The short-term future of Arlington International Racecourse rests in the hands of the Illinois Racing Board, which on Tuesday plans to press parent company Churchill Downs for answers about its long-term plans for the storied racing mecca. […]
The board a week ago delayed its annual vote on racing dates after leveling criticism at Churchill for its decision not to apply for long-sought slots and table games at Arlington. Revenue from those casino-style games would help boost declining horse race purses and, supporters believe, resuscitate Illinois’ declining horse racing industry. […]
[Churchill Downs] also hasn’t committed to racing at Arlington beyond 2021.
The Illinois Racing Board voted unanimously today to award 68 racing dates next year to Arlington International Racecourse, erasing concerns that last week’s races may have been the last in the storied track’s history.
The 9-0 vote comes a week after board members lambasted track owner Churchill Downs over its decision not to seek a casino license that had long been hailed as a lifeline for the struggling racing industry. […]
In the 9-0 vote to award race dates to Arlington from May through September, board members said they didn’t want to disrupt the upcoming racing season.
Churchill argued that not granting the 2020 racing dates would have meant an immediate loss of jobs, an argument that ultimately won over racing board officials.
Tony Petrillo, senior vice president of Churchill Downs, read a letter from Arlington Heights village President Thomas Hayes at today’s meeting, in which he noted the roughly 4,000 people who work at Arlington each season. […]
Brad Blackwell, senior vice president and general counsel of Churchill Downs, told the board today that they “did not say we would not race past 2021. In fact, we didn’t mean to say anything about that at all” in a recent statement, but he did not elaborate on the company’s future plans regarding gaming at the site. “We’re still trying to figure this out.”
* Just about everyone, from Gov. Pritzker on down, has said that consolidating the 600+ local first responder pension funds would be a good thing. It would save on administrative costs and perhaps improve investment returns. But the group that represents those funds is, unsurprisingly, opposed. Press release…
Illinois Public Pension Fund Association (IPPFA) President James McNamee issued the following statement regarding the imminent release of the Governor’s Pension Consolidation Task Force report. The report will soon be available for review, and McNamee is urging careful study of each of the report’s recommendations before any action is taken:
“We caution against a rush to push through any possible changes in the local control of police and fire pension fund assets based on this report. Pension fund board members are local volunteers who are responsible for the management of their local funds and the setting and awarding of benefits to police officers and firefighters who have earned those benefits in their communities. This gives pension recipients a direct link to the people managing their money. Any suggestion of moving that control to the state needs to be thoroughly vetted, studied, and absolutely must include input from the police officers and firefighters whose hard-earned money is at stake.
“The IPPFA has commissioned independent, outside studies that have shown that the downstate police and fire pension funds are well managed and meet or exceed their investment benchmarks, so if it isn’t broken, why fix it? What does need fixing is a key restriction for local police and fire pension funds with less than $10 million in assets that limits their investment power. If that restriction were eased, and the police and fire pension funds could operate by the same rules as the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund, the higher returns they could generate means it wouldn’t cost taxpayers extra to keep these pension funds healthy.”
Those “local volunteers” are required to complete 32 hours of training every year. Here’s one session to be held October 1-4 at a popular Wisconsin resort…
For over 30 years the IPPFA has offered Public Pension Trustees the best and latest in trustee training. With the recent far reaching changes in pension law and with the difficult challenges yet to come, the IPPFA strives to prepare pension trustees for the future. Please join us for training in Ethics, Investment Procedures, Fiduciary Responsibilities, Legal and Legislative Updates, and much, much more and all with nationally renowned speakers.
The Trustee Workshop will be offered on Tuesday, October 1st. It is designed for those trustees that need a refresher or for those who are new to their board. Additionally, the Heroes Family Fund Charity Golf Outing will be held on October 1st, before the conference.
After a busy day attending the conference, enjoy one of the many recreational facilities the Grand Geneva has to offer or dine, relax, and network at one of the several restaurants and lounges on-site. Need to get out? Drive less than 10 minutes to one of Downtown Lake Geneva’s many restaurants.
Pretty sweet, especially if your expenses and time are being reimbursed by your local government.
Robert Hunter, the poet and writer who provided the Grateful Dead with many of their vivid and enduring lyrics, died Monday night. He was 78. No cause of death was provided.
“It is with great sadness we confirm our beloved Robert passed away yesterday night,” Hunter’s family announced in a statement. “He died peacefully at home in his bed, surrounded by love. His wife Maureen was by his side holding his hand. For his fans that have loved and supported him all these years, take comfort in knowing that his words are all around us, and in that way his is never truly gone. In this time of grief please celebrate him the way you all know how, by being together and listening to the music. Let there be songs to fill the air.”
Considered one of rock’s most ambitious and dazzling lyricists, Hunter was the literary counterpoint to the band’s musical experimentation. His lyrics — heard in everything from early Dead classics like “Dark Star” and “China Cat Sunflower” and proceeding through “Uncle John’s Band,” “Box of Rain,” “Scarlet Begonias,” and “Touch of Gray”— were as much a part of the band as Jerry Garcia’s singing and guitar. […]
Hunter’s work didn’t end with Garcia’s death. In the years after, he wrote songs with Elvis Costello, Bruce Hornsby, country singer Jim Lauderdale and Dead drummer Mickey Hart. His best-known collaborator after Garcia, though, was Bob Dylan. Starting with “Silvio,” the two co-wrote many songs on Dylan’s Together Through Life in 2009.
* He deserves a much better sendoff than this, but I’m just so distracted with breaking news and other stuff right now, so this will have to do for today…
Fare you well, fare you well, I love you more than words can tell
* As we’ve already discussed, statute requires that the state develop procedures to move tens of thousands of foster kids into Managed Medicaid programs in consult the Child Welfare Medicaid Managed Care Implementation Advisory Group, which hadn’t yet met, even though the state will begin the transitions on November 1st.
With six weeks left until 17,100 children in Illinois’ foster care system and 18,800 former foster kids are slated to move into Medicaid managed care, stakeholders were finally invited to three statutorily mandated meetings last week — on two days’ notice.
Dozens of members who months ago were appointed to a working group to oversee the transition of those in foster care into Medicaid managed care finally met — mostly via phone conference — Friday morning for the first of a trio of one-hour meetings mandated by the law that set the transition into motion. The deadline for the transition is Nov. 1.
