Over the past nine years, two nephews of former Mayor Richard M. Daley have been involved in separate plans to redevelop a rundown warehouse on 15 acres of polluted land in Little Village just north of the Stevenson Expressway.

It hasn’t turned out well for Chicago taxpayers.

First, taxpayers have to make up for $4.2 million in city pension money invested on behalf of teachers, police officers and other city workers that ended up squandered on failed development plans involving Daley’s oldest nephew, Robert G. Vanecko.

By all accounts, Derric Sampson is a model driver. He’s done 7,400 trips on Uber in 18 months and riders rate him 4.85 out of 5, above average. The only issue: He’s served time in prison. My friends are often taken aback when I tell them about Sampson. But people are released from prison because the state accepts they have repaid their debt to society and deserve a second chance. And if prisoners can’t find gainful employment, they’re much more likely to commit another crime, putting them back in prison.

However, it’s amazingly hard to find work if you are one of the 70 million-plus Americans with a criminal record because many companies ask about your history up front. And if you check “yes,” the application process ends before the interview has even started. That is why Uber supports “Ban the Box” and has removed this step from our hiring process.

But that’s just one of the many barriers people face when looking for work. Some 30 percent of jobs in the United States now require a license — from being a tour guide or real estate agent to hair braiding. And many of these licenses include some kind of criminal background check.

Gov. Bruce Rauner has granted clemency to five people, including a Springfield woman, and denied another 235 requests.

The Republican announced the action Friday. The governor’s office said each grantee has recently undergone a criminal background check.

The grantees include two people convicted of drug charges. The others were convicted of obstruction of justice, possession of a stolen motor vehicle and burglary.

Gov. Bruce Rauner has appointed a Vermont lottery official to oversee the Illinois Lottery.

Greg Smith will join the agency that became the first in the nation to turn over its day-to-day management to a private firm, and is now in the midst of being the first in the nation to replace a private management firm with another.

Same-day voter registration will be available in Illinois for the Nov. 8 election after a federal appeals court Friday denied an attempt to expedite a case challenging the law.

Earlier this week, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stayed a lower court ruling from September that found the same-day registration option benefited Democratic strongholds such as Chicago while diluting the vote in rural regions that may favor Republican candidates. The lower court ruling had blocked implementation of the same-day registration option for the upcoming election.

The appeals court Tuesday stayed the lower court order after Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office appealed, clearing the way for election officials to implement the same-day registration law again. The lawyers who were challenging the law then asked the appeals court to expedite its review of the case, but the appeals court Friday declined to do so, instead setting a Nov. 10 deadline for the first round of briefs.

Oct 7 Illinois will bring $1.35 billion in general obligation refunding bonds to the municipal market next week, to take advantage of low U.S. interest rates ahead of December, when the Federal Reserve may hike rates.

Illinois is the lowest-rated U.S. state but also its highest yielding, so the offer is expected to receive buyside interest from so-called “yield hogs,” Alan Schankel, municipal strategist at Janney Fixed Income Strategy, said in an email on Friday.

Illinois saw its credit rating dropped one notch by S&P Ratings to BBB last week. The agency cited weak financial management and increased pressure from declining pension funded levels.

Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democratic House Speaker Mike Madigan are not on the statewide ballot next month, but the two are the focus of the November election, as well as a new poll from the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute.

The poll said 55 percent of responding voters disapprove of Rauner, and 63 percent of voters across the state disapprove of House Speaker Mike Madigan (D-Chicago).

Southern Illinois University professor John Jackson said those numbers aren’t good, but they’re better for Rauner.