THE ILLINOIZE: Monday Free for All...DCFS...Casten/Newman primary...Bailey's #ell#ole dilemma
June 6, 2022
Good morning, Illinois.
We have just 22 days to the June 28 primary election. If it isn’t getting goofy enough yet, the money continues to flow, so you’re going to be inundated with mail and TV ads. One friend who lives in the Rodney Davis/Mary Miller 15th District primary received 10 pieces of mail on Friday alone.
I was on the WGN-TV Political Report show yesterday morning and had a good chat with the great Paul Lisnek. You can watch our conversation here.
Oh, and by the way, Joey Logano won the NASCAR Enjoy Illinois 300 yesterday at the Worldwide Technologies Speedway in Madison, just outside of St. Louis. The race was sponsored with $700,000 of taxpayer dollars.
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Let’s get to it.
YOUR MONDAY FREE FOR ALL
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DCFS staffers removed from duties following suspicious Uptown death of 8-year-old Amaria Osby, officials say (Chicago Tribune)
Two state child welfare workers were removed from their duties following the suspicious death of 8-year-old Amaria Osby late last month in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood, allegedly at the hands of her mother, officials said.
The workers, an investigator and a supervisor, didn’t try hard enough to see Amaria and her family after a hotline call alleged Amaria had witnessed her parents involved in a domestic violence incident at a restaurant in March, according to DCFS.
That altercation triggered a probe that ended tragically on May 25, when Amaria’s body was found at her Uptown neighborhood home, lying next to her mother, Andreal Hagler, who allegedly asphyxiated her, Cook County prosecutors said.
Two staffers were at fault, said DCFS spokesman Bill McCaffrey.
Cook County Public Guardian Charles Golbert believes DCFS’ violations may have caused Amaria’s death.
According to Golbert, Amaria is the sixth child to die since December despite DCFS involvement with the children’s families.
Many questions linger, according to Golbert, who pointed to the agency’s heavy caseload, due to a 21% investigator vacancy rate as of March, as a possible reason for the failures in Amari’s situation.
DCFS is in desperate need of reform.
Related: High risk, low profile? As COVID-19 warning levels increase across more of Illinois, Pritzker’s briefings don’t (Chicago Sun-Times)
Active shooter drills, yes. Cameras, no. Here’s what Illinois mandates for safety in schools. (WBEZ)
A bitter and sometimes awkward battle between two incumbent suburban Democrats has them fighting for their political lives (Chicago Tribune)
The 6th Congressional District is shaping up to be Sean Casten and Marie Newman’s Thunderdome: Two Democrats in Congress enter, one leaves.
As Illinois’ only one-on-one face-off between Democratic incumbents, the 6th District race in Chicago’s west suburbs has become one of the most bitter — yet also awkward — in the state. And as the race enters its final weeks before the June 28 primary, Casten and Newman are busy hurling barbs at one another over ethics complaints and their stances on abortion and other issues while also not so successfully trying to avoid the unseemly visual the Democratic Party helped create in which caucus mates are dragging each other into the mud.
The two-incumbent tussle makes for an expensive primary, with Casten ahead in funding with just over $2 million on hand at the end of March, compared with $552,510 for Newman.
They’re pulling in money from many of the big campaign spenders you’d expect to see backing Democratic incumbents.
Related: Recapping Illinois’ 13th Democratic District Debate (Illinois Public Media)
Survey: Nikki Budzinski, Democratic candidate for 13th Congressional District in Illinois (Belleville News-Democrat)
Survey: Meet Nikki Budzinski, 13th Congressional District candidate for Illinois (State Journal-Register)
Survey: David Palmer, Democratic candidate for 13th Congressional District in Illinois (Belleville News-Democrat)
Survey: Meet David Palmer, 13th Congressional District candidate for Illinois (State Journal-Register)
Big field seeking to fill big shoes in historic 1st Congressional District (Chicago Sun-Times)
'He was that independent leader': Former suburban Congressman Porter dies (Daily Herald)
Bob Dold: The road to a conservative majority runs through the suburbs (Chicago Tribune)
Endorsement: Gryder for Republicans in Congress District 14 Endorsement: Gryder for District 14 Republican primary (Daily Herald)
Endorsement: Villegas for the 3rd Congressional District (Daily Herald)
Endorsement: Krishnamoorthi for 8th U.S. House in Democratic primary (Daily Herald)
11th District GOP candidates divided on humans' climate impact (Daily Herald)
Survey: Regan Deering, Republican candidate for 13th Congressional District in Illinois (Belleville News-Democrat)
Survey: Meet Regan Deering, 13th Congressional District candidate for Illinois (State Journal-Register)
Survey: Matt Hausman, Republican candidate for 13th Congressional District in Illinois (Belleville News-Democrat)
Survey: Meet Matt Hausman, 13th Congressional District candidate for Illinois (State Journal-Register)
Survey: Terry Martin, Republican candidate for 13th Congressional District in Illinois (Belleville News-Democrat)
Survey: Meet Terry Martin, 13th Congressional District candidate for Illinois (State Journal-Register)
Survey: Jesse Reising, Republican candidate for 13th Congressional District in Illinois (Belleville News-Democrat)
Survey: Meet Jesse Reising, 13th Congressional District candidate for Illinois (State Journal-Register)
Darren Bailey’s Chicago ‘hellhole’ comment and the issue of crime become focus in debate among GOP candidates for governor (Chicago Tribune)
State Sen. Darren Bailey doubled down on his comments he considered Chicago a crime-ridden “hellhole” during a debate Thursday night of the Republican candidates for governor as he also sought to aggressively label rival Richard Irvin a “corrupt Democrat.”
But Irvin, mayor of suburban Aurora, sought to shut down criticism from Bailey as well as his other GOP rivals, saying they were upset because he was “hurting their political aspirations.”
But when Bailey was asked about what steps could be taken to make schools and the nation safer, he said that since Illinois already had “some of the most strictest gun laws in the nation,” the answer was “obvious.”
Related: Opinion: Chicago ‘not a hellhole’ (Chicago Sun-Times)
Opinion: GOP's six-way race for governor has become food fight (Champaign News-Gazette)
Opinion: How politics turned trashy (Quad City Times)
SOME TOP LINKS FROM LAST WEEK
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