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Isabel’s morning briefing

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Illinois

* Here you go…

Tribune | Gov. J.B. Pritzker says Brandon Johnson’s victory part of a ‘sea change’ in Midwestern politics:

* The Pantagraph | Chicago’s mayor still matters in Springfield — but not like it used to: “Looking at it historically, the mayor of Chicago has about maybe 10% of the influence now, the impact in Springfield now, than when I started as a reporter 50 some years ago,” said Charlie Wheeler, retired director of the public affairs reporting program at the University of Illinois Springfield.

* Center Square | Illinois hopes to lure renewable energy storage companies to the state: State Sen. Bill Cunningham, D-Chicago, who has introduced Senate Bill 1587, said not enough attention is being paid to energy storage. “The essence of the bill is that it would require the Illinois Power Agency to facilitate the procurement of energy storage credits in order to promote storage,” Cunningham said.

* Lake County News-Sun | Lake Forest High students stage gun control walkout a day after Highland Park lockdowns; ‘We cannot accept this as normal’: Close to 100 Lake Forest High students walked out of school Wednesday in calling for a national ban on assault weapons and other action to prevent gun violence, a day after a Highland Park High student brought a gun into the building, triggering lockdowns there and in nearby schools and public facilities.

* Axios | Illinois to get more lead removal money: Illinois will get an extra $143 million for lead water line removal this year in the wake of new changes to the federal funding formula that now take into account how bad the lead problem is in each state.

* KFVS | First trans person to serve on a city council in Illinois elected in Carbondale: Killman said she came to Carbondale seeking a better life, and did not imagine she would be rewarded with the opportunity to give back to the city. “The prospect of being the first transgender person ever elected to a city council in Illinois is one that I hope will stand as a testament to what it means to be an Illinoisan,” Killman said.

* Daily Herald | ‘We have a lot of healing to do’: Incumbents hanging on in contentious Barrington 220 race: In a contentious race that hit upon many of the culture war issues being debated across the country and drew the attention of national conservative groups and the state Democratic party, it was the candidate preaching unity who claimed the most votes Tuesday.

* Illinois Answers Project | Bill for New State-Backed Tax Credit Could Yield Thousands More Affordable Units per Year: New housing construction has lagged for residents across the income spectrum for decades — especially in Illinois, where the D.C.-based nonprofit Up for Growth calculated a unit underproduction of 120,000 homes last year. The shortage is especially acute for low-income renters, who are often unable to afford to live in buildings without government subsidies. The advocacy group Housing Action Illinois last month counted more than 450,000 “extremely low-income” renter households in the state, but only about 150,000 affordable rental units available to them.

* Tribune | Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson will face early examination from newly emboldened City Council: And a majority of the council just last week got a jump on the new term by throwing down their own council reorganization plan. In their latest bid to prove they’re more than patsies for the fifth floor, aldermen vastly expanded the number of council committees and handed out chairmanships to themselves rather than waiting for Johnson to do so. It will be up to Johnson to respond to that proposal. But while veteran aldermen expect him to soon proffer his own committee leadership plan, they may not be as willing to hand the keys to him as they have for decades when mayors dictated council committee leadership posts.

* Shaw Local | Did you vote? Would a cookie have changed your mind?: Two-plus decades spent encouraging readers to make positive societal contributions by providing a pint or marking a ballot yields plenty of thoughtful explanations for why people don’t engage in one or both, which serves as a helpful reminder my experiences are mine alone, and perhaps the fact voting took five minutes and giving blood about 30 doesn’t come close to moving someone else’s needle.

* Tribune | A Winnetka man spent years trying to prove he had found a Raphael painting. Was he right?: Twenty-seven years, reams of research and hundreds of thousands of dollars later, Ayers’ associates have come forward to claim the artwork, called the Flaget Madonna, as a work from the studio of Raphael, an Italian painter from the High Renaissance. They were convinced to go public with the attribution after an AI brushstroke analysis deduced that at least two of the faces in the painting matched Raphael’s known handiwork. The rest of the panel was likely painted by multiple hands, common in studio works of the period.

