* Monday is Lincoln’s birthday, a state holiday. Enjoy. Here’s The White Stripes covering a song written by Hal David and the late, great Burt Bacharach…
Like a summer rose
Needs the sun and rain
I need your sweet love
To feel all the way
It is tradition for the Governor to deliver his annual State of the State and Budget Address to a joint session in the House Chamber. However, for the past two years, a global pandemic and a dangerous snowstorm forced Governor JB Pritzker to relocate. House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch is excited to host the governor for the first time since he was elected to lead the chamber.
“In my first two years as Speaker, we faced unprecedented challenges and I’m thrilled that we are beginning to gain a sense of normalcy again,” said Speaker Welch. “I’m grateful we will be able to host Governor Pritzker and I look forward to hearing more about his priorities for this session.”
After three years of pandemic disruption that saw postponements, downsizing and a special outdoor summer edition, the Chicago Auto Show may be hitting on all cylinders for the 2023 edition.
The annual show, which opens Saturday, has expanded back into two halls at McCormick Place, with a full roster of brands, exhibits and test tracks, hoping to draw large crowds of EV-curious and old-school car enthusiasts.
* IDPH…
The department is reporting 10,234 new confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19 in Illinois in the week ending February 5, and 62 deaths. … As of last night, 834 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 100 patients were in the ICU and 34 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
* Scott is right (as usual). This isn’t a “loophole”…
I've seen this "loophole" comment several times now. A US supreme court ruling allowing for SuperPACs that can raise unlimited money, that cannot be limited or regulated by any state or local law, is not a loophole.https://t.co/inkLSk9s3M
The 77 Committee is run by Dave Mellet, a longtime top political adviser to Lightfoot, who said the committee operates independently of any campaign for mayor, as required by law.
“We do not communicate or coordinate with any of the campaigns for mayor and all decisions on strategy, fundraising and expenditures are made solely by the committee,” Mellet said in a statement to WTTW News.
They didn’t have to communicate with the Lightfoot campaign because the campaign, like most campaigns, has what is known as a “red box” on its website. They’re designed to let independent expenditure committees know what the campaign would like them to focus on, provide oppo, etc. Click the “Media” link on Lightfoot’s homepage and you’ll get this…
Voters on the go across Chicago, especially Black frequent municipal primary voters, need to know about Brandon Johnson’s extreme background contrasted with Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s progressive accomplishments.
Brandon Johnson wants to defund the police. Johnson introduced a resolution to “redirect funds from policing.”
Brandon Johnson’s tax plan would hit the middle class, drive jobs to the suburbs, and jeopardize Chicago’s tourism and the status of O’Hare.
Johnson wants to defund the police, putting our safety at risk; raise taxes on the middle class and drive jobs away from Chicago.
* Hard to disagree…
Beer. My nominee for coolest thing manufactured in Illinois is beer. Manufactured across Illinois. Distributed by a skilled Union workforce statewide. Sold in businesses huge & tiny and enjoyed in homes, bars, and at family gatherings across our fair state.
Today, U.S. Representative Mike Quigley (IL-05) released the following statement following the House passage of the Assault Weapons Ban, H.R. 1808:
“Assault weapons are weapons of war designed for one purpose and one purpose only: efficiently killing human beings. There is simply no reason for a civilian to own one of these firearms.”
And here’s Sam Royko on the right…
* Press release…
State Representative Wayne Rosenthal (R-Morrisonville) has been tapped by Illinois House Minority Leader Tony McCombie (R-Savanna) to serve as the Minority Spokesperson for two House Committees. The committees he was chosen for include State Government Administration and Transportation: Vehicle Safety.
“I’m looking forward to the opportunity to serve as Spokesperson on these committees,” said Rosenthal. “My past experience leading the Department of Natural Resources and the men and women of the Illinois National Guard has given me valuable insight to address the issues that will come before these committees as we work to improve state government operations and transportation safety on our roadways.”
Since Rosenthal previously served in the House of Representatives from 2011 to 2015, it made him eligible to serve as a committee Spokesperson because House Rules require Spokespersons to be in at least their third term of office. In this role, Rosenthal will be responsible for leading the work of his fellow Republican members on the committee and promoting Republican initiatives and legislation.
As the former Director of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources from 2015 to 2019, Rosenthal brings the practical experience of having administered a state agency to the work of the legislature’s committee process. This makes Rosenthal uniquely and highly qualified for the Spokesperson role.
“As I’ve said before, my top priority is providing the best possible service to constituents,” said Rosenthal. “I will bring that same focus to my committee work over the course of this term.”
In addition to serving as Spokesperson on the aforementioned committees, Rosenthal will also serve as a member of the following committees: Agriculture and Conservation, Energy and Environment, Higher Education, and Veterans’ Affairs.
* Isabel’s roundup…
* Crain’s | Rivian’s challenges pile up as new rivals swarm into the EV market: Recent setbacks pummeled Rivian shares to a 52-week low of $15.28 last month. Price cuts by rivals Tesla and Ford weigh on the shares, which peaked at more than $170 following Rivian’s November 2021 IPO. Amid shrinking cash reserves and recession fears, the company announced it was laying off 6% of its workforce, although sparing its primary production facility in Normal. That follows a similar-sized layoff last summer.
* Sun-Times | Will Bridgeport bank failure trial reveal more secrets about clout bank linked to Patrick Daley Thompson?: This time, it will be centerstage when Robert M. Kowalski, a lawyer and developer — he has called himself “Bob the Builder” in court filings — who got millions of dollars in loans from the bank, goes on trial Monday. He’s the first to face trial of 14 people charged with having a role in what federal authorities have said was an embezzlement scheme that involved top executives of the bank.
* Beacon-News | City Council eyes $500 million data center project in Aurora: The proposed development at the southwest corner of Bilter and Eola roads would eventually feature three buildings, being developed by Seefried Properties to eventually be owned by Endeavour Edged, an international company known for data center development around the world using 100% renewable energy and a zero-water cooling system, officials said.
* Fox Chicago | Polar plunging raises funds for Special Olympics of Illinois: Polar plunging has been gaining attention with some research saying it’s good for your health. It can also help raise money for the Special Olympics of Illinois. One brave plunger demonstrates “cold exposure therapy” in Lake Michigan live on Good Day Chicago.
* Sun-Times | After taking a pass on mayor’s race, U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley endorses Garcia: Earlier this week, he was endorsed by former Gov. Pat Quinn, who circulated nominating petitions for mayor before deciding not to join the crowded field. Quinn chose Garcia over Mayor Lori Lightfoot, whom he supported four years ago, and Paul Vallas, whom he chose in 2014 as his running mate for lieutenant governor.
* WBEZ | Right after landing a big deal with the CTA, businessman helps Lightfoot’s reelection effort: Less than a month ago, the Chicago Transit Authority — whose leaders are appointed by the mayor — announced a lucrative new contract with a company founded by prominent real-estate magnate Elzie Higginbottom. Just a few weeks later, another company tied to Higginbottom gave a $50,000 contribution to a new political fund created by a close ally of Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
* Chalkbeat | COVID prompted many Chicago principals to leave. What will it take to help them stay?: Before the pandemic, the district’s principal turnover was slowing, dipping to a rate below the national average. Still, about half of elementary school principals and more than two-thirds of high school principals were leaving their jobs within five years, according to a pair of new University of Chicago reports based on eight years of staffing data and interviews with local principals.
* WaPo | Rick Steves: Don’t skip Europe’s second cities: While lacking the popularity and the bucket-list sights, Europe’s second cities tend to enjoy a creative edge, a strong civic spirit, a Rust Belt toughness, fun-loving eateries with cutting-edge menus, entertaining street art … and far fewer tourists, which also means lower prices, a more authentic welcome and arguably a more honest cultural experience.
“After listening to Shannon Adcock’s speech, I think she should run for governor,” Vallas says in the video.
* As noted in the tweet, this was a different event than the June, 2022 conference Vallas did with the group which brought his association to light. His protestations last year that he knew little about the group before the conference are a little tough to believe.
So why today’s tweet? Well, the group got kinda bent out of shape after Vallas threw them under the bus. Stuff happens.
Citigroup Inc. has been dropped from the group of banks poised to handle the biggest-ever municipal-bond transaction from Texas after the state’s attorney general’s office determined the firm “discriminates” against the firearms industry, barring it from underwriting most government borrowings in the state.
The Texas Natural Gas Securitization Finance Corp. board met on Thursday and took action to “reconstitute” the syndicate on the $3.4 billion deal, according to Lee Deviney, executive director of the Texas Public Finance Authority, the state agency overseeing the borrowing. Citigroup had been listed in the original iteration of the underwriting firms approved by the board in May and is no longer included in the final group. […]
Citi’s removal from the deal isn’t a surprise after Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office last month said that they would no longer “approve any public security issued on or after today’s date in which Citigroup purchases or underwrites the public security,” according to a Jan. 18 letter to bond counsels written by Leslie Brock, assistant attorney general chief of the public finance division. […]
Citigroup is the second bank to be removed from the transaction. UBS Group AG was kicked off the deal in October after the state listed them among firms it considers to “boycott” the fossil fuel industry.
The Mississippi House passed a controversial bill that would form a court system of unelected judges and prosecutors to preside over part of the majority-Black city of Jackson.
Black residents make up 82.8% of the city’s population, according to the U.S. Census.
The bill would expand the city’s capitol complex improvement district, which “was created by the Mississippi Legislature to establish regular funding and administration of infrastructure projects within a defined area of the city of Jackson,” according to city documents.
Instead of giving the city’s majority-Black residents an opportunity to vote for judges and prosecutors in the court, the Republican-backed bill would require government officials to choose who fills those positions.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit yesterday against the Biden administration over their guidance to pharmacies about not discriminating against people when dispensing medication. Essentially, the guidance was a reminder to pharmacists that they can’t discriminate against someone based on their ability or perceived ability to get pregnant. So, for example, they can’t withhold arthritis medication from a woman just because the medication could induce abortion.
Again, this guidance didn’t say that Texas or anywhere else had to prescribe abortion medication. Yet Paxton is suing, saying that the Biden administration “has no legal authority to institute this radical abortion agenda.” (You also may remember Paxton as the AG who sued the Biden administration over the state’s right to refuse emergency life-saving abortions.) What’s doubly upsetting about this is that the media coverage is getting it all wrong, with headlines mirroring Paxton’s claim that the lawsuit is about abortion.
The Texas Tribune’s headline, for example, reads, “Texas sues to block Biden’s abortion medication guidance”—language that’s repeated in multiple other news outlets. I think the least we can ask from mainstream media is that they get the basic facts right.
The organizers of the annual Knoxville Pride Festival said the event will be cancelled if a bill restricting where drag shows can take place becomes law.
If passed, drag performances on public property or where they can be seen by someone who is not an adult would be banned effective April 1. A first offense for a performer would be a Class A misdemeanor, but a second or subsequent violation would be a Class E felony.
The bill passed the Tennessee Senate on Thursday and now must be approved by the house to become law. […]
The festival is the largest fundraiser of the year for the 501c3 organization that helps fund the Knox Pride Resource Center, which provides a food pantry, a thrift store to provide low and no-cost clothing to houseless and precariously housed individuals, life skills classes, and more, Knox Pride said.
According to Camp, the 2022 festival had 75,000 attendees and 125 performers, 100 who were drag artists, in Downtown Knoxville.
Mr. DeSantis is the latest figure, and among the most influential, to join a growing list of Republicans calling on the court to revisit the 1964 ruling, known as The New York Times Company v. Sullivan.
The decision set a higher bar for defamation lawsuits involving public figures, and for years it was viewed as sacrosanct. That standard has empowered journalists to investigate and criticize public figures without fear that an unintentional error will result in crippling financial penalties.
But emboldened by the Supreme Court’s recent willingness to overturn longstanding precedent, conservative lawyers, judges, legal scholars and politicians have been leading a charge to review the decision and either narrow it or overturn it entirely. […]
During the panel discussion on Tuesday, Mr. DeSantis accused the press of using Sullivan as a shield to intentionally “smear” politicians and said the precedent discouraged people from running for office. Would the current Supreme Court, he asked the panelists, be “receptive” to revisiting the case?
State Rep. Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz, D-Glenview, and state Sen. Mary Edly-Allen, D-Libertyville, recently introduced legislation, House Bill 2123 and Senate Bill 1392, to crack down on abusive and harmful use of digital forgeries known as “deepfakes” and create a path for victims experiencing physical, emotional, reputational or economic harm to seek justice.
Deepfake technology is used to create extremely realistic digital forgeries, which are increasingly being used to falsely portray people participating in pornographic activity without their consent. Victims are routinely humiliated, abused and blackmailed as the result of the creation and dissemination of pornographic deepfake videos.
Deepfakes are also being used to falsely portray public figures making offensive or harmful statements, including elected officials and world leaders. These false depictions have the potential to undermine public trust, obfuscate the truth, and spread dangerous misinformation. In a particularly dangerous example, Vice reported a video forgery that used deepfake technology to falsely depict Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy surrendering to Russian forces. This type of malicious misinformation has the potential to create mass confusion and provoke violence if not addressed.
“This ‘deepfake’ technology presents a very real threat to privacy and to the truth,” said Gong-Gershowitz. “Deepfakes can falsely and convincingly portray anyone saying anything, creating confusion and eroding public trust. This raises serious implications in a world already struggling with rampant misinformation and social media manipulation. Our laws and regulations must keep up with this rapidly-evolving technology to protect individual privacy and public trust.”
* It’s that time of the year…
It's my favorite time of year: seeing witness slips on a staggering array of bills from David Schwartz and Matthew Slade, the two most opinionated people in Illinois. pic.twitter.com/glyU4hrB36
Today, Congresswoman Mary Miller (R-IL) reintroduced the Safety & Opportunity for Girls Act.
On his first day in office, President Joe Biden signed an Executive Order to interpret Title IX as requiring schools to allow access to sex-segregated spaces and activities based on gender identity. The Safety & Opportunity for Girls Act, sponsored by Rep. Mary Miller, adds a clear definition of sex to Title IX to clarify that “sex” means biological sex, not gender identity.
Rep. Mary Miller says that she is sponsoring the Safety and Opportunity for Girls Act to protect spaces for women and girls in school.
“Democrats continue to push radical gender ideology on our children, and we must draw the line to protect women and girls,” Miller said. “Title IX was created to enhance opportunities for our daughters, not threaten their safety. No girl should be robbed of athletic opportunities by being forced to compete with biological males in school sports. The Safety and Opportunity for Girls Act would make it clear that the definition of sex in Title IX means biological sex, not gender identity.
My goal is to protect spaces like bathrooms, locker rooms, and sports teams for women like my five daughters, and so many others across the country.
The Northwest Suburban High School District 214 and Palatine Township Elementary District 15 school boards plan to retain a still-to-be-named lobbyist to oppose — or at least get amended — recently filed state legislation that would take a cut of their future property tax revenues and give the Chicago Bears a massive tax break at Arlington Park.
The District 214 board unanimously supported hiring a lobbyist Thursday night, which followed the District 15 board’s similar vote Wednesday night. The districts want to present a united front before legislators in Springfield and hope to get Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 on board as well. The District 211 board next meets Feb. 16.
“We would like to have a seat at the table so our voice is not lost as we move through this large, complex and certainly rapid-moving and high-stakes issue,” said District 15 Superintendent Laurie Heinz. “The board has always and will support everything that has to do with the economic development within District 15 boundaries. But the economic development must make sense and fully address any impact on District 15 and residents within our communities.” […]
The legislation, filed Monday by Democratic state Sen. Ann Gillespie of Arlington Heights, would allow developers of “mega projects” — those worth at least $500 million — to make payments to local taxing bodies like schools while also getting an assessment freeze of up to 40 years. Under the proposal, the Bears’ payments would be negotiated, but it’s the village of Arlington Heights — not the school districts — that would be doing the negotiating.
Gillespie, an admitted skeptic of her own bill, said she filed it so that it could be part of a larger conversation about her long-sought reforms to tax-increment financing.
Senators Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin reintroduced legislation to designate the sites of the 1908 Race Riot in Springfield, Illinois, as a national monument.
According to a press release, both senators have been longtime supporters of turning the site into a national monument, originally introducing the legislation in 2019 and 2021.
It has the support of the NAACP, Sierra Club, The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, and the Springfield and Central Illinois African American History Museum.
If a Democratic lawmaker has her way, non-citizens will be able to vote in school board elections in Illinois.
State Sen. Celina Villanueva has introduced legislation to allow “non-citizens of the United States” to register to vote in school board elections. The measure is headed to the Assignments Committee, where it will be reviewed. School board elections will take place this year on April 4.
Creates the If This Is Such A Good Idea, Let’s Start With You Act. Provides that the following actions must be completed no later than June 30, 2024: (1) the City of Chicago must convert Millennium Park into a solar energy park by building solar energy facilities on all open space and by mounting solar energy facilities on structures, except that no solar energy facility is required on Cloud Gate; (2) the City of Chicago must mount one wind energy turbine on Cloud Gate (The Bean exhibit) in Millennium Park; and (3) the City of Chicago and the Chicago Park District must place at least one wind energy facility in each public park operated by the City or Park District. Also requires each forest preserve district in Cook County to place at least one wind energy facility in each forest preserve operated by the forest preserve district. Requires reports to the General Assembly on the progress of complying with the requirements and the benefits that the wind and solar energy requirements have conferred upon the City of Chicago and Cook County. Limits concurrent exercise of home rule powers. Defines terms. Effective immediately.
