The nominee for the Executive Inspector General for the Illinois Treasurer has withdrawn from consideration after controversial social media posts were revealed.
Acting Treasurer OEIG Dennis Rendleman has been on the job since February 2020 with a $100,000 a year salary.
“Dennis Rendleman is a nationally recognized expert on ethics,” said Treasurer Michael Frerichs spokesman Greg Rivara. “However, Mr. Rendleman has asked us to withdraw his nomination and indicated that he will work with the Treasurer’s Office to provide an orderly transition to a new nominee as Executive Inspector General.” […]
State Sen. Steve McClure, R-Springfield, sponsored Rendleman, saying in committee he supported him, but then requested the appointment be held back after social media posts were revealed.
“We saw bad language, we saw posts that were accusing Republicans of killing people, essentially,” McClure said. “We saw just over the top extremist language which is just totally inappropriate for someone who wants to continue to serve, by the way, he’s been serving in this capacity while making these posts, but someone who’s supposed to be an inspector general, kind of above the fray, fair, impartial, that is not what we were seeing with these posts.”
Some posts obtained by The Center Square showed Rendleman writing on Facebook “White ‘Christian’ nationalists = Taliban/ISIS/Al Qaeda” and linking to separate Politico and NPR online articles. Another post Rendleman shared showed three people wearing Klu Klux Klan outfits with the text “when you accidentally wash your KKK robe with your MAGA hat.”
“They were of the most extreme types of political discussions on his Facebook page and all of us believed they were inappropriate,” McClure said. […]
“In Mr. Rendleman’s nearly 40-year legal career, there have been no issues or concerns raised about his ability to separate his personal opinions from the objective and neutral positions with which he has been entrusted by [University of Illinois Springfield], [Illinois State Bar Association], the [American Bar Association], and the Illinois Supreme Court,” [Treasurer Michael Frerichs spokesman Greg Rivara] said.
His Facebook account is here. And people on the right keep saying that the left is pushing “cancel culture.”
It used to be that running a broadcast TV series was the top of the mountain for those in the small-screen business. These days, you’re more likely to hear about an old broadcast series like “Friends” or “Seinfeld” moving to a streaming platform in search of a second life.
The streaming era has stolen the spotlight from the once-vaunted industry, which is long past the halcyon days of “Must-See TV.” As showrunner Saladin Patterson puts it: “Right now, my kids could not tell you where ABC is on the TV.”
* The Question: How often do you watch traditional broadcast network television, and for what?
All 88 of the [southern Illinois] region’s ICU beds are in use, as COVID-19 case numbers continue to climb, leaving the area worse off than the rest of the state in terms of emergency care, according to state health department data.
There were zero ICU beds available in Region 5 as of early Tuesday afternoon, according to IDPH’s metrics.
* The U of I really needs to get its act together, like today…
As of Wednesday, 449 public school districts and private K-12 school organizations in Illinois had signed up to implement SHIELD testing. About 79 of them had actually started testing, according to SHIELD Illinois. […]
SHIELD leaders say they have plenty of supplies and capacity. But they, and school leaders, say it’s taking time for schools to communicate with parents, get parental permission and then send rosters of participating students to SHIELD.
Further exacerbating the situation, the testing organization was hit with a wave of demand in the month before school started, with hundreds of school districts signing on in late July or August. In late August, Gov. J.B. Pritzker publicly announced that all schoolteachers and staff would be required to get vaccinated or get tested for COVID-19 once a week. That month, the state also detailed an optional new test-to-stay program, in which students and teachers who are close contacts of people with COVID-19 may stay in school so long as they test negative on days 1, 3, 5 and 7 after exposure.
It can now sometimes take days for SHIELD to answer schools’ questions about implementing testing because of the high demand and a limited number of SHIELD staffers, said Ron Watkins, managing director of SHIELD Illinois, which is a nonprofit unit of the University of Illinois system. SHIELD is working to hire more people to help answer schools’ questions in the next few weeks, and upgrading its software to help make the process of getting started more efficient for schools.
The Illinois Department of Public Health was in the hot seat Wednesday during a House committee hearing on nursing home reform.
Nursing homes and long-term care facilities house a small part of the U.S. population, but are estimated to account for about 3 in 10 deaths from COVID-19. IDPH reported 46% of all deaths from COVID-19 in Illinois occurred in long-term care facilities.
Lawmakers had questions for IDPH representative Becky Dragoo, including the number of deaths in long-term care facilities during the pandemic, and the number of nursing homes that were cited by the state for a lack of protocols.
State Rep. Lakeshia Collins, D-Chicago, was not happy that Dragoo did not provide the number of deaths in Illinois nursing homes during the pandemic.
“If there’s no numbers that you can present to us when we get on these calls and you have to give us a follow-up, that’s a problem because you know we are going to ask these questions,” Collins said.
(U)ntil recently, the [Biden] administration had shipped the antibody treatments to states on an as-needed basis — with top health officials in early August going as far as encouraging those battling the Delta surge to seek even more supply.
But demand from a handful of southern states has exploded since then, state and federal officials said, raising concerns they were consuming a disproportionate amount of the national supply. Seven states — Texas, Florida, Mississippi, Tennessee, Georgia, Louisiana and Alabama — accounted for 70 percent of all orders in early September.
The imbalance prompted an effort to rein in control of supplies, over concerns that the government wouldn’t have enough on hand to respond to Covid-19 surges elsewhere in the country. […]
DeSantis has similarly touted efforts to make the treatment widely available, while downplaying the virus’ threat and criticizing the Biden administration’s support for vaccine mandates and school mask mandates.
* Hospital staff must swear off Tylenol, Tums to get religious vaccine exemption: The move was prompted when Conway Regional Health System noted an unusual uptick in vaccine exemption requests that cited the use of fetal cell lines in the development and testing of the vaccines. … The list includes Tylenol, Pepto Bismol, aspirin, Tums, Lipitor, Senokot, Motrin, ibuprofen, Maalox, Ex-Lax, HIV-1, Benadryl, Sudafed, albuterol, Preparation H, MMR vaccine, Claritin, Zoloft, Prilosec OTC, and azithromycin.
Recent charges filed against the Winnebago County Coroner inspire area lawmakers to hold elected officials accountable.
State Senator Dave Syverson is one local lawmaker trying to push a bipartisan bill into the Illinois House and Senate.
Syverson says the piece of legislation addresses how to hold accountable any elected officials potentially abusing their power.
“We want to protect the Constitution, protect those people who are duly elected from being a political victim. But in cases where an elected official, is clearly abusing their, their position, then we have to find a way to take them out of those duties,” Syverson says.
Other area lawmakers, like Senator Steve Stadelman, are also on board with this initiative.
“I think it’s something that needs to be explored it kind of sets up an interesting situation, ultimately comes down, you want the public trust your elected office,” Stadelman says.
The story goes on like that, but never explains what the bill would do. That’s because, according to Sen. Stadelman, there is no bill yet “and I’m not sure there’s a legislative fix to this situation.”
Statutorily requiring the removal of elected officials from office after they’ve only been indicted or charged with a crime would likely be problematic.
The DGA is launching a new video in Illinois that slams the growing GOP gubernatorial field for their reckless disregard for public safety throughout the pandemic.
