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Considerations before voting on District 220’s $64M Referendum

Posted in Associated Press, Barrington Education Association, Barrington High School, Board of Education, Chicago Tribune, Countryside Elementary School, Deception, District 220 referendum, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Education, Elections, Illinois Policy Institute, Look For The Union Label, New Normal?, News Media, OP/Ed, Organizations, Pension Funding, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Property Taxes, Public Safety, Real Estate, Resident Surveys, School Districts, Springfield, Taxes, The Center Square, Transparency, Unions, What the Ficke (Bradford)?, Wirepoints on October 29, 2024| 1 Comment »

Two months ago, a headline in the Daily Herald read, “District 220 seeks $64 million tax hike for new auditorium, curriculum improvements.” The photo and caption appear above.

Straightforward, right?  Apparently not.

That’s clearly not the primary marketing message District 220 wanted to convey now.  In fact, a recent post by 220 lead with:

“A successful referendum in November will provide the district with an opportunity to further enhance safety and security at all Barrington 220 schools.”

There was no mention of an auditorium or curriculum improvement whatsoever.

Plus, a recent post on X mirrored that message:

Obviously, the highly paid 220 spin consultants have shifted their messages (featuring cheerleaders no less) to appeal to voters by diverting their attention, and we have issues with that.

However, we won’t go there.  Instead, aside from a few editorials and edited District 220 posts, The Observer would like to present the following objective headlines/stories since the last 220 election to refresh your memories…

“Our Atrium: the heart of nowhere” – Posted by The Barrington Hills Observer October 19, 2024, published by THE ROUNDUP, February 23, 2024

“What message are you spinning to taxpayers 220?” – The Barrington Hills Observer, October 17, 2024

“Politics for sale: Big money floods Illinois campaigns with few rules and little enforcement” – Chicago Tribune September 1, 2024

“District 220 seeks $64 million tax hike for new auditorium, curriculum improvements” – Daily Herald August 24, 2024

“How’s my community? Measures of how your piece of Illinois is doing.” – Illinois Policy Institute July 22, 2024

“The big myth that needs debunking: Illinois needs more money for education – Wirepoints Special Report” – May 25, 2024

(Click on graphic to enlarge)

“New 2023 School Report Cards reveal to parents Illinois’ dismal student outcomes“ – Wirepoints May 21, 2024

“Illinois has MORE educators, LESS students than ever, yet officials complain about a ‘teacher shortage’” – Wirepoints May 15, 2024

“One big reason it’s hard to track Illinois’ educational failures. Officials keep changing the standardized tests.” Wirepoints March 25, 2024

“Study: Illinois’ spending per student is one of highest in the country” – The Center Square February 28, 2024

“Why are Americans becoming more stupid? Our entire education system needs a revolution” – UnHeard February 26, 2024

“District 220 Board to form Referendum Advisory Committee in 2024“ District 220 update December 21, 2023

“District 220 Board approves estimated 2023 tax levy (6.3%)” – District 220 update on November 27, 2023

“220 Board plans to form referendum advisory committee to gain fine, visual & performing arts feedback” – District 220 update November 8, 2023

“Barrington School District teachers to get raise, more time for leave and parent-teacher conferences withnew union pact” – Pioneer Press November 6, 2023

“5 facts they don’t want you to know about Illinois’ 2023 student test results” – Wirepoints October 31, 2023

“North suburban homeowners seeing biggest property tax increase in 30 years, treasurer’s analysis finds” – Chicago Tribune October 30, 2023

“District 220 enrollment numbers continue to decline” – District 220 update October 18, 2023

“District 220 to offer ‘free’ full-day kindergarten” District 220 October 18, 2023

“ACT test scores for US students drop to new 30-year low” Associated Press October 11, 2023

“District 220 Board begins review of possibilities for new fine, visual & performing arts spaces at BHS (3 options)” District 220 update October 4, 2023

“Low 3rd-grade literacy is warning for future learning, earning potential” – Illinois Policy Institute October 2, 2023

“How Illinois public school measures fail to add up” – Illinois Policy Institute September 27, 2023

“New Illinois law ‘closes’ loophole to prevent sexual grooming of students” – The Center Square August 8, 2023

