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Isabel’s morning briefing

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Illinois

* Here you go…

Tribune | While stymied on a budget, Illinois legislators addressed issues including abortion, book bans and south suburban airport during spring session:

* Daily Herald | Four years in, Rebuild Illinois has been a success — but more can be done: Rebuild Illinois has generated $2 billion in additional transportation funding annually. As a result, four years into the six-year program, Illinois has repaired 5,000 miles of highway, restored nearly 500 bridges, constructed more than 700 safety improvements, and supported 3,800 local transportation projects.

* WBBM | Bill to extend telehealth services for Medicaid recipients awaits Pritzker’s signature: Like so many things during the pandemic, treatment sessions for Medicaid recipients battling mental health and substance abuse went online. With the end of the state’s COVID emergency orders, state lawmakers have passed a bill allowing those services to continue.

* Effingham Daily | Bill aims to protect stranded Illinois drivers: After spending several years advocating for laws protecting stranded drivers from injury or even death, Distress Bandanna announced that both houses of the Illinois General Assembly have voted in favor of Senate Bill 2028, which would amend the state’s driver safety protocols to include new information and guidance for drivers who are stranded and those who might come across stranded vehicles on the road.

* WTTW | Critics Say Chicago’s Elected School Board Won’t Reflect the District’s Student Population Unless Map is Redrawn: “There is very little difference between the original map released and the current map,” activist Eli Brottman testified at a Friday hearing on the second attempt, despite input and sample maps he and others provided. “It feels as if the General Assembly is not using that feedback.”

* WIFR | New bill worries some local shop owners: Erik Carlson owns Buckbee Weed Co. in Rockford and worries if the bill and the tweaks added to it become a law, his business will take a major hit. He says it would ban the sale of hemp products in businesses that aren’t classified as licensed dispensaries.

* Sun-Times | Mayor Johnson’s pick for deputy mayor for community safety signals strategy change: Garien Gatewood will focus on “the other aspects of public safety beyond law enforcement that are so critical to our agenda,” Johnson’s senior adviser Jason Lee says.

* Crain’s | Johnson’s labor allies move to undo Lightfoot’s 11th-hour McPier board pick: The measure — pushed by allies of new mayor Brandon Johnson and organized labor groups headed by the Chicago Federation of Labor — would reverse Lightfoot’s decision, announced in the final days of her tenure, to place her deputy mayor for economic development on the board that oversees the city’s McCormick Place convention center and Navy Pier.

* Chicago Mag | Yesterday’s Radicals Have Become Today’s Establishment: Brandon Johnson’s mayoralty is seen as the culmination of teachers union militancy that began in 2012, when his predecessor Rahm Emanuel closed 50 schools. But as Johnson pointed out, the union movement that produced him has such a long history in Chicago that yes, it is striking that we’ve waited so long for one of its members to become mayor.

* Tribune | While DNC coming to Chicago might provide good vibes, experts say economic boost might be overhyped: Much has been written about the squishiness of pre-convention economic benefits, along with the costs cities end up eating themselves getting ready for the pomp and circumstance. While boosters have predicted economic returns of $150 million or more to cities that hosted them recently, economists say those numbers have been overblown.

* The Triibe | ‘Fox and Friends’ staged Naperville interview criticizing Mayor Brandon Johnson: One of the men, Lavondale “Big Dale” Glass, is an assistant director of violence prevention for Project H.O.O.D., a nonprofit whose founder endorsed Vallas. The other man, Andre Smith, was paid more than $10,000 by Vallas‘s campaign committee, and told The TRiiBE he ran field operations for the campaign. Glass told The TRiiBE that he didn’t work for Vallas’s campaign and was not aware Smith had been a paid Vallas operative.

* NYT | As Rahm Emanuel Pushes Japan on Gay Rights, Conservatives Bristle: The U.S. ambassador has enthusiastically embraced his host country. But critics say he has overstepped diplomatic bounds with his advocacy on equality.

posted by Isabel Miller
Monday, May 22, 23 @ 7:42 am

Comments

Fox and Friends staged an interview? Say it ain’t so, Joe. An interview about Chicago’s new mayor in Naperville and staged? No, not Fox (banned punctuation)

Comment by West Side the Best Side Monday, May 22, 23 @ 11:14 am
Staging an interview with individuals paid by a former candidate is a new low even for Fox. No one should treat them as a genuine news organization.

Comment by Friendly Bob Adams Monday, May 22, 23 @ 11:44 am
Man, everyone quoted in that McPier story is “Minnesota Nice” level passive-aggressive.

Comment by Three Dimensional Checkers Monday, May 22, 23 @ 11:52 am
The Illinois Dispensary Cartel wants to shut down any potential business competitor…so obviously.

Capitalism and weed don’t mix.

Comment by Dotnonymous Monday, May 22, 23 @ 1:38 pm