Isabel’s morning briefing
Tuesday, Oct 24, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller * ICYMI: Veto session begins today. AP…
- Sen. Sue Rezin said she has enough support to overcome the veto on her bill to lift the Illinois nuclear moratorium for small reactors. - Vetoed legislation that aims to protect employees from getting fired over a discrepancy in their name or social security number may get the governors signature if drafting errors get corrected. * Related stories… ∙ WGEM: Nuclear power plants on agenda as Illinois veto session begins Tuesday ∙ Center Square: Illinois lawmakers plan to address several issues during the fall veto session ∙ 21st Show: Preview of the 2023 Veto Session ∙ WGN: State lawmakers return to Springfield Tuesday for fall veto session ∙ Scott Holland: Lawmakers will decide if tax break program can continue * Isabel’s top picks… * Sun-Times | Pritzker urges residents to unite ‘across religions, across ethnicities to renounce hatred’: “We stand here united across religions, across ethnicities to renounce hatred. To show our Muslim and Jewish neighbors that we stand with them, and to chart a new course of solidarity, justice and humanity,” Pritzker said. * WBEZ | He was a rising football star — then he met this state trooper: One evening in 2018, Dumais came looking for Mitchell’s brother at the family’s home on a cul-de-sac in south suburban Matteson. Dumais and another officer apprehended Mitchell instead, forcing him into a squad car before realizing their mistake and letting him go. In that incident, though, the police injured Mitchell’s right knee badly, and he says he never completely recovered his blazing speed, which at the time threatened his hopes of success as a Division I football player. Governor Pritzker will be announcing a new early childhood initiative at 10:30 am today. Click here to watch. * Here’s the rest of your morning roundup… * NBC Chicago | Illinois tech hubs to focus on crop production, quantum computing, White House says: According to the Biden Administration, hubs based in Chicago and Champaign were among 31 projects tabbed to receive funding through the program. […] According to a press release from the White House, up to $10 billion in funding is available through a bill, passed in 2022, that aimed to help address shortages in semiconductor manufacturing and supply chains, along with other tech-related issues in the U.S. * Patch | Burr Ridge Mayor Not Running For State House: Burr Ridge Mayor Gary Grasso said Monday he would not run for state representative in the 82nd House District. * Sun-Times | No charges for man who fired gun in the air near pro-Palestinian protesters in Skokie: The 39-year-old man, who prosecutors declined to name, was released from police custody. In a statement issued Monday, prosecutors said the man, a Firearm Owner Identification Card and Concealed Carry License holder, had “no criminal history.” “After reviewing the evidence, which includes surveillance video and witness statements, we have determined the individual … acted in self-defense upon being surrounded by a crowd and attacked by some of those individuals,” according to the statement. * Sun-Times | Over protests, city officials confirm Brighton Park tent plan, pending final ‘assessments’: “The City of Chicago has been identifying viable sites across the city to construct base camps as an alternative to new arrivals sleeping outdoors, at O’Hare and on the floors of police district stations as winter fast approaches,” the statement from the mayor’s office reads. “The site at 38th and California appears viable, and the intention is to construct temporary shelter at this site.” * WTTW | Johnson Asks City Council to Reject Part of Deal He Inked with Police Union Amid Uproar Over Discipline Change: “While we recognize police officers’ right to arbitration, it is crucial that disciplinary cases be handled in a manner that allows for public transparency and true accountability,” Johnson said. “Since this is a matter that will require City Council action, I am asking the body to reject this measure when it comes up in the coming weeks.” * Crain’s | What’s in store as the City Council gets set to scrutinize Johnson’s nearly $2B police budget: In Johnson’s $16.6 billion proposal, the CPD budget is increased roughly $91 million, from $1.907 million to $1.998 billion. The increase follows through on Johnson’s pledge to not take “one cent” from the department. * WTTW | Chicago Program That Encourages Drug Treatment Over Arrest Shows Signs of Success, Research Says: But the program is only available to about 5% of all drug offenders. Only those who have not been convicted of a crime in 10 years and are deemed to pose no threat to the public are eligible.’ According to city statistics, 700 people have gone through the program since 2018. * Illinois Times | City disburses $3 million grant to address homelessness: The grants will expand on the “co-responder” model the department has employed since 2019 in which police work in conjunction with mental health professionals to assist the homeless, Deputy Police Chief Joshua Stuenkel said. Comprehensive services also will reduce the number of trips police make to bring people to the Sangamon County Jail and Springfield hospital emergency rooms, said Mike Newman, the police department’s homeless outreach team coordinator. * Chalkbeat | New federal program puts $12 million toward school integration in a dozen states: Among the winners are some of the largest districts in the country, including New York City and Chicago, where debates have long raged over how to address the inequities wrought by school segregation. Other winners include a cohort of Maryland districts and the East Baton Rouge Parish in Louisiana, both of which have been home to intense battles over school segregation in recent years. * AP | UAW’s confrontational leader makes gains in strike talks, but some wonder: Has he reached too far?: People with personal ties to Fain say his approach, on the picket lines and at the bargaining table, reflects the bluntly straightforward manner he developed as he rose through the union’s ranks. He is, they say, the right man for the moment. People with personal ties to Fain say his approach, on the picket lines and at the bargaining table, reflects the bluntly straightforward manner he developed as he rose through the union’s ranks. He is, they say, the right man for the moment. * NYT | Two Illinois Parishes Live on Either Side of a Catholic Divide: When the Rev. John Trout heard that Pope Francis wanted feedback from parishes before a major Vatican gathering this month on the church’s future, he decided that his suburban Chicago congregation would go all in. […] Less than an hour south of St. Joe’s, the Rev. Anthony Buś of St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish in Chicago said he viewed the gathering in Rome not as an opportunity but as a potential threat, or at the very least an irrelevance. * WAND | Effingham Co. Coroner releases final report on deadly Teutopolis HAZMAT crash: Final an official autopsy reports were released for the five people who died from respiratory failure due to inhalation and exposure to anhydrous ammonia. This included severe chemical burns to the entire body, respiratory system, face, eyes, and lungs.
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