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Isabel’s afternoon roundup

Thursday, Aug 22, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Energy News Network

A major expansion of battery storage may be the most economical and environmentally beneficial way for Illinois to maintain grid reliability as it phases out fossil fuel generation, a new study finds.

The analysis was commissioned by the nonprofit Clean Grid Alliance and solar organizations as state lawmakers consider proposed incentives for private developers to build battery storage.

“The outlook is not great for bringing on major amounts of new capacity to replace the retiring capacity,” said Mark Pruitt, former head of the Illinois Power Agency and author of the study, which suggests batteries will be a more realistic path forward than a massive buildout of new generation and transmission infrastructure.

The proposed legislation — SB 3959 and HB 5856 — would require the Illinois Power Agency to procure energy storage capacity for deployment by utilities ComEd and Ameren. Payments would be based on the difference between energy market prices and the costs of charging batteries off-peak, to ensure the storage would be profitable. The need for incentives would theoretically ratchet down over time.

* Sun-Times

Alex Gallegos, the south suburban school board member who was the only member of Illinois’ Democratic National Convention delegation to withhold support for Kamala Harris’ nomination, says he still strongly supports the vice president over Republican nominee Donald Trump.

“Yes, I am the one ‘present’ vote from Illinois,” Gallegos wrote in an email to the Sun-Times, declining to be interviewed. “Unfortunately I am not able to vocalize the silence of 40K Palestinian souls during an interview.”

He continued: “They want to know why I want the Vice President to lose to Trump. That couldn’t be further from the truth,” Gallegos wrote. “I want Kamala to not only win the election, I want a landslide. The only way I see that happening is if she forces a ceasefire.

“Together we can win and save lives,” Gallegos wrote.

*** DNC ***

* NBC Chicago | What time does the DNC start tonight? Here’s the full Day 4 schedule, where to watch: As has been the case for each night of the convention so far, major performances and celebrity appearances are expected throughout the night, with speculation swirling over who could be in attendance. Already, sources have confirmed that Pink will perform Thursday night and The Chicks, formerly known as the Dixie Chicks, are also expected to hit the stage.

* Politico | Kamala Harris had more donors in just 10 days than Biden had the whole election: Harris’ campaign and affiliated joint fundraising committees received contributions from nearly 2.3 million individual donors from July 21, when Biden dropped out of the race, through July 31, according to a detailed POLITICO analysis of new fundraising data. Biden had just shy of 2.1 million donors dating back to April 2023, when he formally launched his reelection bid. (In fact, Harris surpassed Biden a day earlier, on July 30.)

* Sun-Times | Supt. Snelling says no arrests were made at Wednesday’s protest: “The individuals who showed up on Tuesday came here strictly to commit crimes, to fight with the police and cause destruction to the city,” Snelling told reporters at a media briefing this morning. “That wasn’t the focus of the group yesterday. They just wanted to be heard, and we allowed that to happen,” Snelling said. However, Snelling said there was one “dust-up” during Wednesday’s protest from Union Park to the United Center’s security perimeter.

* Tribune | DNC sees third day of protests as Chicago’s top cop blasts demonstrators who confronted officers at Israeli consulate: Snelling was also asked why the protest drew so many journalists when another, more peaceful candlelight vigil on Tuesday memorializing those killed in Gaza went largely uncovered. “It sells,” Snelling said, adding there are those looking for a repeat of the chaos of the 1968 convention. “Why cover the people who are calling for peace? Everybody wants to see the carnage.”

* CBS | Sen. Tammy Duckworth, Illinois Asian American Caucus on supporting Harris: “We have grown the Asian American caucus from 0 to 17 members in just eight years in a state that is only 7% Asian American, we’re so proud,” Cook Country Commissioner Josina Morita said. Morita is a founding member and chair of the Illinois Asian American Caucus. “There’s a saying that you’re either at the table or on the menu, and we’re so excited that our community, for the first time in this last decade, has really come to the table,” she said.

* Pantagraph | Six-time DNC attendee Nikki Budzinski steps into role of delegate for first time: “I’ve always been, in multiple conventions, a volunteer on the floor,” Budzinski said. “And what you don’t realize when you’re at home is so much of this is really well-organized and put together, and it takes a lot of volunteers to help organize the signs that you see, making sure that people get to their seats, making sure that people know where they’re going.”

* CBS | Illinois’ DNC delegates hear from top party leaders ahead of Harris’ speech on final day: “I think it’s important for us to remember that we are all blessed. We’ve been on the floor or in the arena as the first woman to be elected president of this country has been nominated by her party,” said Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who is also chair of the Cook County Democratic Party. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear also spoke to Illinois delegates about being on Harris’ shortlist for running mates, alongside Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, before she chose Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to join her on the ticket.

* Tribune | Stephen Colbert grills JB Pritzker on hot dogs and Chance the Rapper performs on Night 3 of ‘Late Show’ in Chicago: Colbert, playing the humble hot dog vendor, also interviewed Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker at the United Center, asking him how he takes his Chicago dog. “With mustard and everything else, but no ketchup,” Pritzker said. “A terrorist is going to blow up the Bean unless you have ketchup on a hotdog, do you eat the ketchup on the hot dog,” Colbert questioned. “Mustard only,” Pritzker responded.

* Tribune | ‘That’s my dad!’: Gus Walz tearfully cheers on his father as he accepts Democratic VP nomination: “That’s my dad!” the 17-year-old could be seen saying. He stood, tears streaming down his face, and pointed to his father, Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, who was accepting the Democratic nomination for vice president in a speech to thousands of people in a packed arena and millions more watching at home. The teen’s exuberance captured hearts and went viral, becoming perhaps the defining image of his father’s address and further humanizing a running mate picked by Vice President Kamala Harris in no small part for his everyman appeal.

* Sun-Times | Thousands march on DNC without incident — or a permit: ‘We just want a peaceful protest’: The event followed Tuesday’s clash in the West Loop between protesters and Chicago police that led to 59 arrests. But the group involved in Tuesday’s violence was not affiliated with the coalition that planned Wednesday’s event that began at Union Park. And the organizers of the latest demonstration were familiar with Chicago police.

* Sun-Times | Pro-Palestinian groups protesting outside the Cultural Center: Code Pink, which has interrupted other events this week, is among the groups present. The protesters outside the Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St., have been chanting “Free, free Palestine” and “Kamala, you can’t hide. You’re supporting genocide.”

* Sun-Times | Uncommitted delegates stage sit-in while calling for Palestinian American speaker at DNC: “I am begging that the Democratic Party, who has made space for so many, be the party that makes space for the Palestinians who are hurting,” said Jonathan Simonds, an uncommitted delegate from Hawaii. The sit-in has been peaceful and quiet. On Wednesday night, journalists and onlookers stood in a semi-circle around delegates and demonstrators who sat cross-legged on the sidewalk and stood with a banner that read “Arms Embargo Now,” in all caps.

* FOX Chicago | 19-year-old Northbrook woman attends DNC as Illinois’ youngest delegate: ‘I have hope for the future’: “I’ve met so many cool people,” said 19-year-old Claire Satkiewicz. “And to be able to see some of my favorite political leaders speak like Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Bernie Sanders yesterday was very cool.” Satkiewicz, who was raised in Northbrook, is about to begin her sophomore year at Northeastern University in Boston. Luckily, classes don’t start until next week because she is attending the DNC as Illinois’ youngest delegate.

* Sun-Times | Oprah Winfrey’s speech at DNC: ‘Who says you can’t go home again?’: Full text of Winfrey’s convention address to delegates at United Center.

*** Chicago ***

* Block Club | Salt Shed, Ramova Theatre And 2 Other Historical Chicago Buildings Win Award For Preservation Efforts: Nonprofit preservation organization Landmarks Illinois is honoring four Chicago institutions for their efforts in rehabilitating historical buildings. Those four buildings — Lawson House on the Near North Side, Bridgeport’s recently remodeled Ramova Theatre, Bucktown’s The Salt Shed and The Terminal in Humboldt Park — have been awarded the 2024 Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Preservation Awards.

* WBEZ | DNC speakers tout big plans for manufacturing, while Chicago remains slow to rebound: However, the full picture is more complex. Much of that increase in manufacturing jobs is due to a postpandemic recovery. Meanwhile, uncertainties about sustainable growth persist. In addition, recent estimates are subject to an annual revision. For example, on Wednesday, the BLS reported it overstated manufacturing job growth by 115,000 in the 12 months that ended in March. The final estimates for March 2024 will be announced in February 2025.

