JTO is TypingThis weather would be great if I was a black mage in Final Fantasy XI.
We may have had double-digit tornados across northern Illinois tonight. All of Cook County was under a warning, with two spotted around Chicago's airports simultaneously and circulation over the Loop. The National Weather Service had to take shelter in Romeoville and a section of Interstate 55 in Kankakee County has been shut down due to debris.
College of DuPage provided WGN TV with this loop of the storms from the GOES-East satellite.
A year ago, the National Weather Service was surveying the damage from 13 tornados in northern Illinois, the strongest being 3 EF-1 tornados.
Southern Illinois did not escape unscathed. Nashville has a secondary dam which failed (in 2022?) and a 26 foot tall primary dam which was overtopped, leading to evacuations, but also many state roads and part of Interstate 64 are closed.
I don't recommend living in a country where COVID-19 data isn't widely accessible, and you can go to a hospital and be the only person on the floor wearing a respirator with headbands who keeps it on, and be thankful when you leave it because your electricity finally came back on 10 minutes after you needed it for a mobility device.
The July 15th storm was categorized as a derecho. 19 tornados.
"As of the evening of July 18th, a total of 22 tornadoes have been confirmed in the NWS Chicago forecast area from this event. This ties the daily record for tornadoes in our forecast area (June 30th, 2014 "Double Derecho" and March 31, 2023 Outbreak)."
The July 15th tornado count has reached 27 (breaking the record by 5) and an EF-0 was really close to me. I saw a bit of the damage last week, but didn't think it looked like a tornado.
"Additional tornadoes may be confirmed over the coming month, as we continue to analyze high resolution and satellite and radar data."
National Weather Service updated the derecho page.
"With 32 tornadoes, the July 15, 2024 derecho was the most prolific tornado event to impact the NWS Chicago forecast area in history.
...
During the evening of July 15, there were multiple periods of time during which there were more than 1 [simultaneous] tornado within the... forecast area. The period between 8:25 and 10:30 PM was particularly prolific, with at least 2 tornadoes 70% of the time and at least 4 tornadoes nearly 25% of the time."
Chicago's #COVID19 Wastewater Monitoring Dashboard wasn't updated from the August 22nd or 24th data every time I checked during September. It has been now. Still no full dates on the points on the graph, just month and year, which were displayed at end of last year and early this year.
https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/sites/covid-19/home/covid-19-wastewater-surveillance.html
The Illinois State Board of Elections has a banner with a link to the state's coronavirus response site. Internet Archive's Wayback Machine has captures of the site which seem to show it stopped working after January with a different error graphic.
Another brush fire at that forest preserve. Not as many displaced birds have moved in this direction, yet.
In Cook County in Illinois we have a pretty good resource, Injustice Watch, for helping decide on judicial retention. One of the methods they try to use to help voters make informed decisions is a survey sent to the candidates, but many of the judges refuse to answer it. One candidate this year sent in a response downplaying it and I feel the need to point out that the statement, "Each of the judges running for retention was elected by the voters..." isn't fully true.
https://interactives.injusticewatch.org/judicial-election-guide/2024-general/en/
While it is true every judge on the ballot was elected (later), by my count Injustice Watch reports 27 of the 77 judges up for retention first became judges when they were appointed by the Illinois Supreme Court power to fill vacancies, not by elections. 12 of those in 2017, 1 in 2018. 1 is up for retention on the appellate court. A judge mentioned in this Chicago Tribune article on the questionable application of that power (Marsalek) is up for retention this year.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2012/12/23/defeated-judges-find-way-back-to-bench-2/
For 3 hours yesterday a sensor in Gary, Indiana reported air quality index readings for particulate matter in the hazardous range (above 300 micrograms per square meter). The peak was 772 and readings only returned to the moderate range at 5:00 PM CDT.
Another election with none of the judges up for retention failing to receive enough votes, despite 4 of them having been referred to the Judicial Inquiry Board. 2 of those only happened the day after the election.
Oh and an Illinois state's attorney was elected who believed Black children were superpredators, and that was the best choice on the ballot.
McGlynn was nominated by Trump and confirmed by the Senate in 2020. This country still hadn't recovered from the damage to the federal judicial branch (or even made sufficient attempts to). So, McGlynn got to rule against a law we passed to try to protect ourselves from assault rifles after the shooting involving one during a 4th of July parade in one of the most affluent areas of Illinois.
