Northern Illinois land bank advocates continue push for support

ROCKFORD, Ill. (WIFR) -- The Region One Planning Council continues to look for support for the Northern Illinois land bank between Winnebago and Boone counties.

The council spoke to the Rockford Chamber of Commerce to discuss plans and strategies to fight blight throughout the region.

A proposed land bank would put abandoned buildings and homes back into private sector hands. It hopes to take eye sores away from several neighborhoods, either by removing or restoring it.

"We outpace other communities in the state and in the nation for the number of properties that are blighted or abandoned and this is a new tool available for us," said Michael Dunn Jr., Executive Director of the Regional Planning Council. "Thankfully, it's funded by the state of Illinois, to help us quickly tackle the problem"

Winnebago County Board members approved the proposal last week. Boone County and Belvidere also agreed to the proposal.

Above is from:  https://www.wifr.com/content/news/Northern-Illinios-land-bank-advocates-continue-push-for-support-504242031.html

New Illinois governor uses own money to hike staff salaries

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Illinois' incoming billionaire governor has announced plans to use his own money to double the salaries of several key staffers, a move aimed at helping retain top talent.

Democratic Gov.-elect J.B. Pritzker created East Jackson Street LLC to personally compensate staffers in addition to their government salaries. Lawmakers approved legislation earlier this week aimed at helping the incoming governor to increase salaries .

"The governor-elect is committed to recruiting top talent to state government to best address the challenges Illinois faces," said Pritzker spokeswoman Jordan Abudayyeh, comparing the move to that of former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg.

Pritzker's chief of staff, three deputy governors and their special assistants, deputy chiefs of staff and other high-level employees will receive the double salaries. Overall it will apply to 20 positions, including some that have not been filled.

With the extra pay, Pritzker chief of staff Anne Caprara would receive $148,000 from the state and $150,000 from Pritzker's company for a total salary of $298,000.

Staffers who received the additional pay must report it along with other public disclosures.

The pay raise information comes as Pritzker has filled more Cabinet positions ahead of his Monday inauguration, and his choices include several women and show a bipartisan approach.

Before the Legislature wrapped up its two-year session, the House and the Senate endorsed a measure to allow Pritzker to raise salaries by 15 percent for those in his Cabinet, including the director of prisons, the transportation secretary and the directors of other agencies governing human services, health care, the environment and more.

Pritzker said Illinois salaries for agency directors and assistant directors aren't competitive.

Critics complained that nonunion middle managers have dealt with salary freezes for 15 or more years. They said the state can't afford higher pay when there's a $130 billion hole in what the state owes to its pension systems.

Above is from: https://www.yahoo.com/news/illinois-governor-uses-own-money-hike-staff-salaries-191930023.html

FBI Probe of Pres Trump

Above is from:  https://www.yahoo.com/news/report-fbi-probed-whether-trump-secretly-worked-russia-022236941--politics.html

Democrats Introduce Bill To Shield Unpaid Federal Workers From Lenders And Landlords

Igor Bobic

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HuffPost•January 9, 2019

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Democrats Introduce Bill To Shield Unpaid Federal Workers From Lenders And Landlords

WASHINGTON ― Democrats on Wednesday introduced legislation that would give

WASHINGTON ― Democrats on Wednesday introduced legislation that would give relief to furloughed federal workers who are unable to pay rent or repay loans as a result of the ongoing government shutdown.

The national government has been partially closed since Dec. 21, and the consequences are mounting ― for national parks and airports, food inspections and emergency preparations, and a host of other services.

This week, some 800,000 federal workers will start missing paychecks. Many who were forced off the job told HuffPost that they’re fearful about taking on debt to cover housing, medicine and food costs.

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the shutdown could continue “for as long as it takes,” with Democrats holding fast to their refusal to fund construction of a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border that Trump had repeatedly said Mexico would pay for.

The Federal Employee Civil Relief Act, introduced by Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) and Rep. Derek Kilmer (D-Wash.), aims to give those workers a helping hand while the government remains shuttered.

The bill would prohibit landlords and creditors from taking action against federal workers or contractors who are hurt by the shutdown and cannot pay rent or repay loans. It would also allow federal workers to sue creditors or landlords that violate those protections, which would remain in effect during and for 30 days after a shutdown.

