Progress Illinois

The PI Week In Review

Matthew Blake — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 23:17:48 +0000

Chicago and Cook County News

Members of nine local school councils Thursday filed a lawsuit with the Circuit Court of Cook County seeking to stop the Chicago Public School's Board of Education from closing or turning around their neighborhood schools. Progress Illinois reported on an intense press conference announcing the suit, where plaintiffs accused CPS of racism.

The lawsuit comes on the heels of CTU filing a charge Wednesday with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging that the Chicago Board of Education's 2011 layoff policy had a disparate impact on black teachers.

PI reported Thursday on a Cook County hearing on whether to amend an ordinance so the Cook County sheriff honors some detainer requests from U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. The hearing did not resolve this serious civil rights and public safety issue. But it did reveal that both Cook County Commissioners and Sheriff Tom Dart loathe ICE policies.

On Saturday, the Illinois Coalition of Immigrant and Refugee Rights held their second annual immigrant integration summit. The summit addressed hot-button political issues like ICE detainers and the implementation of the Illinois Dream Act as well as community outreach efforts.

Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown said Thursday she plans to keep accepting campaign contributions from her employees, which her challenger, Ald. Ricardo Munoz (22nd), has judged ethically dubious.

We looked Thursday at the use of Facebook in Rahm Emanuel’s successful 2011 mayoral campaign. Emanuel’s use of Facebook could offer progressive causes — and candidates — important lessons in utilizing the social network and other forms of social media.

The city of Chicago reached a $6.2 million settlement Thursday with some 800 plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit over arrests during a 2003 Iraq War protest.

The PepsiCo company announced Thursday that they will cut 150 jobs in the Chicagoland area in an attempt to focus more on marketing efforts. The company currently has 2,000 positions in the area.

PI attended a Chicago Tea Party meeting Wednesday at which video maker Andrew Marcus sung the praises of Rahm Emanuel’s education policy. Marcus directed a video that featured Emanuel, where the mayor talked about his support for charter schools and his early confrontations with the Chicago Teachers Union.

PI looked Wednesday at a new report that called for reversing the flow of the Chicago River to curb the invasion of Asian Carp into the Great Lakes. The report has already gained attention from top Illinois politicians. But environmental experts raise concerns about the proposal, including its price tag.

In a show of victory, about 50 activists returned to the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) Wednesday with a giant check for $33 million — and the now infamous golden toilet to symbolize the millions of dollars in TIF money initially allocated to the CME Group. Last week, the CME Group announced that they would not accept $15 million in TIF money the city approved for the financial exchange to renovate CBOT's bathrooms, among other plans.

Meanwhile, Standard & Poor's downgraded CME Group’s credit rating to AA-. Part of the reason for the downgrade, as explained by the credit ratings agency, is the MF Global scandal.

Chicago's homeownership rate is the lowest it's been in a decade despite historically-low mortgage prices and declining home values, according to Census Bureau data released this week.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle announced Tuesday that they have saved $20.5 million by consolidating parts of Chicago and Cook County government.

Springfield News

The U.S. Department of Labor Statistics' monthly employment report showed that in January the nation’s unemployment rate dropped slightly to 8.3 percent. However, many of Illinois’ unemployed are hardly encouraged – PI looked at a Jobs With Justice rally in downtown Chicago, where protesters pushed for a government jobs programs to assist Illinois’ 647,300 unemployed workers.

Peoria-based Caterpillar Inc. will relocate 1,400 jobs from Japan, but the jobs won't come to any of the multiple Illinois locales that tried to secure the plant, the manufacturing company announced Thursday.

PI reported Wednesday on the debate on Springfield over Medicaid cuts, noting that the health program is already a lean one. Our report also added that the state focused on reforming Medicaid just a year ago.

We looked Tuesday at state government’s latest effort to deal with vacant, foreclosed properties: the Illinois Building Blocks pilot program that will rehab foreclosed properties in five Cook County cities. The program will also add money to Illinois’ Foreclosure Prevention Network.

Meanwhile, a long-anticipated $25 billion national settlement was finally reached this week between five mortgage servicers, accused of robo-signing documents, and federal and state government officials. Local housing advocates are split on the settlement: Some say the banks should have forked over much more money, others applaud that some homeowners will get a reduction on their mortgage’s principal.

Illinois State Reps. Greg Harris (D-13), Deborah Mell (D-40), and Kelly Cassidy (D-14) introduced a marriage equality bill in the General Assembly Wednesday, calling it the Religious Freedom-Marriage Act. PI looked Tuesday at how the U.S. appeals court decision to overturn California’s ban on gay marriage might spur such legislation in Illinois.

Seven Illinois business groups, including the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, have written a letter in protest of Gov. Pat Quinn's anticipated nomination of Chicago Ald. Joe Moore (49th) to run the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.

Quinn signed a bill Monday that lets Chicago use automatic speed enforcement cameras around schools and parks, a move championed by Emanuel.

Quinn proposed eliminating the natural gas utility tax in his state of the state speech: the watchdog Citizens Utility Board says that large agricultural companies will be the plan’s chief beneficiary.

National News

There is positive news regarding U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk’s health. The Chicago Tribune reported Tuesday that a portion of U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk's scalp has been reattached, thanks to a reduction in brain swelling.

A gun-rights group called The Second Amendment Foundation said Monday they plan to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Illinois' concealed carry law.

PI looked Monday at a new “Super PAC” formed by CREDO Mobile, a San Francisco-based phone company that is aimed at defeating Tea Party congress members in the 2012 election cycle. These include Illinois’ leading light in the Tea Party: the state's 8th district U.S. Rep. representative Joe Walsh.

