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* Press release…
The Senate and House Redistricting Committees will hold a series of public hearings to consider potential changes to legislative boundaries following information recently released by the U.S. Census Bureau.
At least seven hearings will take place to gather input on possible adjustments to the legislative map, as Democrats remain committed to enacting a fair map that reflects the broad racial and geographic diversity of Illinois. All of the hearings will include a virtual component to ensure stakeholders from across the state can safely participate during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Members of the public may request to provide testimony, submit electronic testimony or submit electronic witness slips in advance of the hearings via the General Assembly website www.ilga.gov or through email at redistrictingcommittee@senatedem.ilga.gov and redistrictingcommittee@hds.ilga.gov.
Those who wish to provide testimony at a hearing location will be given the opportunity to do so as well.
This week, there will be seven hearings on the proposed map:
• Thursday, Aug. 26 at 1 p.m. – Joint House and Senate Hearing (Hybrid Hearing – participants may testify in person or via Zoom)
o Room C-600, 6th Floor, Michael A. Bilandic Building, 160 N LaSalle St, Chicago, IL
• Friday, Aug. 27 at 10 a.m. – House Hearing (In-Person Hearing)
o IBEW Local 309, 2000 Mall St., Collinsville, IL
• Friday, Aug. 27 at 12 p.m. – Senate Hearing (Virtual Hearing – participants may testify at the hearing location or via Zoom)
o Will County Board Room, 302 N. Chicago St., Joliet, IL
• Saturday, Aug. 28 at 10 a.m. – Joint House and Senate Hearing (Hybrid Hearing – participants may testify in person or via Zoom)
o Gilmore Auditorium at the Peoria Riverfront Museum, 222 SW Washington St, Peoria, IL
• Saturday, Aug. 28 at 12 p.m. – House Hearing (Virtual Hearing – participates may testify via Zoom)
o Champaign Region
• Saturday, Aug. 28 at 3 p.m. – Senate Hearing (Virtual Hearing – participants may testify at the hearing location or via Zoom)
o Vermilion Room located on the 2nd Floor of the Southern Illinois University at Carbondale SIU Student Center, 1255 Lincoln Dr., Carbondale, IL
• Sunday, Aug. 29 at 10 a.m. – House Hearing (In-Person Hearing)
o Phillips Park Visitors’ Center, 1000 Ray Moses Dr., Aurora, IL
“Our goal throughout this entire process has been to ensure that every person in Illinois receives fair and equal representation. The maps passed in May were drawn with the best data available at the time. Now that the long-awaited Census data has arrived, we will make adjustments as needed,” said Sen. Omar Aquino, D-Chicago, Chair of the Senate Redistricting Committee. “I look forward to once again engaging with community groups and organizations from across Illinois to gain better insight into what the Census data reveals about our state’s changing demographics.”
“Our goal from the beginning has always been passing a map that adheres to state and federal law while reflecting the diversity of this state and remaining a model for the nation for minority representation,” said Rep. Elizabeth Hernandez, D-Cicero, Chairperson of the House Redistricting Committee. “Now that we have received the 2020 census data, I look forward to additional public hearings to gather more testimony from our community organizers, advocacy groups and the general public and make sure all voices are heard as we update our legislative map to reflect the most recent data.”
You’ll recall they held hearings in the spring without a finished map on the table. Looks like the same thing this week.
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60-30-1
Monday, Aug 23, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Illinois Policy Institute…
Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Aug. 20 issued his 20th statewide COVID-19 disaster proclamation, meaning by the end of this new proclamation he will have declared Illinois to be in a state of disaster for 559 consecutive days. […]
Now that Pritzker’s again anointed himself for a 20th time, state lawmakers would be wise to impose some limits. After 559 days, it will be hard to argue the emergency precluded elected representatives from weighing in on one-man rule.
