* Rep. Cassidy was an outspoken member of “The 19″ - the House Democrats who banded together to prevent Speaker Michael Madigan’s reelection. The Senate’s license plate numbers are their district numbers. The House plates are numbered based on seniority. So, this is a fitting coincidence…
Excited to finally get my new plates for the new session. It feels like just yesterday I was 118C & am now 19 in seniority. But more than that, I’m loving the poetry of getting this number as a member of the forever family the 19 has become! pic.twitter.com/HfqTdZ4PGf
Jobs increased over-the-year in all fourteen Illinois metropolitan areas in December according to preliminary data released today by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES). The unemployment rate decreased in thirteen metropolitan areas and increased in one.
“For nearly two years, Illinois has seen consistent job growth across the state throughout industry sectors,”said Deputy Governor Andy Manar. IDES continues to help jobseekers and employers connect with one another as more people enter the labor force and look to take advantage of newly created and expanded job opportunities in the labor market.
The metro areas which had the largest over-the-year percentage increases in total nonfarm jobs were the Lake-Kenosha IL/WI Metro (+3.8%, +15,700), the Davenport-Moline-Rock Island IA-IL MSA (+3.5%, +6,400), the Rockford MSA (+3.1%, +4,500) and the Chicago Metro Division (+2.9%, +108,800). Industries that saw job growth in a majority of metro areas included: Manufacturing and Leisure and Hospitality (thirteen areas each); Other Services (twelve areas); Mining and Construction and Education and Health Services (eleven areas each); Government (ten areas); and Wholesale Trade (nine areas).
The metro areas with the largest unemployment rate decreases were in the Rockford MSA (-1.3 points to 5.4%) and the Decatur MSA (-1.0 point to 5.1%). The Chicago Metro Division unemployment rate increased +0.1 point to 4.3%. The unemployment rate decreased over-the-year in 47 counties, increased in 43, and was unchanged in 12.
Q: So you have no doubt that [President Biden] should run for reelection?
Pritzker: Yeah. I mean, look, I, again, he’s got an awful lot that he’s gotten done, and I expect that he will get done over the next well, six years.
Q: And if for some reason he takes a pass us, you still ready to pull the plug and do it yourself?
Pritzker: What do you mean ’still ready’? I just got reelected as governor of Illinois. I intend to serve out four years and, frankly, I intend to help renominate Joe Biden in a convention in Chicago in 2024.
* The Tribune is all-in on its attempt to connect Chuy Garcia with former Speaker Madigan. That’s fine and justifiable, except it’s using nothingburger stories to do it instead of citing actual evidence that’s been in plain view for years…
As Chicago mayoral candidate Jesús “Chuy” García fends off efforts by political opponents trying to tie him to indicted former House Speaker Michael Madigan, his campaign is calling on a Southwest Side aldermanic candidate who briefly worked for Madigan’s political organization to stop using a picture of García on political flyers.
The campaign brochures focus mostly on the race for alderman of the 23rd Ward near Midway Airport. But the mailers — a well-worn tool for typically parochial races — could have broader implications in the mayoral race and particularly for García, a congressman who is one of eight challengers looking to upend Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s efforts for a second term.
It’s been common in that part of the world for candidates Chuy doesn’t support to try to tie themselves to the guy because he’s so popular. Simple math. Garcia asked the candidate to stop, yet this is somehow a bad thing for Garcia? Bizarre. The coverage is starting to remind me of the New York Times Pitchbot.
Guillen says his decision to run has nothing to do with the simmering feud between Madigan and Tabares on the Southwest Side.
Sure, Jan.
* Lightfoot campaign…
At the WCPT mayoral forum, Paul Vallas floated the very same lofty claims about public safety that his toothless ads push, offering zero specifics or concrete steps to explain how he would actually tackle crime. Ultimately, beneath his rehearsed, “tough on crime” surface, Vallas is nothing but a fear-mongering gadfly who lacks the experience and the ideas to keep Chicagoans safe.
* Paul Vallas’ “original strategy” to tackle crime is nothing but recycled material from Mayor Lightfoot’s ongoing plan to reduce violence. His calls to put more officers on our streets and utilize a community-driven, proactive approach to preventing violence are all already happening — under Mayor Lightfoot.
* Another one on the mayor’s race…
NEWS: CPS told Mayor Lightfoot’s campaign they couldn’t contact students or offer extra credit hours before the campaign released statements saying it’s a “common practice” that campaigns have done for decades. pic.twitter.com/5Qd8aBQKu7
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is visiting Rockford on Thursday to announce funding for an estimated $58 million state project to reconstruct South Alpine Road and a $2.6 million grant to expand aviation mechanics training.
South Alpine is an unmarked state route that has fallen into severe disrepair. Plans are to reconstruct a 2.5-mile stretch of Alpine from Linden Road to Charles Street. But the massive project is expected to take several years to engineer and plan, beginning in 2027.
Illinois has agreed as a stop-gap to do a $1.5 million resurfacing of part of the road to make it drivable until the rest of the project can proceed, city officials have said.
* Isabel’s roundup…
* Center Square | Illinois State Police look to consolidate federal gun ban challenges: Thursday, Illinois State Police motioned to consolidate Langley et al v. Kelly et al. with three other cases filed in federal court: Illinois State Rifle Association’s case Harrel, et al. v. Raoul, et al.; Illinois Gun Rights Alliance’s Federal Firearms Licensees of Illinois, et al. v. Pritzker, et al; and the National Shoot Sports Foundations’ Barnett, et al. v. Raoul, et al.
* CBS Chicago | University of Illinois board increases in-state tuition for incoming freshmen: The University of Illinois Board of Trustees approved what the school called a “modest” tuition increase for in-state freshman who will start school next fall at the Urbana-Champaign and Chicago campuses. Incoming freshman from Illinois will see a 1.9% increase in their tuition, the school said in news release.
* Economic Times | Chicago is trying to lure foreign workers laid off by American tech giants: More than 35 firms in the Chicago region are willing to hire workers on H-1B visas, given to foreign employees in specialty occupations such as software engineering. The companies have teamed up with the city and P33, a nonprofit organization founded by former Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker, to build a job-listing website that debuts on Wednesday.
* Chalkbeat | Chicago’s school board renews charter schools for shorter periods: The process reflects an ongoing shift in the district’s relationship with its charters. Until this year, the overwhelming majority of these schools had reliably gotten five-year renewals, in some cases for more than two decades. But at the school board’s Wednesday meeting, most got much shorter contracts. Almost half landed only two-year extensions and only two schools got the full five years.
* The appeal is 59 pages long. I’ve excerpted some of the highlights, but there’s a lot more so click here to read it all…
This appeal concerns a facial constitutional challenge to the Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today (“SAFE-T”) Act, a statute passed in 2021 by the General Assembly and signed into law by Governor Pritzker. […]
Plaintiffs are the state’s attorneys (and, in some cases, the sheriffs) of 64 Illinois counties. […]
The circuit court issued an opinion rejecting plaintiffs’ challenges to the Act as a whole but declaring the pretrial release provisions facially unconstitutional. […]
ISSUES PRESENTED FOR REVIEW
1. Whether the Illinois Constitution prevents the General Assembly from eliminating monetary bail, because monetary bail is required by either (a) article I, section 9 (which makes criminal defendants “bailable,” subject to certain exceptions), or (b) article I, section 8.1 (which guarantees certain rights to crime victims).
2. Whether the Constitution prevents the General Assembly from enacting statutes governing the circumstances under which courts may detain individuals pending trial. […]
(T)he proper reference point for the meaning of the bail clause is the early nineteenth century, when the [constitutional text as essentially remains today] was drafted. […]
And in the early nineteenth century, “bail” did not mean monetary bail—i.e., the practice of allowing a defendant to be released pretrial only upon payment. Rather, the term “bail” referred to pretrial release more generally, granted on conditions designed to ensure the defendant’s appearance at future court appearances—i.e., “sufficient sureties.” Indeed, monetary bail was all but unknown at the time the 1818 Constitution was drafted. At that time, as one court has explained, “‘bail’ in criminal cases relied on personal sureties”— individual guarantors, including friends or relatives, who agreed to “guarantee the defendant’s appearance at trial and, in the event of nonappearance, a sum of money.” … “In the English tradition of bail that influenced early American practice, the pledge did not require any upfront payment” at all. Holland, 895 F.3d at 290. Today’s system of monetary bail “appear[s] to have emerged in the mid-to-late Nineteenth Century,” id. at 293; accord Nat’l Inst. of Corrections, Fundamentals of Bail 26 (2014), 12 decades after the bail clause was enacted as part of the 1818 Constitution. […]
Dictionaries from this era further refute the claim that “bail” means monetary bail specifically. Samuel Johnson’s dictionary of 1755 defines “bail” as “the freeing or setting at liberty [of] one arrested or imprisoned . . . , under security taken for his appearance,” 1 Samuel Johnson, A Dictionary of the English Language (1755),13 a definition reprised in the 1818 version, published the year the bail clause was enacted … Even later dictionaries preserve this basic meaning, defining bail as “the means of procuring the release from custody of a person charged with a criminal offense . . . by assuring his future appearance in court,” James A. Ballentine, Ballentine’s Law Dictionary 119 (William S. Anderson ed., 3d ed. 1969),16 or even “the process by which a person is released from custody,” 1 Webster’s Third New Int’l Dictionary 163 (1971) (def. e).
To be sure, defendants released before trial, or “bailed,” historically were released with conditions, both monetary and non-monetary, meant to assure their appearance at trial. But the Act’s pretrial release provisions permit a court to do just that. See 725 ILCS 5/110-5(c), 5/110-10. A court may require a defendant to submit to electronic monitoring to ensure his or her appearance at trial; it may require a defendant to remain at home, with or without the supervision of the Pretrial Services Agency, to ensure that he or she does not flee the State; it may require a defendant to report to the court, or to a third party, as frequently as it deems necessary; and it may impose any other “reasonable conditions” that it believes are needed to ensure the defendant’s appearance. Id. 5/110-10(b). These non-monetary conditions of release, just like monetary bail, allow a court to ensure that a defendant will return, and so constitute “sufficient” sureties within the scope of the clause. […]
The legislative history of the 1970 Convention also refutes plaintiffs’ reading of the clause, which would protect not defendants’ liberty interests but instead the institution of monetary bail. Indeed, the convention drafters expressly discussed the possibility that the General Assembly might at some future point abolish monetary bail, and agreed that doing so would not violate the bail clause. […]
This Court has also considered and rejected a version of plaintiffs’ argument before—namely, that the bail clause requires a particular kind of “surety.” As discussed, supra p. 6, the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963 contained provisions designed to eliminate or reduce defendants’ reliance on professional surety companies, an industry the General Assembly viewed as predatory. The statute thus permitted a defendant for whom monetary bail was set to obtain release by furnishing only 10% of the amount, but imposed more onerous burdens on professional surety companies, requiring them to furnish a cash deposit for 100% of the amount. … The Court rejected the defendant’s argument that the bail clause required the State to maintain a particular kind of surety system—there, the prior system under which professional surety companies put up unsecured bonds. … It explained that the legislature had determined that such a method “does not accomplish the purpose of bail”—namely, “to give the accused liberty until he is proved guilty, but yet have some assurance that he will appear for trial”— and the Court would defer to that decision. […]
Even if the circuit court were correct that the bail clause’s reference to “bail” should be read to refer to monetary bail, it would not follow that section 110-1.5, or the pretrial release provisions generally, violate the clause. That is because, no matter how it is read, the bail clause plainly confers a right on criminal defendants only—that is, it establishes a constitutional floor, under which a defendant is entitled to be released at least upon furnishing monetary bail. […]
To start, the text and structure of the bail clause demonstrate that it confers rights on criminal defendants, not on law enforcement officers or on courts. … That the bail clause secures the rights of criminal defendants, and does not confer any entitlement on courts or law enforcement officers, defeats plaintiffs’ claims, no matter the scope of the right the clause confers. For one, it means that plaintiffs lack standing to advance a claim based on an alleged deprivation of rights under the bail clause. […]
B. Section 110-1.5 does not violate the crime victims’ rights clause. […]
First, plaintiffs lack standing to invoke the crime victims’ rights clause, because that clause grants rights only to crime victims, not to law enforcement officers like plaintiffs. […]
Second, and relatedly, the clause cannot be read to require a monetary bail system, as plaintiffs suggest and the circuit court held. See A16. The purpose of the clause, as this Court has explained, was to “serve as a shield to protect the rights of victims,” People v. Richardson, 196 Ill. 2d 225, 231 (2001) (cleaned up), not to enact sweeping changes to the State’s criminal justice system. But under plaintiffs’ account, even if the bail clause does not require the existence of a system of monetary bail, the crime victims’ rights clause independently has that exact same effect. Plaintiffs, in other words, contend that Illinois voters in 2014 agreed to amend the Constitution to mandate the existence of a monetary bail system under the auspices of a provision securing procedural rights to crime victims. But the drafters of proposed constitutional amendments, like legislators, do not “hide elephants in mouseholes,” and plaintiffs identify no evidence that the amendment was understood to make such a monumental change to the State’s criminal justice system. Indeed, courts have repeatedly rejected arguments that the clause made any substantive changes to the criminal justice system that exceed the narrow procedural rights given to crime victims by its plain text.
