The state’s $4 million is expected to cover meal costs for only the end of the month. November was covered by $2 million from the Greater Chicago Food Depository. The state has already provided $10.5 million in funding for food for new arrivals since they began to show up in the Windy City, bringing the total now to $12.5 million just for food.
“When you take a group of people that have paid no taxes, can’t vote and you put them in front of the voters? We’re gonna show you how we feel about the Democratic National Convention. If you think you’re gonna have a peaceful Democratic National Convention while our people are starving, stay tuned!” Ald. Ray Lopez said.
Statewide casino revenue was up $1.3 million to $130.4 million for the month. The Chicago casino ranked fourth in revenue and second in admissions in November among the state’s 15 casinos, according to Gaming Board data. Rivers Casino Des Plaines led the way with $43.5 million in adjusted gross receipts and 249,000 admissions.
It reads, in part, “…We understand that the City selected this site and holds the lease and is therefore frustrated it cannot move forward. The State shares that frustration. But while the City might be comfortable placing asylum seekers on a site where toxins are present without a full understanding of whether it is safe, the State is not. This site will not move forward as a shelter with State involvement.”
In Wednesday’s filing arguing a motion for an emergency injunction pending review be denied, the state said that among other things the plaintiffs have not shown circumstances warranting such action. “Indeed, their conduct suggests otherwise: applicants waited nearly three weeks after the Seventh Circuit issued its decision to seek an injunction from that court. The balance of equities and public interest also favor denying the application.”
U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn has publicly called out U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin for blocking her request to file a subpoena for the flight logs and then lying about any knowledge of the request. The plane was allegedly used to fly underage girls to Epstein’s private Caribbean island.
Days after announcing his resignation from the public-private job growth agency known as World Business Chicago, Michael Fassnacht explained, “We cannot overstate the importance of O’Hare. When I talk with corporations, O’Hare Airport is one of the key reasons why corporations love Chicago, why they stay here, why they expand and relocate. O’Hare Airport is not just an economic engine but also a long-term competitive advantage.”
The 2022 numbers were similar to those reported in census data in 2021. Missouri gained an estimated 165,921 residents and lost 147,737, while Illinois gained 195,177 and lost 341,425.
The U.S. Department of Commerce designated the iFAB Tech Hub in Champaign as one of 31 inaugural “Tech Hubs” nationwide, focusing on increasing domestic biomanufacturing through capacity and equipment as well as training a skilled work force. Illinois has the largest soy and second largest corn production in the U.S., which is key to biomanufacturing, iFAB reported.
John Busch, Chicago-based tech entrepreneur and former fellow at World Business Chicago: First, we must realize as a business and civic community that we are involved in competition. The biggest winners of this trend are not stakeholder groups in Chicago, but the other cities vying for our momentum in Indianapolis, Columbus, Nashville, Austin and Miami. Second, all the city’s stakeholder groups exist within the same ecosystem.
The American Tort Reform Association moved Cook County up the rankings this year from No. 5 to No. 2 on the threat posed to employers, businesses and Illinois residents from the state’s encouragement of “no injury” lawsuits. The report said this trend is seen most clearly through class action lawsuits flooding courts in Cook County and elsewhere in Illinois under the state’s Biometric Information Privacy Act.
“Among the homeless, more than 20,000 are our students… While the CTU has proudly bargained to win supports for these students, broader efforts are necessary to meet their needs. That’s why we joined the coalition behind the Bring Chicago Home campaign.”
“Here’s a thought: Violent crimes are surging in Chicago and sending businesses packing, so let’s cut the number of cops on the street. That’s some brilliant, progressive thinking, right?”
The Chicago Housing Authority is formally an independent government body with its own board responsible for providing oversight. But the agency has been under fire in recent years for its slow pace of housing construction — and deals to sell off parcels of land — while homelessness increases. It was recently reported that nearly 500 of the CHA’s scattered-site properties are empty while more than 200,000 people are on the agency’s waiting lists for housing.
“What we have seen in Brighton Park, however, does not show members of your administration as being either serious, deliberative or collaborative in addressing this issue. Taxpayer funds are now wasted after a failed attempt to build on highly cancerous soil, without permits, without true community engagement, without a plan that is respectful to those whom so many performatively articulate sanctuary for in our city,” reads the letter from Ald. Anthony Beale, Ald. Raymond Lopez and Ald. Anthony Napolitano to Mayor Brandon Johnson.
While trying to assist a local family with retrieving cremated remains in March, Morgan County Coroner Marcy Patterson found an unrefrigerated corpse in the embalming room of Heinz Funeral Home. She filed a complaint with the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, and then in June followed up on her complaint after receiving a call from another family. It wasn’t until Oct. 5 – days after another local coroner went public with what he found at the funeral home – that the funeral director’s license was revoked.
According to manager Roderick Sawyer, the Downtown Hyde Park tax levy collected more than $295,741 in 2021; these funds were spent last year. In the past, SSA 61 has worked on improving auto and bike transit accessibility, small business advertising, facade improvements, and other beautification initiatives. There are currently 57 local commercial tax districts in Chicago.
Jim Dey: “There is much that divides the two — (Mayor Brandon) Johnson is a genuine radical, while (Gov. JB) Pritzker, although uber liberal, is an ambitious politician who wants to move up to the Oval Office. But both are threatened by an immediate, vexing problem partially of their own making. Unable to resist touting the city and state as a ‘sanctuary’ for illegal immigrants crashing the Southern border, they now find themselves having to put up because they wouldn’t shut up.”
Former University of Illinois at Chicago political science professor Dick Simpson said, “The city needs more money. The state has less to give. So there’s tension.”
Community activist Kim Tee blasted Mayor Brandon Johnson. “He is not doing the right thing for the taxpayers. Wasteful spending. He did this on his own. Now the taxpayer has to suffer the consequence,” said Tee.
Next stop is the courthouse for opponents of the controversial electric vehicle battery plant planned for Manteno, Illinois by Gotion, a Chinese company. Opposition remains fierce and determined, headed by NoGotion-Illinois, which has been raising money for its lawsuit and other work.
Ted joined Dan and Amy to talk about how government unions are essentially the ones in charge of Illinois, why residents are trapped in an unfair two-class system, the latest details on the Gotion controversy, how Mayor Johnson has proven he can’t manage Chicago, and more.
“There is no way that could possibly pass legal muster if someone sued,” legal expert David Bernstein said of Evanston Township High School’s two programs to offer separate Algebra 2, pre-calculus, Advanced Placement Calculus and English seminars for Black and Latino students.
The unfunded pension liability across Illinois’s five retirement systems rose 1.8% to $142.3 billion in the fiscal year that ended in June, based on the market value of their assets, according to a report from the Illinois Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability.
“While he’s (Mayor Brandon Johnson) said the right things at times in terms of wanting a relationship with business that works for both the city and the private sector, his actions have spoken far more loudly. Still, the opportunity to select new leaders at World Business Chicago is another chance for him to reset and demonstrate he understands how critical economic growth is to the city’s health, as well as his agenda. A stalled local economy means less in tax and fee revenue to pay for the progressive initiatives on which the mayor campaigned.”
The Illinois Supreme Court overturned years of lower court precedent and established that “property damage” in the context of construction defect or faulty workmanship claims exists regardless of the scope of the project so long as there is a “physical injury to tangible property, including all resulting loss of use of that property.”
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