Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

Friday, Dec 15, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Subscribers know more. Politico…

Jake Butcher, the chief of staff to Senate President Don Harmon, is stepping down to practice law. Moving up is Ashley Jenkins-Jordan, who’s been deputy chief of staff. She’ll be the first African American woman chief to hold the position in Illinois.

* The truth comes out!…

* A feel-good story for your Friday via Block Club…

Monique Cauley knows the life stories of more than 500 Logan Square neighbors, down to their dogs and children’s names.

As a beloved postal carrier who serves homes between Talman and Artesian avenues starting at Logan Boulevard, Cauley receives high praise from her customers — including the four-legged ones who have grown up seeing her every day. […]

The Bronzeville resident, who has worked in Logan Square with the United States Postal Service for 16 years, isn’t just popular for her kind attitude, big smile and impeccable memory. She’s also known for sharing mail tips, changes to deliveries and other important information for 60647 residents.

Cauley is active on the community Facebook page, which she started using during the pandemic as a way to keep in touch with her customers and share information, she said. She shares periodic mail advice, including a detailed annual Christmas post with useful tips to make sure everyone gets their holiday cards and gifts as postal workers prepare for a stressful season.

* Tribune…

Signaling a paradigm shift in a school system largely shaped by choice, the Chicago Board of Education passed a resolution Thursday to prioritize neighborhood schools in Chicago Public Schools’ forthcoming five-year strategic plan — a document that will guide investments in the district through 2029 and is slated to be released in June.

Among a range of goals aimed at “disrupting cycles of inequity,” the resolution commits to “transition away from privatization and admissions/enrollment policies and approaches that further stratification and inequity in CPS and drive student enrollment away from neighborhood schools.” […]

The eventual impact could be seismic, with more than 75% of high school students and about 44% of elementary students attending schools outside of their neighborhood boundaries as of last school year. White and Asian students disproportionately attend CPS’ selective enrollment schools. Meanwhile, Black students face persistent opportunity gaps, disproportionately attending neighborhood schools long starved of investments, officials and community organizers said.

* Here’s the rest of your morning roundup…

* Chalkbeat | Chicago Public Schools leaders want to move away from school choice: However, Todd-Breland did signal that the board might move to close charter schools. “If you are a privately-managed school, taking public dollars from our taxpayers that would otherwise go to the other schools that we know need to be invested in because they haven’t [been] for years, and you are not performing at a level that we find to be a high quality educational experience for young people, then why do you continue to exist in this system?” she said.

* Sun-Times | Activists praise Board of Ed’s push toward neighborhood schools, away from school choice: Todd-Breland said the board recognizes that charter schools are part of CPS’ fabric and is “not proposing blanket non-renewals of all charter schools.” But the board wants to hold charter operators accountable. And she pointed out that magnet and selective enrollment schools, initially meant to desegregate schools, have more recently become more segregated. “[This] is not about closing selective enrollment schools,” she said. “It is about a shift towards emphasizing supporting neighborhood schools, particularly in those communities that have been historically disinvested in and where young people are furthest from opportunity.”

* Rep. Edgar Gonzalez | Running for Office As a Young Person Means Dealing With Ageism. I Did It Anyway: As a young legislator, the motives that drive your decision to run for office consistently get put under a microscope, especially when compared to those who have spent decades in their political careers. On one hand, critics often view career politicians with cynicism, assuming their motives revolve around money and power. Meanwhile, inexperienced candidates face doubts about their ability to perform the job. This contrast underscores the challenges faced by young individuals entering politics, as their motivations and capabilities are frequently questioned.

* Bond Buyer | Munis rally, new-issues from Illinois, NY see strong demand: Municipals rallied hard Thursday, playing catch up to the moves in U.S. Treasuries, which extended their gains for a second session following the Federal Open Market Committee’s clear communication of future rate cuts in 2024. Equities continued their rally.

* Daily Herald | Back to the beginning: Project aims to return Libertyville-area site to its natural state: Given the amount of equipment and activity in the highly visible area north and east of Route 45 and Casey Road in Libertyville Township, it may appear the site is being readied for new homes or a big box store. Quite the opposite is taking place. Instead, the work is part of a $2.17 million project to restore nearly 178 acres to its natural state.

* WBEZ | State’s attorney hopefuls back effort to require lawyers for kids in police interrogations: The pledge comes in response to video footage showing a detective in suburban Lake County steering a 15-year-old to falsely confess to a shooting. The video, obtained by WBEZ through an open-records lawsuit against the city of Waukegan, prompted a state senator to draft a bill that would raise the age at which a child must have an attorney present to be questioned in police custody. Now Clayton Harris III and Eileen O’Neill Burke, facing off in a March primary for Cook County state’s attorney, are vowing to help push the legislation into law.

* Sun-Times | These are the voices of five survivors of Chicago’s violence: Each of their essays offers a peek into the ways violence rearranges a life. There are stories of loss and grief but also redemption, love, regret and shifting notions of justice.

* Crain’s | After court order, CPS extends contract with Urban Prep charter schools: The extension comes more than a year after the board voted not to renew the contracts, with plans to take over those schools. The board’s decision was based on allegations that Urban Prep mismanaged finances and failed to comply with special education laws, as well as allegations that the school’s founder, Tim King, sexually abused a now-former student. King has denied those allegations.

* Crain’s | Chicago Tribune union members taking contract fight to Tribune Tower: The “rally to save the Tribune” is planned to take place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday to protest “detrimental labor practices and profiteering-driven bargaining efforts” by Alden Global Capital, the investment firm that owns Tribune Publishing, according to the Chicago Tribune Guild. The rally will also include members of the DPS Guild, representing workers at Tribune Publishing’s Design & Production Studio, as well as the Suburban Chicago Tribune Guild and the Tribune Content Guild.

* WBEZ | Little Village residents install air sensors to monitor neighborhood pollution: Residents say public officials aren’t doing enough to protect them so they are taking matters into their own hands — monitoring air quality themselves with nearly $200 sensors. Five are currently in operation with a goal of installing 10 in the neighborhood. Data collected could be used to understand the severity of pollution and inform environmental policy.

* WaPo | She miscarried in her bathroom. Now she’s charged with abuse of a corpse: “Moving this over to the individual after a miscarriage just heightens the question, ‘What are they supposed to do?’ ” said Dov Fox, a national health law and bioethics expert at the University of San Diego School of Law. “If it’s already difficult for hospitals, for individuals facing difficult circumstances and navigating pregnancy loss to undertake the medical system is not just a tall order but a prohibitive one.” Watts later learned through her lawyer that the nurse who had reassured her had reported her to the police.

* NYT | Behind the Scenes at the Dismantling of Roe v. Wade: The Supreme Court deliberates in secret, and those who speak can be cast out of the fold. To piece together the hidden narrative of how the court, guided by Justice Alito, engineered a titanic shift in the law, The New York Times drew on internal documents, contemporaneous notes and interviews with more than a dozen people from the court — both conservative and liberal — who had real-time knowledge of the proceedings. Because of the institution’s insistence on confidentiality, they spoke on the condition of anonymity.

* AP | US homelessness up 12% to highest reported level as rents soar and coronavirus pandemic aid lapses: About 653,000 people were experiencing homelessness during the January snapshot. That’s the highest number since the country began using the yearly point-in-time survey in 2007 to count the homeless population. The total represents an increase of about 70,650 homeless people compared to January 2022.

* Business Insider | I showed up to a GOP congressman’s 16-minute Christmas party. Here’s what it was like to watch Democrats and Republicans rub shoulders in his cramped Capitol Hill office: I also watched as staffers for progressive House Democrats rubbed shoulders with Republican Rep. Mary Miller of Illinois, who was there along with her husband Chris, an Illinois state representative who was censured by the state legislature for attending Trump’s rally on the Ellipse on January 6.

Campaign coverage roundup

Friday, Dec 15, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Oops…

#IL07: Rep. Danny Davis' campaign website appears to include AI renderings of the congressman (see the details on the suit, watch, his right hand, etc)https://t.co/Ods98ki8h9 pic.twitter.com/1xepDspE9z

— Erin Covey (@ercovey) December 15, 2023

* Speaking of oops. AP…

A county board incumbent in Illinois wants election officials to disqualify his primary opponent because he misspelled “Republican” on his nomination papers.

McHenry County Board member Eric Hendricks has filed an objection to primary opponent Bob Nowak’s candidacy, the Northwest Herald reported Wednesday.

Hendricks wrote in the objection that Nowak filed to run as a member of the “Republian Party,” omitting the “c” in “Republican.” Hendricks argues such a party does not exist.

Nowak said he had heard there was an objection to his candidacy but hasn’t seen a copy of it.

County officials have scheduled a hearing on the objection for Tuesday. The primary is March 19.

* Patch…

An Elmhurst alderwoman running for state representative on Monday praised Illinois’ achievements over the last few years.

“Illinois has made progress on important issues in recent years and is moving in the right direction as demonstrated by nine credit rating upgrades since June of 2021,” Alderwoman Marti Deuter, a Democrat, said in a news release about her candidacy. “There is more to be done, and we need legislators with a demonstrated ability to bring people together.”

A month ago, Patch reported on Deuter’s candidacy. That was after Rep. Jenn Ladisch Douglass, an Elmhurst Democrat, announced she would not seek a second term. […]

Deuter, an alderwoman for a decade, is set to run unopposed in the Democratic primary in March. The only Republican candidate is Dennis Reboletti.

* NPR…

Joe McGraw of Rockford and Scott Alan Crowl of Milan are both seeking the Republican nomination in the 17th congressional district. The winner of the primary will face Democratic incumbent Eric Sorensen next November, who’s unopposed in his party’s primary.

In the 99th state representative district, Republicans Kyle Moore of Quincy and Eric Snellgrove of Beardstown filed to replace Republican Representative Randy Frese, who isn’t running for a sixth term. No Democratic candidates have filed in that district.

Elsewhere in the region, several Republicans are running unopposed in their primaries — and in each case, no Democratic candidate filed.

They are Illinois Supreme Court Justice Lisa Holder White, Ninth District Circuit Judge Nigel Graham, Congresswoman Mary Miller, and state representatives Norine Hammond and Dan Swanson.

* Subscribers know more…

An initiative designed to let Illinois voters truly make decisions when they go to the polls again succeeded in putting Illinois Statehouse candidates on the 2024 ballot.

Illinois Policy, a 501(c)(4) advocacy partner of the Illinois Policy Institute, helped usher 27 Illinois General Assembly candidates through the process, including collecting signatures on nominating petitions.

These candidates represent a significant share of the 2024 contested races. Without the new candidate program, Illinois would have seen a low number of choices and its more traditional list of unchallenged incumbents. According to an Illinois Policy Institute analysis, 207 candidates have filed to run for 118 Illinois House of Representatives seats in 2024. These include about 10 contested Republican primaries, 20 contested Democratic primaries and 53 contested general election races.

For over 20 years, less than half of all Illinois House races had just one candidate on the ballot – the least competitive rate in the Midwest and the seventh worst in the nation.

Among Illinois Policy’s recruited candidates:

• 24 are Republicans and three are Democrats
• 12 are women
• 8 are non-white
• 16 are running in districts that are wholly or partially in Chicago

Research shows contested elections help lower corruption, make government more responsive and increase voter turnout.

“Thanks to these candidates being willing to challenge entrenched incumbents, Illinois will experience real choice on Election Day and will be able to hold lawmakers accountable. That is good news that Illinois voters can feel proud of,” said Josh Bandoch, head of policy at the Illinois Policy Institute. “It’s amazing to see candidates take on this responsibility, especially considering how partisan gerrymandering leads voters to feel powerless to foster change in the voting booth.”

The number of contested races will change during the next six months as candidacies are challenged and political parties “slate” candidates for races.

…Adding…Jake Lewis…

* More…

* WLBK | Stage being set for 14th District Congressional race: Two years ago several viable candidates were gunning for the GOP nomination. This time around Jim Marter says he’s the only serious contender for the March Primary. Two other people filed as Republicans.

* Pantagraph | 53rd Senate District candidate faces objection to nominating petition: An objection has been filed with the Illinois Board of Elections for one of the four candidates vying for McLean County’s state Senate seat. Joshua Belter of Pontiac, Matthew Snider of Benson and Brooke Uphoff of El Paso have filed an objection against Livingston County Board Member Mike Kirkton, who is running in the Illinois 53rd Senate District. All four candidates are Republicans.

* Landmark | RBHS school board member Laura Hruska files to run for state representative: Hruska, a longtime resident of Brookfield, is running for state representative, challenging 2nd District incumbent Democrat Elizabeth “Lisa” Hernandez, who is an assistant majority leader in the Illinois House of Representatives and the chairwoman of the Illinois Democratic Party. Neither Hruska nor Hernandez has a primary opponent, so Hruska is guaranteed to face Hernandez in the November general election.

* Shaw Local | No primary election petition challenges in DuPage County: There were no primary candidate petition challenges filed for 2024 local races – the second major election cycle in a row with no ballot objections in the county, DuPage County Clerk Jean Kaczmarek has announced in a news release. “It was unprecedented in 2022 when no candidate petition challenges were filed here,” Kaczmarek said. “We just surpassed our own record.”

* Patch | Will County Judge Anderson To Seek Seat On Illinois Appellate Court: Anderson, a former Will County Board member, has served as a county circuit court judge since 2010. He will be on the ballot for the March primary election to represent the 3rd District, which includes Will, Kankakee, DuPage, Grundy, LaSalle, Bureau, and Iroquois counties.

* Journal and Topics | Local Reps In Congress, State Senate, House, Judicial Candidates Filing To Run In March 2024 Primary: A petition challenge period, where challenges to the validity of signatures will be adjudicated, and some candidates could be removed from the ballot, will take place in the coming weeks. Where there is no candidate in a given party for a given race, township political committeemen may later name a candidate. Candidates may also later mount write-in candidate drives.

8 Comments

More new laws

Friday, Dec 15, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Sen. Sims…

Children who are detained will no longer be able to be held in solitary confinement starting Jan. 1 thanks to advocacy from State Senator Elgie R. Sims, Jr.

“Sadly, across the nation, young people are being held in solitary confinement for unreasonably long periods of time, sometimes spending 22 hours or more alone each day,” said Sims (D-Chicago). “That is inhumane and can cause long-term grave psychological, physical and developmental harm.”

Sims’ law prohibits the use of solitary confinement on young detainees in detention centers for any purpose other than preventing immediate physical harm.

Young people in solitary confinement are isolated both physically and socially, often for days, weeks, or even months on end. Sometimes there is a window allowing natural light to enter or a view of the world outside cell walls. Sometimes it is possible to communicate by yelling to other inmates, with voices distorted, reverberating against concrete and metal. Occasionally, they get a book or bible, and if they are lucky, study materials. But inside this cramped space, few contours distinguish one hour, one day, week, or one month, from the next.

“For children, who are still developing and more vulnerable to irreparable harm, risks are magnified – particularly those with disabilities or histories of trauma and abuse,” said Sims. “Children should not be deprived of the services, programming, and other tools they need for healthy growth, education, and development. We should be helping children grow into productive and healthy adults, not harming them, this is particularly true when they have come into the criminal legal system. If we are going to have true safety and justice, we must invest in a criminal legal system that creates pathways to success not one that tears down our young people and creates a cycle of recidivism.”

House Bill 3140 takes effect Jan. 1, 2024.

* Sen. Morrison…

Illinois is one step closer to becoming smoke free thanks, in part, to a new law from State Senator Julie Morrison set to take effect on Jan. 1 that bans e-cigarettes inside public places.

“E-cigarettes, in all of their many forms, continue to be one of the most addictive products readily available for purchase in gas stations, vape shops and online,” said Morrison (D-Lake Forest). “We have made solid progress toward de-normalizing the perception of tobacco, and I am proud that on Jan. 1, e-cigarette usage will be banned indoors.”

Passed in 2007, the Smoke Free Illinois Act prohibited smoking in most public places and within 15 feet of entrances, and required “no smoking” signs to be posted. However, this law took effect when people primarily smoked cigarettes and cigars.

In recent years, the use and popularity of e-cigarettes, or vapes, has increased – especially by middle school children – according to recent reports, leading Morrison to add such products to the Smoke Free Illinois Act through the passage of House Bill 1540, signed by Governor JB Pritzker on July 28, 2023.

Morrison has been an advocate for putting an end to tobacco use by teens since entering the General Assembly. In 2019, she successfully passed a law that increases the age to legally purchase tobacco to 21 and last year passed a measure to place a number of restrictions on marketing e-cigarettes to children.

“Secondhand e-cigarette aerosol contains harmful and potentially harmful chemicals. The use of e-cigarettes has skyrocketed in recent years with tobacco companies targeting teens and young people with enticing flavors,” said Kristina Hamilton, Illinois advocacy director for the American Lung Association. “This expansion of the landmark Smoke-Free Illinois Act will reduce the negative effects of e-cigarettes on our communities.”

House Bill 1540 takes effect Jan. 1.

* Sen. Koehler…

Illinois residents who are victims of fertility fraud will soon be able to bring action against health care providers, thanks to a new law from State Senator Dave Koehler.

When Bloomington resident Curt Richardson got his DNA test results back from Ancestry.com in June 2021, his life – and those of his parents – changed forever when they learned they had been victims of fertility fraud.

Richardson’s story is similar to hundreds of others across the state and nation who have lived most of their lives thinking the very people who raised them were their biological parents. Koehler worked to bring awareness to fertility fraud and provide justice to the families who fall victim to the heinous act.

