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dontmeantobepoliticalbut · 9 months

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Illinois is set to become the first state in the nation to eliminate cash bail after the state Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that a landmark criminal justice reform law did not violate the state’s constitution.

The opinion was released more than six months after the Pretrial Fairness Act was halted by the Justices just hours before it was to go into effect Jan. 1 in response to legal challenges. The high court said the law should now go into effect in September.

In its 5-2 ruling, the court said the state’s constitution “does not mandate that monetary bail is the only means to ensure criminal defendants appear for trials or the only means to protect the public. Our constitution creates a balance between the individual rights of defendants and the individual rights of crime victims. The Act’s pretrial release provisions set forth procedures commensurate with that balance.”

The majority rejected claims that the Legislature had overstepped its authority by eliminating bail through the Act, writing that “the legislature has long regulated the bail system.”

The court’s only two Republican Justices dissented, saying “the legislature’s abolishment of monetary bail is in direct violation of the plain language of our constitution’s bill of rights and, more specifically, the vested rights of crime victims. ... This court has an absolute obligation to declare the pretrial release provisions of the Act to be invalid and unenforceable no matter how beneficial the abolishment of monetary bail may be.”

The bail system overhaul was one of the most controversial provisions of the widely scrutinized SAFE-T Act, a major bill that mandated wide-ranging reforms to policing, court proceedings and victims’ rights in the state.

The court’s ruling stems from a flurry of lawsuits last year brought by roughly 60 sheriffs and state’s attorneys who argued that eliminating cash bail would reduce public safety, put law enforcement in harm’s way and violate the state’s constitution.

In December, Kankakee County Chief Judge Thomas Cunnington agreed with the groups and ruled the cash bail provision unconstitutional, though his ruling would have only applied to counties that had sued.

An appeal by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul sent the matter to the state Supreme Court, and the Justices ordered that the entire Pretrial Fairness Act wouldn’t go into effect until further notice “in order to maintain consistent pretrial procedures throughout Illinois.”

In the ruling Tuesday, Chief Judge Mary Jane Theis said Cunnington’s decision ignored the plain language of the bail clause in the state’s constitution, which never included the term “monetary, so does not cement the practice of monetary bail, however long-standing and prevalent across Illinois, into our constitution.”

Raoul released a statement Tuesday morning saying “someone’s experience with the criminal justice system should not vary based on their income level. The SAFE-T Act was intended to address pervasive inequalities in the criminal justice system, in particular the fact that individuals who are awaiting criminal trials — who have not been convicted of a crime and are presumed innocent — may spend extended periods of time incarcerated because they cannot afford to pay cash bail.”

Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, who supported the bail reform, said the ruling “is a monumental milestone toward achieving equal justice for all in Cook County and Illinois. ... Ending cash bail is in line with our values and is a critical step toward economic and racial justice in Cook County and Illinois.”

But McHenry County State’s Attorney Patrick Kenneally, an opponent of the bail act, called the ruling “a sad reflection of state of ideological capture in our three branches of government. ... We at the state’s attorney’s office will continue to do everything within our power to ensure that dangerous offenders remain behind bars pre-trial or that other measures, such as electronic monitoring, are in put in place to minimize risk.”

Despite a two-year ramp-up before bail reform was to go into effect, opponents waited until late last year to mount a serious effort to overturn the law, as well as a political pressure campaign before last year’s statewide elections.

In the weeks before the election, opponents derided the SAFE-T Act as a “purge law” and claimed it would make the state — with a particular focus on Chicago — less safe by releasing more violent criminals to prey on the public.

Supporters of the Pretrial Fairness Act said its provisions would simply remove cash bail as a condition that could be set by a judge when considering whether someone was likely to return to court for their hearings or posed a danger to the public.

Studies of jurisdictions that have nearly eliminated cash bail have shown no significant increase in crime generally, nor by defendants released while awaiting trial. In some cases, defendants were more likely to return to court.

The elimination of cash bail does not mean people charged with crimes cannot be held in custody pending trial.

Under the act, the courts will continue to hold detention hearings for people accused of serious crimes to determine whether someone poses a safety risk if released and whether someone is likely to show up for their hearings — the same considerations that now often determine cash bail.

People charged with misdemeanors and other minor offenses will be released without bail or pretrial conditions. In more serious cases that meet standards where a person can be held in custody, prosecutors will be required to request a person be detained and make arguments on public safety and the risk of flight.

