-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
” Everything changes when you become the boss.”
In a city with an international reputation for crime — where 900 murders per year were common in the early 1990s — it was the most violent weekend in Chicago’s modern history, stretching police resources that were already thin because of protests and looting. “We’ve never seen anything like it, at all,” said Max Kapustin, the senior research director at the crime lab. “ … I don’t even know how to put it into context.
The Democratic Illinois governor suggested a reframing of the concept to better connect with the public. “It’s change. They want fundamental change in the way that police operate.”
Organizers announced Monday they pulled the plug because ofuncertainty surrounding when conventions can resume in Illinois under Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s five-phase reopening plan. The nearly 100 events scheduled for McCormick Place that have now been scrapped were expected to generate more than $1.4 billion, including spending at hotels, restaurants, entertainment and transportation.
But Ald. Anthony Beale (9th) said it has widened a divide between the mayor and a group of aldermen who question her decisions. “It just goes to show that if you don’t agree, or if you’re not just basically, you know, a go-along, get-along person, you’re not going to get the resources,” Beale said. And Beale expects critics will grow more vocal.
“The fact is that the stay-at-home order was designed also to save [lives] and to keep -us] healthy, the rest of the population, because it’s not like it’s limited to nursing homes,” he said.
The state currently certifies police officers. Illinois law does establish a process for the de-certification of officers but only if they are convicted of certain crimes, such as sexual abuse.
During the same time, Chicago Police found and seized 529 guns, Brown said.
Senate Majority Leader Kimberly Lightford, D-Maywood, told the crowd that the black community has long fought in Springfield for what amounts to “crumbs” and that they’re now asking for more.
Pritzker said as the regulators of insurers, the state has the ability to “write them up” during their licensing processes and processes of review. Robert Muriel, director of the Department of Insurance, also said the department can levy fines and suspend licenses.
“By now, the scene is familiar: Rows of rigid police armed with billy clubs and shields. Crowds of marchers, screaming for acknowledgment, recognition, humanity.”
“Put simply, Wisconsin’s retirees receive less generous, but much more sustainable, benefits and have for decades. That necessarily raises the question: Given the contrast, is it even remotely fair that those same retirees, plus the rest of Wisconsin taxpayers, be forced to pick up a substantial piece of the tab for Illinois’ reckless behavior? “
The positions put Hairston, vice chair of the Finance Committee who has been elected to City Council six times and is the fourth-most-senior alderman, at odds with Mayor Lori Lightfoot. “What I will say is that we will be looking to see where cuts can be made. It does not make sense to have an area of the department that is not producing results.”
All that lost business for car shops doesn’t seem like much, but it’s a big deal for state revenue: auto sales account for as much as 18 percent of all sales taxes. That’s millions of dollars the state usually would have by now, but won’t be getting for some time.
Last week Illinois Democrats approved a $43 billion budget—6% larger than last year’s—that includes a $261 million pay raise for state workers. The budget authorized $5 billion in borrowing to fill a deficit until Speaker Pelosi’s Operation Bailout arrives. This week the Prairie State become the first to tap the Federal Reserve’s new state and local government facility after it tried and failed to borrow $1.2 billion in the bond market. Illinois and its cities have already received $8.3 billion from Congress’s previous three relief bills.
Remote learning will still be available for families still not comfortable with returning to school.
Doctors and leaders at hospitals around Chicago say they were already waiting to see if COVID-19 cases would start to climb on the heels of summer as people tired of staying at home started to venture out. Now doctors are factoring in people huddled close together at protests, wearing masks or not.
“We can Monday-morning quarterback all we want but they should have canceled days off two days earlier. It should have started on Friday. They knew what was coming. Minneapolis, all these other places were having problems, it was definitely coming here,” the lieutenant said.
City Hall reopens Monday with limitations after closing amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Foot and vehicle traffic is also now flowing across bridges that had been inaccessible for a week.
“It’s not a partisan issue,” Adam Schuster, budget and tax research director at Illinois Policy Institute, said in an interview. “Economists all agree that lawmakers should not raise taxes during or just after a recession, and all signs indicate the country is sliding into a recession.”
“Midsize Midwestern cities in particular, especially those in the so-called Rust Belt that relied on manufacturing, have been hurt in recent years by a lack of federal aid for municipalities and a closure or movement of industrial companies, which leads to higher local taxes and a lack of jobs that can provide for a middle class life.”
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