According to several sources, the Illinois High School Association will announce Wednesday that the basketball season can start as scheduled. It’s a totally unexpected move that directly contradicts the guidelines Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Public Health outlined on Tuesday. […]
“After diligent discussion, the Board has made the decision today to follow the recommendation of the IHSA SMAC as it relates to basketball,” IHSA spokesperson Matt Troha wrote in an email to athletic directors. “The Board remains considerate of rising COVID-19 cases in Illinois and understand the importance of adhering to safety guidelines for the good of all citizens. However, the Board has not been presented any causal evidence that rising COVID-19 cases make basketball more dangerous to play by the IDPH or any other health organization nationally or internationally.”
The email says the IHSA will “allow local school officials to make decisions related to participation.”
The disagreement between the IHSA and the governor/IDPH likely means the final decision will come down to the individual school districts. Theoretically the school districts would open themselves up to tremendous liability by playing against the guidelines of the governor and the IDPH.
*** UPDATE 1 *** Gov. Pritzker was asked about this today…
We’ve told school districts what the rules are and I think they all know. The IHSA may have their views on it but school districts know what the rules are and I think that it’s unfortunate, but they would be probably taking on legal liability if they went ahead and move beyond what the state has said is the mitigation standard.
The Illinois High School Association recently announced its intention to move forward with the regularly scheduled basketball season, in contradiction to public health guidance. As COVID-19 cases rise across the State, the importance of following public health guidance has only increased.
We recognize the value of sports in students’ lives and share your hope that students can return safely to play this school year. However, at this moment, we urge you to prioritize health and safety, and to returning the 1.76 million students currently learning remotely to the classroom.
The parents and families of Illinois have trusted us as leaders not only with the education of their children but with their health and safety while in our care. Public health experts have determined that basketball poses a high risk of COVID-19 transmission and is not currently safe to play.
Defying the state’s public health guidance opens schools up to liability and other ramifications that may negatively impact school communities.
Our Illinois schools and communities are safer when we work together in support of public health standards. We are relying on superintendents and school leaders to make responsible choices to protect health and safety and to focus on bringing all of our students back to the classroom.
Chicago health officials released staggering numbers Tuesday that show just how quickly the coronavirus is spreading in the city, with one estimate indicating that more than 57,000 residents could currently be infected with the virus.
During a weekly press conference discussing the city’s latest travel restrictions, Dr. Allison Arwady, the director of the Chicago Department of Public Health, said that approximately 8,213 Chicago residents have been diagnosed with COVID-19, and are currently considered to be “active” cases.
Those numbers are already high, but city health experts fear the virus could be even more widespread than that. According to Arwady, officials believe there could be between five and seven times as many active cases as are currently being reported, due to residents who haven’t been tested or who aren’t showing symptoms.
Gov. JB Pritzker said the mitigations were triggered in Chicago by seven straight days of hospital admission increases and eight consecutive days of rising test positivity. In Chicago, the number of non-ICU patients is up 72% since late September and the number of those in ICU is up 56% since October 1.
Chicago’s top public health official seemed to anticipate the move before the governor’s announcement.
“If the governor makes this decision, we will obviously support it,” Dr. Allison Arwady said earlier on Tuesday. “The numbers that we have seen here give me no reason to think that this is not imminent.”
But the mayor and her top doc were clearly not on the same page. Click here for more on that.
In July, the Illinois Department of Health published its Restore Illinois Resurgence Plan, which laid out the metrics that would trigger restrictions on nonessential businesses and gatherings.
Pritzker’s actions on Tuesday followed that plan, and it was unclear why Lightfoot and her administration did not understand the metrics it details. […]
Hours after Lightfoot told reporters on Oct. 19 that she didn’t “think there is a cause and effect” between the surge in confirmed cases of the coronavirus and bars and restaurants, Pritzker told the news media he was confident there was a causal relationship between the fast spread of the virus and indoor dining and drinking.
Two days later, Lightfoot acknowledged that the risk of getting COVID-19 is “greatest” at bars and restaurants, “because people gather, they take their masks off, they have a drink, they socialize, they talk.”
