The federal trial of former state senator and gubernatorial candidate William “Sam” McCann on wire fraud, money laundering, and tax evasion was on hold Monday after McCann was said to be in the hospital.
Court documents indicate that McCann’s standby counsel, Jason Vincent, informed Central District Judge Colleen Lawless that McCann’s wife told him that he had been admitted to the hospital and would be undergoing a procedure Monday.
Lawless then asked the Central District’s probation office to look into the matter, asking all those involved from McCann to his wife and the hospital to provide proof of his hospitalization. If needed, they could ask for a subpoena if they ran into resistance.
* Illinois Fraternal Order of Police press release…
The Illinois Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) State Lodge has issued a statement regarding Illinois House Bill 4603, proposed legislation that would prohibit law enforcement officers from stopping vehicles for infractions such as speeding, improper lane usage, obstructed windshields, defective headlights, expired registration stickers, or failure to wear safety belts. Evidence obtained in any of these instances would also be deemed inadmissible in court. The bill was pulled from immediate consideration by its sponsor, Rep. Justin Slaughter, after a public outcry against it, but the legislation is still alive in the House Rules Committee:
“Of all the anti-police laws we have seen in recent years, this truly takes the pro-criminal cake,” said Illinois FOP State Lodge President Chris Southwood. “How many lives will be lost if we can’t stop dangerous drivers? Such a law will only benefit lawbreakers, and common sense must have taken a vacation when this bill was drafted. Thankfully, the howls of indignation over this preposterous piece of legislation forced the sponsor to remove it from immediate consideration, but the bill is still far from dead. We urge the members of the Illinois General Assembly to never let such a potential legal lunacy rear its unhinged head.”
* It’s not often you see a poll that has 70 percent of Americans agreeing on anything…
* SJ-R | Democrat, Republican lawmakers give support to bipartisan estate tax reform: State Sen. Dave Koehler, D-Peoria, and Rep. Sharon Chung, D-Bloomington are leading identical legislation — Senate Bill 2921 and House Bill 4600 — in both chambers. As Chung explained, the legislation also would allow for the surviving spouses to receive any unused exemption amount and provide a pathway for the next generation to hold on to the family farm.
* Play Illinois | Illinois iGaming Bill Shows Signs Of Life, Assigned To Gaming Committee: A stalled bill from 2023 that would legalize Illinois online casinos has regained a pulse. House Bill 2239, which was first introduced by Rep. Edgar Gonzalez, Jr. in February 2023, was recently assigned to the House Gaming Committee. Before that, there had been no activity on the bill since March 2023.
* The Pantagraph | Illinois’ partially-open primaries help political parties, discourage some from participating: Under the letter of Illinois election law, any registered voter showing up to vote in a primary must state their “name, residence and party affiliation” to the precinct’s election judges. Next, one of those officials “shall thereupon announce the same in a distinct tone of voice, sufficiently loud to be heard by all persons in the polling place.” This language has been present in Illinois’ election code since before women gained the franchise in 1920. Like many other antiquated laws, this dramatic reading no longer takes place in practice at modern-day polling places.
* Capitol News Illinois | Copays take effect for immigrant health programs as cost estimates continue to decline: Advocates for the programs contend they are not only lifesaving but also cost-saving in the long-run as they give individuals access to preventative care rather than making them reliant upon expensive emergency room visits to treat conditions that worsen due to lack of care. Opponents of the programs, namely Republican lawmakers, have criticized them as an expensive enticement for people illegally residing in the U.S. to relocate to Illinois.
* Tribune | Inmate’s release 25 years ago paved way for Illinois ban on executions, but death penalty debate continues nationwide: Twenty-five years after the dramatic freeing of Porter, executions in the United States have been on an uptick for the past several years, although nowhere near as prevalent as they had been historically. Last year, 24 people were executed nationwide, compared to 18 in 2022 and 11 in 2021, according to data from the Death Penalty Information Center, a criminal justice nonprofit based in Washington D.C. In 1999, the year Porter was released from custody, 98 executions had occurred across the country, the most of any year since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976, according to a Bureau of Justice Statistics report. Two of the executions in 1999 were carried out in Illinois.
* The Telegraph | County looking at public camping ordinance: Madison County officials are considering emulating Alton, which recently passed an ordinance dealing with camping on public property. […] Under the ordinance, approved in November and set to take effect six months from then, it would be unlawful for people to camp on any public street, bridge, par, public property or public area where that activity would obstruct or interfere with the intended use of the property.
* Tribune | Chicago police sergeant involved in two controversial fatal shootings now running for Cook County judge: Sgt. John Poulos, who is also a licensed attorney, is running for a vacant North Side judicial seat against three opponents: local attorneys Michael Zink and Nickolas Pappas, and Nadine Jean Wichern, chief of the civil appeals division in the Illinois attorney general’s office. At the end of last year, thanks primarily to loans from his wife, Poulos had about $500,000 in his campaign coffers, far more than his three challengers combined.
