logo
Daywatch: Johnson proposal would put requirements on new industrial developments

Daywatch: Johnson proposal would put requirements on new industrial developments

Yahoo27-05-2025
Good morning, Chicago.
Mayor Brandon Johnson will push forward this spring an ordinance designed to reform land-use policies that environmentalists say for decades led to pollution in Black and Latino communities.
Some advocates for heavy industry are worried. None deny minority neighborhoods on the South and West sides suffer more from the dirty air, water and soil that historically came from steel mills, smokestacks and truck traffic. But they say if Johnson's proposal puts more obstacles in the way of new industrial businesses getting started, it could squelch much-needed job creation.
'We need to make sure we're not disincentivizing industry, because these jobs are needed throughout the city,' said Jonathan Snyder, executive director of North Branch Works, a nonprofit advocate for economic development along the North Branch of the Chicago River. 'If we send a signal that coming here is an expensive, complicated process, we will not be successful in attracting business.'
Read the full story from the Tribune's Brian J. Rogal.
Here are the top stories you need to know to start your day, including: how some Chicagoans commemorated Memorial Day, why Hoosiers are anxious about the impact of state and federal Medicaid cuts and a look at whether the Bears can turn things around on defense.
Today's eNewspaper edition | Subscribe to more newsletters | Asking Eric | Horoscopes | Puzzles & Games | Today in History
For a city with hundreds of shootings each year, the work that Pha'Tal Perkins does with kids in Chicago is quiet but significant. His team of workers does round-the-clock work to tackle the root causes of community violence, leading peer-to-peer support and group therapy sessions. They help kids apply for college and jobs, and host programming for kids. They are often the first to crime scenes, even before police.
In late April, due to the end of a federal grant that supported many of those efforts, Perkins had to lay off five of the outreach staff at his violence intervention nonprofit, Think Outside Da Block.
David Vojvodich served two tours in Vietnam, and on Memorial Day, he remembers those who didn't come back.
Vojvodich, a 76-year-old lifelong resident of the Canaryville neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, prefers not to talk about his service during the two-decade-long conflict. But the holiday is sacred for him, and a time to reflect.
State legislators who are also lawyers in Illinois are getting a new perk, courtesy of the state Supreme Court.
They just need to show up for work in the Illinois General Assembly and they'll be able to collect credit toward satisfying continuing education classes required to keep their law licenses in good standing.
Jordan Musenbrock, 35, said Medicaid helped pay for her manual wheelchair and its repairs, shower chair, catheters and several medications.
Musenbrock, who has used a wheelchair since she was 17 following a car accident, said without Medicaid she will have to choose between a drastic decline in health, even death, or financial hardship.
Sixty-five miles southwest of Chicago, a small hill that looks like a prop from an Indiana Jones movie breaks up the flat, monotone landscape. Consisting of shale, sandstone and rocks from an old coal mine, the waste pile — located on a massive river delta from another era — is an unremarkable remnant from the region's once-thriving coal industry.
Except it contains many of the world's best-preserved, most diverse fossils.
Egypt unveiled three new tombs of prominent statesmen in the Dra' Abu al-Naga' necropolis in Luxor, officials said Monday.
Egyptian archaeologists have discovered tombs dating back to the New Kingdom period (1550–1070 B.C.) and identified the names and titles of their owners through inscriptions found within, according to a statement by the tourism and antiquities ministry.
Chicago Bears safety Kevin Byard didn't bother mincing words.
'Just to be honest, this organization over the last 10 years or whatever, it's been a losing culture,' Byard said. 'We haven't really won a lot, so you have to drastically come in and try to rearrange everything.'
The Chicago Cubs met the newest 'worst team in baseball history' yesterday at Wrigley Field, writes Paul Sullivan. And not surprisingly, it turned out to be a good day to play the Colorado Rockies.
Despite managing only four hits, the Cubs beat the Rockies 3-1 before a Memorial Day crowd of 40,171, riding the arm of starter Jameson Taillon and the bullpen on an unseasonably cool but sunny afternoon.
The singer Elaine Dame has had an interesting life, so far.
She told Rick Kogan about the latest chapter earlier this month. It was a few days before her performance at Winter's Jazz Club and she said, 'There will be songs that I have performed for years, but also a great deal of material from my new CD. It's called 'Reminiscing' and, well, it's something different.'
If Ebenezer Scrooge found himself isolated in a post-apocalyptic setting, with no one but his elderly parents and his long-suffering servant to haunt his monotonous days, he would probably behave like Hamm, the petty tyrant of a sad little domain in Samuel Beckett's 1957 play, 'Endgame.'
In Facility Theatre's new revival of the Irish playwright's absurdist tragicomedy, the blind and paralyzed character (played by artistic director Kirk Anderson) looks like a slightly steampunk Scrooge, writes Emily McClanathan. He wears a silk dressing gown, old-fashioned nightcap and round, black sunglasses as he holds court from a shabby upholstered armchair.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Video of Merrillville woman's arrest by Lake County Sheriff's Department shows excessive force before miscarriage, lawyer says
Video of Merrillville woman's arrest by Lake County Sheriff's Department shows excessive force before miscarriage, lawyer says

