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Isabel’s afternoon roundup

Tuesday, Sep 10, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* WTTW…

Officials announced Tuesday they will move 1,200 migrants out of three shelters across Chicago as the crisis that has sent nearly 48,000 men, women and children to the city from the southern border enters a new phase.

Shelters in Little Village and in the West Loop will close Oct. 1 and a shelter in Hyde Park will close Oct. 24. All of the residents will be offered space in one of the 14 shelters the city will continue to operate, officials said.

In all, the closures of the shelters at 2241 S. Halsted Ave., 344 N. Ogden Ave. and 4900 S. Lake Shore Drive will reduce the city’s migrant shelter capacity by more than 3,000 beds.

After the three shelters close, the city will have approximately 2,000 additional beds, officials said. That will ensure that the city could handle an unanticipated surge in the final eight weeks before the presidential election, officials said.

* WCIA…

The Springfield government has stopped its effort to criminalize homelessness.

An ordinance filed by Springfield mayor Misty Buscher and Alderwoman Lakeisha Purchase to set up fines for “public camping” was filed for emergency passage last week. After hours of public comment, the council decided to remove the emergency passage language and scheduled to discuss it further at the committee.

Now, they do not want the ordinance considered at Tuesday evening’s Committee of the Whole meeting.

“We understand and respect the concerns raised by local advocacy groups, stakeholders, and members of our community regarding Ordinance 2024-376,” they said in a joint statement Tuesday. “In light of these concerns, we, as sponsors of the ordinance, have decided to request that the ordinance be withdrawn from committee consideration.”

*** Statewide ***

* Fox 2 Now | Over 180 electric vehicle charging ports to be built along Illinois interstates: Gov. JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Transportation announced Monday that the state will be investing $25.3 million in vehicle charging stations. According to a news release, the grants will be going toward the construction of 182 new charging stations along Illinois interstates. Madison County will receive $649,240 in grants to install charging ports.

* The Atlantic | Why Police Officers Rarely Change Jobs: Why do police officers like Grayson keep getting hired? Part of the answer comes from today’s guest, UChicago law professor John Rappaport, whose research on “wandering officers” revealed the extent to which previously fired officers find jobs in new departments and the structural incentives of small departments to keep hiring them.

* Farm Week Now | Monarch sightings vary across Illinois: With monarch butterfly populations reported at historically low ranges last winter, experts and gardeners watched closely to see what that would mean to this summer’s populations in Illinois. Reports have been mixed with some people noting an absence of the colorful butterflies. “In Clark County, we’re pretty consistent with butterfly numbers this year,” said Don Guinnip, who has been active with sustainability and environmental issues with various commodity groups and farm organizations for years.

*** Chicago ***

* Sun-Times | Chicago Parking Meters LLC accused of violating city’s minority participation requirements: The 75-year lease requires CPM to utilize certified minority- and women-owned businesses for “at least 25% of annual expenses tied to operating the parking meter system, excluding construction contracts.” But that’s not what has happened. From 2011 to 2018, CPM “claimed MBE credit for a vendor that was not MBE-certified,” Witzburg said.

* Sun-Times | Jury awards $50 million to Chicago man who spent 10 years in prison after wrongful conviction: Brown was convicted at age 18, and spent around 10 years in prison before being exonerated in 2018. Information used to convict Brown was “obtained in clear violation of law,” the suit stated, continuing a pattern of Chicago police detectives using coercive interrogation tactics and targeting young Black men. The lawsuit argued that the defendants violated Brown’s fifth and 14th amendment rights by conducting an unconstitutional interrogation and infringing on Brown’s right to due process.

* Block Club | CTA Worker Who Witnessed Red Line Shooting Says Agency Leaders ‘Don’t Care About Our Safety’: “A manager insulted me right after, asking if it was because I owed somebody some money,” said Griffin, who was uninjured and now taking leave. Griffin said he had voiced concerns “ignored by management” that it was unsafe for switch workers to clock in and out at odd hours at the station instead of their work location a block away, which is inaccessible to the public.

* Sun-Times | Chicago Public Schools fires sports director David Rosengard: Rosengard’s time in charge was mired by several basketball scandals. In March, five Kenwood players, head coach Mike Irvin and two assistant coaches were ruled ineligible for violating Illinois High School Association rules. Chicago Public Schools’ Office of the Inspector General presented evidence and documents to the IHSA on Jan. 25 that revealed potential residency rules violations for multiple Kenwood basketball players. The IHSA investigated further.

* Tribune | Art Institute announces $75 million gift to create new gallery building on Michigan Avenue campus: The largest single naming gift in the Art Institute’s history will create the Aaron I. Fleischman and Lin Lougheed Building, which will house the museum’s collection of late 19th century modern and contemporary art, according to a news release. While the design and location have yet to be finalized, the building will offer “spectacular views of the park, the city and the lake,” and begin the process of “re-envisioning” the campus layout as part of a five-year old conceptual plan, according to the news release.

* Crain’s | JPMorgan Chase loans $10 million to jump-start South, West Side affordable housing projects: The loan is part of a broader commitment the financial giant made beginning in 2017 to provide $200 million in philanthropic capital and low-cost loans to address decades of disinvestment in Chicago’s poorest neighborhoods. The investment is modeled on an effort Chase pioneered in Detroit to help restore that city. CCLF, a nonprofit providing financial and technical assistance for community development, can leverage the capital from the loan multiple times over, creating as much as $40 million in financing for community projects, said Kevin Goldsmith, managing director of community development tax credits and intermediaries lending at JPMorgan Chase.

* WGN | Lincoln Square martial arts studio hit by vandals twice in 2 months; CAIR calls on CPD to investigate as hate crime: The studio’s owner, Eddie Redzovic, is a well-known YouTuber on The Deen Show where he frequently talks about his Muslim faith. […] The Center for American Islamic Relations, or CAIR, is calling on the Chicago Police Department to investigate this latest incident, and another nearby, as possible hate crimes. “It’s really concerning to us because we just got a case from the Muslim Community Center, about 10 minute walk from here, that something very similar happened to them a few days ago. If you look at the security footage, it appears to be the same car. Kind of the same manner in which the attack was taken out. So we’re very suspicious of this that this is the same person,” said Maggie Slavin of CAIR Chicago.

* Crain’s | Southwest Airlines cuts more flights at O’Hare: The low-cost carrier is flying about 14 flights on peak days at O’Hare, down from 18 in June, according to data from aviation-research firm Cirium. The cutback comes after a reduction in summer flying, which the carrier blamed in part on delays in getting new aircraft from Boeing. The new schedule is less than half the capacity Southwest was offering a year ago. The airline says the changes are in response to customer demand but “we remain committed to serving our Chicago-area customers from the airport they prefer.”

* Crain’s | Law firm planting new flag on Wacker Drive, cutting office footprint: The deal adds to the space-shedding movement that has battered downtown office landlords since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and fueled a historic wave of distressed properties in the heart of the city. It also shows how the newest and most-updated office buildings continue to outperform older ones as companies hunt for workspace that will help get employees to work in-person rather than remotely on a more regular basis.

* Block Club | Could Chicago’s Next Weird Tourist Attraction Be This Purse Full Of Lucky Charms?: Chicagoans are already going out of their way to visit the Lucky Charms purse, making sure the unofficial art installation remains undisturbed. […] A Block Club reporter checked out the Lucky Charms purse Monday afternoon and confirmed it was still hanging from the pole, undisturbed.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Sun-Times | S&C Electric opens massive Palatine manufacturing facility amid growing electric grid demand: Longtime Chicago company S&C Electric Co. held a ribbon cutting Tuesday to officially unveil its massive facility in Palatine that will meet the growing demand for its products and help increase its innovation efforts. The 275,000-square-foot manufacturing facility at 200 Sellstrom Drive opened earlier this year, and the company has steadily moved some of its production from Rogers Park, where it’s headquartered, over to the facility.

* Sun-Times | Ford Heights mayor’s corruption case is nearing a conclusion — six years after he was charged: Six years after Ford Heights Mayor Charles Griffin was charged with embezzling nearly $150,000 from the tiny cash-strapped south suburb, his case could soon come to a conclusion. A trial before Cook County Judge James Obbish quietly got started in recent months and, after a break in June, is slated to resume next Monday.

*** Downstate ***

* SJ-R | ‘Our blood bleeds the same.’ Favoritism of former police sergeant cited at crash: Jason Rule said Monday he started following Farley and Hopkins around Taylor Avenue at Stevenson Drive going towards the lake. Rule witnessed the accident, including Egan swerving from the driving lane across the turn lane into the Anchor Boat Club. […] “It was just atrocious to see everything that happened and the way they treated that guy. He’s laughing and smiling and giving high fives and dabs, laughing about the whole thing. It was ridiculous.

* WCBU | Peoria, East Peoria mayors tight-lipped on potential casino move: Speaking at the unveiling of a new downtown mural Tuesday, Peoria Mayor Rita Ali declined to speak at length about the city attempting to persuade Boyd to relocate the casino. “There’s an agreement that was signed many years ago that if land-based casinos were to come to this area, that they would be in Peoria. That’s basically all I have to say about that,” Ali said.

* WCIA | 50-pound pumpkin stolen from FFA plot of Rantoul school: Todd Wilson, the principal of Rantoul Township High School, posted on his Facebook page that a 50-pound pumpkin was stolen from the plot. Along with the theft of the pumpkin, Wilson said the vines of the plot were trampled, which he sarcastically called “a nice touch,” and “might make it easier for us to harvest the other pumpkins and gourds.”

*** National ***

* IGN | A Prominent Accessibility Advocate Worked With Studios and Inspired Change. But She Never Actually Existed.: According to the source, Craven allegedly received gifts and consistent praise and attention every time he would post about Bank’s ailments or recoveries. In order to prevent any legal ramifications, particularly if Craven was misleading clients, the source hired a private investigator, a retired Chicago police officer, who previously worked with an associate of the source. The goal of the investigation was to find concrete proof of Banks’ existence. Several days later, the investigator returned with no information. No immigration record, address, employment record, marriage license, or birth certificate was found. Banks, according to the investigator, was not a real person. IGN received the receipt of the investigation and can confirm the source was billed for these services.

