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Chicago Tribune: Justice report rips Chicago police for excessive force, lax discipline, bad training
In perhaps the most damning, sweeping critique ever of the Chicago Police Department, the U.S. Department of Justice concluded Friday that the city’s police officers are poorly trained and quick to turn to excessive and even deadly force, most often against blacks and Latino residents, without facing consequences.
The 164-page report, the product of more than a year of investigation, paints the picture of a department flawed from top to bottom, although many of the problems it cites have, for decades, been the subject of complaints from citizens, lawsuits by attorneys and investigations by news organizations.
Chicago Sun-Times: Feds say Chicago Police stuck in last millennium
The Chicago Police Department is stuck in the Stone Age — from training that relies on 35-year-old videos to outdated pursuit tactics that imperil suspects, officers and innocent bystanders, according to a scathing 161-page report just released by the Justice Department.
U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch called for sweeping changes in a department she said engages in a “pattern or practice of use of excessive force.”
Chicago Sun-Times: Report includes anecdotes of deadly force, ‘dangerous practices’
The Department of Justice’s sweeping report into the Chicago Police Department offers stark anecdotes of deadly force, including officers firing shots in residential neighborhoods, and “dangerous practices” like taking people into gang-rival territories to “display” them.
To build the case that the police department has systemic problems, Justice Department investigators interviewed 1,000 city residents, as well as hundreds of police officers and staff, and combed through thousands of reports and records.
Chicago Tribune: A stinging rebuke of Chicago police misconduct, and a chance to fix the damage
The feds came down hard on the city of Chicago Friday in the findings of a yearlong investigation of police misuse of force. The U.S. Justice Department’s report blows the lid off nothing, of course. It has long been tragically obvious that Chicago does a poor job of holding police officers accountable for violence against citizens. The case of Laquan McDonald, a black teenager shot 16 times by a white cop in October 2014, is but one of many examples.
But now there is a 164-page document, released with the force of federal law, that lays out in resounding detail CPD’s reckless approach to oversight. And it points the way to a dramatic, necessary fix: the completion of a court-approved settlement that would bind the city to its commitment to reform the Police Department and restore public trust in a battered institution.
Chicago Tribune: Justice report questions Emanuel police changes
In the 13 months since federal officials launched their civil rights investigation into the Chicago Police Department, Mayor Rahm Emanuel has made changes to police training, policy and discipline designed to repair a scandal-plagued force.
When the U.S. Department of Justice report finally emerged Friday, it included praise for some elements of initiatives Emanuel pressed last year as he sought to get ahead of the investigation’s findings.
Chicago Sun-Times: Emanuel agrees to negotiate consent decree that may never happen
Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Friday signed an “agreement in principle” to negotiate a consent decree — culminating in the appointment of a federal monitor — to ride herd over the sweeping police reforms recommended Friday by the U.S. Justice Department.
But the consent decree might never happen.
Chicago Tribune: Illinois' biggest state worker union schedules strike-authorization vote
Illinois’ largest public employee union moved one step closer to a confrontation with Gov. Bruce Rauner, scheduling votes that could authorize a state worker strike if the union and the Republican governor are unable to reach a deal on new contract terms.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31 announced the strike vote plan in a letter to union members, scheduling votes starting Jan. 30 and ending mid-February.
Chicago Tribune: CPS orders 4 unpaid furlough days for all employees
Chicago Public Schools on Friday ordered four unpaid furlough days for its employees as a cost-cutting measure the district said is necessary because of Gov. Bruce Rauner’s veto of legislation that would have provided $215 million in state aid.
The furlough days won’t interrupt classes because all land on previously scheduled staff professional development days. CPS said the effort was expected to save $35 million, a fraction of the budget gap the district faces this year.
Chicago Tribune: Rail union rejects agreement on Second Chance jobs program for felons: CTA
The union representing CTA rail workers voted against an extension of a jobs program for felons, which could result in the loss of jobs for 63 people, CTA officials said Friday.
The Second Chance program provides felons and other hard-to-place workers with temporary jobs cleaning buses and trains, and employs about 200 people. Amalgamated Transit Union Local 308, which represents rail workers, and ATU Local 241, which represents bus workers, had agreed in principle with the CTA on Dec. 30 to extend the program before it was set to expire, according to CTA President Dorval Carter.
