Parents and students rallied at the Capitol today to remove the masks from children. I was proud to stand with them in support of our children, their mental health, and education. Other states are having success dropping the masks and it’s past time Illinois did the same. pic.twitter.com/hWN9SRHTF2
— Darren Bailey for Governor (@DarrenBaileyIL) May 18, 2021
I really don’t get those people.
* But let’s zoom in…
Won’t get the vax, won’t wear a mask. Yeah, that’s a great coalition to build when running for governor. /s
When James McIntyre advocates for queer kids facing abuse and neglect in the state’s foster care system, he draws on painful personal experience of his own time in the system—and the abuse he endured. McIntyre was only three years old when his parents’ drug use and neglect forced Illinois child protection authorities to place him and his four siblings in foster care. A couple eventually adopted him and two siblings years later, but that home wasn’t the solace he was promised.
He tells the Reader that after he turned seven years old, his adoptive mother would beat and starve him. And her biological son raped him for years. After escaping that home by feigning mental illness, McIntrye says he was shuffled between foster homes until he turned 21 and aged out of the system.
Amid all the trauma and abuse, McIntyre says being gay made his circumstances even worse. From the state’s Department of Children and Family Services, from foster agencies, and from foster families themselves, he says he was routinely told to hide the fact that he was gay. “Being gay was seen as a safety risk,” he says. “And so instead, they force the gay kids in the closet and say, ‘We don’t have any gay kids.’ Because then it would be seen as an unsafe situation to acknowledge that one of their kids is gay.”
In February, the state’s auditor general reported that the Illinois DCFS failed in myriad ways to adequately care for LBGTQ+ kids. The report found “a lack of reliable and consistent information regarding LGBTQ youth in the care of the department'’ and “a lack of monitoring and oversight of private agency compliance” with its policies and procedures related to LGBTQ+ youth. […]
The 16 recommendations in the auditor’s report mostly target the agency’s lack of enforcement and oversight of its policies related to LGBTQ+ youth, known as Appendix K. But the report also states that the agency has no formal process for identifying LGBTQ+ youth, with housing placement practices being similarly opaque. […]
In a statement provided to the Reader, the agency said that it has taken “aggressive measures to improve the services and care provided to LGBTQI+ youth since the time period covered by this audit.” A representative for the department says the audit additionally doesn’t reflect the current state of the department, as it uses data mostly from 2017 and 2018.
* OK, but have things improved since then? I asked the Illinois ACLU’s Ed Yohnka that question…
Generally I would say that the experiences of most LGBTQ youth in care have not significantly improved over the time we have been investigating their experiences – since 2017. We acknowledge DCFS has done some work to address this population’s needs since the time of the audit, but that work has not yet translated into any better experiences for young people in state care.
*** UPDATE *** DCFS…
The Department of Children and Family Services, under its current leadership, has taken aggressive measures to improve the services and care provided to LGBTQI+ youth since the time period covered by this audit. The progress is outlined in our audit responses, and DCFS continues to work diligently to provide resources and guidance to its staff and external partners to ensure that we meet the needs of this vulnerable population.
Background…
As part of our commitment to providing services across the state, DCFS has created a new hiring plan and is working to fill every vacancy as quickly as possible. The newly created position of Chief for LGBTQI+ Services has recently been filled.
This audit was conducted in 2019 using data primarily from 2017 and 2018.
Recent efforts include maintaining and expanding a list of providers, agencies, and organizations across the state that are available to meet the needs of LGBTQI+ youth. These providers include affirming therapists, LGBTQI+ organizations and agencies, and health care professionals that provide gender-affirming hormone therapy.
In June 2020, the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services Clinical Division and Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion began a coordinated effort to expand programmatic support for LGBTQI+ youth in care.
The Clinical Division completes staffing and consultations, while providing clinical recommendations regarding interventions, resources, and resource linkages for the youth in care.
The DEI LGBTQI+ Services team is addressing competency training needs and recruitment of affirming caregivers, continuing to build resources, and investigating all claims of discrimination as it relates to our LGBTQI+ youth and their families.
The Clinical Division and DEI are working closely together to ensure that DCFS is following best practices for LGBTQI+ youth and their families.
The Illinois Senate is gearing up for a debate over a package of ethics reforms, possibly as early as this week, but it’s one that Republicans say doesn’t go far enough.
