Today’s quotable
Friday, Sep 17, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* This man regularly emails state legislators, but today’s is particularly relevant considering the horrible news out of Taylorville…
…Adding… Rep. Jonathan Carroll received the email as well…
I guess we all have our own definition of what constitutes a hero. I would suggest that the front-line workers and medical professionals who continue to get overrun by those who deny the science of vaccines and masks are much bigger heroes than those seeking headlines arguing with smart people.
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* Taylorville’s school district initially balked at the statewide mask mandate. Its superintendent also signed an open letter denouncing the state mandate as a violation of local control.
* Then the school district appeared to try to get out front of a tragic story yesterday…
Taylorville High School is grieving after it was announced that a high school senior passed away last night.
Taylorville School Superintendent Doctor Chris Dougherty, in a news release sent this morning, announced that Alexia Garrison, a senior student at Taylorville High School, died last night at her home where she collapsed.
Dr. Dougherty, in the release, said there are no words to express the grief, heartbreak, and sense of loss felt by everyone in the Taylorville School District.
I was told by one area reporter that the school district pushed back against questions yesterday.
* But the facts are starting to come out…
Preliminary autopsy results revealed Garrison died of natural causes with COVID-19 being a contributing factor.
Final autopsy results will be released in a few weeks.
This virus can do things to your body which can injure or kill you long after you’re no longer contagious.
* More…
Garrison was quarantined for COVID-19, but had cleared her quarantine period and returned to school at Taylorville High School, according to a Christian County Public Health Official. […]
Students at Taylorville High School are planning to wear purple — Garrisons’s favorite color — to class on Friday to honor her memory.
Hopefully, this tragic death will prompt more people in the area to get vaccinated. Just 39 percent of Christian County’s population is vaxed, according to IDPH.
* Click the image from IDPH if you need a bigger version to see that unvaccinated kids aged 12-17 represent the highest case growth by far in Illinois right now…
…Adding… Rep. Deb Conroy…
Tragic. Which anti mask, my body my choice Republican will step up and take responsibility for the death of Alexia Garrison? She is everyone’s child and no child is safe when personal political gain is valued over human life.
*** UPDATE *** Get your shots, people…
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Question of the day
Friday, Sep 17, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Sears is closing its last remaining Illinois store…
The Sears anchor store at Woodfield Mall was such an instrumental part of the shopping center’s creation and early success that part of the mall’s name — the “Wood” is for legendary former Sears Chairman Robert E. Wood — pays tribute to the iconic retailer.
But now just a week after the suburban shopping mecca celebrated the 50th anniversary of its opening, Woodfield’s Sears store is preparing to close its doors for the last time.
Officials from Sears’s Hoffman Estates-based parent company Transformco announced Thursday it will close the Woodfield store, its last remaining location in Illinois, on Nov. 14, as part of a corporate plan to “redevelop and reinvigorate the property.”
“This is part of the company’s strategy to unlock the value of the real estate and pursue the highest and best use for the benefit of the local community,” the announcement states.
Sears got its start in Chicago.
* The Question: Your Sears memories, if any?
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* Today…
Governor JB Pritzker joined Boeing and community leaders to announce that the company will be investing $200 million to build a state-of-the-art facility to produce the MQ-25 Stingray, the U.S. Navy’s first carrier-based unmanned aircraft. The new 291,000 square-foot facility at MidAmerica St. Louis Airport, scheduled to begin construction later this year, will help support nearly 300 good jobs for the Metro East region over the next three years.
“The world’s largest aerospace company is doubling down on Illinois because of our unparalleled assets in the transportation and logistics sector and the world-class talent of our people,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “To prepare our communities for the future, my administration is committed to making continued investments that will modernize our airports, spark new innovation and bring jobs and economic opportunities to our communities from Chicago to St. Clair and beyond. I want to thank the Boeing Company for their vote of confidence in Illinois, as well as St Clair County leadership and the MidAmerica Airport team for giving companies another reason to choose Illinois.” […]
The new production center will bring 300 jobs to the Metro East community – with initial plans to hire approximately 150 mechanics, engineers and support staff who will build the MQ-25TM StingrayTM. This project was made possible in part by an EDGE agreement from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO), a tool used to support companies making large scale capital investments that lead to significant job creation. As part of its agreement with the State, Boeing has committed to an initial investment of at least $200 million over a 15-year period.