* WGN | Lake County Sheriff Martinez Jr. pleads guilty to reckless driving: The sheriff was indicted on Jan. 6, 2022 after being accused of fleeing from Crown Point police on Sept. 18, 2021. A felony charge of resisting law enforcement was dropped in exchange for pleading guilty to reckless driving, a misdemeanor.
* Robert Vargas | Chicago shouldn’t renew its ShotSpotter contract: As Chicago decides whether to renew its contract for SoundThinking’s gunshot detection technology called ShotSpotter, it is essential to weigh the evidence, as city leaders do with public safety interventions like CRED. The city granted an extension to the ShotSpotter contract last summer and must decide whether to renew the contract no later than February.
* Crain’s | Alden Global Capital-linked firm emerges as a top delinquent tax buyer: A venture that shares an address with a nonprofit led by Alden’s co-founder was a top buyer of unpaid taxes in the annual auction held by the Cook County treasurer’s office in January, buying about $1.75 million worth of delinquent taxes on more than 600 properties, according to data provided by the Cook County treasurer’s office under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act. Including paying the taxes, interest and administrative fees, the firm spent almost $2.4 million to be the fifth-largest buyer in this year’s auction by number of properties purchased, records show.
* ABC Chicago | Metra train riders continue to report problems with Ventra app Monday: “When I first got on the train, the app was working fine,” Metra rider Ed Svaldi said. “And then about halfway through they said the app was down they’re having issues and I when I went to go do it again to take the tickets it wasn’t working.” Monday morning’s commute was the true test of the system after last week’s ticketing nightmare when the Ventra app crashed as Metra rolled out a new fare structure on February 1.
* Streetsblog | Study: Subsidizing Transit Actually Makes It More Efficient: In a fascinating recent analysis, researchers found that metro areas that received more government subsidies per capita were more likely to run buses and trains with lots of passengers on board, rather than running inefficient, wasteful routes with just a few heavily subsidized riders per vehicle.
* WBEZ | Household income and education levels are on the rise in most parts of Chicago: Between the five-year periods ending in 2012 and 2022, the median household income in Chicago grew from $59,000 to more than $71,000 in inflation-adjusted 2022 dollars. For Cook County, median household income improved from about $68,000 to more than $78,000.
* Chicago Mag | Someone Has to Wear the Jacket: “Wear the jacket” is a uniquely Chicago phrase. It means to take the blame, or to take the fall, and it generally applies to an underling whose career is sacrificed to save his boss’s skin. In an episode of the Sun-Times’s “Chicagopedia,” columnist Neil Steinberg explained the term’s origin
* Block Club | Chicago’s South Side Wins Big At The Grammy Awards: Englewood native Lil Durk received the Grammy for Best Melodic Rap Performance for his single “All My Life,” featuring hip-hop superstar J. Cole. This was Durk’s first Grammy win out of four nominations and Cole’s second; his first was from his feature on “a lot” with 21 Savage back in 2020.
* SEIU Healthcare is demanding higher wages and a “path to retirement” for 45,000 home and child care workers. That’s a whole lot of people. Press release excerpt…
As Illinois faces a care crisis where families can’t access affordable care and workers can’t afford to save for retirement, 45,000 Illinois home and child care workers are escalating their campaign to publicly demand a strong contract with a path to retirement and livable wages.
Care workers are sending their most direct message to Governor Pritzker yet with a package of new TV, digital and newspaper ads pushing for Pritzker to settle a fair contract.
While the frontline care providers are appreciative of the Governor’s ongoing leadership advocating for IL working families, they are calling upon him to take immediate action to solve Illinois’ care crisis.
Yesterday, Chicagoans opened up their Sunday Chicago Tribune to see a full page ad blaring, “GOVERNOR PRITZKER, ILLINOIS HAS A CARE CRISIS,” and directly calling on the governor to settle a fair contract with caregivers who “have waited long enough for a path to retirement and livable wages.”
The print appeal hit newspaper stands as an emotional TV ad hit screens in Chicago and Springfield highlighting a care worker’s direct-to-camera appeal for a realistic pathway to retirement:
Sheryl, Care Worker: I take care of people that have devastating needs. I’m 71 year’s old and I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to afford to retire.
We live from paycheck to paycheck, we have to rely on credit cards and worry about going bankrupt. Governor Pritzker, we waited long enough. We need a path to retirement now.
We’re there to help people, but who’s helping us?
* The Question: Your thoughts on the merits of this campaign?
* Joni Mitchel wrote this song when she was in her early twenties. It seemed to take on far more meaning when she sang it last night at the age of 80…
Can you even imagine what it means to sing the lyrics to "Both Sides Now" when you're in your eighties? That song has always held so much wisdom, and now it feels even weightier. pic.twitter.com/yNVg7CJ6NG
* According to a document from the City of Chicago, 284 asylum-seekers arrived at staging centers during the week ending this past Friday. That’s up a bit from the 214 who arrived the previous week.
