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Tuesday, Sep 5, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Tuesday, Sep 5, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

Shortly after saying Illinois Democrats have “learned lessons” from recent corruption convictions of close associates of Michael Madigan, Gov. J.B. Pritzker appointed an ally of the indicted former longtime Democratic House Speaker to a state board that oversees billions of dollars in lending.

Former Democratic state Sen. Steven Landek, who retired from the Senate in January after more than a decade in Springfield but still serves as mayor of southwest suburban Bridgeview, was one of three people Pritzker appointed to the Illinois Finance Authority on Monday.

The Landek announcement came just days after a federal jury convicted one of Madigan’s top aides, Tim Mapes, on perjury and attempted obstruction of justice charges alleging he lied to a grand jury to try to protect Madigan from a widening corruption probe. […]

“Just because someone’s name is brought up does not mean that they’re guilty of something,” Pritzker said Tuesday in Decatur, describing Landek as “someone who’s spent many years in public life and I think has been examined up and down, certainly by his constituents over many years.” […]

As the Tribune has previously reported, Bridgeview was among more than a half-dozen suburbs that awarded insurance business to Mesirow Financial, the firm that employed Madigan’s son, Andrew. Bridgeview selected Mesirow as its broker for risk management insurance in December 2010, about a month before Michael Madigan presided over a meeting of local Democratic Party leaders who unanimously chose Landek to replace retiring Sen. Lou Viverito of Burbank.

Setting aside the Madigan stuff for a moment (if you can), Bridgeview is eye-deep in debt because the town financed a gigantic soccer stadium which doesn’t currently have an MLS team. It’s still in junk bond territory, according to S&P. And now he’s on a board that, by its own account, is “one of the largest issuers of private activity bonds in the nation.”

* Press release…

The Illinois Environmental Council (IEC) released its 2023 Legislative Environmental Scorecard today. The scorecard, which is released annually, assigns a percentage score to legislators based on how they voted on bills affecting the environment. This year, 17 state representatives and ten state senators received 100% scores based on their record on 28 bills during 2023 legislative business.

“With fewer legislators earning top marks than in recent years, this year’s scorecard highlights the true environmental champions in our General Assembly,” said Jen Walling, executive director of IEC. “When so many of their peers failed to recognize the stakes during those final hours of the legislative session, and when some leaned on industry’s misleading talking points, these legislators stood with their constituents and our environment.”

The 2023 Legislative Environmental Scorecard includes 28 legislative measures. Specific priorities from this year’s Scorecard include:

• Healthy Soils and Waters Initiative – SB 1701, IEC supported (Sen. Villivalam / Rep. Kelly)
o With the goal of improving the health of Illinois’ soils and the function of our watersheds, this legislation invests $18 million into the Partners for Conservation Fund for in-field conservation practices, soil assessment, and support for Soil and Water Conservation Districts.
• Single-use Plastics Reduction – SB 58, IEC supported (Sen. Fine / Rep. Gong-Gershowitz)
o A critical step in reducing demand for single-use plastics, which pollute our waterways, pile up in our landfills and deposit PFAs and microplastics into our environment, SB 58 bans styrofoam from purchase by state agencies and public universities.
• Nuclear Moratorium Lift – SB76, IEC opposed (Sen. Rezin / Rep. Yednock)
o Without adequate state protections and siting regulations in place, lifting the decades-long moratorium on the development of new nuclear facilities would leave Illinoisans vulnerable to dangerous, costly development. Gov. JB Pritzker has vetoed this legislation.
• Ameren’s Monopoly on Clean Energy Transmission – HB 3445, IEC opposed (Rep. Walsh / Sen. Stadelman)
o This bill, since amendatorily vetoed by Gov. JB Pritzker, allowed Ameren, a privately-owned utility company downstate, the right of first refusal for transmission projects in the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) territory, effectively eliminating the competitive project bid process. These processes increase project costs, which ratepayers would ultimately pay.
• I-55 Expansion – HJR 23, IEC opposed (Rep. Stava-Murray / Sen. Cunningham)
o This resolution initiates the first stages of a proposed project to increase the number of lanes on I-55 in the Chicago region, much of which lies immediately adjacent to environmental justice communities. This will negatively impact air quality in areas already seeing the highest rates of air pollution in Illinois.

“We score legislators on the environmental legacy of their voting record every year, giving their constituents a powerful accountability tool when evaluating the performance of their legislators,” Walling added. “Every vote that impacts our environment counts, and it’s important that legislators know we, and more importantly, their constituents, are watching.”

The complete scorecard is here.

* Rep. Dan Didech’s new Republican opponent…

Well, looks like I'm not waiting till the 5th when petitions can begin circulation.

Below is the 94th Areo Squadron’s…

Posted by Christopher Henning on Sunday, September 3, 2023

Gov. Pritzker won that district by almost 36 points. Mr. Henning is on his own.