Finally, and in any event, section 110-1.5, and the pretrial release provisions more broadly, comply with the clause. The clause requires only that courts consider the safety of victims and their families “in denying or fixing the amount of bail, determining whether to release the defendant, and setting conditions of release after arrest and conviction.” Ill. Const. art. I, § 8.1(a)(9). The pretrial release provisions do just that: They require a court to consider the “nature and seriousness of the real and present threat to the safety of any person or persons that would be posed by the defendant’s release,” including crime victims and their family members, “as required under” the Rights of Crime Victims and Witnesses Act. See 725 ILCS 5/110-5(a)(4). Consistent with the clause, the provisions also require the court to give notice to crime victims before holding a pretrial release hearing, before revoking a condition of pretrial release, and in a range of other contexts. See id. 5/110-5(a)(j); 5/110- 6(h); 5/110-6.1(m). The pretrial release provisions thus secure, rather than contravene, the rights guaranteed by the clause, in that they require the court to consider the safety of victims at every stage at which the court determines whether and on what conditions a defendant should be released. […]
The detention provisions do not violate separation-of- powers principles. […]
Although this Court in Hemingway recognized an inherent judicial authority to detain defendants pending trial, the Act’s detention provisions do not unduly infringe upon that authority by regulating the circumstances under which it may be exercised. And even if there were cases under which the detention provisions do infringe upon that authority, plaintiffs cannot show that they do so in every case, as their facial challenge requires. […]
The separation-of-powers clause provides that “[t]he legislative, executive, and judicial branches are separate,” such that “[n]o branch shall exercise powers properly belonging to another.” Ill. Const. art. II, § 1. But the clause “was not designed to achieve a complete divorce among the three branches of government; nor does it prescribe a division of governmental powers into rigid, mutually exclusive compartments.” […]
Hemingway, then, establishes that courts have an inherent authority to detain defendants pending trial under certain circumstances. But Hemingway did not hold, or even suggest, that the legislature was generally precluded from regulating courts’ exercise of that authority. To the contrary, the Court repeatedly emphasized with approval various ways that the Code of Criminal Procedure set out standards for courts to apply in achieving the “appropriate balance . . . between the right of an accused to be free on bail pending trial and the need of the public to be given necessary protection.” […]
In the decades since Hemingway, the General Assembly has repeatedly revised the section of the Code of Criminal Procedure that governs pretrial release, establishing detailed and comprehensive regulations for courts to apply in determining whether and on what conditions to release a defendant pending trial. Indeed, the legislature has amended section 110-5 of the Code over 20 times, setting out an increasingly detailed list of factors that courts are required to consider in “determining the amount of monetary bail or conditions of release” in any given case. […]
Indeed, were the circuit court correct, the bail provisions enacted in 1963 and applied without controversy for decades since would be unconstitutional en masse—a result that cannot be squared with common sense, history, or, for that matter, Hemingway itself, which discusses at length the importance of “the sections of the Code of Criminal Procedure” regulating pretrial release.
“Peoria County jail records indicate Massengill was arrested for domestic battery in 2022,” It is past time that law enforcement started connecting the dots between domestic violence and other violent crimes. We spend so much time talking about root causes of violence and domestic violence does not get enough focus. Hurting those close to one, stalking, INCELs, it’s a big root cause.
* This is the story that Amalia quoted, from Fox 2…
The Chillicothe man accused of the Planned Parenthood arson in Peoria on January 15 has an extensive criminal history dating back 20 years, court and jail records show.
Tyler Massengill has been arrested more than 25 times in Peoria County.
Peoria County court records show Massengill is on probation for aggravated assault and criminal trespass to a residence. He also served time in prison for theft in 2016.
Peoria County jail records indicate Massengill was arrested for domestic battery in 2022, criminal damage to property in 2019 and 2016, violent mob action in 2013 and 2011, aggravated domestic battery with strangling in 2012 and residential burglary in 2007, to name a few.
Sandra Ziebold is the executive director of Beacon of Hope Crisis Center in Indianapolis, and said she has seen an increase in victims who have been victims of strangulation. […]
“Nonfatal strangulation has been reported in nearly 45 percent of attempted homicides in domestic violence situations against women, and 97 percent of victims are strangled manually,” Ziebold said.
Her organization saw such an increase in reported strangulations, that they began collecting data on their own. What they found aligned with previous reports from researchers and law enforcement professionals concluding nonfatal strangulation is a leading indicator of escalating violence in a relationship, and an important risk factor for homicide.
“That data collected, just time after time, shows that a strangler typically ends up committing other homicides. And oftentimes, just with the gun. Most often, even cop killers, you can typically link them back to having been prior stranglers,” Ziebold said.
Every domestic violence event may double as an intervention point — a moment when authorities can step in and take action before a relationship escalates into more violence, to get help for the victim, to separate the couple, and/or get assistance and resources for the potentially violent partner. […]
At minimum, training should involve teaching first responders to do a thorough risk assessment to determine who is the vulnerable partner and who is the predominant aggressor — the person at risk of escalating into violence.
According to a 2015 survey by the Police Executive Research Forum, about 42 percent of law enforcement agencies conduct risk assessments in domestic violence situations. Only 39 percent of agencies have a “specific strategy for responding to repeat domestic violence calls.” That number needs to be much higher across the country.
Agencies should also be able to identify intervention points that might allow them to help deescalate situations and prevent later violence from occurring. These might range from a routine home visit from an agency to a 911 call; hospital visits are also prime opportunities to identify domestic violence victims, but assessments in those settings are uncommon. A grounding in the theory of coercive control in relationships — to recognize abuse that may be emotional but not currently physical — can help police and other first responders see past the dominant narrative of a controlling partner. Every domestic violence event may double as an intervention point — a moment when authorities can step in and take action before a relationship escalates into more violence, to get help for the victim, to separate the couple, and/or get assistance and resources for the potentially violent partner.
Today, the U.S. Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center (NTAC) released Mass Attacks in Public Spaces: 2016 - 2020, a comprehensive report examining 173 incidents of targeted violence and highlighting the observable commonalities among the attackers.
The analysis is intended to provide critical information to a cross-sector of community organizations that have a role in preventing these types of tragedies. Among the report’s key findings:
-Most of the attackers had exhibited behavior that elicited concern in family members, friends, neighbors, classmates, co-workers, and others, and in many cases, those individuals feared for the safety of themselves or others.
-Many attackers had a history of physically aggressive or intimidating behaviors, evidenced by prior violent criminal arrests/charges, domestic violence, or other acts of violence toward others. […]
-One-quarter of the attackers subscribed to a belief system involving conspiracies or hateful ideologies, including anti-government, anti-Semitic, and misogynistic views.
We found that 59.1% of mass shootings between 2014 and 2019 were DV-related and in 68.2% of mass shootings, the perpetrator either killed at least one partner or family member or had a history of DV. We found significant differences in the average number of injuries and fatalities between DV and history of DV shootings and a higher average case fatality rate associated with DV-related mass shootings (83.7%) than non-DV-related (63.1%) or history of DV mass shootings (53.8%). Fifty-five perpetrators died during the shootings; 39 (70.9%) died by firearm suicide, 15 (27.3%) were killed by police, and 1 (1.8%) died from an intentional overdose.
The draft of a bill that potentially would entitle the Chicago Bears to millions of dollars in subsidies for their proposed new Arlington Heights stadium complex has surfaced in Springfield—and there are signs it has begun to pick up significant backing.
Under a measure that the Bears have been informally shopping for a while and which has now moved to a new phase, the state could create a new kind of break known as payment in lieu of taxes, or PILT. […]
In a phone interview, CEO Todd Maisch said the chamber is “highly inclined to be in favor of the legislation,” which has been drafted but not yet introduced. Before totally signing off, Maisch said he’d like to see final language and would prefer that some other development breaks be added, such as for the long-blighted south suburbs. […]
Language in the bill guarantees that construction work on any PILT project will be done under a project labor agreement that generally guarantees payment of the union wage to all workers.
The same material Greg and I received from the PR firm boosting this proposal was given to the legislative leaders yesterday. We’ll see what they say going forward.
• A Mega Project Payment In Lieu Of Taxes (“PILOT”) is a temporary freeze of assessed value for purposes of calculating property taxes. In return for the frozen assessed value, a PILOT recipient commits to developing a mega project that benefits the community, but that would not occur without the PILOT incentive.
• Under a PILOT structure, the entity that receives the frozen assessed value agrees to make annual payments to the local government in lieu of real estate taxes (PILOT payments).
• The local government that receives the annual PILOT payments distributes the payments to all the applicable taxing districts.
• A mega project PILOT program will provide significant economic benefits to the state and there are no general tax increases associated with enacting such legislation and/or implementing PILOT agreements.
• The amount of the PILOT payments is a negotiated amount that would exceed the amount of taxes currently generated by the property without the mega project.
• PILOT incentives are extended to for-profit and non-profit corporations, developers, and other investors to induce mega projects during the negotiation and/or bidding process and are used by state and local governments in more than 35 states (other than Illinois).
Why is a Mega Project PILOT incentive necessary?
• Illinois’ property tax system disproportionately discourages large-scale projects that generate significant economic activity relative to their burden on taxing districts, placing Illinois at a competitive disadvantage to other states in the region and nationally.
• Illinois has competed for a number of mega projects from manufacturers looking to invest billions of dollars which have gone to other states—according to a recent Crain’s Chicago Business article, Illinois’ record is 0-18 for luring battery plant projects.
• Mega project PILOT incentives allow local governments to lure companies and beneficial projects with major capital investment, to create more jobs, and to better satisfy the business/labor coalition frustrated with missed opportunities of recent years.
Key points for consideration
• Mega project PILOT incentives are focused and targeted. In the proposed legislation, only projects exceeding $500M in capital investment are eligible for the incentive. Projects of such scale are certain to produce significant economic and community benefits.
• At a time when re-shoring and onshoring of major businesses are increasing, a mega project incentive will make Illinois much more competitive in attracting and retaining investment.
• Mega project incentive legislation will enable Illinois to compete with dozens of states for the next generation of American manufacturing plants and other major capital investments, and secure thousands of high-paying jobs.
There’s more, particularly about manufacturing. It might make sense for that. But Illinois isn’t competing with other states for the Bears. Chicago is competing with Arlington Heights . And there are a lot more Chicago legislators than Arlington Heights legislators. This might actually zoom through if existing Illinois professional sports teams were specifically excluded /s.
A candidate running for an office that does not currently exist within the Town of Normal government said he was recruited for the job.
