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Isabel’s afternoon roundup
Wednesday, Nov 20, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller * Subscribers know more. Brenden Moore…
* FYI…
* Sun-Times | ‘Do the political work, keep the contract’: Top precinct captain takes the stand against Illinois’ once-powerful House speaker: A former top precinct captain for former Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan testified Wednesday that he was paid thousands of dollars through another Madigan ally’s law firm so he’d continue campaigning for the Southwest Side Democrat — and for little else. That money came from ComEd, jurors in Madigan’s racketeering conspiracy trial have been told. It was funneled to Ed Moody through Michael McClain, an ex-lawmaker-turned-lobbyist. The utility ultimately paid $1.3 million to five Madigan allies over eight years, evidence has shown. * Post-Tribune. | Court filing: Former Portage Mayor James Snyder can be tried on bribery charge: Former Portage Mayor James Snyder could find himself having another go in court on a bribery charge involving the purchase of garbage trucks if the government so chooses, according to a Wednesday filing by the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. The appellate court had its say after the case was remanded from the U.S. Supreme Court, which in June overturned Snyder’s conviction 6-3 for accepting $13,000 from the Buha brothers, owners of Great Lakes Peterbilt, for alleged consulting work, and deemed the payment a gratuity. * Center Square | IL Republicans praise Trump’s Department of Education pick, plan to close agency: Wednesday, state Rep. Blaine Wilhour praised McMahon as Trump’s pick.“Linda McMahon did a great job cutting through the B.S. at the Small Business [Administration] in the last Trump presidency, so we’re pretty excited about it,” Wilhour said. * Bloomberg | S&P Warns It May Downgrade Chicago’s Credit Rating Amid Budget Fight: S&P Global Ratings late Tuesday put the city on “CreditWatch with negative implications” as officials mull one-time measures to close the shortfall. While the firm affirmed its BBB+ rating, analysts see at least a one-in-two chance of a cut in the next three months. A downgrade hinges on the 2025 budget passage and whether the gap is closed with one-time fixes rather than structural changes, Scott Nees, an S&P credit analyst, said in a statement. * Press Release | Broad Coalition Launches to Oppose Chicago Alcohol Tax Hike: By hiking a regressive tax, City Hall would disproportionately harm those who can least afford it with low-income Chicagoans and local small businesses bearing the greatest share of the burden. As working families in Chicago struggle to make ends meet with rising costs, the proposed alcohol tax hike will mean paying even more at the checkout counter. “City Hall wants Chicagoans to pay one of the highest alcohol tax rates in the nation,” said the Chicago Alcohol Tax Coalition. “Instead of helping families make ends meet, supporting workers, and growing our small businesses, City Hall is trying to make it even harder to do business in the city of Chicago. As representatives of small businesses, home-grown companies, and working people across this city, we are coming together to tell City Hall that Chicago can’t afford this latest tax increase. We urge the members of Chicago City Council to stand with us and say no to the alcohol tax hike.”
* ProPublica | In Five Years, Chicago Has Barely Made Progress on Its Court-Ordered Police Reforms. Here’s Why: In fact, all told, police have fully complied with just 9% of the agreement’s requirements. And while excessive force complaints from citizens have dropped, complaints about all forms of misconduct have risen. Sheila Bedi, an attorney who represented the coalition of police reform groups that sued the city years ago, called the faltering reform effort a “tragedy.” “It has been a waste of time and money,” said Bedi, a Northwestern University law professor. “It has been nothing more than an exercise in pushing paper.” * Tribune | Chicago Park District $600M budget includes fee hikes but stable property taxes: The fresh fees included in the proposed 2025 budget would apply to bowling, roller skating, harbor, parking and green fees at district golf courses. Day camp rates will also climb back to pre-pandemic levels, but only for some programs, General Superintendent and CEO Rosa Escareño told the Tribune Tuesday ahead of her budget presentation to the district’s board. “We’re looking at this through an equitable lens, so some of the camps that can absorb and be brought up to the 2019 levels, they will,” she said. In areas with lower-income families, “those will not rise yet.” * Tribune | Chicago seen as safe haven for homeless youth in uncertain climate: ‘I wouldn’t trade it for the world’: Indeed, as attitudes and legal protections toward LGBTQ+ populations have deteriorated in other parts of the country, some Chicago-based organizations have reported a spike in the past two years of unaccompanied youth from outside Chicago who seek their help. “We’re at a moment where