As “smash-and-grab” robberies continue to terrorize consumers and retailers, House Republican Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs) has filed legislation targeting the organized theft rings behind these headline-grabbing crimes.
“Smash-and-grab retail theft has become disturbingly commonplace and these criminals are only becoming more brazen,” said Durkin. “These crimes have many victims, from the people who own and operate these stores, to their employees and customers. We cannot let this stand. These criminals are sophisticated and organized like the street gangs that terrorize our communities and must be treated the same.”
Retailers, from small mom and pop stores to large companies, lost between $3.7 and $4 billion worth of merchandise to retail theft in Illinois alone last year, according to a recent report from the Illinois Retail Merchants Association. Additionally, billions in stolen goods means the state loses out on millions in sales tax revenue. These thieves are not reselling on street corners or out of car trunks, but through anonymous online marketplaces.
Durkin’s legislation, House Bill 4275, creates the crime of organized retail theft, a felony punishable by up to 15 years in jail if the value of the stolen goods is more than the state’s current felony threshold of $300.
Under Durkin’s proposal, a person commits organized retail theft when they:
• Work with one or more people to steal merchandise with the intent of selling or returning the merchandise for profit.
• Work with two or more people to receive, purchase or possess merchandise they believe to be stolen.
• Act as an agent of another individual or group of individuals to steal merchandise from one or more merchant’s premises as part of an organized plan to commit theft.
• Recruit, coordinate, organize, supervise, direct, manage or finance another person to undertake any of these actions.
Durkin’s legislation also allows for organized retail theft to be charged in one of several locations. Charges can be brought either where the theft took place, where the merchandise was recovered, or where stolen merchandise was resold. For instance, if a store on Michigan Avenue was robbed, but the organized crime ring attempted to sell the stolen goods in DuPage County, the crime could be charged in Cook or DuPage County.
“States Attorney Foxx and Governor Pritzker continue to coddle criminals and disregard the victims of their crimes. It is time we reset our criminal justice system and hold those who disregard our laws accountable. Our citizens and our merchants are desperate for action,” said Durkin.
* I asked for a response from Rob Karr, the president & CEO of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association…
While we appreciate Leader Durkin’s continued support of the retail community as well as his efforts to ensure retailers can continue to operate safely in Illinois, we are in need of policies that best addresses the many complexities of organized retail crime. To that end, we will soon be unveiling a proposal that advocates for comprehensive solutions. With profits from organized retail crime driving other illicit activities such as illegal firearms purchases, human trafficking, and in worst cases terrorism, as well as eroding sales tax revenues and threatening retail viability, it is far from a victimless crime. Indeed, Illinois has become the epicenter for these types of crimes, with organized retail theft growing over 60% in just the last five years. It is more important than ever before that elected officials work with members of the retail community to ensure Illinois is no longer an easy target.
* Related…
* Kim Foxx rethinking retail theft policy: In an emailed statement, Foxx spokeswoman Cristina Villareal confirmed the office is reviewing its policy. “We believe the retail threshold at $1,000 for felony charges is in line with the rest of the country, but we have committed to look at available data and engage with partners to see if this is still the best policy,” she wrote. “It’s important to note that cases of retail theft are not the same as ‘smash and grab’ and organized theft rings. We will also be taking a look at our policies around those issues.”
A Chicago consultant pleaded guilty today to a federal tax offense for willfully attempting to evade and defeat the assessment of income taxes.
EDWARD ACEVEDO, 58, of Chicago, pleaded guilty to a tax evasion charge before U.S. District Judge Matthew F. Kennelly. The conviction is punishable by a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison. Judge Kennelly set sentencing for March 9, 2022.
The guilty plea was announced by John R. Lausch, Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; Justin Campbell, Special Agent-in-Charge of the IRS Criminal Investigation Division in Chicago; and Emmerson Buie, Jr., Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Office of the FBI. The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Amarjeet S. Bhachu, Diane MacArthur, Sarah E. Streicker, Timothy J. Chapman, Michelle Kramer, and Julia Schwartz.
Acevedo worked as a self-employed consultant. He admitted in a plea agreement that he willfully failed to file an individual income tax return for the calendar years 2015 through 2018, causing a loss to the IRS of at least approximately $37,380. Acevedo further admitted that he attempted to evade taxes by handling his affairs in a manner so as to avoid the creation and maintenance of customary business and accounting records.
After discovering that he was under investigation by the IRS, Acevedo provided incomplete information to his accountant concerning the sources of Acevedo’s income and expenses for 2017 and 2018, causing the accountant to prepare incomplete federal tax returns for those years, the plea agreement states.
Though the indictment stemmed from the ComEd probe, Acevedo’s plea will make no mention of it, or Public Official A, and he has no cooperation deal with the feds
Public Official A is former House Speaker Michael Madigan, in case you’ve been living under a rock. So, this was a one-off.
Republican candidate for governor Darren Bailey on Monday named Stephanie Trussell, a former right-wing radio talk show host in Chicago, as his running mate for the June 28 primary.
Bailey became the first of four announced GOP candidates to pick a lieutenant governor contender. Under state law, candidates for governor and lieutenant governor must run as a team. Team Bailey links a white farmer and state senator from rural downstate Xenia with a Black suburban woman. […]
In her social media posts in 2016, Trussell was opposed to Donald Trump’s Republican presidential nomination. She used the #NeverTrump hashtag on her Twitter account as she wrote Trump “is a despicable human being,” saying he “will donate to #Satan for a land deal” and that her “skin crawls when pundits call #Trump the leader of the #GOP. He doesn’t represent my values.”
Trussell also has used her social media platform to liken Planned Parenthood to the Ku Klux Klan and question the validity of health care professionals calling for vaccinations to deal with the pandemic.
* The governor was asked today about Trussell’s anti-Trump comments coming back on her…
It’s a complete mess over there. I do not know how they’re going to resolve all of this. The cult of personality around Donald Trump is a major factor in the Republican Party, seemingly. And I think they’re going to have lots of disagreements about who’s more Trumpy than the other person. But I know what I’m focused on. And you know what I’m focused on and I’ve been doing it for the last three years and that’s just the people of Illinois, the working families of Illinois
* Trussell had this to say today on the campaign trail…
I support President Trump 100 percent. Like a lot of people, we all had some issues with candidate Trump. My issue with him is that we didn’t think he was conservative enough, that was my issue with him. But you know what? I was so happy to be wrong about him. I voted for Trump in 2016. I campaigned and voted for Trump in 2020. And I will never apologize to the trolls on the Internet for who I am and what I am. I know what I am, that’s unshakeable.
She does more than her share of Internet trolling, as we’re about to see.
* As I told you yesterday, Trussell pulled down her Twitter account not long after people started posting about her. She put it back up at some point, and this was still there…
I asked the Bailey campaign for comment and haven’t heard back. I asked the ILGOP for comment twice (including on one of their Twitter posts about race) and haven’t heard back. I also asked some Democrats for comment, and House Black Caucus Chair Kam Buckner stepped up…
Stephanie Trussell and Darren Bailey should be ashamed of the past remarks regarding President Obama––but we all know they won’t be. These offensive, incendiary comments are unacceptable for someone seeking one of the highest offices in our state, and I look forward to hearing about the mental gymnastics Mrs. Trussell must do to justify these disturbing statements. Stephanie Trussell is exactly the kind of pick we’d expect from this field of far-right extremists, but she doesn’t represent us and never will.
…Adding… Real tough guy, eh?…
Bailey’s bus relocates to the back door so he can escape the press, despite multiple requests for on camera interviews. His campaign staff physically blocked reporters from approaching him as he refuses to take any questions.
*** UPDATE *** Statement provided by the Bailey campaign…
I wouldn’t expect a basement blogger to do his job and add context to a sarcastic tweet from 7 years ago, but here you go: In 2014, Michelle Obama told black voters, “I give everyone full permission to eat some fried chicken after they vote.” This ridiculousness is the kind of stuff we’ve grown to expect from pandering liberals and the left-wing media, though. They put black people in a box, tell us to keep our heads down, our hands out, and vote Democrat. Well, these elitist politicians have failed us. Our streets aren’t safe, our schools are failing our children, our communities lack opportunities, and we need change. I’m proud of being a black woman raised on the Westside of Chicago, and I won’t apologize to the left-wing media or the out-of-touch career politicians who have been selling out Illinoisans for years. We’re here to fight for change for every Illinoisan and turn this state around.
