ILLINOIS NATIONAL GUARDSMAN HELPS FELLOW VETERANS BATTLE SUICIDE THROUGH MUSIC
David Allen Stone of Robinson, Illinois, brings attention to Mental Health
Story by Mike Chrisman, Illinois National Guard Public Affairs Office
ROBINSON, ILLINOIS – As a kid, David Allen Stone of Robinson, Illinois always wanted to be in the military and serve his country. Enlisting in a post-9/11 era, Stone knew he would be deployed overseas. However, he never envisioned the internal struggles he would endure during his military service.
For many, depression and suicide are taboo topics no one wants to talk about. However, Stone has turned his pain into music, with hopes of helping others struggling with mental illness.
Stone, an Illinois Army National Guard sergeant first class, is part of the 123rd Engineer Battalion in Murphysboro, Illinois. He has served in the Illinois Army National Guard since 2004, when he enlisted at the age of 18. Deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq gave him a unique perspective on the ‘personal demons’ many Veterans face. Like many Veterans, Stone turned to alcohol to cope with his depression. It was those personal struggles that enabled the 35-year-old Veteran to hone in on his passion, finding an outlet that helped him cope. Now he’s helping others struggling with depression and suicidal ideations.
“I wrote the song ‘Bury These Burdens’ when I was in a pretty dark spot in my life and thought I could fix my problems at the bottom of the bottle,” Stone recalls. “I thought ending my life would be best for everyone, until a conversation with my aunt, Angie Watson, helped me use my passion for music to focus on my pain.”
Stone said he wrote ‘Bury These Burdens’ simply to unleash his sadness and anger in a way where no one would get hurt. However, when a high school friend and fellow Illinois Army National Guard Soldier died by suicide in January 2020, Stone knew it was time to act.
“I had the song started, but after Tyler Zellers passed away, I really focused my mentality on getting the message out,” Stone said. ‘I wanted others to know that it’s okay to talk about your feelings. For me, it helped talking about what I was going through. You can’t hold it in. I want others to know they’re not alone. You can talk about it. There are many others going through similar struggles just like you.”
Zellers’ sister, Chrissi (Zellers) Arvin of Hutsonville, Illinois, said she doesn’t want to see others endure what they’ve gone through as a family.
“Because of what happened, so many people have opened up about things,” Arvin said. “If it changes one mind not to make the final decision Tyler did, then it’s absolutely worth it. Tyler didn’t die in battle, but he lost his life for this country.”
Stone’s biggest advice to people struggling with depression and thoughts of suicide is to find something you love and you’re passionate about and surround yourself with positivity. Stone said embracing his passion for music helped save his life and now he wants to help others with similar struggles.
Emanuel “Chris” Welch
Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives
300 State House
Springfield, Illinois 62701
Dear Speaker Welch,
I’m writing with regard to the four capital projects that several House members requested we freeze pending another layer of review. At the request of your members, the Illinois Department of Transportation and Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity conducted an additional review of the released projects to ensure that all steps of our established process were followed. Attached, you will find summary memos from each of the departments, providing additional information on the steps that were taken. As you know, these projects were appropriated by a bipartisan majority of the General Assembly in 2019 and underwent our normal extensive review process before funds were released.
After I froze the projects at the request of your members, I received numerous communications indicating broad community support to move those projects forward. In particular, members of the Latino Caucus reached out to highlight that these vital projects provide significant community benefits, urging the state to continue making progress in their communities. As a result of the reviews from IDOT and DCEO confirming that all required processes were followed, funding for these projects will be released.
Please do not hesitate to contact my office if you have any additional questions.
Sincerely,
Governor JB Pritzker
…Adding… Links to and excerpts from attached documentation…
* Bedford Park Noise Abatement Project: IDOT performed a Pre-Mitigation Noise Study that determined that inert retarders in BRC’s East Clearing Yard are the primary source of reported noise complaints summarized by the Village and the Weglarz Hotel group and that the noise is caused during train assembly operations. After evaluating several options for abatement, including construction of noise barriers, soundproofing improvements to the hotels, and track improvements, IDOT and BRC decided upon replacement of track components within the yard that eliminate noise from the train assembly operation at its source. The 30% engineering estimate to replace the track components within the BRC East Class Yard is approximately $22 million.
