Early afternoon roundup
Monday, Apr 24, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller
…Adding… From the comptroller’s office…
Comptroller Susana A. Mendoza announced Monday that Illinois’ total General Funds accounts payable has been paid down to less than $1 billion for the first time in 15 years.
April is generally the state’s best month fiscally as residents and businesses pay taxes. As of Monday morning, the accounts payable stood at $941 million, the lowest it has been since August 2008.
“Over the 6½ years I have been Comptroller, I have looked for every opportunity to steadily pay the state’s unpaid bills from a high of $16.7 billion – as a result of the budget impasse under a former governor – to where we have been for the past year, which has been generally less than $3 billion,” Comptroller Mendoza said. “That included refinancing some debt at a much lower interest rate and seeking out every opportunity for federal matching funds the state used to leave on the table.”
The steady repayment brought the state’s backlog of bills down to around $3 billion before a penny of the federal ARPA stimulus dollars landed in state coffers. The stimulus dollars went to pay the state’s COVID-related expenses, all of which can be tracked on the Comptroller’s website.
“During the impasse, state vendors often had to wait 210 business days to get paid,” Comptroller Mendoza said. “Today, my oldest bill is 16 days old. The state of Illinois is paying faster than the private sector. We’ve been on this shortened payment cycle for more than two years now, proving that Illinois is on a strong path to fiscal stability and predictability.”
* Bond Buyer…
Illinois navigated a rocky market to clear its $2.5 billion general obligation sale Wednesday, paying more on the shorter end than its bonds have been trading, but seeing healthy demand on the long end for the newly stamped-A level rated paper.
The mostly tax-exempt transaction took center stage this week amid a total of $11.5 billion of supply. The state received nearly $12 billion of orders on the sale from more than 130 investors including retail buyers, which the state attributed to being “a direct benefit of stronger ratings in the A category,” Paul Chatalas, capital markets director, said in a statement.
Market participants said the oversubscription came on the long end, which was reflected in the repricing to lower yields there in the final pricing scale. Some earlier maturities struggled and additional concessions were needed, reflecting the market’s current appetites and a correction that’s hammered the front end.
I need to find an AI translator to help me figure out what these stories actually mean. /s
* Good news…
* Missouri political analyst John Hancock on St. Louis’ Fox 2 regarding JB Pritzker and the presidency…
I’ll tell you what he would do from a historical standpoint. He would give William Howard Taft a run for his money.
That comment is basically one step above a common Twitter troll. Difference is, common Twitter trolls don’t get paid for their opinions.
* ComEd Four prosecutor…
But it did continue and Dominguez was never indicted.
* Weighted vote (added back after I cleared up some confusion)…
* Good news at NEIU…
The following is a joint statement from the Northeastern Illinois University Board of Trustees Chairman Jose Rico, Northeastern Illinois University President Gloria J. Gibson, and NEIU UPI President Nancy Matthews, Ph.D.
After a productive bargaining session today, we are pleased to announce that the university has reached a tentative agreement with the faculty union, UPI Local 4100. The union’s members will vote on ratification of the tentative agreement in the coming days, after which further details will be available.
* Press release…
State Rep. Sonya M. Harper, D-Chicago, is inviting citizens and stakeholders alike to the first Illinois Black Farmers & Growers Lobby Day, at the Illinois State Capitol, Wednesday, April 26 from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
“Agriculture is Illinois’ largest industry, and no state has a larger percentage of its land area under cultivation than we do,” Harper said. “And yet, we’ve continued to see that this industry faces widespread inequality in terms of access as well as outcomes for those members of minority communities who are a part of it. That has to change, and that’s why I’m leading the push for new policies aimed at promoting equity in agriculture.”
Throughout her career before and since becoming a legislator, Harper has been one of the strongest proponents in the state for policies to promote equitable and expanded access to healthy foods and for equity in the food and agricultural supply chain.
Wednesday’s event will include breakfast, a meet and greet as well as a press conference. Sponsors include the Black Oaks Center, Illinois Stewardship Alliance, Growing Home, Grow Greater Englewood, Urban Growers Collective, Green Era Campus, Cannabis Equity Illinois, Mia’s Heart Hemp Life and State Innovation Exchange. Lt. Governor Julianna Stratton and Director of the Illinois Department of Agriculture Jerry Costello II are also expected to attend.
* Press release…
Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias released his First 100 Days report today, highlighting his administration’s accomplishments since taking office in January.
The 16-page report reflects how the new Secretary has pursued an aggressive agenda to improve customer service, enhance services, protect consumers, and upgrade technology.
From implementing a comprehensive Executive Ethics Order on Day One to finding ways to reduce the Time Tax, which decreases the time spent waiting for government services, and from moving to overhaul the office’s archaic technology systems to pushing an aggressive legislative agenda, Giannoulias’ team has made significant strides to improve the lives of Illinois residents.
Click here for the list.
* I wrote up a piece for subscribers this morning on the Vallas lawsuit after spending part of the weekend kicking over rocks. When I finished, I realized I just didn’t care that much. But I do expect more fireworks in the future…
* Elon’s deliberate chaos has ensnared at least one Illinoisan…
* Isabel’s roundup…
* Center Square | Lawmakers could take ‘master class’ on corruption with ‘ComEd 4’ closing arguments set: State Rep. Ryan Spain, R-Peoria, said some changes he sees arising out of the trial is closing lobbying loopholes, making better disclosure on the origins of legislation, bringing reforms to how bills move out of committees, and how witness slips are managed.
* Scott Holland | Is it ever possible to simplify dozens of tax streams?: As of last Aug. 1 the share is 6.16% from individual, trust and estate income taxes and 6.85% of net collections of corporate income tax. CNI said each percentage point increase would divert about $250 million into the LGDF.
* Daily Herald | Arroyo, former jockey and steward, joins Illinois Racing Board: Arroyo was the senior state steward who judged races at Chicago-area tracks for decades, in a career that began in 1965 at age 21 as a groom, hot-walker and exercise boy at Sportsman’s Park. He started as a jockey the next year and competed in the Midwest, East Coast and Florida circuits until 1978.
* Crain’s | Longtime Evanston Hospital leader to retire: Evanston Hospital President Doug Silverstein will retire at the end of 2023 after a long career in Chicago and the hospitals that make up NorthShore University Health System. Silverstein, 65, who attended Northwestern University, first came to Evanston Hospital as a summer intern in 1981. He then spent 10 years at other Chicago health systems before returning to Evanston Hospital as a vice president in 1992, NorthShore said in a statement this morning.
* Yahoo Finance | Bed Bath & Beyond: How stock buybacks undermined the company: Would you believe that Bed and Bath has spent more than $11.7 billion to buy back almost three quarters of its own stock? At an average cost about 15 times the stock’s current price? And that only a couple of months ago, when it was already in desperate financial shape, it kept buying back its shares? (For no rational reason, as far as I can tell.)
