#BREAKING A federal grand jury has indicted Tim Mapes, the longtime chief of staff to former House Speaker Michael Madigan, on perjury and attempted obstruction of justice charges.
Here's what the feds say was crucial to their investigation when they called Mapes in (Public Official A = Madigan, Individual B = Madigan confidant Michael McClain): pic.twitter.com/ilnbTHnBW6
On March 31, the feds say "one of the things we were trying to figure out, Mr. Mapes, is whether or not — kind of a key issue for us is whether or not [McClain] acted as an agent for [Madigan]." Mapes says, "I don't know who you would go to other than [Madigan] and [McClain]." pic.twitter.com/MJjS03Bgv0
The charges allege Mapes repeatedly lied to the grand jury during an appearance on March 31 when asked about Madigan’s relationship with his longtime confidante Michael McClain, who has been charged with orchestrating the bribery scheme on behalf of ComEd to win Madigan’s assistance with state legislation.
Mapes lied to the panel even though he’d been granted immunity from prosecution by the U.S. Attorney’s Office and was told by the Chief U.S. District Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer that he must testify truthfully or possibly face criminal charges for perjury, according to the indictment.
The charges against Mapes marked the latest in a still-active investigation that also threatens to ensnare Madigan, who was the nation’s longest-serving state House leader before stepping down in January as pressure from the investigation was mounting.
The indictment is certain to create major ripples in the closing days of the Springfield legislative session, where ComEd and its corporate parent, Exelon, are trying to negotiate a new energy bill before a scheduled Monday adjournment that could include subsidies to keep its nuclear power plant fleet afloat.
The indictment went on to allege that Mapes lied to the grand jury about his knowledge of conversations McClain had in 2018 with two members of the House Democratic caucus, identified only as Public Official B and Public Official C.
The indictment alleges McClain told Mapes about the discussions but doesn’t detail their substance nor allege wrongdoing by those officeholders. WBEZ has confirmed those public officials to be state Rep. Bob Rita, D-Blue Island, and former state Rep. Lou Lang, D-Skokie.
“We have no idea who or what they’re talking about in this,” Rita told WBEZ in a statement Wednesday night. Rita did not respond to a question about whether he’d been asked to testify before a grand jury.
Mapes’ defense attorneys, Andrew Porter and Katie Hill, released a statement denying that Mapes lied to the grand jury.
“Tim Mapes testified truthfully in the grand jury,” they wrote. “His honest recollections — in response to vague and imprecise questions about events that allegedly took place many years ago — simply do not constitute perjury. This case, of course, is not about him — but about the government’s continued pursuit of his former boss. Tim Mapes has in no way engaged in obstruction of justice, and looks forward to prevailing at trial when all of the facts are aired.”
As of Monday, [Kankakee County] has given 65,274 doses of the coronavirus vaccine with 31,948 totally vaccinated, which is 29.04 percent of the county population. Herd immunity is reached at 70 percent.
Board member John Fetherling asked [Kankakee County Health Department administrator John Bevis] what the goal is and can the county get to 40 percent or higher on vaccinations.
“What’s the best way to do this to get up to around 40?” Fetherling said.
“Even the most populous counties right now that have had the best success rates of getting people vaccinated, I don’t think have hit 40 [percent] yet,” Bevis said. “So once we hit 30, now at least, I’m going to be comfortable that we’re in the talking distance because just a couple of months ago, we were one of the last ones from the bottom of the state, and a number of counties hit 30, 35, just right off the bat.
FAMM President Kevin Ring issued the following statement after the Illinois legislature passed a bill that will allow the Prisoner Review Board to release severely ill and dying people from Illinois prisons.
“It is unfortunate that it takes a tragic situation like Joe Coleman’s to create action, but we believe this overdue reform can prevent similar tragedies in the future,” Ring said. “Providing early release to elderly and ill people who pose very little risk to public safety will allow state leaders to target more resources to programs that actually make communities safer.”
The bill is named after Coleman, who died at 81 years old of cancer in an Illinois prison while awaiting clemency. Under current law, the only avenue sick and dying incarcerated people have for release is through the rarely used executive clemency process. Only Iowa, a state with no compassionate release authority whatsoever, is worse when it comes to meaningful opportunities for release.