“New Illinois law allows ten (10) paid days off from teaching for union work” – Illinois Policy Institute June 16, 2023

“Over 4 of 5 Illinois law makers get money from Teachers Unions” – Illinois Policy Institute June 14, 2023

AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File

“Pritzker signs law stripping libraries that ban books from state funding” – The Center Square June 12, 2023

“Illinois has more graduates but with lower scores, fewer heading to college” Illinois Policy Institute June 1, 2023

“District 220’s private equity campaign” – The Barrington Hills Observer May 9, 2023

“New Board of Education sworn into office” – District 220 update May 4, 2023

“‘We have a lot of healing to do’: Incumbents hanging on in contentious Barrington 220 race” – Daily Herald April 6, 2023

Considering all of this, we have one question for voters: “What components in CUSD 220’s $64M Referendum actually addresses getting student’s education and scores back on track?”

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Editorial: Illinoisans, vote ‘no’ on the millionaire’s tax ballot question

Posted in Chicago Tribune, Elections, Fat Bastard, OP/Ed, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Property Taxes, Springfield, Taxes on October 27, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Editorial cartoonist Scott Stantis for Sun, Oct 27, 2024 on millionaire tax referendum. | Scott Stantis/For the Chicago Tribune (Click on image to enlarge)

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD | Chicago Tribune

“Should the Illinois Constitution be amended to create an additional 3% tax on income greater than $1,000,000 for the purpose of dedicating funds raised to property tax relief?”

This statewide ballot question, dubbed by its supporters as the Illinois Property Tax Relief Amendment Referendum, has been pushed by former Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn. Other prominent and predictable supporters of this nonbinding referendum include U.S. Reps. Jesús “Chuy” García and Danny Davis.

These Democrats are linking the property tax crisis among the middle class in Illinois (specifically, the huge hikes in bills seen in the recently reassessed South and West suburbs in Cook County) with tax rates for high-income Illinoisans. By saying they are earmarking the potential revenue for property tax relief, they are disguising what otherwise is a simple state tax increase on high earners.

How much this endeavor would swell Illinois coffers is disputed, but WBEZ reported Thursday that the state’s revenue department has estimated it would raise $4.5 billion.

By way of background, note that the Illinois Constitution states that the state shall have a flat tax: specifically, “a tax on or measured by income shall be at a non-graduated rate.” Most likely, the passage of this question would lead to another ballot initiative for a constitutional amendment.

Note also that voters rejected a 2020 effort by Gov. JB Pritzker to establish a graduated state income tax that would have reduced the current 4.99% flat rate on single and joint filers making under $100,000 and variously increased it on those above that level; the Chicago Teachers Union, looking for money for its members, wants the governor to try again. Naturally.

We say the voters already spoke. We encouraged a ‘no’ vote on that 2020 effort saying, in part, that “the beauty of today’s flat rate is that raising it on everyone at once is much harder politically than gouging one cohort at a time. This amendment would strip taxpayers of their leverage against ever-more hikes.”

Clearly, voters agreed and that argument still holds.

Read more here.

Related: “‘Millionaire’ Tax would be $2-$3.3 billion short of providing any property tax relief,” “Legislator says ‘millionaire tax’ will make Illinois a ‘business desert’ (McLaughlin),” “Should Illinois millionaires fund property tax relief?”

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Chicago Tribune endorses Martin McLaughlin

Posted in Chicago Tribune, Elections, Ethics, OP/Ed, Politics, Property Taxes, Resident Spotlights, Springfield, Taxes on October 25, 2024| 2 Comments »

Martin McLaughlin. (Martin McLaughlin campaign)

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD | Chicago Tribune

Today, the Tribune Editorial Board publishes our third installment of endorsements for all contested Illinois House races in 2024.

District 52

Republican incumbent Martin McLaughlin has represented this northwest suburban district for two terms. He faces a tough test from Maria Peterson, a retired attorney who has served on the Lake County Zoning Board of Appeals and the North Barrington Plan Commission.

McLaughlin, former village president of Barrington Hills, is a consistent critic of Springfield Democrats and a believer in smaller government. We appreciate his advocacy for loosening the strict deadlines on closure of fossil-fuel-fired power plants per the 2021 Climate & Equitable Jobs Act, which threatens to leave northern Illinois vulnerable to electricity shortages by 2030.

