— Congressman Bill Foster is out with a new ad focusing on the Belvidere Assembly Plant and featuring members of the United Auto workers talking about how the plant was saved.
— The Illinois Federation of Teachers is out with its endorsements for the March primary. Read ‘em here. […]
— Carolyn Zasada has been endorsed by Democratic state Reps. Stephanie Kifowit and Theresa Mah in her bid for Democratic state Rep. Lance Yednock’s seat in the 76th District. Yednock isn’t running for reelection. Two other Democrats and two Republicans are also running for the seat. More from Shaw Media
* House Republican Organization…
House Republican Leader Tony McCombie is announcing new additions to her leadership teams. State Representatives Amy Elik (Alton) and Dan Ugaste (Geneva) will join McCombie in the new legislative year to continue to fight for better checks and balances in state government and to protect the rights and freedoms of Illinois residents.
Nearly $55 million in state grants are being awarded for 111 local park projects throughout Illinois to help communities acquire land and develop recreational opportunities, Gov. JB Pritzker announced today.
For the second year in a row, the governor ensured funding was set aside for economically distressed communities, resulting in 32 underserved locations receiving $18.7 million in grants from the Open Space Land Acquisition and Development, or OSLAD, program. This is the 37th year for the program, which is administered by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.
* Crain’s | Study shows how much of a boon Illinois’ film tax credit has been: The top-line numbers are eye-popping: The state averaged $404 million in direct production expenditure by Hollywood studios from 2012 to 2022, billions in additional economic benefits over that time and a $6.81 return on investment for every dollar the state spends on the tax incentive.
* Peoples Fabric | Financial Wizardry: Paul Vallas Sues to Reveal Fraudster, Finds Another Campaign Error: Two days after last year’s mayoral election, Vallas’ campaign wired $58,001.80 to an account number at Chase Bank. The recipient’s account name entered on his team’s wire transfer was “Vallas for Mayor.” Vallas initiated a lawsuit against Chase to ascertain the identity “of the individual and/or entities that may be responsible in damages related to the April 6, 2023 wire transfer,” as Vallas had “never authorized the transfer.” … It appears the money was transferred to the correct account number, but accidentally listed the wrong accountholder name. Vallas’ campaign had paid $160,260 to the same company just a few days before the wire transfer in question. Since the beginning of the year, Vallas has filed ten amendments to correct previous campaign disclosures of various errors. … In November, a currency exchange filed a lawsuit against Vallas over a campaign check they had cashed for a third party, only for Vallas to later stop payment on the check and refuse to honor it.
* Hyde Park Herald | 14 Parish gets $57M contract to supply meals for city’s migrant shelters: Hyde Park’s Caribbean fusion eatery 14 Parish received a $57 million contract with the city to supply meals to more than 7,000 migrants living in temporary shelters across the South and West sides. 14 Parish and Seventy-Seven Communities, a suburban caterer, will take over meal distribution for the city’s 28 shelters, according to a Wednesday press release. In it, the city cited a need to reduce the cost of its meal program and improve food quality as its reasons for choosing new vendors.
* Tribune | Niles, Lincolnwood, Norridge pass ordinances to curb unscheduled bus drop-offs of migrants: The ordinances generally have the same language, giving administrative fines to companies that make unscheduled stops and drop off more than 10 people in the village’s boundaries. The three villages don’t have a Metra connection to the city of Chicago but border the city at multiple points and have Pace and CTA bus routes that connect them to the city.
* Sun-Times | Chicago’s top cop halting initiative that has sent ‘scarecrow’ police cars downtown: But in an interview, Snelling raised alarms about the overtime spending and the strategy of placing cops at fixed posts. “When we’re putting overtime out there and there’s an overtime initiative, we want to make sure that we’re getting the most effective work from our officers with these overtime initiatives,” he said. “I don’t believe in the scarecrow policing, where it’s just serving as a deterrent.
* Sun-Times | Chicago police officer charged with DUI in deadly crash outside House of Blues: Tangie Brown, 40, faces counts of aggravated driving under the influence, unlawful use of communication device, reckless driving and other charges in the Dec. 7 crash. Prosecutors said Brown’s blood alcohol level was .093 when she was tested about two hours after the crash. The legal limit in Illinois is .08.
* Crain’s | Chicago and Detroit wealth management firms merge: Both firms are part of New York City-based Focus Financial Partners and are forming the second “hub” within the wealth management giant that went private last year in an all-cash, $7 billion-plus deal with private equity firm CD&R. Focus has invested in more than 90 firms across the United States.
* Politico | The anti-abortion plan ready for Trump on Day One: Many of the policies they advocate are ones Trump implemented in his first term and President Joe Biden rescinded — rules that would have a far greater impact in a post-Roe landscape. Other items on the wish list are new, ranging from efforts to undo state and federal programs promoting access to abortion to a de facto national ban. But all have one thing in common: They don’t require congressional approval.
* WaPo | Want safer streets? Paint them: Asphalt art projects — collaborations between cities, community groups and artists — have taken off in the past decade, thanks to early-adopting cities such as New York, Seattle and Portland, Ore., with help from the National Association of City Transportation Officials and “tactical urbanism” firms such as Street Plans. They provide street designs that cue drivers to slow down, provide people on foot more interesting places to walk and create new local landmarks. They can even be used to widen sidewalks without digging up streets, giving space back to the public and making the whole street safer. To provide a road map for the increasing municipal interest, in 2019 Bloomberg Philanthropies produced the Asphalt Art Guide and launched the Asphalt Art Initiative (AAI), distributing grants to 90 projects in cities across the United States and around the world to produce and assess their own eye-catching street design projects.
* WCIA | Historic Lincoln Tree topples in Virden, damaging Civil War Era home: The tree towered over the home. It was planted nearly 160 years ago. Town historians say the woman who first lived in the house took the acorn from Oakridge Cemetery in Springfield on the day of Abraham Lincoln’s Funeral.
* Chicago Mag | How a U. of C. Professor Wound Up a Prisoner of Iran: When he opened the door, the leader of the group pulled out papers bearing the stamp of Iran’s attorney general and thrust them at Alizadeh, as if presenting the search warrant were a mere formality and not a necessary legal procedure. As Alizadeh scanned the document, a single line stood out to him: He was being charged with espionage, a capital offense in a country rife with subterfuge surrounding its clandestine nuclear weapons program.
*NYT | UPS to Cut 12,000 Jobs as Wages Rise and Package Volumes Fall: Carol Tomé, the chief executive of UPS, told analysts on an earnings call Tuesday that it had been a “difficult and disappointing year.” Revenue fell more than 9 percent last year, and profit dropped by a third. Ms. Tomé said most of the job cuts would be made in the first half of the year, reducing expenses by about $1 billion. UPS employs nearly 500,000 people.
* NBC | Fake news YouTube creators target Black celebrities with AI-generated misinformation: YouTube videos using a mix of artificial intelligence-generated and manipulated media to create fake content have flooded the platform with salacious disinformation about dozens of Black celebrities, including rapper and record executive Sean “Diddy” Combs, TV host Steve Harvey, actor Denzel Washington and Bishop T.D. Jakes.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson backed calls for a cease-fire in the war in Gaza Wednesday ahead of a hotly contested vote on a City Council cease-fire resolution set for next week.
Asked if he supports the resolution from Ald. Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez, 33rd, Johnson said he condemned the actions of Hamas when fighting began.
“But at this point now, I believe we’re looking at 25,000 Palestinians that have been killed,” he said. “The killing has to stop. So, yes, we need a cease-fire.”
* Gov. Pritzker was asked yesterday about the city council resolution and the mayor’s support of it…
We all have to recognize that there are an awful lot of people who’ve been affected by the war between Hamas and Israel. The attack by Hamas, of course, was the starting point for all of this. Many people died. Many people are still being held hostage and they need to be released. And that needs to be a precondition for ending the hostilities. What Israel is going after is, of course, the terrorists. And I think we all feel that the innocent civilians, whether they are Palestinians, or Israelis, you know, want to be protected as best that they can be. And we’d all like the the hostilities to cease, but we also need the results that are necessary for that cessation.
Pritzker then went on to say that the resolution will have “no effect on the foreign policy of the United States.” Asked why he believed that, particularly with the Democratic National Convention coming in August, the governor said…
The reality is people are just trying to make a statement on their own and using the City Council as some way to amplify their statement as individuals. You know, it’s just not going to have an effect. There are so many aspects of this conflict. Remember, the Iranians have made their militants part of this, they clearly have provided the weaponry, and many of the tools that Hamas used in their attack against Israel. There’s a lot going on here that is not recognized by the City Council’s resolution and for that, I’m sad. But the reality is, I don’t think it’ll have any real impact, other than to make a statement that there are people in the city council who feel strongly one way or another.
Please pardon all transcription errors, and take like five deep breaths before commenting on this one. Thanks.
The Chicago Bears and three northwest suburban school districts are $100 million apart in their valuations of the vacant former Arlington International Racecourse property in Arlington Heights, a major obstacle that continues to stifle the NFL team’s plan to redevelop the 326-acre site with a stadium-anchored mixed-use campus. […]
Today the team argued at a hearing of the Cook County Board of Review that the land should be appraised at $60 million rather than the $160 million put forward by three area school districts.
The team’s property tax attorney, Matthew Tully, also asked that the team be taxed at the county’s 10% residential rate rather than the 25% commercial rate because of the ongoing demolition work to dismantle the racetrack that formerly occupied the property.
Federal prosecutors say Michael Madigan’s former chief of staff Tim Mapes chose to “willfully obstruct” the government’s sprawling investigation into the former Illinois house speaker when he repeatedly lied to a grand jury and should be sentenced to as much as five years in prison.
In a sentencing memo filed Monday, the government asked a federal judge to sentence Mapes to between 51 and 63 months in prison following his conviction last August on charges of making false declarations and attempted obstruction of justice.
“Even now, after a jury convicted Mapes of both perjury and obstruction of justice, and of every single false statement listed in the indictment, Mapes still refuses to accept responsibility for his actions,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Julia Schwartz wrote in the memo. “He instead blames the government for not presenting him with more information when he repeatedly (and falsely) asserted a lack of memory before the grand jury.”
* There’s no doubt in my mind that Mapes lied under oath. The feds had him, he undoubtedly knew they had him, and yet he still lied. Why? The prosecutors’ theory…
Mapes’ motive for lying was obvious. Mapes wanted to protect his long-time boss, Madigan, as well as his friend McClain, and ensure that he could never become a witness at a criminal trial. After having been compelled to testify despite his assertion of his Fifth Amendment privilege, Mapes relied on “I don’t remember” or “I don’t recall” responses in an effort to make it appear he was fulfilling the immunity order when, in fact, Mapes knew the answers and refused to provide them. Below are just some of the lies Mapes told in the grand jury. Throughout his testimony, Mapes’ goal was to ensure that the government did not learn any useful or new information involving Madigan, McClain, and their relationship to one another.
Tim’s counsel insisted on immunity—Tim himself did not. Counsel requested immunity solely because the government flatly refused to engage at all in a discussion with counsel about the topics they wanted to discuss with Tim, what if any concerns they had about him, and whether they would provide any documents and other information in order to help him best prepare himself to talk about events that had occurred many years ago.
On February 11, 2021, the government questioned Mapes during a proffer-protected interview, with two defense attorneys present. During the interview, Mapes was asked numerous questions about Madigan’s relationship with McClain. Thus, prior to his appearance in front of the grand jury, Mapes was not only fully aware that a major indictment had been returned against his friend, McClain, alleging that he had been acting on behalf of Madigan, but he also knew from the questions that were posed during his interview that the government was keenly interested in the nature of that relationship.
Also, the prosecution has a different version of Mapes’ immunity…
On February 12, 2021, after that interview, Mapes was served a subpoena to testify in the grand jury. Tr. 615. Through his defense attorney, he refused to testify by asserting his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. Owing to his assertion of his Fifth Amendment privilege, before Mapes’ grand jury appearance, Chief Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer entered an order granting Mapes derivative use immunity pursuant to 18 U.S.C. § 6002. On the morning of his grand jury testimony, March 31, 2021, Mapes appeared before Chief Judge Pallmeyer in person, and Chief Judge Pallmeyer admonished Mapes that the order required him to testify truthfully before the grand jury and that, if he failed to do so, he could face prosecution.
