-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
In an exclusive interview with Meet the Press, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot acknowledges an unprecedented level of parent outrage and activitism in support of a return to the classroom. “This is a very different dynamic than every before,” she said.
“State Sen. Jil Tracy, R-Quincy, has introduced a bill with additional proposals, including barring elected officials from sitting on the commission, giving the legislative inspector general’s office independent subpoena power and broadening access to commission minutes for journalists and the public, ideas that were floated in 2020 before the Joint Committee on Ethics and Lobbying.”
Tactical officers play a pivotal role making high-level arrests and taking guns off the street, efforts Brown touted last month as some of the department’s few bright spots during the city’s most violent year in a quarter-century. Sources said gutting tactical units could result in more crime and violence, with one predicting more than 1,000 homicides this year and another warning the city is on the verge of becoming “the wild wild West.”
“Out of fairness and consideration for parents who need to prepare, classes will be canceled again Monday,” Martinez and Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in a statement. “Although we have been negotiating hard throughout the day, there has not been sufficient progress for us to predict a return to class tomorrow. We will continue to negotiate through the night and will provide an update if we have made substantial progress.”
There were over 6 million jobs in the state in March 2020, and within a month that number would fall to 5.3 million. The most recent data shows that the state has gained back enough jobs to reach 5.9 million total as of November 2021. Total jobs have increased every month since January 2021.
Actuary Mary Pat Campbell: Some teachers unions, such as in Chicago, are pushing for remote schooling as omicron cases of Covid spread. There is a longer-term danger to teachers’ pensions, as many of these are underfunded and depend on growing tax bases. We’ve seen many of these places lose population due to people simply moving (not just dying). Teachers and their union representatives need to think longer-term — they may minorly reduce a short-term risk of a disease most of them (vaccinated) can deal with, while greatly increase the risk of undermining the future of their pension funds.
“Illinois legislators were back in Springfield last week, engaging in more of the political malpractice that passes for doing the public’s business. If they have it their way, they’ll act in haste, paving the way for the rest of us to lament their actions in leisure. Leaders of supermajority Democrats in the House and Senate say they intend to be finished with their handiwork, most importantly the new state budget, by April 8.”
“The Democrats can actually get things done with just their two leaders. They control what goes in and out of committees and what is voted on.”
Illinois’ finances were so bad at one point that the state set up a special program for third party lenders to step in and pay the state’s bills, and collect interest on them. The Auditor General’s report said: For 639 days, taxpayers had no clue who was profiting on this system.
“Black political power in Chicago begat Black political power for the entire nation. But the power that reached its peak with the elections of Washington, Moseley Braun and Obama is beginning to wane, as a result of the city’s declining Black population.”
Across Central Illinois, hospitals are full. “We’ve got the public safety to worry about, and unfortunately if people aren’t willing to do it themselves, we may have to help do it for them,” Macon County Board Chairman Kevin Greenfield said.
The say it’s about choice and personal freedom.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot tweeted, “Thank you @GovPritzker for agreeing to sell @ChiPubSchools 350,000 antigen tests,” but didn’t provide additional information. Bloomberg News reported that Pritzker previously asked the Biden administration for COVID tests to help resolve the ongoing dispute that has resulted in at least three days of canceled classes.
Effective immediately, new rules filed by the Illinois Department of Labor on Friday adopt federal vaccine and testing mandates on employers of more than 100 employees.
Jim Dey: “Cases like those implicating (Ald. Ed) Burke and (former House Speaker Michael) Madigan take years to put together because of the many moving parts and multiple targets. Even after indictments have been returned, they proceed, for a variety of reasons, at a glacial pace. That’s why the virus that is infecting Illinois and the criminal cases that have corrupted Illinois will consume the 2022 year and beyond. These two maladies are in a sickening race to the non-finish line.”
If the law is upheld, those employers will have until January 24 to devise a policy, and February 24 to implement it. That includes state and local agencies like the city of Springfield.
Republicans are working to tie Democrats to teachers unions ahead of the midterms as frustrations over the unions’ opposition to in-person learning amid the omicron surge grow.The effort comes as Chicago schools find themselves in the national spotlight after the Chicago Teachers Union voted late Tuesday night to temporarily move to remote learning and the city’s public school system canceled classes beginning Wednesday.
Comment: This is an appropriate place to remind our readers that we link to sources and opinions from all sides that we do not necessarily agree with.
Because they have close ties to the unions, Democrats are concerned that additional closures like those in Chicago could lead to a possible replay of the party’s recent loss in Virginia’s governor race. “It’s a big deal in most state polling we do,” said Brian Stryker, a partner at ALG Research whose work in Virginia indicated that school closures hurt Democrats. “Anyone who thinks this is a political problem that stops at the Chicago city line is kidding themselves,” added Mr. Stryker. “This is going to resonate all across Illinois, across the country.”
In four years between leaving the Clinton White House and winning election to Congress in 2002, Emanuel earned $16 million as an investment banker.
Since Emanuel’s term as mayor ended in 2019, he’s been raking it in even faster, according to disclosures for his Senate confirmation: $12 million for his work as a senior adviser to Centerview Partners, $700,000 consulting for Wicklow Capital and $310,472 as an ABC News talking head.
As an example, “it wouldn’t surprise me if in five years Chicago’s pension went bankrupt.”
Staffing is down at police stations across the city.
Chicago’s school shutdowns will contribute to its growing child-abuse problems.The see-no-evil approach to child welfare was fatal before Covid-19; it has only become deadlier since. After almost two years, we can no longer claim ignorance.
In a stunning move, a Cook County Juvenile Court judge issued two contempt of court orders against Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) Director Marc Smith for violating the rights of two children left languishing in facilities for months. DCFS could soon be fined as much as $2,000 a day until those children are properly placed.
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