-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey T. Gilbert agreed to a $4,500 “unsecured bond” for Jamel Danzy, 29, of Hammond, IN, during a detention hearing Wednesday but that bond does not require posting cash unless he violates imposed conditions. Gilbert called the bond arrangement an “extreme good behavior release.”
They mayor hopes the increased budget will be used to recruit officers from across the country, and to “mine opportunities” in the city of Chicago itself as part of an effort to bolster the department’s ranks. The mayor said that the budget will also include funding for programs designed to help officers with their mental and physical well-being.
Evalena Flores, 41, allegedly kicked a hospital security guard in the groin and wrestled with police officers at Advocate Christ Medical Center.
Around 200 people filled a banquet hall today and believe students should not be forced to wear masks in schools. In Orland Park last week, the board voted unanimously to ask Illinois’ General Assembly to convene to address COVID-19.
What comes after Sept. 1 is not immediately clear, but housing stakeholders, key state agencies and court representatives say it will likely depend on the pace of distribution of aid, whether the new federal eviction moratorium is found legally permissible and whether Pritzker decides to issue a new moratorium.
Electronic Frontier Foundation Director of Engineering Alexis Hancock said Illinois’ program requiring people to verify their information through credit tracking firm Experian is severely flawed. Among her concerns are residents with little to no trackable credit history, among other issues. “If you have frozen your credit for whatever reason, you have to unfreeze your credit with Experian in order to actually access a vaccination record from this Vax Verify system.”
Illinois spends on average $16,200 per student on K-12 education. Florida, which places must better on Wallethub’s equity ranking at fifth, spends $9,600 per student and gets better results, according to government spending watchdog Wirepoints.
Also contributing to the pension crisis is a decline in payroll headcounts in state and local government. Fewer people are paying into the systems as the number of retirees grows, leaving taxpayers to make up the difference.
Personnel costs jumped by 40% during the decade, analysis shows. That’s an extra $1.4 billion in pension, salary and benefit expenses while staff numbers were relatively steady and student numbers dropped.
“It seems clear, however, that police and neighborhood residents need to make the identification of wrongdoers and the confiscation of their weapons major priorities. Prosecution for gun-law violations must be certain, and punishment swift and severe…With violent, sociopathic lawbreakers running amok, this community is in the kind of mess that only time, determination and dedication can ameliorate.”
“What’s more, forcing children to wear face masks impedes their social development skills. After all, it is impossible for them to read and interpret their peers’ and teachers’ facial expressions when they are masked up all day.”
“The Negative Outlook reflects the risk that absent implementation of the pending pension reforms the pension fund will deplete its assets by 2028.”
The formation of the commission puts Illinois in an ideal position to move forward quickly once infrastructure legislation passes, notes HRSA. It will create a forum that the Illinois Department of Transportation can use to move from its current wish-list of individual projects to a true, state-wide railway transportation plan.
“They can tear our patch off our arm, but they will never take what’s in our heart,” police Chief John Koziol said. “The men and women of the Mount Prospect Police Department will always honor our fallen brothers and sisters in law enforcement.”
“It’s almost enough to make me wish that Mayor Daley returned to office to dispatch city workers to yank that sign from Trump’s tower in the middle of the night…But then I remember it was Daley who installed (Ald. Ed) Burke as finance chair. Just as Daley looked the other way when Burke started filing property tax appeals on Trump’s behalf. So Daley’s about as useless in this fight as Mayor Rahm, who was the mayor who let Trump install that sign without a fight. After he, Rahm, took a $50,000 campaign contribution from Trump in 2010.”
“Chicago is the city of anarchy now. And the people expected to keep order, the undermanned, overworked, and emotionally and physically exhausted Chicago Police Department, have one clear feeling toward the mayor: Loathing. The people of Chicago could sense it, but now it’s all out in the open.”
The Amazon fulfillment center — the last stop before delivery for online orders — is expected to employ between 250 and 500 people and open in 2022. Neither the city nor the county offered incentives, and the site doesn’t fall within a tax-increment financing district or an enterprise zone.
The mayor made no effort to hide her anger when asked Wednesday why she ignored the family’s wishes. “I don’t force my way anywhere. And that’s offensive, frankly, that you would ask me that question. … It really does a disservice to the moment that we’re in. Come on. Give me a break. What else are you gonna mine from the bottom of the chum barrel?
The city’s 2022 budget will also be pinched by soaring pension payments, as the city faces an estimated bill of $2.25 billion for its four funds, according to previous budget projections. Those payments are required by a state law that is designed to force the city’s pensions to be funded at a 90% level by 2045, ensuring that funds can pay benefits to employees as they retire.
For Illinois’ Vax Verify program, users would have to enter personal information to be cross referenced and verified. “After the verification process, individuals can see their own record in the Illinois Comprehensive Automated Immunization Registry Exchange (I-CARE),” the news release from IDPH said.
Several factors are being attributed to the better-than-expected outcome, including Illinois’ high-income workers, who were able to continue to work from home and thus generate income tax revenue for the state. Illinois was able to continue to collect sales taxes from online companies as consumers shifted their buying patterns.
“It goes to show what a band of freaks are surrounding Lightfoot, given that this sorry substitute for a man has such a high position of authority in the Chicago Police Department. When police speak of city officials not ‘having their backs,’ this one went and proved it.”
The two legislative blocs most unwilling to divulge their vaccination status — Black Democrats and downstate white Republicans — also represent some of the least-inoculated parts of the state.
A bill to facilitate consolidation of school administration was left to die in the Illinois House. It Why? Because teachers unions said no, that’s why.
Wirepoints President Ted Dabrowski joins Dan Proft and Amy Jacobson on Chicago’s Morning Answer. They discussed crime in Chicago, mask mandate legal battles and the calls for a return to normalcy.
In addition to safety concerns over violence or threats, most state agencies are negotiating medical and logistical challenges with unions before bringing all of their workers back into the office.
If approved by the City Council, the extension of the Near North Tax Increment Financing District, is expected to generate $600 million more in tax revenue on top of the $350 million it already has generated since it was established in 1997 to help finance then-Mayor Richard M. Daley’s plan to redevelop the area.
During last year’s period of remote learning, bus drivers were furloughed. Now, many don’t want to come back because they are able to collect enhanced unemployment benefits, said said Julius Ceasar, the director of recruiting for Cook Illinois Corporation. At an Orland Park job fair last month, only two applicants showed up.
One landlord said, “The forms landlords and tenants have to fill out are really long and complicated. In May, I took my tenants over to my CPA’s office and he helped us fill them out there. I understand they ask all of these questions because they want to prevent fraud. But they are complicated. They even required us to send in photos of the tenants.”
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