* Crain’s | A decade after Rahm Emanuel closed nearly 50 schools, CPS faces a drastically different landscape: The different approaches of then and now have common challenges, including declining enrollments, underutilized schools, scarce resources and ever-present deficits. Families of color and those in low-income communities disproportionately bore the brunt of the Emanuel-era closures, and many say they continue to receive short shrift. Even as CPS enrollment has decreased, the demographic breakdown of students has remained constant. About 47% of students are Latino, 36% are Black and 11% are white. Now is the time to re-evaluate where CPS has been and see where it is — and should be — going.
* Belt Mag | Moses of Cairo (Illinois): As for the real Arabs, most people beyond Cairo had little idea that there were any of us living in Little Egypt, and outside my family, no one knew that I was a descendant of the first generation. Inside my family it was a different story. After school and during summers, I spent a lot time with my Arab grandmother, who moved to Mt. Vernon when I was in grade school. For her, there was no contradiction in being a down-home Arab in Southern Illinois. If she harbored any internalized oppression resulting from anti-Arab and anti-immigrant bias, it was hard to detect. From her retelling of our family’s history, we belonged in Southern Illinois; we were as Saluki as a person could be.
* WPSD | New grocery store set to open in Cairo, Illinois, ending food desert and boosting local economy: People there have lived without it for more than seven years, essentially creating a food desert. That will end soon, because a new co-op grocery is set to open soon called Rise Community Market.
* Statescoop | Maine introduces biometric privacy legislation modeled on Illinois ‘gold standard’: The Maine bill, which would require a written release from an individual before a private entity obtains or uses an individual’s biometric data — prohibit private entities from selling that information — is largely modeled on a 2008 Illinois law that’s considered a gold standard for biometrics privacy.
* NBC Chicago | Northern Lights Could Be Visible Sunday and Monday Night Illinois, Indiana and 28 Other States: NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center tweeted a “full-halo” CME, a large expulsion of plasma and magnetic field from the Sun’s corona, occurred Friday, explaining it was likely to cause “minor” to “moderate” geomagnetic storming on Sunday and Monday.
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Leftward tilt or just following the voters?
Monday, Apr 24, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The Tribune has a story on the Democratic Party’s “leftward tilt” in Illinois and Chicago…
One major reason Democrats have not fractured so far is the political alternative — Republicans.
People, particularly in the suburbs, who might have once considered themselves moderate Republicans on social issues no longer fit into the narrow cast of what the GOP calls itself now, Mooney said.
And Pritzker said Republicans “have painted themselves into a terrible corner” on social issues.
“We are the party of reproductive rights. There’s nowhere else to go,” he said. “If you are a believer that women’s rights need to be protected, you are a Democrat and should vote for Democrats. If you’re a believer in public safety and protecting our children from being victims of mass shootings at schools, then you are a Democrat and should vote for Democrats.”
It’s also not a top-down phenomenon. Just look at what happened to former longtime state Rep. Mike Zalewski in the 2022 Democratic primary. He didn’t vote for a bill that deleted parental notification of abortion from the statute books and got hammered over it in the Bungalow Belt, even though many of his progressive colleagues endorsed him.
There’s also the Democratic primary win by staunch progressive Rachel Ventura (D-Joliet) over establishment, moderate, pro-union appointed Democratic incumbent Eric Mattson.
The best hope Republicans may have now is that the Democratic base pushes the party so far to the left that the GOP can somehow find a way back in. But, every time the Republicans think this has happened (SAFE-T Act, parental notification, cannabis legalization, trans rights, etc.), Illinois voters intervene to remind them that the Republicans are the ones who are way too far out of step. So far, the Democratic base here is clearly much closer to the general electorate than the Republican base.
* And the new reality is even making the Chicago “Illinois Exodus” Tribune take notice…
Although there is no data cataloging these moves, real estate experts said a number of households have relocated to Illinois, or are preparing to relocate, in search of a safer and more welcoming environment for the LGBTQ community.
Roman Patzner, a real estate agent with Fulton Grace Realty in Chicago, said relocation activity picked up after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, ending the constitutional right to an abortion and leaving many in the LGBTQ community worried about whether their same-sex marriage rights would continue to be protected.
“Because you had what was widely viewed as a federally protected right and the rug was pulled out from (under you),” Patzner said of Roe v. Wade. “In the LGBTQ community, everyone viewed that as a problem for marriage equality, federally.” […]
Redfin found that about half of 1,023 survey respondents among people who recently moved to a new metro area favored living in a place where it’s illegal to discriminate based on “gender/sexual orientation,” as of 2021.
I assume that number is higher two years later, now that so many bills have been signed into law in other states.
…Adding… Related…
* The conservative campaign to rewrite child labor laws: That law passed so swiftly and was met with such public outcry that Arkansas officials quickly approved a second measure increasing penalties on violators of the child labor codes the state had just weakened. … It’s one of several conservative groups that have long taken aim at all manner of government regulations or social safety net programs. The FGA is funded by a broad swath of ultraconservative and Republican donors — such as the Ed Uihlein Family Foundation [controlled by Richard Uihlein] and 85 Fund, a nonprofit connected to political operative Leonard Leo — who have similarly supported other conservative policy groups.
* Losing Ballot Issues on Abortion, G.O.P. Now Tries to Keep Them Off the Ballot: The biggest and most immediate fight is in Ohio, where a coalition of abortion rights groups is collecting signatures to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot in November that would prohibit the state from banning abortion before a fetus becomes viable outside the womb, at about 24 weeks of pregnancy. That would essentially establish on the state level what Roe did nationwide for five decades. Organizers were confident that the measure would reach the simple majority needed for passage, given polls showing that most Ohioans — like most Americans — support legalized abortion and disapprove of overturning Roe. But Republicans in the state legislature are advancing a ballot amendment of their own that would raise the percentage of votes required to pass future such measures to a 60 percent supermajority. The measure has passed the Ohio Senate and is expected to pass the House this week.
* Alabama education director ousted over teacher training book’s stance on race: Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Friday announced she replaced her director of early childhood education over the use of a teacher training book, written by a nationally recognized education group, that the Republican governor denounced as teaching “woke concepts” because of language about inclusion and structural racism.
* Florida drag performers balance pain and defiance as anti-LGBTQ+ laws loom: Murders of trans people have doubled over the last four years, according to the nonprofit Everytown for Gun Safety. And a study by the Trevor Project found that, last year, 54% of Florida’s trans and nonbinary youth seriously considered suicide. From California to Oklahoma to Tennessee, right-wing activists toting AR-15s and firebombs have shut down drag brunches and children’s story hours. Last November, a gunman in Colorado Springs killed five people at a gay club that had hosted drag performances that day.
