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* ICYMI: End of cash bail in Illinois has not resulted in more crime, but has affected court system. CBS…
- But the law has, in fact, impacted the court system in other ways. Professor David Olson of the Loyola University Chicago Center for Criminal Justice said he’s hearing more about “strength of evidence” and “risk assessment.”
- Of the nearly 9,000 detention-eligible cases in Illinois at which the team looked, 36% of defendants were detained.
- Before the law went into effect, about 17% of defendants missed their court appearance. Now, it is 15%.
* Related stories…
* Sun-Times | All agree ‘King Madigan’ ruled, but jurors must decide whether speaker was bribed in latest corruption trial: Now La Schiazza is accused of bribing Madigan by hiring a Madigan ally in order to get crucial legislation passed. Though La Schiazza’s attorneys don’t dispute Madigan’s influence, prosecutors still hammered the point home to jurors as the trial began in earnest Wednesday. “Madigan exercised enormous control over Illinois politics and policy,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Mower said in his opening statement. “And that power was no secret, including to the defendant.”
* Tribune | ‘Everyone in the system is beholden to the speaker’: Opening statements kick off trial of ex-AT&T boss accused of bribing Madigan: Mower said Cullen and Selcke will tell the jury that “Acevedo was one of the last people that anyone at AT&T wanted working for their company,” largely because of his loose lips and lack of work ethic. “Acevedo talked too much, drank too much and was generally despised by Republicans in Springfield,” [ Assistant U.S. Attorney Paul Mower] said. So they came up with a scheme to pay Acevedo through a third party — Cullen — and keep his name completely off AT&T’s books, Mower said.
* Tribune | Jerry Reinsdorf concedes the obvious — it’s a ‘very painful’ season for Chicago White Sox fans: With the Chicago White Sox drawing national attention as they close in on the modern-day MLB record for losses, Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf conceded the obvious Wednesday, calling it a “very painful” season. “Everyone in this organization is extremely unhappy with the results of this season, that goes without saying,” Reinsdorf said in a statement released after reporters left the clubhouse following the team’s 114th loss, a 6-4 defeat at the hands of the Cleveland Guardians.
* 25 News Now | State government investing money to find the homeless population jobs, the planning starts now: Most of the program’s money is going to organizations near Chicago, but a team of groups in Central Illinois have received $841,190 to support their work. Career Link will be administering the grant, while United Way and Phoenix Community Development Services will work directly with unhoused people. […] They plan to provide job training and support services that will help people overcome barriers to employment. Some of their ideas are rapid rehousing, job readiness training, and adult education, but the planning process just began.
* KFVS | Illinois lawmakers hold hearing pharmacy benefit managers impact on specialty drug market: Wednesday’s state House Health Care Availability and Accessibility Committee hearing focused on PBMs and specifically how they affect the specialty drug market. Illinois Department of Insurance (DOI) Acting Director Ann Gillespie said the FTC report shows PBMs are classifying more drugs as specialty.
* Crain’s | Pritzker wants to rev up EVs in Illinois, but buyers are tapping the brakes: New EV registrations this year averaged 2,457 per month through August, or about 12% less than during the same period a year ago, according to the Illinois secretary of state. EVs made up about 5.9% of all new-car registrations in Illinois through the first six months of this year, compared with 6.5% last year, according to S&P Global Mobility. There were 111,107 EVs registered in Illinois as of mid-August, according to the Illinois secretary of state. The total number of EVs is still growing, up 21% year-to-date. But it’s increasing more slowly than before.
* Sun-Times | Illinois DMVs now accepting contactless payment — with digital IDs coming down the road: State business services and index facilities have also been equipped with new credit card readers to accept contactless payments, including tap-to-pay cards that don’t require signatures. “More and more people are ditching their physical wallets for digital ones,” Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias said. ““We are leveraging this to shorten waiting times, get people out the door more quickly and keep people’s information more safe from fraud in the process.”
* WTTW | WTTW News Explains: How Does the Illinois Assault Weapons Ban Work?: At a high level, the law describes an assault weapon as a semiautomatic firearm with the capacity to fire a lot of rounds quickly. That includes AR-15 style guns — like those used in the mass shootings in suburban Highland Park, as well as in Uvalde, Texas; Buffalo, New York; and elsewhere. The law prohibits high-capacity magazines as well, defining them as anything with at least 10 rounds of ammunition for long guns; 15 for handguns.
* Tribune | Mayor Brandon Johnson exempts police, fire from citywide hiring freeze after backlash: Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration announced Wednesday that a recent hiring freeze across city government would not apply to police and fire employees, following backlash and confusion from pro-law enforcement aldermen. Johnson’s budget team spokesperson, LaKesha Gage Woodard, told the Tribune in a phone call that public safety positions are in fact exempt from the hiring freeze enacted Monday but maintained that was always the plan. “No, it wasn’t a reversal. Absolutely not,” Gage Woodard said.
