Illinois enacted a sweeping law in 2019 to allow casinos at horse racing tracks, known as racinos. Nearly five years later, Hawthorne Race Course, a main beneficiary of the legislation, still hasn’t opened a racino. In the meantime, the industry is dying for lack of money. […]
Out of desperation, the Illinois Harness Horsemen’s Association is now calling for the state to end Hawthorne’s veto power. The horsemen say the favoritism for Hawthorne has led to a dead end, and it’s time to let the free market finally build a racino.
“Our industry is being held hostage by Tim Carey’s family, who owns Hawthorne,” association President Jeff Davis said. “We have to have a dedicated harness track.”
Carey proposed a $400 million racino to open at Hawthorne in 2021. In 2022, he again promised construction would begin that year. Last fall, Carey told the Illinois Racing Board it would open by the end of 2024, but in February, he said he was still working on getting financing.
Press release…
Horsemen Call For End of Racetrack Veto Power in IL
Legislation would allow for other developers to build new a new racetrack
WHERE: The Blue Room at the Illinois State Capitol. Also available on Blue Room Stream
WHEN: TODAY 2:30PM Thursday, April 11, 2024
WHO: Illinois Harness Horsemen’s Association President Jeff Davis, Senator Patrick Joyce, Senator Bill Cunningham.
WHAT: New Legislation introduced in the Illinois General Assembly would eliminate the current 35 mile veto power that Hawthorne Racecourse has over any entity that wants to build a new racetrack and casino in Illinois.
Legislation passed in 2019 authorized a new racetrack to be built in Chicago’s South Suburbs but any organization that wishes to build a racetrack must seek approval from Hawthorne to receive licensing.
WHY: States like Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania have seen horse racing explode in their states since introducing casino gaming at racetracks. Illinois passed legislation to do the same in 2019 but not one slot machine has been installed in Hawthorne’s sprawling grandstands.
On Saturday, a national grassroots movement, #DontMessWithOurKids is urging parents and families in every state to gather at their state capitols and pray for America’s children who are being indoctrinated by a progressive liberal agenda that’s causing more harm than good.
The historic gathering takes place this Saturday from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm (CDT) in front of the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield. And as the invite states, attendees will “gather to pray, take communion, and stand for truth in every state capital and Washington, D.C.!”
During the April 4, 2023 election cycle in Illinois, Gov. JB Pritzker and the Democratic Party of Illinois spent $800,000 to support their extremist, liberal school board candidates, while at the same time, using that funding to viciously attack conservative school board candidates – every day moms and dads, who just wanted to serve their community; reverse falling test scores; and remove inappropriate sexual education curriculum and divisive concepts that only further deepen racial divides from the classrooms.
* Daily Journal | Report analyzes Illinois’ oversight of pandemic aid spending by schools: More than half of the 801 local educational agencies (LEAs) in Illinois that received pandemic-related aid between March 24, 2021, and March 31, 2023, did not submit their spending plans within a reasonable timeframe, according to the March 27 report from the U.S. Department of Education Office of Inspector General.
* NPR | Why many Illinois speech therapists say it’s hard to see a future in the field they love: “Insurance is really strict on the number of times we can go, especially for speech therapy,” [ Audrey Meyers] explained. “I’ll get a new patient; it says one visit is allowed. I can do an evaluation, sure, but they’re probably going to need therapy if they wanted me to come there in the first place.”
* WBEZ | A U.S. Supreme Court case could affect homeless people in Chicago and Illinois: City of Grants Pass, Oregon v. Johnson will determine if municipalities can use local ordinances to ban homeless people from sleeping outside with a blanket or other bedding materials. Illinois advocates say if the high court sides with Grants Pass, it could make it easier for municipalities to criminalize homelessness in the state and throughout the U.S. Oral arguments begin April 22.
* Journal Courier | Grants to fund electric vehicle charging ports: Some 20 applicants have been awarded $25.1 million in Driving a Cleaner Illinois grants to fund 643 new direct-current fast-charging ports at 141 sites statewide, according to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.
* Illinois Times | Making downtown Springfield more marketable: Doubling the Bank of Springfield Center’s size would result in a similar increase in conventions coming to the capital city, and construction of a new 300-bed hotel adjacent to the center would maximize the expanded facility’s potential. Those were two of the major conclusions from a recently completed feasibility study of the potential impact of a newly formed tourism improvement district on downtown Springfield. The district was formed in December by the Sangamon County Board and covers the entire county.
* Daily Journal | Bradley pressing the brakes on nepotism ordinance: At Monday’s Bradley Village Board meeting, the administration had proposed the repeal of the law adopted in April 2016 which sharply restricted hiring those who had some type of family relationship with an elected official. The administration sought to have the ordinance removed because of how it hampers the village as it seeks to fill job vacancies. However, the village board, led by Trustee Ryan LeBran, wanted to further explore the matter before voting on its removal.
* Beacon-News | With help from its communities, Kane County aims to reduce impact of natural hazards like floods and tornadoes: The draft Kane County 2024 Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan found that floods, windstorms and winter storms were the three biggest natural threats to the county. To protect the county against these and six other natural hazards, the 580-page plan brings together mitigation projects from 27 cities, villages and other communities within Kane County. These projects will now be eligible for federal funding through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA.
* Daily Herald | ‘Almost have no reason not to vote for it’: Elk Grove mayor defends field light vote — and still supports pickleball: The village board’s vote this week to formally grant the Elk Grove Park District a special use permit for soccer field lighting at Marshall Park was perfunctory, following a much lengthier meeting two weeks before when the mayor and trustees first endorsed the project. But the tally Tuesday night was still followed by a back-and-forth between board members and local real estate agent Lori Christensen, who has led opposition to the park district’s $4 million transformation of the park at 711 Chelmsford Lane.
* Bloomberg | Amtrak Station Accessibility Improvements Sought in Senate Bill: Amtrak would need to report to Congress annually on the status of their compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act at the 385 transit stations it serves and include an action plan on bringing rail cars and stations into compliance, according to the bill, sent to Bloomberg Government. The legislation, which is being announced Thursday, is led by Sens. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.).
* Daily Herald | Will your train station get a makeover? Here’s what Metra is fixing in 2024: Thirty-five stations are slated for improvements with seven on the Metra Electric Line to be completely rebuilt. Platform modernizations are scheduled for Wood Dale on the Milwaukee West, and Cary and Crystal Lake on the UP Northwest lines. Less eye-catching but still significant are thousands of rail tie replacements. Workers will install 40,000 new ties on the UP North between Chicago and Highland Park, and 37,000 on the UP Northwest between Chicago and Des Plaines, among other locations.
* Ald. Daniel La Spata | A street redesign that skips bike and bus lanes says a lot about the whole city: Unfortunately, the design CDOT is considering for this intersection fails to live up to the values and the vision of Complete Streets. The current iteration offers no bus lanes on Halsted and no bike lanes on Chicago, while new developments propose to open new curb cuts on both streets, further impeding bus, bike and pedestrian safety. The only clear imperatives for these streets seem to be two lanes for car traffic in each direction.
* Tribune | Chicago Bears — amid lakefront infatuation — appeal property taxes on Arlington Heights site: The team filed the request with the Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board, or PTAB, for the site where the Bears had proposed building a $2 billion enclosed stadium. The Cook County Board of Review set its valuation of the property at $125 million. […] But the team still owns the site in Arlington Heights, which it bought last year for $197 million. To reduce the tax bill, the organization razed the grandstand and other buildings, and is continuing to fight over how much taxes it has to pay.
* Sun-Times | The Museum of Science and Industry closed for mysterious reasons last week. Here’s why: “The 434th Civil Engineer Squadron from Grissom Joint Air Reserve Base, IN, responded to a call from the museum last Wednesday,” wrote Maj. Sara Greco, public affairs officer at Robins Air Force Base in Georgia. “The items they were asked to assess were free of explosive material and remained at the museum.” A sad day when it’s easier to dig information out of the Pentagon than from a Chicago museum.
* NBC Chicago | Farmers’ Almanac predicts hot, muggy summer for Midwest, with all-time record warmth possible: Nearly all of the contiguous U.S. is predicted to have a hot summer, with most areas east of the Mississippi River expected to see wetter than normal summers as well. The Great Lakes region in particular is predicted to see “muggy and stormy” conditions this summer, while much of the Southeast is described as “steamy and thundery” for the upcoming season.
* NPR | Why anti-abortion advocates are reviving a 19th century sexual purity law: That is not the stance conservative legal experts take. Josh Craddock, an affiliated scholar at the conservative James Wilson Institute, refers to Comstock as a “national abortion pill trafficking ban.” “A straightforward interpretation of the statute is that it prohibits all interstate shipment or sale of abortion drugs and devices, regardless of whether state law allows abortion,” Craddock says. (There was dispute among legal experts NPR consulted as to whether Comstock’s prohibitions would apply to in-state shipping of abortion pills.)
* Rick Kogan | There once was a time when our city was the country music capital: Two relatively young men were sitting in a radio studio a few days ago talking about a radio show that started 100 years ago and one of them was saying, “This part of the city’s history should be better known, the part the city, this radio show, played in popularizing country music. Without Chicago, there would have been no Nashville, no Grand Ole Opry. … This is where the country music genre was born.”
* USA Today | Aerosmith to resume farewell tour, including January show in Chicago: The veteran rockers, who postponed their Peace Out farewell tour after only a few shows in September, will return for a 40-date run starting Sept. 20 in Pittsburgh. The tour includes a rescheduled Chicago date on Jan. 19 at the United Center. All previously purchased tickets will be honored for the new dates, while new tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday via ticketmaster.com. For those who previously purchased tickets and cannot attend the rescheduled concerts, refunds will be available at point of purchase.
Before European contact, the area was home to Native Americans, particularly the Kaskaskia who lived in the Grand Village of the Illinois across the river. Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette were the first Europeans recorded as exploring the region, and by 1683, the French had established Fort St. Louis on the large sandstone butte overlooking the river, they called Le Rocher (the Rock). Later after the French had moved on, according to a local legend, a group of Native Americans of the Illinois Confederation (also called Illiniwek or Illini) pursued by the Ottawa and Potawatomi fled to the butte in the late 18th century. In the legend, around 1769 the Ottawa and Potawatomi besieged the butte until all of the Illiniwek had starved, and the butte became known as “Starved Rock”.
Shaw Local News Network was told Tuesday of a tourist-centered meeting in which it was suggested Starved Rock could be renamed on the same grounds that have led sports teams to abandon mascots that are offensive to Native Americans.
No local sources confirmed any details of the report. But when the IDNR was reached for comment, the agency issued a statement acknowledging that park names could be reconsidered, including Starved Rock.
“The state of Illinois has a responsibility to listen to concerns and recommendations from Tribal Nations and Indigenous communities that have current and ancestral ties to Illinois,” the agency said in a statement issued Friday afternoon. “They have repeatedly told us the names of some of our state parks and sites are harmful to their ancestors’ remembrance and perpetuate false narratives to the public. Starved Rock is one example of many.
“At the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, we believe place names have power. In the future, the state, in consultation with Tribal leaders and Illinois residents, will explore more appropriate names for some of our parks and sites.
“This serves multiple purposes. Place names will better reflect sites’ natural attributes and histories rather than the painful and often inaccurate colonial narratives they currently represent. These efforts will take time to happen, but we want to start having these conversations.”
Some Native American activists were surprised, too. Two said the Illinois Department of Natural Resources did not seek tribal input before last week’s statement that IDNR is considering name changes at units including Starved Rock State Park.
“I have talked to numerous natives and tribal leaders who know nothing about this statement by the IDNR,” said Ted Trujillo, a member of the Passamaquoddy tribe.
“This has not come across my radar,” said Madalene Big Bear, a citizen of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians and a Pokagon cultural keeper. “I would have caught wind of this before (Sunday) night.” […]
Big Bear was solidly against renaming Starved Rock, an effort she termed “misdirected.” She said that while name changes are warranted in cases such as Indian Head – “Just straight offensive” – the name Starved Rock is derived from oral histories that are worth preserving and commemorating.
“Most of the American representation in regards to us portrays a false narrative,” she said. “Starved Rock in particular is one of the only instances where the English name reflects our own history.”
I’ve asked IDNR for comment and will let you know if I hear back.
*** UPDATE *** From IDNR…
“No decisions involving Native American matters are entertained without input and official consultation with Tribal partners. This broader issue was flagged for IDNR by our Tribal partners who have been expressing their concerns about troubling place names for certain IDNR sites to department leadership for years. Current IDNR leadership takes these concerns seriously and is willing to open discussions with tribes and community members.
“To be clear, there are no immediate plans for any name changes at Starved Rock or any other site. Conversations and proposals will occur over time, and IDNR will make every effort to ensure various constituencies are represented at the table, including tribes, community members, state lawmakers, local businesses, and others.”
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) announced it has awarded $2 million to three different organizations to provide training that will increase access to safe, high-quality abortions across the state. The Abortion Provider Capacity Building Grant Program awarded grants to the Midwest Access Project (MAP), Planned Parenthood of Illinois (PPIL), and the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) College of Nursing.
The first-of-its-kind in Illinois, state-funded training effort follows the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that eliminated the constitutional right to abortion in the United States and allowed states to restrict access to abortion. While Illinois guarantees the right to an abortion under state law, many surrounding states have imposed restrictions on access to abortion. Although the number of abortions provided for Illinois women declined slightly in 2022, the number provided in Illinois for out-of-state residents increased 49%, according to IDPH data.
“When I said Illinois would be an oasis for women seeking reproductive care, I meant it,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “Thanks to the Abortion Provider Capacity Building Grant Program, we will offer health care providers—who are meeting the moment with compassion and service—access to the training and mentorship they need to deliver the care women deserve.”
“Illinois is continuing our track record of protecting and expanding access to reproductive care, not just for patients but for the providers administering that care,” said Lt. Governor Stratton. “In Illinois, we trust women and the healthcare professionals protecting their freedoms.”
“IDPH is proud to partner with these three outstanding organizations to support training that will improve access and quality to a full range of reproductive healthcare services, including safe abortions,” said IDPH Director Dr. Sameer Vohra. “Illinois has seen a sharp increase in demand for abortion services in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision. Under Governor JB Pritzker’s leadership, the State of Illinois is committed to providing resources to improve training and mentorship so our health care providers can deliver Illinoisians and those who come to our state with a full range of reproductive health services.”
The grants were awarded by IDPH’s Office of Women’s Health & Family Services. Following are details from the proposals submitted by the three grant recipients:
• Midwest Access Project: MAP will expand their long-standing work providing sexual and reproductive healthcare clinicians with training in procedural and medication abortion. Their innovative training model fills gaps nationwide in medical education, advanced practice nursing, midwifery education, and clinical training.
• Planned Parenthood of Illinois: PPIL plans to expand upon an already robust training effort by offering more procedural abortion training for physician trainees and advance practice nurses, and medication abortion training for eligible providers.
• UIC – College of Nursing: UIC will establish a training program to expose new advanced practice nurses to abortion care through the Reproductive Advocacy and Diversity in Advanced Nursing Training (RADIANT) Fellowship.
“MAP is thrilled at the opportunity afforded by the IDPH Abortion Provider Training Grant to expand our initiatives to fill gaps in comprehensive reproductive health care training,” said Melissa Banerjee, Deputy Director of MAP. “This funding will enable us to provide individualized, hands-on clinical training, interdisciplinary education, and implementation support to passionate clinicians who otherwise lack access to training to provide abortion care as a part of their community practices. With this support, MAP will build on the partnerships we’ve developed over 17 years of operation with clinical sites, clinicians and advocates to expand access to comprehensive reproductive health care for Illinois’ diverse communities, and all those seeking care in Illinois.”
“Planned Parenthood of Illinois is proud of its abortion provider training program and the work we are doing to prepare the next generation of medical providers,” said PPIL President and CEO Jennifer Welch. “Whether we are training students or established providers, our goal is to increase the number of providers in Illinois who are able to provide trauma-informed, gender affirming, and language inclusive abortion care. Training more providers allows PPIL to expand overall abortion service availability in Illinois, benefitting populations historically denied access to high quality, affordable health care. We are thrilled to receive this IDPH grant because as a haven state, it is crucial we have practitioners ready to provide the safe and high-quality abortion care our patients need and deserve.”
