* US District Court in the Northern District of Illinois…
On May 28, 2021, the Illinois General Assembly approved a state legislative redistricting plan before the release of the official population totals from the 2020 United States decennial census. The pandemic delayed release of the official population totals, although the United States Census Bureau (âthe Census Bureauâ) had announced previously that those totals would be available by mid-August 2021. The Illinois General Assembly elected not to wait, and instead relied primarily on data from the American Community Survey (âACSâ), a population estimate previously published by the Census Bureau, to determine the boundaries of Illinois legislative districts. With Governor Pritzkerâs signature, the General Assembly-approved redistricting plan (âthe June Redistricting Planâ) became effective as of June 4, 2021.
Two sets of Plaintiffs filed lawsuits contending that use of the ACS data resulted in the drawing of constitutionally-flawed legislative district boundaries. Those cases have been consolidated before this three-judge court (âCourtâ) convened under 28 U.S.C. § 2284(a). In both cases, Plaintiffs allege that the June Redistricting Plan impermissibly violated their right to Equal Protection under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Defendants in both cases have moved to dismiss [McConchie, 66, 80], [Contreras, 40, 55] Plaintiffsâ first amended complaints1 [McConchie, 51], [Contreras, 37]. Following the release of the official Census data, Plaintiffs in each case moved for summary judgment [McConchie, 76], [Contreras, 63].
For the reasons stated below, the Court denies the motions to dismiss [McConchie, 66, 80], [Contreras, 40, 55] in full, except to the extent that Plaintiff Martinez is dismissed from the first amended complaint in Contreras, see [37]. The Court also grants the Plaintiffsâ motions for summary judgment in full [Contreras, 63] and in part [McConchie, 76]. The Court declares that the June Redistricting Plan, Public Act 102-0010, violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and enjoins the Defendant State Board of Elections and Defendant Members, Charles W. Scholz, Ian K. Linabarry, William M. McGuffage, William J. Cadigan, Katherine S. OâBrien, Laura K. Donahue, Casandra B. Watson, and William R. Haine, in their official capacities as members of the Illinois State Board of Elections, from enforcing Public Act 102-0010.
Finally, the Court will not require formal dispositive motion practice (e.g., motions under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b) and 56) on the second amended complaints and sets the schedule for the selection of a court-approved state redistricting map as follows: (1) Plaintiffsâ submissions for proposed revisions to the September Redistricting Plan, Public Act 102-0663, accompanied by a statement explaining how those revisions cure any constitutional or statutory defects in the September Redistricting Plan, are to be filed on the docket no later than November 8, 2021; (2) Defendantsâ responses and objections to the submissions are to be submitted no later than November 18, 2021. This case is set for further status on November 5, 2021, at 11:00 a.m. […]
Taking into account the totality of the circumstancesâboth agreed and disputedâwe will proceed therefore toward the approval of a map for Illinois legislative districts for the next decade using the September Redistricting Plan as a starting point, but also carefully considering the legal challenges raised in the operative second amended complaints. Having found the June Redistricting Plan unconstitutional and therefore reached the remedial phase of proceedings, the Court will not require formal dispositive motion practice (e.g., under Federal Rules of Civil Procedure 12(b) and 56) on the seconded amended complaints [McConchie, 116], [Contreras, 98]. To the extent that the September Redistricting Plan does not pass muster, Plaintiffs are invited to submit proposed alternative maps for the Courtâs consideration accompanied by a statement explaining (1) the constitutional or statutory defects in the September Redistricting Plan and, (2) how the revisions or alternatives cure such defects. Defendants will likewise receive an opportunity to respond to the proposed alternative maps and accompanying assessment according to the schedule set out at the conclusion of this opinion.
In other words, the first version of the map has been tossed over unconstitutional population deviation between districts (the courts have long had a rule about that and the new Illinois map was in clear violation). The second version is now under judicial review because the court declared the first version unconstitutional. And the court has invited plaintiffs, meaning the Republicans and MALDEF, to submit their own alternative maps with specific emphasis on how their alternatives address the Democrats’ alleged defects.
Also, the court rejected the Republican claim that the failure to draw a constitutional map by the deadline triggers the state’s non-partisan remap commission process.
…Adding… Press release…
Below is a statement from Senate Republican Leader Dan McConchie (R-Hawthorn Woods) and House Republican Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs) on Illinoisâ redistricting maps being declared unconstitutional today in court:
âTodayâs ruling is a victory for Illinois citizens, advocacy groups and communities of interest. During this process the Republican caucuses consistently demanded transparency and fairness in mapmaking, which were rejected by the Democrats and Governor Pritzker. The courtâs ruling validates all the concerns that were raised during the Democratsâ unconstitutional attempt to gerrymander Illinois.â
…Adding… Tribune…
Though Democratic lawmakers passed and Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed the updated map last month, they did not repeal the earlier estimated-population map approved in May.
That prompted concerns that if the new map was ruled unconstitutional, the earlier map using population estimates would take effect. The court said it needed to rule on the unconstitutionality of the original map to prevent that from happening.
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Our sorry state
Tuesday, Oct 19, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Hannah Meisel…
In the early days, weeks and months of the pandemic, COVID-19 ravaged nursing homes, killing thousands of elderly and frail residents and forcing the isolation of thousands more.
Though long-term care facilities statewide locked down, forbidding outside visits from family members, staff from the Illinois Department of Public Health charged with investigating complaints of abuse and neglect should still have been going in to those facilities.
But for the first three and a half months of the pandemic, they werenât. Pritzkerâs administration admitted to that error last summer after severing ties with two IDPH officials and catching up on the 272 missed abuse and neglect complaints, substantiating 17 of them. The agency hired a former federal prosecutor to review the unsubstantiated claims.
âOur top priority as a regulator of long-term care facilities in Illinois is ensuring vulnerable Illinoisans are kept safe by those responsible for their care,â IDPH Director Ngozi Ezike said in a course-correcting news release last August. âAnything short of that is unacceptable, and our entire department is committed to getting this right as we move forward.â
In service of that goal, IDPH also paid $425,000 to an outside firm to examine what went wrong inside the agency and how its processes could be improved to prevent such a major dereliction of duty from happening again.
More than 13 months later, however, the report remains unpublished, though itâs been complete since Nov. 30, 2020. A copy obtained by NPR Illinois shows the outside review was critical of IDPH, its Bureau of Long Term Care and the Office of Health Care Regulation directly responsible for investigating nursing home abuse and neglect complaints.
But as Pritzker and some Democrats in the General Assembly attempt to overhaul how the state reimburses nursing homes with Medicaid patients â a move they say will engender more accountability and equity â the report paints a complicated picture that neither fully bolsters Pritzkerâs argument for an overhaul nor the resistance from the nursing home industry warning its cash-poor facilities will close en masse.
Scroll down…
According to the national Staff Time and Resource Intensity Verification, or STRIVE Project, Illinois accounts for 47 of the 100 most understaffed facilities in the nation when comparing actual staffing levels against their target levels within STRIVE.
The persistent staffing issue is at the heart of Pritzkerâs proposed overhaul to how the state pays nursing homes; the Department of Healthcare and Family Services wants to increase nursing home reimbursement rates, but have those increases tied to a facilityâs staffing levels and other safety improvements.
But Manattâs consultants found IDPH has long had the power â and has actually been obligated by state law â to enforce skilled nursing facility staffing ratio requirements, but hasnât.
*facepalm*
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COVID-19 roundup
Tuesday, Oct 19, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Tribune…
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Tuesday that a continued decline in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in Illinois could lead him to lift âcertain mask mandatesâ in time for the holiday season.
âWe want to remove the mitigations as we approach the holidays,â Pritzker said during a COVID-19 briefing at the James R. Thompson Center in the Loop. âThatâs an important marker for us.â
âWe want to make sure that these numbers keep going down,ââ he said. […]
At the time the mandate was issued, Pritzker pointed to the recommendation from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that people wear masks indoors in areas of âsubstantialâ or âhighâ coronavirus transmission. As of Monday, that still included all but two of the stateâs 102 counties, both of them downstate.
Map…
* Pritzker was responding to a question from Amy Jacobson about the state’s mask mandates…
Well, we’re continuing, again, to watch the numbers. You know that we look at these every day, Dr. Ezike and the IDPH team. And we work with them to determine when the right time is. I think you’ve seen that, although numbers have come down. And I know pretty much every moment of every day, you’ve wanted us to remove every single mitigation. Every question that you give is a question about removing mitigations. I want them to go away too. But we want to make sure that we’re keeping people healthy and safe, following the guidelines that doctors are offering for us. And so we’ll continue to do that. And obviously we want to remove the mitigations as we approach the holidays. These are you know, that’s an important marker for us. We want to make sure these numbers keep going going down and we’d like very much to head into, you know we have three holidays coming up. But especially Thanksgiving and Christmas, where people spend extended amounts of time together. So we’d like very much to get to a place where we can remove certain mask mandates.
Please pardon any transcription errors.
* Hannah Meisel took a look at the numbers in a long thread and concluded…
* But then up comes the clickbait headlines…
Gov. JB Pritzker Hopes To Lift Statewide Indoor Mask Mandate In Time For Holidays
* IPHA…
Community Health Workers responded to 5,586 service requests in September.
Behind each request is someone experiencing the harmful, long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. As demonstrated in the data table below, most of the service requests received in September were for basic human needs, such as food and household items, income assistance (including rent and utility payment programs), and even finding a safe place to quarantine. […]
Notice also that [southern Illinois] Region Five, despite being a more rural, sparsely populated part of Illinois, had the highest number of service requests for the month. Health administrators in those southernmost 20 counties reported all intensive care unit beds were in-use as a surge tore through the region. This left patients who would have otherwise been hospitalized with few options other than to remain isolated at home for several days.
