* Crain’s | Pritzker, 14 other governors ask major pharmacies to clarify abortion pill distribution plan: Pritzker and other members of the Reproductive Freedom Alliance, which includes California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, sent a letter to executives at CVS Health, Walmart, Rite-Aid, Safeway, Health Mart, Kroger, Costco and Target, seeking their position on where and how they will sell abortion medications, such as mifepristone
* WGN | Program helps Illinois teen moms earn high school degree: In Harvey, there is a small tucked away building doing big things for young moms and their babies. The Blanche Foxworthy Infant Care Center and Teen Parent Program provides toddlers and their young mothers with the support needed.
* Tribune | Biden EPA plans to limit toxic forever chemicals in drinking water for the first time: In Illinois alone, the drinking water of more than 660,000 people is contaminated at levels exceeding the proposed standards for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances or PFAS. The most widely detected versions of the chemicals build up in human blood, cause cancer and other diseases and take years to leave the body.
* WTVO | Illinois State Police issue warning over Chicago expressway shootings: Police say in 2022, road rage was reported in approximately 40% of Chicago area expressway shootings handled by ISP. This is up from 12% in 2021. Already in 2023, road rage has been reported in at least nine Chicago area expressway shootings.
* WCBU | Meet the Illinois journalists planting new publications to ward off encroaching news deserts: DeVilder and Berry decided to start a new community news website called the Kewanee Voice after she attended a webinar hosted by the Institute for Nonprofit News. Berry said an online approach has some advantages. “You don’t have to worry about getting the thing printed, you don’t have to buy paper and they run a press or anything like that, and you don’t have to pay people to deliver the paper. They can just get it on their phone or on their tablet or whatever,” he said.
* Crain’s | Baker Tilly CEO abruptly quits before accounting firm can name a successor: “It was time to bring in a different skill set,” said industry consultant Allan Koltin, who advises the firm. Though he described Whitman’s CEO performance as “probably the greatest run of any CEO in a top 25 accounting firm,” he said, after numerous mergers and revenue of $1.3 billion, “it probably requires a different type of governance going forward . . . and more collaboration.”
* Daily Herald | Eighth annual A Cup of Hope raises $208,000 for Northern Illinois Food Bank: The Executive Women’s Council of Northern Illinois Food Bank is made up of a group of 30 women working and living in Northern Illinois dedicated to solving hunger. The council works in partnership with the Food Bank to enhance the Child Nutrition Program and support the Food Bank by engaging women to donate time, food and funds to help solve hunger in Northern Illinois.
* Associated Press account of today’s Illinois Supreme Court hearing on the SAFE-T Act…
[Jim Rowe, the state’s attorney for Kankakee County] faced several questions about whether prosecutors and sheriffs have legal standing to bring the case.
Rowe: I’m the state’s attorney for Kankakee County and my oath in the interest of public safety compel me to contest the defendants’ Act in this regard.
Chief Justice Mary Jane Theis quickly interrupted to point out that a party only has standing to challenge the constitutionality of a statute “only insofar as it adversely impacts his or her own rights.” So, she asked, where’s your standing?…
Rowe: Your honor, with regard to standing, plaintiffs - sheriffs, state’s attorneys - are absolutely proper parties to this litigation. Each of us - your honors, the sheriffs as well - we have all raised our right hand and we have sworn a duty to uphold and defend the constitution of the state of Illinois.
Theis: Wasn’t the language prescribed in the statute that we support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of Illinois? And isn’t that the same oath that every lawyer, every person who comes to be admitted into the bar of Illinois under the Attorneys Act takes the same oath? So are you saying that everyone, every lawyer in the state of Illinois has standing to challenge a statute they don’t like?
Rowe: I’m not arguing that, your honor. I’m saying that state’s attorneys and sheriffs stand in a very unique position. For instance, state’s attorneys are the only ones that can go into a courtroom and file a petition under the Defendants Act to deny bail to someone.
Theis: Isn’t that true now?
Rowe: That is true, your honor. Except in this instance, we would be asked to enforce a rule that plaintiffs believe is unconstitutional. I think under Lujan, this court found that if we are regulated by the Act, we are a proper party to that litigation. And plaintiff state’s attorneys and sheriffs are certainly regulated under that Act.
Theis: There’s an adverse impact on your rights, is that it?
Rowe: There absolutely is. As the circuit court found, state’s attorneys, prosecutors have an inherent interest in ensuring that we can move cases through the court system, that we can secure a defendant’s appearance at trial, the sheriff has an inherent interest to…
Theis: Why don’t you continue to have that right? A constitutional right, I’m not sure what. You say you have a right to ensure that defendants appear or to continue to appear. Doesn’t that continue under this Act?
Rowe: Well, the Act abolishes the opportunity for a state’s attorney to even request a monetary bail as a sufficient surety. And for the sheriff, the sheriff has to ensure effectively the safety of every law enforcement officer under his charge. This Act requires them to serve, for instance, notice to appear and then a warrant and two occasions, we’ve now doubled the number of instances where law enforcement is going to come into contact with perhaps a fugitive or a very dangerous individual. So plaintiffs squarely believe that prosecutors and sheriffs have standing to pursue these matters. And we further believe that the Act is unconstitutional.
Other justices questioned how the SAFE-T Act changes to cash bail differ from lawmakers’ ability to set minimum criminal sentences or a list of factors that judges should consider when determining bail.
Alan Spellberg, a state’s attorney representing Will County, argued that the elimination of cash bail differs from those examples. In the case of cash bail, he argued that lawmakers have “mandated the outcome.”
“We know from history, monetary components are an important incentive for ensuring that a defendant appears for trial,” Spellberg said.
Chief Justice Theis quoted from a statute that has been around for many years, “In determining the amount of monetary bail or conditions of release, the court shall take into account” and noted that it then goes on to list 36 different factors that the court must consider…
Theis: Isn’t that statute unconstitutional, because it interferes with the court’s inherent authority to determine sufficient surety?
Spellberg: No, your honor, it’s not, because while the legislature has listed a series of factors to be considered…
Theis: Shall be considered. [Cross talk] Dictated. The court must take, shall take into consideration these factors. Isn’t that the legislature working with, or maybe interfering with the court’s…
Spellberg: Your honor, I respectfully disagree. And the reason why is because even though the legislature has mandated that certain factors should be considered, absolutely, it has not mandated the outcome, has not mandated the determination that should be made after the consideration of those factors.
In summary, the state’s lawyer, Deputy Solicitor General Alex Hemmer, said he believed Chief Justice Theis’ question was “exactly right”…
Plaintiffs’ argument, if accepted, would bring down not only the pretrial release provisions enacted by the SAFE-T Act, but also the entire scaffolding of legislative regulation of pretrial release in Illinois that’s existed for 60 years before the SAFE-T Act’s enactment. Plaintiffs have no effective response to that.
* One other point. Justice Lisa Holder White pointed out that in a “facial challenge,” the plaintiffs must “demonstrate that there is no set of circumstances that this would be constitutional.” She then asked if they’d done that. Spellberg’s answer was no yes, but then went on to say that the court had never before applied that demand to a separation of powers case.
Hemmer, the state’s lawyer, argued that “plaintiffs have not come anywhere close to meeting their burden”…
They admit that none of those cases establishes the exception that they are seeking. And in most of these cases, the issue simply wasn’t raised. And so there’s no reason to read these cases’ silence as kind of a precedent that establishes a separation of powers exception to the ordinary rule.
But opponents argued the constitution’s mentions of “bail” essentially serve as a requirement that the state maintains a system of monetary bail.
In particular, the prosecutors argued that the Crime Victims’ Bill of Rights was brought to voters as a constitutional amendment in 2014, which was the proper avenue for such a change.
Kankakee County State’s Attorney James Rowe argued that lawmakers put amendments to the voters in the 1980s when looking to expand the list of nonbailable offenses in the constitution. He contrasted that effort with the January 2021 passage of the SAFE-T Act which moved quickly through the legislature and came for a vote in the middle of the night.
Hemmer countered that the constitution has multiple references to institutions that no longer exist.
“The bail clause itself refers to capital offenses, but there are no more capital offenses in Illinois,” he said. “No one would argue, I think, that the bail clause requires the state to maintain capital offenses simply by referring to it and the same is true here.”
Governor JB Pritzker today hailed Moody’s Investor Service upgrade of Illinois bonds to A3, the second major rating agency to return Illinois’ credit to the ‘A’ category. The action also represents the eighth upgrade in less than two years under Governor Pritzker following eight downgrades under the previous administration.
The continued fiscal progress by the state of Illinois was achieved due to continued strong fiscal leadership by Governor Pritzker and Democrats in the General Assembly.
Moody’s said Illinois’ improving governance was a key consideration in the action. “We consider improving governance to be a key consideration in this action.” Illinois, it said, is “displaying improved management of its budget by making conservative revenue assumptions and applying surplus revenue towards the payment of debt and growth in reserves.”
“This credit upgrade, our second one this year, is the result of the steps we’ve taken in Illinois to put ourselves on firm fiscal footing. We have balanced our budget, paid our bills on time, cleared out decades of debt, made extra pension payments, and saved billions for a rainy day,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “There’s more work to be done, but it’s clear we have undone decades of damage and ushered a new era of fiscal responsibility in Illinois. I look forward to building on this record by working with the General Assembly to pass the state’s fifth straight balanced budget later this spring.”
Moody’s Investor Service announced a ratings upgrade to A3 (stable outlook) from Baa1 for Illinois’ General Obligation bonds, its third upgrade of Illinois’ bonds since June 2021. The last time Illinois had an A3 rating from Moody’s was prior to September 2015. Moody’s also upgraded Build Illinois sales tax bonds to A3 (stable outlook) from Baa3 (stable outlook).
S&P Global Ratings announced a ratings upgrade to A- for Illinois’ General Obligation bonds last month, its third upgrade of Illinois’ bonds since July 2021. Fitch Ratings upgraded Illinois’ bonds by two notches last spring, the first Fitch upgrade for Illinois’ General Obligation bonds since June 2000. Illinois received two upgrades from Moody’s Investor Service in two separate actions in April 2022 and June 2021.
The upgrades follow the unveiling of the Governor Pritzker’s proposed fiscal year 2024 budget which builds on four years of historic progress with balanced budgets, a Budget Stabilization Fund on track to hit $2.3 billion, elimination of the state’s bill backlog and reaching $1 trillion GDP. The proposed spending plan maintains the Governor’s commitment to fiscal responsibility while growing Illinois into an economic powerhouse and making transformative, generational investments in education and efforts to fight poverty.
The rating of a state’s bonds is a measure of their credit quality. A higher bond rating generally means the state can borrow at a lower interest rate, saving taxpayers millions of dollars.
Between 2015 and 2017, the State of Illinois suffered eight credit rating downgrades and sat at the top of many analysts’ lists of the worst managed states in the nation. At its worst, Illinois’ bill backlog hit nearly $17 billion.
* Speaker Chris Welch…
In four years, Bruce Rauner brought Illinois to the brink of junk status with eight credit downgrades; our service providers were gutted, and our hardworking families suffered. Today, as we earn our eighth credit rating upgrade in less than two years, we can celebrate a real turnaround. Democrats have proven that Illinois doesn’t have to choose between being a responsible state and being a compassionate state; we can be both. I want to thank Governor Pritzker, Senate President Harmon, and the rest of my colleagues in the legislature for their commitment to ensuring a strong Illinois for all.
Today, Personal PAC, one of Illinois’ leading organizations dedicated to protecting reproductive rights, endorsed Brandon Johnson for mayor.
“Personal PAC is proud to stand with Brandon Johnson for mayor and to support his vision to ensure abortion remains safe, legal, and accessible to all in Chicago,” said Sarah Garza Resnick, CEO of Personal PAC. “In a post-Roe world, this race is too important. After meeting with both Mr. Vallas and Commissioner Johnson, it is clear to us that Brandon Johnson is the only candidate who will protect and champion reproductive rights in Chicago.”
“We were troubled by Paul Vallas’ failure to comment at all for months following the leaked Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v Wade,” said Garza Resnick. “Further, we take him at his word—based on his own statement that he fundamentally opposes abortion—that we cannot trust him to protect our reproductive rights.”
Commissioner Johnson has committed publicly to maintaining and increasing, as needed, the current level of funding in the City budget for reproductive healthcare support and is committed to continuing to use City resources to ensure the security of abortion clinics.
* Paul Vallas brings out the receipts…
Brandon Johnson has carefully avoided discussing his radical political past during the campaign for Mayor, often dodging questions about his public support for defunding the police. But today he took it a step too far and was caught in a blatant lie. Johnson told ABC 7 that he “never said defund the police,” despite the clear fact that he has openly discussed his support for defunding numerous times.
“There’s nothing Brandon Johnson can do to change the fact that he has publicly embraced the radical “defund the police” movement that would put Chicago at risk of even higher crime,” said Vallas spokesperson Phil Swibinski. “Brandon Johnson and Paul Vallas’ visions for public safety could not be any more different, and every Chicagoan who is concerned about rising crime should be aware of one thing — Brandon Johnson will defund the police, Paul Vallas will put crime reduction and public safety first.”
Johnson’s support for defunding the police is clear and absolute:
• In July 2020, Johnson was the Chief Sponsor of a Resolution calling for the Cook County Board of Commissioners to “Redirect Funds From Policing and Incarceration to Public Services Not Administered By Law Enforcement.”
• In July 2020, Johnson signed onto a statement with other elected officials that stated the officials were ready to “Work To Defund The Chicago Police Department Immediately”
• On WCPT Radio 780 in July 2020, Johnson said: “there are some folks who are offended by this idea of defunding the police. There are folks who are afraid of that terminology…we’re shipping money away from police and incarceration. What do people not understand about this demand? (Sunday Mornings, WCPT 780, 7/26/20, 38:10)
• On WCPT Radio 780 in December 2020, Johnson said that he viewed Defund the Police “not as a slogan, but as a real political goal” and that it was “not just an admirable effort, but a necessary one.” (Santita Jackson Show, WCPT 780, 12/4/20, 16:50 and 59:18)
* More from Vallas…
The Vallas for Mayor campaign will announce major endorsements from three City Council members, who will lend their support to the Vallas public safety plan as well as Paul’s commitment to equity for all Chicago communities.
WHO: Mayoral candidate Paul Vallas, Alderwoman Silvana Tabares (23rd), Alderman Felix Cardona, Jr. (31st), and Alderman Ariel Reboyras (30th)
* A little bit of history from political consultant Delmarie Cobb…
Nearly 40 years ago, mayor Harold Washington was elected Chicago’s first Black mayor. His grassroots campaign mobilized more than 100,000 new registered voters for the mayoral election in 1983, defeating Republican candidate Bernard Epton by a slim 51.7 percent to 48 percent majority. Washington’s win dealt a stunning blow to Chicago’s machine politics.
Though we’re 40 years removed from that moment, Cobb said this election is reminiscent of the 1983 election.
“When Harold Washington ran, you had Black elected officials who came out for him, but then you had an equal number of Black elected officials who came out for Jane Byrne and Richard M. Daley. So this is exactly a mirror of the same thing that happened 40 years ago,” Cobb said.
A new independent super PAC has been created in support of former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas that will likely allow a new wave of dark money to flow into the April 4 mayoral runoff campaign. […]
[Greg Goldner, founder and manager of Resolute Public Affairs] registered a not-for-profit, likely for that purpose, on March 7 named Priorities Chicago, according to a filing with the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office. […]
In recent days ahead of the creation of Goldner’s super PAC, the Vallas campaign fine-tuned the “media” portion of its campaign website, a process known as “redboxing” that campaigns use to publicly signal to outside groups how to spend money without crossing the loose legal definition of coordination.
On Monday, the Vallas campaign media page says “Frequent Chicago municipal voters urgently need to learn NOW that Brandon Johnson wants to defund the police and raise taxes, including a new city income tax on broadcast television and digital.”
If you are Bruce Rauner, Playbook would like to know your tips for working with Chicago’s mayor.
Do you then do the exact opposite?
* Press release…
Around 9 p.m. on Friday night, Chicago Police responded to an attempted burglary in the Mid-North district of Lincoln Park. While police were still gathering the facts, Brian Comer was sharing unverified, inaccurate information in a video he shared on his political campaign page.
“Several residents and police officers have expressed grave concern in my opponent’s behavior at a critical time for our community,” said Alderman Timmy Knudsen. “As always, I am in constant communication with CPD leadership in the ward, and when I heard about this incident, I offered my full support while allowing them to do their jobs. My focus will always be supporting our police and spreading facts, not fear.”
“Brian Comer touts his experience as a beat facilitator, but his decision to campaign at a crime scene clearly demonstrates that he lacks the sound judgment that residents expect from their alderman,” said Alex Hanns, Knudsen’s campaign manager. “Comer should know better than to rush to a crime scene and share misinformation while police are still conducting their investigation. Especially when residents are rightfully concerned about their safety, the last thing we need is for an uninformed civilian to stoke fears while police are trying to do their jobs.”
In his campaign video, Comer wears his campaign button while saying “an officer was shot” and was “in stable condition” on Friday night, despite the fact that no one was shot nor injured in the incident, according to vetted communications by the Chicago Police Department. “We just buried an officer who was killed in the line of duty earlier this week,” continued Comer, deepening the sense of fear that residents have since voiced.
As his campaign video concludes, Comer shifts to his campaign platform. “I have a plan to help public safety,” he says while the lights of three police vehicles illuminate the area and an officer walks behind him. The Chicago Board of Ethics has warned candidates of the “prohibited use of Chicago Police Department personnel and logo in electioneering communications.” Despite Comer’s claim, his website only lists five half-sentences of his “priorities” and is completely devoid of any plan on public safety that he references.
Comer’s inaccurate campaign video is still on his Facebook page five days after the incident despite several claims being debunked by police. The Knudsen campaign put Comer’s statements side by side with the facts in a new ad so residents can hear it for themselves.