Some Democratic lawmakers are proposing pushing back high school start times across Maine.
They say it’s a serious issue involving teenage health.
The bill, An Act to Provide for a Later Starting Time for High Schools, is very simple. If approved, high schools in Maine wouldn’t be allowed to start before 8:30 a.m.
“I’ve been having kids all over the state actually write me saying how much they really want to see this pass,” said State Sen. Mattie Daughtry, (D) Brunswick.
“If you look at teens and development, their circadian rhythms are actually different than the rest of us,” Daughtry said. “So waking a teen up at 6 a.m. is the equivalent of you and I getting shaken awake at 3 a.m.”
The Illinois Craft Brewers Guild filed bill with the state Legislature that would allow craft breweries to ship beer directly to consumers.
Allowing brewers in the state to sell beer online and ship to customers’ homes would serve as a lifeline to the craft beer industry, which continues to face economic fallout from the pandemic, said Ray Stout, executive director of the trade organization. It would also bring the industry up to speed in a world where people are accustomed to buying almost everything with the click of a mouse. […]
The bill, which has been introduced in the Illinois Senate and is expected to be introduced to the Illinois House of Representatives in the coming days, marks the guild’s second attempt in as many years to try to codify direct-to-consumer beer shipping into law.
The newest bill puts a cap on how much beer a consumer can order online — 12 cases, which contain 24 beers each — per year. Stout said he thinks that cap makes the bill more likely to pass. He does expect push back from distributors, however.
Newly released reports from the Illinois Department of Human Services’ watchdog office reveal shocking instances of cruelty, abuse and poor care of patients who have mental illnesses and developmental disabilities at a state-run facility in rural southern Illinois.
The eight reports, obtained last month under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, provide new evidence of an ongoing crisis at Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center, which has been the subject of numerous investigative articles by Lee Enterprises Midwest, Capitol News Illinois and ProPublica.
In one report from November, the IDHS inspector general wrote that two Choate employees who had broken a patient’s arm in October 2017 bragged about how staff got away with abusing patients by providing scant details on reports and blaming resulting injuries on accidental patient falls. The staffers also boasted about intimidating and bullying other employees to keep them from reporting abuse and bragged that they retaliated against those who spoke up.
In another report, the inspector pointed to years of concerns about the care provided to patients who have pica, a disorder in which people feel compelled to swallow inedible objects such as coins and zippers.
Several nurses told an investigator that it was common practice to force patients with pica to dig through their own excrement with gloved hands or a spatula to determine whether objects they swallowed had passed, the inspector general found. The investigation was triggered by a complaint to the agency’s abuse hotline made last spring by a facility monitor who observed a patient walk out of the bathroom with a bag of feces. Patients questioned by investigators said they felt disgusted by the practice and viewed it as punitive. […]
Further, an incident in November 2021 extended beyond neglect. A mental health technician was found to have also mentally abused and retaliated against a patient who wet himself after the tech rejected his request to use the bathroom. The worker made the man mop up the mess and tossed his personal letters in the bucket of dirty water, according to the inspector’s report. When questioned by an investigator, one of the patients who witnessed the incident and corroborated the account began to cry and said he “was tired of being abused.”
Blue state Illinois stands out as a “blue wall,” Pritzker said, a place where the policies of the Biden administration can be highlighted at a convention, with the Biden and Pritzker agendas closely aligned.
Illinois has an assault weapons ban; abortion rights locked in; workers rights laws; and, when it comes to infrastructure projects, Pritzker’s Rebuild Illinois capital plan has been boosted with massive federal funding from Biden’s signature infrastructure bill. […]
“Is [Georgia] really that purple? [Pritzker asked.] Well, it’s got a Republican governor, a Republican legislature, it’s got a majority of its congressional delegation is Republican. […]
Then there is the matter of hotels. A major Atlanta vulnerability is its lack of union hotels. Atlanta has only two union hotels, compared with 45 in the Chicago area.
Vallas explained by saying that he and his wife, Sharon, have “lived apart” for decades.
“When I left Philadelphia to go to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, my wife did not want to go with me. She wanted to move back to where she was most comfortable. She bought a home right next to her aged parents in the same house where she grew up….My kids were still relatively young, and she thought that’s where she could be most easily supported,” Vallas said.
“Sometimes, people stay married because they make certain arrangements…I’ve always lived where I’ve worked. This has been our understanding. I wanted my wife to be in her most comfortable setting with her friends and family…while she allowed me to do what I do: rescues, turnaround projects, crisis management.”
Vallas said he listed Palos Heights as his home address when he contributed to Giannoulias because his wife, who cares for her parents and his 94-year-old mother, “pays the bills and handles the finances.” They have one credit card between them that’s in her name.
[ *** End Of Update *** ]
* The Paul Vallas residency story has been floating around Twitter for a bit now…
How did they miss the fact that his “residence” is a 600 sq ft 1 bedroom and he’s still taking the homeowners exemption in the burbs?
Paul Vallas’ wife, Sharon, can’t even vote for her husband because she is registered to vote in Palos Heights
Why should we elect someone that shows absolutely no commitment to being a part of our community, other than wanting to be mayor? pic.twitter.com/mpVKuNkOxq
Once again, Vallas used a Palos Heights address in his role as the firm’s President (renewed in August, 2022.)
Do we have any actual evidence Vallas even lives in Chicago? Even Vallas seems confused on where he lives as he used 2 addresses on the same document 🤷♂️ pic.twitter.com/E9DKrgONy5
If Paul Vallas is a Chicago resident, why did he make a $250 contribution to Alexi Giannoulias using a Palos Heights address in Sept, 2022? pic.twitter.com/e95Ke7TKNQ
It looks like @royalpratt@ad_quig have copies of Vallas’ federal tax returns going back till 2018
That would show if Vallas took the mortgage interest dedication for the full years of 2018 & 2019, while Vallas was allegedly a Chicago residenthttps://t.co/OW2MokWDRa
Vallas, who has been registered to vote in Chicago at an apartment in Bridgeport for less than a year, declined to answer questions about his residency directly from WTTW News. Instead, a spokesperson for his campaign issued a statement saying he lives in Chicago while his wife, Sharon, lives in Palos Heights to care for her elderly parents and 93-year-old mother-in-law.
“The couple has made this sacrifice so that their elderly parents can be cared for in their residences,” according to the campaign, which said Vallas visits the Palos Heights home “when his schedule permits.”
However, when Vallas contributed $250 to Democrat Alexi Giannoulias’ successful campaign for secretary of state in September, Vallas listed his address as his Palos Heights home, according to records filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections. A spokesperson for Vallas said that was an error and would be corrected.
Vallas also uses the address of his home in Palos Heights for his consulting business, according to documents on file with state officials. A spokesperson for Vallas said that was done when Vallas was living in New Orleans more than a decade ago.
Vallas has been registered to vote in Chicago since 2018. These candidate residency requirements are not difficult to skirt. But he has some more explaining to do.
Also, I’m told Vallas flatly denies owning any property in Monee.
*** UPDATE 3 ***
NEW: the Cook County Assessor is out with a new statement, saying it has concluded its investigation and determined the Vallas’ did NOT improperly claim a homeowners exemption on its Palos Heights property.
Because Ms. Vallas applied for the exemptions and the documents provided by her representative established that the Palos Heights property is properly receiving an exemption, and neither she nor Paul Vallas are receiving homeowners exemptions elsewhere, the investigation is concluded with no violation.
* Meanwhile…
Protesters right now outside Union League Club calling out Paul Vallas’ involvement with Awake Illinois. pic.twitter.com/4YI4dMfqdI
*** UPDATE 1 *** Another Vallas hit from the Kam Buckner campaign…
During his time at CPS, Paul Vallas censored students by banning a coming of age novel that depicted the life of a young woman on Chicago’s South Side after protests from religious and conservative leaders. If Vallas had actually read Coffee Will Make You Black, he may have realized that the book is about having pride in your heritage, love for your family and hope for a brighter future.
“Republican politicians ban books because they are cowards,” said Kam Buckner. “Paul Vallas’s history of book banning, specifically a book with a strong young Black female protagonist, demonstrates how little he values representation, free thought, and a holistic public education.”
“This is yet another example of how Vallas failed CPS’s students. Instead of broadening and challenging their perspectives, Vallas chose to stand on the side of the establishment that has historically chosen to disregard Black authors,” Buckner said.
The Vallas for Mayor campaign is responding to a malicious, untrue story that ran last night on WTTW News that made false assertions about the candidate’s residency.
Here are the facts:
• Paul Vallas has lived in his current home in an apartment on S. Normal Avenue in the City of Chicago since January of 2022, meaning that he clearly, unequivocally meets the one year residency requirement to run for Mayor and serve in the office.
• Vallas was born and raised in Chicago and has unquestionably deep roots in the city. He has lived outside the city due to various positions in other cities over the years, but has always maintained his close connection to the community.
• The allegation raised by WTTW and the Cook County Assessor’s Office with respect to a duplicate homeowner’s exemption is FALSE. Vallas and his wife own a home in Palos Heights where his wife resides in order to care for their elderly parents. Vallas has NO CONNECTION to a second property in Monee, and this was clearly communicated to WTTW and to the Cook County Assessor’s Office prior to publication of their story.
The following is a statement from Vallas campaign counsel Steven Laduzinsky:
“As the frontrunner in this race, we expect criticism from our opponents and scrutiny from the press. However, this false attack on Paul’s residency is absolutely baseless and he clearly, unequivocally meets the legal requirements to run for Mayor. It is truly disappointing to see that WTTW pushed forward with this false narrative, apparently buoyed by the Cook County Assessor who failed to contact our campaign or even conduct any type of due diligence before releasing false information. Based on the facts, we have demanded that the Assessor’s Office publicly retract its statement and close its investigation immediately.
This kind of unprofessional reporting misleads voters and spreads disinformation. Our campaign is focused on communicating Paul’s message of putting crime reduction and public safety first and we will not be distracted by baseless allegations and rumor mongering.”
That still doesn’t explain the Giannoulias contribution.
* Here’s a Toddlin’ Town roundup from Isabel…
* Tribune | Donors to political committee supporting Paul Vallas are secret, but leadership has ties to current campaign: Like all so-called independent expenditure committees, the new Chicago Leadership Committee is not allowed under state law to coordinate with any candidate or campaign it supports, which in this case is Vallas’ mayoral bid. But recently disclosed campaign finance reports show the Chicago Leadership Committee paid $165,000 to Mad River Communications, a Maryland-based firm registered under the name of Vallas campaign adviser Joe Trippi.
* Chicago Reader | Police brutality survivors and former cops are running in Chicago’s police district council races: Of the 112 candidates running in the newly-created Police District Council races, 63 used resources provided by CAARPR to file election paperwork. These 63 candidates support police accountability: overwhelmingly, they want Chicago Police Department funding to be redirected to violence prevention and transformative justice programs, for care workers to accompany police to mental health crises, and for their churches, block clubs, and community organizations to be included in public safety. Despite what they have personally endured at the hands of police, only a few want to totally defund or abolish CPD.
* WTTW | Political Fund Created by Lightfoot’s Allies Used Cash from City Contractors to Attack Johnson: Those contributions exploit what campaign finance experts told WTTW News is a loophole in laws governing the role of money in Chicago’s elections opened up by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to lift most limits on campaign spending. Former Inspector General Joseph Ferguson, a harsh critic of Lightfoot, said that while the political activity by The 77 Committee is legal, it is “unethical.” “Any Chicagoan will tell you: ‘Well, jeez, that’s a quid pro quo,’” Ferguson said. “It doesn’t pass the smell test.”
* Sun-Times | Democratic Party’s 2024 convention: The choices are down to Chicago, Atlanta: Illinois Gov. J. B. Pritzker, here for National Governors Association meetings running through Saturday, said in an interview with the Sun-Times that he would pitch the president — again— when he sees him in the coming days. Pritzker, a billionaire, said as part of promoting the city’s bid, he was among those making upfront guarantees to the DNC that the party would lose no money if Chicago snagged the convention. That’s important because “almost all” Democratic conventions since 1996 —when it was last in Chicago — “have lost money for the DNC,” Pritzker said.
* Capitol News Illinois | On Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, advocates spotlight ongoing racial disparities: Simmons and other members of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus were joined by members of the Black Leadership Advocacy Coalition for Healthcare Equity, or BLACHE, a coalition of Black-led organizations that work to prevent and treat HIV and AIDS in the Black community. The lawmakers and advocates called for the state to invest more money in organizations treating the disease in communities of color.
* Herald-Whig | Former Adams County sheriff faces charges alleging he issued improper certification while at state agency: Former Adams Sheriff Brent Fischer faces multiple felonies in Macon County alleging he improperly provided a law enforcement officer certification while he served as executive director of the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board. Fischer faces three counts of forgery, a Class 3 felony, and one count of official misconduct, also a Class 3 felony. It was first reported by Isabel Miller of Capitol Fax.
* CBS Chicago | Illinois hopes to increase Black and brown-owned recreational pot businesses: Since clearing legal hurdles from multiple lawsuits last summer, the state’s cannabis regulation oversight office assures this trickle of social equity ownership will soon turn into a waterfall. “This is the first (program) that’s in America,” said Erin Johnson, the state’s cannabis regulation oversight officer. “So we are proud of that, but with that comes the fact that we don’t have a blueprint.”
* Capitol News Illinois | Advocacy groups push for expansive paid family, medical leave in Illinois: After a quick rebrand to the Illinois Time To Care Coalition, advocates are pushing for a more ambitious leave policy, which would make Illinois the 12th state with mandatory paid family and medical leave. The United States is the only industrialized nation without a national paid parental leave law, while dozens of developing countries also have such policies.
* WCIA | Illinois state senators announce bipartisan Senate committees: Joining the Senate Higher Education Committee with Sen. Michael Halpin (D-Rock Island) is Sen. Dale Fowler (R- Harrisburg). Sen. Sally Turner (R-Beason) will also be the co-chair of the Senate State Government Committee along with Sen. Patrick Joyce (D-Kankakee).
* Scott Holland | Pritzker agrees counties can’t set own limits on wind, solar projects: We believe in local control. Until we don’t. That’s the unspoken message from Gov. JB Pritzker’s Jan. 27 signature on House Bill 4412, which neutralizes existing and future county ordinances restricting wind and solar farms. Democrats passed the plan in lame duck session, forcing Pritzker to contradict a position established on the 2022 campaign trail.
* WTAX | Fifteen years smoke free: It’s been fifteen years or more since any business in Illinois asked you, “Smoking or non-smoking?” Advocates who helped get Smoke Free Illinois passed fifteen years ago celebrated Wednesday at a reception in Springfield.
* Tribune | Postal carriers ‘traumatized’ after recent armed robberies and other crimes, says head of union: “It’s a traumatizing experience to have a gun pulled at you in the performance of your duties while servicing the public,” said Elise M. Foster, the president of the union’s Branch 11, who says she represents the local carriers who recently have been victims of assaults. “They’re scared and some don’t even want to return back to work.”
* NPR | At least 9 GOP-led state legislatures want to restrict or criminalize drag shows: The Tennessee House’s Criminal Justice Subcommittee recently heard testimony on a proposed bill that would categorize drag shows, or “male or female impersonators who provide entertainment that appeals to a prurient interest,” as “adult cabaret performance.” It would make it a criminal offense for a drag artist to perform on public property or in a location where the show could be seen by a minor. Further, it prevents local ordinances from superseding this if it were to become state law.
* Tribune | Chicago Bulls stand pat at the NBA trade deadline, reaffirming faith in their Big Three: “There were so many buyers, so there were a lot of teams that didn’t want to take a step back, including us,” Karnišovas said. “We tried to improve our team, but at what cost? That price was not OK with us. The next stage for us now that we’ve passed the trade deadline is to evaluate this group over the next 28 games.”
* More from the Politico interview of Gov. Pritzker…
Q: We’re going to talk about culture wars because you’ve made national headlines on that front, challenging Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, changing high school curriculum in regard to Black history. And how do you see that playing in 2024?
Pritzker: I guess I think of it in a completely different context than you’ve just laid it out. I believe that this is not a culture war. This is a fight about democracy. It’s a fight about, you know, are we in a liberal democracy, and I don’t mean liberal as in Democratic, I mean, we do we live in a liberal democracy or not? Is this a place where truth should prevail? Should w cut out portions of history because we don’t like how it sounds, or we don’t like what previous generations did and we don’t want people to know about it. It strikes me that our children especially need to understand the mistakes that we as a country have made in the past, to learn from those mistakes that, by the way, we have learned from many of those mistakes. We have more to learn all of us and more progress that we need to make. But ignoring it or white-washing it, it strikes me as bad for the future of democracy and the future of expanding rights. In the United States, which is what we’ve always done, we’ve always tried to expand rights. Now it feels like people are trying to contract rights. That’s the wrong direction. It’s not a culture war. It’s not about 2024. For me, it’s about right and wrong. And it’s about, you know, the future of democracy for the United States.
* Interesting news from the Senate…
Two Illinois Senate committees will be co-chaired by Republicans in a move that harkens back decades to a time when Republicans and Democrats more often worked together to recognize shared goals and achieve them.
“I appreciate Leader Curran reaching out with this idea. At one point in our not-so-distant history this was a common practice in the Senate. I think we both hope that it will foster bipartisan cooperation on how we can best meet the needs of people all across our great state,” said Illinois Senate President Don Harmon.
Sen. Dale Fowler, a Republican from Harrisburg, will serve as co-chair on the Senate Higher Education Committee. Sen. Michael Halpin, a Rock Island Democrat is the committee chair, and Sen. Celina Villanueva, a Chicago Democrat, is the vice chair.