Peterson is a moderate Democrat who backs consolidation of Illinois’ absurdly large number of taxing bodies, which we applaud.

Still, McLaughlin’s fiscal conservatism is needed in Springfield at this time.

We endorse Martin McLaughlin.

Read more endorsements here.

Related: Endorsement: McLaughlin for Illinois House Dist. 52 – Daily Herald

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Miranda Devine and The Big Guy

Posted in Chicago Tribune, Deception, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Elections, Ethics, John Kass, New York Post, News Media, OP/Ed, Perjury, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, The New York Times on October 7, 2024| Leave a Comment »

By John Kass

I want you to get yourself a book. It is an important, special book written for those of you who love your country, pay your taxes and play by the rules. It has a great title, written by a fearless reporter, Miranda Devine of the New York Post:

“The Big Guy: How a President and His Son Sold Out America”

It’s all about the cover-up, backed up by hard facts and on-the-record testimony about the liars who abused you, me, our nation, all of us. It has been written cleanly, clearly. So if you care about America, you’ll rush and order this great book now.

And while you’re ordering, how about I tell you a story?

A few years ago after she came out with her first book on Joe Biden’s oily corruption, “Laptop From Hell” (another great read) I was at “the paper.” And sometimes I’d hear the wailing and sighs of agony when I’d tell my editors I planned on writing a column in support of Miranda Devine of The New York Post.

You ever take children to the dentist for a tooth-pull? It sounded like that.

Their sighs, tiny screams and complaints meant I was over the target. No doubt journalistic curiosity had been squeezed out of them by the Shameless 51, the liars of the so-called “Intelligence Community” who’d been wrangled to protect the corrupt China Joe Biden and elect him president over the objections of people with common sense.

The best editors, the most respected, such as John McCormick and Bruce Dold were already gone. And my dear friend Kristen McQueary was either gone or on the way out the door. She, like Devine was a tough reporter who deserved more than she received from the Trib. One thing she’d never do–she’d never whine about a good column coming her way, one that readers would read because it had all the elements of a good story: The use of raw political power and money and sex.

But this new breed of woke editors terrified of angering the rabid left wing (I took to thinking of them as news suppressors) weren’t enthused by Miranda Devine’s great stories.

The once-great paper was repeating a pattern of self-destruction becoming woke, before it went broke.

I was about to go, too, but I didn’t know it yet then.

Miranda Devine was and is the lead columnist at the New York Post, a tabloid that understood a good story. She loves tabloids. She’s unpretentious and curious. She’s a tough, seasoned pro who came from a newspaper family. I knew of her father, the late Frank Devine when he was editor of the Chicago Sun Times.

Read more here.

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Editorial: An electricity crisis is looming for Illinois. Is anybody paying attention in Springfield?

Posted in Chicago Tribune, Going green, OP/Ed, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Scott Stantis, Springfield, Topics Of Interest, Unions on September 18, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Editorial cartoonist Scott Stantis on Gov. JB Pritzker and energy shortages for Wed, Sept 17, 2024. (Scott Stantis/For the Chicago Tribune)

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD | Chicago Tribune

In 2021, Illinois enacted a comprehensive clean energy law mandating the closure of all coal- and natural gas-fired power plants by 2045. As part of the Climate & Equitable Jobs Act, one of Gov. JB Pritzker’s signature legislative accomplishments, a large number of gas-fired facilities were to be shuttered by 2030.

At the time, there were warnings from industry and others that the intermediate 2030 mandate would jeopardize electricity reliability in the state. With Illinois then producing more power than it consumed, Pritzker and the many environmental groups that backed the law said such predictions were alarmist and off-base.

Just three years later, it appears the alarmists were right, and Pritzker and the green lobby were wrong.

Payments to power generators in return for their promise to produce to their capacity when demand is highest — as established via an auction overseen by PJM Interconnection, the grid manager for a large swath of the U.S. from northern Illinois to the mid-Atlantic — are set to soar more than 800% and will raise all our electric bills beginning next June.

That charge is embedded in the rates users pay for power and is in addition to the cost for the electricity itself. In effect, it is akin to an insurance premium — in this case, a payment each month to plant owners for their promise to deliver when the need arises.

