A federal judge in Puerto Rico last week told a politically connected former state contractor that if he wants to sue for defamation against the people who’ve accused him of defrauding the state of Illinois, he’ll have to do so in an Illinois courtroom. […]
“Not a single one of the Defendants resides in, conduct business in, or has anything to do with, Puerto Rico,” Magistrate Judge Marshal Morgan wrote in a March 15 report.
The case involves Brian Hynes, a Chicago-based lawyer and one-time protégé of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, who maintains a residence in Puerto Rico. Hynes has operated lobbying and business entities over the years that work with the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago.
The entity at the center of the defamation case is Vendor Assistance Program LLC, or VAP, a company he set up to take part in a program the state has used to pay its bills during periods of tight cash flow. It was used extensively during the 2015-2017 budget impasse under former Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner.
Under that program, private financial firms like VAP would purchase unpaid bills that the state owed its vendors. The vendors would receive the money owed to them and the financial firms were paid interest of 1 percent per month, or 12 percent annually.
Today, Governor JB Pritzker and Innovate Illinois announced a multi-year plan for The Bloch Quantum Tech Hub to develop quantum technology solutions for pressing issues such as fraud detection, grid resilience, and drug discovery by accelerating industry adoption to drive research commercialization—an initiative that is projected to generate $60 billion in economic impact for the Chicago metro area over the next decade. The coalition, which includes Fortune 500 companies, quantum startups, world-leading universities, state and city governments, community colleges, and economic and workforce development nonprofits, developed the plan as part of their application for Phase 2 funding through the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) Regional Technology and Innovation Hub program. […]
The Bloch, led by the Chicago Quantum Exchange, is a part of Illinois’ strategic vision to establish itself as a global leader in critical technological sectors, supported by Innovate Illinois Chair Governor JB Pritzker’s historic $500 million proposed investment in quantum technologies.
This substantial state investment is included in the proposed FY25 state budget for developing quantum technology and a state-of-the-art quantum campus, including a cryogenic facility crucial for quantum technologies and next-generation microelectronics. The Bloch is positioned to leverage this investment, leading the nation to a sustainable and inclusive quantum economy.
Should their Phase 2 bid be funded, The Bloch is expected to create 30,000 quantum jobs, train 50,000 workers, and support 200 quantum companies by 2035.
* The Chicago Southland Black Chamber of Commerce…
The Chicago Southland Black Chamber of Commerce and other black business organizations and supporters are calling for the Illinois Community College Board to be defunded until the state-mandated 30% minority participation goals are met by Illinois community colleges. The Illinois House Appropriations - Higher Education Committee, chaired by State Representative La Shawn K. Ford, held a subject matter hearing downtown Chicago last Thursday. At the subject matter hearing, all state universities participated while only one community college participated.
“We were told that the community colleges didn’t want to participate because they felt uncomfortable. They didn’t want to be criticized and they don’t appreciate the criticism that they’ve been receiving. We think their response is horrible. They don’t intend to comply with state law and reach those goals,” stated Dr. Cornel Darden Jr., Chairman of the Chicago Southland Black Chamber of Commerce.
At the Subject Matter Hearing, several universities took the defensive and blamed the system for preventing them from having the ability to reach the goals. The black business organizations and black business leaders argued differently. The sentiment of the black business organizations was that the colleges and universities were just giving excuses.
“We need solutions and not excuses. We need to defund the Illinois Community College Board. Black taxpayer dollars should not go toward funding discrimination against ourselves. The Illinois Community College Board has been communicating with us and we are willing to work with them, however, the madness must stop. We need to halt their funding and develop a working relationship to meet the 30% goals. Until that happens, the community colleges should not get any more of our state funding,” explained Dr. Darden.
Many of the black business organizations and several black businesses have filed witness slips opposing the budget appropriation of the Illinois Community College Board for their scheduled 8:30 am Hearing on Thursday April 4th in Springfield, in front of the House Appropriations - Higher Education Committee. Several black business organizations have registered to give oral testimony at that hearing.
* An historic announcement? Sounds interesting…
Congressman Garcia and Coalition to Make Major Announcement
Chicago, IL - Team Chuy invites members of the press to join them for a significant announcement regarding the upcoming general election. This historic announcement is expected to have a profound impact on our community for years to come.
WHO: Congressman Chuy Garcia and other elected officials
WHAT: Press Conference
WHEN: Monday, April 1st at 9:00 am
WHERE: Chicago City Hall, 121 N. LaSalle St, 3rd Floor
Congressman Garcia will share his vision and detailed plans moving forward.
The Congressman’s announcement comes at a time of widespread speculation and interest in the future of our region.
The big news…
Congressman Jesus “Chuy” García is proud to announce his endorsement of Yesenia López for elected Board Member of the Chicago School Board of Education, marking a historic moment as these positions are elected for the first time. Yesenia López is leading the charge as the first candidate to announce her candidacy for the 7th District, aspiring to represent Chicago’s bustling southwest side.
* Here’s the rest…
* Crain’s | Pritzker leans into role as Illinois’ CMO: Pritzker is leaning into the promise he made when running for governor that he’d be the state’s chief marketing officer. Illinois needs to rev up its economic development game to reverse stubborn population and job-growth trends that have been a drag. The state’s population growth has been minimal, and job growth has lagged the nation.
* Daily Herald | ‘A working relationship’: Elk Grove mayor and developer — once bitter rivals — ink TIF deals: A little more than four years ago — in the throes of a bitter term limits referendum campaign that sought to remove him from office — Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson took to the village board dais to publicly lash out at local developer Mario Gullo, accusing him of working behind the scenes to support the effort. Johnson — the powerful mayor of Elk Grove since 1997 — even channeled “It’s a Wonderful Life” during his half-hour monologue, comparing himself to main character George Bailey and Gullo to antagonist Henry Potter.
* WCIA | Urbana Middle School moves to e-learning amid staffing shortage: In a Sunday evening email, the school’s principal and district’s superintendent said because of “a significant number of last-minute staff absences and not enough substitutes or administrators district-wide to cover all classes and routines safely, Urbana Middle School will transition to E-learning for all students.”
* Block Club | Most Chicago 911 Calls Don’t Need Urgent Police Response, Report Shows: Most 911 calls Chicago residents made in 2022 focused on car accidents, mental or physical health issues or noise complaints — not shots fired or other violence, a report that looked at more than 1 million calls to the city’s emergency number found. Experts say that data bolsters the need for more alternative policing programs, and more support for those already in place, to meet residents’ needs in Chicago and across the country.
* WBEZ | ‘A sea of trucks’ disproportionately pollutes Black and brown neighborhoods in Chicago: In just one hour, at the day’s peak, about 430 trucks pass through this spot in Archer Heights, a mostly Latino community on the Southwest Side. Trucks in cities belch pollution. In Chicago — North America’s largest freight hub — Black and brown communities living near the city’s industrial corridor are disproportionately paying for it with their health.
* WTTW | CTA Data Shows Reliance on Overtime, Chronic FOIA Delays and Years of Mischaracterized Records: The corrected work hours would have painted a less dire picture about the CTA’s reliance on overtime than earlier reporting showed, had the transit agency caught its error when WTTW News filed its first request for detailed information on operator hours two years ago. But the updated data still indicates a public transit system grappling with a pool of bus and train operators that shrank dramatically after the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, and the potential for dangerously long hours for workers putting in the most time on the job.
* Sun-Times | Invisible struggles of lower-income Asian Americans gain spotlight: Change InSight, a coalition led by the Chinatown-based nonprofit Chinese American Service League (CASL), has been surveying communities in more Asian languages, allowing for better data. The coalition is the first national web platform to collect community-level data from low-income Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities on public health and socioeconomic indicators.
* Tribune | Refuge on the field: A migrant boy finds home in baseball: Baseball is the most popular sport in Venezuela, a country in economic and political disarray, and the home country of most of the 37,000 migrants who have come to Chicago since August 2022. The game is played differently there, said several of Guerra’s family members as they watched him tag players out and catch fly balls Friday morning. Migrants have faced hurdles in adjusting to life in a city that has struggled for almost two years to house and feed them. But for Guerra, whose coaches say has a chance of being recruited for college, baseball is a semblance of home.
* WBEZ | What’s That Building? The Gemini Giant: A coalition led by the Joliet Area Historical Museum had been ready to sweep in with a hefty bid using tourism funds from the state. With the 18% buyers premium the auction house charges, the museum will spend $324,500 funded by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity
* Tribune | Al Larson, village president of Schaumburg for 32 years, dies at 85: During his time at the helm of his northwest suburb, Larson oversaw the continuation of the village’s residential growth — in 2020, Schaumburg numbered 78,723 residents — and he worked to give his community a variety of amenities and attractions, including Town Square, the Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center and the Wintrust Field baseball stadium. He also signed off on the village’s 1994 purchase of the Schaumburg Regional Airport to prevent it from being sold to developers.
* NYT | The Eclipse Was So Nice, They’re Doing It Twice: The college town, with a population of nearly 22,000, was among the most popular hot spots in the Midwest for the 2017 eclipse. Now, Carbondale and its neighbors are getting ready for another day with no sun. While towns in the area averaged around two and half minutes in the darkness of totality in 2017, this time they will experience about four minutes of totality. Preparation and hype have increased, too.
* My weekly syndicated newspaper column, which was published during spring break…
As we’ve discussed before, the competition for scarce state dollars is particularly fierce this year in Springfield as various groups elbow each other for money while large surpluses and revenue increases start to dry up.