Sen. Sally Turner, a Republican from Beason, will serve as the co-chair on the Senate State Government Committee. Sen. Patrick Joyce, a Democrat from the Kankakee area, is the chair, and Sen. Willie Preston, a Democrat from Chicago, is the vice chair.
“I am proud to share in announcing the appointment of Republican co-chairs to two vital Senate committees,” said Illinois Senate Republican Leader John Curran. “I appreciate President Harmon’s efforts in reaching out to discuss greater participation with the minority party. This is a real step toward a more bipartisan working relationship in the process of crafting and passing public policy. Having members from both parties at the helm of these committees will encourage greater collaboration and dialogue, and lead to better outcomes for the people of Illinois.”
Democrats hold a 40-19 majority in the Illinois Senate, which means Democrats also have majorities on all committees and Democratic Senators preside over those committees. The agreement between Curran and Harmon elevates Republicans on these two committees to co-chair roles. Bipartisan co-chairs is not a new idea. For instance, Democrat John Cullerton and Republican Kirk Dillard co-chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee in the early 2000s.
Information about Senate committee and Senators can be found under the “Senate” section of www.ilga.gov.
Eliminating cash bail would also eliminate a revenue source for the county, Rueter said. Bond money is collected for individuals to get out of jail, and if those individuals are convicted, their bond money goes to fund the court system.
“If you’re convicted, then your court costs are paid,” Rueter said. “That is actually, I think, to the tune in Macon County (of) about $1.6 million in revenue for the county to use to pay for the court system. With no cash bail, that revenue goes away. So the taxpayers will have to foot the burden of paying for that loss of revenue.”
* Isabel’s roundup…
* Politico | Dem governors pledge to protect abortion as neighbors add restrictions: “We’re not an island, we’re an oasis,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said in an interview with POLITICO on Thursday. “People come to Illinois to exercise what are their fundamental rights, and they’re being denied in other states, every state around us, and then another ring of states around them. So think about how if you want to exercise your rights, how far you have to travel if you don’t live in Illinois in order to exercise those rights.”
* CBS Minnesota | Gov. Walz signs “100 Percent by 2040″ energy bill into law: According to the Clean Energy States Alliance, 21 other states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have already established some kind of 100% clean-energy standards or goals, most with target dates between 2040 and 2050.
* Shaw Local | Wisconsin-based PAC raising money ‘to educate voters in McHenry County’: A political action committee registered with a Post Office Box based in Wisconsin, just outside St. Paul, Minnesota, has been set up to help “educate the voters in McHenry County,” records filed online with the Illinois State Board of Elections show. Dubbed McHenry County Citizens for Lower Taxes, the PAC was created by Thomas Datwyler on Jan. 21 and filed with the state elections board on Jan. 23, records show. Its address is listed as a P.O. Box in Hudson, Wisconsin, which sits along the Badger State’s border with Minnesota.
* The Triibe | Teaching through trauma: n my 16 years teaching in Chicago Public Schools (CPS), I have lost more students than years I have taught. During my teacher programs in college, I had fears surrounding how to create engaging lesson plans, how to make connections with students and how to help students who needed more support. I learned the basics of how to be a teacher in my college classes and then learned even more during student teaching (a.k.a. teaching internship) from experienced educators. My mom was an educator in Michigan, so I knew that teaching would be extremely rewarding and also extremely frustrating. The one thing I never learned, or was even remotely prepared for, was what to do when a student dies.
* Peoria Magazine | Peoria Power Couple: Derrick Booth and Jehan Gordon-Booth don’t work in the circus. Not officially, anyway, although in their high-profile jobs, some days it may seem so. Indeed, the husband-and-wife duo from Peoria has become quite adept at juggling. With busy and sometimes far-flung schedules, it’s a necessity.
* Chalkbeat | COVID exodus: Where did 1 million public school students go? New data sheds some light.: The data the team compiled point to two main drivers of the public school enrollment plunge: family choices and population changes. After public schools went remote, a portion of families switched their children to private schools or homeschool. At the same time, immigration slowed and many families fled big cities, causing the school-age population in some places to shrink.
* Daily Southtown | South suburban towns receive grants for lead pipe inventory, but officials say money will be needed for replacement: Ten Southland communities will receive state grants for tens of thousands of dollars to create a lead service line inventory, but area officials say more money will be needed to replace lead pipes. The grant is part of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency’s Lead Service Line Inventory grant, which range from $20,000 to $50,000 to create a complete lead service line inventory, according to an agency news release.
* Motherboard | American Cars Are Getting Too Big For Parking Spaces: Increasingly, cars are too big for parking spaces, especially in parking garages and other paid parking lots where developers pay close attention to space size. Like the proverbial frog in a slowly heating pot of water, our cars have gotten ever-so-gradually bigger with each passing year, but the parking space standards have barely budged. Now, in the third decade of the growing car size trend, people are starting to notice.
* AP | Several universities to experiment with micro nuclear power: “What we see is these advanced reactor technologies having a real future in decarbonizing the energy landscape in the U.S. and around the world,” said Caleb Brooks, a nuclear engineering professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
* Farm Journal | DeDecker Family Named Illinois Pork Family of the Year 2023: Mark DeDecker and his wife, Karen, are the proud owners of DeDecker Pork Farm in Cambridge, Ill., where they currently farm 2,500 acres of corn and soybeans and market 7,000 hogs annually with their son, Lance. The DeDecker family history in Henry County goes back over 75 years and spans over three generations.
The Republican-led Missouri state house on Wednesday voted against banning minors from openly carrying firearms on public land without adult supervision.
The proposal to ban children from carrying guns without adult supervision in public failed by a 104-39 vote. Only one Republican voted in support.
A Democrat, Donna Baringer, said police in her district asked for the change to stop “14-year-olds walking down the middle of the street in the city of St Louis carrying AR-15s”.
“Now they have been emboldened, and they are walking around with them,” Baringer said. “Until they actually brandish them, and brandish them with intent, our police officers’ hands are handcuffed.”
* The lure of Pappy Van Winkle is too much for mortal men to bear. Oregon Live…
Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission employees, including top-level managers and the agency’s longtime executive director, have for years set aside for their own use some of the most sought-after bourbons, diverting them from the public and running afoul of state ethics laws.
The blockbuster findings, detailed in an investigation obtained Wednesday by The Oregonian/OregonLive in response to a public records request, reveal a longstanding practice within the agency of reserving bottles of the popular bourbon, Pappy Van Winkle, for multiple employees, including the recently ousted executive director, Steve Marks, and his second-in-command, Will Higlin. […]
The scheme came to light last April when a departing agency employee documented his concern in an email to agency staff, saying the state warehouse supervisor set aside bottles of bourbon “and has them sent to stores so higher ups” can pick them up. The complaint prompted an internal investigation, which found the practice was common and included Marks. […]
The diverted booze was part of the state’s “safety stock,” Leslie said. Those essentially are bottles that serve as potential replacements for damaged liquor headed to liquor stores. She could not say how many bottles were held back at the request of agency employees.
The state of Oregon distributes liquor itself. The commission has received bonding authority to build a fancy new warehouse. Our state does not distribute liquor. Hence, Opposite Land.
Gov. Greg Abbott’s office is warning state agency and public university leaders this week that the use of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives — policies that support groups who have been historically underrepresented or discriminated against — is illegal in hiring.
In a memo written Monday and obtained by The Texas Tribune, Abbott’s chief of staff Gardner Pate told agency leaders that using DEI policies violates federal and state employment laws, and hiring cannot be based on factors “other than merit.”
Pate said DEI initiatives illegally discriminate against certain demographic groups — though he did not specify which ones he was talking about. […]
The governor’s directive represents the latest effort by Republican leaders fighting back against policies and academic disciplines that Republicans nationwide have deemed “woke.” DEI, along with critical race theory, has become a target of conservatives who argue that white people are being unfairly treated or characterized in schools and workplaces.
Nexstar’s television network NewsNation reported a correspondent was released from jail hours after his arrest during a press briefing on the trail derailment in East Palestine Wednesday.
NewsNation said journalist Evan Lambert was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and criminal trespassing following a live report during Gov. Mike DeWine’s briefing.
Lambert was on air when DeWine started speaking and abruptly finished his report saying, “We’re actually being told right now that we need to stop broadcasting because this news conference is behind us and we’re in the command center, so as we all listen back there and I listen here, you’ll learn the latest.”
NewsNation later shared video of Lambert talking to local authorities, getting handcuffed and being taken into custody. The network said photographer Preston Swigart, who was with Lambert, said Lambert was asked to stop talking. Swigart told NewsNation “from their standpoint, he didn’t obey orders when he was told to stop talking.”
Video…
A NewsNation reporter was arrested Wednesday during a news conference being held by the Ohio governor about a train derailment.
Reporter Evan Lambert is now facing charges of disorderly conduct and criminal trespassing.
* A few quick observations about this: Lightfoot is an embattled, unpopular incumbent, so she needs to spend a ton of cash. Vallas is a surging challenger and he has the dollar momentum as well; Wilson’s ads are subpar at best and, in three elections (2015 and 2019 mayor and 2020 US Senate), he has never received more than 11 percent citywide, so I’m not even sure what he’s doing; Brandon Johnson is about to up his buy to take him to the finish line. Garcia is once again struggling to raise money and his ads aren’t the greatest…
#ILPol: The Chicago Mayor race has now seen $14.4M in total ad spending.
Top 5 spending advertisers: Lori Lightfoot: $4.4M Paul Vallas: $3.2M Willie Wison: $3.1M Brandon Johnson: $2.2M Chuy Garcia: $1.3M
* I’ve been thinking lately that Chuy has been running Pat Quinn’s “You know who I am” campaign and this just confirms it. /s…
Former Gov. Pat Quinn endorses Jesùs “Chuy” García for mayor of Chicago, as state Rep. Theresa Mah looks on. García will ensure Chicagoans get real property tax relief, Quinn says. pic.twitter.com/xWPvOpEfm5
But Quinn did choose Vallas as his running mate during the ultimately disastrous 2014 campaign, so it’s news…
“Chuy García has an unrivaled record of delivering for Chicago, and he understands the urgency of now. I endorse Chuy because his plans to bring property tax relief and build a stronger economy are the best in the field and he has the experience to deliver,” Quinn said. “Trust me when I say, it is so important for the City of Chicago to have a worthy advocate in Springfield. And when Chuy says he has the best relationships of all the candidates with Springfield, he’s telling the truth.”
Most people despise Congress, but Chuy has been playing up his role in that tainted body. And most don’t love Springfield, either.
On 19 January, the Chicago Reader revealed that 36-year-old Pericles “Perry” Abbasi — a campaign attorney, who was running for office in Chicago’s 25th police district with the backing of the Fraternal Order of Police — had a history of posting bizarre and unseemly content on social media. He had, among other things, retweeted a photoshopped image of himself as the police officer Derek Chauvin, with one knee on George Floyd’s neck. In a leaked screenshot from a group chat, he had written that “the horrible black diet” was the reason for “13/50”, referencing a common internet meme about Black Americans’ percentage of the population (13%) and supposed share of violent crime they commit (50%).
Abbasi denied these accusations of bigotry. He claimed he didn’t remember everything he was alleged to have written (without necessarily denying his authorship, either), while also offering a second more general defence of his behaviour: this was the internet, he argued, and if he thought of something funny, he’d immediately post it. If this meant writing a tweet about how a relationship with a 36-year-old woman led him to conclude that child porn sentencing is far too long, then so be it. If it meant “making up insane things to stir shit up”, then it meant just that. Abbasi admitted he couldn’t even remember what he posted 48 hours ago; it was all just a blur of posting, retweets, engagement, and likes. He has posted nearly 104,000 times over the past four years, averaging roughly 70 tweets per day (one can also assume he retweeted hundreds of replies each day). In a sense, Abbasi was telling the truth: he was lost in the sauce, living from post to post.
Many of Abbasi’s clients were less than impressed by this. The original report in the Chicago Reader was quickly amended to insert various statements from political figures whose campaigns had him, each stating his comments were unacceptable. But Abbasi doubled down, posting a series of tweets about how being cancelled “was a choice”, that he was an “alpha male” and thus above apologising for things out of principle, and that Osama Bin Laden himself taught us that people will always prefer a “strong horse” to a “weak horse.” Then, he received a “like” on one of his tweets from Elon Musk and declared that the era of his cancellation had ended.
* Speaking of fruitless, Mayor Lightfoot’s YouTube video on Paul Vallas has garnered just 116 views in 22 hours…
* As we discussed the other day, a poll taken in late January and early February found that the Chicago Teachers Union had a 57% favorable rating from likely Chicago voters and a 40 percent unfavorable rating. Only Gov. JB Pritzker had a more favorable rating among people and groups tested (65-33). The Chicago Fraternal Order of Police’s rating came in at 35 percent favorable and 55 percent unfavorable. And Darren Bailey received 15.5 percent of the Chicago vote last year.
The trailer for the Illinois Policy Institute’s documentary criticizing the Chicago Teachers Union is posted in advance of the YouTube release on Monday. I do not think it was wise of the IPI to trot out Charles Thomas — former respected TV political reporter turned paid Republican mouthpiece — to boost interest in the film.
* In the grand scheme of things, DoorDash is a relatively small player, contributing about $100K since mid-November…
Here’s the thing…it’s just so brazen. This delivery app isn’t donating $1k and sponsoring some charitable projects in wards too to generate goodwill & friendly ears. The DD tech bros are just dumping buckets of campaign cash to elected officials who can block local regulation.🙄 https://t.co/cJq0Znxoju
"CDOT is aware of the issue and is in contact [with] the contractor to remove the signage. Chicago’s municipal code prohibits advertising messages on any construction canopy located within the public way." https://t.co/V0GTvFNpMi
2/ These new schedules decimated blue line service even further. Rush hour service was cut by more than 50%, and weekends now see a 15 minute headway during the day - up from 6 minutes, making it the worst weekend L line (along with the yellow).
* WTTW | Sluggish Pace of Chicago Police Reform Effort Complicates Public Safety Debate in Mayor’s Race: In fact, the department is in full, preliminary or secondary compliance with just 53% of the consent decree requirements, according to data released by the Chicago Police Department. It is not clear why Lightfoot’s remarks did not match the data reported by the department. Lightfoot told WTTW News that when she took office in May 2019, three months after the agreement was finalized by U.S. District Court Judge Robert Dow, the city’s compliance with the consent decree was “in dismal straights.”
* Tribune | Paul Vallas campaign defends his son, 1 of 3 police officers who fatally shot a man in Texas last year: Vallas often talks about his son, San Antonio cop Gus Vallas, on the campaign trail, noting that they are a family of public servants with close ties to police. But the family relation arose in a starker context after the Triibe, a news site focused on Black Chicago, published a story about Gus Vallas’ role in a 2022 incident where three San Antonio police officers shot and killed a Black man who police said was wanted on felony warrants.
* Tribune | CPS teachers: Student and family needs are the backbone of Chicago educators’ fight: Matt Paprocki, president of the IPI, asserts that CTU leadership cares only about politics and not students. He has conveniently divorced the union’s politics from the needs of our students and school communities. But in reality, they are the same. Our so-called “political positions” and “aggressive” bargaining positions are driven by what we know our students, their families and our staff need to be successful.
* Chalkbeat | Mayoral hopeful Brandon Johnson promises students free transit, more staff: Johnson, a current Cook County commissioner, unveiled his vision for Chicago Public Schools Wednesday afternoon at a City Club of Chicago luncheon. His plan includes free bus and train rides for students on the Chicago Transit Authority, expanding opportunities for students through partnerships with City Colleges and trade schools, and having under-enrolled schools share space with child care and health clinics.
Illinois lawmakers are considering a bill that would give workers in the state up to 26 weeks of paid leave. Any worker in the state who earns at least $1,600 in a year would be eligible for the program.
“We’ve heard from [workers],” State Sen. Ram Villivalam (D-Chicago), one of the bill’s sponsors, said. “They need this legislation. They need this safety net. They need to be able to take paid family and medical leave when they have a family member that’s ill, or an expecting child coming into the world. That is just something that they’re asking for, and quite frankly, they deserve.”
Reasons people could use the paid leave includes anyone dealing with a serious health condition, people taking care of a sick family member, and to care for a new child. […]
Under the program, workers can earn 90% percent of their average weekly wage if they make 50% or less of the state’s average weekly wage. And for those who make more than that 50%, they would earn 90% of their average weekly wage but up to the state’s average along with half of their average weekly wage.
Democratic legislators in both chambers are proposing a monthly allowance of diapers for families in need.
The proposed bills will allow parents to get $70 a month per child in the Senate’s version of the bill and $30 in the House’s version of the bill if they meet eligibility requirements.
“No one should have to choose if their lights are going to be on, what they pay for life saving medication, if their child will be able to have their diaper changed or not,” Rep. Lakeshia Collins (D-Chicago) said. “This is one step forward in the right direction for our state to ease some of these burdens off the families.”
Infants and toddlers need on average 10 diapers per day, according to Pampers. If a young child wears diaper substitutes or a diaper for too long, they can get irritation, prolonged diaper rash, and UTIs along with other health complications.
