Chicago Mayor Eats Words Pitching Police Increase; Congress Mulls 17 State Water Infrastructure Projects
![Chicago Police offi, ... ]](https://cdn.route-fifty.com/media/img/cd/2016/09/06/chicago_police/860x394.jpeg?1627526435)
Chicago Police offi, ... ] Nam Y. Huh / AP Photo
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Also in our State and Local Daily Digest: Aerial spraying of mosquitos in South Beach; $9 billion school bond measure makes California's ballot; and wildfire threatens Utah sage grouse
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
POLICE | On the campaign trail last year, Mayor Rahm Emanuel called opponent Jesus “Chuy” Garcia’s pledge to hire 1,000 cops “fairy dust.” Now faced with mounting attrition on the force, Emanuel recently floated the idea of adding “hundreds” of new officers—much to Garcia’s amusement. “For a candidate who said my 1,000 new cop plan was fairy dust, look who’s acting like Tinker Bell now,” he said. [Chicago Tribune]
WASHINGTON, D.C.
CONGRESS | Congressional lawmakers returned to the U.S. Capitol Tuesday with Zika funding and a bill that would authorize water infrastructure projects in 17 states among the items on their agenda. A Zika measure that would afford over $1 billion to combat the virus is expected to fail because it contains provisions Democrats find objectionable. Money to fight Zika is more likely to get approved during a broader debate centered on a short-term spending bill known as a continuing resolution—a tool Congress uses to fund government operations when it fails to do so through the appropriations process. The water legislation would also help pay to fix the lead-contaminated water system in Flint, Michigan. [The New York Times]
MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FLORIDA
ZIKA VIRUS | Officials have announced that they will begin aerial spraying of naled in South Beach starting this Thursday. The plane will fly over the ocean, and wind will carry the pesticide into the zone where mosquitos are transmitting Zika virus. The announcement is a reversal from previous statements that the urban environment made aerial spraying inadvisable, and local officials have said the spraying recommendations are coming from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. [Miami Herald]
SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA
BALLOT MEASURES | California voters will decide this November on a $9 billion bond measure that would go toward school construction and upgrades throughout the state. It’s the first time such a proposal has appeared on a state ballot in about a decade. Advocates for Proposition 51, school construction firms among them, circumvented the legislature and the governor’s office, gathering enough signatures to get the measure on the ballot. “It felt like the time for talk and debate was over,” said Rob Pierce, Elk Grove Unified School District’s associate superintendent for facilities and planning. Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration remains skeptical with officials pointing out the bond measure will heap about $500 million in new annual debt service on the state. That’s on top of $2 billion from previous school borrowing. Brown has also argued that the program for allocating the money operates on a “first-come, first-served basis, giving districts with dedicated facilities personnel a substantial advantage.” [Sacramento Bee]
TOOELE COUNTY, UTAH
WILDFIRE | The West Government Creek Fire has burned 4,250 acres in the western part of the county and is only 45 percent contained. Structures aren’t threatened, but sage grouse habitat, archeological sites and the watershed are. Unlike other controlled burns, firefighters are in full suppression mode with this blaze. Twenty campers were evacuated, but that should be the extent of evacuations. The fire should be fully contained on Sept. 13. [The Salt Lake Tribune]
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