* In a thriving Michigan county, a community goes to war with itself: Moss and the board’s choice to run the county health department was Nathaniel Kelly, an HVAC service manager with degrees from an online university and no experience working in public health. Kelly, who did not respond to multiple requests for comment, had regularly pushed discredited covid treatments, such as the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin.
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*** UPDATED x3 *** Afternoon roundup
Friday, Apr 21, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller
*** UPDATE 1 *** I told you Tuesday that the Vallas campaign had paid Chima Enyia’s Ikoro LLC $500,000 during the quarter. $20K of that was for consulting, and the other $480K had the notation “Disputed - not verified.” Well, the Vallas campaign filed a lawsuit against the company yesterday. Here’s Crain’s…
After Vallas made it to the runoff election, Enyia — a political operative who had been an aide to Gov. Pat Quinn, former executive director of the Illinois Liquor Control Commission, former executive of Cresco Labs and brother of 2019 mayoral candidate Amara Enyia — convinced Vallas to hire him as a campaign consultant for $20,000 a month for March and April.
Enyia later told Vallas’ campaign manager he would hire workers from Black Men United to place Vallas yard signs in majority-Black communities and remove signs that had been damaged, as well as unauthorized yard signs connecting Vallas to “MAGA,” an abbreviation for the Donald Trump presidential campaign slogan “Make America Great Again,” according to the filing. Enyia told the campaign manager Vallas had approved the idea. […]
“During an independent review of the Vallas for Mayor raise and spend, and as we prepared to file our report with the Illinois State Board of Elections, we flagged a pattern of payments to a vendor, which are now in dispute,” the [Vallas campaign] statement said.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Sun-Times…
Veteran Democratic strategist Tom Bowen said the level of fraudulent campaign spending alleged in Vallas’ lawsuit is unprecedented and underscores how desperate Vallas was to make inroads into the Black community. It also shows how little oversight his campaign had over the $18 million avalanche of contributions that came pouring in from the business community after his first-place finish on Feb. 28, Bowen said.
“If he set $700,000 on fire with a very atypical campaign vendor to try to win votes in the Black community like that, that is possibly the stupidest thing anyone in Chicago politics has ever done,” said Bowen, who served as a senior adviser to lame-duck Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s campaign and as political director for former Mayor Rahm Emanuel in 2012.
Bowen said he’s sure former Gov. Bruce Rauner and vanquished Republican gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey “also wasted incredible amounts of money on services like that” in their failed attempts to make inroads into the African-American community.
But in a Chicago mayoral race, it’s “unheard of” to spend that much money so unwisely, Bowen said. After running Lightfoot’s 2019 runoff campaign, Bowen said he “understands the stress” of keeping close tabs on campaign spending when contributions come pouring in.
While that may have been fraud, lots of other folks took full advantage of Vallas’ strong belief that he could win over Black voters. His D-2 report is loaded with payments to South and West Side hucksters. This isn’t new for him. Vallas was fully convinced of his singular popularity with Black voters during the 2002 gubernatorial race as well. Nope.
*** UPDATE 3 *** Tribune…
During the campaign, Vallas spoke openly about hiring Chimaobi Enyia for a high level position in his administration had he won.
A high level position including chief of staff.
[ *** End Of Updates *** ]
* Reuters…
The University of Chicago will become the first school among 17 prominent colleges to settle claims that they conspired for many years to restrict financial aid and overcharged students by billions of dollars in violation of U.S. antitrust law. […]
The plaintiffs have estimated the class size of former and current students at more than 200,000.
The lawsuit accused all of the defendants of having considered prospective students’ financial needs in weighing whether to offer admission, disfavoring students who need aid.
* Gov. Pritzker was on MSNBC’s Morning Joe program today. He talked about his involvement in school board races and was asked about how the Republicans are pushing decades-old culture war issues…
Joe, you’ve got it exactly right at the heart of it, and I think this is why voters are rejecting it, at the heart of all of these positions is this fundamental cruelty. Focusing on attacking children who are LGBTQ, or teachers that are LGBTQ, or taking on people who are not white, banning Black history from our schools, making sure that certain texts aren’t available to people. They want to rewrite history. There’s a cruelty to it all. And I think that voters see that and they’re showing up and rejecting it.
Pritzker was also asked how he could work with Chicago’s new mayor-elect…
Well, we’re already working together. He’s come to Springfield to talk with the legislature and to me about the things that are necessary to lift Chicagoans up. He’s focused on something that I’m focused on too, which is lifting up people who’ve been left out and left behind. We have neighborhoods in Chicago that have been disinvested from. He ran a campaign that focused on that, and he won because, in my opinion, he addressed that. I also want to say that this is a world where people recognize kind of genuineness. You know, authenticity matters. And Brandon Johnson just seems to be, he is who he is. You know, you can see it, you can feel. He’s the son of a preacher. He has kids, you know, family. He lives in Austin, you know, not the easiest neighborhood to live in. There’s public safety issues in that neighborhood. So he kind of represents the challenges and the opportunity for Chicago.
* Darren Bailey ran away from Donald Trump as fast and as far as he could after winning the 2022 Republican primary. But now, he’s cozying up to the former guy again ahead of a likely congressional bid…
Darren Bailey, the former Republican candidate for governor, talked to former President Donald Trump on Wednesday about a potential run for Congress against Rep. Mike Bost in Illinois’ downstate 12th District.
Bailey was at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort for a fundraiser for Louisiana governor candidate Jeff Landry and was able to buttonhole Trump, according to a person familiar with their meeting.
* NEIU Independent…
The University Professionals of Illinois (UPI), the union representing faculty, librarians, and advisors at NEIU, has voted to authorize a strike. A mediator will work with the union and the administration to attempt to reach an agreement according to Nancy Matthews, the president of the UPI chapter at NEIU. UPI has announced that the earliest they will strike is Tuesday, April 25, 2023.
If mediation is unsuccessful the faculty will go on strike. Depending on how long the strike lasts, coursework, final exams, and projects may be disrupted. Professors will make individual policies for class work in the event of a strike. Union spokespeople have stressed that students will get their grades and be able to graduate.
In a press release from UPI-NEIU, issued on April 13th, “the last two days, NEIU faculty and staff who are members of NEIU’s University Professionals of Illinois (NEIU UPI, IFT Local 4100) overwhelmingly voted to strike, with 95% of voting members asserting their willingness to do so if an agreement can’t be reached at the table.”
* Press release…
The State Treasurer’s Office made a record $98.7 million in investment earnings from the state investment portfolio in March, Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs announced today.
Another $75 million in gross investment earnings was earned for cities, villages, school districts, counties and other units of local government that take part in the highly rated Illinois Funds local government investment pool operated by the State Treasurer’s Office.
These key monthly metrics and more are available at The Vault, the transparency website that allows Illinois residents to see how the State Treasurer’s Office is working for them. The site is at iltreasurervault.com.