The Child Welfare Medicaid Managed Care Implementation Advisory Group will also meet Wednesday and have its final meeting Oct. 1, The deadline to complete the plan to transition the nearly 36,000 children and young adults into the care of Medicaid managed care organization IlliniCare is Oct. 4. […]
“I think they’re very much following the letter of the law, not the spirit of the law,” [Illinois Collaboration on Youth CEO Andrea Durbin] said of the three meetings. “A one-hour meeting on a topic of this magnitude is not enough to provide meaningful input.” […]
Friday’s meeting lasted approximately 80 minutes, including 20 minutes of introductions, and staff informing group members that they must complete Open Meetings Act, Ethics Act and sexual harassment training becausethe working group is a public body. DCFS Deputy Director Debra Dyers-Webster thanked group members for “rearranging your schedules” to make the call.
Gov. JB Pritzker said Monday he is “monitoring” efforts to transfer 17,100 foster children and 18,800 former youth in care from traditional Medicaid to Medicaid managed care, but didn’t commit to delaying the change. […]
After the Sept. 10 DCFS hearing held by the House Adoption and Child Welfare Committee and the Appropriations – Human Services Committee, the chairwomen of those committees said they would send a letter to Pritzker to ask for a delay.
State Rep. Sara Feigenholtz (D-Chicago) told The Daily Line on Monday that she and State Rep. Robyn Gabel (D-Evanston) are planning to meet with DCFS officials on Thursday and make a final decision on whether to officially seek a delay afterward.
“They were reminded that they had an advisory group that they completely ignored and they’re hustling the meetings,” Feigenholtz said of DCFS’ sudden call for meetings of the Child Welfare Medicaid Managed Care Implementation Advisory Group. “They should probably be a little more sensitive and empathetic to the concerns we have and not dismissive. We’re talking about a pretty serious transition.” […]
Cook County Public Guardian Charles Golbert told The Daily Line Monday he’d rather see a pilot program instead of rolling out IlliniCare for the approximately 36,000 foster children and former foster children.
Governors own. And this governor will own this rollout if it is botched.
Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) named Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker (D) September 2019 Porker of the Month for signing a $40.1 billion budget without any spending restraints and $1.4 billion in pork-barrel projects.
Illinois currently has a $223.9 billion shortfall, which breaks down to a debt burden of $52,600 per taxpayer. The state has $6 billion in unpaid bills and the lowest credit rating of any state in the country. Its unfunded pension liability tops $130 billion. Illinois taxpayers are so saddled with debt, taxes, corrupt local government, and dwindling middle-class jobs that 157,000 residents have left over the past five years.
Gov. Pritzker claims his budget deal means “a new era of fiscal stability has arrived in Illinois” and called it a “watershed moment for Illinois.” On the contrary, his budget contains tens of billions in new spending, including $1.4 billion for pork projects like pickleball courts, dog parks, snowmobile paths, school playgrounds, swimming pools, and arts grants. It also included a controversial $1,600 pay raise for state legislators. Rep. David McSweeney (R-Barrington Hills) said, “The Pritzker policies of higher taxes, out of control state spending and legislative pay raises will be very harmful to Illinois citizens. Republican insiders who supported the Pritzker budget should be ashamed of themselves.”
CAGW President Tom Schatz said, “Gov. Pritzker might think that his budget will somehow bring ‘fiscal stability’ to Illinois, but the deal will create an even higher debt burden per taxpayer. State officials and Gov. Pritzker have made financial decisions that will continue to devastate the state’s economy. Illinois residents should be outraged that their governor is ignoring the state’s fiscal failures. Gov. Pritzker’s reckless budget treats taxpayers as a bottomless piggy bank and is disastrous to Illinois’ fiscal sovereignty.”
They seem to be confusing the operations budget with the capital program. And that $1.4 billion number comes from the Illinois Policy Institute. Both groups are part of the State Policy Network.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced $4.2 million is now available for Small Business Development Centers in Illinois.
The funding supports universities, community colleges and business focused non-profit organizations to provide small businesses with support services through the operation of a Small Business Development Center.
“Illinois is home to more than a million small businesses that create good jobs and provide needed services and goods in their communities,” says Gov. Pritzker. “My administration is committed to making sure that these small businesses can thrive and get access to the support and resources they need to keep creating good jobs and growing our state’s economy.”
There are 35 Small Business Development Centers. Applicants could receive up to $500,000 in funding.
* We’ve seen a lot of “woe is us” news coverage lately about the state’s plan to add more casinos. But, Rockford has three major companies bidding to own its casino. Presentations were heard last night…
“I think this is gonna be an amazing project,” the Rockford native [Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen] said after ripping into quick renditions of “Hello There” and “I Want You to Want Me” on one of his trademark checkered Flying V guitars. […]
In the ensuing and decidedly less raucous presentation by Hard Rock, executives for the Florida-based corporate casino heavyweight flaunted a $310 million development plan that includes a 64,000-square foot gaming floor, a 1,600-seat Hard Rock Live concert venue — and a 110-foot guitar beckoning gamblers from the front of the building. […]
Two miles north, a group branded as Forest City Partners — which includes Chicago consultant Henry Leong, who according to a professional biography has served as a marketing specialist for a handful of gambling companies including Trump Casino — wants to bring a 136-acre entertainment complex to an undeveloped plot bordered by farmland and a residential plot near Spring Creek and Lyford roads. […]
Besides a 60,000-square foot, 1,200-gaming position casino, the [third plan by Wisconsin real estate development firm Gorman & Company] includes a rock-themed bar and restaurant with a 300-to-500-seat concert hall, a bowling alley and bocce ball court, plus an aquarium with virtual reality exhibits and “touch tanks” for kids.
As with the cannabis legalization plan, the complaints about expansion are coming mainly from incumbent license-holders. Some reporters (not all) have started to catch on to this with the medical cannabis companies, but it’s probably going to take more public hearings like Rockford’s to convince them the same thing could be happening with existing casino owners. I mean, of course they’re unhappy. As the constantly changing Las Vegas skyline shows, gamblers love new venues.
Look, maybe the existing casino owners are right and these new plans are doomed. But Rockford’s site is sure attracting a whole lot of deep-pocketed potential investors for a proposal that’s going nowhere.
