-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
Law professor Daniel Hemel argued that, “it’s Trump and Pence who are jeopardizing the court’s democratic legitimacy by demanding an anti-packing pledge…‘Court-packing’ — adding justices to the Supreme Court to alter its ideological composition — is hardly a newfangled notion.”
Illinois is narrowly edging out Texas in terms of new cases, with Wisconsin in third, California in fourth and Florida in fifth.
The governor deployed the troops; Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot did not request assistance. The city’s OEMC tweeted, “Similar to past emergency preparedness plans, the state has stationed personnel at McCormick Place to be ready to respond if needed, however, there are currently no plans for them to be deployed.”
Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th) said mayoral aides will start briefing aldermen Tuesday on the mayor’s plan to confront a capital funding shortage that’s been building for years. “This is a job creator. Any time there’s a tough time, there’s a capital bill that gets proposed in order to put people to work. Government has always led the charge in investing and putting people to work.”
One Alton area athletic director confirmed rumors Monday, saying that “insurance providers are not giving schools in the south a green light to play basketball.”
Daily fines of $500 “will continue as long as they remain open,” the director of community preservation and development said, adding that the city is also exploring other options, such reporting the establishments to the county and state health departments or recommending a suspension of their liquor licenses.
Pritzker said Monday, “If we believe these tiered mitigations ultimately are ineffective, if people choose not to wear masks and if the spread of the virus continues to go unabated, in a kind of community spread, we would obviously have to consider, you know, more significant mitigations.” He didn’t provide specific numbers on what might be the threshold that triggers such a drastic step.
“The right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing. Take that and apply it to an octopus, and that’s where we are right now,” Inspector General Joe Ferguson said.
“We will continue to support the rights of all members of the business community to remain open,” East Peoria Mayor John Kahl said on Facebook. “The businesses of East Peoria have done their part throughout these challenging times and not a single one of them has been found by the Health Department to pose a risk to public health.”
At a recent news conference attended by restaurant and bar owners in Springfield, state Rep. Mike Murphy said businesses don’t want handouts, they want to stay open. “You guys don’t want programs. You want the ability to work, to provide opportunities to your employees so they can better themselves. Just give us that opportunity.”
Illinois lawmakers are legally set to receive automatic raises from the 2020 budget. While the Illinois comptroller has said she would not pay it, and the General Assembly did not appropriate funds for the raises, the budget the legislature passed into law gives legislators an $1,800 raise.
The Illinois Restaurant Association has pointed out that restaurants are among the most highly regulated for sanitation, making them safer than other businesses Pritzker is allowing to operate. They are asking Pritzker to work with them on regulations rather than put at least 120,000 restaurant workers permanently out of a job.
Actuary Mary Pat Campbell: One of the biggest “waiting for a bailout” offenders is Chicago and, of course, the legislature of Illinois. They’ve never made a difficult decision, and they’re waiting to see if the suckers, um, I mean, voters, take the bait and vote in the “we’ll keep defining ‘rich’ down til we get enough dough” state constitutional amendment.”
“Nothing we can do will immediately reduce the positivity rates or hospitalizations, but our resurgence mitigations are designed to have an impact over several weeks, as long as everyone takes some responsibility for masking, social distancing, and following the CDC and IDPH guidelines,” he said.
“Obviously, people can see Illinois National Guard trucks and troops moving,” said Barb Wilson, with the Illinois National Guard public affairs office. “This is to be ready to respond if needed, but we have not been given any missions.”
“The players have changed and the policy proposals are different, but what remains constant are both Illinois’ underlying structural revenue imbalance and the element of mistrust of Springfield politicians.”
City inspectors investigated 150 businesses and conducted 88 full probes during the weekend, while observing more than 70 additional businesses in two North Side police districts that are home to dozens of entertainment venues.
Currently, Region 1’s 7-day rolling positivity average is 14.3% (13.59% yesterday; 13.6 Friday).
“Their success or failure depends on the government,” said Josiah Neeley, a senior fellow at the nonprofit R-Street Institute. “Over time, a very cozy relationship developed between the two sides and that has continued today in places like Illinois.”
Michael Frerichs, Illinois state treasurer, joins “Squawk Alley” to discuss a ballot measure to raise taxes in the state.
The U of I Flash Index in October continued its slow, steady recovery from the low point of the post-COVID-19 period. The October index went up to 95.6 from its 95.1 level in September, but the economy is still well below its strength prior to the pandemic.
“There’s a greater degree of confidence in the city’s ability … to be responsive,” Magnificent Mile Association Chairman Rich Gamble said. “What you don’t know is what individuals and groups may do. There are plans in place to handle a very fluid situation.”
Matt Rodewald, Illinois Opportunity Project: “The Tax Hike Amendment has everything to do with taxing retirement income. After doubling the gas tax, streaming tax talk, a bag tax, a parking garage tax, higher fees for vehicle registration, the process of elimination makes everything simple. They’re running out of ways to tax you.”
His campaign team has more than five times as much money for House races as their Republican counterparts, and, fueled by anti-Trump sentiment, are looking to expand their foothold in traditional GOP territory in the suburbs.
Said Niketa Brar, executive director of the nonprofit group Chicago United for Equity, “The budgeting process is politics as usual. There’s nothing about this budget process that we’ve seen in the Lightfoot administration that is fundamentally different, in the way they make allocations, … than the Daley era.”
Ald. Maria Hadden (49th) said she’s concerned: “We could just do a better job of enforcing what we’ve already chosen to enforce, that would help with revenue, that would definitely help with safety, without lowering that threshold.”
“Policing has become the social service of last resort,” Police Supt. David Brown said. “We can’t not answer a 911 call, regardless of what the incident or issue is, and so until and unless we create a capacity in other areas of government, we have to and we’re actually sworn and obligated to answer your call.”
Teachers’ Retirement System of Illinois, the biggest public pension in the state and one that’s significantly underfunded, recorded the second-lowest investment returns of the past decade for its most recent fiscal year. The TRS annual return was 0.55 percent, after fees, for the year ended June 30. That’s down from 5.2 percent in gains for fiscal year 2019, and is the worst performance since 2010 with the exception of a .01 percent gain in 2016.
Mark was on the Coffee and a Mike podcast last week discussing the flight from America’s big cities the Hunter Biden laptop scandal, and the corruption of the federal government.
Two boys under 18 years old were among those injured, in separate shootings.
Teams have been assigned to “a few” protests they expect on Election Day, but “Everything is fluid,” says Sergeant Linda Aguilera, CPD’s 18th District Business Liaison.
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