Mayor Lori Lightfoot, left, speaks during a news conference about the opening of a new firehouse in the West Pullman neighborhood last week; Gov. J.B. Pritzker, right, attends a news conference at Chicago State University in February. | Pat Nabong; Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Chicago Sun-Times file
The governor argued the pension fix ensures “certainty and fair treatment” for hardworking firefighters, but Republican lawmakers and fellow Democrat Lightfoot counter that it will sock already strapped taxpayers with another property tax increase.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a bill aimed at fixing pensions for thousands of Chicago firefighters on Monday, rejecting Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s call to veto the legislation that she called “highly problematic.”
The governor argued the pension fix ensures “certainty and fair treatment” for hardworking firefighters, but Republican lawmakers and fellow Democrat Lightfoot counter that it will sock already strapped taxpayers with another property tax increase.
The new law removes the “birth date restriction” that prohibited roughly 2,200 active and retired firefighters born after Jan. 1, 1966 from receiving a 3% annual cost of living increase.
Instead, those firefighters got half that amount, 1.5% — and it is not compounded.
Pritzker said he’s “always believed that hardworking men and women who have earned their pension shouldn’t pay the price for local or state budget challenges.”
In his statement, the governor said the new law “creates a system that gives all firefighters certainty and fair treatment. And to make sure that the city can meet its obligations, my administration is working to sell the James R. Thompson Center, which will return to the city’s property tax rolls and is projected to generate $45 million annually for the city and its sister agencies.”
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times fileChicago Fire Department firefighters carry a house while trying to put out an extra-alarm fire in the Bridgeport neighborhood in February.
Lightfoot issued her own statement, saying she was “disappointed” that Pritzker signed “a bill that will result in a deeper financial burden to the taxpayers of Chicago.”
While first responders deserve to be “appropriately compensated for their work both now and into retirement” signing off on this “unfunded mandate into law is the exact wrong way to accomplish this goal,” the mayor’s statement continued.
“A key missing element is an accompanying revenue stream from Springfield to pay for this $18-30 million annual new financial obligation,” Lightfoot said. “This bill is fiscally irresponsible and validates a Springfield practice of cutting back room deals without full transparency and debate.
“As Mayor, I have a responsibility to ensure a stable financial future for our city and this bill substantially undercuts those efforts. This is a time where we must continue to be hyper-diligent around our present and future financial wellbeing. Springfield must start listening to cities.”
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times fileMayor Lori Lightfoot, surrounded by members of the Chicago Fire Department, walks to a news conference and ribbon cutting ceremony for Engine Company 115’s new firehouse in the West Pullman neighborhood last week.
Back in February, the mayor sent Pritzker a letter urging him to veto the bill, arguing that it’s “highly problematic to implement this change at a time when 10 percent of Chicagoans have lost their jobs, many of whom have faced difficulty putting food on the table and are housing insecure.”
“This huge increase in unfunded liabilities would necessarily mean another property tax hike for Chicagoans, which would regrettably add to the overwhelming economic duress that so many or our neighbors are facing,” Lightfoot wrote at the time.
Lightfoot’s $12.8 billion budget for the fiscal year includes a $94 million property tax increase, followed by annual increases tied to the consumer price index.
State Sen. Robert Martwick — a frequent foe of Lightfoot’s — introduced the legislation, which was passed with few hours remaining in the General Assembly’s January lame duck session.
The Northwest Side Democrat told the Sun-Times the bill actually protects taxpayers by forcing city officials to face and deal with unpleasant realities.
Ted Schurter/The State Journal-Register via APThen State Rep. Robert Martwick in the Illinois House in 2019.
The city is “sprinting towards the edge of the cliff with no idea how to slow down,” Martwick said. He cautioned that the “best thing for taxpayers is — always has been, and always will be — confronting your problems as they exist and not kicking the can down the road.”
“What this bill does is it makes the city confront necessary, albeit really difficult, decisions about what they need to do with their finances, so that they can live up to the commitment to fund their pensions properly,” Martwick said.
“The firefighter fund sits at 17% funded, functionally almost insolvent,” he said. “If you’re looking to protect taxpayers, the best thing that you can do for them is stop the practices that put you in this big fiscal hole in the first place. In other words, you know you’re going to be on the hook for these benefits, you might as well put the money in timely.”
