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Protect Illinois Hospitality Adds New Coalition Members From Across Illinois To Protect The Tip Credit

Tuesday, May 7, 2024 - Posted by Advertising Department

[The following is a paid advertisement.]

SPRINGFIELD - Protect Illinois Hospitality announced today the addition of five new organizations who are joining the coalition of other tipped workers, service operators, and local businesses who want to preserve the tip credit in Illinois. These new members include the Chicago Southland Black Chamber of Commerce, Quad Cities Chamber of Commerce, McLean County Chamber of Commerce, Bolingbrook Chamber of Commerce, and the Woodstock Chamber of Commerce – bringing the coalition up to 26 members.

Read the full release here.

Tell your state legislators to VOTE NO on House Bill 5345 and Protect Illinois Hospitality

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Isabel’s afternoon roundup (Updated)

Tuesday, May 7, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

…Adding… The House has canceled session for Friday, May 10th.

* Illinois Answers…

Larry Hall was not even three years into his career as a Flossmoor police officer when he began having sex in the summer of 2007 with an 18-year-old woman he had met months earlier while working as a resource officer at the south suburban high school she attended. […]

For most officers, such an offense would end their careers. But a little more than four years later, Hall returned to law enforcement, rising to become the acting deputy chief in the nearby Village of Robbins, where he oversees internal affairs and background checks.

Robbins Mayor Darren Bryant said that “sometimes we take what we can get” when it comes to the difficult task of hiring part-time, low-paid police officers.

“Just because you got fired doesn’t mean you can’t grow or you can’t learn from your last job,” he said. “It’s almost a restorative practice.”

Robbins has long been a dumping ground for police officers with troubled histories. In the past year alone, Robbins’ part-time police department employed Hall as well as two police officers whom the Chicago Police Department fired for lying about what they saw the night Laquan McDonald was murdered, and an officer whose history of past misconduct must be disclosed to defense attorneys any time he testifies in court. That officer was fired for submitting a vacation request containing the forged signature of his police chief.

Departments like Robbins that most often hire fired cops are at the mercy of diminished property tax bases to fund their operations. They pay just above minimum wage and hire fired cops who then use their status as police officers to secure higher-paying private security jobs or to salvage their policing careers before going elsewhere. In turn, residents are often left with a police force that gets more attention for the misdeeds of its officers and the crimes it doesn’t solve than the ones it does. […]

Since 2000, about 17% of all officers hired by the department — 46 altogether — joined or rejoined the department directly after getting fired, state data shows. By comparison, the Chicago Police Department hired or rehired just 15 officers this way.

Here’s where fired cops get hired in Illinois…

* Illinois Economic Policy Institute…

A first-of-its-kind analysis of construction projects from the Port of Seattle between 2016 and 2023—including airports and seaports—shows that project labor agreements (PLAs) promote competition amongst contractors, control construction costs, and deliver superior workforce development outcomes over projects completed without PLAs. The report was conducted by researchers at the Illinois Economic Policy Institute (ILEPI) and the Project for Middle Class Renewal (PMCR) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Read the Report, The Impact of Project Labor Agreements on Competition, Costs, Apprenticeships, and Diversity: Evidence from Port of Seattle Projects here.

Project labor agreements are pre-hire agreements between construction project owners and labor organizations that establish the terms and conditions of employment for skilled craft workers on large infrastructure projects. They have a long history as a de-risking mechanism and construction management tool for both the public and private sectors, ranging from the Tennessee Valley Authority in 1930s to the construction of most modern NFL stadiums today. In 2022, President Biden signed an Executive Order to require PLAs on federal projects valued at more than $35 million. Most PLAs include provisions for preventing strikes and lockouts, creating uniform work rules and safety standards, harmonizing schedules between different types of crafts, and addressing skilled labor supply needs.

“As is the case with many policies involving labor standards, there is a great deal of mythology around PLAs and their impact on businesses seeking to compete for bids, on costs borne by project owners and taxpayers, and on the broader workforce supply needs of the construction industry,” said study coauthor and ILEPI Economist Frank Manzo. “With trillions in new infrastructure funding and an Executive Order from President Biden expanding the utilization of PLAs, data from Port of Seattle projects offers a useful comparative analysis that will help communities and policymakers separate myth from fact and maximize the impact of these investments.”

For their analysis, researchers analyzed data from 95 projects and 366 bids between 2016 and 2023, as well as the Port of Seattle’s Apprenticeship and Priority Hire annual reports from 2020 to 2022 (The Port Commission enacted a $1 million project threshold for implementing specific apprentice hiring goals). All told, 23 of the analyzed projects were covered by PLAs, 72 were not, and the cumulative cost of all projects was just under $1 billion. […]

“The data makes clear that PLAs ensure a competitive bidding process, control construction costs, and increase the utilization of apprentices,” said study coauthor, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Professor, and PMCR Director Dr. Robert Bruno. “These findings are an important contribution to our broader understanding of PLAs because they involve robust analysis of more project bids than any prior comparable study.” […]

As construction employers face a historically tight labor market, the study revealed especially important distinctions between PLA and non-PLA projects on both workforce development and diversity. Specifically, it showed that PLA projects employed significantly higher rates of apprentices. PLA projects had 5% more labor hours worked by apprentices, were 23% more likely to achieve apprenticeship utilization goals, and nearly twice as likely to meet women apprentice goals (55% to 29%). People of color accounted for a larger share of apprentice hours on PLA projects (37%) than on non-PLA projects (35%).

*** Statewide ***

* NBC Chicago | Millions of birds will migrate over Illinois in the coming days. Here’s what to know: That trend is expected to continue Monday and Tuesday night, with officials expecting “high levels” of migrating birds to take flight over the state. You can find a bird migration map here. “You may observe their movements birding and listening by day and night,” an alert from Birdcast said. “Remember that high intensity nocturnal migration may not necessarily mean an excellent day of birding; rather it means that large numbers of birds are migrating or predicted to migrate at night.”

* WCIA | Asian longhorned tick found in Illinois for the first time: Since the species was first discovered in the U.S. in 2017, it has been found in 19 states. As of April 12, Illinois has become the 20th. […] “In some cases of severe H. longicornis infestation, livestock death has been reported,” said Dr. Mark Ernst, Illinois Department of Agriculture (IDOA) State Veterinarian. “Farmers and producers should continue working with their veterinarian to maintain an appropriate management plan.”

*** Chicago ***

* Bloomberg | Pritzker downplays protest risks for Dems’ convention in Chicago: “We feel like we’re in much better shape,” Pritzker said in an interview in Bloomberg’s Chicago office. “But I understand why people can get nervous because if you were around in the summer of 2020, it’s going to take a little while I think for people’s tensions to decrease.” “I do not think that we are going to have anything like that,” Pritzker added, “and in particular, it’s because there’s such good security that has been planned for this convention.”

* Block Club | This Vacant Bungalow Is Owned By The CHA — And Now It’s A Drug Stash House : Just before that story was published, the CHA promised it would spend as much as $50 million in 2024 to rehab dozens of homes and sell some to CHA residents. The two-story, red-brick home at 849 N. St. Louis was picked to be one of them. Nearly six months later, only a handful of units have been finished citywide, and no work has been done at 849 N. St. Louis. Neighbors say it’s in worse shape than ever.

* Block Club | Ban On Unaccompanied Minors Downtown Should Be Lifted, Park Group Says — Will Mayor Agree?: Leslie Recht, president of the Grant Park Advisory Council, told Block Club that council members have raised questions to the park district and the Mayor’s Office surrounding the policy. Both offices have indicated that the youth ban will resume this year, Recht said.

* Sun-Times | City workers who accused Water Department supervisors of racism agree to tentative $5.8 million settlement: Announcement of the settlement comes just a month before the case was to go to trial. U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly had yet to rule on whether former Mayor Rahm Emanuel, now serving as U.S. ambassador to Japan, would have to testify. The deal must still be finalized and then approved by the City Council. Details of the settlement were not filed in federal court, but an attorney for the workers disclosed the amount. A spokeswoman for the city Law Department declined comment.

* Crain’s | Report rips city, state inaction as Loop Greyhound terminal faces closure: Just a few months remain before the impending shutdown of the West Loop Greyhound bus station threatens to leave 500,000 riders a year without easy access to affordable transportation, but neither the city nor state seems interested in doing much about it. That’s the bottom line of a new report today from DePaul University’s Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development, a report that dings local government officials hard for apparent indifference to the struggles of a mode of transportation that is heavily used by low-income, often minority patrons without other good options to get around.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Naperville Sun | Naperville staff to restart search for employee DEI training services: Envisioning Equity Work had been chosen over a dozen other vendors who responded to the city’s request for proposals in August 2023. A selection team evaluated applicants and eventually chose the firm as its top choice. But council members weren’t entirely sold. […] Members also questioned whether city-offered DEI educational courses would cover training separately required by the state for law enforcement. According to the Illinois Police Training Act, there are minimum in-service training requirements that a law enforcement officer in the state must complete every three years. Among the topics that need to be covered are cultural competency, implicit bias, and racial and ethnic sensitivity.

*** Downstate ***

* SJ-R | Grocery tax, new hotel and more: Springfield mayor marks one year with exclusive interview: SJ-R: If the State’s grocery tax is repealed, what will the city do? Buscher: I believe it will be repealed. The question is when. Our Office of Budget and Management has calculated we will lose $3.8 million in revenue that we’ve already built into our budget. Any of our state legislators are going to vote for fewer taxes on its citizens. There are state legislators who are aware that it’s hurting municipalities.

* BND | St. Clair County will demolish derelict properties until $2 million state grant runs out: It is starting this month with 31 properties the county owns: a vacant commercial building in Belleville and 30 derelict homes in Cahokia Heights. The county acquired the properties, among thousands of others, when the former owners stopped paying property taxes. This first round of demolitions will cost $260,780, according to the contract.

* SJ-R | LGBTQA+ nonprofit newspaper opens brick-and-mortar location in Springfield: Editor and publisher of the Illinois Eagle Tom Wray said it was time to expand the news organization to its own solid location and stop cluttering his living space with the news. “Literally it was the past few years in the backroom of my house,” Wray said. “Either the house I rented, or the house I own now. It’s getting to the point I simply don’t have the room in my house anymore. I also needed the separation of working from my home; I already have ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) and have to work at concentrating.”The new location for the online newspaper is the historic 1133 W. Governor St. which was previously the House + Garden reSource gallery home decor until owner Greg Pierceall relocated to 1220 W. Governor St. last year.

*** National ***

* Tribune | U.S. Dept. of Education launches FAFSA support strategy with deadline for federal aid inching closer: The U.S. Department of Education announced additional steps on Monday to support the many students and their families who are in the process of completing the overhauled Free Application for Federal Student Aid after a shaky relaunch and complicated start for applicants. […] In a news release, the department said the $50 million program is part of the “FAFSA Student Support Strategy” and addresses known issues with the 2024-25 form to help boost its completion. Since the application became available in December, only around 9 million forms have been successfully submitted, according to the Department of Education.

* Bloomberg | TikTok sues feds to block Krishnamoorthi-backed divest-or-ban law: TikTok has argued that the law will stifle free speech and hurt creators and small business owners who benefit economically from the the platform. The company previously said that it spent more than $1.5 billion to isolate its US operations and agreed to oversight by American company Oracle Corp. [..] The legal battle comes after President Joe Biden signed into law a Ukraine-Israel aid package that includes the TikTok provision co-sponsored by U.S. Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., and Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., who lead the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party.

* Bloomberg | NFL poised to allow teams to sell 30% of franchise to private equity: Proposals under discussion would let buyout firms individually acquire as much 10% of a team, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are confidential. A special NFL committee is meeting to examine the league’s ownership rules. Talks are ongoing and the percentages may change, some of the people said. A spokesperson for the NFL declined to comment.

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Support House Bill 4781

Tuesday, May 7, 2024 - Posted by Advertising Department

[The following is a paid advertisement.]

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Caption contest!

Tuesday, May 7, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* From the governor’s daily public schedule…

What: Gov. Pritzker to give remarks at IMA Electric Vehicle Showcase Day.

Where: Illinois Governor’s Mansion, 410 E Jackson St, Springfield

When: 1:00 pm

Watch: www.illinois.gov/livevideo

* The governor talked to someone today while standing next to a Lion Electric school bus, which was built in southwest suburban Channahon…

  52 Comments      


Get The Facts On The Illinois Prescription Drug Board

Tuesday, May 7, 2024 - Posted by Advertising Department

[The following is a paid advertisement.]

