Wednesday, May 19, 2021 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Study Finds Expanding Illinois’ Renewable Energy Program Will
Lower Energy Costs for All Illinois Consumers
• A study by former Illinois Power Agency (IPA) director shows that passing Path to 100 (HB 2640 / SB 1601) will lower energy costs for all ratepayers
• Consumers save more than $1.2 Billion over ten years by fully funding Illinois’ renewable energy program to 40% by 2031
• Path to 100 would create 53,000 new construction jobs
Why more renewables = lower costs:
1. Wind and solar generators have zero fuel costs, so they win wholesale energy auctions and displace more expensive power plants. These savings are passed on to all consumers.
2. Rooftop and community solar reduce peak demand, which reduces the amount of capacity that grid operators need to buy. These savings are passed on to all consumers.
3. Rooftop and community solar customers receive direct savings on their bills.
* The governor was answering a reporter’s question today about the remap when he said that the final, detailed Census numbers wouldn’t be distributed to the states until September but that Illinois has to act by June 30th. That claim prompted this hollering from a Statehouse reporter…
That’s a fallacy! June 30th is a fallacy!
A fallacy? Not if you’re in the super-majority party. From the constitution…
If no redistricting plan becomes effective by June 30 of that year, a Legislative Redistricting Commission shall be constituted not later than July 10. The Commission shall consist of eight members, no more than four of whom shall be members of the same political party.
The Speaker and Minority Leader of the House of Representatives shall each appoint to the Commission one Representative and one person who is not a member of the General Assembly. The President and Minority Leader of the Senate shall each appoint to the Commission one Senator and one person who is not a member of the General Assembly. […]
If the Commission fails to file an approved redistricting plan, the Supreme Court shall submit the names of two persons, not of the same political party, to the Secretary of State not later than September 1.
Not later than September 5, the Secretary of State publicly shall draw by random selection the name of one of the two persons to serve as the ninth member of the Commission.
As we’ve talked about many times before, the Republicans want this lottery because it gives them a 50-50 chance at drawing the map. The super-majority Democrats do not want this lottery because it gives the Republicans a 50-50 chance at drawing the map.
* Former Gov. George Ryan was at the Sangamo Club yesterday for a book-signing, so I stopped by. First thing he asked was where my book was. I told him I forgot my copy at home, but said I’d bring it up to Kankakee this summer…
The Illinois Latino Legislative Caucus affirms its unconditional support for HB2908, an elected and representative school board for the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), sponsored by Representative Delia Ramirez. Latino families, who make up a majority of CPS’ students, overwhelmingly supported the elected school board referendum in 2015 with 90 percent of voters in favor of increasing democracy. This is why we also firmly support SB1565, sponsored by Senator Villanueva, to give undocumented immigrants the right to vote for their local school board members. Our families consistently demand greater representation and shared accountability. They have waited too long to have a say in who makes decisions over their children’s school district and this basic democratic right is afforded to parents in all other school districts across Illinois.
We are deeply disappointed by recent efforts to pit undocumented and documented Latino immigrant families against each other over the current elected school board proposal. These tactics serve to distract, disrupt, and deny authentic democracy as they seek to preserve the status quo by solidifying centralized Mayoral control, limiting parental and family decision-making, and appointing board members who are not required to be accountable to the people.
Instead of pitting families against each other with disingenuous attacks on an elected school board, we urge everyone concerned about immigrant rights and representation to join the Latino Caucus by supporting SB 1565, to give undocumented immigrants the right to vote for elected school board members, and SB 148, sponsored by Senator Omar Aquino which would make it easier for undocumented parents to serve in Local School Councils.
We stand firmly behind the overwhelming majority of CPS parents and educators who want legislation this session to create a fully elected and representative school board for CPS.
Reporters out of Chicago are alleging that Democratic Mayor Lori Lightfoot is now granting interviews only to journalists of color.
No.
* Locally…
I'm afraid I take a different view. I am not disputing the point that "Politicians don't get to choose who covers them" & I support Greg. But, I think the Mayor's gesture is doing exactly what it was designed to do. It's sparking a needed discussion on Diversity among the Media.
Craig is right. Besides, politicians grant limited access or exclusive interviews all the time. The Tribune surely knows this.
* This decision applies only to interviews about the second anniversary of her swearing-in. It is not some blanket policy. From the mayor’s Twitter account…
I ran to break up the status quo that was failing so many. That isn’t just in City Hall.
It’s a shame that in 2021, the City Hall press corps is overwhelmingly White in a city where more than half of the city identifies as Black, Latino, AAPI or Native American.
Diversity and inclusion is imperative across all institutions including media. In order to progress we must change.
This is exactly why I’m being intentional about prioritizing media requests from POC reporters on the occasion of the two-year anniversary of my inauguration as mayor of this great city.
This is an imbalance that needs to change. Chicago is a world-class city. Our local media should reflect the multiple cultures that comprise it.
We must be intentional about doing better. I believed that when running for office. I stand on this belief now. It’s time for the newsrooms to do better and build teams that reflect the make-up of our city.
Again, politicians routinely grant exclusive interviews, but it’s almost always the white reporters who benefit simply because we’re the majority.
…Adding… Fairly certain the answer to this is ‘No.’ That’s not the point at all…
NBC anchor Mary Ann Ahern: 'Does [Mayor Lightfoot] think I'm racist? Is that what she's saying?' https://t.co/gmfDdLYokv
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 1,633 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 28 additional deaths.
- Cook County: 1 male 20s, 1 female 30s, 1 male 60s, 2 females 70s, 1 male 70s, 3 males 80s, 3 females 90s, 1 male 90s
- DeKalb County: 1 male 80s, 1 male 90s
- Franklin County: 1 male 90s
- Lake County: 1 female 80s
- Macon County: 1 male 80s
- McDonough County: 1 female 70s, 1 female 80s
- Peoria County: 1 female 60s, 1 male 70s, 1 female 80s
- Tazewell County: 1 male 80s
- Will County: 1 female 70s, 1 female 90s
- Williamson County: 1 male 60s
- Winnebago County: 1 male 90s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 1,370,342 cases, including 22,494 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 67,166 specimens for a total of 23,972,125. As of last night, 1,518 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 405 patients were in the ICU and 224 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from May 12-18, 2021 is 2.3%. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from May 12-18, 2021 is 2.7%.
A total of 10,551,158 vaccines have been administered in Illinois as of last midnight. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 62,884 doses. Yesterday, 117,381 doses were reported administered in Illinois. The server pharmacies use to report doses was experiencing delays over the past several days and many doses were not entered. Those doses have now been added and are included in today’s number.
*All data are provisional and will change. In order to rapidly report COVID-19 information to the public, data are being reported in-time. Information is constantly being entered into an electronic system and the number of cases and deaths can change as additional information is gathered. For health questions about COVID-19, call the hotline at 1-800-889-3931 or email dph.sick@illinois.gov.
Gov. Pritzker Announces Six-Year $20.7 Billion Construction Plan Made Possible By Rebuild Illinois
Proposed Highway Improvement Program Will Improve 2,779 Miles of Roads and 7.9 Million Square Feet of Bridge Deck, Creating Thousands of Jobs
Full Amtrak Service to Resume July 19th Following Reduced COVID-19 Schedule
SPRINGFIELD – Governor JB Pritzker joined the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) and labor, legislative and local leaders today to announce the release of a $20.7 billion multi-year plan to improve Illinois’ roads and bridges over the next six years. This robust commitment, fueled by the historic, bipartisan Rebuild Illinois capital plan, will reinforce Illinois’ leadership as a transportation hub and create thousands of jobs as the state seeks to spur economic growth following the COVID-19 pandemic. The latest multi-year plan builds on significant infrastructure investment over the past two years, with over 2,700 miles of state and local roadways and 290 bridges already improved through Rebuild Illinois.
