Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White said today that his office does not share information with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) or any other law enforcement agency on the issue of a person’s legal status in the United States.
White made his comment in response to published stories saying that ICE and the Federal Bureau of Investigation use photos from Drivers License offices nationwide as a means to identify undocumented persons. Illinois was not mentioned as one of the participating states. White’s statement serves to underscore this fact.
“If an individual is being sought by a law enforcement agency for criminal activity, we fully cooperate with authorities, but we do not specifically disclose the person’s legal standing.”
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, has used facial recognition technology to comb through millions of driver’s license photos, a move experts say violates the privacy of both immigrants living in the U.S. illegally and at risk of deportation, and legal residents and citizens.
The searches were uncovered in documents obtained through public record requests by Georgetown Law’s Center on Privacy and Technology. They found ICE officials requested to look through state license photos, and at least two states complied, The Washington Post reported Sunday.
In the past two years, Illinois has received three or four requests from federal law enforcement, including ICE, for information on residents’ legal status, and has turned down every request, said Dave Druker, spokesman for the Illinois secretary of state’s office.
ICE would need to have a name, some other identifying factor, and indicate the person was a suspect in a crime in order to access the state’s database, Druker said. Broad searches or checking on immigration status is not enough, he said.
Back in 2012 and 2013, history buffs Daniel Pogorzelski and Jacob Kaplan were on a mission to get inside a nondescript brick building at the northwest corner of Diversey and Drake avenues.
Longtime city clerk and former 35th Ward Ald. John Marcin, one of former Mayor Richard J. Daley’s closest political allies, had worked out of the building for years. There were rumors all of his stuff was still in there, virtually untouched since his death in 1984. […]
And, much to their surprise, the rumors were true: Marcin’s office at 3534 W. Diversey Ave. had been left untouched. Old photos, campaign literature (some dating back to the 1930s when Marcin ran for congress), meticulously compiled scrapbooks, oil paintings and even neon signs were all sitting there, collecting dust.
After Daley died in office, his successor, Mayor Michael Bilandic, tossed Marcin out for the next election cycle after it was revealed he was “holding city funds in a non-interest-bearing account in a bank on whose board of directors he sat,” according to the Reader.
Marcin ran for alderman of the 35th Ward, knocking off former ally Ald. Casey Laskowski. During that race, Laskowski made public an open secret that Marcin may have listed the Diversey Avenue building as his home address but he spent much of his time at a lavish, Thomas Jefferson Monticello-style mansion near the Wisconsin border, according to the Chicago Tribune.
Asked why he went public after knowing about Marcin’s home for years, Laskowski said, “He wasn’t running against me before,” the Tribune reported.
Margaret Blackshere, a former kindergarten teacher from Downstate Illinois, was named president Saturday of the Illinois state AFL-CIO in the labor’s group first-ever contested election.
Her victory in a hotly contested election marks a small but significant change in the leadership of state labor groups across the U.S. Only one other state labor group, Florida’s, is led by a woman.
Blackshere, of Springfield, who has been secretary-treasurer of the state labor federation, won about 60 percent of the more than 400,000 votes cast by union members across the state. Balloting took place last month; results were announced Saturday afternoon.
Michael Carrigan, business manager for Decatur Local 146 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and a Decatur City Council member, was elected secretary-treasurer.
Their opponents were George Machino, president of the Madison County Central Labor Council, and Joe Costigan, Chicago-based political director for UNITE, the Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees.
Usually, the secretary-treasurer would move up the ladder uncontested. That time was different and it was one bitter battle. Blackshere, the first ever woman president of the IL AFL-CIO, went on to serve two terms and reinvigorated the organization in the process.
* Ms. Blackshere passed away over the weekend. She started out as a school teacher and this is the notice the Illinois Federation of Teachers sent to its members…
The IFT is saddened to inform you of the passing of Margaret Blackshere.
A former president of the Madison Federation of Teachers Local 743 and IFT Vice-President, Margaret also served as IL AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer and was elected (the first female) president in 2000 serving two terms. Margaret was inducted into the Illinois Labor History Society’s Union Hall of Honor and in 2013 SIUE honored Margaret by inducting her into the Alumni Hall of Fame.
A Special Order of Business was presented to the 2007 IFT Convention recognizing Margaret Blackshere as the first recipient of the IFT Lifetime Labor Achievement award for her contributions to labor and the human rights movement.
Margaret was raised in North Venice, IL by her Mother Frances and Aunt Margie. She began her career in education as a kindergarten teacher in Madison, IL after obtaining her master’s degree in education at Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville. While attending SIUE she served as a student trustee and after completing her studies she served as a trustee after being appointed by the governor. She immediately saw the need for Madison teachers to have union representation during their contract negotiations and instigated an organizing drive that led to the Madison teachers joining the Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT).
Margaret has served at all levels of the labor movement from president of her local union(763) to statewide vice president of the IFT. In 1993 she was elected secretary-treasurer of the Illinois AFL-CIO- the million-member umbrella organization for all labor unions in the state. She was later elected as president, serving two terms. She was the first woman to hold that position. Margaret retired as president in February of 2007 and was given president emeritus .
Margaret’s work to elect worker-friendly legislators and state-wide officials has given Labor a strong voice in Springfield and Washington. Her efforts on key state legislation like raising minimum wage, expanding health care, enacting card check for public employees, revamping unemployment insurance, and revising workers’ compensation laws, have been invaluable.
But Margaret’s greatest contribution to Illinois’ Labor movement may be her capacity to unify diverse groups and build coalitions, both with the Labor movement and between Labor, small business and community and faith-based groups. Margaret has forged critical alliances with the Illinois Manufacturers Association to create and save manufacturing jobs in our state and with The Transportation for Illinois Coalition- a group of labor and business groups working to secure state and federal funds for Illinois’ infrastructure. Within the Labor movement, Margaret worked tirelessly to keep Illinois affiliates united and working together in political and legislative efforts when several international unions left the AFL-CIO.
Away from her duties at the State Federation, Margaret has been involved in many organizations fighting for equality and social justice. She served on IWIL and a variety of boards, councils and coalitions including United Way of Illinois, American Red Cross in Illinois, Chicago Council of Foreign Relations, Unemployment Insurance Advisory Board, the Alliance of Retired Americans Executive Board, the Industrial Commission’s Self Insurer’s Advisory Board, the Chicago Metropolis 2020 Board, the Illinois Women’s Institute for Leadership, the Transportation for Illinois Coalition, the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago Advisory Council and the Board of Trustees of the Global Solidarity Center in Washington, D.C.
She has received awards such as the Labor Leader Award in 2000 from the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, the Israel Peace Medal in 2000 from the State of Israel, and the Protector of Working People Award in 2002 from the Illinois State Crime Commission: She was the Guest of Honor in 2003 for Chicago’s St Patrick’s Day Parade and in 1998 she was inducted into the Illinois Labor History Society’s Union Hall of Honor.
My condolences to her family and her many, many friends and allies.
…Adding… Tributes are coming in…
The following statement is from Chairman and Mrs. Madigan. Thank you.
Margaret Blackshere’s impact on the hard-working men and women of Illinois will be felt for generations to come. As the first woman to serve as president of the Illinois AFL-CIO, Margaret created a seat at the table for female workers and always fought for their best interests. She had a passion for building bridges and uniting people around common goals with a spark and an energy that was unmatched. We will miss Margaret and her fierce spirit. Her family and loved ones are in our thoughts and prayers.
* And…
IFT President Dan Montgomery issued a statement of condolences following the passing of Margaret Blackshere, union leader:
“I was saddened and humbled to learn of the passing of Margaret Blackshere and, on behalf of the Illinois Federation of Teachers, offer my deepest condolences to her family and friends. She got her start in the labor movement at IFT and made a difference at every level, growing from member to leader to vice president before she went on to make history as the first woman president of the Illinois AFL-CIO.
“From her start organizing teachers in Madison, Ill., to her leadership at the state and national levels, Margaret’s efforts to make our state and country better and fairer for everyone were inspirational and quite necessary. She was a tireless advocate for working people and a shining example of what a union leader can be. We at the IFT are proud to have known her and to continue the work she believed in.”
* State Fed…
The Illinois AFL-CIO mourns the passing of former President Margaret Blackshere. Margaret was a fearless leader for economic and social justice from the halls of the State Capitol to the picket lines and shop floors up and down our state. She will be deeply missed by our organization, the labor movement and working families throughout Illinois.
* IMA…
“Margaret was a strong and effective advocate for the Illinois labor movement. While our organizations battled on many occasions, she also had the ability to collaborate on key manufacturing and education issues important to our state. On behalf of the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association, I would like to offer my sincere condolences to her family, friends, and colleagues in labor on her passing,” said Mark Denzler, president and CEO, Illinois Manufacturers’ Association
* Governor Pritzker…
Margaret Blackshere dedicated her life to fighting for Illinois teachers and social justice for all. She was a trailblazer and an organizer, a loving mother and grandmother, and a role model for all of us. The entire state mourns her passing and keeps her family in our thoughts.
