* We’ve been talking a lot about Sterigenics, so I asked yesterday for a chart comparing the ethylene oxide regulations in the bill sponsored by House Republican Leader Durkin and signed into law by Gov. Pritzker with the additional regulations included in the consent order that was agreed to by Attorney General Kwame Raoul, DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin, the IEPA and Sterigenics. Here’s what the AG’s office compiled. Click the pic if you need a better image…
I followed up to ask about that loophole closure, which AG Raoul mentioned yesterday…
The new law contains certification requirements that currently apply to Sterigenics, but the law contains an exception. Sterigenics could have qualified for the exception if it proved to a court that the findings of the seal order were without merit. The consent order takes away Sterigenics’ ability to even make this argument in court. As a result, Sterigenics no longer has the ability to qualify for the exception to the certification requirements.
The assumed reductions in State pension contributions are the result of three provisions in the FY2019 budget legislation. The most important is a voluntary buyout plan that offers certain employees who are about to retire upfront cash payments—in exchange for delayed and lower automatic annual increases in their benefits. The plan accounts for $382 million, or 86%, of the total budgeted State pension savings for the fiscal year that began on July 1, 2018.[1]
Public records show that the $382 million figure comes from actuarial reviews of a different pension buyout plan. As a result, it is not clear whether the savings estimate applies to the enacted measure. Even if the savings estimate is relevant, it remains to be seen whether the assumed participation rate of 25% is realistic.
The $382 million savings estimate is based on actuarial reviews of House Bill 5472. The measure has not come up for a vote in the General Assembly, but the actuarial studies were prepared by the pension funds at the legislature’s request in advance of a public hearing last February. There was no public hearing on the enacted pension measure. [Emphasis added.]
A new pension buyout plan designed to save hundreds of millions of dollars for the State of Illinois in the fiscal year that just ended actually generated relatively minor savings in FY2019 and does not appear likely to meet the annual cost-reduction target over the next few years.
The shortfall has occurred despite robust participation by members of the State Employees’ Retirement System (SERS), the pension fund that was supposed to account for most of the savings. The problem stems from the original savings estimate, which was overstated because it was based on a different buyout plan and further inflated due to technical miscalculations, according to SERS officials. […]
Actual General Funds savings are now pegged at about $13 million, largely from the COLA buyout at SERS, according to recent reports by the three pension funds. […]
To pay for the buyouts, the State was authorized to sell up to $1 billion of bonds. So far, the State has issued $300 million at an interest cost of 5.74%. Of the $298.5 million in net proceeds, records from the Illinois Comptroller’s website show expenditures of $29.6 million for buyouts at SERS and $1.6 million for buyouts at TRS. SERS reports having spent an additional $17.6 million in FY2019, which is not yet reflected in the Comptroller’s records. The remaining bond proceeds continue to cost the State interest, but have not yet resulted in any pension savings.
So, we’ve got a big pile of borrowed money just sitting there piling up interest and a cost savings projection that is wildly out of whack.
Just ducky.
…Adding… Hannah Meisel at the Daily Line wrote about this last week and I missed it somehow. Click here.
The Illinois Auditor General released an audit Thursday of the Illinois Department of Transportation for a two-year period ending June 2018. Among other issues, the audit found that 78 bridges that weren’t inspected on time. Twenty-eight bridges were overdue for routine inspections, some were up to 4 years overdue. Ten were listed as the responsibility of an adjacent state and five were rated structurally deficient, the audit said.
There were 27 bridges set for special inspections that were overdue. Five were overdue by more than two years. Another seven bridges were overdue for underwater inspections.
Eleven were overdue for fracture critical inspection. Two of those were over 21 years overdue.
State Rep. Margo McDermed, R-Mokena, is on a House transportation committee. She said it was important for information like that to reported on time, especially when lawmakers are planning infrastructure projects like the six-year, $45 billion capital plan that was just enacted. Lawmakers voted to double the state’s gas tax to fund the capital plan. […]
“That would have maybe made a difference in how we put together the capital bill or in what our expectations of what IDOT will accomplish in their beefed-up six-year plan,” McDermed said. “What if the beefed-up six-year plan is all sucked up by all these bridges. There’s going to be a lot of unhappy legislators that thought they were going to get some roads.”
The audit wasn’t limited to bridge inspections. It also found issues with the management of IDOT property, fund transfers and how the state agency handled outdoor advertising close to the state’s highways. […]
The audit found that bank accounts administered by a management company had authorized signors who were not state employees, cash deposits were uncollateralized, and there was no IDOT approval of some spending.
The report also found IDOT wasn’t in compliance with reporting requirements. No master plan was filed at the end of fieldwork. The department also did not publish the Multimodal Multi-year Improvement Program during fiscal years 2017 and 2018. Another report for a multi-year plan was delivered 195 days later than it was due.
A separate audit found that 20 percent of IDOT employee overtime cards tested during the audit period hadn’t been properly signed to attest for accuracy. The department spending a combined $63.7 million on overtime for the two years ending June 30, 2018.
Other findings included that about a third of tested IDOT vehicle trip tickets didn’t have supervisor approval or other proper trip documentation. Yet another found that 47 percent of outdoor advertising near highways might be illegal.
The previous acting director, Beverly “BJ” Walker, signed a six-month, $5.1 million contract on her final day as DCFS director.
The contract created the Aunt Martha’s interim care center, which is a short-term living arrangement for children coming out of psychiatric hospitals. […]
But according to [Cook County Public Guardian Charles Golbert], there is no research to support the interim care center (ICC) that DCFS is paying $5 million for.
“It’s something DCFS made up,” Golbert said. […]
Edwin C. Yohnka, director of communications and public policy of ACLU of Illinois, said, “We were not consulted by the leadership of DCFS as they moved forward with a plan for an ICC at Aunt Martha’s until months after the contract was agreed and the process was well underway. When we became aware of this proposal, we raised our concerns – concerns confirmed by one of the court-appointed experts.”
Golbert said DCFS created the ICC to help the statistic of kids in locked hospitals but as a result, created more problems.
“And one of the ICCs used to be shelter space and so, they took away the shelter space. So now you also have a shortage of shelter space and as a result, now you also have children sleeping in offices.”
The current DCFS director, Marc Smith, was with Aunt Martha’s for 10 years before being picked by Gov. Pritzker to direct DCFS.
Golbert said there is no evidence to prove Interim Care Centers are a good placement for children.
“If you scour the social sciences literature looking for references to an Interim Care Center. If you scour social work literature, if you scour other models in other parts of the country, you will not find anything called an Interim Care Center,” Golbert said.