While the rest of the field have already gotten a head start, Jesse Sullivan, the newest to join the growing primary, has quickly jumped on the anti-science bandwagon. Sullivan has repeatedly opposed measures to mitigate the spread of COVID, and he’s not the only anti-science Republican in the race. Gary Rabine, Darren Bailey, and Paul Schimpf have all similarly opposed common-sense safety measures.
Sullivan, Rabine, Bailey, and Schimpf have baselessly criticized the leadership of Gov. JB Pritzker, who acted swiftly to protect the health of Illinoisans when the pandemic hit. As Republicans flounder on public safety, Gov. Pritzker is putting Illinois back on a firm fiscal footing to emerge from the pandemic even stronger.
“As Republican primary candidates vie for the support of Trump’s extremist base, they’ve taken to spreading dangerous lies and threatening public safety with their negligence,” said DGA Senior Communications Advisor Christina Amestoy. “The growing primary field is in a full-on race to the far-right, and that means adopting an unpopular anti-science, anti-safety, and anti-Illinois platform that voters will reject at the ballot box.”
I’ve asked whether this is just a YouTube video or if the DGA is putting any money behind it online. My guess from reading lots of releases like this is it’s just a video, but I’ll let you know if I hear back. [I was right. Just a video.]
“The JB for Governor campaign is requiring full vaccination against COVID-19 as a condition of employment. We are leading by example and following the same science and medical advice from doctors, nurses and medical professionals that has guided Governor JB Pritzker in his strong leadership to protect the lives and livelihoods of Illinoisans during this deadly global pandemic. The best way to help end this pandemic is for all of us to listen to the science, and that means getting vaccinated. As always, we’ll continue putting the health and safety of all Illinoisans first.”
It’s not unexpected. But they’re one of the first major campaigns in the country to do this, and it’ll mean other Illinois candidates in both parties (statewide, congressional and legislative) will likely be asked about it.
As Ken Ferrie travels through parts of central Illinois this week, he sees a corn crop that has changed radically in the past seven days.
“Disease pressure is bringing fields to their knees, and a lot of that corn here will die before it can finish the race for yield,” says Ferrie, Farm Journal Field Agronomist and owner of Crop-Tech Consulting, Heyworth, Ill.
Corn that typically would be filling kernels this time of year is, instead, prematurely shutting down due to a cocktail mix of heavy disease pressure coming at it from many fronts – gray leaf spot, northern leaf blight, common and southern rust, tar spot and, most recently, Goss’s bacterial wilt and leaf blight.
“That picture-perfect photo finish you like to see with the top of the plant still green and the husk turning ripe is getting harder and harder to find as you visit these fields,” he says.
D and L-1 hybrids are a concern. Ferrie says the late disease push is particularly hard on D hybrids. These are hybrids that have kernel depth changes, positive or negative, based on populations and environmental conditions during the last 30 days of grain fill.
This post is mostly snark because I couldn’t resist putting that quote into a headline…
The silver lining is that the pressure has developed late enough that many of the D hybrids will still produce average to even slightly above-average yields but not record-setting yields.
Plaintiffs have shown there exists a clearly ascertainable right in need of protection, namely that the Children, while on school property, are being forced to utilize a device to allegedly prevent the spread of an infectious disease without a lawful order of quarantine having issued against them by the local health department. Plaintiff has shown, have shown there is a fair question that Plaintiffs will succeed on the merits in that the Children cannot be required to utilize a device to allegedly prevent the spread of an infectious disease absent, inter alia, an order of quarantine issuing against any or all of the Children from the local health department.
Plaintiffs have shown they will suffer irreparable harm if an injunction does not issue, namely the Children are being refused access to their education unless they unwillingly utilize a device to allegedly prevent the spread of an infectious disease even in the absence of a quarantine order against them; and
It is clear from the pleadings that given in this order precludes the local health department from issuing a lawful order of quarantine against any or all of the Children, which could compel them to utilize a device to prevent the spread of an infectious disease. […]
WHEREFORE, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED:
While the Children are on school property, the Defendants, are enjoined from requiring any or all of the Children who attend within the school district to utilize any type of device, including a mask, for the purposes of allegedly preventing the spread of an infectious disease unless an order of quarantine has issues against any or all of the Children from the local health department as required by the Illinois State Board of Education.
* This statement from Annie Thompson at the Illinois Attorney General’s office was issued yesterday regarding the previous case. It’ll suffice for this one, too…
We are reviewing the court’s decision. It is disappointing that some people do not support the right of all students, including those who have disabilities or other comorbidities, to safely access education in the classroom. Because we are dealing with a highly transmissible virus, the decision of some students to not wear masks affects not only them, but also the rights and health of every other student, teacher and staff member with whom they interact in a school setting. We remain committed to defending in court the governor’s actions to protect Illinois residents and our students from the spread of COVID-19, and the highly transmissible Delta variant in particular.
The same dark-money group that fueled opposition to the graduated income tax ballot measure Illinois voters rejected last year is helping launch “a statewide grassroots campaign to give voters the power to recall their elected officials.”
Although the group’s organizers aren’t yet revealing details about their campaign, the Illinois Opportunity Project, a conservative tax-exempt organization that does not have to disclose its donors, is joining forces with state Sen. Jason Barickman and state Rep. Mark Batinick, both Republicans, in the effort. Both lawmakers have been outspoken critics of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s handling of the pandemic.
The IOP, which is connected to the conservative Illinois Policy Institute, spent nearly $1 million to successfully oppose the graduated income tax ballot measure. Now we’re wondering how much it would spend to potentially create a recall referendum.
The first step is getting the idea on the ballot.
Plans to kick off its campaign Wednesday were delayed because media attention was focused on Pritzker signing the clean-energy bill. A spokeswoman says the recall effort will be launched next week instead.
All this comes on the heels of California Gov. Gavin Newsom easily beating back a recall effort this week, a signal of the uphill challenge Republicans here would face.
Illinois doesn’t have a recall law on the books and Pritzker is likely to have won a second term before one can be put in place, potentially putting the focus on legislators. […]
Illinois GOP political operative Jon Zahm, who has worked on statewide policy campaigns, says, “I am all for recalls and citizen referendums being easier to access for voters. However, when I was deeply involved in term limits and fair maps, the Democrat-majority Supreme Court threw out the petitions on technical grounds. I support these new efforts to educate voters and fight for change. But it’s a very steep climb.”
1) The press conference wasn’t intended to “launch” any actual recall “effort.” I checked in with Rep. Batinick and asked whether he supports recalling Gov. Pritzker: “Nope,” was his response.
2) Batinick has hardly been an “outspoken critic” of the governor’s mitigation measures. “I’ve supported most of the governor’s mitigations,” he told me today.
3) Yes, we already do have a recall law here. Illinois voters approved a recall amendment to the Illinois Constitution in 2010. It was designed to be almost completely unworkable…
The recall of the Governor may be proposed by a petition signed by a number of electors equal in number to at least 15% of the total votes cast for Governor in the preceding gubernatorial election, with at least 100 signatures from each of at least 25 separate counties. A petition shall have been signed by the petitioning electors not more than 150 days after an affidavit has been filed with the State Board of Elections providing notice of intent to circulate a petition to recall the Governor. The affidavit may be filed no sooner than 6 months after the beginning of the Governor’s term of office. The affidavit shall have been signed by the proponent of the recall petition, at least 20 members of the House of Representatives, and at least 10 members of the Senate, with no more than half of the signatures of members of each chamber from the same established political party.
