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In a memo, Chief Judge Timothy Evans does not indicate precisely when or if the masking order might be relaxed or lifted. However, Judge Evans said Rachel Rubin, the CCDPH’s senior medical officer, “indicates that relaxing the policy might be warranted following and (sic) anticipated surge in COVID infections over the winter.”
When DCFS Director Marc Smith faced Illinois lawmakers in August, he assured them the state’s child welfare agency was “one of the best child welfare systems in the country.” Republican lawmaker Chapin Rose disagreed, calling Smith’s assessment “delusional.” So far this year, Smith has been found in contempt of court 12 times by a Cook County judge for failing to properly place youth in state care.
“Whatever happened to the presumption of innocence? Gov. Pritzker should get off his high horse and practice what he preaches,” former Gov. Rod Blagojevich said in a statement. “Maybe Gov. Pritzker should resign too. After all, what do you call the $10 million he gave to indicted House Speaker Mike Madigan in order to get Madigan to pass his legislation? Or what about Gov. Pritzker’s scam to use toilets as a way to avoid paying the more than $300,000 in property taxes he owed?”
Local governments in Illinois rely on the property tax to fund everything from debt to pensions to day-to-day expenses. In tax year 2020 total property tax extensions for all taxing districts in Illinois were $33.8 billion, the majority of which—$20.8 billion or 61.5%—was for school districts.
“If our mayors, including this one, can’t keep Black families from leaving by supporting and funding Black communities and educating Black children, then they have failed Black people,” Chicago Teachers Union President Stacey Davis Gates said.
“One cause that seems to be especially important to the Pritzkers is influencing the rapid transition of society away from a binary understanding of human reproductive sex to an understanding based on self-perception of one’s place along a spectrum, or perhaps not on that spectrum at all.”
The county tax only raised about $3.6 million a year – or about 0.045% of the county’s $8 billion budget – and it only applied to residents of unincorporated Cook County.
State Rep. Deanne Mazzochi says the SAFE-T Act will actually do more harm than good in getting people into drug treatment programs because in January, those offenders will be released from jail before they can enter a program.
“It’s a lot around implementation, there’s just no real clarity around that and all parties on both sides are able to agree to that point,” lobbyist Art Turner told the Springfield City Council. “I believe that that will be one of the top priorities for the veto session in November or scheduled early December. Then, we’re going to have to work really fast to bring our local clerks and courts and counties up to speed on the adjustments that I anticipate to be made behind it.”
The grant will be used to help IDES better understand and address equity gaps within the state’s unemployment insurance system.
Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas’s plan is to start unwinding the harm caused to minority communities, particularly on the South and West sides, caused by redlining and other forms of housing discrimination like scant mortgage lending and below-value mortgage appraisals. She wants to replace the Scavenger Sale with a county trustee program.
Former state senators Mike Noland and James Clayborne waited too long until after they voted to reject raises or left legislative office to file their suit, the court held.
The budget for all three universities in the system is $7.65 billion, a 6.5% increase from last year’s $7.18 billion budget. This is the second consecutive year of increased financial support for the university system.
It’s 764 pages and according to a lawsuit brought by McHenry County State’s Attorney Patrick Kenneally the law creates, changes or touches, 40 different state statutes. Each of the complaints have variations but are similar in scope.
“The shooting had absolutely nothing to do with this baseball game,” said Gwen Baxter, a trauma response specialist with Acclivus. “Nobody at the game, no players, no spectators, no cooks, the people that were providing food, nobody had anything to do with that unfortunate incident. This has been a good thing that’s going on, bringing people together, bringing communities together.”
State Sen. Emil Jones III has been charged with bribery and lying to federal agents. State Sen. Michael Hastings has been accused of abusing his wife and mistreating state employees. Gov. JB Pritzker said, “In the best interests of their constituents, these men must resign from their offices. Resigning only their leadership roles falls short of what the public should expect.”
Mayor Lori Lightfoot offered the CHA land to the Chicago Fire late last year, and the CHA board signed off on the plan this spring. It is one of a series of deals the CHA has made to sell, lease or give away its land for nonhousing uses, including Target stores, a private tennis facility and a school running track and turf field. The Fire are owned by Joe Mansueto, founder of the investment research firm Morningstar.
“Amping up her fight with the Biden administration, Mayor Lori Lightfoot is trying to discredit a federal finding that the city has been violating the civil rights of its residents through policies that amount to environmental racism. Millions of dollars a year in federal funding that helps provide a lifeline for vulnerable Chicagoans — money that comes from the Department of Housing and Urban Development — could dry up if Lightfoot doesn’t back down.”
“Five thousand dollars. That may seem like a lot of money — to a junior high school student who baby-sits or mows neighborhood lawns for extra cash. For an Illinois legislator, $5,000 should be no big deal…No wonder most Americans don’t trust politicians. Less than half the adults in the United States — 44% — say they have a great deal or a fair amount of confidence in people who hold or are running for public office, according to a 2021 Gallup poll.”
The new permit would allow restaurants and bars to “expand operations into the street” while also setting up tables in curb lanes “where the adjacent sidewalk is not wide enough to accommodate a sidewalk café.” Full street closures would continue to be allowed for groups of “three or more” businesses.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot last week said that she met with officials at the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies and “made it very clear” that they need a plan to help. “We need federal support, resources, communication and collaboration,” she said. “And that has to come in short order.”
President Biden said the pandemic is essentially over, but Governor Pritzker issued his 34th Covid Disaster Proclamation. President of Wirepoints and the Steve Cochran Show talk about why Pritzker issued the proclamation, what the Federal Government is going to do about this, and if the Governor’s Office has too much power.
Ted was on with Dan and Amy to talk about the hypocrisy of Gov. Pritzker and Mayor Lightfoot regarding the illegal immigrants from Texas, Pritzker’s continued use of Covid emergency orders despite President Biden’s declaration, Illinois’ collapsing energy independence, the dangers of the SAFE-T Act and more.
The mayor’s signature economic development initiative has promised unprecedented public funds for blighted corridors. But without a project under construction after three years, it has yet to prove it’s the cure for disinvestment.
Chicago has lost nearly 83,000 public school students over the past decade, including about a 3% decline in each of the past seven years. Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates said the decline in enrollment, particularly through the exodus of Black families, comes down to city policies that don’t invest in housing, public transportation and safety in Black communities.
More than 10,000 people have signed an online petition, started by state Sen. Don DeWitte, demanding the repeal of the SAFE-T Act and urging legislators to “write criminal justice reforms that do not jeopardize public safety.” Said DeWitte, “People have legitimate concerns, and we need to pump the brakes on implementation so the long list of unintended consequences tied to the act can be addressed.”
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The mayor also referenced an open letter by Michael Fassnacht, her handpicked head of World Business Chicago, that she said “lays out in exactly detail all the good news, economic news, about what’s happening in our city, so I’m going to focus on those things and not the comments of CEO of McDonald’s.”
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