*** UPDATED x1 *** Question of the day
Monday, Aug 23, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Gov. JB Pritzker was asked today how the FDA’s approval of the Pfizer vaccine and subsequent Pentagon vaccine mandate for service members alters his “leverage” with state employees, teachers or other people. “Will you expand vaccine mandates now that this full approval is here?” His response…
Well, it’s not about leverage. I mean, let’s start with the idea that there are people who have been hesitant to get vaccinated because these vaccines were only under emergency use authorization. At this point now today, as a result of what the FDA has done, there is reams and reams of research that has now been done to prove that these vaccines are effective, especially the mRNA vaccines, like Pfizer. And so I’m very happy about that. I think so many people who may have been hesitant, wondering whether it was approved too quickly, now, literally almost a year later, we now have so much research to show these work. I’m very happy about that. I think that that means many more people will choose to get vaccinated. And I do think that there will be private institutions that will choose to require vaccinations now that it’s no longer under EUA.
Please pardon all transcription errors.
* The Question: How long should the governor wait before mandating the COVID-19 vaccine for all state employees? Make sure to explain your answer, even if you believe that he shouldn’t ever mandate the vax.
*** UPDATE *** Crain’s…
* But it’s not yet a done deal…
“City employees are absolutely going to be required to be vaccinated,” she said, adding that discussions are still ongoing with the unions that represent most city workers, but specific announcements would land in the coming days. “We absolutely have to have a vaccine mandate. It’s for the safety of all involved, particularly members of the public, who are interacting with city employees on a daily basis.”
67 Comments  
|
COVID-19 roundup
Monday, Aug 23, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* AP…
About 6 in 10 Americans say students and teachers should be required to wear face masks while in school, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Similar shares say teachers and eligible students should also be required to receive a COVID-19 vaccine. […]
The poll shows 59% of Americans support vaccination requirements for teachers and nearly as many — 55% — say the same for students age 12 and over, who are eligible to be vaccinated. Among parents, support was lower, with 42% backing vaccine mandates for students.
* SJ-R…
[Dr. Marc Shelton, HSHS senior vice president and chief clinical officer] said the delta variant is more likely to hospitalize unvaccinated people younger than 65 because older people are more likely to be vaccinated. The variant also appears to make people sicker and in a shorter time period, he said.
A year ago, a rise in COVID-19 diagnoses typically was followed by a surge in hospitalizations eight to 15 weeks later, Shelton said. Now, because of the delta variant, it takes five weeks for patients to show up at the hospital after being diagnosed, he said. […]
The average age of COVID-19 patients in MHS hospitals now is 58, compared with 69 in 2020. These patients are requesting more interventions to maximize their chance of survival, and those interventions, such as using a ventilator to help a patient breathe, must take place in inpatient settings, Govindaiah said.
The rising hospitalizations has prompted Memorial officials to open new COVID-19 units and redeploy some staff from other jobs to provide more support at the bedside, he said.
* This is far worse than scamming the government to get a handicapped parking pass and should be treated far more harshly…
An Oregon school superintendent is telling parents they can get their children out of wearing masks by citing federal disability law. […]
In some cases, he said, he believes those problems justify an exemption under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 because they interfere with learning.
But Laurie VanderPloeg, an associate executive director at the Council for Exceptional Children, an advocacy group, cautioned that under the federal law, children would not be allowed to go maskless simply because they asked.
Under the law, she said, school districts would have to go through a formal process to establish whether a child does, in fact, have a particular mental or physical disability, such as a respiratory condition, that would warrant an exception to the mask rule.
In Kansas, the Spring Hill school board is allowing parents to claim a medical or mental health exemption from the county’s requirement that elementary school students mask up. They do not need a medical provider to sign off.
I recently saw a video online of an anti-mask Illinois parent citing ADA at a school, so I presume this scam has arrived here. I’m so old I remember when we used to be disgusted when people lied about a disability to obtain undeserved special treatment.
* Tribune…
As Chicago Public Schools students prepare to return to classrooms next week, a group of City Council and General Assembly members say they are “deeply concerned” about the district’s COVID-19 safety plans.
