Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton warned Thursday that Illinoisans could face an across-the-board income tax hike of at least 20% if voters reject a proposed constitutional amendment to shift the state from a mandated flat-rate tax to a graduated-rate tax based on income.
For weeks, Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritkzer’s administration has cautioned that severe budget cuts could be on the way if voters don’t approve the proposed amendment to overhaul Illinois’ income tax system. But Stratton’s threat that all taxpayers, regardless of income, could face a tax hike unless the amendment passes on Nov. 3 appeared to represent a new shift in strategy for the Pritzker administration.
“To adequately address the budget crisis under our current tax system, lawmakers will be forced to consider raising income taxes on all Illinois residents by at least 20% regardless of their level of income,” Stratton said during a virtual rally on behalf of the pro-amendment Vote Yes for Fairness group that marked the start of voting in Illinois. […]
A 20% increase would raise the state’s current 4.95% flat-rate personal income tax by nearly 1 percentage point to 5.94%. It would raise an estimated $4 billion a year, even more than the projected $3.4 billion that would be generated under a graduated-rate levy enacted if the amendment is ratified, said professor David Merriman, a longtime expert on state finances at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
* React from the Coalition to Stop the Proposed Tax Hike Amendment on Tax Hike…
“If you need more proof Springfield has too much power and can’t be trusted look no further than telling voters to support a tax hike amendment or politicians will continue to raise them for you.
“It’s clear there’s only three words the Springfield politicians understand: Raising your taxes.”
Lissa Druss
Spokesperson for the Coalition to Stop the Proposed Tax Hike Amendment
…Adding… Illinois Republican Party Chairman Tim Schneider…
Governor Pritzker’s team is so worried that his massive tax hike won’t pass that they have resorted to threatening taxpayers with…an even more massive tax hike. I believe the people of Illinois are too smart to be fooled by these outrageous scare tactics.
We deserve a state government that makes the same hard choices families make every day - to cut costs and live responsibly within our means. It’s clear that state government under the direction of Governor Pritzker and Speaker Michael Madigan are not capable of doing that. We shouldn’t reward their terrible decision-making with more of our hard earned money.
…Adding… HGOPs…
MEDIA ADVISORY: Illinois House Republicans Respond to Pritzker Administration Threats to Illinois Residents for Graduated Tax Amendment
WHO: Illinois House Republican Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs) and Deputy Minority Leader Tom Demmer (R-Dixon)
WHAT: House Republicans respond to the Pritzker Administration’s threat to raise income taxes on every Illinoisan by 20 percent if the unfair tax amendment does not pass in November.
A special Illinois House committee’s hearings next week on the Springfield bribery scandal should begin with testimony from executives of Commonwealth Edison, the company at the center of the federal corruption probe, WBEZ has learned.
In a letter Thursday to the Democratic lawmaker heading the legislative inquiry, House Republican Leader Jim Durkin of Western Springs said he or his lawyer, the former federal prosecutor Ron Safer, “will be questioning” the ComEd executives at the special panel’s meeting on Tuesday. […]
Durkin told [committee chairman Chris Welch] he “will be presenting an opening statement” at the committee meeting Tuesday, and he added that “a representative” of ComEd has confirmed the company’s executives will appear at the session to testify.
ComEd CEO Joe Dominguez and other executives from the power company – which serves 4 million homes and businesses across northern Illinois – already have testified and taken questions about the scandal at the state board that regulates utilities and at the Chicago City Council. […]
A ComEd spokesman said the company would comment on its participation in the hearings later Thursday. Welch did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday morning.
ComEd has not yet commented, but I’ll post it when they do. I have been able to confirm that a ComEd official will testify.
“ComEd has pledged to respect the legislative process that has been initiated and accepted the invitation to provide testimony at the hearing next week,” company spokesman Paul Elsberg said in a statement.
Six months into the pandemic, the new virus has infected more than 28,000 Illinois long-term care residents and killed more than 4,000. It’s also fueled debate over the Illinois Department of Public Health’s oversight of a mostly for-profit industry. That includes how the agency cut back inspections, at times breaking state law, as the virus raced through facilities.
Although far fewer residents are testing positive now than in the spring, no radical medical breakthroughs are yet in sight. The arrival of fall brings fear of a deadly virus resurgence, continued struggles over testing and protective gear, and restrictions that — in an effort to protect residents — rob them of life’s small joys, from hugging relatives to sharing a meal. […]
The number of facilities inspected dropped from roughly 100 or more a week to less than a dozen, according to a Tribune analysis of available state and federal data. When reviews picked up in mid-April, for weeks they were mostly phone calls to facilities, not on-site visits where problems could be spotted. […]
Pritzker on May 1 also temporarily stopped some state inspections of nursing homes. The order didn’t stop inspections by the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (known as CMS). Regardless, government data shows state and federal reviews had largely been stopped by then and did not return to pre-pandemic levels until June.
Ezike and her top aides forced out two IDPH administrators after learning July 8 that their unit — against state law — stopped investigating abuse and neglect complaints, according to IDPH.
Mary Miller (@Miller_Congress) will be a terrific Congresswoman for Illinois! She is Strong on the Border, Life, Low Taxes, and she will always protect and defend your Second Amendment. Mary has my Complete and Total Endorsement! #IL15https://t.co/vE7KFCcMVI
* Miller’s husband, Rep. Chris Miller (R-Oakland) was also in attendance. He’s in the second row on the far right (of course)…
* The three posed together as well…
I’m told when President Trump found out that Rep. Miller (no relation) is in the General Assembly, he talked to Miller for a bit about the governor and Chicago’s mayor.
* From a Miller spokesperson…
Chris and Mary Miller were at the White House for about two hours. President Trump talked to Chris personally for a few minutes about Illinois. The President noted to Chris that “Lori Lightfoot and JB Pritzker are failing the people of Illinois.”
They discussed how sad it is that Illinois has such an abundance of natural resources such as coal, oil and gas, water ways, agriculture products and other resources, and hard-working men and women that just want a chance to thrive. Because of years of mismanagement, the state is in shambles and losing population.
Trump noted that Illinois has a terrible business climate and despite the fact that the state has everything it needs to be successful – Illinois is failing because of the poor leadership of Lightfoot and Pritzker and the Democrats in the Legislature who are pushing businesses away with their anti-business policies.
Thursday, Sep 24, 2020 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Cleaner, greener energy. Fewer emissions. More jobs. That’s what Springfield lawmakers can deliver, thanks to Gov. Pritzker’s leadership in reviving clean energy legislation and putting forward thoughtful, ambitious principles to guide its progress.
As one of Illinois’ diverse energy providers, bp applauds Gov. Pritzker’s vision for a clean, renewable economy and urges state legislators to seize the moment for a comprehensive climate bill that includes a price on carbon.
Why? Because as Gov. Pritzker points out, “implementing a carbon price makes dirty energy less competitive, reduces emissions, creates room for renewable energy development, and raises revenue for the state.”
It’s fair to ask: why is an integrated energy company like bp advocating for carbon pricing? Because it aligns with our own low carbon ambition. Because we see business opportunity. Most of all, because we believe this is the right thing to do.
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 2,257 new confirmed cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 30 additional confirmed deaths.
• Bond County: 1 female 90s
• Cook County: 1 female 50s, 1 female 60s, 1 male 60s, 2 females 70s, 1 male 80s, 1 male 90s
• Crawford County: 1 female 70s
• DuPage County: 1 female 80s, 2 males 80s
• Edgar County: 1 female 80s
• Lake County: 1 male 70s
• Macon County: 1 male 80s, 1 female 100+
• Madison County: 1 male 50s, 2 males 70s, 1 female 80s, 1 male 80s
• McLean County: 1 female 30s, 1 female 60s
• Rock Island County: 1 male 60s
• St. Clair County: 1 female 70s
• Will County: 1 male 70s, 1 female 80s
• Williamson County: 1 female 70s, 1 male 70s, 1 female 90s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 281,371 cases, including 8,538 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from September 17 – September 23 is 3.5%. Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 62,071 specimens for a total of 5,293,678. As of last night, 1,713 people in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 400 patients were in the ICU and 155 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
Following guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, IDPH is now reporting separately both confirmed and probable cases and deaths on its website. Reporting probable cases will help show the potential burden of COVID-19 illness and efficacy of population-based non-pharmaceutical interventions. IDPH will update these data once a week.
*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.
* Meanwhile…
Every year the flu sickens millions of Americans, hospitalizes hundreds of thousands, and kills tens of thousands. This season, in addition to flu, we are battling COVID-19. We have already seen almost 7 million Americans confirmed with COVID-19, hundreds of thousands hospitalized, and more than 200,000 deaths.
“This season more than ever, it is critical that Illinoisans get our flu shots,” said Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike. “Flu and COVID-19 each can cause serious respiratory illness and co-infection could possibly lead to more severe illnesses, hospitalization, and even death. While a vaccine for COVID-19 is still in development, a vaccine for flu already exists and is your best protection against flu. The choice is yours, but I urge you to not risk co-infection of two potentially deadly viruses. Please try and protect yourself and the people around you by getting the flu vaccine, which has been proven over the years to be safe and effective.”
Everyone six months of age and older should get the seasonal flu vaccine. The vaccine is available in either a flu shot, or in a nasal spray. Talk with a health care provider about what type is most appropriate for you. More information on the types of flu vaccine can be found on the CDC website.
In addition to getting your flu vaccine, IDPH recommends following the 3 W’s for both COVID-19 and influenza.
Wash your hands
Watch your distance
Wear your mask
Viruses spread when people who are infected cough, sneeze, or talk. Flu usually comes on suddenly. Many of the symptoms of flu and COVID-19 are the same, such as fever and cough, but there are some differences. If you have symptoms of either flu or COVID-19, self-isolate and contact a health care provider. They can talk with you about testing and other measures you should be taking.
This morning, Jeanne Ives released a new ad contrasting Sean Casten’s record of self-dealing with her record of leading by example. The ad is entitled Peanuts.
After his inauguration, Congressman Sean Casten (IL-06), lobbied for Congressional pay increases, saying it’s “horrible” that they “work for peanuts” ($174,000 per year). As a state legislator, Ives refused a taxpayer funded pension, health benefits and voted against pay hikes for legislators.
Prior to running for Congress, Casten was a registered lobbyist. During the 2008 Great Recession, he became a wealthy man on the backs of hard working Americans when he got his own company $8 million in taxpayer-funded subsidies that should have gone to provide relief to struggling Americans.
But that wasn’t enough for elitist Sean Casten. Since arriving in Washington, he has advocated and voted to send more of your money to Washington DC to fund his big government ideas at every turn.
At $174,000, the families of IL-06 are not getting the representation they’re paying for, and Sean Casten wants more.