The innovative MQ-25 facility will include state-of-the-art manufacturing processes, including robotic automation and advanced assembly techniques, to improve product quality and employee ergonomics. Boeing digitally engineered the MQ-25 aircraft and its systems, resulting in high-fidelity models that drive quality and efficient production. The new facility is expected to be completed in early 2024, and aircraft production is projected to begin in the start of FY 2024.
“The team and state-of-the-art technology we’re bringing to the Navy’s MQ-25 program is unprecedented, and we’re incredibly proud to be expanding both as we build the future of autonomous systems in Illinois,” said Kristin Robertson, vice president and general manager of Autonomous Systems, Boeing Defense, Space & Security. “We’ve received great support from MidAmerica Airport and countless dedicated employees, and we’re excited to build the Navy’s first operational, carrier-based unmanned aircraft right here in the Metro East.”
The new MQ-25 facility will be in addition to existing manufacturing operations at Boeing St. Clair, which produces components for the CH-47 Chinook, F/A-18 Super Hornet, and other defense products.
Boeing’s investments in Mascoutah are the latest in a series to prepare MidAmerica St. Louis Airport for future growth. Fueled by $57 million in Rebuild Illinois capital funds, the airport will deliver the airport will deliver taxiway and airfield enhancements surrounding the new Boeing production facility and significant upgrades to the passenger terminal facility.
Just a suggestion: Use some of that Rebuild Illinois money to open up more pay lanes to exit MidAmerica airport. There are only two now, and the unstaffed automated machines don’t always work, creating gridlock.
* Wednesday…
Governor JB Pritzker joined the Aviation Institute of Maintenance (AIM), Congresswoman Marie Newman, City of Chicago officials, and members of the community today in announcing a first of its kind aviation training facility opening in Chicago’s McKinley Park neighborhood. With support from the State of Illinois, the new AIM campus will expand access to industry standard aviation training programs, increase the talent pipeline for Illinois’ growing aviation industry, and unlock a long-term investment of 75 permanent jobs for the community.
At 137,000 square feet, the Chicago facility will be AIM’s largest training program in the nation, and its 14th campus overall. Working with longstanding industry partners and a range of educational partners in Chicago, the new campus plans to begin enrolling for classes set to begin on September 27th.
“Our long-term economic success as a state depends on our investment in the next generation of leaders, who will soon take on the task of steering our most important industries to meet the demands of the next decades,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “As governor, I’m committed to building on Illinois’s transportation leadership by working to educate and empower new talent and bring historically underrepresented populations into the field. Today, we have a new partner in that work: with the support of an EDGE agreement from the state, the Aviation Institute of Maintenance, or AIM, is set to open its largest aviation training facility in Chicago. I look forward to watching the AIM campus take the talent, diversity, and strength of our workforce to new heights.”
Construction on the training facility is now complete at 3711 S. Ashland Ave. AIM converted a former warehouse into a modern training facility with a large hangar, 17 classrooms, an avionics lab, and 31 administrative offices to support students. The Chicago campus will be 30% larger than AIM’s two current largest campuses, which will allow them to bring aviation maintenance training currently lacking in the area. AIM is a leading provider of training for students pursuing certification in aviation maintenance.
“AIM is thrilled to bring our proven industry training programs to Illinois as we work to prepare the next generation for exciting roles in the aviation industry,” said Aviation Institute of Maintenance (AIM) Executive Vice President, Dr. Joel English. “Thanks to support from the State of Illinois, City Colleges of Chicago, and numerous industry partners, we will launch our latest program in the country, with an emphasis on delivering training programs to match the needs of local employers and to increase diversity in the workforce. We look forward to launching classes this fall, partnering with Olive-Harvey College and with colleges and universities statewide to bring students access to training that will allow them to compete for well-paying jobs in this fast-growing field.”
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Two takes on the new climate/energy law
Friday, Sep 17, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* No law is perfect, and the new climate/energy law is far from it…
Gov. J.B. Pritzker vows Illinois will help stop — and even reverse — climate change with a new state law that outlaws coal- and gas-fired electricity by 2045.
But the law fails to address the state’s biggest source of climate-changing pollution: coal mining.
During 2020 alone, mostly out-of-state companies that burned Illinois coal released more than 57 million tons of heat-trapping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, according to a Chicago Tribune analysis based on a formula developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
By contrast, the state’s coal and gas plants emitted 46 million tons of CO2 during the year.
Also: 71-36-1.
* On the other hand…
The result is what proponents call the “most equitable” climate bill passed to date in the United States.
