Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

AG Raoul asks court to force Timpone/Proft papers to remove personal voter information from its websites

Wednesday, May 8, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* WAND…

A group of Illinois Democratic lawmakers want to establish strict licensing, taxing and testing regulations for hemp products such as Delta-8 and CBD.

The proposal would ensure hemp businesses can only sell products to customers 21 and older. It could also prohibit the sale of hemp products that look like candy, chips and other common snacks.

Sponsors and advocates argue that hemp is a popular and diverse multi-billion dollar marketplace that Illinois should not ban. […]

This legislation has not been assigned to a House or Senate committee. However, sponsors hope they can move it in the final weeks of the spring session.

* AFSCME Council 31…

Urging legislators not to retreat from progress made toward sustainable wages for direct-support professionals (DSPs) who care for individuals with developmental disabilities, union-represented DSPs will converge on the Capitol TODAY (Wednesday) for a statewide lobby day and news conference.

Some 100 DSPs employed by approximately 30 agencies will participate, coming from Chicago and its suburbs, Dixon, Galesburg, Metro East, Quad Cities, the greater Rockford and Springfield areas and elsewhere.

After years of neglect, Illinois has made important investments in disability services over the past eight years. But the starting wage at many agencies is barely above the minimum, and no increase for DSP wages was included in the governor’s proposed FY25 budget.

DSPs urge a two-part solution:

1: Fund a $3/hour wage increase to bring DSP base wage rates to 150% of minimum wage, and
2: Include strong, clear language in the Budget Implementation bill and DHS guidance to ensure that dollars earmarked for wages are passed to all workers as an across-the board wage increase.

WHAT: News conference on need for DSP wage increase
WHO: Sen. Ram Villivalam, Rep. Maurice West, DSPs represented by AFSCME and SEIU
WHEN: TODAY (Wednesday, May at 11:45 a.m.
WHERE: State Capitol blue room

Without continued investment and strong accountability provisions to ensure funds are passed on to frontline worker wages, DSP positions will go unfilled, dedicated and experienced caregivers will be forced out of the industry, and waiting lists for services will continue to grow.

DSPs are represented by AFSCME Council 31, SEIU Local 73 and SEIU Health Care Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Kansas.

* WGIL…

House Bill 5396 aims to ensure the Illinois Prisoner Review Board is complying with a law that was passed by the 102nd General Assembly creating a hearing procedure for the incarcerated to petition for medical release.

State Rep. Will Guzzardi, D-Chicago, is a sponsor of the bill that passed the Illinois House earlier this spring.

“This law passed this chamber in a bipartisan fashion in 2021. That act created a hearing procedure for incarcerated people, who are terminally ill or medically disabled, to petition for early release. This law has been in effect for a couple of years and there’s been a few implementation challenges,” said Guzzardi. “The PRB has implemented some of the language in a way that was different from our original intent. This bill is just clarifying that original bill to make sure the PRB complies with the spirit of the original law.” […]

The measure is now in the Senate and awaits further action.

* Capitol News Illinois…

Advocates for community-based after-school programs say as many as 40,000 youths statewide could lose access to tutoring services, recreation and other extracurricular activities this summer unless Illinois lawmakers approve an infusion of funds to keep them going. […]

The problem facing many programs whose grant cycles are expiring is that in 2023, ISBE miscalculated how much money was available and made commitments to award more grants than the state could fund. As a result, many programs whose grant cycles are expiring cannot get them renewed because there is not enough funding available. Advocates are seeking $50 million in state funding to make up for the anticipated shortfall.

Stanton said programs serving about 6,000 students were forced to close at the end of the previous fiscal year, and without an injection of state funds, another 40,000 students will lose access to services after June 30 this year.

State Sen. Ram Villivalam, D-Chicago, has proposed legislation that would commit $50 million a year in state funds for the 21st Century Community Learning Centers.

* WGEM…

After passing a law requiring the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) to adopt Comprehensive Literacy Plan in 2023, state lawmakers are now looking to expand its requirements to ensure partners supporting teachers and students also follow the plan.

The state Senate Education Committee passed a bill Tuesday requiring any vendor or learning partner approved to work with a school in English/language arts to follow the literacy plan.

Adopted by ISBE in January, the plan uses evidence-based literacy instruction materials to teach students foundational reading skills. It also supports teachers by making sure they’re prepared to teach those foundational literacy skills. […]

The bill now heads to the Senate floor. The state House of Representatives passed the legislation on April 16.

* Sen. Rachel Ventura…

To protect renters from additional rental payment transaction fees, State Senator Rachel Ventura advanced legislation that would require landlords to be more flexible with payment options.

“As rent costs have skyrocketed across the country, residents are struggling to make ends meet and these transaction fees imposed on them by their landlord can add up quickly,” said Ventura (D-Joliet). “Some leases require 2-3% of rent to cover processing fees which adds a lot to an already high rent. By requiring landlords to also accept cash or check we help save Illinoisans from this unnecessary cost.”

House Bill 4206 would require landlords to allow tenants to make rental payments by delivering a paper check or cash to the landlord or their business office if the landlord uses a third-party payment portal to collect rent and has a transactional fee or other charge imposed through the portal on the rental payments.

Transactional fees on rent payments can vary depending on the total rent payment and the service a landlord uses. For example, if a tenant is paying $1,000 a month on rent and is required by the landlord to use a credit or debit card, the processing fee could be around 2-3%, making it an additional $20-30 per month. […]

House Bill 4206 passed the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday and heads to the full Senate for further consideration.

* WAND…

Students in Illinois public schools could be required to learn about climate change starting with the 2026 school year.

A plan moving in Springfield calls for instruction on identifying environmental and ecological impacts of climate change on people and communities. The proposal would also require education on solutions to address and mitigate the impacts of climate change. […]

The Illinois State Board of Education could prepare multi-disciplinary instructional resources and professional learning opportunities for educators that may be used to meet the requirements. However, that provision of the bill is subject to state appropriations.

The legislation passed out of the Senate Education Committee on a 9-4 vote. House Bill 4895 now moves to the Senate floor for further consideration.

* Sen. Julie Morrison…

State Senator Julie Morrison is leading a measure to bring more diversity in participants of clinical trials.

“Better representation in clinical trials will improve progress and innovation in cancer care and mitigate some inequities that currently exist in health care,” said Morrison (D-Lake Forest).

House Bill 5405 would require the Illinois Department of Public Health to work with the University of Illinois and other relevant organizations to conduct a study examining what demographics are currently underrepresented in clinical trials, identify barriers to participation and pinpoint ways to improve upon outreach to these communities. IDPH would report the findings of this study to the General Assembly by July 1, 2026.

“Prioritizing accessibility and equity in cancer research is vital as cancer disproportionately impacts marginalized communities,” said Morrison. “This bill will ensure participation from historically underrepresented communities.”

House Bill 5405 passed the Senate Public Health Committee Tuesday and moves to the full Senate for further consideration.

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Welcome to Springfield

Wednesday, May 8, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Media advisory…

The Public Schedule for Mayor Brandon Johnson – May 8, 2024

Mayor Brandon Johnson will travel to Springfield, Illinois.

* Tahman Bradley at WGN…

“There are a host of things that I will be requesting on behalf of the people of Chicago,” Johnson said about his impending trip to Springfield.

The mayor will try to help the Bears, who are seeking public funding for a new lakefront stadium, but that’s not his focus. Team President Kevin Warren is leading the charge.

“I know that President Warren has been in conversations with the General Assembly along with Governor Pritzker,” Johnson said.

Johnson is also keeping a close eye on school funding.

“It’s been very clear that I’ve been pushing for that,” he said. “The families of Chicago are owed $1 billion from the state of Illinois in order to build a better, stronger, safer city but particularly investing in our public school system. Now that’s something we can all get behind.”

I’m not sure how he’s made it clear that he’s pushing for state school funding. He and his people haven’t been doing much of anything in Springfield on this topic.

Also, they’re owed a billion dollars? I’d like to see the receipts.

* Tribune…

With the expiration of federal COVID-19 emergency relief funds in September, CPS faces a budget shortfall of at least $391 million next school year. Johnson has said his Springfield wish list, in part, includes $1 billion in state funds that are “owed” to the “families of Chicago,” including greater state aid under the evidence-based funding formula and additional teacher pension funds.

But Johnson’s wish list is likely to be viewed as wishful thinking in budget-conscious Springfield. and his visit comes as the school closings moratorium debate has, at times, pitted progressives against each other as CTU pursues its far-left agenda.

Not to mention that the mayor was silent after the CTU, his most important ally, called that school closure bill “racist.”

* Politico…

The take-away: Johnson may not get far with state lawmakers, but he’ll be able to tell residents he tried — putting the onus back on the General Assembly.

I mean, he can try to point fingers. I doubt it’ll succeed. The city is his. The “onus” is on him.

40 Comments

Wednesday, May 8, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* About a month ago in the Tribune…

The State Board of Elections has asked Attorney General Kwame Raoul to consider legal action against the publisher of far-right faux newspapers and websites for publishing personal information about Illinois voters.

Matt Dietrich, a spokesman for the elections board, said the board has received dozens of complaints from voters asking how personal information got into the hands of the publisher, Local Government Information Services. The publication of that information on LGIS websites is a possible violation of a statutory prohibition on the use of voter identification other than for “bona fide political purposes,” the elections board said.

Dietrich said political committees registered with the state elections board are allowed to purchase voter data, containing names, addresses and birthdates, with an explicit prohibition on the use of the data for other business purposes. The board stopped collecting voter birthdates in 2018 for additional privacy protection.

LGIS, a purveyor of what has become known as “pink slime” journalism, operates dozens of websites in Illinois and throughout the country that try to disguise its far-right Republican campaign advocacy through mailers and websites with names that could be construed as those of legitimate newspapers such as “Chicago City Wire,” the “DuPage Policy Journal” and the “Will County Gazette.”

LGIS is operated by Brian Timpone, an ally and business partner of onetime failed gubernatorial candidate, political operative and right-wing radio talk show host Dan Proft of Naples, Florida.

* AG Raoul filed for a TRO and a preliminary injunction this week in Lake County…

Beginning in the weeks before the March 19, 2024 General Primary Election, Defendant has published thousands of articles containing Illinois voters’ birthdates, full street addresses and voting records. Defendant’s use of old voter registration information violates Illinois Election Code provisions that permitted disclosure of that information to political committees in the first instance. Defendant is not a political committee and could not lawfully obtain voters’ birthdates and street numbers otherwise. While Defendant may believe that it is providing some value to the community by sharing with the public the rate at which various precincts’ voters do vote, Defendant has no lawful claim to the information that it has obtained. And publishing voters’ birthdates and full street addresses has put voters at imminent risk of identity theft and has placed several categories of voters, such as members of the judiciary and law enforcement, in harm’s way.

The potential harm caused to Illinois voters by Defendant’s publications, including identity theft or worse, to their physical safety, will be irreparable. Defendant has ignored the State Board’s request that it pull the articles from its websites. So now, through this motion, Plaintiffs seek both temporary and preliminary injunctive relief to maintain the status quo, in the form of an order requiring Defendant to remove voters’ birthdates and street numbers from its online publications, and enjoining Defendant from publishing such information until such time as the Court can resolve this dispute.

* From the argument…

It is undeniable that an emergency exists. Defendant’s actions have put tens of thousands of Illinois voters at risk of identity theft. Further, some of the state’s most vulnerable citizens, as well as some of its most loyal servants, are now exposed to danger due to the publication of their home addresses—surely to no meaningful benefit to Defendant or the public. Defendant’s use of birthdates and street numbers, obtained most likely from a closely related political committee, is unlawful and Plaintiffs are likely to succeed on their claim for such a declaratory judgment. To the extent Plaintiffs are even required to show irreparable harm, the likely harm to Illinois voters will be irreparable, and the fears of identity theft or physical harm are supported by the massive scale of Defendant’s improper publication of voter information. Likewise, the voters whose information is included in Defendant’s publication do not have an adequate remedy at law, thus requiring the Court to enjoin Defendant from publishing improperly obtained voter information.

* The violation…

Plaintiffs can certainly show that Defendant’s publication of sensitive voter data provided to political committees from 2016 and 2020 violates the Election Code. As explained in the Complaint, Defendant has obtained 2016 and 2020 voter registration data that would have been available only to political committees and merged that data to create lists of purported registered voters, publishing those lists in thousands of online articles. Defendant admits that it obtained the birthdates in its publications from files received in 2016, which likely came from a closely related political committee, and then combined that data with 2020 data.

But regardless of how Defendant obtained the 2016 and 2020 registration information, it is not a political committee. As such, Defendant has no right to use voter registration information provided to political committees pursuant to Sections 4-8, 5-7, and 6-35 of the Election Code. … Further, Defendant has no bona fide political purpose for sharing the confidential voter registration information that it has obtained because it is a for-profit news organization.

Moreover, while voter registration information is available to the public by the State Board as required under the NVRA, such information does not include sensitive voter information, including street numbers of home addresses and birthdates. Rather, the 2016 voter registration information that Defendant has obtained and merged with 2020 data, includes voters’ birthdates, which would have only been made available to a political committee that could not lawfully, under the Election Code, provide such information to Defendant. Compl. Defendant’s possession and publication of sensitive voter information from 2016 and 2020 is improper under the Election Code and Plaintiffs are entitled to injunctive relief preventing such violations of the Election Code.

* Conclusion…

WHEREFORE, for the reasons stated above, along with those stated in the Motion for Temporary Restraining Order and Preliminary Injunction, Plaintiffs, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul on behalf of the People of the State of Illinois and the Illinois State Board of Elections, respectfully request that this Court enter a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction enjoining Defendant and its officers, agents, employees, and any other persons or entities within its control or working in concert with it, from publishing on its websites or in print information improperly obtained from 2016 and 2020 voter lists, including voters’ dates of birth and street addresses, and ordering Defendant to remove voters’ birthdates and street numbers from its articles about voter turnout in the 2020 general election during the pendency of this case.

Verified complaint is here. Emergency motion is here.

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Uber Partners With Cities To Expand Urban Transportation

Wednesday, May 8, 2024 - Posted by Advertising Department

[The following is a paid advertisement.]

Uber is leading the charge to close critical transportation gaps, ensuring reliable access to its services in places that need it most, such as underserved areas like Englewood. This is a part of Uber’s broader commitment to augment and expand the reach of Chicago’s transportation ecosystem, focusing on overcoming the first-mile/ last-mile hurdles that have long plagued residents in farther afield neighborhoods. Uber aims to extend the public transit network’s reach, making urban transportation more accessible and efficient for everyone. Discover the full story on how Uber is transforming city transportation for the better.

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Pritzker expresses some concern about data center power usage, says state is ‘monitoring’

Wednesday, May 8, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* A story last month from Bloomberg…

Artificial intelligence is poised to help drive a 900% jump in power demand from data centers in the Chicago area, according to Exelon Chief Executive Officer Calvin Butler.

About 25 data center projects that would consume around 5 gigawatts of power total — roughly equivalent to the output of five nuclear plants — are undergoing engineering studies in Exelon unit Commonwealth Edison’s territory, Butler said. That compares with about 400 megawatts of data center demand currently on its system. Butler expects up to 80% of the planned developments to be completed.

“We are seeing quite a bit of activity,” Butler said during an interview on the sidelines of the S&P Global Power Markets Conference in Las Vegas on Wednesday. Data center developers are attracted to ComEd’s low electricity rates, carbon-free generation from nuclear reactors and state tax incentives, he added. An Exelon spokesperson said the company will continue to ensure that its system can handle the additional power load growth.

The demand surge wouldn’t be met immediately by more power generation. New data centers would initially be served by excess capacity already on the regional grid, imported electricity from other areas and then eventually by newly constructed sources, said Paul Patterson, a utility analyst for Glenrock Associates.

Data centers qualify for a range of state tax exemptions and credits in Illinois and in other states. The incentives have helped create a ton of construction jobs and Illinois is now one of the top locations for data centers in the country.

* Gov. JB Pritzker held a press conference yesterday to showcase the state’s burgeoning electric vehicle industry, so Isabel asked him about this topic…

Isabel: Governor, are you at all concerned that the growth of state subsidized data centers will eventually put strain on the power supply?

Governor Pritzker: It’s a great question because we do have to balance what kinds of companies we’re letting live off of the grid that we’ve got here in the state. Remember, we’re a net energy exporter in the state. So we produce a lot of electricity. We don’t want to have it all sucked up by just one industry. [We] want to make sure that we’re spreading it about, we want to make sure we have lots of jobs that get created, particularly in manufacturing.

We’re monitoring, we’ve still got the incentives in place for data centers. But we’ve got to make sure that data centers are using power efficiently and that they’re using clean energy on their own sites to reduce the amount of energy they’re pulling from the grid.

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Get The Facts On The Illinois Prescription Drug Board

Wednesday, May 8, 2024 - Posted by Advertising Department

[The following is a paid advertisement.]

The price-setting board proposed in HB4472 is not the solution for Illinois. It would give bureaucrats the power to arbitrarily set medicine prices, deciding what medicines and treatments are “worth” paying for. We can’t leave Illinoisans’ health care up to political whims. Let’s make it easier, not harder for patients to access their medicines. Click here to learn more.

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Wednesday, May 8, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* What’s going on?…

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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Supplement to today’s edition

Wednesday, May 8, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* ICYMI: Nearly 8 months into Illinois’ new era without cash bail, experts say recidivism and jail populations are trending lower. KDSK…

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Tribune | CTU’s credibility questioned in Springfield as their biggest ally, Mayor Brandon Johnson, heads to state Capitol: The Chicago Teachers Union’s role in the debate over legislation that would extend for two years a moratorium on closing public schools in the city — including selective enrollment and magnet schools — has raised questions about the powerful union’s credibility in Springfield for some lawmakers. The CTU’s biggest ally, Mayor Brandon Johnson, is headed to the state Capitol on Wednesday to plead for more school funding from the state amid negotiations over a new teachers union contract and on the same day a Senate committee hearing is scheduled on the moratorium extension, which was approved by the House last month.

* Capitol News Illinois | Lawsuit alleges sexual abuse was rampant in state-run juvenile detention centers: Rampant sexual abuse occurred unchecked for decades at Illinois’ juvenile detention centers, a new lawsuit filed on behalf of 95 former detainees alleges, citing hundreds of incidents over more than two decades. The plaintiffs were boys between 12 and 17 years old when the alleged abuse occurred and are now adults. The alleged perpetrators were both men and women working in the facilities.

* AP | Survivors of alleged abuse in Illinois youth detention facilities step forward: Calvin McDowell, 37, who alleged he was abused by a chaplain at a suburban Chicago youth center as a teenager, said he didn’t want others suffering as he did for decades. “Instead of being cared for, I felt more alone than ever,” McDowell said at a Chicago news conference. “I held my secret from the people I loved out of fear and embarrassment. I had nights where I wanted to give up on life.”

*** Statehouse News ***

* Tribune | Illinois hemp businesses owners call for regulation and taxation, not prohibition: Hemp entrepreneurs came out Tuesday in favor of a state legislative proposal to license hemp sales, require testing and labeling of their products, prohibit products that look like well-known snack brands, and limit sales to those 21 and over. The bill would create 10% wholesale and a 10% retail sales taxes, and an unlimited number of $500 licenses. That proposal stands in contrast with a bill backed by the Cannabis Business Association of Illinois, which would prohibit sales of hemp-derived intoxicating products.

* Capitol News Illinois | Thousands of youths at risk of losing access to after-school programs: Advocates for community-based after-school programs say as many as 40,000 youths statewide could lose access to tutoring services, recreation and other extracurricular activities this summer unless Illinois lawmakers approve an infusion of funds to keep them going. “The time is now for legislators to act to save after-school (programs),” Susan Stanton, executive director of Afterschool for Children and Teens, or ACT Now, said at a Statehouse rally Tuesday. “We literally only have weeks left before programs have to shut their doors. Staff will be laid off and families will be in crisis.”

* Daily Herald | A push to raise pay for those who work with developmentally disabled: James Sitati, who has worked at Little City for 20 years, describes DSPs like himself as jacks-of-all-trades. His duties include waking up residents, getting them breakfast and medication, and taking them to daily enrichment activities. […] Sitati said the $2.50 raise this year has helped, but a raise next year also would mean less overtime and more time with his family. It would also help attract more people to the profession and ensure a higher quality of work, he added.

* WAND | Gov. Pritzker marks grand opening of Ferrero chocolate factory in Bloomington: Governor Pritzker joined the Ferrero North America team three years ago to break ground on the new facility. Construction was completed this year. The $75 million investment from Ferrero builds on the company’s impact in Illinois. In 2018, Ferrero took over management of a manufacturing plant in Franklin Park, Illinois, where they focus on Butterfinger and Baby Ruth products. The company also manufactures Keebler products at a plant located on 110th street in Chicago.

*** Chicago ***

* Tribune | Bally’s Chicago sees first monthly revenue decline in April: Bally’s Chicago revenue was down 7% to about $10.4 million in adjusted gross receipts in April, the first month-over-month revenue decline since the temporary casino opened at Medinah Temple in September. Admissions were also down, declining more than 4% to 112,751 visitors for the month, according to data released Tuesday by the Illinois Gaming Board.

