quad Cities. Public Policy Analyst Mark McCombs said eliminating cash bail levels the playing field. “We’ve been very happy with [the court’s decision],” McCombs said. “[Under the law] money and an individual’s ability to pay is not the criteria for whether or not they have to … linger in prison before they’ve been convicted.”

* We stand together, celebrating the end of cash bail in Illinois: As faith leaders from the Rockford region, we are united in celebrating the Illinois Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the Pretrial Fairness Act. Ending the injustice of the money bond system is a significant moral victory that makes our state a leader in the movement to end mass incarceration.

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My crusade against the Illinois State Board of Elections’ janky website continues

Friday, Jul 21, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Background is here if you need it. The Illinois State Board of Elections’ website may be the worst piece of junk in the history of online junk…

The janky @illinoissbe website is killing me again. Took me *9* tries to pull up the full list of Illinois House candidate election results this evening. Nine. https://t.co/YNTdx9u2vR

— Capitol Fax (@capitolfax) July 21, 2023

A grand total of *23* attempts to get that janky site to load the state Senate primary results. I mean, it's after 9:30 at night. Imagine trying to get those results during a high usage period. Just awful. Unacceptable.

— Capitol Fax (@capitolfax) July 21, 2023

It’s also difficult to find things on that site, but the big problem is IT DOESN’T WORK. I am not asking for wowza 21st Century design. I’m just asking that when I click on a function, the website actually responds. This has been a problem for years, so the jankiness appears to be a choice. And the problems also appear to be getting worse and nobody over there seems to care enough to fix them.

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Question of the day

Friday, Jul 21, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

* It’s Friday, so let’s lighten it up a bit. I’ll start: “I did not care for Game of Thrones”…

What’s your version of “I did not care for the Godfather”? pic.twitter.com/LMyLRupzcn

— Megumi Bandicoot (@MegumiBandicot) July 19, 2023

I’d also ask that you confine your response to your own thoughts and not criticize others for theirs.

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Delivery Helps Chicago Restaurants Grow On Uber Eats

Friday, Jul 21, 2023 - Posted by Advertising Department

[The following is a paid advertisement.]

At Uber Eats, local restaurants are the backbone of our communities and delivery continues to help small business owners reach new customers and increase sales.

We recently published the results of the 2022 US Merchant Impact Report—which come directly from a survey of merchant partners. Read More.

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Report: Homicides down in cities nationally and in Chicago this year even as police forces shrink; But vehicle theft skyrockets

Friday, Jul 21, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

* From WBEZ’s daily afternoon newsletter…

Homicides in Chicago were down nearly 8% from January to June compared to the same time last year, according to a report released today by the nonpartisan Council on Criminal Justice.

The council examined data from 30 U.S. cities and found there were 202 fewer homicides during the first half of the year — a more than 9% drop.

The study also found that motor vehicle thefts rose a whopping 130 percent in Chicago during the first six months of this year, compared to 33.5 percent nationally.

* From the report…

This study updates and supplements previous U.S. crime trends reports by the Council on Criminal Justice (CCJ) with additional crime data through June 2023. It examines monthly crime rates for 10 violent, property, and drug offenses in 37 American cities. The 37 cities are not necessarily representative of all cities in the United States. Not all cities reported data for each offense (see Appendix), and the data used to measure the crime trends are subject to revision by local jurisdictions.

This snapshot suggests that levels of nearly all offenses are lower, or have changed little, in the first six months of 2023 compared with the same period in 2022. The most notable exception is the large increase in motor vehicle theft. […]

Motor vehicle thefts continued their upward trend through the first half of 2023. There were 33.5% more motor vehicle thefts from January through June 2023 compared to the first half of 2022. The number of drug offenses increased by 1% over the same period. […]

Violent crimes remain elevated compared to 2019, the year prior to the COVID pandemic and racial justice protests of 2020. There were 24% more homicides during the first half of 2023 than during the first half of 2019 in the study cities. Property crime trends have been more mixed. There were fewer residential burglaries and larcenies and more nonresidential burglaries in the first half of 2023 than during the same period four years earlier. Motor vehicle thefts more than doubled (+104%), while drug offenses fell by 39%. […]

The authors conclude that crime patterns continue to shift as the nation has emerged from the COVID pandemic and that policymakers and communities must act urgently to adapt their strategies to meet the new challenges. Though the level of serious violent crime is far below historical peaks, it remains intolerably high, especially in poorer communities of color. Research has identified strategies that work to reduce violence and improve the fairness and effectiveness of policing. Intensive efforts on both fronts are essential to help cities achieve lasting reductions in homicide and other crime.

