…Adding… Get well soon!…

U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) issued the following statement after being diagnosed with COVID-19 today:

“At the guidance of the Attending Physician, I will be working in isolation through the end of this week after being diagnosed with COVID-19 today to keep my family, colleagues and staff as safe as possible. My symptoms remain mild and I am thankful that I’m fully vaccinated and double boosted, as I—and families of the more than one million Americans we’ve lost to this pandemic—know it could be much worse. I cannot encourage my fellow Americans more strongly to get vaccinated and continue getting your boosters as advised by medical professionals across the country and around the globe.”

* Crain’s…

Gov. J.B. Pritzker says cannabis delivery, which is currently illegal in Illinois but offered in other states, is an idea worth considering. […]

Delivery services are legal in states such as Michigan, Florida, California, Maryland, Nevada and others. Uber Eats recently began delivery in Toronto.

Full Pritzker quote when asked about the topic today during the governor’s visit to Ivy Hall Dispensary…

I think we’ve got to look into, you know, there are other locations across the country where this has become, you know, legally allowed and it’s something that I think we should just examine, what the impact has been there. But I don’t want, first blush and without the data in front of me, I think that as long as it is regulated, as long as we make sure that the person who’s ordering it, gets it and that they’re legally allowed to, then it would seem to me like the same as somebody coming into a store.

Ever wonder if he partakes?

* Our very own (but unrelated) US Rep. Mary Miller was one of the “No” votes…

17 Republicans vote against a bill that would “reauthorize a program for early detection, diagnosis, and treatment regarding deaf and hard-of-hearing newborns, infants, and young children, and for other purposes." pic.twitter.com/yS7QPON3Ac

— Acyn (@Acyn) December 6, 2022

* Putting things into perspective…

Aaron Judge just singed a $360M contract to return to the New York Yankees. That's only 7% less than NY markets saw in political ad spending this cycle.

In total, MLB free agents have signed on for $1.9B so far, equal to the ad expenditure of 2022's top 8 races. pic.twitter.com/hiQS4opRdO

— AdImpact Politics (@AdImpact_Pol) December 7, 2022

* WBBM Radio…

Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) management has been accused by a candidate for president of one of the CTA workers’ unions of unfairly and illegally attempting to thwart his campaign.

Erek Slater said management has repeatedly ordered him to leave CTA property when he’s attempted to meet with workers to campaign or discuss issues. […]

Slater said CTA management opposed his campaign because of his promises to confront the transit agency on issues including service delays and worker safety.

The CTA declined to comment on Slater’s claims.

* Press release…

Today, Illinois Mentor workers represented by SEIU Healthcare Illinois delivered petitions to five company locations. The petition addresses grievances including poverty wages, scheduling difficulties, understaffing, insufficient benefits, and a lack of dignity and respect.

SEIU Healthcare Illinois is currently at the bargaining table with Illinois Mentor, working to secure the first contract for workers.

Illinois Mentor, which recently acquired Sevita, has programs throughout the state, including host homes, supported living and in-home support. Despite worker shortages and skyrocketing inflation, Illinois Mentor management is refusing to put forward the full rate increase they received from the State that could go directly to their staff that directly support individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. Instead, the company only passed on a partial amount of the money, even though its parent companies paid out a total of $475 million shareholder dividends the last three years.

Illinois Mentor locations where petitions were delivered include Carbondale, Swansea, Springfield, Tinley Park and Rockford.

“It’s not right that Illinois Mentor workers, even those who get full-time schedules, are living in poverty. Our families are suffering while the company rakes in millions in profits,” says Savannah McCoy, an Illinois Mentor worker from Springfield and an SEIU Healthcare member. “Illinois Mentor receives money from the state to boost our wages but doesn’t give us the full amount we’re entitled to. It’s time for the company to invest in those of us who serve on the frontlines.”

“Our Illinois Mentor workplaces have such high turnover due to the low wages, unaffordable health benefits and restrictive schedules, resulting in hardship for both workers and our clients,” says Rayniesha Gines, a worker with Illinois Mentor from Swansea and an SEIU Healthcare member. “Illinois Mentor is losing experienced Direct Support Professionals, which makes our jobs more difficult and creates unnecessary disruption for the individuals we support.”

“Benefits at Illinois Mentor are almost non-existent. Our health insurance premiums are so expensive that only 15% of workers sign up,” says Octavia Wheeler, a worker with Illinois Mentor from Alton and an SEIU Healthcare member. We’re working hard at the bargaining table, demanding that Illinois Mentor respect us, protect us, staff us and pay us, but today we took our message beyond the bargaining table and we’re ready to continue this fight until our voices are heard.”

* Durbin press release…

U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Major League Baseball (MLB) announced a new requirement today to have extensive protective netting in place at all Professional Development League (PDL) ballparks. The fan safety initiative was adopted at the 2022 Winter Meetings after being unanimously approved by the MLB PDL Executive Board.

