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* ICYMI: The Illinois Election Board votes to keep Trump and Biden on the March Primary Ballot. WTTW…
* Related stories…
* Isabel’s top picks…
* WGN | Fine dining, first class travel costing taxpayers in south suburbs: Credit card records from Thornton Township show Henyard and other officials spent nearly $67,000 on trips to Portland, Austin, Atlanta and New York City in recent months. In Atlanta, the group stayed at the Four Seasons Hotel and brought home a bill of $9,347. In New York, they stayed at the Mariott Marquis in Times Square where the hotel charged the group $13,098. Airline records show everyone in the group frequently flies first class.
* Fox 2 Now | Illinois bill could mean fewer traffic stops for speeding, other offenses: The bill would prohibit Illinois law enforcement officers from stopping drivers for several traffic offenses. That includes speeding and improper lane usage, unless either happens to the extent of a misdemeanor or felony offense. According to Illinois’ state laws, drivers commit a Class B misdemeanor offense when they are traveling at least 26 miles per hour above an applicable speed limit or a class A misdemeanor offense when they are traveling at least 35 miles per hour above limit.
* Crain’s | Illinois Realtors plans $1 million campaign against transfer-tax increase: “We’re going to tell Chicago voters that it will harm the city if you create another real estate tax in a city where we’re already overly burdened with real estate taxes,” Jeff Baker, CEO of Springfield-based Illinois Realtors, said in a meeting with several Crain’s reporters on Jan. 30.
* Here’s the rest of your morning roundup…
* WLPO | IDOT Workers Plan To Picket Outside Ottawa Office: According to longtime IDOT employee Anderson Klump, fellow IDOT employees plan to picket in front of the District 3 office in Ottawa Wednesday at noon. The IDOT worker says he and others have been working without a union contract for almost 9 months. This despite many non-union executive staff receiving large pay raises last year.
* WLDS | Budzinski’s Fight for a Bi-Partisan Farm Bill: 13th District Congresswoman Nikki Budzinski says the ongoing budget fight in Washington is standing in the way of a bipartisan compromise on a new Farm Bill being passed. The government’s funding is on a continuing resolution until early March. The country is still operating under the 2018 Farm Bill, and will operate under its continued resolution until September 30th. The 2018 bill expired this past September, but had to be extended because of Congress’ continued gridlock.
* CNI | Chicago org to receive federal funding to help launch regional water sustainability industry: The U.S. National Science Foundation awarded the grant to Current Innovation NFP, a nonprofit “innovation hub” whose mission is to “solve pressing water challenges caused by climate change and pollution.” It will receive one of 10 inaugural NSF Engine awards aimed at using science and technology to drive regional economies.
* Streetsblog | “We’re all equally in danger”: Ride Illinois launches statewide bike fatality awareness campaign: Bicycle advocacy organization Ride Illinois recently announced the “Our Response to Fatal Crashes” campaign, an effort to raise awareness of the crisis statewide—especially in areas outside Chicagoland, which have few to no local bike advocacy groups. Ride Illinois recently added a map to their website—inspired, according to the announcement, by Streetsblog Chicago’s map of bike fatalities—tracking all fatal crashes in the state since 2018. We spoke with Dave Simmons, executive director of Ride Illinois about the campaign, and the threats bicyclists face on roadways across the Land of Lincoln.
* Sun-Times | Marriott, Hyatt hotels at McCormick Place to be official Democratic convention headquarters: The United Center will host the evening sessions with the delegates and speakers at the convention, to run Aug. 19-22, but the hotels will serve as the base of operations for the Biden for President campaign, the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic National Convention Committee plus media and other groups.
* WGN | Bumpy rollout of updated Circuit Court online system as clerk prepares for election: While the case management system gets off the ground, Martinez has been working on a re-election campaign. She says, “it takes more than one term to really change the outcome or the change of the office.” Like her predecessor Dorothy Brown – Martinez has also faced criticism. Late last year – a story generated some headlines accusing her of “pay to play” politics with her campaign receiving donations from employees.
* Tribune | Chicago aldermen focus on migrant work authorizations rather than shelter conditions: City officials did give the first public glimpse into the grievance system available for residents and staff to use for shelter problems. On average over the past three months, residents have filed 37 grievances per week. In January, an average of 55 resident grievances were filed per week. . City officials did not detail what grievances focused on.
* Block Quote | Abortion Rights Advocates Warn Edgewater’s New Crisis Pregnancy Center Could Mislead Patients: Aid For Women advertises free pregnancy tests and counseling to help visitors make a “fully informed decision,” but the religious nonprofit doesn’t provide referrals for abortion care under any circumstances, according to its website.
* Check CU | Yorkville BOE Book Ban Closed Meeting Recording Released – Illinois: The matter that was closed to the public on August 7th, 2023, was a discussion about prohibiting the use of the book Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by attorney Bryan Stevenson from being used in the curriculum. The book focuses on injustices in the United States judicial system and documents Stevenson’s efforts to overturn the wrongful conviction of Walter McMillian, a black Alabama man who was convicted of murder in 1988 and spent six years on death row before an appeals court finally overturned his conviction.