Hilarious. Also, Buckner has been in office not quite three years. Also, too, I don’t think Obama said anything about malt liquor and watermelons.
…Adding… This is hilariously ironic…
Waiting for the #Trump pic of him eating fried chicken and watermelon under the heading: "I Love Black People". #Buffoonery!
— The Stephanie Trussell Show (@ReaganMom) May 6, 2016
State health officials today reported 3,628 COVID-19 patients are being treated at hospitals throughout Illinois.
That’s up 115 patients from the day before.
Of those hospitalized, 743 are in intensive care, according to Illinois Department of Public Health records.
IDPH officials are also reporting 28 more residents have died of COVID-19, while 7,390 new cases of the respiratory disease were diagnosed. That brings the state’s death toll from the virus to 26,934, and 1,911,649 infections have been recorded since the outset of the pandemic, IDPH records show.
The state’s seven-day case positivity rate is at 4%, the same as the day before. Case positivity is the percentage of new cases derived from a batch of tests. A seven-day average is used to account for any anomalies in the daily reporting of those figures.
Amy Jacobson: The governors of New York and California have implemented new mask mandates, but both of their governors have given their people end dates of January 12. What about giving Illinois a mandate [end]?
Gov. Pritzker: Here’s why we have a mask mandate: because we need to keep people safe. We need to stop pretending that masks don’t work. They do. Countless studies show that masks do work to reduce the transmission of infection. We also know that the most important thing you can do is to get vaccinated and if you’ve been vaccinated to get boosted, that is what keeps people out of the hospital. It’s what keeps people safe. And so I encourage everybody to please wear your mask indoors. Please make sure that you go get vaccinated if you’ve not been and if you haven’t had your booster yet. We just opened booster shot vaccination clinics across Cook County as well as in other parts of the state. We have vaccination clinics that are open to people who want to get booster, so I just want to encourage everybody to do the right thing. We are in the state of Illinois and we’re gonna keep doing it. Following the science.
Amy Jacobson: But we went from 300 cases in Chicago to a thousand…
Gov. Pritzker: Look, every time the numbers go down, you say you want everybody to take the masks off. Every time the numbers go up, you say you want everybody to take the masks off. I know what you stand for. Let’s keep moving on. I’d like to talk to reporters.
The World Health Organization said Wednesday that omicron, which is being reported in 77 countries, is spreading at a faster rate than previous coronavirus variants and delivered a stark warning against dismissing it as mild.
WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that even if data eventually confirms that omicron causes less-severe disease than other variants, the sheer number of infections could “once again overwhelm unprepared health systems.”
* However, if this turns out to be true, then maybe, just maybe we can all get a break from the insanity…
A highly anticipated study of Pfizer’s Covid pill confirmed that it helps stave off severe disease, the company announced on Tuesday.
Pfizer also said its antiviral pill worked in laboratory studies against the Omicron variant, which is surging in South Africa and Europe and is expected to dominate U.S. cases in the weeks ahead.
“We are confident that, if authorized or approved, this potential treatment could be a critical tool to help quell the pandemic,” Albert Bourla, Pfizer’s chief executive, said in a statement.
Last month, Pfizer asked the Food and Drug Administration to authorize the pill, known as Paxlovid, based on a preliminary batch of data. The new results will undoubtedly strengthen the company’s application, which could mean that Americans infected with the virus may have access to the pill within weeks.
See below for a statement from Illinois Secretary of State candidate Anna Valencia on today’s Cook County Democrats slating, which resulted in an endorsement for her opponent, Alexi Giannoulias, in this race:
“Nothing worth doing comes easy in life. That’s the story of my parents, working families across Illinois and women across the country. Even so, when things get tough, they continue to fight on. I am in this race for them, and I am staying in the race because I plan to win so that I can be a voice for working families like my own and to show little girls everywhere what’s possible when they persist.”
…Adding… More…
All 3 Giannoulias rivals say they will stay in the race.
With mental illness and drug addiction surging across the United States, it’s more likely than ever that emergency calls could involve a person experiencing a mental health or substance use crisis. Those calls are often received by 911 call centers, which recent Pew research suggests lack the resources and training needed to dispatch tailored responses. Instead, law enforcement officers typically are sent to manage situations that often require specialized services related to health, mental health, and housing.
New research from the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute, in partnership with The Pew Charitable Trusts, suggests that a program developed in Dallas might serve as a blueprint for policymakers who want to move their crisis response systems toward a health-centered approach instead of relying solely on police.
Since 2018, the city has employed a multidisciplinary model known locally as Rapid Integrated Group Healthcare Team (RIGHT) Care, which brings together teams of mental health professionals, paramedics, and specialized law enforcement officers who can better direct people in distress to community-based care and services. According to the Meadows Institute report, these teams responded to 6,679 calls from Jan. 29, 2018, to June 7, 2020. The analysis found that:
• 62% resulted in a connection to care (community service, or voluntary or involuntary hospitalization).
• 40% resulted in a connection to some sort of community service, such as a referral to health or housing services.
• 29% were resolved on scene with no further services needed.
• Only 14% resulted in emergency detention.
• 8% resulted in a person being taken to a hospital or psychiatric facility.
• Only 2% resulted in arrests for new offenses.
• While mental health visits to the emergency department at Dallas’ Parkland Hospital increased by 30% from 2017 to 2019, areas served by RIGHT Care saw a 20% decrease in mental health-related admissions.
In addition to the on-patrol three-member units, Parkland provides the RIGHT Care team with licensed mental health professionals to assist with navigating 911 calls involving behavioral health crises. That’s important, because recent research by Pew suggests that few 911 call centers have staff with the training or resources needed to manage these calls and dispatch appropriate responses. Dallas’ initial success shows how a properly resourced call center can improve outcomes.
Based on the positive data from Meadows—a Dallas-based, data-driven nonprofit focused on providing efficient behavioral health care to Texans when and where they need it—city officials earlier this year expanded RIGHT Care throughout the city. They added two new teams, increasing active units from nine three-person units to 15, and moving closer to the goal of RIGHT Care responding to 40% of mental health calls in the city.
* The 2021 Golden Horseshoe Award for Best Senate Republican Non-Campaign Staffer goes to Whitney Barnes…
I think the quantity and strength of the nominations she’s received really speak to her character. While it’s true that she’s smart, hard working and respected by members of the caucus and the media, it’s how she interacts with the people around her that makes her a standout to me. Simply put, Whitney is a good person who treats everyone around her with respect and kindness - something that is sadly becoming increasingly rare in this arena.
Whitney announced this week that she’s leaving to join Nicor as its communications manager. Her departure will create a giant hole on that staff. Best of luck!
* The 2021 Golden Horseshoe Award for Best House Republican Non-Campaign Staffer goes to Joe Sculley…
When you see how prepared the HGOP is with nearly everything budget you can look to Sculley. He is an excellent partner with Demmer and because of their relationship and oversight the HGOP can land plenty of budget punches when the rest of the world is wondering what GOMB is doing. A true artist at his craft who has an attention for detail that benefits the HGOP in so many ways. Also super fun.
When somebody gets a nomination like that they have to win.
* On to today’s categories…
Best House Democrat
Best House Republican
As always, explain your answers or they won’t count and nominate in both categories, please. And, remember, it’s 2021. The nominations are for activity in this year, not last year, or last decade or whatever. Thanks.
The north side of the [Edwardsville] warehouse “is where the vast majority of our employees and partners went,” Kelly Nantel, Amazon’s director of media relations, said at the news conference.
“A small handful, and we speculated … it was because of the work that they were doing at the time, they congregated on the southern side of the facility,” she said.
Amazon cargo driver Austin J. McEwen, 26, was an only child who loved to listen to rapper Mac Miller and hunt with his friends.