…Adding… Today’s data…
* More…
* Pritzker pushes COVID booster shots for eligible residents: Pritzker urged skilled nursing facilities to make booster shots available to all residents and staff before Thanksgiving. The Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs is also preparing to provide booster shots to residents at state-run veteranâs homes.
* You can’t work at this southwestern Illinois hospital without COVID-19 vaccination: “As the principal healthcare provider in our community, we should serve as a leader to our patients, families, coworkers, and community,” President of Touchette Regional Hospital Jay Willsher said.
* Just 54% of Chicago Police Officers Tell City Officials They Are Vaccinated Against COVID-19
* Compliance with vaccine mandate for city employees worst among police, firefighters
* Hearing planned Wednesday in Chicago Fraternal Order of Police’s battle with city over vaccine mandate
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Support Regulated Pet Stores And Defeat Puppy Mills
Tuesday, Oct 19, 2021 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Illinois families will soon be losing their opportunity to purchase dogs and cats from safe, highly-regulated local pet retailers, such as Petland, who offer their customers the choice of a pet that best fits their needs and provide health warranties. This change is coming because the stateâs Animal Welfare Act has been updated through HB 1711 which bans the retail sales of dogs and cats obtained from licensed and regulated professional breeders.
But HB 1711 needs fixing, because while singularly blocking retail pet sales, it fails to strengthen any animal standards or protections at unregulated puppy mills across the state. Consumers looking for particular breeds will have no choice but to purchase dogs from unregulated breeders or dog auctions â thus perpetuating puppy mills. Responsible breeders and retailers will be heavily penalized while HB 1711 does nothing to address the issue of substandard breeders across the state.
Petland is dedicated to improving animal welfare and we have publicly demonstrated this commitment; in fact, we support the Humane Societyâs petition effort to improve standards of care. Petlandâs breeder pledge is a commitment to provide more space, more exercise, and more socialization for their pets plus numerous other improvements to standards of care.
Home - Protect Our Pets Illinois
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Changes urged to HCRCA
Tuesday, Oct 19, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Tribune…
Separately, Pritzker will be pushing for legislation to prevent some public employees, including police officers and teachers, from trying to skirt COVID-19 vaccine mandates by citing a state law that allows people to avoid certain health care services for moral or religious reasons.
The stateâs Health Care Right of Conscience Act was intended to allow health care workers, especially those at Roman Catholic hospitals, to deny the distribution of emergency contraceptives to patients seeking abortions.
In broad terms, the law applies to âany phase of patient care,â but whether the law indeed applies to vaccine mandates will be taken up at some point during two-week session.
Some courts have ruled in favor of employees who citied the right of conscience exemption. But the Pritzker administration said the law is being interpreted incorrectly by those resisting the vaccine requirements and is seeking to exempt masking and vaccine mandates from the statute.
The administration’s language would also exempt testing….
âTestingâ is specifically included in the lawâs definition of health care.
That’s the key here that too many in the media don’t appear to quite grasp. The unvaxed are claiming they shouldn’t be required to be regularly tested. It’s a wholly ridiculous argument.
* Capitol News Illinois…
The Health Care Right of Conscience Act defines conscience as âa sincerely held set of moral convictions arising from belief in and relation to God, or which, though not so derived, arises from a place in the life of its possessor parallel to that filled by God among adherents to religious faiths.â On those lines, certain care can be refused.
The governorâs office has been promoting legislation that would narrow the allowable exemptions when it comes to COVID-19 requirements, although a spokesperson did not identify the exact language it was pursuing.
âThe Health Care Right of Conscience Act was never intended to allow people to avoid public health guidance and jeopardize workplace safety during a global pandemic. The administration supports efforts to clarify the law, so it cannot be misinterpreted by fringe elements,â Pritzker spokesperson Emily Bittner said in a statement Monday.
Subscribers have the proposed language.
* Meanwhile, the SJ-R continues to run big splashy stories about a couple of Springfield teachers who are refusing to be tested regularly based on their “conscience”…
The resolutions, “notices to remedy,” were unanimously passed by the school board without discussion. They stated the teachers’ actions could “(warrant) discharge and dismissal.”
The two stood by each other and later embraced as the resolutions were read by assistant superintendent of human resources Gina McLaughlin-Schurman. […]
Koen and Keys have cited “personal liberties” as motives for defying the governor’s mandate. Neither said they were budging from their positions as they and several supporters, including fellow teachers, addressed the board in the public comment section.
“That they’ve taken (our livelihoods) from us over something that is completely illegal and completely irrational is unconscionable,” Keys said of the mandate.
If your conscience tells you not to be tested regularly for a debilitating and potentially fatal disease after refusing to take a safe vaccine, there’s something very, very wrong with your conscience. Making heroes out of these two without making that clear is beyond irresponsible.
* Center Square…
Elsewhere throughout the state, local officials seem to be negotiating mandates in good faith with local law enforcement unions, [Illinois Fraternal Order of Police President Chris Southwood] said. If not, he said thereâs always the stateâs Health Care Right of Conscience Act.
âIt clearly states that itâs unlawful to discriminate because of a personâs conscientious refusal to receive health care service contrary to his or her conscience,â he said. âWe clearly feel we can fall back on that when we need to when it comes to these vaccine mandates and how they are implemented.â […]
The FOP he said will be lobbying against any possible changes to the Health Care Right of Conscience Act, a decades-old law he says gives broad protections to people refusing medical treatments that go against their beliefs.
âWeâll let General Assembly members know right up front that if you vote for changes to this act, weâre going to make sure your constituents are aware that you voted for changes to that act,â he said.
I’m fairly certain that the majority of Illinoisans will find it ridiculous for the unvaxed to use a “conscience” excuse to opt out of regular COVID testing.
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The other side of the “Fair Map” debate
Tuesday, Oct 19, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Russell Berman at The Atlantic…
The stakes for the reapportionment that follows the decennial census are always enormous; the redistricting process draws lines for Congress and state legislatures that endure for a decade. But the consequences over the next few years could stretch far beyond the fate of President Joe Bidenâs agenda or whether a particular stateâs taxes go up or down: Given former President Donald Trumpâs continued dominance over the GOP and the possibility that he will run again, whichever party controls the House and key state legislative chambers could determine the next presidential election. That stark reality is giving the Democrats who championed nonpartisan commissions second thoughts. âAs a matter of policy, I think we should pursue these, because I think itâs the right thing to do,â Morgan Carroll, the chair of the Colorado Democratic Party, told me. âBut as a matter of politics, if across the country every Dem is for independent commissions and every Republican is aggressively gerrymandering maps, then the outcome is still a Republican takeover of the United States of America with a modern Republican Party that is fundamentally authoritarian and antidemocratic. And thatâs not good for the country.â
Democrats have not abandoned gerrymandering everywhere. In large blue states such as New York, Illinois, and Maryland, the party is expected to draw maps that maximize its partisan advantage. But Republicans control the redistricting process governing more seats, and given the Democratsâ narrow House majority, the GOP could take back power through gerrymandering alone. By giving up their mapping pens in just a few states, Democrats might also have given away their gavel.
No state illustrates the Democratsâ predicament better than Colorado, where the party holds the governorship and solid control of the legislature. That power could have allowed Democrats to draw a favorable new congressional seat, shore up their four House incumbents, and target the reelection bid of freshman GOP Representative Lauren Boebert, who supported Trumpâs bid to overturn last yearâs election. In 2018, however, Democrats backed a ballot initiative to hand power over congressional redistricting to a nonpartisan commission. The map that the panel has proposed would instead make the new Eighth District north of Denver a toss-up, potentially jeopardize at least one of the Democratic incumbents, and ease Boebertâs path to another term, Carroll told me. The difference between the commission map and what Democrats might have drawn themselves could be nearly enough to tip the balance of power in the entire House. âIt is a problem,â a high-ranking Colorado Democrat told me, speaking on the condition of anonymity to offer a candid assessment. […]
Along with Colorado, California now serves both as the model for the kind of redistricting commissions Democrats want to establish nationwide and as an impediment to their hopes of retaining power long enough to do so. The party controls 42 out of the stateâs 53 seats in Congressâeasily the biggest Democratic delegation in the countryâbut an aggressive Democratic gerrymander probably could have yielded a few more.
Obviously, there’s hyperbole in that piece, so take a deep breath before commenting.
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* Good infrastructure news from the Tribune…
Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Monday unveiled a six-year timeline for the $1.2 billion reconstruction of Interstate Highway 80 through Will County, including work on aging bridges over the Des Plaines River considered so decrepit that unions put up billboards with warnings such as âCross bridge at your own riskâ two years ago.
âIn recent decades, this stretch of I-80 has also come to represent the disinvested infrastructure that Illinois used to be notorious for,â Pritzker said during a news conference Monday in New Lenox. âThatâs all changing.â
* Bad infrastructure news from the Tribune…
On Saturday morning, Dixmoor resident Martha Montero turned on her shower to find nothing. But she had water stored in a cupboard from the numerous other times this had happened. […]
The issues with water have been ongoing for about two years, said 29-year-old Montero. […]
The town has been without a reliable and consistent water source since Saturday. According to Dixmoor Village President Fitzgerald Roberts, that is because of breaks in the pipe that brings water into Dixmoor, affecting the whole townâs water supply. The latest break was Monday. […]
Harvey supplies water to other towns including East Hazel Crest, Hazel Crest, Homewood and Posen.