* All over but the signing…
To provide dignity to all Illinois residents in their final days, State Rep. Will Guzzardi (D-Chicago) passed the Joe Coleman Medical Release Act in the Illinois Legislature. The bipartisan measure will allow terminally ill and medically disabled inmates to safely move from the Department of Corrections to outside care facilities.
“Joe Coleman was a decorated veteran and father of six,” Guzzardi said. “He was terminally ill and not a threat to anyone in the public or himself. He died alone in prison awaiting a decision on executive clemency while serving a life sentence for stealing $640 from a gas station. That’s a tragic failure of our justice system, and this bill will make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
The Joe Coleman Medical Release Act would allow for an expedited review for terminally ill and incapacitated people committed to the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) to be released to Medicaid-approved outside care facilities able to meet their needs. Currently, incapacitated and dying individuals in Illinois correctional facilities can only seek early release via clemency by the governor. This new standard would allow the Prisoner Review Board to be able to grant medical releases through a quick and thorough review process.
Guzzardi’s legislation would also save Illinois taxpayers millions of dollars by sharing the cost of treatment with Medicaid, while also saving the unnecessary costs of medical transport from correctional facilities to specialists, guarding costs and infirmary costs within IDOC.
“Every year, too many individuals who have spent a lifetime in prison die alone with no family and very little dignity,” said Guzzardi. “My legislation would help restore some humanity for individuals who are not a risk to the public.”
The measure passed the Illinois Senate on May 26th after clearing the House in April with bipartisan support. It now awaits signature by the Governor.
* And another one…
House Bill 12 (HB 12) passed the Senate. The bill now heads to Gov. JB Pritzker’s desk for his signature.
The legislation was drafted by the Illinois Education Association (IEA) and sponsored by Rep. Terra Costa Howard (D-Lombard). HB 12 expands coverage of the Family and Medical Leave Act to thousands of education support professionals across the state.
“When this bill becomes law, it will be a huge victory for our education support professionals. They’ll know they have access FMLA without the risk of losing their job and health insurance,” IEA President Kathi Griffin said. “This is something our members have fought for years, and that hard work is paying off. This is a huge victory for our working families and our talented support staff.”
The leader of one of the state’s largest anti-abortion group told a legislative committee Tuesday that the group intend to file a legal challenge against the state’s new “culturally responsive teaching and leading standards.”
Ralph Rivera, a lobbyist for Illinois Right to Life Action and the Pro-Family Alliance, told a House committee that 30 public school teachers have signed on to a future lawsuit that will challenge the constitutionality of those standards.
“They feel that that would be compelled speech,” Rivera said. “This would threaten their right to free exercise of religion or conscience.”
The standards, which the Illinois State Board of Education endorsed last year, call on schools of education to train prospective new teachers in how to make their instruction more inclusive and relevant to students from different cultural backgrounds as well as students of different sexual orientations and gender identities.
“…business owners who planned to build a career on Illinois’ solar panels say they are waiting to see whether the state legislature will pass a new bill with additional funding so they can start work on the backlog of projects left in limbo.”
“We’ve been able to minimize laying off folks. We voluntarily took pay deductions. Some people took furlough just so we could maintain our work force …”
“If legislators don’t renew the subsidies by the end of the session on Monday, a number of owners said they will be forced to lay off staff, move to other states or shut down completely.”
People planning to travel this Memorial Day weekend may find something unfamiliar when they stop to fill up or get a snack: a COVID-19 vaccine.
The Illinois Emergency Management Agency announced Wednesday that it would be partnering with Amtrak, Walmart, TravelCenters of America, Wally’s and Hy-Vee to provide vaccination clinics to travelers this weekend in six locations across the state.
Amtrak and Walmart will provide a clinic at Union Station in Chicago from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday through Sunday. The shots will be free and no appointments will be required. […]
Wally’s and Hy-Vee will have their clinic in Pontiac on Memorial Day from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. All clinics statewide will provide the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and will be provided cost-free to the patient. No appointments are necessary to participate in the clinics.
I think I’ve told you that I always stop in Pontiac for gas, whether I need it or not. It’s my only real superstition. My maternal grandparents are buried there, my mom was born there, and the only time I can remember not stopping I was involved in a car accident, so better safe than sorry.
