Afternoon roundup
Thursday, Apr 27, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Mary Jane Theis was recently interviewed by MC Sungaila for The Portia Project…
I’m going to share a judicial secret with you. What keeps judges, especially appellate judges, up at night is the concern and fear that adopting a rule that makes sense in this specific case has unintended consequences on other matters. As they say, things that haven’t even happened yet. If I interpret this word in this statute a certain way, how is this word used elsewhere in other statutes and what harm am I doing?
If I ever had a say in a tip for appellate lawyers, it would be to realize that’s what the judge is thinking about. What are the unintended consequences of deciding this case a certain way? How do you ease the discomfort the judge has? How do you make the judge comfortable to say, “Yes, that’s the good rule here, and good rule moving forward too”? Very often, good appellate lawyers understand that, but many lawyers who do appeals are still just focused on their cases. […]
The judicial perspective has a very different idea than what the lawyers are trying to do to win this case. Lawyers who understand that, and there certainly are wonderful lawyers who can be better advocates, can win more cases if they put the judges’ minds to ease that this is a good rule for everybody moving forward and not just this case.
* Capitol News Illinois…
Art Potash, IRMA board chairman and CEO of Potash Markets, a chain of specialty grocery stores in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood, noted that more than 6,600 bills have been introduced in the General Assembly this year, the second most ever introduced in the first year of a session.
“Quite frankly, much of the legislation presents additional challenges to the business community,” he said during a luncheon speech. “Thankfully, the respective teams at IRMA and IMA have done a great job of containing most of the harm, at least as we sit here today.”
* Also from the story…
During his keynote address, Pritzker touted investments the state has made in workforce training and apprenticeships, as well as his proposed budget that calls for increased funding for community colleges, universities and student financial aid.
“Yes, of course, people are talking to Mississippi about low-wage workers that they can get if they put a low-wage manufacturing facility in that state,” he said. “But what they talk to Illinois about is skilled labor and skilled workers, because we provide those, and we have the third-largest community college system in the entire nation. And we’re utilizing that to make sure that we’re at the top of the heap when it comes to skilled work.”
* DOC numbers…
The corrections department reports that there were 76 deaths in Illinois prisons last year, the average age of the deceased being 57.
Of the 76 deaths, 57 were attributed to natural causes, 11 to suicide and one to homicide. The findings in five other cases were pending.
* IDES numbers…
The unemployment rate decreased in eleven areas, increased in one area and was unchanged in two for the year ending March 2023, according to data released today by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the Illinois Department of Employment Security (DES). Over-the-year, total nonfarm jobs increased in all fourteen metropolitan areas. […]
The metro areas which had the largest over-the-year percentage increases in total nonfarm jobs were the Peoria MSA (+3.9%, +6,400), the Champaign-Urbana MSA (+3.4%, +4,000), and the Bloomington MSA (+3.1%, +2,900). Total nonfarm jobs in the Chicago Metro were up +1.6% or +60,100. Industries that saw job growth in a majority of metro areas included: Education and Health Services (fourteen areas); Leisure and Hospitality (thirteen areas); Wholesale Trade and Government (twelve areas each); Manufacturing and Other Services (eleven areas each); Mining and Construction and Transportation, Utilities and Warehousing (nine areas).
The metro areas with the largest unemployment rate decreases were the Rockford MSA (-1.1 points to 6.7%), the Carbondale-Marion MSA (-0.6 point to 4.0%), and the Springfield MSA (-0.6 point to 3.9%). The Chicago Metro Division unemployment rate fell -0.3 point to 4.1%. The unemployment rate increased in the Lake County-Kenosha County IL-WI Metropolitan Division (+0.2 point to 5.0%). The unemployment rate was unchanged in the Danville MSA (5.4%) and the Davenport-Moline-Rock Island IA-IL MSA (4.1%).
* A blanket ban after a single violation is just totally ridiculous…
Reporters covering hearings and press conferences in Cook County have long been allowed to bring their computers and cellphones into the criminal courthouse at 26th and California to do their job.
No more, under an order issued Wednesday by Circuit Court Presiding Judge Erica Reddick.
Effectively immediately, “all media and members of the public except employees and authorized personnel shall not bring cellphones, laptops or any electronic devices into the George N. Leighton Criminal Courthouse.” [..]
The ban stems from an incident this week when a member of the media took photographs with a cellphone while in a courtroom, a breach of court rules, a spokeswoman for Chief Judge Tim Evans said in a statement.
* Press release…
An estimated 780 teachers in 219 school districts across the state of Illinois will be supported by the Elevating Educators: Bilingual Education Grants, shared State Senator Karina Villa. More than $5 million in grants will go toward the bilingual educator pipeline, where teachers will receive training and a license to teach English learners, or students whose native language is not English.
“Every child deserves the same quality of education, regardless of what language they may speak at home,” said Villa (D-West Chicago). “I am proud to see this investment in licensing teachers to work with students whose native language is not English.”
The number of English learners in Illinois schools has steadily grown over the last 12 years, however the number of teachers qualified to teach these students has not. Illinois schools serve more than 275,000 English learners — nearly 14% of the state’s student population — who speak around 220 different languages. Illinois schools reported more than 300 unfilled teaching positions in bilingual education as of October 2022. These grants will help address this disparity.
Around 450 teachers already have an Educator License with Stipulations endorsed for Transitional Bilingual Education, a temporary license for teaching English learners that lasts five years. These grants will cover expenses, such as tuition and fees, for teachers who have this temporary license so they can get their permanent teaching license. Districts can also use the grant funds to cover expenses for current teachers licensed in other subjects, which will allow them to earn an English as Second Language or Bilingual Education credential. Funding for the grant comes from federal pandemic relief funds.
“Growing up speaking a language other than English can make young children feel very ‘othered’ and alienated from their peers,” Villa said. “Having teachers who can bring inclusivity into their own classrooms with the languages they speak is very important to show children that being bilingual is valuable, and a great strength.”
* Freedom Caucus…
The IL Freedom Caucus is issuing the following statement on a Secretary of State internal policy requiring individuals taking a driving test to wear a mask.
“We recently became aware of an internal policy that allows driver’s license facilities in Illinois to require drivers to wear masks during the administration of the driving test. Upon learning of this policy, we sent a letter to Secretary Alexi Giannoulias asking him to remove the mask requirement at driver’s license facilities throughout the state.
Illinois is no longer under an emergency declaration. Masking is not required in the vast majority of public spaces throughout the state. Most healthcare facilities have also removed their mask requirements. We urge Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias to affirm the freedom of Illinois residents to make their own healthcare decisions. Masking is voluntary in Illinois and the Secretary of State should recognize that fact by getting rid of this unnecessary mask mandate. Utilizing the services of the Secretary of State’s office should not mean having to give up the basic rights and freedoms we have everywhere else we go in Illinois. We call on Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias to stand up for the rights of our citizens and end the mask mandate at driver’s license facilities in Illinois.”
Illinois is still under a public emergency for a couple more weeks. Secretary of State’s response…
Throughout the pandemic, the Secretary of State’s office has implemented protocols to protect the health and safety of employees and the residents of Illinois. Although we have adjusted these protocols to meet changing circumstances throughout the pandemic, we have measures that follow this goal in place until May 11, which aligns with the state with the federal government’s decision to end the national public health emergency on that date.
* Springfield doesn’t have the only defeated mayor with coping issues…
* Heh…
* Isabel’s roundup…
* Sun-Times | Naperville gun shop owner takes his case against state ban to U.S. Supreme Court: Bevis, with the National Association for Gun Rights, is asking the highest court for an emergency injunction, arguing that the state ban is unconstitutional.
* The Appeal | Life in prison for a killing he didn’t cause or condone: In Illinois alone, around 500 people are currently serving first-degree felony murder sentences for killings they did not commit themselves or intend to commit. Reform efforts must consider past injustices as well as future abuses.
* Evanston Now | Council rejects cannabis lounges: But Ald. Melissa Wynne (3rd), the only member on the council when it imposed the indoor smoking ban in 2006, said, “I’m a hard no” to permitting the lounges.
* Washington Times | Government war on TikTok financed by Facebook: Luckily, the media sniffed out this campaign. The Washington Post reported that Facebook paid a GOP firm to engage in a well-funded political sabotage campaign against TikTok. The powerhouse firm Targeted Victory led “a nationwide campaign seeking to turn the public against TikTok” by “placing op-eds and letters to the editor in major regional news outlets, promoting dubious stories about alleged TikTok trends that actually originated on Facebook, and pushing to draw political reporters and local politicians into helping take down its biggest competitor.”
* Center Square | Bill would make Illinois first state to give the Income Share Agreement industry its own law: A nonprofit policy organization is speaking out against legislation in Springfield that would make Illinois the first state to give the Income Share Agreement industry its own law. ISAs are a type of private student loan where the loan is made in exchange for the student’s agreement to pay the lender a percentage of their future income for up to 20 years.
* Illinois Times | “Pervasive” deficiencies at Illinois State Police: The findings of inadequate inventory control were the most extensive. Sixty missing items were computers and other storage devices that may have contained confidential information, but there is no record of the data they contained. The auditors found a $1.7 million discrepancy between equipment and data processing expenditures entered on two different state government forms. Auditors were unable to reconcile property control documents, with more than $4 million in “unknown activity” in 2022 and more than $5 million in 2021.
* Crain’s | Illinois’ first privately built toll bridge opens today: The $170 million project extended Houbolt Road south of U.S. Route 6 over the Des Plaines River into two intermodal facilities where freight is transferred from railcars to trucks. The first privately built toll road in Illinois is opening just as the freight industry is grappling with a decline in shipping after a huge surge during the COVID-19 pandemic.
* Crain’s | How an unconventional media strategy helped power Brandon Johnson to victory: While opponent Paul Vallas used his deeper campaign coffers to reach voters through television ads and other traditional media, Johnson took his message to smaller, alternative outlets that target demographic niches such as younger voters, minority groups and LGBTQ audiences.
* Crain’s | Big Fulton Market apartment project moves forward with $125 million loan: High Street Residential, a subsidiary of Dallas-based Trammell Crow, recently broke ground on the 377-unit luxury high-rise at 1112 W. Carroll St., one of the few big multifamily developments to get underway in the neighborhood this year. Though developers have been especially active in the neighborhood over the past few years — and construction continues at many projects there — groundbreakings are a lot less common all over the city these days amid high interest rates and a tighter lending environment.
* WSIL | Carbondale named one of the cutest small towns in Illinois: The City of Carbondale was named one of the eight cutest small towns in Illinois, according to World Atlas. The site ranked Carbondale as one of the cutest towns, stating the city as a melting pot of culture and nature, as well as, a great place to enjoy the outdoors.
* Crain’s | New York pharma giant swoops in to take over closing Novartis Libertyville plant : Bristol Myers Squibb said in a statement that it has executed an agreement with Novartis for the plant after Novartis said it would close the plant and lay off 275 people by the end of this year. Bristol Myers Squibb said the transition of the facility will take place over the course of this year but did not disclose any other terms of the deal. The company did not specify how many employees it planned to retain at the plant.
* Fox Chicago | Huntley High School student charged after sending racist, threatening messages: police: A Huntley High School student is being charged with multiple felonies after they were accused of sending racist and threatening messages. Police say the messages were sent earlier this year but started recirculating around the school this week.
* WBBM | Glenbard West HS reopened after bomb threat: Police gave the “all clear” at Glenbard West High School.
* Rest of World | Twitter is complying with more government demands under Elon Musk: It’s been exactly six months since Elon Musk took over Twitter, promising a new era of free speech and independence from political bias. But Twitter’s self-reported data shows that, under Musk, the company has complied with hundreds more government orders for censorship or surveillance — especially in countries such as Turkey and India.
* NYT | Inflation Is Still High. What’s Driving It Has Changed.: What generated the painful inflation, and what comes next? A look through the data reveals a situation that arose from pandemic disruptions and the government’s response, was worsened by the war in Ukraine and is now cooling as supply problems clear up and the economy slows. But it also illustrates that U.S. inflation today is drastically different from the price increases that first appeared in 2021, driven by stubborn price increases for services like airfare and child care instead of by the cost of goods.
* WICS | Girl Scouts of Central Illinois introduces first responders career exploration: The girls will join the ranks of firefighters and law enforcement personnel to learn how they ensure public safety for our communities and spend some time with women who hold key roles in these careers.
* Rolling Stone | The Online Racists Stealing Military Secrets: While Republicans in Congress have played down the risk of extremists in the military, experts who follow the issue say they’re not surprised to see extremist beliefs and leaks of classified information coincide. In a 2021 hearing on extremism in the armed forces, Republican members of Congress wondered aloud whether the issue had really “proven itself to be a major problem” or whether the issue was merely “political theater” for Democrats to enforce a partisan ideological discipline on the armed services. Republicans in the House and Senate have blasted Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s training efforts to root out extremism and voted against legislation to track “white-supremacist and neo-Nazi activity in the uniformed services.”
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* Press release…
With COVID-19 Public Health Emergency proclamations set to lapse on May 11, state Rep. Bob Morgan, D-Deerfield, passed a bill Wednesday providing stability to Illinois healthcare professionals and access to healthcare services amid expiring pandemic emergency measures.
“Healthcare workers went above and beyond—both in professionalism and selfless courage—to confront the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic which has upended our society for the last three years,” Morgan said. “As emergency measures will soon expire, this bill codifies some of the best reforms to our healthcare delivery in hospitals, healthcare facilities and pharmacies, and reinforces our over-stretched healthcare workforce with temporary healthcare professionals. Emergency declarations may be expiring, but COVID-19 isn’t gone and our state’s healthcare shortages would have worsened had we failed to act.”
Morgan’s House Bill 559 provides healthcare workers who have been practicing under temporary, emergency licenses during the pandemic with the opportunity to obtain full licensure, and to continue practicing while that licensure process is ongoing. The law also permits continued pharmacy access to flu and COVID-19 testing and vaccination, and therapeutic treatment for COVID-19.
The bill passed both the House and Senate without opposition, and was signed into law today by Gov. J.B. Pritzker. The new law takes effect immediately. Supporters of the bill included the Illinois Health and Hospital Association, the American Nurses Association, the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, the Illinois Pharmacy Association, the Illinois State Medical Society, the National Association of Social Workers and the Health Care Council of Illinois.
“Not only have many temporary public health measures benefited Illinois’ healthcare delivery system—allowing them to expire would risk severe disruption to our healthcare workforce and healthcare as we know it,” Morgan said. “That’s why we must recognize the heroic labors and sacrifices of these dedicated frontline healthcare workers as they continue to care for the most medically vulnerable residents of our state.”
Discuss.
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* The announcement…
* Let’s start with public safety. Brendan Deenihan is a member of the transition committee. Deenihan was CPD’s Chief of Detectives until he left the department earlier this year, apparently for a job with Google…
Insiders have speculated that Deenihan was likely among a shortlist of candidates to replace the top cop.
Deenihan joined the police department in 1997 and earned a reputation as being a meticulous and collaborative leader as he rose in the ranks. He notably led the implementation of technology centers in the city’s police areas that police leaders have framed as vital for cracking cases and reducing crime.
Johnson also appointed three co-chairs to his Public Safety Subcommittee, including Sen. Robert Peters, a top defender of the state’s SAFE-T Act. Other members include Robert Boik, a CPD veteran administrator who served as chief of staff to two superintendents and then took over the CPD’s much-criticized effort to comply with the federal consent decree until last year when he was apparently fired after a disagreement with the superintendent over proper staffing of that effort. And Dr. Kathryn Bocanegra, a UIC assistant professor with more than “15 years of experience in community mental health, community violence prevention, and criminal justice reform work.”
* The transportation subcommittee co-chairs are heavily weighted toward mass transit. Rep. Kam Buckner, a full-throated mass transit supporter who ran for mayor is a co-chair, as is former state Sen. Kirk Dillard, who chairs the RTA. Elevated Chicago director Roberto Requejo, who previously worked for the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, The Chicago Community Trust, and the Metropolitan Planning Council, is also a co-chair.
* Martin Cabrera, of Cabrera Capital Markets, is on the transition committee, as is Richard S. Price, the Executive Chairman of Mesirow, Charles Smith of CS Insurance Strategies and Margaret Stender, Minority Owner and Founding CEO of The Chicago Sky. The Economic Vitality & Equity Subcommittee Co-Chairs are Michael Fassnacht, the President & CEO of World Business Chicago; Lynnette McRae, the Program Director for Connecting Capital and Community at Chicago Community Trust; and Grow Greater Englewood Executive Director and Woods Fund Chicago chair Anton Seals.
* Jim Connolly of the Chicago Laborers’ District Council and Dian Palmer of SEIU Local 73 are also on the transition committee. The Workers Rights and Labor Subcommittee co-chairs are Shabatayah Andrich of SEIU HCIL, Rev. C.J. Hawking of Arise Chicago and Sophia Zaman of the Raise the Floor Alliance.
* Emma Tai of United Working Families had a huge impact on the campaign and she’s on the transition committee. US Rep. Delia Ramirez is on the committee as is Kennedy Bartley of the People’s Unity Platform, Jitu Brown of the Journey For Justice Alliance and Rev. Dr. Marshall Hatch, Sr. of the New Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church.
* Education & Youth Subcommittee co-chairs include CTU Vice President Jackson Potter and Jesse Ruiz, who was Gov. Pritzker’s Deputy Governor for Education and has had a host of other positions in education. Jay Travis, the executive director of the Needmor Fund who led the CTU-allied Kenwood-Oakland Community Organization and lost a bitter House primary to Christian Mitchell, is also a co-chair.
* A roundup from Isabel…
* Crain’s | Brandon Johnson names transition committee: Among those named are World Business Chicago President and CEO Michael Fassnacht, Mesirow Executive Chairman Richard Price and Regional Transportation Authority Chairman Kirk Dillard.
* Tribune | Aldermen who supported Paul Vallas look to mend fences with Brandon Johnson yet stay true to themselves: The tough sledding might not just be on Johnson’s side either. A few of the aldermen who backed Vallas represent wards that Johnson won, including receiving more than 78% of the vote in Beale’s 9th Ward and more than 80% of the vote in Moore’s 17th Ward. “Sometimes your children believe that not going to school is best for them,” Moore explained in a metaphor for his constituents. “You have to do what is best for your residents, and that’s what I did in supporting Paul Vallas. Not what was best for David Moore.”
* ABC Chicago | Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson names transition team: Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson outlined his transition team Thursday as he attended his final Cook County Board meeting. A resolution was read in his honor talking about this childhood, and work for Cook County. His fellow commissioners took their time talking about Johnson’s successes and their pride in his work.
* Crain’s | Civilian oversight commission hires recruiting firm for new CPD chief search: The commission enlisted the help of Public Sector Search & Consulting, according to a report from the Chicago Sun-Times, to aid the ongoing search to replace former chief David Brown, who retired in March.
* Sun-Times | Search firm hired to find Chicago’s permanent police superintendent: Gary Peterson, president, chief executive officer and founder of Public Sector Search & Consulting, is a former police chief in Martinez, Calif. Trish Peterson, the firm’s co-founder and executive vice president of operations, is a former trial attorney with the San Francisco Bay Area district attorney’s office.
* Crain’s | The window to open a temporary casino in Medinah Temple is shrinking: Bally’s said it wanted the temporary facility up and running in the second quarter, which ends on June 30, while it continues to pursue the permanent $2.2 billion casino in River West. But to do so it needs approval from the board, and once again the item is not on the agenda for the board’s monthly meeting tomorrow.
* Tribune | Influx of migrants living at Chicago police stations as city, charity groups scramble to find them shelter: Across the city, migrants overwhelming the city’s social services have been living at police stations while awaiting placement at shelters, raising health and humanitarian concerns among police and community organizations. People seeking asylum have been placed at more than a dozen police districts around the city, sleeping in the lobbies and waiting — often with children — for days.
* Jeff Tischauser | Prohibiting extremists in CPD ranks is key to rebuilding trust with communities: Today, across the city, around 13 officers who are known associates of hate and extremist groups are patrolling the streets. One of those officers lied about his association with the Proud Boys, an allegation sustained by CPD’s bureau of internal affairs (BIA). In another case, according to the Chicago inspector general’s office, an officer told Police Department investigators about his membership in the Oath Keepers. Both officers remain on the force.
* Chalkbeat | Chicago adopts new policy for evaluating how schools are doing: The new policy, named “Continuous Improvement and Data Transparency,” formally replaces the district’s controversial school ratings system, which had long come under fire for overemphasizing standardized test scores and unfairly labeling high-poverty campuses.
* Center Square | Chicago’s Little Village residents form patrol group to address rising crime: According to WGN News, working in packs of up to seven individuals, the groups’ aim to be out and about in the early hours of the morning as part of a plan to help protect some of the community’s most vulnerable workers as the attacks against them grow more common.
* Hyde Park Herald | Museum of Science and Industry workers demand end to alleged union-busting: “My coworkers and I are forming our union to ensure that our workplace is healthy and safe. We are forming our union to get the fair pay and benefits we need to live comfortably,” said Marcus Banks, a guest engagement representative whose work involves selling tickets and facilitating field trips. “We should have the freedom to do that without management interference.”
* Sun-Times | A tree older than Chicago is about to be cut down: This tree, among the oldest living things in the city, will come down Monday — if all goes according to plan. The bur oak, believed to be 250 to 300 years old, is dying, say staff at Lincoln Park Zoo, where the tree sits cordoned off just west of the Helen Brach Primate House.
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Budget pressures continue to build
Thursday, Apr 27, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Not mentioned is that the projected surplus is one-time and we could be heading into a recession…
Click here for some of the ARPA money received by local governments.
* Capitol News Illinois…
Industry advocates and unions supporting caregivers for individuals with developmental disabilities are calling on lawmakers to more than double a funding increase proposed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker in February.
The Illinois Association of Rehabilitation Facilities is requesting a $4 hourly increase to the wage rate for direct service professionals in community-based settings that serve individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Direct service professionals, or DSPs, are the individuals who provide daily personal care such as assisting individuals with eating, grooming and dressing. The requested increase is $2.50 beyond an increase proposed by Pritzker earlier this year.