With more than 4.9 million Illinoisans fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and 64% of residents age 18 and over receiving at least their first dose, the Governor also announced the return of full Amtrak service in Illinois beginning July 19th. In accordance with CDC guidance, face masks are still required on public transit, including trains, to prevent community spread.
“With all that’s been built over the last two years, even through a global pandemic, today we are announcing the new Multi-Year Plan for the next six years that will reconstruct over 2,700 more miles of roads and nearly 8 million square feet of bridges. And of course, the projects in this MYP will continue to create and support hundreds of thousands of jobs for hardworking Illinoisans across our state – bolstering our pandemic recovery in yet one more way,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “Rebuild Illinois is about investing for the future – supporting this generation and the next, making sure we have good jobs and the roads to get there, and building a state where opportunity is just around the corner for everyone, no matter where you’re standing.”
HIGHWAY IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM
Based on current funding levels, the FY2022-27 Proposed Highway Improvement Program aims to improve 2,779 miles of roads and 7.9 million square feet of bridge deck. Of the $20.7 billion over the six years of the program, $3.32 billion has been identified for the upcoming fiscal year.
Included in the program are a multitude of projects that will create economic opportunity, enhance quality of life, and improve safety on both the IDOT and local transportation systems.
Project selection was based on objective criteria, such as pavement conditions, traffic volumes and crash history. Of the major elements in the plan for IDOT roads and bridges, investments include: $5.79 billion for highway reconstruction and preservation, $4.82 billion for bridge improvements, $2.59 billion for strategic expansion, $1.43 billion for system support such as engineering and land acquisition, and $1.21 billion for safety and system modernizations.
“Under the governor’s leadership, we are continuing to build and sustain infrastructure that gives Illinois its competitive edge and strengthens our status as the transportation hub of North America,” said Acting Illinois Transportation Secretary Omer Osman. “This latest multiyear program means we will keep making historic improvements in our transportation system, just as we have throughout the pandemic. As people start to explore and travel Illinois again, we want passenger rail to be a viable option as well.”
The program will create and support hundreds of thousands of earning opportunities over the next six years for Illinois residents in communities across the state. As the state and national economy continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, these jobs will be a critical source for families working to get back on their feet.
“This plan will put us on a path to providing equitable, data-driven solutions for underserved communities across the state. As Chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, I am excited to see these projects implemented and to see much-needed investment in our communities,” said Senator Ram Villivalam (D-Chicago).
“The Rebuild Illinois program is the largest infrastructure investment in Illinois’ history, and continues to have a transformational impact on central Illinois,” said Senator Doris Turner (D-Springfield). “This financial commitment is not just about streets and highways or roads and bridges. It is invigorating communities, spurring economic development, and putting people to work.”
“Illinois is the transportation hub of the Midwest, and I am pleased to see that maintaining and improving our roads and bridges remains a priority through this new multi-year plan,” said Senator Donald DeWitte (R-St. Charles), who serves as the Minority Spokesperson of the Senate Transportation Committee. “Especially as we begin to move out of the pandemic, a reliable transportation grid is essential to restoring economic vitality to businesses that have endured immense difficulty over the last 14 months.”
“As Illinois residents begin to travel throughout the state once again regularly for both work and leisure following the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring our infrastructure provides safe, efficient means to do so is a top priority of mine. The Multi-Year Plan does just that,” said Senator Melinda Bush (D – Grayslake). “Furthermore, the projects outlined in the plan will provide thousands of jobs for hardworking Illinoisans who have longed for a return to work. I was proud to support the Rebuild Illinois Program, and look forward to seeing it carried out right here in Lake County and across the state.”
“Illinois needs reliable infrastructure capable of move people and goods safely across the state. Alleviating congestion, resurfacing roads, and rehabilitating bridges are key activities to keep economic activity and prosperity flowing across Illinois. I commend Governor Pritzker for leading the way in keeping Illinois competitive while we create good-paying jobs,” said Senator Omar Aquino (D-Chicago).
Passed in 2019, Gov. Pritzker’s bipartisan Rebuild Illinois plan, the first of its kind in nearly a decade, promotes economic growth by investing a total of $33.2 billion into the state’s aging transportation system. Rebuild Illinois is not only the largest capital program in state history, but also the first one that touches all modes of Illinois transportation: roads and bridges, transit, waterways, freight and passenger rail, aviation, and bicycle and pedestrian accommodations.
RESUMING AMTRAK SERVICE
With the number of positive COVID-19 cases continuing to decrease and the demand for public transportation expanding, Amtrak will resume full passenger rail service, providing another efficient transportation option to connect residents across the state.
A full long-distance interstate schedule will restore four state-sponsored lines. The Chicago-Milwaukee partnership with Wisconsin will resume next week. The three state sponsored routes connecting Chicago and Quincy, Chicago and Carbondale, and Chicago and St. Louis, will run at full capacity by mid-July. Passengers can reserve tickets for travel starting the week of July 19th on Amtrak.com beginning this week.
Amtrak previously announced a return to normal operations for the Hiawatha Service on May 23rd, a partnership of Illinois and Wisconsin departments of transportation that runs between Chicago and Milwaukee with a stop in Glenview.
“As Amtrak begins our 50th year of service nationally, we look forward to growing our ridership back to normal levels and celebrating this fall when our Illinois DOT partnership celebrates its 50th anniversary on Nov. 4,” said Amtrak Vice President Ray Lang, responsible for Amtrak’s state-supported services.
The increased capacity builds upon the administration’s robust efforts to safely connect communities and help lift local economies. Under Rebuild Illinois, a total of $1.1 billion is allocated for rail improvements alone. The critical investments include $78 million in new funds to upgrade rail crossings and improve safety, which will create and support opportunities for hardworking Illinoisans.
Amtrak has stations in 30 communities in Illinois, serving more than a million riders annually prior to the pandemic. For a full list of stops, schedule, and fare information, visit Amtrak.com/Midwest.
Beginning with the 2022-2023 school year, requires every public high school to include in its curriculum a unit of instruction on media literacy; sets forth what topics the unit of instruction shall include. Provides that the State Board of Education shall determine how to prepare and make available instructional resources and professional learning opportunities for educators that may be used for the development of the unit of instruction.
But Sen. Terri Bryant, R-Murphysboro, questioned how objective schools could be in teaching students how to evaluate news stories by separating factual news from “fake news.”
“What’s fake news and what is not fake news,” she asked.
Villa replied that teachers are trained in how to instruct students in media usage and that the difference between fake news and real news is the same as the difference between fiction and nonfiction.
“So the teachers themselves would be deciding what’s fake news, by their own opinion,” Bryant asked.
She asked hypothetically what would happen if a district decided that CNN anchor Anderson Cooper was a liar. “They could basically say that anything Anderson Cooper says is fake news,” Bryant said.
Villa, however, said the instruction would just be designed to teach students how to verify information in a news story in order to evaluate for themselves what is accurate and what is not.
