-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
CEO Kedar Deshpande wrote that Groupon needs to cut costs, improve productivity, and automate some functions. This has also involved reducing the company’s real estate footprint to reflect a hybrid work model.
Cummins, an engine manufacturing company headquartered in Columbus, Ind., has nearly 10,000 employees in the state. Spokesman Jon Mills said parts of the law conflict with the company’s beliefs and will “impede our ability to attract and retain top talent and influence our decisions as we continue to grow our footprint with a focus on selecting welcoming and inclusive environments.”
Gov. J.B. Pritzker, whose Climate and Equitable Jobs Act laid the groundwork for the agreement, called the power supply contract that will make clean energy the standard for buildings a “model” for the nation. It calls for city-owned buildings that consume the most energy — the Jardine Water Purification Plan, Harold Washington Library and those at O’Hare and Midway airports — to start drawing a healthy chunk of their power from a new solar farm under construction in Sangamon and Morgan counties.
The deal to keep Lollapalooza in Chicago for at least the next decade includes a complete revamp of how festival producers will pay the Park District, tighter restrictions that keep competing music festivals out of Grant Park and no provisions for investment in the grounds except a $100,000 tennis court renovation.
Gov. JB Pritzker, asked about Eli Lilly’s opposition to Indiana’s new abortion ban, confirmed he has reached out to the drug maker to tell them Illinois would welcome any expansion projects. “We welcome their employees. We treat workers here well and, very importantly, we protect their individual rights and their families’ rights.”
Gov. Pritzker said construction on the 593-megawatt solar power farm will start soon in Morgan County and Sangamon County. “By 2025, hundreds of thousands of Chicagoans will get their energy needs met by an entirely renewable energy source,” but City Hall has agreed to buy some of the energy to power publicly owned assets, including O’Hare and Midway airports.
“The SAFE-T Act does many things that support local law enforcement,” Gov. JB Pritzker said. “We are providing the funding. We are providing cameras and ensuring local law enforcement has the necessary resources…We do not want someone in jail because they were arrested for a low-level crime like shoplifting to be sitting in jail for months or maybe even years. At the same time, someone who is a wealthy drug dealer, perhaps accused of murder and arrested, can show up with a suitcase full of money and get out of jail.”
Senior Director Eric Kim said all 50 states have enacted budgets as fiscal 2023 gets underway thanks largely to surging revenues. “There are of course outliers, Illinois being one of them as the only state in the BBB category, but for the most part states are pretty well positioned to deal with downturns,” Kim said of Illinois’ lowest-in-the-nation credit rating.
Harvey, Illinois, officials are working to overcome remaining hurdles to conduct a bond exchange offer that would remove its general obligation debt from default status and honor a legal consent agreement with a group of bondholders.
The City Council previously allocated $400,000 to restorative housing. Monday it is scheduled to vote to allocate another $3,450,000 toward that program. That would be enough to take care of the remaining 138 so-called “ancestors” — who themselves lived in the city before 1970. But the money would only be available to distribute to them as revenue from the cannabis tax came in.
As of 2022, 61 years are left on the 75-year parking meter lease now held by the Chicago Parking Meters LLC. A recent city audit stated that the private company had already recouped its entire $1.16 billion investment plus $502.5 million more.
Jim Dey: “There’s a kernel of truth in both candidates’ attacks. But what do they have to do with anything — pension debts, deep-seated corruption, taxes and spending — involving the future of our dysfunctional state? Nothing, and that’s by design. That’s how modern campaigns are run and won, and nothing will change until voters demand a change…”
“The sheriff’s office has got to do better at securing safety,” Iris Martinez told WBEZ. “That’s their job.” Her comments followed a letter from the chief judge, Timothy Evans, to Sheriff Tom Dart, in which Evans also called for additional security after an incident involving an “angry litigant” who was yelling for a judge before kicking in the locked courtroom door.
Sims, 51, a Chicago Democrat who spearheaded the state’s massive criminal justice reform law passed last year and represents portions of the South Side and south suburbs, was contacted by the FBI in early May as the investigation intensified, according to two sources who have knowledge of the investigation but are not authorized to speak about it publicly.
The referendum would ask if Chicago should reopen all the closed mental health clinics that were operated by the public health department, as well as whether the city should support a team of mental health professionals to be dispatched to mental health emergency calls instead of police. Residents in the 6th, 20th and 33rd wards would receive the question, which is nonbinding, on their ballots.
Jamie Cernek, 25, of Rogers Park, said she wants to see local officials “do more to deal with this” and hopes they’re able to find a “long-term solution” to increasing costs. “This is something you notice right away. You have to buy food. If that’s not taken care of then you have a lot of other things to worry about.”
Alice Costas, a teacher at Northside Prep High School, said she had a student who didn’t show up to class until November because he didn’t have a bus route. Costas has “little faith in this year’s plan” as CPS continues to offer “the same false compromises” like monthly stipends,
Hotels’ biggest hurdle now is staffing, as thousands of positions remain open across the state, Illinois Hotel and Lodging Association president and CEO Michael Jacobson noted. Other headwinds facing the industry include inflation, gas prices, persistent staffing shortages and the looming potential for a full-blown recession.
Around 180 of the roughly 850 public school districts in Illinois have signed up for SHIELD testing so far, and given the program’s rolling enrollment, that number is expected to increase during the coming weeks, said Beth Heller, a spokeswoman for SHIELD Illinois. Last year, 258 public school districts signed up for the program, with testing conducted at about 1,700 public and private school buildings; Chicago Public Schools has a separate testing program.
She was caught on camera Saturday having fun.
Most Illinoisans will go to the voting booth this November thinking the race for governor is all that really matters. But three other November 2022 votes matter a lot, too, a couple being arguably more consequential than the governor’s race.
Ted joined Jeff Daly of WZUS Decatur to talk about Amendment 1, a proposal on the November 2022 ballot that would effectively codify Illinois’ extreme labor laws into the constitution.
At least three of the victims are under the age of 18.
“None of the sobering data in ‘The State We’re In 2022: A Look at the Impact of COVID-19 on Education in Illinois,’ is surprising, unfortunately…Students at every level have to be in class, whether in person or virtual, to learn. Because of plummeting enrollment during the pandemic, getting every child back in school is the first barrier to overcome, especially among the youngest students.”
SIGN UP HERE FOR OUR FREE WIREPOINTS DAILY NEWSLETTER