Question of the day
Wednesday, Sep 15, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* I stopped at the Pontiac Wally’s for the first time several months ago while my brother Devin and I were driving from our parents’ house to our uncle’s house. We needed gas anyway and my only superstition is to always stop in Pontiac on my way through. I don’t usually care about such things, but wow is it ever big and impressive…
![](/wp-content/wallystravelcenterpontiacil221024x683.jpg)
My uncle loves jerky, and Wally’s actually has a jerky bar. Imagine that.
* All during the spring session and then through the summer’s special sessions, I heard legislators, lobbyists, reporters and staff talking about how much they loved the place and how they always ran into somebody they knew there. I was driving back from Chicago after a White Sox game and ran into Sen. Patrick Joyce while he was filling his tank. Senate President Don Harmon ran into Gov. JB Pritzker at Wally’s a couple of weeks ago. “I saw somebody I knew at Wally’s” has truly become a thing. From today…
Patterson was on his way back from today’s Chicago bill-signing ceremony. He was supposed to send me some Wally’s pics, but I guess he forgot.
* The Question: Your best Wally’s story?
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* You may recall the Fourth Judicial Circuit as the one which produced Judge Michael McHaney, who issued a weird ruling early last year that was eventually tossed. Here we go again…
Three children in Effingham County can’t be forced to wear masks without an official quarantine order from the county health department, a judge ruled Wednesday.
The attorney who brought the case [Tom DeVore] anticipates more such cases across the state. […]
On Wednesday, DeVore took a different case a step further and successfully argued in Illinois’ Fourth Judicial Circuit that masks are a medical device that can’t be required without quarantine orders. […]
“Plaintiffs have shown they will suffer irreparable harm if an injunction does not issue, namely the children being refused access to their education unless they unwillingly utilize a device to allegedly prevent the spread of an infectious disease even in the absence of a quarantine order against them,” the judge’s temporary order says. “Nothing in this order shall prohibit the local health department, or the Illinois Department of Health, from issuing a lawful order of quarantine against any or all of the children as allowed by law.”
The Teutopolis school district, where the three students attend classes, did challenge the issue, DeVore said.
Masks as a medical device. Novel. The order is here. What DeVore appears to want to do here is tie up the courts with quarantine cases to the point where nobody can keep up.
But if disease-infected kids attend a school and refuse to wear a mask, the result could very well be that part or all of that school will be shut down for remote learning.
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* Oh, for crying out loud…
The plant, not the utility, will have to close in 24 years unless CWLP can reduce/capture all carbon emissions.
…Adding… They thankfully deleted the tweets. I saved one of them, though…
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Caption contest!
Wednesday, Sep 15, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Senate President Don Harmon, House Speaker Chris Welch and Gov. JB Pritzker pose with a copy of the climate/energy legislation after today’s bill-signing ceremony…
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* According to the Pew Charitable Trusts, Illinois’ average annual pension contribution growth rate was 12 percent in 2009-19…
A Growing Share of States Have Achieved Positive Amortization of Pension Debt
Illinois, Kentucky, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania led this trend in increasing [pension] contributions, with an average growth in scheduled pension payments of 16% each year from 2009 to 2019. These states have been among the worst-funded states for two decades, and their contribution increases are part of long-term plans to address the large legacy pension debt each has accumulated. As a result, Kentucky and Pennsylvania achieved positive amortization in 2019, with Illinois and New Jersey expected to begin reducing pension debt once the outsized investment returns in fiscal 2021 are recognized. In each case, the turnaround was prompted by state policymakers’ acknowledgment that a return to pension plan funding discipline—paying down pension debts in addition to the value of annual benefits as they are earned—is the only path forward in order to avoid pension fund insolvency.
Funding discipline has been central to the improvement in these states, though all four have also changed benefits to help reduce future costs and risks. Illinois began its long path to pension funding in 1995, with a plan to be 90% funded by 2045. This approach was criticized for pushing costs to future generations of taxpayers, as evidenced by the sharp increase in contributions required between 2008 and 2019. However, a quarter of a century later, Illinois is getting closer to stabilizing pension debt, though plan actuaries continue to encourage further strengthening funding policy.
In 2000, Kentucky, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania reported having fully funded pension plans, in contrast to Illinois. But those three states emerged as among the worst-funded due to a combination of shortchanging contributions, offering unfunded benefit increases, and investments that fell short of expectations. All of these weaknesses were in place before 2008. When the 2007-09 recession hit, it further strained underfunded pension systems and forced a reckoning.