Robert Shoraga was one of three Normal residents who filed petitions Nov. 21 for candidacy for offices that either are nonexistent or have historically been an appointed position: Shoraga filed for Town Supervisor (nonexistent); Charles Sila filed for Town Collector (nonexistent) and Amy Conklin filed for Town Clerk (an appointed position). […]
(C)andidate for Town Collector and accounting firm owner Charles Sila said he, too, believes Normal should have the position he is seeking, according to state law. Sila continued to refer to Normal as a “village,” despite Kording’s September ruling that Normal is a town, as its charter states. […]
WGLT reached out to Illinois State Board of Elections spokesperson Matt Dietrich to see how often people file petitions of candidacy for offices that do not exist at the time of filing.
“I’ve never heard of that happening,” Dietrich wrote in an email reply.
The matter of whether three people can run for offices in Normal that are currently non-elective is now in the hands of the McLean County Circuit Court.
Former Republican state attorney general candidate Tom DeVore filed a lawsuit against the Town of Normal and Clerk Angie Huonker earlier this month on behalf of three residents — two of whom filed nominating petitions for nonexistent offices, and one of whom filed to run for a non-elected office.
Three people attempting to run for nonelective offices in Normal do not have an “unequivocal right” to have their candidacy petitions certified by the town clerk — and their names placed on the April election ballot — according to a McLean County judge’s ruling.
11th Judicial Circuit Court Judge Mark Fellheimer on Wednesday dismissed legal action filed against Normal Clerk Angie Huonker, saying his interpretation of state and municipal law does not indicate she was legally obligated to approve candidate petitions for offices that were either appointed or nonexistent at the time of filing. […]
“The court finds here that … the petitioners did not have an unequivocal right to have their nominating petitions certified … and then secondly, the clerk did not have an unequivocal duty to certify those petitions for offices that are not in existence in the Town of Normal,” Fellheimer said from the bench. […]
Chicago-based Michael Kasper of Kasper and Nottage in Chicago, as well as Allen Wall and Jason Guisinger of Klein, Thorpe and Jenkins, represented Normal.
…Adding… With a hat tip to a commenter, here’s a post from a local blog that supported the effort…
Unfortunately people who filed petitions now owe Tom Devore $8,544.40 more than the $5000.00 they already paid. To appeal Fellheimer’s decision would cost another $10,000.
Incorporated town officers. For the general municipal election to be held in the year 1985 in every incorporated town with a population of 25,000 or more by the last official census, and every 4 years thereafter, the municipal clerk shall certify the names of the candidates to the proper election authority as provided by the general election law. A president, a clerk, an assessor, a collector, and a supervisor shall be elected for a term of 4 years and until their successors are elected and have qualified.
On Wednesday morning, in a hearing to discuss Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker’s assault weapons ban, White County Judge T. Scott Webb heard arguments from representatives of Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s office, and from Tom DeVore, who is representing over 1,600 plaintiffs, including former Illinois State Senator and Republican nominee for governor Darren Bailey; 68 federal firearms dealers and 92 counties, saying the case is “under advisement” and that a ruling would follow after further review.
Due to the weather, the hearing was held over zoom.
The lawsuit raises the same claims as the one filed last week in Effingham County and names Gov. JB Pritzker, State Senate President Don Harmon, D, Illinois House Speaker Christopher Welch, D, and Attorney General Kwame Raoul, D, as defendants.
A White County Circuit Court judge has again ruled Illinois’ Firearm Owner Identification Card is unconstitutional, setting the stage for the Illinois Supreme Court to reexamine the issue.
In 2017, Vivian Brown, an elderly resident of White County, was charged with violating the FOID card law for owning a rifle without possessing a FOID card.
In February 2018, the White County Circuit Court sided with Brown and found the FOID card law unconstitutional when applied to her case. The state appealed directly to the Illinois Supreme Court a few months later.
Last April, the Illinois Supreme Court didn’t make a decision on the case, calling into question the process the circuit court used.
On Tuesday, White County Judge T. Scott Webb dismissed the charges against Brown and ruled the FOID card law was unconstitutional, saying it makes the Second Amendment a “facade,” turning a right into a privilege.
Maybe ask a lobbyist about the fees and regulations and reporting requirements they have to follow for the privilege of exercising their First Amendment rights. Or ask political candidates about the myriad state and federal regulations put on them. And then ask people who want to demonstrate about the public permitting process.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker is going to battle with the national College Board over what he calls “political grandstanding” by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The Chicago Democrat is warning the nonprofit that oversees the Advanced Placement program that Illinois will reject a revised African American Studies course if it doesn’t include “a factual accounting of history, including the role played by black queer Americans.”
Pritzker sent a sharply worded letter to the board over its decision to revise the Advanced Placement course in African American Studies after the Florida governor — and likely GOP presidential candidate — blocked Florida high schools from offering the course because it included segments on “queer theory” and “abolishing prisons,” among other topics.
It’s unclear how the course will be changed or if the revisions stem from Florida’s rejection, but the College Board said the new framework would be released on Feb. 1.
Pritzker objected to any change “in order to fit Florida’s racist and homophobic laws.”
* The course is a College Board pilot project with 60 high schools nationwide. As with all pilot projects, it’s under review before the board rolls it out nationally and won’t be required. Yet, the Florida Department of Education tried to take credit for any changes and all heck has broken loose…
We are glad the College Board has recognized that the originally submitted course curriculum is problematic, and we are encouraged to see the College Board express a willingness to amend. AP courses are standardized nationwide, and as a result of Florida’s strong stance against identity politics and indoctrination, students across the country will consequentially have access to an historically accurate, unbiased course.
As Governor DeSantis said, African American History is American History, and we will not allow any organization to use an academic course as a gateway for indoctrination and a political agenda. We look forward to reviewing the College Board’s changes and expect the removal of content on Critical Race Theory, Black Queer Studies, Intersectionality and other topics that violate our laws.
But some people think the governor is just trying to shift the focus from his original statement.
“I think that it is a total distraction from their original statement. Their original statement was that African American studies bring no value to education,” said State Senator Shevrin Jones.
* Here’s the full Pritzker letter…
January 25th, 2023
To Mr. David Coleman,
As Governor of the great state of Illinois, I have spent every day of the last four years fighting to ensure that every Illinoisan has the same opportunities regardless of the color of their skin, the zip code they live in, or the school they attend. That fight includes the opportunity to learn without the threat of bigotry and hatred guiding lessons plans. I am writing to you today to urge the College Board to preserve the fundamental right to an education that does not follow the political grandstanding of Governor DeSantis and the whims of Republicans in Florida.
Advanced Placement courses are a core part of the high school experience for students wishing to push themselves academically and prepare themselves for college. Each year, over 115,000 public school students in Illinois take AP exams. In 2020, our state ranked number one in the country for largest year-over-year increase of students scoring a 3 or higher on these exams. These passing scores translated into credit at public universities across Illinois and the country, resulting in thousands of dollars in tuition saved, often for those students most in-need of financial assistance. We value Advanced Placement courses in this state and have no doubt as to the efficacy of the program. However, I am extremely troubled by recent news reports that claim Governor DeSantis is pressuring the College Board to change the AP African American Studies course in order to fit Florida’s racist and homophobic laws.
Illinois expects any AP course offered on African American Studies to include a factual accounting of history, including the role played by black queer Americans. Illinois will closely examine the official coursework to ensure it includes all necessary history, starting with this nation’s foundation built on slavery, the Civil War where this nation reckoned with that history and the decades of rebuilding and efforts of black Americans to continue their fight for equality and equity to this day.
Black history is American History. Many students who will take this class encounter racism on a personal and systemic level long before they reach high school and take their first AP class. For some, a course such as this may be one of the first times they see their own faces and experiences reflected back to them on the page. They deserve the opportunity, alongside their classmates, to learn the honest and accurate history of the nation they live in now. It’s often said that we study history so that we do not repeat the mistakes of the past. This cannot be achieved when a misleading version of history is taught. If we refuse to teach our next generation honestly we are bound to repeat old cycles and reopen old wounds—fueling the animus that Governor DeSantis uses to score attention and divisive headlines.
Regardless of some leaders’ efforts, ignoring and censoring the accurate reporting of history will not change the realities of the country in which we live. In Illinois, we will not accept this watering down of history. I urge you to maintain your reputation as an academic institution dedicated to the advancement of students and refuse to bow to political pressure that would ask you to rewrite our nation’s true, if sometimes unpleasant, history. One Governor should not have the power to dictate the facts of U.S. history. In Illinois, we reject any curriculum modifications designed to appease extremists like the Florida Governor and his allies.
The latest controversy in Florida education policies began this month, when the DeSantis administration said a pilot Advanced Placement course on Black history would not be approved by the state Department of Education because it violated state law and “lacks educational value.”
The state Education Department listed “concerns” in the curriculum, including topics covering “Intersectionality and Activism,” “Black Feminist Literary Theory” and “Black Queer Studies.”
“Now who would say that an important part of Black history is queer theory?” DeSantis said at a news conference this week. “That is somebody pushing an agenda on our kids.”
But critics of the governor, who has made eliminating what he calls “woke indoctrination” from schools and businesses a key part of his platform, say he is unfairly targeting Black history by not allowing the course to be taught in Florida. Other Advanced Placement classes, such as European history, have not been scrutinized by the DeSantis administration.
The state [of Florida] criticizes the section’s inclusion of a reading by Leslie Kay Jones, an assistant sociology professor at Rutgers University. It cites her quote, “Black people produce an unquantifiable amount of content for the same social media corporations that reproduce the white supremacist superstructure that suppresses us.”
Jones said she found no indication that the Movement for Black Lives has ever advocated for prison abolition. She is surprised DeSantis’ staff attacked her for criticizing social media companies, as he does the same.
She said this is why students should have the ability “to come to their own conclusions through an evaluation of primary and secondary texts.”
“Is Ron DeSantis claiming that Florida students are unable to formulate their own opinions?” she said.
A federal judge in Florida partially blocked a law championed by Gov. Ron DeSantis designed to limit the discussion of racism and privilege in schools and workplace training. […]
“The State of Florida’s decision to choose which viewpoints are worthy of illumination and which must remain in the shadows has implications for us all,” Walker wrote. “But the First Amendment does not permit the State of Florida to muzzle its university professors, impose its own orthodoxy of viewpoints, and cast us all into the dark.” […]
In his order, Judge Walker, an Obama appointee, opened by reciting the first sentence of 1984, George Orwell’s novel about life under a futuristic totalitarian government.
“‘It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen,’ and the powers in charge of Florida’s public university system have declared the State has unfettered authority to muzzle its professors in the name of ‘freedom,’” the judge wrote. “This is positively dystopian.”
* I do not think I have ever seen this from a governor before. Your thoughts?…
Today, on the first day of early voting, Governor JB Pritzker announced his endorsements across several Chicago City Council races.
“With early voting beginning today, I am pleased to offer my strong endorsement of these local leaders,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “I am confident in their abilities to guide their communities with tenacity and deliver for their constituents. I look forward to working with each and every one of these leaders to continue improving the lives of working families across Chicago.”
“Conversations are ongoing,” according to a person familiar with the governor’s political endeavors. “He’s endorsing a diverse slate of candidates who share his Democratic values and who he can partner with at the local level.”
With that in mind. Missing from the endorsement list are right-leaning aldermanic incumbents, including Raymond Lopez (15th), Nick Sposato (38th) and Anthony Napolitano (41st). And Ald. Derrick Curtis didn’t make it on the list either. Those recent headlines about accidental shootings didn’t do him any favors.
*** UPDATE *** CBS News interviewed the governor a couple of days ago, and he said he wasn’t getting involved in the first round of the mayor’s race…
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker tells @edokeefe he’s not getting involved in the Chicago mayoral race.
“What's most important to me is that whoever the mayor is… that there's somebody who was willing to work with the governor of the state because there's so much we can get done…” pic.twitter.com/np59rTtkGR
It’s unclear if Pritzker will follow up his City Council endorsements with campaign cash, but the governor has not been shy in past cycles about throwing his billions to candidates he supports.
In a statement, a spokeswoman for Pritzker said no contributions “as of today” and “conversations are still ongoing” with other potential City Council Candidates.
