* These guys don’t mess around. And now I’m curious what the next escalation is gonna look like…
Gov. Pritzker and AG Raoul Issue Statements on Sterigenics
Stress Risks to Health and Safety of Willowbrook Residents of Continuing Litigation
Statement from Governor JB Pritzker:
“Leader Durkin and other local leaders in the General Assembly were the drafters of Senate Bill 1852, the legislation that imposes the strongest controls on ethylene oxide in the nation. My office made it clear to the legislators that I was – and remain – willing to sign the strongest possible legislation that they can pass. I share the community’s concerns and their health and safety is my top priority. This morning, I spoke with Leader Durkin and I emphasized, based on conversations with the Attorney General, the potential danger to the health and safety of the residents of Willowbrook involved in further litigation, which would not have achieved the same level of protection as the consent order. Leader Durkin seemed to indicate that there were deficiencies in the legislation written by himself and other local leaders in the General Assembly that helped inform the consent order. At this time, the only option remaining is for Leader Durkin to propose new legislation that will fix the perceived shortcomings of the legislation that he sponsored and worked to pass. I made it clear to Leader Durkin this morning that, if he requests it, I will call a special session of the legislature to allow for an immediate vote on a bill that is constitutional and will fix the perceived shortcomings of the legislation he previously sponsored.”
Statement from Attorney General Kwame Raoul:
“As Attorney General, it is my responsibility to enforce laws passed by the Illinois General Assembly, and I applaud Leader Durkin, Rep. Mazzochi, Sen. Curran, and all the lawmakers who worked diligently to craft and pass the strict standards in Senate Bill 1852. The consent order my office filed jointly with the DuPage County State’s Attorney Bob Berlin imposes every emissions reduction requirement of the new law and goes further. Under the new law, emissions reduction requirements are not effective until Dec. 18 – under the consent order, Sterigenics will not be able to reopen until it is able to meet those requirements. The suggestion that continuing the litigation over the seal order would provide greater protection to residents is inaccurate and uninformed. The very real risk that continued litigation could result in Sterigenics being able to reopen before installing any new emissions controls – while still operating under its existing permit that authorized it to emit 36,400 pounds of EtO per year – was unacceptable. The new law imposes new certification requirements, but, through litigation, Sterigenics attempted to exploit a loophole in the law to avoid those requirements. Through the consent order, we eliminated that loophole. Sterigenics will now always be subject to the certification requirements that area legislators insisted be included in the law. The final result is that, combined with the Matt Haller Act, the consent order ensures that Sterigenics will not reopen unless and until it installs new emissions controls that will reduce its emissions to no more than 85 pounds of EtO per year. Our office has met with legislators, local officials, and representatives from the community to explain how the consent order implements current law and provides additional enforcement tools, and we will continue to address questions.”
…Adding… These folks have not been happy with Pritzker over the Sterigenics consent order, but they’ve bought into the governor’s move here…
*** UPDATE *** House Republican Leader Jim Durkin…
As I told Gov. Pritzker today, the legislation supported by the Illinois Environmental Council is not the problem. Unfortunately, Gov. Pritzker and his regulators are willing to fast track the reopening of Sterigenics by entering into a settlement agreement with the corporate polluter to lift the seal order. If the Governor is not happy with the legislation he signed into law, I recommend he introduce his own legislation in the General Assembly and call a special session to take it up for consideration.
I stand by my legislation which was signed into law by the Governor.
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* The committee’s name is Jeanne for Congress…
…Adding… DCCC…
Remember how we said Evelyn Sanguinetti’s week couldn’t get any worse after she got outraised 7-to-1 by Rep. Casten in her first fundraising quarter? Apparently we were wrong.
After weeks of speculation, far-right conservative Jeanne Ives officially filed for Congress today in the 6th District – apparently Sanguinetti’s paltry fundraising haul couldn’t scare her off.
After Sanguinetti’s ticket barely survived a brutal challenge by Ives in the 2018 Republican primary, expect another toxic race to the conservative fringes this cycle in a district that President Trump lost by seven points. Sanguinetti has already endorsed President Trump’s re-election, so who knows to what extremes Ives will drag her to over the course of a contentious primary.
“Today’s announcement sets the stage for a brutal race to the conservative extreme in the 6th District between a floundering Evelyn Sanguinetti and a far-right wing Jeanne Ives,” said DCCC spokesperson Mike Gwin. “While Ives and Sanguinetti battle it out over who can bear-hug President Trump the hardest, Sean Casten will remain focused on delivering for middle-class Illinois families by working to keep down the cost of health care and lowering taxes for homeowners.”
…Adding… Sun-Times…
In a statement the Sanguinetti campaign said, “We welcome Jeanne to the race and look forward to showing why Evelyn is the conservative with the best chance to beat Casten.”