But Republicans agreed with Lightfoot.
“Chicago taxpayers are on the hook for an additional $850 million thanks to Governor Pritzker signing HB2451 into law today,” House Deputy Minority Leader Tom Demmer, R-Dixon, said in a statement. “As if the $44 billion in pension debt they already owe wasn’t enough, today’s action by Governor Pritzker makes a property tax increase inevitable. Further, the Governor continues his bad habit of spending hypothetical revenue by suggesting that the sale of the James R. Thompson Center will be the magic cure for yet another financial problem.”
North Carolina has reached an agreement with assistant coach Hubert Davis to take over the storied men’s basketball program, a person with knowledge of the situation said Monday.
The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the school hasn’t commented publicly about the search.
The 50-year-old Davis played for the Tar Heels under Dean Smith before a long NBA career, and he had spent the past nine seasons working under Hall of Fame coach Roy Williams. Williams retired last week after 18 seasons at his alma mater in a career that also included 15 years at Kansas and 903 overall victories, while all three of his NCAA championships came with the Tar Heels.
The school has long had a history of turning to people with UNC ties to lead its program, which owns six NCAA championships and ranks among college basketball’s all-time wins leaders. It has worked before, with longtime assistant Bill Guthridge taking over after Smith’s 1997 retirement and leading the Tar Heels to two Final Fours, as well as Williams’ return from Kansas in 2003.
But it didn’t work during the three-year tumultuous tenure of Matt Doherty — including an 8-20 season in 2002 — after Williams turned down the job following Guthridge’s retirement in 2000.
The Tar Heels are staying in the “Carolina family” again, this time by turning to a trusted former player who has never been a college head coach.
Davis had been on Williams’ staff since 2012 as a bench coach, recruiter and scout, including a run to the 2016 NCAA title game and then the championship a year later. He had also served as head coach of the UNC junior varsity program and oversaw the program’s charitable endeavors.
Davis, the nephew of former UNC player and NBA All-Star Walter Davis, played for Smith from 1988-92 and still holds the program record for career 3-point percentage (.435). He went onto become a first-round NBA draft pick by the New York Knicks and spent a dozen seasons in the league.
After his playing career, Davis spent seven years with ESPN as a college basketball analyst until Williams asked Davis to join his staff in 2012 — which Davis said at the time was “a total surprise.”
Now it’s up to Davis to keep the Tar Heels among the nation’s elite programs.
Kansas is finalizing a deal to hire Northwestern administrator Travis Goff, a Sunflower State native who graduated from the school, to be its next athletic director, a person familiar with the decision said.
Kansas was expected to make the hiring of Goff official as soon as Monday night, according to the person, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the school was still completing details of an agreement and working on an announcement.
Goff has been at Northwestern since 2012, most recently as deputy athletic director and assistant vice president for development. He played a role in fundraising that led to massive facilities upgrades at Northwestern and oversaw the football, baseball and volleyball programs.
Kansas has been searching for an athletic director since Jeff Long resigned almost a month ago.
Long was responsible for hiring Les Miles, with whom the school parted ways amid sexual misconduct allegations dating to the football coach’s time at LSU. Long initially said he would lead the search for Miles’ replacement, but criticism about the due-diligence he did in hiring his longtime friend, coupled with massive public outcry, led to his decision to resign.
Goff’s first big task will be to determine what to do with a football program already going through spring practice under wide receivers coach Emmett Jones, picked to serve as the interim coach last month.
The downtrodden Jayhawks lost all nine of their games last season. They have not had a winning season since Mark Mangino was on the sideline in 2008.
Goff returns to Lawrence having worked under former Northwestern athletic director Jim Phillips, who left the school earlier this year to become Atlantic Coast Conference commissioner.
Goff grew up in Dodge City in the southwestern part of Kansas. He graduated in 2002 with degrees in journalism and sociology, then earned an MBA from Tulane, where he worked as associate athletic director for external affairs.
He is the sixth athletic director for the Jayhawks since Bob Frederick retired in 2001.
A reputed gang member has been charged with gunning down a 37-year-old woman as she made her way home from church with her husband on the Northwest Side.
Cook County prosecutors Monday said it was still unclear why Maria Reveron was shot to death on March 24 but they theorized that it was a case of mistaken identity.
