-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
Riverview started going remote on Dec. 2, due to not having enough students or staff to have meaningful in-person instruction.
Places in the Obama Center will be named for Harold Washington, Timuel Black, Elie Wiesel, Mae Jemison and Eleanor Roosevelt, among others.
‘Since taking office, I’ve always tried to have civil discourse with those who’ve disagreed with me. However, violent threats made against me, my family and my staff are reprehensible,” he wrote in the statement. “I hope we can return to a more positive discourse on public health, especially when it comes to this pandemic that has tired us all.”
Organizers blame supply chain problems for historically low inventory.
Danville, east of Champaign, recorded 785 violent crimes in the metro area in 2020, or 1,050 for every 100,000 people. There also were 13 homicides in Danville in 2020, a murder rate of 17.4 per 100,000. That is more than double the national average of 6.5 per 100,000.
Tri-City, north east of Springfield, announced it is going on an “adaptive pause” until Jan. 10. Parent, basketball coach and vocational coordinator Steve Dilley said, “The risk to our children I think is so minimal compared to what we’re doing to them academically and mentally…I don’t know what we’re going to see in 20 years, what kind of young individuals we’ll have in the next 15 to 20 years, who have had to cope with this.”
The Legislative Audit Commission heard details of a compliance audit of Illinois State Police for the previous two fiscal years. In one finding, auditors noted $2.3 million of unknown activity. Another audit finding of the 32 adverse findings was poor controls over equipment, including 92% of tested items that were lost or missing possibly having confidential information stored on them.
Joe Boozell with PlayIllinois.com said the calendar played a part. “There were five weekends of football, which usually there are four,” Boozell said. “Football is the most popular sport to bet on in the fall so I think it juiced it in every state.” Only New Jersey and Nevada took in more wagers.
“We’ve seen what Illinois is doing with a chunk of its money and it is going to be important for their rating on how they make decisions about what they do with the rest of it,” said Eric Kim, senior director for Fitch.
The 2% tax on sportsbooks has support from Mayor Lori Lightfoot as well as Ald. Walter Burnett Jr., whose 27th Ward includes the United Center. He said, “We would start getting money immediately with the sports facilities rather than waiting for a casino to be built.” The soonest Chicago could see a permanent casino is 2025.
According to the state, nearly 20% of Illinois households are paying late fees on their bills, and 5% are in danger of losing service.
Surveillance video shows a person using a sledgehammer to destroy a gaming machine at three Illinois bar.
Illinois has seen a decline in human services available for residents since the budget impasse that lasted from 2015 to 2017. While the Pritzker administration continues to invest in this sector, children still end up on waiting lists instead of receiving mental health care.
Republican State Rep. Adam Niemerg filed “The Freedom Act” this week. The bill would prevent any person, public official or workplace from requiring the COVID-19 vaccine for anyone who chooses not to get it. Niemerg says the bill would curb government overreach.
The village of Oak Park is one of several municipalities in Cook County, including Chicago and Evanston, among others, that operates its own public health department, meaning it is not under the jurisdiction of the Cook County Department of Public Health.
“At the Governor’s Conference on Travel and Tourism, Pritzker declared, ‘Our state is the safest state in the Midwest to spend their vacations.’ Pritzker was referring to the state’s vaccination rate, not the crime rate. Because if Pritzker were sincere in his remarks regarding tourists’ safety concerns, he would address the lawlessness that made national news 48 hours earlier.”
Aside from the good investment news, the report was substantially similar to countless other pension reports in recent years, particularly because it once again called on the state to revamp the much-maligned 1994 “Edgar Ramp” plan for paying down pension debt.
“Though you don’t see the rogue prosecutor angle discussed all that much in Chicago’s op-ed pages or in other corporate legacy media outlets, the public cares about it. They live it. They see it. They’re afraid of it. They don’t want to go shopping and find themselves in the middle of a smash-and-grab mob.”
Illinois Retail Merchants Association President Rob Karr said, “The biggest problem for all of us is that our leaders who need to sit down … and work on it are pointing fingers at each other as opposed to working constructively with us.”
Still, it’s a figure less than officials had bet on two-a-half years ago, in June 2019, when a major gambling expansion law authorized six new casinos to be built. Of the six, only one is so far operational.
In an unsigned email, the group said that “Bucktown residents are working with the Alderman’s office and local law enforcement to investigate legal measures we can take to help deter crime in our area. This includes adding additional security cameras, zoning streets or changing traffic patterns, or implementing a private security patrol which other neighborhoods have had in place for many years.”
Farmland values surged 18% in the third quarter this year compared to last year, according to the report.
More than 200 drivers were carjacked in Chicago last month.
Illinois is one of the few states with policies in place to help prevent fraud, but when comparing Illinois to other Midwestern states, Illinois has a much larger problem, the analyst explained.
South Side Ald. David Moore put Ken Meyer on the spot right away. “I’m not trying to put a burden on business. But, we have to … strike a balance between businesses looking like businesses, especially on the South and West Sides, and them looking like just shacks,” Moore said.
Homeland Security started investigating in the summer of 2020. More than a year and a half later, the Chicago case alone is expected to net two dozen arrests.
The full story raises serious questions of wrongdoing that may go to the heart of how Illinois government works, in both the Pritzker Administration and the General Assembly. The story is still unfolding but answers are clearly needed.
Youth homicides in Chicago have continued their torrid pace. Since December 2020, another 128 youth have perished by violence, resulting in a total of 228 homicides since the pandemic started. By comparison, 12 Chicagoans aged 20 and under have died from COVID over the entire period.
A statement from U.S. Rep. Mary Miller reads, in part, “The NDAA still creates a federal vaccine mandate that allows President Biden to discharge healthy active duty service members from my district. The bill also includes leftist Critical Race Theory ‘equity’ training requirements for the military that my constituents strongly oppose. “
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