* Isabel’s roundup…
* Crain’s | Pritzker promises Dem leaders that costs for a Chicago convention would be covered: Gov. J.B. Pritzker wants Chicago to host the 2024 Democratic National Convention so badly that he’s reportedly assuring the party he’ll line up funding to cover the entire cost of the event, according to a report from Politico. And he’s enlisting some of his deepest-pocketed allies to help him out, including sister Penny Pritzker, Cubs co-owner (and Lori Lightfoot supporter) Laura Ricketts and Grosvenor Capital CEO Michael Sacks, who’s been making waves in City Council races.
* NBC Chicago | Vallas vs. Johnson: Here’s An Endorsement Guide to the 2023 Chicago Mayoral Election: Although more than half of the members of the Chicago City Council issued endorsements in the first round of this year’s mayoral election, many are now being courted by the race’s two remaining candidates as both aim to consolidate support. Those endorsements continued to roll in over the weekend, as third ward Ald. Pat Dowell endorsed Johnson. Meanwhile, Alds. Matthew O’Shea (19th) and Ray Lopez (15th) both endorsed Vallas.
* CBS Chicago | Little Village residents want to hear mayoral candidates’ safety plans for street vendors: For months, community members have been speaking out about recent robberies and assaults targeting street vendors in Little Village. On Tuesday, members of the Little Village Community Council and a coalition of street vendors are holding a news conference to ask Vallas and Johnson to come up with a permanent safety plan to help vendors and the neighborhood.
* NBC Chicago | Chicago Mayoral Election: How Paul Vallas, Brandon Johnson Would Address CTA, Transit Issues: Vallas: You’ve got to make sure that there are police officers on the platform, that there are police officers riding the trains like New York, that there are police officers at the station. […] Johnson: We’re going to increase the number of bus lanes and expand that. We’re going to make sure that there are traffic signals that can give preference to bus lanes, but we’re also going to make sure that we are expanding the workforce…and helping individuals with disabilities to make sure that the workforce is fully supported, and that we’re paying them a livable wage.
* Illinois Answers | Chicago Police’s Foot Pursuit Policy Explained: No longer would a person simply fleeing police be enough for an officer to pursue them, but cops would need a justification to do so, such as an unlawful use of weapon or domestic battery. The motivation for implementing the policy came following a series of fatal police shootings of young Latino men that were chased by police. Advocates argued the lack of a pursuit policy puts both the public and officers at risk.
* Triibe | Chicago FOP presidents’ turbulent relationship with race and police reform: Past and current FOP leaders have made headlines with incendiary comments inflaming already-fraught conversations around police violence, race, and reform—and Black officers have long complained of being ignored or represented poorly by union brass. Police union presidents have also used their platforms to fight calls to hold cops accountable and stand by officers who hurt or kill Chicago residents, from Fred Hampton to LaTanya Haggerty, Rekia Boyd, Laquan McDonald, Adam Toledo, and many more.
* WTTW | Measure Designed to Allow Nonprofit Employees to Unionize Set for Key Vote: After languishing in limbo for more than three years, the proposal — dubbed the Human Service Workforce Advancement Ordinance — could head to the Chicago City Council for a final vote on Wednesday, if a joint body made up of the committees on Health and Human Relations and Workforce Development endorse the plan on Tuesday. The proposal would require human service organizations that contract with the city to agree not to disrupt efforts by their employees to unionize as long as workers agree not disrupt the company’s operations while they organize.
* Energy News Network | ComEd offers $120M for equity programs as part of Chicago electricity deal: The agreement was crafted to try to gain approval for renewing ComEd’s larger franchise agreement with the city. There’s been significant opposition from activists and some City Council members to the proposed franchise agreement. The previous 30-year deal expired in 2021, just as a major bribery scandal involving the utility and state officials was unfolding.
* Jesús ‘Chuy’ García | Chicago’s next mayor should make the elusive American Dream accessible to all: Unfortunately, Chicago continues to be defined by its legacy of redlining, racially based covenants and segregation, which is keeping the city from becoming a great, global city. We must remove barriers to economic mobility, education and job training opportunities. It’s beyond time we re-envision equitable access to basic services such as transportation, public safety, environmental justice, housing and health care, while investing in sustainable revenue sources.
* Tribune | Pioneer Arcade affordable housing project in jeopardy as city support wavers: The proposed project for the site is in jeopardy as Chicago’s Department of Housing has twice rejected the Hispanic Housing Development Corp.’s request for a financial letter of support to receive $1.5 million in low-income housing tax credits from the Illinois Housing Development Authority to construct 61 rental units of affordable senior housing.
Illinois drivers may have to steer clear of Zoom calls while behind the wheel if a new state proposal becomes law.
Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannulias says House Bill 2431, sponsored by Illinois Rep. Marcus Evans (D-33) and Illinois Sen. Javier Cervantes (D-1) would make the roads safer as the popularity of video conference calls while driving rises. […]
Under the proposal, motorists would still be allowed to participate in video conference calls via a hands-free device or if the video is turned off.
Fines would range, depending on the number of offenses, from $75-$150:
-First offense – $75
-Second offense – $100
-Third offense – $125
-Four or more – $150
Three violations in a year will result in a license suspension.
* HR16 sponsored by Rep. Thaddeus Jones will be heard in committee today…
Calls on the U.S. Congress to authorize a policy change to allow existing interstates built with federal funding to become state tollways, enabling Illinois to convert the Dan Ryan Expressway I-57 into a toll road for the safety of its citizens.
Illinois state rep Kam Bucker (D-26th), who recently ran for mayor but didn’t make the runoff, has been working on a new proposed e-bike rebate bill, HB3447, for the past two months. The legislation would would provide a point-of-sale discount to residents who buy an electric bicycle, which can help reduce congestion and pollution by encouraging more people to replace car trips with bike commutes. […]
Buckner filed the bill, which is co-sponsored by Rep. Laura Faver Dias (D-62nd), on February 17. On February 28 it was assigned to the Revenue & Finance Committee, which hasn’t voted on it yet. […]
Along with state reps Theresa Mah (D-2nd) and Kelly Cassidy (D-14th), Buckner also sponsored HB 3530, which would lower the default speed limit in urban areas from 30 mph to 20. Last week at a House transportation committee meeting, members asked for amendments to the bill. Once the legislation is amended, it will return to the committee, probably next week. […]
Yet another livable street bill Kam Buckner cosponsored with state rep Janet Yang Rohr (D-41st) is HB 3923, which would partially legalize the “Idaho Stop” by allowing cyclists treating stop signs like yield sign. It would require bike riders to check for cross traffic and pedestrians before proceeding through the intersection. It did not come up for a vote at the House transportation committee meeting last week.
Bills introduced by [Freshman state Rep. Brad] Fritts have passed through committees and are scheduled to be read and debated on the House floor. […]
HB 2582 removes a duplicate test in place for motorcycle license applicants younger than 18. Both tests are identical and incur a fee. […]
HB 3588 creates the Care for Retired Police Dogs Program, which may provide funding for the medical care of retired K-9s. […]
HB 2962 calls for a set of standards and requirements for substance abuse recovery homes, which would be adopted by the Illinois Department of Human Services.
* Press release…
A bill introduced by Illinois House Deputy Majority Leader Mary E. Flowers, D-Chicago, which recently advanced out of committee, would reform compensation for Illinoisans who are wrongfully convicted and then exonerated, as well as remove a great deal of uncertainty from the process.
“More and more, we see people being exonerated after shoddy police work, prosecutorial misconduct, judicial failures or even outright prejudice and systemic inequality left them unjustly convicted of crimes they didn’t commit,” Flowers said. “It’s clear that more needs to be done for those whose lives have been turned upside down by this type of flagrant injustice. That’s why I’m working to increase compensation and eliminate limits for those impacted by failures of justice.”
Currently, there is no minimum compensation for those exonerated after a wrongful conviction, and the amount—if any—a person can be awarded is mostly at the discretion of the Court of Claims. There are, however, statutory maximums of $85,350 for five years or less of imprisonment, $170,000 for five to fourteen years and $199,150 for more than fourteen years.
Flowers’ House Bill 1016 would remove entirely these statutory maximums and replace arbitrary awards with guaranteed and fixed award amounts of $50,000 per year of wrongful imprisonment, including pretrial incarceration or detention while awaiting trial; along with $25,000 per year wrongfully spent not incarcerated but on parole, on probation, or on a sex offender registry. These amounts would be prorated for partial years and the Court of Claims would retain the ability to raise them by up to 5% per year to account for increases in the consumer price index. The bill contains other measures as well.
“There were a lot of bills that Illinois Farm Bureau had positions on, and they were spread throughout all the committees,” said Kevin Semlow, IFB director of state legislation. “One of the biggest issues we focused on this week was our opposition to HB 1568, sponsored by Rep. Janet Yang Rohr, D-Naperville, that grants unconstitutional public access to waterways. We communicated with members of the committee that the bill undoes close to 200 years of law and violates landowners’ private property rights. At the end of the committee, the bill was not presented for a vote and remained in the committee.” […]
Two separate committees approved an IFB legislative priority to allow townships to elect or appoint a clerk or road commissioner from outside the township to fill vacancies.
“This was established in IFB policy that was raised because of challenges in some areas of the state,” said Emily Perone Hall, IFB assistant director of state legislation. “We gained the passage of the Senate and House committees to move SB 1443, sponsored by Sen. Adriane Johnson, D-Waukegan, and HB 2040, sponsored by Rep. Curtis Tarver, D-Chicago, to their respective chambers.”
In the House Labor Committee, HB 3395, sponsored by Rep. Lilian Jimenez, D-Chicago, would have eliminated the minimum wage exemption for many agricultural employees, while also eliminating the exemption from overtime requirements for all agricultural employees.
“IFB opposed HB 3395 and conveyed to the committee the impacts this legislation would have on farmers. In the end, the sponsor chose not to present the bill and held the bill in committee,” said Mark Raney, associate director of state legislation.
* Newly appointed State Superintendent of Education Tony Sanders was interviewed this week on the 21st Show…
Q: As you no doubt know, the schools have become a sort of, what would you say, a flashpoint in the culture wars? Every week there are these stories where school administrators and teachers are being protested, people yelling at school board meetings. We’re actually having a conversation on the program later this week about school board candidates across the state espousing right-wing rhetoric. How do you address that? Or has it been ever thus? Right? How do you think about the idea that the schools have become this flashpoint in the so called culture wars in America?
Supt. Sanders: It saddens me actually, schools are apolitical. Schools are places where students go to learn critical thinking skills. This debate over CRT, which some think is critical race theory, and others say CRT is culturally responsive teaching, two entirely different things. But unfortunately, they get confused by the general public. And we do want culturally responsive teaching practices within our schools. At the same time, critical race theory is not something that’s introduced to students until they are working either on a master’s or a doctorate. And so I think it’s unfortunate that the general public makes the schools the center politics when it should not be.
Q: On that note, Illinois has implemented a number of new teaching requirements. There’s Black history, Asian history. Some say, particularly in the Republican Party in Illinois, that it’s too much, it’s too much meddling from the state in what is happening in individual classrooms. What do you think about that?
Supt. Sanders: So I think that our curriculum should uplift every child in the state of Illinois before these other bills that you just referenced, that were enacted into legislation to teach about African-American history or Asian American history. For decades, we’ve had a state law that says that we have to teach about the Irish famine. We’ve had laws that talk about Mexican deportation. So in terms of curricular mandates, there’s about 40 to 50 curricular mandates that have been on the books for years that are appropriate, and the right things for kids to be learning. I see no difference with adding these latest curriculum requirements. And I don’t even think they should be requirements. I think it’s just something that school districts need to do as part of their work, is to make sure that we’re uplifting everybody’s culture within our curriculum. Who among us doesn’t want to see their culture representative the curriculum?
Their plan to raise scores, the candidates said, is to scrutinize what is taught in schools. They contend that certain lessons, such as Illinois’ social-emotional learning and sex ed standards, are based on harmful ideologies and are distracting students from academics.
“Education isn’t political,” said one candidate, Leonard Munson. “We’ve got to get back to Christian values.”
Munson and the two other Action PAC-endorsed candidates, Katey Baldassano and Matt Sheriff, also said they worry about local tax dollars, noting that between 50% and 60% of property taxes go to schools. They want to look for opportunities to maximize efficiency and cut the budget. […]
In several Chicago suburbs, slates of candidates have been telling a similar narrative about their districts: wasteful spending, plus lower test scores caused by distracting ideological lessons on sex, gender, mental health and diversity. In Barrington and a few other suburban districts, they also have the support of well-funded political action committees with multiple contributions of over $1,000.
Awake Illinois, a statewide conservative parent group, is leading the charge on many of these issues, opposing Illinois’ sex ed standards to prevent students from becoming what it calls “sexualized illiterate radicals.” This fall and winter, it hosted candidate training sessions led by the Leadership Institute, a Virginia-based organization that trains conservative candidates around the country. Awake Illinois says it has identified over 75 candidates for potential endorsements.
Illinois Families for Public Schools has compiled a list of a lot of groups that are pushing school board candidates. Click here if you’re interested.
* From the Richard Uihlein-funded 1776 Project PAC…
Chicago got rid of Lori Lightfoot yesterday.
Now it's time for the state of Illinois to get rid of their woke school boards.
Pritzker’s effort to influence school board races has drawn criticism from Republican leaders, including Lake County Republican Party Chair Keith Brin.
“Our school boards shouldn’t be partisan, and our schools shouldn’t be political,” Brin said. “Gov. Pritzker is forcing partisan politics onto our local schools while trying to force his ideology onto local communities who ought to be able to set their own priorities for their schools.”
The Lake County Republican Party held a candidate training session for prospective school board members earlier this year. Back to the Daily Herald…
Mark Cramer, running for reelection to the Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 board, is one of four candidates endorsed by the local conservative group Citizens for Kids Education (C4KE). He also received a $6,000 donation from Richard Uihlein last year, and another $6,000 this year from Palatine Township GOP leader David Prichard. […]
“Pritzker is trying to define any Republican as a radical right-winger,” Cramer said. “He wants to drive the wedge. He wants this culture war to continue.”
* From the synopsis of SB2152. The Senate extended its committee passage deadline to March 24th after it wasn’t approved by the Executive Committee before last Friday’s deadline…
Amends the State Universities, Downstate Teachers, and Board of Investment Articles of the Illinois Pension Code. Provides that the State Treasurer shall manage the System’s or Investment Board’s domestic and international proxy voting activity and execute required ballots on behalf of the System or Investment Board.
An amendment would repeal the law on January 1, 2027, near the end of Treasurer Michael Frerichs’ current term.
* From the State Universities Retirement System…
SURS Board Votes to Oppose SB 2152
Legislation would transfer proxy voting authority to state treasurer, compromising the ability of SURS board to protect assets from undue political influence and to fulfill fiduciary obligations to SURS membership
Champaign, IL – The State Universities Retirement System (SURS) today voted unanimously to oppose Senate Bill 2152, legislation that would transfer all proxy voting authority for SURS assets from the SURS Board of Trustees to the state treasurer.
“Funds in the SURS trust come from employee contributions, employer contributions, state contributions and investment income, noted SURS Chair John Atkinson. “Once funds are deposited into that trust, they belong to SURS members. The SURS Board of Trustees has a legal responsibility to vote proxies due to their role as fiduciaries for SURS members. The state treasurer does not serve on the SURS board and is not a fiduciary to SURS members.”
Proxy voting allows fiduciaries to analyze risk and sets principles for the way asset managers vote on their behalf at shareholder meetings. Those decisions protect the long-term value of the assets.
“Under this legislation, SURS does not have control over how the state treasurer votes SURS proxies,” added Atkinson. “We cannot tell the treasurer how to vote and we cannot hold them accountable for how they vote. It gives one statewide elected official unilateral control over the long-term value of SURS assets.”
SURS has a proxy voting policy in accordance with fiduciary duties and utilizes a provider, Glass Lewis, to execute proxy votes in accordance with that policy.
Reports of proxy votes are provided to the SURS board on a quarterly basis, posted on SURS website on a summary-level, and are available on a detailed-level under FOIA.
* I reached out to Treasurer Frerichs’ office for comment…
Voting corporate proxies sounds like the dry stuff of legal filings. But proxy voting is about ensuring that corporations create long-term value for the working families whose pensions depend on wise investments. It is too important to be left in the hands of Wall Street insiders.
Every working day, the Illinois Treasurer’s Office works with other institutional investors – union pension funds, diverse fund managers, and treasurers from other states – to hold corporate boards and managers accountable. Actions speak louder than words. The actions that my office has taken and the proxy votes we have cast are all listed on our website.
The legislation I proposed is about changing how the State of Illinois – including the state’s pension systems – vote their proxies and engage with the corporations in which we invest. At the end of the day, this bill fights for worker security and can bring about efficiency and transparency. I am an optimist, and that is why I know this is the start of a conversation, not an end.
We are off to a good start. I look forward to sharing ideas, improving transparency, and continuing our collective fight to make it easier to pay the rent, send our children to school, and secure a dignified retirement.
When Jim Vinicky attended a traditional Swedish Christmas Eve dinner at his high school girlfriend’s house in Hinsdale, he brought a jar of giardiniera.
It was an audacious move. The spiced and brined vegetables clashed with the family’s admittedly bland homemade sausage, pickled herring and hunks of cheese.
It was tolerated by her parents. And secretly heralded by the rest of his future in-laws.
Mr. Vinicky, who grew up in neighboring LaGrange and was under the impression that everyone in Hinsdale was rich, mistook his girlfriend’s mother for the family maid the first time he went to their house, the family recalled.
“We were Cubs and Chicago Tribune people, and he came into the family and was a White Sox guy who read the Sun-Times,” said Brenda Lundstrom, Mr. Vinicky’s sister-in-law.
The Sun-Times lost its great obit writer Maureen O’Donnell when she stepped away from the job last year. Dudek has some big shoes to fill, but he’s really stepping up. And Jim Vinicky sounds like he was one heckuva guy.
