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“We would like to have police cars that will work and get to people who need help, you have to have fire trucks that have ladders and the availability to put out fires and go to people,” said Decatur Mayor Julie Moore Wolfe.
“Let’s take a look at this new money and really invest in the community,” Ald. Gilbert Villegas said in an interview on Tuesday before introducing the ordinance.
Jim Dey: “Talk of being on the ‘right side’ of history is one of today’s most popular — and empty — cliches. But it’s clear that Welch and his associates are laying the groundwork to rewrite history by picking and choosing among historical figures to see who meets today’s ‘woke’ standards of political acceptability.”
“David Brown is the superintendent of this police department today, tomorrow, in the future. Done. We are done,” she said. “People who don’t like how we’re moving forward and breaking up the status quo are trying to spread ugly, offensive and false rumors in order to create chaos. And some of you are taking the bait.”
Employees of CPS are not required to get the coronavirus vaccine, but they are required to report whether they have received it or not.
Naperville Community Unit School District 203 Superintendent Dan Bridge: “The deaths of George Floyd and others and the recent verdict require us to be responsive to the emotional well-being of students and staff. Emotional responses from students could manifest in different ways. As educators, we are uniquely positioned to serve as allies and advocates. A trauma-sensitive school environment can benefit all students.”
A. Gabriel Esteban, Ph.D., president of DePaul, wrote in email messages to the university community. “The health and safety of our community, and the communities in which our students, faculty and staff live, have driven DePaul’s decision-making throughout the pandemic.”
“Lawmakers, legislative leaders and Pritzker often talk about the need for ethics reform. A sweeping corruption investigation that has ensnared numerous Democrats, including former House Speaker Michael Madigan, is the fuel for those discussions. But there may be no greater breach of ethics than what will unfold if the politicians draw their own districts again, as they did in 2011, perpetuating politics over the people and reaffirming one-party rule for years to come.”
Because the Republican plan to allow two different commissions to work side-by-side to come up with new district maps is different from what’s provided in the constitution, Democrats argue, it would almost certainly be overturned by the Illinois Supreme Court.
Opponents of the legislation, including Greg St. Aubin of the Illinois Realtors Association, called the bill “a very destructive policy” that would discourage investment in new housing developments and create an atmosphere of uncertainty for developers and landlords around the state.
“[T]he Court’s decision has significant consequences, both for the separation of powers and for the Governor’s ability to confront the current pandemic and future emergencies,” Pritzker’s filing says. “The Court’s expansion of judicial authority will also hamper a governor’s ability to respond to this and future emergencies.”
“Taxes, corporate taxes, cost of living, labor costs, office space affordability,” analyst Jill Gonzalez said. “All of those things are certainly going to vary by state.” Ten cities in neighboring Missouri and Indiana placed in the top 100, with the highest-ranking going to Jefferson City, Missouri, at No. 24.
The Hollywood actor and political activist caught a red-eye from San Francisco Wednesday morning to appear at a rally outside the Thompson Center. “We’ve seen that mayoral control of the police department has not worked. “We want democracy, we want proven accountability measures like giving civilian commissioners a real say over policy and the hiring policy of the police chief.”
One of the key examples prosecutors detailed is Burke’s alleged attempt to strongarm the developers of the Old Main Post Office, an $800 million development, into using his law firm to appeal property taxes.
Landscape architecture professor David Hays of the University of Illinois spoke to the committee about how monuments can be used as forms of oppression: “And here, it’s important to recall that history is not the same as the past. The past refers to events or conditions that have already occurred and cannot be altered. In contrast, history is the way the past is represented, interpreted and understood. So history is always made in the present.”
State Rep. Deanne Mazzochi said the top 10% of the state’s high school students should have guaranteed access to the U of I, but don’t.
Ulrick Boesen, a spokesperson for the nonpartisan Tax Foundation, said that from a tax perspective, the bill won’t do much. “Introducing these carve-outs for individual products makes the sales tax less effective on what it is there to do. We need to look at the overall sales tax for all products rather than individual products.”
Westfield Mayor Michael Weese said the price jumped in February from 88 cents a therm to $4.52 a therm. “When you get a $60 million bill when your average bill is $3 million, I mean, that’s your budget not just for one year, that’s almost two years worth of your budget,” said Mark Biel, of the Chemical Council of Illinois.
The $225 million is dwarfed by the nearly $3 billion total in federal emergency funding it received across three stimulus efforts.
Lightfoot banged the gavel and interrupted Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez at the mere mention of a civilian oversight ordinance she promised to deliver in her first 100 days in office. “Sir, you are now out of order. You are out of order…Mr. Clerk, please move on,” the mayor said. Sigcho-Lopez’s microphone was promptly cut off as he continued to speak from the Council floor – a tactic former Mayor Richard J. Daley’s administration famously used nearly 50 years ago.
Aldermen Roderick Sawyer was among 22 aldermen choosing the virtual route. He said he’s been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, and believes it’s safe to return to City Hall. Still, he chose remote participation out of a desire to stand “in solidarity” with aldermen who cannot be there in person.
All students in all grades will have that choice available to them in the fall, while families uncomfortable or unable to return will still be allowed to learn remotely, CPS leaders said.
New details revealed Tuesday in the corruption case include the cooperation of former Ald. Daniel Solis and an anti-Semitic statement allegedly captured in a wiretapped conversation. Still, significant portions of the filing are redacted, including whole paragraphs dealing with the probable cause behind the Title III wiretap on Burke’s phones.
Dare we suggest that the Illinois Department of Public Health should read more left-leaning media? Maybe so because it’s indeed that side of the press that has been most aggressively documenting the case against one of the department’s central messages.
Wirepoints President Ted Dabrowski joins Dan Proft and Amy Jacobson on Chicago’s Morning Answer. They talked lockdowns, re-opening, stimulus, and legislation.
Pastor Corey Brooks described the movement’s lack of impact on local black communities.
“Republicans should work across the aisle and come to the table to discuss bills that will help build a better future for the people of this state. Unfortunately, many of the bills are designed to eat up precious time during a pandemic on issues that voters have already rejected at the ballot box,” Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch’s spokeswoman Jaclyn Driscoll said.
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