Tony Ragucci, who resigned in 2020, admitted to getting $88,000 when he was leading Oakbrook Terrace. He pleaded guilty to fraud and tax crimes. It’s the latest conviction related to how SafeSpeed LLC dealt with some Chicago-area communities that installed cameras to record traffic violations.
In a letter sent to U.S. Attorney John Lausch the day before Solis’ deal was accepted by a judge last month, the mayor asked prosecutors to consider turning over any evidence Solis has provided on “wrongdoing on the part of any individual or individuals that may have engaged in wrongful acts with the city,” either past or present.
Thirty members of the Chicago City Council invoked a rarely used provision of state law to call a special meeting of the public body. “We understand the fears, concerns and demands for sustainable solutions addressing the violence and criminality that is increasing exponentially throughout our diverse communities,” according to the letter filed by Ald. Raymond Lopez with the City Clerk’s Office. “It is our hope that this public forum, in the absence of customary hearings, will address the people’s concerns.”
Ald. Brian Hopkins and Ald. Brendan Reilly challenegd the projections of $200 million in annual tax revenue for the city. “I don’t believe we’re going to see $200 million a year in six years from this. I don’t believe it. The numbers don’t add up,” Hopkins said. “Our hands will be tied six years from now, ladies and gentlemen. We won’t have the ability to correct the mistake we’re about to make.”
“Last year, the city had experienced 240 murders at this point. So far this year, there’s been 219 murders,” CPD Supt. David Brown said. “We’ve been at 60% or more with our clearance rate this year. That’s a high mark over the last couple of decades.”
The report said states need to be mindful of what happens after the federal funds go dry to avoid the types of budget headaches they experienced in the Great Recession. “To help narrow the gaps, states shed almost 150,000 jobs and took actions that included Illinois borrowing $7.2 billion to cover government worker pension contributions,” noted Beverly Bunch, a professor at the University of Illinois Springfield and author of the report.
The program will expand to a $500,000 cap for eligible candidates, including both resident and nonresident compensation. Previously, the incentive only covered $100,000 for resident filmmakers. According to the Illinois Film Office, films, TV shows and commercials generated more than $360 million in the state and more than 7,000 jobs in 2020.
“It is truly disappointing to see how gleefully GOP candidates use gun violence to advance their campaign goals instead of joining together in a bipartisan manner to advance real solutions.”
Two different, three-justice panels of the Illinois First District Appellate Court turned aside appeals May 20 brought by different businesses who all accused Zurich American Insurance Company of wrongly denying them coverage for their lost business and opportunities amid the pandemic.
“It’s just been disappointing to sit on the sidelines and watch the current operators make hundreds of millions of dollars,” said Ambrose Jackson, a former hospital administrator who won one of the social equity licenses before the program was frozen. “All the social equity applicants are bleeding dollars, and every single month that goes by, people like me, those that the program is supposed to help, are getting hurt.”
The cameras would be installed “within the jurisdiction of the campus police” and “near property owned by the university,” like the Arts Incubator and L1 business accelerator, Vaughn said last week. The UChicago Police Department’s jurisdiction extends far beyond the university’s central campus,but not as far as the Arts Incubator and L1 accelerator.
The heel turn by some alderpeople prompted questions for CHANGE Illinois’ Chaundra Van Dyk. “It does leave one to wonder, what caused you to decide to go against everything that you stood for in regards to transparency and community engagement in the mapping process?” van Dyk said. “Obviously this wasn’t about communities.”
Aldermanic allies and enemies alike have condemned the crackdown as a toothless and desperate response to a deadly outbreak of youth violence in the downtown area that prompted a mass shooting outside a McDonald’s at Chicago Avenue and State Street and the fatal shooting of a teenager at Millennium Park.
Back on May 13, three nooses were hung from a tree in between Haven Middle School and Kingsley Elementary in Evanston’s District 65. The nooses were found hours after students staged a sit-in to protest the school district’s decision to transfer some teachers to different schools.
The Farmers Market Permit Act will make it easier for farmers by streamlining and standardizing the Illinois farmers market permitting process. Among others things, it will make it easier for consumers to buy eggs at Illinois farmers markets.
Townships and municipalities are the most common governments. The rest are special units such as museum districts, mosquito abatement districts, and tuberculosis sanitation districts.
New York-based Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism (FAIR) says that one lesson teaches young children that “people are in ‘danger’ because of ‘whiteness,’ suggests that racism is exclusively associated with ‘whiteness,’ claims without qualification that ‘white’ people have more opportunities than ‘non-white’ people, and refers to individuals as having ‘labels.’”
“Only 5% of folks who are unrepresented win their immigration case, so we know that representation goes a long way in ensuring if somebody has the option to stay – maybe they’re married to a U.S. citizen, maybe their child is a U.S. citizen and they’re eligible for cancellation,” said said Ere Rendon of The Resurrection Project.
Near North Sider Christine Rezagholi said she doesn’t feel safe in her own neighborhood anymore. “I don’t even go out with a purse, a handbag, [I] usually wear workout clothes because I feel like I’m a target…I pay the most expensive property taxes. For what?”
Equity and Transformation (EAT), established in 2018, is a Chicago-based social justice nonprofit founded “by and for post-incarcerated people,” according to its website; The group has organized protests against police and advocates for reparations. However, it primarily focuses on achieving “social and economic equity for Black Workers engaged in the informal economy,” or African Americans who work jobs “not regulated or protected by the state,” which appears to include criminal activity.
The topic is fraught: Social scientists report that births to unmarried mothers heighten risks of poor educational, behavioral, and employment outcomes, especially for young black males in poor neighborhoods. In 2020, 79 percent of all Illinois black births were out of wedlock compared to 53 percent all Latino births, 27 percent of white births and 8 percent of Asian births.
A remarkable replay of history ignored, now for a second time. Read what the Washington Post wrote in 1979.
Gov. JB Pritzker on Friday signed a new bill providing property tax relief for senior, veteran and disabled homeowners. What nobody said is that those reductions for some mean increases for others. It’s just a matter of shuffling the property tax burden.
Ted was on FOX32 (Chicago) with Mike Flannery to talk about the confusion surrounding the U.S. Census Bureau’s Post-Enumeration Survey of the 2020 Census. Ted emphasized that, no matter how things play out with the Census numbers, Illinois is still losing the battle for people and incomes compared to states like Texas and Florida.
The ex-Illinois House Speaker was recorded on a wiretapped phone call in 2018 discussing with lobbyist confidant Michael McClain a plan to arrange secret payments to a close political ally who had been implicated in a sexual harassment scandal, newly released court documents show. Madigan has always denied any involvement in the scheme.
SIGN UP HERE FOR OUR FREE WIREPOINTS DAILY NEWSLETTER
