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Isabel’s afternoon roundup

Thursday, Jul 11, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* US Rep. Brad Schneider wants President Biden to step aside…

Rep. Brad Schneider (IL-10) issued the following statement on President Biden:

“I love Joe Biden. I was proud to be the first member of the Illinois delegation to endorse his candidacy five years ago. I knew then he would be a great president and he has proven me right. If the history books were to be closed today, he would unquestionably be recorded as one of our greatest presidents:

    * He rescued our country from a potential despot and restored international confidence in the U.S. as the world’s indispensable nation.

    * He guided our nation through a global pandemic, crafting and passing the American Rescue Plan to ensure the U.S. not only weathered the crisis, but that our economy would emerge from COVID the strongest in the world, and that we would help lift the economies of other nations as well.

    * He passed transformative, bipartisan legislation, including the Infrastructure and Jobs Act, the CHIPS + Science Act and the PACT Act that will serve our nation for years to come.

    * He lowered costs for families, took on the climate crisis and made our tax code fairer with the Inflation Reduction Act.

    * He re-established, revitalized and expanded our alliances around the globe after four years of potentially catastrophic diminishment by Donald Trump.

President Biden now has the opportunity to secure his legacy and boldly deliver the nation to a new generation of leadership.

The stakes in this election could not be higher. Donald Trump and the administration he would install are an absolute threat to the very core of our nation. He is publicly committed to undermining our constitution and the democratic republic it established. A second Trump administration will tear apart our economy, further devastate reproductive freedom, threaten our national security and degrade our vital leadership role in the world order that we helped establish after World War II.

We are faced with a stark choice: be resigned to slog through this election praying we can successfully defend our democracy, or enthusiastically embrace a vibrant vision for our future, building on the extraordinary foundation President Biden has created for our nation over the past four years.

I choose the latter.

I love President Biden. I am forever grateful for his leadership and service to our nation. The time has come, however, for President Biden to heroically pass the torch to a new generation of leadership to guide us to the future he has enabled and empowered us to pursue.

In his farewell address, George Washington set a standard that every president since has tried to live up to. He declined to run for a third term – despite the encouragement of the nation and many of his supporters – for the good of the nation and the people. He knew when it was time to pass the torch.

In passing the torch now, President Biden has a chance to live up to this standard and seal his place in history as one of the greatest leaders our nation, and history, has ever known. He can lead the transition of power to a new generation that can build a stronger party and a stronger nation. I fear if he fails to make the right choice, our democracy will hang in the balance.”

US Sen. Tammy Duckworth told reporters today Biden is “our President, he’s our nominee.”

*** Statewide ***

* WBBM | 1.5 million Illinoisans at risk of seeing higher water bill: Find out why: Aqua Illinois and Illinois American Water have requested the Illinois Commerce Commission approve millions in rate hikes in November and December. CUB’s Director of Government Affairs Bryan McDaniel says, since 2013, the companies have bought 59 water systems across the state and passed the costs on to customers.

*** Chicago ***

* WTTW | Chicago Taxpayers Have Paid $35.7M to Defend Disgraced Detective Reynaldo Guevara, With No End in Sight: In addition to the cost of outside attorneys, Chicago taxpayers spent an additional $60.5 million to settle six lawsuits filed by Chicagoans who said they were the victims of Guevara’s misconduct. Another 34 lawsuits are pending, with the latest lawsuit against the city and the former detective filed June 26. In all, it has already cost Chicago taxpayers more than $98 million to defend the disgraced former detective, investigate his conduct and resolve lawsuits that allege Guevara violated dozens of Chicagoans’ civil rights, according to WTTW News’ analysis.

* Sun-Times | $11.25M settlement proposed for women paramedic candidates victimized by discriminatory CFD physical test: The post-hiring test was so demanding and so unrelated to the skills needed as a Chicago Fire Department paramedic that four of the 12 plaintiffs suffered “career-ending” hip and back injuries during the testing. One of the women literally “tore her hip open,” her attorney said. “They were terrible tests. Constructor-concocted tests. Terribly dangerous,” said Marni Willenson, an attorney representing the impacted women.

* Block Club | Billionaire Family Behind Walmart Buys Old West Side Women’s Shelter, Will Create Community Space: Matt Berenberg, who is part of the ownership team and is responsible for overseeing design and construction, said Samantha Walton decided to buy the 132-year-old building after reading Block Club’s coverage about the previous owners planning to tear it down. […] Preliminary plans include creating a multifunctional space to host technology, art and food programs, Berenberg told neighbors at a meeting Tuesday at the Revival Fellowship Church of God, 2810 W. Washington Blvd.

* WBEZ | Students at a Chicago university can get credit for life experience but only a few get the chance: Called the University Without Walls, it’s based on a model that’s been around since the 1970s and awards students course credits for life experience. […] Students enrolled in University Without Walls are paired with a faculty advisor who helps them craft their work and life experience into a narrative portfolio. […] University Without Walls could be transformative for so many students. But it requires consistent one-on-one advising, which takes a lot of financial support. And state funding for Northeastern Illinois University is a fraction of what it was two decades ago.

* Block Club | Bike Lane Ticketing Program Still Hasn’t Started 16 Months After City Approved It: But 16 months after the ordinance’s passage, no tickets have been issued under the program. The Council’s pedestrian and traffic safety committee on Wednesday approved an extension to the pilot’s end date, but no one at the hearing was sure when exactly it would get started. Robert Kearney, chief of staff for Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd), one of the original ordinance’s sponsors, told alderpeople the delays were due to difficulties the Chicago Department of Transportation has had in finding a proper vendor for the pilot technology.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Herald | ‘Trailblazer’ Nanci Vanderweel, who shattered political glass ceilings in the 70s, dies at 87: Vanderweel was 33 when she became the first woman elected to the village board in 1971. The top vote-getter in that election, Vanderweel ran on the campaign slogan, “A woman trustee, why not?” Upon her retirement as township supervisor in 2013, she told the Daily Herald it wasn’t easy getting others to take her seriously during the early days of her political career. “We were a fighting bunch,” Vanderweel said. “Most of the men were chauvinists on the board. It took some getting used to for them. They weren’t the good ol’ boys anymore.”

* Lake County News-Sun | Waukegan planning to prepare former industrial site for development; ‘A great opportunity … to live close to the lake’: Imagine a lakefront park in Waukegan, south of the harbor and the Amstutz Expressway, with homes across the street with a very short walk to the beach on land that once housed a factory that fabricated steel products. Before any of that becomes a reality, 10,000 tons of contaminated dirt must be removed from the 11-acre site and it needs to be remediated so it is safe for residential and light-commercial development.

*** Downstate ***

* WAND | Police still investigating one year after Emma Shafer stabbed to death: Friends, family, and the police are still seeking closure and answers one year after Emma Shafer was fatally stabbed. […] Friends and family have paid tribute to Emma’s memory with Facebook posts as today marks one year since her death. […] Police believe Gabriel Calixto Pichardo of Bethalto, Illinois, is responsible for Shafer’s death. A warrant was issued for his arrest on July 12, 2023 for three counts of first-degree murder and aggravated domestic battery with a bond amount of $3,000,000.

* WICS | Illinois State Fair announces tram service: “We are excited to bring back trams as a convenient way to move our guests around the Illinois State Fair,” said Jerry Costello II, Director of the Illinois Department of Agriculture. “The fairgrounds cover 366 acres, and we want to make the experience accessible with tram stops at popular spots around the grounds.” Maps showing the tram routes will be displayed on the fairgrounds. Stops include the Campground/Arena entrance, 4-H Road at the 4-H Master Gardeners, entrance to Conservation World, Goat Barn at Grandstand Avenue, Horse Racing Office, South End of the Half-Mile Track near Gate 4, and the Hobbies Arts & Crafts building.

* WCIA | IL Dept. of Corrections investigating personal data breach at Danville Correctional Center: Employees at a Danville prison have been told their data may be compromised. The Illinois Department of Corrections is investigating a breach of personalized data at the Danville Correctional Center. IDOC confirmed with WCIA they notified the Illinois Attorney General, Illinois General Assembly, and the Department of Information Technology about the leak, under Illinois’ Personal Information Protection Act.