A state representative who is also the mayor of Calumet City has proposed a bill that would require Chicago’s gas stations and grocery stores to hire their own armed security. … It does not have backing from the Illinois Fuel and Retail Association, which represents thousands of gas stations and convenience stores in Chicago. “Crime in the city of Chicago is the city’s problem to take care of,” CEO Josh Sharp said. He says in some respects it is a two-way street. “There are certain things business owners can do to help alleviate crime in the city and we’re happy to do some of those things. “For example, keeping less cash on premises. Having better lighting at our locations. We’re all about being a team player with the city to help eliminate crime, but if you’re ordering private-sector businesses to keep armed guards at their locations, that’s a Springfield-style mandate that our members really don’t want.”
* Press release…
Young Adults in Illinois are at an inflection point. As the pandemic continues, young adults ages 18-34 are seeing wages eroded by inflation, ever-increasing college tuition, and a lack of affordable health care, just to name a few challenges. Black, brown, and low-income young adults often fare even worse because of systemic inequities. To take action and disrupt the status quo, Young Invincibles Midwest organized the following policy priorities for Illinois in 2023, with constant input from young adults directly impacted by higher education, health care, and workforce policies.
The work to create this policy agenda began in June 2022, when YI gathered young adults at our annual Illinois Policy Summit. YI solicited real-time feedback from participants on barriers preventing their economic empowerment, and what solutions they demand to see. Throughout the rest of the year, YI conducted surveys and held focus groups to expand and provide additional nuance to YI’s policy agenda drafts. In late 2022, YI’s Midwest Youth Advisory Board reviewed a final draft of this agenda to ensure it is aligned with young adults’ priorities.
The following policy mandates from our constituency must be implemented immediately. We’ve been shortchanged and dismissed, but young adult power will undoubtedly make a forceful impact toward progress in 2023.
1. Meeting Students’ Basic Needs for College Completion
Students needs such as housing, transportation, food, and others must be addressed to ensure students are able to complete college. The available support for students’ college completion has long been inadequate, even before the pandemic. But not only are those problems worse, but new challenges unique to students of color, low-income, and first-generation students are also emerging. Factors like finances, job stability, family responsibilities, access to technology, and health concerns are compounded with the perennial challenges of balancing work, studies, and life.
Students should have access to high-quality academic services on campus such as tutoring and office hours with instructors. These academic supports must be available for working students and students with children, as well as being accommodative for students with disabilities. Students should also have access to affordable classroom materials such as textbooks. However, before providing additional academic support, it is necessary to first ensure a student’s most basic needs are met. It can be difficult for a student to excel academically when they are struggling to adequately feed or house themselves.
Aiding a student in meeting their basic needs through non-academic support ensures students can enroll, engage, and thrive in a post-secondary environment. Non-academic supports such as child care, food security, housing assistance,
and transportation must be provided consistently, affordably, and promptly for students. This work will require cooperation among higher education institutions, government, and community providers.
In 2022, Illinois legislators passed a law requiring a public benefits navigator position at every public higher education institution in the state. This navigator will connect students with the appropriate public benefits programs and additional resources to ensure basic needs are met. YI will lead the work with students, institutions, legislators, advocates, and additional stakeholders to implement the law effectively, which may include legislative modifications to ensure navigators are able to meet the unique needs of various student populations.
2. Maintain Financial Aid Resources to Improve College Affordability
Students must be able to afford post-secondary education, but many simply cannot. Historically, the Monetary Award Program (MAP) has been a critical state- based, need-based financial aid for thousands of students, but it is consistently underfunded. Every year, lawmakers fail to fully fund MAP to ensure that all the students who are eligible for MAP receive it. For first-generation students and students of color, MAP is even more critical; according to the Illinois Student Assistance Commission, about half of undergraduate students at Illinois’ public universities who identify as Black or Hispanic receive a MAP grant, and over half of MAP recipients are first-generation college students. In 2022, lawmakers appropriated a historic $122 million additional dollars for MAP in the Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23) state budget. aThis is both a stunning and historic investment in students. This year, YI will continue to advocate on behalf of students by asking for an additional $50 million over last year’s historic budgetary victory. Every dollar in the MAP fund goes directly toward a student pursuing their educational goals.
3. Elevate Student Perspectives for Equitable Systemic Funding
The Commission on Equitable Public University Funding is tasked with furnishing recommendations to the Illinois General Assembly on a funding formula to equitably distribute public dollars amongst the state’s public universities. YI will advocate to include students in discussions about the formula recommendations and ensure they are based on equity, data, and students’ needs. All students in Illinois must have access to a high-quality education, and that begins with ensuring all higher education institutions have fair and equitable access to state funds.
To guarantee students in Illinois have a seat at the table, YI will lead in the creation and oversight of a student committee to further inform the work of the Commission. YI will train students to actively participate in the creation and passage of an equitable public university funding formula.
4. Support Black Students at the University of Illinois for Equitable Access to Higher Education
Black residents are almost 15 percent of the state’s population, but in 2021, they were only about eight percent of the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign’s undergraduate and graduate students. As the state’s flagship system, the University of Illinois should be easily accessible to every state resident. YI will work with stakeholders to learn from Black students about possible solutions to increase Black student enrollment at multiple campuses in the University of Illinois system. Ultimately, the University of Illinois should ensure all campuses market financial aid opportunities to Black students, reach out to two-year colleges to strengthen the pipeline of Black transfer students, and help foster a sense of community for Black students.
Illinois state Sen. Christina Castro filed a bill Wednesday looking to bring internet casino gaming to the Land of Lincoln.
The bill, SB 1656, would allow an “Internet gaming operator to offer Internet gaming.” It represents a subtle change from her unsuccessful 2021 legislation, SB 2064, which proposed authorizing “casinos or racetracks to offer Internet gaming or contract with a platform to offer Internet gaming” that would be regulated by the Illinois Gaming Board.
Castro’s bill allows for an internet gaming licensee to offer up to three branded skins and offers the possibility of interstate poker based on language that includes “acceptance of out-of-state wagers.” She again is proposing a 15% state tax on adjusted gross revenue that would be directed to the State Gaming Fund.
Castro’s filing raises expectations a corresponding bill will be filed in the Illinois House. Rep. Bob Rita, who is often the point legislator on all things gaming in Illinois, filed such a bill in 2021, calling for a 12% tax rate and also allowing for multistate poker.
* Press release…
State Senator Ann Gillespie and child welfare advocates announced legislation that would provide youth in the care of the Department of Children and Family Services with legal representation on Wednesday.
“Children and youth with lived experience in our child welfare system have overwhelmingly voiced their desire to be seen, heard and represented,” said Gillespie. “We must join the vast majority of states that provide legal representation to youth in care so that our most vulnerable have expert help in leaving the foster care system and can go on to live safe, dignified lives.”
Illinois is one of seven states that does not guarantee legal counsel to at least some youth in care, and one of 14 states that does not guarantee legal representation for all children in child welfare proceedings. Without legal representation, children are left to navigate complex proceedings on their own, putting them at risk of receiving unfair treatment or having vital decisions about their future made without their input.
Senate Bill 1478 amends the Foster Children’s Bill of Rights Act to include the right to an attorney in child welfare proceedings. The legislation creates a commission to oversee implementation, including lawmakers, legal and judicial experts in juvenile law, social workers, and administration from DCFS.
As high as that number is, it’s sharply higher among Black residents, with 85% — more than four out of five — calling police relations negative. Among Hispanic voters, 63% found relations with police negative, and among white voters, 49%.
The question leads us nowhere. I mean, people say that relations between the police and the community are negative. Obviously, they don’t want more of that. But, yes, they are sick of the crime and want it reduced. That question doesn’t tell us how. I know I always say voters don’t do nuance, but that doesn’t mean that the news media should be the same way. And when you talk to Chicagoans and read good polls and speak to people who go door to door during campaigns, Chicagoans generally appear to have more nuanced views on crime than the news media.
* Apparently, violence prevention programs didn’t make the pollster’s cut…
* And this question is so broadly worded that you could interpret the results in any number of ways…
* Politico interviewed the governor during the National Governors Association convention in DC…
Q: We’re now just weeks into your second term. You’ve already signed laws to ban the sale of assault weapons, expand coverage on abortion and offer guaranteed paid leaves. They’re the kinds of bills that really take years to accomplish for a lot of administrations. And to get them to the finish line. What’s your negotiating tactic? You came from the business world, like, what are you doing to get all this stuff accomplished? Is it just because you have a Democratic legislature?
Pritzker: Why I guess people talk about all these things that just all of a sudden have happened. But the reality is, I like to say they’re all 15-year overnight successes, that, you know, the work has been done over many, many years to get to a point where we agree that there ought to be paid leave.
Q: Do you get people into your office? Like, I want to know what goes on behind the curtain kind of thing.
Pritzker: Out of the public eye, am I twisting arms?
Q: Do you take them to dinner? What do you, what is happening, exactly?
Pritzker: I’ll do what’s required. Look, first of all, I know this is gonna sound funny, but a number of years ago, just before I became governor, so this is about 2017, 2018, the governor’s mansion in Illinois was in terrible shape before that, and the prior governor, the First Lady rather, renovated the governor’s mansion. And I know this, you’re wondering why am I saying all that in the context of the answer your question. Well, because there was no entertaining being done. There was no gathering place for the governor with members of the General Assembly. And I’m not sure the prior governor wanted to do much of that as you know.
Q: Because you’re all Democrats and he was a Republican so that…
Pritzker: I think it’s worthwhile inviting people into your home. And you know, and giving them an opportunity to talk in a, in a less tense fashion. Serving drinks is helpful. And serving food. And to be honest with you, having a good personal relationship with people on my side of the aisle as well as people on the other side of the aisle even if you have things that you vehemently disagree about. There’s an opportunity to disagree and not be disagreeable if you have a personal relationship with people.
So, you’re asking me, you know, well, what’s your negotiating tactic? First thing is, I think you have to have some kind of a cordial level of discussion that can take place where people can put their ideas on the table. I may disagree with them. They may disagree with me, but at least you can get it all out on the table without getting you know, cut off at the knees. And then negotiating. As you know, negotiating is an art. There’s a little bit of science and an awful lot of art involved. And I was a businessman before I was governor, so I can say you know what your own power dynamic is walking into a negotiation. You have an idea what the others think theirs are, and you try to figure out where you’ve got things that you can trade with one another, if that’s what’s required.
I also think sometimes just, you know, talking to people on my own side of the aisle, some of it’s about, you know, well, how are you going to go explain that to your constituents that you’re not for this thing that I’m proposing? And they can say the same thing back to me. How can you not be for whatever it is? Because in the end, I mean, it’s not that everything has to have a popularity contest behind it. But in the end, we’re all working for the same group of people. And so, I do think there’s my negotiating tactic is try to get people as close as you can to a common set of values, let’s say, about what you’re actually trying to accomplish, for whom, and then push it all over the line with the final, often, it’s a little bit of horsetrading.
* Crain’s | Bill surfaces in Springfield to crack down on auto insurers: A coalition of 15 consumer and community groups is pushing for passage in Springfield of a bill just introduced to give the Illinois Department of Insurance the power to reject auto insurance rate hikes. The measure, called HB 2203, authored by state Rep. Will Guzzardi, D-Chicago, also would bar insurers from setting rates based on non-driving attributes like consumers’ credit scores. Guzzardi was flanked at a press conference today by state Sen. Javier Cervantes, D-Chicago, and leaders from Illinois PIRG and Citizen Action Illinois.
* Sun-Times | Illinois must move forward on digging out of its pension problem: Illinois’ five statewide pensions are underfunded by about $140 billion. The state now is on a “ramp” that requires ever-increasing payments into the pension funds each year until 2045, when the state will pay some $18 billion in 2045 alone. That will make it hard to pay for all the other things the state does, including education, public transportation and roads and bridges.
* Crain’s | New Vallas ad spending raises questions about potential campaign finance violations: Mad River is owned by, and according to Maryland state records, legally represented by political media consultant Joe Trippi. That’s the same Joe Trippi who serves as Vallas’ senior strategist and media adviser and has helped develop a Vallas ad campaign that according to some polls has put the former Chicago Public Schools chief into first place in the race for mayor.
* Triibe | ‘Get down, boy!’ Paul Vallas’s son is one of 3 police officers who fatally shot a man in Texas in 2022 after chase: In June 2022, the Chicago Police Department (CPD) amended its foot pursuit policy as a result of the fatal shootings of 13-year-old Adam Toledo, who had dropped a gun and raised his hands when he was shot, and 22-year-old Anthony Alvarez, who was fleeing with a gun and was shot in the back. The updated policy prohibits foot chases for minor offenses or simply because someone is fleeing. It allows officers to use their discretion in cases where someone has committed or is committing a crime that poses “an obvious threat to any person.” When the amended policy was announced, candidate Paul Vallas was critical of it. In a tweet at the time, he wrote: “@ChiefDavidBrown unveils new policy: @Chicago_Police no longer allowed to chase people on foot “b/c they run away.” This will embolden criminals & make the city even more dangerous. We need MORE proactive policing, not less! #ChiMayor23”
* Sun-Times | Supt. David Brown likely to leave Chicago Police Department: Even if Mayor Lori Lightfoot is reelected and allows CPD Supt. David Brown to keep his job, he could be forced out anyway. In October, Brown turns 63, the mandatory retirement age for Chicago’s police officers and firefighters.
* Crain’s | This weed shop deal shows how values are dropping : The declines in stock prices and canceled deals will impact the value of 192 new retail licenses that have been issued in Illinois. Under state rules, holders haven’t been able to sell their licenses until their stores are open. At least one owner has sued to challenge those rules in a case that’s still working its way through Cook County Circuit Court.
* Block Club | 50th Ward Candidate Mueze Bawany Talks Anti-Israel Tweets, Public Safety At Community Forum: “I want to say explicitly that there is no excuse for those words, and I’m never going to hesitate to apologize when I’ve created harm,” Bawany said. Bawany said he has reached out and spoken with Jewish constituents who have contributed to his campaign, including JCUA Votes, which has previously endorsed him. During Thursday’s forum, he also disavowed the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement, which is a Palestinian-led movement calling for actions against Israel.
* Tribune | Waukegan and its soon-to-open casino missing out on Super Bowl betting revenue: Executives of the American Place casino may feel the same as Illinoisans are expected to bet more than $86 million on the Big Game, with the seven sportsbooks currently operating across the state. The early betting line has the Philadelphia Eagles favored slightly in Super Bowl LVII over the Kansas City Chiefs.
* NPR Illinois | Decatur pilot will be part of Super Bowl flyover: During the National Anthem performance, three Navy tactical squadrons will conduct a unified flyover. Capt. William Frank from Decatur is one of those supporting the flyover as a member of Strike Fighter Squadron 122.
* Illinois Farm Bureau | Illinois Farm Families to be Featured in Super Bowl LVII Commercial: A Mercer County farm family will be featured in a commercial airing on Feb. 12, during the first half of this weekend’s big game. Chad Bell, his wife Brittany, and children Amelia and Charlie, will appear in the commercial, titled “The Corporation,” to bring awareness of Illinois’ family-owned farms.
* Background is here and here if you need it. Despite Tom DeVore sticking his nose into the case, a Macon County judge has granted Rep. Dan Caulkins (R-Decatur) and others a TRO over the assault weapons ban. This is zero surprise since the 5th District appellate court allowed a similar motion to go through. Plaintiffs had asked for a statewide TRO, but the judge limited his order to cover only the plaintiffs. The order is here.
So, what happened to the DeVore intervention? From the court…
02/02/2023
Clerk presents file this date, the Court finds that Attorney Devore sent a Notice of Hearing on his Application to Intervene without first scheduling the matter for hearing with the Court and in violation of Circuit Court Rule 2.1(f) which requires 14 days notice. The Court has not had an opportunity to review the Application and issues in detail as the focus of the Court has been on the issues presented in Plaintiff’s Motion which was properly set for a quick hearing date due to the emergency nature of the motion, upon request of counsel. Accordingly, the Court will not hear the Petition to Intervene on February 3rd, 2023. Parties are directed to contact Judge Forbes’ Judicial Clerk to obtain a date and time for hearing on that application.
So much winning from the greatest legal mind this state has ever known.
* If you were ever curious how much Facebook ads cost to reach each person, this excerpt from a Change Illinois fundraising pitch gives you the answer…
Now that we have the [redistricting reform-focused candidate] survey responses, we need to reach as many Chicago residents as we can so they can review candidate responses before this month’s election. We’re running a digital ad that has already reached more than 7,000 Chicago residents, but we need your help to reach more!
It costs 4 cents to reach a Chicago resident with the ad below. Will you chip in $18 (or more) today to help us reach 450 more residents so we can make sure voters are informed before the election?
According to a Facebook ad library search, Change Illinois Action Fund has spent $304 on ads (really breaking the bank there, CI). So, at 4 cents per person, they’ve reached 7,600 FB users.
* Nancy Pelosi is doing a fundraiser for the House Democrats. Not the national House Democrats, the Illinois House Democrats…
On March 3, 2023 Democrats for the Illinois House will kick off Women’s History Month with a fundraising event celebrating women leaders in the House. In addition to Illinois leaders, the event designed to encourage, motivate and inspire women, will feature national trailblazer and history maker, Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi.
“Women are leaders everywhere you look—from the CEO who runs a Fortune 500 company to the housewife who raises her children and heads her household,” says Pelosi. Our country was built by strong women, and we will continue to break down walls and defy stereotypes.”
Speaker Welch and Democrats for the Illinois House agree.
