Friday, Oct 11, 2024 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
The Pace Rideshare Access Program subsidizes Uber trips, leaving riders with a co-pay of just $2.
The impact: “This program has been a godsend for me. It offers flexibility, independence, freedom and the ability to maintain a beautiful life on so many levels,” says one rider.
As states across the nation struggle to staff schools, many Illinois teachers say they are considering leaving the profession, a recent poll shows.
The Illinois Education Association Tuesday released survey data showing nearly 60% of educators and support staff [IEA members only] have considered leaving their jobs. Pay, pension benefits and increasing workload are among the reasons cited for job dissatisfaction, according to the poll.
IEA President Al Llorens specifically noted the state’s two-tiered pension system, which requires teachers hired after Jan. 1, 2011, to work until age 67 for full benefits. Teachers hired before 2011 can retire at age 55.
“A majority of our members have thought about leaving their jobs,” Llorens said. “If there was any question why there’s a teacher and education support staff shortage, there should not be one now.”
[IEA President Al Llorens] said the other major issues causing people to forgo teaching is the tiered pension system.
Teachers hired before 2011 are in Tier 1. They can get their full pension by age 55 if they’ve worked for at least 35 years, or by age 60. Tier 2 teachers can’t get their full pension until they’re 67.
“It’s simply not fair to have folks working right next to folks that are doing the same job but getting a reduced pension benefit,” Llorens said.
He said two solutions are eliminating Tier 2, making all teachers Tier 1 employees, and the state increasing education funding.
Organized labor is involved in a big push to upgrade Tier 2 pensions to the old Tier 1 plan, which was dropped partly because of its cost and because the state hadn’t been making sufficient payments.
The governor was asked about this idea last spring. Click here to read his response.
* This won’t solve the deficit problem, of course, but CPS needs all the help it can get, so maybe it should start helping itself…
⬇️ There’s nothing stopping PM from saying yes to fighting for school funding and settling a CBA. If he’s telling the truth: settle non-monetary contract proposals today. Make the district file for Medicaid reimbursements to fund social workers and nurses at NO COST to #CPS. https://t.co/1Z41uUroeG
— ⭐️ SDG ⭐️AKA Muse of Chicago Trib Editorial Board (@stacydavisgates) October 11, 2024
* From the National Association of Social Workers, Illinois Chapter…
Today, the National Association of Social Workers, Illinois Chapter (NASW-IL), in partnership with the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), calls for urgent action to address the mental health crisis affecting students in Chicago Public Schools (CPS). NASW-IL recently announced a workload based safe schools ratio that once again shows major deficiencies in how CPS addresses mental health in schools. This data driven approach backed by recent state Medicaid funding changes, would allow CPS to hire a workforce of school social workers adequate to meet the rising needs of its students. This proposal advocates for a workload-based staffing model that estimates CPS requires at least 2,031 school social workers to support students’ mental health, a number that could be conservative given the level of trauma experienced by Chicago’s youth.
An Urgent Mental Health Need in CPS
With a student population of over 300,000, CPS is facing critical challenges in providing adequate mental health support. Recent data shows that 1 in 5 students in the United States experiences a mental health disorder each year, and suicide is the second leading cause of death among youth aged 10-24. In Chicago, where students are disproportionately affected by trauma, the need for accessible mental health services is particularly acute.
Medicaid Funding Opportunity: A Path to Sustainable Mental Health Support
In 2023 (retro to 2021), to support student well-being, Illinois amended its Medicaid State Plan, allowing schools to bill Medicaid for services provided to eligible students. Given that the majority of CPS students are Medicaid-eligible, this new funding source offers CPS an immediate pathway to generate resources specifically designated for mental health services.
“Medicaid funding presents a transformative opportunity for CPS to bridge the gap in mental health support,” said Joel L. Rubin, Executive Director “By billing Medicaid for both general education and IEP students, CPS can secure the resources necessary to build a qualified team of social workers who can address the critical needs of our students.”
