*** UPDATE 1 *** The actual question, which you can hear at about the 5:30 mark below, was about several different topics, not just the homeless shelter, and was actually a follow-up to a question about whether Rauner had a fall-back plan in case the GA didn’t pass a real budget…
*** UPDATE 2 *** From the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless…
Hey, Rich.
Just a note on the Northside homeless shelter. As we understand it, it wasn’t necessarily the lack of state money that forced Northside to announce they needed to close the program. It was more driven by the city having too low of a per bed rate for providers. The city has level funded the shelters since 2012. The city gets the money that comes from the Emergency and Transitional Housing line item in the state budget. The city then contracts with Chicago providers. Chicago has been covering the state’s portion of the funding since the budget crisis set in. Back in the summer, the city had told Northside that if the state budget mess didn’t get fixed that they would not be issuing contracts for 2017.
None of this is to say the state budget doesn’t play a huge factor. There is a $100k budget deficit for the program, but that is a structural deficit and it doesn’t necessarily correlate to the state’s portion. So, while theoretically, they could raise $100k to fill the whole, they don’t have confidence they can do that in a sustainable fashion that won’t undermine the rest of the work they do.
Some advocates (not us) have oversimplified the message to it being a $100k hole created by Rauner. There is truth in there, but, like everything, it is more complicated. All that being said, showing up to feed the homeless at the same building this program is slated to shut down was terrible planning on Rauner (and the Food Depository’s) part. And Rauner’s response was even worse. I’m not giving him a pass at all.
Just thought you might want some additional background. If you have questions, let me know.
Doug
Doug Schenkelberg
Executive Director
Chicago Coalition for the Homeless
*** UPDATE 3 *** A person representing a wealthy Chicagoan (Democrat) did reach out to the shelter and was told this…
We have been operating the program at a deficit for several years now. We approached the city for additional funding for over a year now but they were not able to provide the additional $100,000 needed each year to balance the program’s budget. We made the announcement about the closing late summer and at this point don’t even have a contract for next year. We’ve already removed most of our equipment and furniture and have about 14 residents remaining.
Unfortunately the shelter will be closing in the next week or so. I do appreciate you reaching out however and wish I had better news for you.
A group of advocates for homeless residents of Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood are blaming the state’s lingering budget impasse for the impending closure of a homeless shelter that’s set to shutter just before the holidays.
The group, which consists of homeless residents, community organizers and clergy, claimed the state’s inability to come up with $100,000 to fund the North Side Housing & Supportive Services shelter is directly tied to the ongoing budget stalemate in Springfield, faulting Gov. Bruce Rauner and House Speaker Michael Madigan. […]
Rauner responded to concerns about the state’s precarious economic situation and the shelter’s funding during a Monday press conference.
“Change is hard,” Rauner said. “We didn’t get into the mess we’re in in a few years, we got here over the last 35 years. So changing the structure takes a little time. I’m frustrated. I’m not the most patient person in the state, but I’m very persistent.”
“We have to do the right thing for the long term,” he added.
The number of Illinois school districts with a majority of students coming from low-income families has jumped from 13 percent to 43 percent over the past decade, a new report shows.
The finding was released by Advance Illinois, a business-backed education reform group, in its biennial report “Every Student Counts: The State We’re In 2016-2017.” […]
As poverty levels increase, the report says, low-income Illinois students remain academically behind their wealthier peers in K-12 schooling and are less likely to complete a postsecondary degree.
Twenty percent of low-income students are college-ready based on scores measured on the ACT college-entrance exam. That’s 39 percentage points lower than their wealthier peers, the report found.
In addition, low-income students are 26 percentage points behind wealthier peers in postsecondary enrollment and 9 percentage points behind in postsecondary completion, the report found.
* The 2016 Golden Horsehoe Award for Best Democratic State Senator goes to Sen. Donne Trotter. He didn’t get as many votes as others, but this nomination by Steve Schnorf won the day for him…
Anyone who knows me knows what I think on Sen Ds. There are some great people in that caucus, like Sens Raoul and Steans and Forby and Munoz. But my vote today tomorrow and always goes to Sen Donne Trotter. Very bright, very well educated, a gentleman, not a mean spirited bone in his body. He is a master of the processes of government and the Senate, but also of the subject matter of a huge range of programmatic areas. Whether you are a player, a powerhouse, or pawn you will receive a respectful hearing in his office. Donne is a problem solver not a show horse (except for his wardrobe of course). I have been involved in this stuff for 40 years now. Donne is one of the best ever.