In cases where prosecutors seek to hold a person in custody, the defendant’s attorneys will be given more time to prepare for the hearing. The decision on whether a person should continue to be held in custody pretrial can also be revisited by the court at future hearings.

Cook County had planned to move forward with bail reform on Jan. 1 until the Justices halted its implementation. “I feel very confident that we will be ready to go in 60 days,” Pretrial Division Presiding Judge Marubio said Tuesday.

Until Sept. 18, judges will continue to set bail in cases in Cook County, just as they had been doing up until Dec. 31, Marubio said.

DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin, the lone Republican appointee on a state Senate panel that recommended revisions to the bail reforms in the SAFE-T Act last fall, said changes adopted in the December veto session largely addressed “glaring deficiencies” and expanded judges’ discretion to detain defendants who might pose a danger to the public if released.

Berlin did not join the lawsuit that led to Supreme Court case because of the potential conflict with his role on the panel.

“At this point, I would say (the public) shouldn’t be panicked,” Berlin told the Sun-Times. “With the amendment (passed in December) I am confident that violent criminals are going to be detained.”

Berlin said he expected an influx of defendants seeking hearings when the law takes effect, and that his office will petition judges to hold any person his office deems a threat to public safety.

He also noted that even multimillion-dollar bail amounts are not a guarantee of safety. “I have seen people put up $200,000 and walk out of jail on a $2 million bond,” he said.

Berlin said he and his fellow state’s attorneys planned a conference call Tuesday afternoon to discuss options, but personally he felt that another lawsuit was not likely. “I think we need to move forward with the General Assembly and use the legislative process,” he said. “At this point, I’m not sure legally what else there is to do.”

Berlin said he would advocate for changes that would make the Act resemble bail statutes in New Jersey, which largely did away with cash bail in 2017. New Jersey’s laws allow judges to set a cash bail when prosecutors show “clear and convincing evidence” people are likely to flee, threaten or intimidate others if set free before trial, or otherwise pose a threat to safety.

Harold Krent, a professor at IIT-Kent Law School who has studied the separation of powers, agreed there likely is no path for further challenges in the courts.

“There is no traditional injury they can point to that is going to get them through the doors of federal court,” he said. “This is a case where a state law was found constitutional under the state constitution. I’m not sure what their federal claim would be.”

The bail reforms were just one part of the SAFE-T Act, some of which have already taken effect. Other measures include requiring all police departments to equip officers with body-worn cameras by 2025, expanding services for victims of crimes and changing how people who are incarcerated are counted for redistricting maps.

Many Republican candidates made the SAFE-T Act a focus of law-and-order campaigning last year, but Democrats held off most challengers in what was expected to be a bruising midterm election for the party across the country and even expanded their majority on the state Supreme Court.

The elections of Justices Elizabeth Rochford and Mary Kay O’Brien were believed to be significant to preserving Illinois’ strong abortion protections, as well as the future of the SAFE-T Act. Both Justices sided with the majority of the court.

Justices Lisa Holder White and David Overstreet, the high court’s only Republicans, joined in the dissent.

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courseyoulovemeyoudontknowme · 2 months

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Away We Go (2009, Sam Mendes)

29/02/2024

Away We Go is a 2009 film directed by Sam Mendes, written by the well-known author duo Dave Eggers-Vendela Vida, in their first film experience.

It is the story of two thirty-year-olds, played by John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph, who, faced with the imminent, unplanned arrival of their first child, undertake a journey across the United States, and beyond, in search of the ideal place where put down roots and raise the family.

The film's soundtrack is cured by British singer-songwriter Alexi Murdoch and consists largely of his songs.

Presented at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, the film was distributed in US cinemas by Focus Features starting from 5 June 2009, in the first weekend in limited form in 4 theatres.

Positive reviews include those from Roger Ebert (Chicago Sun-Times), David Denby (The New Yorker) and Peter Travers (Rolling Stone). Among the negatives are those of Richard Corliss (Time), A. O. Scott (The New York Times), Dennis Harvey (Variety) and Ann Hornaday (The Washington Post).

