Capitol Fax.com - Your Illinois News Radar

Isabel’s morning briefing

Posted in:

Illinois

* ICYMI: The White Sox and Bears are discussing a ‘financing partnership’ for two stadiums, developer says. The Sun-Times has the three elements of Related Midwest President Curt Bailey’s government subsidy plan…

• A “sales tax overlay district” requiring the city, state and county to forfeit part of the sales tax revenue generated within the project boundaries. That revenue would “primarily serve as backup … to make sure bond holders are still taken care of when there are outlier events like COVID or 9/11” that cause hotel tax revenues to plummet, Bailey said.

• A $450 million subsidy from the tax increment financing district created to bankroll infrastructure improvements needed to develop the site, which has railroad tracks running through it. Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf put a $900 million price on that work, but Bailey cut that estimate in half, and argued the entire investment is well worth the return.

Thoughts?

* Related stories…

∙ Center Square: Grassroots group in Illinois calling for no new tax dollars for sports stadiums
∙ Chicago Mag: Despite all the hoopla, the White Sox’s proposed move from Guaranteed Rate Field to the 78 is anything but guaranteed.

* Isabel’s top picks…

Tribune | Early voting begins citywide as state officials predict 40% of ballots will be cast before March 19 primary:

* Sen. Dick Durbin | This decision-making moment will determine O’Hare’s future: However, if United and American airlines had it their way, they would delay the satellite terminals and build only the part of the project that benefits them and doesn’t increase competition. This means putting off the construction of both satellite terminals to focus on the Global Terminal. For a price tag still in the billions of dollars, O’Hare would gain two new gates in 10 years.

* Tribune | Should Illinois become a ‘right-to-die’ state? Lawmakers consider end-of-life option for terminally ill adults: Proponents of the proposed law, including Suzy Flack, say it’s an option that could end tremendous suffering for some ill patients in their final days. The nonprofit Compassion and Choices, which advocates for the proposed Illinois law, says the measure would only apply to a narrow group of patients and strict regulations are designed to prevent misuse or abuse. The organization contends that “there have been no substantiated cases of abuse or coercion” since Oregon’s law went into effect in 1997, according to a statement on the Compassion and Choices website.

* Governor Pritzker will be at the Midwest Food Bank in Morton at 1 pm to annouce Illinois Eats grant awardees, click here to watch.

* Here’s the rest…

* WTTW | State Lawmakers Debate Top Takeaways From Pritzker’s Proposed Budget: “The governor’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2025 is a good first step toward investing in educating our students, protecting our most vulnerable populations, and preparing for our future, but our work is far from done,” state Sen. Elgie Sims (D-Chicago) said in a statement. “I look forward to joining my colleagues in the General Assembly in having a robust discussion about this year’s budget.”

* Chalkbeat | Illinois advocates of career and technical education want more funding as demand for programs increase: This school year, at monthly meetings and during fall budget hearings, CTE advocates asked for a funding increase of at least $10 million from the Illinois State Board of Education. They believe CTE programs can help students get into high-salary jobs right out of high school, grow the state’s workforce and economy, and allow students to start their lives without a large amount of student loan debt. However, data on student outcomes is still unclear, even as school districts like Chicago and across the country continue to invest in CTE programs.

* Sun-Times | In Englewood’s Illinois House 6th District, its incumbent Sonya Harper vs. Joseph Williams: On the cusp of a fifth full term, Harper, 42, touted her longstanding efforts to expand community gardening and urban agriculture in a district desperately lacking groceries and healthy food options, co-founding the nonprofit Grow Greater Englewood.

* Center Square | Cook County’s gun ban upheld as challenge to statewide ban continues: In the ruling Friday in the case Viramontes v. Cook County, Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer issued a summary judgment against the plaintiffs and in favor of the county. Pallmeyer pointed to the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling in the Bevis v. Naperville case where a three-judge panel said the city and state had a likelihood of success in defending gun bans.

* Tribune | Suburban mayors warn that Pritzker’s plan to eliminate grocery sales tax will hurt services or raise other taxes: The mayors of Algonquin, Barrington, Cary and Libertyville said the tax cut proposed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker would hurt their ability to provide basic services. They say the governor should reconsider, or that the state needs to replace the full 10% that municipalities previously received from the state income tax.

* Tribune | Democratic bona fide accusations flare in state’s attorney race: She has two major donors from Citadel — Gerald Beeson and Matthew Simon. Both have given to both Democrats such as Paul Vallas and Rahm Emanuel locally and Republicans nationally. Beeson has contributed to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Kelly Loeffler and Thom Tillis in recent years, while Simon has given to the John Bolton Super PAC. […] “You don’t take money from these folks with these kinds of principles and values unless you share those principles and values,” Preckwinkle said. She also said O’Neill Burke had a “disastrous” presentation to county Democrats last summer. The party endorsed Harris.

* WGN | Cook County States Attorney candidates battle over wrongful murder conviction of Black boy: The candidates have key platform differences. On retail theft, Harris says he will continue current State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s policy not to prosecute retail theft under $1,000 as a felony while O’Neill Burke says she’ll use $300 as the threshold. On prosecuting police as defendants, O’Neill Burke wants to transfer those cases to a special unit. Harris wants his office to take on those cases.