The Illinois Legislature, in a historic and symbolically powerful gesture, is likely as early as this week to abolish the criminalization of HIV transmission. House Bill 1063 sailed through the House in April, with bipartisan support, and looks certain to be approved by the Senate and signed into law by Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
Illinois then will have joined five other states since 2014 — California, Colorado, Iowa, Michigan and North Carolina — that have put an end to the criminalization of HIV transmission and it will be setting a fine example for 33 other states that still have such laws.
To understand how the laws came to be in the first place — how a public health crisis became a matter for cops and prisons — it helps to recall the fear, even hysteria, that swept the country in the early 1980s as Americans became aware of a mysterious and deadly new disease, AIDS.
People feared they could catch the bug just by touching somebody, and there were no effective medical treatments. Some state laws criminalized biting or spitting by an HIV-positive person, though saliva was not a probable transmission risk.
Adding to the fear was the loathing. Homophobia, more intense then than it is today, made it easier for legislatures to write laws that treated people with HIV — mostly gay men — as criminals rather than victims. No other sexually transmitted or communicable disease, such as tuberculosis, hepatitis or syphilis, could put you in line for jail.
As lawmakers continue to hash out budget details for how to spend Illinois taxpayers’ money, one tax credit in the governor’s crosshairs has private school advocates fighting to keep it alive.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said this week his proposal to limit the Invest In Kids tax credit program is less expensive for the state’s taxpayers.
“I don’t want scholarships to go away at all,” Pritzker said Monday. “What we’re trying to do, two things, one is we introduced a budget that is balanced in a pandemic, and one of the changes that we proposed making is to rely on federal tax benefits and tax deductions rather than state tax credits.”
The governor’s proposal would drop the Invest In Kids tax credit from 70% to 40% with an impact of $14 million. That’s one of nine different tax credit programs the governor is looking to either limit or end for a total impact of $932 million.
Democratic lawmakers in both chambers of Congress have a 100% vaccination rate against Covid-19, a CNN survey of Capitol Hill found this week, significantly outpacing Republicans in the House and Senate and illustrating the partisan divide over the pandemic.
For Republicans, at least 44.8% of House members are vaccinated and at least 92% of senators are, CNN found.
A group of House Republicans revolted over their chamber’s mask rules on Tuesday, the latest sign of tensions boiling over as Congress wrestles with how and when to return to pre-pandemic routines.
Around a dozen Republicans refused to wear masks during the evening vote series and strategically stood at the well of the chamber, which appears on the C-SPAN cameras, and seemed to encourage other members to join in.
Lawmakers face hefty fines if they don’t wear masks on the House floor: $500 for the first offense and $2,500 for the second offense. The money is deducted from their salaries.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) snapped a selfie with a few other maskless members and posted it to social media. Taking pictures on the House floor is against longstanding rules due to security concerns.
At one point, Rep. Robin Kelly (D-Ill.) came over and confronted the rebellious crew and asked them to be more respectful of other members and staff.
One of those other members was freshman US Rep. Mary Miller…
— Congresswoman Mary Miller (@RepMaryMiller) May 18, 2021
Since so many of my Republican colleagues refuse to get vaccinated, we still have to wear masks on the floor.
Today I confronted them for being inconsiderate of members and staff. Children wear masks to school all day but these childish members won't wear one for 30 minutes.
The percentage of American adults saying they will get a COVID-19 vaccine (14%) or have already gotten one (59%) held steady at 73% this month.
There is a question, though, of whether the country has hit a plateau, as daily vaccinations continue to decline, and as a quarter of Americans continue to say they will not get vaccinated — a number that has held steady since March.
The least likely to say they will get vaccinated continue to be Trump supporters (43%) and Republicans (41%), particularly Republican men (44%). But a third of Americans under 45 also say they will not get the shot.
There is no real statistical difference in hesitancy between white and Black Americans — 73% of whites say they’ve either gotten the vaccine or will get it; 75% of Black Americans said the same (69% of Latinos also said so).
Americans are overwhelmingly supportive of providing doses of vaccines to other countries that need it — 84% said it’s a good idea.
* If those results are right, you wouldn’t know it by looking at this Chicago map from WBEZ . Maybe people are willing to get vaxed and are unable for some reason? Whatever it is, this needs further debate…
In a recent interview with WBEZ, Arwady said her department is now shifting its focus to the 13 ZIP codes with the lowest vaccination rates. In recent weeks, as the pop-up clinics have come to an end, the Department of Public Health is driving a vaccination bus around town, stopping at schools and parks in these neighborhoods on the weekends when it’s easy to get people to come out.
The vaccination bus schedule posted online will target four majority Black neighborhoods — South Shore, Englewood, Roseland and Austin — through May. These neighborhoods have some of the city’s lowest vaccination rates. Anyone 12 and older is eligible, and appointments are not required.
The health department has also issued two $10 million requests for proposals to continue some of the work Protect Chicago Plus started. The first, released in March, was seeking “Regional Vaccinators” for five equity zones on the South and West Sides to operate mobile vaccination sites and administer shots in specific settings, like factories.
“We’re not thinking in terms of if a site can [vaccinate] thousands a day. We’re like, ‘Can a site do hundreds a day? And where can we put additional sites?’ ” Arwady said.
Wednesday, May 19, 2021 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Last month, the Illinois House unanimously passed House Bill 3498 to ensure access to innovative telehealth services beyond the pandemic, which will reduce access barriers and improve patient outcomes. Backed by the Coalition to Protect Telehealth, the bill preserves access to telehealth flexibilities that benefit patients.
During the pandemic, healthcare professionals throughout Illinois have made sure patients could continue needed healthcare services using telehealth. Hospitals and health systems have maintained continuity in care through investments in new technology and adjustments to clinical workflows. Here are a few examples:
• University of Chicago Medicine: Clinicians can monitor patients’ health by remotely measuring blood sugar levels, heart rhythm and oxygen levels in the blood, and quickly make adjustments in treatment that improve outcomes.
• Hospital Sisters Health System: The Springfield-based system acquired technology so patients could more easily utilize virtual care services, and bolstered telehealth use for both inpatient and outpatient services.
• Sinai Health System: Increased telehealth flexibilities and reimbursement have allowed Sinai Chicago to maintain access to care and continue critical outreach and community programs, such as its elder abuse program through Sinai Community Institute.
* Background to this infuriating story is here and here if you need it. ACLU of Illinois…
“We are pleased to announce the successful resolution of Butler v. Staes, et al., a matter first filed in January 2020. We filed this case after our client Jaylan – an innocent college student returning from a swim meet on his team’s bus – was taken to the ground and had a gun held to his head by police officers. After reaching a settlement with two of the officers who directly interacted with Jaylan on that fateful evening, Jaylan has filed a stipulation to dismiss the remaining claims.
We filed this case to seek accountability for Jaylan and to raise awareness of the degree to which traumatic police interactions harm individuals, even when the person harmed is able to walk away. We believe, and Jaylan concurs, that our actions to date have satisfied those goals. Now, Jaylan can put this matter behind him and continue his private life as a student, athlete, and young man.
We are so pleased to have worked on this case, and to represent Jaylan as he pursued accountability for the actions taken against him by police officers. Jaylan was determined to ensure that his experience would not simply fly under the radar the way abusive police interactions with young Black men often do. Despite all of the challenges of the last year, Jaylan has remained committed to this quest for accountability – both for himself and for the wider community – and continues to seek to ensure that police officers treat young Black men like himself with dignity and respect.
We thank our co-counsel at Sidley Austin and all of those who have been part of the legal team supporting Jaylan. We also thank Jaylan‘s family for their support and partnership at every step in this process. We wish Jaylan the best of luck in the future and are pleased that this matter has been resolved in a positive fashion.”
