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Isabel’s morning briefing

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Illinois

* Here you go…

Sun-Times | Jury of 6 men, 6 women selected as perjury trial gets underway for ex-top aide to Madigan:

* WTTW | Illinois Lawmakers Look to Address Domestic Violence Rise With Laws to Help Survivors: “Illinois is one of the best funded states for domestic violence services. In this year’s budget we allocated $70 million,” said state Rep. Joyce Mason (D-Gurnee). “We also have one of the most comprehensive Domestic Violence Acts. So, we stack up very well compared to other states — but that doesn’t mean there’s not a lot of work still to be done and so many victims who need better protection and services.”

* WGFA | Ducat to seek 53rd Senate seat: Ducat is currently the Vice-Chair of the Iroquois County Board. He’s held several positions at the county level. He’s chairman of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) committee, which came about thru the Federal government plan to distribute recovery monies from the COVID pandemic. ARPA is filtering federal dollars to help agencies and people recover from the economic burdens brought on from the pandemic.

* Tribune | Metra took its board members on a train ride to a monthly meeting. It cost the agency more than $10,000: Board members and Metra executives made the journey in an observation car lent by BNSF Railway. Attendees had coffee and breakfast available during the train ride, and lunch after the board meeting. Shuttle vans were provided to take the board members from the Joliet train station to the meeting at the Will County Office Building. All told, records show the outing cost Metra at least $10,836.

* NBC Chicago | Cook County improperly used nearly $240 million in transportation funds for other projects: The legal battle has been raging for years after the Illinois Road and Transportation Builders Association filed a lawsuit, along with numerous other groups, arguing that Cook County was violating the language of the “Illinois Transportation taxes and Fees Lockbox Amendment,” which was overwhelmingly supported by voters in the 2016 election.

* Fox 2 | This Metro East school district serves 93 students, but costs $3M to operate: The Venice School District runs only one school building, caters to exactly 93 kids, and costs $3 million per year. On top of that, district leadership received state funds to build a brand-new school for the kids, to the tune of $26 million.

* Crain’s | Wilmette officials unanimously oppose Northwestern’s Ryan Field proposal: In a unanimous vote late Tuesday night, Wilmette’s board passed a resolution outlining its concerns over the addition of up to 10 concerts at the stadium, citing increased traffic and parking issues, noise pollution and potential public safety effects.

* Chicago Mag | As companies flee big headquarters and office parks, suburbs are scrambling to reinvent those spaces — and themselves: One popular option for filling these vacancies: companies acquiring, demolishing, and replacing office campuses and towers with multibuilding logistics hubs that will rival Amazon’s 200-acre distribution center in Kenosha, Wisconsin. That metamorphosis is underway at Allstate’s former 232-acre site (since annexed by Glenview), which sold last year to a Nevada investor group for about $232 million. The insurance giant’s home since 1967 is becoming a 10-building trucking and warehousing complex.

* Sun-Times | Chicago’s ‘bikeability’ is behind the curve in recent cycling studies: Compared to the average of the 50 cities, Chicago had fewer fatal crashes, more bike-share docking stations, a higher percentage of bike commuters and a bikeability score of 72 out of 100. But the city fell short of having enough trails, bike shops and bike rental places per 100,000 people.

* Grist | On Chicago’s South Side, neighbors fight to keep Lake Michigan at bay: Lake Michigan has long tried to take back the land on its shores. But climate change has increased the amount of ground lost to increasingly variable lake levels and ever more intense storms. What was once a tedious but manageable issue is now a crisis. The problem became particularly acute in early 2020 when a storm wreaked havoc on the neighborhood, severely damaging homes, flooding streets, and spurring neighbors to demand that City Hall support a $5 million plan to hold back the water.

* USA Today | Supreme Court backs Biden’s tougher federal rules on untraceable ‘ghost guns’ for now: A divided Supreme Court on Tuesday backed a Biden administration effort to regulate “ghost guns,” temporarily allowing the government to require manufacturers of the untraceable weapon kits to conduct background checks on customers and mark their products with serial numbers.

