* It’s been so cold outside this week that I thought we needed some warm play-out music. But first, here’s one of my State Fair golf cart videos to put you in the mood. “Watch the tree. Watch the tree! Watch the tree!!!”…
The State Fair people used to really hate me for posting videos about abusing their golf carts. I’ve since reformed myself. I no longer post the videos.
* Greene County (pop. 13,886) got a shout-out from Gov. Pritzker today for its vaccination success…
We’ve taken very seriously the direction of local public health departments and the needs that they have. We’ve provided some grants, we’ve tried to offer any help that we can at… the state level. We can’t make decisions for local counties with regard to what is best in a certain part of their community versus another part of their community, if they know the county better than we do. We want to take their advice and just try to help them accomplish the goal of getting people to those sites where they can get vaccinated. But believe me we want to, we have some of our rural counties by the way that are some of the best in the state, our rural counties delivering vaccines.
Greene County is an example. And I’ve mentioned them before in press conferences because it’s kind of remarkable for a small county to be able to do what they’ve done, to get the vaccines off the shelf into people’s arms as quickly as they have. I’m very proud of that, but also of the many counties that really stepped up to get this job done.
* The governor’s chief of staff also raved about the county’s efforts today…
Greene County, IL is small but mighty & they’ve done an excellent job getting their vaccine doses out quickly and efficiently. They made this video which really shows the amazing work of their local health department on vaccine administration & logistics. https://t.co/n4qVi7UYSe
Some parts of Illinois are further along. In small, downstate Greene County, about an hour north of St. Louis, the public health department has already started vaccinating teachers and others who have been exposed to the virus.
That includes Kathy Burkholder, 77. As a volunteer with Meals on Wheels, she delivers food inside people’s homes. Burkholder got her shot last week.
By the time Christopher Miller showed up at his estranged wife’s backdoor in September 2019 with a pistol in his waistband, state authorities already had declared him too dangerous to own firearms.
He had lost his gun license 20 months earlier after being charged with aggravated battery for brutally beating a man in a Naperville parking lot. He disregarded orders to relinquish any weapons, and no one made sure he complied.
Miller startled his wife that autumn afternoon as she moved around the kitchen making a snack for her daughter. With cocaine and alcohol in his system, he stared at Cassandra Tanner Miller with hazel eyes so dilated they appeared black.
“Are you all ready to die today?” he asked as he suddenly burst into the Joliet house.
He then choked his estranged wife and shot and killed their 18-month-old boy before killing himself.
Cassandra did everything she was supposed to do to protect herself and her children from Christopher after they separated. She said law enforcement, the Illinois National Guard, and the judicial system all let her down.
Christopher shouldn’t have had a gun. His FOID card was revoked in January 2018 for an aggravated battery charge in DuPage County.
Illinois State Police sent out a letter notifying Christopher he was required to surrender his gun, but he never did.
Cassandra also sounded the alarm to the Illinois National Guard, reporting his violent behavior and drug use.
“That he was hearing things, that he wasn’t being responsive the way that he should, and I was just pretty much told to mind my own business and they kind of just stopped answering my phone calls,” she said.
Tanner-Miller says that authorities failed in their duty to protect her and her family, and she says it was because they were biased because of her husband’s military service.
Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart is calling for changes in how the judicial system handles defendants with revoked gun licenses following a Tribune investigation into the ballooning backlog of people declared too dangerous to own firearms and the state’s failure to address it. […]
The move comes after the Tribune highlighted the story of Christopher Miller, a Joliet man who fatally shot his 18-month-old son, Colton, with a gun he should have relinquished after having his firearm owner’s identification card revoked more than a year earlier. According to a Tribune analysis, Miller was among the more than 70% of revoked FOID permit holders statewide who ignored police orders to account for their weapons.
During his 20 months on the revocation list, Miller appeared before judges in two separate counties on criminal charges and never once was asked if he complied. No one at the hearings — one in DuPage County and one in Cook County — ordered the Illinois National Guardsman to give up the multiple firearms he kept in violation of state law.
His wife even warned DuPage officials about the weapons and his FOID revocation by the Illinois State Police, but no one acted on the information. DuPage prosecutors told her to seek an order of protection if she was afraid. […]
Under Dart’s proposal, the FOID revocation status of all defendants would be checked and shared with a judge before bond is set.
* Tanner-Miller has been working with Rep. David Welter to change state law…
Representative Welter is also working on a new law called, “Colton’s Law” which will push for GPS monitoring for violent offenders like Chris. GPS monitoring is used in many states, and will alert victims of domestic violence if their abuser is nearby. Had that system been used in Cassandra’s case, the outcome could’ve been drastically different.
Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart, a Democrat, suggested the bill would end the notion that cash bail correlates with the risk posed by the offender.
“These commonsense reforms will prevent tragedies like the case of Cassandra Tanner-Miller, in which her abuser posted $5,000 and then killed their 18-month-old child,” he said in a statement.
* But Ms. Tanner-Miller participated in a House Republican press conference yesterday with Rep. Welter to highlight opposition to the criminal justice reform bill. From a press release…
Cassandra Tanner-Miller lost her young son because her abusive ex-husband, Christopher Miller, was released without a cash bond. Ms. Tanner-Miller barely survived the assault and has been an advocate for survivors and reforming Illinois law ever since. She expressed deep concerns that the provisions in HB 3653 that loosen regulations on the standard for threat and willful flight for detention will make it more difficult to hold violent offenders.
“HB 3653 will be a complete dismantling of victims’ safety and rights,” said Ms. Tanner-Miller. “Illinois legislators need to work together with all entities, to build upon our criminal justice system, to ensure criminals who knowingly are breaking laws have accountability for their choices. Eliminating cash bail will be detrimental to victims and more Christopher Miller’s will be walking out of the courthouse free, putting victims and their families in direct danger. I know this personally because my son’s murderer had been released on a ‘no cash bail’ just weeks before our tragedy took place. We cannot go backward in our criminal justice system. We need to work proactively towards a safer Illinois.”
He was released from Cook County on an I-Bond after being busted for cocaine.
* Advocates for domestic violence victims, however, spoke up in favor of the legislation. The Network: Advocating Against Domestic Violence represents over 40 organizations that “provide direct services to domestic violence survivors, including court advocacy.” The groups also administer the Illinois Domestic Violence Hotline…
The Network: Advocating Against Domestic Violence applauds the concern for the safety of domestic and sexual violence survivors from the law enforcement community. We would reiterate that the use of citation does not apply to domestic or sexual violence cases. As we work to ensure the criminal justice system is fair and safe for all, we encourage our law enforcement partners to read carefully the safeguards for survivors in the PFA. During the 24-to-48-hour period of detention, law enforcement should notify survivors of the bond hearing and, if desired by the survivor, communicate with them about safety concerns. This is an important step in ensuring survivor-led justice. Connections can also be made to local domestic and sexual violence service providers and to the Illinois Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-877-863-6338.
* Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation…
[The Pretrial Fairness Act] ensures victims have more opportunities to be heard during the pretrial release process, providing input that goes beyond assessing whether a person who causes harm is rich or poor. It is long past time that the criminal justice system learns how to accurately, fairly, and in a non-racist or classist manner, attend to the real threats that people charged with a crime do or do not pose–especially to victims of gender-based violence.
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 3,660 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 83 additional deaths.
Adams County: 1 male 70s
Coles County: 1 male 50s
Cook County: 1 male 30s, 1 male 40s, 1 female 50s, 1 male 50s, 8 males 60s, 1 female 70s, 3 males 70s, 3 females 80s, 7 males 80s, 4 females 90s
DuPage County: 1 female 70s, 1 male 70s, 2 males 80s, 1 female 90s
Effingham County: 1 male 70s, 1 male 80s
Fayette County: 1 male 60s
Grundy County: 1 male 70s
Jasper County: 1 female 80s, 1 male 80s
Kane County: 1 male 40s, 1 male 50s, 2 females 70s, 1 female 80s, 1 female 90s
Kankakee County: 1 male 70s, 1 female 90s
Kendall County: 1 male 60s, 1 female 70s
Lake County: 1 male 40s, 1 male 60s, 1 male 70s, 2 males 80s
Lawrence County: 1 male 60s
Lee County: 1 female 90s
Livingston County: 1 female 80s, 1 male 80s
Macon County: 1 male 70s, 1 male 90s
Marshall County: 1 female 80s
McHenry County: 1 male 70s, 1 male 80s
McLean County: 1 female 60s
Montgomery County: 1 male 80s
Pike County: 1 male 80s
Rock Island County: 1 male 50s, 1 female 80s, 1 male 80s, 2 males 90s
Sangamon County: 1 male 80s
St. Clair County: 1 male 70s, 1 female 80s
Vermilion County: 1 male 40s
Will County: 1 male 60s, 2 females 80s, 1 male 90s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 1,141,219 cases, including 19,526 deaths, in 102 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 105,085 specimens for a total 16,464,740. As of last night, 2,318 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 491 patients were in the ICU and 254 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from January 29–February 4, 2021 is 3.3%. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from January 29–February 4, 2021 is 4.3%.