Much of that money is likely for direct mail expenses since the state party receives a significant postage discount. It’s one of the biggest reasons why Madigan retains control of the party. He saves a ton of money on mail.
The largest contribution of the month was the $20 million Ken Griffin sent to the Coalition To Stop The Proposed Tax Hike Amendment.
“If someone had previously requested a [vote by mail] ballot at an out-of-state address, or if the election authority for some other reason has that address on file, the election authority was required under the new law to send an application there,” said Matt Dietrich, a spokesperson for the Illinois State Board of Elections. […]
Sangamon County Clerk Don Gray said some reminders may be to so-called “snowbirds” who’ve requested absentee ballots for out-of-state addresses in the past, but the updated law breeds confusion.
“I wish this wasn’t happening,” Gray told WMAY radio. “It’s kind of frustrating all of this additional other measures on top which I think are well intentioned but they’re really just confusing people more and it’s eroding the confidence in the system.”
Not sure how this is confusing or bad for the Illinoisans spending their fall in Florida, Arizona or wherever. Most of the folks I know who do that are Republicans, by the way. But some people just love to spin conspiracy theories these days and look for every evil intent possible.
As indictments, charges, and investigations into state legislators continue to make headlines, today members of the Senate Republican Caucus have introduced a package of bills seeking to root out government corruption among members of the General Assembly.
The legislative package focuses on two main objectives: enhancing investigative authority within existing laws and ensuring legislators are serving the public’s interest.
While Illinois already has some strong anti-corruption laws in place, Senate Republicans say many of them are rendered toothless because the appropriate authorities aren’t given adequate ability to investigate wrongdoing.
To address these shortcomings, the legislative package proposes the following enhancements:
* Senate Bill 4012: Allows the Attorney General to impanel a statewide grand jury to investigate, indict and prosecute bribery and misconduct by members of the General Assembly.
* Senate Bill 4013: Provides states attorneys with wiretap authority.
* Senate Bill 4014: Grants the Legislative Inspector General the ability to investigate members of the General Assembly without first receiving approval from the Legislative Ethics Commission, and changes the composition of the Legislative Ethics Commission to make them all members of the general public rather than legislators.
“It’s no secret that Illinois is among the most corrupt states in the nation, so to continue to drag our feet on this issue is an insult to the people of Illinois,” said State Senator John Curran (R-Downers Grove). “The laws currently on the books aren’t enough. We need to provide the appropriate authorities with greater tools to investigate legislator misconduct. In a time when the actions of corrupt elected officials have undermined the public’s confidence, continued inaction only further erodes public trust.”
The Senate Republican anti-corruption legislative package also includes measures to ensure that legislators serve the public’s interest and not their own pocketbooks.
Proposals include:
* Senate Bill 4015: Bans legislators from lobbying other branches of state government or units of local government for compensation.
* Senate Bill 4016: Creates a revolving door legislator-to-lobbyist prohibition for one year after leaving office, or until the end of the current term, whichever is longer.
* Senate Bill 4017: Prohibits a legislator from leaving office and continuing to use their campaign fund to support lobbying activities. Also prevents an appointee to a board or commission that is confirmed by the Senate from fundraising for or donating from their campaign committee while serving as an appointed public official.
* Senate Bill 4018: Updates the Statement of Economic Interests to enhance the disclosure of potential conflicts of interest.
“These are common-sense reforms that will help ensure that legislators are representing the people’s interests instead of their own,” said State Senator Jil Tracy (R-Quincy). “The recent scandals involving legislators are clear examples that we need ethics reform now. We can’t wait any longer.”
“These aren’t new ideas. In fact, many of these concepts have been supported by legislators on both sides of the aisle for years and yet here we are still fighting for real reform,” said State Senator Dan McConchie (R-Hawthorn Woods). “There is no good reason to continue to delay addressing government corruption.”
“Within the last year, four legislators have recently been indicted, and another one is under investigation, yet there have been zero anti-corruption bills signed into law,” said State Senator Dale Righter (R-Mattoon). “It makes us wonder what exactly it will take for Democrats to get serious on the issue.”
* John Patterson with the Senate Democrats…
They’ve got some interesting ideas. We look forward to them working with us to pass and enact meaningful ethics reform for the people of Illinois.
* These folks have zero chance of winning, but here’s a Tribune editorial…
QAnon is a sprawling internet conspiracy theory as ugly as it is unfathomable. It weaves together anti-government fever dreams into an absurd narrative that portrays President Donald Trump as waging a secret battle against Satan-worshiping pedophiles who run a global child sex-trafficking ring. Allegedly Hillary Clinton, Tom Hanks and the Dalai Lama may somehow be in on it. (They’re not.)
The QAnon theory centers in part on the discredited notion that there is a “deep state” anti-Trump cabal within the U.S. government. QAnon has links to an earlier loony tale known as “Pizzagate,” which claimed a Washington, D.C., pizzeria was the headquarters of a sex trafficking ring involving Clinton. Pizzagate compelled a North Carolina man to fire a rifle inside the restaurant in a misguided attempt to free imprisoned children, so there is danger connected to these hoaxes.
Ideally, Illinois voters could spend their lifetimes never hearing about this except that QAnon talk is spreading this election season, and two Chicago-area Republicans seeking U.S. House seats have promoted the movement on social media and declined to denounce it. Philanise White of Chicago, running against Rep. Bobby Rush in the 1st Congressional District, and Theresa Raborn of Midlothian, running against Rep. Robin Kelly in the 2nd Congressional District, both have promoted QAnon by tweeting a recognized QAnon slogan as a hashtag.
Not included in the editorial was a demand that the state GOP address this issue.
“QAnon” is a baseless internet conspiracy theory whose followers believe that a cabal of Satan-worshipping Democrats, Hollywood celebrities and billionaires runs the world while engaging in pedophilia, human trafficking and the harvesting of a supposedly life-extending chemical from the blood of abused children. QAnon followers believe that Donald Trump is waging a secret battle against this cabal and its “deep state” collaborators to expose the malefactors and send them all to Guantánamo Bay.
The core of the QAnon theory is that Donald Trump is waging a war against a Satanic, child-molesting cabal of top Democrats. QAnon dovetails with the more secular “deep state” narrative, which claims that holdovers from the Obama administration are secretly conspiring to destroy Trump’s presidency from within. Deep-state theories—whether or not the term “deep state” is used—animate the false claim that Democrats and public health experts are in cahoots to exaggerate or outright lie about the Covid-19 threat in order to tank the economy and ensure Biden’s victory. Recently Trump has been tinkering with this narrative as a post-election incendiary device: If he loses, he’s almost certain to blame the deep state for his administration’s failures.
QAnon has spun off the “Save the Children” movement, too, which purports to be opposed to child sex trafficking. In some cases, QAnon believers have been organizing Save the Children rallies and Facebook groups as a way to launder the more extreme elements of the conspiracy theory into mainstream circles. In other cases, such rallies and groups aren’t knowingly tied to QAnon but still draw narrative threads and other information from the QAnon mythology. Either way, Save the Children has made the work of professional child welfare advocates much more difficult.
Beliefs in QAnon and the deep state are unified by one basic factor: their reliance on deep memetic frames. As Ryan Milner and I have explained, these are sense-making orientations to the world. Everyone, regardless of their politics, has a set of deep memetic frames. We feel these frames in our bones. They shape what we know, what we see, and what we’re willing to accept as evidence. In the context of conspiracy theories, deep memetic frames establish the identity of the bad “them,” as opposed to the valiant “us,” and prescribe what can or should be done in response. QAnon and deep-state theories don’t magically transform nonbelievers into believers; they’re not viral in that sense. People are drawn to these theories, instead, because the narratives line up with their deep memetic frames. QAnon and the deep state feel familiar for those already inclined to believe.
Those believers are steeped in a particular kind of distrust: of the mainstream news media, of the scientific establishment, of any other institution claiming specialized expertise. This is where they plot against us. Such distrust has a long history within right-wing evangelical circles, where QAnon and deep-state beliefs have been spreading quickly. But wariness of institutions isn’t restricted to the MAGA orbit. People with a wide range of political views can be deeply mistrustful of the press, science, and “liberal elites,” and at least open to QAnon’s assertions of a shadowy, string-pulling cabal. (Anti-vaxxers are especially susceptible.)
QAnon is not something to joke about. The mere concept — a global Satan-worshipping cabal led by prominent Democrats, under the eye of Hillary Clinton, who are kidnapping, abusing, and eating children and drinking their blood in order to live forever — is cartoonish on its face. But it’s not to be underestimated, and it can’t be treated simply as an online phenomenon. The real-world effects of QAnon have already been made clear: In 2018, a Q believer engaged in an armed standoff at the Hoover Dam. Recently, they’ve worked to hijack legitimate attempts to fight child sex trafficking.
Not everyone who subscribes to parts of the QAnon mass delusion believes in all of it. Some people could be sharing the material in ignorance of its true depth. Others could be using it to carry out identity signaling — disenfranchised people seizing on a bizarre narrative to show that they are “Patriots,” regardless of the content of the messages. And with such a mess of entry points, someone could very well pass along parts of the QAnon narrative without realizing what the whole entails — just look at the recent false rumors that Wayfair was involved in sex trafficking. […]
But delusion does illustrate the reality better than conspiracy theory does. We are discussing a mass of people who subscribe to a shared set of values and debunked ideas, which inform their beliefs and actions. The impact of QAnon is an example of “the real-world consequences of our broken information ecosystem,” the New York Times recently wrote. The proliferation of this delusion is in part a media literacy problem — which has become a reality problem.
* More info…
* FBI document warns conspiracy theories are a new domestic terrorism threat: The document specifically mentions QAnon, a shadowy network that believes in a deep state conspiracy against President Trump, and Pizzagate, the theory that a pedophile ring including Clinton associates was being run out of the basement of a Washington, D.C., pizza restaurant (which didn’t actually have a basement). “The FBI assesses these conspiracy theories very likely will emerge, spread, and evolve in the modern information marketplace, occasionally driving both groups and individual extremists to carry out criminal or violent acts,” the document states. It also goes on to say the FBI believes conspiracy theory-driven extremists are likely to increase during the 2020 presidential election cycle.
* The conspiracy theory-based movement poses a different type of terrorist threat: But unlike jihadists and white supremacists, many followers of QAnon aren’t ideologues or interested in violence. As game designer Adrian Hon argues, much of their participation resembles play in an alternate reality game, with a large cast of characters and clues to decipher with your friends. A common type of QAnon believer is a 60-something white, church-going woman who’s retired, or a full-time mom whose kids are grown. In QAnon Facebook group chats, many participants come across as lonely, not fanatical. But the movement is so large that a small percentage of violent adherents would present a national security problem.