Chicago Tribune

timean hour ago

  • Chicago Tribune

Video of Merrillville woman's arrest by Lake County Sheriff's Department shows excessive force before miscarriage, lawyer says

A Merrillville woman's lawyer said recently released bodycam footage backs up her accusations that Lake County Sheriff's deputies forcibly pulled her from a vehicle during an arrest despite knowing she was pregnant. Three months later, she had a miscarriage. I'm '(expletive) pregnant,' Shikeia Randolph, 31, yells just before two officers pull her from a red Chevrolet Trailblazer, according to video obtained by the Post-Tribune through a public records request. A federal lawsuit accusing the officers of excessive force was filed two months ago in the U.S. District Court in Hammond. It alleges that a 3:24 a.m. traffic stop on June 5, 2023 was 'pretextual' — for an issue with a license plate cover, then a school truancy warrant — and quickly spiraled out of control. The video from an officer's dashboard camera appears to show, as she is arrested, the two officers turn her on her stomach as one pins her down to handcuff her hands behind her back. Randolph previously told the Post-Tribune she had just stopped for milk at a 24-hour gas station in Gary near Ridge Road and Grant Street with her four kids in the vehicle. She was supposed to drop them off at her mother's house, then head to her early shift as a receptionist at the Gary Housing Authority. Officer Peter Hamady, who pulled her over, is named with the sheriff's department in the lawsuit. His lawyer Casey McCloskey declined comment. In a federal filing on Aug. 7, McCloskey formally denied the accusations against Hamady, saying in part that his actions were 'objectively reasonable' and protected by 'qualified immunity.' Some of Randolph's claims could fall outside of a two-year statute of limitations, he wrote. McCloskey argued because Randolph refused to get out of her SUV, she forced cops to go after her, according to court documents. She disputed this, in interviews with the Post-Tribune. On the way to booking, Randolph tells Hamady the truancy case in Merrillville Town Court was for taking her daughter repeatedly to school a little late when she was in pain from just having another baby, according to footage recorded inside Hamady's police car. He appears to soften. 'I didn't know they had warrants for that,' he said in the footage. In an interview, Matthew Custardo, Randolph's lawyer in the federal lawsuit, argued the use of force was unjustified, even if she was arguing with the cops. 'She was confused why she was being pulled over,' he said. 'She's scared. She has every reason to be a little concerned about what's going on. She's standing up for herself, certainly.' According to the nearly 40-minute bodycam video, police officers tell her to call someone to pick up the kids, so they don't have to call child protective services. Originally, Randolph said she thought it might have been a warrant for an old driving while suspended case. 'Call CPS for what?' she responds in the video. 'A warrant for a suspended license?' 'It's not for that,' Hamady tells her in the footage. After she asks again, he says it's for truancy. 'Listen, you have a warrant,' Hamady said in the video. 'You're lucky I don't have you cuffed out of the car right now. You wanna go that route?' In the video, she accuses Hamady of pulling out of a nearby parking lot before she passed him. 'Ma'am, I was behind you,' he responded in the footage. At least three other officers are in view. 'I'm taking you to court,' she the phone, Randolph tells her mother the '(expletive) police' pulled her over as she asked her to get her kids, according to the video. She asks officers to wait until her mother arrives. 'I guess they are going to take me to jail,' she said over the phone in the footage. Randolph said in a previous interview with the Post-Tribune that the encounter appeared to escalate when she rolled up her window slightly to hear what her mom was saying. The arrest happens within about 12 minutes into the footage. As officers open her car door and grab her arm, Randolph's children can be heard crying in the back seat. 'This is your last warning,' one of the officers said in the video. 'We don't want your kids to see this.' 'You already freaked my kids out,' she said. 'Get out of the (expletive) car,' one officer stated in the footage. I'm '(expletive) pregnant,' she yells just before two officers pull her from the vehicle after she tried to cling to the steering wheel in the video. 'Let me go! Get off of me! Please get off of me! Somebody help me!' After she is handcuffed on the ground, a police dog is seen in the background of the dashboard camera footage. Randolph's white shoes are scattered nearby. 