4) The first step is not getting a recall on the ballot. The media event was designed to highlight HJRCA4, a proposed constitutional amendment that’s stuck in the Rules Committee. Synopsis…
Proposes to amend the Suffrage and Elections Article of the Illinois Constitution. Provides for the recall of all State Executive Branch officers, legislative leaders, the Auditor General, members of the General Assembly, and local government officials. Makes changes to the procedures for the recall of the Governor. Effective upon being declared adopted.
5) The California recall process “sucks,” Batinick told me…
You should never have a system where someone with 49 percent of the vote can be replaced with somebody with 20 percent of the vote. It also should not be used so blatantly for partisan purposes
This proposal, Batinick said via text, would be much better…
What we proposed was to follow the normal replacement process. So if Blagojevich were to be recalled he would’ve been replaced by the lieutenant governor - Quinn.
We have a 60 percent threshold to recall somebody. It needs to be a super majority.
Finally, people only think about recall in terms of governors. We’ve had local officials do their jobs from Florida at townships. When that’s discovered there should be a process to recall those people.
ILL back in the market today with $360Mish sales tax backed Build ILL bonds…trimmed size of tax exempts, raised taxables by 10M…the 10-year in deal landed at 45 basis point spread to AAA with 5% cp, compared to 40 bp spread, 4% cp last month & half of the 89 bp spread in 2018
one more time, in english, which sometimes I forget how to speak…state's 2nd foray into market with remainder of nearly $500M deal fared along same lines as last month & that was good news as the spread to what a top rated borrower pays is at best levels in very very long time.
* I stopped at the Pontiac Wally’s for the first time several months ago while my brother Devin and I were driving from our parents’ house to our uncle’s house. We needed gas anyway and my only superstition is to always stop in Pontiac on my way through. I don’t usually care about such things, but wow is it ever big and impressive…
My uncle loves jerky, and Wally’s actually has a jerky bar. Imagine that.
* All during the spring session and then through the summer’s special sessions, I heard legislators, lobbyists, reporters and staff talking about how much they loved the place and how they always ran into somebody they knew there. I was driving back from Chicago after a White Sox game and ran into Sen. Patrick Joyce while he was filling his tank. Senate President Don Harmon ran into Gov. JB Pritzker at Wally’s a couple of weeks ago. “I saw somebody I knew at Wally’s” has truly become a thing. From today…
Patterson was on his way back from today’s Chicago bill-signing ceremony. He was supposed to send me some Wally’s pics, but I guess he forgot.
* You may recall the Fourth Judicial Circuit as the one which produced Judge Michael McHaney, who issued a weird ruling early last year that was eventually tossed. Here we go again…
Three children in Effingham County can’t be forced to wear masks without an official quarantine order from the county health department, a judge ruled Wednesday.
The attorney who brought the case [Tom DeVore] anticipates more such cases across the state. […]
On Wednesday, DeVore took a different case a step further and successfully argued in Illinois’ Fourth Judicial Circuit that masks are a medical device that can’t be required without quarantine orders. […]
“Plaintiffs have shown they will suffer irreparable harm if an injunction does not issue, namely the children being refused access to their education unless they unwillingly utilize a device to allegedly prevent the spread of an infectious disease even in the absence of a quarantine order against them,” the judge’s temporary order says. “Nothing in this order shall prohibit the local health department, or the Illinois Department of Health, from issuing a lawful order of quarantine against any or all of the children as allowed by law.”
The Teutopolis school district, where the three students attend classes, did challenge the issue, DeVore said.
Masks as a medical device. Novel. The order is here. What DeVore appears to want to do here is tie up the courts with quarantine cases to the point where nobody can keep up.
But if disease-infected kids attend a school and refuse to wear a mask, the result could very well be that part or all of that school will be shut down for remote learning.
* Senate President Don Harmon, House Speaker Chris Welch and Gov. JB Pritzker pose with a copy of the climate/energy legislation after today’s bill-signing ceremony…
* According to the Pew Charitable Trusts, Illinois’ average annual pension contribution growth rate was 12 percent in 2009-19…
A Growing Share of States Have Achieved Positive Amortization of Pension Debt
Illinois, Kentucky, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania led this trend in increasing [pension] contributions, with an average growth in scheduled pension payments of 16% each year from 2009 to 2019. These states have been among the worst-funded states for two decades, and their contribution increases are part of long-term plans to address the large legacy pension debt each has accumulated. As a result, Kentucky and Pennsylvania achieved positive amortization in 2019, with Illinois and New Jersey expected to begin reducing pension debt once the outsized investment returns in fiscal 2021 are recognized. In each case, the turnaround was prompted by state policymakers’ acknowledgment that a return to pension plan funding discipline—paying down pension debts in addition to the value of annual benefits as they are earned—is the only path forward in order to avoid pension fund insolvency.
Funding discipline has been central to the improvement in these states, though all four have also changed benefits to help reduce future costs and risks. Illinois began its long path to pension funding in 1995, with a plan to be 90% funded by 2045. This approach was criticized for pushing costs to future generations of taxpayers, as evidenced by the sharp increase in contributions required between 2008 and 2019. However, a quarter of a century later, Illinois is getting closer to stabilizing pension debt, though plan actuaries continue to encourage further strengthening funding policy.
In 2000, Kentucky, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania reported having fully funded pension plans, in contrast to Illinois. But those three states emerged as among the worst-funded due to a combination of shortchanging contributions, offering unfunded benefit increases, and investments that fell short of expectations. All of these weaknesses were in place before 2008. When the 2007-09 recession hit, it further strained underfunded pension systems and forced a reckoning.
In all three states, the initial response to the recession was to gradually increase the level of pension payments that would avoid immediate budget pressures but would give policymakers a plan to meet minimum funding standards. In Kentucky, it became clear that this would take too long. In 2013, further reforms required the state to start making the full payment recommended by plan actuaries and put in place a new plan design to help manage risk. Pennsylvania stuck with the ramp up in pension costs despite the strain it placed on state and school budgets. In 2017, state officials supplemented the initial response with changes to plan design for new hires to make future costs more predictable and lowered investment fees expected to save taxpayers at least $3 billion. New Jersey was the slowest to fulfill its promise to make full pension payments. Before the pandemic, the strategy was to make the full payment in the fiscal 2023 budget, but an improved fiscal situation allowed policymakers to put the full pension payment in the 2022 budget, a year ahead of schedule and the first time this century New Jersey will meet minimum funding standards.
* This is what I told subscribers over a month ago…
Gov. Pritzker traveled to New York recently to meet with the three bond rating agencies. This was his third such briefing, which is highly unusual for an Illinois governor. Deputy Gov. Dan Hynes, who is transitioning out of his job, traveled with Pritzker and Hynes chatted with me for a few minutes yesterday.
Hynes said the ultimate goal of the trip was to push for additional upgrades in the state’s credit ratings. Two of the three firms have raised the state’s rating since the new budget was enacted.
The most news-worthy item to me was about the state’s pension debt. A slide was presented to the agencies showing that by next fiscal year the state will have more employees in the much less costly Tier 2 pension program than in Tier 1. “That’s why the trend is our friend,” Hynes said. “If we just continue to make the same payment, over time, the demographics are going to work in our favor.”
