* Fran Spielman…
Nearly 1,600 asylum seekers will be moved out of Chicago police stations “before the weather begins to shift and change” and into “winterized base camps” with massive tents, under a plan unveiled Thursday by Mayor Brandon Johnson.
Johnson refused to say where the tent cities would be built, only that the city has identified suitable locations across the city. The tent structures he envisions could hold up to 1,000 migrants, though 500 or so was an “ideal scenario.”
During an abbreviated interview with the Sun-Times, the mayor offered no specifics on cost or funding as he described the broad outlines of a plan that includes “base camps” that would have meals as well as recreational and educational programming provided by Chicagoans as a way to reduce what he called the “exorbitant” costs now being paid to a private staffing agency. […]
Pressed repeatedly, Johnson did not rule out budget cuts or tax increases or both to pay for a burgeoning humanitarian crisis already costing Chicago upwards of $30 million-per-month.
But he acknowledged “sacrifices” will be required of the city he now leads and said the cost of not making those sacrifices would be far greater.
There’s more, including react, so click here to read the rest. It doesn’t look like at least some key city council allies were briefed.
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Afternoon roundup
Thursday, Sep 7, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Gov. JB Pritzker was asked again today about the unionization attempt among some House Democratic employees. Would he support a law that puts legislative employees under the jurisdiction of the Illinois Labor Relations Board to give them a pathway to unionizing?…
Look, I think these are decisions that will get made by Speaker Welch and by the legislators. It’s their chamber, and the General Assembly, in general, that have to make some decisions about this. … I’m not engaging in the discussion other than to say this is something that they’re going to have to work out.
…Adding… I asked AFSCME Council 31 for its response to the organizing effort…
As an affiliate of the Illinois AFL-CIO we echo the support previously expressed by the federation (https://twitter.com/ILAFLCIO/status/1653502000728887297) for the right of these and all workers to come together in unions and have a voice on the job.
* Background is here if you need it. WBEZ…
The head of the Chicago Teachers Union is facing backlash for sending her eldest child to a private high school, a decision she says represents a stark statement about disinvestment in public schools and drives home why the fight to fully fund neighborhood schools is so important. […]
In an interview with WBEZ, Davis Gates defended her decision and said it was the result of “unfair choices” she and other South and West Side parents face.
“It was a very difficult decision for us because there is not a lot to offer Black youth who are entering high school” in Chicago, Davis Gates said. “In many of our schools on the South Side and the West Side, the course offerings are very marginal and limited. Then the other thing, and it was a very strong priority, was his ability to participate in co-curricular and extracurricular activities, which quite frankly, don’t exist in many of the schools, high schools in particular.” […]
Another big consideration: Her son plays soccer, and the South Side schools with good programs are in Latino neighborhoods far from her home.
Davis Gates said they looked at selective enrollment and magnet high schools, which tend to have healthy enrollments and fundraising that allows them to offer more complete programs. But that would have required her son to spend hours traveling.
This is basically an admission that the city’s public schools are not up to par. Gee, if only she was in a position to do something about that, or perhaps help others in similar situations to attend private schools who don’t have her personal financial resources. Just saying.
Also, she was not asked in the interview about her previous statements like this one...
“I’m also a mother,” Davis Gates said on March 6, 2022. “My children go to Chicago Public Schools. These are the things that legitimize my space within the coalition.”
…Adding… Press release…
The Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago today named Mark Hoplamazian, President and CEO of Hyatt Hotels Corporation, and Eric Smith, Vice Chairman of BMO Bank, as the new co-chairs of the Committee’s Public Safety Task Force (PSTF). The two Chicago business leaders are replacing the late James Crown, who led the task force up until his tragic death in June.
* Dave Dahl…
[The Illinois Emergency Management Agency] is hosting more than 600 emergency planners from throughout the state for an annual conference.
[IEMA Director Alicia Tate-Nadeau] says a newer responsibility for the emergency professionals is election security. “Really thinking about the physical security of the poll workers who are out there,” she said. “Like anything, our job is to plan. That doesn’t mean that something is going to occur, but our job is to make sure that we prepare.”
* WMBD…
Candidates are starting to declare their candidacy to battle for a seat in Springfield in the 93rd District of the Illinois House. […]
Travis Weaver (R-Edwards) is the incumbent, and is seeking a second term. […]
Weaver says he reached out to his first known opponent, Democrat Zoey Carter of Pekin, on Facebook after she announced her candidacy last week.
He says he wants to keep the race cordial and respectful.
“I think it’s important to have open lines of communication, because Zoey may say something at some point that I believe is untruthful or deceptive, and I’d like to be able to call that out,” Weaver said. “And I also empower Zoey to have that same relationship with me.”
Carter, who other media outlets have reported could be the first transgender person elected to state office, was not available for comment. But in a Facebook post announcing her candidacy, she says she’s running “because I know that we are not getting the proper representation that we deserve.”
The 93rd House District is overwhelmingly Republican. Darren Bailey won it by 26 points.
* Daily Wire…
Democrat state lawmakers are more unified and committed to a leftist ideology than Republican lawmakers are to conservatism, according to a report from the Conservative Political Action Conference.
Republicans voted for conservative policies 77% of the time, while Democrats voted for liberal policies 87% of the time, according to the analysis of all 7,400 lawmakers in the 50 statehouses during last year’s legislative sessions.
The study by CPAC’s affiliated Center for Legislative Accountability concluded that Democrats were more likely to “stick together” on issues important to the party’s base, while Republicans “broke apart.” […]
The most-radical Democrats were in New Jersey, where they had a 0% conservative ranking, followed by Colorado, Wisconsin, Illinois, Maine, and Oregon, at 1%. […]
“The red states are actually the worst” when it comes to moderate Republicans, Andrew Roth, president of the State Freedom Caucus Network, told The Daily Wire in 2021. “A lot of Democrats know they can’t get elected with a D next to their name, so they put an R next to their name and then vote like liberals.”
Illinois ranked 37th in most conservative Republican legislative voting behavior in 2022, at 72 percent, which is about average and the opposite of what’s portrayed in the last paragraph of that excerpt.
* Mayor Brandon Johnson chafes at the suggestion that he’s moving too slow on appointments, but I don’t think it’s out of line to ask why CTA President Dorval Carter still has a job…
38 percent of Red Line trains ran? What the heck?
* Isabel’s roundup…
* Illinois Times | Tough choices at Memorial Health: Illinois Times has learned Memorial Health’s recently announced layoffs totaled about 300 – with 120 involving people in leadership positions – and that the cuts will save the Springfield-based health care system an estimated $40 million a year.
* Sun-Times | Toxic Acme site on Southeast Side picked for EPA Superfund cleanup: Cyanide and mercury are among the harmful chemicals and metals found through recent testing of the Acme soil and surrounding areas used for fishing may be contaminated as well, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said.
* Center Square | Right-to-work group enters nursing home labor dispute: Officials from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Healthcare Illinois had threatened to call a strike on Labor Day, but have since gone back to the bargaining table. If talks break down, employees from 11 Infinity Healthcare nursing facilities in northern Illinois will be ordered off the job. National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation Vice President Patrick Semmens said workers don’t have to walk off the job if they choose not to.
* Farm Progress | Illinois FFA to help spread the word on mental health: Following the success of a state-supported program to help Illinois farm families access mental health resources, Gov. JB Pritzker announced funding for up to 20 grants at $1,000 each to support FFA chapters implementing local initiatives that encourage access to such resources. All FFA chapters in Illinois are eligible to apply for the grant, and grant applications will be available from the Illinois FFA Foundation in fall 2023.
* NBC Chicago | University of Illinois, 4 other Midwest schools rank on Forbes’ ‘Top 25 Public Colleges’ in US:“University of Illinois is home to more than 9,000 works of art, over 46,000 artifacts, four theaters and four cultural centers,’ Forbes wrote. “Students have the opportunity to be mentored by faculty members who have been awarded Nobel Prizes, Pulitzer Prizes and the Fields Medal in Mathematics.”
* WMBD | Tazewell County files to intervene in CO2 pipeline running under central Illinois: “The Tazewell County Board is currently in the process of taking public comment from Tazewell County residents and the developer of the proposed (carbon dioxide) pipeline. The filing of this Petition to Intervene will ensure that Tazewell County will be a participant in all future proceedings,’ said State’s Attorney Kevin Johnson.
* Sun-Times | Committee approves labor contracts for thousands of city workers: The deal’s prevailing wage portion covers 7,000 members of 30 trade unions employed by 16 city departments. Those workers also will now accrue half a day of sick leave per month and be eligible for 12 weeks of paid parental leave.
* Chalkbeat | Chicago Public Schools is becoming less low-income. Here’s why that matters.: A decade ago, nearly 73% of students at the school, Helen C. Peirce School of International Studies, came from low-income households, according to district data. Last school year, that figure was just over 34%. […] Even though the number of students from low-income families has dropped, nearly three-quarters of the district’s student body is still considered “economically disadvantaged.” But if the downward trend continues, Chicago schools could continue to see fewer dollars than expected from the state, which funds districts in part by considering how many students from low-income families are enrolled.
* WICS | Push for state funding amid learning loss: Illinois schools strive to bounce back post-pandemic: According to the 2022 Illinois Report Card, proficiency in reading and math for Illinois students is running below pre-COVID-19 levels. Federal and state dollars have been dished out to try to help students get caught up. […] Next year, Illinois won’t be receiving federal COVID-19 funds, which has helped pay after school programs. Pritzker said increasing state funds for education is key, along with targeting those in need the most.
* NYT | Who’s really paying to bus migrants from the border?: No. In fact, the migrants boarding the Texas-funded buses represent only a fraction of the thousands arriving at the border each month, and some migrants are wary of accepting a free ride. The Texas busing program has sent about 34,740 migrants to other states since April 2022, enough to populate a small city. But that is a paltry subset of the hundreds of thousands who have crossed the border during that period, most of whom have probably also made their way to destinations outside Texas.