— Governor JB Pritzker (@GovPritzker) July 8, 2019
Visitation will be held from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m. Wednesday at Cooney Funeral Home, 625 Busse Hwy in Park Ridge. The funeral is scheduled for 11 a.m. Thursday at St. Juliana Roman Catholic Church, 7200 N Osceola Ave.
As DCFS has battled diminished funding, it’s also come to terms with significant administrational shortcomings: children lost amid bureaucratic inefficiency, mistakes, gross errors in judgement and the astounding revelation that 98 children whose cases were being handled by the agency were the victims of homicides - in a single year’s time.
Number of children in DCFS custody (including foster care, institutions or group homes):
Fiscal Year 2019: 16,026*
Fiscal Year 2018: 17,465
Fiscal Year 2017: 16,780
Fiscal Year 2016: 17,026
Fiscal Year 2015: 17,507
Fiscal Year 2014: 17,949
Fiscal Year 2013: 18,084
Fiscal Year 2012: 18,466
FY 2011-1997: Data Not Available
Fiscal Year 1996: 54,144
Fiscal Year 1995: 47,862
Fiscal Year: 1994: 41,161
*Estimated number prior to conclusion of the 2019 fiscal year.
The agency has been so intent on keeping children with their parents that its practice has resulted in putting those children in danger, a study released in mid-May by Chapin Hall, a child welfare think tank at the University of Chicago found. This practice was horrifically illustrated by the recent death of 5-year-old Andrew “A.J.” Freund of Crystal Lake, who was placed in a cold shower and beaten to death in April by his parents, who later dumped his body in a nearby wooded area.
* And while we have far fewer children in DCFS custody than in years gone by because the state over-corrected toward keeping them with their biological parents, we also have a “permancy” problem. The state takes a lot of time to decide what to do with these kids…
Many of these efforts are also directed at tackling what may be the DCFS’s biggest objective problem: the fact that Illinois has the worst permanency numbers in the nation. “Permanency” is a term used in social work to describe an instance when a child is either reunited with his or her birth family or adopted by a different one, exiting the temporary care system and establishing the child in a stable household, hopefully permanently. In Illinois, children stay under the DCFS’s care for 23.2 months on average before achieving permanency. By comparison, New York, the next state over on the ranking, has an average of 20 months while Colorado comes out on top with only 7.9 months. Increased funding and staffing could improve that statistic, adding more social workers to appropriately deal with cases and funding to support them, and at the same time that the Department is promising study new ways to improve permanency for its wards, the children of DCFS.
A member shall receive a salary and allowances as provided by law, but changes in the salary of a member shall not take effect during the term for which he has been elected.
People have long argued that the legislative furloughs (required unpaid days) approved by the General Assembly in years past and the legislature’s nearly annual ritual vote to deny themselves statutory cost of living increases (except this year) both violated that constitutional provision forbidding salary changes during their terms in office.
* Democratic Sen. Michael Noland filed suit in 2017 to overturn the statutes ordering the furloughs and denying the COLAs. He was joined in 2018 by Sen. James Clayborne. Neither man is currently serving in the General Assembly.
Cook County Judge Franklin Valderrama sided with Noland and Clayborne yesterday on the constitutional issue. Click here to read the opinion granting partial summary judgement and Valderrama’s contention that there is “no genuine issue of material fact that the statutes are facially unconstitutional.”
Valderrama seemed to leave unresolved the question about whether the comptroller should be ordered to pay the money owed. A status hearing has been set for August.
* From Comptroller Mendoza…
In a complex and unfortunate ruling this week, a judge said former Senator Mike Noland can proceed with his disgraceful and selfish attempt to vacuum up taxpayer money he voted repeatedly not to accept.
I strongly oppose Noland’s shameless money-grab and will fight it, either through an appeal, or in this court as the remaining counts proceed. We will work with Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s office to review this week’s ruling and our legal options.
Noland’s case perfectly illustrates why voters don’t trust politicians. His legislative pension, combined with his new judicial salary and pension, should more than suffice. This is another sad week for Illinois taxpayers.
Noland originally filed the lawsuit in 2017, seeking back pay for himself and “all others impacted” by the eight bills lawmakers passed to give up the annual cost-of-living raises they are automatically granted under state law. The lawsuit, which Clayborne joined as a plaintiff last year, also takes issue with unpaid furlough days lawmakers approved for themselves each year from 2009 through 2013.
The judge did not order Mendoza to issue checks to anyone, and he scheduled another hearing in the case for Aug. 7.
Noland, a Kane County judge who served in the state Senate from 2007 through 2017, and Clayborne, an attorney who served from 1995 until this year, issued a written statement Thursday saying they were pleased with the outcome.
“Just as Illinois courts held that the Illinois Constitution prohibits using the salaries of judges and legislators as a political football by the Governor and Comptroller to advance a political agenda, members of the General Assembly cannot cut their own salaries on a mid-term basis to curry favor with voters,” the statement said. “It is our hope that the Circuit Court decision will be followed and the impacted legislators will be paid what they are due.”
* Better Government Association president David Greising in Crain’s…
At the end of the redistricting process, Pritzker will be the one politician in the state who actually could prevent a gerry-Madiganed map from becoming Illinois law. Sometime in 2021, Pritzker alone will have the power to refuse to sign the bill proposing the new electoral districts. […]
Pritzker so far has talked a good game. He has promised to veto an “unfair” map. But what exactly does the governor mean by this pledge? In his eyes, what are the characteristics of a “fair” map? And what specific shortcomings might prevent him from approving one drawn by the state Legislature?
So far, Pritzker has refused to say. And his spokeswoman declines to provide any comment in response to my request for further information.
A “gerry-Madiganed map”? Clever, but Senate President John Cullerton might take umbrage at that. He loves him some map-making.
Also, as I’ve pointed out several times before, I asked all candidates last year if they would veto a map drawn by the General Assembly. Pritzker said he would. The definitions are in my question and Pritzker added some more details in his response. Click here to read it for yourself.
Our campaign is proud to have Ra Joy, a prominent independent maps advocate, on our ticket. With that in mind, no, it would be irresponsible to take an absolute pledge like this because it fails to take into account the situation which may exist at a time of passage.
Kennedy’s campaign devised that response in consultation with running mate Ra Joy, who ran Change Illinois, a good government group that pushed hard for remap reform. I talked to Ra after Kennedy submitted his response, and he was adamant about not making any veto pledges.
Instead of pledging to veto — which is self-defeating and shows how inexperienced candidates would back themselves into a corner because they are unable to advance an agenda constructively — as governor, I would advocate for a true independent redistricting process.
At the time I created the candidate question, I thought for sure that the often-cautious Pritzker would refuse to take a solid stand and Kennedy and Biss would most certainly sign on to the veto pledge. In my own mind, I was deliberately setting a trap for Pritzker. Boy, was I ever wrong.
We’ll see how this all shakes out.
And it’s the job of reformers to complain. I get that. But I also think it’s important to note that not everybody agrees on what is and what isn’t a proper reform.
* Meanwhile, on another topic, Chris Mooney does a pretty good job of outlining both sides of this argument…
University of Illinois Chicago politics professor Chris Mooney said he doesn’t expect the appointment process to change.
“It advantages those who are inside and if they’re the only ones paying attention, who has the incentive to change? No one,” Mooney said. “And there are reasonable counter-arguments to make.”
One reason to keep the appointment process in place is the high cost of special elections, Mooney said.
“You want to run a special election for a state representative district that’s going to serve out a year when nobody really knows who these people are anyway? That would be a hard sell,” Mooney said.
* I was talking with someone about this very point over the holiday. These big infrastructure bills usually take weeks, even months, to sort out. But the new bill was put together in record time and lots of projects were lump-summed, which gives the governor enormous influence…
State Rep .Mike Unes (R-East Peoria) said he is displeased with the way the capital bill quickly took shape. […]
“There was thousands of pages of bills introduced in a matter of hours that spent over $40 billion that we were supposed to vote on without anybody reading it. That’s bad form,” he said.
The Republican legislator said lawmakers were asked to vote on doubling the state motor fuel tax without getting a chance to actually know which projects would benefit.
In his district, Unes said a project to upgrade Court Street (Illinois Route 9) in Pekin was left out of the bill, and expenses for the widening of U.S. Route 24 in Peoria and Fulton Counties from two to four lanes didn’t have itemized expenses, but was instead funded by a lump sum amount.
