THE ILLINOIZE: Monday Free for All
April 25, 2022
Good morning, Illinois. Happy Monday.
The House and Senate are OUT (thank goodness). The Governor has a 6pm campaign event in Chicago where he’ll be endorsed by pro-abortion groups, including Personal PAC, Planned Parenthood Illinois, and the Illinois branch of the National Organization for Women. There is nothing on his official public schedule.
I have manufacturing on my mind this morning. As some of you may know, the pandemic hobby I picked up was restoring and shining old dress shoes. It kind of got me into the “wear better shoes” mantra, including those made just up the road from here at Allen Edmonds in Port Washington, WI. I was invited on a tour of the factory Saturday with about 50 other guys from around the country on what was the exact date of the company’s 100th birthday.
A lot of times, factory workers get a bad rap in society. They’re considered “low wage” or “low skill” or they “never got out of high school.” While I can’t speak to the education level of the employees I met, but they were incredibly skilled artisans making shoes from scratch, pressing leather pieces out, stitching uppers together, and putting the insoles, cork, shank, and outsoles on by hand. They were incredibly skilled and I’m glad my money is spent on American shoes. (Just don’t tell my wife how much money when she sees my shoe rack in the office.)
In Illinois, the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association reported pre-pandemic that manufacturing companies in Illinois accounted for around 600,000 jobs. It’s a good reminder that our state runs on the work done by skilled people all around the state and we should always be thankful for the work they do manufacturing the food, gadgets, clothes, and cars we us everyday.
If you haven’t yet become a paid subscriber, I hope you’ll take advantage of it this week. We’re going to have to raise prices beginning in May (more on that tomorrow), so you have your last week to purchase a subscription at $7.99 per month or $75 per year this week. Subscribers get exclusive newsletters on Wednesdays and Fridays as well as breaking news alerts and previews of content like video interviews. Just click below to subscribe!
As always, drop me a note at patrick@theillinoize.com with anything that may be on your mind.
Let’s get to it.
YOUR MONDAY FREE FOR ALL
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DCFS director faces 9th contempt charge for improper placements (Capitol News Illinois)
A Cook County judge found DCFS Director Marc Smith in contempt on Thursday.
It’s the ninth time this year that Smith has faced contempt citations for failing to place children in settings that comply with the agency’s recommendations and court orders.
The latest case involves a 15-year-old boy with special needs who remains in a locked psychiatric unit despite a medical release on Jan. 31. The court ordered on March 14 that DCFS move the child to an appropriate placement by March 25. DCFS had not moved the child as of Friday.
Cook County Public Guardian Charles Golbert represents the boy in court and stated DCFS failed for months to schedule a neuropsychological exam to assess the boy’s special needs.
Gov. JB Pritzker’s spokesperson, Jordan Abudayyeh, said Pritzker and Smith share the judge’s frustration with lack of appropriate placements.
“DCFS is working hard to find placements for these vulnerable children with special needs. Tragically, when Gov. Rauner decimated social services, we were warned that it would be much easier to lose the 500 beds he destroyed than to recreate them again. Advocates warned that these services weren’t like a light switch that could be turned on and off with ease,” Abudayyeh said.
Golbert said the hope is the contempt citations will drive change within the agency, including removing children from inappropriate and harmful settings. Golbert said there are empty beds at existing group homes and residential facilities, but they are not appropriately staffed.
In the long term, Golbert said, DCFS needs to expand placement across the board, but especially in specialized foster care.
Gov. Pritzker’s budget set aside $250 million to hire additional staff, increase rates for DCFS’ private partners and create new residential capacity, Abudayyeh said.
“Since taking office, the governor increased DCFS’ budget by over $340 million with DCFS launching aggressive hiring efforts to bring on hundreds of additional staff,” she said. “The administration inherited a DCFS with outdated technology and inadequate trainings. Since then, technology has been overhauled and trainings and retrainings have taken place for every DCFS staff member.”
The contempt citations, child deaths and death of a DCFS investigator have drawn scrutiny from the legislature and the public.
Related: The state took his kids three times. And three times it gave them back. (The Southern)
Five years after the slaying of Sema’j Crosby: An unsolved case, continued trouble at DCFS and a fading memorial (Chicago Tribune)
Here's why Moody's Investors Service gave Illinois a credit rating upgrade (State Journal-Register)
Illinois received a credit rating upgrade Thursday from Moody's Investors Service, a bond credit rating agency. After a series of downgrades which began more than 10 years ago, it is the second credit rating upgrade from Moody's since this time last year.
Credit ratings are one way to assess a state's financial health because it is a common way bond buyers and investors assess the risk of buying bonds from a state. This can affect how easily it is for a state to borrow money.
Moody's, one of the three major credit rating firms, gave the state a rating of Baa1, the eighth-highest on a scale of 21 possible ratings.
"The state is on track to close the current fiscal 2022 with its strongest fund balance in over a decade," wrote the credit agency in its rating announcement.
The agency also cited Illinois' recent payments to decrease its pension debts and into its financial reserves, such as its "rainy day" fund.
Gov. JB Pritzker on Thursday used the upgrade to point out that any improvement is good for a state that has a history of financial mismanagement.
"There’s more work to be done, but step by step, rung by rung, we are steadily climbing the ladder out of a hole that was dug over decades," said Pritzker at a Tuesday press conference. "Illinois’ future is bright.”
Related: Editorial: Improved credit ratings show state knows where path to prosperity is, but can we stay on it? (Daily Herald)
Before voters can weigh in on November ballot, ‘Workers Rights Amendment’ must survive new legal challenge (Illinois Public Media)
Before closing out its truncated spring legislative session earlier this month, the General Assembly approved language that will be put to voters in November, asking whether Illinois should amend its constitution to add a so-called “Workers’ Rights Amendment” to guarantee the right to collectively bargain in a state with a long tradition of strong organized labor.
It was the second part of a two-year process — pushed for by the some of the most influential labor unions in Illinois — to get the question in front of voters in 2022; lawmakers already approved the exact wording of the constitutional amendment last spring.
But those behind a new lawsuit filed Thursday hope to prevent the question from being printed on the ballot in the first place, claiming the proposed amendment would conflict with federal labor law and that Illinois — or any other state, for that matter — doesn’t have the right to enshrine such a wide-reaching labor law on its books.
Attorneys from the libertarian-leaning Liberty Justice Center and Illinois Policy Institute filed a complaint Thursday morning in Sangamon County Court on behalf of several Chicago Public Schools parents and members. The Chicago-based nonprofits were also heavily involved in the legal battle and eventual 2018 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Janus v. AFSCME striking down so-called “fair share fees” for public sector workers who don’t want to join the unions that represent their colleagues.
The proposed amendment would guarantee workers in Illinois have “the fundamental right” to organize and collectively bargain for agreements on wages, hours and working conditions, all three of which are normal elements in negotiating union contracts. But the amendment goes further, saying workers’ fundamental rights to organize also extend to “protect[ing] their economic welfare,” which the lawsuit alleges is well outside the scope of federal labor law — and could usher in a wave of frivolous lawsuits against businesses, they claim.
Related: Republican Bailey’s forecast for ‘political climate’ of Illinois: A ‘storm’ is coming (Chicago Sun-Times)
Republican congressional candidates discuss immigration, inflation and more at UIS forum (State Journal-Register)
Champaign County native hoping to bring worldly experiences to Congress (Champaign News-Gazette)
Illinois risks missing merger deadline for local pension funds, delaying millions in savings (Crain’s Chicago Business)
SOME TOP LINKS FROM LAST WEEK
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