Statement of Jaylan Butler:
“The memories of that night being pressed to the ground, with officers swearing at me and a gun pointed at my head, will remain with me forever. But I know that unlike other Black men who have been stopped and manhandled by police, I got to go home. For me, this lawsuit has always been about holding the officers accountable for their actions that night. I believe I have accomplished that goal. As a result, I am happy to dismiss the suit and move forward.
I want to thank all of the people from across the country who were supportive of me during this time. I value your well wishes and words of appreciation more than I can say.
The end of this lawsuit is not the end of the fight for police accountability. We must ensure that officers are held to account when they violate someone’s constitutional rights. This is an effort that I will continue to support for the rest of my life.”
Corinne Wood, the former Illinois Lieutenant Governor under Gov. George Ryan, has died after a 15-year battle with breast cancer, her husband, Paul, confirmed on Tuesday evening.
Wood served as the state’s first female lieutenant governor from 1999 to 2003. She would have turned 67 years old on May 28. Wood, an attorney, served as a Republican state house member, representing the 59th District, before becoming lieutenant governor.
In 2002, she sought the Republican nomination for governor to succeed the retiring Ryan. She finished third in the primary losing to Attorney General Jim Ryan. That year, Gov. Rod Blagojevich became the first Democrat to win that office since 1977.
She made her presence known more than most LGs before and since. Wood was no shrinking violet. And she had such a strong spirit and optimism as she dealt with cancer. She just would not give up. All respect.
* Lt. Governor Juliana Stratton…
It was with great sorrow that I learned of the passing of Corinne Wood who died after waging a courageous battle against breast cancer. As the first woman to serve as lieutenant governor of Illinois, she was a trailblazer bringing her authentic self to the office and elevating the issue of women’s health. She paved the way for women like me to serve in this role. My husband Bryan and I send our prayers and heartfelt condolences to the family.
The Board of Directors and staff of CHANGE Illinois mourn the death of groundbreaking former Republican Lt. Gov. Corinne G. Wood, a long-time board director and champion of CHANGE Illinois and the effort to achieve independent mapping in Illinois.
Surrounded by her immediate family, Corinne died peacefully from complications related to her 15-year struggle with metastatic breast cancer.
“We have lost a friend, guiding light, and staunch ally. Corrine’s grace and brilliance will be dearly missed,” said CHANGE Illinois Board Co-Chair Deborah Harrington.
Corinne was a mother and wife, an attorney, a former member of the Illinois General Assembly, and the first female Lieutenant Governor of the State of Illinois.
She remained active in many political, civic and social endeavors after leaving office.
“Corinne Wood was committed to improving Illinois long after her tenure in elected office ended,” said CHANGE Illinois Executive Director Madeleine Doubek. “As a reporter, I covered Wood during her time in office. When I joined CHANGE Illinois, Corinne turned the tables and frequently asked tough, incisive questions about our fight for independent mapping and improved ethics in Illinois. We were better for it and for her contributions. We need more committed public servants like Corinne fighting for Illinois.”
She is survived by her husband, Paul, and three adult children, Ashley, Brandon and Courtney. Funeral and memorial service arrangements are pending.
Parents and students rallied at the Capitol today to remove the masks from children. I was proud to stand with them in support of our children, their mental health, and education. Other states are having success dropping the masks and it’s past time Illinois did the same. pic.twitter.com/hWN9SRHTF2
— Darren Bailey for Governor (@DarrenBaileyIL) May 18, 2021
I really don’t get those people.
* But let’s zoom in…
Won’t get the vax, won’t wear a mask. Yeah, that’s a great coalition to build when running for governor. /s
When James McIntyre advocates for queer kids facing abuse and neglect in the state’s foster care system, he draws on painful personal experience of his own time in the system—and the abuse he endured. McIntyre was only three years old when his parents’ drug use and neglect forced Illinois child protection authorities to place him and his four siblings in foster care. A couple eventually adopted him and two siblings years later, but that home wasn’t the solace he was promised.
He tells the Reader that after he turned seven years old, his adoptive mother would beat and starve him. And her biological son raped him for years. After escaping that home by feigning mental illness, McIntrye says he was shuffled between foster homes until he turned 21 and aged out of the system.
Amid all the trauma and abuse, McIntyre says being gay made his circumstances even worse. From the state’s Department of Children and Family Services, from foster agencies, and from foster families themselves, he says he was routinely told to hide the fact that he was gay. “Being gay was seen as a safety risk,” he says. “And so instead, they force the gay kids in the closet and say, ‘We don’t have any gay kids.’ Because then it would be seen as an unsafe situation to acknowledge that one of their kids is gay.”
In February, the state’s auditor general reported that the Illinois DCFS failed in myriad ways to adequately care for LBGTQ+ kids. The report found “a lack of reliable and consistent information regarding LGBTQ youth in the care of the department'’ and “a lack of monitoring and oversight of private agency compliance” with its policies and procedures related to LGBTQ+ youth. […]
The 16 recommendations in the auditor’s report mostly target the agency’s lack of enforcement and oversight of its policies related to LGBTQ+ youth, known as Appendix K. But the report also states that the agency has no formal process for identifying LGBTQ+ youth, with housing placement practices being similarly opaque. […]
In a statement provided to the Reader, the agency said that it has taken “aggressive measures to improve the services and care provided to LGBTQI+ youth since the time period covered by this audit.” A representative for the department says the audit additionally doesn’t reflect the current state of the department, as it uses data mostly from 2017 and 2018.
* OK, but have things improved since then? I asked the Illinois ACLU’s Ed Yohnka that question…
Generally I would say that the experiences of most LGBTQ youth in care have not significantly improved over the time we have been investigating their experiences – since 2017. We acknowledge DCFS has done some work to address this population’s needs since the time of the audit, but that work has not yet translated into any better experiences for young people in state care.
*** UPDATE *** DCFS…
The Department of Children and Family Services, under its current leadership, has taken aggressive measures to improve the services and care provided to LGBTQI+ youth since the time period covered by this audit. The progress is outlined in our audit responses, and DCFS continues to work diligently to provide resources and guidance to its staff and external partners to ensure that we meet the needs of this vulnerable population.
Background…
As part of our commitment to providing services across the state, DCFS has created a new hiring plan and is working to fill every vacancy as quickly as possible. The newly created position of Chief for LGBTQI+ Services has recently been filled.
This audit was conducted in 2019 using data primarily from 2017 and 2018.
Recent efforts include maintaining and expanding a list of providers, agencies, and organizations across the state that are available to meet the needs of LGBTQI+ youth. These providers include affirming therapists, LGBTQI+ organizations and agencies, and health care professionals that provide gender-affirming hormone therapy.
In June 2020, the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services Clinical Division and Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion began a coordinated effort to expand programmatic support for LGBTQI+ youth in care.
The Clinical Division completes staffing and consultations, while providing clinical recommendations regarding interventions, resources, and resource linkages for the youth in care.
The DEI LGBTQI+ Services team is addressing competency training needs and recruitment of affirming caregivers, continuing to build resources, and investigating all claims of discrimination as it relates to our LGBTQI+ youth and their families.
The Clinical Division and DEI are working closely together to ensure that DCFS is following best practices for LGBTQI+ youth and their families.
The Illinois Senate is gearing up for a debate over a package of ethics reforms, possibly as early as this week, but it’s one that Republicans say doesn’t go far enough.