* Crain’s | Legalizing video gambling in Chicago could come with a major hitch: The city’s agreement with Bally’s, called the host community agreement, or HCA, lays out parameters for the separate $2 million annual payments to the city. At the time the casino was approved, city officials said those payments were needed to support community groups and to cover an increased police presence around Bally’s temporary casino at Medinah Temple as well as its future permanent location in River West. But those payments would be “subject to good-faith renegotiation” if a second casino was permitted in the city, if gambling taxes were increased or if new forms of gambling were permitted in the city.

* Tribune | Proposal aimed at quieting anti-abortion protests outside Chicago clinic moves forward in City Council: Protesters have targeted the West Loop’s Family Planning Associates clinic at West Washington Boulevard and North Desplaines Street for years, said Ald. Bill Conway, 34th. They rush toward arriving patients and amplify sound so loud that it disrupts work being done inside, he said. The ordinance Conway sponsored that passed through the City Council’s Public Safety committee Tuesday seeks to block the use of loud noise-making devices directly outside the clinic.

* Sun-Times | Friends of the Parks ‘prepared to fight for the lakefront’ in battle for new Bears domed stadium: Gin Kilgore, acting executive director of the group, tried hard to thread a needle Tuesday, in her first extended interview since the Bears unveiled their $5.9 billion plan to build and finance that stadium and retire existing debt used to renovate Soldier Field and Guaranteed Rate Field, current home of the White Sox.[…] “We are prepared to fight for the lakefront. We are prepared to stand on behalf of the doctrines, the principles that say our lakefront should be forever open, clear and free for public use. … [But] this is not a fully-fleshed-out proposal,” she added.

* Crain’s | Claiming fraud, lender sues migrant shelter landlord: A venture led by Chicago real estate investor A.G. Hollis and developer Scott Goodman defaulted on an $11.5 million loan tied to the 50,000-square-foot building at 344 N. Ogden Ave., according to a lawsuit filed May 3 in Cook County Circuit Court by an affiliate of Greenwich, Ct.-based lender Knighthead Funding. Knight alleged in the complaint that the Hollis-Goodman entity failed to make its loan payments since October and that it engaged in a “fraudulent scheme” to sign a lease for the property to be used as a shelter for asylum seekers.

* Fox Chicago | Outdoor dining season kicks off amidst political debate over Clark Street closure: Some local restaurants along the 400 block of North Clark Street have petitioned the city to shut down the street, a measure implemented since the onset of COVID-19, to create an outdoor dining plaza. This proposal, which has been successful in previous years, has sparked division within the community. While advocates argue for the benefits of pedestrian-friendly dining spaces, opponents, including numerous businesses and neighborhood groups, insist on keeping the street open to vehicular traffic, citing concerns about traffic congestion and its impact on nearby establishments.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Pioneer Press | If a Bears stadium isn’t built in Arlington Heights, village leaders already listed what can’t be constructed on the site: It was almost three years ago when the Arlington Heights Village Board set restrictions on the usage of the now-former racecourse property. Those use stipulations came even before the Bears bought the land. […] The new zoning insists on sustainable development features such as permeable pavers, green rooftops, energy efficient building design, solar energy and bicycle access. It also permits the continued use of the property as a horse racing track. However, the grandstand, stables and all of the other elements of the racetrack have been demolished.

* Daily Herald | Last billboards in Arlington Heights — other than one owned by Bears — to come down: With approvals due to expire next month for the Bears’ revenue-generating billboard at Arlington Park, Arlington Heights village board members this week told a small-business owner to tear his old billboards down. The village is one of the few towns in the area that prohibits such signage, but has made exceptions, such as the 20-by-60-foot double-sided digital sign installed on the west side of the racetrack site in 2017.

* Daily Herald | Metra ‘wants to be part of the conversation’ on merging with CTA and Pace, but stays neutral: “We share the view that this is an opportunity to improve public transportation for this and future generations,” Metra officials said. “Metra stands ready to continue its work on behalf of regional riders and taxpayers. We want to be transparent; we want to listen to all stakeholders to address our funding issues; and we want to be part of the conversation to create the best possible public transportation system for the region.”

*** Downstate ***

* WCBU | Peoria Township residents cast their opinion on a different style of voting this November: Residents of Peoria Township face an unusual question down-ballot this November: would they support the adoption of ranked choice voting in Illinois? The question is non-binding, but it does check the temperature of the public’s sentiment toward the policy. Voters might remember a similar question on independent legislative redistricting, called “fair maps” by supporters, that township voters approved by a 3-to-1 margin in 2022.

* WCIA | Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever confirmed in Champaign County: The Champaign-Urbana Public Health District announced that a case of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever was recently confirmed in Champaign County. The illness is a tickborne disease that the CDC calls “one of the deadliest” in the Americas. It takes one to four days to show symptoms of RMSF, which include a high fever, a severe headache, muscle soreness, gastrointestinal distress, and swelling both around the eyes and the back of the hands.

*** Sports ***

* Tribune | ‘We’re just getting bit’: Chicago White Sox back to 20 games under .500 with loss to Tampa Bay Rays: The Sox went 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position and left eight on base while falling to 8-28 — their worst 36-game start in franchise history. For the second time this year, they are a season-high 20 games under .500. “It’s not too much different than what I’ve been telling you guys the whole year about me — there’s a lot of good, there’s some bad and we’re just getting bit,” Soroka said. “We’re putting together better at-bats of late, we’re putting together better innings. It’s just a matter of keep going.”

* WaPo | Gregg Doyel, a longtime voice at the newspaper, will not be allowed to cover the Indiana Fever: The paper did not offer any details, saying it does not comment on personnel matters. According to a person with knowledge of the situation, Doyel will not attend Fever games in person this season but may still write about the team. Earlier Tuesday, Bob Kravitz, a former Star columnist, reported on Doyel’s ban on his Substack newsletter and said Doyel is in the midst of a two-week suspension. The person familiar with the situation confirmed the suspension to The Post and added that it is unpaid.

*** National ***

* WaPo | Boy Scouts rebrands as Scouting America, dropping gendered name: After 114 years of being known as the Boy Scouts of America, the nation’s largest scouting organization is changing its name to the more inclusive Scouting America. The major rebrand, announced Tuesday, comes after years of turmoil for the organization, as well as major changes meant to stem the tide of declining membership. The new Scouting America name is also a reflection of the organization’s biggest change: the decision five years ago to welcome girls into its ranks at all levels.

* NYT | France Says It Built the Olympics Safely. Migrant Workers Don’t Count.: But inspection records and other documents show that Olympics sites have been more dangerous than organizers have let on, with some projects failing to meet basic safety standards. When undocumented immigrants are hurt on the job, workers and officials say, the injuries are often handled off the books, all but guaranteeing that they will not show up in government statistics. […] When two workers died on a subway project that Mr. Macron’s former transportation minister called “the lifeline of the Olympics,” their deaths were not included in the Olympic total.

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Wednesday, May 8, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today’s edition of Capitol Fax (use all CAPS in password)

Wednesday, May 8, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Protect Illinois Hospitality Adds New Coalition Members From Across Illinois To Protect The Tip Credit

Wednesday, May 8, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* You can click here or here to follow breaking news. It’s the best we can do unless or until Twitter gets its act together.

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Tuesday, May 7, 2024 - Posted by Advertising Department

[The following is a paid advertisement.]

SPRINGFIELD - Protect Illinois Hospitality announced today the addition of five new organizations who are joining the coalition of other tipped workers, service operators, and local businesses who want to preserve the tip credit in Illinois. These new members include the Chicago Southland Black Chamber of Commerce, Quad Cities Chamber of Commerce, McLean County Chamber of Commerce, Bolingbrook Chamber of Commerce, and the Woodstock Chamber of Commerce – bringing the coalition up to 26 members.

Read the full release here.

Tell your state legislators to VOTE NO on House Bill 5345 and Protect Illinois Hospitality

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Isabel’s afternoon roundup (Updated)

Tuesday, May 7, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

…Adding… The House has canceled session for Friday, May 10th.

* Illinois Answers…

Larry Hall was not even three years into his career as a Flossmoor police officer when he began having sex in the summer of 2007 with an 18-year-old woman he had met months earlier while working as a resource officer at the south suburban high school she attended. […]

For most officers, such an offense would end their careers. But a little more than four years later, Hall returned to law enforcement, rising to become the acting deputy chief in the nearby Village of Robbins, where he oversees internal affairs and background checks.

Robbins Mayor Darren Bryant said that “sometimes we take what we can get” when it comes to the difficult task of hiring part-time, low-paid police officers.

“Just because you got fired doesn’t mean you can’t grow or you can’t learn from your last job,” he said. “It’s almost a restorative practice.”

Robbins has long been a dumping ground for police officers with troubled histories. In the past year alone, Robbins’ part-time police department employed Hall as well as two police officers whom the Chicago Police Department fired for lying about what they saw the night Laquan McDonald was murdered, and an officer whose history of past misconduct must be disclosed to defense attorneys any time he testifies in court. That officer was fired for submitting a vacation request containing the forged signature of his police chief.

Departments like Robbins that most often hire fired cops are at the mercy of diminished property tax bases to fund their operations. They pay just above minimum wage and hire fired cops who then use their status as police officers to secure higher-paying private security jobs or to salvage their policing careers before going elsewhere. In turn, residents are often left with a police force that gets more attention for the misdeeds of its officers and the crimes it doesn’t solve than the ones it does. […]

Since 2000, about 17% of all officers hired by the department — 46 altogether — joined or rejoined the department directly after getting fired, state data shows. By comparison, the Chicago Police Department hired or rehired just 15 officers this way.

Here’s where fired cops get hired in Illinois…

* Illinois Economic Policy Institute…

A first-of-its-kind analysis of construction projects from the Port of Seattle between 2016 and 2023—including airports and seaports—shows that project labor agreements (PLAs) promote competition amongst contractors, control construction costs, and deliver superior workforce development outcomes over projects completed without PLAs. The report was conducted by researchers at the Illinois Economic Policy Institute (ILEPI) and the Project for Middle Class Renewal (PMCR) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Read the Report, The Impact of Project Labor Agreements on Competition, Costs, Apprenticeships, and Diversity: Evidence from Port of Seattle Projects here.

Project labor agreements are pre-hire agreements between construction project owners and labor organizations that establish the terms and conditions of employment for skilled craft workers on large infrastructure projects. They have a long history as a de-risking mechanism and construction management tool for both the public and private sectors, ranging from the Tennessee Valley Authority in 1930s to the construction of most modern NFL stadiums today. In 2022, President Biden signed an Executive Order to require PLAs on federal projects valued at more than $35 million. Most PLAs include provisions for preventing strikes and lockouts, creating uniform work rules and safety standards, harmonizing schedules between different types of crafts, and addressing skilled labor supply needs.

“As is the case with many policies involving labor standards, there is a great deal of mythology around PLAs and their impact on businesses seeking to compete for bids, on costs borne by project owners and taxpayers, and on the broader workforce supply needs of the construction industry,” said study coauthor and ILEPI Economist Frank Manzo. “With trillions in new infrastructure funding and an Executive Order from President Biden expanding the utilization of PLAs, data from Port of Seattle projects offers a useful comparative analysis that will help communities and policymakers separate myth from fact and maximize the impact of these investments.”

For their analysis, researchers analyzed data from 95 projects and 366 bids between 2016 and 2023, as well as the Port of Seattle’s Apprenticeship and Priority Hire annual reports from 2020 to 2022 (The Port Commission enacted a $1 million project threshold for implementing specific apprentice hiring goals). All told, 23 of the analyzed projects were covered by PLAs, 72 were not, and the cumulative cost of all projects was just under $1 billion. […]

“The data makes clear that PLAs ensure a competitive bidding process, control construction costs, and increase the utilization of apprentices,” said study coauthor, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Professor, and PMCR Director Dr. Robert Bruno. “These findings are an important contribution to our broader understanding of PLAs because they involve robust analysis of more project bids than any prior comparable study.” […]

As construction employers face a historically tight labor market, the study revealed especially important distinctions between PLA and non-PLA projects on both workforce development and diversity. Specifically, it showed that PLA projects employed significantly higher rates of apprentices. PLA projects had 5% more labor hours worked by apprentices, were 23% more likely to achieve apprenticeship utilization goals, and nearly twice as likely to meet women apprentice goals (55% to 29%). People of color accounted for a larger share of apprentice hours on PLA projects (37%) than on non-PLA projects (35%).

*** Statewide ***

* NBC Chicago | Millions of birds will migrate over Illinois in the coming days. Here’s what to know: That trend is expected to continue Monday and Tuesday night, with officials expecting “high levels” of migrating birds to take flight over the state. You can find a bird migration map here. “You may observe their movements birding and listening by day and night,” an alert from Birdcast said. “Remember that high intensity nocturnal migration may not necessarily mean an excellent day of birding; rather it means that large numbers of birds are migrating or predicted to migrate at night.”

* WCIA | Asian longhorned tick found in Illinois for the first time: Since the species was first discovered in the U.S. in 2017, it has been found in 19 states. As of April 12, Illinois has become the 20th. […] “In some cases of severe H. longicornis infestation, livestock death has been reported,” said Dr. Mark Ernst, Illinois Department of Agriculture (IDOA) State Veterinarian. “Farmers and producers should continue working with their veterinarian to maintain an appropriate management plan.”

*** Chicago ***

* Bloomberg | Pritzker downplays protest risks for Dems’ convention in Chicago: “We feel like we’re in much better shape,” Pritzker said in an interview in Bloomberg’s Chicago office. “But I understand why people can get nervous because if you were around in the summer of 2020, it’s going to take a little while I think for people’s tensions to decrease.” “I do not think that we are going to have anything like that,” Pritzker added, “and in particular, it’s because there’s such good security that has been planned for this convention.”

* Block Club | This Vacant Bungalow Is Owned By The CHA — And Now It’s A Drug Stash House : Just before that story was published, the CHA promised it would spend as much as $50 million in 2024 to rehab dozens of homes and sell some to CHA residents. The two-story, red-brick home at 849 N. St. Louis was picked to be one of them. Nearly six months later, only a handful of units have been finished citywide, and no work has been done at 849 N. St. Louis. Neighbors say it’s in worse shape than ever.

* Block Club | Ban On Unaccompanied Minors Downtown Should Be Lifted, Park Group Says — Will Mayor Agree?: Leslie Recht, president of the Grant Park Advisory Council, told Block Club that council members have raised questions to the park district and the Mayor’s Office surrounding the policy. Both offices have indicated that the youth ban will resume this year, Recht said.

* Sun-Times | City workers who accused Water Department supervisors of racism agree to tentative $5.8 million settlement: Announcement of the settlement comes just a month before the case was to go to trial. U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly had yet to rule on whether former Mayor Rahm Emanuel, now serving as U.S. ambassador to Japan, would have to testify. The deal must still be finalized and then approved by the City Council. Details of the settlement were not filed in federal court, but an attorney for the workers disclosed the amount. A spokeswoman for the city Law Department declined comment.

* Crain’s | Report rips city, state inaction as Loop Greyhound terminal faces closure: Just a few months remain before the impending shutdown of the West Loop Greyhound bus station threatens to leave 500,000 riders a year without easy access to affordable transportation, but neither the city nor state seems interested in doing much about it. That’s the bottom line of a new report today from DePaul University’s Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development, a report that dings local government officials hard for apparent indifference to the struggles of a mode of transportation that is heavily used by low-income, often minority patrons without other good options to get around.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Naperville Sun | Naperville staff to restart search for employee DEI training services: Envisioning Equity Work had been chosen over a dozen other vendors who responded to the city’s request for proposals in August 2023. A selection team evaluated applicants and eventually chose the firm as its top choice. But council members weren’t entirely sold. […] Members also questioned whether city-offered DEI educational courses would cover training separately required by the state for law enforcement. According to the Illinois Police Training Act, there are minimum in-service training requirements that a law enforcement officer in the state must complete every three years. Among the topics that need to be covered are cultural competency, implicit bias, and racial and ethnic sensitivity.

*** Downstate ***

* SJ-R | Grocery tax, new hotel and more: Springfield mayor marks one year with exclusive interview: SJ-R: If the State’s grocery tax is repealed, what will the city do? Buscher: I believe it will be repealed. The question is when. Our Office of Budget and Management has calculated we will lose $3.8 million in revenue that we’ve already built into our budget. Any of our state legislators are going to vote for fewer taxes on its citizens. There are state legislators who are aware that it’s hurting municipalities.

* BND | St. Clair County will demolish derelict properties until $2 million state grant runs out: It is starting this month with 31 properties the county owns: a vacant commercial building in Belleville and 30 derelict homes in Cahokia Heights. The county acquired the properties, among thousands of others, when the former owners stopped paying property taxes. This first round of demolitions will cost $260,780, according to the contract.

* SJ-R | LGBTQA+ nonprofit newspaper opens brick-and-mortar location in Springfield: Editor and publisher of the Illinois Eagle Tom Wray said it was time to expand the news organization to its own solid location and stop cluttering his living space with the news. “Literally it was the past few years in the backroom of my house,” Wray said. “Either the house I rented, or the house I own now. It’s getting to the point I simply don’t have the room in my house anymore. I also needed the separation of working from my home; I already have ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) and have to work at concentrating.”The new location for the online newspaper is the historic 1133 W. Governor St. which was previously the House + Garden reSource gallery home decor until owner Greg Pierceall relocated to 1220 W. Governor St. last year.

*** National ***

* Tribune | U.S. Dept. of Education launches FAFSA support strategy with deadline for federal aid inching closer: The U.S. Department of Education announced additional steps on Monday to support the many students and their families who are in the process of completing the overhauled Free Application for Federal Student Aid after a shaky relaunch and complicated start for applicants. […] In a news release, the department said the $50 million program is part of the “FAFSA Student Support Strategy” and addresses known issues with the 2024-25 form to help boost its completion. Since the application became available in December, only around 9 million forms have been successfully submitted, according to the Department of Education.

* Bloomberg | TikTok sues feds to block Krishnamoorthi-backed divest-or-ban law: TikTok has argued that the law will stifle free speech and hurt creators and small business owners who benefit economically from the the platform. The company previously said that it spent more than $1.5 billion to isolate its US operations and agreed to oversight by American company Oracle Corp. [..] The legal battle comes after President Joe Biden signed into law a Ukraine-Israel aid package that includes the TikTok provision co-sponsored by U.S. Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., and Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., who lead the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party.

* Bloomberg | NFL poised to allow teams to sell 30% of franchise to private equity: Proposals under discussion would let buyout firms individually acquire as much 10% of a team, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are confidential. A special NFL committee is meeting to examine the league’s ownership rules. Talks are ongoing and the percentages may change, some of the people said. A spokesperson for the NFL declined to comment.

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Support House Bill 4781

Tuesday, May 7, 2024 - Posted by Advertising Department

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Caption contest!

Tuesday, May 7, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* From the governor’s daily public schedule…

What: Gov. Pritzker to give remarks at IMA Electric Vehicle Showcase Day.

Where: Illinois Governor’s Mansion, 410 E Jackson St, Springfield

When: 1:00 pm

Watch: www.illinois.gov/livevideo

* The governor talked to someone today while standing next to a Lion Electric school bus, which was built in southwest suburban Channahon…

52 Comments

Get The Facts On The Illinois Prescription Drug Board

Tuesday, May 7, 2024 - Posted by Advertising Department

[The following is a paid advertisement.]

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Unclear on the concept

Tuesday, May 7, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Background is here if you need it. Could this be true?…

Of course not. It’s Jeanne Ives, for crying out loud. She’s never been a reliable source of facts.

The fact that she served three terms in the Illinois House may lead people to think she can accurately comment on legislative proposals. But notice she doesn’t provide a link to the bill so you can’t just easily click here and look for the repealer language and see for yourself as plain as day that what’s being repealed are the three sections creating non-binding referendums.

Ives ought to know this because those three referendums were specifically created to prevent her own statewide referendum from seeing the light of day because Illinois limits the number of statewide questions to three.

Maybe I’m wrong, but I refuse to believe Ives is that spectacularly dumb.

* And Ives wasn’t alone…

Here’s the actual part Rep. Miller is upset about. It’s on page 18-19 and as you can clearly see, the section referenced in Miller’s post is not the same section as the part he is upset about. There is no repeal of this part #twill https://t.co/pgfOUD9c5N pic.twitter.com/2o7lMRyDom

— Ben Szalinski (@BenSzalinski) May 6, 2024

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Broad Support For Carbon Capture And Storage Across Illinois, “Vital” For The Environment and Downstate Growth

Tuesday, May 7, 2024 - Posted by Advertising Department

[The following is a paid advertisement.]

A growing chorus of labor unions, government officials, business and industry voices, and the academic community are speaking up about the critical role that carbon capture and storage (CCS) can play in helping Illinois reach its clean energy goals. The Capture Jobs Now Coalition is supporting legislation (SB3311/HB569) to advance CCS projects in our state while prioritizing jobs and economic development in local communities.

Pat Devaney, Secretary-Treasurer of the AFL-CIO, and Mark Denzler, President and CEO of the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association:

April 2023

For more information on Capture Jobs Now, please click here

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Pritzker says a prison ‘can’t be a great economic growth strategy’ for Logan County area

Tuesday, May 7, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* The governor made his second trip to the Bloomington area in a week today…

Today, Governor JB Pritzker joined the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, local stakeholders, and Ferrero North America leadership to celebrate the grand opening of the continent’s first Ferrero chocolate factory in Bloomington, Illinois. The 70,000 square-foot expansion to Ferrero’s manufacturing campus in Bloomington will produce chocolate used in iconic products like Kinder®, Ferrero Rocher®, Butterfinger®, and CRUNCH®. The facility is the company’s first chocolate processing plant in North America and third globally.

