* WTVO…
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Public Health have won an injunction against three school districts who said they did not need to mandate face masks for in-person learning this year.
Pritzker filed a preemptive lawsuit in July to ensure school children wear face coverings to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
A lawyer representing Hutsonville Community Unit School District No. 1 in southeastern Illinois, Parkview Christian Academy in Yorkville and Families of Faith Christian Academy in Channahon wrote letters in the last month to the state board explaining that the Illinois Supreme Court ruled in a 1922 case that government cannot make rules “which merely have a tendency to prevent” the spread of infectious diseases, particularly if “arbitrary and unreasonable.”
Thomas DeVore of Greenville also noted that Pritzker has said there’s not enforcement for violators of the guidelines, which DeVore contended turns “rules” into “recommendations.” He did not return a message left at his office after hours [Tuesday].
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USPS backs off cuts
Tuesday, Aug 18, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Capitol News Illinois…
Operational shifts undertaken by the United States Postal Service in recent weeks, including spending cuts and equipment removal, are illegal, Illinois’ top lawyer and 13 other attorneys general argued in a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday.
By terminating workers’ overtime, eliminating a number of mail sorting machines, removing several mailboxes and rescheduling the delivery of some late-day mail, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is subverting the national election this year, the officials added. […]
Before the Postal Service is allowed to implement procedural changes that affect all Americans, officials must submit them for approval to the Postal Regulatory Commission, according to the lawsuit. That panel then accepts public feedback and makes a determination.
DeJoy did not do that, the attorneys general assert, thus operating outside the scope of his power. The lawyers are asking a federal judge to prevent the nation’s mail delivery agency from reducing services and to force DeJoy to undo all other recent changes.
This has been a huge national news story for the past several days. The union representing workers did a remarkable job of getting the word out as its members’ overtime hours were being cut and the president raged at the USPS. From yesterday…
Mayor Lori Lightfoot cast President Donald Trump and Republicans as “enemies of democracy” who are mounting a “full-out assault” on the integrity of the November election by undermining the U.S. Postal Service and making it more difficult for people to vote by mail amid a pandemic.
Last week…
Gov. JB Pritzker commented on President Donald Trump addressing issues with the United States Postal Service.
Trump said he opposes funding for the service because he doesn’t want to see it used for mail-in voting.
The governor countered Trump, reiterating that the state of Illinois is expanding mail-in voting and they are doing everything they can to make sure everyone gets the chance to cast their vote in the presidential election.
“This president appears to do anything to try to win the reelection, including taking away people’s voting rights in the midst of a pandemic,” Pritzker said. “We need to have mail-in voting available to everybody. We need the postal service to work like it has for the entire history of our country.”
* So far, I’ve heard zero complaints about any issues from campaigns about direct mail. And I’ve heard nothing yet from any county clerks about particular USPS issues. Indeed, when the Champaign County Clerk goofed (for the umpteenth time now) and printed the wrong Zip Code on return envelopes for vote by mail applications, the local postmaster said it was no big deal and the mail would be delivered. Also, Jack Shafer had a really good piece this week about how much of this was overblown…
It’s true that the USPS has sent letters to 46 states expressing its doubts about delivering all the ballots in time to be counted. But, as the Washingtonn Post also mentioned in its story, those letters were in the works before Trump’s new postmaster general took office. It’s also true the USPS needs billions of dollars from Congress, which Trump made noise about vetoing. But that has little to do with delivering ballots for the election, as he implied on Fox. It’s Trump’s particular genius for pulling together unrelated things that has liberals and election wonks in a tizzy. […]
The USPS’s capacity to deliver mail is immense, at an average of 472 million mailpieces a day. If every voter of the 138 million who voted in 2016 posted his ballot on the same day this year, that would compose only 30 percent of a normal day’s delivery. And that surge won’t happen; every voter casting a ballot outside his local polling precinct isn’t going to use USPS and not every voter who does is going to mail his ballot on the same day. […]
What about those vanishing USPS mail collection boxes? As it turns out, the USPS has been culling the boxes since 2000, when their numbers peaked and 365,000 of them stood sentinel on U.S. streets. Today, their numbers have dwindled to 142,000. Why has the USPS deleted them? Because the volume of first-class has nose-dived. In 2010, the USPS delivered 77.6 billion pieces of first-class mail, but by 2019 that number was 54.9 billion. Reduced volume makes it cost-inefficient to collect from so many scantly used boxes, so USPS has done the logical thing and removed them. (That’s why the USPS removed those mail-processing machines, too.) […]
Another thing to remember is Trump’s propensity for making big threats and then retreating. After he fed his base a slaughterhouse-sized meal of red meat by claiming he was going to impede voting by withholding billions of dollars from the USPS, he quickly reversed himself and said he won’t veto relief legislation just because it will fund the Postal Service. By Monday afternoon, he was tweeting “SAVE THE POST OFFICE!”
* Even so, the pressure seems to have worked…
The U.S. Postal Service will halt its controversial cost-cutting initiatives until after the election — canceling service reductions, reinstating overtime hours and ceasing the removal of mail-sorting machines and public collection boxes, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy announced in a statement Tuesday.
The declaration comes as lawmakers prepared to question DeJoy and USPS board of governors Chairman Robert M. Duncan in a Friday hearing in the Senate and at a Monday hearing in the House on those policy changes, which have caused mail slowdowns and threatened to jeopardize ballot collection during the November election.
DeJoy, a former logistics executive and ally of President Trump, took office in June and swiftly made organizational changes to the nation’s mail service, cracking down on overtime hours and banning extra trips by postal carriers trying to ensure on-time mail delivery. The result was mail delays in localities across the country that ensnared prescription medications and election mail during some mid-summer primaries.
The Postal Service also planned to take 671 mail-sorting machines, roughly 10 percent of its inventory, offline to cut costs, and had in recent days removed, relocated and replaced public mailboxes in a number of states including Oregon, Pennsylvania, California, Ohio, Montana and Arizona, among others.
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It’s just a bill
Tuesday, Aug 18, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Center Square…
As cities across the state see less revenue in the aftermath of the months-long COVID-19 shutdown orders, some are looking at pushing local pension payments out by a decade to get some “breathing room.”
Illinois Municipal League Executive Director Brad Cole said they’ll be opposing any additional unfunded mandates. One mandate he said they want to be changed is moving the pension ramp out 10 years to 2050.
“There’s no way they’re going to be able to make those heightened payments, so we need a little bit of breathing room and we’ve asked the general assembly to provide that through a re-amortization of the public safety pension funds,” Cole said. “We hope that is something they’ll consider during the veto session” […]
“We can either kick the can down the road and make the payments or stop kicking the can, declare bankruptcy and start defaulting on the obligations that are due to the pension recipients,” Cole said. “We’re not kicking the can down the road. We’re refinancing so we can continue to make payments.”
