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Analysis of city crime data shows robberies along the Red Line system between Roosevelt and Howard are up 80% this year compared to the pre-COVID period of January 1 to March 15 of 2020. In fact, more robberies have been reported along that stretch of the CTA system this year than in any year since at least 2015, despite suppressed ridership.
But Moody’s warns that even as the financial risks of the pandemic begin to recede, Illinois continues to face long-term financial challenges because of its massive unfunded pension liabilities.
For its part, the union has told members to be wary of letting the district know whether they’ve gotten a shot — a move that has irked CPS leaders — because the district is revoking third quarter work-from-home accommodations as soon as workers are fully vaccinated.
Pritzker’s latest inoculation edict applies mostly to downstate areas where demand “appears to have waned,” according to the governor’s office. Vaccine demand is still far outpacing supply in Chicago and its collar counties.
Luis Gutierrez, executive director of the Little Village-based nonprofit Latinos Progresando, said more research is needed to understand the population decline among Mexican immigrants. But he’s heard some stories of immigrant families going to other states looking for work.
State. Sen Kimberly Lightford is vice chairman of the board that will decide Loretto CEO George Miller’s fate. Miller has donated at least $2,500 to a political fund run by Lightford.
The relaxed restrictions go into effect immediately and mainly pertain to outdoor gatherings. Updated capacity limits include increasing outdoor dining groups to 10 people and allowing amusement parks to open at 25% capacity, among other changes.
Opponents argued the bill would contribute to ongoing problems with retaining and recruiting police officers who have cited recent changes to state law as reasons to not enter the law enforcement field in Illinois. “We have the membership rolls, we see the outcome, we know we’re losing membership,” said Andrew Bodewes of the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police. “We’re concerned that a change like this would further complicate that.”
While the bill’s sponsors intend the extra revenues to be used to support Illinoisans with disabilities, hiking the estate tax would squeeze family farmers, reduce the accumulation of productive assets, encourage spendthrift behavior, fuel tax avoidance and evasion, and drive wealth to other states.
Comment: The effectiveness of our military, including special forces, is being sacrificed for racial politics. Why aren’t other members of Illinois’ congressional delegation speaking up against this?
A National Federation of Independent Business survey shows that 13% of small business owners say they will have to close their doors if current economic conditions don’t improve over the next 6 months. State Director Mark Grant said the small business recovery remains fragile. “We’re not out of the long, dark tunnel yet are we?”
These mobile teams will be providing single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine to county residents where IDPH epidemiologists have determined there is a need to administer doses quickly to blunt increasing trends.
“The view from inside CPD right now is reported to be anything but balanced. Unclear or inappropriate direction, a lack of legitimacy in a superintendent who has embraced nepotism by creating a cushy promotional spot for his top assistant’s wife, and lack of support for officers suffering unprecedented challenges has led to a department in shambles.”
Mayor Lori Lightfoot took a more hard-line approach, with business fines totaling at least $450,000. Most citations were for $500, but in three cases fines adjudicated by administrative law judges went as high as $5,000. And in 23 cases, default judgments of at least $10,000 were issued to businesses that did not respond to the disciplinary action, according to city officials.
Ald. Michele Smith, who represents the Lincoln Park area, asked for the city to open mass vaccination sites at areas where young people frequent once all young adults are eligible to receive the vaccine. “I hope to god you have something at Wrigley Field or some place that young people will go to because they won’t call their regular doctor. They don’t have one.”
Those regions include Chicago, Cook County and Region 1, located in the Rockford area.
Even before COVID-19, only one state and one U.S. territory experienced slower growth among their immigrant populations.
The state also announced Friday that it is sending “Rapid Response Vaccination Teams” to Carroll, Ogle, Boone, Lee and Whiteside counties, where epidemiologists “have determined there is a need to administer doses quickly to blunt increasing trends,” IDPH said.
“As families look forward to what’s hopefully a more normal school year this fall, my bill will help them save on back-to-school expenses,” said state Rep. Katie Stuart. “It will also put more money back into our local economy by encouraging residents to shop in the Metro East rather than Missouri, which has a similar tax break already in place.”
IDES also announced Thursday that the state’s preliminary unemployment rate dropped three-tenths of a point in February to a seasonally adjusted 7.4 percent as the economy added 21,100 nonfarm jobs. That rate was 1.2 percentage points higher than the national rate.
U.S. Airlines and others in the travel industry are voicing support for vaccine passports to boost pandemic-depressed travel, and officials in Europe have been talking about the idea in time for the peak summer vacation season.
Mayor Lightfoot campaigned on an elected school board but recently told the New York Times that reopening campuses amid the COVID-19 pandemic would not have been possible without mayoral control. Her opposition, which some suggest helped derail previous versions of the bill, has encouraged opponents to push for a compromise proposal.
In response to Pritzker’s request that the bill’s sponsors engage in discussions with the defense bar regarding how the bill could be amended to make the prospect of prejudgement interest fairer for defendants, the two sides negotiated. As a result, the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association proposed an amendment to HB 3360 that addressed several of the defense bar’s concerns with the bill.
In research shared exclusively with The Atlantic after we spoke, Sharkey calculated that Chicago had 267 more fatal shootings in 2020 than the previous year. This was by far the largest numerical increase in the country and more than double that in any other city.
A money-for-nothing program turned out to be “insanely popular” so the program size was quadrupled and the plan is to expand it, with help from the federal government.
“They were also charging me $15 as a fee on top of that!” said Joliet fraud victim Cheryl Kopczyk. IDES representatives explained that when they decide there’s been an unemployment overpayment on a case, that information is sent to the Comptroller. Unfortunately, some fraudulently filed cases fall through the cracks when the state doesn’t flag them in time.
“Unstoppable, but most of all, I’m proud, proud to have the opportunity to break barriers and help to begin the work in my own community and showing women, but especially of color, that they are unstoppable no matter the obstacles,” said Dawndria Murray, who lost her teenage son to gun violence in 2018.
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