“Central Illinois is the heart of our nation, and this most recent $75 million Ferrero expansion is an exciting addition to a thriving manufacturing landscape in the region,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “We have worked hard to make this one of the best states in the nation to do business, and to help companies like Ferrero deepen their roots here. Thank you to the folks at Ferrero for your commitment to the people of Illinois.”

Governor Pritzker joined the Ferrero North America team three years ago to break ground on the new facility, and the construction was completed this year.

* Pritzker took questions…

Q: Why double-down on efforts, invest so much here in Bloomington? We just saw you at Rivian the other day.

Pritzker: Well, it’s in part due to the great economic development efforts right here in Bloomington/Normal. So let’s give credit where credit’s due. Locally, the mayor, the Economic Development Council, Patrick Hogan, doing a great job, Mayor Koos. And so that’s part of it.

I think the other is companies want to come here. They want to be in central Illinois. So we’re just trying to make it easier for them to come at the state level by providing some tax incentives. So they know we’re here, we can compete with other states. It’s very exciting and, frankly, the fact that I’ve been here twice in less than a week to cut ribbons on new manufacturing is a testament to the people of Bloomington. […]

Q: Certainly there’s no question that the Logan Correctional Center needed very serious attention. What is your response to people who are municipal leaders in that area who are concerned about the exodus of jobs?

Pritzker: Well, certainly we should all be paying attention to how can we get more economic development into the area, into Logan County and make sure that in Lincoln in particular, that we’re attracting great new private sector jobs. I don’t know where the facility will end up, the one that you’re talking about that will be closed for a while. That’s going to be part of the conversation that we had in town hall meetings and in the hearings, it’ll be had. But I’m excited about the prospect of attracting new businesses to the area just like we’re doing here in Bloomington. And I think that really is the future for most places across the state, to not rely upon a state-run facility that’s a prison. That can’t be a great economic growth strategy for the area. And so we want to work together to see how we might be able to attract some new companies like this one, and like others that we’ve been getting to the state of Illinois to Logan.

That assumes he can convince a big company to open up a facility in or near Lincoln. It’s within his power to simply rebuild that prison where it’s at now.

Then again, the Ferrero plant is only a half-hour drive from Lincoln. And the Rivian plant is a few miles further.

Discuss.

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Showcasing The Retailers Who Make Illinois Work

Tuesday, May 7, 2024 - Posted by Advertising Department

[The following is a paid advertisement.]

Retail provides one out of every five Illinois jobs, generates the second largest amount of tax revenue for the state, and is the largest source of revenue for local governments. But retail is also so much more, with retailers serving as the trusted contributors to life’s moments, big and small.

We Are Retail and IRMA are dedicated to sharing the stories of retailers like Leslie, who serve their communities with dedication and pride. Black Beauty Collective - We Are RetaIL (irma.org)

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Learn something new every day

Tuesday, May 7, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* There’s more to this, but yeah…

* A statue of James Shields was erected in the Hall of Columns in 1893 to represent Illinois…

James Shields, born on May 12, 1806, emigrated from Ireland as a young man. He taught school, studied law, and was admitted to practice.

• He served in the Illinois House of Representatives in 1836, became the state auditor in 1839, and was a member of the Supreme Court of Illinois from 1843 to 1845.
• While serving in the Illinois House, Shields met Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas. Lincoln was a Whig and Shields was a Democrat; the two clashed rhetorically and once even scheduled a duel.

He and Lincoln settled their differences without violence, but Lincoln challenged Shields’ bid for a second US Senate term. Lyman Trumbull was eventually elected in a three-way contest. Shields was an anti-slavery Democrat.

* Frances E. Willard represents Illinois in the National Statuary Hall…

A pioneer in the temperance movement, Frances E. Willard is also remembered for her contributions to higher education.

• She attended the Female College of Milwaukee for one year and finished her college degree at the Woman’s College of Northwestern University.
• She taught at Genesee Wesleyan Seminary in 1866–1867 before returning to the Evanston College for Women, where she served as president from 1871 to 1874.
• Willard gained a reputation as an effective orator and social reformer.
• She became associated in the evangelist movement with Dwight Moody and was elected president of the National Women’s Temperance Union in 1879.
• Her zeal sustained her fight for prohibition, and she organized the Prohibition Party in 1882. During the same year she was elected president of the National Council of Women.
• She later founded and served as president of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union in 1883.
• Her statue was the first honoring a woman to be chosen for the National Statuary Hall Collection.

Thoughts?

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City Bureau, Invisible Institute’s coverage of missing Chicago Black women wins Pulitzer

Tuesday, May 7, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* City Bureau…

We are incredibly proud to share that City Bureau Senior Reporter Sarah Conway and Invisible Institute Data Director Trina Reynolds-Tyler have won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting for their investigation “Missing in Chicago.”

“Missing in Chicago” is a seven-part investigative series that reveals how Chicago police have routinely violated state law and police procedure, delaying and mishandling missing person cases. The report revealed a racial bias that disproportionately impacts Black women and girls, and how poor police data is making the problem harder to solve.

“Sarah and Trina deserve this recognition for many reasons. The rigor, care and thoughtfulness that they put into this investigation shine through within each piece, and I couldn’t be more proud of their commitment,” said City Bureau Executive Director Morgan Malone. “‘Missing in Chicago’ serves as proof that investigative reporting with engagement and community in mind are a necessity, versus a ‘nice to have.’

“When our reporting is informed by the lived experiences and needs of community, the potential for impact is boundless. I look forward to the change brewing in Chicago and Illinois, due in large part to their incredible reporting, and in the journalism industry at large, as this Pulitzer is proof that investigative journalism driven by community is alive, well and a catalyst for the world we know to be possible.”

* Here’s an excerpt of the seven part series…

While police officials have publicly claimed that services for families are equal and fair across race and ZIP codes, massive gaps in missing persons data make it impossible to prove, according to a two-year investigation by City Bureau and the Invisible Institute. Instead, interviews with current and former police officers, national experts and researchers, along with dozens of anecdotes from impacted family members, reveal a pattern of neglect, incompetence and illegal behavior from police officers in missing person cases:

-Under Illinois law and Chicago police policy, police officers cannot deny a missing person report for any reason. However, reporters found dozens of people who say they were told to wait, or outright denied the ability to file a report — delaying investigations during the critical early hours of missingness. Read more.

-Families of the missing say that police officers are dismissive of their cases, neglect their investigations and stigmatize their loved ones — including multiple cases where police declined to investigate key leads or lost evidence, leaving families to conduct their own searches. Read more.

- Analyzing police data on missing person cases from 2000 to 2021, reporters found discrepancies that call into question the department’s data-keeping practices. Current and former police officers say that the missing person report is one of the last remaining paper reports used by Chicago police. Police records also show that, from 2017 to 2021, a little over 45% of cases are missing a key data point about the time and date police arrived to investigate these cases. And reporters identified multiple cases that ended in homicide that were marked “non-criminal” in the data — as well as four cases where detectives explicitly noted that the missing person had returned home, despite family members saying their loved ones never returned home alive. Read more. […]

For this investigation, City Bureau and the Invisible Institute requested the Chicago Police Department’s missing person reports from 2000 to 2021, analyzed them and interviewed more than 40 sources. Police missing persons data was cross referenced with underlying investigative documents, Chicago Police Department homicide data, medical examiner death data and news reports.

The analysis shows that of the approximately 340,000 cases in this time period, Black children make up 57% of cases. Black girls between the ages of 10 and 20 make up nearly one-third of all missing person cases in the city, according to police data, despite comprising only 2% of the city population as of 2020. This racial disparity has remained relatively constant over the past two decades, even as cases overall have fallen. (Since 2000, missing person cases have fallen by about 50% and experts are unsure why.)

Hispanic people make up 15% of all cases, but experts believe this figure is underreported due to immigration enforcement concerns.

* Here’s another heartbreaking excerpt…

Shirley Enoch-Hill believes she will never find out what happened to her daughter, Sonya Rouse, who dreamed of being a news anchor. When Rouse went missing in 2016 at age 50, Enoch-Hill immediately suspected Rouse’s boyfriend, whom she claims physically abused her daughter throughout their relationship. According to police documents, an Illinois Department of Corrections official offered to arrange an interview between police Detective Brian Yaverski and the boyfriend (who was in an IDOC work release program), but Yaverski “decided to wait.” More than a year later, the boyfriend died of a suspected fentanyl overdose, and Yaverski never interviewed him. (Reporters contacted Yaverski for comment but he did not respond. CPD media affairs also did not respond to a request for comment.)

Enoch-Hill remembers crying when she heard Rouse’s boyfriend had died, because she felt the truth of what happened to her daughter was gone forever. “There is no closure. … It was like she disappeared off the face of the earth,” she says. “If you’re Black and you come up missing, nobody cares.” […]

Teresa Smith had a similar experience after her 65-year-old mother Daisy Hayes went missing May 1, 2018. Hayes was a loving and caring grandmother who was always the life of the party, Smith says. Yet when Smith tried to ask police for help, “They assassinated her character. [They said,] ‘We know your mom frequents the liquor store,’” Smith recounts. “Like that has something to do with anything?”

Similarly, City Bureau and the Invisible Institute found 11 other Black women who accused officers of abusive and dismissive language in an analysis of 54 police misconduct complaint records from 2011 to 2015 where the complaint was related to a missing person case. […]

Rather than receiving help from officers, Smith says she was yelled at by them, even though according to a police report Hayes’ boyfriend was seen entering her apartment empty-handed and later caught on surveillance footage dragging a heavy suitcase down to the parking lot dumpster, then covering it with trash.

Go read the rest.

* More…

* Tribune | Two Chicago nonprofit news startups win Pulitzer Prizes: “They found that across the city, this is a consistent issue, that the cases, depending on your ZIP code, determines how much effort they put into finding you, as well as how much your family is allowed access to be a part of the investigation,” said Morgan Malone, who joined City Bureau this year as its first executive director.

* City Bureau, Invisible Institute Win Pulitzer For Coverage Of Missing Black Women In Chicago: Reynolds-Tyler was thrilled to hear the news, she said Monday afternoon. “As a little Black girl from the South Side of Chicago this is … I just feel very honored. I’m so grateful for the opportunity for us to model investigative data journalism, really excited that we are able to do this in the third largest metropolitan city in the country. The level of intention and care that can come to journalism can be healing, it can be heavy, it can set a record. And this work embodies truth, the truth of law enforcement. It’s the truth of families. It’s the truth of advocates,” said Reynolds-Tyler, a trained restorative justice practitioner.

* Poynter | Small newsrooms won big in the 2024 Pulitzers: Conway said she was proud of their work, and proud of the families who took a chance on speaking with them for the investigation. “We took a lot of pride and diligence in moving with a lot of care, in sourcing and research, and connecting with people who’ve been impacted over the past few years,” Conway said. “The recognition is something I hope lends credence to their experiences and their stories, and what they’ve gone through — who their loved ones were. Because we found, in our reporting, a lot of people had been harmed and neglected by the city and, in particular, the Chicago Police Department, at a really painful moment in their life.”

* NYT | How a Tiny Chicago News Organization Won 2 Pulitzers: Mr. Lacour’s podcast won one of two Pulitzers this year for the Invisible Institute, a small, crusading newsroom on Chicago’s South Side known for holding city authorities to account. The other prize, for local reporting, went to the organization’s data director, Trina Reynolds-Tyler, who reported an investigative series on missing Black girls and women in Chicago.

* Crain’s | MLK biographer Eig and City Bureau, Invisible Institute rack up Pulitzers: City Bureau Executive Director Morgan Malone praised the reporting in a statement accompanying the award announcement. “‘Missing in Chicago’ serves as proof that investigative reporting with engagement and community in mind are a necessity, versus a ‘nice to have,’” Malone wrote.

5 Comments

Tuesday, May 7, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* WAND…

The Illinois Senate passed a plan to provide more educational opportunities for young people serving time in the Department of Corrections.

The Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice could be required to establish an emerging adult program for individuals 18 to 21 in Illinois prisons.

Sen. Laura Murphy (D-Des Plaines) said her bill would allow these young people to participate in individual or group therapy, case management, vocational training and higher education opportunities. […]

Qualifying prisoners would have the opportunity to transfer to the Illinois Youth Center in Harrisburg for educational and holistic services. While Senate Republicans appreciated the intent of the bill, they are concerned about logistics for prisons and juvenile detention centers. […]

Senate Bill 426 passed out of the Senate on a 41-15 vote. The House could discuss the legislation during the final three weeks of session this month.

* Press release…

Hundreds of community leaders, environmental advocates, faith leaders, business representatives, consumer groups, students and state legislators will rally at the Lincoln Statue outside of the Illinois State Capitol Building in support of the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition (ICJC) Platform, a slate of legislation that would double down on Illinois’ bold climate policy and secure an equitable, affordable and healthy future for all Illinoisans.

The rally is part of the annual Climate Action Lobby Day. This year, nearly 400 Illinoisans are expected to lobby in support of the ICJC Platform, which includes the Clean and Reliable Grid Act (SB3637), the Clean and Healthy Buildings Act (SB3935), and the Clean and Equitable Transportation Act (HB5829). The Clean and Reliable Grid Act will accelerate clean energy deployment and strengthen the capacity and reliability of our electric grid. The Clean and Healthy Buildings Act capitalizes on the benefits of transitioning the heating systems and appliances that power homes and buildings to clean energy. The Clean and Equitable Transportation Act addresses vehicle pollution by electrifying public transportation and vehicles while also offering comprehensive solutions that improve walkability, bikeability and overall transit reform. In addition, activists will urge the General Assembly to swiftly pass the Carbon Dioxide Transport and Storage Protections Act (SB2421), which protects Illinois communities and our land and water from the risks associated with Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS).

WHAT: Climate Action Rally

WHEN: Thursday, May 9, 2024 at 1:00 p.m. CT

WHERE: Lincoln Statue, Illinois State Capitol, S 2nd Street, Springfield, Illinois 62756 and live-streamed via facebook.com/ilcleanjobs.

* Legal Sports Report…

Gov. JB Pritzker has suggested raising the Illinois sports betting tax rate to 35% from 15%.

The Sports Betting Alliance, which represents BetMGM, DraftKings, Fanatics and FanDuel, has been encouraging consumers to reach out to state lawmakers to help stop the potential hike.

A spokesperson for the SBA told LSR this week that a combined 25,000 emails have already been sent to the Illinois legislature and Gov. Pritzker.

The SBA’s website lists three main bullet points for why this issue matters:
- More taxes mean worse odds for players
- Customers will have access to fewer promotions and bonuses
- A tax hike will increase illegal offshore sports betting (they pay 0% taxes)

Here’s more background from a March Daily Herald article…

Tucked into the Democratic governor’s recent fiscal year 2025 budget plan is a proposal to begin taxing profits from sportsbooks at 35% instead of the current 15%. Pritzker said the move is expected to generate an additional $200 million a year in tax revenue.

It’s one of several “revenue adjustment” ideas in the budget plan that could help generate nearly $1 billion extra for the state in the coming year, according to the proposed budget.

“From Day One, Gov. Pritzker has taken action to ensure corporations are paying their fair share,” said Alex Gough, the governor’s press secretary. “Since the legalization of sports betting in Illinois, gaming companies have enjoyed one of the lowest sports wagering tax rates in the nation. In that time, the sports betting industry has exploded, and corporations are raking in huge profits. […]

Currently, 30 states impose taxes on sports betting. At 15%, Illinois’ rate is lower than only eight other states. Louisiana, Maryland and Virginia also tax sportsbook profits at 15%, according to the Tax Foundation.

But states including New York, New Hampshire, Delaware and Rhode Island all charge 50% or more.

* Legislation cracking down on shoulder parking near O’Hare will be heard tomorrow in the Senate Executive Committee. Here’s the latest amendment…

Provides that a person operating a motor vehicle shall not stop or stand the person’s vehicle on a shoulder of a highway along traffic routes within a one-half mile radius of: (1) the eastern entrance to O’Hare International Airport; and (2) the intersection of Interstate 90 and Interstate 294 (rather than a 2-mile radius surrounding O’Hare International Airport). Requires the Illinois Toll Highway Authority to install and maintain automated traffic safety systems along traffic routes within a one-half mile radius of: (1) the eastern entrance to O’Hare International Airport; and (2) the intersection of Interstate 90 and Interstate 294 (rather than a 2-mile radius surrounding O’Hare International Airport). Provides that language prohibiting stopping or standing within one-half mile of O’Hare International Airport do not apply if the driver of the vehicle received a Uniform Traffic Citation from a police officer at the time of the violation for the same offense. Provides that recorded images made by an automated traffic safety system are confidential and shall be made available only (i) to the alleged violator and governmental and law enforcement agencies; or (ii) in response to a lawful subpoena. Provides that a recorded image evidencing a violation of this Act may be admissible in a proceeding resulting from the issuance of a citation. Provides that proceeds from fines shall be deposited into the State Police Law Enforcement Administration Fund (rather than the Illinois State Police Highway Enforcement Fund). Removes provisions creating the Illinois State Police Highway Enforcement Fund as a special fund in the State treasury.

* Capitol News Illinois…

House Republicans have proposed seven bills to improve human trafficking protections and penalties. The bills focus on protections for minors and prosecuting perpetrators. […]

House Bill 5465 would allow a human trafficking victim to have their juvenile record from crimes committed while being trafficked as a minor sealed or expunged. The proposal is an extension of House Bill 2418, which granted similar provisions to people who were trafficked as adults. The law was signed by Gov. JB Pritzker last year following unanimous approval by lawmakers and took effect on Jan. 1, 2024. It also allows the victim to petition remotely, and to have the petition sealed. […]

HB 5465 unanimously passed the House on April 17 and unanimously passed out of the Senate Special Committee on Criminal Law and Public Safety on May 1. The bill now awaits Senate consideration. […]

La Ha’s House Bill 5467 unanimously passed the House on April 17. It would remove the statute of limitations for a victim to press charges of trafficking, involuntary servitude, and involuntary sexual servitude that occurred when the victim was a minor. Under current law the prosecution must start within 25 years of the victim turning 18. […]

La Ha and House Republicans have sponsored other related bills that remain in committee, some of them focusing on penalties for traffickers. Since two key deadlines for a bill’s passage have already passed, the proposals seem unlikely to move forward this year.

* Protect Illinois Hospitality…

Protect Illinois Hospitality today announced the addition of five new organizations joining the coalition of tipped workers, service operators, and local businesses who want to preserve the tip credit in Illinois. These new members include the Chicago Southland Black Chamber of Commerce, Quad Cities Chamber of Commerce, McLean County Chamber of Commerce, Bolingbrook Chamber of Commerce, and the Woodstock Chamber of Commerce – bringing the coalition up to 26 members.

“The hospitality industry in Illinois is a strong economic driver to the state’s economy. We have some of the best breweries, restaurants, and hotels in the world and we should be doing what we can to help these businesses continue to prosper and grow,” said Lou Sandoval, President and CEO of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce. “However, policy changes are being discussed that would eliminate the tip credit, effectively hurting the heart and soul of what makes those businesses special – the people. That is not the path that we should take as it will impact our small independent operators in communities all over the state the most. We hope Illinois legislators will reject these plans and vote no on any measure that will eliminate the tip credit on hospitality workers.”

Introduced earlier this year, HB 5345 would fundamentally alter the way restaurants, bars, breweries, hotels, and other businesses who use the tip credit pay their employees, leading to less take-home pay for workers and increased costs for both restaurants and consumers.

Every tipped employee in Illinois already makes at least the minimum wage, and several studies have shown that tipped workers have higher earning potential in the current system than they would if the tip credit were eliminated. Under the current system, businesses pay a portion of the tipped employee’s hourly minimum wage, with the rest being made up by tips to equal at least the full state-mandated minimum wage. The base wage for tipped employees in Illinois is currently $8.40 per hour, and minimum wage is $14 per hour. If employees do not make at least $14 per hour with combined base wage and tips, businesses are required by law to pay the difference to ensure that every tipped worker makes at least minimum wage.

Most restaurant operators in Illinois use the tip credit to pay employees. According to National Restaurant Association research, the median tipped restaurant worker in Illinois currently earns $28.48 per hour. In a recent survey of Illinois servers, bartenders, and other tipped staff, 87% agreed that the current tipping system works well for them and should not be changed, and a majority believe eliminating the tip credit will lead to customers tipping less and overall lower take-home pay.

In addition to lowering take-home pay for workers, eliminating the tip credit puts thousands of workers at risk of losing their jobs. In May 2023, Washington, D.C. became the first jurisdiction in the nation in more than 20 years to begin eliminating the tip credit and since then, more than 3,700 full-service restaurant jobs have been lost.