* Two years ago, Tyler W. Massengill, the man who allegedly confessed to committing arson at the Peoria Planned Parenthood, posted this on his facebook page…
* Here’s your morning roundup…
* PJ-S | Chillicothe man charged in fire at Planned Parenthood clinic: It was ‘all worth it’: Tyler W. Massengill, 32, told officials investigating the case that if his “actions the night of January 15, 2023, caused ‘a little delay’ in a person receiving services at the PHC, his conduct may have been ‘all worth it,’” according to federal court records filed Wednesday.
* WCIA | Illinois pays off final part of pandemic unemployment debt: In November, Governor J.B. Pritzker announced a bill that would eliminate the rest of the pandemic unemployment debt by using the state’s surplus in revenue to pay it off. The bill was supported by Democrats, Republicans, as well as labor unions and business groups, before being signed into law by Pritzker Monday.
* The Center Square | GOP senators oppose prospect of another progressive income tax proposal in Illinois: The Illinois Constitution requires a flat income tax. The progressive income tax proposal in 2020 would have brought a tiered income tax structure with increased taxes on higher income earners, but voters rejected the idea. State Sen. Robert Martwick, D-Chicago, said he plans to offer the measure in the coming weeks.
* Tribune | Mayor, police superintendent, fire commissioner hold ribbon-cutting for controversial $170 million training facility: The Chicago Joint Public Safety Training Campus, 4433 W. Chicago Ave., is on the 30.4-acre site of a former railroad yard. The facility will be used by members of CPD, CFD and the Office of Emergency Management and Communications. The “modern training campus” will include community spaces, computer labs, classrooms, scenario training and an indoor shooting range, according to the Public Building Commission.
* Crain’s | Lightfoot to back effective ban on natural gas in new buildings: It would echo a similar statute signed into law a little over a year ago in New York City by then-Mayor Bill de Blasio. Cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco have taken matters further and outright banned gas in new buildings as America’s largest cities attempt to do their part in response to climate change.
* Tribune | Judge slaps ex-Chicago college student who spied for China with 8 years in federal prison: A federal judge on Wednesday sentenced a former Chicago college student to eight years in federal prison for spying on behalf of the Chinese government, saying it was clear that his ultimate goal was to become a “sleeper agent” and infiltrate some of the United States’ most sensitive operations.
* Sun-Times | CPS to consider science, social studies marks instead of standardized tests for advancing to the next grade: The district didn’t hold any students back the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, citing the unprecedented circumstances kids faced academically and socially in remote learning. Officials have since been reviewing their grade retention and promotion policy and presented an updated one Wednesday to the Board of Education, which approved the new rules.
* NBC Chicago | Chicago flexes its labor muscle in the fight for the 2024 Democratic convention: The Chicago Federation of Labor is releasing a new digital ad campaign on Wednesday, first made available to NBC News, laying out a case that it’s the home of the labor movement and has a plentiful cast of union members ready to work, particularly at hotels, if the White House places the convention in Chicago.
* Pensions & Investments | State treasurers warn of pension fund, 401(k) damage if debt ceiling breached: “We are concerned that the United States government will be forced to default on its debt which would have severe consequences for the states and municipalities we serve, the U.S. economy and the day-to-day lives of the American people,” the fiscal stewards of typically blue states and cities said in a letter sent Tuesday to Mr. McCarthy.
* WTTW | Push to Reopen Public Mental Health Clinics Closed 11 Years Ago Defines Another Chicago Mayor’s Race: That 2011 decision rippled through not only Emanuel’s 2015 bid for reelection, but also the 2019 contest to elect his successor. In 2023, the issue is once again center stage during the race for Chicago mayor, fueled in part by the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic, which shone a harsh spotlight on the citywide need for robust and affordable mental health care, as well as continuing concerns about the violence that can erupt when people in crisis call Chicago police for help.
* Jewish Insider | Chuy García’s record on Israel comes under scrutiny in Chicago mayoral race: Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García (D-IL), a leading Democratic challenger to Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, faced a tough line of questioning over his congressional record on Israel in a candidate interview with the editorial board of The Chicago Tribune on Monday, according to audio of the exchange obtained by Jewish Insider.
* Tribune | CTU brings demand for ‘equitable’ parental leave to Chicago Board of Education: ‘We deserve that’: “I bring you urgency from the workers who are making it happen every day. … How do we honor their commitment?” Gates said, with the union again highlighting the discrepancy between the maximum two weeks of paid parental leave that Chicago Public Schools employees receive and the three months granted to city employees as of Jan. 1.
#BREAKING: Tyler W. Massengill, 32, of Chillicothe, IL named as the Peoria Planned Parenthood arson suspect in a federal complaint filed today in Peoria.
The official charge is “Malicious Use of Fire and an Explosive to Damage, and Attempt to Damage, Property Used In and Affecting Interstate Commerce.”
From the complaint: “MASSENGILL also told investigators he thought that, if his actions the night of January 15, 2023 caused “a little delay” in a person receiving services at the PHC, his conduct may have been “all worth it.”
Massengill offered a woman in Sparland $300 to paint the distinctive red door on his pickup truck white the day after the arson, prosecutors said. A paint grinder with red paint residue was found on the scene.
On January 24, 2023, MASSENGILL telephonically contacted the Peoria Police Department and stated he wanted to speak about the incident at the PHC. MASSENGILL arrived at the Peoria Police Department, at approximately 6:00 PM on January 24, 2023. MASSENGILL was advised of his Miranda rights and was subsequently interviewed by Peoria police and the FBI. During the interview, MASSENGILL stated he saw his truck on the news while he was at work. Initially, MASSENGILL denied responsibility for the fire, claiming that he traveled to Peoria on January 15, 2023 and allowed two adult males to borrow his truck.
MASSENGILL then changed his story and told investigators about a relationship he had been in approximately three years earlier. At that time, MASSENGILL’s girlfriend had become pregnant. MASSENGILL’s girlfriend, who was in the Peoria area while he was working in Alaska, informed MASSENGILL, via telephone, that she had elected to abort the child, which upset MASSENGILL. On or around January 15, 2023, MASSENGILL heard or saw something that reminded him of the abortion, again upsetting him. MASSENGILL admitted that, on January 15, 2023, he broke the window out of the PHC and placed a burning container inside of the building. MASSENGILL confirmed that he had driven his truck to SOI-1’s residence and asked her to paint the truck white. MASSENGILL also told investigators he thought that, if his actions the night of January 15, 2023 caused “a little delay” in a person receiving services at the PHC, his conduct may have been “all worth it.
…Adding… Jennifer Welch, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Illinois…
“We are pleased an arrest has been made in the firebombing of the Peoria Planned Parenthood Health Center on January 15. The damage to the health center is extensive and we are estimating it costing over $1M to rebuild. The repairs will take numerous months before we can reopen stronger than ever.
This senseless act of vandalism has robbed the community of access to birth control, cancer screenings, STI testing and treatment, and gender-affirming care as well as medication abortion services. We appreciate the outpouring of support from the community, state, and nation as we continue to meet our patients’ needs through telehealth and at our other 16 health centers across the state.
If supporters wish to help out in this moment we have information on our website, www.ppil.org, to donate directly to rebuilding the Peoria health center.”
The Illinois Department of Transportation and the Chicago Department of Transportation have come to a new agreement that will streamline and accelerate the process of delivering proven and scalable safety measures on local roads and state routes within the City of Chicago.
While we’re thrilled with this progress, we still have work to do at the state level. Based on a 2017 state law, all intersections in Illinois must accommodate the turn radius of a semi-truck, regardless of the “design vehicle” being used.
This turn radius law prevents the city from building true protective infrastructure such as bollards or raised curb-bump-outs across the city.
Part of the Safe Streets for All platform calls for repealing or amending that state law to create safer intersections across our state. No neighborhood intersection should be designed to accommodate a semi-truck at the expense of human safety.
I did not know that. But here’s IDOT’s interpretation of that 2017 law…
The new legislation means a WB-65 should now, by policy, physically be able to traverse any intersection, including local street to local street intersections, through the utilization of possible encroachment.
Today, Illinois Senate Republican Leader John Curran (R-Downers Grove) introduced Senate Resolution 27 that calls on the Illinois Senate to protect the will of Illinois voters and reject any progressive income tax measure that is introduced in the 103rd General Assembly.
“The people have spoken, and they could not have been more clear that they do not want a progressive income tax,” Curran said. “The tax failed in the collar counties that I represent, and was crushed downstate where our caucus has the largest geographic representation. It is time to move in a new direction. We are standing behind the people of this state who resoundingly said no, and standing up for families who cannot afford to be overtaxed.”
In 2020, the “Fair Tax” Amendment fell more than 360,000 votes short of a simple majority and more than 760,000 votes short of a three-fifths majority of those voting on the question.
The 3,059,411 “No” votes cast against the proposed constitutional amendment were a majority (53.3%) of the votes cast on the question and were also a majority (50.2%) of the total votes cast in the November 2020 election as a whole.
“Bringing a renewed attempt for a progressive income tax back into the conversation while so many Illinois families are struggling to buy basic groceries is completely out of touch,” said Rezin. “It is time to utilize the increased revenue Illinois is already receiving to provide tax relief, not tax increases. I am proud to sign onto this resolution to help fight against increasing taxes on Illinois families and businesses.”
The Governor’s Office has been sharing news of record growth and financial success. The General Funds base receipts are up $2.034 billion year-over-year, including the one-time federal ARPA reimbursements received earlier in the year. Illinois also has the second-highest effective tax rate and the highest corporate tax rate in the entire nation.
“Nearly every county in the state voted against the amendment,” Anderson said. “This is just another example of the Majority Party saying ‘we know best’ and completely ignoring the will of the people. I am proud to join this resolution to defend their voice.”
Today, Senate Resolution 27 was read into the official Senate record. It now awaits to be assigned to a Senate committee.
Today, the Chicago Federation of Labor launched a digital ad campaign in support of the city’s bid to host the 2024 Democratic National Convention. The ad, which can be viewed here, highlights Chicago’s strong union culture, its many union hotels and restaurants, and its legacy of labor activism.
“There is no better city to host the 2024 Democratic National Convention than Chicago, the hometown of the American labor movement,” said Bob Reiter, President of the Chicago Federation of Labor. “From our many union hotels to our abundance of union convention workers, Chicago can guarantee a union strong DNC like no other city. Holding the convention in Chicago would make it clear the Democratic Party supports and honors the labor movement, a constituency we cannot afford to take for granted in 2024. Democrats must invest in winning the Midwest and winning working class voters, and holding the convention in Chicago will help us do just that.”
The multi-platform digital ad buy will target key decision makers and constituencies involved in the selection process. The Democratic National Committee is expected to pick a host city in the coming weeks. Four cities have applied to host the convention, including Chicago, New York City, Houston, and Atlanta. City and state officials hosted a delegation from the DNC last summer, along with labor and business leaders from across Chicago.
The ad’s narrator details why Chicago is the perfect choice for the 2024 DNC:
“As Democrats, we live our values every day. That means supporting working people. Chicago is the Hometown of the American Labor Movement. We lead the nation in union hotels, event centers and worker advocacy. When you come to Chicago, you’re in the heart of democracy, progress and innovation.”
Since 1896, the CFL has fought for economic, social, and racial justice for all working people. The CFL represents 300 unions, who in turn represent approximately 500,000 working people in Chicago and Cook County
* Press release…
The Park District of Tinley Park today announced it has received support from 14 additional members of the Illinois House and Senate for its proposed plan for the site of the former Tinley Park Mental Health Center and Howe Development Center to transform the long-vacant property into a hub of athletic fields, track and field facilities, a domed sports complex and open recreational space.
This week, the 14 legislators, who represent communities surrounding the Tinley Park area, sent a letter of support, including: Reps. Dagmara Avelar, Kelly Burke, Will Davis, Anthony DeLuca, Marcus Evans, Fran Hurley, Thaddeus Jones, Natalie Manley, Nick Smith, Larry Walsh, and Sens. Napoleon Harris, Patrick Joyce, Elgie Sims, and Rachel Ventura.
The Park District has also previously received the support of three legislators who represent Tinley Park: Reps. Debbie Meyers-Martin, Bob Rita, and Justin Slaughter.
