Illinois enacted a sweeping law in 2019 to allow casinos at horse racing tracks, known as racinos. Nearly five years later, Hawthorne Race Course, a main beneficiary of the legislation, still hasn’t opened a racino. In the meantime, the industry is dying for lack of money. […]
Out of desperation, the Illinois Harness Horsemen’s Association is now calling for the state to end Hawthorne’s veto power. The horsemen say the favoritism for Hawthorne has led to a dead end, and it’s time to let the free market finally build a racino.
“Our industry is being held hostage by Tim Carey’s family, who owns Hawthorne,” association President Jeff Davis said. “We have to have a dedicated harness track.”
Carey proposed a $400 million racino to open at Hawthorne in 2021. In 2022, he again promised construction would begin that year. Last fall, Carey told the Illinois Racing Board it would open by the end of 2024, but in February, he said he was still working on getting financing.
Press release…
Horsemen Call For End of Racetrack Veto Power in IL
Legislation would allow for other developers to build new a new racetrack
WHERE: The Blue Room at the Illinois State Capitol. Also available on Blue Room Stream
WHEN: TODAY 2:30PM Thursday, April 11, 2024
WHO: Illinois Harness Horsemen’s Association President Jeff Davis, Senator Patrick Joyce, Senator Bill Cunningham.
WHAT: New Legislation introduced in the Illinois General Assembly would eliminate the current 35 mile veto power that Hawthorne Racecourse has over any entity that wants to build a new racetrack and casino in Illinois.
Legislation passed in 2019 authorized a new racetrack to be built in Chicago’s South Suburbs but any organization that wishes to build a racetrack must seek approval from Hawthorne to receive licensing.
WHY: States like Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania have seen horse racing explode in their states since introducing casino gaming at racetracks. Illinois passed legislation to do the same in 2019 but not one slot machine has been installed in Hawthorne’s sprawling grandstands.
On Saturday, a national grassroots movement, #DontMessWithOurKids is urging parents and families in every state to gather at their state capitols and pray for America’s children who are being indoctrinated by a progressive liberal agenda that’s causing more harm than good.
The historic gathering takes place this Saturday from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm (CDT) in front of the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield. And as the invite states, attendees will “gather to pray, take communion, and stand for truth in every state capital and Washington, D.C.!”
During the April 4, 2023 election cycle in Illinois, Gov. JB Pritzker and the Democratic Party of Illinois spent $800,000 to support their extremist, liberal school board candidates, while at the same time, using that funding to viciously attack conservative school board candidates – every day moms and dads, who just wanted to serve their community; reverse falling test scores; and remove inappropriate sexual education curriculum and divisive concepts that only further deepen racial divides from the classrooms.
* Daily Journal | Report analyzes Illinois’ oversight of pandemic aid spending by schools: More than half of the 801 local educational agencies (LEAs) in Illinois that received pandemic-related aid between March 24, 2021, and March 31, 2023, did not submit their spending plans within a reasonable timeframe, according to the March 27 report from the U.S. Department of Education Office of Inspector General.
* NPR | Why many Illinois speech therapists say it’s hard to see a future in the field they love: “Insurance is really strict on the number of times we can go, especially for speech therapy,” [ Audrey Meyers] explained. “I’ll get a new patient; it says one visit is allowed. I can do an evaluation, sure, but they’re probably going to need therapy if they wanted me to come there in the first place.”
* WBEZ | A U.S. Supreme Court case could affect homeless people in Chicago and Illinois: City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson will determine if municipalities can use local ordinances to ban homeless people from sleeping outside with a blanket or other bedding materials. Illinois advocates say if the high court sides with Grants Pass, it could make it easier for municipalities to criminalize homelessness in the state and throughout the U.S. Oral arguments begin April 22.
* Journal Courier | Grants to fund electric vehicle charging ports: Some 20 applicants have been awarded $25.1 million in Driving a Cleaner Illinois grants to fund 643 new direct-current fast-charging ports at 141 sites statewide, according to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.
* Illinois Times | Making downtown Springfield more marketable: Doubling the Bank of Springfield Center’s size would result in a similar increase in conventions coming to the capital city, and construction of a new 300-bed hotel adjacent to the center would maximize the expanded facility’s potential. Those were two of the major conclusions from a recently completed feasibility study of the potential impact of a newly formed tourism improvement district on downtown Springfield. The district was formed in December by the Sangamon County Board and covers the entire county.
* Daily Journal | Bradley pressing the brakes on nepotism ordinance: At Monday’s Bradley Village Board meeting, the administration had proposed the repeal of the law adopted in April 2016 which sharply restricted hiring those who had some type of family relationship with an elected official. The administration sought to have the ordinance removed because of how it hampers the village as it seeks to fill job vacancies. However, the village board, led by Trustee Ryan LeBran, wanted to further explore the matter before voting on its removal.
* Beacon-News | With help from its communities, Kane County aims to reduce impact of natural hazards like floods and tornadoes: The draft Kane County 2024 Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan found that floods, windstorms and winter storms were the three biggest natural threats to the county. To protect the county against these and six other natural hazards, the 580-page plan brings together mitigation projects from 27 cities, villages and other communities within Kane County. These projects will now be eligible for federal funding through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA.
* Daily Herald | ‘Almost have no reason not to vote for it’: Elk Grove mayor defends field light vote — and still supports pickleball: The village board’s vote this week to formally grant the Elk Grove Park District a special use permit for soccer field lighting at Marshall Park was perfunctory, following a much lengthier meeting two weeks before when the mayor and trustees first endorsed the project. But the tally Tuesday night was still followed by a back-and-forth between board members and local real estate agent Lori Christensen, who has led opposition to the park district’s $4 million transformation of the park at 711 Chelmsford Lane.
* Bloomberg | Amtrak Station Accessibility Improvements Sought in Senate Bill: Amtrak would need to report to Congress annually on the status of their compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act at the 385 transit stations it serves and include an action plan on bringing rail cars and stations into compliance, according to the bill, sent to Bloomberg Government. The legislation, which is being announced Thursday, is led by Sens. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.).
* Daily Herald | Will your train station get a makeover? Here’s what Metra is fixing in 2024: Thirty-five stations are slated for improvements with seven on the Metra Electric Line to be completely rebuilt. Platform modernizations are scheduled for Wood Dale on the Milwaukee West, and Cary and Crystal Lake on the UP Northwest lines. Less eye-catching but still significant are thousands of rail tie replacements. Workers will install 40,000 new ties on the UP North between Chicago and Highland Park, and 37,000 on the UP Northwest between Chicago and Des Plaines, among other locations.
* Ald. Daniel La Spata | A street redesign that skips bike and bus lanes says a lot about the whole city: Unfortunately, the design CDOT is considering for this intersection fails to live up to the values and the vision of Complete Streets. The current iteration offers no bus lanes on Halsted and no bike lanes on Chicago, while new developments propose to open new curb cuts on both streets, further impeding bus, bike and pedestrian safety. The only clear imperatives for these streets seem to be two lanes for car traffic in each direction.
* Tribune | Chicago Bears — amid lakefront infatuation — appeal property taxes on Arlington Heights site: The team filed the request with the Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board, or PTAB, for the site where the Bears had proposed building a $2 billion enclosed stadium. The Cook County Board of Review set its valuation of the property at $125 million. […] But the team still owns the site in Arlington Heights, which it bought last year for $197 million. To reduce the tax bill, the organization razed the grandstand and other buildings, and is continuing to fight over how much taxes it has to pay.
* Sun-Times | The Museum of Science and Industry closed for mysterious reasons last week. Here’s why: “The 434th Civil Engineer Squadron from Grissom Joint Air Reserve Base, IN, responded to a call from the museum last Wednesday,” wrote Maj. Sara Greco, public affairs officer at Robins Air Force Base in Georgia. “The items they were asked to assess were free of explosive material and remained at the museum.” A sad day when it’s easier to dig information out of the Pentagon than from a Chicago museum.
* NBC Chicago | Farmers’ Almanac predicts hot, muggy summer for Midwest, with all-time record warmth possible: Nearly all of the contiguous U.S. is predicted to have a hot summer, with most areas east of the Mississippi River expected to see wetter than normal summers as well. The Great Lakes region in particular is predicted to see “muggy and stormy” conditions this summer, while much of the Southeast is described as “steamy and thundery” for the upcoming season.
* NPR | Why anti-abortion advocates are reviving a 19th century sexual purity law: That is not the stance conservative legal experts take. Josh Craddock, an affiliated scholar at the conservative James Wilson Institute, refers to Comstock as a “national abortion pill trafficking ban.” “A straightforward interpretation of the statute is that it prohibits all interstate shipment or sale of abortion drugs and devices, regardless of whether state law allows abortion,” Craddock says. (There was dispute among legal experts NPR consulted as to whether Comstock’s prohibitions would apply to in-state shipping of abortion pills.)
* Rick Kogan | There once was a time when our city was the country music capital: Two relatively young men were sitting in a radio studio a few days ago talking about a radio show that started 100 years ago and one of them was saying, “This part of the city’s history should be better known, the part the city, this radio show, played in popularizing country music. Without Chicago, there would have been no Nashville, no Grand Ole Opry. … This is where the country music genre was born.”
