According to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s office, Muñoz “obtained the money through cash withdrawals and debit card charges from the CPRC’s bank account or by transferring funds from CPRC to another political fund he controlled – Citizens for Munoz (CFM) – and then on to his personal checking account,” while chairing CPRC and serving as its treasurer.

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Among the allegations in the indictment, which covers incidents between 2016 and 2019, is that Muñoz transferred $16,000 from the CPRC account, intending to use the funds for tuition. He then used the loan to transfer the money back, and “falsely told” an unnamed individual that the transfer didn’t need to be reported to the Illinois State Board of Elections, because it had been rectified during the same reporting period. 

Committees are required to report quarterly on expenditures, transfers, and contributions. 

Muñoz transferred another $7,000 to his personal account, creating a new Gmail account to receive payments via Chase’s Quickly system, but making it seem like it was intended for a caucus consultant. In another case, he falsely told other individuals involved with the caucus account that funds he used personally were for election expenses. He also made roughly $8,000 in cash withdrawals and $1,430 in debit card charges, including for plane tickets, tickets to a Los Angeles Kings game, a hotel stay, and purchases at Lover’s Lane. 

The indictment claims Muñoz “fraudulently used CPRC funds to pay for, among other things, jewelry; cufflinks; a loan payment on one of MUNOZ’s personal vehicles; women’s clothing; three Apple iPhones and accessories; aerial sightseeing trips; sports tickets; skydiving excursions; and other entertainment expenses.”

“Munoz attempted to conceal the fraud scheme by making materially false representations” to both the Illinois State Board of Elections, staff members and contractors for the Caucus. Each count of wire fraud is punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison. The money laundering count carries a maximum sentence of ten years.

Congressman Jesús “Chuy” García, a longtime friend and political ally who was alderman before Muñoz, issued a statement in response to the indictment, saying he was “both saddened and deeply disappointed to receive the news.”

“I have been aware of his struggles with addiction and other personal issues, but this is shocking and distressing news. The indictment is a stain on his aldermanic track record of fighting and delivering for the people of the 22nd Ward,” he said. “I have no tolerance for abuse of the political process or of the public trust.”

Muñoz, the longtime alderman representing Little Village, opted not to run for re-election in 2019. At the time he decided to step down, had already been barred from City Council’s Progressive Caucus after being charged with misdemeanor domestic battery and attended rehab for alcoholism, which he had candidly discussed publicly in the past. He was later found not guilty on the battery charge.

The misuse of funds was first made public two years ago. Members of the caucus discovered the discrepancy in January 2019 and notified the state board of elections as well as Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx.

“It was all a misunderstanding,” Muñoz told The Daily Line at the time, adding that he had apologized and would pay the money back.

Muñoz was first appointed to the post by Mayor Richard M. Daley in 1993.

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(Bloomberg) — Amazon.com Inc. is rolling out raises to more than 500,000 of its hourly workers a few months early, spending $1 billion on pay bumps designed to juice hiring at the company’s fast-growing logistics division.

The raises, which range from 50 cents to $3 an hour for most workers, will take effect in May and June, Darcie Henry, a vice president in Amazon’s human resources group, said in a note posted to Amazon’s corporate blog. Henry said the company was hiring for “tens of thousands of jobs” across its logistics operations in the U.S.

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The Executive Ethics Commission office is pictured at the Illinois Capitol Complex in Springfield. (Capitol News Illinois file photo)

Thursday, April 29, 2021

David Fein also faces a $6,000 fine for his sexual misconduct

By SARAH MANSUR
Capitol News Illinois
smansur@capitolnewsillinois.com

SPRINGFIELD — A state ethics commission has found a former Exelon lobbyist sexually harassed one of his female colleagues on two separate occasions in Springfield, in violation of the Lobbyist Registration Act.

David Fein, formerly Exelon’s senior vice president of state governmental and regulatory affairs, will have to pay a $6,000 fine and his lobbyist registration will be suspended until Dec. 31, according to the April 23 decision from the Illinois Executive Ethics Commission.

The commission is a nine-member entity that conducts hearings on alleged ethics violations.

The decision states that Fein’s behavior toward his female colleague “was of a sexual nature and was sufficiently severe or pervasive to create an intimidating, hostile, or offensive working environment” for his colleague.

The EEC decision about Fein’s misconduct was first reported by the Chicago radio station WBEZ.

Fein left his position at Exelon in August 2019 after Crain’s Chicago Business reported about the allegations of sexual harassment against him.