* FOX Chicago | Recall of eggs, apple juice and deli meat: Recent list over various health concerns: The Boar’s Head recall involving more than 7 million pounds of deli meat is the most serious among the recent grocery recalls. The meats were recalled over serious listeria concerns. At least nine people have died and another 57 have been hospitalized, according to U.S. officials, marking the largest listeria outbreak since the 2011 outbreak linked to cantaloupe.

* NYT | Doctors Give Black Women Unneeded C-Sections to Fill Operating Rooms, Study Suggests: That’s the conclusion of a new report of nearly one million births in 68 hospitals in New Jersey, one of the largest studies to tackle the subject. Even if a Black mother and a white mother with similar medical histories saw the same doctor at the same hospital, the Black mother was about 20 percent more likely to have her baby via C-section, the study found.


  7 Comments      


Another day, another Henyard revelation

Tuesday, Sep 10, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* WGN last week…

South suburban politician Tiffany Henyard threw a party over the weekend that included a heavy serving of damage control. […]

The event was promoted as the “Friends of Tiffany A. Henyard Picnic,” which immediately set off alarm bells among her opponents, who noted that “Friends of Tiffany A. Henyard” is also the name of the embattled politician’s campaign fund. […]

Trustees in Dolton – where Henyard is the mayor – and in Thornton Township – where she’s the supervisor – tried to block efforts to have public money pay for the gathering. […]

Henyard’s attorney, Beau Brindley, tells WGN Investigates the picnic was not a campaign event and that Henyard paid for some of the food provided out of her own personal funds.

She may have picked up part of the food tab herself, but taxpayers paid for the bulk of it.

* WGN today…

WGN Investigates filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act for expenses related to the one day event. Records show Keke Wyatt was paid $30,000 to sing for 30 minutes. J. Holiday was paid $20,000 for a half-hour set. The township spent $6,600 to rent inflatable bounce houses. Other costs billed to township taxpayers include for everything from comedians to a sound system, staff to equipment and bring the total to at least $85,769. […]

Henyard has defended her taxpayer funded events as important to the 17 suburbs the township covers. “This is all for the babies,” Henyard said in a Facebook video she posted from the event. “They don’t show you this side of Tiffany Henyard: The productivity.” Her lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

After a year’s worth of WGN Investigates reporting detailing first-class travel, meals and more that’s now sparked a federal investigation, trustees in the two governments run by Henyard have tried to stop the spending. […]

Most of the contracts for the Taste of Thornton Township were signed before trustees put spending controls in place.

  15 Comments      


Stop Credit Card Chaos In Illinois!

Tuesday, Sep 10, 2024 - Posted by Advertising Department

[The following is a paid advertisement.]

In less than one year, a new law will create credit card chaos for millions of Illinois consumers, small business owners and workers who rely on tips. The law changes how your credit card is processed and has never been done anywhere in the world. The end result is windfall for corporate mega-stores paid for through costly operational hurdles for small businesses and a loss of convenience and privacy for consumers who could have to pay tax and gratuity with cash. There’s still time to protect Illinois small business owners, consumers and workers by repealing the Interchange Fee Prohibition Act now! For more information, visit guardyourcard.com/Illinois.

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Pritzker says he has not had any discussions with city about its budget deficit

Tuesday, Sep 10, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* First, some background from the Sun-Times…

Mayor Brandon Johnson on Monday froze hiring and travel in all city departments — including police and fire — and eliminated overtime “not directly required for public safety operations” to begin to confront Chicago’s burgeoning budget crisis. […]

He’s got just four months to fill a $223 million gap in 2024 caused, in large part, by the Chicago Board of Education’s refusal to absorb a $175 million pension payment for non-teaching school employees. After that, Johnson faces a $982.4 million deficit in 2025.

The mayor has warned “sacrifices will be made.” Those sacrifices will include freezing hiring at a $2 billion-a-year Chicago Police Department that already is roughly 2,000 sworn officers short of the strength it had just a few years ago.

It also means no new hires at the $663.8 million-a-year Chicago Fire Department, which is so short of paramedics and ambulances, the 80 ambulances it does have are “running night and day,” according to Pat Cleary, president of Chicago Fire Fighters Union Local 2.

* From the governor’s Q&A today…

Q: Have you had any discussions with the City of Chicago about their budget, if they’re seeking any help or relief from the state?

Pritzker: No.

Q: No?

Pritzker: They have not approached us about any of it. I’ve read things in the newspaper by, I think, mostly by advocates, not really the city, about what they might want. But, no.

Q: Is that something your budget team is discussing on concentrating?

Pritzker: as you know, we don’t plan our next budget until you know, I introduce it in February and I don’t think there’ll be any supplemental that’ll be discussing what the city would want, that we haven’t been asked.

Q: How are you feeling about that deficit that we’re dealing with a higher increase, Governor, I’m assuming [you have] an eye on that?

Pritzker: Well, listen, we’ve faced a lot of challenges at the state level. As you know, when I came into office, we had a lot of bills to pay off. We had to balance the budget anyway. And then, you know, we’ve managed, sometimes through tough times. You may remember, mid-year we had to cut $700 million from our budget because, frankly, revenues were going off a cliff during COVID. So we’ve been in situations like this. It’s very, very difficult and challenging, but you know, it’s something you can tough your way through, and then you’ve got to plan for years to come. You know how you’re going to manage the balanced budgets going forward without, you know, raising, broadly, taxes on the people of Illinois, and we managed to do that.

Q: The mayor’s been calling your name out and that of the state saying ‘Billion dollars, if the state cared they’d come up with it.’ Do you feel like they’re trying to make you the punching bag?

Pritzker: All I know is that I think mostly they’ve been talking about education dollars, and I’m the first person to want to put dollars into education. So if we had extra money, it would go to education. But remember, Chicago is 20 percent of the population of Illinois, so when we put money into education, it’s got to go to the other 80 percent also. And so we are, we always look to do that. We’ve been increasing education spending at the state level already during my tenure, if you include higher education, to $3 billion and so if we had extra dollars, believe me, that’s the first place we would look to put it.

Q: Is that causing a rift in your relationship at all, though? I mean, he’s using your name in public spaces like this…

Pritzker: Well, I know that the press likes to talk about some rift. The mayor and I actually get along very well. And there are challenges that we both have dealing with, you know, making sure we balance our budgets. And so I know how difficult this situation is, and I certainly sympathize with it. The State of Illinois provides billions of dollars to the city of Chicago every single year, and we’re going to continue to do that, but we can’t just, you know, snap our fingers and somehow money, we don’t print money at the state level, as you know, they do at the federal level, but at the state level, we can’t do that. We just have to make sure we’re, you know, getting through these difficult times.

Please pardon all transcription errors.

* Quick video of that first question and his super-rare one-word response…

Heh.

  14 Comments      


Pritzker doesn’t think city and state currently need as much migrant shelter capacity

Tuesday, Sep 10, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Tribune reporter…


* Gov. Pritzker was asked by a reporter whether that means no more migrants were coming or whether the state was going to close its shelters as well…

Look, we’ve been prepared for the idea that Texas, that the governor of Texas, is going to, as he has, in a way that I find reprehensible, just load people onto busses and send them to cities. So we’re always prepared for the idea that that could happen. It hasn’t happened. It appears that the number of people crossing the border has been significantly diminished because of the policies of the Harris/Biden administration. And so I feel like, you know, we’ve got to be prepared and have some capacity, but I don’t think quite as much capacity as we had needed before. So hopefully that reduces some expenditures by the city, the county and the state. But importantly, we’ve got to be ready for, you know what is a humanitarian crisis if it comes.

  6 Comments      


Rate the Nagel ad

Tuesday, Sep 10, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* I told subscribers about this ad last week. Here you go…

* Script…

Hi, I’m Phil Nagel. As the son of a steelworker, a father and an Air Force veteran, I am nothing like that guy, Patrick Joyce, a career politician only looking out for himself. Joyce is controlled by the Chicago party bosses who gave him multiple pay hikes while we struggle. Joyce loves to raise our taxes but failed to pay his five separate times. Want to lower the cost of living? He’s not your guy. I’m Phil Nagel. Together, let’s change Springfield.

* I’m not sure how three of these folks had anything to do with Joyce’s Senate salary, but this is from the spot…

Nagel lost to Joyce by 10 points two years ago.

  15 Comments      


Uber Partners With Cities To Expand Urban Transportation

Tuesday, Sep 10, 2024 - Posted by Advertising Department

[The following is a paid advertisement.]

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

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Jury selection underway in the trial of former AT&T boss La Schiazza

Tuesday, Sep 10, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Capitol News Illinois…

Jury selection is set to begin Tuesday in the trial of former AT&T Illinois president Paul La Schiazza, who federal prosecutors allege bribed once-powerful Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan in exchange for favorable legislation in Springfield.

It’s the last in a series of related trials that have played out in Chicago’s Dirksen Federal Courthouse over the last 18 months leading up to Madigan’s own bribery and racketeering trial, which is scheduled to begin Oct. 8. A jury last year convicted four former executives and lobbyists for electric utility Commonwealth Edison on charges that they bribed Madigan with jobs and contracts for his allies over a nine-year period to help the utility win its legislative battles.

La Schiazza is accused of a similar scheme, albeit much smaller in scale. Instead of dozens of jobs and contracts for Madigan allies, AT&T’s alleged bribery involved the utility funneling payments to one man: former Democratic state Rep. Eddie Acevedo, who was also a subcontractor lobbyist for ComEd for nearly a decade.

Acevedo, who allegedly did little to no work for either utility, already served a brief stint in prison for tax evasion connected to the larger federal probe of Madigan’s world and is expected to testify in the former speaker’s trial.

CNI’s Hannah Meisel is in the courtroom today.

* The Sun-Times’ federal court reporter Jon Seidel…


* Tribune…

Among the new evidence will be testimony from former Madigan insider Tom Cullen, a lobbyist who prosecutors allege served as a go-between for the payments from AT&T to former state Rep. Edward Acevedo. Another witness, former AT&T lobbyist Stephen Selcke, is expected to offer a behind-the-scenes look at the utility’s efforts to get in Madigan’s good graces.

