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The Illinois Department of Employment Security has said the extra benefits will last only about three weeks. The state also noted that only those who receive at least $100 a week in traditional unemployment benefits are eligible for the additional funds, leaving out approximately 55,000 people who receive less than that.
“As I have said all along, there are questions that need to be answered by the speaker, and perhaps the creation of this legislative committee will actually get some of those answers,” Pritzker said.
During the debate that took place Wednesday afternoon during a meeting of the city’s Public Safety Committee, three aldermen supported the call for the National Guard to be sent to Chicago. “Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures,” Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th Ward) said. “No one deserves to live in fear.”
The defunding resolution was sponsored by Trustee Arti Walker-Peddakotla, whom the mayor said organized the protest. “She’s behind it; I know that,” said the mayor. Walker-Peddakotla denied that but wrote, “I won’t denounce this protest just as I will not denounce the unrest that is happening in Chicago…. I will never denounce an oppressed group saying, ‘Enough.'”
In Burke’s last year, 2018, as the most powerful and longest-serving alderman in Chicago, the committee spent $2 million, which included paying 30 staffers and six bodyguards for Burke
While many of her colleagues are similarly cautious, school clerk Ramona Rojas said she has seen others wearing their masks below their noses or not at all, and on Tuesday, one resisted a temperature check. “If any child gets sick, I can’t sleep at night thinking that I knew what was going on and I didn’t do anything about it.”
Jim Dey: “Fairness, of course, is in the eye of the beholder. So is the phrase “blank check,” which suggests — correctly, in this case — that the governor and legislators would have a free hand to revise tax rates and income levels anytime they choose.”
Senior teachers may opt for retirement now, rather than work in classrooms where they risk infection. Meanwhile, about 300 potential student teachers are still without placements this year as a consequence of the coronavirus pandemic.
“The protesters at the mayor’s house… are younger residents who feel the mayor and trustees haven’t listened to them or taken them seriously. So extreme measures were warranted, their defenders argue. No. That’s not how democracy works. You don’t get permission to destroy property and harass an elected official and his family because you feel ignored.”
Illinois is the nation’s extreme outlier. We have the largest pension debt burden. The worst population losses. The highest property tax rates. The worst political corruption. And we’re the ‘least tax-friendly state’ in the nation, according to Kiplinger. More tax hikes will only make those problems worse. Illinois needs pension reform instead.
In Springfield, budget director Bill McCarty said union wage hike freezes are needed, but eliminating positions has to be considered. The city of Decatur will consider shutting down its busiest fire station in the city.
Jennifer Golz, a media relations manager with Nicor Gas, said there are 152,000 customers who have past due balances of more than 60 days.
Preckwinkle said a recent national survey shows 80% of white households in the U.S. have internet access, compared to 67% of Black households and 60% of Latinx households.
“The more endowments have diversified into “alternative” and exotic asset classes, the more they have left themselves at the mercy of these consultants and subpar investment managers.”
“They are filling up our cells,” Jersey County Sheriff Mike Ringhausen said. “We don’t have any space. People are committing crimes locally and we can’t house them.”
In all, the 10 largest school districts in Illinois could end up providing almost $35 million in services to private schools within their areas based on enrollment, pending results from lawsuits.
“The labor movement and the fight for the soul of public education unites parents, students and educators nationwide. We fight racism and we fight for our schools, but this time the stakes are higher. This time, we’re fighting for our lives and the future of the profession we love.”
It’s not the case, however, that city homeowners are fleeing en masse for the suburbs. It’s investors who have put much of the current supply on the market.
Illinois has faced criticism over the state’s failure to implement those benefits after Trump’s order was signed, but Pritzker says that the state is indeed working to put those benefits into place, but that adding the infrastructure to facilitate those payments will take time. “We have begun that process. It takes a lot of setup on an internal basis for us to move forward with that.”
U.S. District Court Judge Robert Dow likened holding a long trial during a pandemic to a “roulette game,” saying that every day increased the likelihood that someone would test positive for the coronavirus and force everyone to quarantine for 14 days.
“The greatest hinderance to restoring our nation’s economic vitality is the virus,” Pritzker said. Until the outbreak is under control, “We are going to be fighting for our economic recovery with one hand tied behind our back. We must slow the rate of infection all across the state.”
The nonpartisan Reason Foundation found Illinois could net $19.4 billion by leasing the rights to nine state-owned toll roads: “Chicago paid off nearly $1 billion in debt with its Skyway lease proceeds, while Indiana fully funded a 10-year transportation improvement program.”
“The county has been ill-equipped to deal with the events that took place at the jail,” union spokesman Anthony McGee said, adding that officers are regularly working 16-hour days to make up for staff shortages.
House Majority Leader Greg Harris said, “This is a power that should be judiciously exercised, and one that has rarely been used. In the past two decades, it has been invoked on two occasions, following the arrest and indictment of former Representatives Derrick Smith and Luis Arroyo.”
The study considered 10 key indicators when ranking the states, including average workweek hours, share of workers with multiple jobs, and annual volunteer hours per resident.
A strange phenomenon has emerged near Amazon.com Inc. delivery stations and Whole Foods stores in the Chicago suburbs: smartphones dangling from trees. Contract delivery drivers are putting them there to get a jump on rivals seeking orders, according to people familiar with the matter.
“We respect, admire and honor our officers. But legislatively, we must address bad actors and racism in law enforcement,” Rep. Justin Slaughter, D-Chicago, said. “Here in [Chicago], Blacks make up 75 percent of the CPD shootings, 30 percent of the population — come on now.”
Glennon: “Instead of pension reform, the state’s political establishment has chosen to focus on a misguided and false alternative — a progressive income tax, which Illinoisans will vote on in November. Recognize the progressive tax proposal for what it is: just another tax increase.”
Illinois faces a “seismic disruption” of its economy, Lightfoot said. Unfortunately she offered no seismic response or reforms, just vague aspirations and stronger rhetoric.
The CDC published data on Friday that broke down each state’s COVID-19 deaths through Aug 15. IDPH does not provide the breakdown of how many COVID-19 related deaths were COVID-19 only or deaths involving other health-related factors.
“I believe protesting is a right,” the mayor said after the incident. “I think no one should feel unsafe in their own home to the point where you know your family is in danger if you stay home.”
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