The EEC’s findings that Fein engaged in sexual misconduct stems from two incidents, in March and April 2019, involving a female Exelon employee who was subordinate to Fein, identified in the EEC decision as Witness A.

The first instance of sexual harassment took place after “several people associated with Exelon’s lobbying efforts” gathered at a hotel bar on March 19, 2019, following hearings in the Illinois General Assembly, according to the commission’s decision.

While at the hotel bar, Fein “flattered Witness A’s professional work and told her how wonderful and attractive she was,” the decision states.

Around 2 a.m. the next morning, Fein knocked on Witness A’s hotel door and said he wanted to speak with her. She opened the door and let him in.

“Once inside Witness A’s hotel room, (Fein) stated that he and his wife had separated and that he found Witness A attractive. He put his hand on her leg and tried to kiss her. Witness A told (Fein), ‘You’ve got to leave,’ which he did,” the decision states. “The next morning, March 20, 2019, (Fein) stopped by Witness A’s desk and said, ‘I was drunk. There’s no excuse,’ to which Witness A replied, ‘That’s right, there is no excuse for that.’”

The second incident happened on April 29, 2019, after Witness A and others gathered at another hotel bar, following formal activities at a lobbyist-related event in Springfield.

Witness A left the gathering early and took the elevator to her hotel room, but Fein followed her into the elevator.

“As Witness A reached her floor and began to exit the elevator, (Fein) put his hands on Witness A’s face and tried to kiss or hug her. Witness A told (Fein) to stop, pulled away from him, and left the elevator,” the report states.

The commission concluded that Fein’s “actions were unwelcome, inappropriate, offensive, and potentially damaging to Witness A’s career.”

Fein, who is a lawyer, had worked at Exelon since 2012, according to his LinkedIn page.

He is currently president of his own consulting firm, Fein Solutions LLC.

Attorneys for Fein did not respond to requests for comment.

 

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government and distributed to more than 400 newspapers statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation

Judge finds firearm ownership card law invalid – as applied to one Illinois woman

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Shares rose less than 1% on Thursday morning at 9:31 a.m. They were up 8.3% year to date through Wednesday, below the wider S&P 500.

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In the U.S., where it has about 13,600 restaurants, McDonald’s benefited from its new crispy chicken sandwich introduced in February, along with another round of stimulus checks. Even before that, McDonald’s and its drive-thru peers have performed relatively well during the Covid-19 pandemic that’s upended the dining industry. The company has been leaning heavily into delivery and is working on introducing a new loyalty program in its home market.

Same-store sales in the U.S. were double-digit positive across breakfast, lunch and dinner, the company said on a conference call. That’s significant as the morning hours had been particularly hard hit by the pandemic that’s shifted America’s work schedule and shows things might be getting back to normal.

Still, there are challenges. The Chicago-based company is grappling with a domestic labor market where it’s hard to find staff. It’s also facing on-and-off virus restrictions especially in Europe, where the company saw negative sales in France and Germany last quarter.

“Resurgences and operating restrictions persist in many parts of the world,” Chief Executive Officer Chris Kempczinski said in a statement announcing the results. Dining rooms are closed in about 50% of McDonald’s locations in Europe, and that’s a big part of the business there.

Likewise, guest counts remained negative in all its segments, meaning fewer customers are placing orders — even if many spend more each time they do.

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Repeat star-winner Parachute operates out of its sister restaurant, serving to-go orders. Rick Bayless’ Topolobampo, is serving “a handful of people at a time” from a private dining room, according to its website, and has not announced a reopening date.

South Loop restaurant Acadia was awarded two stars, just like it was in 2019. That, despite chef and owner Ryan McCaskey closing the restaurant last summer and moving to Maine, following allegations that he has harassed and mistreated workers at the restaurant. Acadia’s website said the closing is temporary, but no reopening date has been announced.

If a 2020 star winner was temporarily closed, Michelin kept it on the list this year, the company said. That was the case with Acadia.

Michelin has also said that inspectors “kept in touch” with restaurants throughout 2020, tracking their openings and closings and dining in when they could. But in Chicago, regulations forced restaurants to shutter indoor dining for the better part of six months since the pandemic hit, and capacities remain at the lesser of 50 percent or 50 people per room.

Such restrictions have been lethal to restaurants of every strata in Chicago, and Michelin stars were no savior. Blackbird in the West Loop closed permanently last summer, for example, and other fine-dining establishments have offered take-out or meal kits to stay afloat. 

