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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