Mixed Views From Housing Advocates On Foreclosure Settlement

Matthew Blake — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 21:42:27 +0000

A coterie of Illinois housing advocates say a foreclosure settlement made with five big banks does not do enough to hurt the financial institutions or help struggling homeowners.

“The punishment doesn’t fit the crime,” argues Kristi Stanford, spokeswoman from the regional community advocacy group IIRON.

Stanford and other groups like Northside Power wanted the $25 billion deal to be something closer to $300 billion.

But some advocates claim that the national deal reached yesterday could give unprecedented help to homeowners – namely the $10 billion set aside to reduce mortgage's principals.

“This is the first time that servicers will be required to include principal reductions. Servicers have been very reluctant to use them,” says Tom Feltner, vice-president of the Woodstock Institute, a research and advocacy group.

“I definitely applaud [Illinois Attorney General] Lisa Madigan for ensuring that principal reductions are part of the settlement,” Feltner says.

Federal Housing and Urban Development, 49 states attorneys general (every state but Oklahoma), and five mortgage servicers – Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Citibank, and Ally Financial – reached a deal Thursday where the servicers give HUD $25 billion and HUD distributes this money to the states, including $1.5 billion to Illinois.

The deal came after more than a year of negotiations with the banks, which were accused of accelerating foreclosures through careless paperwork, including “robo-signing” documents.

Besides the principal reductions, another key part of the settlement is that it sets aside $2,000 in payments to individual homeowners who were foreclosed upon and were victims of the mortgage servicers' work.

Gov. Pat Quinn’s office yesterday estimated that the settlement would help 60,000 Illinois homeowners.

The settlement is limited to the five participating mortgage servicers – which make up a combined seven percent of the mortgage market.

Still, the deal is an important moment in the four-year foreclosure crisis because – unlike other federal-state housing programs – it legally compels banks to help struggling homeowners.

“This settlement will have an impact because it is a legal settlement and the banks will have to fully participate,” says Bob Palmer, policy director for Housing Action Illinois.

Like Feltner, Palmer said it was significant that banks now had to adjust the principals of mortgages for homeowners in danger of foreclosure. In previous programs, banks have negotiated over interest rates with homeowners: Negotiating over a mortgage’s principal may better address a home’s declining value.

Where advocates find common ground is in their relief that the deal doesn’t preclude future legal action related to foreclosures. So, for example, Madigan can continue her investigation of Standard & Poor’s credit rating agency and launch investigations against other mortgage servicers.

Madigan said yesterday that “this is not the end of our work to hold banks and other institutions accountable.”

Clerk Brown To Continue Accepting Employee Campaign Contributions

Matthew Blake — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:21:13 +0000

News links:

Chicago Tribune

Cook County Circuit Court Clerk Dorothy Brown will keep accepting campaign contributions from her employees, which her challenger, Ald. Ricardo Munoz (22nd), has called ethically dubious. Brown told the Chicago Tribune that she will continue to accept campaign money from people she supervises, noting that it does not run afoul of Illinois campaign finance law.

Munoz has largely framed the race for circuit court clerk as a referendum on Brown's ethical lapses. Both candidates question whether their opponent can manage an enormous judicial bureaucracy that includes 19,000 employees, a $72.5 million annual budget, and the handling of 2.4 million cases a year.

Caterpillar Plant Slated For North Carolina, Not Illinois

Matthew Blake — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:35:37 +0000

News links:

AP/WBEZ

AP/CBS News

Peoria-based Caterpillar Inc. manufacturing company will relocate 1,400 jobs from Japan, but the jobs won't come to Peoria or the multiple other Illinois locales that tried to secure the plant. The company wrote a letter to Peoria County lamenting "the business climate and overall fiscal health of the state of Illinois."

Gov. Pat Quinn contends that the decision mostly had to do with Illinois lacking port/ocean access. Caterpillar mentioned the lack of port access in their letter as one in a list of factors.

The plant is now expected to be built near Caterpillar's division headquarters in Cary, North Carolina.

School Council Members File Suit To Stop Proposed Turnarounds, Closings (VIDEO)

Brandon Campbell — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:58:35 +0000

Ten members of nine local school councils Thursday filed a lawsuit with the Circuit Court of Cook County seeking to stop the Chicago Public Schools Board from closing or turning around their neighborhood schools.

With financial and legal backing from the Chicago Teachers Union, the LSC members allege that CPS is targeting a disproportionately high number of schools with predominantly African American student bodies for these actions.

"The suit alleges CPS has violated Illinois School Code; and has violated the civil rights of the plaintiffs under the Illinois Civil Rights Act of 2003," the union said in a press release Wednesday.

During a heated press conference held in the lobby of the Chicago Board of Education building Thursday morning, plaintiff and Walter H. Dyett High School council member Jitu Brown called the board’s proposed actions “racist.”

Here’s more from the press conference:

“[These actions] are happening in predominantly African-American and Latino schools,” Brown said after the press conference. “There are schools that are struggling that have large populations of non-black students. [I’m] not suggesting that these actions should happen there, but there have been no actions at those schools.”

According to the official complaint, the student population in the 17 schools targeted for closure and turnaround is 83 percent African-American.

Union attorney Tom Geoghegan, who spoke at the conference, said the board has not taken the proper legal steps before considering closing or removing the staffs from the schools in question. Geoghegan said Illinois law requires CPS to put these schools on a one-year probation while they work with the local councils on improving school performance. As elected officials with certain rights guaranteed under state law, Brown and the other plaintiffs say the board illegally excluded them from that process.

“They’re supposed to tell us what we need to do to improve our schools as members of the LSC,” said Janice Beckham, another plaintiff and local school council member at Guggenheim Elementary. “Why is there a deaf ear to that? They talk about removing the LSC, removing the principals, removing the staff. They need to think about the fact that they are responsible for what’s happening in our schools today.”