Senate Bill 4, which moved out of the Senate Ethics Committee on April 21, is a package written largely by legislative Democrats that would enact new rules governing lobbying, campaign fundraising, who can serve on political committees and the operations of the General Assembly. […]
That bill reportedly has been the subject of negotiations between the chairs of the Senate and House ethics committees, Sen. Ann Gillespie, D-Arlington Heights, and Rep. Kelly Burke, D-Evergreen Park. But Gillespie indicated Monday that further changes may be made before the bill comes up for a vote. […]
Senate Republicans, however, argued in a news conference Monday that while the Democrats’ bill has some good reforms, it falls short of the kind of ethics legislation that they say Illinois needs.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, from June 6 , 2021 through July 10, 2021, a retail licensee may offer a single drink of alcoholic liquor at no cost to a customer as part of a publicly advertised promotion to encourage participation in any COVID-19 vaccination program if the customer provides proof of COVID-19 vaccination received at any time. Drinks may be provided under this Section only from 12 p.m. through 10 p.m.
House Speaker Chris Welch has signed on as a co-sponsor of the underlying bill.
* This Republican-sponsored Senate bill (Anderson) had its deadline extended to May 21st by the Democrats and then yesterday the Democrats agreed to waive the posting requirements so it could be heard in committee today…
Amends the Fireworks Regulation Act of Illinois. Provides that the storage, possession, sale, and use of nonfireworks shall be permitted at all times throughout the State. Requires regulation of nonfireworks, including their storage and sale, to be consistent with the standards set forth in the National Fire Protection Association’s Code for the Manufacture, Transportation, Storage and Retail Sales of Fireworks and Pyrotechnic Articles, 2006 edition. Provides that the amendatory provisions do not apply to the City of Chicago. Defines “nonfireworks”.
When a West Side preschooler was banned by his school from wearing his hair in braids, his mother resolved to take a stand against the school’s hair policy.
Though the school, Providence St. Mel, has not backed down, the family’s fight to wear their Black hair with pride has inspired a state bill that would bar schools from discriminating against students based on their hairstyle.
The bill drafted by Sen. Mike Simmons (7th) with the Illinois State Board of Education would require schools to remove any language from their policies and handbooks that prohibits students from wearing Black hairstyles. The bill was overwhelmingly approved by the state Senate last week and will now move to the House.
High-profile incidents of schools and workplaces cracking down on Black hairstyles — including one in North Carolina last week where a softball player was forced to cut her hair during a game — have pushed more states to pass laws to ban hair discrimination. California, New York and New Jersey were the first states to adopt versions of the CROWN Act — Create a Respectful and Open Workplace for Natural Hair — and several other states have adopted or considered similar measures.
* Other stuff…
* At long last, a new Illinois energy bill is likely imminent
* They all eventually masked up when called out for their House rules violation by Democrats…
Most House members are still wearing masks, except for a few Republicans. Ironically, they’re the same group that sent a letter to MLB teams protesting vaccination zones in stadiums because they might “stigmatize” unvaccinated people. pic.twitter.com/wsmmgldsqU
A year ago experts predicted that one-third of the restaurants in America might close in 2020 as a result of the pandemic. Chef and activist Tom Colicchio said the number of casualties could go as high as 75%.
New data from the National Restaurant Association, a Washington-based industry group, found that 90,000 restaurants across the U.S. have closed permanently or long-term. That’s less than 14% of the country’s restaurants. It’s lower than the 110,000 figure reported by the association in December, when the executive vice president for public affairs, Sean Kennedy, described the industry’s status as “an economic free fall.”
While that’s still disastrous compared with the 50,000 restaurants that shutter in a typical year, the most dire scenarios were averted thanks to such initiatives as government loans like the Paycheck Protection Program and changes in local restrictions.
* The mayor announces the return of Lollapalooza. Warning: You will not get these two minutes back…
🚨NEWS🚨 @chicagosmayor & @lollapalooza organizers are thrilled to announce that the world class festival will return to Grant Park at full capacity July 29-August 1, 2021.
Full COVID-19 vaccination or negative COVID-19 test results will be required to attend Lollapalooza. pic.twitter.com/mrG5TuXqbm
When Gov. J.B. Pritzker eased statewide mask requirements Monday, many businesses in Chicago, where the mask rule remains in place, were still scrambling to figure out how to respond to last week’s updated guidance from federal health officials.
