Members of the village board in the northern Chicago suburb of Deerfield have voted unanimously to ban certain semi-automatic firearms.
The amendment to the village’s gun ordinance restricts firearms that village leaders define as assault weapons along with high-capacity magazines. That includes the AR-15, which has been used in mass shootings.
Violations carry a fine of between $250 and $1,000 per day, according to Matthew Rose, the village attorney. He said the fine is levied each day until there is compliance.
Street said the new law is modeled after one approved by Highland Park in 2013. That ban survived a legal challenge by one of the city’s residents and the Illinois State Rifle Association. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that legislation constitutional and the U.S. Supreme Court let the decision stand when it declined to take up the appeal.
Unlike Highland Park, Deerfield opted not to enact a total ban on assault weapons during a 10-day window that Illinois lawmakers’ gave home-rule municipalities in 2013 before the state’s new Firearm Concealed Carry Act eliminated their ability to do so.
However, Deerfield trustees did enact an ordinance defining assault weapons and requiring the safe storage and safe transportation of those weapons within the village. That measure, which was enacted during the permitted time frame, preserved Deerfield’s right to amend the ordinance in the future, Street previously said.
“This is not only held constitutional by the Seventh Circuit but similar laws have been ruled constitutional in California, the District of Columbia and Maryland,” Rose said last month.
* NRA…
The National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) today announced support for a lawsuit brought by Guns Save Life challenging the Village of Deerfield, Illinois’ gun confiscation ordinance. The lawsuit challenges Deerfield’s recent attempt to criminalize so-called “assault weapons” and “high capacity magazines” within village limits.
“Every law-abiding villager of Deerfield has the right to protect themselves, their homes, and their loved ones with the firearm that best suits their needs,” said Chris W. Cox, executive director of NRA-ILA. “The National Rifle Association is pleased to assist Guns Save Life in defense of this freedom.”
By amending an existing 2013 ordinance, the Village Board of Trustees has now empowered local authorities to confiscate and destroy all so-called “assault weapons” and “high capacity magazines” possessed within village limits. The amendment also imposes a daily fine ranging between $250 and $1,000.
“We are going to fight this ordinance, which clearly violates our member’s constitutional rights, and with the help of the NRA I believe we can secure a victory for law-abiding gun owners in and around Deerfield,” said John Boch, president of Guns Save Life.
…Adding… Bob Morgan, the Democrat hoping to replace Rep. Scott Drury, sent this out in response…
The people of Deerfield and Highland Park have spoken loud and clear that weapons of war have no place in our communities. I commend the members of the Village Board of Trustees for standing up for their neighbors and fully support them in their fight against the extremists of the National Rifle Association. You can stand on the side of common sense and the safety for our families, or you can stand with the NRA. I know what side I’m on.
China has taken aim at America’s rural heartland as the top buyer of U.S. soybeans said it would restrict imports.
China’s Ministry of Commerce on Wednesday said it plans to impose 25 percent duties on the commodity in addition to other U.S. agricultural produce including wheat, corn, cotton, sorghum, tobacco and beef. They’re among 106 products ranging from aircraft to chemicals targeted by Beijing in retaliation for proposed American duties on its high-tech goods. […]
China is the world’s biggest importer of soybeans and America’s largest buyer in trade worth $14 billion last year. That figure had been set to grow after purchases climbed to a record as large-scale livestock farming expands amid a shortage of protein-rich feed grains.
Soybeans led a tumble in agricultural prices, with the futures for May delivery dropping as much as 5.3 percent to $9.835 a bushel, the most since July 2016 for the most-active contract. The daily volume traded on the Chicago Board of Trade was more than seven times the 100-day average. Corn and cotton also declined.
According to the Tribune, one out of every three soybeans grown in America is exported to China.
* From Sen. Dick Durbin…
“Illinois’ farmers now join DACA recipients as the latest victims of President Trump’s temper. Illinois is our nation’s largest producer of soybeans, and a top producer of pork, and will feel China’s retaliation to threats of a trade war more than most. America cannot move forward in a blizzard of tweets and wild threats from this President.”