An Illinois state lawmaker who spent $20,000 from his campaign coffers to build a video and podcast studio in his Springfield office plans to use the power of social media to share his work and bring his message to more people, something lawmakers throughout the state are trying and testing.
State lawmakers are using social media more and more to reach their constituents and beyond. They share graphics, facts, figures and other information along with videos, either live or produced via Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media platforms. It comes from their state offices or their campaigns.
He showed up for a press conference with the governor last month and wandered around the podium before the VIPs came out. He told his Facebook followers about the upcoming presser and even read aloud from some of the notes on the podium.
State Treasurer Mike Frerichs of Champaign was at Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s Rebuild Illinois announcement last week at the Illini Union and got a shoutout from the pudgy chief executive.
“You always say you stand tall for Illinois,” Pritzker said to the 6-foot, 8-inch Frerichs. “It’s funny. I know and I stand short and squatty for Illinois.”
Pritzker also said improving the state’s infrastructure could also save money on repairs for drivers.
“By resurfacing roads, people’s cars are going to get less damage,” he said. “When you blow out a tire, you often have to replace two tires. that can cost $300, and so the expense of paying for the roads and the upgrades of our bridges and life safety is worth it.
Drive down a major road or highway in Illinois and you’ll likely feel the bump of potholes. A report from TRIP, a Washington, D.C.-based research group, put a number on what it costs drivers to travel these roads — $18.3 billion. That includes additional car repairs, time lost in traffic, and crashes caused by poor road conditions.
The group is funded by road-builders, unions and “organizations concerned with an efficient and safe surface transportation network that promotes economic development and quality of life.”
That doesn’t make their numbers wrong, but it does make me wonder.
* The Question: Have your household or work cars been damaged in the past few years by poor Illinois roads, bridges, etc.? If so, how often? Make sure to explain your answer. Thanks.
He might be in his first term in the Illinois House, but Darren Bailey is already looking to move up.
The Xenia farmer is scheduled to announce today that he will be a candidate for 55th District State Senator. Bailey is looking to succeed Republican Dale Righter of Mattoon, who earlier announced he will not seek re-election in 2020.
I told subscribers about the GOP primary shaping up to replace Sen. Righter several days ago. Rep. Chris Miller’s (R-Oakland) wife Mary is also considering a bid for the seat.
* Bailey, you will recall, is an Eastern Bloc member who has promoted anti-vaxxer myths, among other things, including inviting Pastor Corey Musgrave of the New Beginnings church to Springfield to lead the daily House prayer, during which Musgrave said…
I ask you to rise up, oh God, and judge Illinois for the sanctioned destruction of the innocent unborn. For when Your judgements are in this state, the inhabitants of Illinois learn righteousness. In this House I pray for justice to roll down like water and righteousness like a mighty river. In Your judgement I pray that You would remember mercy for we know that You, oh God, do not want anyone to be destroyed.
A pal of mine who helps with the Eastern Bloc’s PR passed that House prayer video along to me in May. I now can’t help but wonder if Bailey was setting up his friend to run for his House seat with some sure-fired publicity over a controversial prayer.
*** UPDATE *** Press release…
Darren Bailey, who currently serves as a State Representative in the 109th District, is today announcing his intentions to run for the Illinois State Senate in the 55th District.
“I did not make this decision lightly,” Bailey said. “My wife and I have spent a lot of time praying and talking to people I know and trust. I was overwhelmed with encouragement I received from these individuals. My sincere desire in running for office has always been to be a strong advocate for our values in Springfield. I believe the best way I can continue to serve and champion the values we share is to run for the Illinois Senate.”
Bailey said the office he is seeking may be changing but his core beliefs remain the same.
“Some people go to Springfield and let the political culture there change them,” Bailey said. “If anything, my experience in Springfield so far has only motivated me more to work for the changes we need. I am pro-life, pro-2nd amendment and pro-spending reforms. I will bring common-sense conservative values to the Illinois Senate.”
This spring, Bailey voted against late-term abortions, the tax increase on motor fuel, the progressive income tax Constitutional Amendment, legalization of recreational marijuana, the $15 per hour minimum wage increase and other harmful legislation. Bailey’s voting record is one of the most conservative during the recently concluded legislative session.
“Illinois is going in the wrong direction,” Bailey said. “The Democrats passed some of the most extreme abortion legislation in the country. They approved recreational marijuana and raised taxes. As State Senator in the 55th District, I will stand firm in opposing the radical agenda the Democrat leaders in the Illinois House and Senate are pushing.
Darren Bailey is the owner of Bailey Family Farm. He is a graduate of North Clay High School in Louisville and he received his A.A.S. in Agricultural Production from Lake Land College. Bailey attends Effingham Assemblies of God Church. He is a member of the Illinois Farm Bureau, Louisville Rotary Club, NRA, Illinois State Rifle Association, the Gideons International, Fellowship of Christian Farmers, National and State Corn Growers Association, National and State Soybean Association, Illinois Wheat association, Rolling Thunder Chapter 3, and the Illinois Independent Business Federation. He and his wife Cindy established Full Armor Christian Academy in Louisville. They have four married children and eight grandchildren.
The Primary Election is March 17, 2020. For more information, log onto
www.baileyforillinois.com.
Municipal market analysts are brushing off the efforts of a New York hedge fund and conservative think-tank to invalidate $14.3 billion of outstanding Illinois debt as a legal long shot that even if successful would likely draw state support to make bondholders whole.
“We will limit our discussion to the justification behind this lawsuit and quite frankly, we do not think there is any,” Citi’s Vikram Rai and Jack Muller wrote of the legal arguments in a “Global Municipals Flash” report after the firm was “inundated” with calls from clients worried about the impact of the litigation filed Monday. […]
Illinois Policy Institute head John Tillman, acting as a taxpayer, and Warlander Asset Management LP, which holds $25 million of Illinois debt, filed the taxpayer/bondholder litigation Monday. They are asking the court to allow them to file a taxpayer lawsuit against the state to halt further repayment of 2003 and 2017 bonds they argue violate the state constitution. […]
Market participants appear skeptical of the legal arguments given the broad powers and limited rules guiding state issuance and the multiple layers of legal review.
“From all appearances it’s just a crank lawsuit,” said Matt Fabian, partner at Municipal Market Analytics. “Even if these guys do win, which seems unlikely, the state is going to do right by bondholders. Concerns over invalidation are really only a problem when it’s the borrower making the claim. It’s very unlikely to change demand for state bonds.” […]
“Some clients have openly questioned the ethical motivation behind the lawsuit and wondered if the recent surprise ruling by the First Circuit Court of Appeals [about Puerto Rico’s debt] has incentivized opportunistic investors to try their luck in the courts challenging other varieties of debt,” Citi wrote in its report.
The Illinois Department of Public Health owes the federal government an estimated $24 million for debt that piled up from a complicated state program to vaccinate low-income kids, WBEZ has learned.
The revelation adds another layer to Illinois’ byzantine effort to get vaccines for roughly 130,000 low-income children. The state had been using free vaccines from the federal government for kids in the Children’s Health Insurance Program, known as CHIP.
But then the feds called for states including Illinois to pay for those doses. So former Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner stopped the financial bleeding with a major policy shift that led some doctors to stop vaccinating low-income children. Dozens of physicians have told Illinois public health officials this “could lead to a public health crisis with disastrous consequences” in light of the nationwide measles outbreak.
Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s administration has reversed a controversial state policy that made it harder for low-income children to get vaccinated, WBEZ has learned.
The change is likely to affect some of the roughly 130,000 Illinois kids who are in the Children’s Health Insurance Program, known as CHIP. WBEZ first reported in April that getting vaccines to those children got more difficult following a state rule change made by former Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner.
Pritzker’s administration quietly reversed the rule on Monday, according to a memo obtained by WBEZ. Physicians and pediatric organizations cheered the policy shift on Wednesday.
“We know that families want to get their shots at their medical home,” said Jennie Pinkwater, executive director of the Illinois chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics. “They want to see their doctor, get those things taken care of in a place where they feel comfortable and have built a relationship with a physician or provider. We’re really excited to see this barrier removed to that.” […]
The rule change will likely mean more costs for the state because more doctors might start once again vaccinating patients on CHIP insurance. But it’s unclear how much.
The newly rejoined program will allow providers to obtain vaccines for CHIP children via the VFC program without having to buy vaccines from private sources at market cost and be reimbursed later. As more physician practices, Federally Qualified Health Centers, health department and other providers across the state transition into the newly rejoined program, children covered by CHIP will also be able to get their CDC-recommended vaccines via their medical provider, IDPH said.
* Joe Bustos at the Belleville News-Democrats has the most thorough deep-dives into the new gaming laws that I have yet seen…
Just because Gov. J.B. Pritzker has signed a massive gaming expansion into law, it doesn’t mean people can wager on St. Louis Cardinals games right away.