The South is burning with COVID and southern, western, northwestern and parts of central Illinois ain’t doing too great, either. But, yeah, the legislature, which was in session for several months earlier this year and chose to not limit the governor’s powers one iota, ought to come back to town and open ‘er all the way up. Right. Maybe even forbid schools from imposing mask mandates or some such nonsense.
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* Politico…
Republican legislative candidates are coming forward “at a much higher rate” than they did for the 2018 election, a signal that the Illinois GOP is working to make good on a promise to fill every slot on the 2022 ballot.
“I attribute [the uptick] to people understanding the opportunity that we have this cycle and the issues that we’ll run against Democrats,” Jayme Odom, the executive director of the Illinois House Republicans, told Playbook. She says those issues include Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s “overreach” by not working with the legislature to enact Covid-19 mitigation rules, passage of police-reform legislation, and signing a law that decriminalizes possession of certain amounts of fentanyl and cocaine.
On the state Senate side, “More Republicans in the Cook County region are interested in running for state office than I’ve seen before,” says Senate GOP Political Director Nick McNeely.
There’s no litmus test for running, but the House Republican organization is asking whether candidates believe the 2020 election was stolen. “We’re looking for people who are interested in running and who fit the constituency of their district,” said Odom.
The obvious follow-up would be what they’ll do with potential candidates who believe the Big Lie. I’m assuming the House Republicans are weeding out the dead-enders (particularly in the suburbs, where that would be a killer issue), but I wasn’t able to get that confirmed.
* On to redistricting. An Illinois angle in the Guardian…
The first time Kim Brace drew electoral district maps for the state of Illinois, more than 40 years ago, things moved slowly.
He and his colleagues hung maps of the state on the walls in the office of the speaker of the state house of representatives. Someone would climb a ladder, moving different blocks of people into different districts while another took notes below. In the evenings, they would go to the largest bank in Springfield and use a mainframe computer to generate a daily report. Over the course of the four-month legislative session, Brace was able to draw about 10 possibilities for electoral maps.
Ten years later, in the 1990 redistricting cycle, Brace, the president of Election Data Services, a redistricting consulting firm, was back at the drawing board. But this time, he and his colleagues didn’t have to draw on walls. They rigged up two personal computers – one couldn’t handle all the data they needed – with rudimentary mapping software. They drew about 100 potential maps.
By 2000, Brace was able to draw about 1,000 plans. In 2010, the last time he drew maps, he was able to produce 10,000 possible maps. “It lets you see and imagine different alternatives,” Brace said. “It gives me that capability of understanding the parameters and playing field that I’m playing in.”
* Greg Hinz…
Is the South Side lakefront headed toward the same type of revival that has lifted the North Side in recent decades and made neighborhoods such as Lincoln Park, Lake View, Roscoe Village and North Center among the most desirable in the city?
The answer may well be yes, suggests some very solid new data emerging from the 2020 Census.
The phenomenon is in its early stages and is coming from a small base. But it appears real and is backed up by other data. If it continues, it suggests that despite all of Chicago’s other problems, a portion of the city that is heavily Black is making major strides to move up the economic scale.
The data is the first actual population count by community area in the city. It comes from demographer and consultant Frank Calabrese, who developed it while working on upcoming ward reapportionment for the City Council’s Latino Caucus.
* More…
* ‘Illinois Is Absolutely Pivotal’ To Who Controls The U.S. House
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Ruiz to step down
Monday, Aug 23, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Greg Hinz reports on Deputy Gov. Jesse Ruiz’s decision to step down after more than 2.5 years overseeing education agencies…
Ruiz, 56, was not immediately available for comment. But the Chicago lawyer is believed headed back into private practice. An affable and generally well liked official, Pritzker noted that he’d frequently show up at the office with a smile on his face and a box of doughnuts from his favorite bakery in his hands.
Earlier another deputy governor left the administration, Dan Hynes, who has supervised financial, economic development and other fields. The governor’s top campaign aide, Quentin Fulks, left to run U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock’s re-election campaign in Georgia.