In the northern Illinois territory served by Commonwealth Edison, average residential electric bills will increase by $15 per month beginning in June due to this effect alone, according to ComEd. That increase will be significantly more pronounced for single-family homes, since ComEd’s averages are skewed lower than in less urban areas by the large number of Chicago apartment dwellers it serves. (The blow will be softened a bit due to a ratepayer credit under state law of nearly $4.35 per month from nuclear operator Constellation Energy Group.) All told, even after that credit, ComEd residential bills will rise by about 10.5% due to this charge alone — and that’s before a possible ComEd power delivery rate hike.

Get prepared for worse beginning in mid-2026.

Wall Street firm Morgan Stanley projects this insurance-like charge could be up to 2,200% higher than it is today, inflating average monthly ComEd residential bills by more than $35 compared with current charges. We’ll know how bad the damage is in December when PJM conducts its power-generator auction for the year from June 2026 to May 2027.

The unprecedented spike in these “capacity” charges isn’t an accident. Simple supply-and-demand realities are the reason. Many fossil fuel power plants have closed in recent years, because of environmental rules and market conditions. And the growth in renewable power facilities such as wind and solar isn’t making up enough of the difference.

The problems are not limited to northern Illinois. Central and southern Illinois, which fall under the purview of multi-state grid manager Midcontinent Independent System Operator, will be about 50% short of the capacity to keep the lights on during highest-demand periods as soon as 2027, according to MISO. That situation should be ringing alarm bells.

The shortage issue isn’t as dire in northern Illinois. But the 2030 plant-closure mandates in Illinois’ clean energy law, if unchanged, will threaten reliability during peak periods by 2030 in the Chicago area, according to PJM.

But the crisis could be upon northern Illinois even faster than that, because future demand is projected to soar even as supply falls.

Read more here.

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Editorial: Chicago must keep ShotSpotter. The data leaves no doubt.

Posted in Accidents, Chicago Tribune, Crime, OP/Ed, Politics, Preckwinkle's Rules of Order, Unions on September 15, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Editorial cartoonist Scott Stantis on ShotSpotter for for Sun, Sept 15, 2024. (Scott Stantis/For the Chicago Tribune)

The Editorial Board | Chicago Tribune

There now is no question that Chicago needs the gunfire detection technology known as ShotSpotter.

We sympathize with those who wish this financially strapped city did not have use for an expensive system designed to get police officers more quickly to a bloody scene on its streets. We dearly wish the same. But the data is clear. Need it we do. To remove it will cost the lives of Chicagoans.

Back in May, we noted that whatever arguments had been made against ShotSpotter as a tool to catch and arrest violent criminals were ignoring something yet more important: the technology’s ability to get help quickly for shooting victims, including those rapidly bleeding to death. In an ideal city, people would call 911 and emergency workers would rush immediately to the scene; heck, in an ideal city, those scenes would never materialize in the first place. But we do not inhabit such a halcyon place. In the here and now, those scenes play out every weekend.

On Thursday, this newspaper published an op-ed piece by researchers from the University of Chicago’s Crime Lab using new data from their work in the field. The conclusion? ShotSpotter saves lives.

When Joe Ferguson, then the city’s inspector general, wrote a 2021 report on the Chicago Police Department’s use of ShotSpotter, he rightly made the point that more data was needed. On Thursday, we published more data.

The Crime Lab methodology looked at the differences between what happened at shooting scenes right at the boundaries of adjoining police districts — those that have ShotSpotter and those that do not. The idea was to capture as much of a like environment as possible. Districts have to be divided somewhere and if you look right at where they meet, then other demographic and socioeconomic factors are far less likely to come into play; researchers in other fields, such as education, use the same technique.

What did the University of Chicago researchers find? “After ShotSpotter goes live, fatality rates are about 4 percentage points lower in the areas with the technology. With an overall fatality rate of 17%, this is about a one-quarter drop in the odds the victim dies.”

And if that were not persuasive enough? “Given the number of shootings each year in the police districts that currently have ShotSpotter, there is, roughly speaking, a 3-in-4 chance that the technology saves about 85 lives per year. That comes from multiplying a 4-percentage-point change in the fatality rate by the total number of shootings in the ShotSpotter areas, equal to 2,124 in 2023.”