“Every dollar my office makes through smart, safe investing is a dollar that does not need to be raised in taxes,” Frerichs said. “The State Treasurer’s Office really is an economic engine, and we invest money in a safe and responsible manner.”
* IDPH…
IDPH has recorded a total of 4,127,625 cases and 36,735 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois since the beginning of the pandemic. The department is reporting 5,278 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 in Illinois in the week ending April 9, and 9 deaths.
Both IDPH and the Illinois Department on Aging have endorsed action this week by both the FDA and the CDC to simplify their recommendations for COVID-19 vaccinations. The two federal agencies approved an optional additional updated bivalent vaccine dose for adults ages 65 years and older and optional additional doses for people who are immunocompromised. The bivalent booster is designed to offer better protection against newer strains of the virus. […]
As of last night, 558 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 65 patients were in the ICU and 22 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators. The preliminary seven-day statewide case rate is 44 COVID-19 cases per 100,000 Illinoisans.
* The mystery surrounding Illinois’ official state fossil may have been solved…
However, new research by a team from the University of Tokyo and Nagoya University may have finally brought an end to the debate.
“We believe that the mystery of it being an invertebrate or vertebrate has been solved,” said Tomoyuki Mikami, a doctoral student in the Graduate School of Science at the University of Tokyo at the time of the study and currently a researcher at the National Museum of Nature and Science. “Based on multiple lines of evidence, the vertebrate hypothesis of the Tully monster is untenable. The most important point is that the Tully monster had segmentation in its head region that extended from its body. This characteristic is not known in any vertebrate lineage, suggesting a nonvertebrate affinity.”
* Isabel’s roundup…
* Tribune | Latest Bears stadium legislation would add $3 to ticket prices at Arlington Heights site to help pay off Soldier Field debt: Democratic state Rep. Mark Walker of Arlington Heights, who introduced a separate proposal in the House that mirrors the stagnant Senate measure, said he was familiar with Moylan’s bill but hadn’t thoroughly reviewed it. “I read one paragraph about it,” he told the Tribune Thursday afternoon. “I know of no one that Marty’s talked to. I just guess it’s a bunch of new ideas that people should talk about.”
* Crain’s | State Farm is hiking Illinois auto rates for the second time this year: The new rates will add about $56 annually to the average policy. Last month’s rate hike meant an extra $58 a year for the average policyholder, so the combined increases total $114 on average.
* Illinois Newsroom | After promising to run the former Champaign County Nursing Home for at least ten years, its owner has filed plans to close it after five.: An Evanston-based company headed by nursing home operator William “Avi” Rothner bought the Champaign County Nursing Home in 2019. The transaction included a covenant requiring Rothner to continue operating the facility as a 220-bed nursing home at least until 2028, with at least 50% of its beds reserved for Medicaid patients.
* Sun-Times | Loop security is expected to tighten over weekend after violent teen gathering: For years Chicago teens have used social media to meet up downtown in large crowds. On Saturday, the crowds culminated around 9 p.m., and several videos posted online showed cars being broken into and set on fire. The chaos made national headlines and sparked debate about who was to blame for the violence. An alderman criticized the Chicago Police Department, some observers pointed fingers at parents, and others focused on a lack of youth programs.
* NBC Chicago | Downtown Chicago March Planned To ‘Help Redirect’ Behavior Following Teen Gatherings: “We are not walking against our children,” said Dr. Charlie Dates, senior pastor of Salem Baptist Church of Chicago and Progressive Baptist Church said in the release. “Our children are brilliant, but we are not absolving them of responsibility for the events that took place last weekend. Instead, we are taking accountability as the church by meeting them where they are and providing alternatives to disruptive behavior.”
* CBS Chicago | Some young people fear fallout of Loop chaos could be more racial profiling: Every teenager out on the streets of the Loop last Saturday night was not there to start trouble. CBS 2’s Terry caught up with a group of supervised youngsters who became swept up in the “takeover” mayhem – and who now fear when, and if, they come back downtown, people will look at them with side eyes because they, in their words, “fit the description.”
* Sun-Times | Bridgeport bank failure cost millions more than feds have said: Where did all the money go?: That figure, records show, turns out to have been far higher than previously has been revealed. Now, for the first time, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. says it spent nearly $139.8 million to cover the bank’s losses after regulators closed the bank on Dec. 15, 2017. That’s about $50 million more than previously was disclosed in court documents.
* Crain’s | What to do with a raft of new aldermen: How about a boot camp?: The session is one of several aldermanic boot camps happening during the transition period for freshman aldermen who are taking over a job that is increasingly expected to be legislative in nature rather than a local ward boss who acts as a rubber stamp for powerful mayors.
* NEIU’s Independent | Student Journalist Files Ethics Complaint Against NEIU Administrator: A NEIU student journalist filed an ethics complaint against Manish Kumar, Vice President of Finance and Administration, at NEIU on April 17, 2023. The complainant alleges that he felt pressured by Kumar to provide favorable news coverage of the administration and the university. The student said “he was trying to…influence me into saying good things about him”.
* Crain’s | At this South Side plant, one new house rolls off the assembly line every week : In a factory near Midway Airport, houses are now being built the way cars, refrigerators and other products have long been made for a long time: on an assembly line. A box-shaped module starts as a steel cage at one end of the assembly line inside the Kinexx factory on South Kildare Avenue in Archer Heights.
* Sun-Times | Joffrey Ballet’s ‘Little Mermaid’ unsettles as it entrances: Much more in keeping with the darkness of Hans Christian Andersen’s 1837 fairy tale, this nearly 2½-hour adaptation is meditative, intense, unsettling and sometimes even grim. It is also unfailingly entrancing and beautiful.
* Sun-Times | Chicago graffiti artist Joos says his philosophy is ‘the wall needed painting’: In just a few years, Joos’ artwork — though he knows some see it not as art but the acts of a vandal — has spilled onto Chicago’s streets to the extent he’s gone from virtual unknown to one of the city’s most prolific and best-known graffiti writers.
* Crain’s | NBA players could be a source of capital for weed: Roberts, who was executive director of the National Basketball Players Association for eight years, says she always encouraged players to become investors in companies as a way to prepare financially for life after their playing days were over.
* NYT | What’s It Like to Be Shohei Ohtani? Only Bo Would Know.: Ohtani, baseball’s only two-way player, is largely without precedent. The best comparison may be Bo Jackson, a “mythological” two-sport superstar.
* Chicago Eater | Celebrate Breakfast Queen Ina Pinkney’s 80th Birthday With 60 Chicago Chefs: Ina Pinkney earned the moniker the Breakfast Queen as the chef and owner of Ina’s, which was a West Loop staple from 1991 to 2013 along Randolph Restaurant Row. Since closing her restaurant, Pinkney has continued sharing her love of food, spending five years writing her monthly breakfast column for the Chicago Tribune and publishing Ina’s Kitchen: Memories and Recipes from the Breakfast Queen. The polio survivor also advocates for post-polio syndrome and advises chefs looking to open their own restaurants.