Homewood is in the process of switching its water source due to âerratic water ratesâ and âunreliable infrastructure,â said Homewoodâs marketing director Jennifer Quirke.
* And I still don’t know what to make of this idea…
The developer behind the proposed $20 billion One Central development revealed details for the projectâs first phase: a transit center surrounded by roughly 1.4 million square feet of retail, dining and entertainment space on a 35-acre site above the train tracks near Soldier Field.
The full plans for One Central, unveiled in 2019, include up to 22.3 million square feet of buildings with as many as 9,050 residential units and 9.45 million square feet of offices. The project still needs city and state approval to proceed, and Landmark president Bob Dunn has said he expects to submit a zoning application by late October or early November.
* Related…
* Rush hour is coming back, but slower traffic hasnât meant fewer crashes: One solution is to put âtraffic calmingâ measures onto city streets, which can help protect cyclists and pedestrians too, as biking and walking are growing in popularity throughout Chicago and the suburbs, she said. That can include lower speed limits, pedestrian islands and crosswalks in roadways and bike lanes, which both provide space for cyclists and narrow streets to encourage lower speeds. The measures might be one way to reverse not only the pandemic spike in traffic fatalities and deaths, but also a longer-term uptick in the Chicago area that predated the pandemic, Wilkison said.
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Question of the day
Monday, Oct 18, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Press release…
llinois House Republican Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs) and Illinois State Senator John Curran (R-Downers Grove) were joined by suburban police chiefs from Cook County Monday morning to introduce new legislation that will give law enforcement the ability to override the state’s attorney’s charging decisions, as well as bring transparency and accountability to this process.
“Today’s legislation is a major step towards accountability for the Cook County State’s Attorney with law enforcement and victims of crime,” Leader Durkin said. “This legislation demands transparency in the charging process and gives law enforcement a fair avenue to participate in the criminal court system.”
House Bill 4176 will allow local law enforcement the right to override a stateâs attorneyâs decision not to file felony charges when law enforcement believes clear and convincing evidence exists. Currently, law enforcement has no recourse when charges are declined on a case by an assistant stateâs attorney. This bill will give law enforcement the ability to protect public safety and fight for victims and victimsâ families when no one else will.
A 2020 Chicago Tribune analysis found that Cook County Stateâs Attorney Kim Foxx âdropped all charges against 29.9% of felony defendants, a dramatic increase over her predecessor.â In one of the latest egregious cases, the Cook County Stateâs Attorneyâs Office refused to file Felony charges in a deadly shootout, citing âmutual combatâ because both groups were shooting at each other.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Cook County is on track to see the highest carjacking numbers in 20 years, with carjackings up 43.5 percent in Cook County this year as opposed to the same time period in 2020. In another tragic case where a seven-year-old was murdered, police officials filed their own charges against the suspect when the Cook County Stateâs Attorney refused to do so, only to see their charges dropped.
“This proposal brings transparency and accountability to criminal charging decisions made by the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office,” said State Senator John Curran. “There have been consistent complaints from law enforcement agencies within Cook County about the State’s Attorney’s charging decisions, oftentimes leaving the public with no information as to why criminal prosecutions are not being pursued while our communities are experiencing a rapid rise in violent crime.”
Leader Durkin held a meeting with over two dozen police chiefs from Cook County last week to discuss ways to empower law enforcement when the Cook County Stateâs Attorneyâs Office continues to reject charges for violent and felony cases, some of which have resulted in fatalities. Police chiefs from the villages of Riverside and Worth participated in the press conference today.
* Synopsis…
Provides that, in a criminal investigation in counties in excess of 3,000,000 involving a forcible felony where the State’s Attorney or an Assistant State’s Attorney rejects the filing of a felony charge or charges or the case is designated by the State’s Attorney or Assistant State’s Attorney as a continuing investigation: (1) a law enforcement agency in the jurisdiction where the alleged crime occurred may override the State’s Attorney or Assistant State’s Attorney’s rejection of the felony charge or charges or the case is designated by the State’s Attorney or Assistant State’s Attorney as a continuing investigation if the evidence supporting the charge is clear and convincing and the override is filed with the clerk of the circuit court and the State’s Attorney; and (2) the State’s Attorney or Assistant State’s Attorney may rescind the override within 7 days after the override by petitioning the Chief Judge of the Criminal Division of the circuit court. Provides for petition requirements. Provides that, if the court determines that law enforcement agency’s decision to override was based on clear and convincing evidence, the State’s Attorney must proceed with a preliminary examination or seek an indictment by grand jury within 30 days from the date he or she was taken into custody or, if he or she is not in custody, 60 days from the date he or she was arrested. Provides that the decision of the court on the law enforcement agency’s override is not appealable.
* The Question: Your thoughts on this bill?
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* Progress, but a drop in the bucket until AFSCME comes around…
After recently reaching three union agreements requiring vaccines for certain state workers, Governor JB Pritzker announced the fourth such agreement has been reached with multiple Illinois trade unions working in congregate settings. This progress has been reached as negotiations are ongoing with AFSCME representatives.
This agreement will ensure employees at facilities such as the Shapiro Developmental Center, Menard Correctional Center and Quincy Veteranâs Home are protected with the COVID-19 vaccines. Given the provisions in the previous agreements the state made with VR-704, the Illinois Nurses Association and Illinois Federation of Public Employees, the deadline for all employees covered by vaccine agreements to get their first shot has been extended to October 26.
State employees who remain unvaccinated pose a significant risk to individuals in Illinois’ congregate facilities. Therefore, if employees do not receive the vaccine or an exemption by the dates identified, progressive disciplinary measures will be implemented, which may ultimately lead to discharge. The agreement includes a process whereby employees can seek an exemption based on medical contraindications or sincerely-held religious beliefs.
âLeadership by President Biden and businesses across the country show that vaccine requirements work,â said Governor JB Pritzker. âIâm proud to announce that Illinois has reached our fourth union agreement to ensure those we serve are protected. Vaccination remains our strongest tool to stay safe from COVID-19 and protect our children.â
Following Gov. Pritzkerâs announcement that all state workers who work in state-run congregate facilities would be required to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, the agreements covering 1,990 workers have been made:
⢠VR-704: 260 supervisory employees at the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) and the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ). Agreement reached on September 20, 2021.
⢠Illinois Nurses Association: approximately 1,100 nurses working in 24/7 facilities like McFarland Mental Health Facility, Quincy Veterans’ Home and Jacksonville Correctional Center. Agreement reached on October 7, 2021.
⢠Illinois Federation of Public Employees: approximately 160 employees working in Human Services and Veterans’ Affairs. Agreement reached on October 7, 2021.
⢠Illinois Trade Unions: approximately 470 employees working in 24/7 facilities such as Menard Corrections Center, Shapiro Developmental Center and Quincy Veteranâs Home.
To further encourage vaccinations under the agreements with the unions, employees will receive an additional personal day. If the vaccine administration is not available during an employee’s regularly scheduled shift, the employee may be compensated at their regular pay for the time taken to receive the vaccine. In addition, vaccinated employees will receive paid “COVID time,” so that if a vaccinated employee gets COVID-19 they will receive a period of paid time off without using their benefit time.
The administration has taken extensive measures to make the COVID-19 vaccine equitable and accessible. The Pritzker administration established 25 mass vaccination sites. The Illinois National Guard supported more than 800 mobile vaccination clinics on top of an additional 1,705 state-supported mobile sites that focused on communities hardest hit by the pandemic, young residents, and rural communities. The COVID-19 vaccine has been available for healthcare and nursing home workers since December 15, 2020, and open to teachers since January 25, 2021.
Vaccination is the key to ending the COVID-19 pandemic and returning to normal life. All Illinois residents over the age of 12 are eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine at no cost and proof of immigration status is not required to receive the vaccine. To find a vaccination center near you, visit vaccines.gov.
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COVID-19 roundup
Monday, Oct 18, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Jake Griffin…
Illinois has surpassed another grim COVID-19 milestone with the disease now claiming the lives of one in every 500 Illinois residents, according to Illinois Department of Public Health records.
IDPH officials reported 63 more COVID-19 deaths over the past three days, bringing the state’s death toll from the virus to 25,470.
State health officials also report another 2,798 deaths were likely caused by the disease.
* The selfishness of these people never ceases to amaze me…
Keys and Kadence Koen, a math and business teacher at Southeast High School, are defying Springfield School District 186’s efforts to carry out Gov. JB Pritzker’s mandate that school personnel get vaccinated against COVID-19 or get tested weekly.
Keys and Koen cite “personal liberties” as the main reason for defying the order. […]
“Iâm committed to standing up for my family, and, no, I will not comply with something that goes directly against my freedom to make independent medical decisions for my family and me,” Keys said. “The implications of eroding my personal freedom in my employment will then bleed into the freedoms of my children and my wife.”
Keys said Pritzker and the Illinois State Board of Education are “subverting the process” and forcing school personnel into “a life-altering medical procedure.”
Well, yeah, taking a vaccine is life-altering in that it can save your life and the lives of those around you. But, riddle me this, Batman, how is taking regular COVID tests as an alternative to a vaccine in any way “life-altering”?
Also, your “personal freedom” ends when it endangers the health and lives of others. You have the right to harmlessly swing your fist through the air. That right ends when you punch somebody.
* And for those of you who love trolling comment boards to ask why the vaccinated are so adamant about everyone possible getting their shots…
Colin L. Powell, whose immune system was weakened by treatment for multiple myeloma, died of complications of Covid-19 despite being âfully vaccinated,â his family said in a statement.