* South Side Weekly | Larry Snelling Garnered Multiple Use-of-Force Complaints in the 1990s: As a beat cop in Englewood and Morgan Park in the 1990s, Larry Snelling was the subject of eight excessive force complaints, two of which resulted in suspensions. Some of the allegations describe Snelling slapping or punching people as young as fourteen in the head, while others detail verbal abuse. The allegations describe behavior that, if true, violated long-standing departmental rules that “prohibit all brutality, and physical or verbal maltreatment of any citizen while on or off duty.”
* South Side Weekly | ‘Doesn’t Make it Wrong’:While he was a sergeant working at the Police Training Academy in 2015, Larry Snelling testified in a civil suit that a lieutenant who allegedly pressed his hand forcefully into a mentally ill woman’s nose because she would not submit to fingerprinting had used an appropriate amount of force for that type of situation, according to documents obtained by the Weekly.
* Block Club Chicago | Migrant Barbers Arrested, Ticketed For Cutting Hair Without License Downtown: One of the migrants who was arrested, who asked not to be named for safety reasons, told Block Club Wednesday police handcuffed all of the barbers and detained them for eight hours, informing them it was illegal to operate a pop-up barbershop without a license or permit.
* Bloomberg | Chicago Area Faces 30% Transit Cuts Without New Taxes, State Aid: The area’s three transit systems, which average about a million daily rides combined in northeast Illinois, could see collective deficits expand to $1.19 billion in 2031 from about $730 million in 2026 after emergency pandemic funds run out and if no new money is allocated, the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning said in a draft report this month.
* Block Club Chicago | Judge Urges Feds To Review Whether Soccer Team’s Deal To Build On Public Housing Land Violates Civil Rights Laws: The advocates want the CHA to fulfill 20-year-old written plans to build hundreds of new homes on and around the Near West Side site. It was once part of the ABLA public housing development where 3,600 families lived. Instead, former Mayor Lori Lightfoot engineered a no-bid deal last year that would let the Chicago Fire lease 23 acres for at least 40 years. The team, owned by billionaire Joe Mansueto, plans to build a state-of-the-art training center on the property.
* Crain’s | Stadium rebuild can’t happen without concerts, Northwestern insists: Until last night, it was unclear to the commissioners and members of Evanston’s City Council, who will have final approval after the Land Use Commission gives its recommendations, on what would happen if a proposal for the stadium was approved by the city, but the separate concert proposal was struck down.
* Facing South | Illinois town offers solidarity to gender migrants fleeing far-right tyranny in Southern states: Right now, C.A.R.E is working with 16 “cases” through its organizational offshoot, Rainbow Refuge. They are mostly from Florida; others hail from Texas, Oklahoma, and Tennessee, according to Carrie Vine, one of C.A.R.E.’s founders and volunteer case managers.
* Tribune | Column: Sheriff ‘frustrated’ after recent fatalities on Kane County roads: While these crashes have all been in different locations and were caused by different reasons, they were “mostly due to the lack of awareness or attention to the surroundings of the drivers,” he said. And even if there had been deputies “on every corner of the county, most of these crashes would’ve still occurred.” […] “People need to stop blaming the sheriff’s office for failing to have a presence” when these crashes are often caused by “sheer negligence or ignorance of traffic laws,” Hain said on Tuesday.
* Tribune | Chicago calls for safety as city prepares for Mexican Independence Day events following problems last year: “Car caravans that create a threat to public safety will not be tolerated,” spokesperson Mary May said in the statement. “We also remind everyone that drag racing and drifting are not only illegal, but dangerous. Anyone in violation of the ordinance will be held accountable.”
* Crain’s | Inside and around the Obama Presidential Center as it rises in Jackson Park: Cement trucks roar around the 19.3-acre site and workers — 53% of them minority, according to the center — scurry about. The shell of the combination 425-car parking garage and Chicago Public Library branch is done, all to be topped with a landscaped green roof. The center’s central tower, which will house a digital presidential library and museum filled with memorabilia from Barack and Michelle Obama’s lives and time in Washington, is now several stories in the air and set to be topped off by April.
* WBEZ | Three big questions, asked and answered, about Chicago’s move to an elected school board: The move to an elected board is the realization of a dream for many organizers who have long argued that parents and communities are shut out of important decisions affecting their schools. They think an elected board will ensure that parent and community wishes and concerns will be heard.
* Farm Progress | Illinois FFA soils judgers win big at Farm Progress Show: The 2023 edition featured the largest participation ever, with over 120 students competing from Indiana and Illinois combined. Sixteen schools fielded around 30 teams combined for the contest. Illinois FFA members competed against other Illinois FFA members for bragging rights and cash awards, provided to the winners by Farm Credit Illinois, one of the contest sponsors.
* Marijuana Moment | Illinois Concert This Weekend Will Be State’s First To Allow On-Site Marijuana Consumption: Kicking off Saturday afternoon, the two-day Miracle in Mundelein festival will feature complimentary rolling papers, lighters and grinders, as well as dab bars and rolling stations for use by attendees. Marijuana products themselves will be available for sale through a retailer located next door.
* Block Club Chicago | ‘DMVs’ In Illinois? Secretary Of State Says So — But It’s Not Quite What You Think: Asked Thursday if “DMV” was part of an official change in terminology by his office, Giannoulias joked that he’s “not creative enough” to launch a rebrand. Instead, the acronym is just a way to specifically refer to the services offered at each location, he said.
* NYT | Philanthropies Pledge $500 Million to Address Crisis in Local News: The initiative, called Press Forward, is spearheaded by the MacArthur Foundation and supported by organizations including the Knight Foundation, the Ford Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation of New York.
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* Block Club Chicago…
A new study shows far fewer Black and Latino Chicagoans voted in this year’s mayoral election compared to white voters, underlying long-running imbalances in voter access and participation in city politics, researchers said.
The report, released Wednesday by the University of Illinois Chicago Great Cities Institute, details “shocking low” voter turnout among Black and Latino Chicagoans during the April 4 runoff in which progressive Chicago teachers union organizer and now-Mayor Brandon Johnson defeated Paul Vallas, former CEO of Chicago Public Schools.
About 61.1 percent of white registered voters cast a ballot in the election, compared to 29 percent of Black voters and 20.5 percent for Latino voters, according to the report.
The citywide turnout was 38.68 percent, according to the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners.
* Some selected bullet points from the study…
• Johnson captured 88 percent support from Black Chicago voters – a far higher rate than any polls had predicted.
• Vallas won the clear support of most white voters – we estimate it at 66 percent.
• Latinos broke for Vallas citywide, giving him an estimated 54.4 percent of their votes.
• 62.3 percent of the city’s registered voters did not participate in this election at all.
• A startling gap in voter turnout continues to persist along racial and ethnic lines. We estimate that 61.1 percent of Chicago’s registered white voters cast a ballot, while only 29 percent of registered Black people and 20.5 percent of Latinos did.
• Precincts that were over 80 percent Asian-American cast more than 77.8 percent of their votes for Vallas – higher than any other racial or ethnic group.
• Precincts that were 80 percent white cast just 25.8 percent of their vote for Brandon Johnson compared to our estimation of 34 percent citywide, meaning that white voters in more residentially segregated white areas were less likely to vote for Brandon Johnson.
• Precincts that were over 80 percent Asian-American cast 77.8 percent of their votes for Vallas – higher than any other neighborhood dominated by a single racial or ethnic group. While the city’s overall Asian population is still relatively small – it was 7 percent in 2020 – it nonetheless remains Chicago’s fastest-growing group and will exercise increasing political influence in years to come.
* A deeper dive into Latino voting patterns…
This year, despite there being more than two dozen Latino elected officials in the city, many of them progressive backers of Johnson, his opponent Vallas still managed to secure a majority of the Hispanic vote, though the percentages varied sharply in different Latino neighborhoods of the city. A handful of Latino-majority wards in the South and far Southwest sides racked up far bigger margins for Vallas, while those in near Southwest and Northside favored Johnson. Take the 13th Ward in Garfield Ridge and Clearing, for example, a majority-Latino ward that is also home to many city police and firefighters. Vallas racked up 70 percent of the vote in precincts that were more than 80 percent Latino, while he did even better in the mostly white precincts of the same ward.
Johnson received a majority, on the other hand, in the older majority-Latino wards in the northwest neighborhoods of the city, areas with extensive community organizations that are generally represented by more progressive elected officials. Yet even in some of these wards, vote tallies at the precinct level reveal distinctly different patterns among white and Latino residents.
In the 26th Ward in Humboldt Park, for example (see Table 3), where Latinos make up 65 percent of the voting-age population, Johnson amassed a landslide 65.4 percent of votes, but a disproportionate segment of his margin came from white voters in the ward’s rapidly gentrified areas. The data show that ten precincts within the 26th Ward where Latinos make up 80 percent or more of the population split their vote 49.5-to-50.5 percent between Johnson and Vallas, while the only three precincts where whites make up a majority of the population – all located at the ward’s eastern end – gave Johnson 72.6 percent of their votes. […]
But even more noteworthy is how isolated the overwhelming number of Latino adults are from local politics, with a startling nine out of ten adults [including those not registered] not even voting.
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Today’s quotable
Thursday, Sep 7, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Our old pal Maxwell…
* Full quote…
My message is not just to the teenagers but to their families that, first of all, they deserve to live in a place that’s welcoming, that’s affirming, that supports them. And we provide that kind of care in Illinois, and we support people who do provide that care, as we support all of our health care professionals.
And I think it’s frankly despicable that there are states that are banning the kind of health care that’s needed for these kids. Anybody who knows a family that has a trans child knows that there are already major challenges that you’re going through. You need to healthcare professionals that are supportive. Some of it is mental health support, some of it is physical health support, but all of it ought to be about affirming and lifting up these children.