* Chalkbeat | Illinois students are required to learn Black history. But what’s being taught varies.: In Illinois, a 1990 state law requires schools to teach a unit of African American history. But more than 30 years after the Illinois law passed, gaps in the teaching of Black history remain. The law lacks an enforcement mechanism, and does not include a way to track when Black history is taught during the school year and what students are learning about it; there are no required textbooks or curriculum.
* Tribune | Whether the Chicago Bears leave or not, taxpayers are on the hook for growing Soldier Field debt payments: Due to refinancing and years of primarily paying interest instead of principal, the debt owed for Soldier Field has ballooned from the original $399 million to $631 million, according to the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, or ISFA, which manages the debt payments. The increase in the debt alarms experts who work in stadium financing.
* Farm Week | Get to know Senate President Don Harmon: My No. 1 priority is the financial stability of our state. Unfortunately, we all lived through the nightmare of the state being unable to pay its bills and the economic shockwaves that sent through our local communities.
* Crain’s | Things to watch as ‘ComEd Four’ trial finally begins: The trial gets under way, too, just days after a federal jury in Ohio convicted that state’s similarly powerful former House speaker, Republican Larry Householder, in a scheme eerily like what ComEd admitted to running for nearly a decade in a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s office in Chicago.
* Center Square | Suspended no-cash bail law set for Tuesday hearing at Illinois Supreme Court: The Illinois Supreme Court hears the case Tuesday. It’s unclear if two justices on the panel of seven will recuse themselves from oral arguments after being the recipients of $1 million campaign donations from Pritzker before last year’s election. While the judicial code of conduct doesn’t require such action, independent observers say any appearance of conflict should lead to recusals to secure the integrity of the judiciary and its decisions.
* AP | Illinois enacts mandatory paid leave ‘for any reason’: Just Maine and Nevada mandate earned paid time time off and allot employees the freedom to decide how to use it, but Illinois’ law is further reaching, unencumbered by limits based on business size. Similarly structured regulations that require employers to offer paid sick leave exist in 14 states and Washington, D.C., but workers can only use that for health-related reasons.
* Daily Herald | ‘More of my friends might be alive’: Is a safe haven for drug users the answer to overdose surge?: The rise in drug overdoses in Illinois and the dramatic increase in fentanyl seizures by law enforcement have lawmakers reaching for solutions. One of the latest, backed by advocates for those battling substance abuse disorders and by some suburban legislators, is the proposed opening of a safe haven in Chicago for illicit-drug users.
* Bloomberg | CME Group CEO Duffy says wife’s carjacking highlights ‘insane’ Chicago crime: “Three o’clock in the afternoon, my wife got carjacked right in the city of Chicago and it’s absolutely insane what’s going on here,” Duffy told the ICE House Podcast in an interview. “Ninety percent of the carjackings in Chicago are done by juveniles. So the juveniles go in and they come right back out literally an hour later.”
* Tribune | Chicago Fire to lease Chicago Housing Authority land on Near West Side: After plans for a facility in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood fell through, the team will build a 53,000 square-foot, two-story performance center with multiple soccer pitches in Roosevelt Square on the site of CHA’s former ABLA Homes housing complex.
* Sun-Times | With Lightfoot a lame duck, City Council looks to declare independence: Finance Committee Chairman Scott Waguespack (32nd), Contracting Oversight and Equity Chairman Jason Ervin (28th) and Rules Committee Chairwoman Michelle Harris (8th) are working behind the scenes to reorganize and empower the Council before a new mayor and Council are seated.
* Crain’s | New super PAC backing Vallas could allow dark money into mayoral runoff: Greg Goldner, founder and manager of Resolute Public Affairs, has formed the Priorities Chicago political action committee, created as an independent expenditure committee that can raise unlimited funds in support or opposition of a candidate, but is barred from coordinating the spending with a candidate’s campaign.
* Crain’s | What Chicago can learn from San Diego’s budget process: The vast majority of city employees in San Diego — and in Chicago, I suspect — want to do the right thing for the city. The challenge is to convince them that you’re trying to accomplish the same thing, and once we were able to do that, it hasn’t been difficult to get the information that we need.
* AP | Biden expected to sign new executive order on gun control: President Joe Biden is expected to sign an executive order on Tuesday aiming to increase the number of background checks to buy guns, promote better and more secure firearms storage and ensure U.S. law enforcement agencies are getting the most out of a bipartisan gun control law enacted last summer.
* Bloomberg | Does Daylight Saving Time save energy?: The latest iteration of the Sunshine Protection Act doesn’t present DST as such. A one-pager of the bill briefly mentions reduced energy usage, and cites the 2008 Department of Energy study, but it also notes that research has “shown that the energy savings are minimal.” Instead, Rubio focuses on a more basic objection to springing forward and falling back: “This ritual of changing time twice a year is stupid.”
* NYT | A Giant Blob of Seaweed is Heading to Florida: The mass, known as the great Atlantic Sargassum belt, is drifting toward the Gulf of Mexico. Scientists say seaweed is likely to come ashore by summer to create a rotting, stinking, scourge.
* Gov. Pritzker was asked again today about the Chicago mayor’s race and whether he’d met with the two candidates…
I have. I’ve met with each of them. And I’ve told them that my intention is to work with whoever wins this race. And so I’ve looked forward to hearing even more. I know we’ve got a few weeks left in this campaign, but you know, it’s important that the governor work with the mayor, whoever that is. And so I’m gonna watch. And, of course, I’m a voter, I live in Chicago, I’ll have to make that decision when the time comes.
He was then asked if the candidates had asked him for his endorsement…
They have, and I’ve told them, as I’ve told all of you, I think it’s important for me to stay clear of endorsing, mainly because I want to make sure that we’re able to work together, whoever it is that wins.
* Pritzker made those comments at a bill-signing event…
Governor JB Pritzker today signed SB208 into law, making Illinois the third state in the nation, and the first in the Midwest, to mandate paid time off to be used for any reason. The historic legislation provides employees with up to 40 hours of paid leave during a 12-month period, meaning approximately 1.5 million workers will begin earning paid time off starting in 2024.
“Working families face so many challenges, and it’s been my mission to alleviate those burdens in every way I can. Today, we will become the third state in the nation to require paid time off, and the first among the largest states,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “Employers benefit from allowing employees to tend to the urgent personal matters of their lives. Workers’ productivity increases, and they often gain greater passion for their job when they can manage the stresses they face outside work. I’m exceptionally proud that labor and business came together to recognize the value of this requirement to employees and employers alike.” […]
Under existing law, workers are not guaranteed pay when taking time off for sick leave, childcare, mental health reasons, medical appointments, vacation, or any other reason. Starting on March 31st, 2024, or 90 days following commencement of employment, workers can begin using their earned time off for any reason without the requirement of providing documentation to their employer under the Paid Leave for Workers Act.
This new law applies to every employee working for an employer in Illinois, including domestic workers, but does exclude independent contractors. The City of Chicago and Cook County have an existing paid sick leave ordinance in place; employees and employers in those two geographic regions will be subject to those ordinances. The law will also exempt employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement in the construction industry and parcel delivery industry.
The legislation provides that paid leave shall accrue at the rate of one hour for every 40 hours worked. Employees will be paid their full wage while on leave and tipped workers will be paid the minimum wage in their respective locale. An employer cannot require an employee to find their replacement for the leave.
* A state Representative tells me she’s received 500+ emails today opposed to ranked choice voting, with these three minor variations. None of the senders live in her district…
Ranked choice voting turns winners into losers – Do not support it!
Dear Representative xxxx,
I am an Illinois voter and would like your help in fighting against ranked choice voting in our state. This unnecessary, partisan process turns winners into losers and complicates voting. Please don’t let this happen in Illinois and vote against ranked choice voting.
No Ranked Choice Voting in Illinois
As an Illinois voter, I compel you to not let outside influences corrupt the voting process in our state with ranked-choice voting. Ranked choice voting disenfranchises voters and is not needed in Illinois. Please don’t let ranked choice voting become a reality here.
Protect my right to vote and vote NO on HB 2807 & HB 2716
Dear Representative xxxx,
I cherish my sacred right to vote, and I do not want the process in Illinois complicated by ranked-choice voting. This is an unnecessary practice that serves to confuse voters and makes it difficult to count votes. As an Illinois voter, I ask you to vote against Ranked-Choice Voting.
An ongoing shortage of a medicine commonly used to treat people with breathing problems is expected to get worse after a major supplier to U.S. hospitals shut down last week.
Liquid albuterol has been in short supply since last summer, according to the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists. It has been on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s shortages list since October. The news of the plant shutdown worries some doctors who work with patients with breathing problems such as asthma. […]
The manufacturer that recently shut down, Akorn Operating Company LLC, had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May 2020.
It was the only company to make certain albuterol products used for continuous nebulizer treatment. It’s a staple in children’s hospitals, but had been out of stock since last fall. Without that particular form of the product, hospitals have had to scramble to find alternatives.
Federal prosecutors plan to call 70 witnesses to prove that four former ComEd employees and lobbyists doled out jobs, contracts and payments to illegally influence one of Illinois’ most powerful politicians.
* Something to keep in mind…
A reminder to everyone, Signature Bank Chicago is not affiliated at all to the now closed Signature Bank New York.
Again, Signature Bank Chicago is completely separate and unaffiliated to Signature Bank New York, and Signature Chicago customers should see no change in service. https://t.co/j5m16F4Yb1
* Joe Cahill |Pritzker’s power plan gets a reality check: Pritzker, for his part, shows no interest in adjusting the schedule for closing carbon-emitting plants. His spokeswoman dismisses the possibility of power shortages, saying “we’ll be able to meet the power needs in Illinois,” provided PJM and MISO “accelerate the interconnection of all the renewable power” that developers have proposed in their regions. She adds that CEJA is just one of many factors contributing to PJM’s concerns about power capacity throughout its service area.
* Arne Duncan and Tim Daly | Illinois can hold rogue actors in gun industry accountable under Consumer Fraud Act: Rogue gun manufacturers and dealers who negligently or recklessly sell firearms in Illinois must be held accountable to more effectively reduce gun violence in our communities. To do so, policymakers need to clarify the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, or Consumer Fraud Act, to ensure that the gun industry is held to the same basic principles of civil justice as everyone else.
* Crain’s | Rivian negotiating end to exclusivity deal with Amazon: report: Electric vehicle maker Rivian and tech giant Amazon are reportedly negotiating to alter their current partnership to allow Rivian to sell its electric vans to others and end its exclusive deal with Amazon. According to The Wall Street Journal, Rivian’s request follows Amazon’s decision to buy around 10,000 vans in 2023, which falls at the lower end of the agreement established in 2019 for 100,000 vans purchased by 2030.
* Patch | LTHS Admits Open Meetings Violations: In a letter to the attorney general Wednesday, the school’s lawyer said officials failed to cite the legal exception for the board to close its doors. This happened a half dozen times for closed meetings from April to November last year. The topic was the plan to sell the school’s land in Willow Springs.
* Reuters | Caterpillar union workers vote in favor of six-year labor agreement: The contract covers roughly 7,000 union workers at plants in central Illinois and a parts distribution center in York, Pennsylvania. In a notice seen by Reuters, 71.5% of union members voted to accept the tentative agreement. The union did not disclose how many workers voted.
* Forbes | What Happened To Signature Bank? The Latest Bank Failure Marks Third Largest In History: State regulators in New York shuttered Signature Bank—a 23-year-old regional bank that had previously focused on digital assets by becoming one of a few banks to accept crypto deposits—after regulators warned the stability of the financial system could be threatened if the bank remained open.
* SJ-R | Grandview municipal building to be named for former Illinois Supreme Court justice: Former Illinois Supreme Court Justice Robert Carter remembered as a kid growing up in the 2300 block of East Grandview riding his bike over, with his brother, Randy, and neighborhood friend, Dennis Dyson, several blocks to a baseball diamond where neighborhood kids would gather.
* Tribune | Taste of Chicago, Jazz Fest and 2023 summer season announced: Summer festival season has been announced. The big news: Taste of Chicago will have three preview events in Chicago neighborhoods over the summer, then take place in Grant Park Sept. 8-10. Also in the lineup, Chicago Blues Festival in Millennium Park in June, Chicago Air and Water Show Aug. 19-20 and Chicago Jazz Festival at the end of summer.
* WGN | Chicago man files class action suit against Buffalo Wild Wings, says boneless wings are just nuggets: The complaint seeks to challenge what it calls “the false and deceptive marketing and advertising of Buffalo Wild Wings’ Boneless Wings,” and goes on to say, “Specifically, the name and description of the Products (i.e., as “Boneless Wings”) leads reasonable consumers to believe the Products are actually chicken wings.”
A new bill being proposed in the legislature would bring Illinois into the 21st century by modernizing its virtual car dealer laws. […]
Existing Illinois law is vague about whether new and used car dealers can sell their products online, and get electronic signatures for purchase.
“This bill is designed to modernize Illinois law regulating the home-delivery of purchased vehicles, to ensure customers don’t have to go to a physical facility just to sign some paperwork,” Will Munsil, Senior Corporate Counsel for Carvana told WAND News. […]
The bill has been voted out of the Senate Judiciary Committee and is now set for a third reading in the full Senate later this month. It still needs approval in both the Senate and House before becoming law.
State Rep. Kam Buckner (D-26th) is concerned about turnout in Chicago municipal elections after concluding his campaign for mayor. […]
Buckner nevertheless suggested working with organizations like Chicago Votes and the League of Women Voters to have “a more intentional and streamlined approach” to boost turnout.
He also has some legislative changes in mind, including lowering the voting age for state and local elections from 18 to 16. […]
Buckner has also filed legislation to allow municipalities to adopt ranked-choice voting without an affirmative ballot referendum.
Illinois lawmakers advanced a bill last week that would effectively abolish life sentences for any incarcerated individual who was under the age of 21 when they received their sentence.
In January, Gov. JB Pritzker signed a law that makes any individual who was under the age of 21 when sentenced to life in prison eligible for parole review after they served 40 years or more of their sentence. But the measure only applied to those sentenced on or after June 1, 2019.
Senate Bill 2073, carried by Republican Sen. Seth Lewis, of Bartlett, would extend the measure retroactively to apply to any currently incarcerated individual who was sentenced before turning 21. The law signed by Pritzker in January takes effect Jan. 1, 2024, and SB 2073 would be effective July 1, 2024.
“The 3,251 current inmates who were sentenced prior to June 1, 2019, or Jan. 1, 2024, should have the opportunity (for parole review),” Lewis said in committee. “That is the essence of this bill.”
The measure passed out of committee on a 7-3 vote and awaits action from the full House.
* HB 1568 was re-referred to Rules Committee on Friday. WCBU…
A bill intended to protect the public’s right to access navigable waters — first introduced in the Illinois House in January — is under consideration again.
The bill’s language explains that while the amendment would not change any actual law, it would protect the public’s right to access and use any waters that are currently, or have been in the past, used for recreational and commercial purposes.
The Prairie Rivers Network is promoting the bill. Robert Hirschfeld, senior water policy specialist, said it is disappointing to hear of the initial denial of the amendment. He said the issue stems from events in U.S. history that protect the public’s right to waterways.
“So, the Northwest Ordinance, right at the end of the 1700s, which brought new territory in the United States, the federal navigation, servitude, and other bodies of federal law grant the public rights to use navigable waters,” he said, “and our position is that the state of Illinois and state agencies have improperly restricted that right.” […]
Hirschfeld and the Prairie Rivers Network intend to return the bill to the General Assembly in the next legislative session.
House Bill 2910 provides that a person who holds an animal in the person’s lap while operating a motor vehicle is guilty of a petty offense. The bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Jawaharial Williams, D-Chicago, said pets aren’t covered under distracted driving laws.
“The new law would allow police officers to pull you over if they see that you are driving with an animal in your lap, whatever the animal may be,” Williams said.
Williams cited a AAA survey that showed that 31% of drivers with pets said they have been distracted by their pets while driving, and 20% of drivers who have admitted to driving with the pet on their lap have been involved in accidents.
Offenders would be subject to a $50 fine. The measure moved out of the transportation committee and is headed to the House floor.
Violence on public transit in Illinois and around the country remains near the highest levels seen in the past decade.
State Rep. Eva-Dina Delgado, D-Chicago, said House Bill 1342 would suspend the riding privileges of those responsible for abusive behavior.
“Transit officials have found that the same folks keep repeatedly abusing their riding privileges by harassing folks or outright harming folks, and those folks could include our transit workers, and/or their fellow riders,” Delgado said.
Supporters of the legislation say the dangerous working conditions have led to a shortage of public transit workers statewide.
The measure moved out of the transportation committee and is headed to the House floor.
Chicago is in a public safety crisis, and the last thing we need is a candidate who wants to defund the police. I’m running for Mayor to put crime reduction and public safety first. pic.twitter.com/cIt0F5tsfu
* The public sector union vs. private sector union split is fully on display in the Chicago mayoral race…
AFSCME, union that represents more than 11,000 active and retired public service workers who live in the city of Chicago, endorses Brandon Johnson, first time they’ve weighed in since Harold Washington.
This morning, three large construction unions announced their endorsement of Paul Vallas in the upcoming runoff election for Mayor of Chicago. The unions were joined by former Secretary of State Jesse White, who endorsed Vallas earlier this month.
Among the unions were the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 134, and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 9. In total, the unions represent about 40,000 workers. These endorsements come only days after the Plumbers Local 130, which represents more than 6,000 members, announced its endorsement of Vallas.
In addition to its endorsement, the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150 committed $1 million to the effort to elect Paul Vallas.
“The men and women here today built Chicago,” said White, who has been an influential voice in Illinois politics for nearly fifty years. “These unions are committed to a bright future for this city, and their unity on this endorsement symbolizes the vital role that Vallas will play in shaping that future.”
* Think about the framing of this policy idea for a moment…
The centerpiece of mayoral candidate Paul Vallas’ plan to reverse decades of disinvestment on the South and West sides of Chicago is the creation of an independent community development authority that would limit the ability of Chicago City Council members to have final say on ward-level issues.
