You can watch the Public Affairs program tonight in Chicago at 10:03 pm on Cable Ch 21 (CAN TV) as the third segment of the two hour Illinois Channel package which also airs around the State.

You can watch the program repeat in Chicago this Saturday at 10:03 am on Cable Ch 21, and at 9:33 am this Sunday on Cable Ch 19   

You can also watch the program 24/7 by clicking here.

Jeff Berkowitz and Terry Martin discuss the most striking attribute of the State of the State: skyrocketing violent crime that is occurring throughout the inner cities of Illinois, especially in Chicago, which has continued to have much higher rates of per capita homicides during the last two years than its peer cities: Chicago 6 fold higher rates than NYC  and three fold higher rates than LA. Car Jackings are also way up in Chicago and at much higher rates than its peer cities.  Similar off the chart violent crime rates are also occurring in many parts of Cook County and other IL counties outside the inner city areas.  

Pritzker seems oblivious to the urgency of these violent crime problems and seems content to propose more spending on social worker type “violence interruption” programs with no evidence of any reduction of murders or other violent crimes as a result of spending on those programs in prior years.

Although many have argued a good part of IL’s violence program is due to State’s Attorneys in some counties, like Kim Foxx in Cook County, who act more like a Public Defender than a Prosecutor, Governor Pritzker has shown little interest in using his bully pulpit of the Governor’s office to stop such failures to prosecute violent crimes vigorously.

Similarly, Gov Pritzker has also shown little interest in using his bully pulpit to persuade Judges, like Circuit Court of Cook County Chief Judge Tim Evans, to stop using his office to promote easy bail to turn dangerous violent career criminals back on the streets as soon they are arrested.            

As to Governor Pritzker’s budget speech, the most glaring deception is his failure to note the dramatic impact of the Fed’s $186 billion showered on IL individuals and entities, sharply increasing individual and corporate income tax revenues and sales tax revenues for the state in Fiscal Year 2022 and 2023. Instead, Pritzker assigned all the credit for the budget improvement to his and his Administration’s superior performance. No thoughtful analyst seems to agree with the Governor’s opinion, with Wirepoint’s Mark Glennon characterizing Pritzker’s assessment as a giant whopper.              ,