A poll taken by respected national Democratic pollster Normington Petts in late February of 700 registered Illinois voters purports to show which of those ideas has strong support and which do not.
The program with the most respondents saying they “strongly support” it was “Funding free breakfast and lunch to public school children in grades K through 12, regardless of income. This would cost Illinois about $200M.” The poll found the idea had 64% overall support, with 39% they strongly supported it.
The poll was commissioned by a coalition called Healthy School Meals for All Kids, which is pushing for the free school food and was undoubtedly pleased with that result. Thirty-two percent said they opposed the idea, with 17% saying they strongly opposed feeding all kids at school.
Overall, the most-supported proposal was “Giving grants to businesses to provide jobs for young people over the summer to help reduce violence and provide job training in underserved communities. This would cost Illinois about $150M,” at 75%, with 31% registering strong support and just 19% opposed.
The option of “Raising the pay of state-funded home health care workers from $20 an hour to $22. This would cost Illinois about $200M,” came out at 68% support, with 35% strongly supporting it and 25% opposing it.
Next up was: “A tax credit of $300 per child for families making less than $75,000 a year, or $50,000 if the parent is single. This would cost Illinois about $300M,” at 58% supporting and 35% opposing.
And it may not surprise you to know at the very bottom of the list was “Expanding the program that provides health insurance to undocumented seniors who would be eligible for Medicare if they were citizens. This would cost Illinois about $300M,” which was opposed by 58% (40% strongly opposed) and supported by a minority of 33%. Proponents, however, said last week they don’t have dollar numbers for how much reopening the enrollment to the health insurance program would cost.
When asked to identify their top priority among those five programs, 34% of respondents said free meals in schools would be their top choice, which led the list. That was followed by summer youth job grants (20%). At the bottom was health insurance for undocumented seniors at only 6%.
The coalition did not supply the poll’s full cross tabs, but claimed in an accompanying memo that the free breakfast for all program had majority support across every region, age and partisan demographic.
Its strongest support was among Chicago voters (84%), Democrats (81%) and those 18-44 (74%). Its weakest support was among rural voters (50%-46%), those age 60+ (51%-46%) and Republicans (52%-44%). The coalition did not provide a breakout of those older than 65.
The pollster said the survey was a hybrid live interviewer landline, mobile, text-to-web and online panel survey conducted among 700 registered voters in Illinois from Feb. 21-26. The margin of error was ±3.7%. Party affiliation was 37% Democrat, 37% Independent and 26% Republican.
While we’re talking about polling results, let’s revisit a column I wrote in late 2022.
When Normington Petts asked those same respondents, “What is the single most important problem facing you and your household today?” the top category was “cost of living” at 49%. Crime was the No. 1 issue for just 8% and immigration came in at just 5%.
The Normington Petts poll also found that 27% of Illinoisans thought the state was heading in the right direction, while 60% said it was on the wrong track.
Another recently released poll, taken for the Illinois Education Association by Normington Petts and Republican pollster Next Generation Strategies in late January, found that 32% said the state was on the right track and 58% said it was on the wrong track.
While those results were much better than they were before Gov. J.B. Pritzker took office (the state bottomed out at a 9% right direction and an 84% wrong track in 2018), the results have dropped way down from a high of 52%-48% in an Emerson College poll conducted in October 2022, which we discussed at the time.
Armed with a new poll showing overwhelming opposition to taxpayer-subsidized stadiums for the Bears and White Sox, former Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn is launching the political version of a goal-line stand.
Quinn plans to push for a proposed ordinance Wednesday that would direct the City Council to put an advisory referendum on the November ballot asking Chicago voters a question similar to what he asked 448 voters in the statewide poll he paid for:
“Do you support or oppose the Chicago Bears or Chicago White Sox receiving state or local taxpayer subsidies in order to build a new stadium or real estate development?”
Overwhelming majorities of Illinoisans favor stronger state ethics reforms that lawmakers have sidestepped despite a string of high-profile public-corruption cases, new polling by former Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn shows.
The statewide survey found exceedingly high support for a constitutional amendment empowering voters to impose tougher ethical constraints on Springfield and for a prohibition on indicted ex-legislators, like former Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan, from drawing a state pension while awaiting trial. […]
There is no discernible legislative movement on any of these initiatives, and Quinn says he hopes the lopsided results from his polling will spur lawmakers into action.
“It shows convincingly in my opinion that the people really are for reform way ahead of incumbent politicians, whether it’s in the Legislature in Springfield or it’s back in Chicago with the City Council and the mayor,” Quinn said. […]
Quinn commissioned the Democratic polling firm, Blueprint Polling, to conduct a survey of 448 Illinoisans between March 13 and 15. The poll reached people via text message and through live-calling and has a margin of error of plus or minus 5.4%.
* Click the pics for more crosstab numbers. “Do you support or oppose a new law to prohibit Illinois legislators from voting on bills where they have a conflict-of-interest in the bill?”…
* “Do you support or oppose a new state law to immediately suspend taxpayer paid pensions to legislators when they are indicted for corruption and prohibit them from ever collecting a taxpayer-paid pension if they are found guilty of felony corruption?”…
* “Do you support or oppose a new Illinois law to prohibit the double-dipping practice of legislators and other elected officials collecting two taxpayer-paid salaries and pension credits at the same time?”…
* “Do you support or oppose the Illinois Ethics Initiative, a constitutional amendment that would give voters the power to directly enact stronger ethical standards for state and local politicians through initiative petitions and binding referendums?”…
The Illinois State Fair has announced that two-time GRAMMY award-winning The Smashing Pumpkins will headline the Illinois State Fair Grandstand on Friday, August 16.
The Smashing Pumpkins are one of the most iconic, iconoclastic and influential bands of all time, shaping alternative music and culture. Since forming in Chicago during 1988, the group have sold over 30 million albums worldwide and garnered two GRAMMY® Awards, two MTV VMAs, and an American Music Award.
Their catalog includes seminal offerings such as the platinum Gish [1991], the quadruple-platinum Siamese Dream [1993], the diamond-certified Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness [1995], the platinum Adore [1998], and the gold Machina/The Machines of God [2000].
Rolling Stone cited both Siamese Dream and Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness among its “500 Greatest Albums of All Time.” It would also be impossible to envision alternative music and culture without their signature iconography such as the idyllic album artwork for Siamese Dream, the black Zero shirt, the laissez faire bliss of the “1979” music video, the gothic metamorphosis of “Ava Adore,” or the multi-dimensional live shows that sell out worldwide to this day.
2018 saw The Smashing Pumpkins unveil the SHINY AND OH SO BRIGHT, VOL. 1 / LP: NO PAST. NO FUTURE. NO SUN. and launch the immensely successful Shiny and Oh So Bright Tour, which packed arenas. Maintaining this momentum, the band released their eleventh full-length double album CYR [2020], representing yet another evolution, and more recently, ATUM [2023], the sequel to 1995’s Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness and 2000’s Machina/Machine of God. As prolific as ever, The Smashing Pumpkins are currently working on new music. More details to come.
“The Smashing Pumpkins defined a new sound in the 90s and have continued to evolve through the years,” said Illinois State Fair Manager Rebecca Clark. “This show is sure to draw an eclectic and enthusiastic crowd, and we are excited to bring The Smashing Pumpkins back home to Illinois.”
Opening act PVRIS (pronounced Paris), who has appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live, brings artistry and storytelling to their genre-defying music with hits like, “Animal” and “Anywhere But Here.”
Tickets for this event, featuring The Smashing Pumpkins, will be on sale Friday, April 5th at 10 a.m. via Ticketmaster.
Tickets to the new tour dates will be available for presale on April 2 at 10:00 am local with the artist presale code “VAMPIRE”. You can learn more about the presale via The Smashing Pumpkins’ website. There will also be a few more presale events for the supporting artists and VIP packages via Ticketmaster.
General on-sale kicks off on April 5 at 10:00 am local. We recommend looking for non-US tour date tickets on Viagogo for the best deals and best chance at scoring tickets to sold-out dates. For North American fans, Stubhub will be your best bet for finding good seats, especially if your tour date of choice is sold out by the time the presale events end.
Marking the beginning of National Donate Life Month, Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias unveiled the state’s annual organ and tissue donor ad campaign, which encourages Illinoisans to sign up for the donor registry.
“More than 4,000 Illinois residents are currently waiting for a transplant, including many whose lives depend on the availability of a suitable organ,” Giannoulias said. “The month of April presents an opportunity to highlight how someone’s decision to take a moment to sign up will tangibly save lives and why it’s so important to encourage more people to register as donors.”
The campaign features a public service announcement (PSA) that urges Illinoisans to enroll in the Secretary of State’s Organ and Tissue Donor Registry by showcasing Tonisha Daniel of south suburban Dolton, who received a lifesaving liver transplant after waiting over a year.
Television and social media ads will run statewide throughout the month. The PSA features the song “The Scientist” by Coldplay.
Currently, 6.5 million Illinoisans are registered with the state’s donor registry. Approximately 4,000 people are on the transplant waiting list. Of those individuals, about 300 die waiting for a transplant every year. A single donor can save or improve the lives of up to 25 people.
To become a donor, Illinoisans can register with the Secretary of State’s Organ and Tissue Donor Registry by visiting www.LifeGoesOn.com, calling 800-210-2106 or signing up at a DMV facility. The entire process takes less than five minutes.
Donate Life Illinois partners include Gift of Hope Organ & Tissue Donor Network, Eversight, Mid-America Transplant Services and the National Kidney Foundation of Illinois.