Some businesses worried they would face more pushback from customers who took new guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as permission to visit barefaced. Others were wary of prying into customers’ vaccination status.
“There was no warning, and it put us in a position where we had to plan for it immediately,” Julia Steiner, a bookseller at The Book Cellar in Chicago’s Lincoln Square neighborhood, said shortly before the governor’s announcement.
After the CDC released its guidance, The Book Cellar posted signs and messages on social media saying masks would be required until further notice. The store wanted to make sure everyone is able to browse, including kids who aren’t yet eligible for the vaccine and those with health conditions who can’t get vaccinated, Steiner said.
* Other stories…
* Constable: Are those who don’t wear masks vaccinated or … ‘the other’?: “In horror and science fiction there is the thing called ‘the other.’ Things that threaten to change us,’” explains Dann Gire, the legendary film critic and a founding director and past president of the Chicago Film Critics Association. Gire thinks this column’s premise merits four stars, but, as with some films, he might give the end result a two-star rating. “The other” can take the form of zombies, aliens, robots, insanity or just death, but there are worse things than death. “It’s much worse to be assimilated and become ‘the other,’” Gire says.
Tuesday, May 18, 2021 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
From OSF HealthCare’s new OnCall building in Peoria, healthcare professionals manage telehealth services across the system’s 14 hospitals and in its primary and specialty care offices. Catapulted by the pandemic, telehealth can address health inequities and disparities.
Jennifer Junis, senior vice president of OSF OnCall Digital Health, told WCBU that telehealth can be particularly helpful in rural areas where distance may limit access to care. As part of its telehealth efforts, OSF HealthCare deployed hotspot tablets in rural households that lack WiFi or internet.
To reduce barriers and improve patient outcomes, the Coalition to Protect Telehealth urges the Senate to pass House Bill 3498. This bipartisan legislation, passed unanimously in the House, will ensure Illinoisans continue to have access to innovative telehealth services after the pandemic.
UnityPlace in Peoria offers virtual psychiatric appointments, substance use disorder treatment and group therapy. UnityPlace President Dr. Ted Bender told WCBU it was clear when the pandemic began that remote treatment options would become more common.
“I think it’s here to stay, and I think it’s a great thing,” Dr. Bender said. “It’s going to improve access, which in mental health is the key to everything.”
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 1,495 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 21 additional deaths.
Coles County: 1 female 60s, 1 female 80s
Cook County: 1 male 40s, 1 male 50s, 2 females 60s, 2 males 60s, 1 male 70s, 1 female 80s, 3 males 80s, 1 female 90s
Peoria County: 1 male 60s, 1 female 70s
Tazewell County: 1 male 80s
Will County: 1 male 40s, 1 female 80s, 1 male 80s
Winnebago County: 1 male 70s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 1,368,709 cases, including 22,466 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 58,222 specimens for a total of 23,904,959. As of last night, 1,503 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 407 patients were in the ICU and 234 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from May 11-17, 2021 is 2.3%. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from May 11-17, 2021 is 2.8%.
A total of 10,433,777 vaccines have been administered in Illinois as of last midnight. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 56,593 doses. Yesterday, 25,936 doses were reported administered in Illinois. The server pharmacies use was experiencing delays and some doses administered at pharmacies are missing from yesterday’s number. The issue looks to be resolved and those doses are expected to be included with tomorrow’s data.
*All data are provisional and will change. In order to rapidly report COVID-19 information to the public, data are being reported in real-time. Information is constantly being entered into an electronic system and the number of cases and deaths can change as additional information is gathered. For health questions about COVID-19, call the hotline at 1-800-889-3931 or email dph.sick@illinois.gov.
The Chicago City Council’s Black Caucus endorsed on Monday a long-stalled plan to put an elected board of Chicago residents in charge of the Chicago Police Department, joining the City Council’s two other major caucuses in a revolt against Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
Eight months ago, Lightfoot promised to introduce her own plan for an elected board to oversee the CPD after she dropped her support for the measure crafted by a coalition of community organizations under the umbrella of the Grassroots Association for Police Accountability, known as GAPA, saying it would limit her ability to keep the city safe.
Lightfoot has yet to do introduce her own plan despite telling reporters for months it was on the verge of being introduced. The mayor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from WTTW News on Monday afternoon.