“Women are powerful. Whenever they have a seat at the table, whenever they bring their power and full selves to the table, we have better outcomes. We have stronger solutions. I am so proud of the group of women who will headline Women in Power and all of the women who serve in the House. They are my colleagues and my friends. They are some of the fiercest advocates for Illinois families that have ever graced the floor. I look forward to hearing them share their challenges and their triumphs to help power other women forward. ”
The event will be well attended by the women and men of Democrats for the Illinois House. Recognized House Leaders include Majority Leader Robyn Gabel, Speaker Pro Tempore Jehan Gordon Booth, Deputy Majority Leader Mary Flowers, Deputy Majority Leader Lisa Hernandez, Assistant Majority Leader Natalie Manley, Assistant Majority Leader Kelly Burke, Assistant Majority Leader Barbara Hernandez, and Majority Conference Chair Theresa Mah.
Women in Power will be held at RPM Seafood [ 317 N. Clark Street| Chicago] from 2-3 pm. There will be a private VIP reception for event sponsors from 1pm-2pm. Tickets are limited and can be purchased at https://secure.actblue.com/donate/women_in_power. Seating is limited. Pre-purchased tickets are encouraged.
* This WaPo piece is about US Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene heckling President Biden during the State of the Union address, but it could easily be applied to the same sort of candidates in Illinois…
Greene easily won the primary and then election in a district that backed Donald Trump by a 3 to 1 margin. So now she’s in Congress — and was a key ally of McCarthy in his struggle to be elected House speaker. Her willingness to throw bombs at her perceived opponents has made her a force in Republican politics, one that McCarthy clearly thinks is useful to keep close.
In other words, Greene is in Congress because her style of agitating the Republican base was useful in winning a primary in a deep-red district, winning election in a wildly pro-Trump one and in getting access to the core of Republican institutional power. And this, really, is the Republican Party’s central weakness, as made obvious in last year’s midterm elections: It is very, very good at energizing its base and not very good at appealing to everyone else.
You gotta wonder what the Eastern Bloc has in store for Gov. Pritzker next week during his State of the State/Budget address.
The Lee County Industrial Development Association (LCIDA) today announced the hiring of Tom Demmer as the organization’s new executive director. Demmer replaces Kevin Marx who is retiring after leading the organization since 2018.
Tom Demmer comes to LCIDA after having served for the past ten years as State Representative for the 90th district
* Forbes | The Illinois Voucher Law Is About To Ride Into The Sunset. Will Lawmakers Rescue It, Or Just Wave Goodbye?: Yeshivas Tiferes Tzvi Academy of Chicago reserves the right to expel any student whose family listens to secular music. Rockford Christian Schools will not enroll a “parent with a child at home.” Westlake Christian Academy of Greyslake will not admit students if they or their custodial parents maintain a “lifestyle” that violates biblical principles; this would include “promiscuity, homosexual behavior, or other violations of the unique God-give roles of male and female.” In fact, Westlake only accepts students from families in which one parent is “a born-again Christian.” These sorts of restrictions are common to many of the schools participating in the state’s voucher program. Taxpayers are footing the bill for this discrimination.
* ABC Chicago | Chicago alderman calls out Cardinal Blase Cupich over opposition to proposed city ordinance: Cardinal Cupich made the unusual move of weighing in on a proposed ordinance in city council. In a two-page letter to Mayor Lori Lightfoot and all 50 aldermen, the cardinal expressed concerns that includes requiring Catholic Charities to sign a labor peace agreement with union officials, which may result in higher wages that he says the archdiocese can’t afford.
* Philip Howard | Public unions are hurting Illinois: Amendment 1 to the Illinois Constitution, approved by referendum in November, was promoted as guaranteeing basic fairness for all workers. But it does something else — by prohibiting any new laws that might impinge on worker collective bargaining, Amendment 1 disempowers future elected officials from changing how government operates. Illinois voters will elect governors, mayors and legislators who have been disempowered from fulfilling their main constitutional responsibility: to make decisions on how to best operate government for the public good.
* Crain’s | Ramirez calls for more action on working-class issues in State of the Union response: And while she criticized Republicans on several issues, Ramirez said Democrats and Republicans have failed so-called Dreamers—immigrants seeking legal status—for more than a decade. These include her husband, Boris, who immigrated to the United States from Guatemala at age 14 and is awaiting the renewal of his status allowing him to work under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA.
* STLPR | Illinois spent decades refusing to repatriate Native American burial remains: The report, published last month, is part of the news organization’s Repatriation Project, which found that around half of the 210,000 Native American remains in the possession of museums have yet to be returned. The reporting project’s introduction noted, “Tribes have struggled to reclaim them in part because of a lack of federal funding for repatriation and because institutions face little to no consequences for violating the law or dragging their feet.”
* WaPo | Federal official warns $191 billion in covid unemployment aid may have been misspent: The new estimate — computed by Larry D. Turner, the inspector general of the Labor Department — galvanized House Republicans as they intensified their scrutiny of the roughly $5 trillion in emergency funds approved since the start of the crisis. Turner presented the information at a hearing Wednesday convened by Rep. Jason T. Smith (R-Mo.), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, according to testimony shared early with The Washington Post.
* ABC Chicago | Chicago street vendors say city licensing requirements are hurting business: During a gathering of street vendors Tuesday, the issue was city licensing. Two representatives from the City’s Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection listened to concerns about fines due to restrictions with the current street cart license that does not allow for preparation on the cart of traditional street foods like elote, freshly cut corn slathered with mayonnaise, cheese and chilis.
* Chicago Reader | Mayoral debate was a poor night for Chicago: I heard a lot of the same old tried-and-failed ideas. Many candidates promised more police and tougher penalties. We hear these same things every election cycle. And how is that working out? Illinois has some of the strictest gun penalties in the country. If an individual possesses a firearm, discharges one, or discharged one to cause the death or serious injury in the commission of a felony, judges are required to add 15, 20, or 25 years, respectively, to their sentence. Despite that, Chicago still has violent crime and high rates of murder.
* Sun-Times | ‘Piles of mail,’ stolen IDs and key-making materials found in downtown Chicago hotel room: Police have released limited information about the probe, saying only that officers responded early Tuesday to an empty hotel room in the 200 block of North Wabash Avenue and “discovered various electronic items and … postal property.” Police radio traffic included a call of a “deceptive practice in progress” at the Virgin Hotel, 203 N. Wabash Ave. A caller had asked for the removal of two men from a room on the 18th floor, where there were “a lot of fraudulent checks,” credit cards and a money order.
* Farm Journal | Illinois Pork Announces New Leadership, Ambassador, Retiring Directors: The Illinois Pork Producers Association recently hosted their 2023 Expo in Springfield and acknowledged retiring IPPA directors, as well as announced new leadership and the next ambassador. Five retiring directors, serving Illinois pork producers in recent years, were acknowledged for their commitment to the industry.
* WCIA | To plunge or not to plunge? Illinois medical expert weighs in: Anne Orzechowski, a family medicine nurse practitioner, said plunges can help with chronic pain, release endorphins and decrease swelling, but only if you’re in the water for long amounts of time. For the most part, she said the risks outweigh the benefits.
Amends the Sports Wagering Act. Provides that the Illinois Gaming Board shall require an online sports wagering licensee to, after every 10 wagers made online by an individual, display a pop-up message directing that individual to websites on gambling addiction help.
* Press release…
Legislators, backed by a coalition of 15 consumer, community and civil rights organizations, introduced legislation Wednesday to protect Illinois drivers from excessive and unfair car insurance rates. The effort comes after Illinois car insurers made $896 million in excess profits during the first year of the pandemic and raised rates by more than $1.1 billion in 2022.
The proposed legislation, HB2203, sponsored by state Rep. Will Guzzardi (39th District) in the House and state Sen. Javier Cervantes (1st District) in the Senate, would empower the Illinois Department of Insurance to reject or modify excessive rate hikes, and end the use of non-driving factors, such as credit scores, to set rates.
“It’s time for the legislature to protect Illinois consumers and ensure fairness in our car insurance market,” said Rep. Guzzardi. “Discrimination is wrong, profiteering is wrong, and this bill will put an end to those practices in insurance rate-setting in Illinois.”
Even though Illinois requires every car owner to buy insurance, it is one of only two states that doesn’t protect insurance customers from excessive or unfair rates. Average Illinois car insurance rates increased by 18% in 2022, more than in all but one other state, according to analysis by Auto Insurance Report.
Car insurers commonly use non-driving factors such as credit scores or zip codes in setting rates. This practice has well-documented discriminatory impacts. A 2017 ProPublica investigation found insurers charging 30% higher car insurance rates in majority Black zip codes compared to other areas with similar accident costs. […]
Rate hikes are likely to continue in 2023. On January 18, Allstate filed its first Illinois car insurance rate hike in 2023 — a $63 million increase that will raise average customer premiums by $174 annually. In December, its CEO has said, “”We may end up overshooting a bit, don’t know.”
Counterpoint from the insurance industry…
The American Property Casualty Insurance Association (APCIA), the Illinois Insurance Association (IIA), and National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC) released the following statement in response to HB2203 otherwise known as the rate regulation bill.
“The Illinois bill limiting insurers’ ability to use proven factors in setting rates, to put it simply, is bad public policy. This bill is a combination of prohibitions and requirements that will harm consumers, reduce competition, and increase litigation. To enforce the provisions of this legislation a massively expanded state bureaucracy to carry out these regulations will be necessary, the cost of which is also borne by consumers. The legislation will have exactly the opposite effect that the proponents seek.
“Changing Illinois’ rating law will not change the economics or crash statistics that drive the cost of insurance in the state. Illinois’ current insurance rating law has benefited consumers since it was implemented in the 1970s. Illinois has one of the most competitive insurance markets in the country and that has helped to keep costs below the national average for consumers.
“With fatal accidents and crashes nearly equaling five-year highs in Illinois, skyrocketing inflation and supply chain challenges, auto insurance costs continue to climb in 2022. When the costs associated with insurance, such as crashes, medical and legal costs rise insurance must reflect the costs for the goods and services it pays for.
“Allegations by PIRG for additional auto insurance premium reductions displays a lack of understanding of how auto insurance pricing works. . In fact, the report cited is misleading, ignores the big picture, and fails to acknowledge a system that has historically served Illinois consumers well. The bill’s supporters conveniently overlook gruesome road safety data from recent years and instead use formulas untethered from facts to calculate alleged “windfalls” to validate this proposal.
“Some activist groups only focus on the short-term period when driving declined, but it is important for stable and accurate insurance pricing to do what insurers and most regulators have always done and look at the long-term patterns impacting driving and loss trends. The volatility of always responding to short-term trends would create instability both for consumers and insurers. This could mean wild price fluctuations for consumers and the inability to count on price stability for budgeting purposes.
Insurers are opposed to provisions in HB 2203 that would restrict rating and underwriting tools that have been proven to benefit consumers and are accurate and effective in setting fair insurance rates. By using the variety of rating factors currently in use, insurers can assess drivers’ risks more accurately and price their product based on the likelihood and severity of insurance claims. The use of these tools benefits consumers and is the fairest way to set Insurance rates.
“The bill claims to seek insurance accountability and fairness. Yet, if insurers are unable to utilize risk factors when determining rates, it will lead to a one-size-fits-all approach to pricing, eliminating competition in the marketplace, and ultimately driving prices up for all consumers. As prices increase for all Illinois consumers, access and affordability will steeply decline.
“There are about 230 companies offering personal auto insurance in this state, and through this very competitive environment, no one insurance company or group dominates the market. This provides consumers with a wide array of auto insurance products and services to choose, and the competition means if a company prices their product too high, consumers can purchase their insurance from another carrier.
“This serves to keep costs lower for consumers. Illinois’ insurance rates are in the middle third of the nation and 15.5% lower than the countrywide average and they are significantly lower than comparably sized prior approval states. Insurance rates are first and foremost a function of claims and their costs. As these costs fluctuate with market forces, the imposition of price controls through a pre-approval regulatory system may prove more harmful than helpful to consumers.
“Now is not the time to enact legislation that could result in increased premiums for consumers. This type of legislation could have serious negative consequences for many Illinois drivers, not to mention the state’s auto insurance market, which is currently healthy and competitive
State Senator Doris Turner has introduced a bill that would mandate body cams and dashboard cams for EMS workers.
SB1306 would require “all EMS personnel to be equipped by their employers with body cameras that record the interactions of those personnel with patients, emergency responders, and members of the public during service calls.”
The bill comes in the wake of the killing of Earl Moore Jr., a Springfield man who died after EMS workers responding to a call strapped him facedown on a gurney. An autopsy found that Moore died of compressional and positional asphyxia due to prone facedown restraint on a paramedic transpiration stretcher due to tightened straps across the back. […]
Turner’s bill has a provision that would not allow the footage to be requested via the Freedom of Information Act unless being requested by “the person who made the service call or that person’s attorney or personal representative or a law enforcement official.”
A bill introduced in the State Capitol would honor the legacy of two U.S. presidents with ties to Illinois with statues: Barack Obama and Ronald Reagan.
“Reagan was a Republican, Obama’s a Democrat,” State Sen. Tom Bennett (R-Gibson City), the bill’s sponsor, said. “It seems like if we had a more bipartisan part of this, it might be more receptive with everyone in the House and in the Senate.” […]
Bennett said he has also been working on a separate bill that focuses on getting a statue just for Reagan.
He added that the finances for the statues haven’t been figured out yet but he said money for the Reagan statue would come from private funding.
Aimed at reducing drownings, a bill requiring water rescue equipment to be available along Lake Michigan’s shoreline is awaiting amendments in a state Senate committee.
Co-author state Sen. Rodney Pol Jr., D-Chesterton, told a Senate panel his bill mirrored similar legislation enacted last year in neighboring Illinois after a 19-year-old man drowned near a Chicago pier, which didn’t have safety equipment.
Senate Bill 424 calls for public and private-owned piers and beach drop-offs to be outfitted with at least one ring life buoy. The bill defined a “drop-off” as a shoreline area intended for direct public access to the water.
The Natural Resources committee heard testimony Monday and its chairwoman Susan Glick, R-LaGrange, held the bill so a few changes could be made. Sen. Michael Bohacek, R-Michiana Shores, also authored the measure.
Creates the Counseling Compact Act. Provides that the State of Illinois enters into the Counseling Compact. Specifies that the Compact’s purpose is to facilitate interstate practice of licensed professional counselors with the goal of improving public access to professional counseling services. Contains other provisions relating to state participation in the Compact. Sets out provisions concerning the privilege to practice, obtaining a new home state license, active duty military personnel, telehealth, adverse actions, Counseling Compact Commission, data systems, rulemaking, oversight, dispute resolution, and enforcement. Contains other provisions concerning the Commission, the Compact, and the procedures governing participating in and construction of the Compact. Effective immediately.
* Chuy’s 2015 mayoral candidacy hugely pushed up Latino turnout, but he’s not running the same sort of campaign this time, so we’ll just have to see. WBEZ recently calculated that turnout in majority Latino precincts last November was just 13 percent of the total city vote, about half of this poll’s sample size…
This is Lightfoot’s pollster, responding to new media poll showing Chuy (and Vallas) in a virtual dead heat with the incumbent Chicago mayor https://t.co/toYQnTo2Tlhttps://t.co/kDNwXN9FZQ
Garcia led with 20%, followed by Vallas with 18% and Lightfoot with 17%. Businessman Willie Wilson trailed closely with 12% and Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson with 11%. Just 2% said they’d vote for activist Ja’Mal Green, and 1% chose either Ald. Sophia King, 4th Ward, or state Rep. Kam Buckner. Ald. Roderick Sawyer, 6th Ward, drew no support. Another 18% said they were still undecided.
* Paul Vallas attended the Equality Illinois gala last weekend. But Equality Illinois just sent out this media advisory…
Paul Vallas is Wrong for Chicago
WHAT: A diverse coalition of Chicago-based organizations is coming together to expose why Paul Vallas is wrong for Chicago communities.
WHEN: Thursday, February 8 at 5:00 p.m.
WHERE: Outside the Union League Club
65 W Jackson Blvd, Chicago, IL
WHY: Chicago voters deserve to know the truth about Paul Vallas. From Chicago to New Orleans and Philadelphia, Vallas’ budget disasters left taxpayers holding the bag. There’s no place at City Hall for his close alignment with right-wing extremists. He waffles on support for reproductive rights and even on the question of whether he identifies as Republican. Paul Vallas cannot be trusted to lead our city at this critical juncture.
Speakers include: Representatives from the Supporting Organizations as well as leaders in education and on reproductive rights.
Supporting Organizations
Asian Americans for Change, Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, Equality Illinois, Indivisible Chicago Alliance.
Chicago Ald. Sophia King will launch her first TV ad of the 2023 mayoral election on Wednesday as she attempts to unseat Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
King, who represents parts of downtown and Hyde Park along the lakefront, is the only woman challenging Lightfoot in a nine-candidate field. On the campaign trail, King has argued that her rivals represent an overly polarized view of the issues. U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” García and Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson are too far to the left, she has said, while businessman Willie Wilson and former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas are too far to the right. […]
Earlier this year, the Tribune published an analysis of 2022 city data that found that tens of thousands of serious calls lingered in the 911 system for longer than it typically takes to get a pizza delivered.
Citywide, the wait for an officer to be dispatched topped an hour for more than 21,000 calls, according to the city’s data. That was roughly one of every 24 high-priority calls.
When you call the police, you shouldn’t have to wait 30 minutes, no matter where you live. I’m Sophia King. If we reject false choices, we can tackle today’s violence and root causes. We can uplift our police and hold them accountable. We can revitalize our neighborhoods and downtown. We can prepare our kids for college, and the trades. We can have safety and justice. That’s the power of ‘and.’ Sophia King for mayor.