Two judges - one from Cook County [recently appointed Associate Judge Natosha Toller] and the other from St. Clair County [recently retired Associate Judge Patricia Kievlan], near St. Louis - have partnered in a lawsuit to potentially take down the state’s so-called Tier 2 pension law, a key pension reform measure they say was passed unconstitutionally and which they claim has unconstitutionally denied them a larger retirement pension than they believe they are owed. […]
In the meantime, the “Tier 2″ law has been interpreted by pension administrators to also limit the retirement earnings of current public employees if they move from one kind of public employment to another.
Under traditional “Tier 1″ pensions, public employees could use all of their years of public employment to calculate their final pension payout, no matter how many different taxpayer-funded agencies they may have worked for.
The judges’ new lawsuit said that practice, in particular, should be unconstitutional, as applied to longtime public workers who later become judges.
The lawsuit notes that Kievlan worked for “many years” as an instructor at a public community college in Belleville, and also served for years as a member of the St. Clair County Board. She was appointed as a judge in 2013, and retired in 2023.
According to the lawsuit, Toller was appointed to the Cook County judicial bench in 2023. Before that, she had worked for 17 years as a Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney, including as a top assistant to Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx. Toller then worked for more than a year for the Illinois Judicial Inquiry Board.
They are missing out on a ton of pension money as a result.
* What they’re basically arguing is that they were covered under the state’s 1963 reciprocal pension law that was in existence long before the Tier 2 law’s passage. From the lawsuit…
Under the Reciprocal Act, participants in more than one of the covered pension systems may combine their service credit earned from two separate government employers to calculate a single pension annuity
The Judicial Retirement System is covered by the Reciprocal Act. The State University Retirement System and the Municipal Retirement Fund are also both reciprocally covered, and the judges in the lawsuit belonged to those systems.
Membership in any pension or retirement system of the State, any unit of local government or school district, or any agency or instrumentality thereof, shall be an enforceable contractual relationship, the benefits of which shall not be diminished or impaired.
As applied to both Judge Kievlan and Judge Toller, Public Act 96-0889 violates the Pension Protection Clause set forth in article XIII, section 5, of the Illinois Constitution of 1970 […]
Both Judge Kievlan and Judge Toller are entitled to all of the benefits afforded to them under the Pension Code, including the Reciprocal Act, as of the day they first began as participants in a state pension system. But in the administrative decisions, JRS erroneously concluded that their respective rights to be treated as Tier 1 participants in JRS had not “vested” because neither of them had begun judicial service at the time Public Act 96–0889 was enacted. This analysis is faulty, and the decisions must be reversed, because prior to enactment of Public Act 96–0889, no tiers existed and Judge Kievlan and Judge Toller were each entitled to join JRS and obtain the full benefits of the Reciprocal Act in the determination of their annuity benefits.
The state’s top parole official resigned from his post [last] Monday after his board allowed a parolee with a history of violence against women to be released from state custody before, authorities say, he attacked a pregnant woman he once dated and killed her 11-year-old son when the child came to her rescue.
Donald Shelton served on the Illinois Prisoner Review Board for more than a decade and led the 13-member panel since last year. His resignation was announced Monday by Gov. J.B. Pritzker hours after the governor also disclosed that one of Shelton’s board members, LeAnn Miller, quit her post for her role in allowing Crosetti Brand, the suspect in the fatal stabbing of 11-year-old Jayden Perkins, to be released from custody following a hearing to determine whether he violated his parole. […]
“The Prisoner Review Board must be able to operate independently as they review enormously difficult cases, but I believe LeAnn Miller has made the correct decision in stepping down from her role,” Pritzker said a statement Monday. “It is clear that evidence in this case was not given the careful consideration that victims of domestic violence deserve and I am committed to ensuring additional safeguards and training are in place to prevent tragedies like this from happening again.” […]
The governor’s office said he will be working with the Illinois General Assembly in the coming weeks to address vacancies on the board and will be conducting “a thorough search for qualified candidates.”
* Tina Sfondeles asked the governor about why the chairman resigned and if the board should be non partisan at an unrelated news conference today…
First of all, the death of an 11-year-old boy is unbelievably tragic under any circumstances, and these especially.
I think that the members of the PRB as you know are of both parties, they’re nominated and approved by the Senate.
As you know, the leader of the panel that made the decision to let the prisoner [Crosetti Brand] out, has resigned. I think that was probably a proper decision on her part and I think that the chairman of the PRB, who served admirably for 11 years, also Republican, chose to leave [they] did not express any reason in particular.
I think that the changes that are necessary here are evident in the fact that the panel didn’t take into consideration enough the domestic violence history of this particular prisoner. And the fact that there were reports by the victim of that person knocking on her door, being around her apartment building, etc.
And so, one thing that we’ve decided to do is to make sure that we enhance the domestic violence training that all PRB members get, including all the ones that are there now and of course, any new ones that are proposed to make sure that this never happens again.
* Pritzker was also asked when the PRB members would be replaced…
Well, the more that people politicize the position, the less likely it is that someone would want to serve in it. And as you know, there have been people in the General Assembly typically the opposite party who have politicized this. So it makes it more difficult, I mean, this has been a very short period of time. I think we’re talking about five work days so far, since the resignations, the two.
And so obviously, we’re contemplating that we need to make nominations to those positions, but we don’t have any decisions yet.
Illinois schools have taken steps to weather an acute shortage of teachers with the state’s help, but a survey released Tuesday points to ways to improve training, support and incentives for classroom instructors.
The annual study by the Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools shows that 9 in 10 schools report a serious or very serious teacher shortage, struggle to find substitute teachers and face fewer than five and sometimes no candidates for open positions — and three-quarters of schools say no more than half of the job hopefuls they see have the proper credentials.
There is a particular dearth of special education and English-learner teachers. Among supporting staff, school psychologists, speech-language pathologists and nurses are critically short. Administrators, too, are in short supply.
“This matters,” IARSS executive director Gary Tipsord said in an interview. “This is an issue that people care about. They think it is important, and they think it’s critical enough that it needs to be addressed.”
This year’s survey found more than 90 percent of schools responding reported having a “serious” or “very serious” teacher shortage problem.
That percentage has changed very little in the last several years, although the question has been asked in slightly different ways in earlier surveys. In 2021, for example, 88 percent of those responding said they had a “problem” with teacher shortages, a percentage that was unchanged from 2019. […]
Respondents to the survey reported filling a total of 3,694 teacher positions this year using “alternative measures,” such as hiring substitutes or retired educators, combining classes, and increasing class sizes, among other short-term remedies, according to the report.
Across most educator positions, insufficient compensation, employee burnout, and increased responsibilities were cited as the most common causes for vacancies.
Education leaders also reacted to current strategies to address shortages. District efforts to place student teachers and to improve working conditions were seen by nearly 30% of leaders as effective in improving recruitment and retention. In addition, approximately 50% of leaders indicated that increasing the number of days substitutes, including retired educators, are eligible to teach was beneficial. And finally, the potential solutions that leaders found most promising were financially related: modifying the pension tier system, augmenting loan forgiveness programs for educators, and increasing scholarships for teaching candidates were among the most favorably rated strategies.
These findings suggest that educator shortages are not distributed equally across the state, as 36% of education agencies reported no unfilled positions. But for the education agencies that have unfilled educator positions, a majority of leaders perceive shortages to be severe, resulting in alternative remedies such as hiring substitutes and increasing class sizes that affect the quality of instruction and services students receive. Leaders also shared their views on the causes of shortages as well as current and potential solutions to mitigate the problem. These insights provide a pragmatic foundation that can be used to devise targeted, diverse mechanisms to address unfilled positions, both by supporting current educators and growing pipeline programs.
“There’s just a lot to respond to, there’s a lot to do, and there are a lot of challenges,” said Beth Crider, regional superintendent of Peoria County Regional Office of Education #48.
There are more than 4,100 unfilled positions across the state for teachers, support staff and paraprofessionals. The biggest shortages are for special education teachers, support staff and specialty positions like school psychologists and speech pathologists.
“They’re putting a substitute in there, that’s somebody with a four-year degree that’s not in teaching. They’re using a retired teacher…or worse than that, they’re canceling the class, putting the kids in other classrooms, putting them in study hall, but those are strategies we have to use if there’s no qualified teacher,” said Crider.
With low compensation and reduced pension benefits, Crider said new strategies are needed to attract more people to the field. The current pension system requires teachers to stay in their positions until age 67.
* WGLT | Rep. Sharon Chung joins statewide teacher shortage working group: Chung said while the group has not met yet, she imagines members will meet with different stakeholders, such as Illinois State Board of Education members. “We’ve already done things with raising the teacher minimum pay,” Chung said in an interview on WGLT’s Sound Ideas. “I know that there are bills right now even just being discussed this session about paid student teaching. That could be another thing that’s on the table.”
* Eye On Illinois | Teacher shortage survey shows filled positions up, as are vacancies: A full 36% of education agencies reported no unfilled positions. In the other 64%, a majority report severe shortages. The report indicates a concentration in rural and urban areas – not always aligned on solutions – and then within specific content areas or ages of student population.
Illinois state lawmakers discussed the prospect of a guaranteed basic income during a state Senate Appropriations - Health and Human Services Committee meeting Wednesday.
A bill sponsored by state Sen. Ram Villivalam, D-Chicago, would explore the possibility of a guaranteed income program across the state.
“Giving people cash is one of the most potent tools to creating resilient households and communities,” said Ameya Pawar, a senior advisor for the Economic Security Project, which supports the bill.
He said a guaranteed basic income is what it sounds like, giving people cash directly to supplement their income and fill in the gaps in the social safety net.