The $4 rate increase is also backed by AFSCME Council 31, the union representing about 4,000 workers at community facilities as well as about 4,000 employees at state-run centers.
When fully implemented after the coming fiscal year, the state’s cost will start at $141.6 million per year.
From the governor’s office…
The Pritzker administration along with the majority in the General Assembly has implemented a series of investments to adequately fund facilities that provide services for developmentally disabled individuals. These investments will be phased in over a five year period, which began in FY22 with $108.9 million. Since then, the State followed up with $179.6 million in FY23 and a proposed investment in FY24 of $161.3 million. If the Governor’s proposed budget passes the General Assembly this spring with these investments intact, that would mean a $449.8 million investment in the Division of Developmental Disabilities. Individuals with mental illness, intellectual, and developmental disabilities deserve to be treated with dignity and ought to receive the highest quality of care. Under Governor Pritzker, IDHS is standardizing and improving conditions across the care system – while prioritizing community-based solutions to ensure protection for the most vulnerable Illinoisans.
Also…
The proposed fiscal year 2024 budget for DHS provides over $2 billion for services for people with developmental disabilities (DD) in support of the Ligas consent decree. The fiscal year 2024 budget proposes a nearly $200 million increase to support these services, including:
• $63.1 million to implement an accelerated timeline of changes following the Guidehouse rate recommendations beginning January 1, 2024, including a $1.50 per hour increase for Direct Service Providers (DSP) and regionalization of rates for Day Services.
• $56.7 million to annualize the cost of fiscal year 2023 Guidehouse rate increases.
• $26 million is included for continued compliance with the Ligas consent decree including $12 million to annualize fiscal year 2023 placements and $14 million for 700 new placements.
• $19.3 million to increase staffing by 330 positions at state DD facilities.
• $27.6 million to adjust for the SSI increase of 8.9 percent for people served through the Home
• and Community Based Waiver.
Lots more here.
…Adding… More…
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[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Medicaid covers about 40% of births in Illinois. Low reimbursement from the state’s largest insurer has contributed to difficult decisions by some hospitals to discontinue obstetric (OB) services. While hospitals have come up with creative solutions to continue providing care, the closures mean patients must travel farther for some prenatal services and delivery.
Hospitals across Illinois are confronting tough choices as increasing labor, drug and supply costs put pressures on their ability to care for their communities. With 3.6 million Illinoisans covered by Medicaid, hospitals are further strained by the shortfall between the cost to provide care and Medicaid reimbursement—at about 80% of a hospital’s costs.
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It’s just a bill
Thursday, Apr 27, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller
* WAND…
Illinois state representatives will soon vote on a plan to provide new materials for K-12 schools to teach about overdose and substance use prevention.
Sponsors hope the bill could improve drug education standards to help students understand current and projected substance use and overdose trends. It also calls for education of the history of drugs and health policy in Illinois and the United States, the impact of zero tolerance, and restorative justice practices. […]
Democrats filed the proposal in memory of Louie Miceli who died from an overdose in 2012. Felicia Miceli, Louie’s mother, said Wednesday that young people are becoming addicted to drugs because they haven’t properly learned about healthy coping mechanisms, the truth about drugs, or the potential risks. Miceli now works as a grief counselor helping families going through the same traumatic experience she did. […]
This plan passed unanimously out of the committee and now heads to the House floor for a full vote. If approved, Senate Bill 2233 will move to Gov. JB Pritzker’s desk for his signature of approval.
* Chicago Sky…
Support House Bill 4042, which amends the Sports Wagering Act by lowering the initial license fee for a master sports watering license for a sports facility with a maximum seating capacity of 12,000 for less. Currently, the fee for this license is $10,000,000. HB 4042 would lower the fee to $3,500,000.
BENEFITS OF PROVIDING PROFESSIONAL WOMEN’S SPORTS TEAMS WITH THE OPPORTUNITY TO RECEIVE A SPORTS WAGERING LICENSE
REVENUE:
• Generates additional revenue for the state by providing the opportunity
for another sports book license. Under current terms, marketplace does not support license at higher price
EQUITY:
• Allow women’s professional sports teams to compete in sports betting
space with men’s professional sports teams;
• Promotes racial equality by permitting the only Chicago professional
sports team with substantial ownership by people of color and women
to have a sport’s wagering license;
• Promotes economic equity by providing teams that are not worth
billions of dollars with the opportunity to participate in the sports
wagering industry;
• Aligns with the State’s equity goals
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT:
• Furthers economic development on the south side of Chicago where the
sports facility is located
THIS BILL DOES NOT SEEK SPECIAL TREATMENT
• To the contrary, reducing the fee as requested lowers barriers to entry
and levels the competitive playing field to small business with uniquely
diverse ownership;
• The $3,500,000 fee, if applied to the Chicago Sky, would be the highest
fee as a percent of gross revenue for any master sports wagering licensee in the state of Illinois including other major professional sports teams, casinos and racinos;
• The price paid for current sports wagering licenses have averaged approximately $5,400,000.00
* Center Square…
Republican lawmakers formed a public safety working group to address the crime problem in Illinois.
The House GOP Public Safety Group began meeting in January. The group says the its bills fall into three categories, including protecting victims of crime, the real pretrial fairness act, and recruitment and retention of law enforcement officers.
Some of the over 20 measures would change parts of the controversial SAFE-T Act, including reinstating cash bail statewide. […]
House Bill 3209 would prevent victims from being forced to testify at pretrial detention hearings.
House Bill 3352 expands the offenses for which an arrested person must provide a DNA sample to include all forceful felonies and aggravated domestic battery.
* WCCU…
If passed, House Bill 3425 would require the Illinois State Board of Education, ISBE, to create a bullying policy template for schools to follow, and it would include requiring schools to notify parents within 24 hours if their child is involved in bullying.
State Sen. Sara Feigenholtz (D-Chicago), the bill’s sponsor, says the legislation comes after a young man in her district committed suicide after being bullied, something his parents didn’t know about.
“In this particular instance with my constituent, it was not reported and it was not reported in a timely fashion. There should be a sense of urgency and a handoff of notification immediately,” said Feigenholtz. […]
The house bill was unanimously passed by the Senate Education Committee on Tuesday, it will now move to the full Senate for a vote.
* SB2243 passed out of the committee and now moves to the House floor. WAND…
Nearly 40% of fourth graders in Illinois read below a basic level. Now, lawmakers want the Illinois State Board of Education to create a comprehensive literacy plan.
Senate Bill 2243 would require ISBE to work with education stakeholders to develop and adopt a plan by January 31, 2024. […]
“I think that we really need to get back to the basics which is reading, writing, and arithmetic,” said Rep. Rita Mayfield (D-Waukegan). “So, I think the core of a school day should be focused on those three areas.”
Yet, some House Republicans said they were concerned the plan could require students to read 90 minutes each day and possibly shorten time for other subjects.
* Scott Reeder from the Illinois Times…
House Bill 2789 is being pushed by Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, whose office oversees the Illinois State Library and administers grants for public and school libraries. It’s a measure whose time has come.
Most of the opposition to the bill came from Republican lawmakers who said it takes control away from local library and school boards.
But my prediction is that in coming years if this bill becomes law, folks on the left as well as the right will be frustrated because they won’t be able to remove books they don’t agree with from library shelves.
It is commendable that parents are monitoring what their children are reading. But it’s deplorable that some adults believe they can use government to keep other people’s children from reading something with which they disagree.
* WICS…
Lawmakers say under current law, substitute teachers may only fill vacancies in an emergency situation for up to 30 days.
“So this bill allows a substitute teacher who has filled a vacancy left by a licensed teacher in an emergency situation for 90 days or until the end of the semester, whichever is greater if the school district files a written request with the appropriate regional office of education,” Sen. Meg Loughran Cappel, (D) Plainfield, said.
The school district would need to file a written request with the appropriate regional office of education.
The bill passed in the Senate Education Committee on Tuesday. The bill now heads to the Senate floor.
* SB2034 is on First Reading. Fox Chicago…
Laura Kane created Marshmallow’s Hope, a nonprofit organization that aides in mental health and suicide prevention after the death of her son, Zachary.
Kane says her son took his own life and less than a week later, she was fired from her job for missing days and underperforming during her time of grief.
A bill introduced on Wednesday in Zachary’s honor would grant parents six to twelve weeks of bereavement leave for the death of a child.
“The bill will give families the job protection they deserve during this type of crisis. I truly hope no one has to use this benefit, but in the event they find themselves in these circumstances, the bill will provide them protection during their darkest hours,” said Kane.
Senate Bill 2034 applies to youth suicide and homicide deaths. Lawmakers hope it will pass swiftly during this legislative session.
* WCBU…
IARF and AFSCME are advocating for full implementation of a Guidehouse recommendation that wage rates for DSPs be funded at 150 percent of the minimum wage. That would accelerate a six-year window outlined by IDHS to comply with the Guidehouse recommended rates.
The $21 rate would be 150 percent of the $14 minimum wage upon its effective date. The increase would take effect halfway through the upcoming fiscal year to give the state time to approve the proposal with the federal government.
AFSCME and IARF, however, are backing two different proposals. AFSCME is supporting two measures – Senate Bill 1600 and House Bill 3398 – that require all $4 of the increase be directly passed through to workers.
“You must ensure that providers are required to pass through the funds for our wages rather than spend that money in other ways,” Christine Rivera, an AFSCME member and DSP at Ray Graham Association told a House committee Tuesday.
Evans said the bills IARF is backing – House Bill 3569 and Senate Bill 2026 – would require that $2 be directly passed through to DSP wages, while the other $2 could be used more “flexibly,” such as for recruitment and retention efforts. It’s an agreement that Evans said was reached between providers, the state and labor in a previous fiscal year.
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Question of the day
Thursday, Apr 27, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller
* We’ve talked about this bill at least a few times…
Illinois is one step closer to fining crisis pregnancy centers that use deceptive practices to prevent pregnant people from having abortions. […]
Senate Bill 1909 would prohibit the centers from interfering with access to abortion and emergency contraception.
The Illinois Attorney General’s office is also supporting the legislation in order to ban crisis pregnancy centers from deception in advertising, soliciting, and offering pregnancy-related services. […]
The conservative Thomas More Society is already preparing to file a lawsuit if the plan becomes law. Former Rep. Peter Breen is the Executive Vice President and head of litigation for the organization.
* To the bill…
Deceptive practices related to limited services pregnancy centers. […]
A limited services pregnancy center shall not engage in unfair methods of competition or unfair or deceptive acts or practices, including the use or employment of any deception, fraud, false pretense, false promise, or misrepresentation, or the concealment, suppression, or omission of any material fact, with the intent that others rely upon the concealment, suppression, or omission of such material fact:
(1) to interfere with or prevent an individual from seeking to gain entry or access to a provider of abortion or emergency contraception;
(2) to induce an individual to enter or access the limited services pregnancy center;
(3) in advertising, soliciting, or otherwise offering pregnancy-related services; or
(4) in conducting, providing, or performing pregnancy-related services.
Violations are a business offense and can result in a fine of $501 to $1,000 for each offense.
* Excerpt from the legislative intent section…
The laws and public policy of this State have established the fundamental rights of individuals to make autonomous decisions about their own reproductive health, including the fundamental right to use or refuse reproductive health care. It is also the public policy of the State to ensure that patients receive timely access to information and medically appropriate care and that consumers are protected from deceptive and unfair practices. Despite these laws, vulnerable State residents and nonresidents seeking health care in this State have repeatedly been misled by organizations and their agents purporting to provide comprehensive reproductive health care services, but which, in reality, aim to dissuade pregnant persons from considering abortion care through deceptive, fraudulent, and misleading information and practices, without any regard for a pregnant person’s concerns or circumstances. These organizations pay for advertising, including online and on billboards and public transportation, that is intended to attract consumers to their organizations and away from medical providers that offer comprehensive reproductive care. The advertisements and information given by these organizations provide grossly inaccurate or misleading information overstating the risks associated with abortion, including conveying untrue claims that abortion causes cancer or infertility and concealing data that shows the risk of death associated with childbirth is approximately 14 times higher than the risk of death associated with an abortion. This misinformation is intended to cause undue delays and disruption to protected, time-sensitive, reproductive health care services, and the State has an interest in preventing health risks and associated costs caused and compounded by unnecessary delays in obtaining life-changing or life-saving reproductive care.
* The Question: Support or oppose? Explain.
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* I told subscribers about this earlier today. Washington Post…
The top Republican campaigns in Illinois used a private online portal last year to request stories and shape coverage in a network of media outlets that present themselves as local newspapers, according to documents and people familiar with the setup.
Screenshots show that the password-protected portal, called Lumen, allowed users to pitch stories; provide interview subjects as well as questions; place announcements and submit op-eds to be “published verbatim” in any of about 30 sites that form part of the Illinois-focused media network, called Local Government Information Services. […]
The online portal offers the potential for a new level of collaboration between political operators and certain media outlets — one in which candidates can easily seek to customize news stories without the public’s knowledge. The use of the tactic in Illinois has caught the attention of allies of former president Donald Trump, who have discussed the potential of expanding the operation, according to people familiar with the discussions.
The network is run by Brian Timpone, a businessman and former television broadcaster who told federal regulators in 2016 that his publishing company was filling the void left by the decline of community news, “delivering hundreds and sometimes thousands of local news stories each week.” He did not respond to requests for comment. […]
Timpone has denied that the sites serve partisan interests. In 2016, he submitted a sworn declaration to the Federal Election Commission responding to a complaint that his network’s coverage represented an in-kind contribution to a Republican candidate. […]
In one example, the campaign of Darren Bailey, the Republican running to unseat Illinois’ governor, Democrat J.B. Pritzker, used the portal to pitch a story days before last November’s election about an endorsement from Tulsi Gabbard, the former Democrat and onetime congresswoman from Hawaii, according to documents reviewed by The Post. A story soon appeared in the Dupage Policy Journal, whose website describes itself as a product of Local Government Information Services.
The Dupage Policy Journal quoted Gabbard’s effusive comments about Bailey, ticked off Bailey’s other endorsements and reported that the GOP candidate was “honored” by the vote of confidence. Other Chicago-area outlets reporting on the Gabbard endorsement, by contrast, offered additional context. They noted that Gabbard had previously called Donald Trump, who was also backing Bailey’s run, “unfit to serve” and quoted Pritzker criticizing Gabbard as a “conspiracy theorist.” Bailey, who failed to unseat Pritzker, did not respond to a request for comment. […]
Proft has described himself as a “part owner” of the network, though his name does not currently appear on Illinois registration records. He did not respond to requests for comment.
How convenient. Stay tuned.
*** UPDATE *** DPI…
Today, the Washington Post released a bombshell story detailing the level of access and cooperation between Illinois Republicans’ campaigns and far-right propaganda network, Local Government Information Services (LGIS).
Democratic Party of Illinois (DPI) Chair Lisa Hernandez issued the following response:
“I am appalled by the revelations in today’s Washington Post story on Dan Proft and Brian Timpone’s concerted efforts to mislead voters. This goes far beyond news with a partisan tilt; this was a deliberate distribution of disinformation that came straight from Republican candidates and their campaigns. It is imperative that all of our public officials condemn these actions in the strongest possible terms to avoid setting an unacceptable precedent that permanently shatters the line between news and propaganda, especially as Timpone attempts to expand his deceitful operation in 2024. The dangerous attempts to deceive voters pose a threat to our very democracy; degrading trust in our elections, media, and elected officials. Illinois voters deserve better, and Darren Bailey and all of the Illinois Republicans who engaged with LGIS owe them an apology,” said DPI Chair Lisa Hernandez.
Throughout the 2022 election cycle, Illinois voters were inundated with right-wing, pink-slime papers disguised to look like local news. DPI sent mailers to voters informing them of the deception, and ultimately Illinoisans rejected the hateful rhetoric and dangerous lies that Proft and his allies spread.
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* Capitol News Illinois…
During one of those discussions, House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, drew applause when he responded with an emphatic “no” when asked if he plans to try again for passage of a constitutional amendment to allow for a graduated state income tax.
“You know, one of the things I’ve learned is you learn a lot in losses. And, you know, we got our butts kicked on that issue,” he said. “We have to find a different way to govern, and we’ve been doing that. And that different way of governing has led to eight credit upgrades and several balanced budgets and surpluses, where we have a rainy-day fund and Illinois is on the right track.”
It was never gonna happen, despite all the hype out there earlier in the spring.
* Lee Enterprises…
Last week, local government leaders lobbied state legislators to gradually restore their share of the state’s income tax receipts to 10%. It is currently a bit over 6%.
Welch indicated such a jump is not likely due to other budgetary pressures, such as the state’s evidence-based funding formula for schools.
“Is there room to improve? I think so. Is it 10%? No,” Welch said.
* Tribune…
Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch on Wednesday vowed there wouldn’t be another attempt to ask voters to approve a graduated-rate income tax, but did not rule out putting a proposed constitutional amendment codifying a women’s right to abortion on the 2024 presidential election year ballot to drive Democratic turnout.
House Republican Leader Tony McCombie, meanwhile, acknowledged that while her caucus does not have a single lawmaker who supports abortion, she would be open to supporting a suburban GOP candidate who supports the procedure. Republicans were once the dominant party in the suburbs but their hard-line positions on social issues, including opposition to abortion, has eroded the party’s support. […]
In rattling off abortion rights legislation the Democratic-led legislature has passed in the last few years, including the 2019 Reproductive Health Act, Welch hinted that an abortion rights amendment could provide an extra jolt of motivation for the state’s Democratic voters in November 2024.
“We have done a really good job in Illinois at being the place that folks across the country know is a place where we value women, we trust women,” he said. “The issue is one that is pretty clear here, especially here in Illinois. If it is on the ballot, it could potentially help Democratic turnout.”
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Open thread
Thursday, Apr 27, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller
* Good morning! What’s going on in your part of Illinois?…
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Isabel’s morning briefing
Thursday, Apr 27, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller
* Here you go…
* Tribune | Illinois House Speaker Emanuel ‘Chris’ Welch doesn’t rule out putting abortion rights on 2024 ballot: Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch on Wednesday vowed there wouldn’t be another attempt to ask voters to approve a graduated-rate income tax, but did not rule out putting a proposed constitutional amendment codifying a women’s right to abortion on the 2024 presidential election year ballot to drive Democratic turnout.
* Chicago Mag | Rowe v. Raoul: In a case combining lawsuits across 64 counties, Kankakee County state’s attorney Jim Rowe contends that ending cash bail violates the Illinois Constitution. Late last year, Thomas Cunningham, a conservative Kankakee County judge, agreed. Attorney General Kwame Raoul appealed Cunningham’s ruling to the Illinois Supreme Court, which heard oral arguments in mid-March. A decision is expected this summer.
* 19th News | Women are almost half of lieutenant governors. Could it pave the way to higher office?: Among the research findings: Most voters believe that women lieutenant governors are qualified to serve as governor, and the office can prepare these women for the role. “They’re kind of the sleeper category in terms of gaining parity for women, because I don’t think people are really thinking about it too much,” said Amanda Hunter, executive director of the foundation, which does nonpartisan research on women in politics.
* Tri States Public Radio | Illinois House Republican Leader hoping for balanced state budget: “The speaker says it will be balanced. But does balanced mean we will borrow funds from other agencies and other funds? Yes. Does it mean that we will move funds from one fund to another? Yes. I don’t hope for that, but it’s been that way ever since I’ve been there.” She said such maneuvering lacks transparency.
* Sun-Times | Judge slams city’s handling of Chicago police abuse lawsuit, orders deposition of former top cop: At a hearing last week, Judge Gerald Cleary ruled city lawyers withheld evidence from lawyers for Bernard Kersh by failing to turn over a letter in which Brown said Officer Jerald Williams used excessive force when he slammed Kersh onto the sidewalk. Williams claims Kersh spit on him.
* Daily Herald | Ex-Kane County court clerk accused of stealing from office: Former Kane County Circuit Clerk Thomas Hartwell has been charged with official misconduct, accused of spending nearly $120,000 in county funds on a campaign event and taking kickbacks from a St. Charles business owner.
* Sun-Times | Cook County bans reporters from bringing computers, phones into courthouse — for now: The ban was ordered after a reporter took photographs with a cellphone while in a courtroom, a spokeswoman said. A meeting has been set for Friday with court officials “to discuss expectations going forward.”
* WBEZ | CTA is launching an anti-grime campaign. Customers say it’s overdue.: The CTA earlier this month announced a new “Goodbye, Grime” campaign — complete with digital ads — to highlight $6.5 million in repairs and improvements planned for rail stations. Cleaner transit stations and fleets are part of a bigger effort to boost sagging ridership and public confidence in the agency that has taken a hit this year. In a November WBEZ survey of regular CTA commuters, complaints about cleanliness and sanitation ranked third among rider concerns, after reliability (1) and safety (2).
* Tribune | Aldermen who supported Vallas look to mend fences with Johnson yet stay true to themselves: Weeks later, Beale and his colleagues who backed Vallas find themselves in the unenviable position of having supported the loser in the mayor’s race and forced to build a new relationship with Johnson, who some aldermen had described as too progressive, too inexperienced or too lenient of crime.
* WBEZ | Chicago drops public school ratings in favor of a less punitive system for assessing schools: Rather than being punitive, CPS board members say CPS’ new accountability policy focuses on improving teaching and learning, as well as creating an optimal educational experience. “This is a soft accountability policy that can be model for the nation,” John Easton told the board. Easton served as an advisor on this policy and formerly served as the director of the Institute of Education Sciences in the U.S. Department of Education. Easton started his career in Chicago Public Schools.
* CBS Chicago | Longtime resident’s new book offers glimpse at booming West Loop’s history: Fairbanks proudly calls the West Loop home. She wrote a book about it called “Chicago’s West Loop, Then and Now: People, Businesses, Buildings.” “I wrote this book because I’ve lived in the neighborhood for 25 years,” she said. “So I’ve seen the wave of changes, and I knew there was history here.”