* WTTW…

[Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Iris Martinez] won office in 2020 without the support of the party, and has found herself at loggerheads with the progressive political organizations and labor unions that helped elect Johnson mayor. In 2022, Martinez campaigned alongside John Catanzara, the president of the Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge 7, after he compared a requirement that Chicago police officers be vaccinated against COVID-19 to the Holocaust and resigned before he could be fired for making “obscene” and inflammatory social media posts between 2016 and 2018.

Martinez is also expected to campaign for state Sen. Natalie Toro, who Martinez helped appoint to represent the 20th District in the Illinois Senate. Toro replaced Cristina Pacione-Zayas, who resigned in May to become Johnson’s first deputy chief of staff.

Toro will face Graciela Guzman, who has the support of the political movement that not only elected Johnson but also notched a series of victories in the 2022 Democratic primaries, winning six of seven contested races. […]

As she runs for another term as circuit court clerk, Martinez is also expected to seek reelection as the 33rd Ward Democratic committeeperson, an unpaid position that makes her the head of the party in the Northwest Side ward that includes Albany Park.

Ald. Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez (33rd Ward), who defeated a candidate in February’s aldermanic elections who was supported by Martinez, told WTTW News she will challenge Martinez for committeeperson.

Ald. Rodriguez Sanchez won that February race by 21 points.

* Isabel’s roundup…

* Politico | ‘A big f-ing deal’: Dem convention delegates will stay within Chicago city limits: “It means we’ll be able to conduct joint activities together whether it’s nighttime fundraisers or events. You name it,” Ken Martin, chair of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party for the past 13 years and vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, told POLITICO.

* Crain’s | Why rescheduling would be more than just a tax break for cannabis: Now that the Department of Health and Human Services recommended moving cannabis to schedule 3, the industry is asking what impact a potential reclassification would have on the financial futures of U.S. cannabis companies. Mike Regan, director of research at Excelsior Equities, recently spoke with Green Market Report to break down the math. “Consensus estimates expect about $4.3 billion of total gross profit in 2024 for the public U.S. marijuana companies, so removing 280E taxes would free up about $900 million to pay interest expenses and be reinvested in operations, marketing, and employees,” he said.

* Center Square | New Illinois program aims to help reduce legal fights among divorcing parents: Established by the Illinois Supreme Court, the program allows local circuit courts to establish a program permitting judges to appoint a “parenting coordinator” to resolve minor disputes between parents who cannot come to agreement with each other.

* Chalkbeat | Illinois parent mentors kick off the school year, ready to get back into classrooms: The Parent Mentor Program has around 2,000 parent mentors and staff in over 200 schools, at almost 40 school districts around the state, according to a press release. The organization works with 44 community-based organizations across the state to help recruit parents from their neighborhoods. Through the program, community organizations train parents to work in their child’s school — experience that they can later use to work in classrooms as a special education classroom assistant or toward becoming a teacher.

* Crain’s | United Airlines lifts nationwide ground stop: This is the second ground stop this year due to a computer malfunction. Southwest Airlines issued a ground stop April 18 that delayed nearly 2,000 flights nationwide.

* SJ-R | Here’s the latest on what we know about the cybersecurity attack on HSHS systems: Workers are still trying to restore the clinical, administrative and communications systems that were impacted by the attack, including MyChart communication, which helps patients schedule, manage, and check in for appointments; message care teams; pay bills; get test results and after-visit instructions and request prescription refills.

* WBEZ | Chicago says employers should give contracts to domestic workers, but that’s not happening: As of January 2022, house cleaners, nannies and caregivers who work in Chicago are entitled to a written contract in their preferred language, outlining, at minimum, their wage and work schedule. If households use an agency, the agency is responsible for providing workers with the contract. Other provisions in a written contract might include who provides supplies, what happens when an employer cancels, and situations where a worker might be asked to do something outside their scope. The contracts are meant to protect workers from being taken advantage of, as well as to make employers’ expectations clear.

* Sun-Times | Chicago Trump Tower’s pollution fines don’t have to be covered by insurers, court rules: The state agency said that every day, the owners of the building drew about 20 million gallons of water out of the Chicago River for its cooling system and released the same amount back into the river at a higher temperature — potentially causing harm to fish and other aquatic life.

* Benzinga | Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference Unites Industry Titans and Advocates in Chicago: Speakers for the Sept. 27-28 event include Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, former Rep. Ed Perlmutter, former Sen. Cory Gardner, and more. … Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference, the world’s largest and most successful cannabis investing and finance event, will return to Chicago on Sept. 27-28, 2023, at the Magnificent Mile Marriott in the heart of the Windy City. This year’s event promises to be an extraordinary convergence of thought leaders, policymakers, advocates, and institutional investors at a time when community is vital to the success of the industry.

* WBEZ | New union petitions continue to rise in Chicago, following last year’s trends: The high number of new union petitions is even more powerful when combined with high success rates of union votes, [Robert Bruno, professor of Labor and Employment Relations at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign] explained. His research has found that most petitions for new unions are making it past the union elections, which if successful, means the union can officially enter negotiations with the employer.

