-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
Chicago and other cities around the Great Lakes are envied by most of the world for their abundance of fresh water. It took some doing, therefore, for Chicago to let high water bills accumulate to the point that tens of thousands of homeowners are drowning in debt for their waters bills.
Wirepoints President Ted Dabrowski joined Scott Slocum on WJOL in Joliet. They discussed how politicians have selected to boost the electric vehicle industry in Illinois at the expense of other manufacturers.
Comment: Must watch. All of it.
Illinois is one of only six states that require people to wear a mask indoors.
Rather than a leisurely start, a two-week Easter break, and a busy conclusion, the lawmakers are scheduled to begin Jan. 4, end April 8, and take only one week off. University of Illinois Springfield political science professor Kent Redfield said, “The attention of the legislature is going to be on the election, and they are going to be interested in making news that is going to help them campaign.”
State Sen. Don DeWitte: “We saw an unprecedented level of public engagement when the HCRCA amendment moved through the legislative process. More than 54,000 everyday Illinoisans filed witness slips in opposition to the bill…Democrats ignored this public mandate, and instead decided it’s OK for people to be discriminated against in the workplace and even to lose their jobs if they do not submit to the heavy hand of state government.”
The Army Corps and the city of Chicago are advancing a plan to expand the so-called confined disposal facility, which is next to Calumet Park on the Southeast Side. That would delay a potential conversion to parkland for at least another two decades.
According to Bumper.com, Illinois is ranked 35th in the country for electric vehicle charging availability with 153 charging stations per 100,000 people.
“The amendment was effective immediately,” said a county spokesperson. “Per the amendment, the revenue generated from the amended firearm and ammunition tax will be directed to the Special Purpose Fund for Equity and Inclusion to directly fund the Justice Advisory Council’s gun violence prevention programs as well as operations and programs aimed at reducing gun violence.”
The new petition cites a Nov. 1 ruling by Judge Raymond Mitchell in favor of the Chicago Fraternal Order of Police, arguing the mayor’s mandate infringes on the various unions’ collective bargaining powers, which are protected under state law.
Jim Dey: “At least two Democrats — others of both parties are surely to follow — are citing the map’s unfairness as fundraising ploys. The theme invoked by Democrats Marie Newman and Bill Foster go along the following lines — ‘I’m a victim, please help by sending money.'”
“I think mandates are just polarizing,” said state Sen. Patrick Joyce of Essex, one of six Democrats in the chamber to vote against the measure. “You can look at whether a mandate is one way or the other, it’s a mandate and I think that in today’s political climate, that’s pushing people to do things that they wouldn’t normally do.”
“Blagojevich is a real-life cartoon character, popular culture’s best example of a bombastic, narcissistic, devious politician since the fictional Senator Claghorn. He’s handsome, with a mane of hair that turned silver in prison. He’s charming.”
“Once that gambling emporium arrives within just a few feet of the friendly confines, and the pot shop known as Sunnyside Lakeview moves into the massive former John Barleycorn’s bar at 3524 N. Clark St., where it says it can serve 2,000 customers a day, a family outing to the ballpark is sure going to look a lot different.”
“The data reflects that there’s a very low yield for the technology that really begs the question of whether a cost benefit analysis has been done,” former Inspector General Joseph Ferguson said in an October budget hearing. “There are bad actors who are caught because of a ShotSpotter alert. But are enough of them caught to offset the harms that come from aggressive policing from false positives?”
“I am disappointed,” the mayor said. “They could have taken different action — particularly in light of the fact that Ms. Young herself said that Officer French showed her respect and treated her with dignity. It just doesn’t make sense that COPA made this decision.”
Attorneys for the GOP plaintiffs argued that, “(a)mong other problems with the September Map, the drafters committed a fundamental error by falsely assuming there is no racially polarized voting in Illinois and failing to properly consider race and ethnicity when drawing the districts in the map as required by the VRA.”
State Rep. Ryan Spain called the measure, which has passed both houses of the Illinois General Assembly, unconstitutional. “The ability to make political donations is an example of free speech…For me, I am not comfortable supporting this bill here on the last day of veto session. This has very significant changes that affect how we will handle our elections for judges in the state of Illinois.”
Ald. Matt O’Shea, whose Far Southwest Side ward is home to hundreds of officers, said he couldn’t believe COPA besmirched French’s name posthumously. “They wonder why no one wants to serve as a member of the Chicago Police Department anymore. Another assault like this, despicable. Ella French was a hero.”
Bill Bergman, of Truth in Accounting: “But ‘get-out-the-vote’ campaigns in some states, such as Illinois and others facing financial stress, might have actually led to a form of overcount, not undercounts. After the census results became available in April 2021, it became clear that states with significantly higher 2020 decennial census results than those expected from the ACS estimates from 2010 to 2019 (before the pandemic hit) tend to be financially-challenged, and Democratic, states.”
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