Eliminating the tip credit would also harm businesses across Illinois that are already facing significant economic and regulatory challenges, especially small businesses. Restaurants, bars, breweries, hotels, and other businesses who use the tip credit would be forced to pass the increased cost on to consumers to try to make ends meet, and many would still need to cut shifts or tipped staff positions or permanently close. Illinois diners have indicated they would be likely to change their dining habits if restaurants increase menu prices or implement automatic service charges to offset increased labor costs, further adding to the burden on restaurants already operating on thin profit margins. […]

In addition to the new members, Protect Illinois Hospitality includes the National Restaurant Association, Illinois Restaurant Association, Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, Cosmetologists Chicago, Greater Oakbrook Chamber of Commerce, Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce, Hospitality Business Association of Chicago, Illinois Licensed Beverage Association, Illinois Chamber of Commerce, Illinois Craft Brewers Guild, Illinois Grape Growers and Vintners Alliance, Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Illinois Hotel and Lodging Association, Illinois Retail Merchants Association, Magnificent Mile Association, Naperville Area Chamber of Commerce, Naperville Development Partnership, National Federation of Independent Business, Sysco, Takeout 25, and Wine and Spirits Distributors of Illinois.

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Tuesday, May 7, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* What’s going on? Keep it Illinois-centric please…

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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Supplement to today’s edition

Tuesday, May 7, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* ICYMI: Lawsuit alleges decades of child sex abuse at Illinois juvenile detention centers statewide. AP…

* Related stories…

∙ Tribune: Sexual abuse was rampant at Illinois youth facilities, lawsuit claims
∙ NYT: Lawsuit Claims Widespread Sex Abuse at Illinois Youth Detention Centers
∙ People: He’s the Mayor of a Tiny Illinois Town — But Lawsuit Claims He’s Sex Abuser Who Preyed on Incarcerated Boys

Governor Pritzker will be in Bloomington at 10 joining Ferraro to celebrate a new factory opening. At 1 pm, the governor will give remarks at IMA Electric Vehicle Showcase Day at the Governor’s Mansion. Click here to watch.

*** Statehouse News ***

* WGN | Johnson headed to Springfield to lobby ‘on behalf of the people of Chicago’: “There are a host of things that I will be requesting on behalf of the people of Chicago,” Johnson said about his impending trip to Springfield. The mayor will try to help the Bears, who are seeking public funding for a new lakefront stadium, but that’s not his focus. Team President Kevin Warren is leading the charge. […] Johnson is also keeping a close eye on school funding.

* Capitol News Illinois | House GOP advances 2 human trafficking victim protection bills as others remain in limbo: House Bill 5465 would allow a human trafficking victim to have their juvenile record from crimes committed while being trafficked as a minor sealed or expunged. The proposal is an extension of House Bill 2418, which granted similar provisions to people who were trafficked as adults. The law was signed by Gov. JB Pritzker last year following unanimous approval by lawmakers and took effect on Jan. 1, 2024. It also allows the victim to petition remotely, and to have the petition sealed.

* Center Square | Advocates, legislators push for $140 million to fund violence prevention: The Reimagine Public Safety Act calls for a comprehensive approach to reducing violent crime through targeted community investments. Advocates and violence prevention groups gathered in Springfield recently to push for $140 million. Target Area Development Director of Research and Re-entry Edward McBride said the reduction of crime in Chicago can be attributed to the Reimagine Public Safety Act and peacekeepers, who receive about $200 a day in taxpayer dollars.

* Tribune | Secretary of state’s office urges residents to get a Real ID as federal deadline is a year away: Only about 23.5% of Illinois residents have obtained the Real ID card, which is marked by a gold star in the upper right corner, according to the secretary of state’s office. The low number is a cause for concern for the office since getting the document is more involved than applying for a regular state driver’s license renewal. Real ID applicants must go in person to a secretary of state driver services facility and provide proof of identity, proof of full Social Security number, two current residency documents and proof of signature. The full list of acceptable documents is available on the secretary of state’s website.

* WCIA | State representatives talk on UIUC campus about uptick of antisemitism : State Representatives Bob Morgan (D-Deerfield), Dan Didech (D-Buffalo Grove), and Tracy Katz Muhl (D-Northbrook) spoke at University of Illinois’ quad on Monday (Holocaust Remembrance Day) about the rise of antisemitism. They were joined by local Jewish leaders, including Rabbi Dovid Tiechtel from Illini Chabad and Erez Cohen from Illini Hillel.

* Bond. Buyer | Illinois to issue $1.8 billion of general obligation bonds: Illinois will issue $1.8 billion of general obligation bonds — $250 million taxable Series 2024A and $1.55 billion tax-exempt Series 2024B — to fund accelerated pension benefit payments and capital expenditures through the Rebuild Illinois program.

*** Statewide ***

* SJ-R | Teacher salaries in Illinois among best in the nation, new report finds: According to the new report, the average teacher salary for 2022-2023 was $69,544, which is a 4.1% increase from the 2021-2022 school year. An increase in teacher salaries was also seen in Illinois, according to the new report. The average teacher salary in Illinois was $73,916 for 2022-2023, a 2.2% increase from 2021-2022 when salaries were $72,315. Overall, Illinois ranked as the 12th best state across the country for teacher salaries.

*** Chicago ***

* Sun-Times | Google it! Thompson Center’s $280M redevelopment kicks off, to become Google’s Chicago HQ: The renovation of the center comes at a time of wider transformation for the Loop. Mayor Brandon Johnson announced in April that he’s seeking $150 million in tax increment financing for four La Salle Street adaptive reuse projects. The conversions would create more than 1,000 new apartments in the city’s Central Business District, bringing new use to largely vacant office buildings.

* Crain’s | Two of Chicago’s pension plans could deplete assets by 2030, report warns: As Mayor Brandon Johnson searches for a fix for the city’s pension challenges, a liberal-leaning nonprofit is warning the situation could become dire as early as 2030. That’s according to a new report from the Center for Tax & Budget Accountability, or CTBA, which examined Chicago’s four public employee pensions. The CTBA has previously published reports on the state’s pension systems; its latest publication focuses on the city’s pensions.

* Block Club | Thompson Center’s Transformation Into Google’s Chicago Headquarters Begins: Google announced in July 2022 it would take over the Thompson Center, saying it’d buy the building for $105 million after it is renovated by The Prime Group and Capri Investment Group. Demolition of the building’s exterior began Friday as Google plans to turn the Helmut Jahn-designed building into its new Chicago headquarters, employing as many as 1,000 workers in the famed complex.

* Block Club | Trilogy’s Chatham Wellness Center Brings Therapy And More To South Side ‘Mental Health Desert’:
While work to overhaul the building is still underway, there was a “crucial need” to open its mental health services to clients “sooner rather than later,” said Susan Doig, Trilogy’s CEO. “We’ve known that this area is a mental health desert, and people who don’t have access to commercial insurance have more barriers to getting mental health care,” Doig said. “Being able to offer these services in Chatham is key for the health of the community. It should’ve happened years ago but there’s no better time than the present.”

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Southtown | Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard vetoes hiring of former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot: Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard vetoed action by trustees to hire former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot to conduct a probe into the mayor and village finances during a raucous Village Board meeting Monday. “How dare you think you can come into someone’s town and do work,” Henyard said, saying trustees who voted to hire Lightfoot an an April 8 meeting overstepped their authority. “There is a right way to do things and this is just not that,” Henyard said in delivering her veto. […] The meeting at one point dissolved into a shouting and finger-pointing match between Henyard and Trustee Kiana Belcher, with some residents getting up from their chairs to shout their own comments.

* WGN | Woman accusing community activist Andrew Holmes of assault releases video statement: Fenia Dukes released the video Monday, following several weeks of communications between her and WGN Investigates about a potential interview. Dukes said she wanted to share her story because she feels victimized twice: first by community activist Andrew Holmes, a colleague she respected, and then again when she reported the alleged incident to her boss, Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard.

* NBC Chicago | First Dolton board meeting takes place since subpoenas served at village hall: Residents demanded to be heard as they gathered outside village hall. In the group was Mayor Tiffany Henyard’s ex-assistant, Fenia Dukes. “At first, it was just me. But a year later, to see ya’ll standing with me – thank you…thank you so much,” Dukes told the group. Dukes has filed a civil lawsuit against Henyard and Trustee Andrew Holmes, the latter whom she accuses of assaulting her.

* Daily Herald | A good deal for the suburbs? Transit merger proposal raises questions about finances, fairness: “I have a horrible amount of concern that we will be putting our suburban transit in jeopardy because folding Metra into the CTA will subject it to the same struggles CTA found itself unable to get out of,” Republican state Rep. Jeff Keicher of Sycamore said. The plan also would provide $1.5 billion in extra transit money annually, as a $730 million shortfall looms in 2026. Officials haven’t given any specifics on raising those revenues, saying the restructure comes first.

* Daily Herald | Arlington Heights police bring on full-time crisis counselor despite cut in federal funding: Though federal grant funding runs out this summer, Arlington Heights trustees agreed Monday to commit village funds to keep a police department crisis counselor employed at least through the end of the year. The counselor has gone on some 300 police calls over the last two years involving people suffering from a mental health crisis, and made another 600 follow-up contacts with individuals seeking assistance, officials said.

*** National ***

* AP | Lured by historic Rolling Stones performance, half-a-million fans attend New Orleans Jazz Fest: An extra day and the lure of an appearance by the Rolling Stones pushed attendance at the 2024 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival to a half a million people, organizers said Monday. That was the second highest attendance in the festival’s history — just behind the 600,000 attendees in 2001. In 2023, more than 460,000 people passed through the festival’s gates.

* NBC | Boeing forced to scrub first crewed Starliner launch to the space station: Mission controllers declared a launch “scrub” after an anomaly was detected on an oxygen valve on United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket, which the Starliner capsule was to ride into orbit. The crewed Starliner flight, when it occurs, will be a crucial final test before NASA can authorize Boeing to conduct routine flights to and from the space station.

* Ms. | The Rise of Deepfakes Demands Legislative Action: But legislation marks just the beginning of the solution. Genuine technological accountability, responsible AI development, and safeguarding the right to online privacy require more than a single federal law. However, enacting such legislation is a critical first step, and there is precedent that legislation can catalyze more widespread change.

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Tuesday, May 7, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today’s edition of Capitol Fax (use all CAPS in password)

Tuesday, May 7, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Isabel’s afternoon roundup

Tuesday, May 7, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* You can click here or here to follow breaking news. It’s the best we can do unless or until Twitter gets its act together.

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Monday, May 6, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* NPR Illinois…

The Illinois Department of Corrections has indicated it wants to rebuild [the Logan Correctional Center in Lincoln] near Stateville prison in the Joliet area. The department said the current women’s prison is outdated and need of costly repairs. It also said a new prison and new location would expand program options and improve employee recruitment. […]

But local officials worry about the economic impact. Logan employs 454 people, mostly in security roles. If Logan were to close, IDOC says there are expected to be enough vacancies in other prisons to offer everyone a job, albeit in other communities that may require relocation. IDOC says there will be about 850 positions available in these other IDOC facilities “within a 90-mile radius of Logan.”

The town hall will feature Sen. Sally Turner (R-Beason), Rep. Bill Hauter (R-Morton), Logan County Board Chairman Emily Davenport, Lincoln Economic Advancement & Development CEO Andrea Runge and Lincoln Mayor Tracy Welch. It is scheduled for May 15 at 6:30 p.m.

It will be streamed on Sen. Turner’s Facebook Page at www.Facebook.com/SenatorSallyTurner

* An interesting comparison fom ShotSpotter CEO Ralph Clark. Politico…

Have you talked to the mayor about him wanting to stick to his campaign promise?

“We’ve had some conversations. I understand the honor of that [campaign promise]. And I’m reminded of Barack Obama [who] campaigned on closing Guantanamo Bay when he was a candidate. Then he became president, and he probably had his first briefing, security briefing, and thought, ‘OK, I might be looking at this thing a little bit differently than when I made this campaign promise. I had a certain facts and a certain set of facts and assumptions I had campaigned for. It certainly sounded good. But now I’m elected my higher duty is not to a campaign promise, but to my sworn obligation to serve and protect.’”

* The American Cancer Society Action Network….

State legislators will hear firsthand from cancer patients and survivors during Cancer Action Day next week. The day-long gathering draws advocates from across the state who will ask lawmakers to prioritize legislation that will reduce the burden of cancer in Illinois. Cancer patients, survivors, their families and caregivers will wear their “suits and sneakers” to ask lawmakers to hit the ground running to make cancer a policy priority.

This year, advocates will ask lawmakers to reduce the burden of cancer in Illinois by improving access to care through increasing funding for the state’s colorectal cancer screening program and improving access to recommended genetic testing. They will also ask lawmakers to support legislation increasing diversity in clinical trials.

Who: Maggie Powell, breast cancer survivor and ACS CAN volunteer
Ally Lopshire, ACS CAN government relations director

When: Tuesday, May 7, 2024, 10 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

An estimated 78,200 Illinoisans will be diagnosed with cancer, and 23,280 are expected to die from the devastating disease. The legislature can and must do better to prevent and treat cancer in our state.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Tribune | For Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, federal recognition at last: The designation marks a long-awaited victory in the tribal nation’s fight to recover its ancestral home. When the land is placed in trust, the legal title is transferred to the U.S. government, which will hold it on behalf of Prairie Band and establish tribal governance. It opens up a string of benefits including tax credits and land use exemptions. […] At the state level, a bill would immediately turn over Shabbona Lake State Park, around 1,500 acres adjacent to the reservation. If passed, Prairie Band would assume ownership but continue to operate the property as a public space. The bill is still in committee, but Rep. Mark Walker, a Democrat from the Northwest suburbs and one of the co-sponsors, is optimistic that it will go forward.

*** Chicago ***

* Block Club | Bally’s Profits Continue To Lag At Medinah Temple, Executives Say: The budget anticipates $35 million in local tax revenue from Bally’s, averaging out to $3 million a month. As of the end of March, Medinah Temple has generated about $3 million in tax revenue this year for Chicago. A revenue report for April is expected to be released this week, according to a company spokesperson.

* WBEZ | Faced with cuts under a new funding formula, several CPS schools are rejecting their budgets: “The budget that we have does not meet the need,” said Sequoiah Brown, a member of the Local School Council at Poe Classical School in Pullman on the Far South Side. “Our parents are adamant about the needs of our students. You should be trying to bring up the others to that standard, not taking from one to give to the other. That is not how equity works.” […] School district officials say they are aware that some councils rejected their budget, but they will not have a tally until later this month. The schools confirmed by WBEZ include Poe, another selective enrollment elementary school, one neighborhood high school and one neighborhood elementary school. Selective enrollment and magnet schools have been speaking out about being hurt by a new budgeting formula in use by the school district for next school year that prioritizes schools with the neediest students.

* WTTW | Probe Into 8 CPD Officers Found No Evidence They Were Active Members of Oath Keepers — But Investigators Only Asked Them: However, investigators with CPD’s Bureau of Internal Affairs did not interview anyone other than the eight officers accused of belonging to the Oath Keepers, according to the 30-page report. Interviewing the officers appears to be the most significant investigative step taken by investigators during the probe, which was completed in less than six months. The eight officers were each questioned by investigators for an average of 29 minutes, according to the summary of those interviews included in the report. The longest interview lasted 48 minutes, the shortest just 17 minutes, according to the probe.

* Tribune | Johnson pulls plans to place migrant shelter site in 11th Ward after stiff opposition from alderman, property owners: The change came after the owners of the property said Johnson never informed them of his plans to use the building at 3951 S. Canal St. for a shelter. When the Tribune asked the city about that apparent disconnect, the Department of Family and Support Services released a Monday statement saying the city is “no longer considering” housing migrants there.

* Block Club | For 2 Decades, A Historic Pullman Home Has Been Vacant Under CHA’s Watch: The CHA acquired the Corliss home to house people in need. But after letting the house sit empty for nearly two decades and racking up violations with the city’s Department of Buildings, the CHA announced this fall the home was one of more than 40 scattered site properties the agency would rehab, restore and sell so families can live in them. But now CHA officials say they’ll move forward with “alternative plans” for the home they let sit empty for years after an assessment found needed repairs could total nearly $500,000, records show.

* Chicago Reader | Publisher’s note: why the Reader is returning to weekly publishing: First, because Chicago’s creative, civic, and cultural concerns don’t reproduce on a biweekly basis, nor do they circulate equitably from behind an online paywall. From Portage Park to Pullman, Chicago is a living conversation. For the tens of thousands of people who use our printed paper, that conversation doesn’t pause for two weeks so we can recapitulate it. It’s time for the Reader to get back on beat, back in rhythm with the verses and views, pictures and sounds, tastes and takes that make this the best city in the world.

*** Downstate ***

* Daily-Journal | Alliance grows with Gotion as members visit China sites: The cross-cultural awareness presentations which Gotion officials extended to the Kankakee County contingent was most impressive to Michael Boyd, president of Kankakee Community College. […] Boyd was part of the group that made the trip to China — paid for by Gotion — that also included Angela Morrey, vice president of business development for the Economic Alliance; Jeff Bennett, of McColly Bennett Real Estate and vice chairman of the Economic Alliance board; Theodis Pace, an alliance board member and also president of the Kankakee County Branch of the NAACP; Pat Martin, former past chairman of the board for the Economic Alliance and executive vice president with Iroquois Federal; and Ryan Marion, building official for the village of Manteno.

* WSIL | SIU wraps Saluki Takeover Tour: Saturday’s event concluded the tour aimed at recruiting more Southern Illinois students to SIU. SIU Chancellor Austin Lane appeared alongside the school’s athletic director and new basketball coach. SIU officials told News 3 the tour covering all 17 counties in the Southern Illinois was a success and plan to make the events bigger and better in coming years.

* WSIL | One Sent to Hospital After Crashing into Sinkhole in Jackson County, Sheriff’s Office Says: News 3 previously reported a sinkhole forming along Highway 51, just north of De Soto on Thursday. A section of highway surrounding this sinkhole was reportedly closed by the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) to all traffic on Friday morning. IDOT also then said an assessment of the damage will take place the following week.

*** Sports ***

* Chicago Mag | Best Seats in Sox Park: One upside to the White Sox’s dismal start to the season: You can have your pick of seats. For cheap. And while Guaranteed Rate Field will never get the love Wrigley does, it’s still an enjoyable place to watch a Major League Baseball game. As long as you can stomach seeing the home team lose. So where should you sit? We offer these three (highly specific) suggestions.

* Daily Herald | From promises of no new taxes to Burnham, Bears’ latest stadium presentation sounded familiar: As Chicago Bears executives last week presented glossy renderings and extolled the virtues of building a new stadium on the city’s lakefront, one could hear echoes of similar remarks some of those same leaders made a year-and-a-half before to a suburban audience at John Hersey High School in Arlington Heights. While the intended location for a new Bears stadium might have been different, officials from the NFL franchise came to both events with Power Point presentations and talking points in hand, as they made pitches for public subsides to help bankroll the envisioned megaprojects.

* STL Today | Busch Stadium needs renovations. Should St. Louis taxpayers kick in?: DeWitt says he is not “fishing” for public money now. He might in the next few years. The club, he says, is just starting to study the stadium’s needs. If the Cardinals ask for taxpayer help, however, it could be a fight. New leaders have taken over City Hall, vowing to do more for the poor and neglected. They are pushing to improve services for the homeless, rebuild north St. Louis and dig into longstanding inequalities. They have begun to take a harder line on subsidies for developers, forcing some concessions to city schools, affordable housing and workers.

*** Cicada-geddon ***

* Tribune | Illinois cicadas, loud but harmless, to make historic emergence in mid- to late May: Yet despite recent reports of cicadas coming out, experts say the insects probably won’t do so en masse in Illinois for another few weeks, as early as mid-May, but more likely toward the end of the month. Reports of sightings are likely individual “stragglers” that have come out too early or from people who have taken a shovel to the ground.

* Here’s the DuPage Forest Preserve District on the life cycle of a 17-year cicada…

* Block Club | Cicada Parade-A Art Project Raising Money For Insect Asylum’s Rooftop Garden: Inside the basement of the Avondale museum at 2870 N. Milwaukee Ave., volunteers and employees are hard at work making over 1,000 cicada plaster molds for a spectacular community-wide art project that will celebrate the convergence of two cicada broods while raising money for its rooftop garden project. Last month, The Insect Asylum launched the Cicada Parade-a 2024, an art initiative organized by the museum and Baltimore-based Formstone Castle Collective artist Michael Bowman to bring awareness to the double cicada emergence through collaborative art. The idea was birthed by Roger McMullan, of Salt Lake City, a lifelong enthusiast of the periodical cicada and author and illustrator of the new graphic novel “Cicadapocalypse.”

* PJ Star | Do cicadas destroy crops? What farmers in Illinois need to know: “Periodical cicadas don’t pose a risk to any of the major crops in Illinois,” said Illinois State Entomologist Christopher Dietrich. “They are restricted to areas with mature natural forest, and they don’t move around much so we’ll see few, if any, in areas dominated by row crops.”

* PJ Star | What animals eat cicadas?: When periodical cicadas emerge, they’re consumed by just about anything that eats insects. Mammals and birds, amphibians and reptiles, and fish all eat cicadas — and benefit from the glut of them. […] Yes, and eagerly, reports the University of Maryland Extension. “If you have free-range chickens, they will happily scratch up the cicadas and eat them. The cicadas aren’t poisonous.”

*** National ***

* AP | Dozens of deaths reveal risks of injecting sedatives into people restrained by police: At least 94 people died after they were given sedatives and restrained by police from 2012 through 2021, according to findings by the AP in collaboration with FRONTLINE (PBS) and the Howard Centers for Investigative Journalism. That’s nearly 10% of the more than 1,000 deaths identified during the investigation of people subdued by police in ways that are not supposed to be fatal. About half of the 94 who died were Black, including Jackson.