* Chicago Reader…
Republicans in Springfield have introduced two bills that would put members of Chicago’s Fraternal Order of Police on the commission that reviews torture allegations against former police commander Jon Burge and other cops accused of torture.
The bills have flown under the radar and have struggled to gain momentum since they were introduced earlier this year in the Illinois House and Senate. They are unlikely to pass the Democratic-controlled legislature, especially at a time when police are facing so much scrutiny.
But the push to reshape the torture commission, even if it is unsuccessful, is another example of the police union and its political allies fighting efforts to expose police abuse and trying to control the narrative around police violence. […]
The House bill, HB4283, would add two sworn officers from the Fraternal Order of Police to the panel and would require a seven-vote supermajority for the commission to refer a torture claim to the courts. The Senate bill, SB3557, would replace all three of the commission’s public-at-large members with members of the FOP. […]
Already, two of the three commission spots reserved for the public are held by people who used to work for the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office: Tim Touhy, a former spokesperson, and Marilyn Baldwin, a former victim-witness advocate.
While House Republican Leader Jim Durkin’s bill specifically reserves two seats for Chicago FOP members, the Senate bill would apply to people who are “members of a law enforcement organization representing law enforcement officers in a county of more than 3,000,000 inhabitants.” Neither bill has an advanced even a click.
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Question of the day
Tuesday, Aug 18, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Sports editor at the Hobbs, New Mexico News-Sun…
Paging Rep. Bailey! Rep. Bailey!
* The Question: New Illinois motto?
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* Last November…
State Rep. Curtis Tarver II (D-Chicago) was arrested Monday night in the Woodlawn section of Chicago and charged with carrying a weapon with an invalid concealed carry license (CCL), according to Chicago police.
Replying to an inquiry from Chicago City Wire, the CPD Office of Communications said that at approximately 8:32 p.m. on November 18 officers on patrol in the 6500 block of South Stony Island Avenue stopped a vehicle with a broken headlight. They asked the driver, whom they identified as Curtis Tarver, 38, if there were weapons in the vehicle.
“The driver handed officers a weapon that was in the vehicle, as well as a concealed carry license,” a CPD communications officer wrote in an email. “Further investigation revealed the license was revoked. The subject was taken into custody and charged accordingly.”
Tarver and (later) the CPD both claimed the matter was a simple clerical error on the part of the police.
* So, keep in mind when reading the rest of this that Rep. Tarver had a perfectly valid concealed carry license that even the police say he handed to them when he was stopped (by, as it turns out, six police cars). The question was whether his FOID card had expired. It hadn’t. And yet he was cuffed to a bench for nearly seven hours.
Press release today…
State Rep. Curtis J. Tarver II released the following statement Wednesday after charges against him of an expired concealed carry license were dropped:
“On November 18, 2019, after being subjected to a routine traffic stop originally for having a nonfunctioning headlight, I was arrested for allegedly not having a valid Firearm Owners Identification Card (FOID) which would have triggered the revocation of my Concealed Carry License (CCL). At the time of my arrest my FOID as well as my CCL were both valid through the years 2029 and 2024 respectively. This update was not reflective within the Chicago Police Department (CPD)’s database unbeknownst to me.”
“Although the possession of my disclosed firearm was legal, I was subjected to unjust treatment by CPD officers, which included being pulled over by six police cars in my district and being handcuffed to bench for nearly seven hours.”
“Against CPD policy, I was demanded to hand my firearm to an officer. I continued to explain that this must have been a clerical error, as I was in legal possession of my firearm. Despite this explanation I was transported the 4th District police station, where one of the officers tried to persuade me into ‘taking this charge.’ It wasn’t until 2 a.m. when my sister, who is also an attorney, told them I was a lawyer and also formerly worked for the department that investigates police misconduct that they finally allowed me to speak with anyone after being denied a proper phone call.
“Ironically after learning of my profession, less than 15 minutes later I was released on bond after multiple hours of unfair and unjust treatment. Before I could be released I was forced to remove my sweatshirt to ensure that any visible tattoos I have would be present in my mugshot.”
“Experiences such as these shows the fallacies within the conduct of CPD. As a Black man from the Southside of Chicago, I am not looked at as an Illinois state representative during these interactions with law enforcement. I hate to imagine what could have happened that day if I was not fully knowledgeable of my constitutional rights, and what many of my constituents may be coerced with while interacting with law enforcement.”
“These charges being dropped vindicates my innocence, which I have always maintained, due to the clerical error within the database. I take considerable efforts to ensure that I am always in compliance with our state’s laws and following safe practice for handling a firearm. I am committed to solving issues relating to gun violence, illegal sales of firearms, and strengthening background checks. I look forward to continuing this work for the communities I represent.”
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* Press release…
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today announced 1,740 new confirmed cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 27 additional confirmed deaths.
Cook County: 1 female 40s, 1 male 40s, 1 male 50s, 1 female 60s, 1 male 60s, 1 female 70s, 1 male 80s, 1 unknown 80s, 2 males 90s
DuPage County: 1 female 70s
Jefferson County: 1 female 80s, 1 unknown 90s
Kane County: 1 male 80s
Kankakee County: 1 male 80s
Lake County: 1 male 60s, 1 male 80s
LaSalle County: 1 female 70s
Madison County: 1 male 80s
Morgan County: 1male 90s
Perry County: 1 male 80s
Rock Island County: 1 female 70s, 1 male 70s, 1 male 80s
St. Clair County: 1 male 60s
Will County: 1 female 90s, 1 male 100+
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 209,594 cases, including 7,782 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 34,175 specimens for a total of 3,439,272. The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from August 11 – August 17 is 4.3%. As of last night, 1,510 people in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 335 patients were in the ICU and 128 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
Following guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, IDPH is now reporting both confirmed and probable cases and deaths on its website. Reporting probable cases will help show the potential burden of COVID-19 illness and efficacy of population-based non-pharmaceutical interventions. IDPH will update these data once a week.
*All data are provisional and will change. In order to rapidly report COVID-19 information to the public, data are being reported in real-time. Information is constantly being entered into an electronic system and the number of cases and deaths can change as additional information is gathered. Information for deaths previously reported has changed, therefore, today’s numbers have been adjusted. For health questions about COVID-19, call the hotline at
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* Bloomberg…
Is there anything the government can say to get people to wear masks during a pandemic? There’s one message that had some positive effect, at least in Illinois.