* WGN | Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard vetoes resolution calling for spending investigation: Last month, members of the board of trustees passed a resolution that requires her to turn over the village’s financial records and calls for an FBI investigation. “To my staff, I apologize for all the mess that the board of trustees have created,” Henyard said at Monday night’s meeting. The mayor admits to a $2 million deficit, but trustees say it’s millions more. They vow to override her veto at next month’s village meeting.

* WBEZ | DCASE leadership still in flux as city braces for start of festival season: The city’s top cultural chief, Erin Harkey, is still on the job more than two weeks after she was terminated by Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, a mayoral spokesperson confirmed Monday. The spokesperson, Ronnie Reese, said that the first deputy commissioner, Jennifer Johnson Washington, would temporarily fill the role once Harkey departs.

* ABC Chicago | Shots fired at security detail outside home of former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot: According to the Chicago Police Department, the unmarked squad was hit around 3:15 a.m. near Wrightwood and Kimball in Logan Square. Police said no officers were hurt and that they did not return fire.

* WGN | CPS students help open container farm to provide fresh produce in the middle of South Side food desert: The young entrepreneurs will be responsible for operations at Bowen Harvest, overseeing crop planning, mineral and water management, lighting and temperature control and harvesting. In addition to an educational stipend they earn for their participation, students will get valuable lessons in science, technology, engineering, math and reading as well as exposure to real-world business concepts like profit and loss, marketing, food trends, partnerships and more.

* Jam Lab | Tips for spotting AI-generated images and videos:Jean le Roux is a research associate at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab. He studies technologies like AI and how they relate to disinformation. He told Africa Check that because of the way the algorithms work in current AI-powered image generators, these tools struggle to perfectly recreate certain common features of photos. One classic example is hands. These tools initially really struggled with hands. Human figures appeared to have warped, missing or more fingers than expected. But this once-telltale sign has swiftly become less reliable as the generators have improved.

* Mashable | Elon Musk’s X has already backed off its new anti-trans hate policy: On Thursday, X updated its “Abuse and Harassment” policy to add a new section called “Use of Prior Names and Pronouns.” According to this updated policy, a post would receive reduced visibility if it misgendered a user or used their former name and the targeted user reported the post. However, over the past 24 hours, this new policy has already been changed. And the update completely alters how the policy is enforced.

posted by Isabel Miller
Tuesday, Mar 5, 24 @ 7:43 am

Comments

Re: new stadiums — the Bears and Sox should get the same public subsidies that the Cubs, Bulls, and Blackhawks received.

Comment by Just Me 2 Tuesday, Mar 5, 24 @ 8:44 am
== Thoughts? ==

Isn’t it great to be able to get public funding for your private hobby enterprises? /s?

Comment by RNUG Tuesday, Mar 5, 24 @ 8:50 am
“public funding for your private hobby enterprises” makes it well worth the investment. /s

Comment by Huh? Tuesday, Mar 5, 24 @ 8:55 am
TAKE money from folks unless they share your values, wow Toni how about GIVE money? Harris gave his own personal cash to Ethan Hastert, Republican, anti choice, and directed corporate lobbying dollars to Bill Brady who is wow conservative. Why is that not a concern?

Comment by Amalia Tuesday, Mar 5, 24 @ 9:04 am
The Sox and Bears teaming up is taking two separate political losers and merging them into a bigger political loser.

Comment by ChicagoVinny Tuesday, Mar 5, 24 @ 9:07 am
Generally not excited about public funding of entertainment venues, but I found this funding idea interesting and hope it gets a close review.

Comment by Back to the Future Tuesday, Mar 5, 24 @ 9:30 am
So now that Mayor Henyard has issued her “veto” I guess the feds hands are tied? Too bad, I really thought those Trustees were on to something. But you can’t argue with the power of the pen.

Comment by Pundent Tuesday, Mar 5, 24 @ 9:50 am
It seems like the ideas tp develop the Rezko land get more fanciful by the day. Rather than GovJunk’s plans for a 2nd U of I Chicago campus now they need to finance 2 losing franchise stadiums + the U of I. Maybe they should add a TESLA factory or SpaceX lunch pad too.

Comment by Annon'in Tuesday, Mar 5, 24 @ 11:13 am
Remarkable restraint from the Bears/White Sox joint proposal not to also ask for EDGE style refunds of all state payroll taxes generated by team employees from front office to players who will work at the stadium(s) as well.

Or maybe they just got dizzy swinging for the fences with that trifecta of funding sources proposal and forgot to ask for that too.

Comment by ChicagoBars Tuesday, Mar 5, 24 @ 1:52 pm
- “That revenue would “primarily serve as backup … to make sure bond holders are still taken care of when there are outlier events like COVID or 9/11” that cause hotel tax revenues to plummet, Bailey said.”

Every single dollar of the current hotel tax revenue isn’t already spent for the next 40 years already.

Fool me once….

Comment by Chicago 20 Tuesday, Mar 5, 24 @ 3:12 pm
- “That revenue would “primarily serve as backup … to make sure bond holders are still taken care of when there are outlier events like COVID or 9/11” that cause hotel tax revenues to plummet, Bailey said.”

Every single dollar of the current hotel tax revenue is already spent for the next 40 years already.

Fool me once….

Comment by Chicago 20 Tuesday, Mar 5, 24 @ 3:20 pm