* Crain’s | River North office skyscraper owner pays off $431 million loan: Newport Beach, Calif.-based real estate firm Irvine today announced it retired its loan tied to the 60-story tower at 300 N. LaSalle St. when it matured earlier this month. The company did not disclose the balance of the debt, but a source familiar with the mortgage said the outstanding balance was around $431 million, down from the original $475 million loan amount Irvine took out to finance its $850 million purchase of the building in 2014. Cook County records do not show any new debt borrowed against the property.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Herald | Construction of 164 townhouses about to start at Bell Works Chicagoland in Hoffman Estates: Preparations only await the issuing of a building permit now that an updated and slightly revised approval has been made of the site plan first given the green light in February 2023. Only minor changes to aspects such as lighting and landscaping were made, though the original approval was in need of a refresh for being more than a year old, Hoffman Estates Director of Development Services Peter Gugliotta said.

* The Times Weekly | Will County Health installs Naloxone Distribution box at Veterans Assistance Commission in Joliet: “The Will County Health Department is continuing to make Naloxone readily available throughout the county,” said Dr. Kathleen Burke, Will County Health Department’s Program Coordinator for Substance Use Initiatives. “Adding a distribution box at the Veterans Assistance Commission is a great step to help us make this life-saving drug available to our veterans.”

*** Downstate ***

* Sherry C.M. Lindquist | This is why it matters that Western Illinois University fired all its librarians: The priorities expressed by the cuts taking place at WIU over the last decade are consistent with such cuts being taken all over the country in which the liberal arts and humanities are being gutted. Administrators such as President Kristi Mindrup at WIU claim to be cutting their universities into “the right shape.” How do we know what the right shape is? Who decides that it is the liberal arts, the humanities or the librarians who are responsible for “misshapen” institutions?

* WSIL | Residents hopeful a new industrial project in Murphysboro will boost economy and add more jobs: Once home to a train repair shop a hundred years ago, it had many uses through the years, and now it will be revitalized for an aircraft maintenance company, Crucial MRO. Crucial MRO’s Vice President Wesley Perkins says they want to become a one-stop shop in Southern Illinois.

* WCIA | WCIA drone footage shows cows on the loose after I-57 crash: WCIA drone footage shows the ongoing chase for the loose cows after a semi-truck hauling them rolled over on I-57 near Tuscola. Overhead views of the footage show one cow making it’s way through a corn field as community members riding horses try to track it down.

* WICS | Central Illinois school districts still facing teacher shortage, is legislation helping?: Newschannel 20 spoke with several school districts to see if the legislation aimed at combatting the teacher shortage is truly helping. “Williamsville School District feels the pain just like all the other school districts,” said Tip Reedy, superintendent of Williamsville School District. “It still hurts not having 12 classrooms covered,” said Jennifer Gill, superintendent of District 186.

* WIFR | Landmarks Illinois announce Preservation Award winners: On Wednesday, Landmarks Illinois announced the winners of the 2024 Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Preservation Awards. The preservation efforts awards were bestowed to rehabilitation and adaptive reuse projects in Rockford and Woodstock

* WCIA | Man arrested for impersonating a police officer in Effingham County: 39-year-old Jerrod Estes has been arrested on multiple charges, including false personation of a peace officer. He was taken into custody at his Teutopolis home on Tuesday. The arrest is a result of a four-month investigation into an incident back in May. Several victims were pulled over in Effingham County by a person pretending to be an officer.

*** National ***

* AP | Labor dispute stops Canadian freight railroads and could cause major economic disruption in US: Canadian National and CPKC railroads both locked out their employees after the deadline of 12:01 a.m. EST Thursday passed without new agreements with the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference that represents some 10,000 engineers, conductors and dispatchers. All rail traffic in Canada and all shipments crossing the U.S. border have stopped, although CPKC and CN’s trains will continue to operate in the U.S. and Mexico.

* DNYUZ | What Kalamazoo (Yes, Kalamazoo) Reveals About the Nation’s Housing Crisis: Like Detroit, Kalamazoo got walloped by a foreclosure crisis in the early 2010s that left many of its neighborhoods with overgrown lots where ramshackle houses had been bulldozed. And like virtually every other city I’ve written about, its housing problems first appeared among lower-income families, then climbed steadily up to those considered solidly middle class. As affordability problems have moved up the income ladder, both Kalamazoo County and the state have expanded their aid programs to include households that had previously made too much money to qualify for subsidized housing. It’s part of a nationwide shift in which housing assistance has moved from an anti-poverty focus to what is increasingly looking like a middle-class support program. Those ideas now permeate Vice President Kamala Harris’s housing plan, which calls for assistance both for first-time home buyers and developers who build housing for them.

  3 Comments      


The Democrats’ ‘F-word’

Thursday, Aug 22, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* As subscribers know, I asked Gov. JB Pritzker about his repeated use of the phrase “convicted felon” when describing former President Donald Trump. An excerpt from that story…

His administration, I pointed out to Pritzker, inadvertently sent a mass text to House Democrats in late May castigating the Senate Democrats for working with the Senate Republicans on a bill to change the Prisoner Review Board. “It’s appalling that senate democrats are so eager to please their Republican friends that they would undermine justice and push to keep people incarcerated who, by measure of actual law, should be out on [mandatory supervised release],” the text said in part, calling the bipartisan Senate proposal “a ploy that will end MSR in Illinois.”

So, I wondered, how does that guy, along with the cannabis pardons and the SAFE-T Act and on and on, all of a sudden start taunting someone for being a convicted felon?

“It’s not as if I say that about everybody who has a felony conviction,” Pritzker said. “I think that it’s very appropriate when it comes to Donald Trump because he tries to pretend that he hasn’t broken the law. And now there is a jury of his peers that have convicted him, and so I’m reminding people of that, and reminding people that he is consistently lying. And that’s the reason that I mentioned it. And I will say that I think that it’s factually correct.”

* And that brings us to this recent thread by an anti-incarceration activist…


The rest

2. Your best chance at public safety is someone returning from incarceration invested in the body politic, with pro-social dreams of contributing to their community..foreclosing this is a terrible reintegration strategy

3. We believe our rights are non-negotiable. We served our sentences and paid our debt…our rights are not conditional and subject to whim… You don’t have to agree… but we will oppose this every time we hear it

4. Don’t tell me you are a Democrat who believes in defending voting rights in communities of color and suggest that you support “felons” being separated from the body politic…where do you think the vast majority of people in state prisons come from? Who do you think is disenfranchised?

5. If you participated or cared about George Floyd… but are now acting like disenfranchisement is earned, I think you have lost your way…this is NOT who Demicrats are supposed to be…this is not why we support this party.

6. You are not really mad that Trump has felony convictions…You are mad that he is unrepentant, shows no remorse, and makes no amends…talk about that instead of suggesting that the MILLIONS of people with a felony conviction should be separated from politics and the body politic.

So….I will say it again…DO BETTER DEMS…When you say Trump should be disqualified b/c of a felony conviction you are giving the thumbs up to discrimination and bothering MILLIONS and just to make political points…Not Okay

And yes, that is what you are saying…You are saying BECAUSE Trump has felony convictions, he should be disqualified from politics…that logistics presumes the same to be true for EVERYONE with a felony conviction (millions of Americans)

It should be noted that Gov. Pritzker did not use the word “felon” during his DNC address this week.

* Anyway, your thoughts on this topic?

  33 Comments      


A little context, please

Thursday, Aug 22, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Neil Steinberg wrote a long story the other day for the Sun-Times about the 1968 Democratic convention

On Wednesday came the moment everyone thinks of when they think of the convention, “The Battle of Michigan Avenue,” a 17-minute melee in front of the Conrad Hilton, broadcast on TV, interspersed with the action on the floor of the convention.

Several thousand protesters attempted to march on the Hilton. The police were determined to stop them.

“The police gathered in groups,” New York columnist Jimmy Breslin wrote. “and then ran into the kids and swung their clubs, cops in blue helmets and short-sleeve blue shirts. Cops with bare arms, swinging in the television lights while they went for the head with their clubs, or for any place below the belt they could reach. Chicago cops who had been misdirected all day and now were completely without supervision. They were running to young kid and beating them…” […]

Police pushed protesters through plate-glass windows, then pursued them inside and beat them as they sprawled on the broken glass. All told, 100 protesters were treated for injuries — plus 119 cops. About 600 protesters were arrested.

* Wednesday’s Sun-Times headline

Mass arrests?

According to the article “nearly 60 arrests” were made. So, less than a tenth of that day in ‘68. Also, two protesters were injured, “one for knee pain and another a finger injury,” and two cops were hurt but refused treatment.

* Not only has this not been like 1968, this year’s convention is nothing at all like the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City. From Wikipedia

Hundreds of groups organized protests, including United for Peace and Justice, a coalition of more than 800 anti-war and social justice groups, and International ANSWER. Over 1800 individuals were arrested by the authorities, a record for a political convention in the U.S.

The week included a march that had estimated attendance in the hundreds of thousands.

  19 Comments      


Mendoza puts Mayor Johnson on blast for his comments on Israel

Thursday, Aug 22, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* From the Mother Jones interview of Mayor Brandon Johnson

Johnson’s position on the conflict also goes well beyond that of freshly minted Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, who has shown sympathy for Palestinian suffering but has also expressed “unwavering” commitment to Israel and its security. “What’s happening right now is not only egregious, it is genocidal,” Johnson, by contrast, says in our interview. “We have to acknowledge and name it for what it is and have the moral courage to exercise our authority.”

