By The Let Forest Park Vote On Video Gaming Political Action Committee

On December 18, a group of local citizens, organized under the political action committee Let Forest Park Vote on Video Gaming, submitted a petition to the Village of Forest Park to place video gaming on the March 2018 ballot.
According to Illinois gaming law, signatures from 25 percent of registered voters are required to put a binding referendum on the ballot which allows citizens to vote on video gambling in their town.
The Cook County Clerk confirmed on Jan. 17 that Let Forest Park Vote had 2,840 valid signatures, or more than 25 percent of registered voters in Forest Park.

Read More

Posted on January 22, 2018

By Julia Conley/Common Dreams

Critics of Amazon’s “race to the bottom” as it searches for a home for its second headquarters said on Thursday that the company’s newly released shortlist of 20 cities highlights a crisis in the U.S. economy – one exemplified by the huge incentives offered to Amazon in the bidding war among potential hosts.
Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) was among those slamming Amazon and the state and local governments willing to give billions of dollars in tax breaks to the extremely wealthy multinational company.

Tax breaks to Amazon promised by New Jersey: $7 billion. Tax breaks promised by Illinois: $2 billion. Something is deeply wrong with our economy & democracy when local governments offer up their tax base to a corporation worth over $500 billion. https://t.co/csnETiF5zT

— Rep. Keith Ellison (@keithellison) January 18, 2018

In addition to the incentives mentioned by Ellison, Boston offered $75 million to provide affordable housing to Amazon employees, while Maryland’s offer exceeded $5 billion.
Some noted that Amazon’s top 20 contenders – also including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, and Raleigh – are fairly prosperous cities, with the company leaving out areas that could benefit from an influx of jobs and economic activity.

Read More

Posted on January 19, 2018

By The City Of Chicago Office Of Inspector General

With an assist to the Beachwood Added Value Affairs Desk.
The City of Chicago Office of Inspector General has released its fourth quarter report for 2017 to the City Council. The report summarizes the Office’s activity from October 1, 2017 to December 31, 2017.
In his cover letter, Inspector General Joe Ferguson addresses the future of the Office of Inspector General, including the first-generation projects for the new Public Safety Section, a revitalized website that will include an interactive data portal, the establishment of a robust community engagement program; and continued use of technology to expand the reach of the OIG.
This quarter’s report includes summaries of concluded OIG investigations, inquiries, and other activities, including:

Read More

Posted on January 18, 2018

By Henry Giroux/The Conversation

George Orwell warns us in his dystopian novel 1984 that authoritarianism begins with language. In the novel, “newspeak” is language twisted to deceive, seduce and undermine the ability of people to think critically and freely.
As authoritarianism gains strength, the formative cultures that give rise to dissent become more embattled, along with the public spaces and institutions that make conscious critical thought possible.
Words that speak the truth to reveal injustices and provide informed critical analysis begin to disappear, making it all the more difficult, if not dangerous, to judge, think critically and hold dominant power accountable. Notions of virtue, honor, respect and compassion are policed, and those who advocate them are punished.
I think it’s fair to argue that Orwell’s nightmare vision of the future is no longer fiction in the United States. Under President Donald Trump, language is undergoing a shift: It now treats dissent, critical media coverage and scientific evidence as a species of “fake news.”

Read More

Posted on January 16, 2018

By Indivisible Chicago

Warning that vulnerabilities in the Interstate “Crosscheck” program are more extensive than election officials have admitted, voter rights activists at Indivisible Chicago are praising the Illinois State Board of Elections for confirming that no voter data will be sent to the “Crosscheck” program in January as originally planned. The voter rights activists are urging the SBE to hold firm as the Kansas officials in charge of securing the national Crosscheck voter database continue to struggle with security fixes that will protect 100 million voters’ personal data.
In December, Kansas officials assured participating states that they would have the opportunity to review details about proposed security fixes by the end of the year, with a plan to discuss on January 4th. “As of this date, we have received no description of security enhancements from Crosscheck”, said SBE executive director Steve Sandvoss in a January 10 letter to state legislators. “We plan to review and discuss those proposed enhancements upon receipt and we will transmit no data to Crosscheck until security issues are addressed to our satisfaction.”