“The UIC College of Nursing will establish the RADIANT Fellowship to train and mentor nurse practitioners from across the state to offer trauma-informed and gender affirming abortion services in their practices,” said Kylea Laina Liese, an Assistant Professor in the UIC Department of Human Development Nursing Science. “RADIANT Fellows will also serve as preceptors to advance practice nursing students from UIC, who will receive the classroom training needed to expand and protect access to essential reproductive healthcare.”
Governor Pritzker announced last year that the state of Illinois was taking a number of steps to improve access to abortion and other reproductive care in Illinois. This included the creation of the CARLA (Complex Abortion Regional Line for Access) hotline, a partnership involving state agencies, hospitals, and the Chicago Abortion Fund. The hotline is designed to help patients with complex medical needs who need hospital-based services to navigate the universe of abortion providers and receive the appropriate level of care.
IDPH is also working to launch a Reproductive Health Public Navigation Hotline that will aid patients, regardless of complexity, including those travelling from out of state, in finding and navigating care. The Public Navigation Hotline will route medically complex patients into the CARLA system and lower risk patients into the non-hospital network of care.
The IDPH effort aligns with the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists’ support for the expansion of abortion education and an increase in the number and types of trained abortion providers to ensure access to safe abortions.
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* One smart thing state leaders did during and since the pandemic is to not put much one-time federal money into ongoing base spending. Not so with Chicago Public Schools. From Chalkbeat…
Next year, CPS plans to spend the last $300 million of its $2.8 billion allocation of federal COVID money, but will still face a $391 million deficit. CEO Pedro Martinez signaled recently that hard cuts, such as for critical building repairs, could be ahead but he wants to protect classrooms from losing resources.
Looking back, more than half of Chicago’s federal COVID money went to staff salaries and benefits. In an interview with Chalkbeat, Martinez said the federal COVID dollars helped the district avoid cuts because of a longstanding structural deficit – when expenses exceed revenue. […]
The district has not yet detailed how it will fill its looming $391 million deficit. That’s the shortfall after using roughly $300 million in federal COVID money still left to spend.
Ralph Martire, executive director of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, said the district shouldn’t have plugged the federal money into operating costs, such as salaries, because that created a cliff – a sudden loss of money that could mean the loss of programs and staff that directly impacts students.
“It’s very disruptive, right?” Martire said. “What message does that send to the kids? It creates a lot of unintended and hard-to-anticipate issues.”
Martire argues the district should have used the money to pay for one-time costs, such as critical building repairs. The district might have to delay such repairs in response to budget challenges, Martinez said at a recent event about the district’s Latino students.
Martinez told Chalkbeat he is proud of the choices the district made in spending federal COVID money, pointing to the recent research around student growth in Chicago and crediting the “amazing work” of principals, teachers, and students.
“What the evidence is telling me right now is that we used the resources in a way that our students are doing even better today than they were prior to me coming here,” he said.
While those last two paragraphs are very positive news, it’s just not sustainable.
“Unfortunately, eliminating the tip credit is not the answer. Not for me as a mayor and not as a small business owner. I hope Springfield legislators vote no on this proposal so our communities can remain a place where employees, businesses and residents thrive.”
George D. Alpogianis is mayor of Niles and part of the third generation of several family-owned and operated local restaurants.
A new bill in the Illinois General Assembly aims to create a fairer evaluation system for Chicago Public Schools teachers, but questions surrounding the legislation’s language have left the school system skeptical of what a reformed evaluation process would mean in practice.
The proposal would give the Illinois State Board of Education the ability to examine teacher evaluation procedures and determine if racial, ethnic, socioeconomic or geographical factors undercut how CPS teachers are rated. Then, the Chicago Board of Education and the Chicago Teachers Union would negotiate to create a new evaluation system to remedy those disparities. If passed, the new evaluation would be implemented by Aug. 15, 2025.
State Rep. Kam Buckner, the bill’s author, argues the legislation would not change the baseline approach to evaluations. The bill passed through committee on April 3. […]
Chicago Public Schools has already pushed back on the legislation, arguing the bill’s language doesn’t adequately define what constitutes “clear racial, ethnic, socio-economic, or geographic disparities.” That could lead to a potential misuse of data that would undermine the evaluation process, the district contends. […]
As the Chicago Teachers Union heads to the bargaining table with the mayor this spring, Buckner’s bill has dredged up worries among some at CPS who see the legislation as a way to get around formal contract negotiations. That would track with the political strategy that CTU President Stacy Davis Gates has laid out. In a March interview with the Chicago Sun-Times, Davis told reporters she would take the contract fight to “Springfield and to Washington, D.C.”
The Illinois Senate has approved a bill to address food deserts across the state.
Bill sponsor, State Senator Dale Fowler from Harrisburg, says the state is making great strides in raising awareness to the food desert problem that several local communities face.
Senate Bill 3265 would create a program within the Illinois Department of Agriculture, tasked with establishing and operating projects and strategies that focus on the distribution of fresh, nutritious food while providing education in food preparation and nutrition in food deserts.
The Illinois Senate approved a plan Wednesday to require insurance companies to cover preventative cancer screenings and genetic testing for people with a family history of cancer.
Screenings for certain types of cancer are currently covered by insurance if patients meet the age requirement. However, Sen. Julie Morrison (D-Lake Forest) said her proposal would require coverage for prevention and susceptibility cancer screenings for every type of cancer for anyone with family members impacted by the disease. […]
Senate Bill 2697 also requires insurance coverage for genetic testing for inherited gene mutations to help people with family history of cancer. […]
The legislation passed unanimously out of the Senate Wednesday. Senate Bill 2697 now moves to the House for further consideration.
The tiny Scott County community of Riggston, 50 miles west of Springfield, with a mere 18 residents, is drawing national attention for a self-serve operation in a small building that is addressing the issue of rural American food deserts.
The Grab-N-Grow Greenhouse is a combination of an indoor farmers market and a self-serve grocery store. Local produce growers, livestock producers and bakers bring their fresh goods to the facility and customers select and pay for what they need. […]
Several months ago, [Jenny Sauer-Schmidgall, the owner of Grab-N-Grow Greenhouse] discussed her operation during a casual conversation with her Springfield attorney, who suggested that she make some state elected officials aware of what she was doing. State Sen. Doris Turner, a Springfield Democrat, immediately expressed interest in the Grab-N-Grow Greenhouse and the potential it may hold for other rural areas in Illinois.
Turner cosponsored Senate Bill 3219, which expands the 2023 Illinois Grocery Initiative by allowing the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity to provide grants for equipment upgrades for farmer-owned grocery stores or markets like the Grab-N-Grow Greenhouse. […]
Senate Bill 3219 has received strong bipartisan support. [Three] Republicans, along with five other Democrats, have added their names as cosponsors of Turner’s bill.
State Sen. Laura Fine, D-Glenview, said her Senate Bill 2960 is about encouraging a change in behavior to prohibit hotels from using single use plastics.
“Right now, we are putting so much plastic pollution into our waterways that it will no longer be safe for aquatic consumption and then human consumption,” Fine said. […]
A first violation of the law, if passed, would be a written warning. Second or subsequent violations could levy a civil penalty of $500 for each violation.
The measure now heads to the Illinois House for further action.
The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) is partnering with some Illinois lawmakers to support legislation aimed at centralizing information for caregivers, making it easier for them to make decisions for their families and loved ones with confidence.
House Bill 4677 calls for the creation of the Illinois Caregiving Portal, creating a one-stop-shop for state, federal, nonprofit and professional caregiving information.
The portal would be managed by the Illinois Department of Aging in coordination with other state agencies. […]
That bill is currently in committee in Springfield.
HB4677’s Third Reading deadline has been extended to May 24.
A bill to strengthen protection for employees of Illinois libraries is heading to the House floor.
House Bill 4567 would amend the criminal code outlining the consequences of threatening public officials, like school employees and elected officials. If the bill passes, the law would also cover library employees and threats made through electronic means, like social media. […]
The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois is opposed to penalty enhancements in general, including those for repeat offenders included in this bill. […]
“The people who are making these threats are unlikely to be deterred under an enhanced penalty, just like they’re not deterred under the current criminal prohibition for making these kinds of threats,” [Benjamin Ruddel, director of criminal justice policy for the Illinois ACLU] said. “These kinds of penalty enhancements allow elected officials to say they’re doing something about a problem, but there’s no enhanced safety.” […]
“I’m not sure that solving those root causes is something that can be done legislatively, but increasing penalties is,” [Illinois Library Association President Ryan Johnso] said. “So it’s not a magic bullet. It’s not a panacea. But it is a gesture, it’s a step in the right direction, albeit a small one.”
People leaving Illinois prisons and jails could soon receive a state ID for free.
Under Senate Bill 2803, incarcerated people who previously held a state ID or driver’s license would be able to submit a form to the Secretary of State’s Office. Applicants would need a photo taken by the correctional facility and must provide proof of residency upon discharge.
Sen. Christopher Belt (D-Swansea) said Wednesday that people released on parole, mandatory supervised release or a pardon could receive a temporary 90 day state ID if they do not receive a standard state ID before they leave a correctional facility. […]
Senate Bill 2803 passed out of the Senate on a partisan 41-18 vote. The proposal now heads to the House for further consideration.
House Bill 545, sponsored by Rep. Joyce Mason, D-Gurnee, would require the Department of Human Services to establish add-on rates for childcare providers participating in the state’s Child Care Assistance Program to purchase supplemental diapers for children in need.
Per the bill, the add-on rates should allow for a family participating in the program full-time to purchase 50 diapers per month for each child under 3 and 25 diapers for part-time participants. Those that run out of diapers would also not be turned down from participating in the program.
Mayo said the program’s cost ranges from $4 million to $6 million, which acts like an “additional check” for families trying to ensure their children have diapers. It comes as Gov. JB Pritzker is also calling for lawmakers to approve a $1 million pilot program to be approved by lawmakers in the upcoming budget for the department to distribute free diapers throughout the state.
* ICYMI: After balking earlier, Johnson to ask City Council to spend $70M on migrant services. Tribune…
-This week, the mayor’s office began briefing City Council members on plans to push through the item as a means to keep afloat the city’s response to asylum-seekers.
-Sources familiar with the briefings said his team hopes to allocate the $70 million from previous city surpluses
-Johnson’s budget chair Ald. Jason Ervin, 28th, confirmed the likelihood of the spending item facing a vote next week.
* ABC Chicago | Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard, village trustee Andrew Holmes named in sexual assault lawsuit: The lawsuit alleges Dolton Village Trustee Andrew Holmes sexually assaulted a village employee during a trip to Las Vegas, and also claims Mayor Tiffany Henyard retaliated against the employee and a police officer when she learned of the allegations. The allegations are stunning in that they include Holmes, a well-known victim advocate, who also serves as a trustee in Dolton. While no criminal charges have been filed against him, Las Vegas police confirmed they do have an open investigation into the claims.
* Crain’s | Springfield bill takes aim at racial disparities in CPS teacher evaluations: The proposal would give the Illinois State Board of Education the ability to examine teacher evaluation procedures and determine if racial, ethnic, socioeconomic or geographical factors undercut how CPS teachers are rated. Then, the Chicago Board of Education and the Chicago Teachers Union would negotiate to create a new evaluation system to remedy those disparities. If passed, the new evaluation would be implemented by Aug. 15, 2025.
* WTAX | State legislative leaders give IL Chamber contrasting views: Welch has made “The Infinite Game” his theme for 2024, saying, “I can guarantee you there will be a 71st speaker, there will be another Black speaker. Illinois will go on for another 200-plus years. […] Senate President Don Harmon (D-Oak Park), saying state government should be boring (“I want it to model itself after me!”) and get out of the way, praised Gov. JB Pritzker’s cheerleading for Illinois, but Senate Minority Leader John Curran (R-Downers Grove) said Democrats are messing everything up: “The recent announcement that a large (Quaker Oats) plant in Danville will be closing its doors, resulting in more than 500 lost jobs in an area of the state that has a higher than average unemployment rate already, is a prime example of how we have to do a better job of taking care of our current employers here.”
* WGEM | Illinois lawmakers discuss potential $300 child tax credit:
Though lawmakers filed a bill proposing the tax credit, lawmakers would pass it through the state budget. To qualify for the full $300 credit, joint filers would need to make less than $75,000 the previous year, $50,000 for single filers. Families who make slightly above the threshold could still be eligible for the tax credit on a sliding scale meaning their credit would be smaller.
* Fox Chicago | AARP pushes for Illinois Caregiving Portal legislation: The portal would be managed by the Illinois Department of Aging in coordination with other state agencies. Supporters say it would help keep people from having to turn to Google to find what they need.
* Capitol News Illinois | Komatsu mining truck named 2024 ‘coolest thing made in Illinois’: The truck was one of more than 200 entries in the 5th annual contest hosted by the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association and sponsored by Comcast Business. The bracket-style contest lasted eight weeks and collected almost 315,000 votes for the products entered, narrowing them down to the top 16, then to the final four, which were recognized Wednesday. The truck, made by Komatsu in Peoria, has a hauling capacity of up to 400 tons and has “new innovations in suspension transmission, electric drive technology and autonomous operation,” according to Komatsu. The 980E-5 truck weighs more than 1.3 million pounds.
* Oak Park Journal | Cosgrove edges out Przekota in race for judge: According to final, uncertified results Cosgrove defeated prosecutor Kim Przekota by the razor thin margin of 338 votes. Cosgrove has 13,468 votes, or 50.6% of ballots cast, to 13,130 for Przekota, who comes in 49.4% of the vote.
* Shaw Local | Keep pressing on full costs of proposed new early childhood agency: When revisiting an Oct. 26 column on Gov. JB Pritzker’s plans for a new state agency that would administer every service under the umbrella of early childhood, my main concern was whether consolidation would further eradicate local control and how the agencies that stand to lose responsibilities would adjust. There is appeal in “a more equitable, integrated, and holistic system of services for young children and families,” as the governor’s office pledged, but Pritzker still bears a burden of proof: that a new agency is up to the task and that those currently overburdened actually end up more efficient.
* WCIA | Danville’s Village Mall set to be auctioned off, leaving locals concerned: Mayor Rickey Williams Jr. said he’s frustrated with the situation and doesn’t know why the owners of the decades-old mall are selling, and communication with them has been difficult. […] Mayor Williams said they offered a $100,000 market study to explore possible options for the mall but the owners were not interested. WCIA 3 reached out to the company, but has not received a response.
* Elgin Courier-News | Bartlett High School principal removed from post but allowed to return as teacher: Demovsky was placed on administrative leave in March during the probe, the details of which have not been made public. “I just want to say to the community that I understand it seems like a lot of things happen in private,” board member Dawn Martin, a Bartlett resident, said during the meeting. “I want to remind the community that personnel matters are discussed in closed (sessions). It’s not about hiding things from our community or not being transparent.
* Chalkbeat | From ‘winning the lottery’ to ‘leaner schools’: How the end of federal COVID money could impact Chicago schools: At one school, where nearly all of the students came from low-income households, the additional money meant more after-school programs for everyone, tutoring for struggling students, open gym, and even a staff-created crafting class where students could get additional social-emotional support. Test scores went up and staff noticed fewer fights, said a former school administrator who requested anonymity in order to speak candidly.
* Sun-Times | Amazon owes Chicago-based tech company $525 million for patent infringement, jury rules: Kove is a Chicago-based company that specializes in computer storage and data management technologies. The West Loop firm owns three data storage patents and accused cloud computing platform Amazon Web Services of infringement, filing a lawsuit against the Amazon-subsidiary in December 2018. The three patents — invented by Kove CEO John Overton and Stephen Bailey — relate to systems and methods for managing the storage, search and retrieval of information across a computer network, according to the lawsuit.
* AP | Internet providers must now be more transparent about fees, pricing, FCC says: Following the design of FDA food labels, these broadband labels will provide easy-to-understand, accurate information about the cost and performance of high-speed internet service to help consumers avoid junk fees, price hikes, and other unexpected costs. Internet service providers selling home access or mobile broadband plans will be required to have a label for each plan beginning April 10.