* Isabel asked Comptroller Susana Mendoza this morning for her take on Mayor Johnson calling the war “genocidal”…

It is not a genocide. Israel has a right to defend itself. It was brutally massacred and attacked on October 7. If that had happened in the United States and one of our border countries invaded us, raped and murdered our families, took hundreds of hostages, what do you think the response would be from our country towards that country? It would, but it’s different, because the United States of America is huge, and we are a massive superpower, and we’re surrounded by friendly nations. That is not the case over there. And so Israel has gone out of its way - they may not agree with that, they are going to tell you that’s not true - but they have gone out of their way to do the very best they can to avoid mass casualties. War is horrible. It is absolutely horrific. It should never happen, but it happened because on October 7, Hamas came in and butchered, raped, murdered over a thousand Israelis who were in bed or just spending time with their families or busy going about their business. I think that we need to be very careful as to how we use words, and genocide is not the appropriate word for this conflict.

* Meanwhile, from Jewish News Service

The Consulate General of Israel to the Midwest stated on Tuesday night that it is “beyond disappointed” by Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s “ongoing support” for anti-Israel protests across the city, particularly during the Democratic National Convention.

Johnson has also shown “continued disregard for the large pro-Israel and Jewish community in the city,” the consulate said, after an antisemitic riot outside its offices. […]

The consulate added that it is grateful for the law enforcement officers protecting Chicago during the convention and finds it “incredibly heartwarming to see many Americans countering this hate in front of our office, echoing the strong bond between America and Israel.”

* Isabel asked Mendoza about those statements from the Consulate General about the mayor…

I think he’s right. I think that the rhetoric has been terrible. I think that having aldermen in the city of Chicago leading protests against our own city. And, you know, fomenting this type of division is not a healthy thing for our society. And look, let’s be clear, the United States America’s strongest ally in the Middle East is Israel. It will always continue to be the case, and we have no greater friend than the state of Israel in the Middle East. So it is for them an existential threat to have a neighbor whose only desire to have peace is by their elimination. And so, you know, I’ve been to Israel on several occasions, and I think once you’re there and you actually see and you think about the concept that any new home that is built in the State of Israel has to have a safety room, right? I mean, it’s just, no one wants to live like that.

And I think it’s horrible. I really, truly pray, and I hurt for every single innocent life that has been lost in Gaza. I truly do, but that responsibility falls on Hamas, who uses as human shields, who put themselves in places where, you know, fighters should never be, as in schools or people’s homes, and this is what they want. They actually want to create this narrative that Western values are bad. And that instead of taking the billions of dollars that they were given to actually help the people of Gaza provide great schools, provide great infrastructure. The only infrastructure improvements they made were to their tunnel system so that they could use their own residents as human shields and try to give western values a black eye in the face of the world. So I’m very clear on my position on this. I think that it is hurtful and it’s shameful, frankly, and it’s extremely divisive for the mayor to not just, you know, have a position in his mind about this, but actually articulate a position that is wrong, that is factually incorrect. Throwing out the term ‘genocide’ is a very, very you know, strong word that whose definition does not apply in this case. And all it does is add fuel to a fire that really needs to be calmed down. And people need to get educated on this issue before they go out there. […]

I think that the rise of antisemitism is in full force and only gets worse when you have the leader of one of the largest cities in America calling it genocidal when it’s not. Not standing with our strongest ally, especially when you represent a city that has so many Jewish people in it who are afraid to even walk to their synagogue or go into it, or their kids go to our universities. I mean, that’s just not right. And so adding to that, adding fuel to that fire, is not, in my opinion, the sign of what a good leader would do. He should try to calm the situation down, educate the public as to what the actual situation is on the ground over there. But I don’t know that he really cares to dig into what the actual situation on the ground is over there.

Take a couple of very deep breaths before commenting, please. Thanks.

  87 Comments      


‘Even in our fractured state, all of us count and all of us fit somewhere’

Thursday, Aug 22, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Earlier this week

Rev. Al Sharpton, Founder and President of the National Action Network, joined Rev. Jesse Jackson and his sons, Congressman Jonathan Jackson and Yusef Jackson, on the stage at the Democratic National Convention for a special tribute to the Rainbow PUSH founder four decades after his historic runs for the presidency in 1984 and 1988.

“Rev. Jesse Jackson paved the way for President Obama and now Vice President Harris to reach the most powerful position on Earth,” said Rev. Al Sharpton, Founder and President of NAN. “When Rev. Jackson first sought the nomination 36 years ago, he did so with the vision and knowledge that one day a Black man or woman would serve as President of the United States. It is not only a blessing and honor, but also fitting on the first night of the DNC to pay tribute to a man who has devoted his life to making nominating a Black-Asian woman for the presidency possible.”

Some video is here.

* This is from Rev. Jackson’s 1984 “Rainbow Coalition” speech at the Democratic National Convention

My constituency is the desperate, the damned, the disinherited, the disrespected, and the despised. They are restless and seek relief. They’ve voted in record numbers. They have invested faith, hope and trust that they have in us. The Democratic Party must send them a signal that we care. I pledge my best to not let them down. […]

Our flag is red, white and blue, but our nation is a rainbow - red, yellow, brown, black and white - and we’re all precious in God’s sight.

America is not like a blanket - one piece of unbroken cloth, the same color, the same texture, the same size. America is more like a quilt - many patches, many pieces, many colors, many sizes, all woven and held together by a common thread. The white, the Hispanic, the black, the Arab, the Jew, the woman, the native American, the small farmer, the businessperson, the environmentalist, the peace activist, the young, the old, the lesbian, the gay and the disabled make up the American quilt.

Even in our fractured state, all of us count and all of us fit somewhere. We have proven that we can survive without each other, but we have not proven that we can win and progress without each other. We must come together.

* And from his 1988 DNC “Keep hope alive” address

Most poor people are not lazy. They are not black. They are not brown. They are mostly White and female and young. But whether White, Black or Brown, a hungry baby’s belly turned inside out is the same color– color it pain, color it hurt, color it agony.

Most poor people are not on welfare. Some of them are illiterate and can’t read the want-ad sections. And when they can, they can’t find a job that matches the address. They work hard every day. I know, I live amongst them. They catch the early bus. They work every day. They raise other people’s children. They work every day.

They clean the streets. They work every day. They drive dangerous cabs. They change the beds you slept in in these hotels last night and can’t get a union contract. They work every day.

No, no, they’re not lazy. Someone must defend them because it’s right and they cannot speak for themselves. They work in hospitals. I know they do. They wipe the bodies of those who are sick with fever and pain. They empty their bedpans. They clean out their commodes. No job is beneath them, and yet when they get sick they cannot lie in the bed they made up every day. America, that is not right. We are a better nation than that!

Not long after the convention that year, my best friend Brian Monahan and I drove through the South Side at like 5 or 6 o’clock in the morning. Black people were waiting at just about every bus stop for miles to go north. “They catch the early bus,” is a line that has stuck with me ever since.

Rev. Jackson is a human being. He has his faults. But I wanted to use this opportunity to thank him for his service to our country.

  21 Comments      


Open thread

Thursday, Aug 22, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* What’s going on in your part of Illinois?..

  5 Comments      


Isabel’s morning briefing

Thursday, Aug 22, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* ICYMI: Three down, one to go! It’s the last day of the DNC…

* Tribune | South suburban school board member lone Illinois delegate not to back Harris nomination: Alejandro “Alex” Gallegos, a Crete-Monee Unit School District 201 board member, was the one person in the delegation to vote “present” rather than for Harris, two sources said. Reached by phone Wednesday, Gallegos repeatedly declined to comment. “It’s not about me,” he said.

* Crain’s | Brandon Johnson on what’s next after the DNC: For the second time this week, Johnson didn’t respond directly to a question about his labeling the war “genocidal” in an interview with Mother Jones, but said there’s “nothing controversial” about what he’s called for. “We condemned the heinous terrorist attack against the Israeli people. And what we’ve called for is the releasing of the hostages and an immediate, permanent ceasefire. That is what America wants,” he said.

* Sun-Times | Notorious computer hacker charged with spray-painting Chicago cop car during West Loop protest: Notorious computer hacker Jeremy Hammond is accused of spray-painting a Chicago police car during a chaotic anti-war demonstration Tuesday night in the West Loop that resulted in dozens of arrests. Hammond, a former member of the “hacktivist” collective known as Anonymous, faces a misdemeanor charge for allegedly scrawling an anarchist symbol on a police car after protesters descended on the Israeli consulate, according to Cook County prosecutors and court records.