national policy and state policy are pushing people out of their communities,” said Niya Kelly, director of state legislative policy, equity and transformation for the Chicago Coalition to end Homelessness. “They may end up in the state of Illinois or in Chicago because it feels safe, or safer, like you can build a community here.” * Block Club | State Board Of Ed Closes Investigation Into CPS Restraint, Timeout Practices After Almost Two Years: The district’s office for special education has created a Physical Restraint Time Out Team, which is responsible for documenting incidents, school staff has been fully trained in de-escalation and physical management techniques, and the district is working closely with schools if additional training is needed, according to the district spokesperson. Chicago Public Schools reports that 5,140 staff members across schools are fully trained in both de-escalation and physical management techniques as of this month. * Chicago Reader | Shedd workers approve union: Shedd Aquarium is the ninth Chicago-area cultural institution to unionize with AFSCME Council 31 in the past three years. Now that they’ve won the union vote, members have set their sights on negotiating their first contract with Shedd leadership. The freshly unionized workers include 110 employees in guest relations, 50 in learning and community, and 15 in development and marketing. Some portion of workers are not yet unionized—like those in the animal care department—but are on track for a union vote soon. * Sun-Times | Angel Reese, former Sky coach Teresa Weatherspoon won’t reunite in Unrivaled league’s inaugural season: On Wednesday, rosters were announced for the league co-founded by Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier, and Reese landed on the Rose Basketball Club, coached by Nola Henry. Reese’s teammates include Kahleah Copper and Azurá Stevens, members of the Sky’s 2021 WNBA championship team; three-time WNBA champion Chelsea Gray; guard Brittney Sykes; and shooting guard Lexie Hull. Weatherspoon was tapped to lead Vinyl Basketball Club. Her roster includes Wings guard Arike Ogunbowale, Dream guard Rhyne Howard, Fever forward Aliyah Boston, Dream guard Jordin Canada, Sparks shooting guard Rae Burrell and Sparks forward Dearica Hamby. Weatherspoon was fired after one season with the Sky. The team went 13-27 and failed to make the playoffs for the first time since 2018. * WBEZ | Without Native Americans, would we have Chicago as we know it?: November is National Native American Heritage Month. Curious City listener Mark Liechty often finds himself wondering what Chicago was like hundreds of years ago, before the city was officially incorporated in 1837, when thousands of Native Americans were living in villages throughout the region. “One of the ways I try to relate to the place I’m living is to try to understand what it was like in the past,” he said. * Sun-Times | Sake 101: Chicago experts help us navigate the mysterious, elegant Japanese rice wine: Daniel Bennett’s eye-opener came while working for Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto. For Bennett, sake provided a window into Japanese cuisine and culture. Since then, he’s passionately explored this ancient beverage, including at his current gig as assistant general manager at Sushi-san and The Omakase Room. His journey includes earning the title of certified sake professional and crafting a private label sake, Sake-san, for the restaurants in partnership with a brewery in Osaka, Japan. * Sun-Times | Move judge who released man accused of killing wife despite unsettling abuse charges, advocates say: The Network: Advocating Against Domestic Violence urged Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans to move Nowinski out of the domestic violence division and ensure that he no longer presides over such cases. Nowinski previously faced criticism for denying a protective order against Crosetti Brand, who later stabbed the pregnant woman who sought protection and killed her son in March. “Judge Nowinski’s failure to protect the community has now resulted in two tragic, preventable murders,” said Amanda Pyron, president and CEO of The Network. “He has repeatedly shown he does not have the judgment necessary to keep survivors safe, and at a minimum he must be reassigned. * Cook County Record | Controversial Cook County judge loses retention bid, unofficial vote totals show: According to unofficial results posted by the Cook County Clerk and the Chicago Board of Elections, only 57.9% of voters had voted to allow O’Malley to retain his judgeship, more than 2 percentage points short of the 60% approval needed to win another term as judge. * the Regional News | Peakau, Dodge to duke it out in Orland Park: At one time, Keith Pekau and Jim Dodge were on friendly terms. Pekau said he even supported Dodge for Illinois treasurer in the 2018 election. But things went sour during their time on the village board with Pekau being the mayor and Dodge a senior trustee and the two frequently locked horns until Dodge declined to run in 2021. Now the two will lock horns in the 2025 mayoral