Even some of the core people behind the environmental justice parts of the legislation — which include preferences for minority businesses and hiring, training opportunities for clean energy jobs and grants for community programs — seemed shocked by how much they had achieved.
“No one believed in Illinois we would actually pass legislation that can stop oil and gas facilities from running forever,” says Juliana Pino, policy director of the Little Village Environmental Justice Organization. […]
J.C. Kibbey, Illinois clean energy advocate for Natural Resources Defense Council in Chicago, says more needs to be done and will be done to address climate change.
Still, Kibbey says, “This would’ve been unimaginable even five years ago that we would completely move away from fossil fuels in the power sector. In a state like this, that we got it done, is a testament how the politics has shifted and how quickly the economics of coal has shifted.”
71-36-1.
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COVID-19 roundup
Friday, Sep 17, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Shaw Media…
Parkview Christian Academy is scheduled to present its case in court later this month for a temporary restraining order against the Illinois State Board of Education over its move to revoke the school’s recognition for not acknowledging the statewide mask mandate.
Oral arguments are scheduled at 1 p.m., Sept. 29, in Kendall County Court. Plano attorney Carlo Colosimo will represent Parkview Christian Academy and Illinois Assistant Attorney General Samantha Grund-Wickramasekera will represent the Illinois State Board of Education.
A commenter noticed earlier this week that a person named Carlo Colosimo is the treasurer of the Kendall County Board of Health and wondered aloud if it was the same person, which would be really egregious.
So, I reached out to Colosimo on Facebook (of course) and asked if the commenter was right…
Yes that is me.
It’s just a microcosm of what this state is up against.
* The US Census clearly warns: “These data are experimental. Users should take caution using estimates based on subpopulations of the data – sample sizes may be small and the standard errors may be large.” So, be really careful with stories like this…
A new study is revealing some of the reasons why Illinoisans have yet to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, 6.6 million or 61.1% of people 12 and older in Illinois are fully vaccinated.
Nick VinZant with QuoteWizard says there are five main reasons Illinoisans have avoided the shot.
“People are worried about side effects, they are waiting to see what’s going to happen with the vaccine, they don’t believe they need it, they don’t trust the government, or they don’t trust the vaccine specifically,” said VinZant.
* Also be careful of media outlets that equate case numbers with crises in highly vaxed areas like Israel.
Israel’s vaccination rate for those 12 and above is 78 percent. Illinois’ vaccination rate for the same age group is 63.5 percent. Israel’s population is 71.4 percent of Illinois’ population. According to NPR, 600 people are hospitalized in Israel with COVID, which is just 29 percent of the 2,082 hospitalized in Illinois. Israel’s most recent 7-day average deaths is 22, which is 54 percent of Illinois’ 41.
* IDPH…
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 25,956 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 285 additional deaths since reporting last Friday, September 10, 2021. More than 80% of Illinois adults have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose and almost 63%% of Illinois adults are fully vaccinated, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Of Illinois’ total population, more than 67% has received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose and more than 52% of Illinois’ total population is fully vaccinated.
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 1,590,342 cases, including 24,546 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. Since reporting on Friday, September 10, 2021, laboratories have reported 638,918 specimens for a total of 30,395,751. As of last night, 2,082 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 502 patients were in the ICU and 275 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from September 10-16, 2021 is 4.1%. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from September 10-16, 2021 is 4.4%.
A total of 14,284,288 vaccines have been administered in Illinois as of last midnight. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 20,292 doses. Since reporting on Friday, September 10, 2021, 142,041 doses were reported administered in Illinois.
*All data are provisional and will change. Additional information and COVID-19 data can be found at http://www.dph.illinois.gov/covid19.
Vaccination is the key to ending this pandemic. To find a COVID-19 vaccination location near you, go to www.vaccines.gov.
* A couple of relevant tweets…
* More…
* Some East St. Louis parents demand schools provide remote learning due to COVID cases: “One of the reasons that we’re out here is that since school has started, there have been so many outbreaks of COVID in the school,” Rice-Barnes said during the protest. “We have been reaching out to the school district asking for answers, asking for options for our children. There is no school board, no school district without our kids and our families. We are the collateral. There is no school district without parents and without children. We do not feel safe.”
* Judge to rule on Pritzker’s latest motion to dismiss dining prohibition lawsuit
* ‘Schools aren’t meant to be empty vessels’: How districts are trying to stay COVID-19 safe
* Illinois Manufacturers’ Association encouraging vaccines and mask wearing
* Parents Are Tired of Waiting for Vaccines for Their Kids. So They’re Lying.