* QAnon Is Like a Game—a Most Dangerous Game - The conspiracy theory has the best attributes of a multiplatform game, except that it can cause harm in the real world: QAnon poses a mystery that feels so big it can only be solved by crowdsourcing. It’s thrilling to be involved with other people in something bigger than yourself. Plus, it turns one’s armchair-warrior Googling into a heroic quest for truth. “They’re all saying, ‘I’ve done my research,’” Hon told me of Q followers. “They’re looking for signals in the noise.” There’s also the thrill of creativity, of adding to a canon. QAnon followers “don’t just passively receive Q drops. They create new videos and texts,” notes Marc-André Argentino, a public scholar at Concordia University who researches QAnon. Q’s followers behave like religious devotees who pore over their faith’s central texts, crafting interpretations that become part of the official creed.
* QAnon Followers Are Hijacking the #SaveTheChildren Movement: Sometimes, QAnon followers spin factual information in a way that serves their aims. Last week, an Associated Press article about a $35 million Trump administration grant to organizations that house trafficking survivors became one of the most-shared stories on Facebook, after QAnon groups picked it up and cited it as evidence that President Trump’s secret crusade against elite pedophiles was underway.
* Mothers for QAnon: “I do think that there is something about the intense focus on harm being done to children and the graphic nature of the images and videos associated with Q” — including photos of children with black eyes or badly bruised bodies — “that is catered toward evoking shock and empathy, and it’s possible that these are chiming with a lot of women in particular,” said Blyth Crawford, a research fellow at the International Center for the Study of Radicalization in London.
* The men behind QAnon - Experts and researchers said the key to “Q” is hiding in plain sight.
* Under Tom Emmer, NRCC embraces QAnon-affiliated candidates - While publicly disavowing the QAnon conspiracy, Emmer and the National Republican Congressional Committee are still backing candidates that have publicly promoted the fringe theories.
The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment aid rose slightly last week to 870,000, a historically high figure that shows that the viral pandemic is still squeezing restaurants, airlines, hotels and many other businesses six months after it first erupted.
The figure coincides with evidence that some newly laid-off Americans are facing delays in receiving unemployment benefits as state agencies intensify efforts to combat fraudulent applications and clear their pipelines of a backlog of jobless claims.
California has said it will stop processing new applications for two weeks as it seeks to reduce backlogs and prevent fraudulent claims. Pennsylvania has found that up to 10,000 inmates are improperly receiving aid.
The Labor Department said Thursday that the number of people who are continuing to receive unemployment benefits declined to 12.6 million. The steady decline in that figure over the past several months reflects that some of the unemployed are being re-hired. Yet it also indicates that others have exhausted their regular jobless aid, which last six months in most states.
The U.S. Department of Labor estimates 23,113 new unemployment claims were filed during the week of Sept. 14 in Illinois, according to the DOL’s weekly claims report released Thursday.
While this number is based on advanced estimates, the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES) will be releasing a final number later Thursday. […]
There were 27,384 new unemployment claims were filed in Illinois during the week of Sept. 7.
* WalletHub looks at where Illinois stands in relation to other states. 1 equals the quickest recover and 25 is the average…
• 253.52% Change in Unemployment Claims (Latest Week vs Last Year)
o 23,113 the week of September 14, 2020 vs 6,538 the week of September 16, 2019
o 19th quickest recovery in the U.S.
• 96.22% Change in Unemployment Claims (Latest Week vs Start of 2020)
o 23,113 the week of September 14, 2020 vs 11,779 the week of January 1, 2020
o 26th quickest recovery in the U.S.
• 762.89% Change in Unemployment Claims (Since Start of COVID-19 Crisis vs Last Year)
o 1,671,157 between the week of March 16, 2020 and the week of September 14, 2020 vs 219,055 between the week of March 18, 2019 and the week of September 16, 2019
o 4th quickest recovery in the U.S.
The number of nonfarm jobs decreased over-the-year in all fourteen Illinois metropolitan areas in August, with five metro areas at record low payrolls for that month, according to preliminary data released today by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the Illinois Department of Employment Security (IDES). The unemployment rate increased over-the-year in all metro areas and to record highs for the month of August in two metros. The official, BLS approved sub-state unemployment rate and nonfarm jobs series begins in 1990. Data reported prior to 1990 are not directly comparable due to updates in methodology.
“With the state’s COVID-19 mitigation plan in place, we are working hard to keep people safe while restoring confidence in and strengthening our economy,” said Deputy Governor Dan Hynes. “IDES is continuing to work tirelessly to support working families by connecting them to job training and workforce matching programs and ensuring benefits get to those impacted by this pandemic.”
The number of nonfarm jobs decreased in all fourteen Illinois metropolitan areas. Total nonfarm jobs were down in Peoria (-11.0%, -19,000), Elgin (-9.7%, -25,300) and Decatur (-8.4%, -4,300). In Chicago-Naperville-Arlington Heights, jobs were down -7.6% (-291,600). No industry sector saw job gains in a majority of metro areas.
Not seasonally adjusted data compares August 2020 with August 2019. The not seasonally adjusted Illinois rate was 10.9 percent in August 2020 and the highest August unemployment rate since 1983, when it was 11.3 percent. The official, BLS approved, statewide unemployment rate series begins in 1976. Nationally, the not seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 8.5 percent in August 2020 and the highest August unemployment rate since 2011, when it was 9.1. The unemployment rate identifies those individuals who are out of work and seeking employment.
U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood, the Republican representative from Illinois’ 18th Congressional District, introduced the Taxpayer Protection Act in the U.S. House of Representatives on Sept. 24. The bill would create a “Taxpayer Protection Program” to prevent blank-check bailouts of state and local governments.
Similar to the Paycheck Protection Program — which required businesses to use the funds to maintain their workforce in order to receive forgiveness on federal loans— the Taxpayer Protection Program authorizes state and local governments to seek forgivable loans from the federal government, with loan forgiveness available only to states with sound pensions, truly balanced budgets and sufficient rainy-day funds. Both programs implement basic financial safeguards to ensure federal aid is used to support those in need.
States with unsustainable pension debt and a history of fiscal mismanagement would be required to implement reforms to protect their residents and ensure federal money achieves its intended purpose of supporting essential government services during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The requirements for loan forgiveness are:
1. Sound pensions: States and counties with populations of 500,000 or more and local governments with populations of 250,000 or more must be able to eliminate 100% of pension debt over no more than 25 years, using best practices for funding schedules and realistic accounting assumptions. States such as Illinois and New Jersey with unsustainable levels of pension debt must reduce pension debt to the level they can truly afford, without increasing taxpayer costs.
2. Truly balanced budgets: States would be required to have a constitutional or statutory requirement for “end of year” balanced budgets. Only actual revenue, such as from taxes and fees, would count toward the balancing requirement. States would not be able to count borrowing or money swept from other government accounts toward the requirement, preventing the budget gimmicks that have allowed Illinois politicians to avoid balancing the budget for 20 years.
3. Sufficient rainy-day funds: States would be required to save for emergencies and recessions on their own going forward, holding 5-10% of their annual revenue in a rainy-day fund. Rainy-day funds allow states to cover revenue shortfalls without resorting to essential service cuts or tax hikes. The average state held 8% of its budget in reserve before the COVID-19 pandemic, but Illinois had virtually nothing saved.
The bill prohibits states from using federal money to bail out legacy debt and deficits that are unrelated to the COVID-19 pandemic. The bill also guarantees no state or local government would receive more revenue than they actually lost as a result of the pandemic, limiting quarterly payments to the difference between current own-source revenue collections and collections during the same period in fiscal year 2019. It allows for up to $186 billion in federal and state aid, with $100 billion for states, $75 billion for local governments, $8 billion for tribal governments and $3 billion for the District of Columbia and U.S. territories.
States that fail to achieve the conditions for sound finances will need to repay the loans with an interest rate that goes up as a state’s credit rating goes down. Illinois, which holds the worst credit rating in the nation, would face a “spread” or interest rate penalty of 3.3% compared to 1% for top-rated states.
On Sept. 16, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker wrote a letter to members of Illinois’ Congressional delegation urging them “to come together in a bipartisan fashion to provide critical support to states and local governments facing disastrous budgetary consequences stemming from unanticipated revenue losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
State Sen. Paul Schimpf, R-Waterloo, said he doesn’t think the testing data has been complete in Region 4 because it doesn’t include the negative results from Illinois residents who use a hospital system in the St. Louis area. He said the mitigations keeping bars and restaurants from allowing dine-in service is “destroying livelihoods.”
“Gov. Pritzker needs to show some leadership and immediately cancel these mitigation measures that he had put in place based on the region’s positivity rate because that positivity rate number is not accurate; I have no confidence in it whatsoever,” Schimpf said. […]
“To me, it’s extremely frustrating that they did this, and I don’t think it was anywhere close to accurate at all,” Schimpf said.
Significant issues with the state’s COVID-19 reporting and tracking methods are likely affecting the accuracy of the published positivity rate for the Metro East region, prompting State Senators Paul Schimpf (R-Waterloo) and Jason Plummer (R-Edwardsville) to call on Governor Pritzker to immediately remove the increased restrictions on IDPH Region 4.
“As more and more facts call into question the accuracy of the positivity rate for Region 4, I find it unconscionable that the State of Illinois is shutting down businesses and destroying livelihoods based on a metric that is clearly neither meaningful nor accurate,” said State Senator Paul Schimpf (R-Waterloo). “Governor Pritzker needs to immediately lift the mitigation measures he imposed on our region several weeks ago.”
Schimpf and Plummer noted several issues with the state’s data reporting and collection methodology, which could be creating an inaccurate and inflated rate for the region. They noted that IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike confirmed that until recently, Illinois was not including data from some of the largest hospitals and healthcare facilities in the region. One of those networks, BJC HealthCare, provides healthcare to 30% of Metro East residents at several hospitals and clinics in Missouri and Illinois.
“This is a crisis impacting everyone so the lack of transparency and zero accountability from this administration must end,” said State Senator Jason Plummer. “It is shockingly callous for Governor Pritzker and his allies to knowingly use faulty data to implement arbitrary rules that have destroyed economic opportunity for many Illinoisans. Our priority should be to protect the most vulnerable, but this administration is exacerbating the crisis by creating economic hardship and additional health issues for many desperate families.”
Because many Metro East residents utilize Missouri hospitals for medical care and COVID-19 testing services, only including positive test results from those providers would dramatically increase the reported positivity rate for the region.
The Senators also pointed to issues with data collection state-wide, such as individuals being counted multiple times and individuals in state facilities, such as prisons, who do not mingle in the general population being counted. Additionally, according to health officials, some private labs may be submitting only positive results because those are the only results that they are required to release.
* And…
So, are @JBPritzker and @IDPH committing denominator fraud with testing numbers? If so, this is criminal.