He died trying to shelter from a powerful tornado in the bathroom at an Amazon.com warehouse on Friday night, according to a coworker. […]
Several employees told Reuters that they had been directed to shelter in bathrooms by Amazon managers after receiving emergency alerts on mobile phones from authorities. […]
“I was at the end of my route. I was just getting in the building and they started screaming, ‘Shelter in place!’” said David Kosiak, 26, who has worked at the facility for three months. “We were in the bathrooms. That’s where they sent us.”
Jaeira Hargrove and Etheria Hebb loaded up their delivery vans Friday morning at an Amazon facility near Edwardsville and spent the day delivering packages in the Glen Carbon area.
When the weather started turning bad, they returned and quickly parked their vans. A woman told them to head to the bathroom because of a tornado warning, Hargrove said Sunday in an interview with the Post-Dispatch. […]
“We were just standing there talking. That’s when we heard the noise. It felt like the floor started moving. We all got closer to each other. We all started screaming,” Hargrove said.
The building collapsed as an EF3 tornado smashed into it.
Both Hargrove and Hebb were knocked to the floor. Hargrove was calling out to Hebb, but Hebb didn’t respond. She was one of the six people who were killed in the building’s collapse.
The “take shelter” location is the restrooms, said delivery driver Alonzo Harris.
* Yet, Amazon almost appears to be blaming the workers who died or just chalking their deaths up to tragic bad luck…
Six that died in Edwardsville, Illinois Amazon warehouse were not in the designated shelter in place: Amazon spokeswoman said that the designated shelter in place is an interior section of the warehouse not a room. The workers who gathered there survived and the 6 persons who died were on the south side of the building where the tornado struck.
Amazon’s 3.8-million-square-foot fulfillment center at the southeast corner of Harlem Avenue and Vollmer Road in Matteson opened in October and is designed to withstand winds of at least 110 mph, according to Ernest Roberts III, the village’s director of community development.
The National Weather Service said Saturday night that the tornado that hit the Amazon building reached the EF3 category — the third-strongest rating on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, with winds between 136 mph and 165 mph.
We’re relying upon not only the local investigation, but the OSHA investigation to look at issues around whether there are structural challenges with the way those warehouses and that particular one was built. People have said that they were built to code. If they were, then we need to look, and I’ve talked to legislators about this, we need to look at whether the code needs to be strengthened. Because I think we all are quite well aware that storms are getting more severe, that climate change is affecting businesses and homes and individuals all across the nation, not to mention here in Illinois. And so if we need to strengthen those codes because of climate change, we should go do that.
* Gov. Pritzker was asked at an unrelated press conference today about the recent New York Times story claiming he’d talked privately about running for president…
I have never spoken privately with anybody or publicly about that. I, first of all, and second, I love my job as governor of Illinois. And I intend to keep doing it on behalf of the working families of Illinois, making sure that we’re lifting up our children making sure they get the education that they deserve, that families get the health care that they need, and that we’re growing our economy and of course, working our way out of this pandemic. So I’m going to continue doing the job.
* Reporters persisted, peppering him with more questions…
I have no intention of running for anything except reelection as governor. […]
Of course, people have mentioned this to me on occasion, but I’ve never had a conversation with anybody about it. […]
I am focused on this job. I love this job. I really love the job of being governor and I’m going to continue doing it as long as I can. […]
I think I’ve been pretty clear about this. I want to be governor of Illinois. I want to continue to be governor of Illinois. I’m doing the job that I love.
And that’s just some of the responses.
* My “favorite” question was whether he’d consider running for president if he lost reelection next year. I did not make that up. His response was that he’d have more time to spend with his family.
…Adding… ILGOP…
“Governor Pritzker and his team should focus more on fixing the problems that ail our struggling state instead of dreaming of the White House. JB has surrounded himself with a bunch of depressed Clinton 2016 alums who still believe the right to lead the country is theirs. Now they’ve found a billionaire benefactor to make another go of it and Pritzker, it seems, is happy to indulge in the fantasy.
Newsflash to team Pritzker, our economy lags behind all our neighbors, violent crime is destroying communities, rampant inflation is busting the budgets of already overtaxed Illinoisans, and public corruption still defines our political system. Get to work, Governor, and stop dreaming.” - ILGOP Chairman Don Tracy
* The 7th US Court of Appeals has ruled that the pandemic and Gov. Pritzker’s resulting emergency order closing down businesses did not trigger insurance policies covering income reductions caused by “direct physical loss.” Here’s Steve Daniels at Crain’s…
In the linchpin cases—suits by Sandy Point Dental in Lake Zurich, the owner of the Hyatt Place hotel in East Moline and a Southern Illinois restaurant owner against Cincinnati Insurance—a three-judge panel decided that Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s actions in the spring of 2020 to keep the virus from spreading out of control didn’t constitute a “physical loss” that virtually every business policy requires for payment of claims.
In the decision, Judge Diane Wood emphasized that businesses were able to function in part even during the most restrictive phases of Pritzker’s orders. Restaurants could serve takeout orders. The dentists’ office could perform emergency work.
“(T)he businesses’ preferred use of the premises was partially limited, while other uses remained possible,” she wrote. “Without any physical alteration to accompany it, this partial loss of use does not amount to a ‘direct physical loss.’”
With this ruling, the 7th Circuit joins four other federal judicial circuits around the country in arriving at this interpretation. Unless another circuit rules that insurers are liable for these losses, the U.S. Supreme Court is highly unlikely to weigh in on what last year looked like it might be one of the most intense insurance industry legal wars in years.
In other words, incorporating the stated definition of “loss,” the Businesses were covered for income losses resulting from direct physical loss or direct physical damage to property. Thus, to survive Cincinnati’s Rule 12(b)(6) motion, they needed to allege that either the virus or the resulting closure orders caused direct physical loss or direct physical damage to covered property. […]
Sandy Point insured its property, not its ideal use of that property. Having alleged neither a physical alteration to the property nor its equivalent in its amended complaint, Sandy Point failed adequately to allege a “direct physical loss” under the Policy. […]
Bend Hotel has not alleged loss of use so substantial as to amount to a physical dispossession of its property. […]
To state a claim under the Policy before us, the Businesses needed to allege more than a partial loss of their preferred use of the insured properties. But they alleged neither a physical alteration to property nor an access- or use- deprivation so substantial as to constitute a physical dispos- session. They thus have not managed to state claims upon which relief could be granted.
The deficit in the state’s Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund remains over $4.3 billion and interest payments on the debt began accruing on Sept. 6.
Thus far, more than $6 million in interest has accrued on the money Illinois owes the federal government, according to the U.S. Treasury, and interest will continue to accrue at a rate of 2.27 percent. The state earmarked $10 million for interest payments this fiscal year.
* Comptroller Mendoza press release…
State financial officers are asking the federal government to reinstate the waiver on interest being charged for fund advances given to the states to cover COVID-19 unemployment insurance.
These advances were provided to the states interest free so that unemployment benefits could be made without disruption during the worst phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. The interest waiver on these advances expired Sept. 6, 2021.
“Taxpayers should not be on the hook for interest just because the pandemic is lasting longer than projected,” Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza said. “States are wrestling with how best to replenish their COVID-depleted unemployment funds and they should not have to do that with the meter running.”
Illinois’ interest tab is nearly $20 million as of today. That could reach more than $100 million if left unpaid for a year.
State officers, representing more than 75 million residents from New York, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Minnesota joined Comptroller Mendoza in cosigning the attached letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, seeking the administration’s support for reinstating the interest waiver.
“We believe the waiver deadline was originally determined under the assumption that the pandemic would likely be over and that the economy and state governments would be in recovery mode,” the signatories wrote. “However, it is quite plain to see that this public health crisis is not over, and the benefit provided by this interest waiver is still necessary.”
They emphasized that the pandemic is clearly not over and that states that are having to pay interest on more than $39 billion on federal advancements need more time to figure out how to address repayment of these advances.