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It’s just a bill
Friday, Sep 17, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Rep. Chris Miller (R-Oakland) has no co-sponsors yet on his new bill…
Creates the Stop Social Media Censorship Act. Provides that the owner or operator of a social media website that censors or deletes a user’s religious or political speech is subject to a private right of action by certain social media website users in this State. Authorizes the recovery of actual damages, statutory damages, and punitive damages. Provides for the award of reasonable attorney’s fees and costs. Prohibits a social media website from using alleged hate speech as a defense. Authorizes the Attorney General to bring an action on behalf of social media website users. Defines terms. Effective July 1, 2021.
Emphasis added. The relevant passage…
A social media website may not use the social media website user’s alleged hate speech as a basis for justification or defense of the social media website’s actions at trial.
So, website owners could be forced to pay damages if they deleted commenters who used the n-word? Yeah. Hard, hard, hard pass on that one, dude.
This appears to be stock language that’s being introduced in other states.
* Meanwhile, Rep. Kelly Cassidy’s TExAS Act has picked up 14 co-sponsors and is starting to get noticed by some TikTokers…
* From Hannah Meisel’s story that’s linked and referenced above…
Ralph Rivera of Illinois Right to Life Action didn’t find Cassidy’s bill very funny, though he did say he would be on board for legalizing bounties for rapists. Otherwise, he speculated some of the broader strokes in the bill might be found unconstitutional.
“We’re talking about human life,” Rivera said. “It’s not silly. Taking a serious matter and trying to be flippant…she could’ve just stated that and not filed a bill.”
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* House Speaker Chris Welch busted the campaign contribution caps yesterday with a $100,001 contribution to his personal campaign fund. He is now the third legislative leader to break the state’s contribution caps. House Republican Leader Jim Durkin has not yet done so, but he has in the past. From Welch campaign spokesperson Alexandra Sims…
This is another step by Speaker Welch to protect Democratic House members, as well as potential Democratic candidates, in the upcoming primary and general elections.
The caps are also off in the governor’s race, among others. [Sheesh! Another SoS mistake. I have a smooth spot on my brain about that office today.]
* Candidates are emerging to replace retiring DuPage County Board Chair Dan Cronin…
Greg Hart, a sitting board member from Hinsdale, will run for his party’s nomination for the chairman’s position in 2022.
On the Democratic ticket, Liz Chaplin, once the party’s sole county board member, is vying to take the seat held by Republicans for generations. First elected in 2012, Chaplin took the helm of the finance committee after Democrats won control of the board in 2020 for the first time since the Great Depression.
State Rep. Deb Conroy, a Villa Park Democrat, said she’s also considering a run for the county’s top seat. Her fifth term expires next year.
“I will decide where I can best serve DuPage County in the coming weeks,” Conroy said Thursday.
She represents the one-time seat of former Illinois House speaker and conservative stalwart Lee Daniels, another sign that the traditionally ruby red DuPage has skewed more Democratic.
The last paragraph just blows me away. That part of the world used to be at the very epicenter of Republican politics in this state.
* The second white man with union leadership credentials has said he’s running for the vacant 72nd House District…
Democrat Jeff Deppe has announced his candidacy for state Representative, Illinois House District 72.
Current state Rep. Mike Halpin, D-Rock Island, is running for 36th District state Senate.
Deppe’s roots run deep in Rock Island County, and he already wears many hats in the Democratic Party: He is vice president of the Rock Island County Democratic Party and is a Rock Island County board member, representing District 9. He was appointed to the county board in 2015 and elected in 2016, currently serving as chairman of the county governance, health and administration committee.
Deppe is employed as the secretary and treasurer of Laborers Local 309 (LiUNA) and was elected Illinois vice president of the Quad-City Federation of Labor in May. He sits on the boards of directors for Arrowhead Youth and Family Services and the Bi-State Regional Commission.
Thurgood Brooks, a young Black activist who narrowly lost the Rock Island mayor’s race this year is also considering a bid.
* Not sure if I totally agree with this yet, but we will certainly find out if Davis gets into the race…
A Freeburg, Illinois native and newcomer to state politics is making a splash with a lot of cash.
Venture capitalist Jesse Sullivan announced he would run for the Republican nomination for Illinois governor. Sullivan joins three other nominees hoping to unseat Democratic incumbent Gov. JB Pritzker.