While the Chicago Board of Education is expected to vote on the school closings and turnarounds on February 22, the plaintiffs are only "seeking injunctive relief from the actions, not the vote," according to Geoghegan.

Thursday’s complaint comes a day after the CTU filed another racially charged Civil Rights suit against CPS with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which alleges the school board laid off a disproportionate number of black teachers last summer. The teachers union said that last year 43 percent of the teachers laid off were black, while black teachers only made up 29 percent of CPS's tenured teachers.

Illinois Homeowners To Get $1 Billion In Mortgage Settlement

Aricka Flowers — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:12:09 +0000

News links:

Chicago Tribune

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan says some of the state's homeowners will see a collective $1.5 billion in the multi-state settlement reached between several attorneys general and the nation's top five mortgage lenders as a result of the robo-sogning scandal.

"While the settlement is a big step forward in our efforts, it is not the end," Madigan said in a statement.. "In Illinois, we will continue to take strong legal action against lenders, banks, servicers and others who contributed to the housing and economic collapse."

The five banks named in the $25 billion settlement are JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Ally Financial, and Citigroup.

Cook County Leaders Blast Federal Immigration Agency

Matthew Blake — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:19:36 +0000

Cook County Commissioners were inconclusive at a county board hearing today about whether they should amend the county detainer ordinance to honor certain requests from federal Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, to turn people over to federal immigration agents.

The hearing did reveal the intense dislike that Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart and commissioners hold for ICE. No one from ICE was present.

“The reason we’re here is because the federal government has abdicated its role,” Dart said, at the start of nearly an hour of questioning from loquacious Cook County Commissioners. Dart added that it was“beyond stunning” and “absolutely outrageous” that ICE declined to participate.

In September, Cook County Commissioners, with consultation from the sheriff’s office, passed an ordinance into law, by a vote of 10-5, that the sheriff’s office would no longer honor ICE detainer requests.

Detainer requests by ICE ask that local law enforcement officials turn over people, whom the agency identifies, that are both charged with a crime and believed to be an undocumented immigrant.

The ordinance received scant attention when it was passed. But a January 4 Chicago Tribune column linked the law to the June 2011 death of Dennis McCann, who was killed by a drunk driver. The person charged with the death, Saul Chavez, posted bond, was released in November, and has fled Cook County. His whereabouts are unknown.

The Tribune column provoked a letter from ICE head John Morton to Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle condemning the detainer ordinance.

Tim Schneider, a Republican commissioner from Streamwood, subsequently wrote a detainer ordinance amendment stating that the county would honor ICE detainer requests when it involved suspects charged with serious felonies or on the federal terrorism watch list.

Dart testified that he more or less agreed with the Schneider amendment, arguing that “there needed to be a distinction,” between “minor offenses and serious felonies” in the name of public safety.

However, Dart freely admitted that he does not know if would be legal to turn people over to ICE simply because they were charged with a crime Cook County deems especially serious.

“Do you believe you have the constitutional authority to hold someone who is entitled to be released based on a detainer by ICE,” asked Commissioner John Fritchey, a Chicago Democrat.

“A governmental agency giving me a request to hold somebody, I don’t really know how I would distinguish that from a local law enforcement agent saying, ‘Hey, let’s hold this guy for a couple of days and see what we can find out about him,’” responded Dart, a former state attorney.

Dart said that since the ordinance passed in September, Cook County has refused to honor 346 ICE detainers. Of the 346 set free instead of detained by ICE, 11 have subsequently committed a crime, according to the county sheriff.

Dart also cited an injunction by a U.S. District Court in Indiana in June against ICE. The court ruled that detaining immigrants without producing arrest warrants violates the constitution.

Several immigration and civil rights groups like the Illinois Coalition on Immigrant and Refugee Rights and ACLU also testified that ICE detention violates due process rights.

Preckwinkle was not at the hearing, but a representative from her office, Julianne Stratton, testified that the cook county board president does not support the amendments.

“We don’t believe immigration status should be a determining factor in whether someone is released,” Stratton said.

Amendment sponsor Schneider gave a subdued testimony that pointed out honoring ICE detainers does not cost Cook County much money. But even Schneider expressed frustration that “unfortunately ICE has declined to be here today.”

Maybe the strongest voice for amending the ordinance was Brian McCann, brother of the late Dennis McCann. He testified that an ICE detainer would have kept Chavez in Cook County, allowing for the missing man to be brought to justice.

Fritchey took issue with McCann’s testimony, pointing out that ICE had chances to place a detainer on Chavez and declined to do so. Overall, there was confusion about how ICE decides when to employ these detainers.

“Their process is an enigma,” Dart said.

Image: AP

Return Of The Golden Toilet: Activists Say Returned TIF Money Should Go To Jobs (VIDEO)

Aricka Flowers — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 21:54:47 +0000

In a show of victory, about 50 activists returned to the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) yesterday with a giant check for $33 million — and the now infamous golden toilet meant to symbolize the millions of dollars in TIF money allocated to the CME Group to renovate CBOT's bathrooms. The giant check was indicative of the collective $33 million in TIF funds that were returned last week — including the $15 million the CME Group turned down — by Bank of America, CNA, and the financial exchange.

“We took our money back from CME, and now we’re ready to get that money for jobs for our people,” said Charles Brown, a retired police officer and organizer with Action Now, at the rally.

After proclaiming victory for "working families across Chicago", the group marched to City Hall with a specific message for Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the Chicago City Council: Use the returned $33 million in TIF funds for job creation — and preservation. The group reinforced their message by chanting, “Whose TIF money? Our TIF money! Whose jobs? Our jobs!” as they marched.