The proposal was a key topic at a recent senate committee meeting in Chicago, where the overarching goal of providing a no-strings-attached additional $1,000 monthly income was discussed.
Advocates for the bill argue that such a measure is crucial when the cost of goods and services continues to rise, while wages have largely stagnated. […]
Ameya Pawar, Senior Adviser at the Economic Security Project, cited data from a two-year experiment in Stockton, New Jersey, in 2019, where 100 low-income residents received $500 a month.
Contrary to fears, the initiative saw an increase in employment among participants, with some using the funds to start businesses, pursue education, or enhance their skills.
At a young age, I witnessed my father dying in pain from lung cancer and suffering terribly. More recently, my mom contracted pancreatic cancer, and I had her medical power of attorney.
A couple of weeks before she passed, I was sitting on the edge of her bed. She grabbed my arm and begged me to make sure her health care providers didn’t do any medical interventions to keep her alive, like resuscitation, that would prolong her suffering. […]
That is why I am the proud lead sponsor of the End-of-Life Options for Terminally Ill Patients Act. I recently introduced this legislation that would allow medical aid in dying as an end-of-life care option for mentally capable, terminally ill adults in Illinois, with six months or less to live, to gently end unbearable suffering. It is 100% voluntary for terminally ill people, physicians and pharmacists.
More than 7 of 10 Illinois likely voters (71%) support passing medical aid-in-dying legislation, according to a 2023 Impact Research poll. This majority support spans the demographic, political, racial and religious spectrums, including 73% of voters with a disability, 83% of Latino voters, 69% of Catholic voters and half of Republican voters. In contrast, fewer than 1 in 5 Illinois voters (17%) oppose medical aid in dying.
Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs is spearheading an effort to help families put leftover college savings funds into retirement plans. The change could happen quickly in Illinois thanks to action by the federal government.
Frerichs told reporters in Chicago Tuesday that he is looking out for families who don’t use all of the money in their college savings accounts to roll over funds into a Roth IRA. The Democrat said Congress approved a bill in late 2022 to allow tax and penalty free rollovers from college savings plans to retirement plans. […]
Illinois would need a change in state law to allow people to take advantage of this opportunity. Sen. Steve Stadelman (D-Rockford) and Rep. Diane Blair-Sherlock (D-Villa Park) said it is a common sense change that could help parents, grandparents and guardians who open savings accounts for their young families. […]
Senate Bill 3133 currently awaits third reading in the Senate. Meanwhile, House Bill 5005 could be heard on second reading when the House returns for session next week.
Illinois state lawmakers are looking at legislation to help parents protect their children on social media.
The bill, known as Sammy’s Law, would require large social media companies such as TikTok, Snapchat and Meta — the parent company of Facebook and Instagram — to use third-party software companies that would alert parents if their kid is being cyber bullied, talking about suicide, buying drugs or engaging in other dangerous activity on the platform.
The bill is named for Sammy Chapman. The 16-year-old died from a drug overdose on Feb. 7, 2021. He bought drugs containing fentanyl using Snapchat. […]
Parents would not be alerted to everything their kids do online. They’d only be notified if their kid is in potential danger. […]
The state House Consumer Protection Committee unanimously passed the bill on March 20. It heads to the floor with bipartisan support. Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul has also voiced support for the legislation.
The legislation in Illinois House Bill 5069 would establish a Premarket Tobacco Product Application registry of products that may legally be sold in the state. Manufacturers, distributors or sellers of products who want to add them to the registry must attest under penalty of perjury that the products are either authorized for sale by a Food and Drug Administration marketing granted order, or are still undergoing review by the agency.
“Right now there are a lot of products that are being sold at various places that are illegal in the vape and e-cigarette space,” said the bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Bob Rita, D-Blue Island. […]
Matthieu Fortin with Upper Limits vape shop in Springfield said the measure would essentially eliminate flavored e-cigarettes. […]
The Consumer Advocates for Smoke-free Alternatives Association is running a publicity campaign against all states considering similar legislation. Outside of Illinois, other states where the group highlights possible legislation include Indiana, Washington, Florida, Colorado, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Idaho, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Alabama, Utah, Kansas, Georgia, Wyoming and Missouri.
Education advocates are renewing a push to change Illinois law to allow Chicago school board members to be paid — with the hope that would encourage teachers and parents from low-income households to represent Chicago Public Schools’ diverse student body.
State law currently does not allow school board members to be paid, though they can be reimbursed for expenses related to the job. But a bill filed in the state senate last fall would allow Chicago Board of Education members to be paid. […]
Being a CPS board member requires between 25-30 hours of work per month, according to the board’s website, and involves attending public meetings, briefings with district officials, visiting schools, and reading hundreds of pages of documents every month. […]
State Sen. Robert Martwick, who sponsored legislation creating an elected school board in Chicago, said negotiations are underway for compensating board members, but he’s not hopeful that legislation will be passed this year.
Through House Bill 2287, led by Rep. Marty Moylan, D-Des Plaines, newly purchased and leased school buses would have to be electric starting in 2028. By 2035, all school districts would be required to have solely electric school buses. […]
As a way to help teachers during the school day, Sen. Meg Loughran Cappel, D-Shorewood introduced Senate Bill 2721, a bill that would carve out at least 45 minutes during the school day for teachers to plan. The bill states that during the plan time an educator cannot be forced to substitute or attend meetings or training sessions. If this bill passes it will become a requirement for all public-school districts across the state. […]
House Bill 4175 would prevent nonpublic schools from slapping or paddling a student, placing a student in a physically painful position and the intentional infliction of bodily harm on a student. […]
Introduced by Sen. Rachel Ventura, D-Joliet, Senate Bill 2872 would require each school district to offer relaxation time or relaxation activities for at least 20 minutes a week. The time would be used to emphasize self-care and downtime as a way to improve overall health.
Senate Bill 3646 was filed by Sen. Robert Peters, D-Chicago, and would put limitations hours minors could work, including not working more than 8 hours in a single 24-hour period or more than 3 hours per day or more than 8 hours total of work and school hours on days when school is in session.
The new bill would also ensure children 13 and under would not be allowed to get a working permit.
The proposed legislation would also provide protections for children who are featured in online content and would require that they receive compensation for any appearances made in online content. […]
Senate Bill 3646 is currently waiting for consideration of the full Senate.
Two bills that would regulate battery disposal and storage are awaiting action from the full Illinois Senate after unanimous committee approval.
Senate Bill 3481, sponsored by Sen. Sara Feigenholtz, D-Chicago, would require facilities that store electric vehicle batteries to register with the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency by February 2026. The state’s Pollution Control Board would set the regulations for the proper storage of EV batteries. […]
Senate Bill 3686, sponsored by Sen. Dave Koehler, D-Peoria, would require battery producers and importers to implement an IEPA approved battery stewardship plan starting in 2026. Retailers would be encouraged — but not required — to serve as collection facilities.
The plan would regulate the disposal, storage and recycling of certain removable batteries and portable batteries. The bill applies to most types of batteries, with some exceptions. These include liquid electrolyte batteries and lead-acid batteries, like those used in cars.
A bipartisan group of Illinois lawmakers wants to make permanent a grant programing aiming to help farmers, co-ops and other small food producers across the state.
The Local Food Infrastructure Grant (LFIG) program is awarding nearly $2 million in grants to 19 recipients across the state. […]
“It takes more than just sticking a seed in the ground, right? You’ve got to have the infrastructure to be able to handle that and to be able to deliver it and to be able and make it available to people so that’s what this is about,” said state Sen. Dave Koehler, D-Peoria.
Koehler is sponsoring bipartisan legislation making the LFIG program permanent. The bill passed unanimously out of the state Senate Agriculture Committee on March 7. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker did not include LFIG funding in his proposed fiscal year 2025 budget.
Rep. Daniel Didech, D-Buffalo Grove, filed House Bill 4446 earlier this year after a series of incidents in which Illinois residents were keeping servals as pets when the cats got loose.
In October, a Decatur resident purchased a serval from a supplier in West Virginia, and two weeks later, the cat escaped through an open door in the owner’s apartment. The cat was loose until mid-November, when a landowner spotted and trapped the cat north of town, between Maroa and Forsyth. The serval was turned over to local officials and now resides at the Exotic Feline Rescue Center in Center Point, Indiana.[…]
While Didech’s bill has overwhelming support from various organizations, opponents, such as the Illinois State Veterinary Medical Association, have raised some issues. In a statement, a spokesperson for the association said they have “expressed concerns with certain aspects of the legislation with the bill’s sponsor” and anticipate “meeting with the stakeholders to develop agreed upon language.” The spokesperson did not explain what those concerns were. […]
The legislation passed out of committee earlier this month. Didech said he is hopeful that the bill will be called for a vote in the House in the coming weeks.
- With 99% of the vote counted, O’Neill Burke had 50.15% compared to 49.85% for Harris.
- O’Neill Burke led by a margin of just 1,556 votes.
-Up to 53,011 mail city ballots could still arrive for tabulation, but nowhere near that many are expected to arrive by Tuesday with valid postmarks, when counting officially ends.
* State Week | The Illinois Prisoner Review Board under scrutiny: The murder of an 11-year old boy and stabbing of his mother brought focus on the state’s Prisoner Review Board this week. The crime happened just a day after the suspect was let out of prison. He had reportedly threatened the woman previously. In the aftermath, there has been more focus on how the case was handled. A PRB member resigned along with the board chairman. Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who makes appointments to the board, said the case wasn’t given “the careful consideration that victims of domestic violence deserve.”