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kosmik-signals · 2 months

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(via Mick Jenkins: L.A. transplant launches tour in ‘the city that birthed my career’ - Chicago Sun-Times)

#Mick Jenkins #chicago sun times

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capnseriouslycanadian · 1 year

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‘‘There will definitely be some moments where [I’ll] be taking some mental images, trying to soak in those memories.’’ ❤️ (via x)

#jonathan toews #chicago sun times #oh captain my captain #these last two games are going to KILL me #i’m not prepared at all i’m really not #can’t wait to cry my eyes out at the uc on thursday #jonathan toews forever #<3 #chi vs min #2022/23 szn

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dchan87 · 3 months

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Don’t screw this up, Jerry

The White Sox are negotiating with developer Related Midwest about the possibility of building a new ballpark on the South Loop parcel known as “The 78.” Sources familiar with the talks, all speaking on the condition they not be named, told the Chicago Sun-Times the negotiations for a baseball-only stadium are “serious.” The Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, the government agency that owns and financed Guaranteed Rate Field, has not been involved in the discussions, according to the authority’s CEO Frank Bilecki. At some point, the stadium authority would need to get involved in determining the future of Guaranteed Rate Field and possibly in building a new ballpark if it is publicly funded. The potential site at Roosevelt Road and Clark Street is owned by Related Midwest. Company President Curt Bailey wouldn’t comment. Nor would Sox spokesperson Scott Reifert or Jason Lee, a senior adviser to Mayor Brandon Johnson. Johnson and Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf said in a joint, written statement in response to questions: “We met to discuss the historic partnership between the team and Chicago and the team’s ideas for remaining competitive in Chicago in perpetuity.” They didn’t mention the possibility of moving the Sox from Guaranteed Rate Field to the South Loop tract, which the developer named for its potential to become Chicago’s 78th neighborhood.

Guaranteed Rate Field sits in the middle of 70 acres of stadium parking. (Getty)

One-of-a-kind site in prime location

At 62 acres stretching south to 16th Street, The 78 is one of Chicago’s largest undeveloped parcels — and the most strategically located. But it has eluded development for decades.

Once owned by convicted political power player Tony Rezko, it was one of several sites in the running for a Chicago casino now planned for River West.

Rezko’s partner in the South Loop land deal was Nadhmi Auchi, an Iraqi billionaire living in London who was once convicted of accepting illegal commissions in an oil deal in France. Auchi was fined and sentenced to probation.

As of 2019, Auchi still owned the site after taking on Related Midwest as a new partner. It’s unclear whether Auchi still owns a piece of the site.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker plans to use at least part of the property for a University of Illinois tech research center known as Discovery Partners Institute. That’s the only concrete project on the drawing board for The 78. Discovery Partners has been expected to use about 4 acres at the southern part of the site. Bill Jackson, executive director, said he has heard the White Sox could be interested and would make a great neighbor.

A rendering shows the view from the Chicago River of the new Discovery Partners Institute building planned at The 78. It is unclear how the possibility of a new ballpark being built on the same site would affect the institute. Provided

“A new Sox park could bring the infrastructure we need” for the institute, Jackson said. “I think it would be great.”

Jackson added that the institute has a firm commitment to staying at The 78. “Our game plan doesn’t work without being there,” he said.

A spokesperson for the institute said it expects to break ground on its project this year. She said bids for the construction are expected to go before the state’s capital development board in a few weeks.

Could Sox share new site?

But a Chicago developer familiar with the property, who requested anonymity, said the institute has been “trying to get out of that deal for a couple of years.”

The site isn’t big enough to accommodate both Discovery Partners and a baseball stadium with its parking lots, the developer said: “They’ll have to move elsewhere.”

An aerial shot looking north at the Loop shows the undeveloped 62-acre site at Roosevelt Road and Clark Street that has become known as The 78. Provided

Sources said mass transit access — the nearby Roosevelt station serves the CTA’s Red, Green and Orange lines — could reduce the need for stadium parking. With the Chicago River just west of the site, sources also noted the possibility of water taxi service for game-day crowds.

Ganis called The 78 the “best undeveloped site” in Chicago and said he’s not surprised the Sox might be considering it.

“If the White Sox are to stay in the city proper, that is an excellent location,” Ganis said. “It’s a clear site that has mass transit and highway access around it. It is one of the very few locations in the urban core of Chicago that could have a well-situated stadium on it.”

Railroad tracks bisecting the land make it “even more” attractive as a stadium site, Ganis said.

“When you have an active railroad line or railroad stations going through a location, there are only so many things you can do with that property,” he said. “Housing is challenging. Commercial development is challenging. A sports facility that is operated only at certain times, and, when it’s operating, noise is expected anyway, is well-located there.