Annie Gomberg, a lead organizer with the Police Station Response Team who has been on the ground aiding migrants, said there’s a lot of confusion about the policy and the process of what happens next.
“Not everybody is going to be able to access state vouchers for housing,” Gomberg said, “and when you do not have the capacity to work and you don’t have resources to put yourself into your own apartment, when you have children that are in school, and all of the illness and injury and other things as well as the trauma of this journey, that’s a lot for people to have to unpack.”
Jessica Darrow, a professor at the University of Chicago’s Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice, has been studying refugee resettlement for years and said this current humanitarian crisis stems from decades of disinvestment in low-income housing.
“Accessing housing is a lot more complicated than a policy that ideally gives people rental assistance, or even saying that landlords can’t discriminate based on a national immigration status,” Darrow said. “The fact is, we do have a city that does not have nearly enough low-income housing and people will not be able to find apartments unless they can also find work, which means they have to have work authorization. There’s so many steps that are really out of the control of this city’s administration and really out of control of volunteers. We’ve got people working so hard to plug holes that are then constantly flooding again.”
* In other news, Ald. Raymond Lopez has put the migrant issue front and center as he attempts to generate news media coverage for his congressional campaign against US Rep. Chuy Garcia. How’s that campaign going so far? Lynn Sweet…
Dozens of people rallied in Chicago Saturday for a solution to the city’s migrant crisis.
The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights held its annual summit in Pilsen.
Community groups, activists and labor unions joined together calling for solidarity and support for migrants.
“We are way overdue in creating a system of migration rooted in compassion and in justice,” said U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia (D-Illinois).
* From Isabel…
* CBS Chicago | Chicago suburb receives nearly $2 million to run shelter for migrants: The money allows [Oak Park] to operate its temporary shelter program. Some of the funds will go to a local nonprofit so it can operate a new temporary shelter at a former Catholic school through the end of June. Other money will be used for legal services to help migrants with their applications for asylum.
* Block Club | El Árbol Mutual Aid Group Opens Free Store In Logan Square For Migrants, Neighbors: The store opened Wednesday with about 25 people coming by to take advantage of the free items, said Daniel Orkin, a lead volunteer and El Árbol organizer. While it’s mostly geared for migrants, the store is open to anyone in the neighborhood who needs free winter items or personal items, Orkin said.
* Tribune | A Chicago man offers housing and community to hundreds of migrants: Joselin Mendoza sleeps on the floor of a cold stone basement with her two kids at a house in Roseland. The two-story house has no furniture and 22 other migrants from Venezuela sleep on mattresses or blankets on the floor. Their clothes and stuffed animals are stacked in neat piles nearby. The property’s owner Chris Amatore came by in a truck one day in January and offered her the chance to leave a city-run shelter before she and her family were kicked out. […] He has now resettled close to 500 migrants in 15 buildings around the city, spending $150,000 of his own money, he said. Amatore’s solution isn’t a long-term fix — for himself or the migrants, who are grateful for the vacant buildings they now call home.
* The Heartland Alliance is integral to the region’s social service delivery system. From the Tribune…
One of the city’s leading social service organizations, beset by a pair of financial crises that last year engulfed its housing and health care divisions, could be on the verge of splitting up.
The turmoil at the Heartland Alliance, a sprawling nonprofit encompassing five divisions providing a vast array of social services, threatens to upend important safety net programs at a time when Chicago is experiencing an influx of migrants, many of whom need help with health care and housing.
Heartland Alliance’s housing division, which grappled with inflation and declining rent collections during the pandemic, ceased operations last spring and needs buyers for the roughly 1,000 affordable units it operated in Chicago and Wisconsin.
Heartland’s health division, struggling to cover escalating health costs and expenses associated with a surge of migrants in its shelters, indefinitely furloughed more than 150 employees between September and November and cut back programming. It’s now considering spinning off into an independent organization, according to a written statement from Mary Kay Gilbert, interim executive director of Heartland Alliance Health, and Chief External Affairs Officer Ed Stellon. Health care centers in Englewood, Uptown and the Near West Side remain open. […]
Founded in the 19th century as Travelers and Immigrants Aid by legendary reformer Jane Addams, Heartland Alliance’s five divisions employed about 1,700 by 2021 and served up to 500,000 people annually.
Dozens of employees are taking a 20% pay cut at Alivio Medical Center, a key health care provider for migrants and asylum seekers on the West Side.
Those getting their hours reduced from 40 to 32 a week range from executives to medical assistants, nurses and front-desk staff, spokeswoman Terri Rivera said in a recent interview. She has since left Alivio. Doctors were spared from the cut so they can take care of more patients to generate more revenue, Rivera said, though they could be trying to do so with less help. For example, she said a medical assistant now might share their time between two doctors instead of one.
“No services have changed or hours changed,” Rivera emphasized.