'I'm trying to help you out here,' one officer tells her in the video. Randolph was charged with resisting law enforcement two months later. Hamady's account in court documents makes no mention of her pregnancy. During the ride to booking at the Lake County Jail, they talk at length about her decision to have a fifth child, according to footage inside the police car. Her fiancé wanted one last child, she said. When Hamady asks how far along she is on the video, she responds she's nearly 12 weeks pregnant. 'Well, congrats to you,' he said in the video. Hamady stated in the footage that her bond should be $400. It's 'not Friday, so it's a good thing,' he tells her in the video. 'I'll make sure they keep you updated.' He asks if she's comfortable as late-'90s era music plays over the radio, the footage shows, before they chat about where she is planning to get married. Do you 'want the window open back there, or are you good?' he asks in the video. Since police insisted on towing her red Chevrolet Trailblazer, Randolph's mother had to take four kids back in a cramped sedan, a situation that was not likely 'legally safe,' Custardo said. Randolph's lawsuit alleged her arrest suggested a 'broader pattern' in the Lake County Sheriff's Department, including 'inadequate training,' 'insufficient supervision' and a 'failure to implement effective accountability measures,' according to court documents. The Lake County Sheriff's Department refused to answer questions related to the incident, including what kind of de-escalation training its officers receive at various stages in their careers. Hamady joined the department in 2022, according to court filings. Sheriff Oscar Martinez Jr. declined comment through a spokeswoman, who said he could not discuss pending litigation. Watching the video with her mother was 'very emotional,' Randolph said in an Aug. 5 interview, especially hearing her kids crying in the video's background. She refused to let her 12-year-old daughter view it. 'I feel better now that I've seen it,' Randolph said. 'It matches the exact story I've been telling for so long.' There's been some 'expected' backlash online after a pair of articles in local newspapers, Randolph said. She was there trying to protect herself and her Williams, her criminal public defender, said she did remember parts of the case in retrospect, and confirmed she tried to get the bodycam from the Lake County Sheriff's Department 'multiple times' since the case was filed in August 2023. Court filings show one discovery request for the body cam was made as late as October 2024. The only reason not to turn it over was if they 'didn't want me to see something,' she said. Randolph was tired of repeatedly coming to court for a slow-moving case, Williams said. She told her client that she could fight to get the bodycam footage, or take a pretrial diversion to get rid of the case in a year. 'It's common to get slow discovery (evidence) when you're requesting bodycams,' Williams said, adding that some police departments are worse than others, but she's had 'good experience' with the sheriff's department in the past. Randolph's case is scheduled for a pretrial diversion hearing on Aug. 15. However, an automatic court filing on Aug. 11 appears to show there may be a snag. Court filings show Randolph, her fiancé and sister were charged June 26 with resisting law enforcement in Hobart. Hobart Police Cpl. Christopher Sipes wrote that Randolph and her fiancé got his attention around 1:30 a.m. May 25 on Main Street for ignoring a 'pedestrian signal.' , Randolph said they were out that night celebrating her fiancé's birthday. As End Zone let out across the street, a crowd, including the half-dozen in her group, were migrating to the other bar, Randolph said. At least two officers were there, as someone behind them yelled something about the guy handcuffed on the ground getting arrested nearby. The officer thought her fiancé said something, she said. Sipes wrote he and the other officer followed them into Cagney's. 'Bulls jersey, stop right there,' the other officer said to Randolph's fiancé, according to court records. As they got to the bar, Randolph said an officer grabbed her arm from behind. According to court documents, when the officer asked for identification, the couple 'ignored' him and said they 'didn't do anything.' Randolph 'stepped in front' of officers to block them from her fiance. As the cops went to arrest them just inside the bar's entrance, the crowd 'became aggressive,' the officer wrote. During a 'struggle' as she was being handcuffed, Randolph's black strapless top fell down, exposing her breasts, records state. Randolph said in an interview she tried to turn away for some privacy, because there were a 'million people standing around.' Once she stood up, an officer wrote, he pulled her top back up, records state. She denied she got in their way or refused to give her identification card. The officer was bigger than her, and it didn't make sense that she could overpower him. The whole incident was 'very unfortunate,' her lawyer Patrick Young said Aug. 7, adding he's working with prosecutors to resolve the case.