“The pain a person feels when they find out they are victims of fertility fraud is something no one should have to go through,” said Koehler (D-Peoria). “These acts have gone unpunished for too long, and the health care professionals who commit such acts deserve to face dire consequences.”

Fertility fraud occurs when a health care provider knowingly or intentionally uses their own human reproductive cells during an assisted reproductive treatment without the patient’s informed written consent.

Koehler’s new law allows people to bring action against health care providers who commit fertility fraud. It provides a civil cause of action for donor fertility fraud against health care providers who treat patients for infertility using donated human reproductive material without consent. It also states that any child born as a result of fertility fraud is entitled to a qualified protective order allowing the child access to the personal medical records and health history of the person who committed the fraud.

“This crime has caused trauma for countless families across Illinois and the country,” said Koehler. “Under this new law, victims will be able to bring action against those who commit this heinous crime.”

Senate Bill 380 takes effect Jan. 1, 2024.

And in case you’re wondering, I haven’t yet seen anything from the House Democrats about their bills. Only Senators.

3 Comments

Illinois, Maine tied for highest Medicaid renewal rates

Friday, Dec 15, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Press release…

As the Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) approaches the halfway point in resuming customer Medicaid redeterminations following the end of the pandemic-era continuous Medicaid coverage requirement, Illinois has the highest renewal rate among states, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation’s Medicaid Enrollment and Unwinding Tracker. The tracker relies on renewal data that the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) collects from states.

Following the end of the continuous coverage requirement earlier this year, states resumed Medicaid renewals, or redeterminations, which are regular customer eligibility verifications.

According to the data tracker, at this stage of the unwinding process, Illinois and Maine have the highest renewal rates among all states, at 90%. HFS credits robust preparations and ongoing process improvements to being able to preserve health care coverage for Medicaid-eligible individuals across the state.

* From the Kaiser Family Foundation…

At least 12,573,000 Medicaid enrollees have been disenrolled as of December 13, 2023, based on the most current data from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Overall, 34% of people with a completed renewal were disenrolled in reporting states while 66%, or 23.4 million enrollees, had their coverage renewed (one reporting state does not include data on renewed enrollees). Due to varying lags for when states report data, the data reported here undercount the actual number of disenrollments to date.

There is wide variation in disenrollment rates across reporting states, ranging from 62% in Texas to 10% in Illinois and Maine.

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

Friday, Dec 15, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

* The 2023 Golden Horseshoe Award for Best Do-Gooder Lobbyist is a tie. I decided to break tradition by seconding the nomination of William McNary with Citizen Action…

I spoke at Will’s recent retirement dinner, as did the governor, both US Senators, several members of the congressional delegation, Chicago’s mayor, the two Democratic legislative leaders and others.

They all spoke of the big things Will did during his career. And that list is very long. I focused on the smaller things that don’t get a lot of notice, like putting a lid on payday loans, helping people pay their utility bills, etc.

Will is one of the smartest people I know. He’s also one of the hardest workers I’ve ever met. He’s honest and he’s never sold his soul. He’s also a kind, sweet man who believes that his short-term legislative defeats are only temporary.

Chuy Garcia spoke after I did. He started by saying that the person sitting next to him leaned over during my speech and said “I didn’t know Rich Miller could be so nice.”

That got a good laugh. But I was nice for a very good reason: McNary truly deserved it.

And Niya Kelly at Chicago Coalition for the Homeless…

She is very smart, always prepared for the excepted and unexpected, she preps and supports her sponsors and their staff, she’s a resource for staff generally, does substantive and budget work on an issue that can sometimes feel like fighting an uphill battle. On top of that, she’s a good person. She takes the time to develop relationships with LA’s, security and staff around the Capitol, Stratton and Howlett, and can be a blast of sunshine and fun when you see her. She also shows up every day and gets the work done. There aren’t that many lobbyists who do the work on a consistent basis the way she does. All these years of committed EFFECTIVE hard work sure merits the best do-gooder designation.

* The 2023 Golden Horseshoe Award for Best Legislative Liaison is also a tie. Allison Nickrent at IDPH…

Allison Nickrent at DPH is single-handedly one of the most talented professionals in the business. DPH is a behemoth of an agency and the level of institutional knowledge she has is impressive. Allison was tasked with negotiating the bylaws of a newly created board with its (*sometimes pushbacky*) membership and she handled it with precision, intuition, and class. She is no stranger to JCAR and knows her way around every square inch of DPH’s rules and regs. Allison’s unique skill set makes her a pleasure to work with. She takes a hands-on approach to mentoring her team and truly is one of the best.

And Wendy Miller Butler at CMS…

I love working with Wendy Butler at CMS. She’s super responsive and understands the extremely difficult machinations of procurement. She works with you to meet your goal in a way that will be effective.

Honorable mention to Kieran Fitzgerald at DHS.

Y’all submitted some very strong nominations in both of these categories. It was difficult to choose winners, hence the ties.

* On to today’s categories…

Best Statewide Staffer

As always, please explain your nominations or they won’t count. Also do your best to nominate in both categories. Thanks!

* And here’s your daily reminder to contribute to our fundraiser so that Lutheran Social Services of Illinois can buy Christmas presents for foster kids. As I write this, we’ve raised $53,432, which is enough to buy presents for 2,137 children. LSSI helps care for 2,530 children, and while others are also raising money for this cause, LSSI needs to raise another $10K to help all those kids. So, please, click here and contribute if you can. Thanks!

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Friday, Dec 15, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Friday, Dec 15, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller

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

2 Comments

Friday, Dec 15, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* ICYMI: Regulators once again reject a record rate increase request from ComEd and Peoples Gas. Sun-Times…

- The order slashed a request from the utility to raise rates on its 884,000 Chicago customers by a collective $402 million, down to $301 million.

- The panel previously noted it “will not remove any funding related to emergency response to leaks, pipe breaks, or other critical safety measures.”

* Related stories…

∙ Sun-Times: Smaller electric bill increases for Chicagoans as regulators pull plug on ComEd’s rate-hike bid
∙ Capitol News Illinois: State regulators once again flex muscle in rejecting utilities’ grid plans, lessening rate hikes
∙ Tribune: Illinois regulators reject record rate increase requests from ComEd and Peoples Gas

* Isabel’s top picks…

* WJBC | Candidates for March primary election in Illinois assigned their spots: The process of determining which candidates place where on the Illinois primary election ballot is high-tech enough to attract an audience on Zoom – and simple enough to require only Ping Pong balls and a wooden box. “I do think the lack of complexities makes it easier for us to have a transparent process,” said Brent Davis, director of election operations for the Illinois State Board of Elections. “Not much can go wrong with an empty box and a set of Lotto balls.”

* Crain’s | Thompson Center assessed at more than double 2022 sale price: Kaegi’s office pegged the market value of the 17-story building at 100 W. Randolph St. at $222.8 million for tax year 2023, according to the assessor’s website. That estimate represents what the assessor thinks the property was worth as of the beginning of this year, which is the key number used to determine its next property tax bill. It also marked the first time the assessor’s office estimated the value of the Thompson Center, since it was owned by the state of Illinois and tax-exempt from its completion in 1985 until it was sold last year.

* SJ-R | Haley issues apology; has backing of NAACP branch presidents: The one-minute-and-forty-eight-second video of Haley making the remarks during an NAACP state presidents’ meeting last month was recorded and made public by former NAACP DuPage County president Patrick Watson. It was a segment in a nearly two-hour-long video.

* Here’s the rest of your morning roundup…

* Crain’s | Durbin takes beef about Union Station rehab funding to Buttigieg: In a letter Thursday to U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., urged the feds to place a greater priority on modernizing the historic but outmoded Union Station and surrounding rail access so that the facility can serve as a more effective anchor for Amtrak’s midcontinent operations and a base for Metra commuter lines.

* WAND | New Illinois Laws: Here are 18 key education bills taking effect in 2024:
HB 0342: The state Board of Education must develop a district-level Children’s Adversity Index to measure community childhood trauma exposure and requires teachers to provide instruction on trauma-informed practices.

* CBS Chicago | Illinois offers rebates for electric vehicle purchases, but many find themselves ineligible: As CBS 2’s Tara Molina reported Thursday, there are more than 88,000 electric vehicles registered in Illinois. Gov. JB Pritzker has said his goal is to get that number to a million in the next seven years. But right now, only a few thousand people can take advantage of the state’s incentive program.

* SJ-R | Pritzker lights menorah in Springfield, calls for Illinoisans to defy hate: “But here today, as I look out on all of your faces, a coalition of Illinoisans of faiths and backgrounds of all sorts I am filled with hope,” [Pritzker] said during the ceremony held at the Governor’s Mansion. Anti-semitism and islamophobia have increased nationwide due to the war and being felt in Illinois following the fatal stabbing of 6-year-old Wadea Al Fayoume in a Chicago suburb.

* Borderless | Investigation: Migrants Describe Inhumane Conditions At Chicago’s Largest Shelter: Just days after Illinois Gov. Pritzker shut down a proposed shelter due to health concerns, Venezuelan migrants living in the Pilsen shelter say they are being treated “like dogs.’’

* Tribune | As police stations are cleared, some migrant families are separated, volunteers and migrants say: The women, along with Maria’s husband, had been staying at the Gresham District (6th) police station for a month when they were told they might be separated by city officials who are working to move migrants into city shelters. They’ve been hiding from city workers ever since.

* The Triibe | Unpacking the underlying political tensions driving the effort to repeal Chicago’s sanctuary status: Black communities are still grappling with decades of disinvestment and racist real-estate practices, and many Black Chicagoans and their businesses have been forced out of the city due to a lack of nourishing public institutions and support for Black entrepreneurship. Among the many examples are ones highlighted in a 2021 Politico article titled “The Demise of America’s Onetime Capital of Black Wealth” and Eve L. Ewing’s investigation into the widespread racist school closings on Chicago’s South Side, Ghosts in the Schoolyard.

* WGN | Rosemont Mayor Brad Stephens: We need a better plan for migrants coming to Illinois: Rosemont mayor Brad Stephens joins John Williams to talk about buses of asylum seekers being dropped off in Rosemont and how they are handling the crisis.

* Tribune | ‘Home for the holidays’: Court vacates convictions for cousins in 1981 double homicide, Illinois’ longest-serving exonerees: Just 8 years old when her brother was incarcerated following a double slaying in a Southwest Side park, Pilar More, now 50, watched her older sibling grow up behind bars. Her brother, James Soto, and his cousin, David Ayala were convicted of murder and other felonies in the shooting deaths of 16-year-old Julie Limas and Hector Valeriano, 18, a U.S. Marine on leave, on Aug. 16, 1981. They were sentenced to natural life in prison.

* Chicago Reader | What’s happened since the Reader reported on the number of overdoses on CTA property?: Two months after the Reader found that more than 150 people have died from opioid-related overdoses on the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) in the last four years, the CTA has increased its engagement with harm reduction advocacy groups and extended, and expanded, a contract with outreach agencies. Here is a look at what the CTA has been up to since the Reader published its findings…

* WTTW | Nonprofits Must Register Before Lobbying City Officials Under New Rules: The rules were included in a package of ethics reforms backed by former Mayor Lori Lightfoot that were approved by the City Council 50-0 in July 2019 as federal investigations shadowed City Hall. The rules were set to go into effect Jan. 1, 2020, but were delayed after dozens of nonprofit groups objected, saying the regulations would force them to pay costly registration fees or risk fines.

* Tribune | Ex-Ald. Ed Burke’s defense blasts FBI mole in closing arguments: ‘Why did we have to bring Danny Solis in here?’: “The fact alone that they didn’t call Danny Solis in their case creates a reasonable doubt,” Duffy said. “Why did we have to bring Danny Solis in here? That should give you pause, the fact that they ran an investigation on Mr. Burke for 30 months with a star witness Danny Solis undercover and they didn’t have the decency to bring him here.”

* WGLT | ‘When are you going to resign?’: Public blasts WTVP board’s handling of financial crisis: As promised by station board chairman Andrew Rand, the rumors that the station would be permanently dissolved by its board of directors on Tuesday didn’t come to pass, but it’s been a difficult year for the beleaguered public television station nonetheless. Former president and CEO Lesley Matuszak took her own life a day after resigning in late September. The station’s financial problems first publicly came to light a couple weeks later, when Rand announced the station would cut costs by $1.5 million. The Peoria public television station has since laid off nine employees and indefinitely suspended publication of Peoria magazine.

* Block Club | Riot Fest Switching To Later Dates In 2024, Presale Tickets Go Up Thursday: The West Side festival will be Sept. 20-22 to avoid overlapping with Mexican Independence Day celebrations, organizers said. Presale for three-day passes starts noon Thursday.

* Chicago Defender | Alabama Prison Work Programs Are ‘Modern Day Slavery’, Lawsuit Alleges: “If you didn’t work, you were at risk of going back to the prison or getting a disciplinary (infraction),” LaKiera Walker, who was previously incarcerated for 15 years, said. According to the suit, the state is violating the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution, anti-human trafficking laws, and the Alabama Constitution through its prison labor program. The state claims that the prison jobs prepare inmates for after their release.

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Friday, Dec 15, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Live coverage is back, sorta. This will be different than the old Scribble Live feed because Twitter broke itself and almost everything else it touched. These new feeds do not update instantly. There’s a bit of posting lagtime, but it’s much better than nothing. We are also limited to just 20 Twitter sources. The service may also not last long. We just can’t give you any guarantees about this. You can still click here or here to follow breaking news the way we’ve done since Twitter stopped Scribble Live from working…

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*** UPDATED x5 - Presser canceled - Haley to hold press conference at NAACP office - National organization suspended her on 13th - National NAACP weighs in - Haley suspended *** Illinois NAACP board unanimously backs president after racist remarks

Friday, Dec 15, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* These new feeds do not update instantly. There’s a bit of a lagtime and you have to refresh the page every now and then. The service we’re using may also not last long. We just can’t give you any guarantees. You can still click here to follow the Ed Burke trial on Twitter. Posts without a Twitter author name below them are from online news sources via Bing…

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Thursday, Dec 14, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Background is here if you need it. NAACP of Illinois…

Illinois State Conference President Teresa Haley offers a statement in response to a video excerpt disseminated by former DuPage County President Patrick Watson on Tuesday, December 12, 2023. Watson received an unprecedented and embarrassing “Vote Of No Confidence” by his Branch members on November 14, 2023. Illinois Branch Presidents met on December 13, 2023 and unanimously supported Haley’s quintessential leadership skills. Haley’s heartfelt sentiments are appended below:

“First and foremost, I express my sincere apologies to anyone who may have been hurt or offended by my comments. I love and value all members of our communities—including immigrants. I have worked tirelessly to advocate for the underserved and the voiceless. I remain focused on denouncing injustices, racism, and discrimination. I am empathetic to the plight of all people, and I proudly serve as a beacon of hope to the hopeless. I embrace the mission of the NAACP, which is to “Achieve equity, political rights, and social inclusion by advancing policies and practices that expand human and civil rights, eliminate discrimination, and accelerate the well- being, education, and economic security of Black people and all persons of color.”

Quintessential, adj.

perfectly typical or representative of a particular kind of person or thing

I’m guessing the AI alibi has been abandoned.

*** UPDATE 1 *** Welp…

A day after the Illinois NAACP met and "unanimously supported" statewide conference president Teresa Haley's "quintessential leadership skills," the conference announces she has been "suspended" in the wake of her controversial statements about migrants. #twill

— Dean Olsen (@DeanOlsenIT) December 15, 2023

*** UPDATE 2 *** From a national NAACP spokesperson…

The NAACP stands firm in our commitment to advancing racial justice and cultivating a society where human dignity is respected. As of December 13, NAACP Illinois State Conference President Teresa Haley has been suspended. As an internal matter, there will be no additional comment at this time. The NAACP will continue to foster an environment that is reflective of our mission and respective of our membership.

So, she was suspended on the 13th, but the board voted unanimously to support her on the 14th? Checking on that.

*** UPDATE 3 *** I asked for clarification on the dates from the national NAACP…

The notice of suspension from NAACP National was dated on December 13th.

…Adding… I asked ICIRR earlier today for a statement. This is from them and the Springfield Immigrant Advocacy Network…

The Springfield Immigrant Advocacy Network (SIAN) and our statewide coalition partner the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights reject the statements made by Illinois NAACP president Teresa Haley at a meeting in October, in which she referred to migrants in Chicago as criminals and “savages.”

Divisive rhetoric damages communities. It reinforces harmful stereotypes, which in turn hurt entire groups of people. True apologies must include strategies to begin dialogue, deliberate actions to repair relationships, and commitment to share accurate information. We don’t heal alone but in community. Our leaders need to work in solidarity to advocate and create better policies, and to make our cities better for all of us.

SIAN has worked diligently to advocate for immigrants and refugees who have arrived in Springfield within the last year, many of whom were originally sent to Chicago by bus from Texas. At SIAN, we know that the NAACP has a history of supporting immigrants and refugees in our country that we ought to honor and remember. We have worked with our NAACP siblings to fight injustice and racial profiling and to protect our immigrant youth, as we know most of our Illinois DACA recipients and migrants applying for asylum and refugee status are people of color coming mostly from the Global South.