Please pardon all transcription errors.
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Here’s something you don’t see every day
Thursday, Sep 7, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Press release…
The Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame (CSHOF) will honor Governor J.B. Pritzker’s exceptional dedication to sports with the prestigious Lifetime Contribution to Sport Award. The award will be presented during his opening remarks at the annual induction ceremony on October 4th, 2023, at Wintrust Arena in McCormick Square.
* Go to the website and scroll down and you’ll see a link to the explanation for the governor’s award…
Dedicated leader, passionate sports enthusiast, and tireless advocate for the Chicago community, Governor J.B. Pritzker is honored with The Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame’s prestigious Lifetime Contribution of Sport Award. With a profound commitment to the development of sports and its impact on society, Governor Pritzker’s legacy is deeply interwoven with the vibrant sports culture of Chicago.
Governor Pritzker’s profound influence extends beyond his political leadership. His fervent support for sports at all levels has been a driving force in fostering unity, teamwork, and well-being within the community. Recognizing the transformative power of athletics, he has championed initiatives that promote accessibility and inclusivity in sports programs, ensuring that every individual has the opportunity to thrive and excel.
A visionary who understands the role of sports in shaping character and values, Governor Pritzker has consistently advocated for investments in sports infrastructure and programs. His unwavering dedication has laid the groundwork for the growth of amateur and professional sports alike in the Chicago region. […]
The Lifetime Contribution of Sport Award stands as a testament to Governor J.B. Pritzker’s indelible impact on Chicago’s sports landscape. His legacy of promoting sportsmanship, teamwork, and wellness will continue to shape the region for generations to come. As he receives this well-deserved honor, we celebrate his commitment to both the spirit of sports and the betterment of the community.
OK, a bit much on the laudatory side for my taste, but whatevs. It’s their shop, they can say what they want. Maybe they’re looking for a future check.
* But here’s a paragraph I edited out from the above explanation…
Beyond his policy achievements, Governor Pritzker is known for his hands-on involvement in various sports events and activities. His energetic presence on the field, court, and track has not only inspired athletes but also underscored his genuine passion for sports.
OK, what?
* I was eventually able to reach an official with the organization, who asked that his name not be used. He said the Hall of Fame (which is a virtual institution, not a physical structure) asked the governor’s office for some copy to post on the site, but never heard back. So, “we just threw that up on the website as a placeholder.”
I told him I wasn’t looking to bash the governor because, let’s admit, I’m not exactly an athlete these days either, so I have no room to talk. And I wasn’t looking to bash his group, or whoever wrote that bio. I just thought it was hilarious, and so has everyone else I’ve sent the excerpt to this week.
He took it in stride. “Go right ahead,” he laughed. “I’ll take all the PR I can get.”
Consider it done.
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* Press release…
Governor JB Pritzker today joined local and state officials along with Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE) leadership to announce the beginning of construction on a new health science building on campus. Situated at the intersection of South University Drive and University Park Drive, the $105 million building will provide groundbreaking educational opportunities in a state-of-the-art facility.
The building construction, which is set to be completed by summer 2025, will seamlessly connect two existing facilities at 200 and 220 University Park Drive into one structure, weaving together the School of Nursing and the School of Pharmacy. Funding is made possible by the bipartisan Rebuild Illinois Capital program, the largest capital plan in the State’s history.
“As we make college tuition more affordable for students, we are also investing in university facilities — ensuring these engines of success for local economies are running at their best,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “With today’s groundbreaking at SIUE, we usher in a new era for Southern Illinois and its world class university — with greater access to quality education and first-rate healthcare. Together, we are building a more prosperous future for the students, faculty and families of this region.”
“In Illinois, we are committed to providing the best tools for our students to thrive. This investment at Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville will educate future generations of health care and science leaders in our state,” said Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton. “This new state-of-the-art health science building demonstrates how our state continues to champion innovation and technology so Illinoisans can gain the skills to make an impact in our state and beyond.”
The 115,000 square foot health science building will accommodate new classrooms, research laboratories, teaching laboratories, study areas, a nursing simulation laboratory, and administrative offices. Additionally, the scope of work provides for the resurfacing of two existing parking lots, connecting sidewalks, and improving site circulation around the complex.
“This groundbreaking is the culmination of an enormous commitment by so many, however it is important to recognize two important groups who are making this day possible,” said SIUE President, Dan Mahony. “First, our university leadership and our students who are committed to the programs that will be housed in this building that will produce the next generation of leaders in various fields of health care professions like nursing and pharmacy that will train here. And second our elected officials, including Governor Pritzker and members of the General Assembly, especially our SIUE legislative delegation, who worked cooperatively to provide a tremendous investment in this institution. We cannot say thank you enough.”
The building was supposed to have been completed by now, but SIU President Dan Mahony told reporters that the pandemic explained much of the delay.
Also note that LG Stratton is quoted in this release, even though she wasn’t present at today’s event. We discussed this topic yesterday.
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Food for thought
Thursday, Sep 7, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Far too much of our public discourse is at the cartoon level…
…Adding… I just realized that the national Republican Legislative Campaign Committee is meeting in Chicago this week. So, if the city is truly the cartoonish hellscape the GOP regularly claims, why the heck are they there? It’s all just rhetoric.
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It’s not likely to get any better
Thursday, Sep 7, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Yesterday…
Four more buses carrying asylum seekers will land in Chicago today, according to Mayor Brandon Johnson, who accused Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and the MAGA world of using migrants as tools as the city prepares to host the Democratic National Convention in 2024.
“This is a direct response from governors, particularly in these red states, that are really trying to call attention to our values,” Johnson told a crowd gathered at the Promontory event center on the South Side for an evening discussion marking his 100-plus days in office. Some 150 buses of asylum seekers have arrived since the conventidon announcement by the Democratic National Committee, said Johnson, ticking off the work that’s been done in recent weeks to help find shelter for the migrants.
Johnson says he has a plan: The city has erected 18 shelters and worked with county and state governments to provide resources. And he said he’ll be “rolling out a stronger presentation” on the “humanitarian endeavor” later this week.
Cristina Pacione-Zayas, Johnson’s deputy chief of staff, said much the same thing last month.
* OK, keep in mind when reading the figures in this next item that the DNC announced Chicago would host the convention on April 11th…
Title 42 expired on May 11th, which also had a lot to do with this.
* From Amnesty International’s report on Venezuela…
Lack of access to economic and social rights remained a serious concern, with the majority of the population experiencing severe food insecurity and unable to access adequate healthcare. The security forces responded with excessive force and other repressive measures to protests, involving various sectors of the population, to demand economic and social rights, including the right to water. Impunity for ongoing extrajudicial executions by the security forces persisted. Intelligence services and other security forces, with the acquiescence of the judicial system, continued to arbitrarily detain, torture and otherwise ill-treat those perceived to be opponents of the government of Nicolás Maduro. A report by the UN Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) on Venezuela exposed patterns of crimes against humanity and called for investigations into several named government officials. Prison conditions remained a major concern, especially regarding overcrowding and the use of illegal detention centres, as well as access to basic rights such as water and food. Despite the adoption of legal reforms regarding the administration of justice, access to the right to truth and reparations for victims of human rights violations remained a challenge. Between 240 and 310 people remained arbitrarily detained on political grounds. The state’s repressive policies targeted journalists, independent media and human rights defenders. Illegal mining and violence threatened Indigenous peoples’ rights in the Orinoco Mining Arc. Abortion was still criminalized in almost all circumstances. Violence against women persisted, despite the existing legal framework. There was no progress in ensuring the rights of LGBTI people. By the end of the year more than 7.1 million Venezuelans had fled the country.
* Inflation has been a gigantic problem…
In 2014, the annual inflation rate reached 69%, the highest in the world. In 2015, the inflation rate was 181%, again the highest in the world and the highest in the country’s history at the time. The rate reached 800% in 2016, over 4,000% in 2017, and about 1,700,000% in 2018, and reaching 2,000,000%, with Venezuela spiraling into hyperinflation. While the Venezuelan government “had essentially stopped” producing official inflation estimates as of early 2018, inflation economist Steve Hanke estimated the rate at that time to be 5,220%. The Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV) officially estimates that the inflation rate increased to 53,798,500% between 2016 and April 2019. In April 2019, the International Monetary Fund estimated that inflation would reach 10,000,000% by the end of 2019.
…Adding… Good point in comments…
Seems like a tactical blunder to tie the needed federal funding to the DNCC. Makes it much harder for Biden to get the $$$ here because it gives opponents an easy talking point: he’s only funding this to get rid of a problem before his convention. Stick with the humanitarian case/federal responsibility here.
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Open thread
Thursday, Sep 7, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller
* This week is just flying by. What’s going on in your part of Illinois?…
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Isabel’s morning briefing
Thursday, Sep 7, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller
* Here you go…
* AP | Education secretary praises Springfield after-school program during visit: Cardona interacted with kids in the Springfield School District’s after-school SCOPE program, emphasizing the partnership with the city’s Boys and Girls Club as a way to relieve some of the burden on public schools, which have carried greater and greater responsibility for child development beyond classroom learning.
* Tribune | Prosecutors do not intend to call ex-Ald. Daniel Solis to testify in Ed Burke trial: Prosecutors notified defense teams via a letter Wednesday about the tactical decision to keep Solis from testifying, meeting a deadline set by U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall, sources with knowledge of the letter told the Tribune. Prosecutors did leave one caveat, saying they could potentially call Solis if Burke’s lawyers tried to present an entrapment defense.
* Tribune | Michael Madigan relinquishing his remaining elected post as Democratic committeeman: His protege, 13th Ward Ald. Marty Quinn, confirmed Madigan was not running for the committee position and said that he planned “to circulate petitions (for the post) and see how it goes.”