The price-setting board proposed in HB4472 is not the solution for Illinois. It would give bureaucrats the power to arbitrarily set medicine prices, deciding what medicines and treatments are “worth” paying for. We can’t leave Illinoisans’ health care up to political whims. Let’s make it easier, not harder for patients to access their medicines. Click here to learn more.

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Unclear on the concept

Tuesday, May 7, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Background is here if you need it. Could this be true?…

Of course not. It’s Jeanne Ives, for crying out loud. She’s never been a reliable source of facts.

The fact that she served three terms in the Illinois House may lead people to think she can accurately comment on legislative proposals. But notice she doesn’t provide a link to the bill so you can’t just easily click here and look for the repealer language and see for yourself as plain as day that what’s being repealed are the three sections creating non-binding referendums.

Ives ought to know this because those three referendums were specifically created to prevent her own statewide referendum from seeing the light of day because Illinois limits the number of statewide questions to three.

Maybe I’m wrong, but I refuse to believe Ives is that spectacularly dumb.

* And Ives wasn’t alone…

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Broad Support For Carbon Capture And Storage Across Illinois, “Vital” For The Environment and Downstate Growth

Tuesday, May 7, 2024 - Posted by Advertising Department

[The following is a paid advertisement.]

A growing chorus of labor unions, government officials, business and industry voices, and the academic community are speaking up about the critical role that carbon capture and storage (CCS) can play in helping Illinois reach its clean energy goals. The Capture Jobs Now Coalition is supporting legislation (SB3311/HB569) to advance CCS projects in our state while prioritizing jobs and economic development in local communities.

Pat Devaney, Secretary-Treasurer of the AFL-CIO, and Mark Denzler, President and CEO of the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association:

    “CCS also presents an incredible opportunity for Illinois’ economy and its highly skilled work force. A recent state-commissioned report by the University of Illinois estimates CCS development has a potential statewide demand of 14,440 jobs. And that’s on top of the thousands more jobs CCS can protect by helping decarbonize important Illinois industries as our state, country and world increasingly embrace a net zero carbon future.” (April 2023)

For more information on Capture Jobs Now, please click here

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Pritzker says a prison ‘can’t be a great economic growth strategy’ for Logan County area

Tuesday, May 7, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* The governor made his second trip to the Bloomington area in a week today…

Today, Governor JB Pritzker joined the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, local stakeholders, and Ferrero North America leadership to celebrate the grand opening of the continent’s first Ferrero chocolate factory in Bloomington, Illinois. The 70,000 square-foot expansion to Ferrero’s manufacturing campus in Bloomington will produce chocolate used in iconic products like Kinder®, Ferrero Rocher®, Butterfinger®, and CRUNCH®. The facility is the company’s first chocolate processing plant in North America and third globally.

“Central Illinois is the heart of our nation, and this most recent $75 million Ferrero expansion is an exciting addition to a thriving manufacturing landscape in the region,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “We have worked hard to make this one of the best states in the nation to do business, and to help companies like Ferrero deepen their roots here. Thank you to the folks at Ferrero for your commitment to the people of Illinois.”

Governor Pritzker joined the Ferrero North America team three years ago to break ground on the new facility, and the construction was completed this year.

* Pritzker took questions…

Q: Why double-down on efforts, invest so much here in Bloomington? We just saw you at Rivian the other day.

Pritzker: Well, it’s in part due to the great economic development efforts right here in Bloomington/Normal. So let’s give credit where credit’s due. Locally, the mayor, the Economic Development Council, Patrick Hogan, doing a great job, Mayor Koos. And so that’s part of it.

I think the other is companies want to come here. They want to be in central Illinois. So we’re just trying to make it easier for them to come at the state level by providing some tax incentives. So they know we’re here, we can compete with other states. It’s very exciting and, frankly, the fact that I’ve been here twice in less than a week to cut ribbons on new manufacturing is a testament to the people of Bloomington. […]

Q: Certainly there’s no question that the Logan Correctional Center needed very serious attention. What is your response to people who are municipal leaders in that area who are concerned about the exodus of jobs?

Pritzker: Well, certainly we should all be paying attention to how can we get more economic development into the area, into Logan County and make sure that in Lincoln in particular, that we’re attracting great new private sector jobs. I don’t know where the facility will end up, the one that you’re talking about that will be closed for a while. That’s going to be part of the conversation that we had in town hall meetings and in the hearings, it’ll be had. But I’m excited about the prospect of attracting new businesses to the area just like we’re doing here in Bloomington. And I think that really is the future for most places across the state, to not rely upon a state-run facility that’s a prison. That can’t be a great economic growth strategy for the area. And so we want to work together to see how we might be able to attract some new companies like this one, and like others that we’ve been getting to the state of Illinois to Logan.

That assumes he can convince a big company to open up a facility in or near Lincoln. It’s within his power to simply rebuild that prison where it’s at now.

Then again, the Ferrero plant is only a half-hour drive from Lincoln. And the Rivian plant is a few miles further.

Discuss.

  34 Comments      


Showcasing The Retailers Who Make Illinois Work

Tuesday, May 7, 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 Leslie, who serve their communities with dedication and pride. Black Beauty Collective - We Are RetaIL (irma.org)

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Learn something new every day

Tuesday, May 7, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* There’s more to this, but yeah…

* A statue of James Shields was erected in the Hall of Columns in 1893 to represent Illinois…

James Shields, born on May 12, 1806, emigrated from Ireland as a young man. He taught school, studied law, and was admitted to practice.

    • He served in the Illinois House of Representatives in 1836, became the state auditor in 1839, and was a member of the Supreme Court of Illinois from 1843 to 1845.
    • While serving in the Illinois House, Shields met Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas. Lincoln was a Whig and Shields was a Democrat; the two clashed rhetorically and once even scheduled a duel.

He and Lincoln settled their differences without violence, but Lincoln challenged Shields’ bid for a second US Senate term. Lyman Trumbull was eventually elected in a three-way contest. Shields was an anti-slavery Democrat.

* Frances E. Willard represents Illinois in the National Statuary Hall…

A pioneer in the temperance movement, Frances E. Willard is also remembered for her contributions to higher education.

    • She attended the Female College of Milwaukee for one year and finished her college degree at the Woman’s College of Northwestern University.
    • She taught at Genesee Wesleyan Seminary in 1866–1867 before returning to the Evanston College for Women, where she served as president from 1871 to 1874.
    • Willard gained a reputation as an effective orator and social reformer.
    • She became associated in the evangelist movement with Dwight Moody and was elected president of the National Women’s Temperance Union in 1879.
    • Her zeal sustained her fight for prohibition, and she organized the Prohibition Party in 1882. During the same year she was elected president of the National Council of Women.
    • She later founded and served as president of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union in 1883.
    • Her statue was the first honoring a woman to be chosen for the National Statuary Hall Collection.

Thoughts?

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City Bureau, Invisible Institute’s coverage of missing Chicago Black women wins Pulitzer

Tuesday, May 7, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* City Bureau…

We are incredibly proud to share that City Bureau Senior Reporter Sarah Conway and Invisible Institute Data Director Trina Reynolds-Tyler have won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting for their investigation “Missing in Chicago.”

“Missing in Chicago” is a seven-part investigative series that reveals how Chicago police have routinely violated state law and police procedure, delaying and mishandling missing person cases. The report revealed a racial bias that disproportionately impacts Black women and girls, and how poor police data is making the problem harder to solve.

“Sarah and Trina deserve this recognition for many reasons. The rigor, care and thoughtfulness that they put into this investigation shine through within each piece, and I couldn’t be more proud of their commitment,” said City Bureau Executive Director Morgan Malone. “‘Missing in Chicago’ serves as proof that investigative reporting with engagement and community in mind are a necessity, versus a ‘nice to have.’

“When our reporting is informed by the lived experiences and needs of community, the potential for impact is boundless. I look forward to the change brewing in Chicago and Illinois, due in large part to their incredible reporting, and in the journalism industry at large, as this Pulitzer is proof that investigative journalism driven by community is alive, well and a catalyst for the world we know to be possible.”

* Here’s an excerpt of the seven part series…

While police officials have publicly claimed that services for families are equal and fair across race and ZIP codes, massive gaps in missing persons data make it impossible to prove, according to a two-year investigation by City Bureau and the Invisible Institute. Instead, interviews with current and former police officers, national experts and researchers, along with dozens of anecdotes from impacted family members, reveal a pattern of neglect, incompetence and illegal behavior from police officers in missing person cases:

    -Under Illinois law and Chicago police policy, police officers cannot deny a missing person report for any reason. However, reporters found dozens of people who say they were told to wait, or outright denied the ability to file a report — delaying investigations during the critical early hours of missingness. Read more.

    -Families of the missing say that police officers are dismissive of their cases, neglect their investigations and stigmatize their loved ones — including multiple cases where police declined to investigate key leads or lost evidence, leaving families to conduct their own searches. Read more.

    - Analyzing police data on missing person cases from 2000 to 2021, reporters found discrepancies that call into question the department’s data-keeping practices. Current and former police officers say that the missing person report is one of the last remaining paper reports used by Chicago police. Police records also show that, from 2017 to 2021, a little over 45% of cases are missing a key data point about the time and date police arrived to investigate these cases. And reporters identified multiple cases that ended in homicide that were marked “non-criminal” in the data — as well as four cases where detectives explicitly noted that the missing person had returned home, despite family members saying their loved ones never returned home alive. Read more. […]

For this investigation, City Bureau and the Invisible Institute requested the Chicago Police Department’s missing person reports from 2000 to 2021, analyzed them and interviewed more than 40 sources. Police missing persons data was cross referenced with underlying investigative documents, Chicago Police Department homicide data, medical examiner death data and news reports.

The analysis shows that of the approximately 340,000 cases in this time period, Black children make up 57% of cases. Black girls between the ages of 10 and 20 make up nearly one-third of all missing person cases in the city, according to police data, despite comprising only 2% of the city population as of 2020. This racial disparity has remained relatively constant over the past two decades, even as cases overall have fallen. (Since 2000, missing person cases have fallen by about 50% and experts are unsure why.)

Hispanic people make up 15% of all cases, but experts believe this figure is underreported due to immigration enforcement concerns.

* Here’s another heartbreaking excerpt…

Shirley Enoch-Hill believes she will never find out what happened to her daughter, Sonya Rouse, who dreamed of being a news anchor. When Rouse went missing in 2016 at age 50, Enoch-Hill immediately suspected Rouse’s boyfriend, whom she claims physically abused her daughter throughout their relationship. According to police documents, an Illinois Department of Corrections official offered to arrange an interview between police Detective Brian Yaverski and the boyfriend (who was in an IDOC work release program), but Yaverski “decided to wait.” More than a year later, the boyfriend died of a suspected fentanyl overdose, and Yaverski never interviewed him. (Reporters contacted Yaverski for comment but he did not respond. CPD media affairs also did not respond to a request for comment.)

Enoch-Hill remembers crying when she heard Rouse’s boyfriend had died, because she felt the truth of what happened to her daughter was gone forever. “There is no closure. … It was like she disappeared off the face of the earth,” she says. “If you’re Black and you come up missing, nobody cares.” […]

Teresa Smith had a similar experience after her 65-year-old mother Daisy Hayes went missing May 1, 2018. Hayes was a loving and caring grandmother who was always the life of the party, Smith says. Yet when Smith tried to ask police for help, “They assassinated her character. [They said,] ‘We know your mom frequents the liquor store,’” Smith recounts. “Like that has something to do with anything?”

Similarly, City Bureau and the Invisible Institute found 11 other Black women who accused officers of abusive and dismissive language in an analysis of 54 police misconduct complaint records from 2011 to 2015 where the complaint was related to a missing person case. […]

Rather than receiving help from officers, Smith says she was yelled at by them, even though according to a police report Hayes’ boyfriend was seen entering her apartment empty-handed and later caught on surveillance footage dragging a heavy suitcase down to the parking lot dumpster, then covering it with trash.

Go read the rest.

* More…

    * Tribune | Two Chicago nonprofit news startups win Pulitzer Prizes: “They found that across the city, this is a consistent issue, that the cases, depending on your ZIP code, determines how much effort they put into finding you, as well as how much your family is allowed access to be a part of the investigation,” said Morgan Malone, who joined City Bureau this year as its first executive director.