A recent survey of more than than 2,000 state residents offered respondents five different messages and gauged whether they made people more or less likely to wear a mask in public, as compared to a control group that saw no message. Comparing masks to helmets and seatbelts was the only message that had a positive impact on people’s decisions. […]
About 92% of respondents who were shown the message that compared masks to helmets and seatbelts were likely to wear a mask, compared to 89% of the respondents in the control group. A 3 percentage point increase may not seem like much, but Civis says messages like these tend to have a lower effect for issues that people have already been highly exposed to. “People have heard so much about it that their opinions are strongly held,” Crystal Son, health care analytics director at Civis, said in an email. “Given the saturation of messaging around Covid and masks, a 3 [percentage point] treatment effect is both statistically significant and meaningful.” […]
The worst-performing message showed the World Health Organization finding that masks may reduce Covid-19 spread by 85% and included text that began, “The science is clear.” That strategy led to a 3 percentage point decrease in mask-wearing likelihood as compared to the control group. The other message with a negative effect showed images of people wearing masks with text over it that read, “If it gets us out, we’re all in,” with smaller text explaining that wearing a mask lets people get out of the house. Messages invoking a potential second wave of coronavirus and the risk of infecting elderly family members had neutral effects.
The researchers also broke down the responses regionally. In areas outside of northeast Illinois and the Chicago metro area, the comparison to seatbelts and helmets had an even greater effect, increasing mask-wearing by 5 percentage points. It was also more effective in rural areas, showing a similar increase of 5 percentage points, compared to 3 percentage points among urban and and suburban areas. The four other messages, however, were no more effective among any of these groups.
The full poll is here. The poll was paid for by Civis, which is helping the administration with its response.
* They tested five messages…
As you know, the first one tested best and they’re using it. That one also had a projected “backlash probability” of just 3 percent. The “85 percent” message had the highest backlash probability, at a whopping 90 percent.
There’s more, so click here.
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* Today, new COVID-19 restrictions are imposed on Region 4, which covers the Metro East. Click here for more info. There are exceptions, though. Here’s Molly Parker with one…
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville is located in Region 4. But Doug McIlhagga, SIU Edwardsville spokesman, said the campus was informed by the Illinois Board of Higher Education that reducing the number of people who may gather from 50 to 25 people in the Metro East does not apply to classrooms.
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* Sun-Times…
With attendance down to a trickle due to the pandemic, officials at Chicago’s Navy Pier said Tuesday the lakefront attraction will close Sept. 8 and will not reopen until next spring.
The decision means more than 70 local businesses that operate at the pier must close. Major attractions such as the Ferris wheel and the Chicago Children’s Museum already are closed.
Navy Pier CEO Marilynn Gardner said the attraction is facing a $20 million deficit this year because of lost business due to COVID-19. The pier closed March 16 and reopened June 10, but has seen summer attendance at less than 20% of normal rates.
“While this was a very difficult decision for the organization, it was a necessary one to proactively ensure the long-term success of one of Chicago’s most treasured and important civic institutions and the communities it serves,” Gardner said.
* Tribune…
Closing as the weather turns colder and visitorship typically decreases will help the pier limit its losses in a year when the not-for-profit entity was already projecting falling $20 million short of anticipated revenues. That’s more than a third of last year’s $58.9 million take, according to the executive. […]
One new business may open, however. The new 222-room Sable Hotel atop an existing pier building is nearing completion, and pier officials said it could go ahead and open while the rest of the pier is closed, according to Robert Habeeb, CEO of Maverick Hotels and Restaurants, the developer of the property that will operate under the Curio Collection by Hilton umbrella.
“As of today our goal is to open the hotel on time Nov. 1,” Habeeb said Monday evening, although he emphasized that, as with everything during the pandemic, plans are subject to revision.
“We understand their rationale for closing,” he added, speaking of pier officials. “It’s a very sad circumstance for all of us, but we get it. We now have to step back and assess our own position.”
Who’s gonna want to stay at a Navy Pier hotel if the pier is closed?
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* Nick Vlahos at the PJStar…
During the ‘82 WIU homecoming game, [Gov. Jim Thompson] Thompson sipped peppermint schnapps from a toilet plunger, the [United Press International] report stated. He also received a kiss from a bearded female impersonator named “Candie,” who left a lipstick stain on the governor’s cheek.
It made good Thompson’s pregame promise to “join all you party animals at halftime,” UPI reported. The governor apparently turned down several toilet-plunger offers before he relented. […]
“You’ve got to remember, Western is kind of an unruly school,” Thompson told the [Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library during a 2014 interview]. “The group started towards us, and I said, ‘Who are they?’ These big guys in dresses, wigs, holding the plunger came right at the (university) president and I.
“I thought to myself, oh, no, no, no, no, no. It’s one thing to be handed a beer, it’s another thing to be drinking out of a toilet plunger. So I refused, and they finally went away.”
The next day, the story broke about what or what didn’t take place in the Hanson Field stands. Thompson said it was “ginned up by Adlai.”
“It was just not true,” the governor said. “My wife came down, and I said, ‘Listen, before you read this story in the paper, let me explain.’ And I didn’t know whether she believed me or not, since she was inclined to think that I might have done something stupid like that. But I didn’t.
“I did a lot of stupid things, but that wasn’t one of them.”
I cannot stop laughing.
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* Background is here if you need it. This statement was released yesterday by Democratic state Senators Bill Cunningham, Sara Feigenholtz, Robert Martwick and Tony Munoz; and state Representatives Jaime Andrade, Kelly Burke, Jonathan Carroll, John Connor, John D’Amico, Anthony DeLuca, Elizabeth Hernandez, Fran Hurley, Yehiel Kalish, Martin Moylan and Mike Zalewski…
This Saturday, less than a week after hundreds of rioters looted portions of the city’s central business district, the women and men of the Chicago Police Department were subjected to a well organized and unprovoked attack while attempting to maintain order during a series of protests downtown. Video of the incident clearly showed dozens of individuals forming in groups and charging police lines shortly after they opened umbrellas to disguise their activity. Footage also showed a protester repeatedly beating an officer with a skateboard. At least 17 officers received medical attention for injuries.
Peaceful demonstrations are always welcome. In fact, they are beyond welcome, they are an important and justified part of our democratic process that allow Americans to express outrage over incidents of injustice, as was the case after the brutal and senseless murder of George Floyd.
However, violent demonstrations are never justified. Looting, theft, and criminal damage to property are never justified. And unprovoked attacks against police officers are not only unjustified and lawless, they are an attack on all Chicagoans and an insult to those who protest peacefully. We strongly condemn the actions of those who initiated organized attacks against the Chicago Police Department this weekend and we express our support and appreciation for the officers who risked their personal safety to protect our city and state.
That starkly contrasts with a statement released Sunday by a mostly younger, more liberal group of legislators who said they “are wholeheartedly with the protestors.”
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Open thread
Tuesday, Aug 18, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Keep it Illinois-centric and be polite to each other. Thanks.
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* Center Square…
Green County Clerk Debbie Banghart’s entire staff was sent home.
The county health department ordered a two-week quarantine for all of them after learning one of her employees had contracted COVID-19.
“We still have a lot of preparation to do for this election and, right now, I’m not even allowed to step foot in my office,” she said. “At night. After hours or anything.”
On a call with Illinois Congressman Rodney Davis, Banghart asked fellow clerks and elections officials about a potential nightmare scenario this fall.