The bill is modeled after the Servicemembers Relief Act of 1940, which protects military members from being sued while in active service for their country and for up to a year after active duty.

The new proposal “prevents eviction, foreclosure, repossession, and loss of insurance. It basically allows any federal worker or contractor who is behind on monthly expenses to have relief until the government is reopened,” Schatz told HuffPost on Wednesday.

The bill has broad support from Democrats in the House and Senate, but no Republican co-sponsors ― yet. Schatz said he hoped to get at least a few of them on board.

Some banks have already moved to forgive late payments and service fees from furloughed federal workers, including Wells Fargo, Chase and Capital One.

Over the weekend, Trump told reporters that he could empathize with those who aren’t getting paid as a result of the shutdown.

“I can relate,” he said on Sunday. “And I’m sure that the people that are toward the receiving end will make adjustments, they always do. And they’ll make adjustments. People understand exactly what’s going on.”

“Many of those people that won’t be receiving a paycheck, many of those people agree 100 percent with what I’m doing,” the president added without evidence.Trump later encouraged landlords and lenders to “be nice and easy” to furloughed workers.

UPDATE: Jan. 10 ―  Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said Thursday that while he had not yet seen Schatz’s proposal, he welcomed the concept of legal protections for furloughed federal workers.

“I certainly support the idea that we should be protecting them. I feel terrible for them. It’s not their fault. They’re caught in the crosshairs of something that has nothing to do with them and it’s unfair,” Rubio told HuffPost.

Arthur Delaney contributed to this report.

• This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
• Above is from:  https://www.yahoo.com/news/democrats-introduce-bill-shield-unpaid-000849682.html?.tsrc=jtc_news_index

Belvidere SHOPCO may close soon

Pharmaceutical supplier owed $67 million says Shopko to file for bankruptcy Jan. 15

Jeff Bollier, Green Bay Press-Gazette Published 3:51 p.m. CT Jan. 7, 2019 | Updated 5:48 p.m. CT Jan. 9, 2019

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The Shopko store at 216 S. Military Ave. in Green Bay. (Photo: Jim Matthews/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)Buy Photo

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GREEN BAY - Shopko could file for bankruptcy protection from creditors as soon as next week, according to a pharmaceutical drug supplier that says the retailer owes it $67 million.

Jeff Garfinkle, an attorney for San Francisco-based McKesson Corp., said during a hearing Monday in Brown County Circuit Court, that Shopko is expected to file for bankruptcy on Jan. 15.

The companies were in court for a hearing on McKesson's request for a restraining order to keep Shopko from selling medications it supplied the Ashwaubenon-based retailer. McKesson claims it has provided Shopko with $67 million in drugs since Nov. 11, but has not been paid since early December.

McKesson's lawyers argued the company's ability to recoup that debt would be impaired if the Ashwaubenon-based retailer seeks protection from creditors under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

"The only way to preserve a remedy for McKesson, which has provided $67 million of goods to Shopko and not been paid for it, is to stop them from selling the goods," said David Lucey, an attorney for McKesson.

A Shopko spokesperson did not return messages or answers to a series of questions provided via email. Sun Capital Partners, Shopko's parent company, declined to comment Monday evening.

Brown County Judge William Atkinson rejected McKesson's request for a restraining order.

Stephen Hackney, an attorney for Shopko, said McKesson's request would require it to close its pharmacies, and perhaps even whole stores, potentially harming patients who need life-saving medications. He said it also would threaten the sale of some of its pharmacy business and customer lists to Kroger, Hy-Vee and other competitors, a key step in the company's effort to restructure. 

"I do not believe it is safe for citizens, residents ... and patients if I grant your order," Atkinson told McKesson's attorneys Monday morning. "There would be significant public health effects. The public harm, I don't think it can be understated."

The civil case, filed Friday in Brown County, provides some insights into Shopko's financial condition one month after it announced plans to close 39 stores and sell parts of its pharmacy business.

Shopko CEO Russ Steinhorst was in court Monday, but Hackney declined a request for an interview with Steinhorst and directed USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin to the company's media representative.

Hackney said the sale of the pharmacy business is expected to net the retailer in excess of $100 million, money that is key to turning around the struggling business.