Pritzker insiders have suggested there’s no pattern to the departures beyond the obvious fact that in the administration’s third year, some turnover is to be expected.
Ruiz was also the focus of a particularly intense personal attack organized by some sports parents and “advocates” last year. Also, I believe Dan Hynes is still in the administration. I spoke to him a couple of weeks ago.
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*** UPDATED x1 *** Question of the day
Monday, Aug 23, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Gov. JB Pritzker was asked today how the FDA’s approval of the Pfizer vaccine and subsequent Pentagon vaccine mandate for service members alters his “leverage” with state employees, teachers or other people. “Will you expand vaccine mandates now that this full approval is here?” His response…
Well, it’s not about leverage. I mean, let’s start with the idea that there are people who have been hesitant to get vaccinated because these vaccines were only under emergency use authorization. At this point now today, as a result of what the FDA has done, there is reams and reams of research that has now been done to prove that these vaccines are effective, especially the mRNA vaccines, like Pfizer. And so I’m very happy about that. I think so many people who may have been hesitant, wondering whether it was approved too quickly, now, literally almost a year later, we now have so much research to show these work. I’m very happy about that. I think that that means many more people will choose to get vaccinated. And I do think that there will be private institutions that will choose to require vaccinations now that it’s no longer under EUA.
Please pardon all transcription errors.
* The Question: How long should the governor wait before mandating the COVID-19 vaccine for all state employees? Make sure to explain your answer, even if you believe that he shouldn’t ever mandate the vax.
*** UPDATE *** Crain’s…
* But it’s not yet a done deal…
“City employees are absolutely going to be required to be vaccinated,” she said, adding that discussions are still ongoing with the unions that represent most city workers, but specific announcements would land in the coming days. “We absolutely have to have a vaccine mandate. It’s for the safety of all involved, particularly members of the public, who are interacting with city employees on a daily basis.”
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COVID-19 roundup
Monday, Aug 23, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* AP…
About 6 in 10 Americans say students and teachers should be required to wear face masks while in school, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Similar shares say teachers and eligible students should also be required to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. […]
The poll shows 59% of Americans support vaccination requirements for teachers and nearly as many — 55% — say the same for students age 12 and over, who are eligible to be vaccinated. Among parents, support was lower, with 42% backing vaccine mandates for students.
* SJ-R…
[Dr. Marc Shelton, HSHS senior vice president and chief clinical officer] said the delta variant is more likely to hospitalize unvaccinated people younger than 65 because older people are more likely to be vaccinated. The variant also appears to make people sicker and in a shorter time period, he said.
A year ago, a rise in COVID-19 diagnoses typically was followed by a surge in hospitalizations eight to 15 weeks later, Shelton said. Now, because of the delta variant, it takes five weeks for patients to show up at the hospital after being diagnosed, he said. […]
The average age of COVID-19 patients in MHS hospitals now is 58, compared with 69 in 2020. These patients are requesting more interventions to maximize their chance of survival, and those interventions, such as using a ventilator to help a patient breathe, must take place in inpatient settings, Govindaiah said.
The rising hospitalizations has prompted Memorial officials to open new COVID-19 units and redeploy some staff from other jobs to provide more support at the bedside, he said.
* This is far worse than scamming the government to get a handicapped parking pass and should be treated far more harshly…
An Oregon school superintendent is telling parents they can get their children out of wearing masks by citing federal disability law. […]
In some cases, he said, he believes those problems justify an exemption under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 because they interfere with learning.
But Laurie VanderPloeg, an associate executive director at the Council for Exceptional Children, an advocacy group, cautioned that under the federal law, children would not be allowed to go maskless simply because they asked.
Under the law, she said, school districts would have to go through a formal process to establish whether a child does, in fact, have a particular mental or physical disability, such as a respiratory condition, that would warrant an exception to the mask rule.
