Some stories from the break
Tuesday, Sep 5, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller * Background is here if you need it. Decertified Riverside cop’s career is back on track after state committee backs appeal. Tribune…
* Chalkbeat…
* A year since the first buses of migrants arrived from Texas, Tribune reporters reflect on Chicago and Illinois’ response…
* More… * Daily Herald | At last, a move to lure teachers for disabled : Over the past 14 years as a parent advocate for my adult son with autism, I have passed from start to finish, over seven state developmental disability pieces of legislation. None have been more important than the last two that passed through the General Assembly, SB 3972 and just recently SB1558. This legislation will allow interested students from junior and senior year in Illinois high schools through the first two years of college to set up training programs through the Illinois Department of Human Services for credit courses and apprenticeship programs that will provide a career path to be a direct support professional, to work with adults with developmental disabilities in adult day programs and group homes. * Tribune | State Rep. Mayfield behind drafting of Illinois Literacy Plan; ‘I knew we needed to do something’: When passage of the legislation became certain in the spring, the ISBE began to write a first draft of its Illinois Literacy Plan. It began a four-city listening tour the same day the law was signed, ending with virtual sessions July 31 and Aug. 4. Educators, organizations and other individuals who want to give their ideas about the Illinois Literacy Plan and teaching literacy in the state’s schools must submit them online to the ISBE by Sept. 1 to have it considered for the next draft of the plan. * Labor Tribune | Union member, Labor ally seek to unseat Elik for Illinois’ 111th House District: At least two Democrats are planning to challenge Republican state Rep. Amy Elik for the 111th House District next year. Labor ally Don McDonough and union member Nick Raftopoulos have both launched their efforts to win the Democratic nomination for the 111th District. * Jim Dey | Changing of the guard for Vermilion County Democrats: Vermilion County Democrats have a new leader. Mickensy Ellis-White, who unsuccessfully sought the appointment to fill the late state Sen. Scott Bennett’s legislative seat, has replaced former party chairwoman Sandra Lawlyes. * WTVO | Illinois opens new center to train students for the trades: Governor JB Pritzker cut the ribbon on the South Central Illinois Training & Innovation Center on Monday, which is located about 40 miles south of Springfield in Litchfield. It will give high school students an opportunity to train for certain jobs. The idea is for these students to get a boost so they are able to enter the work force more quickly when they graduate. * WAND | Illinois bill calls for age verification to access porn websites, protect vulnerable kids: Under this plan, porn companies could face a $5,000 fine for each day they fail to have reasonable age verification methods. The Attorney General would also have the power to investigate violations of the law after companies receive 30 days to comply. Courts may impose an additional civil penalty of up to $10,000 for each company “knowingly failing to perform reasonable age verification methods.” * CNN Politics | Dana Bash asks Pritzker about abortion limits: Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker tells CNN’s Dana Bash that women from nearby states are coming to Illinois because his state protects abortion rights. * Center Square | Pritzker ‘not informed’ if AG will appeal injunction against pregnancy center law: “Well, I am not the one who takes that on,” Pritzker told The Center Square. “That is the job of the Attorney General, and I do not know. He has not informed me of what his plans are for that.” […] “I think Kwame Raoul will let it die. I do not think he has the guts to appeal it,” Glennon said. “I wish he would because then the [Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals] would then further affirm what is going on here. They may try to amend the law, they may have to gut it to make it constitutional, or they may just let it die.” * Crain’s | Towns could opt out of Illinois rent control ban under proposed law: Now state Rep. Hoan Huynh, whose 13th District includes north lakefront neighborhoods heavily populated by renters, is pushing to let municipalities to lift the ban within their own boundaries. HB 4104, also known as the Let the People Lift the Ban Act, is Huynh’s proposal, introduced June 6 in the Illinois House. It would allow local governments to adopt rent-control provisions if a majority of voters in the locality support a pro-rent control referendum. * WLPO | A Sit-Down with Rep. Lance Yednock: The day after State Rep. Lance Yednock announced he’d decided not to run for another term in the Illinois House of Representatives, he sat down with Tom Henson