*** National ***

* LA Times | RIP Redbox. The DVD kiosk business will shut down and fire 1,000 people: In 2022, Oakbrook Terrace, Ill.-based Redbox was acquired by Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment in a $375-million all-stock deal. […] The Chicken Soup entertainment arm took on significant debt to complete the transaction, a risky bet on the future viability of DVD rentals. In public filings, the company blamed the COVID-19 pandemic and last summer’s Hollywood strikes for choking off the flow of fresh content.

* AP | Two 80-something journalists tried ChatGPT. Then, they sued to protect the ‘written word’: Basbanes was the first of the duo to try fiddling with AI chatbots, finding them impressive but prone to falsehoods and lack of attribution. The friends commiserated and filed their lawsuit earlier this year, seeking to represent a class of writers whose copyrighted work they allege “has been systematically pilfered by” OpenAI and its business partner Microsoft.

  10 Comments      


Speaker Welch talks about The Infinite Game

Thursday, Jul 11, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Click here for more context, but House Speaker Chris Welch spoke yesterday at a violence prevention announcement. I thought it was worth sharing…

What’s going on here today reminds me of a book that I have given to our caucus that I talk about regularly, because I want you all to understand the mindset that I have every day I go to work as the Speaker of the House.

The book is called The Infinite Game, written by an author named Simon Sinek. The Infinite Game is different than a finite game. A finite game, we all know it when we see it. It’s basketball, it’s baseball, it’s football. When you play a finite game, you play to win. You know you want to win that game today. You know that’s your mindset. They call it a finite mindset.

When we go to work every day, when we get to walk into that beautiful Capitol, when the mayor gets to walk into that beautiful building called City Hall, we’re playing an infinite game. Our game is going to go on, and on and on. Illinois has been here for almost 206 years. I’m the 70th Speaker of the House. There’s going to be a 71st, a 72nd and so on. It’s going to go on, and on and on.

When you play an infinite game, you’re not playing to win. We’re not trying to beat somebody. We’re playing an infinite game to be better. We’re trying to leave the city of Chicago, the state of Illinois better than we found it. And so every day that I go to work, we’re trying to find policies and practices that’s going to make this great state better.

It’s definitely something to aspire to.

  9 Comments      


Today’s quotable

Thursday, Jul 11, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Some background is here if you need it. WBEZ…

The [Republican] party has been in the superminority in Springfield for years and hasn’t held a statewide office since Bruce Rauner was governor.

Steve Balich, an elected [RNC] delegate from Will County, blames “establishment” Republicans, whom he accused of leaning further left and compromising too much to try winning elections. Balich said GOP members who consider themselves part of the “grassroots” are tired of it.

“We feel like we’ve been pushed to the edge of a cliff,” the Homer Township supervisor said. “There’s nothing to compromise anymore for us. So any kind of compromise for us becomes … well, we might as well just jump off the cliff.” […]

Balich is a die-hard Trump supporter. After a New York jury convicted Trump of falsifying business records, he raised an upside down American flag in front of the Homer Township administration headquarters last month. The flag was returned to right-side up when people got angry.

  22 Comments      


‘Pretextual fishing expeditions’

Thursday, Jul 11, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Click here for the IDOT study. ACLU of Illinois…

Police in Illinois conducted nearly 200,000 more traffic stops in 2023 compared to the previous year. The 12% increase in traffic stops means that more than 500 motorists in Illinois were stopped for each day of 2023 compared to 2022. Longstanding racial disparities persisted, with Black and Latino drivers stopped at higher rates than white drivers in almost all localities. The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) released its Traffic Stop Study Act Report for 2023 on July 1, 2024, based on data that every law enforcement agency in the state is supposed to report annually, although about 20% of agencies failed to submit the required data for 2023.

New this year, IDOT analyzed individual drivers who were stopped multiple times in 2023, finding that Black drivers were about three times more likely to be stopped a total of two to ten times, and nine times more likely to be stopped more than 10 times compared to white drivers who were stopped.

The data suggests that many of the stops of Black drivers are pretextual “fishing expeditions” to search for evidence of unrelated crimes based on racial stereotypes, not to enforce road safety. Police were more likely to stop Black drivers for suspected equipment and registration violations, while white drivers were stopped more often for moving violations. And Black motorists are less likely to be cited for these violations than their white counterparts.

The IDOT data also shows that racially disparate stops are not effective at fighting crime. Statewide, more than 97% of all stops of Black drivers, and more than 98% of all stops of Latino drivers, did not result in police finding any contraband. The minuscule contraband recovery rates have remained consistently low for years.

“With 20 years of data reflecting ongoing racial and ethnic disparities in traffic stops, localities in Illinois can no longer ignore this problem. Police departments’ refusal to remedy these unjustified disparities amounts to intentional discrimination,” said Alexandra Block, director of the Criminal Legal System and Policing Project at the ACLU of Illinois. “This reality should cause public officials at the state and local level to convene a public discussion about how to fix the persistent biases in traffic stops.”

The IDOT report demonstrates that, statewide, police officers stop Black drivers at 1.7 times the rate of white drivers. For Latino drivers, the rate is 1.11 times. Beneath the statewide numbers, many communities across the state saw much wider disparities for Black and Latino drivers. For example:

    • In Aurora, Black drivers were 4.1 times more likely to be stopped than white motorists, and Latino drivers were 2.4 times more likely to be stopped than white drivers;
    • Belleville police were four times more likely to stop Black drivers than white drivers;
    • In Bloomington, Black drivers were more than 4 times more likely to be stopped than white drivers, while Latino drivers were 2.7 times more likely to be stopped than white drivers;
    • Champaign police stopped Black drivers at a rate 6 times higher than white drivers and Latino drivers were 2.5 times more likely to be stopped than white drivers;
    • Danville police stopped Black drivers at a rate nearly 5 times higher than white drivers;
    • In Kankakee, police stopped Black drivers at a rate 5.5 times higher than white drivers;
    • In Naperville, Black drivers are nearly 4.5 times more likely to be stopped when compared to white drivers, and Latino drivers are 1.6 times more likely to be stopped than white drivers;
    • Peoria police stopped Black drivers 5.4 times more often than white drivers, and Latino drivers were nearly 2 times more likely to be stopped than white drivers;
    • In Springfield, the state capitol, Black motorists were 5.7 more likely to be stopped than white drivers; and,
    • In Urbana, police stopped Black drivers at a rate 5.5 times higher than white drivers and Latino drivers were 2.7 times more likely to be stopped compared to white drivers.

“Sadly, the story remains the same,” added Block. “Black and Latino drivers continue to be more likely to be stopped at a higher rate in many communities around Illinois. Nothing has changed. The embarrassment, humiliation and disruption caused by thousands of unnecessary stops of Black and Latino drivers continues to waste police resources and create resentment between the police and the communities they serve – all without enhancing public safety or reducing crashes.”

“With the number of traffic stops escalating, it is time for serious action to fix their disproportionate burden on Black and Latino drivers in Illinois.”

Discuss.

  24 Comments      


Rate the new NRCC ad (Updated)

Thursday, Jul 11, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Here it comes…

* Script…

Announcer: The scandal of the century. Our president lacks the mental fitness for office, and Eric Sorensen covered it up. Sorensen met privately with Joe Biden. He witnessed Biden’s mental failures up close, but allowed crises to rage under Biden’s frail leadership.

Now, Eric Sorenson ignores our concerns.

Interviewer: You’re confident in his ability to serve another term as president?

Sorensen: I just don’t think that my opinion matters.

Announcer: Tell Eric Sorensen to stop defending Biden when he knows the truth.

They’re running the same basic ad in several congressional districts.

…Adding… Sorensen has finally weighed in…


And the NRCC mocks him for it…


  22 Comments      


Feds to spend $334 million on Stellantis’ Belvidere plant

Thursday, Jul 11, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Governor’s office…

Today Governor JB Pritzker announced Stellantis’ Belvidere plant as the recipient of $334 million in federal funding through the United States Department of Energy’s Domestic Manufacturing Conversion Grant Program. This marks a major milestone in the mission to reopen the Belvidere assembly plant. ​

“For nearly two years we have been intensely focused on creating an environment in the state for the successful return of the Stellantis plant in Belvidere,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “Because of this funding and the work we’ve done to make Illinois an EV manufacturing hub, this facility will make our state’s clean energy economy stronger than ever before. I am deeply thankful to our partners in the federal government for recognizing our work, awarding us this critical funding, and joining us in our mission to create 21st century jobs in our state.” […]

This funding follows years of efforts by Governor Pritzker and the Biden administration to bring this facility back online and is a key part of our commitment to a continued widespread adoption of zero emission vehicles.