The Illinois’ gaming expansion is one of the ways the state will help pay for the $45 billion Rebuild Illinois capital bill and is planned to go toward projects at state facilities. The gaming expansion legalized sports betting, authorized up to six new casinos, including one in Williamson County, casino-like gaming at horse racetracks, and more video gaming in restaurants, taverns, fraternal organizations and truck stops.
But the gaming board still needs to set up rules for sports betting, review the eventual applications for gaming licenses for the six new casinos and racinos, and oversee the addition of more video gaming terminals.
When the state legalized video gaming terminals as part of the 2009 Illinois Jobs Now! capital plan, it took three years for the machines to get up and running.
* Metropolis’ casino just plugs away without much notice. The Danville Commercial-News talks with that town’s mayor to see what might be ahead for its own area…
Having casino revenue flow into the city has been a big impact on the southern Illinois City of Metropolis for the past few decades. Danville officials hope to see the same thing here with a casino within a couple years.
When a casino first came to Metropolis in the 1990s, the city of about 7,000 people received about $7 million annually in revenue.
“It was a big deal,” Mayor Billy McDaniel said.
“We were able to do a lot of infrastructure and things like that that we actually paid in cash. We built a new fire station and police station, remodeled our library, redid a substation …,” McDaniel said, adding that they also paved and widened roadways, paved alleys and completed several other projects over the years. They also had scholarships for local high school students.
McDaniel said he’s not criticizing past use of the money, but he said some also was spent foolishly.
* Allowing racetracks to create “racinos” has been a goal for years, but Crain’s looks at whether Arlington Racecourse will be much of a player…
With the looming super-saturation of the Chicago-area casino business, one theory is that Churchill Downs will opt to focus on its Rivers Casino stake, a pure-play gambling option, and one that comes with Rivers co-founder and Chicago real estate magnate Neil Bluhm, whom Carstanjen, 51, has said he values for his local political savvy.
Under the lawyer and GE Commercial Finance alum, Churchill Downs has morphed into a casino company with 11,000 slots and “video lottery terminals,” 200 gaming tables and, yes, a few racetracks. Its stock has quadrupled from a five-year low.
Rivers Casino alone generated $442 million in revenue last year—50 percent more than racing did for Churchill. Less than 30 percent of Churchill Downs’ 2018 revenue of $1.01 billion was directly related to racing, compared with more than 40 percent attributable to casino operations. (The remainder was largely due to online betting.)
Meanwhile, Arlington’s revenue declined $2.2 million last year, to $61.7 million, a sample of horse-racing industry challenges. While casinos cut into the betting “handle”—down nearly 40 percent, to $11 billion industrywide, since 2002—a surge in on-track fatalities threatens an existential crisis.
The city of Rockford released a Request for Proposals regarding casino expansion on Wednesday.
The document offers details on the city’s background, potential project sites and a timetable for casino completion. […]
July 25: Last day for interested proposers to submit written questions
August 1: Responses to questions distributed via addendum and on the City’s website
Aug. 16: Request for Proposals responses due by 2 p.m.
Aug. 19-Sept. 13: City follow-up questions to proposers, evaluation
September 16: Evaluation team submits recommendations to City Council
Sept. 23: Public Hearing
By Sept. 30: City Council certifies proposers
Before Oct. 25: Applications filed with Illinois Gaming Board
Waukegan’s request for proposals asks potential developers to detail their ideas for where the new casino could go and what it would be like, requiring such details as the number and types of gaming positions, the plan for including sports betting, the physical layout of the space, parking plans, and a description of associated facilities like restaurants, hotel, convention center, and retail or entertainment options.
Applicants were given a deadline of 3 p.m. on July 22 to submit their concepts.
Cunningham has repeatedly pointed to a site at the Fountain Square shopping complex off routes 43 and 120 as a future home for a casino, the documentation released Wednesday also identifies other city-owned sites in the downtown or near the lakefront.
The Illinois Gaming Board has been given until Monday to hire a private consultant to conduct a casino feasibility study. The consultant then has just 45 days to come back with study results. Then the city has just 90 days to propose any necessary changes in the law through a “trailer” bill in Springfield.
* Gambling Bill Approval Gets Southern Illinois a New $300m Casino Resort: The projections for the development cost of the casino resort appear to be in the region of $300m. The project will see 330 rooms built and hundreds of new jobs created. Governor Pritzker is confident that the new legislation will be a massive help to the state
One point Gov. J.B. Pritzker has made since Mayor Lori Lightfoot began using the news media to ask for a multi-billion-dollar state pension bailout is that other parts of Illinois are having the same problems as the state’s largest city.
Rockford is one of them, as the governor noted last week. Its first responder pension funds are in horrible shape for pretty much the same reason as so many others are: The state didn’t require local governments to fully fund those particular pension funds, so a large number of locals just didn’t do it.
Sufficient local contributions have long been required by state law to the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund, the unified statewide pension system for almost all other local government retirees. Consequently, the IMRF has always ranked among the best-funded systems in Illinois.
Locals are now required to do the same for police and fire pensions and the squeeze is real. In typical top-down Statehouse fashion, local governments were simply ordered to fix their first responder pension deficits without any sort of help from the state.
Rockford Mayor Tom McNamara claimed not long ago that by 2025 pension payments will consume an eye-popping 60 percent of his city’s annual budget.
Last November, Peoria’s city council voted to eliminate 22 firefighter and 16 police positions to help close a $6 million budget hole. Carterville, in southern Illinois, raised its property taxes by 30 percent last year to help cover the hole created by the state mandate. The list is almost endless.
The governor has flatly ruled out any sort of state assumption of local pension liability. He explained, with strong evidence, that doing so could quickly hurtle the state’s bond rating into junk territory. Pritzker talked about some pension fund consolidation, but only for administrative functions and investments, which would save some money, but only on the edges and mainly for smaller funds. Full consolidation of liabilities would probably not go over well with local governments which have healthy pension funds.
Something clearly needs to be done about this mess. Pritzker himself has repeatedly admitted that high property taxes are driving businesses out of state.
But, unlike his two immediate predecessors, Pritzker will not support pension benefit reductions (which would be unconstitutional anyway without changing the state’s constitution, which is politically not possible and might only be doable for new hires even if it could be accomplished, which it can’t). And, unlike the man he defeated last year, Bruce Rauner, Pritzker won’t favor allowing local governments to cut their operating costs by unilaterally slashing benefits earned through the collective bargaining process.
That leaves revenue. But Pritzker won’t support a politically unpopular tax on retirement income that Lightfoot foolishly floated. Anyone paying even the slightest bit of attention to last year’s Democratic gubernatorial primary could see Pritzker’s aversion to that tax and how he used the issue to successfully bludgeon his top two opponents. I have no idea what she was thinking, but she ought to fire whoever came up with the idea. And if it was her idea, she needs to learn from that blunder, or she’s got a very rocky road ahead of her.
What this rookie mayor doesn’t yet seem to quite grasp is that if she wants state help for her city then she has to make friends and allies. And you obviously don’t do that by allowing the state’s leaders to be blindsided by a tax proposal which has zero chance of being considered, let alone passed.
You also don’t make friends by setting up the governor and the General Assembly to take the blame for your own failure. They aren’t the City Council, which can be pressured into standing at the new mayor’s command during an inauguration ceremony. Just ask Bruce Rauner how that sort of governing style worked in Springfield. Actually, don’t ask him because he probably still thinks he did everything right.
Mayor Lightfoot has a governor and two Democratic legislative leaders with super-majorities who live in her city and want her to succeed. But, as important as her city is, it is not an island. The mayor needs to make common cause with Downstate and suburban mayors to push for realistic solutions.
A local service tax option, which the mayor said she now supports as an alternative to that retirement income tax, might possibly be one way to do it. But it most certainly won’t happen unilaterally. Nothing will.
* Related…
* Gov. Pritzker still looking at pension fix: “Our goal is to have the work of the task force, at least the initial work with an initial recommendation sometime this summer so that in the event there is action needed in the veto session we’re ready to do that,” Hynes said.
* I had planned to shut down the blog yesterday for the holiday because I have a lot of errands and other stuff to do this afternoon and figured traffic would be light here, but changed my mind. I’m not sure why.
Anyway, you’re on your own for the rest of the day. Please try to be nice to each other and keep the conversation Illinois-centric. As always, you can monitor any breaking news with our live coverage post below.
* I will leave you with an excerpt from an email I received Monday from a person who worked for a former governor…
Hi Rich—someone just forwarded me your post on Karl. I did not realize he was Wordslinger! Karl was a friend of ours. … He was a great guy. We were able to stop by the memorial at Doc Ryan’s a few weeks ago and I know his family will be happy to see all the support from the Capitol Fax Blog community.