Black mayors of cities Trump decries as 'lawless' tout significant declines in violent crimes
Black mayors of cities Trump decries as 'lawless' tout significant declines in violent crimes

San Francisco Chronicle​

time2 hours ago

  • San Francisco Chronicle​

Black mayors of cities Trump decries as 'lawless' tout significant declines in violent crimes

As President Donald Trump declared Washington, D.C., a crime-ridden wasteland in need of federal intervention this week and threatened similar federal interventions in other Black-led cities, several mayors compared notes. The president's characterization of their cities contradicts what they began noticing last year: that they were seeing a drop in violent crime after a pandemic-era spike. In some cases the declines were monumental, due in large part to more youth engagement, gun buyback programs and community partnerships. Now members of the African American Mayors Association are determined to stop Trump from burying accomplishments that they already felt were overlooked. And they're using the administration's unprecedented law enforcement takeover in the nation's capital as an opportunity to disprove his narrative about some of the country's greatest urban enclaves. 'It gives us an opportunity to say we need to amplify our voices to confront the rhetoric that crime is just running rampant around major U.S. cities. It's just not true,' said Van Johnson, mayor of Savannah, Georgia, and president of the African American Mayors Association. 'It's not supported by any evidence or statistics whatsoever.' After deploying the first of 800 National Guard members to Washington, the Republican president is setting his sights on other cities including Baltimore, Chicago, Los Angeles and Oakland, California, calling them crime-ridden and 'horribly run." One thing they all have in common: They're led by Black mayors. 'It was not lost on any member of our organization that the mayors either were Black or perceived to be Democrats,' Johnson said. 'And that's unfortunate. For mayors, we play with whoever's on the field.' The federal government's actions have heightened some of the mayors' desires to champion the strategies used to help make their cities safer. Trump argued that federal law enforcement had to step in after a prominent employee of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, was attacked in an attempted carjacking. He also pointed to homeless encampments, graffiti and potholes as evidence of Washington 'getting worse.' However statistics published by Washington's Metropolitan Police contradict the president and show violent crime has dropped there since a post-pandemic peak in 2023. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson scoffed at Trump's remarks, hailing the city's 'historic progress driving down homicides by more than 30% and shootings by almost 40% in the last year alone.' Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles, where homicides fell 14% between 2023 and 2024, called the federal takeover nothing but a performative 'power grab.' In Baltimore, officials say they have seen historic decreases in homicides and nonfatal shootings this year, and those have been on the decline since 2022, according to the city's public safety data dashboard. Carjackings were down 20% in 2023, and other major crimes fell in 2024. Only burglaries have climbed slightly. The lower crime rates are attributed to tackling violence with a 'public health' approach, city officials say. In 2021, under Mayor Brandon Scott, Baltimore created a Comprehensive Violence Prevention Plan that called for more investment in community violence intervention, more services for crime victims and other initiatives. Scott accused Trump of exploiting crime as a 'wedge issue and dog whistle' rather than caring about curbing violence. 'He has actively undermined efforts that are making a difference saving lives in cities across the country in favor of militarized policing of Black communities,' Scott said via email. The Democratic mayor pointed out that the Justice Department has slashed over $1 million in funding this year that would have gone toward community anti-violence measures. He vowed to keep on making headway, regardless. 'We will continue to closely work with our regional federal law enforcement agencies, who have been great partners, and will do everything in our power to continue the progress despite the roadblocks this administration attempts to implement,' Scott said. Community organizations help curb violence Just last week Oakland officials touted significant decreases in crime in the first half of this year compared with the same period in 2024, including a 21% drop in homicides and a 29% decrease in all violent crime, according to the midyear report by the Major Cities Chiefs Association. Officials credited collaborations with community organizations and crisis response services through the city's Department of Violence Prevention, established in 2017. 'These results show that we're on the right track,' Mayor Barbara Lee said at a news conference. 'We're going to keep building on this progress with the same comprehensive approach that got us here.' After Trump gave his assessment of Oakland this week, she rejected it as 'fearmongering.' Social justice advocates agree that crime has gone down and say Trump is perpetuating exaggerated perceptions that have long plagued Oakland. Nicole Lee, executive director of Urban Peace Movement, an Oakland-based organization that focuses on empowering communities of color and young people through initiatives such as leadership training and assistance to victims of gun violence, said much credit for the gains on lower crime rates is due to community groups. 'We really want to acknowledge all of the hard work that our network of community partners and community organizations have been doing over the past couple of years coming out of the pandemic to really create real community safety,' Lee said. 'The things we are doing are working.' She worries that an intervention by military forces would undermine that progress. 'It creates kind of an environment of fear in our community,' Lee said. Patrols and youth curfews In Washington, agents from multiple federal agencies, National Guard members and even the United States Park Police have been seen performing law enforcement duties from patrolling the National Mall to questioning people parked illegally. Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson said the guard troops will not be armed but declined to elaborate on their assignments to safety patrols and beautification efforts. Savannah's Johnson said he is all for partnering with the federal government, but troops on city streets is not what he envisioned. Instead, cities need federal assistance for things like multistate investigation and fighting problems such as gun trafficking, and cybercrimes. 'I'm a former law enforcement officer. There is a different skill set that is used for municipal law enforcement agencies than the military,' Johnson said. There has also been speculation that federal intervention could entail curfews for young people. But that would do more harm, Nicole Lee said, disproportionately affecting young people of color and wrongfully assuming that youths are the main instigators of violence. 'If you're a young person, basically you can be cited, criminalized, simply for being outside after certain hours,' Lee said. 'Not only does that not solve anything in regard to violence and crime, it puts young people in the crosshairs of the criminal justice system.' A game of wait-and-see For now, Johnson said, the mayors are watching their counterpart in Washington, Muriel Bowser, closely to see how she navigates the unprecedented federal intervention. She has been walking a fine line between critiquing and cooperating since Trump's takeover, but things ramped up Friday when officials sued to try to block the takeover. Johnson praised Bowser for carrying on with dignity and grace. 'Black mayors are resilient. We are intrinsically children of struggle,' Johnson said. 'We learn to adapt quickly, and I believe that we will and we are.'