    * City Bureau, Invisible Institute Win Pulitzer For Coverage Of Missing Black Women In Chicago: Reynolds-Tyler was thrilled to hear the news, she said Monday afternoon. “As a little Black girl from the South Side of Chicago this is … I just feel very honored. I’m so grateful for the opportunity for us to model investigative data journalism, really excited that we are able to do this in the third largest metropolitan city in the country. The level of intention and care that can come to journalism can be healing, it can be heavy, it can set a record. And this work embodies truth, the truth of law enforcement. It’s the truth of families. It’s the truth of advocates,” said Reynolds-Tyler, a trained restorative justice practitioner.

    * Poynter | Small newsrooms won big in the 2024 Pulitzers: Conway said she was proud of their work, and proud of the families who took a chance on speaking with them for the investigation. “We took a lot of pride and diligence in moving with a lot of care, in sourcing and research, and connecting with people who’ve been impacted over the past few years,” Conway said. “The recognition is something I hope lends credence to their experiences and their stories, and what they’ve gone through — who their loved ones were. Because we found, in our reporting, a lot of people had been harmed and neglected by the city and, in particular, the Chicago Police Department, at a really painful moment in their life.”

    * NYT | How a Tiny Chicago News Organization Won 2 Pulitzers: Mr. Lacour’s podcast won one of two Pulitzers this year for the Invisible Institute, a small, crusading newsroom on Chicago’s South Side known for holding city authorities to account. The other prize, for local reporting, went to the organization’s data director, Trina Reynolds-Tyler, who reported an investigative series on missing Black girls and women in Chicago.

    * Crain’s | MLK biographer Eig and City Bureau, Invisible Institute rack up Pulitzers: City Bureau Executive Director Morgan Malone praised the reporting in a statement accompanying the award announcement. “‘Missing in Chicago’ serves as proof that investigative reporting with engagement and community in mind are a necessity, versus a ‘nice to have,’” Malone wrote.

  5 Comments      


It’s just a bill

Tuesday, May 7, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* WAND…

The Illinois Senate passed a plan to provide more educational opportunities for young people serving time in the Department of Corrections.

The Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice could be required to establish an emerging adult program for individuals 18 to 21 in Illinois prisons.

Sen. Laura Murphy (D-Des Plaines) said her bill would allow these young people to participate in individual or group therapy, case management, vocational training and higher education opportunities. […]

Qualifying prisoners would have the opportunity to transfer to the Illinois Youth Center in Harrisburg for educational and holistic services. While Senate Republicans appreciated the intent of the bill, they are concerned about logistics for prisons and juvenile detention centers. […]

Senate Bill 426 passed out of the Senate on a 41-15 vote. The House could discuss the legislation during the final three weeks of session this month.

* Press release…

Hundreds of community leaders, environmental advocates, faith leaders, business representatives, consumer groups, students and state legislators will rally at the Lincoln Statue outside of the Illinois State Capitol Building in support of the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition (ICJC) Platform, a slate of legislation that would double down on Illinois’ bold climate policy and secure an equitable, affordable and healthy future for all Illinoisans.

The rally is part of the annual Climate Action Lobby Day. This year, nearly 400 Illinoisans are expected to lobby in support of the ICJC Platform, which includes the Clean and Reliable Grid Act (SB3637), the Clean and Healthy Buildings Act (SB3935), and the Clean and Equitable Transportation Act (HB5829). The Clean and Reliable Grid Act will accelerate clean energy deployment and strengthen the capacity and reliability of our electric grid. The Clean and Healthy Buildings Act capitalizes on the benefits of transitioning the heating systems and appliances that power homes and buildings to clean energy. The Clean and Equitable Transportation Act addresses vehicle pollution by electrifying public transportation and vehicles while also offering comprehensive solutions that improve walkability, bikeability and overall transit reform. In addition, activists will urge the General Assembly to swiftly pass the Carbon Dioxide Transport and Storage Protections Act (SB2421), which protects Illinois communities and our land and water from the risks associated with Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS).  
 
WHAT: Climate Action Rally

WHEN: Thursday, May 9, 2024 at 1:00 p.m. CT

WHERE: Lincoln Statue, Illinois State Capitol, S 2nd Street, Springfield, Illinois 62756 and live-streamed via facebook.com/ilcleanjobs.

* Legal Sports Report…

Gov. JB Pritzker has suggested raising the Illinois sports betting tax rate to 35% from 15%.

The Sports Betting Alliance, which represents BetMGM, DraftKings, Fanatics and FanDuel, has been encouraging consumers to reach out to state lawmakers to help stop the potential hike.

A spokesperson for the SBA told LSR this week that a combined 25,000 emails have already been sent to the Illinois legislature and Gov. Pritzker.

The SBA’s website lists three main bullet points for why this issue matters:

    - More taxes mean worse odds for players
    - Customers will have access to fewer promotions and bonuses
    - A tax hike will increase illegal offshore sports betting (they pay 0% taxes)

Here’s more background from a March Daily Herald article…

Tucked into the Democratic governor’s recent fiscal year 2025 budget plan is a proposal to begin taxing profits from sportsbooks at 35% instead of the current 15%. Pritzker said the move is expected to generate an additional $200 million a year in tax revenue.

It’s one of several “revenue adjustment” ideas in the budget plan that could help generate nearly $1 billion extra for the state in the coming year, according to the proposed budget.

“From Day One, Gov. Pritzker has taken action to ensure corporations are paying their fair share,” said Alex Gough, the governor’s press secretary. “Since the legalization of sports betting in Illinois, gaming companies have enjoyed one of the lowest sports wagering tax rates in the nation. In that time, the sports betting industry has exploded, and corporations are raking in huge profits. […]

Currently, 30 states impose taxes on sports betting. At 15%, Illinois’ rate is lower than only eight other states. Louisiana, Maryland and Virginia also tax sportsbook profits at 15%, according to the Tax Foundation.

But states including New York, New Hampshire, Delaware and Rhode Island all charge 50% or more.

* Legislation cracking down on shoulder parking near O’Hare will be heard tomorrow in the Senate Executive Committee. Here’s the latest amendment…

Provides that a person operating a motor vehicle shall not stop or stand the person’s vehicle on a shoulder of a highway along traffic routes within a one-half mile radius of: (1) the eastern entrance to O’Hare International Airport; and (2) the intersection of Interstate 90 and Interstate 294 (rather than a 2-mile radius surrounding O’Hare International Airport). Requires the Illinois Toll Highway Authority to install and maintain automated traffic safety systems along traffic routes within a one-half mile radius of: (1) the eastern entrance to O’Hare International Airport; and (2) the intersection of Interstate 90 and Interstate 294 (rather than a 2-mile radius surrounding O’Hare International Airport). Provides that language prohibiting stopping or standing within one-half mile of O’Hare International Airport do not apply if the driver of the vehicle received a Uniform Traffic Citation from a police officer at the time of the violation for the same offense. Provides that recorded images made by an automated traffic safety system are confidential and shall be made available only (i) to the alleged violator and governmental and law enforcement agencies; or (ii) in response to a lawful subpoena. Provides that a recorded image evidencing a violation of this Act may be admissible in a proceeding resulting from the issuance of a citation. Provides that proceeds from fines shall be deposited into the State Police Law Enforcement Administration Fund (rather than the Illinois State Police Highway Enforcement Fund). Removes provisions creating the Illinois State Police Highway Enforcement Fund as a special fund in the State treasury.

* Capitol News Illinois…

House Republicans have proposed seven bills to improve human trafficking protections and penalties. The bills focus on protections for minors and prosecuting perpetrators. […]

House Bill 5465 would allow a human trafficking victim to have their juvenile record from crimes committed while being trafficked as a minor sealed or expunged. The proposal is an extension of House Bill 2418, which granted similar provisions to people who were trafficked as adults. The law was signed by Gov. JB Pritzker last year following unanimous approval by lawmakers and took effect on Jan. 1, 2024. It also allows the victim to petition remotely, and to have the petition sealed. […]

HB 5465 unanimously passed the House on April 17 and unanimously passed out of the Senate Special Committee on Criminal Law and Public Safety on May 1. The bill now awaits Senate consideration. […]

La Ha’s House Bill 5467 unanimously passed the House on April 17. It would remove the statute of limitations for a victim to press charges of trafficking, involuntary servitude, and involuntary sexual servitude that occurred when the victim was a minor. Under current law the prosecution must start within 25 years of the victim turning 18. […]

La Ha and House Republicans have sponsored other related bills that remain in committee, some of them focusing on penalties for traffickers. Since two key deadlines for a bill’s passage have already passed, the proposals seem unlikely to move forward this year.

* Protect Illinois Hospitality…

Protect Illinois Hospitality today announced the addition of five new organizations joining the coalition of tipped workers, service operators, and local businesses who want to preserve the tip credit in Illinois. These new members include the Chicago Southland Black Chamber of Commerce, Quad Cities Chamber of Commerce, McLean County Chamber of Commerce, Bolingbrook Chamber of Commerce, and the Woodstock Chamber of Commerce – bringing the coalition up to 26 members.
 
“The hospitality industry in Illinois is a strong economic driver to the state’s economy. We have some of the best breweries, restaurants, and hotels in the world and we should be doing what we can to help these businesses continue to prosper and grow,” said Lou Sandoval, President and CEO of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce. “However, policy changes are being discussed that would eliminate the tip credit, effectively hurting the heart and soul of what makes those businesses special – the people. That is not the path that we should take as it will impact our small independent operators in communities all over the state the most. We hope Illinois legislators will reject these plans and vote no on any measure that will eliminate the tip credit on hospitality workers.”
 
Introduced earlier this year, HB 5345 would fundamentally alter the way restaurants, bars, breweries, hotels, and other businesses who use the tip credit pay their employees, leading to less take-home pay for workers and increased costs for both restaurants and consumers.
 
Every tipped employee in Illinois already makes at least the minimum wage, and several studies have shown that tipped workers have higher earning potential in the current system than they would if the tip credit were eliminated. Under the current system, businesses pay a portion of the tipped employee’s hourly minimum wage, with the rest being made up by tips to equal at least the full state-mandated minimum wage. The base wage for tipped employees in Illinois is currently $8.40 per hour, and minimum wage is $14 per hour. If employees do not make at least $14 per hour with combined base wage and tips, businesses are required by law to pay the difference to ensure that every tipped worker makes at least minimum wage.
 
Most restaurant operators in Illinois use the tip credit to pay employees. According to National Restaurant Association research, the median tipped restaurant worker in Illinois currently earns $28.48 per hour. In a recent survey of Illinois servers, bartenders, and other tipped staff, 87% agreed that the current tipping system works well for them and should not be changed, and a majority believe eliminating the tip credit will lead to customers tipping less and overall lower take-home pay.
 
In addition to lowering take-home pay for workers, eliminating the tip credit puts thousands of workers at risk of losing their jobs. In May 2023, Washington, D.C. became the first jurisdiction in the nation in more than 20 years to begin eliminating the tip credit and since then, more than 3,700 full-service restaurant jobs have been lost.
 
Eliminating the tip credit would also harm businesses across Illinois that are already facing significant economic and regulatory challenges, especially small businesses. Restaurants, bars, breweries, hotels, and other businesses who use the tip credit would be forced to pass the increased cost on to consumers to try to make ends meet, and many would still need to cut shifts or tipped staff positions or permanently close. Illinois diners have indicated they would be likely to change their dining habits if restaurants increase menu prices or implement automatic service charges to offset increased labor costs, further adding to the burden on restaurants already operating on thin profit margins. […]

In addition to the new members, Protect Illinois Hospitality includes the National Restaurant Association, Illinois Restaurant Association, Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, Cosmetologists Chicago, Greater Oakbrook Chamber of Commerce, Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce, Hospitality Business Association of Chicago, Illinois Licensed Beverage Association, Illinois Chamber of Commerce, Illinois Craft Brewers Guild, Illinois Grape Growers and Vintners Alliance, Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Illinois Hotel and Lodging Association, Illinois Retail Merchants Association, Magnificent Mile Association, Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce, Naperville Development Partnership, National Federation of Independent Business, Sysco, Takeout 25, and Wine and Spirits Distributors of Illinois.

