-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
Still, the secession conversation is a dramatic expression of the much more widespread — and potentially dangerous — frustration with a sweeping governmental response to the pandemic that many question in areas where some homes sit acres apart and people predominantly travel by car, not public transportation.
Comment: There’s far more to this story, not just for Chicago but statewide, which we will be writing about shortly.
Sam Toia, president of the Illinois Restaurant Association, said up to 25 percent of the roughly 7,500 restaurants that have made Chicago one of the food capitals of the world may never re-open.
Since Tuesday, officers in the Chicago Police Department’s Harrison District have been ordered to issue dispersal orders to groups of more than 10 people congregating on four West Side blocks, including the one on West Gladys Avenue where Harrison District Cmdr. Darrell Spencer owns a three-flat.
Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi said Friday that all homes, businesses and other real estate parcels could see their property values adjusted due to COVID-19’s effect on the market.
“I don’t know if Jared Kushner knows this, but it’s called the United States of America. And the federal government, which has a stockpile, is supposed to be backstopping the states.”
The model the company developed relies on three key pieces of information: geographic data incorporating age, sex and location of those with the disease; the number of COVID-19 cases reported by states and the federal government; and the length of states’ stay-at-home orders.
Big-city and small-town legislators balance duties as their return to Springfield remains uncertain.
“Honestly, I don’t know what to do with a negative 34 percent quarter,” said Greg Turk, director of investments for the Illinois Teachers’ Retirement System. “JPMorgan is also out there with about a negative 25 percent second quarter. That obviously is going to have a dramatic impact on unemployment.”
When asked Thursday if schools would be closed through the end of the school year, Pritzker offered little to quell parents’ concerns: “As we enter a peak period, sometime we think in the later half of April, and as we start to come off that peak we’ll make some decisions about what does May look like.”
Of the 14,702 layoffs reported to the state in the March report, 8,970 were listed as permanent and 5,592 were listed as temporary. Another 140 were listed as a mix of temporary and permanent.
“Illinois right now has one of the lowest shares of workers with access to paid sick leave. It also has the lowest state rainy day fund in terms of its share of its state expenditures compared to any other state.”
The famous convention center already has about 500 hospital beds, which will be used for non-acute coronavirus patients. And the facility will grow: McCormick Place will have 3,000 hospital hospital beds by the end of the month, adding badly needed hospital capacity to the Chicago area as COVID-19 cases across the state surge.
That’s a slight decrease from the number of people who called in sick the day before, said interim Supt. Charlie Beck.
Mason’s the third high ranking health official to be let go in recent months. In November, the Board of Cook County Health voted to oust Dr. John Jay Shannon, the CEO of the county’s health arm. In February, the health system’s chief financial officer was dismissed.
“A rent strike could force landlords into precarious positions too. They need to pay property taxes and repay bank loans for the properties they own. If the landlord’s building goes into foreclosure, guess what happens to the tenants? They eventually get evicted. That’s not peace of mind. That’s a road map for more misery.”
On Friday, the Illinois Department of Public Health is reporting a total of 8,904 cases, including 210 deaths, in 64 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years.
It is too early to know how much of a financial loss the state’s systems will incur as a result of COVID-19 — or how the pandemic may affect future funding from the state.
It also allows the city’s procurement department to “negotiate and execute contracts for emergency supplies and services” up to $1 million, up from the $500,000 cap on such emergency contracts that’s usually in place.
“This is the moment in Chicago’s history to set the TIF program on the right course,” Roger Romanelli, executive director of the Fulton Market Association, a nonprofit economic development group, said during a conference call with reporters Thursday.
Illinois’ unemployment trust fund is one of the nation’s most insolvent. Pritzker says Illinois will have to borrow money from the federal government to help make payments to the 178,000 Illinoisans who applied for jobless benefits last week.
“Every month for the past 25 years, Giertz has produced an economic flash index derived from receipts from sales, personal-income and corporate-income taxes in the state. Viewing that information in its totality provides valuable information about the strength — or weakness — of the economy…Giertz won’t be publishing his flash index this month.”
While the University of Illinois System also projects that canceled events and postponed medical treatments could cost the school $17 million and $15 million, respectively, the refunds for students represent the single largest expense.
Uber’s new space will be as big as 24 football fields and spread over two floors. It’s the largest lease signed in the building.
“Jim Muschinski is one person in state government whose job is to tally the troubles. As chief revenue officer of the Illinois Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability, he delivers forecasts to the state legislature. It’s a demanding job under any circumstances and daunting now.”
Except in the most violent cases, prosecutors have stopped accepting criminal complaints in person from people seeking the arrest of their alleged abusers. The office said it is setting up a way to handle the complaints by phone. Also, people are being told they can petition in civil court for emergency orders of protection, then return in two weeks for a personal review by prosecutors.
This is the fifth real estate deal Pissios has gone after to develop taxpayer-owned land since he began cooperating with the FBI and federal prosecutors in May 2016 to bring down a powerful union boss.
Dr. Jay Chauhan, president of the Chicago Medical Society, looks to Italy, where dozens of physicians have died, and scores have been infected and unable to work. “So what we’re concerned about is if that holds true here, we’re going to have a shortage of manpower.”
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