When considering the nature and circumstances of the offense, accepting the jury’s verdict, we ask the Court to consider that (a) Tim’s allegedly perjurious and obstructive testimony solely concerned legal matters; (b) Tim did not profit from this activity; (c) Tim did not interfere with the investigation; (d) Tim was treated differently than others who appeared before the grand jury (and, in some cases, who testified similarly about a lack of knowledge of criminal conversations between McClain and Madigan); and (e) the underlying bribery offense may actually not be a crime, pending the Supreme Court’s decision in Snyder.
Mapes claims there is no evidence that he was involved in any of the underlying bribery conduct. Of course, Mapes’ false testimony made it impossible to ever know the full extent of his knowledge of or involvement in the underlying bribery activity that was under investigation. The immunity bestowed on Mapes protected Mapes from any truthful disclosures he made but he chose to provide no information of substance at all. […]
The government is not required to prove that the defendant was actually an accessory to the underlying offense.
* More coverage…
* Tribune | Prosecutors want up to 5 years in prison for former Madigan aide Tim Mapes, while defense asks for community service: Mapes’ attorneys, meanwhile, asked in a filing of their own for a sentence of probation and community service, arguing he never stood to personally benefit from any of his alleged misstatements and that while he accepts the jury’s verdict he “disagrees with it and continues to maintain his innocence.” “Tim Mapes is a good man,” defense attorneys Andrew Porter and Katie Hill wrote in their 47-page filing. “…He has spent decades working very hard (and expecting it of others) trying to make the State of Illinois better, fairer, and more compassionate to its citizens.” U.S. District Judge John Kness is scheduled to sentence Mapes on Feb. 12.
* Sun-Times | Madigan’s ex-chief of staff should get up to 5 years in prison for lies ‘calculated to thwart’ probe into former boss, feds say: Defense attorneys Andrew Porter and Katie Hill argued that, between Mapes’ prosecution and his 2018 dismissal by Madigan, “the last five years have constituted a half decade of misery for Tim and his family.” They pointed to more than 130 letters of support and insisted that “sending this nearly 70-year-old man to prison would achieve nothing more than to inflict undue additional suffering and hardship on Tim, his family, and his community.”
In mid-November, Pritzker pledged to use $65 million to open a 200-bed shelter in a vacant CVS drugstore in Little Village and to house another 2,000 migrants in a massive, winterized base camp. Plans to build that structure in Brighton Park were scuttled by state officials, citing environmental concerns.
“The state committed to 2,200 beds, and we could really use those beds right now,” Johnson said.
Illinois remains committed to building new shelters, Johnson said. He called on the state to build at any sites it is considering. The process of prepping buildings for shelters is slow, he added.
“Remember: the state of Illinois committed to 2,200 beds, right? So, so far they have 200. They’re still committed to 2,000 beds. But again, the goal is of course, is to resettle families as fast as we can to make sure that we are able to handle the flow in the event that it picks up again,” he said. “The state of Illinois can move today to build a shelter, and I’m confident that that will take place.”
The mayor has been saying lately that the state can build shelters anywhere it wants, including in other towns.
* I asked the governor’s spokesperson why there’s been a delay…
We have repeatedly asked the city where they would like to locate the additional beds after the tent site did not meet IEPA standards. They have not provided us where or how they prefer we provide the additional capacity.
The governor has often said the state doesn’t control any facilities that it can use, so it needs the city to choose locations.
* Meanwhile, the mayor said yesterday that the influx was costing the city $1.5 million a day, and he reminded reporters that he budgeted $150 million. So, Isabel asked Gov. Pritzker today what he hopes the city will do in April when its appropriation runs out…
We’re gonna have to continue to manage the influx of migrants to the city would be my expectation. And so, as partners with the county, with the state, the city is going to have to be right there at the table as they are now to make sure that we’re serving the needs of those who, in this humanitarian crisis, need our help.
* More from Isabel…
* Tribune | Mayor Brandon Johnson postpones shelter eviction dates until March: Migrants who originally had an exit date between Jan. 16 and Feb. 29 will be given a 60-day extension starting from their original exit date, according to Brandie Knazze, head of the city’s Department of Family and Support Services. If an individual was scheduled to leave Jan. 16, for example, their new exit date is March 16. There are 5,673 people who fall into that category. The 2,119 individuals who were scheduled to exit between Mar. 1 and Mar. 28 will receive a 30-day extension. Anyone who enters the shelter system starting today will receive the standard 60-day notice. The 5,910 new arrivals who entered the shelter system between Aug. 1 and Nov. 16, 2023, will also receive their 60-day notice starting Feb. 1. Those individuals are eligible for the state’s three-month rental assistance program.
* Center Square | Chicago provides 300,000 meals a week to non-citizen migrants, among other services: The taxpayer cost to care for the migrants is about $1.5 million per day. Johnson said that money has gone to housing, health care and meals. “In response, my administration and our city have stepped up to meet this moment,” Johnson said. “We have stood up 28 temporary emergency shelters, and we have done this across the entire city of Chicago. We have provided over 300,000 meals per week.”
* Sen. John Curran | Gov. J.B. Pritzker invited, then mismanaged Illinois’ migrant crisis: This isn’t an argument about the value of immigration and the role it has played in building the United States of America. It’s a question of reality, of management and of what our already overtaxed residents can afford. The people of Illinois cannot afford the misplaced priorities, radical policies and grandiose promises of a governor seeking attention on the national stage.
A state elections hearing officer agreed with objectors that former President Donald Trump “engaged in insurrection” at the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, but said he believed it is up to the courts and not the State Board of Elections to decide whether to remove him from the March 19 Illinois primary ballot.
The nonbinding recommendation from Clark Erickson, a retired Republican judge from Kankakee County, comes ahead of the state election board’s meeting Tuesday to certify the names that will appear on the primary ballot. […]
Section 3 of the post-Civil War era amendment says those who have taken an oath to uphold the Constitution “as member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state,” shall not be able to serve in Congress or “hold any office, civil or military” if they have engaged in “insurrection or rebellion” against the Constitution.
Erickson said previous Illinois Supreme Court rulings bar the State Board of Elections from acting on candidate disqualifications based on constitutional analysis. Because of those rulings, he said, the board should reject the Trump ballot objection.
“It is impossible to imagine the Board deciding whether Candidate Trump is disqualified by Section 3 without the Board engaging in significant and sophisticated constitutional analysis,” Erickson wrote. “All in all, attempting to resolve a constitutional issue within the expedited schedule of an election board hearing is somewhat akin to scheduling a two-minute round between heavyweight boxers in a telephone booth.”
Section 3.
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit will perform at the Illinois State Fair on Sun., Aug. 11 with special guest Ashley McBryde kicking off the evening.
The band’s latest album, “Weathervanes,” combines a storyteller at the peak of his craft with a band who has earned its place in rock and roll history. The songs on the album have been described as those that make you cry alone in your car while others make you sing along with thousands of strangers. Such high praise is backed up by multiple Grammy award nominations, including Best Americana Album.
“Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit will add a unique flavor to the Illinois State Fair Grandstand lineup,” said Illinois State Fair Manager Rebecca Clark. “We are excited to book an Americana icon and look forward to a powerful performance from the band.”
Ashley McBryde has earned some of the industry’s biggest accolades, including a Grammy, CMA and ACM awards in addition to being inducted as a member of the Grand Ole Opry. The Arkansas native’s latest critically acclaimed album The Devil I Know is available now.
Ticket sales for Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit go on sale Feb. 3 at 10 a.m. on Ticketmaster. Tickets for all other announced show are on sale via Ticketmaster.
Amends the Illinois Vehicle Code. Provides that no law enforcement officer shall stop a motor vehicle for: (i) failing to display registration plates or stickers; (ii) being operated with an expired registration sticker; (iii) violating general speed restrictions (unless that violation is a misdemeanor or felony offense); (iv) improper lane usage (unless that violation is a misdemeanor or felony offense); (v) failing to comply with certain requirements concerning vehicle lamps; (vi) excessive tint; (vii) defective mirrors; (viii) an obstructed windshield or defective windshield wipers; (ix) defective bumpers; (x) excessive exhaust; and (xi) failure of the vehicle operator to wear a safety belt. Provides that no evidence discovered or obtained as the result of a stop in violation of these provisions, including, but not limited to, evidence discovered or obtained with the operator’s consent, shall be admissible in any trial, hearing, or other proceeding. Preempts home rule powers.
Amends the Pretrial Services Act. Establishes in the judicial branch of State government an office to be known as the Office of Statewide Pretrial Services. Provides that the office shall be under the supervision and direction of a Director who shall be appointed by a vote of a majority of the Illinois Supreme Court Justices for a 4-year term and until a successor is appointed and qualified. Provides that the Director shall adopt rules, instructions, and orders, consistent with the Act, further defining the organization of this office and the duties of its employees. Provides that the Illinois Supreme Court shall approve or modify an operational budget submitted to it by the Office of Statewide Pretrial Services and set the number of employees each year. Provides that the Chief Judge of each circuit court shall elect to receive pretrial services either through the Office or through a local pretrial services agency (rather than each circuit shall establish a pretrial service agency). Provides that the pretrial services agency has a duty to provide the court with accurate background data regarding the pretrial release of persons charged with felonies and effective supervision of compliance with the terms and conditions imposed on release. Effective immediately.
Amends the Probate Act of 1975. Allows a ward in guardianship to get married who understands the nature, effect, duties, and obligations of marriage. Prior consent of the guardian of the person or estate or approval of the court is not required for the ward to enter into a marriage. A guardian may contest the validity of the marriage pursuant to Sections 301 and 302 of Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act.
Amends the Counties Code. Provides that a county may set blade tip height limitations for wind towers in commercial wind energy facilities near a restricted landing area to ensure compliance with specified provisions of the Illinois Administrative Code.
Amends the One Day Rest In Seven Act. Provides that the calculation of required rest days does not include any time that the employee is on call. Provides that an employee who voluntarily agrees to work on a day of rest must be paid at his or her regular hourly rate or, if applicable, at the overtime wage rate as required by the Illinois Minimum Wage Law. Provides that every employer shall permit its employees who are scheduled or expected to work (rather than are to work) for 7 1/2 continuous hours at least 20 minutes for a meal period beginning no later than 5 hours after the start of the work period. Provides that any employer, or agent or officer of an employer, has violated the Act if he or she discharges, takes an adverse action against, or in any other manner discriminates against any employee because that employee has exercised a right under the Act. Provides that the Director of Labor may (rather than shall) grant long term and short permits authorizing the employment of persons on days of rest. Makes changes in provisions concerning definitions; posting requirements; recordkeeping; and civil offenses. Makes other changes.
Creates the Local School District Mandate Note Act. Provides that, every bill that imposes or could impose a mandate on local school districts, upon the request of any member, shall have prepared for it, before second reading in the house of introduction, a brief explanatory statement or note that shall include a reliable estimate of the anticipated fiscal and operational impact of those mandates on local school districts. Provides that the sponsor of each bill for which a request has been made shall present a copy of the bill with the request for a local school district mandate note to the State Board of Education. Provides that the State Board of Education shall prepare and submit the note to the sponsor of the bill within 5 calendar days, except as specified. Sets forth provisions concerning the requisites and contents of the note; comments or opinions included in the note; and the appearance of State officials and employees in support or opposition of measure.
Amends the School Code. Provides that a public school student may communicate and work with federally elected, State-elected, or locally elected officials or other stakeholders or officials as part of the student’s education.
* ICYMI: Johnson extends shelter stays for migrants for third time. Crain’s…
- The delay comes three days before nearly 2,000 migrants would be required to leave city shelters.
- People who were expected to leave between January and the end of February -roughly 5,700 people- will now receive a 60-day extension.
- As of Monday, more than 14,100 people were staying across 28 city shelters, with a little over 180 staying at O’Hare Airport as they waited for a shelter bed.
* Daily Southtown | As Kankakee River water levels decrease after ice jam flash flooding, Will County assesses damage: It was the third-highest level recorded on the Kankakee River and the highest since 1887, according to the Will County Emergency Management Agency. On Sunday morning, water levels were recorded at 5.7 feet. Though the flood warnings have expired, local officials are still monitoring water levels and have advised residents that river conditions can change rapidly.