Federal judge rules Illinois assault weapons ban unconstitutional, attorney general vows to appeal
U.S. District Judge Stephen P. McGlynn put his ruling on hold for 30 days, likely in anticipation of the appeal. The litigation over Illinois’ assault weapons ban is viewed as likely to reach as high as the U.S. Supreme Court.
It has been 1 year since I began wearing an N95 respirator all the time even at home, because absolutely everyone is terrible at risk assessment.
The CDC has taken Trump's approach to hurricanes by drawing the problem away on their graphs, and he's not even in office, yet.
Chicago's Department of Public Health has chosen the worst time to take down the COVID-19 wastewater monitoring dashboard, because not updating it during and after the Democrat super spreader event wasn't bad enough.
Last week I got a letter from my insurance company through which I got a PPO under the Affordable Care Act. They were notifying me that next year I should not be able to afford care if I were to be injured or ill out-of-state (except in counties which border the state).
Still trying to pin this down, but it sounds like another fire at that preserve, even though there had just been one in October. Not only can we smell it, but it has been so windy today that there's ash in the air, visible in street lights tonight, like snow.
There was just an #AMBERAlert in #Chicago, and the first website that I found with anything about it is for the Dutch BNO News. I don't know how accurate they are and details are changing at this point (100 block of S. Central Park Ave. initially vs. 7100 block of S. Eberhart Ave., adding "dark grey" to the possible vehicle colors when the alert had beige...). Their story says the child was last seen at 7:40 pm, which would have been over 6 hours before the alert was sent out.
https://bnonews.com/index.php/2025/02/illinois-amber-alert-tristen-gaters-abducted-in-chicago/
The website for the non-profit National Center for Missing and Exploited Children does not yet have this alert listed.
https://www.missingkids.org/gethelpnow/amber
Their website is also where the Department of Justice directs people to check. amberalert.ojp.gov is yet another federal website with the notice about the freeze and review.
On top of that, the website for the Illinois AMBER Alert Task Force looks like it was another victim of Bruce Rauner's no budget years.
The Republican party is a death cult.
Illinois Amber Alert: Tristen Gaters abducted in Chicago
An Illinois Amber Alert has been issued for 8-year-old Tristen Gaters after he was allegedly abducted in Chicago, local officials say. Anyone with information is urged to call 911 immediately. Tristen was last seen at 7:40 p.m. on Thursday when he was taken from the 7100 block of South Eberhart Avenue in Chicago, according to […]
The updates to that story are sickening.
Four helicopters just flew over the southern suburbs of #Chicago and all I can think of is, "Who will it be today?" There's the chance it's just the Illinois National Guard out on monthly exercises, but the chance that it isn't is much greater than zero, now.
There have been 2 EF-1 tornadoes confirmed so far which occurred on the 19th. The tornado warnings that day were issued not out of the Romeoville, IL office but Norman, OK. With the federal government currently destroying any agency which acknowledges climate change, I expect we'll find that it takes longer to confirm these tornadoes and some damage may go un-inspected.
Any meteorologist who adopts "Gulf of America" is not going to help you survive the sociopaths.
"Prevost – who was also the Augustinians’ worldwide leader for 12 years beginning in 2001 – left the principal, an Augustinian priest named Richard McGrath, in his post, a decision he has not explained, as the Chicago Sun-Times has previously reported."
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/09/clergy-molestation-survivors-pope-leo-xiv
"In 2017, as word spread of the claims against him, McGrath abruptly retired in December of that year, then reportedly moving to a friary in Hyde Park. Months later, he was AWOL from that facility—"unlawfully absent" from the Augustinian Order. A source in 2018 told Patch that McGrath had left the order after conflict surrounding the scandal, because he had felt bullied and unsupported by the order.
At the time of reporting on the settlement in 2023, the Order was said to have been nearing expulsion of McGrath.
The statement issued by Rev. Pizzo and provided to Patch on May 6 clarifies that McGrath had still been a part of the order until late last year."
https://patch.com/illinois/newlenox/providence-ex-president-dismissed-order-whereabouts-unknown
The upside to being in the 6th year of a global airborne pandemic is that I'm nearly always dressed right for when The Dust Bowl tries to make a comeback.
The National Weather Service published a report on the severe dust storm.