[Olympia Fields trustee Cassandra Matz], who worked as [Sen. Michael Hastings’] chief of staff from 2015 until he fired her in October 2018, claims in her suit that Hastings [D-Tinley Park] paid her less than her predecessor, criticized her writing and manner of speaking, and treated her differently than his other employees.
When Matz, who is black, complained to Hastings that his treatment of her amounted to harassment, the senator, who is white, placed her on paid leave and referred her complaint to the Office of the Senate President for investigation, her suit claims.
Senate officials investigated Matz’s claims, but were unable to corroborate them, documents show, citing the “limited information available” to them as a result of Matz’s inability to be reached for an interview.
Upon the conclusion of the investigation, Hastings asked the legislative inspector general to investigate Matz for “conducting a private real estate business during state compensated time while misappropriating state resources,” records show.
* I’ve been hearing multiple credible reports this morning of a raid on Sen. Martin Sandoval’s offices, so I sent a friend over to the Statehouse and she reports that his office suite is blocked off and that a state officer claimed the feds are present.
Sandoval is not responding and neither is his district office. None of the legislative assistants in that suite are picking up their phones.
Stay tuned.
…Adding… From a close pal…
I’m on the phone with a secretary from the Capitol. She says there are ‘lots of suits’ in Marty’s Capitol office.
I’m told all the legislative assistants in that wing are in the elevator area, which would explain why nobody was answering their phones.
* Mary Ann is on it…
Breaking: appears to be coordinated search at @SenatorSandoval Cicero and Springfield office underway, witnessed 2 law enforcement officers leaving Cicero office, would not ID themselves, told more agents search his Capitol office (he is in Spkr Madigan’s district) pic.twitter.com/jCNZWPhjcU
…Adding… Several folks I know are claiming that the G is also at his house. We’ll see…
///BREAKING/// Feds this morning are raiding the Springfield and Cicero offices of longtime Illinois state Sen. Marty Sandoval, per sources. Story to come.
At least eight men carried cardboard boxes, brown bags labeled “evidence” and what appeared to be a desktop computer out of the Senate Democratic office suite and into 2 SUVs outside the Capitol. pic.twitter.com/3bOZk8dEVh
*** UPDATE 2 *** The presence of an IRS agent at his house is definitely not a good sign…
The agent I encountered Earlier identified himself as a part of the IRS criminal division. There were several others dressed in dark suits wearing no obvious ID. They took off with some plainclothes guys an hour ago. Several others remain inside. Those inside say contact the Feds pic.twitter.com/PUkFXoezr2
Agents from IRS Criminal Investigation were seen outside Sandoval’s political office in Cicero as well.
…Adding… They took a computer from his house? Oh, man…
Four agents just left the home carrying boxes and a computer. One told reporters that Sandoval wasn’t at home during the raid. pic.twitter.com/2CVDT2Um37
This year most suburbs and city neighborhoods have seen home sales droop or prices weaken—and in many cases both. But in Flossmoor the number of homes sold is up (by 23 percent, to a total of 159 this year at the end of August) and so is the median sale price (by 2.5 percent, to $210,000). Homes are selling a smidgen faster, in an average of 130 days compared to 132 in the comparable period in 2018. […]
No other suburb in the four counties has such vigor in its year-to-date sales data. Western Springs comes close, but its inventory hasn’t been slashed as much, and in several other suburbs—Alsip, Glendale Heights and Zion among them—the decline in inventory is slight and largely mathematical. (CAR and MRED provide data for only these four counties. Crain’s leaves out of the analysis any suburb where fewer than 25 homes sold during the period, because small sales figures result in skewed percentages.) […]
As in most parts of south Cook County, Flossmoor homeowners pay far higher property tax rates than their counterparts in western and northern suburbs. The current rate, released in June by the Cook County clerk, is nearly 18 percent of a home’s taxable value. (Taxable value is a fraction of the home’s market value, typically about one-third, which would mean property taxes in Flossmoor are about 6 percent of the home’s value.)
The article claims the main reason for all this activity is the local school quality. Good schools cost money to operate, which is one reason (of several) why their property taxes are so high. Click here to compare rates.
There were two more pension setbacks last week, this time associated with local communities’ often underfunded fire and police pensions. Slowly, the noose is tightening around the necks of taxpayers and public officials statewide, proving once again that ignoring pension woes won’t cause them to go away but, instead, to get worse.
For starters, the city of Peoria, being crushed under the pension costs for firefighters and police officers that are eating up virtually all of its property tax levy, passed a special three-year tax to raise money to cover pension costs. It’s akin to similar action taken in Danville.
Property owners are now scheduled to receive a bill in October that will generate $1.2 million for police and firefighter pensions. Patrick Urich, Peoria’s city manager, said the costs of employee pensions are the fastest-rising portion of the municipal budget.
To raise the money needed to make the required contributions, city leaders implemented a new public safety pension fee in their 2019 budget.
Like many cities, Peoria ignored its unfunded first responder pension liabilities for far too long. They subsidized other spending by accumulating pension debt, but now they have to pay up. Nobody is happy, but anyone who wants to just come right out and say “Slash pension benefits for retired and/or current firefighters and cops who put their lives on the line for their local communities!” can be my guest.
The bills have to be paid somehow. Wishing on a star won’t make that happen.
Today, Representative John Connor announced his candidacy for the November 2020 election for Illinois Legislative District 43 in wake of Senator Pat McGuire’s announcement to not seek reelection.
A resident of Lockport who was born and raised in Joliet, Representative Connor spent nearly 20 years serving Will County as a criminal prosecutor in the State’s Attorney’s office, including indicting Drew Peterson and being on the team that tried and convicted him in 2012. In the Illinois House of Representatives he has put his legal background to use serving on the Judiciary Committee among others.
Representative Connor’s tenure in the House of Representatives has focused on supporting progressive issues like creating good paying jobs, ensuring Illinoisans have access to quality, affordable healthcare, and broadening the opportunities students have for higher education. Most recently Representative Connor worked on preventing the Fairmont area’s water system from being privatized, expanding broadband access throughout Illinois through his seat on the Governor’s Broadband Advisory Council, and chairing an Election Cybersecurity subcommittee to examine the state’s election security in advance of the 2020 election.