* Sun-Times | Parents of Hamas hostage with Chicago roots speak at DNC: Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg, parents of 23-year-old Hersh Polin-Goldberg, wore stickers with the number 320, drawing attention to the number of days their son has been held. “Hersh, if you can hear us, we love you, stay strong, survive,” Goldberg said.

* Crain’s | Common, BBQ ‘cigars’ and an actual ton of cheesecake: Inside the DNC party circuit: Around 10 p.m., Common burst onto the stage to cheers and wild applause. His energetic performance had the crowd dancing as he performed songs celebrating Chicago. At one point, he invited guest Tifair Hamed onstage, seated her on a stool, and serenaded her with a “love” song. During the impromptu performance, he referenced Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx (who was in attendance), Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.

* Tribune | Kamala Harris’ family members are popping up around Chicago this week during the DNC. Here’s the rundown on who’s who.: Kamala Harris has a husband, Doug Emhoff, who could make history as America’s first gentleman spouse. Two stepchildren who call her “Momala.” A politically connected sister who is a top adviser and sounding board. A brother-in-law who temporarily stepped away from a top private sector gig to help elect her. A niece who is the mother of two daughters that Harris dotes on. There’s also her husband’s ex-wife, who defends Harris and Emhoff and their blended family. They’ve been popping up around Chicago and on social media this week during the Democratic National Convention, where Harris will formally accept the party’s presidential nomination.

* Tribune | Meet the DNC delegates: Two 17-year-olds from Minnesota, a retired librarian from Arizona and many more: Two 17-year-olds from Minnesota who turn the legal voting age days before the November election. A nonprofit leader from Louisiana who celebrates her 80th birthday in nine days. A retired Arizona librarian enthralled with the sights along Michigan Avenue: These are three of the thousands of delegates who traveled to Chicago for the Democratic National Convention, which continued Wednesday at the United Center.

* WBEZ | What’s a hometown girl like Susana Mendoza to wear to the DNC? ‘I love Chicago’ T-shirts, of course: While some politicos are making headlines for their designer suits and dresses at the DNC — one Illinois politician says conventions are no place for satin or chiffon. Instead, Comptroller Susana Mendoza is making a splash with her casual, Chicago pride T-shirts, straight from a souvenir shop on Michigan Avenue. Standing in her hotel room with her outfits of the week laid neatly on the bed, Mendoza showed WBEZ the shirt that’s gotten her a lot of attention this week.

* WBEZ | Illinois’ top legal officer is using Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Not Like Us’ for political metaphors: In his speech to Illinois delegates, Kwame Raoul came back to “Not like us” at least 14 times. Kendrick Lamar’s hit single “Not Like Us” is a diss toward fellow rap star Drake and his inner circle. But one Illinois politician is taking the song to a whole new civic level — using the phrase to try to highlight the contrast between Democrats and Republicans.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Illinois Speaker Chris Welch spoke with the Center Square’s Greg Bishop yesterday…



* WSPY | Morris State Sen. Rezin-sponsored bill, Sami’s Law, signed into law by Governor Pritzker: A bill sponsored by Morris State Senator Sue Rezin requiring adult changing stations at rest stops and the State Capitol has been signed into law. Senate Bill 1089, also known as Sami’s Law, was signed by Governor J.B. Pritzker on August 9, about 18 months after the bill was initially filed by Rezin. The bill is named after the 26-year-old daughter of one of Rezin’s staff, who suffers from spinal muscular atrophy. Rezin says the bill took a while to get through the legislature but is proud to be able to help those who truly need that accessible space.

* Rep. Hoan Huynh | Don’t take Asian American voters for granted: The return of the Democratic National Convention to Chicago inevitably brings back to mind the events of 1968 and the violent clashes between police and anti-Vietnam War protesters. I can trace a personal connection to that time: My father served in the South Vietnamese military alongside the U.S. Allied Forces. After the war ended, my family lived through a period of doubt, finally receiving political asylum from the United States after President Jimmy Carter signed the U.S. Refugee Act of 1980 to deal with the mounting humanitarian crisis of the Vietnamese “boat people.”

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Southtown | Harvey residents question Mayor Christopher Clark’s trip to Las Vegas convention, city leaders push economic development: Since becoming mayor of Harvey in 2019, Christopher Clark’s administration has promoted an economic development program advertised under the slogan Building a Better Harvey. To advance efforts to revitalize Harvey’s nearly deserted downtown, members of the city’s Economic Development Committee attended a real estate conference in May to draw potential investors and forge connections with other business leaders, according to Glenn Harston, the city’s spokesperson.

* Daily Herald | Arlington Heights chamber director officially declares bid for mayor: Having already formed a campaign exploratory committee in the spring, Arlington Heights chamber boss Jon Ridler officially declared this week he’s running for mayor. Ridler, executive director of the Arlington Heights Chamber of Commerce since 2004 and a resident since 2013, joins a growing field of candidates that includes Trustee Tom Schwingbeck, who was first to announce his candidacy in May, and Trustee Jim Tinaglia, who declared in July.

*** Downstate ***

* SJ-R | Resolution calling for independent review of sheriff’s office’s hiring practices withdrawn: Sangamon County Board member Gina Lathan, who worked on the resolution that was withdrawn, said she decided to support the Massey Commission resolution “with the expectation and understanding” that the commission would address certain points put forth in her resolution.

* BND | Illinois eliminated sales tax on groceries, but a metro-east city may bring it back: Highland estimates the elimination of the grocery tax to cost the city approximately $330,000 to $350,000 a year. This is approximately 10% of the city’s sales tax revenue. At the moment, Highland’s grocery sales taxes are primarily divided between public safety, streets and parks programs, according to a memo from Highland City Manager Chris Conrad. Approximately 58% of the tax goes to public safety, 26% to streets and 16% to parks. Keeping the cut in proportion, that would mean cutting the public safety budget by $192,000, streets by $86,000 and parks by $53,000.

* SJ-R | These 11 Springfield-area nursing homes were fined upwards of thousands of dollars: Several Springfield and Springfield area nursing homes were the subjects of violations in a quarterly finding made by the Illinois Department of Public Health. In all, 268 violation reports were found in the second quarter of 2024.

* WIFR | Man saved from grain silo in Lee Co.: The man was knee-deep in corn and tried to escape, but he was stuck there for about three hours. Rescue crews were able to strap a harness to him and pull him to safety.

* WICS | Du Quoin State Fair announces 2024 theme days: The Du Quoin State Fair ribbon cutting will be held on Friday, August 23 at 5:30 p.m. with the Twilight Parade stepping off at 6 p.m. The grand marshal of the parade is 4-H.

*** National ***

* AP | Taylor Swift calls cancellation of Vienna shows ‘devastating’ and explains her silence: “Having our Vienna shows cancelled was devastating,” she wrote in a statement posted to Instagram on Wednesday. “The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear, and a tremendous amount of guilt because so many people had planned on coming to those shows.” She thanked authorities — “thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives,” she wrote — and said she waited to speak until the European leg of her Eras Tour concluded to prioritize safety.

* CNN | Google agrees to first-in-the-nation deal to fund California newsrooms, but journalists are calling it a disaster: The plan calls for a $250 million commitment over five years from Google and the state, a majority of which would fund California newsrooms, and launch an artificial intelligence “accelerator” designed to support journalists’ work. The deal ends a high-profile bill, dubbed the California Journalism Preservation Act by state assemblymember Buffy Wicks, that would have forced technology companies, including Google (GOOGL) and Meta (META), to pay news companies to distribute their content online. The bill, which was modeled after similar laws implemented in Australia and Canada, would have funded local news organizations that have seen their business models collapse amid the rise of big tech platforms.

* NBC | People with HIV cannot be categorically barred from joining the military, judge rules: Americans with well-treated HIV can no longer be barred from enlisting in the U.S. military, a federal judge ruled Thursday, striking down the Pentagon’s last remaining policy limiting the service of those with the virus. “Defendants’ policies prohibiting the accession of asymptomatic HIV-positive individuals with undetectable viral loads into the military are irrational, arbitrary, and capricious. Even worse, they contribute to the ongoing stigma surrounding HIV-positive individuals while actively hampering the military’s own recruitment goals,” wrote Judge Leonie Brinkema of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

  10 Comments      


Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today’s edition of Capitol Fax (use all CAPS in password)

Thursday, Aug 22, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Live coverage

Thursday, Aug 22, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* You can click here or here to follow breaking news. It’s the best we can do unless or until Twitter gets its act together.

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Selected press releases (Live updates)

Thursday, Aug 22, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

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Isabel’s afternoon roundup

Wednesday, Aug 21, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Crain’s

Illinois labor leaders said today they’ll continue to push for public funding for sports stadiums despite resistance from Gov. J.B. Pritzker and state legislators.

“I don’t know that it’s a matter of changing (Pritzker’s) mind, it’s continuing to work on the legislation to make the case,” said Bob Reiter, head of the Chicago Federation of Labor.

Tim Drea, president of the Illinois AFL-CIO, noted Pritzker “hasn’t said no.”

