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Afternoon roundup

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Illinois

* I told subscribers about this on Friday. Politico…

State Rep. Kelly Burke (36th) isn’t seeking reelection in 2024. Burke, who’s also the mayor of Evergreen Park, says she decided to step away from state government after recovering from colon cancer. “I finished chemotherapy at the end of June and was focused on restoring my strength and thinking about prioritizing,” she told Playbook. Burke said she’ll be able to put her focused energy on being mayor. “I will continue to do that as long as they’ll have me.” Burke has been in the General Assembly since 2011 and currently chairs the Revenue and Finance Committee.

She’s also an Assistant Majority Leader and a mentor to several legislators. From Speaker Welch…

“It has been an honor and a privilege to serve alongside Leader Kelly Burke. For as long as I’ve known Leader Burke, she has always been a straightforward, honest, hardworking legislator who has earned the respect and trust of her colleagues on both sides of the aisle. She’s remained a passionate advocate for her community and has been a pillar of strength in our Democratic Caucus.

“She has championed important pieces of legislation that will positively impact our state for years to come. Namely, the AIM High Scholarship program, which expands needs-based financial aid for students who may not have the means to go to college and the Scott Bennet ABLE Savings Program, which helps families of special needs children save for their future.

“She’s been a calming voice on my leadership team, someone I can always count on to approach situations pragmatically and fairly, and earned herself the well-respected position of Revenue Chair for the 103rd General Assembly. Selfishly, I would love to keep Leader Burke on my team for as long as I am blessed to serve, but if there is anyone who deserves to spend more quality time with her loved ones, it’s Leader Burke. We will certainly miss her and her institutional knowledge, but I’m grateful Leader Burke will be serving out the remainder of her term and we don’t have to say goodbye to her quite yet.”

* Candidates can often do really well in the first reporting quarter, but then they stall out once they’ve exhausted their contact list. We’ll see…

A Naperville human rights lawyer who’s challenging U.S. Rep. Bill Foster in the 2024 Democratic primary for Illinois’ 11th Congressional District seat narrowly outraised the veteran lawmaker last quarter, federal records show.

Qasim Rashid, who twice ran for political office while living in Virginia a few years ago, reported receiving about $305,571 in total campaign receipts between July 1 and Sept. 30, according to a quarterly report filed with the Federal Election Commission last week.

Foster reported about $300,887 in total receipts for the same quarter. The congressman’s campaign had much more money saved than his rival’s at the end of the period, however, thanks to years of fundraising.

Foster ended the quarter with $1.3 million in the bank. Rashim ended with a bit more than $114K, but can only spend $85K because he accepted general election money.

* Almost nobody ever frames this as a revolving-door issue…

The Justice Department official who oversaw market-rigging cases against traders from global banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co and Deutsche Bank AG has left to join a private law firm.

Avi Perry, 40, joined Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan as a partner co-chairing securities litigation as well as a new practice group focused on commodities and derivatives. […]

At Quinn, Perry will join his former Justice Department supervisor, Robert Zink, who now specializes in corporate and white-collar defense.

“Avi’s trial experience and his deep knowledge of financial markets are a perfect fit for the high stakes matters we specialize in,” William Burck, global co-managing partner of the firm, said in a statement.

* Isabel’s roundup…

* SJ-R | Lawmakers return to Springfield for six-day veto session: Lawmakers will return over the course of three weeks − divided by Halloween − meeting first between Oct. 24 and 26 and then from Nov. 7 to Nov. 9. Their tasks will be to address bills vetoed by Gov. JB Pritzker along with some outstanding and newly introduced legislation.

* Tribune | Measures to extend private school tax credit, lift nuclear plant moratorium top agenda of state legislature’s end-of-year session: During the spring legislative session, Pritzker had indicated support for allowing the construction of small modular nuclear reactors, which supporters contend would create well-paying jobs and aid in achieving the governor’s goal of reaching 100% carbon-free energy generation by midcentury. This new generation of small reactors can be at least partially fabricated in factories, potentially cutting down on the astronomical cost of building a traditional nuclear plant, such as the six already in Illinois.

*WGEM | Bill requiring public schools, state facilities to offer kosher and halal food options likely to come back during veto session: A bill passed during the regular session, but Gov. JB Pritzker vetoed it citing technical issues. […] Pritzker said Thursday he thinks the technical issues have been worked out with lawmakers. He’s hopeful a similar bill mandating halal and kosher menu options reaches his desk during veto session.

* BND | What happened in dispute between Reps. Mike Bost and Matt Gaetz? Here’s what we know: Politico reported that Bost hollered at Gaetz during the private meeting, after the Florida representative was roundly booed by others in the session. Politico’s report stated: “When Gaetz refused, Rep. Mike Bost (R-Ill.) stood up and hollered a command at him that one Republican recalled as: ‘If you don’t sit down, I’ll put you down.’”

