Former Chicago Ald. Edward M. Burke asked Wednesday for a new trial or acquittal in spite of a federal jury’s resounding verdict late last year finding him guilty of racketeering and other crimes.
That jury found Burke, 80, guilty in December of 13 charges that included racketeering, bribery and attempted extortion. The panel also found that Burke committed racketeering acts in all four schemes outlined in his sweeping May 2019 indictment. […]
Burke’s lawyers pointed Wednesday to commentary by Kendall, who described the Field Museum scheme at trial as “an extremely odd attempt extortion count.” They argued her skepticism was well-founded, insisting that the law requires an attempt to extort “property.”
“There was no property here, only a potential job interview with the museum, and one which was never requested by Mr. Burke,” the defense attorneys wrote.
A charity organized by Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard has been told by the Illinois attorney general’s office to stop soliciting or accepting contributions, and that it must register with the state.
Separately, a law enforcement source confirmed federal authorities, including the FBI, are conducting an investigation targeting Henyard. The course said the probe has included recent interviews by investigators both inside and outside of Dolton, but is in the early stages and no charges have been brought.
The attorney general’s letter, dated Wednesday and sent by certified mail, notes the Tiffany Henyard CARES Foundation is not in good standing and states the attorney general has sent multiple letters advising, among other things, that it is not registered with the state.
However, the foundation hasn’t responded “and we have not been advised why there has been a delay,” according to the recent letter, sent by Pasquale Esposito, deputy bureau chief of the attorney general’s Charitable Trust Bureau.
* WBEZ | U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García faces a Democratic primary challenge from the right: Even as he identifies as a “deep-blue Democrat,” Chicago Ald. Raymond Lopez appears frequently with some of the country’s most popular right-wing cable TV news hosts — who count on him to share their views and loudly criticize his fellow Democrats. On Fox News in December with host Jesse Watters, Lopez said, “Most of the Democratic voters feel as though this party no longer represents them, that it’s been lurching too far to the left.”
* WBEZ | Eileen O’Neill Burke says she’s running for state’s attorney because ‘our justice system is not working’: O’Neill Burke is aiming for voters unhappy with Foxx’s leadership and convinced the county needs to pursue a more traditional approach to prosecutions in order to combat crime. It’s a message that is resonating with more conservative voters and donors. But O’Neill Burke’s Democratic primary opponent, Clayton Harris III, and other critics have said she is seeking to move the prosecutor’s office backward to a time of soaring incarceration rates and wrongful convictions. Harris won the Cook County Democratic Party’s endorsement in the race to replace Foxx.
* Tribune | FOP seeks extension of moratorium on moving CPD disciplinary cases through police board: The FOP argues that a handful of officers currently facing serious disciplinary charges will be “irreparably injured” if the Feb. 25 deadline is not extended, according to the motion presented to the judge Wednesday. “Because the City Council voted once again to reject the Arbitration Award, Police Officers represented by the (the FOP) are continuing to be denied their statutory right to grievance arbitration to resolve disciplinary disputes,” the union wrote in its Tuesday motion. “If the Court does not continue the current stay of Police Board proceedings and instead allows it to expire on February 25th, these Officers will be irreparably injured by being forced to proceed before the Police Board.”
* Tribune | ‘All hell was breaking loose’: Mystery deepens in case of Highland Park man accused of $400 million crypto hack on FTX: Powell was also believed to be involved with a violent Indiana-based gang known as the “ChoppaBoyz,” whose founding members were under indictment in a drug-related home invasion in South Bend and also were accused of robbing two of Powell’s associates in Utah as they carried a quarter of a million dollars in fraud proceeds back to Indiana, the affidavit stated. But the only charge that ever surfaced against Powell was a misdemeanor gun count filed in Lake County.
* Block Club | Devastated By Floods And Confused By FEMA, West Siders Form Their Own Recovery Group: The volunteer-run group advocates for neighbors, organizes crews to help with cleanup, helps people connect with repair companies and much more. Their work is particularly urgent due to the negative impacts mold can have on people’s health, especially since many flood victims have now been exposed to it for months as it spread through their homes.
* South Side Weekly | Sidewalk-Plowing Pilot Planned for Next Winter: Despite the North Side having the most complaints, a preliminary analysis of city data shows a higher concentration of snow clearance fines imposed on the South Side. The Weekly obtained documents from the Department of Administrative hearings that shows eight of the ten community areas with the most hearings for fines per capita are on the South Side. Englewood, which ranks forty-ninth in 3-1-1 complaints, had the most administrative hearings per capita since 2019, and the highest amount of fines levied. Lincoln Square, which ranks first in 3-1-1 complaints, was twenty-second in administrative hearing dockets per capita.
* Block Club | Unsanctioned Building Next To Puerto Rican Museum To Be Demolished Next Week: The demolition is a “giant step in the right direction” said neighbor Kurt Gippert, who has been vocal in his opposition to the unsanctioned construction. Gippert and his wife started a petition two years ago calling for the demolition of the structure on public land and for more community transparency. The petition received over 2,000 signatures.
* Tribune | R. Kelly’s appeal argument calls reasons for long sentence too vague, but court warns he could wind up worse off: Much of the brief hearing was dedicated to discussing whether Kelly should be resentenced. But in the end, Kelly’s lead attorney Jennifer Bonjean noted, his fate really hinges on what happens on appeal in his New York federal case, a racketeering conviction that got him a whopping 30 years behind bars. “That’s his life sentence,” Bonjean said during the 30-minute hearing at the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse. “If that sentence sticks, he will probably die in prison.”
* Crain’s | From Daytona Beach, NASCAR offers post-mortem on ‘incomplete’ Chicago Street Race: “Our work is incomplete,” said Julie Giese, president of the Chicago Street Race. After more than a decade working at the Daytona International Speedway, Giese now lives in Chicago and is focused entirely on organizing the summer event. “There’s a lot that we wanted to do in Chicago, and the weather prevented us from doing a lot of it.”
* SJ-R | New look, but familiar feel: Springfield bar reopens following renovations: Brewhaus Bar is breaking open the shelves once again, opening for the first time since renovations shut down the business last year. Owner John O’Riordan held a soft open Monday, Feb. 12 for the establishment, opening the doors and inviting patrons back into the bar they know and love, with a new atmosphere to it.
* WBBM | Chicago accused of failing to protect migratory birds: ‘We’re frustrated’: The Bird-Friendly Chicago Coalition is expressing its frustration with the city of Chicago over its failure to act on bird-friendly design requirements for new construction. […] They’re frustrated, in particular, with the Department of Planning and Development. New York City is among those who have already done this.
* Sun-Times | New White Sox TV voice John Schriffen is ready for inevitable scrutiny: “Nothing comes easy,” Schriffen said. “Chicago is a hard-working town where people have to earn everything they get. And that’s how I grew up. Both my parents were teachers, working-class family. Everything I’ve gotten in my life I’ve had to earn the hard way. I don’t want it to be any different here.”
* Block Club Chicago | How Chicago’s Black Steelworkers Struggled, Thrived And Survived The Industry’s Rise And Fall: While many Black workers spent years in the toughest positions, Hardy and his coworker William “Bill” Alexander were exceptions. Known as “Ramjet” for his speed and efficiency, Hardy moved from laborer to oiler to bridge operator at Interlake/Acme with relative ease before being drafted for the Vietnam War in 1967, he said. He returned to Chicago in 1969 and was back at the mill within a few weeks. He was soon promoted to a bridge, or overhead crane, operator. His coworkers — many of whom also served in Vietnam at various points — “really gave me respect” as a combat veteran, he said.
* AL | Woodfin says if anti-DEI bill passes, he would urge athletes to leave Alabama: Senate Bill 129, sponsored by Sen. Will Barfoot, R-Pike Road and filed on Tuesday, resembles 2022 and 2023 proposals sponsored by Rep. Ed Oliver, R-Dadeville. The bill would forbid public schools from affirming “a divisive concept,” with such examples as teaching that “slavery and racism are aligned with the founding principles of the United States” and that “fault, blame, or bias should be assigned to members of a race, color, religion, sex, ethnicity, or national origin, on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, ethnicity, or national origin.”
* Bloomberg | AT&T says most of mobile network restored: The federal government is investigating whether the outage was caused by a cyberattack, according to two US officials familiar with the situation, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive information.
Seen these ads? They’re paid for by people who want to raise your utility rates. But JB Pritzker and his administration stood up to them, rejecting their plan to raise rates and holding down prices in Chicago.
TV news announcers: A win for consumers. Voted to cut a request from People’s Gas to increase rates. The companies requested a record high rate increase, but that won’t be the case.
Now, Chicagoans will save hundreds of dollars because we have a governor who’s working for us.
The bottom line is that organized labor and the business community are demanding far more robust infrastructure spending, while the governor’s people point to very real cost considerations for consumers. The Pritzker folks believe they will win that political fight.
* White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf sat down with Greg Hinz and talked over lunch. From the article…
• Said financing the stadium would require not only $1.1 billion in subsidies from an existing tax on Chicago hotel rooms but also up to $900 million in infrastructure work that already has been authorized but not funded by a tax-increment financing district that covers The 78 property. Such a move, however, will require legislative and possibly City Council approval.
• Indicated he’s on a fast track, hoping to begin preliminary construction work later this year and play in the new stadium by the 2028 season.
• Conceded that the Sox and the Bears may be competing for the same public-revenue source, the hotel tax, to pay for new Chicago arenas, but said the two family-owned teams are trying to work out a mutually beneficial deal. One thing that’s off the table: sharing a stadium. “It doesn’t work,” Reinsdorf said. “You end up having a stadium that is no good for football or baseball.”
• Said he’s unsure what will happen to Guaranteed Rate and adjoining parking lots if the Sox move downtown. Constructing hundreds of new housing units and retail space is one possibility, and converting the stadium itself into a smaller home for the Chicago Fire soccer team is another possibility, he said.
* Reinsdorf also told Greg that the project would generate tax revenue of $200 million a year - except he also wants to capture all the sales taxes generated. From an earlier Crain’s article…
Reinsdorf is also seeking to create a tax-overlay district surrounding the proposed stadium that would capture the state’s portion of sales taxes generated in the area — estimated at roughly $400 million over an undisclosed period — to be set aside to subsidize the stadium and back the new bonds.
…Adding… Good point in comments…
By the way, how much of that $200mm in tax revenue is offset by the closing of Comiskey?
Alabama doctors are puzzled over whether they will have to make changes to in vitro fertilization procedures. Couples have crammed into online support groups wondering if they should transfer frozen embryos out of state. And attorneys are warning that divorce settlements that call for frozen embryos to be destroyed may now be void.
Throughout Alabama, there is widespread shock, anger and confusion over how to proceed after the state Supreme Court ruled Friday that frozen embryos are people, a potentially far-reaching decision that could upend women’s reproductive health care in a state that already has one of the nation’s strictest abortion laws. […]
Interviews with physicians and attorneys in Alabama, as well as advocates on both sides of the issue nationwide, paint a confusing path forward for IVF clinics trying to interpret the ramifications of the ruling. Although physicians hope the Alabama legislature will limit the impacts of the ruling, they warn that the most dire consequence of the ruling is that some Alabama IVF clinics may be forced to suspend their operations.
“Under the current Alabama ruling, patients nor physicians nor IVF labs are going to be willing to have frozen embryos,” said Mamie McLean, a physician at one of the state’s largest fertility clinics, Alabama Fertility Specialists. “So if we are faced with two potential embryos that need to be transferred, modern practice would say transfer one and freeze one. But under this ruling, it may not be safe to freeze embryos so we will be forced to transfer two embryos … which increases the lifelong health risks to both mothers and children.”
* Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs’ op-ed in the Tribune…
The new battlefield over abortion rights centers on the use of in vitro fertilization. It’s a battle that is highly personal for me and my wife, Erica.
Last summer, we became the parents of twin sons Max and Theo. For this blessed event to happen, we needed reproductive health care. Erica has endometriosis, a condition that makes it difficult to conceive a child naturally. It affects an estimated 11% of women in our country, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In vitro fertilization made it possible for Erica to conceive and for us to start a family.
Now Alabama, Florida and Missouri want to take away a woman’s right to use IVF to have a child, emboldened by the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 disastrous Dobbs decision that took away the constitutional right to abortion.
After the Supreme Court overturned Roe, the “personhood” debate took center stage, with Republicans attempting to define a fertilized egg or embryo as a legal human entity. During IVF, a doctor collects eggs from a woman, sperm is used to fertilize the eggs outside the body and one fertilized egg is implanted at a time.
For Erica, a doctor collected eggs during four rounds. Five days after fertilization, we had four embryos. After testing, only one of them was viable. “Personhood” laws would consider the unviable collections of cells people, and doctors or their patients would be considered to have committed a crime by disposing of them.
After [the Indiana Attorney General’s office] consistently heard from student, parents, and teachers about objectionable curricula, policies, or programs affecting children, we launched the Eyes on Education portal.
Our kids need to focus on fundamental educational building blocks, not political ideology - either left or right.
Eyes on Education is a platform for students, parents, and educators to submit and view real examples from classrooms across the state.
The Office of the Attorney General will follow up on materials submitted to the portal that may violate Indiana law using our investigative tools, including public records requests, and publish findings on the portal as well.
To view examples or submit to the portal, select the school corporation and name of the school and upload your documents.
Upon submission, someone from our office may contact you for additional information or clarification.
Submissions to the portal will be reviewed and published regularly.
Last week, Tennessee state lawmakers passed HB 878, which states “a person shall not be required to solemnize a marriage.”
In Tennessee, only certain people can “solemnize” the “rite of matrimony,” including state notary publics, government officials, and religious figures, according to state code. […]
Camilla Taylor, deputy legal director for litigation for Lambda Legal, an LGBTQ legal advocacy group, said that the law is an effort to “roll back recent progress by the LGBTQ community.”
“Tennessee House Bill 878 would be patently unconstitutional,” Taylor said in a statement to CNN. “Public officials don’t get to assume public office and then pick and choose which members of the public to serve.”
Two dozen protesters gathered near a Texas superintendent’s home on Wednesday to support a Black teen who has been suspended for most of the school year over the length of his dreadlocks.
Hairstylists, children and activists filled a neighborhood entrance in Baytown, about 26 miles east of Houston, chanting “Justice for Darryl George” and carrying signs with hashtags like #DoesMyHairOffendYou and #MyHairIsNotAThreat.
They gathered near the home of Barbers Hill Independent School District Superintendent Greg Poole, one day before a judge is set to hear arguments to determine whether the district can continue to punish George for refusing to change his hairstyle. George and his family have refused to cut his hair, setting off a months long battle between the family and the school district. […]
Janaie Roberts, a loctician, set up a salon chair during the demonstration and styled protesters’ dreadlocks in a show of support. “I’m an advocate for natural hair. This is how we express ourselves, so it’s not fair for us to be held back,” she said. “Just like we have freedom of speech, we have the freedom to be ourselves.” […]
George, a junior at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu, has been in in-school suspension or at an off-site disciplinary program for most of the school year. His ordeal started in August, when school officials said that George’s hair, which he wears in neatly twisted dreadlocks away from his face and neck, violates a district dress code regulating the length of boys’ hair.
UPDATE Texas Judge rules in favor of the school district. NBC…
After just a few hours of testimony in Anahuac, state District Judge Chap Cain III ruled in favor of the school district, saying its ongoing discipline of George over the length of his hair is legal under the CROWN Act. For most of the school year, George has either served in-school suspension at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu or spent time at an off-site disciplinary program.
“We appreciate the court giving clarity to the meaning of the CROWN Act,” said Sara Leon, an attorney for the school district.
The school district did not offer any witnesses to testify before the ruling, instead only submitting evidence that included an affidavit from the district’s superintendent defending the dress code policy.
End of update.
Sen. Mike Simmons’ Jett Hawkins Law took effect in 2022. The law prevents school boards, public and charter schools from banning hairstyles historically associated with any race or ethnicity.
…Adding… From Sen. Simmons….
“It’s well past time for the state of Texas to let go of the past and respect Darryl George, a 17 year old Black youth who is wearing his hair authentically and doesn’t need harassment from school officials. That harassment is also now against Texas own laws under the new CROWN Act, so I hope the trial underway delivers justice to Darryl and millions of Texans of African descent and respects the intent of the CROWN Act. It’s time to turn the page in this dark and ugly chapter, just like we did in Illinois in 2021 when we passed the landmark Jett Hawkins Act.”
When disabled Texans used to visit abortion clinics, staffers would remember them. They may have needed in-clinic accommodations or American Sign Language Interpreters, and they appeared infrequently. Still, they came.
But more than a year since performing abortions became illegal in the state of Texas, disabled people have become a “missing population” at the clinics still providing abortions out of state, said Amy Hagstrom Miller, CEO of Whole Woman’s Health, an abortion provider.
“We’re not seeing them traveling over the border,” Miller said. “They just represent a group of people that are falling through the cracks.”
Other than the internal statistics of some abortion providers, abortion fund groups that help pay for the procedure or its transportation costs, and advocacy groups, there’s no central data tracking how many disabled Texans have sought abortions.