In addition to the reopening of the Belvidere assembly plant, Governor Pritzker has secured agreements from Gotion to build electric vehicle (EV) battery gigafactory in Manteno – which represents the largest manufacturing investment in decades and the largest EV battery investment to date, as well as REV agreements with Manner Polymers in Mt. Vernon, who is building a first-of-its kind solar-powered PVC compounding plant using clean energy generated on-site; Prysmian Group in Du Quoin, whose $64 million expansion will manufacture cables for the renewable energy and electric vehicle sector; and Rivian, which has invested over $2 billion in Normal and produced over 100,000 vehicles since production began in 2021.

So far, the state has set aggressive goals of 1 million EVs on Illinois roads by 2030, invested in charging infrastructure, offered unique incentives for manufacturers to build facilities, train workers, and create thousands of 21st century jobs. Thanks to the Governor’s efforts, in partnership with federal partners in the Biden administration, Congress, and the Illinois General Assembly and a wide range of stakeholders, Illinois is securing its place as a leading manufacturing state for electric vehicles and suppliers.

* Meanwhile…

The Illinois Department of Transportation announced today it has signed a six-year, $48 million agreement with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s Illinois Center for Transportation at The Grainger College of Engineering to continue a longtime joint research program.

“We are excited about our progressing partnership with the Illinois Center for Transportation,” said Illinois Transportation Secretary Omer Osman. “Together, we will continue to lead the way in innovative new technologies and practices to prepare our multimodal system for the future and better serve the public.”

  6 Comments      


Three contenders finalized for Illinois GOP chair (Updated)

Thursday, Jul 11, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Illinois GOP release…

Yesterday, the window to apply to be the next chair of the Illinois Republican Party closed. The applicants for the position are as follows in alphabetical order by last name:

Rep. John Cabello
Aaron Del Mar
Kathy Salvi

A meeting will be held on Friday for applicants to make their case. This meeting is not open to press. When voting occurs, the State Central Committee will decide based on a weighted vote system by congressional district. The district with the most Republican ballots cast carries the most weight, and so on down.

…Adding… A split is developing on the far right. Illinois Family Action…

The Illinois Republican State Central Committee (SCC) will be meeting tomorrow to consider how to fill the vacancy left by Chairman Don Tracy, who resigned in June. We are only aware of a couple of candidates who are up for consideration. Of course, we want to see someone who is fully committed to uphold the planks on the sanctity of human life, marriage, family, immigration security and religious liberty.

Therefore, we wholeheartedly endorse Kathy Salvi for the next Illinois GOP chair. In fact, we don’t think we could ask for a better person to serve in that role. The 64-year-old mother of six adult children is the wife of former State Representative Al Salvi (1993-1996), who was the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in 1996 and Illinois Secretary of State in 1998.

We have complete confidence that Kathy is not only a true conservative, but one who will fight to keep the aforementioned planks in the Illinois GOP Platform.

* Illinois Review…

Angry, Bitter Don Tracy Meddling in IL GOP Chairman’s Race as SSC Rushes Selection to Appoint New State Party Chair

With the Republican National Convention just days away, the Illinois Republican State Central Committee is moving at warp speed to appoint a new state party chairman as Republicans across the state raise concerns about the vetting process and the need for transparency as candidates jockey to be the next leader of the Illinois Republican Party. […]

For the last two years, Salvi has defended outgoing chairman Don Tracy, co-hosted state party fundraisers with Tracy, and was endorsed by gubernatorial candidate Richard Irvin during the 2022 election cycle. Irvin was the state party’s favorite candidate – and Tracy’s too, although he won’t admit it – during the 2022 primary, but lost in a landslide to the conservative grassroots-backed candidate by 43 points. And during the primary campaign, it was reported by WTTW’s Paris Schutz that in 2018, Irvin sent text messages calling Trump an “idiot” and a “bigoted racist.” Irvin also texted the friend, “I hate Trump too!”

In conservative circles across the state, many believe that Tracy is propping up Salvi to be his heir apparent, and multiple party insiders have shared with this publication that a backroom deal has been struck that gives Salvi the chairmanship and Jason Plummer – a downstate Republican state senator, the vice chair position. Plummer works closely with Tracy’s sister-in-law, State Sen. Jill Tracy, who serves alongside Plummer in the state senate and is the Senate Republican Whip.

  7 Comments      


Open thread

Thursday, Jul 11, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* What’s up? Keep it Illinois-centric please…

  3 Comments      


Isabel’s morning briefing (Updated)

Thursday, Jul 11, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* ICYMI: Pritzker signs health insurance reform measures. Capitol News Illinois…

Gov. JB Pritzker signed legislation Wednesday that puts new controls on the state’s health insurance industry, including bans on certain practices companies have used to reduce costs by controlling the amount of health care services a patient receives.

The Health Care Protection Act, House Bill 5395, was among Pritzker’s top legislative priorities during the just-completed legislative session.

Pritzker also signed House Bill 2499, which bans the sale of short-term, limited-duration insurance plans in Illinois – policies Pritzker and other critics refer to as “junk insurance” because they are not required to meet the minimum standards under the federal Affordable Care Act. […]

Among other things, the Health Care Protection Act bars the use of a restriction known as “step therapy,” also known as a “fail first” provision, that requires a patient to try and fail on one or more treatments preferred by the insurance company before they can access a treatment recommended by their doctor.

* Related stories…

* Sun-Times political reporter Tina Sfondeles…


* CBS Chicago…

“I mean, we’re just going to keep fighting. I don’t know what to say. You know, got to do what we have to do,” Pritzker was heard saying to a man at the event. “I don’t like where we are, but…”

Jordan Abudayyeh, deputy chief of communications for Gov. Pritzker’s office, said it “sounds like [Pritzker] was talking about the state of the presidential race.”

At 11, Governor Pritzker will attend the opening of new St. Clair County Public Safety Center. At 2:15 he will attend SWIC Manufacturing Training Academy ribbon cutting at Southwestern Illinois College in Belleville. Click here to watch.

…Adding… Pritzker was asked about the hot mic comments today…

All I was referring to is, I don’t like the polls, right? Joe Biden is behind by a couple of points nationally. I think we should be doing a lot better. I’ve certainly said that President Biden should get out there more talk to the American public, make sure that he’s communicating about the issues that are important to them and that the Democratic Party stands up for. And so I don’t like the fact that we’re behind, and I think we can do much better. And I’m going to go campaign for him and watch him win in November.

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* Sun-Times | Ahead of DNC, city officials to close, cordon off one of Chicago’s largest, most visible homeless camps: The “tent city” sandwiched for years between the Dan Ryan expressway and the 1100 block of South Desplaines Street will be cleared out on Wednesday and permanently cordoned off, Brandie Knazze, commissioner of the city’s Department of Family and Support Services, told the Chicago Sun-Times. Nearly all of the 22 residents living there recently in a few dozen blue and orange tents have agreed to move to a city-operated shelter of 60 beds at 100 E. Chestnut St., in the former Tremont Hotel. This year’s inaugural summer-shelter arrangement has been funded through Aug. 31, Knazze said, a little more than a week after the end of the convention expected to draw tens of thousands of Democratic leaders and supporters, as well as protesters.

* CBS | $100 million from State of Illinois to go to anti-violence programs in Chicago: Lori Crowder, the executive director of the Alliance of Local Service Organizations, said a coalition of seven community organizations will be able to use $5 million in new funding for outreach, case management, victim services, employment and education, and mental health and behavioral health services. “What we know to be true is this: when jobs go up, violence goes down,” Crowder said. “When education goes up, violence goes down.”

*** Statehouse News ***

* Tribune | Illinois legislators and CUB urge rejection of water rate hikes requested by Aqua Illinois, Illinois American: Later in 2013, a state law was passed that allows Illinois American and Aqua Illinois to buy up depreciated water and wastewater systems, and charge consumers for the acquisition costs, according to CUB. […] State Rep. Nabeela Syed, a Democrat from Palatine, argued against granting water utilities a rate increase, citing poor service experiences reported by her municipality and others.

*** Statewide ***

* Forbes | Illinois Marijuana Sales Hit $1 Billion So Far This Year: Governor JB Pritzker announced on Wednesday that Illinois hit $1 billion in marijuana retail sales on July 1, 2024. This figure includes over $850 million in adult-use marijuana sales and nearly $150 million in medical marijuana sales. […] Additionally, total marijuana sales for the Fiscal Year (from July 1 through June 30) in 2024 exceeded $2 billion, up from $1.9 billion in FY 2023 to $1.8 billion in FY 2022.