“The cost of covering this federal initiative to extend unemployment benefits during the pandemic should not fall completely on the shoulders of businesses and labor,” said Illinois Comptroller Susana A. Mendoza, who convened her fellow financial officers from the most-affected states to seek the extension.
“Colorado has over $1 billion in outstanding advancements,” said Colorado Comptroller Robert Jaros. “Accrued interest is almost $4 million as of today and will grow to over $20 million if not paid within a year. The State supports reinstating the interest waiver for advancement loans for UI benefits. Colorado needs more time to address the repayment of the outstanding advancements.”
Illinois owes $4.5 billion in outstanding advancements. The advances are generating federal interest at a rate of 2.27%, amounting to more than $187.5 million as of Dec. 6, 2021. Illinois has accrued $19.6 million in interest since the waiver expired and after paying $6.3 million in September.
“I’m not running against Mr. Casten. I announced my reelection first, and then he announced his reelection,” she said. “My reelection was requested by my entire district, voters and constituents. So I’m running for the district.”
Donald Trump’s closest Hill allies are privately lobbying the former President to get involved in a Republican-on-Republican matchup in Illinois, a potentially messy scenario that has sparked internal strife in the party and prompted GOP leaders to launch a counter-campaign aimed at keeping Trump on the sidelines.
At the center of it all is freshman Rep. Mary Miller, a member of the hard-line House Freedom Caucus who has been left without a seat after redistricting. Now she’s deciding whether to challenge fellow Illinois Republican Reps. Rodney Davis or Mike Bost. Hoping to boost Miller’s political prospects, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia — another controversial firebrand who is close with Miller — has been talking her up to Trump and encouraging him to throw his weight behind Miller, according to multiple GOP sources.
A Trump endorsement would turbocharge the intraparty battle and potentially make things even stickier, something GOP leaders are eager to avoid. So House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has worked behind-the-scenes to head it off: he has urged Trump to stay out of the primary race, telling the former President that Bost and Davis — who are poised to become committee chairmen if Republicans reclaim the House after next year’s midterms — are both good members, sources said. […]
And Miller has created other heartburn for McCarthy and the party. In particular, Republicans are upset that Miller has spread disinformation about a bipartisan bill that passed the House to bolster how vaccination records are maintained and shared. Miller attacked the 80 Republicans who backed the measure, and later told the conservative outlet Breitbart News that the bill would “track” unvaccinated Americans who “will be targeted and forced to comply with Biden’s crazy ‘global vaccination’ vision.”
* And Mark Maxwell points out that Miller voted against a pre-Christmas pay raise for members of the US Armed Forces…
* Meanwhile, Miller is sure to be asked about Darren Bailey’s new running mate Stephanie Trussell and her myriad anti-Trump posts on her social media accounts, so they’ve been busily posting this pic to prove she came around…
Indeed she did. There’s also this from just a few months ago in praise of Democrats pushing the vaccine…
*** UPDATE 1 *** Looks like Rep. Miller just upped the ante…
Rep. Miller: The January 6th commission hates President Trump because he exposed the corruption of the DC establishment here in the swamp. pic.twitter.com/OmjSxSEllM
*** UPDATE 2 *** Rep. Miller is listed as not voting on the Jan. 6th “Commission” legislation. Hilarious.
*** UPDATE 3 *** US Rep. Rodney Davis’ comms director points out that there is no such thing as a “January 6th Commission” and obliquely accuses Rep. Miller of being “misinformed”…
Hey Rich.
Saw your updated post. I just wanted to point out that there’s no “1/6 Commission,” which some misinformed people often conflate with the 1/6 House Select Committee initiated by Speaker Pelosi. The makeup and powers of the proposed bipartisan 1/6 Commission versus the currently-active, partisan 1/6 Select Committee are very different. The proposed 1/6 Commission, styled after the 9/11 commission, never made it into law after it failed to advance in the Senate. There were individual votes on both the commission and the select committee.
As we have seen, the sham 1/6 House Select Committee has been a partisan circus, which is what Congressman Davis expected to happen with a Select Committee, and that’s why he voted against it. You can find the roll call of that vote here. The only Republicans to vote in support of the 1/6 Select Committee were Reps. Cheney and Kinzinger. I will note that according to the House Clerk, there were 19 Republicans who are listed as “Not Voting” on the 1/6 Select Committee resolution, including Rep. Miller.
One other thing I will note, Rep. Miller and nearly every House Republican (there were six listed as not voting) voted for the creation of a 1/6 commission in a procedural motion earlier this year. The vote occurred in a motion to immediately bring the bipartisan 1/6 Commission legislation to the House floor for a vote. A no vote on the procedural motion is basically a vote to advance the 1/6 commission bill, i.e. support the bill. You can find a roll call of that vote here.
More than happy to provide additional info if you need.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Monday that an investigation is underway to determine what happened at Amazon’s Edwardsville warehouse where six people were killed in a tornado Friday night. […]
Pritzker, who spoke during a news conference after touring the Amazon warehouse, said Illinois should consider whether building codes need to be changed in light of “climate change.” […]
Amazon employees and “partners” who were at the building when the tornado hit were asked to “shelter in place” at the building’s designed interior place on the north side of the building, which is on the opposite of the 1.1 million-square-foot building where the tornado actually struck the building.
Kelly Nantel, an Amazon spokeswoman, said the designated shelter in space is an interior section of the warehouse and is not built any differently than the rest of the building.
All of the persons who gathered in the safe place survived the storm and the persons who died were on the south side of the building where the tornado struck.
* But the Amazon claim about there being only one shelter in place spot seems to contradict this claim by a survivor…
Jaeira Hargrove and Etheria Hebb loaded up their delivery vans Friday morning at an Amazon facility near Edwardsville and spent the day delivering packages in the Glen Carbon area.
When the weather started turning bad, they returned and quickly parked their vans. A woman told them to head to the bathroom because of a tornado warning, Hargrove said Sunday in an interview with the Post-Dispatch. […]
“We were just standing there talking. That’s when we heard the noise. It felt like the floor started moving. We all got closer to each other. We all started screaming,” Hargrove said.
The building collapsed as an EF3 tornado smashed into it.
Both Hargrove and Hebb were knocked to the floor. Hargrove was calling out to Hebb, but Hebb didn’t respond. She was one of the six people who were killed in the building’s collapse.
The Senate and House Redistricting Committees today released a proposed map of new Cook County Judicial Subcircuit boundaries to reflect population shifts that have taken place over the course of three decades.
“The current Cook County subcircuits are extremely outdated and out of proportion population wise,” said Rep. Lisa Hernandez, Chair of the House Redistricting Committee. “These proposed boundaries allow for better representation of the diversity within Cook County for the first time since the subcircuits were created in 1991.”
“It’s important that our judicial system reflect our communities, especially as Cook County becomes increasingly diverse,” said Sen. Omar Aquino, Chair of the Senate Redistricting Committee. “These updates are long overdue and will give residents a greater and more equal say in who is trusted to interpret the laws of our state and oversee our legal processes.”
Under this proposal, the number of subcircuits in Cook County will increase from 15 to 20, largely due to the population growth in the Chicagoland area. The subcircuits will be substantially equalized to better reflect the population and demographic shifts that have occurred across the county during the past three decades.
This new map will not impact the tenure of the current judges in Cook County.
Members of the public may request to provide testimony, submit electronic testimony or submit electronic witness slips in advance of the hearings via the General Assembly website www.ilga.gov or through email at redistrictingcommittee@hds.ilga.govand redistrictingcommittee@senatedem.ilga.gov. Those who wish to provide testimony at a hearing location will be given the opportunity to do so as well.
Cook County Subcircuit Hearing
• Thursday, December 16th at 1:30 p.m. – Joint House and Senate Hearing
Hybrid Hearing – participants may testify via Zoom or in person
Location – Room C-600, 6th Floor, Michael A. Bilandic Building, 160 N LaSalle St. Chicago, IL
Members of the public can also submit their own proposals through the online map portal located on the House and Senate redistricting websites. For that tool and to view the proposed map, visit www.ilsentateredistricting.com or www.ilhousedems.com/redistricting.
There had been talk of some Downstate subcircuits.