* Lewis University Airport Air Traffic Control Tower: The tower construction project was locally let utilizing applicable IDOT policy and procedures that are in place to ensure all federal or state mandated requirements are met. After notification of intent to award to the lowest responsive bidder and contract execution by Joliet Regional Port District, IDOT initiated the grant agreement process. The intergovernmental grant agreement process for airport improvement programs is competed in compliance with the Grant Accountability and Transparency Act (GATA) and through the Bureau of Business Services, who are the experts in the various requirements based on policy, statute, and administrative rules
* Academy for Global Citizenship: The appropriation language was clarified by Rep. Ortìz on March 29, 2021, who wrote that a technical drafting error was made and that the grant funds were intended to be awarded to the “Academy for Global Citizenship Charter School” specifically for “capital improvements.” The grant agreement was executed May 11, 2021, and the funds are to be used to support the design, site preparation, and construction of the Academy for Global Citizenship’s new facility at 2942 W. 44th Street in Chicago. The following memorandum outlines the pre- award steps taken to ensure the grant complies with applicable requirements and summarizes our post-award administration of this grant.
The fourth project at Hancock High School is already complete.
Illinois State Medical Society Statement on Insurance Co. “Ghost Networks”
Statement Attributable to Regan Thomas, MD, President, Illinois State Medical Society
The doctors of Illinois are concerned about recent reports of “ghost networks” perpetrated by state-regulated private health plans in Illinois. Insurance company provider directories often list doctors who are unavailable, not taking new patients, are located far away or who don’t work at the listed medical facility. This isn’t happening in just one part of Illinois, it’s a statewide problem.
We call on the Illinois Department of Insurance to enhance its enforcement of the ISMS-initiated Network Adequacy and Transparency Act, signed into law in 2017, including putting forth strict enforcement guidelines and penalties for non-compliance. This law provides important protections for patients, including continuity of care for those with ongoing and urgent medical care needs, such as cancer patients and expectant mothers.
ISMS also strongly calls for the insurance companies do a better job of keeping their published physician network information up-to-date as required by law. The inattention to this important task is impeding access to and continuity of healthcare, as well as the patient-physician relationship.
Illinois doctors urge patients to file complaints with the Illinois Department of Insurance whenever they experience these ghost network issues. Complaints can be filed online at https://www2.illinois.gov/sites/Insurance/Consumers/Pages/File-a-complaint.aspx.
Cancer patients, pregnant mothers, and other patients in dire search of medical attention face higher costs, longer wait times, farther distances, and have to navigate a dead-end directory of doctors that, in many cases, do not exist before they can schedule their first appointment with a specialist in the Blue Cross Blue Shield network.
Experts in the insurance industry often refer to an insurance company’s inflated patient directory as a “ghost network” that over-promises and under-delivers on the number of providers who are actually available to see patients within a reasonable distance.
A spokesperson for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois said the “assertion of a ghost network is inaccurate and may be based on misplaced assumptions,” but a thorough review of the company’s directory, including hours of phone calls placed to the providers offices, yielded pages of evidence that the doctors they advertise are often not available, not taking new patients, located too far away, or in some cases don’t work there at all.
Online directories often include an occasional error or oversight, but in this case, the complications in coverage grew drastically worse after the largest insurance company in Illinois escalated a contract dispute with Springfield Clinic and kicked all 650 of its providers “out-of-network” in mid-November.
Blue Cross is my health insurance company and most of my medical stuff is handled through Springfield Clinic, so I’ll refrain from commenting except to post this excerpt…
Executives at Springfield Clinic say the dispute began when Blue Cross started steering a higher volume of patients onto a much cheaper insurance plan that was initially set up to provide barebones coverage for the previously uninsured.
“That plan was intended for the [Affordable Care Act],” Zach Kerker, a vice president at Springfield Clinic, explained. “It was intended for people who had purchased plans through the exchange online.”
The Blue Choice plan covered roughly 10,000 patients at Springfield Clinic, according to Kerker. When Blue Cross started selling that cheaper, lower-paying plan to a broader pool of patients, the clinic stopped accepting it.
“Ultimately, we canceled that plan, because there were other options for patients at that time to get their insurance through the exchange,” Kerker said.
The clinic’s executives didn’t expect Blue Cross Blue Shield to retaliate. When the state’s largest insurer escalated the dispute and kicked Springfield Clinic’s 650 providers out of its network, it told reporters it did so to start a broader discussion about affordable health care.
“That’s not what it felt like,” Kerker said flatly.