*** Chicago ***

* Tribune | Chicago Public Schools’ $9.9 billion proposed budget purports to close $500 million deficit, for now: The total proposed budget’s $500 million increase over last year’s $9.4 billion reflects facility investments that are “vital to keeping facilities operating safely and smoothly,” according to CPS. Representing the lion’s share of CPS spending, school budgets will cumulatively increase by $149 million compared with the start of last year — a margin that the district attributed to the cost of required services for special education students, state-mandated charter school funding increases and expanded bilingual services. Staff salaries and student benefits make up nearly 70% of the total budget, which will fund more than 800 additional full-time employees this year, CPS announced.

* Tribune | School board candidates present platforms during forum: ‘This is a really big deal’: More than half of the candidates running for one of 10 elected seats on the new, hybrid Chicago Board of Education gathered at a virtual forum Wednesday evening to introduce themselves and their platforms. Funding neighborhood schools, improving disability services and literacy rates, and balancing the district’s budget were among the issues discussed at the event, which was hosted via Zoom by the education nonprofit Raise Your Hand for Illinois Public Education.

* WTTW | Illinois Reparations Commission to Host Public Hearings, Starting in Chicago: The state’s reparations commission is kicking off public hearings across Illinois — with the first taking place in Chicago on Saturday. The commission is tasked with researching and reporting on possible reparatory actions for Black residents who are descendants of slavery. Leaders said the public’s input will be used in developing proposals for policymakers.

* Sun-Times | Fact check: Viral tweet wrongly claims Brandon Johnson blamed Richard Nixon for Chicago violence: But Johnson didn’t blame Nixon for violence in Chicago. The mayor’s only mention of Nixon came after reflecting on President Lyndon B. Johnson’s war on poverty. “Black death has been unfortunately accepted in this country for a very long time,” the mayor said. “We had a chance 60 years ago to get at the root causes and people mocked President Johnson, and we ended up with Richard Nixon.”

* Sun-Times | Newly hatched piping plover chick presumed dead at Montrose Beach. ‘Much loved and will be missed’: The chick went missing after 6 p.m. Tuesday and was presumed dead, “as it cannot survive away from its parents,” said Tamima Itani, lead volunteer coordinator with Chicago Piping Plovers. The other three chicks “are doing fine,” she added.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Lake County News-Sun | Lake County Forest Preserves District to expand lakefront footprint: The Lake County Forest Preserves District Board of Commissioners unanimously approved the purchase of 18.2 acres of the former Ft. Sheridan adjacent to the Openlands preserve Tuesday in Waukegan, creating a larger footprint along Lake Michigan. With a little more of the Lake Michigan shoreline now in the public domain, Lake County Board Chair Sandy Hart, D-Lake Bluff, said planning should be more long-term than the usual strategic planning.

* Daily Herald | Fire ‘buddies’ helping build pool deck for Schaumburg girl with cerebral palsy: Schaumburg firefighters are continuing their friendship with a 7-year-old girl with cerebral palsy and epilepsy by helping build a deck for the beloved swimming pool she recently received through Make-A-Wish. Kelly Boscardin said her daughter Savanah, though nonverbal, has been delighted by the firefighters since even before she was selected for the Project Fire Buddies chapter served by the local union.

*** Downstate ***

* Forbes | Discover The Midwest’s AI Powerhouse: The University Of Illinois: It was no coincidence that Arthur C. Clarke chose Urbana, Illinois, as the birthplace of HAL, the infamous fictional AI from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Back then, the University of Illinois (U of I) was becoming a powerhouse in the fields of technology HAL represents. Today, the U of I’s Grainger College of Engineering and its brand-new Siebel School of Computing and Data Science constitute a world-leading hub of AI innovation beyond anything Clarke could have imagined. Since 2019, the university has conducted over $270 million of AI-related research projects, spurring advancements in agriculture, biotechnology, education, and other fields while equipping the next generation of inclusive experts with hands-on experience.

* NBC Chicago | Rep. Mike Bost, Darren Bailey among Illinois delegates to 2024 RNC in Milwaukee: According to the list released Wednesday, Reps. Mary Miller and Mike Bost will both be among the delegates headed to Milwaukee to nominate former President Donald Trump for the third consecutive election cycle. […] Each of Illinois’ 17 Congressional districts will send three delegates apiece to the convention, according to the Republican Party’s press release. In addition, 13 at-large delegates will also cast ballots during the event, which kicks off Monday at Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum.

* Sun-Times | Downstate man who wore Revolutionary War costume and gas mask at Jan. 6 riot gets 2.5 months in jail: Derek Nelson, 31, of Danville pleaded guilty in March to a misdemeanor charge of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds. Prosecutors told U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols in Washington, D.C., that an “indelible” image of Nelson and a companion appearing as “willing foot soldiers of chaos” crystallized the harm caused “to the perceived stability of our republic.”

*** National ***

* AP | EU accepts Apple pledge to let rivals access ‘tap to pay’ iPhone tech to resolve antitrust case: The deal promises more choice for Europeans. iPhone users will be able to set a default wallet of their choice while mobile wallet developers will be able to use important iPhone verification functions like Face ID, Vestager said. […] The changes that Apple is making are to remain in force for a decade, will apply throughout the bloc’s 27 countries plus Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein, and will be monitored by a trustee.

  16 Comments      


Live coverage

Thursday, Jul 11, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* You can click here or here to follow breaking news. It’s the best we can do unless or until Twitter gets its act together.

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Selected press releases (Live updates)

Thursday, Jul 11, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

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Isabel’s afternoon roundup

Wednesday, Jul 10, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Paris Schutz of Fox Chicago…


* Daily Herald…

Illinois lawmakers including Rep. Nabeela Syed of Palatine and Rep. Dagmara Avelar of Romeoville joined consumer advocacy group Citizens Utility Board on Wednesday to call for legislative reforms designed to curb rates for customers of the state’s two private water utilities.

The proposals come as the utilities, Illinois American Water and Aqua Illinois, seek rate increases totaling $152.4 million and $19.2 million, respectively. The requests account for necessary investments such as replacing aging infrastructure, enhancing water quality and complying with local and federal environmental regulations, according to the utilities.

But with the companies estimating that the hikes would increase residential water service and wastewater bills by up to $29 a month, advocates say “frustration is mounting” among customers. […]

To address the concerns, proposed reforms include requiring shareholders — not customers — to cover the majority of costs when a private company buys a local water and wastewater system, and requiring local approval through a referendum before Illinois American or Aqua Illinois purchases a municipal system.

Under current state law, the utilities are allowed to charge their customers 100% of the cost for such acquisitions. Since 2013, the two companies have bought 59 systems totaling $402 million in acquisition costs that have been passed on to customers, according to a Citizens Utility Board analysis.

*** Statewide ***

* WTVO | 27 Illinois residents infected with dengue fever, CDC says: The CDC said 17 of the reported Illinois cases are in Cook County. More than 9.7 million cases of the disease have been reported this year, more than twice as many reported in 2023. […] There is currently no antiviral medication to treat dengue, but most cases subside within a week or two.

*** Chicago ***

* Sun-Times | Man who damaged Chicago abortion clinics gets a year of home confinement: Michael Barron, 42, told law enforcement that he hoped the damage he caused to the clinics in 2021 would prompt them to close even for a day — and perhaps interrupt a planned abortion. “I was like, you know, if I go over there and do something, you know I’m probably gonna get caught, but they might be closed for a day, you know,” Barron said in an interview, according to prosecutors. “And that might be some woman that has to cancel her appointment and, you know, second-guess her decision or something.” […] Prosecutors say he used a slingshot and metal ball bearings to damage the two clinics — in Logan Square and Rogers Park — on six occasions in May and June 2021. He damaged the glass in the windows and doors of the facilities, sometimes shattering the glass entirely.

* Sun-Times | Downtown motorists get reprieve from automated enforcement, but it won’t last: Downtown motorists have gotten an extended reprieve from the dramatic expansion of video surveillance and automated ticketing authorized by the City Council more than a year ago to make downtown streets safer for pedestrians and cyclists. But it won’t last. Nor will the two-year test be shortened, simply because the program has been slow to get off the ground. In fact, it’s being strengthened. The Council’s Committee on Pedestrian and Traffic Safety agreed Wednesday to accommodate the bureaucratic delay by changing the end date of the downtown enforcement crackdown. It now will last until two years after the first ticket is issued — once the program starts.