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State to replace federal Title X funding
Thursday, Jul 18, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Crain’s…
Planned Parenthood of Illinois is prepared to forgo more than $3 million in federal funds following the Trump administration’s Monday announcement that it will begin enforcing grant restrictions.
The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ new rule bars family-planning clinics that perform abortions, or refer patients for abortions, from accepting federal family-planning program funds known as Title X. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals recently decided not to block the administration from enforcing the so-called gag rule.
Planned Parenthood of Illinois has been preparing for such a rule since President Donald Trump took office, spokeswoman Julie Lynn said.
“There are emergency funds in place, but they won’t be around forever,” she added. “And private donations would never be able to supplement what we’re able to provide with Title X.”
* Center Square…
State Rep. Allen Skillicorn, R-East Dundee, said he expects that to see more state funding for Planned Parenthood of Illinois after Democrats passed a number of policies to protect abortion rights. Gov. J.B. Pritzker has said he wants Illinois to be the most progressive state for reproductive rights.
* Press release…
Governor JB Pritzker announced Thursday that the State of Illinois will refuse to implement the Trump administration’s Title X gag rule. The gag rule holds hostage federal funding for contraception for low-income women unless providers refuse to refer or provide abortion services along with other reproductive health care.
The State of Illinois will forgo Title X funding from the federal government while the gag rule remains in effect. Instead, the Illinois Department of Public Health will provide funding to the current 28 grantees, an estimated $2.4 million in federal funding, if the gag rule remains in place for the duration of the fiscal year. As we move forward, the state remains committed to the multi-state lawsuit to permanently overturn this damaging rule.
“President Trump’s gag rule undermines women’s health care and threatens the providers that millions of women and girls rely on, and we will not let that stand in the state of Illinois,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “Under my administration, Illinois will always stand with women and protect their fundamental right to choose. While I’m committed to bringing as many federal dollars to the state as possible, I refuse to sacrifice our values and allow vital care to lapse. In this state, we trust women to make their own health care decisions and will guarantee access to reproductive health care for all of our residents.”
Title X provides a holistic portfolio of critical preventive health services, including HIV prevention and testing, breast and cervical cancer screening and treatment, and reproductive health care for thousands of low-income, uninsured and underinsured Illinois residents and families each year. It’s estimated in Illinois that nearly 773,000 women of reproductive age are in need of publicly supported contraceptive services and supplies.
…Adding… Colleen Connell, Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois…
We applaud Governor JB Pritzker for his announcement that the State of Illinois will use state funds to cover health care previously supported by Title X funding from the federal government.
The Governor’s action today protects thousands of women from Zion to Carbondale – and everywhere between in Illinois – who depend on health care funded by Title X funds. Local health departments, health centers, school-based health centers, Planned Parenthood clinics and hospitals all rely on these funds to insure their patients have access to a full range of health care. These caregivers provide critical treatment for many, and reduce incidents of unintended pregnancy across our state. In other words, they provide patient-centered care.
Ignoring the real need for this health care for Illinois women, the Trump Administration has politicized this life-saving health care, placing unnecessary and dangerous restrictions on how grantees under Title X can utilize this funding. We thank Governor JB Pritzker for acting swiftly to protect all women in Illinois – ensuring that the same level of funding for women’s health care will be available in the Land of Lincoln without the strings attached by Donald Trump.
As we cheer this step forward in our state, we will not cease resisting the Trump Administration’s efforts to trade women’s health care for partisan political support. In the courts and in the Congress, we will continue to advocate for removing the limits on how doctors and nurses provide health care. This dangerous policy must be reversed.
…Adding… Jennifer Welch, President and CEO Planned Parenthood of Illinois…
We are grateful to Governor Pritzker and Illinois Department of Public Health Director Ezike for their decision to not accept Title X family planning funding as long as the ‘gag rule’ is in place. The relationship between a patient and their doctor is based on trust and honesty; the gag rule violates that trust and puts patients’ health at risk. Governor Pritzker is, once again, standing up to the Trump-Pence administration because access to health care such as cancer screenings, birth control, STI testing and treatment, and other family planning services should be available to anyone who needs them regardless of their ability to pay.
Planned Parenthood of Illinois is committed to providing every patient who walks through our doors with the information and care they need to make the best decisions for themselves and their families. We are glad that the Illinois Department of Public Health is joining Planned Parenthood of Illinois in rejecting the grant because the gag rule is unethical. We look forward to working with the Governor’s office to ensure everyone in Illinois has family planning services available to them, no matter what.
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Reefer madness is alive and well
Thursday, Jul 18, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Naperville…
Council members were offered the options to begin the process of amending zoning code to allow retail sale of adult-use cannabis, prepare documentation for the city to opt out of the sale, or administer a community engagement survey to get resident input.