Even though some of his competitors have an advantage with their political experience, Sullivan may use his connections and capital to light his way towards the nomination, according to John Jackson of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute. […]
Jackson feels the frontrunner is U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis (R-IL 13th Dist.) who hasn’t announced his candidacy yet.
” I think [Davis] has… [the] political experience and party connections that would make him the automatic frontrunner if he were to announce,” Jackson said.
*** UPDATE 1 *** Gary Rabine press release…
The Job Creators Network (JCN) is preparing a lawsuit against the Biden Administration’s vaccine mandate on companies with 100 or more employees, a move Gary Rabine, a JCN Board member, endorses.
Rabine is issuing the following statement on the JCN lawsuit against the Biden Administration.
“Biden’s Administration, the Administration that Pritzker & AOC support is off their rockers! Their main goal seems to be kill jobs, kill freedom, and tax more!
As one of the founding board members of Job Creators Network, I endorse this lawsuit against Biden. We have been a strong voice against terrible regulations that kill jobs but this mandate by Biden might be the most aggressive, freedom crushing bill that we have ever seen. If we allow this, what freedom will we give up next?
Our businesses at the Rabine Group have amazing people who are like family to us, and some will choose not to take this vaccine for their own personal reasons. Some of these invaluable people will choose to leave the small businesses they call home to work for a smaller company that doesn’t fall under the mandate. Some of them will move to a state that fights for their freedom against a tyrannical federal government. How many more Illinoisans can we afford to chase out?
As Governor, I will fight for the freedom of my teammates and all employees in our state. I will fight against a Biden and Pritzker tyrannical government to maintain a state of Illinois that will honor freedom and create abundant opportunity.
I endorse Job Creators Network 100% and I call on all freedom loving business leaders to join me in protecting the freedom of employees and small business.”
That’s quite… something. I’m not sure which Republican candidate would get crushed worst in a general election at the moment.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Heh…
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* From Ald. Pat Dowell, a Democratic candidate for secretary of state…
My campaign for Illinois Secretary of State will require all employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. The pandemic has taken its toll in my community and all across Illinois. Every day, I learn of more people losing loved ones to this virus. Everyone must get vaccinated. It is the way to stop the pandemic.
I appreciate that Governor JB Pritzker and his campaign team are taking a strong stand by believing in science and trusting medical experts. I am proud to join him in this fight for the health and safety of the people of Illinois.
I’ll be asking the other campaigns for their reacts.
Your thoughts?
…Adding… Fixed my headline because I need much more coffee. Sorry! I even asked the wrong campaign person for a react earlier. Sheesh! Not sure what’s wrong with me today, but I may need a nap.
And, yes, Secretary White has mandated vaccines for employees already, but the testing opt-out is not exactly strong…
Employees who don’t show proof of vaccination by Sept. 1 will be required to undergo a COVID-19 test every other week, White said.
*** UPDATE *** Anna Valencia…
“Since the City Clerk’s office returned in June 2020, we have been providing crucial essential services since and have done everything to protect constituents doing business with the office. Much like other personnel decisions during the pandemic, we’re working with our partners in labor to ensure we implement vaccination standards in a way that makes sense for our workers and customers. As the only person in the race who has had to manage a large government entity which interacts with our most vulnerable citizens during the pandemic, I know that this policy is the very least we can do. I will also have the same policy on our campaign.”
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Today’s must-read
Friday, Sep 17, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Mitchell Armentrout at the Sun-Times…
Nurses work 18-hour shifts while administrators are pulled from their offices and outfitted with personal protective equipment to help staff the hospital’s bustling COVID-19 testing site.
Other workers scramble to clear an intensive care unit bed that’ll immediately be filled by another coronavirus patient.
For the others waiting in line for critical care — including heart attack victims, car crash survivors and others who haven’t come down with severe respiratory symptoms from the virus — they’re looking at a five-hour ambulance ride to find the nearest available ICU bed.
And that’s only if the ambulance isn’t already behind schedule from its last out-of-state run with an infected patient.
It’s not a look back to 2020. It’s a September night in southern Illinois this week, nine months after life-saving vaccines were deployed in the pandemic fight. […]
The Illinois Department of Public Health said by the end of the week, it’ll have sent more than 100 additional health care workers to the region. The state agency also helped receive federal approval to start sending civilian patients to three V.A. hospitals.
Despite increasing the number of available ICU beds to 94 yesterday, from 84 earlier in the week, the region still has none available.
Go read the whole thing.
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Open thread
Friday, Sep 17, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Something to maybe get you started…
Anything else on your mind?
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