What the idea boils down to is wanting to help Black wards by disempowering Black alderpersons and then handing over control to an unelected “independent community development authority.”
Don’t get me wrong, I’m in favor of drastically reducing aldermanic prerogative. It just feels a bit too “on-brand” to sell it this way.
* Counting the same money twice is also on-brand for Vallas…
Vallas also proposes creating a municipal bank, which would hold the authority’s funds, which would come from “a dedicated portion of all new revenues from [tax-increment financing districts] and all developer fees, future casino, sports betting and gaming revenues” that would be earmarked for investments on the South and West sides. […]
However, state law requires Chicago to use all casino revenues to fund its police and fire pensions.
* This policy idea reminds me of candidate Bruce Rauner’s empty pledge to prosecute corruption out of his own office…
Even more unproven is Vallas’ plan to establish a “Law Department Municipal Prosecution Unit” to try the city’s cases itself, which likely would require a change in state law.
Christened the “Anjanette Young Ordinance” as a nod to the Black social worker who was forced to stand naked in her home as several Chicago officers in 2019 executed a search warrant at the wrong location, the legislation is opposed by Lightfoot, who has said it was not grounded in the reality of policing. Young has endorsed Johnson for mayor.
The latest proposed version would add a provision that mandates officers seeking warrants to first conduct at least a week of surveillance on the location.
A week?
* Also…
Hard to imagine cops being more amenable to reform, no matter who is pushing it.
But it's pretty easy to imagine the guy endorsed by the FOP who negotiated their last contract wouldn't actually push for reform. https://t.co/n4v6BrhTdV
Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson said he will not raise property taxes if elected. … Johnson is proposing a slew of new revenues, mostly in new taxes on big businesses.
The CTU always opposes property tax hikes, relying instead on “tax the rich” proposals, many of which would require state legislative approval or even constitutional change or a strong belief in unicorns.
Former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas said he would cap the city’s property tax levy, but has been less clear about whether that means we would not raise property taxes at all. A spokesperson said Vallas is “committed to not raising city property taxes.” … Vallas, meanwhile, promises to use budgetary acumen to work within the existing budget’s bounds.
He claims to be a unicorn wizard. I’d beg to differ.
* Vallas constantly heaps praise on private and charter schools, but his own words on 60 Minutes when he was running the New Orleans school district undercuts his arguments. Most of the schools are simply too small to accommodate kids with special needs, and there are lot of those kids in Chicago…
We don't applaud Paul Vallas opening up new charter schools in New Orleans, and then putting a gate on them to keep SPED students out. 😡
A new poll of more than 800 likely Chicago mayoral election voters found that former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas is holding a lead over Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson, and several key voting blocs could play a significant role in determining the outcome of the race.
The poll, conducted by Victory Research, asked 806 likely runoff voters about their preferences in the upcoming election, with Vallas collecting 44.9% of the vote. Johnson grabbed 39.1% of the vote, with 16% of respondents saying they are still undecided for the April 4 runoff.
The margin of error in the poll was 3.45%, with a mix of respondents on land lines and cell phones, according to the polling company.
Adding some intrigue to the proceedings was the number of voters who said that their choices could change. According to the poll, 18% of respondents said they could change their minds prior to Election Day, meaning that one-third of the voters either haven’t settled on a candidate or could move to the other in the two-man race.
Victory Research also cited demographic data that showed two key groups that could help determine the outcome of the race. Voters living near the city’s lakefront, normally a key constituency in the race, are narrowly favoring Vallas by a 44-to-41 margin.
Spurred by the fatal shooting of Rekia Boyd by then-Chicago police officer Dante Servin in 2012, they organized a movement that led to the creation of elected civilian councils and a civilian commission with police oversight powers—the first such bodies in the city’s, and the nation’s, history. By the end of election night, the [Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression ] candidates and organizers in the ballroom had won 62 percent of the council seats.
The Chicago City Council passed the Empowering Communities for Public Safety (ECPS) ordinance, which created the district councils and CCPSA, following not only years of grassroots organizing by CAARPR and its allies in the Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability (GAPA), but also months of negotiations with Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who tried to block giving any police oversight powers to elected civilians, despite supporting it during her 2019 campaign. What came out of those negotiations was a compromise that gave some oversight powers to the CCPSA and kept some in the mayor’s office.
Each of the city’s 22 police districts will have a three-member elected PDC that interacts with the community and can make recommendations to local police commanders. Those district-level councils also nominate members of the citywide CCPSA and make reports and recommendations to them. They also are in charge of nominating people to fill vacancies on the district councils themselves (which may be necessary immediately after this election in at least one district).
* Tribune | Crime is a top issue for Chicago voters. Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson offer sharp contrasts to public safety: Johnson represents some of the city’s most violent neighborhoods and repeatedly discusses crime in personal terms. He talks about shielding his children from gunfire on his block that sometimes has pierced his home’s windows and a classmate of his oldest son who died in a shooting this school year. “I have more incentive than Paul Vallas for a safer, stronger Chicago,” he’s argues. “I’m living it, just like families are all over the city. We have to get it right.”
* WBEZ | Paul Vallas and Brandon Johnson have vastly different visions for Chicago’s taxes and finances: Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson said he will not raise property taxes if elected. Former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas said he would cap the city’s property tax levy, but has been less clear about whether that means we would not raise property taxes at all. A spokesperson said Vallas is “committed to not raising city property taxes.”
* Laura Washington | Chicago mayoral race is a job interview. Voters should ask: Who is more experienced?: We have heard much about how the runoff candidates, Paul Vallas, a former Chicago Public Schools CEO, and Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson, are polar opposites on issues, policy and ideology. Yet throughout these months of campaign debates, forums and news conferences, not so much about experience.
* Crain’s | As mayor, Johnson would revive push for anti-homelessness ‘mansion tax’: The Bring Chicago Home proposal spearheaded by homeless advocates would more than triple the transfer tax that a buyer of a residential or commercial property at $1 million or more would pay. The transfer tax is a one-time payment at the time of purchase, not a recurring expense like property taxes.
* Sun-Times | City must push forward in holding businesses, residential buildings responsible for recycling: The Streets and Sanitation Department has corrected “two problems” and partly fixed another since the IG’s audit in late 2020 revealed that it “makes no attempt to identify noncompliant commercial or high-density residential buildings.” But it has a way to go, Inspector General Deborah Witzburg said in her follow-up report earlier this month.
* Tribune | Smoke detectors save lives, but Chicago has slow-walked efforts to toughen rules: Illinois policymakers have been straining in recent years to catch up with national trends in safety standards to make sure modern, reliable smoke alarms are installed in every home so that tragedies like the Humboldt Park fire are not repeated. But their efforts have been repeatedly undermined by real estate interests, by Chicago Fire Department officials who have lobbied to delay and weaken regulations, and by lackluster outreach and spotty enforcement on the part of city officials, an investigation by the Illinois Answers Project and the Tribune found.
* Crain’s | Juul settles with Chicago for nearly $24 million: Since 2018, Chicago has filed nine lawsuits against 45 online vaping retailers, reaching settlements with 50 companies in exchange for agreements to change their business practices and pay almost $27 million in fines, the statement said. It has also won about $2 million in fines from default judgments against seven online vaping businesses, it said.
* Crain’s | A Chicagoan to know: Sammy Dorf of cannabis firm Verano: Sammy Dorf is co-founder of Chicago-based Verano Holdings, one of the largest cannabis companies in the nation, boasting more than 120 dispensaries in 13 states, 14 cultivation and production facilities, and nearly 4,000 employees. Dorf, 38, and his wife live in the Gold Coast neighborhood and just had their first child, a boy, in late February.
Springfield mayoral candidate Misty Buscher is calling for revitalizing the dormant beach house at Lake Springfield and making it a haven for food trucks, concerts and outdoor activities. […]
In the wake of a 2007 drowning at Lake Springfield, the beach house has only been used for planned events such as weddings. Swimming is no longer allowed at the beach. […]
She has worked with an architectural firm to create renderings for what such a park might look like.
“We would just take a small bite of the apple each year,” she said. “The most expensive phase would be the dock. But everything – the picnic tables, the building, the renovations, the dock – would be a total of $1 million.”
If Springfield ever hopes to attract people to and keep people in this town, it needs to do lots more stuff like this, especially since the law requiring new state jobs be located in Springfield was heavily watered down not long ago.
And good on the candidate for coming up with this idea and putting in some actual work.
I am writing to you to talk about the elephant in the room, Vote By Mail. Each election cycle, we see that the general public is choosing to vote by mail in increasing numbers. This phenomenon is consistent across all types of voters, as the chart below illustrates. And of course, Democrats utilize Vote By Mail at a much higher rate than Republicans. Democrats have won many close elections on the strength of their Vote By Mail programs. Quite simply, Republicans will have an uphill battle in every election moving forward if we do not start utilizing Vote By Mail to our advantage — especially now that Illinois authorizes permanent Vote By Mail lists, which will disproportionately impact the results of our municipal elections, especially our local school boards.
We are acutely aware of problems with the Vote By Mail process. However, the harsh reality is that until we have the numbers in the legislature to change it, we have to play to win under the existing rules and we must increase Republican voter turnout by greater use of Vote By Mail. In contrast to our genuine concerns about how certain aspects of voting by mail undermine fair and honest elections, there is relatively little increased risk of fraudulent abuse of your ballot when you vote by mail as opposed to voting in person. In a sense, voting by mail can actually decrease the possibility of a bad actor voting your ballot for you.
Even for voters who prefer not to vote by mail, participating in the Vote By Mail process has advantages. Our partners at the Illinois Conservative Union speak about a “claim your name, secure your vote” strategy to Vote By Mail voting that was used with success in Virginia in 2021, and their viewpoint bears repeating here.
First, we encourage our voters to request a Vote By Mail ballot as early in the process as possible. Once that ballot arrives, the voter has “claimed their name, and secured their vote.” With that ballot in hand, there is no possibility that anyone else can cast that ballot, or request a ballot in that voter’s name.
At this point, if that voter wants to cast a ballot by mail, he or she may obviously do so. However, if that voter wants to vote in person – whether through Early Voting or on Election Day – that voter simply takes the Vote By Mail ballot with them to their polling place, and surrenders it to the election judges.
We’d want our voters to be sure to watch the election judge write “SPOILED” on the Vote By Mail ballot and secure it in a “Spoiled Ballot” envelope. After this, the voter may proceed to vote in-person at the polling place.
The wisdom of this approach is that it provides our voters with flexibility. Under this approach, if something comes up at the last minute, and a voter cannot vote in person, they can still vote using a Vote By Mail ballot. An executed Vote By Mail ballot can be delivered using the mail, in-person OR by a trusted friend or family member, using the affidavit on the Vote By Mail envelope. Whether it is in-person voting or voting by mail, we can protect our vote by claiming our name and ensuring that our ballot is cast. Whether you are a fan of voting by mail or not, it is the law of the land in Illinois. Until we elect enough Republicans to change it, we must use this system to the greatest extent possible so that we can do just that: elect more Republicans.
The included chart…
Thoughts?
…Adding… A buddy of mine with access to an Illinois Policy Institute private Facebook group just sent me this text…
The IPI guys have been trying to convince their private group members to vote by mail for months.
Every time they post its just a stream of comments decrying fraud, etc.
Almost two months into his term in the General Assembly, Republican St. Rep. Jed Davis says Republicans are sometimes part of the problem. He says a few have the attitude that they can put lobbyist interests over those of constituents because the lobbyists will protect them. Davis isn’t naming them but says only a few have made those comments, so he’s holding on to hope. That’s one of three things he calls his most shocking discoveries since taking office.
Davis also isn’t happy that nothing starts on time. He says it’s not unusual to wait 40 to 50 minutes for a session to start. He says a Republican caucus on Tuesday lasted until 2:50pm, even though six committees were scheduled to start meetings at 2:00. He says a meeting is considered to be on time if it’s 20 minutes late.
The Newark Republican did tell the station that he feels “beyond blessed” to serve. Go read the rest. Rep. Davis defeated incumbent Rep. David Welter in the GOP primary last year.
* I strongly encouraged subscribers to read the Chicago Tribune’s preview of the “ComEd 4″ trial earlier today, and now I’ll do the same for everyone else. Click here.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker declared last week when announcing the formation of the Behavioral Health Workforce Education Center that the state was building “the best behavioral health system in the nation.”
It was quite a bold thing to say. So, my associate Isabel Miller and I asked a couple of follow-up questions: How long will this take, and how much will it cost?
The response from a spokesperson was kinda underwhelming: “Under Governor Pritzker’s leadership, the state has invested hundreds of millions of dollars to rebuild our behavioral health infrastructure and the Governor is committed to continuing these critical investments year after year to build the best system in the nation. Illinois has climbed in the national rankings by putting our people first and we’re on the right path if we continue to make generational change. With our statewide partnerships and continued investment Illinois will soon serve as the national standard for a behavioral health system that prioritizes workers and provides the best possible care for those who need it.”
That obviously didn’t answer either of our questions. And no Brownie Points for brevity, either. Sorry to make you read it.
Also, the background information the governor’s office sent about the administration’s progress didn’t quite match up with the governor’s flowery rhetoric.
Recent national rankings issued by Mental Health America, a group founded more than a century ago, show Illinois has moved from an 11th-place overall mental health back in 2018 to 9th place this year. An overall ranking of 1-13, according to the organization, “indicates lower prevalence of mental illness and higher rates of access to care.”
However, the state’s ranking for adults actually slipped during that time period, from 8th to 9th, and the ranking for youth remained at 13th. This despite spending hundreds of millions of additional dollars since the start of 2019 on mental health initiatives.
Even so, a key stakeholder heaped praise on the governor’s plan to use the new Behavioral Health Workforce Education Center to lead the revamp of the long-troubled Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center in deep southern Illinois.
Equip for Equality issued an investigative report back in 2005 that documented numerous horrors at Choate. The group called for the facility’s closure at the time. “Nearly two decades later,” the group claimed last week via press release, “enhanced monitoring activities show little has changed.”
The group says Choate residents continue to be “segregated” from their community “without receiving the necessary services to actually address why they ended up there.” Residents, the group said, continue to be “afraid of staff and peers, and afraid of retaliation if they report staff abuse.”
“Many of the recent news stories are about incidents that happened a year or more ago,” said Stacey Aschemann, Equip for Equality’s vice president in charge of monitoring the conditions at Choate. “Based on our recent monitoring, we can say without a doubt that these continue to be ongoing issues.”
So, why has it taken so long for the state to act? The governor told reporters the state simply hadn’t had the financial resources to do enough about the problem. The new Behavioral Health Workforce Education Center has been in the works for five years and will hopefully help the state increase the workforce size enough to deal with the issues, not only at Choate, but throughout the state. With more tax revenues coming in, the state can start getting a handle on things.
And, make no mistake, the problems are severe, despite what national rankings may show. Currently, 15,000 people are on a waiting list for community-based intellectual and developmental disabilities placement, according to a report last week by Capitol News Illinois, Lee Enterprises and ProPublica Illinois.
Those outlets’ reporting on Choate, by the way, sparked the recent intense interest in the facility’s many problems and helped push the administration into action, a fact that Pritzker himself has acknowledged.
There are, of course, parochial concerns about any changes at Choate. Sen. Terri Bryant (R-Murphysboro), who represents the area, claimed the central problem is with facility management (a good point) and said she opposed moving residents out of the facility (not so good). AFSCME, of course, is worried about the future of its members at Choate.
The bottom line is the state just has to get smarter. These problems have existed for decades and decades, and the folks at Choate and thousands of others across this state deserve care and help, not physical abuse and neglect. The people in charge need to be better than this, so this attempt to bring new workers into the system and keep them there cannot fail.
* Sun-Times | It’s not Madigan’s trial, but the feds’ big upcoming case is all about the former speaker: The trial will give jurors a close-up view of how Springfield operated in the last decade. They’ll hear talk of an “old-fashioned patronage system.” And they’ll learn how an apparent obsession with pleasing Madigan might have prompted four officials to cross a legal line as ComEd sought to pass legislation it valued at more than $150 million.
* Jeff Epton | An open letter to Paul Vallas: Learn from my dad, Bernard Epton, and pivot to a different message: In 1950, my father ran for Congress in the Republican primary against Richard Vail, then a former congressman and a red-baiting, race-baiting echo of the notorious Wisconsin senator, Joseph McCarthy. Among Bernie’s supporters in that race were leading South Side Black ministers such as Archibald Carey Sr.. Dad also received the endorsement of the Chicago Defender, perhaps the country’s most prominent Black newspaper at the time. But he lost that race.
* WBEZ | Five things to know as the Safe-T Act goes to the Illinois Supreme Court: The state’s attorneys who are trying to overturn portions of the Safe-T act argue that when the constitution says people “shall be bailable by sufficient sureties”— that includes cash bail. So lawmakers can’t get rid of monetary bail without going through the difficult and cumbersome process of changing the constitution first.
* WTTW | Bulldozers Arrived at Bell Bowl at Dawn: At 6 a.m. Thursday, bulldozer headlights appeared at the top of a small hill and in that moment, the 18-month fight to save ancient Bell Bowl Prairie ended.
* Sun-Times | Write-in ballots could threaten 29th Ward Ald. Chris Taliaferro’s bid for reelection: The votes released Sunday showed Taliaferro’s total number of votes at 4,868, but added six write-in votes for Walter Adamczyk and 106 for Lisa Ann Brown Newman. Taliaferro holds 49.76% of the vote and could be headed for a runoff with second-place finisher CB Johnson unless mail-in ballots counted in the next few days shift the results yet again.
* Kam Buckner | Next police superintendent should have 21st century view of policing: There has been a lot of talk about noncompliance with the court-mandated consent decree, but the truth is that while consent decree compliance is a requirement, it should be the floor and not the ceiling. True reform has to be the goal of the next superintendent.