* Press Release | Ameya Pawar Named Next CEO of Michael Reese Health Trust: “We are delighted to welcome Ameya to Michael Reese,” said Mally Rutkoff, Michael Reese board chair. “Through a national search with Koya Partners, Ameya stood out immediately, impressing us with his resourcefulness and time-tested ability to build coalitions and deliver impact. He brings to us a powerful and proven capability to further advance our work in grassroots and systems change. I can think of no one better to lead us through our next chapter as a public foundation and to further our impact as a leading voice in health equity in Chicago.” With fifteen years of experience in senior leadership positions across government, non-profit advocacy, think tanks, and the private sector, Pawar brings a steadfast commitment to social, economic, and racial justice, which provides a strong foundation for leading the strategic vision for Michael Reese’s long-term growth, impact in the community, and delivery of its mission. He was the first Asian and Indian American ever elected to the Chicago City Council and while in office, he focused legislative efforts around social justice, worker rights, and economic justice, including raising the city’s minimum wage, guaranteeing paid sick leave, and combatting wage theft. He also led over half a billion in economic development, including new affordable housing developments and improvements to neighborhood high schools.

* Tribune | Student barbers add reversing opioid overdoses to their list of skills: A social worker and nurse practitioner demonstrated how to administer Narcan nasal spray — a potentially life-saving treatment during an opioid overdose — to a classroom of more than a dozen barber college students on the city’s South Side on Tuesday. It was part of an initiative by Rush University Medical Center to help combat the opioid crisis in typically underserved communities.

* Tribune | Former Chicago marathon winner banned for doping and fake documents: Kenyan runner Lawrence Cherono, a former winner of the Boston and Chicago marathons, has been banned for seven years for doping and trying to use fake documents to explain his failed drug test. Cherono tested positive for the banned substance trimetazidine in 2022 and was suspended just before he was due to compete at the world championships in Eugene, Oregon.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Herald | Audit reveals shortcomings that led to DuPage County cannabis tax snafu: DuPage County officials on Tuesday said they won’t risk losing millions in revenue again and will ensure proper paperwork is filed with the state — even if it means doing it themselves. The pledge came as county board members reviewed an internal audit outlining how a 2019 county ordinance establishing a 3% sales tax on all sales of recreational cannabis sales in municipal parts of the county was not initially filed with the Illinois Department of Revenue.

* Elgin Courier-News | Kane prosecutor says no details on fatal shooting by cop to be released till probe complete, which could ‘take a few months’: A person was killed Monday by an off-duty Kane County sheriff’s deputy in Elgin, but no details on the case other than when and where it occurred will be released pending an investigation, a news release from the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office said. […] As of Wednesday, the name, sex, age and address of the shooting victim have not been made public nor have the circumstances of what led to shooting, the name of the deputy involved, how many shots were fired, if anyone else was involved or if the deputy has been placed on administrative leave.

*** Downstate ***

* SJ-R | How many police calls were made to 3 a.m. Springfield bars since 2022? We break down the data: In a crowded city council chamber last month, Clique bar co-owner Josh Delcour spoke against an amendment for 3 a.m. bars to close two hours earlier. Delcour said 40 to 55 percent of the bar’s revenue is made from 1 to 3 a.m. on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. The amendment to chapter 90, article III of the 1988 city code passed on June 18 in an 8-2 vote, ending liquor sales for all bars at 2 a.m. at the price of $100 more annually to operate. […] Over 300 calls were made across the five bars in two and a half years, close to a call every 3 days.

* WSIL | Imagination Library sees over 4,000 registrations on day one: Over 4,000 local children will soon receive books from Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library. The library officially kicked off in our region on Tuesday. On that day alone, the Southern Illinois Community Foundation reports over 4,000 families signed up their children for the program.

*** National ***

* Federal Trade Commission | FTC Releases Interim Staff Report on Prescription Drug Middlemen: “The FTC’s interim report lays out how dominant pharmacy benefit managers can hike the cost of drugs—including overcharging patients for cancer drugs,” said FTC Chair Lina M. Khan. “The report also details how PBMs can squeeze independent pharmacies that many Americans—especially those in rural communities—depend on for essential care. The FTC will continue to use all our tools and authorities to scrutinize dominant players across healthcare markets and ensure that Americans can access affordable healthcare.”

  3 Comments      


ILGOP releases national convention delegate list

Wednesday, Jul 10, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* ILGOP…

Today, the Illinois Republican Party is releasing the final list of delegates for the Republican National Convention taking place next week in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Each Congressional District in Illinois will be represented by 3 elected delegates in addition to 13 statewide delegates for a total of 64 delegates.

Click here for the list. Darren Bailey and US Rep. Mike Bost are both delegates in the same district. Bost beat Bailey in the Republican primary this year.

* Speaking of the Illinois Republican Party, a member of the Freedom Caucus is calling on Don Tracy to delay his resignation as state party chair…

State Representative Dan Caulkins (R-Decatur) says the future of the Republican Party in Illinois requires thoughtful consideration and should not be done on the fly which is why he is calling on current Illinois GOP Chairman Don Tracy to delay his resignation.

“There is no question we have some issues to resolve in our party. Some require immediate attention and others can be addressed after November. My concern is that the selection process is rushed and ill timed. We are setting up whoever takes over the chairmanship for failure.

The duties of the Republican Party are to support our county organizations, provide legal assistance for ballot challenges as well as support other legal matters and to promote Republican ideas and candidates.

Don Tracy has performed these duties well, and he can continue to provide the stability we need to get through the next several months. The announced candidates to replace Tracy have not been properly vetted and have not provided a vision for the party for the future. The reality is the truncated timetable prohibits them from making a strong case for their candidacy. We gain nothing by rushing this important decision and we risk losing traction in a state that we can ill afford to cede anymore ground to the Democrats. The solution is for Don Tracy to remain as State Party Chairman. For the good of the Party, I call on Don Tracy to delay his resignation and continue to serve at least through the end of the year.”

Kinda surprising, considering the source.

I’ve asked a party spokesperson for comment.

* Meanwhile, Rep. John Cabello (R-Machesney Park) told me today he is interested in serving as interim party chair through the November election. Sen. Jason Plummer and Aaron Del Mar also have their hats in the ring.

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Coverage roundup: Mass transit leaders unwilling to give up fiefdoms

Wednesday, Jul 10, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Subscribers know more. ABC Chicago…

There was major opposition to a plan to merge Metra, Pace and the CTA into one agency the first public hearing on the matter Tuesday.

Chicago area public transportation has had a bumpy ride over the last several years; while ridership is up on CTA, Metra and Pace, it still has not rebounded to pre-pandemic levels, and when it comes to service there is no shortage of complaints.

Illinois lawmakers invited the heads of CTA, Metra, Pace and the Regional Transit Authority to a public hearing on the state of public transit. On the heels of a $730 million funding cliff and an effort to reform, there is now proposed legislation to combine all agencies into one big agency. […]

While the business community calls for reform, each transit agency and the RTA, which is the governing body that overseas CTA, Metra and Pace, are against the consolidation. They argue it will not make each organization better.

* WTTW…

State Sen. Ram Villivalam (D-Chicago), chair of the state Senate’s transportation committee and one of the sponsors of the merger bill, said lawmakers likely have little appetite to provide additional money without making changes.

“There will be no votes for funding unless we address service, governance and the corresponding reforms that are needed” to create a top-tier transit system that is also “accountable and transparent,” Villivalam said. […]

Villivalam told the transit leaders that proposed governance reforms weren’t meant as a comment on their leadership.

“We need to explore every avenue of how the system is going to be one for the future,” Villivalam said. He told the agency heads that merger legislation may move forward “if there’s consensus,” or that things may remain status quo.

* Block Club…

The executives said a chronic lack of funding — and not the way they function — is the real problem. Instead of a merger, the transit leaders hope the state can bankroll them out of an impending $730 million fiscal cliff in 2026.

“We’re victims of our own success. We operate the leanest system in the country,” said Derwinski, Metra’s chief executive. “I don’t know where the cuts would be … . I think it’s important that local representation has some voice with what happens in operations, and that could get minimized or lost in a grand board.”

