THE ILLINOIZE: Thursday Free for All...Crisis for the Prisoner Review Board...Why is the Cook SA race taking so long to count?...Pritzker's sports betting proposal would bring the state a haul
March 28, 2024
Good morning, Illinois.
I’ll be filling in tomorrow morning on WMAY in Springfield. On Good Friday, we’ll be joined by Springfield Bishop Thomas Paprocki and many others. Join me from 6am-9am at www.wmay.com.
Between a 7pm Maundy Thursday service and a 9:15pm Illinois basketball tipoff tomorrow, I may be a grumpy boy in the morning.
I’m also filling in on my friend Collin Corbett’s Smoke Filled Room podcast tomorrow as he’s taking a couple of weeks off with a new baby. They’ll post the show on their YouTube page tomorrow morning.
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Illinois’ top parole official quits amid controversy over release of man accused of attacking woman and killing her 11-year-old son (Chicago Tribune)
The state’s top parole official resigned from his post Monday after his board allowed a parolee with a history of violence against women to be released from state custody before, authorities say, he attacked a pregnant woman he once dated and killed her 11-year-old son when the child came to her rescue.
Donald Shelton served on the Illinois Prisoner Review Board for more than a decade and led the 13-member panel since last year. His resignation was announced Monday by Gov. J.B. Pritzker hours after the governor also disclosed that one of Shelton’s board members, LeAnn Miller, quit her post for her role in allowing Crosetti Brand, the suspect in the fatal stabbing of 11-year-old Jayden Perkins, to be released from custody following a hearing to determine whether he violated his parole.
Authorities alleged the day after his release, Brand stabbed to death Jayden on March 13 when the boy tried to intervene in Brand’s attack on the boy’s pregnant mother at her residence on Chicago’s North Side. She was also stabbed during the attack but survived.
Pritzker on Monday afternoon praised Shelton, a former Champaign police sergeant, for “providing a model of dedication to public service” and working “diligently to keep Illinoisans safe and uphold our justice system.”
But hours earlier, the governor was more critical of Miller in announcing her departure.
“The Prisoner Review Board must be able to operate independently as they review enormously difficult cases, but I believe LeAnn Miller has made the correct decision in stepping down from her role,” Pritzker said a statement Monday. “It is clear that evidence in this case was not given the careful consideration that victims of domestic violence deserve and I am committed to ensuring additional safeguards and training are in place to prevent tragedies like this from happening again.”
In a statement on Monday, House Republican leader Tony McCombie, of Savanna, called for an overhaul of the review board.
“Lives were lost because of the lack of responsibility and due diligence at the PRB,” she said. “When innocent people die because of bad policy, we must correct course immediately.”
Related: Prisoner Review Board chair, member resign in wake of boy’s fatal stabbing by released inmate (Capitol News Illinois)
2 parole officials quit after released felon allegedly stabs ex-girlfriend, kills her 11-year-old son (Chicago Sun-Times)
Yes, the state's attorney vote count is taking a long time. Then again, it isn't. (Crain’s Chicago Business)
In a hot and stuffy basement under a Cook County office building on Washington Street, election judges and poll watchers were busy tabulating votes from the March 19 primary.
“It’s a little bit more of a pressure cooker over the next few days,” said Chicago Board of Elections spokesperson Max Bever.
To him, and perhaps many voters, it felt more like Groundhog Day. More than a week after voters went to the polls, tensions ran high as campaign workers for the Democratic candidates for Cook County state’s attorney waited to see whether the last batches of mail-in votes and nursing home ballots trickling in would break the razor-thin margins. As of the morning of March 27, the Associated Press estimated Eileen O’Neill Burke stood at 50.1% compared to Clayton Harris III’s 49.9%.
The weeklong wait for results in the state’s attorney race could become the norm for future elections rather than the exception. Since the start of the COVID pandemic in 2020, vote-by-mail and early voting has expanded across the country. In Chicago, more voters under 45 years old are choosing to vote by mail, Bever said.
That could also mean it’s less likely that races will be called on election night. Mail-in ballots become a bigger deciding factor in low turnout elections like this March’s Democratic primary, which saw just a little over 22% turnout in Chicago.
“It's not necessarily (that) we have a larger voting pool with more people voting by mail,” Bever said. “It's just we have the same type of vote pool — more people are choosing an early vote or to vote by mail.”
Related: O’Neill Burke builds on her lead over Harris as vote count for state’s attorney enters second week (Chicago Tribune)
Editorial: Illinois’ mail-in voting system needs a fix. It’s far too slow for today’s world. (Chicago Tribune)
Pritzker eyes bigger piece of Illinois sports betting action after 4 booming years (Chicago Sun-Times)
As bets roll in on another season of March Madness, Gov. J.B. Pritzker is aiming to bust the tax bracket for Illinois sportsbooks and net the state a bigger piece of the action from a still-booming billion-dollar sports wagering market entering its fifth year.
Casino sportsbooks across Illinois have paid a 15% tax on their revenue after paying out winners since legal betting launched in 2020, but the Democratic governor’s latest budget proposal would increase that rate to 35%.
Pritzker’s office says the hike, which is still lower than other big-betting states, is a slam dunk to generate an extra $200 million for the cash-strapped state. Major gambling corporations argue it’ll block growth in a market that has ballooned into one of the biggest, most betting-hungry in the nation.
Illinois’ 11 active sportsbooks raked in just over $1 billion last year, sending $150 million in tax revenue to the state, according to Illinois Gaming Board records. The state’s take would’ve been $350 million under Pritzker’s proposed 35% rate.
The biggest books — FanDuel and DraftKings, which won nearly $410 million and $319 million, respectively, from Illinois gamblers in 2023 — claim the hike would be bad for bettors.
They joined other big-time oddsmakers to form the Sports Betting Alliance, whose spokesman Nathan Click said “Raising taxes on sports betting will allow illegal offshore sports operators to provide better odds and a competitive advantage over law-abiding sports books, crowd out smaller, startup and minority owned operators and their business partners, and threaten the long-term health and tax revenue generated by the legal market."
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POLITICAL POTPOURRI
Did Gaza protest vote make a mark on Illinois primary and impact support for Biden? (Chicago Sun-Times)
You’re running for what? Campaigning begins for Chicago’s first-ever elected school board. (WBEZ)
Pritzker leans into role as Illinois' CMO (Crain’s Chicago Business)
Ask voters about taxpayer subsidies for Bears, Sox stadiums, former Gov. Quinn says (Chicago Sun-Times)
Labor rights for migrants could expand in Illinois as lawmakers weigh spending options (State Journal-Register)
Illinois teacher shortage persists, survey finds (Capitol News Illinois)
'Shortsighted' plan to change mail process in central Illinois draws ire of residents (State Journal-Register)
Bills in state Senate would further regulate battery storage and disposal (Capitol News Illinois)
New bill would strengthen child labor laws in Illinois (State Journal-Register)
Durbin highlights Amtrak improvements, growth during visit to Normal (Bloomington Pantagraph)
Highest-ranking woman in state police history reflects on experience as force looks to diversify (Capitol News Illinois)
Illinois Supreme Court to hear actor Jussie Smollett appeal of conviction for staging racist attack (Associated Press)
Vallas: Governor and mayor’s response to migrant crisis is an abuse of executive power (Chicago Tribune)
Opinion: Why Illinois is right for manufacturers (Crain’s Chicago Business)
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