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Open thread

Tuesday, May 7, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* What’s going on? Keep it Illinois-centric please…

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Isabel’s morning briefing

Tuesday, May 7, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* ICYMI: Lawsuit alleges decades of child sex abuse at Illinois juvenile detention centers statewide. AP…

    - A lawsuit filed Monday by 95 men and women housed at the youth centers as children claims child sexual abuse at Illinois juvenile detention centers was pervasive and systemic for decades.
    -The 186-page complaint was filed in the Illinois Court of Claims.
    -The lawsuit names the state of Illinois, the state’s Department of Corrections and Department of Juvenile Justice as defendants. It seeks damages of roughly $2 million per plaintiff.

* Related stories…

Governor Pritzker will be in Bloomington at 10 joining Ferraro to celebrate a new factory opening. At 1 pm, the governor will give remarks at IMA Electric Vehicle Showcase Day at the Governor’s Mansion. Click here to watch.

*** Statehouse News ***

* WGN | Johnson headed to Springfield to lobby ‘on behalf of the people of Chicago’: “There are a host of things that I will be requesting on behalf of the people of Chicago,” Johnson said about his impending trip to Springfield. The mayor will try to help the Bears, who are seeking public funding for a new lakefront stadium, but that’s not his focus. Team President Kevin Warren is leading the charge. […] Johnson is also keeping a close eye on school funding.

* Capitol News Illinois | House GOP advances 2 human trafficking victim protection bills as others remain in limbo: House Bill 5465 would allow a human trafficking victim to have their juvenile record from crimes committed while being trafficked as a minor sealed or expunged. The proposal is an extension of House Bill 2418, which granted similar provisions to people who were trafficked as adults. The law was signed by Gov. JB Pritzker last year following unanimous approval by lawmakers and took effect on Jan. 1, 2024. It also allows the victim to petition remotely, and to have the petition sealed.

* Center Square | Advocates, legislators push for $140 million to fund violence prevention: The Reimagine Public Safety Act calls for a comprehensive approach to reducing violent crime through targeted community investments. Advocates and violence prevention groups gathered in Springfield recently to push for $140 million. Target Area Development Director of Research and Re-entry Edward McBride said the reduction of crime in Chicago can be attributed to the Reimagine Public Safety Act and peacekeepers, who receive about $200 a day in taxpayer dollars.

* Tribune | Secretary of state’s office urges residents to get a Real ID as federal deadline is a year away: Only about 23.5% of Illinois residents have obtained the Real ID card, which is marked by a gold star in the upper right corner, according to the secretary of state’s office. The low number is a cause for concern for the office since getting the document is more involved than applying for a regular state driver’s license renewal. Real ID applicants must go in person to a secretary of state driver services facility and provide proof of identity, proof of full Social Security number, two current residency documents and proof of signature. The full list of acceptable documents is available on the secretary of state’s website.

* WCIA | State representatives talk on UIUC campus about uptick of antisemitism : State Representatives Bob Morgan (D-Deerfield), Dan Didech (D-Buffalo Grove), and Tracy Katz Muhl (D-Northbrook) spoke at University of Illinois’ quad on Monday (Holocaust Remembrance Day) about the rise of antisemitism. They were joined by local Jewish leaders, including Rabbi Dovid Tiechtel from Illini Chabad and Erez Cohen from Illini Hillel.

* Bond. Buyer | Illinois to issue $1.8 billion of general obligation bonds: Illinois will issue $1.8 billion of general obligation bonds — $250 million taxable Series 2024A and $1.55 billion tax-exempt Series 2024B — to fund accelerated pension benefit payments and capital expenditures through the Rebuild Illinois program.

*** Statewide ***

* SJ-R | Teacher salaries in Illinois among best in the nation, new report finds: According to the new report, the average teacher salary for 2022-2023 was $69,544, which is a 4.1% increase from the 2021-2022 school year. An increase in teacher salaries was also seen in Illinois, according to the new report. The average teacher salary in Illinois was $73,916 for 2022-2023, a 2.2% increase from 2021-2022 when salaries were $72,315. Overall, Illinois ranked as the 12th best state across the country for teacher salaries.

*** Chicago ***

* Sun-Times | Google it! Thompson Center’s $280M redevelopment kicks off, to become Google’s Chicago HQ: The renovation of the center comes at a time of wider transformation for the Loop. Mayor Brandon Johnson announced in April that he’s seeking $150 million in tax increment financing for four La Salle Street adaptive reuse projects. The conversions would create more than 1,000 new apartments in the city’s Central Business District, bringing new use to largely vacant office buildings.

* Crain’s | Two of Chicago’s pension plans could deplete assets by 2030, report warns: As Mayor Brandon Johnson searches for a fix for the city’s pension challenges, a liberal-leaning nonprofit is warning the situation could become dire as early as 2030. That’s according to a new report from the Center for Tax & Budget Accountability, or CTBA, which examined Chicago’s four public employee pensions. The CTBA has previously published reports on the state’s pension systems; its latest publication focuses on the city’s pensions.

* Block Club | Thompson Center’s Transformation Into Google’s Chicago Headquarters Begins: Google announced in July 2022 it would take over the Thompson Center, saying it’d buy the building for $105 million after it is renovated by The Prime Group and Capri Investment Group. Demolition of the building’s exterior began Friday as Google plans to turn the Helmut Jahn-designed building into its new Chicago headquarters, employing as many as 1,000 workers in the famed complex.

* Block Club | Trilogy’s Chatham Wellness Center Brings Therapy And More To South Side ‘Mental Health Desert’:
While work to overhaul the building is still underway, there was a “crucial need” to open its mental health services to clients “sooner rather than later,” said Susan Doig, Trilogy’s CEO. “We’ve known that this area is a mental health desert, and people who don’t have access to commercial insurance have more barriers to getting mental health care,” Doig said. “Being able to offer these services in Chatham is key for the health of the community. It should’ve happened years ago but there’s no better time than the present.”

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Southtown | Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard vetoes hiring of former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot: Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard vetoed action by trustees to hire former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot to conduct a probe into the mayor and village finances during a raucous Village Board meeting Monday. “How dare you think you can come into someone’s town and do work,” Henyard said, saying trustees who voted to hire Lightfoot an an April 8 meeting overstepped their authority. “There is a right way to do things and this is just not that,” Henyard said in delivering her veto. […] The meeting at one point dissolved into a shouting and finger-pointing match between Henyard and Trustee Kiana Belcher, with some residents getting up from their chairs to shout their own comments.

* WGN | Woman accusing community activist Andrew Holmes of assault releases video statement: Fenia Dukes released the video Monday, following several weeks of communications between her and WGN Investigates about a potential interview. Dukes said she wanted to share her story because she feels victimized twice: first by community activist Andrew Holmes, a colleague she respected, and then again when she reported the alleged incident to her boss, Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard.

* NBC Chicago | First Dolton board meeting takes place since subpoenas served at village hall: Residents demanded to be heard as they gathered outside village hall. In the group was Mayor Tiffany Henyard’s ex-assistant, Fenia Dukes. “At first, it was just me. But a year later, to see ya’ll standing with me – thank you…thank you so much,” Dukes told the group. Dukes has filed a civil lawsuit against Henyard and Trustee Andrew Holmes, the latter whom she accuses of assaulting her.

* Daily Herald | A good deal for the suburbs? Transit merger proposal raises questions about finances, fairness: “I have a horrible amount of concern that we will be putting our suburban transit in jeopardy because folding Metra into the CTA will subject it to the same struggles CTA found itself unable to get out of,” Republican state Rep. Jeff Keicher of Sycamore said. The plan also would provide $1.5 billion in extra transit money annually, as a $730 million shortfall looms in 2026. Officials haven’t given any specifics on raising those revenues, saying the restructure comes first.

* Daily Herald | Arlington Heights police bring on full-time crisis counselor despite cut in federal funding: Though federal grant funding runs out this summer, Arlington Heights trustees agreed Monday to commit village funds to keep a police department crisis counselor employed at least through the end of the year. The counselor has gone on some 300 police calls over the last two years involving people suffering from a mental health crisis, and made another 600 follow-up contacts with individuals seeking assistance, officials said.

*** National ***

* AP | Lured by historic Rolling Stones performance, half-a-million fans attend New Orleans Jazz Fest: An extra day and the lure of an appearance by the Rolling Stones pushed attendance at the 2024 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival to a half a million people, organizers said Monday. That was the second highest attendance in the festival’s history — just behind the 600,000 attendees in 2001. In 2023, more than 460,000 people passed through the festival’s gates.

* NBC | Boeing forced to scrub first crewed Starliner launch to the space station: Mission controllers declared a launch “scrub” after an anomaly was detected on an oxygen valve on United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket, which the Starliner capsule was to ride into orbit. The crewed Starliner flight, when it occurs, will be a crucial final test before NASA can authorize Boeing to conduct routine flights to and from the space station.

* Ms. | The Rise of Deepfakes Demands Legislative Action: But legislation marks just the beginning of the solution. Genuine technological accountability, responsible AI development, and safeguarding the right to online privacy require more than a single federal law. However, enacting such legislation is a critical first step, and there is precedent that legislation can catalyze more widespread change.

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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Supplement to today’s edition

Tuesday, May 7, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

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

Tuesday, May 7, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Live coverage

Tuesday, May 7, 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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Isabel’s afternoon roundup

Monday, May 6, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* NPR Illinois…

The Illinois Department of Corrections has indicated it wants to rebuild [the Logan Correctional Center in Lincoln] near Stateville prison in the Joliet area. The department said the current women’s prison is outdated and need of costly repairs. It also said a new prison and new location would expand program options and improve employee recruitment. […]

But local officials worry about the economic impact. Logan employs 454 people, mostly in security roles. If Logan were to close, IDOC says there are expected to be enough vacancies in other prisons to offer everyone a job, albeit in other communities that may require relocation. IDOC says there will be about 850 positions available in these other IDOC facilities “within a 90-mile radius of Logan.”

The town hall will feature Sen. Sally Turner (R-Beason), Rep. Bill Hauter (R-Morton), Logan County Board Chairman Emily Davenport, Lincoln Economic Advancement & Development CEO Andrea Runge and Lincoln Mayor Tracy Welch. It is scheduled for May 15 at 6:30 p.m.

It will be streamed on Sen. Turner’s Facebook Page at www.Facebook.com/SenatorSallyTurner

* An interesting comparison fom ShotSpotter CEO Ralph Clark. Politico…

Have you talked to the mayor about him wanting to stick to his campaign promise?

“We’ve had some conversations. I understand the honor of that [campaign promise]. And I’m reminded of Barack Obama [who] campaigned on closing Guantanamo Bay when he was a candidate. Then he became president, and he probably had his first briefing, security briefing, and thought, ‘OK, I might be looking at this thing a little bit differently than when I made this campaign promise. I had a certain facts and a certain set of facts and assumptions I had campaigned for. It certainly sounded good. But now I’m elected my higher duty is not to a campaign promise, but to my sworn obligation to serve and protect.’”

* The American Cancer Society Action Network….

State legislators will hear firsthand from cancer patients and survivors during Cancer Action Day next week. The day-long gathering draws advocates from across the state who will ask lawmakers to prioritize legislation that will reduce the burden of cancer in Illinois. Cancer patients, survivors, their families and caregivers will wear their “suits and sneakers” to ask lawmakers to hit the ground running to make cancer a policy priority.

This year, advocates will ask lawmakers to reduce the burden of cancer in Illinois by improving access to care through increasing funding for the state’s colorectal cancer screening program and improving access to recommended genetic testing. They will also ask lawmakers to support legislation increasing diversity in clinical trials.

Who: Maggie Powell, breast cancer survivor and ACS CAN volunteer
Ally Lopshire, ACS CAN government relations director

When: Tuesday, May 7, 2024, 10 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

An estimated 78,200 Illinoisans will be diagnosed with cancer, and 23,280 are expected to die from the devastating disease. The legislature can and must do better to prevent and treat cancer in our state.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Tribune | For Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, federal recognition at last: The designation marks a long-awaited victory in the tribal nation’s fight to recover its ancestral home. When the land is placed in trust, the legal title is transferred to the U.S. government, which will hold it on behalf of Prairie Band and establish tribal governance. It opens up a string of benefits including tax credits and land use exemptions. […] At the state level, a bill would immediately turn over Shabbona Lake State Park, around 1,500 acres adjacent to the reservation. If passed, Prairie Band would assume ownership but continue to operate the property as a public space. The bill is still in committee, but Rep. Mark Walker, a Democrat from the Northwest suburbs and one of the co-sponsors, is optimistic that it will go forward.