* CNI | Panel of experts suggest legislative measures to reverse journalism decline: Sen. Steve Stadelman, D-Rockford, said he plans to introduce a bill this session including some of the task force’s suggestions. The policies recommended by the task force are a mix of strategies intended to increase funding, mitigate high operational costs and keep newsrooms local. Many of the recommendations have been implemented or introduced in other states.
At 9 am Governor Pritzker will announce the National Science Foundation grant award. Click here to watch.
* WTTW | Rep. Delia Ramirez on Immigration Policy, Congressional Conflict Over Bipartisan Border Deal: Ramirez: I have felt the urgency to pass immigration reform since the moment my mother crossed the Rio Grande pregnant with me. This isn’t simply an election-year issue to our immigrant communities, it is a 365/24/7 issue. I’ve presented 17 ideas to my colleagues about how we could take concrete action to reform our immigration system rather than waste time and congressional resources on baseless impeachment.
* Sun-Times | Brent Manning, former director of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, dies at age 70: John Schmitt, the first executive director of the Illinois Conservation Foundation, rattled off an impressive list of accomplishments during Mr. Manning’s time as director: “Conservation Congress, Habitat Stamp, Conservation Reserve Plan, the additions of [Jim Edgar/Panther Creek State Fish and Wildlife Area] and other sites, the World Shooting site Downstate, Illinois Conservation Foundation that I worked for Brent and we raised over $16 million for the IDNR, new IDNR headquarters … the list goes on and on…He was an outstanding mentor and friend.”
* Tribune | Support staff at Crystal Lake D47 file unfair labor practice charge after district hires staffing firm: Crystal Lake Association of Support Staff, or CLASS, the union representing Chaix and more than 100 paraprofessionals across 12 schools in District 47, filed an unfair labor practice charge with the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board in October after district administrators retained a recruiting firm to hire temporary employees. The union said the move was made illegally and without giving them notice.
* STL Today | Miscommunication between lawyer, police caused fugitive label for former Town and Country cop: The issues with Fowle’s arrest began when, in an unusual move, before Fowle was in custody, Lozano filed a motion to reduce Fowle’s bond. A hearing was scheduled and approved by a judge even though Fowle had not surrendered. “The timing was just not good,” Lozano said Monday. “Which was my fault. I was out of state … so I scheduled with the court a bond hearing for this morning.”
* The Center Square | Illinois partners with Google for AI-driven child behavioral health portal: Gov. J.B. Pritzker was at Google Chicago Monday to announce the creation of BEACON, or the Behavioral Health Care and Ongoing Navigation, a service access portal for Illinois families to access behavioral and mental health resources for children. The plan will incorporate artificial intelligence and create an online portal that provides families with access to behavioral and mental health resources.
* WBEZ | Illinois election officials are ramping up efforts to recruit election judges for March primary: “We need help, real help, to prop up democracy. Because if we don’t get the election judges there, it allows these other factors to win,” Ed Michalowski, the Cook County deputy clerk of elections said. “When good people could serve as election judges, and they don’t, it allows for some of that negativity to creep in, and some of those false statements and some of those false expressions on the internet.”
* Decatur Tribune | FOP State Lodge endorses Regan Deering in race for 88th District Illinois House: “Regan Deering listens to the concerns of the law enforcement officers who protect our communities, and will fight for the men and women who put their lives on the line every day to keep our citizens safe,” said Illinois FOP State Lodge President Chris Southwood. “Regan feels that it’s the heroes in blue, and not the perpetrators in the shadows, that should be backed by state government, and that is why she has our support in this election.”
* Sun-Times | Formula One in Chicago? Series applies for race trademarks: There is some indication the city has held initial talks with F1 about a possible Chicago race, downtown Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd) says. “I’m told that F1 typically requires a 10-year minimum deal. And that appears to be non-negotiable. The conversation [with the city] did not get much past that,” Hopkins said.
* Crain’s | Baseball commish gives thumbs-up to ‘game changer’ Sox stadium plan: Manfred said what’s particularly solid about the proposal is the “proximity to downtown” it would bring a team that now plays several miles to the south in a neighborhood that pretty much shuts down after dark. “Baseball has always worked well close to downtown,” which offers not only other entertainment options but good transit and highway access.
* Crain’s | Weed sales boom in Dry January as people drink less: Revenues at Curaleaf, Green Thumb Industries Inc., Verano Holdings Corp., Tilray and Canopy Growth Corp. are set to grow about 6% on average in the first quarter. At the state level, Oregon’s cannabis sales have jumped 19% on average in January since 2018 versus 12% on average in other months. In Colorado, cannabis sales grow the fastest in January on average.
U.S. Representative Mike Bost (IL-12) today announced that his 2024 re-election campaign has been endorsed by the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police State Lodge.
“The men and women of law enforcement have always known they can count on Mike Bost for his unwavering support. Mike has always had our backs, even when many other elected officials abandoned us,” said Chris Southwood, Illinois FOP State Lodge President. “He has supported bills to give law enforcement officers better pay and benefits in our dangerous but vital profession. The Illinois FOP State Lodge gives Mike Bost our sincere and hearty endorsement.”
“I have never wavered in my support for our law enforcement officers, especially now when woke liberals in Illinois and Washington, D.C. continue to demonize them with an anti-police agenda,” said Bost. “I would like to thank the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police State Lodge for putting their confidence in my re-election. I’ll always Back the Blue in Congress and will never stop defending the brave men and women who protect and serve our communities.”
Governor JB Pritzker joined the Illinois Department of Human Services (DHS) and Google Public Sector on Monday to announce the creation of BEACON (Behavioral Health Care and Ongoing Navigation): A Service Access Portal for Illinois Youth. Powered by Google Cloud’s secure, scalable, and advanced artificial intelligence (AI) and cloud computing technology, the new state-of-the-art online portal will provide a user-friendly experience for Illinois families to access behavioral and mental health resources for children. The Division of Mental Health (DMH) at DHS is collaborating with Google Public Sector to deliver this ongoing statewide transformation.
“We are doing away with decentralized, difficult-to-navigate behavioral health resources scattered across different agencies, providers, and websites,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “Instead, families will have a modern, easy to use online system to guide them through the behavioral health universe. This is another example of Illinois is leading the way — to mobilize public-private partnerships and couple ingenuity with empathy.” […]
On February 15, 2023, the Pritzker Administration published this groundbreaking transformation plan, entitled “Blueprint for Transformation: A Vision for Improved Behavioral Healthcare for Illinois Children.” A team of experts, led by Dr. Dana Weiner, Director of the Children’s Behavioral Health Transformation Initiative, will work closely with various Illinois agencies to create a comprehensive approach to expanding resource availability. […]
The centralized point of access will improve the experience of families engaged with the Department of Human Services (DHS), the Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS), the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ), the Department of Public Health (DPH), and the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE). This distinct support service will eliminate any further frustration for parents and caretakers who are already challenged by their child’s distress.
The development of the BEACON portal moves the State closer to accomplishing the five goals recommended by the Children’s Behavioral Health Transformation Initiative:
- Streamlining processes to make it easier for youth and families to access services,
- Adjusting capacity to ensure the right resources are available to youth in need,
Intervening earlier to prevent crises from developing,
- Increasing accountability to ensure the State has a transparent system, and
- Developing agility so that the system can adjust to meet the evolving needs of youth.
* Here’s the rest…
* South Side Weekly | CPD Reported Hundreds of Missed Shootings to ShotSpotter Last Year: “I got my head handed to me yesterday by Dan Casey,” wrote Gary Bunyard, ShotSpotter’s vice president of public safety solutions, in an email to other senior employees. “This incident involved a high-profile shooting with ‘55’ rounds. And, we missed it! …I am a big boy—I can deal with Dan. However, I owe Dan some explanation! Obviously, I cannot tell him that we have a bunch of down sensors in that area and insufficient resources to service our largest customer.”
* IPM | Champaign hired Police Chief Timothy Tyler despite disciplinary past and allegations of misconduct: After receiving information and questions about Tyler’s background and disciplinary history from Invisible Institute and IPM Newsroom, City Council member Davion Williams forwarded the email to City Manager Dorothy Ann David and asked, “Were we aware of these incidents as a city?” Several of the investigations into Tyler’s misconduct led to settlements and disciplinary action. Among those: an off-duty domestic incident with an ex-girlfriend, an improper vehicle pursuit that ended in a crash outside of Chicago Police headquarters, and missing currency from a narcotics bust. In addition, federal civil rights lawsuits accused him of false arrest and conspiring with city officials to illegally shut down a nightclub in his previous position in Markham.
* Herald-News | What’s happening in Joliet mass shooting investigation: A spokesperson for Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow said his office will not be able to provide a response on Friday to questions regarding the $100,000 bond in Nance’s 2023 case, the SAFE-T Act and the statement from the Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice.
* Daily-Journal | Kankakee Auditor’s job function comes under scrutiny at finance committee: During County Treasurer Nick Africano’s report, he shared with the committee the results of a Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, request for how many times Lee logged into the county’s bank accounts online to view the inflows and outflows of money since Jan. 1, 2021. Africano said more than $200 million flows through the county’s bank accounts annually. […] The report showed that there were 9,372 total logins to see the county’s bank accounts in the approximate three-year time span. All the logins were people from the treasurer’s office and no logins by Lee.
* Bond Buyer | Muni advisor to Harvey, Illinois library district charged $86,000 by SEC: Brandon Comer and his firm Comer Capital Group, the Mississippi-based municipal advisor to the library district of the City of Harvey, Illinois, have been fined a total of $86,000 in a final judgment reached in the Northern District of Illinois after years of litigation.
* NPR | Cook County kicked off a wave of local governments erasing billions in medical debt: New York City pledged last week to pay down $2 billion worth of residents’ medical debt. In doing so, it has come around to an innovation, started in the Midwest, that’s ridding millions of Americans of health care debt. The idea of local government erasing debt emerged a couple of years ago in Cook County, Illinois, home to Chicago. Toni Preckwinkle, president of the county board of commissioners, says two staffers came to her with a bold proposal: The county could spend a portion of its federal pandemic rescue funds to ease a serious burden on its residents.
* Crain’s | Ascension nurses threaten another strike at Joliet hospital: The union said a third strike is being called in response to leadership implementing an offer rejected by the union in December. INA said its members voted against the offer for several reasons, including management’s “insistence on certain nonmonetary terms and conditions of employment which would pose serious health and safety risks to both nurses and patients.”
* Press Release | SIU researchers work to place Southern Illinois Black heritage sites on National Register: Work by Southern Illinois University Carbondale researchers in recognizing significant Black heritage properties in the region could also reveal more information about a Union Army military camp that hosted up to 5,000 freed Blacks in Cairo at one point during the Civil War. The work is part of a project led by Mark Wagner, a professor in SIU’s Center for Archaeological Investigations and anthropology department. Wagner and his team of graduate students will produce National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) nominations for several locations in Southern Illinois associated with Black history and amend existing National Register nominations for three other sites in the region. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) announced the $75,000 grant in late November. Wagner hopes all of the applications can be completed by the end of the semester in May.
* Press Release | UChicago engineer driving key role in Great Lakes water transformation: For Junhong Chen, Crown Family Professor at the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago and Lead Water Strategist at Argonne National Laboratory, the announcement is the culmination of years of effort – and the promise of years more important work ahead on a critical task. Chen is the co-Principal Investigator and Use-Inspired R&D Lead for Great Lakes ReNEW.
* Block Club | The CTA Will Let You Charter Your Own Train — For $3,000: The agency books “a few” private train parties a year, usually for birthdays and nonprofit fundraisers, and once a wedding reception, the spokesperson said. The chartered trains are mostly used for movie productions and commercial shoots, the spokesperson said.
* Crain’s | THC-infused wing sauce for the Super Bowl? It’s a sign Illinois’ cannabis industry is maturing: Green Thumb Industries’ edible brand Incredibles launched chocolate bars with New York’s Magnolia Bakery just before the holidays last year. And Okay Cannabis, a newer dispensary chain, sells infused brownie and cake mixes using West Town Bakery’s recipes. The collaborations are one more step in the industry’s long-running effort to build identifiable consumer brands. Such products also rope in new customers. A fan of Magnolia Bakery might come into the dispensary to try a Swirled Famous Banana Pudding Bar and pick up a few other items.
* WCIA | Daylight saving time: How long until the clocks change, and could it be the last time?: More than two dozen states at least considered withdrawing from the biannual clock change. Unfortunately, they’re largely hoping for permanent daylight saving time, not permanent standard time. For a state to observe daylight saving time all year, Congress ultimately needs to take action. There have been multiple bills introduced to make that change.
