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Said Sen. Ann Gillespie, “I think that there’s a lot that it does to begin to lay the framework for the General Assembly policing itself.”
“It’s — by nature — a partisan exercise where emotions run high, and there’s not much anyone can do, let alone the speaker … but on a number of things you saw Republicans and Democrats work together on individual issues,” state Rep. Michael Zalewski said. “There may not be a kumbaya moment on the floor where we say ‘bipartisanship carried the day,’ but I think Republicans can go back to their districts and point to things they worked with the majority party on.”
“If property taxes go up to pay for the schools, blame those in the state Senate who voted Tuesday to create an absurdly unwieldy 21-member elected Chicago school board. And blame, as well, anybody in the House who votes later this summer for this slapped-together mockery of supposedly grassroots democracy.”
Lightfoot is stripping Insight Hospital and Medical Center of about $9 million that would have come from the city’s tax increment financing – or TIF – program. The TIF district around Insight Hospital & Medical Center is meant to improve streets and sewer systems and create affordable housing, parking and jobs.
“There has to be accountability for ignoring the people,” Lightfoot said during a news conference Wednesday.
“They have a risk of developing this toxic stress response that can lead to lifelong repercussions just by being in a community where gun violence is present,” one pediatrician said. “This is a problem that can be resolved, and it isn’t something that has to be a permanent reality.”
A new U.S. Department of Labor Office of Inspector General audit found that in Illinois it took an average of 48 days to initially pay claimants. Only six states took longer than Illinois to make those PUA payments in the spring of 2020.
“Legislators’ public roles benefiting their private lives is nothing new here in Illinois…Add to that the wide-ranging federal corruption probe at the U.S. attorney’s office and you’d think lawmakers would get serious about transparency and ethics. You’d think wrong.”
CPS parent William Choslovsky: “Apparently, CTU feels threatened that families were moving their kids to private schools and having a good experience. You know, those schools that actually stayed opened this year and educated kids in person. All said, it’s shameful, and in the end, unless the goal is to make everyone equally feeble, it does little to achieve equity.”
A majority (61%) of voters say they view the mayor as very or somewhat honest.
Abortion notification repeal, drug decriminalization and midwife licensing were among the failed bills.
President and CEO of the Illinois Manufacturers Association Mark Denzler said comparing Illinois with other states is a false narrative because states like Indiana and Wisconsin have hard caps on damages. “They have maximum payouts of like $500,000 or $1 million, Illinois has no caps whatsoever, so it is really a false comparison to say that 46 other states have it.”
At a news conference Wednesday in Peoria, Gov. J.B Pritzker said there are 3 main reasons why Illinoisans are not going back to work. He said some people are staying away because they are afraid of getting COVID-19 in the workplace, despite three effective vaccines readily available. He also said there is a lack of childcare and few good-paying jobs.
Just before passing partisan-drawn maps last week, House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, directed comments to Republicans on the House floor. “Republicans at all levels of government have historically done everything possible to stifle voting rights. And they want us to think they’re the voice of the voiceless?”
“Nothing is gonna please everyone,” Illinois Association of Police Chiefs President Mitchell Davis said. “Let’s sit down and let’s talk and discuss some of our concerns … We want to be able to partner with them as much as we possibly can to address the concerns that deal with communities of color and law enforcement to try to build those relationships.”
For House Bill 2553 to pass, a joint effort was required by multiple parties. The ACLU and the Illinois Sheriffs Association along with lawmakers worked together to determine the correct language in this bill.
Two critical early education budget lines saw cuts: the Child Care Assistance Program, which subsidizes the cost of child care for low-income working families, by 4.6%, and the Early Intervention program, which funds services for children age 3 and younger who have disabilities or developmental delays, by 6%.
“It’s the way of Springfield that at the same time lawmakers are passing what they term a package of ethics reforms they’re also, more importantly, passing a $42 billion budget that got minimal review and undoubtedly is full of pork and favors.”
