Illinois could ease more COVID-19 restrictions as soon as next week, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Monday if health metrics continue in a positive direction.
That would mean the state shifts to a “Bridge Phase,” that increases capacity at festivals, social events, concert and other activities.
“It looks to me like we’re on a decent trajectory. I can’t say exactly what day that is,” Pritkzer said. “It looks to me, if you look at all the hospitalization admissions data, we’re in decent shape and moving exactly as I would hope toward the Bridge Phase.”
After a decline in COVID-19 infections in February through mid-March, cases and hospitalizations started to climb bringing fears of a significant surge although metrics have been inching back down.
The Illinois economy shrank by 4% in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on many of its sectors, although there were signs of a recovery taking place late in the year.
Those preliminary numbers, released last week by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Economic Analysis, showed that the leisure, hospitality and food service sector was the hardest hit by the pandemic, reporting a nearly 30% drop in economic output for the year. […]
According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, real gross domestic product decreased in all 50 states and the District of Columbia in 2020. Utah, with a 0.1% shrinkage rate, fared the best, while Hawaii’s state economy shrank 8%. The average shrinkage rate for the U.S. as a whole was 3.5%. […]
When the numbers are broken out on a quarterly basis, however, the biggest drop in economic output occurred during the 2nd quarter, April-June, when Illinois was under the most severe economic restrictions. The economy began to pick up in the 3rd quarter, and by the 4th quarter was growing at an annualized rate of 3.5%.
Even as the 2018 Macon County sheriff’s election between incumbent Tony Brown and challenger Jim Root remains unsettled, the focus could soon turn to 2022 as another familiar name appears to be eyeing the office.
Howard G. Buffett, the 66-year-old Decatur philanthropist, businessman and former sheriff, has formed a candidate political committee to support a possible run for sheriff, according to campaign finance documents filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections last October.
According to the documents, Buffett plans to run as a Republican, which could set up a head-to-head matchup with incumbent Brown, a Democrat who won by a single vote in 2018.
Buffett is Brown’s direct predecessor, serving out the final 14 months of former Sheriff Thomas Schneider’s term. Schneider is listed as chairman of the “Committee to Elect Buffett for Sheriff.”
Buffett has been the main reason why Decatur has sworn off cannabis dispensaries.
Effingham County will be looking for a new sheriff after Effingham County Sheriff David Mahon announced his June 1 retirement during the quarterly Effingham County Public Safety meeting this week.
Mahon ran as a Republican for Sheriff in 2014, defeating Darren Feldkamp, John Gardner and Mike Schutzbach – all Republican candidates in the 2014 primary election. He became Sheriff in December of 2014. […]
“I was wanting to run one term and wasn’t sure about running the second,” Mahon said. “When I signed my petitions for a second term, I had no grandchildren and none on the way.”
“Now, two and a half years later, I have two grandchildren in East Missouri – 500 miles away. And my son has one on the way in Oregon,” Mahon added. “I turned 60 this last year and I think it’s a good time to bring some new people up.”
In a Letter to the Editor, Mahon said, “While my decision to retire is based on my personal life changes, this decision is reaffirmed by the pending anti-law enforcement legislation coming out of Springfield.”
In a Letter to the Editor, Mahon said, “While my decision to retire is based on my personal life changes, this decision is reaffirmed by the pending anti-law enforcement legislation coming out of Springfield.”
Friends, we are seeing a lot of law enforcement retire due to what’s coming out of Springfield. I will continue working to restore respect to law enforcement and keep our communities safe, and as your next Governor, I’ll work to reverse Pritzker’s radical agenda against law enforcement!
Yeah, I’m thinking there won’t be a shortage of candidates to replace Sheriff Mahon.
* Two House Democrats talk to the Daily Herald about the budget…
“In the governor’s introduced budget, he is not putting in the $350 million for K-12, but that’s not going very well with both Democrats and Republicans,” [Rep. Fred Crespo, D-Hoffman Estates] said. “(Republicans and Democrats) coalesced over that and agreed that’s not a good idea.”
While members of the House plan to push for the education funding, they also recognize the state will face a $1.4 billion revenue shortage and cuts need to be made somewhere. Where exactly those cuts happen will be a source of debate among Democrats, Republicans and Pritzker in the weeks before the legislature’s scheduled May 31 adjournment.
“We need to look at: ‘Where do we cut?’ and ‘Can we cut enough to close that hole?’” Crespo said.
Pritzker’s proposal also calls for a 10% cut to what towns get from the state’s Local Government Distributive Fund, a pool of income tax money. Crespo and Kifowit also oppose that proposal.
“I am strongly against it,” Crespo said. “Any cuts to the local distributive funds could very easily result in an increase in property taxes, and in my mind and my constituents’, our biggest problem and our biggest issue is property taxes.”
Keep in mind, the American Rescue Plan is sending $5 billion to Illinois’ K-12 schools, $2.3 billion to counties, $2.4 billion to larger cities and $681 million to smaller municipalities. The General Assembly could also impose a temporary property tax freeze on municipalities.
* The Question: Should the Local Government Distributive Fund be left alone in the state budget this year? Make sure to explain your answer.
Governor JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Central Management Services (CMS) today announced the issuance of a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the sale of the James R. Thompson Center (JRTC) at 100 West Randolph Street. Information on the RFP can be viewed at www.illinois.gov/ThompsonCenter4Sale and www.bidbuy.illinois.gov.
“The sale of the Thompson Center has been discussed for nearly 20 years and we are taking another important step to making it a reality,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “Selling the property provides a unique opportunity to maximize taxpayer savings, create thousands of union jobs, generate millions of dollars in real estate taxes to benefit the City of Chicago and spur economic development. My team looks forward to working with the city as we move forward.”
At the beginning of his administration, Governor Pritzker directed CMS to optimize the State’s real estate portfolio, reduce operating expenses, and enhance workforce and workplace performance and efficiency. As part of its due diligence, CMS determined the sale of the JRTC was in the State’s best interest as the facility is oversized, outdated and expensive to operate.
Due to prolonged deferred maintenance and delayed capital projects, it is estimated that the cost to bring the JRTC into a state of good repair exceeds $325 million and is projected to increase to over $525 million by 2026. By selling the facility, the State can relocate its core services to more appropriate and efficient replacement spaces. This strategic relocation effort has already begun, with the below-asking price purchase of 555 W. Monroe, and will reduce operating costs, increase productivity, and better serve constituents.
“Issuing this RFP moves the State a step closer to selling the JRTC and actualizing more sustainable and efficient governance practices on behalf of Illinois residents,” CMS Director Janel L. Forde. “The sale of this prime property will not only save millions in annual operating costs but also makes way for significant economic opportunities in Chicago’s Central Business District.”
The State has been reviewing its downtown Chicago real estate portfolio to identify opportunities for efficiency improvements, space consolidation, and other strategies that produce real savings while maintaining a productive workforce. In January 2021, the State acquired 555 West Monroe and announced its intent to relocate over 1,000 employees to this new facility, including employees who work in nearby leased facilities as well as those currently located at the JRTC. The State leases office space in seven properties in the Loop, at a cost of $21.3 million in annual base rent and operating costs and will continue to seek consolidation and savings opportunities into State-owned real estate.
Opened in 1985, the JRTC is a 17-story building, encompassing approximately 1.2 million square feet of enclosed area of which the State occupies nearly 780,000 square feet. Comprised of a full city block in the heart of the Chicago Loop, the JRTC site represents a rare and exciting development opportunity. The site is unique in its combination of size, transit connectivity, and adjacency to world-class amenities. The site’s central location affords close proximity to numerous world-class amenities, including world-renowned museums and parks, the Chicago Theater District, the Chicago Riverwalk and Lakefront.
Redevelopment of the property would spur economic activity on the LaSalle Street corridor and is estimated to create up to 5,500 union jobs during the development and more than 15,000 jobs after completion.
Responses to the RFP for the sale of the James R. Thompson Center are due at 3 p.m. on August 16, 2021. A copy of the RFP is available on the General Services Illinois Procurement Bulletin, also referred to as the Bulletin or BidBuy at www.bidbuy.illinois.gov. Additional information on JRTC and the amenities of the City of Chicago are provided at www.illinois.gov/ThompsonCenter4Sale.