* Sun-Times | Northwestern to play most home football games in temporary on-campus stadium the next 2 years: The school announced Wednesday that it will build a temporary structure attached to Lanny and Sharon Martin Stadium, the home of its lacrosse and soccer teams, on the shores of Lake Michigan. Northwestern is working with InProduction, which built seating for last summer’s NASCAR race downtown as well as at Hawaii and Florida State. Construction will start this summer, and the facility will be open for the next two football seasons.
* WTTW | CTA Says Red Line Extension a ‘Top Priority’ for Biden Administration, on Track to Begin Construction Next Year: Carter told the board he met with the head of the FTA on a recent trip to Washington, D.C., who assured him the Red Line Extension is a “top priority project” for President Joe Biden’s administration. The president’s fiscal year 2025 budget proposal includes an initial round of $350 million in funding for the ambitious effort. FTA officials are “very upbeat about our project and very upbeat about the timeline for getting the full funding grant agreement … in place by the end of this year,” Carter said. “By all accounts, we’re on target to accomplish that.”
* Crain’s | Uber is adding taxis to its app in Chicago. Yes, you read that right: Why is Uber giving its customers the chance to take a traditional cab? “We continue to believe that there is no world in which taxis and Uber exist separately — there is simply too much to gain for both sides,” the company said in a statement.
* Tribune | The most infamous serial killers all seem to have something in common — they’re from around here: What is it about the Midwest that breeds so many serial killers? What is in the soil that grows the sort of grisly murderers who launch a million headlines? Adam Rapp has wondered for a long time. He was born in Chicago and raised in Joliet in the 1970s, when Joliet was not the best place to grow up. Gangs proliferated. There were rumors of white vans whose drivers offered neighborhood boys a peek at a Playboy. You couldn’t escape to Chicago — killer clown John Wayne Gacy and nurse killer Richard Speck came out of there.
* Tribune | University of Illinois, citing insufficient evidence, closes internal probe of basketball player Terrence Shannon Jr: In a notice dated Friday, the director of the university’s Office for Student Conflict Resolution wrote that the investigator in the probe did not have access to the complainant, the complainant’s witness or the complete file from the police department in Lawrence, Kansas. “The complainant has not indicated an intent to participate in a hearing before a hearing panel at this time,” the director, Robert Wilczynski, wrote in the letter. “As a result, the process has concluded.” No disciplinary action will be taken at this time, he added.
* Chicago Mag | The Sox’s New Voice: The biggest thing it takes is belief. Because there’s only 30 jobs in Major League Baseball, and there’s so many people telling you it’s not possible. So you need confidence in yourself — and good people in your corner. When I was at Dartmouth, my middle sister was at Howard, and she told me to come there for a transfer semester. I studied journalism in their school of communication, then got an internship at [Pardon the Interruption] at ESPN. It just snowballed from there.
* >WSIL | Some businesses in Cairo, Illinois say saw more sales from the Solar Eclipse: Businesses on Route 51 had a front-row seat to the action, including the Smokey Hill BBQ food truck. “There started to be a Jam from Kentucky to the center of Cairo,” owner Tim Koch said. […] The owners of G&L Clothing told us in a phone call that they saw a 75% jump in sales during the eclipse weekend.
* The Komatsu’s mining truck was named The Coolest Thing Made in Illinois…
Illinois Manufacturers’ Association…
Chosen by voters from an initial field of more than 200 entries, the Komatsu mining truck made by Komatsu in Peoria has been crowned the winner of the 2024 “Makers Madness” contest, earning the title of The Coolest Thing Made in Illinois.
Hosted by the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association and sponsored by Comcast Business, the bracket-style competition celebrates the incredible work of manufacturers across Illinois. Manufacturers have long served as the backbone of our state’s economy and produce everything from nutritious food and snacks to life-saving vaccines and medical treatments. Manufacturers also make electric vehicles, sporting equipment and structural products like steel, rebar and motors, as well as chemicals, high-tech gadgets used for national defense, and energy to power homes and businesses. Manufacturing is the largest contributor of any industry to the state’s Gross Domestic Product, supporting nearly a third of all jobs in Illinois and contributing more than $580 billion to the state’s economy each year.
With nearly 315,000 votes cast throughout the eight-week competition, the Komatsu mining truck was awarded the title of The Coolest Thing Made in Illinois by Gov. JB Pritzker on Wednesday during a ceremony at the Governor’s Mansion in Springfield. Manufactured by Komatsu, a leading maker of construction, mining, forestry, and industrial heavy equipment in Peoria, the truck is a rugged, large capacity vehicle used for construction and mining. With a capacity ranging from 30 to 400 tons, the Komatsu truck is built for meeting productivity targets and it comes equipped with new innovations in suspension, transmission, electric drive technology and autonomous operation. It is engineered for reliability, operator efficiency, high performance, fuel efficiency and has a reduced carbon footprint, meeting U.S. EPA Tier 4 emission standards.
“Congratulations to Komatsu’s mining truck for being named the 2024 Coolest Thing Made in Illinois. This magnificent construction and mining vehicle is a shining example of the innovation and creativity that drives the manufacturing sector, where big ideas become products that can change the world,” saidMark Denzler, President and CEO of the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association. “We applaud all the manufacturers that participated in this year’s competition and commend the skilled workers on our shop floors whose contributions guarantee that these fantastic products are made to the highest standards.”
“Komatsu’s ‘Coolest Thing in Illinois’ mining and construction truck takes something fundamental to our economy and infrastructure and continues to improve and innovate on a basic and essential concept—the absolute best of what manufacturing does for our state and a truly exceptional product,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “Congratulations to the team of Komatsu and to all the contestants for your exceptional work in continuing to elevate our state’s manufacturing industry.” […]
Other finalists for the title included the Mullen’s Imitation French Dressing, a delicious food dressing based made by Mullen’s in Palestine; the MQ-25 Stingray (Drone Refueler), an unmanned aircraft with aerial refueling capabilities built by Boeing in Mascoutah and Mod Box by Enviro Buildings, a strong, insulated outdoor building with standardized panel sizes manufactured by Craig Industries in Quincy. […]
To ensure the state’s manufacturing sector remains strong, the IMA is advocating for the passage of several measures this legislative session. Priorities include proposals to support students and families entering the workforce through student loan employer tax credits and scholarships, advancing the development of cutting-edge technology by modernizing the state’s Research & Development tax credit, and allowing carbon capture and sequestration to help the state reach its clean energy goals.
* CHANGE Illinois…
Voters in Rock Island, Proviso and Oak Park townships will have the opportunity to vote for Fair Maps this November. At last night’s annual township meetings, residents brought forth non-binding referendums and successfully put those on the ballot for the upcoming General Election.
Fair Maps continues to speak directly to the needs of voters and their preference to pick their elected representatives, instead of politicians choosing voters. Gerrymandering in Illinois and across the country has stifled the will of voters because those with the power draw maps they directly benefit from by including certain voters in their districts and excluding others.
In the last election, voters in Peoria showed their strong support for Fair Maps through the same non-binding referendum process. Once again, this election, voters in Illinois can show their strong support for an independent commission drawing a truly fair map for Illinois. […]
Over the coming months CHANGE Illinois’ Road to Redistricting Reform initiative will be focused on educating residents in these three townships about what is at stake in the November election and continue building community-led, grassroots support for Fair Maps across the state.
* Speaker Chris Welch offers a resolution to honor Lee Milner…
According to Google Trends, which tracks the volume of certain search terms, “my eyes hurt” and “why do my eyes hurt” spiked significantly as the solar eclipse’s shadow passed over the country.
Searches for “my eyes hurt” reached their peak around 3 p.m. EST. The eclipse’s path terminated in Maine shortly around 3:30 p.m.
Searches for “my eyes hurt” surged strongest among Google users in states on the path of totality from Texas to Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Vermont. Searches also ticked up, though not as quickly, in California, where about a third of the sun was covered by the time the peak eclipse hit at 11:13 a.m.
Yesterday, concern for eye damage skyrocketed in the United States:
Our data revealed that Google searches for “My eyes hurt” increased by 502% in the past 24 hours, and Google searches for “Eyes hurt after looking at eclipse” increased by 5,740% in the last day!
Since the solar eclipse, Americans nationwide have been worried about the potential effects of looking at the sun after not heeding the warnings to wear protective sunglasses during the phenomenon.
Searches for “my eyes hurt” have skyrocketed in these 25 states, with the top three states NOT in the path of totality on April 9, 2024:
* Tribune | Biden EPA limits toxic forever chemicals in drinking water for the first time: New regulations to be announced Wednesday will require every U.S. water utility to begin routinely testing for several of the chemicals. Any that exceed federal limits will get five years to overhaul their treatment plants to reduce, if not eliminate, alarming concentrations of the compounds in tap water. More than 100 million Americans are expected to benefit, including at least 660,000 in Illinois who get their drinking water from a utility that violates the new standards for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, commonly known as PFAS.
* BND | Army Corps shelved a plan to address southwest IL flooding decades ago, lawmakers say: U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth and U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski said the Army Corps shelved 14 flood control measures authorized in 1965 for the area because of “low cost-benefit ratios.” They noted that decades later, the communities experience frequent flooding.
* SJ-R | Voter data released for nearly 30K Springfield residents by far right publication: At least 29,000 Springfield residents have had their personal voter information published this year, an analysis from The State Journal-Register found. The data has been released by the far-right The Sangamon Sun, published by Local Government Information Services, where the Illinois State Board of Elections is now asking the publisher to remove the information from its 20 websites and 11 print publications.
* WCIA | Champaign Schools: No interviews for Board of Education applicants: Monday night was another fiery night for the Champaign School Board. Members are divided as they try to decide the best way to fill open seats. […] On Tuesday night, 10 of them were hoping for interviews and answers, but because the board did not meet quorum, that meeting couldn’t move forward.
* Crain’s | Amid drastic downsizing, VillageMD brings on new exec: The Chicago-based company today announced that Jim Murray, a former health insurance and managed care executive, joined VillageMD as president and chief operating officer on April 1. In this role, Murray will lead operations across VillageMD’s enterprise, which includes clinics under the Village Medical brand, as well as dozens under Summit Health and CityMD, which VillageMD acquired at the beginning of last year.
* Daily Herald | Officials say they didn’t know religious group was behind land buy until after it was completed: South Barrington Park District officials didn’t learn a religious group was behind the winning bid for 34 acres of public parkland until two weeks after the $2.3 million sale was finalized, they revealed Tuesday. […] Area N Development was created in Delaware about a week before the auction, public records show. It wasn’t until March 22 that Schaumburg-based Fourth Avenue Gospel, which is owned and operated by members of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church and was behind a failed effort to acquire the property in 2023, publicly admitted it invented Area N Development to buy the land.
* Block Club | Chicago Pride Parade Will Be Smaller This Year Due To ‘Safety And Logistical Concerns’: The celebration — which includes floats, performance groups, marching bands and more — will be capped at 125 entries, organizers said. This is about a 37 percent decrease from last year’s 199 entries. Organizers were notified of the changes from the city in mid-March, they said. Concerns include “the city’s capacity to manage a range of large events throughout the summer,” organizers said.
* Sun-Times | FDA panel reviewing Abbott heart device included 10 doctors with financial ties to the north suburban health giant: One member of the FDA advisory committee was linked to hundreds of payments from Abbott totaling almost $200,000, according to the database maintained by the federal Department of Health and Human Services. Another was connected to 100 payments, totaling about $100,000, and conducted research supported by about $50,000 from Abbott. A third member of the committee worked on research supported by more than $180,000 from the company.
* Crain’s | Bears recruit Andrea Zopp as a legal adviser as stadium push rolls on: Andrea Zopp, a veteran litigator well connected in Chicago business and political circles, is taking on an advisory role in the Bears’ push for a new stadium — and new stadium financing. Zopp, now managing partner of Cleveland Avenue, the venture-capital firm founded by McDonald’s ex-CEO Don Thompson, will work alongside Bears CEO Kevin Warren and the team’s newly named chief legal officer, Krista Whitaker, as the team scopes out its options.
* Sun-Times | There’s nothing surprising about the White Sox’ awful start — not the losses, not the injuries: Did no one think to tell hit-starved, run-famished White Sox players to stare at the eclipse without sunglasses? It only could have improved their vision at the plate. The Sox are the butt of a lot of bad jokes these days because they’re butt ugly as a baseball team. Everyone knew they were going to be feeble this season but few people expected them to be this feeble, which explains the level of anger around town.
* Crain’s | A new rooftop battle emerges for the Cubs: In a victory for the Cubs’ long-running effort to extract more revenue out of the Friendly Confines and its environs, the City Council Zoning Committee approved an ordinance yesterday allowing the team to install two large LED signs on the rooftops of buildings that Cubs ownership controls just beyond the ballpark’s bleachers. The team unveiled plans last month to put a large Coca-Cola sign atop the building at 1040 W. Waveland Ave. and another for paint company Benjamin Moore on the roof of 3623 N. Sheffield Ave., two locations that are highly visible from inside the stadium.
* NYT | The History Behind Arizona’s 160-Year-Old Abortion Ban: After the American Medical Association, which would eventually become the largest doctors’ organization in the country, formed in 1847, its members — all male and white at that time — sought to curtail medical activities by midwives and other nondoctors, most of whom were women. Pregnancy termination methods were often provided by people in those vocations, and historians say that was one reason for the association’s desire to ban abortion. A campaign that became known as the Physicians’ Crusade Against Abortion began in 1857 to urge states to pass anti-abortion laws. Its leader, Dr. Horatio Robinson Storer, wrote a paper against abortion that was officially adopted by the A.M.A. and later published as a book titled “On Criminal Abortion in America.”
* WBEZ | NPR defends its journalism after senior editor says it has lost the public’s trust: A strategic emphasis on diversity and inclusion on the basis of race, ethnicity and sexual orientation, promoted by NPR’s former CEO, John Lansing, has fed “the absence of viewpoint diversity,” Berliner writes. NPR’s chief news executive, Edith Chapin, wrote in a memo to staff Tuesday afternoon that she and the news leadership team strongly reject Berliner’s assessment.
* CBS | Memorial service this weekend for Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough: The public memorial service will take place on April 14, at the Rockefeller Chapel on the campus of the University of Chicago. Doors will open at 2:30 p.m. in advance of the 3 p.m. memorial service. Yarbrough was remembered as a trailblazer. She had a career that spanned local and state politics over three decades.
Yesterday, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals REJECTED Smith & Wesson’s attempt to litigate the Highland Park Parade cases in federal court and ruled that they must instead move forward locally in Lake County where the plaintiffs filed them. This is a major loss for Smith & Wesson, a big win for the victims and our community, and reflects a broad shift of momentum we’re seeing across the country in gun cases.
For years, legislatures and our judicial system have refused to hold defendants like Smith & Wesson accountable when victims of mass shootings brought suit. But things are changing. During the Seventh Circuit hearing last Thursday, one of the panel judges cut off Smith & Wesson’s attorney within 30 seconds of his opening argument because he took issue with the way Smith & Wesson downplayed the shooting in its appellate brief, saying:
“You’re familiar in criminal cases, as we are with the concept of minimization. I’m tempted to take up some of your argument time listing the names of the seven people who were killed and the 48 who were wounded.”
I was floored (and deeply moved) by that statement, which set the tone for the entire hearing. And the decision itself not only handed the Highland Park plaintiffs a clear victory, but also invited them to seek fees from Smith & Wesson as a sanction for wasting time in federal court.
This ruling is part of a shift we’re seeing everywhere: while we are still a country with a strong Second Amendment, bad actors like Smith & Wesson no longer have carte blanche in marketing deadly weapons to disaffected kids using video-game style ads and “lone gunman” themes when they know exactly where that leads—again, and again, and again.
So these cases are coming back to Lake County where they belong. There’s a long road ahead but I promise you we will never run out of energy for this fight.