* AP | Voters in Ohio reject GOP-backed proposal that would have made it tougher to protect abortion rights: The defeat of Issue 1 keeps in place a simple majority threshold for passing future constitutional amendments, rather than the 60% supermajority that was proposed. Its supporters said the higher bar would protect the state’s foundational document from outside interest groups.

* Sun-Times | Obama Foundation, fueled by two mega-donors, has record fundraising year in 2022: The Obama Foundation compensation package for its chief executive, Valerie Jarrett, jumped to $754,064, in 2022, up from $592,905 in 2021.

* Bloomberg | Rivian’s software chief vows big upgrades in surprise visit on earnings call: Rivian Automotive Inc.’s head of software made a surprise appearance on the EV maker’s Tuesday call with analysts, promising upgrades ranging from adaptive tracking of battery range to “drone mode” operation using augmented reality.

* NBC Chicago | Sorry, sunshine lovers: Tuesday marks milestone in Chicago’s march toward winter: By the end of August, the sun will be setting before 7:30 p.m. each night, and the city of Chicago will be down to just over 13 hours of daily sunlight.

* Tribune | Can you eat a dish from every nation on Earth without leaving Chicago? This TikTok influencer is trying: Since January, he has been posting videos of himself on TikTok eating those meals. He uses the tag @BoredinChicago, though considering the work and prickly issues he must navigate to accomplish his goal, he may be the least bored person in the city. His videos, which are posted alphabetically by nation and only now moving into the F’s, have drawn an average of 100,000 viewers per post. What started as a personal project has become decidedly public.

posted by Isabel Miller
Wednesday, Aug 9, 23 @ 7:32 am

Comments

re Ohio’s Issue 1:
‘ Its supporters said the higher bar would protect the state’s foundational document from outside interest groups.”
The ultimate in gaslighting.
“The coalition supporting the measure, called Protect Our Constitution, is funded almost entirely by billionaire Lake Forest business owner Richard Uihlein, who contributed $4 million of the campaign’s $4.8 million, according to campaign filings.”
BTW: another spectacular loss on Uihlein’s resume.

Comment by a drop in Wednesday, Aug 9, 23 @ 7:58 am
Why is the Metra Board so corrupt?

Comment by Torco Sign Wednesday, Aug 9, 23 @ 8:16 am
Why is Cook County so corrupt?

Comment by phocion Wednesday, Aug 9, 23 @ 8:32 am
re: Ohio Issue 1. Policy aside, people are generally fair minded, and don’t like moving goal posts just for one issue. That’s a politics lesson applicable everywhere.

Comment by Jibba Wednesday, Aug 9, 23 @ 9:09 am
Fox & Venice. Fox is barely one step ahead of Center Square.

Talking about “underperforming” schools without talking about student family income is journalistic malpractice. Absent political refugees (Vietnamese boat people of the late 1970s, for example), there is a fairly consistent correlation between income and academic achievement.

Comment by Anyone Remember Wednesday, Aug 9, 23 @ 9:51 am
Metra board members living their slogan: “Metra, the way to take taxpayers for a ride”. How tone-deaf can they be? Wait, it’s Illinois…I withdraw the question.

Comment by thisjustinagain Wednesday, Aug 9, 23 @ 11:13 am
=Why is Cook County so corrupt?=

Why are small towns and rural counties so corrupt?

Comment by JS Mill Wednesday, Aug 9, 23 @ 11:36 am
The story about the small school district lacks context. Is $3 million a lot to run a district? What do comparable districts run on? $95,000 for a principal’s salary is not outrageous these days. Many teachers in the collar counties make more than that.

Comment by Proud Papa Bear Wednesday, Aug 9, 23 @ 12:24 pm
==The story about the small school district lacks context. Is $3 million a lot to run a district?==

I live in a small, rural district near the middle of Illinois. The number of students was similar; the most recent budget posted on the school’s web site is about $2.3 million. One apparent difference is that my local school has a smaller admin set: a 1/2-time supt (shared with neighbor dist), a full-time principal, and one FT office person.

Comment by Pot calling kettle Wednesday, Aug 9, 23 @ 3:56 pm