* Chalkbeat | Contributions start flowing into Chicago’s school board race: Campaigning in Chicago’s historic school board race is ramping up, and so are financial and in-kind contributions to candidates, which now total at least $650,000. Recent weeks have seen an uptick in support for Chicago Teachers Union-endorsed candidates and others who are drawing backing from political committees, labor unions, and other organized groups. Meanwhile, the Illinois Network of Charter Schools’ political arm is finalizing a slate of candidates to endorse and gearing up to enter the fray with a multimillion-dollar war chest at a time when the district has signaled a move away from school choice and charters are under growing scrutiny.
* Tribune | Court finds Trump Tower violated environmental laws and endangered fish in the Chicago River: “Effectively, what was found is, there’s no question that they have done all the things that they were accused of doing,” Margaret Frisbie, executive director of Friends of the Chicago River, told the Tribune. A lawsuit filed in 2018 by then-Attorney General Lisa Madigan alleged the cooling system intake structure at Trump Tower siphoned water from the river so powerfully that it sucked in fish and trapped them against its screens, resulting in the death of thousands of aquatic organisms. Because of the system’s capability to pull in more than 20 million gallons of water from the river per day, federal law required extensive studies of its environmental impact and of fish populations in the river. The building also pumps water back into the river that is up to 35 degrees hotter.
* Sun-Times | Mom of slain Chicago Police Officer Ella French confronts killer as he gets life in prison: ‘With our choices come consequences’: Kim Foxx, who as state’s attorney has championed exonerations for people wrongfully imprisoned and has overseen hundreds of cases overturned over police misconduct allegations, said Morgan’s case didn’t compare with those. Foxx told reporters she was sympathetic to “whatever reality” Flores had to create to process the consequences for her son but added, “I don’t think this is a sentence that anyone, outside of Mr. Morgan’s mother, would question as a just sentence.”
* Block Club | ComEd Cited For Giant, Unfixed Hole On South Side Block: City officials have cited ComEd in connection with an unfinished construction project that’s left a huge hole in the middle of a South Side block for months. The utility company is being cited for operating with an expired permit in May, when workers dug into the ground to fix earlier damage to its cable lines, Chicago Department of Transportation spokesperson Erica Schroeder told Block Club Chicago.
* US News | Chicago’s Suburbs and the Blue Shift in Illinois: Chicago’s four other collar counties, the nickname given to the five counties that surround the centrally located Cook County in the Chicago metropolitan area, have followed similar evolutions. In 2000, none of the five collar counties gave the Democratic presidential nominee a majority. By 2020, four of the five – all but McHenry County – backed the Democratic presidential candidate, with vote shares between 53% and 61%.
* Daily Herald | Elk Grove reverses rule aimed at deterring migrants from local motels: Since enacting the ordinance, Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson said there were no reports of migrants staying in local hotels, and none since nearly 100 Venezuelan migrants left the former La Quinta Inn in April 2023. The motel — since purchased and demolished by the village — was among the first suburban locations to host new arrivals in September 2022. […] Elk Grove is keeping a different part of its ordinance that aims to prevent owners of warehouses or vacant shopping centers from turning their buildings into temporary housing. Property owners have to get a village license and meet certain zoning and health and safety requirements, such as providing a complete bathroom including flush toilet, sink, bath or shower in each sleeping unit.
* Daily Herald | Naperville could settle wrongful conviction lawsuit for $22.5 million: Amor was sentenced to 45 years in prison in 1997, after he was convicted of arson and murder in connection with the 1995 death of his mother-in-law, Marianne Miceli, in a condo fire on the 1800 block of Bailey Road in Naperville. Amor maintained his confession was coerced and experts testified at his second trial that the way he confessed to starting the fire was impossible. The same year he was acquitted, Amor filed a lawsuit against the city claiming that Naperville police officers “reached an agreement among themselves” to frame him.
* Daily Herald | Mount Prospect ethics policy seeps into festival discussion: Mount Prospect’s recent passage of an ethics ordinance is already affecting village business. Two trustees, William Grossi and Vince Dante, withdrew from Tuesday’s public discussion about a new special events policy, citing potential conflicts of interest stemming from their involvement with the Lions Club. Grossi is current president, while Dante is a past president. The village supports such Lions Club events as the Bluesmobile Cruise Nights, the 4th of July Festival and the Farmers Market. The Lions donate annually to help stock the village’s food pantry.
* WCIA | U of I service workers reach new agreement with university, members voting: SEIU Local 73, representing food and building service workers, told WCIA that it reached a tentative agreement with the university on Wednesday. Union members will be voting through the end of the week on whether to ratify the new contract. A union representative said they expect to have another statement available on Friday.
* WCIA | Central IL police investigating string of recent school threats: Several police departments across Central Illinois are investigating a series of threats that have been made against area schools this week. So far, it appears that the threats are part of a nationwide trend with no apparent connection to the area.
posted by Isabel Miller
Thursday, Sep 12, 24 @ 7:46 am
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A very painful season for the south side, but they’ll still only make marginal changes to management and still be surprised that the state doesn’t want to so much as validate his parking when it comes to public monies.
