-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
“We have an obligation while the law, while the executive order, as a legal matter, is still in effect, to be able to ensure that it’s implemented with fidelity,” said ISBE Chair Darren Reisberg. “So there is a need at times to promulgate rules with some specificity in order to do that.”
Jim Dey: “NAACP President Derrick Johnson said ‘it is unconscionable that in 2021, underhanded tactics are being used in a blatant effort to undermine and disenfranchise the Black electorate.’…Partisan maps are legal, while drawing maps to shortchange protected minorities are not.”
“I am not at all … happy with CPD and their leadership. They need to step up in a big way and stop this crime pandemic themselves. They need to find a way to recruit more people. That’s on them. The mayor can only do so much,” Ald. George Cardenas said. “I said the leadership. That means the entire group if things don’t change as we get into 2022.”
The massive roughly $8 billion spending plan for 2022 focuses on making the county a more equitable place to live and work. “No new taxes, no new fees. No program cutbacks or personnel cutbacks. How could you vote against it?” said Commissioner Peter Silvestri. “Any budget that is approved when the day light is still on is a good thing.”
The survey’s confidence index, which reflects bank CEO expectations for the economy six months out, sank for the fifth straight month. Bankers from Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming were surveyed.
The industry sectors with the biggest job gains during the month were professional and business services, which added 17,700 jobs; leisure and hospitality, which added 8,400 jobs; and trade, transportation and utilities, which gained 7,700 jobs. Those gains were partially offset by job losses in the information sector and educational and health services.
The nonprofit organization Truth in Accounting released its Financial Transparency Score report for financial reporting by the states and gave Illinois a score of 56 out of a possible 100. Only four states scored lower.
“It’s time for us to begin the transition to learning how to live a life with COVID,” Vandalia school board member Ryan Lewis said. “We have everything available to us to offer protection to those that want it.” He noted practically every element of Pritzker’s five-phase reopening plan from May 2020 has been met, except for “no new cases over a sustained period.”
The letter from Joe Ferguson comes as Emanuel is waiting for the Senate to confirm him as the next U.S. Ambassador to Japan. Ferguson wrote that while the questions are “appropriate” by those opposing his nomination “they are not fair, because they are not grounded in fact, because the facts simply do not exist.”
Finance Committee chair Ald. Scott Waguespack said he wouldn’t endorse buying the Bears. “I think there has to be conversations with the Bears on what they’re doing in a more public fashion. We’ve basically supported them all of these years with Soldier Field and they’ve gotten a pretty darn good deal out of it, and to just pull up and talk about moving without a public conversation misses the point.”
Brent Fischer issued the certificate to Howard Buffett, a Macon County philanthropist who donated land and $15 million for a law enforcement training academy and received the waiver just hours after a later $10,000 contribution.
“Our coordinators have been in regular discussion, not only with the city of Chicago, but also with northern suburbs that border Wisconsin to make sure that we’re providing the support that they need when they need it,” Gov. JB Pritzker said.
Gasoline was $1.34 more per gallon Nov. 17 than a year ago in Illinois. Add to that Illinois taxes pushing the price per gallon at least 20 cents higher than any neighboring state, thanks to doubling the state gas tax in 2019 and annual adjustments for inflation. Illinois currently is 21 cents per gallon higher than Indiana and nearly 50 cents higher than Missouri.
It’s a boundary line that splits the southwestern Illinois town practically in half. “It seems like cherry-picking as far as the representatives are choosing their demographics,” said Charlie Cook, 38, a lifelong O’Fallon resident and business owner. “I don’t really support the idea of our representation being split that way just because anyone from O’Fallon should be able to go to the same representatives and be heard.”
There’s a lesson here not only about Illinois pensions but about how easily the press will let Gov. JB Pritzker thumb his nose at crisis.
“…(W)hen a block of voters identifies too strongly with one political party, expect it to be taken for granted by one and ignored by the other. I’d much rather have candidates competing for our votes. After all, all voters are worthy of having their concerns heard and responded to.”
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