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* Thoughts?…
Democratic Illinois House Speaker Welch bought blue checks for *both* of his accounts pic.twitter.com/ZAc38sEGc5
— Capitol Fax (@capitolfax) April 20, 2023
* Good morning!…
* Crain’s | Brandon Johnson faces tough choice as the search for the next Chicago police chief moves forward: Johnson won an historic election campaigning on a vision for a new approach to public safety that de-emphasizes hiring more police officers to solve Chicago’s crime issues and instead reorganizing the department to focus on solving violent crime while investing in public programs that tackle the so-called root causes of crime. That approach will face scrutiny when Johnson takes office May 15 as Chicago heads into the summer months, when violent crime typically spikes, giving a new superintendent little runway to form a strategy to combat violence in both the immediate and long term.
* Tribune | Commission aiding in police superintendent search will weigh candidate plans for controlling youth gatherings: “There’s a number of issues that we face in our city and, (with) each of them, we plan on asking superintendent candidates how they would handle the situation,” Driver said. And that includes, he said, the type of chaos seen in the Loop last weekend, which police struggled to handle.
* Tribune | Chicago police investigating officers’ response to mob attack in Loop after witness says police declined to help: As the attack unfolded, police failed to respond to calls for help and even drove past, said Lenora Dennis, who witnessed the beating and helped the couple get to safety. “It makes me feel scared. It terrifies me that people are either asleep at the wheel or that they’re willfully blind,” Dennis told the Tribune on Wednesday.
* CBS Chicago | Chicago pastors to lead hundreds downtown in response to last weekend’s Loop chaos: Some of the pastors said they feel responsible for what happened over the weekend because the teens in those videos are from their communities. “I was disappointed, hurt by it. because that is not the character of our young people.” Bishop Dr. Horace Smith of Apostolic Faith Church said he felt accountable after watching teens jump on a CTA bus and learning two boys were shot during the Loop take over.
* Daily Southtown | Studies said to build airport near Peotone. So why is state considering alternate uses for land?: Businesses are clamoring to ship medicine, produce, high-tech machine parts and other freight by air into the Chicago area. The pie is growing, and if the state doesn’t build the South Suburban Airport Illinois will likely lose business the Gary/Chicago International Airport in Indiana.
* Jim Dey | Union chapter president’s thefts cost far more than money: Byron Clemons Sr. of Alton should have remembered that. If he had, he wouldn’t be in quite as much legal trouble. He pleaded guilty April 11 to “transportation of stolen money.” That’s fed speak for embezzling more than $202,100 from the AFSCME union chapter in Alton and spending much of it at casinos across the river in Missouri.
* WTVO | Empower Illinois wants to give more kids the chance to go to private school: mpower Illinois has a mission to provide kids from low-income and working-class families the chance to have a quality education by giving them private school scholarships. Anthony Holter, President of Empower Illinois shares how great it is to partner with a school like Kikifers Entrepreneurial Academy to match kids with the best education for them.
* SJ-R | Crime victims call for expanded protections, rights at Capitol rally: While the focus on the rally centered on the victims, Thomas said CSSJ was also working with lawmakers on a bill regarding rehabilitation of the incarcerated. House Bill 3026 from state Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago, would amend the Earned Discretionary Sentence Credit — where incarcerated individuals can reduce their sentence if permitted by the Illinois Department of Corrections — to allow for time served in county jail to be included in the 60-day minimum before a credit can be awarded
* Sun-Times | City went too far in worker crackdown over COVID vaccines, judge rules: The decision in a case before the Illinois Labor Relations Board applies to city workers represented by trade unions or by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. The unions banded together to challenge regulations Mayor Lori Lightfoot imposed starting in 2021.
* WAND | Survivors advocate for bereavement expansion, rehabilitation access for returning citizens: Hundreds of survivors of gun violence, domestic abuse, and sexual assault rallied at the Illinois Capitol Thursday afternoon to demand stronger public safety reforms. “We cannot leave crime victims behind. We also must make sure that communities have the resources that they need,” said Aswad Thomas, a gun violence survivor and the national director of Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice. “So here in the state of Illinois, we’ve expanded the trauma recovery center model.”
* Chicago Reader | ‘Why you talking to a bum?’: When the very presence of unhoused people on the CTA is considered a public safety concern, who is the public, and what are we keeping them safe from?
* The Marshall Project | The War On Gun Violence Has Failed. And Black Men Are Paying The Price: A Marshall Project analysis found that from 2010 to 2022, the police made more than 38,000 arrests for illegal gun possession. These arrests — almost always a felony — doubled during this timeframe. While illegal possession is the most serious offense in most of the cases we analyzed, the charges often bear misleading names that imply violence, like “aggravated unlawful use of a weapon.”
* Block Club Chicago | Chicago Solidarity Collective Wins $2.25 Million To Hire Formerly Incarcerated Black Chicagoans Into Workers’ Co-Ops: The Chicago Solidarity Collective — a joint effort by Urban Growers Collective, ChiFresh Kitchen, the Women’s Justice Institute, Grow Greater Englewood and Upside Down Consulting — won $2.25 million from JPMorgan Chase’s Annual Challenge competition.
* Tribune | Illinois spring housing market started early, with monthly sale and price increases expected as season continues: Illinois Realtors found that as of March, the median price of a home in the city of Chicago was $334,000, up from $312,500 in February. It was $310,000 for the Chicago metro area and $259,000 statewide in March, and $290,000 and $240,000, respectively, in February.
* Sun-Times | James Eisenberg, who ran Vienna Beef, loved his hot dogs, dead at 92: He knew how to do every job there before he and Jim Bodman bought the Chicago company in 1982. To celebrate, they had steaks — not hot dogs — at Gene & Georgetti.
