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Archive for the ‘Dumb Bunny’ Category

DOJ announces more than 175 charges, 300 fugitive arrests in Chicago area crime sweep

Posted in Chicago Sun*Times, Cook, County, Crime, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Dumb Bunny, Elections, Immigration, Look For The Union Label, Politics, Preckwinkle's Rules of Order, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Public Safety, Taxes, Unions on July 5, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Flanked by federal law enforcement officials, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Andrew Boutros speaks during a news conference at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse on Thursday, where he discussed the results of Operation New Dawn. | Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Editorial note: It is worth noting the coincidentally just one day before the crime sweep was reported, “Chicago police boss Larry Snelling announces retirement: ‘He’s leaving big shoes to fill’.”

By  Kade Heather | Chicago Sun*Times

Justice Department officials on Thursday announced the arrests of 300 fugitives as well as sweeping prosecutions against more than 175 people accused of violent crimes — all part of a massive federal law enforcement collaboration over the past two months.

U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros called the effort, which he created, “Operation New Dawn.”

“A new dawn of crime fighting is underway in Chicago,” Boutros, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, said alongside other federal law enforcement leaders at a news conference Thursday at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse. He said the announcement was timed to coincide with the country’s 250th anniversary July 4.

The size of the joint effort was “an experiment,” Boutros said — and something that “had not been done before here in Chicago” and which “worked very, very well.”

In all, charges were filed against 179 people in 140 new cases, while 305 fugitives were arrested and 24 children who had been kidnapped or lost were returned home.

“Eleven federal agencies worked arm-in-arm as one cohesive, unified group to arrest dangerous criminals responsible for some of the most serious offenses,” Boutros said.

The 60-day operation was focused on the Chicago area and the Northern District of Illinois. It included partnerships between 11 federal agencies, among them the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Federal Bureau of Investigations; the Drug Enforcement Agency; U.S. Marshals Service; and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Report continues here.

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Mayor Johnson determined to block Bears’ move to Arlington Heights

Posted in Chicago Sun*Times, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Dumb Bunny, Look For The Union Label, New Normal?, Overhead, Politics, Property Taxes, Public Safety, Real Estate, Springfield, Taxes, The Chicago Way, Unions on May 6, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Rendering of the proposed Chicago Bears stadium in Arlington Heights. | Provided by Manica Architecture

By Fran Spielman | Chicago Sun*Times

Mayor Brandon Johnson on Tuesday mounted the legislative equivalent of a goal-line stand against the Bears’ quest for the property tax break needed to pave the way for a domed stadium in Arlington Heights.

Johnson questioned why any lawmaker from Chicago would even think about providing a massive tax break for a professional sports team valued at nearly $9 billion, while ignoring the need for what he calls progressive revenue to increase school funding and help working people struggling to make ends meet.

“If we’re asking anyone to tighten the belt, we should look at whose belt is exploding — and that’s the ultra-rich. As their bellies get fat and our people are starving, this is not the time to balance the budget off the backs of working people,” the mayor said at his weekly news conference.

“The type of tax structure that they would set up for large corporations and billionaires without a clear pathway to provide certainty as well as equity for everyday working people, I believe that’s a mismatch there. And quite frankly, the infrastructure they’re even discussing in the suburbs — those infrastructure needs have been present on the lakefront for a very long time.”

Hours before joining fellow Chicago-area mayors in Springfield, where he has had little success, Johnson made it clear that he would use whatever political muscle he has to block the so-called megaprojects bill now before the Illinois Senate after clearing the Illinois House on April 22.

Though Chicago is no longer part of the conversation to build a domed stadium needed to keep the Bears in Illinois and stave off a move to Northwest Indiana, Johnson is still holding out hope to keep the Bears in the city.

Article continues here.

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Legislator presses forward with facial recognition ban even after it helped solve Loyola student murder case in her district

Posted in Crime, CWB Chicago, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Dumb Bunny, Politics, Springfield, Who Cuts Your Hair?, WTF on March 27, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Rep. Kelly Cassidy and Jose Medina (Facebook, Dept. of Homeland Security)

By Tim Hecke | CWB Chicago

A bill that would bar Illinois law enforcement agencies from using facial recognition databases to help identify crime suspects is scheduled for a second day of legislative hearings, days after the technology helped Chicago police identify the man accused of murdering a Loyola University freshman in the bill’s sponsor’s own district.

House Bill 5521 is sponsored by Rep. Kelly Cassidy, who represents the 14th District, which includes Rogers Park. Cassidy introduced the measure last Wednesday, hours before 18-year-old Sheridan Gorman was shot and killed at the Loyola Beach pier. Chicago police have since charged Jose Gregoria Medina Medina, a 25-year-old Venezuelan citizen, with Gorman’s murder.