Being vaccinated will help you, but it could also save the lives of people who are severely immunocompromised or who can’t be vaxed.
* Eric Schmid…
Nearly every county in Illinois doesnât have enough primary care, mental health and dental providers, according to a new report by the Rural Health Summit.
The issue is most acute in the stateâs rural counties, including southern Illinois.
The report, produced by a consortium of health care professionals, finds the coronavirus pandemic exacerbated and illuminated the depth to Illinoisâ rural health worker shortage.
âIt showed a lot of people that there are a lot of issues that were under the surface for a long time and they came to the surface, and it kind of caused a crisis,â said Dr. Jim Daniels, a family and preventive medicine physician with Southern Illinois Universityâs medical school.
Speaking at a webinar Thursday about the reportâs findings, Daniels said thereâs a mismatch with the pipelines medical and government institutions have developed to get more doctors into rural areas.
âWeâve spent a lot of time on how weâre going to get someone to rural health, but maybe not a whole lot of time in the rural areas talking to folks saying, âWhat keeps folks there?ââ he said. âIf you say, âWeâre going to pay your medical bills off,â and then in about four or five years you havenât bonded with the community, [so] you leave.â
One way to combat this, according to the report, is to provide opportunities and incentives for people from rural communities who want to enter the health care field.
* Oy…
In May 2021, as the U.S. vaccination campaign started to lose momentum, several U.S. states and some cities arrived at the same conclusion: To boost uptake, theyâd launch vaccine lotteries, giving locals whoâd gotten their shot the chance to win a million or more dollars.
But a new study published in JAMA Health Forum on Friday suggests that, on their own, the lotteries launched for vaccinated residents in 19 states failed to achieve their goals of encouraging people to take the Covid vaccine. It found no significant difference in rates of vaccine uptake in states that launched lotteries compared to those that did not.
âEveryone was rooting for this to work, but youâve got to check,â says Andrew I. Friedson, an associate professor of economics at the University of Colorado Denver and an author of the report. âThe way the evidence has stacked up it seems that there are better ways to spend our money.â […]
Researchers used an approach that compared states only by whether and when they launched vaccination campaigns, attempting to weed out other potential influences across regions of varying affluence, population and political leanings. They also controlled for other day-to-day variables, including the number of new Covid cases, foot traffic behavior and whether states had other vaccination incentive programs ongoing. They found no association, either way.
* More…
* New CPD memo threatens investigation, termination for cops not compliant with vaccination reporting deadline; âInvalid,â says FOP
* CPD restricts time off for officers as Catanzara fights Lightfoot on vaccination reporting mandate
* âLegitimacyâ of Chicago Police Department at Risk Amid Vaccine Mandate Fight: Lightfoot
* Chicago chief: Unvaccinated cops risk retirement benefits
* She never planned to get vaccinated. Seeing other pregnant women die from COVID changed her mind.
* Clock ticks down on vaccine mandate
* NBA should be working on an alternative to Irving’s COVID-19 vaccination message
* Should You Mix and Match Your Booster Shot?
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Chicago Sky open thread
Monday, Oct 18, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* I know many of you are fired up about the championship win, so have at it [multiple exclamation points]
…Adding… Press release…
â The City of Chicago will celebrate the 2021 WNBA Champion Chicago Sky on Tuesday, October 19 with a downtown parade and rally. The parade will begin at 11AM when the team departs from Wintrust Arena, arriving at the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park for a celebration rally starting at noon.
“The City of Chicago could not be prouder of our winning Chicago Sky,” said Mayor Lori Lightfoot. “We are thrilled to throw a celebration worthy of this historic moment in Chicago sports and congratulate the Sky for bringing our city its first WNBA title. Let’s get ready to paint the town #SkyTown!”
PARADE ROUTE
The official parade starts with the team leaving Wintrust Arena at 11AM, traveling north on Michigan Avenue from Roosevelt Rd. to Randolph St., and heading east to Pritzker Pavilion. Fans are encouraged to cheer on the Sky along the parade route.
RALLY
A Celebration Rally will take place at Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park starting at noon.
The rally is free and open to the public. All attendees must pass through security screening at select entrances off Michigan Ave. and Monroe St. Guests are encouraged to leave bags at home. For security, health, and safety information, please visit MillenniumPark.org and âPlan Your Visit.â
While attendees are not required to be vaccinated to attend, it is highly encouraged. Please do not attend if you do not feel well or recently tested positive for COVID-19.
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*** UPDATED x1 *** More remap stuff
Monday, Oct 18, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* New York Times…
Illinois Democrats on Friday proposed a new set of highly gerrymandered congressional maps that would consolidate Democratic power in the stateâs congressional delegation, most likely cutting the number of Republican seats in the state to three from five.
Only if you’re looking at presidential results…
2022 is an off-year election and President Biden’s trend ain’t the Democrats’ friend. And many (not all) congressional Dems underperformed Biden last year. Not saying that this map wouldn’t result in 14-3, but it ain’t a slam dunk when you factor in reality. A bunch of those districts could be tossups.
* Not sure why counties are always supposed to be kept together, but OK…
* Koutsky has close ties to a top Durbin person…
Yet if Republicans found that map absurd, they will be even more offended by a new proposal.
Crafted by Zach Koutsky, a longtime Illinois Democratic operative, it appeared on the state Legislatureâs online portal late Friday night.
The more aggressive map is even more contorted than the first â though perhaps more effective at delivering seats for Democrats. It was crafted in consultation with national Democrats, according to a source familiar with its origin.
In this proposal, Bustos’ northwest Illinois district stretches across the state’s northern border, grabbing the city of Rockford and dipping into Lake County to pick up some of the city of Waukegan. It also loops the Democratic-leaning cities downstate into two districts: one snaking from East St. Louis to Springfield to Decatur, and another that stretches from Peoria to Bloomington to Champaign.
That would leave just two deep-red seats for the state’s current Republican members. Democrats could conceivably take 15 of the 17 districts in the next election under this map.
* Wasserman, who is better at numbers than political analysis, wasn’t impressed by the effort…
* Question from Crain’s…
Will the Dems’ new map survive the week?
This is not intended to be the final map. The chair of the House Redistricting Committee specifically called the proposal a “first draft” on Friday. So, no, it won’t survive. By design.
* The truth is, anyone with a computer and an Internet connection can submit a map, and several will before this is over…
* And some tweeters actually thought this obvious spoof was for real, which I thought was hilarious…
*** UPDATE *** AP…
A lawsuit seeks to block new Illinois state legislative district maps, saying Black residents of East St. Louis were unconstitionally split up into multiple House districts to help white Democratic incumbents in neighboring districts win reelection.
The federal lawsuit was filed Friday on behalf of the East St. Louis Branch NAACP, the Illinois State Conference of the NAACP and the United Congress of Community and Religious Organizations. It says race played a role in the redistricting of House District 114, which is currently represented by Rep. LaToya Greenwood, who is Black. According to the lawsuit, one-fifth of the districtâs Black voting-age population was moved into two nearby districts under the new legislative maps that Democrats approved and Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into law last month as part of redistricting. Thousands of white voters were added to District 114, which the plaintiffs say jeopardizes the prospects of a candidate preferred by Black voters. The district has been represented by a Black legislator for decades, the lawsuit states.
…Adding… The filing is here.
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* We’ve discussed much of this already, but here’s my weekly syndicated newspaper column…
Catholic priest and Chicago community activist Michael Pfleger has now twice called on Gov. J.B. Pritzker to declare a âstate of emergencyâ over his cityâs notorious gun violence problems.
The first time was this past July, when Pfleger demanded Pritzker issue a similar emergency declaration to the one announced by New Yorkâs then-governor, Andrew Cuomo. Pfleger repeated his demand again last week after a security guard and a little girl were injured by gunfire outside of a school.
The Democrat Cuomo issued his emergency declaration about a month before he finally resigned his office in disgrace. A chorus was building against him for a variety of reasons, including numerous sexual harassment claims. His emergency declaration was seen by some at the time as a way to distract from the growing calls for his immediate ouster.
As far as the substance goes, there wasnât much in former Gov. Cuomoâs declaration that the state of Illinois isnât already doing.
Cuomo unilaterally increased spending on violence interruption and youth job programs, which Illinois did in its current fiscal yearâs budget.
Cuomoâs declaration also created a new Office of Gun Violence Prevention, but the Illinois Legislature has already done that here.
Cuomo created a gun trafficking interdiction program to stem the flow of guns from other states, but thatâs already being done here, too.
Cuomo was criticized by New York Republicans for not also rolling back some of the stateâs criminal justice reforms passed two years earlier, but Illinoisâ reforms havenât even taken effect yet, so they arenât contributing to the problem, no matter what some ill-informed blowhards might be saying.
Look, the hard truth is, if there was a legal magic wand that could be waved to immediately solve the nationâs violence problem, it wouldâve already been waved years ago.
Even so, the Chicago news media has long been notorious for amplifying mostly empty but very loud calls to âDo something right now!â about violence. Mayors Richard M. Daley, Rahm Emanuel and now Lori Lightfoot have all been pilloried for failing to adequately address the cityâs violence problems. Remember when another disgraced governor, Rod Blagojevich, threatened to call out the Illinois National Guard over Mayor Daleyâs opposition? Blago got a ton of news media coverage for that, which, like Cuomos, is what his threat was really all about.
One thing deserving attention is a better understanding of whatâs actually going on.