This year 35 states will participate in a $2.5 billion federal nutrition program that will help low-income parents buy groceries for their children when free school meals are unavailable during the summer months.
But Texas, which has 3.8 million children eligible for the program, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, has opted not to join this national effort. If it had, qualifying families would have received $120 per child through a pre-loaded card for the three summer months. The USDA calculated that Texas is passing on a total of $450 million in federal tax dollars that would have gone to eligible families here.
The reason for the pass is simple, according to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission. When the USDA notified HHSC officials of their new Summer Electronic Benefit Transfer, or EBT program on Dec. 29, that gave the nation’s second largest state only six months to get it up and running and that’s not enough time, said Tiffany Young, a spokesperson for the state agency.
Although the summer program would involve two other agencies as well – the Texas Education Agency and the Texas Department of Agriculture – HHSC would have to bear the brunt of the work because they would have to coordinate and direct the distribution of the preloaded cards to qualifying families.
Newsmax has joined the legions of conservative media outlets and figures who have trashed a pair of Florida GOP bills that ostensibly aim to curb so-called “liberal media” by loosening the definition of defamation.
“Newsmax strongly opposes both bills and any proposed law that makes it easy to sue media companies,” Chris Ruddy, Newsmax’s CEO, said in a statement to The Daily Beast. “Free speech and a free press are the most fundamental of our constitutional rights and must be zealously safeguarded.” (Newsmax maintains a headquarters in Boca Raton, Florida, and Ruddy is a West Palm Beach native and a friend of former President Donald Trump.)
The bills—House Bill 757 and its Florida Senate companion, SB 1780—would lower the threshold for defamation in Florida, allowing public officials to sue journalists and media outlets if an anonymous source says something the official believes to be false. The bills passed out of a Florida House committee on Wednesday in a 14-7 vote, and it is next headed to a Florida House vote.
Whatever the right-wing legislative effort’s intentions, these conservative critics say, it would be an affront to the First Amendment and would ultimately harm right-of-center media.
The Utah State Board of Education could conduct a hearing on whether a school library book or other materials should be removed statewide under a compromise between state lawmakers that led to final passage of HB29 on Wednesday.
The House voted 52-18 to approve the compromise legislation.
A conference committee of Utah Senate and House of Representatives members agreed to language that gives the state school board the option of holding a hearing after three school districts or two school districts and five charter schools determine the materials are pornographic or indecent, which under HB29, triggers removal of the materials statewide.
The board could decide not to hold a hearing, which means the book or materials would be removed from collections statewide.
BOST CAMPAIGN RELEASES TV AD HIGHLIGHTING PRESIDENT TRUMP’S ENDORSEMENT
Congressman Mike Bost’s campaign today released its fourth television advertisement of the 2024 election cycle. The ad, titled “Own Words,” will air district-wide on cable, broadcast, and satellite television, as well as on streaming services.
Gov. JB Pritzker plans to take on the state’s health insurance industry this year by calling for legislation to curb many of the standard practices they use to hold down costs and boost profits.
He plans to outline those reforms in his State of the State and budget address Wednesday, according to an advance excerpt of his speech, kicking off a process that will eventually require approval from lawmakers.
Pritzker’s “Healthcare Consumer Access and Protection Act” will include a package of proposals aimed at controlling strategies that insurers use to reduce the amount of health care patients receive.
It also includes new requirements for insurers to offer enough in-network doctors to meet consumers’ needs, as well as state regulatory control over rate increases in the large group insurance plans similar to regulations lawmakers approved last year for small group policies.
Local seniors would receive relief from high property taxes under new, progressive solutions backed by state Rep. Dagmara “Dee” Avelar, D-Bolingbrook, expanding property tax freezes and refunds for low-income seniors.
“It is of utmost importance that we continue to prioritize legislation that benefits all groups in Illinois, and these two key bills reaffirm my commitment to expanding opportunities for the senior community, especially those who are struggling financially,” said Avelar. “With these pivotal bills, we are uplifting a community that needs it most. By providing more resources and lenient paths to receive tax freezes or refunds, we are lifting a burden off our senior community who rely on these benefits to get by.”
Avelar is sponsoring House Bill 2529 and House Bill 3511, which will expand benefits to low-income senior citizens. House Bill 2529, the Senior Property Tax Freeze, will increase the maximum income allotment for low-income senior citizens to receive benefits by $10,000 — from $65,000 to $75,000, reaching a key audience who were not able to benefit from this tax freeze previously.
House Bill 3511 proposes an important amendment to tax legislation, particularly benefiting senior citizens. Under this bill, seniors would be eligible for a property tax refund, irrespective of whether they applied for the homestead exemption, which typically covers up to $15,000 of property equity. This legislation expands the avenues through which seniors can access tax exemptions, ensuring that even those who miss the application window can still benefit from financial relief on their property taxes.
The bills mandate insurers and Medicaid to cover home test kits, create “rapid start” HIV treatment pilot sites and make HIV education available in county jails.
The AIDS Foundation of Chicago supports the bills. They say the bills make ending the HIV epidemic a priority and take steps to achieve health equity in communities impacted the most.
“If we want to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic in our state by 2030, then we have to make preventative care like PrEP and PEP accessible to all Illinoisans,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “These medications are incredibly effective at preventing infection and transmission, and they are essential to our mission of Getting to Zero.” […]
One of the bills provides that the African American HIV/AIDS Response Fund creates and maintains at least one Black-led Center of Excellence HIV Biomedical Resource Hub for every $3,000,000 of available funding, according to Illinois.gov.
* HB5667 from Rep. Hoan Huynh was referred to Rules earlier this week…
Provides legislative findings. Appropriates specified amounts to the Department of Public Health for grants, expenses, and administrative costs of programs relating to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and human immunodeficiency virus; the Getting to Zero-Illinois plan to end the HIV epidemic by 2030; the prevention, screening, and treatment services to address sexually transmitted infection cases; and the PrEP4Illinois Program to provide client navigation for pre-exposure prophylaxis services and medication access. Contains other provisions. Effective July 1, 2024.
Amends the Illinois Income Tax Act. Creates an income tax credit for taxpayers who open and operate a supermarket or grocery store in a food desert community designated by the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. Provides that the credit shall be in an amount equal to the total amount the taxpayer is assessed in property taxes for the location at which the supermarket or grocery store is located during the full taxable year that the supermarket or grocery store is open for business to the public. Effective immediately.
* SB2644 from Sen. Julie Morrison was assigned to the Judiciary committee…
Amends the Secretary of State Act. Provides that the Secretary of State shall establish an electronic registry, to be known as the Advance Directive Registry, through which residents of the State of Illinois may deposit, with the Secretary of State, a completed Department of Public Health Uniform POLST form. Specifies that information in the Advance Directive Registry shall be made available to hospitals licensed under the Hospital Licensing Act and hospitals organized under the University of Illinois Hospital Act. Authorizes hospitals to rely on information obtained from the Advance Directive Registry as an accurate copy of the documents filed with the Advance Directive Registry. Directs the Secretary of State to adopt any rules necessary to implement the amendatory Act and to provide information on the Secretary of State’s website regarding use of the Advance Directive Registry. Provides that, except in the case of gross negligence or willful misconduct, the Secretary of State and employees of the Secretary of State are immune from any civil or criminal liability in connection with the creation and maintenance of the Advance Directive Registry. Provides that a person who knowingly submits a document to the Advance Directive Registry without authorization or assists in such submission shall be guilty of a Class A misdemeanor.
* Sen. Dave Koehler…
State Senator Dave Koehler is spearheading an initiative to incentivize landlords to improve properties and address urban decay in the greater Peoria area, giving residents improved housing opportunities throughout the community.
“Peoria has seen a rapid decline in population recently, leading to vacant properties and businesses closing their doors,” said Koehler (D-Peoria). “In order to keep our families here, we need to invest in our neighborhoods.”
Under current law, only newly built single family homes and duplexes qualify for a tax break. Senate Bill 2936 would allow remodeled homes and duplexes in areas of urban decay to qualify for this tax break, giving landlords an incentive to upgrade properties in order to revitalize neighborhoods.
“This bill gives our community the tools to bolster our economy, provide adequate housing and present new opportunities for our residents,” said Koehler. “I am proud to call Peoria my home, and I want everyone in our community to feel the same way I do about our city.”
Senate Bill 2936 passed the Senate Revenue Committee on Wednesday and heads to the Senate floor for further discussion.
* The Network: Advocating Against Domestic Violence…
Today, Gov. JB Prtizker released his FY2025 budget proposal, including specific funding proposals for gender-based violence prevention and services.
Amanda Pyron, Executive Director of The Network: Advocating Against Domestic Violence, released the following statement in response:
“Gender-based violence continues to impact too many families across Illinois, and we must do more to both prevent violent acts and support survivors. We continue to see an increase in calls to the Illinois Domestic Violence Hotline as well as an increase in total injuries and deaths from domestic violence shootings in Illinois and Chicago. Across Illinois, there were 19 domestic violence-related homicides in January alone. Funding for gender-based violence services was increased in recent years, and we are encouraged that Gov. Prtizker’s proposal keeps this funding intact.
“In addition to the budget, we are laser focused on passing Karina’s Bill (HB4469/SB2633) to help strengthen the firearm remedy within orders of protection and get guns out of the hands of domestic abusers. We look forward to working with legislators and the governor’s office to pass this critical legislation, as well as to secure needed resources in the FY25 budget for providers across Cook County and the state.”
Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday unveiled a $52.7 billion budget that he described as filled with “hard choices.” The plan builds on priorities like funding preschool, supporting Black residents, funding the neediest schools and caring for asylum seekers.
“I wish we had big surpluses to work with this year to take on every one of the very real challenges we face,” Pritzker said inside the ornate Illinois House chambers Wednesday during his annual combined budget and state of the state address. “It’s important to note, that while this budget is tight this year, our fiscal house is in order, and we are able to keep our commitments to the people of Illinois.”
The plan calls for committing $182 million for assistance to Latin American migrants who continue to arrive in Chicago by way of Texas, and makes moves to assuage credit agencies with a constant eye on Illinois’ pensions.
Pritzker also proposes creating a small tax credit for low-income families with children under 3 and adding staff in Illinois prisons and the Department of Children and Family Services — priorities that are supported by some of Pritzker’s key Democratic constituencies and many GOP legislators.
Separate from the budget, he threw down the gauntlet against the health insurance industry with a sweeping plan to prevent companies from dictating coverage decisions, among other consumer protections. He promised to expend political capital to fight practices including prior authorization, in which patients must get permission from insurers before receiving certain types of care.
“There should never be an instance where an insurance company employee can deny coverage for something as serious as open heart surgery,” Pritzker said.
In his sixth budget proposal, Pritzker also laid out a long-term plan to manage the state’s massive pension debt by increasing the funding target to 100% from 90% and extending the payment deadline by three years, to 2048. The change would not affect the state’s pension payment for the coming year, totaling $10.1 billion from general funds, or roughly 19% of the operating budget. […]
What was left unmentioned in his roughly hourlong budget and State of the State address to the Illinois General Assembly was that his proposal would address projected deficits resulting from slowed revenue growth in part by more than doubling the tax on sports wagers — paid by sportsbooks out of their post-payout revenue — raising it to 35% from 15%. The change would generate an estimated $200 million in additional revenue.
Republicans were quick to blast the proposals, claiming that Pritzker is prioritizing people who are not U.S. citizens.
“The Governor just proposed raising taxes on every Illinois family struggling to make ends meet to fund the non-citizen welfare state he created,” Senate Minority Leader John Curran, a Republican from Downers Grove, said in a statement. “Our focus will remain on providing meaningful financial relief to the people of Illinois.”
Business groups, including the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, also raised questions about the taxes longterm.
“We are concerned about the lasting impact proposed revenue generators will have on small businesses still working to recover while facing existing regulatory and financial burdens,” the group said in a statement after the speech.
The governor is projecting a 1.5% increase in state revenue for the new fiscal year, which begins July 1, for a haul of nearly $53 billion. That’s largely due to the $800 million plus in tax increases mostly targeting large businesses.
Pritkzer’s plan extends a limit on the amount of operating losses corporations can write off on their income taxes. A $100,000 cap that was slated to expire at the end of the year would be extended three years, under the plan from Pritzker’s team, which aims to soften that blow on businesses by upping that cap to $500,000. The maneuver would generate another $526 million for the state, the governor’s office estimates.
The governor’s office pushed back on characterizing it as a new tax, arguing the continuation of the cap on corporate tax deductions will help the state keep gaining revenue. […]
And he wants to lower the tax discount retailers receive for collecting sales taxes, a measure his office says would net the state an additional $101 million. In his speech, Pritzker also said he wants to permanently eliminate the 1% grocery tax. But the Illinois Municipal League already opposes that initiative — saying the tax goes entirely to local governments across the state and would cost them $325 million a year.
The governor got a standing ovation with a new proposal to permanently do away with the 1% state tax on groceries, something he temporarily suspended during the COVID pandemic.
“If it reduces inflation for families from 4% to 3%, even if it only puts a few hundred bucks back in families’ pockets, it’s the right thing to do,” Pritzker said.
And state Rep. La Shawn Ford, D-Chicago, agrees.
“I do love the no more tax on groceries. That’s going to help on a lot of families by eliminating the sales tax on groceries. That’s a big deal,” Ford said.
While increased spending in some initiatives angered Republicans, others were disappointed by how state funds could be allocated under the proposal.
The governor proposed using $175 million from the Road Fund, transferring it from sales tax, to cover public transit expenses. The Road Fund, co-chairs Patrick Hosty and Kevin Burke of the Transportation for Illinois Coalition, is typically delegated to cover road, bridge, and transit capital improvements.
Using this funding for public transit would ballon to north of $1 billion lost for road and bridge improvements over the next few years, the coalition projected.
“After decades of inadequate funding, Gov. Pritzker and the Legislature invested billions of dollars to improve thousands of miles of roads and bridges – including the largest road program in state history this year,” they said in a statement, referring to the Rebuild Illinois initiative. “Illinois cannot afford to move backward now.”
Pritzker’s proposals include $75 million for the state board’s early childhood education block grant to add 5,000 more seats for preschool students. Under the state Department of Human Services, Pritzker recommended an additional $5 million to home visiting programs and $36.5 million more for the child care assistance program that helps low-income families access child care services. […]
Pritzker also asked the general assembly to increase the state’s K-12 education budget by $450 million to a total of $10.8 billion for the Illinois State Board of Education.
Pritzker plans to increase funding for K-12 schools by $350 million, which will be distributed through the evidence-based funding formula — continuing the state’s bipartisan promise to increase funding by at least that much annually. […]
Pritzker’s proposal also includes more funding for the Illinois Student Assistance Commission’s Monetary Award Grant — a program to help support students from low-income families to attend college — by $10 million for a total of $711 million.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is devoting half a billion dollars in his new budget to boost quantum computing.
The proposal is part of a sweeping quest to remake the state as a hub for the future of semiconductors, quantum and AI.
Pritzker tells Axios that he’s carving out $200 million for a cryogenic facility — needed to keep quantum computing systems cool — as well as $100 million for the development of a quantum campus site and $200 million in matching funds.
“We already were establishing ourselves as a leading hub for quantum development — now we have the opportunity to take it a big step further,” Pritzker says in an interview.
* More…
* Bond Buyer | Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker lays out fiscal 2025 budget priorities: Children were the organizing principle of Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s sixth State of the State and budget address Wednesday, in which he said his “one line in the sand” is that he will only sign a “responsibly balanced” budget that does not derail the state’s credit standing or the nine rating upgrades Illinois officials have worked so hard to achieve.
* Daily Herald | Proposed state budget includes $1 million for Route 53 corridor greenway master plan in Lake County: “This is such exciting news for the people who have worked on this for years and for those that are going to be working on it in the future,” said former state Sen. Melinda Bush, who co-chaired a 19-member state task force of local and regional officials that recommended the greenway concept in late 2022. “It is a move in the right direction.”
* Pantagraph | Pritzker unveils $52.7B budget proposal, says Biden needs to ’step up’ on migrants: Pritzker also called for a more robust paydown of the state’s massive pension debt, urging state lawmakers to change the formula in place since 1994 from 90% funded by 2045 to 100% funded by 2048. This would be done in part by increasing pension payments next decade when existing debts are paid off.
* WGEM | Gov. Pritzker gives State of the State address, unveils budget proposal: This was welcome news to State Comptroller Susana Mendoza. The Democrat called Pritzker’s proposed budget responsible and disciplined. “This is a year in which I was really looking to see a holding of the line, really no new non-essential spending and a very targeted approach to maintaining fiscal stability and fiscal discipline,” she said. “He checked every single box.”
* WCIA | Pritzker highlights proposed education investments in budget address: “I propose we stay on plan and increase Smart Start funding by $150 million in year two to create 5,000 more preschool seats, continue growing childcare and reach thousands more families with critical early childhood services,” Pritzker said.
* NBC Chicago | Pritzker budget calls for elimination of Illinois’ grocery tax: The 1% tax on groceries applies specifically to items that are meant to “be consumed off the premises where they are sold,” according to state law. The sales tax was suspended as part of Pritzker’s Fiscal Year 2022 budget, with officials projecting that it could save shoppers up to $400 million.