The Pre-proposal conference meeting will be held on May 18, 2021. Interested parties must register for the event at: https://illinois.webex.com/illinois/onstage/g.php?MTID=edfeebde1b8deacf9fc430c309574456e
In April 2019, Governor Pritzker signed SB 886 (Public Act 100-1184) that outlines the process for the sale of the property. The bill provides for the sale of the JRTC by a competitive request for proposals process within two years. This bill was amended due to COVID-19 and the revised timeline is April 5, 2022.
Illinois schools may soon dramatically alter the way they perform active shooter drills, leading the way for other states to adopt methods that, ideally, leave students and staff less traumatized by a process intended to protect them.
A bill amending the state’s School Safety Drill Act recently passed the Illinois House unanimously and now awaits a vote in the Senate. It calls for parents or guardians to be notified prior to an active shooter drill, for the school to announce drills ahead of time, for the drills to avoid simulations that mimic an actual school shooting incident and for mental health professionals to be included in the planning of the drills.
Yes, yes, yes, yes and one more yes for good measure.
“This sounds like a really good bill,” said Melissa Reeves, associate professor of psychology at Winthrop University in South Carolina and past president of the National Association of School Psychologists. “If it passes, I’m definitely going to be using that as an example of what other states can do.”
…House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch should free House Bill 2994 from his Rules Committee. Sponsored by Tim Butler, R-Springfield, the bill would allow a vote on government consolidation in his district. Last week, when the bill appeared to be dying in committee, he chastised Welch for sitting on the bill for political reasons.
Move the bill, Mr. Speaker. Voters in Butler’s district should be able to decide whether to combine their governments.
The elimination of any one of these tiny entities doesn’t amount to much by itself. But a sustained drive to reduce their number would pay off in the long run. It brings to mind what Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu of South Africa said: “There is only one way to eat an elephant — a bite at a time.”
* But here’s a counter-point in an SJ-R op-ed by Bill Houlihan…
Sangamon County is home to twenty-six townships, each with their own elected township officials. Representative Butler’s bill only targets the most diverse township with Sangamon County, Capital Township. Under the pretense of “eliminating bureaucracy and inefficiency,” Butler and local Republicans seek to disenfranchise a significant number of voters within our county. For the decades-long total control local Republicans have held on Capital Township, there were never any issues with the services provided and dissolving this essential level of government was never mentioned.
What has changed since 2016 when Representative Butler and local Republicans started their self-serving crusade? Where is Representative Butler’s bill to dissolve Ball, Fancy Creek, or Rochester Townships in Sangamon County? I cannot help but think that part of Representative Butler’s newfound interest in eliminating Capital Township may stem from the fact that after three decades of total Republican control over Capital Township, voters have overwhelmingly elected a young, dynamic black woman not once but twice, Democrat Lakeisha Purchase.
While I question Representative Butler’s intent with this legislation, what is not in question is what will happen if this bill is enacted. Unlike in every other township in Sangamon County, voters in Capital Township will not have the same rights to elect the people that serve them and guide how their township tax dollars are used. Instead, county government Republicans will be given unchecked access to Capital Township tax dollars that will be used to pad their own budgets and personal paychecks. All while not having to be concerned about Capital Township voters being able to hold them accountable in the next election. Simply put, this is taxation without representation.
A lawmaker’s long-sought resolution to create a new state by separating the rest of Illinois from Cook County was the subject of an Illinois House hearing this week.
State Rep. Brad Halbrook, R-Shelbyville, has for years filed resolutions at the statehouse to create a new state out of all the counties with the exception of Cook County. He had his first hearing on HR 102 Wednesday, saying predictions of a state being controlled by a major urban center have come true in Illinois.
“There are different needs, there are different interests, different cultures, different economy,” Halbrook told the House State Government Administration Committee on Wednesday. “A one-size-fits-all and a top-down approach does not work.”
The committee chair asked Halbrook to come back with more data and support from the 101 counties outside of Cook. Halbrook noted that a separate movement has produced such support from nearly a third of the counties.
* The school bus lobby (including local school districts) is quite strong here. I’ve seen safety measures come and go for decades…
There are two bills making their way through the Illinois General Assembly, with the main focus of making sure drivers can see the stop signs on school buses better.
Senate Bill 1808 and House Bill 2584 are similar. The goal is to give schools the option to make stop signs on buses easier to see.
The bills would allow the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) to create a pilot program to test the safety of equipment like extended stop arms, which currently aren’t allowed to be used.
* I bought a new mobile phone the other day and set it up over the weekend. It takes some pretty good pictures…
* The phone didn’t have the same ringtone choices as my old phone, so I decided to create one for text notifications. As you’ll recall, the House conducted session last May at Springfield’s convention center. The setup didn’t include the loud ringing bell to announce that voting was open, so Rep. Will Davis would say “Ding!” at the appropriate moment when he was in the Speaker’s chair. I isolated Davis’ sound effect for my new ringtone…
Thanks to John Amdor for the video clip.
* The phone’s alarm tones were also different, and the one I chose sounded a lot like King Harvest’s “Dancing In the Moonlight,” or at least it sounded like that in the morning fog. As a result, I’ve been humming that song all day today. So I just decided to make the actual song into an alarm…
SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 2,049 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 28 additional deaths.
- Cook County: 1 female 50s, 2 female 60s, 2 males 60s, 4 females 70s, 1 male 70s, 4 males 80s, 1 female 90s, 2 males 90s
- DuPage County: 1 male 60s, 1 male 70s
- Kane County: 1 male 70s
- Knox County: 1 male 80s
- Lake County: 1 male 80s
- Mason County: 1 male 30s, 1 female 60s
- Peoria County: 1 male 60s, 2 females 70s, 1 male 90s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 1,341,777 cases, including 22,047 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 49,473 specimens for a total of 22,872,035. As of last night, 1,963 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 479 patients were in the ICU and 249 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from April 26-May 2, 2021 is 3.4%. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from April 26-May 2, 2021 is 4.0%.
The total number of COVID-19 vaccine doses for Illinois is 11,802,395. A total of 9,410,057 vaccines have been administered in Illinois as of last midnight. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 78,440 doses. Yesterday, 16,920 doses were reported administered in Illinois. Data from this weekend from several pharmacies (Walgreens, Albertsons, CVS) is not yet available so the doses administered yesterday are likely to be low. The missing doses from this weekend will be reflected in numbers in the next couple days.
*All data are provisional and will change. In order to rapidly report COVID-19 information to the public, data are being reported in real-time. Information is constantly being entered into an electronic system and the number of cases and deaths can change as additional information is gathered. For health questions about COVID-19, call the hotline at 1-800-889-3931 or email dph.sick@illinois.gov.
An inspector general’s report on the deadly COVID-19 outbreak at the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs LaSalle Veterans’ Home is a maddening story of incompetence and chaos at every level.
The IG report, released Friday, tells the story of an allegedly AWOL agency director; an in-over-his-head chief of staff; a crucial failure to fill an important upper management position; an unconscionably delayed IDVA management response at all levels to a clearly and rapidly deteriorating situation both in the surrounding communities outside the home and when the virus inevitably spread inside the facility; an unprepared and woefully uninformed management on multiple issues, including basics about personal protection equipment; an abject failure to properly train and equip staff; multiple failures to ask for outside help and accept it when offered; and staff infighting and managerial timidity.
Thirty-six veterans died during the LaSalle catastrophe last year, a quarter of the facility’s population. Frankly, after reading the report, I was surprised more people didn’t die. It’s that bad.
The trouble started with Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s hasty appointment of a state legislator to fill the IDVA director job after his initial appointee abruptly dropped out — a mystery that he has not explained to this day.
According to the report, after state Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia became IDVA director, she apparently “abdicated” her responsibilities to her chief of staff, Tony Kolbeck. Kolbeck’s heart was in the right place but he should not have been given that job, partly because he didn’t have the requisite knowledge and experience, but also because the administration never appointed a Senior Homes Administrator for the agency. That administrator would’ve had the “medical understanding to provide meaningful leadership,” according to the IG report.