“The case to be made for me … would be some very clear and actionable plans about how we move the city forward … from a public safety standpoint. How do we create public safety where everybody in each of our 77 communities feels safe because, right now, people don’t.”
Asked why Lightfoot deserves to be a one-termer, Buckner homed in on the mayor’s inability to play well with others. He said it hamstrings her ability to be a “triangulating force” who brings disparate interests together to solve problems.
“There’s no secret that the mayor has a personality that a lot of folks don’t like. … We have spent way too much time bogged down in the politics of personality instead of the politics of getting stuff done,” he said.
“There were folks who weren’t fans of Rahm. There were folks who weren’t fans of Rich Daley. But, at the end of the day, it was about getting stuff done. That has to be the hallmark of how we operate in this city. I don’t need to agree with you in order to get to a solution.”
The entire interview is good, so click here. He talks about his arrest as well.
* The Question: Do you think Rep. Buckner should run for mayor? Make sure to explain your answer and keep in mind that I’m not asking if he will run for mayor, but whether he should do it.
* Related…
* IL Rep, Kam Buckner says Republican Gubernatorial Candidate’s “All Lives Matter” Campaign Opportunistic: What if, when your house was on fire, the fire department responded, “but all houses matter”? What if, when your town suffers a tragedy, the response is, “but all towns matter”? Black Lives Matter is not exclusionary. It is an acknowledgment that is necessary because historically, our lives have not mattered to those who would rather we didn’t exist as anything more than a commodity. This is upsetting to hear from anyone, let alone a Black man and a candidate for governor. It is patently unacceptable, cold, and timid to try to stand on both sides of one of the most consequential issues of our time. But movements built on and sustained by the unforgiving fight for equality, won’t be cheapened even, by those who try to make us doubt our own realities. All Lives Matter is a statement that ignores those realities and serves to negate the story of where we have been, in hopes of impeding the road to where we are going.
* Lynn Sweet on a Celinda Lake poll taken for a progressive group supporting Delia Ramirez in CD3…
If the vote was taking place now, 66% said they were undecided; 19% said they were for Ramirez; 11% for Villegas and 1% for Chehade. […]
Putting together the “very favorable” and “somewhat favorable” responses showed “Medicare for all” with a 83% favorable; Sanders, the Vermont Independent and two-time Democratic presidential candidate with a 74% favorable; Gov. J.B. Pritzker, at 73%; Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., 71%; Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, D-Ill., at 59%; the “Green New Deal” at 49%; Chicago Police Department, 45%; former Mayor Rahm Emanuel, 39%; Lightfoot, 37%; Fraternal Order of Police, 26%; and Lincoln Yards, the North Side real estate development at 13%. […]
For Ramirez, an endorsement from Sanders — the progressive champion — could be game changing in a district where voters — for now — seem interested in progressive issues. Garcia, who is close to Sanders, endorsed Ramirez last month, telling me, “Certainly there’s the potential for a Bernie endorsement as well. I will be exploring that with Bernie.”
Villegas was once Lightfoot’s floor leader, resigning the post on Feb. 2, 2021. Still, since there is no statute of limitations in politics, Villegas could be saddled with an association with the relatively unpopular Lightfoot and Emanuel and votes he has taken dealing with the Chicago police and Lincoln Yards.
It’s just one poll, but I do think this could show that the district’s Democrats may not be quite as “moderate” as Team Villegas has been claiming. Also, the governor essentially polling even with Sanders in that district is notable, as is the CPD out-polling Lightfoot, who is out-polling the FOP.
* Press release…
Joint Statement from the Democratic Party of Illinois and Cook County Democratic Party on GOP Hate Crime Candidate
Yesterday, news broke that Republican Kevin Ake has filed petitions to run for Cook County Commissioner. According to the Chicago Tribune, Ake was found guilty of a felony hate crime in 2002 after he left more than 100 phone calls harassing a lesbian YMCA director about her sexual orientation. Ake is running against Kevin Morrison, the first openly gay Cook County Commissioner in history.
Ake currently serves as treasurer of the Elk Grove Township Republicans. Elk Grove Township Republican committeeman Russell Nowak dismissed Ake’s hate crime, telling the Tribune, “What they did years ago shouldn’t matter…People have done stupid stuff when you were younger, you know?”
