-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
“It’s time for common sense leadership. Maybe all those agencies watching for cops to make a mistake, or make a decision they disagree with could get together and join forces and put some of that scrutiny on the folks that are shooting and killing people in a city that has lost control.”
Mark Konkol: “CPS students, teachers and staff aren’t required to wear masks in bars, restaurants and grocery stores.Yet we’re supposed to believe that the mask mandate they negotiated for classrooms is the key to keeping people safe because the CTU negotiated a mask mandate during a spike in cases that is behind us.”
Chicago will be affected by the oil ban in more ways than gas prices, analyst Patrick De Haan said. Chicago is a major transportation sector, and jet fuel and diesel prices could increase significantly. All of which means Chicagoans can expect “wide-scale effects” from filling up a tank of gas to shopping to buying travel tickets.
The Hotel Jobs Recovery Plan (HB5690 and SB4184) calls for allocating $250 million in federal funds to provide a one-time grant of $1,500 per room for every hotel in the state. The legislation also stipulates that special consideration for funding be given to minority-owned businesses, women-owned small businesses, disability-owned business enterprises, small, disadvantaged businesses, and veteran-owned small businesses.
After CPS CEO Pedro Martinez’s announcement that the mask mandate will end next Monday, the union indicated it would be filing an unfair labor practice charge against the district. Still, Martinez said he believes there’s “more agreement than disagreement” between the sides.
Child care prices have been skyrocketing over the past 30 years — rising faster than the price of food and housing. “And in childcare, that money doesn’t exist because it has to come out of parents’ pocketbooks, child care owners’ pocketbooks. That money is just not there,” said Julie Kashen, of the Century Foundation, “so we need this federal investment to make a big difference, and I think it will actually help with inflation by lowering costs.”
Aurthur Mae Perkins and Joseph Ruggiero are two of nine members of the Prisoner Review Board that have not been confirmed by the Senate. “Why is it that the impact of the pandemic has been so dramatic on the Prisoner Review Board?” state Sen. Plummer said. “I mean, the only group that this happens to is the Prisoner Review Board. Why is that so?”
“It’s almost like a modern day form of dueling,” Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly said. “Whether it’s motivated by gang issues, personal issues, or neighborhood issues, they’ll say things to each other and then insult one another and say well let’s take it out on the E-way.”
Don Schaefer with the Mid-West Truckers Association said the price increase throughout the region is staggering. “Diesel prices went up in the Midwest alone 68 cents last week. For a trucking company, the second largest cost after putting the truck driver in the truck, the second largest cost for them is the fuel that they put in there.”
State Rep. Ann Williamssaid she’s not questioning the legitimacy of any projects. She and others just want to freeze taxpayer-funded capital projects tied to Madigan so there can be further review.
The Senate will still require COVID-19 testing for individuals wanting to interact inside areas of the Illinois State Capitol controlled by the Senate. But, the announcement said masks would be recommended, not mandated.
Illinois Hotel and Lodging Association President and CEO Michael Jacobson said the hotel sector has been left behind. “The airlines had several rounds of support, the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, the Save Our Stages Act for performing arts venues. Hotels are one of the, if not the only sector of hospitality that didn’t have a dedicated support program from the federal government.”
If Amendment 1 passes Nov. 8, any prohibitions against teachers’ union strikes proposed by elected lawmakers would be invalid. That’s because such prohibitions would “interfere with” or “diminish” the right of teachers to “bargain collectively.’
Under the longstanding definition of money laundering and current federal law that categorizes cannabis as an illegal substance, there is virtually no reason that Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker—as well as his fellow governors across the country—should not be arrested on federal charges. That has to change.
In Cook County, where Black residents make up less than 24% of the population, only 8% of new mortgages went to Black households in 2020.
Jim Dey: “The man who reveled in control has lost control. Instead of making others dance to his tune, he’ll be hoofin’ it. There will be no more backroom maneuvers where plots are hatched and minions dispatched to carry out Madigan’s wishes.”
Illinoisans are already taking a hit at the gas pump and officials say your grocery bill could be next. A professor from Illinois State University explains the local effects of the conflict overseas.
Buyk promises free delivery of groceries on the North Side and part of the Southwest Side near Midway Airport, but Buyk furloughed about 98 percent of employees at its seven locations Friday. The company’s CEO said Russia’s recent crackdowns on the United States over its feud over Ukraine interfered with Buyk’s ability to receive funds from its Russian founders, Slava Bocharov and Rodion Shishkov.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot late Monday tweeted out a letter to CTU president Jesse Sharkey, saying among other things that discussions the mask policy and all COVID-19 mitigation measures were based on recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Illinois Department of Public Health. The mayor wrote that those recommendations have changed, and so should the agreement.
Cullerton was accused of collecting $188,320 in salary, bonuses and cellphone and vehicle allowances from Teamsters Joint Council 25 between March 2013 and February 2016, as well as $64,068 in health and pension contributions, while doing little or no work for the labor union. He was also accused of collecting $21,678 in reimbursed medical claims.
The city’s health department announced Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Wisconsin had all dropped below the threshold to be on the travel warning list.
The proposed Freedom to Subscribe Directly Act would provide smartphone app companies with the legal right to do business directly with their customers, overriding current smartphone app store policies. Similar bills have been filed around the country, including in Arizona, New York, Florida and Minnesota.
Illinois school district superintendents keep finding ways to retire with generous Illinois pensions while continuing to get salaries to boot. Another example we’ve come across is a husband and wife tag team that recently shared a superintendent role 50/50.
Though the indictment specifically used the plural, “businesses,” only one company, Commonwealth Edison, has so far been named as having participated in that alleged conduct. Last month, AT&T disclosed in a regulatory filing that federal prosecutors had notified them they were considering filing criminal charges against its Illinois subsidiary involving “a single, nine-month consulting contract in 2017″ worth $22,500.
“Our union will immediately be filing an unfair labor practice (ULP) charge against the district in response, and requesting that CPS bargain over this decision — a decision that impacts nearly 400,000 students, educators and school staffers in Chicago,” the union said in a release Monday.
Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle has offered few details about the cash assistance program, but its total would surpass a similar $31.5 million pilot in Chicago as well as most guaranteed income experiments across the U.S. Preckwinkle has said selected residents will get monthly payments for at least a year with no strings attached.
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