* Axios | What to know about Gov. JB Pritzker’s $53 billion budget plan: Pritzker said he’s promised Mayor Brandon Johnson and Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle that the state will pay more than half the tab for services to care for more than 35,000 migrants that have come to Illinois in the last year.
* ICYMI: Democratic PAC loses appeal of massive fines for not timely reporting campaign spending. Tribune…
- All for Justice, an independent expenditure PAC backed by Illinois Senate President Don Harmon was fined $108,500 by the board last year for failing to timely file detailed expenditure reports in spending $7.3 million to help elect Elizabeth Rochford and Mary Kay O’Brien to the Illinois Supreme Court.
- The eight member board, made up of four Democrats and four Republicans, ultimately voted 8-0 to reject the PAC’s requests and let the fines stand.
- The fines were among the largest ever levied by the election board.
* Isabel’s top picks…
* Daily Southtown | Wife, son of Calumet City Mayor Thaddeus Jones made six figures working with city: The wife and son of Calumet City Mayor Thaddeus Jones combined to earn more than $120,000 in 2023 while working for or on behalf of the city, public records show. Saprina Jones made $92,538 for her roles while Thaddeus Jones Jr. made $32,250, according to records showing the money they made from the city from Jan. 1 to Dec. 4 of last year.
* Sun-Times | Former state Sen. Terry Link asks judge for probation after wearing wire on fellow lawmaker: “In word and in deed, Mr. Link has done everything in his power to right his wrong,” his defense attorney Catharine O’Daniel wrote in a 20-page memo to U.S. District Judge Mary Rowland. The request comes more than three years after Link pleaded guilty to filing a false tax return. Lawyers only began to move forward with his sentencing after his testimony in last year’s trial of businessman James T. Weiss.
* Sun-Times | Johnson cracks door open to subsidizing White Sox stadium at The 78: “I’m grateful that both organizations are committed to having these conversations. As far as financing these projects, both organizations know that they have to put some skin in the game. They’re expressed a commitment to do that,” Johnson said after Wednesday’s City Council meeting.
* Daily Herald | Foster, Rashid to debate issues facing Congress in virtual forum Feb. 28: The Democratic candidates for Illinois’ 11th Congressional District seat will participate next week in an online forum hosted by the League of Women Voters Naperville. U.S. Rep. Bill Foster and challenger Qasim Rashid, both of Naperville, are slated to attend the Feb. 28 event, which is set for 7 p.m. on Zoom.
* Daily Herald | ‘No pressure being exerted’: Arlington Heights mayor denies taking sides in Bears vs. schools tax battle: Citing records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, the Daily Herald reported in December that village officials had worked for months behind the scenes to develop the memorandum with the Bears, Northwest Suburban High School District 214, Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 and Palatine Township Elementary District 15. But the document — which resolves other issues related to the Bears’ proposed $5 billion redevelopment — hasn’t moved forward amid key sticking points on the assessment and tax payments at the sprawling property the Bears purchased a year ago.
* Daily Herald | Kane County dismisses bipartisan push for statement on migrant busing: The county board deadlocked in an 11-11 vote at its most recent meeting on allowing a discussion and possible official proclamation stating the county’s position on the migrant busing situation. The absence of two members and the resulting tie vote quashed the proclamation push. County board Chair Corinne Pierog opted not to break the tie, though she indicated she would not support discussion on the topic. She referenced a neutral statement crafted by members of the Metro West Council of Governments, which represents various Kane County municipalities.
* Tribune | State picks up travel tab for migrants who want to leave Chicago: At least 3,194 individuals have received financial support from the state of Illinois to reunite with friends and family in other states and U.S. cities since mid-November, according to state data provided to the Tribune on Feb. 14. The state has spent over $620,000 on travel tickets and taxi fares to airports, trains or bus stations to connect with family and friends, which city and state officials call “diversion and outmigration.” “Using these funds to quickly connect new arrivals with their next step is significantly cheaper than moving people into shelters. The state plans to continue using funds in this way for the foreseeable future,” said Daisy Contreras, a spokesperson for the Illinois Department of Human Services.
* WREX | Parents, advocates claim current Medicaid policies around mental health could endanger lives: Most recently, Cotton had to send her ailing child to Missouri, one of few options she says would take her state Medicaid. Previously, she took even more action to get her child residential mental healthcare by getting what’s called a “Family Support Program” (FSP) grant. The grant program allows families to access residential mental healthcare along with other intensive services. The problems are twofold according to people familiar with the grant process. The first according to Cotton is that it puts too much stress on parents.
* ABC Chicago | Rivian layoffs for 10 percent of salaried workers announced after EV company’s earnings call: Rivian has a total of 16,700 employees but would not disclose how many of those are considered salaried employees. Rivian has previously, on two different occasions, laid off 6% of its workforce, as the company has looked to reduce its losses. Sales of electric vehicles has not expanded as rapidly in the past year as it had before, and automakers have blamed high interest rates for some of that slow-down. At the same time, Tesla has aggressively cut prices of its vehicles, putting pressure on other automakers. Ford, for instance, recently announced it was deeply cutting prices of its Mustang Mach-E, a direct competitor to the Tesla Model Y SUV.
* WTTW | Cook County Funds Purchase of Two Hotels in Effort to Provide Stable Housing, Necessary Supports: The Margarita Inn is one of two hotels bought with Cook County funding. It’s a move Tavoularis said is working. “It’s showing that it’s much more impactful,” Tavoularis said. “So prior to the pandemic in that congregant setting, about 40% of the folks that we worked with would exit into a stable housing situation. Here at the Margarita, 70% of the folks that have ever come through here exit into a stable housing position.”
* Crain’s | Bally’s says it’s still on track to open new casino in 2026: Bally’s says it’s going to start demolition of the former Tribune printing plant in July to make way for a permanent Chicago casino that will take more than 18 months to build. The gambling company told analysts Feb. 21 that it expects to open the new casino in the third quarter of 2026, despite a recent change in the hotel component of the facility because of water pipes underground.
* ABC Chicago | Driven by Race: Chicago’s persistent problem of Black and white traffic stops: A new I-Team analysis of police records found that of more than 2 million traffic stops by Chicago police since 2016, 60% were Black drivers, even though Black residents make up 27% of the city’s population. White drivers made up 13% of traffic stops, and are 32% of Chicago’s population.
* Lake County News-Sun | Waukegan mayor blasts challenger for skipping meeting to search for burglars; ‘I’m disturbed (he) … has chosen to prowl around the city’: Waukegan’s City Council adjourned within minutes of convening Tuesday when there was an insufficient number of members present to reach a quorum of five, as Ald. Keith Turner, 6th Ward, announced beforehand he would miss the meeting while “creeping around” looking for car burglars. […] Though the City Council was unable to meet, a sufficient number of members of the council’s Finance and Purchasing Committee were there to unanimously recommend a $500,000 grant program to refurbish commercial building facades Tuesday at City Hall.
* WaPo | Tax records reveal the lucrative world of covid misinformation: Four major nonprofits that rose to prominence during the coronavirus pandemic by capitalizing on the spread of medical misinformation collectively gained more than $118 million between 2020 and 2022, enabling the organizations to deepen their influence in statehouses, courtrooms and communities across the country, a Washington Post analysis of tax records shows.
* WSJ | It’s Been 30 Years Since Food Ate Up This Much of Your Income: Eating continues to cost more, even as overall inflation has eased from the blistering pace consumers endured throughout much of 2022 and 2023. Prices at restaurants and other eateries were up 5.1% last month compared with January 2023, while grocery costs increased 1.2% during the same period, Labor Department data show.
* Daily Herald | Highland Park shooting suspect’s trial date set for 2025: Lake County Judge Victoria Rossetti set Robert Crimo III’s murder trial for Feb. 24, 2025, during a brief court hearing Wednesday. […] The trial previously had been set to begin early next year, but was shifted to Feb. 26 after the defendant announced he intended to represent himself and demanded a speedy trial. He then reversed his decision and requested a public defender, so the trial date was changed.
* Chalkbeat | Partial FAFSA fix lets students from immigrant families apply for financial aid: The workaround is meant to help students meet fast-approaching deadlines for certain state, college, or scholarship applications. The department promised a permanent fix is coming next month. It is also urging students who don’t have an urgent submission deadline to wait until then. Those who use the workaround will need to take additional steps in March to fully submit their application.
* AP | Americans reporting nationwide cellular outages from AT&T, Cricket Wireless and other providers: AT&T had more than 50,000 outages this morning, in locations including Houston, Atlanta and Chicago. Cricket Wireless had more than 9,000, the outage tracking website said Thursday. Verizon had more than 2,000 outages and T-Mobile had more than 1,000 outages. Boost Mobile had more than 450 outages.
* NYT | Biden cancels $1.2 billion in student loan debt for 150,000 borrowers: The most recent round of cancellation benefits those enrolled in the income-driven repayment plan known as SAVE, which opened for enrollment in August. It reduces monthly payments and shortens the life of loans for millions of borrowers. The administration is making efforts to ensure Biden receives credit for the cancellation, with the affected borrowers set to receive an email from Biden on Wednesday informing them that their debt will be erased this week.
The Transportation for Illinois Coalition, an umbrella organization of business, labor and infrastructure groups that advocates for federal and state transportation funding, today issued the following statement in response to Gov. Pritzker’s proposed Fiscal Year 2025 budget plan:
“We are disappointed in and cannot support the Governor’s budget proposal to cut transportation funding after just a few years of Rebuild Illinois’ important investment in our state transportation infrastructure.
The Governor’s proposal calls for the Road Fund to cover $175 million in spending on public transportation operations in the Chicago region that have been historically paid for by the state’s General Revenue Fund. Road Funds are dedicated for road, bridge, and transit capital improvements. We cannot support this proposal and ask the Legislature to reject any plans that pit transportation needs against each other.
The $175 million loss in road funding would multiply to more than a $1 billion impact in lost road and bridge improvements over the next few years. After decades of inadequate funding, Governor Pritzker and the Legislature invested billions of dollars to improve thousands of miles of roads and bridges – including the largest road program in state history this year. Illinois cannot afford to move backward now.
This policy change does not include any new money for transit operations, nor does it fully meet the need for transit operations. What this proposal does is take money away from other transportation needs, making it impossible to deliver on the promise of sustainable transportation for all modes of transportation.
We encourage the Governor and Legislature to develop and support a new state budget that strongly funds all our transportation infrastructure. Rebuild Illinois is working to put our state on a better path, and we must not bring that progress to a halt this summer.”
TFIC Co-Chairs:
Patrick Hosty, Executive Director of the Chicago Laborers District Council-LMCC
Kevin Burke, Executive Vice President of the Illinois Asphalt Pavement Association
The full list of the group’s membership is here, and interestingly enough it includes several public transportation organizations, including the Illinois Public Transportation Association.
* More criticism on a different topic from SEIU Healthcare…
Greg Kelley, President of SEIU Healthcare Illinois, issued the following statement in response to Governor JB Pritzker’s budget address:
“As a union of frontline workers providing home care, child care and healthcare services, we applaud the Governor’s commitment to investing in crucial services in ways that will not only provide much-needed care to more families, but also help provide the economic stability that makes it possible for more workers to enter and stay in caring professions.
“While his leadership as an advocate for providing needed care services was evident in the Governor’s address, his proposed funding priorities fall short from what is required to address Illinois’ ongoing care crisis.
“We’re encouraged by the Governor’s commitment to continued increased investment in early childhood education and care, and look forward to working with him to continue to implement Smart Start and the new early childhood state agency, while also investing in the existing early childhood workforce.
“We support the proposed funding increase in the Governor’s budget to meet the existing rates and caseload of the growing Community Care Program. However, the budget lacks funding required to address the cause of the state’s care crisis—the fact is that the crucial jobs that provide home care and child care services are not good and stable jobs. Care workers struggle with unlivable paychecks and no means or path to retirement. The result is that there are simply too few care workers to provide these services. In the Community Care Program, the number of authorized hours of care for which no caregiver is available is now up to 46% and will only continue to go up failing a real investment in the care workforce.
“Care workers are a stabilizing force both in the state’s economy and in the lives of the thousands of working families who rely upon their services. It is our hope that the Governor and the legislature will address the needs of these workers in budget deliberations and add in the funding needed to lift their wages to $20 an hour as a means of stabilizing the workforce for all who need care in the state.
“We look forward to working with the Governor and the legislature to build off of this proposed budget to ensure that home care and child care workers—and the crucial services they provide—are prioritized, and to advocate for the additional investment required to serve the needs of seniors and those who care for them.”
* Illinois Association of Rehabilitation Facilities…
We appreciate the Governor and his administration working with the disability community and ultimately deciding not to pursue a proposed decrease in hours for Direct Service Professionals (DSP) in the proposed budget, an action that would have had severe consequences for the many people our members serve. It’s clear through communications with individuals with disabilities, frontline staff, disability providers, and legislators, they understood that decision would have taken Illinois backwards after our recent progress to better fund services for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
With this decision in mind, and while the Administration is simultaneously seeking to exit the Ligas Consent Decree and proposing to increase state revenues, we are deeply concerned that the Governor’s budget proposal does not include any increases in wage rates for DSPs. We do not see a path to exiting the consent decree, of which the state has been out of compliance since 2017, without minimally achieving full funding of the Guidehouse rate study, which indicated higher wages and benefits for frontline staff as its top priority.
Disability service providers throughout Illinois continue to face serious pressures and obstacles to attracting DSP workers to provide services, including additional increases in the minimum wage this year and next to $15 an hour on January 1, 2025. Regrettably, the proposed budget’s lack of a DSP wage rate increase represents a significant step backwards in our ability to provide competitive wages and benefits for frontline staff.
This spring, with the leadership of Representative Michelle Mussman and Senator Karina Villa, we will pursue an increase in DSP wages of $3 an hour, to help us stay ahead of these pressures and put us more in line with the progress envisioned by the Guidehouse study two years ago.
We hope the Governor and Legislature will recognize the ongoing struggles of service providers and support this wage increase in the final budget later this spring
* Illinois Partners for Human Service…
In response to today’s Budget Address, Illinois Partners for Human Service recognizes and appreciates the priorities outlined in this budget for the health and human services sector. In particular, we applaud the investments in Smart Start, Homeless Services, and the commitment to continued funding for new arrivals. We commend the Governor and his administration for celebrating the importance of health and human service work and the workers employed by the state, but are disappointed in his failure to acknowledge the thousands of frontline workers from community-based service providers in his remarks, especially since the vast majority work for organizations contracted by the state.
Our coalition partners are among these invaluable providers, working tirelessly on the frontlines every day caring for our communities. Unfortunately, state contracts and reimbursement rates continue to lag behind, failing to cover the full cost of delivering essential services. As a result, our community-based workforce continues to be undervalued, overworked, and underpaid. While the Governor did laud the impact of these services on lives throughout Illinois, he did not address how we will sustain the sector for community-based providers and support our workforce, the majority of whom are women and people of color. We must commit to rectifying the consequences of twenty years of the state’s chronic disinvestment of health and human services - bold actions and long-term funding solutions must be a priority for decision makers.
We look forward to working with the administration and our legislators to do everything possible to find these solutions, increase investment in the community-based human services workforce, and reduce administrative burden for community providers. These organizations are valued and integral to their communities, and their work is essential to the well-being of all Illinoisans.
* NFIB…
The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), the nation’s leading advocate for small business, commented on Governor J.B. Pritzker’s State of the State Address.
“Governor Pritzker painted a rosy picture of the state of the state today, but—outside the halls of power in Springfield and Chicago—Main Street businesses are experiencing a different reality,” said Noah Finley, NFIB Illinois State Director. “Small business optimism remains depressed, as job creators face ongoing inflation, onerous regulations and mandates, and a shortage of qualified labor.”
“To realize the state’s full potential, NFIB calls on Governor Pritzker and the General Assembly to roll back tax and regulatory burdens on small businesses and unleash the dreams and aspirations of current and aspiring job creators and small-business owners across Illinois.”
* ILGOP…
Illinois Republican Party Chairman Don Tracy released the following statement in response to Governor Pritzker’s budget response:
“Governor Pritzker has made it a habit of standing up every year to tell the people of Illinois not to believe their own eyes and just trust him with their money. Governor Pritzker’s budgets have spiked spending more than 30% since he took office while we as a state continue to lose population, more than 260,000 people leaving Illinois in the last 3 years alone. Governor Pritzker helped bring the ongoing migrant crisis to Illinois and despite 18 months of disaster proclamations, still can’t get on the same page with the state’s largest city. All the while, he jetsets across the country giving political speeches, more interested in headlines and presidential speculation than actually governing this state.
This budget proposal represents what we’ve come to expect from Governor Pritzker: empty promises of bipartisanship, a radical agenda, and more of your taxpayer dollars to cover the tab.”
* Senate GOP Leader John Curran…
“The Governor just proposed raising taxes on every Illinois family struggling to make ends meet to fund the non-citizen welfare state he created. We have made it clear that the citizens of this state are our priority, while today, the Governor made it clear they’re his piggy bank. Our focus will remain on providing meaningful financial relief to the people of Illinois .”