Prosecutors also want the jury to see email exchanges showing Madigan’s son, Andrew, asked La Schiazza to sponsor a nonprofit event in July 2017, less than two weeks after AT&T Illinois’ bill to end mandated landline service became law, allegedly with his father’s assistance.

Andrew Madigan wrote that the idea came “at the suggestion of our good friend, Mike McClain,” a former lobbyist and Madigan’s longtime confidant, according to a prosecution filing earlier this year. La Schiazza forwarded the request to a colleague in the legislative affairs department on July 12, 2017, writing “this will be endless,” according to the filing.

“I suspect the ‘thank you’ opportunities will be plentiful,’” the colleague allegedly emailed back, referring to the recent passage of AT&T’s coveted landline legislation, known by the acronym COLR, which was expected to save the company millions of dollars.

“Yep,” La Schiazza allegedly responded. “We are on the friends and family plan now.”

* Sun-Times…

Prosecutors say that quip helps prove the $22,500 amounted to a bribe. But soon, it’ll be up to a jury to decide whether they’re right. La Schiazza faces trial Tuesday on a five-count indictment handed up in October 2022 amid the feds’ larger Madigan prosecution.

The trial, expected to take three weeks, is the last of a series of trials set to play out before Madigan faces his own racketeering trial Oct. 8. The once-powerful Southwest Side Democrat is also charged in the alleged scheme involving La Schiazza and AT&T Illinois. The utility previously agreed to pay a $23 million fine.

Other key players in La Schiazza’s case include Madigan’s longtime confidant, Michael McClain, and former state Rep. Edward “Eddie” Acevedo, recipient of the $22,500.

Acevedo, who allegedly did no work for that money, already has gone to prison for tax evasion. McClain faces trial alongside Madigan next month over the AT&T allegations and other charges.

But La Schiazza’s defense attorney argues his indictment is flawed. Tinos Diamantatos has said it “does not allege that Madigan even knew of AT&T’s hiring of Acevedo.” There’s no evidence of a so-called “quid pro quo,” he said, nor that La Schiazza knew he was acting unlawfully.

  7 Comments      


Open thread

Tuesday, Sep 10, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

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

  13 Comments      


Isabel’s morning briefing

Tuesday, Sep 10, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* ICYMI: Head of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s legislative affairs team resigns amid staff shakeup. Crain’s…

    - Sydney Holman, the city’s deputy mayor of intergovernmental affairs, submitted her resignation yesterday.
    - According to sources, two of Homan’s deputies also left the team as part of a larger upheaval within the close-knit team charged with building relationships across the City Council and whipping votes to secure Johnson’s progressive agenda.
    - The mayor’s office circulated an internal organizational chart late last week that showed Holman’s team and staffers in community engagement would report to Kennedy Bartley, a leader in Johnsons’ progressive movement hired into the administration in May. Holman had previously resisted having to report to Bartley.

* Related stories…

Governor Pritzker will be at the Aspire Center for Workforce Innovation at 12:30 pm for a grant award presentation. Click here to watch.

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* WCIA | By the numbers: Illinois State Fair Grandstand Acts: WCIA obtained the number of tickets sold for each Grandstand Act at the 2024 Illinois State Fair from the Illinois Department of Agriculture. After the record breaking crowd for Lil Wayne’s concert, the next most popular acts were the pop boy band Jonas Brothers with 9,952, then country singers Keith Urban with 8,778 and Miranda Lambert with 8,216.

* SJ-R | Former Springfield police sergeant arrested after crash as residents protest: Michael A. Egan, 50, has been charged with aggravated DUI causing great bodily harm, a Class 4 felony. Authorities said Egan’s vehicle was traveling northbound on East Lake Shore Drive and made a left turn in front of a motorcycle which crashed into Egan’s SUV. Egan was taken into custody by Illinois State Police troopers and U.S. Marshals around 12:45 p.m. Monday. Egan will make his first appearance in Sangamon County Tuesday afternoon.

* RIP James Earl Jones…



*** Statehouse News ***

* Daily Herald | When it comes to funding state-level campaigns, Pritzker in a league of his own: Even though he’s not running now, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has donated a whopping $25 million to his campaign committee this election cycle, according to Illinois State Board of Elections data. None of the Illinois residents on the nonprofit group OpenSecrets’ list of Top 100 donors at the federal level comes close to that kind of in-state giving ahead of the Nov. 5 election.

* WGEM | New Illinois law mandates coverage for medically necessary jaw treatments: Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) signed legislation Aug. 9 requiring insurance companies cover all medically necessary treatments for major jaw injuries. This includes oral and facial surgery, dental implants and prosthetics. “This law closes a major loophole for patients requiring necessary medical treatments for a life-threatening disease. It ensures that in a time of crisis, no one has to experience financial roadblocks to receiving medical care,” said state Sen. Laura Fine, D-Glenview, the bill’s Senate sponsor.

* SJ-R | Insurance coverage of abortion care protected by Illinois judge. What to know: A Sangamon County judge upheld a provision of the Illinois Reproductive Health Act in a ruling last week, maintaining that state-regulated health insurance plans that cover pregnancy care must also do so for abortion services. The Illinois Baptist State Association filed suit in 2020 against the law passed by state lawmakers in the prior year, claiming it violated their religious beliefs. Named in the suit was the Illinois Department of Insurance.

* Sun-Times | After Georgia school shooting, Illinois lawmakers, firearms safety advocates push stronger gun storage law: Illinois Democrats are calling for stronger gun storage legislation just days after 14-year-old Colt Gray allegedly killed two teachers and two students at a Georgia high school with an AR-15 style rifle purchased by his father. The legislation, sponsored by state Sen. Laura Ellman, D-Naperville, and state Rep. Maura Hirschauer, D-Batavia, would require gun owners to securely lock weapons in homes with anyone aged 18 or younger. Current state law requires storage in homes with those 13 or younger. Similar legislation was introduced in the spring session, but Hirschauer said she’s hoping to pass a new version — with some changes negotiated with Gov. JB Pritzker’s office, during the November veto session or in early January.

*** Chicago ***

* Tribune | Wheatland Tube closes Southwest Side plant, will lay off nearly 250 workers: Wheatland Tube reported the closure of its 4435 S. Western Blvd. factory in accordance with Illinois’ Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, which requires companies to report certain mass layoffs and plant closures two months in advance. Layoffs at the factory will begin about Nov. 1 and continue on a rolling basis through next year, a company spokesperson said. The company did not provide an exact date on which the factory would close.

* Block Club | Cleaning Up Contaminated Acme Steel Site Could Take Years, Feds Say As Neighbors Focus On Its Future: The property is contaminated, threatening nearby wetlands and waterways, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Neighbors may be exposed to contamination if they trespass on the site, officials said. Past studies and cleanups have found compounds which can cause cancer, reproductive disorders and nervous and immune system issues, as well as soil contaminated with cyanide.

* WTTW | Chicago Taxpayers Have Already Paid $1.1M to Fight Lawsuit Filed by Family of Adam Toledo as Trial Approaches: Chicago taxpayers have already paid more than $1.1 million to fight a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of Adam Toledo, the 13-year-old shot and killed by a Chicago police officer after a brief foot chase in March 2021, according to documents obtained by WTTW News. Three and a half years after Adam’s death spurred demonstrations and renewed calls for police reform, the lawsuit filed by his parents is set to go to trial Nov. 6, ramping up the pressure on lawyers for the city to negotiate a settlement in the high-profile case or face the possibility of a trial that could lead to a multimillion-dollar jury verdict.

* ABC Chicago | Jury awards $50M to man who spent 10 years in prison for Chicago murder he didn’t commit: Marcel Brown sued the City of Chicago, alleging he was coerced into making a false confession to an August 2008 murder. […] Brown was released from prison in 2018 after his sentence was vacated.

* Tribune | Chicago White Sox are ‘not going to rush into anything’ regarding managerial search, says GM Chris Getz: “I think if you would have told me (before the season) we were going to end up flirting with the (major-league) record (for losses) I would have been a little surprised,” Getz said Monday afternoon at Guaranteed Rate Field. “Now if you would have told me prior to the year that we would have ended up with over 100 losses, 105, 110, I wouldn’t have been as surprised. But this is the cards that we’ve been dealt at this point.

* WGN | Angel Reese uses social media to explain wrist injury that will sideline her the rest of WNBA season: “I fell on my hand when I got the and-one, when I fell back (and) fell on my hand and it is a small crack in my bone,” Reese said in a video posted to her TikTok late Sunday night. “Basically, the doctors told me that I could either not get surgery or have surgery. The risk of not having surgery – I could literally have arthritis at 22 years old. That wasn’t an option. The bone could literally crack and completely shatter. Right now, it’s like a hairline… They’re going to put a small screw in it. And I wasn’t going for it getting any bigger.”

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Herald | Union says Palatine wrongfully terminated public works employee: The International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150, AFL-CIO, announced it has filed a grievance in the termination of Charles Swanson, a seven-year employee. In a release, the union said the “village’s actions raise questions of workplace fairness and the value shown to employees working at the municipality.” Swanson suffered a workplace injury that required back surgery in January 2023, the union said.

* Daily Herald | Lake Zurich sales tax hike to help defray cost of $154 million Lake Michigan project: Village officials recently authorized a local sales tax increase of 0.5% to help defray scheduled rate increases associated with a pending switch to Lake Michigan water. The increase will bring the municipal sales tax rate to 1% or a penny on every dollar of goods sold in town. The overall sales tax rate will increase to 8% as it is in Buffalo Grove, Deer Park, Barrington and Highland Park for comparison. Village officials say the rate increase will generate an additional $2.5 million annually to be used for project-related expenses and debt service of the $154 million Lake Michigan water project.

* Daily Herald | Judge denies Mount Prospect’s request to halt operations at malodorous business: A Cook County judge Monday denied Mount Prospect’s emergency request for a temporary restraining order against animal feed producer Prestige Feed Products. Although the village provided ample testimony from neighbors about noxious odors reaching them from the plant at 431 Lakeview Court in Mount Prospect, Circuit Judge Clare Quish said the facts did not show “irreparable harm” without the emergency relief.