The fiscal cliff nears as federal grant relief that floated the agencies through the pandemic runs out, while operating revenue has yet to recoup the difference as remote work cuts into ridership and reshapes travel patterns, the agency leaders said.

Kirk Dillard, chairman of the Regional Transportation Authority, estimated the fiscal cliff could “wipe out” 30-40 percent of current service levels across the three transit systems.

* Sun-Times…

“The governance model is not the problem here. … The issue is getting the funding levels to where they’re supposed to be,” CTA President Dorval Carter said in the first of six public hearings to be held by the Illinois Senate Transportation Committee. […]

“I do not believe that combining us into one organization will make us better,” Pace CEO Melinda Metzger told the Senate committee. “First of all, we all have board members who are local, who understand the local needs, and they give us a lot of info. Secondly, we’re all in different service areas.” […]

Kirk Dillard, chair of the RTA board, said the oversight role of his agency has kept costs down.

“It’s very similar to an external auditor reviewing an internal auditor’s work,” Dillard said. “That’s another reason we have the lowest operating cost per mile. … [T]he RTA does help hold these folks accountable.”

* WGN…

Embattled CTA president Dorval Carter pointed to a lack of funding, rather than cooperation among the agencies, for the region’s transportation issues.

“I’ve heard all of this before. I’ve been through governance reforms. I’ve been through funding reforms. I’ve been through all of this, and what I know hasn’t been adequately addressed is the fact that the funding that’s been provided for public transit has never, ever aligned with the governance that was put in place,” he testified. “What I mean by that is that we’ve never had the level of funding to truly allow for a discretionary funding program that would be controlled by RTA, that would allow RTA to basically direct priorities.” […]

CTA bus driver Jason Nawls, a member of Amalgamated Transit Union Local #241, said he feared that jobs would be lost in a consolidation plan.

“All of you want the service, but none of you wants to pay for it,” he said. “Only by funding the system and recognizing the service that the CTA and its employees truly provide will the situation be resolved.”

* More…

  21 Comments      


Uber Partners With Cities To Expand Urban Transportation

Wednesday, Jul 10, 2024 - Posted by Advertising Department

[The following is a paid advertisement.]

Uber is leading the charge to close critical transportation gaps, ensuring reliable access to its services in places that need it most, such as underserved areas like Englewood. This is a part of Uber’s broader commitment to augment and expand the reach of Chicago’s transportation ecosystem, focusing on overcoming the first-mile/ last-mile hurdles that have long plagued residents in farther afield neighborhoods. Uber aims to extend the public transit network’s reach, making urban transportation more accessible and efficient for everyone. Discover the full story on how Uber is transforming city transportation for the better.

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NFL teams rolling in dough

Wednesday, Jul 10, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* Sportico…

Each of the 32 NFL teams received just over $400 million from the league office for the 2023 season, according to multiple people familiar with the league’s finances who were not authorized to speak publicly. The tally is up 6% to 8% from the 2022 season, depending on the accounting used by the team.

The total represents national media rights, league sponsorships and shared revenue and royalties from the league’s various affiliates and subsidiaries, such as NFL Properties, NFL International and NFL Enterprises and adds up to roughly $13 billion. […]

The other huge plus is the guaranteed check from the league each year that dwarfs the cap before a team sells a single ticket, beer, sponsorship or parking space. The result is that every NFL team is wildly profitable and worth at least $4 billion, with an average franchise value of $5.14 billion last year. […]

The national payout is up 115% over the past decade and should rise at a similar rate over the next decade to more than $800 million per team with the media deals secured.

* Center Square…

As economist J.C. Bradbury of Georgia’s Kennesaw State University has pointed out, renovations to existing NFL stadiums at the same spot do not improve economic conditions.

“There is no legitimate policy justification for devoting hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to upgrade an NFL football stadium,” Bradbury told The Center Square. “The research on this is clear and unambiguous: sports stadiums are not salutary public investments.”

  9 Comments      


Healthcare Protection Act signed into law

Wednesday, Jul 10, 2024 - Posted by Rich Miller

* WTVO…

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker signed a package of healthcare reforms into law on Wednesday, with the signing of the Healthcare Protection Act.

With the law’s signage, Illinois becomes the first state in the U.S. to ban prior authorization for in-patient adult and children’s mental health care.

The law bans “step therapy” for private insurance and Medicaid, which is the practice of requiring patients to try cheaper forms of treatments prior to trying more expensive options.

Additionally, the law adds Illinois to a list of 12 states banning “junk” insurance plans, which offer temporary and often incomplete coverage. Junk insurance plans are otherwise known as short-term limited duration plans, like health insurance plans people can buy when covered through an employer.

It also requires insurers to offer enough in-network doctors to meet patients’ needs, requiring insurance companies to keep up-to-date directories of which doctors are available. Health insurance companies would be required to conduct audits on themselves every 90 days and report their findings to the Department of Insurance.

* Press release…

Today Governor JB Pritzker signed the package of bills comprising the Healthcare Protection Act (HPA) into law, a series of reforms initially proposed by the Governor in his 2024 State of the State address. The HPA works to improve healthcare consumer experiences by banning step therapy and prior authorization for crisis mental healthcare, banning junk insurance plans, and ending unchecked rate increases for large group insurance companies.

“With the signing of these bills, we’re putting power back into the hands of patients and their doctors and out of the grasps of predatory insurance companies who prioritize profits over patient outcomes,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “Accessing care shouldn’t require endless bureaucracy and navigation, especially when someone is at their most vulnerable, and this legislation will make care more affordable and accessible for millions of Illinoisans.” […]

A main target of the HPA is step therapy, the practice of insurance providers requiring patients to try and fail on often less effective treatment options and medications first before getting the care recommended by their doctor. The legislation also eliminates prior authorization requirements for in-patient mental health care, recognizing that patients in need of urgent mental health care are often not able to navigate and wait out a prior authorization process.

The HPA also requires insurance companies be transparent about prior authorization requirements when advertising coverage. Since in-network availability is often the only way patients can access care, the HPA also sets standards for appointment time availability and number of in-network doctors, ensuring that patients can actually locate care in their area and have a transparent view of their in-network providers.

In addition to utilization management regulation, the HPA also pans the sale of junk insurance plans that fail to meet Affordable Care Act standards. In 2023, the General Assembly and Governor Pritzker ended unfair rate increases for individual policy holders and the small group insurance market. The HPA extends that regulation to large group insurance carriers as well.

* This is a big package…

“The Healthcare Protection Act reflects some of the strongest behavioral and physical health protections ever enacted in the United States. Banning junk insurance, ending step therapy and prior authorization for mental health, taking on ghost networks, and lowering health insurance rates to make healthcare more affordable will immeasurably improve healthcare in Illinois,” said Rep. Bob Morgan (D-Deerfield). “Today marks a major step towards healthcare equity, and we will use this legislation as a benchmark for future efforts toward a healthier Illinois.”

* More…

State Rep. Bill Hauter, who doubles as an emergency room physician, co-sponsored House Bill 4055. The bill bans prior authorization and Hauter sponsored the legislation with Democrats. Hauter explained a provision of the bill that specifically benefits those with bleeding disorders.

“This amendment addresses pre authorization abuse … specifically this amendment focuses on hemophiliacs or those with bleeding disorders and the pre authorization required if they have an emergency condition and require medications. They will now be allowed to skip the emergency department and go directly to their specialist and avoid an emergency department visit,” said Hauter.

* WCIA…

Finally, the bill also addresses network adequacy and ghost networks. In 2022, WCIA published a series investigating Blue Cross Blue Shield’s ghost networks in Central Illinois. The Illinois Department of Insurance has fined Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois twice in 2023 for not following the Network Adequacy and Transparency Act.

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Coverage roundup: Pritzker, Johnson make strong statements supporting Biden

Wednesday, Jul 10, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Governor Pritzker reiterated his support for President Biden yesterday during an unrelated news conference. Capitol News Illinois…

[Governor JB Pritzker] headed to Washington, D.C., to meet with the president and members of the Democratic Governors Association last Wednesday on the heels of Biden’s performance during the first of two scheduled debates with former President Donald Trump, which raised concerns about the president’s mental acuity. […]

On Tuesday, Pritzker said the exchange between Biden and the Democratic governors was “a robust discussion” – and he’s “all in” for Biden.