We should not be calling groups of people rapists, inciting fear at migrants’ arrival, and calling cities to refuse Venezuelans seeking shelter happens when we still must contend with the supremacist, structural values of scarcity, silo-planning and thinking, and the predicament that marginalized communities must fight each other for a tiny piece of a pie. We know that immigrants, refugees, and other historically excluded communities live together at the margins. We have shared spaces and built families together while fighting injustice, racism, xenophobia, homophobia, transphobia, and oppression. When we lift one group, when we support and elevate communities, we must also lift up our neighbors and other marginalized peoples.

SIAN serves immigrants and refugees, children and families, who have come to Illinois after surviving life-threatening living conditions as well as environmental, economic, and political turmoil. In a welcoming state like Illinois, we encourage our organizations, leaders, and institutions to serve immigrants and refugees with compassion, understanding, respect, and attention to the many intersections of being and experience of marginalization our communities encounter.

We need to understand and identify a manufactured crisis when we see it. This moment of Illinois being targeted for our welcoming values is a perfect example of how oppression works against immigrants and people of color. When the humanity, safety, and survival of children and families are at stake, we need to stop seeing ‘us’ versus ‘them.’ We instead need to see communities as whole, fully human, deserving of our respect and assistance–and our policies have to reflect this. We hope that our historical partners at NAACP chapters across the state join us in this analysis as we strive to move forward together.

*** UPDATE 4 *** OK, this is getting weird…

NAACP Illinois State Conference

President Teresa Haley will hold a Press Conference on Saturday, December 16, 2023 at 11:00 a.m. at the NAACP’s Office:

801 South 11th Street
Springfield, Illinois 62703

The media is invited to attend, arriving no earlier than 10:45 a.m. Thank you.

*** UPDATE 5 *** Press release from the state council…

Effective 8:10 p.m., President Teresa Haley’s Press Conference is cancelled, in accordance with the recent request from the National NAACP Office. Ms. Haley stands by her heartfelt apology and will not provide any further comments at this juncture.

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Protected: Subscribers only - This just in… (Updated)

Thursday, Dec 14, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

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US Supreme Court again refuses to block Illinois’ assault weapons ban law

Thursday, Dec 14, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Block Club Chicago…

The city has begun impounding “rogue buses” that do not follow established guidelines for dropping off migrants coming to Chicago. […]

The city towed and impounded the first bus under the new order at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, a spokesperson for the Mayor’s Office said in a statement Thursday.

Mayoral advisor Jason Lee said the “main trigger” for impounding the bus was the lack of a necessary permit through the Chicago Department of Transportation, but that it also arrived outside the city’s drop-off window.

Another bus carrying migrants in Chicago also arrived after the 5 p.m. curfew, but ended up not stopping and ultimately left the city, Lee told reporters ahead of a special City Council meeting Thursday morning regarding Chicago’s sanctuary city status.

* Press release…

Today, Governor JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Transportation were joined by local officials and community leaders to celebrate the latest milestones on the $251.8 million replacement of the Interstate 57/74 interchange, a signature project of the historic, bipartisan Rebuild Illinois capital program. As it moves into its next phase, the overall project will positively impact safety and mobility while positioning the region for long-term economic growth. […]

The I-57/74 project is replacing a traditional cloverleaf interchange built in 1965 that no longer meets current traffic volumes and demands. The new interchange will feature a design that includes two flyover ramps to improve traffic flow and efficiency: Eastbound I-74 to northbound I-57 and westbound I-74 to southbound I-57. To add capacity, a third, auxiliary lane will be added to both directions of I-74 between Prospect Avenue and Duncan Road.

* Sun-Times…

Four people convicted of conspiring to bribe then-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan to benefit ComEd want their fast-approaching sentencings put on hold as the Supreme Court considers a separate case, arguing its ruling could prove “fatal” to the verdict against them. […]

The ComEd defense attorneys insist in their six-page filing that “the Supreme Court’s decision in Snyder is certain to impact [the ComEd] case, and it has a substantial chance of requiring dismissal of the charges, acquittal or, at a minimum, a new trial.”

In dispute in the ComEd case is whether the federal program bribery statute criminalizes only bribery, as opposed to also criminalizing so-called gratuities or rewards. Another point of contention is whether a bribery conviction under the statute requires proof of a “quid pro quo.”

Federal prosecutors in Chicago insist that it does not.

The filing is here.

* Press release…

State Rep. Anna Moeller’s work to protect young women seeking reproductive health protections is being honored by a respected statewide civil rights organization.

Rep. Moeller, D-Elgin, will be recognized Dec. 14 at a ceremony in Chicago as an honored guest at the ACLU of Illinois Annual Legislator Awards. This was the first ceremony held in person to recognize civil liberties legislation since 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

* Sen. Meg Loughran Cappel…

Illinois veterans will be able to adopt a pet without paying fees on Jan. 1, thanks to a new law from State Senator Meg Loughran Cappel. […]

Across the state, pet adoption fees vary widely depending on the organization, ranging from $50 to $275. Loughran Cappel’s new law requires animal shelters and animal control facilities to waive the adoption fee for military veterans in Illinois.

* More…

* SJ-R | Illinois Innocence Project, UIS grad help exonerate man wrongfully imprisoned for 35 years: The two provided evidence to a Cook County judge that Beals wasn’t the perpetrator of Campbell’s death, but the target of attacks by a local drug supplier. At least five witnesses confirmed to the IIP and Nirider that Beals was indeed the target, with photographic evidence showing five bullet holes in his car, aiding in his claims of innocence.

* Tribune | Aldermen block plan to put sanctuary city question to Chicago voters: Beale, Lopez and Moore have been plotting the mini-rebellion for several weeks, with Johnson’s allies outmaneuvering them by using to their advantage the fact Chicago only allows three referendum questions per election. One spot is already reserved for the “Bring Chicago Home” referendum that would increase the real estate transfer tax for some to fund homelessness services, a major plank of Johnson’s progressive agenda.

* WBEZ | The harrowing journeys of migrants are revealed in the quiet spaces of Chicago: More than 25,000 migrants and asylum seekers have arrived mostly from South and Central America since late August of last year. They are fleeing the collapse of their economies, the lack of jobs and food, and as one social worker puts it, “misery.” Many came here on a bus from Texas, where Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said Chicago and other sanctuary cities that embrace immigrants would provide much-needed relief “to our small, overrun border towns.” The buses haven’t stopped since.

* Crain’s | Jewel, Mariano’s parents brace for feds’ decision on merger in January: Progressive lawmakers and the Teamsters union both urged the antitrust agency this week to veto the deal after its yearlong probe. The FTC has until Jan. 17 to decide on their deal under a timing agreement the companies reached with the agency, according to a court filing in a class action brought by consumers opposed to the deal. The agency’s deadline hasn’t been disclosed previously.

* Sun-Times | Want to volunteer for the Democratic, Republican conventions? Here’s how to apply: Both conventions will need thousands of volunteers — from airport greeters and drivers to party and event staff, and local folks stationed in the hotels housing delegates providing advice and guidance to the visitors on sightseeing, restaurants and how to get around town.

* Daily Herald | Will Prestige’s new equipment pass the smell test?: A Mount Prospect animal feed producer that neighbors say has inundated nearby residents with a “burnt cheese” odor for four years will be allowed to operate during the daytime over the next three weeks. Mount Prospect conducted an inspection Wednesday of the $300,000 odor mitigation equipment installed by Prestige Feed Products, 431 Lakeview Court, village attorney Allen Wall said at a hearing in Cook County Circuit Court later that day. Wall said the inspection “seemed to go very well.”

* Sun-Times | Tony’s Place: A healthier La Russa is back, wants to state where he fits with White Sox: Hired at age 76 by chairman and good friend Jerry Reinsdorf before the 2021 season to lead the White Sox beyond the wild-card finish manager Rick Renteria led them to in 2020, La Russa’s Sox went 93-69 with an AL Central title. In 2022, La Russa didn’t feel well. His pacemaker needed attention, and unbeknownst to most everyone, he was dealing with cancer.

* The Hill | News media outlets slashed record 2,700 jobs in 2023, with more expected: Data from outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas found media companies overall have made 20,324 cuts so far in 2023, the highest year-to-date total since 2020. In the “news” subcategory the firm tracks, 2,681 jobs have been cut, including those in broadcast, digital and print. That total surpassed the 1,808 cuts announced during 2022 and 1,511 announced the year before.

* WaPo | Bigots use AI to make Nazi memes on 4chan. Verified users post them on X: An antisemitic post on Elon Musk’s X is not exactly news. But new research finds the site has emerged as a conduit to mainstream exposure for a fresh wave of automated hate memes, generated using cutting-edge AI image tools by trolls on the notorious online forum 4chan. The research by the nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), shared with and verified by The Washington Post, finds that a campaign by 4chan members to spread “AI Jew memes” in the wake of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack resulted in 43 different images reaching a combined 2.2 million views on X between Oct. 5 and Nov. 16, according to the site’s publicly displayed metrics.

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Thursday, Dec 14, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

* CBS News…

The Supreme Court on Thursday declined to block an Illinois law banning assault-style weapons, leaving the measure in place while proceedings before a federal appellate court continue.

The decision from the justices marks the second time they have declined to halt Illinois’ statewide ban, which a gun rights advocacy group and gun shop owner argued violates the Second Amendment. It has also left in place a similar ordinance in Naperville, a suburb of Chicago.

The unsigned order from the court rejecting the request from the pro-Second Amendment organization comes on the heels of the latest spate of shootings, on the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, campus and in Austin and San Antonio, Texas. The shootings have reignited now-familiar calls from President Biden for Congress to pass a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.

* Courthouse News…

For the second time, the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday turned down an opportunity to pause an assault weapons ban in Illinois implemented in response to a deadly shooting. […]

The National Association for Gun Rights, a gun store, and the store’s owner sued Naperville — and later Illinois — claiming the new ordinance violated the Second Amendment. Two lower courts refused to block the regulations, leading to the group’s first trip to the Supreme Court’s emergency docket.

The justices’ denial left the law in place while the challenge was under review. While this case was proceeding two other lower courts upheld the law in five different cases challenging the ban. The Seventh Circuit consolidated all six cases.

In a 2-1 decision, the appeals court declined to grant preliminary relief, finding that the gun advocacy group was not likely to prevail on its Second Amendment challenge.

The gun advocacy group then returned to the high court for relief. The group says the law would ban the most popular rifle in America, and therefore, in unlawful because it bans weapons in common use.

Click here to read the Court’s order.

* NPR…

The court’s action on Thursday, leaving the Illinois law in place, is not a decision on the merits of the case; as of now, there have been no conflicting decisions by lower appeals courts, and the justices may well have felt there was no need to intervene without such a conflict.

This post will likely be updated.

…Adding… GPAC…

Gun rights groups continue to try to block the new law, even after repeated failures. And they continue to get nowhere. They asked the Supreme Court for relief before the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on the new law and the Supreme Court said no. Now after the Court of Appeals has upheld the law they’ve gone back and asked again. Not surprisingly the Supreme Court again said no. No amount of flailing around by losing lawyers alters the basic fact that sale in Illinois of these destructive weapons continues to be blocked completely.

…Adding… Protect Illinois Communities…

Once again, the US Supreme Court has refused to listen to requests from extremist organizations to block the Protect Illinois Communities Act, a commonsense gun safety measure to keep assault weapons off of our streets. This law helps save lives, and every day it remains in place is a step toward keeping weapons of war out of our neighborhoods.”

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Rate the tweets

Thursday, Dec 14, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Heh…

* Ha!…

* Attempted recovery…

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Consumer group praises ICC for two victories: One vs. ComEd/Ameren, the other against Peoples Gas

Thursday, Dec 14, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Illinois PIRG…

For the second time in a month, utility regulators at the Illinois Commerce Commission on Thursday handed down decisions that portend the beginning of a new era of consumer- and climate-focused utility oversight in Illinois.

“We applaud Chairman Doug Scott and other members of the Illinois Commerce Commission for making a decisive pivot away from the more utility-friendly approach of the past,” said Illinois PIRG Director Abe Scarr.

The five-person commission, recently overhauled by Gov. J.B. Pritzker, set new rates for the electric utilities ComEd and Ameren. Notably, the Commission rejected ComEd and Ameren’s grid plans, finding that the utilities failed to meet the standards set by law, and ordered them to re-submit compliant plans next year. The Commission rejected significant planned utility spending based on the lack of compliant grid plans.

The commission set Comed’s authorized profit rate, known as the return on equity (ROE), at 8.9% over the next four years. ComEd initially proposed a 10.5% ROE in 2024, which would escalate over four years to 10.65% in 2027. Illinois PIRG submitted expert testimony recommending a 6.5% ROE, arguing that state policies virtually guarantee ComEd’s profits, so it does not need a high ROE for financial health. Miniscule differences in profit rates can translate into hundreds of millions of dollars on customer bills.

“As it did with the gas rate cases, the Commission took important steps to rightsize ComEd and Ameren’s spending levels and limit their impact on customer bills. It also set a much lower profit rate than proposed by ComEd, saving customers hundreds of millions of dollars,” said Scarr. “We are pleased the Commission invited further consideration of profits rates under multi-year rate plans and will continue to make our case to the Commission that Illinois utilities can remain financially healthy with significantly lower profit rates.”

The Commission also denied Peoples Gas’ motion to “clarify” and reverse portions of the Commission’s November decision regarding the failing Peoples Gas pipe replacement program and authorize an additional $134 million in 2024 spending, which would raise its already record-breaking rate hike by an additional $8.1 million.

“We hope Peoples Gas now has the clarity it needs: while it maintains its fundamental service obligation to maintain public safety, it can no longer operate accountability-free and waste billions of dollars on a pipe replacement program that fails to achieve its public safety objective,” said Scarr. “We look forward to working with the commission and other parties to enact meaningful reforms to the program next year.”

Since the November decision, Peoples Gas and its allies had mounted a pressure campaign targeting the Commission. It included suggesting the legislature intervene, threatening the pending confirmation of three commissioners and sending more than 20 letters in support of the motion from unions, contractors, and others, each requiring an ethics report from the Commission in compliance with its “ex-parte” communications rules. Commissioner Scott directly addressed these ex-parte communications, asking members of the public to use more appropriate means of communicating with the Commission.

That last paragraph is quite something, but the two linked examples are an op-ed by two high-level labor leaders and a tweet by Local 150.

…Adding… CUB…

In an unprecedented ruling in favor of electric customers, the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) today reined in reckless spending by ComEd and Ameren, said no to excessive profit rates and lowered the electric utilities’ rate-hike requests by hundreds of millions of dollars. After a decade in which electric utilities exploited lax oversight, scandal, and rampant rate hikes to reap excessive profits, the ICC made it clear that ComEd and Ameren must be held accountable to their customers and provide more affordable electric service. Today’s ICC ruling delivered an important message: Utilities need to prove that their grid plans will actually benefit consumers. Clean energy is about lowering costs for electric customers in the long run, not giving a blank check to Ameren and ComEd.

Also CUB…

Less than three weeks after receiving a record rate hike, Peoples Gas tried to bully the ICC into raising costs, yet again, for the utility’s beleaguered customers by manufacturing a fictitious emergency. We’re grateful that regulators saw through these blatant theatrics and protected Chicago consumers, who have been buffeted by spiraling heating bills, from another money grab by the utility.

Peoples Gas has reaped record profits for six straight years – and that was before it obtained its record rate hike last month. No company that has amassed such a staggering fortune should ever threaten to neglect public safety and lay off workers. If Peoples continues to put jobs in jeopardy as a form of political extortion, the unions that represent the utility’s employees should put the blame where it belongs – on Peoples Gas, not on the state regulators entrusted with holding the company accountable.

For the past decade, Chicago families have been suffering through a heating affordability crisis, as People Gas bills skyrocketed to pay for the company’s bloated pipe-replacement program. Peoples Gas customers pay an average of $50 in fixed monthly costs before they ever turn on the heat or the stove. Nearly 200,000 households have been assessed a late fee, and 160,000 families have fallen behind on payments by more than 30 days.

Given all this financial woe, the ICC did the right thing when it put a moratorium on discretionary, non-emergency pipe-replacement, pending further investigation. Nonetheless, Peoples Gas responded by trying to hold its workers and public safety hostage as a ploy to coerce another rate hike out of financially burdened customers. We urge regulators, lawmakers, and the public at large to continue to stand strong and resist cynical attempts to pit the utility’s workers against its customers when it is obvious that both are being made victims of the company’s greed.

Protected: Subscribers only - Campaign update

Thursday, Dec 14, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

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2022 called: It wants its SAFE-T Act talking points back

Thursday, Dec 14, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

* The 2023 Golden Horseshoe Award for Best Contract Lobbyist is a tie. Liz Brown-Reeves…

Liz Brown is everywhere all the time. If you need something done you can call her and know it’s handled. She’s a superstar staffer turned lobbyist who knows everyone and knows who to call to ensure your issue is at the top of the list. If you’re looking to succeed in Springfield she’s someone you need to have on your side.

And Dave Sullivan…

Just take a walk around the Capitol early morning or late into the evening you will see him. He ALWAYS greets everyone with a smile and very respectful to Staff & LA’s all while working multiple clients difficult agendas.

* The 2023 Golden Horseshoe Award for Best In-House Lobbyist is also a tie. Mark Denzler with the Illinois Manufacturers Association…

He spent 2,000 miles on a bus to promote manufacturing. Traveled to London with the Governor on a trade mission. Helped lead efforts on REV to land Gotion and Stellantis with 7,000 good jobs. And his peers named him Speaker of the Third House. Not a bad year.