* Citizens for Ethics | Routine Disqualification: Every state has kept ineligible candidates off the ballot, and Trump could be next: In Illinois, the secretary of state excluded presidential candidate Linda Jenness from the ballot because she was 31, four years younger than the requirement in Article II of the U.S. Constitution that a president must be at least 35 years old. Following Jenness’ petition for candidacy, the State Electoral Board, composed of state election officials including the secretary of state, governor, and attorney general, voted to deny certification, excluding Jenness from the ballot on two grounds. First, Jenness refused to submit a signed loyalty oath, which Illinois state law required at the time. And second, Jenness did not meet the federal constitutional requirement of being at least 35 years old.

* AP | Conservative book ban push fuels library exodus from national association that stands up for books: This summer, the state libraries in Montana, Missouri and Texas and the local library in Midland, Texas, announced they’re leaving the ALA, with possibly more to come. Right-wing lawmakers in at least nine other states — Arizona, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota and Wyoming — demand similar action.

* The Guardian | Texas fracking billionaire brothers fuel rightwing media with millions of dollars: “Farris and Dan Wilks, who believe their billions were given to them by God, have spent the last decade working to advance a dominionist ideology by funding far-right organizations and politicians that seek to dismiss climate change as ‘God’s will’, remove choice, demonize the LGBTQ community, and tear down public education, all to turn America into a country that gives preference to and imposes their extreme beliefs on everyone,” said Chris Tackett, a Texas-based campaign finance analyst.

* Star Tribune | Consumers have yet to develop a taste for Kernza, the environmental wonder grain: “I still have half of my 2021 crop in storage, I have all of my 2022 crop in storage, and at this point I will have all of my 2023 crop in storage with no market available to me,” Coffman said. He decided to plant only 10 acres of Kernza next year, down from 30.

16 Comments

First look at mass transit rethink

Tuesday, Sep 5, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Greg Hinz…

With a looming financial cliff threatening to force cuts by as much as 40% in Chicago-area public transit service, voters are getting their first look at a plan that’s spent months in development on how to remake the Chicago Transit Authority, Metra and Pace for the post-COVID era.

The plan is, to use its own word, “bold” — calling for new investments and fare cuts funded by expanding the state sales tax to cover more services and raising tolls on the Illinois Tollway, a shift of service away from its current downtown focus and the addition of more service, particularly on buses.

At the heart of the plan is what amounts to a proposed massive regional deal in which City Hall would have to give up control of the Chicago Transit Authority, but in exchange get lots more money and relief from a current funding formula that the CTA argues has particularly worked against the interests of its riders.

The question is whether it’s politically feasible. To list just one impediment: Gov. J.B. Pritzker has given no sign that he’s prepared to back off his opposition to widening the sales tax to cover more services, though the plan suggests that the overall sales tax rate could be lowered somewhat in exchange for a wider base. […]

CMAP prepared the plan at the specific direction of the General Assembly. Two lawmakers, state Sen. Ram Villivalam and state Rep. Eva-Dina Delgado, both Chicago Democrats, are expected to sponsor any legislation that comes out of PART, likely next year.

Many thanks to Greg for reading the entire study. He has more, and the study is here.

Bottom line: This is gonna be a huge lift. Huge.

26 Comments

Meanwhile… in Opposite Land

Tuesday, Sep 5, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Minnesota…

Starting July 1, a whole slate of new state laws kicked in, including one that advocates working to combat hunger say is a game changer: Free breakfast and lunch for all kids in school.

This will make permanent in Minnesota a COVID-era policy that provided the meals at no cost to students, regardless of their family income. The state “universal meals” program will begin this fall and extends to some remaining summer academic programs, according to the Minnesota Department of Education.

Schools must be enrolled in the national lunch and breakfast programs in order to qualify. The federal government will still pay for meals it otherwise would for children who meet the requirements, while the state will pick up the tab for the difference of covering everyone else. That’s estimated to be $388 million in this two-year state budget.

Illinois passed a similar law, but it was not funded.

* Michigan…

The governor of Michigan signed legislation Tuesday that aims to eventually end child marriage in that state, raising the minimum age at which one can get married to 18 years old under all circumstances.

The state previously allowed 16- and 17-year-olds to wed with written permission from a parent or legal guardian. Minors under 16 were able to get married with judicial approval.

But several laws signed by Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer effectively stop the practice, the Detroit Free Press reports. […]

Whitmer signed legislation banning marriage with minors even with parental permission. Children who are married are also no longer considered emancipated, and parents and guardians can now apply for the annulment of a marriage involving a child, the Free Press added.

In Illinois, at 16, minors can get married with parental permission.

* Denmark…

The Governors Highway Safety Association is crunching numbers on pedestrian fatalities, and they expect the final tally to be 7,508 people killed while walking in 2022. That’s the most since 1981. […]

Long ago, the Danes adopted a proactive and protective approach toward pedestrians. Here’s an excerpt Danish Traffic Act § 27:

Drivers who approach a pedestrian crossing that is not regulated must adjust their speed in such a way that there is no danger or inconvenience to pedestrians who are in the crossing or are on their way into it. If necessary, the driver must stop to let pedestrians pass.

