-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
According to the latest Illinois COVID-19 Executive order, “All individuals, including those who are fully vaccinated, are recommended to wear a face covering consistent with CDC guidance.” The wording of the order has been changed from only encouraging individuals not fully vaccinated to all individuals, and will remain in effect through Nov. 12.
“We may need to provide assistance in the range of $100,000 to $120,000 per unit. And we envision a range of uses. It could be a group of income-restricted artists. It could be a group of folks that are looking to build a limited equity cooperative community. And it could be a group of folks that really struggle with housing types that involve hallways and elevators and other communal spaces and really would do better with their own front door,” Housing Commissioner Marisa Novara said.
Tazewell County Sheriff Jeff Lower minced no words, saying,””You have our leaders in Chicago saying that we are giving all the control to the judges, and that’s a blatant lie. If you look at the statute, this is a total game changer of how we do our jobs…Cook County is the problem, but these laws are being pushed to the rest of us who didn’t have the same problems of Cook County.”
Madison County Treasurer Chris Slusser said Circuit Clerk Thomas McRae is concerned the SAFE-T Act may become burdensome in his office, costing $300,000 to $500,000 annually in lost revenue. He cited a dramatic rise in staffing requirements, including weekend work for judges, circuit clerks, bailiffs, prosecutors, public defenders and court staff. His office estimates the law will generate between $1 million to $2 million every year in personnel costs.
Illinois drivers paid more than $2.5 billion in motor fuel taxes last fiscal year. “Our road fund is in great shape,” state Rep. Dan Caulkins said.
Total public safety appropriations are proposed to increase by $35.0 million between the FY2022 adopted budget and the FY2023 proposal.
Assistant state’s attorneys have begun reviewing cases of people held pretrial to determine whether they will ask that they remain detained, Foxx said. Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart said his office has also gone through a similar review of current detainees.
“When you centralize power in one person’s hand and take it out of the hands of the entire elected General Assembly [it] gives an individual like Mike Madigan the chance to be able to hold things hostage until he gets the kinds of payments or payoffs for himself or his associates that he’s looking for,” state Rep. Tom Demmer said.
Rep. Norine Hammond is most concerned with the state budget now that all ARPA funding has been used. “Those dollars have been spent and many programs have been expanded or created. My biggest concern as we move forward is how do we deal with the budget holes that are going to be there without those dollars available.”
Looking at 109 city and county budgets nationwide, about 90% of these local governments set aside either more or about the same amount of money for law enforcement agencies in the past three years. Locally, in Joliet, police funding increased by 6.1%. In Elgin, police funding is up 9.9%. In Chicago, there’s been a 14.7% increase. Naperville saw a 15.7% increase in police funding between 2019 and 2022.
Mayor Keith Pekau indicated Orland Park would, to the extent possible, flout some of rules attached to the SAFE-T Act and brace itself for anticipated litigation. “We’re going to push the envelope on this because our job is to keep you safe. If we’re the test cases for lawsuits, we’ll be the test cases for lawsuits.”
U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky says reducing military spending can help ease inflation. “The Pentagon budget is bloated and wasteful.”
U.S. District Judge Nancy Maldonado, appointed this summer to the court by President Joe Biden and ready to hear dozens of cases distributed to her from other federal judges, as part of her initial docket of cases, recused herself from hearing Jack Garcia’s case against Jenny Thornley because Maldonado had previously served as a member on the State Police Merit Board from 2019-2022. She had been appointed to that position by Gov. JB Pritzker.
Said state Rep. Ryan Spain in a prepared statement. “Even as investigations, indictments, and arrests ravage the capitol, Democrats’ only solution was so terrible it caused the Legislative Inspector General to resign.”
Illinois ranked 12th in the education category, but researchers also put the state in 46th place for tax fairness.
Ald. Anthony Napolitano agreed consolidation “could kind of be seen as a suppression of voting” because the board is “taking a larger amount of people and putting ’em in a smaller number of voting sites,” he said. “I just think that we’re gonna be cramming a lot of people [who] are gonna show up on Election Day and say, ‘There’s too many people. I’m not gonna vote.'”
“The burning of fossil fuels is no longer a viable option,” said Angela Tovar, the city’s chief sustainability officer. The city is already looking at “decarbonizing” some city libraries, for instance, she said.
The utility arranged for an ally of Madigan’s, former state Rep. Eddie Acevedo, to receive $22,500 as key legislation moved through Springfield. AT&T Illinois “knew that Madigan’s support was essential to their legislative success,” as his office had previously stopped key legislation from moving forward.
Labeling J.B. Pritzker a failed governor who has let prosperity and public safety slip away on his watch, GOP nominee Darren Bailey Wednesday offered a mix of tax and spending cuts and tough law-and-order moves that he said would get Illinois back on track.
Truth in politics today is easy to hide. The number of crises and governmental failures in America and Illinois are overwhelming — far beyond what most voters can be expected to see. In Illinois, that blindness is worsened by a shrinking media unwilling to question. Gov. JB Pritzker has exploited those circumstances relentlessly and successfully. The record must be corrected.
“Woke” concepts like critical race theory, DEI and universal basic income are crushing values like grit, merit and competence that originally made Chicago the great city it is. As those values have declined, so too has the city. So it was refreshing to see those traditional values thrive, if only for a day, during the 44th running of the Chicago Marathon.
Matt Rosenberg was at a Breakthrough Ideas Town Hall in Glen Ellyn last night discussing the dangers of the SAFE-T Act along with Will County Judge Dave Carlson, State’s Attorney Bob Berlin, DuPage County Sheriff Jim Mendrick and Pastor Corey Brooks.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s extraordinary call last month that two fellow Democrats resign from the Illinois Senate — one for alleged bribery and the other over accusations he acted inappropriately toward women — underscores two major questions that for years have plagued Springfield. First, will corruption in Illinois politics ever reach an end point? And second, will the culture in the state’s capital that five years ago triggered a series of #MeToo scandals ever be fully addressed?
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