In November 2018, 74% of Capital Township voters voted in support of a referendum in favor of consolidating the township into the county — the opposite of the proposal being debated in Springfield now.
The mayor argued the Senate version would virtually exclude parents from competing in school board seats because there are “no controls around how much money gets spent” on those races. Pointing to a $1 million school board race in Los Angeles, Lightfoot said: “We don’t need that here” in Chicago.
The governor offered no further details on how a lottery would work or when it might start. Ohio rolled out a vaccine lottery last month and officials said it led to an increase in vaccinations.
Donna Hampton Smith, executive director of the Washington Park Chamber of Commerce, asked Obama how to get around unions that create barriers for training and getting young people into jobs. “We’ve given this thought from the beginning and actually put together an inclusion counsel advisory group. We have said you have to have a plan, and we’ve been negotiating with the unions and the trades,” Obama said.
“One area where a lack of applicants is of serious concern in many communities, including Decatur, is in law enforcement…(I)n Decatur where there are 22 openings for police officers, normally the number of applicants would be 1,000. Now, the number is around 100.”
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An employee at Fresh Kickz clothing store in Little Village said she and a co-worker, both pregnant at the time, hid in a bathroom from looters while her manager took cover in a storage room. “It was a little bit scary. Anything could have happened to us.”
Laws already in effect in Chicago are stronger — and officials are relieved the measure passed by the General Assembly leaves them untouched, said Ald. Michele Smith, chair of the City’s Ethics and Governmental Operations Committee. Chicago completely bans elected officials from outside Chicago from lobbying city officials, and imposes a one-year ban on elected officials lobbying their former colleagues.
“I say whatever you call me just call me,” Ald. Stephanie Coleman said Tuesday. “We have so many other issues happening. We’re living in days when our focus should be serving our communities and not what our titles are.”
Lawmakers cite issues with the proposed closure of the Prairie State Coal Plant by 2035. The plant is co-owned by a number of municipalities, including Rochelle. Rochelle would be paying off its bonds for Prairie State through 2041, while also paying for a source of energy to make up for the loss of the coal plant.
The United States Livesaving Association says that pay is the most common issue, and it’s a recurring problem. Elgin increased its hourly rate this season to help with recruitment, and Roselle is offering returning guards a referral bonus to draft friends.
Inside a South Shore coffee shop, a few South Side business owners had circled up with some of the Obama Foundation’s advisors. So, the president came to listen.”How do you benefit from folks coming in from downtown, folks coming in who would never have come to the South Side? How maybe businesses who had never seen North Siders or international customers can now reap the benefits of it,” said Eric Williams, owner, The Silver Room.
The case is an equal rights challenge claiming the governor overstepped his authority when he blocked high school sports while allowing college and professional sports to continue. “Based on what is contained in the pleadings and exhibits, the facts as pled do show a possibility of recovery,” a Sangamon County judge wrote in an order issued Wednesday. “Defendant is to file an answer within 21 days, on or before, June 23, 2021.”
What happened in Tulsa 100 years ago matters far less than what’s happening in Chicago today…. The left’s focus on the past behavior of whites, while ignoring the present behavior of blacks, might offer some people catharsis, and it might help groups like the NAACP or Black Lives Matter stay relevant. But where is the evidence that such an approach facilitates black upward mobility?”
“Lightfoot would have more wins on her policy agenda if she could better manage relationships. Instead, she battles with those from whom she needs support — from Chicago aldermen to state lawmakers to her own staff and even rank-and-file police officers, a constituency she desperately needs to help keep the city safe but for whom she offers little public support.”
Illinois lawmakers have passed a budget for fiscal year 2022 that does nothing to improve the fiscal and economic trajectory of this state. Wirepoints lays out the most important takeaways.
San Francisco Bay area, Boston and Chicago all saw significant outflows, the data show. There’s no telling whether many of those moves will prove permanent, especially as the pandemic wanes in the U.S. and many companies eye a return to the office.
Over the weekend, Chicago Police issued a warning to rideshare drivers after several drivers were shot or robbed since May 21.
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