Latest Post | Last 10 Posts | Archives
Previous Post: Live coverage
Next Post: Open thread
Posted in:
* Here you go…
* Tribune | Fatal I-55 dust storm crash puts focus on Illinois farmers: ‘We haven’t advanced … but we can’: Illinois’ farming practices have come into sharper focus since May 1, when a massive cloud of soil, blown from nearby fields by winds topping 40 mph, blanketed a busy stretch of Interstate 55 south of Springfield, causing a 84-car pileup that killed eight people, injured at least three dozen others, and shook residents of the tiny, close-knit communities that dot the region.
* Crain’s | Pritzker faces blowback over cuts to health care for undocumented people: “Extremely disappointing,” said U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Chicago, said in a statement. A former state lawmaker, she added that the move will “put thousands of hard-working, tax-paying immigrants’ lives in danger.” The Chicago City Council’s Latino Caucus said it was “outraged” and termed the action “inhumane.” Many immigrants will just end up in the emergency room, costing the state more, it said in a statement.
* Tribune | With costs soaring, Gov. J.B. Pritzker to close enrollment for many in insurance program for immigrants: The move drew a swift rebuke from Latino legislators and an immigrant health care advocacy group that blasted it as “immoral and fiscally short-sighted.”
* NBC Chicago | Pritzker issues statement on mass shooting at Willowbrook Juneteenth celebration: At least one person was killed and 22 others were injured when gunfire erupted at approximately 12:25 a.m. during a fight near the Hinsdale Lake Terrace in unincorporated Willowbrook, authorities said. Multiple weapons were fired during the incident, with police saying an unknown number of suspects opened fire into the crowd.
* Tribune | Who will replace Kim Foxx? Only one potential candidate appears at Cook County Democrats’ pre-slating despite wide-open race: Only one candidate presented for the wide-open state’s attorney position: Clayton Harris III, an attorney and lecturer at the University of Chicago who is running with the support of Cook County Board President and party chair Toni Preckwinkle.
* Jim Durkin | I support the 2nd amendment — and an assault weapons ban: I am a suburban Republican, and I support one’s right to possess a firearm, as evidenced in my support of conceal and carry. But are we at a place in time where parents will begin suiting up their kids in kevlar before going to play in the park or on their front stoop?
* Tribune | Ex-State Rep. Denyse Stoneback sues successor, GPAC Illinois saying they defamed her: Stoneback, a Skokie Democrat who built a reputation as an anti-gun violence activist for years before her election to the statehouse in 2019, says GPAC Illinois, also called Gun Violence Prevention PAC, and State Rep. Kevin Olickal cast her in campaign literature during the 2022 primary campaign to represent Illinois’ 16th House District as an “enemy to gun violence prevention” and someone aligned with the National Rifle Association, according to the lawsuit.
* Crain’s | Exelon commits to overhaul board in ‘ComEd Four’-related litigation: Exelon Chairman John Young will relinquish his role as board chair by 2025, although he will be allowed to remain on the board under the settlement, disclosed June 16. Most other directors who served during the 2011 to 2019 period in which Exelon-owned Commonwealth Edison admitted bribing then-Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan in return for his support of lucrative legislation either are in the process of departing or already have.
* Pontiac Daily Leader | State Sen. Tom Bennett reflects on Illinois budget process: “There were some good things in the budget, and there were a lot of things that I was very disappointed in,” Bennett said. “But it’s something that occurs every year.”
* Sun-Times | New stadium call gets tougher for Chicago Bears, and Soldier Field is back in the mix: While Naperville and other towns enter the picture, it really comes down to Arlington Heights versus Soldier Field, with one gaining momentum.
* AP | More than 1 million dropped from Medicaid as states start post-pandemic purge of rolls: Most got dropped for not filling out paperwork. Though the eligibility review is required by the federal government, President’s Joe Biden’s administration isn’t too pleased at how efficiently some other states are accomplishing the task.
* Pioneer Press | DuPage County board passes contentious new voting precinct map: Last May, the DuPage County Board failed to adopt precinct maps in compliance with an election law signed by the governor in November 2021, instructing counties to reduce the size of their election precincts to about 1,200 voters each in response to the shift to early and voting by mail. In 2020, nearly a third of DuPage County voters cast ballots through the mail.