Kolbeck essentially served as the director, the chief of staff and the Senior Homes Administrator all at once, a near impossibility during “normal” times, let alone during a deadly crisis.
After Director Chapa LaVia finally quit under pressure, Pritzker brought in a new acting director.
Terry Prince is a buttoned-down 31-year Navy man with an abundance of healthcare management experience in the Navy and in his last job running Ohio’s veterans homes. One of those homes, the fifth largest in the country, had an outbreak last year, but it was contained and the fatality rate was a fraction of what it was at LaSalle and at many private nursing homes in the country. Like everyone in that sector, he’s not unblemished, but he’s never been accused of incompetence that I could find.
Prince’s extensive management experience is something the IDVA has lacked for years. But he is also a student of management theory and mentioned several management training models he admires.
I asked Prince about an item in the IG report that the LaSalle home managers refrained from disciplining workers out of fear of retaliation. I pointed out that this is prevalent in state government here because upper management too often won’t back up lower management in personnel disputes. Prince said he created a program in Ohio called “I got your six” to address that very issue. “The management team has to know that their director, assistant director has their backs,” he rightly said.
Prince wants to subject the veterans’ homes to accreditation and the federal government’s Medicaid rating system. “I want evaluations from anybody who will come and evaluate our buildings because I believe that the more inspections we have, the better,” he said.
He’s a military veteran and these are veterans’ homes, and Prince says he intends to put employees through regular training drills to make sure they are up to dealing with emergencies.
But he also talked about trying to work more cooperatively with AFSCME, something he claimed to have had success with in Ohio. Prince said Illinois Department of Human Services Secretary Grace Hou recommended that he make himself “crazy available” to union personnel, which he says he’s doing. Hou has had significant success in dealing with AFSCME. The IDVA, on the other hand, has been notable for its hostility toward the union.
“I want our veterans in our veterans’ homes to live their best possible life,” Prince said. “I want their star to shine bright in our facilities. I know we have the teams to do it. We just have to make sure that we’re training them and holding them accountable and saying, ‘Here’s our expectations.’”
Prince is no doubt an impressive person, but there is no longer any room for failure at that agency. He gets zero slack. To put it bluntly, if we can’t stop killing our veterans, then we as a state need to get out of this business.
* Meanwhile, here’s a press release…
U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), a combat Veteran and former Director of the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs (IDVA), today urged the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to assist the IDVA following a Illinois Department of Human Services Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) report released last week, which documents a number of failures within IDVA leadership in addressing and preventing a fatal COVID-19 outbreak at the Illinois Veterans Home (IVH) LaSalle. In a letter to VA Secretary McDonough, Durbin and Duckworth asked the VA to ensure that IDVA has the appropriate protocols in place, as well as training and support it needs in order to continue to protect Illinois Veterans from COVID-19 or any future infectious disease outbreaks.
We write to request urgent assistance for the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs (IDVA) in light of an Illinois Department of Human Services Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) report released last week, which documents a number of failures within IDVA leadership in addressing and preventing a fatal COVID-19 outbreak at the Illinois Veterans Home (IVH) LaSalle. During the time of the outbreak last fall, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) participated in inspections alongside the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH), helping to identify a myriad of problems and detailing a full-time VA staffer to provide technical assistance to the State on pandemic concerns and protocols. We urge the VA to return to Illinois once again to ensure that IDVA has the appropriate protocols in place, as well as training and support it needs in order to continue to protect Illinois Veterans from COVID-19 or any future infectious disease outbreaks.
We understand that the risks associated with the deadly coronavirus are only increased in long-term care facilities. However, as the OIG report indicates, the proper implementation and execution of infectious disease protocols can help control outbreaks. By fall 2020, the potential effect of COVID-19 on such facilities was well-documented, and as the pandemic surged across the State, including in LaSalle County, more than 200 Veterans and staff at IVH LaSalle had tested positive for COVID-19, resulting in 36 Veteran deaths.
The OIG report ultimately found a lack of preparation, poor communication and training, and a serious lapse in infectious-disease protocols. The report also noted that IDVA failed to implement a number of basic Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations, including formalizing a COVID-19 preparedness and response plan, resulting in actions that were “inefficient, reactive, and, at times, chaotic.” The report also notes that IVH Manteno and IVH Quincy faced related, fatal outbreaks. While the death tolls were smaller at these two facilities, the urgency to take corrective action remains the same.
We appreciate that the VA has provided technical assistance to the State of Illinois over the years, including during a deadly Legionnaires’ outbreak that took place at IVH Quincy between 2015 and 2018. Today, while we recognize that Governor Pritzker has taken a number of proactive steps—including personnel changes to replace the IDVA Director and oversight efforts such as requiring this OIG investigation—we remain worried about IDVA’s future preparedness against both the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and other infectious disease outbreaks.
Countless families have entrusted the care of their loved ones—Veterans who have served and scarified for this country with honor, and deserve the highest standards—to the State of Illinois. We urge the VA to help ensure that our State is up to the task in the face of challenges such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
* And from the ILGOP…
“The Governor ran for office in 2018 blaming his predecessor for the Legionnaires outbreak at the Quincy Veterans’ Home that tragically took the life of 14 American heroes. Pritzker said the incident revealed a callous regard for human life and a fatal lack of leadership,” reminded ILGOP spokesman Joe Hackler. “36 dead veterans later at LaSalle and the Governor is on record as now saying ‘these things can happen’ and has refused to take full responsibility for this tragedy on his watch. The IG report makes clear that candidate Pritzker in 2018 would think Governor Pritzker’s administration is fatally incompetent and responsible for the deaths of 36 American heroes.”
* Vaccine passports not arriving — or required — in Illinois, Pritzker says: Gov. J.B. Pritzker is taking a pass on the “Vax Pass.” Days after Chicago public health officials teased the idea of a COVID-19 vaccine passport that residents would need for admission to select concerts and other crowded summer events, Pritzker on Friday said the state won’t be implementing any mandatory system for Illinoisans to prove they’ve been fully immunized against the coronavirus.
The mass inoculation of millions of American children against polio in 1955, like the vaccinations of millions of American adults against COVID-19 in 2021, was a triumph of science.
But the polio vaccine had overwhelming public acceptance, while stubborn pockets of vaccine hesitancy persist across the U.S. for the COVID-19 vaccine. Why the difference? One reason, historians say, is that in 1955, many Americans had an especially deep respect for science.
“If you had to pick a moment as the high point of respect for scientific discovery, it would have been then,” says David M. Oshinsky, a medical historian at New York University and the author of Polio: An American Story. “After World War II, you had antibiotics rolling off the production line for the first time. People believed infectious disease was [being] conquered. And then this amazing vaccine is announced. People couldn’t get it fast enough.”
Now that the rush to get vaccinated has slowed to a trickle, health officials are shifting gears to convince the rest of Central Illinois to roll up their sleeves.
At this point, about 60% of Tri-County residents have not received even a single dose.
Reasons for this are numerous. Some people simply haven’t gotten around to it yet, and some have transportation issues or, lacking computer skills, aren’t sure how to get an appointment.
Others distrust vaccines, a long-standing issue that has been exacerbated in recent years by widening political divisions and a plethora of misleading and downright false information online. There are also concerns about a vaccine that was developed so quickly; some people are waiting to see what happens to others before they get vaccinated.
The problem is that time is of the essence. The longer COVID-19 circulates through the population, the greater the chance it will mutate into a vaccine-resistant form. Health officials want to tamp down the fire now.
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver ran a pretty good piece on the vax resistance topic last night. Click here to watch it, but some of the language is NSFW.
As Oliver noted, the hardcore anti-vaxxers and careless (or worse) news media outlets are successfully sowing doubt in about a quarter of the population.
The bigger the site, the cheaper the per-unit cost of the vaccine dose. Megasites can average $62 per dose per day, while the smallest sites, averaging 2,500 square feet, approach nearly $200 per dose.
Then there’s the one-time costs, assuming the vaccine sites are open for three months: the freezers, the message boards in the parking lots, chairs and tables, Internet hotspots. For a megasite, the one-time costs can reach nearly $1.5 million. For the smallest sites, $140,000.
