THE ILLINOIZE: Monday Free for All...Pritzker on CTA...Slow growth for cannabis sales...The pressure of the migrant crisis
April 22, 2024
Good morning, Illinois.
I don’t know about you, but the rise of antisemitic actions on college campuses is really bothering me. I’m not Jewish, but these attacks seem to go far beyond freedom of speech. It also feels like there’s a brewing controversy at Northwestern.
This isn’t ok.
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The House and Senate are out this week. The Governor is in Belleville and Peoria to advocate for the “Healthcare Protection Act,” which they’re goofily now calling “uplifting.”
Let’s get to it.
YOUR MONDAY FREE FOR ALL
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Gov. J.B. Pritzker says ‘evolution of the leadership’ needed at CTA (Chicago Tribune)
Gov. J.B. Pritzker called for an “evolution of the leadership” at the CTA, as embattled agency President Dorval Carter has looked to Springfield for solutions to a looming budget crisis.
Pritzker is the latest to weigh in on Carter’s leadership, as the CTA president has found himself in the hot seat while the agency struggled in recent years to provide frequent, reliable and safe service. At the same time, the Illinois General Assembly is weighing a sweeping set of recommendations about what Chicago-area transit could look like in the future, including whether the CTA should be consolidated with Metra and Pace into one agency and how to address a transit fiscal cliff expected when federal pandemic aid runs out.
Thursday night, from his ceremonial office in the Illinois State Capitol, Pritzker said changes were needed at CTA, and “that’s going to take some new leadership and additional leadership.”
“I think that there needs to be an evolution of the leadership in order for us to get where we need to go with CTA,” he said during an unrelated news conference.
Though CTA is based in Chicago, Pritzker has some measure of control over the agency, appointing three of the transit board’s seven members. And the recommendations under consideration by lawmakers have heightened the importance of Carter’s relationship with state officials.
The recommendations come as the region’s public transit agencies face a combined $730 million budget hole once federal COVID-19 relief funding starts running out, which could be as soon as 2025. The agencies have warned that failure to plug the hole could lead to catastrophic service cuts and fare increases.
Related: As 'Fire Dorval' gains traction, Johnson dodges questions on CTA leader's future (Crain’s Chicago Business)
CTA touts its ‘Second Chance’ program for ex-offenders, but few end up with permanent jobs (Chicago Sun-Times)
Editorial: The CTA is broken. Agency President Dorval Carter Jr. must go. (Chicago Tribune)
Editorial: Yes, CTA chief Carter needs to go. But that's not all. (Crain’s Chicago Business)
Illinois cannabis sales grow, but so does competition (Bloomington Pantagraph)
After some growing pains, Illinois’ legalized cannabis industry has been high on success on the green stuff — money, that is.
Recreational sales have grown from nearly $670 million in 2020 — the first year they were permitted — to more than $1.63 billion in 2023, according to data from the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.
But as Illinois weed enthusiasts toke up on the 4/20 “high” holiday, there are signs of trouble for the industry underneath the surface, most notably in the form of increased competition from surrounding states that have since legalized the product, as well as in-state competition from intoxicating hemp products that are taxed at far lower rates and fall outside of the state’s regulatory framework.
Though cannabis sales have continued to go higher and higher, the percentage increase from year to year has been lower and lower.
From 2020 to 2021, revenue jumped an exponential 106%. Between 2021 and 2022, the growth was just 12.6%. And from 2022 to 2023, the rate plateaued to just 5.32%.
And for the first time, out-of-state sales decreased year over year, dropping from about $479 million in 2022 to about $408 million in 2023, about a 15% decrease.
A possible culprit? The legalization of recreational marijuana in neighboring Missouri, where adult-use dispensaries raked in more than $1.1 billion during the first year of sales in 2023.
Related: Four Years After Marijuana was Legalized in Illinois, Cannabis-Infused Food and Drink is All Grown Up – And Still Has a Ways to Go (WTTW)
Jim Belushi nudges Pritzker to lower weed taxes (Crain’s Chicago Business)
Chicago’s response to migrant influx stirs longstanding frustrations among Black residents (Associated Press)
The closure of Wadsworth Elementary School in 2013 was a blow to residents of the majority-Black neighborhood it served, symbolizing a city indifferent to their interests.
So when the city reopened Wadsworth last year to shelter hundreds of migrants without seeking community input, it added insult to injury. Across Chicago, Black residents are frustrated that long-standing needs are not being met while the city’s newly arrived are cared for with a sense of urgency, and with their tax dollars.
“Our voices are not valued nor heard,” says Genesis Young, a lifelong Chicagoan who lives near Wadsworth.
Chicago is one of several big American cities grappling with a surge of migrants. The Republican governor of Texas has been sending them by the busload to highlight his grievances with the Biden administration’s immigration policy.
To manage the influx, Chicago has already spent more than $300 million of city, state and federal funds to provide housing, health care, education and more to over 38,000 mostly South American migrants who have arrived in the city since 2022, desperate for help. The speed with which these funds were marshaled has stirred widespread resentment among Black Chicagoans. But community leaders are trying to ease racial tensions and channel the public’s frustrations into agitating for the greater good.
Since the Wadsworth building reopened as a shelter, Young has felt “extreme anxiety” because of the noise, loitering and around-the-clock police presence that came with it. More than anything, she and other neighbors say it is a reminder of problems that have been left unsolved for years, including high rates of crime, unemployment and homelessness.
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POLITICAL POTPOURRI
Pritzker says state ‘obviously’ needs to change 2010 law that shrunk pension benefits (Capitol News Illinois)
Gov. J.B. Pritzker expresses support for expanded CPS school closing moratorium; House sends bill to Senate (Chicago Tribune)
Pritzker’s health insurance reforms targeting ‘utilization management’ clear House (Capitol News Illinois)
‘Proactive’ measure or ‘government overreach’? Lawmakers weigh ban on corporal punishment in private schools; most already prohibit it (Daily Herald)
Legislative fix in works for long-neglected Illinois arson registry (Bloomington Pantagraph)
Food additives possibly linked to cancer could be banned in Illinois under new legislation (State Journal-Register)
Can Illinois provide work permits for migrants? (WBEZ)
‘I’m begging you’: Distraught tollway workers ask board, Pritzker to avert potential layoffs (Daily Herald)
Reduced sentences may be eluding hundreds of Illinois prisoners due to poor record keeping (WBEZ)
Ballot bypass? Illinois sees lowest presidential primary voter turnout in decades (Chicago Sun-Times)
Congressional primary winners vastly outraised and outspent their opponents (Daily Herald)
How and why Illinois members in Congress voted on Israel, Ukraine bills (Chicago Sun-Times)
Democratic Convention organizers leaning on locals to handle possible migrant surge in August (Chicago Tribune)
Editorial: Illinois wetlands deserve protection. Lawmakers should make that happen, while there is still time. (Chicago Sun-Times)
Opinion: Government efficiency requires balancing competing interests (Shaw Media)
Opinion: Keep the White Sox in Bridgeport and remedy a legacy of neglect (Crain’s Chicago Business)
Opinion: Miller will likely go unchallenged in 15th District in November (Champaign News-Gazette)
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