The council members chose to start the opt-out process…
Stores selling recreational marijuana will not be permitted to open in Naperville, city council members decided in a split vote, saying they want to protect their family-friendly brand and await data on how adult use affects communities.
“We have a great community here and we need to keep the protection of it paramount,” council member Kevin Coyne said.
The move makes Naperville among the first suburban communities to ban sales of the drug, which will be legal for adult possession and private use across the state beginning Jan. 1 under the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act.
Council member Patty Gustin on Tuesday sent an email to contacts encouraging them to speak out and said she fears the costs of increased addiction as well as the potential for “big marijuana” to profit from legal sales.
Prohibiting sales, she said, will safeguard Naperville’s families, and losing potential tax revenue won’t hurt the city’s bottom line.
“The true cost is not opting out and sitting on our hands until this is forced upon us,” she said during more than two hours of debate on the topic Tuesday night. “There’s no dollar amount worth selling out our kids.”
Um, your kids are gonna buy it from dealers who don’t check ID cards. The more towns that allow sales, the more pressure is put on the illegal and often violent criminal networks which grow, transport and deliver the product.
* The argument that a couple of dispensaries will kill “the brand” is ridic…
“There is nothing family friendly about recreational marijuana. Family friendly is Naperville’s brand,” resident Jennifer Taylor said.
Councilwoman Brodhead countered that position, saying a handful of marijuana businesses would be unlikely to have any effect on people’s perception of the city.
“I don’t see there is going to be any loss of brand by allowing a limited number of recreational marijuana dispensaries in Naperville,” Brodhead said. “I think we are afraid of something that will not happen.”
The city looks at alcohol in a very serious way, particularly in times when it had to deal with such negatives as bar fights and DUI accidents, but there’s still a lot of alcohol sold in Naperville, she said.
I thought I was finished dealing with the misinformation on this topic when the GA passed the bill. Apparently not. Ignorance and panic abound.
…Adding… A golden nugget from comments…
So, let me see if I’ve got this right. Naperville won’t partake of the tax dollars of legal marijuana, but it will be legal there, so residents will spend their money elsewhere. Good plan.
* On to Springfield…
Springfield Mayor Jim Langfelder said with a medical dispensary already operating in the city, he expects city alderman to find the best place to allow recreational sales.
“What’s that right number of dispensary areas and that’s what we’ll have to determine,” Langfelder said. “We’ll at least have one for the first year. After that, that’s where we’ll really fine-tune things and see how it’s working.”
Existing medical dispensaries can apply for licenses to sell recreational cannabis. The state will then roll out more licenses for additional growing and selling licenses to other applicants.
Langfelder said city leaders will likely be cautious.
“We don’t want the proliferation like video gaming, everywhere,” Langfelder said. “And that’s really the concern. I was at the Levitt [AMP] Concert Series [an outdoor concert in downtown Springfield] and I could smell it in the air so I think people are already testing it out.”
Yeah. People are just now starting to smoke weed. Right.
* Springfield-area politicos have been saying the same thing since at least 1938…
Sangamon County resisted “reefer madness,” but marijuana finally arrived in Springfield in 1938.
“Brilliant raids” by two Springfield police detectives resulted in the arrests of three men — two locals and one from Youngstown, Ohio — on Aug. 6, 1938, the Illinois State Journal reported the next day. The officers seized “enough marijuana to manufacture more than a thousand of the cigarets that are proving a plague to some of the youth of the nation,” the newspaper said.
The bust seems to have been the first ever in Sangamon County. In fact, county juvenile probation officer Gwendolen Sherman told the Journal in December 1937 she had seen no evidence of marijuana being used locally.
“If there is any marijuana in Springfield, it’s certainly well hidden,” Sherman said.
* That SJ-R lede was totally wrong as well. From the Sangamon County Historical Society…
Marijuana had been a component of some prescription and patent medicines before passage of the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937, which regulated and taxed marijuana and other forms of Cannabis sativa. The law drove use of psychoactive marijuana underground; it also basically destroyed the production of industrial hemp (which does not have intoxicating properties) in the U.S.
The new costs and red tape led Springfield pharmacists to stop using marijuana in medicines they compounded almost immediately, the Journal reported in November 1937.
* A bit more history…
In the early 1900s an influx of Mexican immigrants came to the US fleeing political unrest in their home country. With them, they brought the practice of smoking cannabis recreationally. And it took off. The Spanish word for the plant started to be used more often too. Marijuana. Or as it was spelled at that time, marihuana, with an “H. This is when the more sensational headlines about the drug began to appear.