* USA Today | Aerosmith to resume farewell tour, including January show in Chicago: The veteran rockers, who postponed their Peace Out farewell tour after only a few shows in September, will return for a 40-date run starting Sept. 20 in Pittsburgh. The tour includes a rescheduled Chicago date on Jan. 19 at the United Center. All previously purchased tickets will be honored for the new dates, while new tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday via ticketmaster.com. For those who previously purchased tickets and cannot attend the rescheduled concerts, refunds will be available at point of purchase.
Before European contact, the area was home to Native Americans, particularly the Kaskaskia who lived in the Grand Village of the Illinois across the river. Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette were the first Europeans recorded as exploring the region, and by 1683, the French had established Fort St. Louis on the large sandstone butte overlooking the river, they called Le Rocher (the Rock). Later after the French had moved on, according to a local legend, a group of Native Americans of the Illinois Confederation (also called Illiniwek or Illini) pursued by the Ottawa and Potawatomi fled to the butte in the late 18th century. In the legend, around 1769 the Ottawa and Potawatomi besieged the butte until all of the Illiniwek had starved, and the butte became known as “Starved Rock”.
Shaw Local News Network was told Tuesday of a tourist-centered meeting in which it was suggested Starved Rock could be renamed on the same grounds that have led sports teams to abandon mascots that are offensive to Native Americans.
No local sources confirmed any details of the report. But when the IDNR was reached for comment, the agency issued a statement acknowledging that park names could be reconsidered, including Starved Rock.
“The state of Illinois has a responsibility to listen to concerns and recommendations from Tribal Nations and Indigenous communities that have current and ancestral ties to Illinois,” the agency said in a statement issued Friday afternoon. “They have repeatedly told us the names of some of our state parks and sites are harmful to their ancestors’ remembrance and perpetuate false narratives to the public. Starved Rock is one example of many.
“At the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, we believe place names have power. In the future, the state, in consultation with Tribal leaders and Illinois residents, will explore more appropriate names for some of our parks and sites.
“This serves multiple purposes. Place names will better reflect sites’ natural attributes and histories rather than the painful and often inaccurate colonial narratives they currently represent. These efforts will take time to happen, but we want to start having these conversations.”
Some Native American activists were surprised, too. Two said the Illinois Department of Natural Resources did not seek tribal input before last week’s statement that IDNR is considering name changes at units including Starved Rock State Park.
“I have talked to numerous natives and tribal leaders who know nothing about this statement by the IDNR,” said Ted Trujillo, a member of the Passamaquoddy tribe.
“This has not come across my radar,” said Madalene Big Bear, a citizen of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians and a Pokagon cultural keeper. “I would have caught wind of this before (Sunday) night.” […]
Big Bear was solidly against renaming Starved Rock, an effort she termed “misdirected.” She said that while name changes are warranted in cases such as Indian Head – “Just straight offensive” – the name Starved Rock is derived from oral histories that are worth preserving and commemorating.
“Most of the American representation in regards to us portrays a false narrative,” she said. “Starved Rock in particular is one of the only instances where the English name reflects our own history.”
I’ve asked IDNR for comment and will let you know if I hear back.
*** UPDATE *** From IDNR…
“No decisions involving Native American matters are entertained without input and official consultation with Tribal partners. This broader issue was flagged for IDNR by our Tribal partners who have been expressing their concerns about troubling place names for certain IDNR sites to department leadership for years. Current IDNR leadership takes these concerns seriously and is willing to open discussions with tribes and community members.
“To be clear, there are no immediate plans for any name changes at Starved Rock or any other site. Conversations and proposals will occur over time, and IDNR will make every effort to ensure various constituencies are represented at the table, including tribes, community members, state lawmakers, local businesses, and others.”
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) announced it has awarded $2 million to three different organizations to provide training that will increase access to safe, high-quality abortions across the state. The Abortion Provider Capacity Building Grant Program awarded grants to the Midwest Access Project (MAP), Planned Parenthood of Illinois (PPIL), and the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) College of Nursing.
The first-of-its-kind in Illinois, state-funded training effort follows the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that eliminated the constitutional right to abortion in the United States and allowed states to restrict access to abortion. While Illinois guarantees the right to an abortion under state law, many surrounding states have imposed restrictions on access to abortion. Although the number of abortions provided for Illinois women declined slightly in 2022, the number provided in Illinois for out-of-state residents increased 49%, according to IDPH data.
“When I said Illinois would be an oasis for women seeking reproductive care, I meant it,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “Thanks to the Abortion Provider Capacity Building Grant Program, we will offer health care providers—who are meeting the moment with compassion and service—access to the training and mentorship they need to deliver the care women deserve.”
“Illinois is continuing our track record of protecting and expanding access to reproductive care, not just for patients but for the providers administering that care,” said Lt. Governor Stratton. “In Illinois, we trust women and the healthcare professionals protecting their freedoms.”
“IDPH is proud to partner with these three outstanding organizations to support training that will improve access and quality to a full range of reproductive healthcare services, including safe abortions,” said IDPH Director Dr. Sameer Vohra. “Illinois has seen a sharp increase in demand for abortion services in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision. Under Governor JB Pritzker’s leadership, the State of Illinois is committed to providing resources to improve training and mentorship so our health care providers can deliver Illinoisians and those who come to our state with a full range of reproductive health services.”
The grants were awarded by IDPH’s Office of Women’s Health & Family Services. Following are details from the proposals submitted by the three grant recipients:
• Midwest Access Project: MAP will expand their long-standing work providing sexual and reproductive healthcare clinicians with training in procedural and medication abortion. Their innovative training model fills gaps nationwide in medical education, advanced practice nursing, midwifery education, and clinical training.
• Planned Parenthood of Illinois: PPIL plans to expand upon an already robust training effort by offering more procedural abortion training for physician trainees and advance practice nurses, and medication abortion training for eligible providers.
• UIC – College of Nursing: UIC will establish a training program to expose new advanced practice nurses to abortion care through the Reproductive Advocacy and Diversity in Advanced Nursing Training (RADIANT) Fellowship.
“MAP is thrilled at the opportunity afforded by the IDPH Abortion Provider Training Grant to expand our initiatives to fill gaps in comprehensive reproductive health care training,” said Melissa Banerjee, Deputy Director of MAP. “This funding will enable us to provide individualized, hands-on clinical training, interdisciplinary education, and implementation support to passionate clinicians who otherwise lack access to training to provide abortion care as a part of their community practices. With this support, MAP will build on the partnerships we’ve developed over 17 years of operation with clinical sites, clinicians and advocates to expand access to comprehensive reproductive health care for Illinois’ diverse communities, and all those seeking care in Illinois.”
“Planned Parenthood of Illinois is proud of its abortion provider training program and the work we are doing to prepare the next generation of medical providers,” said PPIL President and CEO Jennifer Welch. “Whether we are training students or established providers, our goal is to increase the number of providers in Illinois who are able to provide trauma-informed, gender affirming, and language inclusive abortion care. Training more providers allows PPIL to expand overall abortion service availability in Illinois, benefitting populations historically denied access to high quality, affordable health care. We are thrilled to receive this IDPH grant because as a haven state, it is crucial we have practitioners ready to provide the safe and high-quality abortion care our patients need and deserve.”
“The UIC College of Nursing will establish the RADIANT Fellowship to train and mentor nurse practitioners from across the state to offer trauma-informed and gender affirming abortion services in their practices,” said Kylea Laina Liese, an Assistant Professor in the UIC Department of Human Development Nursing Science. “RADIANT Fellows will also serve as preceptors to advance practice nursing students from UIC, who will receive the classroom training needed to expand and protect access to essential reproductive healthcare.”
Governor Pritzker announced last year that the state of Illinois was taking a number of steps to improve access to abortion and other reproductive care in Illinois. This included the creation of the CARLA (Complex Abortion Regional Line for Access) hotline, a partnership involving state agencies, hospitals, and the Chicago Abortion Fund. The hotline is designed to help patients with complex medical needs who need hospital-based services to navigate the universe of abortion providers and receive the appropriate level of care.
IDPH is also working to launch a Reproductive Health Public Navigation Hotline that will aid patients, regardless of complexity, including those travelling from out of state, in finding and navigating care. The Public Navigation Hotline will route medically complex patients into the CARLA system and lower risk patients into the non-hospital network of care.
The IDPH effort aligns with the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists’ support for the expansion of abortion education and an increase in the number and types of trained abortion providers to ensure access to safe abortions.
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* One smart thing state leaders did during and since the pandemic is to not put much one-time federal money into ongoing base spending. Not so with Chicago Public Schools. From Chalkbeat…
Next year, CPS plans to spend the last $300 million of its $2.8 billion allocation of federal COVID money, but will still face a $391 million deficit. CEO Pedro Martinez signaled recently that hard cuts, such as for critical building repairs, could be ahead but he wants to protect classrooms from losing resources.