* My Radio Link | First Lady MK Pritzker Opens Her Door to Illinois’ Cultural Community, Honors Artist Richard Hunt: Illinois First Lady MK Pritzker will host a cocktail reception at the Governor’s Mansion the evening of Monday, April 24, 2023, to welcome Illinois’ cultural leaders attending the “One State Conference and Capital Day” in Springfield. Inside, the First Lady will deliver a proclamation honoring world-renowned sculptor Richard Hunt and will declare April 24, 2023, Richard Hunt Day in Illinois.
* USA Today | North Carolina man in custody in connection with shooting of 6-year-old, parents: Robert Louis Singletary allegedly shot a 6-year-old girl and her parents after their basketball rolled into his yard and the family went to retrieve it, according to local WBTV and WSOC-TV. Singletary turned himself in to police in Tampa, Florida, on Thursday afternoon after a search, the Gaston County Police Department in North Carolina said.
posted by Isabel Miller
Friday, Apr 21, 23 @ 7:55 am
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Perhaps the most alarming thing in these handful of stories is that people are being shot without so much as a verbal warning. That is twisted. You have a gun. You can say something to resolve some issue you might have when you don’t recognize someone at your door or on your property. Instead, it’s “shoot first and never ask any questions later.” Lazy and stupid on top of being dangerous.
Comment by Torco Sign Friday, Apr 21, 23 @ 8:12 am
== No other IL legislative leader has done so, as far as I can tell==
“Oh, come on guys, you all said you were gonna do it. I think you up”
Comment by Bruce( no not him) Friday, Apr 21, 23 @ 8:43 am
Dang it. “I think you set me up”
Comment by Bruce( no not him) Friday, Apr 21, 23 @ 8:44 am
=== Thoughts?…===
Would have been better to de-platform Twitter than give money to the organization that started using twitter to push right wing content to my phone that I never received before Elon bought it.
Comment by Candy Dogood Friday, Apr 21, 23 @ 8:46 am
It still seems unlikely that the Peotone airport will ever be built.
Comment by Friendly Bob Adams Friday, Apr 21, 23 @ 9:33 am
Speaker Welch say it isn’t so. That you would waste campaign, or even worse, state money to cave to Musk mania makes me blue.
Comment by Norseman Friday, Apr 21, 23 @ 9:46 am
Elon Musk has a stilted view of “free speech” creating a platform where the worst of society can spew hateful divisive rhetoric while simultaneously demonizing organizations like NPR and PBS. I understand the reach of Twitter but Welch likely could have used this as an opportunity to draw attention to the divisive nature of Musk and Twitter instead of giving it more legitimacy.
Comment by Pundent Friday, Apr 21, 23 @ 10:13 am
Meanwhile Tesla under performs again and SpaceX blows one up.
Musk is as big a grifter as Trump.
Comment by Flyin' Elvis'-Utah Chapter Friday, Apr 21, 23 @ 10:25 am
Bad move by Walsh. Musk is a hater and the epitome of privilege. The dude don’t like speech moderation rules of a private company so he buys the company to open the door to bigotry and fascism.
Comment by Grandson of Man Friday, Apr 21, 23 @ 10:25 am
Everyone needs to get over themselves. The purpose of Twitter is to get your message out to your constituents. Constituents are going to use it regardless of your feelings about Elon Musk. Also, think about all of the journalists that use it as well. We wouldn’t have had the extensive, real time coverage of the ComEd Trial if not for Twitter. You can maximize the effectiveness of your Twitter account without agreeing with Musk.
Comment by Hannibal Lecter Friday, Apr 21, 23 @ 10:30 am
Nice obit for Mr. Eisenberg. He sounds like he was a real character. CEOs could learn from him. He did every job in the place and encouraged his son to do the same.
And a hotdog for “dessert” after going out so he could taste the end product! That’s dedication.
Comment by cermak_rd Friday, Apr 21, 23 @ 10:34 am
Isabel. Thank you, and God bless you for sharing the Chicago Reader story today. You are acting as a peace-maker, and we need more of this.
Comment by H-W Friday, Apr 21, 23 @ 11:09 am
The story about the Union President from Alton was yet another example of how the expansion of gambling can have terrible consequences for Illinois citizens.
In balancing out the harm the gambling industry brings to our society against the benefits that flow to a select group of political insiders and their friends, it is apparent that average citizens are generally worse off.
I realize that this fellow took his gambling addiction across state borders, but the harm to his fellow union members and his family is something that will be felt by many people for a very long time in the Alton area.
In terms of the union dues theft, you have to wonder who is watching the books. This fellow could not have walked off with this kind of money if simple checks and balances were in place.
Comment by Back to the Future Friday, Apr 21, 23 @ 11:23 am
“In balancing out the harm the gambling industry brings to our society against the benefits that flow to a select group of political insiders and their friends,”
Gaming is rapidly being taken over venture capital and large corporations. Not to mention its depositing large amounts of money into capital construction. Yes there are instances of addiction but this is an outdated take from “Back to the future.”
Comment by Stumble Friday, Apr 21, 23 @ 11:56 am
=The purpose of Twitter is to get your message out to your constituents.=
Your comment hasn’t aged well in 2 hours or so since it’s been posted as it appears that just about anyone can get a message out purporting to be “yours”. Musk has turned the platform into a dumpster fire and I expect that if he doesn’t address that quickly more people will be looking to flee the site than get on it.
Comment by Pundent Friday, Apr 21, 23 @ 1:38 pm
Trending on Twitter today: #BlocktheBlue, which means people are blocking any account they follow that bears the blue check. Wonder if the Speaker has second thoughts?
Comment by ByeByeBlueCheck Monday, Apr 24, 23 @ 4:22 pm