* And Jen Walling with the Illinois Environmental Council…

I cannot think of another lobbyist that is more passionate about their cause than Jen. Professional and knowledgeable, Jen has taken on some heavy hitters on big issues and prevailed. I couldn’t think of a better leader for the environmental movement.

Congratulations to our winners and to everyone who was nominated!

* On to today’s categories…

Best Legislative Liaison

As always, explain your nominations or they won’t count. And please do your very best to nominate in both categories. Thanks!

* And here’s your daily reminder to click here and help buy Christmas presents for foster kids served by Lutheran Social Services of Illinois. Thanks!

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Thursday, Dec 14, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

* The Federalist is still spouting 2022 talking points…

Illinois Cooks Up Cashless Bail And Discovers It’s A ‘Perfect Recipe For Lawlessness’

The story is ridden with errors…

Chicago Alderman Raymond Lopez, a rare Democrat speaking out against the end of cash bail in the Land of Lincoln, told Fox News’ “America Reports” in October that innocent people are being “hunted down like prey.” 

“[T]hings like robbery, burglary, arson, assault, even threatening elected officials like myself, do not warrant you being held on bond anymore in the state of Illinois, and criminals are taking note,” Lopez told the cable news outlet. 

Um, all but one of those crimes are detainable offenses, including threatening elected officials. Assault, defined as “conduct which places another in reasonable apprehension of receiving a battery,” has long been a Class C misdemeanor, but past “assaultive behavior” is a factor judges can use to detain someone.

And then the article talks about somebody who was arrested and is still being detained by the feds on “14 federal felony counts of interstate communication of a threat to injure.”

The article goes on to note that the same person had been arrested by the Perry County sheriff’s office and released after two days behind bars. The sheriff blames the SAFE-T Act, but the person was released on a charge of resisting arrest, and the important underlying charge related to the threats was “dropped due to a lack of a specific target.”

Sure sounds like the local sheriff messed up and blamed state law.

* Meanwhile, in reality…

In Sangamon County, the average daily number of people in custody at the jail was 323 before the Pretrial Fairness Act took effect and has ranged between 220 and 240 since then, according to Sheriff Jack Campbell. It’s obvious the new law is the reason for the drop, he said.

The reduction has meant less crowding in the facility, less stress among inmates and higher morale among the jail staff, Campbell said. […]

It is “too early to tell” the long-term impact, [Sangamon County State’s Attorney John Milhiser] said, but he collected statistics that show Sangamon County judges are agreeing with prosecutors almost 70% of the time when the State’s Attorney’s Office has requested detention. There have been 99 petitions for detainment so far, and 69 were granted, he told Illinois Times Dec. 13.

The rate is similar to numbers released Dec. 11 by the state administrative court office, which is overseen by the Supreme Court. For 71 of the state’s 102 counties – a number that doesn’t include Sangamon and mostly consists of smaller counties – judges had issued decisions on 1,445 petitions for detention. Of those, 976 (67.55%) petitions were granted, and 469 were denied. Another 51 petitions were waiting to be heard

* And in southern Illinois…

[Jackson County State’s Attorney Joseph Cervantez] said if someone violates their pretrial release conditions, they can face sanctions. If a defendant continues to violate them, prosecutors can petition to revoke bail.

Cervantez also said that since the start of the SAFE-T Act, he has not seen crime increase in Jackson County.

19 Comments

It’s just a bill

Thursday, Dec 14, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* HB4266 filed by Rep. Maurice West…

Amends the Lobbyist Registration Act. Directs the Secretary of State to grant a waiver of the lobbyist registration fee for any not-for-profit entity with an annual budget of less than $5,000,000 that is classified as tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, including a waiver for any lobbyist that exclusively lobbies on behalf of such an entity.

* Rep. Kimberly du Buclet filed HB4269 yesterday…

Amends the Environmental Protection Act. Provides that, on and after January 1, 2030, no person shall sell or offer for sale in the State a new washing machine for residential, commercial, or State use unless the washing machine: (1) contains a microfiber filtration system with a mesh size of not greater than 100 micrometers; and (2) bears a conspicuous label that is visible to the consumer, in the form of a sticker or any other label type, that includes a specified statement. Provides that a person or entity who violates this prohibition shall be liable for a civil penalty not to exceed $10,000 for a first violation and not to exceed $30,000 for each subsequent violation.

* HB4268 is another bill fromRep. Du Buclet…

Creates the Climate Corporate Accountability Act. Provides that, on or before July 1, 2024, the Secretary of State shall develop and adopt rules to require a reporting entity to annually disclose to the emissions registry, and verify, all of the reporting entity’s scope 1 emissions, scope 2 emissions, and scope 3 emissions. Provides that a reporting entity, starting on January 1, 2025, and annually thereafter, publicly disclose to the emissions registry all of the reporting entity’s scope 1 emissions and scope 2 emissions for the prior calendar year, and its scope 3 emissions for that same calendar year no later than 180 days after that date. Provides that the Secretary of State shall contract with an emissions registry to develop a reporting and registry program to receive and make publicly available disclosures. Provides that, on or before January 1, 2025, the Secretary of State shall contract with the University of Illinois, a national laboratory, or another equivalent academic institution to prepare a report on the public disclosures made by reporting entities to the emissions registry. Provides that the emissions registry, on or before January 1, 2025, shall create a digital platform, which shall be accessible to the public, that will house all disclosures submitted by reporting entities to the emissions registry. Provides for enforcement of the Act. Effective immediately.

* HB4258 from Rep. Eva-Dina Delgado…

Amends the License to Read Act. Defines terms. Provides that no contract or license agreement entered into between a publisher and library shall preclude, limit, or restrict the library from performing customary operational functions or lending functions, restrict the library from disclosing any terms of its license agreements to other libraries, or require, coerce, or enable the library to violate the Library Records Confidentiality Act. Provides that nothing in the amendatory Act affects existing contracts that are in effect on the effective date of the amendatory Act. Sets forth remedies. Contains a severability provision. Effective immediately.

* HB4263 from Rep. Jed Davis…

Amends the Juvenile Court Act of 1987. Provides that the photograph of each minor for whom the Department of Children and Family Services is responsible under the Abused, Dependent, or Neglected Minors Article of the Act shall be transmitted to the clerk of the circuit court of the county in which the minor resides for placement in the court file. Provides that the photograph shall be taken within 6 months before transmission and shall be accessible by the judge who is to decide the placement, custody, or other disposition concerning the minor.

* Rep. Amy Elik…

Amends the Firearm Owners Identification Card Act. Provides that, if the Illinois State Police denies an application for or revokes and seizes a Firearm Owner’s Identification Card because an individual has been a patient of a mental health facility, the notice to the applicant or card holder of denial of an application for or revocation of the person’s Firearm Owner’s Identification Card shall include the date or dates of admission of the person to the mental health facility and the name of the facility. Provides that, if the Firearm Owner’s Identification Card Review Board does not, within 90 days of the filing of the applicant’s appeal of a denial of a Firearm Owner’s Identification Card or revocation of a Firearm Owner’s Identification Card, render a decision on the appeal, the failure to render a decision shall constitute a rejection of the appeal, and the applicant or card holder may appeal to the circuit court for relief. Provides that the cost for replacement of a combined Firearm Owner’s Identification Card and concealed carry license is $5 if the person has changed his or her address. Amends the Firearm Concealed Carry Act to make conforming changes.

* Rep. Barbara Hernandez filed HB4264 earlier this week…

Creates the Good Samaritan Menstrual Products Act. Prohibits a person, manufacturer, or distributor from being held liable for damages incurred resulting from any illness or disease contracted by the ultimate user or recipient of an apparently usable menstrual product due to the nature, age, condition, or packaging of the menstrual product that the person, manufacturer, or distributor donates in good faith to a nonprofit organization for ultimate distribution to an individual in need of such menstrual product. Prohibits a nonprofit organization from being held liable for damages incurred resulting from any illness or disease contracted by the ultimate user or recipient of an apparently usable menstrual product due to the condition of the menstrual product. Sets forth exceptions. Effective immediately.

* Rep. Chris Miller…

Amends the Reproductive Health Act. Provides that consent to a termination of pregnancy is voluntary and informed only if: the physician who is to perform the procedure, or the referring physician, has, at a minimum, orally, while physically present in the same room, and at least 24 hours before the procedure, provided the woman with specified information; specified printed materials prepared and provided by the Department of Public Health have been provided to the pregnant woman, if she chooses to view these materials; and the woman acknowledges in writing, before the termination of pregnancy, that the information required to be provided has been provided. Provides that if a medical emergency exists and a physician cannot comply with the requirements for informed consent, a physician may terminate a pregnancy if he or she has obtained at least one corroborative medical opinion attesting to the medical necessity for emergency medical procedures and to the fact that to a reasonable degree of medical certainty the continuation of the pregnancy would threaten the life of the pregnant woman. Provides that a physician or other person who violates the provisions shall be subject to appropriate disciplinary action.

14 Comments

Thursday, Dec 14, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* What’s goin’ on in your part of Illinois?…

9 Comments

Thursday, Dec 14, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* ICYMI: Chicago spent almost $1M on Brighton Park migrant base camp.Sun-Times …

* Related stories…

∙ ABC Chicago: Chicago spent nearly $1M on failed Brighton Park migrant base camp, records show
∙ Block Club: City Paying Well More Than Typical Rent For Migrant Shelter Buildings — And Keeping Details Secret

* Isabel’s top picks…

* Illinois Answers | Illinois Taxpayers Shell Out Hundreds of Millions as Prison Reform Lawsuits Grind On: Progress has been slow as the bill to taxpayers keeps rising. Court-ordered audits show the IDOC continues to fail to provide basic care to inmates — a point underscored by the Illinois Answers Project in interviews with more than a dozen people who are incarcerated. The state has paid more than $13 million in legal fees and fines so far as part of the settlements and faces an ultimate tab of hundreds of millions of dollars to fulfill settlement requirements. Separately, a report published earlier this year estimates the state has a multibillion dollar backlog in maintenance expenses to repair its dilapidated prisons, some of which date to the 19th century.

* Post-Tribune | Supreme Court agrees to review former Portage Mayor James Snyder’s public corruption case: Snyder was elected mayor in 2011 and reelected in 2015. He resigned in February 2019 after his first conviction on the IRS and garbage truck charges; in a second trial a jury confirmed the guilty verdict in the garbage truck case. Snyder was indicted in November 2016, on the same day former Lake County Sheriff John Buncich, who is serving a 12-year sentence in federal prison, was indicted on public corruption charges. Federal attorneys argued in a November filing that Snyder does not deserve to have his conviction on a public corruption charge involving garbage truck contracts reviewed because earlier court rulings in the case indicate Snyder received a bribe of $13,000 in regard to a contract for garbage trucks.

* WTTW | Sponsor of State Law Targeting Crisis Pregnancy Centers in ‘Shock and Dismay’ After AG Backs Off Legal Fight:“If the attorney general wasn’t prepared to defend the law — even a little bit — it never should have been introduced,” said Lisa Battisfore, president of Reproductive Transparency Now.

* Here’s the rest of your morning roundup…

The Southern | Williamson County commissioners talk Paid Leave Act, plan to adopt policy Dec. 15:

* Daily Herald | Suburbs scramble to exempt public safety employees from state’s on-demand paid-leave law: The announcement was publicly applauded by a number of legislators and civic leaders. While their comments focused on the benefit to those employees receiving this right for the first time, they didn’t reflect the specific concern suburban municipalities and fire protection districts have been trying to address this fall.

* Chalkbeat | Illinois’ education budget might be tighter over the next several years, say officials: That’s because local revenue projections are modest and federal COVID relief dollars are set to run out, state finance and budget officials told board members. The Governor’s Office of Management and Budget has predicted the Illinois State Board of Education can expect to receive an additional $425 million in revenue next year.

* Illinois Times | Elimination of cash bail seems to be working: “It’s a fairly orderly process,” Matthew McLoughlin, campaign coordinator of the Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice, told Illinois Times, adding that naysayers so far have been proven wrong. “The courts have slowed the process down. “The big thing here is the dramatic pronouncements made last year of chaos in our communities have turned out to be patently false. We’re thrilled with the implementation of the law.”

* Crain’s | Johnson says city close to clearing migrants from police districts: As of Wednesday morning, city officials reported 354 asylum seekers were living in police district stations, with another 221 living at O’Hare International Airport. By Wednesday afternoon, Johnson said that number was reduced and that all but one of the city’s 22 police districts had been cleared of migrants.

* Tribune | Oak Park, which has been providing shelter for migrants, will require them to move out of hotel, YMCA by Jan. 31: The approximately 160 people at The Carleton of Oak Park hotel and the West Cook YMCA are to be notified of the eviction date this week. They will be asked to work with a case manager or village staff to find new shelter and possibly move them to another city or state if they have stable housing there, according to a memo from the village Emergency Operations Center. For anyone who can’t find shelter, the village will help relocate them to the Chicago shelter program, the memo states.

* Crain’s | Prosecution begins closing arguments in Ed Burke trial: After the media frenzy surrounding the testimony of FBI mole Danny Solis on Tuesday, the crowd inside the 25th-floor courtroom at the Dirksen Federal Building had simmered down by the time Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane MacArthur addressed the jury Wednesday afternoon. Understated and methodical, MacArthur laid out the 19-count federal indictment that named Burke as well as his chief of staff Peter Andrews and local developer Charles Cui.

* Block Club | MAT Asphalt Agrees To $1.2 Million Class-Action Settlement With McKinley Park Neighbors: The settlement, agreed upon in early November, applies to any resident who lives within a half-mile radius of MAT Asphalt, 2055 W. Pershing Road. The facility is situated across the street from McKinley Park and makes hot-mix asphalt, among other industrial products. […] With the settlement agreement, lawyers from the Detroit-based law office of Liddle Sheets Coulson P.C. are now requesting that neighbors interested in the payout file a claim form to receive compensation from the settlement fund. The form must be postmarked by Jan. 22.

* Sun-Times | Judge vacates murder conviction of Chicago man wrongfully imprisoned for 35 years: Beals was convicted in the 1988 murder of 6-year-old Demetrius Campbell in Englewood. At the time, Beals, a 22-year-old student at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, was home in Chicago during Thanksgiving break. He was approached by a drug dealer and they argued, according to news accounts at the time. Attorneys say Beals got in his car and drove off. Bullets fired in Beals’ direction hit two bystanders, the boy and his mother, Valerie Campbell. Despite three witnesses describing a different offender, Beals was convicted, namely on Campbell’s testimony. She said she saw Beals in the argument and believed he fired the shots. Beals maintained his innocence.

* Sun-Times | Heartland Alliance cuts 65 jobs and shuts affordable housing division: Ed Stellon, the group’s chief external affairs officer, said the nonprofit is “managing a very severe cash flow challenge.” He said the layoffs were among 125 workers who got temporary furloughs in recent months. “It’s just a terrible situation for them,” Stellon said.

* NBC Chicago | Illinois’ New Laws: Transit bill includes reduced fares, requires zero-emission buses: The legislation will provide free fare cards for victims of domestic violence, with state agencies partnering with The Network: Advocating Against Domestic Violence, according to the language of the bill. The legislation also included several provisions aimed at younger Illinois residents. Both PACE and Metra will be required to offer youth job opportunities and internship programs as part of the bill, and participants in the “One Summer Chicago” program, which provides employment opportunities for Chicago residents age 14-to-24, will also receive reduced-fares on transit.

* WAND | Illinois lawmakers, industry experts discuss future broadband expansion: Roughly 234,000 Illinoisans are unserved and lack access to basic broadband service. However, about 132,000 people live in underserved locations across the state. “How are we going to reach 100% coverage for all Illinoisans? That’s a really big hurdle,” said Greg Claus with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. “This is the first time a grant program has been set up to connect all homes and businesses.”

* Sun-Times | CTA boss says Yellow Line crash conditions are isolated, not systemwide: Brushing aside criticism that he has remained silent since the crash, CTA President Dorval Carter said National Transportation Safety Board rules prohibit him from commenting on the investigation. But he tried to allay speculation about a potential design flaw.

* Our Quad Cities | Pat O’Brien, Moline 6th ward alderman, dies: Pat O’Brien was a longtime resident of Moline. He served eight years as the 2nd Ward Alderman for the city until 2005. In 2021, he was elected as the 6th Ward Alderman. Pat was also the former President of the Council on Community Services and also served as President of the Moline Preservation society. His co-workers and friends describe him as selfless.

* WREX | Illinois Comptroller Mendoza shares safe holiday shopping tips: In a recent release to Illinois residents, Comptroller Susana Mendoza encourages safe shopping for the holidays. Providing tips to the public, the state leader charged with fiscal control calls for consumer caution. “That perfect present you picked out for a loved one may end up costing you dearly if you aren’t careful,” states Mendoza.

* Tribune | Anti-Cruelty Society sees uptick in adoptions after waiving fees for December to reduce overcrowding: Pistachio is one of 158 animals that has been adopted from the Anti-Cruelty Society animal shelter since it waived adoption fees for the month of December in its “Home for Howlidays” promotion to encourage and remove one financial barrier to adoption. The large-scale promotion aims to combat overcrowding at the shelter, which has seen in the past two years animals, particularly big dogs, linger at the shelter.

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Thursday, Dec 14, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller

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Thursday, Dec 14, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller

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Pritzker says GardaWorld will eat the state’s costs of canceled Brighton Park tent city

Wednesday, Dec 13, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* From Rich: Congrats to DeShana Forney, who was just elected the new Third House Speaker!