I’ve been watching these two for a few days now, but I wanted to wait to see what I could get out of the administration before pulling the trigger.
* Jordan Abudayyeh…
IDPH uses an electronic reporting system for labs to report all of their results including negative and positive tests. The majority of clinical labs within the state of Illinois are using this system; while new labs or non-traditional providers are required to immediately begin reporting manually, IDPH works collaboratively to include these labs in the electronic reporting system as soon as possible. Out-of-state labs are also included in IDPH’s network when they cooperatively provide results for Illinoisans.
There is absolutely no truth to these baffling claims from lawmakers in Region 4. There are no situations where the state takes just the positives from a testing entity and includes that in a region’s positivity rate. Any situation where data gets included in the positivity rate requires a full data set of both positive and negative results to be provided electronically to IDPH. For those labs who are not yet a part of the electronic reporting system, their results are communicated to IDPH through a manual survey tool and are not included in the positivity rates for regions. Because the state has worked to include a robust network of labs in our electronic reporting system, the number of positives reported to the state via the manual survey tool is relatively small and diminishing. In the case of Region 4 these manually reported results would have a negligible effect on the region’s positivity rate, even if they were included in the positivity calculation, which they are not.
As for the other claims these lawmakers make about congregate facilities in the region, the medical experts have repeatedly said they are included in totals because there are members of community that work at these facilities who then go out into the community. These facilities are a part of the community and can contribute to community spread. It’s important to note that congregate facilities are not unique to region 4. There are congregate facilities in every region of Illinois and other regions have managed to keep their positivity rates below warning level.
Instead of peddling conspiracy theories that undermine the health and safety of Illinoisans, lawmakers should be sharing the messages backed by medical experts that are proven to reduce positivity rates: wear a mask, wash your hands and watch your distance.
Some Madison County Board members are questioning the COVID-19 positivity rate used by Gov. J.B. Pritzker to impose stricter mitigation rules for Region 4 after Health Department Administrator Toni Corona said during the Health Department Committee meeting that private labs are not required to report negative tests.
Oy. Not true, people. Not to mention that the region’s positivity rate is going down.
…Adding… Sen. Schimpf is fundraising off of this with some flat-out false claims…
I really try to reduce the toxicity in politics. We have to disagree without being disagreeable. But right now, I am so mad at Governor Pritzker that I would have difficulty keeping my temper in check when speaking with him.
This week the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) revealed that when calculating the Region 4 (Randolph, Monroe, St. Clair, Madison, Clinton, Bond, and Washington Counties) positivity rate, they HAD NOT been including data from the BJC Healthcare network.
The BJC Network provides healthcare for 30% of the residents of the Metro East and administers thousands of COVID-19 tests. BJC officials indicated to me that they had submitted only their POSITIVE test results to IDPH. This means that our data wasn’t simply incomplete–it was incorrect!
You can read initial media coverage of this development here.
Instead of taking corrective action and reopening Region 4 immediately, this morning Governor Pritzker still maintained that his mitigation sanctions should remain in place, stating he was “rooting for the Metro East.”
No, Governor, you are not. If you were rooting for us, you’d admit that your administration made an incomprehensibly stupid mistake. Own it and take corrective action immediately to allow our businesses to reopen.
If you want to help me spread the word that Governor Pritzker’s positivity rate is not accurate, you can donate here.
I will immediately roll your donation into Facebook advertising to spread the news of this travesty.
Thanks for reading and S/F,
Paul
Paul Schimpf
You know, perhaps if he’d just picked up the phone and called IDPH, he could’ve cleared this up. Instead, he’s basically joined up with the Eastern Bloc.
State senators Paul Schimpf, R-Waterloo, and Jason Plummer, R-Edwardsville, said in a news release Tuesday that “Illinois was not including data from some of the largest hospitals and healthcare facilities in the region,” including BJC HealthCare. The St. Louis-based company operates two hospitals and multiple health-care centers in the metro-east.
BJC spokeswoman Laura High says BJC has worked diligently “to comply with all reporting requests concerning COVID-19 testing of Illinois patients,” including those who live in Illinois but are tested at a Missouri BJC facility.
“Since the beginning of the pandemic, BJC has reported both COVID-19 positive and negative results to all required agencies including (the Illinois Department of Public Health) and Illinois counties,” High said. “Our reports are based on people who provide Illinois residential addresses regardless of where they were tested.”
Schimpf said Wednesday he stands by his statement. Plummer was not immediately available for comment.
* Sounds like a great new gig, but, man, will he ever be missed. He is a pleasure to work for and is a news person’s news person…
Chris Fusco, the top editor at the Chicago Sun-Times for the past three years, said Wednesday he is leaving the publication to begin work at a media startup in California that aims to rejuvenate local news.
Fusco will become the founding executive editor at Lookout Local, a venture of media analyst and writer Ken Doctor. Starting in October, he will work in Santa Cruz, California, where Doctor is testing a digital model for journalism he hopes to bring to markets lacking traditional news sources.
A 20-year veteran of the Sun-Times, Fusco has led the publication since 2017, when it transitioned to a new ownership group with a significant presence of organized labor. The group’s successful bid foiled a takeover attempt by owners of the Chicago Tribune that media experts believed would have led to the demise of the Sun-Times. Fusco was elevated to executive editor this year in recognition of an increased role in business operations. […]
Managing Editor Steve Warmbir will be interim editor-in-chief of the Sun-Times. “Like me, he’s a firm believer in building a more diverse newsroom that creates opportunities and paths forward for people of color and young journalists. I am eager to see how all your fine work continues to develop under his watch and know he’ll bring a fresh perspective to the company leadership team,” Fusco said.
While Gov. J.B. Pritzker has used his executive authority to cancel high school sports for kids across the state this fall, apparently this rule does not apply to his daughter.
Parents have been rallying across the state and at the state capital in an attempt to have the football season reinstated.
Meanwhile, Pritzker’s 18-year-old daughter, Theodora “Teddi” Pritzker, who formerly attended Francis W. Parker in Chicago, has continued to engage in equestrian sports across the country since the state was locked down, including in Illinois.
Teddi is the only daughter of Illinois; billionaire first family. She jumps horses competitively in the Medium Junior division with Team Welles and is featured on the team’s website.
* The governor was asked about the story today…
Well, let me begin by saying that attacking my daughter for playing in a sport that is allowed, that the doctors have said that people can play this fall, is something that I think people need to recognize is inappropriate. Bringing our family members into politics, inappropriate.
The fact that people protested in front of a state employee’s house over the last few days, scaring their children, creating an awful circumstance for them. I mean, that’s very inappropriate. And I think that people have to understand that what I’m focused on, again, with all of this, is saving lives is making sure that we’re keeping people healthy.
The fact that people want to get personal is disturbing. In the context of the fact that people are dying, maybe people ought to step back a little ask themselves ‘What is this all about?’
* The state employee appears to be Deputy Governor Jesse Ruiz…
Pritzker goes on the offensive about the comments on his daughter's equestrian activities, which are allowed by the IDPH. Says it is inappropriate. Also gets a bit heated mentioning the protests in front of Jesse Ruiz's house.
* Trost also announced a planned protest in front of the house owned by the governor’s sister, who has been raising millions of dollars to help organizations hit hard by the pandemic…
Stay tuned: Rallies/protests vs #ILGov, #JesseRuiz, #IHSA as 80% of US playing fall sports Friday: At Indiana games Saturday: In Chicago at Thompson Center & Penny Pritzker’s house & Springfield at State Capital Sunday: At Solider Field during Bears opener Monday: In Naperville pic.twitter.com/zerr0JS0wo
This past weekend, @ILAgriculture Director Costello and I headed back to the Junior Livestock Expo at the Illinois State Fairgrounds! It was so much fun supporting youth ages 8 to 21 showcasing their hard work and dedication with goats, hogs and dairy cows. Proud of you all! #Agpic.twitter.com/2UC18wtR3b
— Lt. Governor Juliana Stratton #AllinIllinois (@LtGovStratton) September 23, 2020
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 1,848 new confirmed cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 22 additional confirmed deaths.
Christian County: 1 female 60s
Cook County: 1 male 60s, 2 female 70s, 1 male 70s, 1 female 80s, 1 male 80s, 1 male 90s
Douglas County: 1 male 60s
Franklin County: 1 male 80s
Kankakee County: 1 male 80s
Lake County: 1 male 40s
Macon County: 1 male 50s, 1 female 80s
Peoria County: 1 male 70s
Rock Island County: 1 female 80s, 2 males 80s
Tazewell County: 1 male 90s
Will County: 1 male 90s
Williamson County: 1 female 70s, 1 male 70s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 279,114 cases, including 8,508 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from September 16 – September 22 is 3.5%. Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 46,391 specimens for a total of 5,231,607. As of last night, 1,563 people in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 351 patients were in the ICU and 144 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
Following guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, IDPH is now reporting separately both confirmed and probable cases and deaths on its website. Reporting probable cases will help show the potential burden of COVID-19 illness and efficacy of population-based non-pharmaceutical interventions. IDPH will update these data once a week.
*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.
That said, one of our regions, Region One in northern Illinois, which includes Rockford, Dixon and Galena, has continued to climb toward the 8 percent threshold at a concerning rate - now sitting at a seven-day average of 7.5 percent as of today’s data.
IDPH has reached out to county health officials to discuss preventative measures that can be taken at the local level to avoid additional mitigations in their communities to area residents in Region One. Please wear your masks, encourage others to wear masks, watch your distance, wash your hands and get your flu shot now to make sure that if you get COVID-19, it won’t be much worse than it otherwise could be.
You don’t have to take my word for the fact that you can lower your positivity rate. Just look at Region Seven. That’s Will and Kankakee counties, which brought their positivity rate average down and were able to return to the Phase Four mitigations of our Restore Illinois plan last Friday. That region is now sitting at a 5.7 percent average.
Or look at Region Four, Metro East. After reaching a positivity rate as high as 10 percent and despite bordering Missouri, which has a 12 percent positivity rate, Region Four has brought its average down to 7.3 percent as of today. They may be on their way down to 6.5 percent and a removal of regional mitigations. We’re all rooting for the Metro East. You’re so close and you’re heading in the right direction and I’m hopeful that local law enforcement, local elected officials and local public health officials will work together to help enforce the guidance on capacity limits and encouraging masking and distancing.
Betsy Londrigan just released an internal poll that shows her campaign down by only one percentage point in this key race! We knew the numbers would be tight but this shows this race has further tightened.
Friend, we’re counting on your support now more than ever. We must show Leftwing Londrigan who really has the support of the grassroots in this race. Londrigan’s record of supporting Nancy Pelosi’s radical agenda and palling around with corrupt Illinois politicians like Mike Madigan have NO place in Congress, much less in Downstate Illinois.