“Nothing is immutable,” Reiter added.

* And water is wet


* Governor Pritzker hosted a panel on abortion ballot initiatives in 2024 organized by Think Big USA this morning


* Shriver Center on Poverty Law

Crime-free nuisance ordinances (CFNOs) are municipal laws and policies that single out properties where alleged nuisance occurs. These activities can be noise disturbances or emergency service calls. CFNOs hold tenants responsible through fines and evictions, among other penalties. If a crime is being committed, the landlord is obligated to evict the tenant, or risk being fined or losing their rental property license.

The problem, in practice, is the far too broad nature of the ordinance language. It classifies any law enforcement or emergency contact as nuisance behavior. Tenants can be evicted for calls they have made to the police or emergency services, or if they are the victim of a crime at the property. This puts at risk domestic violence victims and people with disabilities, who often seek emergency services and police assistance.

Municipalities also use these ordinances to directly and indirectly encourage landlords to deny housing to people who have encountered the criminal legal system. For example, if the police are called because of domestic violence, a strict liability standard is held. That means all tenants in the home — even the victim — are threatened with eviction.

Although the Violence Against Women Act protects survivors and other people calling the police or emergency services for help, municipalities continue to enforce CFNOs. Systemic barriers lead to a higher impact on some communities. Research shows that over 40% of Black people will experience domestic violence in their lifetimes, resulting in these communities disproportionately harmed and rendered homeless by CFNOs. Distrust in government from decades of discrimination and abuse causes added challenges in getting support.

*** DNC ***

* Think Big America Message Analysis: As Think Big America takes the fight to right-wing extremists across the country, this research project aimed to discover the most effective ways to build off the success of the abortion debate and further elevate the threat of Republican extremism up-and-down the ballot ahead of this November’s critical election.

* Capitol News Illinois | Amid a ‘really, really big week for labor,’ Illinois unions, Democrats held up as model: Organized labor has been everywhere at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this week, from the main stage to the Illinois delegation’s morning breakfast gatherings. “This has been a really, really big week for labor and very, very much appreciated, and it’s heartwarming,” Illinois labor mainstay and state AFL-CIO President Tim Drea told attendees to the Illinois breakfast on Wednesday.

* Sun-Times | Democrats united despite tide of pro-Palestinian protests, Illinois delegates say: A small but vocal contingent of delegates have withheld support for Vice President Kamala Harris unless she commits to cutting off U.S. weapon supplies to Israel, leading Illinois members of Congress to warn boycotting the polls could tip the scale toward GOP former President Donald Trump.

* Tribune | Naperville, DuPage represented at Democratic National Convention: ‘It’s really the experience of a lifetime’: From behind the scenes to the floor of Chicago’s United Center, volunteers, delegates and elected officials representing Naperville and DuPage County made the rounds on the first day of the Democratic National Convention. They basked in the fervor, helped the hubbub run and exuded local pride. Oh, and there was some wonder, too. At the experience itself and the company they found themselves in.

* South Side Weekly | CPD Agreement with Outside Agencies Reveals Security Approach: Officers assigned to police the DNC must have been on the job for at least two years and be “in good standing” with their home department. They cannot have been personally sued in the past three years and found liable for First Amendment violations, or have “any sustained complains for excessive, unreasonable or unnecessary force” in the last five years.

* Tribune | ‘Enough is enough’: Chicago’s top cop says DNC demonstrators at Israeli consulate there to wreak havoc: Snelling told reporters there were between 55 and 60 arrests — including three journalists — during the pro-Palestinian demonstration. There were only two minor injuries, a testament, he said, to his officers’ restraint and readiness for the DNC. “Once we call the mass arrest, then it was at that point we needed to take people into custody for public safety,” Snelling said. “We attempted to avoid the clash, to no avail. But CPD is not going to run away. We will not stand by and allow our officers to be attacked, because an officer who cannot protect himself cannot protect this city.”

* WGN | Police and FBI investigate maggot incident at DNC breakfast in Chicago: Chicago Police and the FBI is investigating whether maggots were intentionally slipped into a breakfast prepared for delegates attending the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, a law enforcement source tells WGN Investigates. It’s unclear if the contamination was discovered before any delegates consumed the food. Delegates were buzzing about the insect attack as Chicago police officers and Illinois state troopers gathered in the lobby of the Fairmont Hotel near meeting rooms.

* Capitol News Illinois | Obama legacy continues with Harris nomination, DNC speech in Chicago: “It’s been 16 years since I had the honor of accepting this party’s nomination for president,” Obama said, sporting his now-gray hair while joking that he had “not aged a bit” since that time. “And looking back, I can say without question that my first big decision as your nominee turned out to be one of my best, and that was asking Joe Biden to serve by my side as vice president.”

* The Triibe | Inside EAT’s preparation process for their DNC march for reparations: Gregory Mann serves as the hype man of the action. Mann is the minister of organizing for the West Side-based nonprofit Equity and Transformation (EAT), which is led by formerly incarcerated people. The organization leads the “Keep it 1000 Campaign,” a demand for reparations for Black Americans during the third day of the DNC. Mann guides participants from the group’s West Side Center to a spot near the United Center, specifically with the goal of commanding President Joe Biden to create a federal Reparations Commission before leaving office. According to the EAT’s news release, a federal commission “would develop proposals for how the U.S. government will deliver full reparations for Black Americans.” The action also is a call to push action on the H.R. 40 Bill, the “Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act,” that has stalled in the House of Representatives for years.

* WBEZ | ‘Kamala is brat’: Chicago is ground zero for the most clever T-shirts of the season: The Democratic National Convention has been a boon for T-shirt makers. Vendors have traveled to Chicago from across the country to sell their unofficial, unsanctioned and wildly creative merch. Shirts featuring Harris’ face, along with funny quips and slogans are suddenly a common sight on Chicago’s streets. Among those moving merch this week, The T-Shirt Deli is definitely the established veteran in the game. They’ve been in business for more than 20 years and know a thing or two about designing eye-catching Ts.

* Sun-Times | Chicago’s small businesses stay on theme at DNC fair with Kamala Harris-inspired nails and clothing: More than 75 Chicago area vendors — from candlemakers and coffee shops to the Shedd Aquarium and the American Writers Museum — were at McCormick Place Tuesday to showcase the city’s diverse economic and cultural offerings. The four-day vendor fair called “DemPalooza” is free and open to the public until Thursday. It includes training sessions, discussion panels and other programming as part of the Democratic National Convention.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Southtown | Thornton Township trustees put lid on Supervisor Tiffany Henyard’s event spending: The actions came during a township board meeting Tuesday that actually started out as two meetings, both held in the township’s South Holland offices but in different rooms on different floors. An ordinance regulating spending for township sponsored events gives township department chiefs a spending cap of $1,000 per week or $10,000 per month, and requires the board to sign off on event budgets before money is committed or spent.

* Daily Herald | Controversial housing plan moves forward in Arlington Heights: A controversial plan for an apartment building for people with disabilities who otherwise could face homelessness is moving forward in Arlington Heights — but at two stories instead of three. At the end of a roughly five-hour meeting that began the night before, a divided village board early Tuesday voted to direct village staffers to prepare the final documents for the proposed Grace Terrace development at 1519 S. Arlington Heights Road. The 4-acre site is vacant now.

*** Downstate ***

* WSIL | $30 Million Oasis Sports Complex to be Built on Abandoned Coal Mine in Marion : A sports complex, recently announced in Marion, is expected to bring more economic opportunities to the area and will be at the site of an old coal mine. The Prairie Rivers Network made the announcement, stating federal funding will be used to restore land, aiming the a new $30 million sports complex to be constructed on the site of an abandoned coal mine in Marion.

* WCIA | Central Illinois pipefitter launches labor union chapter for women: In August, WCIA is featuring blue-collar workers in Central Illinois. It’s commonly known as a male-dominated industry, but now, a group of women is coming together to show girls can get the job done too. When Laura Abbott graduated from the U of I, she was excited to start her teaching career. She taught for five years in Urbana, then decided to make a career switch after volunteering at “Career Day.”

* WCIA | Champaign School District undergoing audit of special education programs: The Board of Education approved of its authorization at their special meeting Tuesday night, with four members voting for the settlement including the audit and three members abstaining. “Thank you to the families and advocates who have tirelessly sacrificed for these students and who have been the voices for those who cannot speak for themselves,” Betsy Holder said in a post on her Facebook page. “Change won’t happen overnight, but we are finally on the right path with taking accountability and moving forward as a district and community to best serve our most marginalized children.”

* WCIA | Gibson City Mayor responds to future RhinoAg layoffs: Gibson City mayor Dan Dickey is expressing his sadness after RhinoAg announced Tuesday they will let 80 employees go from their manufacturing facility by the end of next March. The mayor said he already has reached out to Congressman Darin LaHood, IL Senator Tom Bennett, and IL Representative Jason Bunting, along with other agencies to help the transition. “Over the years, RhinoAg has contributed to our community by providing jobs, supporting our local economy as well as assisting with numerous local events, organizations and projects,” Dickey said. “We appreciate RhinoAg and our long-standing partnership, but now must focus on assisting employees and their families with avenues and solutions to help them move forward.”