It’s like the man had two identities, along the lines of a Clark Kent or Bruce Wayne. To his family and friends, he was Karl Oxnevad, a great dude with a fine family living the good life in Oak Park. Unbeknownst to most of those folks, he was also one of the most influential voices in the state.
You cannot imagine how many political types have told me they were crushed by the news of his death. Whether they agreed with him or not, they listened to what he said.
* From a very reliable person who lives in Chicago…
I was walking to work and see this guy standing on the curb yelling into his phone. Look over. It’s Bruce and Diana. He has crutches and a scraggly beard. He looks disheveled. And he keeps correcting someone on the other line and yelling his address into the phone.
The former governor was standing outside his apartment building when he was spotted yesterday. I had heard he’d injured his ankle.
* Meanwhile, Mrs. Rauner was spotted at the governor’s office in the Thompson Center yesterday…
A hearing officer has recommended Gail Simpson should be declared the winner of the race for the Ward 2 seat on the Springfield City Council that was initially too close to call.
Retired Judge John Mehlick, who is overseeing a vote recount process on behalf of the city, said in a report made public Tuesday that after taking into account the recounted ballots and his rulings on which disputed ballots should be awarded to a candidate or thrown out, Simpson defeated Shawn Gregory by 0.361 of a vote.
The fraction-of-a-vote advantage happened because of 13 ballots where voters were assisted in filling out their ballots, but the required affidavits that must be filed by in such cases were incomplete. Most of the voters who got assistance live at the Mary Bryant Home for the Blind and Visually Impaired, according to documents filed during the challenge process.
In his report, Mehlick said that due to the error, all 13 ballots should be thrown out and all candidates’ vote totals should be reduced proportionally based on what percentage of the vote they received in the precincts where the 13 ballots were cast.
Yields on Illinois bonds spiked higher on Tuesday in the U.S. municipal market after a constitutional challenge to $16 billion of the state’s general obligation bonds was launched on Monday.
Illinois already pays the biggest yield penalty among states in the $3.8 trillion market due to its low credit ratings, which are a notch or two above junk.
Greg Saulnier, an analyst at Municipal Market Data (MMD), said the spread for Illinois GO bonds over MMD’s benchmark triple-A yield scale had tightened over the past two months as investors gobbled up higher-yielding debt, leaving the state’s bond prices at a greater risk of falling.
“The lawsuit headline was like adding a spark to a powder keg so to speak and trading swiftly indicated spreads wider by 20-25 basis points,” he added.
Pritzker and Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza dismissed the lawsuit as a political tactic by John Tillman, the chief executive officer of the Illinois Policy Institute, a conservative think tank, that will be tossed out of court. The case, also filed by New York hedge fund Warlander Asset Management claims the state’s record pension bond sale in 2003 and debt issued in 2017 to pay a backlog of unpaid bills were deficit financings prohibited by the constitution.
Warlander owns $25 million Illinois general-obligation bonds issued in 2001, 2014, 2017 and 2018. Those bonds would be more secure if the firm succeeded in having the other securities invalidated, since there would be more money available to service the debt.
Analysts are skeptical. Citigroup Inc.’s Vikram Rai and Jack Muller published a note on the case after the bank was inundated with calls. They said the lawsuit is unjustified because the Illinois Constitution allows debt to be incurred as long as the law details the specific purpose of the debt and how it will be repaid. Even if it did succeed, they said, the government would likely find a way to repay the debt to avoid being penalized in the bond market. […]
Jason Appleson, a portfolio manager at PT Asset Management LLC, said he believed market consensus is that the lawsuit was frivolous. […]
Appleson attributed the initial widening to “a couple of scared buyers” affecting a light trading day in a slow market. “If this moves forward in court, I think we could see some more widening but if it’s shut down we could see a snap-back in spreads given the market conditions.”
* More person on the street interviews about the 19 cents per gallon Motor Fuel Tax increase on gasoline…
John Taylor – a retired state worker – said he doesn’t mind paying the extra few dollars that are set to go to infrastructure repairs.
“The drivers ultimately have to pay for the roads,” he said while filling up at a gas station off Interstate 55 in Springfield Monday. “I mean who else do we think would pay for them? They’ve been neglected for years. I think it seems fair.”
Still, not everyone is happy with the increase. Jo Flowers, from Springfield, was getting gas at the same station. She said higher prices may affect how much she drives.
“I have to make sure I have enough gas to get back and forth to work,” said the single mom who works at a mail sorting company across town from where she lives.
There is zero doubt that this tax hike will cause some pain. But we cannot continue to allow our infrastructure to deteriorate like it has been. The problems created over the past couple of decades through neglect or outright malice need to be addressed, and this is just one of them.
Waste haulers, who maintain large fleets of gas-guzzling garbage trucks, plan to pass the added cost along to consumers as soon as possible.
Most garbage trucks burn diesel fuel, which saw an even higher 21.5 cent-per-gallon tax increase kick in Monday, bringing the total state tax to 44.5 cents per gallon.
Lakeshore Recycling, which has 225 residential and commercial garbage trucks working in Chicago and the suburbs each day, will see its costs rise by at least $1 million annually, said CEO Alan Handley.
The Morton Grove company services 350,000 residences and 30,000 businesses, including all Chicago Public Schools, and empties the garbage cans in communities such as Highland Park, Wheaton, Skokie, Evanston and Deerfield. Both residential and business customers will likely pay the tab for the state’s fuel tax increase, Handley said.
“The cost has to be passed along,” Handley said. “We can’t absorb all that.”
Big trucks do far more damage to roads and bridges than cars. And somebody has to pay to fix those roads and bridges, including the customers of those waste hauling services.
About 15 protesters backed up traffic on Monday along a busy intersection in Collinsville as a statement against the doubling of the state gas to 38 cents as part of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s new $40 billion state budget.
Demonstrators intimated they thought they were speaking for all state residents in making their voices heard.
Pritzker said all the road repairs will actually help families save money in the long run, despite the taxes.
“Families that are enduring $500 per year of damage to their cars because of the potholes because of the problems on our highways and our roads,” Pritzker said.
He also says the bill provides money for towns to do their own work. Sesser mayor Jason Ashmore said he’s hoping for help with the town’s sewer and water systems.
“We’ve made tremendous strides in our water and sewer infrastructure, but a lot of it is still from the 1930s so we’re still trying to get that updated,” Ashmore said.
No one is happy about the taxes, including [Rep. Dave Severin, R-Benton], but he said they need to happen.
“People in southern Illinois are going to see changes, and they’re going to be good changes, we just got to get people to hang with us,” Severin said.
But the gas tax is certainly the most painful. With this new hike, Gov. Pritzker and progressive tax proponents just broke their promise to give tax relief to Illinois’ middle and lower class.
Remember that when the progressive tax amendment comes on the ballot next year. Proponents are going to promise the middle class a tax cut, but it won’t be true.
So… don’t vote yourself a modest income tax cut because of the gas tax hike?
Cassidy’s courage in taking on the state’s most powerful Democrat prompted another Madigan staffer, Sherri Garrett, to seek her out to share her own allegations of “bullying and repeated harassment” by Mapes, who ultimately resigned from his positions as chief of staff to the speaker and executive director of the Illinois Democratic Party [last year]. […]
“My relationship with the speaker this year has been quite positive. We started the session off with a really good conversation about what had happened between us and what we wanted to do differently moving forward,” Cassidy said. “And I think we both stuck to the plan through this session in terms of a more communicative direct discussion.”
But has the #MeToo movement, which has led to the resignations of several in the Madigan world, changed the speaker?
“I don’t know what to place that on, the changes in the way the House was run this year. Could it be his direct reaction to that? Could it be just the difference between Mapes’ leadership style and Jessica’s [Basham, his current chief of staff] leadership style? Is it a combination of the two? I don’t know because I try really hard to not spend time in anyone’s head but my own.”
“I can’t really say which I think it is, certainly some combination of those things probably had an impact on it. But things were different. Things were definitely different in the House this year,” Cassidy said.
* This is one of Wordslinger’s first comments on the blog. It’s from an August 2007 post about some Rod Blagojevich shenanigans…
Is there anyone who can get through to this guy and tell him to move on? Durbin, Rahm Emanuel, Obama? Maybe a Jim Thompson or a Jim Edgar? Anyone inside his admininistration? If there’s another CTA fire, or a bridge collapses, and there’s no capital budget, he, as the face of Illinois government will pay a dear price.
* Here’s his reply to a 2007 Question of the Day about our strongest memories of Harold Washington…
Political:
His alliance with and resurrection of George Dunne after he had been cast out by Byrne.
To benefit Mondale, running as a favorite son in the 1984 Illinois Presidential Primary to keep Jesse from winning.