* Daily Southtown | Sept. 11 ceremonies set for some south and south suburban communities: Observances are planned in some south and southwest suburbs Wednesday in remembrance of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 1, 2001. Southland communities will gather at firehouses, city halls and memorials to observe the 23rd anniversary of the attack, which killed nearly 3,000 people after al-Qaida hijackers sent two planes into New York’s World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon and another into a field in Pennsylvania.

* Daily Herald | ‘Big Boy’ chugs through the suburbs, delighting observers: Thousands of spectators lined the tracks to photograph and view 4014’s passage. It is the second time massive black-and-graphite painted “Big Boy” has visited the area — the first was in 2019, shortly after the engine’s restoration to service. Sporting a 4-8-8-4 articulated wheel arrangement and stretching to a length of more than 132 feet, the engine is one of 25 examples of the largest successful steam locomotive ever built and is the only one of the eight remaining operable. The locomotives were produced by the American Locomotive Company between 1941 and 1944 and used by the UP for heavy freight service on Sherman Hill, west of Cheyenne, Wyoming.

*** Downstate ***

* WAND | Family of motorcycle crash victims meets with mayor and police: Caitlin Weiss and Cicely Leonetti — Farley’s sisters — said that she is currently sedated and on a ventilator. “We have a huge road to recovery.” explained Weiss. “He completely smashed my sister, so her pelvis was completely broken as an open loop fracture. She had broke her hip. She’s broke her clavicles and, maybe some internal organ injuries that they found when they opened [her] up during surgery.”

* Herald-Whig | Southern Airways officially objects to city request for new airline, denies safety issues: In a new letter to the U.S. Department of Transportation, Southern Airways Express objects to a request for the early termination of its contract with the city of Quincy. “Southern fully intends on not only serving the remainder of our current contract but also garnering (public support) as airline proposals are reviewed (for the next contract period),” reads the Sept. 4 letter from Southern Airways Chief of Staff Keith Sisson. “To this end, we respectfully ask the Department to allow the improvements and investment Southern is making in the marketplace to be realized … we implore the Department to resist the urge to comply (with the city of Quincy’s request) as such drastic action would lead to a globally unsustainable and damaging precedent for the EAS program and the airlines which serve its needs.”

* WCIA | Champaign high schools locked down after ‘unfounded’ 911 call of armed person: Officials said that as details of the call developed, the story the caller gave had several inconsistencies. No threat was found, and the lockdowns were lifted at 2:30. The Champaign Police Department is investigating the source of the call and is looking for any information that may assist in the investigation. At this time, no one has been arrested.

* WAND | Unit 4 board approves audit of special education department: Parents and advocates say there is a disconnect between special education teachers and leaders, the school principal, and district officials. One advocate claims an Elementary special education student was assaulted last month, stating during the public comment section, “The audit is a good audit, but its going to take time, and meanwhile we’ve got broken bones. And the same thing that happened to that little boy at Bottenfield, that same system happened again- we did not learn from that boy that was out of school for six months.”

*** National ***

* NYT | He’s Known as ‘Ivan the Troll.’ His 3D-Printed Guns Have Gone Viral: Court documents, corporate records and information posted on his social media accounts link the Ivan the Troll persona to a 26-year-old Illinois gunmaker named John Elik. The nephew of a state representative, Mr. Elik has emerged as one of the most important figures in the nascent international industry of 3D-printed guns. […] Dr. Basra and a security researcher, Nathan Mayer, first linked Mr. Elik to the Ivan the Troll accounts using online clues after he was identified in a lawsuit as an owner of a website promoting 3D-printed guns. The Times replicated and built on that research, using photographs and videos that Mr. Elik posted of his home and shooting ranges on his family’s property, including his aunt’s.

* DNYUZ | Greed, Gluttony and the Crackup of Red Lobster: New management had arrived in 2020 and tried to revive the chain with the corporate version of heart paddles. Thai Union, a seafood giant based in Samut Sakhon, Thailand, administered the shocks in the form of stern lectures, surprise inspections and cost-cutting measures that strained the staff to its breaking point. Now, by unveiling perpetual Endless Shrimp, Thai Union wanted Red Lobster employees to work even harder. “When they dumped this on us in June, we’d already been squeezed to the bone,” said Malcom Clarke, then a service manager at the Red Lobster in Orem, Utah. “We got emails from corporate saying: ‘This is a free-for-all. Get that shrimp out as fast as you can.’”

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Protected: SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Supplement to today’s edition and some debate stuff

Tuesday, Sep 10, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

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

Tuesday, Sep 10, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

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Live coverage

Tuesday, Sep 10, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

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

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Selected press releases (Live updates)

Tuesday, Sep 10, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

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Isabel’s afternoon roundup

Monday, Sep 9, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Northwestern Medill…

The Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications announced today the creation of the Medill Illinois News Bureau, which will provide local news outlets with coverage of the state legislature and government agencies.

Working in partnership with Capitol News Illinois (CNI), Medill graduate and undergraduate journalism students will develop expertise in covering state government, producing stories and multimedia content that will be distributed to news organizations statewide and in bordering states. CNI is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization based in Springfield that is operated by the Illinois Press Foundation. Its vast distribution network includes about 700 newspapers, digital-only news sites and broadcast outlets throughout Illinois and in border state cities such as St. Louis.

“This new Medill Illinois News Bureau is intended to help strengthen coverage of state government at a time when the Statehouse press corps has been depleted and after most newspapers have closed their Springfield bureaus,” said Medill Dean Charles Whitaker. “Medill is stepping up to help fill some of that void, and to provide students with invaluable, real-world experience and classroom expertise covering one of the largest and most complex state governments in the nation.”

A team of Medill students will be based in Springfield during the legislative session and will work out of CNI’s newsroom. When the legislature is not in session, these students will develop enterprise pieces and cover breaking state government news from Chicago.

* Personal PAC…

Just six weeks before the general election, House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi will keynote the annual luncheon for Personal PAC, one of Illinois’ leading abortion rights advocacy organizations. This year marks the 35th anniversary of the trailblazing organization, which has played an instrumental role in building Illinois into a bulwark against efforts to destroy access to abortion rights and other reproductive healthcare in the Midwest.

WHEN: Monday, September 23, 2024
11AM - Registration and VIP reception
12PM - Lunch and awards

WHERE: Chicago Hilton & Towers, 720 S. Michigan Avenue

* Pantagraph…

A federal judge told a group of Illinois State University students that, contrary to their argument, the university was not imposing a violation of their constitutional rights with its chosen punishment for trespassing as part of a protest last spring.

As part of a lawsuit filed against the university, the seven students had sought to restrain ISU from imposing disciplinary measures that included writing an essay about how the students could have expressed themselves without violating university rules. […]

The filing was entered in McLean County court 11 days after ISU Police Department officers and other law enforcement agents arrested and removed demonstrators from campus, culminating days of pro-Palestine protests seen at universities across the nation. Police said students wouldn’t cooperate with their demands to vacate Hovey Hall in Normal at least 90 minutes after it closed, during an action arrestees refuted as a silent sit-in protest to show solidarity with Gaza.

The plaintiffs in the civil case argued their constitutional rights were violated when the university suspended them and demanded, as part of disciplinary sanctions, they write a thousand-word essay that describes plans for demonstrating on campus without violating university policies. […]

The plaintiffs claimed the no-trespass orders were unconstitutional prior restraint in violation of their First Amendment rights, and that writing an essay would amount to compelled speech and self-incrimination in the misdemeanor trespass case, stripping them of their First Amendment and Fifth Amendment rights.

*** Statehouse News ***

* SJ-R | Illinois Republican claims new state flag would ‘advance the far-left’s political ideology’: A Secretary of State official said there have been more than 370 designs submitted so far. Submissions will be accepted until Oct. 18.

*** Chicago ***

* WGN | Chicago enacts citywide hiring freeze to address 2025 budget gap: In an official statement from Budget Director Annette Guzman Monday, the city has enacted a citywide hiring freeze and “stringent limitations” on non-essential travel and overtime expenditures outside of public safety operations.

* WBEZ | Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson floats a hiring freeze ahead of a $982 million budget gap: “There are sacrifices that will be made,” Johnson said. “This budget gap does present us with a challenge, but it does certainly present us with an opportunity to transform the structure of our budget to ensure that, again, working people in this city can ultimately thrive.” Despite savings this year, the nearly $223 million end-of-year deficit in the city’s corporate fund is affected by a $417.7 million underperformance of revenue, primarily from a decline in personal property replacement taxes and the refusal of Chicago Public Schools to make a pension payment that the city was counting on. The new end-of-year deficit comes after budget officials had passed a $16.77 billion dollar budget to close an previously estimated $538 million gap for 2024.

* WBEZ | Turnover roils Chicago’s cultural affairs department under new commissioner: At least 13 staff members, including some top deputies, have departed Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) since March, according to public records and interviews. That means about 18% of the department has turned over in the six months since Mayor Brandon Johnson appointed a new commissioner. Departing staff include three deputy commissioners, the department’s second-in-command, a creative director and three program directors. The department oversees large-scale events, such as Taste of Chicago and Blues Fest, and neighborhood programming, as well as directs grants to artists and organizations.

* Block Club | Celebrate 75 Years Of Garrett Popcorn By Getting A Bag For $1.75: Popcorn fans can celebrate Garrett Popcorn Shops’ 75th anniversary with $1.75 bags of their signature flavors, available for a limited time as part of a special promotion. Between 1 and 3 p.m. Monday through Friday this week, fans can pop into any Garrett shop to purchase a small bag of their favorite popcorn — like CaramelCrisp, CheeseCorn and the Garrett Mix, a blend of those two — for just $1.75, according to a news release from the company. The offer is limited to one bag per person per transaction.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Pioneer Press | Voters will decide Nov. 5 whether Glencoe should have home rule: Village trustees unanimously approved a measure to put a home rule referendum on the Nov. 5 ballot at their Aug. 15th meeting. Under the State of Illinois constitution, home rule municipalities have more local decision-making authority and can opt out of some types of state legislation and mandates unless prohibited to do so by the legislature or the constitution.