She added that no one has been laid off, but also confirmed some employees have quit over the furloughs. She would not say how many total people have been furloughed, but said Alivio still has about 250 employees across seven clinics. […]
Like many community health centers, Alivio treats a large portion of low-income and uninsured patients. On its website, Alivio harkens back to why the health center was founded in 1989: to fill a void by providing medical care for an underserved population of immigrants in the Pilsen, Little Village and Back of the Yards neighborhoods. Historically these patients have had little access to medical care given language and cultural barriers and fear of seeking medical care because of their immigration status, Alivio explained.
Lately, many migrants arriving in Chicago have come to rely on Alivio’s clinic in Pilsen. This area is home to the largest city-run shelter where about 2,500 people are staying. As of Jan. 19, about half were children, according to data shared by the city. […]
And compared with other community health centers, Alivio is reimbursed far less for the behavioral health care it provides to low-income or disabled patients who have Medicaid health insurance, data show. This year, Alivio is getting paid back about $54 per visit — the lowest reimbursement rate for community health centers in the state. Other clinics are paid back between $72 to $83 per visit.
Two of Chicago’s largest medical groups laid off employees Thursday, citing money troubles.
University of Chicago Medical Center officials say the hospital is facing the “same challenges” other health systems have, which led to the 180 layoffs.
“The fact is many outside pressures including higher supply and labor costs are converging as healthcare delivery rapidly evolves,” president Tom Jackiewicz and Mark Anderson, executive vice president of medical affairs, wrote in a memo to employees on Thursday. “Additionally, we grew our staff to address the pandemic, which was necessary for that moment but cannot be maintained.”
Laid-off employees, about 2% of the medical center’s staff, were given severance packages, U. of C. representatives said in a written statement: “The majority of affected positions are not direct patient facing, and these changes will not affect the quality of patient care.”
After five days, Lurie Children’s Hospital says it’s still actively responding to a cyber security attack.
Lurie Children’s Hospital is working with law enforcement agencies to investigate a system-wide network outage.
The cyberattack started last Wednesday. Computers, internet and phones remain all offline, making it difficult for patient families to access important medical information.
…Adding… Press release…
State Rep. Rita Mayfield, D-Waukegan, is reacting with outrage after Vista Medical Center East in Waukegan had its trauma center designation revoked on Friday, following the failure of its owners to properly manage it.
“Waukegan is a low-income, working-class community that is now without a trauma center hospital,” Mayfield said. “This is a huge problem in terms of equitable access to care no matter what the reason. But for this to be happening because a company bought a hospital only to almost immediately allow it to fall into insolvency—to the point where there is no budget and doctors and staff are not being paid—is outrageous.”
Licensing examiners conducted an on-site investigation of Vista on Jan. 29, finding that, among other things, Vista had no written budget, and that staff—including physicians and specialists—either had not been paid in months or had seen their payroll checks returned for insufficient funds. A report by the Lake County Coroner indicated that this was a primary reason behind an exodus of staff which led in turn to Vista no longer meeting the criteria to remain a trauma center.
Losing trauma center designation means that Vista can only treat minor injuries, with more seriously injured patients needing to be transferred to other hospitals. Vista also is now no longer eligible to participate as a hospital in the Medicare program.
After two other changes in ownership over the last five years, Vista was purchased by American Healthcare Systems, a for-profit company, in July 2023.
“Waukegan needs its hospital to remain open, fully staffed and fully operational. Waukegan families need and deserve access to the same basic services as does every other community in Illinois,” Mayfield said. “American Health Systems and Vista Hospital have an obligation to swiftly and completely get their house in order and address these issues. If they can’t do it, then they should step aside so that someone else can. Continued neglect and failure at the expense of Waukegan families is unacceptable.”
Two lenders are alleging Petersen Health Care failed to repay a total of nearly $51 million in loans.
Seventeen health care facilities owned by the Peoria-based company are part of the loan foreclosure proceedings in two separate court cases.
Two facilities are in the Peoria area: Timbercreek Rehab & Health Care in Pekin, and Fondulac Rehabilitation & Health Care Center in East Peoria. One facility is in Missouri and the rest are located across Illinois, including in Canton, Galesburg, Kewanee and Monmouth.
Republican Dennis Reboletti is trying something different in a state legislative race: Stake out a “moderate” position on abortion in a party that completely rejects that stance and in a race against a solidly pro-choice Democrat.
Reboletti, the Addison Township supervisor, has no GOP primary opposition, so he’s essentially free to be the first Republican legislative candidate in recent memory to attempt to thread this needle. No other House GOP candidates are known to have this position, which makes the race worth watching. It’s not going to be easy, to say the least, and a similar tactic came up short in another major DuPage County race in 2022.
Two years ago, the Senate Democrats spent millions of dollars to defeat Reboletti, then a state representative from Elmhurst, when he tried to challenge state Sen. Suzy Glowiak Hilton (D-Western Springs). The Democrats focused heavily on abortion rights, and Reboletti lost by almost 10 points.