"According to the American Meteorological Society’s Glossary of Meteorology, blowing dust/dirt
events with minimum visibilities of 0.63 miles or less are indicated as a 'dust storm,' with minimum visibilities below 0.31 miles indicated as 'severe dust storm.' Severe dust storms associated with a wall of dust and a rapid onset of reduced visibilities and gusty winds are
sometimes caused by thunderstorm outflows or frontal passages, such as what was observed on 16 May (Figure 1). In these situations, the dust storm is often referred to as a 'haboob,' based upon the Arabic word for 'to blow.' Severe dust storms or haboobs are uncommon in the Midwest, and much more frequently observed in the Desert Southwest and Great Plains of the United States or in arid regions of the Middle East, Sahara Desert, or Central Australia
(American Meteorological Society, 2025)."
PDF is here.
https://www.weather.gov/media/lot/events/2025/05_16/2025_05_16_Dust_Storm.pdf
Other facts about the haboob.
Visibility was down to 0.25 miles southeast of Bloomington in McLean County, around a stretch of Interstate 57 in Will County, in the southern suburbs up through Chicago in Cook County, and around South Bend, Indiana.
Chicago had visibility of less than a mile for 72 minutes.
A severe dust storm from the Dust Bowl affected Galena and suspended rides at the 1933 World's Fair reported in the Chicago Tribune, cited as the earliest similar report with a minimum visibility of 0.5 miles at Midway International Airport (then Chicago Municipal Airport).
Trust the newsreaders on #ABC7Chicago to downplay health threats to tens of millions of people. One of their 4 o'clock meteorologists took pains to point out that the Canadian wildfire smoke in the area is no longer the "unhealthy for sensitive groups" category, but for all and that visibility is down to 5 miles due to it. One of the 6 o'clock anchors said, "Maybe you've got a little thing in your throat."
Entire states have declared for the past two days the air is unhealthy to breathe without treatment, but no, maybe it's just you. What gets me is that Ravi Baichwal is a Canadian-American.
Once again The Dust Bowl is brought up in local meteorology, because it's the 30th anniversary of the 1995 heat wave.
"In 2025, as part of its Hazard Simplification Project, the National Weather Service updated the names of its highest-level heat products in an effort to better communicate the danger posed by extreme heat. Excessive Heat Watches were renamed to Extreme Heat Watches, while Excessive Heat Warnings were renamed to Extreme Heat Warnings."
The National Weather Service is now more EXTREeeeeME than it was in the '90s.
The 2-day long Extreme Heat Warning finally broke. There could be reports on how warnings such as these by the National Weather Service try to save lives and the dire consequences of firing meteorologists to appease sociopaths, or maybe how to make cooling centers safe during the still ongoing COVID-19 pandemic... Nah, #WGN decides they've got time to fit in telling you about a squirrel that fought a rattlesnake, as if you're a 17th century British colonist and this is going to be in the next sermon.
The National Weather Service has documented the storms on the 24th and 25th. Flash flooding on the 25th resulted in waist-high water on residential streets in some places, and even 6-12 inches of standing water on Interstate 55.
It's not enough for corporate news to have complete silence about the dangers of indoor air quality, now we get reporters sent out into AQI category Unhealthy air and visible smoke at ground level without PPE.
We just had 3.1 inches/80 mm of rain within 2 hours or so.
mm is millivanillimeters, right?
The governor's press conference today defying military occupation plans is available for download on the Illinois Department of Central Management Services.
It's the 35th anniversary of the Plainfield Tornado, the only F5 tornado in August in the country since 1950 and studied by the Fujita scale's creator Tetsuya Ted Fujita. Before Fujita was at the University of Chicago he was an associate professor at the then-named Meiji Senmon Gakkō in the city of Kokura. Kokura was the primary target of Fat Man, but for 3 steel workers making a smoke screen and clouds preventing the ordered bomb drop by sight.
https://www.weather.gov/lot/Plainfield_Tornado_Anniversary
https://thebulletin.org/2022/08/harrowing-story-of-the-nagasaki-bombing-mission/#post-heading
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyushu_Institute_of_Technology
"On Saturday the head of the Illinois State Police received a phone call from CBP's chief patrol agent Gregory Bovino indicating that ICE would be deploying to Chicago. ...in the absence of significant federal coordination we've gathered information from unauthorized patriotic officials inside the government and from well-sourced reporters...
