-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
Listing the building on the national trust would not bar demolition, but it would make an owner who preserves it eligible for tax breaks covering 20% of certain costs.
That sealed Lightfoot’s defeat Friday on what was her central campaign promise during the 2019 campaign, saying it was necessary to reduce the power of aldermen to root out corruption; It signals that the mayor’s long-promised but never realized plan to end aldermanic prerogative is dead before its arrival.
The new name, which was announced following a compromise, is “Jean Baptiste Point DuSable Lake Shore Drive.”
“Yeah some of that money may be available but it is not the responsibility of the sheriffs to have to continue to take and maintain prisoners that should be the rightful responsibility of the Department of Corrections,” Illinois Sheriffs’ Association Executive Director Jim Kaitschuk said.
Friday’s disaster declaration and the reissued executive orders are set to expire on July 24, 2021. That includes a moratorium on residential evictions and a variety of provisions for public and nonpublic schools to follow, such as physical distancing between students and staff. The renewed order also requires the use of masks in schools.
The Large Unit District Association requested two actions from the ISBE: 1) that social distancing, quarantining and masking guidelines in schools be consistent with health guidelines of Phase 5 as applied in other venues in Illinois, and 2) that full guidance from ISBE for the fall be issued immediately.
The Land of Lincoln remains one of the four most restrictive states in the nation on residents’ ability to buy and use fireworks this Independence Day.
Last April, the Illinois Supreme Court suspended the state’s speedy trial statute indefinitely, and the justices have yet to announce when or how they will reinstate it. An Illinois Supreme Court spokesperson said the state supreme court will “continue to work through this issue.”
Black people have been the victims of roughly 81 percent of murders this year while they were the victims in about 70 percent of 2020 murders. Meanwhile, Mayor Lori Lightfoot proposed an $80 million cut to Chicago Police Department funding in October.
The bill is currently awaiting approval from Gov. J.B. Pritzker. If signed the legislation will go into effect immediately.
WalletHub just ranked U.S. states for patriotism and put Illinois at No. 45. Voter turnout, number of veterans and volunteerism were among the measures used to rate Illinois so low.
“The lack of communication between McCarthy and Kinzinger shows how GOP lawmakers critical of Trump face the risk of being distanced from their own party. Kinzinger was one of 10 Republicans who voted in January to impeach Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection.”
“Perhaps the best thing about Kass leaving the Tribune is that Chicago currently has no conservative newspaper columnist. That will help shift our city’s political conversation to the left. That is, closer to what’s considered mainstream in just about any other wealthy nation.”
The teachers’ petition argues that after they resigned from the Chicago Teachers Union following the Janus decision, the union should not have been allowed to enforce the dues provision in their membership contracts, which they signed in 2017.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger told Anderson Cooper, “And you have so many on, I guess, on both sides, but I can be particularly critical of my side as a Republican, that are just out trying to stoke darkness, fear, division over and over because it gets you retweets, it gets you likes, you might be able to raise some money, but it’s really destructive to this country.”
Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi’s office admits it’s made numerous errors in managing a program that shifted $250 million last year in taxes from eligible seniors onto everyone else.
But on the flip side, the region also suffered the heaviest damage from the 2015-2016 Illinois budget impasse.
House Majority Leader Greg Harris praised the budget that passed along party lines, saying it does not increase taxes. But, Harris acknowledged some businesses will be paying more in taxes.
State Sen. Jason Barickman says he still can’t get answers from the unemployment office. “It begs the question of what people are hiding.”
The legislation points to the power of the education lobby in Springfield, from local school districts and administrators to teachers’ unions, amid Illinois’ overly dependent system of funding schools at the local level through property taxes. Property taxes for schools traditionally make up the biggest line item on real estate tax bills and proponents of the legislation came largely from the education community.
State politicians continue to ignore Illinois’ local pension crisis, forcing suburban and downstate cities to cut active police officers. East St. Louis has cut its police force by 50 percent since 2003, while Harvey has lost 41 percent of its force.
According to a new analysis of Internal Revenue Service data by the nonprofit Wirepoints, Illinois lost 81,770 people that year. The performance of Illinois in the analysis was the third worst among the lower 48 states, the authors said.
Mark Brown: “(Michael) Sheahan is collecting somewhere upwards of $225,000 a year in county and city pensions, more than he ever made as sheriff. When he left office in 2006, the Chicago Democrat still had $924,749 in his campaign fund. By law, he would have been allowed to keep $561,332 for himself because that was how much he had in the account on June 30, 1998.”
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who has been sharply critical of the former president and his supporters, said the spread of the conspiracy is a prime example of the effect Trump has had on the information and politics ecosystem in America, particularly on the right.
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