Although the ICC contract was just signed in February 2019, Pennington said they’ve been doing this integrated care for more than a year and have seen results.
“We have seen about a 30% reduction in hospitalizations. Once they are admitted to the ICC, we see compliance with medication. We see success with a reduction in acts of physical aggression and then, we have seen them transition on to more permanent placements,” Pennington said.
The Interim Care Center is even being debated in a court case between the American Civil Liberties Union and DCFS.
We got a copy of the transcripts and it shows that during the last hearing, an attorney with the ACLU said, “This isn’t a known treatment method for people coming out of psych hospitalization. This is a made up thing and it was operating as a shelter.”
* DCFS has been under extreme pressure to reduce psychiatric hospitalizations. Kids are sent there and can’t get out because the state can’t find foster homes or other placements…
According to the public guardian, at this exact moment, there are Illinois children inside locked psych hospitals even though they don’t have to be there simply because DCFS doesn’t have a place to put them.
“There’s not a whole lot that says to a kid you don’t care more than being forced to stay in psychiatric hospital for weeks and months after you’re ready to go because your guardian doesn’t have anywhere to put you,” Golbert said. […]
In a letter to the governor written in May, Golbert said from 2015 to 2017, it cost taxpayers $9.4 million to house children “Beyond Medical Necessity.”
“It’s a multi-million-dollar waste of money while we are trampling on these kids rights and traumatizing them,” Golbert said.
The letter to the governor also said in that two-year span, the children spent collectively 27,000 days in the hospital longer than they needed to.
So, what appears to be happening is DCFS came up with a way to get kids out of psych hospitals, but the method is unprecedented and watchdogs are alarmed.
Newly obtained pictures show a problem the Cook County public guardian fears is happening too often: Kids sleeping on the floor of a state office building.
The kids were in the care of the Department of Children and Family Services at the time [2018]. […]
DCFS’ own count shows a dwindling number of emergency shelter space available. Five years ago there were 159 beds. Now, the number is down to just 43 statewide.
“The kids I’m aware of sleeping in offices it’s because the shelter was full, no beds available,” Golbert said.
A DCFS spokesperson insists the state office building isn’t being used as a makeshift shelter.
The agency released a statement that reads:
Many DCFS offices across the state must be prepared to protect infants, children and youth who will often arrive exhausted and in need of clothing, food, diapers, formula and other necessities. This is not a substitute for shelter. DCFS is working in partnership with providers to secure additional shelter options for those in need.
* After DCFS caseworker killed on the job, her husband works for change at the troubled agency: His idea is to create a numbered rating system that’s clean and easy for all to understand. Cases with a 1 or 2 would be considered less threatening. “If it was a 3,4,5 before they moved on that case they would need a police officer,” he said. He also wants all cases called into the hotline to begin with a high-risk status, requiring a police escort for several visits until the environment inside is determined to be safe enough for a DCFS investigator to go there alone. As for the DCFS union agreement, Don Knight wants the safety clauses for workers enforced. He claims they’re currently ignored.
* DCFS Acting Director Marc Smith reveals plan to turn troubled child welfare agency around: “One of the ways we’re trying to address that is we review a tremendous amount of our cases,” Smith told the I-Team. “One of the areas we look at, cases that have reached a level of tragedy or concern. And then we pull those cases and the management team looks at each individual case. We do it to see what we can learn, if there were mistakes made, if there were things we should have done better.”
* Change underway for Illinois DCFS after controversial children’s deaths: While Smith is committed to staying, DCFS caseworkers are another story. Turnover is high, largely because the pay is low. “I’ve also seen workers that are overwhelmed, don’t really want to dig deeper, sometimes folks are really unable to make a good assessment if they are not able to handle the immense work load that they are under or maybe not enough training to understand the dynamics of abuse and how that may affect family,” Rivette said.
A broad coalition is forming to push for state funding for a joint campus in downtown Springfield, to be shared by the University of Illinois Springfield and Southern Illinois University.
The effort originated with state Sen. Andy Manar, who introduced legislation in January requesting $50 million for an SIU facility in the state capital. […]
“We put several opportunities on the table [at a July 9 meeting convened by Manar] — what would go in this building and on this campus, including initiatives related to medicine and law, social service, management of governmental intern positions, public health and policy, and so on,” said SIU Interim President J. Kevin Dorsey. “Collaboration between SIU, the School of Medicine and UIS was seen as critical.”
The Springfield university is already seeking to bolster its downtown presence via a new “Innovation Hub,” funded within the University of Illinois’s $500 million Discovery Partners Institute initiative. […]
“Our initial conversations have been about the ‘Y’ block, but as the conversations unfolded and as resources have become available through the recent capital bill … it’s beginning to evolve into the development of a mini-campus of several blocks in the downtown area,” possibly including student housing, Van Meter said. “No prospect has so ignited as the possibility of establishing an SIU presence and the law school’s presence in the community.”
* If I was king, I’d put that mini campus just south of the Statehouse in the area bordered by Edwards on the north, Lawrence on the south, College on the west and 2nd St. on the east. Not every building would have to go. You’d definitely want to keep some of them. But there’s a lot of empty space and business and office locations which have been difficult to develop over the years…
And since the SIU law school wants to use its potential Springfield campus to offer “classes, support to law students interning in the capitol, and continuing education for legal professionals,” that would be a great spot.
The area just north of downtown near the medical district has some possibilities as well.
* Background is here if you need it. Sen. John Curran (R-Downers Grove)…
This morning I asked the Illinois Attorney General, the DuPage County State’s Attorney, and the Governor to delay next week’s hearing and implementation of the settlement agreement and consent order regarding the Sterigenics litigation.
This delay would provide for greater public input on their proposed agreement, an agreement that provides Sterigenics with a road map to open, and fails to hold them accountable for their past environmental violations that have damaged the public’s health in and around the Willowbrook area.
Unfortunately, the Illinois Attorney General has declined my request.
I also informed Governor Pritzker today that I fully support his offer to call a special session to address this critical issue. It is vital that we ensure every action is taken within the law to prevent Sterigenics from operating and emitting ethylene oxide, a known carcinogen, in Willowbrook and the surrounding community.
The new law imposes new certification requirements, but, through litigation, Sterigenics attempted to exploit a loophole in the law to avoid those requirements. Through the consent order, we eliminated that loophole. Sterigenics will now always be subject to the certification requirements that area legislators insisted be included in the law. The final result is that, combined with the Matt Haller Act, the consent order ensures that Sterigenics will not reopen unless and until it installs new emissions controls that will reduce its emissions to no more than 85 pounds of EtO per year.