Looking back, more than half of Chicago’s federal COVID money went to staff salaries and benefits. In an interview with Chalkbeat, Martinez said the federal COVID dollars helped the district avoid cuts because of a longstanding structural deficit – when expenses exceed revenue. […]
The district has not yet detailed how it will fill its looming $391 million deficit. That’s the shortfall after using roughly $300 million in federal COVID money still left to spend.
Ralph Martire, executive director of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, said the district shouldn’t have plugged the federal money into operating costs, such as salaries, because that created a cliff – a sudden loss of money that could mean the loss of programs and staff that directly impacts students.
“It’s very disruptive, right?” Martire said. “What message does that send to the kids? It creates a lot of unintended and hard-to-anticipate issues.”
Martire argues the district should have used the money to pay for one-time costs, such as critical building repairs. The district might have to delay such repairs in response to budget challenges, Martinez said at a recent event about the district’s Latino students.
Martinez told Chalkbeat he is proud of the choices the district made in spending federal COVID money, pointing to the recent research around student growth in Chicago and crediting the “amazing work” of principals, teachers, and students.
“What the evidence is telling me right now is that we used the resources in a way that our students are doing even better today than they were prior to me coming here,” he said.
While those last two paragraphs are very positive news, it’s just not sustainable.
“Unfortunately, eliminating the tip credit is not the answer. Not for me as a mayor and not as a small business owner. I hope Springfield legislators vote no on this proposal so our communities can remain a place where employees, businesses and residents thrive.”
George D. Alpogianis is mayor of Niles and part of the third generation of several family-owned and operated local restaurants.
A new bill in the Illinois General Assembly aims to create a fairer evaluation system for Chicago Public Schools teachers, but questions surrounding the legislation’s language have left the school system skeptical of what a reformed evaluation process would mean in practice.
The proposal would give the Illinois State Board of Education the ability to examine teacher evaluation procedures and determine if racial, ethnic, socioeconomic or geographical factors undercut how CPS teachers are rated. Then, the Chicago Board of Education and the Chicago Teachers Union would negotiate to create a new evaluation system to remedy those disparities. If passed, the new evaluation would be implemented by Aug. 15, 2025.
State Rep. Kam Buckner, the bill’s author, argues the legislation would not change the baseline approach to evaluations. The bill passed through committee on April 3. […]
Chicago Public Schools has already pushed back on the legislation, arguing the bill’s language doesn’t adequately define what constitutes “clear racial, ethnic, socio-economic, or geographic disparities.” That could lead to a potential misuse of data that would undermine the evaluation process, the district contends. […]
As the Chicago Teachers Union heads to the bargaining table with the mayor this spring, Buckner’s bill has dredged up worries among some at CPS who see the legislation as a way to get around formal contract negotiations. That would track with the political strategy that CTU President Stacy Davis Gates has laid out. In a March interview with the Chicago Sun-Times, Davis told reporters she would take the contract fight to “Springfield and to Washington, D.C.”
The Illinois Senate has approved a bill to address food deserts across the state.
Bill sponsor, State Senator Dale Fowler from Harrisburg, says the state is making great strides in raising awareness to the food desert problem that several local communities face.
Senate Bill 3265 would create a program within the Illinois Department of Agriculture, tasked with establishing and operating projects and strategies that focus on the distribution of fresh, nutritious food while providing education in food preparation and nutrition in food deserts.
The Illinois Senate approved a plan Wednesday to require insurance companies to cover preventative cancer screenings and genetic testing for people with a family history of cancer.
Screenings for certain types of cancer are currently covered by insurance if patients meet the age requirement. However, Sen. Julie Morrison (D-Lake Forest) said her proposal would require coverage for prevention and susceptibility cancer screenings for every type of cancer for anyone with family members impacted by the disease. […]
Senate Bill 2697 also requires insurance coverage for genetic testing for inherited gene mutations to help people with family history of cancer. […]
The legislation passed unanimously out of the Senate Wednesday. Senate Bill 2697 now moves to the House for further consideration.
The tiny Scott County community of Riggston, 50 miles west of Springfield, with a mere 18 residents, is drawing national attention for a self-serve operation in a small building that is addressing the issue of rural American food deserts.
The Grab-N-Grow Greenhouse is a combination of an indoor farmers market and a self-serve grocery store. Local produce growers, livestock producers and bakers bring their fresh goods to the facility and customers select and pay for what they need. […]
Several months ago, [Jenny Sauer-Schmidgall, the owner of Grab-N-Grow Greenhouse] discussed her operation during a casual conversation with her Springfield attorney, who suggested that she make some state elected officials aware of what she was doing. State Sen. Doris Turner, a Springfield Democrat, immediately expressed interest in the Grab-N-Grow Greenhouse and the potential it may hold for other rural areas in Illinois.
Turner cosponsored Senate Bill 3219, which expands the 2023 Illinois Grocery Initiative by allowing the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity to provide grants for equipment upgrades for farmer-owned grocery stores or markets like the Grab-N-Grow Greenhouse. […]
Senate Bill 3219 has received strong bipartisan support. [Three] Republicans, along with five other Democrats, have added their names as cosponsors of Turner’s bill.
State Sen. Laura Fine, D-Glenview, said her Senate Bill 2960 is about encouraging a change in behavior to prohibit hotels from using single use plastics.
“Right now, we are putting so much plastic pollution into our waterways that it will no longer be safe for aquatic consumption and then human consumption,” Fine said. […]
A first violation of the law, if passed, would be a written warning. Second or subsequent violations could levy a civil penalty of $500 for each violation.
The measure now heads to the Illinois House for further action.
The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) is partnering with some Illinois lawmakers to support legislation aimed at centralizing information for caregivers, making it easier for them to make decisions for their families and loved ones with confidence.
House Bill 4677 calls for the creation of the Illinois Caregiving Portal, creating a one-stop-shop for state, federal, nonprofit and professional caregiving information.
The portal would be managed by the Illinois Department of Aging in coordination with other state agencies. […]
That bill is currently in committee in Springfield.
HB4677’s Third Reading deadline has been extended to May 24.
A bill to strengthen protection for employees of Illinois libraries is heading to the House floor.
House Bill 4567 would amend the criminal code outlining the consequences of threatening public officials, like school employees and elected officials. If the bill passes, the law would also cover library employees and threats made through electronic means, like social media. […]
The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois is opposed to penalty enhancements in general, including those for repeat offenders included in this bill. […]
“The people who are making these threats are unlikely to be deterred under an enhanced penalty, just like they’re not deterred under the current criminal prohibition for making these kinds of threats,” [Benjamin Ruddel, director of criminal justice policy for the Illinois ACLU] said. “These kinds of penalty enhancements allow elected officials to say they’re doing something about a problem, but there’s no enhanced safety.” […]
“I’m not sure that solving those root causes is something that can be done legislatively, but increasing penalties is,” [Illinois Library Association President Ryan Johnso] said. “So it’s not a magic bullet. It’s not a panacea. But it is a gesture, it’s a step in the right direction, albeit a small one.”
People leaving Illinois prisons and jails could soon receive a state ID for free.
Under Senate Bill 2803, incarcerated people who previously held a state ID or driver’s license would be able to submit a form to the Secretary of State’s Office. Applicants would need a photo taken by the correctional facility and must provide proof of residency upon discharge.
Sen. Christopher Belt (D-Swansea) said Wednesday that people released on parole, mandatory supervised release or a pardon could receive a temporary 90 day state ID if they do not receive a standard state ID before they leave a correctional facility. […]
Senate Bill 2803 passed out of the Senate on a partisan 41-18 vote. The proposal now heads to the House for further consideration.
House Bill 545, sponsored by Rep. Joyce Mason, D-Gurnee, would require the Department of Human Services to establish add-on rates for childcare providers participating in the state’s Child Care Assistance Program to purchase supplemental diapers for children in need.
Per the bill, the add-on rates should allow for a family participating in the program full-time to purchase 50 diapers per month for each child under 3 and 25 diapers for part-time participants. Those that run out of diapers would also not be turned down from participating in the program.
Mayo said the program’s cost ranges from $4 million to $6 million, which acts like an “additional check” for families trying to ensure their children have diapers. It comes as Gov. JB Pritzker is also calling for lawmakers to approve a $1 million pilot program to be approved by lawmakers in the upcoming budget for the department to distribute free diapers throughout the state.
* ICYMI: After balking earlier, Johnson to ask City Council to spend $70M on migrant services. Tribune…
-This week, the mayor’s office began briefing City Council members on plans to push through the item as a means to keep afloat the city’s response to asylum-seekers.
-Sources familiar with the briefings said his team hopes to allocate the $70 million from previous city surpluses
-Johnson’s budget chair Ald. Jason Ervin, 28th, confirmed the likelihood of the spending item facing a vote next week.
* ABC Chicago | Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard, village trustee Andrew Holmes named in sexual assault lawsuit: The lawsuit alleges Dolton Village Trustee Andrew Holmes sexually assaulted a village employee during a trip to Las Vegas, and also claims Mayor Tiffany Henyard retaliated against the employee and a police officer when she learned of the allegations. The allegations are stunning in that they include Holmes, a well-known victim advocate, who also serves as a trustee in Dolton. While no criminal charges have been filed against him, Las Vegas police confirmed they do have an open investigation into the claims.