In Kansas, the Spring Hill school board is allowing parents to claim a medical or mental health exemption from the county’s requirement that elementary school students mask up. They do not need a medical provider to sign off.
I recently saw a video online of an anti-mask Illinois parent citing ADA at a school, so I presume this scam has arrived here. I’m so old I remember when we used to be disgusted when people lied about a disability to obtain undeserved special treatment.
* Tribune…
As Chicago Public Schools students prepare to return to classrooms next week, a group of City Council and General Assembly members say they are “deeply concerned” about the district’s COVID-19 safety plans.
“The delta variant of COVID-19 has demonstrated its stronger transmission among unvaccinated young people, and we are deeply concerned that Chicago Public Schools’ current plan for students and staff to return to school buildings rolls back many important safety mitigation standards that can undermine the district’s objective of increasing equity for students especially in light of an ever-changing pandemic that is increasingly harming younger age groups,” Ald. Maria Hadden, 49th, and Democratic state Sen. Cristina Pacione-Zayas wrote in a letter Sunday to Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Chicago Board of Education President Miguel del Valle and interim CPS CEO José Torres.
The full letter is here. The full list of signatories is here and here.
…Adding… Tribune…
Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union have hammered out about 25% of a COVID-19 safety agreement with just a week to go until students return to classrooms for full-time in-person learning, the union said Monday as it called on Mayor Lori Lightfoot and her team to “get serious” about working out a full deal.
* Press release…
Rev. & Mrs. Jesse Jackson’s COVID-19 Update
Sunday, August 22, 2021, 6:00 p.m.
Statement by son, Jonathan Jackson
Chicago, IL — Both of my parents have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, and especially because of their ages, physicians at the Northwestern University Memorial Hospital are carefully monitoring their condition.
Both are resting comfortably and are responding positively to their treatments.
My family appreciates all of the expressions of concern and prayers that have been offered on their behalf, and we will continue to offer our prayers for your family as well. We ask that you continue to pray for the full recovery of our parents. We will continue to update you on a regular basis.
* More…
* Cook County’s New Indoor Mask Mandate Takes Effect Monday
* 28 receive U of I System honor for leading COVID-19 response
* Durand CUSD 322 reverses course, will comply with the mask mandate
* This School Year Is Going to Be a Mess—Again: We have the tools to keep Delta in check, but schools have to actually use them.
* Some Americans No Longer Believe in the Common Good: They now are thinking only of themselves
* Pentagon to mandate COVID-19 vaccine, as Pfizer is approved
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* Press release…
Illinois Senate Republican Leader Dan McConchie (R-Hawthorn Woods) appointed Jeremy Margolis, Co-Chair of White Collar Criminal Defense & Investigations at Loeb & Loeb,to serve on the Legislative Ethics Commission’s search committee tasked with finding qualified candidates for the position of Legislative Inspector General.
“Jeremy’s extensive legal accolades and accomplishments will allow him to bring an experienced perspective to this very important process,” McConchie said. “Specifically his prosecutorial experience and tenure as Director of the Illinois State Police make him uniquely qualified to see the talents, skills and dedication to ethical behavior we need in Illinois government.”
Margolis practices law internationally with an emphasis on grand jury, white collar, and internal investigations, compliance counseling, investigations and complex commercial litigation.
“I am honored to be able to serve Illinois’ Senate leadership in this role,” Margolis said. “I will do all that I can to help enhance the level of integrity in state government and to restore public confidence in what is often viewed as a broken and self-serving system”.
He has tried dozens of United States District Court jury cases to verdict, both for and against the government, and he has briefed and argued over 30 cases in the United States Court of Appeals.