The motorist is responsible for not endangering or inconveniencing pedestrians, even before those pedestrians reach a designated crosswalk. […]

(M)otorists are required to adjust their speed in such a way that there is no inconvenience to pedestrians who are are on their way into the street.

Here’s the Illinois statute…

When traffic control signals are not in place or not in operation the driver of a vehicle shall stop and yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian crossing the roadway within a crosswalk when the pedestrian is upon the half of the roadway upon which the vehicle is traveling, or when the pedestrian is approaching so closely from the opposite half of the roadway as to be in danger.

* Massachusetts…

Sidewalks and bike lanes will no longer suffice as safe lanes for walkers and those who rely on pedal power. […]

A new Massachusetts law now requires motorists to provide a “safe passing distance” between their vehicle when encountering other roadway users. […]

The law states there must be at least 4 feet of clearance when passing “vulnerable road users”

* California…

The Newark Police Department conducted a Pedestrian Safety Operation on Tuesday.

According to the department, non-uniformed members crossed streets in marked pedestrian crosswalks while officers monitored drivers’ compliance to grant the right-of-way. The operation took place in the areas of Newark Boulevard and Ruschin Drive, Thornton Avenue and Magnolia Street, and Cedar Boulevard near Milani Avenue between the hours of 7 a.m. and noon.

The department called the operation an “opportunity to educate drivers regarding pedestrian right-of-ways and other associated traffic laws. “

* Texas…

Drunk drivers in Texas will now need to pay child support if they kill a child’s parent or guardian in a car crash, according to a new law that went into effect Friday.

The bipartisan bill was signed by Gov. Greg Abbott (R) in June. It rules that any person found guilty of intoxicated manslaughter must pay child support if the victim had a child, to an amount determined by a judge. […]

Those who can’t pay will be given payment plans, with those in prison forced to pay the support within the first year after release. […]

Tennessee was the first state to pass a similar measure last year, and it is being considered in about 20 more.

7 Comments

Question of the day

Tuesday, Sep 5, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

* WBEZ…

Former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is officially a college lecturer — at least for a semester — as her graduate-level class on “health policy and leadership” at Harvard University got underway last week.

In an interview with WBEZ, Lightfoot said she’ll use a mock press conference, a simulated community meeting and guest speakers to teach in part about the dangers of politicizing a pandemic and how to interact with the media, drawing on the lessons learned from running a city amid COVID-19.

* The Question: Your suggestions for the class syllabus?

23 Comments

Murderous carjacker caught in three hours because of eyewitness, police and high tech

Tuesday, Sep 5, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Harwood Heights Police Department…

On 30 Aug. 2023 at 6:37AM, Harwood Heights Police Officers responded to the 4400 block of Natchez for a female victim lying in the street. Responding officers found the 61 year old female victim unresponsive with a zip tie around her neck impeding her breathing. Officers removed the zip tie and began CPR, subsequently the victim was transported to Lutheran General Hospital and is currently in critical condition on life support.

Eye witness, informed officers that he heard “grunts” and observed a male white subject, wearing black hoodie on top of a female victim. who was lying on the ground next to a vehicle with the vehicle door and the trunk open. The male subject then entered the driver’s seat of the vehicle: Blue Toyota Scion and quickly drove off S/B Natchez Ave.

Once the officers learned that victim’s vehicle was missing, they quickly disseminated the information via LEADS/ISPERN and entered vehicle information into Flock - License Plate Reader system as a stolen vehicle. At 0915hrs, officers received an alert via Flock system that the vehicle was recorded on a PR camera in Crete, IL. Crete Police were notified and at 09:36AM, the vehicle was located and the offender was taken into custody by Crete police officers without an incident. The victim’s vehicle and the offender were both transported to the HHPD.

Further investigation revealed a Ring camera video from 6400 block of Sunnyside, (approx. 1 block from the scene) which captured at 6:29AM, an image of a malewhite subject walking in the direction where the incident took place. The image strongly resembled the offender and matched the clothing the offender was wearing at the time of the arrest by Crete Police Department.

The offender was read his Miranda warning which he waived and provided a statement confessing to the crime.

Cook County State’s Attorney reviewed the case and approved two Felony Charges:

1. Attempt First Degree Murder
2. Aggravated Vehicular Hijacking.

On Sep. 1st, 2023, the offender appeared in Rolling Meadows Bond Court, where the presiding judge DENIED BAIL.

The offender will remain in custody of the Cook County jail until his next court date: Sep. 22nd, 2023.

The victim later died.

* The Law Enforcement Agencies Data System, or LEADS, is run by the Illinois State Police and “allows access to Criminal History Information, Hot Files and Interdepartmental Messaging as well as an access portal to the Secretary of State Drivers License and Vehicle Database, NCIC [National Crime Information Center] and other Federal Databases.” ISPERN is the Illinois State Police Emergency Radio Network. Information on the Flock license plate reader system and its LPR cameras is here.