I’ve asked the governor’s office for a response. I’ll let you know if I hear back.
*** UPDATE *** Rachel Bold in the governor’s office…
This escalation of new tariffs by the Chinese will hurt both Illinois farmers and the burgeoning Chinese middle class, which is fed by our family farms. Unfair Chinese trade practices, including intellectual property theft, state subsidies, and government-supported espionage, are harmful and unfair to America. A stable trade relationship with China is critical to our economic growth, but this behavior is improper and hurts American businesses.
The Governor is committed to free and open trade, and we know our Illinois farmers, manufacturers and businesses can outcompete anybody. We’re the best growers and builders in the world. Trade is a Federal policy issue with specific oversight by the United States Senate. We have to be hopeful the White House and U.S. Senators can collaborate on constructive trade policy that supports Illinois exporters while also addressing unfair trade practices by the Chinese.
During the past five years, students and faculty at Illinois universities launched more than twice the number of startups, 942, than they did during the previous five years. It’s the largest volume of startup activity since we began tracking it in 2013.
Nearly three-quarters of those companies remain active, and of them, 81.3 percent, or 566, remain in Illinois, the highest level since we began collecting this data.
Capital raised by these startups also reached a new record in 2017: $877.5 million in the past five years. That is triple the total from 2010-14. […]
An estimated four in every 10 startups coming out of Illinois universities in the last five years have had a foreign-born founder or co-founder.
Pritzker continuing his #RaunerFailedMe series at the Harold Washington Library with three teachers who say cuts have severely damaged their schools. pic.twitter.com/2tQBrNrhCh
* Earlier today from Will Allison at Gov. Rauner’s campaign…
Hi, everyone.
Today, JB Pritzker is holding a press conference in a weak attempt to criticize Governor Rauner’s strong record on education. Please see the quote below from me as a spokesman for the Governor’s campaign:
“Governor Rauner was proud to sign historic education reform into law that increased K-12 funding by $1.2 billion, achieved parity for charter schools, and created the state’s first ever tuition tax credit scholarship program to give low-income families educational choice.” -William Allison, Rauner campaign communications director
Additionally, JB Pritzker has proposed new spending plans but without any specifics. And he has repeatedly called for a new graduated income tax, again without any details on rates or thresholds.
When is JB Pritzker going to be honest with Illinoisans about how much he wants to raise their taxes?
I agree that Pritzker has to stop being so vague about his tax rates. The graduated tax is the absolute centerpoint of his entire campaign. So far, though, we don’t know anything about what it would look like.
*** UPDATE *** Rauner campaign…
During a press conference today, JB Pritzker was asked four (4!) times about specific rates or income brackets for his fabled progressive income tax. As he has done over and over again, Pritzker failed to provide any specifics on his “detailed plans.”
The Illinois’ Supreme Court recently decided it would not take up Rauner’s appeal of a lower court ruling that the state has to pay thousands of members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31 their automatic raises, called step increases. Rauner and lawmakers now have to figure out how to pay for those pay hikes that have been accumulating since summer 2015.
Rauner’s office won’t give any figures about how much the judgment will cost the state, but analyses of public payrolls estimate the cost to be $400 million over four years.
“About 40 percent of AFSCME employees are step eligible,” said Ted Dabrowski, president of financial watchdog Wirepoints. “When you include the cost of a higher salary and add the Social Security cost and other costs over four years, you’re talking about a $400 million increase in the cost of AFSCME employees over that time period.”
So, a purported average annual cost of $100 million could lead to a tax hike?
We’re analyzing the data to determine what’s owed to employees whose progression through the pay plan Governor Rauner has illegally denied. Looked at in totality, step increases have only a small net cost to the state, because the progression of the newest, usually lowest-paid employees through the pay steps is largely funded by what the state saves annually through attrition as older, typically higher-paid employees leave the workforce.
State funding cuts are threatening services for people living with autism, as families who receive help through a program called the Autism Project say they will be devastated by its elimination.