I first encountered Wally’s as I drove to my uncle’s house from my parent’s place. I needed gas, so my brother Devin and I decided to go inside and check it out.
If you’ve never been there… wow. Like the headline says, it has everything. I’ve never seen such a thing. I’ve since heard several Chicago-area legislators and lobbyists enthusiastically talk about their Wally’s experiences. My uncle loves jerky, and they have a jerky bar at the gas station, so I was all over it.
Anyway, this post really means nothing at all except to say if you still need to get your shots, maybe stop by that gigantified gas station on I-55 and kill two birds with one stone.
Throughout her tenure, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the police superintendents who work for her have repeatedly blamed judges when the city’s violence starts to rise. The argument goes like this: If judges would keep more people locked up after arrest, then they wouldn’t be able to commit crimes, and violence in Chicago would decrease. […]
But emails released to the public after a hack of the mayor’s office show that even as Lightfoot and police leaders continued to trot out the talking point, some of the highest-ranking city officials were aware the claim was wrong. And in fact, the leader of the city’s anti-violence efforts repeatedly tried to get them to stop making the claim that decisions on pretrial release were driving Chicago shootings. […]
“Electronic monitoring and low bond amounts given to offenders endangers our residents and flies in the face of the hard work our police officers put in on a daily basis to take them off the streets,” [CPD Superintendent David Brown] said [last summer]. “I will continue to bring attention to the sheer number of repeat offenders who are given little to no jail time and low bonds and … go on to commit more crimes.”
By that point, the emails show, city officials were scrambling to find evidence that would justify Lightfoot and Brown’s claims, but their efforts were largely unsuccessful.
One week before Brown made his comments, in an email thread spurred by a question from Crain’s Chicago Business columnist Greg Hinz, the mayor’s office and CPD were able to find only two examples of bail decisions leading to new gun crimes.
On top of that, Pat Mullane, a top mayoral spokesman at the time, admitted to colleagues that one of the two examples was “kind of weak.” But he said the city needed to provide them “so the [superintendent] doesn’t look like he’s pointing the finger.”
The following is a statement from state Sen. Robert Peters (D-Chicago), who has spent the past five years fighting alongside community groups to end cash bail and sponsored the Safe-T Act which abolished cash bail and wealth-based detention in Illinois:
“We continue to work in pursuit of real public safety for all and, at least in Springfield, we have made significant progress because we know that public safety belongs to the people. Along those lines, the people deserve the truth from those elected to represent them.
“There is nothing more damaging than a public servant who knowingly contributes to a false narrative, and enables a system that picks and chooses evidence and data-based practices.
“Despite this, and with the support of Governor Pritzker, we were successful in ending cash bail in Illinois, taking the oxygen out of any more declarations from those who choose to ignore the fact that our justice system used to rule by ‘guilty if poor.’”
Gov. Jim Edgar on Friday signed into law the final hurrah of last year’s Republican-run General Assembly, approving a redrawing of the Illinois Supreme Court’s election boundaries aimed at giving the GOP control of the state’s highest court. […]
By having Cook County’s three seats on the high court elected from subdistricts, instead of countywide, beginning in the year 2000, Republicans hope to win a majority on the 7-member court for the first time since 1970. […]
House GOP leader Lee Daniels (R-Elmhurst) rebutted arguments that the map represented a Republican power grab.
“It’s a solid bill. It meets the constitutional requirement, and it’s about time the Supreme Court was redistricted. The Democrats refused to deal with the issue because they had control of the court,” he said.
Illinois Democrats, already drawing legislative and congressional maps to solidify their majorities in those bodies, on Tuesday offered a new map of state Supreme Court districts in an effort to ensure the party maintains control of the state’s highest court.
Illinois Supreme Court districts haven’t been redrawn since 1964. But changing demographics and shifting regional politics, as well as the ouster of a Democratic justice by voters last year, has Democrats fearing that their advantage on the court could evaporate in next year’s election. […]
“The boundaries for Illinois Supreme Court districts have not been updated for several decades, it’s time we make changes in recognition of the population changes and demographic shifts that have taken place since the 1960s,” said state Sen. Omar Aquino, the Chicago Democrat who chairs the state Senate Redistricting Committee. […]
One major function of the court is to act as a check and balance in determining the constitutionality of legislation approved by lawmakers and signed into law. With Democrats holding control of the legislature and, through Pritzker, the governor’s office, the partisan influence can often play into the court’s decisions.
