Daily Political Highlights

Tuesday March 21, 2023

March 21, 2023

Daily News

* SJ-R | Paprocki leads Illinois March for Life rally; abortion access groups have counter protest: Thousands of anti-abortion and abortion access advocates descended upon Springfield Tuesday, marking the first Illinois March for Life in the post-Roe era. Out-of-state demand for Illinois reproductive health services skyrocketed following the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision last year as states such as Indiana and Wisconsin enacted bans or restricted access.

* Tribune | State Rep. Bob Rita testifies in ‘ComEd Four’ case about Michael Madigan’s fingerprints on 2016 utility legislation passage: Testifying as a prosecution witness, Rita said he had no background in utilities and hadn’t served on any public utility committees when a ComEd lobbyist asked the veteran Blue Island lawmaker to sponsor legislation that would help save the jobs and the nuclear facilities run by the company’s parent, Exelon.

* Center Square | Lawmaker says speaker called shots on $1.8 billion ComEd legislation: State Rep. Bob Rita, D-Blue Island, was the sponsor of the Future Energy Jobs Act, a wide-ranging and controversial energy bill that state lawmakers passed in December 2016. Rita told jurors that when he was presented with an amendment to that legislation that he previously didn’t know about, Michael McClain, a close-confidant of Madigan, pulled him out of a committee hearing to direct him to proceed with the amendment.

* Crain’s | States’ rainy-day funds surge in promising sign for finances: Balances in rainy-day funds hit all-time highs in 37 states by the end of the 2022 fiscal year. That’s the biggest tally in over two decades and marks an improvement over last year’s record, according to an analysis by The Pew Charitable Trusts.

* Sun-Times | Illinois lags in study of states’ value to taxpayers: WalletHub puts Illinois 36th among the 50 states in overall return on taxpayers’ investment, a ranking weighed down by its relatively high burden for property and sales taxes.

* Herald & Review | Decatur allows ADM to store CO2 under city-owned land: The Decatur City Council voted unanimously Monday to grant city manager Scot Wrighton broad authority to execute an agreement with ADM in what amounts to an expansion of the food processing giant’s industry-leading carbon sequestration program. The city will receive $450 per acre of land in which ADM injects and stores carbon.

* Tribune | Niles is hoping an elected ethics board will nip Illinois-style corruption. But critics say it may not have enough teeth.: “Elections by themselves create their own politics,” said Chris Goodman, a professor of public administration at Northern Illinois University, noting the irony of electing the board members. “You have to do the job of politicking to get elected.”

* Daily Herald | A summary of endorsements in local elections: Expanded early in-person voting begins Monday for candidates for community college, school board and municipal offices in the April 4 election. Here are the Daily Herald’s endorsements in selected suburban contests.

* Crain’s | Economic Club names Sean Connolly as next board chair: Connolly, 57, will take over in July. He succeeds Foot Locker CEO Mary Dillon, whose two-year term as chair ends June 30. Connolly’s appointment was announced to members this evening at an event that featured Chef José Andrés, founder of World Central Kitchen, which serves meals to communities impacted by conflict and natural disasters.

* NBC Chicago: On March 10, IDPH Director Dr. Sameer Vohra warned that cases of group A strep throat leading to severe complications were on the rise in Illinois, “with more cases reported in 2023 than in any of the past five years.”

* AP | US home sales surged in February as mortgage rates dipped: Still, sales sank 22.6% last month from February last year, a sign many would-be homebuyers remain priced out of the market following years of price increases and sharply higher mortgage rates than a year ago.

* STLPD | New Illinois congresswoman opens Metro East office: U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski, D-13th District, now has opened a regional office in downtown Belleville, as well as ones in Champaign, Decatur and Springfield.

* NBC Chicago | Here’s Everything You Need to Know About the 2023 Illinois State Fair: To top it all off, Grammy-winning country music star Maren Morris and 1960’s rock group REO Speedwagon will headline the Illinois Lottery Grandstand on Aug. 19. Tickets for the event have not yet been announced, but they will be priced in tiers beginning at $50.

* WSIL | SIU hosts surround sound listening event for Pink Floyd album: Warner Music Group has produced a Dolby Atmos surround sound version of the album and the community in Carbondale is invited to experience the recording.