* From Rich: The candidate ballot-position lottery was held today. If you click here and scroll down to “Link: More Information,” and then click that link, you’ll bring up the pre-lottery’s pdf report. Today’s lottery sequence is: 1, 3, 4, 2. So the “1″ candidate on the pre-lottery report will appear first on the ballot, the “3″ will appear second, and so on. As an example, Darren Bailey is a “1,” so his name will appear at the top of the ballot. Mike Bost will be second.

* Press Release…

Governor JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Transportation announced today that IDOT has reached an agreement to provide $10 million to Chicago to help the city expand its network of safety cameras along both state routes and city streets. The increased presence of cameras will be a valuable tool to help ensure the safety and effective movement of traffic through Chicago during special events and emergencies as well as in typically busy areas. […]

The intergovernmental agreement will increase the city’s ability to monitor traffic, manage incidents and assist in increased enforcement and safety along rights of way in Chicago.

The $10 million from IDOT will cover the costs of equipment, permitting and labor associated with the purchase and installation of the cameras. The city, under the terms of the agreement, will own and manage the physical and technological infrastructure and data as well as use a vendor to provide the required supplies and services, including equipment, installation, maintenance and any repairs.

The city also will determine the specific locations of the cameras and coordinate best practices for sharing information with law enforcement agencies.

* Lake County News-Sun…

The father of the alleged Highland Park Fourth of July parade shooter was released from jail Wednesday morning after serving less than a month of his 60-day sentence due to “good behavior,” according to the Lake County sheriff’s office. […]

Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli, and public information officer for the sheriff’s office, said the charge to which Crimo Jr. pleaded guilty to is served at 50% for good behavior, meaning he received a day-for-day credit for his behavior. […]

On the day he reported for his jail sentence, Crimo Jr. arrived at the Lake County Courthouse wearing a white shirt that read, “I’m a political pawn,” in black letters. On the back of his shirt were the words “laws,” “facts” and “reality.”

* Senate Democrats…

As the new year starts, a number of new laws will take effect. Over 300 new laws will officially be on the books Jan. 1 – from one that makes Illinois the first state in the nation to prohibit the banning of books, to another that waives pet adoption fees for our nation’s heroes.

The Illinois Senate Democratic Caucus outlined 10 of the most interesting laws that will take effect Jan. 1. Those include:

· House Bill 2789: Prohibits state-funded libraries from banning or removing materials due to religious or partisan disapproval
· House Bill 1541: Prohibits utility companies from discontinuing gas or electric services for residential users due to nonpayment of bills on days when the temperature exceeds 90 degrees or there is a heat watch, advisory or warning
· House Bill 2389: Clarifies that no vehicle can be stopped or searched solely on the basis of any objects placed or suspended between the driver and the front windshield that may obstruct the driver’s view
· House Bill 2245: Requires Illinois car manufacturers to establish a vehicle theft hotline to facilitate the location of stolen vehicles via their existing global positioning systems
· House Bill 3924: Requires high schools to teach students about the dangers of fentanyl in all state-required health courses
· House Bill 1540: Prohibits the use of electronic cigarettes in public places and within 15 feet of entrances
· House Bill 3516: Allows employees up to 10 days of paid leave in any 12-month period to serve as an organ donor
· House Bill 2431: Provides people operating a motor vehicle may not use an electronic device to participate in video conferences or access social media sites
· Senate Bill 380: Provides a civil cause of action for fertility fraud against health care providers who knowingly or intentionally use their own human reproductive material without the patient’s informed written consent for assisted reproductive treatment
· House Bill 2500: Requires animal shelters and animal control facilities to waive the adoption fee for military veterans in Illinois

Dozens of other laws will also take effect Jan. 1, 2024. A full list can be found at https://www.illinoissenatedemocrats.com/2024NewLaws.

* Tribune…

Four City Hall lobbyists apparently donated improperly to Mayor Brandon Johnson’s political fund, the Chicago Board of Ethics found this week.

The board found the registered lobbyists appeared to violate a mayoral executive order by giving money to Johnson, according to probable cause findings issued at a recent meeting. […]

[A] Tribune analysis of campaign finance records identified four registered lobbyists who donated to Johnson’s candidate committee after he was sworn in as mayor in May.

Those donors include former 49th Ward Ald. Joe Moore, who now has his own lobbying business; John Dunn, former Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley’s director of intergovernmental affairs who now works for Cozen O’Connor; Michael Cassidy with Zephyr Government Strategies; and Anthony B. Bruno, a politically connected business and government consultant in the west suburbs who was previously convicted of tax fraud.

* Block Club’s Colin Boyle captured some chaotic City Council moments …

NOW: City Council meeting has been recessed amid disruptions during the discussion for arbitration for CPD. Supporters of Palestine were pounding on the gallery windows and chanting. Mayor Brandon Johnson commanded Sergeant-at-Arms Starks to have them removed before Mayor left. pic.twitter.com/77vHa0WpwR

— Colin Boyle (@colinbphoto) December 13, 2023

* Press release…

U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) today announced $20,927,748 in new federal funding for the Chicago Department of Transportation’s Ogden Avenue Improvement Project in the North Lawndale neighborhood. This federal investment from the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Safe Streets and Roads for All program will support improvements along Ogden Avenue to reduce crashes and create a safer and more comfortable corridor for people walking, biking and driving.

“Improving street safety and increasing multimodal transportation infrastructure makes for safer, more active and more vibrant communities,” Duckworth said. “I’m proud to announce this important funding to help the City of Chicago to make much-needed improvements to catalyze economic development, enhance community connectivity and improve quality of life for the North Lawndale community.”

“A smoother, more streamlined transportation network allows residents to more readily and safely access opportunities, and fosters an environment where businesses can thrive,” Durbin said. “Whether it’s getting to work, school, or exploring all that Chicago has to offer, this investment will unlock new possibilities for the North Lawndale community.” […]

“Thanks to the leadership of Senators Durbin and Duckworth and all our federal partners for securing funding to support this transformative project in North Lawndale,” said CDOT Acting Commissioner Tom Carney. “CDOT will continue working closely with the community to bring this project to life and ensure that people using all modes of transportation can more safely and comfortably travel along Ogden Avenue.”

* Governor Pritzker named this week Dog and Cat Adoption Week in Illinois during a press conference today…

This is Koko she’s 2 years old and has the saddest eyes I’ve ever seen someone PLEASE take her home 😭 https://t.co/viBOCsMoHV pic.twitter.com/osfVpgZR4z

— Olivia Kuncio (@Olivia_Kuncio) December 13, 2023

* Holiday season is approaching, so take a moment to listen to this certified holiday classic from Tom Irwin…

* Here’s the rest…

* Tribune | Federal judge hears arguments on gun ban registry, while legislative panel considers rules for implementation: A federal judge in southern Illinois who earlier this year put a hold on the state’s gun ban — a decision that was reversed on appeal — on Tuesday heard arguments on a challenge to the registration process for guns grandfathered in under the law. U.S. District Judge Stephen McGlynn indicated he was not inclined to issue an injunction that would put off the Jan. 1 deadline for Illinois residents to register guns covered by the ban with Illinois State Police.

* Daily Herald | Big upgrades coming to Union Station; more trains to Midwestern cities planned: A massive revamp of Chicago’s Union Station plus potentially more trains to Midwestern cities including Milwaukee are among the projects Amtrak is eying with over $101 million in new federal grants. The lion’s share of the funding, nearly $94 million, is earmarked for Union Station renovations.

* Sun-Times | Another call for mistrial in FBG Duck murder trial — this one sparked by YouTuber’s removal from courtroom: While mainstream media outlets have largely ignored the federal murder and racketeering trial, the extraordinary events unfolding at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse have repeatedly spilled onto YouTube channels and rap blogs. In a motion filed on behalf of all the defense attorneys, lawyer Steve Greenberg said Aleta “Mickey Truth” Williams was pulled out of court last week after she falsely claimed that Rakeem “FBG Butta” Wilton had been paid to work with the feds.

* WaPo | Pregnant women take a leading role in new legal battles over abortion: Kate Cox caught the attention of the nation last week when she asked a Texas judge for permission to end her pregnancy. Three days later, a pregnant woman filed suit anonymously in Kentucky, arguing that the state’s near-total abortion ban violates her constitutional right to privacy and self-determination.

* Crain’s | As U.S. EV market flattens, some brands perk up and gain on Tesla: Notably, luxury kings BMW and Mercedes-Benz are carving out bigger numbers of new EV registrations, according to the latest data from Experian. BMW more than quadrupled its EV sales from January through October, with Mercedes and Volkswagen close behind. And newcomer EV brand Rivian, freed of the production problems that held it back earlier in the year, nearly tripled its new registrations for the period.

* AP | Tesla recalls nearly all vehicles sold in US to fix system that monitors drivers using Autopilot: Documents posted Wednesday by U.S. safety regulators say the update will increase warnings and alerts to drivers and even limit the areas where basic versions of Autopilot can operate. The recall comes after a two-year investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration into a series of crashes that happened while the Autopilot partially automated driving system was in use. Some were deadly.

* Reuters | Meet Ashley, the world’s first AI-powered political campaign caller: Ashley is not your typical robocaller; none of her responses are canned or pre-recorded. Her creators, who intend to mainly work with Democratic campaigns and candidates, say she is the first political phone banker powered by generative AI technology similar to OpenAI’s ChatGPT. She is capable of having an infinite number of customized one-on-one conversations at the same time.

* Daily Herald | A hero is born: Drucker’s buzzer-beater lifts Prospect over Glenbrook North: Prospect senior Jerry Drucker’s last shot Tuesday night was the kind a player might pull out to win a game of horse. But Drucker’s driving and fading 18-footer from the right baseline over three defenders had much bigger implications at Jean Walker Field House. When it swished through the net at the buzzer Drucker had given the Knights a dramatic 40-38 nonconference victory and Glenbrook North its first loss in 9 games.

* Sun-Times | Obama surprises South Shore pre-K class with presents and a story: Obama, who was joined by Parkside Principal Tori Williams-Hughes, CPS Chief Schools Officer Felicia Sanders and CPS Network 12 Chief Shenethe Parks, made the surprise holiday visit as a way of spreading holiday cheer in the community ahead of winter break. And he came bearing gifts. Each student in the classroom received toys, and every student at the academy got winter accessories.

* WCIA | How three men saved Christmas in Champaign Co.: It took a few good men and an idea. It all started in December 2022, when a Toys for Tots trailer was broken into. Thieves stole hundreds of children’s toys and items — including bikes. […] “I made contact with these guys and said, ‘Hey, well we’ll get the bikes back. Tell me how many you had,’” Peeler said. “I rounded up a bunch of guys that I know and we just went out shopping and replaced them.” But replacing last year’s stolen bikes wasn’t enough. This year, “the guys” delivered 110 bikes, eight scooters and a big wheel — all going to kids in need this Christmas.

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Wednesday, Dec 13, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

* A reporter asked Gov. Pritzker today about what payment arrangements have been made with GardaWorld now that the tent city it was building has been canceled…

So, from the state, the understanding with GardaWorld is that they will do other work with us. And they knew as they were building this shelter, before the environmental report came in, that it was possible that the environmental report wouldn’t allow the completion of the shelter.

And so they understood that and they were willing to take that liability on through the state’s contract. I can’t speak to what may have pre-existed or been in place with the city. Meanwhile, they are going to be involved and have been working to help us stand up other shelters. Remember, even the bricks and mortar shelters that already exist need work. And GardaWorld is helping us to complete that work very quickly so we can get people sheltered in the right places.

* Asked what else was happening as far as site building goes…

We’ve been working together with the Archdiocese of Chicago. They have a number of buildings that they’ve made available over time. And so we’re continuing to look at the sites. A few of them are better than others. But I want to compliment the Archdiocese and especially the Cardinal because they’ve worked from the very beginning to assist the migrants, the asylum seekers here. There are lots of other organizations that have stepped up, but I just wanted to highlight them today. And I thank the Cardinal and the church for the work that they’re doing. And there are many other faith leaders, let’s be clear, who’ve come together. I think the mayor held a press conference with some of them. We’ve also talked to a number of others and people have stepped up to do the right thing to help out and especially in this holiday season, that’s heartwarming.

* Any announcements imminent?…

Not yet, but I promise you that the city will be announcing as those shelter sites are available. I think they’ve stood up one shelter site roughly every eight or nine days during this challenge, and during the mayor’s term. And so I’m sure that there will be others announced.

* More from Isabel…

* Crain’s | Oak Park helped Chicago house migrants. It can’t take any buses: Although no new buses have arrived in Oak Park since October, the village is currently housing roughly 180 asylum-seekers between its West Cook YMCA, the Carleton Hotel and local churches. Scaman said Oak Park is providing “wraparound services,” including daily meals and some legal support.

* Block Club | City Paying Well More Than Typical Rent For Migrant Shelter Buildings — And Keeping Details Secret: A picture has emerged through interviews and public records: As the new mayor and his team grew desperate to find housing for the migrants, the emergency offered lucrative opportunities to some city contractors and well-connected property owners, Block Club Chicago found. In the West Loop, Johnson aides ultimately approved deals to convert three former office buildings into migrant housing at a cost to the city of as much as $1.3 million a month, according to information provided by the city.

* ABC Buffalo | ‘Diversity is the future’: Working to recruit migrants to help restaurant industry staff shortage: “Diversity is the future. I mean we shouldn’t have waited this long to diversify the workplace,” says Kailey Gyorffy, vice president of WNY Chapter NYSRA. “Getting these people that have worked so hard in their countries and they’re completely overlooked by other major corporations in the area and we’d like to offer them an opportunity to show their skills and use their skills.”

* Seattle Times | A year into crisis, Tukwila church struggles as 500 asylum-seekers face winter: Local and state officials were first notified by the church of the situation in the spring, a few months into people arriving. The state said it has prepared for crowds as large as New York or Chicago, but that hasn’t happened yet, meaning a full emergency response isn’t warranted. Because the crowd that does exist is outside Seattle limits, Seattle-specific agencies say they can’t help. King County has said that it’s mainly Tukwila’s problem, while Tukwila says it can’t solve this problem alone.

12 Comments

Chicago FOP’s new contract includes more money, looser disciplinary rules

Wednesday, Dec 13, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Better Government Association…

The BGA analysis found costs totaling at least $76.8 million above the budgeted position costs for 2024 passed by City Council in November, including:

• $27.7 million from the change from a 2.5% raise to a 5% raise
• $10.6 million from salary step changes
• Potentially $11 million or more from stipends paid to officers with medical, crisis intervention, or bicycle officer training certifications, depending on the number of officers who opt for training and fulfill the stipend eligibility requirements.
• $27.5 million for one-time retention bonuses paid to every FOP-represented officer

[…] As announced previously by the administration and analyzed by the BGA, the contract includes 5% pay raises for FOP-represented officers in 2024 and 2025, up from the 2.5% and 2% raises in those years previously contained in the union’s bargaining agreement with the Lightfoot administration. […]

In addition to the across-the-board raises, the contract contains new language increasing the salary grade of multiple CPD titles. […]

The contract includes new stipends of $1,000 annually for officers with emergency medical, crisis intervention or bike officer training certificates. […]

Referred to in the summary sheet presented to city council as a “signing bonus,” the contract language includes a one-time, non-pensionable bonus of $2,500 for all FOP-represented officers. At the 2024 budgeted headcount of 11,013 FOP-represented officers, this would cost the city $27.5 million, the BGA analysis estimates.

* So, did the city’s progressive mayor promise to spend money the city clearly doesn’t have to leverage stronger disciplinary procedures in order to prevent those multi-million-dollar settlements and weed out the bad apples? According to the BGA, nope…

In addition to its financial impacts, the contract adds significant new protections for officers facing discipline for misconduct, including time limits on how long internal investigations can take before invalidating any potential discipline, expedited and off-the-record arbitration for suspensions of thirty days or less, and new restrictions on when and where body worn cameras can be active and whether body worn camera footage can be used in disciplinary proceedings. […]

A separate amendment allows officers who have been fired to cash out all their unused compensatory time in the same manner as officers who resigned, retired or died. Previously, fired officers had only been entitled to comp time accumulated as a result of earned overtime for hours worked in excess of 171 per 28 day period. […]

One of the most significant disciplinary changes in the new contract is a stipulation that if an investigation takes more than 18 months to conclude, measured from the date on which the investigation was opened, the union can request arbitration to determine whether there is a reasonable basis for the investigation to take more than 18 months.

In such cases, the Police Department would bear the burden of demonstrating reasonable cause for delay. If the arbitrator deems reasonable cause does not exist, the hearing on the merits of the discipline cannot proceed.

* The contract does include this, however…

New language adds requirements that the department … provide officers with “appropriate training” on use-of-force rules that are consistent with department policy.

FOP President John Catanzara told me last year that he didn’t believe his members were receiving enough and proper training. He’s right.

Man, if Johnson does this with the FOP, just imagine what he’s gonna do with the CTU.

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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Campaign updates

Wednesday, Dec 13, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Who thumbs it better?

Wednesday, Dec 13, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Starting off with Rep. Dave Severin (R-Benton)…

* On to Rep. Hoan Huynh (D-Chicago) who has regularly posted thumbs-up photos since he started running for the House…

* Back to Severin…

* Huyn’s got a whole crew…

* Trust me, this post could have hundreds of images…

* Vote here!

online polls

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Unclear on the concept

Wednesday, Dec 13, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

* WEEK TV…

An appeals court finds a Livingston County judge must abide by Illinois’ Pretrial Fairness Act even though she’s strongly opposed to ending the cash bond system for people awaiting trial.