election, which will take place April 1. * WCIA | U of I study tracks harmful particles in landfills, wastewater plants: Scientists measured the liquid waste released by Illinois landfills and wastewater treatment plants. Although the study did find that landfills keep most of the plastic that’s dumped, and wastewater treatment plants remove 99% of microplastics, both microplastics and PFAS gather in biosolids. * WCIA | Threats against superintendent ‘not credible’: Danville Police: According to Police Chief Chris Yates, the situation stems from the “bizarre behavior” of a former student who allegedly used racist language and was displaying a Confederate flag on his truck. Geddis first created a police report with Danville Police on Sept. 30. In the report, she said she noticed a truck with Confederate flags following her throughout town and outside her workplace multiple times in late September. After reviewing surveillance camera footage, Danville Police were able to confirm that Geddis had seen multiple different trucks. None of the trucks belonged to the former student that Geddis believed to have been harassing her. * WCBU | Divided Peoria City Council passes full ban on homeless campsites: Political divisions on the Peoria City Council came to the forefront Tuesday as elected officials again weighed the possibility of adopting an ordinance to ban unauthorized camping in public. Ultimately, the council voted 6-5 to enact the prohibition of homeless encampments with the possibility of jail terms among potential penalties for multiple violations. * WCBU | Spears ekes out a win over incumbent Ierulli in contested Peoria County judicial race: Spears had 63 more votes than the incumbent after the final tally was completed. The Tazewell County public defender consistently ran ahead of Ierulli, but his lead widened as additional mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day and provisional ballots continued to be counted ahead of the November 19 deadline to close the count out. * BND | St. Clair County man, a decorated war veteran, fought years to save the home in which he died: Post-traumatic stress disorder, remnant of the firefights he took part in amid the highlands and valleys near the Cambodian border, had left him 70% disabled. Sculpture became his therapy. But neighbors complained to St. Clair County about the vividly colored scraps of metal and plastic bolted together that adorned Euge’s yard. Citations had been written and neighbor threatened a lawsuit, Jason Euge said. The most recent of those complaints was dismissed in 2020, according to St. Clair County Circuit Court records. * NYT | How Bluesky, Alternative to X and Facebook, Is Handling Explosive Growth:Bluesky was initially financed with a grant from Twitter under Dorsey; Musk cut ties with the Bluesky team after he bought Twitter. Bluesky later raised more than $23 million in two rounds of venture funding from private investors. From there, a team of about a half dozen, led by Graber, began building the “AT protocol.” That is a technical term for the code that would essentially let independent developers create their own social networks atop it, while allowing people to carry their digital identities and information across different platforms. Using this technology, Bluesky executives say, people can tailor their own algorithms to show themselves the kinds of social media posts they want to see. * AP | 6 monkeys are still on the loose from a South Carolina compound after dozens escaped: Two more Rhesus macaques were trapped Sunday outside the Alpha Genesis facility in Yemassee, bringing the total of recovered monkeys to 37 of the 43 that escaped, Alpha Genesis CEO Greg Westergaard said in a statement relayed by Yemassee Police in a social media post. Both monkeys recaptured Sunday were examined and were in “excellent condition,” said Westergaard, who was present when they were recovered.
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- Donnie Elgin - Wednesday, Nov 20, 24 @ 2:40 pm:
“MacArthur asked Moody if he’d done any other work for McClain in exchange for the roughly $45,000 he wound up being paid each year.Moody said he did not. He also told the jury that McClain told him the job was “one hell of a plum, and I owe the speaker big.”
This right here is game, set and match
- Three Dimensional Checkers - Wednesday, Nov 20, 24 @ 3:01 pm:
On behalf of the people who wanted the consent decree to fail, because it would show that police cannot be reformed, I declare that the consent decree has failed.
- Google Is Your Friend - Wednesday, Nov 20, 24 @ 3:37 pm:
==But we found many of the cases the department has cleared didn’t actually result in anyone being arrested or charged.==
Nice of Ben Bradley to join the party like this was discovered yesterday.
Previous reporting on this issue:
2024, CBS Chicago
2022, Sun-Times
2020, Tribune
- Anyone Remember - Wednesday, Nov 20, 24 @ 3:39 pm:
Unless there is a Perry Mason picture / document, the Portage case is just a waste of time with the current SCOTUS.
- James - Wednesday, Nov 20, 24 @ 7:44 pm:
The insanity of the name change legislation….