THE ILLINOIZE: Monday Free for All
August 2, 2021
Good morning. We hope you had a better weekend than the Cubs.
Welcome to our first Monday Free for All. This will be a quick compilation of stories that I’ve been reading, things I’ve been hearing, and a little commentary here and there. It’s a lot of stuff we don’t have room for in the regular Tuesday newsletter or the subscriber newsletters on Wednesday and Friday.
If something catches your eye or is interesting, please send it my way to patrick@theillinoize.com.
If you’re not a paid subscriber yet, we’ve been waiting for you! If you subscribe in August, we’ll give you $10 off a yearly subscription- knocking it down to just $65. That’s about $5.41 per month.
Let’s get to it.
COMING TOMORROW
We hope to have much more on the stalemate in the negotiations on an energy bill and what may come next.
YOUR MONDAY FREE FOR ALL
(note: we’re not responsible for paywalls and restrictions from other news outlets)
Attorney General Kwame Raoul didn’t pay ransom in a cyberattack in his office. But it has still cost taxpayers more than $2.5 million. (Chicago Tribune)
The breach came just eight weeks after state auditors met with officials at the attorney general’s office to warn of deficiencies in the agency’s cybersecurity programs.
In the meantime, many of the basic functions of the office — including consumer complaints, public records disputes and financial aid for crime victims — are being conducted by mail and telephone as online access remains shut down. The office has established a call center to handle identity theft issues and other public inquiries.
Sen. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia), a candidate for Governor, and his supporters continue their detachment from reality. (Effingham Daily News)
Bailey encouraged his supporters to get out and vote, lamenting the roughly 78% turnout rate in Effingham County for the 2020 general election and lower turnouts in other areas he’s visited. He also spoke about training people to become involved in elections.
“We’re going to be training people to be poll watchers and election judges. That is the constitutional process that we uphold” he said. “We take care of the problem in real time. We don’t talk about having election fraud and then wait eight months later and wonder how the election went.”
Not everyone who spoke at the event shared Bailey’s tempered response to the idea of election fraud.
“Make no mistake, Donald J. Trump was overwhelmingly elected in this last election cycle,” said State Rep. Chris Miller, R-Oakland, at Bailey’s event.
By the way, WCIA’s Mark Maxwell got video of 3 of the 4 GOP candidates for Governor admitting they haven’t received the COVID-19 vaccination. (WCIA)
Steve Chapman says its time for the eviction moratorium to go by the wayside. (Chicago Tribune)
But the ban created widespread hardship for the people who provide these homes: landlords. Many are small-business people who depend on rental payments to cover mortgages, property taxes, utilities and maintenance. They fill a vital role in the economy. Their reward has been to incur a burden that properly belongs to all of us.
It may be worth these sums to avert a flood of evictions. If so, though, the cost should be borne by taxpayers at large, not loaded onto one disfavored group.
I can’t say that I agree with Chapman’s position that taxpayers should continue to foot the bill for rent, but at some point there’s a responsibility to pay your bills.
Related: $3 million in unpaid rent due in Kankakee County alone (Daily-Journal)
State rules Trump is owed $1 million tax refund for over assessment of Trump Tower in Chicago, but Cook County officials are trying to block it. (Sun-Times)
The Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board has decided former President Donald Trump is due a $1 million refund on his skyscraper’s 2011 tax bill, ruling last month that the Cook County Board of Review overestimated the value of the building’s hotel rooms and retail space.
But the Cook County State’s Attorney has filed suit with the Illinois Appellate Court, seeking to block the tax refund, which has yet to be issued.
If Trump ends up with the tax refund, it would come out of property taxes due to the city of Chicago and eight other government agencies, including Chicago Public Schools, which stands to lose the biggest chunk of money, about $540,000.
Some of our top links from last week:
State Made Unemployment Payments to Dead People, Children Under 13, People Over 90
Without Legislative Deal, Exelon Moving Forward with Nuclear Plant Closures
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