Besides Blackbird, three other restaurants dropped off the list this year: Band of Bohemia, a brewpub in Ravenswood that also permanently closed last year; Everest, an almost 35-year-old Loop restaurant that served its last meals on New Years Eve; and Kikko, a West Loop omakase bar by Oriole’s Noah Sandoval. Kikko was part of a two-in-one restaurant with Japanese-inspired Kumiko, which has paused regular service.

Despite the various states of reopening that most of Chicago’s fine-dining restaurants find themselves in, Michelin added three restaurants to its star list this year.

Ever, from Michelin-starred chef Curtis Duffy and co-owner Michael Muser, was awarded two stars. The West Town restaurant first opened last summer, then shuttered indoor dining with the rest of the state in the fall, launching to-go options and a nearby burger window. It reopened to guests in February, serving diners eight to 10 courses at $285 per person, excluding gratuity and drinks.

Moody Tongue, a restaurant housed within a brewery in the South Loop, also earned two stars. The menu from Chef Jared Wentworth is paired with Moody Tongue’s beer.

Porto in East Ukrainian Village earned one star. The restaurant from Chef Marcos Campos serves food from the Atlantic coast of Spain and Portugal. 

“Michelin Guide inspectors were honored to commemorate the strength and creativity of Chicago chefs and restaurant teams throughout the past year,” Gwendal Poullennec, international director of the Michelin Guides said in a news release. “Our teams look forward to discovering even more new talent in the area as the industry continues to emerge from the crisis.” 

A spokesperson added that “Our inspection criteria remain unchanged. Michelin inspectors evaluate the quality of the products; harmony of flavors; mastery of the techniques and flavors; personality of the chef in his/her cuisine; and consistency between visits when deciding a restaurant’s distinction. The entire calendar year of 2020 was dedicated to the new selection.”

The Michelin guides were created more than a century ago by French tire manufacturers. The coveted Michelin stars have been considered the crown jewels of the industry.

The company earlier this week released its Bib Gourmand list, which this year featured 58 Chicago restaurants that Michelin says serves a good meal and a good price. 

Here’s the complete list of this year’s Michelin star winners, with an asterisk denoting first-timers:

THREE STARS
Alinea (Lincoln Park)

TWO STARS
Acadia (South Loop)
*Ever (West Town)
Oriole (West Loop)
*Moody Tongue (South Loop)
Smyth (West Loop)

ONE STAR
Boka (Lincoln Park)
El Ideas (Pilsen)
Elizabeth (Lincoln Square)
Elske (West Loop)
Entente (Lakeview)
Goosefoot (Lincoln Square)
Mako (West Loop) 
Next (West Loop)
North Pond (Lincoln Park)
Omakase Yume (West Loop)
Parachute (Avondale)
*Porto (East Ukrainian Village)
Schwa (Wicker Park)
Sepia (West Loop)
Spiaggia (Gold Coast)
Temporis (Noble Square)
Topolobampo (River North)
Yugen (West Loop)

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PITTSBURGH, April 29, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — PNC Bank is proud to announce its 11th annual Women in Business Week, which will be held virtually May 10 – 14, 2021.

Through this annual event, PNC provides female financial decision makers – from business owners and executives to women who may be managing their finances for the first time – with an opportunity to glean valuable insights for themselves, their families and businesses. The events will be all virtual, allowing women to participate regardless of their location.

According to a recent PNC Economic Outlook Survey of Small and Mid-Sized Business Owners, nearly three-quarters of women business owners surveyed were affected by a reduction in operating hours, capacity or a total closure of their business due to COVID-19. In the fourth quarter of 2020 nearly two-thirds of women business owners said they had not yet returned to a normal operating cycle. During Women in Business Week, panelists will share their personal and professional struggles and triumphs weathering the pandemic and throughout their careers.

This year’s lineup features nine motivational and informative events headlined by keynote speaker Jessica O. Matthews, founder and CEO of Uncharted Power and inventor of SOCCKET, an energy-generating soccer ball, and Irin Carmon and Shana Knizhnik, co-authors of “Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.”

“One of our goals for PNC Women’s Business Development is to accelerate women’s financial equality,” says Laura Gamble, PNC regional president of Greater Maryland, vice chair of the PNC Women’s Business Development Executive Advisory Board and a PNC-Certified Women’s Business Advocate. “Women in Business Week gives us an opportunity to engage women in meaningful conversations about their careers, their businesses, and their families – and how to manage it all in a way that leads to financial equality.”

Women in Business Week is just one example of PNC’s commitment to be intentional and consistent in how we engage, enlighten, attract and retain clients and employees who identify as women. Virtual Women in Business Week events are free and available to the public. Anyone interested in attending can register for any or all events at pnc.com/businesswebcasts.

