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Isabel’s morning briefing
Friday, Jul 12, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller * ICYMI: US Reps. Brad Schneider, Eric Sorensen call on President Biden to drop reelection bid. Tribune…
- Following the news conference freshman U.S. Rep. Eric Sorensen, who represents the Quad Cities and Rockford areas, said it was time for Biden to step aside. - The National Republican Congressional Committee called Sorensen’s statement “an election year stunt.” Click here for our updated recap. * WGN | State Rep. Bob Morgan: How the Healthcare Protection Act will reform health coverage in Illinois: State Representative Bob Morgan (D-Deerfield) joins John Williams to talk about Governor Pritzker signing the Healthcare Protection Act into law. Rep. Morgan explains how this new law will reform health coverage in Illinois, how it will impact people’s healthcare, what this new law covers, and how this law will no longer allow insurers to stand in the way of the health care you need. * Pantagraph | Illinois lawmaker recap: Sen. Dave Koehler lauds education investments: Koehler said lawmakers “did a good job” funding education, particularly early childhood and K-12. An additional $350 million was included for the evidence-based funding formula, which seeks to close the funding gap between rich and poor school districts. That brings total invested up to $2 billion since it was enacted in 2017. More funding was also included for the state’s Smart Start initiative, which will create an additional 5,000 pre-K slots across the state. […] While touting pre-K and K-12 investments, Koehler said he was disappointed by the comparatively flat higher education budget. The amount allocated to the state’s public universities and community colleges only increased by 2%. Funds for need-based scholarships through the Monetary Assistance Program increased by just $10 million. * Pantagraph | Illinois lawmaker recap: Sen. Chapin Rose disappointed to see carbon capture legislation pass: Rose said the biggest disappointments from session were the budget and the carbon capture bill passing through both chambers. Rose said he’s actively spoken out about the carbon capture legislation and how this would negatively impact certain areas around the state. “I don’t want to hear anything more from the supposed environmentalists about how they care about the environment when they deliberately had the choice. We gave them (a bipartisan) letter 10 days out that said ‘don’t forget this. Make sure you’re not including sequestration on the Mahomet Aquifer.’ They knew about this, and they did it anyway.” * ProPublica | Two Reporters Covering Education in the Midwest Followed the Money … to a School in New York: Shrub Oak International School in Mohegan Lake, New York. Black eyes and bruises. Insufficient staffing. Medical neglect. No kitchen. At least 15 Illinois students were enrolled there this past school year using state and local taxpayer dollars at $573,200 each. No state outside of New York sends more students to Shrub Oak than Illinois. * Tribune | Illinois GOP set to select one of three finalists for state chair: The Illinois GOP has long been beset by fighting between moderate and conservative wings. That conflict also has become a geographic battle between hard-core conservatives downstate and the more populous suburban areas, even as that region’s reputation as a moderate Republican stronghold has faded and Democrats have made major inroads. Democrats now control all statewide offices, the Supreme Court and have supermajorities in the Illinois House and Senate. * NBC Chicago | Yuengling weighs in on rumors that popular beer brand is coming to Illinois: Yuengling is aware of the speculation, but a representative for the brand wouldn’t confirm the rumors– or even if the company plans to expand at all. “Yuengling has not announced when or where its next expansion will be,” said Yuengling Director of Communications Paul Capelli. * WBEZ | Mayor Johnson rejects cuts in CPS’ proposed budget meant to fill a half-billion deficit: The day after Chicago Public Schools officials released a budget proposal that filled a half-billion dollar deficit in part by some cutbacks in staff and other areas, Mayor Brandon Johnson made the surprising declaration that he would not accept cuts by the district. […] It is highly unusual for the mayor, who appoints the schools CEO, to suggest he is unhappy with the school district’s budget after it is presented to the public. It also is unclear what options Johnson has to fill the deficit, though his deputy mayor for education, Jen Johnson, said the administration was “working on something.” * Tribune | Bally’s Chicago secures casino financing, unveils new hotel design: Bally’s announced a deal Friday with Gaming and Leisure Properties, a Pennsylvania-based real estate investment trust, to provide $940 million to fund the construction of the permanent casino. In addition, Bally’s