That group could eventually include more than 7,500 restaurants statewide, according to Illinois Restaurant Association President Sam Toia, who said he raised his estimate to almost a third of the industry that could be sunk in part due to the governor’s “extreme” measures.
“Why the full shutdown? At least let us try 25% capacity,” Toia said. “We know how to do this right — masking, social distancing and sanitizing. Any business doing it right should be kept open, and any one that isn’t should be shut down. We don’t understand why the restaurants are the only ones affected.”
The rules issued by Pritzker, who has cited studies suggesting bars and restaurants are “super spreading” sites, also mean other city gatherings will be limited to 25 people or 25% of room capacity.
The Democratic governor noted Chicago is averaging twice as many COVID-19 hospital admissions per day compared to a month ago, while its average seven-day testing positivity rate has almost doubled since the beginning of October.
* Jamie Munks, Gregory Pratt and Dan Petrella at the Tribune…
Late last month, Lightfoot cited a decrease in COVID-19 cases as she allowed bars that don’t serve food to reopen for indoor drinking. She also eased rules on restaurants, gyms and other retailers, allowing them to increase capacity. The changes were Lightfoot’s attempt to ease the financial burden on Chicago businesses by lifting frequently criticized restrictions.
But they also came as the number of new COVID-19 cases per day was hovering around 300, well above the 200-case threshold the mayor set months ago as a goal before moderating restrictions.
Chicago now is averaging nearly 800 new cases a day, Arwady said. To put it into perspective, she said 400 was a level of concern and 200 was the level the city wanted to stay under.
So, Toia does have a decent point. Chicago restaurants were limited to 25 percent capacity until the end of September, when the mayor upped the cap and then the spread greatly intensified. But whether reverting back to that 25 percent limit would actually drive numbers back down is another story. I hope to ask that question of the governor today.
*** UPDATE *** Inevitable…
Mayor Lori Lightfoot's dropped her challenge to Gov. Pritzker's ban on indoor dining and bars. She didn't have a lot of options, even though she was upset with the governor's plan.
Today, Betsy Dirksen Londrigan’s campaign released its 11th television ad, “Truth,” which lays out the repeated fact checks of Congressman Rodney Davis’ lies. Multiple independent fact checks have called Davis’ ads and claims false, yet he continues to fill the airwaves with lies about Betsy as well as his disastrous health care record.
The KMOV fact check found Davis’ claim that Betsy Dirksen Londrigan is lying about not taking any money from Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan and that Madigan spent nearly $300,000 to elect Dirksen Londrigan is “false.” The $300,000 Davis refers to is from the Democratic Party of Illinois, a group dedicated to electing Democrats to office in Illinois.
Davis also lied about Dirksen Londrigan breaking her promise not to accept corporate dollars, another claim KMOV confirmed is “false.” Unlike Davis, who has accepted more than $3 million in corporate PAC money, Dirksen Londrigan is refusing to accept corporate PAC money, now or when in Congress, so she won’t be beholden to anyone except the Central Illinois families she represents.
A separate fact check from WGLT also confirmed that Davis voted 11 times to repeal the Affordable Care Act without a replacement despite his repeated false claims to the contrary. Repealing the Affordable Care Act would strip health care coverage from millions, including more than 31,000 in the 13th District, and remove protections from more than 282,500 13th District residents with pre-existing conditions.
“After all the ads, you deserve to know the truth,” said the narrator. “Independent fact checkers say Rodney Davis’ attacks against Betsy Londrigan just aren’t true. … The truth: Mike Madigan is not funding Londrigan’s campaign. Davis is also lying about his record on health care. “Davis voted 11 times to repeal the Affordable Care Act with no replacement.””
“Trump Campaign Co-Chair Rodney Davis is taking a page out of the Trump Playbook by doubling down even after being called out repeatedly for his lies by independent fact checks,” said campaign spokeswoman Eliza Glezer. “Davis doesn’t want to run on his horrible health record so he’s resorting to lying to his constituents about his opponent and his disastrous record. Central Illinois families can’t trust Rodney Davis.”