And finally the materials: needles, syringes, alcohol prep pads, Band-Aids, gloves, masks, shields, oxygen, Epi-Pens, antihistamines. The range from small to mega, each day: $3,000 to $22,000.
What the spreadsheet and the Adams County figures underscore: It can be considerably expensive, on a per-shot basis, to vaccinate those in more rural or underserved areas of the country.
The April University of Illinois Flash Index jumped to 101.5 from its 97.8 level in March, roaring past the 100-level that divides growth and decline.
This increase was the largest in the history of the index, although the declines of March and April 2020 at the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis were larger in absolute terms. See the full Flash Index Archive.
As with last month, the strong April reading was the result of both a strong economy and certain technical factors. “The index’s monthly inputs are now being compared to the depressed numbers of last year, indicating marked growth,” said University of Illinois economist J. Fred Giertz, who compiles the monthly index for the University of Illinois System’s Institute of Government and Public Affairs (IGPA). “In fact, the April index may underestimate growth because some of the various federal stimulus payments are not directly included in the index’s components.” In constructing the index, individual Illinois income tax collections are used as a surrogate for income, but many of these federal payments are not taxable and do not directly impact tax receipts.
Notwithstanding these technical issues, the Illinois and national economies are exhibiting real strength. Analysts are nearly unanimous in their optimism for the remainder of 2021. First-quarter GDP increased at a 6.4% annual rate. The unemployment rate continues to decline, although it is still more than two percentage points above pre-crisis levels. The unprecedented magnitude of federal income support programs may be slowing the decline.
Illinois’ unemployment rate is still more than one percentage point above the national rate. All three components of the index (individual income, corporate and sales tax receipts) were up strongly from the same month last year.
The Flash Index is normally a weighted average of Illinois growth rates in corporate earnings, consumer spending and personal income as estimated from receipts for corporate income, individual income, and retail sales taxes. These are adjusted for inflation before growth rates are calculated. The growth rate for each component is then calculated for the 12-month period using data through April 30, 2021.
Even though more than a year has passed since the advent of the crisis, ad hoc adjustments are still needed to deal with the timing of the tax receipts resulting from state and Federal changes in payment dates both this and last year.
While the bill wouldn’t give the legislative inspector general the full level of autonomy those who’ve held the office say is necessary, it would make the position a full-time job with posted office hours — which [Legislative Inspector General Carol Pope] said would be a waste of taxpayer money. She now works on an as-needed basis.
“Even if you had office hours, there would be a person sitting in the office with nothing to do,” Pope said at a recent Senate hearing “The demand for hours is just simply not there, which is a good thing in my opinion.”
Lawmakers argue that having a full-time inspector general would an important signal to the public.
“While it may not be a good perception to have an office of people that aren’t working full time, I also don’t think it’s a good perception, visual, to have an office that’s closed, that the lights are out, that nobody knows when it’s open either,” Gillespie said at the hearing. “I think it’s important for our residents of Illinois to start to establish trust in their legislature if they know that this is something we’re taking this seriously.”
After this week’s release of decennial Census apportionments, the 2022 redistricting battles are underway. If you’ve been reading the press, you know what to expect: Republicans will gerrymander relentlessly to squeeze more GOP House seats out of red and purple states, while Democrats will model high-minded good governance and draw maps without regard to politics.
OK, maybe not exactly. The post-2010 liberal zeal for nonpartisan map-drawing seems to be abating in places where Democrats are in power. See how the political winds are blowing in two blue states, Illinois and New York, that each lost a congressional seat in the latest Census count.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker campaigned in 2018 against partisan gerrymandering, saying he would “pledge to veto” any 2022 map drawn by the state Legislature. He insisted on “an independent commission to handle creating a new legislative map.” Last month Republicans in the Legislature proposed to create a redistricting commission appointed by the state’s Supreme Court.
But as the partisan pens meet paper, Gov. Pritzker now says he’ll be satisfied with a map drawn by his legislative allies. In a recent press conference he walked back his veto pledge and scored Republicans for objecting to Democratic-controlled redistricting. “I hope the Republicans will choose to work with Democrats on the map. Right now it looks like they’re just saying no,” he said.
* But the Journal is just being the Journal. The bottom line for Kyle Kondik at Sabato’s Crystal Ball…
All told, this adds up to a possible 6-1 Republican edge among the new House seats being drawn. Combine that with the loss projections laid out above, and Republicans come out of this hypothetical reapportionment scenario with a net two-seat gain: They lose four seats to the Democrats’ three, but they win six of the seven new seats.
* And this person at Sabato’s Crystal Ball claims that Illinois Democrats made a colossal mistake with their map-making ten years ago…
What was the biggest gerrymandering backfire this decade? — Dems trying to make both IL-12 & IL-13 winnable comes to mind. Rs have had both since 2014. Could've drawn a 61% Obama East St. Louis to Urbana seat. https://t.co/La7gYQicn8
What saved them was the suburbs and exurbs, which reacted strongly against President Trump’s election. The Dems picked up two seats that they’d actually created for Republicans.
* Politico on what comes next after Cheri Bustos’ announcement last week that she won’t run again…
Political insiders say lawmakers will likely redraw Bustos’ 17th District to include all of Rockford and more of Peoria, two cities that are split between Bustos and Rep. Adam Kinzinger (16th) in Rockford, and Bustos and Rep. Darin LaHood (18th) in Peoria. Here’s the current map for reference.
Rockford and Peoria are two urban areas that already lean blue, and pulling them into one district (except for the part of Peoria where LaHood lives) would solidify it as a Democratic district.
At least two Rockford Democrats have already fielded calls about possibly running. Rockford Mayor Tom McNamara told Playbook his focus is “solely on the city of Rockford.” McNamara, who is being sworn in to his second term today, said, “We need someone like Cheri who stands up for cities and towns and the everyday people who live there, not just companies.”
And state Rep. Maurice West II said, “we’ll see.” He said, “It would be smart” to see Rockford represented by one person.
Probably best not to make too many plans before the map is drawn, however. Lauren Underwood’s district needs more Democrats to shore her up, so it’s possible they could move her 14th District 30 miles west to Rockford.
* Dan Vock at the Center for Illinois Politics takes a look at Democratic hints here they they could use ACS number to draw the new district maps…
If Democrats try to redraw their districts with a different set of data, that data will most likely come from the American Community Survey (ACS). The U.S. Census Bureau also produces the ACS, a survey that gives researchers a glimpse of what America looks like in the years between the decennial headcounts.
“The decennial census is designed to capture, in a snapshot, all of the people living in the country on April 1st,” Young says. “The American Community Survey is designed to tell folks how people live in that neighborhood, not who lives there, but how they live.”
Their different purposes mean the Census uses different methods to conduct them.
Census workers fan out into neighborhoods, knock on doors, send postcards and ask neighbors to get an accurate population number for the once-a-decade Census.
But the ACS is essentially a massive poll. It uses sampling to estimate the number of people in an area and many characteristics about them. To do that, the Census Bureau sends surveys to about 3.5 million addresses every month of every year. Those surveys cover many topics not covered by standard Census questionnaires.
* And finally…
I'm thinking if you had repeatedly and aggressively shared horribly false government data over *7 years* and used that false data to argue for major policy changes, then maybe your mea culpa might be a wee bit stronger when you discover the data was false https://t.co/qQJdgHp9oP
A state audit released earlier this year warned that Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s office had a “weaknesses in cybersecurity” that potentially left sensitive information on the agency’s computer network “susceptible to cyberattacks and unauthorized disclosure.”
Three weeks ago, a hack resulted in data being stolen from the attorney’s office in a ransomware attack, Raoul acknowledged in a statement Thursday.
A ransomware gang known as DoppelPaymer is believed to be behind the attack, in which some data from the attorney general’s office was posted online.
Ransomware is malicious software that infects a computer system. Those behind ransomware then demand money to allow the system to work properly again.
Office management indicated a comprehensive internal cybersecurity risk assessment was not performed due to competing priorities within the Information Technology (IT) Bureau. In addition, the coronavirus pandemic further delayed IT initiatives since March 2020.