Democratic Party of Illinois Executive Director Abby Witt and Cook County Democratic Party Executive Director Jacob Kaplan released the following joint statement:
“Hate and homophobia have absolutely no place in the politics of Cook County or the State of Illinois. It is extremely disturbing to learn of Mr. Ake’s background and candidacy, as well as the Elk Grove Township Republican Party’s dismissive attitude towards his hateful past. This is especially troubling after we saw a neo-Nazi win the Republican nomination for the 3rd Congressional District in 2018 and run again in 2020. Not only must must Mr. Ake withdraw his candidacy immediately, but he should be removed from his Republican leadership position and unequivocally denounced by the Cook County Republican Party and Illinois Republican Party at once.”
I’ve asked the ILGOP for comment.
*** UPDATE *** From the ILGOP…
Joint statement from Republican Party leaders in the 15th Cook County Commissioner District:
“The Republican Party does not condone the reprehensible behavior of Kevin Ake - whether it was yesterday or years ago. We have endorsed Ake’s opponent in the Republican primary, Chuck Cerniglia. We look forward to supporting Chuck in the general election.”
Sean Morrison - Cook County GOP Chairman
Joe Folisi - Schaumburg Township Republican Committeeman
Mike Baumer - Hanover Township Republican Committeeman
James Stinson - Maine Township Republican Committeeman
Aaron Del Mar - Palatine Township Committeeman
Russ Nowak - Elk Grove Township Committeeman
Peter Kopsaftis - Barrington Township Republican Committeeman
At their Tuesday, March 8th Executive meeting, the Winnebago County Republican Central Committee (WCRCC) condemned a fraudulent letter of no confidence to Chairman Eli Nicolosi that was circulated to the public and the media on February 9th. The unsigned letter was a blatant effort to undermine his bid for election to the Illinois Senate’s 35th district.
A resolution by the party states that the claims contained in the anonymous letter directed at Chairman Nicolosi were “a blatant smear against the Republican Party, its members, and its Chairman.” The media seized on the narrative of a rift within the party that was clearly an attempt by a political opponent to use the WCRCC to further his political position.
The WCRCC Executive Committee further condemned the distribution of such a letter as an effort to spread lies about the members of the WCRCC and its Chairman. Chairman Nicolosi stated that he is happy that he has the full support of the executive committee and county voters and denounces the letter as a political attack.
“The people of Illinois deserve change and not smear tactics to stay in office another decade. The state has grown tired of these old tricks being used by career politicians who can’t seem to find anything new up their sleeve when it comes down to actual work, so instead, they rely on manipulation and shameful rumor-mongering about their opponents.” said Nicolosi.
* Eventually, even a blind person should be able to see that the folks who run the far-right agitprop Dupage Policy Journal are firmly behind Greg Hart’s campaign for county board chair…
DuPage County Board Chairman Pete DiCianni is throwing his support behind opponent Democrat Rep. Deb Conroy in the face of harsh criticism and alleged death threats after she filed a bill that would allow for the detainment of the unvaccinated.
“You know what? (Deb Conroy) is my friend,” DiCianni said on WBBM. “I mean, we may be opponents in the general (election), but she’s still my friend and I don’t agree with every bill she sponsors. She’s helped me sponsor other bills with Medicaid and autism and epinephrine, and we’ve gotten a lot done together. But nobody deserves what she went through. It’s embarrassing, and I called Greg (Hart) out.”
Conroy’s bill, HB 4640, would give local health departments and state politicians formal legal authority to fully control the behavior of any individuals who don’t follow COVID-19 restrictions and rules, including keeping people isolated and under police guard.
Local health departments can “adopt any rules” necessary, according to the bill synopsis.
We’ve been over this a number of times before, but that’s just a stupid and, by now apparently deliberate misreading of the bill’s language. Also, DiCianni is a Republican candidate for board chair who’s running against Hart. Sheesh, these people. Hart really ought to disavow all this crud.
* Press release…
Today, Elect Democratic Women (EDW), the only member-led political action committee dedicated to increasing the number of women in Congress, announced their support for Delia Ramirez in the newly drawn 3rd Congressional district. additional candidate endorsements for U.S. House of Representatives in midterm elections in 2022.
“Elect Democratic Women is proud to endorse Delia Ramirez for Congress. With women’s rights under attack across the country, it has never been more important to elect more pro-choice champions to Congress. Delia is a proven fighter for women and working families, and we are looking forward to having her in Congress,” said Rep. Lois Frankel (D-FL), EDW Chair.