Hynes explained that the “same payment” didn’t mean the dollar amount would level off, but payments would remain at about 25 percent of the state’s budget into the future. While that’s a huge chunk of the budget, “75 percent of a growing revenue pie is still a lot of money to do the things we need to do and want to do,” Hynes said. And planning will be easier. Of course, that assumes no major revenue crashes and no successful legal action on Tier 2.
* The Sun-Time has a story today trumpeting the news that the governor is “pleased” with the new COVID numbers…
Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Tuesday said he’s “pleased” with the way the state’s surging COVID-19 numbers are flattening out […]
“They’ve subsided a little, they’ve flattened a bit, not the case numbers necessarily, but the hospitalizations, and so I’m pleased about that,” Pritzker said at an unrelated news conference in Aurora. “But until they start to come down the other side of this, we can’t lighten up on our mitigations, because, once again, we’re trying to defeat this so that people can go about their daily lives.”
* Pritzker was responding to a question about local officials not enforcing the indoor mask mandate…
Well, the first thing is, voters can vote those leaders out, because they’re not real leaders. They’re not standing up for the health and safety of the people in their communities. As you’ve seen throughout this pandemic, there have been local officials who’ve been unwilling to stand up for the people of their communities on a mask mandate. It’s perhaps now more important than ever, as we have our children back in schools, all across the state, that we’re trying to keep them healthy.
And it’s not just the mask mandate within schools that’s helping to keep those communities healthy. It’s obviously the indoor mask mandate. As we’ve seen hospitalizations and cases rise in the state, they haven’t come down. They’ve subsided a little they’ve flattened a bit, not the case numbers, necessarily, but the hospitalizations. And so I’m pleased about that. But until they start to come down the other side of this, we can’t lighten up on our mitigations because, once again, we’re trying to defeat this so that people can go about their daily lives.
One last thing, if you want to keep your business open, if you want to keep the economy going, we need people to wear masks.
* Dan Cronin spent almost two decades in the General Assembly before becoming county board chairman. But he’s ready to stop for a while…
DuPage County Board Chairman Dan Cronin will step aside next year rather than seek a fourth term, but the Republican stalwart won’t rule out running for another elected office. […]
Cronin said he’s been encouraged by supporters to consider a bid for statewide office, “any office at the state or federal level.” But Cronin said it’s “highly unlikely” he’d run for governor.
“I still plan to be very much involved,” Cronin said. “I’m going to sit this election cycle out, though.” […]
He says he wants to serve on nonprofit boards and he wants to stay politically engaged, and he can still use his influence and campaign war chest to help elect like-minded candidates.
* Marion County Board of Health meeting minutes from June 16, 2020…
On June 11, 2020, Melissa received a complaint phone call from a Marion County restaurant that Sharon’s Café in Salem was allowing inside dining. Dan, our Health Inspector, went to Sharon’s Café and spoke with the owner and expressed that inside dining was not allowed in Phase 3 of the Restore Illinois plan, at this time only outside dining, curb side pickup or delivery was a part of Phase 3. Dan did inform them that inside dining would be allowed in Phase 4, which is in 2 weeks.
On June 12, 2020 Representative Blaine Wilhour visited various restaurants in Marion County and told them the health department had no authority to tell them they could not have indoor dining. Melissa contacted Bill Milner, our State’s Attorney, to advise. Mr. Milner stated no judge would side with the health department when a small business is trying to stay open to make a living. Also that inside dining is no more harmful to the public than Wal-Mart that is full of shoppers.
We went over that illogic a kabillion times here. Most people don’t shop for the hour or two that it takes to eat lunch or dinner. And you can’t wear a mask when you’re eating and drinking.
It’s worse in 20 counties spanning the southern tip of the state. All 88 ICU hospital beds were occupied Monday night for a region that’s home to more than 400,000 residents and that has a testing positivity rate of 10.3%.
“We’re chugging through some pretty bad days here,” said Nathan Ryder, community outreach coordinator for the Southern 7 Health Department, which covers Illinois’ seven southernmost counties. “It looked like it was leveling off the last couple of days, but now we’re facing a pretty scary number.”
The state deployed a team of critical care nurses to the region last week when it was down to one or two available ICU beds per night, Ryder said, to open up about 10 additional beds.
“Even with that help, we still don’t have the capacity,” he said. “If you’re in a motor vehicle accident, or you’re having a cardiac trauma, a stroke — those are people who need ICU beds. At this point, if you encounter that, you’re probably looking at getting shipped off to St. Louis or Nashville. That’s an incredible strain on the patient and their loved ones.”
The region also has some of the lowest vaccination rates in Illinois — all the way down to Alexander County, where not even 17% of residents are fully vaccinated, the lowest in the state.
Take a very deep breath before commenting, please.
…Adding… Rep. Wilhour…
First off, prayers to the family that is dealing with a loss of a loved one.
I strain to see the connection between your 2 Facebook posts.
At the request of the restaurant-who stated they could not afford to shut down, I like I have throughout the past 18+ months, by request of the owner offered them my take on their statutory due process rights in light of a health department telling them they have to close without their consent or having any intent to get a court order.
THAT WAS 15 MONTHS AGO.
The tragic death that was noted in the 2nd post happened yesterday under a situation where being open was not in violation of any executive order.
Trying to insinuate that one is the result of the other is purposefully misleading at best.
This is a case study in building a false narrative for political purposes.
The right thing to do would be to immediately update your post with my full commentary. Especially since you insinuated some pretty serious stuff against me.
The bill sets a goal of adding 1 million electric cars to Illinois’ roadways by the end of the decade. To do that, the state will offer $4,000 rebates to residents who purchase electric cars.
The problem is the rebate only applies to Chicago and its suburban counties: Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, Will, the townships of Aux Sable and Goose Lake in Grundy County, and the township of Oswego in Kendall County.
Sen. Steve McClure, R-Springfield, says it makes no sense to push for vehicle electrification statewide and not even include the incentives for the county where state government is located.
“Unfortunately, people are not viewing this as one state. They’re viewing it as Chicago vs. everybody else,” McClure said. “Sangamon County is going to be paying for these nuclear power plants that are in that area of the state that we get no benefit from.”
Illinois Senate Democrats argue that the eligible counties and townships pay into a state account that funds the rebate, which is why their residents are eligible for the rebate.
But McClure says downstate counties shouldn’t have to pay into the fund since every Illinoisan will pay into the $694 million bailout of aging nuclear power plants that only provide power to northern Illinois communities.
1) The governor’s office says a scrivener’s error excluded Downstate counties from the rebate program and it will be added back in during the veto session, even though their counties and townships don’t pay into the rebate fund.
2) Sangamon County electricity users will not be funding the Exelon bailout. Only ComEd customers will be on the hook for that.
Today, State Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago, filed HB 4146, the TExAS Act (The Expanding Abortion Services Act). The TExAS Act seeks to affirm the steps Illinois has taken to ensure that our state remains a place where the full range of reproductive health services are available and accessible to all people, including those forced to travel out of state from jurisdictions seeking to restrict access to abortion and other reproductive health care.
Then bill creates a civil right of action enabling any person to bring a civil action against a person who commits an act of domestic violence or sexual assault, as well as anyone who causes an unintended pregnancy or any person who enables those acts. It establishes a minimum $10,000 civil award to the person bringing the action with $5,000 of that fine going into a newly created state fund to ensure that people who are forced to flee their home states to seek reproductive health care have the ability to pay for that care here in Illinois.