A good eyewitness, combined with quick and strong police work and the proper use of technology resulted in an apprehension within 3 hours of an absolutely hideous crime.

17 Comments

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…

The former Cicero officer’s career had been derailed in April when her certification was blocked by the Illinois Law Enforcement Standards and Training Board while applying to the Riverside Police Department. The board had cited the $14.99 theft of a T-shirt in 2008 and another theft in 2003, when [Zenna] Ramos was 17 years old.

But Ramos, now 37, won an appeal Thursday when the board’s waiver review committee voted to rescind its previous decision to block Ramos’ certification. The reversal paves the way for Ramos to again patrol suburban streets. […]

Riverside’s attorney, Yvette Heintzelman, argued Ramos’ expunged convictions from 2003 and 2008 didn’t disqualify her from becoming a police officer in Illinois under the state’s new public safety law, the SAFE-T Act.

Ramos’ offenses weren’t listed in the SAFE-T’s lengthened list of disqualifying misdemeanors and didn’t count as convictions because of the expungements, Heintzelman said. The new law shouldn’t be retroactively applied, she added.

* Chalkbeat…

In early August, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a law creating the “Healthy School Meals for All Program” to help local school districts pay for the cost of school meals to all students. State lawmakers and school officials say getting the bill signed into law was a step in the right direction, but the state did not allocate any additional money to make the program a reality for districts like McHenry.

[McHenry School District 15 director of food services Kevin Harris], a supporter of the bill, had hoped the law would help his school district receive more state funding for school meals, so it could feed more students.

But, Harris said, “without funding, it’s a worthless law.” […]

[State Rep. Maurice West II] says when it came time to increase the budget to do just that, lawmakers didn’t add any money. In fact, the reimbursement funding level has been flat since the 2008 recession, he said.

With just $9 million going towards school meals, West said, “we need more for this to be school meals for all.”

* A year since the first buses of migrants arrived from Texas, Tribune reporters reflect on Chicago and Illinois’ response…

One year since Texas Gov. Greg Abbott bused the first group of asylum-seekers to Chicago — arguing that liberal northern cities that profess to be sanctuaries should welcome them — what began as political gamesmanship is now a full-blown humanitarian crisis: As of Friday, more than 6,600 migrants were lodging at city-run shelters, with another 1,576 sleeping in police stations and more than 400 camped at O’Hare. More than 13,500 asylum-seekers have arrived in the past year, often with no money and few belongings. […]

A Tribune investigation of the city’s response in the past year revealed a costly and at times disorganized approach, often characterized by poor planning, lack of leadership and troubling conditions in shelters.

The Tribune’s review of hundreds of pages of previously unreported internal documents, emails and text messages found decisions made at City Hall under Johnson and former Mayor Lori Lightfoot contributed to the crisis. Lightfoot failed for months to appoint someone to lead the mission, directed migrants to police stations and entered into costly contracts without a clear plan to transition new arrivals out of shelters. The city’s sluggishness to craft definitive and longer-term plans has continued under Johnson. […]

[T]he city’s and state’s response has been marked by infighting over funding, resources and mutual responsibility. Last September, for instance, city Family and Support Services Commissioner Brandie Knazze texted Chief Operating Officer Paul Goodrich to express frustration during a meeting with Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration: “I’m on the state call and they are pushing us to open more shelters.” She punctuated her message with five face-palm emojis.

* 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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House Dem staff union reiterates call for Speaker Welch’s recognition or a union election: ‘He should practice what he preaches’

Tuesday, Sep 5, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Axios reports on some new state laws that expand workers’ rights…

Companies with 50 or more employees must allow workers to exclude public transit and parking costs from taxable income. […]

Places with 15 or more employees will have to include salary ranges and a description of benefits in all new job postings. […]

Employees working for companies of 250 or more full-time workers can take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave if their child dies by suicide or homicide. The leave shortens to six weeks for employees at smaller companies. […]

The Freelance Worker Protection Act will make companies compensate independent contractors in a timely manner. […]

Temporary workers or day laborers must be notified ahead of time if they’re sent to fill in at a business where there’s a strike or work stoppage. They’ll reserve the right to refuse the assignment.

* Meanwhile, from the Tribune…

More than 20 staffers in Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch’s office renewed calls on Friday — three days before the Labor Day holiday — to be recognized as a union.

The employees, whose roles include research and legislative functions, formed the Illinois Legislative Staff Association earlier this year in a bid for higher wages and better benefits. They went public with their intentions to unionize in May but in a statement issued Friday, the association said that Welch, a Democrat from Hillside who became House speaker in 2021, has not been willing to discuss the issue with the group despite requests it has made over the last nine months. […]

According to the association, the $40,000-a-year starting salary for staff members is more than $4,000 less than it was in 2011 if adjusted to 2022 dollars, while the workload has increased. […]

The association said there has been higher turnover of its legislative staff through 2022 and the group said its average pay is less than what House Republican and Senate Democrat staffers, and legislative liaisons from the governor’s office, receive.