The lack of adequate cybersecurity programs and practices could result in unidentified risk and vulnerabilities which ultimately leads to the Office’s confidential and personal information being susceptible to cyber-attacks and unauthorized disclosure.
* I got the ol’ pontoon out of winter storage this week and my lake club’s bar is open this weekend, so I hope the motor actually runs (last year was kind of a nightmare in that regard) and the weather stays nice…
* I told subscribers earlier this week that this idea looked like the most viable option out there. We’ll see…
Illinois Senate President Don Harmon announced Friday he has asked colleagues to negotiate compromise legislation to transition Chicago Public Schools to a fully elected school board.
Here is President Harmon’s statement:
“I am fully committed to passing legislation this year to move to an elected, representative Chicago school board.
In order to set this in motion, I have asked the sponsors of the key proposals to sit down and come up with a plan that will guide this transition to a new era of leadership at Chicago Public Schools.
My recommendation is that these negotiations focus on starting with a fair, representative hybrid board composed of elected and appointed members that would ensure a reasonable and orderly transition to a fully elected school board.
Everyone involved in this issue has the best interests of the students, families, teachers and taxpayers at heart. If all are willing to compromise, I am confident that we are close to resolution.
I look forward to putting a plan to get us to a fully elected school board on the governor’s desk this session.”
However, Harmon wouldn’t say what he would do if the two sides were unable to work out a compromise. But the House has already passed a bill that calls for a fully elected 21-member board, and Harmon did say, “If the only option were the proposal or nothing, the Senate might very well pass it.”
“I just want to be sure that we are not fighting over which side is right, but we are remembering that we have a fundamental obligation primarily to the students in the Chicago Public Schools system to get the process right,” Harmon said. “And so I would like to see some structure come out of these negotiations that ensures a reasonable and orderly transition to a fully elected school board.”
When Harmon talked to sides supporting either the hybrid bill or the fully elected bill on Friday, he said they were both “very committed to their positions.”
Officials at the Illinois Department of Public Health said the agency is working on a program that would allow residents who are vaccinated against COVID-19 to show an electronic certification from the state.
“Vaccinated individuals may want to be able to prove they have been vaccinated, especially if they misplace their CDC vaccination card,” IDPH spokeswoman Melaney Arnold said. “IDPH is working to provide this service to individuals.”
* The Question: Will you get one of these certifications when it’s made available? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please…
* I do not think this Sun-Times editorial segment is true…
Unlike CEJA, which is designed to speed Illinois toward a clean energy future without raising customers’ electric bills
Numbers I’ve seen have CEJA increasing costs by $156-$450 million a year. If you look at the bill, the base year shifts from 2007 to 2009. The rate cap then increases from 2.015 percent to 2.67% during the first couple of years and then increases to 4.88 percent by the end of 2023.
* This bill passed with an overwhelming bipartisan margin…
A bill distributing $1.4 billion of federal relief to those in need of COVID-19 emergency housing assistance was sent to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s desk on Thursday over Republican objections that the measure does not target those who are in real need of help.
“This bill essentially is trying to keep people in the state of Illinois in their homes,” said state Sen. Omar Aquino, the bill’s sponsor. “It tries to prioritize and surgically utilize the one-time money that we’re getting from the federal government to assist those people that truly need it the most.”
The bill “prioritizes disproportionately affected areas” based on “positive COVID-19 cases” or by “a history of homelessness,” according to the Near Northwest Side Democrat.
But state Sen. Jason Barickman said the money does not go to those who need it the most because it prioritizes “not based on their individual circumstances but based on the ZIP code in which they live.”
Several state representatives introduced bills this year to move Illinois to permanent daylight saving time or standard time. Tim Butler, R-Springfield, and David Welter, R-Morris, have bills to move Illinois to standard time all year — the current winter time. State Reps. Bob Morgan, D-Deerfield, Adam Niemerg, R-Dieterich, Tom Morrison, R-Palatine, and Mike Zalewski, D-Chicago, have filed bills to make daylight saving time all year — the current summer time.
* Gov. JB Pritzker was asked today why he picked then-Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia to be his Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs Director. The IG report on the 36 LaSalle Veterans’ Home COVID-19 deaths claimed she “abdicated” her responsibilities to her chief of staff. Pritzker’s response…
You have to remember that she led the investigation that happened with the incident that happened at the Quincy Veterans’ Home a few years ago. And so she seemed like an ideal person to be able to root out the problems in our veterans’ homes. But I have to admit that if I knew then what I know now I would not have hired her.
There’s a lot more to running a crucial state agency than rooting out problems and Pritzker, who has extensive management experience himself, should’ve known better.
* What he needed to do in the wake of Quincy was hire someone with strong experience in health care management, which is what he finally did this year. From a press release…
On April 1, 2021, Governor JB Pritzker appointed Terry Prince, a 31-year Navy veteran with deep experience in military and veterans’ medical care, to serve as Acting IDVA Director. Prior to this role, Acting Director Prince was Superintendent of the Ohio Veterans Homes and Command Master Chief at Naval Hospital Camp Lejeune and the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. The new Acting Director is focused on increased visibility and communication for department leadership, improved organizational structure and staff training, and hiring for several new and vacant roles for the agency.
“There is nothing more critical to our department’s mission than ensuring the heroes in our homes are safe and receive the quality care they deserve,” said Acting IDVA Director Terry Prince. “As the acting director of the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs and as a Navy Veteran of more than 30 years, my heart breaks for the families who lost loved ones to COVID-19 in our Veterans’ Homes. In my prior role, I led the Ohio Veterans’ Homes and saw firsthand the enormous challenges this pandemic unleashed on the state facilities that care for our heroes. Lessons learned there and here in Illinois from this unprecedented crisis are already being implemented as we work to make IDVA the department that our veterans deserve. Let me be clear, we will seize any and every opportunity to better ensure the safety of veterans in our care and every single corrective action outlined in this report will be implemented with urgency.”
People like Prince don’t grow on trees, but Pritzker was so far out of the ballpark with Chapa LaVia that his decision to bring her on certainly contributed to the chaos at the LaSalle home.
“We need to train as if it’s always happening,” said Prince, who arrived in Illinois on April 1 from his post as superintendent of the Ohio Veterans Homes, where he administered three facilities. “When there is an absence of the virus we train even harder, so that when something does come to fruition, our people know exactly what to do and how to do it.” […]
Among Prince’s other initiatives are plans to develop clear, statewide policies applicable to each home; restructuring senior leadership with chain-of-command clarity and assurances that the homes are receiving proper clinical and administrative direction; filling key positions whose vacancies have doubled work for others; and providing all employees with an email address for receiving agency-wide notices and communicating their concerns.
Infection control will be a priority with the hiring of a director and creation infection-control committees at each home following standardized guidelines, Prince said.
“It’s always been important but it did come to light, over the course of this crisis, the significant amount of work that’s involved in being an infection control specialist,” Prince said. “Prior to COVID-19 you would deal with things like pneumonia, flu, MRSA … they were often a case-by-case basis. When COVID hit, you’re not only monitoring residents you’re monitoring every staff member who works there.”
As subscribers know, I spent some time talking with Prince yesterday and his experience and knowledge is darned impressive.
Also, still unknown is what the deputy governor in charge of that agency was up to during the outbreak.
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 3,207 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 33 additional deaths.
- Christian County: 1 female 80s
- Cook County: 1 male 40s, 1 female 50s, 2 males 50s, 1 female 60s, 2 males 60s, 1 female 70s, 2 males 80s,
- DeKalb County: 1 female 50s
- DuPage County: 1 male 50s 1 male 60s, 1 male 80s
- Kane County: 1 female 40s
- Kankakee County: 1 female 80s
- Lake County: 1 male 60s, 1 male 80s
- LaSalle County: 1 male 60s, 1 male 90s
- Lee County: 1 male 60s
- McDonough County: 1 male 60s
- McHenry County: 1 male 60s
- Peoria County: 1 female 60s
- Tazewell County: 1 male 50s, 1 male 60s, 1 male 70s
- Will County: 1 male 90s
- Williamson County: 1 female 80s
- Winnebago County: 1 male 50s, 1 female 60s
- Woodford County: 1 male 50s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 1,335,055 cases, including 21,960 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 108,063 specimens for a total of 22,666,333. As of last night, 2,024 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 475 patients were in the ICU and 235 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from April 23-29, 2021 is 3.4%. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from April 23-29, 2021 is 4.0%.