“When the Texas legislature, aided by the United States Supreme Court, declared open season on people seeking reproductive health care, it was very clear to me that our state is in a unique position to reach out our hands and offer people from Texas and other states who seek to restrict reproductive rights a safe haven,” said Rep. Kelly Cassidy, who was chief sponsor of the Reproductive Health Act establishing the fundamental right to reproductive health care in Illinois in 2019.
If enacted, the fund would be managed by the Department of Healthcare and Family Services and would be used to provide financial aid to women who may come to Illinois to seek reproductive health care in a safe and accessible way. The person found responsible for causing an unintended pregnancy, or a person committing an act of domestic violence or sexual assault, or someone who enabled those actions would be responsible for paying the damages.
“The measure in Texas is just one piece of the radical attempt to dismantle reproductive rights and access to reproductive health care across the nation. I’m proud to come from a state that will uphold the fundamental right for a woman to make the best decision for her own health,” said Cassidy. “When the legislature codified into the law the Reproductive Healthcare Act, we have ensured that the right to choose will remain in Illinois, no matter what may happen with Roe v. Wade, or what other states may do in creating irresponsible and dangerous policies like Texas.”
* The Question: Do you support the state creating a “civil right of action enabling any person to bring a civil action against a person who commits an act of domestic violence or sexual assault, as well as anyone who causes an unintended pregnancy or any person who enables those acts”? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please…
House Speaker Chris Welch (D-Hillside) spokeswoman Jaclyn Driscoll said it’s up to Cassidy to request a hearing on the bill, but “the speaker certainly wouldn’t stand in the way of one.” Welch has also pushed for reproductive rights in his time in office.
At an event in Aurora Tuesday morning, Planned Parenthood of Illinois President and CEO appeared with Gov. JB Pritzker and three Democratic members of Congress to promote legislation seeking to enshrine abortion rights in federal law. Welch said Planned Parenthood facilities in Illinois have already seen an uptick in people traveling across state lines to get abortions in Illinois.
“It only took two days after [the Texas law] was enacted for us to see Texas patients here in Illinois, despite those long distances they had to travel,” Welch said. “We expect those numbers to significantly increase when these dangerous laws continue.”
Cassidy said she’s heard the same anecdotally from abortion providers, and recalled doubt from colleagues and others when she sponsored the Reproductive Health Act in 2019, saying she was told it was hyperbolic to predict Roe v. Wade would be overturned.
A body of state lawmakers says the Illinois State Board of Education may be overstepping its authority by revoking recognition of schools, public and private, because of masking policies.
“There is a concern that policy outside of rule may exist and [Joint Committee on Administrative Rules] encourages ISBE to place all guidance and policy in rule,” the clerk for JCAR read during Tuesday hearing.
Ten of the 12 members of JCAR, a bipartisan panel of state legislators, approved the resolution.
The motion also requests ISBE clarify the process of revoking school recognition.
The vote came after ISBE took questions from members of JCAR in Chicago.
Kristen Kennedy, a deputy legal officer with ISBE, said they didn’t intend to file any rules and said they believe state law and administrative rules that exist now gives them the authority to punish schools, public and private, for not following the governor’s health guidance.
JCAR Co-chairman state Rep. Keith Wheeler, R-Oswego, said there’s oversight of rules from JCAR.
JCAR can’t force ISBE to issue the rules, but they get a headline.
Also, of course, the members of JCAR are all legislators, so they could get together and introduce an actual bill.
The leader of the conservative Michigan Freedom Fund filed on Wednesday a campaign finance complaint against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s reelection committee, contending it committed “the largest money grab ever seen in Michigan to ignore contribution limits.” […]
Supporters of the governor said she could do it because she was facing recall campaigns. Decisions in the 1980s from then-Secretary of State Richard Austin allowed an officeholder fighting a recall to raise unlimited amounts from donors.
In response to the new complaint, Mark Fisk, Whitmer’s campaign spokesman, labeled the claims “bogus” and “without merit.”
“There have been nearly 30 recall petitions filed against Gov. Whitmer, and governors under threat of recall are exempt from campaign finance limits to defend themselves,” Fisk said.
In 1983, Austin ruled that a Michigan officeholder can accept contributions that exceed normal limits if the officeholder’s recall is “actively being sought.” To allow committees aiming to recall officeholders to raise unlimited amounts while not allowing the officeholders to do so would be “absurd and unfair,” Austin said.
There’s more to this, so go read it all if it interests you. Among other things, the Whitmer campaign claimed that since some of the recall attempts were still tied up in court the contribution caps didn’t apply.
Designating 10 major donors to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer the “$100,000 Club,” the Michigan Freedom Fund on Tuesday filed a formal campaign finance complaint. […]
MFF took the dollar amounts and donor names from Whitmer’s July Campaign Finance Statement filed with the Office of the Secretary of State. According to state law, political officeholders facing recall efforts are allowed to collect unlimited donations – but no recall efforts are currently underway for Whitmer. Absent that exception, the state campaign contribution limit is $7,150.
Among those donors named in the MFF complaint are attorney Mark Bernstein and Illinois Gov. J.D. Pritzker. […]
Pritzker, meanwhile, donated $250,000 to the governor on July 8.
Sachs asks the secretary of state to force the governor to relinquish any amounts from a single donor exceeding $7,150, as well as pay a fine equal to the illegal amount.
The ICU bed availability data is constantly in motion. According to the Region Five Hospital Coordinating Center, three ICU beds opened up at Carle Richland Memorial Hospital on Tuesday.
Hopefully, it wasn’t because anybody died. But local leaders have got to start taking this thing a whole lot more seriously. Their people are getting sick and clogging up the healthcare system, and some are dying, yet they either stand by silently or encourage “resistance.”
* Remember personal responsibility? Yeah, it’s still a thing…
[SIU Chancellor Austin A. Lane] stressed the need for everyone to exercise personal safety.
“It is incumbent upon everyone, especially our adults — and I’m calling our students adults at 18 — it is your responsibility to act responsibly. Be well informed and get the information you need to know to keep yourself safe, and don’t be reckless, because that could have consequences that now that we know can lead to death. I’m putting that responsibility on all of the adults to take care of yourselves and each other. It is your responsibility to help us in beating this pandemic, because we’re definitely fighting it right now,” he said.
The adults out there acting like spoiled-rotten brats just make my blood boil.
* And the unvaccinated are costing us all big money. From a Kaiser Family Foundation analysis, which it admits is “conservative”…
Our analysis of HHS and CDC data indicates there were 32,000 preventable COVID-19 hospitalizations in June, 68,000 preventable COVID-19 hospitalizations in July, and another 187,000 preventable COVID-19 hospitalizations among unvaccinated adults in the U.S. in August, for a total of 287,000 across the three months. We explain more on how we arrived at these numbers below.
If each of these preventable hospitalizations cost roughly $20,000, on average, that would mean these largely avoidable hospitalizations have already cost billions of dollars since the beginning of June.
From June through August 2021, preventable COVID-19 hospitalizations among unvaccinated adults cost over $5 Billion
The actual number is $5.7 billion, but who’s counting?
The percent of the Kankakee County population with COVID-19 vaccinations crossed 40 percent last week after more than eight months of vaccine distribution efforts.
Currently, 40.53 percent of Kankakee County’s population is fully vaccinated, or 44,588 people, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.