* AP | Father of Illinois teen hostage freed by Hamas says she is ‘doing very good’: Knowing Natalie may be able to celebrate her 18th birthday next week at home with family and friends feels “wonderful. The best news,” her father said.

* WTTW | City Council Set to Scrutinize Johnson’s Plan to Reorganize Chicago Police Department: The mayor’s 2024 spending plan would increase the overall CPD budget to nearly $2 billion, accounting for more than 31% of the city’s $5.7 billion corporate fund, by far the most of any city agency or department. That is designed to insulate Johnson from a renewed deluge of attacks claiming he wants to defund the police, which threatened to derail his campaign for mayor, and serves to keep his spending plan on track to pass on Nov. 15.

* Illinois Answers | Illinois Doled Out Millions to Pot Growers. It Still May Not Be Enough to Save the Industry: More than four years after state lawmakers legalized recreational pot sales in what they held up as “the most equity-centric law in the nation,” only Helios Labs and nine other craft growers were actually operating as of mid-October. That’s due to a combination of fundraising obstacles: Banks are still federally prohibited from lending, and many social equity operators face endemic discrimination by the finance industry. The job is made even harder by a controversial state cap on growing canopy space that Jackson and other operators blame for repelling investors.

* Daily Herald | State accepting proposals for second round of Healing Illinois grants: The Illinois Department of Human Services recently launched the 2023-24 season of Healing Illinois, the state’s $4.5 million racial healing grant-making initiative.

* Tribune | Declining corporate travel and industry changes have left O’Hare airport slow to recover from the pandemic: The number of passengers passing through Transportation Security Administration checkpoints at O’Hare during the first seven months of the year remained at about 86% of pre-pandemic volumes, Chicago Department of Aviation data shows. And airlines scheduled nearly 14% less passenger space on flights out of O’Hare in the past year than they did in 2019, according to data from aviation firm Cirium.

* Crain’s | The youth mental health crisis needs urgent care. What will it take?: “While this generation of kids may be much more open about mental health, there’s still stigma and some families, for example in Latinx and immigrant populations, that are still challenged” and reluctant to get care, says John Parkhurst, psychologist and coordinator of the MAACC program at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital. “When you think about it, it is pretty courageous of families to deal with mental health.”

* WBEZ | Chicago families left without a bus ride to CPS this year are demanding help: The percentage of special education students in the district has risen in recent years and some 1,700 more qualify for transportation this year than last, according to the district. About 150 special education students whose parents have recently requested transportation are currently awaiting routes. CPS says 8,100 students already have routes.

* Tribune | Ex-Chicago HSI agent gets more than 6 years in prison for widespread corruption: In asking for a sentence of up to eight years behind bars, prosecutors also accused Sabaini of using his government-issued phone to secure a prostitute while on official business in Israel and sending “racist, homophobic, and sexist text messages with other HSI agents, expressing his bias and contempt toward certain segments of the population that he was sworn to protect.”

* Daily Herald | Radon poses ‘big risk,’ at schools, experts say. But few follow testing recommendation: Despite recommendations that schools be tested for radon every five years, 85 out of 100 suburban school districts have not done so — and more than half of the 15 that did found elevated levels of the radioactive gas in at least one building.

* SJ-R | Springfield man sentenced to over a year in prison on COVID fraud charges: Phillip Lovelace Jr., 33, was sentenced to 20 months in prison Wednesday by federal Judge Sue E. Myerscough on wire fraud charges for fraudulently obtaining Paycheck Protection Program funds for his own personal use and fraudulently applying for unemployment from the state of Arizona.

* Sun-Times | Illinois tollway might shift from transponders to window stickers: “The advantage that the sticker tags offer as opposed to a hard-case tag is that they’re tremendously less expensive,” said Mark Muriello, director of policy and government affairs for the International Bridge, Tunnel & Turnpike Association.

* WSJ | The Economy Was Supposed to Slow by Now. Instead It’s Revving Up.: Earlier this year, economists and Federal Reserve officials predicted that the U.S. economy would be sputtering by now as higher interest rates cut into spending and investment. The opposite is happening.

* WCIA | Carle Foundation in Urbana announces daycare closure: Officials announced that Urbana’s Carle Foundation daycare, The Caring Place, will be closing at the end of December. The news came through a formal letter to parents. They were told the daycare would be closing. Carle Nurse Kaitlyn Kohler said she and her colleagues depend on the daycare to look after their children while they’re at work.