* Daily Herald | Mount Prospect factory responsible for odor complaints agrees to temporary halt: Prestige Feed Products agreed to the shutdown during a hearing Friday on the village’s emergency motion for a temporary restraining order against the company. The hearing is scheduled to resume Monday. Prestige attorney Riccardo DiMonte expressed concern about the company losing revenue and workers losing wages by calling off shifts Sunday and Monday morning, but said it was willing to do that “grudgingly” as an act of good faith.

* Crain’s | Naperville medical office building sold for $28 million: A real estate firm betting on the future of health care properties has picked up its first medical office building in the Chicago area, paying $28 million for a nearly full property in Naperville. MCB Science + Health last week acquired the 72,468-square-foot iMed Naperville Medical Office building at 1331 West 75th St. in the western suburb, the company confirmed. MCB bought the property from Naperville-based DynaCom Management, which developed the four-story building in 2015 and leased up 96% of its space. Hospital system Endeavor Health occupies almost half of the property.

*** Downstate ***

* WAND | Springfield protestors ‘demanding accountability’ from police: Demonstrators are currently gathered outside the Municipal Center East building in Springfield to demand accountability from the Springfield Police Department. The protest, originally organized by Intricate Minds, is meant to address multiple issues regarding policing in Springfield, most recently the case of a retired Springfield Police Sergeant who severely injured two people on a motorcycle last week.


* STL Today | Biden may block U.S. Steel sale to Nippon Steel. Questions remain for Granite City plant.: The news, which was first reported by The Washington Post, comes while the blast furnace at Granite City’s U.S. Steel plant remains idle after the Pittsburgh-based company announced its indefinite closure last fall. The Granite City’s plant has two blast furnaces, used to make steel. One was previously shut down and the second was temporarily closed for six months last year, but now no longer has a reopening date. The company’s steel rolling and finishing operations, using metal slabs from other facilities, continue at Granite City Works. The 128-year-old mill in Granite City has 850 workers. Hundreds were previously let go or are on layoff due to the closure of the blast furnace.

* BND | Officials silent on conflict and upheaval in Freeburg’s elementary school district: A school principal quits abruptly, citing a “toxic environment.” A superintendent tries to resign but is persuaded to stay and honor her contract. A parent files a complaint, prompting police to launch an investigation into the superintendent. Police are called to the elementary school about a disturbance involving a school board member. Another board member goes to court to get a stalking no contact order against him. Now others are pushing for the second board member to be removed from office. The past two years at Freeburg Community Consolidated School District 70 have been full of conflict and upheaval, yet officials won’t talk about it publicly.

* WCBU | Justice, order and safety top of mind for Peoria County State’s Attorney candidates: For the first time since Peoria County State’s Attorney Jodi Hoos was appointed to the office in 2019, she faces a challenger from outside of her own party. Peoria trial attorney Robert Boucher is running as a Republican in November’s General election. The third generation Peorian says the position is mainly one of leadership, and claims he’s a strong leader with administrative abilities.

* WAND | U of I launches new awareness campaign to highlight research’s impact on local communities: There will be billboards, bus ads, digital ads, and a new website where community members can learn more about how Illinois research impacts their lives. The website is broken down into eight themes: water, health, economy, agriculture, kids, pets, aging, and vibrant communities. Each theme page contains stories, stats, Q&As, and more to show how Illinois research impacts Central Illinois.

* WGLT | McLean County school administrators ponder a countywide sales tax after failed effort in 2014: Bloomington-Normal school superintendents are entertaining the idea of returning a one-cent per dollar countywide sales tax for education to the ballot. The Illinois County Schools Facility Sales Tax is an option to add a 1% sales tax that would shift facility funding away from property taxes. Fifty-seven Illinois counties have passed the ballot question since the option became available in 2007, including nearby counties such as Peoria, Livingston, Logan, Champaign, Piatt, Macon, Sangamon and Woodford.

* WCIA | Decatur Park Police looking for tips on 9/11 memorial vandalism: Officials said the vandalism happened overnight on Friday and Saturday. Several people damaged the area around the 9/11 Memorial and the Beach House in Nelson Park. Bushes and greenery were knocked over, and some items were left in the water. Surveillance footage captured images of two people believed to be involved with the incident.

* STL Today | Third former East St. Louis cop charged in connection with macing sleeping juveniles: Police department surveillance video of men in police uniforms spraying a substance on a sleeping teenager surfaced in police circles in 2022. It’s not clear why the video surfaced or who released it. The beginning of the video shows an officer pulling something from his belt and opening the cell door. He reaches into the cell but a wall obstructs part of the view of what is happening inside. The officer then closes the cell door, and seconds later, the young man in the cell reacts in distress.

* WAND | New plan will connect parks for over 80 acres of green space in east Urbana: Master plans approved by the Urbana Park District Board of Commissioners will update Weaver and Prairie Parks and connect green space in the city. “We will connect 22 acres of Prairie Park with 60 acres of Weaver Park to create over 80 acres of green space in east Urbana,” said Tim Bartlett, Executive Director of Urbana Park District. He added, “The new Health and Wellness Center will serve as a focal point for the plans.”

* WAND | University of Illinois homecoming week underway: The homecoming festivities started Sunday and run through Saturday. The week kicked off with the annual dying of the fountain and flying pancake breakfast. The homecoming parade is on Friday, Sept. 13.

*** National ***

* AP | GOP lawsuits set the stage for state challenges if Trump loses the election: Before voters even begin casting ballots, Democrats and Republicans are engaged in a sprawling legal fight over the 2024 election through a series of court disputes that could even run past Nov. 5 if results are close. Republicans filed more than 100 lawsuits challenging various aspects of vote-casting after being chastised repeatedly by judges in 2020 for bringing complaints about how the election was run only after votes were tallied.

* CBS | Texas sues to block federal rule protecting health records of women crossing state lines for abortions: In the suit filed Wednesday in Lubbock, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton accused the federal government of attempting to “undermine” the state’s law enforcement capabilities. It appears to be the first legal challenge from a state with an abortion ban that took effect after the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade and ended the nationwide right to abortion. “With this rule, the Biden Administration makes a backdoor attempt at weakening Texas’s laws by undermining state law enforcement investigations that implicate medical procedures,” Paxton said in a news release.

* Tampa Bay Times | DeSantis’ election police questioned people who signed abortion petitions: Isaac Menasche remembers being at the Cape Coral farmer’s market last year when someone asked him if he’d sign a petition to get Florida’s abortion amendment on the ballot. He said yes — and he told a law enforcement officer as much when one showed up at the door of his Lee County home earlier this week. Menasche said he was surprised when the plainclothes officer twice asked if it was really Menasche who had signed the petition. The officer said he was looking into potential petition fraud.

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Meanwhile, in Opposite Land

Monday, Sep 9, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* San Francisco Gate…

Gov. Gavin Newsom fired a direct attack Friday on the booming hemp industry, filing emergency rules that would completely ban THC — an intoxicating compound found in cannabis — from hemp products in the state.

Hemp products are sold outside of regulated cannabis stores, and can be purchased online or at retail locations like gas stations throughout the state. Newsom said in a statement Friday that the emergency rules were needed to protect children.

“We will not sit on our hands as drug peddlers target our children with dangerous and unregulated hemp products containing THC at our retail stores,” Newsom said. “We’re taking action to close loopholes and increase enforcement to prevent children from accessing these dangerous hemp and cannabis products.”

The emergency rules would require that all hemp products in California have “no detectable amount of total THC,” and require that customers be over the age of 21 to purchase the products. The rules still need the approval of the California Office of Administrative Law before they go into effect, according to the Hill.

* CBS News…

Newsom noted that he was one of the earlier supporters for the passage of Prop 64 to legalize recreational marijuana use in California when the measure passed in 2016.

“As Lieutenant Governor, I set forth a framework where I thought we should responsibly begin to address the issue of reforms as it relates to the adult use of cannabis in the state of California,” he said.

However, he said that the emergency regulations being introduced on Friday were specifically aimed at companies in the hemp industry that are trying to profit by making intoxicating edibles, beverages and other products that skirt the age and sales restrictions that have been placed on recreational marijuana.

“None of us expected the kind of exploitation that we’ve experienced in the hemp industry,” Newsom said. What we’re doing today, as relates to emergency regulations, is because of that exploitation, because of the greed of many folks in the industry.”

* LA Times…

The governor introduced the proposed regulations weeks after Assembly Bill 2223, a state measure that would have instituted similar changes, died in committee.

Dr. Lynn Silver, senior advisor at the Public Health Institute, an Oakland-based independent nonprofit advocacy organization that advocated for AB 2223, said the new regulations “represent tremendous progress in protecting children and teenagers.” […]

“The way things are now at present, a 10-year-old can walk into a vape shop and buy intoxicating products with more THC than legal edible cannabis products,” Silver said. “These regulations will be a huge step to fix that.” […]

In 2021, Newsom signed a state law that capped the concentration of THC in hemp-containing food, beverages and cosmetics at 0.3%, and instituted requirements for labeling and testing of such goods. The goal, his office said at the time, was to allow for nonintoxicating hemp products to be legally and safely sold.

In the intervening years, some manufacturers have found ways to make hemp products that intoxicate consumers without running afoul of the 2021 requirements.

The draft proposal is here.

Like the California assembly, the Illinois legislature has not been able to get its act together on this topic. I doubt our governor has such expansive executive powers, however.

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Showcasing The Retailers Who Make Illinois Work

Monday, Sep 9, 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 Brad, who serve their communities with dedication and pride.

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It’s just a bill

Monday, Sep 9, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Background is here if you need it. HB5862 from Rep. Kevin Olickal…

Provides that a municipality or a law enforcement agency may not enforce any provision of law restricting or punishing an individual for sleeping in public spaces in a nonobstructive manner within a municipality if the municipality’s homeless population exceeds the number of available beds in homeless shelters within the municipality. Provides that “nonobstructive manner” means in a manner that does not render passageways, walkways, or roadways impassable or hazardous. Limits the concurrent exercise of home rule powers.

