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The Chicago Board of Education approved a federal aid-infused budget amid warnings of a financial cliff that could knock it off the track needed to win back investment-grade ratings.
A press release from the governor reads, in part, “The State will continue to evaluate the need for additional mitigations and will not hesitate to put them in place as needed to protect the health of Illinois residents.”
The American Petroleum Institute released new data examining gas taxes, other state taxes/fees, and total state plus federal taxes for every state.
“There’s no recourse,” one claimant said. “There’s no supervisor you can talk to. No one you can email.” Meanwhile, there is still, no update on when IDES offices will open again.
“Reform isn’t optional for the Chicago Police Department. It’s mandated by the consent decree imposed by the federal government after the 2014 murder of Laquan McDonald, a Black teen, by a white police officer. But even with the weight of the Justice Department behind it, the consent decree still needs a crucial component — buy-in from rank-and-file police officers.”
“And they don’t ever really tell you exactly why, they just send you their language that says ‘it may be political and it may affect the outcome of an election, and it may be a social issue,’” Ed Wojcicki said. “And we just think that’s outrageous because all we really want to do is help people understand that a brave police officer needs to be honored.”
“The 10 highest-crime districts in the city have had anywhere from 75-to-175 of their beat officers pulled. That’s a disaster. The mismanagement of that department and the misuse of the resources is making things far worse,” said former mayoral challenger Paul Vallas, who acted as a lead negotiator for the Fraternal Order of Police.
Under the CDC guidelines, counties that have recorded between 50 and 99 new COVID-19 cases per 100,000 residents over the previous week are considered at a substantial transmission level, while anything over 100 is considered high transmission. Cook County is now at about 52 cases per 100,000 residents. DuPage is at about 59, McHenry is at about 58 and Will is at almost 73.
While the state was able to announce Wednesday’s winners, the licenses were temporarily put on hold after a Cook County judge issued a last-minute order in a lawsuit filed last year in Cook County.
The current seven-member CPS board will now grow to 21 members in 2024. Ten members will be elected during that year’s general election. The remaining 10 members and a board president will be appointed by the mayor. Then, in 2026, all 21 positions will be picked by Chicago voters.
Specifically, the new complaint argues that each of the individually named plaintiffs live within districts that are malapportioned under the new maps and that, as a result, their votes would be diluted in the 2022 elections. The new complaint also argues that the Illinois State Board of Elections and each of its individual members are responsible for administering the elections.
“School districts are potentially going to be held liable if they don’t live up to the standard that is set by the CDC and by the state,” Gov. Pritzker said Wednesday in Chicago. “And so school districts need to decide if they’re going to, at this moment, if they’re going to be subject to liability for not following those recommendations.”
At least 15% of mortgages were underwater in the first quarter of 2021 in 33 of the 50 most at-risk counties. Those with the highest underwater rates in Illinois included St. Clair County with over 43% of mortgages underwater, and Kankakee County at 27%.
The release from Teamsters Local 743 comes after a secret ballot vote in which more than 70 percent of voters voted to leave the Teamsters union.
Galesburg, IL School District 205 Superintendent John Asplund emailed staff members announcing a new ID badge policy. School staff now have the option to change from the customary white ID badge to a yellow ID badge to indicate that they have received the covid vaccine.
“There were 970 murders in 1974—a record year for homicides—but Chicago’s population then was more than 3 million and half the city was considered middle class…Hundreds of thousands have left town since then. Chicago’s middle class is all but gone. The working classes of all races and ethnicities, which gave this city its defining character for toughness and endurance have been decimated. Many make plans to leave. Many more are just stuck.“
The governments of Chicago, Cook County and Illinois spend about $4.5 billion per year on law enforcement and incarceration, including the Chicago Police Department, the Illinois State Police, the Cook County Sheriff, the Cook County Jail and the Illinois Department of Corrections.
Meantime, it appears unlikely the mayor plans to reinstate a citywide mask mandate in the coming days. Chicago Department of Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said the city isn’t likely to consider a new mask mandate until Chicago passes 400 cases per day.
This is a 27% decrease from the previous week when 25,919 people filed.
The other law Pritzker signed makes families with children a priority for the state’s low-income energy assistance program. It also expands access to LIHEAP — for Low-Income Heating and Energy Assistance Program — to undocumented residents.
“In reality, the city of Chicago needs $38.7 billion to pay its bills. This breaks down to $43,700 per city taxpayer. This enormous debt mostly stems from the city’s pension and retiree health care liabilities…In order to catch up on pension payments, the city of Chicago would have to lay off all city employees, firefighters, and police officers for eight years.”
Homebuyers who closed with SmartBuy loans received an average of more than $25,000 in student debt relief.
The Illinois Investment Policy Board monitors compliance with state law prohibiting the investment in certain companies that do business with Iran and Sudan as well as companies that boycott Israel. State-run pension systems are currently investigating their portfolios for Unilever-related interests.
“Kinzinger doesn’t get to fall back onto any such royal privileges if he’s stripped of committees, his conference membership, a GOP congressional nomination, or a congressional district. What he does have, however, is his freedom, and I don’t mean that in a chest-thumping, patriotic way.”
“In addition to mask requirements, we continue to urge all Illinois school districts and institutions of higher education to employ a layered safety approach, which includes physical distancing, regular handwashing, adequate building ventilation, and consistent COVID testing of students and educators,” said Illinois Federation of Teachers President Dan Montgomery.
Nearly $3 million is what a recently retired, career Illinois teacher will collect in lifetime pension benefits. That’s far more than teachers in Illinois’ peer states, even beating out New York and California.
The Civic Federation supports CPS’ overall budget but noted that the district is “heavily reliant” on short-term borrowing, and that underfunded teachers’ pensions continue to be a source of concern. “While the size of the budget continues to grow, the number of students in Chicago Public Schools continues to shrink. These issues need to be addressed through a comprehensive long-term plan,” Civic Federation President Laurence Msall said.
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