* Sun-Times | Chicago tavern history: Did you know the vote to make us a city happened in a bar?: WBEZ’s Curious City podcast crew stopped in at the iconic Carol’s Pub in Uptown for a night of beer, honky-tonk and Chicago bar history with writer Robert Loerzel — who has reported on the history of Uptown’s nightlife and entertainment scene — and Liz Garibay, founder and executive director of the Chicago Brewseum.
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Twitter’s rapid unscheduled disassembly
Friday, Apr 21, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller
* NBC…
As Twitter began removing legacy verification badges Thursday, impersonators quickly took advantage of the situation by creating parody accounts for public figures, including celebrities and politicians.
After their real accounts lost their blue check marks, impersonator accounts quickly emerged for users such as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling, the City of New York, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, Twitch streamer Hasan Piker and former Maricopa County, Arizona, Sheriff Joe Arpaio. […]
Programmer Travis Brown tweeted that only 28 legacy verified accounts got new Twitter Blue verification following Thursday’s purge. Brown said his findings are based off data pulled from the company’s API, which offers developers access to the platform’s data.
28?
* Fake “official” accounts are popping up in Illinois and elsewhere…
…Adding… WGN…
“We are aware of the fake Twitter accounts, and our team is working with Twitter to resolve this matter,” tweeted mayoral spokesperson Ryan Johnson. “Users can verify official City accounts by visiting: chi.gov/social”
The fake Lightfoot account has been removed however the fake CDOT account remains active as of Friday at 12:30pm.
* Bloomberg…
Pope Francis lost his checkmark, as did Donald Trump and Christiano Ronaldo. Meanwhile, LeBron James still had a blue check by his name even though the athlete previously said he wouldn’t pay for a subscription.
“My Twitter account says I’ve subscribed to Twitter Blue. I haven’t,” the author Stephen King tweeted.
Musk said he was “paying for a few personally,” including King, James, and Star Trek actor William Shatner. […]
It wasn’t just celebrities who were bewildered. Twitter also scrapped labels describing news organizations as government-funded or state-affiliated after weeks of sparring between them.
These labels that had been added to accounts — including the British Broadcasting Corp., National Public Radio in the US, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. as well as accounts affiliated with China state-backed broadcaster CGTN among others — were deleted as of Friday morning.
* Vice…
A fake account subscribed to Twitter Blue claiming to represent the paramilitary group fighting for control of Sudan has falsely claimed its leader has died in the fighting.
After Elon Musk’s Twitter removed legacy blue ticks, the tweet from the fake @RSFSudann account claiming to represent the Rapid Support Forces does have a verified blue tick, but the actual RSF account, @RSFSudan, does not.
The fake tweet wrongly claimed that RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, otherwise known as Hemedti, had died from injuries sustained in combat. […]
While many of the quote tweets and replies were in response to it being fake, many took the tweet’s false information at face value.
Contacted for a response, Twitter’s press department responded with a poop emoji.
* Rich has had some takes as well…
* And then there’s this from Mashable…
Dozens of regional LGBTQ community centers are deactivating their Twitter accounts today, decrying recent policy changes despite the rise of hate speech and calling on the app to do more to protect its users.
The announcement came from CenterLink, an international nonprofit network of more than 325 LGBTQ organizations, many of which will also be leaving the platform.
“Twitter has become increasingly unsafe in recent months for LGBTQ and BIPOC people with anti-LGBTQ, anti-trans, anti-Black, and antisemitic tweets on the rise. The removal of this policy was the last straw,” Denise Spivak, CEO of CenterLink, told Mashable. […]
Twitter has seen an exodus of users, verified accounts, and advertisers since Musk’s purchase. While many see the app’s changes as the end to a fun social ecosystem, others are more worried about the implications Musk’s policies have on users with disabilities, LGBTQ users and users of color, the spread of accurate information, and the ability for organizations doing important work to stay connected to communities online.
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* Background is here if you need it. Jake Sheridan at the Tribune…
The Chicago Police Department launched an investigation into how officers responded to violence that broke out late Saturday during a large gathering of young people in the city’s downtown tourism district.
The investigation comes after a viral video showed a mob attacking a couple as they exited a Loop store and it follows allegations of police inaction. […]
As the attack dragged on, police cars passed. Dennis and others called 911 to no avail. As the fifth police car passed, [Lenora Dennis] stopped in front of the cruiser and put her hands up, motioning that she needed the officers’ help, she said.
“And the police officer locked eyes with me, cut a pass right around me, and kept going,” Dennis said.
That’s when she decided to directly intervene. The Englewood resident walked over to the crowd, which she said consisted of around 80 teens, and yelled at them. After they exchanged words with her, they eventually ran off, she said. […]
Police sources told the Tribune that there were no officers downtown who held a rank above lieutenant for much of the night, which prohibited the officers who were present from requesting more officers to assist.
Emphasis added.
…Adding… Ms. Dennis also posted an account to Instagram…
In the 45 years, I’ve lived in this city and ALL of the things I’ve seen AND experienced living on every side of this city. Last night was one of the most DISGUSTING, DEPRESSING, RIDICULOUS displays I have ever witnessed. I watched a mob of hooligan’s attack and viciously BEAT an interracial couple on Wabash, I watched several, at least 5, police cars drive by while this attack was in progress. I watched teenage children jump on the hoods of people’s cars, smashing windshields and causing several thousands of dollars of property damage.
The desk sergeant at the 1st District told me to MY face that this is happening because @Brandon4Chicago was elected and he IS the wrong person to get a handle on this situation. I felt like I was watching the city devolve into complete and utter chaos like the Joker was finna pop on the scene.
PARENTS, UNCLES, AUNTS, BROTHERS, SISTERS, COUSINS…Is this 👆🏾your relative(s)? Is this your ward out here…randomly assailing people in the streets? Was your child downtown yesterday?
I’m all for getting to the ROOT cause of the problem but right now, we are going to have to do something swift and immediate…possibly civil right infringing to get this 👆🏾under control.
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Afternoon roundup
Thursday, Apr 20, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Press release…
Attorney General Kwame Raoul, as part of a coalition of 18 states, today called for a federal recall of Hyundai and Kia vehicles following the companies’ continued failure to take adequate steps to address the alarming rate of vehicle thefts.
The letter, sent to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), encourages the NHTSA to recall unsafe Hyundai and Kia vehicles manufactured between 2011 and 2022 that have easily-bypassed ignition switches and lack engine immobilizers that make the vehicles vulnerable to theft.