Lightfoot’s decision to drop her support of GAPA put her at odds with several of her allies on the Chicago City Council, and ultimately led to supporters of GAPA joining forces with the supporters of a competing proposal known as CPAC to craft a compromise measure known as Empowering Communities for Public Safety.
They now apparently have enough combined votes to override a mayoral veto. So, she could wind up with an elected school board and an elected police board - two promises she made and then backtracked on.
Under the compromise, Chicago voters in the 2022 primary would be asked to approve a binding referendum empowering a civilian police oversight commission to hire and fire the police superintendent, negotiate police contracts and set CPD’s budget.
Lightfoot would lose the power to hire and fire the police superintendent. Her Law Department and hand-picked negotiators would lose the power to negotiate police contracts.
And Lightfoot and aldermen would be stripped of the power they now hold to establish the CPD budget, ceding that power as well to an 11-member civilian oversight commission that would have nine elected commissioners and two mayoral appointees.
Even if voters reject the binding referendum, the 11-member commission would have the final say in disputes over police policy unless two-thirds of the Council decides otherwise. The commission also would be empowered to take a vote of no-confidence in the superintendent and hire and fire the chief administrator of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability. […]
“I wear the jacket, as every mayor does, for violence in this city, for crime in this city. And the notion that we’re gonna outsource that to someone else and have no responsibility — no ability to impact this — I don’t know anybody who thinks that’s a good idea,” Lightfoot said last month during a conference call with City Hall reporters.
Nobody except a super-majority on the city council, that is.
The operator of a proposed Southeast Side metal-shredding and recycling plant is suing the city for more than $100 million in damages, contending officials have improperly stalled and otherwise gone back on their word to let the facility begin operations.
Southside Recycling contends Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration buckled to political pressure and “repeatedly violated” a 2019 agreement, “as well as its own rules and guidelines.” The 2019 agreement set terms of how the company, then operating as General Iron, would move to a 175-acre site at 11600 S. Burley Ave. from its location near the Clybourn Corridor in Lincoln Park. Read the lawsuit at the bottom of this story.
“Following a two-year zoning, rulemaking and permitting review process, SR built the most environmentally conscious recycling facility in the country and has fully complied—and then some—with every city requirement necessary to be granted an operating permit,” the lawsuit states. “Yet, when it came time for the city to follow its own rules and promises and to award the permit to SR, the city chose to avoid, delay and suspend its review of SR’s permit application.”
The suit asks the U.S. District Court to order the city to issue the final permit needed to open the new facility, on which Southside Recycling says it’s already spent more than $80 million. It also asks for “damages well in excess of $100 million.”
The company’s complaint makes a number of arguments that RMG has repeated for more than year as it addressed objections to the move to the Southeast Side. But it also accuses the city of violating its constitutional rights as a landowner. By not issuing a final permit to operate on its own land, the lawsuit claims, the city “has effectively taken the value of RMG’s property without just compensation.”
“This illegal taking is particularly pronounced because the City lured RMG into permanently ceasing operations at the North Side facility and constructing a new facility on the Southeast Side,” the complaint said.
The Chicago Park District is conducting a “broad investigation” into complaints that dozens of workers at the city’s pools and beaches regularly committed “sexual assault, sexual abuse, sexual harassment, workplace violence, and other criminal acts” – sometimes against minors.
Confidential reports obtained recently by WBEZ show investigators with the park district inspector general’s office have already gathered evidence corroborating accusations against at least three male lifeguards for sexual assault, harassment or retaliatory threats against their subordinates – including one incident involving the sexual assault and attempted rape of a 16-year-old girl. The park district’s watchdog says its investigation is “wide-ranging, comprehensive and robust,” with more reports to come.
“Where appropriate, I’ve urged them to make referrals to the appropriate criminal law enforcement authorities,” Lightfoot said at an unrelated news conference in the Bronzeville neighborhood.
When asked if police had been contacted by the park district, the mayor replied, “I don’t have specifics on that, but I’m urging them to do that if the investigation determines that criminal conduct has taken place.”
That’s a pretty weak response.
It’s not mentioned in this Tribune story, but why would a parent ever encourage a kid to work as a Chicago lifeguard with that cloud hanging over the Park District?…
Numerous park districts say they’re well behind their lifeguard hiring goals, with dozens of slots left to fill as opening day approaches. The lingering effects of the pandemic have complicated an already difficult task, some managers say, making teens (and their parents) more reluctant to seek the quintessential summer job. […]
The Chicago Park District also faces a dearth of applicants this year. Chief program manager Alonzo Williams, testifying at a City Council committee hearing earlier this month, put some blame on the COVID-induced shutdowns of a lifeguard apprenticeship program for two years running.