We knew this race was in a dead heat before this poll was released and this solidifies our fears. We can’t afford to have any supporters sitting on the sidelines. Can we count on your support today to show Londrigan that Team Rodney is ready to fight to defend this district?
Chip in any amount you can afford now to help Team Rodney respond in this key race.
I probably wouldn’t have posted Londrigan’s internal poll, but that email legitimized it.
* Londrigan campaign press release…
A new poll conducted by GBAO Strategies shows Betsy Dirksen Londrigan in a statistical tie with Congressman Rodney Davis, 47 - 48%, showing an increasingly tight race in Illinois’ 13th Congressional District. At this time in 2018, Davis led the race by six points. Davis also held a six-point lead in the race at the beginning of this summer, but now Dirksen Londrigan has brought Davis’ support to under 50% and is in a position to overtake the vulnerable incumbent by November.
Donald Trump won the 13th District in 2016, but he now trails Vice President Biden 44 - 51%.
After coming within 1% of unseating Davis in 2018, support is growing for Dirksen Londrigan and her vision for Central Illinois — ensuring access to quality, affordable health care, protecting those with pre-existing conditions, and lowering the cost of prescription drugs.
The poll was conducted by GBAO Strategies on behalf of the Dirksen Londrigan campaign among 500 likely voters between September 17-20, 2020. It has a margin of error of +/- 4.4 percentage points.
* Meanwhile…
Today, Rodney Davis’ campaign for Congress released a new ad titled “Kathy,” which highlights Betsy Londrigan’s support for a government-run insurance plan that could force the closure of more than half of America’s rural hospital, including 39 in Illinois.
The ad features Kathy Fergin, who has been a nurse anesthetist in central Illinois for 25 years. Kathy discusses Betsy Londrigan’s support for a government-run insurance plan known as the Medicare X public option, which would have disastrous consequences for rural hospitals, according to two independent, non-partisan studies.
Research highlighted by the American Hospital Association found that the Londrigan-backed public option plan could force the closure of more than half of rural hospitals across the country, including up to 39, or half, of the rural hospitals in Illinois.
Additional research conducted on behalf of the AHA shows the Londrigan-backed plan would cut funding for hospitals across the country by nearly $800 billion over a 10-year period. The AHA says the plan “would result in the largest ever cut to hospitals” and “could have a significant impact on patient access to care.”
As Capitol Fax’s Rich Miller noted, “This congressional district has a huge number of major regional hospitals, likely the most in Illinois and perhaps one of the most in the country. Those hospitals are significant local employers and they also drive technological development. Not to mention that hospitals have been especially hard-hit during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Rural hospitals in IL-13 include Carrollton, Jerseyville, Litchfield, Staunton, Carlinville, Hillsboro, Taylorville, Pana, Clinton and Monticello.
Londrigan announced her support for Medicare-X in 2018, but has since dodged questions on how the plan would decimate hospitals across the country.
Kathy: I’ve been a nurse anesthetist in central Illinois for 25 years.
Rural hospitals are vital to our families and our economy.
But Betsy Londrigan supports a government-run health insurance plan that could force more than half of America’s rural hospitals to close.
Here in Illinois, we could lose 39 hospitals.
Betsy Londrigan’s liberal policies would destroy jobs and jeopardize care.
…Adding… Londrigan response…
Health care is personal to Betsy Dirksen Londrigan and she is committed to protecting and building upon the Affordable Care Act, protecting those with pre-existing conditions, and working to lower prescription drug prices. Dirksen Londrigan is committed to ensuring access to quality, affordable health care while Congressman Rodney Davis is working tirelessly to tear down our health care system.
An ad released today by Congressman Davis is just another desperate attempt to divert attention from his numerous votes in Washington to gut health care protections for Central Illinois families. Here’s what Davis doesn’t want voters to know:
Davis voted 11 times to repeal the Affordable Care Act without a replacement.
Davis repeatedly voted to support a lawsuit that could lead to the Supreme Court overturning the Affordable Care Act by the end of this year.
Davis’ actions would have rolled back funding for Medicaid Expansion and thus risk the closure of rural hospitals, including across Illinois. Repealing the Affordable Care Act would also strip health care coverage from millions, including more than 31,000 in Illinois’ 13th District alone, and remove protections from more than 282,500 13th District residents with pre-existing conditions.
“Betsy’s priorities have always been to strengthen and expand upon the Affordable Care Act and the essential health benefits that go along with it and lower the cost of prescription drugs,” said campaign spokeswoman Eliza Glezer. “Voters in Central Illinois won’t be fooled by Congressman Davis’ desperate attempts to distract from his 11 votes to repeal the ACA without a replacement, votes to gut protections for people with people with pre-existing conditions, and votes against lowering the cost of prescription drugs.”
Additional information on Davis’ disastrous health care record can be found at www.RodneyDavisTruth.com.
A visibly shaken Grant had trouble recollecting details of the call during a meeting with the Daily Herald Editorial Board on Tuesday, but said she believes the short clips were taken out of context and are a mischaracterization of her views.
“I made a very clumsy and insensitive statement that does not reflect how I feel about my colleagues and any candidates,” Grant said in a prepared statement at the start of the meeting. “My faith is part of my daily life, and hearing those words calling me ‘racist’ rocks me to my core because that’s not who I am.” […]
In one of the recordings, Grant is heard saying Mejia-Beal, a gay, Black man from Lisle, is afraid to travel to the heart of her district, “not because he’s Black but because of the way he talks, he’s all LGBTQ.” In another, Grant says Mejia-Beal is “just another one of the Cook County people … another Black Caucus.” […]
Grant told the Daily Herald her comment regarding the Black Caucus was meant to suggest the General Assembly already is heavily represented by Democrats. And she said she would never intend to imply that the “LGBT community is something that would hamper a person’s ability to run for state (representative). It’s actually a ludicrous suggestion.”
I mean, he’s just another one of the Cook County people. That’s all you’re gonna vote for is a Cook County, another, ya know, Black Caucus, that’s all we need is another person on the Black Caucus.
The more I read that comment, the more repulsed I become.
DH: So those comments you just stated had to do with the size of the Black Caucus in Springfield. Do you have concerns about how large the Black Caucus is?
Rep. Grant: Oh, not, not necessarily the Black Caucus. No, it had nothing to do with that. Um, it’s just that I don’t, I mentioned the disparity between the numbers, and that’s how that came up. I, I made mention that a lot of people in my constituents, or my constituents, they really don’t even understand the, the General Assembly and the differences that are very much glaring and that’s, you know, a 44 to a 74 number. And it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s difficult to get things done and I just had made mention that there’s, there’s some.
DH: OK.
It had nothing to do with the Black Caucus. Right. OK.
*** UPDATE *** Rep. Grant’s opponent, Ken Mejia-Beal, just reported a $55,300 contribution from Gov. JB Pritzker’s campaign fund. Add that to the governor’s previous contribution and Pritzker’s fund has now maxed out.
Also, this is from Rep. Deb Conroy…
Time is up in using faith and a good heart as an excuse to use hateful bigoted speech! DuPage County deserves better than the words Representative Grant chooses to express her thoughts.
Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White announced that expiration dates for driver’s licenses and ID cards have been extended an additional three months – from Nov. 1, 2020, until Feb. 1, 2021. This new Feb. 1 extension also includes those who have October, November, December and January expiration dates. As a result, expired driver’s licenses and ID cards will remain valid until Feb. 1, 2021, so customers do not need to rush into Driver Services facilities during the pandemic.
“Extending expiration dates until February 1 means people with an expired driver’s license and ID card do not need to visit a Driver Services facility immediately,” said White. “During this pandemic, we continue to think creatively to serve the public as efficiently as possible, while making public health and safety our top priority.”
License plates stickers remain extended until Nov. 1, 2020, as they can easily be renewed online.
White continues to urge the public to consider using online services when possible instead of visiting a facility due to heavy customer volume. Customers who can conduct business online may go to www.cyberdriveillinois.com to take advantage of online services – such as renewing license plate stickers, obtaining a duplicate driver’s license or ID card, obtaining a driving record abstract or renewing a standard driver’s license through the Safe Driver renewal program – from the comfort of their own home. People who conduct online transactions will avoid waiting in line at a facility.
White noted that online transactions continue to rise, with an increase of 84 percent in online license plate sticker renewals when compared to the same period in 2019. […]
White recently extended the driver’s license expiration date by one year for qualified drivers age 75 and older. The new expiration date is their birthday in 2021.
For those customers who must visit a facility, face masks are required. In addition, customers are asked to be patient due to heavy volume and to be prepared to wait outside in various types of weather. This is due to social distancing, which limits the number of people inside a facility at one time.
Without federal aid, Illinois credit pressures are mounting, and the state may have to borrow more even as officials seek to cut spending and balance the budget, according to S&P Global Ratings.
The coronavirus has exacerbated the worst-rated state’s challenges, including already large budget gaps and weak demographics, as the economic toll of the pandemic hurt revenue collections and increased costs.
“With the need for additional borrowing, an elevated bill backlog, and lingering substantial structural imbalance, Illinois could exhibit further characteristics of a non-investment-grade issuer,” S&P analysts Carol Spain and Geoffrey Buswick wrote in a report published Monday. S&P rates Illinois BBB-, one level above junk, with a negative outlook. […]
But S&P warned that the state will have difficulty repaying a large borrowing within the three-year Fed facility timeline, and taking out a loan to repay a short-term borrowing would increase the state’s fixed costs. The state has strong market access supported by the MLF, according to the report.
llinois is the lowest-rated state in the U.S., with S&P grading it one tier above junk at BBB-. S&P’s bulletin isn’t an official warning about a downgrade (known as a watch), but the analysts do have a negative outlook assigned to the state’s credit rating, indicating they think a downgrade is more likely than an upgrade over the next year or two.
While Illinois has taken some steps to shore up its finances—a graduated income tax will be on the ballot this November—they may not cover the gap of income lost to the coronavirus pandemic. State officials have repeatedly warned about potential cuts to state services and funding, including educational funding.
“Illinois will likely cut spending if there is no further federal assistance by the end of September,” S&P analysts wrote in their bulletin. “We expect that [the state] will enact some budget cuts in fiscal 2021, but these will not likely be timely enough or sufficient to address the entire budget gap.”
Analysts will be closely watching for the results of the November referendum and action the legislature might take during its annual veto session slated for later that month.
“We expect lawmakers will act based on the outcome of the graduated income tax measure, likelihood of federal assistance, and revised fiscal estimates,” the report said.
The warning signs watched closely by rating agency analysts are also coming from the state’s growing bill backlog that stood at nearly $7.7 billion Monday. That’s up from $5.4 billion at the start of the fiscal year July 1 and the highest since fiscal 2018.
The backlog hit a high of $16.7 billion as the bills mounted in 2017 from the state’s two-year budget impasse and the state faced litigation from health providers.