* The Guardian | ‘Chaos campaign’: how an Armenian enclave became the center of an anti-LGBTQ+ battle: On a gray afternoon last June, the school board in Glendale, California, was preparing to make what was once a routine vote to honor June as LGBTQ+ pride month. School board meetings used to be pretty placid affairs. This year, however, cops in riot gear surrounded the building and helicopters hovered overhead. As Erik Adamian, an alum of the school district, waited in line to get inside the meeting, he heard demonstrators shout: “You are all a bunch of pedophiles!” “Stop grooming our kids!”
* AP | Prisoners in the US are part of a hidden workforce linked to hundreds of popular food brands: Unmarked trucks packed with prison-raised cattle roll out of the Louisiana State Penitentiary, where men are sentenced to hard labor and forced to work, for pennies an hour or sometimes nothing at all. After rumbling down a country road to an auction house, the cows are bought by a local rancher and then followed by The Associated Press another 600 miles to a Texas slaughterhouse that feeds into the supply chains of giants like McDonald’s, Walmart and Cargill.
* The Philadelphia Inquirer | Self-checkout can be convenient, but human cashiers may inspire more customer loyalty, study finds: Businesses including Costco, Kmart, and Jewel-Osco have removed self-checkout in many stores, the study cites. Others are still betting on the machines. [Yanliu Huang, associate professor of marketing at the Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business] says more research is needed to understand if this study’s findings are also applicable in other retail environments, if the kinds of products being purchased influences the outcome, or if the use of other shopping technologies such as smart carts or scan-and-go apps affect customers’ loyalty.
* WBEZ | An end of an era for Pitchfork: What’s next for music journalism?: Reset’s Sasha-Ann Simons spoke with Pitchfork founder Ryan Schreiber, former Pitchfork president Chris Kaskie and former executive editor Amy Phillips. Journalists Britt Julious, a music critic for the Chicago Tribune, and Alejandro Hernandez, a freelance music writer in Chicago, later joined Simons to discuss Pitchfork’s influence and what the changes mean for the future of music journalism.
* SJ-R | Springfield’s Super Bowl connection: Brendan Daly headed again to the NFL’s big game: Daly, 48, played for Ken Leonard, the winningest high school football coach in Illinois history, at Sacred Heart-Griffin High School. He has remained friends with Leonard, who retired from coaching after the 2022 season, through the years. […] Before reaching the National Football League, Daly had a nomadic coaching career, starting off at a high school in New Port Richey, Florida. His father, Mike, a former aide to U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, recalled in a 2021 interview with The State Journal-Register that the team didn’t win a game that season.
Illinois State Police Troop 7 Commander, Acting Captain Brian Dickmann, has announced the results of Occupant Restraint Enforcement Patrols (OREP) held in Macon and Vermilion counties during January.
These OREPs provided extra patrol coverage for the ISP so officers could focus on saving lives by making sure all vehicle occupants were buckled up.
Among violations reported were 25 safety belt citations; 1 child restraint citations; 34 total citations; and 11 total written warnings.
* The Question: How often do you wear your seat belt? Explain.
Large cardboard boxes full of coats, hats and gloves are tidily arranged along one wall. Volunteers are working there daily, accepting donations of socks, puffy North Face jackets, snow pants and bars of soap. When busloads of migrants are dropped off in Wilmette — where their chaperones help them catch trains to downtown Chicago to be transferred to a shelter — they are first met by volunteers at the Wilmette station and given a few essentials.
Among the many legal clinics that have popped up across Chicago to help newly arrived migrants, one that took place on Saturday offered a face-to-face with local labor representatives.
The legal clinic — held at the UNITE HERE Local 1 Headquarters on South Wabash Avenue in the Loop — did more than simply introduce dozens of migrants to Chicago Federation of Labor (CFL) partners. The volunteers, which included attorneys and translators, helped individuals fill out the piles of legal paperwork necessary to gain Temporary Protected Status and work authorization.
The City of Chicago began a partnership on Nov. 9 with the federal government, state government, and The Resurrection Project, a nonprofit organization, to help migrants apply for work permits so they can legally get a job. […]
That’s the good news, according to Rendón, who explained the lengthy application migrants have to fill out to be able to legally work in the U.S. First, they have to be eligible. Out of the 14,200 who are in the city’s shelters, only 3,600 qualify, according to The Resurrection Project. […]
Of the 2,722 migrants who submitted applications through the [city/state/federal] partnership, about 1,800 have been approved, and 1,011 have their documents in hand, per data from the nonprofit. That represents a significant increase from Dec. 28, when CBS 2 reported that only 279 received social security cards and 284 received work permits.
Still, only about 13% of migrants in the city’s shelters are eligible and have been approved.
* Supposedly random neighborhood resident quoted in the news media, part one (January 2023)…
Kerwin Spratt, who has lived in Woodlawn more than 20 years, said he would like the city to show the South Side residents the same respect officials are showing asylum seekers. He noted that the city’s presentation mentioned providing mental health services for asylum seekers and pointed out that the city had shuttered mental health centers across Chicago.
“You threw this upon us with no regard to us at all,” Spratt said.
Kerwin Spratt, a longtime resident who was driving by the school, said he didn’t agree with the city’s decision because of “unfair allocation of resources.”
“They’re going to provide three meals a day and a computer lab. Many schools out here don’t have that,” Spratt said. “The senior home — nobody’s giving them three meals a day.”
Kerwin Spratt has lived in Woodlawn 22 years. Wadsworth Elementary is right outside his back door. Spratt told the Crusader he’s grown weary of the migrant situation in his neighborhood.
“One night a lady resident came home and found a car parked in her spot. She asked a migrant to move their car and they busted out her windows and came into her house,” Spratt said.
“The city is pouring out resources towards non-citizens. But many of us can’t even pay our property taxes.”
* WBBM | Chicago unions step up to help migrants obtain work permits, avoid exploitation: The legal clinic — held at the UNITE HERE Local 1 Headquarters on South Wabash Avenue in the Loop — did more than simply introduce dozens of migrants to Chicago Federation of Labor (CFL) partners. The volunteers, which included attorneys and translators, helped individuals fill out the piles of legal paperwork necessary to gain Temporary Protected Status and work authorization.
* WBEZ | Tips for Chicago migrants applying for a work permit: There are two ways in which many migrants from Venezuela and a few other countries qualify for a work permit — through TPS, a program that protects people from deportation while allowing them to legally work in the U.S. Some migrants can also apply for work permits through humanitarian parole.
* WTTW | Pritzker and Johnson Trade Blame Over Migrant Shelter Shortfalls; Haley Sharpens Attacks on Trump: Gov. J.B. Pritzker says he’s “deeply concerned” with Chicago’s handling of the migrant crisis. The governor and Mayor Brandon Johnson publicly trade blame over the handling of housing new migrant arrivals. Meanwhile, more than a dozen Chicago City Council members call on the mayor to halt the 60-day migrant shelter eviction policy.
* WLSAM | Alderman Bill Conway Addresses Migrant Crisis and Federal Relief Fund Spending on Steve Cochran Show: 34th Ward Alderman Bill Conway appeared on the Steve Cochran Show to talk about his proposal, which suggests that any expenditure of federal relief funds exceeding $1 million should need approval from the City Council. They also delve into whether city politics are getting in the way of solving the migrant crisis, and the advantages of offering work visas to migrants seeking employment opportunities.
In Illinois, the latest legal decision to impact reproductive health care involves so-called crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs), organizations (typically affiliated with national religious groups opposed to contraception) that pose as medical clinics to dissuade pregnant people from considering abortion and other pro-choice options, often through deceptive means.
In a shocking about-face, Illinois attorney general Kwame Raoul’s office announced an agreement last month with anti-abortion advocates that the state will not enforce legislation that would have cracked down on deceptive practices by these fake abortion clinics. It was a surprising move for the attorney general, who’d helped introduce such legislation himself earlier in 2023. As a result, many Illinois abortion rights advocates say they’ll need to work even harder to protect residents seeking reproductive health care. […]
State representative Terra Costa Howard, who carried the bill in the house, says she and other sponsors were initially confident in its chances (similar laws in Colorado and Connecticut had been successful) and are disappointed in its outcome. Costa Howard, who says she has a CPC in her district, also doesn’t believe the First Amendment should shield groups that jeopardize the health of Illinois residents from being held accountable for dishonesty and misinformation.
“I don’t believe that the First Amendment protects lies, and that’s what’s occurring. If these fake clinics were giving accurate information—that’s one thing,” Costa Howard says. “There is nothing in the bill that required the fake clinics to provide information about abortion. There’s nothing in the bill that requires them to give that information. You can’t lie about health care.” […]
Costa Howard says she and other members of the Illinois General Assembly who’d previously supported Senate Bill 1909 are working to find ways to address the negative impacts of CPCs, though they’ll also “have to make sure that we have somebody who’s in place who’s actually going to enforce the laws that we pass.”
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s budget that he passed last November deliberately underfunded programs for asylum-seekers. The meager appropriation could be exhausted by April, but nobody knows yet what the city plans to do when it reaches that point.
Also last November, Gov. J.B. Pritzker made it clear to reporters “the state doesn’t run shelters” and said he was waiting for the city to recommend shelter sites. “The state doesn’t control property in the city of Chicago that could provide a location. The city really has to do that.”
Pritzker also criticized the city for not asking the General Assembly for additional money and noted, “We have spent much more money to support the system of asylum-seekers arriving here than the city has.”
In December, the state declined to fund a huge, 2,000-bed tent shelter in the city’s Brighton Park neighborhood after an evaluation of a city contractor’s report by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency found the remediation completed by the city “did not meet IEPA standards to receive [a formal letter stating no more mediation was needed] and was therefore not approved,” an IEPA spokesperson reiterated last week.
The city was furious at the denial, and Johnson complained to reporters again last week that the state still has not fulfilled its promise to open those 2,000 new beds. The state claimed then and has ever since then that, despite repeated requests, the city has not yet offered up any more sites. Johnson told reporters this was not true. I’m still checking on this.
Also in December, Johnson announced a program to ticket and even impound buses carrying migrants to the city from Texas unless drivers followed rules for when and where their passengers could be dropped off.
That quickly had the effect of forcing the bus companies to dump people in the suburbs and exurbs, where they are then directed to public transportation to Chicago. During the week ending Jan. 19, not a single bus from Texas arrived directly in Chicago, according to a document released to city officials.
Mayor’s no longer very welcoming
The city has opened no new migrant shelters since November, although Chicago officials made it appear as if they were still working on plans to do so in December, specifically a shelter on the city’s Northwest Side at a site owned by the Catholic Archdiocese. Will Chicago still open and operate that shelter? No. But the city has been hoping the state and/or the Archdiocese could open it, and now I’m hearing the shelter might possibly go forward.
On Jan. 12, city officials went even further and told state legislators the city had “begun planning for rightsizing” its shelter system. That’s corporate-speak for “downsizing,” although a city official now says they probably shouldn’t have used that word.
And then last week, Johnson told reporters the state government “can build a shelter anywhere in the state of Illinois,” adding the state “does not have to build a shelter in Chicago.”
This, of course, ignores the fact the migrants’ stated preference is a Chicago destination. More importantly, it’s also the politically targeted destination set by the Texas governor. In other words, the mayor can say what he wants, but they’re coming regardless.
His comment also ignores the fact the state has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on infrastructure and caring for asylum-seekers in Chicago. Expanding that out would be prohibitively expensive and disperse scarce human resources.
There are only so many people who are willing to do the work and qualified to do it. Dispersing those workers throughout a large geographic area would make their task a lot tougher. It may be unfair to the city, but that’s where the infrastructure is.
Not to mention that suburban mayors aren’t exactly falling all over themselves to take any of these folks in. When a reporter asked Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle last week if any suburban mayors had taken up her offer to open shelters, Preckwinkle said, “Those conversations didn’t result in offers of assistance.”
It’s becoming more clear almost every day that, despite his initial promises to welcome the new arrivals with open arms and share with them the city’s “abundance,” Johnson’s aim for weeks if not months has been to pull back from the task of accepting and caring for the continuing influx of asylum-seekers and return to his progressive agenda, like banning natural gas connections in most new construction.
Meanwhile, April gets closer every day.