It’s an old adage, but the saying about baseball is that everybody wins a third of their games and loses a third of their games. What makes or breaks a season is what they do with the remaining third. Every now and then, a team somehow finds a way to not even win a third of their games, but they at least usually come close. Freaking Sox aren’t even in spitting distance of the expected bare minimum.
Comment by TJ Thursday, Sep 12, 24 @ 8:04 am
“All agree” and “Everybody knows that” might be the beginnings of an argument, but they are hardly evidence in a criminal trial. always been intrigued by the buy-in to the “Madigan Myth” of unlimited power by the many players in state government. His actual power was sustained, enlarged, and sold by his associates beyond whatever he might have actually do in any specific instance.
The prosecutors still have to make their case. It will be interesting.
Comment by Walker Thursday, Sep 12, 24 @ 9:17 am
Every time I see DMV in a story I just want to scream to my monitor, “They are DSFs, dang it.” (Drivers Services Facilities).
This is Illinois, not California nor the mystery state where the Simpsons live where DMVs were the targets of either Johnny Carson jokes or Patty and Selma storylines back in the day.
Comment by NonAFSCMEStateEmployeeFromChatham Thursday, Sep 12, 24 @ 9:21 am
== but the planning process just began. ==
Didn’t they have to put a plan together first on order to get the grant?
Comment by RNUG Thursday, Sep 12, 24 @ 9:21 am
Jerry Reinsdorf promised a quick turnaround last year. In fact, it was his main justification for promoting Chris Getz from within — Getz wouldn’t have to waste a year just getting to know the personnel like an outsider would. But Getz is following a long-term rebuild model, not a quick turnaround.
So was Reinsdorf lying last August — trying to obscure another example of his organization’s deeply engrained cronyism? Or did he change his mind about the course of the rebuild? If he ever does another press conference that would be my first question.
Comment by Chet Lemon Thursday, Sep 12, 24 @ 9:53 am
==End of cash bail in Illinois has not resulted in more crime==
Patiently waiting for Joe Rogan to talk about this on his podcast. He spent lots of time talking about how the end of cash bail was going to lead to an Escape From New York situation.
Comment by supplied_demand Thursday, Sep 12, 24 @ 10:00 am
Good reporting by the Trib and Sun Times on the corruption that was going on in our State Government.
Great work by the Justice Dept. in tracking down and pursuing these corporate and public characters.
Hoping the defendants will cooperated in future investigations.
Comment by Back to the Future Thursday, Sep 12, 24 @ 10:02 am
The Sox organization has literally been run into the ground. It will take years (and possibly a change in ownership) to recover what they have lost this year.
Comment by Stones Thursday, Sep 12, 24 @ 10:05 am
==They are DSFs, dang it==
That that to your boss. He calls them DMV’s and there are press releases that refer to them as DMV’s.
Comment by Demoralized Thursday, Sep 12, 24 @ 10:16 am
==They are DSFs, dang it==
Also, look at your own website. Right there at the top of the page it refers to DMV facilities.
https://www.ilsos.gov/
Comment by Demoralized Thursday, Sep 12, 24 @ 10:18 am
I feel for La Schiazza and Cullen. Clearly neither one wanted anything to do with Eddie Acevedo who I’d call a clown but that would be insulting to real clowns. The guy is a total idiot.
Cullen in particular is going to be a devastating withness for the government. He is a stand up guy and doesn’t pull punches. He is completely authentic and likeable. That will become apparent to the jury very early on.
Comment by low level Thursday, Sep 12, 24 @ 10:24 am
===But Getz is following a long-term rebuild model, not a quick turnaround. ===
lol
With a bunch of journeymen?
C’mon.
Comment by Rich Miller Thursday, Sep 12, 24 @ 10:49 am
It is good to see some people familiar with what happens in Springfield testifying for the People in these cases concerning these problems. They should be proud of themselves and supported by their family members and the general public.
Comment by Back to the Future Thursday, Sep 12, 24 @ 10:53 am
Great insight by Low Level.
Comment by Back to the Future Thursday, Sep 12, 24 @ 11:07 am
===This is Illinois, not California nor the mystery state where the Simpsons live where DMVs were the targets of either Johnny Carson jokes or Patty and Selma storylines back in the day.===
Illinois uses SoS instead of DMV because of a time honored Illinois custom - patronage. In 1936, the driver’s license statute needed to be reauthorized. Illinois could, as most states did, put that function under the Governor. In 1936, that was Henry Horner, nemesis of Illinois patronage idlers. Instead, it was put under Secretary of State Edward J. Hughes, loyal member of Chicago Mayor Edward J. Kelly’s machine (which ran a candidate against Horner in 1936’s primary, and lost).
Yes, Illinois does many things different than the norm in most states. Based upon our history, however, think we’d want to run as far away as fast as we can from our malodorous history.
Comment by Anyone Remember Thursday, Sep 12, 24 @ 12:30 pm
- The biggest concern was that the abolition of cash bail would lead to a rise in crime. -
The Sky?…still there.
Comment by Dotnonymous x Thursday, Sep 12, 24 @ 1:59 pm