Railroad tracks run through The 78, a large undeveloped parcel just south of downtown Chicago, but the tracks shouldn’t be a deterrent to a new White Sox stadium, should the team choose to move there, one local consultant said. (Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times_

Ganis likened the Sox quest for a new home to the stadium development in suburban Atlanta known as The Battery. Truist Park, home of the Atlanta Braves, is a stadium-anchored mixed-used development that includes hotels, restaurants, shopping and other entertainment and business uses within walking distance of the stadium.

“It’s been very successful. There are lots of teams in baseball that are looking at emulating what the Atlanta Braves have done,” Ganis said.

1988 deal stopped Sox move to Florida

Guaranteed Rate Field opened in 1991 across the street from the team’s old home, the now-demolished Comiskey Park. Financing for the new stadium came together in an eleventh-hour deal that prevented the Sox from moving to St. Petersburg, Florida.

Then-Gov. Jim Thompson stopped the clock to lobby lawmakers, who approved the deal after the session’s midnight deadline in 1988.

The initial lease was highly favorable to the Sox. For the first decade, the team paid no rent if annual attendance fell below 1.2 million. Under its current lease, the team pays $1.5 million in annual rent. The Sox control revenue from ticket sales, concessions, parking and merchandise operations.

The lease has been amended in recent years to allow the Sox to open a team store and a restaurant on state-owned land across the street from the ballpark.

The White Sox have a fan store and bar built into one of the ballpark’s access ramps on the other side of 35th Street, but there is little other development in the immediate vicinity. (WBEZ)

At the same time the Sox are pondering a move, the Bears are continuing their search for a new Chicago home after spending $197.2 million to purchase the site of the Arlington International Racecourse, then running into a property tax roadblock from suburban school districts.

The 78 could be a possible site for a Bears stadium, but sources said the team isn’t interested. And if the team were to build in Chicago, sources said Bears President Kevin Warren is focused on a site such as Soldier Field’s south parking lot.

A White Sox move to the South Loop also could affect the Chicago Fire. Sources said the soccer team, which plays at Soldier Field, could move to Guaranteed Rate Field if the baseball team moves out.

“We have not engaged with the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority about playing at Guaranteed Rate Field,” Fire spokesman Jhamie Chin said, adding that the team has focused on starting construction of its performance center for training and team offices on the Near West Side.

The soccer team’s lease at Soldier Field has two more years to run, and the club has extensions that could cover another five years.

Reinsdorf has called the 2023 White Sox season, his 43rd in baseball, “absolutely the worst season I’ve ever been through.”

At the time, Reinsdorf was asked if the experience was so bad that he considered unloading the team.

“I’m going to couch this so nobody writes that I thought of selling,” he said with a chuckle.

The view south from Roosevelt Road at The 78, a parcel of undeveloped land stretching from Roosevelt south to 16th Street, between Clark Street and the Chicago River. It is being viewed as a potential site for a new White Sox stadium. Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times

#chicago white sox #chicago #chicago sun times #south loop chicago #baseball #stadiums #news

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urbs-in-horto · 7 months

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youtube

#chicago #chicago sun times #lo res vid #Youtube

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justzawe · 2 years

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https://chicago.suntimes.com/movies-and-tv/2022/6/28/23183937/mr-malcolms-list-review-movie-bridgerton-freida-pinto-sope-dirisu-suzanne-allain

After Mr. Malcolm casually brushes off the semi-desperate and self-centered Julia Thistlewaite (Zawe Ashton, terrific) after just one uneventful date at the opera and Julia is humiliated by a local artist’s caricature depicting Mr. Malcolm giving her the boot, she learns from her goofball cousin Lord Cassidy (Oliver Jackson-Cohen, hilarious) that Mr. Malcolm literally has a list of traits he desires in a mate — and Julia cooks up a plan to gain her revenge.

#zawe ashton #mr. malcolm's list #review #chicago sun times #zawe praise

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bkenber · 1 year

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Roger Ebert - The One Film Critic to Rule Them All

I think we all knew the end was near for Chicago Sun Times film critic Roger Ebert when he announced to the world that his cancer had returned. In his blog entitled “A Leave of Presence,” which was published just a couple of days before his death on April 4, 2013, Ebert announced he would be cutting back his workload to conquer this dreaded disease which had wreaked havoc on his body for the last…

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#2014 Movies #A Leave of Presence #Caddyshack #Cancer #Chaz Ebert #Chicago Sun Times #Do the Right Thing #Exclusive Interviews #Film Critics #Gene Siskel #Life Itself #Movie Interviews #Richard Roeper #Roger Ebert #Spike Lee #We Got This Covered

