“I would expect more and more of this because of pension obligations,” said Sheila Weinberg, founder and CEO of Truth in Accounting. “Municipalities are relying more and more on property taxes to cover losses elsewhere.”
“Ultimately, in 2023, it was not the cost of food that kept the menu prices elevated,” one restaurant owner said. “It was the cost of labor.” Eighty-two percent of Chicago restaurants reported being short at least one position last June, according to a study from TouchBistro. Of that 82%, 40% said they were short on chefs —
The state legislature has created a commission to look at ways to create a new funding formula that would more equitably and sustainably distribute state funds to Illinois’ public universities. “It is staggering the deferred maintenance we have in our universities and colleges and I mean millions and millions of dollars,” state Rep. Dan Swanson said.
City staff decided it was not necessary for Naperville residents to sign up as other state and federal agencies were making lists of shelters for migrants in need of housing,
“It is impossible to imagine the Board deciding whether Candidate Trump is disqualified by Section 3 without the Board engaging in significant and sophisticated constitutional analysis,” wrote hearing officer Clark Erickson, a retired judge from Kankakee County who is a Republican. “All in all, attempting to resolve a constitutional issue within the expedited schedule of an election board hearing is somewhat akin to scheduling a two-minute round between heavyweight boxers in a telephone booth.”
The soldiers are being deployed to the Middle East in support of Operation Spartan Shield.
Of the 2,722 migrants who submitted applications through the city’s partnership with The Resurrection Project, about 1,800 have been approved, and 1,011 have their documents in hand, per data from the nonprofit. That represents a significant increase from Dec. 28, when only 279 received social security cards and 284 received work permits. Still, only about 13% of migrants in the city’s shelters are eligible and have been approved.
The plan, which was put on pause by the governor, was to cut 2.5 million service hours for direct support professional workers in group homes where approximately 10,000 adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities live.
From Sept. 18, when the law took effect, through the end of the year, more than 1,300 pretrial appeals of detention decisions were filed in the state’s five appellate districts, an increase that comes on top of the normal caseload. Since bail reform was implemented, Cook County’s appellate district notched the lowest number of pretrial appeals — 161.
Illinois has awarded a more than $4 billion prison medical care contract to the same company it’s used for three decades, despite multimillion-dollar lawsuits against the firm and statewide complaints alleging substandard care. The offer from Pittsburgh-based Wexford Health Sources also came in $673 million higher than one from VitalCore Health Strategies of Topeka, Kansas – the only two bidders on the state’s contract.
The state’s unique geographical features make it prime real estate for the pipelines, which are meant to be buried underground and used as a storage space for excess carbon emissions. The proposals have faced strong public pushback from farmers, environmentalists and property owners, since the proposals are often tied to extensive attempts to dig up people’s land.
Tenants have 90 days to test for radon. If it comes back positive, the landlord must cover at least half the mitigation costs. The tenant can also end the lease if radon levels exceed IEMA’s safety standard. Tenants can test after 90 days but the law would not automatically allow them to void their lease if the test comes back positive.
Fight2Feed operates out of the industrial kitchen at McCormick Place East, and prepares 1000 hot meals each weekend. For the last 10 years, those meals have been going to underserved Chicagoans, but this winter, the agency has pivoted to include feeding new arrivals.
The poll comes in the wake of a late-December announcement by the Chicago Board of Education that it wants to move away from a system that allows families to choose schools and instead return to a system that prioritizes neighborhood schools. Eighty-two percent of Chicago voters polled said they believe that families in Chicago Public Schools should be able to choose the public school that best meets their student’s needs; It was even higher among parents, 86 percent.
“Sixteen aldermen, including Johnson allies Ald. Daniel La Spata and Byron Sigcho-Lopez and moderate Ald. Matt O’Shea, sent a letter to the mayor Thursday evening asking him to scrap his 60-day shelter limit policy for immigrants entering Chicago. Though conservative aldermen have severely criticized Johnson’s methods to address the issue, this is one of the first times that Johnson has received pushback from council members of his own party.”
“The city would do well to keep officers in schools by creating a special program made up of carefully selected candidates, best suited for interacting with students and faculty.”
“Once in office, governors and mayors who took millions of dollars from teachers’ unions during election campaigns are loath to go against the unions’ wishes during contract negotiations. You don’t stiff those who brought you to the dance…We need look no further than Illinois for an example. The state’s ‘Invest in Kids’ program provided a seventy-five percent state tax credit for donations to help families afford private schools…Last December Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson ordered his hand-picked school board to close the (Chicago Public Schools’ selective enrollment) program! Why? Because the Chicago Teachers Union wanted him to.”
Insights from Tio Hardiman, president of the not-for-profit organization Violence Interrupters.
City officials said Seventy-Seven Communities and 14 Parish were chosen because they proved able to deliver “high quality and culturally congruent” meals at a cost of $15-$17 per person per day, compared to the $21-$23 the city was previously paying per person per day.
Gotion is also finalizing plans for a $2.36 billion battery component factory in Big Rapids, Michigan, as per Bridge Michigan, though there’s been significant backlash from citizens.
The consolidation of these smaller pension systems has likely reduced administrative expenses and could provide access to higher returns and new asset classes not previously accessible to funds with less available capital. This is a small, positive step to begin fixing the state’s pension systems, but it does not address the fundamental problems creating Illinois’ nation-leading pension crisis.
Despite modest gains across most Illinois metro areas, state job growth continued to lag the national economy. Illinois added just 0.02% more jobs in December, compared to 0.14% nationwide.
Michael Clemmons, of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers: “Multiple independent analysts have cited Illinois as being one of the worst investing environments for energy projects in the country, and that means proposed projects here sit idle while neighboring states pass us by. Failure to act means jeopardizing reliability and raising costs as fossil-fuel facilities go offline without the renewable infrastructure to get solar and wind power to the communities that need it. We are already seeing electricity prices spike in many parts of the state.”
Jim Dey: “The movie — ‘Lincoln Is Crying: The Grifters, Grafters and Governors of Illinois’ — was shown for the first time this week in Chicago.”
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