An arrest report obtained by CWB Chicago describes how detectives worked to identify Medina as the shooter. Among the investigative steps, an officer wrote that video images of the gunman were sent to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which “returned matching candidate Jose Gregoria Medina Medina.”

If passed, HB5521 would prohibit Illinois law enforcement agencies from obtaining, retaining, possessing, accessing, requesting, using, or entering into agreements with third parties, state or local government agencies, or federal agencies to use certain biometric identification systems, including facial recognition.

It also bars the Secretary of State from providing facial recognition search services except when issuing a mobile driver’s license or identification card. That facial recognition database is the most commonly used within CPD.

On Sunday, CWB Chicago published a report detailing dozens of violent crimes — including murders, robberies, and sex offenses — that Chicago Police Department detectives have solved with the assistance of facial recognition. The technology has proven particularly useful in cases involving the CTA, where offenders are often anonymous, crimes can be random, and the transit system’s high-definition cameras provide broad coverage.

Article continues here.

Related: “Facial recognition helps cops solve some of Chicago’s most heinous crimes. This state legislator wants to shut it down,” “Hundreds of police departments use camera company (seen below) accused of breaking state law”

Automated license plate readers such as this one are installed throughout Barrington Hills.

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Facial recognition helps cops solve some of Chicago’s most heinous crimes. This state legislator wants to shut it down.

Posted in Crime, CWB Chicago, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Dumb Bunny, Politics, Springfield, Who Cuts Your Hair? on March 23, 2026| Leave a Comment »

Illinois Rep. Kelly Cassidy, center, and images of some of the people who have been charged with violent crimes following investigations that involved the use of facial recognition. (Facebook, Chicago Police Department)

By Tim Hecke | CWB Chicago

An Illinois state legislator wants to strip law enforcement of a tool that has helped detectives solve murders, robberies, kidnappings, and sexual assaults — including some of the most violent crimes to hit the CTA in recent years: facial recognition.

When Chicago police detectives needed to figure out who stabbed 37-year-old Dominique Pollion to death and left his body on a Blue Line train in the Loop in January, facial recognition helped them get the investigation on the right track.

By feeding high-quality CTA video images into the Illinois Secretary of State’s database of state ID and driver’s license photos, detectives narrowed their focus to possible matches, including 21-year-old Demetrius Thurman. As their investigation continued, investigators allegedly found video on Thurman’s phone that shows him committing the crime.

Powerful stuff. But if a North Side state legislator gets her way, Illinois police will soon be barred from using any facial recognition database, including the Secretary of State’s, to do their work ever again.

The bill is called the Illinois Biometric Surveillance Act, and it’s being pushed by Rep. Kelly Cassidy, who represents most of Rogers Park and Edgewater in Springfield. Cassidy’s office did not respond to an email seeking comment for this story.

Her proposed law would ban the use of facial recognition and other biometric identifiers by law enforcement statewide. No agency could use the technology or enter into an agreement with a state or federal agency to use it. The bill would still allow “fingerprinting pursuant to an arrest or conviction, or to collect forensic evidence at a crime scene.” The bill does not include the ultimate biometric, DNA, among its “biometric identifiers.”

To be clear about how the tool works: a potential facial recognition match alone is not enough to file charges. Detectives use it to help generate leads and identify potential suspects.

Article continues here.

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Barrington area Democrats condemn Chan Ding mailers

Posted in 220, Barrington Education Association, Board of Education, Daily Herald, Deception, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Dumb and Dumber, Dumb Bunny, Economy, Education, Elections, Ethics, FUBAR, Goat Rodeo, Illinois Federation of Teachers, Illinois State Board of Elections, Look For The Union Label, Mad Cows, Politics, Property Taxes, School Districts, South Barrington, Topics Of Interest, Unions, What the Ficke (Bradford)? on February 28, 2026| 3 Comments »

Erin Chan Ding, left, and Maria Peterson are Democratic candidates for the Illinois House 52nd District seat in the 2026 primary election.

By Steve Zalusky  | Daily Herald

The Barrington Area Democratic Organization condemned attack mailers from Erin Chan Ding’s campaign for the Democratic nod in the Illinois House 52nd District primary.

The mailers altered opponent Maria Peterson’s image, placing her head on another person’s body. They also included the phrase, “When Maria Peterson runs, MAGA wins,” along with a list of her past election losses.

“These tactics do not reflect the values of our organization or the spirit of Democratic leadership in our community,” organization officials stated in a press release.