Chicago Sun-Times: Sex predators living in public housing despite ban
Twenty years ago, a 9-year-old girl from Cabrini-Green was abducted, sexually assaulted, poisoned and left for dead in a crime that dominated the news as much for the resilience of the young victim as for the raw brutality.
Initially known only as Girl X to protect her identity, she was left severely disabled, though she was still able to testify against her attacker, Patrick Sykes, a convicted sex offender who had been living at the Near North Side public housing complex.
Northwest Herald: Understanding Changes to Illinois’ Right to Privacy Act
The Right to Privacy in the Workplace Act was amended, effective Jan. 1, 2017, to broaden the scope of what an employer may not access or request from an employee in regards to online accounts.
A major change is that the category of “personal online account” was added to the statute, which encompasses any online account “that is used by a person primarily for personal purposes.” The prior definition was focused only on social networking accounts.
Chicago Sun-Times: Illinois to receive $19.5 million in Moody’s ratings settlement
Illinois will receive $19.5 million from Moody’s Investors Service to resolve a federal investigation into its ratings of mortgage securities leading up to the 2008 financial crisis.
The credit rating firm agreed to pay $864 million to settle with the U.S. Justice Department and 21 states that accused the company of inflating ratings on risky mortgage securities and contributing to the economic collapse, according to a news release from Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office.
Chicago Sun-Times: Republican Rauner names Democrat Vallas to Chicago State board
Gov. Bruce Rauner has named a former political rival and a retired state lawmaker to state posts.
The first-term Republican appointed Democrat Paul Vallas on Friday to the Chicago State University Board of Trustees. Vallas is one of four people Rauner appointed to the board of the embattled public university, where only 86 freshmen enrolled this past fall.
WTTW Chicago Tonight: Cook County Surpasses Emission Reduction Targets
Cook County is ahead of schedule on its goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050, a new report shows.
From 2010 to 2015, the county says it reduced GHG emissions from building energy by 22 percent – more than twice its goal of 10 percent to keep on target for the long-term, 80-percent benchmark, according to the county’s latest annual sustainability report.
Northwest Herald: McHenry County Electoral Board tosses state rep's anti-tax referendum from April 4 ballot
McHenry County election officials tossed an advisory property tax freeze referendum off the April 4 ballot for having far from the required number of signatures.
In a 3-0 vote Friday afternoon, the Electoral Board upheld an objection by Chief Deputy County Clerk Linda Fitzgerald that the petition filed by state Rep. Allen Skillicorn does not meet guidelines set by state law.
Peoria Journal-Star: Consumer group petitions ICC for Illinois American Water rate decrease
An Illinois American Water rate hike that took effect in Peoria at the beginning of the year may face a challenge before the Illinois Commerce Commission.
The Citizens Utility Board, a not-for-profit organization created by statute to represent the interests of residential utility customers in Illinois, has petitioned the ICC for a rehearing on rates approved in December.
Peoria Journal-Star: Peoria County Board approves buyout for employees
The Peoria County Board voted unanimously to provide a voluntary buyout package for county employees at Thursday’s meeting.
Earlier this month, the county operations committee voted to offer employees a buyout package that would include a $10,000 cash payment and a $10,000 payment to a health retirement account. As many as 40 employees could face layoffs because of $2.5 million in cuts in the county’s 2017 budget.
Belleville News-Democrat: Belleville City Hall renovation costs more, takes longer than expected
The price tag for the renovation of the Belleville City Hall and opening the new police headquarters has increased 11 percent from $18.5 million to $20.6 million and the work at City Hall will be finished in June or July, about six months later than the original estimate.
The police department has already moved to the former Bank of Belleville building at 720 W. Main St. and City Hall renovations began last fall. The work on City Hall at 101 S. Illinois St. initially was expected to be finished by early this year with the goal of making City Hall compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act and removing asbestos from the building that was dedicated in 1958.
The Southern: Proposed sales tax increase to build new Franklin County Courthouse to be on April ballot
The Franklin County Board voted 8-1 on Friday to place a proposed sales tax increase on the April ballot.
The board discussed the potential 1 percent increase during a special meeting. The increase would go toward public facilities and would last for 20 years. The funds collected by the tax would be used to build a new county courthouse.