* Crain’s | Springfield bill takes aim at racial disparities in CPS teacher evaluations: The proposal would give the Illinois State Board of Education the ability to examine teacher evaluation procedures and determine if racial, ethnic, socioeconomic or geographical factors undercut how CPS teachers are rated. Then, the Chicago Board of Education and the Chicago Teachers Union would negotiate to create a new evaluation system to remedy those disparities. If passed, the new evaluation would be implemented by Aug. 15, 2025.
* WTAX | State legislative leaders give IL Chamber contrasting views: Welch has made “The Infinite Game” his theme for 2024, saying, “I can guarantee you there will be a 71st speaker, there will be another Black speaker. Illinois will go on for another 200-plus years. […] Senate President Don Harmon (D-Oak Park), saying state government should be boring (“I want it to model itself after me!”) and get out of the way, praised Gov. JB Pritzker’s cheerleading for Illinois, but Senate Minority Leader John Curran (R-Downers Grove) said Democrats are messing everything up: “The recent announcement that a large (Quaker Oats) plant in Danville will be closing its doors, resulting in more than 500 lost jobs in an area of the state that has a higher than average unemployment rate already, is a prime example of how we have to do a better job of taking care of our current employers here.”
* WGEM | Illinois lawmakers discuss potential $300 child tax credit:
Though lawmakers filed a bill proposing the tax credit, lawmakers would pass it through the state budget. To qualify for the full $300 credit, joint filers would need to make less than $75,000 the previous year, $50,000 for single filers. Families who make slightly above the threshold could still be eligible for the tax credit on a sliding scale meaning their credit would be smaller.
* Fox Chicago | AARP pushes for Illinois Caregiving Portal legislation: The portal would be managed by the Illinois Department of Aging in coordination with other state agencies. Supporters say it would help keep people from having to turn to Google to find what they need.
* Capitol News Illinois | Komatsu mining truck named 2024 ‘coolest thing made in Illinois’: The truck was one of more than 200 entries in the 5th annual contest hosted by the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association and sponsored by Comcast Business. The bracket-style contest lasted eight weeks and collected almost 315,000 votes for the products entered, narrowing them down to the top 16, then to the final four, which were recognized Wednesday. The truck, made by Komatsu in Peoria, has a hauling capacity of up to 400 tons and has “new innovations in suspension transmission, electric drive technology and autonomous operation,” according to Komatsu. The 980E-5 truck weighs more than 1.3 million pounds.
* Oak Park Journal | Cosgrove edges out Przekota in race for judge: According to final, uncertified results Cosgrove defeated prosecutor Kim Przekota by the razor thin margin of 338 votes. Cosgrove has 13,468 votes, or 50.6% of ballots cast, to 13,130 for Przekota, who comes in 49.4% of the vote.
* Shaw Local | Keep pressing on full costs of proposed new early childhood agency: When revisiting an Oct. 26 column on Gov. JB Pritzker’s plans for a new state agency that would administer every service under the umbrella of early childhood, my main concern was whether consolidation would further eradicate local control and how the agencies that stand to lose responsibilities would adjust. There is appeal in “a more equitable, integrated, and holistic system of services for young children and families,” as the governor’s office pledged, but Pritzker still bears a burden of proof: that a new agency is up to the task and that those currently overburdened actually end up more efficient.
* WCIA | Danville’s Village Mall set to be auctioned off, leaving locals concerned: Mayor Rickey Williams Jr. said he’s frustrated with the situation and doesn’t know why the owners of the decades-old mall are selling, and communication with them has been difficult. […] Mayor Williams said they offered a $100,000 market study to explore possible options for the mall but the owners were not interested. WCIA 3 reached out to the company, but has not received a response.
* Elgin Courier-News | Bartlett High School principal removed from post but allowed to return as teacher: Demovsky was placed on administrative leave in March during the probe, the details of which have not been made public. “I just want to say to the community that I understand it seems like a lot of things happen in private,” board member Dawn Martin, a Bartlett resident, said during the meeting. “I want to remind the community that personnel matters are discussed in closed (sessions). It’s not about hiding things from our community or not being transparent.
* Chalkbeat | From ‘winning the lottery’ to ‘leaner schools’: How the end of federal COVID money could impact Chicago schools: At one school, where nearly all of the students came from low-income households, the additional money meant more after-school programs for everyone, tutoring for struggling students, open gym, and even a staff-created crafting class where students could get additional social-emotional support. Test scores went up and staff noticed fewer fights, said a former school administrator who requested anonymity in order to speak candidly.
* Sun-Times | Amazon owes Chicago-based tech company $525 million for patent infringement, jury rules: Kove is a Chicago-based company that specializes in computer storage and data management technologies. The West Loop firm owns three data storage patents and accused cloud computing platform Amazon Web Services of infringement, filing a lawsuit against the Amazon-subsidiary in December 2018. The three patents — invented by Kove CEO John Overton and Stephen Bailey — relate to systems and methods for managing the storage, search and retrieval of information across a computer network, according to the lawsuit.
* AP | Internet providers must now be more transparent about fees, pricing, FCC says: Following the design of FDA food labels, these broadband labels will provide easy-to-understand, accurate information about the cost and performance of high-speed internet service to help consumers avoid junk fees, price hikes, and other unexpected costs. Internet service providers selling home access or mobile broadband plans will be required to have a label for each plan beginning April 10.
* Sun-Times | Northwestern to play most home football games in temporary on-campus stadium the next 2 years: The school announced Wednesday that it will build a temporary structure attached to Lanny and Sharon Martin Stadium, the home of its lacrosse and soccer teams, on the shores of Lake Michigan. Northwestern is working with InProduction, which built seating for last summer’s NASCAR race downtown as well as at Hawaii and Florida State. Construction will start this summer, and the facility will be open for the next two football seasons.
* WTTW | CTA Says Red Line Extension a ‘Top Priority’ for Biden Administration, on Track to Begin Construction Next Year: Carter told the board he met with the head of the FTA on a recent trip to Washington, D.C., who assured him the Red Line Extension is a “top priority project” for President Joe Biden’s administration. The president’s fiscal year 2025 budget proposal includes an initial round of $350 million in funding for the ambitious effort. FTA officials are “very upbeat about our project and very upbeat about the timeline for getting the full funding grant agreement … in place by the end of this year,” Carter said. “By all accounts, we’re on target to accomplish that.”
* Crain’s | Uber is adding taxis to its app in Chicago. Yes, you read that right: Why is Uber giving its customers the chance to take a traditional cab? “We continue to believe that there is no world in which taxis and Uber exist separately — there is simply too much to gain for both sides,” the company said in a statement.
* Tribune | The most infamous serial killers all seem to have something in common — they’re from around here: What is it about the Midwest that breeds so many serial killers? What is in the soil that grows the sort of grisly murderers who launch a million headlines? Adam Rapp has wondered for a long time. He was born in Chicago and raised in Joliet in the 1970s, when Joliet was not the best place to grow up. Gangs proliferated. There were rumors of white vans whose drivers offered neighborhood boys a peek at a Playboy. You couldn’t escape to Chicago — killer clown John Wayne Gacy and nurse killer Richard Speck came out of there.
* Tribune | University of Illinois, citing insufficient evidence, closes internal probe of basketball player Terrence Shannon Jr: In a notice dated Friday, the director of the university’s Office for Student Conflict Resolution wrote that the investigator in the probe did not have access to the complainant, the complainant’s witness or the complete file from the police department in Lawrence, Kansas. “The complainant has not indicated an intent to participate in a hearing before a hearing panel at this time,” the director, Robert Wilczynski, wrote in the letter. “As a result, the process has concluded.” No disciplinary action will be taken at this time, he added.
* Chicago Mag | The Sox’s New Voice: The biggest thing it takes is belief. Because there’s only 30 jobs in Major League Baseball, and there’s so many people telling you it’s not possible. So you need confidence in yourself — and good people in your corner. When I was at Dartmouth, my middle sister was at Howard, and she told me to come there for a transfer semester. I studied journalism in their school of communication, then got an internship at [Pardon the Interruption] at ESPN. It just snowballed from there.
* >WSIL | Some businesses in Cairo, Illinois say saw more sales from the Solar Eclipse: Businesses on Route 51 had a front-row seat to the action, including the Smokey Hill BBQ food truck. “There started to be a Jam from Kentucky to the center of Cairo,” owner Tim Koch said. […] The owners of G&L Clothing told us in a phone call that they saw a 75% jump in sales during the eclipse weekend.
* The Komatsu’s mining truck was named The Coolest Thing Made in Illinois…
Illinois Manufacturers’ Association…
Chosen by voters from an initial field of more than 200 entries, the Komatsu mining truck made by Komatsu in Peoria has been crowned the winner of the 2024 “Makers Madness” contest, earning the title of The Coolest Thing Made in Illinois.
