America is at a crossroads and we need a leader in the United States Senate who will prioritize all people over a political party. Minority Whip Durbin has been in public office for 37 years, and many communities in Illinois have been ignored and forgotten.
He is out of touch with constituents. I attempted to arrange a meeting with Sen. Durbin and for four weeks I did not get a call back from his office. As a businessman, I ask what has been the return on investment for Durbin’s 37-year career? The statistics reflect record levels of unemployment, gun violence, disinvestment, and hopelessness in too many communities. To add insult to injury, Durbin voted for the pernicious 1994 Crime Bill that provided $8.7 billion to build more prisons and led to the mass incarceration of Black boys and men. Black males account for 6.5 percent of the population and 40 percent of the federal prison population. Sen. Durbin’s vote for the 1994 Crime Bill ensured that there are more Black men in prison than on college campuses. Sen. Durbin’s decision to look tough on crime has cost Black men their lives and broken up families.
“Just last week Sen. Durbin displayed his contempt for the Black and Brown community when he voted “no” to allow debate on Police Reform in the Senate. The deaths of George Floyd, Laquan McDonald, Tamir Rice and others at the hands of law enforcement demand police reform. Sen. Durbin knows that for young men of color, police use of force is among the leading causes of death. Nonetheless, Sen. Durbin again chose the Democrat Party over the people. Sen. Tim Scott’s Police Reform Bill fell four votes short of allowing debate to proceed,” Dr. Wilson said.
“Sen. Durbin for three decades has stood in the way of building a third airport to accommodate growth in the South Suburbs of Cook County and congestion at O’Hare and Midway airports. Building a third airport would address overcrowding issues, improve safety, stimulate the local economy and improve the environment. I strongly support building a third airport for the South Suburbs,” says Dr. Wilson.
Dr. Wilson stated: I am running for the United States Senate because Sen. Durbin has taken the African American community and others for granted. Quite frankly, his 37 years in office has caused him to become arrogant and out of touch with citizens from the Land of Lincoln. He has become drunk with the wine of power from the Potomac. He no longer can relate to the problems of people in Englewood, East St. Louis, Austin, and Aurora. Specifically, more than 1.6 million people left Illinois for other states between 2014-2018. Sen. Durbin’s propensity to raise taxes is driving people and businesses out of Illinois. He is more interested in serving the interests of lobbyists and corporations than the people. As a former sharecropper, I understand people, pain, poverty and business. I will always put people before politics.
“The COVID-19 pandemic unmasked the woeful investment the federal government has made in closing gaps in racial disparities in healthcare. In fact, more African Americans and Latinos have been diagnosed with and died from COVID-19. Sen. Durbin has failed in 37 years to improve the quality of healthcare for Black and Brown people in Illinois. For example, there is a 30-year life expectancy gap just based on where you live in Chicago. A person living in Streeterville can expect to live 30 years longer than someone in Englewood. Sen. Durbin has failed to address inequality in wealth, healthcare, housing, education, criminal justice, and contracting. He does not deserve another six-year term. As a part of the Senate Leadership he should be ashamed that he has not done more to improve the lives of poor people. There is no higher calling than serving others, I believe the United States Senate would allow me to better serve the citizens of Illinois and the nation,” Dr. Wilson said.
* I asked the Durbin campaign for a response. From his campaign manager Greg Bales…
Dr. Wilson is not an independent—he’s a Republican who publicly supported Donald Trump, Bruce Rauner, and contributed tens of thousands of dollars to Republican candidates this election. On police reform, he opposes the Congressional Black Caucus and every major civil rights organization — including the NAACP and Southern Poverty Law Center Action Fund — and instead supports Trump’s position. A vote for Wilson is a vote for Trump and a Mitch McConnell controlled U.S. Senate.
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today announced 828 new confirmed cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 30 additional confirmed deaths.
Cook County: 1 female 40s, 1 male 40s, 1 male 50s, 1 male 60s, 3 females 70s, 3 males 70s, 3 female 80s, 2 females 90s, 1 male 90s
DuPage 1 male 40s, 1 female 90s
Kane County: 1 male 60s, 2 females 80s
Lake County: 1 female 50s, 1 female 60s, 1 female 80s
Madison County: 1 male 70s
Sangamon County: 1 female 70s
St. Clair County: 1 female 80s
Will County: 1 female 60s
Winnebago County: 1 male 60s, 1 male 80s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 144,013cases, including 6,951 deaths, in 101 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 33,090 specimens for a total of 1,636,055. The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from June 24 –June 30 is 2.6%.