Honorable mention to Sen. Gary Forby, a truly good guy.
* The 2016 Golden Horsehoe Award for Best Republican State Senator goes to Sen. Karen McConnaughay…
A truly thoughtful legislator, who has been able to straddle the line of Rauner loyalty and independent thinking. She is another one who really wants to accomplish wins for her district and the State, and is engaging in real conversations to try and help us get out of this mess.
Honorable mention to Sen. Sam McCann, the crowd favorite.
* We’re going to skip a couple of categories this year and do three of them today because we’re simply running out of time…
* Best Statewide Officeholder
* Best Illinois Congresscritter
* Best State Agency Director
Please do your very best to nominate in all three categories. And, of course, make sure to explain your nominations or they won’t count.
* The EDGE tax credit program, which is often described as Illinois’ most effective tool to attract and retain large companies, expires at the end of this month. Greg Hinz looks at the finger-pointing…
Rauner’s office declined to comment officially but suggested on background that, rather than deal with Madigan and his demands, a legislative-led effort like Althoff’s new bill would get further. […]
“Their feigning concern about sitting down and negotiating is pretty remarkable for an administration that’s supposed to be filled with pro-business people,” [Madigan spokesman Steve Brown] said in an interview. […]
“The Edge program has been the executive branch’s leading job creation program for years,” [Senate President John Cullerton’s] office said in a statement. “Gov. Rauner didn’t ask for it to continue during the past session or seek legislation to do so. Illinois’ economy relies on our ability to keep and add good-paying jobs . . . (and) the Senate president is committed to working with the governor” on that.
[GOP Sen. Pam Althoff], whose legislation is not yet available on the General Assembly’s website, said it would include reforms, including Rauner’s policy of limiting Edge credits to net new and not retained jobs.
She declined to speculate on why nothing happened this year but conceded, “The focus has been on the lack of a budget for a long time. I just think (Edge) is one of the things that fell through the cracks.”
Althoff is probably right. The impasse war may have distracted the leaders from renewing this tax program. And now everybody wants to blame the other side.
Fiscal conservatism is the economic philosophy of prudence in government spending and debt. Fiscal conservatives advocate the avoidance of deficit spending, the reduction of overall government spending and national debt, and ensuring balanced budgets. In other words, fiscal conservatives are against the government expanding beyond its means through debt.
* Sen. Dave Koehler (D-Peoria) was interviewed by a local TV reporter about the budget…
“There’s gonna be a difference this year, though. Last year, when we separated out the K-12 budget, we passed a whole-year budget on that. It took all the pressure off of the rest of the budget talks.
“If you don’t open schools on time, everybody is upset. If you shut down social services or cause some pain to universities, somehow that doesn’t affect everybody. It’s still serious, but the immediate effect isn’t seen throughout the state.
“I’m a believer this year that if we’re really serious about getting the budget done, we don’t separate out and fund K-12 for a whole year and then have a mess with the rest of the budget. I say: ‘Shut the schools down until we get a budget.’”
Koehler said the reason the Exelon bailout bill passed was because of a believable threat to shut down two nuclear power plants.
Senate President John Cullerton made a similar threat a year ago and it never materialized. Doing such a thing in an election year was just way too dangerous.
Your thoughts?
*** UPDATE 1 *** From Cullerton’s press secretary…
“The Senate President remains focused on a full, fair and balanced budget for all of Illinois, one that rightfully prioritizes education. It’s a focus that he believes the other legislative leaders and governor all share and is why he remains optimistic that a deal can be reached.”
Doesn’t look like Cullerton agrees with Koehler.
*** UPDATE 1 *** From an e-mail to Illinois School Funding Reform Commission members…
Colleagues,
On behalf of Governor Rauner, I would like to wish you all a happy and peaceful holiday season. In these final days of the calendar year, I hope that you will reflect on and appreciate the importance of your work.
On Wednesday, the Illinois School Funding Reform Commission will hold its 11th meeting. Over the last several months, the 25 commission members, along with countless advocates and staff have worked to understand the necessary requirements for an improved PK-12 funding formula. These bi-partisan, bi-cameral meetings have featured spirited, yet professional, discussions to determine how to both increase funding to our most at-risk students and set an adequacy target that recognizes the unique strengths and needs of each community.