For instance, we are told over and over that gun violence in our cities is a gang problem. But a study conducted this year of Chicago police incident data for 34,000 shootings during the past decade found that detectives âlabeled fewer than three in 10 of them gang-related,â according to The Trace. In 2020, the cityâs police department claimed 43 percent of fatal shootings were gang-related, down from 70 percent five years earlier. But that police data is probably unreliable, so we donât really know.
There are surely other things that can be done which are working elsewhere. And the current violent surge began with the COVID-19 pandemic, so it might eventually subside on its own once (hopefully) the pandemic finally recedes.
Some things take time. You canât snap your fingers and bring back factories to the inner cities, or get rid of guns, or force people to trust the police and stop fearing neighborhood killers.
In the meantime, it wouldnât kill the governor to be more aggressive in informing the public of what the state has done so far and what can be done in the future. He often tries to distance himself from local crime problems to the point where he comes off as uninvolved or uninterested.
Pritzker has done some good things, including vastly expanding violence interruption and prevention programs, but even then the money spent to treat violence like a public health issue is a relative drop in the bucket of whatâs likely needed.
More funding for mental health programs is a no-brainer. This countryâs track record on dealing with mentally ill people is beyond shameful. Schools should have counselors. Neighborhoods should have clinics with easy access. Police, nurses, doctors and so many others should get all the help they need so they can better deal with the devastation they engage with every day.
This stuff isnât free, obviously. Magic wands are free, but they donât exist. Make the case for more spending on real solutions and move the state forward.
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* Rick Pearson…
Since announcing his reelection bid in July, Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker has spent nearly $7 million in advertising, a sign of what confronts the four announced prospective Republican challengers seeking to take on the billionaire incumbent in next yearâs election.
Pritzker, an heir to the Hyatt Hotels fortune, spent more than $8.2 million from July through September, campaign finance reports showed. The first-term Democrat, who spent $171 million of his own money to defeat one-term Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner in 2018, is again self-funding his campaign and had nearly $24.7 million available in his campaign fund at the start of October.
Republicans are looking to see if or when Ken Griffin, the billionaire founder and CEO of Citadel, will weigh in on the Republican race. Griffin contributed to Rauner and spent millions to push voter defeat of Pritzkerâs top agenda item to change the stateâs flat-rate income tax to a graduated rate system.
Griffin has not expressed support for any of the four announced Republicans but the field could still grow.
The governor contributed about $39K to other campaign committees, including $15K to the Chicago Federation of Labor and $5K to Rep. Marcus Evans, who was one of the point persons on the climate/energy bill.
Pritzker spent almost $7.2 million on media buys and production, $274K on payroll and taxes, $182K on travel, $176K on consulting, $118K on legal services, $86K on research and $36K on software.
* Republican Jesse Sullivan reported raising $10.8 million and spent $789K, with $551K of that going to various advertising expenses.
Sen. Darren Bailey raised $894K, spent $383K, including $94K on consulting, $22K on yard signs, another $22K on t-shirts and $6K in salaries. He had a million dollars in the bank at the end of the quarter.
Gary Rabine raised $445K, spent $316K, including $146K on consulting and $63K on polling and “data.” He had $416K in the bank.
Paul Schimpf raised $60K, spent $103K, including $52K on consulting and $11K on signs. He had $73,652.58 in the bank at the end of September.
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* Politico…
Recently, wealthy elites have begun looking for other places to park their funds, places they think authorities wonât look. Places that offer all the financial secrecy these elites need, but that few would associate with lives of luxury. As a result, shadowy and sometimes ill-gotten wealth has started pouring not just into yachts and vacation homes, but also into blue-collar towns in the U.S. whose economic struggles make them eager to accept the cash.
One of these small towns appears to have been Harvard, Ill., a depressed factory community that allegedly became part of a sprawling network used by Ukrainian banking tycoon Ihor Kolomoisky to launder hundreds of millions of dollars earned from a Ponzi scheme. Kolomoisky, who was recently hit with U.S. sanctions for âsignificant corruptionâ in Ukraine, is separately accused by the Justice Department and Ukrainian investigators of using a constellation of shell companies and offshore bank accounts to move millions in misappropriated funds out of Ukraine and into a series of real-estate investments in the American Midwest. (Kolomoisky denies wrongdoing, claiming he made the investments with his own money.) […]
The idea seems to have been to purchase troubled assets that American sellers were eager to offload. Even if the buyers ultimately took a loss, the assets were still outside the grasp of Ukrainian investigators and could still act as vehicles through which to funnel money. Perhaps most importantly, the properties could be bought without much inquiry into the source of the monies: For two decades, American real-estate professionals have benefited from a âtemporaryâ exemption to anti-money laundering laws, allowing them to avoid performing due diligence on the customer making the purchase. […]
More than five years after the purchase, no jobs had returned and no further investments emerged. Unpaid property taxes kept accumulating, starving the strapped local government of hundreds of thousands of dollars. In 2016, Optima sold the building at a $7 million loss to a Chinese Canadian businessperson. Years of neglect by various owners began to take a toll: Soon, the factory went dark entirely. With a half-million-dollar tab in unpaid electricity bills, the juice was cut off, forcing local officials to visit with flashlights. âItâs just heartbreaking to see that beautiful place sitting vacant,â the McHenry County treasurer said in 2018. […]
âThe building wonât just be valueless â it will be a catastrophe for the town, because it will have to be demolished,â Eldredge told me in 2020. âAnd the net cost for that, after salvage, is probably three to five times the cityâs annual budget. It will be a financial catastrophe.â He paused, pondering the implication: This hundred-million-dollar promise to a small outpost in northern Illinois ended up with a foreign oligarch apparently using it to hide his money from investigators. (The building was sold just last month to a group of developers from Las Vegas for an undisclosed amount.) […]
As it turns out, the decrepit Harvard plant had another chance to avoid falling into disrepair. But the story of how that opportunity collapsed suggests just how deeply kleptocratic networks have become embedded into the American economy. In 2016 â just as Ukrainian officials began investigating the depths of Kolomoiskyâs alleged Ponzi scheme â the oligarch and his team somehow found a buyer willing to take on the former Motorola plant. The new buyer was another firm with links to overseas investors, this time headed by a Chinese Canadian businessperson named Xiao Hua Gong. […]
A year after the sale, though, still nothing had happened with the building. And then Canadian authorities dropped a bombshell: They accused Gong of running his own transnational money laundering scheme, charging him with fraud and money laundering. Follow-on allegations from New Zealand authorities detailed how Gong had led a âmulti-national pyramid scheme,â eventually resulting in the countryâs largest-ever settlement, worth over $50 million. If the various allegations are true, this means the Harvard Motorola plant has entered not one, but two separate dirty-money pipelines. […]
The Biden administration has vowed to take on global corruption, recently elevating it to a core national security threat. But the intertwined stories of Kolomoisky and Harvard suggest thereâs much left to do before we can even grasp the scale of the damage in Americaâs heartland â and figure out what to do about it.
Wow.
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PNA repeal back on the front burner
Monday, Oct 18, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* The AP’s John O’Connor has a story on a possible repeal of the state’s Parental Notice of Abortion law. A quick excerpt…
The 1995 law, adopted during the only legislative session in the past half-century that Republicans controlled both the House and Senate and the governorâs office, did not take effect until 2013, after years of judicial challenges by the American Civil Liberties Union.
Since then, the number of abortions among minors has dropped 38%, to 1,092 in 2018, while abortions overall among Illinois residents remained steady, according to Illinois Department of Public Health statistics. The numbers in both categories have plummeted since the mid-90s; overall, sinking 25% from a high of 49,131 in 1996 while abortions among minors hit a high of 4,853 in 1995 and a low of 1,003 in 2017, a drop of 79%. […]
Of 38 states requiring parental involvement in a minorâs abortion decision, 21 require parental consent â in three of those, both parents must consent, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
If a girl is in a family situation where notifying parents or other relatives would result in her harm, she may go to a judge who then decides whether she is mature and emotionally sound enough to decide for herself. That has happened 550 times since 2013, with a judge denying abortion access once, according to Brigid Leahy, senior director of public policy for Planned Parenthood of Illinois.
* The statute…
No person shall knowingly perform an abortion upon a minor or upon an incompetent person unless the physician or his or her agent has given at least 48 hours actual notice to an adult family member of the pregnant minor or incompetent person of his or her intention to perform the abortion, unless that person or his or her agent has received a written statement by a referring physician certifying that the referring physician or his or her agent has given at least 48 hours notice to an adult family member of the pregnant minor or incompetent person. If actual notice is not possible after a reasonable effort, the physician or his or her agent must give 48 hours constructive notice.
Exceptions…
Notice shall not be required under this Act if:
(1) the minor or incompetent person is accompanied by a person entitled to notice; or
(2) notice is waived in writing by a person who is entitled to notice; or
(3) the attending physician certifies in the patient’s medical record that a medical emergency exists and there is insufficient time to provide the required notice; or
(4) the minor declares in writing that she is a victim of sexual abuse, neglect, or physical abuse by an adult family member as defined in this Act. The attending physician must certify in the patient’s medical record that he or she has received the written declaration of abuse or neglect. Any notification of public authorities of abuse that may be required under other laws of this State need not be made by the person performing the abortion until after the minor receives an abortion that otherwise complies with the requirements of this Act; or
(5) notice is waived under Section 25. [Judicial bypass]
Discuss.
* Related…
* Should Illinois repeal the Parental Notice of Abortion Act?