*** National ***

* WGEM | Clashing campaigns: Two sides duel for voter support on Missouri abortion referendum: Now that their proposed constitutional amendment is officially on the November ballot, Missourians for Constitutional Freedom are campaigning like crazy to get the word out. But they’re not the only ones; Missouri Right to Life is campaigning against Amendment Three. The two clashing campaigns started as soon as Amendment Three was officially on the ballot. On November 5, Missourians will vote on whether or not to restore abortion access to the state. If passed, access to abortion and other forms of birth control would be enshrined in the Missouri constitution.

  6 Comments      


Another dire, headline-grabbing convention prediction that didn’t come true

Wednesday, Aug 21, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Late last month

City officials are bracing for up to 25,000 new migrants arriving between now and the Democratic National Convention after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he would keep busing people here.

Why it matters: The city struggled to accommodate just 15,000 last winter, and the potential deluge could double that number if it materializes.

Catch up quick: On the third night of the Republican National Convention last week, Abbott told supporters: “We have continued busing migrants to sanctuary cities across the entire country, and those buses will continue to roll until we finally secure our border.”

What they’re saying: “We’ve looked at estimates of 20,000 to 25,000 people arriving,” deputy mayor for immigration Beatriz Ponce de León tells Axios.

The logistics of such a huge push seemed rather implausible at the time. Also, the fact that the city has impounded at least one bus used to transport migrants may have added to the deterrence.

* Sun-Times this afternoon

But two days into the convention that has drawn thousands to Chicago, there’s been no evidence of any buses transporting migrants to the city, according to city officials. In fact, the last time a bus arrived in the Chicagoland area was June 17, according to the city’s Department of Family and Support Services.

On Tuesday, the city’s designated area for buses to arrive, 800 S. Desplaines St., remained quiet. The area, which previously housed the Maxwell Street Market, contained a row of portable toilets, police barriers and CTA buses on standby for any arrivals.

City officials said Texas does not provide advance notice about the buses, but it now seems unlikely there will be an increase in newly arrived immigrants.

  5 Comments      


Caption contest!

Wednesday, Aug 21, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Heh…


  28 Comments      


Handful of street fighters achieved their fashion goal, but two journalists also arrested

Wednesday, Aug 21, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* WBEZ last week

In contrast to the pro-Palestinian protesters who are planning what they call a “family-friendly march” during next week’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago, another group of demonstrators here promises a “militant” approach to the DNC — and expects police to clash violently with protesters.

In one post on social media, that group urges “students and youth” to come to Chicago during the DNC to “take police beatings and arrests” in an effort to “shut down the DNC for Gaza.”

The group, which calls itself Behind Enemy Lines, wrote recently, “Make bruises from Chicago police batons the 2024 back to school Fall fashion.”

Behind Enemy Lines says pro-Palestinian activists have faced repression. “But have you thrown down with the Chicago police yet?” the group wrote in a post on its website.

* Same group

Chicago’s run of peaceful rallies outside the Democratic National Convention came to an end Tuesday night when a group of protesters marched into a line of police, setting off a violent scrum on Madison Street outside one of the city’s major commuter rail stations.

The protesters walked directly into a large group of police officials, four officers deep, around 7:30 p.m. The officers began to push them the other way and yelled, “Move back, move back.” Scuffles began to break out, and officers wearing helmets moved into the crowd.

This was a protest targeting the Israeli consulate.

* The Sun-Times had eight (8) reporters assigned to the protests last night. Check out the huge number of reporters in this video as the scrum began…


The Tribune has lots of photos here.

* Maybe I missed it, but I didn’t see any reporters posting videos last night of this behavior

After the protesters had dispersed, Snelling addressed his officers, mentioning in particular the “vulgar things” some protesters had screamed at women officers.

“There are women on this job being berated by these male protestors, saying some of the most vulgar things,” Snelling said.

That would seem to be valuable news context.

* Tribune

Tribune reporters witnessed multiple protesters being taken into custody, including two independent journalists. A spokesman for the National Lawyers’ Guild put the number at 67, including those journalists.

By 9 p.m. the crowd had mostly disbanded.

Another large protest of Israel’s military action in Gaza also is expected to step off with a rally in Union Park at 3 p.m. followed by a march toward the United Center that will follow the same path as Monday’s demonstration, which brought out some 3,000 attendees.

  27 Comments      


Roundup: Illinois delegation breakfast day three

Wednesday, Aug 21, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Capitol News Illinois

Bob Reiter, president of the Chicago Federation of Labor, kicked of the Illinois delegation’s Wednesday breakfast. He’s the latest in a long line of union leaders to have addressed the delegation.

“All eyes are on our state this week. So what do we have to show them?” he said. “We’ll show them how labor and Democrats work together to improve the lives of working people. We’ll show them how we passed the constitutional amendment protecting workers’ rights. We’ll show them how we banned captive audience meetings in this state, and we’ll show we’ll show them how we raised the minimum wage, expanded paid leave, and put an end to last minute schedule changes.” […]

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, a progressive Democrat and former teacher, praised the fact that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is a former social studies teacher in addition to being Kamala Harris’ running mate. And he spent time discussing what it means to be a Democrat.

“We got to get the politics right,” he said. “That’s why the investments that we’re making in the state of Illinois and the transformation that’s happening in Chicago is because we’re getting the politics right. We’re not just simply beholding ourselves to this sort of arbitrary definition of what it means to be a Democrat.”  […]

Illinois AFL/CIO President Tim Drea told the delegation the DNC thus far “has been a really, really big week for labor.” Union speakers have had spots on the convention floor and especially at Illinois’ breakfasts.

Click here for CNI’s live DNC updates.

* Mayor Johnson after his speech


* US Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg spoke to the delegates


* They booked some heavy hitters today

* More from the app formally known as Twitter…

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Pritzker speech and react (Updated)

Wednesday, Aug 21, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Gov. JB Pritzker’s convention speech as prepared for delivery…

Fellow Democrats, welcome to Chicago!

We’re a great American city in a proud blue state. Our patriotism was formed in frost and in fire, and in the steel we forged to survive both.

Our love of country has been a tapestry of faith that weaves from Abraham Lincoln reuniting a house divided to Barack Obama declaring blue states and red states make one United States.

Illinois’ presidential pedigree is unmatched. And given that Vice President Kamala Harris spent some of her early life right here – I speak for the entire Illinois delegation when I say we claim her too!

Now, one president we will never claim is the con artist the Republicans nominated in Milwaukee last month.

Donald Trump once called Chicago “embarrassing.” To quote a great Chicagoan who won six world championships on these very grounds: “We take that personally.”

I had to govern for two years while Trump was President. Let me tell you what’s embarrassing.

In Illinois, we passed a massive bill to fix our roads and bridges. When Donald proposed his own plan, he turned right around and called it “stupid.”

We eliminated the grocery tax. Donald hasn’t been in a grocery store since his first bankruptcy.

Illinois invested in clean energy and the jobs it brings. Donald claimed that windmills in the ocean made the whales “a little batty.”

During COVID we supported small businesses and jobs. And Donald, well Donald told us to inject bleach.

Donald Trump thinks we should trust him on the economy because he claims to be very rich.

Take it from an actual billionaire, Trump is rich in only one thing: stupidity.

I meet with business leaders all the time, and there is one universal thing they all need: people. They need more workers to fill all the jobs they have – but the anti-freedom, anti-family policies of MAGA Republicans are driving workers away.

Here’s the thing, Americans don’t want to be forced to drive 100 miles to deliver a baby because draconian abortion laws shut down the maternity ward.

Americans want the hope of giving birth through IVF – not the fear it might be taken away.

Americans with LGBTQ kids don’t want them facing discrimination at school because the state sanctioned it.

Americans want to go to their neighborhood grocery store and not have to worry about some random guy open carrying an AR-15.

Americans don’t want their kids to be taught in history class that slavery was a jobs program.

And if Americans are Black or brown, they want to get promoted at work without being derided as a DEI hire for the sin of being successful while not white.

Let’s be clear, it’s not woke that limits economic growth – it’s weird. These guys aren’t just weird, they’re dangerous.

Democrats are for lower taxes and higher wages, less inflation and more business growth. We just think it’s wrong to craft those policies for Elon Musk - and not for everyday working people. That includes a secure retirement and good healthcare. We think the government should help you prosper, not police who you’re sleeping with.

More than anything Democrats want economic policies that are kind, not cruel.

But Trump chooses cruelty every time. After all, everything he’s achieved in his own life has been by hurting - someone else.