* WBBM | Local civil rights group calls for accountability after Muslim student attacked at Glendale Heights school: In a video posted to social media, a boy grabs a seventh-grade girl wearing a hajib in the hallway of Glenside Middle School around the neck and throws her to the floor. Maggie Slavin with CAIR Chicago told CBS 2 the girl was targeted for wearing a headscarf.
* Daily Herald | What could be Schaumburg’s last subdivision nears halfway point: The village has issued building permits for 93 of the homes so far, with 70 approved for occupancy. “This project has really done everything we expected,” Mayor Tom Dailly said. “The number of homes being sold has just skyrocketed. They estimated it would take five years. I’ll be surprised if it takes five years.”
* Fox Chicago | Dixmoor residents sound off after yet another water main break: Last year, the village received $2.2 million to repair the pipeline on the north part of town. There was also $14 million announced in grant money to update the infrastructure, but Mayor Fitzgerald Roberts says they haven’t received the cash yet.
* AP | Elon Musk cannot keep Tesla compensation package worth more than $55 billion, judge rules: McCormick concluded that the only suitable remedy was for Musk’s compensation package to be rescinded. “In the final analysis, Musk launched a self-driving process, recalibrating the speed and direction along the way as he saw fit,” she wrote. “The process arrived at an unfair price. And through this litigation, the plaintiff requests a recall.”
* The Atlantic | Should Teens Have Access to Disappearing Messages?: The stories are hauntingly similar: A teenager, their whole life ahead of them, buys a pill from someone on Snapchat. They think it’s OxyContin or Percocet, but it actually contains a lethal amount of fentanyl. They take it; they die. Their bereaved parents are left grasping for an explanation.
* The Atlantic | The rise of techno-authoritarianism: Facebook (now Meta) has become an avatar of all that is wrong with Silicon Valley. Its self-interested role in spreading global disinformation is an ongoing crisis. Recall, too, the company’s secret mood-manipulation experiment in 2012, which deliberately tinkered with what users saw in their News Feed in order to measure how Facebook could influence people’s emotional states without their knowledge. Or its participation in inciting genocide in Myanmar in 2017. Or its use as a clubhouse for planning and executing the January 6, 2021, insurrection. (In Facebook’s early days, Zuckerberg listed “revolutions” among his interests. This was around the time that he had a business card printed with i’m ceo, bitch.)
* Chicago Mag | Illinois Route 1 Is a Must-Drive Trek to See the State: The first essential stop on Route 1 is St. Anne, a population-1,200 hamlet in Kankakee County. The village was settled in the 1850s by French Canadians, who named it for Mary’s mother, a saint venerated in Quebec. They built St. Anne’s Church, a Gothic structure that rises stone by stone from the prairie, then lifts a weathered copper belfry toward heaven. It’s a rare remnant of French Illinois, which predated the arrival of the English here by nearly a century. Anne is the patron saint of grandmothers, so since 1886 the church has held a festival for grandparents on her feast day, July 26.
posted by Isabel Miller
Wednesday, Jan 31, 24 @ 7:45 am
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How does the board make any decisions about federal office holders if they “lack jurisdiction on a constitutional question”. How can they ever enforce any eligibility requirements? If a 20 year old tries to run for the Presidency, does the Board have to allow it?
Comment by Perrid Wednesday, Jan 31, 24 @ 8:28 am
Re: Fox2Now story
I know we talked about this yesterday. I am not insensitive to racial inequities and inequalities, nor am I suggesting ignorance as a strategy. But this policy does.
Operating an unregistered vehicle should not be ignored. Several of the other provisions are also misguided in my opinion. If we find that those jurisdictions where people of color live are the jurisdictions where these laws are enforced, then we have clear evidence of differential justice, and perhaps those jurisdictions should be addressed. But creating state law that says police cannot pull cars over that are unlicensed and unregistered is not a solution. If such people are not registering their cars, they are almost certainly not insuring their cars (which could easily be managed by insurance companies).
A better solution would focus on communities rather than the state level, and address inequities and inequalities.
Comment by H-W Wednesday, Jan 31, 24 @ 8:54 am
I’ve been informed that Rep. Slaughter is pulling HB4603
Comment by Wyatt Earp Wednesday, Jan 31, 24 @ 9:17 am
@ Perrid
In the scenario you mentioned, existing clear constitutional language prohibits a 20yr old from running for President and they would be summarily dismissed from the ballot were they to try, in a similar manner as would be the case with a non-citizen attempting to run for President. In such a situation, the board could ask the supposed 20yr old to submit a valid birth certificate indicating that he was actually 35+yrs old.
In the case of Donald Trump, the constitutional issues of a 20yr old do not apply, nor do the issues of non-citizenship (or anything else under that particular section).
Comment by Former ILSIP Wednesday, Jan 31, 24 @ 9:23 am
I grew up in the south suburbs… and this is not representative of the Dolton I remember. I can’t imagine Dolton has the money to fund the described extravagance.
Comment by Lincoln Lad Wednesday, Jan 31, 24 @ 9:27 am
===pulling HB4603===
How would one do such a thing?
Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Jan 31, 24 @ 10:19 am
=In the case of Donald Trump=
While I have no issue with them leaving him on the ballot, the constitution and election law give states broad authority in determining who goes on the ballot. Deferring to the USSC is a bit of a copout. They could have said no.
Comment by JS Mill Wednesday, Jan 31, 24 @ 10:45 am
== pulling HB4603 ==
Don’t believe there’s any provision for that in House rules. But he could file a motion to “table” the bill, which would have a similar effect. Though, I’m not sure parliamentary maneuvers will satisfy the social media outrage machine.
Comment by Rules check Wednesday, Jan 31, 24 @ 10:49 am
It seems to me disappearing messages are better than the internet always remembers messages. At least young people can be stupid and young without leaving a trace (assuming they survive.)
I think social media and its hidden algorithms is a bigger issue. IMO I think they should be required to publish their algorithm (in pseudocode or simplified language), get the algorithm approved by a board, and when they change the algorithm in production, get those changes approved. At least then there would be transparency.
Right now I’ve stopped all social media except reddit & mastodon which can both be configured for latest posts only, so I don’t have anger triggers being used on me.
Comment by cermak_rd Wednesday, Jan 31, 24 @ 10:58 am
Wow, that Yorkville closed session is a mess that reflects badly on the entire community. Multiple members of the school board not even trying to hide that their goal is to pretend racism doesn’t exist. The district’s response to the FOIA attempts shows that they absolutely 100% knew that the discussion was both illegal AND was going to reflect extremely poorly on the board and administration, and wanted to hide this incredibly gross discourse from the community.
Comment by Suburban Mom Wednesday, Jan 31, 24 @ 10:59 am
@ JS Mill
With respect, that is a very risky path to take, as the question becomes “What do you do if he wins?” If a state arbitrarily says that someone is not qualified to be president (and they have not already been convicted in the Senate under an impeachment trial - and further adjudicated to be not allowed to hold public office again), and removes them from the ballot, how can they legally justify accepting him as president if he wins? It’s a lot easier and much more defensibly legal to defer to the SC.
Comment by Former ILSIP Wednesday, Jan 31, 24 @ 11:05 am
===I think social media and its hidden algorithms is a bigger issue. IMO I think they should be required to publish their algorithm (in pseudocode or simplified language), get the algorithm approved by a board, and when they change the algorithm in production, get those changes approved. At least then there would be transparency. ===
I work in this space and the digital services act in the EU, which is just entering enforcement now, is going to provide at least some of this. There’s also been considerable court scrutiny of algorithmic bias in the United States, although mostly in sectors like insurance.
Algorithm inspections are coming, and they won’t be in simplified language; they’ll be done by specialists who can read the code. Watch the EU’s rollout of DSA/DMA enforcement closely; that’s going to provide a template for California (who will almost certainly be the first mover in the US). We’ve also seen federal agencies significantly upskilling on algorithms and AI in their hiring decisions, so it’s possible there may actually be federal regulatory movement (or even Congressional movement) after the election this year.
Comment by Suburban Mom Wednesday, Jan 31, 24 @ 11:30 am
Saint Anne is unlike the land around it. Sandy, silty soil there feels like a piece of the Mississippi Delta was dropped there; it’s better for growing melons than corn and beans. It’s also kind of out of the way yet close to Kankakee and Chicago. Back in Capone’s day it would have been a good place to hide a body. Today enjoy it for the unique biome.
Just don’t go digging anywhere.
Comment by Give Us Barabbas Wednesday, Jan 31, 24 @ 11:31 am
Suburban Mom, I agree. Plus it sounds like Just Mercy is a pretty good book.
And since when is overturning convictions of people who didn’t commit the crime for which they were condemned to die a controversial topic? Nevertheless if they wanted to discuss it, they should have had the ability to discuss it in public.
Comment by cermak_rd Wednesday, Jan 31, 24 @ 11:33 am
Give the IDOT workers their contract. Their work is dangerous, they get maimed, crippled, sometimes killed on the job by being hit or crushed by cars.
The state came up with hundreds of millions of dollars to help out Chicago, they can afford to give the IDOT workers their contract.
Comment by DuPage Wednesday, Jan 31, 24 @ 12:31 pm
=With respect, that is a very risky path to take, as the question becomes “What do you do if he wins?”=
Purely tongue in cheek here but my response would be to do what trump did and declare it rigged and fake.
Good discussion though and I don’t disagree with the pragmatic aspects of your point. From a purely constitutional perspective this issue was, in large part, left to the states to determine for themselves. Maybe that was a mistake.
But your point is definitely not wrong.
Comment by JS Mill Wednesday, Jan 31, 24 @ 12:34 pm
Two things I don’t understand:
1. How is the 14th amendment issue addressable anywhere other than in Federal Court? It is an issue established by US Constitutional Amendment regarding the holding of Federal office.
2. Why hasn’t someone filed a 14th Amendment case in Federal Court before now (assuming that’s the case). It’s been three years.
Comment by 37B Wednesday, Jan 31, 24 @ 1:11 pm