“The delta variant of COVID-19 has demonstrated its stronger transmission among unvaccinated young people, and we are deeply concerned that Chicago Public Schools’ current plan for students and staff to return to school buildings rolls back many important safety mitigation standards that can undermine the district’s objective of increasing equity for students especially in light of an ever-changing pandemic that is increasingly harming younger age groups,” Ald. Maria Hadden, 49th, and Democratic state Sen. Cristina Pacione-Zayas wrote in a letter Sunday to Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Chicago Board of Education President Miguel del Valle and interim CPS CEO José Torres.
The full letter is here. The full list of signatories is here and here.
…Adding… Tribune…
Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union have hammered out about 25% of a COVID-19 safety agreement with just a week to go until students return to classrooms for full-time in-person learning, the union said Monday as it called on Mayor Lori Lightfoot and her team to “get serious” about working out a full deal.
* Press release…
Rev. & Mrs. Jesse Jackson’s COVID-19 Update
Sunday, August 22, 2021, 6:00 p.m.
Statement by son, Jonathan Jackson
Chicago, IL — Both of my parents have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, and especially because of their ages, physicians at the Northwestern University Memorial Hospital are carefully monitoring their condition.
Both are resting comfortably and are responding positively to their treatments.
My family appreciates all of the expressions of concern and prayers that have been offered on their behalf, and we will continue to offer our prayers for your family as well. We ask that you continue to pray for the full recovery of our parents. We will continue to update you on a regular basis.
* More…
* Cook County’s New Indoor Mask Mandate Takes Effect Monday
* 28 receive U of I System honor for leading COVID-19 response
* Durand CUSD 322 reverses course, will comply with the mask mandate
* This School Year Is Going to Be a Mess—Again: We have the tools to keep Delta in check, but schools have to actually use them.
* Some Americans No Longer Believe in the Common Good: They now are thinking only of themselves
* Pentagon to mandate COVID-19 vaccine, as Pfizer is approved
13 Comments
|
* Press release…
Illinois Senate Republican Leader Dan McConchie (R-Hawthorn Woods) appointed Jeremy Margolis, Co-Chair of White Collar Criminal Defense & Investigations at Loeb & Loeb,to serve on the Legislative Ethics Commission’s search committee tasked with finding qualified candidates for the position of Legislative Inspector General.
“Jeremy’s extensive legal accolades and accomplishments will allow him to bring an experienced perspective to this very important process,” McConchie said. “Specifically his prosecutorial experience and tenure as Director of the Illinois State Police make him uniquely qualified to see the talents, skills and dedication to ethical behavior we need in Illinois government.”
Margolis practices law internationally with an emphasis on grand jury, white collar, and internal investigations, compliance counseling, investigations and complex commercial litigation.
“I am honored to be able to serve Illinois’ Senate leadership in this role,” Margolis said. “I will do all that I can to help enhance the level of integrity in state government and to restore public confidence in what is often viewed as a broken and self-serving system”.
He has tried dozens of United States District Court jury cases to verdict, both for and against the government, and he has briefed and argued over 30 cases in the United States Court of Appeals.
Prior to entering private practice, Jeremy served as an Assistant United States Attorney in Chicago for 11 years, handling many cases of national interest. He conducted complex and sensitive investigations and prosecutions of sophisticated financial schemes, official corruption involving high-ranking federal and state elected and appointed public officials, and organized crime cases ranging from loan sharking to murder. His cases included both domestic and international terrorism involving bombings, air piracy, hostage taking and seditious conspiracy. Jeremy was one of the co-founders and coordinators of the multiagency Chicago Joint Terrorist Task Force, directly responsible for many matters directly affecting national security.
He also served for four years as Director of the Illinois State Police (ISP), a full-service law enforcement agency numbering over 2,500 officers and 1,000 support and laboratory personnel. The ISP’s law enforcement responsibilities include uniformed and tactical patrol, investigations, operating the State Police Academy, and delivering crime laboratory services to Illinois law enforcement agencies through a network of regional laboratories.
In addition, Jeremy served as Illinois Inspector General for three years, overseeing both criminal and regulatory investigations involving child abuse, public health, the environment and public safety. During his appointment as inspector general, he briefly served as Illinois Acting Director of Public Health during a statewide salmonella crisis caused by contaminated milk, which affected over 10,000 child and adult victims. The crisis was resolved with the coordinated involvement of the U.S. FDA and CDC.