“What happens if all of my employees are quarantined at home? If the health department closes our entire office down, how are we going to do early voting or anything for that matter?”
Davis said the issue is a real threat to the November General Election.
“Imagine, you’ve got 9,000 registered voters in Green County. Some of our counties have hundreds of thousands,” he said.
More than two dozen employees of Cook County Clerk Karen Yarborough’s office have contracted COVID-19 since March, according to reports from her office and the Chicago Sun-Times.
It’s a nightmare scenario, for sure. The state may need to set up some sort of roving crew that can pitch in if the worst happens in some of these counties.
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Question of the day
Monday, Aug 17, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Gov. Jim Thompson went down the giant slide to open the Illinois State Fair every year. Here are a few photos that my pal John Amdor found online when I came up empty…
* I asked the Department of Agriculture if they had any pics of Thompson on the slide. They sent me these from the State Fair Museum…
Big Jim loved the state fair and he loved that goofy giant slide. And since he passed away during what would’ve been the 2020 Illinois State Fair, there’s some talk among his family and friends of having a celebration of his life during next year’s fair and maybe asking the governor to set aside a special day.
* The Question: Preferred activities during Jim Thompson Day?
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Weekend protest roundup
Monday, Aug 17, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown today…
* After watching several videos, it’s not hard to see that at least some protesters were indeed itching for a fight…
* But this is from an NBC5 video of the situation on LaSalle St…
That looks like classic kettling…
“Kettling needs to stop,” [Ald. Andre Vasquez] tweeted Saturday night, alongside a video showing officers appearing to surround protesters. Vasquez echoed critics of the tactic in adding, “It is what creates the tension. It’s what made things escalate the night of the first riots and it continues to.”
History…
In 2012 the City of Chicago agreed to a $6.2 million class-action settlement over the mass arrest of protesters and passersby kettled during a massive protest marking the start of the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
* CPD claims it offered people an opportunity to leave…
But…
* Sunday press release…
Below is a statement from elected officials on Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the Chicago Police Department’s crackdown on young protestors in the loop on Saturday evening.
The elected officials signing on to the statement at this time are: State Senator Robert Peters, State Senator Celina Villanueva, State Representative Lakesia Collins, State Representative Theresa Mah, Alderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez, Alderwoman Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez, Alderman Andre Vasquez, Alderman Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, Alderwoman Jeanette Taylor, and Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson.
“Chicagoans have been told that it is necessary to spend 40% of the Chicago budget on police in order to prevent violence and promote public safety. Yet this weekend, just 24 hours after a 12-year-old boy was shot and at the same time as another shooting was taking place on the south side, Mayor Lightfoot and Superintendent Brown stationed thousands of officers downtown, where they kettled, pepper sprayed, and beat demonstrators–some of them as young as 17 years old.
“We once again condemn Mayor Lightfoot and Superintendent Brown for their use of police force against these demonstrators on Saturday night, and for the continued escalation of surveillance, violence, and detention of protestors. We question the logic of spending police dollars on social media surveillance, pepper spray, and riot gear to beat teenagers while the directives of the federal consent decree go unmet and the murder clearance rate remains abysmally low.
“We are wholeheartedly with the protestors who have taken to the streets to demand a future free of violence. Many of these young people are themselves anti-violence activists who, like too many other Black and Latinx Chicagoans, have lost friends and family to gun violence. It is their right to protest, and it is our responsibility to listen. We encourage Mayor Lightfoot and Superintendent Brown to do the same.”
Follow-up today…
Since this statement was released, the Chicago Police Department has continued to escalate its surveillance, abuse, and propaganda efforts:
They have made the frankly ridiculous argument that officers with guns, helmets, bulletproof vests, batons, riot gear, and pepper spray were threatened by teenagers with umbrellas and skateboards.
Somehow, they did not have ANY body camera footage of the latest shooting of a civilian last weekend, but they were able to immediately release selectively edited footage of Saturday’s protests in an attempt to justify their use of force despite firsthand footage showing officers beating an unarmed Black youth as he lies on the ground.
They have been condemned by legal observers for publishing the pictures, full names, and locations of those arrested on Saturday
* Tribune…
Chicago police released a video Sunday afternoon saying it showed outside agitators in rain ponchos and umbrellas instigated the violence Saturday, but organizers pushed back on the narrative.
“They come out with a gun and a baton and pepper spray and Mace and they get mad about some water bottles? They get mad at umbrellas?” Kamil said.
CPD video…
The use of umbrellas is a tactic devised by anti-government demonstrators in Hong Kong…
In Hong Kong, umbrellas are more than just protection from rain or glaring sunshine. They have become tools for expression, privacy and self-defense—and that’s made them a staple of the anti-government demonstrations that have rocked the city over the past three months.
Ponchos also protect demonstrators from gas attacks and water is used to flush eyes after demonstrators are hit with pepper spray, or to hydrate during the heat, or, as the cops rightly note, to hurl the bottles at the police.
* CBS 2…
Elena Chamorro, 18, of Lakeview, was charged with one felony count of aggravated battery to a peace officer and one misdemeanor count of mob action. Chamorro was arrested at 7:03 p.m. Saturday in the 0-99 block of East Randolph Street after police said she battered a uniformed deputy chief of police during the protest.
CPD posted Chamorro’s home address online. If you click here and here (language alert), you can watch video of the alleged altercation. Seems like the white shirt more than held his own. And the protester was a very determined person.
* Meanwhile…
A family is raising money online to try to rebuild after their salon was damaged by people looting last week.
China McNeil opened ChiHair Imports about five years ago but has been in the hair business for more than 20 years. The salon, 674 N. Dearborn St., sells hair extensions and wigs.
The shop was among those targeted last week by people looting in the Loop and surrounding areas. The unrest began after police shot a 20-year-old man in Englewood, though those arrested for the thefts did not mention a connection to the shooting in court, the Tribune reported.
The fundraiser for ChiHair Imports was started by the owner’s daughter, who wrote on GoFundMe her mother had “lost everything she has worked for in one day.” The campaign has raised more than $6,000 so far, but the family-owned salon is trying to get at least $10,000 to rebuild.
McNeil’s daughter expressed solidarity with protesters condemning the killing of Black people at the hands of police, but said “in these moments of solidarity however, businesses have been destroyed.”
They’re almost to their $10K goal. Click here to donate.