* Rep. Ryan Spain…
Following Gov. Pritzker’s joint State of the State and Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Address, Deputy House Republican Leader Ryan Spain (R-73rd District) released the following statement:
“For a Governor who is perpetually trying to sell himself as a friend of business development and job creation, the budget he proposed today runs completely contrary to that notion. Instead of focusing on his future presidential ambitions and competing with California for the title of most progressive state in the nation, I wish we could get serious about growing Illinois’ economy.
“His proposal includes $2.29 billion in additional spending, a 4.5 percent increase, which would leave us with a $775 million deficit. How does he propose to solve his deficit problem? By raising another billion dollars in taxes on job creators and cutting tax deductions for working-class families. We’ve already spent $2.8 billion on healthcare for non-citizens, and he wants to spend another $811 million instead of admitting his sanctuary state policy has hurt our state and is taking money away from vulnerable Illinoisans who should be our first priority.
“One of the few positives I heard from the Governor today was his embrace of a plan I’ve been pushing for years to eliminate the grocery tax. Unfortunately, that is a small consolation in relation to everything else I heard today.
“Illinois has lost population for ten years in a row, and we face the second highest property tax burden in the nation. Putting more pressure on families and small businesses under his proposal is only going to drive more people away. We should be providing tax relief, not asking Illinoisans to pay more.”
…Adding… Illinois Chamber…
The Illinois Chamber of Commerce is aligned with the Governor’s goal of expanding opportunities for the growth of businesses of all sizes and to continue the expansion of our state’s gross domestic product that has surpassed $1 trillion.
We are, however, disappointed by the Governor’s proposal to extend the cap on business net operating loss. The cap is nothing more than forced borrowing of funds from Illinois businesses to finance government.
We are also disappointed by the Governor’s proposal to reduce the sales tax retailers’ discount. This is a stealth tax increase on our retail sector, who are managing increased operating expenses due to rising labor and raw materials forcing them to operate on already razor thin margins.
We appreciate the Governor’s unwavering support for education and we are aligned that investing in education is vital to building a brighter future for our communities. We believe strongly that educational optionality should be the right of all our states students, especially those in underrepresented communities which saw significant cut backs due the expiration of the Invest in Kids Act.
* Jennifer Welch, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Illinois Action…
“Planned Parenthood Illinois Action (PPIA) commends Governor Pritzker’s dedication to addressing the inequities that exist in Black Maternal Health. At the same time, PPIA urges the governor and state legislature to expand funding for family planning resources and address inequities in sexual reproductive education.
We have requested funding for the family planning program, which helps providers across the state cover costs for patients receiving basic primary and preventive health care, such as wellness exams, lifesaving cancer screenings, contraception, and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) testing and treatment.
In addition, we have asked the governor and the state legislature to allocate funding to implement the Keeping Youth Safe and Healthy Act. Over 70% of Illinois schools report not teaching any kind of personal health and safety education. Funding would help school districts across the state meet this need.
While we did not see these vital funding requests in the Governor’s request today, we hope to see his administration revisit these requests and look forward to continuing our joint work on increasing the health and wellness of all Illinoisans.”
…Adding… IRMA…
The Illinois Retail Merchants Association (IRMA) released the following statement regarding Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s budget proposal:
“The retail discount is a partial reimbursement to the hard-working retailers across Illinois who collect sales taxes on behalf of state and local governments. Contrary to claims, this proposal does not just target large retail stores but would impact retailers of all sizes, from independent grocers to the corner hardware store,” said Rob Karr, president and CEO, Illinois Retail Merchants Association. “Regardless, it should not fall on retailers to take on all the costs of administering the sales tax code. We look forward to working with the governor and legislative leaders to find a way to preserve this reimbursement and avoid further damage to our state’s retail sector.”
* Community Behavioral Healthcare Association CEO Blanca Campos…
“We applaud Governor Pritzker’s proposal to ban prior authorization requirements for in-patient mental health care for both children and adults and eliminate “step therapy” for prescription drugs, a requirement that patients first “fail” to use one or more lower-cost, alternative medications before the insurance company will cover a higher-cost drug prescribed by a doctor, and force insurance companies to use the same definitions of medical necessity that doctors use.
“Nevertheless, the governor’s FY2025 budget makes no new investments that the state needs to continue to boost funding to strengthen the behavioral healthcare workforce and create more access to care. Thus, the Community Behavioral Healthcare Association will vigorously advocate with lawmakers for increased investment in care and the workforce in next year’s budget.”
Five years ago, when people said we couldn’t do it, many of us went to work eliminating our bill backlog and balancing five state budgets in a row. We created a $2 billion Rainy Day Fund. We achieved nine credit upgrades. And in the face of a pandemic and high inflation, we delivered historic tax relief, provided record levels of rental and mortgage assistance, and reduced interest costs by paying off more than $11 billion in debt.
We’ve also grown Illinois’ economy to over $1 trillion. That’s more than most nations. In 2023 alone, we attracted billions of dollars in new business investments and created tens of thousands of new jobs.
In fact, on average, a new business moved to Illinois or expanded here every single day last year.
Thanks to our bipartisan tax credit legislation, Illinois is now the world’s fourth largest data center market, and we broke an all-time record for film and TV production revenue. Tourism is booming. Last year, Illinois’ hotel industry set a record at $5.5 billion.
In the Midwest, we are now the number one state for workforce development. Across all fifty states, we are number two for infrastructure. Number two for education. Number three for power grid reliability. We have the number one and number two best business schools in the country. Since 2018, we moved up a whopping thirteen spots in CNBC’s Best States for Business.
These are the things that matter to businesses looking for a home. Where their workforce can live, work, and play affordably and with world class healthcare and education.
Now we have a lot of work left to do—but we, together, have met this moment we are in. Do not let the doom grifters steal your optimism about what’s ahead for Illinois. Our future is bright, and opportunity lies ahead.
“I would build a wall of steel, a wall as high as Heaven, against the admission of a single one of those Southern Europeans who never thought the thoughts or spoke the language of a democracy in their lives.”
Those words were spoken a hundred years ago by Georgia Governor Clifford Walker at a Ku Klux Klan rally. But the reality is, it could have been a social media post by President Trump last week.
Time might march forward, but our society’s worst impulses seem never to go away.
I’ve spoken many times about my own family’s refugee history. I will not join the chorus of people in this country or in this chamber who eagerly look to slam shut an immigration door that was once open to our ancestors.
Over the last eighteen months, more than 35,000 asylum seekers have arrived in Illinois. Most of them landed here in buses sent by Governor Abbott of Texas. Abbott willfully planned the arrival of these individuals in locations and at times that would engender the maximum chaos for the city of Chicago and for the asylum seekers themselves. Children, pregnant women, and the elderly have been sent here in the dead of night, left far from our designated welcome centers, in freezing temperatures, wearing flip flops and T-shirts. Think about that the next time a politician from Texas wants to lecture you about being a good Christian.
Our immigration system has been broken for a long time. No doubt, the current migrant crisis is a problem of the federal government’s making, and I mean both political parties.
I am sure that when I leave the podium today, there will be some who will walk outside this chamber, looking for a microphone so they can start yelling about sanctuary cities and immigrants taking our tax dollars.
I hope that the press covering those statements will ask these politicians one important question: “did you or did you not support the federal immigration bill that the White House agreed to with Senate Republicans?”
There was a chance two weeks ago for a breakthrough on immigration policy. And the President and Congressional Democrats did what most voters say they want from leaders—they sat at a table with Republicans and negotiated a bipartisan compromise.
The White House announced a bill that was supported by top Republican leadership in the Senate—and then within hours—hours—Republicans who had helped write the legislation announced they were suddenly against the legislation.
Including, most glaringly, every single Republican member of the Illinois Congressional delegation.
Why did this happen? Why did every single Republican run away from something they claimed they desperately want? Because Donald Trump told them to, and they’re afraid of him. And why did Trump tell them to reject the bill? Because he wanted to use the issue of immigration against President Biden in the November elections.
I’m not making hyperbolic statements. Donald Trump said that out loud.
That bill would have helped Illinois. It would have provided money and resources that we don’t normally receive as a state far from the Southern border.
Maybe some Republicans find it hard to put country over Party. But our obligations to the people we represent supersede the letter after our names.
Joe Biden has been a very good president who has rescued the economy and protected freedom. But states and cities in the country’s interior are not equipped alone to handle the rapid influx of new arrivals we have seen. The White House and the federal government need to step up—to coordinate and manage these asylum seekers when they cross the border and are in federal custody, and not leave it to the Governor of Texas who has no goal but to sow chaos and destruction.
Listen, maybe some of you think we should just say, “this is not our problem,” and that we should let the migrant families starve or freeze to death. But that’s not what decent Midwesterners do. That’s not what leaders do.
We didn’t ask for this manufactured crisis. But we must deal with it all the same.
With our partners in Cook County and the City of Chicago, my administration has worked to develop a cost effective and comprehensive response plan over the next twelve months. We used the most reliable data available and estimated what it would take to ensure that the most basic human needs are met for asylum seekers arriving in Chicago.
This plan also includes continuing our efforts to divert as many people as possible away from temporary shelter to more permanent settlement, wherever that may be. Not because we are unwelcoming of immigrants. But because Chicago’s shelter system is near capacity, and it is dangerous if migrants have no shelter or support at all.
To date, we’ve moved 9,000 individuals through the process—from arrival, to temporary shelter, to independent housing and self-sufficiency. Thousands of others have moved on to find family or sponsors. We’ve also helped thousands through the Temporary Protected Status and Employment Authorization process so they can legally work. Private industry in Illinois has expressed a strong desire to hire those who are authorized to work.
I committed to the Mayor of Chicago and the Cook County Board President that I would come to the General Assembly and ask for funding for a little over fifty percent of the cost of this plan—which comes to $181.7 million.
We don’t have any clear idea how long Governor Abbott intends to hold the nation hostage, but his political stunt will eventually come to an end. So, let’s start planning for its aftermath—ensuring that during the coming fiscal year, some of the thirty temporary migrant shelters can and ought to be converted to other productive uses—as determined by the communities themselves. Neighborhood clinics, community centers, workforce training, housing—there are lots of good ideas I’ve heard from people, so we have designated $5 million in this budget for shelter conversion grants.
I won’t pretend any of this is easy, but it would be irresponsible to do anything but come here, lay out the scope of the challenge, tell you what I think we need to do, and then work with you to make it happen.
Personally, I think each of us should follow the examples set by the good people of our state.
Evanston’s Mike Moyer is fixing up bicycles to donate to migrants. Chicago’s Samantha Oulavong is teaching English to our new neighbors on a South Loop basketball court. And then there’s Oak Park’s Elaine Pierce. A retiree, Elaine opened her modest two-story, three-bedroom home to seven “new family members,” as she would say—absorbing all the costs on her own. Mike, Samantha, and Elaine are among the best of us—epitomizing what it means to be an Illinoisan through and through.
* More info here and here. The governor’s budget office briefed reporters this morning on this year’s proposal and a couple of stories have popped up since then. I tipped subscribers yesterday about this corporate net operating loss deductions thing mentioned by the Tribune…
Facing a tighter budget outlook, Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Wednesday unveiled a $52.7 billion election-year spending plan built on more than $800 million in tax increases that would largely fall on businesses, from large corporations to state-regulated sportsbooks. […]
The governor also proposes extending a cap on losses large corporations can write off on their state income taxes, which he estimates will generate another $526 million in annual revenue. The current annual cap of $100,000 is set to expire Dec. 31, but Pritzker proposes raising the limit to $500,000 and allowing it to continue.
Pritzker also is proposing a permanent repeal of the 1% sales tax on groceries, which he and the Democratic-controlled legislature previously suspended for one year in 2022, when the governor was running for reelection.
Lastly, Pritzker is dusting off a previous unsuccessful plan to limit the tax discount retailers receive for collecting sales tax, which his office estimates would generate another $101 million annually.
That tax discount thing has been tried for years, but IRMA always beats it back.
The plan also includes transferring mass transit costs from sales tax to the state’s Road Fund, to take in an additional $175 million.
Pritzker’s budget team is also aiming to hasten the state’s pension funding ramp with an eye toward landing another credit upgrade from Wall Street ratings agencies.
Since 1994, the state has been on a slog toward filling the gap in the grossly underfunded system to 90% by 2045. Pritzker’s team is adjusting that goal to reach 100% funding by 2048 — closer to pension goals set by many other states.
The governor’s team says they can make that happen in part with savings from paying off two other major bonds issued by the state over the next decade. Pritzker will need legislative approval for the pension proposal.
Pritzker also wants to more than double the state tax on sports betting revenue collected by casino sportsbooks from 15% to 35%, a proposal that’s sure to draw pushback from a rapidly expanding industry that raked in more than $1 billion in 2023. The governor’s team predicts such a hike could pump an additional $200 million into state coffers.
Almost everyone you talk to has a horror story about prior authorizations and step coverage.
I'm introducing the Healthcare Consumer Access and Protection Act, a bill to curb predatory insurance practices — putting the power back into the hands of patients and their doctors. pic.twitter.com/iW4c9rTLU0
Illinois will become the first state in the nation to ban prior authorization for in-patient adult and children’s mental health care. That means patients suffering a mental health crisis can get the care they need without jumping through hoops designed to deny coverage. And we are going to make sure that insurance plans publicly post all treatments that require prior authorization, so consumers can compare plans when they are shopping for coverage.
Today, nearly every call to the [DCFS] abuse and neglect hotline is answered immediately. That’s up from only 50% back in 2019. Of the more than 94,525 investigations conducted last year by DCFS, 99.7% were initiated within 24 hours. And within seven days, 96% of children have been seen by an investigator. With an additional $14 million in funding in FY25, DCFS will reach a headcount of 4,000 staff for the first time in more than two decades.
My budget also proposes investing $12 million to create a Child Tax Credit for families raising our youngest children. By targeting this investment at low and middle-income families with children under 3, we can put money back in the pockets of our newest parents who need it most and make those early years just a little bit easier.
And we know that Black individuals and families make up 61% of the unhoused while making up only 14% of the overall population. So, this year, we created a racial equity roundtable on Black homelessness—the only effort of this kind in the entire nation. To advance that work, I am proposing an additional $50 million to attack the root causes of housing insecurity for Black Illinoisans, while continuing to serve other at-risk populations like veterans and those who are medically vulnerable with the shelter and wraparound services they need.
Now, I expect that some of you will want to spend more, and some of you will claim you want to spend less. Know this: I am always open to good ideas that members of both parties have to more efficiently and effectively fulfill our obligations.
My one line in the sand is that I will only sign a budget that is responsibly balanced and that does not diminish or derail the improving credit standing we have achieved for the last five years.
…Adding… A much more detailed description of the proposed operating budget is here. The proposed capital budget is here.
* Here’s what the governor’s office is pushing today…
✅ erase $1 billion of medical debt for more than 340,000 families. ✅ more than $20 million to improve black maternal health outcomes ✅ eliminating the sales tax on groceries ✅ rebuild our arts communities around the state
* There’s a lot going on here, but the briefing book claims this proposal is less than a 2 percent increase…
• FY24 revised estimated spending reflects proposed spring supplemental appropriations of $1.183 billion and proposed transfers.
• Estimated FY24 budgetary surplus of $273 million, with $205 million set aside in Budget Stabilization Fund.
• Proposed FY25 General Funds expenditures total $52.695 billion, a $752 million (<2%) increase from FY24 estimated spending.
• The proposed budget reflects full payment of the certified FY25 pension contribution.
• FY25 Government Services recommended budget reflects direct funding of enterprise- wide IT budget lines to DOIT and current estimates of employee and retiree health insurance liabilities.
• Estimated FY25 budgetary surplus of $298 million, with an estimated $170 million reserved in the Budget Stabilization Fund.
* Some one-pagers. Click the pics for larger images…
* Some media advisories. Senate Democrats…
Following the governor’s joint State of the State and Budget Address Wednesday, a number of Senate Democrats will provide their reactions to his proposal and what they hope to see in the final Fiscal Year 2025 budget live on Blue Room Stream.
WHO: Senate President Don Harmon, Senate Majority Leader Kimberly A. Lightford, and Senators Sims, Gillespie, Castro, Stadelman and Halpin
WHAT: Senate Democrats react to governor’s joint State of the State and Budget Address
WHEN: Immediately following the governor’s address, approximately 1 p.m.
WHERE: Live on Blue Room Stream
* Black Caucus…
Members of the House and Senate Black Caucuses will host a press conference immediately following Gov. JB Pritzker’s State of State and Budget Address on Wednesday, Feb. 21 on the second-floor staircase of the Illinois Capitol Building to address budget priorities for the upcoming year.
* Comptroller Mendoza…
Comptroller Mendoza, a fierce advocate of responsible spending and fiscal stability, will offer her reaction to the Governor’s Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Plan.
What: Media availability
When: Shortly following Governor Pritzker’s Budget Address, Wednesday, February 21st
Where: Capitol Rotunda, outside of House Chambers
* Home care workers…
Today, February 21, Illinois agency home care workers who serve seniors through the Community Care Program will be available for in-person interviews following Governor Pritzker’s budget address. They’ll share reactions at the Statehouse in Springfield starting at 1:30pm CT.