In Illinois, total reported fatalities climbed from 5,548 to 7,124 in June, a hike of 28.4 percent. But in California, the jump was from 4,287 to 6,081, up 41.8 percent. In Texas it was up 46 percent, with 2,496 deaths as of yesterday. And in Florida, up 42.4 percent, with 3,505 fatalities to date.
All of them are pikers compared to Arizona. Total pandemic fatalities there to date soared 78 percent last month, to 1,632 from 917.
Those are deaths, folks. As in permanent removal from this good earth. Not just sniffles from the flu.
Those fatality numbers continue to get worse in a rush. Florida reported 49 new deaths today, and Arizona 88. Texas added 59 deaths yesterday.
* On a scale of one to five, with five being the most worried, how worried are you about the state, or at least some regions, being moved back to Phase 3? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please…
A southern Illinois couple has filed a lawsuit against the Illinois Department of Public Health and the State Board of Education, alleging that the state’s plans to reopen schools this fall with safety protocols in place will “result in immediate and irreparable harm” to their three children.
The suit, filed in Clay County by James and Kali Mainer, requests a temporary restraining order that would put a halt to mandatory facial coverings, temperature checks, and limitations on groups of 50 or more individuals.
In the lawsuit, which was filed Tuesday, the couple alleges that the IDPH and ISBE “have promulgated unlawful, arbitrary and capricious mandates” that place an “unreasonable burden” on the family’s three children.
The family’s suit says that they have “protectable rights and interests at stake to be free from unlawful, arbitrary and capricious rule making,” and that the rules that state officials have formulated are “unlawful,” since they are only aimed at preventing the spread of coronavirus.
* Their attorney, of course, is Tom Devore. His statement to WICS TV…
My clients are merely asking the Court to follow Illinois Supreme Court precedent which holds face-masks, and other health regulations, which are intended to try and prevent the spread of COVID-19 are not allowable under the law. It is really a quite simple legal matter unless and until the Illinois Supreme Court changes its position.
That’s a pretty bold statement. An earlier version of the story referenced a 1922 Illinois court case which says, in part…
Health authorities cannot promulgate and enforce rules which merely have a tendency to prevent the spread of contagious and infectious diseases, which are not founded upon an existing condition or upon a well-founded belief that a condition is threatened which will endanger the public health. The health authorities cannot interfere with the liberties of a citizen until the emergency actually exists.
A comprehensive new assessment of flood risk, released this week by the nonprofit First Street Foundation, exposes blind spots in FEMA’s maps to show just how vulnerable the nation’s properties are. Built by researchers from private companies and universities, the model calculates the cumulative risk for every property in the contiguous United States from rainfall, storm surge, tidal and river flooding. FEMA says 8.7 million properties are in areas susceptible to a “hundred-year flood” — a flooding event with a 1% chance of occurring in a given year. The new data says there are 14.6 million properties at risk. […]
In Cook County, where Chicago and its suburbs are located, the new model found more than 150,000 properties are at high risk — about six times as many as FEMA’s estimate. […]
Illinois has warmed about 1.2 degrees and experienced 10% to 15% more precipitation over the last century, according to the Illinois State Climatologist’s office. But the rainfall is not uniform — it’s increasingly coming down in bunches. In the Great Lakes region, the most powerful storms have increased 35% between 1951 and 2017.
Last year, state scientists updated the standard for new construction requiring state permits, including the design of storm sewers, retention ponds and road drainage, to accommodate increasing precipitation trends.
Because state and local officials use FEMA maps to help guide and justify their planning decisions, they tend to focus almost exclusively on the areas the agency has deemed high risk.
For example, the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago has spent around $22.2 million helping municipalities acquire 90 flood-prone properties, raze the structures on those properties and keep those areas as open space. The agency has designated additional high-risk zones beyond the FEMA maps, but so far, the properties purchased throughout Cook County have been located in FEMA’s high-risk zones. […]
In Illinois alone, there has been more than $2.3 billion in documented property damage from flooding in urban areas between 2007 and 2014, according to a study led by the Department of Natural Resources. Over 90% of those insurance and disaster assistance claims were for properties outside of the FEMA floodplain — where residents weren’t required to buy flood insurance and may not have been alerted to the risk when they bought their homes.