Marco Pulido, 29, had left a party in his friend’s BMW X5 to pick up more alcohol. While on his liquor run, Pulido allegedly started tailgating the Reverons white four-door sedan in the 2600 block of North Long Avenue.
From the BMW, Pulido fired one round into the window of the vehicle Reveron’s husband was driving “for reasons, at this point, that are unknown,” Assistant State’s Attorney James Murphy said.
The shooting caused the couple’s car to crash.
Reveron, who suffered a gunshot wound to the back of her head, was taken to the hospital and died two days later, Murphy said.
Less than an hour after the shooting, Pulido returned to the party less without alcohol. Witnesses noted that Pulido “appeared nervous and his hands were shaking,” Murphy said.
While surveillance video showed the black BMW following the white sedan and showed the BMW fleeing the area, it didn’t capture the shooting, Murphy said.
It would have been impossible for someone else to get out of the BMW during the brief minute the car was in a blind spot, Murphy contended.
Assistant public defender Mark Douglas argued that “if there are somebody getting in or out of that car, it wouldn’t … take a long time.”
Right after the shooting, Pulido was also caught on surveillance video at a Dunkin’ Donuts drive-thru, Murphy said.
Pulido, a self-admitted Maniac Latin Disciple, identified himself in a still image at the business, but he denied his involvement in the shooting, Murphy said. The owner of the BMW — which has a broken taillight, damaged roof rack and sticker in the windshield — also identified Pulido in the still photo, Murphy said.
Pulido was taken into custody Saturday.
Detectives saw that messages from March 24 on Pulido’s cellphone were deleted, Murphy said.
Investigators are still awaiting information on the geographical location of Pulido’s phone the night of the shooting, although they did find a video of him holding a 9mm handgun that day at 10:44 p.m., Murphy said. A 9mm shell casing was recovered from the scene of the shooting, Murphy said.
Pulido has two prior felony convictions, including a 2010 burglary. He also had a warrant for his arrest for a domestic battery, according to court testimony.
Pulido lives with his mother, uncle and cousin and cares for his three sons — all under 8, Douglas said. He also works full-time at a Northwest Side barbershop and is working to get his GED, the assistant public defender added.
Pulido was ordered held without bail for Reveron’s murder.
Five games into Kirby Dach’s return to the Blackhawks’ lineup, lingering pain in his surgically repaired right wrist continues to be an issue.
“Obviously, there’s pain with it still,” Dach admitted Monday. “It’s a four-to-five-month injury and I’ve been playing within three months. There’s going to be a little bit of pain with it.”
That comment turned some heads and raised some questions. Is playing now a risk to Dach’s long-term health? Was he medically cleared too soon?
But coach Jeremy Colliton clarified that Dach’s lingering pain was of no significant concern.
“There’s no way the medical staff and organization would have [approved it if it was risky],” Colliton said. “He’s too important for us. I wouldn’t be in favor of playing him if that were a concern. Everything that I’ve been told is that this doesn’t slow down his process of feeling 100% at all. In fact, it should speed it up.”
He tallied one assist in each of the two Hurricanes games before being bumped up to the first-line center role against the Predators. He hasn’t been a huge difference-maker in any game yet, though, and the Hawks have gone 1-4 during this stretch.
Defensively, he’s scraping off the rust with his positioning, stick usage and physicality. Offensively, he’s frustrated that his progress has been even slower.
“It’s just confidence-[related] things like, in the offensive zone, hanging onto the puck and making plays and trusting my shot more,” he said. “I’ve got a long way to go in getting that back and being comfortable with shooting in certain areas.”
Dach has indeed tended to pass too often and shoot too little in his NHL career to date. It was a big emphasis last season, when his shot share — the percentage of all Hawks shot attempts he was on the ice for that he shot himself — was only 20.7%. (Patrick Kane and Alex DeBrincat, comparatively, both had shot shares above 28%.)
Dach has hovered around the same shot share (20.1%) so far this year, yet his current reluctance to shoot is not only a mental dilemma but also a physical problem.
“I don’t know if it’s necessarily confidence in myself [that’s lacking],” he said. “It’s confidence in my wrist and how it’s holding up — the strength of that and how much power I have behind it.”
The Hawks are willing to take a patient, long-term approach with their cornerstone 20-year-old forward.