Three justices on the Fourth District Appellate Court found that Brandin Atterberry, charged in Livingston County with indecent solicitation of a child and traveling to meet a child, is entitled to a second pretrial detention hearing applying the new law’s provisions.

In early October, Judge Jennifer Bauknecht ordered Atterberry jailed before his trial, claiming he’s a threat to Livingston County children and that the new law has taken away her authority to set bond in the case.

* Here’s some of what Judge Bauknecht said…

Here I do find that the proof is evident and the presumption is great that the Defendant has committed a qualifying offense for which he is eligible for detention under the dangerousness standard. I do believe that the State has shown by clear and convincing evidence based upon the nature of the charges and the probable cause statement that the Defendant poses a very real and present threat to the safety of all of the young children under the age of 18 living in Livingston County, and I do find that at present there are no conditions of pretrial release or combination of conditions that could mitigate the real and present threat of safety to the endangered persons in Livingston County. […]

As I stated earlier, before the Pretrial Fairnesses [sic] Act, I would have given the Defendant a reasonable monetary bond that would have taken into consideration the factors that I have just enumerated here that raise concern about the Defendant having contact with any child under the age of 18 within this community; and I believe that that monetary bond would have taken into consideration his ability to pay. The Defendant may or may not have been able to post that. However, that would have served as a very strong deterrent for the Defendant; and the risk of losing that bond money has historically proven to provide a good incentive for people to not continue to engage in criminal behavior.

And since I do not have that incentive because the legislature, governor and Illinois Supreme Court have taken that discretion away from me and because the Defendant meets the dangerousness standard by clear and convincing evidence, I am ordering that he be detained pending trial.

Um, what? She’d be willing to release him on bail even though she believed he was a threat to the community?

* More from the judge…

I would note that although I have not formally incorporated this into my notes, that while the legislature has funded this brand new department [Office of Statewide Pretrial Services] with over five layers of bureaucratic management, we continue to see an inordinate amount of people with mental health disorders in our jail awaiting transfer to the Department of Human Services; and I would further note that I am aware of at least one county, that being Sangamon County, that is also concerned that we have individuals who have been found to be unfit by courts sitting in our jails for months at a time while we have this brand new department with all this money and all of this bureaucratic oversight to deal with people who have been charged with crimes.

So I point out that we have at least one individual in the Livingston County Jail who’s been there since June 23rd awaiting transfer to the Department of Human Services for mental health treatment. I have found that person to be unfit for trial and in desperate need of mental health treatment, yet he sits in our jail waiting to be transferred.

I received a letter from DHS today indicating that they have 180 people waiting for admission to a mental health facility and that it will be at least another four to five weeks before this individual will be able to obtain his mental health treatment, yet we have spent not only our time but also our very valuable resources setting up this nice, new Pretrial Fairnesses [sic] Act with a brand new department with five layers of bureaucratic oversight.

Publicity hounds gonna publicity hound.

* Yadda-yadda-yadda, the appellate court sent the case back to the judge…

Accordingly, we remand the cause with directions to hold a new detention hearing applying the proper statutory criteria. Specifically, the trial court shall make express findings, based on defendant’s individual circumstances, as to whether any condition or combination of conditions allow for defendant’s pretrial release. As judges, our role is not to choose the law but to faithfully apply it; that is, in fact, the sole object of our oath. Where a law is passed by the legislature and upheld by our supreme court as constitutional, the role of the judge is to apply the law as it is, not as the judge might wish it to be. On remand, it is the trial court’s obligation to give this case the individualized attention it deserves.

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Google releases renderings of Thompson Center’s new look

Wednesday, Dec 13, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

* The 2023 Golden Horseshoe Award for Best Democratic Illinois State Senator goes to Sen. Cristina Castro…

She runs the exec committee efficiently, but ensures every opinion is heard. She quickly picks up on issue specifics, and can articulate key points in hearings and floor debate. She is also a political animal, and does the work needed to win, and to help her colleagues win.

* The 2023 Golden Horseshoe Award for Best Republican Illinois State Senator goes to Sen. Sue Rezin…

Republican Senator Sue Rezin was impressive in efforts to pass the nuclear bill. She worked with Democrats to get the legislation through both Chambers and find a compromise with the Governor. She’s an experienced, solid lawmaker who knows how to get things done even though her party is in the super minority.

They’re both highly deserving, but congratulations to everyone who was nominated yesterday.

* On to today’s categories…

Best Contract Lobbyist

Best In-House Lobbyist

Please fully explain your nominations, and please do your best to nominate in both categories. Thanks!

* Here’s your daily reminder about buying Christmas presents for foster kids. So far, we’ve helped Lutheran Social Services of Illinois buy presents for 2,087 children who don’t have a lot going for them in life right now. LSSI, their foster families and people like you who help out every year are their lifelines.

Isabel and I will be closing up shop next Wednesday or Thursday, so we’re running out of time. If you haven’t yet done so, please click here to contribute. Also, if you’ve already contributed but think you can give just a little bit more, click here.

45 Comments

Wednesday, Dec 13, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Crain’s…

Google’s long-awaited overhaul of the Thompson Center will begin next year, the tech company says, providing the first glimpses of what it might look like.

The iconic downtown Chicago building, which has inspired legions of both passionate admirers and detractors, will maintain a distinctive glass exterior and soaring atrium inside.

But the glass will be newer and more energy efficient. The three exterior rings where the layers of the building come together appear to feature outdoor terraces. […]

The tech company says fencing will go up around the perimeter early next year, followed by construction work. Retailers already are clearing out, with the last departure expected in mid-January.

* Here’s the renderings from Google…

* Google Chicago Site Lead Karen Sauder posted a blog update this morning…

At Google, we’ve set an ambitious goal to operate on 24/7 carbon-free energy by 2030. This means running our offices and data centers on clean energy, every hour of every day. One of the important steps we can take to achieve this goal is to make our offices require less energy in the first place. That’s why last year, when we announced our intent to purchase the Thompson Center, we also pledged to upgrade it to a LEED Platinum, all-electric building.

For a building like the Thompson Center, this isn’t easy. In order to achieve the efficiency gains we’re targeting, the building’s facade and internal systems have to be completely replaced. The new triple-pane glass exterior will improve both the thermal performance of the building and the comfort of those inside by requiring less energy to heat and cool. Additionally, it will modernize the way the building looks, and maximize natural daylight and views. We’ll also replace outdated heating and cooling equipment with high-efficiency systems that are capable of managing Chicago’s famously varied seasons.

Covered terraces along three levels of the southeast perimeter will offer new greenspaces. With more natural light, access to greenspace, and biophilic design elements that borrow from nature, the original design’s ode to transparency and openness will live on.

Not to be preachy, but I wonder what precautions are planned for migrating birds? Especially since 1,000 birds collided with McCormick Place in October.

* More…

WTTW | Google Unveils New Rendering of Thompson Center Renovation, Says the Atrium is Staying:

* Block Club | Here’s A Look At The Thompson Center’s New Design: In July 2022, Google announced it would buy the center for $105 million and received city approval for redevelopment this October. Google plans to begin work in early 2024, and residents will start to see construction fencing going up soon. Sauder said the full redevelopment will take “several years” to complete.

* Tribune | Google will reconstruct the Thompson Center starting early next year, but will retain the building’s atrium:One unknown is how the internet giant’s arrival will impact the Central Loop. The submarket was hit hard by the rise of remote work, which leaves downtown quiet several days each week. Many property owners hope Google will ignite a revival, much as it did for Fulton Market by opening in 2015 its Midwest headquarters in a former cold storage building renovated by developer Sterling Bay.

* Sun-Times | Google releases new renderings of planned Thompson Center makeover: Google officials offered no details on what changes in color or material might be made to the atrium. The Sun-Times reported last October that Google received city permits to remove the atrium’s current metal and glass skin. The new glass exterior facade would also allow the atrium to be visible from inside outside of the building.

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Wednesday, Dec 13, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller

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

Wednesday, Dec 13, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* ICYMI: NAACP IL President called to resign after comparing asylum seekers to ‘savages’. Tribune…

* Related stories…

∙ SJ-R: Former leader of DuPage County NAACP calls on Teresa Haley to resign as state director
∙ WGN: Calls for NAACP Illinois conference president to resign after racist remarks
∙ WCIA: Springfield NAACP president called to resign after racist remarks in meeting

* Isabel’s top picks…

* Capitol News Illinois | As deadline looms, assault weapons registration rules still unresolved: Firearm owners in Illinois will have to wait at least another month before knowing exactly what items they must register with the Illinois State Police under the state’s assault weapons ban, even as the deadline for submitting those registrations is less than three weeks away.

* Center Square | Federal judge ‘inclined’ not to pause Illinois’ Jan. 1 gun ban registry deadline: In Chicago, JCAR took no action on revised rules, opting to continue reviewing the proposed changes at January’s meeting in Springfield. The original emergency rules filed by Illinois State Police on Sept. 15 remain in effect. When questioned by state Rep. Ryan Spain, R-Peoria, at Tuesday’s JCAR meeting, ISP attorney Suzanne Bond said the reason they didn’t produce rules for months after the law’s Jan. 10 enactment was because of pending court action.

* Tribune | Driven by global warming concerns and encouraged by generous incentives, Illinois homeowners turning to solar power like never before: Residential solar is having its best year ever in Illinois, with 170 megawatts of power added in the first three quarters, compared with 125 megawatts in all of 2022, according to data from the Solar Energy Industries Association and research consultancy Wood Mackenzie.

Governor Pritzker is holding a press conference to encourage Illinoisans to adopt shelter animals at 11:15 am. Click here to watch.

* Here’s the rest of your morning roundup…

* WICS | First set of data released related to pretrial legislation: The Office of Statewide Pretrial Services (OSPS) released the first sets of data following the implementation of the Pretrial Fairness Act. […] Since Sept. 18, OSPS has completed 4,375 investigations and 2,318 defendants have been ordered to OSPS supervision. There were 1,496 petitions for detention filed in OSPS involved cases filed on or after Sept. 18, with 976 petitions granted, 469 petitions denied and 51 petitions waiting to be heard.

* The 21st Show | Illinois’ First Lady MK Pritzker takes us inside the Governor’s mansion: In Illinois, the Governor’s Mansion in Springfield serves as the residency for the governor and their family, and the hub for the state’s social settings. The 168-year-old building has a very rich history, dating back to before the Civil War. The mansion’s history and its renovations have been documented by Illinois’ First Lady, MK Pritzker, through a new coffee-table book called A House that Made History: The Illinois Governor’s Mansion, Legacy of an Architectural Treasure.

* NPR Illinois | Illinois anti-hate commission calls for unity, decries bias crime and builds helpline: A recent report by the Anti Defamation League found that “Illinois has seen a dramatic rise in antisemitic incidents in recent years. In 2022, the number of incidents increased by 128% from 2021 levels, rising from 53 to 121. The state’s total was the seventh-highest number of incidents in the country in a year when ADL tracked the highest-ever number of antisemitic incidents nationwide.

* Tribune | ‘I was working under the direction of the government’: Calm and cool former alderman and FBI mole Daniel Solis heats up Ed Burke corruption trial: The last time Daniel Solis and Edward Burke were in the same room together was November 2018, when the two powerful longtime aldermen talked about Solis’ future. Solis said on the secretly recorded video that he planned to retire in the middle of his next term, maybe become a consultant and “go off into the sunset.” He told Burke he’d still bring developers his way, looking to hire Burke’s private law firm for tax work, “as long as, you know, you remember me.”

* The Landmark | Two Chicagoans file to oppose Rashid in March primary : The Rashid campaign filed the maximum number of signatures, 1,500, allowed on nominating petitions, while Synowiecki and Vasquez each filed about 650 signatures. A minimum of 500 valid signatures are needed. The challengers to the nominating petitions include former Berwyn mayoral candidate Brendan O’Connor. The petition challenges will be heard by a hearing officer appointed by the Illinois State Board of Elections.

* Landmark | RBHS school board member Laura Hruska files to run for state representative: Laura Hruska has never been one to avoid a challenge. But the longtime Riverside Brookfield High School District 208 school board member is taking on a big one in the upcoming year. Hruska, a longtime resident of Brookfield, is running for state representative, challenging 2nd District incumbent Democrat Elizabeth “Lisa” Hernandez, who is an assistant majority leader in the Illinois House of Representatives and the chairwoman of the Illinois Democratic Party. Neither Hruska nor Hernandez has a primary opponent, so Hruska is guaranteed to face Hernandez in the November general election.

* Sun-Times | City Council set to alter paid leave ordinance, but not enough to satisfy business leaders: The quick fixes teed up for approval at Wednesday’s City Council meeting include a six-month delay — until July 1 — in the requirement that businesses give their Chicago employees 10 paid days off per year, including five sick days and five vacation days. The changes would also give businesses 16 days, or “one pay period,” to remedy a problem with paid leave. But the so-called “cure period” would last only one year. After that, employees who believe they have been denied paid leave would be free to sue their employers.

* Crain’s | The City Council will revisit migrant issues that sparked chaos in October: But a committee vote on the resolution supporting the referendum set for Tuesday was canceled and several members of the body have instead called for a City Council meeting to vote on their own non-binding referendum question asking voters if Chicago should remain a “sanctuary city.”

* WBEZ | After swift backlash, Chicago drops restrictive new rules to public seating in city council chambers: The Chicago City Council Sergeant-at-Arms has “postponed until further notice” a controversial change to seating protocols for public meetings that sparked swift and significant backlash when made public just two weeks ago, according to a notice on the City Clerk’s website.

* WTTW | CPS Security Guard Charged With Sexual Assault of Student Previously Cleared Backgrounding Process Despite More Than 20 Arrests, 4 Convictions: There was the time he was accused of pulling a silver BB gun on a man he attempted to rob for marijuana in Chicago. Or the time an officer reportedly found a bag of cocaine after it fell out of Campoverde’s pant leg. Or when the members of a crew breaking into vehicles in the southwest suburbs, including Campoverde, were arrested in Bolingbrook and charged with felony burglary for breaking into a man’s car.

* WTTW | Family of 3 Boys Allegedly Abused by CPS Gym Teacher Suing School District: A family is suing Chicago Public Schools, alleging a gym teacher at a Northwest Side elementary school groomed and sexually abused three young boys. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of three minor, unnamed victims, alleged that Federico Garcia Lorca Elementary School physical education teacher Andrew Castro was able to continuously abuse the boys despite prior complaints of similar abuse.

* Chalkbeat | Chicago Public Schools leaders want to move away from school choice: The move puts in motion Mayor Brandon Johnson’s campaign promise to reinvigorate Chicago Public Schools’ neighborhood schools. On the campaign trail, Johnson likened the city’s school choice system to a “Hunger Games scenario” that forces competition for resources and ultimately harms schools, particularly those where students are zoned based on their address.

* Sun-Times | CTA Yellow Line operator knew plow would be on tracks before crash but not where, federal report says: The National Transportation Safety Board is focusing on CTA rail signals, railcar brakes and track conditions as it tries to determine why the train couldn’t avoid hitting the snowplow near the Howard Street station.

* Streetsblog | Woman, 57, fatally struck by hit-and-run SUV driver is third pedestrian killed near one-mile stretch of Congress in Garfield Park in three months: The crash report says a witness told officers she was driving in front of the SUV, heading west from Pulaski Road (4000 W.) on Congress, when she noticed the SUV driver was speeding towards her. She pulled over to the side of the road, presumably to avoid a crash, and saw the SUV driver strike the victim and flee north on Kildare Avenue (4300 W.) The witness said she was unable to identify the driver because of tinted windows.

* Daily Herald | Judge injured in explosion at Wheaton home: DuPage County Judge Kenneth Popejoy is recuperating after suffering injuries Sunday in a fireplace explosion at his home in Wheaton. […] Brill said a man was injured when a wood-burning fireplace with a gas log igniter exploded. Per department policy, Brill did not give out the name of the victim. The Daily Herald learned it was Popejoy from other sources, and confirmed it with office of the 18th Judicial Circuit.

* Sun-Times | In strip club extortion case, brother of ex-Harvey Mayor Eric Kellogg found guilty: Rommell Kellogg was found guilty Monday of charges that accused him of collecting bribes from the since-closed Arnie’s Idle Hour in exchange for keeping keep officials in the south suburb from closing the strip club.

* WaPo | Pharmacies share medical data with police without a warrant, inquiry finds: The nation’s largest pharmacy chains have handed over Americans’ prescription records to police and government investigators without a warrant, a congressional investigation found, raising concerns about threats to medical privacy. Though some of the chains require their lawyers to review law enforcement requests, three of the largest — CVS Health, Kroger and Rite Aid, with a combined 60,000 locations nationwide — said they allow pharmacy staff members to hand over customers’ medical records in the store.

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Wednesday, Dec 13, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller

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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Fundraiser list

Wednesday, Dec 13, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller

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Tuesday, Dec 12, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

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NAACP IL President causes furor with horrific remarks about new arrivals

Tuesday, Dec 12, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Danny Solis has been summoned to the witness stand…

#BREAKING Danny Solis, labeled by the feds as one of Chicago’s “most significant cooperators in the last several decades,” has been summoned to the witness stand in the trial of ex-Chicago Ald. Edward M. Burke pic.twitter.com/kehr5d3lhv

— Jon Seidel (@SeidelContent) December 12, 2023

* H/T to Hannah Meisel for putting this on my radar…

Writing & reporting this story with @ad_quig was one of the wildest days of my life https://t.co/sE20K2z7lb

— Heather Cherone (@HeatherCherone) December 12, 2023

* Democratic Party of Illinois…

Last week, the Democratic Party of Illinois filed a friend of the court brief in a Republican challenge attempting to prevent the counting of mail-in-ballots received after Election Day. The original challenge, brought by Congressman Mike Bost and two 2020 Trump electors, was rejected by the District Court, and they have now appealed to the US Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. The Republican National Committee is backing the appeal despite “promoting a ‘bank the vote’ program to get Republicans to pledge to vote by mail,” according to the Chicago Tribune.