Waukegan Community Unit School District 60 receiving additional revenue from state's evidence-based funding program
Waukegan Community Unit School District 60 receiving additional revenue from state's evidence-based funding program

Chicago Tribune

time4 hours ago

  • Chicago Tribune

Waukegan Community Unit School District 60 receiving additional revenue from state's evidence-based funding program

As Gwen Polk prepares the budget she will present to the Waukegan Community Unit School District 60 Board of Education in September, she has learned that she has approximately $6.2 million in additional revenue courtesy of the State of Illinois' evidence-based funding program. Though every school district receives some of the $9.25 billion appropriated by the Illinois General Assembly, Tier 1 districts like Waukegan and North Chicago School District 187 face a harder time adequately funding education, including a smaller property tax base, and receive the most. When the Illinois General Assembly approved the final $350 million in May — $43 million was held for distribution at a later time — Lake County's 13 Tier 1 districts and the Regional Office of Education were awarded 87.5% of the county's total, with District 60 getting 38% — $6.2 million. Polk, District 60's associate superintendent for business and financial services, said the proposed budget currently sits at slightly less than $327 million. With COVID-19 federal relief funds no longer available, the additional money from the state is a big help. 'We're all affected by the fiscal cliff,' Polk said, referring to the federal money schools received nationwide. 'The increase (from the state) is going to help.' Lake County's 47 school districts and the Regional Office of Education collectively received just under $16.3 million in additional evidence-based funding earlier this month from the state, bringing its total to more than $562 million to augment their budgets. For the Waukegan public schools, Polk said evidence-based funding provides for more than half of its total revenue, which also includes property tax income. The approximate district-wide enrollment for the 2025-2026 school year is 14,000. By contrast, Barrington Community Unit School District 220, a Tier 4 district — they receive the smallest amount of evidence-based funding — with approximately 8,100 students, received just over $6.5 million. State Sen. Adriane Johnson, D-Buffalo Grove, said evidence-based funding became law in Illinois in 2017 to help all schools get to a level of funding to adequately educate youngsters. 'Education is the great equalizer,' Johnson said, 'If students' schools are adequately funded they they get the support and resources they need. This helps students in low-income areas get those resources.' Originally proposing $550 million for the final round of evidence-based funding, Johnson said that with a tight state budget, $350 million was the most she and her colleagues could get passed. In Waukegan, like most school districts, the bulk of the budget goes toward salaries and benefits for teachers, staff, and administrators. The current evidence-based funding is 4.1% more than a year ago, but not close to full adequacy. With the largest share of evidence-based funding in Lake County, District 60's adequacy level is 72%, well below the ideal amount. Barrington's adequacy level is 119%. Some of the highest adequacy levels are found where the property values are also high. Leading Lake County in adequacy is Rondout School District 72 at 255% which includes parts of Lake Forest, Lake Bluff, Green Oaks, and Mettawa. Bannockburn School District 106 is at 202% while Lake Forest High School District 115 is at 193% and Township High School District 113 serving Deerfield and Highland Park High Schools is at 190%. District 187 Principal John Price said the adequacy level in North Chicago dropped from 78% to 71%. A year ago, there was a large influx of migrant children that is not the case this year. The district is receiving $1.67 million, the second-highest amount in Lake County. Price said District 187's budget is approximately $80 million, and its evidence-based funding totals just under $40.1 million.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store