This year, Reboletti is once again trying to make his way back to the General Assembly, challenging Marti Deuter in an open seat race created when freshman Rep. Jenn Ladisch Douglass (D-Elmhurst) abruptly announced in September that she wouldn’t run again.
Douglass just barely defeated incumbent Rep. Deanne Mazzochi (R-Elmhurst) by 364 votes in a 2022 race that leaned heavily on Mazzochi’s full-throated opposition to abortion. Mazzochi also tied herself closely to seemingly every possible right-wing group imaginable during that election and refused to cooperate with the House Republican Organization. She had decent name recognition, which probably kept it close, but Democratic money and the abortion issue did her in at the end of the day.
Douglass ran a good suburban race and Mazzochi ran a bad one, but that was then, and now Deuter, a longtime Elmhurst alderperson, is the one to beat. The district leans strongly Democratic at the top. Joe Biden won it in 2020 by nine points. No statewide Republican has won the district since Bruce Rauner took it by 5 points in 2018. But the district map was drawn so heavily Democratic that it’s one of the better chances the Republicans have.
Reboletti appeared on WIND Radio several days ago and told host John Anthony that developments since the overturning of Roe v. Wade have “really bothered me.”
Reboletti said he would support allowing voters to decide whether to approve a constitutional amendment on abortion rights. “I think that my belief is women have that right to choose,” he said. “I don’t think we should be in the middle of that.”
Reboletti quoted former Democratic President Bill Clinton’s oft-repeated statement that abortions should be “safe, legal and rare,” and said he opposed public funding of abortions and that he opposes “partial-birth abortion.”
The pro-choice Personal PAC has already endorsed Deuter in the race, and it’s highly doubtful that Reboletti’s recent comments would have made much of a difference. Personal PAC demands 100% support for its legislation, so a middle ground would not be met with approval.
Compromise candidates have not done well nationally, and a pro-choice middle ground came up short in another DuPage County race in 2022. Republican Greg Hart ran ads featuring his spouse vouching for his pro-choice stances, but Hart himself wasn’t as forceful on the issue. He lost to then-Rep. Deb Conroy (D-Elmhurst) by 2.5 percentage points. Conroy received about 18,000 fewer votes than Gov. J.B. Pritzker in DuPage while Hart received about 24,000 more votes than anti-abortion Darren Bailey. That may have been more about local politics, but still.
Another important point here is that the Illinois AFL-CIO has not endorsed either candidate so far. Unions seem to be split. The Chicago Laborers’ District Council PAC gave Reboletti a $750 contribution last October and the state firefighters union contributed $1,000 last month, while the Carpenters Union gave Deuter $2,000.
Reboletti reported raising just $12,600 in the fourth quarter. He spent $7,000, including a $1,000 contribution to U.S. Rep. Mike Bost in his primary against far-right Republican Darren Bailey. Reboletti’s Bost contribution appeared to be making a statement about the divide in his party between the purists and everyone else, but that can also be easily twisted by the other side as him supporting the 100% anti-abortion, pro-Trump Republican Bost. Reboletti ended the quarter with just $16,000 in the bank and has reported no large contributions since.
Deuter loaned her campaign $5,000 last quarter, raised another $16,000, spent only $1,000 and ended with just under $20,000 in the bank. Deuter was endorsed by DuPage County Board Chair Conroy last month.
…Adding… From Rep. Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago) in comments…
When I first started working in this space, there were pro-choice Republicans in both chambers, working in partnership with advocates and the Democrats to hold the line against efforts to roll back rights in Illinois. Some of those folks were supportive of restrictions that pro-choice advocates disagreed with, but there was respectful space to discuss those issues. I’ve always known there were members of the Republican caucus who are not comfortable with the party’s obsessive focus on stripping away reproductive rights and bodily autonomy, but were afraid to draw a primary. I look forward to more of his colleagues coming to their senses.
Amends the Department of Human Services Act. Requires the Department of Human Services to implement a Child Care Collaboration Program by no later than July 1, 2024 to facilitate high quality collaborative programming between child care and other early care and education providers and funding streams in order to increase, through collaboration, the quality and quantity of early care and education for families in Illinois who are eligible to receive child care assistance under the Department’s Child Care Assistance Program. Provides that to be eligible to participate in the Child Care Collaboration Program a provider must meet certain eligibility requirements, including: (i) be a profit or nonprofit early childhood center or licensed family child care home; (ii) receive or be eligible to receive child care assistance funding; and (iii) be a part of an existing or pending collaborative arrangement with a Head Start or Early Head Start Program or with a pre-kindergarten program funded by the Illinois State Board of Education through the Early Childhood Block Grant. Sets forth approvable models of collaboration and application requirements for providers seeking approval of their existing or proposed child care collaboration program. Provides that each eligible provider that receives Department approval of its existing or proposed child care collaboration program shall receive an annual contract from the Department that allows for the advance payment of child care services at a rate that is based on the license capacity of the program. Provides that a family’s eligibility for collaboration services under the approved child care collaboration program shall be determined in accordance with all current child care rules, with certain exceptions, including, but not limited to: (1) a family’s eligibility period for collaboration services shall be up to 36 months to coincide with the family’s eligibility for a Head Start or Early Head Start Program or an early childhood or preschool program funded through the Early Childhood Block Grant; and (2) no child care co-payments shall be assigned or collected from the family. Effective immediately.