House Minority Leader Jim Durkin, R-Western Springs, was bracing for the new judicial maps when he accused Democrats Monday of preparing to stack the court. Kilbride’s loss sent a “shockwave” to the majority party’s major supporters such as trial attorneys and labor unions, Durkin said. “Quite frankly, if they don’t change that district, Republicans win and the balance of power will go to Republicans,” Durkin said. “That’s why there is going to be…some type of map that is going to redraw that third Supreme Court district to make it more appealing to Democrat voters.”
And that, effectively, is what Democrats did with their new map.
While partisan make-ups of the new judicial districts weren’t immediately available, Kilbride’s old district was recalibrated to include all of DuPage County, the state’s second most vote-rich county and one that has trended heavily Democratic in recent election cycles.
* I had two different analyses on the partisan makeup of the new districts for subscribers this morning, but here’s one that was made public yesterday by the Illinois Civil Justice League…
(T)he current third district gives Republicans about a 55 to 45 percent advantage while the new map gives the Republicans a slight 51 to 49 percent advantage.
Additionally, the new second district is a 50-50 toss-up using the same voting data.
The ICJL analysis was pretty good, but it was posted late yesterday afternoon so you may have missed it…
The population changes in the new map bring the judicial districts within the threshold of substantially equal, with a total average deviation from the mean of 4.425 percent.
The map drawers paid particular attention to the historic nature of the Mt. Vernon, Springfield, and Ottawa appellate court locations, as well as keeping the original circuit breakdowns from the 1897 reapportionment whole, with just the divisions in circuits over the 125-history of the circuit map.
Newly appointed Second District Justice Michael Burke will likely run in the Third District in 2022, his home is in DuPage County and makes up roughly 48 percent of the new Third District. Will County is now 35 percent of the Third District, whereas before it represented almost 39 percent.
The tough job politically is managing the retentions in 2022, where longtime Third District Justices Tom Lytton (D-Rock Island) and Daniel Schmidt (R-Peoria) are up and live a long way from their district.
In the Fourth District, Justice Rita Garman’s home is now in the new Fifth District and she will need to move west to qualify for her 2022 retention. Fourth District Appellate Justice John Turner lives in his revised district and is eligible for a third term on the retention ballot.
There is now an open Supreme Court seat in the new Second District, which was 50-50 in the Attorney General’s race in 2018, and now gives Democrats an opportunity to elect a Democrat from the north and west suburbs. Remapped out of the Second District are Appellate Justices Joe Birkett, who is up for retention, and newly appointed Justice Liam Brennan, who are both from DuPage.
Additionally, several assigned circuit judges, who sit on the appellate courts by assignment, find themselves from circuits outside of the districts, including Winnebago County judge Kathryn Zenoff (Second) and Vermilion County judge Craig DeArmond (Fourth).
Lawyers for a Kane County restaurant are asking the Illinois Supreme Court to overturn an appellate court decision that found the governor’s indoor dining ban was lawfully imposed.
FoxFire Tavern is one of dozens of restaurants that sued Gov. JB Pritzker and his administration after he issued an executive order imposing stricter restrictions on businesses, including a ban on indoor dining and bar service, in response to rising COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations throughout the state.
The state’s highest court has not yet weighed in on the legal arguments challenging Pritzker’s power to impose the indoor dining ban, or any other restrictions implemented in his numerous executive orders.
The 2nd District Appellate Court’s decision last month that upheld Pritzker’s order prohibiting restaurants from allowing indoor dining cannot stand because it “leaves the restaurant industry out in the cold and without legal redress,” Kevin Nelson, one of FoxFire’s attorneys, wrote in the legal brief to the Illinois Supreme Court submitted on Friday.
The brief asks the court to accept the case and reverse the appellate court’s ruling on the governor’s executive order. However, since the court is not obligated to hear the case, the justices could reject that request and decline to rule on it.
