The CloutCast

The COVID-19 pandemic generated discussions in Illinois and all across the nation about the importance of affordable housing in new ways. This year, Illinois lawmakers introduced and passed several housing-related bills. On this episode, The Daily Line’s Joel Ebert discusses lawmakers’ work during the spring legislative session with Housing Action Illinois policy director Bob Palmer and Sen. Sara Feigenholtz (D-Chicago). In separate interviews, Palmer and Feigenholtz share their views of the various bills approved this year and look ahead at other housing-related issues that remain on their radars.

While trees seem to be everywhere in Chicago, the city is having to remove trees faster than it can replace them, whether due to pest infestation or storm damage. And as the city is feeling the effects of climate change with higher temperatures and derechos, the importance of tree coverage across the city has come to the forefront. The Daily Line's Erin Hegarty spoke with Malcolm Whiteside, head of the city's Forestry Bureau, and Cook County Comm. Bridget Degnen (D-12), chair of the Cook County Environmental Commission, about the city's tree stock and what's being done to expand the canopy.

Sam Toia is an extremely visible presence around city government, whether he’s standing alongside the mayor at press conferences, lobbying aldermen behind the scenes or promoting public education and tourism initiatives. As president and CEO of the Illinois Restaurant Association, Toia’s job is to advocate for eateries across the state — to make sure the restaurant industry is “at the table, not on the menu” for public policymakers, as he puts it. That job got much harder after restaurants were decimated by the COVID-19 pandemic, and Toia has had a front-row seat to the panoply of federal, state and local programs that have been put in place to try to keep restaurateurs afloat. He spoke with The Daily Line’s Alex Nitkin about the deep toll the pandemic took on Chicago’s restaurant scene, and what it’s going to take for the industry to bounce back, including a new round of funding from the federal government and a purge of red tape by the city.

For months, Illinois’ top elected officials, including Gov. JB Pritzker, House Speaker Chris Welch and Senate President Don Harmon said ethics reform was one of lawmakers’ top priorities for this year’s legislative session. Little significant action was taken until May 31, the last scheduled day of session.

Despite the new proposal, good government groups and even the sponsors of the ethics reform package said more work is needed on the issue.

This week on the CloutCast, Joel Ebert interviews Alisa Kaplan, executive director of Reform for Illinois, about the latest new ethics bill, which now heads to the governor for action.

A bill to give voters a say in the governance of Chicago Public Schools will likely land on Gov. JB Pritzker’s desk by the end of the legislative session. But will the bill mandate a fully elected school board or a "hybrid" elected-appointed body to oversee the nation’s third-largest school district? The Daily Line reporter Caroline Kubzansky talked to State Sen. Robert Martwick (D-Chicago), who has been championing elected school board legislation since 2015, and Senate Majority Leader Kimberly Lightford (D-Maywood), who’s carrying Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s hybrid proposal in the legislature.

Advocates behind the Empowering Communities for Public Safety ordinance are urging aldermen and Mayor Lori Lightfoot to approve the newly proposed measure that would establish civilian oversight of the Chicago Police Department. The measure, which comes as a result of coalitions behind the Civilian Police Accountability Council and Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability agreed on a unity ordinance, has stalled as Lightfoot says her own proposal on police oversight is on the way. Erin Hegarty spoke with Alderman Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35) and Desmon Yancy, director of community organizing for Inner-City Muslim Action Network, about their ordinance and challenges in getting it approved without the mayor’s support.

In January, when Illinois lawmakers approved a comprehensive measure to overhaul criminal justice and policing, the legislation contained a provision that would effectively end prison gerrymandering. Today, prisoners across the country are counted by the U.S. Census as residents of legislative districts with prisons, rather than at a person’s last known address. Critics of the process say it artificially inflates the population of counties with prisons, giving those areas more federal money. On this episode of The CloutCast, Joel Ebert talks to Rep. La Shawn Ford (D-Chicago) and Common Cause Illinois executive director Jay Young about prison gerrymandering and the effort to end it in Illinois.

April 1 marks a changing of the guard at the Cook County Public Defender’s office as Sharone Mitchell Jr. prepares to take over as the county’s top defense lawyer. He succeeds Amy Campanelli, who launched multiple new branches of the office during her six-year term and carved out a legacy as a vocal advocate for policy reforms. Alex Nitkin spoke with Mitchell about how he plans to carry on that legacy, and how he’ll use his new position to help implement the sweeping new criminal justice reform law he championed as a member of the Coalition to End Money Bond.