Chicago Public Schools was one of the first schools to be put into a Healthy Schools Campaign Cohort to provide free training, technical assistance and peer-learning opportunities to expand Medicaid billing, to date they have not implemented this option.
According to Latesha Newson, LCSW, NASW-IL Board President,” With the Illinois Medicaid plan amendment by Gov. Pritzker - CPS now has the mechanism to fund such a transformation that would promote healthy and thriving students, schools, and communities. Whether CPS is failing to capture one penny or millions it is unconscionable that CPS wouldn’t take every step to address the immense trauma our kids are facing.”
Key Highlights:
• 2,031 school social workers were estimated to meet the current mental health needs in CPS, a number that may be conservative given Chicago’s unique challenges (compared the estimated 610 currently.)
• Medicaid Billing Expansion: CPS can bill Medicaid for services provided to both general education and IEP students yet only bills for IEP services, complete billing would generate sizeable means to support the mental health workforce.
• Long-Term Impact: More social workers mean better attendance, improved behavior, and academic gains, fostering a positive learning environment.
Call to Action
NASW-IL urges CPS leadership, policymakers, and community stakeholders to adopt this proposal and implement Medicaid billing immediately. Investing in a qualified team of social workers is an investment in the future of Chicago’s youth, ensuring every student has access to critical mental health resources.
After lengthy delays, Illinois police regulators are one step closer to strengthening their ability to strip officers of their ability to work in law enforcement. The move aims to prevent officers who commit misconduct at one agency from simply moving on to another — a phenomenon sometimes called “wandering cops.”
Regulators with the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board (ILETSB) released draft administrative rules earlier this month that will allow the agency to begin tackling hundreds of cases in which a police department, prosecutor’s office or member of the public has filed a complaint seeking to strip a police officer of their certification.
The regulations are the first step in implementing several provisions around police decertification included in the 2021 criminal justice reform SAFE-T Act. The process has been “stalled” for years, according to Impact for Equity, a Chicago-based law and policy nonprofit organization. […]
The proposed rules allow for “discretionary decertification” of officers, who were previously only subject to “automatic decertification” if they had been convicted of a felony or certain misdemeanors.
The rules would create a new Certification Review Panel of ILETSB, which would hear complaints about allegations against officers, such as excessive force, tampering with camera footage or other evidence, false statements, failure to intervene in another officer’s misconduct, or “other unprofessional or unethical conduct or practice harmful to the public.” The categories of misconduct are set out in the state statute but not the rules themselves.
In late October, Gov. JB Pritzker stood in the event hall of the Illinois Beach Hotel to celebrate the completion of a $73 million Illinois Beach State Park shoreline restoration project.
He praised it as a “model” for the country. The breakwaters will save the beach from erosion, rejuvenate area communities and provide habitat for endangered species, the governor said.
But now, water-safety nonprofit Great Lakes Surf Rescue is sounding an alarm over a spate of drownings at the park over the summer, pointing to the recently installed breakwaters as the culprit and calling for improved safety measures. […]
Dave Benjamin is the co-founder of Great Lakes Surf Project, which tracks Great Lakes drowning statistics, provides water safety training and works to raise awareness about water safety. An advocate for water safety for well over a decade, he is critical of the breakwater project.
“You just spent $73 million to increase the water hazards for your beachgoers, and you didn’t do anything to protect the beachgoers,” he said.
* What’s being mostly lost in all this is that dipping into TIF money would once again be using one-time revenue to plug a long-term deficit…
Johnson responded by saying he’s ready to use TIF funds to provide revenue to CPS and help close the city’s own $982 million 2025 budget shortfall, but he did not commit to dipping into the accounts to the extent necessary to provide the roughly $485 million Martinez says is needed.
It’s unclear if Johnson supported the plan that the City Council would even approve it, according to members of the body.
To meet Martinez’s request, the city would have to delay or cancel projects in the pipeline to build infrastructure, support affordable housing developments and make capital improvements at the city’s schools and parks.
Putting one-time cash into the permanent spending base is mostly how CPS got itself in so much trouble. Anyway, go read the rest
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle is pitching a good news budget for next year: no layoffs, new taxes or tax hikes.