Jeanne Ives (R-Wheaton) laments Gov. J.B. Pritzker seems to have a one-track mind when it comes to his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Gov. Pritzker has a Chicago-centric view that impedes his ability to make decisions that make sense across Illinois,” Ives told the DuPage Policy Journal of the governor’s recent decision to extend his statewide stay-at-home order through the end of the month. “Our state is a very diversified entity. It is not surprising that people are upset with his one-size-fits-all policies that fail to respect the diversity of the state.” […]
“Oftentimes, governing requires nuance; Gov. Pritzker exhibits none,” she said.
Yes, because imposing the same set of rules and regulations for solo horseback riding and contact football would be such nuanced governing.
Also, stay classy.
* Meanwhile…
[Yesterday] morning, Minnesota Congressman Tom Emmer called into 560-AM’s morning drive program. During the discussion, host Dan Proft asked him about some of the divisive comments that IL Congressman Sean Casten has recently made. Emmer slammed Casten for his toxic demeanor and approach to politics (Listen to the clip here)
At the 11:15 min mark, Proft played a clip in which Casten was asked how he would work with a Republican Senate to get his legislation through. Casten’s response was, “We’ll throw in a provision that everyone gets a gun and we’ll say some mean things about gay people.”
Emmer responded by sharing his experience of serving with Casten on the House Financial Services Committee saying, “I’ve had first hand exposure to his arrogant, condescending, demeaning approach to politics. He’s not there building bridges… You want to know how smart Mr. Casten is? Just ask him. He’ll tell you. He has disdain for everyone. Ask Republicans and Democrats alike. He’s just the smartest guy in the room no matter what the issue is. And when he doesn’t have an argument, he slides into this really nasty, less than professional (as my dad would have said) very immature sense of humor.
Emmer went on to say, “When you run on the idea that you’re going to be a moderate problem solver, when you run on the idea that you’re going to reach across the aisle and work with other people, including the administration, and then your behavior is everything but that, it’s just the opposite, I think Illinois voters are going to remember that when they go to vote for Jeanne Ives in the next 43 days.”
* Moving right along…
Rep. Sean Casten released his second TV ad of the cycle today. The ad highlights Jeanne Ives’ support for Donald Trump and his destructive policies, and also features former chairman of the Illinois Republican Party Pat Brady.
This ad follows Rep. Casten’s first TV spot “Molecular” and is part of the $2.4 Million ad buy previously announced by the campaign.
SEAN CASTEN: “I’m Sean Casten, and I approve this message.”
NARRATOR: “Jeanne Ives on Donald Trump:”
JEANNE IVES: “I give him an A.”
NARRATOR: “An A?”
IVES: “Yeah, I give him an A.”
NARRATOR: “Trump and Ives would repeal the Affordable Care Act, replacing it with a plan that threatens health insurance for hundreds of thousands of Illinois families.”
PAT BRADY: “I’m Pat Brady, former chairman of the Illinois Republican Party, and I know Jeanne Ives. She and Trump deny climate change and dangerously ignore the scientists fighting the coronavirus.”
As part of his push to have Gov. JB Pritzker allow more high school sports competition in the state, Sacred Heart Griffin football coach Ken Leonard compared current COVID-19 restrictions to what Germans did to Jews in World War II — a comparison Pritzker’s press secretary condemned on Tuesday. […]
In a WMAY radio interview on Thursday — two days before #LetUsPlay rallies in Chicago and Springfield — Leonard recalled that his late father, John, had been a staunch Democrat who served in the Army during World War II and later told his children that people should stand up against some government actions.
“He told me … and he told all my brothers and sisters … don’t ever let them take your guns, and do not let them get you like sheep where they just tell you what to do,” Leonard said in the radio interview, ”’cause that’s what the Germans and the Jewish people did at that time. And that’s kind of what’s happening a little bit. I mean, our governor right now is telling our parents that he knows how to parent their kids better than they do, and he’s going to keep them healthy. Well, you know what? That’s a parent’s job.”
Asked about the coach’s comments, Pritzker press secretary Jordan Abudayyeh responded via email: “Throughout this pandemic the vitriolic minority who rejects science has compared public health guidance from medical experts to the atrocities that took place under a hateful dictator who oversaw the murder of millions of people. Those who make these incendiary comparisons either don’t understand history or are blatantly using these comparisons as a way to disguise their anti-Semitism. As a founder of the (Illinois) Holocaust Museum, Governor Pritzker has spent his life dedicated (to) fighting bigotry and hatred and as governor he has prioritized the health and safety of Illinoisans amid this pandemic and will continue to do so.”
Coach Leonard denied to Bernie Schoenberg that he is anti-Semitic or was calling Pritzker a Nazi or a Hitler.
Also, the state does not leave all decisions up to parents. We have things like mandatory attendance, curfews, driver’s license restrictions, vaccine mandates, statutory concussion protocols, DCFS, in loco parentis, etc., etc., etc.
With a grand jury decision expected any day in Breonna Taylor’s death in Louisville, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has put the Illinois National Guard into a “state of readiness” in the event of any unrest in Chicago or in other parts of the state.
According to a statement from Pritzker’s office, additional Illinois State Police troopers will also be available if needed in the aftermath of the grand jury’s decision in the Taylor case.
“The governor and (Chicago Mayor Lori) Lightfoot met this morning and are in regular communication, and the governor has spoken with leaders across the state,” according to a statement from the governor’s office. “As the governor has always said, all of the state’s resources are available to municipalities if needed, and this includes additional Illinois State Police troopers and the National Guard.
“The governor is putting the Guard in a state of readiness to ensure they are available if municipalities request their assistance,” the statement continued.
A source said more than 100 Guard members are preparing.
If needed to respond, the Guard members would fall under the direction of the state police, just as they were when they helped during civil unrest in Chicago following the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police on Memorial Day.
The deaths of Taylor and Floyd sparked outrage in Louisville, Minneapolis and other U.S. cities, leading to protests and a renewed national conversation about systemic racism and law enforcement’s treatment of Black Americans. But cities including Chicago also endured looting and other civil unrest.
On Tuesday, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer declared a state of emergency as the city awaits state Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s decision. The declaration gives the mayor the authority to impose curfews and other restrictions if necessary.
*** UPDATE 1 *** Stay tuned…
Grand jury indicts 1 officer on criminal charges 6 months after Breonna Taylor fatally shot by police in Kentucky.
Senate Majority Leader Kimberly A. Lightford (D-Maywood) issued the following statement in reaction to Detective Brett Hankinson being charged with three counts of wanton endangerment in the first degree in the murder of Breonna Taylor in her Louisville apartment on March 13. No charges were brought against Jonathan Mattingly and Myles Cosgrove, the other two officers involved in the shooting.
“It is impossible to express the weight of the injustices and cruelty carried out against the Black community throughout the history of our country. When an officer can justify the murder of Breonna Taylor as legal, moral and ethical, then walk away with nothing more than a slap on the wrist, there can be no doubt that Black women do not matter in our country today.
“The pain, anger and frustration of this grand jury decision runs deep in every fiber of my being because it is a personal attack on my humanity as a Black woman and on all the Black women I hold dear to me. Breonna Taylor deserved to live, as do all of us.
“I ask for those who feel the need to unleash their hurt today to do so without destruction. Our communities have been struggling to survive for far too long and cannot afford more loss. We need to continue our fight in unity and power. Do not concede any points to those against our movement when they are just waiting to find a reason to continue justifying their racism and cruelty.”
That’s how Illinois Governor JB Pritzker described the decision to indict an officer with “wanton endangerment” in the shooting death of Breonna Taylor. He was joined by Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle in addressing Wednesday’s indictment and future protests that may occur.
They urged peaceful protests. At 7:00 Wednesday night, Lightfoot said there will citywide moment of silence for the memory of Taylor. Lightfoot added “I encourage you to say her name.”
She added that the city is “ready” for the protests.
“We’re going to do everything we can to protect and support peaceful expression of First Amendment rights. But as we’ve seen people step over the line, we’ll be ready and we are ready to address that with the appropriate level of response,” Lightfoot said.
Today’s my first day on contract with @nprillinois! Grateful for the opportunity + loyal sources who kept calling and texting all summer even when I wasn’t full-time anywhere. I’ll still be freelancing a bit, too.
It’s 2020, so naturally ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was convicted and sent to prison on corruption charges, would purport himself to be the new face of anti-corruption in Illinois. Why not? pic.twitter.com/3FznP8y0dZ
McCullagh also said in his release that Cappel is “bought by corruption” for not returning “Madigan money.” […]
State campaign finance records and a tally by the nonpartisan organization Reform for Illinois show Cappel’s largest contributors are mostly union groups like the Illinois Federation of Teachers and the International Brotherhood of Electric Workers. There are no direct donations from Madigan.
But McCullagh said in an interview that union groups, like the ones donating to Cappel’s campaign, have also donated to Madigan. The speaker has raised more than $1.2 million from the IBEW and more than $850,000 from the IFT over the last couple of years, according to the Reform for Illinois tally. […]
The Democratic candidate also attacked McCullagh for planning to hold a fundraiser headlined by former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich whom she called a “corrupt liar.”
President Trump lost this district by 10 points four years ago.
* The Question: Other than a bit of publicity, can you see any advantage for a legislative candidate who uses Rod Blagojevich to attack corruption? Explain.
Third District Democrat Thomas Kilbride, who joined the court in 2000, is seeking his third term. His retention vote, from a partisan standpoint, appears to be the main event. Republicans haven’t been shy about calling for his defeat, and Monday the state GOP rolled out its Vote NO on Kilbride coalition, which includes “more than 500 elected officials, community leaders and activists,” headlined by all five Republican congressmen.
The group labels Kilbride as “Madigan’s Favorite Judge,” referring to the powerful House speaker and chairman of the state Democratic party, implying $2.8 million in campaign funding for Kilbride effectively bought his support to block changes to legislative map rules and “every major economic reform that could improve the state’s legal and business climates — namely pension reform, tort reform and medical malpractice caps.”
Kilbride just launched his retention campaign, championing his access initiatives and role in pushing to allow cameras in courtrooms and digitize legal records.
* Speaking of which…
Illinois Supreme Court Justice Tom Kilbride is proud to receive endorsements from champions of public safety across the Third Judicial District as he seeks retention to the state’s highest court, with Democrats, Republicans, and non-partisan judicial leaders joining together to praise his record as a fair and independent judge dedicated to ensuring the legal system works for everyone.
To date, Kilbride’s supporters include law enforcement, elected officials from both parties, legal professionals, business leaders and other prominent members of local communities. The endorsements come ahead of the start of early voting on Sept. 24, the first day voters can cast ballots in-person and the first day election authorities can send mail-in ballots to registered voters. To retain his position on the state Supreme Court, Kilbride will need favorable votes from 60 percent of the voters who mark an answer to this question on their ballots.