In June 2019, after repeated incidents of MLB fans being hit by foul balls, Durbin and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) wrote to MLB Commissioner Manfred urging him to have all 30 MLB teams extend protective netting to the right and left field corners at all ballparks. In December 2019, MLB announced that all 30 teams would extend protective netting during the next season. Durbin has continuously met with baseball safety advocates to discuss fan safety at MLB and Minor League Baseball games. […]

The requirements—which resulted from a comprehensive review of all 120 PDL ballparks that began several months ago—include the following:

• PDL Clubs are required to install netting from foul pole to foul pole unless the configuration of the ballpark makes such coverage unnecessary.
• The height requirement for the netting from behind home plate to the end of each dugout will be standardized across the PDL system.
• PDL Clubs are to work with their respective facilities to complete installation as soon as practicable but in no event later than 2025 Opening Day.
• Teams will be subject to discipline for non-compliance, including significant fines.

* Isabel’s roundup…

* Sun-Times | Single-family lending drives neighborhood disparities, new report finds: The report released Wednesday by the Urban Institute — a Washington, D.C.-based think tank — examined the types of investments in Chicago from 2010 to 2020. Brett Theodos, a researcher at the institute, said analysts spent about a year looking at the different types of capital flowing into the city and seeing how it compared with investments in other U.S. cities.

* Crain’s | Who has final say over election rules? Illinois files a brief with Supreme Court.: The U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments today in a major election-law case involving the “independent legislature theory,” which, if embraced by the justices, would keep state courts from oversight of federal election practices such as congressional remaps or laws on ballot access.

* NBC Chicago | Illinois Lawmakers Seek to Ban Assault Weapons with HB 5855. Here’s What It Does: Currently, seven states have laws on the books that ban assault weapons in at least some capacity, including California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York. Rep. Bob Morgan, who was an eyewitness to the tragic shooting at the Fourth of July parade in suburban Highland Park earlier this year, is the chief sponsor of the bill.

* WGN | Gov. Pritzker celebrates state’s first ‘social equity licensee’ dispensary in Illinois: Located at 1720 N Damen Ave., the business is named Ivy Hall and bills itself as a “sensory dispensary” on its website. Two more locations are in the works for Crystal Lake and Montgomery. During the event the governor noted all 192 of the state’s social equity licenses have been conditionally approved and he expects many of the related businesses to open in the coming months.

* Tribune | Chicago Ald. Leslie Hairston says she turned down Mayor Lightfoot’s request to serve as ethics chair: ‘I am not a product of the machine’: “I am not a product of the machine. I am the product of an independent, proud community that works, that has values, and that’s who I represent,” Hairston said at the monthly “First Tuesdays” political discussion forum. But, she added, “I was offered, recently, a committee, which I turned down.”

* NBC Chicago | Juul Settles Thousands of Lawsuits for Undisclosed Amount Amid Teen Vaping Concerns: Juul Labs has reached settlements covering more than 5,000 cases brought by about 10,000 plaintiffs over the e-cigarette company’s marketing practices that have been blamed for the teenage vaping crisis. Financial terms of the settlement were not disclosed, but Juul said that it has secured an equity investment to fund it. The settlement resolves cases related to personal injury, consumer class action, government entity and Native American tribes’ claims.

* Crain’s | Absurd political hijinks abound in another Chicago election season: Electoral hijinks are nothing new in Chicago politics, and just as the ballot for next year’s election is coming together, a trio of feuds has emerged to remind us that time is a flat circle. In the mayor’s race, a simmering feud between candidate Ja’Mal Green and Willie Wilson adviser Ricky Hendon was reignited. In late 2018, Green and Hendon had a war of words after Hendon challenged Green’s petition for the 2019 election. Green eventually dropped out of the race, blaming the fight, while Wilson finished fourth.

* NPR | Annual art contest will help interpret Illinois students’ perception of home: The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum and the Illinois State Board of Education come together each year to sponsor this themed student art contest. Christina Shutt is the executive director of the museum. She said the theme “Home is” pairs with the museum’s new exhibit “Here I Have Lived: Home in Illinois.”

* Block Club Chicago | Irish Nobleman Owner Wonders If Santa’s Eviction From Bar’s Holiday Display Was La Spata’s Political Payback: Ald. Daniel La Spata said he sent inspectors to review the bar’s outdoor decorations because they were blocking the sidewalk. But the owner thinks it’s because the bar hosted fundraisers for two of his election rivals.

* Block Club Chicago | Bally’s Casino Plan Cuts Unpopular Outdoor Music Venue, Adds Riverfront Park Instead : In addition to more green space, updated plans now include more parking and a dog park. A traffic study on the area is set to be released soon.