* Sun-Times | Pritzker reappoints Tate-Nadeau to handle emergencies, but senators concerned over payroll scandal: Tate-Nadeau, appointed by Pritzker in 2019 to lead the state agency that oversees disasters and crises such as the pandemic and the influx of migrants, came under fire last year after the Sun-Times reported an executive assistant accounted for $240,761.30 in billings — double the salary of her boss between February and August 2023. Her total billings to the state emergency agency in other contracting roles through August 2023 topped $1.03 million.
* Rockford Register Star | Officials release names of victims, other details from mass stabbing in Rockford: The suspect in a killing spree that claimed the lives of four people and left at least seven people injured told police that he became paranoid after smoking marijuana that may have been laced with another drug. […] The spree of violence included five crime scenes, some in Rockford and some in Winnebago County. Soto is initially charged with first-degree murder, attempted murder and home invasion. He will face a detention hearing this afternoon.
Governor Pritzker will be at mHUB Chicago for a Bloch Tech Hub event at 9:30 am. Click here to watch.
* Here’s the rest…
* Tribune | After federal cuts, Illinois rape crisis centers ask state for help: ‘It’s essential that services be there’: Across Illinois, scores of direct service providers like Lubel who work at the state’s 31 rape crisis centers are struggling under the weight of crushing workloads, stagnant wages and unsteady job security. Those pressures have intensified in recent months, advocates say, after a key source of federal funding was essentially slashed in half, a loss of around $9.5 million.
* Capitol News Illinois | Appeals court skeptical of Mike Bost’s case to stop ballot counts after Election Day: A panel of federal appellate judges on Thursday seemed skeptical of legal arguments made on behalf of Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Bost, who claims Illinois’ law allowing counting of mail-in ballots for two weeks after an election is in violation of federal law. Bost’s late 2022 lawsuit was filed with help from a conservative group that assisted former President Donald Trump’s efforts to block the counting of mail-in ballots after Election Day 2020.
* Capitol News Illinois | Illinois teacher shortage persists, survey finds: This year’s survey found more than 90 percent of schools responding reported having a “serious” or “very serious” teacher shortage problem. That percentage has changed very little in the last several years, although the question has been asked in slightly different ways in earlier surveys. In 2021, for example, 88 percent of those responding said they had a “problem” with teacher shortages, a percentage that was unchanged from 2019.
* Tribune | DCFS, under a new leader and following years of criticism, seeks a new wave of workers: Permitin was among a couple hundred people who attended the employment expo at the Rusu-McCartin Boys & Girls Club to check out opportunities from DCFS and other government agencies, including the Illinois State Police, Chicago Fire Department and U.S. Postal Service. The hiring event comes at a significant time for DCFS, which has been regularly criticized from government watchdogs to elected officials. In the last five years, Gov. J.B. Pritzker has been a regular target of that criticism as the agency he oversees was accused of poorly handling some of its investigations and failing to get troubled youths into the right places quickly.
* WTTW | Cook County Courts Have Seen ‘Mostly Smooth’ Transition After Elimination of Cash Bail, New Report Finds: According to the report, judges have granted detention in 59% of the 2,732 cases in which the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office has requested a pretrial hold. […] But in observing actual court proceedings, the report authors found that the pretrial release processes in Cook County “have not changed drastically” from what they were prior to the Pretrial Fairness Act.
* WAND | State law enforcement board asks for funding to implement SAFE-T Act training, add more instructors: ILETSB leaders told a Senate Appropriations Committee Wednesday that the board has already hired 15 people to help with operations and implementation of the SAFE-T Act. Although, the agency anticipates they will need 23 more people hired over the next year. Executive Director Keith Calloway told lawmakers the board approved a 640 hour basic law enforcement curriculum and a 320 hour correctional course to allow for more scenario-based training for officers.
* Tribune | Illinois House proposal could pave way for video gambling in Chicago: In addition to helping address the city’s revenue needs, the Illinois House measure also aims to address racial disparities within the state’s video gambling industry by finding a way for Chicago businesses to swap the legally murky sweepstakes machines that can be found at bars, gas stations and even laundromats around Chicago for state-licensed — and taxed — betting devices.
* Center Square | Vaping industry insider blames big tobacco for new e-cig legislation in Illinois: The legislation in Illinois House Bill 5069 would establish a Premarket Tobacco Product Application registry of products that may legally be sold in the state. Manufacturers, distributors or sellers of products who want to add them to the registry must attest under penalty of perjury that the products are either authorized for sale by a Food and Drug Administration marketing granted order, or are still undergoing review by the agency.
* Sun-Times | Pritzker eyes bigger piece of Illinois sports betting action after 4 booming years: A hike from 15% to 35% of sportsbook revenue is a slam dunk to generate an extra $200 million for the cash-strapped state, according to the Illinois governor. But major gambling corporations say it will block growth in a market that has ballooned into one of the nation’s biggest.
*WAND | Frerichs hopes Illinois lawmakers allow unused college savings to rollover into retirement plans: Frerichs told reporters in Chicago Tuesday that he is looking out for families who don’t use all of the money in their college savings accounts to roll over funds into a Roth IRA. The Democrat said Congress approved a bill in late 2022 to allow tax and penalty free rollovers from college savings plans to retirement plans. […] Illinois would need a change in state law to allow people to take advantage of this opportunity. Sen. Steve Stadelman (D-Rockford) and Rep. Diane Blair-Sherlock (D-Villa Park) said it is a common sense change that could help parents, grandparents and guardians who open savings accounts for their young families.
* Tribune | Full House Resorts awaits Illinois Supreme Court decision before building its casino in Waukegan: A lawsuit against the City of Waukegan and the Illinois Gaming Board by Forest County Potawatomi Community to halt the board’s proceedings to grant the Waukegan license was dismissed in 2021, just before the license was awarded to Full House. After the Illinois First District Appellate Court reversed the dismissal in August, Full House paused plans to start work on the permanent facility. Alex Stolyar, Full House’s senior vice president and chief development officer, said Wednesday a wait is necessary.
* Sun-Times | Illinois approves nonbinary state ID documents but gender-neutral option to come: However, the gender-neutral cards cannot be offered until the Illinois Secretary of State’s office updates its driver’s license and ID card issuance system. It’s a process that could take years, according to Dave Druker, a spokesperson for the secretary of state’s office. Druker said Illinois is locked into a six-year contract with IDEMIA, a multinational identity solutions company formerly known as MorphoTrust USA. The state renewed its contract with IDEMIA in 2018 to implement Illinois’ REAL ID program, and the contract doesn’t end until 2024.
* WAND | Black advocates say Illinois colleges, universities should hire more Black vendors for services: State lawmakers know that most universities and colleges across the state are far from reaching the goal of 30% procurement with minority-owned businesses. However, leaders from the University of Illinois System said they have seen great improvement over recent years. “We just finished our high water mark for certified achievement at almost $130 million,” said Aaron Carter, Assistant Vice President of Procurement Services for the University of Illinois System. “As a percentage of addressable spend, that puts us right at about 11%, almost 22% of state appropriations when you look at that.”
* SJ-R | Springfield convenience stores found to be selling unauthorized vaping products: Thousands of unauthorized vaping products are hitting the shelves of convenience stores weekly in Illinois – and all it takes is a walk down to Circle K on South MacArthur Boulevard and Ash Street for Springfield locals to see for themselves that Breeze and Glas vapes, which are unauthorized by the FDA, are slotted next to FDA approved e-cigs.
*Tribune | Glencoe to consider adopting home rule government: Village President Howard Roin believes it is time for a switch. “Being an outlier has not resulted in lower property taxes for our residents,” Roin said. “Every day our residents are spending more money than the residents of other communities because we are not home rule.”
*Tribune | Chaotic federal juice-loan case has links to FBI efforts against Chicago Outfit figures: Cassano is also the president of Games Gone Wild, a company based in Norridge that leases so-called sweepstakes machines to area businesses. Since the machines can be played for free, the machines are not considered gambling devices. But the machines are largely unregulated and have been known to have links to organized crime, a link that federal authorities were investigating around the same time Cassano was indicted in 2021.
* Tribune | Many of Chicago’s vacant lots are near transit, posing challenges for neighborhoods and CTA, study says: More than one-third of vacant lots in Chicago are close to “L” stations, a new report shows, creating challenges for neighborhoods and the CTA alike. […] They found the communities that had among the most vacant lots near transit included Englewood and West Englewood, home to the terminus of one branch of the CTA Green Line. Also topping the list were East and West Garfield Park, served by two CTA train lines, and North Lawndale, served by the Pink Line.
* Crain’s | Measles cases around Chicago tick up past 50: Single cases of measles also have been reported in Lake, Will and suburban Cook counties. Each case is related to the Chicago outbreak, the county public health departments have said. […] Of Chicago’s 52 measles cases, CDPH said, 60% are among children younger than 5, 25% are among people aged 18 to 49, 13% are 5 to 17 and one person 50 or older.
* Tribune | Aldermen push for more transparency and tracking of migrants Chicago evicts from shelters: In addition to eviction data, the ordinance also would force the city to share information about conditions at each shelter, including how many residents are staying there with exemptions, how many residents are back in shelters after being evicted and how many grievances residents have filed. Since evictions began on March 17, the city has only shared limited information with the public. On Saturday, March 23, the total number of evictions was added to daily census counts, with additional information about exemptions available upon request.
* WREX | Winnebago County moves forward in response to possible migrant arrivals: Winnebago County’s current emergency response plan follows the guidance of Illinois Emergency Management in the event of asylum seekers in the area it would help them get to Chicago where more resources are established. Some opposing board members felt that the resolution wasn’t necessary as the county already had that emergency plan in place used back in December.