“I am honored to have earned the endorsement of such a diverse group of law enforcement officials and members of the legal community,” said Kilbride. “In these highly polarized times, I am grateful that, though they may be Republicans, Democrats or Independents, they have set party aside to express their confidence in my fairness and belief that ‘equal justice under law’ is not merely a phrase carved into the marble above a court’s entryway, it is the bedrock principle that guides every decision I make. The people of Illinois deserve nothing less.”
“Some issues transcend partisanship, and that’s particularly the case when it comes to my support for Supreme Court Justice Tom Kilbride,” said LaSalle County Sheriff Tom Templeton, a Republican. “My endorsement of Justice Kilbride is based on his record of treating everyone who comes before the court fairly and with the utmost respect for the rights our state and federal constitutions endow them. Fairness, honesty and integrity is what the men and women of law enforcement expect in a judge and Tom Kilbride has never let us down.”
“I have served 32 years in law enforcement, and the safety and sacrifices of the personnel under my charge is extremely personal to me. We put our lives on the line to protect residents of our county and to work to see justice done. It’s important that our judges are consistent, fair and balanced when they hear cases, and Justice Kilbride continually makes sure that everyone is heard, and justice is served. I have also been a long-time union member, and I know that Kilbride respects an honest, hard-day’s work, which I think is important. I think everyone should vote in favor of retaining Justice Kilbride on the state Supreme Court,” said Will County Sheriff Mike Kelley, a Democrat.
* Here’s the list, with Republicans labeled…
Adrienne W. Albrecht, Circuit Judge, 21st Judicial Circuit, Kankakee County
J. Jeffrey Allen, Circuit Judge, 12th Judicial Circuit, Will County
Paul Bauer, Marshall County State’s Attorney (R)
John Booker, Whiteside County Sheriff
Tim Bukowski, former Kankakee County Sheriff (R)
Gerald Bustos, Rock Island County Sheriff
Geno J. Caffarini, Bureau County State’s Attorney
David Clague, Knox County Sheriff
Terry A. Costello, Whiteside County State’s Attorney
Chris Doscotch, Circuit Judge, 10th Judicial Circuit, Peoria County
Kevin L. Doyle, Putnam County Sheriff
Stephen G. Evans, retired Chief Judge, 12th Judicial Circuit, Henderson County (R)
Paula A. Gamora, Circuit Judge, 12th Judicial Circuit, Will County
James W. Glasgow, Will County State’s Attorney
Jodi Hoos, Peoria County State’s Attorney
Justin G. Jochums, Fulton County State’s Attorney
Mike Kelley, Will County Sheriff
Michael J. Kick, retired Chief Judge, 21st Judicial Circuit, Kankakee County (R)
Stephen Kouri, Circuit Judge, 10th Judicial Circuit, Tazewell County (R)
Meeghan N. Lee, Mercer County State’s Attorney
Robert N. Livas, retired Circuit Judge, 12th Judicial Court, Will County (R)
Paul Mangieri, retired Circuit Judge, 9th Judicial Circuit, Knox County
John L. McGehee, Circuit Judge, 14th Judicial Circuit, Rock Island County
John T. Pepmeyer, Knox County State’s Attorney
Jim Reed, Bureau County Sheriff
Jim Rowe, Kankakee County State’s Attorney
Richard C. Schoenstedt, Chief Judge, 12th Judicial Circuit, Will County (R)
Timothy J. Slavin, retired Circuit Judge, 14th Judicial Circuit, Whiteside County (R)
Tom Templeton, LaSalle County Sheriff (R)
Linnea E. Thompson, Circuit Judge, 14th Judicial Circuit, Rock Island County
David L. Vancil, Jr., Chief Judge, 9th Judicial Circuit, Henderson County (R)
Dora A. Villarreal-Nieman, Rock Island State’s Attorney
On Monday, the Illinois Commerce Commission announced the moratorium on disconnections has voluntarily been extended by several state regulated utilities through the Winter 2021 for eligible low-income residential customers, and those who self-report to utilities that they are experiencing financial or COVID-19 hardship. Previously, several of the utilities had voluntarily agreed to extend the moratorium on shutoffs for residential customers until September 30, 2020.
At the request of the ICC, the following utilities have committed to extending the moratorium on utility disconnections for low-income (Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program qualified) residential customers and those financially impacted by COVID-19 until March 31, 2021: Ameren Illinois, Aqua Illinois, Illinois American Water, Commonwealth Edison, Peoples Gas and North Shore Gas, and Utility Services of Illinois. MidAmerican will voluntarily extend the moratorium on disconnections for Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program qualified residential customers through March 31, 2021 and is further considering additional options to help their customers during this unprecedented time. Additionally, Nicor Gas and Liberty Utilities have agreed to extend the moratorium on disconnections for all residential customers until March 31, 2021.
“Illinois citizens are facing extraordinary challenges due to the pandemic. Low income families and those impacted by COVID-19 should not have to fear losing basic services like electricity, heat, or fresh water,” said Chairman Carrie K. Zalewski. “The voluntary actions by these utilities will provide our most vulnerable citizens with some peace of mind, especially as cold weather approaches. We appreciate the utility companies for their responsiveness and action.”
The ICC reminds customers to call the utility company if you have missed bill payments or you are struggling to pay your bill. No documentation or written proof is necessary, but you must make the phone call and verbalize your difficulty. This action will ensure a continuation of utility service. Deferred payment arrangements are also available for both residential and small business customers needing help managing their utility bill obligation during these difficult times.
On June 18, 2020, the Commission approved landmark COVID-19 utility relief agreements in Docket No. 20-0309, which were the product of negotiations between thirteen utility companies and numerous consumer advocate groups and parties. In addition to extending the moratoriums on disconnections and late payment fees, the agreements provided historic consumer protections involving utility credit and collection practices, deferred payment agreements, temporary waivers of reconnection fees and new deposit requirements.
More details on the Stipulations, each utility’s commitments and compliance reports are available on the Commission website in the ICC Docket 20-0309. To learn more about the Commission’s response to COVID-19, please visit: www.icc.illinois.gov/home/covid-19.
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 1,531 new confirmed cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 30 additional confirmed deaths.
• Coles County: 2 males 80s
• Cook County: 1 female 30s, 2 males 60s, 2 females 80s, 1 male 80s
• Crawford County: 1 male 70s
• DuPage County: 1 female 80s
• Greene County: 1 female 90s
• Jefferson County; 1 male 50s
• Jersey County: 1 male 80s
• Lake County: 1 female 70s
• LaSalle County: 1 male 70s
• Livingston County: 1 female 80s
• Madison County: 1 female 80s
• McLean County: 1 male 80s
• Morgan County: 1 male 50s, 1 female 90s
• St. Clair County: 1 female 70s, 1 female 80s, 1 male 80s, 1 female 90s
• Tazewell County: 1 female 80s, 1 male 90s
• Will County: 1 male 70s
• Williamson County: 1 female 90s, 1 male 90s, 1 female 100+
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 277,266 cases, including 8,486 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from September 15 – September 21 is 3.5%. Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 41,829 specimens for a total of 5,185,216. As of last night, 1,455 people in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 367 patients were in the ICU and 153 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
Following guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, IDPH is now reporting separately both confirmed and probable cases and deaths on its website. Reporting probable cases will help show the potential burden of COVID-19 illness and efficacy of population-based non-pharmaceutical interventions. IDPH will update these data once a week.
*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. Information for a death previously reported has changed, therefore, today’s numbers have been adjusted. For health questions about COVID-19, call the hotline at 1-800-889-3931 or email dph.sick@illinois.gov.
* To be clear, this FOP lodge does not represent any Department of Corrections employees in the collective bargaining process. The lodge is a fraternal organization, not a union. But the subject of this social media post certainly provides us with a disturbing look at the mindset of some IDoC workers. It’s a best seller, eh?…
* Anders Lindall at AFSCME Council 31, which actually represents IDoC workers in contract matters…
Corrections employees are not “cage fighters”. They are security staff, counselors, therapists, health care providers, maintenance and dietary and clerical workers and many more charged with keeping the public safe and rehabilitating inmates to return to their communities.
AFSCME is proud to represent these thousands of men and women who do essential work in very difficult circumstances. Especially now when corrections employees are putting themselves at even greater risk to serve amid a pandemic, negative portrayals like this one are offensive and disturbing.
* Jordan Abudayyeh at the governor’s office…
The administration is deeply disturbed by the message this shirt sends and remains committed to criminal justice reform centered on rehabilitation for those who are serving sentences at DOC. The views expressed on this article of clothing are abhorrent and out of line with the values of this administration.
* Related…
* Three Illinois Prison Guards Face U.S. Civil Rights Charges in Inmate’s Beating Death: The three men assaulted Mr. Earvin “without legal justification” while he was handcuffed “and posed no physical threat,” the United States Attorney’s Office said. After the assault, the men filed “knowingly false incident reports that failed to disclose any assault” of Mr. Earvin, the office said.
* This is not a surprise because others have found the same problems, but still…
Under Fritz Kaegi’s predecessor as Cook County assessor, commercial properties as a group were valued far too low, valuations varied widely among similar properties, and the property tax burden was unfairly shifted onto the owners of less expensive properties, according to a new study Kaegi commissioned from an international nonprofit organization.
The broad undervaluation of commercial properties under former Assessor Joseph Berrios meant residential property taxpayers paid more than their fair share of the county’s tax levy while many higher-end commercial property owners got an unauthorized break, Kaegi said in an interview. […]
For the new study, the international assessors’ group looked at 1,643 business property sales throughout Cook County in 2018 and compared the sales prices with the assessed values. It found that in the county as a whole, properties were assessed at a median of 61% of their actual sales price, far from the group’s acceptable range of 90% to 110%.
The comparison was even worse in Chicago, where the median valuation of commercial properties was found to be just 52% of sales prices. For Evanston, the figure was 39%; for Oak Park, 43%. […]
The study also also found that overall assessments were regressive, meaning less expensive properties were overvalued and more expensive ones were undervalued, which unfairly burdens less wealthy property owners. The problem was worst in Chicago’s central business district and on the Near South Side and the Northwest Side, according to the group’s analysis.
Joe Berrios chaired the Cook County Democratic Party. Lots of powerful Cook County Democrats, including the House Speaker, are property tax attorneys and represent downtown businesses.
A well-intentioned mailer designed to remind Illinois voters of their right to apply for mail-in ballots has added fuel to the fire of an already fragile mail-in effort.
Letters went out last week from Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White’s office to some 5.4 million voters.
“Your local election authority had indicated that you have not yet applied for a ballot,” the letter stated. “However, you still have time to submit an application.”