* Tribune | St. Patrick’s Day parade in Chicago’s Loop wraps up after bagpipes, politicians and revelry: The theme of the 68th annual parade — sponsored by Chicago Plumbers Local 130 UA — was “Recognizing Workers Rights.” Union groups, high schools, and corporations made up a majority of the floats and displays, but the tiny ponies, Big Idaho Potato, and Oscar Meyer Wiener car garnered the biggest applause.
* Center Square | As Illinois gaming hits highs, so has gambling debt: In Illinois, 400,000 people have a gambling problem and another 700,000 are at risk for developing a problem. It is almost too easy to gamble these days, Miller said. People play the lottery on their phones. People bet on video games like “Call of Duty.”
* Tribune | Plan for south suburban airport near Peotone rises again, now focused on cargo: Proponents envision an airport that could take advantage of demand for quick delivery and the proliferation of Amazon warehouses, train facilities and highways in Will County. At least one developer is already interested in building out the airport and nearby warehouses, a project that would mark the culmination of the decadeslong effort to get an airport built near Peotone.
* SJ-R | Crowds turn out for St. Patrick’s Day Parade through downtown Springfield: The 37th edition of one of the city’s most famed traditions brought out families and others of all ages and backgrounds to watch 94 different groups wind their way through the parade route that stretched from Jefferson Street and eventually ended at Ninth Street.
* USA Today | ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ rules at Oscars: The multiverse-hopping sensation, “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” ruled the night at Sunday’s Academy Awards, winning seven honors including best picture, best actress (Michelle Yeoh), supporting actress (Jamie Lee Curtis), supporting actor (Ke Huy Quan), directing and original screenplay.
With the passage of the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA) 18 months ago, electric utilities were forced to accept additional consumer rate protections enforced by the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC), but unfortunately gas utilities were left untouched.
Now, the skyrocketing and unpredictable natural gas market will cause well-resourced consumers to install electric heat pumps or build electric heated homes. Those who make the switch will be protected by the regulatory authority of the ICC, which can require transparency and accountability when it comes to prices consumers pay for electricity.
But those who cannot afford to make the shift and remain reliant on natural gas — most of whom are lower-income Black and Brown people and rural residents in Illinois — will have almost no regulation on prices charged by their utilities. The cost to consumers will continue to rise if we leave unchecked the gas utilities’ desire to charge consumers an ever increasing amount for expansion of their natural gas infrastructure. […]
To hold gas utilities accountable and protect consumers, we should enact new laws requiring:
• An audit of the gas distribution infrastructure, so we know how our money has been spent in the last decade;
• Gas distribution planning, so the ICC can better rule on which expenses are necessary;
• Safety standards for gas pipes and distribution, so we can accurately determine what must be replaced and we don’t end up replacing infrastructure unnecessarily.
• An end to the qualified Infrastructure Plant (QIP) charge on consumer bills, which is costing customers as much as $40 per month even with little or no gas usage;
• Energy efficiency programs must be adopted for gas utilities, as they are on electric utilities;
• Require utilities to offer lower rates for low-income customers, so they can get additional relief;
• Allow the ICC to require gas companies to maximize federal funds, so we can minimize the burden on Illinois ratepayers;
• Have performance-based regulations for gas utilities, as we have for the electric utilities, so we can ensure the gas companies’ profits are as promised in the rate making process;
• Pay for the system using volumetric rates, not customer charges — so those who use more gas pay more;
• Improve compensation for intervenors (those who advocate on behalf of consumers in rate cases);
• Initiate new protections against shut-offs and additional payment plan mechanisms.
* After the Gannett/Gatehouse merger, the company got rid of 59 percent of its employees, according to Nieman Lab…
At the end of 2018 — the last full pre-merger year — the two companies had a total of 27,600 employees, according to a Gannett spokesperson. The merger closed in mid-November 2019, by which time it had about 25,000 and was diving headlong into a hunt for “inefficiencies.”
By December 31, 2019, the combined company was down to 21,255. By the end of 2020, that had dropped to 18,141. A year later: 13,800. And its most recent SEC filing reports that, as of the end of 2022, Gannett had just 11,200 employees remaining.
In other words, Gannett has eliminated 59% of its jobs in four years. It’s as if, instead of merging America’s two largest newspaper chains, one of them was simply wiped off the face of the earth.
* Whoever is running this Twitter account has better political investigatory skills than most if not all political reporters in Chicago. Their oppo is almost always the goods…
Perhaps one of our favorite Vallas quotes comes here, "If I have to break the law, I'll break the law."
Recently Mayor Lightfoot took fire for asking teachers to recruit students for political work. It seems Vallas also previously "used children as pawns" for politics. pic.twitter.com/1JH5W7J4bI
The diversity/equity/inclusion mandate remains in place at the University of Illinois. But it’s been repealed at the University of North Carolina system.
This week, the UNC system board removed the compelled speech requirement because it was advised that requiring salutes to the DEI ideology as a condition of hiring and admissions is at odds with free speech. […]
Colleges and universities across the country, including the UI, have embraced the DEI loyalty tests as a means of ensuring either complete political conformity or silence on controversial issues inside and outside the university.
I reached out to UIUC and heard back today from Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Sean Garrick…
Dear Rich,
I’m sorry, but I’m not sure what the “diversity/equity/inclusion mandate” to which Mr. Dey refers to in his column. At the University of Illinois we have no “loyalty tests” of any nature. As a university, we encourage open, robust and wide-ranging debate, discussion and exploration of ideas and concepts – some of which are certainly considered controversial.
The idea that our university encourages conformity whether through formal policies or through informal avenues is absolutely false. Academic freedom is fundamentally about guaranteeing faculty members the freedom to explore “dangerous” ideas and ask difficult questions – the exact opposite of conformity. Mr. Tripp’s statements speak to the actions by the University of North Carolina and it is not appropriate for me/us to comment on governance decisions of another university.
Sincerely,
Sean
* IDPH…
IDPH Director Dr. Sameer Vohra warned that cases of group A strep throat leading to severe complications are on the rise in Illinois, with more cases reported in 2023 than in any of the past five years.
“As COVID-19 cases and community levels remain stable, I want to share my concern about the growing number of strep throat cases in Illinois that are leading to severe complications,” Director Vohra said. “These cases, known as invasive Group A strep, are the result of disease spreading from the throat to blood, muscle and lungs. I urge parents to contact their health providers when their children start showing early symptoms. These symptoms include sudden onset of sore throat, pain when swallowing and fever. Early detection is critical as strep can be diagnosed with a simple test and treated with antibiotics. If able, please make sure everyone in the house is up to date with flu and chickenpox vaccines. Having either the flu or chickenpox can increase your risk of contracting invasive Group A strep.”
Parents and others can get more information about Group A strep at this CDC resource page.
* Press release…
U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today released the following statement regarding the decision by the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to temporarily convert United States Penitentiary (USP) Thomson into a low-security prison and enhance training for the hundreds of Thomson staff who will all remain employed at the institution:
“Today’s announcement is good news for the Thomson facility—it remains part of the Federal prison system, with no elimination of staffing positions, and it will help relieve some of the current overpopulation pressures BOP is experiencing at low-security facilities nationwide.
“When Thomson was purchased by the Federal government more than ten years ago, one of our goals was to help address the urgent overcrowding problem at our nation’s Federal prisons, as well as make it the safest prison in the nation—for both incarcerated people and staff. As part of these reforms and improvements, Thomson staff will have the opportunity to participate in intensive training to promote a more positive culture and ensure that Thomson is a safe and secure facility with a focus on rehabilitation and reentry. I look forward to seeing Thomson reach its full potential with this temporary conversion.”
BOP moved all remaining individuals in the Special Management Unit (SMU) and Reintegration Unit (RU) from Thomson in February 2023. Thomson will now house approximately 1,178 low-security adults, which will relieve some of the current overpopulation pressures BOP is experiencing at low-security facilities nationwide. Thomson plans to begin receiving inmates the week of April 10, starting with one unit a month. The adjacent Minimum Security Satellite Camp will be unaffected throughout the transition of the institution.
Beginning in 2009, Durbin was instrumental in the acquisition and activation of Thomson Prison—converting it from a state correctional facility to a Federal prison.
…Adding… US Sen. Tammy Duckworth was interviewed by the Hollywood Reporter. Lots of talk about pop culture and then…
There’s been so much debate about identity politics and its role in defining our political discourse. What’s your take?
I wasn’t a mom when I was first elected to Congress, but I thought I was pretty progressive. Then I became a mom and I was traveling back and forth from Chicago to D.C. twice a week trying to express breastmilk to feed my baby and I was told, “Oh you want to pump breast milk, go do it in the handicap stall of the bathroom,” or worse, “Go plug your breast pump in at that outlet where everyone else is charging their cell phone.” So I passed legislation called the FAM Act (Friendly Airports for Mothers) which now means every airport in America has to have a lactation room. And I’m really proud that I wrote that law which I would never have had if I had not been a mom. I also wrote legislation to force airlines to report how many times they break medical-assisted devices because about every third time I get on an airplane some part of my wheelchair gets broken. Before I used a wheelchair it never occurred to me. So yeah, identity is important. Identity does matter. Lived experience matters. You have to look at it not as something that puts us in categories but that makes life better for all of us. So it’s important to have greater diversity and sometimes you’ve got to be conscious of that diversity which is why I fought so hard to have an Asian American nominated as a cabinet secretary. It’s important for the rest of the world to look and see and go, “Oh wow, that’s a really diverse cabinet. That’s America.”
* WAND | Pritzker announces personnel transitions at Illinois Commerce Commission: Governor JB Pritzker announced that Illinois Commerce Commission Chairman Carrie Zalewski is stepping down from her position in June. As the commission continues implementation of the Climate and Equitable Job Act and prepares for cases later this year, Pritzker also announced plans to nominate former ICC Chair Doug Scott to replace Zalewski.
* Crain’s | New York joins the Walgreens-abortion pill fray: New York state has stepped into the fray surrounding national retail pharmacies and abortion pills. Gov. Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James are asking Walgreens, CVS and Rite Aid to commit to dispensing the abortion pill mifepristone in their state.
* Chicago Tribune | Brandon Johnson and Paul Vallas clash at latest forum: ‘Race is an issue’: The contentious exchanges happened during a 90-minute forum hosted by the My Community Plan Foundation at the DuSable Black History Museum. For the first hour, the session was largely cordial until the two contenders, who just last week made the April 4 runoff election, were asked if they support a third airport in the Chicago area. Both said yes.
* WCIA | EIU faculty and staff vote ‘yes’ to authorize strike: In a news release, EIU UPI President Jennifer Stringfellow said: “This vote sends a clear message to EIU administration that we’re all in. Our members resoundingly reject what they are offering at the table. We don’t want to strike, but we’re willing to do this to ensure EIU students get the high-quality education they deserve and that our members get a fair contract.”
* Crain’s | In rebuilding Ryan Field, Northwestern needs to protect local businesses: Northwestern’s slick public relations campaign claims the new Ryan Field will “build generational wealth for Black and Brown families.” As the owner of one Central Street’s few black-owned businesses, I have my doubts. What I see, instead, is a university that wants to run a for-profit concert business at the expense of one of the country’s nicest business districts. I see powerful Evanstonians coalescing behind the plan and cynically using artificial promises of Black wealth as cover.
* Center Square | Illinois again takes top spot in pumpkin production: It’s been many years since any other pumpkin growing state has beaten Illinois in pumpkin production. Raghela Scavuzzo, executive director of Illinois Specialty Growers, said Illinois produced 651.9 million pounds of pumpkins in 2021, 39% of all the pumpkins produced in the U.S.
* Sun-Times | How and why Chicago dyes the Chicago River emerald green: In the last 61 years, dyeing the river has become a world-renowned tradition, despite some pushback from environmental groups . And it’s happening again this weekend, a few hours before the start of the downtown Chicago St. Patrick’s Day parade, sponsored by Chicago Plumbers Local 130.
OK, take aside the bill in question. South Dakota governors can literally veto a bill using a branding iron that's shaped like the word "VETO?" https://t.co/diNcJo0DN0
Governor Kristi Noem is issuing her first veto of this legislative session. Noem rejected a measure yesterday that would have allowed municipalities to charge a higher tax on people staying at lodging places. The governor announced the veto with a picture of her using a branding iron to stamp her rejection onto the measure. The original House and Senate votes fell short of short the two-thirds majority that will be needed to override the veto.
Last month, [Rep.] Hernandez introduced legislation that would allow DACA recipients to be considered for law enforcement positions statewide. […]
With a vote of 9 to 4 Thursday, the bill moves out of committee to the full House floor. […]
Representative John Cabello is a police officer who voted against the bill for several reasons, chiefly the concern for officers’ safety as a DACA officer could not legally have firearm when not on duty.
[From Rich: The Chicago FOP slipped in favor of this bill, believe it or not. The Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police slipped in opposition. Blue Island’s police recently hired a DACA recipient.]
A proposal at the Illinois Statehouse would legalize and regulate “natural organic reduction,” a process in which human remains are rapidly decomposed into compost. The process is also known as human composting or terramation.
That process turns human remains into dirt over the course of several weeks. Companies that offer this service place a person’s remains in a vessel with wood chips, straw and other organic material and heat it to accelerate the growth of microbes that break down the body. This is distinct from “natural burial,” in which a body is buried with no casket or in a biodegradable container.
The measure, House Bill 3158, passed in the House Energy and Environment Committee on Tuesday on a 16-10 vote. It now goes to the House for consideration, although its sponsor, Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago, said an amendment to the bill is likely. […]
“Turning the mortal remains of a human person into compost for the purpose of fertilization, as one would with vegetable trimmings or eggshells, degrades the human person and dishonors the life that was lived by that person,” [Daniel Welter, the recently retired chancellor of the Archdiocese of Chicago] said during the committee hearing.
A bipartisan group of state lawmakers is trying to help more Illinoisans get access to fentanyl testing strips.
The Illinois Department of Public Health reported more than 3,717 drug overdoses involving fentanyl during 2021. IDPH explained that is equivalent to losing 10 Illinoisans each day.
House Republican Leader Tony McCombie (R-Savanna) told the House Public Health Committee Thursday that her bill could allow pharmacists and retail stores to sell fentanyl test strips over the counter. County health departments could also distribute the test strips to the public for free. […]
House Bill 3203 passed unanimously out of the House Public Health Committee. All committee members signed on as co-sponsors with McCombie.
Rep. Curtis Tarver II (D-Chicago) said Wednesday that the state should separate soda from liquor that looks like soda. His proposal could prohibit retailers from displaying alcopop drinks next to soft drinks, juice, bottled water, or snacks catered to young customers.
Rep. Natalie Manley (D-Joliet) said this could also be helpful for adults who don’t realize what they’re buying or drinking because they think it is carbonated water. […]
The Illinois Retail Merchants Association is working with Tarver to ensure the plan can be properly implemented at stores of all sizes. Members of the House Executive Committee unanimously approved the plan and it now heads to the House floor for second reading.
* Change IL…
In an effort to strengthen Illinois’ ethics laws and take on corruption, Rep. Abdelnasser Rashid and the CHANGE Illinois Action Fund call on Illinoisans to support and lawmakers to advance legislation that would fully empower the Legislative Inspector General who investigates allegations of wrongdoing in the state’s legislative branch.
HB 2892, introduced by Rashid, would build on previous ethics successes by the Illinois General Assembly that allowed the Legislative Inspector General to start investigations without approval by strengthening the tools available to the Office of Legislative Inspector General to fully investigate claims of corruption, harassment and other wrongdoing in the legislative branch, making it as empowered and independent as other inspectors general in government. […]
The office of the Legislative Inspector General should be given the full, independent authority it needs to conduct investigations and to publish all results of founded investigations without roadblocks. The following, specific changes in HB2892 would bring the Legislative Inspector General’s authority more in line with the authorities of other investigative offices, such as the Offices of the Executive Inspectors General.
A measure that would make it easier for Chicago’s first responders to acquire full disability benefits if they were sickened by COVID-19 gained traction Thursday when it passed through a state legislative committee.
State Rep. Jay Hoffman, the chief House sponsor of the bill, said under the measure it would automatically be assumed that working conditions for Chicago police officers and firefighters directly led to them contracting COVID-19 that led to a disability. […]
The bill was inspired by the brother of Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza, whose brother, Chicago police Sgt. Joaquin Mendoza, was infected with COVID-19 and fell badly ill, but was denied full disability benefits by the Policemen’s Annuity & Benefit Fund of Chicago.
For months, we have been exposing how in Illinois, a dangerous criminal record may not stop people from becoming licensed massage therapists. […]
Two bills have been introduced in the Illinois state House of Representatives. The possible changes to state law are now being discussed by lawmakers – following our months of reporting, exposing issues with how massage therapy licenses, and more, are handled in Illinois. […]
One bill, HB3584, would ensure the state’s licensing office has all records of felony convictions, and make sure a crime victim knows they have a right to file a formal complaint with the state against someone licensed by them.
The other, HB3583, would require a worker such as a state licensed massage therapist to undergo the same checks and reviews as other health care workers - like a certified nursing assistant.
Paul Vallas’ Facebook account liked a series of comments that attacked Democrats, referred to Chicago as a “hell hole” and “S—cago” and labeled Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker “the king of full term abortion,” a Tribune review of his social media found.
How long before he changes his tune and claims this account, like his Twitter account, was hacked?
Vallas’ account also criticized a state law that establishes health and sex education standards starting from kindergarten and is condemned by some conservative and anti-LGBTQ groups — including Awake Illinois, a suburban group that has taken extreme positions and called Pritzker a “groomer.”
A couple months before the governor’s signed that measure into law, a June 2021 post on Vallas’ Facebook account opened with “THE BEGINNINGS OF A PARENT LED REVOLUTION?” and praised his fellow critics of teachers unions in the fight over in-person schooling during the pandemic.
“Despite those successes, SB 818, which clearly transforms sex education into sexuality education beginning at a very young age, sits on the Governor’s desk awaiting his signature,” Vallas’ post wrote. “Parents should tell the Governor to veto that legislation.”