Sterigenics’ permit issued by the Rauner administration allowed it to emit 36,400 pounds of ethylene oxide per year.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot continued sparring with Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle on Thursday over who’s to blame for Chicago’s gun violence.
After Preckwinkle sent a letter to Lightfoot this week that defended how the county judicial system treats gun offenders and called on Chicago police Superintendent Eddie Johnson to “stop misleading the public about why gun violence remains a challenging problem in Chicago,” the mayor responded by criticizing the county’s system for tracking gun crimes and calling on Preckwinkle to publicize her statistics weekly.
But first, Lightfoot reminded reporters about the sound defeat she handed Preckwinkle in the April mayoral runoff, when Lightfoot won all 50 wards and got more than 70 percent of the vote.
“So the question’s about the letter, the nice letter I got from Toni Preckwinkle,” Lightfoot said at a news conference about preparations for the expected extreme heat this weekend. “Well, it’s July, not March. The election’s over and we had a result. So we’re going to continue to take the high road and move forward.”
This fight is so tedious. People are dying in the street and “leaders” are relitigating the election.
As set forth in my public safety plan, we cannot arrest our way out of our violence problem. Instead, the city and its partners must treat this epidemic of violence as the public health crisis that it is. … In addition, we must follow the lead of cities like Boston and Oakland and increase the resources devoted to violence interruption techniques so we can stop violence before it happens.
Furthermore, the city, philanthropic foundations and local businesses must place more emphasis on, and commit more resources to, organizations across the city that help ease the transition of the thousands of citizens released annually from state and county jails back into society and the workforce. Providing legitimate jobs that pay a living wage is one of the best ways to reduce violence and recidivism and improve our communities.
The Chicago Police Board voted Thursday to fire a sergeant and three other officers over their alleged cover-up of the murder of Laquan McDonald by CPD Officer Jason Van Dyke.
The board voted unanimously to fire Officers Ricardo Viramontes and Janet Mondragon for their roles in the case, as well as Sgt. Stephen Franko. According to the board, all three officers made false statements, among other violations of department rules, in an attempt to have the shooting of McDonald by Van Dyke deemed as justified.
Officer Daphne Sebastian was also fired, according to the board’s vote, which was posted on the City of Chicago’s police discipline website.
Sgt. Franko was charged with violating five different rules and regulations of the Chicago Police Department, including taking action to “impede the department’s efforts to achieve its policy and goals” and “making a false report, written or oral.”
Targ
Your ruling today, so contrary to the verdict against the officers criminally charged in this case, Gaffney, Walsh, and March, destroys the reputation and careers of three excellent police officers.
It will no doubt lead to more violence in the city and quite likely more violence against the police, because officers understand that, by your ruling, an officer can be fired or indicted merely responding to a job.
They filed police reports directly contradictory to the video evidence.
* Speaker Madigan loves moving campaign money around. He’ll have an entity (often a union) “park” cash in a member’s account and then eventually have that member write a check to a candidate or to the state party or wherever. It’s mostly designed to legally get around the campaign contribution caps, but it’s sometimes about avoiding putting his own name on a contribution.
Rep. Anna Moeller (D-Elgin), for instance, received four contributions of about $50K each last year, even though she didn’t need the dough for her own campaign.
Also, as I told subscribers earlier this month, Madigan recently wrapped up a series of meetings with incumbents and staff designed to prepare for potential primary campaigns.
Seven legislators gave Mike Madigan a whopping $751,400 within the last few weeks — just as the powerful Illinois House speaker’s legal bills mount and federal investigations touch some of his allies.
The lawmakers who spoke to the Chicago Sun-Times about what for most were six-figure donations insist it’s business as usual, routine fundraising by the powerful Southwest Side Democrat, who also serves as Illinois Democratic Party chairman.
“I’ve contributed to others in the past at similar levels,” said state Rep. Anna Moeller, D-Elgin, who gave $57,800. “It wasn’t out of the ordinary.”
What is out of the ordinary is Madigan’s growing legal bills.
So far this year, the speaker has spent $453,608 on lawyers from his campaign fund. Many Illinois politicians dip into their political accounts to pay legal expenses, but the amount Madigan has spent is raising eyebrows.
The legislators interviewed did not ask why Madigan needed the money.
This could be about his legal bills, or it could just be what Rep. Marcus Evans told the Sun-Times about it being for primary races.
But it’s exactly the sort of story to expect when the feds are circling above.
* Related…
* Zorn: Sham candidates are bad for democracy, but let’s not make a federal case of it: Gonzales’ belief that he would have won a head-to-head matchup against the powerful veteran House speaker is based on the idea — and let’s just go out on a limb and call it a delusion — that a decisive number of voters and prospective funders were scared off by the prospect of a three-way split of the Hispanic vote.
*** UPDATE *** I forgot about this…
People connected to Madigan raided by the FBI:
Kevin Quinn ex-Ald. Michael Zalewski Michael McClain
* Perhaps my all-time “favorite” email about the Confederate Railroad controversy…
What is your malfunction?You attack a veteran country group just because of their name.let me educate your inbred ignorant was on something you socialist snowflake.The civil war started over taxes on goods.you illiterate uneducated racist pigs want people to believe it was about slavery,guess what idiot….they both had slaves then to and it wasn’t till later during the war the north wanted to abolish slavery.slavery started when blacks sold their own kind for money.you sir can be held on defamation of character by the band if they so feel like it.why don’t you stop crying like a liberal snowflake and grow up.Get a real job like most Americans do you lazy bum.
I learned after the first email I received on this topic to just respond to all these the same way…
lol
That dismissive laughter always drives ‘em nuts…
You must be a racist liberal.for a blogger you are immature.are you to lazy to get a job?
* My dad used to play this Silhouettes song for us when my brothers and I were young…
llinois is preparing to cover federal health care funding that’s being threatened by a new Trump administration rule banning family planning clinics from referring women for abortions.
Gov. JB Pritzker announced Thursday that the Illinois Department of Public Health will use state money to cover the 28 health care providers that currently receive Title X grant money, should the “gag rule” remain in effect through the end of the fiscal year.
(T)he Illinois Department of Public Health will provide state funding to the 28 local clinics that normally receive Title X money through the agency, making up for an estimated $2.4 million in federal dollars they otherwise stand to lose for the rest of the fiscal year, Pritzker said.
* Illinois Republican Party spokesman Joe Hackler sent out this statement late yesterday afternoon while I was out of the office…
Notwithstanding aggressive obfuscation in the Pritzker administration’s PR surrounding this decision, the truth is really quite clear.