The legal theories advanced against Smith & Wesson rest on state tort law plus the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, 815 ILCS 505/1 to 505/12, and the Illinois Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act, 815 ILCS 510/1 to 510/7. The complaints assert (among other things) that Smith & Wesson should not have offered the M&P15 to civilians, because it is a machine gun reserved for police and military use under 18 U.S.C. §922(b)(4) and 26 U.S.C. §5845(b), and that if the civilian sale of the M&P15 is lawful the manufacturer still is liable because the weapon was advertised in a way that made it attractive to irresponsible persons (especially the young) seeking to do maximum damage in minimum time.
Smith & Wesson then tried moving the lawsuit to federal court and was rejected yesterday.
One final observation. Both this court in Lu Junhong and the Supreme Court in BP v. Baltimore recognized that attempting to remove under §1442 would be attractive to many defendants who sought to sidestep the need for all defendants’ consent or wanted to obtain appellate review of any remand order. The Justices also saw that, when defendants yield to the incentive to misuse §1442 to get around §1447(d) and §1446(b)(2)(A), litigation will be delayed and become needlessly costly—other things that defendants may hope to achieve. Baltimore asked the Court to curtail those incentives by giving the statute a strained reading. The Justices replied that setting policy is for Congress, not the judiciary, but added:
Nor is it as if Congress has been blind to the City’s concerns. As the City itself acknowledges, thanks to §1447(c) a district court may order a defendant to pay the plaintiff’s costs and expenses (including attorney’s fees) if it frivolously removes a case from state court. Additionally, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure allow courts to sanction frivolous arguments made in virtually any context […]
The district judge should consider whether Smith & Wesson must reimburse the plaintiffs’ costs and fees occasioned by the unjustified removal and appeal.
Oof.
* From Rep. Bob Morgan (D-Deerfield)…
Gun manufacturers like Smith & Wesson keep running to federal courts to protect them from accountability for their role in facilitating mass shootings and other gun-related deaths, and they keep losing. This 7th Circuit decision reaffirms that gun manufacturers cannot hide from their responsibility, and gun violence rests at their feet due to their deceptive marketing practices that have existed for decades. This case is deeply personal for the Roberts family, and also those of us who were present at the Highland Park Mass Shooting two years ago - this is a positive step for those looking for justice
* It’s Illinois Chamber of Commerce day in Springfield, and the four heads of the General Assembly are speaking. Here’s Senate President Don Harmon…
* Here’s more of Harmon’s remarks. H/T Brenden Moore…
I want to begin by telling you a story. A few weeks ago at the Capitol, a swarm of TV cameras and reporters descended upon the hallway outside of my office. No, I had not done anything wrong. Nobody was getting arrested or indicted. Sad that I even have to say that. In fact, they weren’t even there for me. It turns out they were there because Jerry Reinsdorf, the billionaire owner of the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Bulls was in town and on his way to my office.
So in case you haven’t been following the news, Mr. Reinsdorf wants a new baseball stadium. As you may recall, the last time the state built him a baseball stadium, it became the stuff of political legend. Clocks were stopped, arms were twisted by then-Gov. Jim Thompson in the deal that happened. Now a quick disclaimer: I was nowhere near the Capital when that happened. In June of 88, I just graduated from Knox College in Galesburg and was preparing to start my first year of a grown up job. But anyways, yes, the White Sox and Mr. Reinsdorf are back with a new ask that’s reported in the press as high as $2 billion for public assistance with a new baseball stadium.
And look, I’m as big a sports fan is the next guy. And I’m always happy to listen to ideas. But I made it clear to them then and I’ve tried to make it clear in the media since that there’s next to no appetite to fund a new stadium with taxpayer dollars. So that’s why the media was camped outside of my office for what was my last meeting of the day.
But I want to tell you the story about what you didn’t read in the media, and that would be my first meeting of the day. I began with a group of advocates from Chicago Lighthouse. For those of you unfamiliar, the Chicago Lighthouse has worked for more than 100 years to provide equality, independence and dignity for the blind and visually-impaired. It has a nationally-recognized vision clinic and is considered a pioneer in vision care innovation. They wanted to talk to me about additional state support for programs that help the blind and visually-impaired find employment. We also learned that the Braille signage around the Capitol is in need of some updating. The Chicago Lighthouse does amazing work to help amazing people. And that’s pretty much how most days go at the Capital. People and groups come in and talk to me and ask for more. Sometimes it’s visually-impaired adults, sometimes it’s billionaire professional sports team owners. But the common theme running through all of this is that it’s often my job to let them down.
In my brief time as Senate President, l’ve confirmed my belief that the best definition of leadership is the ability to disappoint people at a rate they can digest. So when I tell people the key to success in Springfield, it’s progress. Nobody gets everything that they want. The key is whether you are making progress on your priorities. My personal priority for this session, once again, is a responsible, balanced budget. I know that Speaker Welch and Governor Pritzker share that goal.
Wednesday, Apr 10, 2024 - Posted by Advertising Department
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“Let’s focus on facts, not optics. This legislation will result in less wages for servers not more. The hospitality industry is already under immense inflationary pressure and this bill will just drive consumer prices up further.”
Without any opposition, the Illinois Senate on Tuesday passed a measure that would tighten identification standards for human remains that are being handled by funeral homes and enhance punishment for businesses that break the law.
The legislation comes after a funeral home in central Illinois last year was found to have given dozens of families the wrong remains. The owner of Heinz Funeral Home in Carlinville had his license revoked by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation after the discovery for “professional incompetence,” among other things.
The measure passed in the Senate Tuesday by a 55-0 vote would tighten funeral home regulations designed to ensure the human remains in their possession are identified properly. The bill now moves to the House for consideration. […]
The legislation would make it a Class 4 felony, punishable by up to three years in prison, for funeral service providers to intentionally mishandle certain documents related to someone’s death.
A bill in the Illinois state Senate would make it easier for people to learn their risk of getting cancer through genetic testing.
The bipartisan legislation passed unanimously through the state Senate Insurance Committee on March 12. It now heads to the floor.
If it becomes law, insurance companies in Illinois would be required to cover genetic testing if the patient has a family history of cancer. Out-of-pocket costs would be capped at $50. Illinois Medicaid patients would also be covered with no out-of-pocket costs.
“This measure will increase early detection and improve prevention of all types of cancer. With this bill, we are moving the needle further in the right direction,” said state Sen. Julie Morrison, D-Lake Forest, the bill’s sponsor.
As electric vehicle charging networks are taking shape across the country and in Illinois, state Sen. Dan McConchie wants to ensure the infrastructure is accessible to all drivers.
With accessibility regulations for electric vehicle chargers still in progress at the federal level, current stations often are inaccessible to drivers with disabilities. McConchie first caught wind of the issue when he heard from the attorney general’s office that one Illinois resident who uses a wheelchair had bought a Tesla and had it outfitted so it could be used — but could not find a publicly available charger nearby that was accessible to wheelchair users. […]
The bill is silent on whether the rules would apply retroactively to existing chargers.
“It would be my hope that companies who have installed existing units would go back and make sure that there is some accessibility, because at some point I do suspect that there will be some retroactivity down the road, even if it’s not immediate,” McConchie said. […]
The bill unanimously cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee last month, and likely will go before the full Senate for a vote next week.
A bill that would expand tax breaks from newly constructed homes to newly remodeled homes will now head to the Illinois House of Representatives after it passed out of the Senate.
The bill, sponsored by Peoria Democrat Sen. Dave Koehler and outgoing Peoria Republican Win Stoller, changes the property tax code to include tax breaks for remodeled or improved homes in areas of urban decay.
As currently written, the state’s property tax code allows local governments to grant an abatement period of up to 10 years for taxes in a certain area of urban decay. Within that area and during that period, newly constructed single-family or duplex homes receive a percentage of their taxes discounted, maxing out at 2%.
Koehler and Stoller’s law would put newly remodeled homes and duplexes under the same umbrella, granting them the 2% discount. The goal is to encourage property owners to invest in homes in that area to revitalize spots like Peoria’s Southside, where many homes need repair.
The Illinois state Senate passed two bills Tuesday they believe will help limit teen vaping.
One bill, sponsored by state Sen. Julie Morrison, D-Lake Forest, bans companies from selling vaping devices that look like normal household items. The other bill, sponsored by state Sen. Meg Loughran Cappel, D-Shorewood, bans people from shipping them in Illinois except to retailers and distributors. […]
Both bills now head to the state House of Representatives.
* Sen. Robert Peters…
To streamline expungement proceedings, State Senator Robert Peters advanced a measure out of the Senate on Tuesday making record expungement a smoother process for youth involved with the juvenile court systems. […]
Peters’ measure supports the idea of making changes in how court systems handle young people involved with the law by helping them get back on track and be a part of the community again, emphasizing rehabilitation and reintegration.
Often youth involved in the criminal justice system lack long-term legal representation, are unfamiliar with legal proceeding options and miss notifications of future expungement proceedings. His measure, Senate Bill 3463, requires juvenile court record expungements to be scheduled at the same time as initial court decisions to avoid multiple court appearances.
The measure passed the Senate with bipartisan support and heads to the House for further consideration.
Illinois lawmakers are looking at a proposal making it easier for international doctors to practice in the state.
The state House Health Care Licenses Committee unanimously passed a bill on April 3 creating a clinical readiness program to help doctors trained internationally find a residency program in Illinois, which they need to complete their licensing requirements.
The bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Theresa Mah, D-Chicago, said the idea came out of a working group. It’s the latest step to ensure the state doesn’t lose out on talented physicians. […]
Mah said she is working with the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation on another amendment to improve the bill. It will go back before the Health Care Licenses Committee before potentially heading to the House floor.
* Sen. Julie Morrison…
To help physicians meet patients’ end-of-life wishes, State Senator Julie Morrison passed a measure to create an electronic registry to store treatment preferences for critically ill individuals.
“How much or how little treatment a person receives at the end of their life should be up to each individual instead of the one-size-fits-all approach,” said Morrison (D-Lake Forest). “This measure will enable physicians to access forms detailing patients’ wishes in a single, accessible location.”
Senate Bill 2644 would establish a statewide electronic registry that would contain Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment forms, which detail what type of medical treatment a critically ill patient does and does not want. POLST forms can help health care practitioners to uphold a person’s wishes regarding their care.
Currently, POLST forms can be maintained in hard copy or electronic format through the Secretary of State’s office. Morrison’s measure would establish a single location to hold all POLST forms, making it easily accessible to physicians throughout the state.
“I worked closely with the Illinois State Bar Association, the Illinois Hospital Association and the Alzheimer’s Association to develop this legislation,” said Morrison. “It is my hope that creating this statewide registry will ensure an individual’s wishes are honored.”
Senate Bill 2644 passed the Senate Tuesday. It now heads to the House for further consideration.
House Bill 2363 to phase out fluorescent lighting advanced through the Illinois House Energy and Environment Committee and is headed for a vote on the House floor.
According to analysis by the Appliance Standards Awareness Project, the switch to LED bulbs would save Illinois consumers more than $1.5 billion on utility bills, avoid 2.2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions by cutting energy waste and avoid 419 pounds of mercury pollution by 2050. […]
[Abe Scarr, Illinois director of the Public Interest Research Group] notes a typical small office could see $900 a year in savings by switching to LED bulbs and schools could save $3,700 a year.
* Sen. Steve Stadelman…
State Senator Steve Stadelman’s legislation aimed at combatting electronic stalking has successfully passed the Senate and advances to the House. […]
Electronic stalking, a form of harassment and intimidation facilitated through various digital platforms and communication channels, has become increasingly prevalent in today’s society.
In this modern technological era, electronic devices are commonly used to track keys, wallets, luggage, and other personal items. However, these electronic devices can also be used for people to stalk others.
The measure seeks to include electronic stalking as a method of criminal stalking, providing crucial legal protections for victims in the digital age. […]
Senate Bill 2683 passed the Senate and heads to the House for further consideration.
* Isabel posted this story in a roundup earlier this , but I wanted to make sure to highlight it for you: “The real-life spy who stumbled into Glenn Poshard’s campaign for governor,” by Abdon Pallasch…
Dave Rupert was the last guy you’d expect to be able to fool street-smart IRA leaders practiced in sniffing out British spies. A 6’7” protestant from upstate New York with no Irish roots, Dave had to be creative to get the Irish rebels to let their guards down. But by stretching his stories of life as a trucker into actually being a smuggler on the U.S. and Canadian borders, Dave won them over.
Dave was simultaneously infiltrating IRA groups in Ireland and their financial support groups in Chicago. He passed himself off as a wealthy businessman able to travel often to Ireland. It was actually the FBI paying for his flights. The FBI even set him up running a pub on Ireland’s West Coast to make inroads with IRA supporters.
In fine Chicago tradition, Dave told us he made himself the bagman for these U.S. support groups, carrying over envelopes of cash raised in Irish pubs here allegedly to support the families of IRA political prisoners in Northern Ireland – but with which the U.S. and British governments alleged also funded military operations.
When Dave showed up in Ireland with envelopes full of cash, people were happy to see him. And Dave started climbing the ranks of IRA splinter groups there.
The FBI set Dave up with a phony trucking office on Halsted Street in Canaryville. He bought a program to teach himself how to create websites, which were just becoming a thing.
Buildings in our neighborhood are boarded up because some people working in these battalions and in these fire houses used to live in these neighborhoods, and they are so angry they had to leave and they left when we came. And when there’s a fire and they go there, they watch the building burn. Go to the Northside. If you see 16 units, 25 units in a building, they go and put out the fire in the single unit. We have a fire in one unit and the whole building gets evacuated, because we didn’t have people that lived in the community that cared about the community that wanted to put the fire out. They had so much contempt they let the building burn. So to stop that level of homelessness and to stop the self-destruction, we need more Black person first responders or Black firefighters. Kudos for all that you do with the Black Fire Brigade.
* From the Chicago Fire Fighters Union…
The Executive Board of Local 2 is shocked, disheartened, angered, and disappointed to see the statements made about the members of Local 2 by Congressman Jonathan Jackson while addressing his constituents at a speaking event. These comments propagated on social media are not only patently false and maliciously divisive-they are dangerous to our membership. The Executive Board of Local 2 would like to assure our membership that we are working diligently to address this issue.
Local 2 and the [Associated Firefighters of Illinois] have officially and immediately revoked our endorsement of Congressman Jonathan Jackson. Additionally, Local 2 firmly demands Congressman Jackson publicly renounce his comments and issue our membership an apology.
Local 2 has been in contact with [Fire Commissioner Annette Nance-Holt], and we await her response denouncing this hateful rhetoric and unwarranted attack on the Firefighters and Paramedics in which she leads. Additionally, we expect she will properly address those propagating these false statements as facts about the Chicago Fire Department and its members.
Local 2 comprises a diverse workforce dedicated to serving all communities without bias or discrimination. We take great pride in our commitment to inclusivity and professionalism in all aspects of our work.
Local 2 will certainly hold any member disseminating these abhorrent statements, slandering their brothers and sisters, fully accountable to the Constitution and By-Laws of the Chicago Fire Fighters Union.
We thank all of you for your hard work and commitment to the City of Chicago and its citizens.
*** UPDATE *** This statement does not include an apology…
* ICYMI: Pritzker pitches grants to open new stores in food deserts. Sun-Times…
- Pritzker’s Illinois Grocery Initiative, enacted last year, initially offered up $3.5 million in grant funding for local grocers.
- While the first phase supported equipment upgrades for existing independently owned grocers, the second phase of the program will offer grants to open new grocery stores in food deserts.
- The awards, which can range between $160,000 and $2.4 million, require the recipient to put up matching funds equal to one-third of the grant.
* Tribune | Local School Council elections are this week. Why that matters to your community.: Local School Councils exist at each of the more than 600 public schools spanning all 77 neighborhoods of Chicago, and operate independently of the district administration, the school board and other schools. They were created in part to give Chicago parents more control over what happens at their children’s schools. […] In recent months, the autonomy of LSCs came up when the Board of Education voted to remove student resource officers from all district schools — a controversial measure that effectively removed local school decision-makers from the process.
* ABC Chicago | Blue Island Police Department to swear in its 1st officer who is a DACA recipient: On Tuesday night, she will become a police officer for the south suburb, and she wants to encourage others to follow their dreams, regardless of their citizenship status. Mitchell Soto-Rodriguez has deep roots in Blue Island. “Some officers, when I’m riding with them, they are like, ‘you say hi to everyone.’ Well, I know the community, so they know me. They know who I am,” Soto-Rodriguez said.