The Autism Project says Gov. Bruce Rauner confirmed the decision to cut funding for the remainder of the 2015 fiscal year Thursday - on World Autism Day.
• Collins’ claim: Governor Rauner’s FY17 budget proposal called for the same types of freezes and cuts from his FY16 budget proposal.
• Our finding: Rauner’s budget did call for these freezes and cuts. The Project for Autism, DHS’ Homelessness Prevention program and After School Matter wouldn’t have received funding. […]
• Collins’ claim: Rauner, again, introduced a budget [for Fiscal Year 2018] without funding the above-mentioned programs [including The Project for Autism].
• Our finding: Rauner’s proposed FY18 budget shows this claim is correct.
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration has outlined more than $200 million in cuts officials say are necessary to help balance the budget lawmakers put in place over his veto, including reductions in areas he’s historically supported such as manufacturing, tourism and agriculture. […]
Among the cuts is $89 million that was set aside to pay for dozens of social service programs, such as homelessness prevention, addiction treatment and autism therapy
* Today…
Autism is estimated to affect 1 in every 68 births in the U.S. So let’s Light It Up Blue today, World Autism Awareness Day, to build greater understanding and acceptance for those with autism. #LightItUpBlue Learn more at https://t.co/RHOiogX1gShttps://t.co/nvd8pp3pwi
In his first year in office, Bruce Rauner cut autism funding on World Autism Day and has continued decimating critical services every year since. In 2015, Rauner suspended a $1 million grant for autism programs, and he froze or completely eliminated autism funding in each of his budget proposals. JB Pritzker released the following statement on World Autism Day:
“Today and every day, let’s celebrate the unique talents of those with autism and work together to create a more understanding and accepting society,” said JB Pritzker. “While the world comes together to recognize the accomplishments of people with autism, Bruce Rauner cut autism funding on World Autism Day and continues to undermine critical programs that help Illinoisans build better lives. Bruce Rauner is a failed governor devoid of a moral compass, and when I’m governor, I will stand with our families and ensure autism programs are funded so all Illinoisans can succeed.”
…Adding… Comptroller Mendoza…
Illinois Comptroller Susana A. Mendoza visited the Willowglen Academy Monday to mark World Autism Day and to see the amazing work the non-profit does with children and adults with autism and other intellectual and developmental disabilities. Comptroller Mendoza cheered a music and dance performance by the academy’s students and listened to the administrators’ concerns about state funding.
Monday marks three years since Governor Bruce Rauner cut funding for state autism programs on World Autism Day. The Governor has routinely proposed cuts in funding for autism and other state programs every year up to and including the budget he proposed in February for Fiscal Year 2019.
“The dedicated efforts of staff like those here at Willowglen to help Illinois residents with special needs lead fulfilling lives and receive dignified care deserve our enthusiastic support and should not be the first line of attack to solve state budget problems,” Comptroller Mendoza said. “My office will continue to prioritize state payments to the most vulnerable in Illinois.”
Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner stopped by the Illinois Veterans’ Home Wednesday morning, a day after the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs announced two veterans had been diagnosed with Legionnaire’s disease.
The governor was there for a tour of the recently-completed water facility. The state completed the extensive $5 million renovation of the water system this year after 12 people died and 54 were sickened last summer as a result of the disease. Dozens of others were sickened. But health officials never found a source for the outbreak.
State officials have confirmed a third new case of Legionnaires’ disease at a western Illinois veterans’ home since an outbreak there last year killed 12 people and sickened 54.
State officials are looking into more than a dozen cases of respiratory illness at a LaSalle Veterans’ Home.
Eleven residents tested positive with pneumonia over the past several months. One of the residents also tested positive for Legionnaires’ disease. A spokesperson for the Department of Veterans’ Affairs says the 97-year-old resident had multiple underlying issues and has since died.
A week and a half later, the IDPH chief of staff took a leave of absence to work campaigns.