A total of 1,635,925 doses of vaccine have been delivered to providers in Illinois, including Chicago. In addition, approximately 496,100 doses total have been allocated to the federal government’s Pharmacy Partnership Program for long-term care facilities. This brings the total Illinois doses to 2,132,025. A total of 1,231,418 vaccines have been administered in Illinois as of last midnight, including 188,351 for long-term care facilities. The 7-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 49,082 doses. Yesterday, Illinois set a new one-day vaccination record with a total of 74,965 doses administered.
*All data are provisional and will change. In order to rapidly report COVID-19 information to the public, data are being reported in real-time. Information is constantly being entered into an electronic system and the number of cases and deaths can change as additional information is gathered. Information for deaths previously reported has changed, therefore, today’s numbers have been adjusted. For health questions about COVID-19, call the hotline at 1-800-889-3931 or email dph.sick@illinois.gov.
Emails show Rep. Stephanie Kifowit (D-Oswego) was one of the state lawmakers lobbying @GovPritzker to move politicians up in vaccine line.
“It is beginning to feel like the Governor is purposely working against the legislature returning to do the work of the people,” she wrote. pic.twitter.com/UGGGfdSDH9
State Rep. Stephanie Kifowit, a Democrat from Oswego, said she is leaning toward waiting but plans to make a decision after consulting her doctor — something she said every lawmaker should do. Kifowit said vaccinating lawmakers is important to state government’s ability to function.
*Facepalm* Just own it, please. C’mon.
* She still managed to get in a dig at Republicans, though…
Kifowit found it ironic that Republicans who voted against remote voting in the legislature would also be critical of Pritzker’s adding lawmakers to Phase 1B of vaccine distribution.
“They must not believe in the continuance of government like I do,” Kifowit said. “I think that we need to get to work. We need to do everything in our power to make sure we can do the work of the people.”
Um, OK.
…Adding… Eleni Demertzis from the HGOP…
Legislators can easily do their jobs by wearing a mask and following the guidelines put forth by IDPH on how the General Assembly can meet safely. Follow the science and stop thinking you are better than the hundreds of thousands of workers that have to show up to their jobs everyday, including your dedicated legislative staff.
* Meanwhile, WCBU has a story about some central Illinois Republican legislators who say they won’t be vaccinated until it’s their turn. But the reporter also interviewed a member of the Senate’s 41-member super-majority…
Meanwhile, State Sen. Dave Koehler, D-Peoria, said he and his wife, who already were in phase 1B prior to the governor’s change on Wednesday, have received the first dose of the two-dose vaccine.
“I think that whatever the governor does, (the Republicans are) gonna have a criticism,” said Koehler. “The legislature does need to meet.”
He said the General Assembly has numerous concerns it needs to deal with, including the state budget.
“I think this helps to ease the feelings that we can meet and somehow be safe,” Koehler said. “I think the real issue is that we have to have more vaccine, it has to be distributed quicker, in a more ethical way.”
* I did not get to this yesterday. Sorry about that. Here’s CBS 2…
The Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) reported 40,008 new unemployment claims were filed during the week of Jan. 25 in Illinois, a 58% decrease from the week before, when 95,481 people filed claims.
For comparison, during the same timeframe last year 9,762 people filed claims in Illinois. That’s a 309% increase. […]
There were 95,472 new unemployment claims were filed during the week of Jan 11 in Illinois.
There were 94,944 new unemployment claims filed during the week of Jan. 4 in Illinois.
There were 45,387 new unemployment claims were filed during the week of Dec. 27 in Illinois.
There were 110,486 claims filed in Illinois the week of Dec. 20.
The Illinois job market also outperformed the U.S. labor market during the week. Nationwide, according to U.S. Department of Labor numbers, first-time jobless claims fell 2.8%, to 816,247.
The federal government, as part of its $2 trillion relief package approved in March, significantly expanded jobless aid, making it a richer target for fraud. By November, states across the country said they had paid as much as $36 billion in improper benefits, with a significant portion obtained through fraud, according to a report from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General.
The fraud is so widespread that California issued payments to someone using the name of U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, and in Ohio, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, his wife, Fran, and Republican Lt. Gov. Jon Husted all learned that fraudulent claims were filed in their names.
Now, unemployment agencies could face another onslaught — this time from people requesting corrected tax forms.
“It does open a can of worms,” said Rob Seltzer, a certified public accountant in Los Angeles and a member of the California Society of CPAs. “It really depends upon how fast the (state) is able to send out a corrected form.”
With fissures dividing the national Republican Party as it searches for direction and a message after the presidency of Donald Trump, the Illinois GOP is waging its own, lower profile quest for unity as members prepare to pick a new leader who can bring them together.
But rather than disagreeing over Trump, freshman Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, stolen elections or other conspiracy theories, the Illinois Republican Party’s challenge is to bridge ideological differences, reach out to minority and urban voters — and go back to winning elections.
