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AUSTINWEEKLY news ■
Vol. 33 No. 8
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Sen. Lightford talks legalizing marijuana,
February 20, 2019
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austinweeklynews.com
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Davis D i endorses d Wil Wilson for mayor, page 9
State House passes minimum wage bill The $15 minimum wage proposal now headed to Gov. Pritzker’s desk By JERRY NOWICKI Capitol News Illinois
SPRINGFIELD – A bill to raise Illinois’ minimum wage to $15 by 2025 needs only Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s signature to become law, and his office said he stands ready to act in the coming days. “Today is a resounding victory for the 1.4 million Illinoisans who will soon get a hardearned and well-deserved raise,” Pritzker said in a news release Thursday. “After nearly a decade of delay, I applaud the House and Senate for passing a living wage with the fierce urgency this moment requires.” The House galleries were filled with cheers from advocates – many of them currently making the minimum wage – as the final 69-47-1 favorable vote became official. Prior to the final vote, Pritzker was on the House floor smiling and shaking the hands of Democratic lawmakers – even as Republican Minority Leader Jim Durkin was lamenting the lack of bipartisanship behind the effort in his floor speech. “This is not the way to start out the General Assembly,” Durkin said, adding Republicans had “basically been told your interests and your thoughts are not valid and we don’t care.” All in Durkin’s Republican caucus were joined by four Democrats opposing the bill while one, Stephanie Kifowit of Aurora, voted See MINIMUM WAGE on page 6
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THE AUSTIN CANDIDATE: State Rep. La Shawn K. Ford, shown walking with young people in Springfield last year, said that he’s struggled for recognition being the sole Austin resident in the crowded race for mayor of Chicago.
‘Pay attention to Austin’
Ford, Enyia say Austin’s problems glossed over — in mayoral race and in general By MICHAEL ROMAIN & AARON ALLEN Editor & Contributing Reporter
State Rep. La Shawn K. Ford (7th) remembers Austin before the proliferation of vacant lots and boarded-up buildings. “I’ve been in Austin for the last 44 years,” he said in a recent interview. “I worked in the community, went to school here, and had my real estate and legislative offices here. I’ve seen the community go from what it once was to where it is today.” Ford recalled when Austin boasted “three grocery stores on Chicago Avenue,
and two banks on the corner of Chicago Avenue and Laramie.” Now, he said, those establishments are gone. The grammar school he once attended, Our Lady Help of Christians, was torn down. The West Side’s blight was on Ford’s mind when he announced that he would run for mayor of Chicago — the only candidate out of 14 people in the race for mayor who lives in Austin and one of just two, along with public policy expert Amara Enyia, who lives on the West Side. Both Ford and Enyia said the attention paid by most of the city’s power structure
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to West Side issues is scant compared to the focus they bring to issues on the North and South sides. That disparity in focus, they said, has extended to the mayor’s race. “We have not gotten the attention we really want, but we do everything we can to keep our attention focused on the West Side,” Ford said. “You have to have somebody in the race who will talk about West Side issues. I believe Austin is a reflection of what most black Chicago neighborhoods are like, which is why I think we’ll See WEST SIDE CANDIDATES on page 6
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