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The drastic measure — mentioned in a new internal memo circulating amongst staff — is just an option on the table at this point. Last weekend, violence plagued Chicago’s Loop neighborhood and officers have been ordered this week to cancel upcoming days off “to address current crime patterns.”
The Illinois Department of Central Management Services, which is handling the sale, says state law forbids the disclosure of buyers, prices, and plans until after the contract is awarded. Which law is that? Public Act 100-1184, written specifically for this sale, and effective as of April 5, 2019. According to this law, no appraisal is necessary, and the sale (after a one-year pandemic extension) is to be completed by April 5, 2022.
“The scandal-prone Illinois State Toll Highway Authority keeps trying its best to prove it shouldn’t exist as an independent agency. If it wants to survive, the tollway needs to clean up its act, in a hurry.”
The special service district will be in place for three years, and the service tax is applied only to commercial buildings within the district boundaries. That tax will not exceed 0.05% a year on the equalized assessed value of the taxable property. It’s expected to bring in about $742,000 a year, with about $472,000 if that going toward public safety initiatives.
For the second straight day, an avalanche of opposition is stalling one of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s legislative initiatives — this time authorization to sign and modify emergency contracts up to $1 million without City Council approval.
A top official in Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s Department of Streets and Sanitation who during the Daley administration was suspended for helping to rig city job applicants’ test scores now faces charges in connection with his role as a board member of a failed Bridgeport bank.
Just last Thursday, nine people stormed a store along Michigan Avenue. Mayor Lori Lightfoot blamed retailers for not making safety a priority: “Some of the retailers downtown and [on] Michigan Avenue, I will tell you, I’m disappointed that they are not doing more to take safety and make it a priority. For example, we still have retailers that won’t institute plans like having security officers in their stores, making sure that they’ve got cameras that are actually operational, locking up their merchandise at night.”
The judicial district boundaries will change for the first time since they were established in 1964. Under the Illinois Constitution, incumbent judges can either run for retention in the counties comprising the district that elected the judge or in the counties comprising the new district where the judge resides.
The ICJIA’s Task Force on Constitutional Rights and Remedies, a group of lawmakers and stakeholders in law enforcement and civil rights groups, was created as part of recent sweeping criminal justice and police regulations enacted earlier this year. It’s unclear if the group will make the end-of-the-month deadline to produce a report.
ISP issued a statement earlier this week saying they’ve got the backlog down from nearly 140,000 to around 8,000 after streamlining some processes and hiring additional staff. The agency said its processing applications in 38 days.
Riverside Grafton, Illinois, the latest city to try to entice workers to its shores, is trying to grow its population of 650 residents. Overlooked cities that have struggled to retain residents and attract new cohorts of professionals see the rise of remote work as an opportunity to build their economies and create better paying jobs.
“An increase in the goal would result in higher payments, but eventually lead to a reduction in the unfunded liabilities in the systems,” GOMB Director Alexis Sturm said. ”Given the current fiscal pressures facing the state, this too is inadvisable to consider until Illinois can eliminate the unpaid bill backlog” and other debts. Therefore, at this time, the 90 percent funding ratio continues to be a reasonable and achievable goal for the State of Illinois pensions systems.”
“The educators object to the vaccination and testing of the coronavirus as both health care services violate their moral conscience,” according to the lawsuit. “Should the educators object to these proposed health care services, the law prohibits the defendants from discriminating against them.”
Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady said the city could follow other major cities and mandate proof of vaccination to go to gyms, bars, restaurants and other venues. In April Arwady proposed a vax pass program giving special privileges to vaccinated residents, but it was never implemented.
Members of the Republican minority have demanded greater transparency and input in how the coronavirus relief dollars are spent. A lead GOP budget negotiator, state Rep. Tom Demmer, called the move “a shell game” and is pushing for legislative approval before Pritzker spends the money.
Superintendent Chad Colmone says the district’s “test to stay” COVID testing program has resulted in more than a dozen confirmed cases since the Thanksgiving break, and that does not include positive tests from other sources.
Jim Dey: “The battle features the only two kinds of politicians there are — those who are in and those who want in.”
The creation of 39 new regional early learning councils would be a marked shift in the top-down approach currently taken by the state. Policymakers, educators, private providers, public officials and parents will provide community-level views on child care and preschool options in their area, how resources are meted out, and what is needed.
Harris has been an assistant U.S. attorney in central Illinois for the past 20 years, including time as criminal chief. He also worked in the office in the 1980s, before going into private practice.
The selections come two and a half years after Pritzker signed the gambling law that created six new casino licenses. Of the six casinos, only the Hard Rock in Rockford has started taking bets. Ground was to be broken Wednesday on a new casino in downstate Williamson County. Danville’s revised casino bid is still being reviewed by regulators after an initial proposal fell through. And the Chicago mega-casino is still early in the local selection process.
A lot is at stake. Charter schools educate about 51,500 Chicago children — or about 15% of all CPS students — at a cost of $826 million in taxpayer dollars this year.
Ald. Michelle Harris, who led the creation of the map as chair of the Rules Committee, said a referendum is “unnecessary,” arguing “we can all come together” to support a map that avoids a referendum that would be “a divisive election cycle that pits one group against another group.”
Cook, Madison and St. Clair counties together were named fifth biggest “judicial hellhole” by the American Tort Reform Association. The trio jumped three spots from No. 8 last year, with ATRA dubbing them a “magnet” for asbestos and no-injury lawsuits.
Critics of the initiative have been vocal online, and many worry it could put female students at a heightened risk of being assaulted in restrooms. Others accused CPS of not having their priorities straight, pointing to poor standardized test scores this year, which they say the district should be more focused on.
“Englewood’s descent from a boomtown to a ghost town is a story with many causes, from government neglect to the loss of manufacturing jobs. But it’s also a story about what happens to a neighborhood when people decide to give up and leave — and how that reshapes the city around it.”
Illinoisans are back to owing $130 billion in state pension debts. On the face of it, that’s good. Now here’s the bad news.
Wirepoints President Ted Dabrowski joined Amy Jacobson and John Anthony on Chicago’s Morning Answer. They discussed vaccine mandates, school policy regarding the spread of COVID-19, and the surge of crime in Chicago. “Criminals right now, in the eyes of those in charge, are victims, and we are ignoring the true victims,” Dabrowski said. “All that has got to change. We’ve got to get serious about prosecuting. That’s the bottom line.”
The new internal CPD memo instructs commanders citywide on how to staff-up for the weekend, cancel days off, overlap shifts, assign special patrols to retail corridors and “In the event of civil unrest and looting, area deputy chiefs and commanders should identify mobilization points” for officers. One option in the memo is entitled “Central Business District Emergency Closure Procedures.”
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