* Tribune | Owner of ‘The Mix’ didn’t defame former assistant who accused host Eric Ferguson of misconduct, judge rules:A former assistant producer for Ferguson, Cynthia DeNicolo, had alleged the company defamed her last year by stating it found no evidence to corroborate her allegations that Ferguson engaged in illegal workplace conduct at WTMX-FM 101.9.

* WBBM | $2.6M goes to Lake County workers allegedly fired for supporting boss’ political opponent: A jury awarded more than $2.6 million to three former Lake County employees who claimed they were fired by Circuit Court Clerk Erin Cartwright Weinstein because they supported her opponent in the 2016 election.

* Sun-Times | From casino plans to building preservation, 2022 was a busy year in Chicago architecture: The year 2022 was a busy one on the Chicago architecture beat. The city grappled with trying to figure out the fate of a likely Bears-less Soldier Field, while the CTA took steps to secure funding for the planned $3.6 billion Red Line extension. And a lot of things happened in between. Here are some of the highlights:

* Crain’s | Jamie Dimon on crypto: ‘Why do we allow this stuff to take place?’: JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon likened crypto tokens to “pet rocks,” continuing his long history of skepticism about the digital assets.

* CBS | What to know about Moore v. Harper, the high-stakes elections case before the Supreme Court: “Incredibly disruptive.” Wreaking “havoc.” “Potentially damaging for American democracy.” Those are just some of the characterizations of a legal theory that is at the center of a case set to be argued before the Supreme Court on Wednesday.

* Medilite | Whoops! These Pollsters Told Fox News Viewers Republicans Would Win Every Tossup Senate Race: Democrats already secured control of the Senate in November’s midterm elections after they defended every seat they already held and also picked up a seat in Pennsylvania. The Georgia campaign was the only outstanding race left, as neither candidate notched a majority of votes last month, which necessitated Tuesday’s runoff per Georgia state law.

* Tribune | Editorial: Republicans, make Illinois safer. Support the proposed state assault weapons ban.: When a bullet from an assault rifle strikes someone’s body, the destruction usually is far worse than the damage a bullet from a handgun does. An AR-15 bullet wields so much speed and energy — three times more than a round from a handgun — that it damages tissue several inches on either side of the path it cuts. The bullet’s exit wound is gaping, at times the size of an orange.

* Washington Post | Items with classified markings found at Trump storage unit in Florida: The former president’s lawyers have told federal authorities no classified material was found in additional searches of Trump Tower in New York and his golf club in Bedminster, N.J.

* ABC | Trump hosts event featuring QAnon, ‘Pizzagate’ conspiracy theorist at Mar-a-Lago: A prominent adherent of the QAnon and “Pizzagate” conspiracy theories posed for photos with former President Donald Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort Tuesday night after speaking at an event hosted at the club, according to photos and videos posted to social media.

* Herald and Review | Two Decatur mayoral candidates face petition challenges: Mayoral candidates Abeer Motan and Mary Williams had their petitions challenged by Phil Romano, chief operating officer of the construction company. Another challenge to Motan’s petitions was filed by Decatur resident Jacob Hamm. The objections will be heard before a three-member panel on Monday, Dec. 12.

* Daily Journal | End of vehicle sticker? Kankakee targets January vote: The Kankakee administration is expressing optimism the $35 vehicle sticker tax will be eliminated, which means there will be no need to acquire the windshield decal this summer. Alderman Mike O’Brien, D-2, who is chairman of the city’s council Budget Committee, said the matter will be up for discussion at Monday’s Budget Committee meeting.

* NBC Chicago | Cubs’ Pat Hughes Elected to Hall of Fame, Earns Ford C. Frick Award: Longtime Cubs radio play-by-play man Pat Hughes is headed to Cooperstown.Hughes was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame on Wednesday as the 2023 recipient of the Ford C. Frick Award — which honors excellence in baseball broadcasting.

* Crain’s | Nutella ice cream? This deal might make it so.: Italian confectionary giant Ferrero Group is buying Blue Bunny ice cream maker Wells Enterprises, marking a merger of sweets companies that could add some flavor to the ice cream aisle. Ferrero Group is a major player in the global chocolate market, making such brands as Nutella, Kinder and Ferrero Rocher. Does this deal mean consumers should expect Nutella ice cream?

* Patch | How To See Moon Cover Mars In ‘Lunar Occultation’ In Illinois: A “lunar occultation” — a rare astronomical event in which the moon passes in front of a planet and obliterates it from view — will occur for about an hour on Wednesday evening. You’ll be able to see it with the naked eye, weather permitting in Illinois.

* CBS Sports | College basketball rankings: Illinois surges in Top 25 And 1 after thrilling overtime victory over Texas: Illinois trailed by double-digits with less than eight minutes remaining in regulation Tuesday night, wasn’t getting a good performance from Terrence Shannon Jr., and seemed on the verge of becoming the latest team to fall to Chris Beard’s Texas Longhorns. Then a switch flipped.