Last November, the Park District formally bid on the property located at 7400-7600 W. 183rd St. and laid out its vision to meet the needs of the Tinley Park residents and expand opportunities for neighboring communities.
The Park District’s Phase 1 of development for the property includes playground and sports facilities fully accessible for people living with special needs, multipurpose athletic fields, a domed sports complex with a full-size soccer field, a stadium with a track, a splash pad, concession stands, spectator stands, lighting, ample parking, as well as a pond, picnic areas and open green space.
In their letter this week to the Park District, the group of 14 legislators said the Park District’s Phase 1 plans would create an opportunity for people across the Midwest to attend tournaments, games and events at the site.
“Additionally, transforming this site into a place for all to enjoy addresses a critical need for many of our communities that could benefit greatly from access to more recreation opportunities,” the legislators wrote.
* Press release…
Today, Congresswoman and House Democratic Senior Chief Deputy Whip Jan Schakowsky endorsed Congressman Jesús “Chuy'’ García for Mayor of Chicago, the latest in a string of endorsements from elected leaders across Chicago.
“My dear friend Chuy García is a progressive champion with a real history of getting things done for everyday people. I proudly endorse Chuy for Mayor because he has the experience – and most importantly, the heart – to be an effective leader for all Chicagoans. He is the proven coalition-builder that Chicago needs in City Hall,” said Schakowsky. “Chuy is focused on the issues that matter – addressing the root causes of crime in our communities, improving our education system, and defending human rights. I trust Chuy to stand up for women’s rights, including the right to an abortion.”
* Nice gesture…
Yesterday we installed a commemorative plaque celebrating former Secretary of State, Jesse White, at the IL AFL-CIO headquarters.
Sec. White has always been a friend to organized labor and we are grateful for his endless service to the working people of Illinois. pic.twitter.com/IYg37YmfDD
* Crain’s | Garcia steps away from House financial panel—a move that resurfaces talk of crypto ties: Through a spokeswoman, Garcia says the decision not to seek a new term on the House Financial Services Committee was his and comes because now-minority Democrats have fewer committee assignments to pass around. Leaving Financial Services will allow him to concentrate on his work on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which is important for the Chicago area, the spokeswoman noted.
* WTTW | García Edits First Television Ad to Remove Uniformed Chicago Cops After Probe Launched: A spokesperson for the García campaign told WTTW News the ad was revised out of an “abundance of caution” after WGN-TV reported that it likely violated police department policy that prohibits officers from engaging in political activity while “wearing a uniform or any part thereof which would identify the individuals as Chicago Police Officer, or use property of the Chicago Police Department.”
* CBS Chicago | Illinois gets mixed marks when it comes to reducing tobacco use: The American Lung Association released its State of Tobacco Control report. More money for the Illinois “quit line” improved the access to services that help people quit. It went up from a “C” last year to “B” this year. One “F” grade was given because the state hasn’t banned the sale of flavored tobacco products, but Illinois got an “A” for its strength of smoke-free workplace laws.
* Daily Herald | Rosemont’s Stephens adds GOP House leadership post: Add one more title to Rosemont Mayor and state Rep. Brad Stephens’ business card: Assistant House Minority Leader. The Republican politician who has been the Northwest suburb’s mayor since 2007 and in the General Assembly since 2019 was named to new House Republican Leader Tony McCombie’s leadership team, which is otherwise composed of downstate Republicans.
* Mother Jones | How Nick Fuentes groomed a new generation of racist hate.: Nick Fuentes grew up in the relative comfort and stability of a two-parent household in the Chicago suburb of La Grange. He has said that his father, Bill Fuentes, a vice president at a ball bearing manufacturer, is half-Mexican, which Nick sometimes uses to claim he’s not a white supremacist—and sometimes brushes off as distant lineage irrelevant after decades of assimilation.
* Daily Herald | Rolling Meadows wants ‘attractive gateway’ to any Bears stadium, so no cars outside for body shop: Rolling Meadows officials may be willing to allow an auto body shop to expand its presence in the shadow of the Arlington Park property — so long as no vehicles are stored outside. The prohibition on vehicles waiting to be serviced from stopping, staging or parking in the lot is included as a condition in Body Builders Automotive’s request to operate a repair facility at 3737 Industrial Drive.
* WTTW | Push to Reopen Public Mental Health Clinics Closed 11 Years Ago Defines Another Chicago Mayor’s Race: A majority of candidates hoping to oust Lightfoot from City Hall’s fifth floor office have pledged to reopen public mental health clinics and expand efforts to respond to calls for help not just with police officers, but also with social workers and counselors. While the candidates have differing plans, none have backed Lightfoot’s approach.
* Bloomberg Law | Jailed Illinois Lawyer Gets License Suspended After Fraud Ruling: he Illinois Supreme Court’s order Tuesday suspended Hassan Ali Abbas from the practice of law in Illinois “until further order of the Court.” Abbas, licensed by the state in 1991, was convicted in the US District Court for the District of Massachusetts for wire fraud, money laundering, unlawful monetary transactions, and money laundering conspiracy. He was sentenced to prison in October 2022.
* AP | Chicago White Sox Pitcher Mike Clevinger Investigated by MLB for Domestic Violence: “MLB opened an investigation after learning of these allegations,” the team said in a statement. “The White Sox were not aware of the allegations or the investigation at the time of his signing. The White Sox will refrain from comment until MLB’s investigative process has reached its conclusion.”
* Tribune | EPA considers tougher regulation of livestock farm pollution: Food & Water Watch, whose lawsuit prompted the agency’s reversal, said a new approach was long overdue. “For decades EPA’s lax rules have allowed for devastating and widespread public health and environmental impacts on vulnerable communities across the country,” Tarah Heinzen, the group’s legal director, said Monday.
* CNN | Washington Post lays off 20 newsroom employees, shuts down gaming section: The layoffs hit multiple departments at The Post, and included pulling the plug on Launcher, the newspaper’s gaming vertical that launched in 2019, a spokesperson for The Post said. Spokespeople for The Post have stressed that the newspaper will not reduce headcount in 2023 as it will reallocate resources and invest in other areas.
*** UPDATE *** The Illinois State Rifle Association, along with the Second Amendment Foundation and others has filed a motion for preliminary injunction with the Southern District US Court. Click here to read it.
Two Second Amendment lawyers who helped win a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that struck down a New York concealed carry gun law are now challenging the constitutionality of Illinois’ assault weapons ban — with help from the National Rifle Association.
Paul Clement, who successfully argued the New York case, is one of the attorneys for the plaintiffs in the latest federal lawsuit seeking to overturn Illinois’ two-week old ban.
Clement is a former partner in Kirkland & Ellis’ Washington, D.C., office who served as solicitor general of the United States, representing the government in cases before the nation’s top court from 2004 to 2008, during the George W. Bush administration. […]
Clement and attorney Erin Murphy began their own firm after Chicago-based Kirkland & Ellis decided it would no longer handle Second Amendment-related litigation. Murphy, who was part of the New York case, is also working on the challenge to Illinois’ assault weapons ban, filed Tuesday in the Southern District of Illinois.
An emergency hearing is scheduled for Thursday morning for a second lawsuit against House Bill 5471.
The lawsuit calls the ban unconstitutional and an attack on citizens’ right to bear arms. Tom DeVore, the former Republican candidate for state attorney general, is the plaintiff in the case, and he is joined by former gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey. Last week, a judge in Effingham County granted a temporary restraining order blocking the law.
* While he’s an opponent of the new law, Livingston County State’s Attorney Randy Yedinak told the Pontiac Daily Leader that the written public statements by dozens of county sheriffs vowing not to enforce the law wer unwise…
“I do think there’s a little bit of danger in people making these statements about whether they will or will not enforce the law, or they will or will not charge people,” Yedinak said. “That’s giving up the very discretion they have to use. We saw it a lot during COVID when the governor was passing all sorts of legislation and people were just banging on my door, hounding me on the phone to say that I’m not going to enforce these COVID laws.
“We had one particular person running around here in Pontiac (who tested positive for COVID and said) he was going to cough on as many people (as he could). If I would have gone on record and said I wasn’t going to enforce those laws, then I wouldn’t be able to do something about that guy. That’s something a lot of state’s attorney’s recognize and that’s why you don’t see a lot of state’s attorneys making these statements because there maybe a situation where we want to enforce these brand new laws.”
* Meanwhile, “Steven in Pecatonica” called in to Brian Mackey’s 21st Show today to chime in on the assault weapons ban…
Steven in Pecatonica: I’m calling to see if I could speak to what the gentleman was discussing in terms of the implementation of the law. It’s my understanding that my hometown Dixon, Illinois, county seat of Lee County, recently just this last week had a demonstration for law enforcement officers, showing them what amounted to an armored skid steer that they were being directed, they’re being told that this was going to be used for the implementation of this law. That goes in contrary to what the gentleman just said.
Brian Mackey: All right. Thank you for that. A skid steer. I guess that’s like a piece of heavy equipment, full bulldozer like thing. Sheriff Dart, are you hearing anything about this?
Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart: Absolutely not. I mean, that would be contrary to literally every type of law enforcement doctrine that we have. I would imagine it would be something similar to what I said earlier about going to people with revoked FOID cards, where you attempt to approach, knock on the door and see if they are aware of the law and all these other things. That’s been the normal approach that people would take. It would be literally contrary to every law enforcement doctrine I can think of to use something like that.
Brian Mackey: Kathleen Sances, I can’t remember if it was you or one of the other guests who mentioned misinformation from people who are advocating for a broader view of gun rights. Say more about what your perspective is on that.
Kathleen Sances with GPAC: The sheriff touched on this. Nothing in this bill says that we’re going to knock on your door and take your existing collection of weapons and if you do have existing weapons, you have almost a year to get them registered. So I think that that’s the disinformation we’re talking about. This whole notion of confiscation is a typical gun lobby talking point. The gun lobby is motivated by the greed of the gun manufacturers who are worried about their profits. And you know, on the other side, our coalition is a movement of survivors, advocates, policy experts, faith leaders and youth who are motivated to keep our families and communities safe. And we’re going to continue to do so. We’re going to stand up and fight against this disinformation.
Not sure where Steven in Pecatonica got his info, but there’s nothing on the Lee County sheriff’s Facebook page, nothing in the Google and I searched a couple of social media sites and found nothing there, either. Maybe some of you can help track down this rumor.
* Gun rights advocate Todd Vandermyde was on the same show today and said this…
They simply want to make it impossible for people on the South Side, people on the West Side to be able to obtain a firearm either through regulations, red tape, fees, or whatever. This is your modern Jim Crow law.
Um, OK.
* Press release…
Attorney General Kwame Raoul and Attorney General for the District of Columbia Brian Schwalb led a coalition of 18 attorneys general asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit to reverse a lower court decision that enjoined New York’s prohibition on carrying firearms in places of worship and religious observation. In an amicus brief, Raoul and the coalition argue that the prohibition is consistent with U.S. Supreme Court precedent and with a long tradition of similar regulations designed to meet the states’ responsibility to protect their residents from the harmful effects of gun violence.
The coalition argues that states have an interest in limiting the possession and use of firearms in locations where people exercise other constitutionally protected rights, where vulnerable populations like children and older adults gather, and where large groups of people meet in confined spaces. Locations like churches, synagogues, and mosques are the heart of many people’s religious exercise. The brief notes that they are also increasingly targets of gun violence, which may dissuade people from attending religious services and otherwise exercising their First Amendment rights.
“States have the authority to craft policies that best protect their residents from gun violence – including those restricting firearms in places where large groups of people gather in confined spaces to exercise their constitutional right to observe their religious beliefs,” Raoul said. “States’ long-standing authority to tailor firearm regulations to local nuances is essential for policymakers to be able to address gun violence and keep their communities safe.”