I appreciate greatly the willingness of every commission member to engage in thoughtful – and sometimes tedious – analysis of each issue. Given the unprecedented investment of the FY2017 PK-12 budget that was enacted by the General Assembly and signed by the Governor, these efforts afford cautious optimism for the future. I thank all of you who have attended meetings, given written feedback, or spoken with members of the commission.
In light of the commission’s work, comments made recently by Senator Dave Koehler (D-Peoria) that Illinois should “shut the schools down until we get a budget” are irresponsible so we are not commenting on his intent. This is not, nor will it ever be, the position of Governor Rauner who has made it clear that funding PK-12 education is the number one priority of his administration. The Governor will continue to push me and the rest of his team to find a pathway to funding that will meet the needs of all Illinois residents. Right now, that includes working to ensure that backlogged FY2016 Q4 payments are released by Comptroller Mendoza’s office.
Again, thank you for work and dedication on behalf of Illinois children.
The violence in Chicago has continued unabated for much of 2016, with murders and shootings both far ahead of last year even with days left in December. Chicago is one of multiple major American cities seeing an increase in killings since last year, deaths that are coming during a historically safe era but that have still sparked concerns in communities seeing more bloodshed.
Yet even though several cities have seen homicides go up, the situation in Chicago stands out, both through sheer numbers and the impact it is having on murder rates nationwide.
Consider this statistic: The murder rate for the country’s 30 biggest cities is expected to go up by 14 percent this year, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, a New York-based law and policy institute. But the killings in Chicago account for an astounding 43.7 percent of this overall increase in murders, meaning that Chicago alone is responsible for nearly half of this spike. […]
In Chicago so far this year, there were 738 murders through Sunday night, according to a police spokesman. The city seems poised to potentially top 750 murders for the year, a staggering total and one that means Chicago will finish 2016 with more killings than it has seen in nearly two decades.
The horror show could very well be what’s causing so much out-migration from the city’s far South Side, which Greg Hinz pegged at almost a 50,000 net loss between 2010 and 2015. That means the far South Side has essentially lost another ward’s worth of people after losing almost 100,000 between 2000 and 2010.
* The most important part of my annual speech to the City Club of Chicago isn’t the speech, it’s the effort attendees make on behalf of Lutheran Social Services of Illinois’ vital early childhood programs. We ask that audience members bring toys to the event, and this year people brought 106 toys, along with $235 in gift cards and $601 in cash.
That cash haul seems a bit lower than in the past, but the good folks at LSSI also told me today that online contributions are still coming in, so click here if you weren’t able to attend, or if you forgot to bring a toy with you yesterday. We need to drive those numbers up!
Utah’s population crossed the 3.0 million mark as it became the nation’s fastest-growing state over the last year. Its population increased 2.0 percent to 3.1 million from July 1, 2015, to July 1, 2016, according to U.S. Census Bureau national and state population estimates released today.
“States in the South and West continued to lead in population growth,” said Ben Bolender, Chief of the Population Estimates Branch. “In 2016, 37.9 percent of the nation’s population lived in the South and 23.7 percent lived in the West.” […]
Following Utah, Nevada (2.0 percent), Idaho (1.8 percent), Florida (1.8 percent) and Washington (1.8 percent) saw the largest percentage increases in population. […]
Eight states lost population between July 1, 2015, and July 1, 2016, including Pennsylvania, New York and Wyoming, all three of which had grown the previous year. Illinois lost more people than any other state (-37,508).
…Adding… More…
Census: Illinois lost 114,000 net to other states; total population shrank by 37,508 #twill#muniland
* Back on December 8th, Comptroller Susana Mendoza told WMAQ’s Mary Ann Ahern that lots of stuff was missing from her various state offices. “Even the TV’s and most of the computers can’t be found,” she said, claiming they were having trouble finding car keys for state vehicles as well.
I checked in with her spokesman who walked back what his boss said. The car keys were located and other stuff seemed to be accounted for. “Most” of the state computers were definitely not gone.
I was told by people close to former Comptroller Leslie Munger at the time that the televisions were private property owned by former comptroller staffers. The same went for some pieces of furniture, like sofas.
But, since Mendoza’s spokesman walked back what his boss said, I decided not to make a big deal out of it, figuring it was just a rookie mistake.
Illinois’ new comptroller says she was left on Day One with offices with little furniture, locked desks and missing documents.