SUPREME COURT OF ILLINOIS
WEDNESDAY, MAY 26, 2021
THE FOLLOWING CASES ON THE LEAVE TO APPEAL DOCKET WERE DISPOSED OF AS INDICATED:
126765-Fox Fire Tavern, LLC, etc., petitioner, v. Jay Robert Pritzker, etc., et al., respondents. Leave to appeal, Appellate Court, Second District. 2-20-0623, 2-20-0627
Petition for Leave to Appeal Denied.
* I asked the governor’s office for a response. Jordan Abudayyeh…
The Governor is pleased the court rejected this request and sided with upholding Governor Pritzker’s ability to follow the science and protect the citizens of Illinois.
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 1,139 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 27 additional deaths. In addition, 66% of Illinois adults have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose and 49% of Illinois adults are fully vaccinated, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- Cook County: 1 male 50s, 2 males 70s, 1 female 80s, 1 male 90s
- Kane County: 1 male 30s, 1 male 40s, 1 female 80s
- Kankakee County: 1 female 80s
- Knox County: 1 female 50s
- Lake County: 1 female 70s, 1 male 70s, 1 male 80s
- Logan County: 1 male 70s
- Macon County: 1 female 60s, 1 female 80s
- Marion County: 1 female 50s
- Marshall County: 1 male 70s
- McDonough County: 1 female 60s
- Pike County: 1 male 30s
- Tazewell County; 1 male 60s, 1 female 80s
- Vermilion County: 1 male 70s
- Will County: 1 male 70s, 1 female 90s
- Williamson County; 1 male 50s
- Winnebago County: 1 female 80s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 1,378,388 cases, including 22,676 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 57,402 specimens for a total of 24,366,520. As of last night, 1,395 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 351 patients were in the ICU and 181 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from May 19-25, 2021 is 2.0%. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from May 19-25, 2021 is 2.6%.
A total of 11,049,665 vaccines have been administered in Illinois as of last midnight. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 71,215 doses. Yesterday, 59,494 doses were reported administered in Illinois.
*All data are provisional and will change. In order to rapidly report COVID-19 information to the public, data are being reported in-time. Information is constantly being entered into an electronic system and the number of cases and deaths can change as additional information is gathered. Information for a death previously reported has changed, therefore toda
* When I mentioned earlier that one of the more effective ways of getting your way on Statehouse matters is to find the votes to block an unfavorable bill from passing, this is exactly the sort of thing I was talking about…
As negotiations continue on a comprehensive clean energy bill during the final days of legislative session, nearly 50 legislators issued a resolute letter to leadership today, making it clear that the days of utility companies dictating public policy were over.
Governor Pritzker, legislators, and community stakeholders are currently working toward a plan to hold utilities to the highest ethical standards, launch an historic effort to replace fossil fuels with clean energy and provide a just transition for communities historically dependent on coal, and create equitable jobs in Illinois’ communities of color.
The legislators’ terms were simple and clear: “We will not support a bill which is simply a handout for utilities and does not prioritize climate and equity,” they stated.
The letter was co-signed by Clean Energy Jobs Act (CEJA) chief sponsors Rep. Ann Williams and Sen. Cristina Castro, as well as Rep. Kam Buckner and Sen. Celina Villanueva, chief sponsors of Governor Pritzker’s Consumers and Climate First Act. These four legislators are part of the larger working group negotiating a clean energy package for passage this spring session.
Additional signatories include members of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus and Latino Caucus, and lawmakers from across the state.
* And here’s the letter…
To: Senate President Harmon and Speaker Welch
From: Illinois Legislative Green Caucus
Date: May 26, 2021
As we approach the end of the session and conversations around an energy package continue in earnest, it is critical we pass a strong and comprehensive climate bill built on a foundation of equity.
For too long, utilities have dictated energy policy in Illinois. It is imperative that this time around, any energy package is driven by climate, communities and consumers.
The final energy bill must:
• Eliminate carbon emissions from the electric sector by a date certain and prioritize closures in environmental justice communities.
• Ensure equity opportunities across all components of the bill, from workforce diversity to contractor equity to just transition.
We will not support a bill which is simply a handout for utilities and does not prioritize climate and equity – we must be forward thinking and lead with these issues. Our constituents and communities will support nothing less.
Thank you.