* Some additional coverage…
* Blame game for weekend downtown melee pits mayor and CPD against activists
* Accusations fly between police and protesters one day after violent clash injured dozens
* At Tense Downtown Protest, Police ‘Kettle’ Activists — And Aldermen Have Questions
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* Illinois State Board of Elections Hearing Examiner David Herman…
This matter commenced when Doris J. Turner (hereinafter “Objector”) timely filed her “Objector’s Petition” with the State Board of Elections. Objector’s Petition is based solely on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit reversing the Order entered in Libertarian Party of Illinois v. Pritzker, 20 CV 2112. In the Libertarian case, the District Court for the Northern District of Illinois entered a Preliminary Injunction on April 23, 2020 reducing the required minimum number of signatures for candidates nominated by any new political party, as defined by 10 ILCS 5/10-2, and for any independent candidates, as defined in 10 ILCS 5/10-3, to 10% of the statutory minimum established by the Illinois Election Code. Objector admits in her Petition that the Candidate filed a total number of signatures greater than the 10% threshold established by the Order entered by the Northern District. Objector argues that should the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit reverse the Order entered by the Northern District, then the Candidate’s Nomination Papers are invalid in that they contain less than the 25,000 signatures required by the Illinois Election Code. […]
While the Hearing Examiner has reviewed those filings, the Hearing Examiner will not make a ruling as to the merits of the Motion to Dismiss because the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has not yet acted.
At the time of this Recommendation, the Seventh Circuit has not ruled on the validity of the Preliminary Injunction entered by the District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. Therefore, there is no basis to reach the merits, if any, of Objector’s Petition. Wherefore, the Hearing Examiner recommends that the Illinois State Board of Elections DOES place the Candidate’s name on the ballot for the office of United States Senator for the State of Illinois because the Candidate has filed a total number of signatures meeting the 10% threshold established by the Preliminary Injunction Order entered by the Northern District of Illinois.
Conclusion
The Hearing Examiner recommends that Candidate’s name BE PLACED on the ballot as a candidate for the office of United States Senator for the State of Illinois at the November 3, 2020 election.
The board will meet Friday and likely issue its ruling at that time.
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* Press release…
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today announced 1,773 new confirmed cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 12 additional confirmed deaths.
- Cook County: 1 male 60s, 1 male 80s
- Jefferson County: 1 female 70s, 1 female 80s
- Jo Daviess County: 1 male 80s
- LaSalle County: 2 female 90s, 1 male 90s
- McLean County: 1 female 60s
- Rock Island County: 1 female 100+
- Wabash County: 1 female 60s
- Winnebago County: 1 female 90s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 207,854 cases, including 7,756 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 38,246 specimens for a total of 3,405,097. The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from August 10 – August 16 is 4.2%. As of last night, 1,544 people in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 340 patients were in the ICU and 126 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
Following guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, IDPH is now reporting both confirmed and probable cases and deaths on its website. Reporting probable cases will help show the potential burden of COVID-19 illness and efficacy of population-based non-pharmaceutical interventions. IDPH will update these data once a week.
*All data are provisional and will change. In order to rapidly report COVID-19 information to the public, data are being reported in real-time. Information is constantly being entered into an electronic system and the number of cases and deaths can change as additional information is gathered. For health questions about COVID-19, call the hotline at 1-800-889-3931 or email dph.sick@illinois.gov.
* Sunday…
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today announced 1,562 new confirmed cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 18 additional confirmed deaths.
Cook County: 1 female 30s, 1 female 60s, 1 male 60s, 1 female 70s, 2 males 70s, 3 males 80s
Kankakee County: 1 male 70s
LaSalle County: 1 female 70s
McHenry County: 1 female 90s
Morgan County: 1 female 60s, 1 female 100+
Rock Island County: 1 female 90s
Will County: 1 male 60s, 1 female 80s, 1 female 90s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 206,081 cases, including 7,744 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 37,089 specimens for a total of 3,366,851. The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from August 9 – August 15 is 4.1%. As of last night, 1,581 people in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 345 patients were in the ICU and 116 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
* Saturday…
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today announced 1,828 new confirmed cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 5 additional confirmed deaths.
Cook County: 1 male 80s
DuPage County: 1 female 90s
Iroquois County: 1 male 70s
LaSalle County: 1 female 90s
Rock Island County: 1 female 80s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 204,519 cases, including 7,726 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 44,414 specimens for a total of 3,329,762. The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from August 8 – August 14 is 4.0%. As of last night, 1,538 people in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 330 patients were in the ICU and 127 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
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* Press release…
In a recent court filing, Governor Pritzker is seeking to vacate a set of court decrees that seek to prevent politically motivated hiring, as well as politically motivated firings or other punishments against public employees known as the Shakman decrees. Against the backdrop of one of the largest patronage scandals in the history of the state involving House Speaker Michael Madigan and ComEd, State Representatives Tim Butler (R-Springfield), Deanne Mazzochi (R-Elmhurst) and Grant Wehrli (R-Naperville) held a press conference questioning Pritzker’s move.
“This year we’ve seen federal authorities indict and secure guilty pleas from Democratic members of the General Assembly for bribery and fraud,” said Rep. Mazzochi. “ComEd admitted to multiple pay-to-play schemes to bribe the most powerful politician in the state, Mike Madigan, and his cabal of loyal minions. I caught Pritzker’s administration using state funds to hire his campaign worker through a no-bid vendor contract. And now Pritzker demands that the courts get rid of prohibitions designed to stop government employee political machines? Now is not the time to make corrupt government easier.”
The Shakman decrees consist of three federal court orders issued as a result of a class-action lawsuit filed by Michael Shakman against the Democratic Organization of Cook County. The decrees, issued in 1972, 1979 and 1983, prohibit politically motivated firings, demotions, transfers or other punishments of government employees. It is also unlawful to take any political factor into account when hiring public employees, except for positions such as policymaking. These decrees are binding on more than 40 offices statewide, including the Governor’s office.
“While Speaker Madigan is embroiled in one of the worst patronage hiring schemes in the history of our state, why is Gov. Pritzker trying to remove a system that prevents patronage hiring and firing in government? It makes no sense,” said Rep. Butler. “We should be taking steps to strengthen the law against patronage. If the Governor would stop trying to go it alone and work with the General Assembly, we could be doing that right now.”
Despite the Governor’s push to vacate the decrees, the court-appointed monitor for the state’s hiring practices, Noelle Brennan, reported earlier this year that Pritzker’s administration still has not completed a comprehensive employment plan to address the issues protected by the decrees. In fact, she said the administration began restricting communication between her staff and state agencies.
“This is a step in the wrong direction taking place at the wrong time,” said Rep. Wehrli. “We are continually hearing of new instances where people in high positions of public trust are abusing that trust and providing their friends with jobs. If Governor Pritzker is truly interested in raising the ethical bar for public officials in Illinois, rather than trying to vacate the decree he should be seeking to expand it.”
During the press conference, the representatives noted that this latest revelation gives even more credence to Republican calls for a special session to address the state’s ethics laws and the scandal surrounding Speaker Madigan and ComEd.
Um, what does the Shakman decree have to do with a private company’s hiring?
I mean, this move by the governor doesn’t sit 100 percent well with me, but that’s kind of a stretch.
Then again, voters don’t do nuance.