* Axios | More women are working now than at any time in U.S. history: The rise in flexible work arrangements is likely helping, in addition to the strong labor market. […] The employment numbers — technically the employment-to-population ratio — include part-time workers. So it would include women who want to work full-time but can’t due to child care issues. Women overall are working less now than in 2019, as ADP research found earlier this year.

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Monday, May 6, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Behind the CMS cost projections

Monday, May 6, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* From a recent Sun-Times editorial…

The country’s obesity rates have been scaling up over the past two decades. Nearly 42% percent of adults in the U.S. qualified as obese in 2023, data collected by nonprofit Trust for America’s Health show.

Children haven’t been faring much better. Roughly 20% of boys and girls ages 2 to 19 were obese between 2017 and 2020, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The numbers for Black and Hispanic populations are even worse, due to a lack of nutritious food options, poor access to health care and other structural barriers. […]

The initiative is estimated to cost taxpayers $210 million the first year, although Pritzker spokesperson Jordan Abudayyeh said the price tag could end up being less. […]

The Pritzker administration needs to lay out the exact math for how much taxpayers will have to shell out for the weight-loss drugs as soon as it can. Or explain further why its estimate is more accurate than the other. Taxpayers deserve to know the final price of what they’re paying for.

Let’s take a look.

* Seven out of nine state health insurance policies were already covering these drugs. This was an expansion, mainly to Downstate areas that aren’t covered by Health Alliance and Aetna HMO. Those two state plans cover about 72,000 employees and dependents out of a total of 350,000 or so, about 21 percent.

Of those seven which already did cover the weight-loss drugs, Blue Cross’ HMO IL and its Blue Advantage plans don’t break out individual costs. Those two plans cover about 41,000 employees and dependents out of about 350,000 employees and dependents, or about 12 percent of all covered people.

* Five of those seven plans which were already covering the drugs, Aetna OAP, Aetna PPO, Aetna High Deductible Health Plan, HealthLink OAP, Blue Cross Blue Shield OAP, do have trackable expenditures because their prescriptions are administered by the state’s Pharmacy Benefit Manager, CVS Caremark. Those five plans cover almost 154,000 employees and dependents, about 44 percent of the total in all nine plans.

From the state…

According to CVS Caremark, in Fiscal Year 23 the following coverage was provided member and dependents covered under the State Employees Group Insurance Program for weight loss medication:

• Injectable weight loss prescriptions

o Total Rx claims: 7,580
o Total Users: 2,325 (up from FY22 total users of 993)
o Total Cost to the State: $10,620,147.72

• Oral weight loss prescriptions

o Total RX claims: 427
o Total Users: 233 (down from FY22 total users of 236)
o Total Cost to the State: $28,725.35

So, that’s a total of about $10.649 million last fiscal year for about 44 percent of all covered employees and their dependents. That would be around $23 million for everybody in the system if you extrapolated it out and everything else is even.

We don’t know yet what the FY2024 numbers are.

* However, CMS is projecting usage will rise to about ~~20,000~~ 16,000 people in FY25, from about 2,300 in FY23 - a 770 percent increase.

Plausible? I guess we’ll see. But the thing to remember is that the recent expansion will only account for a fraction of the total new cost increase.

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The Field Museum unveils earliest bird fossil known to science

Monday, May 6, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Chicago Tribune…

The Field Museum has added a new fossil to its collection, calling it the museum’s most important fossil acquisition since Sue the T. rex. An Archaeopteryx, it has feathers, hollow bones, a long tail and 50 teeth — and is the earliest known avian dinosaur, a link between dinosaurs and modern birds.

The fossil was unveiled at an event Monday attended by Mayor Brandon Johnson and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle. It will go on display to the public on Tuesday, accompanied by a hologram-like projection showing how the Archaeopteryx would have looked in life.

It’s one of two Archaeopteryx specimens in the United States — and only a dozen others have been found. This fossil was discovered in southern Germany before 1990 and arrived at the museum in 2022. For those wondering if the fossil will be given a name, like Sue (maybe Archie?), the Field says it already has one: All Archaeopteryx specimens are named after the city in which they reside, so this one is called the Chicago Archaeopteryx. […]

It will be on view until the Museum’s Dinopalooza event on June 8. Then it will be removed to prepare a permanent, immersive exhibition, due to open in the fall.

Click here to watch the unveiling.

* Sun-Times…

Archaeopteryx lived about 150 million years ago, a dinosaur with feathers, hollow bones, tiny teeth and clawed wings. Much about its lifestyle remains unknown. Could it fly? Perhaps, but not very well, Field scientists say. And it was small too — the Field’s specimen is about the size of a pigeon.

In the 19th century, some saw Archaeopteryx remains and couldn’t figure out what it was, with some thinking it might be an angel, according to London’s Natural History Museum.

The first specimen was discovered just two years after the publication of Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species.” A lot of people at the time didn’t believe that animals could evolve. The Archaeopteryx appeared to prove otherwise — that dinosaurs had evolved into birds.

* More…

* WTTW | The Field Museum Now Has an Incredibly Rare Fossil Proving Birds Are Dinosaurs. Here’s a Behind-the-Scenes Look at How They Got It: After pulling back one last flap of tissue paper, O’Connor finally had her “ta-da” moment, introducing the “Chicago Archaeopteryx … the most important fossil ever.” That’s quite a statement coming from a curator at the Field, home of the mighty T. Rex, Sue. But what Archaeopteryx lacks in size, it makes up for in significance as a “transitional” species that essentially proved Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. … In front of gathered dignitaries and the press, the Field formally announced to the world what had become a not-so-well-kept secret: The museum had acquired just the 13th specimen known to exist of Archaeopteryx (ar-key-AHP-ter-icks), a fossil often described as the “missing link” between dinosaurs and birds. “It’s a spectacular example … teeth like a dinosaur, a tail like a dinosaur, but it’s a bird,” said Julian Siggers, Field Museum president and CEO. “The top-level message is that dinosaurs didn’t go extinct, they actually evolved into birds.” The Field Museum has acquired the 13th known specimen of Archaeopteryx, often called the “missing link” fossil between dinosaurs and birds. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News)

* WTTW | Meet Jingmai O’Connor, the Punk Rock Paleontologist Who Leads the Field Museum’s Archaeopteryx Team: Dead Bird Nerd alert! WTTW News sat down with paleornithologist Jingmai O’Connor and talked about dinosaurs, birds, the Chicago Archaeopteryx, evolution and why studying fossil birds is more important now than ever. O’Connor is associate curator of fossil reptiles at Chicago’s Field Museum of Natural History.

* WGN | Field Museum acquires fossil of earliest known bird: “Archaeopteryx is arguably the most important fossil ever discovered. It transformed how scientists see the world, by providing strong support for Darwin’s theory of evolution,” said Field Museum President and CEO Julian Siggers. “This is the Field Museum’s most significant fossil acquisition since SUE the T. rex, and we’re thrilled to be able to study ‘the Chicago Archaeopteryx’ and to share it with our visitors.”

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Today’s must-read

Monday, May 6, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* A commenter recommended this piece from the New York Times…

Markus Johnson slumped naked against the wall of his cell, skin flecked with pepper spray, his face a mask of puzzlement, exhaustion and resignation. Four men in black tactical gear pinned him, his face to the concrete, to cuff his hands behind his back.

He did not resist. He couldn’t. He was so gravely dehydrated he would be dead by their next shift change. […]

It was 1:19 p.m. on Sept. 6, 2019, in the Danville Correctional Center, a medium-security prison a few hours south of Chicago. Mr. Johnson, 21 and serving a short sentence for gun possession, was in the throes of a mental collapse that had gone largely untreated, but hardly unwatched. […]

The country’s jails and prisons have become its largest provider of inpatient mental health treatment, with 10 times as many seriously mentally ill people now held behind bars as in hospitals. Estimating the population of incarcerated people with major psychological problems is difficult, but the number is likely 200,000 to 300,000, experts say. […]

Mr. Johnson’s mother has filed a wrongful-death suit against the state and Wexford Health Sources, a for-profit health care contractor in Illinois prisons. The New York Times reviewed more than 1,500 pages of reports, along with depositions taken from those involved. Together, they reveal a cascade of missteps, missed opportunities, potential breaches of protocol and, at times, lapses in common sense.

Prison officials and Wexford staff took few steps to intervene even after it became clear that Mr. Johnson, who had been hospitalized repeatedly for similar episodes and recovered, had refused to take medication. Most notably, they did not transfer him to a state prison facility that provides more intensive mental health treatment than is available at regular prisons, records show.

The quality of medical care was also questionable, said Mr. Johnson’s lawyers, Sarah Grady and Howard Kaplan, a married legal team in Chicago. Mr. Johnson lost 50 to 60 pounds during three weeks in solitary confinement, but officials did not initiate interventions like intravenous feedings or transfer him to a non-prison hospital.

And they did not take the most basic step — dialing 911 — until it was too late. […]

The paradox is that prison is often the only place where sick people have access to even minimal care.

But the harsh work environment, remote location of many prisons, and low pay have led to severe shortages of corrections staff and the unwillingness of doctors, nurses and counselors to work with the incarcerated mentally ill.

In the early 2000s, prisoners’ rights lawyers filed a class-action lawsuit against Illinois claiming “deliberate indifference” to the plight of about 5,000 mentally ill prisoners locked in segregated units and denied treatment and medication.

Go read the whole thing.

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Uber Partners With Cities To Expand Urban Transportation

Monday, May 6, 2024 - Posted by Advertising Department

[The following is a paid advertisement.]

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It’s that time of year again

Monday, May 6, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* As we head into the final weeks of session, it’s important to always keep in mind the Statehouse adage, “Watch the rollercoaster, don’t ride it” Here’s a new twist on that admonition…

[Stolen from the Internet.]

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Pritzker unexpectedly won’t rule out service tax for mass transit

Monday, May 6, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Chalkbeat…

Here are some education bills we’re continuing to follow.

Moratorium on Chicago school closures until 2027: House Bill 303 was initially filed to prevent the Chicago Board of Education from making any changes to selective enrollment schools until 2027 when the board will be fully elected. The bill is a direct response to a resolution passed by the current school board, which is appointed by the mayor, that calls for a new strategic plan that would invest in neighborhood schools and move away from school choice. The latest change to the bill included a closure moratorium on all Chicago schools until 2027. The bill is currently in the Senate’s executive committee.

Early Childhood Department: Illinois is currently in the process of merging early childhood education programs currently housed under the state’s Department of Human Services, Illinois State Board of Education, and the state’s Department of Children and Family Services. Pritzker unveiled the plan last October. He said the current system is an “impossible bureaucracy” for parents and providers to navigate and hopes that one department will make it easier. Senate Bill 1, which would create the new department, has passed the Senate and is currently in the House.

State license for Montessori teachers: Illinois lawmakers are trying to figure out ways to deal with the current teacher shortage. One proposal, Senate Bill 2689, would make it easier for Montessori-trained educators to teach in public schools by creating the Montessori Educator Licensure. Teachers are eligible if they have graduated from a college or university with a bachelor’s degree, received a credential from an institution accredited by the Montessori Council for Teacher Education, the American Montessori Society, or the Association Montessori International, and completed state licensure testing. The Senate’s proposal, which passed, is currently in the House’s Rules Committee.

Police in Chicago Public Schools: The Chicago Board of Education voted in February on a measure to remove Chicago Police Department officers from schools. Currently, 57 officers are spread across 39 high schools. Some community leaders rallied against the board’s decision and said they wanted to keep their schools’ police officers, often referred to as school resource officers, or SROs. House Bill 5008, would allow Local School Councils to contract directly with the Chicago Police Department for school resource officers. The bill is currently in the House’s Rules Committee.

* Shaw Local…

State Sen. Rachel Ventura, D-Joliet, is pushing for a trucking fee that could generate $38 million a year for local road repairs.

The bill proposed by Ventura would empower municipalities and counties to impose fees that would range between 50 cents and $8 per semitrailer carrying goods from an intermodal yard.

Senate Bill 2784 originally applied to trucks carrying goods from intermodal yards of more than 3,500 acres, which would have specifically applied to the CenterPoint Intermodal Center yards in Joliet and Elwood.

The bill has since been amended so it would apply to smaller intermodal yards around Illinois as well, Ventura said Wednesday.

SB2784 was re-referred to Senate Assignments last week.

* State’s Attorney Patrick Kenneally…

Today, the Illinois Medical Society mustered its public relations arm and furiously responded to Patrick Kenneally’s opposition to SB 3136. As discussed, SB 3136 prevents a state’s attorney’s office (“SAO”) from immediately being notified of an infant born drug positive so that it can file a petition to begin a non-punitive court process wherein all county and substance abuse service agencies collaborate in making sure the baby is safe and mother recovers.

The Illinois Medical Society, in response, stated that “nothing in SB 3136 diminishes the role of the state’s attorney.” It assured further that “to suggest that the Illinois Medical Society would ever support legislation that would put a child in harm’s way is absurd.”

“Representative Mary Beth Canty accused Kenneally of “casting aspersions on physicians,” by voicing his opposition.

Senator Castro was “appalled” at Kenneally’s opposition, claiming that he was attack[ing] and blam[ing] vulnerable new mothers who are struggling to get the treatment they need.

Kenneally responds:

Stating that SB 3136 does not diminish the role of the state’s attorney’s office is flat wrong. The bill makes our knowledge of a drug positive infant contingent upon DCFS, which, if past experience is any guide, will notify an SAO only in rare circumstances. If the SAO is not notified, it cannot file a petition, which means that the court system has no role. The abuse and neglect court system should have a role, in fact, it was designed for exactly these types of circumstances.

With respect to the Illinois Medical Society, I regret the umbrage you have clearly taken at the idea that somebody is contesting your legislation. However, I am judging this legislation by its provisions, not your intentions. While I have high regard for doctors, I think the days of the public reflexively trusting that doctors always know best in multi-disciplinary areas of public policy that are far afield from diagnosing and treating are and should be over.

This is an area that involves community safety and child well-being. Respectfully, we as state’s attorneys have some experience in this area and should have been consulted when this bill was being drafted. We were not. While I see that many health-related organizations support this bill, I see that only one of the 102 state’s attorney’s offices support this bill, and I see no support from a single law enforcement agency.

With respect to Representative Canty, if me saying that doctors overprescribing opioid medication was the cause of the opioid epidemic is me “casting aspersions,” I am happy to refer you or a member of your staff to any number of medical journals, books, articles, and lawsuits that have definitively proven and concluded just that.

Doctors are, for the most part, wonderful, accomplished, and honorable people. The point, which you artfully misinterpret, is that when we are operating in the incredibly complex field of public policy with all its potential ramifications, we should not merely take the word, no matter how earnestly declared, of a group of people who happen to claim the same profession absent sufficient evidence.

As to Senator Castro being “appalled,” okay, but if substance abusing mothers are “vulnerable” and are “struggling,” why would we not direct them to a court that can provide them with the long-term support through services and structure that they may need. Keep in mind too, Senator, it is not just the mother’s well-being that is at issue here.

* SJ-R…

Under the Pretrial Fairness Act, the prosecution can seek pretrial detention of an individual accused of domestic violence. Yet, analysis conducted by Loyola University found that prosecutors do not file petitions in the majority of these cases. Those that do file petitions, claiming an individual poses a threat to a person or is liable to flee, are similarly unsuccessful.

The Loyola study looked at four counties — Cook, DuPage, Kane and McHenry — that have made their data public and determined petitions were filed between 16% and 53% of cases. Pretrial detention ranged from 4% to 13%. […]

Both DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin Senate Minority Leader John Curran claim the law as currently written limits the prosecution’s ability to pursue petitions. Curran, R-Downers Grove, said he plans on filing legislation that will “flip” the burden on the alleged abuser to file a petition to prove they are not an imminent threat. […]

Democrats have in-turn said increased urgency is needed to pass Karina’s Bill, legislation requiring law enforcement to remove any guns from a person who is facing an order of protection. Balancing the safety concerns of domestic violence victims and police attempting to remove these firearms has proven difficult, as the legislation waits in committee. […]

Under the current system, the prosecution is required to file a motion if they believe an individual should be detained pretrial. New legislation from Senate Minority Leader John Curran would “flip” that burden onto the alleged abuser to file a petition to prove they are not an imminent threat.

“This is going to protect more women and children who are the victims of domestic violence, but also it’s going to increase the number of abusers that are actually detained,” Curran, R-Downers Grove, said during a news conference last week.

* NBC Chicago…

A new bill under consideration by the Illinois General Assembly would aim to discourage the theft and resale of catalytic converters, with the state having one of the worst rates of such thefts in the country.

According to research cited by bill sponsor Sen. Michael Hastings, more than 2,000 insurance claims were filed between 2020-2022 after devices were stolen from vehicles, the fourth-highest rate in the U.S. during that time according to the National Insurance Crime Bureau. […]

The proposed bill, under consideration by the Senate, would require dealers to keep records of vehicle identification numbers of the vehicles from which the converter was removed, and to note any numbers, bar codes, stickers or other unique markings of the devices.

The bill would require recycling facilities to obtain a copy of the certificate of title or uniform invoice showing the seller’s ownership of the vehicle in transactions involving converters.

* WGN…

A bill pending before the Illinois Senate would make it illegal in the state for a teacher to have a sexual relationship with an adult student.

Right now, educators in Illinois can be fired if they’re involved sexually with a student, but there’s no option for criminal charges if the student is 18 or older.

However, a bill that passed unanimously in the Illinois House would criminalize relationships with students ages 18 to 23, if the educator is at least four years older than the student.

Charges would range from misdemeanor to felony, depending on the number of students and the nature of the misconduct.

* Pantagraph…

State Rep. Katie Stuart, D-Edwardsville, is looking to pass legislation that would make sexual assault by deception a Class 3 felony.

Sexual assault by deception occurs when a victim only consents to sexual activity under the belief the other person is someone else. Stuart said Illinois does not have this coverage coded into law, but if House Bill 2093 passes, it would close that gap. […]

While lawmakers have been trying to push this kind of legislation through for the past few years, a case where a college student in Indiana unknowingly slept with someone who was pretending to be her boyfriend renewed efforts to reintroduce the bill this session.

Stuart said she has been trying to pass this bill since 2019. It has passed out of various committees and the House a few times since then, but there’s always been a holdup when trying to pass it through the Senate, she said. […]

The bill passed out of the House unanimously in mid-April and is waiting to be assigned to a committee in the Senate.

* Journal Courier…

A group of lawmakers and influential environmental advocates are calling for broad changes to the state’s energy industry. […]

The proposals, unlikely to be passed in their current form this year, reveal how influential lawmakers – including the chairs of the Senate Transportation Committee and House Energy and Environment Committee – are navigating the state’s energy transition. […]

The second piece of legislation in the environmentalists’ package, Senate Bill 3935, would institute a “heat decarbonization standard,” requiring gas utilities to reduce their carbon emissions each year, beginning with a 24% reduction in 2031 and 100% by 2050. [..]

The legislation also puts new emissions standards on natural gas building heaters and would require all water heaters sold in the state after 2030 to emit no nitrogen oxide gases. That pollutant can cause harmful health effects and can contribute to the formation of greenhouse gases. […]

The final portion of the policy package is Senate Bill 3636, which would place a suite of new requirements on the Illinois Power Agency and require the state to purchase “energy storage credit,” a financial instrument used when purchasing energy from energy storage facilities. It would be similar to the “renewable energy credits” that the state uses to manage buying electricity from wind and solar installations.

* WAND…

A bill moving in Springfield would allow more people to get help from the Illinois Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program.

The plan would expand LIHEAP eligibility to people living in subsidized housing and individuals spending no more than 30% of their household income on rent.

This change could also apply to anyone who is not an energy customer but pays for energy services through their monthly rent. […]

House Bill 4141 passed unanimously out of the Senate Energy & Public Utilities Committee Thursday morning. The proposal now moves to the Senate floor for further consideration. State representatives unanimously approved the measure on April 15.

* Patch…

Senator Lakesia Collins and Rep. Yolonda Morris, both Chicago Democrats, have introduced new legislation to help keep Illinois data within the State of Illinois and to create jobs by providing incentives to locate data centers in underserved areas.

The “Keep Illinois Data in Illinois” Tax Credit legislation (Senate Bill 3939, House Bill 5827) will help minority business owners to develop these data storage facilities. The legislation will also help underserved areas of Illinois by giving tax benefits to data centers that are located in “disproportionately impacted areas” of the state. […]

Data centers are one of the best economic investments for municipalities. That’s why Illinois passed a data center tax credit bill in 2021, and the new legislation from Collins and Morris would offer an additional 5 percent credit for minority and women-owned companies that are invested in traditional disinvested areas.

According to a February 2023 report commissioned in part by the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, the 13 Chicago-area data center projects approved since 2020 have created more than 8,000 jobs for construction workers and $4.2 billion of direct investment into Chicago-area communities.

* Journal Courier…

For more than a decade, farmers like Lieb haven’t been able to fix their high-tech equipment. Until recently, manufacturer restrictions meant only company-authorized representatives could own and use diagnostic tools, and make fixes when needed. […]

[A]dvocates for repair legislation say that the non-binding agreement and the customer versions of tools provided by the companies fall short of needed protections that legislation would ensure. These same advocates are supporting bills across the country, including one introduced this year in the Illinois Senate.