Prior to entering private practice, Jeremy served as an Assistant United States Attorney in Chicago for 11 years, handling many cases of national interest. He conducted complex and sensitive investigations and prosecutions of sophisticated financial schemes, official corruption involving high-ranking federal and state elected and appointed public officials, and organized crime cases ranging from loan sharking to murder. His cases included both domestic and international terrorism involving bombings, air piracy, hostage taking and seditious conspiracy. Jeremy was one of the co-founders and coordinators of the multiagency Chicago Joint Terrorist Task Force, directly responsible for many matters directly affecting national security.
He also served for four years as Director of the Illinois State Police (ISP), a full-service law enforcement agency numbering over 2,500 officers and 1,000 support and laboratory personnel. The ISP’s law enforcement responsibilities include uniformed and tactical patrol, investigations, operating the State Police Academy, and delivering crime laboratory services to Illinois law enforcement agencies through a network of regional laboratories.
In addition, Jeremy served as Illinois Inspector General for three years, overseeing both criminal and regulatory investigations involving child abuse, public health, the environment and public safety. During his appointment as inspector general, he briefly served as Illinois Acting Director of Public Health during a statewide salmonella crisis caused by contaminated milk, which affected over 10,000 child and adult victims. The crisis was resolved with the coordinated involvement of the U.S. FDA and CDC.
Jeremy has lectured extensively at law schools, bar associations and civic organizations, and he has conducted training for state and local prosecutors and local, state and federal law enforcement officers. He is regularly quoted in local and national media, including in hundreds of case-related newspaper and magazine articles, and he has been interviewed on radio and television programs.
Margolis earned his B.A. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign before graduating cum laude from the Northwestern University School of Law. He has received many awards and honors throughout his career including the Anti-Defamation League’s Civil Rights Award, the United States Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service and the United States Secret Service Honor Award.
He is a member of the FBI Chicago Chapter of the Society of Former Special Agents and a member of the Board of Governors of the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists and a former member of the Board of Directors of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
*** UPDATE *** From one of my syndicated newspaper columns way back in the day…
Margolis is a walking conflict of interest, and that’s the least of his faults. A former director of the Illinois State Police, he first gained notoriety in the 1998 governor’s race, when George Ryan brought him in to investigate allegations that secretary of state workers were handing out commercial drivers licenses to anyone who bought George Ryan campaign-fundraiser tickets.
Margolis took a quick look and declared there was no organized effort to sell licenses for campaign donations, and insisted that no follow-up investigations were needed. And then he began aggressively, and dishonestly, defending Ryan in the media.
“This is campaign time,” he told reporters with a dismissive tone. “Six-hundred-dollar bribes which you wouldn’t normally report are big news now.”
Margolis reviewed a diary kept by secretary of state whistle-blower Tony Berlin, but he claimed when his investigation was complete that the whistle-blower had a “lengthy arrest record,” so Berlin was chalked up as untrustworthy. But after Ryan was safely elected governor, the U.S. attorney revealed that Berlin’s diary was crucial in making bribery cases against Marion Sieble, Berlin’s boss, and others. And Berlin’s supposedly “lengthy” arrest record? He was busted once for DUI. Margolis smeared him.
One of the documents Margolis never mentioned was a memo written a week after the Rev. Scott Willis drove over a piece of metal that had fallen off a semi, which caused his van to blow up and kill all six of his children. In the memo, Secretary of State Inspector General Dean Bauer said he suspected the truck driver, who didn’t speak any English, had bribed his way to a driver’s license. The memo didn’t surface until many months after the 1998 election.
The Margolis influence was felt beyond the license-for-bribes scandal. A Margolis friend at Ryan’s secretary of state office was given the job of spying on a separate state-police investigation into campaign work done on state time.
After Ryan was elected governor, Margolis chaired a gubernatorial transition committee and began “monitoring” the federal corruption investigation for the governor.
It wasn’t long before Ryan’s campaign was paying Margolis to represent almost all the Ryan employees who were receiving visits from FBI agents and testifying before grand juries.