In 1936, a propaganda film called Reefer Madness was released. In the movie, teenagers smoke weed for the first time and this leads to a series of horrific events involving hallucination, attempted rape, and murder. Much of the media portrayed it as a gateway drug. […]
Harry Anslinger took the scientifically unsupported idea of marijuana as a violence-inducing drug, connected it to black and Hispanic people, and created a perfect package of terror to sell to the American media and public. By emphasizing the Spanish word marihuana instead of cannabis, he created a strong association between the drug and the newly arrived Mexican immigrants who helped popularize it in the States. He also created a narrative around the idea that cannabis made black people forget their place in society. He pushed the idea that jazz was evil music created by people under the influence of marijuana. […]
In the first full year after the Marihuana Tax Act was passed, black people were about three times more likely to be arrested for violating narcotic drug laws than whites. And Mexicans were nearly nine times more likely to be arrested for the same charge.
* Photo of the folks arrested in that 1938 Springfield bust…
Surprise, surprise.
* Related…
* Naperville gas station worker suspended after telling Latino customers ‘ICE will come’
* Naperville leader calls for Stava-Murray’s resignation over ‘white supremacist policies’ comments
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Sterigenics, a leading provider of mission-critical sterilization services, today commented on its agreement with the State of Illinois which will enable the company’s Willowbrook sterilization facility to resume operations and continue sterilization of life saving medical devices for patients and hospitals in Illinois and across the country. The agreement resolves all of the current litigation between the State of Illinois and its representative agencies and Sterigenics, with no finding of liability or fault by either side and with no imposition of penalties.
Under the terms of the agreement, which is subject to court approval, Sterigenics will install additional emission capture and control equipment that will enable the Willowbrook facility to meet the new, stringent standards set by the State of Illinois for sterilization using ethylene oxide (EO). In addition, Sterigenics has agreed to fund $300,000 in community projects designed to benefit the environment and the local community, to be developed in coordination with the State.
The company previously submitted its permit application to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IL EPA) for the installation of the new equipment which will further enhance the state-of-the-art systems already in place at Willowbrook and reduce remaining EO emissions by:
Increasing the number of emission control stages to increase EO capture;
Combining the existing emissions stacks into one common stack at the facility; and Eliminating the release of EO “fugitive” emissions from the plant.
Sterigenics has also agreed to reduce EO usage at the Willowbrook facility and to a combination of continuous emission monitoring, emission stack testing and ambient air monitoring to ensure and to demonstrate that the additional controls are working. The Sterigenics Willowbrook facility will resume operations upon approval by the IL EPA following the installation of the new controls.
“We are pleased to have reached this agreement, which creates a path for our Willowbrook facility to resume its safe operation and includes no finding of wrongdoing on the company’s part nor the imposition of any financial penalties,” said Sterigenics President, Philip Macnabb. “The State Government has gone to great lengths to set new standards for the protection of the public that are more stringent than any other location in the country. While our Willowbrook operations have consistently complied with and outperformed the State’s requirements, we have repeatedly stated our support for evolving regulations and our commitment to enhancing our operations in the interest of protecting public health. We remain committed to abiding by the new regulations established by the State. By resolving this matter, we are one major step closer to resuming the critical work of sterilizing vital medical products and devices in Willowbrook for patients in Illinois and beyond.”
The installation of new emissions controls will firmly establish the Sterigenics Willowbrook facility as having the strictest EO control environment of any facility in the country.
I have asked the governor’s office, the attorney general’s office and the House Republican Leader’s office for comment.
*** UPDATE 1 *** Leader Durkin’s spokesperson…
We were just informed this morning when a meeting was convened by the AG and IEPA offices. Leader Durkin, Senator Curran and Rep Mazzochi voiced their extreme opposition and frustration to the potential of Sterigenics reopening.
Yikes.
Sen. John Curran…
I continue to stand with the residents of Willowbrook and the surrounding communities who are fighting for clean air and a healthy future. For years, as testing has shown, Sterigenics has posed a critical public health risk to our communities. They must remain closed.”
The IEPA had scheduled an August 1 public hearing on Sterigenics. Durkin wanted to wait at until after that hearing to do anything.
*** UPDATE 2 *** Stop Sterigenics…
This is far from over. It’s disappointing the state couldn’t go further to protect a community that has been burdened by this company’s emissions for decades. That the company would rush forward this release ahead of the State being able to inform the community is just one more indication that they don’t care about who they may harm in their drive for profit. We expect better from our leaders, there has been no credible threat of medical disruption and, without a demand to do better, industry will not move from ethylene oxide and propylene oxide.
*** UPDATE 3 *** Press release with emphasis in the original…
Attorney General Kwame Raoul and DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin today filed a motion to enter a consent order with Sterigenics U.S., LLC (Sterigenics). Once it is approved by the court, the consent order would resolve a lawsuit filed by Raoul’s and Berlin’s offices in 2018 against Sterigenics over air pollution violations due to the release of the toxic chemical ethylene oxide (EtO) at its plant in Willowbrook, Ill.
