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* Sun-Times | Mayor-elect Johnson forges ‘Unity Plan’ to reorganize the new City Council: Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson has forged a compromise to shrink the number of City Council committees from 28 to 20 and replace Finance Committee Chairman Scott Waguespack (32nd) with Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd), whose endorsement of Johnson was a turning point of his mayoral campaign. The plan will also install Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35th), chair of the City Council’s Democratic-Socialist caucus, as chair of the powerful Zoning Committee. … The plan shrinks the number of Council panels from 28 to 20. … “There was a lot of push back on the 28 committees. A lot of push back on the sustainability and viability of that broad of a committee structure. When it was clear to everybody involved that the committee structure had to be reduced, it’s a game of musical chairs, unfortunately,” said a source familiar with the negotiations. [Adding: Committee chairs are here.]

* WBEZ | Illinois isn’t reimbursing allegedly stolen SNAP benefits: Torres discovered that someone allegedly spent more than $3,000 of her food benefits at a small corner store she says she’s never been to about four miles from her home in South Lawndale on the West Side. […] But in Illinois, advocates that include Legal Council for Health Justice and the Shriver Center on Poverty Law in Chicago say Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker’s administration has not agreed to replace stolen funds. And now SNAP recipients are also losing a bump in benefits they received during the COVID-19 pandemic.

* Tribune | An Illinois law required schools to test water for lead. They found it all over the state.: According to a Tribune analysis of state data, more than 1,800 of the roughly 2,100 public schools that submitted test results identified some amount of lead in their drinking water. That includes more than 1,350 schools where at least one water sample had lead levels exceeding 5 parts per billion, the threshold where parental notification is required.

* Tribune | Did your Illinois public school find lead in its water? Look up results here: If a district found a lead level above 5 parts per billion at any fixture, the law required officials to notify parents but didn’t mandate that schools work to reduce lead. To find out what public schools did after finding high lead levels, the Tribune spoke with officials, sent surveys or filed records requests to those districts. The state data for the most part does not include results of voluntary retesting.

* ABC Chicago | Chicago volunteers plead for resources to handle migrant influx as Title 42 set to expire this week: For some migrant families who have arrived in Chicago, their front yard is the entrance to 8th District Police Station. The only place they have to sleep is the station’s lobby floor. “Some of these families have traveled for over a year to get here,” said 8th District Police Response Team lead volunteer coordinator Erika Villegas. “By foot, through jungles, through trains, through so much trauma.”

* Sun-Times | Off-duty Chicago police officer killed in Avalon Park always wanted to be a cop, father says: Preston described his daughter as a “beautiful soul” who “always saw the best in people” and had long wanted to be a police officer. He said her calling had seemed like destiny, recalling that he and his ex-wife had a police escort to the hospital before she was born.

* Tribune | Following ‘ComEd Four’ convictions, US Rep. Sean Casten calls for Michael Madigan to resign remaining Democratic post: “Mr. Madigan will have his day in court, but the corruption has come too close to his office for him to claim ignorance. Public service is a sacred trust. For the good of our democracy and the Democratic Party, he should step down at once,” Casten said in a statement.

* WGN | Teamsters oust suburban board after more than $1M in questionable expenses: A letter sent by Teamsters general president Sean O’Brien to local members said an audit found Local 731’s board gave itself nearly $304,000 in bonuses over five years without the required approval of membership. Auditors also questioned nearly $66,000 in spending they said was excessive or unrelated to union business. It includes two visits to Gibsons Bar and Steakhouse that racked up a total tab of $37,000, including nearly $16,000 in alcohol. The audit also questioned $924,000 in donations and contributions the union made in recent years without membership approval.

* Tribune | Aurora City Council considers civility pledge:The pledge says: “In the interest of civility, I pledge to promote civility by listening, being respectful of others, acknowledging that we are all striving to support and improve our community and understanding that we each may have different ideas for achieving that objective.”

* Tribune | Evanston’s groundbreaking reparations plan was stumbling. A brother and sister pushed it forward.: Last year, Kenneth and Shelia, 75, were given the option to become first-time homeowners after they were picked as two of the first 16 Evanstonians to each receive $25,000 in what’s considered the first attempt by a U.S. city to pay reparations to its Black residents. But when their randomly assigned numbers were plucked from a bingo cage on that momentous January day, the Widemans inadvertently exposed a flaw in the fledgling program.

* Sun-Times | Judge sets sentencing dates for ComEd conspirators: On Friday, a federal judge set McClain’s sentencing for Jan. 11, making him the first of the ComEd defendants to be sentenced. Pramaggiore’s sentencing is set for Jan. 16, Hooker’s Jan. 25 and Doherty’s Jan. 30.

* SJ-R | Buscher sworn in as mayor, saying she stands ’shoulder to shoulder’ with new city council: Quoting U.S. women’s soccer star Abby Wambach, who said she “never scored a goal…without getting a pass from someone else,” Buscher said she and council members would make “many goals, together, (for the city).”