...
First, Donald Trump is positioning armed federal agents and staging military vehicles on federal property such as the Great Lakes Naval Base.
...
We believe that staging that has already begun started yesterday and continues into today.
Second, unidentifiable agents in unmarked vehicles with masks are planning to raid Latino communities...
...
Third... we have reason to believe the Trump administration has already begun staging the Texas national guard for deployment in Illinois.
...
Lastly, after about 30 days or so we believe they will pick up all those resources and send them to the next city in a blue state." - Gov. Pritzker
Five helicopters flying over the southern suburbs. Only one transponder.
It's not so much that the nuts are coming out of the woodwork since the death of a conspiracy theorist as they were already being deputized as part of propaganda efforts.
"Bergquam, a correspondent for the right-wing news channel Real America’s Voice, has more than 177,000 followers on Instagram. He is currently embedded with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers as they make arrests in Chicago as part of President Trump’s 'Operation Midway Blitz.'”
According to Wikipedia article on the conspiracy theorist (pre-murder) the dead man was the sort of person Twitter would ban before that site died when a sociopath bought it. The article has had ~1500 edits in the two days since, and it's wiser not to link to the current page when it changes so rapidly.
Right-wing influencer films Pritzker's home, stokes concerns after Kirk death
Sources close to the governor told the Sun-Times Ben Bergquam's video has prompted additional concerns over Pritzker's safety. The Illinois State Police Executive Protection Unit currently provides 24-hour security for the governor, his family and the Governor's Mansion in Springfield.
"This morning, September 19, 2025, federal agents unleashed severe violence on people protesting at the Broadview detention facility, and engaged in actions endangering people on the scene." - National Lawyers Guild, Chicago chapter
"The organization said its legal observers witnessed agents using pepper balls and apparent tear gas 'on all protesters and individuals gathered.' The National Lawyers Guild frequently monitors demonstrations to document police use of force and arrests.” - Nader Issa, Chicago Sun-Times
https://chicago.suntimes.com/live/ice-agent-broadview-facility-protest-today
You can now swim in the Chicago River... sort of.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/sep/21/chicago-river-swim
"Swimming in the Chicago River is prohibited at any other time of the year."
https://www.chicagoriverswim.org/Race/ChicagoRiverSwim/Page/SwimCourse
There was daily private water quality testing of the main channel over the prior 4 days, with less frequent tests before those.
https://www.chicagoriverswim.org/Race/ChicagoRiverSwim/Page/WaterQualityPlan
Also, there were fundraising requirements for competitors.
https://www.chicagoriverswim.org/Race/ChicagoRiverSwim/Page/FAQs
TV coverage of yesterday's press conference called over the memo about 100 troops to protect ICE property got cut off after 30 minutes, before Eréndira Rendón (Vice President of Immigrant Justice from the Resurrection Project) got to speak. Parentheses are mine.
"DHS has admitted to members of the press that they are making enforcement decision based on racial profiling... if you look like me you are in danger. On Sunday in Back of the Yards (a neighborhood now officially known as New City) ICE officers violently arrested 3 US citizens on baseless charges simply for exercising their constitutional right to free speech.
...
Right now in Broadview there are 200 people in a place that is not a detention center. They are being held in inhumane conditions. There are no beds. There are no showers. There is limited food; they order children's meals from Subway to eat. We are not allowed to speak to any of our clients that are held in that facility."
"'I had him in class,' Rupp, now 84, told the Chicago Sun-Times, referring to Prevost’s time at St. Augustine high school seminary near Holland, Michigan, in or around 1973. 'He was a teenager.'
'I only taught him for a few months. ... I think I was teaching Latin at that time. ... He struck me' as 'just a delightful, wonderful young man,' Rupp said.
...
It’s unclear whether Rupp was engaged in sexual misconduct at the time and whether and when Prevost knew of any accusations. Neither the pope nor his press office responded to questions. Rupp denied molesting anyone and said he was wrongfully accused. The Augustinians refuse to confirm whether Rupp was one of Prevost’s instructors."
Priest later accused of child sex abuse was instructor at pope's seminary high school
The Rev. Nelson Daniel Rupp was assigned to St. Augustine seminary for part of the time Robert Prevost was a student. Highlighted in a report about alleged abuse in the Catholic church, Rupp says he taught Prevost — who as Pope Leo XIV now is tasked with dealing with the scourge of child sex abuse…
"...a masked federal agent dropped canisters of chemical irritants into the street outside Rico Fresh Market...