Raoul and Berlin filed the proposed consent order today in DuPage County Circuit Court. The proposed consent order builds off of a new law signed by Governor JB Pritzker, which imposes the strictest limits in the nation on EtO emissions from sterilization facilities and other companies that use EtO. The proposed order prohibits Sterigenics’ Willowbrook facility from resuming sterilization operations unless the company installs new emissions capture and control systems, which must be approved by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA).
“The proposed consent order surpasses the emissions limits contained in Illinois law by incorporating all of the emissions and monitoring requirements included in the Matt Haller Act recently signed by Governor Pritzker. In addition, Sterigenics must comply with the strictest capture and control requirements in the nation and cannot reopen until it is in compliance,” Raoul said. “The proposed consent order, combined with the strict regulations in the new law signed last month, will enable the state to act quickly to hold Sterigenics accountable for violating Illinois’ emissions limits.”
“The consent decree entered into today should in no way be considered a license for Sterigenics to reopen,” Berlin said. “The decree will govern Sterigenics going forward and in doing so goes above and beyond the most restrictive regulations in the country placed upon businesses that use EtO in their operations. I would like to thank Attorney General Kwame Raoul, his staff and members of my office for their extended efforts the past several months. Their work is what brought us here today. I would also like to thank Governor Pritzker as well as the Illinois EPA for their commitment to the health and welfare of the residents of Willowbrook and the surrounding communities.”
“Illinois EPA is committed to ensuring Sterigenics complies with Illinois’ stringent new law for controlling ethylene oxide emissions, which were established by the General Assembly,” said Illinois EPA Director John J. Kim. “This agreement calls for Sterigenics to not only comply with those new requirements, but also imposes additional requirements to further protect the public and the environment. The Illinois EPA will devote all necessary resources to enforce the terms of this consent order.”
In June, Gov. Pritzker signed a law prohibiting EtO-emitting sterilization facilities, including Sterigenics, from operating in Illinois unless the facility captures 100 percent of all EtO emissions generated by the facility. Additionally, these facilities must reduce EtO emissions to the atmosphere from each exhaust point by at least 99.9 percent, or 0.2 parts per million. The law also requires facilities to conduct annual emissions tests and submit results to the IEPA. If a facility fails to meet the reduced emissions requirements, it must immediately cease operations. It must also notify the IEPA within 24 hours and is required to conduct an analysis within 60 days to determine why the test failed, take corrective actions, and seek IEPA approval before seeking to restart operations.
The proposed consent order prevents Sterigenics from conducting sterilization operations at its Willowbrook facility – comprised of two buildings, Willowbrook I and Willowbrook II – until significant improvements are made to limit EtO emissions. Under the proposed consent order, Sterigenics will be subject to penalties and contempt of court for violating the terms of the proposed consent order. The net effect of the requirements in the proposed consent order will be to reduce the EtO emissions from Sterigenics’ Willowbrook facility to no more than 85 pounds per year. This represents a drastic reduction from Sterigenics’ reported annual emissions from 2006 to 2018, which ranged from 2,840 pounds to 7,340 pounds per year.
The proposed order also requires Sterigenics to perform environmental projects in the village of Willowbrook or neighboring DuPage County communities. Within 30 days of the consent order’s entry, Sterigenics must put $300,000 into an escrow account, and the company will have 60 days to submit project proposals for state approval. The projects, which must include environmental improvements, or educational scholarships or programs, must be completed within one year of the court approving the consent order.
Handling this case for Raoul’s Environmental Enforcement Division are Division Chiefs Matthew Dunn and Christopher Wells, Bureau Chief Elizabeth Wallace, Senior Assistant Attorneys General Kathryn Pamenter and Stephen Sylvester, and Assistant Attorney General Daniel Rottenberg.
*** UPDATE 4 *** Pritzker administration…
In response to increasingly troubling emission tests, the Governor ordered the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to take the extraordinary measure of sealing the Sterigenics facility to protect the health and safety of the people of Willowbrook. The administration made it clear to members of the General Assembly that he would be willing to sign any measure, up to and including a ban, on the use of ethylene oxide in the state of Illinois. Members of the General Assembly drafted legislation that did not prohibit the use of ethylene oxide but did create the most stringent regulations around its use the country. The Illinois EPA will monitor Sterigenics to ensure they operate within the stringent framework lawmakers created in their legislation. Our top priority remains the health and safety of every citizen and we will continue to work with their representatives in the General Assembly, as we have for the past several months. The consent order that will be signed as part of the litigation creates detailed, enforceable mandates that Sterigenics must comply with if it seeks to do business in Illinois. The consent order will ensure swift judicial oversight to protect members of the community.
* Related…
* In a bid to reopen shuttered Willowbrook plant, Sterigenics proposes tighter controls on cancer-causing gas
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* The filing deadline is today and the story below doesn’t say how old or new the numbers are. Human beings, by nature, tend to wait until the last minute to file paperwork, particularly when it costs them money. [Adding: The numbers are from Monday, a few days before the deadline.] Center Square…
An Illinois gun rights group plans to sue the state Wednesday over the new gun dealer certification law set to take effect claiming gun dealers still don’t know the rules.