State Senator Willie Preston advanced new legislation to ban harmful chemicals in candy, soda and other food items sold and produced in Illinois.
“People should be able to trust that the food they buy is safe,” said Preston (D-Chicago). “As a father, it really concerns me that some of my family’s favorite food items have harmful chemicals in them.”
Senate Bill 2637 will ban specific, dangerous food additives from being used in the manufacturing, delivering, distributing, holding or selling of food products. These additives include brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propylparaben and red dye no. 3.
As a father of six, Preston stressed that the legislation prioritizes children, who face heightened risks from these chemicals due to their developing bodies and increased consumption of these types of food products.
“These food additives are linked to extreme health risks and have not been properly regulated,” said Preston. “As legislators, we have a responsibility to our constituents to prioritize their health and set a precedent for consumer safety.”
Preston intends to work alongside his colleagues this legislative season to include additional additives in the scope of the bill, such as titanium dioxide. Additionally, his proposed legislation will call for studies on the potential health risks of BHA and BHT.
Senate Bill 2637 passed the Senate Public Health Committee on Tuesday. It now goes to the full Senate for further consideration.
Sen. Willie Preston (D-Chicago) explained stores would not be able to sell products with brominated vegetable oil, potassium bromate, propylparaben, or Red Dye No. 3 by Jan. 1, 2027. Preston is considering an amendment to include titanium dioxide in the list of banned additives.[…]
However, the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association told the committee the bill could set a dangerous precedent for food regulation in Illinois by usurping experts and scientists at the U.S. Food & Drug Administration.
IMA Vice President of Government Affairs Donovan Griffith encouraged lawmakers to reject the well-intentioned plan to avoid a confusing and costly patchwork of regulations that would impact consumers and Illinois food manufacturers. Food manufacturing generates more than $135 billion in economic impact for Illinois annually.
“These type of food regulations should be handled at the federal level by the Food & Drug Administration,” Griffith stressed. “The FDA requires evidence that each food additive is safe at its intended level of use before it may be added to food.”
* National Confectioners Association…
In response to an Illinois General Assembly committee hearing on a bill that would ban certain FDA-approved food additives, the National Confectioners Association released the following statement:
NCA STATEMENT
Food safety decisions should be based on rigorous review of the entire body of scientific evidence, as they have been for more than a century. In this case in Illinois, thorough process – and the facts – have been swept aside, resulting in misinformation in debate over SB 2637. Illinois legislators should reject SB 2637 and reaffirm their commitment to our national food safety system. Without a central, science-driven food safety authority, we are left with a state-by-state patchwork of inconsistent state requirements that increase food costs, create confusion around food safety, and erode consumer confidence and trust in our food supply.
ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Not only is FDA doing its job on these ingredients under Deputy Commissioner of Foods Jim Jones, but it is also making progress on modernizing its review process, including overhauling its technology and hiring additional staff to meet the growing demands of the organization. FDA is currently reviewing both Red Dye 3 and titanium dioxide and is expected to announce its findings later this year.
FDA recently conducted its own studies and has initiated steps to remove Brominated Vegetable Oil (BVO) from the U.S. food supply. This is how our food safety system was designed to work, and it’s a real-time example of it working.
The Illinois Attorney General’s office submitted formal opposition to the bill. Steve Walsh, the Bureau Chief of Legislative Affairs and Policy at the Illinois Attorney General’s Office, submitted the opposition to SB 2637 here.
On November 2, 2023 the FDA proposed to revoke the regulation authorizing the use of brominated vegetable oil (BVO) in food. The FDA conducted studies that clearly show adverse health effects in animals in levels more closely approximating real-world exposure. Therefore, the FDA can no longer conclude that this use of BVO in food is safe.
The studies were conducted in collaboration with the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences’(NIEHS) Division of Translational Toxicology (formerly the Division of the National Toxicology Program), to assess unresolved toxicological questions. Results from these studies demonstrate bioaccumulation of bromine and toxic effects on the thyroid – a gland that produces hormones that play a key role in regulating blood pressure, body temperature, heart rate, metabolism and the reaction of the body to other hormones.
Rep. Larry Walsh, D-Elwood, who chairs the Public Utilities Committee in the Illinois House, was behind a push last year that would have granted a temporary “right of first refusal” to Ameren Illinois and MidAmerican Energy. A ROFR policy would grant existing utilities the option of controlling transmission line projects before other companies can bid on them.
But Gov. JB Pritzker vetoed that measure last summer, saying the proposal would hurt ratepayers, and its sponsors declined to bring it for an override vote when lawmakers returned to Springfield for their annual fall veto session.
Now, Walsh is advocating for a new proposal that would grant a permanent right of first refusal to all existing electric utilities in the state. Like its predecessor, the measure is backed by the unions that represent the construction and electrical workers who handle these types of projects. […]
On Tuesday, Walsh’s committee held a subject matter hearing to discuss a potential right of first refusal in Illinois. While no vote was taken, representatives of the energy sector and consumer advocates testified to lawmakers.
Creates the Transmission Efficiency and Cooperation Law within the Public Utilities Act. Provides that an incumbent electric transmission owner has the right to construct, own, and maintain an electric transmission line approved in a transmission plan that will connect to facilities that are owned by that incumbent electric transmission owner and that are or will be under the functional control of a regional transmission operator. Specifies that the right to construct, own, and maintain such an electric transmission line belongs individually and proportionally to each incumbent electric transmission owner, unless otherwise agreed upon in writing. Provides that proportionality shall be determined based on the location of the electric transmission line relative to each incumbent electric transmission owner’s retail service territory. Authorizes an incumbent electric transmission owner to assign its right to construct, own, and maintain an electric transmission line to a transmission affiliate. Provides that an owner may notify the Illinois Commerce Commission that it will not construct any or all of the electric transmission line, and the Commission may grant permission and approval for the construction to another entity. Effective immediately.
* Sen. Doris Turner is sponsoring SB3216, you can tune in to its executive hearing at 2:30…
New legislation proposed in Illinois would let prison inmates earn a day of credit for each day served, leading to an early release.
HB5219, filed by Rep. Barbara Hernandez (D-50th Dist.) on February 9th, would eliminate mandatory prison sentences carried by criminal charges.
If the bill is signed into law, it would give every inmate a day of credit for each day spent in custody, reducing “the incarcerated person’s period of incarceration set by the court.”
If it goes into effect, the law would require the Department of Corrections to recalculate each prisoner’s sentence by applying the accrued daily credits. […]
Currently, it has been referred to the Rules Committee for consideration.
Illinois state Rep. LaShawn K. Ford (D-8th) has introduced legislation that would require any law enforcement agency in Illinois that encrypts police scanner transmissions to provide real-time access to those transmissions to accredited media in the state.
House Bill 4339 amends the Public Records Act to require that any law enforcement agency that encrypts radio transmissions provide, by license or otherwise, access to those transmissions to FCC-licensed broadcasters and accredited newspapers as defined in the act.
Under the Lori Lightfoot administration, the Chicago Police Department instituted a program designed to encrypt police scanner transmissions across all police districts in the city.
Ford presented a different view.
“I understand the desire to prevent members of the public from using real-time police scanner information to commit crimes or to evade law enforcement,” Ford said. “However, the media has an obligation to report on events in a timely manner, and its use of real-time information from police scanners is essential. Blocking accredited media from real-time access is counter to governmental transparency and does not lend itself to the original stated purpose of the encryption program.”
* Rep. Jed Davis…
Following the assignment of House Bill 4247 to the Judiciary - Civil Committee, State Representative Jed Davis (R-Yorkville) released the following statement:
“House Bill 4247 helps protect children by creating the Online Age Verification for Material Harmful to Minors Act,” said Rep. Davis. “This act will require websites containing inappropriate materials for children under 18 to verify someone’s age before granting access.
“We know accessing pornographic materials at young ages negatively impacts a child’s mental health. So, why aren’t we doing more to protect our children, especially given the unprecedented access to content through cell phones and tablets? If websites distributing harmful content refuse to add safeguard measures for children, then we will.
“I welcome discussions from legislators and stakeholders from both sides of the aisle, fully anticipating their support. In the end, protecting children should easily be a bipartisan issue.”
Reinsdorf met with Democrat and Republican leaders in the state House and Senate, the so-called “Four Tops,” to make his case. He was joined by a team of advisors and developers from Related Midwest, the company behind the new stadium design.
Reinsdorf met first with House Republicans, then brought his entourage into House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch’s office. After, he said it had been a “very thoughtful discussion” and emphasized he remains positive, but said he didn’t have anything to talk about at this stage about any funding from the state. […]
Lawmakers that we spoke to were also skeptical of the appetite of lawmakers to help.
“Honestly, I’m gobsmacked that he actually has the gall to come here and ask for money at a time when we are struggling on a million different levels when our revenue shortfall is projected to be about what he’s asking for,” said State Rep. Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago).
Sidestepping questions about what he asked for, Reinsdorf said, “everyone’s been very cordial. We’ve had very thoughtful discussions.
“I’m always positive about everything. I’m even positive about the White Sox winning the division,” he said of his team — which enters the 2024 season widely expected to be a bottom-dweller in the American League Central. […]
In a statement, Welch thanked Reinsdorf “for coming down to discuss his vision in person. There are a lot of conversations that still need to be had, but I appreciate the opportunity to discuss future goals for Chicago teams.”
Through a spokesman, Harmon said: “It’s still early innings.”
“We haven’t asked for anything,” the 87-year-old Reinsdorf told reporters after leaving the office of Republican Senate leader John Curran of Downers Grove.
“At an appropriate time, everybody will speak up. Now is not the appropriate time,” he said. “We’re not going to give out any internal bulletins.” […]
He said he didn’t know if any legislation would be filed during the spring session pertaining to his proposal. When asked about the specifics of his request to lawmakers, Reinsdorf replied, “Come on, that’s enough fellas.”
“I don’t mean to be evasive,” he said. “Everybody’s been very cordial.”
Neither the White Sox nor Related Midwest referenced specifics about the prospective financing in statements released Tuesday about their joint trip to the statehouse.
“We appreciated the time afforded to us by lawmakers in Springfield today,” Related Midwest said in a statement. “As we shared in the meetings, The 78 is a generational development and an investment in our hometown. It’s personal to us and we are excited about the prospect of delivering the city’s next great neighborhood, while making an historic economic investment that will bring over 10,000 construction jobs and 22,000 permanent jobs to our city and state.”
The Sox said in a statement that the team is “excited to share our vision, and we appreciate their (the legislative leaders’) time and hospitality.”
“We recognize discussions about The 78 serving as the future home of the Chicago White Sox have generated a lot of excitement over the potential of the larger project’s positive economic impact,” the team’s statement reads. “We are mindful and respectful of the legislative process and wanted to travel to Springfield to meet personally with legislative leaders.”
Gov. JB Pritzker plans to take on the state’s health insurance industry this year by calling for legislation to curb many of the standard practices they use to hold down costs and boost profits.
He plans to outline those reforms in his State of the State and budget address Wednesday, according to an advance excerpt of his speech, kicking off a process that will eventually require approval from lawmakers.
Pritzker’s “Healthcare Consumer Access and Protection Act” will include a package of proposals aimed at controlling strategies that insurers use to reduce the amount of health care patients receive.
It also includes new requirements for insurers to offer enough in-network doctors to meet consumers’ needs, as well as state regulatory control over rate increases in the large group insurance plans similar to regulations lawmakers approved last year for small group policies.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker will call for the permanent repeal of the state’s 1% tax on groceries in his fiscal year 2025 budget proposal to be delivered Wednesday afternoon.
Repealing the tax, which is collected by the state and distributed to local governments, would save state taxpayers collectively about $350 million in the fiscal year that begins July 1, the governor’s office estimates.
If Illinois continues spending next fiscal year as it has been this year, the state will face an $891 million deficit. […]
The $891 million fiscal year 2025 deficit figure, which was projected in that November report by Pritzker’s own Governor’s Office of Management and Budget (GOMB), assumes a $350 million increase in the state’s main K-12 education funding formula, an annualized bump in cost for Medicaid enhancements and “moderate growth rates in the various categories of state spending.”
But it does not include what the report describes as “significant changes to base programs” which could bring savings, or could come with a cost. […]
Those factors led GOMB to revise up its revenue projections to $52 billion for the fiscal year, which runs through June.
Even after accounting for an extra $1 billion in revenues, pressures “that will offset the revenue gains including increased case load pressures at Department on Aging and DHS (Department of Human Services)” and “potential spending pressures related to asylum seekers at DHS,” GOMB said the state is set to end this 2024 fiscal year with a $422 million surplus – the opposite of the in-the-red situation lawmakers are staring down as they begin the budgeting process anew.
Following Cook County’s lead, Gov. J.B. Pritzker will propose investing $10 million of federal funds in his budget to erase more than $1 billion in medical debt for Illinois residents. […]
Pritzker will include the $10 million ask in his budget proposal for the next fiscal year — and the investment would mark the first year in a multi-year plan, the governor said in an interview with the Sun-Times on Tuesday.
“This first tranche of this for FY [fiscal year] 25 will remove the medical debt for 364,000 people. That’s just the first year of a multi-year plan and it’s a $1 billion of the $3 billion that remains outside of Cook County. So the first year — again $1 billion, 364,000 people will have this cloud removed.” […]
Of the nearly two million Illinois residents with medical debt in collection, 1.75 million are low-income, according to the governor’s office. The total amount of medical debt that can be acquired from those 1.75 million low-income residents is $4 billion — with 25% in Cook County.
Pritzker wants to allocate more than $20 million in his proposed state budget to reduce health disparities and help prevent more Black women from dying before, during and after childbirth. He’s set to give his budget address on Wednesday, kicking off a round of negotiations for the fiscal year that begins July 1.
The money for birth equity initiatives would help cover what can be expensive barriers for community-based providers, such as licensing fees for midwives who deliver babies or capital expenses to open birth centers.
Having enough staff has been another barrier for birth centers to stay open. In birth centers, patients can deliver their babies with a midwife on a big bed in a homelike atmosphere rather than in a hospital. […]
A state report last fall documented that while deaths among pregnant women are rare, they have increased across Illinois — and the majority of them were possibly preventable. More than half of the pregnancy-related deaths happened more than 60 days after the women gave birth.
The governor’s office wants $500 million for quantum, the next generation in computing technology that’s only now moving from theory to practical application. About $300 million of the funding would go toward building a campus that would include a cryogenics facility — some early quantum computers operate at extremely cold temperatures. […]
It’s a bold ask at a time when the state faces what could be its most challenging budget in several years, with a potential deficit as spending needs grow in human services, health care, pensions and government health insurance, as well as the migrant crisis.
But Pritzker can point to wins on the EV front with Stellantis and battery maker Gotion. And his early $200 million investment in quantum technology efforts at the University of Chicago and University of Illinois have paid off with large federal grants and commitments by private companies, such as Google and IBM.
“We have heard from companies who have been in discussions with the state of Illinois about a location in North America and have said to us: ‘If we want to be co-located somewhere, you would be attractive for all of your existing tech assets. How can you help us source the location?’ ” Richards says. “It’s about building out a campus and a cryogenics facility.”
She declined to say where the facility would be built.
Republicans in the Illinois Senate indicated Tuesday that their sticking point for budget negotiations this year will be the same as it was last year – state spending on programs for noncitizens and recent arrivals from the country’s southern border.
In what’s been a rarity over the past five years, Senate Republicans were in on budget negotiations with their Democratic counterparts last year until the legislative session neared its end. But when the final budget bill materialized in the waning days of May, no Republican supported it. […]
Gov. JB Pritzker on Wednesday is set to lay out his vision for the upcoming fiscal year 2025, which begins July 1. Because Democrats hold supermajorities in both the House and Senate, Republican votes aren’t necessarily needed to pass a spending plan.
Still, Curran said he’d like to engage with Democrats to the same extent his caucus did during his first year as its leader.
* Center Square | Migrant funding top of mind ahead of Pritzker’s budget address: Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza’s office Tuesday announced a portal to track taxpayer spending on the crisis. Since November, the tracker shows the state’s taxpayers have spent more than $31.1 million. The governor’s office said last week taxpayers have covered $478 million since the start of the crisis in 2022. He announced the state will commit to $182 million for the issue in the coming budget.
* KFVS | Gov. Pritzker to deliver State of the State, budget address Wed: In the lead up to the address, Republicans are calling for Gov. Pritzker and Democratic lawmakers to focus on the people of Illinois. Senate GOP Leader John Curran says Democrats need to stop prioritizing migrant spending.
* WGEM | State Senate Republicans call on Gov. Pritzker to ‘prioritize Illinois citizens’ in upcoming budget: Curran said Pritzker should course correct. “Instead of more free health care for noncitizens, we want to see efforts to lower costs for Illinois citizens. Instead of non-citizen programs, we want to see efforts to make Illinois more affordable for working families, seniors and our most vulnerable populations,” Curran said.
* Fran Spielman on yet another surreal act by Chicago’s mayor…
In an apparent effort to turn things around [with the city’s news media], Johnson scheduled a meeting with the Chicago Sun-Times editorial board this week that would have been his first.