Governor Pritzker will be in Springfield to give remarks at the Illinois Makers Madness Luncheon. Click here to watch at 12:30 pm.
* Here’s the rest…
* Daily Herald | Lake County staffer leaving for state post as adviser on homelessness: In May, Community Development Administrator Brenda O’Connell will join the Illinois Housing Development Authority as a senior policy adviser responsible for coordinating the agency’s work in the statewide homeless response. In announcing her departure, O’Connell lauded the partnership of others for ensuring the success of various programs.
* WAND | Champaign County Auditor under investigation: Serious allegations have been made against the Champaign County Auditor after months of complaints by his staff and a forensic audit of his computer. WAND obtained documents of filed HR complaints from staff accusing auditor George Danos of having inappropriate images on his work computer, undressing in front of staff and berating and cursing at staff members.
* Daily Herald | Kane County Board delays vote on sales tax referendum: But board member Chris Kious said the resolution should be sent to the finance committee for discussion first. While the committee previously discussed the idea of instituting a sales tax, Kious said the panel never considered a formal resolution. The board agreed unanimously.
* Daily Herald | Should DuPage County elected officials get a pay raise?: Members of the county board’s finance committee Tuesday seemed to settle on a proposal that would offer those board members and countywide officials also on the November ballot no raises in the first two years of their terms. They would receive a 2% and 3% increase in the final two years of their terms if board members sign off on the proposal later this month. Currently, county board members are paid $52,102 a year. Under the proposed increases, board members would see a $1,042 bump in the third year of their term and a $1,594 increase in their fourth year.
* BND | Madison County Board will consider putting secession question to voters in November: The Government Relations Committee of the Madison County Board on April 2 approved a nonbinding advisory referendum 6-1 that asks voters if they should communicate with other counties outside Chicago about secession. The full board still needs to approve the referendum for it to be on the November ballot. The committee’s actions possibly negated a requirement that supporters gather roughly 7,800 signatures — about 8% of the county’s turnout during the last gubernatorial election — to get the referendum in front of the county’s voters.
* Tribune | Evanston to continue exploring options for migrant shelter: Discussions at the April 8 City Council meeting moved away from hosting a potential shelter at 1020 Church Street, a vacant two-story office space with the ability to house anywhere from 60 to 65 people, or the Morton Civic Center, where city operations are being temporarily moved from starting in July.
* Daily Beast | The Catfish Scandal Rocking an Illinois School Board: “We are not a court or jury, but the alleged conduct is just so deeply disturbing, and it has resulted in the district being cast in a terrible light,” board President Andrew Waeyaert said at the meeting. “The board and administration have been inundated with inquiries, complaints, and FOIA requests about this matter, and it has monopolized all of our time,” he added. “This situation and its impact have taken away countless hours from our mission, which is to serve kids and families.”
* Crain’s | On O’Hare expansion, the city gives the airlines what they want: In a letter sent to the airlines last week and obtained by Crain’s, the Johnson administration offers the airlines what they have been pushing for: a new sequence of construction for the long-stalled airport revamp as well as a signal that some of the fancier design elements included in the original blueprint could be dropped. “The city plans to prioritize construction of Satellite 1 and O’Hare global terminal before construction of Satellite 2, while continuing work on aspects of Satellite 2 and other (Terminal Area Project) elements that are necessary,” the letter states.
*Tribune | Federal court delivers another victory to Obama Foundation in park group fight: Seventh U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Diane Wood — joined by Judges Ilana Rovner and David Hamilton — ruled against the parks advocacy group, which argued in October that the city’s agreement to lease a slice of Jackson Park to former President Barack Obama’s foundation to build a museum and complex violated the public trust.
* Bloomberg | How the U.S. Steel takeover became about Biden and swing states: Unions don’t typically hold much sway in the world of takeover battles. But Nippon Steel’s bid to buy US Steel is now caught in an election year maelstrom as President Joe Biden and Donald Trump, in the wake of the union’s objections, have both publicly opposed the deal as they vie for blue-collar votes. The turmoil threatens to strain American relations with one of its top allies while underscoring how the politics of winning swing-state voters is dramatically influencing the corporate landscape.
* WCIA | UI study examines social media usage during disaster: Tweets from Puerto Rico and places in the U.S. with large Puerto Rican populations — like Florida, California, New York and Texas — were considered in the sampling. Pérez Figueroa said that despite the collapse of the island’s power grid, users in Puerto Rico were still able to access Twitter during the hurricane. He believes this is because Twitter does not require a strong signal to use, making it more reliable under extreme conditions.
*Tribune | Proposed master plan for former McDonald’s campus in Oak Brook recommends mixed-use district: The proposed master plan for a project to be developed on the former McDonald’s campus site in Oak Brook includes a mixed-use district of restaurants and retail, along with both owner-occupied condominiums and townhomes. The plan was to be submitted Tuesday, April 9 for preliminary review by the Oak Brook Village Board and still needs approval before work may begin. Village Manager Greg Summers said the preliminary board review is the very first step in the process for a proposed Planned Development.
* SJ-R | African American History Museum in Springfield searching for new executive director: The Springfield and Central Illinois African American History Museum is starting the search for their next executive director, following first director Nalo Mitchell’s resignation from the museum on March 30. Mitchell announced her leaving of the museum in a statement days before a Women’s History Month panel which took place on March 30. In the statement, Mitchell said she has served her one-year contract with the museum successfully, as she moves forward in her career.
* The Nation | Elon Musk Wants to Gut the National Labor Relations Act: In late November, at a New York Times DealBook Summit where the aspiring-to-be-rich gather to get pointers from the actually rich, the Tesla CEO explained that “I disagree with the idea of unions…. I just don’t like anything which creates a lords-and-peasants sort of thing.” In the same interview, Musk—a mega-billionaire who famously threatened, in 2018, to take away the stock options of Tesla workers if they organized to exercise their collective-bargaining rights—griped, “I think the unions naturally try to create negativity in a company.”
* NYT | The U.S. Urgently Needs a Bigger Grid. Here’s a Fast Solution: Replacing existing power lines with cables made from state-of-the-art materials could roughly double the capacity of the electric grid in many parts of the country, making room for much more wind and solar power. This technique, known as “advanced reconductoring,” is widely used in other countries. But many U.S. utilities have been slow to embrace it because of their unfamiliarity with the technology as well as regulatory and bureaucratic hurdles, researchers found.
*Sports Handle | Illinois Sports Betting Handle Totals $1.07 Billion For February: The state collected more than $12.5 million in tax receipts, lifting its two-month total for 2024 to $32.8 million. Cook County, which is home to Chicago and has a 2% levy on revenue generated within its limits, saw an inflow of $921,855 into its coffers for the month.
* Sun-Times | Amid slow start, injuries, White Sox manager Pedro Grifol faces uphill climb: Pedro Grifol, in the second year of a three-year contract, has his hands full with a roster that not only wasn’t built to win but was projected to lose 100 games. And that was before the Sox traded Cy Young candidate Dylan Cease. And before their only star, center fielder Luis Robert Jr., went down for weeks with a torn hip flexor a week into the season.
* The Southern | Despite heavy eclipse traffic, no major emergencies in region: Paul Wappel, public information officer for the Illinois Department of Transportation, said the lack of major emergencies resulted from preparations from state and local agencies. Wappel said IDOT met with more than 36 counties and municipalities months ago to plan and prepare for Monday.
Mayor Brandon Johnson urged calm today after the Civilian Office of Police Accountability released videos showing police officers killing a man during a traffic stop in Humboldt Park after the man allegedly shot an officer.
The videos show police officers approaching a white SUV driven by Dexter Reed, 26, purportedly because he wasn’t wearing a seat belt. The officers gave Reed orders and while directing him to not roll up his windows during the stop, gunfire is heard on the officer body camera footage released today. The officers scramble for cover. One officer, standing next to Reed’s passenger side door, falls back and is seen bleeding.
COPA, the police oversight agency charged with investigating officer misconduct and all police shootings, said the available evidence appears to confirm that Reed fired first at officers before they returned fire. […]
Johnson stressed peace as footage begins to appear on social media and ahead of Reed’s family and attorney holding a press conference today to express their reaction to his death.
Today, Governor JB Pritzker and Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton joined food justice advocates and local stakeholders to announce a new grant program from the Illinois Grocery Initiative. The New Stores in Food Deserts Program will offer competitive grants to encourage the establishment of new grocery stores in USDA-defined food deserts. Paired with the Equipment Upgrades Program, the initiatives are a $20 million effort to address food deserts and prevent grocery store closures in Illinois.
“The truth is: too many people live in food deserts, and it’s contributing to an ongoing public health crisis. As we celebrate the launch of our second Illinois Grocery Initiative grant program today, we aim to support local entrepreneurs and communities as they open new grocery stores in food deserts.” said Governor JB Pritzker. “This is a first-of-its-kind state government investment — and it will have a significant impact on under-served rural towns and urban neighborhoods dealing firsthand with the struggles of food access.”
Awards can range between $160K to $2.4M, with a 1:3 match requirement from businesses.
Requirements for grocery locations include:
- Must be located in a food desert,
- Must earn less than 30% of revenue from alcohol and tobacco sales,
- Must accept SNAP and WIC, and
Must contribute to diversity of fresh foods available in community.
Qualified entities include units of local government and independent grocers or cooperatives with fewer than 500 employees and no more than four grocery locations. New Stores in Food Deserts grants will fund construction and renovation costs for new stores, as well as many first-year operations costs, such as employee wages, utility costs, initial inventory of food, and more.
“It’s nice to know that the state of Illinois is in such GREAT shape that Maurice West only has to worry about school mascots!”
That line opened an email from a regular reader responding to Thursday’s column about House Bill 5617, a plan from state Rep. West, D-Rockford, to functionally prohibit schools from using Native American imagery. […]
My emailer, like all readers, understands West and his General Assembly colleagues can multitask. We all know politicians can talk, while what matters is their action. So what else is on West’s plate? The answers are a few keystrokes away.
Visit ilga.gov. Look under House and click Members. Scroll down to the name Maurice A. West, II. On the next column over, click Bills. This opens up a page showing 268 House and Senate bills and resolutions in the current session (the 103rd, which started in January 2023) including West as a sponsor. Each has a short description and notes the last action and date.
* Here’s the rest…
* NBC Chicago | Major changes coming to Illinois DMV location in effort to make center more ‘efficient’: According to a press release from Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias, the Secretary of State facility in Plano, located at 236 Mitchell Drive in Kendall County will be getting a new, “one-stop-shop” DMV design. The new design is intended to “provide a more customer-focused, professional and efficient experience,” the release said.
* Lake County News-Sun | Waukegan Mayor Ann Taylor announces reelection bid; will face at least 3 challengers: With three candidates — former Mayor Sam Cunningham, Miguel Rivera and Ald. Keith Turner, 6th Ward — having announced their plans to run to be Waukegan’s next chief executive, incumbent Mayor Ann Taylor is making her reelection bid official. […] Proud of increasing the city’s revenue approximately $32 million without hiking property taxes the past three years, Taylor said she wants to continue what she considers a good stewardship of the city. Four years is not sufficient to achieve long-term goals, she said.
* AP | Librarians fear new penalties, even prison, as activists challenge books: When an illustrated edition of Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” was released in 2019, educators in Clayton, Missouri needed little debate before deciding to keep copies in high school libraries. The book is widely regarded as a classic work of dystopian literature about the oppression of women, and a graphic novel would help it reach teens who struggle with words alone. But after Missouri legislators passed a law in 2022 subjecting librarians to fines and possible imprisonment for allowing sexually explicit materials on bookshelves, the suburban St. Louis district reconsidered the new Atwood edition, and withdrew it.
* Tribune | Zombie malls and other retail centers getting extreme makeovers to keep up with the times: Builders have built or plan to add hundreds of apartments at malls in Vernon Hills, Skokie and Aurora. The idea is that residents will have an affordable home with quick access to shopping, restaurants, gyms and things to do, while municipalities will get increased property taxes. The target audience for these developments often is young single workers, new families, or older empty nesters who want convenience and flexibility.
* Crain’s | At City Hall, a progressive crusader steps into the chief of staff role: Cristina Pacione-Zayas, or CPZ, as you’ll hear around the fifth floor of City Hall, was appointed as Mayor Brandon Johnson’s new chief of staff at the beginning of this month. Before her promotion, she served as Johnson’s deputy chief of staff. In that role, her acronymic moniker became well known in part as she took the helm of the city’s migrant response — a task that raised her profile while also making her a lightning rod as the Johnson administration struggled to deal with the influx of asylum-seekers being bussed in from Texas.
* Crain’s | Workers at a Chicago Trader Joe’s seek union representation: Employees at the 3745 North Lincoln Ave. location filed a petition yesterday to hold an election with the National Labor Relations Board to be represented by Trader Joe’s United, an independent union of Trader Joe’s workers. If the push is successful, the Lincoln Avenue location would be the fifth unionized Trader Joe’s nationwide.
* Sports Media | Men’s Final Four viewership up slightly; both games trail Iowa-UConn women: Saturday’s NCAA men’s basketball tournament national semifinals averaged a combined 6.0 rating and 12.84 million viewers across TBS, TNT and truTV — down 2% in ratings but up 4% in viewership from last year on CBS (6.2, 12.34M). The games averaged a 21 share, tying 2001, 2015 and 2022 as the highest since 1998. … This year marks the first time in recent memory — if not ever — that the men’s Final Four was not the most-watched sporting event of the week in which it took place.
* Crain’s | Art Institute lands another large donation: The John D. and Alexandra C. Nichols Family Foundation is donating $25 million to the Art Institute of Chicago to support campus and visitor-center upgrades. Alexandra Nichols, an Art Institute trustee, and her late husband John Nichols, who ran Illinois Tool Works and previously served as chairman of the museum’s board of trustees, have donated nearly $50 million to the Art Institute over time, including funding the Nichols Bridgeway, which connects the Modern Wing of the museum over Monroe Street to Millennium Park.
* Block Club | Northwest Side Job Training Program Helps Students With Developmental Disabilities Succeed After High School: When Gerald Kelleher started interning at Eli’s Cheesecake Company, he was filled with nerves. Now, the 17-year-old is a pro at boxing cheesecakes and was able to land his first job. Kelleher was one of four Project Wright Access graduates honored Thursday during a ceremony at the Eli’s Cheesecake facility. Started in 2022, the Project Wright Access program teaches Chicago teens who have developmental disabilities about the workforce and helps them find jobs.
* SJ-R | 3 a.m. liquor sales coming to an end at Sangamon County bars this summer: Bars operating outside of Springfield in Sangamon County will soon no longer be able to sell alcohol after 1 a.m. In a split vote 21 to 5, the present 26 members of the Sangamon County Board voted to amend the county’s liquor code, eliminating the sale of alcohol after one in the morning for any business operating within the Sangamon County Liquor Ordinance.
For the first time in 221 years, periodical cicada brood XIII and brood XIX will emerge at the same time!
A periodical cicada emergence can be an exciting event to witness! Periodical cicadas emerge from roughly mid-May until late-June, so be ready for a wild start to summer. This is a great time to visit a local state or city park and watch the adult cicadas fly, listen to their calls and look for the nymphs’ shed skins. In neighborhoods with mature trees, some may even find cicadas in their back yards. You can even take part in a citizen science project by reporting cicada sighting locations on the Cicada Safari app.
Brood XIII emerges in the northern half of Illinois and will consist of three species of 17-year periodical cicadas, Magicicada septendecim, Magicicada cassini, and Magicicada septendecula. Brood XIX is called the Great Southern Brood and emerges in the southern half of Illinois. Brood XIX consists of four 13-year periodical cicada species, Magicicada tredecim, Magicicada neotredecim, Magicicada tredecassini, and Magicicada tredecula. Cicadamania.com is a great website to visit to learn more about the individual species emerging. The two broods have an area of overlap in Macon, Sangamon, Livingston and Logan counties in central Illinois. Springfield could be a great location to spot members of both broods.
Matthew Kasson, an associate professor of Mycology and Forest Pathology at West Virginia University, says both of these broods can be infected by a fungal pathogen called Massospora cicadina.