That “sexuality education” phrase sounds very similar to what the Awake Illinois types are saying. If he was running for a Palos school board seat, Gov. Pritzker might be targeting him for defeat. /s
* Last night’s mayoral debate wasn’t televised, but you can click here for some live coverage.
Both mayoral candidates are calling on the City Council to wait for the new administration and council before acting on Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s proposed franchise agreement with Commonwealth Edison.
Paul Vallas had a suggestion on how to improve the deal, which Lightfoot unveiled last month in hopes of a quick vote before the election that took place Feb. 28. In a brief interview, he said a new deal with ComEd “has to deal with the outstanding bills people have.”
Echoing former Gov. Pat Quinn, with whom Vallas ran alongside as lieutenant governor nominee in his unsuccessful re-election bid, Vallas said a new franchise agreement with the scandal-tarred utility should have provisions to provide relief to customers behind on their bills in the form of amnesty or something similar.
Johnson essentially punted the question.
* The Chicago Teachers Union just transferred $500,000 in union dues to one of its political action committees. Since the day after the election, their mayoral candidate Brandon Johnson has reported raising almost $1.8 million, while Paul Vallas has reported raising a bit over $2.2 million. That CTU money could bring at least some temporary parity between the candidates.
*** UPDATE *** Vallas just reported receiving about $960K in contributions. So much for parity. IBEW Illinois gave him $100K.
To: Interested Parties
From: Celinda Lake, Daniel Gotoff and McCauley Pugh, Lake Research Partners
RE: New Poll in Chicago Shows Brandon Johnson Leading Paul Vallas in Mayoral Runoff
Date: March 9th, 2023
A recently conducted survey of 800 likely mayoral runoff voters in Chicago reveals public school teacher and Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson leading Paul Vallas in the race for mayor with less than four weeks till election day. As long as he has the resources to mount robust communications and field efforts over the coming days, Brandon Johnson begins the runoff sprint well-positioned for victory.
● Brandon Johnson takes 45% of the vote to Vallas’ 40%, while 14% of voters are undecided and 1% support someone else. Johnson not only starts out with an 5-point overall lead Vallas, in a survey with a margin of error of +/-3.46%, but he boasts an even larger lead in strong support, as 37% of voters are strong Johnson supporters compared to just 30% who feel similarly about their support for Vallas.
In sum, the race for Mayor of Chicago is highly competitive. Brandon Johnson has a notable lead, but it is small enough that he could fall behind if he is substantially out-communicated. Brandon will need to launch vigorous media and voter contact campaigns to expand on his early lead—especially in the face of such a well-heeled opponent.
—————-
Lake Research Partners designed and administered this survey via phone using professional interviewers. The survey reached 800 likely 2023 runoff voters in Chicago. The survey was conducted March 2-7, 2023. The margin of error for the base sample is +/-3.46% and larger for subgroups.
That “he could fall behind” bit is basically the pollster’s way of pleading with supporters to pony up harder for their client.
* We’ve talked more than once about how Brandon Johnson’s radio show produced a treasure trove of oppo. It’s now Vallas’ turn in the barrel…
A year before he became one of two Democrats left standing in the race for Chicago mayor, Paul Vallas went on a conservative radio show and mocked the last two Democratic presidents.
Appearing on Chicago’s Morning Answer (AM 560) program, Vallas rolled his eyes at former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama as they spoke about their new library in Hyde Park and laughed about them living in Martha’s Vineyard. Vallas, in a separate appearance a few months later, questioned whether President Joe Biden actually was the one running the White House. […]
On the Morning Answer program, Vallas was a regular substitute for co-host Dan Proft, a conservative political activist who lives in Florida but is a former Illinois resident. Proft ran a political action committee that spent more than $14.5 million last year trying to elect Trump-allied Republican Darren Bailey against Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
At least he didn’t claim he was hacked or that somebody else impersonated him.
Also, setting aside what he said on the show, people who regularly substitute for Dan Proft are not generally considered liberals or moderates.
Keith Thornton was apparently a protester. More on him here. The Northwest Side has some weird political groups, and they’re all-in for Vallas.
* Isabel’s Chicago roundup…
* Block Club | Elizabeth Warren Endorses Brandon Johnson For Chicago Mayor: “Commissioner Brandon Johnson and I are both former public school teachers, and I can tell you that he understands what it takes to build a stronger Chicago for everyone. From education to public safety to housing, Brandon has a bold, forward-looking, progressive plan to move Chicago forward, and he has the experience to make those plans real,” Warren said in a statement.
* Streets Blog Chicago | Asked about CTA at debate, Johnson focuses on reliability, Vallas calls for more cops: Johnson’s response mostly focused on strategies to make transit operate more efficiently and keep CTA staffing at full strength so as to avoid service gaps. “Right now our public transit system is unreliable and it’s unsafe,” he said. “This is why I’m committed to making sure we’re making critical investments, particularly for working people who overwhelmingly rely on public transportation. So we’re going to increase the number of bus-only lanes… We’re going to make sure that there are traffic signals that give preference to [buses.]” […] In contrast, Vallas’s answer focused on addressing crime through more policing. “The CTA is on the verge of financial crisis,” he accurately noted. Vallas cited a stat (apparently solely reported by the conservative website Wirepoints, in an article that called for cutting CTA service) that CTA farebox revenue is only currently accounting for 18 percent of the operating budget when, under state law, it’s normally supposed to account for 50 percent.
* Block Club | Paul Vallas’ Facebook Page ‘Liked’ Comments Calling Chicago A ‘Hell Hole’ And ‘S—cago’ : The page also liked controversial comments about education, including one from Aug. 15 that said, “Shame on the ctu they don’t care about the kids lets get rid of all teachers and start from scratch.” In that same post, Vallas’ page also liked a comment in which a person wrote that “a parochial education is far superior to a public education.”
* ABC Chicago | Chicago alderman candidate for 21st ward claims opponent was untruthful on resume: Dantzler, who is a Navy veteran and retired Chicago firefighter, said while cleaning up the ward is his priority, his biggest concern is his opponent’s resume. “He told some lies about graduating from Morehouse College a lie that didn’t need to be told and when you tell lies what else are you going to lie about,” he said.
* Tribune | Fires continue to kill people in unsafe buildings as Chicago ignores problems with its inspection system: Chicago’s deeply flawed system for identifying and responding to life-threatening safety issues in residential buildings was exposed in a 2021 investigation by the Better Government Association and the Chicago Tribune. Reporters documented dozens of fire deaths in buildings where city regulators had been warned of potential fire hazards but failed to crack down on property owners in time.
* Adam Selzer | Conspiracy theories have long been part of Chicago politics. Consider the 1899 mayoral election: That spring, the incumbent Carter Henry Harrison Jr. squared off against Sanitary Board member Zina Carter, with former Gov. John Altgeld as a third-party spoiler. The Chicago Daily Inter Ocean’s coverage made Harrison sound like a regular Batman villain, with daily stories accusing him of fraud, blackmail, kidnapping and even murder, all aided by men with names like Nobby Clark, Cocoanut Morrisey, and Tommy the Clock. For a week, their pages were dominated by headlines that screamed “Murder For Harrison,” “Mayor’s Thugs Riot,” “Vice and Crime Reign” and “Shall the Scum Triumph?”
Former Commonwealth Edison CEO Anne Pramaggiore and three others set to stand trial starting next week for their alleged roles in the ComEd bribery scheme today won a few victories in advance of the proceedings.
U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber, ruling on a raft of motions before the trial begins on Tuesday, agreed that the deferred prosecution agreement ComEd struck with the U.S. attorney’s office in 2020 — containing ComEd’s admissions to the feds — shouldn’t be part of the government’s case. […]
Another win for the defense was Leinenweber’s denial of prosecutors’ attempt to bar defense lawyers from arguing that the conduct in evidence represented “politics as usual” and wasn’t illegal. That argument is one that’s central not just to this case, but to the trial scheduled for next year of Madigan in connection with the ComEd bribery scheme and other acts.
As a former Illinois state legislator himself, Leinenweber saw “politics as usual” up close. From the defense motion against barring that argument…
(T)he Government seeks to preclude evidence “regarding similar ‘political’ acts engaged in by others or suggesting that defendants’ conduct was simply part of politics or ‘politics as usual.’” But what counts as a similar political act? The Government does not say. If the motion is granted, the parties will undoubtedly have further disputes concerning whether certain acts are “similar” or “political.” Granting the Government’s motions to exclude these vague categories of information would thus replace the clear guidance of the Federal Rules of Evidence with murky boundaries, which is the exact opposite of what motions in limine are intended to do.
(T)he judge presiding over the upcoming trial of the four has ruled that secret recordings forming the backbone of the federal government’s case will not be widely released to the public once they are admitted at trial. Such release is standard practice in Chicago’s federal court. […]
The judge said transcripts of the recordings could be released — though much of what is said in the recordings has previously been divulged. […]
Leinenweber also ruled on several motions during Thursday’s hearing that will govern the trial. And he told attorneys that roughly half of jurors who have already filled out questionnaires could be ruled out of the case based primarily on their answers to three questions.
The questions centered on whether the jurors had already heard anything about the case, and whether they had any preconceived notions about lobbying, the state legislature, ComEd — or Madigan.
All that money spent ruining Madigan’s political brand is apparently getting some jurors booted.
McClain’s Agreed Motion by all defendants jointly to bar evidence or argument concerning an alleged rape in Champaign and the ATT Illinois [Deferred Prosecution Agreement] is GRANTED. […]
McClain’s Sealed Motion 1 in which Defendants McClain and Hooker seek to prohibit the Government from arguing that, as part of the conspiracy and to conceal the nature and purpose of their conduct, the Defendants often referred to Madigan as “our friend” or “a friend of ours,” rather than using Madigan’s true name is DENIED. While this evidence has less relevance in light of Defendant McClain’s prior cooperation with law enforcement, is still relevant as a desire of secrecy. […]
Pramaggiore’s Motion 5 in which Defendants Pramaggiore & Hooker jointly move to exclude any evidence, testimony, or argument concerning the draft introductory remarks written by Keisha Parker about Madigan for Pramaggiore to present at a fundraiser is DENIED. It is allowed for limited purpose of context regarding Madigan’s perceived value to ComEd. […]
Pramaggiore’s Motion 7 in which Defendants Pramaggiore, McClain, & Hooker jointly move to exclude evidence or argument concerning campaign contributions from ComEd, Exelon, or personnel of ComEd or Exelon to Michael J. Madigan, Friends of Michael J. Madigan, or the Democratic Party of Illinois is DENIED. While campaign contributions may be protected by the First Amendment, they may constitute illegal conduct under certain circumstances. It is illegal, for example, to tie a campaign contribution to a promise to vote in a certain way. […]
Doherty’s Motion 3-B to bar references or parallels between this case and gang cases or organized crime cases that use coded language to accomplish its criminal objectives and avoid detection by law enforcement is GRANTED.
Doherty’s Motion 3-C to bar argument that the JDDA contract was paid from the CEO budget as suspicious or a means to conceal the alleged crime is DENIED. The evidence is relevant for intent. […]
The Government’s Motion 3 to exclude argument or evidence designed to elicit jury nullification is GRANTED IN PART.
• 3-A: “Politics as Usual” is DENIED. Defendants may argue that their actions were lawful, constitutionally- protected activity.
• 3-B: Penalties Faced by the Defendants if Convicted is GRANTED.
• 3-C: Allegations of Outrageous Government Conduct is GRANTED.
• 3-D: “Golden Rule” Arguments is GRANTED.
The Government’s Motion 4 to exclude opinion evidence regarding legality is GRANTED There may be instances on cross-examination where such opinions may be relevant, but permission should be sought from the Court.
The Government’s Motion 5 to preclude evidence of, or making reference to, lawfulness, non-corrupt conduct, and prior good acts, except reputation or opinion evidence offered by character witnesses strictly in accord with Rule 405(a) is DENIED IN PART. Defendants may argue that their specific acts were lawful, but the motion is GRANTED as to conduct not alleged as corrupt (e.g., contributions to charitable organizations). […]
The Government’s uncontested Sealed Motion to preclude questioning of a witness concerning a sealed 1991 conviction, etc. is GRANTED.
* We used to have a regular feature at the dawn of this blog called “Friday Topinka blogging.” I’d post an image of our then-state Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka and the far-right trolls would come out of the woodwork to fight with the normies. The far-right hated her because she was a pro-choice woman who favored gay rights and they lost their ever-loving minds when she took over the Illinois Republican Party.
Good times.
But the game got old after the trolls scurried elsewhere and I literally ran out of online photos to post (the Internet wasn’t as all-encompassing back then). The cameras loved her and she always obliged…
* I bring this up because Rep. Jackie Haas delivered a speech on the House floor this week to commemorate International Women’s Day and honor Judy Baar. It’s worth a watch, even for you newbies who never had the opportunity to meet JBT…
* Gov. Pritzker | Make natural gas utilities more accountable to customers and the state: It’s unfair and costly to consumers to allow gas companies to get away with not providing basic transparency and safety information to consumers and regulators. During this legislative session we need to adopt a number of measures that will protect gas customers.
* Crain’s | Score a few for the defense as the ‘ComEd Four’ trial looms: Former Commonwealth Edison CEO Anne Pramaggiore and three others set to stand trial starting next week for their alleged roles in the ComEd bribery scheme today won a few victories in advance of the proceedings. U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber, ruling on a raft of motions before the trial begins on Tuesday, agreed that the deferred prosecution agreement ComEd struck with the U.S. attorney’s office in 2020 — containing ComEd’s admissions to the feds — shouldn’t be part of the government’s case.
* Chalkbeat | Illinois school funding formula is closing funding gaps for students of color, says report: That formula calculates a target funding level for every district based on the characteristics of the students they serve. For example, districts get additional money for English language learners, which can be used to hire bilingual teachers. The goal was to get each district “adequately funded” by 2027.
* My favorite passage from the Commission on Government Forecasting & Accountability’s latest revenue projections…
FY 2023 began the year able to absorb a $4.6 billion falloff in revenues to reach the Enacted Budget. Given FYTD growth of $2.5 billion, revenues could fall around $7.1 billion over the remaining months of FY 2023 and still reach budgetary level. This level of falloff is not likely.
Hilarious.
* New ad…
Last night, Paul Vallas lied on the debate stage about his record opposing abortion.
We have the receipts, Paul. 🧾
Just like your Republican backers, you said you fundamentally oppose abortion. We can’t let Republicans run Chicago.
On Thursday morning, ICIRR Action announced its endorsement of Brandon Johnson for mayor of Chicago, as well as a partnership with Mijente to get out the vote on his behalf.
“ICIRR Action is making its first ever mayoral election endorsement because there’s a candidate that values and supports immigrant communities: Brandon Johnson,” said Lawrence Benito. “Brandon Johnson has worked alongside communities for years, and is an ally in our struggle. He presents hope for the future of Chicago, while his opponent has a track record of harming Black and brown communities across the country and has the financial backing of Trump supporters. ICIRR Action is excited to partner with Mijente to mobilize immigrant voters across the city to share that Brandon Johnson is the candidate of working families, of our neighborhoods, and of a Chicago that works for everyone.”
“Paul Vallas is a right-wing conservative, and gladly accepts donations from the same MAGA Republicans who view Latinos as a threat,” said Tania Unzueta, Mijente’s political director. “Chicagoans are learning who the true Paul Vallas is — a man who does not respect people of color, has betrayed our public schools, and associates with political extremists. Paul Vallas will never represent our interests. Brandon Johnson has built a multi-racial, intergenerational, and movement-based coalition that will chart a path out of austerity politics and into a Chicago where everyone, no matter their zip code, race and age can thrive. It’s time to elect a mayor who works for us.”
* A recent National Journal story asked what the Democratic Party could learn from Dems who “flipped” three congressional seats. One of those Democrats profiled was Nikki Budzinski. Yeah, she ran a very good campaign. Textbook, even. And she has a real feel for this business. But her district was primarily flipped by mapmakers, who redrew the +3 Republican presidential district into a +11 Democratic presidential district…
Budzinski is one of three Democratic freshmen who flipped red districts in the midterms who spoke to National Journal about how their experience can help Democrats in 2024.
Again, heckuva campaigner who should do well in Congress. And she’s worth listening to because she’s good at what she does. But the big lesson for Democrats out of her race is to draw much more partisan maps.
It is a mad scramble at the Illinois Capitol as lawmakers try to push through nearly 7,000 bills by Friday.
A bill first goes to the “Legislative Review Board,” where a team of lawyers make sure that the proposal is accurate and legal. With so many bills, however, it has taken them a long time to send them out.
Yes, there’s a mad scramble, but most of those bills are shell bills. And I never heard of the Legislative Review Board. Also, the Senate took last week off, so it has only itself to blame.
Dick Simpson, a former Chicago alderman and political science professor emeritus at the University of Illinois Chicago, won’t be giving jurors in the upcoming “ComEd four” trial a lesson in Chicago machine politics after all.
U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber today agreed to defendants’ motion to bar Simpson from testifying. They had argued it would be prejudicial to their clients — former Commonwealth Edison CEO Anne Pramaggiore and former ComEd lobbyists Michael McClain, John Hooker and Jay Doherty.
According to the Government, Professor Simpson will explain to the jury why political workers, such as precinct committeemen and precinct captains respond to incentives to work to get out the vote and that those incentives are the expectation of material benefits. The Court does not find that the subject of this proposed testimony is so enigmatic to require expert testimony. […]
Nor does it convince the Court that Professor Simpson’s testimony is the product of reliable principles or methods. An extensive publishing record is not enough. Although methods vary across fields of expertise, from no field can an expert “waltz into the courtroom and render opinions” not based upon a recognized method. […]
A map of the City of Chicago, and the statutory description of a committeeman and precinct captain can be made by stipulation or judicial notice.
* And here’s your feel-good story of the day, from WGLT…
Electric automaker Rivian has a big order to fill for Amazon — to the tune of 125,000 delivery vans. So when the assembly of one component began to create a chokepoint in the entire production process, the electric vehicle manufacturer with a plant in Normal outsourced the job to a Peoria not-for-profit.
