Chicago city employees who fail to report their vaccination status by Oct. 15 will be placed in a “non-disciplinary, no-pay status,” but there will be a testing option for those who haven’t gotten the coronavirus vaccine.
After weeks of confusion and united opposition from police unions, Mayor Lori Lightfoot finally announced the testing option that Fraternal Order Police President John Catanzara told his members about one week ago.
“Employees who are not fully vaccinated by October 15, 2021, including employees who have received an approved medical or religious exemption, must undergo COVID-19 testing on a twice weekly basis with tests separated by 3-4 days,” the policy states.
“Employees are responsible for obtaining those tests on their own time and at their own expense, if any, and for reporting those results to the city,” it says. “The testing option will only be available through December 31, 2021. Thereafter, employees will be required to be fully vaccinated unless they have received an approved medical or religious exemption.” […]
“Employees who fail to report their vaccination status by October 15, 2021 will be placed in a non-disciplinary, no-pay status. Disciplinary action may also be taken against employees who fail to report their status as required by the policy” on the city’s vaccine portal, the policy states.
[River Trails School District 26, Superintendent Nancy Wagner], said she remains optimistic that potential employees will be attracted to the district’s benefits package and friendly, neighborhood work environment.
“We’re advertising, and doing everything we can, but part of the problem is some of these jobs don’t pay as well as what some local restaurants are offering,” said Wagner, who recalled seeing a sign posted in front of a nearby restaurant, promising wages of $17 an hour.
“All of our full-time employees get health insurance, so we’re hoping that might be enough of an impetus to apply,” Wagner said, adding: “But some applicants have said they’d need their whole paycheck just to pay for day care. It looks like it’s going to be a really tough year.”
One reason America’s employers are having trouble filling jobs was starkly illustrated in a report Tuesday: Americans are quitting in droves.
The Labor Department said that quits jumped to 4.3 million in August, the highest on records dating back to December 2000, and up from 4 million in July. That’s equivalent to nearly 3% of the workforce. Hiring also slowed in August, the report showed, and the number of jobs available fell to 10.4 million, from a record high of 11.1 million the previous month.
The jump in quits strongly suggests that fear of the delta variant is partly responsible for the shortfall in workers. In addition to driving quits, fear of the disease probably caused plenty of those out of work to not look for, or take, jobs.
As COVID-19 cases surged in August, quits soared in restaurants and hotels from the previous month and rose in other public-facing jobs, such as retail and education. Nearly 900,000 people left jobs at restaurants, bars, and hotels in August, up 21% from July. Quits by retail workers rose 6%.
* And, finally, is there something that Dr. Ezike can’t do?…
Over 10,000 tennis players across 668 teams participated this year in the quest for the USTA National Championships. And who won?
Team Illinois! Congrats to the entire team, including @IDPH’s very own Dr. Ezike, on this incredible feat. We’re so proud of you. 🏆🎾 pic.twitter.com/p0uNEpO0AB
Heyworth schools are taking an “adaptive pause” and returning to remote learning this week amid rising COVID-19 cases and staffing shortages.
“Staffing and substitute shortages have been a challenge all school year, and the issue is heightened when we have multiple staff missing for extended periods of time,” Superintendent Lisa Taylor told The Pantagraph on Tuesday.
In a social media post Monday after students were off for the Columbus Day holiday, Taylor said students would not have homework Tuesday and would begin working in the remote learning schedule Wednesday.
* The ADL describes Nicholas Fuentes as a “white supremacist leader and organizer and podcaster who seeks to forge a white nationalist alternative to the mainstream GOP.” He was a featured speaker at the “We Will Not Comply” (with COVID mandates) rally in Springfield last weekend. If any reporters showed up, they didn’t write about it that I could find. Here’s his 37-minute speech in full, but just remember what type of person this is before clicking play…
The frantic chanting of “Christ is king!” was particularly repulsive.
The closing speaker, Nick Fuentes, a far-right activist, gave them more momentum before they all left; making it well known there is no way he is getting a vaccine.
“They are going to knock my door down, kill my dog and shoot me before I take a COVID-19 vaccine,” Fuentes said.
State Senators Chapin Rose (R-Mahomet), John Curran (R-Downers Grove), Jil Tracy (R-Quincy), Steve McClure (R-Springfield), and Brian Stewart (R-Freeport) today unveiled a package of legislation specifically designed to empower law enforcement and other members of the community to take on the crime wave that has enveloped the state.