In all three states, the initial response to the recession was to gradually increase the level of pension payments that would avoid immediate budget pressures but would give policymakers a plan to meet minimum funding standards. In Kentucky, it became clear that this would take too long. In 2013, further reforms required the state to start making the full payment recommended by plan actuaries and put in place a new plan design to help manage risk. Pennsylvania stuck with the ramp up in pension costs despite the strain it placed on state and school budgets. In 2017, state officials supplemented the initial response with changes to plan design for new hires to make future costs more predictable and lowered investment fees expected to save taxpayers at least $3 billion. New Jersey was the slowest to fulfill its promise to make full pension payments. Before the pandemic, the strategy was to make the full payment in the fiscal 2023 budget, but an improved fiscal situation allowed policymakers to put the full pension payment in the 2022 budget, a year ahead of schedule and the first time this century New Jersey will meet minimum funding standards.
* This is what I told subscribers over a month ago…
Gov. Pritzker traveled to New York recently to meet with the three bond rating agencies. This was his third such briefing, which is highly unusual for an Illinois governor. Deputy Gov. Dan Hynes, who is transitioning out of his job, traveled with Pritzker and Hynes chatted with me for a few minutes yesterday.
Hynes said the ultimate goal of the trip was to push for additional upgrades in the state’s credit ratings. Two of the three firms have raised the state’s rating since the new budget was enacted.
The most news-worthy item to me was about the state’s pension debt. A slide was presented to the agencies showing that by next fiscal year the state will have more employees in the much less costly Tier 2 pension program than in Tier 1. “That’s why the trend is our friend,” Hynes said. “If we just continue to make the same payment, over time, the demographics are going to work in our favor.”
Hynes explained that the “same payment” didn’t mean the dollar amount would level off, but payments would remain at about 25 percent of the state’s budget into the future. While that’s a huge chunk of the budget, “75 percent of a growing revenue pie is still a lot of money to do the things we need to do and want to do,” Hynes said. And planning will be easier. Of course, that assumes no major revenue crashes and no successful legal action on Tier 2.
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A difference in emphasis
Wednesday, Sep 15, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The Sun-Time has a story today trumpeting the news that the governor is “pleased” with the new COVID numbers…
Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Tuesday said he’s “pleased” with the way the state’s surging COVID-19 numbers are flattening out […]
“They’ve subsided a little, they’ve flattened a bit, not the case numbers necessarily, but the hospitalizations, and so I’m pleased about that,” Pritzker said at an unrelated news conference in Aurora. “But until they start to come down the other side of this, we can’t lighten up on our mitigations, because, once again, we’re trying to defeat this so that people can go about their daily lives.”
* Pritzker was responding to a question about local officials not enforcing the indoor mask mandate…
Well, the first thing is, voters can vote those leaders out, because they’re not real leaders. They’re not standing up for the health and safety of the people in their communities. As you’ve seen throughout this pandemic, there have been local officials who’ve been unwilling to stand up for the people of their communities on a mask mandate. It’s perhaps now more important than ever, as we have our children back in schools, all across the state, that we’re trying to keep them healthy.
And it’s not just the mask mandate within schools that’s helping to keep those communities healthy. It’s obviously the indoor mask mandate. As we’ve seen hospitalizations and cases rise in the state, they haven’t come down. They’ve subsided a little they’ve flattened a bit, not the case numbers, necessarily, but the hospitalizations. And so I’m pleased about that. But until they start to come down the other side of this, we can’t lighten up on our mitigations because, once again, we’re trying to defeat this so that people can go about their daily lives.
One last thing, if you want to keep your business open, if you want to keep the economy going, we need people to wear masks.
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* Dan Cronin spent almost two decades in the General Assembly before becoming county board chairman. But he’s ready to stop for a while…
DuPage County Board Chairman Dan Cronin will step aside next year rather than seek a fourth term, but the Republican stalwart won’t rule out running for another elected office. […]
Cronin said he’s been encouraged by supporters to consider a bid for statewide office, “any office at the state or federal level.” But Cronin said it’s “highly unlikely” he’d run for governor.
“I still plan to be very much involved,” Cronin said. “I’m going to sit this election cycle out, though.” […]
He says he wants to serve on nonprofit boards and he wants to stay politically engaged, and he can still use his influence and campaign war chest to help elect like-minded candidates.
