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The move came as the state hit another record with 853 patients in the hospital with COVID-19 as of Tuesday, up 190 patients since Friday, in a situation a hospital official has said is nearing a crisis. Eight of the nation’s 20 COVID-19 metro-area hot spots are in Wisconsin.
Commissioner Bridget Degnen, the former deputy director of medical cannabis at the state agency that issues dispensary licenses, pitched herself as an expert last year as she offered paid application help to a group seeking dispensary licenses. And companies and individuals involved in the weed business have flooded her campaign coffers with donations.
Restaurant owner Jon Roderick said he reopened because his carryout business wasn’t sustainable and his space isn’t suitable for outdoor dining. “Is it a stand against the man? Not really. But I have a wife and kids and a mortgage and college and car payments, just like everyone else, and so do my employees.”
Jim Dey: “In former Gov. George Ryan’s corruption trial, prosecutors won the cooperation of close Ryan associate Scott Fawell by giving him a choice. Fawell’s wife-to-be was involved with Fawell in criminal activities. Prosecutors offered her a pass if Fawell testified against Ryan. Fawell reluctantly agreed, testifying in court that prosecutors had his ‘head in a vice.'”
“We will only see true, meaningful change within our criminal justice system when we as state leaders work together to eliminate the racism that has plagued it for centuries,” said Sen. Elgie Sims, a Chicago Democrat, who thanked Pritzker for supporting the Black Caucus.
The City Council’s Finance Committee voted unanimously Tuesday to take no action on a proposal to spend $2.1 million from a downtown Tax Increment Financing District to make repairs to the Dearborn Street subway. City lawyers and CTA officials told aldermen they could not require the projects to meet the city’s diversity goals, rather than less-stringent federal rules.
Chicago Federation of Labor President Bob Reiter did not dispute the reports that the city had asked unions for $200 million in concessions. “Chicago’s public workers are heroes who have sacrificed their own health and safety to keep this city moving during the COVID-19 pandemic…We must protect our workers and protect our services.”
Jason Clayton has more than 50 properties throughout Peoria County and pays more $60,000 in property fees; Eight of his tenants are facing eviction. “Normal business of providing someone a safe, quality, house is not a free endeavor. If it comes down to it, once my property rights are returned to me. I will take my property back. I have bills to pay as well.”
In Bloomington, voters who already sent in their ballots weren’t being asked about certain judge retention. In Madison County, some voters got their mail-in ballots and it had their party affiliation publicly labeled.
“In the interim, the committee’s work continues; we are reaching out to attorneys for Fidel Marquez to arrange his testimony, and engaging in a thorough review of our subpoena power, so members of this committee can make a fully informed decision and set responsible precedent for years to come,” the chairman said.
Pritzker signed into law $2.7 billion in net annual tax increases in 2019. He hiked vehicle registration fees, doubled the gas tax, and expanded online sales taxes. One good move, according to the report, was enacting a phase-out of the state’s corporate franchise tax.
This year, as the economy continues to recover from a deep recession, residents in many cities and states will be asked to approve tax increases – or measures that would pave the way for the locality to raise rates at a later date.
“I think the President’s performance, and that’s I think probably the most apt word, just adds to people’s feeling that he is not in control, that he is understating the gravity of this horrible situation that we find ourselves in every part of our lives, that has been affected by this every part of our lives, has been upended,” Lightfoot said.
“Illinois is up to its old tricks, again. First, as reported by Wirepoints, Moody’s is pushing back on proposals to re-amortize pensions.”
The auction is seen by some as a ray of hope for the buildings, 40% of which are vacant. But there is no requirement that the new owners keep the housing affordable.
Said David Whitaker, President & CEO of Choose Chicago, “As we welcome visitors back, it is even more important that we welcome them back responsibly; all the while sharing with them the experiences that have resulted in achieving this recognition the past four years.”