* Sun-Times | Migrants begin moving out of five Chicago Park District shelters: With a recent ebb in the flow of migrants to Chicago from the southern U.S. border, Johnson’s office says it will redirect a total 730 asylum seekers over the next few weeks from five park facilities to other nearby shelters. That’ll open up Brands Park, Gage Park, the Leone Beach Boathouse and Piotrowski Park, in addition to Broadway Armory Park.
* Block Club | Could ShotSpotter Be Kept In Some Wards? Alderpeople To Debate Proposal: Introduced to City Council in February by Ald. David Moore (17th), an amended version of the ordinance would require a City Council vote to stop the use of ShotSpotter in any ward, according to legislation available on the City Clerk Office’s website.
* Tribune | With logjam over police discipline broken, Snelling faces early leadership test: Roger Farias, 39, is one of 28 cops who were recommended for firing by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, or COPA, in the first two months of the year, according to an agency source familiar with the decision but not authorized to speak publicly, and confirmed through other sources. Records obtained by the Tribune show Farias has been the subject of 68 misconduct investigations since the department hired him in 2009.
* Tribune | Richard Phelan, former Cook County Board president who protected access to abortion, dies at 86: Using his executive power as Cook County board president from 1990 to 1994, Phelan reinstated access to abortion at the county hospital amid protests and litigation, reversing his predecessor’s steps to ban the medical practice. Phelan, a devout Catholic, plowed forward with his reproductive health campaign, despite loud criticism from the Catholic Church.
* The Telegraph | Some Illinois schools canceling classes for eclipse: Jacksonville School District 117 will have a School Improvement Day on April 8, with the hope students will use the time to experience the solar eclipse, the likes of which won’t be visible again in the contiguous United States until Aug. 23, 2044.
* The Wrap | After Jeremy Allen White Dining Snub, Illinois Governor Wants to Treat ‘The Bear’ Cast to Dinner at Chicago Steakhouse: As White told Jimmy Kimmel on a recent appearance, the show has been so wildly popular, he assumed he had an in at every Chicago restaurant. “Sometimes we get a little too confident,” the actor admitted. “Like in Chicago, I feel like we’re good anywhere. It should be fine.” But when he and Edebiri dropped by Gibson’s without a reservation during filming of the show’s second season, the staff was unimpressed. […] Pritzker said when he heard the story, “I immediately called up his manager and the show’s producer and I said, ‘I want to invite all the cast. We’re going to host them at Gibson’s.’ Because, let’s face it, they’re kind of hometown favorites.”
* AP | AT&T notifies users of data breach and resets millions of passcodes: The telecommunications giant said Saturday that a dataset found on the “dark web” contains information such as Social Security numbers for about 7.6 million current AT&T account holders and 65.4 million former account holders. The company said it has already reset the passcodes of current users and will be communicating with account holders whose sensitive personal information was compromised.
*News-Gazette | Illinois’ worst governor? That’s saying a lot: Incumbent Gov. Len Small, a Republican, had three years earlier been indicted on embezzlement charges while state treasurer. He was found not guilty by a jury that deliberated 90 minutes — likely because the jurors had been paid off. At least eight of them ended up on the state payroll. Small, cleared but not clean, ran again in 1924. The Chicago Tribune, Chicago Daily News and Belleville News-Democrat, all Republican newspapers, lined up against him. The Tribune called him “the worst governor the state ever had.” One hundred years later and numerous bad Illinois governors since, that may still be true.
* Tribune | Autonomous tractors plow path to the future at Caterpillar’s secluded Peoria Proving Ground: Caterpillar, which began experimenting with autonomous construction equipment nearly a decade ago, is one of several major companies developing it, along with Doosan in South Korea and Volvo Autonomous Solutions, which unveiled its new Swedish testing site in November. The potentially transformative technology is still in the early stages of commercialization.
A group of four House Republicans sent a letter to the Biden administration Wednesday protesting a policy to expand access to in vitro fertilization, or IVF, for veterans.
The letter, addressed to Denis McDonough, the secretary of veterans affairs, was signed by Reps. Matt Rosendale of Montana, Mary Miller of Illinois, Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma and Bob Good of Virginia, who said they had “a plethora of ethical concerns and questions” about the policy.
“IVF is morally dubious and should not be subsidized by the American taxpayer. It is well known that IVF treatments result in a surplus of embryos after the best ones are tested and selected. These embryos are then frozen — at significant cost to the parents — abandoned, or cruelly discarded,” the lawmakers wrote.
Today House Republicans filed the Citizen Law Enforcement Act, HB 5790, to clarify any confusion around illegal immigrants and the right to lawfully carry firearms. The decision to file this measure came in response to the irresponsible court decision out of the Northern District of Illinois, which granted an illegal immigrant the right to carry firearms.
While that ruling is slated to be appealed and only applies to one person, House Republicans stand united in their effort to back the rights of citizens, support public safety, and prevent any further confusion with existing state statute as it related to non-citizen law enforcement officers.
“The recent court decision issued by a radical activist judge will be appealed, but has caused unnecessary confusion that as lawmakers, we want the legislative intent to be clear: illegal immigrants do not have the right to possess firearms PERIOD,” said Assistant Minority Leader John Cabello (Machesney Park).
House Bill 5790 was filed today in the Illinois House. Assistant Minority Leader John Cabello and State Representative Dennis Tipsword (Metamora), who also serve as acting law enforcement officers, are the chief sponsors of the legislation.
Today, Healthy School Meals for All Kids, a coalition dedicated to ensuring all Illinois students have access to free school meals, released a new poll showing strong support for providing free breakfast and lunch among voters. The poll found that funding free school meals in the Fiscal Year 2025 budget is the top priority for Illinois voters when compared with other legislative budget priorities proposed this session, with a majority of respondents saying it was either their first or second funding choice.
The poll found that funding free school meals for all students received the majority of support across Illinois and among all ages. 64% of all Illinoisans support it, including 84% of those in the City of Chicago, 62% of those in the Collar counties, 56% of those downstate, and 74% of those between the ages of 18-44. Funding healthy school meals for all kids receives bipartisan support, with 81% of Democrats, 55% of Independents, and 52% of Republicans. 60% of voters said they’d be more likely to vote for their legislator if they support funding the initiative. […]
The Illinois General Assembly recognized the importance of ensuring students can get free meals at school and passed the Healthy School Meals for All law in Spring 2023, which set the framework for providing free breakfast and lunch to all students who want it in the state. However, while the legislation passed with strong, bipartisan support, it did not receive the appropriation needed to pay for it. This year, State Senator Laura Ellman and State Representative Maurice West both filed appropriations bills to provide $209 million in the Fiscal Year 2025 budget to fund the program.
Eight other states, including neighboring Minnesota and Michigan, already have universal school meals. Additional states, including New Jersey and New York, are building up to it in the next few years. Food insecurity is a problem facing communities all across Illinois – whether urban, suburban, or rural, and making free school meals available to all students will help those in every corner of our state. It will advance racial equity and reduce disparities in health and education outcomes, as Black and Latine children are twice as likely to experience food insecurity as white children. It will also help reduce stigma, which is a significant barrier to school meal participation for students who currently qualify for free or reduced-price meals.
Four Dolton trustees and the village clerk called Thursday for an outside investigator to look into a recent trip to Las Vegas spearheaded by embattled Mayor Tiffany Henyard.
The leaders also discussed the village’s financial situation, saying they receive calls from contractors who have not been paid, despite the Village Board voting months ago to approve the payments.
“If you’re not paying the bills, what are you paying?” said Trustee Tammy Brown. “My grandad used to say, ‘We in a mighty bad way.’” […]
Trustees, after discussing the village’s debt, voted to ask the Illinois General Assembly to ensure the vendors receive the money they are owed.
If you didn’t know, Henyard released a 30 minute podcast this week. Click here if you want to watch it, but I don’t blame you if you skip it.
* Here’s the rest…
* WICS | Ex-Iroquois County health admin faces charges for $100k fake timesheet claims: Raoul’s office charged Dee Ann Schippert, 57, of Watseka, with two counts of theft of government property, Class X felonies punishable by up to 30 years in prison; six additional Class 1 felony counts of theft of government property, each punishable by up to 15 years in prison; eight counts of forgery, Class 3 felonies punishable by up to five years in prison; and 17 counts of official misconduct, Class 3 felonies each punishable by up to five years in prison.
* WSIL | Former Southern Illinois State’s Attorney Pleads Guilty to Federal Charge: A former Williamson County state’s attorney in southern Illinois is in legal trouble and facing the possibility of jail time after he pleaded guilty to a federal charge. A document was filed on March 21, 2024 with the United States District Court Southern District of Illinois for the United States of America vs Brandon Zanotti case, which states a plea agreement was made in regards to one count of false entry in bank records. … The charge stems from a transaction involving several commercial rental properties and a local bank.
* Effingham Daily News | Effingham County suspends solar project: The Effingham County Board Monday called a halt to a project to install solar panels on the roof of the County Office Building. The decision came after a board member learned that they could get the windows for half the price they had been quoted. Building and Grounds Committee Chairman Tim Ellis said that County Board Chairman Josh Douthit asked for a price from a vendor for replacement windows for the second through fourth floors of the Office Building. The price Douthit received was $150,000. That is half the price the Board had been given as part of the solar project. Ellis said the difference in price made moving ahead with the combination solar panel and window replacement unnecessary.