The 43rd Legislative District is located primarily in Will County with a small portion of DuPage County and includes the communities of Bolingbrook, Channahon, Crest Hill, Elwood, Fairmont, Ingalls Park, Joliet, Lockport, Preston Heights, Rockdale, Romeoville, and Woodridge.
Connor was appointed to the seat in June of 2017. The other House member in the district is Rep. Larry Walsh. But he has built up some seniority and chairs a prime committee (Public Utilities). House members lose their seniority when they move to the Senate.
In April’s non-partisan Joliet City Council elections, incumbent Larry Hug captured 65 percent of the vote in his race against challenger Marc Ragusa. Hug’s was the largest margin of victory of the five contested council races. On Monday evening, Hug confirmed to Joliet Patch he “is about 95 percent sure” he will run for the seat of State Senator Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant.
Bertino-Tarrant is the Shorewood Democrat who has already announced she is running for Will County Executive. She is hoping to replace Elwood Democrat Larry Walsh Sr., who will not seek a fifth term of county government office in 2020.
Joliet Patch contacted Hug after several sources indicated Hug was contemplating a run for state senate. Hug confirmed he has obtained the candidate nomination petitions, that he has talked with his wife and two college-aged children about running for state office, and he is now in the process of establishing a committee of campaign volunteers.
Hug said he would run as a Democrat. Hug works in the insurance industry. His wife is a special education teacher in the Plainfield School District. Hug grew up in the Lincoln Way area. His Joliet City Council district represents the Plainfield area.
A memo popped up Monday reminding that Mayor Lori Lightfoot is popular, no matter what the critics (media) might say about the challenges she faces maneuvering in Springfield.
The memo, though, is dated Aug. 30. It details a poll conducted Aug. 19-22 that shows Lighfoot was seen favorably at the time by 61 percent of 800 likely 2020 voters. And 77 percent at the time considered her “an honest person.”
“The public’s impressions of Lightfoot are better now than they have been at any time since we began polling her standing back in May of 2018,” the poll memo states.
“The data speaks for itself,” adds Jason McGrath, VP at GBAO and chief pollster for Lightfoot. He also wrote the memo. “Nearly eight of 10 people think she’s doing a good job. She’s still seen as an antidote to the status quo and voters seem to have more optimism about the direction of the city,” he told Playbook.
The story quickly glosses over the main take-away. Yes, she’s very popular, and yes, pols of every stripe need to keep that in mind. But according to this poll, Lightfoot’s election produced a fundamental change in the way Chicagoans view their city…
You just don’t see right track/wrong track numbers completely flip like that every day. Chicagoans appear to believe they’ve given their city a chance to succeed by overwhelmingly electing Lightfoot.
I do not know how long that attitude will last once she finally starts tackling tough issues with potentially unpopular solutions, but I do know I’d much rather start from her position than the jaded, cynical alternative.
Moody’s has issued a new report noting that new climate data measuring U.S. county heat stress based on projected relative increases in extreme temperatures, extreme heat days and energy demand indicate the Midwest and Southeast are more exposed than other regions. Roughly $190 billion (21%) of the outstanding $895 billion in debt for all Moody’s-rated local governments has been issued by entities in counties with high or very high exposure to heat stress, according to our analysis; nearly 80% of this amount is in the Midwest and Southeast combined. While heat stress is a credit risk, local governments’ economic and fiscal strengths will help manage exposure to public health, infrastructure and other threats.
The data was gathered by climate intelligence firm Four Twenty Seven, which is majority-owned by Moody’s.
The report’s highlights include:
Counties in central Midwest states will experience the greatest increase in extreme temperatures. Four Twenty Seven projects that the greatest rise in extreme temperatures among US counties will occur in large parts of the Midwest, particularly Missouri (rated Aaa/stable outlook) and western Illinois (Baa3/stable), based on comparisons between the projected 2030-2040 period and a historical period of 1975-2005. Counties in the Southeast will continue to experience a greater number of extreme heat days, but will likely be better prepared given their acclimation to high temperatures.
Outstanding debt of local governments with high projected heat stress is concentrated in the Southeast and Midwest. The Southeast, especially Florida (Aaa/stable), has the most outstanding debt exposed to elevated heat stress, followed by the Midwest, largely in Illinois. Several Northeast states with large amounts of debt outstanding have low exposure to heat stress, notably New York (Aa1/stable) and Pennsylvania (Aa3/stable).
Economic and fiscal strengths support credit quality for many local governments with high or very high exposure to heat stress. Heat stress threatens to cause local governments to pay unanticipated costs for emergency response, infrastructure repair and adaptive strategies. Nevertheless, the Southeast and Midwest each have various strengths that provide a comparatively strong cushion: the Southeast with large tax bases and growing populations and the Midwest with its healthy cash balances and median family incomes.
Well, we do have decent median family incomes, but not so much on the healthy cash balances part.
* Map…
* This is local government debt exposed to high or very high projected heat stress (in billions)…
* Today, three high school students testified before an Illinois House committee in favor of a ban on flavored e-cigarettes. At one point in the hearing, Rep. Michelle Mussman (D-Schaumburg) asked what the students themselves were doing to help stop vaping at schools. Were they putting up fliers? What actions were their student councils taking? And this is Mussman’s conclusion…
I guess I’m questioning whether you’re capable of being a partner with us in trying to save your peers.
Yikes.
* Glenbard North High School student Arsema Araya responded…
I would just like to say I spent my summer with [Rep.] Deb Conroy working against this, so I think that makes me pretty dedicated. But if that isn’t enough, we have all proven that we are willing to, for lack of a better word, go against our student body and show their wrongs. … I don’t think there’s any better solution, because you guys have had time to come up with one and I haven’t seen one to make this go away.
So you’ve had your time, and now we’ve had to skip our school day to come tell you what we’ve seen in our school because nothing has been done.
Whatever you think of her position on this topic, that was a solid retort to a totally uncalled-for attack.
I started working at a very young age. At 21, I became the [executive director] of a non-profit, and all that people asked me was my age and questioned my capacity based on my age. And we were sometimes the most knowledgeable people because we were the most directly impacted by the issues. So I want to personally thank you and tell you just how much I appreciate that you are here. … And sometimes we just don’t listen, so we need to hear you practically drop the mic, if you’re able to drop the mic. So thank you for that.