“Listen: Joe Biden is our nominee. I am for Joe Biden. I’ve been campaigning for Joe Biden. I think you’ve seen I’ve got dates scheduled to go to Indiana, to Ohio for Joe Biden,” he said at an unrelated event Tuesday. […]

And [Pritzker] said he wouldn’t engage in “hypotheticals” when asked if he’d be interested in replacing Biden should he drop out of the race.

* ABC Chicago…

This is the first time the governor has commented on the race since he and other Democratic governors met at the White House with the president last week to discuss his path forward after the debate debacle. Pritzker called it a robust meeting and had some advice for the president.

“I said, ‘You’ve got to get out there and talk to the American public more,’” Pritzker said. “It’s important for him to answer questions and talk about the issues. Hyper important, you know? People are thinking about their own families, how they’re going to deal with the kitchen table issues they’ve got in front of them and their personal freedoms.”

* Tribune…

Speaking to the Tribune earlier Tuesday, [Mayor Brandon Johnson] said he fully supports Biden.

“There is only one choice. That is President Joe Biden,” Johnson said, noting Biden is the only person to defeat Trump in a general election. Asked if he worries about Biden’s age, Johnson instead talked about his fears of what would happen if Trump returned to the White House.

“You know what my biggest concern is? It’s that you have someone who is trying to relitigate the Civil War,” Johnson said. “If there’s anything to be afraid of right now, it’s afraid of the fact that you have individuals that are organizing the return of the Confederacy. We have a president who is committed to democracy.”

* Mayor Johnson and other Democratic Governors spoke with Biden last night. After the call, Johnson emailed this letter to supporters, affirming his confidence in Biden…

Friends,

I hope you’re having a blessed Tuesday evening. I just got off the phone with President Biden and wanted to share an update with you.

I was joined by nearly 200 mayors across the country for a call that went for nearly an hour, and to be honest with you, President Biden was pretty fired up. He spoke extemporaneously about his campaign to defeat Donald Trump and, as always in our conversations, I’m glad he spoke proactively about the need to directly invest in cities across the country. He listed off priorities that are right in line with what we’ve been fighting for in Chicago, from investing in education and housing to banning assault weapons.

He is running on a bold, strong agenda that invests in people, which is exactly why I was so happy to head up to Milwaukee to stump for the Biden-Harris campaign on June 29th. Whether it was last month, this month, or any day between now and Election Day, we all need to do everything we can to re-elect President Biden and Vice President Harris — and defeat Donald Trump.

I know there has been a lot of chatter about the President’s performance in the debate, and the President himself has said he had a bad debate. Having spoken to the President just now, I can tell you he is ready, willing, and able to take on and defeat Donald Trump. He made it clear that he will be crisscrossing the country and campaigning relentlessly to defeat Donald Trump.

I want to be very clear with you and everyone I speak to in Chicago or anywhere else in the country: Donald Trump is an existential threat to the City of Chicago, our movement, our rights, and our freedoms. To be blunt, Trump is a threat to everything we hold dear here in Chicago. I am proud to stand up to Donald Trump and I’m proud to fully support President Biden and Vice President Harris in this election. They are our ticket, and he is our president and we need him to be reelected this fall. Our entire city is counting on it.

And that’s why I’m so excited that President Biden and Vice President Harris are coming to the greatest city on Earth to receive their nomination. President Biden and Vice President Harris are exactly the leaders we need at this moment.

It is critically important that we all spend the next several months doing everything we can to defeat Trump. That starts by ensuring we are fully united going into the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. From now until November, I am going to be doing all that I can to ensure that President Biden and Vice President Harris are reelected and Donald Trump is defeated. I look forward to seeing you out there with me.

Onward, Mayor Brandon Johnson

* More…

    * SJ-R | Pritzker 2024? Not so fast. Governor holds steady with support for Biden: His first public appearance since that meeting, the governor said the conversation was “robust” and Biden answered pressing questions from the governors. Pritzker said he left the nation’s Capitol feeling confident that the president will be able to withstand a challenge from former President Donald Trump, now moving ahead slightly in many nationwide and swing state polls.

    * Sun-Times | Johnson to join Democratic mayors on phone call with Biden as president fights to stay in presidential race: “What’s clear to me and to people across Chicago, is that Donald Trump is a dire threat to everything we hold dear, including our democracy, our freedoms and our economy,” Johnson said in a statement posted on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. “Joe Biden is the president and our Democratic nominee, and we all need to do everything we can to defeat Donald Trump this November.”

    * WCIA | Pritzker stands by Biden as others show concern: “I think obviously the President had a bad performance in the debate,” Pritzker said. “That doesn’t help anybody. He knows that, and what you have to do is stand up say, I didn’t do it well, which I think he said, and prove people wrong about what they want to say about it. And he’s doing that.” […] “I said you got to get out there and talk to the American public more,” Pritzker said. “It was important. I think they took too long. I think he admitted this to after the debate, for him to really go out and do press that would get national attention.”

  16 Comments      


Only 16% of Illinois nursing homes are in compliance with federal staffing standards (Updated)

Wednesday, Jul 10, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* Capitol News Illinois in May…

Employment in skilled nursing facilities nationwide as of February was down 8.3 percent compared with February of 2020, the month before the pandemic hit. Although the current staffing levels have somewhat recovered from their lowest point in early spring 2022 – when staffing was down 15.5 percent from pre-pandemic levels – other areas within health care have recovered much faster, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation analysis […]

But with a tight budget year, leaders in the General Assembly can’t promise a huge windfall for the struggling industry. House Majority Leader Robyn Gabel, D-Evanston, who leads a working group on Medicaid issues, told Capitol News Illinois the industry asked for $75 million to make up for increased property taxes, which the state had at one time subsidized.

But in the waning days of legislative session, Gabel said the working group is still exploring ways to help the industry but was explicit that General Assembly can’t give the industry anywhere near the $75 million it requested. […]

The industry is also fearful a new federal rule designed to implement minimum staffing ratios will have the unintended effect of further closures. […]

But, Gabel said, the state can only do so much when the entire nursing home industry is up against trends that have been festering for years.

* Today from WTTW…

A new federal staffing minimum rule from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) was designed to help those stranded without care like Payne. In May, CMS officially published the final rule of the first-ever federal minimum staffing standards for long-term care facilities. […]

But just 108 of the 670 Illinois nursing homes that provided the agency data meet all three of these requirements as of June, according to a WTTW News analysis of homes that submitted their staffing data to CMS. Eleven additional homes did not provide data.

    -60% of the reporting nursing homes do not meet the total nurse staffing standard.

    -41% do not meet the RN standard.

    -81% do not meet the nursing aide standard. […]

If a home does not meet these requirements, there is a set of escalating penalties, like corrective plans of action or fines. Termination from the CMS program is the “enforcement item of last resort,” according to Health and Human Services (HHS) officials.

When presented with the low number of homes meeting the new CMS rules, the Illinois Department of Public Health, which regulates long-term care facilities, said the state already has staffing requirements. Illinois requires a minimum staffing ratio of 3.8 hours per resident per day needing skilled care and 2.5 hours per day for residents needing immediate care. However, repercussions for Illinois homes not meeting these requirements have been delayed until 2025.

*** Adding *** Lindsey Hess, the Communications Director at the Health Care Council of Illinois…

Most Illinois nursing homes are in compliance with Illinois’ staffing mandates, which actually require nursing staffing of 3.8 hours per resident per day (versus the proposed federal mandate of 3.48 hours). HCCI is vehemently opposed to CMS’ proposed plan of staffing mandates; one significant reason is the requirement of registered nurses on all shifts. Currently, CMS requires one registered nurse on duty per day, and licensed practical nurses may fill the remaining open shifts. In Illinois, where Medicaid is the largest payor of nursing home services, it would be unsustainable for safety net nursing homes to replace licensed practical nurses with registered nurses and ensure access to care for elderly citizens. In addition, nursing homes are still recovering from a historic labor crisis, and there’s a growing caregiver shortage. We support increasing the nursing home workforce, but a one-size-fits-all approach will not improve quality care.

  11 Comments      


Open thread

Wednesday, Jul 10, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* What’s going on in your part of Illinois…

  5 Comments      


Isabel’s morning briefing

Wednesday, Jul 10, 2024 - Posted by Isabel Miller

* ICYMI: Central Illinois receiving $4.7M grant for clean energy pre-apprenticeship program. WAND…

    -Central Illinois is receiving a $4.7 million grant to launch a pre-apprenticeship program for several hundred people to join the clean energy workforce this year.
    -The Climate Works Pre-Apprenticeship Program will prioritize underrepresented communities and Illinoisans who historically faced economic and environmental barriers.
    -The Pritzker administration is providing approximately $13.6 million in grant funding to start the pre-apprenticeship programs in northern, central and southern Illinois.

