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Already there’s a disagreement between the Republican and Democratic nominees over license plate readers and whether the secretary of state should get involved.
There is internal debate over whether to bring up legislative proposals before the November election — and expose some Downstate Democrats to a vote they would rather avoid — or wait for the fall veto session, which takes place after the election. In Washington, GOP members of the Senate Judiciary Committee pushed back on Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering when she called for an assault weapons ban during a July hearing, called by Senate Judiciary Chair Sen. Dick Durbin in the wake of the slaughter
“Casino revenue probably shouldn’t be considered a savior for state coffers, though, as revenue has been trending downward in recent years. It was over $1.6 billion in FY2012, and declined each year between 2013 and 2021, according to COGFA. That’s part of why you’ve seen casinos make such a push for sports betting in recent years.”
The pandemic didn’t slow the Fulton Market boom. Developers added almost 4 million square feet of office space in the past three years, CoStar found. And corporations such as Aspen Dental, John Deere and Boston Consulting Group, among many others, kept signing lease deals, making Fulton Market the city’s hottest office market.
Police say they’re dealing with an alarming trend of stolen Kia’s and Hyundai cars, adding that social media posts show people how to start the vehicles without a key. Since July 1, about 650 Kia and Hyundai cars have been stolen in Cook County, up 767% since last year.
Awake Illinois founder Shannon Adcock organized the rally she called the “Common Sense Caravan…Kindergartners are going to be learning about gender ideology, cisgender, transgender, they need to be focusing on being with their peers and being kids,” Adcock said.
“It really gives us heartburn of what the tax implications will be for the long term,” Illinois Farm Bureau President Richard Guebert said. “There always, I think, will be a trickle down effect to the farmgate, you might say, and the consumer.”
Kendall County State’s Attorney Eric Weiss said ending cash bail will lead to a lot of no-shows in court. “The General Assembly has dictated only certain crimes that meet certain criteria and of certain severity, are even allowed to be considered to be held,” Weis said. “So you can fail to appear multiple times, as long as your crime doesn’t count, they have to release you.”
While the governor quickly announced he would call a special session after the landmark Supreme Court case Roe vs. Wade was overturned in June, lawmakers have thus far not scheduled any return to the Capitol. Pritzker wasn’t any clearer as to when he expected lawmakers to return to address issues such as abortion rights and gun violence.
Illinois lost over half of its pandemic unemployment funds to fraud, according to a state audit. The U.S. Department of Labor criticized Illinois for failing to report data on fraudulent pandemic unemployment payments, stating future fraud is hard to prevent when past fraud isn’t tracked.
Investments gaining 25% last year plus federal aid didn’t offer much help to city pension systems, which have more debt than 45 states.
Jim Dey: “Both men are exaggerating, (Will County State’s Attorney James) Glasgow by a little, but (Gov. JB) Pritzker by a lot. The problem is that voters, who know little about intricacies of the criminal-justice system, are in no position to judge.”
Today, there are 59 officers assigned to 40 schools, according to the district, compared to 180 officers in June 2020. Chicago Public Schools denied Freedom of Information Act requests for school-level data on officers, disciplinary referrals, support staff, and funding for safety alternatives.
Officers were dispatched around 5:15 a.m. for a report that a 63-year-old had been robbed at gunpoint by two people, who fled in a getaway car driven by a third robber, police said. One man and two boys are in custody awaiting charges.
“It’s no longer just calls for service for things like larceny, public indecency, noise complaints, and fender benders that aren’t being answered. High priority calls aren’t being investigated…It is, at least, a crisis for the city of Chicago. The online journal, Wirepoints investigated and analyzed dispatch call records from the Chicago Police Department. The numbers uncover a backlog of priority calls and longer-than-usual wait times.”
For more than a year, Mayor Lori Lightfoot has not mentioned what she has called the biggest issue facing Chicago’s pension funds: the annual 3% cost-of-living increases built into the city’s pension payments. In 2019 — when interest was near historic lows — Lightfoot called those increases “unsustainable” and faced a firestorm of criticism from organized labor. Lightfoot’s tone was very different this year, calling Chicago’s pension obligations “sacrosanct.”
Crews are almost a year into construction but not much can be seen from the street. But excavation finished in May, walls are starting to be formed and elevator cores were being poured. Expect to see some Obama Center buildings peeking above ground before the end the year.
The report shows that IFT directed more than $4.1 million to its affiliates in 2021, but more than $3.4 million of that went to affiliates in Chicago and its suburbs. Just $18,164 went to affiliates along or south of I-80, and that entire sum went to just one affiliate in the city of Quincy. The Illinois Teachers Federation has seen a drop in its membership since 2017 by 18 percent.
The average farm real estate values for Illinois in 2022 increased $1,000 per acre over last year. That mirrors the rising value of farmland in other Midwest states including Indiana, Iowa, Missouri and Ohio.
By overlaying TIFs onto most of the town, village officials are hoping that they’ll be able to tap into the special taxing funds to pay for much-needed infrastructure repairs that will largely benefit homeowners.
The federal infrastructure package will boost Illinois’ six-year transportation spending by $4 billion, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Friday. The state will spend an overall $24.6 billion under the six-year program for roads and bridges with $3.7 billion in spending during the current fiscal year. About $18.8 billion goes to roads with the remainder spent on bridges. Another $10 billion of additional spending is planned for ports, rail, transit, and airports under the updated six-year multi-modal program with $6.5 billion for transit, $2.5 billion for passenger and freight rail, $817 million for aviation, and $150 million for ports
The lawsuit, filed in February, accuses the schools of taking part in a price-fixing formula that reduced or eliminated financial aid. The suit names 16 schools as defendants.
CPD is facing drastic staffing shortages while violent crime in lakefront neighborhoods increases.
Wirepoints’ Ted Dabrowski joined WXAN radio host Will Stephens to discuss how Chicago leaders, administrators and teachers are failing students horribly by keeping dozens of near-empty schools open across the city. Chicago Public Schools is shrinking in enrollment and yet there is still a school-closing moratorium in place.
Matt Rosenberg joined Lisa Dent on Chicago’s Afternoon News to explain how the constant power struggle between the Chicago Teachers Union and City Hall leadership result in empty, failing schools.
“The sale of this surplus property will generate significant economic opportunities in Chicago’s Lower West Side and McKinley Park communities while also saving the State the cost of annual operating expenses,” a state spokesman said. Selling Damen Silos is part of Pritzker’s initiative to rid the
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