The Illinois bill, Senate Bill 2669, proposes to establish an agricultural equipment bill of rights. It would require manufacturers to make software, firmware and all other tools needed to repair machines accessible to independent repair shops and owners throughout the state at a reasonable cost.

The bill directly addresses the memorandum of understanding, and says that agricultural equipment owners are entitled to any tools or software not covered by the memorandum of understanding. The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Jil Tracy, R-Quincy, declined to comment after multiple attempts by email and in person to reach her. Deere and the other farm equipment manufacturers also did not return multiple requests for comment.

The bill is languishing at the statehouse. According to a spokesperson from the Illinois Corn Growers Association in an email to Investigate Midwest, there’s no chance the bill will pass this year.

* Gambling News…

The Illinois legislative session has failed to advance the state’s iGaming efforts so far but not all hope is lost. With three weeks left in the session, there is still time for HB2239 to make progress.

Sponsored by Rep. Edgar Gonzalez, the bill seeks to legalize online casino gaming and allow the state to capitalize on the opportunities offered by the vertical. The bill would create a state Internet Gaming Act, allow three skins per iGaming license and introduce a 15% tax on online gaming.

However, Illinois lawmakers seem to be in no rush to regulate iGaming and have not held a public discussion on the matter yet.

Rep. Dan Didech doubted that the Illinois online casino bill will advance this session but didn’t rule out the possibility completely. In an interview with PlayUSA, the representative said that the measure is a “long shot” because of a lack of momentum.

* Pantagraph…

As artificial intelligence’s global popularity continues to skyrocket, Illinois lawmakers are trying to ensure that the state’s laws keep up.

State Sen. Mary Edly-Allen, D-Grayslake, and state Rep. Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz, D-Glenview, are leading the efforts for the legislation filed this session. Gong-Gershowitz and Edly-Allen have tag-teamed on many of them, with Gong-Gershowitz championing them through the House and Edly-Allen championing them through the Senate. […]

House Bill 4875 would protect artists and their work from being used and artificially reproduced for another song or piece of work without their consent. It passed through the House earlier this month with a 79-24 vote. It was assigned to the Senate’s judiciary committee.

House Bill 4762 would add protections to a person’s digital voice and likeness, and passed through the House with a 108-0 vote. It was assigned to the Senate’s judiciary committee.

House Bill 4623 protects children from pornographic content and exploitation. It also passed through the House earlier this month with a 113-0 vote. Edly-Allen said Attorney General Kwame Raoul approached her and Gong-Gershowitz to carry this bill through the legislature. It is currently sitting in the Senate Assignments Committee.

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Monday, May 6, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* My weekly syndicated newspaper column…

Gov. JB Pritzker unexpectedly moved away last week from his longstanding opposition to taxing services, saying he didn’t want to start taking ideas off the table as lawmakers search for ways to fund and reform the Chicago region’s mass transit system.

As you may know, the Chicago area’s mass transit agencies are facing a $730 million “fiscal cliff” in 2026. The federal government’s COVID-era subsidies will expire that year. While ridership has declined as service worsens, operating costs have increased and average fare prices have fallen.

According to a report last year from the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, imposing a service tax could be part of the solution. The CMAP report said adding a service tax to the state’s existing 6.25% state tax rate could generate $1.1 to $1.9 billion in 2026. Some legislators are proposing a $1.5 billion annual funding increase for transit, as part of a consolidation effort.

So, my associate Isabel Miller (who contributed to this column) asked Pritzker during an unrelated media event if he wanted to take any state taxes off the table before the talks heat up, including the service tax.

“I have never been in favor of that before,” Pritzker said of the service tax. He has indeed opposed the tax all the way back to his first 2018 gubernatorial campaign, often calling it regressive.

“There may need to be a source of revenue here,” Pritzker said, “but that’s not something that I have favored in the past.”

As far as specifically ruling out a service tax, however, the governor said: “I really don’t want to start saying, ‘We’re not going to do this, we’re not going to do that.’ At this point, there are just so many pieces of this that we have to look at before we’re going to pay for what’s necessary here as we come off of support from the federal government and making sure we’re restoring transit services.”

Some legislative Democrats pushing transit agency consolidation and reform welcomed the news of the governor’s new openness to a service tax, which seems to be evidence the governor is serious about finding a fix.

“I appreciate the governor being open to it, and I appreciate him recognizing this is a complicated matter,” Rep. Eva-Dina Delgado, D-Chicago, told me. Delgado introduced House Bill 5828 last week to provide the systems an annual $1.5 billion state appropriation once the mass transit system is consolidated.

Rep. Kam Buckner, D-Chicago, whose House Bill 5823 would create a consolidated transit agency, told me he’s also opposed a service tax in the past. But Buckner said he is open to it now, and he appreciates the governor is keeping an open mind.

Pritzker also reiterated last week he’s not yet endorsing any particular mass transit reform proposal but insisted “change is going to have to come.”

“We just know that we’re going to have to upgrade service, make sure that we’re dealing with the transit funding challenge that’s coming up,” Pritzker said. “I hope to see several proposals so that we can consider what direction to take.”

That change in direction will be a complex endeavor, the governor said.

“We’ve got to look at cuts that need to be made, along with, you know, are there changes in fares for certain types of riders that need to be made,” Pritzker said.

A Pritzker spokesperson later explained when the governor said “cuts,” he meant efficiencies to save money, like consolidating the regional transit system but not service cuts.

Most transit agencies hotly oppose consolidation, including the Chicago Transit Authority.

A spokesperson for the Illinois Chamber told me the organization hopes the governor remains ambivalent about a service tax.

“From our position, taxing Illinois’ service businesses — especially our smallest businesses — to close a budget gap is a non-starter. The tax would negatively impact the smallest of businesses: service-based small businesses and startups — especially businesses in counties that border other states as customers can save just by crossing the state line,” the Chamber spokesperson said.

One issue with a service tax is implementing it would take time. Many of the businesses that would be covered are not currently set up to pay sales taxes, for example. The Chamber predicted it could take “several years” to implement a service tax, so it won’t solve “short-term gaps.”

“As the voice of Illinois business, we would welcome sitting down with the governor’s team to discuss pragmatic ways to address the budget gap, but taxing services is not one of them,” the Chamber spokesperson said.

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Monday, May 6, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Hope you all had a great weekend! What’s going on in your part of Illinois?…

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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Supplement to today’s edition

Monday, May 6, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* ICYMI: Pritzker eyes a $20 billion quantum-computing campus. Crain’s…

Governor Pritzker will be at the Field Museum at 10 a.m. to celebrate a new acquisition. At 2:30, the governor will give remarks at the Thompson Center redevelopment groundbreaking. Click here to watch.

* The letter is signed by Reps. Jimenez, Rashid, Guzzardi, Mah and Gonzalez…

Progressive elected officials across Chicago stand in solidarity with students and their constitutional right to protest. University administrations should negotiate in good faith and refrain from police intervention. Statement below: pic.twitter.com/zBIoEkdfNu

— United Working Families (@UWFIllinois) May 6, 2024

*** Isabel’s top picks ***

* Capitol News Illinois | Lawmakers pitch sweeping changes to energy industry and Chicagoland transit system: A group of lawmakers and influential environmental advocates are calling for broad changes to the state’s energy industry and a massive increase in state oversight of Chicagoland’s transit system – which faces a projected $730 million budget shortfall. Advocates for the policy platform, which is broken up into three bills, describe much of it as a follow-up to the 2021 Climate and Equitable Jobs Act, a landmark energy policy that set emissions goals for the state and massively altered the state’s energy sector. The proposals [are] unlikely to be passed in their current form this year.

* WMAY | Governor makes the case for Illinois, promises growth for Springfield: Another facet of Springfield which deserved attention, the Governor said, is the Illinois State Fairgrounds. “That fairgrounds is a phenomenal piece of property — but it’s been neglected, like so many other things in the State government… I said in my first year in office to my staff, I want our Fair to –– first of all be profitable, and I want it to be something that people love going to.” Pritzker told the Citizen’s Club that money from the Rebuild Illinois plan is being dedicated to renovating and improving the fairgrounds. “This is an investment in the Fairgrounds here, in Springfield. It is an investment for a lifetime: we want to be able to show off what Springfield is.”

*** Statewide ***

* J.B. Pritzker, et al | Clean water is our moonshot moment for Midwest climate leadership: One-fifth of the planet’s surface freshwater sits in our Great Lakes. Demand for it will only grow, which gives us both an opportunity and a responsibility to speed the pace of water innovation. We must manage and conserve our finite fresh water as if it were a sea of diamonds. Even our “waste” water is precious. Over the next 10 years, a bipartisan coalition called Great Lakes ReNEW will invest millions of dollars in new technologies to recover and recycle valuable minerals, such as nickel, cobalt and lithium, from our water, and remove toxic chemicals such as per- and polyfluorinated substances, known as PFAS. The goal is to destroy what’s toxic and reuse what’s valuable.

* Herald-Whig | Illinois monitoring H5N1 influenza in dairy cattle: While no cases have been reported in Illinois, federal agencies confirmed the H5N1 influenza virus in dairy herds in eight states across the U.S. The Illinois Department of Agriculture and the Illinois Department of Public Health are working closely to monitor the situation and are jointly coordinating prevention and response measures including working with producer groups and partner organizations to promote education to veterinarians and cattle farmers on the clinical signs of H5N1 so that potential infections quickly can be identified and contained.

* Crain’s | Illinois awards 35 new pot-shop licenses: The licensees announced today are the third round of applicants chosen by lottery and will join 200 other licensees chosen in two previous lotteries. The new licenses are conditional until applicants open stores and receive final certification from the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. The state originally had authorized 55 licenses in the latest round. Thirteen applications are still under review, and seven others chosen in the lottery did not meet the state’s social-equity criteria. Seven new potential licensees will be chosen from the lottery pool.

* WTAX | Boyd succeeds Neely as IL National Guard adjutant general: Gen. Rodney Boyd, installed Saturday at Glenwood High School, is proud to break the glass ceiling. “It’s also a way of showing how far we’ve come as an organization and as a state,” Boyd said in an interview before the ceremony, “that we are preparing people of color to take these very important roles within our organization and the other organizations within our state.” Boyd, the product of Chicago public housing and son of a single mother, urged today’s young people who believe they have been given lemons to squeeze them and get an education.

*** Chicago ***

* WBBM | City’s plan to replace downtown migrant shelter with one in Bridgeport getting some pushback: The City of Chicago notified Ald. Nicole Lee (11th) this past week of plans to move migrants from downtown to Bridgeport ahead of the Democratic National Convention. […] In an update to her constituents, Lee said the city has not signed a lease for the property yet and that she met with Mayor Brandon Johnson to express her opposition.

* Tribune | Optimism, doubt ahead of Johnson’s Treatment Not Trauma mental health plan: Johnson quickly passed an ordinance to launch the city’s working group once in office, but to move forward, the policy needs “active leadership” from City Hall, not “infinite working groups, infinite consensus buildings and no movement,” said Eric Reinhart, a public health, law and psychiatry anthropologist and physician who co-drafted the “white paper” report published by the activist coalition that pushed for the policy. “I think it’s quite disappointing to all of us that a year into this administration, that even on the campaign stage held up Treatment Not Trauma as one of its core priorities, we still haven’t made any steps forward,” he said. “Everybody’s getting a working group, but where are we seeing implementation?”

* Crain’s | Airlines and City Hall reach agreement on O’Hare revamp: However, key details were not immediately available. Included on the list of unanswered questions are under what conditions the second satellite, which would add most of the expansion gates, would begin construction; when construction of the first two terminals will begin; and how the city intends to cut billions of dollars in cost overruns to bring the project back to its original budget.

* Crain’s | Offices near O’Hare with little vacancy hit the market: A joint venture of Calgary, Alberta-based MDC Realty Advisors and Vancouver, British Columbia-based Nicola Wealth Management has hired brokerage Cushman & Wakefield to sell the One O’Hare office building at 6250 N. River Road, according to a marketing flyer. The offering comes more than eight years after the pair of investors bought the 12-story building for $83 million. Amid weak demand for offices and higher interest rates weighing down property values, One O’Hare is almost certainly worth less than that today. There is no asking price listed for the 380,360-square-foot building, but a source familiar with the listing said bids are expected to come in close to $70 million, or $184 per square foot.

* Block Club | Chicago Cinco De Mayo Parade Canceled Due To ‘Gang Violence,’ Police Say: The parade was called off shortly after it began at noon Sunday at Cermak Road and Damon Avenue. The cancellation was “out of an abundance of caution” following gang violence near the parade and the decision was made by police, local officials and parade organizers, according to the Chicago Police Department. Police said they made multiple arrests at the parade. Officers cleared the parade route around 1:30 p.m., the time the police department announced the parade’s cancellation on social media.

* Sun-Times | Chicago’s top cop defends clearing officers on extremist group’s membership list: In October, Snelling had promised the City Council that the CPD would conduct “thorough investigations” and show no tolerance for cops with extremist connections. But Friday, at an unrelated news conference alongside Mayor Brandon Johnson, Snelling said he felt strongly there was no cause for action against the cops. “I can tell you that we reached out to everybody,” Snelling said. “Our internal affairs division has reached out to everyone to gather information to determine if these officers were actually proven to be members of hate groups.”

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Herald | Local law enforcement agencies find success in crisis intervention teams, training: The Lake County Sheriff’s Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli said that for five years the department has focused on a philosophy of de-escalation first when possible, and particularly when dealing with situations potentially involving a mental health crisis. “It’s proven to be extremely successful,” Covelli said. “It’s the right thing to do, to take time and engage in healthy dialogue with individuals, especially those who might be in crisis.”

* Daily Herald | Cat condos and better digs for dogs: DuPage County animal shelter undergoing a $14 million expansion: The $14 million project is the first expansion of the Wheaton facility in the agency’s 45-year history. “It’s going to be a luxury to have twice the space that we have now once it’s all done,” DuPage County Animal Services Operations Manager Laura Flamion said. The project is being paid for through a mix of public and private funding. DuPage Animal Friends, a nonprofit benefiting the shelter, has helped secure more than $5.6 million for the project and is working on raising another $7.4 million through events and naming rights to various features — from dog kennels and trees to the new lobby — in the expanded facility.

*** Downstate ***

* SJ-R | Illinois postal workers march for transparency in Springfield amid USPS changes: Springfield residents had until April 10 to fill out a survey to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to voice their opinion on the changes before the USPS changes would start. During the picket line, Bishop said National Postal Mailhandlers President of the Springfield branch, Jeff Bridges, was informed impacted numbers were in for the Springfield distribution center, but the actual number was not given by USPS.

* BND | St. Clair County Board approves pay raises for elected officials, but not unanimously: The St. Clair County Board voted 20-4 at their last meeting to increase elected officials’ salaries starting after the general election, including an 11% raise for the county board chairman.[…] The raises begin Jan. 1, 2025, when the chairman, treasurer, assessor, county clerk, auditor, circuit clerk, coroner and county recorder will all be paid $106,540. The other elected administrative officials were already making over $100,000 but the chairman’s salary was $95,899.

*** Sports ***

* Tribune | ‘It still doesn’t feel real.’ Chicago wrestler Joe Rau’s improbable journey leads him to the Olympics — at age 33: In May 2022, Rau competed in freestyle at the U.S. Open and surprised everyone by finishing second. It didn’t take too long for Team USA’s Greco-Roman coaches to reach out and ask him to come back. “I told them no about three times, I think,” Rau said. “Then I just really did some soul searching and I talked to my wife. She said, if you really want to, I’m not stopping you.”

*** National ***

* WaPo | Senior homes refuse to pick up fallen residents, dial 911. ‘Why are they calling us?’: Some senior-care homes say they don’t have the ability to lift fallen residents. Many have adopted “no lift” policies to avoid the risk ofback injuries for staff and other potential liabilities. But firefighters and other experts say there are tools to make lifting easierand safer, ranging from $70 cloth straps with handles to $1,500 hydraulic lifts. Heritage Woods, which accounted for the highest number of lift-assist calls to 911 in Rockford last year, is owned by GardantManagement Solutions, the 10th largest assisted-living provider in the nation.

* WaPo | Google’s empire is massive. A judge will soon rule if it’s a monopoly: The judge’s ruling, which is expected in the coming months, could put new limits on Google’s ability to run its search empire. The company may be barred from paying billions to secure prime placement for its search bar on Apple’s iPhones or other web browsers. It could even be forced to sell off part of its business, like the Chrome browser, and open up competition to other search engines. The judge could also rule that Google isn’t a monopoly after all, which would be a major setback for the government and antitrust advocates who say the power of Big Tech has grown too large.

* AP | Celebrating excellence in journalism and the arts, Pulitzer Prizes to be awarded Monday: The Pulitzer Prizes are set to be announced on Monday, traditionally the most anticipated day of the year for those hoping to earn print journalism’s most prestigious honor. Along with honoring winners and finalists in 15 journalism categories, the Pulitzer Board also recognizes distinguished work in areas including books, music and theater. The awards, which will honor work from 2023, are scheduled to be announced via livestream at 3 p.m. Eastern time.

* Business Times | More than 90% of stablecoin transactions aren’t from real users, study finds: The dashboard from Visa and Allium Labs is designed to strip out transactions initiated by bots and large-scale traders to isolate those made by real people. Out of about US$2.2 trillion in total transactions in April, just US$149 billion originated from “organic payments activity”, according to Visa.

* Rolling Stone | ‘Politico’ Misses Mark in Story on Who’s Funding Pro-Palestine Protests Against Biden: The Tides Foundation donated roughly $100,000 that year to the pro-Palestine protest groups, Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow. Attempting to connect the $300,000 going into the organization, as part of its $573 million in contributions, to the $100,000 going out to these groups is unrealistic, to say the least, without any specific indication from the donor. … Politico continues: “Another notable Democratic donor whose philanthropy has helped fund the protest movement is David Rockefeller Jr., who sits on the board of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. In 2022, the fund gave $300,000 to the Tides Foundation; according to nonprofit tax forms.” This is wrong. The linked document in that paragraph shows a donation the Tides Foundation made to the Rockefeller Brothers Fund — not the other way around.

* AP | Missouri abortion-rights campaign turns in more than double the needed signatures to get on ballot: “Our message is simple and clear,” ACLU Missouri lawyer and campaign spokesperson Tori Schafer said in a statement. “We want to make decisions about our bodies free from political interference.” If approved by voters, the constitutional amendment would ensure abortion rights until viability.

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Monday, May 6, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today’s edition of Capitol Fax (use all CAPS in password)

Monday, May 6, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Reader comments closed for the weekend

Monday, May 6, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* You can click here or here to follow breaking news. It’s the best we can do unless or until Twitter gets its act together.

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Friday, May 3, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Rachel Bradshaw and Jamey Johnson cover Townes Van Zandt…

A treasure for the poor to find

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COGFA says revenue growth ‘largely in line’ with its forecast

Friday, May 3, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability’s April report…

In the important revenue month of April, General Funds receipts totaled $6.566 billion, a $373 million or +6.0% increase over last April. While this is welcomed growth to State coffers, the overall increase seen this month is largely in line with the Commission’s latest forecast. In other words, there is no “April Surprise” from final income tax payments contained in this month’s numbers that will significantly modify this year’s revenue outlook. The month benefitted from two extra receipting days, as compared to the same month of last year

This month’s gains were led by a sharp rise in Individual Income Tax revenues, which grew $744 million or +20.2% this month. On a net basis, when subtracting out distributions to the Income Tax Refund Fund and the Local Government Distributive Fund, the growth totaled $626 million or +20.0%. While impressive on the surface, the sizeable growth here was largely anticipated due to several reasons: continued moderate growth from withholding tax payments; the fourth of five “true- up” deposits reallocating business-related tax receipts through individual income tax distributions; an expected boost in final tax payments in April due to elevated levels of taxable interest (from comparatively higher interest rates of investment accounts); the expected growth in capital gains income due to strong market conditions in TY 2023; and the two extra receipting days this month.

A large portion of these gains, however, was offset by significantly weaker Corporate Income Tax receipts, which fell $345 million or -19.7% in April. This is a net decline of $268 million or -19.2%. While these receipts were expected to fall to a certain degree in April due to the negative impact of the fourth “true-up” reallocation on this revenue source, the extent that these revenues declined this month was somewhat surprising. It is speculated that the recent expiration of the net operating loss deduction limitation may have impacted estimated tax payments this month, thereby contributing to this source’s comparative falloff. However, more details are needed before a definitive assessment can be made. […]

Year to Date

Incorporating April’s revenues, General Funds receipts now total $44.2 billion for FY 2024 with two months remaining in the fiscal year. This figure is $1.203 billion or 2.8% above last year’s ten- month total. From a base revenue perspective, the cumulative growth is a tad lower at +$1.086 billion or +2.6% when adjusting out the $881 million in combined “one-time” revenues received in FY 2024 and the $764 million in one-time federal receipts received through April from last fiscal year.