* The Gun Violence Prevention PAC…

In the wake of last week’s school shooting in Georgia, the Gun Violence Prevention PAC (G-PAC) of Illinois joined with Sen. Laura Ellman and Rep. Maura Hirschauer to announce a push to change Illinois’ gun storage law to prevent minors and other at-risk individuals from accessing deadly weapons and inflicting tragedy.

The Safe Firearm Storage Act (SB 3527/HB 5065) would strengthen existing Illinois law around safe firearm storage to better prevent a tragedy like the horrific shooting that occurred in Winder, Ga. Illinois law, unlike Georgia, requires locked storage of a gun in some cases, but only if there is a person aged 13 or younger living in the house.

The recently proposed safe storage legislation would change the age limit to require secure, locked storage for weapons in a home with a minor aged 18 or younger.

“Simple changes in our laws can help save countless lives, and G-PAC is committed to making those changes with the help of our gun safety champions,” said Kathleen Sances, President and CEO of G-PAC, Illinois’ leading gun violence prevention advocacy organization. “A 14-year-old child should never have access to a firearm. We don’t need to keep living this way.”

“Illinois is committed to leading the charge in gun violence prevention, and the next crucial step is ensuring safe firearm storage,” Ellman said. “Proper gun storage is a lifesaving measure. Incidents like the tragic mass shooting at Apalachee High School should never be considered an inevitable part of life – they are a failure of our system. Legislation that mandates safe storage can help avert such tragedies and address the everyday horrors of unintentional shootings by children and teen gun suicide.”

“Our heart breaks for the families impacted in Georgia’s school shooting, but we won’t just offer our thoughts and prayers - we will act,” Hirschauer said. “We will build on our record of nation-leading gun violence prevention legislation and ensuring safe storage of firearms is a common-sense measure long overdue.”

While the legislation was introduced last spring session, the Illinois General Assembly did not act on it. G-PAC is launching the “Safe At Home” campaign to push for the legislation this fall, as well as a bill to strengthen reporting requirements around lost and stolen weapons.

Details of the Safe Firearm Storage Act:

    - Prohibit someone from leaving a firearm outside of their immediate possession or control unless it is unloaded and secured in a lock box or container that makes it inaccessible to anyone but the owner or another legally authorized user.
    - Prohibits storing or leaving a firearm where the owner would know a minor, an at-risk person, or someone prohibited from using firearms is likely to gain access to them.
    - Defines “Minor” as a person aged 18 and under.
    - Adds “At-risk person” as someone who has made statements or exhibited behavior to a reasonable person there is a likelihood the person is at risk of attempting suicide or causing physical harm to oneself or others.
    - Adds “Prohibited person” as a person ineligible under federal or state law to possess a firearm.
    - Adds civil penalties associated with the failure to safely secure firearms:
    - Violations begin at $500 and escalate to $1,000 if a person knowingly prohibited from accessing a gun obtains a weapon.
    - Establishes a penalty of $10,000 if a minor, at-risk person, or someone prohibited from having a firearm obtains one and uses it to injure or cause the death of someone or uses it in a crime.
    Fines received from penalties will benefit the Mental Health fund.
    - At first violation, court may impose community service or restitution in lieu of civil penalties.

* Rep. Harry Benton…

In an effort to decrease prescription drug costs and expand access to lifesaving medications, Rep. Harry Benton, D-Plainfield, has filed a bill requiring insurance companies to pass along rebate savings to patients.

“Too often, high prices make it hard for working families to afford their prescriptions,” Benton said. “My bill aims to reduce the cost of prescription drugs, making quality healthcare more affordable and accessible for Illinois families. It reflects my commitment to putting working families first and prioritizes people’s health rather than profits.”

Benton filed House Bill 5865, which would require insurers to apply any rebate amount they receive to the shared cost of prescription drugs between an individual and insurer. Any rebate that is greater than the defined shared cost amount will be applied to an individuals’ premium, reducing insurance premiums as well. The bill requires the price of a prescription drug to be determined at the point of sale after at least 100% of all rebates received by the insurer have been applied to the price.

“We’ve all seen how the cost of living in Illinois has increased at a rapid pace over the past few years, much the same as has happened across the country.” Benton said. “We’re working hard to increase the affordability of living in Illinois and driving value to working families. Because when we support working families, we help keep moving Illinois forward.”

* UChicago Harm Reduction Project founder Eshan Dosani and University of Chicago professor Harold Pollack…

Fifty-six years after the Fair Housing Act banned redlining and racial discrimination in housing, economic and racial segregation remains entrenched across our state. Indeed, Illinois ranks first among the 50 states in the share of Black residents living in census tracts that are at least 90% Black. By some measures, Chicago remains the most segregated large city in America.

Across political lines, residents of our state acknowledge the aftershocks of decades of legally sanctioned racial segregation that denied millions of people proper access to public services, education and housing opportunities. Many of us in comfortable circumstances are less comfortable acknowledging other policies that perpetuate equally stark economic and racial divides and that specifically exclude low-income families from our own communities. […]

Given our state’s checkerboard pattern of local governance and land-use authorities, addressing this problem requires something more: coordinated action at the state level. Last legislative session, state Rep. Kam Buckner and co-sponsor Rep. Theresa Mah introduced several bills to limit exclusionary zoning in Illinois, including a bill to end the practice of single-family-only zoning restrictions in cities with populations of more than 100,000 people. Under this bill, cities would no longer be allowed to decree that only the most expensive housing — single family homes — can be built and must allow the construction of multifamily housing on residentially zoned land.

Chicago’s state legislators should put their full support behind this bill. It’s a show-don’t-tell moment for all those who claim to support housing affordability, equal opportunity and the need to address the legacy of racial and economic segregation.

* Chicago Ald. Gil Villegas…

As Chicago wrestles with a billion-dollar FY 2025 budget deficit, supporters will join Alderman Gil Villegas (36th Ward) on Wednesday, September 11th, for a press conference to advocate for passage of the data residency ordinance — an ordinance designed to incentivize the storage of city data within city limits, which will support the development of new data centers within Chicago, which can generate millions in new revenue without increasing taxes on residents, while also creating jobs and economic development in underserved communities.

Currently, the city spends hundreds of millions of dollars to store taxpayer data in other cities and states, allowing them to profit from Chicagoans’ data and their tax dollars. At the press conference, prominent leaders from community organizations, faith groups, and businesses will emphasize the importance of storing city data locally to support economic development. The City Chicago Council Economic, Capital and Technology Development Committee will hold a hearing on the ordinance directly following the press conference.

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Now we know why the White Sox built that sandlot

Monday, Sep 9, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* August 30th in the Sun-Times…

The Sox and developer Related Midwest brought their flashy renderings of a potential new South Loop stadium partially to life this week, creating a baseball diamond where players could eventually take the field if the team lands public financing for a ballpark in the vacant parcel known as The 78.

The makeshift South Loop sandlot — which faces northeast, toward a skyline-spanning view, with the Willis Tower looming over left field — solidifies some of the vision released earlier this year in renderings of the park that Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf wants.

It’s situated between Clark Street and the Chicago River south of Roosevelt Road in what the developer has touted as the next addition to Chicago’s roster of 77 official community areas.

While state lawmakers have all but rejected the possibility of dedicating any public money to a stadium — either for the Sox or the Bears, who want a new home of their own — a Related Midwest spokesperson said the developer is having some “fun” with the tantalizing home plate view.

They enlisted longtime White Sox groundskeeper Roger Bossard, known as “The Sodfather,” to make the temporary diamond and “showcase how a baseball field could enhance and fit in with the greater plans for the neighborhood.”

* The sandlot pic…

* On a “related” note, legislators recently received this invite…

“Round the bases and shag ground balls on the diamond with White Sox Greats and Hall of Famers.”

Should be fun, doubt it will work.

  26 Comments      


Energy Storage Now!

Monday, Sep 9, 2024 - Posted by Advertising Department

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Illinois State Police investigation underway, protest planned after newly retired Springfield police officer allegedly severely injured two motorcycle riders (Updated x2)

Monday, Sep 9, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* WCIA…

Two people are in the hospital after a crash involving a retired police Sergeant near Lake Springfield Thursday night.

The Illinois State Police said a Toyota Tundra was traveling north on East Lake Shore Drive near Laconwood Drive around 9:20 p.m. The truck turned left in front of a Kawasaki motorcycle traveling south, failing to yield the right-of-way to the motorcycle. […]

The driver of a Toyota Tundra, 50-year-old former Springfield Police officer Michael Egan, was ticketed for the crash. […]

The police department is undergoing an internal investigation to ensure all policies and procedures were followed. […]

A spokesperson with the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office said their office was not involved in the response to the crash.

* WCIS…

Chelsey Farley and Trevor Hopkins both suffered serious injuries, and their loved ones said they believe the proper measures were not taken hours following the crash. Farley’s sister, Caitlyn Weiss demands answers.

“Our family is just outraged,” Weiss said. “We want accountability and justice from the Springfield department for this type of egregious act, and for all the families who have had this type of trouble and heartache all year.” […]

Both family members said the sergeant was visibly disoriented at the scene.

“It’s been all over social media since 9PM,” Weiss said. “This officer is clearly drunk, clearly stumbling in the videos that everyone can reference and see all over.”

Weiss was shocked by the message she received from the State Police.

“The state police told me that I shouldn’t believe things on social media and that I need to put trust in them,” Weiss said. “They wouldn’t give me an answer, the answer that we all need, of why there was no field sobriety test given to the Springfield police off duty officer.”

Witnesses said Springfield Police arrived on the scene and gave Egan gum and hours to sober up. They also said that responding officers did not give Egan a field sobriety test.

However, according to Attorney Mark Johnson, drivers can legally refuse to take a breathalyzer test. […]

While State Police have taken over the crash investigation, the Springfield Police Department said an internal investigation is underway to make sure proper procedures were taken by the Springfield police officers.

* Videos taken after the crash and posted online by Chelsey Farley’s sister are here.

* SJ-R…

Michael Egan, 50, who had just retired from the police department, was ticketed for failure to yield the right of way, according to a release from the Illinois State Police.

