While most ordinances and amendments move quickly through committee, the controversy surrounding this amendment has caused the process to get slowed down.

In September of last year, the Cook County Board passed an ordinance effectively ending all cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. An ICE detainer is a hold, up to two business days, that ICE puts on municipal inmates they’d like to detain on immigration charges. These inmates would otherwise be released because their sentence ended or they posted bond.

The situation between the county and ICE stands in contrast to detainers issued by other federal agencies, which the county generally recognizes.

Saul Chavez, an alien with an ICE detainer had been previously convicted of driving under the influence when he plowed into a pedestrian named Denny McCann on June 8th of last year. Chavez’ auto dragged McCann two hundred feet while attempting to flee. Chavez was arrested on the scene. McCann died later that night of injuries.

ICE placed a detainer on Chavez immediately following the accident. However, the county ignored the ICE detainer due to the new policy. As a result Chavez was released when he posted bond in November. Chavez missed his next court date and hasn’t been seen since.

The death has riveted public attention to the hastily considered September policy change.

In the aftermath, Commissioner Tim Schneider, a Republican from the 15th District, introduced an amendment that would walk back much of the original ordinance. It would invite back ICE agents into Cook County jail and make cooperation mandatory with ICE detainers for those charged with a whole host of violent crimes.

While the original ordinance passed without moving to a committee, instead on the day it was introduced, the amendment has faced a long and painfully slow legislative process. Suffredin’s recent comments are just the latest example of news that’s slowed things down for the amendment.

That’s exactly what Commissioner Liz Gorman warned against when the amendment was introduced in January.

“It shouldn’t go to committee, because we’re letting felons out on the street and we need to protect the public safety,” said Commissioner Gorman. Gorman pointed out that illegal aliens accused of crimes such as assault, drunk driving, and grand larceny (many repeat offenders) were among those released as a result of this ordinance.

She continued, “When we originally passed this ordinance, it didn’t go to committee, it went right through.”

The Intergovernmental Affairs Committee held a public hearing on the amendment earlier this month, after a series of delays, but that turned mostly into a bashing session, with ICE being the target of everyone’s ire. ICE became an easy target since no representative attended that particular public hearing.

Suffredin said that 4th Amendment and 5th Amendment issues need to be resolved before a proper amendment could move forward. Suffredin said that he’s worried that people are being detained without a warrant. He said he doesn’t consider an ICE detainer a warrant and said a recent Federal Court ruling in Indiana backs him up.

Ida Crown's Senior Guard Ezra Allswang

nd of the IHSA boys basketball IIA playoffs at Gordon Tech High School.  The game started out on a sour note when the referees assessed technical fouls on CMSA for illegal uniforms.  One CMSA player’s  jersey had a number nine and two players had different style jerseys.  Crown turned the fouls into 3 points before the clock started.  After the subsequent throw in, Crown hit a quick jumper making the score 5 – 0 with only ten seconds off the clock.  Continuing their run, Crown led 17 to 2 after the first quarter and 32 to 14 at the half. 

After Crown pushed the difference to 21 early in the three quarter, CMSA came charging back in the third and fourth quarters cutting the Ida Crown lead to four points with a couple minutes left.  Crown’s timely free throw shooting and a key baskets late helped them hold off the surging CMSA Titans, 54 to 43.

“We were overconfident.  [In the third quarter], we were looking ahead to Gordon Tech,” said Crown coach Sid Singer. “I expect that we will play better tomorrow night than we played tonight.”  Crown faces coach Shay Boyle’s number one seed Gordon Tech Rams Wednesday night at Gordon Tech, 7:30, in the IHSA Regional semi-final.  The Rams defeated Crown early this season by twelve points.  “We know we are playing a very good team on their home court in an IHSA game.  I think our guys will be a little more focused,” Singer told the Bulldog.

See more photos from the game on the Welles Park Bulldog facebook page.

The Hopleaf, 5148 N Clark St., says it will replace the pipe and move forward with its expansion.

Barrett is expected to take on Wisc. Gov. Scott Walker if a recall election is successful.

Tix for the event cost $400 each.

A co-owner of Biddy Mulligan’s, a previous manager of the Coronet Theatre, Kot says Miller fell in love with the venue at City Winery.

“Bau Graves, executive director of Old Town, said he’s just begun to search for Miller’s replacement. ‘Colleen is a hard act to follow,’” Graves told the Tribune.

Read more at the Chicago Tribune

According to the Chicago Tribune, the fight should have been reported immediately to the Illinois Department of Public Health. However the department has no record of a report from the nursing home, the Tribune says.

Ill. Rep. Kelly Cassidy is pointing to the death as support for legislation she is proposing that would require full staffing of nursing homes and that would close loopholes she says allow shady operators to stay in business.

“When they do run into a problem and they are sued or they are caught, they just close down and reopen under another name. They just shuffle through shell companies,” she told WBBM.

Read more at WBBM

Each alderman has $1.32 million to spend on projects in their wards, commonly called the ward menu budget.

However, the Sun-Times reports Emanuel wants a coordinated approach to such expenditures as street resurfacing.

Read more in the Chicago Sun-Times

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“In his catalpa, he saw only beauty. The dark bark, the pods clacking in the winter wind, and, each time spring struggled back, the tower of flowers. White trumpets, he called them, and when they fell, clogging the gutters, he imagined it as the annual wedding celebration for the earth and sky,” Mary Schmich writes.

At The Dog, as we sat reading the piece, we thought of the big cut of trees on Wolcott many years ago. And we wonder about the little girl in the forest of ‘Christmas trees’ that became Ravenswood.

Read more at the Chicago Tribune

But Calif. Congressman Darrell Issa only scheduled men as witnesses.

Specifically, the Democratic minority requested a female law student from Georgetown testify, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Issa, it says, refused.

In response, the two Democratic Congresswomen and Ill. Rep. Mike Quigley walked out of the hearings, the Times says.

Read more at the Los Angeles Times