Members of the state GOP committee are planning to meet Saturday to elect a successor to outgoing Chairman Tim Schneider, who’s been in the seat since 2014.
Illinois Republicans are hoping a new face at the head of their party will bring the “new energy” and “new ideas” needed to unite Republicans and “appeal to the most people possible” to make gains in the statehouse, Senate and other higher offices.
That’s because the votes of the committee members — each representing one of the state’s congressional districts — are weighted based on the number of people who voted in the March 2020 Republican primary. Rural districts tend to have more Republican voters — and thus a higher weighted vote.
Of the state’s 18 districts, the 15th District, represented by Republican Mary Miller of downstate Oakland, had the most GOP voters in that election. The 18th District, represented by Republican Darin LaHood of downstate Dunlap, had the second-highest total. Third place went to the 14th District, represented by Democrat Lauren Underwood of Naperville.
Northeastern Illinois is overwhelmingly blue, with every Chicago-area congressional seat except one — Republican U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger’s 16th — now held by a Democrat. That would have been unfathomable a generation ago, when the suburbs were solidly Republican.
U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois was one of 11 Republicans to cross party lines Thursday and support Democrats in stripping GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of her House committee assignments in a rebuke to her controversial past statements supporting false conspiracies and violence against politicians. […]
The vote to remove Greene, a freshman Republican from Georgia, from her positions on two committees, Education and Labor, and Budget, was 230-199. Except for Kinzinger, Illinois’ congressional delegation of 13 Democrats and five Republicans voted along party lines. […]
Appearing on CNN hours prior to the vote, Kinzinger noted that during the House Republican Conference held Tuesday night, Greene received a partial standing ovation, which he called an “embarrassment” and “disappointing by factor of a thousand.”
Kinzinger also was critical of House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy for not taking action to remove Greene from her committee posts.
Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger criticized House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy Thursday for not taking action against far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and said the GOP leader “needs to stand for truth.”
“Kevin needs to be very clear that he’s going to stand for truth in this party,” Kinzinger told CNN’s John Berman on “New Day.” “He needs to stand for truth and he needs recognize this party, the future is not going down to Mar-a-Lago and being with Donald Trump.”
* And…
Also waking up “literally laughing” is not normal.
If his goal is to move the Overton window to the center for the national GOP after decades of rightward lurches, then I can see where he’s going here. And the Lincoln Project has proved there is money to be raised for this sort of message, so maybe his new PAC will take off (Lynn Sweet reports there has been a “strong response so far,” but didn’t specify any dollar amount). Other than that, his congressional career appears to be over and I’m not all that confident he can win a statewide primary here even if he gets really lucky.
*** UPDATE *** Press release…
Ten Republican members of the US House of Representatives have formally voted to impeach former President Donald Trump, and a few in the Senate may join them as well. This action has created widespread division and anger among the Republican party both nationally and here in Illinois. In response the Illinois Republican Party has released the following statement:
“We strongly disagree with any Republican, Congressman Adam Kinzinger included, who voted to impeach President Trump or those who vote to convict him in the U.S. Senate, but we will let the voters be the arbiters of any vote taken by an elected official.
As we prepare to select a new chairman of the Illinois Republican Party on Saturday, it’s our collective belief that uniting the party will be the single greatest endeavor of the new chairman. Our elected officials must unite behind defeating President Biden’s radical left-wing agenda. In just two weeks in office, the President has already given into extremists by cancelling the Keystone pipeline, refusing to enforce our immigration laws, and cowering to the teachers unions who refuse to educate our children in-person despite all the evidence of its necessity.
The stakes of the 2022 election here in Illinois - defeating Gov. JB Pritzker and Sen. Tammy Duckworth, winning back congressional seats, and electing Republican judges to the Illinois Supreme Court - are too monumental to engage in a circular firing squad. We cannot play into Democrat hands by fighting amongst each other, so we encourage all Republicans to focus on the future rather than relitigating the past.”
Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot and CPS CEO Dr. Janice K. Jackson today issued the following statement regarding negotiations with the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU):
“Yesterday afternoon, we received a counter proposal from CTU leadership and responded with our last, best, and final offer. We expect a response from CTU leadership today. We will be making further statements later today about school on Monday”
*** UPDATE 1 *** Not looking great…
Here’s part of latest email to #CTU members explaining why last, best and final offer does NOT work for union: pic.twitter.com/PbnnePTG7M
Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot and CPS CEO Dr. Janice K. Jackson today issued the following statement regarding negotiations with the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU):
“We have yet to receive a formal response in writing today from CTU leadership. The ball is in their court.”