* WMBD | Weaver running for re-election in Illinois House 93rd District, Democrat challenger emerges: Weaver says he reached out to his first known opponent, Democrat Zoey Carter of Pekin, on Facebook after she announced her candidacy last week. He says he wants to keep the race cordial and respectful. “I think it’s important to have open lines of communication, because Zoey may say something at some point that I believe is untruthful or deceptive, and I’d like to be able to call that out,” Weaver said. “And I also empower Zoey to have that same relationship with me.
* Patch | Darien Area Lawmaker Bowing Out: On Wednesday, Rep. John Egofske, a Lemont Republican, said he wanted to focus on his other elected job, mayor of Lemont.
* WJBC | Head of Illinois Emergency Management blaming climate change for severity of weather: “We have seen over fifteen different billion-dollar disasters in the United States in 2022. That’s up from where it was in 2021,” said Gen. (Ret.) Alicia Tate-Nadeau. “We need to make sure that we are prepared to respond to those. And of that, there were $332 billion worth of damages. $181 billion of that was from uninsured folks.”
* WTTW | 14 Chicago Public Schools Employees, Officials Connected to PPP Loan Fraud, Watchdog Report Finds: In one case, a district full-time employee who makes more than $140,000 per year claimed in their loan application to have earned more than $100,000 in 2019 alone by working as a chef.
* Sun-Times | Civilian oversight commission poised to bury CPD’s error-filled gang database: Three years ago, CPD unveiled plans to upgrade and remodel its gang database to eliminate racial and ethnic biases and mistakes pinpointed by then-Inspector General Joe Ferguson. Those mistakes included two people listed as 132 years old and 13 people recorded as 118 years old.
* Tribune | Aldermen, mayor and other Chicago officials set for another, albeit smaller, pay bump: This time around, the salary bump would be far smaller: 2.24%, according to a memo from the city’s budget office obtained by the Chicago Tribune. City Council members have until the end of Sept. 15 to reject the raise, or else it will automatically be applied to their salaries next year, the budget office informed them last month.
* Sun-Times | Restaurant association offers alternative to ending subminimum wage for tipped workers: Armed with a survey showing a higher wage could be a death knell for smaller restaurants, association President Sam Toia is proposing a less costly alternative. He’s urging dramatically higher fines for restaurants that thumb their noses at the mandate that restaurant owners make up the difference whenever their tipped workers — now paid $9.48 an hour — don’t make enough in tips to reach the $15.80-an-hour mandatory minimum wage that applies to all other Chicago workers.
* IBJ | Intersect Illinois looks to John Atkinson as board chairman: John Atkinson, managing director and chairman of Marsh Chicago, has been nominated as Chairman of Intersect Illinois’ board of directors. Atkinson will bring his vast leadership experience in both the public and private sectors to advance economic growth and help bring jobs to Illinois. In this role, Atkinson looks forward to partnering with Governor Pritzker to both engage Illinois’ business leaders, as well as drive economic development throughout the state.
* SJ-R | Jacksonville man charged with threatening Biden, Obama, Hillary Clinton on social media: According to the initial complaint in the U.S. District Court of the Central District of Illinois, Mouser, under the account @tryntakeit, posted expletive-laced threats to Biden, his wife Jill, and son, Hunter on Aug. 10. Mouser then taunted police by saying that they were too scared to come to his house, as he was armed.
* Sun-Times | Ex-Chicago Park District electrician gets more than 3 years for helping break through barricades on Jan. 6: Federal prosecutors alleged that Daniel Leyden of Chicago was among those “directly responsible” for the breach of a police barricade around the Peace Monument to the west of the Capitol, and that his actions helped set the tone for the mob that attacked the Capitol that day. Prosecutors say Leyden also raised his arms in triumph after he helped break through a secondary barricade made of metal bike racks, even though at least two officers were trapped underneath it. Both suffered serious injuries, authorities say.
* SJ-R | Gwendolyn Harrison named Lincoln Library director pending city council approval: Harrison’s appointment was on first reading during council meeting Tuesday. Also on first reading was the extension of the contract of the library’s interim director, Kathryn Harris. Votes on both could come as early as Sept. 19.
* Sun-Times | After 41 years covering sports, ABC 7 Chicago’s Jim Rose to retire: But for all that, Rose said, “I couldn’t have been more fortunate than to come to Chicago.” It has passionate fans, he said, and he got to cover Michael Jordan from the very start, getting a front-row seat to view six NBA championships and the greatest sports story of the era.
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Live coverage
Thursday, Sep 7, 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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Afternoon roundup
Wednesday, Sep 6, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Good news for the Gilman area…
Today, Governor JB Pritzker joined state and local leaders along with the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) to celebrate the groundbreaking of Incobrasa Industries LTD’s expanded manufacturing facility. The expansion represents more than $250 million capital investment and will create 40 new full-time jobs while retaining 200 jobs - generating economic benefit for the region and state.
“With Incobrasa’s announced expansion today, the company will more than double its production capacity by 2030. That’s a win for Gilman, for Illinois, and for the nation,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “In addition to sustaining and creating new, permanent, good-paying careers, this new $250 million expansion will mean dozens of construction and installation jobs for workers here in Iroquois County and across the region. We’re making it easier for companies to do business in Illinois. We’re investing in our skilled workforce. And we’re modernizing our transportation systems, roads, ports and airports. Illinois is on the rise and open for business.”
Incobrasa is an industry leader in soybean processing that has had a manufacturing presence in Illinois since 1997. The company’s capital investment will construct a new soybean crushing facility – adding 170,000 square feet of new state-of-the-art production facilities. The company will also be constructing a 50-acre solar array to help fuel the facilities.
The Gilman plant processes soybeans to produce animal feed, packaged vegetable oil, and biodiesel. This expansion will enable the company to make use of the vast supply of soybeans that are available in Illinois, which is the largest soybean producer in the United States. […]
As part of the expansion, the company received an Economic Development for a Growing Economy (EDGE) tax credit, which specifies a minimum capital investment of $155.8 million. A link to the full agreement can be found here.
It’s really a nice little town.
* Crain’s…
Northwestern University today announced the opening of the Ryan Institute on Complexity as part of a $480 million donation from the Ryan family — the same donation that went in part toward updating Ryan Field.
The new institute will focus on conducting research on how interconnected systems impact business using big data and artificial intelligence. The institute will be led by three professors at the Kellogg School of Management. Research from the institute will “drive the creation of unique curriculum at Kellogg, including the first PhD training program in a business school helping to train future thought leaders in complexity,” according to a press release.
* Rep. Miller (R-No Relation)…
Congresswoman Mary Miller (R-IL) released the following statement posing a question from parents for Governor Pritzker and President Biden’s Secretary of Education as they visit a school in Illinois today.
“Governor Pritzker and Secretary Cardona oppose parental rights and believe young children should be indoctrinated with radical “gender ideology” politics in the classroom behind their parents’ backs,” Miller said.
“JB Pritzker signed the most radical sexual education curriculum in the country. Pritzker and Cardona have led the effort to violate Title IX by forcing our daughters to compete against men in sports, and they want to force schools to allow men into girls’ locker rooms and bathrooms.
“Parents should be in charge of their child’s education, not radical politicians like Pritzker and Cardona who believe teachers should be discussing chemical castration and gender reassignment with your child.
“After the country watched Joe Biden put a mask back on yesterday, the big question parents want the “press” to ask Gov. Pritzker and Sec. Cardona right now is: Are you going to ignore parents by once again forcing your illegal COVID mask mandates on our students?”
We have vaccines and treatments now. That’s why the hospitals aren’t full. This mask fear on the far right is ridic.
* To the campaign trail…
After losing the Illinois gubernatorial race in 2022 to incumbent JB Pritzker, Darren Bailey said he initially wanted to return full-time to his farm in Clay County, Illinois, and not return to politics.
When asked by mywabashvalley.com why he decided to run in another political race, this time for Illinois’ 12th Congressional District, he pointed to his supporters.
“My wife and family and friends, we prayed and we fasted for 10 days,” Bailey recalled. “And we feel like this is a mission field, this mission field of government, and for such a time as this, that we belong here as the people, the grassroots movement all across the state that fought so hard, for two years in the race for governor. And we believe that by going to DC, having a larger platform, a larger voice, that we’ll be able to shine that light back on the woes and the failings of Illinois and eventually reverse the tide.” […]
When asked about reaching across the aisle to achieve bipartisan legislation, Bailey referenced his work in Springfield.
“On several occasion, the other side of the aisle literally came to me as probably one of the most conservative voices in Springfield because they knew my interest,” Bailey said. “Whether it was education, whether it was the pharmaceutical benefit managers, getting them out of the way to make pharmaceuticals cheaper.”
* Politico…
Tom Demmer, the former Republican state representative, says he won’t run for the state Senate seat now held by Sen. Win Stoller, who announced last week he wouldn’t seek re-election.
“I’ve decided not to run,” he told Playbook. “I like what I’m doing now. It’s great to be in town and home with my family. So, I’ve decided to pass on this year’s race,” he said, leaving a glimmer of an opening that he might run for public office down the road. Demmer is the executive director of the Lee County Industrial Development Association, a position he took after making an unsuccessful run for state Treasurer last year.
— Tosi Ufodike, an Ela Township trustee, has created a committee to run as a Republican against Democratic state Rep. Nabeela Syed in Illinois House District 51, according to a Board of Elections filing. […]
— Republican Desi Anderson announces run against Democratic state Rep. Sharon Chung, by WGLT’s Ryan Denham
* Isabel’s roundup…
* Sun-Times | Madigan won’t run for committeeperson, marking full stop end to his political career: Ald. Marty Quinn (13th) is circulating petitions for the 13th Ward spot after Madigan, 81, opted not to run. Madigan’s racketeering trial is set for April 1 — 13 days after the March 19 Illinois primary. … Madigan’s decision not to run for committeeperson was first reported by CapitolFax.com.