Her proposed $9.89 billion spending plan includes investments in generative artificial intelligence to help county workers do their jobs more efficiently — not to replace them — along with replenishing a fund to help communities helping migrants or hit hard by flooding, and putting solar panels on county facilities to ultimately lower energy costs and save the county money. […]
In her budget speech in the county’s downtown boardroom, Preckwinkle looked back at the beginning of her tenure in 2010 when the county faced a dire $500 million deficit, and what it took to get to where the county is today. Lots of planning, tough choices (including layoffs), thoughtful spending, and a clear long-term vision, she said.
“We avoid using one-time revenues for recurring expenses,” Preckwinkle said. “We don’t borrow more than we need. We don’t spend more than we have, and we don’t do quick fixes.”
The United Auto Workers union says it is prepared to possibly strike after claiming Stellantis hasn’t kept its end of the bargain to reopen the idled Belvidere assembly plant.
In the UAW-Stellantis agreement last fall, the automaker said it would make a nearly $5 billion commitment to reopen the plant which was indefinitely idled in February 2023. […]
Under the contract, the union is able to strike once an issue goes through the grievance procedure.
A statement from the UAW shared the language of the grievance filed:
“The Company has informed the Union that it will not launch the Belvidere Consolidated Mopar Mega Hub in 2024, it will not begin stamping operations for the Belvidere Mega Hub in 2025 and it will not begin production of a midsize truck in Belvidere in 2027. The Company’s failure to plan for, fund and launch these programs constitute a violation of the U.S. Investment letter in the P&M and OC&E Collective Bargaining Agreements. During 2023 National Negotiations the parties agreed to the investment plan for Belvidere to address job security concerns impacting bargaining unit members throughout the entire system. The Company’s failure to honor its commitments in the U.S. Investment letter is a serious concern to all bargaining unit members.
Automaker Stellantis continued its counterpunch to the United Auto Workers union with eight more lawsuits filed on October 4 against the union and 23 of its local chapters. These follow a suit filed October 3 against UAW and the local representing Stellantis’ Los Angeles Parts Distribution Center, which voted to request strike authorization from the UAW’s International Executive Board.
Although the two sides completed a new labor agreement in 2023, the UAW claims the automaker is violating that contract. Stellantis is charging that the UAW is seeking to initiate an unlawful strike against the company. […]
The Jobs Bank was a project started by General Motors in the 1980s “and adopted by Ford and Chrysler due to pattern bargaining,” Stellantis explained. It guaranteed that UAW employees would be paid a majority of their potential hourly wages, even if their positions were suspended or eliminated. According to Stellantis, it “generally prohibited the Detroit automakers from laying off employees.”
“The company understands that this situation is extremely unsettling for its Belvidere employees, which is why it agreed during 2023 negotiations to place these employees on temporary layoffs, which provide 74% of pay and full healthcare benefits,” Stellantis stated. But it emphasized that it will not reestablish “contract provisions” that contributed to bankruptcy filings by both Chrysler Corp. and General Motors within recent memory.
Kevin Gotinsky, the director of the union’s Stellantis Department, disputed the company’s framing of the situation.
“Stellantis is falsely comparing its commitments in our current contract to the jobs bank program from decades ago. The jobs bank program offered non-production work to members whose jobs had been outsourced,” Gotinsky said in a statement Monday. “If Stellantis lives up to its commitments and reopens Belvidere Assembly and builds the Belvidere parts megahub, our members will be back to work soon and the cost to the company will be minimal. These employees can and are willing to perform work today. That is all they want, to have a future and be able to provide for their families as agreed to in our contract.” […]
“It is laughable that Stellantis claims our proposal to reopen Belvidere is ‘outrageous.’ In just the last nine weeks, Stellantis has p*ssed away $1 billion in stock buybacks for a total of $3 billion in stock buybacks this year. Our proposal would cost a fraction of that and would go directly to the autoworkers who have built this company,” [UAW President Shawn Fain] said.