“I am beyond proud to receive the endorsement of Elect Democratic Women. I look forward to working side by side with the brilliant women who lead this caucus to foster and support more women leaders.,” said Delia Ramirez.
Elect Democratic Women is the latest to endorse Representative Ramirez who has also received the endorsements of Emily’s List, the Illinois Federation of Teachers, and the United Working Families and Working Families Party.
WMBD’s Matt Sheehan spoke exclusively with State Rep. candidate Travis Weaver before Weaver filed petitions at the State Board of Elections in Springfield. […]
Weaver will be challenging Rep. Mark Luft in the Republican Primary.
Weaver is the son of former State Senator Chuck Weaver.
And Rep. Luft is the son of former state Sen. Dick Luft. They’ve got a real legacy primary going in that area.
* A new Republican slate filed petitions this week. It’s just a weee bit to the right of the Grif slate. That is, if the word “bit” could be translated as “light years”…
* Press Release: Maine Ethics Commission Votes to Subpoena ALEC Over Its Campaign Software Scheme
…Adding… I posted the press release yesterday, but here’s the Daily Herald…
Republican congressional candidate James Marter on Friday touted an endorsement from a downstate congresswoman who quoted Adolf Hitler in a speech last year and denied Democrat Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election.
U.S. Rep. Mary Miller, a first-term lawmaker from Oakland, is backing Marter in his bid for the 14th District seat, according to a news release from Marter’s campaign. Miller’s team confirmed the endorsement.
In the release, Marter said he’s “excited and grateful” to have Miller’s endorsement. […]
Marter is an Oswego Public Library Board member who chairs the Kendall County Republican Party. He ran for the 16th Congressional District seat in 2018 and for U.S. Senate in 2016.
* We’ve seen a 19.8 percent reduction in hospitalizations since last Friday, a 29.4 percent drop in ICU usage, a 33.8 percent fall in ventilator patients and a 45.2 percent decrease in deaths, exactly as it should be as this spike continues to peter out…
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 8,519 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including an increase of 149 deaths since March 4, 2022.
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 3,045,718 cases, including 33,075 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. Since March 4, 2022, laboratories have reported 642,494 specimens for a total of 55,731,994. As of last night, 676 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 108 patients were in the ICU and 51 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from March 4-10, 2022 is 1.3%. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from March 4-10, 2022 is 1.5%.
A total of 21,217,198 vaccines have been administered in Illinois as of last midnight. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 9,522 doses. Since March 4, 2022, 66,654 doses were reported administered in Illinois. Of Illinois’ total population, more than 76% has received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, more than 67% of Illinois’ total population is fully vaccinated, and more than 49% boosted according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
All data are provisional and will change. Additional information and COVID-19 data can be found at https://dph.illinois.gov/covid19.html.
Vaccination is the key to ending this pandemic. To find a COVID-19 vaccination location near you, go to www.vaccines.gov.
* Press release…
Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White announced that expiration dates for driver’s licenses, ID cards and learner’s permits are being extended until July 31, 2022. The previous extension was set to end on March 31, 2022. As a result, expired driver’s licenses, ID cards and learner’s permits will remain valid until July 31, 2022, so customers do not need to rush into Driver Services facilities, especially during inclement weather. This extension does not apply to commercial driver’s licenses (CDL) and CDL learner’s permits.
White’s office has expanded online renewals for expired driver’s licenses and ID cards and continues to mail letters to eligible customers. The letter provides driver’s license and ID card holders with a unique PIN needed to renew online instead of visiting a facility and waiting in line. Customers may call 217-785-1424 to confirm their eligibility for online renewal or to obtain their PIN.
Customers who must visit a facility include first-time driver’s license or ID card applicants, first-time REAL ID applicants and drivers ages 75 and older who are required by state law to visit a facility when renewing their license.
White continues to encourage people to conduct other business online at ilsos.gov. In addition to driver’s license and ID card renewals for those who qualify, online services include obtaining a duplicate driver’s license or ID card, ordering a driver record and purchasing license plate stickers.
White noted his office is also extending the expiration dates of Restricted Driving Permits (RDPs) to July 31, 2022 for those that expired on or after December 1, 2021 through July 30, 2022.
As a reminder, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has extended the federal REAL ID deadline to May 3, 2023.