More than half of the state’s 2,351 federally licensed dealers haven’t applied for the state license, according to numbers provided by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Illinois State Police.
Illinois State Rifle Association Executive Director Richard Pearson said federally licensed dealers in Illinois don’t know the rules because the state hasn’t set up the rules yet.
“They don’t know what they’re getting into,” Pearson said. “They don’t know how much it’s going to cost them. They don’t know what the inspections are going to look like, they don’t know anything. It’s really has a chilling effect on the firearms business in Illinois and it was meant to. That was the idea of the bill.”
ISRA filed the lawsuit to block implementation of the law because the rules aren’t clear, Pearson said.
“If you were to build a building and say ‘I’m going to build a building,’ and the state says ‘you can build the building and we’ll tell you what rules we’re going to put in place after the building is built,’ you wouldn’t do it,” Pearson said. “So right now, more than half of the Illinois dealers are not going to have an Illinois license, so they’ll be out of business.”
State Sen. Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, who was the chief sponsor of the measure in the previous General Assembly, said he hasn’t reviewed the lawsuit, “although I look forward to doing so.”
“It is my understanding that the State Police are enforcing the law as it was written and signed earlier this year,” Harmon said.
Illinois State Police officials said in a statement that the agency is finalizing and formatting the Gun Dealer Licensing Rules.
* They’re requesting this relief from the court…
1. Enter a declaratory judgment that the Firearm Dealer License Certification Act violates Plaintiffs’ state constitutional right to bear arms and are unenforceable, with regard to the following provisions:
a. The requirement of prohibitively expensive security and alarm systems, as described in Section 430 ILCS 68/5-50;
b. The requirement of purchasing and implementing an electronic recordkeeping system within the next six months, as described in 430 ILCS 68/5-65;
c. The certification fee structure, as described in 430 ILCS 68/5-70.
2. Issue a permanent injunction, without bond required of the Plaintiffs,
enjoining the Defendant from enforcing the challenged provisions of 430 ILCS 68/5; 3. Grant Plaintiffs a recoupment of the costs expended prosecuting this
action and
4. Grant Plaintiffs any and all further relief as this court deems just and
proper.
…Adding… Jordan Abudayyeh…
Governor Pritzker was proud to make SB 337 the second bill he signed into law as governor, keeping his promise to prevent senseless gun violence from tearing apart families. This commonsense, bipartisan law makes sure guns don’t fall into the wrong hands and licenses gun dealers just like restaurants and other businesses. We’re certain the state will vigorously defend this important new law.
* Related…
* Exemption for Sparta World Shooting Complex signed into law
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* Background is here and here. Press release…
Land of Lincoln Goodwill has always been committed to our mission: providing people the skills and resources to become self-sufficient through the power of work. In the past year, Land of Lincoln Goodwill has counseled and supported over 100 at-risk youth, we have assisted 500 veterans and 1,050 ex-offenders in their transition to employment, and more than 7,000 individuals have taken advantage of our career centers and the employment training we provide there. Our Vocational Rehab program supports 50 individuals with intellectual disabilities. We have a long history of supporting people with disabilities. We have wrapped our arms around them and worked side by side with them. We have always honored their contributions and our ongoing support of their needs will always be at the heart of our mission.
The outpouring of comments regarding our decision to refocus the Vocational Rehab program and its impact on 12 program participants has caused us to take pause. While we must be good stewards of our nonprofit, we must remain sharply focused on our mission. Our recent decision regarding the Voc Rehab program and the resulting harm it might have caused falls short of living up to our mission and we apologize for this error in judgment. We are reversing the decision to realign our Voc Rehab program and those participants affected will return to their part time skills training program with pay.
As the leader of this organization, some challenges can be overwhelming to the point where the numbers, rather than those we are working to elevate, become the focus. Their challenges and their needs are personally near and dear to my heart. As the President & CEO of this organization, I want to apologize to our constituents, our clients and our faithful donors.
Moreover, Land of Lincoln Goodwill will continue to work with all stakeholders – our leadership and our legislative representatives to assure a living wage is attainable for all those willing to work. I am committed to exploring how the state’s new minimum wage law can help raise up those we serve as well as the 400 employees in our organization. Regardless of the business and financial challenges ahead of us, Land of Lincoln Goodwill will always, first and foremost, remain true to our ideals and our mission of helping others to help themselves through the power of work.
Thank you.