* Daily Herald | 2023 Best Places to Work in Illinois to be honored May 11: The Daily Herald Suburban Business has announced the names of 57 companies in three categories of competition that are being honored as the 2023 Best Places to Work in Illinois. This statewide survey and awards program was designed to identify, recognize and honor the best places of employment in Illinois, benefiting the state’s economy, its workforce and businesses.
* WTVO | Illinois senator gets stuck in falling elevator: A scary moment for Illinois State Senator Chapin Rose, as an elevator he was in at the Capitol suddenly started to fall. Rose was on his way to a meeting, hopping in an elevator on the fourth floor. It started to drop as soon as the doors closed.
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Live coverage
Thursday, Apr 27, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller
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Afternoon roundup
Wednesday, Apr 26, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller
* From Economic Security for Illinois…
Economic Security for Illinois put together district data to demonstrate how a state Child Tax Credit would benefit each district if created this year. The policy would directly funnel needed dollars into every single legislative district and directly support half of all Illinois children.
This afternoon there’s a subject matter hearing in the Senate Revenue Committee on SB1444, a bill to create a $700 per child Child Tax Credit for all taxpayers earning median income or less. (Joint filers earning less than $75,000 and single/head-of-household tax filers earning less than $50,000 would be eligible to receive the credit, with a credit phase out at $25,000 over the income threshold.)
Given recent news about the state’s budget, the 40+ organizations in the Illinois Cost-of-Living Refund Coalition have been working diligently with legislative leadership and the Governor’s office to create a credit that is large and inclusive enough to make a meaningful difference in the lives of Illinois families, while balancing the realities of this year’s budget. Our newly modified proposal reduces the value of the credit to $300 per child credit in order to accomplish both of these goals.
A state Child Tax Credit would have a massive total impact, benefitting 1.5+ million children at a cost to the state of $280M. That’s spending 0.5% of the state’s total budget to support half of all families in every single legislative district. Families would receive a check that they could use to pay for groceries, housing, and the rising cost of living.
Last year, we found members enjoyed comparing how much money would flow into their district with refundable tax credits (last year it was the EITC). For that reason, we wanted to give you the opportunity to publish the full data set for the proposed Child Tax Credit. The data show the impact of a Child Tax Credit with a $300 per child value with an 80% uptake rate.
On average, with our proposed $300 CTC, each House district would receive $ 2,432,727 to support 13,510 kids and each Senate district would receive $ 4,813,596 to support 26,842 kids.
Within districts, the impact can be more substantial. For example, we can estimate that Leader Evans, who is the chief sponsor of the House CTC effort, would see $3.5 + million directed into the households of 18,000+ children. Similarly Senator Koehler, a chief-cosponsor of Sen. Simmons’ bill, would see $5.7 + million directly benefiting 30,000+ children in his district if the state were to create a Child Tax Credit program.
All districts in both chambers can be found here.
I asked Isabel to sort out the top ten and bottom ten Senate districts based on the number of children…
* Rep. Caulkins is, as promised, three and done…
When state Rep. Dan Caulkins, R-Decatur, announced his Illinois House candidacy in 2017, he promised that, if elected, he would decline a pension, not take a state healthcare plan, donate his salary and only serve three, two-year terms.
Having already followed through on the first three, Caulkins is now making good on that last pledge, confirming to Lee Enterprises that he will not seek reelection in 2024.
He’ll be forever remembered as the guy who participated in a Zoomed committee hearing in tan pants, which some people mistook for no pants.
* Media advisory…
Nearly 90% of school districts across the state have reported a teacher shortage problem, with even more believing the crisis will worsen in the years to come.
To tackle the school staffing crunch, members of the Illinois Senate Democratic Caucus have outlined a tangible solution to the ongoing issue through a legislative package. They will expand upon their plan at a press conference Thursday.
WHO: Senate Majority Leader Kimberly Lightford (D-Maywood), Senator Meg Loughran Cappel (D-Shorewood), Senator Christopher Belt (D-Swansea), Dubois Elementary School professional Shalanda Gaines
WHAT: Press conference on measures to address teacher shortage
WHEN: Thursday, April 27 at 9:30 a.m.
* Center Square just can’t help itself…
The former attorney general of neighboring Indiana is speaking out on how Illinois officials deal with the state’s crime problem.
Curtis Hill, Jr., former Indiana attorney general and an ambassador for the black conservative coalition Project 21, said Chicago mayor-elect Brandon Johnson was a poor choice by voters as he “listens to the cries of criminals and hoods instead of the pleas for help from honest citizens wanting to live in peace.”
Tomorrow on Center Square: What does Missouri’s most obscure state legislator think of Chris Welch?
…Adding… I pay zero attention to Indiana politics, but a commenter does and mentioned this…
Indiana State Attorney General Curtis T. Hill Jr., a rising star in the Republican party, had his license to practice law suspended for 30 days by the state Supreme Court for inappropriately touching four women during a 2018 party. […]
In their ruling, the five judges that comprise the state Supreme Court wrote that it found “clear and convincing evidence” that Hill committed acts of misdemeanor battery.
Tomorrow on Center Square: George Santos rates fellow freshman US Rep. Jonathan Jackson.
* Press release…
Illinois EPA Director John J. Kim today announced $4 million in funding to the City of Elgin (Cook and Kane Counties) to replace lead service lines in the community. The funding is provided through the Illinois EPA’s State Revolving Fund (SRF), which provides low-interest loan funding for drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater projects. The City of Elgin (City) will not have to repay any of the funding. This is the second time Illinois EPA has provided $4 million to the City for lead service line replacement as the Agency first issued $4 million in January 2022 to replace approximately 398 lead service lines.
“Illinois EPA is pleased to continue working with the City of Elgin and providing vital funding for lead service line replacements,” said Director Kim. “As communities work to identify and replace lead service lines, funding will be one of the greatest challenges. Illinois EPA remains committed to working with our communities to secure available funding and provide technical assistance.”
The City plans to replace approximately 350 lead services lines within the community with this funding. Their most recent material inventory identified over 11,000 known lead service lines within the community. Service lines are small pipes that carry drinking water from water mains into homes. Many older homes built prior to 1990 may have lead service lines or lead containing plumbing fixtures or faucets. Lead is a toxic metal that can accumulate in the body over time. Lead can enter drinking water when corrosion of pipes and/or fixtures occurs. Eliminating lead service lines in homes will help to reduce lead exposure for residents. For resources on lead in your home, visit: https://epa.illinois.gov/general-information/in-your-home/resources-on-lead.html.
Since State Fiscal Year 2017, the Illinois EPA has provided Lead Service Line Replacement (LSLR) Principal Forgiveness for projects directly related to activities that reduce or eliminate lead from potable water. To date, Illinois EPA has provided over $93 million in funding for lead service line replacement. LSLR principal forgiveness is available up to a maximum amount of $4 million per loan recipient until the allotted funds are expended. Illinois EPA anticipates distributing the $25 million remaining under this program allotment by June 30, 2023.
* Brandon Johnson media advisory…
Mayor-Elect Brandon Johnson to Tour Mid-America Carpenters Union’s Chicago Training Center
Tour will include meeting with one of Union’s First-Ever All-Female Pre-Apprentice Classes
* From Jason Baumann…
Rich,
I thought you would find this interesting. People say, “write-ins” don’t win. Ask Cam Davis about write-in candidates and their success. Statistics will say that less than 1% of write-in candidates win. Well, Cam did and now Greg Hribal won the Village President Election in Westchester with a commanding lead. See the results below.
* Springfield’s outgoing mayor has some coping issues…
Tuesday’s Committee of the Whole meeting was one of Jim Langfelder’s last meetings as mayor after eight years.
After the meeting, Langfelder expressed that many people he has talked to are still shocked about the election results. […]
“If you’d had the firehouses take place before the election or the Wyndham that was stalled before the election or the sports complex before the election instead of a month after, I think this would not be my last meeting or one of the last meetings but that’s how it goes,” he said.
* I dunno. If it was about the contribution, you’d think it woulda been larger. Then again…
* Isabel’s roundup…
* WRSP | EIU union faculty, staff ratify new contract: Members of the Eastern Illinois University (EIU) University Professionals of Illinois (UPI, IFT Local 4100) voted on Tuesday to accept the tentative agreement that was settled on Thursday, April 13, after a six-day strike; 92% voted in favor of the contract.
* ProPublica | As Rail Profits Soar, Blocked Crossings Force Kids to Crawl Under Trains to Get to School: “It is never safe for members of the public to try to cross the cars,” spokesperson Connor Spielmaker said. “We understand that a stopped train is frustrating, but trains can move at any time and with little warning — especially if you are far from the locomotive where the warning bell is sounded when a train starts.” He said trains routinely sit in Hammond for a number of reasons: That section of track is between two busy train intersections that must remain open; Norfolk Southern can’t easily move a train backward or forward, because that would cut off the paths for other trains, which could belong to other companies. And Hammond is a suburb of Chicago, which is the busiest train hub in the nation, creating congestion up and down the network.
* WGLT | After SNAP reduction, food demand spikes at central Illinois pantries: According to the United Nations, over 350 million people worldwide are “marching towards starvation.” In the U.S., food inflation continues to run rampant with the average price of food rising by 9.5% in the past year. The U.S. Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that as recently as last August, food inflation peaked at 11.4%, the highest since May 1979. Those living in central Illinois are not immune from food insecurity. Tara Ingham, executive director of the Midwest Food Bank (MFB), which distributes food to dozens of area food pantries, said demand for food from their partner agencies has increased by 30% in 2023.
* Sun-Times | Cook County judges, court employees ordered to phase out remote work: The order requires employees to be at their “regularly assigned workspace” for 70% of their pay period beginning May 14, three days after the national public health emergency is set to end.
* Crain’s | String of losses sets Illinois GOP insiders against each other in fiery media blitz: One of Tracy’s predecessors as Illinois GOP chair, Pat Brady, said that, up to a point, Illinois Review and its new owners “have a point. Proft has had horrible results,” spending at least $130 million in the past couple of years on races for governor, Illinois Supreme Court judgeships and other losers, he said. But overall, the story behind the story may be no more complicated that a new publication trying to attract an audience and make money by attacking the party establishment, Brady continued, noting that Donald Trump and others have gained by such moves.
* Crain’s | CTU organized teachers at Hope Learning Academy Chicago — and now management is shutting it down: Instead of negotiating increased wages and benefits, the new union said it will now work on a severance package that it hopes will last the employees through the summer. “I gave this company 11 years, and the minute you ask for an opinion and a voice and a seat at the table they say, ‘Forget it, close it down,’ ” said Amie Coleman, an educator at Hope. “This vote was our final stand.”
* Chalkbeat | Chicago schools officials promise more money for students with disabilities, English learners in preliminary budgets: School budgets the district is unveiling to principals this week will grow by almost $1,000 per student — to about $12,740 on average districtwide. But enrollment losses and program changes will mean flat or smaller overall budgets on 18% of the district’s campuses, officials said in a briefing with reporters. On a per student basis, 9% of the city’s 500-plus district-run schools will see stagnant or reduced funding.
* WICS | City discusses proposed co-responder program with Springfield Police: The ordinance would provide over $3 million in grant money toward a co-responder program with Springfield Police. This would allow additional personnel to accompany police on calls. Deputy Chief Josh Stuenkel said there are already grants in place for mental health and social worker programs; however, this grant money would be used to address crime victims, homelessness, and those suffering from substance use.
* WICS | OSHA opens inquiry surrounding death of HVAC worker at Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport: The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OHSA) is looking into the incident that killed Gregory Fields, 55, of Springfield. Fields died on Monday, April 10, from injuries he sustained at the Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport while working with an HVAC system.
* Tribune | Cook County moving to ban sale of flavored e-cigarettes as alarm over teen vape use grows: Commissioner Donna Miller plans to introduce the ban at Thursday’s Cook County Board meeting. It bars retailers — limited to those in unincorporated areas of the county — from selling “any flavored nicotine product,” including menthol, fruit, candy, dessert or alcohol flavors but “not the taste or aroma of tobacco,” according to the draft ordinance.
* Sun-Times | Rosati’s Pizza ordered to pay $250,000 in back pay and damages to employees at 5 franchises: Under a judge’s order, the company must make the payments to employees who worked at the franchises in Bloomingdale, Matteson, Plainfield, Richmond and Dyer, Ind. from May 2019 to June 2021, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The company classified delivery drivers as independent contractors even though it had full control of their hours and tasks, the department said. They also allegedly failed to pay employees overtime wages for hours over 40 in a work week.
* Block Club Chicago | More Than 500 Belmont Cragin Residents Petition To Block Music Festival At Riis Park: ‘We Just Don’t Feel Heard’: AEG Presents plans to host the Chicago leg of The Re:SET concert series June 23-25 at Riis Park, 6100 W. Fullerton Ave. Steve Lacy, Boygenius and LCD Soundsystem are slated to headline what promoters have billed as a single-stage, “artist- and fan-friendly alternative” to major music festivals. Promoters are selling tickets for $129.50 and $650 despite parks officials telling Block Club they haven’t approved any permits for the event.
* Lake County News-Sun | Autistic Highland Park artist creates peace poles to express feelings about parade shooting; ‘It was his way of reaching out to other people’: He witnessed the July 4, 2022 Highland Park parade shooting at Port Clinton Square, and has made a set of eight peace poles to express what he experienced that morning. “I just see this project as the most therapeutic thing that Josh has been able to do since the shooting,” his mother, Pam, of Deerfield said. “More typical ways of talking about and dealing with it don’t necessarily work as well for him.
* Bloomberg | Women’s Basketball Is Raking in More Cash Than Ever, But the Players Aren’t: The WNBA is projected to bring in between $180 million and $200 million in combined league and team revenue this year, up from about $102 million in 2019, according to people familiar with the matter. But players won’t see any of that extra bounty. Base salaries as a share of total revenue actually shrank to around 9.3% in fiscal 2022, which ended on Sept. 30, from 11.1% in fiscal 2019, according to an analysis by Bloomberg News.
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* Gov. Pritzker was asked today about how health care for undocumented immigrants was blowing a huge hole in the state’s budget. How would he propose filling that hole?…
Well, let’s be clear. We are going to pass a balanced budget. That is what I’m focused on. The legislature is working out the details of what it wants, its priorities. For me, I’ve put forward my priorities. And I think that generally speaking, the budget that I put forward is the one that we will pass, with, obviously some changes here and there by the legislature. That’s an issue that’s gonna have to be worked out by committees, by working groups. But what I know is that we are going to end up with a balanced budget, no matter what.
Asked about proposals to increase or eliminate the estate tax, Pritzker said…
Again, my priority is balancing the budget, making sure that we are continuing our march to credit upgrades and making sure we’ve set the real foundation for fiscal stability in our state.
* And what about that new bill to tax Chicago Bears tickets in order to help pay back the City of Chicago for some of the money it’s spent on the Soldier Field rehab, and does he have any other ideas?…
I have not given that bill any review. Som start with that. And obviously, you know, again, my number one consideration is keeping us on a firm fiscal footing. So that means that the state really shouldn’t be in the business of providing handouts to private industry and that’s what the Bears are in their endeavors. I’m rooting for the Bears. I’m also a Chicagoan and I would love it if they stayed in Chicago, but it is their choice as a private business about where they’re gonna go.
* Pritzker was also asked about a bill that would penalize “crisis pregnancy centers” if they provide false information to women…
Well, this is obviously something being considered in legislature. They’re going to send it to my desk, if they pass it. What I can tell you is that we need to prevent the kind of fraud that we’ve seen by folks who are taking out retail establishment locations next to Planned Parenthood, next to clinics where people seek their reproductive rights, and then trying to convince them to go in a different door where they won’t be offered reproductive rights, where actually they’ll be dissuaded from exercising those, and won’t be allowed to get them. And so that’s deception. That’s improper. We want to protect women in this state. And that’s why I think the bill probably has a good chance of getting passed and sent to me for signing it, and I will sign it.
* Will there be a constitutional amendment in Illinois to protect abortion rights?…
Well, obviously, that’s something the legislature’s gonna have to determine. I do think it’s important for people to be able to weigh in on this subject. And of course, we’ve guaranteed it in the Reproductive Health Act in Illinois, a woman’s right to choose and reproductive rights. So we’ll have to see what the legislature decides to do on it.
* And Pritzker was queried about Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ upcoming visit to Illinois…
He doesn’t seem to be much for freedom, Ron DeSantis. He wants to take away people’s right to read the books that they want to read, wants to take away Black history in our schools, somebody who does not believe in a woman’s right to make decisions for her own self, about her own body. So you know, maybe he could learn something when he’s in Illinois, what freedom looks like.
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Meanwhile, in Opposite Land…
Wednesday, Apr 26, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller
* Texas…
The Texas Department of Agriculture is ordering its employees to comply with a new dress code, mandating they abide by it in a “manner consistent with their biological gender.” An ACLU attorney says it violates federal law that bans employment discrimination based on one’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
In a copy of the April 13 memo first obtained by The Texas Observer, the new dress code — handed down by Sid Miller, the state’s agriculture commissioner — is required by all employees as a part of a “dress code and grooming policy.”
“Employees are expected to comply with this dress code in a manner consistent with their biological gender,” the new policy said.
The new dress code restrictions for employees will replace the previous one outlined by the state agency’s employee handbook, The Observer reported. The original dress code made no references to “biological gender.”
* Indiana…
Indiana Senate Republicans rejected a bill this session that would temporarily waive the statute of limitations to allow 760 child sex abuse victims in the state to receive the full compensation amount they’re owed from the Boy Scouts of America bankruptcy settlement.
The Indiana House passed House Bill 1400 unanimously but Sen. Liz Brown refused to give it a hearing in the Senate Judiciary committee, which she chairs. That means Hoosiers like 62-year-old Michael Foust of New Richmond would only be eligible for 10%-25% of the amount that a victim in a less restrictive state, like Vermont, would get, even if they alleged identical abuse.
Foust told IndyStar he was molested 51 years ago in a trailer by his scoutmaster at a camp outside Crawfordsville. He said he’s still recovering from the trauma.
“It’s like a kick in the gut,” Foust said of the consequences of the Senate’s decision not to hear the bill. “It makes me sick to think about how that is so unfair.”
* The DeSantis vs. Disney saga continues…
Walt Disney Co. sued Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis after a new board he named to oversee the district housing the company’s Orlando-area theme parks declared null and void agreements Disney struck in February.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Florida, accuses the Republican governor of conducting a “targeted campaign of government retaliation” as punishment for the company’s decision to speak out against a law passed last year with the governor’s backing that bars classroom instruction on gender identity and sexual orientation in early elementary-school years.
The complaint also named the five DeSantis-appointed board members and other officials. It said the board’s action on Wednesday was the latest strike against the company.
“This government action was patently retaliatory, patently anti-business, and patently unconstitutional,” the complaint reads. “But the Governor and his allies have made clear they do not care and will not stop.”
The complaint is here
…Adding… Zooey Zephyr has been barred by GOP from 2023 session…
Transgender lawmaker Zooey Zephyr was barred from participating on the House floor as Republican leaders voted Wednesday to silence her for the rest of 2023 session after she protested GOP leaders’ decision earlier in the week to silence her.
The punishment of the freshman lawmaker caps a weeklong standoff between House Democrats and Republicans after Zephyr told colleagues last week, you will “see the blood on your hands” over votes to ban gender-affirming medical care for children.
Zephyr will still be able to vote remotely under terms of the punishment.
In a defiant speech Wednesday she gave before her colleagues voted, Zephyr addressed House Speaker Matt Regier directly and said she was taking a stand for the LGBTQ+ community, her constituents in Missoula and “democracy itself.”
* In Montana…
The Montana House of Representatives is planning to take action against transgender lawmaker Zooey Zephyr on Wednesday after ongoing controversy at the state capitol.
* Zephyr posted the notice on Twitter…
* Back to the story…
The session begins at 1 p.m.
Zephyr has been at the center of controversy after an incident last week when the House was debating Republican Gov. Greg Gianforte’s proposed amendments to a measure banning gender-affirming care for minors. She told lawmakers they would have “blood on their hands” if they voted for a bill banning gender-affirming care.
“I hope the next time there’s an invocation, when you bow your heads in prayer, you see the blood on your hands,” she said.
* Back to the Lone Star State…
State lawmakers in Texas advanced a bill Tuesday suggesting stipends of up to $25,000 for public school staff members who become designated guardians authorized to carry or possess a weapon while working on the premises.
House Bill 13, which focuses on “training, preparedness, and funding for school safety and emergencies,” passed with bipartisan support and now heads to the state Senate where it’s fate is uncertain. Texas lawmakers have until May 29 to pass school safety measures before adjourning without a set return date.
If passed, the bill would allow teachers and staff of public and open-enrollment charter schools within the state to be eligible for the School Guardian Training stipend. Approved employees would ultimately be agreeing to acting as campus security in addition to their regular role(s).
They would also be required to take courses in first aid, firearms training and rigorous mental health training, which would be on top of the mental health training Texas lawmakers want to require for all school employees.
* Alabama…
An Alabama House bill filed on April 20 would prohibit the discussion of gender identity or sexual orientation in public K-12 schools and require schools to notify parents if their child identifies as LGBTQ.
Last year several anti-LGBTQ bills passed and were signed into law in Alabama. One, HB334, included an amendment that prevented the teaching or discussion of gender or sexual orientations in kindergarten through fifth grade.
This year’s bill, HB354, sponsored by Mark Butler, will extend that prohibition to the eighth grade, while adding more provisions for parents to be notified of their children’s sexual orientation in school.
The new bill would require local boards of education to adopt policies to notify parents if there is a change in their child’s physical, mental, or emotional status. Also, the parent would have to be notified of any medical services or well-being questionnaires beforehand and could opt their child out of those services.
* North Dakota via The Hill…
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R) this week signed legislation barring transgender people from using certain restrooms, locker rooms and other facilities that align with their gender identity.
Burgum on Tuesday quietly enacted House Bill 1473, requiring state correctional facilities and public colleges to designate multi-occupancy restrooms and shower rooms “exclusively for males or exclusively for females.”
Administrators, correctional officers or college dormitory staff under the new law may provide “reasonable accommodation” for transgender or gender nonconforming students or inmates.
