Day: December 28, 2023

Illinois Department of Children and Family Services struggles to fix decades of systemic issues – WBEZ (Chicago)

DCFS falls below the national average in five of the six categories the department is required to track. The agency lays much of the blame for the shortcomings on its budget, saying it has struggled for years to recover what was lost during the state’s budget impasse. But lawmakers have approved budgets in each of the past five years that have increased DCFS’s funding. The budget approved for this year is nearly double what it was five years ago — from $1.18 billion in fiscal year 2019 to just over $2 billion for fiscal year 2024.

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CPD: At least 20 armed robberies believed to be connected – WGNTV (Chicago)

While in a handful of cases victims were physically unharmed, CPD said in at least seven of the incidents, victims were reportedly hit in the head or face with the butt of a handgun. Three other victims were also shot during armed robberies in the last two days. In one case, investigators said the suspects pointed a gun at a witness to a robbery before chasing that victim down an alley.

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Most arrested Chicagoan under ‘cashless bail’ gets arrested 3 more times in 5 days – CWB Chicago

Juvenal Coronel was arrested five times within the first month of cashless bail’s debut on September 18. He kept getting out. In the end, prosecutors dropped all of the cases except for the battery charges he received for slapping a women’s buttocks. After getting credit for good behavior, Coronel was released earlier this month. He already has three cases pending.

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Odds for more sports betting expansion could fade after rapid growth to 38 states – Chicago Sun-Times

Data suggests Missourians – where sports wagering is still illegal – are interested in sports betting. From mid-June to mid-December, the technology firm GeoComply Solutions processed over 13.5 million location checks from 280,000 devices located in Missouri attempting to access mobile sports betting sites. About 48% were trying to use sportsbooks in Kansas, and 40% in Illinois. They were blocked from doing so. GeoComply also processed 42,000 location checks from 1,900 online sports betting accounts that traveled from Missouri to an Illinois border town in the past six months.

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Chicago mayor pleads for federal help as he sounds alarm on border crisis: ‘Country is now at stake’ – New York Post

“Without real, significant investment from our federal government, it won’t just be the city of Chicago that won’t be able to maintain this mission,” Mayor Brandon Johnson told CNN. “It’s the entire country that is now at stake.” Johnson, 47, explained that he’s asked the Biden administration to set aside $15 billion worth of resources to address the issue. President Biden requested $13.6 billion for border security as part of a $106 billion supplemental aid package he unveiled in October that also included assistance for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan.

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Chicago Mayor’s Hat Trick of Dreadful Policies – RealClear Politics

University of Chicago’s Charles Lipson: “When your city elects a mayor whose main job qualification is ‘organizer for the Chicago Teachers Union,’ you get what you paid for, or rather what the powerful CTU paid for. With Mayor Brandon Johnson, you get a special bonus, an unwelcome one. His proposed policies are unworkable, unaffordable, and deeply unpopular in the city that elected him less than a year ago.”

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Anti-China push in U.S. Midwest a symptom of Biden’s dilemma – South China Morning Post

In the small town of Manteno, Illinois, the opposition to a Gotion plant there has been even fiercer and partisan. Local Republican state representatives have accused the Biden administration, the state leadership of Gov. JB Pritzker and China’s Communist Party of working together to build a plant that they say would cost taxpayers millions. National Counterintelligence and Security Centre director Mike Casey, whose agency coordinates with the U.S. private sector over security threats, said companies should think twice before installing Chinese batteries.

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In ‘non-sanctuary’ Grundy County, signs along I-55 warned migrant buses to keep driving – Chicago Tribune/MSN

Rush hour traffic is seen on I-55 at Western Avenue on July 19, 2023.The two digital signs, placed near two northbound exits along Interstate 55 — one by Dwight and the other by Gardner — read: “NO MIGRANT BUSES THIS EXIT.” They went up Saturday in response to reports of buses dropping migrants in other communities surrounding Chicago, said Grundy County Sheriff Ken Briley. The county’s emergency migrant plan came on the heels of a

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