That’s written in hedged data speak, not the kind of fevered political debate you might find on the floor of the City Council. But only a fool cannot see that makes for determinative evidence that ShotSpotter saves a lot of lives by getting help to victims sooner.

Read more here.

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Politics for sale: Big money floods Illinois campaigns with few rules and little enforcement

Posted in 220, Appointments, Barrington Education Association, Chicago Tribune, Deception, District 220 referendum, Elections, Ethics, Fat Bastard, Illinois State Board of Elections, OP/Ed, Organizations, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Property Taxes, School Districts, Springfield, Taxes, The Chicago Way, Unions, What the Ficke (Bradford)? on September 1, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Loose rules on campaign cash have allowed legislative leaders in Springfield to consolidate their power and protect incumbents by directing the flow of money to preferred candidates. | Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune

By RAY LONG and RICK PEARSON | Chicago Tribune

At the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, the importance of money in national politics was clear, from the appeals made at fancy fundraisers to the unrelenting streams of video ads and text messages.

But in Illinois, big money is inundating politics at a pace that virtually puts government offices in the Land of Lincoln up for sale.

Few states invite politicians to raise and spend so aggressively as Illinois, where large infusions of cash led by billionaire Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker and his billionaire Republican enemies are enabled by loose rules and feeble enforcement standards that tempt politicians to push the limits of campaign finance boundaries.

As part of the ongoing series “Culture of Corruption,” which explores how Illinois’ voracious politics, structural flaws and tepid oversight set the state apart, the lack of meaningful campaign finance reform has repeatedly been identified as a key factor.

In this state:

  • Campaign contribution limits, approved only 15 years ago, are easily circumvented by a common maneuver political insiders call “the money bomb,” meaning the restrictions are essentially ignored.
  • Politicians use their campaign funds to legally launder cash so donors can obscure their identities and get around contribution limits to send more money to their allies.
  • Legislative measures to control campaign spending — often announced with great fanfare — are repeatedly buried or watered down by the very lawmakers who would be bound by them.
  • Election laws banning political action committees from coordinating with the candidates they support fail to define “coordination.”
  • The state agency charged with enforcing election laws has little authority to launch its own investigations or levy tangible penalties that might deter violators.

The flood of money pouring into the state’s pliable political system has created a raucous campaign environment where the last two races for Illinois governor have become the most and third-most expensive governor’s races in the nation, and, in 2022, allowed the incumbent governor to spend as much as he wanted to help pick the Republican rival he correctly thought would be easiest to defeat.

It has permitted legislative leaders in Springfield to consolidate their power and protect incumbents by weaponizing political donation rules meant to ensure fair play and directing the flow of cash to preferred candidates.

It allows indicted politicians, including two of the longest-serving elected officials in state history, to pay for their criminal lawyers with campaign cash and, if they are convicted of public corruption, to use those same funds to pay heavy fines.

Read more here.

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Here’s permission to be a lazy gardener as summer wanes

Posted in Chicago Tribune, Going green, The Morton Arboretum, Topics Of Interest on August 12, 2024| Leave a Comment »

By August, many leaves in the garden will have minor holes, spots, scorched edges or tatters. You can spruce up the look of the garden by snipping them off. (Beth Botts/The Morton Arboretum)

By BETH BOTTS | Published in the Chicago Tribune

By the time August comes with its heat and humidity, many gardeners are ready for a break and so are many plants.

“The growing season is starting to wind down,” said Sharon Yiesla, plant knowledge specialist in the Plant Clinic at The Morton Arboretum in Lisle. “You still need to do some things for your plants, but there are other tasks you can let go.” Here are some tips for somewhat lazier late-summer gardening.

Stop pruning. “Pruning stimulates new growth on trees and shrubs,” she said. If you prune them now, the twigs and bark that sprout in response will be too young and tender to survive the coming cold, dry winter weather. Do prune a branch that is broken or blocking the sidewalk, but save serious pruning for the dormant season, after plants have dropped their leaves, from November through March. Stop shearing yews and other evergreens too.