Two proposals in the Legislature would better protect our health information, and legislators need to take action on both.
Health data has become a potential gold mine for advertisers, data brokers and others who traffic in such things. Millions of people across the country use devices to track their heartbeats, how many calories they consume, how well they sleep and where they travel. […]
A bill in the Illinois Legislature would make it unlawful for anyone to sell or offer to sell a consumer’s health data without permission. The bill did not pass last year, but privacy advocates have worked with big tech companies to address their concerns. Now it’s time for the Legislature to pass it. […]
Meanwhile, as David Struett reported in Thursday’s Sun-Times, a related and broader bill in the Legislature introduced last year by state Rep. Abdelnasser Rashid, D-Berwyn, would bar tech companies from collecting, processing or transferring a wide range of personal data unless doing so is reasonably necessary and proportionate. That bill needs to get out of the Rules Committee and be thoroughly discussed by lawmakers.
Amends the Public Utilities Act. Provides that cable or video providers shall cease charging customers for modems and routers, whether rented together or separately, when the customer has paid to the provider the wholesale cost of the modem or router, or modem and router if rented together, plus a reasonable mark-up not to exceed 5% of the modem, router, or modem and router wholesale cost to the provider. Provides that the cable and video provider shall provide notice regarding the discontinuance of rental charges to the customer in each billing statement. Provides that the notice shall include a disclosure of rights and responsibilities relating to the maintenance of modems and routers.
While most Illinois schools have school resource officers, a Republican state lawmaker hopes to pass a plan this spring to allow retired law enforcement to work as school safety officers. Rep. Ryan Spain (R-Peoria) told WAND News Friday that more school security could help prevent fights and other violence seen recently in Decatur Public Schools.
Under House Bill 4216, Illinois school districts could have the ability to hire fully-trained school safety officers starting January 1, 2025. Spain said several of his local school leaders have asked lawmakers to consider this idea.
“They’re left feeling vulnerable because, certainly, there is a deterrent effect where having an armed law enforcement professional in place in your school can be preventing these unthinkable tragedies,” Spain said.
His legislation could require the Illinois Law Enforcement Training Standards Board (ILETSB) to create a new course on de-escalation, use of force, mental health awareness, officer wellness, child abuse and neglect, and cultural competency.
Amends the Illinois Gambling Act. Provides that gaming special agents employed by the Illinois Gaming Board shall be deemed to be qualified law enforcement officers or, for retired gaming special agents formerly employed by the Illinois Gaming Board, shall be deemed qualified retired or separated law enforcement officers in Illinois for purposes of coverage under the federal Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act of 2004 and shall have all rights and privileges granted by that Act if the gaming special agent or retired gaming special agent is otherwise compliant with the applicable laws of this State governing the implementation and administration of the federal Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act of 2004 in the State of Illinois. Amends the Criminal Code of 2012. Exempts gaming special agents and retired gaming special agents from the unlawful use of weapons violations for carrying or possessing firearms in a vehicle or concealed on or about their person or carrying or possessing firearms on or about their person upon any public street, alley, or other public lands within the corporate limits of a municipality.
Amends the Retention of Illinois Students and Equity Act. Provides that a noncitizen graduate student who is an Illinois resident but who does not possess a valid visa or status as a lawful permanent resident is eligible for State financial aid and benefits.
Amends various Acts relating to the governance of public universities in Illinois. Provides that the governing board of each public university shall waive any admissions application fee for a student transferring from a public community college in this State if the transferring student is enrolled in the last semester of a degree program and is on schedule to graduate with a degree. Effective immediately.
Creates the Local Food Infrastructure Grant Act. Requires the Department of Agriculture to develop and administer a Local Food Infrastructure Grant Program to enhance local food processing, aggregation, and distribution within the State through the award of annual grants. Specifies that eligible grant applicants include certain entities that store, process, package, aggregate, or distribute farm products raised in Illinois. Provides that grant awards shall be between $1,000 and $150,000. Describes match requirements for grant recipients. Describes allowable expenses. Requires the Department to create an independent Steering Committee to guide the implementation and evaluation of the grant program. Describes the Steering Committee’s composition and responsibilities. Establishes various grant application requirements. Requires the Director of Agriculture to report certain information to the Governor and General Assembly each year. Limits the liability of program administrators. Contains provisions concerning termination of a grant agreement under the Act. Defines terms. Effective immediately.
