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Cash bail did not necessarily make us any safer (Updated)
Tuesday, Jun 18, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller * Tom Collins at Shaw Local…
Home invasion is now a detainable offense. …Adding… Very good point in comments…
Guess what? La Salle County State’s Attorney Joe Navarro was part of that lawsuit.
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Isabel’s afternoon roundup (Updated)
Tuesday, Jun 18, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller *** Adding *** Personal PAC…
* Tribune…
* Austin Berg at the Illinois Policy Institute…
* WCIA | Illinois awarding $5 million to local chambers of commerce: The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity has announced $5 million in grants to more than 150 organizations. It’s through the Back to Business local chambers program. The goal is to help chambers of commerce bounce back from the impacts of the pandemic. * WAND | Illinois celebrates record-breaking export sales in 2023: Governor JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity announced another record-breaking year with export sales over $78.7 billion in 2023. According to rankings by the U.S. Department of Commerce, Illinois leads Midwest as the top exporting state and fifth in the nation. * Spectrum | West Nile virus found in mosquitos and birds across 13 Illinois counties; IDPH warns public to ‘Fight the Bite’: While no human cases of the virus have been reported, the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) is reminding people of the importance to “Fight the Bite” during National Mosquito Control Awareness Week, June 16-22. […] There were 119 human cases reported last year, which is an increase from 34 human cases in 2022, according to IDPH. Six human deaths attributed to the West Nile virus were reported in 2023, compared to seven in 2022. * WAND | Ribbon cutting held to reopen Peoria Planned Parenthood after firebombing: The rebuilding and renovations amounted to more than $1 million. On Tuesday, PPIL held a ribbon-cutting ceremony and press conference with Regional Director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Michael Cabonargi, Congressman Eric Sorensen, and Illinois State Senator Dave Kohler to unveil the new facility. “We are back and stronger than ever,” said President and CEO of PPIL, Jennifer Welch. “We know the vital role the Peoria Health Center plays in the central Illinois community. The arsonist may have destroyed our health center and robbed the community from accessing care, but we were also brought closer together. Thanks to the ongoing support from Peoria leaders, residents, and donors we have the pleasure to be part of this amazing community once again.” * SJ-R | Grants available for Black-owned businesses along Route 66 in Illinois: The Route 66 Road Ahead Partnership, a coalition of state Route 66 associations, is offering $50,000 to provide direct grants to help Black-owned or operated businesses and attractions, research and programs on the historic road. “We’re always hoping to get the word out, so more people have the opportunity to apply,” Bill Thomas, chairman of Route 66 Ahead said. “It’s not just preserving the history of Route 66, but this is also an opportunity to help sustain the businesses that already exist.” * SJ-R | A Springfield high school has finalized a deal to build a new multimillion dollar school: Lutheran High School has finalized a deal to purchase 25 acres on the city’s far south side where it intends to build a new school. The property was purchased from Cherry Hills Church, 2125 Woodside Road. It is just north of the church structure and located off Chatham Road. The school had reached an intent to purchase agreement with the church on the property in December. * South Side Weekly | Mayor Johnson on His Organizing Roots and Vision for Chicago : When the interview turned to education, the mayor did not directly answer a yes-or-no question about the possibility of closing public schools during his tenure. Instead, Johnson noted that he participated in the 2015 hunger strike that forced then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel to reopen Dyett High School on the South Side, and offered a quote from W.E.B. DuBois. “The moratorium already exists,” he said. “I fought to make sure that it happened.” * Crain’s | Digital billboards on the Riverwalk? It’s just one idea this City Hall panel is set to debate: Expanding advertising on the Riverwalk as well as on vacant downtown storefronts, Chicago Transit Authority stations and within Chicago parks, for a fee, and allowing video gambling in Chicago are two of the revenue ideas favored by freshman Ald. William Hall, 6th. Hall told Crain’s other ideas like a city income tax or an increase in property taxes — both of which Johnson has repeatedly said he opposes — will also be on the table when the City Council’s