If anything, the First Street model still underestimates risk in some properties, because its analysis is based on ground-level flooding, as are the FEMA maps. Andrew Smith, chief operations officer at Fathom, said basements can flood more frequently than the model suggests. […]
Between 2007 and 2016, there were nearly 230,000 flood-related claims in Chicago resulting in $433 million in payouts, according to a 2018 report from the Center for Neighborhood Technology. Of those, 87% of paid flood claims were located in communities of color.
With little room to spare at Cook County Jail, Sheriff Tom Dart is seeking a court order to compel the state to take custody of inmates who had been housed at the jail since the coronavirus outbreak.
The Illinois Sheriffs’ Association, which Dart is a member of, filed the motion Thursday in downstate Logan County asking a circuit court judge to approve a preliminary injunction that would order the state to accept inmates who are housed in county jails, but should be in the custody of the Illinois Department of Corrections.
These inmates — unlike detainees at the jail who are awaiting trial — have been convicted and sentenced.
Some of these inmates served their sentences but need to to be transferred to IDOC custody before their release. […]
Concerns voiced by Dart’s office and other sheriffs have been “met with silence” from state officials, [Dart spokesman Matthew Walberg] added. Governor and IDOC officials weren’t immediately available for comment Wednesday.
I get what the state is doing here, but at the very least, IDOC ought to accept inmates who have completed their sentences so they can be released.
* Meanwhile, speaking of the county jail, here’s Karen Sheley, Director, Police Practices Project, ACLU of Illinois…
[Chicago Police] Superintendent Brown’s announced plan to address gun violence during the long holiday weekend is more of the same. The plan to sweep up Black and Brown young men in their neighborhoods across the City could have been uttered by a number of his predecessors in leadership of the CPD. We have heard this all before—paternalistic claims that young men should be in jail for their own safety.
This approaches only further drive a wedge between the CPD and communities of color. The Superintendent again offers the dangerous suggestion that time in Cook County Jail is for these young people’s own good. This is a terrible idea in the best of times – in the midst of a pandemic, it could be a death sentence for these young men or members of their family on release.
The day after her husband died on Easter Sunday, Cassandra Greer-Lee’s emotions swung from shock to pain to confusion. She wondered whether she did everything she could to save Nickolas Lee from the rapid spread of coronavirus inside Cook County Jail.
She thought of the long stream of calls she had frantically dialed over the past few weeks as Cook County Jail rapidly cemented itself as the “largest-known source” of coronavirus cases in the U.S.
Scrolling through her calls, the numbers ballooned from 60 to 70 to 90 to 100 to finally 132 calls made to the sheriff’s office, a jail sergeant’s desk line, the jail hospital and others to alert them to the spread of coronavirus on Lee’s tier—almost all were unanswered.
Lee was the third of seven detainees who have died after contracting the virus at Cook County Jail. Since then, almost 1,000 Cook County Jail employees and detainees have tested positive for COVID-19; two corrections officers and one court deputy have also died, according to WTTW. Like 98 percent of inmates at Cook County Jail, Lee was awaiting trial. He had been charged by the county for gun possession after violating federal parole.
* Wordslinger sent me an email in October of 2017 ahead of the Illinois bicentennial entitled “Bicentennial/Ebert/Prine/Goodman.” He was referring to Roger Ebert, John Prine and Steve Goodman…
I’d like to see those cats carved on the Illinois State Library, because they’re the best Illinois writers of their time.
Amirite?
I’m serious about this, I’m going to ask for your help.
I want to see it before Johnny dies.
Unfortunately, Wordslinger passed away last year and Prine passed earlier this year. We have some unfinished business to attend to here.
I told you in March that when this crazy pandemic was over, I planned to urge Secretary of State Jesse White to consider having Ebert’s and Prine’s names carved into the state library. A high-level official reached out to me later that day to say he would be up for it. Goodman should be on there, too. Let’s get this done.
To commemorate the life of Illinois native John Prine and celebrate his writing and musical contributions, Governor Pritzker has proclaimed Prine an Honorary Poet Laureate of the state. The legendary singer-song writer, who was born in Maywood, passed away on April 7, 2020 after contracting COVID-19. Prine is the first to receive such an honorary designation.
“I have no doubt that John would be proud and delighted to receive this recognition from his home state of Illinois,” said Fiona Whelan Prine, wife of John Prine. “Although he had moved to Nashville in the early 1980’s, he continued to visit Chicago, and Maywood in particular, to spend time with his family. John continued to follow Chicago sports teams and had never found a hot dog, pizza or Italian Beef sandwich to rival the originals. Watching John, as I did many times, play to an Illinois audience was always thrilling. A home boy delighting in the love and approval of his loyal fans - some of them family, longtime friends, old school buddies and neighbors.”