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders will join United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain in Belvidere for a “Rally with the Working Class to End Trump’s NAFTA 2.0.”
The rally is scheduled at 10 a.m. Friday at the UAW Local 1268, 1100 W. Chrysler Drive in Belvidere.
* Gov. Pritzker issued this press release at 10 o’clock…
Today, Governor Pritzker issued the following statement:
“For over two years, the State of Illinois has offered its complete and full support so that the Stellantis plant in Belvidere can reopen as soon as possible and put our people back to work after Stellantis management chose to shut it down. Working families’ lives have been turned upside down and they deserve peace of mind.
Throughout labor negotiations, I maintained contact with auto workers, Stellantis executives, and UAW representatives to offer unprecedented state support for an agreement that would result in thousands of good, union jobs and billions in private investment.
Our Illinois workforce is second to none, and Stellantis knows it. With significant work and support from the state of Illinois, a historic national contract was signed that will restart the Belvidere plant. It is good for workers, good for the company, and good for Illinois. Ensuring auto workers get back to work with higher wages, good benefits, and valuable opportunities in a growth industry remains one of my highest priorities. That’s why I call on Stellantis to live up to the commitments it made a year ago to Illinois workers. There is every opportunity to begin the restart at Belvidere, and there is no time to waste.”
The Bears are confident in President/CEO Kevin Warren to break ground on a new stadium next year.
Warren said Wednesday the goal remains to begin construction on a $4.7 billion stadium project on Chicago’s lakefront at some point in 2025. When [Chairman George McCaskey] was asked whether he’s confident in that timeline, he said, “Yes. We’re confident in Kevin.”
But McCaskey acknowledged progress has to be made as the Bears seek public funding for nearly half of the project.
“There’s a veto session in November, there’s a lame-duck session in January and then there’s a spring session right after that,” McCaskey said. “So at some time in one of those sessions, we’re going to have to have some sort of enabling legislation to allow the project to move forward.”
Is “enabling legislation” a new way of saying “state government handout”?
* The Sun-Times interviewed embattled CPS CEO Pedro Martinez. Scroll way down…
Both borrowing and TIFs would be one-time band-aids. That’s why the mayor and CPS say they are looking to Springfield for more long-term sustainable solutions.
The CTU blamed Martinez for not going downstate earlier in the spring to lobby for more funding for CPS.
Martinez on Wednesday said the city was too focused on other issues, such as a few CPS-related bills on an elected school board, school cops and selective enrollment programs.
He added that officials from Gov. JB Pritzker’s office told Martinez and Board of Education President Jianan Shi in a “heated” meeting in May that CPS and the city didn’t appear aligned on funding as their top legislative goal.
The current strife doesn’t help CPS make its case. But Martinez said he’d like to go down earlier in the spring session and make funding the top priority.
The mayor never asked the governor or legislative leaders for additional CPS funding, even though he was saying publicly that the state “owes” CPS $1.1 billion (which isn’t true). Instead, he was more focused on a new stadium for the Bears and some other issues.
Before Martinez publicly called for TIF funds to be used to balance CPS’ budget, CTU leaders called for all funds now set aside in TIF districts to be returned to taxing agencies, which would allow CPS officials to balance the district’s budget.
That would likely violate state law and upend Johnson’s already approved plan to phase out the city’s decades-long reliance on TIFs and use those funds for a wide-ranging slate of projects designed to expand the supply of affordable homes and good-paying jobs.
* You can click here to follow the Madigan trial. Click here and/or here to follow breaking news. It’s the best we can do unless or until Twitter gets its act together.
* I had to give a speech today, which took me out of the office for a couple of hours. Isabel is still under the weather, so I have pretty much nothing for you. Sorry about that. But here’s a pic from 20 years ago at the Illinois State Fair. That’s me on the left and Isabel on the right…
Both Madigan and McClain were in court Wednesday during jury selection, where attorneys made a small dent in questioning around 180 potential jurors.
U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey warned that attorneys would have to adjust their timelines if questioning continued at such a slow rate.
Some questions potential jurors were asked included:
• Whether they feel like there’s an issue with the political system in Illinois.