Sharon Durbin President & CEO
*** UPDATE *** Looks like Sen. Manar isn’t impressed by the apology and reversal…
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* From a Proft website…
Sen. Aquino-sponsored law appropriating $2 from the General Revenue Fund to the GovernorÂ’s Office of Management and Budget for its FY 20 ordinary and contingent expenses now in effect
A new law sponsored by Sen. Omar Aquino (D-2) that was introduced with the purpose of appropriating $2 from the General Revenue Fund to the GovernorÂ’s Office of Management and Budget for its FY 20 ordinary and contingent expenses went into effect on June 5, according to the official Illinois General Assembly website.
The legislation was introduced in bill SB262 on Jan. 31, when Sen. John J. Cullerton (D-6) filed it with the Senate clerk.
According to the General Assembly website, the bill as introduced was designed to “appropriate $2 from the General Revenue Fund to the GovernorÂ’s Office of Management and Budget for its FY 20 ordinary and contingent expenses”.
After debate, the Senate passed the bill on June 5 and it arrived in the House on May 29, and both chambers agreed to the final version of the legislation on June 1. The bill was sent to the governor and signed into law on June 5. The law went into effect immediately.
Illinois has a bicameral congress. The state enacts laws through bills that can be introduced in either the state House of Representatives or the state Senate, and either chamber of the legislature can reject or amend a bill before it becomes law. Once a bill is passed by both chambers, the bill must be sent to the state governor within 30 days, after which the governor has 60 days to sign it or veto it. If the governor does nothing, it becomes law after the 60 days have passed. [Typos in original]
Weird.
Anybody out there have any theories about what they could be trying to do with absurd stories like these (this is not an isolated incident)? I mean, other than getting it posted here, of course.
By the way, that legislation ended up being the budget bill.
…Adding… A pal explains via text…
The proft bot is some low rent thing because he doesn’t want to pay for real content writing. All the algos are [crud] so auto-writing bots still helps you [manipulate] seo. He just needs the sites to have a high page rank when he actually does want to move [crud].
It doesn’t have to make sense. Computers don’t care about context anyway because they can’t parse it (yet). He just needs to be on news.google.com come campaign season.
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* From June 7th…
Businessman and former candidate for Chicago mayor Willie Wilson said he’d like to talk to Governor Pritzker about the new state budget.
Willie Wilson said the increases in the gas tax and license plate fees in the new state budget hurt poor and middle class voters. He said he would like to talk to Governor Pritzker about creating a state budget that takes some of the pressure off of the working class. But right now, he said, his calls are going unanswered.
“Governor, I have sent you three or four emails, I’ve sent you a letter, I’ve called you two or three times. Your people have not responded back to me,” Wilson said.
I sent a FOIA request to the governor’s office that very day asking for any “e-mails, letters and phone log records from Willie Wilson to the governor and/or employees of the governor’s office since April 1, 2019.” The governor’s FOIA person eventually responded that she needed additional time to check the records.
For some reason, I remembered my FOIA request yesterday and fired off an email to the governor’s office asking what the heck ever happened to their response.
* Turns out, they sent it to me on June 25th and I didn’t notice it. Oops. I was in Chicago that day for the cannabis bill signing, which may have been why I didn’t see it…
Re: FOIA Request # 2019-152
Dear Mr. Miller:
June 25, 2019
This letter is in response to your Illinois Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) request received on June 11, 2019 seeking: “e-mails, letters and phone log records from Willie Wilson to the governor and/or employees of the governor’s office since April 1, 2019.”
The Governor’s Office conducted a search and found no records responsive to your request.
So, apparently, Mr. Wilson wasn’t telling the truth. No surprise and it means little now because so much time has passed, but I’ll remember that the next time he makes a similar claim.
*** UPDATE *** My FOIA was for attempted contacts dating back to April 1. But the Wilson people sent me some documents showing attempted contacts before April 1…
* Phone logs to governor’s office (March 15, 19, 22)
* Email sent to the governor’s office (March 19)
They also sent me a photo (click here) of Wilson seated next to Pritzker at the 103rd birthday party for Elizabeth Jordan in mid-June, as well as this social media post from the event…
From Wilson’s spokesman…
I was standing beside him on Monday June 17th at a luncheon for this 103 y.o. Woman at 1546 west water st, blue island 11am when he asked the Governor ‘why he had not returned his calls?’ And JB said ‘ he didn’t know and would call him from the car now’ - and never did.
Sorry about that, Reverend! If the governor did promise to call him, he should.
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* Mark Maxwell…
An iconic nonprofit thrift store is crying poor in the face of looming payroll increases, and it is announcing plans to layoff disabled employees in order to take on the extra cost.
However, the 501(c)(3) organization pays no taxes, collects state funding, was awarded state contracts, and has special permission from the federal government to pay disabled workers well below the minimum wage floor.
Sharon Durbin, President and Chief Executive Officer at Land of Lincoln Goodwill, told dozens of disabled thrift store workers they would no longer receive a paycheck as a result of the state’s new minimum wage increase, and she warns future job cuts could still be coming to the last 11 remaining disabled employees still on the payroll.