Betsy: I’m Betsy Londrigan and I approve this message.
Narrator: After all the ads, you deserve to know the truth.
Independent fact checkers say Rodney Davis’ attacks against Betsy Londrigan just aren’t true.
Reporter: That claim is false… That claim is false.
Narrator: The truth: Mike Madigan is not funding Londrigan’s campaign.
Davis is also lying about his record on health care.
“Davis voted 11 times to repeal the Affordable Care Act with no replacement.”
We can’t trust Rodney Davis.
* Meanwhile…
Yet another independent fact checker has confirmed that the false claims in Betsy Londrigan’s attack ad featuring the former owner of the Feed Store are not true. In a tweet, WCIA’s Mark Maxwell said the claims in Londrigan’s “misleading attack ad” are “baseless” and “false.”
From WCIA:
Richardson said the Londrigan campaign “called up and asked if we’d be willing to make that ad, and explained what the subject was, so I thought about it for about a day or so and said, ‘sure, yeah.’”
Londrigan’s campaign did not make a strategist or advertising consultant available for an interview, but the campaign acknowledged the ad’s message was crafted to connect with voters who are frustrated with the economic fallout from the pandemic.
“The PPP loan program was supposed to be a lifeline for small businesses, but we got the run around while political insiders got the money first, and funds ran out,” Richardson said in the ad.
Fact check: PPP funds were quickly replenished, and while the application window has closed, the program still has available funds remaining. The temporary lack of funding did not prevent Richardson from applying for a loan. There’s no evidence Davis ever tipped the scales in favor of his brother’s company or against any other company.
“Rodney Davis’s family got to the front of the line for a million dollar payout, and he voted to keep it secret while businesses like ours suffered,” Richardson says.
Fact check: Several hundred thousand companies successfully applied for wildly popular COVID-19 relief loans within the first few days of the program’s opening. There is no evidence the Congressman’s influence expedited their application or slowed down anyone else’s.
The Londrigan campaign cites a vote on House Resolution 6782 to support their claim that “he voted to keep it secret.”
Fact check: The text of that bill would have only required loans worth more than $2 million to be publicly disclosed, and would not have applied to the loan in question.
The Davis campaign says the political attack ad is “absurd” and “dishonest.”
WCIA video: Fact check: Davis never voted to keep brother’s loan “a secret”
Last week, KMOV called the false claims in a similar TV ad from the Londrigan campaign “misleading” and also said “there is no evidence showing Rep. Rodney Davis had anything to do with his family getting PPP.” The Illinois Times also reported, “There also is no proof that the congressman’s family was treated any differently than anyone else…”
*** UPDATE 1 *** Congressional Leadership Fund is up with a new ad…
*** UPDATE 2 *** Congressman Davis…
Today, Rodney Davis’ campaign for Congress released two new ads, “No Proof” and “Very Best.” The first ad, “No Proof,” highlights independent fact checks of Betsy Londrigan’s lies about Rodney Davis and his family, and also highlights Rodney’s support for the bipartisan Paycheck Protection Program.
The second ad, “Very Best,” highlights Londrigan’s close ties to Mike Madigan and Rodney’s bipartisan work to lower healthcare costs, protect pre-existing condition coverage, and support small business.
More than 124,000 hours of overtime, equaling more than $6.4 million.
That is what has been dished out to employees of the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) because of the increased need for their services.
Representatives from around Illinois on both sides of the aisle say 124,000 hours of overtime in nine months is not sustainable.
Rep. Kathy Willis, D-Northlake, said it is not fair to the employees or the people of Illinois.
However, IDES said they really had no other option. […]
Willis said the crux of this issue is the lack of employees that the department has. She said with all of this overtime, more progress should have been made thus far.
Discuss.
…Adding… Rep. Willis in comments…
Want to add something that i actually said in the interview that conveniently got cut… I actually thanked the employees that were willing to work the overtime to help the people that needed unemployment help. I also mentioned that having people work such long hours of overtime that adds to the stress of their job and again how the employees were willing to step up and work through the back log.