* Full statement from the Illinois Legislative Staff Association…

The Illinois Legislative Staff Association (ILSA), which represents employees of the Illinois General Assembly including the House of Representatives as well as District offices, has released the following statement:

“We are the Illinois Legislative Staff Association. For the last 9 months, we have asked in good faith for Speaker Welch to meet with us. Despite his outspoken pro-labor rhetoric and vocal support for the right of all employees in Illinois to unionize, he is apparently intent on denying this right to his own staff.

“It should not be controversial in 2023 for a group of workers in a blue state with a strong union tradition to form a union, especially when the right to organize is enshrined in the state constitution. Speaker Welch himself has publicly referred to Illinois as ‘the most labor friendly state in the country’. In May 2022, he said, ‘Illinois will always be a state that stands up for workers’ rights. The freedom for workers to join together in unions is a fundamental right that should always be protected.’”

“Only eight months ago he publicly referred to efforts to undercut the labor movement as ‘extremist’, and yet that is precisely what he and his aides are now doing.

“All we are asking for is for the Speaker to hold to his own avowed convictions when it comes to his own staff, whose work behind the scenes enables the General Assembly to function.

“The attempted justifications so far given for the Speaker’s refusal to acknowledge or meet with us do not hold up to scrutiny. The Speaker has the power to recognize us voluntarily at any time. Despite this, on the Speaker’s behalf, his aides have disingenuously claimed that ‘voluntary recognition denies [our] colleagues the right to a democratic election.’ Given that we have significantly more than the required number of signatures, this doesn’t make sense. Of course, we would welcome an election, but the Speaker’s team has not followed through with that proposal either.

“Our good faith efforts to engage with the Speaker and his aides have been either rebuffed, redirected, or met with stubborn disregard. When we have been acknowledged at all, we have experienced runaround, muddied waters and other thinly-veiled tactics aimed at undercutting our ability to organize and bargain collectively. The Speaker, through his aides, has made it abundantly clear that he intends to delay indefinitely in hopes that we will give up and go away.

“We will not.

“We have the legal right to form a union. If there was any doubt of this before, that doubt was removed by the passage of the Workers’ Rights Amendment. Equal protection under the law is a fundamental American value, and the right to organize is the law of the land in Illinois. Speaker Welch should not be able, with impunity, to say one thing in public—when it costs him nothing—while doing the opposite behind closed doors.

“He should practice what he preaches.

“ILSA will continue advocating on behalf of legislative staff until we are heard and our concerns are meaningfully addressed. Speaker Welch and his aides should stop their charade and sit down with us in the same good faith that we have consistently demonstrated. If he meant what he told the people of Illinois, then he should work with us to reach an agreement that works for everyone.”

* Speaker Welch’s office didn’t respond to the Tribune…

Happy #LaborDay! Today, we remember all that organized labor has done to make our workplaces safer and fairer. We're continuing to lift up working people by putting workers' rights into our constitution, fighting for equal pay, and building an economy that works for everyone. pic.twitter.com/FjyTqGa1Ol

— Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch (@SpeakerWelchIL) September 4, 2023

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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Supplement to today’s edition (Updated)

Tuesday, Sep 5, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Call Pritzker’s bluff and run a new nuke bill

Tuesday, Sep 5, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

* My weekly syndicated newspaper column from the start of the August break…

Gov. J.B. Pritzker has taken some heat for vetoing legislation to eliminate the state’s decades-old moratorium on constructing new nuclear power reactors.

Pritzker was asked about the topic again last week and he said he would sign a version of the bill if it limited new construction to only what are called Small Modular Reactors (SMRs).

“Small Modular Reactors are very beneficial,” Pritzker told reporters, noting that the technology wasn’t yet ready to deploy. “They do seem to work very well, and they do seem to be safe, but they’re going to be several years of testing yet ahead,” he said.

Asked how he could be confident of stopping a veto override, he said many legislators didn’t know that the bill had been changed. “In the last week, things go very quickly,” Pritzker said about the end of spring legislative sessions. “It isn’t known to every legislator that an amendment actually made a major change, not just a minor change.”

But legislators who shepherded the bill through the General Assembly have taken umbrage with the governor’s claim, noting that nine days passed between the final amendment’s introduction and the House’s floor vote. They also claimed they worked the final bill hard, and members were fully aware of what was going on.

Senate Bill 76 as originally introduced by Sen. Sue Rezin (R-Morris) would’ve opened the door specifically to SMRs. Pritzker indicated last week he would’ve signed something similar to that bill into law had it not been so significantly changed. “I believe strongly that we should bring Small Modular Reactors to Illinois,” he claimed.

But Rezin then amended her bill to delete her previous SMR regulatory language and limited it to merely deleting the state’s longstanding nuclear moratorium language. Rezin’s bill was further amended in the House by Rep. Lance Yednock (D-Ottawa) to add in language requiring that all new nuke plants be an “advanced nuclear reactor” as defined in federal law. The governor claims drafting it that way would open the door to large-scale nuclear power plants, which he opposes. Others hotly dispute this notion, including Rezin.