Once the cicadas emerge from the ground, they molt into adults, and within a week to 10 days, the fungus causes the backside of their abdomens open up. A chalky, white plug erupts out, taking over their bodies and making their genitals fall off.
“The cicada continues to participate in normal activities, like it would if it was healthy,” Kasson told CBS News. “Like it tries to mate, it flies around, it walks on plants. Yet, a third of its body has been replaced by fungus. That’s really kind of bizarre.”
Kasson said the reason the cicadas might be able to ignore the fungus is that it produces an amphetamine, which could give them stamina.
“But there’s also something else unusual about it,” he said. “There’s this hyper-sexualized behavior. So, males for example, they’ll continue to try and mate with females — unsuccessfully, because again, their back end is a fungus. But they’ll also pretend to be females to get males to come to them. And that doubles the number of cicadas that an infected individual comes in contact with
Illinois state entomologist Chris Dietrich said there are two different broods of cicadas emerging this year, one that only comes out every 13 years, and the other coming out every 17 years.
He said these two broods of cicadas have not been out together since 1803.
“These two particular broods of cicadas only come out every 221 years. And it’s really unusual to have two broods that are kind of right next to each other in terms of their geographic distribution that emerge simultaneously,” said Dietrich.
[Bulls coach Billy Donovan] has two years left on his current deal, and even if the front office and Bulls ownership didn’t value Donovan, Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf does not like paying dead money for fired coaches.
A source recently said that Reinsdorf — who is also the chairman of the White Sox — knew that manager Pedro Grifol had put in a fireable season by midsummer of 2023, but he wanted to wait at least a year so the dead money wasn’t as big a hit.
The White Sox finished the 2023 season with 61 wins and 101 losses. They are currently 1-9.
And yet Reinsdorf wants up to $2 billion from taxpayers to build a new ballpark.
Anyway, have at it.
…Adding… A commenter notes that while Reisndorf hates spending “dead money” on fired coaches, he “wants taxpayers to pay dead money for an unused stadium.” Spot on.
* Governor JB Pritzker was asked today about Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson asking the city council to kick in $70 million for asylum seekers during an unrelated press conference…
Q: There appears to be a request from the mayor for maybe another $70 million to help with the migrant crisis. Can you just weigh in on the fact it seems like finally maybe the mayor seems to be coming around to kicking in money that you and Cook County have already committed to? Is it about time that they got serious about funding on their side of things?
Pritzker: Look, the city has been working very hard at addressing the crisis of the incoming buses that are being sent here from Texas. I want to commend the city and all the volunteers and all of the workers who have helped us to resettle people or provide temporary shelter and the investment that the city has already made.
We have been working together-the city, the county, the state-since August of 2022 to make sure that we’re providing everything that’s necessary. For people just to get a handle on, you know, they’re in a new place, often don’t speak the language don’t have a place to live, don’t have food that’s provided to them and providing them just basic health care.
And for those who complain about the expenditure that’s being made. Let’s be clear. First, this is just basic needs that people are getting. Nobody’s getting any fancy luxuries out of this, people are arriving and just need a helping hand.
I want to remind you and everybody here, if you didn’t know, that my family arrived with absolutely nothing to this city. Nothing. A social service agency gave them a place to live, they didn’t have one. They started out living in the subbasement of the Chicago train station at the time. My great-grandfather went to a public school, didn’t know how to speak English. By the end of his life, I never met him, but I’m told he spoke what people have described as the King’s English.
So you can imagine the kind of great education that he got in a public school. So all of those things. And again, just taking it all the way back to just arrival, right. He became a lawyer, my great-grandfather, during his lifetime coming from absolutely nothing and being persecuted in his home country.
So think of the people who are arriving here today. First of all, they’re human beings. They deserve to be treated with humanity with care, and to be treated as future contributors to the economy and the greatness of the city of Chicago in the state of Illinois. So we’re doing that and I hope that the governor of Texas will stop treating them as if they’re cattle being pushed on to buses and sent to Chicago and I hope that we will have a better comprehensive immigration program for the United States.
Unfortunately, as you know, former President Trump ruined any chance of any immediate work that might be done, and I think [Trump] doesn’t actually care about immigration, which is an additive to our economy in the United States. We should be pro-immigration in this country. We always have been I don’t know why there are some people who are moving backward.
But we need to work on that today. It’s been 40 years since there was any serious comprehensive immigration reform and boy do we need it again now.
So those are some thoughts that I have. I’m pleased that the city has been contributing and helping to deal with the challenge of people arriving more frequently than I think ever before. Or at least more recent ever before. And I think they’re being treated as best as they can be. Although there’s always work to do on this.
And again, I’d remind you it’s not as if the city has fallen down on providing support. And so this is just a continuation of what the city has already been doing.
* The Record | ‘Not something we would be able to manage’: More migrant buses are arriving in Wilmette and even more may be on the way: More than 50 migrant buses have arrived to the Wilmette Metra station, 722 Green Bay Road, since the new year. Approximately half of those have come in the past three weeks, Village Manager Mike Braiman told The Record. Village of Wilmette police and local volunteers support the migrants as they make their way to Chicago, and to this point, Braiman said the response has not strained Village resources, but any further increase may do just that.
* The Daily Northwestern | City Council indicates support for migrant shelter — but not downtown: City staff revealed a proposal last week to use the two-story building at 1020 Church St. as a shelter for up to 65 migrants. According to the plan, Evanston would apply for Cook County grant funding to cover the projected $2 million annual operating cost. Still, many details remain unclear about how the city would pay for the renovation and whether it would operate indefinitely.
* CBS | Texas Gov. Greg Abbott appears at Republican gala in NYC, faces criticism over migrant crisis: Abbott […] wasted no time talking about the influx of migrants entering the country. “We were sending them only to Washington, D.C., and quite literally out of nowhere, Mayor Adams starts criticizing me for sending them to New York City,” Abbott said. “So after a while, I figured, gosh, if I’m gonna get the criticism, I’m gonna get the credit.”
* Daily Beast | Fox News Uses the Solar Eclipse to Fearmonger About Migrant ‘Invasion’: While mainstream news coverage focuses on the eclipse’s path of totality and the potentially troublesome weather forecast, the conservative cable giant’s “hard news” programming found a way to link the event to Fox’s nearly round-the-clock fear-mongering about immigrants. “Fox News alert! A rare celestial event collides with a policy failure on the ground,” America’s Newsroom co-anchor Dana Perino declared on Monday morning. “The southern border will be directly in the path of totality today when the moon covers the sun for nearly four minutes.”
Tuesday, Apr 9, 2024 - Posted by Advertising Department
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Final state revenues for March were up $413 million from the prior year, putting state coffers about $831 million ahead of this time last year. […]
Last month, COGFA increased revenue expectations for the current fiscal year by about $2 billion from what was projected when lawmakers passed the budget last May. It now anticipates $52.6 billion in revenue for the fiscal year that ends June 30.
“While there continues to be subtle signs of weakening in certain revenue areas that must be watched, March’s $413 million in additional growth helps solidify the Commission’s latest forecast,” COGFA wrote in its monthly report.
There’s one quarter left in the fiscal year, and April is a generally volatile month for state revenues as final income tax collections are received. COGFA noted it is not making an adjustment to income tax projections at this time – although April’s performance could move the needle in either direction.
Tuesday, Apr 9, 2024 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Illinois ranks #9 in the U.S. for reported gas leaks, shows a study conducted in June 2022 on methane gas leaks. Frequent leaks are resulting in death, injury, and other damage to our health and environment. Pausing critical replacement of our aging natural gas lines is dangerous for everyone.
When Governor Pritzker’s appointees on the Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) shut down the natural gas line Safety Modernization Program in Chicago, it not only wiped out 1,000 jobs, but also subjected residents and business owners to the unnecessary danger of aged gas infrastructure that is no longer allowed to be replaced.
Tell Gov. Pritzker and the ICC to restart the program, lives are at risk. Transitioning to electric without a plan will cost homeowners thousands of dollars. We need to fix our dangerous natural gas lines for our safety.
* Gov. Pritzker was asked by a reporter today if he is interested in running for governor again during an unrelated press conference…
You asked me this question right before I announced that I was running last time and I was trying not to give away what my answer would be.
This time I honestly don’t have an answer for you. We’re a year and a quarter into this term. And I, as you know, I love the job and we’re working very hard and we’ve had some real success, so I’m enjoying it. I’ll stay where I am for the time being.
* The Question: Do you think he’ll run again? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please.
DRIVER INVOLVED IN DEATH OF DEKALB COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE DEPUTY RELEASED FROM JAIL WITH PRETRIAL RELEASE CONDITIONS.
Nathan P. Sweeney of DeKalb, IL who was arrested last week for Reckless Homicide and DUI in connection with the Line of Duty Death of DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office (DCSO) Deputy Christina Musil was released from custody this afternoon after the Court set pretrial release conditions.
Obviously, we are very disappointed that Sweeney was released despite the Dekalb County States’ Attorney request to detain. This evaluation was made under the Pretrial Fairness Act, which went into effect 9/18/23, that was a part of the SAFE T Act passed in January 2021.
The Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice responds…
The Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice is disappointed but unsurprised to see the Illinois Sheriffs’ Association weaponize the death of DeKalb County Sheriff’s Deputy Christina Musil to make arguments for rolling back reforms to our state’s criminal court system.
In the wake of Deputy Musil’s death, the Illinois Sheriffs’ Association falsely claimed that the Pretrial Fairness Act was responsible for the release of Nathan Sweeney, the truck driver accused of crashing into Deputy Musil’s vehicle and killing her. This is an opportunistic lie meant to confuse the public and further the Sheriffs’ Association’s goal of returning to the money bail system that failed to keep our communities safe and destabilized our state’s most marginalized communities through the extraction of millions of dollars each year.
It is also important to note that under the former money bond system, reckless homicide was a non-detainable offense. Had this happened prior to the implementation of the Pretrial Fairness Act, the State’s Attorney could not have filed a petition to detain and the judge would have only been able to set a money bond or other conditions of release. Aggravated DUI resulting in death was also unlikely to result in an actual denial of pretrial release under the old system; instead, money bonds were the standard outcome.
The Sheriffs’ Association, for reasons we do not understand, opposes a system of pretrial release and detention that is based on safety instead of financial status. Instead, they are using their colleague’s tragic death as a platform to spread misinformation and continue their misguided attempts to undermine successful reforms. We condemn this behavior, and our hearts break for the loved ones of Christina Musil.
* Speaking of cash bail, let’s move along to the the House GOP blog…
Six months after the full implementation of the cashless bail, and other provisions, of the Illinois SAFE-T Act, Illinois residents are finding themselves anything but safe.
Um, that third guy was released after posting cash bail. So, are they saying that the cash bail system was flawed and allowed alleged criminals to waltz out of jail if they had the money?
As for the rest of the examples, I’m pretty darned positive I could match up each of those instances of people not being detained with instances of bad people who cash-bailed out of incarceration.
Illinois House Democrats want to pass a plan to prohibit the use of unreliable statements made to law enforcement during criminal or juvenile court proceedings for homicides or Class X felonies. Sponsors hope the bill could change the state’s status as the leader for wrongful convictions.
Rep. Justin Slaughter (D-Chicago) told the House Judiciary-Criminal Committee Thursday that Illinois spends millions of dollars annually for settlements after people are exonerated. However, he noted that wrongful convictions cost much more to the people put behind bars for 20-35 years on average before exoneration. […]
“Currently, there is a prohibition on the use of involuntary statements,” Slaughter said. “The burden of proving a statement is voluntary rests on the prosecution. Whether a statement is reliable is currently considered by the trier of fact and not by a judge considering allowable evidence in a proceeding.” […]
House Bill 5346 passed out of the House Judiciary-Criminal Committee on a 9-6 vote Thursday. State representatives could discuss the legislation again when they return to Springfield later this week.
* President of Village Haven Housing Foundation Randy McIntyre…
Village Haven is a nonprofit organization with the goal of providing quality shared housing to residents and help them find employment, healthcare, food assistance, educational opportunities, and transportation. People who are in recovery and reentering society throughout Illinois are working incredibly hard to get their lives back on track. […]
That’s why I’m so concerned to learn that lawmakers in Springfield are considering a new bill that will add a $10.49 fee to most prescriptions filled at the pharmacy counter.
This may not sound like a lot to our legislators in Springfield who can personally afford the increase, but for people who are working hard to make ends meet, this could mean choosing between medication or other essentials like putting gas in their car to get to work. […]
This bill will also limit the ability of pharmacies to mail less-expensive prescriptions directly to people’s doors. Many who are in recovery and reentering, not to mention countless older Illinoisians and those with mobility challenges, count on this service to get their medication in a way that is quick and convenient so they can stay healthy and well.
Illinois pharmacists have been able to administer long-acting injectable drugs to help people fighting addiction for the past four years. A bill in the Illinois House of Representatives aims to expand their scope of practice.
Current Illinois law prohibits them from giving the first dose. They can administer subsequent doses of long-acting injectables for substance-abuse problems.
The state House Health Care Licenses Committee passed a bill unanimously on April 3 allowing pharmacists to inject the first dose if it’s prescribed by a doctor, physician’s assistant or Advanced Practice Registered Nurse.
“By allowing pharmacists to the first injection of long-acting injectable medications for substance-use disorder treatment, access to these medications can be now expanded,” said state Rep. Maurice West, D-Rockford, the bill’s sponsor.
Dental school graduates may soon be able to practice in Illinois before officially getting licensed.
The state House Health Care Licenses Committee unanimously passed a bill on April 3 allowing someone enrolled in a dental residency or specialty training program to practice for up to three months while waiting for the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) to approve their license.
The bill’s sponsor, state Rep. Theresa Mah, D-Chicago, said the legislation will ensure new dentists don’t fall behind waiting for their license. […]
The bill has the support of the Illinois State Dental Society.
I am privileged to serve the village of Niles in two capacities. The first is at my family restaurant, which has served local customers for nearly five decades. The second is as mayor, serving my constituents since 2021. I’ve always said that running a great municipality is like running a great business, and being able to wear both hats often allows me to provide a different perspective to my fellow civic leaders.
Take, for example, a proposed bill in Springfield that would eliminate the tip credit and fundamentally change the way Illinois restaurant workers are paid. At its core, this proposal is a business-killer that would pose significant risks to the very employees it aims to help.
I know of no one in the restaurant industry who earns less than the minimum wage right now. My tipped employees see average incomes as high as $25 to $30 an hour between base wage and tips. National data shows that wait staff at full-service restaurants earn a median of $27 an hour, with the highest-paid tipped employees making $41.50 and in some places more. […]
If legislators force restaurateurs to increase their payroll for tipped employees to the full minimum wage, it will upend this system with an unaffordable cost. The ripple effects in my restaurant alone would reach an estimated $300,000 a year at just at one of my restaurants.
The mascot at Nokomis High School has been the Redskins since a 1920 vote among the town’s voters. The town, home to 2,100 residents, itself is named after a Native American mythological figure featured in a Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem.
Legislation being considered in Springfield would do away with Nokomis’ mascot along with every public K-12 school in the state using a Native American name, logo or mascot. Superintendent Scott Doerr told The State Journal-Register that the bill is legislative overreach on what should be a local decision. […]
“Our signage, our gym floors … everything that indicates some kind of logo or mascot is going to have to be changed,” Doerr said in an interview, now in his 15th year as superintendent. “So, you’re looking at a large amount of money that is supposed to go to educate kids are now going to fund another unfunded mandate passed by the state of Illinois.” […]
Rep. Maurice West, D-Rockford, is the bill’s lead sponsor and plans to file an amendment to his legislation. The amendment, he said, will clarify schools with Native town names like Nokomis or Waukegan would not have to change and create a partnership between the Illinois State Board of Education and the Chicago American Indian Community Collaborative to adopt guidelines for schools where the legislation would apply.
Thursday in Springfield, the House Revenue and Finance Committee advanced several measures that would allow for increases in property tax levies. House Bill 1075 would allow villages and townships to increase theirs for museums. Illinois Municipal League Executive Director Brad Cole supported the museum levy.