Senate Bill 4, which moved out of the Senate Ethics Committee on April 21, is a package written largely by legislative Democrats that would enact new rules governing lobbying, campaign fundraising, who can serve on political committees and the operations of the General Assembly. […]
That bill reportedly has been the subject of negotiations between the chairs of the Senate and House ethics committees, Sen. Ann Gillespie, D-Arlington Heights, and Rep. Kelly Burke, D-Evergreen Park. But Gillespie indicated Monday that further changes may be made before the bill comes up for a vote. […]
Senate Republicans, however, argued in a news conference Monday that while the Democrats’ bill has some good reforms, it falls short of the kind of ethics legislation that they say Illinois needs.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, from June 6 , 2021 through July 10, 2021, a retail licensee may offer a single drink of alcoholic liquor at no cost to a customer as part of a publicly advertised promotion to encourage participation in any COVID-19 vaccination program if the customer provides proof of COVID-19 vaccination received at any time. Drinks may be provided under this Section only from 12 p.m. through 10 p.m.
House Speaker Chris Welch has signed on as a co-sponsor of the underlying bill.
* This Republican-sponsored Senate bill (Anderson) had its deadline extended to May 21st by the Democrats and then yesterday the Democrats agreed to waive the posting requirements so it could be heard in committee today…
Amends the Fireworks Regulation Act of Illinois. Provides that the storage, possession, sale, and use of nonfireworks shall be permitted at all times throughout the State. Requires regulation of nonfireworks, including their storage and sale, to be consistent with the standards set forth in the National Fire Protection Association’s Code for the Manufacture, Transportation, Storage and Retail Sales of Fireworks and Pyrotechnic Articles, 2006 edition. Provides that the amendatory provisions do not apply to the City of Chicago. Defines “nonfireworks”.
When a West Side preschooler was banned by his school from wearing his hair in braids, his mother resolved to take a stand against the school’s hair policy.
Though the school, Providence St. Mel, has not backed down, the family’s fight to wear their Black hair with pride has inspired a state bill that would bar schools from discriminating against students based on their hairstyle.
The bill drafted by Sen. Mike Simmons (7th) with the Illinois State Board of Education would require schools to remove any language from their policies and handbooks that prohibits students from wearing Black hairstyles. The bill was overwhelmingly approved by the state Senate last week and will now move to the House.
High-profile incidents of schools and workplaces cracking down on Black hairstyles — including one in North Carolina last week where a softball player was forced to cut her hair during a game — have pushed more states to pass laws to ban hair discrimination. California, New York and New Jersey were the first states to adopt versions of the CROWN Act — Create a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair — and several other states have adopted or considered similar measures.
* Other stuff…
* At long last, a new Illinois energy bill is likely imminent
* They all eventually masked up when called out for their House rules violation by Democrats…
Most House members are still wearing masks, except for a few Republicans. Ironically, they’re the same group that sent a letter to MLB teams protesting vaccination zones in stadiums because they might “stigmatize” unvaccinated people. pic.twitter.com/wsmmgldsqU
A year ago experts predicted that one-third of the restaurants in America might close in 2020 as a result of the pandemic. Chef and activist Tom Colicchio said the number of casualties could go as high as 75%.
New data from the National Restaurant Association, a Washington-based industry group, found that 90,000 restaurants across the U.S. have closed permanently or long-term. That’s less than 14% of the country’s restaurants. It’s lower than the 110,000 figure reported by the association in December, when the executive vice president for public affairs, Sean Kennedy, described the industry’s status as “an economic free fall.”
While that’s still disastrous compared with the 50,000 restaurants that shutter in a typical year, the most dire scenarios were averted thanks to such initiatives as government loans like the Paycheck Protection Program and changes in local restrictions.
* The mayor announces the return of Lollapalooza. Warning: You will not get these two minutes back…
🚨NEWS🚨 @chicagosmayor & @lollapalooza organizers are thrilled to announce that the world class festival will return to Grant Park at full capacity July 29-August 1, 2021.
Full COVID-19 vaccination or negative COVID-19 test results will be required to attend Lollapalooza. pic.twitter.com/mrG5TuXqbm
When Gov. J.B. Pritzker eased statewide mask requirements Monday, many businesses in Chicago, where the mask rule remains in place, were still scrambling to figure out how to respond to last week’s updated guidance from federal health officials.
Some businesses worried they would face more pushback from customers who took new guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as permission to visit barefaced. Others were wary of prying into customers’ vaccination status.
“There was no warning, and it put us in a position where we had to plan for it immediately,” Julia Steiner, a bookseller at The Book Cellar in Chicago’s Lincoln Square neighborhood, said shortly before the governor’s announcement.
After the CDC released its guidance, The Book Cellar posted signs and messages on social media saying masks would be required until further notice. The store wanted to make sure everyone is able to browse, including kids who aren’t yet eligible for the vaccine and those with health conditions who can’t get vaccinated, Steiner said.
* Other stories…
* Constable: Are those who don’t wear masks vaccinated or … ‘the other’?: “In horror and science fiction there is the thing called ‘the other.’ Things that threaten to change us,’” explains Dann Gire, the legendary film critic and a founding director and past president of the Chicago Film Critics Association. Gire thinks this column’s premise merits four stars, but, as with some films, he might give the end result a two-star rating. “The other” can take the form of zombies, aliens, robots, insanity or just death, but there are worse things than death. “It’s much worse to be assimilated and become ‘the other,’” Gire says.
Tuesday, May 18, 2021 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
From OSF HealthCare’s new OnCall building in Peoria, healthcare professionals manage telehealth services across the system’s 14 hospitals and in its primary and specialty care offices. Catapulted by the pandemic, telehealth can address health inequities and disparities.
Jennifer Junis, senior vice president of OSF OnCall Digital Health, told WCBU that telehealth can be particularly helpful in rural areas where distance may limit access to care. As part of its telehealth efforts, OSF HealthCare deployed hotspot tablets in rural households that lack WiFi or internet.
To reduce barriers and improve patient outcomes, the Coalition to Protect Telehealth urges the Senate to pass House Bill 3498. This bipartisan legislation, passed unanimously in the House, will ensure Illinoisans continue to have access to innovative telehealth services after the pandemic.
UnityPlace in Peoria offers virtual psychiatric appointments, substance use disorder treatment and group therapy. UnityPlace President Dr. Ted Bender told WCBU it was clear when the pandemic began that remote treatment options would become more common.
“I think it’s here to stay, and I think it’s a great thing,” Dr. Bender said. “It’s going to improve access, which in mental health is the key to everything.”
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 1,495 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 21 additional deaths.
Coles County: 1 female 60s, 1 female 80s
Cook County: 1 male 40s, 1 male 50s, 2 females 60s, 2 males 60s, 1 male 70s, 1 female 80s, 3 males 80s, 1 female 90s
Peoria County: 1 male 60s, 1 female 70s
Tazewell County: 1 male 80s
Will County: 1 male 40s, 1 female 80s, 1 male 80s
Winnebago County: 1 male 70s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 1,368,709 cases, including 22,466 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 58,222 specimens for a total of 23,904,959. As of last night, 1,503 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 407 patients were in the ICU and 234 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from May 11-17, 2021 is 2.3%. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from May 11-17, 2021 is 2.8%.
A total of 10,433,777 vaccines have been administered in Illinois as of last midnight. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 56,593 doses. Yesterday, 25,936 doses were reported administered in Illinois. The server pharmacies use was experiencing delays and some doses administered at pharmacies are missing from yesterday’s number. The issue looks to be resolved and those doses are expected to be included with tomorrow’s data.