* Related stories…

Governor Pritzker will sign the Healthcare Protection Act at 10 am. Then at 2 pm, the governor will give remarks at Reimagining Public Safety Act reception. Click here to watch.

*** Isabel’s Top Picks ***

* WGN | Chicagoland transit heads push back on proposal to combine agencies: The Metropolitan Mobility Authority Act, unveiled earlier this year by state Sen. Ram Villivalam (D-Chicago) and state Rep. Eva-Dina Delgado (D-Chicago), aims to streamline services and reduce the competition for funding between the RTA, the CTA, Metra and Pace. “We all want to do the best job we can and do not believe that combining us into one organization will make us better,” said Pace Executive Director Melinda Metzger.

* Crain’s | Illinois to expedite Medicaid services for those leaving prison: The Illinois Department of Healthcare & Family Services will launch a new program to bring Medicaid services and other resources to people transitioning out of incarceration or other institutional settings, following federal approval of an HFS demonstration waiver request.

*** Statehouse News ***

* Capitol News Illinois | Former GOP state lawmaker, candidate for governor sentenced to 42 months in prison: In February, [Former Republican State Sen. Sam McCann] pleaded guilty to seven counts of wire fraud and one count each of money laundering and tax evasion – but only after prosecutors had spent nearly three days presenting evidence against him at trial. U.S. District Judge Colleen Lawless hearkened back to that moment as she was handing down her sentence Tuesday afternoon, saying McCann’s refusal to “accept responsibility” until the last possible moment factored into her calculation for prison time. She also told McCann she was bothered that he “continued to steal” all while “holding yourself out (to be) a God-fearing public servant.”

* Rep. Kam Buckner | While we debate changes to DuSable Lake Shore Drive, let’s focus on the lakefront: The roadway portion of the project requires coordinated efforts between the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago, and while some, including me, eventually envision a true boulevard, we should not delay in advancing improvements to our lakefront. Enhancements such as better beaches, improved bike paths and increased greenspace are essential, regardless of the ultimate design of the drive itself. Why not undertake the critical work of improving the lakefront first, with trail upgrades and more greenspace that has near universal support now? By doing so, we can get to work sooner and lay the groundwork for a more modest, environmentally conscious and transit-focused lakefront boulevard. This approach allows us to demonstrate the benefits of such improvements, making it easier to build consensus over time.

* SJ-R | New Illinois budget invests heavily in education. Why do some say it’s not enough?: Both the home visiting and early intervention programs saw their funding increase by 21% and 3% respectively under this budget. Still, Illinois Action For Children believes the $6 million tallied for early intervention to be paltry and unable to increase provider reimbursement rates leading to delays in service. “Illinois must increase investment in the early childhood workforce across all programs and settings,” said Angela Farwig, IAFC’s vice president of public policy, advocacy and research in a news release. “Our early childhood system thrives from the commitment of our educators, and we need robust workforce investment to build a brighter future for our children.”

*** Statewide ***

* Tribune | Kroger identifies 35 Illinois Mariano’s, Jewel locations to be sold off pending megamerger approval: Eight of the stores slated for sale are in Chicago. If Kroger and Albertsons — which first announced plans to merge in 2022 — secure approval for the deal, the store locations listed would be sold to C&S Wholesale Grocers for $2.9 billion. Most Kroger-owned Mariano’s would be divested under the plan, which calls for selling 31 of the company’s 44 stores. Kroger has also said it would sell the Mariano’s brand name to C&S. Just four of the planned divestitures are Albertsons-owned Jewel-Osco locations.

* Chalkbeat | Illinois revenue from a tax on corporate profits is projected to decline. Here’s what that means for school districts: The shift comes as federal COVID recovery money dries up, and local education advocates fear that the recent addition of $350 million to the state’s education budget isn’t enough to match the needs of schools. The state’s evidence-based funding uses data from previous years, which means districts that saw unexpected gains from this unique tax on local businesses could receive fewer state dollars in the future. As districts finalize their budget for this upcoming school year, those receiving fewer state dollars will have to figure out how to fill in the gaps.

*** Chicago ***

* WBEZ | Mayor Johnson slowly builds on a campaign promise to hire more young people for city’s summer jobs program: Roughly 27,140 young people are working in the One Summer Chicago program this year, according to figures provided by the Department of Family and Support Services. That falls short of Johnson’s goal to hire 28,000 young people (though the number may still grow this summer) and far below his campaign promise to double the program in size.

* WTTW | Board Yanked Convicted Ex-Ald. Ed Burke’s $96K Annual City Pension Just Minutes After Sentencing, Records Show: U.S. District Court Judge Virginia Kendall sentenced Burke to two years in prison and imposed a $2 million fine shortly before 3:30 p.m. June 24. Less than 30 minutes later, pension fund executive director Tiffany Junkins directed her staff to stop the $8,027 per month pension payments to Burke and to cut him a check for $543,516.92 — the amount he contributed to his pension during the 62 years he spent working for the city of Chicago and its sister agencies, plus interest, according to records obtained by WTTW News through the Freedom of Information Act.

* Sun-Times | Chicago’s Democratic convention could cause traffic nightmares for hospitals near United Center: Just how bad traffic could get snarled isn’t clear. The Secret Service is still finalizing plans for a security perimeter around the Near West Side arena, and those plans won’t be released until late July. Hospital officials expect the perimeter to butt up against the medical district, which lies south of the Eisenhower Expressway down to Roosevelt Road, between Ogden Avenue and Ashland Avenue. The district includes Rush, Cook County Health, the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center, University of Illinois Hospital and Health Sciences System, several nonprofits and city, county and state health agencies.

* Tribune | School board candidate roster narrows as more than half face objections before the Chicago Board of Elections: The crowded field of candidates vying to win one of 10 seats on Chicago’s first elected school board in the fall narrowed slightly Tuesday, with three candidates filing withdrawal papers, trimming the race down to 44 candidates, according to the Chicago Board of Elections. Among 27 candidates subject to challenges to the validity of their nomination petitions, nonprofit administrator Danielle Wallace, educator Darius Dee Nix and former Chicago Public Schools Principal James Walton have dropped out of their respective races in the 6th, 8th, 10th districts.

* WBEZ | The path to a CPS test-in high school often begins at age 4, with a test most don’t know exists.: Chicago Public Schools refuses to produce data that would reveal how many students can access these gifted programs and their racial and socioeconomic backgrounds. The district said providing the demographics for gifted programs within schools would entail creating a new database, which it is not required to do. Nine of the regional gifted centers are in elementary schools that also have neighborhood or magnet programs.

* Tribune | More than 12,000 have applied to volunteer for the DNC in Chicago: Chicago 2024 Host Committee Executive Director Christy George said the volume of volunteer applications showed excitement about the convention throughout the city and state, calling the achievement a “massive planning milestone.” Nearly 75% of the applications came from Illinois residents and people from every Chicago ZIP code applied to volunteer, George said in the release.

*** Cook County and Suburbs ***

* Daily Southtown | Former Dolton lawyers sue competing attorney for defamation: The Berwyn-based law firm claims Burt Odelson, of the Odelson, Murphey, Frazier and McGrath law group, made knowingly false statements about the Del Galdo group that led to the trustees turning against them as village attorneys. […] According to the lawsuit, Odelson told attendees at a Feb. 22 Dolton Village Board meeting that Del Galdo had a conflict of interest in representing the village and had billed the village tens of thousands of dollars “in violation of Dolton’s corporate authorities.”

*** Downstate ***

* Tribune | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign taps new business school dean: The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has named W. Brooke Elliott as its new dean of the Gies College of Business. Elliott’s appointment begins Aug. 16 and is subject to approval by the university’s board of trustees, according to the school’s news release. She will also serve as a professor in business.

* Capitol News Illinois | Menard prison staff picket, citing unsafe working conditions: The problems at the southern Illinois facility stem from low staffing levels, said Rick Hepp, a correctional sergeant at the prison. Hepp said that in recent months the prison has been operating with about 50 fewer correctional officers than it should have daily. “There’s lots of issues here that add up to a big powder keg and the fuse is lit,” said Hepp, who is president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 1175, a union representing Menard employees.

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