* Crain’s | U of C, U of I in the running for millions from feds for advanced tech and research: Research efforts led by the University of Chicago and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign are in the running for federal grants of $40 million to $70 million each. A quantum-computing and communications project led by U of C’s Chicago Quantum Exchange called the Bloch, and a fermentation and agriculture-biomanufacturing effort led by U of I called iFab are among 31 regional tech hubs across the nation designated by the U.S. Department of Commerce.

* NBC Chicago | Chicago tops list of most rat-infested cities for 9th consecutive year: According to the study, cities were ranked based on the number of new rodent treatments performed from Sept. 1, 2022 to Aug. 31, 2023, Orkin said., with both residential and commercial treatments included.

* WCIA | Two remain in critical condition 3 weeks after Teutopolis HAZMAT spill: The coroner said all seven are still receiving medical treatment for chemical burns to their eyes, lungs and respiratory systems. The crash is still under investigation by the Illinois State Police and the National Transportation Safety Board.

* WICS | Twisted Fork now open in historic space downtown: The kitchen operates Wednesday-Sunday from 4-10 p.m., and the bar remains open until 1 a.m. The couple’s concept, which owners Jered and Amanda Sandner describe as “upscale diner food,” was born after they won a mac and cheese competition at George Rank’s.

* CBS | Harry Porterfield, beloved former CBS 2 News anchor, dead at 95: His family confirmed that Harry died Monday morning of natural causes after a short illness, surrounded by his family in Munster, Indiana. Harry spent 51 years on television in Chicago, including nearly 30 years at CBS 2 before retiring in 2015.

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, Oct 23, 23 @ 2:47 pm

Comments

Re: Avi Perry
Although it might not be revolving door. As a lawyer, he will still have to create some firewalls to separate his new clients from his prior cases.

Comment by Unionman Monday, Oct 23, 23 @ 2:52 pm
===Although it might not be revolving door===

It is, regardless of individual firewalls. He’s using the deep knowledge he gained to defend accused white collar criminals.

Comment by Rich Miller Monday, Oct 23, 23 @ 2:57 pm
Still getting those “Quinn” and “Emanuel” Google notifications I see.

Comment by Three Dimensional Checkers Monday, Oct 23, 23 @ 2:59 pm
Kelly Burke will be missed. Another moderate voice set to leave.

Comment by Hannibal Lecter Monday, Oct 23, 23 @ 3:29 pm
Agreed Hannibal.

Kelly Burke is everything a good state legislator should be: accessible, engaged, responsive, represents her district, and a good listener. Glad she is remaining for the rest of her term and wish her well in the future. She will be greatly missed and I can only hope more legislators model themselves on her example.

Comment by 47th Ward Monday, Oct 23, 23 @ 3:53 pm
Twisted Fork is worth a visit.

Comment by RNUG Monday, Oct 23, 23 @ 3:56 pm
The headline, that the Illinois recreational pot industry is in peril, is misleading. Not even in the article to which the headline belongs is this the case. Total clickbait. The Illinois recreational pot market is doing well.

https://www.marijuanamoment.net/illinois-officials-highlight-unprecedented-growth-of-legal-marijuana-market-as-cannabis-revenue-outpaces-alcohol/

Comment by Grandson of Man Monday, Oct 23, 23 @ 4:37 pm
Kelly Burk was my state rep for the last few years.While I did not like her voting record it is with profound hope for her recovery.I always tell people who have come down that that affiliation that this is not 1950. Something like this shows what is important adt that which is not.Best of luck lady.

Comment by bob Monday, Oct 23, 23 @ 5:19 pm
===‘If you don’t sit down, I’ll put you down.’===

Like a puppy? You going to put Matt Gaetz down like a puppy, Representative Bost?

Comment by Candy Dogood Monday, Oct 23, 23 @ 5:58 pm
The positive of the “revolving door” is that it incentives the “best and brightest” to put some years in public service. I don’t know Perry but he is a Yale/Yale, double clerkship guy - meaning he could have spent the past decade making big money in BigLaw. Instead he served the public at DOJ for a huge pay cut. Now he is leaving to make money (likely at the age he has kids and college tuition looming). I’m grateful he gave up the early money to serve the public. If we discourage the “revolving door” then we may lose the benefit of having guys like him in public service. Bottom line, you want women/men serving the public who, at least temporarily, put service over dollars. Otherwise I worry that - at least to some extent - we’ll “get what we pay for”

Comment by WestBurbs Tuesday, Oct 24, 23 @ 8:04 am
===Instead he served the public at DOJ for a huge pay cut===

Maybe, but he also set himself up for bigger money.

Literally every other government employee/elected official is under this sort of scrutiny except for them. That’s all I’m saying. Not saying it’s bad. Not saying it’s good. It just is.

Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Oct 24, 23 @ 8:52 am