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The Philadelphia-based radio giant, which owns 225 stations, including some Chicago powerhouses, blamed a “perfect storm” of pandemic headwinds, revenue declines and mounting debt from its 2017 megamerger with CBS Radio as driving the need for financial restructuring.
“The placement shortage is at a crisis level,” Charles Golbert, Cook County Public Guardian, said. “It’s really hard to think of a better way to say to a child, ‘you don’t matter’ than forcing that child to live in a hospital emergency room for months and months on end because you don’t have anywhere to place the child.”
Monday, the city moved forward with 95 separate cases filed against multiple bus companies that violated the city’s “rogue bus” ordinance. The attorney for the bus companies said they’re suing the city in federal court, claiming the ordinance violates the U.S. Constitution and state constitution.
Officials are leaning toward paying for the project with money from the taxing district created to fund security improvements in the area, Ald. Brian Hopkins said. That taxing district, known as a special service area or SSA, was approved in December 2021 by the City Council after a series of robberies of high-end stores in the area.
Halbrook said it is time for the legislature to step in as Pritzker has issued his 18th disaster proclamation to deal with the crisis. “That’s why this trip was important to bring attention to this very issue. We have railed on the governor. We think he is missing his emergency powers. We think it ends after 30 days and the General Assembly needs to be called in to work through these issues.”
Gov. JB Pritzker celebrated the decision on social media. “Another attempt to overturn our assault weapons ban has been DENIED!,” Pritzker said on X. “No matter the roadblocks, I’ll never stop fighting against the gun lobby’s dangerous agenda.”
“Those numbers are tragic and reason to be ashamed. Those lost lives are reason to be furious and act. But City Hall and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson don’t seem inclined to do anything. Their actions are destined to make this new year even worse.”
“There’s a damage if you don’t [debate]. There’s a damage if you don’t do well,” Democratic strategist James Carville said. “It’s kind of expected as a presidential candidate.”
In 2020, more than 170,000 businesses were started in Illinois and in 2021 almost 200,000 businesses started up in the state, according to an Illinois government news release. The new business grants are targeted to industries in Illinois “that have experienced particular and prolonged hardship throughout the COVID-19 pandemic,” according to the business grant website.
Whether Burke’s conviction will finally uproot Chicago’s culture of corruption is the “$64,000 question,” Acting U.S. Attorney Morris Pasqual said. “Alderman Burke obviously joins a long list of corrupt City Council (members). We are determined to continue to investigate these cases using any and all lawful tools at our disposal to ferret out that corruption.”
CPD Supt. Larry Snelling said officers responding to a burglary at the Prada store, 30 East Oak, encountered a member of the burglary crew near State and Walton streets shortly after 4 a.m. Other members of the crew who escaped in several vehicles remain at large, Snelling said. (with video)
Macoupin County is Illinois’ 30th largest county by population and the 11th largest in land mass. Burglary on farms and outbuildings, where valuable equipment and copper are stored, is a common crime. What Macoupin County is experiencing under the new system is a burdensome increase in paperwork and court appearances, State’s Attorney Jordan Garrison said. There is also the challenge of keeping track of the accused who are out on bail pretrial.
“After several years chasing electric-vehicle companies with state incentives that he had to sweeten for lack of interest, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker finally got his big ribbon-cutting…Gotion, a manufacturer headquartered in China, is slated to begin production later this year, marking what Pritzker described in Chinese-esque lingo as a ‘leap forward’ for economic development in Illinois.”
Other events include discussions on the Chicago Race Riot of 1919 Commemoration Project, xenophobia, battling antisemitism, and “student-based advocacy” regarding Latin American immigrants. Attendees also can take a Day of Racial Healing “pledge.”
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson joins Rev. Al Sharpton to discuss the migrant crisis in the city and a recent budget allocation for a panel to study reparations. Johnson said of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, “He is attacking democratically run cities, and particularly cities that are being lead by black leaders and leaders of color. This is unconscionable. It is a very raggedy approach and quite frankly it is evil-spirited.”
Chicago Ald. Raymond Lopez described the busses dropping off migrants in Chicago suburbs. “I think that open border Democrats like my mayor and like our president are completely failing in this moment.”
Pritzker has said that the border situation is “untenable.” Yes, it is, and it’s thanks solely to him and his allies. Vesting nearly unlimited emergency authority in him is the ultimate betrayal of legislative responsibility.
The airline has filed plans with the City of Denver indicating potential uses for 113-acres the airline recently purchased near Denver’s airport. United has acknowledged it’s expanding its flight simulator and pilot training base on the site; but the new filing also says, “United is actively investigating programmatic needs to support corporate campus activity accommodating 5,000 employees in future phases of the project.” United employs nearly 5,000 corporate employees in Chicago.
Mary Williams Walsh, managing editor of News Items and former NYT reporter: In eight months, Chicago will host the 2024 Democratic National Convention. To borrow a phrase from the 1968 Democratic National Convention (in Chicago), “the whole world will be watching”. This is what Chicago looks like now.
As of Sunday there are 732 migrants awaiting placement. Eighteen are at Chicago Police Districts. More than 200 are at O’Hare International Airport. And nearly 500 are awaiting placement at the landing zone.
Last weekend, at least 12 people were shot, one fatally, in gun violence across the city, police said.
Johnson’s administration put out a call for applicants last September as a part of the city’s Small Business Storefront Activation Program, an initiative through the Chicago Recovery Plan meant to grow commercial corridors hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic.
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