In a state struggling financially, Governor Pritzker would rather turn away federal money funding life saving non-abortion related medical care for women and girls because of his unrivaled zeal for forced taxpayer funding of abortions.
This episode highlights exactly how extreme Illinois is in dealing with abortion. Our state now allows abortion for almost any reason up until the moment of birth and taxpayers who find this unconscionable, must pay for the procedures. Despite this policy being wildly out of step with the public’s views, the Governor is willing to forgo millions of federal money for women’s health and defy a court ruling in order to preserve it.
* I asked the Reproductive Health Act sponsor Rep. Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago) for a response…
It is disappointing to see an entire political party seek to deny critical health care to women across Illinois. This tired rhetoric is factually wrong and just bad policy. These funds support care for women that protects their health and advances families. My Republican friends in Illinois have not been helped by blindly following Trump policies. They might want to consider that reality in this moment.
The Trump administration is considering backtracking on an announcement this week that immediately required federally funded family planning centers to follow new rules banning referrals for abortion, amid widespread confusion among clinics about the changes.
A federal health official overseeing the family planning program told more than 200 leaders of reproductive health organizations gathered this week in Washington that she wanted to give them 60 days to comply with the rules and that federal lawyers were reviewing the idea, according to three participants in the closed meeting and others who were told afterward.
Those comments Thursday, by Department of Health and Human Services official Diane Foley at a conference for recipients of the family planning grants, created new turmoil in the administration’s efforts to restrict the program known as Title X, a government program that started in 1970 and pays for reproductive health services for about 4 million poor women and girls annually.
* These guys don’t mess around. And now I’m curious what the next escalation is gonna look like…
Gov. Pritzker and AG Raoul Issue Statements on Sterigenics
Stress Risks to Health and Safety of Willowbrook Residents of Continuing Litigation
Statement from Governor JB Pritzker:
“Leader Durkin and other local leaders in the General Assembly were the drafters of Senate Bill 1852, the legislation that imposes the strongest controls on ethylene oxide in the nation. My office made it clear to the legislators that I was – and remain – willing to sign the strongest possible legislation that they can pass. I share the community’s concerns and their health and safety is my top priority. This morning, I spoke with Leader Durkin and I emphasized, based on conversations with the Attorney General, the potential danger to the health and safety of the residents of Willowbrook involved in further litigation, which would not have achieved the same level of protection as the consent order. Leader Durkin seemed to indicate that there were deficiencies in the legislation written by himself and other local leaders in the General Assembly that helped inform the consent order. At this time, the only option remaining is for Leader Durkin to propose new legislation that will fix the perceived shortcomings of the legislation that he sponsored and worked to pass. I made it clear to Leader Durkin this morning that, if he requests it, I will call a special session of the legislature to allow for an immediate vote on a bill that is constitutional and will fix the perceived shortcomings of the legislation he previously sponsored.”
Statement from Attorney General Kwame Raoul:
“As Attorney General, it is my responsibility to enforce laws passed by the Illinois General Assembly, and I applaud Leader Durkin, Rep. Mazzochi, Sen. Curran, and all the lawmakers who worked diligently to craft and pass the strict standards in Senate Bill 1852. The consent order my office filed jointly with the DuPage County State’s Attorney Bob Berlin imposes every emissions reduction requirement of the new law and goes further. Under the new law, emissions reduction requirements are not effective until Dec. 18 – under the consent order, Sterigenics will not be able to reopen until it is able to meet those requirements. The suggestion that continuing the litigation over the seal order would provide greater protection to residents is inaccurate and uninformed. The very real risk that continued litigation could result in Sterigenics being able to reopen before installing any new emissions controls – while still operating under its existing permit that authorized it to emit 36,400 pounds of EtO per year – was unacceptable. The new law imposes new certification requirements, but, through litigation, Sterigenics attempted to exploit a loophole in the law to avoid those requirements. Through the consent order, we eliminated that loophole. Sterigenics will now always be subject to the certification requirements that area legislators insisted be included in the law. The final result is that, combined with the Matt Haller Act, the consent order ensures that Sterigenics will not reopen unless and until it installs new emissions controls that will reduce its emissions to no more than 85 pounds of EtO per year. Our office has met with legislators, local officials, and representatives from the community to explain how the consent order implements current law and provides additional enforcement tools, and we will continue to address questions.”
…Adding… These folks have not been happy with Pritzker over the Sterigenics consent order, but they’ve bought into the governor’s move here…
*** UPDATE *** House Republican Leader Jim Durkin…
As I told Gov. Pritzker today, the legislation supported by the Illinois Environmental Council is not the problem. Unfortunately, Gov. Pritzker and his regulators are willing to fast track the reopening of Sterigenics by entering into a settlement agreement with the corporate polluter to lift the seal order. If the Governor is not happy with the legislation he signed into law, I recommend he introduce his own legislation in the General Assembly and call a special session to take it up for consideration.
I stand by my legislation which was signed into law by the Governor.
* Sen. Andy Manar told me this evening that he and Sen. Julie Morrison told Land of Lincoln Goodwill today “we were ready to use our committee subpoena authority for their records”…
Today, Sharon Durbin, President & CEO of Land of Lincoln Goodwill submitted her resignation to the Board of Directors. The Board accepted her resignation, which is effective immediately. The Board also appointed Ron Culves, current Vice President of Finance, as the nonprofit’s interim CEO.
Land of Lincoln Goodwill’s Board is strongly committed to our mission, to our 400 employees and to those individuals with disabilities, veterans, at-risk youth, ex-offenders and those seeking job training assistance that we serve. The Board fully intends to seek out a strong, compassionate leader for our Goodwill organization who can energize our employees, expand our mission and who can provide the mission-driven leadership necessary to positively impact thousands of lives each year in central Illinois.
Goodwill’s Board of Directors thanked Sharon for her 13 years of service to the organization, noting her many accomplishments and the overall growth of the nonprofit and the number of people served during her tenure.
Former State Rep. Jeanne Ives has filed a statement of candidacy with the FEC for #IL06 setting up a potential Republican primary with former Lieutenant Governor Evelyn Sanguinetti.https://t.co/3tqq7Y7M0r
Remember how we said Evelyn Sanguinetti’s week couldn’t get any worse after she got outraised 7-to-1 by Rep. Casten in her first fundraising quarter? Apparently we were wrong.
After weeks of speculation, far-right conservative Jeanne Ives officially filed for Congress today in the 6th District – apparently Sanguinetti’s paltry fundraising haul couldn’t scare her off.