After inching along in July, the county’s daily vaccination rate increased slightly during August and early September. The seven-day average for daily doses administered is 183.
Kankakee County Health Department administrator John Bevis is hoping the county can continue to increase its vaccination rate.
* More…
* COVID-19 update: 2,263 hospitalized, 40 more deaths, 4,660 new cases
The American Conservative Union Foundation (ACUF) launched a new platform to hold lawmakers accountable to conservative principles for the 50th Anniversary of ACU’s Ratings Program. The ACUF, host of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) will deploy the platform to its activist base, where tools such as the lawmaker comparison function highlights to voters which conservative champions to rally behind.
Sen. Craig Wilcox (94%) will be presented with ACUF’s Award for Conservative Excellence for earning a score above 90%.
The following lawmakers will be presented with ACUF’s Award for Conservative Achievement for earning scores 80% and above [for 2020]: Sen. Sue Rezin (85%), Sen. Steve McClure (83%), Sen. Jason Plummer (83%), Sen. Jason Brickman (81%), Rep. Thomas Morrison (81%), Sen. Dan McConchie (81%), Sen. Jil Tracy (80%), Sen. Dale Flower (80%) and Rep. Jeff Keicher (80%).
“Our new ACU Ratings website offers an accessible and dynamic way for voters across the country to discover whether their lawmakers use their power to advance conservative principles,” said ACU Chairman Matt Schlapp. “Over our 50-year history, we’ve compiled 15,000 lawmakers in our database and scored them across 186 different policy areas. For the first time, voters have access to a huge breadth of information that offers a distinct impression of the way lawmakers view the role of government in a person’s life.”
ACUF’s Ratings of Congress and Ratings of the States are initiatives of ACUF’s Center for Legislative Accountability (CLA). These ratings are designed to reflect how over 8,000 elected officials across the nation view the role of government while illustrating the differences between chambers of the legislature and revealing lawmakers’ positions across 186 policy areas that directly affect citizens.
ACU Foundation reviewed each piece of legislation voted on in both chambers of the legislature to produce average scores of each chamber as well as individual scores for each sitting member.
* SB54: “Deregulating the Alcoholic Beverage Industry by Permitting the Delivery of Alcoholic Drinks.” [Repealed a ‘blue law’ so the Eastern Bloc voted against it.]
* HB1559: “Empowering the Chicago Teachers Union to Dictate the Length of the School Day and Year.” [Matched Chicago collective bargaining rights to everywhere else and only 3 House GOPs voted against it]
* SB1864: “Proliferating Government Dependency by Weakening Medicaid Integrity Provisions.” [Passed House unanimously]
Plaintiff Simon Solomon challenges a state law and a forest preserve ordinance that prevent concealed carry license holders from carrying concealed weapons in the Forest Preserve District of Cook County. He alleges that the statute and the ordinance violate the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution, as well as the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. He sued various Cook County entities and officials, who, along with Intervenor-Defendant the State of Illinois, vigorously defend the statute and the ordinance on the grounds that the entire Forest Preserve District is a “sensitive place” on which firearms regulations are presumptively lawful, and that the regulations pass intermediate scrutiny because they are substantially related to public safety. […]
To sum up, under the Seventh Circuit’s framework for analyzing firearms regulations, Defendants bear the burden of showing that Section 65(a)(14) and Ordinance 3-3-6 prohibit activity that was understood in 1791 to be outside the scope of the Second Amendment. If the activity was within the scope of the Second Amendment at that time, or if the historical evidence is inconclusive, Defendants must then offer evidence showing that the regulations’ burden on Second Amendment rights is justified by the ends the government achieves through the regulation. In analyzing that evidence, the Court considers the strength the governmental interest that the regulation serves and the “fit” between that end and the chosen means, including whose rights the regulation affects and how severely the regulation burdens rights within or close to the core of the Second Amendment. The more law-abiding people it affects or the heavier the burden on a right close to the core, the closer the scrutiny the regulation receives.
At the first step, Defendants bear the burden of demonstrating that the regulated activity is categorically outside the scope of the Second Amendment as it was understood in 1791. Moore, 702 F.3d at 935; Ezell I, 651 F.3d at 702-03. Defendants articulate this position in two ways: first, by citing a pair of 18th century statutes to argue that carrying weapons in wooded areas was forbidden in 1791, and second, by asserting that all of the Forest Preserve District is a “sensitive area,” the regulation of which they say is beyond the bounds of the Second Amendment. Neither argument is convincing. […]
Nonetheless, in support of its argument that the regulated activity is outside the scope of the Second Amendment, the State of Illinois points to two colonial laws that prohibited carrying firearms in wooded areas, [103 at 6], one from Pennsylvania9 and one from New Jersey,10 but neither takes Defendants’ argument very far. First, both statutes exempt anyone carrying a firearm or hunting if that person has a license, but there is no licensing or permitting scheme that allows concealed carry on FPDCC property (and the Court expresses no opinion on whether any hypothetical permitting scheme would allow the law to pass constitutional muster). Second, both statutes primarily regulated hunting, not carrying for self-defense, and applied to private property—regulating a person’s action on “the improved or inclosed lands of any plantation other than his own”—not public spaces. […]
Even if these statutes had addressed carrying firearms for self-defense in public recreational areas, they would likely not be enough to carry the day. The Seventh Circuit has previously found that offering two historical statutes “falls far short of establishing that [a regulated activity] is wholly outside the Second Amendment as it was understood” in 1791. […]
In sum, the Seventh Circuit has recognized a right to carry firearms outside the home for self-defense purposes, and the record contains little evidence about the history of that right on publicly owned land, whether developed into a public recreational space or undeveloped and left as wilderness. The historical and textual evidence does not persuade the Court that licensed concealed carry of firearms for self-defense in public recreational areas was categorically outside the scope of the Second Amendment as it was understood in 1791. […]
In determining how closely to examine the fit between a regulation and its purported goal—the government’s chosen means and the ends it pursues—courts should consider whose rights the regulation affects and how severely the regulation burdens rights within or close to the core of the Second Amendment. The more law-abiding people it affects or the heavier the burden on a right close to the core, the stricter the scrutiny the regulation receives. […]
While Heller and its progeny primarily recognized a right to possess handguns for purposes of self-defense in the home, those cases and subsequent Seventh Circuit precedent strongly suggest a closely related right to carry handguns for self-defense outside of the home. Heller itself observed that the right to “bear arms” historically referred to a right to “wear, bear, or carry upon the person or in the clothing or in a pocket, for the purpose of being armed and ready for offensive or defensive action in a case of conflict with another person.” […]
Barring concealed carry by CCL holders across all FPDCC properties is not, under the evidence submitted by the parties, substantially related to the government’s interest in protecting Forest Preserve District visitors. […]
Almost none of the data in the record concerns CCL holders, or if it does, the parties have not disaggregated CCL holders from non-CCL holders. Defendants rely heavily on crime statistics from Cook County and the City of Chicago, but amidst all the violent crimes that the record lists and that Defendants argue show a threat to public safety, no one identifies any violent crimes committed by CCL holders. Turning to the FPDCC in particular, of all the crimes committed in the Forest Preserve between 2014 and 2019, only 4 were committed by CCL holders, [94 at ¶ 63], and those were all violations of Section 65(a)(14)—the crimes committed by CCL holders were only unlawful concealed carry, not murder, assault, armed robbery, or other violent crimes. … The record does not contain evidence that CCL holders committed other crimes in or out of the FPDCC, which makes the link between regulating their conduct and public safety tenuous. Nor does the record contain evidence that prohibiting CCL holders from carrying firearms in the FPDCC will otherwise reduce crime, prevent injury, or save lives. […]
This is not to say that the government necessarily must justify such a restriction on a site- by-site basis. See Kanter, 919 F.3d at 450 (rejecting plaintiff’s suggestion that ban on felons possessing firearms should be based on “highly-individualized” determinations rather than categories of convictions because it raised “serious institutional and administrative concerns”). It may be able to do so for categories of sites or activities, such as—hypothetically—nature centers or athletic facilities. Nor are Defendants persuasive in their argument that it would be impossible or unworkable for them to identify places within the Forest Preserve where children are present, perhaps even in a way that would qualify as a “sensitive place” under Heller. Contrary to their response briefs, nothing in the caselaw suggests that they would have to write regulations that vary by time of day or that apply only when children are present; school zone laws without such variance have been upheld despite children not being physically on school grounds twenty-four hours per day, seven days per week, three hundred and sixty-five days per year. In fact, the Illinois General Assembly has already made these kinds of distinctions. […]
Accepting that Section 65(a)(14) is unconstitutional as written does not resolve all questions about whether or how to regulate concealed carry of firearms in different places in the FPDCC going forward, and, even if the Court had the authority to answer those questions, it could not do so with the information currently before it. More fundamentally, those are judgments best left to the legislature, and the legislature ought to have an opportunity to make those judgments. Therefore, the Court temporarily stays enforcement of its ruling for a period of six months—i.e., until March 15, 2022—to provide the General Assembly an opportunity to act on this matter if it chooses to do so. […]
Plaintiff also asserts claims under the Due Process and the Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. Defendants argue that both claims must fail, and they are correct.