In what supporters are hailing as a victory for press freedom, Amy Jacobson has won her battle to attend Governor J.B. Pritzker’s media briefings as a journalist.
Jacobson, who co-hosts mornings on Salem Media news/talk WIND 560-AM with Dan Proft, sued Pritzker and his press secretary, Jordan Abudayyeh, earlier this month for barring Jacobson from daily press conferences.
Pritzker said Jacobson had forfeited her status as a reporter by “taking an extreme position” when she spoke at a Reopen Illinois rally May 16 protesting the governor’s stay-at-home order during the pandemic.
Backed by Liberty Justice Center, a Chicago-based conservative public-interest litigation center, Jacobson and Salem claimed Pritzker’s ban violated Jacobson’s First Amendment rights to freedom of the press and free speech as well as her rights to equal protection and due process.
On Monday Pritzker and Abudayyeh rescinded the ban and invited Jacobson “to participate in the Governor’s press access on the same basis as other journalists.”
A federal appeals court ruled Friday that Democratic Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers can exclude members of a conservative think tank from attending press briefings and keep them off his email list sent to other reporters, upholding a ruling from a lower court.
The MacIver Institute for Public Policy filed the lawsuit in 2019 alleging that Evers violated its staffers’ constitutional rights to free speech, freedom of the press and equal access.
But U.S. District Judge James Peterson in March 2020 rejected their arguments, saying MacIver can still report on what Evers does without being invited to his press briefings or being on his email distribution list. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday upheld that decision. […]
“We cannot fathom the chaos that might ensue if every gubernatorial press event had to be open to any ‘qualified’ journalist with only the most narrowly drawn restrictions on who might be excluded,” the court said.
The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from a conservative think tank over \Gov. Tony Evers’ decision to exclude the group’s writers from press briefings.
The justices acted without comment Monday, leaving in place lower court rulings that said the decision is legal. […]
MacIver had argued that Evers was excluding its staffers and violating their free speech rights because they are conservatives. Evers said they were excluded because they are not principally a news gathering operation and they are not neutral. […]
Former governors, including Walker, also limited the number of reporters and news outlets that could attend budget briefings and other events.
Illinois Department of Public Health records also show 748 of those hospitalized with COVID-19 are in intensive care beds.
According to IDPH figures, the last time the state saw more than 3,500 COVID-19 patients was exactly 11 months ago.
Since IDPH last reported updated COVID-19 figures Friday, 105 more deaths from the virus have been recorded throughout Illinois and 19,515 new cases have been diagnosed. […]
The state also recorded nearly 500,000 test results over the past three days as well, including 233,784 results returned Saturday, the most ever in a single day for the state.
The state’s seven-day case positivity rate has dropped to 4%, the lowest it’s been in two weeks. Three days ago it was at 4.3%, IDPH records show.
352 people are in the ICU, the most since January 20th. Statewide, just 12 percent of ICU beds are open.
* So many deaths and so much destruction of our medical infrastructure could’ve been prevented…
On the very day that an eager nation began rolling up its sleeves, Dec. 14, 2020, the U.S. death toll from COVID-19 hit 300,000. And deaths were running at an average of more than 2,500 a day and rising fast, worse than what the country witnessed during the harrowing spring of 2020, when New York City was the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak.
By late February total U.S. deaths had crossed 500,000, but the daily death count was plummeting from the horrible heights of early January. With hopes rising in early March, some states began reopening, lifting mask mandates and limits on indoor dining. Former President Donald Trump assured his supporters during a Fox News interview that the vaccine was safe and urged them to get it.
But by June, with the threat from COVID-19 seemingly fading, demand for vaccines had slipped and states and companies had turned to incentives to try to restore interest in vaccination.
It was too little, too late. Delta, a highly contagious mutated form of coronavirus, had silently arrived and had begun to spread quickly, finding plenty of unvaccinated victims.
Last week at St. Mary’s Hospital in Kankakee, 34 people were hospitalized with COVID-19, the highest number since the pandemic began.
“Patients we have in the hospital are due to the fact that we have many community members that are not vaccinated,” said AMITA Health Regional Chief Medical Officer Dr. Kalisha Hill. “99% of the patients in our hospital in both Joliet and Kankakee that are COVID Positive are unvaccinated.”
And yet some workers at the town’s hospitals are suing because they don’t want to be vaccinated. Ridiculous.
As the coronavirus pandemic approaches the end of a second year, the United States stands on the cusp of surpassing 800,000 deaths from the virus, and no group has suffered more than older Americans. All along, older people have been known to be more vulnerable, but the scale of loss is only now coming into full view.
Seventy-five percent of people who have died of the virus in the United States — or about 600,000 of the nearly 800,000 who have perished so far — have been 65 or older. One in 100 older Americans has died from the virus. For people younger than 65, that ratio is closer to 1 in 1,400.
*** UPDATE *** Not unexpected…
The Supreme Court has rejected two challenges to New York's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health care workers. The challengers sought religious exemptions to the mandate. The court denied the challenges in one-sentence orders on the shadow docket. Thomas, Alito, & Gorsuch dissent. pic.twitter.com/Zz8qsKgDe9
* The 2021 Golden Horseshoe Award for Best Senate Democratic Non-Campaign Staffer goes to Mary Hanahan…
I second the nomination of Mary Hanahan on the Senate Dem staff for her tireless work on Illinois’ new climate law. There were many cooks in and out of the kitchen at various points, tensions were high, and drafting timelines ridiculously short for multiple iterations of the nearly 1,000 page bill. And with all that, she always seemed pleasant, accessible, and responsive. Thanks Mary and congratulations on a product Illinois should be proud of for years to come.
She’s tops.
* The 2021 Golden Horseshoe Award for Best House Democratic Non-Campaign Staffer goes to Erik Lowder…
He’s become the go-to senior analyst on the House side, and understands the process better than just about anybody in the building. Add to that, he’s trained just about every younger Speaker’s staffer worth their salt. Plus, you couldn’t find a nicer guy.
The world needs more mentors.
* On to today’s categories…
* Best Senate Republican Non-Campaign Staffer
* Best House Republican Non-Campaign Staffer
Please explain your comments and nominate in both categories if at all possible. Thank you!
Governor JB Pritzker issued a disaster proclamation for counties across central and southern Illinois that were impacted by recent storms and tornadoes. A disaster proclamation grants the State of Illinois the ability to expedite the use of state resources, personnel, or equipment, and allows the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA) to procure additional resources to help communities recover from the storms.
“My administration is committed to standing with Edwardsville and all of the surrounding communities affected in every aspect of the immediate recovery, as well as on the road to rebuilding,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “Yesterday, I authorized a state disaster proclamation for Madison County, as well as all storm-impacted counties, to facilitate recovery efforts as well as the pursuit of additional federal resources. We are working directly with the White House and FEMA to ensure access to all federal resources for this community. And as local entities work to secure federal reimbursements and recovery dollars, we will assist every step of the way.”
In addition to high-speed winds that led to downed trees, powerlines, and other damages, six tornadoes were confirmed throughout Illinois. In Madison, the tornado caused the roof of a private business to collapse resulting in six fatalities and multiple injuries.
In response to the severe weather, the governor activated the State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC). Through the SEOC, multiple state agencies are offering assistance on the ground including Illinois State Police, Illinois Department of Transportation, and Illinois Department of Public Health. The American Red Cross, Salvation Army, Edwardsville Community Foundation, and other nonprofits are also providing services to local residents.
“Since Friday’s tragedy at the Amazon warehouse, local organizations and teams of first responders have worked tirelessly to provide stability and comfort to the Edwardsville community,” said State Senator Rachelle Aud Crowe (D-Glen Carbon). “By enacting a disaster proclamation, the state is taking action to make resources readily available to assist residents during the recovery process.”
“As our community looks ahead following the devastating storms that hit our region last weekend, now is a time for us to come together to support each other and heal,” said State Representative Katie Stuart (D-Edwardsville). “I want to thank Governor Pritzker for deploying resources to our region to help those who were directly impacted by the storms recover.”