*** Chicago ***

* Block Club | Bally’s Profits Continue To Lag At Medinah Temple, Executives Say: The budget anticipates $35 million in local tax revenue from Bally’s, averaging out to $3 million a month. As of the end of March, Medinah Temple has generated about $3 million in tax revenue this year for Chicago. A revenue report for April is expected to be released this week, according to a company spokesperson.

* WBEZ | Faced with cuts under a new funding formula, several CPS schools are rejecting their budgets: “The budget that we have does not meet the need,” said Sequoiah Brown, a member of the Local School Council at Poe Classical School in Pullman on the Far South Side. “Our parents are adamant about the needs of our students. You should be trying to bring up the others to that standard, not taking from one to give to the other. That is not how equity works.” […] School district officials say they are aware that some councils rejected their budget, but they will not have a tally until later this month. The schools confirmed by WBEZ include Poe, another selective enrollment elementary school, one neighborhood high school and one neighborhood elementary school. Selective enrollment and magnet schools have been speaking out about being hurt by a new budgeting formula in use by the school district for next school year that prioritizes schools with the neediest students.

* WTTW | Probe Into 8 CPD Officers Found No Evidence They Were Active Members of Oath Keepers — But Investigators Only Asked Them: However, investigators with CPD’s Bureau of Internal Affairs did not interview anyone other than the eight officers accused of belonging to the Oath Keepers, according to the 30-page report. Interviewing the officers appears to be the most significant investigative step taken by investigators during the probe, which was completed in less than six months. The eight officers were each questioned by investigators for an average of 29 minutes, according to the summary of those interviews included in the report. The longest interview lasted 48 minutes, the shortest just 17 minutes, according to the probe.

* Tribune | Johnson pulls plans to place migrant shelter site in 11th Ward after stiff opposition from alderman, property owners: The change came after the owners of the property said Johnson never informed them of his plans to use the building at 3951 S. Canal St. for a shelter. When the Tribune asked the city about that apparent disconnect, the Department of Family and Support Services released a Monday statement saying the city is “no longer considering” housing migrants there.

* Block Club | For 2 Decades, A Historic Pullman Home Has Been Vacant Under CHA’s Watch: The CHA acquired the Corliss home to house people in need. But after letting the house sit empty for nearly two decades and racking up violations with the city’s Department of Buildings, the CHA announced this fall the home was one of more than 40 scattered site properties the agency would rehab, restore and sell so families can live in them. But now CHA officials say they’ll move forward with “alternative plans” for the home they let sit empty for years after an assessment found needed repairs could total nearly $500,000, records show.

* Chicago Reader | Publisher’s note: why the Reader is returning to weekly publishing: First, because Chicago’s creative, civic, and cultural concerns don’t reproduce on a biweekly basis, nor do they circulate equitably from behind an online paywall. From Portage Park to Pullman, Chicago is a living conversation. For the tens of thousands of people who use our printed paper, that conversation doesn’t pause for two weeks so we can recapitulate it. It’s time for the Reader to get back on beat, back in rhythm with the verses and views, pictures and sounds, tastes and takes that make this the best city in the world.

*** Downstate ***

* Daily-Journal | Alliance grows with Gotion as members visit China sites: The cross-cultural awareness presentations which Gotion officials extended to the Kankakee County contingent was most impressive to Michael Boyd, president of Kankakee Community College. […] Boyd was part of the group that made the trip to China — paid for by Gotion — that also included Angela Morrey, vice president of business development for the Economic Alliance; Jeff Bennett, of McColly Bennett Real Estate and vice chairman of the Economic Alliance board; Theodis Pace, an alliance board member and also president of the Kankakee County Branch of the NAACP; Pat Martin, former past chairman of the board for the Economic Alliance and executive vice president with Iroquois Federal; and Ryan Marion, building official for the village of Manteno.

* WSIL | SIU wraps Saluki Takeover Tour: Saturday’s event concluded the tour aimed at recruiting more Southern Illinois students to SIU. SIU Chancellor Austin Lane appeared alongside the school’s athletic director and new basketball coach. SIU officials told News 3 the tour covering all 17 counties in the Southern Illinois was a success and plan to make the events bigger and better in coming years.

* WSIL | One Sent to Hospital After Crashing into Sinkhole in Jackson County, Sheriff’s Office Says: News 3 previously reported a sinkhole forming along Highway 51, just north of De Soto on Thursday. A section of highway surrounding this sinkhole was reportedly closed by the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) to all traffic on Friday morning. IDOT also then said an assessment of the damage will take place the following week.

*** Sports ***

* Chicago Mag | Best Seats in Sox Park: One upside to the White Sox’s dismal start to the season: You can have your pick of seats. For cheap. And while Guaranteed Rate Field will never get the love Wrigley does, it’s still an enjoyable place to watch a Major League Baseball game. As long as you can stomach seeing the home team lose. So where should you sit? We offer these three (highly specific) suggestions.

* Daily Herald | From promises of no new taxes to Burnham, Bears’ latest stadium presentation sounded familiar: As Chicago Bears executives last week presented glossy renderings and extolled the virtues of building a new stadium on the city’s lakefront, one could hear echoes of similar remarks some of those same leaders made a year-and-a-half before to a suburban audience at John Hersey High School in Arlington Heights. While the intended location for a new Bears stadium might have been different, officials from the NFL franchise came to both events with Power Point presentations and talking points in hand, as they made pitches for public subsides to help bankroll the envisioned megaprojects.

* STL Today | Busch Stadium needs renovations. Should St. Louis taxpayers kick in?: DeWitt says he is not “fishing” for public money now. He might in the next few years. The club, he says, is just starting to study the stadium’s needs. If the Cardinals ask for taxpayer help, however, it could be a fight. New leaders have taken over City Hall, vowing to do more for the poor and neglected. They are pushing to improve services for the homeless, rebuild north St. Louis and dig into longstanding inequalities. They have begun to take a harder line on subsidies for developers, forcing some concessions to city schools, affordable housing and workers.

*** Cicada-geddon ***

* Tribune | Illinois cicadas, loud but harmless, to make historic emergence in mid- to late May: Yet despite recent reports of cicadas coming out, experts say the insects probably won’t do so en masse in Illinois for another few weeks, as early as mid-May, but more likely toward the end of the month. Reports of sightings are likely individual “stragglers” that have come out too early or from people who have taken a shovel to the ground.

* Here’s the DuPage Forest Preserve District on the life cycle of a 17-year cicada…



* Block Club | Cicada Parade-A Art Project Raising Money For Insect Asylum’s Rooftop Garden: Inside the basement of the Avondale museum at 2870 N. Milwaukee Ave., volunteers and employees are hard at work making over 1,000 cicada plaster molds for a spectacular community-wide art project that will celebrate the convergence of two cicada broods while raising money for its rooftop garden project. Last month, The Insect Asylum launched the Cicada Parade-a 2024, an art initiative organized by the museum and Baltimore-based Formstone Castle Collective artist Michael Bowman to bring awareness to the double cicada emergence through collaborative art. The idea was birthed by Roger McMullan, of Salt Lake City, a lifelong enthusiast of the periodical cicada and author and illustrator of the new graphic novel “Cicadapocalypse.”

* PJ Star | Do cicadas destroy crops? What farmers in Illinois need to know: “Periodical cicadas don’t pose a risk to any of the major crops in Illinois,” said Illinois State Entomologist Christopher Dietrich. “They are restricted to areas with mature natural forest, and they don’t move around much so we’ll see few, if any, in areas dominated by row crops.”

* PJ Star | What animals eat cicadas?: When periodical cicadas emerge, they’re consumed by just about anything that eats insects. Mammals and birds, amphibians and reptiles, and fish all eat cicadas — and benefit from the glut of them. […] Yes, and eagerly, reports the University of Maryland Extension. “If you have free-range chickens, they will happily scratch up the cicadas and eat them. The cicadas aren’t poisonous.”

*** National ***

* AP | Dozens of deaths reveal risks of injecting sedatives into people restrained by police: At least 94 people died after they were given sedatives and restrained by police from 2012 through 2021, according to findings by the AP in collaboration with FRONTLINE (PBS) and the Howard Centers for Investigative Journalism. That’s nearly 10% of the more than 1,000 deaths identified during the investigation of people subdued by police in ways that are not supposed to be fatal. About half of the 94 who died were Black, including Jackson.

* Axios | More women are working now than at any time in U.S. history: The rise in flexible work arrangements is likely helping, in addition to the strong labor market. […] The employment numbers — technically the employment-to-population ratio — include part-time workers. So it would include women who want to work full-time but can’t due to child care issues. Women overall are working less now than in 2019, as ADP research found earlier this year.

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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Fundraiser list

Monday, May 6, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Behind the CMS cost projections

Monday, May 6, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* From a recent Sun-Times editorial…

The country’s obesity rates have been scaling up over the past two decades. Nearly 42% percent of adults in the U.S. qualified as obese in 2023, data collected by nonprofit Trust for America’s Health show.

Children haven’t been faring much better. Roughly 20% of boys and girls ages 2 to 19 were obese between 2017 and 2020, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The numbers for Black and Hispanic populations are even worse, due to a lack of nutritious food options, poor access to health care and other structural barriers. […]

The initiative is estimated to cost taxpayers $210 million the first year, although Pritzker spokesperson Jordan Abudayyeh said the price tag could end up being less. […]

The Pritzker administration needs to lay out the exact math for how much taxpayers will have to shell out for the weight-loss drugs as soon as it can. Or explain further why its estimate is more accurate than the other. Taxpayers deserve to know the final price of what they’re paying for.

Let’s take a look.

* Seven out of nine state health insurance policies were already covering these drugs. This was an expansion, mainly to Downstate areas that aren’t covered by Health Alliance and Aetna HMO. Those two state plans cover about 72,000 employees and dependents out of a total of 350,000 or so, about 21 percent.

Of those seven which already did cover the weight-loss drugs, Blue Cross’ HMO IL and its Blue Advantage plans don’t break out individual costs. Those two plans cover about 41,000 employees and dependents out of about 350,000 employees and dependents, or about 12 percent of all covered people.

* Five of those seven plans which were already covering the drugs, Aetna OAP, Aetna PPO, Aetna High Deductible Health Plan, HealthLink OAP, Blue Cross Blue Shield OAP, do have trackable expenditures because their prescriptions are administered by the state’s Pharmacy Benefit Manager, CVS Caremark. Those five plans cover almost 154,000 employees and dependents, about 44 percent of the total in all nine plans.

From the state…

According to CVS Caremark, in Fiscal Year 23 the following coverage was provided member and dependents covered under the State Employees Group Insurance Program for weight loss medication:

    • Injectable weight loss prescriptions

      o Total Rx claims: 7,580
      o Total Users: 2,325 (up from FY22 total users of 993)
      o Total Cost to the State: $10,620,147.72

    • Oral weight loss prescriptions

      o Total RX claims: 427
      o Total Users: 233 (down from FY22 total users of 236)
      o Total Cost to the State: $28,725.35

So, that’s a total of about $10.649 million last fiscal year for about 44 percent of all covered employees and their dependents. That would be around $23 million for everybody in the system if you extrapolated it out and everything else is even.

We don’t know yet what the FY2024 numbers are.

* However, CMS is projecting usage will rise to about 20,000 16,000 people in FY25, from about 2,300 in FY23 - a 770 percent increase.

Plausible? I guess we’ll see. But the thing to remember is that the recent expansion will only account for a fraction of the total new cost increase.

  26 Comments      


The Field Museum unveils earliest bird fossil known to science

Monday, May 6, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Chicago Tribune…

The Field Museum has added a new fossil to its collection, calling it the museum’s most important fossil acquisition since Sue the T. rex. An Archaeopteryx, it has feathers, hollow bones, a long tail and 50 teeth — and is the earliest known avian dinosaur, a link between dinosaurs and modern birds.

The fossil was unveiled at an event Monday attended by Mayor Brandon Johnson and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle. It will go on display to the public on Tuesday, accompanied by a hologram-like projection showing how the Archaeopteryx would have looked in life.

