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* ICYMI: The General Assembly returns to Springfield. Tribune…
* Related stories…
* Isabel’s top picks…
* Sun-Times | Gov. J.B. Pritzker says Texas Gov. Greg Abbott rebuffed his plea to pause migrant transports to Chicago area during freeze: On Friday, a spokesperson for Abbott said Pritzker’s request for a pause would not be granted. Pursuing the matter, over the weekend Pritzker personally paid for ads appealing to Abbott in five Texas newspapers: the Houston Chronicle; Dallas Morning News; Fort Worth Star-Telegram; San Antonio Express News and the Austin American-Statesman.
* Tribune | Out of work and running out of time, migrants struggle to find jobs in Chicago: Like countless other groups of migrants and undocumented workers across the city, Cuadrado has been getting up at 5 a.m. every day for the past month to stand in parking lots and wait to be picked for day labor jobs. When a vehicle drives by, he said there is a rush. People want to find work so badly they will push each other.
* Tribune | Park District closer to controlling state land in Tinley Park, hiring project manager: The Tinley Park-Park District could gain ownership before the end of this month of 280 acres of state-owned land that it plans to redevelop for recreational uses, according to a Park District official. At the same time, the district expects to get $15 million in state grant money to address environmental issues and move forward with initial steps such as removing underground storage tanks and clearing lead-based paint and asbestos from buildings before they are demolished, according to Lisa O’Donovan, a Park Board member.
* Here’s the rest of your morning roundup…
* Tribune | After conviction, ex-Ald. Ed Burke gets pension bump; former Speaker Mike Madigan now in line for hike before new trial date: Burke, Chicago’s longest-serving alderman, stands to collect nearly $50,000 this year — half of his new $99,200 annual pension rate — because pensions aren’t cut off for City Hall officials convicted of corruption until they are sentenced, which for Burke isn’t scheduled until mid-June. As a result, Burke received his annual 3% bump right on schedule when the calendar turned to 2024.
* Tribune | Homeowner exemptions raising tax rates, undercutting savings in some towns, Cook County report finds: A new report from Cook County leaders comes with a warning about expanding property tax breaks for homeowners: What seems good for one taxpayer can backfire on a whole town. Countywide, those exemptions remove $1.6 billion in annual tax revenue by lowering taxes for specific categories of homeowners. But the report found that in some municipalities, they don’t provide as much relief as people think.
* Tribune | Illegal bribe or legitimate ‘gratuity’: How a $13,000 payment to an Indiana mayor could alter political corruption cases in Chicago: At issue in Snyder’s case is a nuance in the federal bribery statute that makes it illegal to “corruptly” offer something of value to reward a public official for an official act. Chicago-area defense attorneys have long complained that relatively vague language has been exploited by federal prosecutors to criminalize a wide range of normal political give-and-take, be it a steak dinner or the hiring of a political crony, even when there was no quid pro quo agreement.
* WTTW | Illinois Secretary of State Says Updates Will Make Booking Previously Hard-to-Get License, Driving Test Appointments Easier: Giannoulias on Thursday blamed appointment hoggers: people who grabbed multiple appointments and never showed up without bothering to cancel the extras, and driving schools that he said hoarded appointments for students, locking up the program. Those issues, he said, should now be alleviated and his office is working with driving schools.
* Tribune | Drought that affected Illinois, other states was most expensive billion-dollar disaster in 2023, but extreme cold can be costly in other ways: Beyond concerns for the local unhoused population, the city is for the second year in a row contending with finding wintertime shelter for thousands of migrants. Because of the cold, Mayor Brandon Johnson postponed evictions until at least Jan. 22 for migrants staying in shelters who are due to leave the system. But with shelters at capacity, some migrants have had to find warmth in idling buses.
* Daily Herald | Radical course: What two villages are doing to transform beleaguered mall properties: West Dundee sees a mixed-use development with residential, office, retail and entertainment. Bloomingdale’s consultants have drawn up conceptual plans showing residential, commercial and recreational development in place of the mall’s former retail buildings and parking lots.
* CBS | Full interview: One-on-one with Mayor Brandon Johnson: CBS 2’s Sabrina Franza talked with Mayor Johnson about the migrant crisis, city spending, and other issues.