Read More

Posted on January 12, 2018

By Jon Queally/Common Dreams

Despite spending much of the last 12 months denouncing the legitimate threat posed by President Donald Trump’s penchant for authoritarian policies and behavior, 65 Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday joined with 191 Republicans in passing a bill that advocates of civil liberties warn will lead to the wholesale violation “of privacy rights for everyone in the United States.”
While the final vote on the FISA Amendments Reauthorization Act of 2017 (or S.139) – which included renewal of the controversial Section 702 which allows government agencies to spy on the e-mails, text messages, and other electronic communications of Americans and foreigners without a warrant – was 256 to 164 in favor of passage, the partisan breakdown revealed that Republicans in the majority needed a great deal of Democratic support in order to have it pass. (Forty-five Republicans voted against the bill.)
“The House voted today to give President Trump and his administration more spying powers,” said Neema Singh Guliani, policy counsel with the ACLU, in a statement following the vote. “The government will use this bill to continue warrantless intrusions into Americans’ private e-mails, text messages, and other communications.”

Read More

Posted on January 11, 2018

By Jessica Corbett/Common Dreams

A peer-reviewed study has confirmed “a discrepancy between what ExxonMobil’s scientists and executives discussed about climate change privately and in academic circles, and what it presented to the general public.”
“ExxonMobil contributed quietly to the science and loudly to raising doubts about it,” wrote Harvard researchers Geoffrey Supran and Naomi Oreskes in their study, published in the scientific journal Environmental Research Letters.
“Even while ExxonMobil scientists were contributing to climate science and writing reports that explained it to their bosses, the company was paying for advertisements that told a very different tale,” they concluded in a New York Times Op-Ed.

Read More

Posted on January 8, 2018

By Jessica Corbett/Common Dreams

As corporations and wealthy individuals across the United States are slated to benefit from massive tax breaks thanks to the GOP’s latest tax legislation, a Bloomberg analysis published Thursday found that chief executives of American companies already make 265 times the amount of money an average worker is paid – the largest CEO-worker income gap in the world.
“CEOs of the biggest publicly traded U.S. companies averaged $14.3 million in annual pay, more than double that of their Canadian counterparts and 10 times greater than those in India,” according to Bloomberg. While India ranked second on Bloomberg’s CEO pay-to-average income ratio, Indian chief executives made about a tenth of their American counterparts’ incomes, averaging $1.46 million annually.

Read More

Posted on December 29, 2017

By The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists

Dear Steve,
Here we are, the final e-mail from ICIJ for the year – and what a year it has been!
Today we have our latest piece of Paradise Papers coverage for you – reflecting the groundswell of action ICIJ’s projects on offshore secrecy have created. We’re hoping it continues in the new year!
We also calculated how much money tax authorities across the world have recouped since we published the Panama Papers in April last year – more than $500 million (and counting!)
And in true holiday spirit, we have insight into what our team members (though maybe not me!) are doing this holiday season.

Read More

Posted on December 28, 2017

By The City Of Chicago Office Of Inspector General

The City of Chicago Office of Inspector General Audit and Program Review section has published its 2018 Audit Plan. APR supports the OIG mission by conducting independent, objective performance analysis and evaluation of municipal programs and operations, issuing public reports of findings and making recommendations to strengthen and improve the delivery of public services.
In addition to summarizing work completed in 2017 and work currently in progress, the 2018 APR Audit Plan identifies 23 new audit topics to initiate in the coming year, which will answer the following questions, among others:

• Has the City implemented the recommendations made by the Mayor’s Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Reform Task Force?
• Does the Chicago Police Department manage and maintain dashboard cameras and footage effectively?

Read More

Posted on December 22, 2017