In a video taken by a witness and shared with the Sun-Times, cars could be seen blocking the white, unmarked SUV before a masked agent rolled down his window and dropped the canisters. Smoke begins spreading around the vehicle and passersby began to scream.
Someone on the sidewalk then volleyed at least one of the canisters back at the vehicle before it sped off.
David Beale, 39, was on his way to the gym shortly after noon when he noticed a Blackhawk helicopter and Department of Homeland Security vehicle in the area.
Beale told a WBEZ reporter that the federal agents have been targeting the grocery store since the beginning of Operation Midway Blitz, President Donald Trump’s aggressive deportation campaign in the Chicago area.
At least 10 cars, 10 people and six bikes lined up to stop the vehicle from moving down the street, Beale said."
"The video appears to contradict the government’s allegation that Marimar Martinez, 30, drove toward officers before one of them opened fire at her late Saturday morning on Kedzie Avenue near 39th Street, her attorney, Christopher Parente, said at a detention hearing at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse.
...
Parente said Martinez has 'seven holes' in her from the shooting and that agents were in such a hurry to take her into custody at the hospital that they had to return later when Martinez began bleeding from her wounds.
...
An FBI statement says that about 10 vehicles were involved in the chase that Martinez and Ruiz were allegedly part of in the 3900 block of South Kedzie. The statement also describes the 'ramming' of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement vehicle repeatedly in the 3700 block of Kedzie, allegedly by the driver of a black Chevy Tahoe with Illinois license plate EM 62829. That driver is still at large, the FBI said."
Attorney for woman shot by Border Patrol claims agent said, 'Do something b----' before shooting
Body-camera video appears to contradict the government's claim that Marimar Martinez drove toward officers before one of them opened fire at her Saturday morning in Brighton Park, her attorney alleged.
Not only does this story confirm that Illinois State Police are guarding the Broadview ICE processing site (it is not a detention center), but it also says that new barricades have been erected around the temporary fence which ICE was ordered to remove by a U.S. District Judge on Thursday. Per the headline, they may be violating an Illinois law, the Access to Religious Ministry Act, though that mentions the sheriff sets access times. I haven't seen the Cook County Sheriff, Tom Dart, mentioned.
The Chicago marathon still happened.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/12/chicago-marathon-ice
"A temporary restraining order issued by a federal judge last week requires agents to issue two warnings before using riot control weapons such as tear gas, chemical sprays, plastic bullets and flash bangs. The order also bars firing at protesters, reporters and clergy members and limits using force such as tackling — unless the person represents an immediate threat.
But witnesses said they heard no warnings, and none can be heard on videos of the incident showing the scene leading up to the gas being thrown in the middle of a residential street."
https://chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/2025/10/12/ice-chicago-albany-park-tear-gas
Feds deploy tear gas in another Chicago neighborhood: 'We chased federal agents out of Albany Park today'
A federal judge’s temporary restraining order requires federal agents to issue two warnings before using riot control weapons such as tear gas. Witnesses say they didn't get any warning Sunday afternoon.
"Last week, Greer was one of four cemetery workers, all U.S. citizens, arrested during a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation that crossed over onto the private Christian cemetery property. They were ultimately released without charges, but that was after they were hit with pepper balls and pepper spray unleashed by agents and then detained for hours, Greer recalled.
...
Darren Eichler, one of the other cemetery workers in attendance Monday, declined further comment after the news conference. But in a text message to the Tribune, Eichler described the encounter through a poem.
'Amidst a trembling exchange of power, one where my hands could not rise in defense, and the law, in theory, should have risen for me, a burning rain began to fall,' he wrote. 'Oil-born, it clung to my skin, slick and stinging, baptizing me in disbelief.
'Then came the chorus — a hail of peppered fire, each shot a punctuation of pain, each breath thick with the taste of vinegar and fear.'”
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/13/ice-forest-park-cemetery-workers/
"H flu, also called haemophilus influenzae, is uncommon — each year about 200 cases are recorded in Illinois and roughly 150 are documented in Indiana, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Despite the name, H flu is a bacteria, not a virus like the flu. It can lead to pneumonia and meningitis.
...