The legislative package includes:
Fund the Police Act
· SB 2918: Creates Fund the Police Grant Fund with $100,000,000 with appropriations to the ILETSB to make grants to local governments and universities to hire police officers, purchasing equipment designed to prevent gang violence, motor vehicle theft, carjacking, or sale of contraband, and training for law enforcement in preventing gang violence, motor vehicle theft, carjacking, or the sale of contraband. This includes mental health, hiring and retention incentives, and overtime.
Eliminate Good Time for Weapons Offenses and Attacks on Law Enforcement Officers
· SB 2916: Requires a defendant who commits Aggravated Battery to a Police Officer to serve at least 85 percent of their sentence.
· SB 2917: Requires a defendant who brings a weapon or contraband into a penal institution serve at least 85 percent of their sentence.
Ending Deadly Delay
· SB 2927: Requires Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority to track gun crimes by convicted felons. Amended to include real time reporting by county of gun offenses charged and outcome of the case.
· SB 2926: Gun Crime Charging and Sentencing Accountability and Transparency Act. Requires State’s Attorneys to provide written justification when a weapons offense is plea bargained down to a lesser offense or non-weapons offense. Similarly, in imposing a sentence, the judge shall set forth in a written sentencing order his/her reasons for imposing the sentence or accepting the plea agreement.
· SB 2924: Allows a school or school district to employ qualified retired law enforcement officers to carry out the duties of a school resource officer.
Getting Serious on Gun Crime:
· SB 2928: ‘10 and life’ for violent firearms offenses. First time conviction of the following offenses receives a mandatory 10-year sentence, second offense receives life sentence.
o Aggravated Discharge of a Firearm.
o Use of a stolen or illegally acquired firearm in the commission of an offense.
o Unlawful use or possession of weapons by felons.
o Armed Habitual Criminal.
o Aggravated Vehicular Hijacking, or Aggravated Carjacking.
· SB 2925: Mandatory minimum penalty for Gun trafficking/Straw purchases. Imposes a 10-year minimum on those who sell or give a firearm to a convicted felon.
Juvenile Court Reforms:
· SB 2929: Juvenile commitment to the Department of Juvenile Justice for use or discharge of a firearm in a school that results in bodily injury or death to any person.
· SB 2923: Restore offenses of aggravated vehicular hijacking and armed robbery committed by juveniles with a firearm to the automatic transfer provisions of adult court.
· SB 2922: Prevent “catch and release” of juvenile carjackers by requiring a shelter care hearing to determine if it is safe to release the juvenile or continue holding until the adjudicatory hearing.
Bail Reform:
· SB 2020: Deny bail for previously convicted gun offenders or a felon charged with a gun offense.
· SB 2921: Adds violation of bail bond, escape, and aggravated fleeing and attempting to elude to the more serious “Category A” bond provisions.
· SB 2919: Allows counties to opt out of Bail Reform Act provisions if county board adopts a resolution to do so.
Mental Health Reform:
SB 1649: Amends the Community Mental Health Act. Provides that upon receipt of all the annual moneys collected from the tax levied under the Act, each governmental unit that levies that tax shall immediately deposit 20% of those moneys into a special fund directly controlled by the county sheriff to be used for mental health services within the county jail.
“The people of Illinois need action right now,” said Rose. “We are demanding that Senate President Harmon (D-Oak Park) call these bills for a full vote of the Senate this veto session.”
All bills have been filed and language can be found here. The legislation will show up www.ilga.gov after the next perfunctory session.
In addition to calling for $100 million in funding for police training, overtime, and retention incentives, Rose wants to make the sentencing guidelines stricter and simpler for criminals convicted on felony gun charges. His proposal would impose 10-year sentences for first-time felony firearm offenders, and a life sentence for repeat offenders.
“I wish it was that simple,” Champaign County State’s Attorney Julia Rietz responded. “I don’t think we need any stiffer penalties.”
Rietz said it’s often a lack of hard evidence, not lenient laws, that allows violent criminals to go free. She called for greater resources to fund street surveillance cameras and lab equipment to process evidence. […]
She described difficult cases with scant evidence as a “poker game” where the suspect is playing a hand and betting the government doesn’t have a strong case. She scoffed at Rose’s proposal that would require prosecutors to show their hand and justify any plea bargains in writing, warning such a requirement could backfire and put cooperating witnesses in harm’s way.
Rose said his plan would “require any State’s Attorney in this state who plea bargains down a gun crime to put it in writing so the citizens who elect them will be able to hold them accountable for the decisions they made.”