Yeah, maybe stop raping girls.
* Related…
* 2 Chicago police officers shot in Lawndale on West Side, officials say: “This is the 29th officer in 2021 with the Chicago Police Department shot at or shot,” Brown said. “The fifth and sixth officers shot in 2021. These totals for the last 15 months are 108 shot at or shot. Sixteen shot in the last 15 months.”
* Getting Hosed: City Offers 91-Year-Old Retired CPS Teacher A “Payment Plan” For A $57,000 Water Bill: Getting Hosed was going to be a single story about a couple billed $58,000 for water they didn’t use. Now, it’s more than two years of chronicling unfair and potentially unlawful water billing practices in Chicago. The CBS 2 Investigators have found the City department whose taxpayer-funded responsibility it is to provide safe, affordable drinking water has utterly failed consumers and undermined our investigative efforts at every turn.
Tuesday, May 18, 2021 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
We can’t have fair maps if those maps aren’t drawn using the full set of detailed Census data. But, due to census delays, Illinois politicians are planning to use outdated, estimated numbers to draw election maps that will last for a decade.
We know those estimates missed tens of thousands of us. We need the next set of election district maps to fully reflect our communities, and the only way that can happen is if those maps are drawn with current, complete Census data to give all our communities accurate and fair representation.
Call Governor Pritzker’s office today to ask that he push lawmakers to seek court permission to delay the process so that the next set of election maps are drawn with COMPLETE Census data, NOT old estimates.
Tuesday, May 18, 2021 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Employers in Illinois provide prescription drug coverage for nearly 6.7 million Illinoisans. In order to help keep care more affordable, employers work with pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), who deploy a variety of tools to reduce prescription drug costs and help improve health outcomes. In addition to helping employers, PBMs also work with the Illinois Medicaid program in the same way to help control costs. Over the last five years, PBMs have saved the state and taxpayers nearly $340 million.
Today, Illinois faces a multibillion budget shortfall as more Illinoisans are relying on Medicaid to help meet their health care coverage needs. As legislators work to address these challenges, one way to help ensure continued cost savings is by strengthening the PBM tools that the State and employers use, which are poised to save employers, consumers and the State $39 billion over the next 10 years. These are meaningful savings that will help continue to contain costs, ensure consumer access to medicines and drive savings in public health programs.
Amid a pandemic and economic challenges, now is the time to strengthen, not limit, the tools that employers, consumers and the State rely on to manage costs and ensure consumers can access the medicines they need.
Republican state legislators have written to Chicago Cubs and White Sox officials, calling on them to reconsider efforts to separate vaccinated fans from those who aren’t. They’re concerned that separate seating “could stigmatize unvaccinated Illinoisans.”
“We strongly feel that Covid vaccines are a personal medical choice and those that do not receive it should not be excluded or stigmatized… Vaccine passports or solicitation of proof of vaccination should not be a requirement for Illinoisans to enjoy America’s pastime,” according to letters sent to Cubs President of Baseball Operations Jed Hoyer and White Sox President for Baseball Operations Kenny Williams. (They’re the execs concerned about the game on the field, not the butts in seats, but we get the point.)
The letters were signed by GOP Reps. Andrew Chesney, Dan Caulkins, Brad Halbrook, Tony McCombie, Chris Miller, Adam Niemerg, Joe Sosnowski, and Blaine Wilhour.
Spokesmen for the teams say it’s an unnecessary dustup since the special sections end later this month when the capacity level of the stadiums go up from 25 percent to 60 percent, as dictated by the city and state.
* Here’s the letter, which is downright hilarious…
Upon news that the Chicago White Sox will be requiring vaccination credentials to attend certain fan sections of ballgames at Guaranteed Rate Field, we ask for your thoughtful reconsideration of proposals which could stigmatize unvaccinated Illinoisans.
We strongly feel that COVID vaccines are a personal medical choice and those that do not receive it should not be excluded or stigmatized. If you agree, we ask for your intercession with this policy at Guaranteed Rate Field. Vaccine passports or solicitation of proof of vaccination should not be a requirement for Illinoisans to enjoy America’s pastime. Segregation of patrons unwilling or unable to show proof of vaccination would not only be an infringement on the liberties and freedom of Illinoisans, but also a violation of individual medical privacy.