While the Department of Public Health faced the baffling return of Legionnaires’ disease at a state-run veterans home in 2016, a top administrator left to work on Republican campaigns for the Illinois House, records reviewed by The Associated Press show.
Erik Rayman, the chief of staff to Public Health Director Dr. Nirav Shah, took a leave of absence in October and November 2016, just two months after the return of the deadly disease at the Quincy veterans home that claimed 12 lives the previous summer and another last fall. Four new cases were reported last month. […]
State Sen. Tom Cullerton, a Villa Park Democrat and chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, criticized the move.
“Why is the chief of staff doing campaign work?” Cullerton asked.
“I understand that people come out of different offices and take leaves of absences, but it’s never a chief of staff,” he said. “With everything going on in Public Health, the chief of staff is the most important person in that department.”
Gov. Bruce Rauner is unconcerned that his Public Health Department’s chief of staff took a 2016 leave of absence for political campaigning while the Quincy veterans home battled Legionnaires’ disease.
The Republican told reporters in East Peoria Wednesday that the home recorded no Legionnaires’ cases during Erik Rayman’s absence. The Associated Press reported Tuesday that Rayman took unpaid leave in October and November 2016 to work on Republican House campaigns.
Rauner said that at the time, “There hadn’t been any cases in quite a while.”
* Meanwhile, from the Pritzker campaign…
A day after Bruce Rauner declared “we in Illinois must strive every day to make it Veterans Day,” his Department of Public Health announced late on Friday that two dozen residents and staff at the Quincy Veterans’ Home had fallen ill with what they suspect is norovirus.
The announcement came in the form of a Friday news dump press release, a step above the administration’s “mind-boggling” and “inexcusable” six-day delay in announcing the Legionnaires’ outbreak in 2015. Under Bruce Rauner’s failed leadership, the Quincy Veterans’ Home continues to be plagued with health issues — from recurring fatal outbreaks of Legionnaires’ disease to the potential norovirus reported last week.
“With Bruce Rauner still failing to get the Legionnaires’ crisis under control, new health issues are now coming to light at the Quincy Veterans’ Home,” said Pritzker campaign spokesman Jason Rubin. “The lives of our nation’s heroes continue to be jeopardized by staggering incompetence at the highest levels of Bruce Rauner’s administration.”
*** UPDATE *** IDPH…
Erik Rayman was on a leave of absence from October 3 - November 30, 2016. During this time, IDPH continued to operate with a director, assistant director, and chief of staff. The previous IDPH assistant director, Michelle Gentry-Wiseman, served as the acting the Chief of Staff. Ms. Gentry-Wiseman was with IDPH from 1990-2003 in various roles, including serving as the first Chief of Staff at IDPH. Ms. Gentry-Wiseman returned to IDPH in March 2015 as the assistant director and served until she retired from public service in June 2016. She was well versed and involved with IDPH’s response to the Legionnaires’ disease outbreak in Quincy. For a week prior to his leave of absence, Mr. Rayman overlapped with Ms. Gentry-Wiseman to ensure a continuity of operations.
Please remember that IDPH’s role is a technical advisor, working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Adams County Health Department to advise the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs and the Illinois Veterans’ Home at Quincy on infection control procedures and water remediation efforts the facility should be taking. .
Melaney Arnold
Illinois Department of Public Health
Public Information Officer
* Related…
* Vietnam War veterans honored in Springfield: “How many governors do you know have actually gone to live at a veterans’ home,” [Veterans Affairs’ director Erica Jeffries] said, referring to Rauner’s one-week stay earlier this year at the veterans home in Quincy, which has seen several cases of Legionnaires’ disease. “Why did he go there? Because he wanted to be able to get to know those men and women who served our country. He wanted to get to know our staff who care for those veterans every single day. He does that in his walk as governor, and as a private citizen, every day.”
* Federal budget bill could benefit Illinois Veterans Home: U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth said the omnibus budget bill passed by Congress last week includes more than $500 million for “construction at state-run veteran health facilities” such as the Illinois Veterans Home in Quincy.