McKesson filed court documents seeking the restraining order on Friday in response to growing concerns in recent months about Shopko's ability to pay its debt. Atkinson scheduled the company's civil claims to return to Brown County Circuit Court for a hearing on Jan. 24. 

In mid-December, Shopko had to initiate a wire transfer to pay its past-due bill.

McKesson grew more concerned about the company's finances and negotiated the payment period down from 45 days after receipt to 21 days. But on Dec. 27, Shopko did not make a scheduled payment and McKesson announced it would no longer sell inventory to the company.

In a Dec. 27 email, Steinhorst told a McKesson executive that he did not have the authority to release payments to McKesson. On Dec. 31, Shopko executives emailed McKesson again to say the company would not pay McKesson for drugs received and would not commit to a future date when payments would be made.

Additional court documents and testimony on Monday indicated Shopko has a $600 million loan from Wells Fargo on which it owes $570 million.

McKesson also claimed in its affidavits that Shopko was not paying other suppliers, including one of its own subsidiaries that's owed more than $60,000.

Hackney refuted the claims as baseless. He said McKesson did not provide more examples and noted that the company paid more than $200 million to suppliers in December alone.

Communities fight store closings

The claim that bankruptcy is imminent comes at a time when small communities with Shopko stores are bracing for pending store closures.

In Kimball, Nebraska, population 2,400, residents have started a change.org petition to convince the company to reconsider its plan to close the store. The petition now has more than 1,300 signatures. Similar petitions have been launched in four towns in North Dakota, one in Montana and one in Illinois.

Shopko has struggled in recent years alongside national brands such as Sears, Toys R Us and Bon-Ton Stores Inc., which have all sought court protection from creditors. Several of the stores, like Shopko, were bought in the last two decades by private equity firms.

Former Shopko CEO Peter McMahon left the company in December 2016 in search of a "new better challenge." In July 2017, the company promoted Steinhorst to interim CEO before making the appointment permanent in late 2017  The company did not announce leadership changes, but McMahon did so in a couple of tweets.

Florida-based Sun Capital Partners Inc. bought Shopko for $1.1 billion in 2005, according to Bloomberg. The next year, it sold most of the retailer's real estate to Spirit Realty for $815 million, according to PR Newswire. In 2012, the company acquired 193 Pamida locations.

In January 2018, Spirit Realty loaned Shopko $35 million at 12 percent interest with quarterly payments of nearly $600,000 each starting in November. Spirit spun off its Shopko real estate into a separately owned real estate investment trust, called SMTA, on May 31. The trust owns 90 Shopko stores.

In a report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in November, Spirit indicated it remains concerned about Shopko's ability to meet its lease obligations.

Around the time of the 2018 loan, a Shopko PowerPoint presentation, still available on the internet, indicated the company's plans to combat deteriorating financial results in 2016 and 2017 involved a corporate reorganization, increasing the volume of higher-margin private brand products for sale, increasing in-store efficiency and finding growth opportunities.

The retail chain was founded by pharmacist James Ruben in 1962 on Green Bay's west side. It currently operates more than 360 stores in 24 states.

According to court documents, Shopko has about 5,000 employees in Wisconsin. The 2017 Greater Green Bay Chamber Fact Book reports the company employed about 1,100 people in Brown County.

Above is from:  https://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/story/money/2019/01/07/shopko-bankruptcy-supplier-seeking-67-million/2500919002/

NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio Unveils Plan To Guarantee Health Care For All New Yorkers

Hayley Miller

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HuffPost•January 8, 2019

NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio unveils universal plan to guarantee health care

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio on Tuesday announced a plan to provide health care for all New Yorkers, including those who cannot qualify for health insurance such as undocumented immigrants.

The initiative, dubbed NYC Care, will guarantee physical and mental health care for all 8.6 million people living in New York, de Blasio said at a press conference Tuesday at Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx.

“No one should have to live in fear,” the mayor said. “No one should go without the health care they need. Health care is a human right. In this city, we’re going to make that a reality. ... From this moment on in New York City, everyone is guaranteed the right to health care.”

The city will roll out the program borough by borough, the mayor’s office announced, starting in the Bronx this summer and covering the entire city by 2021.

It will ultimately reach as many as 600,000 uninsured New Yorkers, at a cost of $100 million per year ― money, de Blasio said, that the city is already spendingthrough the treatment of uninsured New Yorkers in emergency rooms and other settings for acute care.