* SJ-R | Postal Service: Upcoming changes won’t impact service in Springfield: As the Postal Service continues to review its local operations, I want to lay out the facts of what we are doing. First, we are not closing the Springfield processing and distribution center. We will convert it into a local processing center and the Postal Service intends on investing between $5 million and $8 million into it. These investments include $1 million for a brand-new sorting machine that will help improve delivery services and $5.1 million for modernization efforts and deferred maintenance.
* Crain’s | Johnson to pick former Housing Department official as city’s first chief homelessness officer: Johnson will soon announce the appointment of Sendy Soto to the position, according to sources familiar with the hire. Soto served as a managing deputy commissioner in the city’s Housing Department from 2020 to 2022 and is currently the senior director of community impact at The Chicago Community Trust, a nonprofit connecting donors with community organizations.
* Tribune | Chicago ranked 2nd for worst air pollution in 2023 among major US cities, global report says: At one point last summer, Chicago had the poorest air quality recorded among 95 cities in the world. Experts say a major recurring issue and leading cause was pollutants carried by winds across borders and contaminating air elsewhere — such as smoke from forest fires in the Canadian province of Quebec, which blew into Chicago and other U.S. cities.
* Sun-Times | City Hall got $1 million in fees after Sun-Times asked promoters, teams: Why haven’t you paid up?: Mayor Brandon Johnson’s finance department won’t release details on traffic violators and many scofflaws, but it agreed to release data on $1.3 million in traffic control bills owed by the city’s sports teams, concert promoters and organizers of special events like the 2014 TV show “The Biggest Loser.” And then a funny thing happened once Chicago Sun-Times reporters began calling those businesses: They began paying up. One million dollars of the $1.3 million in unpaid traffic control bills got paid, City Hall records show.
* WaPo | Lawmakers see rise in threatening messages as TikTok users swarm Congress: The exact abundance of such calls is unclear, but one Senate aide said their office has received roughly a dozen violent threats since TikTok began urging users to contact members of the chamber, while a House aide said their office has received multiple calls from people suggesting they will commit self-harm if Congress passes legislation targeting the app. Both spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the nature of the outreach.
* Tribune | Mitski kicks off sold-out four-night stand at Chicago’s Auditorium Theatre: Offering a refreshing rebuke of now-customary projection screens, Mitski incorporated imaginative lighting, moody colors and a few basic props to frame her singing and pantomiming of 25 songs. Wearing a white dress shirt and ankle-length pants, she spent nearly all her time on a raised circular platform center stage. Pushed toward the rear, and off to the sides, the band members assumed an anonymous disposition.
* Fox Chicago | Illinois Girl Scout sells her 100,000th box of cookies: Bristol Sjostrom, 12, of Gardner, has been dedicated to the Girl Scouts for seven years and reached the significant milestone on Wednesday, just days before cookie season ends, which is March 26. During cookie season, Bristol dedicates over 40 hours per week to travel across a seven-county radius alongside her mother, who was also a Girl Scout.
* Block Club | Cleaning Up Chicago River’s Trash After St. Patrick’s Day: Meet The ‘Paddle Rat Collective’: The Paddle Rat Collective teamed up with their counterparts in Cleveland, TRASHFISH, to throw their own St. Patrick’s Day party right on the river, marking the occassion by filling up garbage bags full of its trash. […] “We grab as much as we can, but to make a dent you would really need a dumpster,” he said. “You paddle by something that should be a spawning salmon, and instead it’s a sparkling Sprite can.”
Healthcare insurers could face more stringent regulations and severe fines through legislation advancing in the Illinois General Assembly.
The state’s Network Adequacy and Transparency Act requires insurers to keep an up-to-date provider directory, listing healthcare professionals that are in-network for its customers. However, these directories sometimes list providers no longer taking new patients, who have moved or are no longer in practice creating what are called “ghost networks.”
Legislation pushed by Gov. JB Pritzker would buttress the 2017 law by ensuring provider-per-patient ratios, maximum travel time and distance and appointment wait time standards adhere to federal law. More severe penalties would also be levied for issuers not adhering to the law. […]
The language of Pritzker’s proposal is listed in House Bill 5395, which advanced out of a House committee Thursday. It will return with further amendments before a full floor vote.
The legislation could also crack down on ghost networks by forcing insurance companies to follow strict network adequacy and transparency standards. House Bill 5395 states that insurers would need to complete internal audits every 90 days to ensure their directories reflect the healthcare available to patients in those networks. […]
“It’s not just making sure that rates aren’t too high,” said Emily Miller, Senior Policy and Legislative Affairs Advisor for the Pritzker administration. “It’s also making sure that rates aren’t too low. You don’t want to have a situation where an insurer goes under and then people don’t have the coverage that they signed up for. So, that is also a reason to do it.” […]
The Illinois Life & Health Insurance Council currently opposes the bill language. While President Laura Minzer said she appreciated that Moeller and Miller will continue to negotiate changes, she stressed that the plan could lead to higher insurance costs and reduced access to medical care.
Illinois lawmakers are considering two bills aimed at blocking children and teenagers from obtaining and concealing electronic cigarettes.
One bill would ban e-cigarettes that are designed to look like objects commonly carried by schoolchildren, such as highlighters and markers, and therefore not spotted for what they actually are by adults. […]
A second bill would prohibit e-cigarettes from being purchased remotely by anyone other than a distributor or seller.
Both bills passed out of the Senate executive committee earlier this month and are awaiting a vote by the full chamber.
[Sen. Julie Morrison] said educators have complained to the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services about finding e-cigarettes on school property that are designed to look like school supplies such as highlighters and pencil sharpeners.
“This measure will prohibit tobacco companies from pulling the wool over the eyes of the adults whose job it is to keep our children safe,” said Morrison. […]
Elizabeth Hicks, spokesperson with the Consumer Choice Center, said continued restrictions on vaping may prompt some smokers back to regular cigarettes.
“If consumers are pushed back towards smoking combustible tobacco, then taxpayers could end up footing an even higher bill,” said Hicks.
Senate Democratic staff explained Morrison’s plan would be enforced by the Illinois Department of Revenue, Attorney General and local law enforcement. […]
“It’s important for us to continue to put guardrails in place to prevent kids from easily getting and accessing vapes and e-cigarettes,” said Sen. Meg Loughran Cappel (D-Shorewood). “We have to do what we can to protect our youth from this high risk to their health.” […]
This change could be enforced by the Department of Revenue and law enforcement.
Both bills have passed unanimously out of the Senate Executive Committee and await votes on the Senate floor.
The End-of-Life Options Act, contained in Senate Bill 3499, creates an option for terminally ill patients to request and take medication that would allow them to end their lives in a peaceful manner. Those who have the “right-to-die” would specifically apply to patients older than 18 with an irreversible illness and have six months left to live and make an oral and written statement on the decision.
Once a patient makes this request then the attending physician must inform the patient of all of their other options including hospice and palliative care before going through the process. It is also written in the bill that a healthcare professional cannot be held liable for prescribing or refusing the treatment. […]
For bill sponsor Sen. Linda Holmes, D-Aurora, her dad was diagnosed with lung cancer when she was a teenager. Only 49, the disease “macerated” him over the course of three months before his death, according to Holmes. […]
The bill is currently still sitting in a Senate subcommittee.
* Sen. Rachel Ventura…
State Senator Rachel Ventura, along with several mental health advocates and professionals, spoke to the Senate Executive Committee to outline their support of legalizing psilocybin, commonly known as “magic mushrooms” during a subject matter hearing.
“With today’s subject matter hearing we heard from numerous advocates and medical professionals detailing their own struggles with the current lack of effective treatments available. Psilocybin has so much potential to help Illinoisans from any walk of life,” said Ventura (D-Joliet). “My aspiration is for plant medicines to shed its stigma and be recognized for its safe and beneficial qualities. The CURE Act is dedicated to bringing relief to those suffering with mental illnesses, PTSD, substance abuse and more and offers a real-life changing solution to the mental health epidemic our state is suffering from.”
Senate Bill 3695 known as the CURE Act – or the Compassionate Use and Research of Entheogens Act – aims to tackle treatment-resistant conditions such as anxiety, depression, PTSD, substance abuse, eating disorders, and other mental health conditions. Additionally, it facilitates research into the safety and efficacy of psilocybin through medical, psychological, and scientific studies.
“Law Enforcement Action Partnership recognizes this bill as nothing short of life saving. Providing a proven means for people to work through their traumas and live happier, healthier, and more productive lives,” said Dave Franco, retired police officer and speaker for the Law Enforcement Action Partnership. “The benefits for mental and behavioral health can also have a sizable impact on community and public safety.”
An estimated 6.8% of Americans will have PTSD at some point in their lives. Preliminary research of psychedelic programs by King’s College in London suggests that over 80% of veterans experience significant improvement after participating in just one psychedelic program. […]
Under Senate Bill 3695, psychedelic therapies would be administered in controlled, supervised settings to ensure safety and treatment effectiveness. Retail sales of these medicines would be prohibited and could only be used under supervision at designated service centers.
“Psilocybin and other psychedelic medicines have demonstrated the potential to allow people to deeply process trauma and grief and heal from anxiety, depression, and substance use disorders,” said Katie Sullivan, MSN, APRN, FNP-C and co-founder of Modern Compassionate Care. “The CURE Act was crafted with the input of healthcare providers and advocates to provide a framework to deliver this breakthrough therapeutic option safely and ethically, while centering the needs of patients and our communities. My hope is that our legislators will consider this a vote of conscience and allow our citizens access to this life-changing treatment.”