* The Intelligencer | Constitution Day bill heads to Pritzker: “Currently, Constitution Day is recognized federally but not by our state and so this legislation ensures that our schools are honoring this commemorative holiday and providing our students with an educational opportunity to learn more about their fundamental rights and our government,” said Harriss.

* Daily Herald | Where did the Arlington Park regulars go? Many ended up at a Prospect Heights OTB: But for a group of local horseplayers, the back patio at a Prospect Heights sports bar/OTB has become their regular meeting spot since the closure of Arlington Park in 2021. It’s where they still get together to play the ponies, share memories, and debate all that went wrong and what could have happened differently to keep their favorite racetrack open.

* Fox 2 | Five victims identified from deadly dust storm crashes in Illinois: The victims identified Saturday include… Joseph Bates, 73, of Crystal Lake, Illinois; Donna Bates, 71, of Crystal Lake, Illinois; Earl LeGrand, 64, of Florissant, Missouri; Michael Zinchuk, 55, of Champaign, Illinois; Amy Zinchuk, 54, of Champaign, Illinois

posted by Isabel Miller
Monday, May 8, 23 @ 7:38 am

Comments

1. Sounds like City Council was preparing for a New Normal under Paul Vallas, but with Johnson in, they are walking back the reorganization? This sounds like a pretty substantial quick back-and-forth.

   Comment by ZC Monday, May 8, 23 @ 7:56 am

2. ==Sounds like City Council was preparing for a New Normal under Paul Vallas==

   They made the re-organization before we knew who the next mayor would be. They were worried about losing power with Lightfoot leaving.

   Comment by supplied_demand Monday, May 8, 23 @ 8:12 am

3. The evolution of a teamsters leader.. from driving dump trucks to getting manicures with money that isn’t yours..

   Comment by Funtimes Monday, May 8, 23 @ 8:34 am

4. Re: Teamsters ruining the fun for Local 731’s board….wow, prodigious expenses - $37,000 for two visits to Gibsons Bar and Steakhouse, nearly half of which was booze. I think whoever was responsible for this plunder misunderstood the concept of “balanced budget’. Kudo’s to Mr. O’Brien and stay healthy.
   Sean O’Brien

   Comment by Sayitaintso Monday, May 8, 23 @ 8:55 am

5. That’s too bad about the SNAP benefits being stolen, but how many of this is an inside job?

   Comment by Old IL Dude Monday, May 8, 23 @ 9:26 am

6. I think that it is clumsy for the politicians and activists to label Evanston’s program as “reparations.” The program was designed to address systemic housing discrimination in the city rather slavery. Judging from the war memorial at Fountain Square, Evanston was solidly pro-Union.

   This is not the same reparations debate that is occurring elsewhere.

   Comment by Gravitas Monday, May 8, 23 @ 9:40 am

7. Old ail Dude….please explain “inside job”

   Comment by Sayitaintso Monday, May 8, 23 @ 9:47 am

8. Sorry, old IL dude

   Comment by Sayitaintso Monday, May 8, 23 @ 9:48 am

9. Typically it means employees.

   Comment by Big Dipper Monday, May 8, 23 @ 10:19 am

10. ==This is not the same reparations==

    Maybe not. But it still gives people money based on the color of their skin.

    Comment by Demoralized Monday, May 8, 23 @ 10:29 am

11. Pat Dowell is a very worthy chair for Finance. She’s very very experienced in the ways of the Hall from before she was elected. Nice to have Sam Nugent in a visible position. Scott Waguespack and Brendan Reilly out in the cold. Nice that Brian Hopkins will make sense of Safety.

    Comment by Amalia Monday, May 8, 23 @ 10:50 am

12. Demoralized,

    Well, since people were discriminated (leading to the very racial mix that exists in Evanston today) based on their skin color, I don’t see a problem with the solution involving that same characteristic.

    Comment by cermak_rd Monday, May 8, 23 @ 12:02 pm

13. ==I don’t see a problem==

    I see lots of problems when we are doing things solely based on the color of one’s skin. If these people were specifically targeted and we are making up for that then I’m fine. But if not then I don’t think they are owed anything. I’m getting fed up with this sort of thing. Make it available to everyone or not at all. Otherwise it’s just another form of racism.

    Comment by Demoralized Monday, May 8, 23 @ 12:23 pm

14. ===based on the color of one’s skin===

    It’s not based on skin color. C’mon. You can argue the merits but without twisting history.

    Comment by Rich Miller Monday, May 8, 23 @ 12:25 pm

15. ==Otherwise it’s just another form of racism.==

    Affirmative action and other programs that attempt to remedy a woeful history of discrimination against Black people are not racist. And as for current people not being deserving have you heard of the concept of generational wealth?

    Comment by Big Dipper Monday, May 8, 23 @ 12:32 pm

16. ==but without twisting history==

    That’s not my intent. My intent is to only state my objection, which I have done. I just oppose these sorts of programs. I’ll just let it go with that.

    Comment by Demoralized Monday, May 8, 23 @ 1:18 pm

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