Here's more from yesterday's march and rally:

Specifically, the ralliers, who were organized by Grassroots Collaborative, would like to see the $33 million used towards schools as well as keeping Chicago libraries and mental health facilities open and staffed. The ralliers also called for a moratorium on TIF projects in the downtown area, arguing that large corporations shouldn't be the first in line to receive financial incentives, especially during such harsh economic times.

“The 1% doesn’t need incentives, the 99% need jobs," explained Lois Nelson, a retired Chicago Public Schools teacher in a press release. "End the blatant TIF abuse in downtown slush funds."

The ralliers were unsuccessful in leaving the golden toilet and giant check behind for the mayor as mementos of their visit to City Hall, but a representative from Emanuel's office did come out to speak with the ralliers and accepted a note requesting a meeting with the mayor as well as a moratorium on downtown TIF projects and the allocation of the $33 million to "public jobs at our libraries, schools, and clinics."

Image/Video: Grassroots Collaborative

Lessons From Emanuel's Social Media Successes Could Help 2012 Candidates

Nathan Greenhalgh — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 20:30:19 +0000

The use of Facebook in Rahm Emanuel’s successful 2011 mayoral campaign could offer progressive causes — and candidates — important lessons in utilizing the social network to galvanize support.

“The ’08 campaign taught everyone in politics that by talking to people where they are, on Twitter and Facebook, you could quickly get your point across to them,” said Thomas Bowen, executive director of Emanuel’s political action committee, New Chicago Committee. “I’ll give you one example. We knew that early voting would be very important, so we used Facebook to push specific messages, even during specific time periods. If it was a weekend, you saw something like ‘your early voting location is open now’ ads.”

With the help of advertising agency Bully Pulpit Interactive, which was founded by members of President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign social media team, Emanuel’s campaign utilized Facebook to put information and multimedia content in users’ hands for them to share with their networks. Emanuel's camp also used the social media platform to draw users to the campaign’s main web site and interact with potential voters that had questions for the campaign, such as where to volunteer.

Bully Pulpit said that 30 percent of Emanuel voters interacted with his campaign online and that 87 percent of visits from social media channels to his web site, ChicagoForRahm.com, came from Facebook. Agency reps added that 30,000 new Facebook fans in Chicago (65,000 fans total) were connected to 2.5 million people on Facebook from the city. That means, according to Bully Pulpit, 98 percent of Chicago Facebook users potentially saw stories about Emanuel in their Facebook news feeds.

“We couldn’t imagine having run this campaign without Facebook, particularly in moments like the residency battle,” said Ben Coffey Clark, managing director of Bully Pulpit Interactive.

Bowen said that about 25 percent of the petition signers to let Emanuel run for mayor after the Illinois First District Appellate Court removed him from the ballot due to residency issues were from his Facebook fan page. The Supreme Court of Illinois later unanimously overturned the ruling and Emanuel won the election with 55 percent of the vote.

An effective online strategy

However, the Emanuel campaign’s online efforts were not limited to Facebook and Bowen said that the primary campaign web site was still the most important part.

“The Facebook page and the advertising strategy around it were components of our overall Internet-based strategy," Bowen said. "The campaign web site always had more traffic and is still the most important part of any web-based strategy. The Facebook page was not meant as a primary source of fundraising. It was meant for getting people up on the campaign and to broadcast information to folks where they were at — on Facebook."

Bowen said he would advise those looking to run a successful social media campaign for a political cause to clearly delineate a social media strategy and publishing plan.

“Firstly, know what your goals are," he advised. "You can use social media for a variety of functions and people often neglect to have a clear purpose when they start. Set the rules around that purpose, otherwise it can completely monopolize all your time. Lots of voters use social media, but many of them do not as well.”

Image: Technorati.com

$6.2 Million Settlement Offer By City In 2003 Protest Lawsuit

Aricka Flowers — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:58:02 +0000

News links:

Chicago Tribune

The city of Chicago has reached a $6.2 million settlement with some 800 plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit over arrests during a 2003 protest of the Iraq War. A settlement has also been reached in a second smaller case involving the arrests at the 2003 protest, but the dollar amount will not be released until both agreements are sent to the City Council for approval in June.

In the larger settlement, awards will range from $500 to $15,000, depending on whether the plaintiff was arrested, detained, and/or charged.

PepsiCo To Cut 150 Jobs In Chicago area

Aricka Flowers — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:37:29 +0000

News links:

Chicago Tribune

The PepsiCo company is set to cut 150 jobs in the Chicagoland area in an attempt to focus more on marketing efforts. The company currently has approximately 2,000 job positions in the Chicago area.

PepsiCo plans to cut a total of 8,700 jobs over the next three years, with the losses taking place in 30 countries. Company reps would not say how many of the job losses would be in the U.S., but did share that the net number of layoffs will be less than 3 percent of their stateside workforce. PepsiCo plans to put some $500 million to $600 million towards its 12 top-selling brands.

Tea Party Speaker Praises Emanuel On Education (VIDEO)

Matthew Blake — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 05:15:14 +0000

The Chicago Tea Party may not like many things – taxes, Mitt Romney, even the Republican Party. But the Tea Party did like a video made by Andrew Marcus, which champions Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s education policies.

Marcus, director of the video, “A Tale of Two Missions,” produced by the Michigan-based Education Action Group, was the featured speaker at a Chicago Tea Party event downtown tonight.

Marcus’s video stars Fox News reporter Juan Williams praising Chicago’s Noble Charter School Network as a glowing success despite strident opposition from the Chicago Teachers Union.

In the video, which Marcus played clips of at the meeting, Emanuel shares Williams' enthusiasm for Noble and says that the Chicago Public Schools and Chicago Teachers Union system of collective bargaining “was never designed for the kids.”