After Sanguinetti’s ticket barely survived a brutal challenge by Ives in the 2018 Republican primary, expect another toxic race to the conservative fringes this cycle in a district that President Trump lost by seven points. Sanguinetti has already endorsed President Trump’s re-election, so who knows to what extremes Ives will drag her to over the course of a contentious primary.
“Today’s announcement sets the stage for a brutal race to the conservative extreme in the 6th District between a floundering Evelyn Sanguinetti and a far-right wing Jeanne Ives,” said DCCC spokesperson Mike Gwin. “While Ives and Sanguinetti battle it out over who can bear-hug President Trump the hardest, Sean Casten will remain focused on delivering for middle-class Illinois families by working to keep down the cost of health care and lowering taxes for homeowners.”
In a statement the Sanguinetti campaign said, “We welcome Jeanne to the race and look forward to showing why Evelyn is the conservative with the best chance to beat Casten.”
Planned Parenthood of Illinois is prepared to forgo more than $3 million in federal funds following the Trump administration’s Monday announcement that it will begin enforcing grant restrictions.
The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ new rule bars family-planning clinics that perform abortions, or refer patients for abortions, from accepting federal family-planning program funds known as Title X. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals recently decided not to block the administration from enforcing the so-called gag rule.
Planned Parenthood of Illinois has been preparing for such a rule since President Donald Trump took office, spokeswoman Julie Lynn said.
“There are emergency funds in place, but they won’t be around forever,” she added. “And private donations would never be able to supplement what we’re able to provide with Title X.”
State Rep. Allen Skillicorn, R-East Dundee, said he expects that to see more state funding for Planned Parenthood of Illinois after Democrats passed a number of policies to protect abortion rights. Gov. J.B. Pritzker has said he wants Illinois to be the most progressive state for reproductive rights.
* Press release…
Governor JB Pritzker announced Thursday that the State of Illinois will refuse to implement the Trump administration’s Title X gag rule. The gag rule holds hostage federal funding for contraception for low-income women unless providers refuse to refer or provide abortion services along with other reproductive health care.
The State of Illinois will forgo Title X funding from the federal government while the gag rule remains in effect. Instead, the Illinois Department of Public Health will provide funding to the current 28 grantees, an estimated $2.4 million in federal funding, if the gag rule remains in place for the duration of the fiscal year. As we move forward, the state remains committed to the multi-state lawsuit to permanently overturn this damaging rule.
“President Trump’s gag rule undermines women’s health care and threatens the providers that millions of women and girls rely on, and we will not let that stand in the state of Illinois,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “Under my administration, Illinois will always stand with women and protect their fundamental right to choose. While I’m committed to bringing as many federal dollars to the state as possible, I refuse to sacrifice our values and allow vital care to lapse. In this state, we trust women to make their own health care decisions and will guarantee access to reproductive health care for all of our residents.”
Title X provides a holistic portfolio of critical preventive health services, including HIV prevention and testing, breast and cervical cancer screening and treatment, and reproductive health care for thousands of low-income, uninsured and underinsured Illinois residents and families each year. It’s estimated in Illinois that nearly 773,000 women of reproductive age are in need of publicly supported contraceptive services and supplies.
…Adding… Colleen Connell, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois…
We applaud Governor JB Pritzker for his announcement that the State of Illinois will use state funds to cover health care previously supported by Title X funding from the federal government.
The Governor’s action today protects thousands of women from Zion to Carbondale – and everywhere between in Illinois – who depend on health care funded by Title X funds. Local health departments, health centers, school-based health centers, Planned Parenthood clinics and hospitals all rely on these funds to insure their patients have access to a full range of health care. These caregivers provide critical treatment for many, and reduce incidents of unintended pregnancy across our state. In other words, they provide patient-centered care.
Ignoring the real need for this health care for Illinois women, the Trump Administration has politicized this life-saving health care, placing unnecessary and dangerous restrictions on how grantees under Title X can utilize this funding. We thank Governor JB Pritzker for acting swiftly to protect all women in Illinois – ensuring that the same level of funding for women’s health care will be available in the Land of Lincoln without the strings attached by Donald Trump.
As we cheer this step forward in our state, we will not cease resisting the Trump Administration’s efforts to trade women’s health care for partisan political support. In the courts and in the Congress, we will continue to advocate for removing the limits on how doctors and nurses provide health care. This dangerous policy must be reversed.
…Adding… Jennifer Welch, President and CEO Planned Parenthood of Illinois…
We are grateful to Governor Pritzker and Illinois Department of Public Health Director Ezike for their decision to not accept Title X family planning funding as long as the ‘gag rule’ is in place. The relationship between a patient and their doctor is based on trust and honesty; the gag rule violates that trust and puts patients’ health at risk. Governor Pritzker is, once again, standing up to the Trump-Pence administration because access to health care such as cancer screenings, birth control, STI testing and treatment, and other family planning services should be available to anyone who needs them regardless of their ability to pay.
Planned Parenthood of Illinois is committed to providing every patient who walks through our doors with the information and care they need to make the best decisions for themselves and their families. We are glad that the Illinois Department of Public Health is joining Planned Parenthood of Illinois in rejecting the grant because the gag rule is unethical. We look forward to working with the Governor’s office to ensure everyone in Illinois has family planning services available to them, no matter what.
Attorneys for the victims who have been sickened because they lived close to Sterigenics, a Willowbrook medical equipment sterilization company, spoke out on Thursday after the Attorney General’s Office and the DuPage County State’s Attorney submitted a consent order agreement with Sterigenics in the Dupage County Circuit Court that could allow Sterigenics to reopen its doors for the first time since being shut down on February 15.
The reopening was agreed upon by the Attorney General’s Office despite strong push back from the community and elected leaders. Sterigenics was shut down after authorities found it has long been emitting dangerous levels of the cancer-causing chemical ethylene oxide, used to sterilize medical equipment. Medical professionals agree and studies have shown that there is no safe level of ethylene oxide.
“This $300,000 slap on the wrist that the Attorney General’s Office has negotiated to repay the people of Willowbrook and the surrounding communities for years of Sterigenics’ illegal behavior isn’t enough to cover the funeral expenses of the innocent victims of this company,” said attorney Antonio Romanucci of Romanucci & Blandin, LLC, one of the law firms advocating for the victims of Sterigenics in a class action lawsuit. “Sterigenics say that we can only have sterilized medical equipment if we are willing to continue to risk the lives and health of those in the Willowbrook community. We know that ethylene oxide causes cancer. We know that it is unsafe at any level. We know that Sterigenics exposed tens of thousands of people, including elementary, middle and high school students and teachers who studied across the street, to ethylene oxide for years and never told them or gave them the chance to protect themselves. Sterigenics has forfeited the right to be in business anywhere, least of all Willowbrook. If they want to continue to sterilize medical products they must now turn to one of the many safer ways to do it or leave this community.”
