-- Connecting the dots between our economy, government and business --
The hearing stems from a lawsuit filed by the Edgar County Watchdogs Inc., after the organization sued Tiffany Henyard and the Village of Dolton for failing to produce financial records after the documents were requested under the Freedom of Information Act.
The bill’s provisions are effective immediately.
Chicago is facing a $1.12 billion budget gap, two recent downgrades and scrutiny from the Trump administration that includes threats to its federal funding. But investors didn’t demand to be paid much more last week when the city sold general obligation bonds.
Prosecutors have recommended that former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan serve 12.5 years in prison and pay a fine of $1.5 million. Defense attorneys have asked that the former speaker be sentenced to a year of home confinement along with probation and community service.
State Rep. Patrick Sheehan, who is a police officer, cited examples in which law enforcement is handcuffed and Illinois courts are powerless while criminals walk free. “Everything seems so backwards about this law,” said Sheehan. “It needs to be repealed, rethought, stakeholders need to be brought back to the table and let’s just do this the right way.”
Senate Bill 1784 would have required law enforcement agencies to automatically seal eligible nonviolent criminal records twice a year for people who remain conviction-free during designated waiting periods. The proposal is modeled after Clean Slate laws passed in 12 both blue and red states.
“There is no provision in the so-called SAFE-T Act — nor any city ordinance — that sends a clear, uncompromising message that shooting at police officers or threatening witnesses and victims will bring swift and serious consequences. … This rise in attacks on officers is no accident. It is the direct result of decisions made by elected officials who have shackled proactive policing, undermined accountability, and signaled that violent offenders can act with impunity.”
Paintball “shootings” tend to come and go in waves in Chicago. A woman suffered a serious eye injury in a paintball attack on the Northwest Side in 2019. Incidents spiked during the pandemic when videos of paintball shootings went viral.
John Roberson, Mayor Brandon Johnson’s chief operating officer, is leaving City Hall to become the executive vice president of the Obama Center. He was reported to be Johnson’s pick to lead the CTA, a move that was critiqued by transit advocates.
Gov. JB Pritzker was given an honorary doctorate by Knox College this weekend, just before he delivered a commencement address. He advised graduates to turn the lights off when you leave the room and to fill up your tires. “I know that when that little tire gauge comes on on your dashboard, you view it in the same way that Elon Musk views the United States Constitution as
“Are there some agencies that needed to have policies and procedures reviewed? There are,” retired Riverside Police Chief Thomas Weitzel said. “The consent decree is not the mechanism that should be used. It takes away all policing from the local community and the chief just becomes a figurehead.”
Current law allows ISP to use the cameras for the investigation of cases involving vehicular hijacking, aggravated vehicular hijacking, terrorism, motor vehicle theft, or any forcible felony, which includes treason, first- and second-degree murder, sexual assault, robbery, burglary, arson, kidnapping, aggravated battery resulting in great bodily harm. House Bill 3339 would add the offenses of human trafficking and involuntary servitude to the definition of forcible felony in that section of law.
The Pritzker Administration’s spending on migrant care has seen massive cost overruns and a troubling lack of transparency, drawing criticism for prioritizing migrants over the needs of taxpayers.
In March, Brandon Johnson, the mayor of Chicago, tweeted that Chicago had “invested $11 billion” to “build 10,000 more units of affordable housing.” That nets out to $1.1 million per unit. If you dig into the process for selecting affordable housing projects, you’ll find there’s a rubric that awards each project up to 100 points for fulfilling different goals. A project gets 10 points for “advanced level” green-building certification; it gets 11 points for “BIPOC development control” or a woman-led development team; it gets seven points for fulfilling certain accessibility requirements; “cost containment” is worth three. Policy failure breeds political
Add one more state to the wave of Universal School Choice overtaking the country. This time the expansion is in New Hampshire. School choice now practically surrounds Illinois. Parents should be demanding why Gov. Pritzker and his party’s supermajorities reject educational freedom.
The event drew support from several local officials, including Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez and Ald. Jessie Fuentes. Mayor Brandon Johnson also condemned CPD’s reported collaboration with the raid. Organizers criticized Gov. JB Pritzker for defending CPD’s actions and urged residents to support resistance efforts.
Gov. JB Pritzker said that under Hitler’s rule in Nazi Germany, Jews also became known as immigrants: “They were attacked as if they were outsiders. … It was a democracy before Hitler took power. It took 53 days to rub out a constitutional republic in Germany and to turn it into a dictatorship that can happen anywhere, and it can happen here in the United States.”
The billionaire governor is paying for the services of Covington & Burling out of his own pocket; Covington & Burling is among the law firms being targeted by the Trump administration. “The State retained outside counsel to provide additional expertise and capacity to respond to the committee’s requests and ensure the Governor’s Office can remain focused on delivering for the people of Illinois,” Pritzker spokesman Matt Hill said.
Legislative reforms to Cook County’s property tax system almost uniformly stalled this legislative session, halting efforts to give tax breaks to more seniors and those walloped with big bills, and to help people hang on to some of their homes’ value if they lose the properties because of unpaid taxes. With most countywide officeholders facing reelection next year, many are looking to address long-standing complaints about rising property tax bills so they can tell voters they’re working on it.
The ages of the victims range from 34 to 72.
SIGN UP HERE FOR OUR FREE WIREPOINTS DAILY NEWSLETTER