Operation Warp Speed, under President Donald J. Trump, allowed the development of COVID vaccines at a rate we have never seen in world history. These remarkable medical breakthroughs are helping allow Americans to get back to work and are protecting those who are medically able and willing to receive the vaccine. What we cannot permit, though, is disparate treatment of our constituents based on medical treatments. We are deeply troubled by potential stigmatizing of Illinoisans based on medical status. The CDC has not yet advised that all age groups and medical conditions are eligible for COVID vaccination, and as such, many Illinoisans are not yet eligible to receive the vaccine.
Kids should focus on remembering to bring their gloves to ballgames, not be worried about bringing vaccination credentials. We understand people are frustrated with the private-sector-shutdowns imposed by the Pritzker and Lightfoot Administrations and are doing everything they can, as residents and businessowners, to take steps toward a return to “normalcy;” however, that return should not be predicated on exclusion of individuals based on vaccination status.
Respectfully, we request you review and intercede in these policies which we feel are discriminatory and exclusionary.
It sounds like they want to make the unvaxed a protected class.
HHS says protected health information under HIPAA includes information that relates to a person’s past, present or future physical or mental health or condition. HHS has a list of what information is protected on its website.
While HIPAA rules apply to covered entities and specific business associates, the rules don’t extend to most businesses, according to Glenn Cohen, a professor at Harvard Law School.
“Because the average business is not a covered entity or a business associate of a covered entity within the meaning of HIPAA, the statute does not prohibit them asking them about vaccination status,” Cohen said in an email to the VERIFY team.
Kayte Spector-Bagdady, a lawyer and bioethicist who is also the associate director at the University of Michigan’s Center for Bioethics and Social Sciences in Medicine, said there is sometimes a misunderstanding of what HIPAA does.
“People often feel like HIPAA protects them from being asked about their medical information, or prohibits other people from asking about their medical information,” Spector-Bagdady said. “Neither is true. HIPAA prohibits health professionals, such as your doctor, from sharing your identified health information without your permission in most circumstances. People can always ask about your health information, and you can almost always decline to answer. But not answering health questions might come at a cost – such as not being able to enter your workplace or board a plane.”
A little-noticed line in a recent criminal filing suggests federal prosecutors consider a popular political fundraising tactic to be legally questionable.
Why it matters: Fundraisers often boast of “5x” or other contribution matches to coax small-dollar donations. The Justice Department indicated in a court filing Monday this could amount to “material misrepresentations” if, as critics often contend, there’s no evidence the match ever occurs.
Limited-time matching gives ideological supporters extra incentive to donate to a campaign they care about. But legal experts say it is hard to see how donation matching could happen given campaign contribution limits. And there are no accountability mechanisms to determine whether campaigns actually follow through with their promises.
“I think these promised matches are largely a marketing ploy from direct mail fundraising,” said Michael Kang, a law professor at Northwestern whose expertise includes campaign finance. “They stir up contrived urgency.”
Political campaigns have long use matching donations as a fundraising tactic. Roll Call identified several congressional campaigns, both Republican and Democratic, that said they would match donations during the last midterm cycle.
* I get these sorts of pleas a lot…
Rodney Davis has a CRITICAL end-of-month fundraising deadline coming up, and he’s falling behind his fundraising goal.
That’s why I’ve just activated an EMERGENCY 500% matching through MIDNIGHT tonight!
EMERGENCY 500% MATCH DONATE
* Raja Krishnamoorthi uses it often…
RAJA 2X-MATCH: ACTIVE
NAME: Rich Miller
I will personally ensure your gift is 2X-matched by major donors
* But it’s also being done by state campaigns. Here’s Alexi Giannoulias…
Our email match is still going and we are $13,400 short of our $25,000 goal for tomorrow. Can you chip in $25, $50, $100 or whatever you can to help us meet the matching donation?
* ILGOP…
Will you do me a favor and make a donation to the Independent Maps Fund today? I’ve personally authorized a 200% match on all contributions made BEFORE MIDNIGHT TONIGHT.
Nearly every major industrial source of ethylene oxide makes it relatively easy for Americans to know how much of the cancer-causing gas drifts into surrounding communities.
