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The mayor said one of the things driving the decisions she’s made in her budget plan is the fact the city’s four employee pension funds are “woefully underfunded,” and the city’s need to meet its obligation to retirees, and city employees who will be retiring in the future.
Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd) questioned Lightfoot’s decision to cancel 350 layoffs by borrowing against future marijuana revenues. “That’s a bad habit to form…You’re spending paychecks you hope to earn next year on groceries that you need today. That’s a terrible way to run a household and it’s a terrible way to run a government.”
“It’s impossible for us to do what we think is the best for our community and for our folks,” said Woodstock Mayor Dr. Brian Sager.
Lightfoot’s allies used a parliamentary procedure to send a measure to levy a $16 per month, per employee tax on logistics firms, including Amazon, Walmart and Target, to legislative purgatory. In addition, mayoral allies blocked a measure that would take funds from the police budget to send mental health professionals to calls for help, rather than police, and one to close the CPD Homan Square facility.
State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s office urged a Cook County judge in January to disqualify Brookins from representing a man charged with a crime based on evidence gathered by the Chicago Police Department, citing the opinion by the Ethics Board. However, Brookins submitted an opinion from attorney Mary Robinson which argued the Ethics Board’s decision was “faulty” and that there was no conflict of interest.
Monday, the mayor announced more money for violence prevention and mental health emergency responses. Progressive aldermen want an employee tax aimed at Amazon and other big retailers.
Patrick J. Hughes, Liberty Justice Center: “Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot was equally joyous after the media reported Biden’s victory, working the teeming crowd of flag-waving enthusiasts. When it was a ‘Reopen Illinois’ rally, however, Lightfoot was tweeting a different tune…That is, no one should violate Pritzker’s orders unless Lightfoot supports their cause. If you are gathering to protest racial injustice or celebrate the election results, party on.”
“We’ve all been pretty clear about where we are with regard to winter sports. … We relied upon the best experts we could to come up with a plan for the winter. And, by the way, since then COVID’s gotten a lot worse,” Pritzker said.
“Sizeable deficits in the general funds budget are projected for fiscal years 2022 through 2026, ranging from $4.8 billion in fiscal year 2022 and falling to $4.2 billion by fiscal year 2026,” the report stated. The report does not actually predict that those deficits will occur. Instead, it is intended to show what would happen under the state’s current revenue structure and spending obligations.
“This court’s opinion that was issued on August 18 has not changed,” Judge Raylene Grischow said in court Monday. “The court is still of the opinion that the governor has the authority to issue executive orders, successive executive orders, along with guidance to the agency to help promulgate those executive orders.”
When asked if he would abide by Chicago’s travel rules, the governor said he wasn’t sure about the policies. “I don’t know what that says exactly and I don’t know exactly what my plans will be.” He was also vague about if planned to stay in Illinois for Thanksgiving. “That is my hope, but I will let you know.”
The governor said there’s no agreement across the board for other solutions, but he continues to work with statehouse leaders on options. He said he’s also in communication with leaders in the U.S. Congress. “Not just in Illinois, but the speaker of the House and the Senate minority leader as well as a few others to encourage, you know, moving forward as quickly as possible with a stimulus plan that would include local and state governments.”
The Sun-Times first identified See Wong as an informant in January 2019. They learned he had secretly record Solis and Madigan in 2014; A federal affidavit alleges Solis had agreed to take action in his position as alderman to privately benefit Madigan.
Illinois Municipal League Executive Director Brad Cole said it’s time for the legislature to engage instead of settling with top-down direction. “I’ve heard from communities from Metropolis to Bloomington and north that they really don’t have the support by either the county or the state to do the enforcement.”
Figures released today by the city after weeks of requests indicate that taxpayers will have to pay as much as $207 million a year in extra costs between now and 2050. For those years as a whole, the extra costs above the city’s current debt service amount to $2.012 billion.
“By and large, the Civic Federation supports the goals of Mayor Lightfoot and her team in preparing this budget, including relative restraint with property taxes, reduction in personnel expenses and working to increase public participation in the budgeting process,” said Federation President Laurence Msall. “Our support remains qualified because, disappointingly, the public has not been provided with nearly enough detail to independently evaluate the enormous proposed debt refinancing.”
Speaking one day after the Illinois Department of Public Health issued new guidance urging residents to stay home and leave only for essential activities, Pritzker said “we are running out of time, and we are running out of options.”
An expansive model of the center, which has been the subject of great debate locally, was brought forth for the interview segment, during which a handful of nuggets emerged.
The requirement to again allow large events like concerts, conventions and widely-attended sporting events is “a vaccine or highly effective treatment widely available” but one expert says the effect of treatment could be muted by widespread refusal to take the vaccine.
The aldermen’s proposed $16-per-employee-per-month tax would apply only to logistics operations with more than 50 employees. That would hit Target, Walmart and the recently opened Amazon delivery warehouse in the Far South Side’s Pullman neighborhood.
Three minors are among those listed as wounded in nonfatal shootings, including a 14-year-old girl who was one of three people shot Sunday at a Chatham dance studio.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot said on Sunday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “AM Joy”, “The CDC has been helpful, but the White House, HHS, DHS, they have not even had a plan, and I knew that we were on our own. I knew that from the earliest days when they were diverting flights from China to airports across the country, Chicago being one of them.”
David Greising, of the Better Government Association: “Madigan has held his job longer than any state speaker in U.S. history, so it must be hard for House members to imagine Springfield without him. Perhaps the lawmakers in Albany felt that way, also, but they met and acted.”
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