-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
Inspector General Deborah Witzburg’s final quarterly report for 2023 includes at least two cases that underscore the longstanding belief that nobody is minding the store.
Proponents of homeowners’ rights should support a ban on home-equity theft—a practice whereby the government takes the property of someone who has fallen behind on his taxes and sells the property to cover the debt, pocketing the surplus proceeds. Nineteen states still allow home-equity theft, despite the Supreme Court’s ruling that this violates the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment.
The harsh cold has forced the city of Chicago to temporarily shut down the migrant intake center in the South Loop. “Looking for direction, but also wanting to find ways in which we can better coordinate as an entire region on how to deal with this migrant crisis, which is obviously an international crisis that requires federal intervention,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said.
At a charging station in Evergreen Park, Teslas were lined up early Monday morning. Some of the Teslas’ batteries had died – leaving the cars sitting askew and immobile in the parking lot. Drivers said some of the charging stations weren’t working – and those that were working took a lot longer than usual to charge.
This development follows a letter sent by Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker to Texas Governor Greg Abbott, urging a halt to drop-offs over the weekend due to the winter storm. In response, Abbott informed the governor that Texas will continue sending migrants until the president secures the border.
Illinois taxes wine at $1.39 per gallon. At the local level, Cook County adds another $0.24 per gallon if it’s up to 14% alcohol by volume and Chicago adds another $0.36. The other two biggest metropolitan areas in the country, New York City and Los Angeles, both tax wine at a fraction of Illinois rates: $0.30 for NYC and $0.20 per gallon for LA.
The people of Chicago want to know, will you raise a tax, whether it be a property tax or implement something else to help pay for this?,” reporter Sabrina Franza continued to press for an answer. Mayor Brandon Johnson argued nobody has asked him this question, claiming, “I did not raise property taxes,” yet managed to invest in causes from homelessness to mental health in his city.
” Illinois lawmakers have killed that state’s modest choice program, Invest in Kids, which provided scholarships for approximately 41,000 of the poorest students in Illinois…The backlash comes on the heels of a huge winning streak for education choice in the states, as well as growing popular and tri-partisan sentiment that parents should be the ones to decide how to educate their kids. That remains a powerful argument, as does the data that justifies their cause.”
The convicted criminal was on parole for armed robbery, and had been locked up six times between 2007 and 2015.
House Bill 4417 requires every high school to observe an annual “Workplace Readiness Week.” The name sounds like it would help Illinois students prepare for the workforce: perhaps help them know how to apply for a job or prepare for an interview. Instead, it would mandate high schools provide students – every year – with information on issues such as “prohibitions against misclassification of employees as independent contractors,” family leave and – of course – the right to organize a union in the workplace.
City Council members recently approved the $3.2 million plan, which marks the third and final phase of allocating a total of $54.8 million in federal relief money that was sent to the city. The money must be spent before the end of 2026.
Mark Klaisner, executive director of West 40 in West Cook County, said schools only have a few months to find a screening model and train people to administer the annual screenings. The Illinois State Board of Education is currently working through the challenge of exactly how to get a mental health screening process up and running for Illinois’ 2 million school students.
Despite its statewide coverage, PLAWA does not apply to any employer that is already covered on January 1, 2024, by a municipal or county ordinance that requires employers to give any form of paid leave to their employees, including paid sick leave. The Cook County Board of Commissioners voted Dec. 14, 2023, to enact its Paid Leave Ordinance, which took effect Dec. 31, 2023. And the Chicago City Council signed a new paid time off ordinance Nov. 9, 2023, the Chicago Paid Leave and Paid Sick and Safe Leave Ordinance, effective July 1, 2024.
Oopsie. Progressives overlooked the cost of new transmission lines when they spent hundreds of billions of dollars to switch electricity production to wind and solar. Grab your wallet. They’re now pushing a costly fix.
Wirepoints’ Ted Dabrowski joined the Blessed News Network’s “Inside the Square,” sponsored by Freedom Square, for an in-depth discussion about Gov. Pritzker’s multiple executive orders regarding the migrant crisis, why CPS’ plan to eliminate selective-enrollment schools will only damage student outcomes, and how Illinois’ population losses will result in a loss of political influence in D.C., and more.
Transcript of interview is here.
Mayor Johnson and his supporters believe revenue from the transfer tax hike will help fund affordable housing and anti-homelessness measures in Chicago. Conversely, the real estate community fears that the policy would burden a commercial real estate industry that’s already grappling with various challenges, such as high interest rates, record-high office vacancies and subdued sales.
Last weekend, at least eight people were shot, two fatally, in gun violence across Chicago, police said.
SIGN UP HERE FOR OUR FREE WIREPOINTS DAILY NEWSLETTER