* More…
* COVID pandemic death toll may be 3 times higher than official tally, new study finds: Two years after the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a global pandemic, new research suggests around 18.2 million people have died worldwide as a result. That toll is more than three times higher than the WHO’s tally of nearly 6 million officially reported COVID-19 deaths through the end of 2021. Some 1.13 million Americans have died due to the pandemic, the researchers estimate. By comparison, the current total of reported COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. stands at around 960,000.
* How the Pandemic Has Shaped Babies’ Development: Researchers are particularly worried about the effects of prenatal parental stress in the earlier stages of pregnancy, which is known to cause lower birth weights and other problems. A study from Columbia University Irving Medical Center found that babies born during the pandemic scored lower on tests of gross-motor, fine-motor, and social skills at six months compared with babies born earlier. The largest effects were found in mothers in New York City who were in their first trimester early in the pandemic—when case rates were rising precipitously and uncertainty was at its highest. (In utero COVID infections had no effects.) Of course, only so much can be gleaned when babies are so young, and increased risk doesn’t tell us what will happen in the future; delays caught early can be headed off with intervention.
* Our Brains Want the Story of the Pandemic to Be Something It Isn’t: From the beginning, a narrative that many people latched on to was, as Fletcher described it to me, one of interruption. “What if you were watching a movie [at a theater] and someone got up in front of you and started having an argument with his partner on his cellphone? I think that’s really what’s happened—the virus is [that] guy,” he said. “I think we’re impatient and angry with it because it’s disrupting what we think is our real story.” Fletcher said that this idea—that we’ve been deprived of the life story we wanted to be living—stresses us out because it implies a loss of authorship over our personal narrative.
* Solis apparently had witting accomplices, but he did set up some apparently real-world deals that were crooked enough to get other people indicted…
Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Thursday she finds it “unconscionable” that former Zoning Committee chairman-turned-FBI mole Danny Solis was “walking around on a wire for years … continuing to wheel and deal” and is deeply offended his deal with the feds will keep Solis out of prison. […]
“The fact that you had a sitting alderman walking around on a wire for years is unconscionable, as far as I’m concerned. Unconscionable. And while he was continuing, it looks like, to wheel and deal as chair of a very important Zoning Committee. It gives me great, great pause,” Lightfoot told the Sun-Times editorial board.
“He has gotten a deal where he’s not going to be looking at any jail time, as I understand it. … I’m deeply offended by that. This is a man who exploited his position … to enrich himself, attempting to enrich others. There’s got to be consequences and accountability for that. It’s not enough for him to simply walk away. Sail off into the sunset. That sends the wrong message.” […]
“You take into consideration the value that they’ve added in aiding other investigations. Absolutely. … But where’s the accountability? … There has got to be something other than a complete pass for the crimes that he’s committed.” Lightfoot said, adding: “And, of course, he shouldn’t get his pension.”
Lightfoot, of course, is a former federal prosecutor.
Madigan over time amassed tens of millions of dollars in the various campaign accounts he controlled as speaker and as chair of the Democratic Party of Illinois.
“And he used that money to maintain and enforce loyalty around him. He would give it to candidates and officials who were loyal to him and use it fund their opponents if they weren’t. And so that was really one of the major sources of his power,” Kaplan said. “If we’re going to talk about really changing the system to make sure that someone like this doesn’t happen again we need to look at all those sources of power that led to one man having this amount of control over his party.”
Illinois in 2009, while Madigan was speaker, set caps on campaign contributions, but Kaplan says the system is weak and rife with loopholes that allow the legislatures’ top leaders to effectively skirt limits.
That allows them to exercise a level of control over other lawmakers that she said is “unusual and dangerous.” […]
Meanwhile, state Rep. Curtis Tarver (D-Chicago) is sponsoring a measure (HB5046) that would make state lawmakers ineligible to serve again if they’re convicted of a felony while in office. […]
The measure is currently stalled in Springfield.
* More stuff…
* The Madigan indictment puts a new focus on how Chicago aldermen govern: “You cannot read that indictment, and not have pause about the way in which Danny Solis ran the zoning committee for his own profit and the profit of others in a way that wasn’t just unethical, it was illegal,” Lightfoot said in that interview.
Legislators in Springfield are moving toward setting up a state task force to investigate racial bias in home appraisals, an issue that has gained currency in recent years as Black homeowners and industry groups have documented widespread examples of the problem.
