The Illinois Sheriffs Association opposes both bills, but the legislation has gained strong Democratic support.
“We expect the adults to be the responsible ones in schools and know that this abuse is not appropriate,” state Rep. Amy Elik stressed. “We can expect an 18-year-old to know the attention and affection from someone who is in charge of their school experience is wrong on that adult’s part.”
Ald. Ray Lopez accuses the city of playing a “smoke and mirrors game” and says he has been told that at least five TB cases have been linked to the same migrant shelter where the majority of measles cases have been linked since mid-March. He adds that the city “slow rolls” information to the public.
The hearing Thursday at Cook County Juvenile Court had to do with three specific cases – but also the decades long systemic failures that have caused kids to suffer. In one case, over the span of about a month, a 13-year-old boy was left in an emergency room for a total of 20 days – no fresh air, no playground, no school.
Jim Reynolds, CEO of the brokerage firm Loop Capital, said the state’s population loss has affected the workforce. “It’s downstate that really has suffered loss of population,” Reynolds said. “The Peorias, the Rockfords, the Joliets, the Auroras, the Champaigns, where these companies are located, the secret weapon here in Illinois is more workers.”
“We have aging offenders that are costing taxpayers millions of dollars. Prison should be for individuals who should actually be there, not for those individuals who have committed crimes out of stupidity, mental health or drug usage. We want to make sure we are locking up the right people,” state. Rep. Rita Mayfield said.
Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Sameer Vohra said the department has several individuals researching violence prevention. “That includes suicide, other things, firearms violence is part of that. We also have an epidemiologist that is partnering to get some of that information.”
Lopez said that Americans are “fed up” with being “leapfrogged over” by migrants coming to the U.S. to get services and support. “This is going to drive a wedge, particularly for the Democratic Party, my party, with our core base of African American and Latino voters who feel as though we have not invested in them the way we’ve been investing in these migrant asylum seekers.”
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson urged President Biden to grant work permits to nearly 500,000 illegal migrants living in the state. Johnson also said the city, which has roughly 2.7 million people, can “conservatively” welcome another 400,000 to 700,000 illegal migrants.
Windy City progressives want to cancel the August Convention in their city.
In a 6-0 decision, the court found the residency restriction “does not infringe upon a child sex offender’s fundamental rights” and that there was a “rational basis” for the state to restrict where a person convicted of such a crime can live.
State Rep. Curtis Tarver warned the proposal would have adverse effects. “This is more legislation chasing a solution to a problem that does not exist,” he said. “Eliminating tip credit is going to hurt the very people that this legislation purports to help.”
“’If my advocacy is defiant,’ (Mayor Brandon) Johnson bellowed, ‘what does that say about the systems who wish to keep people without dignity and unhoused? I call it wicked.’ Wicked? In a civil society, political opponents are not deemed ‘wicked’ by those in leadership positions. Ideologues speak in that manner.”
“Child abduction and attempted child abduction are 100 percent detention eligible,” Rep. Kam Buckner said. “It’s both named in the statute, and even if it wasn’t, there’s a catch all that makes detention eligible for any felony that includes the threat or infliction of great bodily harm or disability or disfigurement.”
An almost nine-hour hearing held by the City Council’s Committee on Environmental Protection and Energy served as a preview of a fight to come over Mayor Brandon Johnson’s proposed ordinance to end connections of carbon-dioxide producing natural gas.
Donald Shelton, who served on the Prisoner Review Board since 2012, said board members have a responsibility to hold not only prisoners but also the state to account. “They have an obligation not only to hold the person that’s before them accountable for their actions if they believe that’s the appropriate point of view. They have an obligation to hold the state responsible for making its case to a preponderance of the evidence standard. Now, that’s a low standard, but it’s still a standard.”
Transit crime is down 5 percent year-to-date, while violent crime on the CTA’s train and bus lines has declined 10 percent compared to 2023. Police said carjackings are also down nearly 22 percent compared to last year,
Ald. Raymond Lopez said this outbreak could have been prevented had the migrants been required to follow the same vaccination rules as U.S. citizens. “Many of these individuals come with children, they are in our schools and all of those vaccination requirements that our kids are responsible for are waved for the migrant asylum seeker children. And that is putting the people, families and communities at risk.”
The next big legislative fight in the City Council began in earnest today during an Environmental Committee hearing probing a proposed measure that would effectively ban natural gas in new buildings.
The number of employed has fallen by more than a million in the 10 areas where employment declines have been the most pronounced over the past four years. Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco and Chicago have seen the biggest decreases in the number of employed.
“This was a first for Pritzker, and with the Illinois Film Production Tax Credit offering a competitive 30 percent rebate on qualified in-state productions, Illinois now ranks with a handful of other popular filming states, among them Georgia, Louisiana and New Mexico. A majority of U.S. states (currently 37) offer some form of production tax incentive.”
“We remodeled Soldier Field about 24 years ago – spent $660 million – won’t be paid off until 2032 to convert it into a spaceship, and now (the Chicago Bears) don’t want it,” Quinn said. “The mayor really has to be a leader here and put this issue on the ballot. That’s what openness and letting the people speak is all about.”
“And so whether it’s literally or figuratively, the work to assassinate character or to assassinate our movement, we’re not going to allow that type of fear to disrupt what ultimately the people of Chicago wanted. And that’s why they voted for me.”
House Bill 545 states that the Department of Human Services would have to provide sufficient funds to child care providers to buy 50 diapers per month for children under participating in full-day programs and 25 diapers per month for kids in part-day child care. Sponsors believe this would cost roughly $6 million.
“I spoke first, and let them know I am from a community that is reeling. We are grieving,” said Chicagoan Dr. Thaer Ahmad, a MedGlobal board member.
“In Chicago, which will host the Democratic National Convention in August, gun violence, robberies, and carjackings remain issues of concern for too many residents. The cost of living is still a challenge for far too many Chicagoans. There are plenty of issues for (President) Biden and other progressive leaders to focus on — undermining Christianity should not be one.”
Employment Policies Institute reports eliminating the tip credit in Illinois would eliminate an estimated 7,730 jobs and lead to $20.7 million of lost earnings for tipped employees.
In their petition, the oil and gas companies assert the case belongs in federal court, because the lawsuit launched by the administration of Mayor Brandon Johnson amounts to an illegal attempt to use state courts to force energy companies which operate globally and are regulated by federal law to comply with the political demands of Chicago’s left-wing majority, and then pay large sums of money in the process for their alleged past transgressions.
The proposal would earmark approximately $10 million in funding to purchase the medical debt of up to 300,000 Illinoisans, and was included in the governor’s proposed budget earlier this year.
“While lawmakers begin the process of considering systemic changes, the governor himself needs to reassure Illinoisans that he’s committed to a parole system that’s fairer to victims and better accounts for the safety of the public than the one over which he’s presided so far.”
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