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FDA approves Pfizer vax
Monday, Aug 23, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* FDA press release…
Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the first COVID-19 vaccine. The vaccine has been known as the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine, and will now be marketed as Comirnaty (koe-mir’-na-tee), for the prevention of COVID-19 disease in individuals 16 years of age and older. The vaccine also continues to be available under emergency use authorization (EUA), including for individuals 12 through 15 years of age and for the administration of a third dose in certain immunocompromised individuals.
“The FDA’s approval of this vaccine is a milestone as we continue to battle the COVID-19 pandemic. While this and other vaccines have met the FDA’s rigorous, scientific standards for emergency use authorization, as the first FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccine, the public can be very confident that this vaccine meets the high standards for safety, effectiveness, and manufacturing quality the FDA requires of an approved product,” said Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock, M.D. “While millions of people have already safely received COVID-19 vaccines, we recognize that for some, the FDA approval of a vaccine may now instill additional confidence to get vaccinated. Today’s milestone puts us one step closer to altering the course of this pandemic in the U.S.”
Since Dec. 11, 2020, the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine has been available under EUA in individuals 16 years of age and older, and the authorization was expanded to include those 12 through 15 years of age on May 10, 2021. EUAs can be used by the FDA during public health emergencies to provide access to medical products that may be effective in preventing, diagnosing, or treating a disease, provided that the FDA determines that the known and potential benefits of a product, when used to prevent, diagnose, or treat the disease, outweigh the known and potential risks of the product.
FDA-approved vaccines undergo the agency’s standard process for reviewing the quality, safety and effectiveness of medical products. For all vaccines, the FDA evaluates data and information included in the manufacturer’s submission of a biologics license application (BLA). A BLA is a comprehensive document that is submitted to the agency providing very specific requirements. For Comirnaty, the BLA builds on the extensive data and information previously submitted that supported the EUA, such as preclinical and clinical data and information, as well as details of the manufacturing process, vaccine testing results to ensure vaccine quality, and inspections of the sites where the vaccine is made. The agency conducts its own analyses of the information in the BLA to make sure the vaccine is safe and effective and meets the FDA’s standards for approval.
Comirnaty contains messenger RNA (mRNA), a kind of genetic material. The mRNA is used by the body to make a mimic of one of the proteins in the virus that causes COVID-19. The result of a person receiving this vaccine is that their immune system will ultimately react defensively to the virus that causes COVID-19. The mRNA in Comirnaty is only present in the body for a short time and is not incorporated into - nor does it alter - an individual’s genetic material. Comirnaty has the same formulation as the EUA vaccine and is administered as a series of two doses, three weeks apart.
“Our scientific and medical experts conducted an incredibly thorough and thoughtful evaluation of this vaccine. We evaluated scientific data and information included in hundreds of thousands of pages, conducted our own analyses of Comirnaty’s safety and effectiveness, and performed a detailed assessment of the manufacturing processes, including inspections of the manufacturing facilities,” said Peter Marks, M.D., Ph.D., director of FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. “We have not lost sight that the COVID-19 public health crisis continues in the U.S. and that the public is counting on safe and effective vaccines. The public and medical community can be confident that although we approved this vaccine expeditiously, it was fully in keeping with our existing high standards for vaccines in the U.S.”
FDA Evaluation of Safety and Effectiveness Data for Approval for 16 Years of Age and Older
The first EUA, issued Dec. 11, for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine for individuals 16 years of age and older was based on safety and effectiveness data from a randomized, controlled, blinded ongoing clinical trial of thousands of individuals.
To support the FDA’s approval decision today, the FDA reviewed updated data from the clinical trial which supported the EUA and included a longer duration of follow-up in a larger clinical trial population.
Specifically, in the FDA’s review for approval, the agency analyzed effectiveness data from approximately 20,000 vaccine and 20,000 placebo recipients ages 16 and older who did not have evidence of the COVID-19 virus infection within a week of receiving the second dose. The safety of Comirnaty was evaluated in approximately 22,000 people who received the vaccine and 22,000 people who received a placebo 16 years of age and older.
