* US Rep. Brad Schneider wants President Biden to step aside…

Rep. Brad Schneider (IL-10) issued the following statement on President Biden:

“I love Joe Biden. I was proud to be the first member of the Illinois delegation to endorse his candidacy five years ago. I knew then he would be a great president and he has proven me right. If the history books were to be closed today, he would unquestionably be recorded as one of our greatest presidents:

* He rescued our country from a potential despot and restored international confidence in the U.S. as the world’s indispensable nation.

* He guided our nation through a global pandemic, crafting and passing the American Rescue Plan to ensure the U.S. not only weathered the crisis, but that our economy would emerge from COVID the strongest in the world, and that we would help lift the economies of other nations as well.

* He passed transformative, bipartisan legislation, including the Infrastructure and Jobs Act, the CHIPS + Science Act and the PACT Act that will serve our nation for years to come.

* He lowered costs for families, took on the climate crisis and made our tax code fairer with the Inflation Reduction Act.

* He re-established, revitalized and expanded our alliances around the globe after four years of potentially catastrophic diminishment by Donald Trump.

President Biden now has the opportunity to secure his legacy and boldly deliver the nation to a new generation of leadership.

The stakes in this election could not be higher. Donald Trump and the administration he would install are an absolute threat to the very core of our nation. He is publicly committed to undermining our constitution and the democratic republic it established. A second Trump administration will tear apart our economy, further devastate reproductive freedom, threaten our national security and degrade our vital leadership role in the world order that we helped establish after World War II.

We are faced with a stark choice: be resigned to slog through this election praying we can successfully defend our democracy, or enthusiastically embrace a vibrant vision for our future, building on the extraordinary foundation President Biden has created for our nation over the past four years.

I choose the latter.

I love President Biden. I am forever grateful for his leadership and service to our nation. The time has come, however, for President Biden to heroically pass the torch to a new generation of leadership to guide us to the future he has enabled and empowered us to pursue.

In his farewell address, George Washington set a standard that every president since has tried to live up to. He declined to run for a third term – despite the encouragement of the nation and many of his supporters – for the good of the nation and the people. He knew when it was time to pass the torch.

In passing the torch now, President Biden has a chance to live up to this standard and seal his place in history as one of the greatest leaders our nation, and history, has ever known. He can lead the transition of power to a new generation that can build a stronger party and a stronger nation. I fear if he fails to make the right choice, our democracy will hang in the balance.”

US Sen. Tammy Duckworth told reporters today Biden is “our President, he’s our nominee.”

*** Statewide ***

* WBBM | 1.5 million Illinoisans at risk of seeing higher water bill: Find out why: Aqua Illinois and Illinois American Water have requested the Illinois Commerce Commission approve millions in rate hikes in November and December. CUB’s Director of Government Affairs Bryan McDaniel says, since 2013, the companies have bought 59 water systems across the state and passed the costs on to customers.

*** Chicago ***

* WTTW | Chicago Taxpayers Have Paid $35.7M to Defend Disgraced Detective Reynaldo Guevara, With No End in Sight: In addition to the cost of outside attorneys, Chicago taxpayers spent an additional $60.5 million to settle six lawsuits filed by Chicagoans who said they were the victims of Guevara’s misconduct. Another 34 lawsuits are pending, with the latest lawsuit against the city and the former detective filed June 26. In all, it has already cost Chicago taxpayers more than $98 million to defend the disgraced former detective, investigate his conduct and resolve lawsuits that allege Guevara violated dozens of Chicagoans’ civil rights, according to WTTW News’ analysis.

* Sun-Times | $11.25M settlement proposed for women paramedic candidates victimized by discriminatory CFD physical test: The post-hiring test was so demanding and so unrelated to the skills needed as a Chicago Fire Department paramedic that four of the 12 plaintiffs suffered “career-ending” hip and back injuries during the testing. One of the women literally “tore her hip open,” her attorney said. “They were terrible tests. Constructor-concocted tests. Terribly dangerous,” said Marni Willenson, an attorney representing the impacted women.

* Block Club | Billionaire Family Behind Walmart Buys Old West Side Women’s Shelter, Will Create Community Space: Matt Berenberg, who is part of the ownership team and is responsible for overseeing design and construction, said Samantha Walton decided to buy the 132-year-old building after reading Block Club’s coverage about the previous owners planning to tear it down. […] Preliminary plans include creating a multifunctional space to host technology, art and food programs, Berenberg told neighbors at a meeting Tuesday at the Revival Fellowship Church of God, 2810 W. Washington Blvd.