Current Illinois statute protects voters by ensuring that mail ballots that are timely cast will not be thrown out due to postal delays or other circumstances outside of voters’ control. The lawsuit could invalidate thousands of mail-in ballots, including those of military members serving overseas, if they are postmarked on or before Election Day but received after.

DPI’s brief urges the court to affirm the district court’s decision that the plaintiffs lack standing to bring this case and their claims fail on the merits.

“Republicans will stop at nothing to roll back our voting rights and suppress the voices of Illinoisans, including the brave men and women serving in active military duty, because they know it’s their only hope for winning elections with their losing records and disastrous agendas. The Democratic Party of Illinois is committed to always defending our values and our fundamental rights against attacks from extremists, and this case is no exception. Safeguarding the right to vote is foundational to a strong and functional democracy. It is fundamentally un-American and antidemocratic for Republicans to continue their attempts to silence Illinoisans when the will of voters is not on their side,” said DPI Chair Lisa Hernandez.

* Preliminary NTSB report on the Yellow Line crash has been released. Tribune…

The operator of a Yellow Line train hit the brakes in the moments before the train struck a snow plow on the tracks in mid-November, a preliminary report issued by federal investigators shows.

The operator also tried to use the train’s emergency brakes. A system designed to reduce sliding by the train’s wheels while braking activated, according to the report, issued Tuesday. Still, the train failed to stop, slamming into the snowplow and injuring more than a dozen people.

CTA estimated the crash caused about $8.7 million in damages to equipment, the report shows. […]

The operator knew the snowplow would be on the tracks for training, but didn’t know exactly where, federal investigators wrote.

Emphasis added by me.

* Press release…

State Senator Mike Simmons announced the launch of the 7th District Small Business Restoration Grant with $2.5 million in funds available to assist small businesses located in the 7th District. […]

“This initiative is in direct response to what we’ve seen, and will provide a much needed boost to entrepreneurs and mom and pop small businesses across our district who are struggling.”

The 7th District Small Business Restoration Grant is intended to provide funds to small businesses who have missed out on previous funding opportunities, are in danger of closure, are facing financial hardship and identify as historically underserved. Simmons secured funding in the Fiscal Year 2024 budget to provide one-time, $10,000 micro-grants to qualified small businesses operating in brick and mortar sites within the 7th District. […]

Applications for the 7th District Small Business Restoration Grant close Feb. 2, 2024 at 5 p.m. To apply or learn more about eligibility and application requirements, visit 7sbrg.org.

* Here’s the rest of your roundup…

Crain’s | The Civic Federation names a new chief:

* Tribune | Will County judge shares frustration with pace of criminal case against New Lenox gun shop owner, business partner: Defense attorney Jack Friedlander told the judge his team received 300 pages of discovery last week and the grand jury transcript an hour before a court proceeding Dec. 5. Friedlander asked for a continuance to review the material. […] [Will County Judge David Carlson] called the delay for grand jury transcripts an “oversight.” Pointing to the two Secret Service agents in the courtroom, Carlson said he was ready to scold them for the delay in the case. In a previous hearing, Carlson said he understood the agents were not cooperating, but it turns out that wasn’t true.

* Injustice Watch | Unsealed records reveal new details about Illinois appellate judge’s alleged role in decades-old fraud scheme: Judge Carl Walker was never charged and denied any wrongdoing in mortgage frauds perpetrated by a real estate client. But a controversial 2003 raid on his law offices has reemerged in an effort to remove him from hearing a case.

* Muddy River News | After losing to Pritzker, Bailey using Miller playbook in attempt to join her in Congress: Bailey is going with the Miller playbook to beat Bost. He has called him an establishment RINO (Republican in Name Only), bashing Bost’s “liberal” voting record and pledging fealty to former President Donald Trump, the tough guy who doesn’t have the cojones to debate his opponents. While most of Illinois is geographically red, the big blue dot of Chicago and the smaller blue dots in Metro East and many college towns still have the majority of people and votes, which is why Democrats have all of the statewide offices and super majorities in both chambers of the General Assembly.

* Pioneer Press | Evanston plans event to select descendants for reparations funds: The committee expects to be able to disburse payment to at least 80 direct descendants in 2024, according to the letter, and those selected will be contacted in March to decide how they would like to spend the money. A majority of those in the ancestor group have been awarded funds from the city’s cannabis dispensary tax revenues, with 26 of 140 ancestors, those who were 18 and older at the time and directly experienced racist housing policies in Evanston from 1919 to 1969, awaiting disbursements or continuing to weigh their options.

* Daily Herald | Elgin mayor proposes using $6M in discretionary funds to lessen lead pipe replacement debt: The city has been replacing lead service lines using $13.5 million from the American Rescue Plan Act and voted Wednesday to approve accepting a $2 million loan from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. The city planned to sell $20 million in general obligation bonds next year for the program, but Kaptain’s proposal would drop that down to $14 million.

* Pioneer Press | Skokie Village Board violated Open Meetings Act, Illinois Attorney General finds: According to the public access counselor’s review of information sent by Johnson and Van Dusen, the village board adjourned its open meeting session on Oct. 2 at 8:10 p.m. to go into a closed session to discuss pending litigation. “The closed section verbatim recording confirms the allegations in Trustee Johnson’s Request for Review, which stated that during the relevant portion of the closed session meeting, the Board approved the June 5, 2023 closed session minutes with Trustee Johnson abstaining,” according to the public access counselor’s opinion.

* SJ-R | Injunction levied against the city of Springfield for “discriminatory” housing ordinance: A federal court has blocked the city of Springfield from enforcing a local housing ordinance that prevented people with disabilities from living within 600 feet of each other, over a year after damages were awarded in the case.

* Patch | 2 Run For Elmhurst State House Seat: Elmhurst Alderman Marti Deuter is running as a Democrat to succeed Jenn Ladisch-Douglass, a Democrat who decided not to run again after one term. The Republican candidate is Elmhurst resident Dennis Reboletti, who is the elected supervisor of Addison Township.

* Austin Weekly News | Illinois Senate President Don Harmon reflects on 20 years of change and calls for solidarity with migrants: “We need to do a better job of using these opportunities to create a more durable social infrastructure, so that we are prepared to handle the next crisis that comes around the corner, because once this one is addressed, another will inevitably come,” Harmon, of the 39th district, said.

* Tribune | Rylie O’Meara: Chicago’s warming shelters are not adequately caring for the unhoused in winter: In my role on the board of Chicago Street Medicine and as a third-year medical student at the Stritch School of Medicine, I regularly go on “street runs” with medical providers who travel to locations in the city where people experiencing homelessness congregate and provide them with medical care. Unsurprisingly, cold weather injuries are common among those with no indoor refuge during a Chicago winter.

* Chicago Mag | Cops vs. Counselors: Rebecca Neusteter, executive director of the Health Lab at the University of Chicago Urban Labs, which is formally evaluating the CARE pilot, says the biggest implementation hiccups are often mundane ones — “even basic questions like procuring vehicles and making sure people’s schedules align” — products of melding teams of first responders from different city agencies, with their own workplace cultures and systems. Then there’s this vital consideration: What if it had been a social worker, not a police officer, facing a bat-wielding Quintonio LeGrier? Are unarmed mental health professionals equipped to handle potentially violent situations?

* Chicago Mag | Joe Shanahan: The Metro and Smartbar owner, 66, on DJ’ing, meeting Bob Dylan, and battling cancer: Metro was the building I could afford. It was rundown, in a rough-and-tumble neighborhood. We were duct-taping the pipes because they’d burst in the middle of a Saturday night. At first, neighbors were unhappy that we were causing such a ruckus, but then they began to realize, Oh, there are people around here at night who aren’t breaking into the cars. There’s a caretaker’s unit in the building, and I lived there with a .38 under my pillow and a cat that chased the rats out. Those first 10 years, it was pure adrenaline.

* AP | Shohei Ohtani’s Dodgers contract has $680 million deferred: Ohtani’s record-setting deal, agreed to Saturday, calls for annual salaries of $70 million, according to details obtained by The Associated Press. Of each year’s salary, $68 million is deferred with no interest, payable in equal installments each July 1 from 2034-43.

* WICS | Hunters encouraged to support Illinois Deer Donation Program for community meals: Hunters still have time to donate to the Illinois Deer Donation Program, as the 2023-2024 hunting season ends. Donated deer help feed individuals and families in east-central Illinois, and hunters do not have to pay the processing fee at partnering meat processors.

* Tribune | 4,000 days of prayer: A man’s journey out of Chicago street violence to a trucking convoy honoring the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe: Since he was released from prison in October 2019, Romero commemorates the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe every December with hundreds of other truckers in a pilgrimage the weekend preceding the holiday, on Dec 12. They join thousands of devotees who visit the shrine walking, running, biking and horse riding, making the Midwest celebration the second largest one after Mexico City and the Des Plaines shrine the most visited monument of its kind in the U.S.

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Tuesday, Dec 12, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

* NAACP Illinois State Conference President Teresa Haley talked about asylum seekers during the group’s October president’s call…

* From Ms. Haley’s remarks…

There’s an average 10 to 15,000 a day. So they’re up to about 80,000 immigrants on the West Side of Chicago on the South Side, where they’re dumping them off in parks, abandoned schools and finding every apartment that they can find to put them in.

OK, first of all, 80,000? Not even close.

* Back to Haley’s comments…

And we’re seeing families on the street and we’re like, oh my God, we’re not used to seeing families on the streets. But Black people have been on the streets forever and ever. And nobody cares because they say that we’re drug addicts, we’ve got mental health issues.

But these immigrants have come over here, they’ve been raping people. They’ve been breaking into homes. They’re like savages as well. They don’t speak the language and they look at us like we were crazy, because we were the only people in America who were brought over here against our wills and were slaves, sold into slavery. But everybody else who comes over here? We’re so kind we’re so friendly. You need some clothes, you need a place to stay? We’re gonna make it happen. So brother, I feel your pain. I’m right there with you. I’m trying not to be a [N-Word] but you know, I’m pro-Black.

Haley is currently vying for a seat on the NAACP’s National Board.

* Now-former DuPage County NAACP President Patrick Watson, who told me today that he saw Haley make the comments in real time, released this statement announcing his resignation from the organization a while back…

NAACP State Conference President Teresa Haley is caught in yet another tirade “…, but these immigrants coming over here, they been raping people, they been breaking into homes, they’re like savages as well, they don’t speak the language, and they look at us like we were crazy because we were the only people in America brought over here against our wills and were slaves, sold into slavery… not trying to be a “N”…,.” This captured recording is not the only time NAACP Illinois State Conference President, Teresa Haley, uses her powerful platform in a manner that sets up a destructive atmosphere as Illinois NAACP State Conference President. Teresa Haley is also Springfield Branch President and a candidate seeking election to the National NAACP Board of Directors representing Region Three.

We live with the horror of persons being shot, shot at, exploited, shunned, burned out of houses and homes, and murdered due to being immigrants, migrants, asylum seekers, refugees, being Black, surviving being Black and male in hostile environments. We live with the news of LGBTQIA persons being harmed, missing, and being un-alived. A person in a leadership position should exercise care of her heart and words and not be flippant when speaking about how the LGBTQIA community wants to be described and acknowledged. No group of human beings should be described as, We have all these new diverse people at NAACP National. When dealing with the annual reports with National, we had people wanting me to call them they, them, it, what the hell is that?.

I cannot remain part of this, expected to nod in agreement and applaud to that which is abhorrent to me. I therefore resign as President of the DuPage County NAACP. “I will remain allying with the communities abhorrent to Ms. Haley, mistaken in her words that advocating powerfully and effectively for the descendants of the formerly enslaved means to denigrate others struggling to find their way. Those granted positions must not allow themselves to become agents of hate speech and divisiveness, she should resign and sit to answer for her words” said Patrick Watson

Watson told me Haley made disparaging remarks about LGBTQ+ people at the November meeting, which was not recorded.

* Gov. Pritzker was asked about Haley’s remarks today…

Reprehensible remarks. I would hope that she would apologize for the remarks. I also think that people should recognize that immigrants to this country are all around us. My family’s an immigrant family from a couple of generations ago. Virtually all of us came here from somewhere else. And so remarks like that are a commentary on our entire society. Extraordinarily inappropriate.

I reached out to Ms. Haley earlier today and haven’t yet heard back. But the reporter who brought up the topic with Pritzker has apparently talked to her and quoted her as saying “AI can generate anything.”

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Gov. Pritzker says he hasn’t yet spoken to AG Raoul about crisis pregnancy center lawsuit settlement

Tuesday, Dec 12, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Background is here and here if you need it. Gov. JB Pritzker was asked by a reporter today if he agreed with Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s decision to come to an agreement with the Thomas More Society to not enforce the new state law which added crisis pregnancy centers to the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Practices Act…

I haven’t spoken with the attorney general about his decision.

Looks like the guy who came up with the idea for the bill (Raoul) didn’t give a personal heads up that he was settling to the guy who signed that bill into law (Pritzker) and repeatedly defended that signature, including on CNN in August…

I’m confident this is constitutional. It’s legal.

* Anyway, the governor continued…

What I can say is it’s my understanding that the existing Consumer Fraud Protection Act will do what’s necessary to keep organizations like the crisis pregnancy centers from providing misinformation, disinformation and allow people to sue under that act. So it’s my understanding that the reason that the Attorney General made the decision to do this was it was not necessary to have this separate piece of legislation.

* But why have the new law then?…

Again, I think that there was an idea that came from the legislature. It’s a good idea to protect people when they’re seeking health care from having their healthcare provider lie to them. And so that was the impetus behind it.

Um, the idea came from AG Raoul.

* Was there an overreach by the legislature, because this is the second time the state has agreed not to enforce a law (judicial campaign limits)?…

What I can tell you is that the people who are on the losing end of a vote in the legislature often decide that their recourse is to take this thing to court, because they didn’t win in the battleground of the legislature. And so that’s been their choice to do that. They’ve done that on quite a lot of things, the vast majority of which we have won on, those of us who have advocated for a law. And occasionally, a decision is made. This was not a decision, by the way, against the state. This was a decision made by the Attorney General simply to fall back on the existing law, because it does what’s necessary.

Please pardon all transcription errors.

A new take on ribbon cutting

Tuesday, Dec 12, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Press release…

Today, Governor JB Pritzker joined mHUB leadership, local elected officials, business leaders, and members of Illinois’ entrepreneurial community to celebrate the ribbon cutting and grand opening of mHUB’s new headquarters. The new innovation center is receiving $9.6 million in funding from the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) to continue advancing technology solutions for a clean tech economy through energy infrastructure, grid modernization, and long-energy storage.

“To make Illinois a leader in clean energy innovation, we need institutions like mHUB that convene public and private sector interests towards a common goal, such as protecting the future health and economy of our state by developing new solutions to our climate crisis,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “The State is proud to recognize mHUB for the work it’s doing to scale the early-stage technologies needed to modernize, decarbonize, and incentivize industry, while protecting our most vulnerable communities.”

mHUB is a hardtech and manufacturing innovation center launched in 2017 to create an entrepreneurial ecosystem that promotes growth, advancement, and innovation solutions in the manufacturing industry. The community includes over 500 active and alumni startups and small business that are supported by a coalition of product designers and developers, entrepreneurs, engineers and manufacturers, corporate leaders, industry experts, mentors, and investors.

The new location will also provide more equitable access to Chicago’s south and west side to enhance mHUB’s partnerships with community-based organizations and uplift historically underrepresented communities.

The State’s funding will help propel clean energy and sustainable manufacturing innovation to advance the Pritzker administration’s clean energy goals as outlined in the landmark Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA). With its manufacturing and sustainability-centered work, mHUB is one of the state’s most active investors in climate technologies.

* It’s kinda hard to see because of the photog hogging the shot, but Pritzker used a plasma torch to cut the “ribbon”…

“Nobody injured, nobody died.”

…Adding… Another angle is here.

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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Another update to today’s edition

Tuesday, Dec 12, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

* The 2023 Golden Horseshoe Award for Best Democratic Illinois State Representative goes to Rep. Lance Yednock…

While I don’t always agree with his positions on the issues, he is a principled, respectful and hardworking legislator who is well-liked and respected by so many around the Capitol. He gets along well with people across the political spectrum, and has been a great leader for the moderate voices in the House. What a class act. He will be missed!

* The 2023 Golden Horseshoe Award for Best Republican Illinois State Representative goes to Rep. Norine Hammond…

Norine Hammond is what more lawmakers should aspire to be. She works her sprawling district hard. She seems to know everyone and what their pressing issues are. She knows how to work with Dems to get things done. Even when you disagree with her, she never lets anger or emotion take over.

Being a former district staffer she understands taking care of things back home means working for everyone, not just the GOP but everyone. In Springfield she knows her stuff and understands how government works and how to cut through things and get to the heart of issues.

Illinois could use a lot more Norine Hammonds.