The microphones are attached to a bendable arm, so there is no possibility of a mic-drop moment. But that’s as close to one as I’ve seen in a while.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker supports a ban on flavored e-cigarettes and is urging residents to stop vaping while authorities investigate a series of serious respiratory illnesses linked to electronic cigarette products.
Pritzker’s office issued a statement Friday in which the governor said he supported legislation in the upcoming veto session to stop the sale of flavored vaping products in the state. Flavors such as cotton candy and mango, among thousands of others, have been blamed for huge spike in the number teenagers vaping.
“There is much more research needed to understand the short and long-term health effects of using e-cigarette products,” Pritzker said in the statement. “During this investigation into recent respiratory illnesses associated with vaping, I am urging Illinoisans to avoid using these products.”
The number of those impacted by a mysterious respiratory illness linked to vaping continues to grow. As of Friday, 69 cases of have been reported in Illinois, including one fatality, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health. Another 13 potential cases are still under investigation. It’s unclear whether e-cigarettes containing nicotine or THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, are to blame.
* Press release…
The Smoke Free Alternatives Coalition of Illinois released the following statement in response to recent proposals to ban flavored e-cigarettes statewide.
“Banning flavored vapor products would greatly hinder adult smokers’ attempts to quit traditional cigarettes. Our customers have been clear: being able to choose flavored products are crucial in helping them quit for good, and studies have shown that flavored products are directly related to the reduced smoking rate amongst adults. Instead of passing legislation that would drive adults back to traditional cigarettes, we urge lawmakers to push for solutions that would prevent youth access to these products,” said Victoria Vasconcellos, President of the Smoke Free Alternatives Coalition of Illinois.
For the past three years, the vaping industry supported a licensure bill that focused on keeping vapor products out of the hands of minors. The proposal included strict penalties for sales to minors and required proper labeling and marketing of these products.
Flavored vaping products are one of the most effective smoking cessation tools on the market. Recent studies published in peer-reviewed medical journals have found that vapor products are nearly twice as effective at helping adults quit smoking than any other nicotine replacement methods, and that users of non-tobacco and non-menthol flavors are significantly more likely to have quit smoking.
In addition to making it more difficult for the nearly 1.5 million adult smokers in Illinois to quit traditional cigarettes, such a ban would have a meaningful adverse economic impact on an industry that contributes more than 7,000 jobs and has a total economic impact of $1.1 billion on the state economy.
* The Question: Should the state ban flavored e-cigarettes? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please…
Last Friday at 5pm, the Illinois EPA released several decisions paving the way for Sterigenics to resume emitting cancer-causing ethylene oxide into southeast DuPage and southwest Cook Counties.
It has been a tortured and tumultuous year for Willowbrook and area residents who have been fighting to prohibit further emissions into their community. In fact, in the heat of the 2018 election season, nearly a year ago to the day, Christian Mitchell, now Deputy Governor, launched a tweet as he campaigned for then-Candidate Pritzker, criticizing Governor Bruce Rauner for allowing Sterigenics to continue “pouring cancer causing pollutants into the air.” Mr. Mitchell requested at that time that members of the community affected by Sterigenics join him outside the Thompson Center for a press conference denouncing the corporate polluter and then-Gov. Rauner’s failure to act.
Now as Deputy Governor, Christian Mitchell oversees the Illinois EPA. Yet, this past Friday, Sterigenics was granted a construction permit by the IEPA which puts them on a clear path to reopening.
Citizen groups have led the charge since learning about this toxic chemical and its links to the cancer clusters in their area. Citizens continue to fight and urge the administration to leave the politics out of this issue.
After legislation passed last session, dubbed the Matt Haller Act after a local young father who died from stomach cancer believed to be caused by Sterigenics, that legislation failed to protect the local citizens (evinced by the current posture of the permit and the recent settlement reached between Sterigenics and the AG and the DuPage County State’s Attorney). For months, the citizens of the affected areas have been battered around like a political ping pong ball. Between Gov. Pritzker, Deputy Governor Christian Mitchell and local representatives including House Minority Leader Jim Durkin and State Senator John Curran, there have been countless press releases, public statements, and even letters back and forth obtained through FOIA. These communities deserve better than the current climate.
Today, residents from Cook, DuPage, and Lake Counties join together with environmental and social justice organizations and challenge Governor Pritzker to stand by his commitment to pass the strictest legislation on ethylene oxide. Their bill, HB3888, filed by Representative Rita Mayfield of Waukegan and supported by a broad bi-partisan coalition of legislators, calls for the phase out of emissions for sterilization plants and hospitals, and places caps on other forms of emissions in densely populated areas and near schools.
Additionally, HB3885, filed by Leader Durkin, provides home rule municipalities with the abillity to ban ethylene oxide within their boundaries. As has been quipped, if a town can ban smoking or adult entertainment venues, it only seems fair to give towns the ability to ban a substance that their constituents see as a killer.
“Protection from toxic, cancer causing emissions is a human right. It is a protection that every resident of Illinois deserves. We call upon our leadership in the administration to pass HB3888 and HB3885 and stand with us in declaring that the health and safety of all comes first,” said Gabriela Tejeda-Rios, a member of Stop Sterigenics.
The legislation is expected to be heard during Veto session this October. The community groups plan to be in Springfield during the process to ensure their voices are heard, even late on a Friday night.
As I told subscribers this morning, the tactic worked. Nobody covered the IEPA permit decision.
* Mayoral candidate Lori Lightfoot answered “Yes” to this Active Transportation Alliance question during the campaign…
The Metra Electric District line connects people to jobs and opportunity all along Chicago’s South Lakefront and into the South Suburbs. Currently, outside of rush hour Metra Electric trains run only once per hour south of 63rd Street, where many of the region’s most economically depressed are located. Do you support increasing the frequency of Metra Electric trains (every 15 minutes or less) on the full Metra Electric District line, with a discounted fare transfer to CTA buses?
County Board President Toni Preckwinkle cemented a [three-year pilot] plan to lower fares and increase service on both the Metra Electric and Rock Island train lines at the center of a racial equity agenda presented to the City Club of Chicago earlier this week — saying the effort would help ensure South Side and south suburban residents have better access to transit. […]
Lightfoot’s not convinced. The fare reduction plan would have “a dramatic effect” on the Chicago Transit Authority, the mayor told reporters Wednesday.