The final defeat of the Vrodlyak 29 with the special election of Luis Guiterrez. First order of business: Firing Ed Kelly and the Park District Board.
Quote: Asked if his fight with the Two Eddies was racial: “It’s not racial. They’d support a purple ape if they could control him.”
And in addition to “Hocus Pocus Dominocus,” I’ll add “Willie Lump Lump,” a handy description of any self-important non-entity.
* And here’s one from March 2008 about a poll showing broad support for medical cannabis…
Hard to believe that we’re still so rigid when it comes to this issue.
Throwing marijuana, medical or otherwise, into the same boat as crack, meth and heroin in a “war on drugs” is just silly.
I’ve been around the block a few times and have sampled my share of mind-altering substances. Based on that, I’d be more concerned about catching my kid with a bottle of Jack Daniels than a joint. I hope he does neither. But if you want to hear yourself sound stupid, try explaining to a kid why pot is illegal and whiskey is advertised on Sunday tv sport contests.
It’s 2008, not 1958. The Woodstock generation is pushing 70. Next issue, please.
* From 2010, when the Ricketts family wanted to finance Wrigley Field upgrades with a $200 million state bond…
The Ricketts rollout was about the biggest bellyflop for a first-time dive into the Illinois political pool in a long while. Confusing for all, painful for some.
Kass has four or five columns — Cellini, Daley runs the country through Obama, Quarters Boyle, Obama/Rezko — that he just recycles over and over, rewriting a couple of paragraphs here or there.
Maybe now that Fast Eddie is out of the can he can get some new material.
I’m really gonna miss that guy.
Click here and help put Word’s daughter Emma through college.
…Adding… We want to keep the grand total of contributions under $20,000 for tax reasons, so keep that in mind, please.
All-American Rejects will play the DuQuoin State Fair on Saturday, August 24.
Fair officials made the announcement Monday.
The pop rock band best known for songs “Swing Swing” and “Move Along” joins a mostly country lineup featuring Wynonna Judd, Shenandoah, and Restless Heart.
OK, now scroll through the fair’s lineup on the WSIL TV website. Here’s the Tuesday show…
Tuesday, Aug. 27: Confederate Railroad, Shenandoah and Restless Heart. Confederate Railroad has been a hit-making force in Southern rock since the 1990s, with two releases going platinum in the ’90s.
I checked and was told the state canceled Confederate Railroad’s contract.
Last month, I asked you whether you thought booking a band named Confederate Railroad, which has Confederate battle flags on the cover of its latest album, for a show in Illinois, the Land of Lincoln, at a state-owned facility was appropriate.
* The Question: Is canceling this show appropriate? Make sure to explain your answer.
* As I told you yesterday, Wordslinger’s family had requested donations to “members of the Oxnevad family, to be put towards continuing higher education.”
Word’s daughter Emma is attending DePaul to become a journalist and is doing a summer internship at the Sun-Times. I reached out to her yesterday to ask her to set up a GoFundMe page so we could help defray her costs.
My name is Emma Oxnevad, and I’m Karl’s—or as you knew him, Wordslinger’s—daughter. My family and I read through the outpour of love and admiration you all had for my dad and his work and it touched us all. I have countless memories of my dad sitting at a computer, typing away on Capitol Fax, and it would have meant the world to him to see how much you all admired his wit, perspective, and humor. He was one of a kind, and you all saw that.
When speaking with Rich Miller, he suggested the idea of a GoFundMe in order to help put me through my last two years of college. I’m a journalism student at DePaul—I guess the apple doesn’t fall too far—and given the sudden nature of my father’s passing, paying for school is becoming even more daunting than before.
I am not one to ask for favors from strangers, nor am I one to ask for people’s hard-earned money for my own benefit. However, my dad always made sure that my financial aid at school was covered and up-to-date, and I know he would want to make sure that I would have some security stored away for the time I have left in school.
Any amount is appreciated, as are the beautiful tributes you all left for my dad and his work. He understood the power of words and conversation, and he would be absolutely floored by the love in this thread.
Thank you all very much and keep up the discourse.
-Emma
Emma’s goal is $10,000, which I suggested. I will match the first $2,500, but that will still only get us half way. So, I’m asking you to dig as deep as you possibly can on this one.
As has been obvious over the past couple of days, Wordslinger meant a lot to everyone who spent any time at all on this website. Let’s pay it forward. Please, click here.
…Adding… I just received a call from someone who would like to remain anonymous. We have another donor who will match the first $2,500 raised on Emma’s GoFundMe site. Pretty cool.
The plaudits J.B. Pritzker received from a smattering of observers following the recent legislative session was the kind of attention for which most politicians only dream.
Is it any surprise with supermajorities in the General Assembly that he and the Democrats passed a lot of legislation? Of course, one might argue the bar was set pretty low given his predecessor’s preference for choosing fights over accomplishments.
One must wonder, as the new fiscal year begins today, if voters are as receptive to the governor’s version of “thinking big” as much as Springfield insiders and some members of the press.
That “smattering” included the organization he ran for years, the Illinois Manufacturers Association. From a Friday press release…
“Manufacturers need a modern infrastructure system to compete in today’s global economy and this capital infrastructure program builds a bridge to the future. We applaud Gov. JB Pritzker and lawmakers for making this game-changing investment in our infrastructure that improves Illinois’ economic competitiveness,” said Mark Denzler, president & CEO of the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association. “Infrastructure creates jobs and allows for safer families, faster commutes and the efficient movement of people and products around the world. Rebuild Illinois also funds important career and technical education programs to help address the skills gap and workforce challenge facing manufacturers across Illinois.”
And while he’s distancing himself from Bruce Rauner now, Baise’s organization endorsed him in 2014 and 2018.
Also, he was one of the most connected “Springfield insiders” of them all for decades. I mean, his Springfield roommate was Speaker Madigan’s best friend. Now he’s supposedly an outsider? Please.
The governor doesn’t like that term—but sometimes the truth is hard to accept.
How else would you define removing the ceiling on our tax rate to give the politicians in Springfield the freedom to raise rates on whatever “class” they decide to target if incoming revenues don’t match their ferocious appetite for spending?
Kind of sounds like they’re getting a blank check.
As I’ve said before, I do believe that this constitutional amendment will eventually allow the General Assembly to raise taxes on upper income folks without dinging the middle-income and lower-income folks. I don’t think the question is “if,” but “when.”
The state’s agriculture department is working to get the regulatory framework up and running for the adult-use recreational cannabis law.
After Gov. J.B. Pritzker enacted the measure last week, legal sales of recreational cannabis for adults 21 and older are expected to begin Jan. 1. But first, the rules and framework for recreational sales need to be completed.
Illinois Department of Agriculture Director John Sullivan said state officials want to make sure there’s plenty of product for when retail sales begin.
“We’re going to be overseeing and regulating the growing, the processing, the craft grow and the transportation,” Sullivan said. “Big role, a lot of responsibility.”
To do all of that, he said the department needs more people.
“Getting people in place is really going to be one of our first steps, because it’s going to take more manpower to do that,” Sullivan said. “So we’re reviewing that to make sure we’ve got the proper staff there.”
To start, only the existing medical cannabis businesses will be allowed to cultivate, produce and dispense cannabis. On the retail level, that means 55 existing stores will have to meet the demands of a 13 million-person state with a massive tourist population. Each of these existing operators will be allowed to open a second store, but the realities of real estate site selection, permitting and build out means that none will likely open before adult-use sales begin on Jan. 1, 2020, and most won’t come online until mid 2020.
But the biggest problem will be the lack of production capacity in the state. Illinois currently has a small medical cannabis program, with a current patient population of around 70,000, when compared to most states. The state has issued 19 production licenses, controlled by fifteen businesses (including my own company, 4Front, which operates a cultivation facility in Elk Grove Village) to cultivate and produce cannabis for the state’s dispensaries. These businesses will all be allowed to transition to serve the adult-use wholesale market in time for sales to begin on January 1.
The immediate problem is that these businesses have built a physical production infrastructure designed to meet the demands of a 70,000-person medical market. They are nowhere near equipped to meet the market demand for 13 million residents and 58 million annual tourists to Chicago alone.
Days after the Illinois legislature voted to legalize recreational cannabis, Nature’s Treatment of Illinois, a medical marijuana dispensary in Milan, had a problem: People kept showing up at their store wanting to buy weed.
The bill had not yet been signed into law by Gov J.B. Pritzker — that wouldn’t happen until late June. But the deluge of foot traffic forced employees to put up a door sign that recreational marijuana was not yet for sale.
And while low-level marijuana charges have plummeted, the racial divide in drug arrests has persisted. State numbers show that African-Americans in Colorado were still being arrested on marijuana charges at nearly twice the rate of white people.