Woman 1: And you know he’s really the only one who understands public safety.
Woman 3: But they say he’s too young.
Woman 4: Well, he wasn’t too young when he was leading marches against violence when he was 15.
Woman 2: And he wasn’t too young when he made Chase Bank give back a billion dollars to Chicago communities.
Green: Chicago! We can’t afford more of the same old political rhetoric. It’s time for someone new, so we can get things done and create a better future for our children.
Brandon Johnson is too extreme for Chicago. Johnson wants to defund the police, putting our safety at risk. Raise taxes on the middle class. And drive jobs away from Chicago. Brandon Johnson, a change for the worse.
* More Lightfoot oppo on Vallas…
Here’s the truth: Paul Vallas has twenty years of experience undermining public education across the country, including in Chicago.
* Vallas was integral in destabilizing Chicago teachers’ pensions, and his incompetence caused a lasting financial burden for Chicagoans. As CEO of CPS, Vallas oversaw financial manipulations that stripped Chicago teachers’ pensions of consistent funding. His “pension holiday” diverted over $1.5 billion from pensions and, by 2006, the system faced a $3.1 billion shortfall. At the end of Vallas’ tenure, the district faced two years of declining or stagnating standardized test scores and a busing bill that ran $11 million over budget after Vallas awarded a no-bid contract to a company tied to his family.
* Vallas was driven out of Philadelphia after digging the district into a $100 million budget hole. After five years of incompetence and mismanagement, Vallas announced a surprise, massive budget shortfall while simultaneously collecting nearly $400,000 worth of bonuses. Vallas was then forced out by local leaders for his negligence as the crisis threatened to eliminate 100 teaching positions, slash programming, and force pay cuts across the district. In the aftermath, a local reporter called him the “Master of Pretend and Spend,” Former Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter said “Paul’s never seen a dollar that he wasn’t willing to spend three times,” and Vallas himself admitted to taking “his eye off the budget ball.”
* Vallas was fired from the Bridgeport school system over a lack of appropriate credentials. After just eighteen months as head of the Bridgeport, Connecticut school district, a judge ordered Vallas be removed as superintendent after he misled the state Board of Education and was found not to have sufficient credentials required to do the job.
* Along the way, Vallas was accused of abusing public funds. As chief of schools in Chicago, Philadelphia, and New Orleans, Vallas faced repeated accusations of misusing public funds for his own personal use, working in extravagance, using his access to benefit his friends, and failing to document his expenses.
— Reform for Illinois' Sunshine Money Tracker (@ilsunshine) February 8, 2023
* Press release…
Largest Self-Funder in City Council History Brags About Personal Wealth
Rebecca Janowitz — who has mounted what is believed to be the largest self-funded City Council campaign in Chicago history — is touting her personal wealth in a campaign message to a purchased list of email addresses (many of which are not even in the 43rd Ward).
“My campaign stands apart in that it is primarily self-funded. This uniquely frees me to remain totally independent. If elected, I will be beholden only to the people I am sworn to represent.”
Despite her claims of being “totally independent”, Janowitz is backed by the members of the far-left political machine — none of whom reside in the 43rd Ward. She touts endorsements from politicians from Hyde Park and Lake County in her ads and website.
Speaking of her wasteful spending, here’s where she’s unloading her $750,000 on ads:
MAIL: Janowitz has sent 15 campaign mailers, at least three of which include Chicago Police Department officers and/or vehicles. The Chicago Board of Ethics warned candidates against this practice, saying ” fines up to $20,000 per violation” could be issued.
TELEVISION: Janowitz has been running cable and network TV ads since mid January — the first aldermanic candidate to advertise to the entire Chicago metro area.
DIGITAL: Janowitz is outspending every mayoral candidate except for Lightfoot on Facebook (yes, even beating fellow self-funder Willie Wilson).
This record-breaking spending is aimed at taking out the youngest member of City Council. Ald. Knudsen, the first openly gay council alderman of the 43rd Ward, is available for interviews via phone, videoconference or in person on this record-breaking spending and the campaign in general.
…Adding… In response to the above…
Wait, the crypto guy is doing this attack!? As the supposed “far left” Hyde Parker, at least we’re not advocating stealing peoples money with a Ponzi scheme. https://t.co/x1sd2KtSYs
On Planet Jim Gardiner, he claims "opponents" are removing his campaign signs. Always playing victim. In reality, he's putting signs in without permission and lots of homeowners are then throwing them away.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center is denouncing 50th Ward candidate Mueze Bawany in regards to making anti-Israel comments on social media a few years ago. Bawany, who is challenging longtime Alderman Debra Silverstein for the 50th Ward city council seat, wrote in a Tweet from May 2019, “F— Israel and f— all you Zionist scum.” In other Tweets from the same year, he called a white woman a “Cracker” and wrote, “F— off honky.”
“The Chicago Jewish community, like its counterparts in New York, Los Angeles, and across the US, are in the throes of horrific anti-Semitism directed at them on social media and on the streets of our cities,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Associate Dean and Director of Global Social Action at the SWC. “In Chicago, Jews in the 50th ward have also been targets. We denounce Alderman candidate Mueze Bawany for his past anti-Semitic social media posts, including incendiary tweets. Those tweets add fuel to the fires of bigotry.”
“We need leadership that will inspire all our of citizens with diverse backgrounds to work together for a better city. Mueze Bawany’s past outbursts show, at least for now, that he lacks those leadership qualities,” added Alison Pure-Slovin, SWC Midwest Director.
* Isabel’s roundup…
* WBEZ | Lightfoot scolds rivals during testy mayoral forum for trying ‘to mansplain’ and ‘treat me like I’m some child’: “Of course we should not hire, we should not support, we should not retain any officer that is associated with any hate group,” Mayor Lori Lightfoot said of the officer, who was suspended but not fired for his involvement with the far-right Proud Boys — a move that has been blasted by the city inspector general. […] Vallas, King and Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6th) each said they would fire the officer affiliated with the Proud Boys. “I would have fired him immediately,” Sawyer said. “I don’t care what the unions would do. I don’t care what collective bargaining would do.”
* Tribune | Mayoral candidates bicker over police reform, schools as Mayor Lightfoot criticizes rival for ‘mansplaining’: “Absolutely not,” Buckner said about the troubled repository that the city is in the midst of overhauling. “The gang database has not made us safer. In fact, it has made people in communities, many of whom look like me, not be able to walk around the city and participate in a way that’s fair and equitable.” Johnson, meanwhile, touted his efforts to remove a gang database in Cook County, saying that list included an 8-year old and a 108-year-old. […] Activist Ja’Mal Green also said he would not proceed with a gang database as mayor.
* ABC Chicago | Candidates bicker over crime, CPD, schools, housing and more at latest mayoral forum: “Clearly, clearly there’s this perception - or maybe it’s reality - that downtown is unsafe. And if you talk to everyone, and I’ve talked to all the business groups there, public safety is the number one issue,” said candidate Paul Vallas. “You gotta stop the crime, alright? Lower taxes, keep people coming to shop,” said candidate Willie Wilson. Mayor Lightfoot was taken to task on the Chicago Police Department’s compliance with the federal consent decree.
* Fox Chicago | Chicago mayoral election: Abortion, women’s health taking center stage: Responding to attacks from several rivals, Paul Vallas told female supporters Tuesday he’d work to protect access to abortion if elected mayor of Chicago. Opponents have publicized an interview, from more than a dozen years ago, in which Vallas said he opposes abortion, but then added that he opposes legislation restricting access to the procedure.
* Block Club | Brandon Johnson Wants To Support Neighborhood Schools And Make The Wealthy Pay Their Fair Share — Not Hire More Cops: Johnson said that in his first 100 days, he will institute a citywide youth hiring program, particularly for Chicagoans 16-24 years old; pass the Treatment, Not Trauma ordinance, which would create a 24-hour crisis response hotline for mental health emergencies; and reopen the city’s closed mental health centers. Johnson on Monday unveiled his public safety plan, which he said focuses on addressing the “root causes” of crime. Among other things, the plan would promote 200 detectives from the rank-and-file, enact the Anjanette Young ordinance to end no-knock warrants, end the department’s contract with ShotSpotter, erase the city’s gang database and establish an illegal guns department.
* WGN | Three weeks before Election Day, a boost for Lightfoot: Three weeks before Election Day, a boost for Lightfoot as the 15,000-member strong UNITE HERE! hospitality union threw its support behind the incumbent. In the early days of the pandemic, Chicago’s hospitality industry was pummeled. But UNITE HERE says Lightfoot had their back.
* Streets Blog | New Better Streets Chicago Action Fund website endorses mayor and alder hopefuls: All of the mayoral candidates but Lightfoot and Willie Wilson responded to the survey. BSCAF has thrown its support behind Cook County commissioner Brandon Johnson. “We believe in Brandon Johnson because he listens and collaborates,” the site states. “He recognizes the crisis the CTA is in and is unafraid to tackle the staffing and housing crises that plague it. He understands the epidemic of traffic violence in Chicago, and we trust he will pursue changes to ensure every Chicagoan has access to safe pedestrian and cycling infrastructure.”
* Crain’s | Higher interest rates, fewer groundbreakings in the pipeline for Chicago’s construction industry: The local construction industry is losing momentum after a strong 2022 as developers hold off on big projects. But contractors aren’t bracing for a major downturn: After rising 12% to $13.4 billion in 2022, construction starts in the Chicago area will dip slightly this year, to $13.3 billion, according to a forecast from Dodge Data & Analytics, a Hamilton, N.J.-based research firm. Nationally, construction starts rose 14% to $829 billion last year.
[If you somehow need it, the headline is explained here by the chairman of the board.]
* The Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago, led by Mayor Lightfoot’s then-law firm partner Ty Fahner, was all-in on cutting public pensions during the previous decade, so Z makes a good point…
They're effectively giving up on cutting pension benefits to bend the cost curve, and going all in on using a combination of revenue ideas designed to accelerate the Edgar ramp's downward trajectory.
However, the group is now targeting future retiree health insurance costs, which the Illinois Supreme Court has ruled is a protected pension benefit…
Illinois is barred from changing its retiree healthcare subsidy for current employees due to the Kanerva v. Weems decision, but the State could enact a new retiree healthcare plan for new employees, and we believe the State should do so as soon as possible. (Note that such a change would not impact current employees or OPEB liabilities since they’re based on previous service, but it would help reduce growth in future liability). The new plan should move away from the existing premium-tied subsidy to a fixed dollar premium subsidy allowing for continued access to the State’s healthcare coverage options. This will help the State slow the growth of future OPEB liabilities, which will reduce the pressure on future state budgets.
Implementing a new retiree healthcare plan that changes the trajectory of future OPEB costs would be credit positive. The financial benefits to the State would take many years to manifest but taking action now to control costs in the future would demonstrate the State’s commitment to long-term fiscal health.
At least they’ve finally accepted legal realities, but that’ll be quite a legislative fight, if anyone even engages. So far the group has no sponsor for its proposal, let alone a proposal in bill format.
* The Question: Should the state create a new retiree healthcare plan for future hires that would increase out of pocket retiree costs in order to help bump up the state’s bond rating? Make sure to explain your answer. Thanks.
* Background is here if you need it. Gov. JB Pritzker was asked by a reporter yesterday about Sen. Ann Gillespie’s new bill that would help facilitate a Bears stadium by freezing its local property taxes and allowing the team to negotiate additional payments for decades going forward…
I only read about it in the great newspapers of our state. And, I really haven’t, you know, opined about it. There are a lot of hoops to run through in the General Assembly for this to ever get to me. And I have to say there was, I took a, there was a note of skepticism even in the words of the person who introduced the bill. But I think she wanted to make sure that the General Assembly had an opportunity to hear about it and consider it in committee. So I look forward to hearing more about it and seeing how it might evolve.
Q: [No discernible audio]
I love the Bears. I do. But it is a private business. And I honestly do not think that the public has an obligation to fund in this major way a private business. Obviously, there are things that we do for private businesses all the time that are important to them, including, you know, paving roads that are very important for building industry in the state. But I’m of the opinion that it’s not our obligation as the state to step in and provide major funding. And I think I certainly don’t want to burden taxpayers with major support for private business. So, having said that, we’ll see how this project moves along in the General Assembly.
Under her bill, whose provisions could be used for by any large-scale developer, the Bears would be required to invest at least $500 million in converting the 326-acre former racetrack to a stadium and surrounding mixed-use development.
The Bears would be required to negotiate an annual payment to local taxing bodies on top of property tax payments based on the frozen assessment.
Supporters of the legislation say it would create an incentive for larger developments that would not occur without the assistance. But it’s likely to face pushback from Chicago lawmakers who don’t want to make it any easier for the NFL’s charter franchise to leave its namesake city. The Bears have played in Soldier Field since 1971.
* WQAD | What to know ahead of Pritzker’s budget proposal to lawmakers: llinois is coming off a record-high $50.3 billion in base revenue for the fiscal year that ended June 30 – about $8 billion more than had been anticipated when the Fiscal Year 2022 budget was initially approved in the spring of 2021. Following that strong performance, lawmakers budgeted for an 8 percent decrease in the current fiscal year that began July 1. But in the seven months that have already passed in FY 2023, revenues are outpacing even last year’s strong performance by $2.3 billion, according to COGFA’s January report.
* Crain’s | Illinois Gaming Board set to take first step toward approving Bally’s Chicago casino: The agenda for the board’s meeting Thursday indicates it will consider issuing “initial supplier licenses” for two entities that control and would lease Medinah Temple on the Near North Side to Bally’s for its temporary casino. State records indicate both of the entities—Medinah Building LLC and Medinah Holdings LLC—are units of developer Al Friedman’s Friedman Properties.
* Center Square | Madigan ally doesn’t want jury to hear about ‘rape in Champaign’ email: Michael McClain, a former state lawmaker, longtime lobbyist and close confidante of Madigan, asked the judge in his corruption trial to bar any evidence related to the email. McClain’s attorneys also want to bar any mention of the $23 million that AT&T Illinois paid to the federal government as part of a 2022 deferred prosecution agreement related to the company’s efforts to influence Madigan.
* WBEZ | Garcia, Vallas and Lightfoot in dead heat in Chicago mayor’s race: Garcia led with 20%, followed by Vallas with 18% and Lightfoot with 17%. Businessman Willie Wilson trailed closely with 12% and Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson with 11%. Just 2% said they’d vote for activist Ja’Mal Green, and 1% chose either Ald. Sophia King, 4th Ward, or state Rep. Kam Buckner. Ald. Roderick Sawyer, 6th Ward, drew no support. Another 18% said they were still undecided. … The poll was conducted Jan. 31 through Feb. 3 by Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy, Inc. A total of 625 registered voters were interviewed by telephone, all stating they were likely to vote in the Feb. 28 election.
* Crain’s | Civic leader Andrew McKenna has died: Andrew J. McKenna, a consummate networker and inexhaustible dynamo who was among Chicago’s most consequential business leaders of his day despite never being a major company CEO, died today at his North Shore home, according to longtime friend Newton Minow. McKenna was 93 and had fallen ill last month.
Ameren Illinois, one of the state’s largest electric and gas delivery companies, has filed plans for electric and gas rate increases.
The Illinois Commerce Commission will review the requests for a $160.4 million gas rate hike over a year and a four-year $435.6 million electric increase.
The reasons for the requests are multi-fold, Ameren communications director Tucker Kennedy said Thursday. It partially stems from a requirement in the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, a green energy package that puts the state on track to be 100% carbon-free with its energy sources by 2050.
That phrase “partially stems from” stuck out to me. How partial? I asked Citizens Utility Board Executive Director David Kolata for some insight…
Both ComEd and Ameren are going to be saying CEJA requires grid upgrades to integrate renewables and upgrade the grid for electrification of transportation and heat. Over time, that’s true.
But two things on that. First, we have quite a bit of time for that. This doesn’t need to be done all at once, and in fact it shouldn’t be. Given the current pace of electrification and renewable new build there wouldn’t be any issue until the mid 2030s.
But second, and more importantly, the big driver of the rate increase is the excessive profit rate (RoE) they are requesting. So, yeah, there need to be grid upgrades over time…but that isn’t an excuse for a blank check and certainly not an excuse for an RoE of well over 10 percent.
* The AP poses as a babe in the legislative woods…
For all the fanfare and the legal rigmarole of Illinois’ ban on semiautomatic weapons, it might come as a surprise to learn the legislation was titled “Insurance Code-Public Adjusters.”
To thousands of gun owners and merchants who filed lawsuits over it, the title exemplifies the way legislators cut corners last month to enact the legislation prompted by the deadly Independence Day parade shooting in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park. […]
“It no longer addressed the issue of insurance adjusters and their contracts, as its new subject was now modifying completely different laws,” alleges a lawsuit led by Rep. Dan Caulkins, a Republican from Decatur, 182 miles (293 kilometers) south of Chicago. As a new bill, it warranted three new House readings, Caulkins argued.
There are other issues state Rep. Dan Caulkins, R-Decatur, is hoping to get addressed in his litigation, and that’s how legislation at the Illinois statehouse seems to circumvent procedural rules.
Caulkins and others argue passage of the state’s gun ban violated the single-subject rule, didn’t properly have three readings and didn’t give the public due process considerations. Courts have either said those arguments don’t have merit, or do have merit but are not being considered at the moment.
“Nobody’s had the guts to hear that. This is a problem,” Caulkins said. “We have the constitution, this is the process we should be going through. It gets violated, not just in this case, but in the SAFE-T Act and the budget. “It goes on and on and on.”