The only outliers are two Illinois-based companies that for years have failed to report emissions to the Toxics Release Inventory, a Tribune review of federal records found.
A Medline Industries plant in north suburban Waukegan last appeared in the inventory during the mid-2000s, even though the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency later determined the facility has been responsible for some of the nation’s highest cancer risks from air pollution.
Oak Brook-based Sterigenics stopped filing annual reports with the EPA in 2018, the same year neighbors and political leaders fought to shut down one of the company’s sterilization plants in west suburban Willowbrook.
Sheesh.
*** UPDATE *** Jesse Greenberg at Medline…
Illinois has the toughest ethylene oxide restrictions in the country. Our emissions data is public and available on the IEPA website for anyone to access at any time. Our Waukegan facility didn’t submit reports to the Toxic Release Inventory because federal rules didn’t require it. The USEPA recently changed that reporting requirement, which we welcome, and as a result the company will file reports moving forward.
* Last week, we discussed Republican gubernatorial candidate Gary Rabine’s position that the state ought to opt out of a federal unemployment program…
Gary Rabine, a candidate for Governor, is calling for Illinois to join the list of a growing number of states opting out of the federal unemployment benefits.
“Small businesses have suffered long enough and now with their inability to find workers to fill their openings, they will suffer longer,” Rabine said. “It is very important that we stop the unemployment stimulus now and get our kids back to school in Illinois.”
Right now, Illinoisans collecting unemployment insurance receive an extra $300 a week from the federal government, intended to help them through the pandemic. Individual governors can opt their states out of that benefit. So far, 18 Republican governors have announced they will not allow their citizens to receive additional money in their unemployment checks. […]
Rival GOP gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey joined Rabine in calling for Illinois to opt out of the unemployment benefits.
“The government over-incentivizes healthy people to stay home which closes businesses and destroys local economies,” the state senator and farmer from downstate Xenia said. “For the last year, I have been standing up for hardworking Illinoisans and advocating to reopen our state and get people back to work.”
Bailey, his wife and the family farm have received more than $2.3 million in federal agricultural subsidies, according to data compiled by the Environmental Working Group.
* Gov. Pritzker was asked about this topic yesterday…
There are a number of reasons that people are collecting unemployment at the moment and why it’s important for them to continue to collect that unemployment. Some people, it isn’t just, I know there’s some talk among Republicans that somehow the people who are collecting it are lazy or they don’t want to work because, gee, they’re getting an extra $300.
The reality is there are many people who have children at home that they still need to take care of because of the circumstances of the pandemic, took them into their circumstances as well where people are afraid to go back to work and they’re staying out of the workforce, or at least staying away from taking a new job.
And these are people who have, those are legitimate reasons that people might remain on unemployment. It’s a temporary time period in which receiving those benefits. But we are slowly but surely, our economy is improving, we are seeing people getting hired. We had roughly about 93,000 people who were hired in the first quarter of the year. So we’ve made a lot of progress, and I don’t want to pull the rug out from under people that have certainly legitimate reasons for remaining on unemployment.
But Rabine said that only “a paltry 266,000 jobs” were added nationally in April, which he says “suggests the federal unemployment benefits are keeping workers out of the workplace.”
“The No. 1 reason now that people aren’t going back to work is fear, or if they can’t find childcare, or schools are still closed,” [Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo] said May 9.
Raimondo’s office pointed to an experimental government survey that asks people why they aren’t working. It’s called the Household Pulse Survey and it’s larger in scope than the readings that the Labor Department uses to gauge the unemployment rate.
In the last half of April, an estimated 6.7 million said they were caring for children not in school or day care. Another 4.2 million said they were “concerned about getting or spreading the coronavirus.” Those numbers don’t map readily to the standard job reports, but they do give a sense of the scale of these factors.
Raimondo said the pandemic was particularly hard on women. At the trough of the pandemic downturn, the unemployment rate for women was 16.1%, nearly three points higher than men. The virus cratered the hospitality industry, a sector where many women work, and it upended day care and schooling, making it harder for them to return to work.
Stefania Albanesi, professor of economics at the University of Pittsburgh, said work schedules in hotels and restaurants can be “unpredictable and non-conventional, so childcare challenges may be particularly severe for mothers when considering those openings.”
Government numbers show that having kids makes a difference in labor force participation, and it matters more for women than men. Labor force participation is still down for both men and women compared with January 2020, but women are coming back into the workforce more slowly. Women with young kids under age 6 got back into the workforce at half the pace of men over that period; among women with school-age children, it’s one-third.