* Sun-Times | Deerfield rabbi emphasizes “empathy,” “justice” during Passover Seder: Serotta said celebrating Passover is about “empathy” and “asking questions.” He added that the holiday encourages people to find a “connection to the creator” and “relive the exodus.”

* ProPublica | Clarence Thomas and the Billionaire: In late June 2019, right after the U.S. Supreme Court released its final opinion of the term, Justice Clarence Thomas boarded a large private jet headed to Indonesia. He and his wife were going on vacation: nine days of island-hopping in a volcanic archipelago on a superyacht staffed by a coterie of attendants and a private chef.

* Tribune | After the Golden Gloves fights were over, these boxers went on to other successes — as judges, business owners and the creator of ‘Riverdance’: As a young man, one of five children reared in the Maxwell Street area, he competed in the first Golden Gloves amateur boxing tournament in Chicago in 1923. Though he never won a championship, he boxed many times as an amateur. More than once, he told me that “boxing helped to make me the man I am.”

posted by Isabel Miller
Thursday, Apr 6, 23 @ 7:43 am

Comments

Re:Sun-Times on Passover

“We pray that our experience tonight helps us ignite the spark of justice within each of us, Serotta said during his service.”

Nice story, especially for those unfamiliar with the Jewish faith.

Comment by H-W Thursday, Apr 6, 23 @ 8:06 am
Thanks to Sherman Dilla Thomas I learned recently that Golden Gloves started here. And today thanks to Isabel I learned that Michael Flatley was a Golden Gloves boxer for a minute. “known for his quickness and footwork” I’ll bet!

Comment by Loyal Virus Thursday, Apr 6, 23 @ 8:07 am
===* Tribune | Gov. J.B. Pritzker says Brandon Johnson’s victory part of a ‘sea change’ in Midwestern politics: “I do believe that this is a change for the city, something new. But you know what? It’s a new generation of voters that came to the polls,” Pritzker said during an unrelated news conference on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus. “I think he’s part of a kind of a sea change that’s going on in what I guess politically we’d all call ‘the Blue Wall.’ ”===

To the “Blue Wall” and the overreaching thoughts to a Democratic Party in Chicago that still embraced the worst ilk in society, embracing them in a coalition, I dunno what that says to an overall in that…

… but I will say this;

Vallas was the choice of “Democrats past”

There was ZERO thought to “future, vision, tomorrow”

Vallas was the candidate if you like an old shoe, ratty coat, faded jeans. Vallas was never about “what could be”

In that, Pritzker is spot on perfect.

The older angry white Dems that are now talking of “leaving Chicago” and told of “nuance” because “Bailey is better than Brandon” when picking Dem allies… it’s a huge new day. Change isn’t coming, it’s likely already passed by those who yearned for “Daley Days” again.

Pritzker understands the real new politics of today, and tomorrow.

Folks like Durbin seemingly only understand that they can’t comprehend it’s not the 1990s

Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, Apr 6, 23 @ 8:12 am
As a downstate Democrat, the sea change I’ve seen is a continued hold on urban areas by the Democratic party, a shift in the suburbs and complete abandonment of the rural areas. Downstate Dems have to run against their party more often as they run with it.

Comment by Publius Thursday, Apr 6, 23 @ 9:18 am
===Downstate Dems have to run against their party more often as they run with it===

That’s quite an exaggeration. Maybe less coffee.

Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Apr 6, 23 @ 9:23 am
A class act, that Clarence Thomas. /s

Comment by Techie Thursday, Apr 6, 23 @ 9:31 am
-The older angry white Dems that are now talking of “leaving Chicago”-

That would help Brandon Johnson win an even bigger majority in 2027 election.

Comment by Steve Thursday, Apr 6, 23 @ 9:47 am
I am with @Techie, the Clarence Thomas story is astounding. As a USSC justice, truthfulness should be a constant. It sounds like thomas and friend are not.

