Understanding Government

The Chicago Tribune’s John Byrne reports that the city’s new top cop, Garry McCarthy, says that he might want to give citations, instead of court summons, to people arrested for marijuana possession. This comes shortly after Toni Preckwinkle, the head of the Cook County Board, declared marijuana arrests an unduly expensive burden on the judicial system.

Missing here, of course, is the argument that pot arrests don’t just drain resources but are a needless use of police powers that, in Chicago at least, unfairly target African Americans. A purely budgetary argument implies that once Cook County’s finances turn around, the city will again make casual marijuana users appear in court.

Last Thursday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency demanded that Illinois and Cook County clean up the Chicago River. Federal officials now say that the clean-up plan is not as expensive as initially feared — it will cost about $7/month in property taxes to Cook County homeowners. And even that estimation is high, as it assumes zero federal support.  The Chicago Tribune’s Michael Hawthorne reports that taxpayer money would go toward “new germ-killing equipment at two treatment plants and completion of the Deep Tunnel project, a labyrinth of sewer pipes and reservoirs designed to capture sewage and storm runoff.”

Reporters and Dept. of Homeland Security auditors documented gross mismanagement by Cook County (which includes Chicago) in their implementation of “Project Shield” — a post 9/11 national security initiative that basically installs a bunch of surveillance cameras. Now, though, the FBI is involved. The Chicago Sun-Times‘ Carol Marin and NBC-5 Chicago’s Don Mosely report that something in the latest DHS audit (one requested by Illinois Democratic Rep. Mike Quigley and new Illinois Sen. Mark Kirk, a Republican) sparked the intelligence agency’s interest. (more…)

FEMA announced yesterday that $75 million in aid has been distributed to Northern Illinois flood victims, just two weeks after the Obama administration declared seven Illinois counties a federal disaster area. The AP reports that more than 45,000 flood victims have applied for aid and that the average aid reward is about $3,000. Most of these applicants are from Cook County, which includes Chicago and western suburbs like Oak Park and River Forest that were hit hardest by the floods.

Until the announcement yesterday, the biggest local media story about federal flood assistance concerned a Tribune article that FEMA inspectors wrongfully denied a household in Hinsdale flood compensation. (more…)