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Proceeds from the IPO will allow Rivian to expand production beyond its assembly plant in Normal, Illinois.
First-term Cook County Clerk of Court Iris Martinez said the glitch — which redirected users to an “NFL-related” website — did not involve ransomware and did not expose anyone’s personal information, but her office opted to take the resources offline for several weeks as tech specialists worked to shore up security measures.
The settlement was arrived at just days before a civil trial in the case that was set to start. It would have focused on a novel legal issue about whether Dennis Hastert’s verbal agreement to pay $3.5 million to buy the silence of a man he abused as a teenager amounted to a legally binding contract.
There’s no automatic pay adjustment for other city elected officials. Mayor Lori Lightfoot makes $216,210, a mayoral salary that hasn’t changed since 2006, after the council had passed a series of gradual raises in 2002 for themselves, Mayor Richard M. Daley, the city clerk and treasurer.
“We’re in Chicago, though, where too often politicians get taken care of no matter how badly they perform. The latest example is an automatic 5.5% salary increase for the City Council that goes into effect Jan. 1. Automatic raises for politicians insult the public. Elected officials who want more money for themselves should be required to explain why and vote up or down on it.”
Estimates for the cost of the bill have ranged from $3 to $4 monthly added to ratepayer bills according to the Citizens Utility Board, to $15 according to the senior advocacy group AARP. In terms of percentages, bill sponsor Sen. Michael Hastings said residential electric bills would increase by about 3-4 percent, commercial bills by about 5-6 percent, and industrial bills by about 7-8 percent.
Nursing homes and long-term care facilities house a small part of the U.S. population, but are estimated to account for about 3 in 10 deaths from COVID-19. IDPH reported 46% of all deaths from COVID-19 in Illinois occurred in long-term care facilities.
The legislation ensures that people who seek emergency assistance for a person experiencing symptoms of an opioid overdose will not be arrested for any crime related to the use of drugs at the scene solely based on calling 911 for help.
Three children in Effingham County can’t be forced to wear masks without an official quarantine order from the county health department, a judge ruled Wednesday. Later in the day, a different judge enjoined an entire school district from requiring masks without a court order.
“When she first started talking crazy about putting those ‘assets’ in peril I misheard her. I thought she wanted to put their asses in jail. But I was wrong. Putting them in jail would require her to demand that her fellow Democrats—including her endorsed candidate for Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx–indict repeat violent offenders and have them taken off the streets so they can’t kill other innocents…”
The Northwest Home Equity Assurance Program was created more than 30 years ago to prevent white flight on Chicago’s Northwest Side. But that never happened and the program ended up a dormant organization flush with millions of dollars in unused cash. With a change in state law and new organizational leadership, the program offers loans for repairs, maintenance, remodeling or other improvements.
Accused of using his office to retaliate against his political foes, the unanimous action by the Chicago Board of Ethics adds to the beleaguered alderman’s woes. Ald. Jim Gardiner is under federal investigation for allegedly taking bribes and demanding payments before taking official actions.
State Sen. Dave Syverson thinks the state will opt to focus on solar and wind energy in the near future. “We may come back six years from now and they say, you know what, we don’t need nuclear anymore because we have wind and solar. The concern really is that we’re building an over reliance on wind and solar which may make it more difficult to renew Byron after that.”
After learning of the resignation some parents are now calling on the district to challenge Pritzker’s mandate.
State Sen. Mike Simmons said while he’s happy that Illinois is on a path to becoming free of fossil fuels, he voted “present” due to Exelon rate hikes and additional fees on residents. “…SB 2408 implements a rate hike on lower-income folks and local businesses that are trying to weather an unrelenting pandemic. I also have concerns with giving more money to Exelon right now when the public’s trust has been abused systemically in recent years by Commonwealth Edison.”
A Mexico native who moved to Chicago when he was 5 years old, Pedro Martinez worked under former CPS CEO Arne Duncan as a financial advisor before his move to San Antonio. There, he implemented COVID-19 vaccination mandates – which Texas Gov. Greg Abbott banned public entities from doing.
In Peoria, the average household owes $37,684 in state and local pension debt, with roughly $7,900 of that debt stemming from local systems for police, firefighters and municipal workers. Despite reducing the public workforce over the last few years, Peoria taxpayers in 2019 faced a new property tax fee devoted entirely to funding public safety pensions.
The study is a compilation of projections made by four gaming companies which made proposals to the city four years ago. Three of those are finalists for the license with the Illinois State Gaming Board.
“This immigration bill does have a cost associated with it. If more and more people become legal permanent residents, they quality for some government programs, but all of the leading economists agree that for every dollar that is paid out in a federal program to a legal permanent resident, $10 are returned to the economy because they’ll be able to work and buy homes,” Durbin said.
The now-passed clean energy bill sets a goal of adding 1 million electric cars to Illinois’ roadways by the end of the decade. To do that, the state is offering rebates to residents of select counties and townships who purchase electric cars.
The police lieutenant, when confronted about his use of cops to guard his home, said “Mind your own f—— business, this is my unit and I will do what I want with my people,” according to the suit.
Stella Dean, of the Springfield Area Landlord Association, said she hasn’t received any guidance from the state on if Pritzker will decide to extend the moratorium but that she wouldn’t be surprised if it is renewed.
A third generation family business is now vacant after a change in how they are assessed for property taxes, they said, has ruined them. Their 2019 Cook County property tax bill skyrocketed to $183,000 from just under $25,000: an increase of 640%. In 2020 they got another bill for $151,000.
The bipartisan JCAR committee voted 10-0 to request more answers from the ISBE regarding its authority to enforce Pritzker’s mask mandate for schools. JCAR wants to see ISBE’s enforcement policies actually included in the administrative rules and in harmony with Illinois law, rather than just based on “guidance” from the governor’s mandates and executive orders.
UPDATED to reflect the outcome of JCAR’s Sept. 14th hearing. The Pritzker Administration’s authority to enforce the school mask mandate is finally being confronted by the state legislature’s administrative review board, the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR).
Wirepoints President Ted Dabrowski joins Dan Proft and Amy Jacobson on Chicago’s Morning Answer. They discussed the JCAR vote, Chicago’s attempt to lure Texas businesses to the city and why Illinois civic leaders support the status quo.
Wirepoints President Ted Dabrowski joined the Scott Slocum show on WJOL in Joliet. They discussed the brain drain from Illinois and how college students are leaving the state because of higher tuition, spurred by skyrocketing pension costs and administrative bloat.
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