Victims suing Sterigenics for exposing them to elevated cancer risks though improper ethylene oxide emission control were shocked at the sudden move by the Attorney General’s office. It came just two days after the Food and Drug Administration announced a 2019 innovation challenge, which called for ideas for sterilization alternatives to ethylene oxide that the FDA would help develop. The FDA put forward the challenge in response to the groundbreaking ethylene regulating legislation of the Matt Haller Act, which passed in May in Illinois–a law which advocates thought would shut down Sterigenics for good.
“We are disappointed with this decision to go against the community’s wishes and the years medical and scientific consensus that ethylene oxide is harmful to inhale in any amount. No matter what papers they sign, Sterigenics and will put more lives in danger if they reopen,” said Colleen Haller, widow to Matt Haller, who passed away from stomach cancer earlier this year. “If they want to continue to be in the medical sterilization business, they can do it elsewhere or use any of the alternatives that the FDA and other groups have discussed. There are safer alternatives out there. People’s lives are at risk.”
“Sterigenics has had years to consider safer alternatives, but instead chose to use a deadly carcinogen and emit it into the atmosphere. Even during these last five months that they have been closed, they’ve had an opportunity to consider alternatives that would allow them to continue their operations without poisoning thousands,” said attorney Steve Hart of Hart McLaughlin & Eldridge, who also represents Sterigenics victims. “The continued disregard for the community, and the reckless abandon with which Sterigenics continues to push their narrative of needing to use this cancer causing chemical leave only one safe alternative: find a new location to conduct your business away from schools, homes, and thousands of residents, including children. The community has made it abundantly clear they do not want Sterigenics in their backyard any longer. If ethylene oxide is going to continue to be your trade, consider the health of thousands of residents and go elsewhere.”
The consent order has nothing to do with those civil cases.
It’s also interesting that there’s no mention of DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin, who jointly filed the motion to enter a consent order with Sterigenics and who was quoted as saying this yesterday…
“The consent decree entered into today should in no way be considered a license for Sterigenics to reopen,” Berlin said. “The decree will govern Sterigenics going forward and in doing so goes above and beyond the most restrictive regulations in the country placed upon businesses that use EtO in their operations.”
* Rep. Mazzochi didn’t mention Berlin, either…
A standing-room-only crowd showed up for the latest court call in the People of the State of Illinois v. Sterigenics today. State Representative Deanne Mazzochi (R-Elmhurst) appeared to defend the goals and intent of legislation the General Assembly enacted to combat the adverse effects of ethylene oxide. Representative Mazzochi spoke at a news conference on the DuPage County courthouse steps opposing the State of Illinois’ proposed consent decree with Sterigenics. The decree would allow the company’s medical device sterilization plant in Willowbrook to reopen without the company admitting any fault; and even though the Illinois EPA ordered the facility closed in February citing excessive emissions of ethylene oxide (EO), which is considered carcinogenic.
“The holes in this consent agreement are big enough for Sterigenics to drive a truck through,” Rep. Mazzochi said. “In the Matt Haller Act we passed this spring, legislators gave the regulators the tools they need to protect communities from unhealthy ethylene oxide emissions. I am disappointed Attorney General Kwame Raoul caved in to Sterigenics by signing this agreement without first addressing the serious public health and environmental safety that local families require; and with no meaningful notice or input to the stakeholders involved.” Sterigenics attorneys proposed to the court that once the court entered this consent decree, that would “moot” local municipalities’ efforts to stop Sterigenics pollution and fight nuisance claims. Mazzochi disagreed. “This fight is not over. The next step is to vigorously oppose the current proposed consent agreement in court.”
The Attorney General’s office withheld the terms of the agreement from state representatives until after it was signed. Rep. Mazzochi, an attorney, pointed to several loopholes that Sterigenics could use to reopen immediately, while avoiding the additional oversight and layers of environmental protection the latest legislation requires, which she declared “unacceptable.” Mazzochi also reiterated that “neither the Attorney General’s Office nor the Illinois EPA have released findings contradicting their original Seal Order claim that Sterigenics posed an environmental and public health threat. The Attorney General’s action signals his unwillingness to defend the original seal order finding that Sterigenics is an environmental health hazard, and to fight to keep our local residents safe.”
A court hearing on the state’s consent agreement to reopen Sterigenics is scheduled for Wednesday, July 24 at the DuPage County Courthouse. Rep. Mazzochi intends to file a “friend of the court” brief to discuss the legislative intent that prompted the passage of Senate Bill 1852, known as the Matt Haller Act, to prohibit the renewal of any permits for facilities that violate federal or state standards for ethylene oxide emissions; and which prohibits ethylene oxide use by facilities with egregious violations requiring a seal order.
The AG’s office and the DuPage SA maintained yesterday that the proposed consent order follows the new state law.
The FBI has raided the downstate home of a high-powered former Springfield lobbyist who for decades served as one of House Speaker Michael Madigan’s closest confidants, the Chicago Tribune has learned.
The raid of Mike McClain’s home in Quincy took place in mid-May, around the same time the FBI executed search warrants at the homes of two other Madigan associates — former 23rd Ward Ald. Michael Zalewski and political operative Kevin Quinn, according to a source with knowledge of the investigation.
It’s unclear what agents were looking for when they searched McClain’s house in Quincy, which is about 100 miles west of Springfield along the Mississippi River.
But the search warrant indicates that federal investigators are probing connections to possible criminal acts by some in Madigan’s inner circle. To obtain a search warrant, federal law enforcement must convince a judge there is probable cause to believe a crime has been committed and that evidence of that crime exists in the home.
McClain, 71, who retired in 2016 after years as a top Capitol lobbyist, declined to comment in an emailed response to the Tribune on Wednesday.
There can be no doubt that the G has its sights set on Madigan.
* US Sens. Sanders and Duckworth reacted to the local Goodwill uproar…
No worker should be told they're lucky to get less than minimum wage. People with disabilities deserve jobs that pay a living wage. It's time to end the subminimum wage and guarantee truly integrated employment opportunities for people with disabilities. https://t.co/km72xDjJW9
Since the 1930s, employers have been able to ask the government for permission to pay people with disabilities less than the minimum wage as a way to get them into the workforce so they can build their skills and obtain more competitive work later. Oftentimes that transition doesn’t happen, however, resulting in wages that amount to only cents per hour.