“The disaster proclamation will provide our region additional resources and funding needed to help our community recover following Friday’s nights storm,” said State Representative Amy Elik (R-Fosterburg). “I appreciate everything our first responders and volunteers have and continue to do to help the region recover. I know this has been a difficult time for those impacted. I encourage anyone needing assistance to contact my office at 618-433-8046.”
“We in Madison County are still in shock and mourning. We appreciate the immediacy of the response from the State and Governor,” said Madison County Board Chair Kurt Prenzler.
Counties included in the disaster declaration include: Bond, Cass, Champaign, Coles, Edgar, Effingham, Fayette, Ford, Greene, Grundy, Iroquois, Jackson, Jersey, Kankakee, Lawrence, Livingston, Logan, Macon, Macoupin, Madison, Montgomery, Morgan, Moultrie, Pike, Sangamon, Shelby, Tazewell, and Woodford.
Lot of Eastern Bloc counties on that list.
…Adding… Press release…
U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), and U.S. Representatives Rodney Davis (R-IL-13) and Mike Bost (R-IL-12) today led every member of the Illinois Congressional Delegation in sending a letter to President Biden urging the White House to support Governor J.B. Pritzker’s request for an Emergency Declaration for 28 counties. The letter follows severe weather and tornadoes this past weekend that led to six fatalities from the collapse of an Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville, Illinois.
“We are writing in support of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker’s request for an Emergency Declaration for the following Illinois counties to assist in the response to extensive tornado damage: Bond, Cass, Champaign, Coles, Edgar, Effingham, Fayette, Ford, Greene, Grundy, Iroquois, Jackson, Jersey, Kankakee, Lawrence, Livingston, Logan, Macon, Macoupin, Madison, Montgomery, Morgan, Moultrie, Pike, Sangamon, Shelby, Tazewell, and Woodford,” wrote the lawmakers.
“Governor Pritzker has determined that this incident is of such severity that effective response is beyond the capabilities of the state and local governments, and the State is in need of Public Assistance to continue responding to and recovering from this tragic disaster,” the letter concluded.
[Tom Eikman, owner of Eikman’s Processing in Seward, Illinois, a small-sized, third-generation meat processor] said he expects high meat prices to continue into next year. Because of big time consolidation, most of the meat in Illinois stores comes from four giant meat processing conglomerates. Mid-sized meat processors who used to provide competition have all been absorbed by the big four.
Big Agriculture dictates the meat prices, Eikman explained. His processing plant could undercut them in the short term and sell steaks below their market rates. However, word would quickly get out and Eikman would run out of the inventory.
So his hands are tied. He has no choice but to fall in line and charge market rates, he argued.
If there were eight giant meat processing conglomerates rather than just four, the situation might be a little better for farmers and consumers, Eikman said. In Southern Illinois, Saline River Processors is setting up a large meat processing plant with the power to compete with the big four. The company hopes to be up and running in the fall of 2022.
* The White House has a blog, which I didn’t know about until reading something about meat prices on Twitter this weekend. Anyway, that blog took a look at the situation, and Mr. Eikman appears to be correct about this…
In September, we explained that meat prices are the biggest contributor to the rising cost of groceries, in part because just a few large corporations dominate meat processing. The November Consumer Price Index data released this morning demonstrates that meat prices are still the single largest contributor to the rising cost of food people consume at home. Beef, pork, and poultry price increases make up a quarter of the overall increase in food-at-home prices last month.
As we noted in September, just four large conglomerates control approximately 55-85% of the market for pork, beef, and poultry, and these middlemen were using their market power to increase prices and underpay farmers, while taking more and more for themselves. New data released in the last several weeks by four of the biggest meat-processing companies—Tyson, JBS, Marfrig, and Seaboard—show that this trend continues. (Other top processors are private companies that don’t report publicly on their profits, margins, or income.) According to these companies’ latest quarterly earnings statements, their gross profits have collectively increased by more than 120% since before the pandemic, and their net income has surged by 500%. They have also recently announced over a billion dollars in new dividends and stock buybacks, on top of the more than $3 billion they paid out to shareholders since the pandemic began.
Some claim that meat processors are forced to raise prices to the level they are now because of increasing input costs (e.g., things like the cost of labor or transportation), but their own earnings data and statements contradict that claim. Their profit margins—the amount of money they are making over and above their costs—have skyrocketed since the pandemic. Gross margins are up 50% and net margins are up over 300%. If rising input costs were driving rising meat prices, those profit margins would be roughly flat, because higher prices would be offset by the higher costs. Instead, we’re seeing the dominant meat processors use their market power to extract bigger and bigger profit margins for themselves. Businesses that face meaningful competition can’t do that, because they would lose business to a competitor that did not hike its margins.
As one large meat-processing firm noted to investors during its earnings call, their pricing actions “more than offset the higher COGS [cost of goods sold].” Comparing the fourth quarter of 2021 to the same quarter in 2020, that same firm increased the price of beef so much—by more than 35%—that they made record profits while actually selling less beef than before.
In addition to a crackdown, the feds are pumping a billion dollars in lending capital to expand processing capacity.
* More on the afore-mentioned Saline River Processors, which is receiving funding from the US Department of Agriculture…
Williamson County was competing with a location in Kentucky for this project as part of the USDA’s efforts to increase capacity and diversify processing facilities across the United State.
“We have received tremendous support from the cities of Marion, Herrin, and Creal Springs and have worked tirelessly with Congressman Mike Bost, State Senator Dale Fowler, Governor JB Pritzker’s office, Williamson County Board Chairman Jim Marlo, and other elected officials to bring these career jobs to southern Illinois”, said Ted Hampson, a spokesperson for Saline River Farms, LLC.
* This is why a properly reinforced tornado shelter is so important. From 2004…
Around 2:30 p.m. last Tuesday, alert employees at the Parsons Manufacturing Co. plant in Roanoke, a little more than 100 miles southwest of Chicago, looked out the window and saw a terrifying sight: an immense tornado bearing down on the plant.
The employees got on the public address system immediately. The warning went out: “This is not a joke. A tornado is on the ground. Get to the storm shelters.”
By the time the tornado slammed into the plant 11 minutes later, everyone had made it safely to concrete-reinforced restrooms, which doubled as storm shelters. The 225,000 square foot plant was destroyed, as was an addition under construction and the cars and trucks of many employees. But none of the nearly 150 workers present at the time was injured. Not a single one.
According to the National Weather Service, this was an F4 tornado with winds of more than 200 miles an hour. That ranks it as one of the most powerful twisters to hit Illinois in the last 50 years. F4 tornadoes are usually deadly. This one wasn’t. That had less to do with luck than it did the planning and preparation of company owner Bob Parsons. His insistence on building storm shelters into the design of the plant and on having regular fire and tornado drills saved lives.
That Roanoke tornado was more powerful than the one which hit Edwardsville Friday night.
* On to Amazon tornado coverage from the Post-Dispatch…
The National Weather Service said Saturday night that the tornado that hit the Amazon building reached the EF3 category — the third-strongest rating on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, with winds between 136 mph and 165 mph.
The tornado touched down just northwest of the intersection of Interstates 255 and 270, then traveled northeast into Edwardsville.
It triggered the collapse of a 40-foot-high wall about the length of a football field, which brought a portion of the roof down as well, Edwardsville Fire Chief James Whiteford said Saturday. […]
Asked about precautions taken, the company said when a facility is made aware of a tornado warning, all employees are told to move to a designated, marked shelter-in-place location. Employees are trained on emergency response, the company said.
* The shelters were supposedly “fortified,” but to what extent is still unknown…
Workers there sheltered in two places, she said, and one of those areas was directly struck. These areas are typically fortified, though it was unclear if they were built to withstand a direct tornado strike. Based on preliminary interviews, Ms. Nantel added, the company calculated that about 11 minutes lapsed between the first warning of a tornado and when it hit the delivery station.
Jaeira Hargrove and Etheria Hebb loaded up their delivery vans Friday morning at an Amazon facility near Edwardsville and spent the day delivering packages in the Glen Carbon area.
