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Top Illinois Stories
In many states run by progressives such as Oregon, California and Illinois, government, healthcare and social assistance account for more than all of the net new jobs. That means those states are losing jobs in other industries. Illinois has added about 52,000 jobs in government, healthcare and social assistance over the last year—about double the number of its overall new jobs.
“We had a deadline, we still had a few weeks to finish the work that we started and this bill completely stopped us in our tracks,” said Leslie Collazo, a small business owner, was eying to be slated as a Republican for the 8th House District. No Republican ran in the primary in her district, and State Rep. La Shawn Ford ran unopposed in the Democratic primary.
Many Americans are fed up with the diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives that have proliferated on college campuses and in the workplace. These programs fixate on identity over objectivity and excellence. But despite the backlash, DEI advocates haven’t given up. In Illinois, lawmakers want to embed racial considerations into state appropriations for public universities.
Under the new law, local political party organizations can no longer appoint candidates to fill out legislative ballots where the party did not field a primary candidate. Previous law allowed the appointment process within 75 days of the primary. The measure takes effect immediately.
That means as budget negotiations enter the final stretch, any new state spending would largely rely on redistributing funds the governor proposed allocating elsewhere, rather than on new, unexpected revenues.
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The Edwardsville Community Unit School District #7 confirmed to Crisis in the Classroom (CITC) Friday Patrick Shelton's current contract allots him the 21 school weeks, as well as 25 vacation days and four personal days. Shelton was first hired by the district in 2021, signing a three-year contract at the time.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker unexpectedly moved away last week from his longstanding opposition to taxing services, saying he didn’t want to start taking ideas off the table as lawmakers search for ways to fund and reform the Chicago region’s mass transit system.
Lawmakers have filed legislation calling for a referendum to be placed on the November ballot. The plan would create an additional 3% tax on individuals whose income is above $1 million a year. The money would go toward helping Illinois homeowners pay their property taxes.
Senate Bill 2234 would provide protections for small businesses when taking out a loan by requiring financial terms such as the amount financed, fees and the annual percentage rate be clearly disclosed at the time an online or non-bank provider makes an offer for a loan.
Senate Bill 3935 would institute a “heat decarbonization standard,” requiring gas utilities to reduce their carbon emissions each year, beginning with a 24 percent reduction in 2031 and 100 percent by 2050.
A spokesman said the University of Illinois always prepares for possible disruptions at large events and they have a plan in place. He added that the university is aware that the Class of 2024 didn’t get a high school graduation because of COVID-19, and the university wants to make sure the graduates and their families can celebrate.
To recruit more workers and ultimately achieve better outcomes for children across the state, DCFS has cut the hiring time for frontline workers from nine months to just a few weeks, according to agency officials.
"Not only are we seeing transit struggle to climb out of the hole that COVID-19 dug. We’re in the midst of a fundamental debate about whether transit systems need to make a full transition from their traditional status as a quasi-utility, for which government aid supplemented riders’ fares, to a public service, where fares are much less important than a much broader collection of social and economic goals."
By Chicago native Joel Pollak.
While much has been made about the economic woes and population declines of states like California and New York, recent economic data indicates that Illinois is struggling with huge issues of its own.
An Illinois State University spokesman said the university told the protestors they could face a bevy of consequences up to and including suspension and possible termination for employees who were taking part. The groups protesting include Students for Justice in Palestine ISU and the Young Democratic Socialists of America ISU.
University of Chicago President Paul Alivisatos in an April 29 letter to the university community regarding recent protests.
The Keep Illinois Data in Illinois Tax Credit legislation (Senate Bill 3939, House Bill 5827) will help minority business owners develop data storage facilities. The legislation will also help underserved areas of Illinois by giving tax benefits to data centers that are located in “disproportionately impacted areas” of the state.
There are now 275 instances in which the inspector general found Paycheck Protection Program wrongdoing, the alleged thefts totaling more than $7 million in public funds, according to the IG’s April newsletter. Department of Human Services employees accounted for 175 of those cases. The Department of Corrections was the next highest, with 31 cases.
A new amendment to House Bill 793 would create a special grant fund of $2 million to help community agencies transition away from the sub-minimum wages.
Senate Minority Leader John Curran said the Democrats’ measure gets rid of competition in the middle of an election. “It’s also a slap in the face to voters that one of the ballot questions you’ve included is about election interference when that’s exactly what this legislation does,” said Curran.
State Sen. Jason Plummer said the Pritzker administration is shutting facilities down and not going through the proper procedures. "No community hearings," Plummer said. "You guys gaslight the people of Illinois by pretending these facilities are still operational. You're killing some of these areas in central and southern Illinois."