Bill de Blasio @NYCMayor

Health care is a human right. Join me in the Bronx to discuss our plan to guarantee care for all New Yorkers.

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NYC Care will not offer free health care to all New Yorkers, but will provide a primary care doctor and access to specialty care priced on a sliding scale according to patients’ income. The program will be available to anyone who does not have an affordable insurance option, de Blasio said.

New Yorkers can already get care at clinics and hospitals when they need it, and many are eligible for one or several state and federal programs, including Medicaid, which the state expanded through the Affordable Care Act. But, de Blasio noted, many aren’t eligible for those programs and many more aren’t aware of the kind of care that is available to them.

A major focus of the effort, de Blasio emphasized, is making sure people get care before they get sick ― or, at least, before ongoing conditions explode into acute catastrophes ― by linking people with primary care doctors and clinics, so that they have “medical homes.”

De Blasio said he still believes the ultimate solution for health care is to create a single-payer or “Medicare for all” system ― that is, one government-run insurance program that would cover everybody ― either at the state or, better still, at the national level.

But with the prospects for a single-payer bill in Albany highly uncertain and no chance of single-payer at the national level while Republicans control the presidency and one house of Congress, de Blasio said, it made sense for the city to act.

“We don’t wait here in New York City,” de Blasio said. “Our people need health care right now and we can get it to them.”

New York is not the first city to undertake an ambitious effort to make sure all residents get health care. In 2006, San Francisco launched “Healthy San Francisco,” which makes medical services available throughout the city to the uninsured.

The chief architect of that program, Mitchell Katz, is now the chief executive of New York City’s hospital association and a member of the city’s board of health.

He helped to design NYC Care and, at the press conference, said the new program had a lot in common with the San Francisco initiative, although he expected the New York program to be more comprehensive and to cover many more people. “This is just a much broader scale,” Katz said.

During the press conference, de Blasio and his advisers said they were already increasing the capacity of public clinics and hospitals, to make sure people who need health care won’t have to wait for it.

The mayor also addressed critics who, by Tuesday morning, were already attacking the initiative because it will mean financing care for undocumented immigrants. 

Paying for them to get health care, de Blasio said, would ultimately save money because paying for their emergency care ends up costing more. But, he added, “They are our neighbors, they work right next to us, they help us to keep the city going, and that’s true of the whole country. I refuse the notion that these folks don’t deserve health care.”

Above is from:  https://www.yahoo.com/news/nyc-mayor-bill-blasio-unveils-163140990.html

4,000 Suspected Terrorists Stopped at the Mexico Border

Appears that we may need a fence across the Canadian border not the Mexican border

4,000 Suspected Terrorists Stopped at the Mexico Border, Says White House. Actually, It’s More Like Six, Reports U.S. Customs

Kevin Kelleher

FortuneJanuary 7, 2019

4,000 Suspected Terrorists Stopped at the Mexico Border, Says White House. Actually, It’s More Like Six, Reports U.S. Customs

U.S. Customs and Border Protection encountered only six immigrants on the U.S.-Mexico border whose names were in a federal database of known or suspected terrorists, contradicting earlier White House claims that nearly 4,000 suspected terrorists were stopped at the country’s southern border.

The disclosure, made by Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen Monday and first reported by NBC News, concerned only the first half of 2018. Of 41 people stopped at the U.S.-Mexico border by the CBP in that period, 35 were U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents, with the other six classified as non-residents.

By contrast, the CBP encountered 91 people at the U.S.-Canada border whose names were on the federal list, with 41 of them non-U.S. citizens or residents, NBC said.

On Friday, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders, said that CBP stopped nearly 4,000 known or suspected terrorists from crossing the southern border in 2018. Fact-checks of Sanders’ statement showed that the 4,000 figure applied to 2017, not 2018, and included stops made by DHS officials around the globe, with the vast majority of them occurring at airports.

Sanders appeared on Fox News Sunday and mentioned again the 4,000 known or suspected terrorists figure. When Fox News host Chris Wallace challenged her assertion and mentioned that most of the stops happened at airports, Sanders acknowledged that “they’re coming in a number of ways.”

Wallace then countered, “The State Department says there hasn’t been any terrorists that they’ve found coming across the southern border with Mexico.”