“I’m not in favor of it based upon the analysis that we’ve done,” Lightfoot said. “I’ve spent some time talking with (CTA President) Dorval Carter about it, and it looks like it is essentially a transfer of CTA passengers to the Metra line.
* The Active Transportation Alliance is not happy…
Yesterday Active Trans spokesman Kyle Whitehead criticized Lightfoot’s position in a statement. “The region has come too far with this plan for it to fall apart at this stage,” he said. “Politics and inter-agency competition shouldn’t get in the way of delivering better transit service to the people of Chicago’s South Side and South Suburbs.”
“Southland residents are better served by fast, frequent, and affordable Metra Electric service than buses that aren’t given any priority on city streets,” Whitehead added. “Leaders are working to reverse bus ridership declines with upgrades like bus lanes and traffic signal priority, but we’re a long way from system-wide improvement. This Metra Electric pilot can deliver benefits now.”
There are lots of reason why if, assuming the initiative results in more convenient, shorter, and more affordable transit trips for South Side and Southland residents, including many lower-income and working class people, it shouldn’t matter whether the CTA loses ridership. For example, as it stands many South Siders currently opt to ride buses to the Red Line to get downtown, rather that take much faster, more direct Metra trips, due to cost and schedule issues. That’s a major waste of their time, and it makes it more difficult for them to access job and education opportunities in other parts of the city.
And if the CTA loses lots of bus riders because of the shift, it’s a relatively simple matter to move buses around.
A similar test has worked well at New York’s Long Island Railway, says [Preckwinkle transportation chief John Yohan]. Even if people only go downtown to transfer to get to jobs elsewhere, “let’s give it a try. Fixing the public transit we have is the top priority for this region,” he says, and that means getting Metra and Pace and the CTA together. […]
Chicago is one region. Can we finally end the mayoral campaign?
* Back when I had interns, we’d have a general news roundup every morning. I don’t do that any longer, but here are a few stories that I’ve read but decided not to blog about for one reason or the other…
* Prime lakefront real estate—that seems impossible to fill: Boat trailers, new-car fleets, urban farms, self-storage: These are just some of the ways this firm is trying to fill thousands of square feet of unused space in the garages beneath Millennium Park.
* Lawmakers: SIU ‘test case’ for stricter presidential severance laws: “What governing boards are saying is … we have to give tenure otherwise they won’t come,” Finkelstein said. “That may be true. It’s certainly been the practice across the country, but is it good public policy? There are no other public executives in any state that get tenure. ”
* Enrollment Exodus: How Private Colleges and Universities Are Meeting Enrollment Challenges
Lipinski is no stranger to either primary challenges or opposition from sitting Democrats. In last year’s primary, two veteran Illinois Democrats — Reps. Jan Schakowsky and Luis Gutiérrez — bucked their colleague to endorse Newman.
In what might be a sign of shifting political dynamics in a presidential cycle, however, Schakowsky has so far declined to pick a side in this year’s contest. And Rep. Jesús Garcia (D-Ill.), a liberal freshman who replaced the retired Gutiérrez, said he’s “not in a hurry” to jump into the race — and suggested he won’t do so.
“I serve with him on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and at least three subcommittees,” Garcia said of Lipinski, “so I really haven’t given that much thought.” […]
“I know Marie and like Marie, but there’s also something to the fact that [Lipinski’s] a current member and that mutual respect,” Rep. Robin Kelly, another progressive Illinois Democrat, told The Hill. “I don’t agree with all of his stances, but you know how you respect the office, like we say about the president?”
Discussions about whether to allow recreational marijuana sales in the suburbs have ramped up in the last two weeks, and more suburbs are leaning in favor after early negativity this summer.
Elburn has voted to allow marijuana sales, and village boards in South Elgin, Pingree Grove and East Dundee plan to do the same after they decide on zoning regulations.
Arlington Heights, Elgin, Buffalo Grove, Lake in the Hills, St. Charles, Bartlett, Lombard, North Aurora, Island Lake and Wauconda have leaned toward “yes” to sales in their discussions so far. […]
There’s also the question of whether to allow marijuana “lounges,” or places where people can consume marijuana on premises. Elgin and South Elgin don’t want lounges, but East Dundee is OK with them.
[Sen. Heather Steans, Deputy Gov. Christian Mitchell and Sen. Jason Barickman] were in general agreement that “the law is the law,” and any other language involved in a trailer bill would be mostly technical in nature. For Mitchell, that means “not relitigating” issues already decided in the initial passage of the bill.
The deputy governor added industry concerns regarding advanced licenses for some existing medicinal marijuana dispensaries were clearly addressed in existing legislation. Mitchell also said concerns raised by municipalities regarding the enforcement of home-grown marijuana plants, which medicinal patients are legally allowed to possess, were also unlikely to be addressed in a trailer bill.
“What we have said to everyone is that the trailer bill for veto is going to be highly technical stuff that needs to change in order to ensure a smooth roll into January 1, (2020). It is not a forum to relitigate issues on which folks lost out negotiations,” he said.
* Bruce Rushton recently visited his father in Tacoma, Washington and filed this report…
The surest sign that pot is here to stay came when I spotted a flier at my father’s house advertising a medical marijuana tour that included lunch and a 10 percent discount for ladies. My father will be 86 on Sunday.
Instantly, I suspected dope pushers at the local senior center, and, sure enough, I was right. It turns out that the Tacoma parks department, which purports to care about old people, organizes annual tours of pot shops aimed at folks like my dad, who could just as easily could be your grandfather.
When she isn’t taking seniors to pot parlors, Bonnie Elliser, Fifty And Better recreation specialist for Metro Parks Tacoma, told me that she sets up bingo games as well as classes on jewelry making and painting and how to negotiate Medicare. The annual marijuana tour, she says, was a case of being asked by seniors she sees on a regular basis. “They didn’t want to go on their own,” Elliser tells me. “They just felt uncomfortable. There are a few that do have medical marijuana cards. The majority just want to get rid of their aches and pains.” Unfortunately, it hasn’t worked for my dad, who remains a poster child for proper Oxycodone use.
The historic hub of black culture on the south side of Chicago called Bronzeville bears the marks of disinvestment, white flight and redlining common to many of the city’s black-majority neighborhoods.