But Monday’s meeting ended abruptly — after Johnson and board members had introduced themselves — when press secretary Ronnie Reese insisted the entire session be off the record. Editorial Page editor Lorraine Forte refused to accept those unprecedented terms. Johnson allowed Reese to make the argument for him and never said a word before signing off from the Zoom session.
Wednesday, Feb 21, 2024 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
When Governor Pritzker’s appointees on the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) shut down the natural gas line Safety Modernization Program in Chicago, it not only wiped out 1,000 jobs, but also subjected residents and business owners to the unnecessary danger of aged gas infrastructure that is no longer allowed to be replaced.
Tell Gov. Pritzker and the ICC to lift the natural gas ban, lives are at risk. Pausing critical replacement of our aging natural gas lines is dangerous for everyone. Transitioning to electric without a plan will cost homeowners thousands of dollars. We need to fix our hazardous natural gas lines for our safety, tell Pritzker: end the ban.
* ICYMI: The Chicago Bears could get break on property tax valuation for former Arlington Park, but wouldn’t get cut on tax rate. Tribune…
-The Chicago Bears got a preliminary split decision on their property tax appeal for the former Arlington International Racecourse Tuesday.
-The tax appeal board valued the racecourse property at $138 million, down from the $192 million market valuation by the Cook County assessor.
- The board also ruled that the land should not be classified as vacant for 2023, because its grandstand was not completely demolished until December.
* Isabel’s top picks…
* WCMY | IL farmers take legislative concerns to Springfield: Illinois Farm Bureau president, Brian Duncan, says the organization is closely watching numerous legislative proposals this spring… “But we’ve got to watch them because you never know.” He says, “I mean, whether it’s truck regulations, looks like it may be headed for a battle and some of the bans on pretty valuable crop protection products that I hope don’t see the light of day.
* Bloomberg | Supreme Court leaves elite school’s diversity policy intact: A divided US Supreme Court refused to question an admissions policy at a competitive Virginia public high school, turning away contentions that the program was designed to reduce the percentage of Asian-American students. […] Illinois’ big schools, including the University of Illinois and University of Chicago, had been preparing for the worst case scenario to preserve their diversity initiatives after the court struck down affirmative action last year.
* Mariyana Spyropoulos is out with a new ad for Cook County Circuit Court clerk…
Thoughts?
Click here to watch Governor Pritzker’s State of the State and Budget Address at noon.
* Here’s the rest of your morning roundup…
* STL PR | Trump endorses incumbent Bost over Bailey in heated race for southern Illinois House seat: Trump is the latest in a slew of establishment Republicans to endorse the sitting congressman. Others include House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, and U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio. Bailey has won the support of one of the two other GOP members of Illinois’ congressional delegation, U.S. Rep. Mary Miller, R-Hindsboro, as well as Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Florida.
* Rockford Register Star | Winnebago County leaders debate use of funds to help newly arrived migrants: A Winnebago County Board committee is considering a resolution to not provide financial support to any newly arrived migrants outside of transportation out of the county. “We want to make sure the asylum seekers, migrants are able to get to the landing zone of Chicago safely,” said Operations Committee chair Keith McDonald, R-6.
* WSPY | Resolution for non-sanctuary migrant status for Sandwich offered: The resolution states that the city does not possess sufficient financial funds or infrastructure to accommodate the many possible needs of illegal immigrants. In addition, the resolution to prioritize Sandwich citizens’ safety and prosperity. No action was taken on the resolution by the city council.
* NPR Illinois | Illinois Comptroller provides portal to track migrant-related spending: Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza said she wants to give taxpayers more information about state expenditures on the asylum seekers who have been arriving in Illinois. Mendoza has opened a portal on her office website. “While the state is incurring expenses that, frankly, should be paid by the federal government, I want to make sure that taxpayers know exactly what the state is spending money on when it comes to the arrival and care of asylum seekers,” Comptroller Mendoza said.
* Crain’s | After altercation, City Council member calls on colleague to resign leadership posts: In a text to Crain’s, Yancy said Mitchell “became aggressive and attacked me unprovoked” during a conversation about Mitchell’s opposition to a South Shore Housing Preservation ordinance Yancy introduced in the fall. “No punches. He grabbed me around the head and shoulders in what felt like an attempt to wrestle me to the ground. We had to be separated,” Yancy told Crain’s.
* WBEZ | Mayor Brandon Johnson pitches borrowing $1.25 billion for housing and development: In a major shift away from how the city currently funds development, Johnson plans to pay for the massive borrowing package by knocking out another priority: letting dozens of the city’s controversial tax increment financing, or TIF, districts expire. TIF districts siphon tax dollars away from the city’s general funds to pay for local development projects, and Johnson plans to use the recouped tax money from expiring TIFs to pay for the debt.
* Sun-Times | Chicago sues five giant oil companies, accusing them of climate change destruction, fraud: Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration filed a lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court Tuesday that names BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil and Shell, accusing the companies of discrediting science and misleading the public as the climate crisis continued to wreak havoc on the planet. The city is also suing the trade group American Petroleum Institute, which it accuses of conspiring with the companies to deceive consumers through disinformation campaigns even as the industry acknowledged internally that climate change was real.
* Tribune | Dollar store restrictions to get Chicago council vote: The so-called small-box retailer ordinance would prohibit store operators from opening at new sites within one mile of preexisting locations. It would require new stores to display placards with maintenance and emergency information. The legislation seeks to rein in the businesses sponsor Matt O’Shea says have hurt access to healthy food in poor neighborhoods and left stores across the city unkempt.
* Crain’s | At City Club event, CPS CEO keeps the door ajar for charter schools: “We’ve been very clear that we want options for all of our children across the city,” Martinez told Crain’s after a Feb. 20 City Club of Chicago event. “I believe we have some of the most amazing choices with our magnet schools, selective enrollment, our charter schools — and, in the meantime, we’re going to continue to strengthen our neighborhood schools. So it’s not an ‘either-or’ for me. It’s an ‘all of the above.’ ”
* Naperville Sun | Yet another gun-related arrest at Naperville TopGolf, sixth since September: Over a two-month period last fall, police made four separate, but similar gun busts there — all resulting from an officer spotting a gun through a car window while doing a foot patrol of the venue’s parking lot. After the fourth bust, police said they were working with TopGolf to keep a close eye on safety.
* WGN | Illinois eclipse map: Which cities will have the best view?: The path of totality, or the thin track across the U.S. from which the sun will appear totally obscured, starts in Texas and continues northeast through Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. Unlike in past years, 2024’s solar eclipse will be at least partially visible throughout all 48 contiguous states.
* Crain’s | Nearly 200 staffers to be laid off from Tribune printing plant: There is no word on what positions are affected, but the scheduled layoff of 198 employees is set to take place on April 22, according to a WARN report filed Feb. 15 with the Illinois Department of Commerce & Economic Opportunity. The layoffs come as Freedom Center, where the Chicago Tribune is printed, is set to become the location of the permanent Bally’s casino. Bally’s bought the 30-acre riverfront site for $200 million last year to redevelop it as a 1 million-square-foot casino and hotel. In the deal with Bally’s, Tribune Publishing agreed to terminate its lease and move operations by July 5.
* Crain’s | Lab-grown meat company puts plans for Glenview plant on hold: About five months after it announced it would open its first commercial-scale cultivated-meat production plant at the industrial park Dermody Properties is developing on the site, Upside, citing cost-effectiveness and efficiency, will first expand operations at its existing facility in California before continuing with the buildout of the Glenview project.
* As White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf emerged from one of his meetings with legislative leaders today, Isabel tried to get him to justify his subsidy plan…
Isabel: Sir, why do the White Sox need another subsidy after being…
White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf is heating up his pitch for a new South Loop baseball stadium.
Reinsdorf had a meeting scheduled Tuesday afternoon with Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, to discuss his ambitious proposal for a ball park-anchored megadevelopment at the undeveloped plot known as “The 78” near Roosevelt Road and Clark Street, according to a spokesperson for the speaker.
The billionaire owner was expected to hold court with other officials on the glitzy plan as lawmakers gather in Springfield ahead of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s annual budget address on Wednesday.
A spokesman for Illinois Senate President Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, didn’t have any details on a potential meeting with Reinsdorf. […]
A spokeswoman for Pritzker said no meeting with Reinsdorf was on the agenda, and he still hasn’t been briefed by the developer. The second-term Democratic governor has been lukewarm on the prospect of putting taxpayer dollars into a stadium.
He’ll be meeting with each of the four legislative leaders this afternoon.
* US Senator Tammy Duckworth…
U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)—lead sponsor of the Access to Family Building Act, which would protect every American’s right to access in-vitro fertilization (IVF) and other assisted reproductive technology (ART) services—issued the following statement after Alabama’s State Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos created during the IVF process are “children” under state law, threatening access to IVF for those who need it to start or grow their family:
“Since the Supreme Court threw out Roe v. Wade, our nation has seen a wave of Republican-led states enacting strict abortion bans to severely limit their residents’ right to access basic reproductive care, leaving many hopeful parents—and those of us who relied on IVF to start and grow our own families—worried about whether access to these important technologies could be next. The ruling from the Alabama Supreme Court—effectively labeling women who undergo IVF as criminals and our doctors as killers—proves that we were right to be worried. No one looking to start or grow their family, in any state, deserves to be criminalized. Now is the time for Congress to pass my Access to Family Building Act and establish a statutory right to access IVF and other ART services for all Americans nationwide.”
* Here’s the rest…
* Crain’s | For hospitals, largely exposed to cyberattacks, Lurie demonstrates how bad it can get: “Not only is the organization a victim in these crimes, but obviously the patient inside the hospital or health systems is a victim, their care delivery is disrupted and delayed, and any delay, urgent or not, can harm patients’ health,” said John Riggi, the AHA’s national advisor for cybersecurity and risk. The state of care in these situations can be especially harrowing. A report from the Associated Press described a heart surgery performed at Lurie on a 7-month-old without the use of some high-tech devices.
* Daily Herald | ‘It’s very dangerous’: Residents lobby for traffic light amid rise in fatal crashes across Illinois: The situation took on added urgency after pedestrian Paige Donahue was killed by a hit-and-run driver about a mile east of Marian Park on Jan. 2, 2023. IDOT engineers studied the vicinity and decided a traffic signal was warranted at the nexus of Target and St. Francis. But it’s up to the city of Wheaton to sign off on the improvement, and residents say they’re frustrated by delays after years of peril.
* SJ-R | Bill would permit supervised use, decriminalize magic mushrooms in Illinois: It’s the latest attempt to pass the Compassionate Use and Research of Entheogens Act, previously introduced by state Rep. LaShawn Ford, D-Chicago, last year. The naturally occurring psychedelic is seen as “breakthrough therapy” by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a way to help those dealing with anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health conditions.
* WBEZ | Victor migrated from Venezuela. He’s grown to love Chicago: For much of his journey to the United States, Victor walked in a pair of mismatched Crocs, both made for left feet. With each painful step forward, he said he kept his kids in mind. Victor is originally from Maracaibo, the second-largest city in Venezuela. He moved his family to Colombia in 2019, hoping to escape the humanitarian and economic crisis in his home country.
* Tribune | Cannabis companies go ‘vertical’ to both grow and sell products: Galaxy is believed to be the first vertically integrated Black-owned cannabis company in Illinois. It boasts a state-of-the-art, multitiered electronic growing system that monitors and can control factors like humidity, lighting and carbon dioxide. The Ringolds raised capital from themselves, family, friends and a private lender. Like all craft growers, they initially were limited by law to 5,000 square feet of growing space, while the 21 originally licensed marijuana corporations can grow up to 210,000 square feet. After complaints that the small size limit was keeping craft growers from getting financing, the Illinois Department of Agriculture recently raised the craft limit to 14,000, but it will take time to get the agency’s approval and build the extra capacity.
* CBS Chicago | Suburban Chicago village to reimburse homeowners to replace lead pipes: As towns across Illinois work to replace their lead pipes, suburban Mount Prospect is taking its first steps in this massive undertaking. The village created a program to help residents who want to replace lead or galvanized steel water pipes with copper ones. They will reimburse 100% of the cost to replace the service line from the water main to the water shutoff valve.
* Block Club | Bridgeport Without The White Sox? Potential Move Has Some Locals Stressed: Ald. Nicole Lee (11th), a lifelong Sox fan whose ward includes Guaranteed Rate Field, said she’s committed to finding a “viable alternative to what the 78 is painting for the White Sox to keep them at 35th Street.” “Those are really nice drawings … and compared to what we have today, I understand the desire to have that and not what we currently have,” Lee told Block Club. “I think it’s incumbent upon us leaders that are down here on the South Side to really put some thought and work into providing the White Sox with another option of staying in their ancestral home.”
* Springfield News-Leader | Here’s how Missouri State’s rivals are filling the bleachers at basketball games: Chambers, along with more than 230 members of the Dawg Pound, set an example for other schools of SIU’s size about how to build a consistent student section that creates the desired college basketball atmosphere where others, including Missouri State, have struggled. Student leaders from across the Midwest have gone to SIU’s Dawg Pound leader for advice. University administrators at Southern Illinois have invested in the student organization, knowing the impact it has on its athletics event and university as a whole.
* NBC Chicago | Pequod’s has a message after being named best pizza in US by Yelp: “The team at Pequod’s Pizza want to take a moment to express our sincerest gratitude to all of our loyal customers for your continued and unwavering support,” Pequod’s wrote in a message on social media. “Your patronage means the world to us, and we are truly honored to serve you each time you dine with us, place an order for pick up or delivery or share your experiences with others. We will continually strive for excellence in every aspect of our restaurants to best serve you for years to come!”
* AZ Central | Polarizing Fountain Hills council member facing 6 ethics charges. Here’s why: Fountain Hills City Councilmember Allen Skillicorn is the subject of six ethics complaints, all filed in the last 60 days. Four people cited multiple incidents involving Skillicorn in numerous settings allegedly breaking Fountain Hills City Council’s code of ethics. Two Fountain Hills residents, as well as Fountain Hills Vice Mayor Sharron Grzybowski and Councilmember Brenda Kalivianakis, filed the allegations.
Governor JB Pritzker announced today that the State will invest an additional $160 million via the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) to address the ongoing humanitarian crisis presented by the arrival of over 24,000 asylum seekers from the U.S. Southern Border.
The State, alongside our local partners, has led a comprehensive data driven analysis of the ongoing asylum seeker response, rooted in not only data but also input from frontline partners and new arrivals, which identified several “bottlenecks” where services and resettlement tended to slow. These bottlenecks included delays in initial intake at landing sites, access to shelter, and the transition to independent living. This has led to backlogs and capacity issues, most visible in individuals sleeping outside police stations, but more broadly across the process.
That same day, Chicago reported that it was sheltering 12,174 asylum-seekers and another 2,197 were awaiting placement, for a total of 14,371. The city also reported 7,402 people had so far been “resettled,” while 2,694 had been “reunited with sponsors.”
* On December 27th, Chicago was sheltering 14,450 asylum-seekers and had another 284 awaiting placement, for a total of 14,734. The waiting list had fallen by 87 percent since November 16.
The city also reported that day that 9,803 people had so far been resettled, while 3,371 had been reunited with sponsors. That represented a 30 percent increase over the November 16 numbers.
* On January 5th, Chicago was sheltering 14,703 asylum-seekers and had another 408 awaiting placement, for a total of 15,111. By that date, 10,708 people had been resettled and 3,352 were reunited with sponsors.
* Today, the city reports its shelters contained 12,478 people with 16 awaiting placement, for a total of 12,494.
More importantly, perhaps, is that a total of 12,478 people have been resettled and 4,659 have been reunited with sponsors. That’s a 70 percent increase since November 16.
They still have a ways to go, but the needles all appear to be moving in the right direction - until Texas decides to fully open up the human cargo spigots again. The November funding announcement also included “$65 million to help the City of Chicago launch a winterized soft shelter site providing temporary housing for up to 2,000 people at any given time for six months.” We may see that return come spring.
The city has closed four migrant shelters in the past week and a half as the number of migrants arriving in the city continues to slow.
The shelters were located in the Loop, North Lawndale, Lake View and North Park and at their busiest held around 400 people in total. The biggest was the North Park Village Nature Center shelter center, which the city closed to be used as a polling place, according to a city statement.
The city did not immediately respond to requests for comment on whether any of the other shelters would reopen. Two of the shelters Harold Washington Library and the New Life Community Church in Lake View – have closed before and reopened.
Rev. Chad Bacon imagined the church would reopen if the city were to “get a bunch of buses leading up to the DNC.”
* Meanwhile…
To provide enhanced transparency into state spending, Comptroller Susana A. Mendoza has opened a portal on the IOC’s website to display expenditures related to the influx of asylum seekers into Illinois.
“While the state is incurring expenses that, frankly, should be paid by the federal government, I want to make sure that taxpayers know exactly what the state is spending money on when it comes to the arrival and care of asylum seekers,” Comptroller Mendoza said.
* ABC 7 | Mayor Johnson backs out of commitment to $250M joint city, county, state migrant care package: “No one in the state of Illinois this country is questioning there. Brandon Johnson is committed to this mission,” Johnson said. But now, some are. “I really want to believe that there is nobody more committed to this mission than Mayor Brandon Johnson. But of course, the money is really where that rubber hits the road,” [migrant care volunteer Annie Gomberg] said.