Signed,
Representative Ann Williams
Representative Anne Stava-Murray
Representative Anna Moeller
Representative Barbara Hernandez
Representative Bob Morgan
Representative Carol Ammons
Representative Daniel Didech
Representative Dagmara ‘Dee’ Avelar
Representative Delia Ramirez
Representative Denyse Stoneback
Representative Edgar Gonzales
Representative Jaime Andrade, Jr
Representative Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz
Representative Jonathan Carroll
Representative Joyce Mason
Representative Justin Slaughter
Representative Lakesia Collins
Representative Lamont Robinson
Representative Lindsey LaPointe
Representative Lisa Hernandez
Representative Kam Buckner
Representative Mark Walker
Representative Margaret Croke
Representative Michelle Mussman
Representative Nick Smith
Representative Rita Mayfield
Representative Robyn Gabel
Representative Sam Yingling
Representative Sonya Harper
Representative Suzanne Ness
Representative Terra Costa Howard
Representative Theresa Mah
Representative Will Guzzardi
Senator Ann Gillespie
Senator Laura Fine
Senator Laura Ellman
Senator Celina Villanueva
Senator Cristina Castro
Senator Cristina Pacione-Zayas
Senator David Koehler
Senator Jaqueline Collins
Senator Julie Morrison
Senator Melinda Bush
Senator Mike Simmons
Senator Robert Peters
Senator Robert Martwick
Senator Sara Feigenholtz
This means that, if present trends continue, Exelon and the unions will have to corral a whole lot of Republicans to muscle this thing through the House, since almost half the House Democratic caucus signed the letter.
* I told subscribers weeks ago that the good government groups’ only real job this spring was to find three House Democrats willing to stand up and say they would not vote for any remap plan devised by legislators. Preventing a veto-proof majority in just one chamber would’ve put enormous pressure on Gov. JB Pritzker to keep his promise to veto an unfair map. And that, in turn, would’ve put pressure on the majority party to rethink its entire strategy.
If 19 House Democrats stood up to stop the most powerful Democrat in Illinois history from being reelected, could 3 be found, cajoled or pressured to do the same on the remap?
Nope. Didn’t happen.
The Democrats stuck together and good government groups either didn’t bother to up the ante on them or simply sided with Republicans. And now it’s all devolved into a last-minute partisan process argument…
Republican lawmakers and non-partisan good government advocates continue to bash the first draft of Illinois’ Democrat-controlled map for the next decade. Legislators held a joint committee hearing with the redistricting groups Tuesday afternoon.
While Democratic leaders released the map late Friday night, lawmakers and the public still want to see each district’s geographical boundaries and demographics. They also want to know the information Democrats used to craft the map besides data from the 2019 American Community Survey.
Tuesday night, Republicans pushed Democrats to explain when they’ll file the legislation for the new map. With six days left before adjournment, the legislation and bill sponsor is still unknown. Also, only one Democrat participated in person with Republicans during Tuesday’s hearing. The other Democratic members appeared virtually.
Nearly every advocacy group testifying before the committee asked lawmakers to wait on the mapping process until after the census data is ready in mid-August.
“There’s still time. We could back away from this ledge and hit the pause button,” said Jay Young, Executive Director of Common Cause Illinois. “We can still appeal to the courts. I urge you in the most strenuous way, please take this opportunity.”
It’s just too late for that argument because the courts are not known for acting in a prompt manner. But since the Democrats refused to ask the Illinois Supreme Court to intervene on our constitutional deadline the way the California Democrats did with their Supreme Court, why didn’t anyone else?
* Instead, the goo-goos fundraised off of a claim that Black and Brown people were being disenfranchised…
Illinois politicians introduced the set of maps that they have been working on behind closed doors for weeks. These maps use 5-year sampling data that we know undercounts Illinoisans by 41,877 people.
We know this undercount likely has a great effect on people of color. It’s beyond alarming and disappointing. For too long, Black communities have historically been underrepresented, under-resourced, and targeted by large-scale misinformation campaigns designed to further disenfranchise them.
These maps are just another example of this disenfranchisement.
The decisions by our current lawmakers will disenfranchise tens of thousands of voices for a decade by creating representative maps that do not include them. How is this equity for Illinois?