On motor vehicle thefts…

It is likely that much of this increase is the result of thefts of Kia and Hyundai models, but rates were already trending upward before these vehicles became popular targets.

* Click the pics for larger images…

* NY Times…

Notably, violent crime has fallen at a time when many police departments are smaller than they were before the pandemic. While the defund the police movement, which grew out of the Floyd protests, lost momentum as crime rose, police staffing levels declined in many cities as officers retired or quit and as many departments struggled to recruit new officers in a competitive U.S. job market. The result for some major cities has been an unintended experiment in what a smaller police department looks like.

Los Angeles, for example, is down about 1,000 officers since 2019 — it had about 9,200 officers at the end of last year — and hundreds of civilian workers. And yet homicides are down more than 20 percent this year, and overall gun violence has fallen at a similar clip. […]

A similar dynamic of smaller departments and falling crime has also played out in Philadelphia, which had about 5,800 officers at the end of last year, more than 700 fewer than in 2019. The city saw homicides decline more than 20 percent and has spent millions of dollars in overtime.

Chicago’s police department has also lost lots of officers.

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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Update to today’s edition

Friday, Jul 21, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today’s edition of Capitol Fax (use all CAPS in password)

Friday, Jul 21, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Open thread

Friday, Jul 21, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* It’s Friday! What’s going on!…

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Isabel’s morning briefing

Friday, Jul 21, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Here you go…

* State Week | Court upholds the elimination of cash bail: The Illinois Supreme Court’s landmark 5-2 decision means the end of cash bail in the state, beginning Sept. 18. Supporters have long called for bail reforms, saying it punishes poverty. But others have criticized the change as a slap in the face to crime victims and a threat to public safety. We talk about the arguments for and against cash bail and how the change will impact the justice system.

* Daily Herald | Cashless bail is coming. Here’s how two top suburban prosecutors will handle the change: We spoke this week with two of the suburbs’ top prosecutors — DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin and Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart — for a nuts-and-bolts look at how they plan to implement the change in Illinois’ second- and third-largest counties, respectively. Both say their offices have been gearing up for months and will be ready to go on Sept. 18. That preparation included beefing up their staffs of attorneys who work with police on new cases and decide what charges to file, a process often called felony review.

* WCIA | SAFE-T Act lays out guidelines for people currently behind bars pre-trial to transition to no cash bail system: “The people that were currently in custody are going to have to file a motion for a hearing, to have their case considered,” Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell said. “And so it’s gonna be a tiered system depending on what charge you’re in here for, depending on your criminal history, depending on if you’re a flight risk, there’s a lot of components that come into that issue.”

* Center Square | Legislators discuss staffing issues at Illinois schools: State Rep. Janet Yang Rohr, D-Naperville, was asked if the issue is at all exaggerated. “I was in the K-12 appropriations committee, so we are looking at money that is going to schools, and one of the reports we looked at, all it did was looked at open positions and unfilled positions,” Yang Rohr told The Center Square. “So based on that, clearly, there are a lot of unfilled positions.”

* Rockford Register Star | We stand together, celebrating the end of cash bail in Illinois: As faith leaders from the Rockford region, we are united in celebrating the Illinois Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the Pretrial Fairness Act. Ending the injustice of the money bond system is a significant moral victory that makes our state a leader in the movement to end mass incarceration.

* STLPR | 10% of felonies in Madison County come from Missouri residents. Is that a problem?: Just how significant the portion of Missouri residents, presumably from the St. Louis area, committing crime in the Illinois suburbs is another question, said Richard Rosenfeld, a criminologist at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. “While that percentage has grown over time, it still remains quite small,” Rosenfeld said.

* Illinois Times | Board reverses solar vote: The Sangamon County Board’s July 11 reversal of a May vote gave the go-ahead to a proposed $10 million solar farm near the rural Westview Park Subdivision, despite ongoing resentment by board members toward state legislators. Several board members said they don’t like the fact that a new state law, effective in January, made project approval all but inevitable by removing most county-level zoning authority over commercial wind and solar projects.