The brief explains that though the U.S. Supreme Court recently altered the judicial analysis for Second Amendment claims in N.Y. State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, the court’s decision did not upend the states’ long-standing authority to regulate the carrying of firearms in certain places. The court reaffirmed in Bruen that the Second Amendment has never given Americans an unrestricted right to carry loaded firearms in all public places. Instead, states may enact a variety of regulations to combat the problem of gun violence, including solutions tailored to local needs.
“Modernization and bringing new technology is going to be at the forefront of everything we do,” Giannoulias said in an interview with Capitol News Illinois at the end of his second week in office. […]
Giannoulias also noted modernization will “play a role in every single department,” not just for driver services.
This includes making the lobbyist registration database more accessible, improving accessibility for e-books and online educational resources in libraries, and further streamlining technology services.
I’ll add my two cents.
The other day, I went to the Corporation/LLC search page to look for a company’s officers. Put in the name, hit search, up comes a list. I clicked on one link, but that wasn’t the company I wanted, so I hit the back button on my browser, clicked on a different company and wound up being directed back to the original (blank) search page. Frustrating.
A similar thing happens with the lobbyist search function. Enter a lobbying entity name, get the result, use the back button to go back to the main page, try to search for an expenditure report, and it won’t let you search. You have to reload the page, which not everyone will figure out. Also, why aren’t links to the expenditure reports on the same page with the lobbying entities and the contract lobbyist results? And why isn’t more information showing up on the expenditure report pages? The filing dates are basically all you get, so you have to click numerous links until you find a report with any actual spending.
I could go on, but do you have any ideas or suggestions for the SoS website?
And people have been coming forward in droves, talking openly about the negative effects of taking the COVID vaccine – including airline pilots, doctors, nurses and Illinois’ very own Ryan Cunningham, who wrote on his Twitter,
“I got the COVID vaccine before most could as healthcare provider and emergency manager implementing many of the policies of the “covidians.” Days after I was transported to the hospital with cardiac issue. Today I’m in heart failure.”
That would be this Ryan Cunningham…
🚨BREAKING: Is this video real? Is this really a missile hitting the Pentagon on 9/11? Someone, please help enlighten me. pic.twitter.com/GV0bgj3xc9
In January, Congress must get to work to investigate the Biden Administration and his pandemic police. My campaign manager @rycunni was significantly injured by the vax.
.@rycunni and I are on our way to court to challenge @GovPritzker assault weapons ban. Even @CNN has reached out to follow our case. Stay tuned and follow our page for updates. pic.twitter.com/tUyyHd5SuV
* It seems that almost all candidates for local offices in Chicago are talking about crime these days. Even Chuy Garcia put the crime problem at the center of his campaign TV ad.
So, while I don’t agree with everything in this blog comment from the other day, I think it’s pretty insightful overall…
I think there are a few answers to why the crime rate from 25 years ago is so disturbing to modern day Chicagoans.
First, many Chicagoans moved there during the 2000s when things were better. They don’t remember the 80s. They wouldn’t have moved in if things were like the 80s.
Second, like it or not, we are now in a position to read every detail of every attack on the red line or Logan Square or anywhere else. If it bleeds it leads has always been a thing, but the media back in the day would pick one or two stories, not deluge their audience with a full hour of crime stories. Social media, however, can. I think that’s for the better, too much was hidden back in the day, and social media makes for a better telling of full scope of the crime (not just the primary but secondary and tertiary victims).
3rd where the crimes happen has changed a bit. Violent crime on the CTA was low even in the 80s. Crime didn’t happen in wealthier neighborhoods in the 80s. It was limited to places like Uptown and other poorer neighborhoods. Here I would say that Preckwinkle was both correct and impolitic in her observations about violent crime and wealthier neighborhoods.
* And while folks like the governor and others have been saying that crime is going down, check out these year to date numbers and historical comparisons from the Chicago Police Department…
Yes, it’s only a few weeks of data, but it doesn’t look good. And the election is coming up fast.
…Adding… The vehicular hijacking data for this month is here.
* Crain’s | Midwest economy shows signs of tough times ahead, says Chicago Fed: Answers to a questionnaire sent to key leaders in the Chicago Fed’s five-state area found the overall index of economic activity increased from -41 in December to -27 in January. But, with a score of 0 representing normal economic growth, that latest figure suggests economic growth is “well below trend,” the Fed said.
* Daily Herald | As several support DuPage sheriff, county chair says she’ll seek censure over weapons ban remarks: Saying words matter, DuPage County Board Chair Deborah Conroy Tuesday said she will seek to censure Sheriff James Mendrick. Conroy’s announcement came after more than 200 people gathered at the board meeting on Tuesday to express support or outrage over Mendrick’s refusal to fully enforce the state’s new ban on high-powered weapons and high-capacity magazines.
* Shaw Local | New tax ideas just rumblings before hearing budget speech: State Sen. Robert Martwick, D-Chicago, has suggested taking another run at changing the flat tax system after voters soundly rejected Pritzker’s first such effort in 2020. State Rep. Will Guzzardi, D-Chicago, told WTTW-TV his colleagues should consider a wealth tax, which would apply to people with assets exceeding $1 billion.
* Brownfield | IFCA anticipating Illinois legislation banning important pesticides : The Illinois Fertilizer and Chemical Association is keeping a close eye out for any pesticide related legislation being introduced in the new General Assembly. President KJ Johnson tells Brownfield he expects there to be debates about atrazine, chlorpyrifos and Round-Up, but based on congressional action last year, he thinks a ban on dicamba and neonicotinoids could move quickly this year.
* Alfred Ronan Obituary: At 31, Al was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives representing the northwest side of Chicago. In the Illinois House, Al championed important issues such as a statewide seat belt mandate and consistently pushed for increased funding for K-12 education.
* Crain’s | Durbin, Jam Productions CEO slam Live Nation at Senate hearing over Taylor Swift ticket fiasco: “The ticketing and live entertainment markets lack competition and they are dominated by a single entity: Live Nation,” Durbin said during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing sparked by the recent problems with Ticketmaster’s handling of sales for a Taylor Swift tour that left fans disappointed and anguished.
* Herald & Review | Pritzker on wind, solar zoning rules: During an unrelated news conference, Gov. J.B. Pritzker answers a question about legislation that would set statewide zoning standards for wind and solar projects.
* Tribune | FBI’s new Chicago boss says he considers job the ‘pinnacle’ of his career: Wheeler, 52, sat down with the Tribune on Tuesday to talk about his new job leading the Chicago FBI, the bureau’s fourth-largest field office with more than 1,000 agents, support staff and other personnel responsible for investigating everything from domestic and international terrorism to public corruption, gang racketeering, bank robberies and white-collar crime.
* WGN | Garcia’s police ad appears to violate police rules: The commercial features images of Congressman Garcia walking down a street flanked by two uniformed officers whose faces are fully visible. While it’s not uncommon for candidates to use imagery of police – or even show a politician speaking with unidentified officers – the police participation in this ad is notable because the officers appear to fully participate in the filming and staged walking shots.
* WBEZ | From downtown Chicago to the neighborhoods, here’s how the mayoral candidates are vowing to strengthen the city’s economy: State Rep. Kam Buckner laid blame directly on the mayor for North Michigan Avenue’s troubles. “I represent the Magnificent Mile in the General Assembly, and the mayor told the shop owners there that it was their fault that what happened to them in 2020 happened,” he said at Thursday night’s debate. “Listen, many of us thought that this administration would raise the bar. But all we’ve seen is raised bridges, an attempt to raise taxes and raise the murder rate. We have to do better.”
* Tribune | Embattled Ald. Jim Gardiner’s fitness is key issue in race for 45th Ward: His time in public office has been marked by allegations he used his power as alderman to target political opponents, including a reported federal investigation into whether he sought to withhold ward services from some residents who opposed his agenda.
* WTTW | Chicago Ethics Board Asks Watchdog to Probe Ald. Gardiner For Harassing Opponent’s Volunteers: The incident represents the second time the Chicago Board of Ethics has asked the city’s watchdog to probe Gardiner’s conduct. In November 2021, the board asked the inspector general to determine whether Gardiner violated the city’s Governmental Ethics Ordinance twice by using his office to retaliate against his political foes. Mayor Lori Lightfoot also called for Gardiner to be probed after those complaints. WTTW News reported in September 2021 that federal agents are probing whether Gardiner took bribes and demanded payments before taking official actions. He has not been charged. Gardiner apologized [last year] for sending profane and misogynistic texts to a former aide about Ald. Tom Tunney (44th Ward) and two women who work at City Hall.
* ABC Chicago | Willie Wilson defends cash giveaways as fellow mayoral candidates raise ethical concerns: “We always done that,” Wilson said. “I’d rather lose the election versus see somebody starving to death.” In fact, Wilson came under scrutiny in 2018 for giving out cash at a church where he campaigned with Governor Bruce Rauner. The State Board of Elections investigated, but cleared Wilson of any wrongdoing.
* Capitol News Illinois | Veteran Statehouse reporter Hannah Meisel joins Capitol News Illinois reporting team: Throughout her career she’s been a frequent guest on TV and radio programs throughout Illinois and beyond, including hosting a weekly public television roundtable show and being tapped as a featured speaker and panelist for live events. Meisel has excelled in both print news and broadcast formats, and she has developed a wide-ranging knowledge of state government and extensive sources.
The National Rifle Association (NRA) and other pro-Second Amendment organizations filed a lawsuit today challenging the Illinois law signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker that bans commonly owned firearms and magazines.
“The Supreme Court already ruled that the Second Amendment protects the right to keep arms that are commonly used by the people,” said John Weber, NRA Illinois state director. “Gov. Pritzker’s decision to ignore the court and sign this bill demonstrates a blatant disregard for the rule of law and a willful ignorance of the nightmare he and his anti-gun allies in the statehouse have created with their soft-on-crime policies.”
Originally known as House Bill 5471, the law bans many semi-automatic firearms that law-abiding citizens commonly own for self-defense, competition, and recreation. It also bans certain spare parts for those firearms, handgun magazines that can hold more than 15 rounds of ammunition, long gun magazines that can hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition, and a “combination[s] of parts” from which such magazines can be assembled. Additionally, the bill also expands the duration of “red flag” law restraining orders from six to 12 months.
“Instead of arresting, prosecuting, and punishing the criminals who break the law, Gov. Pritzker is focusing his attention on those who haven’t broken any laws. The people of Illinois deserve better,” Weber concluded.
That’s definitely one to watch.
*** UPDATE *** Another one…
Members of the Illinois Gun Rights Alliance (ILGRA) today filed a federal lawsuit challenging the recently adopted Protect Illinois Communities Act, alleging it to be an infringement on the constitutionally protected activity of Illinois sportsmen, firearms retailers, distributors, and manufacturers, and lawful users of firearms. Defendants are Governor Pritzker, Attorney General of Illinois Kwame Rauol, and Brendan F. Kelly, Director of the Illinois State Police.
Named plaintiffs in this action are:
• Federal Firearms Licensees of Illinois, Inc – the FFL Dealers’ Association
• Guns Save Life – an Illinois-based, grass-roots gun rights organization
• Gun Owners of America - a national grass-roots gun rights organization
• Three private citizens
• One local dealer
“We are, or represent, members and supporters who are law-abiding Illinois residents who seek to purchase, sell, and protect themselves, and/or their homes and families with firearms owned and in common use by millions of Americans for self-defense,” the complaint begins.
“We began with the so-called ‘Assault Weapon’ ban,” said Mandi Sano, FFL-IL Spokesman. “As the Governor and General Assembly gleefully strip law-abiding Illinois retailers and gun-owners of their gun rights, property rights, and privacy, we will not stand by. We will act.”
“Our group has said all along that we will not help the State craft a ‘better bill,’ we will not provide subject matter expertise, and that if the State wishes to read our opinions, it may do so in the complaint,” added FFL-IL President Dan Eldridge.
John Boch, Executive Director of Guns Save Life, Inc. holds that, “the so-called Protect Illinois Communities Act does nothing to actually protect Illinois communities. Its only effect is to criminalize law-abiding gun owners. The General Assembly should instead be holding criminals accountable for violent crimes.”