to discuss the good and bad of serving in the General Assembly, and his reasons behind his decision to leave the dome. * AG News | Legislation supports Healthy Soils Initiative: The legislation calls for IDOA to administer and support the Healthy Soils Initiative, a locally led effort to pinpoint and guide voluntary strategies to improve the ability of Illinois farms to grow vigorous crops and maintain resilience to extreme weather events. * Daily Herald | State leaders announce mental health grant program for farm groups: Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Tuesday that chapters of FFA — the group once known as National FFA Organization — will be eligible for $1,000 grants to fund mental health awareness programs in schools and rural communities. Up to 20 such grants will be available through the Illinois FFA Foundation starting this fall. * WTTW | As Close Aides Face Prison Time, Madigan Preps for Trial Against Undefeated Prosecutors: U.S. District Court Judge Robert Blakey told Madigan’s attorneys during a brief hearing Tuesday that he was determined to start the former speaker’s racketeering trial April 1, as scheduled, putting an end to delays that will see more than two years elapse between his indictment and his trial. * South Side Weekly | Chicago Cops Accused of Domestic Violence are Rarely Disciplined: Records the Weekly obtained from the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office and CPD show that at least thirty-eight officers — most from CPD but also including the Cook County Sheriffs and suburban municipalities in Cook County — were charged with domestic battery between 2011 and 2023. At least thirty-one of them had their cases dropped or dismissed, three were found not guilty, and two are active. Only two officers were convicted. That’s not altogether unusual: a 2018 study by the US Department of Justice found that prosecutors in state courts secure convictions for misdemeanor domestic violence offenses, like domestic battery, in less than one-quarter of cases. * Tribune | Oversight commission sharply criticizes arbitration award for police union that would keep discipline from public: Earlier this summer, as the city continues to negotiate a new contract with the Fraternal Order of Police, an arbitrator ruled that state law mandates that police officers accused of serious misconduct should have the option to have their cases heard in private. The arbitration award is not yet binding as the City Council hasn’t voted on the contract. * South Side Weekly | Larry Snelling Was Implicated in ’97 Corruption Scheme: In formal statements to investigators, all four denied that they had threatened the man with prison time or that they had ever told him to get them a gun. Haile claimed that after removing the gun from the bag, he’d balled up the bag and thrown it away without ever seeing the zip-lock baggies with fake crack cocaine. * ABC Chicago | Vacant Tinley Park mental health center sold to park district; 90 acres set to be sports complex: The Village of Tinley Park spent years vying for the land. It was willing to pay close to $20 million for the site and for environmental cleanup. While a casino was once floated as a possibility, the plan was to use the land for mixed-use development. * WBEZ | Chicago State president gets hefty bonus despite school citing financial strain during faculty strike: During a faculty strike this year, Chicago State University’s administration said “significant financial strain” prevented leaders from meeting professors’ salary demands. But last month the Far South Side university’s president, Zaldwaynaka Scott, was awarded a $50,000 bonus, bringing her total compensation for the year to more than $500,000. * Crain’s | Big biz challenges ComEd surcharge that costs them more than $100M: The Aug. 31 filing by the Chemical Industry Council of Illinois, along with several other individual companies and other institutional power consumers, takes aim at ComEd’s monthly charge gradually clawing back credits the utility provided customers last year and early this year under the Climate & Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA). * Block Club Chicago | Why Chicago Is Losing The War On Rats: Last year, Chicagoans made more than 50,000 rat complaints, a slight decline from the prior two years but still significantly more complaints than in recent years, according to data from the city’s 311 call center. * Block Club Chicago | One Real Estate Empire, $15 Million In Unpaid Rat-Related Tickets: The tickets were issued for such municipal infractions as uncut weeds, dumping and “providing rat harborage” by accumulating materials and junk. All of these companies are registered to a single post office box in Glenview and managed by Suzie B. Wilson, of Northbrook, state incorporation records show. Those companies rank as one of the most egregious examples of how the city of Chicago routinely fails to collect after it tickets properties for rat-related issues.