The bill would also establish the Illinois Psilocybin Advisory Board under the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation which would create a training program, ethical standards, and licensing requirements. […]
Ventura looks forward to continuing conversations with colleagues, advocates and stakeholders with the goal of moving this historic legislation forward.
Sen. Sue Rezin (R-Morris) told reporters Thursday that she wants Illinois families with children between the ages of 3 and 5 who attend preschool programs to receive an early childhood education tax credit of up to $1,500 per child.
“While there are various credits to help parents cover costs for K-12 students, there is nothing for parents of pre-K aged students,” Rezin said. “It’s a significant gap in the support we provide to parents.”
Senate Republicans are also calling for a tax credit to help families paying for childcare services. Qualifying families would receive a state tax credit equal to 25% of the current federal childcare tax credit for each of their children.
Sen. Jil Tracy (R-Quincy) said she hopes her plan will gain bipartisan support to help many Illinoisans struggling to keep up with the state’s high cost of living. Tracy noted that the tax credit of up to $500 per child could also help more people get back to work.
* Rep. Jed Davis…
Yesterday, House Bill 5434, filed by State Representative Jed Davis (R-Yorkville), passed the Elementary & Secondary Education: School Curriculum & Policies Committee with a vote of 15-0.
“Yesterday’s committee passage of House Bill 5434 was a huge win for children across Illinois,” said Rep. Davis. “This bill will protect kids by ensuring no student falls through the cracks of our education system.”
House Bill 5434 will require schools to await official documentation of a student enrolling at another school before releasing them from their roster. This requirement will ensure continuity of education and also deter kids from disappearing into horrific situations like trafficking.
Rep. Davis continued, “Right now, schools can take the word of a parent or guardian when removing kids from their roster. This bill will hold everyone accountable to these students, ensuring no child is left behind. I want to thank Plano Community Unit School District 88 Assistant Principal Faith Skinner, who brought this initiative to me. I look forward to seeing this bill receive bipartisan support on the House floor.”
This bill is one of five bills included in the Protecting Kids legislative package filed by Representative Davis.
The aquarium’s seagoing satellite is based in Miami, but for much of the year it’s a familiar sight throughout the Bahamian archipelago. For more than two decades, the boat has given Shedd researchers and teams of volunteer community scientists access to far-flung cays in the Bahamas to study critically endangered rock iguanas.
The ocean-going vessel also enables our scientists to conduct open-water studies, including population surveys of the economically and ecologically important queen conch and nassau grouper; studies on coral health and resiliency to climate change; and shark demographic studies. Our research projects are conducted in collaboration with the Bahamian government and local conservation organizations.
Each year the boat also takes Chicago-area college and high school students enrolled in both the ACCA Marine and Island Ecology of The Bahamas and Teen Science Expedition program to nature’s classroom in the Bahamas, where they study reef and island ecology in the water and in a lab on deck.
So we got work to do. Stay tuned. We look forward to seeing many of you across the district and the state.
Across the district. If you’ve got signs out there, if you see signs, gather them up, throw them in your vehicle, take them somewhere and… send me the address. Most of you have my cell phone by now, most of you have my email. Send a personal message on the Facebook here.
Let me know an address. We’ll come by and pick up signs, we will collect those and put those in storage.
* ICYMI: Eileen O’Neill Burke’s lead slips slightly in race for state’s attorney as mail-in ballots begin to be tallied. Tribune…
- Unofficial results showed O’Neill Burke with a 50.8% to 49.2% lead over Clayton Harris III.
- O’Neill Burke’s total vote count decreased to just 8,152, down from the roughly 8,800 vote lead she held a day earlier.
- Both campaigns have their eyes set on results expected to be counted Friday evening by Chicago election officials as they begin tallying roughly 26,000 mail-in ballots delivered to the city election offices on Tuesday and Wednesday.
* Bloomberg | Can’t Have it Both Ways: Sen. Duckworth on GOP IVF Hypocrisy: Democratic Senator of Illinois, Tammy Duckworth, discusses her legislation aimed at protecting In Vitro Fertilization that was ultimately blocked by her Republican colleagues, and shares her insights on whether or not the Republican party shares her same views on IVF as former President Trump embraced it along with Senator Katie Britt (R) Alabama who spoke in favor of this topic during the formal Republican response to President Biden’s State of the Union address. Senator Duckworth speaks with Kailey Leinz and Joe Mathieu on Bloomberg’s “Balance of Power.”
* NBC | ‘Morally dubious’: 4 House Republicans protest Biden’s IVF expansion for veterans: The letter, addressed to Denis McDonough, the secretary of veterans affairs, was signed by Reps. Matt Rosendale of Montana, Mary Miller of Illinois, Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma and Bob Good of Virginia, who said they had “a plethora of ethical concerns and questions” about the policy.
* Subscribers were told about this yesterday. Politico…
State Rep. Adam Niemerg, a Republican from Dieterich, defeated Jim Acklin, a Republican write-in candidate supported by the Illinois Education Association. The race was decisive, with Niermerg get 85 percent of the vote, via election results from WTHITV.
Governor Pritzker will speak at the Illinois Sustainable Aviation Fuel Conference at 9 am at the DoubleTree by Hilton Lisle Naperville. Click here to watch.
* Capitol News Illinois | Insurance reforms advance as Pritzker announces California trip: The proposals are contained in House Bill 5395, dubbed the Health Care Protection Act. Among its significant elements are a ban on requirements for prior authorization from an insurance company before a patient can receive in-patient treatment at a mental health facility, and a ban on the use of “step therapy” in prescription drug coverage.
* Crain’s | Political foes reconcile as Gutierrez joins Reyes’ consulting firm: In an announcement being made today, former U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Chicago, is going to work as a senior adviser for a law firm and related government-relations companies headed by veteran City Hall insider Victor Reyes: Reyes Kurson, Roosevelt Group and Iluminara Public Affairs.
* Block Club | Anti-Gentrification Law Protecting Homes Near The 606, Pilsen Extended Through End Of Year: City Council approved on Wednesday the second extension for a demolition surcharge ordinance originally passed by the council in 2021. It imposes up to $15,000 in fees on developers who tear down single-family homes and multi-unit buildings in parts of Humboldt Park, Logan Square and Pilsen, which have seen rapid gentrification and displacement in the past decade.
* Chalkbeat | Chicago Public Schools ending student-based budgeting in favor of set staffing levels at all campuses: The change, announced Thursday at a Chicago Board of Education meeting, is part of a revamp of the district’s funding formula and delivers on a promise Mayor Brandon Johnson made during his mayoral campaign to end student-based budgeting. The district had already started to move away from a student-based approach in the previous two budget cycles, as it funded more positions – such as social workers – centrally. The current formula also accounts for student needs, such as how many students with disabilities need additional support.
* Crain’s | NASCAR knows it has a perception problem — and coming to Chicago is part of its solution: Just three Black drivers have ever won at the sport’s highest level, and even one of those wins was doused in racist rejections of the results. The motorsport’s governing body is racing to rewrite that narrative. “Over the last four or five years, we’ve been much more accountable and specific of what we want to achieve in terms of new fans and what those new fans and customers look like,” NASCAR chief marketing officer Peter Jung told Crain’s in an interview at the sport’s Florida headquarters last month.
* Daily Herald | Naperville mayor says city won’t adopt cease-fire resolution: “To be clear, the city council does not intend to initiate a cease-fire resolution,” [Naperville Mayor Scott Wehrli] added. “The situation is clearly outside the scope of our local municipal government. That said, we all mourn the loss of human life and hope for peace to prevail soon.”
* Daily Herald | ‘Our hearts are shattered’: Archdiocese to close St. Bede School: He also cited the discontinuation of the state’s Invest in Kids scholarship program as a factor in the school’s struggles. The program gave tax credits to donors who support scholarships for private school students. […] Greg Richmond, superintendent of schools for the Archdiocese of Chicago, said about 15% of St. Bede students have been receiving a state Invest in Kids scholarship.
* Tampa Bay Times | Florida tops nation in teacher vacancies, report says. Officials say no way.: In a series of charts, the publication asserts that Florida has the largest number of vacancies, and one of the lowest levels of teachers per 1,000 students. After the story came out, officials in the Florida Department of Education raised questions about the numbers. It issued a statement calling the USA Today article “a media-driven narrative based on incomplete, low-quality data.”
* Crain’s | Bears’ stadium plans include $1B overhaul of Museum Campus — and a new lakefront hotel: The public infrastructure investments needed to support a new lakefront stadium for the Chicago Bears would likely cost more than $1 billion. The team has publicly committed $2 billion in private investment to make a domed stadium capable of providing 365-day programming a reality in Chicago. But the overall development would include an overhaul of the city’s Museum Campus and improvements to make the site more accessible from DuSable Lake Shore Drive and the city streets that sit on the other side of an expansive rail network.
* Tribune | Chicago Rat Hole filled in with cement (again) and dug out by devoted fans (again): “It was just a big splat of cement on top,” said Gabrielle Plascak, 31, who lives next door. “They didn’t even fill in the tail. I was like, ‘You couldn’t at least smooth this out for us?’” But by midafternoon, Rat Hole loyalists had apparently dug the cement out of the hole. Neighbor Emma Cheski, 25, said she saw a few people scooping it out with spoons and license plates.
* Tribune | Chicago Botanic Garden to rebrand: “We have grown so much, in so many ways over the last five decades,” Garden President and CEO Jean Franczyk said in a statement. “The refreshed branding recognizes that growth and provides a new way of seeing the Garden by elevating the full breadth of its work.”