Marcus praised Emanuel tonight. “The mayor whether you find him genuine or not – maybe this is just temporary sanity – is on the right side of the issue if you are for school choice,” he said.

Marcus, who has made videos documenting the Tea Party’s origins in Chicago, noted his good fortune.

“In September, I absolutely would have laughed in your face if you told me I was going to be directing a short documentary fronted by Juan Williams where we were going to have Rahm Emanuel and the two of them were going to be leading the charge against unions in this town.”

Here is video of Marcus speaking:

Also tonight, Illinois Tea Party President Denise Cattoni was on hand with the message that “this is the most important election in our country’s history.”

Cattoni meant not just the presidential election but also Congressional and local races. That’s fortunate for the Tea Pary because – besides the group's animus toward President Barack Obama – Cattoni said she also disliked Mitt Romney, the likely Republican nominee.

“I am no fan of the Republican Party,” Cattoni added, naming Republicans like Illinois U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-11), who Cattoni doesn’t consider conservative enough on tax issues.

Cattoni is a big fan of one Illinois Republican: U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh (R-8). “We’ll do anything for Joe Walsh,” Cattoni said to enthusiastic applause.

Adding Some Context To The State's Medicaid Debate

Matthew Blake — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:09:59 +0000

Spending cuts for Medicaid is dominating talk in Springfield, as both Democrats and Republicans point the finger at the health care program as one of the main causes of the state’s budget woes. The current Medicaid debate, though, is perhaps misleading.

Here are some facts to keep in mind:

* Illinois spends about $7.5 billion annually on Medicaid, not $15 billion.

The Chicago Tribune reports today that Illinois spends $15 billion a year on Medicaid, which is a federal-state program that provides health care to the poor, disabled and some children and elderly patients. The Chicago Civic Federation, the research group that got the ball rolling on talking Medicaid costs with its grim budget report last week, stated in its report that Medicaid costs $14.3 billion annually.

These numbers are technically true, but substantially incorrect. The federal government reimburses Illinois (and every other state) at least 50 percent of their Medicaid costs.

Therefore, Medicaid now costs Illinois north of $7 billion each year – obviously a significant sum of money, but a far smaller portion of the state’s annual expenditures.

* Quinn signed major Medicaid reforms into law a year ago.

A bipartisan commission of state legislators held Medicaid reform hearings in December 2010. The commission agreed on a number of reforms that the General Assembly passed and the governor signed into law. These include eligibility cuts to All Kids Illinois and moving more Medicaid patients from institutions to community care settings.

The Civic Federation, for all its warnings – they estimate the state could have $21 billion in unpaid Medicaid obligations by 2017, outlined one specific policy recommendation regarding Medicaid: “The Civic Federation supports aggressive implementation of Medicaid reform legislation passed in January 2011.”

But it's arguable that the state has dragged its feet on implementation. For example, Quinn moved quickly, and with little public input, to shift Medicaid patients to community care settings. The governor announced last month the upcoming closure of Tinley Park Mental Health Center and Jacksonville Developmental Center.

* The federal government largely runs Medicaid.

The federal government sets minimum thresholds for who is eligible and what health services Medicaid provides.

Medicaid will expand in 2014, with implementation of the national health care reform law. At that point, the federal government will pay the entire cost of enrolling every adult whose annual earnings are less than 133 percent of the poverty level. For the state – and thousands of their most vulnerable citizens – to enjoy the fruits of health care reform, Illinois is required to neither cut eligibility nor most services currently provided to Medicaid patients.

* There's nothing left to cut.

Even if Illinois were to suddenly have the power to reduce eligibility and services, what, exactly, would it cut? As Progress Illinois has documented, Medicaid is a very lean program – it provides basic preventive and emergency care to those most in need. The costs of Medicaid have shot up largely because of the recession – they are more people without jobs, or with part-time jobs, in a still mostly employer-based health care society.

The lack of things to cut is seen in the Civic Federation report and the bipartisan commission’s fairly modest recommendations last year. Both the research group and some commission lawmakers recommended more managed care programs. But the cost-savings of managed care are unclear, and the state has a sordid history with managed care.

Illinois has problems paying its bills and Medicaid is a large expense. But Quinn and lawmakers may be hitting a brick wall by focusing on Medicaid as an area to cut.

CTU: Board Of Ed. Discriminates Against Black Teachers

Matthew Blake — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 22:03:12 +0000

The Chicago Teacherss Union filed a charge today with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging that the Chicago Board of Education's 2011 layoff policy had a disparate impact on black teachers, and therefore violates Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Four tenured teachers formally filed the charge with CTU.

The teachers unions points out that in 2011, 29 percent of all CPS tenured teachers were black, while 43 percent of all tenured teachers laid off that year were African American.

The EEOC filing comes amid a lawsuit CTU has before the Illinois Supreme Court regarding the Board of Education's failure to rehire laid off tenured teachers when openings are made available. The EEOC action also comes as the Board of Education plans to vote at the end of the month to close or turnaround 18 CPS schools, which would result in further layoffs.

S&P Downgrades CME Group's Credit Rating

Aricka Flowers — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 20:25:31 +0000

News links:

Chicago Tribune

Standard & Poor's has downgraded the credit rating of the CME Group to AA-. Part of the reason for the donwgrade, as explained by the credit ratings agency, is the MF Global scandal.

"CME Group Inc. is increasing its financial and credit risk profiles, in our opinion, due to the sudden growth of its over-the-counter clearing business and the newly provided protection it has extended to the trading customers of its defaulted clearing members," explained S&P in a statement. "The outlook reflects our view of the potential legal and reputational fall-out from the MF Global bankruptcy."

The CME Group was recently awarded a much-maligned corportate tax break by the Illinois General Assembly.