HB 4410, which passed the Illinois House on March 4 and will now go before the Senate, would create a “real estate evaluation task force” that should investigate whether there is a pattern of racial bias in appraisals and recommend ways to correct it. It would also try to determine whether there are barriers to entry for people of color in the appraisal industry, which would be helping to perpetuate unconscious bias among appraisers.
Lowball appraisals of Black-owned homes are “directly connected to the disinvestment, the poverty and the lack of interest” in majority-Black communities, said Rep. Lamont J. Robinson, D-5th, one of five House sponsors of the bill.
“We need to figure out how we can have parity of appraisals in communities like Chatham, Englewood, Washington Park and Woodlawn,” said Robinson, whose district cuts through a broad swath of the South Side to 79th Street.
Illinois lawmakers could soon cast a final vote on $1 billion of additional borrowing to extend existing pension buyout programs as they eye action on two of the state’s fiscal sore spots — pensions and the rainy day fund.
The Senate Pensions Committee advanced the legislation laid out in HB4292 in a bipartisan vote Wednesday, setting the stage for a floor vote later this month, according to committee Chairman Sen. Robert Martwick, D-Chicago. The measure passed the House Feb. 24 and has Gov. J.P. Pritzker’s support.
“What this bill does is simply authorize the administration to issue another billion of bonds and extend this buyout program in an attempt to capture further savings,” Martwick said. “By using bonds to pay for the buyouts we are leveraging those returns even further because we are getting low cost bonds and we are leaving assets in the pension system.”
llinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza is pushing legislation that would require the state to make automatic deposits into its so-called “rainy day fund” whenever certain financial conditions are met.
Officially known as the Budget Stabilization Fund, it was created in 2001 as a reserve so the state could pay its bills in a timely manner, especially during regular months of the year when revenues are lower than other months. The goal was to maintain a reserve fund equal to 5 percent of the state’s annual revenues.
Current law, however, requires deposits into the fund only when the state’s general revenue estimates increase by 4 percent or more over the prior year, something Mendoza said has not happened since the fund was created.
Instead, transfers into the fund have been made only when the General Assembly makes a one-time appropriation in the budget.
Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly told a state violence prevention task force this week that expressway shootings, gun trafficking, trooper staffing levels and officer wellness are some of the biggest challenges facing the agency.
According to the ISP expressway shootings dashboard, in 2021 there were 310 reported expressway shootings in Illinois, 273 of which were reported in Cook County. Capitol News Illinois reported earlier this week on Kelly’s suggestions for addressing expressway shootings, including expanding an automated license plate reader program, giving tech companies a short window in which they must comply with warrants in investigations of expressway shootings, and updating statutes to reflect the danger of such shootings.
But Kelly also said easy access to firearms plays a role in expressway shootings, and many of the weapons used in criminal activity have previously been stolen.
Over the past two years, Kelly said the agency has gone through criminal records to identify people who should not have firearms and revoked about 17,000 Firearm Owners Identification cards and prevented about 25,000 attempts of people illegally obtaining a firearm in 2021.
Kelly suggested lawmakers update the state’s stolen firearm statute to reflect a recently-passed “Fix the FOID Act” that requires ISP to create a public database to provide information on guns that have been reported stolen.
Proposed legislation at the Illinois capitol could increase the number of wineries that would be allowed to self-distribute their products in the state.
Senate Bill 2976 would increase the amount of wine in-state and out-of-state wineries could self distribute in Illinois without using a wholesaler.
The legislation was submitted by state Sen. Rachelle Crowe, D-Maryville, and its intent is to bring relief to wineries across the state.
The National Association of Wine Retailers, an organization that represents the interests of wine sellers nationwide, has been in support of the bill.
Illinois state lawmakers are discussing legislation that would enable school districts to be reimbursed for out-of-state placement for special needs students.
House Bill 4365 would allow school districts to provide funding for a student’s placement if their Individual Education Program (IEP) determines their current district is unfit to meet the student’s needs.
The program would be funded by school districts, with funds from the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act grant. The IDEA grant focuses on improving the education of children with disabilities.
* Press release, which is as far as this bill is ever going…
In light of the controversy surrounding Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, State Representative Tim Butler (R-Springfield) has introduced House Bill 5712, which would allow citizens the ability to recall the Cook County State’s Attorney.
“State’s Attorney Foxx has created a crisis of confidence in the Cook County judicial system,” said Butler. “Giving preferential treatment to some defendants like Jussie Smollett and totally ignoring the victims of crime has caused the public to lose faith in her ability to execute the duties she was elected to do.”