The measure sailed through North Dakota’s GOP-controlled House and Senate, passing each chamber with veto-proof margins. It is the sixth measure Burgum has signed into law this month that targets the rights of LGBTQ people, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
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* 2020…
The City of Kankakee has rejected a plan put forth by Fortitude Community Outreach to turn the former St. Paul Lutheran Church School in Downtown Kankakee into a homeless shelter for the upcoming winter.
The proposal was struck down by the Kankakee City Council Monday night by a vote of 12-2. […]
Last winter, Fortitude used Emmanuel Baptist as a shelter but was only granted a one year permit for the site.
* The city eventually approved a winter site. Then the operator started making plans to open a new downtown facility. And that brings us to last month…
The Kankakee City Council has postponed any action on restoring federal funds given to the city to support the operation of a homeless shelter by Fortitude Outreach. Mayor Chris Curtis was not present during the meeting.
Four weeks ago, the council voted to remove the group’s funding after receiving complaints of police interference and panhandling by homeless people outside downtown Kankakee businesses. […]
The delay in funding decision comes amidst ongoing discussions about how to address homelessness in Kankakee. A recent study found that the city’s homeless population has increased by 34% since 2019. The study also highlighted the need for more affordable housing and supportive services.
* Last week…
Several members of Kankakee’s downtown business community, including a former longtime Kankakee alderman, pressed the city administration to take action regarding the expanding homeless and day-drinker gatherings in the city’s core. […]
[Mayor Chris Curtis] said that while the city has earmarked $100,000 of American Rescue Plan Act money for Fortitude, that money has not yet been transferred. […]
Fortitude is planning to construct a 4,800-square-foot shelter in the 100 block of North Washington Avenue, on property immediately north of the CVS Pharmacy. The total cost of construction is set at $1.2 million. […]
[Fortitude’s executive director Dawn Broers] added that Fortitude’s program is not the reason for the spike in downtown difficulties. […]
[Former Alderman Dennis Baron] said opening a larger homeless shelter without providing daytime services will only heighten the growing problem. […]
“Promoting day sheltering before we have a permanent site in which to provide overnight shelter is literally putting the cart before the horse,” [Broers] said. “It appears there is an incredibly disconnecting, and illogical, rhetoric growing that our presence as a shelter is causing a problem rather than working toward solving a problem.”
* Yesterday, Fortitude issued a press release…
Fortitude Community Outreach announced Monday night that they will be stepping back from providing overnight sheltering in the city of Kankakee and requested that further discussions on a potential $100,000 ARPA grant be ceased.
“For these last 8 months, we have been told an agreement for an ARPA grant and approval was coming any day. In the meantime, we have been facing increasing waves of misinformation, scrutiny, attacks, and demands that hurt our organization and our homeless. We now realize the city has not been working with us in good faith, and the Council will not approve this grant. We realize the escalating attacks are so that this funding can be denied without political fallout: make us look bad so you don’t look bad.” […]
In more recent months, the city increasingly highlighted issues occurring downtown. These issues were primarily caused by housed individuals with addiction issues, or homeless individuals who cannot or will not receive services and led to the closure of the downtown gazebo area. Fortitude became the target of these problems and the existence of the shelter in Kankakee was blamed for an increase in homelessness. Prominent business members spoke publicly stating that individuals were being sent to Kankakee from out of state just to stay at Fortitude, without providing any additional information with those claims. “While the vast majority of our guests are from Kankakee County, we occasionally receive guests who came to Kankakee for a job or a relationship that fell through and led to homelessness. We talked through those concerns with the Chief and agreed to work on a policy that would limit the stay of any out of town guests.” […]
If we were approved for funding, we know we would continue to face attacks and false accusations simply for existing. It is appalling that we are being blamed for an increase in homelessness and accused of actually shipping homeless in from out of state. People aren’t coming to Kankakee just to stay at Fortitude.” […]
Fortitude has been pummeled with demands for day sheltering in the last year, with demands increasing along with the downtown concerns in the last several months. “More day services for the homeless will be very helpful, but there is a misunderstanding about what day services will be. Individuals who want to engage in addictions and panhandle are not going to sit in a building all day where there are rules and restrictions. The individuals that are the most troublesome are not the ones we will be serving.” […]
“It was clear that adversaries were recruiting more adversaries, and a campaign of misinformation and fear mongering was underway. It was time to remove ourselves from the conversation before it destroyed our ability to serve the homeless in any way.”
* Daily Journal…
“We were shocked [by the announcement],” said [5th Ward Alderman Victor Nevarez], then paused for a moment. “I guess there is relief as well. This is an issue we don’t have to deal with now.”
I got news for you, alderman.
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It’s just a bill
Wednesday, Apr 26, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller
* Senate Bill 1909 passed out of committee on a partisan 5-3 vote. WAND…
Illinois is one step closer to fining crisis pregnancy centers that use deceptive practices to prevent pregnant people from having abortions. […]
Senate Bill 1909 would prohibit the centers from interfering with access to abortion and emergency contraception.
The Illinois Attorney General’s office is also supporting the legislation in order to ban crisis pregnancy centers from deception in advertising, soliciting, and offering pregnancy-related services. […]
The conservative Thomas More Society is already preparing to file a lawsuit if the plan becomes law. Former Rep. Peter Breen is the Executive Vice President and head of litigation for the organization.
* Patch…
Lyons Township High School is fighting a state bill that would make it much tougher for the school to sell its Willow Springs land to an industrial developer.
In February, state Sen. John Curran, R-Downers Grove, introduced a bill that appears to target the high school’s effort. Willow Springs residents and nearby public bodies oppose an industrial sale.
In a mass email last week, Brian Waterman, the high school’s superintendent, said the bill is “directly targeted” at his school. Beyond that, he said, it would hurt school districts across the state.
“This provision will severely limit the marketability and value of land that a school district may own, and force a school district to sell at a below-market price,” Waterman said. “It will fundamentally change how school districts sell land and achieve fair market value for their taxpayers and students.”
On March 31, the state Senate unanimously passed the measure. It is now in the House.
The bill is in the House Executive Committee.
* WBEZ…
HB1633 passed the House and is now being considered in the Senate. Schools typically already include some Native American history in their curricula, but many Indigenous people say in Illinois that education is incomplete and possibly inaccurate. […]
If passed, the measure would leave it up to schools to structure the curriculum, but the Illinois State Board of Education would offer learning materials and guidance vetted by a Native American council.
“We’re flanking the issue,” said Rep. Maurice West, D-Rockford, chief sponsor of the bill. “Let’s deal with history in itself in making sure our young people understand Native American history beyond what they see on TV.”
During a floor debate in the House in March, the bill was scrutinized with some members concerned it could inaccurately portray Christopher Columbus or that schools might not have enough control over the curriculum. Some members asked for changes.
“We are desensitized when it comes to a certain community of people,” West responded to his colleagues on the House floor. “So no, I’m not going to change this bill in the Senate.”
* Sen. Robert Peters…
A measure carried by State Senator Robert Peters that would help connect patients to financial assistance for hospital costs passed the Senate Health and Human Services Committee Tuesday.
“The costs associated with health care upkeep are high, especially for those with pre-existing conditions and those who don’t have medical insurance,” said Peters (D-Chicago). “People should not have to choose between crippling debt and receiving necessary medical treatment.”
House Bill 2719 would require hospitals to screen a patient for financial assistance eligibility and exhaust all cost-reducing avenues before taking a collection action against the patient. Additionally, the measure would provide a 90-day window for a patient to apply for financial assistance or hospital-provided discounts after receiving care. […]
House Bill 2719 passed the Senate Health and Human Services Committee and will now head to the Senate floor for further consideration.
* SB754 has been assigned to the House Judiciary Committee. Center Square…
Senate Bill 754 passed the Senate late last month. It’s set to be heard in a House committee with lawmakers back this week. The measure could possibly be up for final passage before lawmakers adjourn spring session May 19. […]
State Sen. Julie Morrison, D-Highwood, said her bill would limit the sale of such prepackaged explosive components only from licensed firearms dealers to those with Firearm Owner ID cards. […]
“After the 4th of July shooting in Highland Park, law enforcement found large quantities of Tannerite in the shooter’s home and he disclosed to law enforcement that he had intentions of using this as bombs throughout the parade route,” Morrison later said on the Senate floor late last month. […]
State Sen. Neil Anderson, R-Andalusia, opposed the bill. He said the components to such commercially available packages are still available separately.
* Press release…
Cases of doxing are on the rise, revealing the vulnerability of millions of people’s private lives. State Senator Julie Morrison is leading the charge to ensure that people who fall victim to such cyber-attacks receive justice.
“Doxing is yet another form of online abuse that was deliberately designed to tear people down,” said Morrison (D-Lake Forest). “Abuse, stalking and harassment have no place in our state – not in person and not online.”
As the use of technology rises, so do cases of hackers, abusive partners and others maliciously publicizing people’s private information. Often referred to as “doxing,” these attacks include the sharing of phone numbers, addresses, social security numbers and other previously private information that could lead to harassment, humiliation and threats.
“Survivors of domestic violence face the constant stress of their abuser stalking them or causing more harm. With technology on the rise, now they’re also faced with the worry that the person they once trusted with private information will share that information with the world,” said Morrison. “We must protect our state’s survivors from additional forms of abuse.”
To give victims of doxing the justice they deserve, Morrison is leading House Bill 2954. The measure – which receive unanimous support in the House – would allow people a private right of action against the individual who committed the offense. The victim could recover damages and any other appropriate relief, including attorney’s fees. […]
House Bill 2954 passed the Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously.
* Journal Courier…
A wide range of topics were on the menu at a town hall meeting hosted by state Rep. Randy Frese, but most of the early discussion centered on the future of the shuttered Jacksonville Developmental Center.
Frese introduced House Bill 1609, which would allocate $67.6 million to demolish and remediate the building and grounds of the Jacksonville center. The bill was referred to the House Rules Committee in February and has languished there since, unlikely to be acted upon further during this session.
He vowed to keep pushing the issue and reintroducing the bill each session. He said he would work with state Rep. C.D. Davidsmeyer, R-Jacksonville, state Sen. Jil Tracy, R-Quincy, and the city to make sure maintenance and mowing continues.
* Sen. Seth Lewis…
Legislation that would require insurance companies to cover home saliva cancer screening tests for at-risk individuals is one step closer to becoming law in Illinois.
House Bill 3202, sponsored in the Senate by State Senator Seth Lewis (R-Bartlett), received unanimous approval by the Senate Insurance Committee on Tuesday. The bill previously received a unanimous vote on the floor of the House of Representatives.
“It is a pleasure to work with my House counterpart, State Representative Jennifer Sanalitro (R-Bartlett), on this important legislation,” said Lewis. “Providing individuals who are at-risk for developing certain types of cancer need access to these potentially life-saving tests. As lawmakers, we need to ensure there is no cost barrier that would prevent patients from having access to tests that could help detect biomarkers for early-stage cancer.”
* Press release…
When Laura Kane lost her son, Zachary, to suicide, she was still expected to return to work merely three days later. Senators Karina Villa, Steve Stadelman and Representative Maurice West will stand with Zachary’s mother at a press conference Wednesday to outline a plan to support families grieving the loss of a child and ensure no one else is put in the same situation.
WHO: State Senators Karina Villa (D-West Chicago), Steve Stadelman (D-Rockford), Representative Maurice West (D-Rockford), and Laura Kane
WHAT: Press Conference on Senate Bill 2034, supporting grieving families coping with the loss of a child
WHEN: Wednesday, April 26 at 11:30 a.m.
WHERE: Blue Room, Illinois State Capitol and live on BlueRoomStream.com
* Woodstock Institute…
HB 1519 is a bill backed by the Income Share Agreement (ISA) industry that would saddle students with a mountain of high-interest debt. The bill is posted for the Senate Executive Committee tomorrow at 1:30. If the bill is called the Student Borrower Protection Center, Citizen Action Illinois and Devine Sims, an impacted student borrower, are set to testify on the harm HB 1519 would cause student consumers.
Under an ISA, a loan is made in exchange for the student’s agreement to pay the lender a percentage of their future income for up to 20 years.
ISAs are a form of private student loan but they are frequently marketed to students as a better alternative to traditional student loans. Additionally, ISAs are prevalent among for-profit vocational schools that target marginalized populations who have historically been excluded from economic opportunities
WHEN: Wednesday, April 26 1:30 p.m.
WHERE: Illinois State Capitol Building Room 212
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* NY Times…
Washington state approved a package of gun control measures Tuesday that includes a ban on the sale of military-style semi-automatic weapons, making it the ninth state to join efforts to prevent the distribution of AR-15s and other powerful rifles often used in mass shootings.
The new laws put Washington in the ranks of states with the strongest gun control measures in the nation. They include a 10-day waiting period on gun purchases, gun safety training requirements and a provision allowing the state attorney general and consumers to sue gun manufacturers or dealers under public nuisance laws if they negligently allow their guns to fall into the hands of minors or “dangerous individuals.” […]
Gun rights proponents swiftly filed a lawsuit to challenge the semi-automatic rifle ban, saying it infringed on Second Amendment rights.
* Meanwhile, a second federal judge has denied a motion to impose a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction on Illinois’ ban…
Having considered the preliminary record at this stage, the Court concludes that [plaintiff Javier Herrera] is unlikely to succeed on the merits of his claim. Doe, 43 F.4th at 791. The challenged restrictions on semiautomatic weapons and large-capacity magazines in the City Code, County Code, and Illinois Act are consistent with “the Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation,” namely the history and tradition of regulating particularly “dangerous” weapons. New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n, Inc. v. Bruen, 142 S. Ct. 2111, 2130 (2022); District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570, 627 (2008). […]
The Bruen Court outlined a two-step analysis to determine whether a challenged gun regulation is constitutional. Bruen, 142 S. Ct. at 2126–34. The Court must first determine whether “the Second Amendment’s plain text covers an individual’s conduct.” If the plain text does not cover the challenged regulation, then the regulation is outside of the Second Amendment’s scope and is unprotected. However, if the text does include such conduct, “the Constitution presumptively protects that conduct.” As such, for the regulation to be upheld as constitutional, “[t]he government must . . . justify its regulation by demonstrating that it is consistent with the Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation.”
To demonstrate that a regulation is “consistent with the Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation,” the government must engage in “analogical reasoning” by pointing to “a well-established and representative historical analogue.” The government can utilize analogues from a range of historical periods, including English statutes from late 1600s, colonial-, Revolutionary- and Founding-era sources, and post-ratification practices, specifically from the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Bruen took special note that the Second Amendment is not a “regulatory straightjacket.” The government’s proposed analogue need not be “a historical twin” and the “modern-day regulation” need not be “a dead ringer for historical precursors” to “pass constitutional muster.”
Importantly, “Bruen does not displace the limiting examples provided in Heller.” 2023 WL 2077392, at *9. As set out in Heller, states may still enact (1) “prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill”; (2) “laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places”; (3) “laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms”; and (4) bans on “dangerous” weapons that are not “in common use.” Id. at 2162 (Kavanaugh, J., concurring) (citation omitted). The list itself “does not purport to be exhaustive.” Id. (quoting Heller, 554 U.S. at 626 n.26).
The Court holds that the restrictions on possession of certain semiautomatic rifles and large-capacity magazines in the City Code, County Code, and Illinois Act are consistent with the Nation’s “history and tradition” of treating particularly “dangerous” weapons as unprotected. […]
In response to the Defendants’ citation to similar statutes in this case, Herrera argues that his suit does not concern public carry, but rather defense of the home. This argument is unavailing. The Supreme Court was clear in its instruction that “analogical reasoning” is not a “regulatory straightjacket” and “even if a modern-day regulation is not a dead ringer for historical precursors,” the government’s chosen analogue “may be analogous enough to pass constitutional muster.” Bruen, 142 S. Ct. at 2133. While the government’s analogue may not be identical, it need not be. Bruen also expressly observed that “dramatic technological changes” or “unprecedented societal concerns” may require a “more nuanced approach.”
Such an approach is applicable here. As the State Defendants put forth at oral argument, laws regulating weapons, including various firearms, developed over time in response to the type of harm that those weapons presented, as in the present case. … Here, the City Code, County Code, and Illinois Act similarly responded to “dramatic technological changes” and “unprecedented societal concerns” of increasing mass shootings by regulating the sale of weapons and magazines used to perpetrate them. Bruen, 142 S. Ct. at 2132. This is well in line with earlier laws regulating carry and progressing to restrictions on sale and possession, in and out the home.
Having concluded that Defendants demonstrated a tradition of regulating “particularly dangerous weapons,” the Bevis Court next considered “whether assault weapons and large-capacity magazines fall under this category” of “highly dangerous arms (and related dangerous accessories),” and answered with a resounding yes. The Court considered ample record evidence of the vastly destructive injuries that semiautomatic weapons cause and their “disproportionate[]” use in “mass shootings, police killings, and gang activity. The Court observed that large-capacity magazines “share similar dangers,” with studies showing that the use of such magazines lead to an increased number of fatalities in mass-shooting scenarios. The Court rejected any argument that regulations on semiautomatic weapons and large-capacity magazines are not “unusual,” given the ten-year federal ban on assault weapons and eight bans on semiautomatic weapons and large-capacity magazines in jurisdictions such as Illinois. As such, the Court concluded that “[b]ecause assault weapons are particularly dangerous weapons and high-capacity magazines are particularly dangerous weapon accessories, their regulation accords with history and tradition.” […]
The shall-issue licensing schemes discussed in Bruen involved a “background check” or the passage of a “firearms safety course,” Bruen, 142 S. Ct. at 2138 n.9, which are more onerous than the relatively mechanical registration process required by the Illinois Act, see 720 ILCS 5/24-1.9(d). Nor does the Act permit state officials to have “open-ended discretion” to deny or allow a firearm to be registered. Bruen, 142 S. Ct. at 2161 (Kavanaugh, J., concurring). Rather, owners of semiautomatic rifles before the Act’s effective date must provide the affiant’s FOID number, report the make, model, caliber, and serial number of the weapon, and thereafter affirm that he or she lawfully owned the weapon before January 10, 2023.
The opinion also touches on the era during the 14th Amendment’s ratification.
* Rep. Morgan…
State Rep. Bob Morgan, D-Deerfield, issued the following statement Tuesday after a federal judge in the Northern District of Illinois rejected an effort to block Morgan’s assault weapon ban legislation in Herrera v. Raoul:
“Today’s order is a victory for smart gun safety laws. The Protect Illinois Communities Act bans the sale of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, targets interstate gun trafficking, and expands red-flag laws – actions we carefully crafted, knowing the gun lobby would sue to stop these public safety reforms. The NRA will continue its legal efforts to stop common-sense gun reform, and I, along with other advocates, will continue to fight to keep weapons of war off our streets to keep our communities safe.”
* G-PAC…
Today, the Gun Violence Prevention PAC (G-PAC) released the following statement from John Schmidt, a former U.S. Associate Attorney General and member of the Executive Board of G-PAC, in response to a federal judge’s latest decision regarding the Illinois assault weapons ban. This decision comes one week after the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals denied a motion to enjoin the Illinois’ assault weapons ban.
“A second Federal judge, Lindsay Jenkins in the Northern District of Illinois, has just denied an effort by a Chicago plaintiff to enjoin the new Illinois law banning assault weapons and large capacity magazines. Judge Jenkins agreed with Judge Virginia Kendall, who ruled in February in a separate case, that the ban on these extremely dangerous weapons is consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of firearms regulation.
“Judge Jenkins also upheld the new law’s requirement that owners of existing assault weapons must file with the Illinois State Police a report of ownership before the end of 2023. That requirement had not previously been challenged.
“While plaintiffs may appeal these losses, the court decisions continue to leave the law fully in effect and enforceable to protect Illinois residents from the dangers of these weapons.”
There’s also a similar case in the Southern District, which is in the 7th Circuit.
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Garbage in, garbage out
Wednesday, Apr 26, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Frankly, I’m surprised that 26 percent were unsure after the way this poll, conducted for the Illinois Policy Institute, posed the questions…
Poll of 800 Illinois voters from March 27-29 when asked which statement they agree with more, even if one isn’t exactly right.
Raise taxes or reduce state spending on higher education, public safety, and social services to fully fund the state’s pension obligations to government workers. (18.0%)
Amend the state constitution to preserve retirement benefits already earned by public employees and retirees, but also allow a reduction in the benefits earned in the future by employees and allow for slower growth in retirees’ future benefits. (56.0%)
Pensions make up about 20 percent of state spending, and have for a number of years, and the same level is projected for the future. That’s high, no doubt about it, but it’s manageable, even with fiscal bumps along the road.
Also, it takes 60 percent or a majority of those voting in an election to pass a constitutional amendment. And even with this highly biased question, they could only get to 56? Not great. And even if three fifths of both chambers of the General Assembly somehow decided to vote to put this the ballot (zero chance), the unions would spend big bucks to tear IPI’s arguments apart.
* Not to mention that a poll taken for IPI last year used a much more neutral question and yet their issue still managed to score higher than this year’s totally lopsided poll…
Some have proposed a constitutional amendment that would preserve public retirement benefits already earned, but would allow for changes to future pension benefits. Do you support or oppose this constitutional amendment?
Support: 61%
Oppose: 28%
Don’t know/Refused: 11%
The trend ain’t their friend.
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ComEd Four trial coverage roundup
Wednesday, Apr 26, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller
* The jury is now deliberating…
* Tribune | Jury deliberating fate of ‘ComEd Four’ in bribery case tied to Michael Madigan; prosecutors calls payments to speaker a ‘corruption toll’: The jury began its discussions shortly after 3 p.m. Tuesday after hearing nine hours of closing arguments over two days. They went home for the day at about 4:45 p.m. and will be back Wednesday morning. In his rebuttal argument Tuesday, the lead prosecutor on the case, Assistant U.S. Attorney Amarjeet Bhachu, told the jury that the efforts to woo Madigan were like a “corruption toll” similar to something motorists must pay to continue on their trip on the state tollway. … Trying to read tea leaves on how long the jury might deliberate is usually an effort in futility. U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber told the parties that if there is no verdict by Thursday, he’ll ask the jury if they want to deliberate Friday as well, even though Fridays have been a day off since the trial began.