Kamala Harris and Tim Walz? Well, they’ve spent their lives lifting people up rather than pushing them down. They know that a White House that leads with kindness looks at someone who is struggling and sees not what they might cost society but what they might create for it.

They want policies that give every American a chance to make it to the middle class.

They want to grow small businesses and cut taxes for everyday people.

More than anything – Kamala Harris and Tim Walz want a country where we can all live with a little serenity. The serenity that comes with a balanced checkbook, an affordable grocery bill, and a housing market that has room for everyone.

And if there’s one thing I know about Donald Trump – he’s not bringing anyone any kind of serenity.

We have a choice, America. Between the man who left our country a total mess -and the woman who has spent four years cleaning it up. And I think it’s time we stop expecting women to clean up messes without the authority and the title to match the job.

Vice President was a good title for Kamala Harris. You know an even better one?

President of the United States of America!

Let’s go get ‘em!

* Senate Republican Leader John Curran…

Gov. Pritzker’s DNC speech and his actual record in Illinois could not be more starkly disconnected. He contends to be for lower taxes just months after imposing $1 billion in tax increases on Illinois families and businesses, while presiding over a state with the second-highest property taxes in the country. He boasts of support for low-income families in the same year that he proposed a regressive tax increase that would only raise taxes on low- and middle-income earners. He says he supports policies for working people while overseeing the state with the second-highest unemployment rate in the nation. It’s time for Gov. Pritzker to take a break from his national campaigning and focus on the job he was elected to, and Think Illinois

…Adding… ILGOP…

Wow, the circus is in town this week! Where is the joy they promised us? All we heard last night were negative, false attacks. JB Pritzker is a shill for his ringmaster Kamala Harris amid his own preparations for a presidential run in 2028. Instead of telling Illinois families why they should raise their families here, as thousands flee the state amid billions in new taxes and out-of-control crime, JB Pritzker further divided our state with divisive rhetoric and bad-faith arguments. See for yourself:

    • JB Pritzker bragged about being a billionaire, while taking the toilets out of his mansion to defraud Illinois from property taxes.
    • Pritzker claims to be a champion for lower taxes, but in reality, he has proposed BILLIONS in new taxes that will hurt Illinois families.
    • 85,000 fewer Illinoisans are working than in 2019, and Illinois has the second worst unemployment rate in the country - despite Pritzker’s claims that he is a champion for working families.

“Last night, JB Pritzker not only claimed Kamala Harris as an Illinoisan, but also claimed her horrid record on immigration, the economy and failures for families across the Prairie State,” said ILGOP Chair Kathy Salvi. “Pritzker is a failure for Illinois and families are worse off under his far-left policies that have raised taxes and forced families to flee the state. One thing is clear from Democrats’ divisive agenda and Pritzker’s prime-time speaking spot - the need to vote Republican in November.”

* More from Isabel…

    * Block Club | Obamas, Pritzker Bring The Energy — And Clap Back At Trump: Pritzker, who was in contention to be Harris’ running mate earlier this summer, received thunderous cheers for one of his comments. “Donald Trump thinks that we should trust him on the economy, because he claims to be very rich,” Pritzker said. “But take it from an actual billionaire. Trump is rich in only one thing: stupidity.”

    * Tribune | Gov. JB Pritzker hammers Donald Trump in DNC speech: ‘Take it from an actual billionaire, Trump is rich in only one thing: stupidity’: In a bit of awkward programming, Pritzker’s speech was preceded by Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, who railed against the “billionaire class” and “the need to get big money out of our political process.” “Billionaires in both parties should not be able to buy elections, including primary elections,” said Sanders, who received a more enthusiastic reaction than Pritzker from the United Center crowd. Pritzker spent more than $300 million of his own money to win two elections as governor in Illinois and gave at least $27 million to the Democratic Governors Association two years ago to spend on boosting his preferred opponent in the 2022 GOP primary for governor.

    * Capitol News Illinois | In primetime DNC speech, Pritzker leans into role of benevolent billionaire: “Donald Trump thinks that we should trust him on the economy, because he claims to be very rich,” the second-term governor said during a primetime speech at the Democratic National Convention. “But take it from an actual billionaire – Trump is rich in only one thing: stupidity.” Pritzker, who is worth an estimated $3.4 billion thanks in large part to inherited family wealth from Hyatt Hotels, is the wealthiest current elected official in the U.S. And in the more than seven years since he declared his candidacy for governor, Pritzker has not shied away from pouring cash into not only his own election bids but campaigns up and down the ballot.

    * Crain’s | After years of prep, Pritzker finally gets his DNC star turn: “We have a choice America, between the man who left our country a total mess and the woman who has spent four years cleaning it up,” Pritzker told the delegates gathered at the United Center during his prime-time speaking slot. “I think it’s time we stop expecting women to clean up messes without the authority and the title to match the job.”

    * SJ-R | Obama’s 2004 DNC speech kickstarted national rise. Could the same hold true for Pritzker?: Pritzker and Obama took the stage separately Tuesday evening during day two of the Democratic National Convention. U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Springfield, and Tammy Duckworth, D-Hoffman Estates, in addition to former First Lady Michelle Obama have also delivered speeches. The vision the 59-year-old governor shared including bolstering support for Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris and touting what is possible under Democratic leadership as seen in Illinois.

  42 Comments      


Pritzker on the future

Wednesday, Aug 21, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* The governor was interviewed by Jonathan Martin yesterday and was asked about what’s left to do in Illinois

Well, there’s a lot. If you haven’t lived here in Illinois, and I don’t think you have, then you may not pay attention to the fact that we had decades of financial mismanagement in the state. Decades of challenge with the pensions, with school funding and so on. And it’s had real lasting impact, negative impact on the state.

And so, for over the last six years, we’ve been steadily dealing with that. It’s been good. I mean, we’ve balanced the budget, and we’ve paid a lot of debt down, more than $11 billion at this point of debt. We’ve reduced the impact of the pension liability for people. And so, you know, those are just a few things I’m mentioning…

And to be clear, these are not things that, I mean probably, when I’m done, even if you said Pritzker serves a third term, right, you still have a lot of work to do. And just one thing to put in everybody’s mind, that the school funding issue is a massive issue, because people talk about the high property taxes in the state of Illinois, which is a huge problem, right? We can manage everything else but high property taxes, it’s a local issue, but it’s a schools issue. 70 percent of your property tax bill that comes in the mail is your local schools. And if we’re under-funding, and we are, at the state level, we can only afford what we can afford. Then it’s got to be made up for at the property tax level, at the local level.

Now I’ve gone, we’ve taken this from 24 percent of school funding, which is about half of the rest of the country. The average in the United States of funding from the state for education is about 48percent, 46, seven, 8 percent right? We were at 24 percent state funding. You’ve got to make up for that with property taxes.

So how do you fix that? The state’s got to get in the business of funding education better. We’re now up in the mid-high 30s, and that’s good, but we’re not even average in the United States, right? And you got to get all the locals to stop raising property taxes while you’re funding them, right? Because everybody wants more and more and more money. But at some point, you’ve got to start bringing down the pressure on the upward trajectory of property taxes.

So I’m just giving you an example of a long-term issue. We’re dealing with it, but it isn’t going to be fixed tomorrow or next year. It’s going to take us, like persistence. We’ve got to go after this every single year.

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Showcasing The Retailers Who Make Illinois Work

Wednesday, Aug 21, 2024 - Posted by Advertising Department

[The following is a paid advertisement.]

Retail provides one out of every five Illinois jobs, generates the second largest amount of tax revenue for the state, and is the largest source of revenue for local governments. But retail is also so much more, with retailers serving as the trusted contributors to life’s moments, big and small.

We Are Retail and IRMA are dedicated to sharing the stories of retailers like the Ervins, who serve their communities with dedication and pride.

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Open thread

Wednesday, Aug 21, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* What’s going on?…

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Isabel’s morning briefing

Wednesday, Aug 21, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* ICYMI: It’s the third day of the DNC…

* Sun-Times | ‘Shut down the DNC’: Protesters clash with police leading to dozens of arrests in West Loop: The protesters walked directly into a large group of police officials, four officers deep, around 7:30 p.m. The officers began to push them the other way and yelled, “Move back, move back.” Scuffles began to break out, and officers wearing helmets moved into the crowd. Video showed officers overwhelming some of the protesters, pushing them to the ground in an effort to secure the chaotic scene. Afterward, the demonstrators began to move east on Madison toward Canal Street, where hundreds of additional officers were waiting.


* Tribune | The DNC action is at the United Center. But the randomness and behind-the-scenes stuff is at McCormick Place.: Carter, of Chicago’s Busy Beaver Button Co., received personalized requests for a Harris/Walz button. He placed the request on an oval sticker, placed the sticker inside a metal whatzit, watched a blunt lever slam down, then stamped out a new DNC pin: “Very Demure for Harris” and “Crazy Cat Lady for Harris” and “People Who Believe in Science for Harris” and “Keeping My Black Job — Harris 2024.” In the first hours of the convention, he’d already made a few hundred. “Beep! Beep!” shouted an older woman in a red, white and blue cowboy hat, steering her electric wheelchair through the crush of people waiting for their own political pins. She was headed to a DNC merch area, toward $30 mugs decorated with presidential heads, hats with donkeys in sunglasses and shirts reading “Trust Democratic Women.”