When the weather started turning bad, they returned and quickly parked their vans. A woman told them to head to the bathroom because of a tornado warning, Hargrove said Sunday in an interview with the Post-Dispatch. […]
“We were just standing there talking. That’s when we heard the noise. It felt like the floor started moving. We all got closer to each other. We all started screaming,” Hargrove said.
The building collapsed as an EF3 tornado smashed into it.
Both Hargrove and Hebb were knocked to the floor. Hargrove was calling out to Hebb, but Hebb didn’t respond. She was one of the six people who were killed in the building’s collapse.
Several employees told Reuters that they had been directed to shelter in bathrooms by Amazon managers after receiving emergency alerts on mobile phones from authorities. […]
Some of those workers said they had kept their phones despite what they believed was a violation of an Amazon policy that prevents them from having cellphones at work.
The company responded by saying that there was no Amazon policy that prevents employees or contractors from having a cell phone at work.
The building is where drivers who operate the blue-gray Amazon delivery trucks pick up packages for delivery to homes. It’s called the “last mile” building since it’s the final stop before completing an order. Local authorities previously have said that Amazon didn’t have a count of how many employees were at the building because of a “shift change” when the tornado hit, but Nantel said that there was not a shift change.
Instead, she said, it was a case of several employees finishing their delivery routes and returning to the warehouse where their personal vehicles were parked. “There are people coming and going because the drivers are all beginning to wrap up their routes,” she said. “There’s just a lot of activity at that point.”
Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Friday signed legislation paving the way for $250 million in state funding to community groups that are working to reduce gun violence in Chicago’s hardest-hit neighborhoods and other parts of Illinois suffering the ripple effects of a nationwide crime spike.
The Reimagine Public Safety Act, which created a new state office for firearm violence prevention, was part of the budget Pritzker signed in the spring.
The trailer bill that was signed Friday — which state lawmakers advanced during the fall veto session — gives officials in the Illinois Department of Human Services more leeway in issuing the millions in grant funding and expands eligibility for groups already working to “interrupt” violence, according to Pritzker’s office.
Before signing the bill at a Washington Park news conference, Pritzker outlined Chicago’s most recent spate of fatal shootings — including that of a 71-year-old Chinatown resident who was apparently targeted at random earlier this week — and committed to investing in “neighborhoods that have been truly forgotten.”
“There are the countless children who have been taken from us far, far too soon. Too much tragedy. Too much loss. We are all here to say enough is enough,” Pritzker said, noting “the scourge of rising violence” has extended well beyond Chicago.
* A bit more from an administration press release…
In November, the Governor declared gun violence a public health crisis, launching a comprehensive approach to reducing gun violence. The administration pledged a $250 million state investment over the next three years to implement the plan in partnership with community-based organizations. The RPSA builds upon this initiative by requiring the state to pursue a data-driven approach to high-risk youth intervention programs and technical assistance and training. This will be administered by IDHS, in partnership with the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority (ICJIA) and the Firearm Violence Research Group.
* From a very different Friday press release…
Illinois House Republican Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs) released the following statement on Governor Pritzker’s signing of legislation that will further weaken the criminal justice system.
“While violence in Illinois is at unprecedented levels, Governor Pritzker, the Illinois legislative Democrats and States Attorney Kim Foxx have created a “consequence free” Illinois for organized street gangs and criminals. Their collective dismissal of victims and law enforcement during this time will not be forgotten. My heart goes out to the thousands of victims of crime that our government continues to fail.”
* Pritzker administration response…
Leader Durkin’s empty talking point is devoid not only of a serious approach to reducing crime but also suggests a lack of reading comprehension of the law. This law strengthens the Reimagine Public Safety Act, a data-driven, community based initiative designed to prevent and interrupt gun violence and fund violence reduction efforts. Violence reduction efforts are essential for having fewer victims of crime. If Republicans truly cared about reducing crime and helping victims, they wouldn’t have decimated mental health, victim support services and after school programs – and they would’ve voted for budgets and legislation put forward by Governor Pritzker and the General Assembly that fund proven violence reduction.
Discuss.
…Adding… From Sen. Robert Peters (D-Chicago)…
Leader Durkin has a history of picking the wrong time to speak up. He was silent while Bruce Rauner was destroying the very communities that the Reimagine Public Safety Act - which passed with 52 votes in the Senate - will invest in. I want to thank my Republican colleagues for stepping up on this occasion to reimagine public safety.
BREAKING: @DarrenBaileyIL will announce Stephanie Trussell as his running mate this morning. The former WLS conservative talk show host is in Lisle with Bailey for the announcement before they go on a bus tour across Illinois. #twill
“Students will travel to Jefferson Middle School, observe a teacher and then have a question/answer luncheon and discuss the importance of considering education as a career as a person of color,” the flier reads.
…Adding… Trussell promised that she and Bailey would deliver a tax cut at the end of their second year in office.
*** UPDATE 1 *** There were a couple of video problems, but here’s her speech. As always, please pardon all transcription errors…
What an amazing country we live in a place where a woman born on the west side of Chicago, who spent her high school years working at the Maywood McDonald’s can stand here today as a candidate for lieutenant governor of our great state. I love our country and I love Illinois. It’s the heartland of America, but its political leaders and political class have failed us. That’s why I’m so excited to join Darrin Bailey’s campaign to restore Illinois. … With a Bailey Trussell ticket, we will bring our great state back. My mom had me when she was barely 17 years old. Yet through her hard work and sacrifices, she was able to send my sister, my brother and me to private schools, scouts, dance lessons on Michigan Avenue and church youth group. She was determined to give us the opportunities that she never had, laying the foundation for us to become successful adults. One of the most important lessons she taught me was work ethics. Nobody worked harder than my mom and that’s her back there.
I got my first job at 14 at Pick and Pay. It was my best friend’s family’s corner store. At 15, I started working at McDonald’s, even though I was only 15. I started working there anyway. At 17 I was a crew chief, by 18. I was a manager. I learned early the value of hard work. Years later my eyes were open to how Democratic and progressive policies that were supposed to help me were actually hurting me, making things worse. I kept working and fighting and eventually my husband and I moved to Lisle, the best kept secret in DuPage County. We immediately felt welcome. As I worked hard as a mom raising five children, I also enjoyed serving my community. I have been everything from a Cub Scout leader, a room mom, to that taxiing mom with a minivan filled with kids, driving them to and from practice. But what I really love about my town is sitting in the stands cheering for the Lyons Lions. I was there when the boys basketball team played in state in 2004. I was there when my daughter played on the basketball team in 2005 when they made it to Sweet 16. I love my town. Darren’s life story and my own are a testament that no matter your background, no matter where you start, you are defined by choices you make and the work you’re willing to put in.
Our work for the people of Illinois is just beginning. While we love this great state we all know Springfield is broken. It’s so self evidently true that it’s almost not worth arguing the details. Over the last decade, hardworking people have fled Illinois in droves. The majority of those left looking for better jobs. 20% of them left because they couldn’t find affordable housing. Sadly, many are leaving because they no longer feel safe. In the 70s we played outside even after dark as our parents sat on the porch. We felt safe. Today murder and crime rates in Chicago are the highest they’ve been in two decades. Taxes, the cost of living, crime on the street. These are real problems that we all know JB Pritzker can’t, hasn’t and won’t fix. We need real common sense policy solutions. We need leadership who will fight to defend our police not defeund them. We need to get the woke left political agenda out of our classrooms for once and for all. It’s time to teach our kids to chase their dreams not to be a victim or hate one another.
Darren and I will demand a zero based budget that freezes spending with no tax increases. Every department will start at zero and will have to make the case for every cent of its funding. We have to stop passing budgets that spend tax dollars automatically. We’ll implement an honest review of each spending item. By the end of our second year, we intend to deliver a tax cut to the Illinois families. After all it’s your money.
Friends, better days are ahead for Illinois, but only if you make real conservative changes. Pritzker is a failure. We can’t afford four more years of failure. It will kill this great state. Let’s put the days of slick politicians and rich elites who don’t understand our problem is behind us. My story has made me the conservative that I am today. Growing up on the west side, the best side, getting my first job as a young teenager, raising my five kids. All this didn’t come without some obstacles. But together all of us the hardworking people of Illinois, we can solve challenges and turn our home around. Darrin Bailey is the governor we need for Illinois.