Marriage Equality Bill Introduced In Illinois

Aricka Flowers — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:58:38 +0000

News links:

Windy City Times

Illinois State Reps. Greg Harris (D-13), Deborah Mell (D-40), and Kelly Cassidy (D-14) introduced a marriage equality bill in the General Assembly earlier today, calling it the Religious Freedom-Marriage Act.

Bernard Cherkasov, CEO of Equality Illinois, responded to the news with the following:

We commend these leaders for taking yet another step towards full equality for lesbian and gay families in Illinois, and we are grateful to them for their leadership. This is just the beginning: the road to marriage equality is sure to be long, but it is one that we must travel together.
In following experiences of thousands of couples in civil unions over the past year, we confirmed what we always suspected to be true: that creating a separate institution to provide substantially the same rights did not add up to full equality under the law. A pharmacist who denied prescription pick-up to the patient's civil union partner didn't think it's the same thing as marriage. A coroner who refused to issue a death certificate to civil union partner survivor did not think that civil unions are the same as marriage. Tax preparers, estate planners, employers and employees do not think that civil unions are the same as marriage. Separate is not equal. And we at Equality Illinois will not rest until gay and lesbian couples in every corner of the state - who are equal in love - are also equal in marriage.
Just yesterday, the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit held that California’s denial of marriage in favor of domestic partnerships for same sex couples violated the U.S. Constitution.

Check back with Progress Illinois for more on this story.

Report Reveals How River Reversal Could Protect Great Lakes, Reduce Coal Access

Ellyn Fortino — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:54:37 +0000

A new report that called for reversing the flow of the Chicago River to curb the invasion of Asian Carp into the Great Lakes may have gained attention from top Illinois politicians, but experts are already raising concerns about the proposal, including its price tag.

The report, “Restoring the Natural Divide” -- produced by the Great Lakes Commission and the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative -- calls for the reversal of the Chicago River and separation barriers between the Mississippi River Basins and Lake Michigan, which is estimated to cost up to $9.5 billion. But experts say more political and financial support is needed before the project can move forward.

Those involved with the study say it’s time to educate the public on the dangers of allowing the Asian carp population to grow and determine cost-effective ways to fund the endeavor, said David Ulrich, executive director of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative and an author of the study, which was released January 31.

“We fully understand that getting the broad, public support and financial support is going to be difficult,” said Ulrich.

But, he added, “We are still in the early stages.”

Most importantly, Ulrich said, Congress will have to be behind the effort to stop the Asian carp, which can grow up to 90 pounds each and disrupt natural ecosystems because of their voracious appetite.

Asian carp have already been found in the Illinois River, which connects to the Mississippi River and Lake Michigan.

“Congress is going to be critical--there’s no question about it,” Ulrich said.

“All of the states are going to have to say this is important enough to help fund it.”

When the report was released, it won initial support from top Illinois politicians, including Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Gov. Pat Quinn, and U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin.

Durbin said through a spokeswoman that he welcomes the recommendations in the report; and he’s hoping it will influence Congress to move quickly and pass the Stop Asian Carp Act of 2011, which he co-sponsored last March.

The Senate bill, along with its companion bill in the House, requires the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to create an action plan for barrier separation of the Mississippi River Basins from Lake Michigan. Durbin's bill does not consider reversing the Chicago River. Both bills are in committee and waiting approval.

Ulrich said his team is working closely with the Army Corps of Engineers to fast track their work to determine the best solution for the Chicago waterways. (Progress Illinois recently posted an interview with the USACE team currently tasked with protecting Lake Michigan from Asian carp.)

Neither Durbin’s office nor environmental policy experts could say when the Senate bill is expected to move forward.

Howard Learner, executive director of the Midwest-based Environmental Law and Policy Center, said coordination among local and national political offices, environmental groups, communities and business leaders needs to happen as soon as possible to prevent the risk of “serious ecological and economical damage”, which could come as a result of the invasive species entering the Great Lakes.

However, “people can define ‘soon’ in different ways,” said Lerner, who served on the report’s advising committee.

But ultimately, funding will be the project’s largest hurdle, Ulrich said.

“Honestly, even though it’s expensive, it’s something that I think is within the realm of reason for a major infrastructure project,” he said, adding that the Great Lakes generate about $7 billion annually from tourism and sport fishing.

Learner said taking action may seem expensive to some, “but there is a high price tag for inaction.”

“There is no free lunch here,” he said. “If we close our eyes and allow Asian carp and other invasive species to get into the Great Lakes, we let economical and ecological costs go up.”

Molly Flanagan, program officer at the Chicago-based Joyce Foundation, which helped fund the report, said there has been “a lot of positive support” since the report was released, but not everyone is sold on separating the Mississippi River Basins and Lake Michigan.

Companies that use barges for transportation on the waterways have been outspoken opponents to separating the basins because, they say, it will lead to higher costs and delayed shipments.

Learner said there are obvious costs to current users of the system.

“It won’t be as easy to move up and down the river system, and that’s understandable why companies may be concerned,” he said.

But the single largest commodity that moves along the local river system is coal, Learner said. With mounting pressure from the city and state to clean up local coal-fired power plants, there is some indication the Fisk and Crawford power plants might shut down.

The State Line Power Station plant at the Indiana and Illinois border said it plans to shut down sometime this year, Learner said.

“If (separation) happens, the single largest commodity shipped on barges—coal—will be reduced anyway,” Learner said.

Top Image: Conceptual rendering - HDR, Inc.