In a letter issued in March 2023, Raoul and a coalition of attorneys general urged the companies to take stronger steps to address the safety concerns caused by vehicles’ vulnerability to theft. Because the companies have failed to address safety issues, Raoul and the coalition are now calling on the NHTSA to step in. The attorneys general argue that the vehicles’ systems remain out of compliance with federal standards and pose an unreasonable risk to public safety.
“Kia and Hyundai have still not fully addressed vulnerabilities in certain models that have resulted in increased thefts in Illinois and around the nation,” Raoul said. “I am calling for a federal recall of unsafe Kia and Hyundai vehicles because I stand committed to protecting consumers and our communities from crime. Because these car companies have not done their part to prevent thefts, I am urging the federal government to help us protect our residents.”
From approximately 2010 to 2021, Hyundai and Kia failed to equip base vehicle models with engine immobilizers, which prevent the vehicle from operating without a key or key fob. In 2022 alone, there were over 7,000 Hyundai and Kia thefts in Chicago, which account for 10% of all registered Kia vehicles and 7% of all registered Hyundai vehicles in the city.
* Sun-Times…
An Illinois appellate court has slammed Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart’s electronic monitoring program for its “ambiguity” on whether apartment-dwelling detainees are allowed in other parts of their building for daily tasks such as getting the mail and washing clothes.
The ruling, a unanimous three-judge decision, throws out the 2018 escape conviction of Demarko Williams, a Chicago man who was imprisoned nearly five years for the offense — a conviction that followed his acquittal on drug charges, the case that landed him on the electronic monitoring in the first place.
“The state failed to offer any evidence that [Williams] was not permitted to go to other places within his apartment building without the sheriff’s approval,” the court ruled April 7, finding that Dart’s electronic monitoring program did not define whether a “residence” in a multi-unit building consists solely of the detainee’s unit.
So, he got five years for going someplace else in his apartment building, but was acquitted on the original charge?
…Adding… Joe Ryan at the sheriff’s office…
Hello Rich
I saw you reposted the WBEZ piece and raised an understandable question. I want to make sure you know WBEZ didn’t report the whole story and we have been discussing that with them. They failed to report that the court opinion noted that during trial the other following facts came out: the defendant knew he needed to turn himself in and didn’t, he skipped his regular court date more than 20 days after that visit by Sheriff’s officers, and was found weeks after that initial visit by CPD about six miles from his house after having cut off his ankle monitor.
Oddly, WBEZ didn’t report that. We also included that information in our statement to them below. And it is in the court opinion: https://ilcourtsaudio.blob.core.windows.net/antilles-resources/resources/5a62e8c5-9af5-45c0-8363-0f24bc5e46d3/People%20v.%20Williams,%202023%20IL%20App%20(1st)%20181285.pdf
These are highly relevant facts because to leave them out leads to the questions that you raised.
Thank you
Joe
Here’s the statement we provided to Mitchell: The Sheriff’s Office strongly disagrees with the Court’s opinion. No reasonable interpretation of Electronic Monitoring rules would allow for individuals to have free reign to wander all over a multi-unit residential building. Further, this Court’s ruling ignores the facts outlined in its opinion that in early September 2017 the defendant knew he needed to turn himself in or a warrant would be issued for his arrest, cut off his ankle monitor after the Sheriff’s Office tried to locate him, failed to appear in court three weeks after investigators first visited his residence, and was subsequently arrested approximately six miles from his residence the following month still without his ankle monitor.
* Gary Rabine lives in exurban Bull Valley and his company is headquartered in Schaumburg. But here’s Fox “News”…
A Chicago business owner says he is fleeing the crime-infested city because leaders are “supporting anarchy” and he “can’t put up with it any longer.”
“Our employees are being held up for their wallets and their phones at gunpoint,” Rabine Group founder Gary Rabine told “America Reports” on Wednesday. “It’s just not worth it anymore, the danger. You know, we are very safety-oriented company, and we can’t put up with it any longer.”
Rabine got 6.55 percent of the vote in the 2022 Republican gubernatorial primary and took fewer votes than Beverly Miles. If you don’t know who she is, you’re not alone.
* Background is here if you need it. From comments earlier today…
Many have wondered why Scott Kaspar bought the Illinois Review and is using it to pummel Mayor Pekau almost daily. Well, it just became crystal clear. Kaspar recently changed his committee name to run for Orland Park Village President
Click here.
* Crain’s…
Chicago is home to 124,000 millionaires, making it the fourth-wealthiest city in the United States and the 11th-richest city globally, according to investment migration firm Henley & Partners. Its growth in that field is slowing considerably, though.
Chicago follows New York City, the Bay Area and Los Angeles in number of high-net-worth individuals in the U.S.
* Isabel’s roundup…
* Sun-Times | Acting Chicago Police Supt. Eric Carter announces retirement amid nationwide search for next top cop: Carter plans to officially retire on May 15, just two months after he took over the Chicago Police Department from Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s hand-picked Supt. David Brown, whose tenure was marked by a historic spike in violent crime, low officer morale and slow progress meeting sweeping court-ordered reforms.
* Block Club | DePaul Student Journalists Say Newspapers Vanished After Critical Story On University’s Budget Gap: The reporting quoted faculty members who said university leadership had “hastily” planned cuts to non-tenured teaching positions, other staff and department budgets. The teachers said they were left in the dark about changes. In the days after the article ran, several DePaulia editors noticed student workers tossing papers off newsstands into recycling bins at the school’s Lincoln Park library, student center and academic center, said Marla Krause, the paper’s adviser and a journalism professor at the university.
* Chalkbeat | Urban Prep Academies could be turned over to Chicago Public Schools after state denies appeal: But Urban Prep officials said late Wednesday that they filed a lawsuit in the Circuit Court of Cook County “asserting that the Chicago Public Schools has violated state law that there be a moratorium on school closings until 2025.” However, the district is not planning to close the schools. In October, when the Chicago Board of Education voted to revoke Urban Prep’s charter agreement to operate campuses in Englewood and Bronzeville, district officials – in a nod to the network’s unique mission and model – promised to continue operating the schools under district management.
* WICS | Illinois receives approval from Biden admin for school-based health services expansion: The expansion of the School-Based Health Services program will build on a foundation of currently-offered health care services available in Illinois schools to Medicaid-enrolled children, as well as training offered to staff, and reporting and claiming of federal matching funds that HFS does on behalf of schools.
* Illinois Times | City receives $500K state grant for the Y block: The empty lot just north of the Illinois Governor’s Mansion was once the site of the YWCA building, which was razed in 2017. Over the years, various ideas ranging from a law school campus to an apartment complex and private businesses have been proposed for the site.
* WICS | Officials say Legacy Pointe Sports Complex will increase sports tourism in Springfield: The project has been in the works for the last couple of years, and now, the city council gave the green light for funding. The hope is to be able to host tournaments and tourists all year long and it even comes with some economic benefits.