In addition to Women in Business Week, PNC Bank offers a national network of more than 3,000 PNC-Certified Women’s Business Advocates and supports numerous activities, events and organizations, such as the U.S. 30% Club and the Women Presidents’ Organization, that mentor and advocate for women entrepreneurs and executives. Through these Women’s Business Development efforts, PNC strives to bring women together through interesting and informative programs, focusing on financial wellness and empowerment for customers and non-customers alike. To learn more about PNC’s women’s business advocacy, visit pnc.com/women.

Virtual Women in Business Week Webcast Series

Monday, May 10

• 11:30 a.m. ET: Notorious RBG: Hear from Irin Carmon & Shana Knizhnik, co-authors of “Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.”
• Moderator: Gregory Jordan, general counsel and chief administrative officer, The PNC Financial Services Group

• 1:30 p.m. ET: Big League Entrepreneurial Advice: Winners of last year’s webcast sweepstakes share insights from their one-on-one conversations with OrangeTheory Fitness’ Ellen Latham and BOOMCHICKAPOP’s Angie Bastian.
• Speakers: Lee Anne Nance, chief operating officer, Stewart; and Dr. Sylvia Gonsahn-Bollie, M.D., CEO and lead physician, Embrace YOU Weight and Wellness.
• Moderator: Jennifer Daurora, vice president, customer experience, PNC Bank

Tuesday, May 11

• 11:30 a.m. ET: Chicago Business Leaders Panel: Anne Gruber, president of A-Ashland Lock; Meenal Sethna, CFO of Littelfuse; Kimberly Moore, president of KDM Engineering; and Joanna Sohovich, CEO of The Chamberlain Group share their personal, professional and entrepreneurial journeys in industries uncommon for women.
• Moderator: Beth Karlson executive vice president and co-head of Middle Market and Large Corporate Banking, PNC Bank

• 1:30 p.m. ET: TAP Tuesday: Be Prepared; Planning for What If: First of four PNC-sponsored financial workshops for businessowners with The Acceleration Project (TAP) featuring Sundus Kubba and Susan Newman, TAP Consultants.

Wednesday, May 12

• 11:30 a.m. ET: Women in Tech: Why the world needs more women in technology and how PNC is addressing the gap.
• Speakers: Lucy Sanders, CEO, National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT); Linda Medler, Retired Brigadier General, U.S. Air Force; and Steffanie Jasper, Independent Risk Management COO, PNC Bank.
• Moderator: Anissa Gilbert, vice president, Digital, PNC Bank

• 1:30 p.m. ET: Navigating to the Top: Straight Talk with Texas Women in Business Executives: Juli Galloway, VP global benefits, AT&T; Lisa Sherrod, director of Community and External Relations, Tenet Healthcare; and Karen Noseff Aldridge, founder and CEO, Rebel Athletic discuss all things career architecture, the choices women make, seeing beyond the pandemic and diversity & inclusion.
• Moderator: Amber Scanlan, Client & Community Relations director, PNC Bank

Thursday, May 13: Women in Business Week Keynote Speaker

• 12 noon ET: An inspirational conversation with Jessica O. Matthews, founder and CEO of Uncharted Power, inventor of SOCCKET, and a member of Forbes’ 30 Under 30 on disrupting the infrastructure and power generation businesses with sustainable solutions.
• Moderator: Penelope Vance, fiduciary managing director, PNC Wealth Management

Friday, May 14

• 11:30 a.m.: Financial Wellness: Resetting Your Personal Goals: A diverse panel of women share how the pandemic has reshaped their financial priorities and outlook, for themselves and their families. Speakers include Carole Brown, head of Asset Management Group, PNC Financial Services Group, Inc.; Aquatia Owens, SVP, wealth market director, PNC Bank; Kate Kelly, regional president of Minnesota, PNC Bank; Lili Hall, founder and CEO, KNOCK, inc.; and Mara Connelly Taft, co-founder, Taft Communications.
• Moderator: Anne Aldrich, founding member, Artemis Strategy Group

• 1:30 p.m.: TGIF: Unwind and refresh with PNC Doctor of Physical Therapy Sharon McKim

PNC Bank, National Association, is a member of The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. PNC is one of the largest diversified financial services institutions in the United States, organized around its customers and communities for strong relationships and local delivery of retail and business banking including the following:  a full range of lending products; specialized services for corporations and government entities, including corporate banking, real estate finance and asset-based lending; and wealth management and asset management. For information about PNC, visit www.pnc.com.