It’s one of two Archaeopteryx specimens in the United States — and only a dozen others have been found. This fossil was discovered in southern Germany before 1990 and arrived at the museum in 2022. For those wondering if the fossil will be given a name, like Sue (maybe Archie?), the Field says it already has one: All Archaeopteryx specimens are named after the city in which they reside, so this one is called the Chicago Archaeopteryx. […]

It will be on view until the Museum’s Dinopalooza event on June 8. Then it will be removed to prepare a permanent, immersive exhibition, due to open in the fall.

Click here to watch the unveiling.

* Sun-Times…

Archaeopteryx lived about 150 million years ago, a dinosaur with feathers, hollow bones, tiny teeth and clawed wings. Much about its lifestyle remains unknown. Could it fly? Perhaps, but not very well, Field scientists say. And it was small too — the Field’s specimen is about the size of a pigeon.

In the 19th century, some saw Archaeopteryx remains and couldn’t figure out what it was, with some thinking it might be an angel, according to London’s Natural History Museum.

The first specimen was discovered just two years after the publication of Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species.” A lot of people at the time didn’t believe that animals could evolve. The Archaeopteryx appeared to prove otherwise — that dinosaurs had evolved into birds.

* More…

    * WTTW | The Field Museum Now Has an Incredibly Rare Fossil Proving Birds Are Dinosaurs. Here’s a Behind-the-Scenes Look at How They Got It: After pulling back one last flap of tissue paper, O’Connor finally had her “ta-da” moment, introducing the “Chicago Archaeopteryx … the most important fossil ever.” That’s quite a statement coming from a curator at the Field, home of the mighty T. Rex, Sue. But what Archaeopteryx lacks in size, it makes up for in significance as a “transitional” species that essentially proved Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. … In front of gathered dignitaries and the press, the Field formally announced to the world what had become a not-so-well-kept secret: The museum had acquired just the 13th specimen known to exist of Archaeopteryx (ar-key-AHP-ter-icks), a fossil often described as the “missing link” between dinosaurs and birds. “It’s a spectacular example … teeth like a dinosaur, a tail like a dinosaur, but it’s a bird,” said Julian Siggers, Field Museum president and CEO. “The top-level message is that dinosaurs didn’t go extinct, they actually evolved into birds.” The Field Museum has acquired the 13th known specimen of Archaeopteryx, often called the “missing link” fossil between dinosaurs and birds. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News)

    * WTTW | Meet Jingmai O’Connor, the Punk Rock Paleontologist Who Leads the Field Museum’s Archaeopteryx Team: Dead Bird Nerd alert! WTTW News sat down with paleornithologist Jingmai O’Connor and talked about dinosaurs, birds, the Chicago Archaeopteryx, evolution and why studying fossil birds is more important now than ever. O’Connor is associate curator of fossil reptiles at Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History.

    * WGN | Field Museum acquires fossil of earliest known bird: “Archaeopteryx is arguably the most important fossil ever discovered. It transformed how scientists see the world, by providing strong support for Darwin’s theory of evolution,” said Field Museum President and CEO Julian Siggers. “This is the Field Museum’s most significant fossil acquisition since SUE the T. rex, and we’re thrilled to be able to study ‘the Chicago Archaeopteryx’ and to share it with our visitors.”

  8 Comments      


Today’s must-read

Monday, May 6, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* A commenter recommended this piece from the New York Times…

Markus Johnson slumped naked against the wall of his cell, skin flecked with pepper spray, his face a mask of puzzlement, exhaustion and resignation. Four men in black tactical gear pinned him, his face to the concrete, to cuff his hands behind his back.

He did not resist. He couldn’t. He was so gravely dehydrated he would be dead by their next shift change. […]

It was 1:19 p.m. on Sept. 6, 2019, in the Danville Correctional Center, a medium-security prison a few hours south of Chicago. Mr. Johnson, 21 and serving a short sentence for gun possession, was in the throes of a mental collapse that had gone largely untreated, but hardly unwatched. […]

The country’s jails and prisons have become its largest provider of inpatient mental health treatment, with 10 times as many seriously mentally ill people now held behind bars as in hospitals. Estimating the population of incarcerated people with major psychological problems is difficult, but the number is likely 200,000 to 300,000, experts say. […]

Mr. Johnson’s mother has filed a wrongful-death suit against the state and Wexford Health Sources, a for-profit health care contractor in Illinois prisons. The New York Times reviewed more than 1,500 pages of reports, along with depositions taken from those involved. Together, they reveal a cascade of missteps, missed opportunities, potential breaches of protocol and, at times, lapses in common sense.

Prison officials and Wexford staff took few steps to intervene even after it became clear that Mr. Johnson, who had been hospitalized repeatedly for similar episodes and recovered, had refused to take medication. Most notably, they did not transfer him to a state prison facility that provides more intensive mental health treatment than is available at regular prisons, records show.

The quality of medical care was also questionable, said Mr. Johnson’s lawyers, Sarah Grady and Howard Kaplan, a married legal team in Chicago. Mr. Johnson lost 50 to 60 pounds during three weeks in solitary confinement, but officials did not initiate interventions like intravenous feedings or transfer him to a non-prison hospital.

And they did not take the most basic step — dialing 911 — until it was too late. […]

The paradox is that prison is often the only place where sick people have access to even minimal care.

But the harsh work environment, remote location of many prisons, and low pay have led to severe shortages of corrections staff and the unwillingness of doctors, nurses and counselors to work with the incarcerated mentally ill.

In the early 2000s, prisoners’ rights lawyers filed a class-action lawsuit against Illinois claiming “deliberate indifference” to the plight of about 5,000 mentally ill prisoners locked in segregated units and denied treatment and medication.

Go read the whole thing.

  8 Comments      


Uber Partners With Cities To Expand Urban Transportation

Monday, May 6, 2024 - Posted by Advertising Department

[The following is a paid advertisement.]

Uber is leading the charge to close critical transportation gaps, ensuring reliable access to its services in places that need it most, such as underserved areas like Englewood. This is a part of Uber’s broader commitment to augment and expand the reach of Chicago’s transportation ecosystem, focusing on overcoming the first-mile/ last-mile hurdles that have long plagued residents in farther afield neighborhoods. Uber aims to extend the public transit network’s reach, making urban transportation more accessible and efficient for everyone. Discover the full story on how Uber is transforming city transportation for the better.

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It’s that time of year again

Monday, May 6, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* As we head into the final weeks of session, it’s important to always keep in mind the Statehouse adage, “Watch the rollercoaster, don’t ride it” Here’s a new twist on that admonition…

[Stolen from the Internet.]

  3 Comments      


It’s just a bill

Monday, May 6, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Chalkbeat…

Here are some education bills we’re continuing to follow.

Moratorium on Chicago school closures until 2027: House Bill 303 was initially filed to prevent the Chicago Board of Education from making any changes to selective enrollment schools until 2027 when the board will be fully elected. The bill is a direct response to a resolution passed by the current school board, which is appointed by the mayor, that calls for a new strategic plan that would invest in neighborhood schools and move away from school choice. The latest change to the bill included a closure moratorium on all Chicago schools until 2027. The bill is currently in the Senate’s executive committee.

Early Childhood Department: Illinois is currently in the process of merging early childhood education programs currently housed under the state’s Department of Human Services, Illinois State Board of Education, and the state’s Department of Children and Family Services. Pritzker unveiled the plan last October. He said the current system is an “impossible bureaucracy” for parents and providers to navigate and hopes that one department will make it easier. Senate Bill 1, which would create the new department, has passed the Senate and is currently in the House.

State license for Montessori teachers: Illinois lawmakers are trying to figure out ways to deal with the current teacher shortage. One proposal, Senate Bill 2689, would make it easier for Montessori-trained educators to teach in public schools by creating the Montessori Educator Licensure. Teachers are eligible if they have graduated from a college or university with a bachelor’s degree, received a credential from an institution accredited by the Montessori Council for Teacher Education, the American Montessori Society, or the Association Montessori International, and completed state licensure testing. The Senate’s proposal, which passed, is currently in the House’s Rules Committee.

Police in Chicago Public Schools: The Chicago Board of Education voted in February on a measure to remove Chicago Police Department officers from schools. Currently, 57 officers are spread across 39 high schools. Some community leaders rallied against the board’s decision and said they wanted to keep their schools’ police officers, often referred to as school resource officers, or SROs. House Bill 5008, would allow Local School Councils to contract directly with the Chicago Police Department for school resource officers. The bill is currently in the House’s Rules Committee.

* Shaw Local…

State Sen. Rachel Ventura, D-Joliet, is pushing for a trucking fee that could generate $38 million a year for local road repairs.

The bill proposed by Ventura would empower municipalities and counties to impose fees that would range between 50 cents and $8 per semitrailer carrying goods from an intermodal yard.

Senate Bill 2784 originally applied to trucks carrying goods from intermodal yards of more than 3,500 acres, which would have specifically applied to the CenterPoint Intermodal Center yards in Joliet and Elwood.

The bill has since been amended so it would apply to smaller intermodal yards around Illinois as well, Ventura said Wednesday.

SB2784 was re-referred to Senate Assignments last week.

* State’s Attorney Patrick Kenneally…

Today, the Illinois Medical Society mustered its public relations arm and furiously responded to Patrick Kenneally’s opposition to SB 3136. As discussed, SB 3136 prevents a state’s attorney’s office (“SAO”) from immediately being notified of an infant born drug positive so that it can file a petition to begin a non-punitive court process wherein all county and substance abuse service agencies collaborate in making sure the baby is safe and mother recovers.

The Illinois Medical Society, in response, stated that “nothing in SB 3136 diminishes the role of the state’s attorney.” It assured further that “to suggest that the Illinois Medical Society would ever support legislation that would put a child in harm’s way is absurd.”

“Representative Mary Beth Canty accused Kenneally of “casting aspersions on physicians,” by voicing his opposition.

Senator Castro was “appalled” at Kenneally’s opposition, claiming that he was attack[ing] and blam[ing] vulnerable new mothers who are struggling to get the treatment they need.

Kenneally responds:

Stating that SB 3136 does not diminish the role of the state’s attorney’s office is flat wrong. The bill makes our knowledge of a drug positive infant contingent upon DCFS, which, if past experience is any guide, will notify an SAO only in rare circumstances. If the SAO is not notified, it cannot file a petition, which means that the court system has no role. The abuse and neglect court system should have a role, in fact, it was designed for exactly these types of circumstances.

With respect to the Illinois Medical Society, I regret the umbrage you have clearly taken at the idea that somebody is contesting your legislation. However, I am judging this legislation by its provisions, not your intentions. While I have high regard for doctors, I think the days of the public reflexively trusting that doctors always know best in multi-disciplinary areas of public policy that are far afield from diagnosing and treating are and should be over.

This is an area that involves community safety and child well-being. Respectfully, we as state’s attorneys have some experience in this area and should have been consulted when this bill was being drafted. We were not. While I see that many health-related organizations support this bill, I see that only one of the 102 state’s attorney’s offices support this bill, and I see no support from a single law enforcement agency.

With respect to Representative Canty, if me saying that doctors overprescribing opioid medication was the cause of the opioid epidemic is me “casting aspersions,” I am happy to refer you or a member of your staff to any number of medical journals, books, articles, and lawsuits that have definitively proven and concluded just that.

Doctors are, for the most part, wonderful, accomplished, and honorable people. The point, which you artfully misinterpret, is that when we are operating in the incredibly complex field of public policy with all its potential ramifications, we should not merely take the word, no matter how earnestly declared, of a group of people who happen to claim the same profession absent sufficient evidence.

As to Senator Castro being “appalled,” okay, but if substance abusing mothers are “vulnerable” and are “struggling,” why would we not direct them to a court that can provide them with the long-term support through services and structure that they may need. Keep in mind too, Senator, it is not just the mother’s well-being that is at issue here.

* SJ-R…

Under the Pretrial Fairness Act, the prosecution can seek pretrial detention of an individual accused of domestic violence. Yet, analysis conducted by Loyola University found that prosecutors do not file petitions in the majority of these cases. Those that do file petitions, claiming an individual poses a threat to a person or is liable to flee, are similarly unsuccessful.