Whelan Prine added, “John had a great respect for Writers of all kinds. He regarded Poets as being among those whose work carried weight, relevance and elevated craft. It is such an honor for me, our sons, and the entire Prine family to acknowledge that our beloved John will be named an Honorary Poet Laureate of the State of Illinois. Thank you, Governor Pritzker, for this wonderful recognition.”
* Prine’s last song was released earlier this month. He still had it…
I remember everything, things I can’t forget
Swimin’ pools of butterflies would slip right through the net
And I remember every night, your ocean eyes of blue
I miss you in the morning light like roses miss the dew
*** UPDATE *** From Henry Haupt at the Illinois SoS…
Rich,
We think this is a great idea. We are looking into this to see what steps are needed and what — if any — other agencies must be involved.
As the United States continues to face record unemployment due to the coronavirus pandemic, 30% of Americans missed their housing payments in June, according to a survey by Apartment List, an online rental platform.
That’s up from 24% who missed their payment just two months earlier in April and about on par with the 31% who missed payments in May. Renters, younger and lower-income households and urban dwellers were the groups most likely to miss their housing payments, Apartment List found.
At the same time that this “historically high” rate of Americans are missing their housing payments, eviction protections put in place at the beginning of Covid-19′s spread in the U.S. are beginning to expire. Additionally, the current 30 million unemployed Americans will lose the extra $600 per week in federal unemployment benefits at the end of July.
Taken together, experts warn of a coming housing “apocalypse” unless the government intervenes. Some 37% of renters and 26% of homeowners are at least somewhat worried that they will face eviction or foreclosure in the next six months, Apartment List reports. Columbia University researchers estimate that homelessness could increase by between 40% and 45% this year over where it was in January 2019.
Housing advocates fear eviction boom, urge Gov. Pritzker to cancel rent, mortgage payments
Housing advocates Tuesday taped notices demanding rent payments within five days on the gate of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s home in the Gold Coast in hopes of drawing attention to what they say is an imminent housing crisis.
In a twist, the notices were addressed to the “renters of Illinois” and listed Pritzker as the “landlord or landlord’s agent,” with service on behalf of the real estate lobby.
The group posted the notices while calling on the first-term governor to cancel rent and mortgage payments and to lift the ban on rent control because so many people are out of work due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, said Rod Wilson, one of the organizers of the Lift the Ban Coalition. The group’s efforts took place the day before the first of the month, which is typically when renters have to pay rent.
“All we’re saying is sign the paper, cancel the rent, cancel the mortgage, put a regulation on rent increases. That’s all we’re asking for,” Wilson said. “Otherwise, he’s going to be known as the billionaire governor that led us into the worst housing crisis ever. And I say, ‘Shame on you.’ ”
No governor can simply make rent and mortgage payments go away on his or her own. None. And I don’t know how it would be constitutional for the General Assembly to do it, either. And yet, that’s not even hinted at in the story. All the Sun-Times did was perpetuate a really way out-there myth, which means even more people will believe this tale.
Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot and the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) today announced the City has awarded a $56 million grant to Chicago Cook Workforce Partnership (The Partnership), in collaboration with the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health, NORC at the University of Chicago, Malcolm X College – one of the City Colleges of Chicago – and Sinai Urban Health Institute, to carry out contact tracing services in Chicago, with an effort based in communities most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. These organizations will lead a health-equity based approach to further contain the spread of COVID-19, which will include disbursing 85% of the total grant funding to community organizations in areas of high economic hardship to train and certify a 600-person workforce that will support contact tracing. The 600 newly created jobs will be hired directly from the communities of high economic hardship that have been adversely impacted by COVID-19. […]
As part of the grant, The Partnership will be conducting a second competitive bidding process to award the majority of the funding to at least 30 community-based organizations that will recruit and hire the contact tracers and resource coordinators under this grant.
So, they’ve finally awarded the grant money, but now community groups will bid on hiring the workers, which will take time, as will the subsequent hiring process.
(S)tate Rep. La Shawn Ford, D-Chicago, said after “bragging” about Illinois’ robust contract tracing efforts, the Pritzker administration has “dropped the ball.”