* Except, Illinois has one of the best track records in the nation of drawing legislative districts for people of color. Fox 32…
After meeting for months behind sealed doors, Democrats now hope to lock in their Springfield super-majorities for another ten years. They are declining to answer questions because they fear anything they say publicly will be used against them when Republicans inevitably challenge the new district boundaries in court.
In previous years, some judges overturned new district maps based on issues related to minority representation. On that count, the Democrats’ remap expert called Illinois a model for the nation, not least because Illinois is one of the few places in the country where large groups of white voters regularly support minority candidates.
“A little under a third of the members of the state House and the state Senate are African-American, Asian-American or Hispanic,” said Prof. Allan Lichtman of American University. “That’s right in line with the citizen minority voting age population in the state.” […]
Democrats are now rushing to approve a redistricting plan because of a deadline imposed by the Illinois Constitution. Unless the job is done by the end of next month, random chance will decide which party gets to finish the process. That means Republicans would have a 50-50 chance.
There’s another step before that 50-50 drawing, but, yeah. Anyway, this is what it has come down to because three brave HDem souls could not be found or cultivated or pounded into submission.
Allan Lichtman, a history professor at American University in Washington, D.C., who was hired as a consultant by the House and Senate Democratic caucuses, testified that in his opinion, ACS data is acceptable to use for redistricting because in the five years leading up to the 2010 census, those estimates for Illinois were off by only about 0.3 percent.
“Nationally, there is no requirement under law or the constitution in Illinois that only decennial U.S. census data can be used for redistricting,” he said. “In fact, the majority of states, I repeat that, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, do not explicitly require that you must use only decennial census data for internal redistricting purposes, particularly of course when such data is not available or delayed.” […]
Rep. Elizabeth Hernandez, D-Cicero, who chairs the House Redistricting Committee, said the maps before the committee were only a draft, but McConchie said the committee still needed to see the demographic numbers.
“How can we appropriately measure the draft without the numbers,” he asked.
Well, I dunno, Leader. As subscribers know, I hired a consultant to put together the demographic numbers for each and every district. Y’all have a large state budget for this sort of thing. Maybe reach out to me and I’ll give you his number?
* From what I’m told, this elected Chicago school board idea is being pitched by Senate President Don Harmon. Other folks have to sign off, of course, but this appears to be the framework on which the solution will be built. Greg Hinz…
According to reliable sources, what’s now being pitched is a 21-member board that would be elected in 2027. In the meantime, a “hybrid” 21-person board would be created, with 10 members elected in 2023 and 10 appointed by the mayor, as occurs now. The mayor also would appoint the chair, the 21st member, giving the city’s chief nominal but by no means certain control of the board.
The elections would occur on the same dates as city elections for mayor and aldermen.
Another feature of the latest plan: Two years into the hybrid period, an outside commission would take a look at how things are going and issue a public report that, if negative, could prompt the General Assembly to re-evaluate the situation.
*** UPDATE *** The Senate Executive Committee passed Sen. Martwick’s original bill with a promise to hold it on the floor pending a compromise. Martwick would not pledge to hold the bill forever, but Senate President Don Harmon said he was confident that a compromise would be found by the end of session.
State law says utility companies like Commonwealth Edison cannot make their customers pay for the cost of their lobbying expenses.
Yet, ComEd’s nearly 4 million ratepayers in Chicago and northern Illinois are on the hook for nearly $9 million in grants the company awarded this past year to an array of nonprofit organizations.
What some of those investments also have yielded for ComEd is a de facto, ratepayer-underwritten lobbying force in Springfield that has aimed to help nudge some of the company’s most prized legislative initiatives during the past decade.
A WBEZ analysis of legislative records shows a distinct pattern in which the same grant recipients getting ComEd charity that ratepayers subsidize are wearing dueling hats as utility company advocates before the General Assembly. The same is true for a long list of ComEd contractors who have advocated on behalf of the company.
WBEZ documented nearly $350,000 in ComEd grants since 2017 to a dozen nonprofit groups that formally — and, in some cases, repeatedly — lobbied for company-backed legislation in Springfield. Some charitable groups are overseen by board members who also happened to be ComEd executives. […]
“We do not direct businesses or charities we support to submit witness slips,” ComEd spokesman Paul Elsberg said in a statement, referring to the paperwork that individuals and organizations file with the legislature to signify their opposition or support for a particular bill.