Peoria Production Solutions (formerly known as Peoria Production Shop) was founded in 1941 to provide jobs for people recovering from tuberculosis. Since incorporating in 1951, the mission shifted to providing job opportunities for people with disabilities.
“We have about 309 employees. 60% of those have some form of disability,” said Dan LaTurno, president of Peoria Production Solutions. He said that includes people with vision impairments, mobility challenges, and people with autism.
More than half of the organization’s business is with earthmoving giant Caterpillar. That pipeline of projects is steady, but LaTurno said he also wants to build out other business relationships.
* Isabel’s roundup…
* WBEZ | Few hospitals are willing to bear the cost of providing psychiatric care for kids: The chair in the colorful hallway is weighed down with sand, so heavy it barely budges — and can’t be used as a weapon. Even walls in a patient’s room need to be softer, to cushion the blow of a banging head. In fact, each patient room can cost around $1 million, a steep price tag many hospitals can’t afford, or don’t want to spend. … About a quarter of children in Lurie’s unit are waiting for a bed at a residential facility (there’s a shortage of these beds, too). Some have been waiting for more than three months — and that’s another bed not available for a child referred through SASS.
* Press Release | Reps. Mary Miller, Babin, and Harshbarger Launch the Congressional Family Caucus: For years, we have witnessed a concerted effort by activists on the Left to abolish the natural family. The natural family, a man and a woman committed for life to each other and to their children, was ordained by God as the foundation of our society. The natural family is essential for a nation to prosper because the family is the root of self-government, service, community, and personal responsibility.
* Center Square | Illinois fire officials speak out against bill to allow ground sparklers: Tom Stryczynski, vice president of the Illinois Fire Chiefs Association, said the ground sparklers in question contain 500 grams of pyrotechnic materials. “That is the highest level of potency right before you need a professional pyrotechnic’s license to handle them and use them,” Stryczynski said. “That is what you see in the professional shows that are out there.”
* WGN | Northwestern professor is the new Federal Reserve vice chair frontrunner: Northwestern University Professor Janice Eberly has emerged as a frontrunner to become the new vice chair of the Federal Reserve. That’s according to a report by Bloomberg News. Eberly previously served as chief economist for the Treasury Department under President Obama. If selected, she’d replace Lael Brainard. Eberly has been interviewed by the White House Chief of Staff and has met with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Brainard. A final decision hasn’t been made and Eberly would still have to meet with President Biden.
* Bloomberg | How ‘excuseflation’ is keeping prices — and corporate profits — high: And over the last few years, businesses have been able to point to a smorgasbord of “once-in-a-lifetime” emergencies stemming from the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which together have effectively roiled everything from semiconductor production to commodities markets and shipping.
* AP | Maine motorists appeal to keep naughty vanity license plates: Maine had for several years allowed people to put just about any combination of letters and numbers on their vehicle plates, including words and phrases that other states would ban. But the state decided to change course and this year recalled 274 plates it deemed inappropriate.
* WTTW | Chicago Artist Gives Barrettes New Life in Colorful Mosaic Portraits: “Barrettes speak to childhood joys; I hear them,” Strong said. “Edge control, rollers. Every accessory used holds a memory, and it’s comforting. I don’t think I appreciated it as much before. But turning it into art has given me greater appreciation because I didn’t realize how important barrettes were to my childhood.”
Rita Burke, whose 53-year-old son has lived at Choate for more than 30 years, said Illinois Department of Human Services Secretary Grace Hou and two other senior state officials called her on Saturday evening to inform her of their plans.
Burke said she was shocked because Ryan Croke, a senior official in Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office who was on the call, had previously given her assurances that Choate would not close, and never suggested that large numbers of residents would be forced to leave, she said.
“We are devastated and so disappointed. It seems to us that DHS and the governor’s office are pushing our loved ones out of their homes of many, many years,” said Burke, who is also president of the Friends of Choate parents association. (Asked about Croke’s prior characterization of the administration’s plans, a spokesperson for the governor’s office reiterated that Choate is “not closing” and said it expects to continue a “productive relationship” with families and guardians during the transition.) […]
For people like her son, changes in routine can be extremely disruptive and affect their ability to function, she said. “They can’t be moved like puzzle pieces,” she said. “They’re human beings. I think we need to put the ‘human’ back into the Department of Human Services.”
Burke, a former chair of an IDHS board that reviews internal abuse and neglect investigative reports, said she visits the facility often and maintains that it is safe.
Lutrice Williams, who lived at Choate for about four years until her discharge in 2020, said she was abused during her time there and didn’t get the level of care she needed. In February, an employee pleaded guilty to whipping her repeatedly with a belt in 2020.
There’s more, including the local county board chair blaming, without evidence, outsiders for the problems. Go read the whole thing.
* As I told subscribers earlier, Equip for Equality supports the governor’s move…
Equip for Equality’s Independent Monitoring Unit first documented the troubled-facility’s failures in a 2005 report that called for Choate’s closure. Nearly two decades later, enhanced monitoring activities show little has changed.
* Individuals continue to be segregated from their communities without receiving the necessary services to actually address why they ended up there, leading to needless and harmful lengthy stays.
* Individuals continue to report feeling unsafe where they live, stating that they are afraid of staff and peers, and afraid of retaliation if they report staff abuse.
* Neglect impacts every aspect of individual safety and well-being, from too frequent incidents of peer-to-peer abuse and self-harm to unaddressed health needs.
Choate has simply failed to meet its obligations to the people living there and, as recent Office of Inspector General Reports made clear, these problems are entrenched. “Many of the recent news stories are about incidents that happened a year or more ago. Based on our recent monitoring, we can say without a doubt that these continue to be ongoing issues,” said Stacey Aschemann, Equip for Equality’s Vice President for the Independent Monitoring Unit responsible for monitoring conditions at Choate.
* Isabel’s coverage roundup…
* SJ-R: Gov. JB Pritzker unveiled a behavioral health workforce initiative in Springfield Wednesday intended to improve mental health and developmental disability treatment across Illinois. […] The Behavioral Health Workforce Education Center partners the Southern Illinois University School of Medicine with several other groups … to train mental health professionals and provide better access to services statewide.
* Illinois Senate Democrats: “As the Chair of the Behavioral and Mental Health Committee in the Senate, I understand the incredible input behavioral health specialists have on improving the mental health and well-being of so many Illinoisans,” said State Senator Laura Fine (D-Glenview). “The BHWEC will be a tremendous support to individuals working towards a career in behavioral and mental health. This will, in turn, address the needs of residents in our state. I look forward to working with the BHWEC and other state organizations to support behavioral health care providers and increase our mental health workforce.”
* Capitol News Illinois: In an exclusive interview before an expected Wednesday announcement, IDHS Secretary Grace Hou outlined a “repurposing and restructuring” of Choate, located in rural Anna, about 120 miles southeast of St. Louis. That process will start with the relocation of 123 residents with developmental disabilities who entered the facility voluntarily — roughly half the current population. In a separate interview with reporters, Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker said that IDHS has been working on improvements at Choate since he first took office in January 2019. But he said “it became clear, I would say certainly over the last year — and, in part, because of your reporting — that there were more significant changes that needed to be made.”
*KFVS: Gov. Pritzker’s office stated IDHS is taking additional, immediate action to protect resident safety. A Family Liaison Team will be formed to help to support families, guardians and residents with questions and concerns about the change.
* NBC Chicago: The remaining 112, some of whom were ordered by criminal courts to Choate because of their disabilities, will remain while authorities determine the best placement for them and while they redesign Choate’s campus and program for safer and better care. […] Pritzker said he blames the troubles on his predecessors who left centers such as Choate “underfunded and neglected.” He contended his administration knew of the problems when it took over in 2019 and has been making changes while trying to eliminate state debt to ensure there is money to follow through.
* Capitol News Illinois: Terri Bryant, a Republican from Murphysboro whose district neighbors Choate, said she believed the Pritzker administration’s plan is shortsighted and lacking in concrete details. In a call with reporters on Wednesday, she accused the governor of taking the “lazy-man’s route” to fixing safety and workforce issues raised in news reports.
* WPSD: “The real thing that’s getting lost in all of the mix in the press releases that I’ve seen from some legislators and the governor’s office is 123 people who call Choate home, and most of them were not able to settle in any other environment,” said Bryant.
* Tribune: “It’s not like we’ve sat around,” Pritzker said. “All along we have been trying to make the changes that are necessary, and obviously some of them have been ineffective. “And so we’re making transformational change now and this is a big change from the past and it’s taken us four years to build up the funding.”
* A proponent claims the Pritzker administration is quietly opposed to this bill. WCIA…
A bill to create a two-year pilot program for some counties to distribute higher doses of naloxone nasal spray heads to the Senate floor for a second reading.
Under the proposal, the Department of Human Services would provide eight-milligram naloxone nasal spray kits to public health departments and other providers helping people struggling with substance abuse in Sangamon, DuPage, Cook, St. Clair, and Winnebago counties. […]
The Illinois Association for Behavioral Health supports the bill. The association’s CEO, Jud Deloss, said while they are focused on preventing people from reaching the point of an overdose, they believe the proposal is important. […]
The proposal would also require Human Services to put together a data collection program on the number of kits people use for every overdose within the two-year period. They also have to collect data on the number of people who survive an overdose after receiving the spray as well as the number of people who died after using it.
Obtaining official transcripts can be a roadblock for college and university students across Illinois if they owe a past-due debt to the institution. This can hamper their efforts to pursue post-graduate opportunities. State Senator Laura Fine introduced legislation to address this issue, making transcripts more accessible to students, as well as requiring universities to make the process of withholding transcripts more transparent. […]
Senate Bill 49 would expand on this legislation by requiring institutions to provide official transcripts to current or former students if the student requires the transcript to transfer to a different institution, to apply for financial aid, to join the U.S. Armed Forces or to pursue other post-secondary opportunities. The measure also would require higher education institutions to outline the process a current or former student must go through to obtain a transcript or diploma that has been withheld due to debt to the university — making sure students have a clear path to receive their transcripts if they are being withheld. […]
Senate Bill 49 passed the Higher Education committee on Tuesday, March 7. It now goes to the Senate floor for debate.
State Rep. Dagmara “Dee” Avelar, D-Bolingbrook, is working to improve healthcare for diverse populations by introducing legislation to train medical providers to work compassionately with multicultural patients.
“Healthcare professionals must be equipped with the necessary tools to provide people of all backgrounds and identities with high-quality healthcare,” Avelar said. “In the language, they understand regardless of their citizenship status.”
Avelar introduced House Bill 2280, which would require healthcare professionals to complete cultural competency training to ensure effective and affirming care is given to communities of color, people with disabilities, immigrants with or without status, people living with HIV, people who are intersex, and people of diverse faiths, sexual orientations, gender identities, and backgrounds. The training will also provide guidance for practice surrounding language barriers.
Prior to securing his spot in the Chicago mayoral run-off, the campaign for Paul Vallas became a victim of a growing digital deception known as a “deepfake.”
A video, now removed from Twitter, depicted a voice resembling Vallas’ saying erroneous statements regarding police shootings. Current state law is inadequate in providing a legal resource to victims of similar scams, according to proponents of new legislation filed in the Illinois General Assembly.
Senate Bill 1392 and House Bill 2123 would allow the campaign and other victims of digital forgeries to seek legal action against perpetrators who create and share inauthentic media. Both bills advanced out of committee this week as part of a frenzied effort by lawmakers to move proposed legislation out of committees before a Friday deadline.
* SEIU Healthcare Illinois…
On Thursday, March 9, child care center workers will testify in front of the Illinois Child Care Accessibility and Early Childhood Education Committee about the urgent need to address the growing workforce shortage that threatens child care access for working families.
Parents, workers, and the governor all agree that we need to invest in the child care workforce. Illinois faces a child care crisis: providers are leaving the field due to low pay while working families struggle to access affordable, high-quality care. Governor JB Pritzker’s proposed Smart Start initiative represents a key step toward addressing the needs of parents and providers, and would provide much-needed investment in the child care workforce that powers our state.
In order to build on the governor’s plans, the state legislature must take action and invest in the pay, training, and accountability that child care workers and early educators deserve. House Bill 2310/Senate Bill 2053 will address the workforce crisis by improving quality of care in early care and education through responsible contracting, investment in training, and a focus on equity and racial justice.
As the governor’s administration has begun to move toward stable funding through contracts, HB 2310/SB 2053 will put publicly-funded centers on the path to establishing a wage floor of $25/hour, the wage needed to afford a 2-bedroom apartment anywhere in the state of Illinois. “We are very much in support of the governor’s goals around stabilizing the child care workforce, said Brynn Seibert, SEIU Healthcare IL Director of Child Care and Early Learning. “And in order to support and grow the child care workforce, we must ensure that every worker makes a living wage, and that every working parent can access affordable early care for their kids.”
An Illinois Senate bill could help Chicago firefighters get promotions more easily and frequently by standardizing the process.
Unlike other departments statewide, Chicago’s force is exempted from the Fire Department Promotion Act, which oversees the process to ensure that is fair and free of bias.
The Chicago Firefighters Union Local 2 is in support of Democratic senator Willie Preston’s bill and says the promotional exam is held irregularly, and sometimes happens only once a decade. […]
Senate Bill 1707 passed the Senate Labor Committee Wednesday and now heads to the full Senate for consideration.
* Sen. Julie Morrison…
A steadfast champion of Illinois laws to keep harmful tobacco products away from young people, State Senator Julie Morrison is expanding upon her work by leading a measure to ban e-cigarettes inside public places. […]
In recent years, the use of e-cigarettes – like vapes – has increased tremendously, leading Morrison to work to add such products to the Smoke Free Illinois Act through Senate Bill 1561. […]
“We applaud Senator Morrison for her leadership in strengthening our state’s smoke-free law by passing SB1561 to protect people from harmful secondhand exposure to e-cigarettes in virtually all indoor public places,” said Kristina Hamilton, Illinois advocacy director, American Lung Association. “On behalf of patient advocacy organizations across the state, we look forward to our continued work together to pass this measure in the full Senate and ultimately in the Illinois General Assembly.”
Senate Bill 1561 passed the Senate Executive Committee Wednesday. It now heads to the full Senate for further consideration.
To help support families grieving the loss of a child, State Senator Karina Villa advanced legislation from the Senate Labor Committee that will create the Zachary’s Parent Protection Act.
“No family should have to endure the loss of a child, and my heart goes out to all of those who have ever grieved over the unthinkable happening,” said Villa (D-West Chicago). “This legislation attempts to offer support to families who are grieving by allowing them the proper time to themselves after a loss.”
This bill was inspired when mother Laura Kane lost her son to suicide, yet she was expected to return to work merely three days later. Kane was let go due to not being able to perform her job while grieving the loss of her child. She started a non-profit, Marshmallow’s Hope, in honor of her son and to help children struggling with depression and families struggling with the loss of a child due to suicide.
Senate Bill 2034 provides extended bereavement leave to employees who have lost a child to suicide or homicide: up to 12 weeks unpaid leave for larger businesses with at least 250 workers and six weeks unpaid leave for smaller businesses with fewer than 250.
A bill that would ensure those who identify as Middle Eastern or North African are counted in state data progressed Wednesday.
The legislation, House Bill 3768, passed the State Government Administration Committee. It will go to the House floor for a vote, and then the Senate for a final vote.
If passed into law, the bill would add a category called Middle Eastern or North African (MENA) to the Uniform Racial Classification Act. Whenever a state agency is required by law to compile or report statistical data using racial or ethnic classification, the amended law says they must use MENA in addition to white, Black or African American, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander.
The bill was introduced in February after a years-long CBS 2 investigation that revealed the devastating impact of data not being collected on this group by federal or local governments. For instance, during the height of the pandemic, Arabs were among those dying at high rates, but CBS 2 found city and state agencies did not have a separate category tracking this information like they do for other groups. Therefore, organizations struggled to obtain funding for resources.
* SB1709 was passed out committee on Wednesday and now heads to the Senate floor…
State Senator Mike Simmons presented legislation to the Senate Behavioral and Mental Health Committee on Wednesday that would increase the availability and accessibility of mental health resources for students.
“Young people today are faced with unprecedented mental health challenges exacerbated by social media, toxic stress, and underlying trauma,” said Simmons (D-Chicago). “This legislation will help guide schools in initiating and establishing mental health infrastructure within schools that currently lack it. This also destigmatizes mental health support for youth, and provides access to mental health care and resources for students in a way that is practical and accessible - at their school, during the school day.”
Senate Bill 1709 would require the Illinois Department of Human Services and the State Board of Education to provide technical assistance for mental health care during school days to help increase the access students have to mental health services and information.
A bill that would create a clear legal avenue for victims of “doxing” to seek damages and protections against their perpetrators passed unanimously out of a House committee Wednesday.
Doxing, as defined by House Bill 2954, occurs when an individual intentionally publishes another person’s private information, such as their social security number or home address, without their consent.
Additionally, for a doxing claim to be successful, the individual would have had to publish that information with the intent of harming the other person. In order for a claim to be justified, the victim would have to prove they faced a “substantial life disruption.”.
Fifty-six percent of those surveyed [in a new USA TODAY/Ipsos poll] say [the term “woke”] means “to be informed, educated on, and aware of social injustices.” That includes not only three-fourths of Democrats but also more than a third of Republicans.
Overall, 39% say instead that the word reflects what has become the GOP political definition, “to be overly politically correct and police others’ words.” That’s the view of 56% of Republicans.
I’m not sure that’s the Republican definition because I don’t know if anyone has actually described it that way. When the Eastern Bloc accused Gov. Pritzker of trying to turn Illinois into a “woke utopia,” or when they complained about the “far-left woke ideology that is bankrupting our state,” I don’t think they were talking about policing word usage. But whatevs.
The poll, which is here, found that 71 percent of respondents said they’d heard of the term.
40 percent (60 percent of Republicans) said being called “woke” was an insult, while 32 percent (46 percent of Democrats) said it was a compliment. 26 percent didn’t know what it meant.