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- JS Mill - Tuesday, Sep 5, 23 @ 10:58 am:
=But, Harris said, “without funding, it’s a worthless law.”=
Well put by the Representative. Illinois does almost nothing when it comes to supporting student lunches/breakfasts other than try to get districts to spend more. Fortunately these programs are well supported (for free and reduced eligible families) by the Federal School Lunch Program (FSLP).
- Regular democrat - Tuesday, Sep 5, 23 @ 11:11 am:
Glad you publicized the story concerning the certification of the police officer. Cooler sensible heads prevailed and an excited and engaged officer will give the citizens great service. Congrats to her
- Cool Papa Bell - Tuesday, Sep 5, 23 @ 11:22 am:
=pay for the cost of school meals to all students=
The amount of money I pay to feed two kids at JR/SR High is (in my opinion) out of control.
It’s basically take-out food prices without the restaurant portion size and quality.
- JS Mill - Tuesday, Sep 5, 23 @ 11:58 am:
=The amount of money I pay to feed two kids at JR/SR High is (in my opinion) out of control.=
How much are you paying? Our lunch price is $3.00. We have been told by the state to raise our price but we never do, this has been our price for going on 7 years.
- unafraid - Tuesday, Sep 5, 23 @ 12:18 pm:
Abortion- Bash Pritzker
So what if they are coming to Illinois. My only concern is if it adds to costs. If they pay for it out of their own pocket/insurance, then it is just fine.
- unafraid - Tuesday, Sep 5, 23 @ 12:25 pm:
=Far South Side university’s president, Zaldwaynaka Scott, was awarded a $50,000 bonus, bringing her total compensation for the year to more than $500,000.=
So I guess there is plenty of money available for teacher salary increases.
- Dunwich Snorer - Tuesday, Sep 5, 23 @ 12:55 pm:
Given that the budget was passed in May, but the Healthy School Meals for All bill wasn’t signed until August, it’s not surprising there wasn’t any funding in the budget for it. The real question is whether the legislature will put funding in next year’s budget.
- Demoralized - Tuesday, Sep 5, 23 @ 1:01 pm:
=How much are you paying?==
I know you weren’t asking me but I thought I offer up my information. I’m paying around $30/week for my daughter in high school.
- Cool Papa Bell - Tuesday, Sep 5, 23 @ 1:22 pm:
=How much are you paying? =
Lunch selection is $2.85. OK - that’s a decent price, fair actually. BUT for a teen age boy that turns into another $2.85 for a double portion, and a $2.00 snack and maybe a drink (thank goodness he likes water).
What really took me was all the “options” now at High School and how quickly it gets super expensive. My son is familiar with kids that spend $10-$12 a day on food and snacks.
A typical day is/was $7.50 or up (for 1).
Now, we have taken steps to address it. More snacks from home, bring something to fill the gap of a second entrée. Don’t buy drinks at the school.
We are closer to $3.50 a day to eat now. It’s more than I care to spend but I would say it is reasonable. That $3.50 isn’t the portion size that is needed to fill up my growing kid.
As a squarely middle income family, a free lunch would really help out our budget.
- JS Mill - Tuesday, Sep 5, 23 @ 1:39 pm:
Like you said, 3.50 is pretty good but they need to start increasing the size of the portions. And the “extras” add up pretty quickly.
=As a squarely middle income family, a free lunch would really help out our budget.=
And, for lower middle income and those just out of the qualifying numbers for free and reduced, it is huge. I wish it happened. There really is no excuse for not funding this program, a program that they all could crow about and should be an easy bipartisan winner.
Thanks for sharing.