* WBEZ | Students at a Chicago university can get credit for life experience but only a few get the chance: Called the University Without Walls, it’s based on a model that’s been around since the 1970s and awards students course credits for life experience. […] Students enrolled in University Without Walls are paired with a faculty advisor who helps them craft their work and life experience into a narrative portfolio. […] University Without Walls could be transformative for so many students. But it requires consistent one-on-one advising, which takes a lot of financial support. And state funding for Northeastern Illinois University is a fraction of what it was two decades ago.

* Block Club | Bike Lane Ticketing Program Still Hasn’t Started 16 Months After City Approved It: But 16 months after the ordinance’s passage, no tickets have been issued under the program. The Council’s pedestrian and traffic safety committee on Wednesday approved an extension to the pilot’s end date, but no one at the hearing was sure when exactly it would get started. Robert Kearney, chief of staff for Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd), one of the original ordinance’s sponsors, told alderpeople the delays were due to difficulties the Chicago Department of Transportation has had in finding a proper vendor for the pilot technology.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Herald | ‘Trailblazer’ Nanci Vanderweel, who shattered political glass ceilings in the 70s, dies at 87: Vanderweel was 33 when she became the first woman elected to the village board in 1971. The top vote-getter in that election, Vanderweel ran on the campaign slogan, “A woman trustee, why not?” Upon her retirement as township supervisor in 2013, she told the Daily Herald it wasn’t easy getting others to take her seriously during the early days of her political career. “We were a fighting bunch,” Vanderweel said. “Most of the men were chauvinists on the board. It took some getting used to for them. They weren’t the good ol’ boys anymore.”

* Lake County News-Sun | Waukegan planning to prepare former industrial site for development; ‘A great opportunity … to live close to the lake’: Imagine a lakefront park in Waukegan, south of the harbor and the Amstutz Expressway, with homes across the street with a very short walk to the beach on land that once housed a factory that fabricated steel products. Before any of that becomes a reality, 10,000 tons of contaminated dirt must be removed from the 11-acre site and it needs to be remediated so it is safe for residential and light-commercial development.

*** Downstate ***

* WAND | Police still investigating one year after Emma Shafer stabbed to death: Friends, family, and the police are still seeking closure and answers one year after Emma Shafer was fatally stabbed. […] Friends and family have paid tribute to Emma’s memory with Facebook posts as today marks one year since her death. […] Police believe Gabriel Calixto Pichardo of Bethalto, Illinois, is responsible for Shafer’s death. A warrant was issued for his arrest on July 12, 2023 for three counts of first-degree murder and aggravated domestic battery with a bond amount of $3,000,000.

* WICS | Illinois State Fair announces tram service: “We are excited to bring back trams as a convenient way to move our guests around the Illinois State Fair,” said Jerry Costello II, Director of the Illinois Department of Agriculture. “The fairgrounds cover 366 acres, and we want to make the experience accessible with tram stops at popular spots around the grounds.” Maps showing the tram routes will be displayed on the fairgrounds. Stops include the Campground/Arena entrance, 4-H Road at the 4-H Master Gardeners, entrance to Conservation World, Goat Barn at Grandstand Avenue, Horse Racing Office, South End of the Half-Mile Track near Gate 4, and the Hobbies Arts & Crafts building.

* WCIA | IL Dept. of Corrections investigating personal data breach at Danville Correctional Center: Employees at a Danville prison have been told their data may be compromised. The Illinois Department of Corrections is investigating a breach of personalized data at the Danville Correctional Center. IDOC confirmed with WCIA they notified the Illinois Attorney General, Illinois General Assembly, and the Department of Information Technology about the leak, under Illinois’ Personal Information Protection Act.

*** National ***

* LA Times | RIP Redbox. The DVD kiosk business will shut down and fire 1,000 people: In 2022, Oakbrook Terrace, Ill.-based Redbox was acquired by Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment in a $375-million all-stock deal. […] The Chicken Soup entertainment arm took on significant debt to complete the transaction, a risky bet on the future viability of DVD rentals. In public filings, the company blamed the COVID-19 pandemic and last summer’s Hollywood strikes for choking off the flow of fresh content.

* AP | Two 80-something journalists tried ChatGPT. Then, they sued to protect the ‘written word’: Basbanes was the first of the duo to try fiddling with AI chatbots, finding them impressive but prone to falsehoods and lack of attribution. The friends commiserated and filed their lawsuit earlier this year, seeking to represent a class of writers whose copyrighted work they allege “has been systematically pilfered by” OpenAI and its business partner Microsoft.