Emphasis added. The date “1791″ appears ten times in the opinion.
At least four states paid back money in the last week they borrowed from the federal government to cover unemployment benefits—narrowly avoiding additional interest on the loans.
Hawaii, Nevada, Ohio and West Virginia announced the loan repayments within the last week. A remaining 10 states have a combined outstanding balance of more than $45 billion that they will now begin to accrue interest on, according to the Treasury Department.
When states exhaust their unemployment trust funds, they are allowed to borrow money from the federal government to ensure benefits continue to be paid. Twenty-two states took out what are referred to as Title XII advances during 2020. The loans were initially interest free, but starting Monday, states with outstanding loans began to accrue 2.3% interest on the borrowed sums. […]
Unemployment benefits are paid for through taxes that states levy on businesses. When unemployment trust funds are depleted, state and federal laws trigger higher business tax rates on employers to replenish the funds. The 10 states that have outstanding loan balances California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas—could be poised to see significant tax hikes on employers next year if they do not pay the money back before increases are triggered.
Illinois has $5 billion in leftover federal stimulus money. A large chunk of that will likely be used to pay down its $4.2 billion debt unless the federal government somehow intervenes.
The Illinois Senate put the final legislative stamp on an energy regulation overhaul bill Monday, sending it to Gov. JB Pritzker, who says he will sign it.
It’s the culmination of years of negotiation, and it marks a policy win on one of Pritzker’s biggest outstanding first-term campaign promises as the 2022 campaign heats up. The measure passed by a 37-17 vote, with Republicans Sue Rezin, of Morris, and John Curran, of Downers Grove, joining Democrats in support. […]
While the subsidies and investment programs are staggered in their implementation dates, the Citizens Utility Board estimates that it will cause an increase to ratepayer bills of about $3 to $4 a month over the next five years.
In terms of percentages, bill sponsor Sen. Michael Hastings, D-Frankfort, said residential electric bills would increase by about 3-4 percent, commercial bills by about 5-6 percent, and industrial bills by about 7-8 percent.
The industrial bill increase is what has the IMA and others upset. But this is a good point in Hannah Meisel’s WUIS story…
Democrats acknowledge the total cost of the legislation will mean more for ratepayers’ bills, though the exact sum is not settled and estimates vary widely. But State Sen. Celina Villanueva (D-Chicago) defended the monetary cost by comparing it with the environmental costs and poorer health outcomes for people in her district, which includes Little Village, where a developer last spring demolished a long-decommissioned coal plant smokestack sending dust for blocks.
“I have a lot of folks that are wanting and really asking for renewable sources of energy — the same community that also pushed very very hard to decommission this power plant,” Villanueva said.
Illinois Chamber of Commerce CEO Todd Maisch told WMAY before the vote the measure will remove Illinois’ ability to remain affordable for businesses.
“Be ready for cost increases and that means hiring decisions, investment decisions, anything that’s financial is going to be impacted, there’s no doubt about it,” Maisch said.
Democrats said without the measure, energy costs would have increased on job creators.
Senate President Don Harmon (D-Oak Park), who had been at loggerheads all summer with Gov. JB Pritzker and environmental groups over the best way to deal with fossil fuel shutdowns, said Monday that he was irritated with pundits framing the issue as any sort of zero sum sport.
“This isn’t a game. What we do here affects people’s lives and livelihood,” Harmon said in closing debate on the bill. “The people in Byron don’t think this is a game. Their schools, their tax base, their economic existence hinges on what we do here. My 17-year-old daughter Maggie doesn’t think that this is a game. She’s been wondering for far too long if the grown-ups are going to do anything to leave her a habitable world.”
Despite serving as chief sponsor of the 2016 bill that bailed out two Exelon plants and set up a renewable energy subsidy program, State Sen. Chapin Rose railed against the legislation passed by the Senate Monday. Rose asserted Democrats’ motivation in passing an energy and climate plan he considers half-baked lay in “issu[ing] press releases that you’re getting rid of carbon.”
FEJA’s green provisions were downright modest in comparison to this bill.
* Sen. Turner voted “Present,” which I found quite odd…
Senator Doris Turner (D-Springfield) was one of three Senate Democrats who did not vote in support of the proposal.
“I was concerned about the rate increases,” she said. With so many various cost estimates, and the question about grid reliability in Springfield if the city-operated City, Water, Light, and Power coal plant goes offline, she figured it was “better to err on the side of caution.”
* Classic example of ideology getting in the way of helping your district in the Tribune…
For Republican Sen. Sue Rezin of Morris, with Sen. John Curran of Downers Grove one of the two GOP senators to support the plan, it came down to preserving jobs at the nuclear power plants, along with the carbon-free power they produce.
“Without this bill, any hope of bringing a carbon-free energy future to Illinois by 2050 will all but be impossible,” said Rezin, whose district is home to Exelon’s Dresden, Braidwood and LaSalle nuclear plants.
In the community of Byron in northwestern Illinois, Monday’s vote brought “utter relief,” said Christine Lynde, the local school board president. Byron Community School District 226 gets about three-quarters of its property tax revenue — about $19 million annually — from the nuclear plant. The district now will be able to better plan for its future, she said.
Lynde, whose husband works at the Byron plant, also expressed “huge disappointment” that the area’s two state senators — Republicans Brian Stewart of Freeport and Dave Syverson of Rockford — voted against the proposal that will keep the plant open.
Senate President Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, said this won’t be the last word on the issue.