*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. For health questions about COVID-19, call the hotline at 1-800-889-3931 or email dph.sick@illinois.gov.
The Chicago City Council’s Black Caucus endorsed on Monday a long-stalled plan to put an elected board of Chicago residents in charge of the Chicago Police Department, joining the City Council’s two other major caucuses in a revolt against Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
Eight months ago, Lightfoot promised to introduce her own plan for an elected board to oversee the CPD after she dropped her support for the measure crafted by a coalition of community organizations under the umbrella of the Grassroots Association for Police Accountability, known as GAPA, saying it would limit her ability to keep the city safe.
Lightfoot has yet to do introduce her own plan despite telling reporters for months it was on the verge of being introduced. The mayor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from WTTW News on Monday afternoon.
Lightfoot’s decision to drop her support of GAPA put her at odds with several of her allies on the Chicago City Council, and ultimately led to supporters of GAPA joining forces with the supporters of a competing proposal known as CPAC to craft a compromise measure known as Empowering Communities for Public Safety.
They now apparently have enough combined votes to override a mayoral veto. So, she could wind up with an elected school board and an elected police board - two promises she made and then backtracked on.
Under the compromise, Chicago voters in the 2022 primary would be asked to approve a binding referendum empowering a civilian police oversight commission to hire and fire the police superintendent, negotiate police contracts and set CPD’s budget.
Lightfoot would lose the power to hire and fire the police superintendent. Her Law Department and hand-picked negotiators would lose the power to negotiate police contracts.
And Lightfoot and aldermen would be stripped of the power they now hold to establish the CPD budget, ceding that power as well to an 11-member civilian oversight commission that would have nine elected commissioners and two mayoral appointees.
Even if voters reject the binding referendum, the 11-member commission would have the final say in disputes over police policy unless two-thirds of the Council decides otherwise. The commission also would be empowered to take a vote of no-confidence in the superintendent and hire and fire the chief administrator of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability. […]
“I wear the jacket, as every mayor does, for violence in this city, for crime in this city. And the notion that we’re gonna outsource that to someone else and have no responsibility — no ability to impact this — I don’t know anybody who thinks that’s a good idea,” Lightfoot said last month during a conference call with City Hall reporters.
Nobody except a super-majority on the city council, that is.
The operator of a proposed Southeast Side metal-shredding and recycling plant is suing the city for more than $100 million in damages, contending officials have improperly stalled and otherwise gone back on their word to let the facility begin operations.
Southside Recycling contends Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration buckled to political pressure and “repeatedly violated” a 2019 agreement, “as well as its own rules and guidelines.” The 2019 agreement set terms of how the company, then operating as General Iron, would move to a 175-acre site at 11600 S. Burley Ave. from its location near the Clybourn Corridor in Lincoln Park. Read the lawsuit at the bottom of this story.
“Following a two-year zoning, rulemaking and permitting review process, SR built the most environmentally conscious recycling facility in the country and has fully complied—and then some—with every city requirement necessary to be granted an operating permit,” the lawsuit states. “Yet, when it came time for the city to follow its own rules and promises and to award the permit to SR, the city chose to avoid, delay and suspend its review of SR’s permit application.”
The suit asks the U.S. District Court to order the city to issue the final permit needed to open the new facility, on which Southside Recycling says it’s already spent more than $80 million. It also asks for “damages well in excess of $100 million.”
The company’s complaint makes a number of arguments that RMG has repeated for more than year as it addressed objections to the move to the Southeast Side. But it also accuses the city of violating its constitutional rights as a landowner. By not issuing a final permit to operate on its own land, the lawsuit claims, the city “has effectively taken the value of RMG’s property without just compensation.”
“This illegal taking is particularly pronounced because the City lured RMG into permanently ceasing operations at the North Side facility and constructing a new facility on the Southeast Side,” the complaint said.
The Chicago Park District is conducting a “broad investigation” into complaints that dozens of workers at the city’s pools and beaches regularly committed “sexual assault, sexual abuse, sexual harassment, workplace violence, and other criminal acts” – sometimes against minors.
Confidential reports obtained recently by WBEZ show investigators with the park district inspector general’s office have already gathered evidence corroborating accusations against at least three male lifeguards for sexual assault, harassment or retaliatory threats against their subordinates – including one incident involving the sexual assault and attempted rape of a 16-year-old girl. The park district’s watchdog says its investigation is “wide-ranging, comprehensive and robust,” with more reports to come.
“Where appropriate, I’ve urged them to make referrals to the appropriate criminal law enforcement authorities,” Lightfoot said at an unrelated news conference in the Bronzeville neighborhood.
When asked if police had been contacted by the park district, the mayor replied, “I don’t have specifics on that, but I’m urging them to do that if the investigation determines that criminal conduct has taken place.”
That’s a pretty weak response.
It’s not mentioned in this Tribune story, but why would a parent ever encourage a kid to work as a Chicago lifeguard with that cloud hanging over the Park District?…
Numerous park districts say they’re well behind their lifeguard hiring goals, with dozens of slots left to fill as opening day approaches. The lingering effects of the pandemic have complicated an already difficult task, some managers say, making teens (and their parents) more reluctant to seek the quintessential summer job. […]
The Chicago Park District also faces a dearth of applicants this year. Chief program manager Alonzo Williams, testifying at a City Council committee hearing earlier this month, put some blame on the COVID-induced shutdowns of a lifeguard apprenticeship program for two years running.
Yeah, maybe stop raping girls.
* Related…
* 2 Chicago police officers shot in Lawndale on West Side, officials say: “This is the 29th officer in 2021 with the Chicago Police Department shot at or shot,” Brown said. “The fifth and sixth officers shot in 2021. These totals for the last 15 months are 108 shot at or shot. Sixteen shot in the last 15 months.”
* Getting Hosed: City Offers 91-Year-Old Retired CPS Teacher A “Payment Plan” For A $57,000 Water Bill: Getting Hosed was going to be a single story about a couple billed $58,000 for water they didn’t use. Now, it’s more than two years of chronicling unfair and potentially unlawful water billing practices in Chicago. The CBS 2 Investigators have found the City department whose taxpayer-funded responsibility it is to provide safe, affordable drinking water has utterly failed consumers and undermined our investigative efforts at every turn.
Tuesday, May 18, 2021 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
We can’t have fair maps if those maps aren’t drawn using the full set of detailed Census data. But, due to census delays, Illinois politicians are planning to use outdated, estimated numbers to draw election maps that will last for a decade.
We know those estimates missed tens of thousands of us. We need the next set of election district maps to fully reflect our communities, and the only way that can happen is if those maps are drawn with current, complete Census data to give all our communities accurate and fair representation.
Call Governor Pritzker’s office today to ask that he push lawmakers to seek court permission to delay the process so that the next set of election maps are drawn with COMPLETE Census data, NOT old estimates.
Tuesday, May 18, 2021 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Employers in Illinois provide prescription drug coverage for nearly 6.7 million Illinoisans. In order to help keep care more affordable, employers work with pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), who deploy a variety of tools to reduce prescription drug costs and help improve health outcomes. In addition to helping employers, PBMs also work with the Illinois Medicaid program in the same way to help control costs. Over the last five years, PBMs have saved the state and taxpayers nearly $340 million.