* Daily Southtown | Former Orland Park manager loses defamation lawsuit against Mayor Keith Pekau: In his June 12 ruling, Judge John Curry also cleared the path for the village to continue its own lawsuit against Joseph La Margo, which alleges breach of employment agreement, breach of fiduciary duty and breach of duty of loyalty.
* Sun-Times | Son of Chicago-area woman on probation for Jan. 6 Capitol riot now charged in the same attack: “Trudy Castle was interviewed by FBI,” according to the complaint. “During the interview, Castle acknowledged that Von Keudell, who is her adult son, traveled to the Capitol on Jan. 5, 2021, with Castle and [her sister, Kimberly] DiFrancesco.”
* CPS | Summer meals available for Chicago Public Schools Students: Starting June 20, CPS is launching summer meals programs to ensure students have access to free meals during the summer. Families can find a Summer Meals or LunchStop location near them on the District’s Summer Meal Finder.
* Tribune | Mayor Brandon Johnson aims to resettle asylum-seekers from shelters, but it won’t be immediate: As it looks to eventually find more permanent solutions than the police station lobbies and large congregate shelters that have housed migrants in recent months, the city is preparing to seek proposals for a community-based model that could also cut down on current high costs of contractual shelter staff, Johnson deputy chief of staff Cristina Pacione-Zayas told the Tribune.
* Sun-Times | Gage Park field house to serve as respite center for hundreds of migrant men: Ald. Ray Lopez (15th) said he volunteered the field house —possibly through Dec. 31 — because “stagnation has to come to an end.”
* Greg Hinz | Ex-leader of influential Illinois PAC throwing a birthday party in Paris. Here’s who’s coming.: Among those headed to Paris to fete Cosgrove later this week is Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, reliable sources tell me. So too, reportedly, are downstate U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski, Chicago state Sen. Sara Feigenholtz, Evanston state Rep. Robyn Gabel, Illinois Supreme Court Justice Mary K. O’Brien, political strategist Becky Carroll and at least a few other close associates. Not to mention author Sara Paretsky.
* Tribune | Mike Flannery is bowing out after 50 years of covering the wild and wacky world of politics: Mike Flannery walked into the newsroom of the Chicago Sun-Times on June 18, 1973, a fresh-faced, hopelessly curious and wildly energetic 22-year-old and now he is calling it quits, leaving the political scene where he earned the admiration of colleagues, rivals and viewers. Esteemed journalist Carol Marin puts it succinctly: “Mike is a walking, talking encyclopedia of politics.”
* Capitol News Illinois | PHOTO TOUR: Construction crews ‘exposing the bones’ of state Capitol as renovations continue: “So the Senate will return to a majority of their offices and to their chamber in January of 2025,” she said. “And for the next 9 to 10 months preceding that, we will return spaces back slowly. So about every three months, we’ll open up the new entrance, we’ll open up the tunnels, we’ll open up the underground conference center.”
* Tribune | New Chicago monuments will honor police torture victims, labor leader Mother Jones and gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, among others: The effort is an outgrowth of former Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s monuments commission, which she launched amid controversy over Christopher Columbus statues and hailed as a step toward racial healing and historical reckoning. Funding for the monuments project is largely being provided by the Mellon Foundation, though Johnson said the city would contribute an additional $1 million.
* Block Club | Cardinal Blase Cupich Presides Over LGBTQ+ Mass In Lakeview: ‘God Brought Us Together Here As A Community’: As the bells rang at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church and the first notes of the organ swelled, gay and lesbian churchgoers held hands, wore rainbow colors and sang hymns so loudly that they drowned out about 20 anti-LGBTQ+ protesters chanting outside the church doors at 708 W. Belmont Ave.
* Release | Ignite Blue Partner Launch: Ignite Blue Partners is launching a consulting firm focusing on political and campaign strategy. The launch party will be July 19th. RSVP here.
posted by Isabel Miller
Tuesday, Jun 20, 23 @ 7:47 am
Sorry, comments are closed at this time.
Previous Post: Live coverage
Next Post: Open thread
WordPress Mobile Edition available at alexking.org.
powered by WordPress.