CONTACT:
Katie Kirby
(216) 222-8725
[email protected]

SOURCE PNC Bank

Related Links

https://www.pnc.com/

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Bloomberg

Shock and Tears: Behind Vanguard’s Retreat From China Market

(Bloomberg) — Vanguard Group Inc. staff who dialed into a video call from their desks on the 40th floor of the Shanghai World Financial Center last month were expecting a morale-boosting speech from regional head Scott Conking on how the U.S. fund giant would tackle the Chinese market after years of preparation.Instead, Conking said the $7 trillion money manager was abandoning its push for a mutual fund license. The firm would rely on an advisory venture with Ant Group Co. to maintain a presence in China, Conking said via video from the same Shanghai office, where he was visiting for the first time.The 30-odd employees were in shock. More than 10 staff were let go right after Conking finished speaking, according to people familiar with the matter. One employee burst into tears, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private.Yet behind the seemingly hasty retreat were years of scrutiny by Vanguard’s top management on whether its low-cost model works in China, the people said. The conclusion, at least for now, appears to be no, and serves as a cautionary tale for other global asset managers eyeing China’s $13 trillion wealth market.A representative for Vanguard declined to comment.While there had been some signs of Vanguard’s shrinking ambitions in Asia last year, the firm was still expected to apply for a fund license in China, seen as crucial for growth in the burgeoning wealth market. Vanguard, like other foreign players, was given the green light to apply last April, removing the need for a local partner.For some former Vanguard executives, the sky was once the limit for China. Former Asia head Charles Lin saw potential to increase assets to about $5 trillion given the pace of wealth accumulation in the world’s second-biggest economy.“We’re in this for a hundred years, not five years,” Jim Norris, then head of Vanguard’s international business, said in a May 2018 interview. “And we feel very confident that over time we’ll be able to get to that scale” to make money.The enthusiasm for China began to wane under Tim Buckley, who took over as chief executive officer in 2018, according to the people. Under Buckley’s direction, the new finance chief started quarterly profit appraisals of each business line and region, marking a pronounced shift from his predecessor Bill McNabb.Despite the massive potential in China, Vanguard didn’t apply for a fund license right away. The company raised more eyebrows in August when it announced plans to close operations in Hong Kong and Tokyo, affecting 70 jobs. At the time, Vanguard said that “current industry dynamics” don’t support its low-cost model, while citing the “considerable opportunity” in China.The U.S. firm pulled back further in October by returning about $21 billion in managed assets to government clients in China. It also lost a mandate to run $590 million in Taiwan due to weak performance.Cost ConcernsEven as China’s economy began to pull out of the pandemic last year, Vanguard’s concerns about costs, distribution, staffing and regulations were mounting, the people said.It took the firm more than a year to find a strong candidate for a chief compliance officer, a requirement for the license, the people said. The job offer was rescinded about a month before Conking’s announcement, they said.Regulations were also an issue. While China has opened the door for foreign licenses, it’s tightened requirements, particularly for global players. The regulator asked Fidelity Investments and Neuberger Berman in November to pledge liquidity support for the licenses they were seeking. That raised concerns about additional capital costs for Vanguard, the people said. A year after the opening, only BlackRock Inc. has obtained a fund license.According to a November report by China International Capital Corp., foreign-controlled or wholly-owned asset managers may grab as much as 15% of the market from local rivals over the next decade. Yet they need to overcome barriers including a lack of distribution channels, along with the Chinese firms’ first-mover advantages, the report found.Break EvenForeign asset managers need at least 50 billion yuan ($7.7 billion) in assets to turn a profit, CICC analysts led by Yao Zeyu estimated. Vanguard would need more, given its rock-bottom fees that have driven its growth in North America.Still, Lin’s team estimated its wholly-owned mutual fund business could reach 100 billion yuan in assets within five to seven years, enabling it to break even, the people said. The scenario assumed the firm would sell active and passive funds, bolstered by the joint venture with Jack Ma’s Ant, set up in 2019.Vanguard may have realized that “it won’t help much” even if it launched its own funds in China given the costs and its lack of competitive advantage, said Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Francis Chan.Decades since Wall Street firms first entered the China market, they remain dwarfed in the asset management space by domestic banks and brokerages. Funds backed by international firms raised less than half the $967 billion haul of their 100-plus Chinese rivals in the first eight months of 2020, according to data compiled by Morningstar Inc. and Bloomberg.Z-Ben Advisors Ltd., a Shanghai-based consultancy, last year lowered its forecast for foreign companies’ market share in China’s mutual fund industry by 10 percentage points to just 15% by 2030.Without a license in China, Vanguard will rely on its joint venture with Ant, which has doubled its client base in just two months. Assets under management jumped 60% from the end of last year to 6.9 billion yuan as of Feb. 28, a person familiar has said. That puts the business on track to reach an estimated 10 billion yuan break-even point well ahead of its five-year target, the people said.While Ant’s 1 billion Alipay users hold huge potential, its recent launch of an open advisory platform to other fund managers may dilute resources for the Vanguard venture, BI’s Chan said.”It’s easy to make an application, but committing all the resources to make things work is much more difficult,” he said. “Having a beautiful plan is one thing. Execution is another.”(Updates with break-even estimates of mutual fund business in 17th paragraph)For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