"550+ new, full-time jobs will be created over the next five years to support this manufacturing, all paid at least 120 percent of the average wage of similar job classifications in McLean County (the agreement estimates a minimum salary of $51,174). "
The Pretrial Success Act, a bill filed this legislative session, would direct $15 million to community organizations around the state to provide voluntary services to people awaiting trial, from clinical behavioral and health services to transportation, child care, and case management in order to improve their odds of success.
Christine Haley, the state’s chief homelessness officer, said the legacy of systemic racism — including practices like redlining that prevented Black Americans from buying homes in many neighborhoods and from developing generational wealth — should also be a part of the conversation because of the link between poverty and homelessness.
"The Bears have a job to do to convince lawmakers in Springfield that this is a worthwhile thing to do," state Rep. Kam Buckner said.
Twenty-four-year Quaker Oats employee Troy Hollingsworth of Chrisman doesn't know what he's going to do next after losing his job at Quaker. The unexpected Danville plant closure and layoff of approximately 510 employees also wasn't good timing, Hollingsworth said, with his recent purchase of a home.
Jim Dey: "There’s an element of monkey-see, monkey-do to this business. If students and hip faculty members elsewhere are protesting, why shouldn’t the equally morally superior here express their moral outrage? Peaceful protest certainly has its place. But the lack of enthusiasm on campus for the protests has revealed its place here is marginal."
The subject has created a deep divide among Chicagoans after the idea was floated to the city council. Ald. Gilbert Villegas said it is much more expensive to heat a home with electricity.
The measure approved by the House would also end the practice that allows local political parties to fill unfilled legislative candidates slots within 75 days after the primary election. Given the partisan-drawn nature of Illinois’ Democratic-drawn legislative maps, some incumbents end up winning their primaries with no general election challenger.
Top Chicago Stories
This came after the UChicago United for Palestine protesters clashed with a group waving American flags. The Maroon reported the UChicago United for Palestine group set up wooden and plastic shields and locked arms as they faced the counter-protesters.
"The agreement’s substance will further entrench identity, rather than truth, as a foundation of university life. Until universities return to the business of education and reject identity politics, they will be subject to such holdups."
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Loop Alliance President Michael Edwards is boldly shouting from the rooftops after a new “State of the Loop” quarterly report outlines how pedestrian activity on State Street during workweek hours is now back at pre-pandemic levels while weekend foot traffic is far outpacing 2019 numbers.
Speaking to former Fox News host Dan Bongino and Thinker co-founder Evita Duffy-Alfonso, Robson talked about his nuanced views on the ongoing protests and addressed the encampment, saying “The reason I am so categorically against this encampment and the encampments at many other schools is because, frankly, it has only a tangential connection to the conflict.”
The reasons Ald. Nicole Lee cited for her opposition to the shelter at 39th and Canal were concerns over migrants staying on land in a heavily industrial area that she said was not fully vetted for residential use and is surrounded by train tracks. City officials plan to close the Standard Club shelter downtown before the Democratic National Convention.
Among the demands, the union wants a policy that prioritizes saving the jobs of minority teachers in the event of layoffs. Its proposal includes nothing about teacher performance.
Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates noted that the teachers union has “always used our collective bargaining table as a way to push forward policies that impact the lives of our young people. We will continue to do that. Our young people and their ability to be housed remains a subject of bargaining for us until those young people have homes.”
"He’s a snowflake, a grape who can’t take the pressure of leadership. And there are just about 100 days until the hard left tear up the Democratic National Convention. What a party it will be."
“We are prepared for the DNC,” Johnson said. “If there is a mayor that understands the value of protests, it’s me. I’ve led many demonstrations before and I understand the value of being able to express your political belief or ideas in order to move a government. That’s why I’m mayor.”
“The encampment has created [a] systematic disruption of campus,” President Paul Alivisatos wrote. “… The encampment protesters have flouted our policies rather than working within them, despite UChicago being an institution that allows for many ways to express views.”
Of the district’s 634 schools, 39 still have at least one resource officer. Now those schools are being forced to remove their police officers by the start of the next academic year, regardless of whether the local school leaders believe officers are improving safety.
Protest camps are ongoing at the University of Chicago and DePaul University. An encampment at Northwestern University ended on Monday after a deal with administrators, though organizers say protests will continue. Students at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Columbia College Chicago and Roosevelt University have also participated in recent protests.
About 50 students and scholars from several universities attended the keynote address, “The Fallaciously Primordial Male: Desires, Norms & Links.”
"The student demands from the University of Chicago's anti-Israel encampment is a giant progressive wishlist that goes well beyond Gaza."
"A $100,000 or more in overtime - that should be a never, ever, ever situation," said Civic Federation President Joe Ferguson. "Period. That is a screaming red flag that something internally is not being tracked, and monitored, and addressed - because it simply should not happen."
"This is a peaceful, non-violent protest that is not unlike the American pastime of similar protests that we saw against the apartheid situation in South Africa, that we saw against the Vietnam War in 1968. This is exactly the sphere in which this is happening," said Ahmed Rehab, of the Council on American-Islamic Relations-Chicago.