* A few hours after I wrote that column, this story was published by Nadig Newspapers…
Plans are moving forward for a migrant shelter at the former Saint Bartholomew school and convent in Portage Park, while another former parochial school in the 30th Ward would be converted into 24 apartments, said Alderwoman Ruth Cruz. […]
Officials have said that 300 to 350 people would be housed on the site.
It’s unclear from the story what entity will actually be responsible for opening and operating the shelter, but I was told by a top city official late last week that it wouldn’t likely be them.
*** UPDATE *** Gov. Pritzker was asked today to respond to Mayor Johnson’s statement that the state doesn’t have to build more shelters in Chicago…
Well, it’s unfortunate that the governor of Texas is sending thousands of migrants to the city of Chicago. That is where they think they’re going, that is where they expect to be arriving. Not in Elmhurst, not in other suburbs, but in the city of Chicago.
It is also where all the services are that they need when they arrive. It is also where the major landing zone that we’ve paid for, to make sure that we’re welcoming them as appropriate to the city. And frankly, the city has a shelter system like none other.
So all I would say is that we certainly have encouraged other jurisdictions to step forward. We’ve created grant programs. Some of them have taken us up, Oak Park, for example. And we’re providing resources for other jurisdictions. So that is happening, there is shelter and services.
But the major and majority part of what’s necessary needs to be in the city of Chicago. And we have been supporting the city of Chicago with literally tens of millions of dollars directly as well as hundreds of millions of dollars indirectly.
Amends the Illinois Vehicle Hijacking and Motor Vehicle Theft Prevention and Insurance Verification Act. Eliminates the provision that provided for the repeal of the Act on January 1, 2025. Amends the Illinois Vehicle Code. Includes “catalytic converter” in the definition of “essential parts”. Amends the Recyclable Metal Purchase Registration Law. Excludes catalytic converter from the definition of “recyclable metals”. Requires transactions involving a catalytic converter to include the identification number of the vehicle from which the catalytic converter was removed and the part number or other identifying number of the catalytic converter that was removed. Provides that, in a transaction involving a catalytic converter, the recyclable metal dealer must also require a copy of the certificate of title or registration showing the seller’s ownership in the vehicle. Makes it unlawful for any person to purchase or otherwise acquire a used, detached catalytic converter or any nonferrous part thereof unless specified conditions are met. Provides that a used, detached catalytic converter does not include a catalytic converter that has been tested, certified, and labeled for reuse in accordance with the United States Environmental Protection Agency Clean Air Act. Defines terms. Makes technical changes.
Illinois farmers and landowners are concerned that Illinois law makes it too easy for developers to use eminent domain to seize land for carbon dioxide pipeline projects.
Bill Bodine, the Illinois Farm Bureau’s director of business and regulatory affairs, said preventing the use of eminent domain for CO2 pipeline rights of way and storage areas is a top priority for IFB members in the current state legislative session. […]
In 2011, the legislature passed the Carbon Dioxide Sequestration Act. It grants CO2 pipeline developers eminent domain authority. Illinois Farm Bureau members want to see that power taken away from developers. […]
Illinois landowners want regulators to require proof of progress being made on willing agreements between landowners and developers before a pipeline project can be approved, Bodine said.
Amends the Paid Leave for All Workers Act. Removes a provision that the Act shall not apply to any employee who is covered by a bona fide collective bargaining agreement with an employer that provides services nationally and internationally of delivery, pickup, and transportation of parcels, documents, and freight. Provides that the definition of “employee” does not include an employee as defined in the Federal Employers’ Liability Act.
Creates the Campus Free Speech Act. Requires the governing board of each public university and community college to develop and adopt a policy on free expression; sets forth what the policy must contain. Requires the Board of Higher Education to create a Committee on Free Expression to issue an annual report. Requires public institutions of higher education to include in their freshman orientation programs a section describing to all students the policies and rules regarding free expression that are consistent with the Act. Contains provisions concerning rules, construction of the Act, and enforcement.
Amends the General Not For Profit Corporation Act of 1986. Provides that the Secretary of State shall include data fields on its annual report form that allows a corporation to report, at its discretion, the aggregated demographic information of its directors and officers, including race, ethnicity, gender, disability status, veteran status, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Provides that, within 30 days after filing its annual AG990-IL Charitable Organization Annual Report, a corporation that reports grants of $1,000,000 or more to other charitable organizations shall post on its publicly available website, if one exists, the aggregated demographic information of the corporation’s directors and officers, including race, ethnicity, gender, disability status, veteran status, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Provides that the aggregated demographic information shall be accessible on the corporation’s publicly available website for at least 5 years after it is posted. Provides that the Department of Human Rights shall work with community partners to prepare and publish a standardized list of demographic classifications to be used by the Secretary of State and corporations for the reporting of the aggregated demographic information. Provides that, in collecting the aggregated demographic information, a corporation shall allow for an individual to decline to disclose any or all personal demographic information to the corporation. Effective January 1, 2025.
Specifies that the amendatory Act may be referred to as Sami’s Law. Amends the Equitable Restrooms Act. Provides that the owner or operator of each public building and State-owned building shall install and maintain in that building at least one adult changing station that is publicly accessible if the building is constructed 2 or more years after the effective date of the amendatory Act or if certain alterations or additions are made to the building 4 or more years after the effective date of the amendatory Act. Requires the owner or operator of a public building and the owner or operator of a State-owned building to ensure that certain information about the location of adult changing stations in the buildings is provided. Defines terms.
Amends the Illinois State Police Act and the Illinois Police Training Act. Provides that a person may not be selected or appointed as a State Police officer or certified as a law enforcement officer unless the person has performed satisfactorily on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory 2 (MMPI-2) or another preemployment personality test prescribed and administered by the Illinois State Police or the Illinois Law Enforcement Training Standards Board. The test shall be taken by all applicants in the final selection process for a State Police officer or law enforcement position. Includes provisions relating to interpretation and evaluation of the preemployment personality test and testing dates. Provides that the Illinois State Police or law enforcement agency shall screen all officers at least once annually to evaluate the overall mental health of the officer, including whether the officer has negative impact of lateral trauma, signs of depression or post-traumatic stress disorder, or other negative outcomes related to the officer’s career.
After a wildcat being kept as a pet got loose in a Vernon Hills neighborhood, a state representative introduced legislation proposing a ban on the possession of the African feline, called a serval, in Illinois.
Rep. Daniel Didech, D-Buffalo Grove, proposed the legislation during the first week of the 2024 General Assembly session. Vernon Hills is part of Didech’s district. […]
Because servals are not included in the state’s dangerous animal statute, Didech said it limited Vernon Hills’ ability to respond to the November incident.
Deputy Police Chief Shannon Holubetz said the village was not able to cite the serval owners because the animal was not regulated under any local, county or state statutes.
Amends the Legislative Commission Reorganization Act of 1984. Provides for the acquisition and placement of statues depicting: (1) President Ronald W. Reagan; and (2) President Barack H. Obama. Provides that the Architect of the Capitol may provide for the design and fabrication of the statues, or may otherwise acquire, using funds collected for such purpose or through donation, a suitable statue for placement on the grounds of the State Capitol. Requires the Architect of the Capitol to take actions necessary to provide for the placement and unveiling of the statues within specified periods of time. Requires the Architect of the Capitol to issue a report to the Governor and General Assembly detailing actions taken to acquire and place the statues. Provides that the Capitol Restoration Trust Fund shall contain separate accounts for the deposit of funds donated for the payment of expenses associated with the placement of the statues. Provides that the separate accounts may accept deposits from any source, whether private or public, and may be appropriated only for use by the Architect of the Capitol for expenses associated with the acquisition, placement, and maintenance of the statues.
* ICYMI:Illinois election officials to consider removing Trump from March primary ballot. WBEZ…
- The Illinois State Board of Elections is expected to consider the recommendation Tuesday.
- The effort in Illinois to keep Trump off the March ballot is similar to those filed in several other states.
- The objection to Trump’s candidacy was brought by five Illinois voters, a national voting-rights organization involved in trying to keep Trump off the ballot and two Chicago law firms.
* NYT | As Buses of Migrants Arrive in Chicago Suburbs, Residents Debate the Role of Their Towns: In Wilmette, a town of 27,000 people where the median household income is about $183,000, dozens of residents have mobilized to help the migrants with clothing and other needs before they board trains for the so-called landing zone in downtown Chicago, where they are then routed to shelters around the city. Jessica Leving Siegel, a nonprofit marketing consultant, lugged trash bags around the Metra station one evening last week and directed fellow volunteers. Ms. Leving Siegel, who wore a messy bun and a maroon T-shirt printed with the words “We are all refugees,” has organized clothing drives and helped migrants make money by shoveling snowy sidewalks in Wilmette.
* Tribune | No help: The federal immigration deal won’t fix the migrant crisis in Chicago — and it’s unlikely to pass Congress anyway: While details of the bipartisan bill have not been made public, proposals from Republican senators center around raising the bar for migrants to claim asylum and curbing the president’s ability to grant parole — or permission to enter the United States on a temporary basis while asylum claims are reviewed by the courts. These efforts may deter the flow of migrants across borders, but there are larger factors that could keep driving immigrants to Chicago.
At 10 am Governor Pritzker will be at Google’s Chicago offices to announce next steps for Children’s Behavioral Health Transformation Initiative. Click here to watch.
* Here’s the rest of your morning roundup…
* WBEZ | The DNC is launching a neighborhood ambassadors program to recruit volunteers: The main responsibility of an ambassador will be to help recruit some of the roughly 12,000 volunteers needed for the convention. Ambassadors are expected to recruit at least 50 volunteers from their respective neighborhoods. Volunteers will be responsible for everything from assisting with media or security logistics, to meeting people at O’Hare and Midway airports to help direct them to the city.
* SJ-R | Flood stages on Sangamon River subside; rise on Illinois River still expected: “There may still be some ice on the Sangamon,” [NWS meteorologist Nicole Albano] added, “so we do need to stay vigilant for maybe some ice jam or ice activity, but with temperatures continuing to stay mild and even increasing this week, we should start to see a decrease in ice activity, at least along the Sangamon.”
* Sun-Times | Illinois home-based child care providers often make minimum wage — or less: Represented by SEIU Healthcare Illinois, the providers are currently in contract negotiations with the state over retirement benefits, training and, most importantly, pay — in the form of the state’s rates per child, which range from around $22 to $48 a day per child, depending on license status, geographic location and the child’s age.
* Chicago Reader | (Don’t) be deceived: In a shocking about-face, Illinois attorney general Kwame Raoul’s office announced an agreement last month with anti-abortion advocates that the state will not enforce legislation that would have cracked down on deceptive practices by these fake abortion clinics. It was a surprising move for the attorney general, who’d helped introduce such legislation himself earlier in 2023. As a result, many Illinois abortion rights advocates say they’ll need to work even harder to protect residents seeking reproductive health care.
* Shaw Local | Election 2024: Meet the 5 who want Lance Yednock’s seat in Illinois House: At a candidates forum Wednesday at Illinois Valley Community College, some expressed divergent views on how to alleviate the tax burden on Illinois residents. Crystal Loughran and Liz Bishop are vying for the Republican nomination, and both are political newcomers who trumpet their allegiances to constituents rather than special interests.
* Daily Herald | How much property taxes per person does it cost to run your town?: Property taxes used to fund daily operations of suburban municipalities have climbed an average of $44 per resident from 10 years ago. In at least nine suburbs, the amount of property taxes charged per resident has climbed more than $100 from a decade ago.
* Tribune | Illinois appeals courts see ‘dramatic increase’ in cases following elimination of cash bail: From Sept. 18, when the law took effect, through the end of the year, more than 1,300 pretrial appeals of detention decisions were filed in the state’s five appellate districts, an increase that comes on top of the normal caseload. In all of 2022, there were 1,981 criminal appeals filed across all five districts, according to data from the court.
* Intelligencer | ‘Enough is enough’: Feds argue against further delays in former senator McCann’s trial: McCann, a one-time gubernatorial candidate, is accused of using some of about $5 million in campaign money he oversaw for personal purchases and concealing it from donors, the state and law enforcement authorities. He originally was scheduled for trial in April 2021, two months after being indicted by a federal grand jury. Since then, scheduled trial dates have come and gone after changes in defense attorneys or because of the contention that volumes of documents and files — nearly 70,000 pages — prosecutors compiled in the case required more time to review.