has also finalized redesign of its planned 500-room hotel tower, which has been shifted from north of the casino to the south to avoid damaging city water pipes along the Chicago River, pending approval from the city’s planning department. * Daily Southtown | Dolton insurance would only cover a third of $33.5 million judgement from fatal police chase lawsuit: Under state law, municipalities are “entitled and directed” to pay the judgments owed and may do so by issuing bonds or levying taxes. The plaintiffs’ attorneys are requesting Dolton float a municipal bond to allow their clients to be paid upfront, while the village repays the bond over multiple years at an interest rate lower than what the court judgement is accruing. […] Dolton has also been penalized for failing to fulfill an agreed settlement of $220,000 in a whistleblower lawsuit from 2019 despite the Village Board approving the payment. After a June 24 hearing, a Cook County court froze double the amount of the settlement in a village account. The attorney for the plaintiff in that case said the check “is just sitting on the mayor’s desk.” * Daily Southtown | Will County committee seeks to end ‘divisive’ proclamations, then proposes ‘non-sanctuary’ designation: At the same time some Will County Board members want to eliminate proclamations from their monthly meetings because they can be divisive and political, a board committee passed, along party lines, a resolution declaring Will County a non-sanctuary county, which some board members said was both divisive and political. The Will County Executive Committee, which includes about half of the Will County Board, recommended 7-5 Thursday to advance a resolution to declare the county a non-sanctuary county for asylum seekers and illegal immigration. * SJ-R | Popular low-cost airline temporarily ending route from Springfield: Breeze Airways, a low-cost airline headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, has been busy adding flights to its roster of 29 states in the past couple of months, but the company plans on shuttering one of its flights: the nonstop service from Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport in Springfield to Tampa International Airport in Florida. The planned end of nonstop service to the popular destination will be on August 12, 2024, according to Breeze, but it won’t be forever. According to Breeze to communications specialist Ryan Williams, the flights to Tampa were seasonal for the summer and will be returning in 2025. * Tribune | US appeals court says some NCAA athletes may qualify as employees under federal wage-and-hour laws: College athletes whose efforts primarily benefit their schools may qualify as employees deserving of pay under federal wage-and-hour laws, a U.S. appeals court ruled Thursday in a setback to the NCAA. The court, in the latest challenge to the NCAA’s long-held notion of “amateurism” in college sports, said that a test should be developed to differentiate between students who play college sports for fun and those whose effort “crosses the legal line into work.”
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- Amalia - Friday, Jul 12, 24 @ 8:19 am:
the case re NCAA athletes as employees should be of concern to public universities in Illinois which, of course, use our tax dollars. Discussion of how all of this affects female athletes is wanting. Network contracts do include more than men’s football and men’s basketball but no one seems to remember that. The wrong decisions in court or in legislation can deeply affect women who work just as hard as men in their sports.
- H-W - Friday, Jul 12, 24 @ 9:00 am:
Re: Daily Southtown report on Will County
The “nonsanctuary county” proposal is a statewide project of the IL GOP. The same hate-messaging is being attempted here by the McDonough County Board.
I can only guess the idea is supported by people who believe the fiction surrounding “Constitutional Sheriffs” as representing a law unto themselves. I imagine the idea is to validate the fiction that Sheriffs are not required to enforce state and federal laws.
The proponents of such proposals for segregation would be more effective in getting their point across, if they simply had the courage to wear white robes and hats in public.
- Lincoln Lad - Friday, Jul 12, 24 @ 9:26 am:
Frank Zuccarelli was a powerful and effective political force in the south suburbs in his role as Thornton Township Supervisor. To go from him to Tiffany Henyard is unbelievable. One in a million…
- Excitable Boy - Friday, Jul 12, 24 @ 9:55 am:
Of all the beers I’d be excited to see sold in Illinois, Yuengling ranks nearly dead last. Highly overrated.
- bogey golfer - Friday, Jul 12, 24 @ 10:04 am:
Yuengling coming to Illinois would be fantastic. Best non-craft beer.
- Paddyrollingstone - Friday, Jul 12, 24 @ 10:17 am:
It pains me to say it but I do hope the President declares victory and steps aside. I think he is one of the finest people ever to hold the office.