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Not on the hook

Responding to a report by Crain’s Chicago Business concerning the redevelopment of Northbrook Court, village attorney Steve Elrod said the village is under no obligation to establish tax-increment financing or provide sales tax rebate until any construction project is “substantially complete.”

Crains had reported Northbrook Court’s owners had stopped making mortgage payments, and that its lender was interviewing brokers to handle the sale of the property.

An owner, Brookfield Property Partners, in 2019 received approval for a mixed-use redevelopment including apartment buildings, a supermarket, restaurants and open space. The Village of Northbrook would support the project with a $27 million TIF designation and sales tax incentives.

So far the demolition of the former Macy’s space is all that’s been performed, with the project stalled by the COVID-19 pandemic. Northbrook Court does remain open for business.

At the Northbrook Village board meeting of April 13, Elrod said the village is protected in its agreements concerning the redevelopments.

“We imposed a precondition in the agreement that all of the public improvements must be fully constructed, all of the residential and retail buildings must be substantially complete, and all of the mall renovations must be substantially complete before the Village’s obligation even kicks in,” Elrod stated in a release by the Northbrook Chamber of Commerce & Industry.

        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        

 

He added that the agreement also covers potential transfers or changes in ownership.

Special education meeting

Northbrook/Glenview School District 30 will hold a special education meeting virtually at 10:30 a.m. May 7. The purpose of the meeting will be to discuss the district’s plans for providing special education services to students with disabilities who attend private schools or home schools within the district for the 2021-22 school year.

Parents of such a student are urged to attend. If participating in the meeting, by May 4 contact Tiffani Cuneo via email at tcuneo@district30.org.

Also …

The District 30 board of education will meet at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, April 29, in the cafeteria of Maple School, 2370 Shermer Road, Northbrook. The board will welcome new member Dr. Stephanie Yohannan, and bid adieu to President Ursula Sedlak, retiring after eight years of service. Vice President Nancy Artz will succeed Sedlak as president.

The public is invited to attend, provided people wear masks. Temperatures will be checked at a sign-in at the door. For information, call (847) 498-4190.

Of pergolas

Helping restaurants bounce back from pandemic losses is a stress of Northbrook government. A proposal to establish a permanent outdoor dining space by Eataco, 1350 Shermer Road, could catch on.

        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        

 

The eatery submitted an application for a proposed sidewalk dining patio, covered yet open — a pergola — to the Northbrook Village Board on April 13. The plan proposed 12 tables seating either two or four diners, to be place next to the restaurant on the existing sidewalks down Shermer and Meadow roads.

Trustees and village staff members were concerned how the permanent dining would affect sidewalk use, but it was also suggested a pergola at Eataco could be used as a test case for outdoor dining options elsewhere in the village.

The proposal will be reviewed by the village’s Architectural Control Commission before returning to the full board for consideration.

Retirement beckons

Near the end April 20 meeting of the Northbrook Plan Commission, Marcia Franklin announced her intention to step down from the chair position after incoming board President Kathryn Ciesla is sworn in on May 11.

Franklin will be leaving a year early after serving 20 years and 10 as chair.

“I don’t think anyone should be chairman of the Plan Commission forever, I think it’s a bad idea, and when I took the job I said I would only serve two terms,” Franklin told commission members.

“Frankly, I think there ought to be term limits — because I think you should be able to stay on the Plan Commission as long as you want to, but I think the chairman should serve for a fixed or a limited period of time.

“I expect to be at the next meeting (May 4), but I suspect after that you will have a new chairman,” Franklin said.

Ciesla will have the opportunity to appoint a new plan commissioner.

Franklin’s departure is among a swath of outgoing village veterans, some of whom were noted at Tuesday’s village board meeting. Those included human resources manager Greg Van Dahm; deputy village manager and chief financial officer Jeff Rowitz; deputy police chief Daniel Strickland; deputy fire chief David Crawford; and police department administrative assistant Mary Carlyon.

