-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
The Regional Transportation Authority in Chicago is considering relief from a state requirement that transit agencies collect at least 50 percent of their revenue from fares, according to a report. That’s part of a package of strategies the authority is pursuing as part of a recently adopted plan called “Transit Is the Answer.”
Joe Santiago, a Belvidere small business owner, pointed more toward the high taxes in Illinois, the influence of unions, and the lack of overall business competitiveness in the state, though he added that Stellantis’ moves over the last year have been “haphazard, to say the least…I hear more people who want to move out of state than I see people wanting to come to Illinois to work, which is unfortunate.”
“But we can say this with at least moderate certainty: The media got a whole lot wrong in the early days of COVID-19, often allowing ideological bias, and a specific disdain for Trump, to influence reporting. And a lot of public health professionals jumped on the same zealous train, seduced by talk-show appearances, op-ed column offers and a growing cadre of social media followers, all desperate for information, rather than biased opinion.”
“In recent weeks, CTU members fanned out across the city — on foot and electronically — to make the case to thousands of voters about the importance of investing in schools, housing the unhoused, health care, effective public transportation, LGBTQ+ rights, and environmental protections…. It’s no exaggeration to say
After becoming the first business slapped with a massive jury verdict under Illinois’ biometrics privacy law, BNSF Railway is asking a federal judge to either slash the $238 million payout the jury ordered, or at least give them another chance at trial before a different jury.
State Rep. LaShawn Ford said the group would help license holders who can’t afford to open their doors.
State Rep. Mary Flowers, said DCFS is losing good people because of the complicated hiring process. “Rethink whatever it is that you’re doing here because this reminds me of a clogged sink, and when the stuff backs up, it stinks,” Flowers said.
“The ISA supports efforts to make Illinois and all of its citizens safe, but it also recognizes that those efforts must be within the bounds set by the Constitution. HB 5471 crosses those bounds, and in doing so, demands that sheriffs enforce a law that deprives the law-abiding citizens they serve of their constitutional right to keep and bear arms for lawful purposes, including sport and self-defense,” the filing said. “Because law enforcement should never be compelled to violate the constitutional rights of Illinois citizens, the ISA supports Plaintiffs’ action to enjoin the implementation of HB 5471 and to have
State Rep. Mike Coffey, who owns a restaurant, is not a fan of such a mandate. “In my personal restaurant I have very little Styrofoam, and just because they brought it up I will look to see how I can eliminate it, but I don’t need the government to come in and tell me what to do,” said Coffey.
With the investment, more than 265 jobs will be retained across three plants.
“There has been no civic decision as important as the the choice to keep building after The Great Chicago Fire. This election day is the day Chicago will tell itself and the world whether it wants to keep on fighting and live, or curl up and turn to dust.”
In a short three-page order, Judge Staci Yandle said she saw in the BIPA statute no language limiting liability only to immediate, direct employers. She said prior decisions of other courts make clear, in her opinion, that “any entity that collects such biometric information may incur liability.” In this case, Yandle said that means BIPA liability could extend to franchisors.
The Chicago location is near the Comer Education Campus, which includes a college prep high school, and it will work with the Comer Science & Education Foundation. It hopes to have 100 people employed within a year.
Sources say families are being directed to neighborhood schools that often lack the staff and curriculum to work with non-English-speaking students, and that requests for bilingual staff are being delayed. At one West Side school, some teachers lean on custodians to help translate. “Essentially [CPS] is asking teachers, principals and support staff at schools to bend over backward and do multiple jobs to provide these newcomers with the things they need,” said CTU organizing director Rebecca Martinez.
The situation is a result of several pandemic-related changes to federal law. In Illinois, the number of people on Medicaid jumped from nearly 2.9 million before the pandemic to 3.9 million now, according to the state.
Te Knight-Silas Legacy Act, comes a little over a year after DCFS worker Deidre Silas was stabbed to death last year while on a welfare visit in Thayer. Since Silas’ death, the state has passed laws allowing workers to carry pepper spray and continuing insurance coverage for families of workers who die on duty. This one would make committing aggravated battery against a DCFS worker on duty a felony for people 21 and up.
State Rep. Adam Niemerg has House Bill 1575 to reduce Illinois’ gas tax to 19 cents a gallon. “We have a $50 billion budget that the governor has put forth for this fiscal year and to look at the government inefficiencies, the spending, the out of control spending that’s going on in the state of Illinois, we have enough income coming in,” he said.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced a new Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) anti-crime initiative in February 2020 after a series of disturbing violent crimes on the city’s transit system. But the initiative has failed. Full-year 2022 CTA data shows a 15 percent increase in violent crime versus 2020, even though ridership in 2022 was only half what it was before the pandemic.
Ted joined Scott Slocum of WJOL to discuss Chicago topping the list of homicide leaders among the nation’s biggest cities, that crime in the city is up 55% YTD in 2023, the city’s inability to block and tackle on crime, why that’s the case, the city’s 5 percent arrest rate, and more.
An unnamed source familiar with Cook County Jail said it is the ideal environment for ballot harvesting. “Cameras inside the Jail notoriously don’t work. There aren’t any election observers. If an inmate complains, who would believe them? So, if you wanted to manipulate a ballot, who would know?”
The highest profile Super PAC involved in this aldermanic cycle is Get Stuff Done, which has spent nearly $600,000 supporting 15 candidates and opposing two. The group is chaired by a former adviser to Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Michael Ruemmler, who has previously said the group is focused on electing pragmatic “Obama Democrats” to the City Council who are more focused on solutions-oriented legislating than ideology.
Control of the Chicago City Council is also up for grabs, with 41 of 50 races for alderperson contested. In addition, voters will elect three people to serve on a council in each of Chicago’s 22 police districts to help oversee the Chicago Police Department.
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