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This stuff has to stop
Wednesday, Sep 15, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Marion County Board of Health meeting minutes from June 16, 2020…
On June 11, 2020, Melissa received a complaint phone call from a Marion County restaurant that Sharon’s Café in Salem was allowing inside dining. Dan, our Health Inspector, went to Sharon’s Café and spoke with the owner and expressed that inside dining was not allowed in Phase 3 of the Restore Illinois plan, at this time only outside dining, curb side pickup or delivery was a part of Phase 3. Dan did inform them that inside dining would be allowed in Phase 4, which is in 2 weeks.
On June 12, 2020 Representative Blaine Wilhour visited various restaurants in Marion County and told them the health department had no authority to tell them they could not have indoor dining. Melissa contacted Bill Milner, our State’s Attorney, to advise. Mr. Milner stated no judge would side with the health department when a small business is trying to stay open to make a living. Also that inside dining is no more harmful to the public than Wal-Mart that is full of shoppers.
We went over that illogic a kabillion times here. Most people don’t shop for the hour or two that it takes to eat lunch or dinner. And you can’t wear a mask when you’re eating and drinking.
* June 12, 2020 Facebook post…
Rep. Wilhour’s caption was also quoted by one of those Proft papers last year.
* Yesterday…
Gut-wrenching.
* Meanwhile…
It’s worse in 20 counties spanning the southern tip of the state. All 88 ICU hospital beds were occupied Monday night for a region that’s home to more than 400,000 residents and that has a testing positivity rate of 10.3%.
“We’re chugging through some pretty bad days here,” said Nathan Ryder, community outreach coordinator for the Southern 7 Health Department, which covers Illinois’ seven southernmost counties. “It looked like it was leveling off the last couple of days, but now we’re facing a pretty scary number.”
The state deployed a team of critical care nurses to the region last week when it was down to one or two available ICU beds per night, Ryder said, to open up about 10 additional beds.
“Even with that help, we still don’t have the capacity,” he said. “If you’re in a motor vehicle accident, or you’re having a cardiac trauma, a stroke — those are people who need ICU beds. At this point, if you encounter that, you’re probably looking at getting shipped off to St. Louis or Nashville. That’s an incredible strain on the patient and their loved ones.”
The region also has some of the lowest vaccination rates in Illinois — all the way down to Alexander County, where not even 17% of residents are fully vaccinated, the lowest in the state.
Take a very deep breath before commenting, please.
…Adding… Rep. Wilhour…
First off, prayers to the family that is dealing with a loss of a loved one.
I strain to see the connection between your 2 Facebook posts.
At the request of the restaurant-who stated they could not afford to shut down, I like I have throughout the past 18+ months, by request of the owner offered them my take on their statutory due process rights in light of a health department telling them they have to close without their consent or having any intent to get a court order.
THAT WAS 15 MONTHS AGO.
The tragic death that was noted in the 2nd post happened yesterday under a situation where being open was not in violation of any executive order.
Trying to insinuate that one is the result of the other is purposefully misleading at best.
This is a case study in building a false narrative for political purposes.
The right thing to do would be to immediately update your post with my full commentary. Especially since you insinuated some pretty serious stuff against me.
Now he’s a mind reader.
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Unclear on the concept
Wednesday, Sep 15, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* WICS on the new climate/energy bill…
The bill sets a goal of adding 1 million electric cars to Illinois’ roadways by the end of the decade. To do that, the state will offer $4,000 rebates to residents who purchase electric cars.
The problem is the rebate only applies to Chicago and its suburban counties: Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, Will, the townships of Aux Sable and Goose Lake in Grundy County, and the township of Oswego in Kendall County.
Sen. Steve McClure, R-Springfield, says it makes no sense to push for vehicle electrification statewide and not even include the incentives for the county where state government is located.
“Unfortunately, people are not viewing this as one state. They’re viewing it as Chicago vs. everybody else,” McClure said. “Sangamon County is going to be paying for these nuclear power plants that are in that area of the state that we get no benefit from.”
Illinois Senate Democrats argue that the eligible counties and townships pay into a state account that funds the rebate, which is why their residents are eligible for the rebate.
But McClure says downstate counties shouldn’t have to pay into the fund since every Illinoisan will pay into the $694 million bailout of aging nuclear power plants that only provide power to northern Illinois communities.
1) The governor’s office says a scrivener’s error excluded Downstate counties from the rebate program and it will be added back in during the veto session, even though their counties and townships don’t pay into the rebate fund.
2) Sangamon County electricity users will not be funding the Exelon bailout. Only ComEd customers will be on the hook for that.
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