The Loyola study looked at four counties — Cook, DuPage, Kane and McHenry — that have made their data public and determined petitions were filed between 16% and 53% of cases. Pretrial detention ranged from 4% to 13%. […]

Both DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin Senate Minority Leader John Curran claim the law as currently written limits the prosecution’s ability to pursue petitions. Curran, R-Downers Grove, said he plans on filing legislation that will “flip” the burden on the alleged abuser to file a petition to prove they are not an imminent threat. […]

Democrats have in-turn said increased urgency is needed to pass Karina’s Bill, legislation requiring law enforcement to remove any guns from a person who is facing an order of protection. Balancing the safety concerns of domestic violence victims and police attempting to remove these firearms has proven difficult, as the legislation waits in committee. […]

Under the current system, the prosecution is required to file a motion if they believe an individual should be detained pretrial. New legislation from Senate Minority Leader John Curran would “flip” that burden onto the alleged abuser to file a petition to prove they are not an imminent threat.

“This is going to protect more women and children who are the victims of domestic violence, but also it’s going to increase the number of abusers that are actually detained,” Curran, R-Downers Grove, said during a news conference last week.

* NBC Chicago…

A new bill under consideration by the Illinois General Assembly would aim to discourage the theft and resale of catalytic converters, with the state having one of the worst rates of such thefts in the country.

According to research cited by bill sponsor Sen. Michael Hastings, more than 2,000 insurance claims were filed between 2020-2022 after devices were stolen from vehicles, the fourth-highest rate in the U.S. during that time according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau. […]

The proposed bill, under consideration by the Senate, would require dealers to keep records of vehicle identification numbers of the vehicles from which the converter was removed, and to note any numbers, bar codes, stickers or other unique markings of the devices.

The bill would require recycling facilities to obtain a copy of the certificate of title or uniform invoice showing the seller’s ownership of the vehicle in transactions involving converters.

* WGN…

A bill pending before the Illinois Senate would make it illegal in the state for a teacher to have a sexual relationship with an adult student.

Right now, educators in Illinois can be fired if they’re involved sexually with a student, but there’s no option for criminal charges if the student is 18 or older.

However, a bill that passed unanimously in the Illinois House would criminalize relationships with students ages 18 to 23, if the educator is at least four years older than the student.

Charges would range from misdemeanor to felony, depending on the number of students and the nature of the misconduct.

* Pantagraph…

State Rep. Katie Stuart, D-Edwardsville, is looking to pass legislation that would make sexual assault by deception a Class 3 felony.

Sexual assault by deception occurs when a victim only consents to sexual activity under the belief the other person is someone else. Stuart said Illinois does not have this coverage coded into law, but if House Bill 2093 passes, it would close that gap. […]

While lawmakers have been trying to push this kind of legislation through for the past few years, a case where a college student in Indiana unknowingly slept with someone who was pretending to be her boyfriend renewed efforts to reintroduce the bill this session.

Stuart said she has been trying to pass this bill since 2019. It has passed out of various committees and the House a few times since then, but there’s always been a holdup when trying to pass it through the Senate, she said. […]

The bill passed out of the House unanimously in mid-April and is waiting to be assigned to a committee in the Senate.

* Journal Courier…

A group of lawmakers and influential environmental advocates are calling for broad changes to the state’s energy industry. […]

The proposals, unlikely to be passed in their current form this year, reveal how influential lawmakers – including the chairs of the Senate Transportation Committee and House Energy and Environment Committee – are navigating the state’s energy transition. […]

The second piece of legislation in the environmentalists’ package, Senate Bill 3935, would institute a “heat decarbonization standard,” requiring gas utilities to reduce their carbon emissions each year, beginning with a 24% reduction in 2031 and 100% by 2050. [..]

The legislation also puts new emissions standards on natural gas building heaters and would require all water heaters sold in the state after 2030 to emit no nitrogen oxide gases. That pollutant can cause harmful health effects and can contribute to the formation of greenhouse gases. […]

The final portion of the policy package is Senate Bill 3636, which would place a suite of new requirements on the Illinois Power Agency and require the state to purchase “energy storage credit,” a financial instrument used when purchasing energy from energy storage facilities. It would be similar to the “renewable energy credits” that the state uses to manage buying electricity from wind and solar installations.

* WAND…

A bill moving in Springfield would allow more people to get help from the Illinois Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program.

The plan would expand LIHEAP eligibility to people living in subsidized housing and individuals spending no more than 30% of their household income on rent.

This change could also apply to anyone who is not an energy customer but pays for energy services through their monthly rent. […]

House Bill 4141 passed unanimously out of the Senate Energy & Public Utilities Committee Thursday morning. The proposal now moves to the Senate floor for further consideration. State representatives unanimously approved the measure on April 15.

* Patch…

Senator Lakesia Collins and Rep. Yolonda Morris, both Chicago Democrats, have introduced new legislation to help keep Illinois data within the State of Illinois and to create jobs by providing incentives to locate data centers in underserved areas.

The “Keep Illinois Data in Illinois” Tax Credit legislation (Senate Bill 3939, House Bill 5827) will help minority business owners to develop these data storage facilities. The legislation will also help underserved areas of Illinois by giving tax benefits to data centers that are located in “disproportionately impacted areas” of the state. […]

Data centers are one of the best economic investments for municipalities. That’s why Illinois passed a data center tax credit bill in 2021, and the new legislation from Collins and Morris would offer an additional 5 percent credit for minority and women-owned companies that are invested in traditional disinvested areas.

According to a February 2023 report commissioned in part by the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, the 13 Chicago-area data center projects approved since 2020 have created more than 8,000 jobs for construction workers and $4.2 billion of direct investment into Chicago-area communities.

* Journal Courier…

For more than a decade, farmers like Lieb haven’t been able to fix their high-tech equipment. Until recently, manufacturer restrictions meant only company-authorized representatives could own and use diagnostic tools, and make fixes when needed. […]

[A]dvocates for repair legislation say that the non-binding agreement and the customer versions of tools provided by the companies fall short of needed protections that legislation would ensure. These same advocates are supporting bills across the country, including one introduced this year in the Illinois Senate.

The Illinois bill, Senate Bill 2669, proposes to establish an agricultural equipment bill of rights. It would require manufacturers to make software, firmware and all other tools needed to repair machines accessible to independent repair shops and owners throughout the state at a reasonable cost.

The bill directly addresses the memorandum of understanding, and says that agricultural equipment owners are entitled to any tools or software not covered by the memorandum of understanding. The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Jil Tracy, R-Quincy, declined to comment after multiple attempts by email and in person to reach her. Deere and the other farm equipment manufacturers also did not return multiple requests for comment.

The bill is languishing at the statehouse. According to a spokesperson from the Illinois Corn Growers Association in an email to Investigate Midwest, there’s no chance the bill will pass this year.

* Gambling News…

The Illinois legislative session has failed to advance the state’s iGaming efforts so far but not all hope is lost. With three weeks left in the session, there is still time for HB2239 to make progress.

Sponsored by Rep. Edgar Gonzalez, the bill seeks to legalize online casino gaming and allow the state to capitalize on the opportunities offered by the vertical. The bill would create a state Internet Gaming Act, allow three skins per iGaming license and introduce a 15% tax on online gaming.

However, Illinois lawmakers seem to be in no rush to regulate iGaming and have not held a public discussion on the matter yet.

Rep. Dan Didech doubted that the Illinois online casino bill will advance this session but didn’t rule out the possibility completely. In an interview with PlayUSA, the representative said that the measure is a “long shot” because of a lack of momentum.

* Pantagraph…

As artificial intelligence’s global popularity continues to skyrocket, Illinois lawmakers are trying to ensure that the state’s laws keep up.

State Sen. Mary Edly-Allen, D-Grayslake, and state Rep. Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz, D-Glenview, are leading the efforts for the legislation filed this session. Gong-Gershowitz and Edly-Allen have tag-teamed on many of them, with Gong-Gershowitz championing them through the House and Edly-Allen championing them through the Senate. […]

House Bill 4875 would protect artists and their work from being used and artificially reproduced for another song or piece of work without their consent. It passed through the House earlier this month with a 79-24 vote. It was assigned to the Senate’s judiciary committee.

House Bill 4762 would add protections to a person’s digital voice and likeness, and passed through the House with a 108-0 vote. It was assigned to the Senate’s judiciary committee.

House Bill 4623 protects children from pornographic content and exploitation. It also passed through the House earlier this month with a 113-0 vote. Edly-Allen said Attorney General Kwame Raoul approached her and Gong-Gershowitz to carry this bill through the legislature. It is currently sitting in the Senate Assignments Committee.

  8 Comments      


Pritzker unexpectedly won’t rule out service tax for mass transit

Monday, May 6, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* My weekly syndicated newspaper column…

Gov. JB Pritzker unexpectedly moved away last week from his longstanding opposition to taxing services, saying he didn’t want to start taking ideas off the table as lawmakers search for ways to fund and reform the Chicago region’s mass transit system.

As you may know, the Chicago area’s mass transit agencies are facing a $730 million “fiscal cliff” in 2026. The federal government’s COVID-era subsidies will expire that year. While ridership has declined as service worsens, operating costs have increased and average fare prices have fallen.

According to a report last year from the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, imposing a service tax could be part of the solution. The CMAP report said adding a service tax to the state’s existing 6.25% state tax rate could generate $1.1 to $1.9 billion in 2026. Some legislators are proposing a $1.5 billion annual funding increase for transit, as part of a consolidation effort.

So, my associate Isabel Miller (who contributed to this column) asked Pritzker during an unrelated media event if he wanted to take any state taxes off the table before the talks heat up, including the service tax.

“I have never been in favor of that before,” Pritzker said of the service tax. He has indeed opposed the tax all the way back to his first 2018 gubernatorial campaign, often calling it regressive.

“There may need to be a source of revenue here,” Pritzker said, “but that’s not something that I have favored in the past.”

As far as specifically ruling out a service tax, however, the governor said: “I really don’t want to start saying, ‘We’re not going to do this, we’re not going to do that.’ At this point, there are just so many pieces of this that we have to look at before we’re going to pay for what’s necessary here as we come off of support from the federal government and making sure we’re restoring transit services.”

Some legislative Democrats pushing transit agency consolidation and reform welcomed the news of the governor’s new openness to a service tax, which seems to be evidence the governor is serious about finding a fix.

“I appreciate the governor being open to it, and I appreciate him recognizing this is a complicated matter,” Rep. Eva-Dina Delgado, D-Chicago, told me. Delgado introduced House Bill 5828 last week to provide the systems an annual $1.5 billion state appropriation once the mass transit system is consolidated.

Rep. Kam Buckner, D-Chicago, whose House Bill 5823 would create a consolidated transit agency, told me he’s also opposed a service tax in the past. But Buckner said he is open to it now, and he appreciates the governor is keeping an open mind.

Pritzker also reiterated last week he’s not yet endorsing any particular mass transit reform proposal but insisted “change is going to have to come.”

“We just know that we’re going to have to upgrade service, make sure that we’re dealing with the transit funding challenge that’s coming up,” Pritzker said. “I hope to see several proposals so that we can consider what direction to take.”

That change in direction will be a complex endeavor, the governor said.

“We’ve got to look at cuts that need to be made, along with, you know, are there changes in fares for certain types of riders that need to be made,” Pritzker said.

A Pritzker spokesperson later explained when the governor said “cuts,” he meant efficiencies to save money, like consolidating the regional transit system but not service cuts.

Most transit agencies hotly oppose consolidation, including the Chicago Transit Authority.

A spokesperson for the Illinois Chamber told me the organization hopes the governor remains ambivalent about a service tax.

“From our position, taxing Illinois’ service businesses — especially our smallest businesses — to close a budget gap is a non-starter. The tax would negatively impact the smallest of businesses: service-based small businesses and startups — especially businesses in counties that border other states as customers can save just by crossing the state line,” the Chamber spokesperson said.

One issue with a service tax is implementing it would take time. Many of the businesses that would be covered are not currently set up to pay sales taxes, for example. The Chamber predicted it could take “several years” to implement a service tax, so it won’t solve “short-term gaps.”

“As the voice of Illinois business, we would welcome sitting down with the governor’s team to discuss pragmatic ways to address the budget gap, but taxing services is not one of them,” the Chamber spokesperson said.