In 2024, the vaccination rate for kids in Lake County, Indiana, where Liam was from, was 80%, according to data from the Indiana Department of Public Health.
The vaccination rate for H flu at Chicago Public Schools slightly dropped during and after the pandemic — which disrupted vaccinations for several diseases — but remains high for the current school year at 93%. Herd immunity for H flu is reached at a 90% vaccination rate.
Herd immunity helps protect children who can’t get vaccines for medical reasons or don’t make as many anti-bodies to fight an illness despite having the vaccine, public health experts say."
8-year-old boy's death from rare infectious disease shows importance of vaccines, mom says
Even though Liam Dahlberg was vaccinated before his death earlier this year, he attended school in an Indiana county where the vaccination rate for children was below the level needed for herd immunity, experts say.
"Federal agents chased a car through a residential neighborhood on the Southeast Side of Chicago Tuesday, and then intentionally crashed into the car in a risky maneuver restricted by some police departments nationwide.
...
After the crash, dozens of people gathered at the crash scene in protest, leading to a chaotic confrontation with federal officers.
...
The feds then used tear gas and other chemical irritants on the crowd.
...
Destiny Salazar, 20, said she saw someone in the crowd throw an object at agents...
When she looked back, she saw her 15-year-old cousin and 19-year-old boyfriend 'slammed to the ground' and handcuffed by masked federal agents.
...
The boy, who is Hispanic and African American, was held in a garage for five hours 'without informing his family, stating any charges, or allowing him to call an attorney,' the statement said. He is a U.S. citizen, as is his entire immediate family, the release said."
Feds ram SUV after chase down residential street in Chicago, then tear-gas crowd
The crash happened late Tuesday morning near 105th Street and Avenue N in the East Side neighborhood. Two men being pursued were arrested as were two bystanders. The crash drew dozens of neighbors who protested the tactics of immigration agents.
"DHS Secretary Kristi Noem visited Broadview’s ICE facility on Oct. 3 — two days before the ICE official wrote his email praising the Illinois State Police.
Her motorcade had two options when it came time to leave. It could take Beach Street, where no protesters waited for her. Or it could take Harvard Street, which was full of them. Noem chose Harvard Street.
That’s according to another declaration submitted to Perry by Illinois State Police Maj. Donald Orseno.
...
'Once the roadway was clear, the secretary’s motorcade advanced through the area,' Orseno wrote. 'No pepper balls, gas or other chemical or irritant agents were deployed.
…
Broadview Police Chief Thomas Mills cited Noem’s visit to the facility in his own declaration to Perry. Mills told the judge that Noem made law enforcement’s job 'harder' that day.
'Her presence and actions seemed to be intended to provoke the crowd,' Mills wrote. 'I did not see any legitimate law enforcement purpose for what she was doing.'"
Ex-CBP chief details 'unreasonable use of force,' ICE cites 'brazen' hostility in dueling lawsuit narratives
Records placed in front of U.S. District Judge April Perry by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, City Hall and by the Trump administration offer a behind-the-scenes snapshot from law enforcement and government officials, and show a deep divide in the mission, scope and purpose of ICE…
"A federal judge has modified a temporary restraining order, now requiring body cameras on ICE agents carrying out immigration enforcement.
The original ruling was issued last week by U.S. District Judge Sara L. Ellis and prohibited using force, riot control weapons or threats against journalists and protesters. The ruling also required federal agents to issue warnings before deploying riot control weapons.
The modified ruling says federal agents 'currently equipped and trained with body-worn cameras' shall activate them when participating in enforcement activity.
...
During the same hearing, Ellis requested that Russell Hott, who was director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Chicago field office, appear in her courtroom Monday to explain what is happening regarding reports of improper enforcement.
However, Ellis confirmed Friday that Hott would no longer be leading the Chicago field office, and someone else would appear in court on Monday."
So, if this tax passed not only would I not want to run a Mastodon instance (with open membership) in Chicago, but the mouthpiece for privately-held X and international-undersea-cable-building-Facebook would be trying to claim they're the press to get out of it?
"The mayor last week proposed taxing social media companies to help close a $1.15 billion shortfall, dinging at a rate of 50 cents per user after the first 100,000 users, similar to tax structures that have been floated — but not approved — in Minnesota and Washington state.
...