*** UPDATE 2 *** DPI…
Today, Stephanie Trussell, a right-wing talk show host and Trump loyalist, announced she will run for lieutenant governor alongside gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey in the divisive Republican primary. Trussell’s bizarre, wildly out of touch views make her a perfect addition to the growing field of radical candidates.
“The first lieutenant governor candidate announcement is in line with what we’d expect from this anti-choice, anti-science field of extremist, far-right candidates,” said Abby Witt, Executive Director of the Democratic Party of Illinois. “Illinois Republicans want to overturn Roe, rip needed health care from hundreds of thousands of people, deny the science on COVID-19, and take us backwards.”
Trussell, who called Donald Trump “the greatest president of our time,” wants to repeal the Affordable Care Act and rip health coverage from more than 600,000 Illinoisans. She has espoused extremely harmful anti-choice views and compared Planned Parenthood to the KKK. She’s repeated a number of dangerous, reckless conspiracies about COVID-19 and has shown she is unfit to serve. Trussell’s far-right, extreme views do not belong anywhere near the governor’s office.
Today’s pick sends a clear message that the Republican primary for governor is going to be a messy race to the bottom.
I don’t care what he has to say he is he is a man of very little character. He’s uncouth, he’s disgusting. And it saddens me that he’s the front runner. He does not represent the values of the Republican Party.
A whole lot of people who have endorsed Bailey are going to have an interesting decision to make now.
* From a New York Times story about a “Plan B” if President Biden doesn’t run again…
There’s also Gov. J.B. Pritzker of Illinois, a billionaire who has worked to stabilize his state’s finances and enact progressive policies, like a $15 minimum wage, since his election in 2018. A longtime financial benefactor of national Democrats, Mr. Pritzker may face a competitive race for re-election in 2022.
While allies say that Mr. Pritzker has expressed no specific intention to run for president in 2024 if Mr. Biden bows out, he has talked privately about his interest in seeking the White House at some point should the opportunity arise.
His advisers tried to tamp down the prospect, at least for now. “Governor Pritzker is focused on addressing the challenges facing the people of Illinois and is not spending any time on D.C.’s favorite parlor game: Who will run for President next,” said Emily Bittner, his spokeswoman. She said the governor “wholeheartedly supports” Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris and expected them to be re-elected.
Still, the talk is abundant — at least in private.
A person close to the governor’s campaign called The New York Times story “a reach.”
* I would agree, but a Democratic pal of mine with years in this business thinks otherwise. From a text…
There’s no accidents in the NY Times political section. Emily is seasoned in the national press. Very easy to get somebody out of a cattle call story on column inches alone. I very much believe Gov has talked about it with enough people in enough of the right places to earn that mention.
We’ll see. But governors who get too ambitious in this state don’t meet successful ends. Think Dan Walker, Rod Blagojevich and Bruce Rauner.
Just a couple of months ago, more than 50,000 electronic witness slips were filed in opposition to a proposed legislative change to the state’s Health Care Right of Conscience Act.
Whether you believe all of those filings were legitimate or not, that’s still a gigantic uproar about a bill which stopped employees from trying to use state law to sue employers for requiring vaccines or regular COVID-19 tests as a condition of employment.
So, the recent over-the-top negative reaction to Rep. Jonathan Carroll’s (D-Northbrook) bill to cut off COVID-19-related health insurance benefits for the unvaccinated should’ve been no major surprise.
“An Illinois Democrat who claims the unvaccinated are ‘clogging up the health care system’ has proposed a bill that would force them to pay all of their medical expenses out of pocket if they become hospitalized with the coronavirus,” blared the Fox News Channel. And all heck broke loose.
Carroll claims he was threatened with violence and so were his family, his staff, even his synagogue. His home address was posted on Twitter as were photos of his kids.
This monstrous behavior is beyond repugnant, but it’s not new. Ask the Republican legislators who voted to raise the state income tax in 2017 how they were pummeled on Facebook, partly because an anti-tax group allied with then-Gov. Bruce Rauner weaponized its own Facebook page followers against them.
Despite the often-insane levels of harassment, most of those Republicans stuck to their principles and voted to override Rauner’s veto of the tax hike. The future of the state was in peril because one man was insisting he wouldn’t approve restoring desperately needed revenues without first slashing the power of unions here, and those Republicans were not going to be bullied by him or an angry mob into caving.
And, of course, the same sort of thing happened to many Democrats this fall before they voted to narrow the scope of the Health Care Right of Conscience Act to its original intent. They were flooded with calls and bombarded on social media.
The anti-vaxxers, as it turns out, are even more wound up than the anti-taxers, although I’m betting it’s many of the same people who are perpetually angry about pretty much everything.
Rep. Carroll surrendered last week and filed a motion to table his controversial bill, handing a rare Illinois victory to the folks who insist beyond reason that vaccines contain microchips, or whatever their ridiculous conspiracy theory of the moment happens to be.
Members of a Facebook page I regularly track that promotes anti-vaccine theories and tactics celebrated the news of Carroll’s retreat. One member gleefully wrote: “Violence is the only thing tyrants fear and is the only thing that will stop them.”
So, not only did Rep. Carroll predictably stir up the rabble, he rewarded threats of violence with a win.
And this was all about a bill that wasn’t legal in the first place. Federal law prohibits what Carroll was trying to do, an inconvenient fact that was ignored or downplayed by most news media outlets which covered the legislation.
Most of the coverage was breathless and ignorant, fueling the hype on the far right. Only one reporter, Hannah Meisel at public radio station WUIS, got it right: “Unvaccinated COVID patients can’t be denied insurance coverage for hospitalizations as one Dem lawmaker wants, but employers, including Ill., have other options,” was her online headline.
Not only wasn’t Carroll’s bill legal, it also ran directly counter to Democratic Party doctrine, which favors health coverage for everyone. Carroll essentially advocating to destroy the finances of entire families because of the stupidity of a single family member was bizarre.
But, really, all this bill was designed to do was attract attention and get lots of “clicks” and make his allies cheer and his enemies boo. It was a pointless game. Carroll’s bill wasn’t going anywhere, and he knew it.
And Carroll’s behavior is an insult to the people who have bravely stood up to the angry haters for just causes. They couldn’t back down because so much was at stake. Carroll, on the other hand, just walked away with a shrug, claiming despite all evidence that he didn’t intend to be divisive. Carroll taught those angry people the absolute wrong lesson.
I feel horrible for Rep. Carroll’s family, his staff and his rabbi for being put through this disgusting and needless drama. I hope he apologizes to them. And then maybe he should apologize to everyone else for giving the angriest among us a victory.
A screen shot of that Facebook group chat is here.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Jesse Sullivan has carefully maneuvered around questions about the extent of his support for former President Barack Obama. Some oppo research that landed in Playbook’s inbox addresses the issue.
In the One World magazine that Sullivan founded while a student at St. Louis University in the 2000s, Sullivan acknowledged supporting Obama. The magazine’s “Call to Action” box on page 22 encourages readers to support the Global Poverty Act introduced by then-Sen. Obama. And there’s a note: “OneWorld does not endorse a specific presidential candidate (although Jesse Sullivan does).”
That doesn’t mean Sullivan voted for Obama, but it doesn’t mean he didn’t. His campaign would say only that Sullivan has voted Republican for nearly a decade.
“Jesse Sullivan didn’t grow up in a political household — he knew more about the Chicago Bears than he did about any politician. His values have always been deeply rooted in his faith — pro-life, pro-family, pro-freedom,” spokesman Noah Sheinbaum said in an emailed statement. “Through his work and his life, Sully has found that Democrat politicians have been lying to him and to voters, over and over again, implementing radical policies that are out of touch with the values of everyday Illinoisans. He has only voted for Republicans for nearly a decade.”
Hmm. Ask Kirk Dillard how Obama support went over in statewide Republican primaries.