Hosted by the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association and sponsored by Comcast Business, the bracket-style competition celebrates the incredible work of manufacturers across Illinois. Manufacturers have long served as the backbone of our state’s economy and produce everything from nutritious food and snacks to life-saving vaccines and medical treatments. Manufacturers also make electric vehicles, sporting equipment and structural products like steel, rebar and motors, as well as chemicals, high-tech gadgets used for national defense, and energy to power homes and businesses. Manufacturing is the largest contributor of any industry to the state’s Gross Domestic Product, supporting nearly a third of all jobs in Illinois and contributing more than $580 billion to the state’s economy each year.
With nearly 315,000 votes cast throughout the eight-week competition, the Komatsu mining truck was awarded the title of The Coolest Thing Made in Illinois by Gov. JB Pritzker on Wednesday during a ceremony at the Governor’s Mansion in Springfield. Manufactured by Komatsu, a leading maker of construction, mining, forestry, and industrial heavy equipment in Peoria, the truck is a rugged, large capacity vehicle used for construction and mining. With a capacity ranging from 30 to 400 tons, the Komatsu truck is built for meeting productivity targets and it comes equipped with new innovations in suspension, transmission, electric drive technology and autonomous operation. It is engineered for reliability, operator efficiency, high performance, fuel efficiency and has a reduced carbon footprint, meeting U.S. EPA Tier 4 emission standards.
“Congratulations to Komatsu’s mining truck for being named the 2024 Coolest Thing Made in Illinois. This magnificent construction and mining vehicle is a shining example of the innovation and creativity that drives the manufacturing sector, where big ideas become products that can change the world,” saidMark Denzler, President and CEO of the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association. “We applaud all the manufacturers that participated in this year’s competition and commend the skilled workers on our shop floors whose contributions guarantee that these fantastic products are made to the highest standards.”
“Komatsu’s ‘Coolest Thing in Illinois’ mining and construction truck takes something fundamental to our economy and infrastructure and continues to improve and innovate on a basic and essential concept—the absolute best of what manufacturing does for our state and a truly exceptional product,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “Congratulations to the team of Komatsu and to all the contestants for your exceptional work in continuing to elevate our state’s manufacturing industry.” […]
Other finalists for the title included the Mullen’s Imitation French Dressing, a delicious food dressing based made by Mullen’s in Palestine; the MQ-25 Stingray (Drone Refueler), an unmanned aircraft with aerial refueling capabilities built by Boeing in Mascoutah and Mod Box by Enviro Buildings, a strong, insulated outdoor building with standardized panel sizes manufactured by Craig Industries in Quincy. […]
To ensure the state’s manufacturing sector remains strong, the IMA is advocating for the passage of several measures this legislative session. Priorities include proposals to support students and families entering the workforce through student loan employer tax credits and scholarships, advancing the development of cutting-edge technology by modernizing the state’s Research & Development tax credit, and allowing carbon capture and sequestration to help the state reach its clean energy goals.
* CHANGE Illinois…
Voters in Rock Island, Proviso and Oak Park townships will have the opportunity to vote for Fair Maps this November. At last night’s annual township meetings, residents brought forth non-binding referendums and successfully put those on the ballot for the upcoming General Election.
Fair Maps continues to speak directly to the needs of voters and their preference to pick their elected representatives, instead of politicians choosing voters. Gerrymandering in Illinois and across the country has stifled the will of voters because those with the power draw maps they directly benefit from by including certain voters in their districts and excluding others.
In the last election, voters in Peoria showed their strong support for Fair Maps through the same non-binding referendum process. Once again, this election, voters in Illinois can show their strong support for an independent commission drawing a truly fair map for Illinois. […]
Over the coming months CHANGE Illinois’ Road to Redistricting Reform initiative will be focused on educating residents in these three townships about what is at stake in the November election and continue building community-led, grassroots support for Fair Maps across the state.
* Speaker Chris Welch offers a resolution to honor Lee Milner…
According to Google Trends, which tracks the volume of certain search terms, “my eyes hurt” and “why do my eyes hurt” spiked significantly as the solar eclipse’s shadow passed over the country.
Searches for “my eyes hurt” reached their peak around 3 p.m. EST. The eclipse’s path terminated in Maine shortly around 3:30 p.m.
Searches for “my eyes hurt” surged strongest among Google users in states on the path of totality from Texas to Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Vermont. Searches also ticked up, though not as quickly, in California, where about a third of the sun was covered by the time the peak eclipse hit at 11:13 a.m.
Yesterday, concern for eye damage skyrocketed in the United States:
Our data revealed that Google searches for “My eyes hurt” increased by 502% in the past 24 hours, and Google searches for “Eyes hurt after looking at eclipse” increased by 5,740% in the last day!
Since the solar eclipse, Americans nationwide have been worried about the potential effects of looking at the sun after not heeding the warnings to wear protective sunglasses during the phenomenon.
Searches for “my eyes hurt” have skyrocketed in these 25 states, with the top three states NOT in the path of totality on April 9, 2024:
* Tribune | Biden EPA limits toxic forever chemicals in drinking water for the first time: New regulations to be announced Wednesday will require every U.S. water utility to begin routinely testing for several of the chemicals. Any that exceed federal limits will get five years to overhaul their treatment plants to reduce, if not eliminate, alarming concentrations of the compounds in tap water. More than 100 million Americans are expected to benefit, including at least 660,000 in Illinois who get their drinking water from a utility that violates the new standards for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, commonly known as PFAS.
* BND | Army Corps shelved a plan to address southwest IL flooding decades ago, lawmakers say: U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth and U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski said the Army Corps shelved 14 flood control measures authorized in 1965 for the area because of “low cost-benefit ratios.” They noted that decades later, the communities experience frequent flooding.
* SJ-R | Voter data released for nearly 30K Springfield residents by far right publication: At least 29,000 Springfield residents have had their personal voter information published this year, an analysis from The State Journal-Register found. The data has been released by the far-right The Sangamon Sun, published by Local Government Information Services, where the Illinois State Board of Elections is now asking the publisher to remove the information from its 20 websites and 11 print publications.
* WCIA | Champaign Schools: No interviews for Board of Education applicants: Monday night was another fiery night for the Champaign School Board. Members are divided as they try to decide the best way to fill open seats. […] On Tuesday night, 10 of them were hoping for interviews and answers, but because the board did not meet quorum, that meeting couldn’t move forward.
* Crain’s | Amid drastic downsizing, VillageMD brings on new exec: The Chicago-based company today announced that Jim Murray, a former health insurance and managed care executive, joined VillageMD as president and chief operating officer on April 1. In this role, Murray will lead operations across VillageMD’s enterprise, which includes clinics under the Village Medical brand, as well as dozens under Summit Health and CityMD, which VillageMD acquired at the beginning of last year.
* Daily Herald | Officials say they didn’t know religious group was behind land buy until after it was completed: South Barrington Park District officials didn’t learn a religious group was behind the winning bid for 34 acres of public parkland until two weeks after the $2.3 million sale was finalized, they revealed Tuesday. […] Area N Development was created in Delaware about a week before the auction, public records show. It wasn’t until March 22 that Schaumburg-based Fourth Avenue Gospel, which is owned and operated by members of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church and was behind a failed effort to acquire the property in 2023, publicly admitted it invented Area N Development to buy the land.
* Block Club | Chicago Pride Parade Will Be Smaller This Year Due To ‘Safety And Logistical Concerns’: The celebration — which includes floats, performance groups, marching bands and more — will be capped at 125 entries, organizers said. This is about a 37 percent decrease from last year’s 199 entries. Organizers were notified of the changes from the city in mid-March, they said. Concerns include “the city’s capacity to manage a range of large events throughout the summer,” organizers said.
* Sun-Times | FDA panel reviewing Abbott heart device included 10 doctors with financial ties to the north suburban health giant: One member of the FDA advisory committee was linked to hundreds of payments from Abbott totaling almost $200,000, according to the database maintained by the federal Department of Health and Human Services. Another was connected to 100 payments, totaling about $100,000, and conducted research supported by about $50,000 from Abbott. A third member of the committee worked on research supported by more than $180,000 from the company.
* Crain’s | Bears recruit Andrea Zopp as a legal adviser as stadium push rolls on: Andrea Zopp, a veteran litigator well connected in Chicago business and political circles, is taking on an advisory role in the Bears’ push for a new stadium — and new stadium financing. Zopp, now managing partner of Cleveland Avenue, the venture-capital firm founded by McDonald’s ex-CEO Don Thompson, will work alongside Bears CEO Kevin Warren and the team’s newly named chief legal officer, Krista Whitaker, as the team scopes out its options.
* Sun-Times | There’s nothing surprising about the White Sox’ awful start — not the losses, not the injuries: Did no one think to tell hit-starved, run-famished White Sox players to stare at the eclipse without sunglasses? It only could have improved their vision at the plate. The Sox are the butt of a lot of bad jokes these days because they’re butt ugly as a baseball team. Everyone knew they were going to be feeble this season but few people expected them to be this feeble, which explains the level of anger around town.
