Chicago ties with Sacramento, California, for seventh place. This is the fifth consecutive year that Los Angeles has topped out the list after overtaking New York City in 2018.
Among other interesting facts, Chicago police are making just 30% of the number of vehicle stops than before, and vehicle stops were the primary way guns were confiscated.
As the new head of the Planning Department, Ciere Boatright will not only shape the future of former Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s $2.2 billion Invest South/West initiative but also face immediate pressure to breathe new life into Chicago’s Financial District, which has been permanently altered by the shift to remote work triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.
A spokesman for Mayor Brandon Johnson explained that the “Johnson administration has been working closely with Favorite to control costs, which encourages Favorite to shift to a regional rather than a national staff recruitment model.” The emailed statement went on to state that starting in October “the city will see another significant reduction in staffing rates…” and that the company will “focus on hiring local candidates almost exclusively” going forward.
State Sen. Sara Feigenholtz filed Senate Bill 40. She said it puts Illinois on a path to having one million EVs on Illinois roads by 2030. The bill was signed into law by Gov. JB Pritzker in June.
Resident Yuan Mo made clear he has no doubt about where he thinks things are headed. “When I first came here about 20 years ago, I could see that it was a rundown neighborhood, but we built up,” he said. “It’s safe, and much more family, and now you put a tent here. They say it’s temporary. It’s not going to be temporary because the migrants keep coming. Where are they going to put them? They already have a site here. It’s convenient.”
House Bill 4148 passed 74-35 and now goes to the Senate, where leaders have not yet revealed whether they plan to take it up during lawmakers’ two-week fall session. The vote was the only significant action the House took this week before leaving Springfield and canceling Thursday’s session.
But state Rep. Larry Walsh said he’s not giving up his push to grant utilities a right of first refusal. Come spring, he said he hopes to persuade ratepayers, lawmakers and the public about what he sees as the benefits of such a policy.
Ted Dabrowski, President of Wirepoints, said it’s a shame the unions across the state are using public infrastructure to push against the small scholarship program. “They’re using their muscle and power to block poor kids from access to good schools,” said Dabrowski. “We are defending a failed system that has no plans to make the kids literate.”
“Grocery store chains don’t have some anti-Chicago bias. If the people in charge of the city made those neighborhoods safe and economical places to do business, groceries would be as plentiful as they are anywhere else in America. Reducing Chicago’s high crime rate would surely help, though that’s admittedly a long-term project. But there is something city officials could do almost overnight: Reduce Chicago’s commercial property tax rates, which are some of the highest in the country, or the city’s high sales taxes that incentivize consumers (the ones who can, anyway) to do their shopping outside the city.”
Besides the unanswered 911 calls, fewer officers is a major factor in why there’s been an over 50% drop in annual arrests since 2019. Arrests were made in only 57% of the murders in 2022, down from 72% in 2019.
Rather than providing clarity or valuable insights into Illinois’ migration woes, the Illinois Economic Policy Institute’s reporting ignores much of the critical hard data on population and migration that is available from the IRS.
Jim Dey: “Pritzker’s ever-shifting stance is a surprising display of indifference toward the more than 9,500 students from low-income families benefiting from the (Invest in Kids scholarship) program. Another 26,000 students are on the waiting list.”
Tracey Scott, CEO of the Chicago Housing Authority: “CHA is the nation’s third-largest public housing authority, currently serving more than 63,000 households. In fact, 1 in every 20 Chicagoans live in a CHA-subsidized home. About 98% of CHA’s budget comes from federal funding through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development…CHA’s capital needs over the next five years exceed $1 billion.”
Last night’s robberies followed the same script that has played out hundreds and hundreds of times this year: two or three masked men dressed in dark clothing jumped out of a stolen car to rob people at gunpoint on the street. The crew used a black Jeep Cherokee stolen earlier in the day.
“We understand the migrant crisis is just that: a crisis. But that’s no excuse for failing Communication 101. Especially for a mayor who repeatedly frames himself as a ‘collaborator.'”
“I think there are many downstate communities that could benefit, whether it’s the kind of folks who have professional backgrounds and professional capacities that could serve and help, or whether it’s simply an enhancement in the diversity in a community and the culture of a community,” said Ed Yohnka, of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Illinois.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker called critics of his decision to provide taxpayer financing to Gotion, Inc., a Chinese electric vehicle battery maker with CCP ties, as “xenophobes” and “MAGA Republicans.” That’s ironic given that some of the most urgent warnings about China on spying, intelligence and supply chain risks come from the top of his very own Democratic party.
The reaction in Joliet reflects the opposition that Chicago and suburban officials have faced when trying to accommodate some 19,000 migrants who’ve been sent on buses to Chicago from the Mexican border. “We see big cities dealing with problems resulting from busing foreign nationals in from our southern border, and we oppose establishing welcome centers like this in our township,” Joliet resident Lee Johnson told the town board, to loud applause.
Julie Gamez, 60, a 16-year resident of Brighton Park, asked for the city to focus on public safety before taking on the migrant crisis.
In addition to allowing the legislative staff to unionize, the bill would apply to other employees serving the Illinois General Assembly such as janitors and doorkeepers. Several workers would still not retain the ability to collectively bargain including lawmakers, the office of the Legislative Inspector General, those in managerial roles, and short-term employees.
“I’ve had a number of conversations with people who live in my district from South Shore to Woodlawn who want to be a part of the solution, who want to be a part of this generational shift of a new elected school board,” state Rep. Kam Buckner said. “However, they don’t know how they’re going to do it and work the night shift.”
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