* Judith Crown at Crain’s | Chicago’s migrant crisis raises questions of equity: The migrant crisis has brought to light inequality in the way immigrants are treated. Members of the city’s undocumented Latino community like Garcia are angry when they see newly arrived immigrants from Venezuela able to obtain work permits, which gives them access to better-paying jobs. Other communities are infuriated, too, pointing out that public funding to shelter and feed migrants is money that might otherwise be used to further address the city’s daunting social problems, such as homelessness, mental illness and poverty. How is it that new arrivals are assigned to city shelters while there are tent camps in Humboldt Park and Columbus Park and along the Eisenhower Expressway?
* Judith Crown at Crain’s | Migrant crisis stirs tension in Oak Park, but village mounts a supportive response: At its Jan. 23 meeting, Oak Park trustees authorized staff to pursue a grant of $1.9 million through the Illinois Department of Human Services and the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus. The village received notice the following week that grant was approved. The funding will be used to provide aid to asylum-seekers through June 30. That will enable the village to continue helping migrants in a different shelter because asylum-seekers staying at the Carleton and West Cook YMCA must leave by the end of February.
* MSNBC | A Chicago professor and her students are helping migrants seeking asylum: DePaul professor Kathleen Arnold is leading a group of students in helping case workers and lawyers representing migrants with asylum applications. Together, they complete what are called “country condition reports,” which help lawyers prove that there is widespread persecution in the countries migrants are fleeing.
In a statement, Bailey campaign spokesman Joe DeBose said the candidate still “proudly stands with President Trump despite disagreeing with him on this endorsement.”
“We look forward to working with President Trump to champion working families, secure our borders, defend our freedoms, and put America First—no compromises, no apologies,” DeBose said.
Tired of politicians empty promises? Remember when the lottery was going to fund our schools and cut property taxes? That didn’t happen. Then we were told selling the parking meters would balance the budget and reduce debt. Didn’t happen either.
Now Mayor Johnson promises he’ll end homelessness if we approve a massive new tax on property sales across Chicago. Chicago already spends hundreds of millions on homeless programs. Now, the mayor wants another $100 million in taxes and has no plan. Sound familiar? Do you trust Mayor Johnson with $100 million in new taxes?
Days following the sentencing of Mike Madigan’s former chief of staff, Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias announced a series of ethics reforms that would strengthen enforcement and require more transparency and disclosure regarding the financial dealings of lobbyists.
The measures – contained in House Bill 4591 – come amid the ongoing federal corruption probe of state government that has led to the criminal indictments and convictions of several Illinois politicians and insiders. As Secretary of State, Giannoulias’ office maintains lobbyist registrations and statements of economic interest filed by public officials.
“Given the recent headlines of public corruption in Illinois, it’s incumbent upon the state to enact ethical safeguards that demand accountability among those who serve the public and operate within our government,” Giannoulias said. “Illinoisans are sick and tired of scandals and ethics abuses that unfortunately have become all too common in state government. These reforms will go a long way toward making government more transparent and holding political insiders and influencers more accountable to fight corruption more effectively.”
“The BGA long ago identified unchecked lobbying activity as a contributor to corruption in Springfield. We are pleased to see Secretary Giannoulias commit to strengthen the oversight of lobbying by requiring details on lobbyist pay and granting the Secretary of State the power to enforce registration requirements,” said David Greising, President of the Better Government Association (BGA). “More must be done to eliminate corruption in state government, and these tools would be important steps toward reform that is long overdue.”
Aside from a nominal fine, no enforcement mechanism currently exists for the Secretary of State if lobbyists fail to comply with current reporting requirements. HB 4591 would enable the Secretary of State’s office to investigate allegations of wrongdoing and the authority to suspend or revoke a lobbyist’s registration.
The bill also requires lobbyists to provide more client information by way of compensation and would give the Secretary of State’s office the authority to suspend or revoke a lobbyist’s registration for violating the act or if convicted of certain crimes.
For example: Tim Mapes, former House Speaker Madigan’s longtime chief of staff, was sentenced Monday to 2 ½ years in prison; John Hooker, a lobbyist for ComEd before he was indicted and convicted in a scheme to bribe Madigan; and Mike McClain, a top Madigan confident and lobbyist found guilty on nine counts as part ComEd scheme to help advance the utility’s legislative agenda in Springfield each are currently eligible to register as a lobbyist and maintain that registration in good standing.
However, under the proposal, the Secretary of State’s office could bar or revoke the registrations of those individuals who have been convicted of felonies in relation to the Lobbyist Registration Act or the Illinois State Government Ethics Act, or a felony that causes a loss of a state pension.
In terms of compensation, a lobbyist would have to reveal the amount of compensation and the source in bi-monthly reports under the proposal. In contrast to federal requirements and ethics laws pertaining to the City of Chicago, lobbyists at the state level currently do not have to disclose how much clients pay them.
Despite Giannoulias’ plans, the proposal’s legislative sponsor, Democratic state Rep. Maurice West of Rockford, last week would commit only to giving the issue a hearing before the House Ethics & Elections committee he chairs. […]
The idea could get incorporated into a larger legislative package with other efforts to strengthen government ethics laws, West said, but it will move forward only if the legislature’s Democratic leaders — Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch of Hillside and Senate President Don Harmon of Oak Park — and Gov. J.B. Pritzker are on board. […]
The speaker has met with West about all bills assigned to the Ethics & Elections Committee, but Welch “has not discussed specifics of this legislation,” Welch spokeswoman Jaclyn Driscoll told the Tribune in an email. […]
“Policing the lobbying industry is a key responsibility for that statewide office,” Harmon spokesman John Patterson said in a statement about the secretary of state’s office. “We look forward to the House debate and further reviewing the legislation and idea.”
The governor’s office did not respond Friday to a request for comment.
The Ethics Committee chair passes the buck of a bill he’s sponsoring to the leaders and the governor; the House Speaker hasn’t looked into it yet, the Senate President defers to the House Speaker and the governor has no comment as of yet.
Illinois lawmakers have proposed a bill to create a statewide tax credit for families. Senate Bill 3329 and House Bill 4917 would allow families to receive up to $300 per child for children under 17. Married couples who make less than $75,000 and single people who make less than $50,000 would receive the additional financial support. […]
Illinois lawmakers, parents, and educators hope new legislation will require the state to recognize Montessori teaching credentials as another pathway to state licensure.
Under House Bill 4572 and Senate Bill 2689, the state would create the Montessori Educator Licensure, which would grant a state teaching license to educators who have graduated from a college or university with a bachelor’s degree, received a credential from an institution of higher education accredited by the Montessori Accreditation Council for Teacher Education, the American Montessori Society, or the Association Montessori Internationale; and completed state licensure testing. […]
In October, Pritzker announced plans to create a new department to house early childhood education.
To make this department a reality, state lawmakers have filed House Bill 5451 and Senate Bill 3777, which would start operations of the department on July 1, 2024. By July 1, 2026, the department would be the lead agency in charge of funding for preschools, licensing for child care programs, home-visiting services, early intervention services for students with disabilities, and other early childhood education and care programs.
* Sen. Laura Ellman…
To ensure all students receive access to school meals, State Senator Laura Ellman introduced legislation that will invest in the Healthy School Meals for All Program. […]
Senate Bill 3247 would invest $209 million in the State Board of Education for expenses related to the Healthy School Meals for All Program.
Under current law, the State Board of Education is required to establish and maintain this program by distributing funds appropriated for this program to participating school boards. Through this program, all students enrolled in the schools will receive free breakfast and lunch. […]
Senate Bill 3247 awaits discussion in the spring legislative session.
As the Illinois General Assembly begins its spring session, among the mountain of legislation being proposed is a bill that aims to tackle two key issues around lobbying — requiring statehouse lobbyists to report the compensation they receive from their clients and giving the secretary of state’s office the power to boot bad actors.
Pushed by Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, the legislation could face an uphill climb in Springfield, where former lawmakers often become lobbyists and work hard to have their interests protected. But following a string of corruption trials — including persistent headlines of a bribery scandal involving Commonwealth Edison and lobbyists trying to influence now-indicted ex-Speaker Michael Madigan — Giannoulias said, “The timing is ripe for this legislation to be acted on and passed.” The proposal could strengthen a feeble state lobbying law that generally focuses on requiring the secretary of state to do little more than act as a repository for the registration of lobbyists, their client names and their basic expenses like the cost of wining and dining lawmakers. […]
Despite Giannoulias’ plans, the proposal’s legislative sponsor, Democratic state Rep. Maurice West of Rockford, last week would commit only to giving the issue a hearing before the House Ethics & Elections committee he chairs.
A new Illinois Bill, Senate Bill 2921, looks to keep farmers from selling off their land. The proposed bill looks to raise the estate tax threshold for farms in Illinois.
Jack O’Connor, an Advisor and Head of Financial Planning for O’Connor Financial Group said the estate tax is a tax on assets that incur when the head of the household passes away. It’s done at a federal level and Illinois has one on a state level. The proposed bill looks to increase the threshold on when the estate tax would kick for farmers. He said currently it’s set at $4 million, and the bill proposes to raise it to $6 million. It takes the value of the farmers land and home into consideration, so if a farmer’s land is worth $4 million more at the time of the head of household’s passing, the tax would kick in. He said raising it would benefit farmers.
“Estate taxes are really difficult for illiquid assets which farmland would definitely be considered an illiquid asset. And what this bill is trying to help farmer with is to not have to sell land to pay that tax when they pass away, so more land can end up being transferred to often times their family,” O’Connor said.
Two Midwestern states could soon take up consideration of legislation that would revise one-year-old rules on pain-and-suffering damages related to incidents involving large trucks. […]
Rep. Ryan Spain, R-Peoria, is behind a pursuit to remove the provision in statute that permits unlimited pain and suffering damages. […]
His bill, HB4992, would cap non-economic damages in a civil action against a common carrier at up to $2 million per plaintiff. […]
“To preserve Illinois’ ability to maintain this status, it is the intent of this (bill) to preserve the economic health and strength of the industries that help make this possible,” he said.
* Rep. Ann Williams…
In an effort to support the work of the newly created Police District Councils in Chicago, Rep. Ann Williams (D-Chicago) has introduced HB 5624, which will ensure the Police District Councils have the tools necessary to work most effectively on behalf of all Chicago’s communities.
The Police District Council is a new elected body in Chicago focused on issues of policing and public safety. There are 22 District Councils, one for every police district in Chicago, with each Council made up of three elected members. The District Councils were created by the Chicago City Council after years of activism to make policing more responsive to community needs.
“The District Councils give our communities a real and dynamic opportunity to shape public safety and policing policies for Chicago,” said Williams. “The focus of these Councils is to engage with the community and serve as a liaison between community and law enforcement. The existing laws which govern how smaller public bodies meet and do their jobs aren’t workable for the District Councils, and their role is different than most.”
Under current law, no two members of a District Council can discuss public safety issues, or even exchange emails about public safety, due to laws governing more traditional public bodies that prevent such discourse without posting public notice and agendas 48 hours in advance. Such restrictions significantly hamper the ability of the District Councils to do their work effectively. HB 5624 would allow such discussion, while still ensuring accountability and transparency by requiring advance notice for any regularly scheduled meeting or when adopting any motion, resolution or ordinance.
Additionally, the bill contains other provisions to ensure the District Councils can effectively do their work, including allowing the District Councils to host certain meetings remotely in addition to the monthly in-person meetings. This is designed to maximize their reach into the communities and ensure more residents can participate and provide input to the Councils. […]
Councilor Alexander Perez, 2nd Police District, agreed and supports the proposed legislation.
Since the General Assembly reconvened in January, [Rep. Curtis Tarver] has introduced several bills focused on amending state law and getting more funding for small businesses and schools. The 25th District, which encompasses parts of Kenwood and Hyde Park, extends from 43rd Street along the lakefront to the East Side. […]
For his first order of business at the Feb. 15 meeting, Tarver said he’s seeking community members for two task forces: one focused on political corruption and another focused on education.
The first is the product of Tarver’s House Bill (HB) 351, signed into law in November, which bars public officials convicted of corruption from holding public office again. The task force will review and make recommendations as to “what criminal conduct precludes a person from holding public office in the state,” per the law.
The second was created by Senate Bill (SB) 3986, the “Too Young to Test Act.” Co-sponsored by Tarver and signed into law in 2022, the act prohibits the use of standardized tests in public schools from pre-kindergarten through second grade. The task force will study the effects of “overtesting” young students, he said.
The News/Media Alliance applauds Illinois Senator Steve Stadelman (D-Rockford) for recently introducing the Journalism Preservation Act (SB 3591) in the Illinois Senate, which would require Big Tech platforms such as Meta and Google to pay news publishers a “journalism usage fee” to use local news content. Currently, creators of quality journalism are not adequately compensated for the use of their content – which takes a tremendous investment to produce – leading to layoffs of journalists and, in the worst cases, closure of news outlets completely.
Senator Stadelman was the Chair of the Illinois Local Journalism Task Force, which recently recommended legislation to counter the decline in sources of local journalism observed in the state.
The bill is similar to the California Journalism Preservation Act (CJPA, AB 886), which was introduced by California Assemblymember Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland) last year and passed out of the Assembly in June 2023 with an overwhelming, bipartisan vote of 55-6. The CJPA is expected to be brought up during the 2024 session for a vote in the California Senate.
“The future of local journalism is in danger – which is why I have sponsored the Journalism Preservation Act,” said Senator Stadelman. “Local journalism is an essential part of our lives, and Illinois residents deserve access to accurate and important information.”
“We applaud Senator Stadelman for introducing this legislation and for recognizing the critical need to protect high-quality journalism and ensure that important, accurate information continues to be available to Illinois communities,” said Danielle Coffey, President & CEO of the News/Media Alliance. “States across the country are increasingly recognizing the need for legislation that corrects the current marketplace imbalance by requiring the tech platforms to fairly compensate publishers for the use of their valuable content.”
As with the CJPA, the Illinois JPA would also promote the hiring of more journalists, requiring news publishers to invest 70 percent of the profits from the usage fee into journalism jobs.
“For the first time in the history of the world, a local municipality has asked to establish, build, maintain and operate a migrant resettlement,” he said.
House Minority Leader Tony McCombie is calling on a statewide moratorium when it comes to accepting migrants, claiming the expense is too high for the state.
“We have to take care of what is here today,” McCombie, R-Savanna, said during a press conference last week. “But we do not have the services that can accommodate this influx of folks.”
It’s Black History Month, and Comptroller Susana Mendoza honored five Illinoisans who are helping others. […]
Mendoza, lamenting that she can’t honor everybody who is deserving, said, “We take a lot of pride in knowing that Illinois has some of the most amazing people in this country. Obviously, our Black community is a treasure in our state. Frankly, this month is too short, right? I’m just going to say it. It’s the shortest month. It shouldn’t be.” […]
The other four honorees: […]
Mayor Rickey Williams Jr.
Mayor of Danville
* You may recall that last year Danville’s Mayor Williams pushed an anti-abortion ordinance ahead of the opening of an abortion clinic in the town…
Mayor Rickey Williams Jr. explained that anyone shipping or receiving abortion pills or abortion-related supplies would be subject to fines of $1,500 per offense. There was discussion over an abortion clinic that may open up in Danville soon. Williams acknowledged that while he doesn’t think the ordinance would stop the clinic from opening, he said it could provide a means by which they couldn’t perform abortions.
The ordinance passed after Mayor Williams broke a tie.
A 73-year-old man is facing federal charges after he rammed a car into a planned abortion clinic in an eastern Illinois city and also was trying to set the building on fire, authorities announced Tuesday.
We are certainly dismayed that Comptroller Susana Mendoza has included the anti-choice Mayor of Danville Rickey Williams, Jr. as an honoree for her celebration of Black History Month. We reached out to her office yesterday and requested that the honor be rescinded from Mayor Williams, who cast the deciding vote last May to pass anti-abortion legislation through Danville’s City Council.
Personal PAC, the ACLU of Illinois, Attorney General Kwame Raoul, and our incredible Personal PAC chapter leaders from Danville lobbied Mayor Williams extensively last year, explaining that the ordinance he was supporting was not only harmful, but violated Illinois law. Despite the opposition of these pro-choice leaders, and his own constituents, he still cast the deciding vote, aligning himself with anti-abortion extremists.
* Comptroller’s office…
Comptroller Mendoza has a perfect record on the issue of choice. She has been honored time and time again by countless pro-choice groups for her steadfast support of women’s rights to make their own reproductive healthcare decisions. She also has a strong record of working across the aisle with people she disagrees with on some issues.
The Illinois Office of Comptroller was unaware of Mayor Williams’ vote to prevent an abortion clinic from opening in Danville. Nor was that vote ever brought to the Comptroller’s attention. Comptroller Mendoza vehemently disagrees with Mayor Williams’ vote on the clinic and she supports Personal PAC and Attorney General Kwame Raoul in their fight to void that law and bring access to health care to the women of Danville.