* Politico | ‘This Is a Really Big Deal’: How College Towns Are Decimating the GOP: In state after state, fast-growing, traditionally liberal college counties like Dane are flexing their muscles, generating higher turnout and ever greater Democratic margins. They’ve already played a pivotal role in turning several red states blue — and they could play an equally decisive role in key swing states next year.

* AP | Former Northwestern AD Jim Phillips says he will ‘vigorously defend myself’ after being named in 2 lawsuits in hazing scandal: The John Doe plaintiffs who have named Phillips as a defendant were members of the football team from 2018-22, which overlaps the final years of Phillips’ tenure before replacing retiring John Swofford as ACC commissioner.

* Esther Yoon-Ji Kang | Illinois immigrants need more language help to thrive and partake in civic life: The state has more than 1 million residents — close to 8% of the population — who speak English “less than very well,” according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Their native tongues include Spanish, Chinese, Polish, Tagalog, Arabic and Hindi and dozens of other languages.

* WSIU | CapitolView: A conversation with Illinois State Senator Dale Fowler about legislation he co-sponsored and the conclusion of the session. Plus: analysis on a variety of stories, including the recent state Supreme Court decision that allows Illinois to become the first state to completely eliminate cash bail.

* WAND | Trustees approve closure of University of Illinois College of Medicine at Urbana-Champaign:
Operations that had been based in Urbana-Champaign have now been integrated into other College of Medicine campuses in Chicago, Peoria, and Rockford. This came following the decision in 2015 to establish the Carle Illinois College of Medicine.

* Daily Herald | Five arrests made, 10 women rescued from suburban sex trafficking ring: At a news conference at police headquarters, St. Charles Police Chief James Keegan and Kane County State’s Attorney Jamie Mosser described how a report in early spring of a brothel operating in a west side apartment in St. Charles led to a monthslong investigation of a human trafficking organized crime syndicate.

* Sun-Times | Chicago weed giant Cresco Labs claims in suit that competitor GTI poached a top-level employee: A GTI spokeswoman denied the allegations, saying the litigation is “aimed at preventing a former non-executive Cresco employee from finding a suitable career in the cannabis industry.” “Instead of investing to retain current employees or support former employees through their transition following a recent sizable layoff, Cresco is spending money on lawyers to monitor and sue its former employees for finding new jobs,” spokeswoman Rosie Mattio said in a statement. “This move is not only distasteful to their former employees looking to continue their careers in the cannabis industry, but also a total waste of Cresco’s capital and resources.”

* NBC Chicago | CTA Blue Line service impacted by construction beginning this weekend: A significant construction project will begin this weekend on the CTA Blue Line’s Forest Park branch, impacting service between LaSalle and the Illinois Medical District.

* The Prairie Profile | Rebecca Clark: Illinois State Fair Manager Rebecca Clark says that if her younger self could see where she is now, she’d be surprised. “I’ve wanted to be a journalist for as long as I can remember,” Clark says. “I would put on fake newscasts in my grandparents’ living room with Kermit the Frog as reporter and Miss Piggy as co-anchor.”

* Play Illinois | Early Revenue Numbers From Newest Illinois Casinos In Waukegan And Danville: The Temporary by American Place opened in Waukegan on Feb. 27 to become the 12th casino in Illinois. The Golden Nugget Casino Danville became the state’s 13th casino when it opened on May 27.

* WBEZ | A record number of Chicagoans reported flooded basements in July: On July 2, a record-setting rainstorm dumped 9 inches of rain on some parts of the Chicago area. Green was among more than 1,400 Chicagoans who filed reports of flooded basements to 311, the city’s non-emergency helpline.

* Crain’s | Richard Barancik, architect of midcentury Chicago and last surviving Monuments Man, dies at 98: Late in life, Barancik gained another distinction: He was the last-known surviving member among nearly 350 “Monuments Men” who recovered art looted in Europe during World War II and shot to prominence with a 2014 film directed by George Clooney and starring Matt Damon, Bill Murray and Cate Blanchett. Barancik hadn’t talked much about the assignment before the movie, his daughter said, but once it came out, he was inundated by letters from schoolchildren and by autograph seekers and “World War II nuts.”