* Crain’s | The fate of ‘ComEd Four’ now up to the jury: Bhachu dismissed a repeated argument from defense attorneys — that there could have been no bribery of state House Speaker Michael Madigan because no one was caught on an intercepted recording or in an email arguing that Commonwealth Edison should just get Madigan to pass whatever bill they proposed instead of mounting sophisticated legislative strategies and making compromises. Those statements weren’t made, Bhachu said, “because the defendants weren’t that stupid.” “These defendants were careful,” he said. “We’re not talking about amateurs here. They were not playing checkers. They were playing chess. . . .These were grandmasters of corruption.”
* Hannah Meisel | ‘Corrupt influence’ or ‘collateral damage’? Jury to decide fate of ‘ComEd Four’: Cotter sought to remind the jury of the case’s roots, noting that an FBI agent testified early on in the trial that the investigation stretched back to 2014, and that the original target was Madigan. In the last several years, the sprawling federal probe has nabbed dozens of other politicians, lobbyists and business leaders in Illinois. “I believe this is a case of a conclusion in search of evidence,” Cotter said. “If you start by assuming Madigan is guilty, then everyone near Madigan starts to look guilty.” And there was almost no one nearer to Madigan than McClain; their friendship goes back to the 1970s when they served together as young Democratic representatives in the Illinois House. On numerous wiretapped phone calls and in letters shown to the jury during trial, McClain described himself as an “agent” of the speaker. Other witnesses described McClain as a “double agent” who always put Madigan’s interests first even as he was ComEd’s top outside lobbyist and strategist.
* Sun-Times | Federal jury begins deliberating ComEd bribery case after prosecutors call four defendants ‘grand masters of corruption’: While addressing that allegation, Bhachu displayed the words “This Is Not a Cup of Coffee” on a screen in the courtroom. Bhachu told the jurors that they heard the “unvarnished truth” in recordings played throughout the trial. And he said what they heard on the witness stand from Pramaggiore and Hooker was “the post-hoc explanation, after the fact, to try to conceal and explain away what was on the recordings.”
* The Center Square | Jury deliberations underway in ComEd bribery trial: “This is not a bribery conspiracy,” said Jacqueline Jacobson, the lawyer for Hooker. “This is a business decision.” … Defense attorneys said their clients did nothing wrong in lobbying politicians, including Madigan, to pass three energy measures that helped the utility bounce back from the brink of bankruptcy. One witness estimated the legislation was worth about $750 million for the utility through 2030.
* NBC Chicago | Jury Deliberations Begin in ‘ComEd 4′ Trial: The final defendant to make his case in the trial was Doherty, whose attorney described him as a “Chicago guy, who has nothing to do with Springfield.” “Zero. Not a thing,” Mike Gillespie said. “He’s also not a Madigan guy, pure and simple.”
* ABC Chicago | Jury gets bribery case surrounding ex-Speaker Mike Madigan: “This isn’t maybe, or I think so, or probably. It is beyond a reasonable doubt. That’s the burden,” said defense attorney Michael Gillespie in his closing arguments Tuesday morning. “This isn’t a group that’s on trial. The law dictates you must consider the evidence as it relates to each defendant individually.”
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Today’s must-read
Wednesday, Apr 26, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller
* We’ve discussed this before. The excerpts posted from this Capitol News Illinois story will give you a basic overview, but there’s a whole lot more. So, read the whole thing…
The state estimates an expansion of state-sponsored health care to individuals who are ineligible for Medicaid based on their citizenship status is expected to cost $990 million in the upcoming fiscal year, far outpacing the original price tag cited when the measures became law. […]
[Then-Rep. Delia Ramirez] pegged the program’s Fiscal Year 2021 cost at $2 million, according to the newspaper.
The actual cost of the program far exceeded that estimate, and the program exceeded its FY 2021 appropriation within the first month of implementation, according to a closed-door presentation by the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services to lawmakers last month.
The cost of care for the 65 and over age group was nearly $188 million between March 2022 and February 2023, per that presentation.
Since the program’s initial passage, lawmakers have expanded it twice, lowering the age limit to 55 in 2021 and 42 a year later. The expanded program is known as Health Benefits for Immigrant Adults. […]
Milliman’s cost estimate of $68 million for the age 42-54 group was cited in floor debate, but thus far over $104 million in claims has been paid out. That number is expected to grow to $460 million in the upcoming fiscal year for that age group.
All told, the estimated $990 million price tag for the upcoming year represents a $768 million increase over the faulty initial current-year estimate. The Pritzker administration said IDHFS could cover about $300 million of the cost difference within its budget as proposed by the governor, while the rest would be subject to ongoing budget negotiations.
Again, click here.
Bottom line: Many of the folks demanding more state money next fiscal year are gonna be sorely disappointed.
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Kim Foxx coverage roundup
Wednesday, Apr 26, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller
* Your thoughts?…
* Sun-Times | Foxx political exit sets the stage for a free-for-all in 2024 race for state’s attorney: The last time there was an open seat in the prosecutor’s office was 2008. Dick Devine, the former first deputy who replaced Richard M. Daley in 1989, announced he would not seek reelection. That set the stage for the election of Devine’s top deputy, Anita Alvarez.
* Tribune | Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx says she will not run for reelection: Asked why she isn’t running for a third term, Foxx said she promised her family that she would leave after two. She said she hasn’t “allowed myself the whimsy to think” of her next step. I’m really proud of the work that we have done on running the second largest prosecutor’s office in the middle of a pandemic and still doing the work,” Foxx said.
* Crain’s | Defiant Foxx defends her record as potential successors start to emerge: Foxx’s speech had something that both her allies and critics will find familiar. Mixing passion with, at times, outright defiance, she made no apologies for leading the office in a new direction, one that mixed prosecution with criminal justice reform. As the daughter of a single mother who grew up in the Cabrini-Green area and had firsthand experience with poverty, “I was supposed to fail,” she said. “My very presence (at high levels) of government was disruptive.” But that gave her the drive to make the office “what it was supposed to be (about) . . . justice.” That meant doing something about a jail filled with mostly young Black men, many of them held on minor drug charges or other offenses because they didn’t have the money for bail. The new statewide criminal reform bill now awaiting a final signoff in the courts will remedy that by abolishing cash bail, she said. State legislation to end prosecution of cases dealing with possession of small amounts of marijuana was passed with her help, she continued. The office established a data portal with detailed information on the status of arrests and prosecution that was “a national model.” Fewer minors were transferred to adult court. And people who had no access to power suddenly did.
* WBEZ | Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx won’t seek reelection : Foxx said she informed Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson of her decision Monday and called him “the man of the moment” whose election reminds her of her own first win in 2016. “I told Mayor-elect Johnson as a Black man in leadership that his role would be very difficult,” Foxx said. “You have to keep going. But know what’s coming. His responsibility is to do the work with the full knowledge that it’s not going to be fair … but he has a job to do and elevate the voices of the people who put him there.”
* Block Club | Kim Foxx Slams Media, Critics For Jussie Smollett Obsession: Foxx said her very presence in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office was “disruptive” since she was the first Black woman to lead the agency after being elected in 2016. But she was focused on enacting reforms, she said. But critics overlook the changes Foxx has made and the wrongfully convicted people she’s freed — instead focusing their attention on Smollett again and again, she said. “Probably when I leave this earth, my epitaph will mention Jussie Smollett,” Foxx said. “And it makes me mad.”
* The Triibe | Kim Foxx blazed a trail of progressive reforms in the State’s Attorney’s Office: In 2019, she began expunging marijuana convictions, and by 2022 had surpassed 15,000 such expungements. She also directed CCSAO to stop prosecuting shoplifting under $1,000 and to dismiss drug cases in favor of alternatives to prosecution. Ultimately, Foxx declined to file charges in thousands of low-level cases that her predecessor would have prosecuted. During the 2020 rebellions in the wake of the police murder of George Floyd, Foxx issued a policy to decriminalize protest, making her one of the only prosecutors in the nation to do so.
* WGN | Illinois reaction mixed over news Kim Foxx will not seek 3rd term in office: “I think the writing was on the wall and good riddance,” said current Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara. The relationship between the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office and the FOP was often icy. […] Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson released a statement Tuesday, praising some of Foxx’s accomplishments during her tenure, including overturning nearly 200 wrongful convictions and expunging more than 15,000 cannabis crimes, saying: “She has led her office with dignity and civility, and as a colleague at the county level, I am grateful for the work that she has accomplished in her two terms. I wish her all the best in her future endeavors.”
* Daily Herald | ‘I leave now with my head held high’: Oft-embattled Kim Foxx won’t seek reelection: “At the conclusion of my term in November 2024, I will be stepping down as state’s attorney. I will not be on next year’s ballot by my choice,” Foxx said Tuesday during remarks to the City Club of Chicago. “I leave now with my head held high and my heart full knowing that better days are ahead,” said the Chicago native.
* NBC Chicago | What Kim Foxx Told Mayor-Elect Brandon Johnson During Recent Meeting: “I told Mayor-elect Johnson that I saw that despite the fact that he had yet to put his hand on the bible, that doesn’t happen until May 15, that he was somehow responsible for the violence in our communities,” Foxx said. Foxx added that Johnson would be taking on a role “in a city that has not fully acknowledged or reckoned with its history of racism and what it does to Black leaders.”
* AP | Chicago-area prosecutor Kim Foxx won’t seek third term: Foxx, who was raised in Chicago public housing, first ran for the office in 2016 in a race dominated by questions about then-State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez’s handling of a Chicago police officer’s killing of Black teenager Laquan McDonald in 2014. Foxx became the first Black woman to hold the job, joining a wave of big-city prosecutors elected on promises to overhaul the criminal justice system, including more accountability for police and a willingness to forgo prosecutions of minor offenses.
* WTTW | Kim Foxx Announces She Won’t Run for 3rd Term as Cook County State’s Attorney: “I refute the supposition that where we see ourselves today with the rise in crime and violence that coincides with a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic is somehow the result of the Cook County state’s attorney’s office,” Foxx said. “It just doesn’t add up. It just doesn’t. It feels convenient. To suggest that this administration is somehow responsible for the rise in violent crime is disingenuous at best. And a lie.”
* NBC Chicago | Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx Announces She Won’t Seek Reelection: Former Inspector General Joe Ferguson is a prime candidate to potentially run for that office, along with former Cook County Commissioner Richard Boykin, who lost his seat to now Chicago mayor-elect Brandon Johnson in 2018, and Dan Kirk, who was first assistant to former State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez.
* Block Club | Bill Conway Won’t Run For Kim Foxx’s Seat, Says He’s Focused On Serving As 34th Ward Alderman: “I’m squarely focused on the job I was just elected to do, which is to help build a stronger and safer city and new 34th Ward, and I couldn’t be more excited to be sworn in next month,” Conway said. “I am not considering a run for Cook County State’s Attorney.”
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Open thread
Wednesday, Apr 26, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller
* What’s going on? Keep it Illinois-centric, please…
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Isabel’s morning briefing
Wednesday, Apr 26, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller
* Can’t go wrong with the morel pie…
* Here’s the roundup…
* Tribune | Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx says she will not run for reelection: Elected in 2016 amid fallout from the Laquan McDonald police murder and cover-up, Foxx was a trailblazer in the national movement to elect so-called reform prosecutors who emphasized the need to change the criminal justice system and address its wrongs from within. Her time in office has been roiled by criticism over her mishandling of the Smollett case and pushback against her prosecutorial priorities, including a first-term decision to raise the bar for prosecuting retail thefts as a felony from the statutory threshold of $500 in value for the stolen goods to more than $1,000, unless the defendant has a significant criminal history.
* Center Square | Illinois lawmakers grill state agency on lack of progress after last audit : The Criminal Justice Information Authority was asked about accounting issues, site visits, and other issues and what they are currently doing to fix the issues in the audit. State Rep. Fred Crespo, D-Streamwood, asked what was occurring during these site visits, but representatives from ICJIA failed to give a clear answer.
* Aurora Beacon-News | Random drawing decides school board race that ended in a tie: The two candidates, who were vying for one of four vacancies on the school board, each received 1,591 votes in the general election earlier this month, a tie which was decided Tuesday by a random drawing that saw Demas declared the winner.
* WTAX | Architect: Stratton down “soon”: “Obviously, a new building has got to go up before we can remove 1,200 people from the Stratton. Ideally, we hope to build a new legislative office building where all the gravel lots are to the north of Monroe Street. At that point, parking will be shifted, probably more underground where the Stratton is currently.”
* Block Club | Here Are The Final Results From The April 4 Election: In all, the city saw 613,795 votes cast, making for a turnout of 38.67 percent, according to the election results. That was the most ballots cast in a municipal election since Feb. 23, 1999, when more than 623,000 ballots were cast.
* WBEZ | A cannabis career? Illinois colleges and growers are partnering on classes to meet the demand for educated pot workers: “You can be the Rockefeller of cannabis right now if you position yourself correctly,” said Shelby Hennings, an assistant professor of sustainable horticulture at Western, which recently launched a cannabis production minor.
* Tribune | Illinois’ Blue Cross will stop covering at-home COVID-19 tests when public health emergency ends next month: Experts worry that once the tests are no longer free to everyone, people may use them even less than they do now, potentially spreading COVID-19. The tests often cost around $10 each, depending on the brand. If a person tests positive, then that person can be done testing. But if a sick person tests negative, then that person is supposed to take a second test a day or two later, because it can take time for the virus to build up to a detectable level in the body. One negative COVID-19 test does not mean a person doesn’t have COVID-19 and can go about life freely. At-home tests are less sensitive than PCR tests.
* WAND | Springfield Clinic upset over transparency of BCBS network adequacy: The vice president of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois claims the insurance company doesn’t have any regulatory issues going into Fiscal Year 2024. Although, Springfield Clinic leaders said they’re disappointed Blue Cross wasn’t transparent about ongoing problems with network adequacy.
* Sun-Times | Lightfoot touts benefits of CHA land deal with Chicago Fire at groundbreaking for team’s West Side training facility: Money the soccer team pays in rent to the housing authority will go toward its projects. “I’d like to make one point crystal clear: CHA will fulfill our commitment to developing new housing in this area,” said CHA CEO Tracey Scott.
* Daily Southtown | Incoming Park Forest mayor pledges return to community-based meetings: When Woods first announced his candidacy, it was to be a race against incumbent Mayor Jon Vanderbilt, whose yard signs seemed to be on every block in the village as early as last November. But citing family needs, Vanderbilt dropped out of the race two months ago, leaving Woods time to formulate what he says are crucial plans he needs to implement.
* Lake Forester | Outgoing Lake Forest mayor reflects on tumultuous tenure; ‘It is never something I did for me’:From 2019 through 2023, Lake Forest officials encountered a growing downtown, a surge of new residents and large infrastructure projects. There was also a controversial campaign for the election of Pandaleon’s successor, preceded by the coronavirus pandemic and a Black Lives Matter rally. “I wanted an uneventful mayoral term,” Pandaleon said with a chuckle. “That didn’t come to pass.”
* Sun-Times | NASCAR partnership donates bikes to Chicago kindergartners: Piccolo School of Excellence in Humboldt Park is one of eight Chicago public schools receiving 24 Strider training bikes and helmets, plus online support to help the schools teach their kindergartners how to ride.
* Daily Herald | How Schaumburg is addressing decline in office population: While that economy remains the second largest in Illinois after the city of Chicago, village officials intend to forge a plan to better capitalize on a changed working world. As just one particularly high-profile example, Zurich North America in October 2016 moved 3,000 employees from its two 20-story towers near Woodfield Mall to an equally iconic 783,800-square-foot building along the I-90 tollway on a corner of the former Motorola campus.
* Sun-Times | Harry Belafonte was ‘a major influence’ on his Chicago friends, they fondly recall: “He was kind of sitting at the feet of history,” Lymore said. “We’d sit around after church and he would talk for hours just about the Civil Rights Movement and things that we needed to do moving forward to get the young people involved in the movement.”
* Sun-Times | Trump wins $1 million property tax refund on his namesake Chicago skyscraper: The refunds will come out of the property taxes due this year to the city of Chicago and eight other government agencies. The Chicago Public Schools system stands to lose the most money — about $540,000.
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Live coverage
Wednesday, Apr 26, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller
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Afternoon roundup
Tuesday, Apr 25, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller
* More on this tomorrow…
* Crain’s…
President Joe Biden strengthened his Illinois connections as he formally launched his 2024 re-election bid with a three-minute video early today.
U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., is one of his campaign co-chairs, while Quentin Fulks, a former political adviser to Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, will be the principal deputy campaign manager for the president’s campaign. […]
Fulks will be deputy to Julie Chávez Rodríguez, who will be campaign manager after serving in Biden’s White House as senior adviser to the president and director of the office of intergovernmental affairs.
Q has really come a long way.
* The city is run so poorly on just about every level…
The 14th District police station is one of several in the city where asylum seekers could be seen camping out Monday evening as Chicago-area shelters reach capacity. […]
A Venezuelan mother who spoke to WGN, who only wanted to be identified by her first name, Anngimar, said she has been taken back and forth between the 8th and 14th District police stations with her two daughters. […]
Anngimar said they’re waiting to be transferred to a shelter, but in the meantime, those they contacted over the City’s 311 helpline instructed them to stay at the police station to avoid missing pickup or transfer.
* Background is here if you need it. Rumors have been flying that Paul Vallas’ campaign owes money all over town. They just admitted it…
Vallas made sure to pay himself back the $100,000 that he loaned his campaign. The reimbursement was made on March 20, the same day he claims that Enyia submitted his first invoice.
* From a popular Redditor…
There are really two main issues that make the new Twitter verification system a complete nightmare.
The first is the userbase. Very few normal users are willing to pay for a free social media site. Moreover, the main “selling point” of the service is to boost post visibility. The service inherently appeals only to people who both a) care extremely deeply about their posts being seen, and b) make posts that inherently are unappealing to other Twitter users (since people with appealing/interesting/funny/not-weird posts would be able to naturally grow an audience on the platform if they want to). So pretty much every single blue check is a hyper-online weirdo who is deeply bad at posting, despite being obsessed with twitter metrics.
The second is that verified replies get promoted to the top of every post. You have to scroll through all the blue check replies to get to even the most popular non-blue check replies. This is true even for blue check replies that have zero engagement, are completely off-topic, or are just straight up spam or scams.
As a result, if you’re looking for relevant discussion on a popular tweet, you have to first scroll past the thoughts of some of the most terminally online, inherently unlikeable people on the planet. So normal users are constantly exposed to the most off-putting segments of the userbase.
It’s like if Reddit incentivized every antisocial weirdo to post as much as possible to get their money’s worth, and then forced every user to sort by controversial. It’s a horrible structure that makes the product practically unusable for non-weirdos. Which is just how Elon likes it I guess.
Click here and here for a couple of good examples of how the paid blue checkers obsess over metrics.
And here’s a taste of the type of posts which are now being promoted up by Elon Musk’s new scheme…
* Press release…
County Clerk Jean Kaczmarek announces DuPage had the highest regional voter turnout in the 2023 Consolidated Election compared with suburban Cook, Lake, Will, Kane and McHenry counties. DuPage County had 20.33% voter turnout, nearly three points above the next-highest county.
“A top priority of mine has been to increase voter turnout. In order to achieve that, voter access must be optimized. I wanted citizens to be tripping over voting opportunities,” Kaczmarek says. “The combination of actively promoting mail voting, doubling early voting locations, and DuPage being the only Illinois county to offer “Vote Anywhere” on Election Day made a difference.”
Today DuPage County sent certified results to the Illinois State Board of Elections that 124,033 ballots were cast from 610,092 registered voters – 40,842 mail, 21,890 early voting, and 61,301 Election Day ballots. DuPage beat its own recent consolidated election turnout high of 18.93% in 2013.
DuPage County 20.33%
Election Night Reporting (dupageresults.gov)
Kane County 17.42%
Cumulative Report.pdf (kanecountyclerk.org)
Will County 16.64%
Election Night Reporting (clarityelections.com)
Suburban Cook County 13.81%
Election Results - Cook County Clerk’s Office (cookcountyclerkil.gov)
Lake County 13.64%
Election Night Reporting (clarityelections.com)
McHenry County 13.50%
Election Night Reporting (clarityelections.com)
“A number of factors influence voter turnout including heated races and referendums with aggressive campaigning. Like DuPage, every county has their own races and campaigns driving turnout,” Kaczmarek says. “I believe advancing voter access deserves credit for DuPage’s turnout being comparatively high.”
“Of course, with DuPage being the leader, there’s plenty of room for turnout growth. Ultimately it is the responsibility of citizens to participate in democracy. I vow to continue helping citizens to not take their precious right to vote for granted,” Kaczmarek adds.
* Press release…
The Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA) today announced the grand opening of the Home Repair and Accessibility Program (HRAP) designed to assist low-income and very low-income homeowners with health, safety, accessibility, and energy efficiency repairs to their homes. HRAP will provide $15.3 million to preserve existing affordable housing stock, provide investment in underserved communities, improve the health and well-being of occupants, and help people with disabilities stay in their homes and communities. Eligible homeowners may receive up to $45,000 to cover necessary repairs through a five-year, forgivable loan. […]
HRAP will be administered locally through 36 local government and nonprofit organizations with experience operating and administering homeowner rehabilitation assistance programs. To be eligible, homeowners must be at-or-below 80 percent of the Area Median Income based on household size, current on their mortgage payments, and the property must be single-family.
* This comforting sign is just around the corner from the Senate’s temporary chamber…
* Isabel’s roundup…
* Elle | How Two History-Making Congresswomen (and Roommates) Made It Through 100 Days in Office: But Lee and Ramirez aren’t in school—they’re freshman members of Congress, helping to expand the U.S. House’s growing progressive “squad.” Lee is representing Pennsylvania’s 12th district, where she overcame millions of dollars spent against her campaign to become the state’s first Black congresswoman, and Ramirez is representing Illinois’ 3rd district as the first Latina congresswoman from the Midwest and the rare member of Congress in a mixed-status marriage. (Her husband is a DACA recipient.) “We’re both working class-background women, and it was very clear rent in D.C. is so, so expensive,” Lee explained. “It was a great choice to share space with another women from my generation who is taking on this fight.”