* This is from the governor’s filing…
First, the State has reformed its employment practices to unquestionably pass constitutional muster. The State has instituted a durable solution to prevent future patronage employment practices. It has a comprehensive “exempt list” – approved by the Plaintiffs, the Special Master, and the Court – which the Court identified as the central infirmity of the State’s prior employment practices when Plaintiffs sought supplemental relief in 2014 and 2016. addition, the State, by statute, has instituted an independent oversight structure in the Office of Executive Inspector General, which has within it a dedicated Hiring and Employment Monitoring Division – comprised of ten professionals with expertise and experience in monitoring the State’s employment practices to prevent and uncover political and other forms of discrimination, misconduct, and inefficiency.
In addition, the Special Master exhaustively has monitored the State’s employment policies and practices for the past six years, and has filed 350 pages of detailed reports describing her work and her findings. Those reports acknowledge the State’s “significant progress,” e.g., Dkt. 6565 at 1, and do not identify a single patronage violation during that timeframe – let alone the kind of widespread illegal policies or practices to justify continued systemic intervention.
Second, during the protracted life of the decree, this case has become unmoored from the Constitution. Article III confines courts to cases and controversies involving individual federal rights. To ensure the presence of a case and controversy, Article III requires, as an irreducible constitutional minimum, an injury that is fairly traceable to the defendant’s allegedly unlawful conduct, and that is likely to be redressed by the requested relief. E.g., Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, 504 U.S. 555, 560-61 (1992). Plaintiffs are two private lawyers who, regardless of how they came to be litigants in 1969, now in no respects satisfy this constitutional minimum. They simply are not affected, let alone injured, by the State’s employment policies – they are not State employees and have no desire to become State employees.
*** UPDATE 1 *** Jordan Abudayyeh at the governor’s office…
During six years of oversight by the Special Master, the State has not been subject to even one finding of a violation of the consent decree. Additionally, the State has instituted effective safeguards to ensure ongoing compliance. The case should not continue to be litigated just because these legislators do not understand the basic facts. It’s clear the House GOP never bothered to read the court filing that they are criticizing or learn anything about the Shakman case. When it comes to the State, the Shakman case is not “a set of court decrees that seek to prevent politically motivated hiring” as the GOP erroneously claims. The State is a party to only the 1972 decree, which does not apply at all to State hiring or private hiring. The State moved to vacate because it has achieved the specific requirements of the decree and taken the steps required by the Court.
Background…
Even if there was a shred of truth to any one of the allegations in the House GOP release, what they are claiming has absolutely nothing to do with the Shakman case. It is nonsense to try to link these allegations to the Shakman case.
Political hiring is governed by the Rutan case, which is separate from the 1972 Shakman consent decree. The State, like all governments, must continue to comply fully with the requirements of Rutan.
As one of many clear examples of how little the House GOP members understand this case, the State is not, and has never been, subject to 1979 and 1983 decrees.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Eleni Demertzis with the House Republicans…
While Shakman and Rutan are two separate cases, they are intertwined in that both cases involve political influence in employment decisions. One involved seeking donations for keeping their jobs or avoiding disciplinary while the other dealt with hiring and firings due to political affiliation. In both instances, politics come into play when deciding what course of action to take. To remove one protection against political influence in state employment decisions at a time when a state-regulated company admitted in an official federal court document to hiring associates of an extremely high level legislative official in return for legislative action that has an estimated value of at least $150 million, is extremely short-sighted and ignores the unethical actions of Democratic state officials. It is naïve to think that just because ComEd was a private entity hiring associates of a state official, that it does not or would not happen with a governmental entity. If the Governor wants to call for the special session on ethics that we have been calling for, we can work together in a bipartisan nature to clean up the state and restore faith in our government. Otherwise, removing a protection from political influence in state employment decision-making will just further re-enforce to our constituents that it’s business as usual in spite of all the federal indictments.
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A new twist on the state’s teacher shortage
Monday, Aug 17, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Center Square…
Illinois is dealing with a shortage of teachers, and now the possibility of educators retiring rather than going back into the classroom during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Illinois State Board of Education reports of the state’s 850 school districts, over 500 will be offering in-class instruction this fall. That involves over 600,000 students.
Rocky Joyner, an actuary with the Segal Consulting firm, said in-class instruction raises many questions in terms of liability.
“Will COVID be a teaching disability that is automatic, or that has started in some states, will there be laws adopted that limit employer liability for their employees that have been exposed to COVID?” said Joyner.
The question arises if there is a surge in teacher retirements, who will replace them? Illinois had the 8th highest decrease in students entering education programs in college. Dan Doonan, executive director of the National Institute on Retirement, said states may have to take action to replenish the pool.
“Young people are no longer looking to go into education at the rate they used to, and it looks like some states are responding by opening up more alternative pathways to become certified,” Doonan said.
Not to mention signing up for a job that could physically harm you for life right now or even get you killed probably isn’t a great selling point for recruiters.
…Adding… From Alan Mather, the president of the Golden Apple Foundation…
Hey Rich,
I saw your post about the teacher shortage on Capitol Fax and wanted to share my perspective as a former teacher and principal, and from my current work as President of Golden Apple.
First, we can’t relent on resolving the teacher crisis in Illinois because it’s hurting students across the state who need our help the most. Fortunately, we have a Governor and many members of the legislature, such as State Sen. Andy Manar, who recognize this and took action before the pandemic to provide additional state funding for our very successful state-wide Scholars program as well as our new Accelerators program, which focuses on resolving teacher shortages facing southern, western and central Illinois by recruiting college seniors and career changers not currently on a teaching path. And, the demand for these programs is significant, demonstrating that there is indeed interest in choosing teaching as a career - for example, in year one of the Accelerators program, 300 individuals applied for 50 available seats.
The key to helping those who want to pursue a career in teaching includes removing logistical and cost barriers that exist for them and for many that include mentoring necessary to keep people in teaching. We address these challenges in our programs and are hopeful that we will add hundreds more teachers to our classrooms over the next few years.
Teach Golden,
Alan
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* McCullagh is running against Meg Loughran Cappel in the district currently held by Democratic state Sen. Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant…
* From May 9th…
“All lives are essential, everything about our businesses is essential,” Shorewood resident and Republican candidate for state senate in the 49th district Tom McCullagh said during a speech to the crowd at a rally to support safely reopening Illinois businesses and industries during the coronavirus pandemic at Mason Square along Route 34 in Oswego Saturday. “We live in a state where every single person in it is corrupt, if you’re in the legislature,” McCullagh said.
* August 5th…
Republican state Senate candidate Thomas McCullagh isn’t buying Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s stated reasons for threatening to move several counties backward in the fight to safeguard the state from COVID-19.
“I firmly believe he’s trying to show the worst impact of COVID that he can so he can get the federal bailout he wants to address all the state’s other problems, like pensions,” McCullagh told the Will County Gazette. “He’s trying to politicize the moment by using people’s suffering to get the bailout that he wants.”