Problem is, many who received the letters say they did apply for ballots, causing some to worry that the letters were fraudulent, or that their applications had been lost.
The law signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker in June, gave local election authorities until Aug. 1 to send vote-by-mail applications to anyone who voted in either the 2018 general election, the 2019 municipal election or this year’s March 17 primary. Applications also went to those who registered or changed their mailing address after the March primary.
The law also required the state’s 108 election jurisdictions to report to the state elections board by Sept. 2 the names of all voters who had received an application and all those who had applied for a ballot. The secretary of state’s office had until Sept. 15 to send letters to those who had received but not returned an application.
“Per Illinois law, the secretary of state’s office was required to mail out letters by Sept. 15 to the list of names provided to our office by the Illinois State Board of Elections,” Henry Haupt, a spokesman for Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White, said in a statement. “We complied with this law.”
But the letter — which reads, in part: “Your local election authority had indicated that you have not yet applied for a ballot; however you still have time to submit an application for a vote by mail ballot” — left some voters who’ve already applied confused, according to some local election officials.
Under the law, Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White’s office is supposed to mail, no later than Sept. 15, to anyone who hasn’t returned the mail ballot application sent to them by the local county clerk or, in Chicago, the city Board of Elections. White did just that—“We followed the law,” says a spokesman—sending out roughly 6.4 million letters.
But the names of those getting the letters came from the state election board. And it got the lists of names from the state’s 102 county clerks and the city board.
Well, some of those clerks submitted their lists a little early, says Dietrich. And both the state board and White’s office needed time to process all of that mail. Bottom line: Someone who actually did fill out a mail ballot application as late as Aug. 27 may not have shown up yet on the list of those getting the letter from White that was mailed no later than Sept. 15. “There was a gap,” Dietrich says.
Per the new law, the Secretary of State sent letters to those voters Sept. 15. The message was brief:
“Correspondence was previously sent to you by your local election authority with information on how to apply for a vote-by-mail ballot. Your election authority had indicated that you have not yet applied for a ballot; however, you still have time to submit an application for a vote-by-mail ballot. Please contact your local election official listed in the upper right hand corner of this letter to complete an application, return an application or to receive additional information about vote by mail.”
In coming days, county clerks all over Illinois were inundated with calls from perplexed voters. Some wondered if perhaps voting booths had been eliminated in favor of an all-mail election. Others insisted they sent in their applications but now worried that some sort of snafu would cut them out of the ballot process.
The truth? The voting booths will be open in November for those who want to cast a ballot in person. And for those voters who submitted a vote-by-mail application, those ballots will be mailed Sept. 24.
White’s office pointed blame at the State Board of Elections, which compiled the mailing list. The election board blamed its list on the two-week time lag between when it received information from local officials about who had not applied and when the letters went out.
State election board spokesman Matt Dietrich also suggested the letter could have been written more clearly with a disclaimer to explain that anyone who had applied in recent weeks could disregard the notice.
A new state law expanding the use of mail voting requires the secretary of state to send the reminder letters. A second letter is supposed to be sent on Oct. 15.
A spokesman for White’s office said the October letter will be amended to try to head off further confusion.
“The fantasy of a constitutional amendment to cut retirees’ benefits is just that, a fantasy,” [Gov. JB Pritzker] said in his budget address. “The idea that all of this can be fixed with a single silver bullet ignores the protracted legal battle that will ultimately run headlong into the Contracts Clause of the U.S. Constitution.”
As a part of the organization’s larger series examining Illinois’ financial problems, nonprofit fiscal watchdog Wirepoints said arguments about the feasibility of pension reform continue to be shot down, even by Pritzker’s own legal team.
“His own lawyers are arguing that there’s an exception right now that applies to the eviction moratorium,” Wirepoints Founder Mark Glennon said. “When the impairment of the contract is reasonably drafted, fair and properly done, then contracts can be impaired.”
He said Arizona, with a nearly identical pension protection clause in its guiding charter, hammered out an agreement with firefighters to remove some of the agreed-upon perks in their pension contracts that place undue stress on taxpayers and put public safety at risk. Arizona lawmakers enacted a law that did so in 2016. It was not challenged in the courts.
* Jordan Abudayyeh at the governor’s office…
Clearly there is no depth that is too low for the right wing ideologues who don’t seem to care about the litany of issues facing our state during these challenging times. They instead remain focused on perpetuating the myth that the state can just shirk its responsibilities to retirees who devoted their careers to public service and that will fix our state finances. The ideologues had four years under Governor Bruce Rauner to implement their scheme that would magically fix state finances and they failed to do so, leaving behind a hollowed out state government and a mountain of debt. We’ve seen what the carnival barkers believe state government should look like, and the people of Illinois have rejected their sham.
Jordan is back after taking a few days off. She seems to have fully recharged.
The United States health secretary, who oversees the FDA, CDC and much of the federal COVID response, tells FOX 32 local kids should be in school.
“Illinois, Chicago are getting better in the sense of cases case counts going down and test positivity going down,” said Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar.
He says Illinois is moving in the right direction and has everything for kids to return to class.
“When you have cases, you need to do the contact tracing within the school and test around them in order to contain disease. We have all of those capacities. We can get back to school and do so safely,” Azar said. […]
Even as Illinois surpasses 5-million COVID tests, Pritzker says it is too soon to ease restrictions.
“The answer is the virus is still out there,” the governor said.
Based on Illinois Department of Health guidelines, the Springfield School District 186 board voted Monday to approve a set of metrics to determine a return to the hybrid/blended model. […]
The metrics include a Sangamon County positivity rate less than or equal to 5 percent; a case count less than or equal to 50 out of 100,000; a new youth case count less than or equal to 5 percent and a weekly case count increase less than or equal to 20 percent
The county would have to meet all four metrics for two consecutive weeks before students could return to the hybrid/blended model.
The Jim Oberweis campaign has made a 500-point ad buy on broadcast TV in the Chicago media market that is started on Saturday.
The buy includes ads on ABC 7, NBC 5, CBS 2, WGN 9, Fox 32 as well as a cable buy across the entire District.
The ad focuses on comments Rep. Lauren Underwood made during a recent candidates’ interview with the Chicago Sun Times Editorial Board. During the interview she refused to condemn rioting and instead talked about “beautiful protests.”
“Rioting and looting and violence are not ‘beautiful’,” Oberweis said. “I have consistently stood up for law enforcement. I have advocated for defending our police – not defunding them and I have called for an end to the violence. My opponent has been given numerous opportunities to condemn the violence, but she continues to refuse to do so.”
[Bumped up from late yesterday afternoon for visibility.]
* Press release…
Following a careful examination of the process to award the first round of conditional adult-use cannabis dispensary licenses after receiving feedback from community leaders and stakeholders, Governor JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) announced additional steps to ensure the process moves forward in a fair and equitable manner. These steps will ensure applicants whose applications did not achieve the maximum score of 252 points will receive a supplemental deficiency notice and a score sheet identifying each exhibit to the application on which they lost points. After receiving the supplemental deficiency notice, applicants will have an opportunity to provide a response that amends the application exhibits or to ask IDFPR to conduct a rescore of their original application exhibits if they believe there was an error or an inconsistency in the scoring.
“As we worked with the General Assembly, equity and fairness have always been at the heart of our approach to legalizing cannabis, and when we heard significant concerns from numerous stakeholders about the process to award dispensary licenses, I said we needed to take a pause to fix their concerns, within the bounds of our landmark law,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “While this process remains a marathon and not a sprint, we believe that these new steps will inject more equity and fairness in the first round of license awards and provide insight as we improve the process for future rounds.”
The supplemental deficiency notices and score sheet will notify applicants which application exhibits did not receive a perfect score. For each exhibit, an applicant can either submit additional information, request a rescore of the exhibit, or do nothing and keep the original score on that exhibit.
IDFPR will review all timely responses to the supplemental deficiency notices and will issue a final score for each application. The Department will then conduct the lottery for Conditional Licenses in accordance with its tiebreaker rules. The Department will provide detailed instructions for applicants, including all deadlines, in the coming weeks.
“The Pritzker administration continues to work towards creating the most equity-centric cannabis industry in the nation. From day one of the administration’s work with the legislature, equity has been at the center of this legislation from day one of negotiations as we worked to create a system that prioritizes social equity applicants and reinvests revenues in communities hardest hit by the war on drugs,” said Toi Hutchinson, Senior Advisor to the Governor on Cannabis Control. “Before awarding the next 110 dispensary licenses, as the statute requires, the State will conduct a disparity study to better understand how this new industry is working and correct any structural challenges to equity as we move forward in implementing the law.”
This supplemental process is designed to ensure the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act is implemented in a fair and equity-centric manner as intended by both the administration and the General Assembly and will be conducted in accordance with the Act. Applicants will not be permitted to change the owners or ownership percentages identified on their original application in an attempt to qualify for social equity status, Illinois resident ownership status, or veteran ownership status if the original owner or group of majority owners on the application did not fall into those categories. The points allocated for these categories are outlined in the Act and, therefore, can only be changed through the legislative process.
Following the awarding of the first 75 licenses, the Act provides that IDFPR must conduct a disparity study, which will be a comprehensive evaluation of the adult-use cannabis market. Based on the results of that study, additional measures will be proposed to further improve equity and inclusion in the market. The administration has already suggested steps for the General Assembly to take to improve the process going forward, including providing that all applicants who meet or exceed a cut-off score will advance to the lottery and limiting the number of applications one entity can submit.
IDFPR received 2,588 cannabis dispensary applications from 937 applicants, more than double the number of dispensary applications that have been submitted to any other state awarding a limited number of dispensary licenses. The applications also far surpass the 221 applications submitted to the state for medical cannabis licenses in 2014. The vast increase in the number of applicants reflects the significant steps taken in the Act to ensure a wide variety of applicants were given an opportunity to participate in this new industry.
In 2019, Governor Pritzker signed the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act into law, the most equity-centric cannabis legislation in the country. In addition to committing to conduct a disparity study, the administration offered lower application fees, low-interest loans, and informational workshops on cannabis-related licenses to social equity applicants. The administration remains committed to upholding the intent and language of the law and ensuring the cannabis industry is equitable for all Illinois residents, regardless of background.
Under this new law, 25% of revenues collected from recreational cannabis sales are being directed to communities that have been disproportionately impacted by the justice system through the Restore, Reinvest and Renew (R3) Program. The innovative R3 program recently announced $31.5 million in grant opportunities to organizations working in historically underserved communities across Illinois.
Governor Pritzker is also working with State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, the Prisoner Review Board, and state’s attorneys across Illinois to expunge the records of non-violent offenders with a cannabis related conviction, with over 11,000 Illinoisans already seeing their records expunged.
For more information on the adult-use legal cannabis industry, go to https://www2.illinois.gov/cannabis/Pages/default.aspx.
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