* Crain’s | A new rooftop battle emerges for the Cubs: In a victory for the Cubs’ long-running effort to extract more revenue out of the Friendly Confines and its environs, the City Council Zoning Committee approved an ordinance yesterday allowing the team to install two large LED signs on the rooftops of buildings that Cubs ownership controls just beyond the ballpark’s bleachers. The team unveiled plans last month to put a large Coca-Cola sign atop the building at 1040 W. Waveland Ave. and another for paint company Benjamin Moore on the roof of 3623 N. Sheffield Ave., two locations that are highly visible from inside the stadium.
* NYT | The History Behind Arizona’s 160-Year-Old Abortion Ban: After the American Medical Association, which would eventually become the largest doctors’ organization in the country, formed in 1847, its members — all male and white at that time — sought to curtail medical activities by midwives and other nondoctors, most of whom were women. Pregnancy termination methods were often provided by people in those vocations, and historians say that was one reason for the association’s desire to ban abortion. A campaign that became known as the Physicians’ Crusade Against Abortion began in 1857 to urge states to pass anti-abortion laws. Its leader, Dr. Horatio Robinson Storer, wrote a paper against abortion that was officially adopted by the A.M.A. and later published as a book titled “On Criminal Abortion in America.”
* WBEZ | NPR defends its journalism after senior editor says it has lost the public’s trust: A strategic emphasis on diversity and inclusion on the basis of race, ethnicity and sexual orientation, promoted by NPR’s former CEO, John Lansing, has fed “the absence of viewpoint diversity,” Berliner writes. NPR’s chief news executive, Edith Chapin, wrote in a memo to staff Tuesday afternoon that she and the news leadership team strongly reject Berliner’s assessment.
* CBS | Memorial service this weekend for Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough: The public memorial service will take place on April 14, at the Rockefeller Chapel on the campus of the University of Chicago. Doors will open at 2:30 p.m. in advance of the 3 p.m. memorial service. Yarbrough was remembered as a trailblazer. She had a career that spanned local and state politics over three decades.
Yesterday, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals REJECTED Smith & Wesson’s attempt to litigate the Highland Park Parade cases in federal court and ruled that they must instead move forward locally in Lake County where the plaintiffs filed them. This is a major loss for Smith & Wesson, a big win for the victims and our community, and reflects a broad shift of momentum we’re seeing across the country in gun cases.
For years, legislatures and our judicial system have refused to hold defendants like Smith & Wesson accountable when victims of mass shootings brought suit. But things are changing. During the Seventh Circuit hearing last Thursday, one of the panel judges cut off Smith & Wesson’s attorney within 30 seconds of his opening argument because he took issue with the way Smith & Wesson downplayed the shooting in its appellate brief, saying:
“You’re familiar in criminal cases, as we are with the concept of minimization. I’m tempted to take up some of your argument time listing the names of the seven people who were killed and the 48 who were wounded.”
I was floored (and deeply moved) by that statement, which set the tone for the entire hearing. And the decision itself not only handed the Highland Park plaintiffs a clear victory, but also invited them to seek fees from Smith & Wesson as a sanction for wasting time in federal court.
This ruling is part of a shift we’re seeing everywhere: while we are still a country with a strong Second Amendment, bad actors like Smith & Wesson no longer have carte blanche in marketing deadly weapons to disaffected kids using video-game style ads and “lone gunman” themes when they know exactly where that leads—again, and again, and again.
So these cases are coming back to Lake County where they belong. There’s a long road ahead but I promise you we will never run out of energy for this fight.
The legal theories advanced against Smith & Wesson rest on state tort law plus the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, 815 ILCS 505/1 to 505/12, and the Illinois Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act, 815 ILCS 510/1 to 510/7. The complaints assert (among other things) that Smith & Wesson should not have offered the M&P15 to civilians, because it is a machine gun reserved for police and military use under 18 U.S.C. §922(b)(4) and 26 U.S.C. §5845(b), and that if the civilian sale of the M&P15 is lawful the manufacturer still is liable because the weapon was advertised in a way that made it attractive to irresponsible persons (especially the young) seeking to do maximum damage in minimum time.
Smith & Wesson then tried moving the lawsuit to federal court and was rejected yesterday.
One final observation. Both this court in Lu Junhong and the Supreme Court in BP v. Baltimore recognized that attempting to remove under §1442 would be attractive to many defendants who sought to sidestep the need for all defendants’ consent or wanted to obtain appellate review of any remand order. The Justices also saw that, when defendants yield to the incentive to misuse §1442 to get around §1447(d) and §1446(b)(2)(A), litigation will be delayed and become needlessly costly—other things that defendants may hope to achieve. Baltimore asked the Court to curtail those incentives by giving the statute a strained reading. The Justices replied that setting policy is for Congress, not the judiciary, but added:
Nor is it as if Congress has been blind to the City’s concerns. As the City itself acknowledges, thanks to §1447(c) a district court may order a defendant to pay the plaintiff’s costs and expenses (including attorney’s fees) if it frivolously removes a case from state court. Additionally, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure allow courts to sanction frivolous arguments made in virtually any context […]
The district judge should consider whether Smith & Wesson must reimburse the plaintiffs’ costs and fees occasioned by the unjustified removal and appeal.
Oof.
* From Rep. Bob Morgan (D-Deerfield)…
Gun manufacturers like Smith & Wesson keep running to federal courts to protect them from accountability for their role in facilitating mass shootings and other gun-related deaths, and they keep losing. This 7th Circuit decision reaffirms that gun manufacturers cannot hide from their responsibility, and gun violence rests at their feet due to their deceptive marketing practices that have existed for decades. This case is deeply personal for the Roberts family, and also those of us who were present at the Highland Park Mass Shooting two years ago - this is a positive step for those looking for justice
* It’s Illinois Chamber of Commerce day in Springfield, and the four heads of the General Assembly are speaking. Here’s Senate President Don Harmon…
* Here’s more of Harmon’s remarks. H/T Brenden Moore…
I want to begin by telling you a story. A few weeks ago at the Capitol, a swarm of TV cameras and reporters descended upon the hallway outside of my office. No, I had not done anything wrong. Nobody was getting arrested or indicted. Sad that I even have to say that. In fact, they weren’t even there for me. It turns out they were there because Jerry Reinsdorf, the billionaire owner of the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Bulls was in town and on his way to my office.
So in case you haven’t been following the news, Mr. Reinsdorf wants a new baseball stadium. As you may recall, the last time the state built him a baseball stadium, it became the stuff of political legend. Clocks were stopped, arms were twisted by then-Gov. Jim Thompson in the deal that happened. Now a quick disclaimer: I was nowhere near the Capital when that happened. In June of 88, I just graduated from Knox College in Galesburg and was preparing to start my first year of a grown up job. But anyways, yes, the White Sox and Mr. Reinsdorf are back with a new ask that’s reported in the press as high as $2 billion for public assistance with a new baseball stadium.
And look, I’m as big a sports fan is the next guy. And I’m always happy to listen to ideas. But I made it clear to them then and I’ve tried to make it clear in the media since that there’s next to no appetite to fund a new stadium with taxpayer dollars. So that’s why the media was camped outside of my office for what was my last meeting of the day.
But I want to tell you the story about what you didn’t read in the media, and that would be my first meeting of the day. I began with a group of advocates from Chicago Lighthouse. For those of you unfamiliar, the Chicago Lighthouse has worked for more than 100 years to provide equality, independence and dignity for the blind and visually-impaired. It has a nationally-recognized vision clinic and is considered a pioneer in vision care innovation. They wanted to talk to me about additional state support for programs that help the blind and visually-impaired find employment. We also learned that the Braille signage around the Capitol is in need of some updating. The Chicago Lighthouse does amazing work to help amazing people. And that’s pretty much how most days go at the Capital. People and groups come in and talk to me and ask for more. Sometimes it’s visually-impaired adults, sometimes it’s billionaire professional sports team owners. But the common theme running through all of this is that it’s often my job to let them down.
In my brief time as Senate President, l’ve confirmed my belief that the best definition of leadership is the ability to disappoint people at a rate they can digest. So when I tell people the key to success in Springfield, it’s progress. Nobody gets everything that they want. The key is whether you are making progress on your priorities. My personal priority for this session, once again, is a responsible, balanced budget. I know that Speaker Welch and Governor Pritzker share that goal.
Wednesday, Apr 10, 2024 - Posted by Advertising Department
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“Let’s focus on facts, not optics. This legislation will result in less wages for servers not more. The hospitality industry is already under immense inflationary pressure and this bill will just drive consumer prices up further.”
Without any opposition, the Illinois Senate on Tuesday passed a measure that would tighten identification standards for human remains that are being handled by funeral homes and enhance punishment for businesses that break the law.
The legislation comes after a funeral home in central Illinois last year was found to have given dozens of families the wrong remains. The owner of Heinz Funeral Home in Carlinville had his license revoked by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation after the discovery for “professional incompetence,” among other things.
The measure passed in the Senate Tuesday by a 55-0 vote would tighten funeral home regulations designed to ensure the human remains in their possession are identified properly. The bill now moves to the House for consideration. […]
The legislation would make it a Class 4 felony, punishable by up to three years in prison, for funeral service providers to intentionally mishandle certain documents related to someone’s death.
A bill in the Illinois state Senate would make it easier for people to learn their risk of getting cancer through genetic testing.