The total number of COVID-19 vaccine doses for Illinois is 11,687,325. A total of 9,259,706 vaccines have been administered in Illinois as of last midnight. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 92,747 doses. Yesterday, 103,717 doses were reported administered in Illinois.
*All data are provisional and will change. In order to rapidly report COVID-19 information to the public, data are being reported in real-time. Information is constantly being entered into an electronic system and the number of cases and deaths can change as additional information is gathered. Information for deaths previously reported has been changed, therefore numbers have been adjusted. For health questions about COVID-19, call the hotline at 1-800-889-3931 or email dph.sick@illinois.gov.
After 10 years in Congress, Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.) announced Friday that she will not run for reelection in 2022.
“Today, I’m announcing I will not seek reelection after completing this term,” Bustos said in a video statement first obtained by HuffPost. “It will be a new decade, and I feel it’s time for a new voice.”
It’s not clear what Bustos plans to do next.
In an interview on Friday, Bustos told HuffPost that nothing in particular was driving her decision to go. She said she tends to make big changes every 10 years ― she worked as a reporter and then an editor for about two decades, and then in health care for 10 years ― and felt it was time for another shift.
We see this a lot right before remap elections. Making matters more difficult for Bustos was that she barely won her last reelection campaign and the remap is gonna be tough for her.
The following statement is from Congresswoman Robin Kelly, Chairwoman of the Democratic Party of Illinois, thanking Congresswoman Cheri Bustos for her decade of service in the U.S. House of Representatives:
“There’s no better champion for Illinoisans than Congresswoman Cheri Bustos. Cheri has championed causes for Illinois workers, families, and farmers for a decade in Congress and I know she will continue to be a strong advocate for our state wherever her next chapter leads her. This is a big loss for the Illinois Congressional delegation, but we cannot thank Cheri enough for her countless contributions to our state.”
Duckworth…
U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) released the following statement after U.S. Representative Cheri Bustos (D-IL-17) announced she would not be running for re-election:
“Representative Bustos has served as, and will continue to serve as, an excellent representative for her community—she’s a hard worker who listens to her constituents, delivers tangible legislative wins for working families and provides stellar constituent service. I’ve enjoyed working with her on critical issues facing our state, such as supporting the Rock Island Arsenal and the agricultural community, protecting roadside first responders and making sure that National Guard troops receive the pay they earned. I have no doubt she will continue to get results for her district over the remainder of her term. I thank her for her leadership and know that we will miss her voice in the next Congress even as I am confident that she will continue to serve the Illinois community in the years to come.”
IDCCA…
Today Congresswoman Cheri Bustos (IL 17th) announced her intention to not seek reelection in 2022. IDCCA President Kristina Zahorik released the following statement:
“Cheri Bustos is a genuine and caring person. Her commitment to her district is unparalleled, particularly to the hard-working middle class and rural communities. The “Cheri on Shift” program showed she was willing to roll up her sleeves and walk a mile in her constituents’ shoes. On behalf of all 102 County Democratic Party Chairs, I would like to personally thank Cheri for her service and commitment to Illinois.”
“I also applaud her early drive to train the next generation of Democrats through her Build the Bench series. The IDCCA was proud to partner with her. Build the Bench trained hundreds of Democratic candidates who have gone on to be elected throughout Illinois. We are grateful for her leadership and look forward to seeing what she has in store next.”
Sen. Durbin…
Following is a statement from Sen. Dick Durbin in response to U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos’ announcement that she would be retiring as Representative of the 17th Congressional District:
“When Cheri Bustos called last night to tell me her decision, I knew we were losing one of our best. She is honest, effective, and part of the new wave of women changing Washington.
“And for Loretta and me, her departure is personal. We have known her all of her life and we were proud to help launch her political career.
“Whatever her next choice in life, we know she will be a positive force for change.”
BFC…
Today, IWIL Training Academy President Barbara Flynn Currie released the following statement on the retirement of Congresswoman Cheri Bustos (IWIL Class of 2006) at the end of her current term in Congress.
“This past Wednesday, Americans witnessed a historic moment as the first woman Vice President and first woman Speaker of the House stood behind the President of the United States during an address to Congress. Without the tireless leadership of Congresswoman Cheri Bustos, that moment would not have been possible. She is a shining example of the hope and possibility we believe exists in all of our alumnae. Congresswoman Bustos has made the supporters who make our program possible and the enormous community in our state who fights to level the playing field for women in public life very proud.
Illinois Women’s Institute for Leadership Training Academy congratulates her on her service to this country and to the people of Illinois’ 17th District. We look forward to following Congresswoman Bustos as she embarks on the newest chapter in her life of service when she completes her term in 2023.”
Comptroller Mendoza…
Congresswoman Cheri Bustos leaves on top after a decade representing northwest Illinois. I had the honor of serving with Representative Bustos on the Anti-Harassment, Equality, and Access Panel and her insights and leadership were invaluable. Of course her colleagues chose her to lead their re-election efforts in the last cycle because she has won their trust and admiration. Wherever she goes next, I’m sure she will continue to make Illinois proud. Thank you for your decade of dedicated service to Illinois!
A “ransomware” group potentially linked to Russia has uploaded to a website scores of documents it says were stolen from Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul’s office over two weeks after the state’s top law enforcement officer first reported his office’s computer network was compromised.
Raoul had declined to publicly provide details of the hack, but on Thursday, he issued a follow-up statement, saying his office has set up a toll-free hotline for those seeking more information on the breach, which could include “names, addresses, email addresses, Social Security numbers, health insurance and medical information, tax information, and driver’s license numbers.” […]
The latest announcement comes after the ransomware group DoppelPaymer posted 68 documents it said are from the attorney general’s office, as well as other entities they’ve hit, on a website on which a user can find “private data of the companies which were hacked by DoppelPaymer.”
According to the website, the “companies decided to keep the leakage secret. And now their time to pay is over.”
This happened weeks ago and the AG’s office is only now finally telling the public about a ransomware attack? Before, all they would say was they were hacked.
* From the attorney general…
Attorney General Kwame Raoul today announced the Office of the Attorney General is notifying the public in accordance with state statute, of a ransomware attack that has compromised the office’s network. While the extent of the information compromised is currently under investigation, the Attorney General’s office is launching a toll-free hotline and providing additional information to the public via its website.
The Attorney General’s office, aided by law enforcement and external technology experts, continues to evaluate the full extent of the compromise, including identifying the information that was exposed and what was done with that information. At the same time, work is taking place around the clock to rebuild the office’s network. In the interim, the Attorney General’s office is launching a hotline that will go into operation at 8 a.m. Central time Friday. The Attorney General’s office is providing additional information to answer individuals’ questions and help them protect against identity theft.
“While we do not yet know with certainty what was compromised in the ransomware attack, we are working closely with federal law enforcement authorities and outside technology experts to determine what information was exposed, how this happened, and what we can do to ensure that such a compromise does not happen again,” Raoul said. “This process will take time, but I understand that members of the public may have questions now, which is why I am establishing a toll-free hotline and making information available online. I am committed to transparency throughout this very sensitive process and will continue to provide updates that do not jeopardize the progress of our ongoing investigation or the security of our network.”
What has since been identified as a ransomware attack was initially discovered in the early hours of Saturday, April 10 when employees were unable to access the office’s network. The office launched an immediate investigation and has maintained close contact with federal law enforcement and external technology experts to determine which network components have been compromised. The office has continued regular operations to the extent possible while efforts to rebuild the network are underway.
Illinois statute requires residents to be notified if their information may have been compromised by a data breach. Accordingly, a public notification and answers to frequently asked questions related to the network compromise are now available on the Attorney General’s website. The Attorney General’s office has not yet determined what personal information on its network is impacted. However, information from the public stored on the office’s network includes names, addresses, email addresses, Social Security numbers, health insurance and medical information, tax information, and driver’s license numbers. The Attorney General’s office routinely offers guidance to help residents protect themselves from identity theft, and today’s public notice details steps people can take to protect their identities.
