-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
Just 17.94 percent of registered voters in suburban Cook County and 25.7 percent of registered voters in Chicago voted in person or by mail in the March 19 primary. That percentage narrowly beat out 2012 for the lowest turnout for any Chicago presidential primary since 1944, when just 24.6 percent of votes were cast.
Illinois Emergency Management Agency Director Alicia Tate-Nadeau, appointed by the governor in 2019 to lead the state agency that oversees disasters and crises like the pandemic and the influx of migrants, came under fire last year after it was reported an executive assistant accounted for $240,761.30 in billings — double the salary of her boss between February and August 2023. Her total billings to the state emergency agency in other contracting roles through August 2023 topped $1.03 million.
Mayor Brandon Johnson said, “I can tell you this for sure: Whatever investment we make, the investment has to be committed to creating more housing, jobs [and] having a sustainable, clean economy. That’s what my administration has put forth and these are the conversations that we will continue to have before we make any further commitment.” The Bears say they are prepared to invest more than $2 billion in private money in a domed stadium, but experts have said the stadium could cost $500 million to $1 billion more than that.
The closures come as many cities, particularly those in the path of totality, prepare to navigate unprecedented traffic and crowds; many are closing to offer families a chance to witness what could be a once-in-a-lifetime experience together. The state’s board of education said while many will not have kids in school, it does not encourage schools to use e-learning days for the event.
“I can be offended by someone’s presentation, and also recognize that they have a fundamental right to express that. I don’t even know why this is being debated, quite frankly. It’s actually quite disturbing that, as a city, we’re having a conversation about protected speech in America,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said.
The mayor’s office said immigrants from Gage Park, the Broadway Armory Park, Brands Park, Leone Park, and Piotrowski Park, will be moved to nearby shelters over the coming weeks, “minimizing disruptions with schooling and work.” Once all immigrants are transitioned to another shelter, the city’s Park District will begin the process of restoring the parks for the public to use.
If the full council passes the measure next month, DCFS would provide a daily report on the number of new arrivals and asylum seekers evicted or removed from city shelters. The information would be shared online with the public.
State Sen. Sue Rezin filed Senate Bill 2717 to enact a new state tax credit she said will help offset some of the costs that parents incur for both preschool and child care. Senate Bill 3104 from state Sen. Jil Tracy says qualifying families would receive a state tax credit equal to 25% of the current federal child care tax credit for each child.
While there are pending lawsuits against the state’s gun ban, there are also challenges against the state’s FOID card. The FOID card, issued by Illinois State Police, is needed by Illinois residents to purchase or possess firearms or ammunition. Illinois State Rifle Association Executive Director Richard Pearson said a recent separate federal ruling that illegal immigrants can have firearms means FOID should be void.
The Civic Federation and the League of Women Voters of Cook County have observed a mostly smooth implementation so far due to the County having been particularly well-prepared to adopt the new pretrial release process, with many of the law’s required procedures having already been instituted by the County in advance of the effective date. However, questions remain about the charges for which people are being detained or released, as well as recidivism and compliance with release conditions among people released from custody and awaiting trial.
The gap between O’Neill Burke and opponent Clayton Harris III has been essentially unchanged for the past 48 hours, but Harris narrowed the gap Thursday by 14 votes.
The suit named the Illinois State Board of Elections, seeking the court’s intervention against a 2015 state law that allows vote-by-mail ballots to be counted if they’re received within 14 days of Election Day so long as they were postmarked on or before Election Day.
The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services hosted this event to boost numbers around the state as part of Gov. JB Pritzker’s proposed headcount increase at the agency. Under the plan, the agency would grow from 3,450 employees to 4,000. DCFS consolidated its 12-step hiring process, which includes interviews, grading, fingerprinting, and put it all in one place.
Illinois’ Republican National Committeeman Richard Porter says Gov. JB Pritzker’s move to free more violent criminals from Illinois prisons is “throwing Illinoisans to the wolves.” Porter said, “Governor Pritzker turned the Prisoner Review Board into the Prisoner Release Board. He craves love from crazy activists and sacrifices our security to suck up to radicals.”
“Chicago Public Schools recently announced the end of student-based budgeting, citing a desire to implement a new funding formula based on ‘student needs.’ By abandoning student-based budgeting, the district no longer wants the money to follow the students. Instead, they want the Chicago Teachers Union to dictate how the money will be used.”
