Aldermen Balk at Lightfoot’s Proposal to Hike Property Taxes, Spend Federal Relief – WTTW (Chicago)

In order to fund programs, the mayor has proposed borrowing an additional $660 million — even as the city pays off other high-interest debt it incurred last fall, as the second surge of the pandemic crested. Chief Financial Officer Jennie Huang Bennett defended the mayor’s spending plan as a thoughtful plan to “build a bridge toward financial stability while the economy continues to recover…This is good debt, like taking out a mortgage to buy a home.”

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No word on when Chicago or Illinois will lift its mask mandate – WGNTV (Chicago)

In a state with a population of 12.7 million people, COVID-related hospitalizations represent .015 percent of the population. Eighteen percent of in-use ICU beds are occupied by COVID patients, and IDPH reports that 8 percent of people in the hospital are being treated for COVID-related illness. Yet, Governor JB Pritzker’s administration has not said how close we are to lifting the statewide indoor mask mandate that went into effect August 30.

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Park Ridge parents sue District 64 over quarantine demand – Daily Herald*

According to the complaint, the family flew to Italy on Sept. 12 to attend a wedding. Before their departure from the U.S. and before their eventual return, all five family members tested negative for the COVID-19 virus, the petition states. Their complaint alleges the children are being unlawfully required to stay home and are being denied their right to attend public school.

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Former Illinois State Police Merit Board financial officer accused of filing false overtime reports – Chicago Tribune*

Jenny Thornley, 41, a political activist whose campaign work has included Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s 2018 run for governor, is accused of stealing between $10,000 and $100,000 by allegedly forging documents purportedly signed by Jack Garcia, the merit board’s executive director. As Garcia started investigating the overtime claims in early 2020, Thornley reached out to multiple ranking officials in the Pritzker administration and first lady M.K. Pritzker, according to separate filings in federal civil court.

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Pritzker pushes Biden’s tax, spending plan – Crain’s*

“The president is doing the right thing,” Pritzker said as David Kamin, deputy director of the president’s National Economic Council, listened in. “We’ve got to pay the bills from the recovery. The best way to do that is to tax those who can most afford it.”

That argument is very similar to the one Illinois voters rejected last year when they said no to Pritzker’s proposed graduated income tax amendment, which the governor dubbed the “fair tax.”

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As offices push back reopening, coffee shops, shoe repair businesses wait for their 9-to-5 regulars to return – Chicago Tribune*

Office occupancy rates were at about a third of their typical levels in August, down 4 percentage points from July, while overall foot traffic on State Street remained above half of 2019 levels. A couple of Loop coffee shops planned to reopen around Labor Day, expecting more offices to begin calling employees back, only to see downtown employers like Kraft Heinz, Amazon, Google and Uber push timelines back.
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Chicago wants to sue gang members for their assets. Criminal experts say it won’t quell gun violence. – NBC News

“Most of the violence is caused by interpersonal conflict, and the root of that is stress, poverty, desperation and hopelessness,” said Lance Williams, a professor of urban community studies at Northeastern Illinois University, explaining that this approach will only tie up already disenfranchised people into the legal system, and drain people of the little resources that they have with no real effect on violence.

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