Business Groups Try To Block Ald. Moore From Top EPA Post

Matthew Blake — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:55:40 +0000

News links:

State Journal-Register

Seven Illinois business groups, including the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, wrote a letter in protest of Gov. Pat Quinn's anticipated nomination of Chicago Ald. Joe Moore (49th) to run the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. The group's cite Moore's executive inexperience. But the real issue appears to be the alderman's environmental and labor record. This includes Moore's support of the stalled Chicago Clean Power Ordinance, which would put stringent new regulations on Chicago's Fisk and Crawford coal-fired power plants.

The State Journal-Register reports that it's exceedingly rare for groups to step in and block an appointment before it is even made.

Moore, meanwhile, has been in Springfield to lobby senators on behalf of his possible nomination.

Chicago Homeownership Rate Continues Decline

Matthew Blake — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:45:04 +0000

News links:

Crain's Chicago Business

Chicago's homeownership rate is the lowest it's been in a decade despite historically low mortgage prices and declining home values. According to data compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau, 66.5 percent of Chicago's housing units were owner-occupied in the fourth quarter of 2011, down slightly from 67.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2010. Nationally, the homeownership rate is the lowest it's been since 1998.

Crain's Chicago Business quotes Geoffrey Hewings, director of the Regional Economics Applications Laboratory of the University of Illinois, who said, "Housing for much of the first part of the century was seen as both an investment and as a piggy bank, and now with prices down, people are not sure."

Doctors Release Positive Kirk Health Update

Aricka Flowers — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 22:59:07 +0000

News links:

Chicago Tribune

The Chicago Tribune is reporting that a portion of U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk's scalp has been reattached, thanks to a reduction in brain swelling. Kirk's doctors are calling the development "an important milestone in his recovery."

City And County Governments Team Up For Small Savings

Matthew Blake — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 22:38:24 +0000

News links:

Chicago Tribune

Measures by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle to consolidate city and county services have saved $9.2 million, Emanuel and Preckwinkle jointly announced Tuesday. The biggest of these cost-saving measures is $4.3 million from the city and county working together to run elections.

Emanuel and Preckinkle started the cost-savings program when Emanuel became mayor last spring. The program has so far identified $20.5 million in total savings, a tiny fraction of the county and city budgets.

Cook County's annual expenses are roughly $2.3 billion. Chicago's 2012 budget is about $6.2 billion.

A New Attempt To Deal With Foreclosed, Vacant Properties

Matthew Blake — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 22:21:17 +0000

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn recently introduced a new pilot program to rehabilitate vacant, foreclosed upon properties in Cook County and give assistance to homeowners.

The multi-pronged Illinois Building Blocks program comes in addition to a menu of local, state and federal strategies to address vacant properties, foreclosures, and sometimes both of these huge problems at once.

Chicago, for example, has a similar program to rehab vacant, foreclosed-upon properties.

According to housing advocates, though, these government efforts lack resources – to both financially assist homeowners and communities and twist the arms of mortgage servicers to participate.

“With any of these programs,” says Bob Palmer, policy director for Housing Action Illinois, “the resources are limited compared to the scope of the problem.”

Building Blocks

Rebecca Boykins, spokeswoman for the Illinois Housing Development Authority, says that the state “met with major lenders regarding the program,” but adds that Building Blocks is “under development.”

One possible way of getting banks to cooperate, according to Boykins, is the state’s donation tax credit. Banks would get a 50-cent income tax credit for each dollar contributed to an affordable housing project.

The Illinois Housing Development Authority will put $50 million into Building Blocks and Cook County will add another $5 million. Building Blocks aims to “return vacant and foreclosed upon properties to their proper use” in six Cook County cities: Berywn, Chicago Heights, Maywood, Park Forest, Riverdale, and South Holland.

Part of that strategy is helping potential homebuyers purchase foreclosed homes. The state will provide up to $10,000 in down payment and closing cost assistance to homebuyers. Illinois will also lower the credit score needed to qualify for a mortgage.

Also, Building Blocks adds to the existing Illinois Foreclosure Prevention Network.

There’s more money for the foreclosure prevention network’s housing counselor services and also the Illinois Hardest Hit program – which provides mortgage financial assistance to homeowners hit by unemployment or severe underemployment.

Building Blocks unquestionably responds to a major problem.

The foreclosure crisis in Cook County has hit a new stage, where foreclosures are down but many foreclosed upon properties lie vacant, in a legal limbo. The average foreclosure case in Cook County court now lasts 567 days.

“There are more properties that are vacant and stuck in the foreclosure process,” says Tom Feltner, vice president of the Woodstock Institute, a research and advocacy group.

Feltner applauds Building Blocks for stabilizing communities victimized by the lowered property values, vandalism, and crime associated with vacant properties.

Palmer of Housing Action agrees. “The idea of targeting specific communities is good,” Palmer says.

The Greater Government Response

According to Palmer, what the state can do – with Building Blocks and the Foreclosure Prevention Network – is limited. The biggest funds for foreclosure prevention come from the federal government.

The main federal program, though, the Homeowner Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP, remains disappointing. About 736,000 mortgages have been permanently modified from the program that President Barack Obama said would help 3 million to 4 million homeowners when the president rolled it out in February 2009.

And, in the realm of vacant properties, the federal government has actually conflicted with Chicago in one way.

The Chicago City Council passed an ordinance in November to increase accountability on mortgage servicers that tend to hold vacant, foreclosed-upon properties. The ordinance would, for example, make property holders pay $500 to register a property as vacant.

But the Federal Housing Finance Agency sued Chicago over the ordinance. FHFA contends that they have the sole ability to regulate the vacant properties held by government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Fannie and Freddie have about 258,000 properties in the Chicago area.

Cook County approved their own, comparably modest version of a vacant property ordinance in December.

Chicago, meanwhile, plans to fight FHFA in federal district court. And they plan to implement the Vacant TIF Purchase and Rehabilitation Ordinance, which the City Council passed last May.