* Tribune | Illinois farmers struggle to balance livelihoods with reducing agricultural runoff, a major contributor to Gulf dead zone: Nitrogen and phosphorus are flowing from the Mississippi River Basin into the Gulf of Mexico, creating an oxygen-void area along southern Louisiana and eastern Texas over 18 times larger than Chicago. Fish, shrimp and other commercial species swim farther from the coast to escape, and those that can’t move fast enough die. Fishermen must follow, spending more time and money to sail away from this “dead zone” with dicier odds of a good catch.
* Tribune | Man who conspired with sister in infamous 1993 ‘black widow’ murder case released from prison: Suh had been serving an 80-year sentence for the Sept. 25, 1993, murder of his sister’s boyfriend, Robert O’Dubaine, in Chicago’s Bucktown neighborhood. Suh has long admitted he pulled the trigger in the premeditated, ambush-style killing. But, in repeated clemency requests, he argued his remorse and efforts to better himself have earned him a measure of mercy.
* Pantagraph | One year in, Budzinski remains ‘optimist’ while touting wins for 13th District: The freshman lawmaker introduced 15 bills and co-sponsored nearly 300 more during her first year. She touts the closing of more than 700 constituent cases, which often include helping people navigate federal agencies and resolve issues with benefits like Social Security, among other tasks. She has also been bringing home the bacon, claiming more than $320 million in federal dollars for projects in the district. An analysis from Roll Call last year found Budzinski to be the top Democrat in securing earmarks, which are funds directed by members of Congress towards specific projects.
Residents of Wilmington were warned of “life-threatening” flooding as the Kankakee River rose to dangerous levels in Will and Grundy counties Friday morning.
The National Weather Service urged people in Wilmington to move to higher ground because of flash flooding that could occur in parts of the town.
An ice jam has formed on the river from the extreme cold last week, according to weather service meteorologist Kevin Doom. When the ice jam breaks, flooding could happen quickly and without warning. […]
After rising around 3 feet in the course of an hour, the Kankakee River was recorded at 4.32 feet around 5:45 a.m. Friday. The flood level is considered 5 feet, according to the weather service.
Amends the Lobbyist Registration Act. Provides that the Secretary of State may (1) revoke or suspend for a maximum period of one year, or bar from registration for a maximum period of one year, the registration of an individual under the Act for the failure to file specified reports or to pay a specified penalty; (2) investigate the activities of any person who is or who has allegedly been engaged in lobbying and who may be in violation of the Act; and (3) require any registrant or entity registered under the Act to produce documentary evidence that is relevant or material or to give testimony that is relevant or material to an investigation. Provides that each person required to register or file a report under the Act shall maintain the records relating to the report for a period of at least 3 years. Provides that the Secretary of State may request to examine or cause to be examined the books and records of a registrant or an individual renewing his or her registration under the Act to the extent that those books and records relate to lobbying. Provides that documents and evidence produced or collected by the Secretary of State during the course of an investigation shall be exempted from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act. Provides that the Secretary of State may revoke or suspend the registration of a registrant or an individual renewing his or her registration under the Act if that individual fails to comply with a request from the Secretary of State to furnish the specified information. Makes changes in provisions concerning definitions; persons required to register; lobbyist registration and disclosure; and reports. Amends the Freedom of Information Act to make a conforming change.
A Chicago state representative has called on the state to refuse to host the Democratic National Convention until the city receives federal funding for migrant care. Mayor Brandon Johnson is not on board with that idea, however. […]
“If Chicago doesn’t get federal help for its housing crisis, it should pass on hosting the DNC,” Buckner wrote in the Chicago Tribune. “I realize this is a bold and unprecedented suggestion, but our situation is also unprecedented, and we must act with that in mind.”
Johnson seemed to shoot down the idea Wednesday.
“Whether you have the DNC coming to your town or not, the DNC isn’t going to New York,” Johnson said. “They have just as much as a right to federal funds as the city that will host the DNC.”
* Background is here if you need it. Jeanne Ives’ campaign committee to put a non-binding statewide referendum about trans kids on the ballot has filed its state paperwork, and it misspells her own name…
Illinois anglers who chase walleye, sauger or saugeye are invited to participate in the virtual Midwest Walleye Challenge in 2024. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources has teamed up with other states, provinces, and developers and researchers at Anglers Atlas to launch this year’s competition.
Information gathered through the competition will assist Illinois in providing anglers with important data and add to biologists’ knowledge of various waterbodies.
“Competitions like this are incredibly valuable to our understanding of the Illinois fishery,” said Kevin Irons, assistant chief of the IDNR fisheries division. “And not to worry, anglers - we’ll never know the exact location of your favorite secret fishing spot. Our biologists will only see information about the water body.”
The Midwest Walleye Challenge uses the mobile app MyCatch to record the length of each fish caught. Anglers take a picture of the fish on a measuring device using the app, and once the fish is reviewed by the catch team and meets the rules, it appears on a live leaderboard where anglers can see who is in the lead.
Anglers can go online to view the rules and sign up to participate.
* Here’s the rest…
* WCIA | Bill would limit eminent domain power for CO2 Pipeline companies: Republican Senator Steve McClure filed a bill in the statehouse to give property owners an even bigger say in the process. “It’s gonna discourage anybody from coming into the state of Illinois to try to take someone else’s private property against their will for a CO2 pipeline,” McClure (R-Springfield) said. “There’s a couple of issues here, number one, people are still concerned about the safety of CO2 pipelines. And number two, most landowners don’t want CO2 pipelines on their property. So this is a way to try to give protections to landowners so that the property is not taken away from them for a CO2 pipeline.”
* WTAX | Biden challenge fizzles: That’s how an Illinois State Board of Elections hearing officer summed up his reasoning for rejecting an objection fronted by Arthur Jones of Lyons. […] Hearing officer David Herman: “Let’s move on to your next argument.” Jones: “… and plunge this country into depression, sir!” Biden lawyer Kevin Morphew: “All of this is hearsay.” Jones: “It’s not hearsay! It’s facts that’s going to take place if we allow this idiot to be on the ballot!”
* Marc Poulos | Illinois, let’s re-invest in working families with a state child tax credit: If the state passes the proposed child tax credit, it would provide $300 per child to families who earn at or below the median income. Unions like ours at International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150 have been fighting for Illinois families for years. And as the cost of living continues to rise, that extra bit of supplementary help from policies like the child tax credit are precisely what our membership, and parents across this state, need right now to thrive.
*SJ-R | Homicides down in Springfield for third consecutive year: The Springfield Police Department handled five cases in 2023, though there were two other homicides with Springfield addresses investigated by Sangamon County Sheriff’s Deputies. There was one murder-suicide in the Village of Southern View, also investigated by the sheriff’s department.
* Daily-Journal | Illinois DCFS offers post-secondary scholarships to current, former youth in care: The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services is accepting applications for the 2024 DCFS Scholarship Program. Through the program, a minimum of 53 academic scholarships will be awarded to current and former youth in care for the upcoming school year, with four awards reserved for the children of veterans and two reserved for students pursuing degrees in social work in honor of Pamela Knight and Deidre Silas, two DCFS caseworkers who succumbed to injuries sustained in the line of duty.
* WREX | Hard Rock Casino Rockford announces potential opening date: During Labor Day weekend, the Hard Rock Casino will potentially open its doors and welcome a 101-year-old Rockford woman nicknamed “Queen Antoinette” as the first visitor to walk into the building. As of January 26, the casino remains under construction, but is on track to open for the holiday weekend.
* Block Club | South Side Food Desert Still Waiting On Grocery Store After Developers Snagged $5 Million City Grant: City officials approved nearly $5 million in community development grants last year for Save A Lot operator Yellow Banana to build a store at 13016 S. Rhodes Ave. The site is located near the Altgeld Gardens public housing development, which — along with the broader Riverdale community area — has not had a grocery store since the Rosebud Farm Stand closed in 2018.
* Block Club | How Many People Experience Homelessness In Chicago? Annual Count Aims To Boost Services: A total of 6,139 residents experiencing homelessness were counted in 2023 — 5,149 of them living in homeless shelters and 990 either on the street or “other locations not meant for human habitation,” according to city data. Of last year’s population, the city counted 2,196 asylum seekers. Sixty-nine percent of the non-asylum seekers counted in 2023 were Black and 62 percent identified as male.
* Triibe | Is the Johnson Administration listening to gender-based violence support groups? : With City Council’s approval of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s 2024 budget in November 2023, the CPD received a nearly $90 million increase for salary increases, to hire more detectives and add 400 new civilian positions, including 44 crime victim advocates and domestic violence advocates as part of an expansion of its Crime Victim Service Unit. However, gender-based violence advocates pleaded with Johnson’s administration and Chicago City Council members to amend the budget and redistribute those dollars to community-based organizations that are already working with survivors and victims and connecting them to resources and services.
* Crain’s | Apartments near Bally’s casino site sold for $42 million: Mondial was one of more than a dozen multifamily buildings in and near downtown Chicago that hit the market last year. But high interest rates have made it difficult to put together a deal, and many of those properties didn’t trade. Those that did felt the impact of the cooling investment climate on values: North Water Apartments in Streeterville sold at a 28% loss in June, and the developers of Lake & Wells in River North took about a 20% hit in that building’s sale in April.
* WBEZ | Don’t take away dollar stores without ‘backup plan,’ community members say: In a statement to WBEZ, a spokesperson for Dollar Tree Inc. said neighborhood “small-box” stores provide household goods at affordable prices. “As many ‘big box’ and full-service grocery retailers have exited Chicago neighborhoods in recent months, a moratorium or overreaching restrictions on new retail that fill a critical void in these neighborhoods are not the solution to the problems the ordinance seeks to solve,” the statement said.
* Chalkbeat | Chicago Board of Education renews contracts for 49 charter schools: The board extended contracts for all of the schools up for renewal. It renewed most of the contracts by either three or four years, starting this July. The maximum extension allowed under state law is 10 years. Each renewal came with a set of conditions, ranging from monitoring services for students with disabilities and students learning English as a new language to improving facilities, financial compliance, and accuracy of teacher licenses. Those conditions were a result of “issues that were identified during our comprehensive review,” said Zabrina Evans, executive director of the district’s Office of Innovation and Incubation in the Office of Portfolio Management.
* Block Club | Mining On The Southeast Side? As Alderman Pushes To Overturn City Ban, Environmentalists Fight Back: Representatives from Southeast Side community groups criticized an ordinance from alds. Peter Chico (10th) and Gilbert Villegas (36th) to change city zoning law to allow mining in certain areas. The legislation was introduced into City Council on Wednesday. Organizers believe it could be an avenue to help the Invert project, a years-old endeavor from cement company Ozinga to build a 6-million-square-foot underground mining warehouse on a former steel site near 112th Street and the Calumet River.
* SJ-R | Longtime Sangamon County Board member George Preckwinkle resigns: Preckwinkle, who splits time between Springfield and his home in Florida, owns 13 central Illinois Ace Hardware stores with his sister, Lucy Stafford of Pleasant Plains. The decision to step down was bittersweet, he said. “I’m elected to serve the people and my business and personal schedules have just gotten to where I can’t hardly do my role as a county board member,” said Preckwinkle, reached by phone Thursday. “It was a challenge last year and it’s just off the charts this year.
* WBEZ | In Chicago, a new music series is a ‘turning point’ for sober musicians and audiences: As a bassist, Matt Ciarleglio had played in bars all his life — which was good for his growth as a musician. But as someone struggling with addiction, playing in bars created challenges that could derail his life. “I had been struggling with substance abuse in some form or another most of my adult life,” he said. Last year, it dawned on him: “Why?”
* Columbia Journalism Review | The Death of the Washington Bureau: This worsens polarization. Without local coverage, the only times most Americans hear about their representatives is from campaign ads or when they’re on national news talking about partisan issues. That makes it harder for politicians who break with their party to get something done to survive politically—and it makes it harder for issues of local importance that might have crossover appeal to gain any traction. If the only way to gain attention (and raise money) is to talk about national issues on Fox News or MSNBC, why bother taking a political risk to cross the aisle and try to solve problems that actually matter to your district?
Today, the City of Chicago and the Department of Family and Support Services (DFSS) are announcing the conclusion of the Request for Proposals (RFP) process to find a new food service provider for city-run shelters for New Arrivals. DFSS is pleased to announce that two local agencies, Seventy-Seven Communities and 14 Parish, were selected.
