-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
“In one respect, the proliferation of crime on the CTA is a manifestation of the public safety crisis confronting Chicago as a whole. But special attention must be paid to keeping trains and buses safe if Chicago is to get its post-pandemic footing back.”
At a cost of millions annually, city government stores its data at centers locate outside of Chicago. Ald. Gilbert Villegas, chairman of the Council Technology Committee, has written an ordinance requiring more city data to be stored in the city. “I would say over ten years, you’re talking about north of $100 million in property tax revenue,” he said.
“Electric buses are significantly more expensive, about $350,000,” said Dr. Jeff Craig, superintendent for West Aurora D129. “And our gas buses are roughly $150,000. So, the grant money bridges that gap.” Despite his optimism, Dr. Craig does have concerns: “How long does a charge last? How long does it take to recharge a battery? What does cold weather do to batteries? We need to think about our charging stations.”
According to the revenue department, more than 68,500 taxpayers claimed the Instructional Materials and Supply Tax Credit in the 2023 tax year, for a total of more than $29.91 million.
While showing data on the district’s precipitous enrollment decline of 1,766 students since fall 2017, financial consultant Robert Grossi highlighted that the necessary budget cuts “cannot be achieved without consolidation of schools” – meaning school closures.
The year before installation, the 18 Noble charter schools had reports of 17 weapons—a number that has dropped dramatically. “We don’t want kids to feel like they’re walking into some type of in prison or something like that—because that’s not what it is at all,” said Rhonda Cohen, manager of safety and security for Noble Charter Schools. “This is their school. It’s their space. We’re just reassuring them.”
Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman, with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, agreed with legal advocates who argued that the state still hasn’t met its decade-old promises to help people with intellectual and developmental disabilities live outside large institutions.
According to the CTA, its public funding has increased significantly due to the application of local sales taxes to online sales, local cannabis sales, and inflation.
Senior associate Page Forrest said Illinois is one of just six states that recorded a 15-year shortfall at the end of fiscal 2022. “The good news is that fiscal year ‘22 is the first time in at least two decades that Illinois recorded an annual surplus,” said Forrest. “The bad news is that the surplus, while substantial, wasn’t enough to move the needle for the state long term.”
Illinois, for example, enshrined collective bargaining rights into the state constitution, which extended unionizing rights to every workplace, including those once considered inappropriate. David Osborne, of the Commonwealth Foundation, said the “experiment could have really disastrous implications,” such as raising taxes to fund “outrageous” union demands.
Most of the companies statewide did not provide a specific reason for the layoffs. Those that did mainly cited restructuring as driving their staff cuts. The nature of these layoffs varied, with standard layoffs impacting 726 workers while business closures accounted for an additional 443 of the job cuts.
Illinois’ decision to be the first in the nation to let a school-choice program expire highlights the deepening political divide on public education, argued Paul Bruno, an education policy expert at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. “The reaction in some blue states is to sort of circle the wagons around public education and traditional public-school districts,” Bruno said. “So it wouldn’t surprise me if you continue to see even more of that.”
Plaintiffs claim the Illinois Interchange Fee Prohibition Act violates multiple federal statutes, including the National Bank Act and the Federal Credit Union Act, and cannot be enforced against national or state-chartered banks, savings institutions or credit unions. In their prayer for relief, the plaintiffs asked the court to declare the Act preempted, unconstitutional and invalid.
Retired Riverside Police Chief Tom Weitzel: “Police departments face immense difficulty recruiting new hires and retaining current officers. In response to the challenge, they have lowered entry standards into the profession, on everything from background investigations and hiring protocols to attendance at basic police recruit training to standards for in-service training. This is, I believe, a clear example of the consequences of the ‘Defund the Police’ movement.”
Last week, Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard couldn’t hold a meeting in Thornton Township, where she is supervisor, because the trustees there did not show up amid an ongoing power struggle in both governments.
Former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan laid out a litany of things he wants excluded from his upcoming racketeering trial in October. The words Madigan’s defense team doesn’t want the jury to hear are “patronage,” “political machine,” “Shakman Litigation,” “corrupt politicians,” “corruption,” and “Public Corruption Task Force,” and their derivatives, according to a motion pending before Judge Manish Shah.
“Let’s be clear: funding has never been the issue at Chicago Public Schools. The district spends the equivalent to $30,000 per student based on total operational budget and receives over $12,000 in property taxes per student. It budgets one teacher for every 15 students and one overall staff person for every 7.5 students. If money creates success, then why are CPS academics abysmal?”
CPS CEO Pedro Martinez publicly stood up to Mayor Brandon Johnson’s call for more borrowing and instead pushed for cuts to the district’s budget. But while Martinez might have done the right thing for CPS’ finances, he hasn’t been doing the right thing when it comes to student outcomes.
Ted joined John Anthony and Amy Jacobson to talk about Chicago’s financial troubles now that the covid bailout money has run out, why Mayor Johnson will likely break his promise to not raise property taxes, why all of Johnson’s tax hike ideas failed, the financial plight of Chicago Public Schools, and more.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights investigated 139 incidents reported at the school between 2015 and 2023, of which 135 were anti-Jewish discrimination complaints. The university agreed to review its nondiscrimination and protest policies, as well as provide training to university law enforcement and staff on national origin discrimination and how to address discrimination complaints.
“The best decision is to maintain where we are and allow us to continue the great works we’re doing like the pension obligations, infrastructure improvements, and debt reduction,” said Councilwoman Chemberly Harris.
“He was not a statistic. He was not ‘oh-he’s-from-the-South-Side-that’s-why.’ He came from a good family that loved him dearly. He was a good soul with so much to give to this world.”
“Campus radicals will use their new “education” in anti-Semitism to learn which words they can and cannot use as they continue along their analytically facile, morally self-assured way.”
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