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Public officials from neighborhoods heavily hit by the COVID-era crime wave are beginning to urge constituents to dump Chief Cook County Circuit Judge Timothy Evans in next week’s election. It’s unclear how widespread the move is to vote no on retaining Evans as a judge. Like all judges, Evans has to face voters every 10 years to keep his job—and under law, he needs the support of 60% of those voting on the matter to keep his job.
Summary and audio linked here.
Chicago’s political leadership is floating a pension buyout program as evidence it is seriously addressing the city’s thirty-six-billion-dollar unfunded pension liability, but Mark Glennon, founder of the Illinois policy research organization Wirepoints, said that the proposal moves debt from one column to another rather than reducing it, and that the broader fiscal picture facing the city continues to deteriorate across every measurable dimension. Audio here.
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
The state’s existing buyout program for its own pensions is the precedent for Chicago, which should be a warning: Look out for similar exaggerated claims and shoddy analysis.
Full interview and summary linked here.
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Another 79 year old judge who refuses to retire to let young folk take charge.