“It did kind of feel like the place was looted,” Susana Mendoza told WLS-AM’s Bill Cameron in a “Connected to Chicago” interview to be aired on Christmas Day. Mendoza said she couldn’t make a “definitive statement” on whether “pilfering” was involved.
Mendoza claims furniture had been removed from her offices, and there were remote controls with no matching televisions, keys that didn’t match vehicles, keys that didn’t match with desks, and missing documents “that people were working on over the last two years.”
“The current staff doesn’t seem to know where these documents are,” Mendoza said. “Maybe they filed them and hid them somewhere as a practical joke. I’m not sure. But it’s really kind of not funny because this is work that belonged to the state of Illinois.
“There are state statutes requiring proper disposal or destroying of state documents, and we’re going to try to track everything down, but it is frustrating because times are so bad as it is,” she said. “We really shouldn’t be wasting precious man-hours trying to track down information that should have been made readily available to us even prior to taking my office.”
First she says it feels like the place was “looted,” then she says she can’t say anything definitively.
That’s essentially the definition of an unfounded, emotional accusation.
And as far as the transition confusion goes, maybe if Mendoza hadn’t announced that she was not taking office until January before checking in with the attorney general, and then headed to Rome for an event/vacation, and then changed her mind and decided almost at the last minute to be sworn in on December 5th after she finally reached out to the AG, some of this mess could’ve been avoided.
But, again, it was a rookie mistake around Thanksgiving so I let it go.
“We’ll just say she’s not an honest individual,” Munger told Ward Room.
“Everything that’s owned by the state is inventoried and tagged with a state number and we did an audit before the transition of offices and after the transition of offices, it’s one of the normal things that’s done,” Munger said. “And there’s not one item that is missing from what should be there that was owned by the state that was left for her.”
“If she really thought that something like that was missing, she should be going to the police, not to the press,” Munger said. “But she’s throwing out these wild allegations, she’s not giving any specifics because she doesn’t have any. She’s just trying to make it look like she just inherited this huge mess.”
As far as missing documents, Munger claimed pertinent financial records are stored in centralized state computers.
“I didn’t have files of anything,” Munger said.
Munger is absolutely right about how Mendoza should be filing a police report before running her mouth like this. Indeed, if she believes a crime was committed involving state property under her control, she’s obligated to report it.
From all I can gather, a property inventory was taken before Munger left office. CMS was even asked to do an independent inventory. Everything was tagged.
So, bring out the list and highlight whatever’s missing and then she has a real story. If Mendoza can’t do that, she should stop calling former staff members crooks. Enough with the wild accusations.
I mean, she is already starting to remind me of Rod Blagojevich. And not in a good way, either. Rod loved to “punch down,” which is exactly what Mendoza is doing here.
As for allegations there were mismatched keys for state cars and desks, Munger said keys were changed in the Capitol for safety reasons when she first took office in 2014. And she said she handed in all keys to an office manager on her last day in office.
Mendoza has complained that she wasn’t able to meet with staff before taking office — another claim Munger rebuts. Mendoza first planned to take office on Jan. 3, but shortly after, she decided to take office on Dec. 5, which was allowed per special election rules.
As for missing documents, “no files, no financial files, nothing that would impact her ability to get in and do the job of comptroller were touched,” Munger said.
Munger also threatened to sue Mendoza during her chat with the Sun-Times.
Mendoza also complained that Munger didn’t leave her a transition letter. Munger seemed eager to confirm that.
“I didn’t leave her any notes,” Munger added. “She informed me through [another broadcast interview] that she knew everything she needed to know about the office.”
“This will be the most expensive race of our lifetime,” a Republican friend assured me last week about the apparently already begun 2018 gubernatorial campaign.
If Democratic billionaire J.B. Pritzker pulls the trigger and decides to run, we can expect that significant campaign spending could begin as early as next month — on both sides. And if last week is any indication, this is gonna be one nasty contest.
The Illinois Republican Party began running robocalls on Dec. 13 to elected Democrats, along with their party’s contributors and activists. The calls sought to tie Pritzker to imprisoned former Gov. Rod Blagojevich by using an FBI tape of Blagojevich spit-balling with an aide about getting Pritzker to endow a non-profit organization that the governor could run after leaving office.