* News Gazette | Unit 4 board member asks: ‘Are we, Champaign, ready for me — a Black female — to be the school board president?”: “What makes me ready?” Baker asked before rattling off a lengthy list of reasons from a prepared statement, ranging from her commitment to “educational, societal and environmental justice” to to reviewing every district policy “with an equity lens” to filling in as an unpaid substitute teacher in a pinch. “I promise to be board president,” she said, “not superintendent, not mayor, not any of the other roles … and allow the board to be a voice of seven.”
* The Southern | Automatic license plate readers are currently being installed in Carbondale: The purchase and installation of the readers was approved by Carbondale City Council last summer. According to documents presented to the city council, the readers will expand the police department’s investigative capabilities by providing more tools to detect vehicles that have been associated with crimes.
* Sun-Times | Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson’s team moving quickly to find interim police superintendent: Among those likely under consideration to replace Carter — at least until Johnson chooses a permanent superintendent — are three newly departed members of the CPD’s leadership team: former 1st Deputy Supt. Anthony Riccio, former Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan and former Chief of Counterterrorism Ernest Cato.
* WICS | Bill seeks to create hunger-free college campuses: The bill will give the grants to campuses that meet the requirements for addressing student hunger. This can be campuses that create hunger task forces or have different programs.
* Tim Drea and Aaron Gurnsey | Death in Springfield a reminder of continued need to improve workplace safety: Gregory David Fields reported to work at Springfield’s Capital Airport on Monday, April 10, just like any other day on the job for this longtime HVAC service worker. But it was far from just any day at work. An explosion caused blunt-force injuries and cost Fields his life at the age of 55. His wife, children and grandchildren were left picking up the pieces: setting up funeral arrangements, writing his obituary, mourning his untimely passing.
* Ollie Idowu | State can, should do more to invest in community health centers: This spring, we are taking action at the Illinois State Capitol. In the recent run of strong state revenues, Illinois leaders have repeatedly and generously invested in core health care services and social service programs; community health centers have been grateful to be a priority. We are now urging the Illinois Legislature to make continued investments in community health centers through two important initiatives.
* Kam Buckner | It takes a village to raze a Chicago child — and a village to come together and raise the child again: Being a young person downtown or on the lake is not a crime, and we cannot treat it like it is. Chicagoans are interested in solutions, but it should first be said that when we talk about making sure that young people have things to do in their neighborhoods, it’s not because we want to keep them out of downtown. If you show me a downtown with no young people, I will show you a city that is dying. Young people on the South and West sides should have things to do in their neighborhoods because all kids and teenagers should be able to have fun close to home, no matter their ZIP code.
* The Triibe | Marshall Hatch Jr. eyes Brandon Johnson’s county commissioner seat: Marshall Hatch Jr., the 35-year-old executive director of the MAAFA Redemption Project and the son of influential Pastor Marshall Hatch Sr. of New Mount Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church in West Garfield Park, believes he is uniquely suited for this seat.
* WBEZ | A Brandon Johnson campaign consultant lost his own Chicago race by 1 vote but isn’t contesting it: Darius Newsome, who worked on Johnson’s faith-based outreach, won 2,245 votes, one fewer than Carmelita P. Earls, for the third of three seats on the Austin District council. Earls, a former Chicago Fire Department deputy district chief endorsed by unions for city cops and firefighters, will take office next Tuesday with two police reform advocates, Arewa Karen Winters and Deondre Rutues.
* NYT | The College Board Will Change Its A.P. African American Studies Course: The College Board said on Monday that it would revise its Advanced Placement African American studies course, less than three months after releasing it to a barrage of criticism from scholars, who accused the board of omitting key concepts and bending to political pressure from Gov. Ron DeSantis, who had said he would not approve the curriculum for use in Florida.
* Charles Burdick | Why do birds fly In V-formation?: The lead bird cuts straight through an invisible wall of air. This sets up flowing currents of air behind him, and the following birds take advantage of them. The leader’s work is hardest, and after a while he tires and hands over his pioneer work to another bird. He can then relax a little with the help of the currents and sheltering eddies which flow behind the lead bird.
* Block Club | New White Sox Mascot? Meet The Stray Sox Park Cat Adopted By Team Photographer: The cat, aptly named Beef, was seen wandering the stadium and swiping snacks from fans. “You don’t expect to see a cat playing center field,” one fan said.
* The Hill | They graduated during the pandemic. Now they face their first student loan payments: Graduates for the last three years all had the grace period, as the Trump and Biden administrations extended a pause on student loan payments amid the national health emergency. Now things are about to change: Payments will begin either 60 days after the Supreme Court rules on President Biden’s student debt forgiveness program or 60 days after June 30, whichever comes first.
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[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Of the 3.6 million Illinoisans covered by Medicaid, 42% are children, 7% are people with disabilities, 8% are seniors and 43% are other adults. Over half of individuals with Medicaid coverage are disproportionately people of color.
Illinois hospitals have been working to close racial and ethnic gaps in access to care and patient outcomes for years, adopting programs to identify and address risk factors—social, economic and environmental conditions that impact health outcomes—and offering free services such as transportation, among other initiatives.
When the COVID-19 pandemic underscored the urgent need to reduce health disparities, Illinois hospitals redoubled their efforts. Now, as hospitals face dire financial distress, their significant investments in health equity are being threatened by dramatically higher operating costs.
Because Medicaid is the state’s largest health insurer, Illinois hospitals are urging legislators to pass Senate Bill 1763 to increase the General Revenue Fund (GRF) portion of Medicaid hospital rates, which funds less than 18% of hospital Medicaid spending, while hospitals fund over 22% through an assessment tax.
Passing SB 1763 would bring a much-needed 20% across-the-board increase to hospital Medicaid base rates, helping reduce health disparities by improving equity in funding for hospital care. Please support SB 1763 for the first GRF Medicaid hospital rate increase in 28 years. Discover the facts to learn more.
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* From the Illinois Reproductive Health Act…
A unit of local government may not regulate an individual’s ability to freely exercise the fundamental rights set forth in this Act in a manner more restrictive than that set forth in this Act.
* Danville Commercial News…
The Danville City Council’s Public Services Committee on Tuesday will consider approving an ordinance preventing the mailing, delivery and receiving of abortion medication in the city.
The committee meets at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Robert E. Jones Municipal Building, 17 W. Main St.
The ordinance is for “Approving the Addition of Chapter 142 to the Danville, Illinois Code of Ordinances; Requiring Compliance with Federal Abortion Laws.”
At an abortion clinic protest last month across the street from 600 N. Logan Ave. where a clinic is proposed, Mark Lee Dickson, director with Right to Life East Texas and founder of the Sanctuary Cities for the Unborn Initiative, said he’d been working with city officials on ordinance language to incapacitate and stop the proposed clinic from opening.
* Press release…
The ACLU of Illinois today sent a letter to Danville Mayor Rickey Williams and members of the City Council warning that a proposed ordinance that would declare the community a “sanctuary city for the unborn” is illegal under the Illinois Constitution and Illinois law and must be rejected. Passage or attempted enforcement of the misguided proposal “will do nothing other than expose the City to significant legal liability and fees.”
“Illinois law protects and guarantees every person’s ability to make their reproductive health care decisions without governmental interference,” said Chaundre White, Senior Supervising Attorney at the ACLU of Illinois, one of the signatories to the letter. “Danville and every other community in Illinois are not free to violate that law.”
In recent weeks, Danville residents and leaders have discussed plans for the proposed ordinance in response to plans by a medical group to open a clinic that offers a full range of reproductive health care, including abortion care. The ordinance would place unnecessary requirements aimed at blocking the new clinic from functioning, including prohibiting the receipt of medications or instruments that can be used for abortions. This ordinance is being introduced in the Danville Public Services Committee, even though it is blatantly unenforceable under the Reproductive Health Act.
The letter notes that both the Illinois Constitution and Illinois’ Reproductive Health Act make clear that our State policy is to protect reproductive rights. In particular, the letter notes that the RHA plainly states that:
(a) Every individual has a fundamental right to make autonomous decisions about the individual’s own reproductive health, including the fundamental right to use or refuse reproductive health care.
(b) Every individual who becomes pregnant has a fundamental right to continue the pregnancy and give birth or to have an abortion, and to make autonomous decisions about how to exercise that right.
(c) A fertilized egg, embryo, or fetus does not have independent rights under the laws of this State.
The ACLU calls on the Danville elected officials to reject the ordinance, noting that “it is without question that Illinois law protects reproductive rights––including the right to obtain an abortion within the state. The City of Danville is not above this law.”
“Abortion remains safe and legal in Illinois,” added White. “Danville should recognize their responsibilities under the laws of our state.”
The full ACLU Illinois letter is here. It’s worth a read.
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Trouble ahead?
Tuesday, Apr 25, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Crain’s…
Local economic conditions have taken a bearish turn, possibly suggesting that the long-awaited recession is near.
That’s the bottom line of the latest Survey of Economic Conditions by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, which found that conditions by some measures are the worst since much of the economy effectively shut down right after COVID hit.
The survey, based on questionnaires sent to key business leaders in the five-state Chicago Fed region, found that a measure of overall economic activity in April hit -37. That’s a sharp drop from -8 in March, “well below trend” according to the Fed, and the lowest since the COVID-sparked 2021 recession — except for July 2022, when it also was -37.
The decline in activity is particularly pronounced in the manufacturing sector, whose April rating of -55 was easily the lowest in three years.
* From that Chicago Fed Survey of Economic Conditions…
The Chicago Fed Survey of Economic Conditions (CFSEC) Activity Index decreased to –37 in April from –8 in March, suggesting that economic growth was well below trend. The CFSEC Manufacturing Activity Index decreased to –55 in April from –7 in March, and the CFSEC Nonmanufacturing Activity Index decreased to –24 in April from –9 in the previous month.
• Respondents’ outlooks for the U.S. economy for the next 12 months deteriorated and remained pessimistic on balance. Sixty-five percent of respondents expected a decrease in economic activity over the next 12 months.
• The pace of current hiring decreased, as did respondents’ expectations for the pace of hiring over the next 12 months. Both hiring indexes remained negative.
• Respondents’ expectations for the pace of capital spending over the next 12 months decreased, and the capital spending expectations index remained negative.
• The labor cost pressures index was unchanged, but the nonlabor cost pressures index increased. Both cost pressures indexes remained negative.
Chart…
Oof.
* Business story roundup from Isabel…
* Bloomberg | Wall Street boosts states’ credit scores even as recession worries loom: Illinois, Massachusetts and New Jersey this year have garnered higher credit scores from rating companies, including brighter outlooks for the states as well. The upgrades also helped shrink bond yield spreads in the primary and secondary municipal markets, signaling investor perception of state debt is improving. The better state ratings are due in part to the positive effect of federal pandemic aid, which some states used for one-time expenses while others set cash aside for the future. State treasuries also saw an influx of tax revenue from residents — bolstered by US stimulus money sent to individuals — who spent on services at home at the height of the pandemic, and on travel after Covid lockdowns were eased.
* Joe Cahill | Buyback returns are shriveling: The median “buyback effectiveness” rate, or BER, for the 363 companies in the study fell to -1.1%, a four-year low. The 24 Illinois companies included in the survey fared slightly better, with a median BER of -0.8. […] Some big names in Chicago business were among the least proficient share repurchasers. United Airlines posted a -8.5% BER on $3.2 billion in buybacks, and medical products company Abbott Laboratories logged a -15.2% BER as it spent $7.5 billion repurchasing stock. Zebra Technologies brought up the rear locally, with a BER of -32.1% on $1.1 billion in buybacks. What does low buyback effectiveness mean? In the simplest terms, it means a company’s buybacks violate a fundamental rule of investing: buy low.
* Crain’s Daily Gist podcast | How tech can level Chicago’s economic disparities: Crain’s contributing columnist Orphe Divounguy chats with host Amy Guth on making markets more free, fair and competitive. Verizon store closing adds to Mag Mile’s woes; as United eyes Europe and business travel, Newark takes center stage; the hot market for industrial space; and ComEd wants a $247 million rate hike on top of the $1.5 billion hike already pending.
* AP | McDonald’s first quarter sales boosted by higher prices: McDonald’s reported higher-than-expected sales in the first quarter as store traffic grew despite higher prices. Global same-store sales rose 12.6% compared to the January-March period last year, the Chicago burger giant said Tuesday. That’s well above the 8.7% increase that Wall Street had been forecasting, according to analysts polled by FactSet.
* Crain’s | As home prices drop in more big metros, they’re still rising in Chicago: Chicago-area single-family home values rose 3.6% in February compared with February 2022, according to the S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices released this morning. That increase is on top of a 13.1% increase a year ago, meaning prices continue to beat those from the boom time.
* Sun-Times | As Walmart pulls back, businesses and neighborhoods need to talk: The Walmart retreat follows other big chains that ventured into mostly Black and Hispanic areas here in recent years. Aldi, Target and Whole Foods come to mind. When it happens, there’s a certain repetitiveness to the fallout. Residents express shock and anger. Retailers express regrets, maybe, but shed little light on internal thinking or financial results.
* Daily Herald | With manufacturing booming, Schaumburg looks to modernize 60-year-old industrial park: A study of the area’s eligibility for a tax increment finance district is among the projects included in Schaumburg’s 2023-24 budget, which is scheduled for final approval Tuesday and will take effect May 1. Schaumburg Economic Development Director Matt Frank said the goal of the study — and the TIF district that could follow — is to modernize the six-decade-old area, not reinvent its identity.
* Crain’s | Ariel’s co-CEOs share their Buffett-style approach to investing during market turbulence: So anything that has any cyclicality to it has had a really tough time. Anything that has any ties to the housing market has had a very difficult time. So we’ve been leaning in those areas, buying more of our favorite names. So like in the housing area, a company like Mohawk that makes carpeting is an extraordinarily cheap stock to us. We’ve been adding to private equity firms, like Carlyle. We’ve added to the Bank of Oklahoma, taking advantage of the dislocation that we’ve seen in the financial services sector of the marketplace. And then in some of our light cyclicals, we’ve also been adding there and finding opportunities in companies like Resideo (a Honeywell spinoff that offers home automation solutions, such as smart thermostats). Those kind of light cyclicals we think are very cheap in this environment.
* Politico | Illinois corporate board diversity slow going: A state law designed to diversify Illinois-based corporate boards is having mixed results, though House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, who sponsored the legislation, remains optimistic about the data. The numbers are meh: While women’s representation on corporate boards has reached more than 20 percent on average, they are underrepresented in most companies compared to their workforce. And non-white minorities are even more underrepresented relative to the state’s population.
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Meanwhile, in Opposite Land…
Tuesday, Apr 25, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller
* NPR on Alabama…
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.
Barbara Cooper was forced out as as head of the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education after Ivey expressed concern over the distribution of the book to state-run pre-kindergartens. Ivey spokesperson Gina Maiola identified the book as the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) Developmentally Appropriate Practice Book, 4th edition. Maiola said she understands that the books have been removed from the state classrooms.
“The education of Alabama’s children is my top priority as governor, and there is absolutely no room to distract or take away from this mission. Let me be crystal clear: Woke concepts that have zero to do with a proper education and that are divisive at the core have no place in Alabama classrooms at any age level, let alone with our youngest learners,” Ivey said in a statement. […]
The governor’s office said Ivey first asked Cooper to “send a memo to disavow this book and to immediately discontinue its use.” Ivey’s office did not say how Cooper responded but that the governor made the decision to replace Cooper and accepted her resignation. Cooper could not immediately be reached for comment.
* From the Sunshine State via Politico…
Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo personally altered a state-driven study about Covid-19 vaccines last year to suggest that some doses pose a significantly higher health risk for young men than had been established by the broader medical community, according to a newly obtained document.
Ladapo’s changes, released as part of a public records request, presented the risks of cardiac death to be more severe than previous versions of the study. He later used the final document in October to bolster disputed claims that Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines were dangerous to young men.
The surgeon general, a well-known Covid-19 vaccine skeptic, faced a backlash from the medical community after he made the assertions, which go against guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and American Academy of Pediatrics. But Ladapo’s statements aligned well with Gov. Ron DeSantis’ stance against mandatory Covid-19 vaccination.
Researchers with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and University of Florida, who viewed Ladapo’s edits on the study and have followed the issue closely, criticized the surgeon general for making the changes. One said it appears Ladapo altered the study out of political — not scientific — concerns.
* CBS News on Florida…
A Port St. Lucie gay pride parade has been canceled and other pride events have been restricted to people 21 years and older in anticipation of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis signing a bill meant to keep children out of drag shows.
The Pride Alliance of the Treasure Coast posted Wednesday on Facebook that the decision to change this Saturday’s Pridefest events was made after multiple conversations with Port St. Lucie officials.
“We hope that everyone understands that this is definitely not what we wanted at all and are working with the city to assure our safety as well as produce a positive event,” the post said.
The Florida House sent DeSantis a bill Wednesday that bans children from adult performances, a proposal aimed at the governor’s opposition to drag shows.
* Maybe more than a little conflict of interest here…
* Texas Tribune…
Public schools in Texas would have to prominently display the Ten Commandments in every classroom starting next school year under a bill the Texas Senate approved Thursday.
Senate Bill 1515 by Sen. Phil King, R-Weatherford, now heads to the House for consideration.
This is the latest attempt from Texas Republicans to inject religion into public schools. In 2021, state Sen. Bryan Hughes, a Mineola Republican, authored a bill that became law requiring schools to display donated “In God We Trust” signs.
King said during a committee hearing earlier this month that the Ten Commandments are part of American heritage and it’s time to bring them back into the classroom. He said the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for his bill after it sided with Joe Kennedy, a high school football coach in Washington state who was fired for praying at football games. The court ruled that was praying as a private citizen, not as an employee of the district.
* Meanwhile, in Missouri…
Missouri this month became the first state in the country to severely restrict gender treatments for people of all ages, following a series of quieter moves across the country that have been chipping away at transgender adults’ access to medical care. […]
Missouri’s sweeping new policy took a different approach. Citing consumer protection laws meant to regulate fraud, the state attorney general, Andrew Bailey, issued an emergency rule prohibiting doctors from providing gender treatments to patients — of any age — unless they adhere to a slew of significant restrictions, including 18 months of psychological assessment. The rule also said that patients should not receive gender treatments until any mental health issues are “resolved.”
The onerous restrictions amount to a “de facto ban,” said Gillian Branstetter, a communications strategist at the American Civil Liberties Union, whose Missouri chapter announced its intent to file a legal challenge to the rule. […]
Missouri’s new policy goes into effect on April 27 and expires in February 2024, when the state legislature will be back in session. (Two bills that would have banned care for minors — and prohibited Medicaid from covering it for all ages — have not advanced in this year’s session.)
* Exactly the opposite of Rep. Cassidy’s HB1533. From Missouri…
The Missouri state senate recently approved a bill to block local ordinances restricting the practice of veterinary medicine, but it is specifically aimed at overturning St. Louis’s ban on cat declawing. If a House committee approves the bill, it will then be taken up by the full House.
State Sen. Justin Brown is the sponsor of the declawing bill—as well as last year’s trigger ban on most abortions. He argued that medical professionals and their patients should be able to determine what procedures are medically necessary or not, sans government interference. Unfortunately for anyone who doesn’t enjoy a good scratching post, it fully appears the irony is lost on him.
“It interferes with the patient-client relationship with the practitioner,” Brown said, echoing similar arguments made by doctors and other experts regarding abortion restrictions. “I think that needs to be between the practicing veterinarian and the owner of the pet.”
In other words, “we simply don’t want politicians in our emergency departments or exam rooms.” Oh, wait … (checks notes) … that one’s from an ad signed by 300 doctors opposing abortion restrictions. The arguments sound so similar, it’s easy to get confused!
* Mississippi…
The NAACP filed a lawsuit Friday to challenge new legislation signed by Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves that expands the state’s law enforcement reach in the city of Jackson and implements major changes to its judicial system.
The laws signed Friday “represent a state takeover of Jackson” and strip residents of their right to democratically elect leaders, the NAACP said in a statement.
One of the laws, SB 2343, will expand the state-controlled Capitol Police jurisdiction from its current boundaries around state buildings to a substantially larger portion of the city. The other, HB 1020, will establish a new court system within the boundaries of a state-created district. […]
Critics have strongly opposed the two bills as they went through the state legislature, saying such changes would put mostly White, conservative state officials in control over much of a Democratic city where more than 80% of residents are Black.
* Indiana’s bill on trans student name changes is heading to Gov. Holcomb…
Indiana schools would be required to notify parents if their child requests a name or pronoun change at school under a bill approved Monday by the state House despite worries that the step could out young transgender people to their families.
The Republican-dominated House voted 63-28 largely along party lines to send the bill to GOP Gov. Eric Holcomb for his consideration after it won the Senate’s endorsement two weeks ago.
The proposal would require school officials to provide written notification to a child’s parent or guardian within five business days of the child asking to be called a different “pronoun, title, or word,” according to the bill.
Supporters argued the approach would empower parents. Republican state Rep. Michelle Davis, a lead sponsor of the bill, said it would put parents in control of “introducing sensitive topics to their children.”
Opponents derided the proposal during legislative hearings as an attack on the state’s LGBTQ+ students, especially young transgender people. Like Indiana, Republican-led legislatures around the country have been seeking to curb LGBTQ+ rights, especially targeting transgender people’s everyday lives — including sports, health care, workplaces and schools.
* “Italy Strips Some Gay Couples of Parental Recognition” from the Wall Street Journal…
[Italy’s] crackdown on birth certificates [for children of married gay parents] is part of a broader campaign against same-sex parenthood led by Ms. Meloni, who has frequently spoken out against what she calls “the LGBTQ lobby” and in defense of Christian family values.