Reporters with camera crews were waiting for a statement from the mayor on the arrest of a man suspected of killing CPD Officer Luis Huesca when the mayor is seen running for his car, flanked by his security detail and aids.
The complaint notes that the Northwestern protest, like others assembled on college campuses elsewhere in the U.S., has glorified Hamas, while attacking Jewish people, in general, with protestors routinely spouting widely known antisemitic tropes and anti-Jewish chants, calling for Jewish genocide and subjugation, while celebrating Islamic terrorists.
"Access Living’s expert examined 183 developments and concluded 100 percent of them contained significant accessibility barriers. The result of the city’s neglect? Chicago is thousands of units short of the bare minimum number of accessible units required by federal law, let alone the number to meet the actual demand."
“As organizers, we have learned the skills that are necessary in order to keep our community safe from the police, and that we’ll have numbers in people and we have a strong community support,” said Rayna A., at the University of Chicago, who asked for her last name not to be published out of fear of harassment. “We’re very interconnected with orgs across the city. We’re hoping to just grow and expand and create … a space that is as safe as it can be. Because safety is never guaranteed.”
The groups' federal lawsuit, filed in Chicago, seeks a court order declaring the denial of the protest permit unconstitutional, and granting them a permit to march Aug. 18 "at a time and along a route that allows them to communicate their message to their intended audience of DNC delegates."
The Jewish United Fund’s Jane Charney demanded that Chicago Public Schools clamp down on the sit-ins. “This hypocritical and selective enforcement of campus rules and capitulation to mob rule sends a clear message to Jewish students and their families that our safety and our ability to be present at our schools in the fullness of our identity is not important.”
"Chicago's ideologue mayor, Brandon Johnson, has suffered several political setbacks in his first year in office. But rather than blaming himself, Johnson is pointing his righteous finger at 'Right-wing extremists.'"
David Gates erroneously claimed a homestead exemption on the property while living in Chicago, effectively shorting revenue for Indiana schools. It’s an exemption which is reserved for those living in a house they own.
CTU is demanding the board identify schools with vacant and unused floors to be converted into dormitories for unaccompanied youth and to provide access to school building shower and laundry facilities for students and families in temporary living situations. The union is also demanding the board identify functioning schools with separate entrances to be used as temporary sheltering places for homeless CPS families.
Wirepoints Research and Commentary
At $1.5 million per job, the new incentive package from the state is at least 15 times the norm. For this much money, the state could have just handed out a million bucks to 827 people, instead of creating 550 jobs. 
Ted joined Jeff Daly to discuss the university student protests erupting across the nation on the Israel/Palestine conflict, why it's so dangerous for society if the media abandons facts in favor of narratives, why that allows government to spin away the problems like crime and financial crises, why it causes the voting public to become apathetic, and more. 
When you hear the complaints from Illinois politicians, remember the hypocrisy: 40,000 bused to Chicago, but 161,562 allowed to fly directly to Florida. 
Nearly one year ago, Chicagoans cheered Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s removal from office. In her place was Brandon Johnson, who promised a more inclusive approach to building a “better, stronger, safer Chicago.” It hasn’t turned out that way. Today, there’s little disagreement that Mayor Johnson has disappointed on most key issues. On crime. On policing. On migrants. On education. On governance. Even on foreign affairs. 
Ted joined Dan and Amy to talk about the problems and costs of the Chicago Bears' proposed new stadium, why its unlikely to happen in its current form, why the ongoing wave of violent crimes makes residents scared of the city, and why the funeral of slain police officer Luis Huesca matters to Mayor Johnson's reputation. SIGN UP HERE FOR FREE WIREPOINTS DAILY NEWSLETTER
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Weekly crime statistics from the Chicago Police Department: Report through 4/21/2024. 
It's beyond belief that a supposedly reputable journalism school could have Thrasher or any proponent of advocacy journalism among its faculty. 
Ted joined Scott Slocum to talk about the huge potential cost to taxpayers for the Bear's proposed new stadium, why the economics of publicly-funded sporting arenas don't work, what the latest criminal justice statistics tell us about the SAFE-T Act's impact so far, the latest developments on Chicago's ongoing migrant crisis, and more. 
We're supposed to worry that climate change itself is to blame for Illinois' failing climate policy, but far bigger problems are obvious.
Traumatizing robberies and violent crime continue to go up in Chicago this year, hitting a six-year high compared to the same time last year. It’s crime in neighborhoods perceived as safe, sometimes taking place in broad daylight, that’s driving the increased fear among Chicagoans and suburbanites. 
Ted was on The Chicago Way with John Kass and Jeff Carlin to discuss the proposed $5 billion lakefront stadium project proposed by the Chicago Bears & Mayor Brandon Johnson, why Chicago is struggling compared to other metro areas across the country, why the city might or might not go the way of Detroit, and more.
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