* Texas abortion law shutting down court avenue for teens
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* Hyde Park Herald…
âThe map that Iâm seeing is an absolute non-starter. Itâs a horrendous map that does not take into consideration cultural affinities,” [US Rep. Bobby Rush] said in a statement to the Herald. “It begins at a place called absurd and it ends at a place called ridiculous. The best thing about this map is that my southern boundaries are not in Iowa.â
In her own statement, [US Rep. Robin Kelly] was more sanguine about the redistricting.
âChange is always hard, and the map released today is not final. I expect to see more changes in the final version. However, I am pleased to see that the Pullman National Monument, the Museum of Science and Industry, the future Obama Presidential Center and the proposed site of the south suburban airport will remain in my district. I have worked on these projects and with the museum for many years and look forward to continuing my work there,” she said.
“I have always felt fortunate to represent Illinoisâ 2nd congressional district, which is representative of our nation itself, with urban, suburban and rural components. I hope the final map will reflect this.â
* Worst remap take so far, and that’s really saying something…
Yeah, because those noted conservadems JB Pritzker, Chris Welch and Don Harmon all banded together to mete out revenge on behalf of the pro-life legacy Lipinski. Right.
* Christie and Pompeo? OK. Also, could somebody tell Wasserman that this map will likely change over the coming two weeks? Thanks…
On Tuesday, the Sun-Times learned, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the co-chairs of the National Republican Redistricting Trust, will kick off an attack on the Democratic-drawn Illinois map, with more GOP assaults to come.
Democrats did not use all the available partisan firepower, said David Wasserman, one of the nationâs foremost remap experts, who is with âThe Cook Political Report with Amy Walter.â
The Illinois proposed map is âboth uglier and less effective for Democrats than expected,â he wrote. With some shifts, Democrats could have added more protection for Rep. Lauren Underwood, who barely won a second term in 2020.
According to Wassermanâs analysis Illinois Democrats â who can still revise the map - unwittingly created some potential swing districts rather than safe havens in 2022. âIf the political environment goes south for Democrats in 2022, this grotesque gerrymander could turn into a âdummymander,ââ he wrote.
One possibility is that this is also a head fake. Republicans were expecting a lopsided map and this clearly is not. So, their attacks will fall flat… until the actual maps are passed in a couple of weeks.
* Using 2020 presidential numbers to predict 2022 outcomes is not smart, so keep that in mind when looking at these numbers from PlanScore, a project of the Campaign Legal Center…
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* As you can see, these districts aren’t nearly as Democratic leaning as they were portrayed by some folks last night. Several close or even lean-GOP districts were declared Democratic. Ignore presidential results and focus more on races like the 2018 attorney general contest…
* Also, keep in mind that these maps are first drafts. So, while Lipinski might like what he sees now, things could look a whole lot different by the end of this process in two weeks…
* On to another topic…
Mayor Lori Lightfootâs high-stakes standoff with the police union over the cityâs vaccine mandate landed in court Friday, with a judge doing what the mayor could not â temporarily silencing Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara.
Circuit Judge Cecilia Horan granted the cityâs request for an injunction, but only to the extent that Catanzara be precluded â at least until the next hearing Oct. 25 â from making any further YouTube videos or otherwise using social media platforms to encourage his members to defy the cityâs mandate to enter their vaccine status on the cityâs data portal.
Horan rejected as âunenforcibleâ the cityâs request that FOP members be enjoined from engaging in a âconcerted refusalâ to submit their vaccine status information or comply with the policy.
Also rejected was the cityâs request that Catanzara be ordered to âretract or disavowâ his previous statements encouraging his members to ignore the cityâs order.
âA restraining order is designed to be preventative. Itâs not designed to remedy past harms,â Horan said.
* This is so often the case…
âWhatâs truly extraordinary is they want to silence somebody who is the elected president of the union,â said DâAlba, who in the course of the hearing noted that Catanzara himself is vaccinated.
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* Press release…
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) is following recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to adopt the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologistsâ (CSTE) guidance for PreK-12 school-associated outbreaks. Previously, CDC recommended that two cases associated with a school would constitute an outbreak. The new national recommendation that Illinois is adopting defines a school outbreak as either (1) multiple cases comprising at least 10% of students, teachers, or staff within a core group or (2) at least three cases within a specified core group. A core group means only those individuals who were together during an exposure period. For example, this could be limited to a classroom, a sports team, before/after school care, performing arts, or other groups and likely does not apply to the entire school population.
More information about school outbreaks, exclusion, guidance, and Frequently Asked Questions can be found on the IDPH website on a new COVID-19 Youth and School Resources page, including youth vaccination rates by county, youth cases over time, and youth emergency department visits. https://dph.illinois.gov/covid19/youth-school.html.
âIn an effort to more confidently establish whether transmission of COVID-19 occurred in school versus another location, IDPH is following CDCâs recommendations and adopting Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologistsâ guidance, which updates what is considered to be a school-associated outbreak,â said IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike. âThis change in criteria will continue to identify outbreaks and help prevent further spread, but also help rule out outbreaks that are not associated with the school.â
To be considered part of an outbreak in a school, cases must meet the criteria for a probable or confirmed school-associated case with a positive test result, or the start of symptoms within 14 days of each other. These individuals are identified to be close contacts with each other while in the school setting and not another setting outside of school. The cases must also be epidemiologically linked to the school setting or extracurricular activity, meaning they were at the same place at the same time.
Masks continue to be required to be worn in schools by students, staff, and visitors to help protect the health of those in schools and prevent further transmission in the community among vulnerable populations.
More information about the importance of using layered prevention strategies, including universal masking, to stop the spread and minimize disruptions to school operations for safe in-person education can be found in three new studies. These studies found that school districts without a universal masking policy in place were more likely to have COVID-19 outbreaks. Nationwide, counties without masking requirements saw the number of pediatric COVID-19 cases increase nearly twice as quickly during this same period. Masking also helps keep students in school. In Illinois, a student who was within 3-6 feet of a case in a classroom setting is not considered a close contact if both the case and close contact were consistently masked for the entire exposure period.
IDPH recommends vaccination for individuals 12 years and older, including students. School personnel are required to be fully vaccinated or tested at least weekly for COVID-19, per Executive Order.
IDPH has also teamed up with SHIELD Illinois to provide free COVID-19 testing to all K-12 public schools across Illinois outside of Chicago. As an alternative to exclusion from school, unvaccinated students and staff who have been identified as a close contact of a positive COVID-19 case now have the option of a Test-to-Stay protocol, as long as both the case and contact were masked during the exposure. Close contacts must be tested on days 1, 3, 5, and 7 after exposure. As long as close contacts remain negative, they are allowed to remain in school. Participation in weekly screening testing at school is strongly encouraged as an added layered mitigation strategy and to support implementation of Test-to-Stay.
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Question of the day
Friday, Oct 15, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Which Republican who is not already in the race would you like to see run for governor? Explain.
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COVID-19 roundup
Friday, Oct 15, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Center Square…
Six nurses employed by Riverside Healthcare in Kankakee have filed a lawsuit against the hospital over their right to refuse the COVID-19 vaccine, citing the state’s Health Care Right of Conscience Act.
The Liberty Justice Center, a national nonprofit law firm, is representing the nurses. The nurses have religious beliefs they say conflict with getting the vaccine, Liberty Justice Center attorney Daniel Suhr said. […]
“At Liberty Justice Center, our job is to fight against overreach and protect people’s rights,” Suhr said. “This is not only overreach, it is wrong and it is illegal.” […]
Panozzo, a nurse practitioner for over 24 years at Riverside, said her faith is the reason for her decision.
“I have dedicated my life to living out my faith by serving my patients,” Panozzo said in a statement. “I believe I am called to love and serve my patients especially those who are frail and vulnerable, I am also following my faith teaching when I say I can not accept this vaccine.”
I just can’t understand someone who would not only knowingly work around “frail and vulnerable” people without being vaccinated against a disease that could kill her charges, but would put up a legal fight to do so.
* Effingham Daily News…
A temporary restraining order that allowed three Teutopolis students to attend classes without masks has been vacated by the Chief Judge of the Fourth Judicial Circuit, Douglas L. Jarman.
âSince the judge vacated the order, it requires masking for all students in the school district as per Executive Order No. 24 from the governor,â said Unit 50 Superintendent Matt Sturgeon.
Scroll down…
DeVore said in a telephone interview Thursday that he plans to transfer the Teutopolis case out of Effingham County to Macoupin County early next week. He said the Effingham County case would be transferred along with similar cases in Clinton and Montgomery counties to Macoupin County, where he currently has an existing case.
I’m not sure how he plans to pull off that transfer, but it’s part of a wider effort…
Sommer Stuehlmeye, a parent said she and a group of Unit 5 parents are raising funds to be considered for representation from Thomas DeVore, a lawyer who has successfully restored two Illinois school districts to regular status after a court dispute with the Illinois State Board of Education. […]
Who exactly is taking this case?
Stuehlmeye said she and the other Unit 5 parents linked up with a website called âSpeak for Students.â
âIt is a website that is an avenue to hire Tom DeVore, is his name the attorney, heâs been successful in some school districts south of us in the exact same thing as what weâre trying to do. Were raising funds to be considered by him. The funds would hire him, but we have to raise the funds before we can be considered,.for him to take on our case for the freedom of choice for parents. Weâve gone through this website and we need a certain number of parent representatives, or plaintiffs, to move forward,â said Stuehlmeye. […]
Stuehlmeye said the community has to raise the funds before they can submit a request for counsel on âSpeak for Students.â […]
It costs $5,324 dollars. Right now the group of Unit 5 parents are at about $2,300.
* Cook County Record…
The possibility of natural immunity to COVID acquired by prior infection shouldnât allow a group of Naperville firefighters to escape COVID vaccine and testing mandates, lawyers for Gov. JB Pritzker has argued in new court filings.