* Crain’s | Illinois delays copay requirement for noncitizens: In June, HFS announced it would roll back several health care provisions for noncitizens between the ages of 42 and 64 covered by the HBIA program as well as those over 65 who are covered by the HBIS program. Among those concessions, HFS would require copays from enrollees who were not eligible for a federal match. That would mean inpatient visits could cost $250 and an emergency visit could impose a $100 copay.
* Center Square | FEMA surveying damage from summer flooding in Illinois: “When it comes to the basement, peoples’ furnaces and things like that have been damaged so FEMA is not about making you 100 percent whole, we want to get you back to your living conditions,” said Larissa Hale, Media Relations Specialist with FEMA.
* WBEZ | Advocates hope cycling safety is prioritized in upcoming city budget: Year after year, Chicago has consistently ranked among the worst big cities in the world for bike safety. In March, the Chicago Department of Transportation released the Chicago Cycling Strategy, a report outlining the city’s plan to improve its cycling infrastructure.
* Crain’s | Johnson has few wells to tap for his lofty spending goals as first budget looms: Johnson is tentatively scheduled to release his first budget proposal on Oct. 11 and has given no indication he’ll flip-flop on raising property taxes. But absent other sources of revenue that are unlikely to materialize this year, his first spending plan will be measured on the down payments it lays down, rather than “transformative investments,” according to his allies in the City Council.
* SJ-R | U.S. Secretary of Education Cardona to visit Springfield’s Fairview Elementary Wednesday: Cardona will visit Fairview Elementary School alongside Gov. JB Pritzker, Illinois State Superintendent of Education Tony Sanders and District 186 Superintendent Jennifer Gill. Fairview’s after-school program is part of the district’s academic recovery efforts following the pandemic.
* Crain’s | United CFO shoots down worries over an HQ move: United Airlines doesn’t plan to move its headquarters to Denver, where it recently purchased 113 acres of land. “There are no imminent plans for that,” Gerald Laderman, the airline’s chief financial officer, said this morning at the TD Cowen Global Transportation Conference in Boston. “We have a long-term lease at Willis Tower. We’ve been there for decades in Chicago. Denver is like Houston. We have lots of facilities in Houston.”
* Sun-Times | Officer uses Narcan to help 2 migrants outside West Side police station: A Chicago police officer used Narcan to aid two migrants experiencing potential overdoses outside the Harrison District police station. On Friday night, officers were alerted to two men unresponsive outside the station at 3151 W. Harrison St., according to a police report.
* WGN | Highland Park hosting ‘poverty simulation’ event: “Participants in this immersive experience will begin to experience what a “month” in poverty feels like. Participants are put into situations in which they do not have enough resources and are forced to make difficult choices that can negatively impact them and their families. The outcome is increased awareness of the need for resources to support those living in poverty to create a more resilient health, human, and education sector in our local area,” a description for the event reads.
* Tribune | Women in motorcycle groups travel far and wide to find fellowship and adventure outside the flatlands of the Chicago area: “I live in the city of Chicago, so it’s 50 miles to start getting into something that’s interesting, road-wise,” said M.J. Candido, president of the Furies Motorcycle Club and the organizer of this particular trip. “We like to ride out in the country and get some great scenery. We like to get out of the cities, stopping at local restaurants and businesses along the way.”
* NYT | America’s Fire Spotters Aren’t Ready to Fade Away Just Yet: Mr. Haugen has worked for more than half of his 52 years as a fire lookout, scanning the larch and pine wilderness from a one-room mountaintop cabin. Alone most of the time but for his thoughts, his mutt, Ollie, and the occasional crackle of voices on the radio, he is part of a nationwide band of professional watchers who, like lighthouse keepers, stand on solitary guard between civilization and nature’s uncaring whims.
* SJ-R | Springfield City Council’s move on new business district boosts sports complex: Tuesday’s generally supportive mood by the council members was a departure from last week’s committee of the whole meeting when frustration boiled over about the lack of progress on the $67 million 95-acre complex designed to attract traveling athletic teams for weekend tournaments.
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* I have been trying to reach CTU President Stacy Davis-Gates since yesterday about this story and have received no response. I asked the CTU for comment as well. Crickets. I’ve even tried back and side channels. Nada. I’ve waited long enough. ILGOP…
The spotlight is firmly on Stacy Davis-Gates, President of the Chicago Teachers’ Union (CTU), and her hypocritical stance on school choice. Davis-Gates, a vocal opponent of school choice programs, is championing the teachers union campaign to terminate Illinois’ Invest in Kids Act, a program that provides scholarships to nearly 9,000 underprivileged students for private school education. Her mantra: “I can’t advocate on behalf of public education and the children of this city and educators in this city without it taking root in my own household.”
But let’s take a closer look at her hypocrisy. While Davis-Gates advocates against school choice, she sends one of her own children to [school name redacted at Stacy Davis-Gates’ request], a private, Catholic high school in Chicago. Yes, you read that right - private school education for her own, while advocating for something entirely different for other children. Rules for thee, but not for me.
Now, let’s revisit some of Davis-Gates’ past statements on social media. She’s not one to mince words. According to her, “School choice was actually the choice of racists. It was created to avoid integrating schools with Black children.” She’s even gone as far as labeling private schools as “Segregation Academies,” and now she acts to provide her own child the benefits of a private education.
Stacy, if Illinois private schools are racist, why are you sending your child to one?
Davis-Gates’ actions speak louder than her words. They highlight the absurdity of the situation - advocating against something you choose to personally benefit from and can personally afford- unlike many other parents who cannot afford a private school without the Invest in Kids Act.
Davis-Gates’ actions, not her words, is proof positive that public education might not be the best fit for every student, and that parents should have the freedom to choose the education that best suits their children’s needs and aspirations.
To me, the Chicago Magazine quote, “I can’t advocate on behalf of public education and the children of this city and educators in this city without it taking root in my own household” really leaves her open to this.
* Receipts…
Thoughts?
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* McHenry County State’s Attorney Patrick Kenneally writing in the Tribune…
Cannabis dispensaries in McHenry County will now be the first in the country to warn customers through in-store signage of the mental health dangers associated with cannabis use, which include psychosis, depression and suicidal ideation.
Dispensaries will also be required to scrub their marketing and websites of any suggestion that their products have medical benefits. They agreed to these consumer protections as part of a settlement with the McHenry County state’s attorney’s office in lieu of a consumer fraud action. Dispensaries that have refused to warn consumers will face litigation.
Since Illinois’ legalization of recreational marijuana in 2020, the defining feature of the dispensaries’ sales strategy has been marketing cannabis as medicine and the antidote to many maladies, including depression, anxiety, insomnia, post-traumatic stress disorder, attention-deficit disorder, immune disorders, chronic fatigue and inflammation.
In furtherance of its strategy, dispensaries have appropriated the scientific lexicon to create their own fraudulent field of medicine, such that one no longer does a “bong rip” but rather receives a specific “dose” measured to the milligram by the cashier. (Or, should I say, “dispensary health care professional”?)
It goes on, and on, and on.
* From the Illinois Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Program Act…
The recorded use of cannabis as a medicine goes back nearly 5,000 years. Modern medical research has confirmed the beneficial uses of cannabis in treating or alleviating the pain, nausea, and other symptoms associated with a variety of debilitating medical conditions, including cancer, multiple sclerosis, and HIV/AIDS, as found by the National Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Medicine in March 1999.
(b) Studies published since the 1999 Institute of Medicine report continue to show the therapeutic value of cannabis in treating a wide array of debilitating medical conditions. These include relief of the neuropathic pain caused by multiple sclerosis, HIV/AIDS, and other illnesses that often fail to respond to conventional treatments and relief of nausea, vomiting, and other side effects of drugs used to treat HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C, increasing the chances of patients continuing on life-saving treatment regimens.
(c) Cannabis has many currently accepted medical uses in the United States, having been recommended by thousands of licensed physicians to at least 600,000 patients in states with medical cannabis laws. The medical utility of cannabis is recognized by a wide range of medical and public health organizations, including the American Academy of HIV Medicine, the American College of Physicians, the American Nurses Association, the American Public Health Association, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, and many others.
As I told subscribers yesterday, it looks like McHenry County dispensaries wouldn’t even be allowed to post that excerpt from state law inside their buildings now without facing a lawsuit for fraud.
* From the governor’s office…
Legalizing adult use cannabis has always been about justice, safety, and equity in Illinois. The failed war on drugs has destroyed families, filled prisons with nonviolent offenders, and disproportionately disrupted Black and Brown communities. That’s why, in Illinois, we focused on righting some of our historic wrongs by expunging criminal records and reinvesting a portion of the revenue back into communities hardest hit by the failed war on drugs. The Governor is disappointed to learn that the McHenry County State’s Attorney prefers focusing on spreading disinformation instead of tackling the issues that keep actually keep residents safe.
* Associated Press…
(T)he federal Health and Human Services Department has recommended taking marijuana out of a category of drugs deemed to have “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.” The agency advised moving pot from that “Schedule I” group to the less tightly regulated “Schedule III.”
* From Rep. Kelly Cassidy, House Speaker Pro Tempore Jehan Gordon-Booth, and former Sens. Toi Hutchinson and Heather Steans…
When we first set out to legalize and regulate cannabis for adult use, we were immediately labeled the “marijuana moms” as we each had kids ranging from toddlerhood to adulthood. And we embraced that label, acknowledging that youth use of cannabis has shown to decrease in effectively regulated markets. We also faced our fair share of outlandish “chicken little” arguments from opponents to legalization such as the southern Illinois sheriff who claimed legalization would require drug sniffing dogs to be euthanized. Recently McHenry County State’s Attorney Patrick Kenneally decided to join the disinformation brigade.
In the mid-1930’s, then Federal Bureau of Narcotics Commissioner Harry Anslinger infamously vilified cannabis as a catalyst for violence, and unscientifically attributed half of violent crimes in minority communities to the consumption of “marihuana.” He spent decades misdirecting federal enforcement powers to promote fear over scientific evidence, and successfully prohibited cannabis throughout the nation. As his primary basis for doing so, he loosely associated the cannabis plant to unverified acts of violence, immoral behavior, and even “satanic music” – such as jazz.