Colliton talked with Dach throughout the recovery process to remind him it would take weeks or months to rediscover his ‘A’-game. So nine days since Dach returned, Hawks leadership has no worries about his lack of immediately amazing results.
“It’s just going to take time,” Colliton said. “It’s [about] reps and taking those shots when someone’s putting their stick in there or finishing a check on you. It was important that he started playing [to] some games in and have that competition and contact… He’s moving in the right direction and he’ll get there.”
Instead, Dach is the one holding himself to the loftiest standard.
“The doctors have done a really good job of managing [my wrist] and taking care of it after games,” Dach said. “I don’t really see it as an excuse where it’s like, ‘My wrist is hurting.’ If I’m out playing on it, I expect to be 100% out there and make the plays and be the player I am.”
Note: The Hawks placed forward Lucas Wallmark on waivers Monday. Wallmark hasn’t appeared since March 18 and the Hawks needed to open a roster spot for trade acquisition Vinnie Hinostroza, who joined the team at practice Monday. Colliton said Wallmark will be assigned to the taxi squad Tuesday if he clears waivers.
Of course, all eyes are on new acquisition Nikola Vucevic for the stretch run, but the big man isn’t alone. Other players need to step up if the Bulls want to play a postseason game.
The sample size is a mere five games for Nikola Vucevic in a Bulls uniform.
The numbers for the big man are 20.8 points per game, 9.8 rebounds and 3.6 assists. The bottom line number that matters, however? The 1-4 record.
So why will he be the most important Bull over the final 24 regular-season games? When the draft asset future is somewhat mortgaged and the philosophy both on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball are changed because of Vucevic’s presence, that in itself answers the question.
The Bulls seemingly went from undersized in the paint on most nights, to coming out of the Mar. 25 trade deadline with one of the biggest front lines in the Eastern Conference when they use Lauri Markkanen at the three, with Vucevic the focal point.
There’s a reason that Zach LaVine went from a solo act of scoring 27.9 points per game before the deal, to averaging 19.5 points since Vucevic was added.
Sure, the All-Star guard has been dealing with a sore ankle, but he’s also dealing with another main attraction on the offensive end. One that is still a work in progress to get accustomed to having.
“I think it’s just a matter of them getting used to having a guy that can really post up and we can play out of it,’’ Vucevic said of his presence. “They also had Thad [Young], who’s a very good post-up player, but I think what we have to figure out is once I get it, the movement off the ball. If they double team, what should we do? If they’re just digging hard and let me play one-on-one. So just figure it out and that’s just going to come with reps.’’
Reps that will often have to come in-game and under fire, with the Bulls playing five road games over the next seven nights, starting Tuesday in Indiana.
Reps that will also have to come as the Bulls are pushing for a top eight seeding rather than being in their current play-in-game position at No. 10.
That’s why this part of the schedule is so crucial. It comes against very winnable opponents on paper, but also opponents that are currently standing in the way of the Bulls’ progress toward a postseason appearance.
And while the spotlight will remain on Vucevic in this stretch run, he won’t be alone. These are the three other Bulls players that have to play at a high level for this team to make the trade deadline shakeup worth it:
1. Zach LaVine – There are very few NBA players over the last seven years that have been asked to switch playing philosophies more than LaVine has. Whether it’s been a coaching change or a roster turnover, the All-Star guard has had no choice but to remain fluid in his approach.
Now LaVine is learning how to play with the best big man he’s ever played with, and there’s a certain amount of sacrifice that comes with that territory. The good news for the Bulls is LaVine’s chase for meaningful playoff basketball has become bigger than his chase for numbers.
2. Tomas Satoransky – When the Bulls get solid play from their point guard – especially in the ball security department – they are either winning games or at least in games. Satoransky had his best game of the season Sunday against Brooklyn, and if he can play near that level more consistently the Bulls eliminate a major team weakness.
3. Patrick Williams – The rookie has taken some lumps this season, guard the opposing team’s best player most nights. He continues saying he’s learned valuable lessons in those matchups, and now it’s time for the student to start showing he can be the teacher.
In this April 8, 2020 photo, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson gives the State of the State in the senate chamber of the state Capitol in Little Rock, Ark. Hutchinson vetoed legislation that would have made his state the first to ban gender confirming treatments for transgender youth. | AP
The Republican governor rejected legislation that would have prohibited doctors from providing gender confirming hormone treatment, puberty blockers or surgery to anyone under 18 years old, or from referring them to other providers for the treatment.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Monday vetoed legislation that would have made his state the first to ban gender confirming treatments or surgery for transgender youth.