Along the expansive South Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, lines of greystones alternate in and out of disrepair, and many of the district’s blocks that were once home to vibrant institutions — earning it the name “Black Metropolis” — are now mottled with overgrown, vacant lots. A census tract within the area is one of the poorest in the city.
But for Seke Ballard and Seun Adedeji, the area is ripe for reinvestment because — not in spite — of it being disadvantaged.
In late June, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a law legalizing the recreational use of cannabis that lowers the barrier of entry to the industry for places like Bronzeville and its residents who have been disproportionately harmed by past cannabis laws and poverty. It takes effect Jan. 1.
Come Jan. 1, it will be legal to purchase and possess recreational marijuana in Illinois. And as the new year gets closer, several Chicago cannabis startups are beginning to imagine what the future holds for them under the new law. […]
Chicago startup Fyllo recently raised $16 million to grow its business, which helps cannabis companies deliver ad campaigns that are compliant with state and federal regulations.
Other Chicago cannabis startups whose business is likely to grow once recreational marijuana is legalized in Illinois include CannaFundr, an online investment marketplace for companies in the weed industry, and Leaf Trade, a B2B SaaS enterprise software startup for cannabis companies.
“[Legalizing recreational marijuana] is going to be great for not only the individuals, but the small businesses,” said Gavin of CannaTrac. “These [companies] are going to have the ability to do stuff that they couldn’t before. They’ve been waiting a really long time to make money.”
* Pittsfield council approves 3% cannabis tax: “Whether we allow it to be sold here or not, somebody is going to allow it, and somebody is going to be selling it,” [Pittsfield Mayor John Hayden] said. “It is still going to end up here. We might as well benefit from the sale of it.”
Sarah Frey, a family pumpkin farmer whose distribution deal with Walmart propelled her company to nationwide fame and impressed the likes of academic experts at Harvard Business School, is quietly growing support in the early stages of a 2020 primary contest to replace outgoing U.S. Representative John Shimkus in the 15th Congressional District.
Republicans in Washington, D.C., are “looking for a woman in that seat,” according to two sources close to the party’s effort to recruit candidates for the open seat. The focus on recruiting a female candidate could help the Illinois GOP address a gender deficit on Capitol Hill. All five Republicans currently serving in Illinois’ Congressional delegation are men.
The push to recruit a female could also be interpreted as an early snub to State Senator Jason Plummer (R-Edwardsville), who has not yet officially announced a campaign, but immediately started seeking support from state party officials after Rep. Shimkus announced he would not seek re-election.
Sarah was raised on a small, 100-acre farm in southern Illinois, where at age eight, she and her mother would buy watermelons from local farmers and then go store-to-store, making deliveries to local grocers during the summer. At age 16, Sarah bought a truck and took over the distribution, and it wasn’t long before she grew the client list from 12 stores to more than 150. In fact, she purchased the family business when she was 18 years old. […]
Tsamma (pronounced Sah-Mah), is the first and only bottled watermelon juice produced in the U.S. Sarah created Tsamma after noticing a gap in the variety of flavored juice and sports drinks offered to consumers. Seizing the opportunity to fill a market void, Sarah launched Tsamma in June 2014 and within two months secured product distribution to more than 1,500 stores nationwide.
According to the New York Times, she also grows more pumpkins than anyone else in the country. Sen. Plummer could have his work cut out for him if they both decide to run.
* Meanwhile, Cal Skinner reports on a new poll from the Evelyn Sanguinetti congressional campaign…
The first [push question] had to do with Sanguinett’s Hispanic background and her being the first such Lieutenent Governor in the United States.
The second claimed that Sanguinetti “spent ten years fighting Mike Madigan,” while (apparently because of contributions from the same union source) Jeanne Ives “is Mike Madigan’s favorite Republican.”
Bruce Rauner, you will recall, used that exact same attack on Ives during the 2018 primary.
Jeanne Ives, Republican Candidate for Congress (IL-6), has been endorsed by the Susan B. Anthony List Candidate Fund.
The SBA List, which is nearly a million members strong, supports candidates committed to defending life at all stages and to promotion laws that save lives.
The SBA List described Ives as “a bold pro-life leader who will fight to protect unborn children in Congress,” said SBA List President Marjorie Dannenfelser. “Illinois recently passed one of the most extreme abortion laws in the country – legalizing abortion up to the moment of birth, allowing non- doctors to perform abortions, and even repealing the state’s ban on gruesome partial-birth abortions. As a state legislator, Jeanne worked hard to oppose laws forcing taxpayers to fun abortion. Illinois citizens deserve a passionate pro-life advocate like Jeanne will stand up to the extreme abortion lobby in Washington.”
* Related…
* Trump’s takeover of GOP forces many House Republicans to head for the exits: Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.), another retiring member, declined to say whether he had any problems with Trump. “The president is the de facto head of the party by definition, but the party for me is less government, individual responsibility, lower taxes, more personal freedoms and liberties,” he said. “People come and go. Personalities are personalities,” he added.
I will not run for re-election in 2020. I will serve out my current term which ends in January 2021.
Representing the people of District 43 is an honor. We have accomplished a lot, and I look forward to accomplishing more in the next 15 months.
Sincerely,
Pat McGuire
McGuire took office in 2012 and now chairs the Senate Higher Education Committee. On a personal note, Pat knows more about music than just about anyone I know.
McGuire becomes the second Democratic Will County state Senator to forgo a reelection bid. Sen. Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant is giving up her seat to run for Will County Executive.
AI is empowering each candidate to present themselves as if that candidate were speaking to us one-on-one. This has always been possible in small groups or at political rallies. But no politician in history has had the ability to speak to every individual voter one-on-one. Human politicians still can’t, but their AI-generated political avatars can. And frighteningly, these AI-generated political avatars know more about our real hopes and dreams than any human candidate ever could. […]
Whenever you interact with an app (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google) or website or any other online data aggregator (Nest, Alexa, Waze, your smartphone), you are creating two sets of data. The first set of data is the data required to enable the technology you are using to work. This might include the location of your device, if you’re using Waze or your smartphone. Or the current temperature of your home, if you’re using a Nest thermostat. Or what you are interested in at the moment, if you are using Facebook, Amazon, Google, Instagram, Twitter, etc.