Keep watering. “Plants will need a water supply until they go dormant,” she said. Regularly water trees and shrubs as well as perennials, vegetables, annuals, and container plants. In hot weather, you may need to water containers and annuals every day, because the plants have grown so large that they will use water up fast. To determine whether you need to water plants in the ground, check for soil moisture by digging down 3 to 4 inches with a trowel and feeling to see if the soil is moist. “Be sure to check even if it’s rained,” she said. “Sometimes it can seem like there was a big downpour, but if you dig, you find the soil is moist only at the surface and bone-dry further down where the plant’s roots are.”

Tidy up. Remove plants that have died and the top growth of spring perennials that have gone dormant, such as bleeding heart. Spruce up perennials: “Just snipping off hosta leaves or other foliage that has gotten tattered or sun-scorched can really freshen up the look of a garden,” she said.

Deadhead. Cut off the spent blooms of annuals and perennials. “Many plants, such as perennial geraniums, salvia, petunias, and marigolds, will respond with new flowers,” Yiesla said. If you deadhead them promptly to keep them from forming seeds, you can often extend their bloom. Be careful not to remove too much foliage with the flowers — the plants need their leaves — but don’t leave awkward-looking bare stems.

Harvest crops. Pick tomatoes, squash and other vegetables as soon as they’re ripe so the plants keep producing. Cut back greens and herbs regularly so that plants such as lettuce, parsley and basil don’t get a chance to flower or bolt. “This is the time to make pesto with all those basil leaves,” she said.

Quit fertilizing. “At this point in the season, we need to stop pushing plants and let them start slowing down,” Yiesla said. Although it’s hard for us to grasp when we’re melting in the heat, winter is coming for plants. “They should be conserving their resources in preparation for dormancy, not putting on new growth,” she said. Only container plants still need occasional fertilizing. They quickly use the available nutrients in their limited soil, and frequent watering also sluices nutrients away.

Don’t worry about holes and spots. Most plants will have accumulated some imperfections by the end of the summer. “They’re usually not important,” she said. If you are concerned about signs of a disease or pest, consult with experts such as the Plant Clinic (mortonarb.org/plant-clinic) to identify it for certain and consider whether it’s worth worrying about.

Postpone planting projects. Cooler weather in September will make planting easier on both you and the plants. If you’ve already planted any perennials, trees or shrubs this year, be extra sure to keep them watered through the end of the season. “They haven’t had time yet to develop much of a root system to collect and store water,” she said.

Assess. While the plants are still lush, take a critical look at your garden. “Make notes and take pictures,” Yiesla said. “Look for spots you can improve next year.” In particular, consider spots where you could add plants for late-summer or fall color or interest. “In April and May, people tend to buy plants that are in bloom at the time, and they often don’t think about August,” she said. “Make some notes and plans now so you can plant for late summer next spring.”

For tree and plant advice, contact the Plant Clinic at The Morton Arboretum (630-719-2424, mortonarb.org/plant-clinic, or plantclinic@mortonarb.org). Beth Botts is a staff writer at the Arboretum.

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Editorial: Time to sound the alarm on Illinois’ miserable economic performance

Posted in Chicago Tribune, Commodius Maximus, Deception, OP/Ed, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Property Taxes, Springfield, Taxes, Unions on July 14, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Cartoonist Scott Stantis on Illinois’ dismal 2024 economy. (Scott Stantis/For the Chicago Tribune)

By THE EDITORIAL BOARD | Chicago Tribune

As Chicago Bears President Kevin Warren pushed for a new football stadium on the lakefront, he said that if you look around today’s Chicago, you see a paucity of cranes in the sky.  That’s visual evidence of the moribund nature of the Illinois economy.

But it’s yet more bracing to view the Land of Lincoln’s stagnant state of affairs laid out in depressing facts and figures that even the most loyal civic booster cannot dispute.

A recent report from the Illinois Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability provided the unhappy totals. In the first quarter of this year, the state was in the beginnings of a recession. Annualized real gross domestic product in Illinois fell 1.3% in the first three months of 2024 while the nation as a whole generated real GDP growth of 1.4%. That put Illinois in the bottom six among U.S. states on that metric, besting just South Dakota, North Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas. Other than Iowa, every state surrounding Illinois managed to generate GDP growth.

Illinois’ woeful record is not just a recent phenomenon. Since the end of 2019, just before the pandemic, Illinois has generated real GDP growth of just 2.8%, badly lagging the nation’s growth in that period of 8.6%. That’s good for 46th in the nation among states.