Subcommittee on Revenue, which Hall chairs, meets for the first time on June 26 for a “Revenue 101” crash course. * Crain’s | WBEZ and Sun-Times unions vote no confidence in Chicago Public Media CEO: With the votes that took place today, the unions signaled they have no confidence in Moog’s leadership. The unions said 86% of members participated in the vote, with 96%, or 114 members, voting no confidence. * NYT | More Than 1,000 Birds Died One Night in Chicago. Will It Happen Again?: Migration experts said that the unusual mass deaths were the product of a number of common occurrences happening all at once. One factor, they said, was easily preventable: the number of buildings that had their lights on, which disoriented birds that were migrating overnight on Oct. 4. Since October, there have been significant changes at the building where the highest concentration of birds died, McCormick Place Lakeside Center, but advocates for bird safety are seeking measures that protect birds across the city. These measures could include treating windows with film that is more visible to birds, using shutters or drapes to block windows and turning off decorative lighting at night during migration seasons. * Daily Herald | Woman missed out on cicadas 17 years ago, so she brought 6,000 of them to her yard: Seventeen years ago, Bettina Sailer felt cheated when her yard did not buzz with the sound of 17-year cicadas. So, the North Aurora resident went to other parts of the state where cicadas were plentiful and brought the insects back to her yard. This year, Sailer did it again. She now has more than 6,000 cicadas in her front yard. * Pew Research | Most Black Americans Believe U.S. Institutions Were Designed To Hold Black People Back: A new analysis suggests that many Black Americans believe the racial bias in U.S. institutions is not merely a matter of passive negligence; it is the result of intentional design. Specifically, large majorities describe the prison (74%), political (67%) and economic (65%) systems in the U.S., among others, as having been designed to hold Black people back, either a great deal or a fair amount. Black Americans’ mistrust of U.S. institutions is informed by history, from slavery to the implementation of Jim Crow laws in the South, to the rise of mass incarceration and more. Several studies show that racial disparities in income, wealth, education, imprisonment and health outcomes persist to this day.
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Isabel’s afternoon roundup (Updated)
Friday, Jun 14, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller
* Tribune | Bears CEO Kevin Warren added to state business development board: The governor plays no official role in selecting board members for Intersect Illinois, which was created under former Gov. Bruce Rauner, Pritzker’s Republican predecessor. The responsibility for picking board members falls to the Intersect board itself. * AP | Illinois is hit with cicada chaos. This is what it’s like to see, hear and feel billions of bugs: Cicada chaos is flourishing and flying. Trillions of once-hidden baby bugs are in the air, on the trees and perching upon people’s shirts, hats and even faces. They’re red-eyed, loud and frisky. “What you saw was biblical,” said biologist Gene Kritsky, who has been chasing periodical cicadas for 50 years, yet was still amazed by the 3 to 5 million cicadas crowding a small patch of Ryerson Conservation Area north of Chicago. “There are things I’ve seen this time that I’ve never seen before.” * WTTW | Ex-Ald. Ed Burke Seeking to Delay June Sentencing if US Supreme Court Hasn’t Yet Ruled on Separate Bribery Case: Burke’s attorneys on Friday filed a motion seeking to delay his upcoming June 24 sentencing date until sometime in mid-July if the Supreme Court has not yet ruled on an appeal filed by James Snyder, the former mayor of Portage, Indiana, who was convicted in 2021 of accepting a bribe. * CBS Chicago | Migrants frustrated at being forced out of Chicago shelters as city enforces 60-day stay limit: Rosa—who asked to have her identity shielded—has been in the Pilsen migrant shelter on South Halsted Street for months. Now, she, her husband, and her son are looking for an apartment because they were evicted from the Halsted Street shelter—and placed into another one an hour and a half away. […] As of Thursday, the city said about 6,700 migrants were living in city- or state-run shelters. Volunteers like Maria Perez are working to make sure the people still in shelters know what to do if they are evicted next. “This is your only option,” said Perez. “They don’t have any other options, you know, I mean—or they’re going to be put out on the street.” * Sun-Times | No extremist groups on list barring Chicago police officer membership, only street gangs: The document includes 675 gang factions that department members are forbidden from joining — but no hate or extremist groups. A