Chan Ding and Peterson are competing to challenge incumbent Republican Martin McLaughlin in the fall election. Peterson narrowly lost to McLaughlin by 47 votes in 2024 and lost by 385 votes to Republican Dan McConchie in 2022.

Peterson called the mailers “Chicago-style politics” that don’t “fit very well out here.”

Chan Ding countered, claiming Peterson distributed an attack ad first in January that “went after my character.” Chan Ding is a Barrington Area Unit District 220 school board member who was criticized by colleagues after an investigation determined she had violated district policies by using school resources, property and social media for prohibited political campaign activities.

Article continues here.

Related: “The D220 Board of Ed gets another ‘F’ in accountability & transparency,” “School district’s parking plan defies logic,” “Zoning change defies village policy,” “District 220 Public Hearing December 16th re: ‘proposal to sell bonds of the District in an amount not to exceed $5,400,000’,” “The Real Issue in Barrington 220 Isn’t Parking or Levies — It’s Leadership Culture,” “Change.org Petition: ‘For the Resignation of Erin Chan Ding ~ D220 Resources are Not for Political Campaigns’,” “BOARD OF ED VOTES, MEMBER CHAN DING MADE FLAGRANT POLICY VIOLATIONS – Part 2,” “BOARD OF ED VOTES, MEMBER CHAN DING MADE FLAGRANT POLICY VIOLATIONS,” “Erin Chan Ding: The violations just keep piling up…,” “Erin Chan Ding starring in another episode of, ‘Rules For Thee But NOT For Me…’,”  “District 220’s Lack of Transparency (Updated),” “District 220’s Lack of Transparency,” “Ding Politicking on School District Property,” “Dual School Board and State Rep Positions Legally Incompatible,” “D220 Abuses Taxpayer Funds in favor of Partisan Campaign,” “Ding In Her Own Words – CONFLICTED!,” “Ding Doubles Down,” “Ding’s D220 Deception,” “Chan Ding running in Democratic primary in 52nd,” “Three (3) Democratic candidates queued to run for the IL 52nd District House seat in 2026”

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Chicago has lost its mind – The Washington Post

Posted in Clown Car, Cook, Cost of Living, County, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Dumb and Dumber, Dumb Bunny, OP/Ed, Pension Funding, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Taxes, Uncategorized, Unions, Washington Post on December 15, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) at an October news conference. | Joshua Lott/The Washington Post

The city’s fiscal situation is dire, and Mayor Brandon Johnson is determined to make things worse.

Chicago has long-term structural problems with its finances, thanks in large part to wildly underfunded pensions. The country’s third-largest city has a history of using short-term gimmicks to paper over its problems, such as a notorious 2008 deal that sold off 75 years of future parking meter revenue for $1.15 billion, which was quickly spent. That deal is still hurting finances today, which should have taught local politicians that there is no substitute for serious fiscal reform. Alas, apparently not.

The city’s net operating budget increased almost 40 percent between 2019 and 2025, “subsidized in large part by temporary federal pandemic funding that kept the City financially afloat,” according to Grant McClintock of the Civic Federation. “The pandemic is over, but many of the programs and personnel positions established during that time remain, and without the benefit of the federal funding that previously supported them.”

Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) proposes to offset a $1.15 billion shortfall by taxing the businesses that anchor Chicago’s economy, borrowing and more gimmicks.

The mayor proposes to increase the tax on the lease of “personal property” like computers, vehicles and software from 11 percent to 14 percent, and to bring back the city’s “head tax,” which would result in large employers paying $33 per worker, per month.

By making it more expensive to do business or hire workers in the city, these measures threaten Chicago’s future economic growth and tax collections. These moves are especially reckless given that the Chicago Fed’s 12-month hiring outlook is the weakest it’s been since the pandemic. Gov. JB Pritzker (D) says the head tax would penalize employment.

Read more here.

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Chicago tops country in porch pirate thefts, upwards of $250 million

Posted in Crime, Dumb Bunny on December 9, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Credit: AP/Charles Rex Arbogast

By Glenn Minnis | The Center Square contributor

Illinois state Rep. Dan Ugaste argues lawmakers need to look in the mirror when it comes to placing blame for Chicago’s status as the worst city in the country for porch pirate thefts.

Research firm SafeWise finds city residents lost more than $254 million in stolen goods in 2025 stemming from at least 6.5 million incidents. Ugaste said it’s not hard to deduce why Chicago has become such an easy target.

“Until earlier this year when Cook County got a new state’s attorney in Chicago, there was a very lax enforcement of laws,” Ugaste, R-Geneva, told The Center Square. “No consequences for actions and for bad actions and this is what you get. The other thing is the SAFE-T Act. My guess is if we toughen up law enforcement and if we especially do something to make certain repeat offenders are held accountable, we’ll see a steep decline in that number.”