Caulkins said the courts have to address this at some point so the public gets an entire airing of legislation with three public readings, for example.
“This is how it’s supposed to be done,” Caulkins said. “But because of the tyranny of the majority, they just in the dead of night will lay a bill on the desk and then an hour later we have to vote on it and the people of Illinois get no say.”
State Sen. John Curran, R-Lemont, wants to codify the decision of Illinois voters when it comes to a progressive income tax.
“The people have spoken, and they could not have been more clear that they do not want a progressive income tax,” Curran said after introducing a resolution that calls on lawmakers to reject any progressive income tax proposal placed before the chamber.
Illinois’ top law enforcement officer is investigating whether the Chicago Police Department violated state law when it denied hundreds of undocumented immigrants a chance to apply for a special visa for crime victims in the past two years.
In a six-page letter to CPD’s top lawyer, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul demanded all data and documents related to the more than 800 denials acknowledged by CPD. He also urged the department to “develop a plan to contact all individuals who received denials” and allow them to reapply.
Raoul said the inquiry was sparked by a December investigation by Injustice Watch, which revealed how CPD routinely denied certifications to victims of qualifying crimes, such as domestic battery and assault. Those victims are eligible for legal status through a U visa, which provides a path to citizenship for those who cooperate in law enforcement investigations. […]
“Determinations as to whether the victim suffered substantial physical or mental abuse or whether the victim is ultimately eligible … are the exclusive responsibility of federal immigration officials and are not permissible grounds for local law enforcement to deny a certification request in Illinois,” Raoul wrote.
Raoul warned the “improper denials” may “result in legal action” from his office as they could potentially violate the Voices Immigrant Communities Empowering Act, known as the VOICES act, a state law setting rules and procedures for law enforcement agencies statewide on how to adjudicate U visa certification requests.
* From Rolling Stone’s interview of US Rep. Delia Ramirez…
Last week, a coalition of nine states asked the government to end DACA protections for Dreamers. Your husband is a DACA recipient. What has it been like for you both to live with the stress and uncertainty as this program remains in legal limbo?
It’s been emotional. Being a congresswoman, I have privileges that my friends and people in my district don’t have access to, and even with that, we are in the midst of a process for his DACA renewal that’s taking too darn long. I’m hearing calls from constituents who are saying, “I submitted my DACA renewal four months ago, and I still have no response. I lost my job because my work authorization expired.” It becomes paralyzing for people. It’s so draining. And it’s unacceptable because neither party has delivered a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers.
Two years ago, my husband said to me, right before the election, “Why go through the adjustment status process? That takes so long, it’s so expensive. Let’s just wait until Democrats take the White House because I am convinced that if they do, there will be an executive action that will create a pathway to citizenship for those of us who have lived here almost all our lives.” How do I look into his eyes and tell him, “Oh, honey, I don’t think it’s gonna be that easy”? You know what I did instead? I said, “Okay,” and then I heard about it for about a month, how my party isn’t delivering. So it’s really personal. That is, in part, why I’m here. We need people like me who live these experiences every single day. That is why it is so important that a Democrat like me deliver a response to the Democratic president, affirming the experiences that everyday people are living right now.
Ramirez is delivering the progressive response to President Biden’s State of the Union address tonight.
Paul Bruton has a tough task ahead of him. He faces incumbent Ald. Marty Quinn, who’s been on the City Council since 2011 and is a longtime ally of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, now facing trial on corruption charges. The 13th Ward is Madigan turf, and Bruton acknowledges that when he goes door to door, many residents “aren’t bothered at all” by the charges against Madigan, and Quinn’s strong connections to the one-time Illinois Democratic Party kingmaker. Others, however, tell Bruton that Madigan’s allies in the ward “have to go,” he tells us.
Bruton says he has been a stay-at-home dad since 2018. His previous work experience includes a four-year stint as an analyst at the Chicago inspector general’s office, which provides the crucial function of ferreting out waste, mismanagement and inefficiency in city government. It’s hard to imagine a better lead-up to becoming an alderman.
Bruton says one of the biggest challenges for this Southwest Side ward is the body blow that the pandemic delivered to the 13th’s small businesses. “I will study what types of businesses our ward is lacking, and actively recruit and work with local entrepreneurs to fill those gaps,” Bruton tells us.
Quinn doesn’t try to hide his Madigan alliance. “I’m not going to rewrite history,” he tells us. “We’ve done some good things.” He cites his oversight of nearly $300 million invested in 13th Ward schools, including the Southwest Side’s first selective enrollment school. He adds, “I personally shovel snow and my staff removes graffiti and cleans up shuttered buildings so quickly, they rarely can be found in the ward.”
That’s admirable, but Quinn’s long-standing ties to Madigan are a bridge too far for us, and they should be for 13th Ward voters. Bruton is endorsed.
* Press release…
UNITE HERE Local 1 endorsed Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot for reelection on Tuesday. UNITE HERE Local 1 represents more than 15,000 members who work in hospitality across hotels, airports, restaurants, school cafeterias, stadiums, convention centers, and casinos.
“Mayor Lightfoot has led Chicago with equity and inclusion at the forefront as she has advocated for long-overlooked communities to have a seat at the table,” said Karen Kent, President of UNITE HERE Local 1. “She guided this city through difficult and unprecedented times with tough yet fair leadership that made sure no one was left behind — especially our workers. When the pandemic put our livelihoods in jeopardy, Mayor Lightfoot ensured that our members had the resources they needed to make ends meet, and the protections and protocols to return to work safely. As a union made up of predominantly women, immigrants and people of color, Mayor Lightfoot has gained our confidence in her leadership, and we are eager to endorse her for four more years in office.”
* Politico says this is an ad, but it’s so far just a YouTube video…
Megan Mathias, a challenger in the 45th Ward aldermanic race, is out with an attack ad against incumbent Ald. Jim Gardiner.
I’m told she’s trying to raise the cash to put the YouTube video on streaming services. The video is here.
Also, a Comcast representative tells me that 60 percent of TV viewing in Chicago today is cable television and only 40 percent is broadcast.
Thank you for all the kind birthday wishes yesterday! I was overwhelmed by the outpouring of love I received. ❤️ Feeling truly blessed. pic.twitter.com/ars5pu2BpY
— Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch (@RepChrisWelch) February 7, 2023
* Isabel’s afternoon roundup…
* Fox Chicago | Illinois officials call for more resources for Black communities on National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day: State Rep. La Shawn Ford (D-Chicago) joined the Black Leadership Advocacy Coalition for Healthcare Equity to encourage greater state investments in programs targeted towards Black-led community based HIV/AIDS service providers. The advocacy group said that less than $1 million of the Illinois Department of Public Health’s HIV/AIDS budget is going towards Black-led community-based service providers.
* WGLT | Illinois agencies prepare to help uninsured as Medicaid pandemic protections end: Illinois and other states have begun sending redetermination letters to recipients informing them if their coverage will continue. Sergio Obregon, special assistant to the director at the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, said this will happen over a couple of months. Not everyone who is ineligible will lose coverage immediately.
* Daily-Journal | State Senator Joyce awarded Railroader of the Year: “Senator Patrick Joyce is a true champion of the freight railroad system in Illinois,” said Tim Butler, president of the Illinois Railroad Association, in a news release. “He understands the importance of what our historic rail system means not just to Illinois, but our nation, our continent and our entire world.
* NBC Chicago | Sandra Bland Was Right: Before she died, Bland had posted several videos to YouTube, mostly full of cheer and encouragement. She started each video with “Good morning, my beautiful kings and queens!” But she also used her videos to talk about what she saw as clear racial profiling by some local police.
* CNBC | Wholesale egg prices have ‘collapsed.’ Why consumers may soon see relief: Prices fell to $2.61 per dozen eggs on Monday — a 52% decrease from the peak around $5.43 on Dec. 19 and a 47% decrease from the beginning of 2023, according to Urner Barry, a market research firm that specializes in the wholesale food industry. Its Midwest Large White Egg price benchmark is a widely cited barometer in the egg industry.
* Herald & Review | Decatur receives, matches $400,000 state grant for low-income home repairs: Eligible uses for the grant funds are forgivable mortgage loans for households making below 80% of the area’s median income and several kinds of repairs for those making 50% or less of the area median income. According to the city, about 220 residents have requested a roof replacement.
* CNN | The fungal threat to human health is growing in a warmer, wetter, sicker world: The number of serious fungal infections has increased partly because of the growing number of immune-suppressed people, studies show. “What’s changing is that more people that are exposed have those high risk factors. We have aging populations, and we were using a lot of chemicals in the environment which are forcing fungi to adapt, and our clinical antifungals are being degraded by antimicrobial resistance,” Fisher said.
* Sun-Times | Vallas gives away campaign contribution from ex-cop in Laquan McDonald case: Speaking outside an event hosted for him by the police union — which has endorsed him in the Feb. 28 election — Vallas said he was unaware of the $5,000 contribution to his campaign from ex-Chicago Police employee Richard E. Hagen until WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times reported on it last week.
* Block Club | Longtime Lightfoot Ally Ald. Pat Dowell Endorses Brandon Johnson For Mayor: Lightfoot defended Dowell later that year after a Tribune report revealed a developer had sought $20,000 in taxpayer reimbursements for donations to the alderwoman’s campaign. But now, Dowell is throwing her support behind Johnson, a longtime Chicago Teachers Union organizer and former teacher from the West Side. Dowell praised Johnson’s leadership style, saying in a statement Johnson’s “willingness to sit at the table with other leaders to find beneficial solutions” is the type of mayor Chicago needs.
* WBEZ | Five takeaways about voter turnout in Chicago ahead of this month’s municipal election: A WBEZ analysis of data from the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners shows that fewer than four out of every 10 registered voters have cast ballots in all but one of the last five February municipal elections. The only exception was in 2011 when turnout reached 42%, the city’s first municipal election after longtime mayor Richard M. Daley decided not to seek reelection.
* WaPo | For long covid fatigue, a strategy called ‘pacing’ helps, but at a cost: Experts say the extreme fatigue experienced by many long covid patients has a name: myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME/CFS), a condition previously known as chronic fatigue syndrome. Researchers estimate that about half of people with long covid have developed ME/CFS.
* AFP | Harmful pollution boosting superbug ’silent pandemic’: Containing and cleaning up environmental pollution, especially in waterways, is crucial to controlling increasingly bullet-proof superbugs which could kill tens of millions by mid-century, a new UN report said Tuesday.
* NYT | The People Onscreen Are Fake. The Disinformation Is Real.: “This is the first time we’ve seen this in the wild,” said Jack Stubbs, the vice president of intelligence at Graphika, a research firm that studies disinformation. Graphika discovered the pro-China campaign, which appeared intended to promote the interests of the Chinese Communist Party and undercut the United States for English-speaking viewers.
* Daily Herald | Who’s going to the State of the Union? Illinois lawmakers reveal their guests: A Midway International Airport worker. A doctor who assists women with abortions. The head of a service for homeless individuals. All three are among guests invited by members of Illinois’ congressional delegation to attend President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address tonight.
* University of British Columbia | Traffic pollution impairs brain function: The peer-reviewed findings, published in the journal Environmental Health, show that just two hours of exposure to diesel exhaust causes a decrease in the brain’s functional connectivity – a measure of how different areas of the brain interact and communicate with each other. The study provides the first evidence in humans, from a controlled experiment, of altered brain network connectivity induced by air pollution.
* Pen America | These 176 books were banned in Duval County, Florida: The removed titles were part of the Essential Voices Classroom Libraries Collection, purchased by the district in 2021. This collection “features characters representing a variety of ethnicities, religious affiliations, and gender identities,” and includes children’s picture books such as Sulwe by Lupita Nyong’o, Dim Sum for Everyone! by Grace Lin, and Berenstain Bears and the Big Question by Stan and Jan Berenstain.
Today, Illinois State Senators Mike Simmons, Robert Peters, as well as State Representative Marcus C. Evans, Jr. introduced new legislation – SB 1444 – that would create an Illinois Child Tax Credit claimable in the 2024 tax season. If passed by Illinois legislators, eligible low-and middle-income Illinois families would receive a $700 tax credit for each child under the age of 17. The policy proposed would benefit joint filers earning less than $75,000 and single filers earning less than $50,000 – nearly half of Illinois households with children.
With Washington having failed to reinstate the expanded federal Child Tax Credit in last year’s budget process, leaders in Illinois are stepping in, advocating for new direct cash programs within their jurisdictions to help working families.
“I am extraordinarily proud to join my colleagues in the Illinois state legislature in introducing a new bill to ease the burden that our communities face in affording everyday expenses,” said State Representative Marcus C. Evans, Jr. “In creating an Illinois Child Tax Credit, we join a growing number of statehouses working to ensure parents have a bit more money to keep their homes heated and their children fed.”
Support for the bill is already mounting, as Leader Evans, Senators Simmons and Peters were joined in by their colleagues Senators Ventura, Cervantes, and Preston to support SB 1444. Also in attendance were state advocates and parents who would directly benefit from the proposed credit.
State Representative Sue Scherer, D-Decatur, introduced legislation that would expand access to food assistance for foster families.
“Foster families already face so many obstacles, this legislation will help relieve some of the stress placed on these homes,” said Scherer. “Foster parents carry a great load by caring for our children who are in unfortunate circumstances. We must look for ways to utilize resources to unburden and support them.”
Scherer’s House Bill 1632 would make all foster families eligible for Supplemental Nutrition Access Program (SNAP) benefits.
Currently, foster children are ineligible for SNAP benefits.
* Media advisory…
– Women Employed, which has been creating fundamental, systemic change for working women for 50 years, will convene its statewide Illinois Time to Care Coalition and legislative sponsors of the Family & Medical Leave Insurance Act to urge the Illinois General Assembly to pass legislation that will provide workers with paid, job-protected leave to manage longer-term care needs for themselves and their families.
* Rep. Hernandez’s bill that would ban cat declawing is picking up support from animal rights groups. Shaw Local…
If passed, Illinois would become the third state to approve such a ban, according to the nonprofit group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. New York banned cat declawing in 2019 and Maryland did so last year. In addition, several cities across the country ban cat declawing, including Madison, Wisconsin, according to PETA.
Catie Cryar, a spokesperson for PETA, supports the bill.
“Imagine that your fingers were cut off at the first knuckle – that’s declawing, an unnecessary and painful mutilation that involves amputating not just cats’ nails but also their joints, resulting in decreased mobility, chronic pain and mental anguish,” Cryar said in a statement. “Declawing is recognized as cruel and unnecessary in Europe, and it’s been banned in numerous U.S. cities and states – and PETA supports legislation outlawing this cruelty.”
The Schaumburg-based American Veterinary Medical Association discourages cat declawing. It supports non-surgical alternatives to the procedure.
“The AVMA respects the veterinarian’s right to use professional judgment when deciding how to best protect their individual patients’ health and welfare,” it says in a statement on its website. “Therefore, it is incumbent upon the veterinarian to counsel the owner about the natural scratching behavior of cats, the alternatives to surgery, as well as the details of the procedure itself and subsequent potential complications. Onychectomy is a surgical amputation and if performed, multi-modal perioperative pain management must be utilized.”
Legislation from state Rep. Camille Lilly, D-Chicago, would amend the Smoke-Free Illinois Act — legislation that went into effect in 2008 that banned smoking in most public places in the state. […]
House Bill 1540 would add electronic smoking devices to the act’s definition of smoking, which means the use of e-cigarettes or vape pens would not be permitted inside public spaces like a bar, places of employment or enclosed sports arena. It also would not be allowed in student dormitories. […]
Pritzker recently signed appropriation legislation — House Bill 969 — which included $500,000 for a new Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. statue to be built by the Office of the Architect of the Capitol.
Legislation from state Sen. Tom Bennett, R-Gibson City, would add other statutes to the building. Under Senate Bill 348, OAC would “provide for the acquisition and placement” of statues depicting former Presidents Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama.
State Sen. John Curran, R-Lemont, wants to codify the decision of Illinois voters when it comes to a progressive income tax.
“The people have spoken, and they could not have been more clear that they do not want a progressive income tax,” Curran said after introducing a resolution that calls on lawmakers to reject any progressive income tax proposal placed before the chamber.
“It is time to move in a new direction,” Curran said. “We are standing behind the people of this state who resoundingly said no, and standing up for families who cannot afford to be overtaxed.”
Curran’s bill comes after voters roundly rejected a so-called a progressive income tax amendment in 2020. It fell more than 360,000 votes short of a simple majority and more than 760,000 votes short of the three-fifths majority needed for passage from those voting on the question.
Amends the Conversion and Formation of School Districts Article of the School Code. Within 3 years after the effective date of the amendatory Act, requires elementary school districts to form new school districts but only with other elementary school districts and high school districts to form new school districts but only with other high school districts, notwithstanding any referendum requirements or any other laws to the contrary. Provides that the State Board of Education shall facilitate the creation of the new school districts by providing recommendations on which districts must consolidate. Sets forth the factors that the State Board must take into consideration. Effective immediately.
…Adding… HB2187, introduced by Deputy House Majority Leader Mary Flowers…
Amends the School Code. Beginning with the 2023-2024 school year, allows public schools to include in their curriculum, for students in grades 3 through 12, a course in the history and literature of the Old Testament era and a course in the history and literature of the New Testament era. Provides that the purpose of such courses shall be to teach and study the Old and New Testaments and to familiarize students with the contents of the Old and New Testaments, the history recorded by the Old and New Testaments, the literary style and structure of the Old and New Testaments, the customs and cultures of the peoples and societies recorded in the Old and New Testaments, and the influence of the Old and New Testaments upon law, history, government, literature, art, music, customs, morals, values, and culture. Requires the State Board of Education to adopt a curriculum for each course. Sets forth provisions concerning course requirements, personnel, and monitoring. Effective immediately.