“Nobody here wants to support property tax increases but what we’ve already heard is it’s a de minimis amount, it’s for a community function, museum affairs and activities,” Cole said during the committee.
Another from state Rep. Charlie Meier, R-Okawville, House Bill 4179 would allow for a voter referendum to increase taxes for private ambulance costs.
“So the voters will be there to vote for if they want an ambulance service, or if they want to drive whoever of their family members to the hospitals themselves,” Meier told the committee.
* AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Pat Devaney and IMA President Mark Denzler…
While Illinois is leading the way in the effort to mitigate climate change with a goal to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, we will fall short without embracing all available technology, including carbon capture and storage.
Also known as CCS, this process involves capturing carbon dioxide emissions at their source, preventing them from being released into the atmosphere and then storing them deep underground. It’s an established and effective process which is highly regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. CCS technology has been identified by the Clean Air Task Force as having safely operated in the U.S. for more than 50 years. Numerous international studies addressing the energy transition suggest that CCS is a required key tool for rapid decarbonization, along with energy efficiency and electrification.
In addition to the proven environmental benefits, deploying CCS more widely in Illinois also offers equally clear economic benefits. CCS development and expansion has an employment demand of 14,400 jobs, generating over $3 billion in additional revenue for the state’s economy over 10 years, according to a study conducted by the University of Illinois. This includes the creation of good union jobs in the construction industry as well as the operation of new facilities. […]
Our legislation builds upon existing federal regulations, requires consultation with impacted communities to address local concerns and establishes strong landowner protections.
* ABC Chicago | Process begins to find replacement for Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough after her death: Bunting hangs over the Cook County buildings in the Loop in memory of Yarbrough. As a loyal foot soldier to the local and state Democratic Party, Yarbrough’s rise in politics was a quick one as she became a fixture in democratic politics for decades. “She worked very closely with Mike Madigan, and she was part of his leadership team. And that was when she was still in the legislature and then she moved on to the Cook County recorder of deeds office, and then the clerk,” said ABC7 Political Analyst Laura Washington.
* Tribune | Rivian hosts R2 open house in Normal, its new production home: The low-key but festive event showcased the midsize R2 SUV, which will be built in Normal after Rivian delayed plans for a second plant in Georgia. The smaller and sportier R3 crossover, whose production plans have yet to be announced, was also on display. Rivian revealed both new models last month, while announcing that the R2, at least initially, will be made in Illinois. The company received more than 68,000 preorders for the $45,000 R2 within 24 hours of its online debut.
* Daily Southtown | Dolton trustees hire former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot as special investigator: Under the terms of her hiring agreement, Lightfoot will provide regular updates to trustees, and when her billing totals $30,000 will give a full summary of her investigation to trustees. A law firm representing the village, the Del Galdo Law Group, sent a letter Monday to attorney Burt Odelson, whose firm serves as legal counsel to the Village Board, warning that hiring Lightfoot is beyond the trustees’ authority.
* Norma Fuentes has been named Partner at Fuentes Consulting…
Fuentes Consulting Shatters Glass Ceiling: First Latina Sister-Run Lobbying Firm in Springfield Welcomes Norma Fuentes as Partner
Norma Fuentes has been named Partner at Fuentes Consulting. Norma’s addition marks a historic moment for the firm, becoming the first Latina sister-run and operated lobbying firm in Springfield. Norma brings a wealth of experience. Since 2020, she has honed her skills as a lobbyist at Stricklin & Associates, advocating for clients and navigating the complexities of the legislative process. Norma is poised to become one of the few Latina lawyers in the lobbying space as she stands on the cusp of graduating from law school next month in May.
Governor Pritzker will be in Chicago to launch the second stage of the Illinois Grocery Initiative at 10:30. At 3:05 the governor will celebrate the tastytrade office expansion. Click here to watch.
* Here’s the rest…
* Tribune | Gov. J.B. Pritzker taps northwest suburban lawmaker to run state insurance department: State Sen. Ann Gillespie of Arlington Heights will step down from her legislative post to lead the agency as acting director. Her appointment requires confirmation by the state senate. She replaces Dana Popish Severinghaus, who assumed the department’s top post in 2021 and will be leaving the position next week.
* Daily Herald | Giving people a place to go for help: DuPage County breaks ground on new crisis center: County leaders on Monday will celebrate the start of a $25.8 million project to build the DuPage Crisis Recovery Center. The new 24/7 center will be on the grounds of the DuPage County Health Department and will act as a behavioral health triage center where patients experiencing a mental health or substance abuse crisis can be assessed and provided a plan of action within 24 hours.
* News-Gazette | Urbana voters paying price for 1998 decision: Urbana voters foolishly decided in 1998 to elect school board members from municipal subdistricts rather than at-large. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that idea — at least in theory. But in practice, it’s been another story. The problem? There has been a disappointing lack of candidates in most of Urbana’s seven subdistricts to provide voters a real choice between competing candidates.
* WBEZ | Principals get first look at impact of Chicago’s new school funding formula: These are the first school budgets under a new funding formula that shifts to focusing on the needs of schools, rather than enrollment. Under this new “equity-based” formula, principals are mostly being given positions, rather than pots of money, as was done under the old formula.
* Tribune | In Chicago, President Joe Biden raises millions, assails Donald Trump over abortion rights: Biden’s remarks came hours after Trump made his highly anticipated statement on abortion, stopping short of calling for nationwide federal limits on the procedure but saying he supported the decision of the conservative Supreme Court majority he appointed while president that sent decisions on legalizing the procedure back to the individual states.
* Sun-Times | Chicago man released from prison after serving 11 years for a murder he did not commit: In late 2012, Robinson was shot multiple times in the leg and foot, and endured multiple painful surgeries and a long recovery that left him unable to walk without crutches. In January 2013, just weeks after his surgery and still needing crutches to walk, he was identified by police as a gunman who sprinted after Kelvin Jemison in front of the Washington Park Homes and gunned Jemison down.
* Seattle Times | How Boeing put Wall Street first, safety second ahead of Alaska Air blowout: The arc of Boeing’s fall can be traced back a quarter century, to when its leaders elevated the interests of shareholders above all others, said Richard Aboulafia, industry analyst with AeroDynamic Advisory. “Crush the workers. Share price. Share price. Share price. Financial moves and metrics come first,” was Boeing’s philosophy, he said. It was, he said, “a ruthless effort to cut costs without any realization of what it could do to capabilities.”
* Crain’s | Music equipment marketplace moving HQ to the Salt Shed: Online music-equipment seller Reverb has leased about 25,000 square feet in a two-story brick building along the northern edge of the Salt Shed at 1357 N. Elston Ave., the company confirmed. Reverb is slated to move its main office to the building next year from its current home in a slightly larger space on Lincoln Avenue in the Roscoe Village neighborhood.
* Screen Mag | Steph Curry TV Series ‘Mr. Throwback’ Begins Filming in Chicago in May: When Chicagoans hear “Steph Curry is coming to Chicago” they might quickly leap to the conclusion that the legendary NBA sharpshooter is being traded to the city’s beloved Chicago Bulls. No, Stephen Curry is not being traded to the Bulls. But he is reportedly coming to the Windy City to co-star in a mockumentary project entitled Mr. Throwback that has been ordered straight to series at Peacock.
* WBEZ | Women saw red flags, one man saw defamation: Attorney Marc Trent said his client, D’Ambrosio, is one of dozens of men across the country who have been harmed by false claims about them made in online groups like “Are We Dating The Same Guy?” […] But experts dismissed the lawsuit as a “bad idea” that is aimed at groups that help keep women safe. “The service that [the groups] provide outweighs the danger that they could potentially pose to somebody that’s posted on them,” said Michele McBride Simonelli, an attorney specializing in internet defamation.
* NYT | What Researchers Discovered When They Sent 80,000 Fake Résumés to U.S. Jobs: Two companies favored white applicants over Black applicants significantly more than others. They were AutoNation, a used car retailer, which contacted presumed white applicants 43 percent more often, and Genuine Parts Company, which sells auto parts including under the NAPA brand, and called presumed white candidates 33 percent more often.
* AP | Tesla settles lawsuit over man’s death in a crash involving its semi-autonomous driving software: The amount Tesla paid to settle the case was not disclosed in court documents filed Monday, just a day before the trial stemming from the 2018 crash on a San Francisco Bay Area highway was scheduled to begin. In a court filing requesting to keep the sum private, Tesla said it agreed to settle the case in order to “end years of litigation.” Shares of Tesla Inc., down 30% this year, slipped 1% before the market opened Tuesday.
* Daily Beast | Read Elon Musk’s Wild Deposition in Neo-Nazi Brawl Case: A transcript of the two-hour deposition from March 27 was made public on Monday, and was first obtained by HuffPost. In it, Musk admitted that he had a “limited understanding” of Brody’s allegations against him, to the extent that he originally believed Brody’s attorney was the plaintiff in the case. He also said he did no research of his own before tweeting last June that a brawl between two right-wing extremist groups in Portland, Oregon had actually been “a probable false flag situation,” and that Brody had been involved.
* This release was sent out before Ozinga announced his resignation on Facebook…
The Representative District Committee for the 37th Representative District today announced a vacancy in the office of Representative in the General Assembly due to State Representative Tim Ozinga’s (R-Mokena) recent resignation. The Committee will appoint a replacement for both the remaining term in the 103rd General Assembly as well as for the Republican nomination in the 37th Representative District in the upcoming General Election.
The Representative District Committee for the 37th Representative District is comprised of:
Will County Republican Chairman Tim Ozinga
Orland Township Republican Committeewoman Cindy Katsenes
In accordance with 10 ILCS 5/25-6(a), vacancies created in the General Assembly must be filled within 30 days of the member’s day of resignation.
The Representative District Committee for the 37th Representative District will convene on Friday, April 12, 2024 at 3:00 PM at 9400 Bormet Drive, #10, Mokena, IL 60448, to review all applicant information, and vote to appoint the replacement for this vacancy in office and in nomination. This meeting is open to the public.
Today Governor JB Pritzker announced that Illinois Department of Insurance (DOI) Director Dana Popish Severinghaus will step down from her role on April 15th. Popish Severinghaus has served as Director of DOI since January of 2021. Governor Pritzker has appointed State Senator Ann Gillespie as new Acting Director of DOI, pending Senate confirmation.
“Dana has served the state of Illinois admirably, helping protect consumers against predatory insurance practices and reforming the system to work for the people of Illinois,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “She was a champion for Illinoisans who otherwise would have struggled to navigate vast, complex insurance systems, and I’m grateful to her for service. I am also pleased to appoint an accomplished advocate like Senator Gillespie as the new acting director and look forward to seeing her decades of experience at work making the insurance system better for every Illinoisan.”
State Senator Ann Gillespie has been appointed as the new head of DOI and will begin serving in an Acting Director role in mid-April. Gillespie, who will resign her state senate seat, has served in the Illinois General Assembly since 2019 representing Chicago’s northwest suburbs. As a State Senator, Gillespie sponsored the bill to create the state-based health insurance marketplace and has been a trusted partner on health care consumer protection issues in the General Assembly. Gillespie is a former business executive, health care attorney, and consultant in the health care field. She brings decades of experience in the insurance and managed care spaces to the role.
Under the leadership of Popish Severinghaus, DOI was instrumental in aiding Governor Pritzker in supporting and passing legislation authorizing a state-based health insurance marketplace in Illinois in 2023, and she led the agency in enrolling record-high numbers of Illinoisans in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Health Insurance Marketplace.
During her time at DOI, Popish Severinghaus increased headcount to better serve the needs of Illinois insurance consumers and diversified staff to advance equity. She also served as Vice Chair of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) Privacy Protection Working Group to advance legislation to protect consumers’ data.
“I am incredibly grateful to have served the people of Illinois and to have led the passionate and committed staff at the Illinois Department of Insurance who stand out among state insurance regulators,” said Director Dana Popish Severinghaus. “The Department is at the forefront of regulatory enforcement, innovation, and policymaking, and we’ve accomplished great things for Illinois insurance consumers. It really was the opportunity of a lifetime.”
“It’s an honor to be asked to serve the state of Illinois in this new capacity, and I am eager to begin working with the Department of Insurance to make sure the system works for Illinois consumers,” said State Senator Ann Gillespie. “My experience in the healthcare field underlies decades of advocacy and public service, and I’m thankful for the opportunity to continue that work.”
The Illinois DOI regulates insurance industry behavior in Illinois, protecting consumers and fostering a competitive marketplace. DOI provides a central source of information on insurance providers as well as rules and regulations surrounding insurance, as well as an outlet to file grievances or complaints against insurance providers. The Director is also responsible for the operations of the Office of the Special Deputy Receiver (OSD), which handles the affairs of insurance companies placed in rehabilitation, conservation or liquidation.
* Justin Laurence and Leigh Giangreco flesh it out…
Mayor Brandon Johnson is expected to request an additional $70 million from the City Council to continue to house, feed and care for the tens of thousands of migrants being transported to the city through the rest of the year. […]
Johnson’s position has changed in recent weeks, as members of his administration have told members of the City Council and other partners they were planning to make the $70 million request, according to sources familiar with the discussions. But the mayor’s office is aware a vote in the City Council could prove difficult as the city’s spending to care for asylum seekers has split the body for months.
Ald. Jason Ervin, 28th, who chairs the Budget Committee that would need to approve the funding, said “there’s a request forthcoming,” but he has not been briefed on the details.
“I don’t think it’s a slam dunk by any stretch of the imagination,” he said of the pending $70 million request. “There will definitely need to be a conversation around the issue as to ‘what’s the money for . . . or what are we doing in order to make this work.’ It just hasn’t gone through that deliberative process for anybody to make an educated decision on the matter.”
You cannot wish reality away. And the reality is, that money is needed.
The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services has been a very big state problem for a very long time. The department now has new leadership under Director Heidi Mueller, whose appointment was met with widespread praise. The former director of the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice was confirmed by the Senate without a single “no” vote last month, minutes before I interviewed her.
During the past year or so, DCFS has taken major heat from the legislature’s bipartisan Joint Committee on Administrative Rules over the department’s regulation of child care centers. At one point, some legislators said the embattled agency should get out of the child care regulatory business altogether and focus on its core mission.
So I asked Mueller what she thought about the idea. “I do think that getting out of the child care licensing business for DCFS helps us focus on our core mission,” Mueller said.
Mueller talked about the idea in the context of “right-sizing” the agency. Her main priority, she said, is “getting in front” of the steadily increasing numbers of calls to the agency’s hotline, the resulting increase in investigations and the increased number of kids in care, which she said is “really unsustainable at some point.” Instead, she said she wants to “focus on prevention” and work with other state agencies “to make sure that no family is coming into or touching the DCFS system just because they need support and services for their child.”
“Most kids,” she said, “want to be with family, they want to be at home.” And she noted that “strong, healthy families” would help “keep kids safe.”
Cook County Public Guardian Charles Golbert has been a ferocious critic of DCFS over the years, but he called a recent meeting with Mueller “highly productive.” (Mueller said she wants regular meetings with Golbert to make sure their two offices are “finding solutions together.”)
Golbert, however, pointed out that despite all the increases of youth in care, the state’s rate of removing kids from families is “one of the lowest in the country, and has been for the past 10 years or so.” He also warned that when DCFS has in the past tried to decrease the removal rate, “we have often seen many high-profile cases of dead children.”
Kyle Hillman with the National Association of Social Workers’ Illinois chapter has also been a sharp critic of DCFS, but he had a much different take than Golbert.
“The director’s strategy to adjust the number of children in care, prioritize kinship, overhaul departmental culture and processes, and enhance the provision of intact services and community programs, is undeniably the correct policy and structural direction for the department,” Hillman said. Too little public attention is paid to “the thousands of cases where this approach has significantly benefited families and youths in care,” Hillman claimed. Instead, he said, “it’s the tragic incidents, including the loss of lives among children previously involved with DCFS, that tend to dominate headlines.”
The two DCFS critics were unified, however, when it came to Mueller’s discussion of kids who appear to be trapped in “beyond medical necessity” hospitalizations. Numerous stories have been written about children who are in mental hospitals and can’t leave because there’s no place for them to go.