But that statistic was offered without any sort of context. For instance, this is from the Colorado Independent…
In 2017, roughly one in 28 adult black men in Colorado was in prison. Put another way, African Americans made up 18 percent of the prison population and only 4 percent of the state’s adult population, an incarceration rate that was seven times higher than the rate for white Coloradans.
* Rep. Villanueva talked about her mom during last week’s press conference. She was being treated in a Catholic hospital, which wouldn’t sign off on access to medical cannabis…
Rep. Celina Villanueva’s mother was diagnosed with cancer last August. Her mother, who is undergoing chemotherapy, expressed interest in using medical cannabis for pain management, but hasn’t been able to participate because she wasn’t able to find a doctor at the facility where she receives treatment to sign off, Villanueva said.
“She’s one of many people throughout this state and one of many people throughout this country that could not find relief within the cannabis program,” said Villanueva, one of the sponsors of the recreational cannabis bill. “And that’s something that I carry with me every single day. I did this for her. And for those people that unfortunately fall outside of that program that don’t want to be on opioids in order to help the symptoms of their diseases.”
* If I was the king, towns would have to hold a referendum before opting out to prevent the set in their ways types from doing this…
Recreational marijuana businesses won’t be allowed in Morton.
After a brief discussion, Village Board members voted unanimously Monday to ban recreational marijuana growers, cultivation centers, and dispensing, processing and transporting facilities that could have set up shop in Morton after the passage last week of a new law legalizing recreational marijuana within Illinois.
“This is the tip of the spear,” village attorney Pat McGrath told board members. “I’ll be bringing more ordinances to you before Jan. 1, 2020, that deal with other issues caused by the state law, like public possession of marijuana.”
* The Sun-Times has an occasional tendency to shift into tabloid-style “Reefer Madness” reporting and this piece is a good example of that…
The law legalizing the recreational use of marijuana beginning Jan. 1 provides an exemption to the Smoke-Free Illinois Act that banned smoking at workplaces and most public places because of the health threat of secondhand smoke. A similar exemption already was in place for cigar lounges.
That means smoking once again could become commonplace at public places in Illinois, according to the law’s chief sponsor — but only of marijuana, not tobacco, which remains largely banned at workplaces and businesses.
Surprised to hear that, health advocates say allowing more smoking of any kind in indoor public places is a bad idea.
“This is a step backwards for the health of the people of Illinois,” says Kathy Drea, head of advocacy for the American Lung Association in Illinois.
Um, no. I also talked with the bill’s chief sponsor and she said the language was designed to allow for cigar bar type establishments. Local governments could, in theory, allow weed smoking in other places like bars. But nobody believed that would happen here and it was discussed during the House debate.
As for legalizing pot, Cassidy said the restorative and social justice aspects of the massive cannabis bill are what brought her to the measure. But she has an “open mind” when it comes to using marijuana. Cassidy said she “looks forward to the day when it’s not a novelty question” — “nobody asks me if I drink wine.”
She also celebrated legalization by getting a tattoo just days ago: a cartoon of a paper bill waving hi. It features marijuana leaves and a sash that reads “bill.”
Here’s the little guy…
Caption?
*** UPDATE *** Sen. McClure…
Hi Rich,
I was just looking at your blog and noticed that it linked to a recent story on smoking marijuana in public from the Chicago Sun-Times. I spent quite a bit of time explaining to the Sun-Times on Friday afternoon that their analysis of the bill was incorrect. Instead of discussing my analysis of the bill in the story, they chose to quote me in a very misleading way. They did not allow for any of my analysis of the bill. I called and expressed my unhappiness with the Sun-Times this morning, and asked them to print the following response which I wrote last night:
I am writing in response to Tom Schuba’s recent article about smoking marijuana in bars, restaurants, movie theaters, and other public places. His story quoted me out of context and failed to mention my assertion that the new recreational marijuana law will not allow people to smoke marijuana in such places. The law in question is the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act (HB 1438).
The Act states in Section 10-35(a)(3)(F) that it “does not permit” the use of cannabis “in any public place.” Additionally, it does not permit smoking cannabis “in any place where smoking is prohibited under the Smoke Free Illinois Act” (Section 10-35(a)(4)). Much later in the Act, it states that “[a] unit of local government…may regulate the on-premises consumption of cannabis at or in a cannabis business establishment within its jurisdiction in a manner consistent with this Act. A cannabis business establishment or other entity authorized or permitted by a unit of local government to allow on-site consumption shall not be deemed a public place within the meaning of the Smoke Free Illinois Act” (Section 55-25(3)). A “cannabis business establishment” is defined as a “cultivation center, craft grower, processing organization, dispensing organization, or transporting organization.” The intent of that language is to allow local governments to approve smoke shop dispensaries where customers can sample cannabis and purchase it in the store like customers do at cigar shops.
The language does not permit marijuana use in any bar, restaurant, or movie theater. Why? Because none of these locations by themselves meet the definition of a “cannabis business establishment.” The law only authorizes local governments to regulate the on-site consumption of cannabis at cannabis business establishments, and it does not allow local governments to regulate the on-site use of cannabis at other facilities.
Smoking marijuana is not just banned in places where smoking is prohibited under the Smoke Free Illinois Act. The law also does not permit the consumption of marijuana “in any public place.” That is independent from the reference to a public place within the meaning of the Smoke Free Illinois Act. This is the language that we voted on in the Illinois State Senate, and this is what will take effect next year. People will not be allowed to use marijuana at bars, restaurants, or movie theaters.
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker visited Rockford Monday morning to mark the start of the process toward building a new casino in the area.
Organizers handed out playing cards and poker chips that read “J.B. Bet On Us” and “Our Governor Is Aces.” A bill he signed last week allows for 6 new casinos statewide, mostly in cities near the Illinois border. Pritzker said casino revenue is a key component of his capital plan:
“This additional revenue helps ease some of the pressure on escalating property taxes,” he said, “and most importantly, we’re going to do everything possible to help Rockford beat Beloit and attract casino-goers from across the border.”
According to Rockford Mayor Tom McNamara, the city alone could get anywhere from $4 to $8 million. The casino would also create some 600 construction jobs and over 1000 jobs just at the casino.
“This means jobs for families in our community. This means revenue to the city,” said McNamara. “So, we can not burden people with property taxes. This is a good deal.”
“From the first time we met, we had a number of asks outlined on behalf of the city of Rockford,” [Rockford Mayor Tom McNamara] said. “I am here to say that every single one of those, he delivered on.”
“I can tell you as a Republican, we have never had an opportunity where a governor stepped up, saw there was gridlock going on, and got people in to the room and made the case that we need to get this done,” [Sen. Dave Syverson, R-Rockford] said. “The urgency of getting this done this year, and with the governor’s help we were finally able to get this done. We have an opportunity to bring those people back home and bring more back home.”
Gov. J.B. Pritzker received standing ovations and many thanks at Waukegan City Hall Monday as he tours the state highlighting his Rebuild Illinois Capital and Transportation programs that will benefit Lake County.
One of the bigger prizes was a casino license for Waukegan.
State Sen. Terry Link, D-Indian Creek, a former Waukegan resident, joked about how he has “in my spare time for the last 20 years, I’ve been working on a bill. I just kept misspelling some words and they’d cancel it. We’d do a few other things, and they’d cancel it,” he said, drawing laughter. […]
Under the capital program, money is earmarked for the following Lake County projects: $61 million for interchange construction at Routes 176 and 41 in Lake Bluff and North Chicago; $58.7 million for reconstruction and widening of State Route 22 in Kildeer and Long Grove; $45 million for stabilization of the Adeline Geo-Karis Illinois Beach State Park shoreline; $26.7 million for a new classroom building at the College of Lake County; $1.7 million for dredging on the Chain O’Lakes; $3.5 million for capital improvements at Rosalind Franklin University in North Chicago; and $1 million for renovations to North Chicago High School, according to the governor’s office.
At a news conference alongside Pritzker on Monday touting the capital bill, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she wants the city casino to open “as soon as possible.
“Obviously we’ll be involved in the process,” Lightfoot said of the study. “I’m hoping we can get it done relatively soon, so we can start the process.” […]
A Chicago casino has eluded city officials as a potential cash cow since at least 1992, when former Mayor Richard M. Daley first floated a proposal. Link noted that Rivers Casino in Des Plaines, the state’s most profitable gaming site, pulled in more than $440 million last year.
“And [Chicago’s casino] will be much more profitable than that,” the senator said.
Lightfoot, Pritzker and transit leaders appeared together at a news conference to discuss spending projects under the plan.
One of the projects planned for the Chicago area is the $561 million reconstruction of Interstate 190, the westernmost leg of the Kennedy Expressway, from Bessie Coleman Drive to Interstate 90. The project, which will include the addition of auxiliary lanes, is intended to improve safety and access to the expanding airport, according to the state.