• Whether they feel that lobbying is a bad thing.
• Whether they feel politicians shouldn’t mix business and politics.
• Whether they could consider the evidence regardless of their personal feelings about the Democratic Party in Illinois?
How would you answer those questions?
* Related…
* Questioning or juror panel continues in Madigan corruption trial as both sides seek to weed out bias: U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey has given the parties wide leeway in their questioning and said he will not put a time limit on the process. But before taking a mid-morning break, he told the lawyers that at their current pace, they will not get to opening statements until the week after next, which will extend the trial beyond the 10 weeks originally scheduled. “I am not going to rush you guys at all. I’m not,” Blakey said. “It’s an important process, and it’s going to take as long as it needs to take. But if the trial is going to be 11 weeks, we need to let the jurors know that.”
* Michael Madigan meets a few of the people who could decide his fate — just 3 jurors chosen: Two men and one woman were the first to be chosen as jurors in the racketeering conspiracy trial of former Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan on Wednesday, launching a selection process that got off to a slow start. One is an educator. Another works for Amazon. And the third says he works in insurance. Now, they’ll help decide the fate of one of the most powerful politicians in Illinois history. That man, Madigan, spent the day listening to lawyers interview potential jurors, including one person who said Madigan had a reputation for “doing things his way” and for being involved in “shady dealings.” He was excused from the panel.
* Three jurors selected so far to hear evidence in Madigan corruption trial: McClain, who had not been to the courthouse since his conviction in May 2023 in the related “ComEd Four” bribery case, sat at a table behind Madigan for most of the proceedings. The two longtime friends only seemed to acknowledge each other once in the courtroom, when, after a break, Madigan could be seen offering a half-wave, which McClain returned with a smile. … The third person selected, Juror 16, said flat-out he did not want to participate, but he was selected anyway. An insurance underwriter with three school-age kids, he grew up in the 19th Ward and said he knows Ald. Matt O’Shea but is not particularly political. He said he most recently went to O’Shea’s office for a block party permit. Asked if it was successful, the juror replied, “It was a good party.”
* Several jurors chosen, but process slow-going in Mike Madigan corruption trial jury selection: “An impartial jury is always difficult in a case like this because everybody is going to have heard about the case. Anyone who says they haven’t heard about the case is probably lying. Anyone who said they haven’t heard about at least Michael Madigan is probably lying,” criminal defense attorney Steve Greenberg said. “You want to endear yourself to the jurors. So, both sides are going to be talking to them. They’re going to want to be likable. They’re going to use some humor when they’re asking questions. They’re going to try and relate to the jurors.”
* What follows are excerpts from a Tribune op-ed by Cook County Circuit Clerk Iris Martinez along with excerpts of a rebuttal I requested from the Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice…
• Cook County Circuit Clerk Iris Martinez: In the first 50 weeks of the PFA, out of 90,872 cases, defendants missed court 67,416 times. This includes defendants charged with violent felonies.
• Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice: The Circuit Clerk also claims “defendants missed court 67,416 times” in “the first 50 weeks” after the law changed, but she does not indicate any source for these numbers, define what she considered to be “missing court,” or clarify how many of these cases were already pending when the law changed and thus were initiated under the money bond system. In contrast, the Cook County Circuit Court’s September 28, 2024 Pretrial Fairness Act Weekly Dashboard (encompassing three additional weeks of data) indicates only 65,298 criminal cases have been filed since the law went into effect. The transparently absurd claim that more court dates have been missed than cases have been filed raises serious concerns that Martinez’s numbers have fundamental and incurable flaws.
• Martinez: There are currently 31,393 active warrants for arrest in Cook County; they include cases before the PFA.
• Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice: First, because the Circuit Clerk refuses to provide data to either reporters or other court stakeholders, it is unclear what universe of cases she is considering or what she is labeling as a “failure to appear.” As the Chief Judge’s initial letter in response points out, the circuit clerk “did not provide clear parameters,” making it nearly impossible to understand—much less dispute—her claims.