Further, the governor asserted state and local COVID vaccine and testing orders donât violate the firefightersâ constitutional rights, as they claim.
âEven if all of the Plaintiffs (Naperville firefighters) did previously contract COVID-19, ⌠the level of immunity can vary based on viral load and the severity of the infection,â lawyers for Pritzker wrote. âIf Plaintiffsâ infections were early in the pandemic, then their immunity may have waned and vaccination is necessary to boost their immune response. If their cases were mild, then they may not have any immunity at all.
âConsidering the nature of Plaintiffsâ jobs, they not only are at a higher risk of either infection or reinfection, but there is a higher risk that they will spread the disease as well.â
* More from the filing…
Moreover, one month before the Governor issued EO 2021-22, this very district court mandated that its employees be vaccinated, or otherwise get tested twice a week. As Chief Judge Pallmeyer stated when announcing the Northern Districtâs vaccination requirement, âCOVID-19 vaccinations are the very best available line of defense against this virus. Many of us work directly with the public, and all of us have a responsibility not only to one another, but also to the members of our community who come before us.â
Emphasis in original.
* NBC 5…
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said it remains too early to give an indication of when he might lift Illinois’ indoor mask requirement, even as state COVID-19 metrics continue to dip.
Though the state’s test positivity rate is down to 2.5%, Pritzker said health officials must consider all metrics, in addition to other factors.
Pritzker cited rising cases in other states, including nearby Minnesota and Michigan, as well as current hospitalizations here in Illinois, where 1,500 people are in the hospital with coronavirus.
“If you go look at the hospitalizations — the new hospitalizations, as well as the ones that are, you know, existing in total — they are not dropping at the rate that they were dropping even a couple of weeks ago,” Pritzker said Thursday at an unrelated news conference while answering reporter questions. “So I’m concerned about that.”
OK, yesterday, there were 1,550 people in the hospital. Two weeks earlier, 1,744 were hospitalized (11 percent reduction). Two weeks before that, 1,962 were hospitalized (11 percent reduction). And two weeks before that, 2,305 were in the hospital (15 percent reduction).
I mean, I get why he doesn’t want to lift the mask mandate while some states to the north of us are surging again because he’ll only have to reimpose it, but it’s still a steady decrease.
* On to those aforementioned states…
We talked about that state earlier this week…
Intensive care units are nearing capacity and health care workers are in short supply in Minnesota, as coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths all reach levels not seen since vaccines became widely available.
All of the stateâs counties are at high risk for community transmission, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. New daily cases have risen by 29 percent in the last two weeks and hospitalizations by 17 percent, according to a New York Times database.
While a monthslong increase driven by the Delta virus variant is waning in much of the country, Minnesota is just one of several Upper Midwestern and Mountain West states where the virus is surging. Cases are up and hospitals have been overwhelmed in North Dakota, Wyoming, Montana and Idaho, all of which have low vaccination rates. Some areas have had to ration care and send patients to distant hospitals for treatment.
The Minnesota Department of Health said the stateâs surge is overwhelming hospitals, with rural and metropolitan areas equally stretched.
Google is your friend, Amy.
* Related…
* The Great Resignation Is Accelerating: A lasting effect of this pandemic will be a revolution in worker expectations.
* Chicago police union also heads to court over vaccine mandate, hours after city sues FOP over threats to ignore todayâs reporting deadline
* COVID-19 has taken a heavy toll on police, but suburban departments avoid vaccine mandates: “We are not requiring (Palatine Police Department) employees to be vaccinated because we are under no mandate to require it,” Palatine Chief David Daigle said. It was the same refrain elsewhere. Police departments and sheriff’s offices from Lake County to Bloomingdale to St. Charles are leaving the vaccine decision up to individual officers.
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* This is just a taste of a very well-researched and clearly written story by Rick Pearson. Lots of stuff in here, so go read it…
In launching his candidacy for the Republican nomination for governor, 37-year-old political unknown Jesse Sullivan has touted his background as a venture capitalist as a key pillar of his campaign.
But public records show the entity Sullivan has described as a âventure capital firm,â Alter Global, was created in February 2016 as a tax-exempt charity. Alter Global made limited financial investments and was heavily dependent on cryptocurrency for its funding.
It wasnât until January of last year that Sullivan created a more traditional for-profit venture capital firm, the similarly named Alter Global LLC, with more than two dozen investments, largely in developing countries, none in Illinois.
âIâve been a venture capitalist. The other one I would not list as venture capital,â Sullivan said of his initial Alter Global nonprofit venture. âIâd list it as an entrepreneurial support organization, nonprofit.â
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* From the governor’s campaign…
Attached are the state and federal tax return summaries for JB and MK Pritzker for 2020.
They never disclose much of anything about the trusts, so we have to take their word for it.
Anyway, click here to see what they are willing to disclose.
…Adding… Good stuff here…
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* Press release…
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 15,669 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 184 additional deaths since reporting last Friday, October 8, 2021. Of Illinoisâ total population, 69% has received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose and 54% of Illinoisâ total population is fully vaccinated.
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 1,665,777 cases, including 25,407 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. Since reporting on Friday, October 8, 2021, laboratories have reported 780,699 specimens for a total of 33,718,807. As of last night, 1,500 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 341 patients were in the ICU and 172 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from October 8-14, 2021 is 2.0%. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from October 8-14, 2021 is 2.5%.
A total of 14,994,065 vaccines have been administered in Illinois as of last midnight. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 27,051 doses. Since reporting on Friday, October 8, 2021, 189,357 doses were reported administered in Illinois.
*All data are provisional and will change. Additional information and COVID-19 data can be found at http://www.dph.illinois.gov/covid19.
Vaccination is the key to ending this pandemic. To find a COVID-19 vaccination location near you, go to www.vaccines.gov.
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* Press release…
The House and Senate Redistricting Committees have released a proposed map of new congressional boundaries designed to comply with federal law and ensure the broad diversity of the state is reflected in the elected officials sent to represent Illinois in Washington D.C.
The release of this draft comes after a series of public House and Senate hearings held across the state intended to collect as much input and testimony as possible. The proposal can be viewed at www.ilhousedems.com/redistricting and www.ilsenateredistricting.com. The public is encouraged to provide feedback during additional hearings that will begin next week.
âThis proposal is an excellent first draft that amplifies diverse voices and gives every person in our state a say in government,â said Rep. Elizabeth Hernandez, D-Cicero, Chairperson of the House Redistricting Committee. âI look forward to ongoing discussion with members of the public, advocacy groups, and community organizations as we continue this effort to ensure our congressional boundaries reflect the diversity of this great state.â
âPopulation changes over the last decade meant many of the current districts were unbalanced. This proposed map is an effort to ensure every community across our state receives fair and equal representation in Washington,â said Sen. Elgie Sims, Vice Chair of the Senate Redistricting Committee. âWe thank those who have taken time to participate in this process and look forward to receiving continued feedback from voices across Illinois.â
Finalized hearings for the House and Senate are as follows:
¡ House Hearing: Wednesday, October 20 at 9:00 a.m. at the Illinois State Capitol, Room 114
¡ Senate Hearing: Wednesday, October 20 at 2 p.m. at the Illinois State Capitol, Room 212 (Virtual Hearing â participants may testify at the hearing location or via Zoom)
Additional hearing information will be forthcoming as dates and locations are finalized. These will be hybrid hearings with the opportunity for in-person and virtual testimony. Those wishing to provide testimony, submit electronic testimony or submit electronic witness slips can do so in advance of the hearing via the General Assembly website www.ilga.gov or through email at redistrictingcommittee@hds.ilga.gov and redistrictingcommittee@senatedem.ilga.gov. The General Assembly is expected to vote on new congressional boundaries by the end of the scheduled fall veto session.
Demographics are here. As expected, there’s only one Latino district.
*** UPDATE 1 *** Democrat Marie Newman and Republican Adam Kinzinger are in the same district (CD3).
*** UPDATE 2 *** Republicans Mary Miller and Darin LaHood are in the same district (CD16).
Also, US Rep. Robin Kelly’s district now goes south to… Ashkum in Iroquois County, and even further west it goes south past Fairbury in Livingston County.
…Adding… ILGOP…
Illinois Republican Party Chairman Don Tracy released the following statement in response to Democrats unveiling their proposed congressional redistricting map:
âIllinois Democrats, led by Governor JB Pritzker, have made it clear that they are willing to disenfranchise Illinois voters and break repeated campaign promises to do the bidding of Nancy Pelosi and DC power brokers. Call this new Illinois map the Nancy Pelosi Protection Plan. Itâs appalling that fair representation, keeping communities of interest together, and transparency in the mapmaking process in Illinois all had to take a back seat to the demands of national politics. No one has done more to degrade the Democratic process here in Illinois and add to the issue of hyper-polarization of elected representatives than JB Pritzker.â
…Adding… Durkin…
Below is a statement from House Republican Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs) on the recently released Illinois Congressional maps:
âIn another insult to Illinois voters, Democrats drew more partisan maps to benefit their incumbent politicians and protect Nancy Pelosiâs failing majority.â
*** UPDATE 3 *** You can view this map as a series of messages to some Democrats and Democratic constituencies. For instance, the message to Newman seems to be: You have a choice between running against Kinzinger with relatively few Chicago precincts or you can represent a Latino district. I’m told Newman made huge demands and was generally uncooperative.