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msclaritea · 1 month

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#SHAUN KING MIGHT VERY WELL BE A SCIENTOLOGY ASSET #THE CON MAN HAS WREAKED HAVOC IN BLACK COMMUNITIES #NOW HE TURNS MUSLIM JUST AS THE NATION OF ISLAM IS RECRUITING BLACK SLAVES FOR THE CULT #Chicago #Chicago Sun Times #DON'T BE IDIOTS CANADA #SHAUN KING GETS HELP FROM SILICON VALLEY

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kael-writ · 4 months

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Ive watched so many Chicago journalists get a few clips at a Palestine protest and then leave, sometimes on police request, and perhaps the ultimate irony was the guy who unknowingly left just before the list of murdered journalists was read out.

#WGN #Fox 32 #ABC Chicago #NBC Chicago #Chicago Tribune #Chicago Sun Times #CBS #Im not saying everyone tagged did this Im saying dont do this #free palestine #journalism #genocide #journalists #Chicago

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dontmeantobepoliticalbut · 1 year

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Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul on Thursday filed a brief defending Illinois’ assault weapon ban, arguing the weapons restricted by the newly enacted law aren’t commonly used for self-defense and that large capacity magazines are accessories — not “arms.”

It also argues the country’s founding fathers owned guns that could only fire a single shot before reloading — proving assault weapons and large capacity magazines weren’t in “common use” when the Constitution was ratified.

“The assault weapons restricted by the Act are not commonly used for self-defense; by design and in practice, they exist for offensive infliction of mass casualties,” the brief states.

It also argues the term “arms” refers to weapons and not “accessories,” and that large capacity magazines are therefore not protected under the Second Amendment’s right to bear arms.

Those are among the key arguments in a 72-page brief filed by Raoul, Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly in the Southern District of Illinois — in response to challenges to the ban in four federal lawsuits that were consolidated on Feb. 24.

Pritzker on Jan. 10 signed legislation that bans the sale of assault weapons and caps the purchase of magazines at 10 rounds for long guns and 15 for handguns. It also makes rapid-fire devices known as switches illegal because they turn firearms into fully automatic weapons.

Two key U.S. Supreme Court decisions are shaping the legal arguments around such bans. Thursday’s brief references them both, known as the Bruen and Heller decisions.

In the 2022 Bruen case, the high court’s 6-3 ruling required judges to rely on the Second Amendment’s text and the history of gun regulation to decide the constitutionality of gun laws — and not on the strength of the public safety purpose of those laws.

And in the 2002 Heller decision, the Supreme Court found that the Second Amendment guarantees the right to “possess and carry arms in case of a confrontation.” That ruling struck down a ban on handguns in Washington, D.C.

The brief filed Thursday states that Heller acknowledged handguns are “the quintessential self-defense weapon” and called M-16 rifles “weapons that are most useful in military service.”

“The Act regulates weapons and accessories like those categorically marked as unprotected in Heller,” the brief argues in its defense of the Illinois ban. “That is why it does not infringe the Second Amendment.”

In the Bruen ruling, whose opinion was written by Justice Clarence Thomas, restrictions on weapons must be limited to dangerous and unusual arms that aren’t commonly used. Opponents, including the National Association for Gun Rights, have argued the weapons banned by the Illinois law are “unquestionably” in common use.

The state’s response argues otherwise.

“The Second Amendment’s text protects only arms in common use at the time the Second or Fourteenth Amendments were ratified, or those commonly used for individual self-defense today,” the brief says. “Plaintiffs cannot show the Act violates the Second Amendment because it regulates weapons designed for war, not self-defense.”

The federal suits, now consolidated, were filed by Illinois residents who own assault weapons and large capacity magazines, businesses that want to continue selling those items and gun rights and advocacy organizations. They are seeking a preliminary injunction prohibiting the defendants from enforcing the act, specifically limitations on the purchase and sale of assault weapons and large capacity magazines.

A number of state lawsuits have also challenged the ban, with most claiming it violates the Illinois Constitution. Some of the suits have resulted in temporary restraining orders — but only blocking enforcement of the ban against the gun owners and other plaintiffs who filed the suits.

Thursday’s brief notes that the only Court that has considered whether the ban infringes on the Second Amendment has already ruled that it does not. U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall on Feb. 17 ruled that the Illinois and Naperville bans on selling assault weapons are “constitutionally sound.”

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