The board also recognized Jill Brickman for her 20 years of service as Northfield Township supervisor, and Carlos Früm for more than two decades of leadership with the Northbrook Public Library.

Book stroll

Willowbrook School, 2500 Happy Hollow Road, Glenview, has partnered with the Northbrook Public Library to offer a “book stroll” through the field behind the school, from May 10-24.

This book stroll in particular, based on the children’s book “Rescuing Mrs. Birdley,” is a good way for parents and their children to get outside, get a little exercise, and enjoy a book along the way.

Aaron Reynolds’ picture book describes what a young nature enthusiast does when she spies her teacher in the wild — a grocery store. She returns her to her natural habitat at the school, of course.

Because this book stroll is on Willowbrook School grounds, people outside the school community are advised to visit the field on evenings or weekends when school is not in session.

        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        

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Photo by Bruce Rushton

Springfield’s latest pot dispensary opened last week with the cutting of a green ribbon.

A third marijuana dispensary opened last week in the Springfield area even as legislation aimed at fixing the state’s troubled pot laws percolates at the Capitol.

Maribis, which has dispensaries in Grandview and the Chicago area, cut the ribbon at its fourth shop last week on Springfield’s west side, inside a Parkway Pointe movie theater on Lindbergh Boulevard that closed last year.

Dan Linn, Maribis general manager, says that the company hopes to eventually share space with a grow operation and onsite consumption lounge. The building was purchased on March 1 for $1.5 million by a limited liability corporation controlled by Chris Stone, a developer and lobbyist whose involvement in the marijuana industry dates to 2014, when the state legalized medical marijuana and he became an owner in a dispensary company that’s since been sold.

The Parkway Pointe opening comes more than a year after the state legalized recreational pot. Statewide monthly sales topped $109 million in March, a record, putting Illinois on track to hit the $1 billion mark this year, if trends continue. Through March, imbibers spent nearly $279 million on weed; through the first three months of last year, when recreational pot became legal, shops sold $110 million worth of product. The year ended with $669 million in sales.

The Parkway Pointe location is one of 35 dispensaries greenlighted by the state last month as a March 31 deadline approached to pass inspection or relinquish rights to licenses granted to companies that had licenses to sell medical marijuana when the state legalized recreational weed.

Maribis and the state’s 109 other dispensaries have enjoyed limited competition. The state was supposed to award 75 additional dispensary licenses in 2020, but the licensing process halted last fall when the state announced that finalists were all entities controlled by white people, despite a goal of awarding licenses to African Americans. Unsuccessful applicants who submitted multiple applications in hopes of winning multiple licenses complained about receiving different scores on identically worded responses to questions posed in application materials. The state also hasn’t awarded 40 licenses to grow pot that were due last summer.

A bill aimed at breaking the dispensary licensing logjam didn’t pass the House last week as a deadline arrived for bills to be sent to the Senate. Under the proposal sponsored by Rep. La Shawn Ford, D-Chicago, nearly 200 new dispensary licenses would be issued, including the 75 that were due for award last year. An additional 115 licenses, including five to sell medical marijuana, would be awarded via lottery to applicants who received scores of 85 or better on applications. The legislation specifies where new shops would go, with the Springfield area due three new dispensaries, which would bring the total to six.

The bill also would allow existing dispensaries to move within the same ZIP code if local authorities give permission. Under current state law, dispensaries are locked into locations, which some are beginning to outgrow. In Mundelein, a Chicago suburb, a dispensary owner has announced plans to expand from 4,000 square feet to nearly 15,000 square feet – parking has been an issue, with semi-trucks having trouble getting through cars parked by cannabis customers, says Pamela Althoff, executive director of the Illinois Cannabis Business Association. Parking, also, can be precious at the Maribis dispensary in Grandview. Some people, Linn says, drive an hour because there are no outlets closer to home. He said he isn’t surprised, given the state’s failure to issue additional licenses. “The fact that they haven’t awarded those yet funnels people into existing licensees,” Linn says.

Observers haven’t been optimistic about pot shops sprouting like mushrooms. “It’s unlikely that any new operators are going to open in 2021,” Irina Dashevsky, a Chicago attorney who specializes in cannabis issues, told Crain’s Chicago Business in February.

Althoff sees hope. Lawmakers in the House, she says, are still working on a bill to issue dispensary licenses despite the deadline for sending legislation to the Senate. “There has been a great deal of work on this legislation over the past four or five days,” she said.