Another $72.6 million will go toward improvements to 38 bridges on the Kennedy from the Edens Expressway to Hubbard Street, the state said.
Other big area road projects include $1 billion for the expansion of Interstate 80 in Will County, which will involve the replacement of two deteriorated bridges over the Des Plaines River in Joliet. The Illinois Department of Transportation also plans to spend $92 million to rebuild the intersection of 95th Street and Stony Island Avenue, which will include reconstruction of railroad bridges, plus bicycle and pedestrian improvements.
“Pardon our dust in the next few years while we rebuild Illinois,” said Omer Osman, the state’s acting secretary of transportation.
Governor JB Pritzker is scheduled to visit southern Illinois Tuesday.
The governor is making stops at Walker’s Bluff and at Laborers Local 773 in Marion to tout the recently passed Rebuild Illinois package.
Part of that package was the expansion of gambling in Illinois. It allows for more sports betting, video gaming expansion, and six new casinos, one of which will be at Walker’s Bluff.
* Not sure of the news value of this, but here’s the Tribune…
When Gov. J.B. Pritzker was caught speeding on Geneva Lake in Wisconsin last month, he was driving a sleek, custom-built wooden speedboat that’s among the most expensive on the lake. […]
The boat Pritzker was driving is a brown, 28.7-foot wooden craft built in 2010 by Van Dam Custom Boats, a luxury wooden boat maker based in Boyne City, Michigan, according to a copy of the June 7 warning Pritzker received and the boat’s Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources recreational vehicle information report, documents obtained by the Tribune. […]
The Don Don model is described on the Van Dam website as a “contemporary boat with exotic automotive style,” built with “mahogany milled from a single log” and a stainless steel steering wheel, and able to reach speeds of more than 60 mph.
Brian Jahns, a sales executive at Gage Marine on Williams Bay, who has sold wooden boats in Lake Geneva for 27 years, said the Don Don is “ultrarare.”
* I’d wager that this is just exactly the sort of overreaction that the plaintiffs may have been hoping for. Yet another misleading piece from Bloomberg…
Joe Mysak, Bloomberg News’s foremost expert on the $3.8 trillion municipal-bond market, has a saying about Puerto Rico: It was technically “in” the market for state and local government debt, but not “of” it. That is to say, for a number of reasons, it has always been considered an outlier.
Indeed, munis are off to a blistering pace in 2019, with mutual and exchange-traded funds focused on the debt on track to pull in a record amount of cash this year. Investors are buying even though a closely watched gauge of relative value would suggest the bonds are a screaming sell. Never mind that at the start of the year, a federal oversight board argued that more than $6 billion of Puerto Rico’s general-obligation bonds should be declared null and void because issuing them in the first place breached the island’s constitutional debt limit. It’s just an outlier, after all.
Or is it?
John Tillman, the CEO of conservative think tank Illinois Policy Institute, and Warlander Asset Management’s Eric Cole, a protege of Appaloosa Management’s David Tepper, are teaming up in an effort to invalidate a whopping $14.3 billion of Illinois debt on the grounds that the state’s pension bond sale in 2003 and securities issued in 2017 to pay a backlog of unpaid bills were in fact deficit-financing transactions prohibited by the constitution.
* I mean, the constitutional passage in question is only 88 words long. Even people from New York can handle that…
State debt for specific purposes may be incurred or the payment of State or other debt guaranteed in such amounts as may be provided either in a law passed by the vote of three-fifths of the members elected to each house of the General Assembly or in a law approved by a majority of the electors voting on the question at the next general election following passage. Any law providing for the incurring or guaranteeing of debt shall set forth the specific purposes and the manner of repayment.
That’s the specific passage referenced in Tillman’s legal filing. You tell me where it prevents bonding to pay off old bills because I sure as heck don’t see it.
*** UPDATE *** The markets were indeed spooked…
and more bad news from my man at Municipal Market Data Dan Berger…..MMD widened IL GO spreads by 20-25bps based on trading activity……market otherwise quiet during this holiday week so folks believe its the headline
* The Question of the Day on a Friday afternoon ahead of Father’s Day weekend in 2014…
Do you have any fond political memories of your father?
Here is the late, great Wordslinger’s contribution…
Late in his much-too-short life, my old man developed a highly unlikely and completely accidental friendship with Bob Dole.
When I was a kid, in 1977, my peeps and I went to Norfolk to see my old man’s brother, who was in port as chief engineer on an oil tanker.
On the way back, we stopped for a few days in DC to see the sites.
Back then, security was nil. You pretty much had the run of the place. We went to Rep. Simon’s office on the Hill and the very nice people there loaded us up with same-day passes for the White House, the Pentagon, and some special exhibitions at the Smithsonian.
Just imagine; on the same day, we got a pass for a special White House Rose Garden tour, and got to shake hands with Pres. Carter, Rosalyn and Jackie O., who was there for some reason (my mom thought that was way cool).
Long story short, over the course of a couple of days, we kept bumping into Sen. Dole, all over town.
You have to remember, Dole had been Jerry Ford’s hatchet man in the 1976 race, and was considered to be in the GOP right wing (can you believe it?).
My folks were Norwegians and red-hot, anti-fascist, anti-commie, civil rights liberals.
Finally, after bumping into him one more time, Dole approached us and said “we have to stop meeting like this” and started chatting up the old man.
My parents were immigrants and could be very self-conscious about their accents. So when Dole asked if there was something he could do for us, they kept mum.
I knew what my folks wanted, though, so I piped up “we’d like to meet Sen. Humphrey.”
“Let’s go,” Dole said.
“Senator, we need to be…” a Dole aide started to protest.
“Shut up,” Dole explained.
As we made our way down to the Capitol Hill subway system, Dole and my old man got lost in conversation. Dole had had a tough time in WWII, and I know the old man had, too, though he never talked about it.
As my aunts recounted over the years, when he was about 21, the old man and his crew had been arrested by the Gestapo for stealing food from a Nazi storehouse. They were in a slave labor camp until VE Day and some of them were worked and starved to death.
Meanwhile, the Dole aide who had been told to “shut up” was trying to find out why the Senator was taking such an interest in us.
My mom wouldn’t talk, so he was pressing me, the kid with corncobs coming out of his ears.
“So, where in Kansas are you folks from?” he asked.
“We’re from Illinois,” I said.
“Oh? Huh. So how do you know Sen. Dole?”
“Um, from TV.”
Now he’s getting pissed. “No, I mean why is he taking you to see Sen. Humphrey right now?”
“I don’t know.”
We took the subway to some huge Senate hearing room. The old man and Dole sat together and continued talking. I sat with Mr. Shut Up. My mom sat with Sen. Kennedy (she considered herself an honorary Kennedy after meeting Jackie O and Teddy, and would talk about them like family whenever they popped up in the news).
I think it was the Foreign Relations Committee.
But we didn’t go in for a while. The old man and Dole stood to the side, continuing to talk.
I know they were talking about the war, when they were young men.
The old man had never said ten words to anyone in his family about the war, but here was this old Norsky liberal, thick accent and all, chewing the ear of the GOP vice presidential nominee. And Dole was listening.
Finally, Dole approaches the big doors, and they’re swung open for him.
He marches us down the center aisle of this huge, crowded hearing room, takes us right up to Humphrey and says “Hubert, your Illinois fan club is here.”
Humphrey was dying from the cancer and didn’t have any hair. But he lit up like a light bulb, took us to some back corridor and he, Dole and my folks chatted like old friends about this, that and nothing in particular.
My parents were thrilled and talked about their day with Dole and Humphrey for the rest of their lives.
Dole didn’t have to do any of that. We were nobodies. My parents weren’t from Kansas; they weren’t citizens, they couldn’t even vote.
But he did because he was just a decent man, and made my folks feel like big shots in Washington, like they’d really made it in America.
It’s about the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. Just a sweet, selfless act of kindness.
Dole and the old man would exchange Christmas cards til my Dad died. My old man didn’t change his politics, but nobody could say a word against his pal Bob.
Years later, when Dole was running for president in Iowa, I got to know Dole a little better. I liked him a lot then, I like him more now.
And I voted for him for president, for me, my mom and my old man.
That story says more about Wordslinger than just about anything he ever wrote here. This blog is just never going to be the same without him.
* By the way, Karl’s daughter Emma is studying journalism at DePaul and is doing an internship with the Chicago Sun-Times this summer. We’re going to talk a bit more about her today, but I wanted to show you this…
A very big thank you to everyone at @capitolfax for the outpour of love and admiration expressed for my dad and his work. My gratitude can never be expressed enough. https://t.co/ZZ4Orhja0L
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