“When the governor made this huge announcement about how there’s going to be investments, we’ve (the Black Caucus) been trying to work with the governor’s office, even to help them with the planning. And you know it’s been real crickets. We have not heard anything from the governor’s office about how they’re going to roll this plan out,” Ford said. “And unfortunately the Black community I think is going to suffer from this.”
Pritzker’s spokeswoman referred WTTW News to the governor’s remarks about contact tracing last Thursday.
“We continue to build up our contact tracing capacities, including new hires that have increased the ranks of contact tracers by 20% since June 1 for a total of 550 active contact tracers across the state. Two hundred-fifty new tracers have been identified and will join their ranks over the few weeks as we continue to scale up our operation, including new technology to multiply their effectiveness,” Pritzker said. “All 97 of Illinois’ local health departments have applied for funding support totaling $230 million to increase contact tracing. That money is on its way out the door with final disbursement coming in the next few weeks.” […]
In a call with reporters on Tuesday, Chicago’s public health director, Dr. Allison Arwady, said the city is currently assigning every case of a Chicago resident testing positive, such that every COVID-19 patient is called by someone from the city within 24 hours.
That wasn’t the case as recently as a couple of weeks ago. Attorney General Kwame Raoul told me yesterday that contact tracers did not reach out to him after he tested positive in mid-June.
* As we discussed yesterday, the Test And Trace website says Illinois has 611 contact tracers and needs 3,113. The folks at the COVID Act Now website say Illinois needs 3,580 contact tracing staff to trace all new cases within 48 hours.
Illinois manufacturers reported layoffs, supply chain disruptions, and closures from the COVID-19 pandemic, however, most are rebounding, according to a new poll.
The Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s Survey of Business Conditions interviewed hundreds of manufacturers in Illinois and Michigan between May 20 and June 5.
Many manufacturers were deemed essential through the spring closure orders, with some ramping up production of pandemic-fighting products. Others, including auto manufacturers, closed temporarily. Nearly all respondents to the survey reported revenue losses.
Seventy percent of respondents said their facilities never shut down during the pandemic. Of those that did halt operations, 28 percent said the closure was temporary. Another two percent said they closed for good. […]
Three of every four manufacturers expect the economy to feel the effects of COVID-19 until the end of 2021.
The Fed took a similar poll of small businesses in Illinois and several states in May that showed a much more bleak picture for other sectors.
A 3-year-old girl was shot in the chest outside her home in West Englewood Tuesday night when a gunman opened fire into a yard filled with children, apparently in retaliation for a shooting minutes earlier six blocks away that wounded a 15-year-old boy, according to Chicago police.
The shootings continue one of the most violent stretches of gun violence against children in Chicago. Three days earlier, a 20-month-old boy was killed, also in Englewood, and a 10-year-old girl was fatally shot. A week earlier, five children were shot and killed in Chicago, including a 3-year-old boy. […]
Police say the girl was outside her home in the 7000 block of South Damen Avenue around 8 p.m. Tuesday, playing in the yard with other children, when someone fired shots from a car. Relatives said they thought the gunfire was fireworks, but the girl’s mother ran outside and found the girl lying face up with a wound to her chest.
She was taken to Comer Children’s Hospital in critical condition, but was stabilized and upgraded to serious condition overnight, according to community activist Andrew Holmes, who was with the family at the hospital.
* Ugh…
last Saturday while I was dealing with a mother and her one year old that was hot and killed..there was a 3 year old celebrating her birthday…I am now at the hospital with that 3 year olds family…she has been shot and is in critical condition
— Pastor Donovan Price (@sltionsnresrces) July 1, 2020
As the number of murders in Chicago soared in June, there was a huge slowdown of police activity that the police union blames on rock-bottom morale and distrust of Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
In the first 28 days in June, the number of murders was up 83% compared with numbers from the same period in 2019, Chicago Police Department statistics show.
And the number of arrests was down 55%, street stops fell by 74% and traffic stops dropped by 86%.
Police Supt. David Brown said Monday that police activity slowed because fewer people have been on the streets “because of COVID.”
But John Catanzara, president of the Fraternal Order of Police, said Tuesday it’s more than that.
* Other than murder (the most important category), most crime has been down in the city this year…
According to newly-posted CPD stats, as of June 28 Chicago had the same number of murders this year as at the same point in 2016, when the city ended with more than 750 murders. There have been fewer shooting incidents so far this year than in 2016, per CPD. pic.twitter.com/uE8cA99Kbn
