-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
Over the past nine years, two nephews of former Mayor Richard M. Daley have been involved in separate plans to redevelop a rundown warehouse on 15 acres of polluted land in Little Village just north of the Stevenson Expressway. It hasn’t turned out well for Chicago taxpayers.
Comment: Hey, he actually said something true about the pension crisis: “Elected labor leaders weren’t gonna tell their members what they had to pay for in benefits. People in the civic watchdog groups were asleep. They were like trained seals applauding because stardust got thrown in their eyes and they weren’t asking the questions that needed to be asked. Collectively, people in leadership took their eye off the ball.”
Comment: “To promote reusable bags”? Please. Only two cents would go to the merchants to compensate them, but cents would go to the city.
The Indiana and Illinois departments of transportation anticipate completing revisions to their Illiana Expressway plan this fall, in hopes of overcoming a federal court’s objections to their original effort.
75 percent of Illinois counties will have only one or two insurance companies selling coverage on the health law marketplace for 2017. In seven counties – McHenry, Lake, Kendall, Grundy, Madison, St. Clair and Monroe – Blue Cross Blue Shield will be the only insurer selling marketplace policies.
Chicago now has only two businesses on the list, down from four in 2014, and likely will be down to just one next year with the move of Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo to West Hollywood in California.
Comment: “Stable,” says S&P. Hee hee. Must be some new bond issues coming up S&P will be bidding on.
By: Mark Glennon* In our endless quest for objective data, I stopped in at Bennison’s Bakery in Evanston, IL to get the latest on their Trump v. Clinton index. With this reading, people have to put their money where their mouths are. Or maybe vice versa. Whatever. They’ve been selling Clinton and Trump cookies and closely watching the numbers and trends, posting up to the minute totals behind the counter. Hillary is clearly running away with it, with 1346 Clinton cookies sold versus Trump’s 956 as of Noon today. That proportion has been pretty steady, Assistant
By: Mark Glennon* Seventh and eighth graders chose the questions for their two candidates for the U.S. Congress in a forum Tuesday evening. Check out how issue-focused, straightforward and productive their questions were, as well as the coverage of it, in the Chicago Tribune article linked here. “Policies, not personalities, mark WJHS students’ questions to Schakowsky, Lasonde” — that was the Tribune’s appropriate headline. What a contrast to the national debates and so much of the media’s coverage. Nothing about Miss Universe, Birthirism, Tweets, who-called-whom-what and all the other tabloid, time-wasting nonsense that has consumed the
Eighty-nine workers at Manteno’s Merisant plant — which produces Equal, the artificial sweetener — were told Monday the location will be closing its doors in mid-December and moving to a southeastern state.
Mars Chocolate will be taking control of Wrigley and forming one entity known as Mars Wrigley Confectionery, with a corporate headquarters in Chicago.
Voters will have the opportunity in November to decide, by way of a constitutional amendment, whether lawmakers should be able to divert transportation funds toward other priorities.
A federal judge is letting a high-profile lawsuit by an Illinois dealership against Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV go forward, adding to the pressure on the auto maker over its sales reporting techniques. The ruling, issued Tuesday, allows Napleton Automotive Group to pursue claims that Fiat Chrysler violated antitrust and dealer franchise laws when it allegedly pressured the Illinois retailer to manipulate monthly sales data. The judge, however, dismissed claims of fraud and racketeering.
Rauner, who called Illinois the “manufacturing heart of America for almost 200 years,” repeatedly stressed the need to cut regulations and tax burdens to encourage job growth and business relocation to the state.
The author, a teacher, writes: “even though I am legally striking over salary and benefits here is a list of the many other reasons that all impact our students of why I will be striking….”
The face of the Ferguson Effect now belongs to a longtime Chicago police officer. She didn’t want to use her gun in a physical confrontation with a violent man, Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said. So she’s in the hospital, in serious condition, her face repeatedly pounded into the concrete of the West Side in a beating that lasted several minutes as she fought with an assailant suspected by police of being high on PCP.
Teachers from the UNO Charter School Network, one of Chicago’s largest charter school systems, voted overwhelmingly Thursday in favor of a strike if workers and management don’t reach an agreement before Oct. 19.
Munger said the state is entering a particularly precarious financial period because tax receipts historically drop in October and November, meaning there is less money on hand to pay bills. While some expenses such as debt payments and those covered by court order automatically go out the door, there is more flexibility when it comes to making the pension payment.
Aldermen and city officials who take advantage of the Cubs’ lucrative offer to purchase playoff tickets at face value must accompany their guests to all games at Wrigley Field and be publicly announced to the crowd — and face the boos that may come with it — or risk violating the city’s ethics ordinance.
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