Deputy Chief Sara Pickford of Springfield Police said the on-duty lieutenant at the time, Lt. Grant Barksdale, contacted state police to conduct the traffic crash and a DUI investigation. Pickford said three ISP troopers arrived at the scene at 10:08 p.m. […]

“Both and active and retired law enforcement officers must be held to the same standards to maintain public trust and uphold the integrity of the Springfield Police Department,” SPD Chief Ken Scarlette said.

A protest is scheduled for tonight.

…Adding… Interesting…


…Adding… ISP…

The Illinois State Police (ISP) announces the arrest of 50-year-old Michael A. Egan of Springfield, Illinois, for Aggravated Driving Under the Influence Causing Great Bodily Harm (Class 4 Felony).

On September 5, 2024, at approximately 10:02 p.m., ISP was requested by the Springfield Police Department to conduct a traffic crash investigation in the 400 block of East Lake Shore Drive in Springfield. The preliminary investigation revealed that a 2018 Toyota, driven by Egan, was traveling northbound on E. Lake Shore Drive and a 2004 Kawasaki motorcycle was traveling southbound on East Lake Shore Drive. Egan failed to yield the right-of-way and made a left turn in front of the motorcycle. The motorcycle struck the side of Toyota, and both the driver and passenger were ejected from the motorcycle. Both were transported to an area hospital with serious injuries.

ISP agents obtained search warrants to collect evidence, to include a blood draw which was processed through the ISP Division of Forensic Services. ISP agents presented the evidence to the Sangamon County State’s Attorney’s Office and Egan was charged with one count of Aggravated Driving Under the Influence Causing Great Bodily Harm.

An arrest warrant was issued and on September 9, 2024, at approximately 12:45 pm Egan was taken into custody by ISP and the U.S. Marshals and transported to the Sangamon County Jail. This investigation is ongoing and no further information is available.

  38 Comments      


Is a third term in Gov. Pritzker’s future? Or maybe a Cabinet position?

Monday, Sep 9, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* My weekly syndicated newspaper column…

“It seems crazy, but it’s true that when I serve out the end of this second term, I will be the longest-serving Democratic governor in the history of Illinois,” Gov. JB Pritzker said last month during the Democratic National Convention.

I looked it up and it’s true.

Pat Quinn served about six years as governor, replacing Rod Blagojevich, who also did six years before doing time in prison.

Dan Walker served four years before he also went to prison. Otto Kerner left before the end of his second term to become a federal judge, then went to prison. Sam Shapiro filled out the remainder of that term.

Adlai Stevenson did one term and then ran for president twice.

Henry Horner died before the end of his second term, which John Stelle completed.

Edward Dunne, John Peter Altgeld and Joel Matteson were all one-termers.

Augustus French served seven years because of a change in the new state constitution. The five Democrats before that served one term or less. The state’s earliest governors were members of the Democratic-Republican or Republican-Democratic parties. None served more than four years.

What people wanted to know last month, though, was whether Pritzker wants to try for a third term in two years.

I’m told that one priority for a potential third term could be finally addressing why Illinois has historically lagged the nation in employment.

The state’s unemployment rate in July was 5.2%, which is widely considered to be “full employment” but was still almost a point higher than the national average. And that’s consistent with history.

Pritzker in a recent interview with me pointed to the state’s relatively high labor force participation rate as a reason, but our participation rate really isn’t that much different than lots of other states that have lower unemployment rates.

The governor talked about a third term during a state delegates’ convention breakfast, but cautioned his audience that his wife, MK, was his “term limit,” explaining that if people want him to run again they’ll first have to convince her.

MK grew up in a political household. Her father was chief of staff to South Dakota Gov. Richard Kneip and then ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. Senate. She was a U.S. Senate staffer in D.C. when she met the future governor. This stuff is in her blood.

Mrs. Pritzker has kept a fairly low profile the past six years, fiercely guarding her family’s privacy, particularly during the pandemic. She’s probably best known for throwing huge, swanky parties (including convention week’s Salt Shed soiree featuring John Legend) and for finishing the task of decorating the governor’s mansion and publishing a book about the official residence.

But she made a rare appearance at a bill-signing event this summer to talk about her involvement with incarcerated women. The bill her spouse signed into law provides free identification cards for newly released inmates. Mrs. Pritzker took up the cause of incarcerated women at the beginning of the Pritzker administration.

MK helped set up an ID pilot program at Logan Correctional Center back in 2020 and told reporters at the event that she’d visited women’s prisons more than a dozen times since Gov. Pritzker was sworn in.

She said her focus since her first prison visit in January 2019 “has been on ensuring incarcerated Illinoisans are treated with respect and dignity, and that they are given a real opportunity to rehabilitate and return to post-incarceration life with a chance at avoiding recidivism and making positive change.”

There are no current signs that Mrs. Pritzker is ready to move on to private life. And her spouse clearly appears to be enjoying his current job, regardless of what just happened to his national ambitions with Vice President Kamala Harris’ elevation to presidential nominee.

So, does MK want to move back to Washington, D.C., if Harris wins and if Pritzker is offered a Cabinet position? Or, would she want to continue her work here in Illinois? And would Pritzker himself be happy working for someone else after years of leading a large state? Or does she just want it all to end?

Those are a lot of ifs, starting with Harris’ election and then an actual Pritzker appointment, and if he’d want it. I’ve gone back and forth on this. I thought for a while that I had a good handle on it, but now I’m not so sure.

Let’s see what their options look like in a few months.

  55 Comments      


Open thread

Monday, Sep 9, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

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

  8 Comments      


Isabel’s morning briefing

Monday, Sep 9, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* ICYMI: Ex-AT&T Illinois president in big trouble over ’small contract’ for Madigan ally — trial starts Tuesday. Sun-Times…

AT&T Illinois had finally scored a big win in Springfield in 2017, securing legislation that could help save it millions of dollars with the support of then-Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan.

But its victory came only after the utility agreed to pay $22,500 over nine months to a key Madigan ally. And later that summer, Madigan’s son came calling with another financial request. Paul La Schiazza, the utility’s president at the time, griped that “this will be endless.” […]

Prosecutors say that quip helps prove the $22,500 amounted to a bribe. But soon, it’ll be up to a jury to decide whether they’re right. La Schiazza faces trial Tuesday on a five-count indictment handed up in October 2022 amid the feds’ larger Madigan prosecution.

The trial, expected to take three weeks, is the last of a series of trials set to play out before Madigan faces his own racketeering trial Oct. 8. The once-powerful Southwest Side Democrat is also charged in the alleged scheme involving La Schiazza and AT&T Illinois. The utility previously agreed to pay a $23 million fine.

* Related stories…

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Tribune | Chicago never ready for reform: In the half-century since Mayor Richard J. Daley presided over Chicago’s notorious Democratic machine at the height of its power, nearly 40 aldermen from across the city have ended up behind bars. The roll call of aldermen convicted of corruption includes a father and son charged nearly 30 years apart, the two most powerful aldermen over the last five decades and a self-styled good government champion who was known to some as the “conscience of the council.”

* Crain’s | States that restrict abortion the most support families the least, Northwestern finds: In one of the first studies of its kind, Northwestern Medicine researchers point out a glaring contradiction in the emergence of abortion-restrictive policies across the U.S.: For all the resources some states put into establishing new anti-abortion policies, precious little goes into making childbearing and childrearing easier.

* USA Today | Northern Illinois coach Thomas Hammock emotional after Notre Dame upset: ‘I just couldn’t be more proud’: Every now and again, college football reminds fans that anything can happen in a game. That was proven again Saturday inside Notre Dame Stadium when Northern Illinois knocked off No. 7 Notre Dame 16-14 on Saturday in one of the biggest upsets of the college football season. That also resulted in an emotional postgame interview from Huskies coach Thomas Hammock as he joined NBC’s Zora Stephenson in postgame. A former NIU football player himself, Hammock was brought to tears as he talked about the impact of his team’s victory.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Crain’s | Illinois law mandating abortion coverage doesn’t violate religious freedom, judge rules: “This decision is a win in a years-long fight that is by no means over,” Attorney General Kwame Raoul said in a statement today. “My office is continuing to fight for reproductive care on all fronts because abortion care is health care. Full stop. We are committed to protecting access to comprehensive reproductive health care that includes abortion. However, coverage for reproductive health care is just as critical as access to reproductive health care. We will continue to fight to ensure that all women are able to access the reproductive and abortion care they need and deserve without having to worry about the cost.”

* Journal & Topics | State Rep. Moylan Joins 40 Other Motorcyclists On Trip Down Route 66: Moylan and his fellow travelers rented their motorcycles at Eagleriders on Touhy Avenue in Des Plaines. Most of the participants reached Chicago through O’Hare Airport. Most participants are from Australia, England and Germany. “They love the wide openness of the United States,” remarked Moylan during one of his many stops in the state of Missouri. “For several people this was on their bucket lists.”

*** Statewide ***

* WTTW | Advocates Seek Mandatory Training for Illinois Judges, Attorneys on Legal Needs of LGBTQ+ People: A letter to Illinois’ Supreme Court justices sent in late August by a couple dozen organizations says that mandatory cultural competency instruction is “imperative, especially at this time when we’re experiencing a fierce onslaught of anti-equality and anti-healthcare legislation and laws being advanced and passed across the country.” The campaign aligns with resolutions adopted this spring by the Illinois House and Senate that call on the Illinois Supreme Court and the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission to require LBGTQ+ and HIV cultural sensitivity training.

* Daily Herald | Who are the top federal campaign donors from Illinois?: The nearly $72 million a Lake Forest billionaire and his wife have contributed to federal candidates and groups this election cycle is significantly greater than any other Illinoisans’ donations, data from an independent research group shows. The total makes Republican benefactors Richard and Elizabeth Uihlein the nation’s third-most prolific campaign donors ahead of the Nov. 5 election, according to OpenSecrets, a nonprofit group that tracks money in American politics.

*** Chicago ***

* Tribune | CTA Blue Line slayings, while unprecedented, are unsurprising to homeless, advocates: ‘You shouldn’t dread getting on the train’: Betty Bogg remembered how excited Margaret Miller and her husband were when they landed a place to stay at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic. […] Bogg and her colleagues were devastated to learn last week that Miller was one of four people shot and killed as they slept on the train early Monday morning in one of the deadliest acts of violence on a CTA train in recent memory. Bogg said she had never heard of a client “executed” on public transit. But premature deaths among the homeless population that Connections serves are all too familiar.

