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According to the latest national statistics, Illinois has more than 19,000 individuals with disabilities waiting for care, even as it spends $550 million this year on covering illegal migrants.
Gotion is set to receive $7.5 billion in cash-equivalent federal tax credits under the IRA plus $536 million from the State of Illinois.
Lawmakers were supposed to divide the city into electoral districts by July 1, 2023, but gave themselves an extension in May to get the maps drawn by April 1, 2024. “By Senate standards, we are years ahead of schedule by being months ahead of schedule,” said Senate President Don Harmon, before the chamber voted 38-12 to approve a plan to have all 20 districts vote right away, leaving only the board president up for mayoral appointment.
“In recent years, as part of our mission to serve unhoused Chicagoans, the City has sought and utilized appropriate funding to expand shelter during the winter months. The City will temporarily use the Selina Hotel as shelter for the same purpose – shelter for the unhoused – this winter. The property will not be used to house asylum seekers,” a statement from Johnson’s office said. Funding for the shelter originates from an emergency and transitional housing grant.
Arwady, who led the city’s efforts to fight COVID-19 during the pandemic under former Mayor Lori Lightfoot, will lead the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control beginning in 2024.
“People don’t think about this, but child care is really the foundation for many in our workforce – those that have families,” said Kayla Edwards, of Express Employment Professionals. “Without it, parents aren’t able to go to work. And there are other factors that are occurring that are (contributing) to an already super-short labor supply.”
The fiscal year 2024 State of Illinois budget includes $10 million for free test prep classes for the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT), the Law School Admission Test (LSAT), the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), and the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT). The program also offers Free Professional Licensure Preparation for Nursing, Teaching, Real Estate, and Securities Professional Exams.
About 100 workers were on strike in Milwaukee and it is still unclear how many of them will be out of a job, able to retire early, or able to transfer to the Belvidere production plant.
President Joe Biden’s visit to Illinois on Thursday was met with heated demonstrations in Chicago as protesters voiced their concerns over the situation in Gaza. President Biden’s primary purpose for visiting Illinois was to celebrate the end of the autoworkers’ strike. During his visit to Belvidere, the President met with union leadership and workers, as Stellantis agreed to reopen its auto assembly plant.
Although the Chicago City Council has approved a plan to purchase the now-vacant Jewel-Osco and surrounding parking lot near 115th and Halsted streets for $1, city workers must now prepare the 6.5-acre site by removing debris, eliminating rodents and confirming that the city can provide electricity and water to the site, said Cristina Pacione Zayas, Mayor Brandon Johnson’s first deputy chief of staff.
The Michigan Gotion project is nearly identical to its project planned for Manteno Illinois. The new Michigan township government wasted no time changing the locks to keep out the recalled supporters of the project.
“I got my property tax bill the other day too, and oh my goodness, we are certainly paying a lot to live in this community,” Ald. Jonathan Nieuwsma said. Among the increased spending are raises for a variety of city workers who will see raises of between 11 and 18 percent in the new year, according to the proposed budget.
Across the state, jail populations are down, as non-violent and first time offenders are mostly being released from jail until their court date. About 240 inmates are behind bars in Macon County, which is roughly 60 fewer than the jail typically sees.
Spaceports are critical for space exploration and commercial spaceflight activities. They could be used for launching rockets, landing spacecraft, satellite deployment, research, and tourism.
Credit card statements show that village officials spent more than $24,000 at restaurants during a recent 12-month span. Other questionable expenditures include the streaming service Hulu and hotel rooms in Elk Grove Village and Matteson, located less than 20 miles from Dolton. “We still have areas that need trees cut, streets paved, alleys paved [and] sidewalks fixed,” said Dolton Trustee Tammie Brown. “It’s a lot that’s going on.”
The Illinois Chamber of Commerce’s Clark Kaericher testified, “HB 2547 would hinder the growth of the logistics industry in Illinois.”
Despite Gov. JB Pritzker suspending enrollees over the age of 42 at the beginning of the fiscal year to shore up costs, the program is projected to cost $831.6 million, about $280 million more than what is budgeted. The number of enrollees over the age of 42 total more than 69,000.
At the Village Board meeting, officials said it was consistent for the village to increase its levy with the rate of inflation.
The latest monthly cash count announced Wednesday by regulators at the Illinois Gaming Board put the River North betting house near the top of the state’s roster of 15 casinos — but well behind city tax revenue projections for Chicago’s desperately underfunded police and firefighter pensions.
The factory promises up to 2,600 jobs, but faces staunch opposition over safety concerns and Gotion’s alleged links to the Chinese Communist Party. The growing resistance now includes legal challenges, reflecting the community’s alarm
During budget hearings, Ald. Walter Burnett peppered Budget Director Annette Guzman about the mayor’s plan to create a 13-person Office of New Arrivals to help migrants as part of the Department of Family and Support Services with a total budget of $1.2 million. Burnett told Guzman he wanted “to see the same thing for returning residents,” referring to those who move back to Chicago after being incarcerated.
Criticizing Tlaib’s censure, U.S. Congressman Jesus “Chuy” Garcia posted on X: “Congressional censures are exceedingly rare – especially for political speech. The censure of [Tlaib] repeats a pattern of silencing and endangering women of color in Congress who are standing up for our shared humanity.”
Ted joined Perry Small of WVON for an in-depth discussion on Illinois’ 2023 School Report Card results. They talked about the 1.2 million public school children who can’t read at grade level, why we should continue to support school choice for low-income students, why Illinois per student spending has jumped to nearly $24K, and more.
“The most outrageous thing about it is the local community. I’ve been contacted by two pastors in the Black community who are up in arms, saying the Black community has been left behind,” said Former acting ICE Director Tom Homan. “The community is outraged and they should be,” he said, adding that sanctuary policies make the community less safe.
A recall election in Green Charter Township threw out five local Republican officials who had backed tax breaks for a multibillion-dollar battery parts plant tied to a Chinese company — never mind the project’s promises of more than 2,000 jobs for the economically depressed region. The Michigan project by Gotion is nearly identical to one proposed for Manteno, Illinois, about which Gov. JB Pritzker refuses to
“Chicago’s incompetent handling of the worsening migrant crisis puts the burden on Pritzker to provide the leadership needed to ensure a balanced approach to migration that places the interests of Illinois residents first…With the executive authority the governor amply demonstrated during COVID-19, there is no impediment to decisive leadership.”
“These are the first dollars spent in this city to begin the process of studying both restoration and reparations,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said. “When residents who have experienced neglect and disinvestment for generations speak out of their pain and their trauma, this administration and the Black Caucus we hear you.”
“We are concerned with the failure to include strong ethical safeguards in the legislation the House approved,” Senate President Don Harmon said in a statement released after the Senate adjourned.
“(I)t’s not about public school funding. It’s really about teachers unions seeing private schools as competition in a race the unions are losing…(O)nly 35% of third through eighth graders can read at grade level, 27% can do math. For high school juniors, 32% were proficient at reading on the SAT, 27% could do math.”
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