Based on results from the clinical trial, the vaccine was 91% effective in preventing COVID-19 disease.
More than half of the clinical trial participants were followed for safety outcomes for at least four months after the second dose. Overall, approximately 12,000 recipients have been followed for at least 6 months.
The most commonly reported side effects by those clinical trial participants who received Comirnaty were pain, redness and swelling at the injection site, fatigue, headache, muscle or joint pain, chills, and fever. The vaccine is effective in preventing COVID-19 and potentially serious outcomes including hospitalization and death.
Additionally, the FDA conducted a rigorous evaluation of the post-authorization safety surveillance data pertaining to myocarditis and pericarditis following administration of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine and has determined that the data demonstrate increased risks, particularly within the seven days following the second dose. The observed risk is higher among males under 40 years of age compared to females and older males. The observed risk is highest in males 12 through 17 years of age. Available data from short-term follow-up suggest that most individuals have had resolution of symptoms. However, some individuals required intensive care support. Information is not yet available about potential long-term health outcomes. The Comirnaty Prescribing Information includes a warning about these risks.
Ongoing Safety Monitoring
The FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have monitoring systems in place to ensure that any safety concerns continue to be identified and evaluated in a timely manner. In addition, the FDA is requiring the company to conduct postmarketing studies to further assess the risks of myocarditis and pericarditis following vaccination with Comirnaty. These studies will include an evaluation of long-term outcomes among individuals who develop myocarditis following vaccination with Comirnaty. In addition, although not FDA requirements, the company has committed to additional post-marketing safety studies, including conducting a pregnancy registry study to evaluate pregnancy and infant outcomes after receipt of Comirnaty during pregnancy.
The FDA granted this application Priority Review. The approval was granted to BioNTech Manufacturing GmbH.
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* My parents had five boys. Whenever we were on a road trip and their passel of sons was starting to get restless and unruly, my father would warn us with what he called “The three S’s”…
Sit down, sit back and shut up.
Same applies here…
Rod Blagojevich is looking for some heavy-duty polish to spiff up his sullied reputation. He thinks he may have found it. The disgraced ex-governor has filed a lawsuit seeking to nullify the ban on him running for office — either statewide or locally.
“If I were to fall dead right here, my obituary in tomorrow’s papers wouldn’t be that good,” he told a gaggle of reporters earlier this month outside the Dirksen Federal Building, adding that he wanted to pursue “things with my life where that obituary can be corrected.” […]
We have a message for Rod. You can spiff up that reputation faster than you can say Roland Burris. Simply make the ultimate sacrifice, and step away from that limelight you crave so dearly. Your 15 minutes are up. Just walk away. Embrace a private life.
I’d add an admonition to ABC 7 for producing a “documentary” on Blagojevich that the station hyped with “exclusive” coverage of his goofy lawsuit.
*** UPDATE *** The Chicago Tribune editorial board should probably pick a lane. Whack Rod, but publish an op-ed by Ray LaHood? C’mon. Don’t y’all read your own newspaper?
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* My weekly syndicated newspaper column…
Illinois Senate President Don Harmon decided last week to join House Speaker Chris Welch in his decision to not participate in the Democratic Party of Illinois’ new “BLUE Committee” structure.
The state party chair, U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly, is barred by federal election laws from participating in any fundraising or spending of money that is raised outside the federally regulated campaign system. So, with direction from the Federal Election Commission, the state party cobbled together the BLUE (Building Leadership, Unity, and Equity) Committee to oversee that activity and insulate Chair Kelly from possible legal violations.
The committee has five members, two of whom would be the Democratic leaders of the House and Senate. But Speaker Welch has said for weeks that he had concerns about whether the new committee actually followed federal law, and had his own issues to deal with as a new chamber leader ahead of a remap election year. So, he wouldn’t be participating and wouldn’t be appointing a proxy.