* WBEZ | A 70-year-old doctor criticizes authorities for his ‘totally unjustified, ridiculous arrest’ at DNC: A 70-year-old retired doctor from the North Side says he was subjected to a “totally unjustified, ridiculous arrest” while on a bike ride among protesters marching near the Democratic National Convention on Monday. Hours after spending a rough night at a Chicago police station, Dr. Charles Steinbruegge told WBEZ on Tuesday he was not a protester himself and had merely taken his bicycle out to see what was happening near the DNC when a federal agent detained him and Chicago officers arrested him a few blocks from the United Center.

* Tribune | U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, who struggled with infertility, says IVF in danger if Donald Trump is elected: “Trump’s anti-woman crusade has put other Americans’ right to have their own families at risk,” she said. “Cause if they win, Republicans will not stop at banning abortion. They will come for IVF next. They’ll prosecute doctors. They’ll shame and spy on women.” The crowd erupted into cheers as Duckworth told Trump to “stay out of our doctor’s offices … and out of the Oval Office, too.”

* Crain’s | Duckworth gets some jabs in during DNC speech: Illinois’ junior senator delivered rebukes to former President Donald Trump before the Democratic National Convention tonight on two fronts: first, his disparagement of veterans and, second, his party’s opposition to in vitro fertilization. “Every American deserves the right to be called ‘mommy’ or ‘daddy’ without being treated like a criminal,” U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth said in a prime time speech before delegates assembled at the United Center.

* Daily Herald | Obamas close DNC’s second night with a rousing Harris endorsement: Warning of a difficult fight ahead, former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama on Tuesday called on the nation to embrace Kamala Harris in urgent messages to the Democratic National Convention that were at times both hopeful and combative. “America, hope is making a comeback,” the former first lady declared. She then tore into Republican Donald Trump, a sharp shift from the 2016 convention speech in which she told her party, “When they go low, we go high.”

* Sun-Times | Loyola’s Sister Jean talks DNC, Israel-Hamas war and connecting with students as she turns 105: Heading into her 105th year of life, Loyola University Chicago’s Sister Jean Dolores Bertha Schmidt has a simple goal. “I still want to remain a happy person,” she said. Sister Jean turns 105 on Wednesday, making her just 11 years younger than the oldest person alive.

* Block Club | Brown Sugar Bakery’s Kamala Cake Honors Presidential Nominee’s ‘New And Exciting Energy’: The South Side bakery put a presidential spin on a traditional German chocolate cake recipe with dark chocolate cake, caramel and chocolate whipped cream and cream cheese drippings.

Click here and here to read former President Barack Obama’s and former First Lady Michelle Obama’s DNC speeches.

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Tribune | Illinois bans corporal punishment in all schools: State Rep. Margaret Croke, a Chicago Democrat, was inspired to take up the issue after an updated call by the American Association of Pediatrics to end the practice, which it says can increase behavioral or mental health problems and impair cognitive development. The association found that it’s disproportionately administered to Black males and students with disabilities. “It was an easy thing to do. I don’t want a child, whether they are in private school or public school, to have a situation in which corporal punishment is being used,” Croke said.

* AP | Democrats are dwindling in Wyoming. A primary election law further reduces their influence: Meanwhile, as Wyoming Democrats face difficulty fielding viable candidates at all levels, many Democrats have been switching their registration to vote in more competitive Republican primaries, then changing back for the general election. […] Republicans decided they’d had enough. The Wyoming Legislature, where the GOP controls over 90% of the seats, passed legislation last year banning voters from changing their party registration in the three months before the August primary.

*** Chicago ***

* Crain’s | It’s getting too hot for old Chicago homes to handle, study finds: Elevate, a national nonprofit advocating for equity through climate action, has authored a report about the health dangers of indoor air temperatures during increasingly hot summers.

* Crain’s | Goose Island development site hits the market: Real estate services firm CBRE is seeking a buyer for the 2.1-acre site at 1017 W. Division St., according to a flyer. The brokerage is marketing the former lumberyard on behalf of the Ciral family, which closed its Big Bay Lumber business on the property in 2015 but still owns the site.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Herald | ‘Great idea, wrong location’: Fixed shelter for homeless adults nixed in Gurnee: A proposal to convert the FairBridge Inn on Grand Avenue in Gurnee to a fixed-site homeless shelter was derailed Monday. Actually, a $7 million investment by PADS Lake County was eliminated from consideration before an official vote, and a proposed zoning change to allow emergency shelters as a special use in that district was rejected, which made PADS’ request moot.

* Daily Herald | Accused of stench, business offers to leave Mount Prospect — but at a price: Prestige Feed Products, a Mount Prospect animal feed manufacturer that has outraged neighbors in the village and neighboring Des Plaines over noxious odors and noise, has offered to move out. But officials of the company located at 431 Lakeview Ct. are asking for a large cash settlement that was initially met coldly by village officials. In a court hearing Tuesday, attorneys for Prestige and Mount Prospect discussed a potential settlement.

* Tribune | Vine Street BBQ Fest returns to Park Ridge Aug. 24 to raise charity funds: The sound of sizzling meat and wafts of cooking smoke will return to Park Ridge starting early on Saturday, Aug. 24 for the eighth annual Vine Street BBQ festival and competition. Amateur chefs and pit masters will compete to see who can offer the best BBQ. Proceeds from the event will go to local charities. Jamie Rubin, the event’s coordinator and co-founder, said this year’s competition will consist of 41 amateur teams with about four people on each team. The competition is part of the Kansas City Barbecue Society, and judges will decide who has the best chicken, ribs, sauce, and dish in Park Ridge before it’s all over.

*** Downstate ***

* Inside Higher Ed | Library Faculty Eliminated Amid ‘Fiscal Insanity’ at Western Illinois: The university laid off all its library faculty as part of massive cuts, leaving employees and supporters to wonder how the library will serve campus constituents.

* SJ-R | Black Lives Matter SPI street signs back up in downtown Springfield: Ward 2 Ald. Shawn Gregory said he felt good that honorary Black Lives Matter SPI Way signs were reinstalled by Office of Public Works crews around the Governor’s Mansion last week. It symbolized, he said, a group needed more than ever in the city. “I’m really proud of them and I’m proud of our community,” Gregory told the SJ-R. “We’ll continue to fight for equality and justice and all that comes with that.”

* WCIA | Champaign synagogue cleared after receiving bomb threat: Lieutenant Aaron Lack said staff at the Sinai Temple, located a 3104 West Windsor Road, received an email Thursday morning from someone claiming a bomb had been planted there. Officers were dispatched at 7:38 a.m. that morning in response to the threat. Lack said it was quickly determined that the email was sent to multiple houses of worship across Illinois and Iowa. Regardless, Champaign Police searched the synagogue and found no evidence that an explosive device was present. They also could not determine that there was a local connection to the threat.

*** National ***

* Crain’s | Rivian manufacturing chief leaving for Stellantis: Tim Fallon, Rivian’s vice president of manufacturing, is leaving the electric vehicle maker to become head of manufacturing in North America at Stellantis. Fallon led manufacturing at Rivian for two years, according to an internal memo from CEO RJ Scaringe. He spent 16 years at Nissan Motor Co. before joining Rivian.

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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Supplement to today’s edition

Wednesday, Aug 21, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today’s edition of Capitol Fax (use all CAPS in password)

Wednesday, Aug 21, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Live coverage

Wednesday, Aug 21, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* You can click here or here to follow breaking news. It’s the best we can do unless or until Twitter gets its act together.

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Selected press releases (Live updates)

Wednesday, Aug 21, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

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« NEWER POSTS PREVIOUS POSTS »
* Selected react to budget reconciliation bill passage (Updated x2)
* Reader comments closed for Independence Day
* SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Some fiscal news
* Isabel’s afternoon roundup (Updated)
* RETAIL: Strengthening Communities Across Illinois
* Groups warn about plan that doesn't appear to be in the works
* SB 328: Separating Lies From Truth
* Campaign news: Big Raja money; Benton over-shares; Rashid's large cash pile; Jeffries to speak at IDCCA brunch
* Rep. Hoan Huynh jumps into packed race for Schakowsky’s seat (Updated)
* Roundup: Pritzker taps Christian Mitchell for LG
* Open thread
* Isabel’s morning briefing
* SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Supplement to today’s edition (Updated)
* SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today's edition of Capitol Fax (use all CAPS in password)
* Selected press releases (Live updates)
* Live coverage
* Trump admin freezes $240 million in grants for Illinois K-12 schools
* Yesterday's stories

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