Bos said the mayor’s proposal is 'also unlawful,' citing a 1983 U.S. Supreme Court decision that blocked a Minnesota state tax on newspapers for paper and ink purchases beyond a $100,000 yearly threshold. Former Justice Sandra Day O’Connor wrote for the court that the tax 'singled out the press for special treatment' without justification."
https://chicago.suntimes.com/city-hall/2025/10/21/brandon-johnson-social-media-tax-chicago-budget
"Led by U.S. Border Patrol Commander-at-Large Gregory Bovino, the feds rolled into the Southwest Side neighborhood that’s the heart of Chicago’s Mexican community in a caravan of SUVs, prompting residents to post photos and videos on social media and blow whistles outside to warn neighbors of the presence.
..
Baltazar Enriquez, president of the Little Village Community Council, said federal immigration agents seemed to have arrived in the neighborhood with 'no plan,' trying to enter the discount mall before turning around when they realized it was closed. That’s when they were confronted by residents who quickly mobilized, he said.
..
When he arrived, Enriquez tried and failed to de-escalate tensions between federal agents and protesters, he said. Enriquez said Bovino was the first person to launch a tear-gas canister.
'I told him not to throw it because all he was going to do was rile people up, but he just smirked at me and threw it anyway,' Enriquez said."
https://chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/2025/10/23/feds-make-arrests-deploy-tear-gas-during-face-off-with-protesters-near-little-village-discount-mall
Gov. Pritzker is forming an Illinois Accountability Commission to document the abuses of federal power. Report in due in January. No subpoena power.
"We intend to create a detailed record of the truth. And once this all ends, people of good faith will review what this commission has gathered and demand accountability..." - Pritzker
"We're tasked with creating a clear record of what happened during Operation Midway Blitz as well as other activities that... have been occurring throughout our state. We'll examine not just the actions taken but their impact on the people and communities of Illinois. As you've heard our goal is not political its constitutional. It's about protecting the basic rights of every person in our state and reminding everyone that due process, dignity, and equal protection are non-negotiable values." - Patricia Brown Holmes, vice-chair
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/23/illinois-accountability-commission-immigration-raids/
People are calling for remote learning to keep children and their parents safe from immigration raids at schools. This should already have been a continuing option to keep them safe from COVID-19, but it was not. Mayor Johnson was a Chicago Teachers Union member before being elected. Gov. Pritzker prioritizes education outcomes over safety.
"In Wicker Park, Ald. Daniel La Spata cycled around Rudy Lozano Elementary School, searching for vehicles with license plates tied to immigration agents.
La Spata pointed out a corner where he said agents grabbed a person Friday morning. He rolled to a stop near a group of about two dozen volunteers who showed up to watch out for agents and show support during Lozano student pick-up.
'There’s a number of schools in the ward where we’ve seen attendance drop-offs because families feel scared to show up,' he said. 'You should never have to feel like that.'”
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/24/johnson-pritzker-remote-learning-ice-arrests/
"'These weren’t activists, these weren’t paid protesters, these were literally my neighbors coming out of their homes at 10 o’clock in the morning because they saw lawless agents acting in violent ways,' Kolp said. 'There are only so many ways we can hold these folks accountable. If the courts can’t do it, Congress can’t do it, then it’s up to the community to do it.'"
https://chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/2025/10/26/northwest-side-ice-arrests-tear-gas
"His death was declared a homicide. But the Chicago Police Department made no arrest despite investigating twice, once in the days after his death and again in the face of the Sun-Times investigation, instead blaming Koschman for his own death.
Nearly a decade after her son died and years after the second Mayor Daley left office, Vanecko pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, apologizing in court to Nanci Koschman. Vanecko got 60 days in jail.
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'They sure worked hard not to let the truth come out. They made a mockery of David’s accident. They put words in his mouth. They changed words. They lost files. They destroyed files. They took home files. They changed files. Is that our legal system?'
Nanci Koschman died Monday. She was 77 and had suffered from a variety of ailments, according to her family. Services are pending.
'She never got back to normal,' said her sister Susan Schulist Pazderski, her only sibling."
Nanci Koschman, long-grieving mother, dies 21 years after her son was killed by Mayor Daley's nephew
In the face of a Chicago police cover-up, she couldn't get answers until a Sun-Times investigation prompted the appointment of a special prosecutor and Richard J. "R.J." Vanecko's conviction.