-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
“People didn’t just wake up one day and decide to be Democrats,” says College of DuPage political scientist Melissa Mouritsen. “The population itself changed.”
A state appeals panel has determined the city of Chicago doesn’t have to pay refunds for red light camera tickets despite an earlier finding it didn’t follow state law when collecting the fines. Collectively the city collected more than $235 million in fines from those tickets.
Comment: The State of Illinois is still not talking on the effect of this on the Belvidere, Illinois project that it proudly announced last year. We wrote here recently that the deal looked fishy from the start.
“Higher-end office buildings are doing OK,” he said. “Rents are holding up better, valuations are holding up better, occupancy is holding up better in trophy buildings.”
Resident Christina Powell said families just like hers long ago tilled the ground and planted the seeds in their neighborhoods. “And now that there is a harvest, we’re being told we’re not allowed to come to the table,” Powell said. “How dare you. We’re not asking to come to the table, and we’re not demanding to come to the table; we’re going to take our place at the table.”
Budget Director Annette Guzman said options range from layoffs and pay cuts on the expense side to a property tax increase, video gaming and volume-based garbage collection fees on the revenue end. “Furlough days will not get us through a $900 million-[plus] budget gap.”
Kaegi said he is working on drafting circuit breaker legislation with some lawmakers. He said 29 states have laws in place to help people stay in their homes. However, Kaigi did not say how such a program would be paid for.
“The bottom line is, we’ve got to manage our money better in this city, and we haven’t done it,” said Ald. William Hall. “The state and federal governments gave us money for the migrant crisis, and it was mismanaged by the hundreds of millions. We can’t keep going back to the same well, because they won’t give us more money if they see it mismanaged.”
New rules took effect July 1, including requiring hospitals to affirm the inclusiveness, accuracy, and completeness of the standard charge information. A third wave of requirements, including new drug reporting and estimated allowed amounts, will go into effect in January 2025.
The electric vehicle component manufacturer Ymer Technology recently opened its new U.S. headquarters in Buffalo Grove. The company will produce cooling technology and thermal management systems for EVs. The agreement between Ymer and the state does not speify how much in tax credits the company will receive.
Democratic state Rep. Marcus Evans said his party is focused on making life better for everyday Americans. But Republican Committeeman Tyler Shasteen said people in his community on the South Side of Chicago feel forgotten while Democrats spend taxpayer money on new arrivals.
Illinois recently reduced licensing restrictions on family therapy, speech language pathology, landscape architecture and real estate.
Senate Bill 2936 allows home rule municipalities to provide abatements for newly remodeled homes. Senate Bill 3455 commissions a study on the entire property tax system in the state.
According to a union spokesperson, there are 30 vacancies that need to be filled at the Quincy veterans’ home alone.
One of the biggest issues they’re fighting for is better job security, a protection they say is already in place at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and at the University of Illinois Chicago.
Police also reported marked drops in robberies and vehicle thefts in August, down 36.5 percent and 25.6 percent, respectively. CPD credited its Citywide Robbery Task Force for the reduction in robberies.
In all, federal government data shows nearly two million residents, or one out of every seven individuals, are now reported to be receiving federal food assistance, leaving the state with 237,383 more SNAP recipients than before the pandemic.
Illinois ranked sixth, behind Florida, California, Nevada, New York and Colorado.
Jim Dey: “The state’s three biggest sources of revenue are personal and corporate income taxes and the sales tax. So it was most disappointing that both personal income taxes and sales taxes declined in August 2024 as compared to August 2023.”
Some of the mayor’s progressive allies suggested they may have to consider imposing a sales tax on services like fitness centers, spas and salons, along with consulting firms or businesses like Google. However, that has some significant implications for the city’s business climate.
The Green Era Campus, 650 W. 83rd St., is home to the anaerobic digester Allen has worked to build, a $35 million project turning food waste into enough compost to create a new garden every day, she said.
Savage-Williams promoted her school district’s “Social Consciousness Series” programming, which features “Special events open to the Evanston community that encourage participants to engage in critical thought about their racialized experiences and its relation to the systemic oppression rooted in anti-blackness.”
Ald. Jason Ervin, Mayor Brandon Johnson’s handpicked Budget Committee chair, said it’s borderline “malfeasance” for Martinez to have pushed through a $9.9 billion school budget that does not include the pension payment that the city absorbed until former Mayor Lori Lightfoot shifted that cost to CPS.
The Hyde Park-based foundation employed 312 people in 2023, up from 251 in 2022. Salaries and other compensation for employees increased about $10 million, to $39.2 million. A foundation spokesperson said the staff grew in part because the Obama Center is gearing up its operations, and because of other costs and initiatives.
“According to an old saying attributed to farmers: ‘If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging.’ … The debt crisis in Illinois is real, and it cannot be fixed by raising taxes, fines and fees. That will drive citizens and businesses out.”
The officers were injured while serving a warrant in the area at about 6:45 p.m. Students nearby at Western Illinois University’s Campus went into lockdown due to this shooting.
Numbers out Wednesday show the Flash Index dipped in July for the fourth straight month, but that the state’s economy is still growing. Illinois’ unemployment rate is also increasing, to 5.2 percent in July. In contrast, the state’s unemployment rate in July 2023 was 4.4 percent.
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