Yuengling coming here is a bit of sunshine. I remember when whatever Yuengling is running the place endorsed Trump in 2016. I vowed never again to drink it. I rescinded my boycott not less than five minutes later as some things must remain above politics.
- Three Dimensional Checkers - Friday, Jul 12, 24 @ 10:25 am:
Surprise, surprise, the Bally’s casino project is not in as bad a shape as the Mayor’s Office made it seem.
- Lurker - Friday, Jul 12, 24 @ 10:33 am:
The Chicago school district is suggesting saving money and the mayor is rejecting it? I’ll be amazed if this guy gets re-elected.
- TheInvisibleMan - Friday, Jul 12, 24 @ 10:33 am:
“The proponents of such proposals for segregation” (Will County)
Note the vote breakdown, of 7 to 5. Which mirrors the party lines of the assigned committee members.
Another wonderful example of how the supposedly slim majority D county board, with the inclusion of the tie-breaking county executive, somehow ends up creating a default R majority committee.
- South Side - Friday, Jul 12, 24 @ 10:36 am:
Will any elected officials that have constituents in Dolton please do your due diligence and your elected officed job and help the people in Dolton ASAP! It starts with the 2 US Senators, the Governor, the State Senator, the State representative, the County Representative and finally the FBI, State Police and County Police!
- JS Mill - Friday, Jul 12, 24 @ 10:43 am:
=The “nonsanctuary county” proposal is a statewide project of the IL GOP.=
The “sanctuary” city/county/state declarations never really were a big deal to me, but there is a key difference between the two different declarations as I read them.
The sanctuary city etc. declarations are consistent with the uniquely American (or at least it used to be) theme of: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” from the New Colossus.
The non sanctuary bit is antithetical to everything we are supposed to stand for and says pretty clearly “keep out”. The same thing many many other immigrant groups faced (I am sure it includes the ancestors of some of the very people voting for these things) and you would think such people would have some sense of history and civics, but alas they do not.
- Siualum - Friday, Jul 12, 24 @ 11:11 am:
Re: Sorensen - damned if ya do, damned if ya don’t.
- Pot calling kettle - Friday, Jul 12, 24 @ 11:40 am:
== Re: Sorensen - damned if ya do, damned if ya don’t.==
He ruined their new ad campaign.
- Cool Papa Bell - Friday, Jul 12, 24 @ 11:41 am:
=College athletes whose efforts primarily benefit their schools may qualify as employees deserving of pay under federal wage-and-hour laws, a U.S. appeals court ruled Thursday in a setback to the NCAA=
Compensation from work is often directly connected to the value you bring your organization and the availability of your particular skill set.
Football players and men’s basketball players bring in tens of millions of dollars to university athletic departments. Those who run track, play baseball or softball do not.
I’ll be curious to see more of how this works out.
If players are workers, can you just fire them for underperforming on the field? Would Title 9 still apply in a realm where players aren’t only students they are also employees?
In less than a decade power five football and basketball teams will be “academies” that are housed on campuses but hold no formal athletic tie.
- H-W - Friday, Jul 12, 24 @ 11:47 am:
@ JS Mill
It seems each semester that most (literal) of the students enrolled in my college courses have no knowledge of their family history. At best, some know the names of all four grandparents, but most do not. When I ask about family origin (Nationality or “Creed”), most (literal) have no idea in the sense they know they may be German or Irish or Polish or Scandinavian, but cannot begin to guess when their ancestors came to the U.S. It is not uncommon for African American and Latino students to say they learned more about their ancestry in my Race and Ethnic Relations course than they learned at home.
If Americans can so easily forget their birth and family history, it becomes easier to fear (and curse) modern immigrants and foreigners. We need to change this, and it is not hard to do. Education is the key to healthy citizenship.
- Grandson of Man - Friday, Jul 12, 24 @ 12:10 pm:
“Bally’s announced a deal Friday with Gaming and Leisure Properties”
But we were told the casino looks doomed by the ever-optimistic Chicago news media.
- JS Mill - Friday, Jul 12, 24 @ 12:36 pm:
=Education is the key to healthy citizenship.=
Education, at least public education, is being attacked from all sides, including from inside. I am not hopeful right now but stay in the fight (and it is a fight on too many days) even though I can walk away any day. I am not a martyr, I am just to stubborn to quit.