For example, Martinez points to 31,393 felony cases that have open warrants, but the vast majority of these warrants predate the Pretrial Fairness Act and were issued under the money bond system. This is not an analysis of behavior under the Pretrial Fairness Act but instead an attempt to wrongly assign blame for tens of thousands of warrants issued under the money bond system to the Pretrial Fairness Act by obscuring when those warrants were issued.
There’s more, so click here for the full Martinez op-ed and click here for the full Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice response.
* Also, the Sun-Times ran a story on this topic last month. Excerpt…
But in response to questions on Wednesday, Martinez declined to discuss her office’s methodology or explain how it reached some of the figures cited in the letter. For example, the total number of cases during the period Martinez cited was 30,000 higher than those released by Chief Judge Timothy Evans’ office.
A spokesperson for the clerk’s office acknowledged its analysis included all active warrants in Cook County in its calculations, including warrants filed years before cash bail was abolished.
Thursday, Oct 10, 2024 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Recent polling shows 72% of Illinoisans support incentives for energy storage, and a majority of Illinoisans would be likely to for a candidate that supports building more energy storage in the state.
But it’s not just popular. It’s urgent — Building more storage today is the best way to save Illinois families and businesses from rapidly rising energy costs. By guaranteeing a backup of affordable energy at times when heat waves, storms, or cold snaps threaten
the grid, storage is the key to affordable, reliable energy independence.
* I used to hang out in Miami Beach during the coldest months and occasionally in the spring, but as I got older I realized that the Fort Myers Beach/Naples area was more my speed. Since then, I’ve spent a lot of time in southwest Florida and have run into a ton of people I know or who know me. I also have quite a few friends and family in that part of the world. The area is just loaded with Illinois snowbirds and transplants (and subscribers and blog and column readers).
* The Question: Do you have friends and family in southwest Florida, and how are they doing after two successive hurricanes?
Can the City Council force the mayor or his administration to show up for a hearing?
No. The City Council lacks subpoena power and would simply be requesting the mayor or his administration show up.
“We just don’t have that direct subpoena power like, say, Congress or the New York City Council does,” [Ald. Scott Waguespack] said. “So we really just have to ask and hope that they show up. My guess is that they would not.”
* Turns out, Wags was partly wrong…
NEW: Ahead of special city council committee of the whole meeting today re: CPS, Several alders tell me they plan to invoke little used state law to subpoena board of ed members to testify before City Council at a future date on why they resigned.
In municipalities of more than 500,000, the corporate authorities may investigate the enforcement of the municipal ordinances, rules and regulations, and the action, conduct and efficiency of all officers, agents and employees of the municipality. In the conduct of such investigations the corporate authorities may hold public hearings. Each member of the corporate authorities shall have power to administer oaths, and the clerk of the municipality, by order of the corporate authorities, shall issue subpoenas to secure the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of books and papers relevant to such investigations and to any hearing before the corporate authorities or any member thereof.
Any circuit court of this state upon application of the corporate authorities, or any member thereof, may in its discretion compel the attendance of witnesses, the production of books and papers, and the giving of testimony before the corporate authorities or any member thereof, by attachment for contempt or otherwise in the same manner as the production of evidence may be compelled before the court.
In other words, state law gives the city council the power to investigate “officers, agents and employees” of the City of Chicago. School board members and appointees are not city officers, agents and employees. But, if the council officially investigates someone at the city connected to this mess, it could then conceivably subpoena the current and future CPS board members as witnesses.
I kinda doubt they’ll go through with it, but expect a court challenge if they do.
Thursday, Oct 10, 2024 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Retail provides one out of every five Illinois jobs, generates the second largest amount of tax revenue for the state, and is the largest source of revenue for local governments. But retail is also so much more, with retailers serving as the trusted contributors to life’s moments, big and small.
We Are Retail and IRMA are dedicated to sharing the stories of retailers like Eric, who serve their communities with dedication and pride.
* You can click here to follow the Madigan trial. Click here and/or here to follow breaking news. It’s the best we can do unless or until Twitter gets its act together.