“He should know better,” Rietz said, referring to Rose’s prior work as a traffic court prosecutor.
“I was a prosecutor and I wouldn’t have liked that at the time,” Rose acknowledged, “but you know what, it’s the right thing to do. People are sick and tired of the plea bargain nonsense that’s leaving people to shoot buses on our streets.”
Also, none of the bills were amended onto existing legislation, which would make their passage difficult in the veto session even if the majority wanted to go along. And the majority obviously does not…
Rose’s plan would allow counties to opt out of ending cash bail if the county board adopts a resolution supporting it. That plan was not well-received by Senate Democrats, who hold a supermajority in the chamber.
“This is not a solution,” Senator Robert Peters (D-Chicago) responded. “This is dog whistle politics from people who just like to round up poor people. They don’t know what they’re talking about.”
* From the governor’s office…
Since taking office, Governor Pritzker has worked to rebuild the hollowed out government left by his predecessor Bruce Rauner. Over the last three years, the state has invested record amounts of funding into gun violence prevention programs, increased investments in social services like mental health and substance abuse treatment and prioritized investments in communities grappling with higher crime rates because of years of disinvestment. On top of rebuilding our social safety net, the budgets signed by Gov. Pritzker have provided hundreds of millions of additional dollars to local governments to support communities. Those same budgets, that Republicans voted against, included funding for multiple new cadet classes to help Illinois State Police restore their hollowed out ranks. A new crime lab that will provide quicker evidence processing is being built with Rebuild Illinois funding signed into law by Gov. Pritzker. Republicans voted against increased funding for training and mental health assistance for officers across the state and have opposed criminal justice reforms that will make our criminal justice system equitable. Spewing rhetoric is easy, taking the votes to support the public policy you claim to care about are what matter. The Senate Republicans have shown us time and time again they care more about getting headlines than supporting solutions.
*** UPDATE *** From the Senate Republicans…
Sen. Rose and his colleagues just unveiled several actual solutions to the current uptick in violent crime with actual legislation filed in the General Assembly – not the media. If the Administration and Democratic Majorities are truly serious about addressing violent crime in Illinois, they can prove it by calling for the package to be heard in committee and voted on in the General Assembly this month. While they may not agree with all proposals, allowing the bills to be heard is an opportunity for both Democrats and Republicans to discuss and debate solutions to these very real problems. As they said, spewing rhetoric is easy, taking the votes to support public policy you claim to care about are what matter.
* If nothing else, you should read all of this Michael Hawthorne story for a glimpse at how the IEPA is so regularly worthless…
Operators of a southern Illinois coal mine dumped toxic foam deep underground in an unsuccessful attempt to extinguish a fire that idled production last month, according to documents obtained by the Chicago Tribune.
The type of foam used by St. Louis-based Foresight Energy is being phased out in Illinois and 11 other states under laws that for the first time restrict unregulated chemicals known as PFAS — shorthand for perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances.
PFAS are a growing concern worldwide because they remain in the environment forever, linger in the blood of exposed people for years and trigger several health problems, including cancer, liver damage and decreased fertility.
One of Foresight’s lawyers told state officials the foam used at the Sugar Camp complex was biodegradable and would not harm fish or wildlife. But inspectors later determined the company had pumped more than 46,000 gallons of PFAS-laden foam into the mine, raising the possibility that nearby private wells and other sources of drinking water could be contaminated.
Company officials also hired contractors to drill boreholes into the mine without a permit, records show. One of the boreholes is close to a creek where testing this month by the Illinois Environmental Protection detected high levels of PFAS. […]
Nearly all of Foresight’s coal is shipped to other states and countries. The company cuts costs by relying on longwall mining, a process that uses robotic equipment rather than people to do most of the work.
…Adding… IEPA…
Illinois EPA received an incident report from the National Response Center on September 1, 2021, that firefighting foam possibly containing PFAS was seen in surface water in an unnamed creek near the mine. On that day, the Illinois EPA began an investigation which included onsite inspection and collection of samples. Following the receipt of sample results, the Illinois EPA initiated an enforcement action against Foresight Energy.