Comment by JS Mill Thursday, Apr 6, 23 @ 9:52 am
Energy storage should be a top priority for the state. The state should standardize the zoning and tax breaks statewide. They shouldn’t be totally tax exempt, but on the other hand their projects are not going to result in large increases school budgets.

Comment by DuPage Thursday, Apr 6, 23 @ 10:23 am
=Thanks to Sherman Dilla Thomas I learned recently that Golden Gloves started here. And today thanks to Isabel I learned that Michael Flatley was a Golden Gloves boxer for a minute.=

So was Blago during his brief boxing “career”:
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2009-01-04-0901040071-story.html

Comment by Stuck in Celliniland Thursday, Apr 6, 23 @ 10:24 am
I wonder if Brad Halbrook will ask Clarence Thomas if he’s going to recuse himself from future cases involving donors.

Comment by Steve Rogers Thursday, Apr 6, 23 @ 10:36 am
Is anyone surprised when Clarence Thomas does inappropriate or unethical things? It’s his brand.

Comment by Big Dipper Thursday, Apr 6, 23 @ 10:41 am
== As a downstate Democrat, the sea change I’ve seen is a continued hold on urban areas by the Democratic party, a shift in the suburbs and complete abandonment of the rural areas ==

Did the Democrats abandon the rural areas, or did the rural areas abandon the Democrats? Because policy-wise, the only party I see working to improve anything in rural areas - be it infrastructure, wages, etc. - is the Democratic Party, yet fake moral panic issues and cries of election fraud seem to be all I hear about from the GOP around me down here.

Comment by Leap Day William Thursday, Apr 6, 23 @ 10:45 am
===As a USSC justice, truthfulness should be a constant. It sounds like thomas and friend are not.===

I try not to be TOO cynical (and I’ve already been told I’m way too cynical about Clarence Thomas twice this morning), but it was super-clear the dude perjured himself during his confirmation hearings (as did Kavanaugh, IMO). There’s a reason the right wing members of the Court have been fighting so hard against binding ethics and disclosure rules for the Supreme Court.

There haven’t been any consequences up until now, and I don’t believe there will be now. Congress is too gerrymandered to successfully convict anybody they impeach, and Republicans no longer have the kind of personal shame that would lead them to resign.

He’ll be protected by the party, nothing will happen, and the Supreme Court — and with it, our entire justice system — will continue to lose legitimacy in the eyes of the nation, who will be less and less willing to defer to police, take disputes to court, or obey controversial laws. It’s not going to be great.

Comment by Suburban Mom Thursday, Apr 6, 23 @ 11:28 am
The Golden Gloves article omitted reference to one of their most notable participants Fighting Rod Blagojevich….

Comment by Friendly Bob Adams Thursday, Apr 6, 23 @ 11:44 am
Every time I see JB on the news, I see a man who is empathetic, sensible (see latest in Sherman), and coming into his own. Such an antidote to the offerings from the other side. Now a little more attention to administrating would be helpful…

Comment by Jibba Thursday, Apr 6, 23 @ 12:07 pm
==The Golden Gloves article omitted reference to one of their most notable participants Fighting Rod Blagojevich==

But I found one instead (from the Jan. 3, 2009 Trib FWIW), during the midst of his arrest aftermath and leadup to impeachment. I linked it in my 10:24 reply.

Love this line near the end of the article: “Another coach, Pat LaCassa, told the Tribune in 2006 that Blagojevich, who had a short boxing career, lost his final fight because he kept his gloves up to defend his face.”

Sounds like the hairdo was already in place by the late 70s.

Comment by Stuck in Celliniland Thursday, Apr 6, 23 @ 12:20 pm
=Fighting Rod Blagojevich=
=lost his final fight because he kept his gloves up to defend his face=

More like “Fightin’ Rod the Wuss.”

Comment by Stuck in Celli Thursday, Apr 6, 23 @ 3:06 pm