The problem for Pritzker is that the bill passed the House with a strong, bipartisan majority of 84 votes, which is far more than the 71 needed to override his veto. The Senate, on the other hand, voted 36-14 to concur on Yednock’s amendment, the bare minimum needed for an override.

Rezin told a local radio station last week that House Speaker Chris Welch “has indicated he will not be calling the bill.” Pritzker’s veto message declared he vetoed the bill “at the request of the leadership team of the Speaker of the House and advocates.”

But the House speaker himself has made no such public comments on the legislation, and a Welch spokesperson told me, “We’re going to put this to the caucus before any decision is made for an override.”

“The amendment in the House was in direct response to concerns expressed by the governor, so this really came out of left field for everyone,” Senate Republican Leader John Curran told a reporter last week. Others have claimed the same thing.

But a review of email messages between the bill’s sponsors and others show only one from the governor’s office, and that email was a simple thanks for giving the office a heads up about Yednock’s House amendment.

“Senator Rezin and I spoke with the governor in the spring,” said Yednock. “He said he was supportive of nuclear. I can’t say there was more than that.”

Rezin said she and Yednock met with the governor for half an hour in the spring and the governor said he agreed with the concept of lifting the moratorium to make way for Small Modular Reactors.

Some of the nuclear energy proponents I’ve spoken with do seem to realize that if the governor successfully stops a veto override, their issue may stall out and even disappear.

The governor does appear to be playing both sides on this topic. The House speaker’s staff, after all, was involved with the amendment’s drafting, so proponents believe the governor was looped in all along. Some environmentalists don’t want anything to do with any nuclear restart, small or large. So the governor can appease them with the veto, but still publicly claim to be on the side of a zero-carbon energy source.

If he is bluffing, nuke proponents should call it, run a new bill that makes their intentions clear and put it on his desk.

That veto and another one apparently caused a recent dustup with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. The other Pritzker veto was of a bill that gave Ameren the right of first refusal to build new power lines. The United States Department of Justice has publicly argued against this concept, warning that it would reduce competition. The legislature ignored the Justice Department and passed the bill anyway. And now several of the same people who voted for that bill are demanding ethics reforms in the wake of Justice Department corruption probes in Illinois.

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

Tuesday, Sep 5, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Open thread

Tuesday, Sep 5, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* We’re back! What’s going on? Keep it Illinois-centric please…

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Isabel’s morning briefing

Tuesday, Sep 5, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Here you go…

Tribune | Potential candidates can start circulating petitions Tuesday as election year officially gets underway:

* WBEZ | Dying and disabled Illinois prisoners kept behind bars, despite new medical release law: Behind the lower-than-expected numbers is the Prisoner Review Board, a state body appointed by Pritzker and confirmed by the Illinois Senate with final say on medical release requests. As of mid-August, the board had denied nearly two-thirds of medical release requests from dying and disabled prisoners who met the medical criteria to get out of prison under the Coleman Act — including Merritt.

* Tribune | Illinois House Speaker Emanuel ‘Chris’ Welch’s staffers say he’s rebuffed their efforts to unionize: “Despite his outspoken pro-labor rhetoric and vocal support for the right of all employees in Illinois to unionize, he is apparently intent on denying this right to his own staff,” the association said of Welch in a statement. “It should not be controversial in 2023 for a group of workers in a blue state with a strong union tradition to form a union, especially when the right to organize is enshrined in the state constitution.”

* Tribune | Ex-Madigan aide Tim Mapes found guilty but he’s still collecting a big pension: Illinois’ pension laws generally require a direct connection to a crime that happened during a public employee’s official duties before a pension can be halted. Given Mapes’ lies to a federal grand jury came nearly three years after he was forced by Madigan to resign, the highly forgiving pension laws may give Mapes plenty of room to stop any efforts to halt his pension after he’s expected to be sentenced by a federal judge early next year.

* Crain’s | Illinois GOP funding pitch takes a turn for the red-meat right: In a line of attack more commonly heard in deeply red states, the email links to video of a recent speech by state Sen. Andrew Chesney, R-Freeport, objecting to a bill that would require sex-neutral language in certain state health-insurance laws. In his speech, Chesney noted that the bill would specifically affect coverage for pap tests, used to screen for cervical cancer in women, and prostate tests, for men. “Biological males can’t get pap tests. . . .Biological women can’t get a prostate test,” Chesney declared. Such moves explain “why kids get confused. . . .This is why kids are dressing up as furries and want kitty litters in the bathroom.”

* SJ-R | State creates task force to consider merits, needed regulations for AI: The task force will consist of 20 members and hold at least five public meetings in Chicago, Springfield, Metro East, Quad Cities and Southern Illinois. The summation of these meetings will lead to a report shared with the governor’s office and the General Assembly by Dec. 31, 2024.