The Pritzker camp responded to the robocalls with a statement criticizing Gov. Bruce Rauner for not passing a budget for two years and allowing “human services to be gutted.” The statement from Pritzker’s spokesperson also claimed the governor should have better things to do with his time than to “dredge up the crazy rantings of Rod Blagojevich.” That led to a quickie but rather large opposition research dump that sought to tie Pritzker even more closely to Blagojevich. There was no Pritzker response to that one.
Behind the scenes, Pritzker allies fumed at the absurdly early attack and warned that Rauner was “poking the bear” and would live to regret it. But Rauner’s people mocked Pritzker for being “thin skinned” and warned that last week’s oppo dump was “a very small appetizer.”
The aim here appears to be to either keep Pritzker out of the race or take him out in the Democratic primary before he can present a clear danger in the fall campaign with his estimated $3.4 billion net worth. Rauner has tons of his own money, of course, but he also relies on a couple of super-wealthy friends for additional tens of millions. Pritzker can conceivably fund a race all by himself, although he has recently been meeting with top labor leaders and other party honchos, as well.
So, we can probably expect more of this stuff from Rauner’s state party in the coming days as Pritzker makes his final decision on whether to run. Neither side has yet started a proper opposition research book on the potential Democratic candidate. Last week’s attacks were mainly based on basic Google and Lexis Nexis searches.
But if they’re going to try to snuff him out in the Democratic primary, Pritzker’s online comments about liberal Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders could eventually come into focus, I’m told. Sanders ended up doing pretty darned well in Illinois’ Democratic primary, so alienating a huge chunk of likely Democratic primary voters would be a smart play.
Pritzker, a loyal Hillary Clinton supporter, referred to the insurgent presidential candidate on Twitter by his initials “BS” and tweeted that Sanders was “outrageously McCarthyite.” Pritzker also retweeted an article about how Sanders “said lack of sex and resenting your mom could cause cancer,” pointed to favorable comments about Sanders by the National Rifle Association, referred to the losing Democratic candidate’s campaign manager as “delusional” and occasionally engaged Sanders’ supporters on the social media platform. And I didn’t even look at the guy’s Facebook account.
Illinois Democrats looking for Rauner challenger as Durbin stays in D.C.
Illinois Democrats looking for Rauner challenger as Durbin stays in D.C.
Some Democrats pointed out last week that the Republicans’ Blagojevich-based attacks failed miserably in the just-completed U.S. Senate race against Tammy Duckworth. But the Rauner folks say the issue kept Sen. Mark Kirk in the hunt during the summer, before he was overwhelmed with Duckworth cash in the fall. Indeed, Kirk was polling essentially even with Duckworth throughout the summer.
The Republicans also used the Blagojevich issue in several legislative races, including against state Rep. John Bradley (D-Marion), who once had a public fight with Blagojevich after the then-governor referred to him as a “wall flower” and a pawn of Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan. That well-covered spat didn’t matter to the GOP, of course.
“For anyone who has a real association with Blago — and I think our argument yesterday is that J.B.’s history was more than fleeting — it is a potent hit,” was how one Rauner guy put it the day after the robocalls were launched.
The question now becomes whether Pritzker is prepared to expose his children to this sort of nonstop mudslinging for almost two solid years. We will probably know more after the holidays. But don’t expect any lull in the negativity while we wait.
“Chris Kennedy comes from a legendary American family with a history of public service, but instead of following in their footsteps, Chris Kennedy chose to serve corrupt politicians like Mike Madigan.” – Illinois Republican Party Spokesman Steven Yaffe
Chris Kennedy has reportedly started hiring staff for a gubernatorial run. But before he did so, Kennedy made sure to ally himself with Mike Madigan.
This summer, Kennedy dodged questions about his secret meeting with Madigan.
After the meeting, Madigan endorsed Kennedy as “a very good candidate for Governor.”
Then, Kennedy gave Madigan’s political front group $50,000, helping Madigan run advertisements attacking Gov. Rauner’s plans to reform Illinois through term limits, a property tax freeze and economic growth.
Chris Kennedy has already shown his hand – he’s just another politician who kisses up to Mike Madigan.
Chris Kennedy may have the name, but he doesn’t act like it.
* Sadly, I couldn’t get the live stream working due to my own inability to remember how to get it started after my hiatus. That said, video of the speech is here, and I did my best to keep up with him using #CapFaxXMAS on Twitter.
* Using those resources, please discuss your thoughts on the speech. What was your greatest takeaway from it?