Now nearly a century later, Kenneally takes another swing from the Anslinger playbook. In an announcement that he will force state-licensed cannabis dispensaries in McHenry County to post unscientific warnings to consumers about cannabis, Kenneally claims “half of the county’s recent homicides involve cannabis or cannabis-induced psychosis.” Like Anslinger a century before him, Kenneally’s connection of cannabis consumption to these tragedies is unexplained.
In a meandering editorial, Kenneally carelessly conflates cannabis use with the most complex societal issues that our own Illinois researchers, institutions, and community leaders work collectively every day to further understand and improve upon. To the McHenry State’s Attorney, the tragedies of violent crime, addiction, mental illness, and suicide can be narrowed down to one oversimplified, unbelievably obvious common denominator – they’re all a bunch of pot users.
At best, Kenneally misleads weekend editorial readers. At worst, he continues an unfortunate tradition in American history of using hyperbole to vilify cannabis use and possession, including for medical purposes.
The timing for Kenneally to issue an editorial calling medical cannabis “elaborate dupery” was poor, to say the least. Just days before his op-ed landed, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) officially recognized the medical benefits of marijuana following an evidence-based review, recommending to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) that marijuana be rescheduled as a Schedule III substance, because it has a medical utility and low potential for abuse.
As legislators who have investigated this topic substantially ourselves, we don’t need to wait for the full federal scheduling report and findings to understand an integral part of the utility of medical cannabis. We have seen and heard the human experiences in our own offices: Late-stage cancer patients restored to a quality of life. Debilitating seizure disorders become a distant memory. Our own Illinois veterans pleading for relief from the side effects of pharmaceutical drugs, and an alternative, legal pathway to medical cannabis following active combat.
During this time, we have watched the nation’s registered medical cannabis patient population grow to exceed 5 million, now spanning 38 different states from coast to coast and in between. As the number of positively touched lives increases, we have witnessed public support for medical cannabis now hovering at 90%, covering all demographics and across party lines.
Further, as legislators who have worked collectively for the better part of a decade to build a strictly regulated, consumer protection-focused medical and adult-use cannabis industry in Illinois, we take particular umbrage with the assertion that the state has “warned no one and done nothing” about the potential public health impacts of cannabis.
In fact, since the inception of Illinois’ strictly regulated medical cannabis program in 2013 mandatory product labels and dispensary signage are required to conspicuously warn patients and purchasers that:
Cannabis is only for registered medical patients or adults 21 and over; cannabis can impair cognition and may be habit forming; cannabis should not be used by pregnant or breastfeeding women; this particular cannabis product causes intoxication, the effects of which may be delayed for up to 2 hours, among several others.
We further mandated child-resistant containers, strict prohibitions against marketing or advertising to minors, independent lab testing of all products for safety, labeling of potency and serving sizes, real-time inventory controls and electronic tracking of cannabis to prevent diversion, and electronically scanned age verification at all dispensaries, to name a few.
We also make no apology for the economic and reinvestment dollars into Illinois communities. Our state’s legal cannabis industry now produces over $500 million annually in state and local tax revenue for the benefit of Illinois, surpassing alcohol tax revenue. For the first time in the state’s history, tens of millions of dollars in sustained funding are being reinvested into Illinois’ most historically disinvested communities every year. The revenues go to build youth recreational centers, support anti-violence programs in partnerships with local law enforcement, job training programs, and fund mental health and substance abuse clinics, as a few examples. In addition, a significant portion of the revenue supports training and DUI enforcement. SA Kenneally’s vague claim about increased DUIs could be because there is adequate training and resources to enforce against intoxicated driving now.
The State of Illinois will continue to follow the science in making regulatory considerations. The law was built for regulators to update its consumer safety protocols accordingly. In doing so, we will remain careful not to compel government speech on private businesses in violation of well-established First Amendment protections, simply because certain businesses may not see the world from our eyes, nor use our selective reading of publicly available literature to accomplish the same.
We stand willing to work with anyone from anywhere in our great state to address consumer safety, public safety, public health, and child development. We will not, however, stand idly and allow others to point myopically to cannabis to nonsensically explain away highly complex, multi-faceted societal problems.
Footnotes at the link.
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Today’s quotable
Wednesday, Sep 6, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Background is here if you need it. The governor was asked this at an unrelated press conference today…
Q: This has been in the news over the Labor Day weekend that 20 employees from Speaker Welch’s office have basically renewed their efforts to unionize. And it’s kind of falling on deaf ears by Speaker Welch. I’d like to hear your position on this, because, considering you and Speaker Welch are such staunch proponents of the Workers’ Rights Amendment, codifying this fundamental right for anyone in Illinois to unionize. How do you feel about that. Do you think those 20 employees in Speaker Welch’s have the right to be recognized as a union?
Pritzker: Well, let’s start with the point of the Workers’ Rights Amendment is that workers should have the right to collectively bargain wherever they are. And, you know, as far as I’m concerned, I think the Speaker believes the same as I do. That’s true for everybody in the state, every position in the state. And so I don’t think there’s anybody that’s attempting to prevent people from organizing. There does take time, there does need to be a point at which the organizers get their workers together to determine what it is that they want. And the management gets its team together to meet with them. I think it’s just a time question. And also a question about whether the other people who work in state government for the legislature want to be part of a union, because, again, nobody’s preventing anybody from having a union, no one’s also saying you have to be unionized. Right. And you know, that our workforce in Illinois, about 14% of our overall workforce is unionized. So it’s not an enormous number. But again, nobody should prevent people from getting together to organize and I don’t think anybody is.
Q: Well, do you support the efforts of these 20?
Pritzker: I don’t know the specifics of what they’re demanding. And, of course, I support their ability to. That’s why we supported the Workers’ Rights Amendment. I think we all believe, those of us that supported it, that workers that want to get together in a workplace to organize should have the right to do that.
Please pardon all transcription errors.
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* Capitol News Illinois…
As workers in Illinois celebrate Labor Day, a new report shows there has been a surge in efforts to organize labor unions in workplaces throughout the state, while overall public approval of labor unions nationally is the highest in nearly six decades.
In 2022, there were 72 successful petitions to organize labor unions in Illinois, which represent 9,600 new unionized workers, the highest single-year numbers at any point in the last decade.
That’s according to The State of the Unions 2023, an annual report by the Illinois Economic Policy Institute, a think tank with strong ties to organized labor, and the Center for Middle Class Revival at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
After decades of declining union membership and declining unionization rates, U of I’s Robert Bruno, a coauthor of the report, said those numbers may signal a resurgence in the labor movement.
* From the IEPI report…
Though the unionization rate fell nationally for the second consecutive year, the United States added union members in 2022 for the first time since 2017.
• The United States added 277,000 new union members in 2022.
• Illinois and the Chicago area both experienced small declines in unionization in 2022.
• Unionization rates both nationally and in Illinois are at their lowest levels in 10 years.
Today, Illinois’ union membership rate is about 13 percent, which is significantly higher than the national average (10 percent) and is the 12th-highest union density among the 50 U.S. states.
• Between 2013 and 2022, the unionization rate declined by 2.6 percentage points in Illinois, driven primarily by a transition from a more highly unionized manufacturing-based economy towards service- and knowledge-based sectors with low union densities.
• Despite declines in unionization over the past ten years in Illinois, there has been a recent increase in new organizing activity over the last two years, with 2022 producing more successful union petitions and newly represented workers than at any comparable time over the past decade.
• The union success rate for new organizing drives in Illinois was 56 percent in 2022. […]
Essential workers and public sector workers are more likely to be union members in Illinois.
• About half of all public sector workers are unionized (49 percent) compared to fewer than one-in-twelve private sector workers (8 percent).
• About 24,000 fewer state and local government workers are union members since the Janus Supreme Court decision, but the decrease may be attributed to labor shortages and unfilled positions.
• Unionization rates are 84 percent for police officers and firefighters, 83 percent for public pre-K through 12 teachers, and 48 percent for construction and extraction workers.
* Illinois Policy Institute…
Five years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Janus v. AFSCME that government workers cannot be forced to fund the political agendas of union bosses. Workers are embracing that freedom, especially as the unions spend more of workers’ money on priorities other than the workers.
Over 36,000 workers since 2017 have chosen not to associate with some of the largest and most politically active government unions in Illinois, according to the unions’ own reports with the U.S. Department of Labor. […]
But the number of workers rejecting union leadership is even higher than it looks in the federal reports. […]
SEIU HCII reported just under 60,000 members and fee payers in its 2022 federal report, filed in March 2023. But on its website, it claims to represent “more than 91,000 workers” in four states.
That means at least one-third of workers represented by SEIU HCII have chosen not to be a part of the union.
* This year, Chicago has the potential to set a record for the most new union petitions since 2010. WBEZ…
* WBEZ…
“When you see [petitions] increasing, you are seeing what we would call a leading indicator that there is an increased level of support for unionization,” [Robert Bruno, professor of Labor and Employment Relations in the School of Labor Employment Relations at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign] said. “It also strongly suggests that there’s a lot of current organizing going on.”
The high number of new union petitions is even more powerful when combined with high success rates of union votes, Bruno 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.
In Illinois, the success rate for those elections is now about 56%, Bruno said. “Over the last decade, its range has usually been between 33% or 47%. So that’s a substantial increase.”
The higher success rate can inspire new petitions, Bruno said. “It sends a signal to other workers that you can actually successfully organize your union. … It raises confidence that voting for a union is going to generate a positive outcome.”
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Better management, please
Wednesday, Sep 6, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller
* WBEZ…
In 2018, Chicago police officer Joseph DeRosa pleaded guilty to a felony in Michigan, admitting to resisting and obstructing police during an allegedly drunken meltdown at a casino. According to a police report, DeRosa kicked a Michigan officer in the face.