The Illinois EPA has no role or authority to dictate how a fire, either above or below ground, is to be handled, including what type of firefighting tools or materials are used in the process. Banning specific tools or materials would need to be done via state or federal law. While there is currently no prohibition in Illinois on the use of aqueous firefighting foam (AFFF) containing per-and polyfluoralkyl substances (PFAS) in emergency incidents, the Illinois EPA has serious concerns about the potential for environmental and health impacts and is taking a number of steps to address this emerging contaminant. This includes working with the Office of the State Fire Marshal and Illinois Fire Chiefs Association to develop a fact sheet for first responders, finalizing a statewide sampling exercise of all 1,749 community water supplies in Illinois to determine PFAS levels, and working to propose statewide standards for PFAS in drinking water and groundwater. The promulgation of water quality standards and drinking water standards for PFAS will place Illinois in a small number of states nationwide that have taken action on their own to further oversight and enforcement of PFAS.
* I got the same information from the Griffin team yesterday…
SPEAKING OF KEN GRIFFIN: His team is doubling down on how he remembers a phone call with Pritzker and other civic leaders talking about violence in the city. Griffin acknowledges Pritzker deployed the National Guard in June 2020 to address violence, but the Citadel CEO called for it again in August 2020 during a phone call with the governor and other civic leaders as crime persisted.
Griffin said Pritzker responded: “It won’t look good for there to be men and women on Michigan Avenue with assault weapons.” The governor’s chief of staff pushed back Monday, saying she was on the call that day and Pritzker “never said that.”
Pritzker’s team does acknowledge that there was a conversation that day about the National Guard, though the exact wording is fuzzy. According to a spokeswoman, the governor reiterated that it’s not his decision alone to call up the Guard — that local officials (the mayor) are part of the decision-making, too.
We put out queries to the other executives on the line — Ariel Investments’ Mellody Hobson, Grosvenor’s Michael Sacks, Cleveland Avenue’s Don Thompson, Motorola’s Greg Brown, UL’s Jennifer Scanlon, Hyatt Corp.’s Mark Hoplamazian, and Pritzker Organization’s Tom Pritzker — and heard only crickets. No one wants to get in between (or sideways with) two billionaires it seems.
I don’t think any Illinois governor has ever called out the National Guard over the opposition of a local mayor. Rod Blagojevich threatened to do it, then backed off. (I’d also point out that those who most often want the National Guard called out are, like Rod, usually just looking for cheap and easy media coverage.)
“When we don’t hear of the need in the city even though we are offering it, then we don’t provide it,” Pritzker said. “You can’t just march people in without coordinating with the Chicago Police Department.”
Exactly. And the mayor controls the CPD.
I told you yesterday that Griffin’s rant was aimed at 2022. This is just more proof. If he was serious about the issue, he’d have publicly spoken up against the mayor last summer.
During Rauner’s single term, funding for violence prevention programs and other social services was cut off as the state went more than two years without a complete budget amid a standoff with the Democratic-controlled legislature over the governor’s pro-business, union-weakening agenda.
“I am very focused on the safety and security of the city of Chicago, the state of Illinois,” Pritzker said. “I’ve increased significantly the resources, trying to build back from what Bruce Rauner did — with the support of Ken Griffin — to our state by increasing dollars to violence interruption, violence prevention programs, by investing in our communities.”
Still, Pritzker said, “we are nearly at a state of emergency in our need to address crime.”
“We are very concerned about it at the state level and providing resources at a local level, not just to Chicago but to Rockford and other places around the state,” Pritzker said. “But we need local leadership, including the corporate leadership, to step up and help our cities.”
…Adding… Just a reminder about how the Chicago news media generally rewards blatant publicity hounds who demand the National Guard be deployed…
The Illinois State Board of Education has quietly changed its process for enforcing the governor’s mask mandate.
As of October 1, non-public schools have a probationary period to regain their recognition if they are noncompliant, as opposed to losing it immediately.
ISBE stated this change on their website, and when we inquired, they told us the goal was to make the enforcement process more equal for public and private schools.
Previously, public districts were put on probation for noncompliance.
Just days after an Illinois judge ruled in favor of a private suburban Christian school whose status was revoked for flouting Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s school mask mandate, the State Board of Education this week changed course on a policy that had instantly labeled noncompliant private schools “nonrecognized,” while granting public schools defying the order a 60-day probation period. […]
Kendall County Judge Stephen Krentz last week ordered ISBE to temporarily reinstate Parkview Christian Academy in Yorkville, which is among the private schools that have recently lost their status and been deemed nonrecognized for refusing to comply with the governor’s school mask order.
In his ruling, Krentz targeted the state board’s separate standards, saying the “guidelines and procedures for recognizing nonpublic schools may necessarily be different than the guidelines for recognizing public schools, but they may not be more burdensome.”
The rules treated the recognition status of public and private schools differently long before COVID-19. Nobody really complained until now.