The Illinois Department of Corrections is making headway toward the goal of a 25 percent reduction in the state’s prison population by 2025, but continued partisan gridlock over the state budget could undermine that progress.
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner set that goal shortly after taking office nearly two years ago and established a commission to make recommendations for criminal justice reforms to keep people out of prisons. The state’s inmate population has dropped from 48,214 on Jan. 12, 2015, the day Rauner was inaugurated, to 43,807 last week, a 9.1 percent decline.
The reasons this is good news are plentiful, and they come from both the social and fiscal sides of things. Here’s the troubling part…
“It’s great that we’re down 9 percent,” said Jennifer Vollen-Katz, executive director of the John Howard Association, a Chicago-based prison watchdog. “We’re seeing numbers we have seen in well over a decade.”
However, Vollen-Katz added, the system is still overcrowded and “we shouldn’t rest on our laurels.”
Alan Mills, executive director of the Uptown People’s Law Center in Chicago, which has used a series of lawsuits over several decades to push for reforms within the Illinois prison system, agreed with that assessment.
“This system would still be overcrowded if we had 35,000 people in it,” Mills said.
So if there were AT LEAST 35,000, which is 8,807 fewer people than are in the system this month, there would still be overcrowding. And, as Dan points out, the budget constraints make lowering that number even harder. Then toss in the administration’s current relationship with AFSCME, which staffs the prisons, and it seems to present an uphill challenge.
Workers who see inmates every day play a critical role in keeping mentally ill inmates stable, said Dempsey.
“What we’re asking people to do is identify, not diagnose or treat mental illness. It’s about patterns” and documenting changes in an inmate’s behavior so issues can be addressed earlier, he said.
The state also is moving forward on its obligation to open four residential treatment units for seriously mentally ill inmates.
According to Baldwin, work was completed Thursday on renovating a former youth facility in Joliet that will provide 360 beds for mental health care when it opens early next year. Work also is finished on a mental health treatment area at the Logan Correctional Center in Lincoln, and bids have been accepted for a second unit there.
Bids are expected in early 2017 for units at the Dixon and Pontiac prisons.
Related…
* With a swipe of governor’s pen, man’s life changed for the better: Even though he wasn’t in any more trouble with the law, Hendricks felt like he was still under a microscope and eventually left Edwardsville in 2005 and moved to Chicago. When he arrived in Chicago, he enrolled in the Illinois Institute of Art and earned an associate’s degree and a bachelor’s degree in culinary arts. He has worked as a chef for more than a decade.
Each time he applied for a job, though, Hendricks said he was up front with his employers. He told them about the felony conviction, something that haunted him as he got older.
“Being a convicted felon is the ultimate black mark,” Hendricks said. “Telling them you been convicted for selling drugs, it’s an uphill battle. I’ve had to fight for everything that I’ve got.
We’re taking a big step next week. And we’re inviting you to please follow us.
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We started Reboot Illinois four years ago with the help of some seed funding from prominent Chicagoans who were concerned, like we were, that citizens were not getting reliable and fair reporting, in-depth analysis, or a wide range of commentary and infographics about our local and state governments in Illinois.
Our mission has been and remains to inform, engage and activate Illinoisans about the governments we all own.
* “Changin’ is hard. The special interest groups that like the status quo. They’re entrenched. They don’t want a change. It’s taken longer than it should.”
* When asked if he plans to run for re-election: “You know, I’m not focused on politics or elections or races….We’ll think about that in the future.”
* On Trump cabinet: “I haven’t focused very much on the federal issues at all. They’ve got their challenges at the federal government. We’ve got our challenges in Illinois, and I’m very focused on Illinois.”
* “I have long-time said I believe the immigration policy in America is broken, and I have been a strong advocate for comprehensive immigration reform. And I’ve said it repeatedly, I hope the federal government can get its act together and get comprehensive immigration reform. I’m very pro-immigration, but again, I’m focused in Illinois…”
In a stunning admission, the chief executive of a troubled network of group homes told a judge Friday that he didn’t know the whereabouts of six of his residents with developmental disabilities.
It also wasn’t clear that any of the six had their medications with them when they left homes run by Disability Services of Illinois, which lost its license because of safety concerns.
An incredulous Cook County Circuit Judge Kathleen Pantle responded by scolding the operator of Disability Services and sharply questioning his attorney….
