-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
A 14-year-old boy was among four people shot in the Altgeld Gardens public housing project around 3:35 p.m. Tuesday, police said. About four hours later, four people were wounded on the West Side, police said. They were standing on a sidewalk when someone came up and opened fire.
“Remember, we’re providing hundreds of dollars of relief directly to families that they can use for precisely this purpose, they can use it for anything they want, groceries or something else,” Gov. JB Pritzker said. “And they’re able to use that in addition to the cessation of the increase in gas tax in order to pay for gasoline.”
Pritzker claims his fiscal policy has done more than enough to address the state’s pension crisis. “That’s why we are using this year’s budget surplus to pay down pension debt beyond the required amount, we have expanded the pension discounted buyout program, and we are achieving long-term investment returns in excess of the long-term targets,” he said.
The budget unveiled Wednesday draws $730 million of remaining funds from CPS? $2.8 billion pot of federal COVID-19 relief. The district has previously allocated $1.26 billion.
The collective health of 11 pension systems that cover Chicago and Cook County and local general government workers across the state mostly held steady in 2020, propped up by healthy investment returns and rising contribution levels for some of the funds that still fall short of actuarial standards. Overall the results for 2020 laid out in the state legislature?s Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability annual compilation were mixed and several recent pieces of legislation stand to influence results in the coming year, both negatively and positively.
Gov. JB Pritzker says this pandemic resembles a massive flood for Illinois because much like a flood, it has no set time duration. The Democrat noted he has used executive orders and disaster declarations to keep people alive. “We still have a pandemic. There is still a federal disaster that has been declared. So we’re going to keep providing the services that people need.”
“His political style seems quaint and odd at a time where members of Congress are much more apt to run hundreds of thousands of dollars in malicious advertising than, as (former U.S. Rep. and state Rep.) Johnson frequently did, hold town halls engage in debates or stop by a coffee shop. Rep. Johnson’s level of constituent service, civility to his colleagues and Democratic voters and refusal to sling mud in political campaigns was exemplary and is sorely missed in politics and government today.”
The city’s 19 licensed dispensaries reported 13 combined burglaries, attempted burglaries and criminal damage reports since shops selling marijuana for recreational use opened in 2020. Break-ins mostly occurred at businesses on the city’s North Side, and the breaches – combined with office vacancies in some retail zones near dispensaries and a rise in civil unrest during the pandemic – have led dispensaries to invest in more private security officers.
U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth said oil companies have stopped drilling in an effort to keep prices high. She said oil companies are using the war in Ukraine as an excuse to drive up prices.
Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce CEO Jaime di Paulo said at this point, the local minimum wage hike boosts won’t mean much because businesses have to pay beyond that if they want workers.
Senate Bill 72 was deemed unconstitutional by the Cook County judge because the law created different classes of plaintiffs and defendants by creating larger payouts in personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits compared to other types of cases. The measure was passed during the last day of the 2021 legislative session by lawmakers and quickly signed into law by Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
Nationally, homes appreciated more than 25% from the fourth quarter of 2019 through the fourth quarter of 2021, according to recent Federal Housing Finance Authority data. However, Illinois homeowners missed a large chunk of the price growth seen in other states. Homes here appreciated by less than 16%, the third worst in the nation.
“The report notes that Kim Foxx, the Cook County, Illinois DA – representing Chicago – was handed $2 million for her campaign, through the Illinois Justice and Public Safety PAC. Foxx has faced strong criticism for letting people accused of violent crimes out on electronic monitoring – a policy that Mayor Lori Lightfoot has attempted unsuccessfully to overrule.”
The prices spiked by an average of 46 cents per gallon in the last week, petroleum analyst Patrick De Haan said. Chicago has recorded new all-time high gas prices every day since May 27.
The public servants we pay to protect us and maintain order in Chicago are increasingly under attack. The total number of Chicago Police officers shot at in 2020 totaled 80 versus the 2014 to 2019 yearly average of 20. In 2021, total shootings at police were almost as high again, at 76.
Ted joined joined Dan Proft and Amy Jacobson to talk more about Wirepoints’ new indictment of Illinois’ education system. Tens of thousands of administrators and educators are enriching themselves with some of the nation’s highest salaries and pensions. Yet only only 38% of Illinois students can read at grade level. Something doesn’t add up.
Wirepoints’ Ted Dabrowski joined WXAN radio host Will Stephens to talk about Wirepoints’ new report that shows only 38 percent of Illinois public school students could read at grade level in 2019.
As they enter into this data collection phase, the Oak Park Reparations Task Force and its partner, Dominican University, have a clearer sense of both the promise and perils of a local reparations program. For one, they have Evanston as both a model and an object lesson.
Sam Jidd, who owns the dealership, said this time was the last straw; he now plans to leave Illinois. “These guys, they won’t get arrested,” Jidd said. “They’re very comfortable.”
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