Foxx has created controversy on many prosecutorial decisions while crime rates continue to soar in Cook County. Last year she refused to file charges in a case where five gang members exchanged over 70 shots that fatally wounded one of the shooters, citing mutual combat. Just this last week, she also refused to file charges on a felon who was illegally in possession of a firearm he used to kill another man.
Most controversial was Foxx’s decision to drop charges against Jussie Smollett on his faked hate crime. An independent investigation found that Foxx’s office had committed “substantial abuses of discretion and operational failures” in her office’s handling of the initial prosecution.
“The numerous issues surrounding Kim Foxx, and the complete lack of confidence the people have in her abilities as State’s Attorney, underscore the need for citizens to have the ability to recall someone in this vitally important position,” said Butler. “This will give Cook County residents the ability to take back their justice system and stop the cycle of violent criminals not being charged and released back onto the streets.”
HB 5712 sets up a process for voters to initiate a recall election within 60 days of petitions being certified by the Cook County Clerk. The petitions must be signed by registered voters from Cook County, equaling at least five percent of total votes cast in the preceding Cook County State’s Attorney election.
“J.B. Pritzker tried to propose the largest tax hike on the residents of the state of Illinois in the history of our state and he failed in that,” Irvin said. “He’s going to have to do it again because he has raised our expenses to a level to match this income of cash that we got, which was a one-time influx of cash for bail out from the federal government. When that money goes away, our expenses are still going to be at a higher level, our revenues will drop lower, so he’s going to have to raise taxes again.”
* Irvin was also on Tom Miller’s program this week…
Tom Miller: The Mayor of Carterville., Brad Robinson, who says is Mayor EIrvin in favor of increasing the LGDF, the Local Government Distributive Fund on taxes back to the original 10 percent?…
Mayor Irvin: Absolutely. And, listen, as the mayor of a city, and, Mayor, you know this, that when that money was taken away from the city, that affected our budget, that was a huge hit on our budget. These are budgets that pay for our police officers, that pay for our firemen, that pay for water, that pay for our streets to be fixed and cleaned that pay for the services that we give our residents every single day to make their lives better and when that money is taken from us, ripped from us to use to balance a budget that these Democrats have disregarded and wasted and spent, you know, use our money, that people we work hard for, to balance a budget? That’s terrible.
* So, how’s Irvin gonna close that massive hole? Well, he’ll probably resort to magic beans…
Irvin’s solution would be to use the formula he used in Aurora to entice businesses to expand and which, ultimately, led to lower taxes, he said.
“In Aurora, what I’ve done is expanded our tax base, brought more businesses, more residents living in the city, which draws down what each individual person has to pay in taxes,” he said. “In Illinois, we’re losing businesses and people by the droves and because of it, it’s shrinking the number of people that pay taxes and we that are still here (are) having to pay higher taxes.”
* Try to keep it Illinois-centric and don’t let this tweet get you off-track. Thanks. Just attempting to help spread the word and calm some anger. After all, even if they were actually Russian-Americans, they’re still Americans. I know plenty of Russian-Americans who emigrated from the Soviet Union for darned good reasons (met another one just a few weeks ago) and they sure as heck don’t want to go back now and most definitely don’t approve of the country’s current regime…
Russian Tea Time restaurant in downtown Chicago was founded by Ukrainians. Now it faces misplaced backlash. Story by @angie_leventishttps://t.co/hEKSzk6URn
In a largely symbolic declaration issued two weeks after the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, Illinois Gaming Board Administrator Marcus Fruchter on Thursday banned the state’s sportsbooks from laying odds on Russian contests, calling it “contrary to public policy.”
Fruchter’s edict means casinos can’t take bets on “any sports event, league or competition” in Russia or Belarus, the eastern European nation that has aided Russian President Vladimir Putin in his violent assault on Ukraine.
“I have determined that wagering in Illinois on such sports poses a significant likelihood of serious risks to the integrity of the Illinois sports wagering industry,” Fruchter said during a virtual Gaming Board meeting. “We hope that peace will soon prevail.”
…Adding… Found this one in an older browser tab…
Inbox: Asst. Majority Leader Jay Hoffman, a state Rep from Swansea, says Illinois should "review and divest all funds invested by any state or local unit of government" related to Russia. pic.twitter.com/tKWmxROlxh