Ms. Meloni comes from a far-right background but has worked hard to burnish her credentials as a mainstream conservative, pursuing establishment-friendly policies on economics and foreign affairs.
At the same time, her government has sought to keep its right-wing voters happy with hard-line stances on immigration, gay rights and national identity.
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Question of the day
Tuesday, Apr 25, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller
* I get emails…
Good morning, Rich,
I’m returning on behalf of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability and its research partner, Project for Middle Class Renewal at the University of Illinois, with the release of a new report, Reforming the Illinois Estate Tax to Advance Tax Equity and Fund Public Services, which recommends resetting the current Illinois estate tax exclusion of $4 million to a lower level to “strengthen the state’s investment in its residents by generating significant additional resources to provide essential public services.” The report says that Illinois is at a “fiscal crossroads”, with $10 billion in federal subsidies through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act and the American Rescue Plan Act expected to be spent by the middle of FY 2024. “Further aggravating conditions for working- and middle-class residents, Illinois is noted for having one of the most regressive tax systems in the country, placing a much greater tax burden on low-income workers and middle-class families than on affluent individuals, when tax burden is measured as a percentage of income,” the report says. “From a fiscal policy standpoint, few tax options are available that would raise revenue while simultaneously making state-level taxation fairer by responding to the significant growth in wealth and income inequality. One such option, however, is the tax assessed on wealthy estates.”
Between 2002 and 2014, Illinois quadrupled the threshold for assessing the Estate Tax, called the “Exclusion Limit,” from $1 million to $4 million. “This has eroded the tax base with the number of estates paying the Estate Tax in Illinois decreasing from a 2001 peak of 5,100 to 860 in 2020, resulting in an estimated $5 billion of lost revenue over an 18-year period,” the report finds. “Reducing the Exclusion Limit would both broaden the base subject to Illinois’ Estate Tax— thereby generating new revenue from those with large estates—and enhance the tax fairness created by the Estate Tax,” the report says. Among key policy recommendations, which would increase annual revenue by between $150 million to $300 million:
• Lowering the Exclusion Limit to $1 million (returning the limit to its 2002 level) which could generate an average of around $300 million in new revenue annually.
• Lowering the Exclusion Limit to $1.5 million which could generate an average of $221 million in new revenue annually.
• Lowering the Exclusion Limit to $2 million which could generate an average of $151 million in new revenue annually.
The authors add: “We further recommend that the additional state revenue which would be derived from lowering the Estate Tax Exclusion Limits be applied to help fund an expansion of tax relief for low and moderate-income families, like the creation of a child tax credit.” […]
Many thanks, and all the best,
Rick
= = = = = = = =
Richard Melcher
Principal
Melcher+Tucker Consultants
* Text message from Sen. Jil Tracy…
Abolishing Illinois’ estate tax is about allowing family farms and other small family businesses to stay intact. With the estate tax, many are forced to liquidate part of their assets to pay the tax. The Illinois Estate tax doesn’t affect the ultra wealthy who use trusts and other expensive estate planning tools to avoid the tax. True, the Governor may want to avoid the optics, but it isn’t the reality.
She included this link to an Illinois Farm Bureau website…
The Illinois estate tax law is complicated, but in simplest terms, an entire estate in Illinois is taxed roughly 12% to 16% at death when the fair market value of the estate exceeds $4 million per individual. [Attorney Andrew White] finds that some farmers know only about the federal estate tax that they read about in national publications. At the current threshold of $12.92 million per individual, the federal estate tax shelters the vast majority of family farms.
But with farmland values at historic highs, the Illinois estate tax threatens almost every average- sized family farm in the state when a member of the farm family dies and wishes for the next generation to continue the family business.
“We are seeing central Illinois farmland estate appraisals come in as high as $18,000 per acre,” White says. “With farm equipment and a farmhouse that means a family owning as little as 160 to 200 acres could face a tax.” Families who make a living off the land commonly own 200 acres or more.
According to Illinois Farm Business Farm Management, farmers own an average of 23% of the land they farm, and the average size of a modern family farm exceeded 1,250 acres as of 2020.
* The Question: Lower the estate tax’s exclusion level, or abolish the estate tax, or leave it as it is? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
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It’s just a bill
Tuesday, Apr 25, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller
* Chalkbeat…
Illinois may soon have to create a statewide literacy plan aimed at helping students learn how to read.
Several bills regarding literacy — backed by a coalition of education advocates, teachers, and parents — are currently moving through the state legislature. The bills would require the state board of education to create a literacy plan for school districts, create a rubric for districts to judge reading curriculum, and provide professional development for educators. […]
Members of the Illinois coalition have spoken at the State Board of Education’s monthly meetings and worked with legislators to create and push bills in Springfield this session. With just a month left of the legislative session, two of the six bills the coalition helped write are moving closer to passage.
The first bill, which has similar versions in the Senate and House, would require the State Board of Education to adopt a literacy plan for school districts by Jan. 31, 2024. The second bill, called the Literacy and Justice For All Act, would require the state board to create a rubric for districts to evaluate literacy curriculum and create professional development for educators.
* WAND…
There is an ongoing debate in Springfield about how Illinois should move forward with carbon capture and storage technology. […]
Sierra Club Illinois is also concerned about the future for farmers who don’t want pipelines built through their land. Advocates said House Bill 3119 could protect property rights, land, water, and livelihoods.
“Simply put, this debate is about whether Illinois will grant authority to large corporation to force land owners to have industrial waste transported near their homes and store it under their property and then leave the taxpayers of Illinois holding the bag for any disastrous consequences which may occur in the years to come,” said Christian County farmer Karen Brocklesby.
Meanwhile, Archer-Daniels-Midland has been at the forefront of carbon capture innovation since 2011. ADM operates two CCS projects at the corn processing plant in Decatur through a collaboration with the University of Illinois and the U.S. Department of Energy.
“These projects have successfully demonstrated the safety and effectiveness of CCS technology at a commercial scale and have collectively stored more than 3.8 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in a deep ceiling reservoir,” said David Rice, ADM Director of Innovation and Technology.
* Center Square…
Illinois Senate Republicans discussed six measures focused on reducing fentanyl deaths, protecting victims of domestic abuse, driving under the influence, and childcare center threats. […]
State Sen. Sue Rezin, R-Morris, said Senate Bill 1086 would help victims’ families cope with their family member’s death by attempting to remove the stigma fentanyl victims face. […]
“That is why Senate Bill 1976 seeks to create a new offense of domestic assault, to cover situations where someone engaged in conduct that places any family or household member in reasonable apprehension of great bodily harm, permanent disability, or disfigurement,” Bryant said.
Senate Bill 1405 creates a new sentencing provision for aggravated driving under the influence where a victim is killed or severely injured. State Sen. Steve McClure, R-Springfield, said the measure is named after a woman who a drunk driver killed.
* Scott Holland…
As encouraging as it’s been to read headlines such as a recent Crain’s Chicago Business piece titled “Bears’ stadium-subsidy plans going nowhere in Springfield,” around the corner is something like Thursday’s Capitol Fax post: “New Bears bill drops, would reimburse Chicago $150 million, set up infrastructure fund.”
That proposal, House Bill 4040, already has 13 cosponsors and, according to an analysis posted online “maintains the foundation of the mega project/PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) concept that was proposed in HB 3565.”
The new idea does seem to improve on the original by erecting more safeguards and oversight, and what appears to be a focus on channeling any public money toward the public aspects of redeveloping 326 acres: highways, railroad infrastructure, environmental impact and long-term property tax implications.
Yet the big picture questions remain: One, absent a stadium intended to further enrich the private owners of an NFL team worth $5 billion, what of these public projects would be necessary? Two, what is the statewide opportunity cost of focusing development efforts on such a narrow geographic area?
* Daily Herald…
Beyond their popularity, e-bikes offer environmentally favorable, low carbon alternatives to motorized vehicles. Like EVs, e-bike purchases are also gaining traction regarding tax credits and rebates.
President Biden’s original “Build Back Better” legislation contained a 30% tax credit for e-bike purchases, now resurrected in the E-BIKE Act legislation (H.R. 1685) introduced by Congressman Jimmy Panetta (D-California) and Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) in March (S. 881). […]
States have also entertained similar legislation, including Illinois with four e-bike bills introduced in March. State Rep. Abdelnasser Rashid’s (D-21) bill (HB3089) offers a tax credit equal to 50% of the cost of qualified e-bikes, up to $1,000. HB3447, introduced by assistant Majority Leader Rep. Kam Buckner (D-26), provides a schedule of rebates based on individual income, with point-of-sale rebates for bike shops in low-income neighborhoods.
State Sen. Ram Villivalam (D-8) introduced SB1700 to award rebates up to $750, while State Sen. Mike Simmons (D-7) filed SB2015 to provide rebates based on eligibility requirements.
* WCMY…
Illinois St. Rep. Jed Davis says pregnancy centers around the state will close because of a bill making its way through the Illinois General Assembly. A pregnancy center isn’t like an abortion clinic. It’s a place for women to get services to help them through their pregnancy. But Democrats who wrote Senate Bill 1909 say the centers are fraudulent, deceptive, and misleading. Davis says the bill would allow the Illinois Attorney General’s Office to fine a pregnancy center for advertising, soliciting, or offering pregnancy-related services. He says it’s grossly wrong for Democrats to criticize them for not offering abortion services when abortion is going to remain legal in the state.
The bill’s supporters say the non-abortion clinics don’t offer comprehensive health services. Davis says it’s not fair, especially when a person goes for services at a doctor’s office that doesn’t offer a CT scan or surgery. He says he doesn’t understand why such a pregnancy center can’t advertise pregnancy services when it’s in the name.
The bill was assigned to the Healthcare Availability and Accessibility Committee and could be heard this week.
* HB1527 hasn’t left the House. Illinois Radio Network…
Another attempt to outlaw vehicle kill switches in Illinois failed to get enough support. […]
House Bill 1527 would do away with the devices. The bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Theresa Mah, D-Chicago, said the switches are an invasion of privacy. [..]
But state Rep. CD Davidsmeyer, R-Jacksonville, said poor Illinoisans are the ones who will suffer if the bill becomes law.
“If we get rid of this as an option, the only other option is a repossession of a vehicle, which will be on this individual’s credit for years and years,” said Davidsmeyer.
* HB1578 is on First Reading in the House and has been re-referred to the Rules Committee. Illinois Radio Network…
The Illinois House Revenue and Finance Committee is evaluating a proposed measure giving $25 million in tax credits for research and development projects.
House Bill 1578 offers a credit on qualifying quantum information science expenditures related to research and development that takes place in Illinois.
Brad Tietz of the Chicago Chamber of Commerce told the committee there are three main points to the measure.
“House Bill 1578 does three things, extends the Illinois research and development tax credit from January 1, 2027, to January 1, 2037. It doubles from 6.5% to 13% the amount of the RND credit specifically for expenditures and investments made in quantum and information science,” Tietz said. “Lastly, modeled off of recent changes to the edge tax credit program, the bill makes the RND credit applicable against a startup company that is withholding taxes.”
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ComEd Four trial coverage roundup
Tuesday, Apr 25, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller
* Here you go…
* Tribune | Defense attorney calls ‘ComEd Four’ bribery case ‘collateral damage’ in feds’ quest to bring down ex-Speaker Michael Madigan: “There isn’t an envelope in this world big enough to fit all the money that they made ComEd pay out,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane MacArthur said in her closing argument to the jury. But defense attorneys scoffed at that notion, saying their clients were not only innocent, but that they were “collateral damage” in the government’s yearslong quest to bring down Madigan, the Democratic leader at the apex of Illinois politics who was long considered to be untouchable.
* Sun-Times | In closing arguments, feds hammer at ‘stunning’ stream of benefits to Madigan while defense calls bribery charges ‘collateral damage’: The prosecutor accused Pramaggiore and Hooker of lying on the stand last week, including when Pramaggiore said she didn’t grasp Madigan’s connection to the subcontractors until after she learned of the feds’ investigation. Though FBI cooperator Fidel Marquez told her in a recorded Feb. 18, 2019, phone call that the subcontractors “pretty much collect a check,” Pramaggiore testified that she didn’t realize he was talking about people tied to Madigan.
* Crain’s | Conspiratorial liars vs. Madigan-obsessed feds in clashing ‘ComEd Four’ closing arguments: “She said nothing in her testimony about this May 2018 (call),” MacArthur said. Indeed, by the end of that day, McClain was back on the phone with Madigan letting him know he could call Zalewski with the good news he would soon be paid $5,000 a month by ComEd, using Doherty as a conduit.
* Capitol News Illinois | ‘Corrupt influence’ or ‘collateral damage’? Jury to decide fate of ‘ComEd Four’: Before jury deliberations begin on the fate of four ex-Commonwealth Edison officials after a six-week bribery trial, an attorney for one of the defendants got emotional Monday afternoon when imparting the weight of the jury’s task. “Be the shield that you were meant to be,” Patrick Cotter told jurors after gathering himself. “The shield between an individual citizen and a very powerful government, in this case a very powerful government committed, dedicated and on a mission to get Mike Madigan.”
* WTTW | Closing Arguments Begin in ‘ComEd Four’ Trial: ‘Madigan Wanted, ComEd Gave and ComEd Got’: The prosecution also showed the jury a timeline of when folks recommended by Madigan got contracts with ComEd, and when legislation lucrative to ComEd and its parent company, Exelon, passed. Sometimes, jobs were given right before a bill succeeded, in which case the job was meant to influence Madigan, MacArthur said. Other times, it was right after, in which case she said it was a “reward.”
* Center Square | Prosecutor: ‘There isn’t an envelope in the world big enough’ for ComEd bribes: Another refrain from MacArthur’s closing was aimed at arguments from defense attorneys who said their clients were engaged in legal lobbying. “This was not lobbying,” she said. “This was not building goodwill. This was a bribe.”
* ABC Chicago | Attorneys deliver closing arguments in bribery case surrounding ex-Speaker Madigan: Defense attorneys argued that “there is no evidence that Madigan did anything for them.” They also argued that prosecutors “have no witness. They have no email. They have no tape that links them.”Defense attorneys also added, as they have throughout the trial, that ComEd often turned down Madigan’s job recommendations and, that it was real and legal lobbying by the utility company that caused legislation to pass and not a dozen jobs given over a nine-year period.
* CBS Chicago | Closing arguments begin in federal ComEd bribery trial: Pramaggiore’s attorney pointed out Madigan only cared about himself and his own political interests, not ComEd. They detailed witness testimony refuting the government’s bribery theory. Witnesses argued they don’t believe ComEd crossed the line.
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Chicago’s red tape problem
Tuesday, Apr 25, 2023 - Posted by Rich Miller
* This WTTW revelation is kind of nuts…
[Carmen Rossi’s] firm won a contract in February 2022 to operate parking lots on 13 properties owned by the Chicago Public Schools near the sports stadiums, including at 10 elementary schools and Lake View and Lincoln Park high schools.
But the firm was denied the business licenses it needed to operate those lots, prompting Rossi to send Business Affairs and Consumer Protection Commissioner Ken Meyer an email in March 2022 asking him to expedite the licenses.
Rossi’s firm got the licenses in June 2022, after the city’s municipal code was changed to allow private firms to operate parking operations on property owned by the Chicago Public Schools.
In 2022, Rossi was a registered lobbyist for four firms, but not for Chicago Parking Solutions, according to an online database of city lobbyists maintained by the Chicago Board of Ethics. Rossi has not registered as a lobbyist in 2023, records show.
In his response to the board, Rossi disputed that the email he sent to Meyer constituted lobbying, since Meyer did not have the authority to issue the business license his firm needed. Rossi also asserted he had a First Amendment right to communicate with city officials, whom he noted encouraged Chicagoans to reach out for help.
Let’s review…
1) Company with city contract can’t for some reason get a business license from the city where it has the contract;
2) Company owner sends email to city official asking him to expedite the license;
3) City official did not have the authority to issue business license;
4) City didn’t have a process for issuing the license, so it had to create one
5) Company owner winds up paying $5,000 fine to “resolve charges brought by the Chicago Board of Ethics” because the owner contacted a city official without being a properly registered lobbyist.
Carmen Rossi is a big guy who has been around a long while. He likely should’ve known better. But he does make a good point in the story: How in the heck are small business owners supposed to get by if they have to register as a lobbyist when they interact with the city on their own behalf?
Maybe this is a reform, but from a distance it sure looks like a reform masquerading as a full-employment mandate for paid lobbyists.
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Open thread
Tuesday, Apr 25, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller
* We’re back in Springfield for another week of session! What’s going on in your slice of Illinois?…
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Isabel’s morning briefing
Tuesday, Apr 25, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller
* Here you go!…
* Sun-Times | One-quarter of detainees in Cook County juvenile lockup are shot, killed after serving time, study finds: Long-term research from Northwestern University finds that rates of firearm injury or death are higher for juvenile detainees than for the general population and those from similar demographic backgrounds.
* CBS Chicago | Rape crisis advocates say they are facing major funding crisis, need state’s help: As CBS 2 Political Investigator Dana Kozlov reported Monday night, rape crisis advocates are looking to Springfield for help in beefing up their funding – in part to make up for a federal funding shortfall. But that money is not guaranteed.
* Sun-Times | Illinois traffic deaths dip slightly in 2022, but fatalities are still above pre-pandemic levels: ‘Not a cause to celebrate.’: After spiking during the pandemic, Illinois saw 1,280 traffic fatalities in 2022, a 4% drop from the 1,334 deaths in 2021.
* Fox 2 | Illinois can serve summons via text: Amendment: Chief Justice Mary Jane Theis and the Illinois Supreme Court announced Monday amendments to Supreme Court Rule 102, which provides for the electronic service of summons and complaints in civil proceedings, “in recognition of society’s increased use of electronic methods to communicate,” a news release says.
* Crain’s | Illinois’ bill backlog at lowest level in 15 years: Comptroller Susana Mendoza today reported that the state’s accounts payable, essentially its backlog of unpaid bills for day-to-day government operations, was down to $943 million as of Monday morning. That’s the first time it’s been below the $1 billion mark in 15 years — specifically, since August 2008 — with the oldest bill in her queue all of 16 days.
* Tribune | As he prepares to be mayor, Brandon Johnson steering through city rules and supporters’ expectations: As Johnson prepares to take office in less than a month, one of the heads of his transition team has sought a waiver from the city’s Board of Ethics to avoid violating a policy designed to stop former employees from coming back to lobby or influence subjects they worked on for the city.
* WBEZ | Mayor-Elect Brandon Johnson’s new chief of staff is mum on policing proposals, but sees power staying with the mayor’s office: Rich Guidice, the former head of the Office of Emergency Management and Communications, was named as Johnson’s No. 2 this week, along with state Sen. Cristina Pacione-Zayas, D-Chicago, as Johnson’s first deputy chief of staff. As right hands to the mayor, chiefs of staff play a significant role in managing the mayor’s office, helping develop policy and maintaining relationships with city agencies.
* Crain’s | Meet Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson’s transition and leadership teams: As Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson’s May 15 inauguration nears, we’re starting to get a better picture of who will make up his inner circle. From labor leaders to a heavyweight City Hall insider, these are the people shaping the Johnson administration.
* Sun-Times | Chicago Fire Fighters Union Local 2 elects new president: Pat Cleary, who has spent the last 12 years as vice president of Chicago Fire Fighters Union Local 2, replaces Jim Tracy, the two-term president. Cleary easily defeated challenger Rob Tebbens, Local 2’s political and legislative director, with 67% of the vote.
* Tribune | Consultant sued by Paul Vallas calls $700,000 lawsuit ‘shameful and unfounded’: Vallas and his campaign organization sued Chimaobi Enyia in Cook County Circuit Court last Thursday, claiming Enyia ripped off Vallas when in the final weeks of the race for mayor Enyia was paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to build support for Vallas in many Black communities but did little work. The lawsuit states that Vallas was the victim of fraud, unjust enrichment and “in the alternative, breach of contract” by Enyia.
* WTTW | Prominent Lightfoot Supporter, Business Owner Pays $5,000 Ethics Fine for Lobbying City Hall Without Registering: Carmen Rossi, who also owns several Chicago nightclubs and holds the liquor license for the Lollapalooza music festival, lobbied the city’s Business Affairs and Consumer Protection Department on behalf of his firm, Chicago Parking Solutions, LLC, even though Rossi was not registered to lobby for the firm, according to the settlement agreement he reached with the Chicago Board of Ethics.
* Tribune | ‘Horrific on all fronts:’ North Lawndale residents cry for wide-sweeping violence prevention: Zaiden A. Collins, of Berwyn, suffered blunt force trauma to the abdomen inside a residence in the North Lawndale neighborhood’s 1300 block of South Kedzie Avenue, police said. The death was ruled a homicide, but as of Monday afternoon, the investigation was ongoing. There are no updates beyond the original statement that Zaiden was put down for a nap and then found unresponsive. Violence Interrupters founder Tio Hardiman, longtime anti-violence advocate, called for more awareness from the media and a hastened police investigation at a news conference, where he gazed upon the small audience of reporters with conviction.
* AP | Singer R. Kelly moved to North Carolina prison from Chicago: Robert Sylvester Kelly was transferred from the Metropolitan Correctional Center Chicago to the federal correctional institution in Butner, North Carolina, on April 19, Federal Bureau of Prisons spokesperson Benjamin O’Cone said Monday via email. The bureau doesn’t disclose the reasons for inmate transfers due to privacy, safety and security reasons, he wrote.
* WBEZ | How Chicago became a hotbed of twang: “In the early era of string band music — before they even used the name ‘country music’ — it was a rural thing. It wasn’t a Southern thing,” Guarino said in an interview at his home in Lincoln Square. “It was music from rural people, for rural people. And the rural people had moved to Chicago. Chicago was the biggest city next to the rural area. You can drive an hour outside Chicago, and you’re in rural America.”
* WBEZ | The Chicago Yacht Club has a new commodore, a woman — the first in the club’s 148-year history: At the start of 2023, she took over the top job at the Chicago Yacht Club, becoming the first woman in the club’s 148-year history to hold the title. The job doesn’t come with a fancy hat or a double-breasted jacket with gold epaulets; it doesn’t come with an office or pay either. But the significance of the moment isn’t lost on the 4-foot-11 woman. Back in the mid-1990s, when she first considered joining the club, a fellow boat owner urged her husband to join — but not her.