* News-Gazette | Owners of former Champaign County Nursing Home file plan with state to close: Rothner told the board last month that the nursing home has racked up millions of dollars in losses, and the mortgage on the facility had gone unpaid for eight months.
* Cannabis Business Times | Green Thumb Workers Strike at 3 Dispensaries in Illinois: Among the three Green Thumb Industries (GTI) retail locations in Illinois—two in Joliet and one in Niles—there are more than 100 unionized workers represented by Teamsters Local 777 who began engaging in the “open-ended unfair labor practice strike,” not an economic strike, according to union spokesman Matt McQuaid. Local 777 represents more than 500 cannabis workers throughout Illinois.
* Tribune | As cannabis customers celebrate 420, consumption becomes more common at sponsored events: In Chicago, the Sesh City bus will start early with a “wake and bake” session from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. at Kinzie and Wells streets. It’s a precursor to a daylong Cannabis Innovation Lab Summit at the nearby Merchandise Mart.
* American Inequality | Childcare costs skyrocket in the Northeast and West: New data highlights inequalities for communities struggling with affordable childcare
* Patch | How Illinois Facebook Users Can Claim Cash In $725M Settlement: A settlement comes after Facebook paid out $650 million last year for using photos of users without their permission as a violation of Illinois and federal privacy laws. Last year, Facebook users in Illinois received up to $400 as part of the settlement payout.
* News-Gazette | In founder’s honor, empathy takes center stage at Ebertfest: In a speech outside the Chicago Theatre in 2005, Ebert called movies “machines that generate empathy,” which allow viewers to gain a greater understanding of others that are different form them in some way. Ten years after her husband died after a long battle with cancer that left him unable to speak, Chaz and other Ebertfest organizers decided to honor Roger at this year’s festival with a theme of “Empathy at the Movies.”
* WaPo | Top GOP lawyer decries ease of campus voting in private pitch to RNC: A presentation by Cleta Mitchell at a donor retreat urged tougher rules that could make it harder for college students to cast ballots.
* The Atlantic | A History of Humanity in Which Humans Are Secondary: Most accounts of humanity’s origins, and our evolution since, have understandably put Homo sapiens center stage. It was our ingenuity, our tools, our cultural savvy that enabled our species to survive long past others—that allowed wars to be won, religions to blossom, and empires to rise and expand while others crumbled and fell. But despite what the schoolbooks tell us, humans might not be the main protagonists in our own history. As Jonathan Kennedy argues in his new book, Pathogenesis: A History of the World in Eight Plagues, the microscopic agents behind our deadliest infectious diseases should be taking center stage instead. Germs and pestilence—and not merely the people who bore them—have shaped inflection point after inflection point in our species’ timeline, from our first major successful foray out of Africa to the rise of Christianity, to even the United States’ bloody bid for independence.
* Daily Beast | Tech Bosses Are Letting Dictators Censor What Americans See: It sounds far-fetched, but recent moves from some leading names in tech and social media paint a worrying picture: Foreign censorship laws are increasingly determining what people in free countries, including the United States, can do online.
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* These are good picks…
Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson today named Rich Guidice as his incoming Chief of Staff and Dr. Cristina Pacione-Zayas as his incoming First Deputy Chief of Staff.
Guidice, who most recently served as Executive Director of Chicago’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications, and Pacione-Zayas, who currently serves as Illinois State Senator for the 20th District, both bring years of experience in delivering for the people of Chicago.
“It’s going to take all of us to build a better, stronger, safer Chicago, and I know the people of Chicago will be served well by Rich Guidice as my Chief of Staff and Dr. Cristina Pacione-Zayas as my Deputy Chief of Staff,” said Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson. “Both Rich and Cristina have shown dedication to making Chicago work for all of Chicago, and I know they will lead these positions with a sense of collaboration, compassion, and competence.”
“It’s an honor to join the incoming Johnson administration and help deliver a stronger and safer Chicago for all,” said Rich Guidice, incoming Chief of Staff. “Together, we will build a government that addresses the challenges ahead, delivers on the promise of a better city, and unites all Chicagoans around our common goals.”
“I am excited to join Mayor-Elect Johnson’s City Hall and help lead a team dedicated to lifting-up working people, strengthening our public schools, and fostering safer communities,” said Dr. Cristina Pacione-Zayas, incoming First Deputy Chief of Staff. “We are building a team that will deliver for the people of Chicago, and I look forward to our work together.”
Rich Guidice, Chief of Staff, is a seasoned public servant and emergency operations professional with decades of experience working on behalf of Chicagoans. Guidice most recently served as head of the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications, where since 2019 he oversaw the city’s emergency response, 911 call center, and traffic management system, playing a pivotal role in coordinating crisis response efforts and enhancing public safety infrastructure across city agencies. His tenure as head of the agency drew widespread praise for its innovative, technology-driven approach. Before that, he helped create the city’s Traffic Management Authority and oversaw planning and coordination for large-scale events like the 2008 inauguration of President Barack Obama. Born and raised on the northwest side of Chicago, Guidice currently lives in the Schorsch Village neighborhood.
Dr. Cristina Pacione-Zayas, First Deputy Chief of Staff, is a distinguished education and policy advocate widely recognized for her efforts to promote educational equity and advance social justice through her service in community-based and policy organizations, Chicago Public Schools, and as board secretary of the Illinois State Board of Education. Formerly as the Associate Vice President of Policy at the Erikson Institute, she played a crucial role in shaping early childhood policy and advocating for children, families, communities. Dr. Pacione-Zayas is credited with establishing Erikson’s Early Childhood Leadership Academy and Community Data Lab—two statewide initiatives that have helped Illinois leaders and lawmakers understand the importance of investing in children’s early years and their overall well-being and development. Since December 2020, Dr. Pacione-Zayas has served as a State Senator representing the 20th District leading education, housing and public safety policy initiatives. Born and raised in Chicago, Dr. Pacione-Zayas earned her doctorate in Educational Policy Studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
* From a recent Sun-Times article when Guidice announced his retirement from OEMC…
The Humboldt Park native joined OEMC in 2005, overseeing championship parades for the White Sox, Blackhawks and Cubs, as well as security at the 2012 NATO Summit.
Tribune…
He is well-respected in government circles and has public safety experience, a plus for Johnson as his administration works to replace Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown and demonstrate the they’ll be able to handle problems in the Loop like the chaos that unfolded last weekend.
Again, that’s a very strong hire.
And CP-Z is, IMHO, brilliant. She also has strong ties to the city’s progressives.
…Adding… Illinois Restaurant Association…
We commend Mayor-Elect Brandon Johnson on his selection of Richard Guidice to serve as Chief of Staff. Rich is a distinguished public servant who has served the City of Chicago notably for over three decades.
With this appointment, the Mayor-Elect signals his strong commitment to prioritizing solutions to some of the most pressing concerns facing our city, including safety and security.