The state central committee met last week to vote on the bylaw change and Sen. Cristina Castro, D-Elgin, a member of the central committee, said she had spoken with Senate President Harmon earlier in the day and he told her he also would not be serving on the new committee because he believed the structure was “problematic.”
Former Senate President John Cullerton, who also is a member of the state central committee, spoke against the proposed bylaw change as well. Cullerton warned earlier this year that electing U.S. Rep. Kelly as state party chair would open up a can of legal worms and he agreed that the committee’s structure was problematic. He and Castro also noted that since Harmon and Welch wouldn’t be participating, the committee would have only three voting members.
But Bill Houlihan, a central committee member who was U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin’s top guy in Springfield for years until his recent retirement, disputed the notion that Harmon had any problems with the committee’s structure, saying he’d spoken with both Harmon and Welch and they “indicated to me that they were trying to find a way to make this work.” He also dismissed criticisms of the committee by Castro and Cullerton and said the language was only a “first step” and could be amended down the road.
Asked whether Harmon viewed the BLUE Committee’s structure as “problematic,” a Harmon spokesperson directed me to Sen. Castro’s statement during the meeting — which is a clever way of confirming her claim without directly doing so. And that means Houlihan may have not correctly characterized his conversation with the Senate president.
But Harmon’s person also said that the Senate president plans to be “helpful to Democrats up and down the ballot.” Speaker Welch’s people have issued similar statements in the past.
The new bylaws passed with seven of the central committee’s 36 members voting against it. Former Speaker Michael Madigan and a few others did not attend or approve proxies.
Houlihan subsequently was elected to a spot on the new BLUE Committee and said after the meeting that he had no plans to be the committee’s chair.
The reality is, the most powerful Democrats in the state are not part of this process, including the billionaire governor, who supported Chicago Ald. Michelle Harris for chair against Kelly earlier this year. Asked by a central committee member during the meeting why the governor wasn’t included on the BLUE Committee, Kelly went out of her way to make it clear that “I don’t have issues” with Gov. J.B. Pritzker. “I’ve been above-board, graceful,” she said.
Sen. Durbin was solidly behind Kelly’s election as state party chair, which exacerbated the tensions between Durbin and Pritzker that have existed since the 2018 election.
Durbin also built up the Illinois Democratic County Chairs’ Association from basically nothing as a counterweight to then-Speaker Michael Madigan’s Democratic Party of Illinois machine. It’s likely no coincidence, therefore, that Pritzker didn’t attend the IDCCA’s annual brunch event on Governor’s Day. He initially said he wouldn’t attend because the group was holding a large event indoors, but when it was moved outside, he said he’d already made other plans. OK.
The rift will matter if campaigns suffer, but the state party has always been mainly a pass-through mechanism to obtain direct mail discounts, and the IDCCA is never a gigantic factor. So, I’m not yet sure that anything will truly suffer as long as the billionaire is spreading cash around and the two legislative leaders bring in big bucks.
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* Russell Lissau at the Daily Herald…
Even though allegations of widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election haven’t been substantiated, four conservatives challenging Republican U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger for his congressional seat insist Donald Trump actually won reelection.
All four maintain Democrat Joe Biden holds the Oval Office only through chicanery.
“I believe that is likely,” said James Marter, an Oswego software consultant running for the 16th District post. “There were serious irregularities across the nation.” […]
Fellow 16th District candidates Teresa Pfaff and Geno Young also ardently believe Biden wrongfully occupies the White House. […]
Two other Republicans in the race — Catalina Lauf of Woodstock and Jack Lombardi of Manhattan — suspect the election was marred by fraud and believe investigations are warranted.
Keep in mind that Illinois doesn’t have new congressional maps yet, so we don’t even know what his district will look like, if it exists at all.
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Open thread
Monday, Aug 23, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Something cute to start your morning…
What’s on your mind?
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