Seventy-Seven Communities will serve as the food provider for shelters in the North Region of Chicago and 14 Parish will serve as the food provider for the New Arrivals shelters in the South Region.
Seventy-Seven Communities is a suburban-based company created in October, according to state filings. It’s run by leaders at the popular and rapidly expanding Italian beef franchise Buona Beef as well as its sister company, Beyond Catering.
Seventy-Seven Communities’ executive director is listed as Joe Buonavolanto Jr., one of the sons of Buona Beef’s founders and an owner of Buona Beef, LLC, according to state filings. Mike Iovinelli, program director of Seventy-Seven Communities, is also listed as vice president of catering at Beyond Catering — whose parent company is Buona Beef.
The city’s press release did not mention Buona Beef or Beyond Catering. Officials said Seventy-Seven Communities had “decades” of experience in food service, even though records show the company has only existed for four months. It does not appear to have a website.
The goals of this RFP were to increase food quality for all New Arrivals shelters and to decrease the cost of the Meals Program for the City. Both Seventy-Seven Communities and 14 Parish have demonstrated that they can provide high quality and culturally congruent meal service to all shelters for $15-$17 per person per day. This is a significant decrease from the $21-$23 the City has been spending on food per person per day prior to this contract. Additionally, both agencies have demonstrated that they have many partnerships with local and minority-owned restaurants, including local Venezuelan restaurants, who will be assisting in creating menus and preparing food that fit both the nutritious and cultural needs of shelter residents.
Through these new vendors, the city of Chicago reported that the new direction in food servicing is proving to be cost efficient. The new price the city will pay for providing to the shelters is $15-17 per person. Prior to the new contract the price per person was $21-$23 with Greater Chicago Food Depository and Open Kitchens.
* The Greater Chicago Food Depository was the previous vendor. I reached out for comment today. A spokesperson noted that 1) The state government and private donors, not the city, paid for the meals; 2) Because of the private donations, the actual costs were well below the price claimed by the city; and 3) It was working with 17 minority-owned food businesses…
The Food Depository has never received any funding from the City of Chicago for our work over the last 8 months to provide food for new arrivals at their shelters, so the implication that we produced meals at a rate of $21-$23/person using City funding is wholly inaccurate.
The Food Depository’s work to provide meals at new arrival shelters was supported by private donors and funding from the State of Illinois. This detail is important for us to clarify as we have a responsibility to our donors and the state who gave generously to support this important work to know that their contributions were utilized responsibly.
Our price per meal was far more efficient than what is quoted in the City’s release and every dollar we spent on new arrival meals went toward food costs, with $17 million invested in local restaurants and caterers who partnered with us in this work. We essentially paid 17 minority-owned food businesses to prepare and deliver the meals as a way of supporting food vendors in historically disinvested communities.
…Adding… The city says its dig was at a different vendor, not at the Food Depository. NBC 5 reported this week that the Food Depository was one of the two vendors.
Democrat Demands Recall of Chicago Mayor as Migrant Crisis Explodes
Illinois House of Representatives candidate Andre Smith has demanded a recall of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson on Friday amid an influx of migrants in the city.
“Our mayor has no plan now; he’s having panic attacks. We need to actually recall the mayor,” Smith, a Democrat and the founder of the Chicago Against Violence organization, said on Fox & Friends. “It’s a disaster, and it all falls on the mayor, Brandon Johnson; that’s why I’m pushing strongly that we repeal the mayor.”
Smith recently told Fox News he was arrested last year for standing in front of a bus carrying migrants.
* Here’s the Tribune on Mayor Brandon Johnson’s demand that the state put new asylum-seeker shelters in other towns…
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said Thursday she was “not privy” to any of the back-and-forth between Johnson and Pritzker this week, and has “no idea about the interests or intentions or willingness of mayors in suburban Cook County to help meet this challenge.”
The county has previously acknowledged it was “very closely coordinating with the city to at least identify locations for housing” in the city and in suburban Cook. But when she previously asked suburban mayors to step up, Preckwinkle said Thursday “those conversations didn’t result in offers of assistance.”
* On to the letter from alderpersons. Quinn Myers at Block Club Chicago…
A group of alderpeople are calling on Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration to rescind a 60-day stay limit at city shelters housing migrants.
The first evictions under that policy are scheduled for Feb. 1, after having been pushed back twice in January during dangerously cold temperatures. About 1,900 people could be evicted from shelters on that date, with another 961 facing eviction Feb. 2, according to city data provided to Block Club last week.
On Thursday, 16 alderpeople signed onto a letter urging Johnson to eliminate the deadlines and improve conditions at the almost 30 city-run shelters housing migrants.
The eviction policy poses a “significant threat to the health and safety of new arrivals” who are “relying on shelters for their continued safety,” according to the letter.
Volunteers who spoke to the Weekly Thursday said they supported the letter and hoped it would lead to better conditions for migrants and improved transparency around shelter conditions. Johnson’s administration relied on volunteers to assist in providing food, clothing and other amenities to asylum seekers while they were staying at police stations, but volunteers say they have been prevented from accessing city-run shelters since then.
“I’m hoping to see improved conditions [at shelters], especially regarding scams and safety,” said SouthWest Collective member Jaime Groth Searle. Shelter eviction notices “make people get desperate and forego personal safety in search of a job or apartment. Clearly we need federal funding, but in the interim, official communication needs to improve.”
Rousemary Vega, an organizer with Grassroots Voices for Chicago, said there is “no transparency” from the city about conditions at the shelters, adding that volunteers have been prevented from accessing the shelters. “They’re limiting mutual aid volunteers from just doing the work, because they don’t want a stain on the [shelters’] image, because they don’t want the word to get out.They’re not allowing the help and resources, so I think it’s time for allies to call upon the mayor and hold him accountable.”
Johnson has pushed back the eviction deadline twice since announcing the policy in November. It was first set to be enforced on Jan. 16, but was pushed back to Jan. 22 amid a cold snap that saw sub-zero temperatures. The current deadline is now Feb. 1, when nearly 2,000 migrants are required to leave city shelters and request a new spot if they haven’t found housing.
“Some of the new arrivals are confused, because they’ve gotten eviction notices, but the dates keep moving,” said Ald. Andre Vasquez, 40th Ward, who chairs the City Council’s Committee on Immigrant and Refugee Rights.
“We believe a 60-day policy isn’t the way to go forward, that it actually leads to potentially more homelessness in the city. And we do need the state to step up and do its part, but we can’t have people on…the streets in the winter, ultimately living in viaducts, in tents in parks and on the streets.” […]
“It’s not about being for or against the mayor,” Vasquez said. “There’s a recognition of the reality of the situation more than the ideology of it.”
Carrying out the evictions will reinforce the kind of desperate mindset volunteers such as Jaime Groth Searle have been trying to help calm.
“They’re not in a headspace to think about safety, they’re thinking about where am I going to get my next meal, keep my kids warm, get my next $50,” Groth Searle said. “We’re trying to get them out of survival mode and get back to going to school, seeing a doctor — those normal things people do.”
Groth Searle volunteers outside the Pilsen shelter and said without more robust case work, many migrants are panicking as they near the end of their stay and don’t know what to do.
We continue to evaluate the 60-day policy and will provide updates as the situation develops. Our plan remains providing dignified care and basic support services for asylum seekers to aid them on the aforementioned path to self-sufficiency and independence, while also being fiscally responsible and fulfilling fiduciary responsibilities to the people of the City of Chicago.
They’ll provide the shelter and basic care until April, but then what? Nobody has yet come up with an answer.
* More…
* Block Club | Buona Beef-Connected Group Gets $45 Million Contract For Migrant Shelter Meals: 14 Parish, based in Hyde Park, is in charge of meals at shelters in the South Region, while Seventy-Seven Communities will provide meals to the North Region, officials said. Seventy-Seven Communities is a suburban-based company created in October, according to state filings. It’s run by leaders at the popular and rapidly expanding Italian beef franchise Buona Beef as well as its sister company, Beyond Catering.
* ABC Chicago | Chicago property owner opens vacant buildings to house nearly 500 asylum seekers: Chris Amatore, a property manager and real estate investor, is providing beds and food, and paying for it all himself. Food was delivered Thursday to the families staying in a South Shore building. In recent days, 57 Venezuelans moved in to the building on South Essex, according to Amatore, who said he owns the building.
* This article from Capitol News Illinois stirred up some controversy…
State law currently says that by the 2025 delivery year, one-quarter of electricity purchased by the state must come from renewable sources. Goals laid out in CEJA are even more ambitious, requiring the state’s energy production to be carbon-free by 2045.
But the Illinois Power Agency – which handles energy procurement for the state’s utilities – reports that the state is lagging far behind its goals. In its current long-term plan for renewable purchasing, which was published in May, the agency projected that by the 2025 delivery year, only 8.1 percent of electricity will come from sources that qualify as renewable under state law.
“Achieving these goals would require a substantial increase in new renewable energy generation,” according to the agency’s report.
The federal Energy Information Administration, which uses a slightly different method to calculate its figures, reports that 15.4 percent of Illinois’ electricity generation came from renewables in October. That lags the state’s statutory goal for this year of 22 percent and behind the nation’s average renewable electricity generation of 22.3 percent.
* The governor’s spokesperson Jordan Abudayyeh, tweeted in response, “IL isn’t behind in our energy goals and I wouldn’t use a report from May of last year to make that point. … Carbon-free is different than renewable energy and IL will rely heavily on nuclear to reach our carbon-free goals.”
Carbon-free is hugely important in the mix because the state gets more than half of its electrical power from nuclear plants.
* Since numbers from the Illinois Power Agency were used in the news story, I reached out to the agency to get their perspective…
Hi Rich,
We were not contacted by CNI on this story, so we can’t speak authoritatively on from where CNI pulled this information. It’s possible that the “May report” in the article refers to the Modified 2022 Long-Term Renewables Procurement Plan, but RPS [Renewable Portfolio Standards] goal/target data contained is indeed approximately two years outdated (as that Plan was originally filed with the ICC in January 2022). So, assuming that CNI used this document to inform its article, the Governor’s Office is correct that this information is outdated.
To the broader question, our 2022 Annual Report includes data on the overall nameplate capacity amount of installed renewable energy generation physically located in Illinois. The 2022 Annual Report shows the total installed percentage of renewable capacity at 18.6%, with the percentage of megawatt hours from renewables at 12.4%. These are percentages out of all electricity generation in Illinois, as opposed to all electricity consumed in Illinois—if the latter were used as the denominator, then these percentages would be higher [about 17 percent, as it turns out], as Illinois is a net exporter of electricity.
The Agency’s next annual report is due out on February 15 and will be published on the IPA’s website. I will make sure we send you a copy of the report when it’s published.
Setting aside the issue of outdated data, conflating RPS progress with overall share of electricity from renewables statewide is a common area of misunderstanding—people often reference the former while meaning the latter. To address this concern, CEJA (through changes to Section 1-125 of the IPA Act) now requires the IPA to report on items including “the percentage of installed and scheduled renewable energy generation capacity as a share of overall electricity generation capacity physically located in Illinois” through its annual report. We’d be happy to follow up with our latest copy of that report when it becomes available.
* Crain’s has a story about Chicago Federation of Labor President Bob Reiter’s support of a new White Sox ballpark in the South Loop…
The Sox organization may be trying to whip up as much support as it can before it meets with Pritzker and has to answer the biggest remaining question about the stadium proposal: Who would pay for it?
Reiter would say only that he was told “no new taxes built in . . . and right now that property isn’t generating nearly the amount of revenue as it would if it were fully developed.”
Sources familiar with what the team is planning, but who say they are not free to speak about the deal, have told Crain’s that the White Sox are likely to ask state legislators to empower the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority to either extend or issue new bonds backed by the existing 2% hotel occupancy tax currently used to satisfy the bonds issued to pay for Guaranteed Rate Field.
While that would not raise a new tax, because the hotel occupancy tax is already in place, state legislators may still turn up their noses at extending or issuing new bonds, or providing any public dollars to help build a stadium for a team whose value is measured in billions.
Thoughts?