Under Illinois law, cops convicted of felonies lose their certification to be police officers in the state. The idea is to keep them from hopping from one law-enforcement employer to another.
Yet DeRosa is still a member of the Chicago Police Department.
CPD’s Bureau of Internal Affairs opened an investigation into DeRosa shortly after his arrest, and the department stripped the officer of his police powers. But it took 20 months for CPD to send notice of the felony conviction — notice required under the law — to the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board, according to that panel, which is in charge of decertifying cops.
Next it took the city’s Law Department another 31 months to move to fire DeRosa. Even today, the city’s Police Board has yet to schedule an evidentiary hearing on the dismissal charges. […]
The department has not provided records showing what became of the internal investigation into DeRosa’s arrest. CPD spokespersons also would not answer why it took the department so long to send notice of the felony conviction to the state board in charge of decertifications.
This is just so ridiculous. He’s been stripped of his police powers since 2018. He’s on the state’s attorney’s “do not call” list and was quickly decertified by the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board, but only after CPD waited 20 months to send ILETSB the required notice. And he hasn’t been paid since 2020.
But CPD still hasn’t fired him?
* Meanwhile, from the city’s inspector general…
The City of Chicago Office of Inspector General (OIG) has published the results of its inquiry into the completeness of the Chicago Police Department’s (CPD) 911 call response data, as recorded by CPD and the City’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications (OEMC). OIG originally set out to evaluate geographic equity in CPD’s response times, but was unable to do so because of the frequency with which the data necessary to do so is missing. During the period of OIG’s inquiry, information on when CPD units arrived at the scene of an emergency call was missing more than half of the time.
In the course of planning and conducting this inquiry, OIG spoke with members of Chicago’s communities and representatives of 12 community-based organizations to gather data on public perceptions of CPD’s 911 responses. Several South and West Side organizations reported to OIG that they believe there to be geographic disparities in CPD’s response to 911 calls and that they have experienced slow or no response to 911 calls in their communities, leading to distrust of CPD members and the City’s emergency response apparatus. Neither OIG nor CPD, however, can meaningfully evaluate the efficiency or equity of 911 police responses because of inadequate data—despite a CPD policy which requires members to capture the relevant data.
“Effective emergency response is at the very core of CPD’s public safety function. The City and the Department are ill-equipped to evaluate and improve response times, simply because, more often than not, we have no information on when the police arrive to respond to an emergency,” said Deborah Witzburg, Inspector General for the City of Chicago. “Without this basic information, we can’t assess whether City services are provided equitably or efficiently—and we can’t improve what we can’t measure.”
A new information system procured by the City—though not yet implemented—promises some but not adequate improvement. OIG recommended that CPD provide training and appropriate technology to all members to reinforce and facilitate their responsibility to accurately report milestones throughout emergency events. OIG also recommended that CPD collaborate with OEMC to analyze and evaluate data for each time interval in the dispatch process and assess best practices for improving police responses to 911 calls.
The full report is here.
…Adding… Sun-Times…
Chicago’s acting top cop has announced broad changes to the department’s leadership team, filling high-ranking positions before his replacement is expected to be confirmed.
Interim Supt. Fred Waller told department members that the staffing overhaul was effective Friday, but sources said some of his picks had already been installed.
Some of Waller’s choices have troubled records. Two commanders have been accused of fostering a hostile work environment, and two others have been named in costly lawsuits.
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* Gov. Pritzker has clearly been trying to increase Lt. Gov. Stratton’s public profile for several months. She’s quoted in almost every press release he sends out, for instance, and is regularly by his side at public events. Press release…
Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton will lead an Illinois Delegation to Japan beginning September 9. She will lead and represent Illinois at the 53rd Annual Joint Meeting of the Midwest U.S. – Japan and Japan-Midwest U.S. Associations Conference in Tokyo, Japan from September 10-12, joining Governors and economic development leaders from the Midwest and Governors and corporate executives from Japan.
The Lieutenant Governor’s first international delegation to Tokyo will focus on strengthening economic cooperation between Illinois and Japan and will reinforce Illinois as a leader in corporate recruitment, retention and expansion through Illinois Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). Programming throughout the delegation will tap into sustainability and innovation.
”I often say that Lieutenant Governor Stratton is the best Lieutenant Governor in the world—and now the global stage will have a chance to see just how true that is,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “This delegation is another stage in our successful work towards attracting international business to Illinois, and I’m confident that the Lieutenant Governor will be an excellent advocate for our state and the many economic opportunities it offers.”
“Illinois truly is in the middle of everything, as the best place to live, work, and do business. Over the next several days, I am excited to meet with Japanese leaders and Governors throughout the Midwest to share what makes Illinois a world-class leader in business, innovation, and sustainability,” said Lt. Governor Juliana Stratton. “Our state has the largest and most productive labor force in the Midwest, who have driven our growing green economy and put us on the cutting-edge of manufacturing, technology, and emerging industries. This is only a glimpse of why Illinois is the perfect place for international trade partners like Japan to do business. I’m looking forward to further cultivating the robust, long-standing relationship between Illinois and Japan.”
“Japan is one of Illinois’ largest trading and FDI partners and our enduring partnership has yielded significant economic benefits,” said DCEO Director Kristin Richards. “We look forward to strengthening our longstanding relationships while building new connections.”
The Midwest U.S.-Japan Conference is comprised of ten member states including Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio and Wisconsin. Illinois is a founding member state of the Association, a longstanding partner with Japan, and is home to more Japanese companies than any other state in the Midwest—employing over 42,000 people at 1,020 locations.
Illinois reached $1 trillion GDP for the first time in 2022 and is the home to more than 30 Fortune 500 headquarters. The bilateral trade between Japan and Illinois totaled more than $11 billion in 2022, with Illinois exports to Japan exceeding more than $2 billion. The state is also second in the nation for corporate investment and number one for workforce development by Site Selection Magazine. Illinois’ infrastructure, education, access to capital, and cost of living are all ranked in the Top Ten by CNBC’s annual Top States for Business Rankings.
Annual meetings alternate between Japan and one of the ten U.S. member-states. Last year, Illinois hosted the annual meeting for the first time since its first-ever conference in 1967.
Leaders joining the Illinois delegation include:
• Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton
• Teresa Reyes, Office of the Lieutenant Governor, Deputy Chief of Staff and Chief Operating Officer
• Janelle Gurnsey, Office of the Lieutenant Governor, Deputy Chief of Staff for External Affairs & Communication
• Teresa Ramos, Office of the Governor, First Assistant to the Deputy Governor of Education
• Kate Lindgren, Office of the Governor, Senior Assistant to the Deputy Governor of Budget and Economy
• Karen Sheley, Office of the Governor, Deputy General Counsel
• Kristin Richards, Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO), Director
• Margo Markopoulos, DCEO, Director of Trade and Investment
• Lisa Clemmons Stott, DCEO, Electric Mobility and Innovation Director
• Motoshi Yamada, DCEO Tokyo Office, Managing Director
• Miho Jinoshi, DCEO Tokyo Office, Associate
• Ginta Rubin, DCEO, FDI Manager
• State of Illinois Partner Organizations:
• Dan Seals, Chief Executive Officer, Intersect Illinois
• Tommy Choi, Illinois Realtors, 2024 President-Elect
• Matthew Silver, Illinois Realtors, President 2024
• Ayumi DeLoney, Illinois Realtors, Residential Broker
• Gordy Hulten, Illinois Manufacturer’s Association, Chief Operating Officer
• Abby Powell, Springfield Sangamon Growth Alliance, Director of Business Development
• Shelley Tulo, Springfield Sangamon Growth Alliance, Director of Marketing and Communications
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ComEd under fire for massive clawback
Wednesday, Sep 6, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Crain’s in May…
A little over a year ago, Gov. J.B. Pritzker extolled the beneficial effect his Climate & Equitable Jobs Act would have on ComEd customer bills thanks to a credit they would get from the owner of Illinois’ nuclear power plants. […]
That credit of 3.087 cents per kilowatt-hour, though, quickly turned out to be overly generous — so much so that ComEd customers now owe the utility $1.1 billion for credits it provided them but couldn’t collect from nuclear plant owner Constellation Energy Group when wholesale power prices dropped unexpectedly beginning last year.
CEJA, the landmark green-energy law Pritzker signed in 2021, bailed out three of Constellation’s six Illinois nukes, which were financially struggling at the time. The law set up a system in which ComEd ratepayers would pay extra if power prices fell below a certain level in a given month and would get a credit on their bills if they exceeded the threshold.
Beginning in June, ComEd will start recouping that $1.1 billion in monthly installments over the ensuing 12 months, with added interest of 5%. That means an extra $98 million per month for ratepayers.
* Press release last week…
The Chemical Industry Council of Illinois (CICI), which represents the interests of the chemical industry in the state of Illinois, and eight large commercial electricity users filed a Complaint today with the Illinois Commerce Commission claiming that the Complainants and CICI members are being overcharged by an amount estimated to exceed $100 million.
The Complaint, a copy of which is attached, alleges that ComEd has specifically violated Illinois’ Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA) by self determining the amount of previously provided Carbon Free Resource Adjustment credits, plus accrued compounded interest, that are currently being clawed back from Complainants and CICI members. The Complaint alleges that ComEd’s clawback charges violate the provision of CEJA requiring that the determination of the amount of clawback charges, if any, must be made by the Illinois Commerce Commission in an annual reconciliation proceeding.
The Complaint further alleges that the clawback charges violate the Illinois Public Utilities Act because ComEd imprudently managed its Carbon Free Resource Adjustment credits and charges. Complainants ask the Commission to order ComEd to stop billing Complainants and CICI members for Carbon Free Resource Adjustment charges that include charges to recover prior credits, plus accrued compounded interest, and to refund the full amount of these charges that occur prior to the cessation of the charges. […]
[Paul G. Neilan of the Law Offices of Paul G. Neilan, P.C. said]: “After its July 2020 Deferred Prosecution Agreement and ComEd’s alleged rededication to fully transparent and ethical management, it’s more than disappointing to see ComEd take back credits it had provided to customers without justifying its actions.”