The bipartisan legislation passed unanimously through the state Senate Insurance Committee on March 12. It now heads to the floor.
If it becomes law, insurance companies in Illinois would be required to cover genetic testing if the patient has a family history of cancer. Out-of-pocket costs would be capped at $50. Illinois Medicaid patients would also be covered with no out-of-pocket costs.
“This measure will increase early detection and improve prevention of all types of cancer. With this bill, we are moving the needle further in the right direction,” said state Sen. Julie Morrison, D-Lake Forest, the bill’s sponsor.
As electric vehicle charging networks are taking shape across the country and in Illinois, state Sen. Dan McConchie wants to ensure the infrastructure is accessible to all drivers.
With accessibility regulations for electric vehicle chargers still in progress at the federal level, current stations often are inaccessible to drivers with disabilities. McConchie first caught wind of the issue when he heard from the attorney general’s office that one Illinois resident who uses a wheelchair had bought a Tesla and had it outfitted so it could be used — but could not find a publicly available charger nearby that was accessible to wheelchair users. […]
The bill is silent on whether the rules would apply retroactively to existing chargers.
“It would be my hope that companies who have installed existing units would go back and make sure that there is some accessibility, because at some point I do suspect that there will be some retroactivity down the road, even if it’s not immediate,” McConchie said. […]
The bill unanimously cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee last month, and likely will go before the full Senate for a vote next week.
A bill that would expand tax breaks from newly constructed homes to newly remodeled homes will now head to the Illinois House of Representatives after it passed out of the Senate.
The bill, sponsored by Peoria Democrat Sen. Dave Koehler and outgoing Peoria Republican Win Stoller, changes the property tax code to include tax breaks for remodeled or improved homes in areas of urban decay.
As currently written, the state’s property tax code allows local governments to grant an abatement period of up to 10 years for taxes in a certain area of urban decay. Within that area and during that period, newly constructed single-family or duplex homes receive a percentage of their taxes discounted, maxing out at 2%.
Koehler and Stoller’s law would put newly remodeled homes and duplexes under the same umbrella, granting them the 2% discount. The goal is to encourage property owners to invest in homes in that area to revitalize spots like Peoria’s Southside, where many homes need repair.
The Illinois state Senate passed two bills Tuesday they believe will help limit teen vaping.
One bill, sponsored by state Sen. Julie Morrison, D-Lake Forest, bans companies from selling vaping devices that look like normal household items. The other bill, sponsored by state Sen. Meg Loughran Cappel, D-Shorewood, bans people from shipping them in Illinois except to retailers and distributors. […]
Both bills now head to the state House of Representatives.
* Sen. Robert Peters…
To streamline expungement proceedings, State Senator Robert Peters advanced a measure out of the Senate on Tuesday making record expungement a smoother process for youth involved with the juvenile court systems. […]
Peters’ measure supports the idea of making changes in how court systems handle young people involved with the law by helping them get back on track and be a part of the community again, emphasizing rehabilitation and reintegration.
Often youth involved in the criminal justice system lack long-term legal representation, are unfamiliar with legal proceeding options and miss notifications of future expungement proceedings. His measure, Senate Bill 3463, requires juvenile court record expungements to be scheduled at the same time as initial court decisions to avoid multiple court appearances.
The measure passed the Senate with bipartisan support and heads to the House for further consideration.
Illinois lawmakers are looking at a proposal making it easier for international doctors to practice in the state.
The state House Health Care Licenses Committee unanimously passed a bill on April 3 creating a clinical readiness program to help doctors trained internationally find a residency program in Illinois, which they need to complete their licensing requirements.
The bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Theresa Mah, D-Chicago, said the idea came out of a working group. It’s the latest step to ensure the state doesn’t lose out on talented physicians. […]
Mah said she is working with the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation on another amendment to improve the bill. It will go back before the Health Care Licenses Committee before potentially heading to the House floor.
* Sen. Julie Morrison…
To help physicians meet patients’ end-of-life wishes, State Senator Julie Morrison passed a measure to create an electronic registry to store treatment preferences for critically ill individuals.
“How much or how little treatment a person receives at the end of their life should be up to each individual instead of the one-size-fits-all approach,” said Morrison (D-Lake Forest). “This measure will enable physicians to access forms detailing patients’ wishes in a single, accessible location.”
Senate Bill 2644 would establish a statewide electronic registry that would contain Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment forms, which detail what type of medical treatment a critically ill patient does and does not want. POLST forms can help health care practitioners to uphold a person’s wishes regarding their care.
Currently, POLST forms can be maintained in hard copy or electronic format through the Secretary of State’s office. Morrison’s measure would establish a single location to hold all POLST forms, making it easily accessible to physicians throughout the state.
“I worked closely with the Illinois State Bar Association, the Illinois Hospital Association and the Alzheimer’s Association to develop this legislation,” said Morrison. “It is my hope that creating this statewide registry will ensure an individual’s wishes are honored.”
Senate Bill 2644 passed the Senate Tuesday. It now heads to the House for further consideration.
House Bill 2363 to phase out fluorescent lighting advanced through the Illinois House Energy and Environment Committee and is headed for a vote on the House floor.
According to analysis by the Appliance Standards Awareness Project, the switch to LED bulbs would save Illinois consumers more than $1.5 billion on utility bills, avoid 2.2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions by cutting energy waste and avoid 419 pounds of mercury pollution by 2050. […]
[Abe Scarr, Illinois director of the Public Interest Research Group] notes a typical small office could see $900 a year in savings by switching to LED bulbs and schools could save $3,700 a year.
* Sen. Steve Stadelman…
State Senator Steve Stadelman’s legislation aimed at combatting electronic stalking has successfully passed the Senate and advances to the House. […]
Electronic stalking, a form of harassment and intimidation facilitated through various digital platforms and communication channels, has become increasingly prevalent in today’s society.
In this modern technological era, electronic devices are commonly used to track keys, wallets, luggage, and other personal items. However, these electronic devices can also be used for people to stalk others.
The measure seeks to include electronic stalking as a method of criminal stalking, providing crucial legal protections for victims in the digital age. […]
Senate Bill 2683 passed the Senate and heads to the House for further consideration.
* Isabel posted this story in a roundup earlier this , but I wanted to make sure to highlight it for you: “The real-life spy who stumbled into Glenn Poshard’s campaign for governor,” by Abdon Pallasch…
Dave Rupert was the last guy you’d expect to be able to fool street-smart IRA leaders practiced in sniffing out British spies. A 6’7” protestant from upstate New York with no Irish roots, Dave had to be creative to get the Irish rebels to let their guards down. But by stretching his stories of life as a trucker into actually being a smuggler on the U.S. and Canadian borders, Dave won them over.
Dave was simultaneously infiltrating IRA groups in Ireland and their financial support groups in Chicago. He passed himself off as a wealthy businessman able to travel often to Ireland. It was actually the FBI paying for his flights. The FBI even set him up running a pub on Ireland’s West Coast to make inroads with IRA supporters.
In fine Chicago tradition, Dave told us he made himself the bagman for these U.S. support groups, carrying over envelopes of cash raised in Irish pubs here allegedly to support the families of IRA political prisoners in Northern Ireland – but with which the U.S. and British governments alleged also funded military operations.
When Dave showed up in Ireland with envelopes full of cash, people were happy to see him. And Dave started climbing the ranks of IRA splinter groups there.
The FBI set Dave up with a phony trucking office on Halsted Street in Canaryville. He bought a program to teach himself how to create websites, which were just becoming a thing.
Buildings in our neighborhood are boarded up because some people working in these battalions and in these fire houses used to live in these neighborhoods, and they are so angry they had to leave and they left when we came. And when there’s a fire and they go there, they watch the building burn. Go to the Northside. If you see 16 units, 25 units in a building, they go and put out the fire in the single unit. We have a fire in one unit and the whole building gets evacuated, because we didn’t have people that lived in the community that cared about the community that wanted to put the fire out. They had so much contempt they let the building burn. So to stop that level of homelessness and to stop the self-destruction, we need more Black person first responders or Black firefighters. Kudos for all that you do with the Black Fire Brigade.
* From the Chicago Fire Fighters Union…
The Executive Board of Local 2 is shocked, disheartened, angered, and disappointed to see the statements made about the members of Local 2 by Congressman Jonathan Jackson while addressing his constituents at a speaking event. These comments propagated on social media are not only patently false and maliciously divisive-they are dangerous to our membership. The Executive Board of Local 2 would like to assure our membership that we are working diligently to address this issue.
Local 2 and the [Associated Firefighters of Illinois] have officially and immediately revoked our endorsement of Congressman Jonathan Jackson. Additionally, Local 2 firmly demands Congressman Jackson publicly renounce his comments and issue our membership an apology.
Local 2 has been in contact with [Fire Commissioner Annette Nance-Holt], and we await her response denouncing this hateful rhetoric and unwarranted attack on the Firefighters and Paramedics in which she leads. Additionally, we expect she will properly address those propagating these false statements as facts about the Chicago Fire Department and its members.