Authorizes the Director of Natural Resources to execute and deliver a quitclaim deed to the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation for specified real property located in DeKalb County, subject to specified conditions. Effective immediately.
* ICYMI: Mayor Johnson tells state lawmakers he wants 10 school board members elected this year — not all 21. Sun-Times…
- Some of the most critical details of the city’s first-ever school board elections remain up in the air just nine months from Election Day.
- Johnson, who previously hadn’t publicly shared his view on the debate, said this week he would like to stick with the original legislation.
- The original legislation was a compromise, establishing a hybrid board before transitioning to a fully elected one. Most pushing for an elected board — including the CTU — had wanted all 21 seats elected simultaneously.
* Isabel’s top picks…
* KXAN | Records: Abbott’s migrant busing has cost Texas $124 million: According to documents Nexstar obtained, Texas has paid $124,603,616.19 to bus more than 100,000 migrants from the state’s border communities to Washington D.C., New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, Denver and Los Angeles as of Jan. 10. That equals out to 2,245 buses year to date, an average of 45 migrants per bus.
* WTTW | Shootings, Homicides in Chicago Both Down at Least 25% to Start 2024, According to Police: “We are trending in the right direction,” Police Superintendent Larry Snelling said when discussing the city’s crime trends during an appearance Wednesday before the Economic Club of Chicago. “But we also understand that there are people who are still being affected, and we’re going to continue to work for those people.”
* WGN | Police chief, pantry owner latest to say they’re victims of Dolton dysfunction: This isn’t the first time the Henyard administration has been accused, even sued, over allegations of political targeting by people inside and outside of local government. This week, former Dolton police chief Robert Collins filed a lawsuit against the village claiming the mayor wrongfully fired him in October. “Henyard discharged [Chief] Collins simply because his wife is friendly with some individuals who Henyard believes to be political opponents,” the lawsuit claims.
* Here’s the rest of your morning roundup…
* SJ-R | Unemployment claims in Illinois declined last week: Initial filings for unemployment benefits in Illinois dropped last week compared with the week prior, the U.S. Department of Labor said Thursday. New jobless claims, a proxy for layoffs, fell to 9,945 in the week ending Jan. 27, down from 12,261 the week before, the Labor Department said.
* SJ-R | Trial of former state senator scheduled to begin Monday in federal court: U.S. Central District Judge Colleen Lawless will preside over the bench trial for William “Sam” McCann on federal wire fraud, money laundering, and tax evasion charges. McCann was indicted in February 2021 on charges that he misused over $200,000 in campaign funds over five years from May 2015 to June 2020. Prosecutors say the funds were used to pay for a wide range of personal items, such as a Ford Exposition, a Ford F-250, a motor home with a recreational trailer, and a family vacation in Colorado.
* SJ-R | ‘Meet voters where they are’, UIS grad running for GOP primary nod: Vying for the Republican nominee in Illinois Congressional District 13, Thomas Clatterbuck is facing off against Virden native and Army veteran Joshua Loyd in the Republican primary. The winner in the March 19 primary will then take on Democratic incumbent U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski in November. Both GOP candidates have served the country in varying ways and share many of the same policy initiatives, said Clatterbuck, a law student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Yet, Clatterbuck wants voters to fill the circle next to his name come March 19 for one reason: experience.
* Sun-Times | Illinois incumbents in Congress have fundraising advantage over rivals heading into March primary: The main challenger to Rep. Danny Davis is City Treasurer Melissa Conyears-Ervin. Davis has more cash on hand, but Conyears-Ervin raised more than Davis last year. Kina Collins, an executive in a nonprofit, is making her third try to oust Davis. There are several others in the race, none with substantial fundraising numbers. Collins so far has not gotten the robust fundraising help from progressive groups that boosted her in 2022. The district is drawn, under civil rights laws, to increase the power of Black voters.
* Center for Illinois Politics | Trump lost voters in independent-voting suburbs, could that translate into a boon for Haley?: Collin Corbett, a Republican strategist and pollster based in the Northwest suburbs, said in Illinois right now, “enthusiasm is so low that Trump is winning by default. If Haley could excite Republicans and even bring some traditional (conservatives) back in, she could create some needed momentum. She’s going to have to do well in these next couple states and get people excited in order to be relevant here.”
* Sun-Times | Left-wingers will not be ignored: Trying to be thorough, I sought out Kristi Keorkunian-Rivers, another protest organizer. Does the justification matter if they end up supplying images for Fox News to terrify their sheep into defeating Biden? ”I would say that if the Democrats lose then they didn’t meet expectations, not that our disobedience is the problem,” said Keorkunian-Rivers. “Democrats will never shift to more appropriate policies until we make them. Left to their own devices, they just slide more and more to the right.”