Linn says that Maribis isn’t afraid of competition.

“I think there’s lots of room in this market for lots of operators,” he said.

Contact Bruce Rushton at brushton@illinoistimes.com.

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When Jerry Ranalli set up outdoor tables at his restaurant in Lincoln Park back in the 1970s, people warned him alfresco dining was a bad idea.

“His friends in the restaurant business said people would never pay the bill, they’d run off,” his daughter Suzy Evans said. “That didn’t turn out to be the case. Only two people skipped out on the bill in all of that time.”

More than four decades later, the original Ranalli’s and its outdoor patio are still operating at 1925 N. Lincoln Ave.

Mr. Ranalli, 83, died of cancer April 15 at his Chicago home.

He was a familiar face at many dining and drinking spots around town, having co-founded or worked at more than 30 of them.

At one point, he simultaneously operated three Lincoln Park establishments: the original Ranalli’s, Cafe Hamburg and the Ultimate Sports Bar & Grill, which had its own boxing ring.

The Ranalli’s restaurants — that brand grew to four — were known from the start for their pizza, strong drinks, 135 kinds of imported beer and Mr. Ranalli’s gregarious front-of-the-house presence.

Jerry Ranalli was the gregarious front-of-the-house presence at his establishments.Provided

They also offered specialties that became favorites of carb-cravers: double-decker pizzas and the deep-fried calzone-type creation known as a panzerotti.

Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert was a panzerotti fan.

“It’s an inside-out pizza in which your favorite ingredients are wrapped inside a shell of pizza dough and then deep-fried. Really good,” Ebert wrote in 1979.

Mr. Ranalli’s establishments also were known for carefully curated jukeboxes. At the Pall Mall, a downtown spot that was one of his first, the jukebox featured a 45 that came in handy during the woozy era of the three-martini lunch.

“There was a recording of airport sounds,” his daughter said, “so you could call in and say, ‘Oh, I can’t make it to work today. I’m grounded at the airport.’ ”

To patrons, Mr. Ranalli was a party of one. He could quote Shakespeare or perform party tricks, like when he’d hoist a drink aloft and, with a flourish, move it in a big circle so quickly that centrifugal force kept every drop inside the glass.

He and his establishments attracted their share of celebrities passing through Chicago.

“I remember [Los Angeles Dodgers manager] Tommy Lasorda calling up our house when I was in early high school,” his daughter said. She thought it was a prank. “I hung up.”

When she told her father, he said, “Oh, my gosh, the Dodgers are in town — it’s probably him.”

In his later years, he no longer owned the Ranalli’s restaurants, which continue to operate on Lincoln and in Andersonville. But Mr. Ranalli still took pride in the many patrons who credited his original outdoor patio as the place they met their future spouses.

A big fan of opera, Mr. Ranalli arranged deliveries of 75 pizzas at a time to the Lyric Opera of Chicago, feeding everyone from stars to stagehands at his own expense.

That owed to his friendship with tenor David Cangelosi, who wandered into Ranalli’s on Lincoln when he was new to Chicago and didn’t know anyone. When Mr. Ranalli found out he was an opera singer, “We became instant friends,” Cangelosi said.

Mr. Ranalli sent pizzas to the Lyrics whenever Cangelosi was in a production, starting with a 1996 staging of “Salome” starring soprano Catherine Malfitano that left him profoundly moved.

“He loved the glamour of it all, the swirl of it all,” Cangelosi said. “He was just a wonderfully generous man who enjoyed knowing that everyone was having a good time.”

A dapper Jerry Ranalli.Provided

He said opera stars took note of and admired Mr. Ranalli’s impeccable suits, shoes and accessories. His children said he personified the Italian concept of “bella figura” — presenting a fine figure.

Even as a kid growing up on the West Side, Mr. Ranalli dressed elegantly. His friends nicknamed him “Rags,” which inspired the name of one his first establishments: Chez Rags.

His father operated the barbershop at what’s now the Hilton Chicago on South Michigan Avenue. Young Jerry spent a year at Marshall High School before starting barber school, but he preferred bartending and eventually owning restaurants and bars.

He loved watching movies with his son Jerry Ranalli Jr. They’d head to the Music Box Theatre or settle down at home to watch classics like “The Maltese Falcon,” “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” and “The Third Man.” His son said he’ll treasure the memory of their conversations about which Humphrey Bogart or John Huston films were best.

Mr. Ranalli also is survived by three grandchildren.

He always loved a big party, his children said. So they’re planning one to celebrate his life.

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