We applaud this pragmatic decision and look forward to working with the Mayor-Elect and Rich.
* Meanwhile, from ABC 7…
Afterwards, Johnson spoke publicly for the first time about weekend violence that caused chaos in downtown Chicago and along the lakefront.
“The violence that happened over the weekend - and the violence that happens too many weekends and too many days - of course we don’t condone that behavior,” Johnson said.
Johnson denied he was sending mixed messages over the weekend in a statement where said the violence can’t be condoned, but also said it was not constructive to “demonize youth.”
The exchange between Johnson and the station’s Craig Wall was quite something…
Wall: You said that it’s not constructive to demonize youth who’ve otherwise been starved with opportunities in our communities. There has been some criticism of that that suggested you are in some way passively condoning that behavior for kids.
Johnson: …What does the whole statement say?
Wall: I realize that, but…
Johnson: I get it, but, because there are two aspects. So let’s talk about both aspects. I do not, look, the violence that happened over the weekend and the violence that happens too many weekends and too many days. Of course we don’t condone that behavior. That’s the first thing that I said.
Look, you’ve been a part of my conversations about raising a family in Austin. Who has more incentive for a safe Chicago than someone who is raising a family in a neighborhood where there are more homicides in my neighborhood over the last four years combined than many of the neighborhoods that have been discussed.
[Cross talk.]
It’s not a mixed message. Slow down for a second, OK? It’s not a mixed message. These false choices that people continue to try to make, this body and the city of Chicago make, and it ends under my administration. That’s a false choice. You can make sure that we eradicate the root causes that lead to violence. And we also can make sure that there’s support on the frontline to make sure that we’re preventing violence. It’s a false choice. And no one takes it more seriously than a family that lives through it every single day.
Do you think I want my son on his bike, and he has to worry about getting shot? Do you really believe that?
Wall: No.
Johnson: Of course you don’t. Right? So don’t give people false choices. We get to do both, you all. It is well past due that we put an end to this dynamic that somehow not making, look demonizing children is wrong. We have to keep them safe as well. Have you ever taught middle school? I have. Have you ever raised young people? Do you understand the risk that young people take just because they’re young? Do you know that home plate is at the bottom of my stairs? I found that out when my son was sliding down those stairs trying to score. They’re young. Sometimes they make silly decisions. They do. So we have to make sure that we are investing to make sure that young people know that they are supported. But we also have to make sure that police officers who put their lives on the line have the resources that they need to keep us safe.
Please pardon all transcription errors.
* Springfield coverage roundup from Isabel…
* Tribune | Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson tells state lawmakers funding for schools, youth jobs tie into ‘mandate’ to tackle crime with investment: Johnson’s wide-ranging address to a joint session of the Illinois House and Senate served as an extension of his campaign themes of championing progressive values and a holistic approach to tackling crime, a front-of-mind concern after a weekend when three teens were shot amid hundreds of young people converging downtown and along the lakefront.
* Sun-Times | Mayor-elect Johnson pitches unity to state legislators in Springfield: ‘Our challenges are not that unique’: Johnson kept his Capitol visit to generalities and focused on unity, saying he has spoken to Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Democratic leaders about “making sure that we’re investing in the necessary programs that will allow for our neighborhoods to be a lot safer.” And even as the clock ticks for legislators to finalize a state budget, Johnson said he didn’t come to Springfield to “dictate” what Chicago needs when it comes to public safety dollars.
* Crain’s | Brandon Johnson goes to Springfield with a few big asks — and a big message: The city’s incoming mayor made it clear that he wants changes in the state’s school aid formula. It was heavily revamped a few years ago with an eye toward putting more money into lower-income school districts with higher needs, but Johnson said more changes are needed, changes sufficient to ensure that every school in the state has a nurse and a social worker. The latter has been a longtime goal of the Chicago Teachers Union, where until recently Johnson worked as an organizer. Only such spending will break “the cycle of violence” that afflicts many neighborhoods, Johnson said.
* AP | Chicago Mayor-elect Johnson pledges ‘smart’ fight on crime: Pounded later by reporters’ questions about reducing crime in Chicago, he promised to be “smart” as well as “tough,” putting resources into youth employment and other preventive measures as well as enforcement. But his primary message was one of collaboration. “They told us that if something is good for Chicago, that means we’re taking something away from Peoria,” Johnson told lawmakers. “They tell us that the challenges that we face in the city of Chicago … aren’t the same challenges shared by families from Rockford to Carbondale. … No one has to lose at the expense of someone else winning. There’s more than enough for everybody in the state of Illinois.”
* NBC Chicago | Mayor-Elect Brandon Johnson Addresses Lawmakers in Springfield Wednesday: Johnson will also meet with the House Democratic Caucus, the release says, “to discuss how state lawmakers and his administration can best work together to deliver lasting results for Chicago residents and all of Illinois.” “I am excited to join our dedicated leaders in Springfield and discuss how we can invest in people to lift up all of our communities,” Johnson said in the release. “Building a better, stronger, safer Chicago will take all of us, and I look forward to establishing a strong foundation for collaboration.”
* ABC Chicago | Chicago Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson on Chicago weekend chaos: ‘We don’t condone that behavior’: Johnson told lawmakers that Chicago and Springfield can get along even though they may not always agree on things. On several occasions, he received a standing ovation from Democrats when talking about his progressive agenda, but some Republicans were not impressed. “Is there any accountability? Is there any consequences? There’s no consequences in the city of Chicago instead, Brandon Johnson makes excuses for them,” said Blaine Wilhour, R-107th District.
* WTTW | Brandon Johnson Claims Mandate to Reshape Public Safety, Pledges to Partner with General Assembly: Johnson also vowed to reopen six mental health clinics closed more than a decade ago as part of his effort to address the root causes of crime in Chicago. Johnson did not miss the opportunity to ask state lawmakers to help Chicago, urging them to “fully fund” the Chicago Public Schools. Under the state’s education funding formula, Chicago schools are due an additional $1.4 billion to serve the city’s students, according to CPS and state officials. In addition, if state funds paid for teachers’ pensions — as they do in every other school district — CPS would have an additional $552 million to fund schools.
* Bond Buyer | Chicago’s Lightfoot aims to cement pension policy legacy: This instead The forecast also depends on Chicago Public Schools covering $245 million of what amounts to a $291 million responsibility for its non-teaching employees that participate in the city’s municipal fund in the current budget. The city’s payment totals $976 million this year. The $250 million it asked CPS to pay this year is up from $175 million last year and the 2024, 2025, and 2026 projected gaps rely on CPS covering its full share which grows to between $304 million and $309 million annually. The Chicago Teachers’ Union has criticized the city for transferring the burden and Johnson, who is a former teacher and organizer for the CTU, has said that the city should continue to financially help CPS even as it moves to an elected board in the coming years.
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