* Tribune | Financial crisis at Heartland Alliance leads to furloughs, program cuts and an attempt to sell hundreds of affordable housing units: Heartland’s health division, struggling to cover escalating health costs and expenses associated with a surge of migrants in its shelters, indefinitely furloughed more than 150 employees between September and November and cut back programming. It’s now considering spinning off into an independent organization, according to a written statement from Mary Kay Gilbert, interim executive director of Heartland Alliance Health, and Chief External Affairs Officer Ed Stellon. Health care centers in Englewood, Uptown and the Near West Side remain open.
* Daily Herald | A time of change: Suburban office market adjusts as tenants downsize and shift to higher-end buildings: Despite bright spots including the Federal Aviation Administration’s relocation and Culligan’s expansion in Rosemont, the market for suburban office space continued to soften during the last months of 2023, new data shows. The FAA will move to 108,000 square feet in the O’Hare Gateway Office Center in Rosemont, while Culligan is adding 66,000 square feet at Riverway West, according to Chicago-based Savills’ fourth quarter market report.
* Sun-Times | Ex-Chicago gang leader’s third chance gets him an invitation to the White House: Rodney “Hot Rod” Phillips is a former Black Disciples member featured in “The Interrupters,” a documentary about felons hired to intervene in conflicts. But he wound up back in prison. “When I came home, I rededicated myself back to the work,” he says. “The flame was lit.”
* Daily Herald | Controversial West Chicago trash site halted by state board: The decision by the Illinois Pollution Control Board delays but doesn’t kill the project, which was opposed by some Latino residents who called the plan racist. Opponents said that their community would be a landing place for garbage hauled from white communities, including Naperville and Wheaton.
* Sun-Times | Ventra app back up and running for Metra, but the real test comes during Monday commute: The new fee structure is meant to simplify pricing and attract new riders. Among the changes, Metra replaced the 10-ride ticket with a day pass five-pack available only on the Ventra app. Prices are now based on zones traveled. A monthly pass costs $75 from Zone 2 to Zone 1; $110 from Zone 3 to Zone 1; and $135 from Zone 4 to Zone 1.
* Beacon-News | Kane County plans for carbon neutrality by 2050: In the short-term, the draft Climate Action Implementation Plan has the goal of reducing emissions to 25% below the county’s emissions in 2019. Kane County’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2019 were already falling, down nearly 5% from 2010 despite the county growing in population by around 3% and the economy growing by over 18%.
* AP | 1 icon, 6 shoes, $8 million: An auction of Michael Jordan’s championship sneakers sets a record: The pair he wore in the second game of the 1998 NBA Finals was sold through Sotheby’s last April for $2.2 million, a record for a pair of sneakers. The highest auction price for any Jordan memorabilia was $10.1 million for his jersey from the first game at that series, according to Sotheby’s, which sold it 2022.
* Jim O’Donnell | Is DraftKings weighing a plan to shake up sports media in Chicago?: Draftkings stock was selling for about $15 per share less than a year ago. It closed Friday at $41.59. Some informed speculators project that it will hit $100 in 2025. […] News that Theo Epstein is back as a senior adviser and minority partner with the Fenway Sports Group is another gut shot to the pursuit of championships in Chicago. The future Hall of Famer would have been a godsend as a controlling principal in a fresh White Sox ownership group. (Dream on.)
* WCIA | Sen. Bennett honored at Gibson City Fire Department: The award thanked Senator Bennett for his role in getting the new tax credit law aimed at supporting volunteer firefighters. It passed on the state level this past spring. As of Thursday, volunteer firefighters from across the state can now qualify for up to $500 of credit on income taxes.
* Mother Jones | “The Algorithm” Does Not Exist: In 2009, when Facebook changed its newsfeed significantly for the first time, there wasn’t much uproar over “the algorithm.” Now we’re all talking about it—whatever “it” is. The algorithm and its ramifications have been the focus of congressional hearings and scholarly debates. In an article on the collapse of Twitter, writer Willy Staley noted “vague concerns about ‘the algorithm,’ the exotic mathematical force accused of steering hypnotized users into right-wing extremism, or imprisoning people in a cocoon of smug liberalism, or somehow both.” But “the algorithm” does not exist.
* ARS Technica | Google will no longer back up the Internet: Cached webpages are dead: A lot of Google Bot details are shrouded in secrecy to hide from SEO spammers, but you could learn a lot by investigating what cached pages look like. In 2020, Google switched to mobile-by-default, so for instance, if you visit that cached Ars link from earlier, you get the mobile site. If you run a website and want to learn more about what a site looks like to a Google Bot, you can still do that, though only for your own site, from the Search Console. The death of cached sites will mean the Internet Archive has a larger burden of archiving and tracking changes on the world’s webpages.
* Triibe | A look into the Black women’s suffrage movement in Chicago: We can’t talk about abolition today without talking about the Black women integral to the movement. In Chicago, Ida B. Wells was essential to building political power for Black women. As an investigative journalist, teacher, anti-lynching crusader and mother of six, Wells was already influential to the national political arena before making an impression on Chicago politics.