police spokesperson indicated such groups will be identified on a case-by-case basis. […] “We do not want to be in a situation where a CPD member could point to this list and say, ‘Well, the KKK does not appear among the enumerated groups, and therefore there’s no problem with my affiliating with that group,’” [Inspector General Deborah Witzburg] said. * UPDATE: Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability: “The new policy focuses on prohibited behavior and makes clear that officers who engage in that behavior or associate with organizations that engage in that behavior can be disciplined. And that includes being fired. There is absolutely no requirement for an organization to be on a prohibited list in order for CPD to take action,” said Community Commission President Anthony Driver Jr. “Under the previous policy, you could put the Proud Boys on a list of organizations you couldn’t join, but then the Proud Boys could decide tomorrow to become the Nice Boys, and then members could say ‘I’m not a Proud Boy, I’m a Nice Boy, and that’s not on the list.’ That policy made it easier to avoid discipline and accountability. We don’t care what you call yourself, we care what you do.” “People who advocate for prejudice, discrimination, or efforts to overthrow or destroy the government have no home in the Chicago Police Department. They should not wear a badge or carry a gun. And reporters like Schuba and Mihalopoulos should help police officers and civilians to understand what the policy is and, together with oversight bodies like the Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability, work to hold CPD accountable for properly enforcing it,” Driver added. * Block Club | CTA Stops ‘Rave Train’ Planned For Saturday, Saying It Was Never Approved: “CTA was fully aware of what we were doing this whole time,” a spokesperson for Redline Chicago said in a Telegram chat about the rave train, which includes almost 8,000 members and discussion about where to buy drugs. * Block Club | Hotel Monaco Rebrands As L7 Chicago By Korean Luxury Hotel Chain: South Korea’s largest luxury hotel chain has made landfall with its first hotel in the United States, now open just steps away from Downtown’s Michigan Avenue. Lotte Hotel & Resorts bought the Kimpton Hotel Monaco at 225 N. Wabash Ave. in 2022 for $36 million, a steal thanks to the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic on Downtown real estate. * Daily Herald | Why Glen Ellyn police chief says Jimmy Buffett saved his life: In a news report about Buffet’s death last year from Merkel cell carcinoma, a form of skin cancer, Norton heard a doctor recommend that you should visit a doctor “if you have a pimple that won’t heal.” “And I heard that and thought, ‘Well, you know, I had this thing that I thought was from shaving my head, and it was an irritation,’” Norton said. He got it checked out, and that “thing” turned out to be a basal cell carcinoma, a highly treatable form of skin cancer. A procedure known as Mohs surgery followed to remove it. * CBS CHicago | Tempers flare in Harvey, Illinois as business owners complain of unfair fines: South suburban Dolton has made headlines lately for chaotic confrontations at its village hall—as ongoing investigations of overspending often cause blow-ups between Mayor Tiffany Henyard and residents. On Thursday, tensions similarly boiled over in south suburban Harvey. Business owners there say they are being slapped with unnecessary fees—but city leaders said they need the money. * CBS Chicago | Chicago hospital ER closed to new patients due to sweltering heat inside: The emergency room at Community First Medical Center in the Portage Park neighborhood was placed on bypass Thursday. … “We are having to literally drown some of our patients in ice packs because we have no other way of keeping them cool,” one staff member said earlier this month. The issue was not new this month. CBS 2 addressed it with staff last year after an ER doctor shared a photo showing industrial fans in exterior doorways. * WSIL | Mt. Vernon medical center brings Dolly Parton Library to its business: Asbery & Associates will become a sign-up spot for mothers to join Parton’s library. The program gives free stories to children between birth and five years of age in hopes of establishing a love of reading and learning early on. Dr. and Mrs. Asbery expressed their belief that quality books help lead to a child’s success in a press release about the partnership. The Asberys can see how this fact aligns with the medical center’s mission of bridging the achievement gap around Southern Illinois.
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No quorum: COGFA panel unable to vote on Stateville and Logan prison recommendations (updated)
Friday, Jun 14, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller
* Max Cotton…
…Adding… AFSCME…
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