Enacted in 2021, the so-called SAFE-T Act institutes criminal justice reforms that include a no cash bail provision.

With the thefts having also cost retailers nationwide roughly $22 billion in replacement, refund, shipping and customer service costs, Ugaste said Chicago is among the places where that price-tag is proving to be most costly.

“It’s going to raise prices for people in our areas and people are not going to want to live in an area that’s like that because they don’t have to put up with this in other areas,” he said. “It has all sorts of negative impacts.”

More here.

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Chicago’s high sales taxes about to increase to No. 1 in nation

Posted in Deception, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Dumb Bunny, Illinois Policy Institute, Look For The Union Label, Politics, Taxes on November 11, 2025| Leave a Comment »

Chicago-area sales taxes were already No. 2 in the U.S., but new taxing authority handed to the Regional Transportation Authority will raise them to No. 1.

By Ravi Mishra | Illinois Policy Institute

Chicago’s 10.25% combined sales tax currently ranks second among major cities, behind only Seattle’s 10.35%, but a 0.25-point hike for transit will make them the highest in America.

The new Regional Transportation Authority funding bill, which increases the Chicago metro area sales tax by 0.25 percentage points, has passed both chambers of the Illinois General Assembly and now sits on Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s desk. Once signed, it will give Chicago the highest sales-tax rate of any major city in the nation at 10.5%.

M

Chicago’s current sales tax is broken down into four categories:

  • 6.25% statewide sales tax.
  • 1.25% city sales tax.
  • 1.75% county sales tax.
  • 1% RTA tax.

Under the bill, the RTA portion of the tax will rise from 1% to1.25% in Cook County starting June 2026. In the collar counties it will increase from 0.75% to 1%.

Now that this bill has cleared the state legislature, Pritzker will have 60 days to sign it into law.

Read more here.

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‘Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve’ will broadcast live from downtown Chicago this year

Posted in Chicago Tribune, County, Dumb Bunny, Politics, Unions on November 10, 2025| Leave a Comment »

New Year’s Eve fireworks explode over the Chicago River on Jan. 1, 2024, in Chicago. | Armando L. Sanchez/Chicago Tribune

By Doug George | Chicago Tribune

Chicago will join Times Square on “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” this year, with Chicago’s New Year’s Eve celebrations televised for the first time on the ABC broadcast.

An hour after the ball drops in New York, the show will add a Central Time zone midnight countdown live from downtown Chicago, according to an announcement Monday from ABC and Dick Clark Productions.

Hosts and musical guests in Chicago have yet to be announced, but the show expects to televise the fireworks on the bridges over the Chicago River. A spokesperson for Dick Clark Productions said the program was working with local ABC station WLS-TV and Mayor Brandon (“Dumb Bunny”) Johnson’s office to make it happen.

“This is a fantastic opportunity to showcase the beauty and dynamism of our city and its people for the world to see,” Johnson said in part in a statement. “We could not be more excited to welcome in the new year with fireworks, music, and Chicago pride.”

Read more here.

Editorial note: The perfect storm: Fireworks, inebriated crowds, a demoralized police force and a national audience to witness what ensues.

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Illinois, Chicago voters rank high taxes as No. 1 issue

Posted in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Dumb Bunny, Illinois Policy Institute, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Property Taxes, Springfield, Taxes, Unions on November 4, 2025| Leave a Comment »

More than half of Illinois voters and one-third of Chicago voters said high taxes were their No. 1 concern. Despite that, Springfield and Chicago politicians both are hiking taxes again to spend more.

By Patrick Andriesen | Illinois Policy Institute

More than half of Illinois voters polled said high taxes were the No. 1 issue facing the state, according to a survey conducted for the Illinois Policy Institute.

High taxes were the top issue impacting the state for 52% of the 929 registered Illinois voters polled Oct. 8-10 for the institute by M3 Strategies. Half as many were worried about the economy, the No. 2 concern.

Voters in the city of Chicago also ranked high taxes as their No. 1 worry. Taxes topped the concerns of 35% of the 530 Chicagoans polled Oct. 17-20.

The October poll marked the first time this year Chicago’s likely general election voters ranked high taxes as a bigger concern than crime.

While both the statewide and Chicago-specific polls showed high taxes had voters worried, their elected representatives are continuing to raise taxes rather than control spending.

Lawmakers in Springfield approved new taxes Oct. 31 to keep Chicago-area public transit running. They intend to hike toll road fees and raise the sales tax in Cook County and its collar counties by 0.25 percentage points.

Read more here.

Related: “CUSD 220 proposing 7.32 percent tax levy increase”

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