* Tribune | Chicago’s barbecue revolution is here — if only the city would remove the red tape: But while offset smokers are gaining in popularity all over the country, you won’t find them in Chicago barbecue restaurants (with one known exception). While this could be mere pitmaster preference, especially considering how many kinds of smokers are available, that wasn’t universally true. “In a dream world, we’d be using an offset smoker here,” said Dave Bonner, pitmaster at Green Street Smoked Meats. “We have one for events. I like how they cook. There’s even heat distribution.”
* Daily Herald | From The Who to The Shadows of Knight, The Cellar was Arlington Heights’ ‘cultural zenith’: Fifty-five years ago to the date Wednesday night, Paul Sampson took the stage of his Arlington Heights teen music club — its decor of black lights and black netting hanging from the ceiling — and introduced a group that was to perform “White Room.”
* Daily Journal | Pickleball’s growth serves up new opportunities for play locally: “Our courts are constantly filled and the sport has grown rapidly since I started in my position in 2019,” said Mike Curren, sports director at the Kankakee Area YMCA. “Some have joined the YMCA just to be able to partake in pickleball.”
* Tribune | Beth Murphy, the Murphy’s Bleachers owner who battled the Chicago Cubs over the Wrigleyville rooftops, dies at 68: Murphy’s battles with the Cubs over rooftop owners’ rights played out in newspapers and on local newscasts for years, pitting the small business owners against one of baseball’s oldest and most valuable franchises. It made Murphy a local celebrity and one of Wrigleyville’s most respected business owners.
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Live coverage
Tuesday, Apr 25, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller
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* Background is here if you need it. Click here for the lawsuit. From the lawyer…
Please be advised that this law firm and I have been retained by Mr. Chima Enyia to represent him in connection with the Complaint filed by Paul Vallas and the Vallas Campaign. Please find attached a Press Release from Chima.
As indicated at the conclusion of the Press Release, Chima intends to defend the Vallas claims in court and not in the press, unless Mr. Vallas is prepared to personally and publicly repeat the accusation which he has made in his lawsuit.
Best,
J. Dahl
James E. Dahl
Dahl & Bonadies, LLC
* From Chima Enyia…
The lawsuit filed by Paul Vallas and his campaign is shameful and unfounded. I intend to vigorously defend his lawsuit, my character and my integrity. In the end, I will be vindicated and Vallas’ claims will be seen for what they are — unfounded.
I have known Paul Vallas for years. I regarded him as a trusted friend. He trusted me.
Paul Vallas desperately requested my assistance in the Black Community as a consultant regarding policy development, professional networks, personal relationships, and field support.
Vallas asked me for my help, I provided my help, I billed for my help, the bills for my help were approved, and I have been paid for my help. Each of the bills for my help was approved by both the Campaign Manager, Brian Towne, and by the Campaign Financial Chairman, Peter Jeon. I fulfilled completely my obligations to the campaign. Now after I have provided my help, Vallas wants to claw back my compensation. That is absolutely unfair.
I can assure you that Vallas will not repeat any of the accusations which he has alleged in his lawsuit outside of the courthouse, because he knows that if he makes those statements in public, then I can and will sue him for defamation.
In the end, the voters were right; Paul Vallas did not deserve to be the Mayor of the City of Chicago.
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[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Support Renewable Energy Credits for Illinois’ public universities to help offset the cost of solar power on campus, help fight climate change and create good-paying union jobs.
Join Climate Jobs Illinois’ Carbon Free Healthy Schools campaign: www.climatejobsillinois.org/schools
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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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* Yeah, no…
Last I checked, Bailey wasn’t much of a union guy, and this case was about how Mayor Lightfoot didn’t secure a proper agreement with the city’s labor unions before imposing the mandate…
The ruling came in response to a complaint filed by American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31, known as AFSCME, and the Coalition of Unionized Public Employees, which represents more than two dozen labor organizations representing city employees.
Chicago Federation of Labor President Bob Reiter said Lightfoot, who will leave office in less than a month, unilaterally imposed the vaccine mandate. It is unclear how many employees would be rehired if the ruling stands.
“The right call is collaboration,” said Reiter, adding that the complaint was not prompted by the debate over whether employees should – or should not – be vaccinated against COVID-19. “This is the right decision.”
A decision upholding Lightfoot’s action would have weakened labor rights throughout Illinois, Reiter said.
* The mandate did go to arbitration, but the state board ruled this…
And although the arbitrator found that the imposition of no-pay status for failure to vaccinate did not violate the contract based on an earlier arbitration award, his analysis does not establish that the Charging Parties clearly and unmistakably waived their right to bargain that potential consequence. … Thus, the Charging Parties did not clearly and unmistakably waive the right to bargain the effects of the Respondent’s vaccine mandate and reporting requirement.
* A couple of conclusions…
The Respondent violated Sections 10(a)(4) and (1) of the Act by implementing its vaccination policy without first bargaining over its effects to impasse or agreement.
The Respondent violated Sections 10(a)(4) and (1) of the Act by implementing changes to the sick leave addendum without bargaining to impasse or agreement.
* One of its several cease and desist orders…
Failing and refusing to bargain collectively in good faith with the Charging Parties over the effects of its decision to implement a COVID-19 vaccine mandate and related reporting requirements.
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It’s just a bill
Monday, Apr 24, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller
* WAND…
Hunter Martin wants you to truly hear him. […]
“Whenever I first got these new hearing aids in because of the law that had passed, I heard the ref whistle on the soccer field,” he said. “Without them in, I would miss a good 50, 60, 70 or maybe 80 percent of what you’re saying.”
State lawmakers heard him back in 2018, when he convinced them to pass a law requiring insurance plans to cover hearing aids for kids under 18. Now he’s urging lawmakers to pass another bill to cover people of all ages.
House Bill 2443 has already cleared the House after a push from Rep. Sharon Chung (D - Bloomington) . Now Sen. Dave Koehler (D - Peoria) is taking it up in the senate.
“For anyone who has problems hearing, it becomes a problem engaging whether it’s education, whether it’s society or whether it’s your job,” Koehler said.
* Journal Courier…
Proposed legislation requiring libraries receiving state funding to have a written policy against banning books would change little at west-central Illinois libraries, except for the dotting of a few I’s and crossing of a few T’s, according to librarians.
Like several libraries in the region, Virginia Public Library has no such written policy, but its general practice is not to ban books, library director Rebekah Pentecost said. […]
House Bill 2789 passed, 69-39, on March 22; it would require any libraries receiving or applying for state grants to establish a written policy against book banning. […]
A bill preventing book banning shouldn’t be necessary, said Jake Magnuson, director of Jacksonville Public Library, which has a long history of not banning books.
“We support providing content to all,” Magnuson said. “We are against banning books. I haven’t had any requests. As far as I can tell, it’s not a regular sort of thing. Libraries should have policies in place against book banning. If legislation is necessary to make sure we aren’t (banning books), that’s OK, but I don’t know if legislation is necessary.”
* Rep. Cassidy’s HB3158 that would legalize human composting is now on First Reading in the Senate. The Tribune…
If Cassidy’s legislation gets enough votes in that chamber and is signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker, Illinois would become the seventh state in the country to legalize the process. Cassidy has also indicated that she wishes to have her remains go through human composting. […]
State Rep. Steven Reick, a Republican from Woodstock, voiced strong opposition to the proposal, and brought the abortion rights positions of Cassidy and other Democrats into the debate.
“I don’t know if anybody remembers back to the old movie “Soylent Green,” Reick said. “I think we’re going to probably reach that point in this debate. Because as we all know, ‘Soylent Green is people.’” [..]
Katrina Spade runs a full-service funeral home and human composting facility in Seattle. She said she understands that it can take some time for the public to wrap their heads around the idea of human composting.
“To bring up this, this very new idea that forces us to think about our mortality can be quite shocking,” she said. “It’s really important that proponents of natural organic reduction are being careful to couch the process in terms that allow for people to absorb the idea.”
* Daily Herald Editorial Board…
Earlier this month, the state Senate passed a measure sponsored by Republican Sue Rezin of Morris on a 39-13 vote that would lift a 30-year moratorium on construction of nuclear power plants in Illinois. A similar bill sponsored by Arlington Heights Democratic state Rep. Mark Walker, passed in committee on an 18-3 vote and awaits action by the full House.
The politics of nuclear power, once as partisan as any major issue dividing pro-environment Democrats and pro-business Republicans, have undergone a serious transformation since the “China Syndrome” alarms of the 1970s and ’80s. The tipping point? Climate change.
With wind and solar energy options still far from sufficient to replace our reliance on coal, nuclear power has emerged as an available, clean alternative to help make up the difference. It also provides opportunities to replace jobs lost as the state phases out fossil fuels on the way to a legislated goal of 100% carbon-free energy production by 2050.
Rezin, whose bill specifically promotes the use of small “micro” nuclear reactors that can even be installed in existing coal plants, noted in committee that other states have lifted similar bans, recognizing that “advanced nuclear reactors are a potential answer to the reliability and resiliency problem within their energy portfolio.”
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* Tribune…
Under the governing case law, prosecutors do not have to show a specific quid pro quo existed between Madigan and the four defendants, only that there was a corrupt intent to provide the stream of benefits to Madigan in order to win his influence over legislative acts.
After testimony wrapped last week, lawyers for the defendants argued strenuously for instructions to be provided to the jury that would require a more specific nexus between the ComEd legislation and Madigan’s actions.
But Leinenweber stuck largely to his previous rulings that the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals requires only that the defendants passed gratuities or rewards to the speaker in the hope they would influence Madigan in some official capacity.
“The difference between the regular lobbying and corrupt lobbying is not only the intent to influence, as focused on by defendants, but the action which intends to provide ‘something of value,’ either given or offered, in order to influence the official,” the judge wrote in a ruling last year.
Leinenweber on Thursday acknowledged that the issue of when a gratuity or reward for a public official becomes a bribe is in flux in the federal courts nationwide. But for this trial, the prevailing law is what the appellate court in Chicago has held, he said.
A significant chunk of lobbying could be rendered illegal if “the action which intends to provide ‘something of value,’ either given or offered, in order to influence the official” stands.
* More from the debate…
* Here’s an example of the circuit split from last year…
By embracing a stricter interpretation of a federal bribery law and hardening a circuit court split, the Fifth Circuit’s remand of a Texas real estate developer’s conviction furthers a trend of federal judges narrowing the application of anti-corruption statutes and makes the U.S. Supreme Court more likely to weigh in on the issue again.
A three-judge panel on Tuesday overturned the conviction and eight-year sentence of Ruel Hamilton, a politically connected affordable housing developer in Dallas who was found guilty by a Texas federal court jury in June 2021 of illegally funneling funds to a pair of city council members. The appellate panel reached its decision after concluding the jury was improperly instructed to determine whether Hamilton had paid either bribes or gratuities, with both considered corrupt.
From that opinion…
We conclude that § 666 does, in fact, require a quo; a quid alone will not suffice. And the jury instruction that the district court gave did not convey that. Thus, Hamilton’s convictions must be vacated.
From a footnote…
Lurking just beneath the surface is a hoard of constitutional problems raised by a
broad reading of § 666. See Antonin Scalia & Bryan A. Garner, Reading Law: The
Interpretation of Legal Texts 247 (2012) (“A statute should be interpreted in a way that
avoids placing its constitutionality in doubt.”). Treating § 666 as though it covers all sorts
of interactions with local public officials raises First Amendment, federalism, and due-
process concerns. See McDonnell v. United States, 136 S. Ct. 2355 (2016); McCormick v.
United States, 500 U.S. 247 (1991). As one of our colleagues put it, when § 666 is used to “prosecute purely local acts of corruption,” it is arguably unconstitutional because it is not “necessary and proper to carry into execution [Congress’s] spending power.” United States v. Lipscomb, 299 F.3d 303, 364–77 (5th Cir. 2002) (opinion of Smith, J.). We need not reach those issues in this case because we can construe the text in a way that comports with the Constitution.
Dallas Morning News…
With its opinion, the Fifth Circuit is now in the minority, having joined two other circuits in the U.S. that said the federal bribery statute in question criminalizes only quid pro quo bribes and not gratuities. Five other federal circuits have ruled that the law covers both bribes and illegal gratuities.
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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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* My weekly syndicated newspaper column…
The now-notorious violent youth riot in downtown Chicago last weekend got me thinking of a press conference way back in 2010.
Mayor Richard M. Daley voiced frustration about what he said were large groups of suburban kids causing trouble on Chicago’s lakefront, even though plenty of Chicago kids were also participating, including six teens who brutally attacked an 18-year-old suburban woman. Daley complained the youths would text each other to organize their mayhem.
Three years later, downtown’s problems with unexpected group violence hadn’t gotten any better. So then-Gov. Pat Quinn held a splashy press conference on Michigan Avenue to sign a bill, sponsored by then-state Sen. Kwame Raoul and then-state Rep. Christian Mitchell, that doubled prison sentences (to six years) for those who use social media to “incite organized mob violence.”
“We don’t want flash mobs harming anyone, anywhere, but especially where many people come from other states, other countries,” Quinn said. Their promised crackdown never materialized. However, that penalty enhancement is still in state law.
Illinois has also had a statute on its books since 1969 known as the Parental Responsibility Law. Parents and guardians can be sued for “actual damages for the willful or malicious acts of such minor which cause injury to a person or property.” Damages are recoverable up to $20,000. The law has only rarely been used.
Ed Yohnka at the Illinois ACLU told me his group was “not aware of a specific constitutional deficiency” with the law and the courts “long have recognized that one can be held responsible for the actions of others based on specific legal relationships, and recognized the authority of state legislatures to make parents responsible for the torts of their minor children.”
Yohnka did say the law was “bad policy,” partly because impoverished parents would be hurt the most. “Many of these families are struggling to make ends meet in communities that lack services and resources that help support strong families.”
The state and the city also spend millions of dollars a year, and plan to spend much more, on violence prevention programs. In the past, violence interrupters have described being overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of young people breaking the law during the flash mobs or trends or whatever you want to call them.
Last week, we barely heard from anyone in that sector about how they helped during the weekend violence or how they can help in the future if properly deployed.
In 2019, WBEZ actually went out and talked to some of the kids who were causing some of the disruptions. The young people understandably complained that parks and recreational facilities in their own neighborhoods on the South and West sides were decrepit.
“There is usually vandalism over the swings, over the slides, there is usually broken material … there is trash, and there is a lot of people soliciting,” according to Tyrianna Rodgers, who was on a “girls-only afternoon” in downtown at the time. “It just doesn’t look like the place where you would send your kids and say OK, ‘You could chill here.’” Four years later, many of those facilities are still a disgrace.
The public radio station also reported at the time that Chicago police were bragging about their ability to monitor the online organization of what are now called “trends,” which the station defined as “large teen-led gatherings that are particularly popular among Black teens.”
Yet, CBS 2 reported last week that the Chicago Police Department had no clue how the mob violence was organized. And credible reports have emerged since then about police ignoring calls for assistance.
There are really two points here. The first is all those loud folks pretending the violence is somehow a new and mysterious thing and a fresh test for a mayor-elect who hasn’t even been sworn in yet really ought to take a breath.
The second is that law enforcement and local leaders have been given plenty of legal, investigatory and prevention tools (and there are more than just those listed above) to address these issues, but those leaders appear to be allowing those tools to just rust away in a drawer somewhere.
Rep. Kam Buckner (D-Chicago) had it absolutely right when he complained that nobody has a plan to deal with the violence and nobody has had a real plan since he was a teen.
“That has to change!” Buckner rightly roared on social media.
Yes, it does. And it starts with the people in authority doing their actual jobs.
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Open thread
Monday, Apr 24, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller
* Hope you all had a relaxing weekend. What’s going on in Illinois today?…
9 Comments
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Isabel’s morning briefing
Monday, Apr 24, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller
* Here you go!…
* Tribune | LGBTQ residents moving to Illinois from states with conservative agendas: ‘I don’t want to be ashamed of where I live’: That treatment, combined with Nebraska’s current legislative agenda — which includes restricting women’s access to reproductive health care and limiting the rights of the LGBTQ community — helped push Niehaus-Rincon and his husband to relocate to Chicago. He said they are done compromising and hiding their true identities.
* Lakesia Collins and Ann Gillespie | A modest first step for children in Illinois DCFS? Give them a lawyer.: Most people might be surprised to learn that Illinois is just one of seven states that currently don’t guarantee legal counsel for any children in abuse and neglect court proceedings. This is especially disappointing given the fact that at the tail end of the 19th century, Illinois recognized that youths needed to be treated separately in our legal system, creating the very first juvenile court system in the country. While Illinois lags in assuring lawyers in family decisions, every other state has copied the Illinois’ juvenile court, aimed at addressing the unique needs of children.
* WBEZ | This father finally has a safe home for his children. It all came from his arrest on gun charges.: Gonzalez decided he needed a gun for protection while traveling between the gas station and his work. But he had felonies on his record for burglary and driving on a suspended license. That meant he couldn’t get a gun permit. So he reached out to a friend from his former life of crime and bought an illegal handgun.
* Illinois Newsroom | Piatt County wind farm opponents face off against a new state law encouraging their construction.: A new state law, signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker in January before the election took place, sets new statewide standards for siting wind and solar farms in downstate counties. The new standards set out in the 102nd General Assembly’s House Bill 4122 supersede existing county regulations, and appear to prevent counties from rejecting wind farm projects entirely, from this point on. Illinois Newsroom’s Jim Meadows spoke to Piatt County Board Vice-Chairman Jerry Edwards (R-Dis 1) about what’s going on.
* Daily Chronicle | Student reporter reviews Illinois’ struggling media literacy law: Illinois’ law is in its preliminary stages. It has the potential to be something good, but good things take time. There is still a lot more work needed to be done before it gets to that point. Yet, there is a lot of hope for that, too.
* Tribune | Unreliable CTA service is a frustration for riders. It’s also costing Chicago.: And the struggles cost Chicago, experts said. Challenges getting employees and visitors downtown — including the tens of thousands expected as the city hosts the Democratic National Convention next summer — are a hit to the city’s economic heart, which is still facing lower office occupancy than in 2019 and a hospitality industry recovering from the pandemic.
* Crain’s | Lightfoot offers blunt takes on Chicago crime and corporate equity efforts: Mayor Lori Lightfoot offered some blunt takes at a gathering of Black mayors in Washington, D.C., today, describing some Chicago neighborhoods that still look like they’re smoldering from the 1968 riots, criticizing corporations she said offer mere lip service in response to police brutality and calling out Cook County judges and prosecutors who are too lenient in allowing suspects back on the streets. “I’ve been mayor for the last four years, my time is winding down,” Lightfoot said at the meeting of the African American Mayors Association. “There are parts of my city that look like the fires of ‘68 just got put out. Black people have been representing those areas forever. Why is it that we have taken so long for ourselves to wake up? If we are content with crumbs, our people will never, never prosper.”
* Tribune | Brandon Johnson’s win as mayor furthers Democratic leftward tilt as party examines big tent philosophy: In the end, Johnson succeeded in raising questions in voters’ minds about Vallas’ Democratic bona fides. Still, several older Democrats in the party establishment who are considered more moderate endorsed Vallas. They included former Secretary of State Jesse White and Dick Durbin, the No. 2 ranking Democrat in the U.S. Senate. Durbin served with Vallas in Springfield more than 40 years ago in the office of the late Democratic Senate President Philip J. Rock of Oak Park.
* Tribune | Two former Cook County assessor’s employees charged in bribery scheme: Golf outings worth nearly $3,500 were exchanged for property tax reassessments that lowered valuations on two properties by about $81,000, federal prosecutors say.
* SJ-R | What to expect from the cannabis industry in 2023 as two new stores prepare to open: Stone’s new shop is one of three dispensaries slated to open in Springfield later this year, with work beginning recently on the former Steak n’ Shake location in Prairie Crossing for a store run by Bolden Investments III, an LLC based out of Maywood in suburban Chicago and permits being approved for Shangri La, a new dispensary being built out of a vacant lot along Dirksen Parkway.
* SJ-R | Monroe Street to be closed between Second and Pasfield streets Monday: Ongoing work at the Illinois State Capitol complex will require the shutdown of Monroe Street, between Second and Pasfield streets, beginning at 7 a.m. Monday. City officials said the closure will last one day, weather permitting.
* AP | Biden’s 2024 campaign has been hiding in plain sight: “President Biden is delivering and making the strong case for reelection before, during and after any formal campaign announcement,” said Democratic consultant and former Biden spokesman Scott Mulhauser. “Rather than throwing darts at calendars, let’s focus on the President doing his job and doing it well, from an investing in America tour, an economy humming and unemployment at historic lows to a home run of a State of the Union, an expertly pulled-off Ukraine trip and more.”
* USA Today | They were backbenchers under Republican control. Now the Tennessee Three are headed to the White House.: “It was undemocratic when they were expelled and essentially ousted out of their seats,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Friday. “And so, what you’ll see is the president sitting down with the with these three legislators, having a conversation on how to move forward with common sense gun reform.”
* The Atlantic | Dianne Feinstein and the Cult of Indispensability: I understand that acknowledging this may make some uncomfortable. All of us, if we are lucky, face the indignities of aging. In other circumstances, the fact that Feinstein can’t cast votes in the Senate might not be terribly meaningful for the country. But the Senate is evenly divided—and when she is out of pocket, the Democrats can’t prevail on a party-line vote. Because she sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee—and Republicans refuse to let her trade the assignment with a colleague physically fit for the job—Democrats are unable to send any of their nominees to the bench to the floor of the Senate.
* AP | ‘The Champagne of Beers’ leaves French producers frothing: At the request of the trade body defending the interests of houses and growers of the northeastern French sparkling wine, Belgian customs crushed more than 2,000 cans of Miller High Life advertised as such.
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Live coverage
Monday, Apr 24, 2023 - Posted by Isabel Miller
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