The Republican governor rejected legislation that would have prohibited doctors from providing gender confirming hormone treatment, puberty blockers or surgery to anyone under 18 years old, or from referring them to other providers for the treatment.
“If (the bill) becomes law, then we are creating new standards of legislative interference with physicians and parents as they deal with some of the most complex and sensitive matters involving young people,” Hutchinson said at a news conference.
The Republican Legislature could still enact the measure, since it only takes a simple majority of the House and Senate to override a governor’s veto in Arkansas. Hutchinson said he believed an override was likely.
Hutchinson’s veto follow pleas from pediatricians, social workers and the parents of transgender youth who said the measure would harm a community already at risk for depression and suicide. Hutchinson said he met with doctors and transgender people as he considered whether to sign the measure.
He said he would have signed the bill if it had just focused on gender confirming surgery, which currently isn’t performed on minors in the state. He noted it wouldn’t have exempted youth who are already undergoing treatment.
“The bill is over broad, extreme and does not grandfather those young people who are currently under hormone treatment,” he said “In other words, the young people who are currently under a doctor’s care will be without treatment when this law goes into effect.”
Sponsors of the measure did not say when they planned to seek an override or whether they had enough votes secured to enact the measure despite Hutchinson’s objection.
“These children need to be protected,” Republican Rep. Robin Lundstrum told reporters.
Arkansas is one of a handful of states where it only takes a simple legislative majority to override a governor’s veto, and Hutchinson rejected the bill as lawmakers are pushing increasingly conservative measures.
The only attempt so far this year to override a veto by Hutchinson — over a bill he rejected that would have required the state to refund fines levied on businesses for violating coronavirus safety rules — failed last month.
The treatment ban was the latest measure targeting transgender people that easily advanced in the Arkansas Legislature and other states this year. Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee’s governors have signed laws banning transgender girls and women from competing on school sports teams consistent with the gender identity.
Hutchinson recently signed a measure allowing doctors to refuse to treat someone because of moral or religious objections, a law that opponents have said could be used to turn away LGBTQ patients.
Smoke from a wildfire at the Indiana Dunes National Park can be seen extending 80 miles onto Lake Michigan in this satellite image. | Indiana Dunes National Park
By Monday, the fire had spread to 425 acres of the woods but was declared “controlled,” meaning it was “fully contained and has no opportunity for growth in size,” Bell said.
Fire crews Monday said a wildfire had been contained to 425 acres of Indiana Dunes National Park in northwest Indiana.
The fire started Friday afternoon and had burned about 300 acres of Miller Woods at the Indiana Dunes by about 6 p.m. that day, national park spokesman Micah Bell said.
By Monday, the fire had spread to 425 acres of the woods but was declared “controlled,” meaning it was “fully contained and has no opportunity for growth in size,” Bell said.
No injuries or private property damage have been reported, Bell said.
In a satellite photo shared by the national park Saturday, smoke from the wildfire could be seen extending about 80 miles north onto Lake Michigan.
The area around Miller Woods is closed as fire crews work to put out the blaze, but the national park expects to reopen the woods to visitors “in the next several days,” Bell said.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Police are conducting an arson investigation after firefighters responded to a pair of blazes Monday at a garage and a vacant building on the Far South Side — blocks away from an arson fire that swept through days earlier.
Firefighters responded to the garage fire shortly after midnight in the 13500 block of South Buffalo Avenue in the Hegewisch neighborhood, according to Chicago Fire Deputy District Chief Curtis Hudson.
The blaze spread to three garages across the alley in the 13500 block of South Burley Avenue, Hudson said. No one was injured. Police said they were conducting an arson investigation.
Also Monday, authorities responded to a fire at a vacant building about 8:30 a.m. in the 2700 block of East 130th Street, according to police. No injuries were reported. Police said it was too early to say if it was related to the other fire.
The cause of the Buffalo fire was under investigation but was similar to the one from two days earlier that happened only two blocks away, Hudson said. On Saturday, a person set fire to garage bins causing it to spread to three garages. Chicago police determined it to be arson.
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