The Comptroller’s office recognized Mayor Williams during Black History Month for his historic achievement as the first Black mayor of the city of Danville, whose many Black residents have never had one of their own as mayor before; his financial success guiding the city, bringing $250 million in new economic development and the creation of over 500 new jobs; his achievement in driving down violent crime 60%; his service as executive director of the Boys and Girls Club of Danville; his work helping kids learn at Project Success of Vermillion County; and his other life achievements.
According to Personal PAC, the owner of the Danville clinic, LaDonna Prince, is a Black woman.
“Everybody gets pinched, but you did it right; you told ‘em nothin’ and they got nothin’” Jimmy Conway told a youthful Henry Hill in the classic gangster movie “Goodfellas” after the mob-connected teenager was arrested for selling stolen cigarettes, clammed up to the police and was then released by a corrupt judge.
“You learned the two greatest things in life,” Conway told Hill. “Never rat on your friends, and always keep your mouth shut.”
Former Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan’s people (and they weren’t alone in this, by the way) took that vow to heart.
It’s sometimes difficult to explain to Statehouse newbies how often the people in charge back then loved cosplaying as mafiosi.
And there are more newbies than you might expect.
Lobbyist and unofficial Statehouse historian John Amdor keeps track of stuff like this, so I asked him to run the numbers. Amdor found that a 55 percent majority of House Democrats - 43 of the 78 – have taken office since June 6, 2018, the day Madigan’s longtime chief of staff Tim Mapes was forced to resign after being accused of harassment.
To some of us, including journalists like me who are still covering politics today, the Statehouse #MeToo cataclysm of 2018 still feels recent. But most current House Democrats had nothing to do with any of it. They only know of Mapes’ autocratic reign and dramatic fall through the news coverage they’ve seen and the stories they’ve heard from colleagues. He’s just not relevant to their lives.
Currently, 33 percent of House Democrats (26) never even served under House Speaker Madigan, who left office in early 2021. If trends hold, it won’t be all that long before a majority of House Democrats never served with him.
Anyway, it’s clear from reading wiretap transcripts that those folks delighted in pretending to be part of some secret society.
And that all caught up to Tim Mapes last week.
Speaker Madigan’s former chief of staff had been busted cold for lying during his grand jury testimony. The feds were fishing for information about Madigan, but Mapes wouldn’t even admit to knowing about totally legal activities.
Mapes had to have figured at the time that federal prosecutors knew he was lying (as literally everyone understands, the FBI and the US Attorney rarely ask questions that they don’t already know the answers to), but he did it anyway. And he was convicted.
Before pronouncing his sentence on Mapes, US District Judge John Kness called out the defendant for his almost cartoonish adherence to “the Law of Omertà,” the ancient mafia vow to never, as Judge Kness put it, “rat on your friends.”
That behavior “had no place” in a federal grand jury room, Kness told Mapes. “And you will pay the price for it.” No lawyer, no matter how connected, could possibly spring Mapes from this trap.
The price Mapes paid was 30 months in federal prison. Thirty months for lying in response to innocuous grand jury questions that weren’t even about illegal acts while he had complete immunity from prosecution. Thirty months away from his family plus who knows how many hundreds of thousands of dollars in crushing legal fees and lost income. For what?
There are probably only two explanations:
1) Mapes stupidly and stubbornly stuck to the “This is the life we chose” script on principle; or
2) Mapes knew of other illegal activities that the feds might have been interested in, so he took the fall on the little stuff to avoid exposing his former boss and others to even greater legal peril.
Either way, the result is the same. Personal carnage.
Henry Hill was met by all his gangster buddies as he walked out of the courtroom that day, and they wildly applauded him for being a stand-up guy. Mapes’ friends may throw him a similar party when he is finally let loose. Cold comfort.
In the end, Henry Hill realized his silence was no longer worth the pain it was causing and he flipped. Mapes never got there.
Let’s not ever go back to those days, please. Thanks.
* By the way, can I just give a quick and heartfelt shout-out to the River Cities’ Reader, which almost always has a *chef’s kiss* headline on my weekly columns?…
I don’t know who writes those headlines, but I definitely want to buy that person(s) a fine dinner and copious cocktails the next time I’m in the Quad Cities.
To pay for the new Sox stadium, Reinsdorf is seeking to lay claim to the revenue from a 2% hotel occupancy tax, currently used to pay for ISFA’s annual debt service, for decades beyond when all outstanding bonds are currently meant to be paid off in 2034. […]
Reinsdorf is also seeking to create a tax-overlay district surrounding the proposed stadium that would capture the state’s portion of sales taxes generated in the area — estimated at roughly $400 million over an undisclosed period — to be set aside to subsidize the stadium and back the new bonds. […]
Adding the sales tax revenue to the pot would also allow ISFA to borrow more money, which a source familiar with the bonding plan said would get into the “ballpark” of the roughly $1.2 billion in assistance that Reinsdorf is seeking in order to build a park with a capacity to hold between 35,000 to 38,000 people and retire the current ISFA debt. […]
Currently, Related Midwest would pay the upfront costs to build a new $364 million CTA Red Line stop, the $85 million realignment of Metra tracks running through the site, and $102 million towards various street improvements and reconstructing the riverfront seawall. As incremental revenue flows into the TIF district, the city would repay Related for the infrastructure costs.
* Meanwhile…
Reading between the lines - this is a proposal designed to tell the Bears to back off of using the ISFA to build a new Bears stadium in the city.
White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf will meet with legislative leaders in Springfield on Tuesday as he attempts to secure public funding to construct a new stadium, according to multiple sources.
Multiple sources told NBC Chicago that Democratic and Republican leaders will sit down with Reinsdorf as he seeks $1 billion in public funding for a new White Sox Stadium near the South Loop.
“We recognize discussions about The 78 serving as the future home of the Chicago White Sox have generated a lot of excitement over the potential of the larger project’s positive economic impact,” the [White Sox] statement says. “We are mindful and respectful of the legislative process and wanted to travel to Springfield to meet personally with legislative leaders. We’re excited to share our vision, and we appreciate their time and hospitality.”
Another statement followed from a Related Midwest Spokesperson.
“We appreciated the time afforded to us by lawmakers in Springfield today,” the statement says. “As we shared in the meetings, The 78 is a generational development and an investment in our hometown. It’s personal to us and we are excited about the prospect of delivering the city’s next great neighborhood, while making an historic economic investment that will bring over 10,000 construction jobs and 22,000 permanent jobs to our city and state. The long-term impact will be transformative – creating a new riverfront neighborhood anchored by a state-of-the-art ballpark for generations of fans to enjoy and help enhance Chicago’s place as a top destination.”
…Adding… Speaker Welch…
“I want to thank Jerry Reinsdorf for coming down to discuss his vision in person. There are a lot of conversations that still need to be had, but I appreciate the opportunity to discuss future goals for Chicago teams.”
* ICYMI: Governor Pritzker will give his sixth budget address on Wednesday. Tribune…
- Funding challenges from the migrant crisis and immigrant health care to boosting early childhood education butt up against a projected shortfall of almost $900 million in the coming fiscal.
- Pritzker’s address follows his pledge last week to allocate $182 million in the next budget year for shelter and other services for asylum-seekers.
- The House Democrats’ top budget negotiator, Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth says the migrant crisis needs to be addressed in Washington.
* WBEZ | After Illinois banned assault weapons, rural gun owners registered very few of them: Ultimately, just 23 White County residents — or 0.5% of registered gun owners — registered firearms and accessories banned under the PICA with the Illinois State Police by the Jan. 1 deadline, in accordance with the new law. It’s one of the lowest registration rates among Illinois counties.
* Chicago Tribune | Patients reported sexual abuse by medical providers. Health care systems let them keep working: In all, the Tribune identified 52 health care workers accused of sexual misconduct with patients in Illinois over the last decade. At least 27 of those workers faced allegations from multiple patients in recent years, the Tribune found. The true numbers are almost certainly higher, since many allegations are not reported to law enforcement or to the state.
Inseparable, a national organization focused on closing the treatment gap for people with mental health conditions, improving crisis response, and supporting youth mental health, today applauded the introduction of legislation in the General Assembly to improve access to mental health treatment by eliminating “ghost networks,” or provider networks that are filled with providers who are not actually in-network, not taking new patients, no longer in the same location, or not even practicing at all. The bill, HB5313, was recently introduced by State Representative Margaret Croke (IL-12) to ensure that enrollees seeking a mental health care provider can rely on accurate provider directories from their health plan. […]
While insurance companies are required to make provider directories available for consumers when selecting a health plan or looking for an in-network provider, research shows that these directories frequently mischaracterize available providers or include “ghost networks” that are not actually available to people enrolled in a plan. Research also proves the importance of ensuring people get the treatment they need – delays can cause conditions to worsen, a rise in additional health concerns, and a dramatic increase in costs. […]
HB5313 would expand what a plan must disclose in its provider directories to include a description of how to dispute charges for out-of-network providers that were incorrectly listed as in-network prior to the provision of care, including a phone number and email address. It would allow consumers to recoup out-of-pocket expenses if they were charged out-of-network costs for a provider that was listed as in-network in their provider directory. HB5313 would also require plans to audit at least 25% of its provider directories annually and make any necessary corrections, and would also require the Department of Insurance to randomly audit at least 10% of plans each year.
* Daily Journal | Kerkstra removed from ballot for primary race: “There was a statement of economics that was filed with the secretary of state and also filed with the State Board of Elections,” Kerkstra said on Tuesday after the county board meeting. “But the one with the State Board of Elections was supposed to have a stamp on it [from] the secretary of state, and it didn’t have a stamp on it.” Kerkstra said he had a copy of the statement that had a stamp on it, but he was told by one party that he didn’t need the stamp on it for the State Board of Elections.
* Daily Herald | Right to die on your own terms? Illinois lawmakers propose medical aid in dying bill: “I’ve come to accept the fact that I might not be here when this does go through,” said Robertson, a former social worker who retired after being diagnosed with neuroendocrine cancer in 2022. “But I’m going to do everything I can while I’m here.” The Lombard woman and other supporters of the measure are quick to note what they are championing is not suicide. It is something to give terminal patients and their loved ones peace in those final moments.
* NPR | DeKalb State’s Attorney reprimands Zasada for using city email lists in fundraising for IL-76 race: According to the letter, Amato’s office says Zasada utilized City of DeKalb e-mail lists and possibly computer systems to solicit campaign contributions from employees of the City. In addition to instructing Zasada to cease and desist such fundraising activities, the letter reads, “Employees of the City should not be made to feel that their jobs are dependent on providing funding for a political campaign. This should go without saying, yet we are now driven to remind you of this activity’s implications.”
* Daily Herald | DuPage County recorder: Democratic primary challengers say it’s time for change: Incumbent Kathleen Carrier, DuPage County Board member Liz Chaplin, and former county board member Pete DiCianni are the candidates running in the Democratic primary for the recorder position. Whoever wins the March 19 primary will square off against Republican Nicole Prater in the November election.
* WBEZ | Longtime congressman Bill Foster faces multiple challengers in Illinois’ 11th District: With $1.6 million in the bank as of the end of 2023, according to federal campaign records, Foster has a bigger political war chest than his four potential challengers combined. In another byproduct of incumbency, he has sewn up endorsements from a who’s who of Illinois Democrats and prominent labor groups.
* WBEZ | U.S. Rep. Danny Davis faces a hard reelection fight as he faces challenges from fellow Democrats: The race takes place in a reliably blue district. But it marks “one of the most interesting congressional primaries to watch in Illinois,” according to one analyst, as four Democrats are trying to unseat Davis in the primary. His opponents include Chicago City Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin and community organizer Kina Collins, who is running her third campaign for the seat. Kouri Marshall, a former deputy director for Gov. JB Pritzker, and Nikhil Bhatia, an educator and former principal, are also running in the Democratic primary.
* Tribune | Rooftop solar skyrocketed in Illinois in the past five years, report shows: Small-scale solar — the majority of which is installed on roofs — produced 10 times as much electricity nationwide in 2022 as it did 10 years earlier, enough to power 5.7 million typical American homes, according to the report. And while the Midwest lagged behind other regions, Illinois, which passed a major climate bill in 2021, produced 1,300 gigawatt-hours of electricity from small-scale solar in 2022, or enough to power 116,300 homes.
* IMP | The feds sent letters to 44 states to fix SNAP application errors and inefficiencies: U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack sent a letter to the governors of 44 states earlier this month that are failing to meet federal standards when it comes to processing applications for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. The states include Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska and Ohio. The letters call for states to take immediate action to improve their rates on at least one of three metrics: application processing timeliness rate, payment error rate and case and procedural error rate, which relates to how accurately states are approving or denying benefits. In the letter, the federal government offers federal assistance and resources to help.
* ABC Chicago | Chicago ShotSpotter technology contract to last through at least late September: The city’s contract to use the gunshot detection program was set to end at midnight but the two sides continued negotiating about a possible extension through Friday. Friday evening SoundThinking, which owns ShotSpotter, announced it had reached an agreement with the city to extend the contract through September 22, with a transition period to follow that wasn’t defined.
* People’s Fabric: Study: ShotSpotter Has “No Effect” on Chicago’s Fatal Shootings or Arrest Rates: While the analysis shows ShotSpotter does not statistically improve the number of shootings, fatalities, or arrests, Chicago spends $8 to $10 million per year on the technology. The study, described as the “largest research project on gunshot detection technology (GDT) to date,” was funded by the National Institute of Justice, a federal government agency, and conducted with the cooperation of Chicago and Kansas City’s police departments.
* Block Club | Uptown Homeless Shelter Proposal Rejected By Zoning Board: The LGBTQ late-night bar 2 Bears Tavern could have an issue being insured if it shared a building with a homeless shelter, while church leaders were concerned about the project’s elevator plans and sharing a common hallway with the shelter, representatives said at the hearing. Uptown Covenant published an open letter highlighting its “concerns” with the shelter plans.
* Sun-Times | Mayor Brandon Johnson fires city’s cultural affairs chief, building commissioner: Cultural Affairs and Special Events Commissioner Erin Harkey was appointed by former Mayor Lori Lightfoot in 2021 when the pandemic had shut down theater, live-music and Chicago’s myriad festivals and special events. She slowly brought those events back to life with the annual Blues Fest returning last summer. Matthew Beaudet was the city’s building commissioner since 2020.
* Block Club | Program Tries To Reach Homeless ‘Where They’re At’ — On CTA Trains: In the first nine months of 2023, outreach workers had more than 5,000 interactions with people using CTA trains as shelter. Many interactions ended with people indicating they didn’t want to talk further. Of those who interacted with the program, 122 people were placed in shelters, 27 were connected to “stable or permanent housing destinations” and 20 were housed through an event at Harold Washington Library set up specifically for people reached through the CTA program.
* The Telegraph | Controversial shooting range to be discussed by county board: In a report by the county’s ethics advisor, attorney Bruce Mattea, a Prenzler appointee, the chairman is accused of passing out “campaign material” in the form of a political business card to an outside vendor. The investigation and report stems from a complaint that Prenzler was engaged in electioneering on county time and property by handing out a non-standard “political” business card to an outside vendor, and it was later found he had given another such card to an assistant state’s attorney.
* Tribune | Wisconsin’s Democratic governor signs his new legislative maps into law after Republicans pass them: Protasiewicz ended up providing the deciding fourth vote in a December ruling that declared the current maps to be unconstitutional because not all of the districts were contiguous, meaning some areas were geographically disconnected from the rest of the district. The court said it would draw the lines if the Legislature couldn’t pass maps that Evers would sign.
* Sun-Times | Monarch butterfly’s long reign as everyday Chicago summer treat could flutter away: This winter marked the second-lowest number of migratory monarch butterflies since recordkeeping began in 1993. The pollinator completes the longest known insect migration each year, leaving northern climates in the United States and Canada for Mexico and California every winter. The monarch, the state insect of Illinois, already faces threats such as pesticide use and habitat loss that have contributed to their low migration numbers.
* AP | Southern Illinois home of Paul Powell, the ‘Shoebox Scandal’ politician, could soon be sold: The upkeep runs about $5,000 annually, while last year the society’s income was $4,300, said board member Gary Hacker, 85, whose parents were schoolmates of Powell and mowed his lawn as a teenager in the early 1950s. “We’re probably going to be putting it on the market for sale,” Hacker said. “The historical society will relocate.”
* NBC Chicago | Chicago White Sox’ 2024 schedule released by MLB: The White Sox begin their season against a divisional opponent next year when they host the Tigers for Opening Day. That’s a shift from this year when they had to travel to Houston to take on the defending champion Astros. From there the South Siders move straight into interleague play with a home series against the Braves.
Tuesday, Feb 20, 2024 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
When Governor Pritzker’s appointees on the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) shut down the natural gas line Safety Modernization Program in Chicago, it not only wiped out 1,000 jobs, but also subjected residents and business owners to the unnecessary danger of aged gas infrastructure that is no longer allowed to be replaced.
Tell Gov. Pritzker and the ICC to lift the natural gas ban, lives are at risk. Pausing critical replacement of our aging natural gas lines is dangerous for everyone. Transitioning to electric without a plan will cost homeowners thousands of dollars. We need to fix our hazardous natural gas lines for our safety, tell Pritzker: end the ban.