…Adding… Kinzinger…
Congressman Adam Kinzinger (IL-16) released the following statement after Illinois Democrats in Springfield released their proposal for the stateâs congressional map:
âI have proudly served six terms in the U.S. House and it has been an honor to do so. Following the release of the new congressional maps for Illinois, my team and I will spend some time looking them over and reviewing all of the options, including those outside the House.
âThis redistricting process has been anything but transparent, which comes as no surprise to anyone. I believe the people of Illinois deserve better.â
*** UPDATE 4 *** Rodney Davis currently lives in what will be the 15th District, which does not appear to lean Democratic, despite what some other outlets are reporting. Tribune…
The map would put Republican U.S. Reps. Rodney Davis of Taylorville and Mike Bost of Murphysboro into their own districts, though Davisâ district would lean Democratic.
Crain’s…
Davis’ district would be converted into a skinny Democratic-tilting district in which he might have a difficult time winning re-election.
Both of those articles appear to claim he’s in the 13th CD. Nope. Click here to look up Davis’ home address, then click here and input that address into the map search and see for yourself.
…Adding… Leader McConchie…
âThis week, the Speakerâs Office confirmed that the Governorâs Office was a part of drawing the gerrymandered maps released today,â said Illinois Senate Republican Leader Dan McConchie (R-Hawthorn Woods). âThere is truly nothing you can trust about this Administration anymore. It is a sad day for democracy in Illinois.â
…Adding… Rodney Davis…
As expected, our lying Governor teamed up with state Democrats to draw a shameful, partisan gerrymander in a desperate attempt to keep Nancy Pelosi in power. This proposed map, along with this entire redistricting process, is a complete joke. Itâs clear Governor Pritzker and the Democrats will stoop to any low if it means they can keep their corrupt system going.
…Adding… US Rep. LaHood…
When I served in the Illinois State Senate, I was proud to support a Fair Maps redistricting process because Illinoisans have made it clear that they are tired of politicians picking their voters. Illinois Democrats and Governor Pritzker have shown with their proposed map that they care more about doing the bidding of Nancy Pelosi than giving Illinois voters fair representation in Washington. The proposed maps are a slap in the face to good governance everywhere. Illinois voters deserve much better than this non-transparent, corrupt process.
…Adding… A very unhappy Democratic incumbent…
Representative Marie Newman (IL-03) released the following statement in response to the Illinois congressional map proposal that was released today:
âWhile our team continues to review the draft congressional map that was released earlier today, it is abundantly apparent that what has currently been proposed for Illinoisâ 3rd Congressional District is not only retrogressive but substantially diminishes the diverse and progressive voices of Chicagoâs Southwest Side and suburbs. I know that IL-03’s constituents will ensure their voices are heard loud and clear at these public hearings over the coming days.â
âI look forward to continuing to represent the constituents of Illinoisâ 3rd Congressional District.â
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* Politico…
The Democratic Party of Illinoisâ third-quarter fundraising numbers arenât remarkable for their size: The party raised a total of $286,000 during the July-through-September period. What is impressive is where the money came from.
Without sharing data (the party hadnât yet filed with the Federal Election Commission), DPI executive director Abby Witt said ânumerous donorsâ have given to the Democratic Party âfor the very first timeâ and from across the state â 65 cities total.
âThe party is charting a new course that includes more people, more voices and a renewed commitment to serving all Democrats across our state,â she told Playbook.
Over the three-month period, the party raised $186,00 in federal funding, Witt said. The party raised about $100,000 in local funding and in-kind donations, not a particularly remarkable number though Democrats are putting a positive spin on it given local fundraising didnât start until halfway through the quarter.
DPI’s state report showed the party raised just $65K in cash during the quarter. The other $35K came in the form of in-kind IT services contributions from several individuals at a data company in Delaware.
* The Illinois Republican Party reported raising $75K in cash during the quarter, but reported no in-kinds. Two years ago, DPI reported raising $334K in cash and the ILGOP raised $36K.
…Adding… ILGOP spokesperson Joe Hackler points out that the Republican Party also outraised DPI on the federal level, pulling in $223K to the Democrats’ $186K. Hilarious.
Also, the state DPI committee transferred $70K to its federal committee, but I’m not sure if that was double-counted above or not.
* Back to the story…
Party chair Robin Kelly, who is not allowed to raise money personally for local races because she is a member of Congress, has established a separate fundraising committee within the party to focus on those contests. âBuilding Leadership, Unity, and Equity,â or BLUE, was started midway through the quarter in late August, so itâs still too early to analyze whether the fundraising mechanism is working.
Witt says BLUE is now funding support services that Democrats statewide can utilize, including data services, communications programs (that list Democratic accomplishments and talking points to counter Republicans) and helping individuals run their campaigns.
âThese are the changes people wanted to see in their state party and this is just the beginning,â she said.
Thoughts?
*** UPDATE *** Heh…
After bringing in a record haul last quarter, the Illinois Republican Party will report raising more than the Democratic Party of Illinois for the second quarter in a row. The ILGOP raised a combined $297,977 between our state and federal accounts. Despite some fuzzy math, the DPI was still only able to report raising roughly $286,000 total for this quarter.
âItâs safe to say Democrats in Illinois are in complete disarray with a state party in shambles, lacking leadership and vision. It could not be more clear that momentum is on the Republican side heading into 2022. The people of Illinois are fed up with a state government ran into the ground by corrupt and incompetent Democrats. Our fundraising strength is a testament to that momentum. We canât thank every donor enough in partnering with the ILGOP in saving Illinois.â - ILGOP Spokesman Joe Hackler
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* Press release…
Illinois Senate President Don Harmon (D-Oak Park) announced Friday that Chief of Staff Jake Butcher is recovering from a mild breakthrough case of COVID-19.
Butcher experienced symptoms earlier this week. He immediately self-isolated and sought testing. Contact tracing was implemented upon receiving the result.
Butcher was vaccinated this spring.
Harmon, who had a mild breakthrough case in August, reminded the public to remain vigilant against virus.
âI encourage everyone to get vaccinated but to also continue to take safety precautions and not let their guard down as we try to get back to normal,â Harmon said.
…Adding… Click here for the Senate’s veto session protocols.
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* I was told by the governor’s office this morning that the deadline for the state’s congregate-setting workers to receive their first vaccine dose has been extended to October 26, from October 14 (and that date was also an extension). “Negotiations are going well,” a Pritzker official said about the talks with AFSCME and the Teamsters. Here’s WICS…
Thursday marked the deadline for all state workers in congregate care facilities, like prisons and veterans homes, in Illinois to receive at least their first shot of the COVID-19 vaccine.
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31, or AFSCME, said they are still in negotiations with the state about the implementation of the governors vaccine mandate for congregate care workers and without an agreement, they say the deadline really means nothing to them. […]
According to employment lawyer Carl Draper, the governor and his departments are well within their rights to start punishing employees who are not vaccinated by the deadlines.
* Meanwhile, things aren’t nearly as professionally cordial in Chicago. FOP President John Catanzara took to YouTube yesterday to advise his members that the city had blinked and said they should refuse any direct order from superiors to disclose their vaccine status…
Apparently, the city blinked a little bit here and backtracked. Everybody will be getting paid come midnight tomorrow night. You will not be sent home from work. They are saying you still have to respond to the order by midnight tomorrow night or be subjected to possible discipline in the future, whatever that may be, whenever they determine.
The new thing seems to be that they are going to have supervisors give direct orders to enter information in the portal. I’m telling you right now. It is an improper order. It is illegal. It is the same as the mayor telling you. You have to refuse that order.
* Sun-Times…
âAs you might imagine, itâs gonna take us a little bit of time to make sure that weâve got information correct. And we want to make sure that weâre reaching out to people who appear not to be in compliance to determine if thatâs, in fact, so,â Lightfoot told a news conference after Thursdayâs City Council meeting.
âWe want to do belt-and-suspenders on this and give people the benefit of the doubt. But, once we understand that people have not complied with the simple request to say yes or no or that Iâm going to take the testing options, then, yes, we will be moving forward and putting people into no-pay status.â
Lightfoot hedged when asked how long it might take for City Hall to check and double-check.
âItâs not gonna be weeks. But itâs not gonna be Saturday or Sunday. Itâs gonna take us ⌠a couple of days to make sure that weâve got the information correct… I donât think that process will be complete over the weekend,â she said.
* And the city has asked for an injunction against the FOP. Friday morning press release from Mayor Lori Lightfoot…
Yesterday, at my direction the City of Chicagoâs law department filed a Complaint for Injunctive Relief against the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 7 and its President John Catanzara for engaging in, supporting, and encouraging a work stoppage or strike.
As Chicagoâs Mayor, I cannot and will not stand idly by while the rhetoric of conspiracy theorists threatens the health and safety of Chicagoâs residents and first responders. President Catanzara has time and again deliberately misled our police officers by lying about the requirements of the policy and falsely claiming that there will be no repercussions if officers are insubordinate and refuse to follow a City and Department directive or order. Notably Catanzara has urged officers to reject the Cityâs vaccine policy and has repeatedly instructed police officers to refuse to comply with the Cityâs lawful directive which requires all City employees to report their COVID 19 vaccination status by October 15. By doing so, and by predicting that 50% or more officers will violate their oaths and not report for duty, Catanzara is encouraging an unlawful strike and work stoppage which carries the potential to undermine public safety and expose our residents to irreparable harm, particularly during an ongoing pandemic.
This action is brought pursuant to the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act and Illinois common law which prohibits sworn officers from engaging in a strike. Additionally, the City and the FOP are parties to a collective bargaining agreement that establishes the terms and conditions of employment including Article 5 which includes a No Strike Commitment.
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