Employment is much the same. Illinois’ total number of non-farm jobs only recently edged past the state’s total employment just before COVID struck. The nation as a whole has produced 6.2 million more jobs in that time frame. Illinois’ share of that growth is a paltry 14,000, good for 45th among states. Not exactly impressive.

Personal income in Illinois is growing far more slowly than in the U.S. as a whole as well, reflecting in part the state’s well-documented struggles to boost its population.

The report lays the blame for what it bluntly calls a “poor economic performance” mainly on the state’s past fiscal instability, although it does briefly cite “relatively high business taxes” as a possible reason.

Of course, one might think that if the fiscal chaos of the Rauner years were the primary cause of the state’s crummy economic showing, six straight balanced budgets under Gov. J.B. Pritzker and ensuing higher credit ratings would have rendered Illinois’ fiscal management much less of a factor at this point. The state’s economic showing, one might imagine, would have reached at least middle of the pack by now rather than 45th in the nation if that explanation was the root of the problem.

Read more here.

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With nests on telephone poles, once-endangered osprey are flying high in Cook County

Posted in Animal Welfare, Chicago Tribune, Flint Creek Wildlife Rehabilitation, FPDCC on July 3, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Samantha Plencner holds an osprey chick at Busse Woods on June 12, 2024, in Rolling Meadows. Over the next couple of weeks, staff at the Forest Preserves of Cook County are banding, performing health checks, and recording data on more than a dozen osprey chicks scattered throughout forest preserve properties. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)

By NARA SCHOENBERG | Chicago Tribune

Wildlife biologist Chuck Rizzo climbs into what looks like an enormous white bucket and slowly begins to rise.

The metal arm of an aerial lift truck propels him higher and higher, above thick underbrush and then even some treetops, toward a striking sight in an otherwise ordinary Cook County forest preserve: a sturdy, stick-strewn platform built on top of a 50-foot telephone pole.

Brannon Wittendberg guides the bucket lifting Melina Frezados up to an osprey nest in Busse Woods on June 12, 2024, in Rolling Meadows. Once at the nest, Frezados, a wildlife biologist specializing in wild bird research and conservation, will return two osprey chicks. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)

“How is it?” the lift operator yells as he maneuvers the bucket carrying the wildlife biologist. “Want it over?”

“Yeah, get it closer,” Rizzo says.

Then he reaches toward the sticks and lifts out two pudgy osprey chicks with bulging chocolate-brown eyes and bellies covered in fluff.

The chicks, which will be examined by a vet and returned to their high-rise home, are a sign of success for a Forest Preserves of Cook County program that aims to increase the number of once-endangered ospreys in the Chicago area by constructing towering nesting platforms.

A mini-fan cools down an osprey chick following its examination at Baker’s Lake Younghusband Prairie on June 12, 2024, in Barrington. Over the next couple of weeks, staff at the Forest Preserves of Cook County are banding, performing health care checks, and recording data on more than a dozen osprey chicks scattered throughout forest preserve properties. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)

Samantha Plencner secures an osprey chick before it gets a check-up at Baker’s Lake Younghusband Prairie on June 12, 2024, in Barrington. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)

Alex Kaplan, left, sprays water into the beak of an osprey chick while Brannon Wittenberg holds it at Baker’s Lake Younghusband Prairie on June 12, 2024, in Barrington. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)

The Forest Preserves program now bands up to 30 chicks a year, all raised by wild osprey — also known as sea hawks — that choose to build their massive nests on human-built platforms standing 50 to 80 feet above the ground.

That’s up from a handful of chicks in the first year of banding in the 1990s, according to Forest Preserves wildlife biologist Chris Anchor, who started the osprey nesting program after spotting nesting platforms in northern Wisconsin.

“What we’ve done is we’ve greatly increased the speed at which ospreys have populated Cook County,” Anchor said.

Melina Frezados adjusts the band on an osprey chick’s leg at Baker’s Lake Younghusband Prairie on June 12, 2024, in Barrington. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)

Studies of similar programs have found that the platforms attract ospreys and produce successful nests, and the platforms are widely used in many areas of the United States.

Read more here.

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