The measure remains broadly unpopular, sparking a surge in purchases before the Act’s effective date and drawing the opposition of more than 80 of the State’s 102 Sheriffs.
“The Supreme Court has reset the table by striking down New York’s concealed carry ‘may-issue’ law and along with it magazine limits in California and New Jersey, and Maryland’s ’assault weapon’ ban. We seek immediate state-wide relief from enforcement of this unconstitutional law and look forward to prevailing in the Federal Court.” concluded Ms. Sano.
Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias announced a settlement agreement today with online used-car retailer Carvana, which admitted to violating Illinois law and agreed to abide by new restrictions aimed at protecting consumers. Illinois was the first state in the nation to suspend Carvana’s license in May 2022.
“The admission by Carvana demonstrates what we knew all along: that Carvana was violating the law in a manner that was harmful to Illinois consumers,” Giannoulias said. “Under my administration, I will do everything to ensure that proper safeguards are in place that protect Illinois consumers regardless of how they purchase a vehicle.”
Click here to watch a video statement from Secretary Giannoulias.
Illinois began investigating Carvana’s practices in February 2022 after customers alleged it was issuing out-of-state temporary registration permits and for failing to transfer titles in a timely manner as required by the state’s vehicle code.
The agreement also calls for Carvana to: adhere to Illinois law in the future; surrender its $250,000 bond; and allow for pre- and post-licensing Secretary of State Police inspections to ensure it remains in compliance. Most important, the settlement agreement allows the Illinois Secretary of State to summarily suspend and revoke Carvana’s dealership license once again if it fails to comply with either the agreement or the laws.
Secretary Giannoulias emphasized that Carvana’s actions of putting unregistered license plates on vehicles jeopardized Illinois consumers who were at risk of being ticketed by law enforcement for driving without proper title and registration.
Prior to the settlement agreement, Carvana was allowed to sell cars, but only under strict guidelines set forth by a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) granted by a DuPage County judge. Under these guidelines, Carvana was not allowed to issue temporary registration permits or license plates, but was required to register titles through Illinois remitters, which are third-party entities licensed in Illinois to process title transactions. This ensured titles would be processed expeditiously.
…Adding… From Carvana…
Carvana, a pioneer in the automotive industry, will continue selling and buying vehicles using the Company’s innovative e-commerce platform as well as its iconic car vending machine located in Oak Brook, Illinois under an agreement reached today with the Illinois Secretary of State.
Upon reaching this agreement, the Company issued the following statement:
“For the past eight years, we have been an economic engine in the state by providing Illinoisans with an unmatched e-commerce experience that includes great selection, home delivery and a 7-day money back guarantee and today’s agreement with the Secretary of State allows us to move forward in our journey to becoming the largest automotive retailer,” said Alan Hoffman, Carvana Head of Corporate Affairs. “We look forward to working with Secretary Giannoulias to ensure customers continue having access to the best car buying and selling experience possible.”
Gov. JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) today announced that $113.8 million has been awarded to downstate transit providers as part of the historic, bipartisan Rebuild Illinois capital program. The funding brings the total investment in downstate transit via competitive grants to $337.8 million, supporting the Governor’s mission to create economic opportunity by improving all modes of transportation while boosting safety and efficiency. […]
Today’s announcement, made in Decatur to celebrate three awards that will help expand the city’s transit campus, install solar panels on a bus barn, and replace older vehicles with hybrids, represents the third round of competitive grants in Rebuild Illinois funding to invest in transit outside the Chicago area. Awards are supporting projects that include the purchase of new vehicles as well as the construction of bus shelters, plus stations and maintenance facilities that expand and improve service. The projects provide more transportation options in downstate communities and promote an enhanced quality of life. […]
A total of 32 transit systems are receiving $113.8 million to advance 44 projects, including:
• St. Clair County Transit District, $10.8 million for the electrification of transit vehicles with supporting charging stations.
• Champaign–Urbana Mass Transit District, $7.2 million for hybrid bus replacement.
• Rock Island County Metropolitan Mass Transit District (MetroLINK), $6 million to replace six buses with zero emission buses.
• Sangamon Mass Transit District, $6.9 million for a secondary transfer center.
• Coles County, $70,000 for new bus passenger shelters.
• City of Macomb and McDonough County Public Transportation, $2 million for new buses.
* Something that’s been noted by many since last year’s campaign is the number of junk polls, mainly GOP in origin, flooding the discourse and skewing the average to make a “Red Wave” look much bigger than it turned out to be. As a result, some money shifted away from competitive races to shore up what had been presumed to be comfortable Democratic incumbents. An argument can be made that this may have cost Wisconsin Democrats a Senate seat, among others. And, right here in Illinois, junk polls were used to try to stir up money for and news media interest in Republican candidates who wound up being clobbered. Is this happening again in the city’s mayor’s race?
Here’s a Paul Vallas campaign press release. The first poll is from a GOP pollster and the second is not verifiable…
According to an independent poll by M3 Strategies, mayoral candidate Paul Vallas is now leading the field in the race for Chicago Mayor with 26% of the vote. Vallas is followed by Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia and Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson, with Mayor Lori Lightfoot in fourth and businessman Willie Wilson in fifth place among the nine candidate field.
“These polling results prove what our campaign already knew — that Paul Vallas is surging and establishing himself as a frontrunner in the race for Mayor,” said Vallas campaign chief strategist Joe Trippi. “Paul’s message of putting crime and Chicago’s safety first is clearly resonating with the voters and our campaign has the financial resources and support necessary to continue driving that message home over the next six weeks.”
SEIU Healthcare Illinois issued the following response to coverage by NBC 5 concerning a poll attributed to SEIU Healthcare:
NBC 5 recently reported on a poll “conducted by Celinda Lake with SEIU Healthcare” stating that NBC had reached out to SEIU Healthcare concerning the poll but had “not yet heard back” from us.
This is not our poll. Our only knowledge of this poll has come from media sources. We are not currently working with Celinda Lake on any polling projects.
We communicated this information to NBC 5’s Mary Ann Ahern on Sunday evening.
And yet the Vallas campaign still flung it out there.
* WTVO | New Illinois House Budgeteer first woman, African-American to hold position: The Illinois House of Representatives has a new Chief Budgeteer, and she is making history with the new title. Representative Jehan Gordon-Booth is now the first woman, and first African American lawmaker to run budget negotiations for the House.
* Chalkbeat | Illinois public school enrollment continues to drop, preliminary numbers show: Preliminary data released last week by the Illinois State Board of Education shows overall enrollment dropped by about 31,000 students — or 1.7% — between last school year and the current one, according to numbers as of Dec. 14. Chicago Public Schools accounts for at least a quarter of the decline. The district lost 9,000 students and its place as the third largest school district in the country.
* Tribune | Who are the candidates for mayor of Chicago?: Voters in Chicago will head to the polls on Feb. 28 to cast their ballot for mayor, 50 aldermanic seats, the city clerk and city treasurer. There are nine candidates running for Chicago mayor. Here’s what you need to know about each of them.
* Center Square | Illinois lawmaker demands change at embattled child services agency: State Rep. Dan Ugaste can’t see how Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker can remain silent about all the turmoil now going on at the Department of Children and Family Services. “We’ve been pressing the governor for over a year now about all the chaos at DCFS and he simply chooses not to respond,” Ugaste told The Center Square. “I’m again calling on him to do something about the situation that only seems to be getting worse by the day.”
* Tribune | Chicago is a key battleground as railroads struggle to figure out the future: The turbulent week stands as an apt metaphor for the state of the nation’s railroads, and the role of Chicago and its suburbs as the biggest freight hub. They’re key battlegrounds as the U.S. struggles to decide what sustainable growth means, and whether it’s possible.
* Sun-Times | Is ShotSpotter missing the mark?: We also see it as yet another flaw with the high-priced system. It was sold to the Chicago Police (and other departments more than 140 cities) as a law enforcement tool that is accurate and technologically-advanced — with heavy emphasis on the ‘technology’ part — but time and again, it has proven to be considerably less-than-advertised.
* Crain’s | City touts ’social bonds’ sale as success: According to the city, 8% of the bond offering, or $12 million, went to Chicago retail investors who were able to make investments from a minimum of $1,000 up to $1 million. Illinois residents made up 24%, or $38 million, of the purchases. And $88 million in orders came from “11 ESG-focused investors,” following outreach to the ESG market ahead of the offering to learn how to structure what services the city would fund with the bond proceeds.
* KFVS | Southern Illinois native appointed new IDNR director: SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (KFVS) - A former Illinois State Representative and southern Illinois native has been named the new director of Illinois Department of Natural Resources. Governor JB Pritzker appointed Natalie Phelps Finnie to lead IDNR on Monday, January 23.
* Crain’s | Rivian’s chief lobbyist is leaving the company: His departure comes after several top executives at the startup, including the vice president overseeing body engineering, its supply-chain chief and general counsel, have exited in recent months as the company seeks to implement cost-cutting measures.
* AP | EPA considers tougher regulation of livestock farm pollution: EPA has not revised its rules dealing with the nation’s largest animal operations — which hold thousands of hogs, chickens and cattle — since 2008. The agency said in 2021 it planned no changes but announced Friday it had reconsidered in response to an environmental group’s lawsuit.
* SJ-R | Here’s what you need to know about the snow headed to Springfield and central Illinois: A relatively quiet winter in central Illinois is about to get a bit busier this week, with nearly half-a-foot of snow expected for much of the area. The National Weather Service in Lincoln has issued a winter weather advisory for Sangamon County and areas north of Interstate 72, beginning at 9 p.m. and continuing through Wednesday. NWS says that 2-6 inches of snow are expected for areas in this band, with slick roads coming as a result of the blanketing.
* Sun-Times | Thousands of letters — some sent from Chicago nearly 2 centuries ago — up for auction: One piece of mail on the block features faded red fountain pen looping across an envelope mailed in 1833 from Chicago to Connecticut. Another is an envelope from the 1860s with the words “Death to Traitors” stamped in one corner — which showed support for the North during the Civil War.
* Gov. Pritzker was asked today why he hadn’t yet reappointed DCFS Director Marc Smith to a new term…
Q: Yesterday, your office announced a bunch of appointments to state agencies, reappointments. Obviously, last week,there was a lawsuit filed against DCFS, a class action lawsuit in Chicago. Do you intend on keeping Marc Smith the director of DCFS?
Pritzker: We haven’t made all of the announcements, as you know. We have I think 25 or 26 agencies that we need to announce the appointments or reappointments for and so he’ll be in a subsequent batch of those announcements.
Last week, sources confirmed in several reports that García is the unnamed congressman in the federal ComEd corruption case. Specifically, his name came up in connection with what federal prosecutors allege was a scheme by Madigan to get former Cook County Commissioner Juan Ochoa appointed to the ComEd board.
The Chicago Sun-Times has learned Garcia’s name is mentioned in a recorded phone conversation between Madigan and his longtime confidant, Michael McClain, one of four people set to go on trial for the alleged scheme revolving around ComEd.
The mayor also took swipes at Garcia after sources told ABC7 that Garcia was the unnamed member of Congress that was mentioned in court papers released last week in the Madigan corruption case.
The disclosure, which even the Tribune said only “superficially” involved Garcia, is that Garcia is the unnamed “member of Congress” referenced in a recent federal filing in the pending corruption case against Madigan associate Mike McClain and others. Garcia’s name got mentioned by McClain in connection with a planned meeting in early 2019 on another matter. But McClain feared that a third person, former Metropolitan Pier & Exposition Authority chief Juan Ochoa, might ask about the status of Madigan’s effort to coerce ComEd into putting Ochoa on its board.
In fact, I’m told the meeting never occurred. I’ve seen no proof Garcia did anything to advance the Ochoa appointment, just as his campaign told the Tribune. As per previous reports by the Tribune and Crain’s, it was another former congressman, Luis Gutierrez, who, starting in 2017, really got Madigan involved in the board matter, along with former Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
The other matter was a political action campaign that Garcia and Ochoa were putting together. As Greg said, the meeting never happened. And I don’t think the PAC ever even came to fruition. [Actually, it did. Click here.]