As has been the case throughout the fiscal year, most of FY 2024’s gains have come from the Personal Income Tax. Through April, these receipts are up $1.960 billion or +8.4% [net growth of $1.622 billion or +8.2%]. While the growth is impressive, this cumulative total has been aided by “true- up” adjustments totaling approximately $862 million. If these values are removed from the total, the year-to-date net growth rate is a much more modest +3.8%. […]

Estimate Overview

As noted at the beginning of this revenue section, the overall increase seen in April is largely in line with the Commission’s latest forecast expectations. Over the next week, the Commission will be reviewing the latest data from the Department of Revenue and the Comptroller’s Office to see what tweaks need to be made to the Commission’s revenue forecasts for FY 2024 and FY 2025. While some adjustments (both positive and negative) to individual revenue lines is possible, these potential changes may not necessitate an official revision, as it appears, at this time, that the bottom-line revenue totals will not see a significant modification. This assessment is based on current law and is subject to change as more information becomes available. Of course, any pertinent changes to legislation over the next month impacting tax revenues would be cause for further adjustments to be made.

It’s been a crazy four years for revenue forecasters. Maybe - maybe - things are becoming more predictable now.

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Isabel’s afternoon roundup

Friday, May 3, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Center Square…

Candidates eying ballot access say they feel cheated after Illinois Democrats in less than two days approved and enacted legislation to end the slating of candidates for the November election if they didn’t run in the March primary. They’re eyeing a potential lawsuit.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed Senate Bill 2412 Friday morning, less than two days after it was approved by the House and concurred by the Senate. […]

The Illinois State Board of Elections told The Center Square on Friday they have already accepted some slating filings and despite the new law will continue to accept them under the original deadline of June 3. After that, there is the objection process. There could also be litigation from those objecting to the law, or from candidates on the ballot looking to use the law to block opponents seeking to be slated.

* Route Fifty…

The child welfare agency in Illinois has been in crisis since the 1990s, regularly sparking outrage when abused kids in its care die or children in state custody languish in hospitals or jails for months instead of finding a home with families. The Department of Children and Family Services has suffered from frequent leadership changes and chronic underfunding, but one big problem that officials say has contributed to the agency’s troubles has been a persistent staffing shortage.

To recruit more workers and ultimately achieve better outcomes for children across the state, DCFS has cut the hiring time for frontline workers from nine months to just a few weeks, according to agency officials. Sometimes, the department can even offer candidates a conditional job offer after a single day of interviews.

DCFS has focused on replenishing its ranks as part of a broader strategy to address the long-standing issues with the agency. Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat in his second term, has made new hires a central part of his plan for turning the agency around.

“DCFS is more focused than ever on how to best protect Illinois children,” he told lawmakers during a February budget address. “Of the more than 94,525 investigations conducted last year by DCFS, 99.7% were initiated within 24 hours. And within seven days, 96% of children have been seen by an investigator. With an additional $14 million in funding in [the next fiscal year], DCFS will reach a headcount of 4,000 staff for the first time in more than two decades.”

That would be a significant turnaround for an agency that had just 2,500 employees a decade ago. But getting the headcount to 4,000 by next year would still mean gaining a net of about 500 workers.

* Jason Meisner…

* Sun-Times…

Chicago Police Department leaders said Thursday they have decided not to punish any officers whose names appeared on the leaked membership list of the Oath Keepers, an anti-government extremist group that played a key role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

“The investigation is closed and the allegations were not sustained,” a spokeswoman for the CPD said in a statement, declining to provide any documents from the internal probe.

The brief statement stood in stark contrast to Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling’s zero-tolerance vow to the City Council in October, after WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times revealed the misconduct records of cops with ties to the Oath Keepers.

In a joint investigation, “Extremism in the Ranks,” WBEZ, the Sun-Times and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project found 27 current and former Chicago police officers whose names appeared in leaked Oath Keepers membership records. Nine remained on active duty, some with troubling disciplinary histories, according to public records.

* Chalkbeat…

The students are the inaugural class of a new, eight-month fellowship launched by National Louis University to prepare people for Chicago’s first elected school board, said Bridget Lee, the fellowship’s executive director. The fellowship is funded by Crown Family Philanthropies, The Joyce Foundation, the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, and Vivo Foundation (Crown, Joyce, and Vivo also support Chalkbeat. Learn more about our funding here.)

Known as the Academy for Local Leadership, or ALL Chicago, the fellowship is happening at a critical time. Chicago voters will begin electing people to the city’s school board this November, and candidates are building campaigns. But Lee said the program is for advocates as well as potential candidates.

Fellows had to apply to join the program, which began in March and will last through November and are hosted across the city, said Lee, who added that they are still figuring out the timing for the second cohort of fellows. Fellows are given a $400 stipend to help cover transportation costs — an amount Lee hopes will increase in the future, she said.

*** Statehouse ***

* Capitol Connection | Stadelman discusses proposal to alleviate medical debt burdens: Governor J.B. Pritzker (D-Illinois) is pushing one proposal. It would have the state work with third party organizations to buy up people’s medical debt, and save the long term impacts of the payments. Senator Steve Stadelman (D-Rockford) has a different approach. He is pushing a bill in the Senate that would prevent medical debts from impacting a person’s credit score.

* Daily Journal | Illinois gun lawsuits headed to U.S. Supreme Court?: After Illinois banned more than 170 semi-automatic firearms and magazines over certain capacities in January 2023, federal lawsuits were filed. Appeals of separate preliminary actions against the law were shot down by the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals last year. Plaintiffs in February asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene. On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court moved several Illinois cases, and one challenging Maryland’s ban, to conference for May 16, 2024.

* Capitol News Illinois | Former state trooper who caused fatal crash halts effort to get driving privileges restored: Tom Daley, a retired Belleville criminal defense attorney who for 25 years specialized in handling DUIs and drivers’ license reinstatements, said he’s never seen an instance where a client had to submit to a mental evaluation for reinstatement purposes. But a Giannoulias spokesperson said that in cases where a crash caused by the driver has resulted in a death, it is common to require the petitioner to provide a mental evaluation and prove that they can safely operate a vehicle. Former Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White had previously blocked Mitchell’s attempts to have his license reinstated, overturning recommendations by his own hearing officer.

* WCIA | State representative visits UIUC pro-Palestine encampment: Encampment organizers announced in their Telegram group that State Representative Abdelnasser Rashid will be visiting the encampment for a press conference at 1:30 p.m. to extend his support.

*** Statewide ***

* University of Illinois System | April University of Illinois System Flash Index increases for the third month in a row: The University of Illinois System Flash Index for April continued its upward trend moving to 103 from its 102.8 reading in March. “The strength of the U. S. and Illinois economies has surprised many observers. Over a year ago, a minor recession was expected but the hope was for a soft landing instead,” said Fred Giertz, Professor Emeritus, Institute of Government and Public Affairs, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. “More recently, the desired soft landing seems to have been achieved. Now a third possibility is in play, that of no slowdown at all. The strength of the economy and recent inflation numbers has persuaded the Federal Reserve to defer expected rate cuts.”

*** Springfield ***

* Illinois Times | Lincoln and American Immigration: Expert to discuss latest book about Springfield’s favorite son Preeminent Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer will speak May 7 about his new book, Brought Forth on this Continent: Abraham Lincoln and American Immigration, during an event at the Lincoln Home National Historic Site.

* News Channel 20 | Gov. Pritzker in talks with Springfield officials about revamping Y-Block: The Governor said he’s been in talks with Springfield Mayor Misty Buscher about placing something at the Y Block. […] Pritzker says he would like to see the potential site to be open all year long and open to the public.

* SJ-R | Pritzker hints at Y-Block development during forum in Springfield: Of other local note, Pritzker maintains that state lawmakers will approve his proposal eliminating the grocery tax in the budget for the upcoming fiscal year. … “I know some of you will say ‘Well, gosh, one penny on a dollar doesn’t seem like a lot,’ but then again, people come and say, ‘Well, you know, every tax is, you know, is burdensome,’” Pritzker said. “I really believe in having a less regressive tax system. This is one tax I think we can eliminate.”

* Illinois Times | An odd business partnership: An Illinois State Police officer who jointly owned a Wabash Avenue building with a Springfield man charged with using the site for sex trafficking and prostitution didn’t know anything illegal might be going on there, according to his attorney. “He denies any wrongdoing,” Springfield lawyer Scott Sabin said on behalf of state trooper Nathan Shanks. “He owns a legal and clean and appropriate real-estate business on his own with his wife.” Shanks hasn’t been charged with any crimes in a local and federal investigation into Asian massage parlors in the Springfield area. But Shanks’ name has come up in court documents in the case against Springfield resident Gregory Fraase.

*** Chicago ***

* In These Times | The Fight to Bring Chicago Home Isn’t Over: Polls and outreach by community organizations showed that the plan enjoyed significant support in the year leading up to the referendum. But the real estate industry wasn’t having it. Powerful real estate and property owner organizations declared that Bring Chicago Home would chill development and kill jobs. A dark money Political Action Committee (PAC) called Chicago Forward (formed in 2014 to support Emanuel’s re-election as mayor) contributed $800,000 to a separate committee called “Keep Chicago Affordable,” which opposed Bring Chicago Home, according to an In These Times analysis of Illinois State Board of Elections records between October 2023 and the March 2024 election.

* Block Club | Chicago’s Shrinking Pride Parade: Police Want To Shorten Route After City Already Cut Entries: The route proposed by the Chicago Police Department would remove 48 officer posts. Members of the mayor’s Advisory Council on LGBTQ+ Issues say they want the parade restored to its previous form.

* Sun-Times | Relative’s bank card crucial to tracking down suspect charged with killing Chicago Police Officer Luis Huesca: A relative’s bank card was crucial to tracking down the man suspected of killing Chicago Police Office Luis Huesca as he returned home from work late last month in Gage Park, officials disclosed Friday. The suspect, Xavier Tate, 22, had used the card in a store not long before Huesca was gunned down shortly before 3 a.m. April 21 in the 3100 block of West 56th Street, Police Supt. Larry Snelling said at a news conference before Tate was to make his first court appearance on first-degree murder charges.

* WTTW | 5 Years After Shooting Put Him in a Coma, Chicago Police Officer Reflects on the Road to Recovery: ‘I’ve Learned to Forgive’: “Just keep going no matter what,” Jones told WTTW News. “Be your self-motivator, your self-inspiration, your own muse. … You can’t be stuck in the past. Life continues to move forward, so should you.” For a time after the shooting, Jones depended on a wheelchair to get around. Now he moves strategically, using techniques from a therapist.

* WBEZ | How the FAFSA debacle is playing out in one college counselor’s office: College counselors like Robinson are helping their students navigate the difficult situation — and trying to promote financial prudence without dimming the teens’ enthusiasm for college. In normal years, colleges send out financial aid award letters by February or March, giving students plenty of time to consider the affordability of their options before College Decision Day on May 1. But this year, colleges are woefully behind. According to a recent survey, as of April 16 about half of colleges had not even started packaging financial aid offers.

* Crain’s | This legal startup packs an increasingly powerful political punch: In the last few months, Croke Fairchild brought on David Reifman, the former Chicago planning and development commissioner, to build out a real estate practice and then hired Jim Durkin, who retired last year as the Illinois House Republican leader, to do the same with municipal clients. The firm tapped the third branch of government in luring former Illinois Supreme Court Justice Thomas Kilbride, who starts June 1, to develop an appellate court practice.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Crain’s | Lakefront homeowners sue Winnetka over new bluff-protection rules: The owners of 25 lakefront homes in Winnetka, claiming a new bluff-protection ordinance will rob them of millions of dollars in property value, sued the village in federal court today. The plaintiffs, who own some of the highest-priced properties on the North Shore suburb’s lakefront, include investment executives Andy Bluhm, Terry Mackay and Michael Hara, former United Airlines president and Computer Discount Warehouse CEO John Edwardson and mortgage company chief Dmitry Godin.

* Daily Herald | Wild Ones Kane County to host Native Plant Sale at Gray Willows Farm: Wild Ones of Greater Kane County is partnering with Campton Township Parks and Open Space for the 12th annual native plant sale on Saturday, May 18, from 9 a.m to 2 p.m. at Gray Willows Farm, 5N949 Corron Road in Campton Hills. They will be offering over 150 species of native plants, as well as ferns, trees and shrubs.

*** National ***

* Crain’s | Inside Edelman’s large language model and how it tracks brand trust: Dubbed “Archie,” the LLM took nearly one year to develop, requiring the use of open source code and training data provided by pre-existing models, as well as significant investments in time and labor. The overall costs have contributed to Edelman more than doubling its spend this year as compared to last year, which itself substantially outweighed the company’s spending for the year prior.

* The Root | You Won’t Believe What Tiffany Haddish Has Done to Stop Internet Trolls: Though she denied having a fake Instagram account to snoop on what people are saying, she recently revealed to taking things a step further bringing in extra help to find these trolls and talk to them directly. Per the interview, Haddish shared that she hired a “digital forensics analyst to research where her death threats were coming from — 75% were created by robots in Malaysia and Iran, which made her feel better.”

* Crain’s | Rivian taps Volvo exec as COO ahead of new-model launch: The move shakes up leadership at a delicate time for the automaker, which has battled production challenges, stock declines and shaky consumer demand in the increasingly crowded EV market. The Irvine, Calif.-based company, backed by big-name investors including Amazon.com, is the next biggest standalone, pure-play maker of battery-electric vehicles in the U.S. behind Tesla Inc.

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Fun with numbers (Updated)

Friday, May 3, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* CTU honcho upset at the governor about the Bears stadium plan…

Um, no.

* From the linked article…

Rivian will add more than 500 jobs as it expands its electric-vehicle assembly plant in Normal to produce a new small SUV, the company’s CEO said today in a joint announcement with the governor.

The state will provide Rivian with $75 million from its deal-closing fund and $634 million in tax incentives over 30 years. In return, Rivian will add at least 550 jobs over the next five years and invest $1.5 billion in its manufacturing operations.

The state also is funding a second manufacturing-job training academy in Normal. The total value of the incentive package is $827 million and requires Rivian to maintain at least 6,000 jobs in Illinois.

That works out to $4,594 per job, per year over the 30-year lifespan of the deal. [It’s actually probably much less than that because the company currently employs 8,000 workers in Normal] The deal requires Rivian to pay minimum wages of $51,000.

Not to mention the suppliers and other companies coming to the state because Rivian is here and expanding.

* From Deputy Gov. Manar…

Also, I asked Mr. Potter where he stood on the Bears stadium plan. He’s so far refused to give me a straight answer.

…Adding… From a Crain’s editorial…

Rivian’s presence has turbocharged the Bloomington-Normal economy. Since Rivian bought a shuttered Mitsubishi plant there in 2017 for $16 million, the Irvine, Calif.-based company has hired more than 8,000 workers in Illinois. Rivian has invested more than $2 billion and produced more than 100,000 vehicles, including trucks, SUVs and delivery vans.

Meanwhile, Rivian has become an anchor of a nascent electric-vehicle ecosystem in Illinois, which Pritzker has leveraged to attract more jobs, including Rivian supplier Gotion, which is building a battery-assembly plant in Manteno expected to employ 2,600 people after the state offered up $536 million in incentives. Stellantis, the parent company of Dodge and Chrysler, is converting its Belvidere assembly plant to make an electric truck and adding a battery plant in an expansion expected to create 5,000 jobs in the Rockford area, a decision helped along by interventions from Pritzker as well as President Joe Biden. […]

Another sign Illinois is getting nimbler in the race for the technology jobs of the future comes in the realm of quantum computing. As Crain’s reported last month, two massive industrial sites symbolizing Chicago’s manufacturing decline — the former U.S. Steel South Works site on the Far South Side and the former Texaco refinery in Lockport — could get new life in the race to build cutting-edge quantum technology. […]

The quantum action as well as the Rivian win confirm investment can beget more investment. It’s a lesson Illinois may have learned a little later than some other states — but it’s an important lesson nevertheless.

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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Update to today’s edition

Friday, May 3, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Illinois Hospitals Are Driving Economic Activity Across Illinois: $117.7B Annually And 445K Jobs

Friday, May 3, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Politico…

Has this been happening? State Sen. Robert Peters advanced legislation out of the Senate on Thursday to ban employers from requiring workers to attend meetings regarding political or religious matters.

Yep. Here’s an AFL-CIO press release from February…

The Illinois AFL-CIO today laid out an agenda to build on the Illinois labor movement’s recent successes like the Workers’ Rights Amendment, the Temp Worker Fairness and Safety Act and Paid Leave for All. Among the organization’s legislative priorities is a push to protect all workers from unwanted religious and political speech in the workplace. Known as captive audience meetings, these mandatory meetings subject employees to the religious or political views of the employer during work hours. When employees decline to participate, they often face retaliation or firing. […]

Captive audience meetings are the employer-preferred method of union busting. An Economic Policy Institute analysis of National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) elections documents shows that 89% of all employers conduct captive audience meetings in response to unionization efforts. […]

Often an employer threatens, disciplines, or terminates an employee for objecting to the boss’s political views. Anti-captive audience legislation guarantees workers’ freedoms and ensures that all workers can fully exercise their rights in the workplace.

The bill is SB3649.

* HB793 was re-referred to the House Rules Committee on May 1. WAND…

Illinois workers with developmental and intellectual disabilities have been paid much less than the minimum wage since 1938, but state lawmakers could pass a plan to phase out the sub-minimum wage this month.

Rep. Theresa Mah (D-Chicago) and many other lawmakers believe it is wrong that some people are paid as low as 50 cents per hour and make only $100 per month.

A new amendment to House Bill 793 would create a special grant fund of $2 million to help community agencies transition away from the sub-minimum wages. Mah told reporters in Springfield Thursday that the funding is already available in the Department of Human Services budget. […]

House Bill 793 includes a provision stating community group home residents should receive a personal allowance of at least $100 per month. The proposal also calls for the personal needs allowance to increase annually at the same rate as the Social Security cost-of-living adjustment taking effect at the start of each year.

* Sports Betting Dime…

Just two days after Dave & Buster’s announced a new plan to allow loyalty members to digitally compete in real-money arcade contests at its locations throughout the country, an Illinois Representative has introduced legislation to block “family-friendly arcades” from knowingly advertising and facilitating wagering on amusement games at its premises.

Rep. Daniel Didech (D-59) today introduced HB 5832 to the House of Representatives, where it was referred to the rules committee.

An official press release announcing the introduction of the bill said the legislation is in response to Dave & Buster’s potential plan to allow loyalty members to compete against other customers for real money on such games as skee-ball or pop-a-shot through its app. The national restaurant and entertainment business announced this week a new partnership with Lucra Sports to use its proprietary software to allow these types of contests on the Dave & Buster’s app. […]

The bill will prohibit family-amusement establishments from facilitating wagering on amusement games, which includes, but is not limited to, “taking any action that knowingly allows any entity to facilitate gambling on amusement games on the family amusement establishment’s premises.” Additionally, establishments will be prohibited from engaging in advertising that promotes wagering on amusement games.

* WGIL…

Saying the penalties are too lenient in Illinois, some Republican lawmakers want to increase the consequences for fleeing the police. […]

Senate Minority Leader John Curran, R-Downers Grove, said anyone fleeing police in Florida is charged with a Class 3 felony and a $5,000 fine. Curran’s legislation in Senate Bill 1807 would increase the penalty in Illinois to a Class 4 felony. […]

A Class 4 felony conviction in Illinois would result in one to three years prison time. The measure allows for stricter penalties for aggravating factors and charges a person with a Class 3 felony which could come with five years behind bars. […]

The Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police support the legislation.

SB1807 has not moved out of committee.

* Capitol News Illinois…

A bill that would put more controls on certain kinds of high-cost loans to small businesses cleared the Illinois Senate Thursday.

Senate Bill 2234, known as the Small Business Financial Transparency Act, targets a relatively new kind of nontraditional lender in the credit market, online app-based financial service companies sometimes known as “fintechs.”

Sen. Chris Belt, D-Swansea, the lead sponsor of the bill, said it is based on the federal Truth in Lending Act of 1968, which governs consumer loans. It requires nontraditional lenders to calculate and express the cost of the loan in terms of a standard annual percentage rate, or APR, even if the lender bases the loan around some other type of fee structure.

“There has never, ever been anything like the Truth in Lending Act on the commercial side,” Belt said on the Senate floor. “And so what this legislation looks to do is mimic the Truth in Lending Act on the commercial side. It ensures small businesses receive consistent and transparent disclosures on the cost of small business financing.”

* WCIA…

A bill moving in the state capitol aims to lower students’ stress by encouraging school districts to have at least 20 minutes of instruction on relaxation activities each week. Suggested activities in the bill include mindful-based movements, yoga, stretching, meditation, breathing exercises, guided relaxation techniques, quiet time, walking and in-person conversation. […]

The bill allows the school district to choose how to implement the relaxation activities, including in a P.E. class, an advisory class, or creating a new class. School districts may partner with a public or private community organization for help providing the relaxation activities to students. […]

The bill passed the House of Representatives’ Elementary & Secondary Education: School Curriculum & Policies Committee on Wednesday. The proposal has already passed the Illinois Senate.

Republicans have voted against the proposal.

* Sen. Steve Stadelman…

In an effort to protect vulnerable utility customers, State Senator Steve Stadelman has introduced legislation that would establish a Disconnection Protection Program.

“Ensuring that our residents have continuous access to basic utilities like electricity and gas is not just a matter of comfort, but of public health and safety,” said Stadelman (D-Rockford). “This measure would prevent families from having to choose between paying for utilities and other essential needs like food and medicine, especially during times of financial difficulty.”

Low-income households that seek energy payment assistance do not currently have any protections from being disconnected by electric and gas utilities.

This legislation would mandate electric and gas utilities serving more than 500,000 customers to implement measures to prevent the disconnection of services for customers actively seeking energy payment assistance.

