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Isabel’s afternoon roundup
Monday, Apr 28, 2025 - Posted by Isabel Miller
* WAND…
* Center Square | Illinois officials advocate for workplace safety during workers memorial: Members of trade and labor unions used the anniversary of the creation of the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Act, also known as OSHA, for the memorial. Nick Yelverton is president of the Springfield and Central Illinois Trades and Labor Council. “On this Workers Memorial Day, we honor and remember those who lost their lives on the job and affirm every worker’s basic right to a safe and healthy workplace,” he said during the ceremony. Illinois AFL-CIO President Tim Drea also honored fallen workers, and the creation of OSHA. * WICS | Illinois to host virtual event on high-speed rail feasibility study in April 2025: The High-Speed Railway Commission, in collaboration with the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), is set to host its inaugural virtual public event in April 2025. The event aims to introduce the concept of high-speed passenger rail service, present study findings, and gather public feedback on the Illinois High-Speed Rail Feasibility Study. The study examines the potential for establishing a high-speed rail network within Illinois, focusing on a corridor from Chicago to St. Louis. It also considers connections to existing Amtrak, Metra, and MetroLink services, as well as additional key cities across the state, including Rockford, Moline, Peoria, and Decatur. * WAND | Capparelli to seek Republican Senate nomination: Businessman and educator R. Cary Capparelli is seeking the Republican nomination for the United States Senate from Illinois. Capparelli is the son of the late Ralph C. Capparelli who served in the Illinois House of Representatives as a moderate Democrat for 17 terms. * WBEZ | With Head Start preschool on Trump’s chopping block, parents warn of impact on kids: President Donald Trump’s administration seeks to kill Head Start next year as part of a large reduction in federal government programs and services. Any hint that the child care program for low-income families may be in danger brings Bahena to tears. “I feel, oh, man, I’m gonna, I’m getting kind of emotional,” said the 28-year-old mom. “Eliminating Head Start would keep families poor. It would keep them uneducated and hungry … hungry for opportunities for quality of life.” * Chalkbeat Chicago | Chicago Public Schools floats hundreds of layoffs as it looks to close $529 million budget gap: Between 1,600 and 1,700 positions based inside schools could be cut, according to a presentation used to brief board members obtained by Chalkbeat. However, it’s not clear if the number represents a net reduction in the overall number of CPS employees. The district currently employs more than 41,000 people. * Tribune | Bally’s Chicago files amended IPO eliminating minority investor requirement: Casino executives say they are confident the IPO, which was challenged by two federal lawsuits over alleged discrimination against white men, will pass muster with regulators and still meet a 25% minority investment requirement for Bally’s Chicago with the city. “Thousands of qualified minorities have already applied,” said Chris Jewett, Bally’s senior vice president of corporate development. “We’re going to meet the goal.” * Crain’s | Judge probes whether Trump retaliated against Jenner & Block: A federal judge hearing Jenner & Block’s motion to shut down an executive order from President Donald Trump targeting the firm’s operations questioned the government’s motivations behind its actions. The government said in court today the actions detailed in the order, which include revoking security clearances for Jenner employees and limiting the firm’s access to federal buildings, are well within the president’s power, particularly since those moves are related to national security and government secrets. * WTTW | After Objections, CPD Agrees to Rule Revision That Would Ban Stops and Searches Based on Race: Reform Groups: The coalition of police reform groups behind the consent decree — the federal court order requiring the CPD to change the way it trains, supervises and disciplines officers — told U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer that CPD had revised proposed new rules designed to limit when Chicago police officers can stop and search Chicagoans after they objected in February. Had CPD failed to agree to revise the policy by Saturday, the coalition indicated it would ask Pallmeyer to intervene and force changes to the policy, which they said violated the U.S. Constitution and the consent decree as originally proposed. * Sun-Times | City Council members negotiating response to ‘teen takeovers’: Participants said they were given a map of the beach and broke off into groups to discuss what they would do to try to keep the gatherings from getting out of hand. Responses ran the gamut. “On one extreme, you had people talking about cutting off the parking lots, shutting down buses,” recalled participant Kofi Ademola, with GoodKids MadCity. “Completely trying to prevent young people from even getting access to the beach. * Crain’s | What American Airlines says about its battle with United at O’Hare: “First, if United is gaining share in Chicago, they’re gaining it from somebody other than us. So, let’s start there,” Steve Johnson, American’s vice chairman, told analysts on April 24 when the Fort Worth-based carrier reported earnings. He said the carrier isn’t giving up on Chicago: “I mean, it’s a huge market. It’s a huge business market. It’s our third-largest hub. It’s a really key part of our network. It has been profitable in the past, even as a shared hub. * Naperville Sun | Cyber incident causes outages at DuPage County sheriff’s office, courthouse: “The county was made aware of a cyber incident occurring around 2:30 a.m. that is impacting the sheriff’s office, the 18th Judicial Circuit Court and the Circuit Court Clerk’s Office,” DuPage County Chief Judge Bonnie Wheaton, Circuit Court Clerk Candace Adams and Sheriff Jim Mendrick said in a joint emailed statement. In-person court operations have been minimally impacted and are expected to continue as scheduled, the statement said. There has been no impact on jail operations or on public safety, officials said. * NBC Chicago | New shopping, entertainment districts coming to Niles as part of major ‘renaissance’: After more than 45 years, suburban Niles is seeing a redevelopment “renaissance,” with new buildings, apartments, and at least two brand-new shopping, dining and entertainment districts set to revitalize once-booming parts of the village. “We’ve got a lot going on here in the village right now,” Niles Mayor George D. Alpogianis said Monday. “We’re in what we’ve deemed a sort of ‘Renaissance Era’ — a lot of building going on, more building that’s been done over the last two and a half decades plus.” * Daily Herald | Long Story Short Pub writing new chapter in Barrington