…Adding… With a hat tip to a commenter, this is from the Bond Buyer last fall…
The ISFA owns, operates and issued $150 million of bonds in 1989 for Guaranteed Rate Field where the White Sox play, and issued $400 million of 2001 bonds that financed the renovation of the Chicago Park District-owned Soldier Field, home of the Bears. About $416 million of debt is outstanding, nearly all of it for the 2003 Soldier Field renovation.
Amends the Department of Natural Resources (Conservation) Law of the Civil Administrative Code of Illinois, the Illinois State Police Act, the Counties Code, and the Illinois Municipal Code. Provides that a law enforcement officer may not be required to arrest a specific number of persons within a designated period of time.
Creates the Dentist and Dental Hygienist Compact Act. Provides that the State of Illinois ratifies and approves the Compact. Provides that the purposes of the Compact are to facilitate the interstate practice of dentistry and dental hygiene and improve public access to dentistry and dental hygiene services by providing dentists and dental hygienists licensed in a participating state the ability to practice in participating states in which they are not licensed. Includes provisions about state participation in the Compact; qualifying licenses that are eligible for Compact privilege, including active military members or their spouses; imposition of adverse actions against a qualified license; establishment and operation of the Commission, including each participating state selecting one commissioner to the Commission; development, maintenance, operation, and utilization of a coordinated database and reporting system containing licensure; rulemaking powers of the Commission; oversight, dispute resolution, and enforcement of the Compact; effective date of and amendment to the Compact; withdrawal from the Compact by a participating state; construction and severability; and effect on and conflict with other state laws.
Introduced into the Illinois House January 23 by Representative Anne Stava-Murray and cosponsored by Representative Diane Blair-Sherlock, HB 4567 aims to protect library workers throughout the state from harassment, threats, and disorderly conduct. The bill comes in the new legislative session after the state passed the nation’s first anti-book ban bill last year and dealt with several bomb threats in the months following that bill’s passage. The new bill would amend the Criminal Code of 2012. […]
Where once library workers were not explicitly named among populations protected from threats, the new bill would include the profession by name. The threats would be investigated and taken seriously, whether they came in person or through electronic means, including social media.
Not only does naming library workers in the Criminal Code lend legitimacy to the profession–and it covers everyone within a library from professional librarians to shelvers, custodians, and others–it codifies the importance of libraries to democracy in the state. Protections would extend beyond public library workers, too. It also covers those working for private libraries.
Stava-Murray represents Illinois’s 81st district, which includes Downers Grove, as well as parts of Lisle, Naperville, Woodridge, Darien, Westmont, and Bolingbrook. Downers Grove was among the libraries targeted by protesters and threats over a teen drag queen bingo event in fall 2022. Other public libraries in the district have been subject to similar threats and harassment. Diane Blair-Sherlock represents the 46th district, which includes all or parts of Addison, Oak Brook Terrace, Carol Stream, Glen Ellyn, Elmhurst, Villa Park, and more. Several of those libraries, including Addison, were subject tp bomb threats last fall.
Amends the School Code. Provides that any involvement by a law enforcement agency in an incident at a school or on school owned or leased property, including any conveyance owned, leased, or used by the school for the transport of students or school personnel, shall be reported monthly to the Illinois State Police by the school district superintendent or his or her designee or other appropriate administrative officer if the school is a nonpublic school. Provides that the State Board of Education shall receive an annual statistical compilation and related data associated with the reporting from the Illinois State Police. Provides that the State Board of Education shall compile this information by school and make it available to the public. Effective July 1, 2024.
State Sen. Sally Turner, R-Beason, said her bill, Senate Bill 2668, aims to alleviate farmers’ fears that land acquisitions by foreign nations and investors may inflate farmland prices and pose a potential threat to national security.
“We can’t go get new farmland. We can’t invent more or manufacture new farmland. It is something that we need in order to feed the world,” Turner said.
Currently, 24 states have passed similar legislation to manage the risks associated with the purchase of farmland by foreign entities that may jeopardize national security.
The National Defense Authorization Act addresses the issue of foreign entities buying up farmland, Turner said. In fact, the Agricultural Foreign Investment Disclosure Act became law in late 1978. The law requires foreign investors to report their purchases.
A new bill aims to give teachers across Illinois at least 45 minutes of planning time each day.[…]
“We wouldn’t need a bill like this if the feedback from teachers wasn’t that they were losing their planning time,” said state Sen. Meg Loughran Cappel, D-Shorewood.
She’s sponsoring the bill requiring teachers to get time to plan every day. […]
“What we’re finding is that teachers are promised planning time in their contracts but many times they’re pulled for different meetings or to sub and their planning times are being taken away, and they’re having to do those planning activities before school, after school, taking their work home,” Loughran Cappel said.
A special education teacher for 15 years, Loughran Cappel saw firsthand the importance of having time to plan. She also knows what she and her students lost when she didn’t have the time.
But even among Democrats there is some reluctance to provide further funding for the migrant crisis without addressing long-standing issues involving poverty and the unhoused in Illinois, Senate President Don Harmon said.
“After saying for generations that we don’t have enough money to deal with real and similar issues affecting people here in the state, there’s no way we could advance an appropriation bill that dealt only with the newly arrived migrants,” said Harmon, an Oak Park Democrat, echoing concerns that have been raised by some members of the legislature’s Black Caucus.
“If we’re going to provide funding to deal with that crisis, we’re going to have to provide funding for crises that have existed in our communities for generations,” Harmon said. “I don’t see an appetite to solve one problem while ignoring others that have been at the forefront of people’s agendas for decades.”
* Harmon appeared on the 21st Show this week, so host Brian Mackey asked him about that quote. After criticizing the Texas governor and praising the concept of a nation of immigrants as “good for our culture,” Harmon had this to say…
I wasn’t channeling the Black Caucus in particular. Across the caucus, I think across the General Assembly, there is a discomfort in saying ‘yes.’ For generations we have told you that we do not have the resources to invest in solving seemingly intractable problems, like homelessness, like food insecurity, like workforce development. And yes, it is a humanitarian crisis foisted upon us. The volume of this crisis is different than things we’ve seen in the past.
But as a policy matter, I don’t see a way to get the votes to support a funding bill that deals only with the migrant crisis. Any response is going to need to be more holistic, it’s going to need to look for synergies between services and resources available for the migrant arrivals, that would also be available for people struggling with the same problems whose families have been here for generations. I just don’t see a way we say ‘yes’ to some and ‘no’ to others. […]
I want to emphasize that there are opportunities to invest in Illinois that can address the immediate issue, but also address long term issues.. … This is a good time for us to step back and say, what resources do we need in place in Illinois, not for this crisis, but for the next crisis, and the crisis after that, and the crisis after that, because surely they will come. Could we not invest in some safe emergency shelter that can be used for arriving migrants now, but also for Illinois residents, displaced and homeless and find a way to make this a lasting renewable resource? […]
In my best case, we find a path to give people stability, the opportunity to earn a living. And we build the infrastructure not only for the migrants, but also for everyone else who are in need of similar services, and that becomes a durable framework that lasts for decades.
* ICYMI: Ethnicity, experience take center stage in first faceoff of Illinois Supreme Court candidates. Tribune…
- Illinois Supreme Court Justice Joy Cunningham on Thursday said “race has been injected” into the Democratic primary contest for a seat on the high court by her opponent, state Appellate Judge Jesse Reyes.
- Reyes argued that ethnicity is important in the race because no Latino has ever sat on the state’s highest court.
- Both candidates spoke repeatedly of the role Illinois government has played in protecting access to abortion and other reproductive health services
* Isabel’s top picks…
* Sun-Times | Mayor Brandon Johnson’s job performance rated fair to poor by majority of Chicago voters, new poll finds: After eight months in office, only 21% of registered Chicago voters approve of Brandon Johnson’s performance as mayor, according to a recent poll conducted for an education reform group that advocates for school choice. … Only 7% of those surveyed rated Johnson’s performance as mayor as “excellent” with another 14% rating it as “good.” The remaining 69% either rated Johnson’s performance “only fair” (27%) or “poor” (43%) or said they “didn’t know” (10%). Among Black men, 14% rated Johnson’s performance as “excellent or good,” with 67% branding the work he’s done as mayor as “fair or poor.” Johnson got a “fair or poor” job rating from 75% of white registered voters surveyed and 69% of Latinos questioned.
* News-Gazette | Faraci and Marron to discuss working across the aisle: Faraci and Marron, who is now president/CEO of Vermilion Advantage, will discuss how they were able to work across the aisle, how qualified local citizens might be encouraged to run for office and how individuals and organizations can support these efforts. The LWVCC hopes to reach people who are frustrated by trends of increased polarization and perceived decline in political candidate quality.
* Tribune | Aldermen sign letter urging Johnson to scrap 60-day migrant shelter policy: Their protest comes on the heels of a bloc of 27 aldermen signing on to co-sponsor legislation from Ald. Bill Conway, 34th, to add more City Council oversight to how federal stimulus dollars are used in the wake of the Johnson administration allocating $95 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding to cover the costs of the migrant mission.
* Sun-Times | CPS renews contracts for charter schools — with shorter terms: After long discussions and public comments, the board voted to approve all the schools for terms between one and four years. Most received three or four years with conditions like pledging not to suspend students, shoring up their offerings for students who are learning English or rectifying problems with services to students in special education.
* Sun-Times | In crooked Bridgeport bank failure case, City Hall insider under 3 mayors faces a reckoning: Mahon was in his early 30s when, according to court testimony and the findings of a City Hall investigation, he helped rig test scores so politically connected job candidates could land city jobs or promotions — a violation of a federal court order known as the Shakman decree. A federal investigation of city hiring and promotions ended up rocking City Hall, with Daley’s patronage chief going to prison. Mahon wasn’t charged. He ended up facing disciplinary action, though the punishment for his role in the scandal didn’t come until years later.
* Tribune | After suburban pushback, Cook County leaders propose exempting parks, school districts from paid leave requirements: Shortly before the holidays, the Cook County Board passed its own expanded version of the state’s paid leave law. That new state law, which took effect Jan. 1 across Illinois for employees of businesses of any size, gave workers the right to accrue an hour of time off per 40 hours worked and use it for any reason, not just illness. The county’s rules went slightly beyond the state’s law to make it apply to airlines and government bodies. The county ordinance also allowed workers to sue their employers for violations.
* WTTW | 211 Helpline Connects Cook County Residents to Health and Social Services: ‘It’s Those Everyday Emergencies’: 211 Metro Chicago is a free 24-hour helpline that serves Chicago and the suburban Cook County area. It’s essentially a referral service with an extensive database of organizations and businesses. “Housing is the biggest one, according to our data; others are access to food,” Garcia said. “When someone calls, we right away ask for their ZIP code, where you are located. From there we can say, ‘I don’t know if you have a car, or a bus card, but there is a food pantry two blocks from your home.’”
* Crainn’s | Boeing’s woes put the squeeze on United: “We are not canceling the order,” Kirby told analysts this week when United reported earnings. “We are taking it out of our internal plans. And — so we’re taking it out of our internal plans, and we’ll be working on what that means exactly with Boeing. But Boeing is not going to be able to meet their contractual deliveries on at least many of those airplanes. And I’ll just leave it at that.”
* Crain’s | Chief of powerful union group throws support behind Sox stadium plan: Bob Reiter, president of the Chicago Federation of Labor, says the “project is very exciting for the city.” “Not just for White Sox fans like me,” he told Crain’s on Jan. 25. “It means a lot of jobs, it means a great asset for the city to market to visitors. Not just the stadium, but also the other amenities that will be built out in the neighborhood and the way it would provide connectivity from the Near South Side by Chinatown up into the Loop.”
* WSJ | Inside the $800,000 Experiment to Turn a Frank Lloyd Wright Into a Net-Zero Energy Home: “I was not planning to buy a Frank Lloyd Wright house,” says Samantha Lotti, who grew up in a Manhattan apartment, studied at the University of Chicago, and then spent five postcollege years running her family’s farm in Tuscany. So in 2016, when she heard that the Oscar B. Balch House, one of more than two dozen Wright buildings in Oak Park, Ill., was for sale, she was only vaguely interested. But she did go look. And when she entered the main living space of the 1911 prairie-style house, which is named for its first owner, she says, “I fell in love.” Among the things that moved her were the size of the windows and the proportions of the rooms. The ceilings are low, “almost compressive,” she says, “which is intended to force you to engage with what’s outside the house. And, thanks to the windows, you feel like you’re outside when you’re inside.”