The city will use Tax Increment Finance, or TIF, money to rehab vacant properties, and turn them into affordable housing under that ordinance.

Julie Dworkin, policy director for the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, has worked with the city on implementation – and says that they have identified three initial TIF districts in which to roll out the plan.

Dworkin says that she does not know if banks will cooperate in either the city program or Quinn’s Building Blocks. “It’s going to be a building-to-building effort,” Dworkin says.

“There’s no global way to getting banks on board," she said, adding that getting the financial instutions to participate is “an enormous barrier.”

California's Prop 8 Decision Strengthens Call For Marriage Equality In Illinois

Aricka Flowers — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:56:14 +0000

California's ban on gay marriage has been deemed unconstitutional by a U.S. appeals court. The 2-1 decision undoes the 2008 ban put in place by California voters and has reinvigorated ongoing efforts for marriage equality across the nation, including in Illinois.

"I think the is a huge ruling that reaffirms the equal protection argument for marriage equality — that Americans in same-sex relationships should be afforded the same rights as couples in straight relationships," said Illinois State Rep. Greg Harris (D-13) in a statement after the decision was announced. "We watched Washington, New York and, Illinois, this is just one more step that shows the momentum is in our direction. For all of us who believe in equal treatment under law this just shows that we have to keep fighting."

Supporters of California's ban on gay marriage, known as Proposition 8, are expected to appeal today's decision, taking it to a larger 9th Circuit court panel or the U.S. Supreme Court. Even still, advocates for marriage equality say that will not discourage them from using today's victory to push for full rights — not just civil unions — in Illinois. From Bernard Cherkasov, chief executive officer at Equality Illinois:

The inexorable march to full marriage equality achieved a significant milestone with the historic ruling that Proposition 8 violates the U.S. Constitution. The court’s gratifying decision makes a clear statement that marriage equality is a fundamental freedom. This victory, if upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, will restore full marriage equality in California, the nation’s largest state, and add to the pressure in Illinois and elsewhere in the country to end marriage discrimination. In addition to the dignity and respect marriage equality grants loving and committed couples, it ensures security and critical safety net protections for all married couples and their families.
While we support the implementation of civil unions in Illinois in 2011, it still falls short of achieving full marriage equality on the state level and does little to guarantee the federal rights and privileges that marriage provides opposite-sex couples. With this ruling, political leaders who support full equality will have important arguments to share with state legislators who will inevitably be asked to vote on full marriage rights in the future.
Lawmakers need not wait for the ultimate disposition of the California case and other legal rulings to do the right thing in Springfield and Washington, D.C. to end marriage discrimination.

Chicagoans Far From Optimistic About Declining Unemployment Rate (VIDEO)

Brandon Campbell — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 17:52:53 +0000

For 32 years Janet Edburg worked as a laborer at Northbrook-based Leedal, Inc. helping to manufacture laboratory equipment like stainless steel sinks.

A mother of three, Edburg became a victim of corporate downsizing in 2008, and lacking a high-school diploma she has struggled to find work since then.

“I’ve gone into a very deep depression, even felt suicidal,” Edburg said at a Chicago Jobs with Justice rally on Friday afternoon. “One of my comrades here took me in. I was ready to be off on the streets, homeless. And if it wasn’t for him I would be.”

As one of Illinois’ 647,300 unemployed workers, according to the latest numbers from the Illinois Department of Employment Security, Edburg joined a group of about 30 demonstrators who were less than optimistic about the latest decrease in unemployment.

The U.S. Department of Labor Statistics’ monthly employment report released on Friday morning showed that in January the nation’s unemployment rate dropped by 0.2 percent to 8.3 percent.

Since August the country’s unemployment rate has dwindled by less than 1 percent. Meanwhile, as of December, Illinois has the eighth-highest unemployment rate in the country – including Washington D.C. Additionally, Illinois remains above the national average at 9.8 percent, down from 10 percent in November.

This slow decline in the unemployment rate doesn’t sit well with economists like Joe Persky, who spoke at Friday’s rally.

“At this rate, it will take us half a century, over 50 years, to get back to where we were in 2007,” said Persky, professor of Economics at the University of Illinois Chicago and member of the Chicago Political Economy Group, an economic and social justice think tank.

Here's more from the rally:

So, what do Persky and others with Chicago Jobs with Justice see as one possible short-term solution?

In a press release, the group proposed a government jobs program funded by taxing a dollar for every financial trade made in Chicago.

“We can apply a dollar tax on trades in Chicago and generate as much as $6 billion for a jobs program and education funding,” Lourdes Guerrero, an unemployed former Chicago Public Schools teacher, said in the release.

This type of so-called “Robin Hood tax” has been gaining populist support in Europe, according to a recent New York Times article. The idea has even been backed by American financial heavyweights like Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Hungarian-born investor George Soros, and former Vice President Al Gore.

After holding a press conference outside of the State of Illinois Building at Randolph and Clark the group marched to the Chicago Board of Trade Building on LaSalle Street, a sight that has recently become synonymous with the Occupy Chicago movement.

“It is amazing that our state officials continue to give tax breaks to folks who really don’t need it,” said James Povijua, an organizer with Chicago Jobs with Justice. “Average people from around the state do not support corporate welfare.”

Illinois Concealed Carry Law Could End Up In Supreme Court

Matthew Blake — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:53:44 +0000

News links:

Associated Press

A gun-rights group called The Second Amendment Foundation said Monday they will appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Illinois' concealed carry law. Illinois federal district Judge Sue Myerscough ruled Friday that the 2nd amendment only allows people to keep guns in their homes, and citizens can't carry weapons on the street -- upholding the state's ban on concealed weapons in public places.