Since Brandon Johnson took office, Pacione-Zayas has served as his first deputy chief of staff, charged with overseeing the city’s response to the arrival of nearly 38,500 migrants. That crisis has strained the city’s social safety net, ballooned the city’s budget shortfall and exacerbated tension between Chicago’s Black and Latino communities.
Server Luis Torreijos is worried patrons wouldn’t be as generous with tips. He currently makes more than twice the minimum wage. “And thank God for that. I’ll be able to afford to send my kids to college, have a decent life, and I don’t understand why they want to change it,” Torreijos said.
“To have numbers just pop up in sizable contracts for tens of millions of dollars – executed really with any outside oversight – is problematic,” said David Greising, president of the Better Government Association. For a point of comparison, that is approximately half the budget for base salaries at the Chicago Fire Department for 2024.
If passed, schools would have until September 1, 2027, to select a new school or athletic team name, logo, or mascot. They would be allowed to continue using their current logos until that time.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a new government agency reduce redundancies, but I guess we’ll see,” state Rep. Blaine Wilhour said.
“Why are they [Cook County] receiving $6.9 million to do some prosecutions, when DuPage County is apparently doing the same thing and they get absolutely nothing,” said state Rep. John Cabello. “The State Appellate Prosecutors should be doing it all. I don’t trust the leadership of Cook County’s State’s Attorney’s Office to do any of this.”
“Lives were lost because of the lack of responsibility and due diligence at the PRB,” House Minority Leader Tony McCombie said. “When innocent people die because of bad policy, we must correct course immediately.”
The original version of the order accused Mayor Brandon Johnson of committing “a serious overreach in his role” regarding ShotSpotter. That language was stricken, while leaving the statement that Johnson “usurped the will of the City Council and their ability to represent constituents” in the final version.
James Hartmann’s departure is the latest fallout from a memo sent March 21 to members of House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch’s Democratic supermajority instructing the lawmakers not to respond to questions from a Tribune reporter regarding the thousands of dollars in political contributions the speaker’s leadership team made to Welch-backed candidate Michael Crawford, who defeated veteran state Rep. Mary Flowers in the March 19 primary.
Also noteworthy is another opinion piece—one that’s bouncing around the world of nonprofit activists—that also appears to reject leftist excess. But it’s a little harder to know what to make of this one. Rachel Pritzker, a member of a prominent Democratic family, wrote that “at a certain point, I came to see that my efforts, under the banner of ‘democracy,’ were actually furthering the decline of democracy.”
The bill, if fully funded, would provide all student teachers with a $10,000 stipend for a semester of work. If they don’t receive full funding, the program would prioritize low-income student teachers.
Rolling up to a Tesla charging port, state Sen. Dan McConchie grimaced that wheelchair users like him couldn’t use it—or any of the others at the gas station. They’d all been placed on a raised surface that he couldn’t readily reach. McConchie introduced a state bill to improve relevant accessibility standards, including electric car chargers.
An affiliate of Crescent Heights paid $79.75 million for the 19-story building at 850 N. Lake Shore Drive in a deal executed March 7, according to Cook County property records. That price is 43% less than the property’s previous sale.
The measles outbreak in Chicago thus exposes another cost of illegal immigration—one borne by Americans and migrants.
“The opportunities are over,” Andres Carrera, Denver’s Newcomer Communications Liaison, reportedly tells the group in Spanish. “New York gives you more. Chicago gives you more. So I suggest you go there where there is longer-term shelter. There are also more job opportunities there.”
Soto’s portfolio will include working to expand housing options for people who experience homelessness and housing insecurity, including creating rental assistance, rapid rehousing and non-congregate shelter programs, among other things, according to the Mayor’s Office.
“What matters most is having meaningful impact on our communities and our democracy.”
O’Neill Burke captured nearly 460 more precincts than Clayton Harris III overall. She carried more than twice as many precincts as Harris — 991 to 430 — in suburban Cook County.
“Chicago doesn’t need more slush funds. We need plans voters can have confidence in — and we need to protect ourselves from predictable political attacks.”
On the survey, participants are asked questions about the importance of items that may be necessary for physical safety (such as metal detectors, security officers, cameras or emergency preparedness training) and for emotional safety (i.e. conflict resolution and anti-bullying programs and mental health awareness workshops).
Even though numbers were slightly down, Illinois sports betting totaled nearly $1.3 billion and trailed only New York and New Jersey. Illinois filled its coffers with nearly $20.3 million in tax revenue while Cook County received $1.36 million.
A child tax credit could help Illinois’ neediest residents keep more of their paychecks while encouraging work. Pritzker’s proposal phases-in benefits with earned income, a sign of good tax policy.
Despite taking up 20 percent of the state’s general funds, experts said lawmakers still underpaid the five statewide government retirement plans.
Writes Katherine Loughead, senior policy analyst at the Tax Foundation, “Of the 32 states whose overall state and local tax burdens per capita were below the national average in 2022, 24 experienced net inbound migration in FY 2023. Meanwhile, of the 18 states and D.C. with tax burdens per capita at or above the national average, 14 of those jurisdictions experienced net outbound migration.”
Sexual abuse. Sexual misconduct. Grooming. The allegations happen year after year at Chicago Public Schools. The list of abuses and complaints is long, buried in the OIG’s 133-page report, so nobody sees them. We’ve broken a majority of them out in short snippets one by one for parents to see.
Ted joined Scott Slocum to talk about the results of the Illinois primary including the fact that turnout was at a record low, the fact that that political powers like the unions failed to mobilize, the mixed bag of local referendums in the face of high property taxes, the close results of some of the votes, the failed attempt to take out local downstate Republicans, Illinois’ high gas prices, and more.
“When a mayor is as unpopular and politically weak as Johnson is, he doesn’t get the benefit of the doubt, even if he can say that he’s simply fulfilling promises he made during the campaign. Campaigning and governing are different.”
At Monday’s meeting, more than 100 residents showed up but only about 40 were let inside. Crowds protested outside the meeting, chanting, “Let us in!” One resident said, “We are not giving up and we refuse to let Tahoe Tiffany take our community.”
Nearly 70% of Illinois firefighters are volunteers. The Volunteer Emergency Worker Credit, which the Illinois Department of Revenue said will be awarded on a first-come, first-serve basis, allows firefighters who work for free or for a small stipend to shave $500 off their 2023 taxes.
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