* Sun-Times | At O’Hare Airport, hundreds of migrants are stuck at a shelter that’s overcrowded, unsanitary: The problems at O’Hare follow a doubling of the number of incoming migrants to Chicago seeking more long-term shelter. As of Thursday, that figure was 2,089. At the airport, the number was 411, up from just 31 at the beginning of August. That population is almost four times the capacity limit initially set by the city.

* Tribune | Illinois is solidly blue. So why did President Joe Biden’s reelection effort spend so much time here this summer?: Illinois is an “easy in and out to a major market in the middle of the country,” David Axelrod, political strategist for President Barack Obama and a CNN analyst, said when asked about Biden’s focus on the state this summer. “I assume some of them are picking up some campaign money while they’re here. And, it is the (DNC) convention city, so they’re building toward that.”

* Tribune | Chicago treasurer accused of misconduct and ethical violations in letter city kept secret for years: City Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin used government workers to plan her daughter’s birthday party and be her personal bodyguard while she also pressured public employees to hold events benefiting political allies and repeatedly misused taxpayer resources, two former top aides alleged in a recently released letter the city fought for years to keep confidential.

* WBEZ | At summer’s end, Chicago murders are down 21% from horrendous 2021: Gun violence citywide has been trending down for about 20 months. By Thursday night, the Chicago Police Department had counted 420 murders during the year’s first eight months. That tally is 7.9% less than during the first eight months of 2022 and 21.3% less than during those months of 2021, when Chicago had its worst gun violence in a quarter century.

* NBC Chicago | Locked out on Labor Day: Kinzie Hotel workers protest: Sanchez received a letter from Kinzie Hotel’s General Manager Karen Criss, saying in part, “We are exercising our right under the NLRA to hire a replacement worker in order to continue operations. You have an opportunity to apply for reinstatement after the strike. There is no guarantee your positions will be available.”

* Crain’s | Union calls off Labor Day strike at 11 Infinity nursing homes: About 900 workers at the nursing homes owned by Infinity Healthcare Consulting of Illinois had threatened to strike over what the union said were “poverty wages” that led to dangerous staffing shortages. The union said staffing levels at Infinity nursing homes often fall critically below state-mandated minimum care hours per day.

* Daily Herald | ‘Oversaturation’? Video gambling profits shrinking for many suburban businesses: A Daily Herald analysis of video gambling revenue in 70 suburban locales shows the devices in 27 towns were generating less money per machine from August 2022 through July 2023 than they were during the same months a year earlier.

* CBS | Bally’s needs state’s OK before opening temporary Chicago casino in matter of days: The slots are up and running, but the doors remain closed to the public. The Illinois Gaming Board will run testing on Wednesday and Thursday. If approved, the temporary casino could be operational in days. Revenue generated could bring $55 million a year to the city.

* USA Today | Student loan repayments surge ahead of official restart, but many may still be scrambling: How people handle student loans, which total $1.7 trillion spread across more than 40 million Americans, could be a barometer for which way the economy could be headed. Early voluntary payments could be seen as a sign of financially healthy consumers, but looking closer, Goldman Sachs says the situation may not be as rosy as it looks.

* Crain’s | Rivian hires former Porsche exec as sales chief: Automotive News had reported in July that Gruner was jumping to Rivian after a relatively short tenure with the German luxury brand. Porsche said then that Gruner was leaving “at his own request” after less than three years. Gruner steered Porsche’s U.S. business through the pandemic and put it on track to hit a three-year sales high this year.

* WCBU | Stoller says he won’t seek a third term in state Senate: The Germantown Hills Republican says his district shifted much further north after the recent remap, and he doesn’t want to be a career politician.

* WBEZ | Professor Lori Lightfoot is teaching Harvard students how to run a city in a pandemic: In an interview with WBEZ, Lightfoot said she’ll use a mock press conference, a simulated community meeting and guest speakers to teach in part about the dangers of politicizing a pandemic and how to interact with the media, drawing on the lessons learned from running a city amid COVID-19.

* Tribune | Secretary of state plans requiring appointments at driver service facilities begin: Walk-in service will still be available for people seeking title and registration services or hoping to renew license plate stickers in person, the release said. The secretary of state’s office is also pushing customers to go online for many driver services, including renewals of licenses and plate stickers. The office will also send more alerts to drivers advising them they can renew licenses and get other drivers services online.

* SJ-R | Here are the most interesting things included in State Fair Grandstand performer contracts: McGraw was paid $750,000 guaranteed with all the box office receipts over $850,000; Parker received a guarantee of $5,000. Interesting stuff found in their rider(s): McGraw has ten pages of suggestions for meals and dressing rooms, with the suggested meals including a grilled cheese bar for lunch and a made-to-order pasta bar for dinner. As for his dressing room, McGraw asks that in addition to providing him with six cans of Coke, he also have four Muscle Milk protein drinks – preferably the “Intense Vanilla” flavor.

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Live coverage

Tuesday, Sep 5, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* ScribbleLive is still down. Twitter has stopped allowing people to embed list feeds on websites. So, click here or here to follow breaking news.

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