The Supreme Court announced Monday that it would hear a case from Mississippi challenging Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that established a constitutional right to an abortion. Regardless of that outcome, abortion access will likely continue uninterrupted in Illinois due to a series of laws enacted in recent years in anticipation of a federal rollback.
“The Reproductive Health Act does protect a person’s right to make the decision about a pregnancy and while I can’t predict what the Supreme Court would say, it would be our expectation that the Reproductive Health Act would still provide protections here in Illinois,” said Brigid Leahy, senior director of public policy at Planned Parenthood Illinois. […]
“One of the reasons Roe v. Wade needs reviewed, is even proponents of abortion recognize it’s not a well-written decision,” [Bishop Thomas Paprocki of the Diocese of Springfield] said. “The court said (at the time) that we need not resolve the difficult question of when life begins, but that is the question. They sidestepped the question and said they’re just not going to answer it.”
Because of that, he said, it leaves the possibility of regulation open, such as when a fetus is viable. That is widely accepted as during the third trimester, though in practice it has usually been interpreted to allow abortion at any point in the pregnancy.
“Where do you draw the line?” Paprocki said. “The Catholic Church would argue conception (is where to draw it), but even 15 weeks would be an improvement on what we currently have.”
The RHA was passed with the possibility in mind that the Supreme Court would eventually invalidate Roe v. Wade.
The case is an appeal from Mississippi in which the state is asking to be allowed to ban most abortions at the 15th week of pregnancy. The state is not asking the court to overrule Roe v. Wade, or later cases that reaffirmed it.
But many supporters of abortion rights are alarmed and many opponents of abortion are elated that the justices could undermine their earlier abortion rulings. If the court upholds Mississippi’s law, it would be its first ratification of an abortion ban before the point of viability, when a fetus can survive outside the womb. Such a ruling could lay the groundwork for allowing even more restrictions on abortion. That includes state bans on abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected, as early as six weeks.
If Mississippi wins, it gets to enforce its 15-week ban, which lower courts have so far prohibited. In addition, other conservative states would certainly look to copy Mississippi’s law. A decision that states can limit previability abortions would also embolden states to pass more restrictions, which some states have already done and which are already wrapped up in legal challenges. Challenges to those limits would continue.
That said, the immediate practical impact of a win for Mississippi could be muted. That’s because more than 90% of abortions take place in the first 13 weeks of pregnancy, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Nevada, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington have all enacted state laws that explicitly protect the right to an abortion, which will remain in effect in the event that Roe is overturned.
State Rep. Patrick Windhorst, R-Metropolis, was encouraged to see the U.S. Supreme Court take up the appeal.
“I think the Mississippi law should be allowed to stand,” he said, adding that we will know more once the case is heard.
Windhorst would be like to see the court overturn 50-year-old Roe v. Wade decision and 30-year-old Casey decision that gave and affirmed a woman’s right to seek an abortion.
He has sponsored legislation in the past in Illinois to limit abortions to 20 weeks except in the case of serious health issues of the mother.
“If the court was to overturn Roe v. Wade, it would leave the issue up to the states to determine what freedoms or restrictions to apply to abortion,” Windhorst said. “If the court were to uphold the Mississippi statute, my colleagues and I would look at whether some similar legislation could pass in Illinois.”
…Adding… Planned Parenthood Illinois Action…
We are disappointed, but not surprised that the Supreme Court announced it will review Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban, which is a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade. With the conservative-majority Supreme Court, anti-abortion legislatures and governors have become even bolder in their attacks on essential health care.
Illinois passed the Reproductive Health Act in 2019, which recognizes the full range of reproductive health care as a fundamental right and ensures abortion will remain legal in our state even if Roe v. Wade is overturned. While we are grateful for this additional protection, it does not safeguard our residents from all threats to our reproductive rights.
Importantly, Illinois also serves as a safe haven for surrounding states, many of which have increasingly restrictive laws that create medically unnecessary barriers for people seeking abortions and other essential health care. If the Supreme Court allows the Mississippi abortion ban to stand, it would put reproductive health care in jeopardy nationwide. And it would create inequity for abortion care, making where you live and how much money you make determine what health care you can access. We will never stop our fight to help everyone have access to the essential health care they need and deserve.