* Sun-Times | Six-figure skimming from city sticker sales, $200K in rogue debt collection fees highlight inspector general’s quarterly report: “People left with their stickers. But the employee was collecting money for themselves into the six-figures. … When people paid with cash, they manipulated the payment system so the system reflected the sale of the sticker, but not all of the actual cash went into city coffers.”
* Daily Herald | How data centers became the newest growth industry in the suburbs: A blend of several factors enabled this, with one in particular lighting the fuse, according to Josh Levi, president of the Virginia-based Data Center Coalition. “It was the tax incentive in Illinois that unlocked a lot of the growth you’re seeing now,” he said.
* Pantagraph | Illinois lawmakers created an arson registry. 20 years later, it’s still empty.: Nearly 20 years ago, survivors of one of the worst school fires in American history brought a novel idea to Illinois lawmakers: an arsonist registry akin to the long-established database of sex offenders.
* Sun-Times | Feds want a year in prison for Chicago police officer who entered the Capitol on Jan. 6: Insisting that he disregarded his oath as a “public servant of the City of Chicago,” prosecutors have asked for a year in prison for the Chicago police officer convicted last summer for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Karol Chwiesiuk and his sister, Agnieszka Chwiesiuk, ignored damage and violence outside the Capitol before pressing on into the building that day, according to the feds. Not only that, but prosecutors alleged that Karol Chwiesiuk lied on the stand during their trial.
* AP | Efforts to restrict transgender health care endure in 2024, with more adults targeted: LGBTQ+ advocates say that most of the states inclined to pass bans on gender-affirming care have done so, and that they now expect them to build on those restrictions and expand them to include adults. With legislatures in most states up for election this year, transgender youths and their families worry about again being targeted by conservatives using them as a wedge issue.
* KTSM | Migrant mother, children drown in Rio Grande; Congressman says Texas ‘bears responsibility’ for blocking border agents: “Border Patrol attempted to contact the Texas Military Department, the Texas National Guard, and DPS Command Post by telephone to relay the information, but were unsuccessful. Border Patrol agents then made physical contact with the Texas Military Department and the Texas National Guard at the Shelby Park entrance gate and verbally related the information. However, Texas Military Department soldiers stated they would not grant access to the migrants — even in the event of an emergency — and that they would send a soldier to investigate the situation. Earlier today, Saturday, Jan. 13, the three migrant bodies were recovered by Mexican authorities,” he said.
* WSJ | The Gun Influencer Who Used Small-Town Cops to Import Machine Guns: Sawyer got a strange request, according to court documents. A man named Larry Vickers, who held popular firearms-tactics training sessions for law enforcement, needed a favor: Could Sawyer help him import a machine gun into the country? All he had to do was write a letter that would be submitted to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives saying his one-man department was interested in buying the highly restricted weapon.
* The Atlantic | What’s Gone Wrong at Boeing: When, last week, a panel called a door plug blew off a Boeing 737 Max 9 plane in mid-flight, leaving a gaping hole in the plane’s fuselage, air travelers everywhere no doubt felt a shudder of horror—even though the aircraft was able to turn around and land safely. But in a sense, the startling thing was how unstartling the news was. In the six years since the Max—an updated version of the long-running 737, Boeing’s most popular plane—made its debut, the aircraft has been plagued by quality problems. The most dramatic of these resulted in two catastrophic crashes, in 2018 and in 2019, which together killed 346 people.
posted by Isabel Miller
Tuesday, Jan 16, 24 @ 7:38 am
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If the story about the U.S. Border Patrol and the Texas National Guard is confirmed, that’s some serious business there. Confrontation between armed state and federal officials is not supposed to happen ever.
Fortunately no shots were fired. But next time, who knows?
Comment by Friendly Bob Adams Tuesday, Jan 16, 24 @ 9:09 am
==Giannoulias on Thursday blamed appointment hoggers: people who grabbed multiple appointments and never showed up without bothering to cancel the extras==
Could some of the “appointment hoggers” actually be “victims of poor IT interface” and problems with the reservation system?
Comment by Stuck in Celliniland Tuesday, Jan 16, 24 @ 9:20 am
Query for Abbott: WWJD?
Comment by Steve Z Tuesday, Jan 16, 24 @ 10:12 am
Answer for Steve Z
Deny he knows Abbott when he arrives at the pearly gates.
Comment by H-W Tuesday, Jan 16, 24 @ 1:25 pm