“Now, don’t get me wrong, there will be more votes,” Harmon said. “There will inevitably be changes. Innovations that we can’t even imagine today will happen tomorrow and we or some future group of legislators will act accordingly.”
Supporters of the measure said in anticipation of closing for-profit coal plants by 2030, there will be electric grid reliability studies by regulators in 2025.
Others, including state Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, took issue with the inclusion of eminent domain for an energy transmission line in the legislation that would allow “private, for-profit companies … the right to put up new power lines across my constituents’ homes.”
Hastings said the legislation will allow the Illinois Commerce Commission to delegate eminent domain authority for a transmission line — which he said will decrease energy costs. Landowners must be given “just compensation” and there must be three public meetings, with sufficient notice, to inform landowners ahead of any filings for that line, Hastings said.
[Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet] said it’s unfair that downstate residents wouldn’t be eligible for the bill’s $4,000 rebates for the purchase of electric cars.
Hastings said residents of several Chicago-area counties are eligible for those funds because current state law created a fund with money from electric bills paid by residents of those counties.
He said he would be open to developing future legislation to expand the fund so downstate ratepayers could contribute to the fund and then be eligible for the electric car rebates.
Federal investigators have launched an inquiry into Ald. Jim Gardiner’s conduct in office, including whether he retaliated against constituents for political purposes, sources told the Tribune.
FBI agents recently spoke to a variety of individuals with knowledge of Gardiner’s conduct, and approached Gardiner himself last week, sources said.
The probe is just the latest controversy facing the first-term alderman, who has been under scrutiny in recent weeks after text messages he apparently sent were made public by an anonymous Northwest Side group, The People’s Fabric, showing he referred to one City Council colleague as “a bitch” and the top aide of another council member as “his bitch,” and also used the term to describe a political communications consultant.
Block Club Chicago also published a story containing allegations that Gardiner sought to withhold services to constituents of his 45th Ward who have been critical of him and similarly used derogatory language to refer to constituents in texts that were later leaked. […]
Gardiner is facing two federal lawsuits, including one filed by a man who claimed the alderman had him wrongfully arrested in 2019 after he picked up a cellphone that Gardiner’s ward superintendent had inadvertently left at a 7-Eleven in Jefferson Park.
A Monday evening rally, organized by independent political organization United Northwest Side, brought residents to Gardiner’s office at 5425 W. Lawrence Ave. They decried the alderman’s vengeful tactics used against his critics shown through leaked texts, allegations that he refused city services to residents, and his sexist and misogynistic language toward constituents and City Hall staffers that residents say make him unfit to serve in public office.
Constituents who say they have been harassed or targeted by Gardiner also spoke at the rally. […]
Last week, Lightfoot called for the city’s Office of the Inspector General to investigate Gardiner.
“No one should ever be denied access to city services because of their political opinion, whom they may have supported in an election. That’s just not how we do things,” Lightfoot said at an unrelated news conference. “We’re never gonna support any effort to deny people access to city services. It’s fundamental.”
* More…
* ‘Do Not Help Her’: After Texts Show Ald. Jim Gardiner Called Constituent A ‘C-nt,’ Council Members Want Him Punished
Effingham County board members this week tabled a resolution that would have embraced the idea of “My Body, My Choice.”
County Board President Jim Niemann said during a meeting that the name sounds like the board would be on the side of pro-choice in the abortion debate.
It’s not, said Board Vice-President David Campbell, who penned the resolution.
“Basically, it’s just a catch phrase to let people know, ‘My body, My choice’” said Campbell. “If I don’t want to take the vaccine, I don’t have to take the vaccine. If I don’t want to wear a mask, I don’t have to wear a mask. We’re not going to enforce it here in Effingham County.” […]
“We have to respect our authorities and rule of law,” [Board Member Norbert Soldwedel] said. “We can’t condone a society where every individual establishes what they get to do and not do.”
“This is why I support local control. I say let these school boards and other locally elected bodies establish the polices within their jurisdictions,” he said.
“You mean you would let a school board come to you telling you have to inject something into your body,” Board Member John Perry asked Soltwedel.
“The school board can come to me and tell me anything that is constitutionally permitted, which is for the betterment of that school,” Soltwedel said.
Board Vice President David Campbell penned the resolution. He described its intent this way:
“If I don’t want to take the vaccine, I don’t have to take the vaccine. If I don’t want to wear a mask, I don’t have to wear a mask. We’re not going to enforce it here in Effingham County.”
This from a board that regularly listens to increasingly dire reports from its own health department about the rapid spread here of the delta variant of COVID-19. That department on Aug. 27 reported two more COVID-related deaths, bringing Effingham County’s total to 77 since the pandemic began. […]
The county board’s proposed resolution is dangerous. Not because it would have any teeth. It wouldn’t.
It’s dangerous because it reinforces the idea that there really isn’t anything to worry about from this virus that has killed nearly 640,000 Americans – nearly 24,000 of them in Illinois. It’s dangerous because your “medical freedom” to not wear a mask or get vaccinated affects others just as surely as your “freedom” to drink and drive affects everyone else on the road.
Effingham County Board Chairman Jim Niemann withdrew the proposed “Medical Freedom Resolution” on Monday during a meeting of the Legislative Committee of the Whole.
The resolution was introduced by Board Vice Chairman David Campbell as the “My Body, My Choice” resolution and amended by Niemann because he was not happy with the wording of Campbell’s resolution.
“The feedback to me has been overwhelmingly negative,” Niemann said. “I am withdrawing this. I won’t be sponsoring this. I’m not going to divide us any further.”
“If we work against each other there is absolutely nothing that will get done except fighting,” he said. “And if we work together, there is absolutely nothing we can’t do.” […]
Board Member Heather Mumma said she sent 250 text messages to her personal constituents in District C with a survey of three questions and only received 11 responses.
“Five of which said, ‘Please stop texting me,’” Mumma said.
She said she also received 11 emails that were against the resolution.
* But while some folks in Effingham are coming to their senses, a few goofs in Glen Ellyn are losing their minds. Politico…
An anti-mask culture war is escalating in Glen Ellyn, where protesters opposed to the state’s mask mandates have been confronting parents and children each day as they walk into the District 41 elementary school.
The protesters carry signs and encourage drivers to honk in opposition to mask mandates, which has distracted drivers just as children are crossing the street to get to school, according to parents who spoke at last night’s Village of Glen Ellyn Board of Trustees meeting.
The anti-mask group is organized in part by former Republican Rep. Jeanne Ives, who has encouraged the protests in her Breakthrough Ideas newsletter. She calls it the “Glen Ellyn Rally for Parental Choice,” echoing Republican governors around the country who oppose mask requirements. […]
Concerned residents, meanwhile, spoke one after another about protesters hurling “inappropriate,” “hostile,” “crude,” and “vulgar” taunts presumably aimed at parents walking their young children to school. The CDC has consistently said mask-wearing significantly cut down on the transmission of Covid-19.
Parents and community members have organized volunteers to stand as a buffer between the demonstrators and the kids.
Glen Ellyn resident Karin Daly told trustees she’s worried about students’ mental health and their safety. She shared an anecdote of a driver who ran a red light while responding to protesters.
Bob Bruno, a former Glen Ellyn School Board president, said, “A child’s walk to school should not be subject to threat, intimidation, and menace. It should be the second-most joyous part of the child’s day.”