The judge encouraged the state to file missing persons reports with police, but Durkin said that couldn’t be done because the state wasn’t given the specific date when each resident was last seen.
At that point, Durkin questioned Goodwin about when each of the five residents had left and asked for the names and phone numbers of the family members they left with. Goodwin said he didn’t have any of those details and only knew that they left sometime after Nov. 28, the date Disability Services lost its license.
Missing person reports have been filed with local law enforcement agencies for the 5 remaining individuals. IDHS and the independent services coordination agencies have been working diligently to locate these individuals and their health and safety remains our top priority. We continue to urge Mr. Goodwin to cooperate fully with our staff, the independent service coordination agencies, and local law enforcement agencies so that we can continue their transition to safe and licensed homes.
*** UPDATE 2x *** - A spokesperson for DHS says the five residents are missing from multiple facilities.
Meredith Krantz, communications director for DHS, said the missing person reports were filed with the Chicago Police Department and the Village of Homewood Police Department. Reports were disbursed among those departments based on where the residents were living at the time they went missing.
Krantz said DHS and Disability Services are due back in Court at 11 a.m. tomorrow.
That’s good as far as it goes, but remember, the people they are surveying still went this year. If they’re worried about the drop in attendance, shouldn’t they be surveying the people who didn’t go?
The answers will be interesting, especially because fair people since forever have said weather more than just about anything else determines the success of the fair. Not much the state can do about that.
Enjoyed international village, but having to dry out the truck after a rainstorm put a damper on the weekend. 2 stars. /snark
Despite provisions of the Racing Act requiring a five day racing program at the Fair, officials were able to stage only four days of races in 2015. Plus, they admit that they overcharged entrants, by requiring a $300 nominating fee, which exceeded 2% of the purses as is required in the Horse Racing Act.
An Auditor General’s report released this week, says that the higher fees were charged in 16 of 36 races in 2014, and 27 of 30 races in 2015.
The report says Fair officials admitted they were forced to charge the higher fees in 2014, “due to the purses for Championship races greatly declining over the years due to less appropriations.”
*AFL-CIO President Michael Carrigan writes in the News-Gazette about parallels he sees between Gov. Rauner’s handling of the budget impasse and the AFSCME contract…
If that sounds familiar, it’s because Rauner’s similar hostage-taking tactics are the cause of the state’s long-running budget standoff. Throughout his term in office, he has refused to work with lawmakers to develop a state budget, instead demanding unrelated — and regularly shifting — changes to state law.
Legislators have rightly refused to knuckle under, but as far as Rauner is concerned, it’s his way or the highway. As a result, everyone from students to seniors is suffering.
Likewise, we all have a big stake in a fair resolution to the contract dispute involving state employees. The 360,000 men, women and children covered by the state health plan — including state and university employees, their dependents, and retirees — need and deserve insurance they can afford. The steep cuts to workers’ income that the governor seeks to impose — averaging $10,000 per employee over three years — would hurt families and communities.
But instead of working to find common ground, Rauner has vowed to force workers out on strike — and to “do it proudly”.
*** UPDATE 1 *** The Governor’s Office sent this in response to the editorial, which was penned by Dennis Murashko and appeared over the weekend in some Gatehouse papers…
What the union now describes as a “scorched-earth approach” is a contract that is nearly identical to contracts that have been agreed-to by 18 other unions, such as Teamsters, the Illinois Federation of Teachers, and Operating Engineers Local 150.
The “outrageous” demands that the union refuses to allow the state to implement include requiring employees to work 40 hours a week, instead of 37.5 hours, before being paid overtime. Moving to a 40-hour overtime requirement is consistent with the private sector, federal law and contracts entered into by other state employees outside of AFSCME.
Related…
* Jim Dey: Madigan still king, but his crown is tarnished…In other words, Drury is thinking it over. In Illinois even that halting explanation counts as a rare display of political courage. Because Der Speaker takes no prisoners, even the fact that a challenge is being discussed marks a major change from the past.
Though he might be leaving the Legislature, Moffitt has not entirely ruled out the possibility of running for local office. He said he would consider running for the Knox County Board within the next few years if a position opened and he felt he could “make a contribution.”
Board member TONY DelGIORNO, D-District 22, posted a copy of Sullivan’s prayer on Facebook, and he also wrote that it is routine for board members to give the invocation.