history: It is a joint venture of Long & Co. Jewelers owner Brian Long, who owns the building, and Bryan McGonigal, who owned the cherished McGonigal’s Pub, which closed at the end of 2023. Boloney’s, which closed in 2017, once occupied space next to another Barrington icon, The Catlow Theater, which Long and his family are reviving. Now Boloney’s is coming back to life at Long Story Short as Boloney’s East. […] The pub will operate with a “cold kitchen” concept, avoiding the need for fryers, stoves, or ventilation hoods that would trigger costly building code upgrades. * USA Today | NWS forecasts chance of showers, dusty winds in Illinois this week. Here’s the forecast: Southern winds between 20-45 mph may combine with dry soils on Monday, leading to blowing dust and poor visibility in rural areas. This could cause travel difficulties for high-profile vehicles. The NWS recommends using caution while driving and slowing down and pulling off the road if you encounter dust. * WGLT | Some ISU students left feeling uneasy after 2nd shooting near campus during this school year : Aniyah Weddington, a junior psychology major, was at the Bone when Sunday’s shooting happened outside a student group’s event. Weddington was there for the event – a new-member presentation for an ISU sorority in the Bone’s Brown Ballroom. One of her sisters said she heard gunshots, then people started to evacuate. “Chairs were trampled over. People were trampled over. People got hurt. Scratched, scraped,” said Weddington. “There were parents, grandparents, children there. It was honestly very scary.” * WICS | Two New Deputies Sworn in for Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office: Sheriff Paula Crouch led the ceremony, highlighting the importance of public service and the responsibility that comes with wearing the badge. She noted that bringing new deputies onto the team helps strengthen the department’s mission of providing professional, community-focused law enforcement. Nicholas Sunley of Pleasant Plains, and Evan Chastain of Rochester told us, “We are excited to begin this journey of serving Sangamon County and engaging with the community.” * Poynter | Access to public records and officials is worsening, investigative reporters warn in survey: Nearly 70% of investigative journalists in the U.S. reported “limited access to records or sources” as their greatest barrier in doing accountability journalism, according to a survey from the University of Florida released Wednesday. The survey, released in conjunction with UF’s awarding of the Collier Prize for State and Government Accountability, found that many investigative journalists face issues obtaining public records and interviews with government officials. Compounding their difficulties are financial, political and public pressures. Fifty-one journalists working at state or regional news organizations responded to the survey in March.
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- H-W - Monday, Apr 28, 25 @ 3:24 pm:
Re: Capitol New Illinois Story
To put this problem in greater perspective, I can provide anecdotal evidence from one University.
When Jack Thomas was the President at Western Illinois University, his administration worked very hard to balance the cost of attending WIU, with the known availability of funding for new students. We knew that MAP Grants plus Pell Grants plus Stafford Loans maxed out at just over $20,000 total for poor students. Because the latter two funding sources were related to family income, and tended to offset each other, we knew that our students could afford to attend WIU if our price was about $21,000 for room, board, tuition and books. That is how the Thomas Administration tended to determine the cost of coming to WIU, as late as 2015.
Ten years later, we now charge $30,000 to attend WIU, although MAP Grants, Pell Grants and Stafford Loans have not changed much. In addition, State Appropriations have not increased much if at all over the past 20 years I have been at WIU - they are locked in at about $50 M.
This situation, has made public higher education in Illinois less and less affordable each year for the past 10 years. And in so doing, it means (a) fewer poor students can afford to come to college regardless of their intelligence scores, and (b) those that do attend one year, are left unable to return the second year due to excessive debt to the university from the first year.
And even worse than that, other states do a better job at managing the cost of attending college, so as to not lose their students to “other states.”
The solution is not easy, because it is not fiscally rational. Rather, it is a moral dilemma. Either the state comes up with a new formula for funding higher education, or the system will continue to wither, as is has for the past 8-10 years.
The moral solution involves investing more in higher education, which by default means figuring out how to cut costs elsewhere. And unfortunately, higher education and its returns are a low priority in the State of Illinois.
- Patricia - Monday, Apr 28, 25 @ 3:48 pm:
==A donation from an anonymous donor is keeping the Soybean Innovation Lab at the U of I operational after the USAID closure.==
Not the best way of keeping government operations running, IMHO. Maybe this “anonymous donor” can help lower tuition at the U of I as well?
- NIU Grad - Monday, Apr 28, 25 @ 4:11 pm:
“The cost to attend state universities has been rising, and some institutions have said they’ll have to continue pushing the brunt of state budget shortfalls onto students and families if there isn’t a change.”
I think this is why the administration wants to move on and start focusing more on community colleges: The default position of our state universities is to raise tuition and not cut spending on programs. Community colleges are very practical because they’re mostly reliant on a fixed budget from property taxes and have to focus on educational programs that provide the most benefit to students. Maybe asking students to take up more debt for unemployable degrees isn’t a winning business strategy?
With federal cuts only expected to get worse and the feds going after international students, our universities are about to take a bigger financial hit than they could have ever imagined and there’s no way that tuition increases or more state spending can bail them out of it.
- Chicago Voter - Monday, Apr 28, 25 @ 5:25 pm:
NIU Grad, as a reminder, during the Rauner imposed budget crisis, universities received no funding from the state while community colleges continued to get funding from property taxes. Budgets had to be cut. Programming had to be cut. Jobs had to be cut or went unfilled. That time without funding from the state is something the universities are still trying to overcome.
Do homeowners want to pay more in property taxes to support 48 more “universities” as you propose? I think not. And do legislators want to face voters when they voted to raise their property taxes to increase programming at community colleges? I think not.