The plaintiffs who are individual active- and retired-beneficiary representatives from multiple suburban and downstate police and firefighter pension funds appeal from the trial court’s order granting summary judgment in favor of defendants. We affirm.
In 2019, defendant Governor Jay Robert “J.B.” Pritzker signed into law Public Act 101- 610 (eff. Jan. 1, 2020) (Act) that, inter alia, amended portions of the Illinois Pension Code. Prior to the Act, there were approximately 650 local police and firefighter pension funds for municipalities with populations between 5000 and 500,000. These funds were governed by five-member boards comprised of two appointed members, two members elected by active members, and one member elected by other beneficiaries (i.e., retirees). I Each board was responsible for determining the retirement, disability, and death benefits payable to fund members and other beneficiaries. […]
Plaintiffs filed a three-count complaint seeking declaratory, injunctive, and other relief and a finding that the Act violated article XIII, section 5, of the Illinois Constitution, commonly known as the pension protection clause (count I), and/or article I, section 16 of the Illinois Constitution, commonly known as the contracts clause (count II), and/or article I, section 15 of the Illinois Constitution, commonly known as the takings clause (count III). The trial court granted certain of defendants’ motions to dismiss; all of the named funds were dismissed as plaintiffs for lack of standing, and count II was dismissed against the remaining plaintiffs for failing to state a cause of action under the contracts clause. These rulings are not challenged on appeal. The trial court later entered summary judgment on counts I and III in favor of defendants. It is from this grant of summary judgment that this appeal arises. […]
Plaintiffs first assert that the Act violates the pension protection clause because it impairs the members’ rights to vote in the election of local pension board members “and to have that local board control and invest local pension funds.” According to plaintiffs, voting rights are a benefit that flows from the contractual relationship and, therefore, cannot be changed. […]
We determine that the ability to vote in the election of local pension board members and to have that local board control and invest local pension funds is not of the same nature and essentiality as the ability to participate in the fund, accumulate credited time, or receive health care, disability, and life insurance coverage. Voting for the local board is, at best, ancillary to a participant’s receipt of the pension payment and other assets. The local boards were entrusted with investing the contributions so that payments could be made to participants. However, choosing who invests funds does not guarantee a particular outcome for benefit payments. The local boards also did not have any say in the actual method of funding; contribution requirements were set in the Pension Code. […]
Plaintiffs make no argument as to how the requirement to pay for the administration of the funds would in any way impair or diminish the payment of their pension benefits. The local funds are already required to pay the costs of administration of the local funds, and plaintiffs do not cite any evidence to show that the costs of administration of the new funds, even including startup costs, would be any greater. … Plaintiffs present no evidence that the Act actually reduced the funding available for the payment of benefits. We find no error in the trial court’s grant of summary judgment in defendants’ favor as to count I and grant plaintiffs no relief. […]
Plaintiffs next contend that the Act violates the takings clause of the Illinois Constitution. Article I, section 15 of the Illinois Constitution states: “Private property shall not be taken or damaged for public use without just compensation as provided by law. Such compensation shall be determined by a jury as provided by law.” […]
Plaintiffs are individual active and retiree/beneficiaries of the local funds: they have no right to the investments held by the funds; rather, they are entitled only to present or future payments from the funds. No plaintiff has any right to direct the investment of the monies held by the funds or direct that they receive any different course of payments (either in amount or frequency) beyond that established by statute and the funds. Simply put, plaintiffs do not own the funds that the Act requires to be transferred to the new statewide police and firefighter pension investment funds. The Act does nothing more than require one type of government-created pension fund to transfer assets to another type of government-created pension fund. Plaintiffs’ rights to receive benefit payments are not impacted by these transfers. As the “property” at issue here is not the private property of the plaintiffs, the takings clause is neither relevant nor applicable here. Thus, we find no error in the trial court’s grant of summary judgment on count III.
For these reasons, the judgment of the circuit court of Kane County is affirmed.
This law has been in effect for three years now. And this was a no-brainer case for the trial and appellate courts. Just ridiculous. And the fact that the plaintiffs argued that the public pension funds is their “property” really tells you a lot about the plaintiffs.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Monday announced the creation of a $40 million grant program to incentivize the creation of large development-ready areas known as “megasites” across the state.
Megasites are large swaths of land, developed to attract businesses such as manufacturing plants, warehouses and distribution centers. Pritzker said developing these sites will help make Illinois more competitive, especially as sectors including clean energy and manufacturing are rapidly expanding in the U.S.
The Megasites Development Program announced Monday uses Rebuild Illinois capital funds aimed at providing the necessary infrastructure improvements to develop these megasites. Other eligible costs include various land acquisition, clean-up and development expenses. […]
“The idea here is to identify large sites that can be brought up to speed quickly so that we can promote them across the country and even around the world,” Dan Seals, president of Intersect Illinois, said.
To help companies look for these “turn-key” locations in Illinois, Intersect Illinois has created a property finder that has more than 150 investment-ready sites in Illinois and a standalone guide with megasites over 1,000 acres.
The state will give up to $5,000 per acre of development, with totals ranging from $250,000 to $5 million. Applicants must own or have an agreement to own sites of at least 200 acres, and must match grant funds.
“We want these sites cleaned up,” Pritzker said. ” … It’s about providing dollars upfront so that can get taken care of and you can take that off of the expenditure list of things that you need to put in to make a site ready to go, and to get going on whatever it may be in that location.” […]
The megasites program will encourage businesses to locate projects in Illinois rather than neighboring states, Pritzker said.
“I venture to argue to you that they are not cleaning up their sites at the pace that we are cleaning up ours,” he said while pointing out a window toward Indiana, which is several miles from Pullman.
We want the sites cleaned up. And we want to attract business to these sites. What this is doing is providing the precursor for that. Because as Dan Seals was saying, when we talk to companies around the country, they have the problem in all the other states, too, of finding locations that are nearby the central business districts, but large enough so that they can put in large distribution buildings, facilities, or manufacturing. They want to be nearby, but they also want to be next to transportation. And they have to be ready to go because no one wants to wait 10 years or five years to start construction. And so that’s what these grants are really all about. It’s about providing dollars upfront, so that that can get taken care of. And you can take that off of the expenditure list of things that you need to put in to make a site ready to go and to get going on your new whatever it may be in that location. So we’re making it less expensive to do business in Illinois than it is in other states, I venture to argue to you that they are not cleaning up their sights at the pace that we are cleaning up ours, I’m pointing to Indiana. And it’s frankly, for two reasons, right. One is we’re being more aggressive at attracting businesses to Illinois. And secondly, we are more interested in being environmentally friendly here in Illinois. And frankly, businesses are too, they want to move somewhere where they can get clean energy where they can move to a clean site. And Illinois is offering that.
CNI Corp’s Pullman Park development is one example of a powerful community transformation, serving as home to the Method Soap Manufacturing facility, Amazon and Whole Foods Distribution Centers, Gotham Greens and more. The former shuttered factory site was developed in order to attract more than $700 million investment and creating more than 2,000 jobs.
“CNI’s Pullman Park Development went from a 180-acre brownfield to a new, green manufacturing and distribution hub,” said CNI Corp. President David Doig. “This area is now a model for economic development - creating more than 2,000 jobs - and it all began with a $10 million grant from the State.”
* The trial is set to being March 3, so expect a lot of these. Tribune…
In a flurry of pretrial filings, lawyers for the so-called “ComEd Four” are seeking to keep large swaths of evidence away from the jury next month, including the utility’s admissions of a scheme to influence then-House Speaker Michael Madigan, the millions of dollars in campaign contributions ComEd showered on lawmakers, and a prosecution expert who would testify about machine politics and corruption. […]
In his filing Monday, Pramaggiore’s attorney, Scott Lassar, argued that ComEd’s deal with prosecutors was “irrelevant” when it comes to the defendants on trial, and that allowing the jury to hear evidence about it would be improper.
“Allowing the jury to learn of ComEd’s agreement to pay $200 million would severely prejudice defendants because jurors may conclude that ComEd thought that its officers committed a very serious crime if they paid a $200 million fine,” Lassar wrote. […]
Lassar said [former ComEd Vice President Fidel Marquez] was acting as a government agent when he made the recordings and therefore his statements should be considered hearsay. The fact Marquez was cooperating also “calls into question the truth and accuracy” of his statements, Lassar wrote, “because the language he used may have been suggested by the government or tailored by Mr. Marquez to conform to what he believed the government wanted to hear.”
* More from the author on Twitter…
McClain's attorney reveals the feds want to put on evidence that two alleged subcontractors under Jay Doherty were "separately appointed" to paid public board positions. McClain argues the evidence is irrelevant because it has nothing to do with benefits to ComEd
"The government’s case against Doherty is at best circumstantial—but more accurately it is speculative," his lawyers write. His statements suggest only "as a lobbyist would, that keeping Madigan happy helps ensure access to Madigan so ComEd can lobby Madigan on its behalf."
And now a motion to bar the expert testimony of Professor Dick Simpson, which the defense describes as “unreliable, irrelevant, cumulative, and prejudicial” and a “transparent attempt to paint the four Defendants with the broad brush of Chicago political corruption.”
Getting back to these ComEd Four court filings. Sometimes it’s the footnotes that say it all, like: “The jury needs no special expertise to understand that there has historically been political corruption in Chicago.” pic.twitter.com/uxdqnGduTJ
Hooker's attorney also wants to bar evidence about Kevin Quinn, the Madigan lieutenant who received monthly payments from the speaker's loyalists after he was ousted in a sexual harassment scandal. @RayLong and I broke that story here https://t.co/RgURYPIgxB
* Oh, and there was that time when she was the attorney of record on behalf of Illinois congressional Republicans…
“The map as a whole and several individual districts in particular represent a flexing of Democratic political muscle in Springfield aimed at creating a Democratic majority in the Illinois congressional’ delegation,” the original filing in the case asserts. “(It) effectively reverses the results of the 2010 congressional elections by redrawing districts so that the citizens of Illinois that gave Republicans an 11 to 8 advantage . . . (would be) transformed to one with 12 Democrats and only six Republicans,” after the state’s loss of one seat was included. The filing called the Democratic-drawn map “an outrageous partisan gerrymander.”
In fact, after elections under the new map, it turned out to be 11-7 Democratic, with Duckworth (now a U.S. senator) defeating Walsh, Foster succeeding Biggert and Schneider ousting Dold.
* Yet…
The Lightfoot for Chicago campaign released a new digital ad, “Just Ask Him,” Tuesday, featuring Paul Vallas self-identifying as a Republican and admitting that he would run right-of-center in future races.
Vallas’ conservative comments are from a 2009 interview with Jeff Berkowitz on “Public Affairs,” where Vallas explains that he would be registering for the Republican primary ballot in the next election – cementing his support for the GOP. The interview predates Vallas’ decade worth of ties to the Republican Party and recent alliance with Trump acolyte and FOP President John Catanzara, making it clear just how wrong he is to represent Chicagoans as mayor.
“Just Ask Him” will be released across multiple digital platforms.
Like Garcia’s video, this is not on cable or broadcast TV.
…Adding… Lightfoot was on Rauner’s side on this 2016 fight…
A Cook County judge on Wednesday tossed from the fall ballot a constitutional amendment to take away the General Assembly’s power to draw legislative district boundaries, dealing a loss to Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and a win to Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan.
Legislation was filed in Springfield on Monday that could help the Chicago Bears finance their proposed development in Arlington Heights by freezing the property tax assessment on the former Arlington International Racecourse property for up to 40 years.
The plan, which would require the Bears to invest at least $500 million in converting the 326-acre site to a stadium and surrounding mixed-use development, has been floated for weeks and is being met with some skepticism, even from the state lawmaker who filed the legislation.
“I’ve expressed my doubts about whether this is an approach … we really want to open the door to,” state Sen. Ann Gillespie said Monday.
The Arlington Heights Democrat said she is sponsoring the proposal in part because she wants to see the concept, which she said mirrors a proposal from the Bears and other business interests, incorporated into a broader conversation about reforming a separate form of tax assistance for development known as tax increment financing. TIFs are a frequently used economic development tool that she contends often results in homeowners and small businesses paying higher real estate taxes.
[Arlington Heights Mayor Tom Hayes] said he spoke with Gillespie about the measure before she filed it and was surprised to hear that it had officially been submitted in Springfield.
“I did not know that she was going to submit the legislation today,” he said. “I did talk to her about it tonight.”
He said their conversation left him optimistic.
“She and as well as I, and everyone involved in this, wants to make sure that it is something that’s going to address everybody’s concerns,” he said.
* Capitol News Illinois | Pritzker announces $40 million grant program to promote development-ready ‘megasites’: The program is open to private entities, nonprofits and local governments, and the application portal is open through April 6. Those receiving the grant must match each dollar granted by the state with other private or local funding. Grant allotments would range from $250,000 up to $5 million, depending on the acreage of the site. Eligible sites must have at least 200 contiguous acres and applicants must own or have an agreement in place to acquire the property when they apply.
* WGLC | Legislators hope to reopen OB unit at St. Margaret’s Health, urges hospital to create plan for mothers: State Representative Lance Yednock says the road to reopening Peru will be very difficult and take longer than hoped and is researching every statute and program to find a solution. If SMH decides to reopen the OB and delivery unit in Spring Valley again, Rezin says it could take months to go through the licensure process.
* Crain’s | Some Illinois hospitals still don’t comply with price transparency rule, report says: The report, published by health care transparency nonprofit Patient Rights Advocate, showed that dozens of hospitals in Illinois—from Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago to several owned by Ascension Illinois—are not fully compliant with the Hospital Price Transparency Rule. Implemented in January 2021, the rule requires hospitals to post all service and treatment prices on their websites in detail. The regulation is aimed at giving patients an opportunity to comparison shop and get an idea of how much care costs upfront.
* Herald-Whig | Miller skipping State of the Union: Miller released a statement Monday saying she wouldn’t attend President Joe Biden’s speech Tuesday as a “protest of Joe Biden’s record of lying to the American people.”
* Green Market Report | Curaleaf Employees Asks for Class Action Status Over Stolen Tips: Employees allege that store managers pocketed more than $125,000 in stolen tip jar money. Four dispensary employees asked an Illinois judge to certify a class in their suit against Curaleaf Holdings (CSE: CURA) (OTCQX: CURLF) alleging that MSO store managers pocketed more than $125,000 in stolen tip jar money meant for workers.
* Politico | House divided: The megadonor couple battling in the GOP’s civil war: The RNC contest is only the most recent party fight that has seen the husband-and-wife duo land on opposite sides. After Liz Uihlein came out in support of former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch in the 2022 Wisconsin governor’s race, Dick Uihlein released a public statement praising rival Kevin Nicholson as an “outsider” who “can shake things up.” And while Dick bankrolled bomb-throwing conservative Josh Mandel in last year’s Ohio Senate primary, Liz financed two other candidates — one of whom, Jane Timken, was the former state party chairwoman.
* Crain’s | Cardinal Blase Cupich weighs in against proposed Chicago labor ordinance: In an unusually public move, Cupich today sent a letter to Mayor Lori Lightfoot and all 50 aldermen asking them to oppose a pending proposal that would require Catholic Charities to sign a labor peace agreement with union officials. Such a pact wouldn’t necessarily result in staffers being unionized, but it would likely result in higher wage and related costs—costs Cupich says the archdiocese can’t afford to pay.
* Tribune | In mayor’s race, ‘Chuy’ García floats property tax relief grants while Brandon Johnson unveils public safety plan: Johnson, meanwhile, unveiled a plan Monday that he said would train 200 new police detectives from the existing rank and file, double summer employment opportunities for at-risk youth to more than 60,000 jobs and expand support for victims of crime. Those programs and increased support for homeless people and those with addictions will help curb crime, Johnson said.
* NPR Illinois | Tributes pour in for Laurence Msall, government finance expert and NPR Illinois advisory board member: “Such a loss for good government,” said Randy Eccles, NPR Illinois General Manager. “Through his years on the Illinois Issues and NPR Illinois Community Advisory Boards, he kept us focused on how to make government serve citizens better. During the multi-year budget impasse, Laurence was the first and most adamant to point out the negative impact it was having for people and organizations across the state. We will all miss his counsel.”
* Block Club | Owner Of Chicago’s J.B. Alberto’s Helps Throw World’s Largest Pizza Party, Beating Guinness Record While Helping Kids In Need: The party raised $42,090 for Make-A-Wish Oklahoma, granting eight children’s wishes, according to the news release. “It wasn’t just for the record, even though everyone had fun doing that,” said Troiano, who has owned J.B. Alberto’s since 1978. “Along the way, we raised all that money for kids who really need it, and that was the best part about it. Everybody had a great time; but at the end of the day, it was for a great cause.”
* Southern | SIU awards millions locally in one-day scholarship blitz: That journey began with the presentation of millions of dollars in scholarship to students throughout the day. Lane and a contingent of admissions and financial aid staff members from SIU surprised dozens of students with ceremonial large checks to recognize the awarding of Chancellor’s scholarships.
* NBC Sports | When White Sox pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training: White Sox pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training on Feb. 15. Position players join them on Feb. 20. Teams are divided into the Cactus League, which is held in Arizona, and the Grapefruit League, which is in Florida. In some cases, teams share a home facility.