“This bill is a step forward in our ongoing efforts to support vulnerable populations and ensure that our energy policies are fair and just,” said Stadelman.

House Bill 4118 passed the Energy and Public Utilities Committee on Thursday, and heads to the House for further consideration.

* Illinois Bankers Association…

The Illinois Bankers Association (IBA) issued the following statement following House approval of HB5428, which eliminates red tape to ensure the state’s network of community banks continue to thrive while modernizing language in banking documents.

Changes include updating the term “disabled person” to “person with a disability” throughout the Illinois Banking Act to reduce stigma by putting an individual’s personhood first rather than defining them by their disabilities. The legislation also modernizes longstanding discrimination protections for loans by expanding the scope to all single “individuals,” rather than only “single females.” In addition, the measure allows banks to follow federal requirements for hiring individuals with criminal backgrounds, which would allow those with misdemeanor or years-old offenses to qualify for jobs in the banking industry.

“We applaud lawmakers, and especially our sponsor Rep. Dagmara Avelar, for passing legislation that updates the phrasing and scope of the Illinois Banking Act to foster inclusivity and fairness. All individuals should feel recognized and respected by the institutions that serve them, including financial institutions,” said Ben Jackson, Executive Vice President of Government Relations, Illinois Bankers Association. “These changes remedy some historical biases, not only making Illinois banking laws more relevant and respectful but also strengthening the legal framework to be more just and equitable.”

* [From Rich Miller] Background is here if you need it. The fallout from the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s decision to not bother to challenge the release of an accused domestic abuser who then went on to kill his spouse and himself continues. And it’s getting ludicrous. From the Daily Herald…

State Sen. John Curran of Downers Grove, minority leader for the Republicans, said at a news conference Wednesday he intends to submit a bill this week that would change the state’s cashless-bail law in regards to domestic battery charges.

The law currently says that every defendant is entitled to a presumption of release, and that prosecutors have to prove why measures such as electronic monitoring are not sufficient to ensure the safety of a specific person or the public.

Curran proposes that for misdemeanor domestic battery cases involving an injury, the burden of proof be shifted to the defendant. They would be detained automatically unless they could convince a judge they are not a threat.

“We need to flip that presumption,” Curran said. “The next tragedy that occurs, we are going to wish we had.”

I probably shouldn’t be so stunned that local news media outlets are just running with all the official deflection and obfuscation surrounding this case without even the slightest bit of push-back.

But here we are.

You’re gonna flip the presumption of innocence in some misdemeanor cases and not felonies? What the heck?

Seems like a gross overreaction.

Ever read People v. Purcell? The burden of proof falls squarely on the state.

You know what would be better? If state’s attorneys actually did their jobs. As the above article also notes, DuPage County State’s Attorney Bob Berlin has finally decided to stop the finger-pointing and instead actually revamp his operation to prevent this sort of thing from happening again.

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Friday, May 3, 2024 - Posted by Advertising Department

[The following is a paid advertisement.]

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Illinois hospitals and health systems support working families by generating a combined 445,000 jobs among hospitals and other sectors due to hospital spending. Learn more about the hospital community’s economic impact.

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Pritzker signs bill banning post-primary slating, adding advisory questions to ballot (Updated x2)

Friday, May 3, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Press release…

Yesterday, Governor JB Pritzker signed the following bill, which was filed today:

Bill Number: SB2412

Description: Amends the Elections Code. Places three statewide advisory questions on the ballot for the November 5, 2024 general election. Makes changes to the deadline for filing candidate nomination petitions. Makes other changes to the Elections Code governing the filling of vacancies in nomination for legislative offices.

Action: Signed

Effective: Immediately

* Here’s some background from the Tribune…

A comprehensive election bill that gained final approval by the Democratic-led Illinois legislature on Thursday would give Democrats a significant advantage toward keeping their legislative majorities before any votes are even cast in the Nov. 5 general election. […]

But the election bill given final approval by Senate Democrats Thursday on a 35-3 vote, with 18 Republicans voting “present” in protest, would further help Democrats maintain control in the next General Assembly.

Under the measure, local political party organizations could no longer appoint candidates to fill out legislative ballots where the party did not field a primary candidate. Current law allows the appointment process within 75 days of the primary.

Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker said that while he had not seen all the details of the measure, he considered it an “ethics” bill.

* And more from Capitol News Illinois…

Privately, GOP lawmakers said they believe the proposed change is designed to influence the outcome of one particular race this year – the 112th House District in the Metro East area, where incumbent Rep. Katie Stuart, D-Edwardsville, is running for reelection.

No Republican filed to run in that race in time for the March 19 primary, but party officials say one is currently being lined up.

Republicans believe that district is winnable for them. Stuart won reelection to that seat in 2022 by a 54-46 margin over Republican Jennifer Korte. […]

The measure would also pose three nonbinding advisory referendum questions to voters on the November ballot, including asking whether health insurance plans that cover pregnancy benefits should be required to cover in vitro fertilization and other fertility treatments.

…Adding… Leader Curran…

Illinois Senate Republican Leader John Curran (R-Downes Grove) released the following statement in response to Gov. Pritzker signing SB 2412 that changes General Assembly election rules halfway through the 2024 Election Cycle:

“Gov. Pritzker capped off a 30-hour dash by Illinois Democrats to politically suppress Illinoisans’ voting rights. This abuse of power that blocks candidates from giving voters a choice in free, fair, and open elections is unprecedented in Illinois’ 205-year history. Their dictator-style tactic of stealing an election before a vote is cast is a new low for elective government in this state and undermines the core principals of American democracy.”

…Adding… I told subscribers about this as well…

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Rides For Moms Provides Transportation To Prenatal Care

Friday, May 3, 2024 - Posted by Advertising Department

[The following is a paid advertisement.]

Surgo Ventures partnered with Uber Health and local health centers to provide transportation assistance to expectant mothers facing transportation challenges to their prenatal appointments. Across one city, the initiative covered over 30,000 miles, ensuring over 450 participants reached their prenatal appointments without hassle. One participant shared, ‘There were days when I didn’t want to get up from bed. Knowing that someone was going to pick me up… made me feel safer.’ With programs like Rides for Moms, transportation is no longer a barrier for new mothers to access essential medical care. Learn more

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Question of the day

Friday, May 3, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Shaw Local…

Throughout the month of April, Illinois State Police took part in the Distracted Driving Enforcement Program, which provided extra patrol coverage to enforce distracted driving laws.

On May 2, ISP Troop 3 Commander Captain Patrick Manno announced the results of the month-long program held in Cook, DuPage, Kane and Will counties.

Throughout April, ISP officers wrote 149 citations for hand-held phone and device citations, with an additional 20 violations specifically for texting while driving. Officers also provided three written distracted driving warnings, according to a release from ISP.

* The Question: Do you or anyone close to you still manually read and/or send text messages while driving? Be honest! Explain.

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Get The Facts On The Illinois Prescription Drug Board

Friday, May 3, 2024 - Posted by Advertising Department

[The following is a paid advertisement.]

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Doctors accuse McHenry County State’s Attorney of making ‘baseless accusations’ about legislation (Updated)

Friday, May 3, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* More background on McHenry County State’s Attorney Patrick Kenneally is here if you need it. Click here to read the legislation in question.

McHenry County State’s Attorney Patrick Kenneally personally sent me this press release yesterday. Here’s an excerpt…

In 2019, AJ Freund was beaten to death by his opioid-addicted mother. One of the only reasons he made it to five years old is because of a law requiring DCFS to inform the state’s attorney’s office (“SAO”) when children are born drug positive. AJ, at the time of his birth, was born with heroin in his system and suffered through weeks of painful withdrawal. After learning of the positive test, the SAO filed a petition in court and began a non-punitive court process wherein all county and service agencies collaborate in making sure the baby is safe and mother recovers. It was not until this case was closed, nearly four years after AJ’s birth, and court supervision ceased that AJ’s mother relapsed and the physical abuse resulting in AJ’s horrific and well-publicized death began.

Now, a group of doctors (remember, those whose “evidenced-based” practices brought us the opioid epidemic in the first place), through the Illinois Medical Society, are using their influence as a special interest to pass legislation that would eliminate the obligation of DCFS to automatically notify the SAO of a drug positive baby. The basis, of course, is not science, but political pieties that forbid “stigmatizing” the mother, who though severely endangering her child by using drugs during pregnancy, is merely a faultless victim afflicted with the “disease” of substance abuse.

But rest assured, they advise, DCFS, an organization that for decades has been defined by its failure to meet expectations, will be solely responsible for making sure the infant is safe. What could go wrong?

Those are some pretty bold statements.

* From the one-pager issued by proponents…

• SB 3136 does not change any reporting requirements under Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act (ANCRA).

• DCFS will continue to receive reports of infants with positive toxicology screens at birth and will be required to investigate the infant’s safety, provide services to the family, and when necessary, bring the infant to the attention of the court.
• Any changes in reporting requirements will require additional legislative action.

• SB 3136 will not impact a court’s ability to act when a child is being abused or neglected. If the child’s care or environment is not safe, the court may find the child neglected based on existing provisions of the Juvenile Court Act. […]

• SB 3136 lifts existing punitive policies negatively affecting families with substance use disorders:

• Amends the Illinois Adoption Act by removing provisions that would allow a court to find that a parent is unfit for the purposes of termination of parental rights based upon a newborn’s positive toxicology screen without considering services offered to the parent and the parent’s compliance with recommended services.
• Removes a provision from ANCRA requiring DCFS to forward reports of infants with positive toxicology screens to law enforcement. With this change, an allegation that an infant is substance-exposed will be treated the same as the majority of other neglect allegations reported to DCFS. DCFS will conduct an investigation and provide the information to law enforcement when further action is necessary.

Some of the “special interests” which support the bill…

American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists, Illinois Section; Illinois Academy of Family Physicians; Illinois Chapter, American Academy of Pediatrics; Illinois Health and Hospital Association; Illinois Society of Addiction Medicine; Illinois State Medical Society; Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office; Office of the Cook County Public Guardian

Rep. Steven Reick, a McHenry County Republican, is a co-sponsor.

* From the Illinois State Medical Society…

To suggest that the Illinois State Medical Society would ever support legislation that would put a child in harm’s way is absurd! While accusing the physicians of Illinois of playing politics, the McHenry County State’s Attorney is making baseless accusations.

It is unfortunate that the State’s Attorney fails to explain how the process works. Nothing in this bill diminishes the role of the state’s attorney.

SB 3136 maintains the role that state attorneys have in protecting our children. They will still get the results as part of an investigation that provides evidence that a child is at risk for abuse or neglect. SB 3136 simply treats a positive toxicology test as most other abuse and neglect reports that are forwarded to state’s attorneys.

This is a bill to help pregnant persons who have been diagnosed with substance use disorders access treatment before the baby is born. That keeps moms, babies and families healthy.

* Kane County State’s Attorney Jamie Mosser…

DCFS is in the best position to investigate issues involving the abuse or neglect of children alongside our law enforcement. A report to the State’s Attorney’s Office may begin a case but it would still be done in conjunction with the DCFS or law enforcement. While we have all seen deficiencies within DCFS, I am confident that the new DCFS Director, Heidi Mueller, will address these concerns. In the meantime, we should continue to work together as a team to address the protection of our most vulnerable, the children.

* House sponsor Rep. Mary Beth Canty…

There’s always room for good-faith differences of opinion in the legislative process, and I appreciate that input from law enforcement and child welfare professionals has strengthened this bill. I do not, however, believe that casting sweeping aspersions on physicians or impugning the integrity of the bill’s supporters is productive — especially regarding a bill that seeks to bring a smarter, more nuanced approach to sensitive issues regarding child welfare.

…Adding… Sen. Castro’s statement…

In response to a statement issued by the McHenry County State’s Attorney regarding maternal and infant health legislation in front of the General Assembly, State Senator Cristina Castro (D-Elgin) released the following statement:

“I am appalled to see a public official attack and blame vulnerable new mothers who are struggling to get the treatment they need.

“In order for people to get better, they have to seek help. The goal of Senate Bill 3136 is to address the urgent issue of maternal and infant mortality by helping mothers do just that – seek treatment so they can live healthy lives with healthy children.

“Rather than making cruel and destructive comments about women struggling with addiction, I’m working on legislation to keep women and children in Illinois alive, safe and healthy.”

Background
Senate Bill 3136 implements specific, evidence-based recommendations from the Illinois Maternal Mortality Review Committee to address substance use disorder – the leading cause of pregnancy-related death in Illinois. The bill would alleviate the punitive revocation of parental rights simply based on the finding of a positive toxicology report, with the goal of ensuring women are not afraid to come forward and seek treatment. It would not remove law enforcement’s ability to act, nor would it remove any investigation process through DCFS.

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Friday, May 3, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* What’s going on in your part of Illinois?…

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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today’s edition of Capitol Fax (use all CAPS in password)

Friday, May 3, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* ICYMI: IG says state employees made up businesses, lied about income to defraud federal COVID aid program. Tribune…

*** Isabel’s top picks ***

* Block Club | Friday Morning Swim Club Canceled As Organizers Blame City’s ‘Unreasonable’ Demands: In a social media video, Friday Morning Swim Club organizers Andrew Glatt and Nicole Novotny said they couldn’t strike a deal to approve the event after being met with “unreasonable demands” by the city. Glatt said he was quoted $108,000 to secure permits for the summer event, which sees thousands of swimmers — often decked out in colorful floaties — jump into Lake Michigan at a portion of Montrose Harbor where swimming is not allowed.

* WaPo | Where seas are rising at alarming speed: The Gulf of Mexico has experienced twice the global average rate of sea level rise since 2010, a Post analysis of satellite data shows. Few other places on the planet have seen similar rates of increase, such as the North Sea near the United Kingdom. “Since 2010, it’s very abnormal and unprecedented,” said Jianjun Yin, a climate scientist at the University of Arizona who has studied the changes. While it is possible the swift rate of sea level rise could eventually taper, the higher water that has already arrived in recent years is here to stay.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Tribune | Legislators pass election bill that would favor Democrats in November: But the election bill given final approval by Senate Democrats Thursday on a 35-3 vote, with 18 Republicans voting “present” in protest, would further help Democrats maintain control in the next General Assembly. Under the measure, local political party organizations could no longer appoint candidates to fill out legislative ballots where the party did not field a primary candidate. Current law allows the appointment process within 75 days of the primary.

* Crain’s | Rivian will add over 500 jobs in Normal to make new SUV: The state also is funding a second manufacturing-job training academy in Normal. The total value of the incentive package is $827 million and requires Rivian to maintain at least 6,000 jobs in Illinois. “The support from the state will allow us to quickly bring our midsize SUV, R2, to market and provide even greater consumer choice for EVs,” Rivian CEO R.J. Scaringe said in a written statement. “Gov. Pritzker has always been a strong advocate for providing economic opportunities for Illinois residents and business owners alike. We look forward to continuing our close partnership and building upon the success we have enjoyed.”

* Tribune | Backed by state incentives, Rivian to invest $1.5 billion and add more than 550 jobs to build new R2 EV at Normal plant: The majority of the incentives will come from state tax credits paid out over 30 years, if Rivian meets its investment and hiring obligations. “They’re growing now and they had the opportunity to grow in Georgia or in Illinois,” Pritzker said during a news conference at the Rivian plant. “We wanted them to stay right here and create jobs here. That was why we put an incentive package together and made that offer to Rivian.”

* Capitol News Illinois | Law enforcement community honors fallen officers at Illinois Capitol: The Illinois Police Officers Memorial occurs annually on the first Thursday of May to honor officers who died in the line of duty and to support their families. “No one looks forward to this day. We all wish we didn’t have to have a day like this,” Treasurer Micheal Frerichs said. “Every year we come back. And we’ll keep coming back for those people in law enforcement who gave their lives but also for their families.”

*** Chicago ***

* Sun-Times | Chicago Police won’t discipline nine officers who signed up for extremist group: “The investigation is closed and the allegations were not sustained,” a spokeswoman for the CPD said in a statement, declining to provide any documents from the internal probe. The brief statement stood in stark contrast to Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling’s zero-tolerance vow to the City Council in October, after WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times revealed the misconduct records of the cops with ties to the Oath Keepers.

* Sun-Times | Asleep at the march? ACLU says Chicago may be unprepared for Democratic Convention protests: “Despite suggestions by some Chicago officials that the city is prepared for the Democratic National Convention, we are here today because they are not,” Ed Yohnka, spokesman for the ACLU of Illinois, told reporters. “Sadly, the city has not created a clear, transparent plan for welcoming those who want to come to demonstrate and express themselves on the issues of our day.” So far, the city has denied nearly every protest application from other groups that applied to march during the convention, which will be held from Aug. 19-22. The city offered them an alternative route through Grant Park, but the activists say that’s too far from their target audience of delegates and reporters who will be converging on the United Center and McCormick Place.

* NBC Chicago | Chicago’s mayor seen running away from NBC 5’s Mary Ann Ahern: Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson was captured on video apparently running from reporters, including NBC 5’s Chief Political Reporter Mary Ann Ahern, following an event Thursday.

* NBC Chicago | Suspect charged in killing of Chicago police officer faces additional charges: The suspect charged with the first-degree murder of Chicago Police Officer Luis Huesca faces additional charges of aggravated vehicular hijacking and possession of a stolen firearm, Chicago police announced Thursday afternoon. The announcement by authorities comes ahead of a Friday morning news conference where State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and Police Superintendent Larry Snelling are expected to reveal additional information.

* Sun-Times | At crooked Bridgeport bank, official blew the whistle, but no one did a thing: Glusak “abruptly quit, leaving her keys in the mailbox,” according to court records. But that didn’t stop her from continuing to sound the alarm. She also wrote to the U.S. attorney’s office, which had a long history of prosecuting Chicago’s crooked politicians and business people. Her letter was eventually forwarded to the FBI.

* Sun-Times | Red, white and blooey? Demolition begins on Thompson Center exterior: Crews used excavators to tear off lower exterior portions of the building at 100 W. Randolph St. on Thursday, marking an unofficial start to Google’s $280 million renovations of the 17-story building. Permits issued last October by the Department of Buildings called for removing the structure’s metal and glass skin. Renderings released by Google last year show a similar-looking building, with its trademark atrium still intact but absent of its longstanding blue, salmon and white color scheme.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Crain’s | How a deal to restore peace at Northwestern is sparking more friction: “My principles were to prioritize the health and safety of our entire community,” the embattled university chief told Crain’s in an exclusive interview today. But the early praise has given way to a fierce backlash over the agreement and its terms, landing the Northwestern president once again under intense scrutiny for his decision-making and leadership, with some calling for his firing.

* Daily Herald | Aurora educator named Teacher of the Year: As a child, Rachael Mahmood struggled with finding a sense of belonging in school. However, the Plainfield resident didn’t let that stop her from pursuing her dream of becoming an educator and making sure her students see themselves in the lessons she teaches. Her journey was highlighted Thursday as state and Indian Prairie School District 204 officials surprised Mahmood with the news that she was named Illinois State Board of Education’s Teacher of the Year.

* Tribune | New Dolton subpoena targets financial information for Mayor Tiffany Henyard, spending on trips: The most recent subpoena asks for more detailed information about expense reimbursements and other payments made by the village to Henyard and Keith Freeman, village administrator, according to trustees, who have separately hired former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot to investigate Henyard and a village-financed trip made by her a year ago to Las Vegas. Although it appears federal investigators are digging deeper into the village, trustees said Thursday it’s important to continue with Lightfoot, who will be paid $400 an hour to investigate Henyard and her administration.

*** National ***

* WaPo | Texas man files legal action to probe ex-partner’s out-of-state abortion: The case also illustrates the role that men who disapprove of their partners’ decisions could play in surfacing future cases that may violate abortion bans — either by filing their own civil lawsuits or by reporting the abortions to law enforcement. Under Texas law, performing an abortion is a crime punishable by up to a lifetime in prison and up to $100,000 in civil penalties. Women seeking abortions cannot be charged under the state’s abortion restrictions, but the laws target anyone who performs or helps to facilitate an illegal abortion, including those who help distribute abortion pills.

* Mediaite | Elon Musk Promises to Lift X Ban on Neo-Nazi Leader : Controversial billionaire and X owner, Elon Musk, vowed to allow avowed neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes back onto his platform on Thursday. Fuentes, the leader of the so-called Groyper Army, has been banned from the platform since 2021 and is infamous for his violent and bigoted rhetoric. Fuentes has long been active on the far-right in American politics and in the past has hosted a conference meant to be counter-programming to CPAC, which included speeches by Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Paul Gosar (R-AZ).

* WaPo | Booming labor market poised to reach milestone for low unemployment: Economists predict that the April jobs report, to be released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Friday morning, will show the unemployment rate holding at 3.8 percent, marking the 27th consecutive month of unemployment below 4 percent. This would match a low-unemployment period between 1967 to 1970, and close in on the longest period on record, between 1951 to 1953.

* Crain’s | Q&A: Why the U.S. economy is outperforming much of the rest of the world: The size of the U.S. economy, adjusted for inflation, is 7% larger now than it was before COVID hit these shores. That’s twice the gain in Japan and far better than the 0.3% increase in Germany, according to British Parliament data. In the past four years American workers’ wages grew 2.8% after adjusting for inflation, while wages fell by 9% in Italy and 7% in Germany during the same time.

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Friday, May 3, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

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