Today, Illinois faces a multibillion budget shortfall as more Illinoisans are relying on Medicaid to help meet their health care coverage needs. As legislators work to address these challenges, one way to help ensure continued cost savings is by strengthening the PBM tools that the State and employers use, which are poised to save employers, consumers and the State $39 billion over the next 10 years. These are meaningful savings that will help continue to contain costs, ensure consumer access to medicines and drive savings in public health programs.
Amid a pandemic and economic challenges, now is the time to strengthen, not limit, the tools that employers, consumers and the State rely on to manage costs and ensure consumers can access the medicines they need.
Republican state legislators have written to Chicago Cubs and White Sox officials, calling on them to reconsider efforts to separate vaccinated fans from those who aren’t. They’re concerned that separate seating “could stigmatize unvaccinated Illinoisans.”
“We strongly feel that Covid vaccines are a personal medical choice and those that do not receive it should not be excluded or stigmatized… Vaccine passports or solicitation of proof of vaccination should not be a requirement for Illinoisans to enjoy America’s pastime,” according to letters sent to Cubs President of Baseball Operations Jed Hoyer and White Sox President for Baseball Operations Kenny Williams. (They’re the execs concerned about the game on the field, not the butts in seats, but we get the point.)
The letters were signed by GOP Reps. Andrew Chesney, Dan Caulkins, Brad Halbrook, Tony McCombie, Chris Miller, Adam Niemerg, Joe Sosnowski, and Blaine Wilhour.
Spokesmen for the teams say it’s an unnecessary dustup since the special sections end later this month when the capacity level of the stadiums go up from 25 percent to 60 percent, as dictated by the city and state.
* Here’s the letter, which is downright hilarious…
Upon news that the Chicago White Sox will be requiring vaccination credentials to attend certain fan sections of ballgames at Guaranteed Rate Field, we ask for your thoughtful reconsideration of proposals which could stigmatize unvaccinated Illinoisans.
We strongly feel that COVID vaccines are a personal medical choice and those that do not receive it should not be excluded or stigmatized. If you agree, we ask for your intercession with this policy at Guaranteed Rate Field. Vaccine passports or solicitation of proof of vaccination should not be a requirement for Illinoisans to enjoy America’s pastime. Segregation of patrons unwilling or unable to show proof of vaccination would not only be an infringement on the liberties and freedom of Illinoisans, but also a violation of individual medical privacy.
Operation Warp Speed, under President Donald J. Trump, allowed the development of COVID vaccines at a rate we have never seen in world history. These remarkable medical breakthroughs are helping allow Americans to get back to work and are protecting those who are medically able and willing to receive the vaccine. What we cannot permit, though, is disparate treatment of our constituents based on medical treatments. We are deeply troubled by potential stigmatizing of Illinoisans based on medical status. The CDC has not yet advised that all age groups and medical conditions are eligible for COVID vaccination, and as such, many Illinoisans are not yet eligible to receive the vaccine.
Kids should focus on remembering to bring their gloves to ballgames, not be worried about bringing vaccination credentials. We understand people are frustrated with the private-sector-shutdowns imposed by the Pritzker and Lightfoot Administrations and are doing everything they can, as residents and businessowners, to take steps toward a return to “normalcy;” however, that return should not be predicated on exclusion of individuals based on vaccination status.
Respectfully, we request you review and intercede in these policies which we feel are discriminatory and exclusionary.
It sounds like they want to make the unvaxed a protected class.
HHS says protected health information under HIPAA includes information that relates to a person’s past, present or future physical or mental health or condition. HHS has a list of what information is protected on its website.
While HIPAA rules apply to covered entities and specific business associates, the rules don’t extend to most businesses, according to Glenn Cohen, a professor at Harvard Law School.
“Because the average business is not a covered entity or a business associate of a covered entity within the meaning of HIPAA, the statute does not prohibit them asking them about vaccination status,” Cohen said in an email to the VERIFY team.
Kayte Spector-Bagdady, a lawyer and bioethicist who is also the associate director at the University of Michigan’s Center for Bioethics and Social Sciences in Medicine, said there is sometimes a misunderstanding of what HIPAA does.
“People often feel like HIPAA protects them from being asked about their medical information, or prohibits other people from asking about their medical information,” Spector-Bagdady said. “Neither is true. HIPAA prohibits health professionals, such as your doctor, from sharing your identified health information without your permission in most circumstances. People can always ask about your health information, and you can almost always decline to answer. But not answering health questions might come at a cost – such as not being able to enter your workplace or board a plane.”
A little-noticed line in a recent criminal filing suggests federal prosecutors consider a popular political fundraising tactic to be legally questionable.
Why it matters: Fundraisers often boast of “5x” or other contribution matches to coax small-dollar donations. The Justice Department indicated in a court filing Monday this could amount to “material misrepresentations” if, as critics often contend, there’s no evidence the match ever occurs.
Limited-time matching gives ideological supporters extra incentive to donate to a campaign they care about. But legal experts say it is hard to see how donation matching could happen given campaign contribution limits. And there are no accountability mechanisms to determine whether campaigns actually follow through with their promises.
“I think these promised matches are largely a marketing ploy from direct mail fundraising,” said Michael Kang, a law professor at Northwestern whose expertise includes campaign finance. “They stir up contrived urgency.”
Political campaigns have long use matching donations as a fundraising tactic. Roll Call identified several congressional campaigns, both Republican and Democratic, that said they would match donations during the last midterm cycle.
* I get these sorts of pleas a lot…
Rodney Davis has a CRITICAL end-of-month fundraising deadline coming up, and he’s falling behind his fundraising goal.
That’s why I’ve just activated an EMERGENCY 500% matching through MIDNIGHT tonight!
EMERGENCY 500% MATCH DONATE
* Raja Krishnamoorthi uses it often…
RAJA 2X-MATCH: ACTIVE
NAME: Rich Miller
I will personally ensure your gift is 2X-matched by major donors
* But it’s also being done by state campaigns. Here’s Alexi Giannoulias…
Our email match is still going and we are $13,400 short of our $25,000 goal for tomorrow. Can you chip in $25, $50, $100 or whatever you can to help us meet the matching donation?
* ILGOP…
Will you do me a favor and make a donation to the Independent Maps Fund today? I’ve personally authorized a 200% match on all contributions made BEFORE MIDNIGHT TONIGHT.
Nearly every major industrial source of ethylene oxide makes it relatively easy for Americans to know how much of the cancer-causing gas drifts into surrounding communities.
The only outliers are two Illinois-based companies that for years have failed to report emissions to the Toxics Release Inventory, a Tribune review of federal records found.
A Medline Industries plant in north suburban Waukegan last appeared in the inventory during the mid-2000s, even though the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency later determined the facility has been responsible for some of the nation’s highest cancer risks from air pollution.
Oak Brook-based Sterigenics stopped filing annual reports with the EPA in 2018, the same year neighbors and political leaders fought to shut down one of the company’s sterilization plants in west suburban Willowbrook.
Sheesh.
*** UPDATE *** Jesse Greenberg at Medline…
Illinois has the toughest ethylene oxide restrictions in the country. Our emissions data is public and available on the IEPA website for anyone to access at any time. Our Waukegan facility didn’t submit reports to the Toxic Release Inventory because federal rules didn’t require it. The USEPA recently changed that reporting requirement, which we welcome, and as a result the company will file reports moving forward.
* Last week, we discussed Republican gubernatorial candidate Gary Rabine’s position that the state ought to opt out of a federal unemployment program…
Gary Rabine, a candidate for Governor, is calling for Illinois to join the list of a growing number of states opting out of the federal unemployment benefits.