Some very solid nominations were made yesterday, so thanks for that and congrats to our winners!

* Today’s categories…

Best Republican Illinois State Senator

As always, explain your nomination or it won’t count. And please do your best to nominate in both categories.

* This is your daily reminder to click here and help Lutheran Social Services of Illinois buy Christmas presents for their foster kids. So far, we’ve helped LSSI buy presents for 2,086 foster children. That’s just so amazing, but they serve 2,530 kids, so please click here.

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Tuesday, Dec 12, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

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*** UPDATED x2 *** Elections have consequences

Tuesday, Dec 12, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Buried deep within the Chicago Public Schools board agenda for Thursday’s meeting is a proposed resolution entitled, “Resolution Regarding Values and Parameters for New Five-Year Transformational Strategic Plan, SY25-SY29.” And buried deep within that proposed resolution is this passage, which was spotted by some readers who are Chicago parents and who then forwarded it to me…

3) transition away from privatization and admissions/enrollment policies and approaches that further stratification and inequity in CPS and drive student enrollment away from neighborhood schools

It sure looks like the resolution, if approved, would eventually move the district away from charter schools and selective enrollment schools. These are, of course, longstanding policy goals of the Chicago Teachers Union, which helped elect one of its own as mayor.

I reached out to CPS for comment earlier today. I’ll let you know if they respond.

*** UPDATE 1 *** CPS responded and confirmed…

The Board’s resolution aims to guide engagement and development in partnership with the District on a new strategic plan with an emphasis on strengthening all neighborhood schools as a critical step toward supporting all students and closing opportunity and achievement gaps. Work on the District’s next five-year Strategic Plan has begun and will continue this spring with community engagement and outreach, beginning with the District’s Shape Our Future Survey as well as current engagement sessions about the District’s facilities master plan. The new strategic plan will be approved by the Board of Education in the summer of 2024.

While CPS will work with the community and its City partners to co-design the strategic plan, the parameters set a vision for the District to develop a plan that shifts away from a model which emphasizes school choice to one that elevates our neighborhood schools to ensure each and every student has access to a high-quality education in a supportive and welcoming school.

Specific community engagement sessions about the development of the new strategic plan will begin in February.

*** UPDATE 2 *** Hmm…

This came up during the runoff: "A Johnson administration would not end selective enrollment at CPS," his campaign had said after he was pressed by reportershttps://t.co/7JFgf8fwjj https://t.co/M0RDbphTBO

— Alice Yin (@byaliceyin) December 12, 2023

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*** UPDATED x1 - House sponsor says she’s ‘heartbroken by the decision to back down on our promise to Illinois women’ *** Thomas More Society declares victory over AG Raoul

Tuesday, Dec 12, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

* More background is here if you need it. Tribune…

The state would drop enforcement of a new law Gov. J.B. Pritzker and legislative backers said was aimed at deterring deceptive practices by anti-abortion pregnancy centers under a proposed agreement between the Illinois attorney general’s office and several organizations that challenged the measure.

A federal judge in August temporarily blocked the law from being enforced in a scathing opinion that called it “both stupid and very likely unconstitutional.”

If finalized and signed by a federal judge, the agreement to make the judge’s decision permanent would mark a rare victory for anti-abortion groups in a deep blue state with some of the nation’s strongest reproductive rights laws, and a blow to Pritzker, who signed the measure into law last summer and who has promoted Illinois as a national beacon for abortion rights.

* The proposed agreed order…

It is hereby ORDERED that Defendant Kwame Raoul, in his official capacity as Attorney General of the State of Illinois, and those persons identified in Rule 65(d)(2), specifically, Illinois Attorney General Raoul’s officers, agents, servants, employees, and attorneys, all in their official capacities, as well as other persons who are in active concert or participation with those persons are permanently enjoined from enforcing the amendments to the Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act set forth in Senate Bill 1909 of the 103rd General Assembly, Public Act 103-0270, against Plaintiffs National Institute of Family and Life Advocates and its 81 Illinois members; Women’s Help Services d/b/a 1st Way Life Center & Focus Women’s Center; Rockford Family Initiative; Relevant Pregnancy Options Center; and Pro-Life Action League

Emphasis added.

* Thomas More Society press release…

Pro-Life Ministries Victorious Against State of Illinois’ Attack on Pregnancy Centers

Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul has agreed to an order permanently prohibiting the State of Illinois from enforcing a law that declared pro-life speech to be a “deceptive business practice” and defined as “consumer fraud” the sharing of certain information about the risks of abortion. Thomas More Society attorneys today filed, together with the Attorney General, a Joint Motion to Enter an Agreed Order, imposing a Permanent Injunction on the Attorney General. The Joint Motion was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, for the signature of U.S. District Judge Iain D. Johnston.

In July, Thomas More Society attorneys sued the Attorney General over the law—known as Senate Bill 1909, or SB 1909—representing the pregnancy center umbrella group National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA), along with Illinois pregnancy centers Women’s Help Services and Relevant Pregnancy Options Center, and sidewalk counseling organizations Pro-Life Action League and Rockford Family Initiative. The Agreed Order provides for a full recovery of attorney’s fees by Thomas More Society.

Peter Breen, Thomas More Society Executive Vice President & Head of Litigation, who served as lead counsel for NIFLA and the other plaintiffs, hailed the victory as a significant win for pro-life ministries and free speech in Illinois—which will also serve as a warning to other states across the country that attempt to target pro-life ministries with discriminatory laws.

“The federal court was spot on in holding that SB 1909 is ‘both stupid and very likely unconstitutional,’” stated Breen, recalling Johnston’s preliminary injunction order. “SB 1909 exempts abortion facilities and their speech, while exclusively regulating pro-life organizations and their speech, in flagrant violation of the First Amendment. This law is just one of a number of illegal new laws enacted across the country that restrict pro-life speech—we hope this permanent injunction, with full attorney’s fees, serves as a warning to other states that would seek to follow Illinois and try to silence pro-life viewpoints. We are honored to represent NIFLA and other life-affirming organizations to protect them from unjust laws like SB 1909 that seek to put a halt to their good work.”

Thomas Glessner, Founder and President of NIFLA, stated: “We are elated that a permanent injunction has been issued against Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul and SB 1909, which ensures this unconstitutional law will never go into effect. This is a huge win not only for NIFLA and our wonderful attorneys at the Thomas More Society but especially for pregnancy centers in the state, who serve the thousands of women in Illinois who are facing unplanned pregnancies—all at no cost. SB 1909 was an absolute weaponization of government that unfairly and unconstitutionally targeted pregnancy centers simply because they refused to refer for or perform abortions. Let this be a stern example of what awaits those who attempting to pass and enforce similar laws—look to Illinois and save taxpayer dollars for actually helping their communities instead of going after organizations that help women and their families.”

The Joint Motion follows an August 3, 2023, preliminary injunction entered by Johnston, which blocked Illinois’ enforcement of SB 1909. That court order was issued one week after Illinois enacted SB 1909. Thomas More Society attorneys filed the lawsuit against SB 1909 one hour after the law was signed.

* Personal PAC CEO Sarah Garza Resnick…

While we would have liked to see the Deceptive Practices of Limited Services Pregnancy Centers Act take full effect, we have full confidence that Attorney General Raoul will continue to investigate and hold bad actors accountable to the existing Illinois’ Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Practices Act. The lawsuit brought by the Thomas More Society is yet another example of extreme right wing groups trying to push their anti-choice agenda by any means necessary.

What people in Illinois need to know about so-called “crisis-pregnancy centers” (CPCs) is that they are run with the express purpose of preventing as many people from obtaining abortions as possible. They use a wide range of tactics to achieve this end, from simply setting up shop next to abortion providers so as to confuse and mislead patients, to actively deceiving the people who walk through their doors with regards to their private medical details, such as how far along a pregnancy is. CPCs outnumber abortion providers in Illinois 3-to-1, and they are putting pregnant people at risk. Where CPCs are using deceptive or fraudulent practices to achieve their stated goal of preventing abortions, they must be held accountable.

Apparently, the AG’s office has told folks on his side that he can use existing state consumer fraud laws against the clinics. But, if that’s the case, why spend the political capital to pass a bill and go through all this? This was his legislative initiative, after all.

* Jennifer Welch, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Illinois Action…

“All people should have equitable access to the reproductive health care they need and deserve. Planned Parenthood of Illinois stands by its patients ability to access reproductive health care including abortion, without being deceived, intimidated or misled. Planned Parenthood Illinois Action continues to fight for the rights of people to get the information they need to make a decision about reproductive health care that is best for their bodies, their lives and their future.”

I’ve reached out to others for comment. I’ll let you know.

*** UPDATE *** House sponsor Rep. Terra Costa Howard…

Today’s decision by the Illinois Attorney General to back off from the fight against so-called “crisis pregnancy centers” is a disappointing setback in our battle to protect every woman’s right to reproductive autonomy and freedom.

The decision whether to bear a child is one of the most profound and personal choices a person can make, and no one should try to interfere with that decision by using scare tactics or outright deception. By passing the Deceptive Practices of Limited Services Pregnancy Centers Act (SB 1909) into law, we empowered the Attorney General to hold these centers accountable if they use pressure tactics or provide misleading information to keep women from accessing abortion care.

As the House sponsor of this bill, I am heartbroken by the decision to back down on our promise to Illinois women that these deceptive centers and their staffs will face legal consequences if they tell lies or conceal important health information from the patients who walk through their doors. This settlement undoes so much hard work by so many advocates, organizations, and legislators, who stood together against the pressure tactics of these forced birth extremists.

This decision is especially painful given yesterday’s ruling by the Texas Supreme Court that denied Kate Cox’s right to end a doomed pregnancy and preserve her own health and fertility. Since the Dobb’s decision in 2022, Illinois has been a beacon of hope to American women across our country. So this move to dismantle SB1909 is a gut punch to millions of women beyond our state.

One last point: It is deeply unfortunate that these centers are trying to hide behind the First Amendment. Let us be clear: The First Amendment does not give a shady used-car salesman the right to lie to you about the mileage on a car. A scammer does not have the right to lie to you about a fraudulent investment. And a deceptive forced-birth zealot does not have the right to lie to you about your health, your medical choices, or your right to make your own decisions about your body and your life.

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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Update to today’s edition (Updated)

Tuesday, Dec 12, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

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

Tuesday, Dec 12, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Tuesday, Dec 12, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller

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

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Tuesday, Dec 12, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* ICYMI: Under proposed agreement, Illinois would drop enforcement of law deterring deceptive anti-abortion practices. Tribune…

* Isabel’s top picks…

* WBEZ | Chicago scraps plans for migrant tent camp in Morgan Park: City officials say a plan to shelter migrants on a vacant lot in Chicago’s Morgan Park neighborhood has stalled because of a “lack of urgency” as the city turns to alternative housing options for migrants. The decision comes less than a week after the state of Illinois rejected the city’s first attempt to house migrants in winterized basecamps on top of contaminated soil in Brighton Park. An outside environmental report deemed the site at 38th Street and California Avenue as toxic. Construction had already begun before the state pulled the plug.

* Center Square | Illinois’ gun ban registry rules in federal court Tuesday: While a three-judge federal appeals panel has since sided with the state, the law is still being challenged. Two cases are pending in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. Tuesday afternoon, attorney Kostas Moros said plaintiffs will argue for the Southern District of Illinois federal court to delay the Jan. 1 registration deadline.

* Tribune | Migrants arriving by busload in Rosemont and Cicero are sent away, but welcomed in Oak Park, as suburbs respond differently to crisis: Police in Rosemont allowed migrants to get off the buses if they had someone picking them up, but threatened to impound the bus and arrest the driver for endangering the passengers if he let them out, Mayor Brad Stephens said. The Village Board planned to consider an ordinance Monday to back up such measures. Cicero approved a measure to fine bus companies $750 per person for letting out homeless migrants, spokesman Ray Hanania said.

Governor Pritzker will be in Chicago to celebrate the grand opening of the new mHUB innovation center at noon. Click here to watch.

* Here’s the rest of your morning roundup…

* WCIA | New professional licensing system coming to Illinois: “This new law will move us one step closer to streamlining the state’s licensure process to help connect residents with good jobs and alleviate workforce shortages across our communities,” Senator Suzy Glowiak Hilton (D-Western Springs), who sponsored the bill in the Senate, said. “By providing IDFPR with this support, we will help promote an effective and streamlined licensure process for all Illinoisans.”

* Center Square | Prosecutors push back against ex-Madigan chief’s bid for acquittal or new trial: Mapes in November asked for an acquittal, or in the alternative, a new trial in a motion before Judge John Kness. Mapes and his attorney argued that mistakes by prosecutors and the judge required an acquittal. Prosecutors pushed back on those claims in a 50-page motion in response. “At trial, the government presented ample evidence of Mapes’ repeated lies in the grand jury on March 31, 2021,” prosecutors wrote. “His motion for judgment of acquittal … ignores this evidence.”

* Sun-Times | 100 secret recordings, 36 witnesses later, feds winding up case against Burke — but will defense call Solis as ‘hostile’ witness?: Burke’s defense team has promised to summon former Ald. Danny Solis to the witness stand — finally giving Burke the chance to confront the man who famously turned on him while wearing an FBI wire.

* Daily Southtown | Calumet City Ald. Monet Wilson threatens legal action over Mayor Thaddeus Jones’ liaison appointment: Wilson said she recalls the roles being created by Jones when he first came into office but does not recall a more recent conversation that would have triggered the two latest appointments. The role of community liaison does not exist in the Calumet City municipal code.

* Crain’s | Johnson wants recommendations to ’streamline’ city’s development approval process: Johnson will also create a new position of “director of process improvement” within the mayor’s office to implement the proposed changes. In a press release announcing the executive order, Johnson is quoted as saying the city’s current “processes are overly cumbersome and counterproductive for commercial and housing development.”

* Capitol News Illinois | Secretary of State helps launch first-of-its-kind state ID program for inmates exiting Cook County Jail: Inmates released from Illinois prisons have been receiving state IDs at no charge since late 2020 when state leaders launched a pilot program, which was subsequently expanded statewide and codified into state law earlier this year. But doing the same with detainees in county jails has proved much more difficult. Prison inmates have more stable and predictable release dates, but jail detainees may stay for as long as years while awaiting trial, or as short as just a few hours.

* Chalkbeat | Chicago Public Schools is tapping principal Joshua Long to lead its special education department: The department — known as the Office of Diverse Learners Supports and Services — serves nearly 52,000 students with disabilities and has been without a chief since June. That’s when Stephanie Jones stepped down amid fallout from Chicago’s violations related to the use of restraint and timeout of students. The department has also struggled in recent years to ensure students with disabilities are getting services they’re legally entitled to under federal law.

* Tribune | Republican National Committee backs effort to block mail-in ballots received after Election Day: The RNC, which is promoting a “bank the vote” program to get Republicans to pledge to vote by mail, joined with the National Republican Congressional Committee in filing a court brief in the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in support of the effort to nullify ballots received by Illinois election authorities after Election Day. … The case could have far-reaching consequences. During the 2020 pandemic year general election, when mail-in voting increased, as many as 266,417 votes were counted in the two-week period after Election Day, according to court documents.

* AP | Speculation about eventual rate cuts is rising, but Fed is set to leave interest rates unchanged: With inflation edging closer to the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, its policymakers are facing — and in some cases fueling — hopes that they will make a decisive shift in policy and cut interest rates next year, possibly as soon as spring. Such a move would reduce borrowing costs across the economy, making mortgages, auto loans and business borrowing less expensive. Stock prices could rise, too, though share prices have already risen in expectation of cuts, potentially limiting any further rise.

* NYT | This Economy Has Bigger Problems Than ‘Bad Vibes’: The economy is growing. Wages are up. Unemployment is low. Income inequality is narrowing. The fearmongering about inflation proved to be, well, wrong. According to many economy watchers, Americans should be sending the Biden administration a gift basket full of positive vibes — and votes. Instead, consumer confidence polling paints a different picture. A recent Times/Siena poll found that only 2 percent of registered voters said economic conditions are “excellent,” and only 16 percent said they were “good.” While economic indicators suggest that the economy is healthy and growing, the American public doesn’t feel that way. Why the perception gap?

* AP | Epic Games wins antitrust lawsuit against Google over barriers to its Android app store: Epic Games, the maker of the popular Fortnite video game, filed a lawsuit against Google three years ago, alleging that the internet search giant has been abusing its power to shield its Play Store from competition in order to protect a gold mine that makes billions of dollars annually. Just as Apple does for its iPhone app store, Google collects a commission ranging from 15% to 30% on digital transactions completed within apps.

* NYT | Texas Supreme Court Rules Against Woman Who Sought Court-Approved Abortion: The court ruled that the lower court made a mistake in ruling that the woman, Kate Cox, who is more than 20 weeks pregnant, was entitled to a medical exception. In its seven-page ruling, the Supreme Court found that Ms. Cox’s doctor, Damla Karsan, “asked a court to pre-authorize the abortion yet she could not, or at least did not, attest to the court that Ms. Cox’s condition poses the risks the exception requires.” Texas’ overlapping bans allow for abortions only when a pregnancy seriously threatens the health or life of the woman.

* NYT | Why Are So Many American Pedestrians Dying at Night?: What’s even more perplexing: Nothing resembling this pattern has occurred in other comparably wealthy countries. In places like Canada and Australia, a much lower share of pedestrian fatalities occurs at night, and those fatalities — rarer in number — have generally been declining, not rising.

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Tuesday, Dec 12, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller

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