Opponents view the exemption as archaic and say it’s time to phase it out, while proponents of the status quo fear that people with disabilities will lose work opportunities if that happens. In Illinois, for example, the president and CEO of Land of Lincoln Goodwill told workers with disabilities this week that they would no longer be getting paychecks because the state was moving toward a $15 minimum wage.
Through the waiver, employers are allowed to compensate workers based on their productivity level. For instance, if a worker without a disability is paid minimum wage to hang up 100 articles of clothing an hour, then someone with a disability who hangs up 50 articles of clothing an hour would be paid half the minimum wage.
An estimated 195,000 people are paid less than the minimum wage, and 2,000 employers use the subminimum wage waiver, called Section 14(c), that they obtain through the Department of Labor.
The [federal] Raise the Wage Act would set the subminimum wage at $4.25 within the first year of the bill becoming law, and then gradually increasing it every year for the next six years until it hits $15 an hour.
Pete Roberts, Director of the Springfield Center for Independent Living, didn’t mince words about the news. “It just strikes me as an affront to people with disabilities who are often hired and can perform the essential functions of their job that are often the first people to be laid off by ignorant people.”
Roberts already feels like some of Goodwill’s practices are discriminatory towards disabled workers to begin with. “We are opposed to the sub-minimum wage laws that allow non-profits to pay less than the minimum wage to their employees. We feel that’s wrong. We have situations with people who are performing the same essential functions of a job alongside someone else who gets the minimum wage and they don’t. We feel like that’s a form of discrimination and are opposed to a sub-minimum wage.”
Steven Brundage, Executive Director of Pathway Services in Jacksonville would hope that Goodwill would be making the disabled community a priority. “People with disabilities should be a priority. They should find other ways to cut spending before they take it out on people with disabilities. I’m not exactly sure what their mission statement is but I would hope it would be people with disabilities are a priority.”
Brundage understands Goodwill’s position on having a federal minimum wage waver. He explains the situation that some non-profit organization’s like Pathway and Goodwill face with wages. “Sometimes it’s the only way we can afford to pay people that may have work skills that are very slow or they take a long time to learn a job. It’s the only way we can fiscally afford to offer a job to them.”
State legislators have attempted in the past to do away with the sub-minimum wage, but never succeeded.
Rock River Valley Self Help Enterprises, an Illinois nonprofit, billed itself as a vocational training program for people with disabilities. But it essentially operated as a subcontractor for local factories, providing menial tasks to workers with developmental disabilities, such as scraping debris from metal casts.
Last week, the Department of Labor took action against the company “after finding nearly 250 workers with disabilities were being exploited.” One of the ways they were being exploited? Self Help paid some workers with gift cards instead of money. […]
In addition to sometimes paying workers in gift cards, Self Help also paid them less than the minimum wage. Paying workers with disabilities in gift cards is unlawful; paying them a subminimum wage is legal. That’s because current law allows employers to pay as little as $1 per hour, or less, to workers with disabilities if they can’t perform a job as well as a person who is not disabled
* The Question: Should Illinois phase out the sub-minimum wage for workers with disabilities? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please…
Council members were offered the options to begin the process of amending zoning code to allow retail sale of adult-use cannabis, prepare documentation for the city to opt out of the sale, or administer a community engagement survey to get resident input.
Stores selling recreational marijuana will not be permitted to open in Naperville, city council members decided in a split vote, saying they want to protect their family-friendly brand and await data on how adult use affects communities.
“We have a great community here and we need to keep the protection of it paramount,” council member Kevin Coyne said.
The move makes Naperville among the first suburban communities to ban sales of the drug, which will be legal for adult possession and private use across the state beginning Jan. 1 under the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act.
Council member Patty Gustin on Tuesday sent an email to contacts encouraging them to speak out and said she fears the costs of increased addiction as well as the potential for “big marijuana” to profit from legal sales.
Prohibiting sales, she said, will safeguard Naperville’s families, and losing potential tax revenue won’t hurt the city’s bottom line.
“The true cost is not opting out and sitting on our hands until this is forced upon us,” she said during more than two hours of debate on the topic Tuesday night. “There’s no dollar amount worth selling out our kids.”
Um, your kids are gonna buy it from dealers who don’t check ID cards. The more towns that allow sales, the more pressure is put on the illegal and often violent criminal networks which grow, transport and deliver the product.
* The argument that a couple of dispensaries will kill “the brand” is ridic…
“There is nothing family friendly about recreational marijuana. Family friendly is Naperville’s brand,” resident Jennifer Taylor said.
Councilwoman Brodhead countered that position, saying a handful of marijuana businesses would be unlikely to have any effect on people’s perception of the city.
“I don’t see there is going to be any loss of brand by allowing a limited number of recreational marijuana dispensaries in Naperville,” Brodhead said. “I think we are afraid of something that will not happen.”
The city looks at alcohol in a very serious way, particularly in times when it had to deal with such negatives as bar fights and DUI accidents, but there’s still a lot of alcohol sold in Naperville, she said.
I thought I was finished dealing with the misinformation on this topic when the GA passed the bill. Apparently not. Ignorance and panic abound.
…Adding… A golden nugget from comments…
So, let me see if I’ve got this right. Naperville won’t partake of the tax dollars of legal marijuana, but it will be legal there, so residents will spend their money elsewhere. Good plan.
Springfield Mayor Jim Langfelder said with a medical dispensary already operating in the city, he expects city alderman to find the best place to allow recreational sales.
“What’s that right number of dispensary areas and that’s what we’ll have to determine,” Langfelder said. “We’ll at least have one for the first year. After that, that’s where we’ll really fine-tune things and see how it’s working.”
Existing medical dispensaries can apply for licenses to sell recreational cannabis. The state will then roll out more licenses for additional growing and selling licenses to other applicants.
Langfelder said city leaders will likely be cautious.
“We don’t want the proliferation like video gaming, everywhere,” Langfelder said. “And that’s really the concern. I was at the Levitt [AMP] Concert Series [an outdoor concert in downtown Springfield] and I could smell it in the air so I think people are already testing it out.”
Yeah. People are just now starting to smoke weed. Right.
* Springfield-area politicos have been saying the same thing since at least 1938…
Sangamon County resisted “reefer madness,” but marijuana finally arrived in Springfield in 1938.
“Brilliant raids” by two Springfield police detectives resulted in the arrests of three men — two locals and one from Youngstown, Ohio — on Aug. 6, 1938, the Illinois State Journal reported the next day. The officers seized “enough marijuana to manufacture more than a thousand of the cigarets that are proving a plague to some of the youth of the nation,” the newspaper said.