Mueller said 31 children were currently in beyond medical necessity situations, and “beyond medical necessity is the term that an insurance provider uses to classify a child when they will no longer pay for services for that child … It doesn’t always mean that that child doesn’t require further treatment and intensive care.”
Golbert said while beyond medical necessity is indeed an insurance term, Mueller was “mistaken and, frankly, disingenuous” about what it really means.
“If you talk with the doctors and care providers at the hospital,” Golbert said, “they will tell you how horrible this is for the children, how they don’t need to be there and how unconscionable it is that DCFS doesn’t have anywhere for the children.”
Hillman agreed. “The issue at hand is not about denying necessary care to those who need it; rather, it centers on the grave reality that children deemed ready to transition to less restrictive environments are instead left languishing in hospital settings.”
Even so, Mueller said finding placements for those children is an “immediate priority of mine.”
At the end of the conversation I wished Mueller luck, because despite her obvious skills, talents and experience, she’ll likely need it.
* The column was an excerpt of a much longer piece I wrote for subscribers. Former DCFS Director Jess McDonald, who has been credited for straightening up the agency, saw that piece and sent me a note…
Rich,
Read your interview with Heidi Mueller. Thank you. She is just what DCFS needs. Hope she can keep up with expectations. I believe she will be an enormous difference maker in Illinois human services.
In an 8-1 decision last week, Illinois House Transportation: Vehicles and Safety Committee members approved legislation that would stop requiring people age 79 and up to take driving tests when renewing their licenses.
“What we are trying to address is the discriminatory practice of requiring behind-the-wheel tests for seniors to renew their license,” said sponsor and state Rep. Jeff Keicher, a Sycamore Republican.
The next test is a vote in the House on Bill 4431. If that succeeds, the Senate would follow. […]
Democratic Rep. Eva-Dina Delgado of Chicago voted “present” and Democratic Rep. Tracy Katz Muhl of Northbrook was a “no,” but said “I want to keep the conversation going.”
An Illinois House committee advanced a measure that would end the state’s subminimum wage for tipped workers amid bipartisan opposition this week, but the bill’s sponsor said she’d seek further compromise before presenting it for a vote. […]
Hernandez made her comments during a lengthy hearing Wednesday in a packed committee room filled with advocates on both sides of the issue. She ultimately promised to not bring the bill to a vote in the full House without first negotiating amendments on it, but she also noted one of those changes would better address inequity within the industry and add punitive measures against “bad actors.”
Proponents of the bill said that not all employers follow the law and dependency on tips perpetuates inequalities. A 2014 report from the Economic Policy Institute think tank found at that time 66% of tipped workers were women and the poverty rate of tipped workers was almost double that of nontipped workers. […]
While the bill is intended to increase wages for tipped workers and address inequities within the industry, much of the roughly two-hour debate in the committee hearing focused on how the proposal will impact businesses and employees.
Chicago is taking its time to fully phase out the subminimum wage for restaurant servers, bartenders and other tipped workers. It won’t be until 2028 when businesses will be required, under an ordinance passed by the City Council in October, to give all those employees a base pay of $15.80 per hour, the citywide minimum wage.
But already, some progressive Illinois lawmakers are pushing forward on a proposed bill that would eliminate the state’s subminimum wage for tipped workers across the state over a two-year period.
We support the end goal here, which is making sure that workers earn a decent living. But the restaurant business operates on notoriously thin profit margins, and it seems like every week we read or hear about another beloved eatery shutting down. Each closure is a blow to customers but most of all, to workers and restaurant owners. Something is lost every time a distinctive small neighborhood restaurant closes.
So we urge state lawmakers to follow the same take-it-slow approach. Let the proposal simmer a bit, continue negotiating with the industry, and most of all, first gauge how the city’s restaurants fare after Chicago implements its ordinance. That ordinance will add an 8% raise in July on the current $9.48 hourly wage for tipped workers.
Following a report that revealed a number of shortcomings in the public defender system in Illinois, state lawmakers are considering a measure that would create a statewide office to provide public defenders with additional support in an effort to ensure indigent criminal defendants receive adequate legal representation. […]
But Senate President Don Harmon said in an interview that his goal for the legislation he filed on Thursday is to promote further negotiations with criminal justice reform advocates, resulting in a version that could be passed by the Democratic-controlled General Assembly before its spring session ends on May 24. […]
Under Harmon’s bill, the new office would provide unspecified support for public defenders and facilitate “a strategic planning process designed to enhance public defender services and ensure that effective assistance of counsel is rendered regardless of the jurisdiction in which charges are brought.” The bill also says the state Supreme Court “shall provide administrative and other support” through June 30, 2026. […]
The legislation is meant to address disparities in the resources allotted to county prosecutors and public defenders as well as the lack of public defense resources in rural areas — many of which don’t even have a public defender’s office — compared with larger counties, such as Cook County.
Last week, another bill moved out of committee that would place a moratorium on carbon pipelines until a framework is in place. But that will not move forward while discussions continue on how to merge the different proposals. […]
State Rep. Stephanie Kifowit, D-Aurora, this week moved several bills that would enhance the state’s Tier 2 pension system, which includes nearly all state employees hired after 2010.
While the measures are not expected to pass, they come amid robust discussion on reforms to that system. A bill that merges some of those proposals together could emerge either in the next few weeks or this fall. […]
House Bill 1168, sponsored by state Rep. Nabeela Syed, D-Inverness, would ensure that when a person’s DNA is collected after they’ve been a victim of a crime, it will not be entered into a DNA database.
The House Judiciary-Criminal Committee passed the Nelson Mandela Act Tuesday. It would limit how long someone can spend in isolation without any time outside their cell.
“The conditions of solitary confinement are pretty horrible. It’s loud, it’s constantly bright, there’s screaming, there’s banging consistently, and all that time you’re in a cell by yourself or with one other person at any given time, usually by yourself,” said Eric Anderson, an apprentice at the Restore Justice Foundation. […]
If the bill becomes law, jails and prisons in Illinois could only hold an inmate in solitary confinement for 10 days in a 180-day period. After 10 days, the inmate could still be held in disciplinary segregation but must get at least four hours daily outside of their cell.
“Locking people in solitary does not work, it just destroys people’s minds, and that’s why we’re asking to limit it in Illinois. The bill does not eliminate it entirely, it just limits it,” said Uptown People’s Law Center Executive Director Alan Mills.
In 2019, students at Hononegah High School started a petition to change their mascot from the “Indians.” A dueling petition began thereafter to keep the school’s “tradition” – especially for those used to “Princess Hononegah” performing in Native dress at sporting halftimes.
Rep. Maurice West began his government career in 2019 with an eye on Hononegah. Since then, the local lawmaker sponsored a bill requiring Native American history to be taught in public schools.
And in February, Rep. West introduced HB5617 – banning Native American logos, mascots and names in Illinois K-12 schools. The act specifically targets schools using “any person, animal or object” with aspects of indigenous culture and tribes. […]
“I’ve been working on an amendment to clarify that we are not trying to change the name of Winnebago or Waukegan, for example,” says the Rockford lawmaker. “We’re not trying to change those names. Those are the names of towns. We are just focused on the imagery and the mascots themselves.”
Illinois Farm Bureau continues to communicate its opposition to the proposed “Wetlands and Small Streams Protection Act.”
The legislation, proposed by state Sen. Laura Ellman, D-Naperville, and state Rep. Anna Moeller, D-Elgin, requires the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to establish a state-level permitting program to regulate wetlands and small streams.
The reach of the proposed legislation concerns IFB as it could lead to essentially every stream and wetland in Illinois being regulated, regardless of size. […]
Sofat explained the proposed legislation allows DNR to charge a permit fee ranging from $260-$5,000. The legislation also allows DNR to charge an undisclosed amount in fees for wetland delineation.
* Here’s language from Rep. Anna Moeller’s wetland protection bill, HB5386…
Section 15. Exemptions.
(a) Consistent with Section 404(f) of the Clean Water Act, as long as they do not have as their purpose bringing a wetland or stream into a use to which it was not previously subject and do not entail discharge of toxic pollutants, the following are not prohibited by or otherwise subject to regulation under this Act:
(1) Normal farming, silviculture, and ranching activities, including plowing, seeding, cultivating, minor
Governor Pritzker will be in Carbondale to celebrate the total solar eclipse. The governor will hold a media availability following totality at 1:59 pm. Click here to watch.
* Isabel’s top picks…
* BND | Protesters march against display of Confederate flag, swastikas near Belleville school: The protesters included local activist JD Dixon and Belleville native Claire Howell, who said her best friend’s childhood home is located in the neighborhood where resident Stewart Lannert displays the Confederate flag, swastikas and references the enslavement of Black people on plantations in yard signs that express his political views.
* Tribune | State elections board asks AG’s office to look into publisher of fake newspapers for printing voter data: 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.
NEW: Two months after @GovPritzker & @ToniPreckwinkle met with @ChicagosMayor and initially agreed to 3 way deal to fund migrant crisis, days later MBJ said no. Tonight Aldermen say calls are being made as city NOW realizes it will need to kick in 70$M pic.twitter.com/vVKpSE3mdA
* Tribune | Number of students receiving Invest in Kids tax credit scholarships soared in program’s final year, according to state data: The program supported more than 15,000 students with scholarships in the 2023-24 academic year, a 56% increase from the previous year, according to Department of Revenue data obtained by the Tribune. Financial contributions totaled more than $90 million for the program’s final year, up from $75 million last year. However, the number of contributions decreased by about 500 to a total of 4,700 donations. That’s roughly an average donation of $19,400 for the 2023-24 year.
* Center for Illinois Politics | Illinois Politics: Always interesting, sometimes stranger than fiction: Every political campaign worries about spies or moles infiltrating their ranks. But Poshard’s campaign for governor of Illinois really did have a certified spy – though Poshard’s campaign was never the target. The shadowed name in this story is Dave Rupert, a Chicago trucker recruited by the FBI to infiltrate a militant offshoot of the Irish Republican Army that was trying to blow up the peace process in Northern Ireland.
* LA Times | The perfect heist? Inside the seamless, sophisticated, stealthy L.A. theft that netted up to $30 million: They targeted a Gardaworld building on Roxford Street in Sylmar, accessing a vault where huge sums of cash were stored. … Gardaworld describes itself as a “global champion in security services, integrated risk management and cash solutions, employing more than 132,000 highly skilled and dedicated professionals.” Among its businesses is cash management and vault services.
* South Side Weekly | Mayor Johnson to Delay Picking New Public Safety Commissioners: On Thursday, however, word came down from the Fifth Floor: April’s meeting will not be the interim commissioners’ last. With approximately seventy-two hours until the deadline, the mayor’s office had not even done background checks on the fifteen candidates, let alone interviewed any of them. The interim commissioners would have to wait another month for the end of their term.
* Sun-Times | 300 migrants to be housed at shuttered Catholic church on Northwest Side: The Archdiocese of Chicago will lease St. Bartholomew Catholic Church at no cost — months after church officials offered to house new arrivals rent-free at the church. In turn, the city will sub-lease the building to the Zakat Foundation, which provides emergency relief and aid, to care for 300 new arrivals starting later this month, Johnson’s office said.
* South Side Weekly | Which Wards Have ShotSpotter?: On Monday, the City Council Committee on Police & Fire advanced an ordinance that would place the decision to keep ShotSpotter at the ward level, with individual alderpersons choosing whether or not to retain the controversial gunshot-detection technology. The legislation, sponsored by 17th Ward alderperson David Moore, openly defies Mayor Brandon Johnson, who fulfilled a campaign promise by announcing in February that he would end the city’s contract with ShotSpotter in September.
* Tribune | One year in: Chicago police district councils face discord amid slow steps toward community oversight: Lee had only served on the brand-new civilian council for the 2nd Police District for seven months, which was meant to represent the civilian voices of Hyde Park and Kenwood residents in the affairs of the Chicago Police Department. But rifts among council members over workload and meeting attendance quickly deteriorated into accusations of lying, public condemnation and rumors of resignation. An attempted no-confidence vote was one of the flashpoints punctuating an early meeting.
* Daily Herald | ‘Least-hairy option’: School leaders believe Arlington Heights Bears stadium still in play: The superintendents of Northwest Suburban High School District 214, Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 and Palatine Township Elementary District 15 spoke about their closed-door meetings with Bears President and CEO Kevin Warren that took place in January in the lead-up to the Cook County Board of Review’s ruling on the 326-acre former racetrack’s property value.
* Tom Kacich | Dearth of election judges bodes ill for November: And Champaign County Clerk and Recorder Aaron Ammons is already worried about not having enough election judges to staff a full complement of 66 polling places for the general election. It was enough of a problem for the just-completed primary that 15 voting centers — eight in Champaign-Urbana and the rest scattered around the county — weren’t opened.
* WGN | First all-minority, LGBTQ-owned dispensary set to open in Illinois: “Sway is a feeling, it’s a vibe,” said Edie Moore, co-owner of Sway. “It’s the culmination of Black and Brown communities and LGBTQ communities … coming together for cannabis.” Moore is not only a co-owner of the soon-to-be dispensary, but also an advocate for modernizing laws involving cannabis.
* WGEM | $1.5 million from opioid settlement coming to Adams County: Public health administrator Jerrod Welch said the county is expected to receive $1.5 million or more over the next decade to address the impacts of the epidemic. It’s all part of the national opioid settlement. The county can put that money toward many avenues such as educating the schools and workplace.
* Daily Herald | Bus company owner cited after unlicensed driver transported Wauconda students: In the wake of a group of students being transported to Wauconda Middle School by an unlicensed bus driver, the company’s owner has been cited for allowing the employee to make trips, Lake County officials said Saturday. Just after midnight on March 28, a Lake County Sheriff’s deputy stopped a bus in North Barrington for improper lane usage. The bus was traveling from O’Hare International Airport to Wauconda Middle School with 50 children aboard returning from a field trip.
* Tribune | Eileen O’Neill Burke: How she won and what it might mean for the office of Cook County’s top prosecutor going forward: Should O’Neill Burke ultimately win, she would quickly face formulating her own reform agenda, making cases to tamp down Chicago’s persistent gun violence, and running an office struggling with morale issues. “As much as numbers have gone down, the amount of street crime is extraordinarily high and has a tremendous impact on the community,” said Richard Kling, a clinical professor of law at Chicago-Kent College of Law.
* Sun-Times | ‘I don’t know how I can live without him’: Chicago cop who died by suicide was devoted family man: In recent years, the police department has grappled with a troubling rise in suicides and stinging criticism of its efforts to provide mental health support to officers to prevent them from burning out. But even before then, a U.S. Justice Department report in 2017 found the suicide rate of Chicago cops was 60% higher than the national average for law enforcement officials.
* Angie Leventis Lourgos | When an abortion clinic became the last one standing in Missouri: “There was no top to the head, there was no top to the brain,” said the man in the baseball cap, his sunglasses now clipped to his shirt and no longer concealing his eyes, which welled with tears. “The options were to either carry this child who had a death sentence. Or to terminate the pregnancy.” […] The pregnant patient’s physician referred her to Hope Clinic, which performs abortions at up to 24 weeks’ gestation. The couple were confused and dismayed: They couldn’t understand why they couldn’t terminate the pregnancy in the same state where they received prenatal care. Although they lived nearby in southern Illinois, the young woman was treated throughout her pregnancy by doctors and nurses in Missouri and planned to deliver at a hospital there. In her time of grief, she said, it was difficult to understand why she had to find a new medical provider to terminate the pregnancy as they faced the worst possible outcome.
* WSIL | Little Resource Center looks to expand access to books in Carbondale: The Little Free Library program brings small box structures to communities across the US. The structures are then filled with books. The idea is that residents will go to the libraries and switch out a book for one that is already there. According to the Little Free Library website, Carbondale currently has five libraries scattered across the city. The Little Resource Center hopes to open the city’s sixth location in the Tatum Heights neighborhood.
* QC Times | South Carolina beats Iowa 87-75 to win NCAA championship: Clark did all she could to lead the Hawkeyes to their first championship. She scored 30 points, including a championship-record 18 in the first quarter. She will go down as one of the greatest players in NCAA history. She rewrote the record book at Iowa (34-5), finishing as the career leading scorer in NCAA Division I history with 3,951 career points.