A strong 76 percent said they opposed “State governments passing laws that ban certain books from school classrooms and libraries,” while 21 percent supported it.
And 66 percent opposed the idea of “Banning corporations from requiring their employees to complete trainings around diversity, equity, and inclusion,” while 30 supported the ban on corporate DEI.
Also, when asked if they supported or opposed “Allowing people to identify as something other than man or woman on government documents, such as birth certificates, passports, or drivers licenses,” 36 percent of respondents supported it and 61 percent opposed it.
* Keep in mind, though, that the way issues are framed can often determine the result. For instance, when respondents were split into two, 72 percent of the first half supported and 26 percent opposed “Teaching the ongoing effects of slavery and racism in the United States in public schools,” while just 41 percent of the second half supported and 53 percent opposed “Teaching critical race theory in public schools.”
Republicans, by the way, opposed teaching kids about the ongoing effects of slavery and racism 53-46. Democrats supported teaching kids CRT 68-27.
When asked if they supported “Using gender-neutral pronouns to describe someone, meaning not he/him or she/her,” the pollster could have explained what gender-neutral pronouns are (they/them, for instance), but for whatever reason didn’t. Anyway, 61 percent opposed the use and 36 percent supported it.
Moderator: But first, let’s get to Mr. Vallas. Last year, you did participate in an event held by Awake Illinois. It is a far right group and it uses rhetoric that you later admitted was hateful. Also in 2009, you said in an interview, you thought of yourself as more of a Republican. [..] What do you say to Chicago voters who question your party affiliation?
Paul Vallas: Let me point out that I’m a lifelong Democrat. I worked for Dawn Clark Netsch and Phil Rock in the Senate. I actually ran for office as a Democrat in the Democratic primary against Rod Blagojevich. And of course, Pat Quinn’s running mate in 2014, which was five years after that interview. And of course, when I ran for mayor, I’ve always declared, and I’ve always registered in the Democratic primary. So my history has always been that of a Democrat.
Moderator: Mr. Johnson, you attended an event in 2020. It was called ‘We Don’t Call Police.’ And that same year, you said it was a political goal to defund the police. […] So, Mr. Johnson, what do you say to Chicagoans who do want more officers in their neighborhoods?
Brandon Johnson: Well, my public safety plan does just that. It’s why my public safety plan, we’re going to promote, train and hire 200 more detectives so that we can actually solve crime in the city of Chicago. You know, it’s going to cost me roughly $50 million to make sure that we are actually administering the consent decree. Right now, we’re not administering the consent decree and we’re not solving violence in the city of Chicago. By promoting and hiring 200 more detectives, we actually can solve crime because it
Moderator: What happens to those officers who are promoted? What happens to refilling those?
Johnson: Look, the way you recruit officers, you’ve got to make sure, people are working on the front line, you can’t ask police officers to do their job and someone’s else. The fact of the matter is, almost 40 percent of the 911 calls are coming through are mental health crises. I know what it’s like to wake up and serve the frontline, right, as a public school teacher, and you don’t ask people to do their job and someone else’s. We have to make sure that we’re providing the support on the front line so that we can alleviate the pressure from police officers so that they can deal with the more violent, serious crimes.
In 2009, Vallas geared up to run for county board president as a Republican, then backed away. And his former running mate Pat Quinn endorsed Chuy Garcia in the first round.
Vallas: Brandon was in part responsible for the shutting down of one of the poorest school systems in the country, with devastating consequences, for 15 consecutive months, and three times threatening to strike to force the mayor to keep schools closed. And if you look at the crime statistics, and you look at the violence and you look at the dislocation and declining test scores, you can see the results.
Johnson: A 100-year pandemic was responsible for everything being shut down. But when you’re supported by someone like Ken Griffin, who loves DeSantis, right-wing extremists who deny the fact that we actually had a pandemic, that’s a problem that we have when you are part of the Republican Party, and that’s why the city of Chicago cannot afford Republicans like Paul Vallas.
Please pardon all transcription errors.
…Adding… Politico says today that US Rep. James Clyburn is endorsing Brandon Johnson. But Johnson once accused Clyborn of “making excuses” for “White supremacy.” Here’s a December of 2020 Johnson comment on Clyburn from an opposition research file…
I am deeply concerned about just the presentation that the former President of the United States made around the movement to defund the police and I talked about it last week for those of you who got up with me every single morning last week as I filled in for Santita Jackson. Thank you so much, that was quite the lift there. But you know what President Obama said, what James Clyburn said, Congressman from South Carolina who played an intricate part in delivering the state of South Carolina for the current president-elect, Joe Biden. You also had even here, right here in Chicago, Lori Lightfoot, that took a shot. You know, really, really low blow at the movement. And so former President Barack Obama believes that the effort to essentially end and eradicate racism from a system that was designed to ultimately capture and to torture Black people, and that system, of course, has been protected over the years. That our work, to move away from this carceral racist system that continues to brutalize and terrorize unarmed Black men especially, but it certainly has had its role in killing Brown folks and women. And we’ve seen case after case after case, that he seemed to have a stronger critique of the movement. And it’s, you know, so-called hashtag, which is a conversation in and of itself, than the folks who are actually causing the harm. But he’s not alone, James Clyburn made this very clear too, that he thought that that was the reason why Democrats were losing. Lori Lightfoot, who the mayor of Chicago who retreated hard to this very conservative approach towards more policing, and calling for more arrests and more incarceration, even though we’ve seen over the course of 40 years that that is just not the right pathway. President Obama caught it, I think he called ‘catchy.’ I think the mayor of Chicago, Lori Lightfoot, again, very dismissive of this work. I am interested in your thoughts around just the effort of just organizing to get people to understand how evil the system is, as well as your response to the critique, particularly that’s coming from Black elected leadership, which I’m not opposed to criticizing, and it’s not like racism doesn’t exist. But you can see how White supremacy moves its way into the, to the, essentially to the veins, into the blood, into the pulse of Black electeds, where they’re making excuses quite frankly, for White supremacy
Please pardon all transcription errors.
* Isabel’s roundup…
* Fox Chicago: After the forum, both candidates took jabs at one another. Johnson slammed Vallas for his 2021 comments against teaching Critical Race Theory. Vallas has since said he advocates for teaching African American history year-round. “This book was highlighting and lifting up the fact that Blackness in the city of Chicago has value, Paul Vallas banned that book,” Johnson said. Vallas was asked why he didn’t give a response to Johnson when he was accused of being associated with right-wing extremists. “I didn’t want to turn it into a free for all, and this is what Johnson is going to do. He doesn’t want to run on his record, or lack of record,” Vallas said.
* CBS Chicago: Johnson repeatedly attacked Vallas on the grounds that his “budgetary scheme” in previous roles in the 1990s was at least partially to blame for the city’s current financial trouble. He said Vallas worked with the Republican Party in the 1990s to take the dollars that were supposed to go toward pensions – and decades later, the city was left on the hook for $2.5 billion in property taxes that had to be raised to make up the money. Vallas rebutted that as city budget director under Mayor Richard M. Daley, he passed balanced budgets without raising property taxes once. He added that under his watch chief executive officer of the Chicago Public Schools, property tax hikes averaged only 1.5 percent.
* WBEZ: Vallas dismissed the financial broadside as “nonsense” and a fictionalized account of his six-year tenure as CEO at CPS. “When I took over the Chicago Public Schools, the pensions were 80% funded. When I left, they were over 100% funded. That’s a fact,” Vallas said. “It was not until the pension holiday that was enacted in 2009 or 2010 when they basically stopped making contributions … that the pensions went south. … Actuarially based funding mandates was a very good idea because it allowed us to use money for like teacher pay raises, after-school and extended day programs.”
* WGN: “We’re in this predicament because of the bad accounting measures of Mr. Vallas,” Johnson said. “The truth of the matter is he has not put forth a budget plan because when he put forth a budget plan four years ago, he came in ninth place.”
* ABC Chicago: Vallas and Johnson both agreed public safety is the city’s top problem, impacting neighborhoods, public transportation and downtown business viability, but they offered different solutions. “You make the type of leadership changes and changes in scheduling and changes in management and personnel that do not cause 1,000 police officers to leave every year,” Vallas sad.”We’re gonna promote, train and hire 200 more detectives so we can actually solve crime in the city of Chicago,” said Johnson.
* Sun-Times: Both candidates accused each other of trying to, as Vallas put it, “make race the issue” in the campaign between Black and white candidates where the African-American vote is likely to be decisive. Johnson appeared to fan those flames when he accused Vallas of “hanging out with right-wing extremists who have attacked women” on the issue of abortion and of opposing the teaching of Black history in Chicago Public Schools.
* The Hill: “Paul Vallas, on the other hand, doesn’t believe that children of the city of Chicago should learn Black history. So if we eliminate the type of history that Paul Vallas is trying to promote, they wouldn’t know that the first Black mayor of the city of Chicago was Harold Washington,” Johnson said. […] “Just nonsense again,” Vallas responded at one point. “I actually integrated Black history and all the curriculum in it, and then moved beyond just Black history month in February. I also incorporated African studies into the world history curriculum.”
* Politico: The Chicago Teachers Union is raising members’ dues $8 per month to go toward its political action committee paying for Johnson’s mayoral campaign. CTU’s executive board announced the hike here.
* Tribune: During the debate, Johnson also attempted to tamp down concerns that he is too close with the powerful Chicago Teachers Union, which endorsed and has funded him, but he declined to name an issue on which he disagreed with the organization. “I have a fiduciary responsibility to the people of the city of Chicago, and once I’m mayor of the city of Chicago, I will no longer be a member of the Chicago Teachers Union,” Johnson said.
* Streetsblog: Johnson’s response mostly focused on strategies to make transit operate more efficiently and keep CTA staffing at full strength so as to avoid service gaps. “Right now our public transit system is unreliable and it’s unsafe,” he said. “This is why I’m committed to making sure we’re making critical investments, particularly for working people who overwhelmingly rely on public transportation. So we’re going to increase the number of bus-only lanes… We’re going to make sure that there are traffic signals that give preference to [buses.]” […] In contrast, Vallas’s answer focused on addressing crime through more policing. “The CTA is on the verge of financial crisis,” he accurately noted. Vallas cited a stat (apparently solely reported by the conservative website Wirepoints, in an article that called for cutting CTA service) that CTA farebox revenue is only currently accounting for 18 percent of the operating budget when, under state law, it’s normally supposed to account for 50 percent.
* Bloomberg: Griffin, 54, said in an interview this week in Palm Beach, Florida, that he was done with Chicago politics but wants a Vallas victory. “I’ve had enough of Illinois,” Griffin said. “I will tell you, I really admire my colleagues who have supported Paul Vallas publicly with their voice and with their money. I hope that Paul Vallas becomes the mayor of Chicago.”
* Crain’s: Johnson also repeatedly brought up Chicago’s former wealthiest citizen Ken Griffin’s endorsement of Vallas, using Griffin’s monumental financial support of Republicans and current backing for controversial Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to tie Vallas to the GOP. Vallas, who has received six-figure sums from execs at Griffin’s Citadel, didn’t directly address Griffin’s endorsement, but said the wealthy donors lining up behind his campaign are attracted to him “because they know the city is in crisis and they need someone who can manage the city” and “pull together a leadership team that can run every department.”
* NBC Sports: “I don’t support billion-dollar subsidies for sports teams and I certainly don’t support putting billions of dollars into renovations at Soldier Field,” Vallas said. Johnson drew on his emotional connection to the franchise, invoking memories of growing up with the Super Bowl Shuffle before iterating his desire to negotiate with the franchise while brushing off the idea of subsidizing any potential project.
* The Accuracy Firearms case was brought by attorney Tom DeVore. Darren Bailey is a plaintiff. As I told you last month, DeVore was outmaneuvered by Rep. Caulkins’ attorney and now he’s being left in the dust. Here’s Capitol News Illinois…
The Illinois Supreme Court agreed this week to fast-track the state’s appeal of a Macon County judge’s ruling against parts of a recently passed state ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. […]
Although the Accuracy Firearms case went through an appellate court before reaching the Supreme Court, Attorney General Kwame Raoul appealed the Caulkins case directly to the high court.
In both cases, Raoul filed motions for an expedited hearing schedule. But on Tuesday, the court chose to take only one, accepting the Caulkins case and denying the motion in the Accuracy Firearms case.
According to the court’s order, oral arguments in the Caulkins case are scheduled to be heard sometime in May.
* Anyway, on to the topic at hand. The Center Square has been trying hard to make this an issue…
Gov. J.B. Pritzker doesn’t just appear at the top as a defendant in the Macon County gun-ban challenge in front of the Illinois Supreme Court. He’s also the top donor for two supreme court justices’ campaigns.
Pritzker donated a total of $2 million to then-Illinois Supreme Court candidates Mary O’Brien and Elizabeth Rochford, $1 million each.
According to the Illinois Sunshine database, Justice Mary K. O’Brien reported raising $16.9 million and Justice Elizabeth Rochford reported raising $54.8 million. So, Pritzker’s contributions made up 5.9 percent and 1.8 percent of their respective hauls.
…Adding… I thought this morning that those Illinois Sunshine numbers looked weird, but I got busy and then decided to circle back this afternoon to do my own search. O’Brien raised $3.964 million and Rochford raised $3.916 million. Pritzker’s percentages, therefore, were 25.2 and 25.5 respectively. Sorry about that.
House Speaker Chris Welch and Senate President Don Harmon also helped both candidates. Darren Bailey contributed a small amount to sitting Republican Justice David Overstreet, but his case didn’t make the cut, even though it makes nearly identical arguments.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Wednesday that despite his million-dollar donations to two Illinois Supreme Court justices last year, they are independent and should not have to recuse themselves from two high-profile cases before them in which the governor is a defendant. […]
“If you’re suggesting that the fact that I gave money to let’s say the Democratic Party or the committees that supported candidates means that everybody who’s received any money has to recuse themselves from anything to do with the state of Illinois, that’s ridiculous,” Pritzker said at an unrelated event in Springfield. “And I’ve certainly never asked anybody to vote a certain way or decide on a case a certain way. I would never do that. I never have and I never will.”
Independent observers say judges should recuse themselves where there is any hint of conflict of interest. Chris Forsyth with the nonpartisan Judicial Integrity Project in Colorado told The Center Square that trust in the judicial system is crucial in American society.
* The Question: Should Justices O’Brien and Rochford recuse themselves from any and all cases involving the governor and the legislative leaders? If so, for how long? Make sure to explain your answer.
…Adding… Some context from the comment section…
Is it worth repeating that the judicial canons forbid judges from ever raising money? They can authorize others to raise money on their behalf during a campaign but they aren’t supposed to be directly involved in the ask. They can greet supporters at events, they can mingle with voters, they can go grocery shopping and interact with folks there, but they have more-than-plausible-deniability that they know or care where the money came from.
* Center Square | Pritzker acknowledges some changes at troubled facility haven’t worked: “As we made changes, some of them were ineffective, we have changed them, we have moved them, we added more regulation or oversight,” Pritzker said. “We’re at a point today where it’s clear all of those things weren’t working to the degree that we wanted them to.”
* The Southern | SIU School of Medicine to lead Behavioral Health Workforce Education Center: The new center, which will be housed at the School of Medicine’s Springfield campus, was created in partnership with the Jane Adams College of Social Work at the University of Illinois Chicago, the Illinois Board of Higher Education and the Illinois Department of Human Services.
* Center Square | Pritzker says it’s ‘ridiculous’ to expect justices to recuse themselves after $2M donations: “If you’re suggesting that the fact that I gave money to let’s say the Democratic Party or the committees that supported candidates means that everybody who’s received any money has to recuse themselves from anything to do with the state of Illinois, that’s ridiculous,” Pritzker said at an unrelated event in Springfield. “And I’ve certainly never asked anybody to vote a certain way or decide on a case a certain way. I would never do that. I never have and I never will.”
* Sun-Times | Bid to block Illinois’ new assault weapons ban now before federal appeals court: Bevis’ lawsuit is one of several challenges filed in state and federal courts since Pritzker signed the law. Four federal challenges have been consolidated in southern Illinois’ federal court, where state lawyers recently argued the weapons restricted by the new law aren’t commonly used for self-defense.
* Tribune | At first debate of mayoral runoff, Johnson attacks Vallas’ record as rival tries to stay above the fray: Over the course of an hour, Johnson repeatedly accused Vallas of wanting to raise property taxes, enacting policies in the 1990s that cause lasting harm to the city and school district’s financial position, and working with Republicans to damage the pension system. Johnson also said Vallas doesn’t want to teach Black history and claimed he does not support women’s abortion rights.
* Tribune | Two former Cook County prosecutors hit with charges in Burge-connected Jackie Wilson case: Two former Cook County prosecutors have been indicted by a grand jury on charges of perjury and official misconduct in connection with a complicated, decades-old case of a man who alleged torture after he was accused in the killing of two cops in 1982, according to a special prosecutor who was assigned to investigate the matter.
* Northwest Herald | Union solidarity bypassed for mayoral runoff candidates: That leads to the second thing worth noting: this election is a perfect example of the rift between the two most powerful labor unions – teachers and cops – while shedding light on how that schism resonates throughout the political and commentary spectrum.
* WaPo | California suspends $54M Walgreens contract over abortion pills policy: “California will not stand by as corporations cave to extremists and cut off critical access to reproductive care and freedom,” Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said in a statement. Noting that the state has one of the largest economies in the world, he added that “we will leverage our market power to defend the right to choose.”
* Tribune | UIC students plan to protest far-right speakers Charlie Kirk and Candace Owens at Thursday event: “Charlie Kirk and Candace Owens’ past use of hate speech and discriminatory language against marginalized groups indicates that these figures are in search of furthering divisions and ‘triggering’ people rather than engaging in meaningful discussion,” said a member of UIC Against Hatred who asked to remain anonymous. “The main goal of our rally is to create a space for UIC students to feel free to express their concerns regarding the TPUSA event, the university’s failure to act, and the need for more solidarity and community among students.”