“Small businesses have suffered long enough and now with their inability to find workers to fill their openings, they will suffer longer,” Rabine said. “It is very important that we stop the unemployment stimulus now and get our kids back to school in Illinois.”
Right now, Illinoisans collecting unemployment insurance receive an extra $300 a week from the federal government, intended to help them through the pandemic. Individual governors can opt their states out of that benefit. So far, 18 Republican governors have announced they will not allow their citizens to receive additional money in their unemployment checks. […]
Rival GOP gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey joined Rabine in calling for Illinois to opt out of the unemployment benefits.
“The government over-incentivizes healthy people to stay home which closes businesses and destroys local economies,” the state senator and farmer from downstate Xenia said. “For the last year, I have been standing up for hardworking Illinoisans and advocating to reopen our state and get people back to work.”
Bailey, his wife and the family farm have received more than $2.3 million in federal agricultural subsidies, according to data compiled by the Environmental Working Group.
* Gov. Pritzker was asked about this topic yesterday…
There are a number of reasons that people are collecting unemployment at the moment and why it’s important for them to continue to collect that unemployment. Some people, it isn’t just, I know there’s some talk among Republicans that somehow the people who are collecting it are lazy or they don’t want to work because, gee, they’re getting an extra $300.
The reality is there are many people who have children at home that they still need to take care of because of the circumstances of the pandemic, took them into their circumstances as well where people are afraid to go back to work and they’re staying out of the workforce, or at least staying away from taking a new job.
And these are people who have, those are legitimate reasons that people might remain on unemployment. It’s a temporary time period in which receiving those benefits. But we are slowly but surely, our economy is improving, we are seeing people getting hired. We had roughly about 93,000 people who were hired in the first quarter of the year. So we’ve made a lot of progress, and I don’t want to pull the rug out from under people that have certainly legitimate reasons for remaining on unemployment.
But Rabine said that only “a paltry 266,000 jobs” were added nationally in April, which he says “suggests the federal unemployment benefits are keeping workers out of the workplace.”
“The No. 1 reason now that people aren’t going back to work is fear, or if they can’t find childcare, or schools are still closed,” [Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo] said May 9.
Raimondo’s office pointed to an experimental government survey that asks people why they aren’t working. It’s called the Household Pulse Survey and it’s larger in scope than the readings that the Labor Department uses to gauge the unemployment rate.
In the last half of April, an estimated 6.7 million said they were caring for children not in school or day care. Another 4.2 million said they were “concerned about getting or spreading the coronavirus.” Those numbers don’t map readily to the standard job reports, but they do give a sense of the scale of these factors.
Raimondo said the pandemic was particularly hard on women. At the trough of the pandemic downturn, the unemployment rate for women was 16.1%, nearly three points higher than men. The virus cratered the hospitality industry, a sector where many women work, and it upended day care and schooling, making it harder for them to return to work.
Stefania Albanesi, professor of economics at the University of Pittsburgh, said work schedules in hotels and restaurants can be “unpredictable and non-conventional, so childcare challenges may be particularly severe for mothers when considering those openings.”
Government numbers show that having kids makes a difference in labor force participation, and it matters more for women than men. Labor force participation is still down for both men and women compared with January 2020, but women are coming back into the workforce more slowly. Women with young kids under age 6 got back into the workforce at half the pace of men over that period; among women with school-age children, it’s one-third.
The Supreme Court announced Monday that it would hear a case from Mississippi challenging Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that established a constitutional right to an abortion. Regardless of that outcome, abortion access will likely continue uninterrupted in Illinois due to a series of laws enacted in recent years in anticipation of a federal rollback.
“The Reproductive Health Act does protect a person’s right to make the decision about a pregnancy and while I can’t predict what the Supreme Court would say, it would be our expectation that the Reproductive Health Act would still provide protections here in Illinois,” said Brigid Leahy, senior director of public policy at Planned Parenthood Illinois. […]
“One of the reasons Roe v. Wade needs reviewed, is even proponents of abortion recognize it’s not a well-written decision,” [Bishop Thomas Paprocki of the Diocese of Springfield] said. “The court said (at the time) that we need not resolve the difficult question of when life begins, but that is the question. They sidestepped the question and said they’re just not going to answer it.”
Because of that, he said, it leaves the possibility of regulation open, such as when a fetus is viable. That is widely accepted as during the third trimester, though in practice it has usually been interpreted to allow abortion at any point in the pregnancy.
“Where do you draw the line?” Paprocki said. “The Catholic Church would argue conception (is where to draw it), but even 15 weeks would be an improvement on what we currently have.”
The RHA was passed with the possibility in mind that the Supreme Court would eventually invalidate Roe v. Wade.
The case is an appeal from Mississippi in which the state is asking to be allowed to ban most abortions at the 15th week of pregnancy. The state is not asking the court to overrule Roe v. Wade, or later cases that reaffirmed it.
But many supporters of abortion rights are alarmed and many opponents of abortion are elated that the justices could undermine their earlier abortion rulings. If the court upholds Mississippi’s law, it would be its first ratification of an abortion ban before the point of viability, when a fetus can survive outside the womb. Such a ruling could lay the groundwork for allowing even more restrictions on abortion. That includes state bans on abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected, as early as six weeks.
If Mississippi wins, it gets to enforce its 15-week ban, which lower courts have so far prohibited. In addition, other conservative states would certainly look to copy Mississippi’s law. A decision that states can limit previability abortions would also embolden states to pass more restrictions, which some states have already done and which are already wrapped up in legal challenges. Challenges to those limits would continue.
That said, the immediate practical impact of a win for Mississippi could be muted. That’s because more than 90% of abortions take place in the first 13 weeks of pregnancy, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington have all enacted state laws that explicitly protect the right to an abortion, which will remain in effect in the event that Roe is overturned.
State Rep. Patrick Windhorst, R-Metropolis, was encouraged to see the U.S. Supreme Court take up the appeal.
“I think the Mississippi law should be allowed to stand,” he said, adding that we will know more once the case is heard.
Windhorst would be like to see the court overturn 50-year-old Roe v. Wade decision and 30-year-old Casey decision that gave and affirmed a woman’s right to seek an abortion.
He has sponsored legislation in the past in Illinois to limit abortions to 20 weeks except in the case of serious health issues of the mother.
“If the court was to overturn Roe v. Wade, it would leave the issue up to the states to determine what freedoms or restrictions to apply to abortion,” Windhorst said. “If the court were to uphold the Mississippi statute, my colleagues and I would look at whether some similar legislation could pass in Illinois.”
…Adding… Planned Parenthood Illinois Action…
We are disappointed, but not surprised that the Supreme Court announced it will review Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban, which is a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade. With the conservative-majority Supreme Court, anti-abortion legislatures and governors have become even bolder in their attacks on essential health care.
Illinois passed the Reproductive Health Act in 2019, which recognizes the full range of reproductive health care as a fundamental right and ensures abortion will remain legal in our state even if Roe v. Wade is overturned. While we are grateful for this additional protection, it does not safeguard our residents from all threats to our reproductive rights.
Importantly, Illinois also serves as a safe haven for surrounding states, many of which have increasingly restrictive laws that create medically unnecessary barriers for people seeking abortions and other essential health care. If the Supreme Court allows the Mississippi abortion ban to stand, it would put reproductive health care in jeopardy nationwide. And it would create inequity for abortion care, making where you live and how much money you make determine what health care you can access. We will never stop our fight to help everyone have access to the essential health care they need and deserve.