The complaint is here.
* Capitol News Illinois…
The fact that ComEd determined losses on its own, the complainants allege, violated a provision of CEJA that requires those determinations to be reviewed by the ICC in an annual proceeding.
“As a result of ComEd’s lack of disclosure of the real nature of its filings of these tariff revisions with the Commission, no party had an opportunity to object to the massive impacts of ComEd’s revisions,” the complaint reads.
The business groups also allege ComEd’s maneuver violates the state’s Public Utilities Act as an act of “imprudent management” of the Carbon Free Resource Adjustment credits and charges.
“It was never reviewed, there were never any hearings on it, it’s a lot of money and our position is that it violates the law,” Patrick Giordano, a lawyer representing the business groups listed in the complaint, told Capitol News Illinois.
* Crain’s…
ComEd spokeswoman Shannon Breymaier said in an email that the utility was analyzing the complaint. But, she wrote, ComEd “expects to vigorously defend our actions in implementing CMCs.”
“We are appropriately charging and crediting customers and have been clear about the CMCs, and the charges and credits that implement them, with the commission and our customers,” she said.
The commission will have to respond to the complaint and is likely to get a motion to dismiss from ComEd. Commission Chairman Doug Scott joined the agency in June, about a month after its initial decision to allow the surcharges to go forward. He was a key architect of CEJA as an adviser to Gov. J.B. Pritzker in 2021, when the law was passed, and the way the nuclear bailout was structured was a point of pride for the Pritzker team.
It appeared to work better than anyone might have imagined when market power prices soared in 2022 after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But prices deflated within months while the ComEd credits to customers remained, causing the imbalance that led to the $1.1 billion recovery.
Best laid plans…
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SIUC has some good news to report… kinda
Wednesday, Sep 6, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Wikipedia…
SIU’s [Carbondale] enrollment reached a record of 24,869 students in 1991, a time when SIU became notorious for its party school reputation.
The endless bickering with the town over the school’s partying ways, changing student tastes and the state’s fiscal problems eventually tanked enrollment. By the time Bruce Rauner took over, enrollment stood at 17,989. Then the former governor’s plot to “leverage” the passage of anti-union laws created a massive stalemate and no budget for two years, leading lots of parents and students to conclude the school could actually close. As with everything else, Rauner took a crisis and turned it into a disaster. Enrollment plummeted to 12,817 and it kept right on falling through the pandemic. It’s like that old saying about bankruptcy: It happens gradually, then suddenly.
* Press release…
For the first time since 2014, enrollment at Southern Illinois University Carbondale has grown. Overall enrollment for fall 2023 is 11,359 — 252 students, or 2.3%, more than last year — the highest overall boost in the number of students in 21 years and highest percentage increase in over 30 years.
Enrollment is basically back up to where it was in 2020.
* Back to the press release…
The university is well positioned for more growth, Lane said, and it is on track to reach its goal of 15,000 students by 2030, set in Imagine 2030.
15,000 students would be about a thousand fewer students than were enrolled in the 2016-17 school year.
One thing is for sure: You’re not gonna make SIUC any better by cutting its budget. Building it back up will take time, lots of effort and money.
* And now John Tillman, one of the chief cheerleaders of the Rauner playbook and the chief point person against the Workers’ Rights Amendment last year, is arguing in the Wall St. Journal that Virginia’s governor has to succeed where Rauner failed and strip public employee unions of their rights if he ever wants to be president…
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Open thread
Wednesday, Sep 6, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller
* What’s going on in your part of Illinois?…
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Isabel’s morning briefing
Wednesday, Sep 6, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller
* Here you go…
* Sun-Times | State issues guidance on co-pays for undocumented — just as advocates gathered to criticize Pritzker for health care cuts: Advocates argued the rules changes were too costly for low-income patients. The governor’s office said co-pays should not have been charged yet anyway, though they are expected to resume eventually.
* WGLT | Republican Desi Anderson announces run against Democratic state Rep. Sharon Chung: Chung, a former McLean County Board member from Bloomington, first won the 91st House District seat in 2022. Chung defeated Republican Scott Preston with 52.3% of the vote, becoming the first Democrat to represent Bloomington-Normal in the House since 1982. Chung was also the first Korean American elected to the General Assembly.
* Capitol News Illinois | Complaint alleges ComEd violated state law by raising fees on customer bills: The complaint – centered on a portion of the 2021 Climate and Equitable Jobs Act that allows utilities to recoup carbon mitigation investments – alleges the utility failed to follow the proper regulatory channels laid out in Gov. JB Pritzker’s marquee climate policy.
* WAND | Pilot program to address root causes of homelessness in Springfield: “Homelessness cannot be placed on the backs of law enforcement who are more than willing to partner with our social service agencies throughout the community,” Springfield Police Chief Ken Scarlette said.
* Sun-Times | Chicago’s interim top cop shakes up command staff on way out the door: Interim Supt. Fred Waller told department members that the staffing overhaul was effective Friday, but sources said some of his picks had already been installed. Some of Waller’s choices have troubled records. Two commanders have been accused of fostering a hostile work environment, and two others have been named in costly lawsuits.
* Sun-Times | A top CPS official ousted in PPP fraud investigation: schools inspector general: In a report Wednesday outlining his findings, Fletcher did not name names, but the Chicago Sun-Times confirmed Cooper is the “central office administrator” who was found to have inflated her income for a side business she had never reported to CPS to get a PPP loan of $15,625.
* Tribune | Chicago government’s IT infrastructure inefficient to the point of ‘barely’ working, consultant tells City Council: Nitesh Dixit, senior managing partner at Gartner Consulting, provided the update two years after the release of a report commissioned by the Chicago City Council under the direction of Ald. Gilbert Villegas, 36th, who is chairman of the economic, capital and technology development committee. Dixit told council members the city needs to act now to better deliver services, save taxpayer money and streamline city processes for residents and business owners.
* Sun-Times | Chicago-area expressway shootings down sharply this year: As of Tuesday, there have been 82 shootings on Cook County expressways, putting the city on pace to have fewer than last year. But the number of shootings is still higher than before the pandemic.
* Crain’s | Teamsters ratify contract at three Green Thumb dispensaries: The contract codifies 18% lifetime wage increases for Teamster members, attendance bonuses, seniority-based scheduling policies, guaranteed tips and discounts, new safety standards and protection against termination without cause.
* WMBD | Changes to application process could expand pool of potential State Troopers: Starting January first, under one option, education requirements could be waived if certain other requirements are met. “They have to have successfully completed basic law enforcement training, have at least three years of continuous full-time service as a peace officer with the same police department, and they’re currently serving as a peace officer,” said Sgt. Aldo Schumann, a recruitment coordinator with Illinois State Police.
* Center Square | Calls continue to clean up corruption in Illinois government: McCombie has introduced legislation that would end the practice of allowing criminally accused elected officials of using campaign funds for a criminal defense. Madigan has used at least $8.5 million of campaign funds so far to pay the law firm Katten Muchin Rosenman in his criminal defense.
* Sun-Times | Giannoulias to testify at Durbin’s Senate hearing on growing number of book bans: The Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on “Book Bans: How Censorship Limits Liberty and Literature,” will include other witnesses selected by Democrats and Republicans on the panel.
* Press release | SIU Carbondale celebrates overall enrollment increase: For the first time since 2014, enrollment at Southern Illinois University Carbondale has grown. Overall enrollment for fall 2023 is 11,359 — 252 students, or 2.3%, more than last year — the highest overall boost in the number of students in 21 years and highest percentage increase in over 30 years.
* Press release | John Atkinson Nominated as Chairman of Intersect Illinois Board of Directors: In his role as Chair of the Illinois Board of Higher Education, Atkinson has played a key role in driving growth of the state’s economy through workforce development. By leveraging the state’s best-in-the-nation higher education system to create a future-ready workforce, more than $50 billion in economic impact is created annually by higher education institutions. The contributions they make to idea generation, innovation, invention, inclusive and diverse economic engagement, and community development are essential for Illinois to thrive.
* Politico | An effort to ban caste discrimination in California has touched a nerve: If the bill passes as expected and Gov. Gavin Newsom signs it into law, California would become the first state to explicitly outlaw caste-based discrimination, though Seattle has done so and other cities are considering it. Caste, a social hierarchy in which one’s group is inherited, is historically associated with South Asia and Hindus, and opponents argue such a ban stigmatizes the religious group.
* Tribune | Illinois nature lovers and scientists warn of population declines among native bees and other pollinators: Paul CaraDonna, a conservation scientist at the Chicago Botanic Garden, said there’s quite a bit of evidence demonstrating long-term declines in insect populations. One study published in 2019 in the journal Biological Conservation revealed that 40% of the world’s insect species are facing extinction within the next few decades.
* WSIL | Manager says the Du Quoin State Fair did well: Josh Gross is the Manager for Du Quoin State Fair. He says this year was comparable to what they saw last year. “Crowds were really big on the weekends, and they lagged behind a little bit on the weekdays,” Welch says. “But I will say, this year we had such favorable weather in the middle of the week.”
* Bond Buyer | Teams may go, but Illinois stadium authority bonds win an upgrade: The ISFA, which issued bonds for the two Chicago stadiums where Major League Baseball’s White Sox and National Football League’s Chicago Bears play, won a two-notch upgrade Aug. 29 from S&P Global Ratings. The move boosted the authority’s outstanding debt to BBB-plus from BBB-minus, lifting it higher into investment grade territory three years after the ratings agency knocked it to junk. The authority continues to face speculative-grade ratings from Fitch Ratings.
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Live coverage
Wednesday, Sep 6, 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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