Local 2 comprises a diverse workforce dedicated to serving all communities without bias or discrimination. We take great pride in our commitment to inclusivity and professionalism in all aspects of our work.
Local 2 will certainly hold any member disseminating these abhorrent statements, slandering their brothers and sisters, fully accountable to the Constitution and By-Laws of the Chicago Fire Fighters Union.
We thank all of you for your hard work and commitment to the City of Chicago and its citizens.
*** UPDATE *** This statement does not include an apology…
* ICYMI: Pritzker pitches grants to open new stores in food deserts. Sun-Times…
- Pritzker’s Illinois Grocery Initiative, enacted last year, initially offered up $3.5 million in grant funding for local grocers.
- While the first phase supported equipment upgrades for existing independently owned grocers, the second phase of the program will offer grants to open new grocery stores in food deserts.
- The awards, which can range between $160,000 and $2.4 million, require the recipient to put up matching funds equal to one-third of the grant.
* Tribune | Local School Council elections are this week. Why that matters to your community.: Local School Councils exist at each of the more than 600 public schools spanning all 77 neighborhoods of Chicago, and operate independently of the district administration, the school board and other schools. They were created in part to give Chicago parents more control over what happens at their children’s schools. […] In recent months, the autonomy of LSCs came up when the Board of Education voted to remove student resource officers from all district schools — a controversial measure that effectively removed local school decision-makers from the process.
* ABC Chicago | Blue Island Police Department to swear in its 1st officer who is a DACA recipient: On Tuesday night, she will become a police officer for the south suburb, and she wants to encourage others to follow their dreams, regardless of their citizenship status. Mitchell Soto-Rodriguez has deep roots in Blue Island. “Some officers, when I’m riding with them, they are like, ‘you say hi to everyone.’ Well, I know the community, so they know me. They know who I am,” Soto-Rodriguez said.
Governor Pritzker will be in Springfield to give remarks at the Illinois Makers Madness Luncheon. Click here to watch at 12:30 pm.
* Here’s the rest…
* Daily Herald | Lake County staffer leaving for state post as adviser on homelessness: In May, Community Development Administrator Brenda O’Connell will join the Illinois Housing Development Authority as a senior policy adviser responsible for coordinating the agency’s work in the statewide homeless response. In announcing her departure, O’Connell lauded the partnership of others for ensuring the success of various programs.
* WAND | Champaign County Auditor under investigation: Serious allegations have been made against the Champaign County Auditor after months of complaints by his staff and a forensic audit of his computer. WAND obtained documents of filed HR complaints from staff accusing auditor George Danos of having inappropriate images on his work computer, undressing in front of staff and berating and cursing at staff members.
* Daily Herald | Kane County Board delays vote on sales tax referendum: But board member Chris Kious said the resolution should be sent to the finance committee for discussion first. While the committee previously discussed the idea of instituting a sales tax, Kious said the panel never considered a formal resolution. The board agreed unanimously.
* Daily Herald | Should DuPage County elected officials get a pay raise?: Members of the county board’s finance committee Tuesday seemed to settle on a proposal that would offer those board members and countywide officials also on the November ballot no raises in the first two years of their terms. They would receive a 2% and 3% increase in the final two years of their terms if board members sign off on the proposal later this month. Currently, county board members are paid $52,102 a year. Under the proposed increases, board members would see a $1,042 bump in the third year of their term and a $1,594 increase in their fourth year.
* BND | Madison County Board will consider putting secession question to voters in November: The Government Relations Committee of the Madison County Board on April 2 approved a nonbinding advisory referendum 6-1 that asks voters if they should communicate with other counties outside Chicago about secession. The full board still needs to approve the referendum for it to be on the November ballot. The committee’s actions possibly negated a requirement that supporters gather roughly 7,800 signatures — about 8% of the county’s turnout during the last gubernatorial election — to get the referendum in front of the county’s voters.
* Tribune | Evanston to continue exploring options for migrant shelter: Discussions at the April 8 City Council meeting moved away from hosting a potential shelter at 1020 Church Street, a vacant two-story office space with the ability to house anywhere from 60 to 65 people, or the Morton Civic Center, where city operations are being temporarily moved from starting in July.
* Daily Beast | The Catfish Scandal Rocking an Illinois School Board: “We are not a court or jury, but the alleged conduct is just so deeply disturbing, and it has resulted in the district being cast in a terrible light,” board President Andrew Waeyaert said at the meeting. “The board and administration have been inundated with inquiries, complaints, and FOIA requests about this matter, and it has monopolized all of our time,” he added. “This situation and its impact have taken away countless hours from our mission, which is to serve kids and families.”
* Crain’s | On O’Hare expansion, the city gives the airlines what they want: In a letter sent to the airlines last week and obtained by Crain’s, the Johnson administration offers the airlines what they have been pushing for: a new sequence of construction for the long-stalled airport revamp as well as a signal that some of the fancier design elements included in the original blueprint could be dropped. “The city plans to prioritize construction of Satellite 1 and O’Hare global terminal before construction of Satellite 2, while continuing work on aspects of Satellite 2 and other (Terminal Area Project) elements that are necessary,” the letter states.
*Tribune | Federal court delivers another victory to Obama Foundation in park group fight: Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Diane Wood — joined by Judges Ilana Rovner and David Hamilton — ruled against the parks advocacy group, which argued in October that the city’s agreement to lease a slice of Jackson Park to former President Barack Obama’s foundation to build a museum and complex violated the public trust.
* Bloomberg | How the U.S. Steel takeover became about Biden and swing states: Unions don’t typically hold much sway in the world of takeover battles. But Nippon Steel’s bid to buy US Steel is now caught in an election year maelstrom as President Joe Biden and Donald Trump, in the wake of the union’s objections, have both publicly opposed the deal as they vie for blue-collar votes. The turmoil threatens to strain American relations with one of its top allies while underscoring how the politics of winning swing-state voters is dramatically influencing the corporate landscape.
* WCIA | UI study examines social media usage during disaster: Tweets from Puerto Rico and places in the U.S. with large Puerto Rican populations — like Florida, California, New York and Texas — were considered in the sampling. Pérez Figueroa said that despite the collapse of the island’s power grid, users in Puerto Rico were still able to access Twitter during the hurricane. He believes this is because Twitter does not require a strong signal to use, making it more reliable under extreme conditions.
*Tribune | Proposed master plan for former McDonald’s campus in Oak Brook recommends mixed-use district: The proposed master plan for a project to be developed on the former McDonald’s campus site in Oak Brook includes a mixed-use district of restaurants and retail, along with both owner-occupied condominiums and townhomes. The plan was to be submitted Tuesday, April 9 for preliminary review by the Oak Brook Village Board and still needs approval before work may begin. Village Manager Greg Summers said the preliminary board review is the very first step in the process for a proposed Planned Development.
* SJ-R | African American History Museum in Springfield searching for new executive director: The Springfield and Central Illinois African American History Museum is starting the search for their next executive director, following first director Nalo Mitchell’s resignation from the museum on March 30. Mitchell announced her leaving of the museum in a statement days before a Women’s History Month panel which took place on March 30. In the statement, Mitchell said she has served her one-year contract with the museum successfully, as she moves forward in her career.
* The Nation | Elon Musk Wants to Gut the National Labor Relations Act: In late November, at a New York Times DealBook Summit where the aspiring-to-be-rich gather to get pointers from the actually rich, the Tesla CEO explained that “I disagree with the idea of unions…. I just don’t like anything which creates a lords-and-peasants sort of thing.” In the same interview, Musk—a mega-billionaire who famously threatened, in 2018, to take away the stock options of Tesla workers if they organized to exercise their collective-bargaining rights—griped, “I think the unions naturally try to create negativity in a company.”
* NYT | The U.S. Urgently Needs a Bigger Grid. Here’s a Fast Solution: Replacing existing power lines with cables made from state-of-the-art materials could roughly double the capacity of the electric grid in many parts of the country, making room for much more wind and solar power. This technique, known as “advanced reconductoring,” is widely used in other countries. But many U.S. utilities have been slow to embrace it because of their unfamiliarity with the technology as well as regulatory and bureaucratic hurdles, researchers found.
*Sports Handle | Illinois Sports Betting Handle Totals $1.07 Billion For February: The state collected more than $12.5 million in tax receipts, lifting its two-month total for 2024 to $32.8 million. Cook County, which is home to Chicago and has a 2% levy on revenue generated within its limits, saw an inflow of $921,855 into its coffers for the month.
* Sun-Times | Amid slow start, injuries, White Sox manager Pedro Grifol faces uphill climb: Pedro Grifol, in the second year of a three-year contract, has his hands full with a roster that not only wasn’t built to win but was projected to lose 100 games. And that was before the Sox traded Cy Young candidate Dylan Cease. And before their only star, center fielder Luis Robert Jr., went down for weeks with a torn hip flexor a week into the season.
* The Southern | Despite heavy eclipse traffic, no major emergencies in region: Paul Wappel, public information officer for the Illinois Department of Transportation, said the lack of major emergencies resulted from preparations from state and local agencies. Wappel said IDOT met with more than 36 counties and municipalities months ago to plan and prepare for Monday.