Us Rep Delia Ramirez throwing shade at the Governor for a program that goes way beyond anything a US Rep can take credit for in providing Healthcare to immigrants is a fun moving read.
What’s the United States congress dine on the matter?
Comment by Candy Dogood Tuesday, Jun 20, 23 @ 8:16 am
Love to read teleprompter readers congratulating other teleprompter readers about all the bold adversarial journalism they did on the television set. World changing stuff you guys. I can’t convey the appropriate amount of gratitude for all the police narratives Carol Marin has fed me over the years.
Boy and these TV ‘political reporters,’ wow. Think of all the in depth understanding you’ve gained from them. Be sure to thank them for their service.
Comment by Larry Bowa Jr. Tuesday, Jun 20, 23 @ 8:32 am
Durkin: He never, never supported CCW until the US 7th Circuit gave the ILGA a choice of enact some reasonable form of CCW or have the UUW laws in place at the time declared unconstitutional.
Comment by We've never had one before Tuesday, Jun 20, 23 @ 8:39 am
Re: Tom Bennett
“Money is not coming to his district, Bennett pointed out, or the 105th and 106th House Districts of central Illinois.
“First of all, we have to be a Democratic district (for money),” Bennett said. “They got millions of dollars and Republican districts didn’t quite get that kind of stuff. That’s what they call ‘politics.’””
Last I knew downstate counties received more back in tax dollars from the state than they contributed. I’m assuming that is still the case even if that doesn’t fit in with the rhetoric that repubs want to express.
Comment by Aaron B Tuesday, Jun 20, 23 @ 8:59 am
**a program that goes way beyond anything a US Rep can take credit for**
You know she was the original State Rep sponsor of the program when it started, right?
Comment by JoeMaddon Tuesday, Jun 20, 23 @ 8:59 am
good column from Durkin. Had no idea about Hyde.
Comment by Amalia Tuesday, Jun 20, 23 @ 9:17 am
Since May 27th…..189 shootings….37 fatalities in weekend violence.
Comment by Sunshine Tuesday, Jun 20, 23 @ 9:38 am
Durkin was always a stand-up person, and a compassionate leader.
I have taken it as a sign that the Illinois Legislature can in fact operate pretty well, despite some members’ tendencies to perform extreme theater, because the Republicans regularly choose good leaders in the House and Senate.
Comment by walker Tuesday, Jun 20, 23 @ 9:55 am
I would like to understand why 300-400 people were allowed to party in a strip mall parking lot without any police presence or intervention in the first place. Public consumption of alcohol is not legal. Maybe the business owner gave them permission?
Growing up nearby, if there were three or four of us hanging out in a parking lot the police made their presence known.
Just crazy, even if it wasn’t the right place to party, that you cannot have a good time without guns coming out.
Comment by JS Mill Tuesday, Jun 20, 23 @ 10:20 am
I appreciate Durkin’s column and in particular his rational appeal from the middle. There’s no reason why a sensible solution can’t be reached that not only appreciates the importance of the 2nd amendment but also recognizes the times we’re living in. The framers got this. The constitution was never meant to be sacrosanct. It is after all the reason why we have amendments to begin with. Things change and so must our thinking.
Comment by Pundent Tuesday, Jun 20, 23 @ 12:04 pm
“I would like to understand why 300-400 people were allowed to party in a strip mall parking lot without any police presence or intervention in the first place.”
The police were there but were called away for a fight elsewhere.
“Public consumption of alcohol is not legal.”
The strip mall is private property.
“Just crazy, even if it wasn’t the right place to party, that you cannot have a good time without guns coming out.”
I read a car drove by the party and the passenger started shooting into the crowd. Now whether or not some “good guys with guns”
started shooting back, remains a question.
Growing up nearby, if there were three or four of us hanging out in a parking lot the police made their presence known.
Just crazy, even if it wasn’t the right place to party, that you cannot have a good time without guns coming out.
Comment by Betty Draper’s cigarette Tuesday, Jun 20, 23 @ 12:41 pm
=The strip mall is private property.=
It is still public consumption. And a strip mall or parking lot is different than someone’s house. Did the property owner secure a permit? Give permission?
I have yet to see your details reported by media, maybe they have been, but I didn’t see it.
Comment by JS Mill Tuesday, Jun 20, 23 @ 7:04 pm