But you also create a second set of data. Sometimes referred to as “surplus data,” these data are not specifically required to achieve your immediate objective – for example, your location when you tap a like button, or the time of day you are usually in your home when you adjust your thermostat, or the kinds of images that get your attention when you stop scrolling on a social network.
Surplus data are collected with the explicit purpose of improving the engineering of bespoke online environments and messaging that you will find irresistible. Said differently, these are the data used by algorithms to feed your social media addiction. […]
To customize messaging for multi-issue voters, behavioral data are fed into algorithms designed to score those behaviors and then predict what attributes should be crafted into the customized persona of the particular candidate. You can call it “pandering at scale.” While this technology is table stakes in best practices digital advertising, dynamic apps, and websites, it is relatively new for politicians. They may be late to the game, but they are now using the schooling they received in 2016, and we’re about to get an up close and personal view of the unintended consequences of the lessons learned.
* New Illinois Law for AI in Job Interviews: The Artificial Intelligence Video Interview Act, House Bill 2557, requires companies to notify the applicant when the system is being used, explain how the AI works, get permission from the applicant, limit distribution of the video to people involved with the process and to destroy the video after 30 days.
A coalition of mayors from mostly African American south suburbs are calling on Gov. J.B. Pritzker to reconsider a key portion of the state’s new gambling law, which they say gives the house edge to owners of a combination horse racetrack-casino over majority-black towns vying for a separate casino license nearby.
Not only would the two new full-blown gambling dens compete with one another for customers in a saturated suburban market, but the law also potentially allows the racino owners to block a traditional casino from setting up shop in the first place. That “11th hour” provision to the gaming bill only benefits “a wealthy, white track owner,” according to Matteson Village President Sheila Chalmers-Currin.
First of all, the south suburbs isn’t currently saturated with casinos. The south suburbs have been trying for years to get a casino, now they’re getting two and possibly a third in the form of a racino.
And as I told you then, this criticism was based on a misreading of the new state law. The statute only allows current track owners to veto the location of a new racino, not the south suburban casinos. The Matteson mayor even acknowledged her mistake to the Sun-Times in a follow-up article…
The Matteson mayor acknowledged the misreading, saying she and other south suburban leaders have since “gotten some clarification on that” from state Rep. Bob Rita, D-Blue Island, an architect of the casino expansion.
* And then the Matteson mayor and others held a press conference over the weekend to repeat their initially false claims…
A group of south suburban mayors claims the recently passed gaming bill has a bias against their communities.
Matteson Mayor Sheila Chalmers-Currin said south suburbs are being short-changed in their effort to build a casino. […]
Chalmers-Currin said the gaming bill gives the horse racing industry full control of where any future casino will be located.
“This proposed law appears to allow two casinos, but we know this will never happen and the favored track owner will have the only gaming property in Cook County.”
Whatever else you may believe, you have to commend Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot for trying to live up to her campaign promise of making sure that new economic development isn’t concentrated in the city’s downtown business district.
Her city casino proposal didn’t include a downtown location because she said she wanted the development benefits to target an outlying area. Her adult-use cannabis plan also forbids retail sales downtown, for partially the same reason: Let the neighborhoods benefit.
No Chicago mayor since perhaps Harold Washington has made such a public priority out of spreading the wealth into the city’s neighborhoods.
The problem is not the mayor’s stated intent. The problem is how these moves are being perceived by state legislators at a crucial time in the city’s history.
The Chicago casino legislation was supposed to help the city make its pension payments. The cannabis bill was seen, partially, as a potential boon for the city’s cash-strapped budget.
Both of those industries are consumer-driven, and both have great potential for attracting tourism and commuter dollars. It’s a generally accepted fact that the more money the city can extract out of fun-seeking visitors, the better.
So at a time when the mayor is asking the state for help filling its nearly billion-dollar budget hole, it’s probably not a good idea to look like it’s leaving money on the table.
I don’t think anyone would dispute that a downtown casino would rake in more money than one in a neighborhood — any neighborhood. And convincing tourists to leave the area near their hotels for the still-uncommon opportunity to purchase and consume legal cannabis products won’t be nearly as successful if the shopping experience is more inconvenient.
Not to mention that a casino would be of dubious economic value to a neighborhood except for its proximity to any employees who might live nearby. Gamblers don’t usually leave until they’ve spent their money, which means they won’t be spending money outside. A casino could have the opposite effect of the mayor’s intent.
And walling off downtown to cannabis sales is a good idea only if the mayor’s real intent is to wait until the social equity participants are eventually allowed to open their shops later next year and then give them the first crack at the lucrative downtown tourism market. But it’s impossible to tell for sure if that’s what’s happening, and Lightfoot probably couldn’t admit it even if it was her intent because she’d be inviting lawsuits.
To most eyes, though, it just looks like she’s once again passing up an opportunity to snatch up tourist dollars.
It’s not that legislators don’t necessarily want to help Chicago with its budget mess (although many, if not most, don’t want to help at all), it’s that they’ve already handed the city some potentially lucrative life rafts and many of them are sitting unused. It’s human nature to be skeptical of someone asking for help when the person hasn’t taken full advantage of the assistance already given.
”I really like her, but I feel like she needs to start taking more of what’s offered,” one suburban Democratic state senator told me last week.
”We shouldn’t,” said one prominent House Democrat when I asked him if the state should help the city when it isn’t apparently maximizing the existing help that’s been offered.
”The casino has to be somewhere where tourists can easily go,” insisted one top House Republican. “I completely do not understand anybody thinking otherwise.”
I’m told the mayor has a meeting with the House’s gaming point person, Rep. Bob Rita (D-Blue Island), in early October to talk about her veto session agenda. Among other things, she wants a lower tax rate on a casino, which is seen by some as yet another example of the city turning up its nose at revenue opportunities.
That may not be a fair assessment because the tax rate set by lawmakers is astoundingly high and a consultant hired by the state did say the rate would make it nearly impossible for an operator to earn a profit. But there’s little doubt that her stance feeds into the broader perception that the city is looking too many gift horses in the mouth.
Lightfoot’s people say she has not totally ruled out a downtown location. She should make that position better known.
Some of the criticisms may not be fair, and some may not even be accurate. But they’re impossible to escape. And you don’t want to give legislators easy excuses to vote against you.