Durbin runs the Central Illinois nonprofit branch that oversees 15 retail locations and more than 450 total employees. She wrote about “upcoming changes to the Vocational Rehabilitation Program” in a letter dated June 14th. Her letter said the program “is funded through the Illinois Department of Human Services,” but the funding “does not cover all of the significant costs of the program.”
The abrupt shift not only comes as disappointing news to dozens of disabled workers in the area, including some who live in group homes without their parents, but it also threatens to weaken the core promise of Goodwill’s mission statement. […]
Durbin’s son, Brian Durbin, was hired onto the Executive Leadership team and makes an annual salary of $95,747 at the nonprofit. […]
Durbin acknowledged that her group already pays the sub-minimum rate for 27 of 50 disabled workers, however, inexplicably, she says the nonprofit is “progressing away from that.” The federal formula requires employers to pay disabled workers based on a productivity scale at a rate commensurate with the work they complete. […]
The organization’s 990 tax documents from 2018 reveal Durbin takes home an annual salary of $164,849 plus another $6,145 in benefits.
Go read the whole thing.
*** UPDATE 1 *** Looks like a deputy governor and a powerful state Senator are quite displeased…
*** UPDATE 2 *** Another legislator…
Senate Majority Leader…
*** UPDATE 3 *** Ruh-roh…
*** UPDATE 4 *** This info was also posted in comments earlier today…
*** UPDATE 5 *** I followed up and was told that a committee hearing “is something we are currently reviewing”…
News that Land of Lincoln Goodwill in Springfield is laying off dozens of workers with disabilities without a valid explanation is drawing concern from State Senator Julie Morrison (D-Deerfield).
“It is disheartening that Goodwill would use false excuses to terminate the employment of reliable, hardworking staff with disabilities in Illinois,” Morrison said.
Morrison – who is chair of the Senate Human Services Committee and founder of the Special Needs Caucus – passed a series of measures this year aimed at increasing state employment of individuals with disabilities, all aimed at breaking down the barriers to employment.
Sharon Durbin, the President and Chief Executive Officer at Land of Lincoln Goodwill in Springfield, communicated to laid off employees the reason for their job loss was due to the state’s recent enactment of a minimum wage increase. Because they hire workers with disabilities, however, Goodwill is permitted by the U.S. Department of Labor to pay these workers below the minimum wage. In addition, the first increase in Illinois’ minimum wage will not take effect until January 1, 2020.
According to a recent WCIA report, Sharon Durbin’s salary at Land of Lincoln Goodwill is more than $160,000.
In 2018, Goodwill received nearly $400,000 in state grants and contracts solely to be used for workers with disabilities.
“What are these contracts going toward if not for the employment of individuals with disabilities?” Morrison said. “That is something we will be looking into. We need Goodwill to return to its mission of working to lift up those experiencing barriers to employment, especially those with disabilities.”
*** UPDATE 6 *** WMAY’s Jim Leach…
This afternoon on the show: we were scheduled to talk to the CEO of the local Goodwill as a firestorm erupts about their decision to cut jobs for disabled people, but we were told moments ago that she’s now unavailable.
*** UPDATE 7 *** From Kathy Carmody, CEO of the Institute on Public Policy for People with Disabilities…
Community agencies across Illinois that support people with disabilities have had to work vigorously to develop creative and mission-driven solutions to the challenges we face in providing quality and essential services. While the pending long-overdue increase in minimum wage will have a significant fiscal impact on all social service organizations, directly impacting the very people we exist to serve should be the last place an organization goes to balance its ledger.
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Chance the Snapper in custody
Tuesday, Jul 16, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Always hire a professional…
CITY OFFICIALS TO PROVIDE DETAILS ON THE HUMANE CAPTURE OF THE ALLIGATOR IN HUMBOLDT PARK TODAY AT 10:00 A.M.
WHO: Leadership from Chicago Animal Care and Control, and the Chicago Park District
WHAT: Officials will provide details about the safe and humane capture overnight of the alligator spotted in the Humboldt Park Lagoon last week.
WHERE: HUMBOLDT PARK BOATHOUSE, 1301 N. Humboldt Blvd. Chicago
WHEN: TODAY, 10:00 a.m.
WHY: The Humboldt Park alligator has captured the imaginations of the entire City of Chicago and beyond and has united residents who have been following this story for the last week. The City’s top priority has been to keep residents and park patrons safe while facilitating the safe and humane capture of the alligator. Officials will inform residents about the plan that led to his successful capture and the next steps for him.
The alligator will be in attendance.
Kind Regards,
Jenny Schlueter
Assistant to the Director
Chicago Animal Care and Control
* I thought he’d be bigger…
…Adding… Florida man…
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