* From his Democratic opponent Meg Loughran Cappel…
This speaks for itself. It is shameful that anyone, let alone an office-seeker, would share a stage with felon Rod Blagojevich after he tried leveraging our state’s highest office for personal gain.
* From Senate Republican Leader Bill Brady’s office…
“We were not involved in this event. I support President Trump and I support Tom McCullagh.
*** UPDATE *** ILGOP is not amused…
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Because… Madigan!
Monday, Aug 17, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Never tweet…
* But the Tribune has a pretty good look at this week’s “virtual” Democratic National Convention…
For the 182 Illinois delegates and 13 alternates, the social event will be attended virtually by the state party on a nightly basis before the two-hour national prime-time festivities. There will be no raucous nightly parties, no lunches paid for by special interest groups and no morning breakfast rallies where guest speakers and surrogates from the national campaign aim to put the state’s delegates in a rallying mood. […]
Perhaps no one is breathing a bigger sigh of relief that the convention will be a virtual one than embattled Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, who undoubtedly would have been the focus of four days of intense media scrutiny. […]
It is the right atmosphere for Illinois delegates at an in-person convention to organize around, said Carol Ronen, a former North Side state senator and one of three members of the 36-member Democratic State Central Committee to call on Madigan to exit his various state and party roles.
“There’d be little groups forming together. More people agreeing with me then are coming forward,” Ronen, a longtime convention delegate, said in picturing what discussions about Madigan would look like.
I’m not sure she’s right about people necessarily agreeing with her in particular, but they’d definitely be huddling about the future.
* Lynn Sweet…
For the first time in the history of the nation, the spreading COVID-19 pandemic is forcing the Democratic and Republican 2020 presidential nominating conventions to be mainly virtual. Instead of a party on convention eve in Milwaukee, 116 Illinois Democrats huddled together on Zoom for almost 90 minutes.
The inscrutable, scandalized Democratic Party of Illinois Chairman Michael Madigan, also the Illinois House speaker, spoke for all of 18 seconds, or 47 words, using 21 of them to introduce party executive director Mary Morrissey, who moderated the session. […]
Madigan, who spoke from his Southwest Side 13th Ward headquarters, gets an unearned dividend from a virtual convention — no morning in-person Illinois delegation breakfast meetings where reporters would be working the room to find out if more Democrats wanted him to step down from his leadership roles because of the unfolding Commonwealth Edison scandal.
With Madigan barricaded behind a Zoom moat, diminishing overt local political drama, the welcome reception focused on defeating Trump in the next 79 days.
* WBEZ’s piece was even highlighted by the ILGOP…
Illinois Republican Party Chairman Tim Schneider today issued the following statement as blasting Governor JB Pritzker for participating in Mike Madigan’s convention of corruption and for remaining silent on whether State Sen. Terry Link should step down:
“Every Democrat who participates in a convention chaired by a man under criminal investigation for bribery is complicit in his corruption. Corruption starts at the top – and Governor Pritzker is knee deep in Madigan’s corruption. Pritzker remains silent on whether State Sen. Terry Link should resign, too. The Governor will be held accountable for pledging allegiance to Chairman Madigan and his convention of corruption.”
From WBEZ this morning:
“Illinois Democrats Meet Virtually For DNC As Corruption Questions Surround Their Chairman”
…
“Even though they’re meeting remotely, Illinois Democrats are facing a lot of questions about the future of their leader due to a sprawling corruption investigation.”
…
“For Illinois Democrats, the convention arrives as the chairman of the state party, Michael Madigan, is facing calls from inside his own party to step aside. Those calls have been coming for the past month after Commonwealth Edison admitted it handed out jobs and contracts to gain favor with Madigan, who is also the longest-serving House Speaker of any chamber in the country.”
…
“Will Democrats address the investigation into Madigan this week?”
The party didn’t bother to link to the story in their press release, so click here.
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IDPH mobile testing unit heads to Clay County
Monday, Aug 17, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Clay County Health Department’s Facebook page last night…
We are still working this evening on 5 new cases of COVID-19. All are from different households - none of them have had known exposure - all are recovering at home in isolation. Demographics for these individuals are as follows:
1 male in his 20’s
1 male in his 30’s
1 female in her 50’s
1 female in her 60’s
1 female in her 80’s
The IDPH Drive-Through Mobile Covid Testing Unit will be at Beyond the Bell (former Flora Bank and Trust) on Monday, August 17 from 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. No appointment is necessary. No payment is necessary. Bring your insurance card.
Keep your comments respectful, please
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It was a good day
Monday, Aug 17, 2020 - Posted by Rich Miller
* My weekly syndicated newspaper column…
Tuesday, August 11th, was probably the best day, professionally, that Gov. J.B. Pritzker has had in quite a while.
The Joint Committee on Administrative Rules has been a source of legislative frustration for the governor all year. He didn’t quite seem to grasp how best to work its process-dominated membership and he was handed a major defeat back in May when JCAR members in both parties turned thumbs down on a sweeping plan to impose fines and even jail time on violators of Pritzker’s COVID-19 executive orders.
Pritzker’s general counsel Ann Spillane spent hours explaining to and negotiating with JCAR members the myriad details in the administration’s latest attempt at enforcing some of the governor’s executive orders on mask-wearing and gathering sizes. Spillane testified on behalf of the emergency rule that Tuesday, and she and her final product drew praise from members on both sides of the aisle, though some said they had “agreed to disagree.”
Enlisting organized labor and medical and public health leaders to help put public and private pressure on JCAR wasn’t a bad idea, either. And rather than relying on legislative leaders to put the arm on fellow Democrats, the governor himself got directly involved and called individual members of the committee.
The administration worked it hard and worked it well and it all paid off when it cleared the panel and took effect. The new administrative rule is far better than Pritzker’s attempt in May and also better than the draft released just a week earlier. That’s how things are supposed to work.
As the administration’s top lawyer, Spillane, who served former Attorney General Lisa Madigan as chief of staff, has also been heavily involved with the numerous court battles over Pritzker’s executive orders.
And the governor had a banner day at the Illinois Supreme Court that Tuesday as well. Pritzker had asked the day before that the state’s top court step in and put a stop to the charade in Clay County, where a judge had issued rulings on behalf of Rep. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia) that Will County Circuit Judge John Anderson recently wrote were “bereft of any meaningful legal analysis.”
Clay County Judge Michael McHaney was planning a hearing on Friday, Aug. 14, to decide whether to hold Pritzker in contempt for continuing to issue executive orders in defiance of McHaney’s rulings and perhaps throw the governor in jail. On Monday, the governor asked the Supreme Court to intervene on McHaney’s “unenforceable and nonappealable partial summary judgment order,” stay the contempt hearing and take up the case itself.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court issued a stay on the contempt hearing and then, later in the day, decided not to take up the case. The state’s high court instead acted on its own to consolidate Bailey’s case with others that it had already shifted to Sangamon County at the governor’s behest. The court also ordered that another Clay County case filed by Bailey’s attorney over the administration’s school reopening guidance (including a face mask mandate) be consolidated with similar cases in Sangamon County.
