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* Howdy, have you heard about anything interesting going on in Illinois?

posted by Isabel Miller
Thursday, Nov 17, 22 @ 8:26 am

Comments

High school football playoffs. I’ve got two teams in the semi-finals. My alma mater and the one I pay taxes to.

Comment by very old soil Thursday, Nov 17, 22 @ 8:42 am
Christmas trains…Metra…to go along with the L. Moving cheer is always fun.

Comment by Amalia Thursday, Nov 17, 22 @ 9:06 am
Chicago Board of Elections is looking for part-time help leading up to the election(s). $17 per hour.

Comment by Big Dipper Thursday, Nov 17, 22 @ 9:37 am
Thanksgiving came early. I’m grateful I could finally pay my 2nd installment Cook County property tax. Also the increase was minimal (@12% or so)

Comment by cermak_rd Thursday, Nov 17, 22 @ 9:49 am
Amtrak cancelled all the morning trains between Quincy & Chicago until mid-January. Not enough engineers to run the trains.

Comment by Highland IL Thursday, Nov 17, 22 @ 10:18 am
Madison County now has a Republican Chief Circuit Judge for the first time ever. Might’ve been Proft’s only victory this cycle.

Comment by MadCo Thursday, Nov 17, 22 @ 10:18 am
I’m kinda surprised that in all the coverage of the FTX debacle, no story I’ve seen has mentioned that all Major League Baseball umpires have worn the FTX logo on their uniform this season. Kinda like sponsors logos on racecars, or the Motorola logo on the Bull’s uniforms.

Comment by Behind the Scenes Thursday, Nov 17, 22 @ 10:45 am
“Not enough engineers to run the trains.”

Pritzker’s two person crew law certainly didn’t help.

Comment by Downstate Thursday, Nov 17, 22 @ 10:56 am
===Pritzker’s two person crew law certainly didn’t help.===

Isn’t there the threat of a national strike as the undercurrent?

Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Nov 17, 22 @ 11:06 am
==Pritzker’s two person crew law certainly didn’t help.==

Any such law would be irrelevant here because passenger trains have to have a conductor to collect tickets, announce train stops, etc. One person crews would be an engineer only. I am not aware of any passenger trains in the nation that operate with the only qualified train crew member being an engineer. (This does not include rapid transit trains where the motorman handles all responsibilities.)

Comment by stateandlake Thursday, Nov 17, 22 @ 11:25 am
OW - I should have added that the national shortage in railroad crews is the primary cause here. All the Class I railroads are experiencing this, and Amtrak operating crews are no different.

The strike is more a result of the shortage than a cause. Crew shortages have resulted in excessive workloads for the crews that are available and have created major QOL issues. Meanwhile railroads are booking record profits. Attrition rates are high. Employees are saying, enough is enough.

Comment by stateandlake Thursday, Nov 17, 22 @ 11:30 am
MadCo - This has more to do with a total lack of a opposition party by the Democrats. They ceded the field a long time ago to the MadCo GOP. JB and the state party may want to look at some party buidling here in Madison County.

Comment by Highland IL Thursday, Nov 17, 22 @ 11:50 am
===The strike is more a result of the shortage than a cause. Crew shortages have resulted in excessive workloads for the crews that are available and have created major QOL issues.===

The dog caught its tail… and is going around in a circle, tail in the mouth…

Pritzker being blamed seems partisan short sidedness and untrue?

Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Nov 17, 22 @ 12:05 pm
=== Madison County now has a Republican Chief Circuit Judge for the first time ever. Might’ve been Proft’s only victory this cycle. ===

Proft had nothing to do with the success of the three GOP judges in Madison County. Credit goes to the Sholar campaign, the smart people who led the Sholar campaign, and to the local Democrats who created a flawed subcircuit plan so reviled by people in Madison County that voters rejected three Democrat judge candidates in the most Democrat-friendly part of the County.

There are several interesting General Assembly initiated map changes that cut against historical precedent and did not produce intended results this cycle. In Madison County, the attempt to force three judicial subcircuit seats immediately in the one Democratic subcircuit led not to more racial diversity on the court, but instead to more partisan diversity on the court. In St. Clair County, the move in the 114 that resulted in Greenwood’s loss was an attempt to keep three House seats Democrat, when there is only enough population in the metro-east for 2.5 Democratic seats. Either Greenwood, Hoffman or Stuart were going to have a tougher time getting re-elected. Hoffman coasted, Stuart survived, and Greenwood got tossed.

The results of these two changes to metro-east politics are certainly ironic considering that the same General Assembly initiated both changes. And, more ironic, it will be unlikely to see a proposal to establish three subcircuit districts in St. Clair County, where demographic concentrations would likely yield much greater results regarding diversity.

Comment by Geezus Thursday, Nov 17, 22 @ 1:07 pm
My partner is listening to a somewhat circuitous statement by Pat Quinn. I haven’t been paying enough attention to know what he is making a statement about (he’s talking property taxes, term limits for mayor…) I think he might be announcing a run for something but he hasn’t gotten there yet.

Comment by cermak_rd Thursday, Nov 17, 22 @ 1:52 pm
Now Quinn is wanting reform of the signature process for mayor (because we really need a primary with 100 people in it) and now he is talking about wanting to increase referenda on the ballot (I do not want to be CA!). And how it appears to be too high of property taxes.

Comment by cermak_rd Thursday, Nov 17, 22 @ 2:02 pm
==The dog caught its tail… and is going around in a circle, tail in the mouth…
Pritzker being blamed seems partisan short sidedness and untrue?=

Exactly.

Comment by stateandlake Thursday, Nov 17, 22 @ 5:36 pm