The full list now includes: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
A letter to ComEd requested a “data dump of all communications in the last decade between ComEd or Exelon and any staff member, employee, contractor, or consultant of” previous governors and legislative leaders. “This request involves hundreds of people and could take months for ComEd to respond,” state Rep. Tom Demmer said.
The treasurer was scheduled to hold a news conference Tuesday, but it was canceled moments before it was set to begin. State GOP Chairman Tim Schneider said, “Pritzker has a plan to tax retirement income in Illinois and needs the constitutional amendment to get it done. Pritzker can muzzle Frerichs all he wants, but the secret is already out.”
Madison County Clerk Debbie Ming-Mendoza said there are no conspiracies. She is a Democrat, but said both Republican and Democratic election judges are on hand when envelopes are opened. “Some people are concerned I’d throw certain ballots in the river. We don’t even have a river in Edwardsville. And I take that personally.”
The Northwest Home Equity Assurance Program has an equity account flush with $9.5 million. Formed in 1989 with the support of former Mayor Richard M. Daley and House Speaker Michael Madigan (D-Chicago), the program levied an additional tax on approximately 48,000 homes to create a kind of insurance fund.
Jeffrey Blackwell, board of trustees president for the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund, decried what he called “some of the most abhorrent, disturbing and despicable actions by former and current trustees on this board” he had seen over the past 18 months. “Let me be clear. We are not in the business as fiduciaries of hiding Madigan lobbyists at the fund under the guise of an RFP.”
Rather than landmarking parts of the city, Elizabeth Blasius, an architectural historian in Logan Square, asked city officials why the department wasn’t considering comprehensive demolition reform instead.
The Truth In Accounting analysis, which found that 39 states lacked the money to pay off all of their bills, used data from comprehensive annual financial reports from the fiscal year 2019.
Pritzker changed the application process after applicants complained of inconsistent scoring and handling of applications. The governor allowed applicants to be notified of any deficiencies in their applications and given 10 days to correct any problems.
“Towns that were in fiscal trouble before the pandemic struck, like East St. Louis, Illinois, are in especially dire straits. Last year, a portion of its tax revenue to be intercepted for its underfunded police and fire pensions. This year, gaming receipts from a casino, one of the main sources of taxes, have fallen to $2.2 million from $6.6 million in the first nine months of 2019.”
“The flat tax is the last structural political obstacle to the continued plundering of Illinois taxpayers by the Democratic-union ruling class. It’s also the only remaining discipline that might force lawmakers to reform runaway pensions. If taxpayers give Mr. Pritzker and the entrenched Legislature their way, they will accelerate the decline of a once great state.”
The change comes as a new study shows the number of older immigrants without legal status in Illinois is expected to grow exponentially in the next 10 years.
Comment: We wrote here just yesterday about how dishonest the ballot is. The filed complaint is linked here.
Chicago Federation of Labor President Bob Reiter said it makes sense to hold off, and that negotiations between the mayor and organized labor are under way. “They have not made an ultimatum. It’s not them saying, ‘This is what’s gonna happen.’ Both sides are trying to figure out where we can find cost savings.”
“The arbitrator’s deeply flawed ruling substitutes actual public health standards for her own judgements and doesn’t find any actual deficiencies in the district’s plan or a single building where conditions are unsafe,” CPS spokesman Michael Passman said in a statement.
Much of the spending is being driven by police and other public safety departments, as well as public health needs generated by the coronavirus pandemic. But overtime also has skyrocketed due to public safety needs even in departments that do not obviously have public safety at the core of their mission, such as Streets and Sanitation, which already has spent twice its overtime budget.
Maywood Trustee Nathaniel George Booker said 750 water shut off notices, equating one on each block, were sent out last week to residents who were 60 days or more behind in payments. Many in the small western suburb who got notices haven’t received state, county or any other financial aid they’ve applied for and are struggling to keep up.
The latest Illinois Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act report said seven other companies in the area will be cutting several hundred jobs between them in the weeks to come.
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