Jeremy has lectured extensively at law schools, bar associations and civic organizations, and he has conducted training for state and local prosecutors and local, state and federal law enforcement officers. He is regularly quoted in local and national media, including in hundreds of case-related newspaper and magazine articles, and he has been interviewed on radio and television programs.
Margolis earned his B.A. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign before graduating cum laude from the Northwestern University School of Law. He has received many awards and honors throughout his career including the Anti-Defamation League’s Civil Rights Award, the United States Attorney General’s Award for Distinguished Service and the United States Secret Service Honor Award.
He is a member of the FBI Chicago Chapter of the Society of Former Special Agents and a member of the Board of Governors of the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists and a former member of the Board of Directors of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
*** UPDATE *** From one of my syndicated newspaper columns way back in the day…
Margolis is a walking conflict of interest, and that’s the least of his faults. A former director of the Illinois State Police, he first gained notoriety in the 1998 governor’s race, when George Ryan brought him in to investigate allegations that secretary of state workers were handing out commercial drivers licenses to anyone who bought George Ryan campaign-fundraiser tickets.
Margolis took a quick look and declared there was no organized effort to sell licenses for campaign donations, and insisted that no follow-up investigations were needed. And then he began aggressively, and dishonestly, defending Ryan in the media.
“This is campaign time,” he told reporters with a dismissive tone. “Six-hundred-dollar bribes which you wouldn’t normally report are big news now.”
Margolis reviewed a diary kept by secretary of state whistle-blower Tony Berlin, but he claimed when his investigation was complete that the whistle-blower had a “lengthy arrest record,” so Berlin was chalked up as untrustworthy. But after Ryan was safely elected governor, the U.S. attorney revealed that Berlin’s diary was crucial in making bribery cases against Marion Sieble, Berlin’s boss, and others. And Berlin’s supposedly “lengthy” arrest record? He was busted once for DUI. Margolis smeared him.
One of the documents Margolis never mentioned was a memo written a week after the Rev. Scott Willis drove over a piece of metal that had fallen off a semi, which caused his van to blow up and kill all six of his children. In the memo, Secretary of State Inspector General Dean Bauer said he suspected the truck driver, who didn’t speak any English, had bribed his way to a driver’s license. The memo didn’t surface until many months after the 1998 election.
The Margolis influence was felt beyond the license-for-bribes scandal. A Margolis friend at Ryan’s secretary of state office was given the job of spying on a separate state-police investigation into campaign work done on state time.
After Ryan was elected governor, Margolis chaired a gubernatorial transition committee and began “monitoring” the federal corruption investigation for the governor.
It wasn’t long before Ryan’s campaign was paying Margolis to represent almost all the Ryan employees who were receiving visits from FBI agents and testifying before grand juries.
32 Comments
|
* My parents had five boys. Whenever we were on a road trip and their passel of sons was starting to get restless and unruly, my father would warn us with what he called “The three S’s”…
Sit down, sit back and shut up.
Same applies here…
Rod Blagojevich is looking for some heavy-duty polish to spiff up his sullied reputation. He thinks he may have found it. The disgraced ex-governor has filed a lawsuit seeking to nullify the ban on him running for office — either statewide or locally.
“If I were to fall dead right here, my obituary in tomorrow’s papers wouldn’t be that good,” he told a gaggle of reporters earlier this month outside the Dirksen Federal Building, adding that he wanted to pursue “things with my life where that obituary can be corrected.” […]
We have a message for Rod. You can spiff up that reputation faster than you can say Roland Burris. Simply make the ultimate sacrifice, and step away from that limelight you crave so dearly. Your 15 minutes are up. Just walk away. Embrace a private life.
I’d add an admonition to ABC 7 for producing a “documentary” on Blagojevich that the station hyped with “exclusive” coverage of his goofy lawsuit.
*** UPDATE *** The Chicago Tribune editorial board should probably pick a lane. Whack Rod, but publish an op-ed by Ray LaHood? C’mon. Don’t y’all read your own newspaper?
37 Comments
|
|
Support CapitolFax.com
Visit our advertisers...
 
...............
...............
...............
...............
...............
...............
|
   
|
Hosted by MCS |
SUBSCRIBE to Capitol Fax |
Advertise Here |
Mobile Version |
Contact Rich Miller
|
