THE ILLINOIZE: Monday Free for All...COGFA doesn't show up on prison plan...Transportation funding...Bears sliding into economic development talks
June 17, 2024
Good morning, Illinois.
We hope you had a great Father’s Day. Thankful for the little 2 1/2 year old goon who made me a dad.
Our current governor and former president lobbed shots at each other on social media yesterday. I’m not linking them because the name calling is just so dumb. You can find them if you want to.
Here’s your twice weekly reminder that only the coolest kids are paid subscribers to our Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday newsletters:
There’s nothing on the Governor’s public schedule today.
Let’s get to it.
YOUR MONDAY FREE FOR ALL
(note: we’re not responsible for paywalls and restrictions from other news outlets, because good journalism isn’t free)
Illinois lawmakers unable to respond to governor’s prison plan because they lack quorum (Associated Press)
Members of a legislative review panel on Friday said a state proposal to replace the ancient Stateville Correctional Center in suburban Chicago makes sense, but Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration needs to provide more details.
However, the bipartisan Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability couldn’t vote on its concerns because it lacked a quorum, with just three of 12 members appearing. Under state law, it had a June 15 deadline to render an opinion on the Democratic governor’s idea — but it’s only advisory and the process wouldn’t be affected if they don’t issue one.
Pritzker proposed in late winter replacing Stateville, a maximum-security prison in Crest Hill, and Logan Correctional Center in Lincoln, one of the state’s two lockups for women. Logan might be relocated to Will County, near Stateville.
“This is really a concept and not a plan,” said state Sen. David Koehler, a Peoria Democrat and co-chairperson of the commission. “What we’ve been presented with is the concept of replacing and building new facilities. But nothing has been worked out in terms of what, when and where.”
No one from the Pritzker administration attended the meeting. The Democrat added $900 million in the upcoming state budget to replace the facilities. State lawmakers, who don’t return to session until November, can agree that upkeep has long been ignored.
“The Legislature and thousands of employees and their families deserve more transparency, more clarification, and more information from this administration that is either incapable or unwilling to provide it,” said state Sen. Donald DeWitte, a Republican from St. Charles.
Prison employees — represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31 — packed public hearings this week. They oppose the idea because the Illinois Department of Corrections would close Stateville and demolish it while a replacement is built on the site.
Related: Lawmakers pass on oversight vote for Pritzker’s prison closure, rebuild plan (Capitol News Illinois)
Lincoln residents plead with officials not to move prison: 'You're gonna destroy my hometown' (Bloomington Pantagraph)
Stakeholders complain about lack of information on plan to shutter and rebuild Stateville and Logan prisons (Chicago Tribune)
‘We don’t really know what we’re voting on,’ top Dem says of Pritzker’s prison plan (Capitol News Illinois)
Illinois lawmakers call for more details on plan to replace prisons (WBEZ)
Crest Hill mayor backs plan to demolish, rebuild Stateville (Shaw Media)
Stevenson Expressway upgrades included in latest round of Gov. Pritzker's $41B transportation plan (Chicago Sun-Times)
If you soon find yourself stuck in construction traffic on the Stevenson Expressway, feel free to blame Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
Plenty of road work delays are coming down the pike for Chicago and the rest of Illinois under the latest round of $41.4 billion in infrastructure upgrades announced Friday, as part of Pritzker’s signature Rebuild Illinois program that’s been in progress since 2019.
“I can say to all of you: sorry about the orange cones you see if you’re slowed down in traffic. But in another way, I’ll say: sorry, not sorry,” the governor said at the state’s Stevenson Maintenance yard in southwest suburban McCook. “We’re going to have decades of roads and bridges, airports, river ports that are being rebuilt and that are the best in the nation.”
Touted as the largest multiyear infrastructure program in state history, this year’s massive allotment mostly covers roads and bridges, but also invests in rail lines, waterways, and bicycle and pedestrian accommodations, according to Pritzker’s office.
The total includes nearly $29.7 billion for road and bridge projects statewide through 2030, including about $5.3 billion for projects over the next year.
About $7.5 billion is earmarked over the next five years for transit, $2.5 billion for rail lines, $1.6 billion for aviation and $160 million for ports and waterways, officials said.
A total of $364 million is earmarked for Interstate 55 upgrades on 49 bridges from Wolf Road to the Chinatown feeder ramp, highlighted by full rebuilds of the Harlem and Cicero Avenue interchanges that are among the busiest in the state. Money will also go toward “modifications and signal improvements” for bicyclists and pedestrians, officials said.
Improvements are en route for 3,214 miles of roads spanning all 102 counties in the state.
More than 6,000 miles of roads and 629 bridges have already been revamped at a cost of about $14.8 billion under the Rebuild Illinois program, which marked one of Pritzker’s biggest legislative wins early in his first term.
Seeking to strengthen ties with business community, Bears president joins state economic development panel (Daily Herald)
Kevin Warren was named Friday to a statewide public-private economic development organization’s board — another recent sign of how the Chicago Bears president and CEO is rubbing elbows and elevating his profile in the local business community as he seeks a public-private partnership and taxpayer dollars for a new stadium.
Warren is among three latest appointments to the Intersect Illinois board, which has added nearly a dozen members in recent months as part of a CEO-centered restructuring.
A spokeswoman for Intersect Illinois said current board members appoint new members to the panel, and no other entity has a role in the appointment process.
That would presumably include the office of Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who is the group’s honorary chairman. Pritzker, however, does appoint the board chair; he named John Atkinson, managing director and chairman of the Chicago office of insurance broker Marsh, to the position in September.
Related: Bears CEO Kevin Warren added to state business development board (Chicago Tribune)
Intersect Illinois appoints members to new 'CEO-centered' board (Crain’s Chicago Business)
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Bally's won't open permanent casino in River West by 2026, gaming expert says — and may not build it at all (Chicago Sun-Times)
Ed Burke seeks sentencing delay (Crain’s Chicago Business)
1996 Democratic convention was redemption for Chicago — and Daley (Chicago Sun-Times)
Misinformation is a 'real danger to our democracy.' What can election boards do about it? (WBEZ)
Has performing arts employment in Illinois recovered from COVID-19? (WBEZ)
Editorial: Judge rightly halts state Democrats’ cynical bid to cement supermajorities (Chicago Tribune)
Opinion: Locking up ex-DCFS investigator isn’t going to save troubled agency (Shaw Media)
Opinion: Illinois just took a vital step forward for safer schools (Chicago Tribune)
Opinion: Impact of enforcement of illegal firearm possession reflected in university study (Champaign News-Gazette)
Opinion: The Illinois debate that made Abraham Lincoln a national figure (Chicago Tribune)
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