Attorney General Raoul also announced a dedicated toll-free hotline staffed by Rust Consulting Inc., a company that specializes in legal notifications. Beginning Friday, individuals who have questions about the network compromise can call the Attorney General’s Computer Network Compromise Hotline at 1-833-688-1949, Monday through Friday between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Central time.
The Attorney General’s office continues to evaluate the extent of the network compromise by ransomware. Additional details about the compromise and the personal information impacted will be made available on the Attorney General’s website, to the extent possible, upon completion of the office’s internal investigation and its work with law enforcement and external technology experts.
The mayor, meanwhile, wants to keep the decision-making under her purview. The current system makes the mayor accountable for school performance and, in turn, the $500 million the city doles out to CPS. There’s some question about what happens to that $500 million if the mayor isn’t in charge of schools. Would the state pay instead?
This threat was first made shortly before the House passed its bill the other day. So I reached out to the city to ask them for an explanation. I didn’t get a response back until late yesterday afternoon and decided to wait until today.
* From the city…
• The City of Chicago financially subsidizes Chicago Public Schools (CPS) with a variety of direct and indirect supports of students and district operations and has done so for many years.
• The biggest part of these financial subsidies is the contribution that the City is required to make per on behalf of CPS for the employer pension contributions to the Municipal Employees’ Annuity and Benefit Fund of Chicago (MEABF) for their non-teaching staff. This will grow to over $400 million in 2024.
o These financial subsidies are governed by the Pension Code of IL statute.
• The City also financially backs capital projects funded by property tax dollars to modernize CPS buildings.
• The total financial supports are estimated at $326 million in 2021, and will grow to $583 million by 2024.
• These financial supports to CPS will exceed the direct financial support that the state provides to all public universities except the University of Illinois in FY21.
• These are high levels of financial supports, and means that the Mayor needs a stake in the governance of CPS moving forward.
* Um, MEABF was created in 1921, long before the mayor was given complete control of CPS. And the split is 44 percent city employees and 56 percent from the board of education, according to MEABF. Teachers have their own pension fund.
For the city to now say that if the mayor doesn’t get her way then state taxpayers ought to fund city worker pensions (including aldermen) because the city wants to stop paying for something they’ve been responsible for (and grossly underfunded) during the past century is quite something. More details about the fund’s precarious state are here.
And as far as the capital funding goes, the city created that obligation itself.
Martwick pushed back against criticism we wrote about yesterday that an elected school board could eliminate or diminish the power of local school councils or voices of undocumented parents. The LSCs would still be in place, and undocumented parents can be part of them. They can’t, however, vote in general elections so they would be excluded from sitting on the school board. “That’s a separate issue” that would only complicate the bill that’s in play, Martwick said, who thinks LSCs can still flourish under a school board. He added that Latino Caucus members wouldn’t have signed on to support the bill if they thought immigrant voices were stifled. Rep. Delia Ramirez, for example, has carried the House version of the bill.
Martwick also dismissed the idea that an elected school board would prevent the city from paying $500 million it owes to Chicago Public Schools for pensions. Critics of his bill worry that taking the mayor out of the equation to run schools would eliminate accountability for such a payment. Martwick says “that’s what elections are for — to hold people accountable.”
* Also, House Republican Leader Jim Durkin has been one of Mayor Lightfoot’s biggest supporters since her election. The two are personal friends and go way back. Most of his members had long voted for an elected school board, but they flip-flopped this year on Leader Ramirez’s bill.
I asked Durkin’s spokesperson yesterday if the House GOP Leader supports the mayor’s proposal to allow non-citizens to run for school board. I was told that he hasn’t reviewed it yet.
Dear Chairman John Sullivan [at Cresco Labs], Executive Director Pam Althoff and the CBAI Executive Committee:
After being part of the Cannabis Business Association of Illinois since it started six years ago, we have made the decision to withdraw our membership and leave the association as of today.
We do not agree with the direction of the association or the focus that the governing body has established. We believe that expanding industry ownership and opportunity to new and diverse entrepreneurs should be CBAI’s top priority, along with addressing the cultivation side of the Industry. We have fundamental issues with several of the association’s self-interested initiatives. We do not want to be a thorn in CBAI’s side as membership seems aligned with your priorities, or at least willing to go along with them.
Given that Illinois is in the early innings of an adult use program, we expect change ahead. Dina Rollman and I are plugged in and around to help. If you would like to work with Dina on the social equity or cultivation priorities, please be in touch.
In the meantime, we will agree to disagree. Green Thumb’s main priority in Illinois is to increase diversity in ownership and create meaningful economic opportunities for minorities within the cannabis industry. I believe that if you talk the talk, you must the walk the walk. There is virtually no minority representation in our cannabis business community and our team is going to focus on being part of the solution. We believe Illinois still has the chance to lead by example.
Respectfully,
Ben Kovler
CEO
Green Thumb Industries
The House Executive Committee is meeting this morning, so this should make things interesting.
* I’m told that Kovler is legit and is a major believer in equity. From his Twitter account…
Illinois needs leadership. The Governor's office punts all responsibility, looks to lawmakers to solve the problem the executive branch created.
"Pritzker's office did not respond to a request for comment."
* A provision in state law forbids new cannabis dispensaries from being located less than 1,500 feet to an existing dispensary. This has created what advocates and people like Kovler are calling “social equity exclusion zones.” Check ‘em out…
The Cannabis Business Association of Illinois believes social equity licenses must be issued as soon as possible and the General Assembly should focus on ensuring any change to cannabis law puts awards for social equity applicants at the forefront. This is no time for distractions. We have made clear that any negotiations on the law should occur between the General Assembly and the social equity applicants who have had their lives on hold waiting for licenses to be awarded.
CBAI has taken decisive action to ensure that social equity applicants have the best chance of success entering the marketplace:
• The CBAI Minority Access Committee, wholly comprised of social equity applicants, is negotiating with members of the General Assembly and other social equity groups on the association’s behalf for legislation that advances the interests of minority applicants.
• CBAI prioritizes issuing licenses to social equity applicants above all other changes in cannabis law, and continues to call on the Pritzker administration to focus its efforts on getting licenses into the hands of those the law was designed to help.
• CBAI has called for the State of Illinois to reimburse social equity applicants for costs associated with the delay in awarding licenses.
• CBAI incubates, coaches and mentors social equity applicants and established the Minority Business Associate Membership to give minorities a stronger voice in our association and in the industry statewide.
From the moment the cannabis bill became law, CBAI has advocated for policies that provide greater ownership opportunities for minority cannabis entrepreneurs, including set-aside licenses, innovative incubation and co-location programs, and omnibus legislative packages that would move the state forward on awarding social equity licenses.
A scathing independent report on last fall’s COVID-19 outbreak at the LaSalle Veterans Home that led to 36 deaths details systemic mismanagement from the top of the Illinois Veterans Affairs department down to the home’s leadership, which created an “inefficient, reactive and chaotic” response to controlling the virus.
The 50-page report from the Illinois Department of Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General and the law firm of Armstrong Teasdale, released Friday, says then-VA Director Linda Chapa LaVia “abdicated” her responsibilities, leaving things to a nonmedical chief of staff who preferred to let each home manage itself while issuing rules contradictory to health guidelines and failing to seek outside help as the outbreak grew.
Chapa LaVia, a former Democratic state representative from Aurora, resigned as state VA director in January and did not agree to be interviewed for the report. Her chief of staff, Anthony Kolbeck, submitted his resignation last week.
The report also portrays the home’s former administrator, Angela Mehlbrech, who the governor fired in December, as detached from her staff, and the home’s infectious control nurse as overburdened and “over his skis.”
It cites a lack of planning, training and communications at the home that resulted in the failure of contact tracing among COVID-19-positive employees, improper use of protective gear and a screening desk that was “frequently left vacated.”
Former IDVA Director Linda Chapa LaVia, who resigned in January after making a “mutual decision” with Pritzker, is characterized as a largely absentee agency head in the report. According to interviews cited by investigators, Chapa LaVia “was not a hands-on or engaged day-to-day Director.” Instead, Chapa LaVia’s chief of staff Tony Kolbeck essentially ran the department — a notion Kolbeck himself acknowledged, according to the report.