The bust seems to have been the first ever in Sangamon County. In fact, county juvenile probation officer Gwendolen Sherman told the Journal in December 1937 she had seen no evidence of marijuana being used locally.
“If there is any marijuana in Springfield, it’s certainly well hidden,” Sherman said.
* That SJ-R lede was totally wrong as well. From the Sangamon County Historical Society…
Marijuana had been a component of some prescription and patent medicines before passage of the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937, which regulated and taxed marijuana and other forms of Cannabis sativa. The law drove use of psychoactive marijuana underground; it also basically destroyed the production of industrial hemp (which does not have intoxicating properties) in the U.S.
The new costs and red tape led Springfield pharmacists to stop using marijuana in medicines they compounded almost immediately, the Journal reported in November 1937.
In the early 1900s an influx of Mexican immigrants came to the US fleeing political unrest in their home country. With them, they brought the practice of smoking cannabis recreationally. And it took off. The Spanish word for the plant started to be used more often too. Marijuana. Or as it was spelled at that time, marihuana, with an “H. This is when the more sensational headlines about the drug began to appear.
In 1936, a propaganda film called Reefer Madness was released. In the movie, teenagers smoke weed for the first time and this leads to a series of horrific events involving hallucination, attempted rape, and murder. Much of the media portrayed it as a gateway drug. […]
Harry Anslinger took the scientifically unsupported idea of marijuana as a violence-inducing drug, connected it to black and Hispanic people, and created a perfect package of terror to sell to the American media and public. By emphasizing the Spanish word marihuana instead of cannabis, he created a strong association between the drug and the newly arrived Mexican immigrants who helped popularize it in the States. He also created a narrative around the idea that cannabis made black people forget their place in society. He pushed the idea that jazz was evil music created by people under the influence of marijuana. […]
In the first full year after the Marihuana Tax Act was passed, black people were about three times more likely to be arrested for violating narcotic drug laws than whites. And Mexicans were nearly nine times more likely to be arrested for the same charge.
The Southern Illinois University Board of Trustees has unanimously approved the firm that will reassess the distribution of state funds among SIU Carbondale, SIU Edwardsville and the SIU School of Medicine.
AGB Consulting, a subsidiary of the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges, will start its system-wide funding study “immediately,” according to SIU System Interim President J. Kevin Dorsey.
AGB plans to deliver findings within this fiscal year, which could begin to impact budgeting and funding distribution as soon as next fiscal year, beginning July 1, 2019, Dorsey said. The study will cost the university $97,000.
Calls for such a study have intensified since the Board of Trustees voted 4-3 to reject a controversial transfer of $5.125 million from SIUC to SIUE in April, proposed as compensation for the funding disparity.
Duane Stucky, the board treasurer, said the university system has distributed its state money the same way since about 1975. Meanwhile, the number of students studying at the Edwardsville campus has been growing until it surpassed the flagship campus in Carbondale for the first time this fall. […]
It’s expected to be completed within six months, when the trustees can use it to make a decision about how to dole out state cash for the next fiscal year, officials said in a news conference after the meeting.
* The study was discussed by the board of trustees yesterday…
Instead of an updated mathematical formula indicating what share of state funds each campus should get based on costs, the firm AGB Consulting returned a set of policy recommendations to help the board create its own formula.
To [Southern Illinois University Board of Trustees Chair Phil Gilbert], that feels like a “punt,” he said, dodging the most controversial aspect of the project: quantifying the differences between SIUC and SIUE. […]
Lacking clear mathematical weighting directions from AGB, the board will now “take the bull by the horns,” Gilbert said at Wednesday’s board meeting, creating an ad hoc committee of trustees and administrators to work out a formula.
That places the board right back at the center of a potentially future-altering decision. […]
The board hopes to agree on a weighting formula by its December meeting, Gilbert said, drawing on internal data and the Illinois Board of Higher Education’s annual statewide institutional cost comparisons.
For a while, it felt as though summer had been cancelled in Chicago. Remember that snow in spring? However, beginning on Thursday the temperatures will soar to the high 90s and thunderstorms will make the hot weather even more humid.
The worst of the heat is expected on Friday, but Thursday temperatures will start to rise into the mid-90s. The miserably high temperatures triggered an excessive heat warning, which is in effect until Saturday night. Severe thunderstorms are predicted Thursday morning and Saturday, which won’t provide much relief, but will instead pump up the humidity.
The heat index, which is an estimation of what the temperatures will actually feel like, could hit 104 to 114 each afternoon. A heat warning is issued when the heat index reaches certain dangerous levels—protocols were set after the deadly July 1995 heat wave that killed more than 700 people in Chicago, according to the Tribune.
The Village of Palatine is warning residents to take precautions this week as the area will experience dangerous heat Thursday through Saturday, and possibly into Sunday. According to the Village, Governor JB Pritzker is carrying out his Keep Cool Illinois campaign by making more than 120 state facilities available as cooling centers to provide Illinoisans a place to stay cool and comfortable during the season’s hot days.
According to the National Weather Service in Lincoln, heat indices through Saturday are expected to range from 110 to 112 degrees.
The heat index, said Matt Barnes of the NWS, figures in the air temperature and the amount of humidity in the air.
It is enough, Barnes said, for an excessive heat warning to kick in through Saturday.
The blazing temperatures should be short-lived, Barnes said, with a cold front expected to pass through the area late Saturday evening. There is a chance of thunderstorms late Saturday into Sunday and that will moderate temperatures into the mid to upper 80s, Barnes added.
In the midst of summer’s high temperatures, DeKalb, Winnebago and Boone Counties are ensuring the public is safe in times of extreme heat.
The Rockford City Market is moving many of its vendors inside the market building and under the Rockford City Market Pavilion on Friday due to the ongoing heatwave.
The DeKalb County Health Department is sharing tips to help the public stay cool, hydrated, and informed.
* Click here for the results. Since it’s Morning Consult, keep in mind that its methodology is, shall we say, a bit on the opaque side. All of the numbers are also quite old since the poll was taken from April 1 through June 30.
Anyway, they have Pritzker’s approve/disapprove at 44-35 with 21 percent undecided. He’s +51 with Democrats and -45 with Republicans. Independents split even. His approval rating alone (not net) ranks him 41st in the nation. He ended the first quarter at 40-39, so more people now have an opinion of him.
* Click here for US Senate results. Again, these numbers are old and the methodology is opaque. Durbin’s approval was 40 percent and his disapproval was 35. He was +45 with Democrats, -45 with Republicans and -6 with indies. His first quarter rating was 50-34, so he has declined.