* Some reporters may be going over the top here in order to mete out a bit of “street justice” on Chuy after failing to connect some dots earlier. Garcia years ago cut a strategic deal with Madigan. Garcia had free rein to run Latino candidates against any “regular” Democrats he wanted and Madigan wouldn’t make any major moves against his candidates, as long as Garcia steered clear of the 13th Ward and the 22nd House District.
A 28-year-old woman unsatisfied with the way in which House Speaker Michael Madigan handled her accusations of sexual harassment against a top aide is taking her complaint to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
“I firmly believe they thought that I was too loyal to ever come forward,” Alaina Hampton said Tuesday of Madigan and his allies.
Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, the one-time machine-fighting rebel who three years ago challenged Mayor Rahm Emanuel for re-election, but now is moving to Congress—assuming he defeats a Republican in November—endorsed state House Speaker Mike Madigan today for a new term as chairman of the Illinois Democratic Party.
“As a progressive Democrat, it is my intention to support a state party chair who will work with me to advance our most fundamental goals,” Garcia said in a statement
* There’s also the schadenfreude angle. One of Garcia’s top guys worked to defeat state Rep. Mike Zalewski in the Democratic primary last year in part by bashing Z’s connections to Madigan. But now, the Madigan spin is going the other way.
* If you go to attorney Tom DeVore’s website, you’ll see a link to sign up to be a plaintiff in his second lawsuit against the state’s assault weapons ban. Registration is now closed.
* Devore’s first lawsuit, filed in Effingham County, has 866 plaintiffs. The second lawsuit, filed in White County, has 1,690 plaintiffs.
This adds up to 2,556 plaintiffs - so far. At $200 a pop, that would be $511,200. He’s also taking donations.
All for filing copy and paste lawsuits over legislative procedural matters that were long ago settled by the Illinois Supreme Court and don’t look to be altered anytime soon, particularly with the new 5-2 Democratic dominance.
Some area Democratic members of Congress, state lawmakers and DuPage County Board members gathered Monday to call on DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick to retract his statement or resign after he said he will not enforce the state’s new assault weapons ban.
Mendrick, a Republican, issued a statement Jan. 13, saying he believes the new bill violates Second Amendment rights and that his office won’t be checking to ensure that lawful gun owners register their weapons with the state nor arresting or housing anyone charged solely with not complying with the act. […]
Lawmakers, including U.S. Reps. Sean Casten, D-Downers Grove; Delia Ramirez, D-Chicago; Bill Foster, D-Naperville; and Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Schaumburg, spoke at Monday’s news conference at Danada House in Wheaton, calling Mendrick’s statement irresponsible.
“I just want to say with one voice, we cannot wait another day, we cannot wait another hour, we cannot wait another minute for the sheriff to do his duty because lives depend on it,” Krishnamoorthi said.
The sheriff did not say what he would do about individuals and/or stores if they sell the newly banned assault-style weapons within his county.
In a news conference on Monday, Casten called Mendrick’s position “dangerous and unconstitutional.”
“His actions are going to make future mass shootings more likely,” Casten said. “They are going to compromise the safety not only of civilians who want to go out and celebrate their holidays, but he’s going to put the police officers who are there to protect them directly in the line of fire.”
DuPage County Board Chair Deb Conroy also has criticized Mendrick’s position, saying the sheriff “should not be playing politics with state laws.”
In a lengthy statement released on Monday, Mendrick again criticized the new law as “poorly written” and for having “no clear direction on who will be enforcing new gun laws.” He said he was contacted by Casten on Jan. 16 about enforcing the law.
“There is absolutely nothing that we are doing or not doing that would make a mass shooting more accessible in DuPage County,” Mendrick said in the statement. “In fact, I have asked on multiple occasions to increase penalties on all existing gun crimes, but it does not appear that they want to have that conversation. They seem more concerned with lawful gun owners than people illegally possessing guns.”
In a statement released Monday afternoon, Mendrick struck back at the lawmakers saying, “When elected officials are blatantly untruthful, maybe they are the ones who should consider resignation.”
“There is absolutely nothing that we are doing or not doing that would make a mass shooting more accessible in DuPage County,” he added. […]
All but a handful of Illinois’ county sheriffs have said they won’t enforce the ban. Many of them did so by posting letters almost identical to Mendrick’s.
Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said he is not one of them. Speaking at the City Club Monday Morning, Dart said sheriffs take and oath to uphold the law, “not our version of it.” He said it is “wildly premature” to make such pronouncements when the Illinois State Police have not given any clear guidance on how the law will be enforced.
Mendrick, who previously suggested he believed compliance checks would be tied to the law, also took note that lawmakers on Monday said they would not be asking officers to go door to door to ensure weapons were legally registered.
“That is a big win for our law-abiding citizens and for law enforcement,” he said.
In clarifying that house-to-house inspections were not expected, state Rep. Anne Stava-Murray, a Naperville Democrat, said the weapons ban would come into play if the person was involved with another crime. Using an example of a domestic violence call where guns are involved, Stava-Murray questioned if Mendrick would follow the new law.
“Is he going to enforce our automatic weapons ban if that’s an unregistered weapon?” Stava-Murray said. “He said no, he’s not going to. That seems very dangerous.”
In his statement Monday, Mendrick, a Republican, said it was “disheartening” to hear Stava-Murray suggest he would not enforce the law when he has said he would enforce the weapons ban when it involves other illegal activity.
Again, no word on whether he’ll enforce the new law on people who buy and sell the banned weapons.
Casten challenged critics to lay out their constitutional arguments.
“By the way, your argument can’t be, ‘Well, there’s different people on the Supreme Court now.’ That’s not a constitutional argument,” he said.
Former State Senator Darren Bailey, the GOP nominee who lost his November bid to unseat Governor Pritzker, was among the downstate Republicans who filed a lawsuit in Effingham last week.
“Well, umm…I think…I don’t know that the FOID card has…the background checks…You know, with the federal background checks, I think we all agree,” he stammered [when asked why he believed the law was unconstitutional]. “I don’t think we have… yeah, we can look at that. There’s an…there’s an area of compromise. You know?
“We can say, alright, ‘Shall not be infringed,’ but yet we understand that sometimes these guns fall into the hands of the wrong person. So we have the federal, you know, firearm background check. That’s exactly what it does, and I don’t see anyone arguing that. But to come here into Illinois and to add the FOID card, and to continue to add these restrictions, that’s an infringement,” Bailey said.
During a nearly hourlong interview over the weekend on AM-560’s “Black and Right” radio program, Mendrick was critical of the weapons ban, claiming sheriffs were not consulted in drafting the new law.
Sheriff Mendrick: And you know, what’s going to happen when we send this three-man team to a citizen’s house and they’ve never committed any crime, but they really don’t want to give up their weapons and we get into some type of standoff, and then somebody gets shot or all these people are gonna back me then?
Host: No
Sheriff Mendrick: And I bet they’ll go and say I should’ve never been doin’…
Host: Especially if it’s a Black person.
Sheriff Mendrick: [Crosstalk] Yep.
Host: A white sheriff a black dude, they will…
Sheriff Mendrick: I’d be eaten alive.
Whew.
Also, if the sheriff thinks assault weapon owners are that mentally disordered that they would shoot at police, why is he defending them?
And wouldn’t it stand to reason that we would maybe increase the penalties for these 3-D-printed ghost guns? We could actually, if they would make that like child pornography make it illegal to possess a program. My digital forensics lab could do a keyword search algorithm and we could find all the illegally being made guns on the program. Nobody will enhance penalties, though. Nobody will increase crimes that could be charged with.
Governor JB Pritzker signed HB4383 into law, banning the sale and possession of so-called ‘ghost guns’ statewide. ‘Ghost guns’ refer to unserialized, privately made firearms that are often sold as a set of parts to be assembled at home, allowing prohibited purchasers to circumvent background checks. Ghost guns cannot be traced by conventional means and can be created on a 3-D printer, leaving no record of their ownership.
* Crain’s | Wealth tax plan pushed in Springfield: Under a proposal being introduced by Rep. Will Guzzardi, D-Chicago, anyone with a net worth of at least $1 billion would have to pay 4.95% of it off the top to the state each year regardless of whether investment markets are rising or falling and notwithstanding underlying economic conditions.
* Capitol News Illinois | State preparing further defense of assault weapons ban: Raoul’s office filed the petition in the 5th District Appellate Court in southern Illinois, arguing that Effingham County Judge Joshua Morrison had abused his discretion and the plaintiffs are unlikely to succeed in their lawsuit, thus the restraining order was granted incorrectly.
* Tribune | Lawmakers call on DuPage sheriff to enforce assault weapons ban: Lawmakers, including U.S. Reps. Sean Casten, D-Downers Grove; Delia Ramirez, D-Chicago; Bill Foster, D-Naperville; and Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Schaumburg, spoke at Monday’s news conference at Danada House in Wheaton, calling Mendrick’s statement irresponsible.
* 25 News Now | Pritzker rival Darren Bailey tops list of new plaintiffs in second assault weapon ban suit: This time the suit is based in White County, Illinois, which is near the southern Illinois border. The law offices of Tom DeVore, a Bailey ally and former Attorney General candidate, say around 1,500 residents have signed on to the second suit. The same three state leaders are listed as defendants: Gov. JB Pritzker, Speaker of the House Emanuel “Chris” Welch, and Senate President Don Harmon.
* WGN | Lightfoot takes aim at García over Madigan association, ComEd scheme: ‘Come clean’: Emerging from a session with the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board on Monday, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot unloaded on mayoral challenger Congressman Jesus “Chuy” García.“Congressman García has got to come clean with the voters of the city about what his connection is, not only to the now-disgraced, indicted, former [Michael Madigan] but also what his connection is to this evolving, deep ComEd scandal,” she said.
* WTTW | Chicago Police Face Renewed Questions About Extremist Cops as Lightfoot Dismisses Concerns: And twice in the past three months, Mayor Lori Lightfoot has declined to answer questions from WTTW News about whether the continued presence of an officer who admitted belonging to the Oath Keepers and another officer with ties to the Proud Boys will complicate efforts to reform the beleaguered Chicago Police Department and rebuild Chicagoans’ trust in the department.
* WTTW | Ethics Board Asks City, CPS Inspector Generals to Probe Lightfoot Campaign Emails Sent to Teachers, College Instructors: The call comes after the Lightfoot campaign sent emails to CPS teachers and City Colleges of Chicago faculty seeking student volunteers to help her win reelection in return for credit. The discussion that led to the vote by the members of the Chicago Board of Ethics took place in closed session and the board’s action did not name Lightfoot, in keeping with the board’s rules.
* The New Republic | Who Is Brandon Johnson? More on the Chicago Mayoral Challenger With a History in Organizing: Johnson, a teacher and organizer, has emerged among the top candidates in a race that requires the winner to cross a simple majority threshold. If no candidate reaches at least 50 percent in next month’s election, which is the likely case, the top two vote-getters will proceed to an April runoff. Johnson, whose candidacy garnered no opinion from more than 70 percent of voters as recently as last month, is already putting up a formidable fight.
* Block Club | South Side Aldermanic Candidate Knocked Off Ballot After Officials Say She Lives In Wrong Ward: City Council candidates generally are required to have lived in their ward for at least a year prior to the election. Because the ward boundaries were redrawn in 2022, candidates can run for office in any ward that includes a part of the ward they lived in before redistricting, the elections board announced in October. But 8th Ward residents are only eligible to run in the 6th, 7th and 8th wards under those rules. The 5th and 8th Ward boundaries never overlapped, so Irmer can’t be elected as 5th Ward alderperson, commissioners said.
* WTTW | Trans Former Bus Driver Sues CTA, Union for Discrimination and Wrongful Termination: In 2019, WTTW News covered his successful push for the transit agency to add gender affirming care to its health insurance policy. That includes a range of health care designed to support transgender people, whose gender identity is different from the sex they were assigned at birth. Since that breakthrough, Brown has been fired from his job as a driver. He’s now suing the CTA and the union representing bus operators alleging discrimination, retaliation and wrongful termination.
