* Tribune…

Shortly after saying Illinois Democrats have “learned lessons” from recent corruption convictions of close associates of Michael Madigan, Gov. J.B. Pritzker appointed an ally of the indicted former longtime Democratic House Speaker to a state board that oversees billions of dollars in lending.

Former Democratic state Sen. Steven Landek, who retired from the Senate in January after more than a decade in Springfield but still serves as mayor of southwest suburban Bridgeview, was one of three people Pritzker appointed to the Illinois Finance Authority on Monday.

The Landek announcement came just days after a federal jury convicted one of Madigan’s top aides, Tim Mapes, on perjury and attempted obstruction of justice charges alleging he lied to a grand jury to try to protect Madigan from a widening corruption probe. […]

“Just because someone’s name is brought up does not mean that they’re guilty of something,” Pritzker said Tuesday in Decatur, describing Landek as “someone who’s spent many years in public life and I think has been examined up and down, certainly by his constituents over many years.” […]

As the Tribune has previously reported, Bridgeview was among more than a half-dozen suburbs that awarded insurance business to Mesirow Financial, the firm that employed Madigan’s son, Andrew. Bridgeview selected Mesirow as its broker for risk management insurance in December 2010, about a month before Michael Madigan presided over a meeting of local Democratic Party leaders who unanimously chose Landek to replace retiring Sen. Lou Viverito of Burbank.

Setting aside the Madigan stuff for a moment (if you can), Bridgeview is eye-deep in debt because the town financed a gigantic soccer stadium which doesn’t currently have an MLS team. It’s still in junk bond territory, according to S&P. And now he’s on a board that, by its own account, is “one of the largest issuers of private activity bonds in the nation.”

* Press release…

The Illinois Environmental Council (IEC) released its 2023 Legislative Environmental Scorecard today. The scorecard, which is released annually, assigns a percentage score to legislators based on how they voted on bills affecting the environment. This year, 17 state representatives and ten state senators received 100% scores based on their record on 28 bills during 2023 legislative business.

“With fewer legislators earning top marks than in recent years, this year’s scorecard highlights the true environmental champions in our General Assembly,” said Jen Walling, executive director of IEC. “When so many of their peers failed to recognize the stakes during those final hours of the legislative session, and when some leaned on industry’s misleading talking points, these legislators stood with their constituents and our environment.”

The 2023 Legislative Environmental Scorecard includes 28 legislative measures. Specific priorities from this year’s Scorecard include:

• Healthy Soils and Waters Initiative – SB 1701, IEC supported (Sen. Villivalam / Rep. Kelly)
o With the goal of improving the health of Illinois’ soils and the function of our watersheds, this legislation invests $18 million into the Partners for Conservation Fund for in-field conservation practices, soil assessment, and support for Soil and Water Conservation Districts.
• Single-use Plastics Reduction – SB 58, IEC supported (Sen. Fine / Rep. Gong-Gershowitz)
o A critical step in reducing demand for single-use plastics, which pollute our waterways, pile up in our landfills and deposit PFAs and microplastics into our environment, SB 58 bans styrofoam from purchase by state agencies and public universities.
• Nuclear Moratorium Lift – SB76, IEC opposed (Sen. Rezin / Rep. Yednock)
o Without adequate state protections and siting regulations in place, lifting the decades-long moratorium on the development of new nuclear facilities would leave Illinoisans vulnerable to dangerous, costly development. Gov. JB Pritzker has vetoed this legislation.
• Ameren’s Monopoly on Clean Energy Transmission – HB 3445, IEC opposed (Rep. Walsh / Sen. Stadelman)
o This bill, since amendatorily vetoed by Gov. JB Pritzker, allowed Ameren, a privately-owned utility company downstate, the right of first refusal for transmission projects in the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) territory, effectively eliminating the competitive project bid process. These processes increase project costs, which ratepayers would ultimately pay.
• I-55 Expansion – HJR 23, IEC opposed (Rep. Stava-Murray / Sen. Cunningham)
o This resolution initiates the first stages of a proposed project to increase the number of lanes on I-55 in the Chicago region, much of which lies immediately adjacent to environmental justice communities. This will negatively impact air quality in areas already seeing the highest rates of air pollution in Illinois.

“We score legislators on the environmental legacy of their voting record every year, giving their constituents a powerful accountability tool when evaluating the performance of their legislators,” Walling added. “Every vote that impacts our environment counts, and it’s important that legislators know we, and more importantly, their constituents, are watching.”

The complete scorecard is here.

* Rep. Dan Didech’s new Republican opponent…

Gov. Pritzker won that district by almost 36 points. Mr. Henning is on his own.

* WTTW…

[Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Iris Martinez] won office in 2020 without the support of the party, and has found herself at loggerheads with the progressive political organizations and labor unions that helped elect Johnson mayor. In 2022, Martinez campaigned alongside John Catanzara, the president of the Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge 7, after he compared a requirement that Chicago police officers be vaccinated against COVID-19 to the Holocaust and resigned before he could be fired for making “obscene” and inflammatory social media posts between 2016 and 2018.

Martinez is also expected to campaign for state Sen. Natalie Toro, who Martinez helped appoint to represent the 20th District in the Illinois Senate. Toro replaced Cristina Pacione-Zayas, who resigned in May to become Johnson’s first deputy chief of staff.

Toro will face Graciela Guzman, who has the support of the political movement that not only elected Johnson but also notched a series of victories in the 2022 Democratic primaries, winning six of seven contested races. […]

As she runs for another term as circuit court clerk, Martinez is also expected to seek reelection as the 33rd Ward Democratic committeeperson, an unpaid position that makes her the head of the party in the Northwest Side ward that includes Albany Park.