But, DelGiorno said, the prayer “was anything but usual in my opinion. As the grandson of Italian immigrants, a group that 100 years ago was discriminated against because of our Catholicism, I find religious elitism abhorrent to the 1st Amendment principle of religious freedom in a nation and a community that is made better by our friends of all faiths.”
Sullivan, in an interview later, said he was “merely stating some factual history.”
The department cited concerns about the condition of the buildings at Rend Lake Resort and Conference Center, including mold, peeling paint and other possible health and safety related issues. The resort operator notified IDNR of the plans to close the facility.
According to numbers provided to the newspaper, the number of traffic fatalities statewide has risen from 924 in 2014 to 998 in 2015 to 1,029 for this year through Friday.
While that number is up the past two years, it is still significantly lower than 15 years ago. In 2001, there were 1,414 fatalities, and in the 1970s, the number of fatal crashes each year was in the 2,000 range.
The year with the most fatalities on Illinois highways was 1941, when 2,600 people died, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation.
A one-time mentor to President Barack Obama, Jones explained that UIC received his donation because that university already has a vast collection of political papers. “Those papers are very, very important,” he offered. The papers bear tremendous social relevance because Jones’ first term in the legislature coincides with the rise of his former colleague, Harold Washington’s ascent to the mayor’s office in Chicago.
I had hoped to create middle ground based on social moderation and spending moderation, which is increasingly necessary for the future of the country.
I always sought to be a problem solver, thinking about not being with the extreme right and extreme left. And my model was always a 45-year-old married woman with children who lives in Arlington Heights in Illinois, which might be the geographic center of common sense.
* WATCHDOGS: More tax money for Chicago’s booming TV, movie studio
The investigation of IDOT’s Emergency Traffic Patrol Division by the executive inspector general’s office ran from 2012 to 2016. The probe concluded that several IDOT drivers made up reports about helping motorists to make it look like they were doing more work than they were, the inspector general’s report said. In other cases, the drivers recorded inaccurate information in reports about people they actually had assisted.
The $2.7 billion plan, which is not likely to see construction begin before 2020, also would add a lane in each direction between the key bottleneck span of I-290, between Mannheim Road and Austin Boulevard.
* As Bernie pointed out in his column last weekend, a number of Statehouse reporters are leaving the press room for new posts in other bureaus. Amanda Vinicky and Mike Riopell have left their respective bureau chief posts to accept assignments at other outlets in Chicago. Ed Cross is crossing over from the media side to be a government spokesman. Kelsey Gibbs and Ivan Moreno are leaving Illinois entirely, and Seth Perlman was forced into retirement after more than 30 years of filling rolls of film and memory cards for the AP.
Those departures (hopefully) mean a new crop of reporters are headed for the Capitol press room.
* QUESTION: What should these incoming writers and broadcasters know about covering the Illinois Capitol?
Related…
* Robservations: WLS drops Michael Savage….Salem Media news/talk WIND AM 560 has renewed Dan Proft as morning host in a multiyear extension announced this week.
“Well, I’ve commissioned artist Bill Chambers to do it. It will be different. It will be unveiled sometime next year. I’ve been posing on and off for the past two years.”
• Q: Will Quinn be wearing his lucky purple tie?
• A: “I think it would be safe to expect that,” he said.
After her husband was elected governor in 1969, Dorothy Ogilvie and her family found that the mansion, then over 100 years old, had not aged gracefully. The couple found the executive mansion in Springfield to be in serious, even dangerous, disrepair, with temporary braces in place to support the structure.
“It was anything but a showplace,” said Kathy Wonderlic Kolbe, who was special assistant to Ogilvie at the time. “Mrs. Ogilvie worked with the preservation team. … She was very encouraging of that preservation and very proud of the result.”
The family moved into rented quarters to make way for the restoration work.
“She was willing to forego the trappings of the wife of the governor,” said John McCarter, who was the budget director in the administration.
* I am the “old buddy” whose coming was foretold to you.
Rich is in transit to the City Club of Chicago for his annual “Christmas with Rich Miller” speech. We will have full coverage, including a live video feed thanks to our good friends at BlueRoomStream, later on.
* Many of you know the deal from previous experience. I work full-time, and blogging while on the clock is frowned upon. With that, a good portion of today’s content will be posted this morning. Anything that breaks, updates, and anything I ran out of time to finish before having to head downtown will be posted during the lunch hour.
With that in mind, please keep it civil in comments.
*repeats cliche line about banishment hammer of death*