* Tribune | CTA boosted security spending, but violent crime rate remains above pre-pandemic levels: A gunman’s attack on four people sleeping on the Blue Line early Monday came during a difficult week on the CTA, highlighting the challenges city and transit officials face in tackling violent crime rates that have remained persistently higher than before the pandemic. The likelihood of being a victim of violent crime on the “L” remained lower through the first six months of 2024 than highs seen in the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic, but a Tribune analysis shows that reported transit crime has stayed stubbornly above pre-pandemic levels. And reports of gun crimes such as shootings, armed robberies or attempted armed robberies, while relatively rare, have also remained stubbornly high compared to the past decade.

* WBEZ | Homeless hotline partly restarted 2 months after closing: A hotline to help Chicago’s homeless population find housing is up and running this week after being shut down at the end of June, though the service has been scaled back. The Sun-Times reported last month that a call center — an important first step toward getting unhoused people off the streets — abruptly shut down June 30 with little warning.

* Tribune | Cannabis Research Institute opens in Chicago, looking to dig deep into marijuana: Nearly a year and a half after it was announced, the Cannabis Research Institute is getting operations underway in Chicago, with the goal of studying, among other things, how marijuana could help or harm people. The institute’s leader hopes to break new ground in finding medical uses for cannabis, possibly for the treatment of cancer. Researchers also can help with the creation of a new state reference lab to check for accuracy in the testing of commercial pot. And they could track down a virus that threatens to ruin crops.

* Sun-Times | It won’t always look like this for Bears, rookie QB Caleb Williams as they sneak by Titans 24-17: Even with the enormous expectations for rookie quarterback Caleb Williams, the Bears hoped to bring him along gradually, making sure they didn’t ask too much of him too soon. Williams, who doesn’t need to be the reason they win yet, certainly wasn’t the reason Sunday as the Bears wrested momentum from the Titans late and escaped with a 24-17 victory to open the season. The Bears’ only touchdowns came on defense and special teams, and their three scoring drives — all Cairo Santos field goals — averaged 24 yards.

* Tribune | Chicago Sky rookie Angel Reese suffers a season-ending wrist injury, bringing her record-breaking year to an unexpected finish: Coach Teresa Weatherspoon declined to give details of Reese’s injury ahead of Sunday’s game against the Dallas Wings. Reese sat on the sidelines in street clothes and shot baskets with her right hand ahead of the game. She will continue to attend all home games for the Sky, but the team has not determined if she will travel for any remaining road games. From her debut for the Sky, Reese dominated the boards on both ends of the court, leading the league in rebounds with 446. Reese broke the league’s single-season rebounding record in one of her final games.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Crain’s | South suburban towns get crushed by the weight of heavy property taxes: In late June and early July, property owners in Chicago’s southern suburbs found shocking news in their mailboxes. Cook County had mailed residential property tax bills bearing increases larger than any in at least 29 years, with a median rise of 19.9%. Hit hardest were majority-Black municipalities with populations whose median household incomes range from $24,500 to $69,700. The skyrocketing increases in those towns of over 30% could force many of the region’s low-income residents to choose between taking on unsustainable debt and losing their homes. Property tax inequity is another example of how systems impose extra costs on Black homeowners and renters, putting low-income families — and entire communities — in precariously unstable financial situations.

* Daily Herald | Liquor at the library? Geneva set to approve license request: The library district’s initial fee will be $700, then $500 per year for an annual renewal fee, Dawkins said. The library’s liquor license is similar to one the council previously approved for the Geneva Park District, also for its events and fundraisers, officials said.

* Daily Herald | Amid 708 board flap, Democrats mount Wheeling Twp. challenge: Amid ongoing controversy over funding for mental health services, Wheeling Township Democrats plan to run a slate of challengers for township board seats in the April election. The upcoming race could turn into a second referendum on the township’s 708 mental health board. Voters in 2022 approved a referendum creating the board and a tax to fund it, but the township board has refused to levy that tax.

*** Downstate ***

* News Channel 20 | Retired Springfield Sergeant under DUI investigation: Chelsey Farley and Trevor Hopkins both suffered serious injuries, and their loved ones said they believe the proper measures were not taken hours following the crash. Farley’s sister, Caitlyn Weiss demands answers. […] “The state police told me that I shouldn’t believe things on social media and that I need to put trust in them,” Weiss said. “They wouldn’t give me an answer, the answer that we all need, of why there was no field sobriety test given to the Springfield police off duty officer.” Witnesses said Springfield Police arrived on the scene and gave Egan gum and hours to sober up. They also said that responding officers did not give Egan a field sobriety test.

* WICS | Sangamon County narrows down sheriff candidates to seven finalists: Interviews with the finalists will begin next week, and each candidate will undergo a comprehensive background check. […] In a joint statement, Chairman Van Meter and Committee Chairman Kelley said, “We are truly thankful for the interest and willingness to serve shown by so many candidates. The Sheriff’s Office is crucial to public safety and community trust, and we are confident that from these seven finalists, we will find the best person to lead with integrity and transparency.”

* Rock River Current | Rockford Sets Out Plan For Spending New Wave Of Hard Rock Casino Revenue: The city has set forward its plans for spending the guaranteed $7 million in annual Hard Rock Casino gaming revenue by expanding a college scholarship program, investing in economic development in high-risk neighborhoods, contributing toward police and firefighter pensions and supporting arts and culture, among other initiatives. The plan was released Friday in anticipation for City Council members to begin discussing the proposal from Mayor Tom McNamara’s administration during Monday’s meeting of the Finance & Personnel Committee. The plan requires City Council approval, and Monday’s meeting is the start of those public discussions.

* KHQA | Western Illinois University sees 6.2% increase in high-performing admits for Fall 2024: Western Illinois University’s Fall 2024 total new student (freshman, transfer and graduate for Macomb, Quad Cities and online) enrollment is 1,729, according to 10th-day data released by WIU’s Institutional Research and Planning. Western’s total Fall 2024 enrollment is 6,332.

* WCIA | Lincoln Fire Dept. details fire response, thanks community in press release: A total of five trucks were positioned around the building, including ladder units that could provide an elevated position to shoot water streams from. Johnson said these aerial units were requested to be on standby in the event firefighters had to switch a defensive attack from the outside of the building. That happened after about 90 minutes of fighting the fire on the inside, Johnson said. Firefighters were also positioned in neighboring buildings on the block to prevent the fire from spreading. Thermal imaging from a drone also helped firefighters direct water streams, as visibility was extremely poor due to the smoke.

* WCIA | Champaign County Clerk stresses importance, appreciation of election judges: The State Board of Elections has launched a social media campaign to stress the integrity of the voting process. Several Facebook posts highlight voter registration, election judge safety and warn of misinformation. In Champaign County, Clerk and Recorder Aaron Ammons stressed the importance of supporting local election workers. He said his office expects to have about 325 election judges working this year.

* WCIA | New Macon County early voting facility ready for election season: Board member Debra Kraft says work on the new building started a year ago. “I was very disappointed that we didn’t have it ready for the primary,” Kraft said. “However, I’m very ecstatic that I mean, this is a big election, the general election year.”

* WSIL | Carbondale salon debuts new name in push for confidence among LGBT+ patrons: The E. Claire Salon changed it’s name to E ² Salon, pronounced E squared Salon, to honor the founders Elizabeth and Chrissy Strusz’ teen. “This name change is particularly personal and significant,” said Strusz. “As a proud member of the LGBTQIA+ community, I believe that if we say we support our trans community, it must start at home.

* WSIL | Dolly Parton library passes 6,000 registrations before first shipment: Over 6,000 children in our region have joined the Dolly Parton Imagination Library since it came to Southern Illinois two months ago. […] “We are thrilled to see the overwhelming response from families in Southern Illinois,” said the Southern Illinois branch of the Imagination Library. “Reaching over 6,000 children is a testament to the community’s commitment to nurturing a love of reading and supporting the educational growth of our youngest learners.”

*** National ***

* NYT | Missouri Judge Rules That Abortion Ballot Measure Is Invalid: With the state scheduled to print ballots on Tuesday, the judge said he would wait until then to issue an injunction instructing the secretary of state to remove the measure that was certified last month. That will give the abortion rights groups a chance to appeal to a higher court. The coalition behind the measure vowed to do so immediately, calling the ruling “a profound injustice to the initiative process.” They have expressed optimism that the appeals court will be more sympathetic to their arguments.

* AP News | Google faces new antitrust trial after ruling declaring search engine a monopoly: The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintains a monopoly over the technology that matches online publishers to advertisers. Dominance over the software on both the buy side and the sell side of the transaction enables Google to keep as much as 36 cents on the dollar when it brokers sales between publishers and advertisers, the government contends in court papers.

  8 Comments      


Live coverage

Monday, Sep 9, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

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

  Comments Off      


Selected press releases (Live updates)

Monday, Sep 9, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

  Comments Off      


« NEWER POSTS PREVIOUS POSTS »
* Selected react to budget reconciliation bill passage (Updated x3)
* Reader comments closed for Independence Day
* SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Some fiscal news
* Isabel’s afternoon roundup (Updated)
* RETAIL: Strengthening Communities Across Illinois
* Groups warn about plan that doesn't appear to be in the works
* SB 328: Separating Lies From Truth
* Campaign news: Big Raja money; Benton over-shares; Rashid's large cash pile; Jeffries to speak at IDCCA brunch
* Rep. Hoan Huynh jumps into packed race for Schakowsky’s seat (Updated)
* Roundup: Pritzker taps Christian Mitchell for LG
* Open thread
* Isabel’s morning briefing
* SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Supplement to today’s edition (Updated)
* SUBSCRIBERS ONLY - Today's edition of Capitol Fax (use all CAPS in password)
* Selected press releases (Live updates)
* Live coverage
* Trump admin freezes $240 million in grants for Illinois K-12 schools
* Yesterday's stories

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