Restaurant owner Abby Strader-Boesenberg said the initiative comes at a precarious time for restaurant operators. First, there was a pandemic shutdown, then carry-out only, then they could be partly open. There was a return to full service, then inflation hit, and some new government mandates. She said it’s has been one thing after another. “Okay, well now minimum wage is going to go up a dollar every year until 2025. Okay, well, we’re doing that now and we’re going to throw in paid time off for all employees. Sounds good. Probably how it should be. We’re doing that now. And
“A struggling downtown Chicago office market complicates assessment calculations because there aren’t many transactions to compare. Last year, fewer than five large office buildings in Chicago were sold—and at losses ranging from 50 to 90 percent, according to the Building Owners and Managers Association of Chicago. Meanwhile, vacancy in Chicago’s central Loop submarket rose to 26.59 percent in 2023, up from 24.75 percent in 2022, according to Stone Real Estate Corp.“
“Before selective enrollment became the highly competitive program it is today, its main goal was to create islands of integrated schools in an otherwise segregated school system (though at least one school became selective for a completely different reason). Education and civil rights leaders looked to specialty schools as a way to get families to voluntarily integrate the public school system. But when CPS faced shrinking enrollment through the 1990s, a new era of selective enrollment was ushered in.”
“For too long, Chicago’s parks and lakefront have been looked at as easily developable land, rather than sacrosanct public places that act as respite from the hurly-burly of the big city. Until that changes, lakefront and park space will always be under the threat of some sort of attack. At least on the museum campus, the institutions themselves are doing their part to improve the area.”
According to the American Road and Transportation Builders Association, in the land of Lincoln, the state has 26,873 bridges. Of them, 4,125 bridges need repairs, and 2,472 bridges are classified as structurally deficient. “In Illinois we don’t have any large cargo ships in our navigable waterways, however, we do have many barges on our waterways, and barge impacts, they do occur,” said Paul Wappel, of the Illinois Department of Transportation.
Senate Minority Leader John Curran said the FDA process is slow and rigorous for a reason. The Illinois Psychiatric Society has opposed the measure.
Those 11,060 robberies involved 11,933 victims last year, with some crimes having several victims. That’s more than 1 robbery victim for every 250 people living in the nation’s third-largest city. Robberies with a handgun increased by half. Robberies committed with other firearms more than doubled. Only cases of vehicular hijackings and unarmed robbery showed declines.
Governor JB Pritzker’s budget proposal would set aside about $3 billion in services for the developmentally-disabled community. The proposal doesn’t include a pay increase for the people who care for them. The absence of a pay increase raises concerns about a labor shortage.
Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs said it’s possible after a recent change to federal law allowing tax and penalty-free rollovers from 529 college savings accounts to ROTH IRAs. However, state law would need to change before Illinois families can take advantage of it.
On what she wishes she knew before getting into this business: “It never occurred to me that I would have colleagues who would be willing to put their loyalty to a single person over the well-being of the entire country like they have with Donald Trump.”
Cornell University law professor William A. Jacobson, who filed the complaint on behalf of the Equal Protection Project, contends that 16 scholarships offered by Western Illinois University are discriminatory, being exclusively available to specific racial, ethnic, gender, and gender identity groups. The complaint, as filed, asserts that such practices run afoul of key federal laws, including the Civil Rights Act, Title IX, and the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
“We are not in good shape” Wirepoints’ Ted Dabrowski told ABC 20 Champaign during a segment on Illinois’ latest population losses. Illinois was one of just three states to shrink in the 2010-2020 period and has lost another 300,000 people since then. Ted says things need to change. “It’s too expensive to live here, there aren’t enough good jobs and nobody trusts the government anymore. There’s just other places to go where you can be more satisfied.”
Retired Judge Eileen O’Neill Burke has added more than three dozen votes to her lead over former prosecutor Clayton Harris III in the Cook County State’s Attorney primary race, with more than 2,000 ballots added to the unofficial count Wednesday.
Casino sportsbooks across Illinois have paid a 15 percent tax on their revenue after paying out winners since legal betting launched in 2020, but the Democratic governor’s latest budget proposal would increase that rate to 35 percent. The governor’s office says the hike, which is still lower than other big-betting states, is a slam dunk to generate an extra $200 million for the cash-strapped state. Major gambling corporations argue it’ll block growth in a market that has ballooned into one of the biggest, most betting-hungry in the nation.
SIGN UP HERE FOR OUR FREE WIREPOINTS DAILY NEWSLETTER