Ald. Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez (33rd Ward), who defeated a candidate in February’s aldermanic elections who was supported by Martinez, told WTTW News she will challenge Martinez for committeeperson.

Ald. Rodriguez Sanchez won that February race by 21 points.

* Isabel’s roundup…

* Politico | ‘A big f-ing deal’: Dem convention delegates will stay within Chicago city limits: “It means we’ll be able to conduct joint activities together whether it’s nighttime fundraisers or events. You name it,” Ken Martin, chair of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party for the past 13 years and vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, told POLITICO.

* Crain’s | Why rescheduling would be more than just a tax break for cannabis: Now that the Department of Health and Human Services recommended moving cannabis to schedule 3, the industry is asking what impact a potential reclassification would have on the financial futures of U.S. cannabis companies. Mike Regan, director of research at Excelsior Equities, recently spoke with Green Market Report to break down the math. “Consensus estimates expect about $4.3 billion of total gross profit in 2024 for the public U.S. marijuana companies, so removing 280E taxes would free up about $900 million to pay interest expenses and be reinvested in operations, marketing, and employees,” he said.

* Center Square | New Illinois program aims to help reduce legal fights among divorcing parents: Established by the Illinois Supreme Court, the program allows local circuit courts to establish a program permitting judges to appoint a “parenting coordinator” to resolve minor disputes between parents who cannot come to agreement with each other.

* Chalkbeat | Illinois parent mentors kick off the school year, ready to get back into classrooms: The Parent Mentor Program has around 2,000 parent mentors and staff in over 200 schools, at almost 40 school districts around the state, according to a press release. The organization works with 44 community-based organizations across the state to help recruit parents from their neighborhoods. Through the program, community organizations train parents to work in their child’s school — experience that they can later use to work in classrooms as a special education classroom assistant or toward becoming a teacher.

* Crain’s | United Airlines lifts nationwide ground stop: This is the second ground stop this year due to a computer malfunction. Southwest Airlines issued a ground stop April 18 that delayed nearly 2,000 flights nationwide.

* SJ-R | Here’s the latest on what we know about the cybersecurity attack on HSHS systems: Workers are still trying to restore the clinical, administrative and communications systems that were impacted by the attack, including MyChart communication, which helps patients schedule, manage, and check in for appointments; message care teams; pay bills; get test results and after-visit instructions and request prescription refills.

* WBEZ | Chicago says employers should give contracts to domestic workers, but that’s not happening: As of January 2022, house cleaners, nannies and caregivers who work in Chicago are entitled to a written contract in their preferred language, outlining, at minimum, their wage and work schedule. If households use an agency, the agency is responsible for providing workers with the contract. Other provisions in a written contract might include who provides supplies, what happens when an employer cancels, and situations where a worker might be asked to do something outside their scope. The contracts are meant to protect workers from being taken advantage of, as well as to make employers’ expectations clear.

* Sun-Times | Chicago Trump Tower’s pollution fines don’t have to be covered by insurers, court rules: The state agency said that every day, the owners of the building drew about 20 million gallons of water out of the Chicago River for its cooling system and released the same amount back into the river at a higher temperature — potentially causing harm to fish and other aquatic life.

* Benzinga | Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference Unites Industry Titans and Advocates in Chicago: Speakers for the Sept. 27-28 event include Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, former Rep. Ed Perlmutter, former Sen. Cory Gardner, and more. … Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference, the world’s largest and most successful cannabis investing and finance event, will return to Chicago on Sept. 27-28, 2023, at the Magnificent Mile Marriott in the heart of the Windy City. This year’s event promises to be an extraordinary convergence of thought leaders, policymakers, advocates, and institutional investors at a time when community is vital to the success of the industry.

* WBEZ | New union petitions continue to rise in Chicago, following last year’s trends: The high number of new union petitions is even more powerful when combined with high success rates of union votes, [Robert Bruno, professor of Labor and Employment Relations at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign] explained. His research has found that most petitions for new unions are making it past the union elections, which if successful, means the union can officially enter negotiations with the employer.

* Citizens for Ethics | Routine Disqualification: Every state has kept ineligible candidates off the ballot, and Trump could be next: In Illinois, the secretary of state excluded presidential candidate Linda Jenness from the ballot because she was 31, four years younger than the requirement in Article II of the U.S. Constitution that a president must be at least 35 years old. Following Jenness’ petition for candidacy, the State Electoral Board, composed of state election officials including the secretary of state, governor, and attorney general, voted to deny certification, excluding Jenness from the ballot on two grounds. First, Jenness refused to submit a signed loyalty oath, which Illinois state law required at the time. And second, Jenness did not meet the federal constitutional requirement of being at least 35 years old.

* AP | Conservative book ban push fuels library exodus from national association that stands up for books: This summer, the state libraries in Montana, Missouri and Texas and the local library in Midland, Texas, announced they’re leaving the ALA, with possibly more to come. Right-wing lawmakers in at least nine other states — Arizona, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota and Wyoming — demand similar action.

* The Guardian | Texas fracking billionaire brothers fuel rightwing media with millions of dollars: “Farris and Dan Wilks, who believe their billions were given to them by God, have spent the last decade working to advance a dominionist ideology by funding far-right organizations and politicians that seek to dismiss climate change as ‘God’s will’, remove choice, demonize the LGBTQ community, and tear down public education, all to turn America into a country that gives preference to and imposes their extreme beliefs on everyone,” said Chris Tackett, a Texas-based campaign finance analyst.

* Star Tribune | Consumers have yet to develop a taste for Kernza, the environmental wonder grain: “I still have half of my 2021 crop in storage, I have all of my 2022 crop in storage, and at this point I will have all of my 2023 crop in storage with no market available to me,” Coffman said. He decided to plant only 10 acres of Kernza next year, down from 30.