  43 Comments      


Open thread

Monday, May 6, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Hope you all had a great weekend! What’s going on in your part of Illinois?…

  10 Comments      


Isabel’s morning briefing

Monday, May 6, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* ICYMI: Pritzker eyes a $20 billion quantum-computing campus. Crain’s…

    - Sources familiar with the project are hoping a decision will come by the end of next month.
    - The campus would be anchored by PsiQuantum, a Silicon Valley startup that is evaluating two Chicago-area locations for a site to build the world’s first industrial-scale quantum computer.
    -PsiQuantum’s project initially would bring about 1,000 construction jobs and up to 500 direct jobs, including hardware and software engineers.

Governor Pritzker will be at the Field Museum at 10 a.m. to celebrate a new acquisition. At 2:30, the governor will give remarks at the Thompson Center redevelopment groundbreaking. Click here to watch.

* The letter is signed by Reps. Jimenez, Rashid, Guzzardi, Mah and Gonzalez…


*** Isabel’s top picks ***

* Capitol News Illinois | Lawmakers pitch sweeping changes to energy industry and Chicagoland transit system: A group of lawmakers and influential environmental advocates are calling for broad changes to the state’s energy industry and a massive increase in state oversight of Chicagoland’s transit system – which faces a projected $730 million budget shortfall. Advocates for the policy platform, which is broken up into three bills, describe much of it as a follow-up to the 2021 Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, a landmark energy policy that set emissions goals for the state and massively altered the state’s energy sector. The proposals [are] unlikely to be passed in their current form this year.

* WMAY | Governor makes the case for Illinois, promises growth for Springfield: Another facet of Springfield which deserved attention, the Governor said, is the Illinois State Fairgrounds. “That fairgrounds is a phenomenal piece of property — but it’s been neglected, like so many other things in the State government… I said in my first year in office to my staff, I want our Fair to –– first of all be profitable, and I want it to be something that people love going to.” Pritzker told the Citizen’s Club that money from the Rebuild Illinois plan is being dedicated to renovating and improving the fairgrounds. “This is an investment in the Fairgrounds here, in Springfield. It is an investment for a lifetime: we want to be able to show off what Springfield is.”

*** Statewide ***

* J.B. Pritzker, et al | Clean water is our moonshot moment for Midwest climate leadership: One-fifth of the planet’s surface freshwater sits in our Great Lakes. Demand for it will only grow, which gives us both an opportunity and a responsibility to speed the pace of water innovation. We must manage and conserve our finite fresh water as if it were a sea of diamonds. Even our “waste” water is precious. Over the next 10 years, a bipartisan coalition called Great Lakes ReNEW will invest millions of dollars in new technologies to recover and recycle valuable minerals, such as nickel, cobalt and lithium, from our water, and remove toxic chemicals such as per- and polyfluorinated substances, known as PFAS. The goal is to destroy what’s toxic and reuse what’s valuable.

* Herald-Whig | Illinois monitoring H5N1 influenza in dairy cattle: While no cases have been reported in Illinois, federal agencies confirmed the H5N1 influenza virus in dairy herds in eight states across the U.S. The Illinois Department of Agriculture and the Illinois Department of Public Health are working closely to monitor the situation and are jointly coordinating prevention and response measures including working with producer groups and partner organizations to promote education to veterinarians and cattle farmers on the clinical signs of H5N1 so that potential infections quickly can be identified and contained.

* Crain’s | Illinois awards 35 new pot-shop licenses: The licensees announced today are the third round of applicants chosen by lottery and will join 200 other licensees chosen in two previous lotteries. The new licenses are conditional until applicants open stores and receive final certification from the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. The state originally had authorized 55 licenses in the latest round. Thirteen applications are still under review, and seven others chosen in the lottery did not meet the state’s social-equity criteria. Seven new potential licensees will be chosen from the lottery pool.

* WTAX | Boyd succeeds Neely as IL National Guard adjutant general: Gen. Rodney Boyd, installed Saturday at Glenwood High School, is proud to break the glass ceiling. “It’s also a way of showing how far we’ve come as an organization and as a state,” Boyd said in an interview before the ceremony, “that we are preparing people of color to take these very important roles within our organization and the other organizations within our state.” Boyd, the product of Chicago public housing and son of a single mother, urged today’s young people who believe they have been given lemons to squeeze them and get an education.

*** Chicago ***

* WBBM | City’s plan to replace downtown migrant shelter with one in Bridgeport getting some pushback: The City of Chicago notified Ald. Nicole Lee (11th) this past week of plans to move migrants from downtown to Bridgeport ahead of the Democratic National Convention. […] In an update to her constituents, Lee said the city has not signed a lease for the property yet and that she met with Mayor Brandon Johnson to express her opposition.

* Tribune | Optimism, doubt ahead of Johnson’s Treatment Not Trauma mental health plan: Johnson quickly passed an ordinance to launch the city’s working group once in office, but to move forward, the policy needs “active leadership” from City Hall, not “infinite working groups, infinite consensus buildings and no movement,” said Eric Reinhart, a public health, law and psychiatry anthropologist and physician who co-drafted the “white paper” report published by the activist coalition that pushed for the policy.  “I think it’s quite disappointing to all of us that a year into this administration, that even on the campaign stage held up Treatment Not Trauma as one of its core priorities, we still haven’t made any steps forward,” he said. “Everybody’s getting a working group, but where are we seeing implementation?”

* Crain’s | Airlines and City Hall reach agreement on O’Hare revamp: However, key details were not immediately available. Included on the list of unanswered questions are under what conditions the second satellite, which would add most of the expansion gates, would begin construction; when construction of the first two terminals will begin; and how the city intends to cut billions of dollars in cost overruns to bring the project back to its original budget.

* Crain’s | Offices near O’Hare with little vacancy hit the market: A joint venture of Calgary, Alberta-based MDC Realty Advisors and Vancouver, British Columbia-based Nicola Wealth Management has hired brokerage Cushman & Wakefield to sell the One O’Hare office building at 6250 N. River Road, according to a marketing flyer. The offering comes more than eight years after the pair of investors bought the 12-story building for $83 million. Amid weak demand for offices and higher interest rates weighing down property values, One O’Hare is almost certainly worth less than that today. There is no asking price listed for the 380,360-square-foot building, but a source familiar with the listing said bids are expected to come in close to $70 million, or $184 per square foot.

* Block Club | Chicago Cinco De Mayo Parade Canceled Due To ‘Gang Violence,’ Police Say: The parade was called off shortly after it began at noon Sunday at Cermak Road and Damon Avenue. The cancellation was “out of an abundance of caution” following gang violence near the parade and the decision was made by police, local officials and parade organizers, according to the Chicago Police Department. Police said they made multiple arrests at the parade. Officers cleared the parade route around 1:30 p.m., the time the police department announced the parade’s cancellation on social media.

* Sun-Times | Chicago’s top cop defends clearing officers on extremist group’s membership list: In October, Snelling had promised the City Council that the CPD would conduct “thorough investigations” and show no tolerance for cops with extremist connections. But Friday, at an unrelated news conference alongside Mayor Brandon Johnson, Snelling said he felt strongly there was no cause for action against the cops. “I can tell you that we reached out to everybody,” Snelling said. “Our internal affairs division has reached out to everyone to gather information to determine if these officers were actually proven to be members of hate groups.”

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Herald | Local law enforcement agencies find success in crisis intervention teams, training: The Lake County Sheriff’s Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli said that for five years the department has focused on a philosophy of de-escalation first when possible, and particularly when dealing with situations potentially involving a mental health crisis. “It’s proven to be extremely successful,” Covelli said. “It’s the right thing to do, to take time and engage in healthy dialogue with individuals, especially those who might be in crisis.”

* Daily Herald | Cat condos and better digs for dogs: DuPage County animal shelter undergoing a $14 million expansion: The $14 million project is the first expansion of the Wheaton facility in the agency’s 45-year history. “It’s going to be a luxury to have twice the space that we have now once it’s all done,” DuPage County Animal Services Operations Manager Laura Flamion said. The project is being paid for through a mix of public and private funding. DuPage Animal Friends, a nonprofit benefiting the shelter, has helped secure more than $5.6 million for the project and is working on raising another $7.4 million through events and naming rights to various features — from dog kennels and trees to the new lobby — in the expanded facility.

*** Downstate ***

* SJ-R | Illinois postal workers march for transparency in Springfield amid USPS changes: Springfield residents had until April 10 to fill out a survey to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to voice their opinion on the changes before the USPS changes would start. During the picket line, Bishop said National Postal Mailhandlers President of the Springfield branch, Jeff Bridges, was informed impacted numbers were in for the Springfield distribution center, but the actual number was not given by USPS.

* BND | St. Clair County Board approves pay raises for elected officials, but not unanimously: The St. Clair County Board voted 20-4 at their last meeting to increase elected officials’ salaries starting after the general election, including an 11% raise for the county board chairman.[…] The raises begin Jan. 1, 2025, when the chairman, treasurer, assessor, county clerk, auditor, circuit clerk, coroner and county recorder will all be paid $106,540. The other elected administrative officials were already making over $100,000 but the chairman’s salary was $95,899.

*** Sports ***

* Tribune | ‘It still doesn’t feel real.’ Chicago wrestler Joe Rau’s improbable journey leads him to the Olympics — at age 33: In May 2022, Rau competed in freestyle at the U.S. Open and surprised everyone by finishing second. It didn’t take too long for Team USA’s Greco-Roman coaches to reach out and ask him to come back. “I told them no about three times, I think,” Rau said. “Then I just really did some soul searching and I talked to my wife. She said, if you really want to, I’m not stopping you.”


*** National ***

* WaPo | Senior homes refuse to pick up fallen residents, dial 911. ‘Why are they calling us?’: Some senior-care homes say they don’t have the ability to lift fallen residents. Many have adopted “no lift” policies to avoid the risk ofback injuries for staff and other potential liabilities. But firefighters and other experts say there are tools to make lifting easierand safer, ranging from $70 cloth straps with handles to $1,500 hydraulic lifts. Heritage Woods, which accounted for the highest number of lift-assist calls to 911 in Rockford last year, is owned by GardantManagement Solutions, the 10th largest assisted-living provider in the nation.

* WaPo | Google’s empire is massive. A judge will soon rule if it’s a monopoly: The judge’s ruling, which is expected in the coming months, could put new limits on Google’s ability to run its search empire. The company may be barred from paying billions to secure prime placement for its search bar on Apple’s iPhones or other web browsers. It could even be forced to sell off part of its business, like the Chrome browser, and open up competition to other search engines. The judge could also rule that Google isn’t a monopoly after all, which would be a major setback for the government and antitrust advocates who say the power of Big Tech has grown too large.

* AP | Celebrating excellence in journalism and the arts, Pulitzer Prizes to be awarded Monday: The Pulitzer Prizes are set to be announced on Monday, traditionally the most anticipated day of the year for those hoping to earn print journalism’s most prestigious honor. Along with honoring winners and finalists in 15 journalism categories, the Pulitzer Board also recognizes distinguished work in areas including books, music and theater. The awards, which will honor work from 2023, are scheduled to be announced via livestream at 3 p.m. Eastern time.

* Business Times | More than 90% of stablecoin transactions aren’t from real users, study finds: The dashboard from Visa and Allium Labs is designed to strip out transactions initiated by bots and large-scale traders to isolate those made by real people. Out of about US$2.2 trillion in total transactions in April, just US$149 billion originated from “organic payments activity”, according to Visa.

* Rolling Stone | ‘Politico’ Misses Mark in Story on Who’s Funding Pro-Palestine Protests Against Biden: The Tides Foundation donated roughly $100,000 that year to the pro-Palestine protest groups, Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow.   Attempting to connect the $300,000 going into the organization, as part of its $573 million in contributions, to the $100,000 going out to these groups is unrealistic, to say the least, without any specific indication from the donor.  …    Politico continues: “Another notable Democratic donor whose philanthropy has helped fund the protest movement is David Rockefeller Jr., who sits on the board of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. In 2022, the fund gave $300,000 to the Tides Foundation; according to nonprofit tax forms.” This is wrong. The linked document in that paragraph shows a donation the Tides Foundation made to the Rockefeller Brothers Fund — not the other way around. 

* AP | Missouri abortion-rights campaign turns in more than double the needed signatures to get on ballot: “Our message is simple and clear,” ACLU Missouri lawyer and campaign spokesperson Tori Schafer said in a statement. “We want to make decisions about our bodies free from political interference.” If approved by voters, the constitutional amendment would ensure abortion rights until viability.

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