The Supreme Court justices obviously had seen enough of Clay County’s show trials and finally stepped in to stop a county judge from attempting to dictate to the state. The media-friendly legal maneuverings will likely continue, but at least they’ll now happen on a level judicial playing field (unless another avenue is found).
There were some who believed Ann Spillane should’ve cashed out in the private sector after Lisa Madigan retired. Spillane wanted to continue her public service career, however, and Pritzker is darned lucky to have her, especially during this unforeseen pandemic.
Meanwhile, the Republican leadership here has managed to put themselves on the side of outliers like Rep. Bailey. House Republican Leader Jim Durkin, for one, publicly opposed Pritzker’s emergency rule on masks, though national and regional public opinion polls have revealed strong support for requiring face-coverings.
And that public support likely will continue because mask mandates appear to be working. Lincoln, Nebraska, has dramatically lowered its daily case count and positivity rate after imposing a mask mandate just a few weeks ago. It worked so well that Omaha’s city council unanimously approved a similar mandate last Tuesday night over opposition from the state’s governor.
Some business groups opposed Pritzker’s mask rule, and the cash-strapped House Republicans need every bit of help they can get in a year that’s not looking good for their party here. So I suppose it was a decent short-term decision. But that’s going to be a difficult position to defend in some of their suburban battlegrounds.
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* This is the first region in Illinois to face increased restrictions. Press release…
Governor Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) are announcing new COVID-19 mitigation efforts that will be implemented in the Metro East area beginning Tuesday, August 18. Region 4 is now reporting three consecutive days of a test positivity rate of 8 percent or higher, triggering implementation of mitigation efforts as outlined in the state’s COVID-19 Mitigation Plan.
The new mitigation measures were developed in close coordination with local public health administrators and county officials and account for the unique characteristics of the region. Measures include the closing of bars, restaurants, and casinos by 11pm, the closing of party buses and the reduction of gathering sizes to the lesser of 25 people or 25 percent of room capacity. These measures will remain in effect over a 14-day period after which time more stringent mitigation measures, such as the closing of indoor bars and dining, can be implemented if metrics do not improve. View the new mitigations online here.
“Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, I have made it clear that neither arbitrary dates on a calendar nor political pressure will dictate Illinois’ efforts to protect our people. If the data shows we need to go backwards in our reopening, I won’t hesitate to tighten restrictions to protect our collective health,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “Region 4 of our statewide 11 reopening regions – the Metro East – has now surpassed an 8 percent seven-day rolling average positivity rate – a trend that I have made clear would trigger stricter mitigations when this plan was announced in July. Working with local officials in the Metro East region and across the border in St. Louis, we are implementing stricter mitigations that account for the unique factors in this region. Dr. Ezike and I are imploring local leaders and residents alike: if you haven’t been taking this seriously yet, now is the time to start.”
“As we warned when we began reopening Illinois, we are seeing an increase in cases, emergency department visits, and other indicators that the virus is circulating more widely in the community,” said IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike. “Region 4 is the first of the 11 regions to reach resurgence criteria, but we hope it will be the last. By implementing additional mitigations, such as decreased indoor capacities and limiting hours, we hope to reduce the spread of the virus in the Metro East, and also help prevent an increase in cases, hospitalizations, and death in other regions of the state.”
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) is monitoring each region in the state for several key indicators to identify early, but significant increases of COVID-19 transmission in Illinois, potentially signifying resurgence. Indictors include an increase in COVID-19 cases with a simultaneous decrease in hospital capacity, or three consecutive days greater than or equal to 8 percent test positivity rate (7 day rolling). These indicators can be used to determine whether additional community mitigation interventions are needed for a region to prevent the further spread of COVID-19.
Once a region meets resurgence criteria, mitigations will be implemented. For Region 4, mitigation measures taking effect August 18, 2020, include the following:
• Meetings, social events, and other gatherings are now limited to the lesser of 25 individuals or 25 percent of overall room capacity
• All bars, restaurants, gaming facilities, and casinos will close at 11 pm, matching the newly imposed closing times for St. Louis
• All reception halls closed
• Party buses not allowed to operate
• Reservations required for each party at restaurants and bars, and no congregating indoors or outdoors
• Indoor tables reduced to six people or less
• No dancing indoors
• Removal of bar stools at bars to help prevent congregating
• Tables should continue to be six feet apart
IDPH will track the positivity rate in Region 4 to determine if mitigations can be relaxed, if additional mitigations are required, or if current mitigation should remain in place. If the positivity rate averages less than or equal to 6.5 percent over a 14-day period, the region will return to Phase 4 mitigations under the Restore Illinois Plan. If the positivity rate averages between 6.5 percent and 8 percent, IDPH will continue to monitor the region to determine if additional mitigations are needed. If the positivity rate averages greater than or equal to 8 percent after 14 days, more stringent mitigations will be applied to further reduce spread of the virus, which can include the closure of indoor bars and dining.
A full list of mitigation measures pertaining to some businesses and industries may be found on the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) website at www.dceocovid19resources.com/restore-illinois. For Region 4, these mitigation measures will supersede the Restore Illinois Phase 4 guidelines.
IDPH has been working closely with local health departments in the Metro East to provide education to the public and offer information to businesses and organizations on safe ways to reopen. The State has also provided guidance to retail stores, restaurants, offices, and businesses, as well as guidelines for outdoor events, sports, and recreation. The significance of face coverings, social distancing, and hand washing have been continuously emphasized by the administration throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
In early May, the State of Illinois opened a community-based testing site at the Jackie Joyner-Kersee Center in East St. Louis to make testing more readily available for anyone. An average of approximately 44,000 tests are resulted every day in Illinois from IDPH, hospital and commercial labs. Currently, there are 11 state-operated community-based testing sites across Illinois, as well six mobile teams that set up temporary testing sites in communities seeing outbreaks or an increase in cases, and six mobile teams that travel to congregate facilities, such as long-term care facilities, to provide testing. Anyone can be tested at these State sites regardless of symptoms and at no cost to the individual. In addition, there are almost 300 locations providing testing and be found on the IDPH website.
IDPH is also awarding approximately $300 million in grants to local health departments and community-based organizations to conduct contact tracing, education, and support services. Every local health department is now utilizing an electronic contact tracing reporting system to collect consistent information to accurately capture the contact tracing efforts in Illinois and reduce further spread of the virus.
…Adding… Way back on May 12th…
Several Illinois legislators sent a letter to Governor J.B. Pritzker urging his administration to move the Metro East to the next phase of the Restore Illinois plan. […]
Senators Rachelle Crowe and Christopher Belt and state Representatives Monica Bristow, Katie Stuart, Jay Hoffman, LaToya Greenwood and Nathan Reitz were involved in issuing the letter to the governor.
All Democrats.
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