Pritzker’s office and IDVA’s new acting director, appointed April 1, stressed Friday that many of the suggested fixes contained in the report have already been implemented even before receiving the final report Monday, or are in the process of remedying. Earlier this month, the family of a 90-year-old Korean War veteran who died in November sued the state for $2 million.
While the report places blame on Kolbeck’s shoulders for many decisions, it also notes several times that he was attempting to do the jobs of three people: his own chief of staff role, Chapa LaVia’s director role and a job overseeing the state’s four veterans homes — a position that has been vacant since 2019.
The report’s release roughly coincides with Kolbeck’s resignation, Pritzker’s office confirmed, though he’ll stay on for a two-week transition period.
Consistent statewide procedures and ongoing drills that target infection response and other emergencies will be routine at Illinois veterans’ homes after COVID-19 caught the LaSalle Veterans’ Home unprepared and claimed 36 lives last fall, the state’s newly appointed director said.
Terry Prince, a 31-year Navy veteran and former senior adviser to the U.S. Surgeon General, has issued a six-point plan for improving readiness at the state’s veterans’ homes in Anna, Manteno, Quincy and LaSalle. The plan follows a blistering investigative report that laid out a string of miscommunications, lax policy and missed opportunities when the pandemic hit the home in LaSalle, 94 miles west of Chicago.
The report by the inspector general of the Illinois Department of Human Services, released Friday, noted that despite escaping all traces of the deadly respiratory illness for eight months after it entered Illinois, there was little done to devise protocols for preventing or managing infections. After the first four cases were reported Nov. 1, the virus spread to 60 residents and 43 employees as confused staff operated in an environment that was “inefficient, reactive and chaotic,” the report said.
“We need to train as if it’s always happening,” said Prince, who arrived in Illinois on April 1 from his post as superintendent of the Ohio Veterans Homes, where he administered three facilities. “When there is an absence of the virus we train even harder, so that when something does come to fruition, our people know exactly what to do and how to do it.”
The report is here. The IDVA press release is here. The IDVA acting director’s path forward is here. Subscribers have more.
…Adding… Sen. Sue Rezin represents LaSalle County…
This morning the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) for the Illinois Department of Human Services released their investigation report on the COVID-19 outbreak at the LaSalle Veterans’ Home. State Senator Sue Rezin (R-Morris) releases the following statement about the report:
“The veterans who died as well as many of the family members who were directly impacted by the deadliest outbreak at a state facility in Illinois are my constituents. While I am still reviewing the OIG report in detail, it’s clear that the Administration has failed these individuals.
“The report reveals a lack of direction from the Governor’s office and department directors. One notable failure is the fact that the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs didn’t learn from previous outbreaks at facilities and did not implement recommendations that could have helped prevent this tragedy. The lack of action by the department is the reason why I filed legislation in February that would require the state to implement the findings of the Quincy Veterans’ Home Audit.
“The Illinois General Assembly must hold legislative hearings to discuss the findings of today’s report and we must pass legislation that ensures that we implement potential lifesaving policies.”
…Adding… Rep. Stephanie Kifowit…
The Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs (IDVA) today released an independent report that was requested to fully investigate the COVID-19 outbreak at the LaSalle Veterans home that resulted in more than 200 Veterans and staff at the Home testing positive for the virus, and 36 Veteran deaths. State Representative Stephanie Kifowit (D-Oswego), who is also a Veteran and Chair of the IL House Veterans’ Affairs Committee released the following statement:
“As an Honorably discharged Veteran of the US Marine Corps, I am beyond disgusted by the findings in this report. It confirms the suspicions of not only myself, but other members of the committee, of the failure in leadership of the IL Department of Veterans Affairs that we witnessed in over four hours of hearings that were held in 2020,” stated Representative Kifowit.
“Throughout the outbreak at the LaSalle Veterans Home, dedicated staff were reaching out to me directly with serious concerns and fear for the safety of our decorated Veterans who trust Illinois with their welfare. The genuine care of the rank-and-file staff was always shown to me of their devotion and sincerity for our Veterans, but the lack of protocols, leadership and structure on the department level let down our Veterans and the staff that care for them,” stated Kifowit.
The nearly 50-page report, released early Friday morning, details the multitude of failures by IDVA management staff and executive leadership. The report found “inadequate leadership and structure within the Home and IDVA resulted in the Home’s failure to adequately meet the increased expectations caused by the pandemic”. The report, link to the full report is here, found the following contributing factors:
• Lack of a comprehensive COVID-19 plan at the Home
• Leadership failed to effectively communicate, train and educate its employees on the dangers of COVID-19 and necessary precautions
• No established COVID-19 task force or committee for managing and monitoring COVID-19
• IDVA’s executive leadership team also contributed to the Home’s failed COVID-19 response.
“The past failures of IDVA, from the outbreak at Quincy, computer malfunctions for months affecting Veteran’s claims, an assistant Director being accused of sexual harassment and racism and now the deadly outbreak of COVID-19 at LaSalle are the reasons I passed HB359, creating the Veterans Accountability Unit for Veterans and their families that is independent of IDVA and will hold the department accountable.
“I look forward to working with Acting IDVA Director Terry Prince, a 31-year Navy Veteran with the experience in military and Veterans’ medical care that the department needs to ensure that the state of Illinois has a department that not only our Veterans and their families, but all Illinoisans can be proud of.”
State Representative Stephanie Kifowit is an honorably discharged Veteran of the United States Marine Corps and has served as the Chair of Veterans Affairs since 2019. She was first elected to the Illinois House of Representatives in 2013 and is currently also the Chair of State Government Administration, Vice Chair of General Services Appropriations and a member of the Public Utilities and Revenue and Finance Committees.
* Rep. Yednock…
State Rep. Lance Yednock, D-Ottawa, issued the following statement on Friday in regard to the release of the Illinois Department of Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General and the law firm of Armstrong Teasdale’s report on last fall’s COVID-19 outbreak at the LaSalle Veterans’ Home:
“After reviewing this report, my heart breaks again for the families who lost loved ones. I feel their pain and share their anger. It’s clear that a failure of proper leadership combined with a series of preventable errors and sheer carelessness led to an unacceptable tragedy.”
“While this report sheds more light on how this tragedy happened, we owe it to those lost and their loved ones to do everything possible to ensure that nothing like it ever occurs again. This starts with putting the proper safeguards and plans in place for all veterans’ homes and ensuring those that failed to take action are held responsible.”
* Sen. Cullerton…
Following the release of a report from the Office of the Inspector General on the COVID-19 outbreak at the state-run LaSalle Veterans Home in November 2020, State Senator Tom Cullerton (D- Villa Park) called for hearings to further investigate the issue, discuss the obvious mistakes that occurred and how to move forward.
“It breaks my heart and I can’t imagine what the loved ones of those lost during this outbreak must be feeling,” said Cullerton, chair of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee. “This report will give me, my colleagues and our veterans’ families an opportunity to seek understanding of what occurred plus offer clarity on what can be done to prevent this situation in the future.”
From late October to December 2020, more than 200 veterans and staff at the LaSalle Veterans Home tested positive for COVID-19, resulting in 36 deaths. When the state learned of the outbreak, the Veterans Affairs Committee held multiple hearings with witnesses from the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs (IDVA) and the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) to determine what went wrong.
Following the outbreak, IDVA director Linda Chapa LaVia stepped down and was replaced by Terry Prince, a 31-year Navy veteran who was also superintendent of the Ohio Veterans’ Homes, as acting IDVA director.
“Now that this report is out, we will hold hearings with the Veterans Affairs Committee to discuss these findings,” Cullerton said. “It is incredibly important that legislators have the opportunity to ask questions on this report. I spoke with the Governor this morning plus IDVA Director Prince late last night and was assured their teams would be helpful and responsive during these hearings. We can never bring these veterans back, but we can find answers. We owe it to their families and the veteran community to provide transparency and assurances that we cannot let this happen again.
Friday, Apr 30, 2021 - Posted by Advertising Department
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