“However, we naturally reach out to businesses and community leaders about energy legislation that could affect our customers and our business,” he said. “In fact, we have an obligation to do so because it affects them, too, and we fully support their, and anyone’s, right to voice their support or opposition to legislation based on what’s important to them.”
Darnit, we have an obligation to inform fortunate recipients of our heartfelt, ratepayer-funded charitable giving that we have an amendment up for a vote in House Public Utilities next Tuesday at 3 o’clock and send them a link to the witness slip filing page.
At just 2.11%, the statewide seven-day case positivity rate for COVID-19 is at the lowest point since the pandemic began.
At the peak in November, the state’s seven-day case positivity rate had reached more than 13%. The statistic measures the percentage of new cases from a batch of COVID-19 tests and indicates the level of infection within the population. […]
In the suburbs, Lake County is reporting the lowest seven-day case positivity rate at 1.3%. McHenry County’s is highest at 3.2%.
The rate is 2.2% in Will County, 2.6% in DuPage County, 2.8% in suburban Cook County and 2.9% in Kane County.
On Christmas Eve, Downers Grove Village Commissioner Rich Kulovany thought he was out of the woods with his COVID-19 diagnosis.
From his bed at Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove, Kulovany texted a friend that he expected to be released soon.
But the next day, doctors transferred Kulovany to the ICU, attached him to a ventilator so he could breathe and put him into a medically induced coma for 16 days. […]
Kulovany spent 99 days in three hospitals: Good Samaritan, RML Specialty Hospital in Hinsdale (to wean him off a ventilator and a tracheostomy tube) and then Marianjoy Rehabilitation Hospital in Wheaton for physical therapy.
* An Illinois Review editorial on the Senate’s bipartisan passage of a constitutional amendment banning so-called “right to work” laws and ordinances…
Illinois Review is firmly grounded in the viewpoint that businesses and industries are the heart and soul of a state’s economy. The weaker the heart and soul of an entity, the less healthy and prosperous that state will be. A state’s key source of energy and bounty is healthy businesses - not the state’s tax-funded system itself. It’s a basic conservative, free market principle.
And one that 11 Illinois Republicans either do not believe or purposely ignored last Friday. And in our opinion here at Illinois Review, their votes to promote a constitutional amendment that would strangle any effort to allow businesses to operate without union bondage demand they be publicly challenged.
Thus this editorial.
First, we want to congratulate and thank the seven Republican senators that stood firm for business freedom, despite making tough votes that could cost them union-funded political challenges in 2022. Those seven Republican senators are: Darren Bailey, Jason Barickman, Dan McConchie, Jason Plummer, Brian Stewart, Jil Tracy, and Sally Turner. Conservatives from throughout Illinois should call each of these folks this week, and offer their help in 2022. They deserve it.
However, we are disappointed that the GOP Senate floor leader Jason Barickman did not say a word in defense of businesses. And evidently, Sen. Barickman either is a weak whip or he didn’t see the importance of the vote, because insiders tell us Barickman lifted not one finger to influence his caucus to vote as Republicans - and as conservatives. We will stand corrected if something to the opposite happened - but thus far, our sources confirm that Barickman was inactive and/or impotent in his leadership position on this issue. That is inexcusable - even IF Senator Barickman wants to run for governor next year.
We are also disappointed that announced gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey did not publicly explain his position on the debate floor of the Illinois Senate on this issue. He does want to be governor. Why didn’t he express his opinion on this important issue if he’s serious about gaining the Illinois business community’s support?
But ultimately, folks, the weight of this devastating failure of leadership lies with Senate Minority Leader Dan McConchie. He failed to emphasize the importance of this issue to his caucus. He failed to push his floor leader to whip the votes for Republicans to stand arm-in- arm as a line against providing complete public and private sector union control of the state. It is unexplainable. It is embarrassing. It is inexcusable.
We at Illinois Review are calling for Senator McConchie to resign and make way for a more committed, strong, and brave leader. Without such leadership in the Illinois Senate, there is no hope for the already weak and feckless Republican Party.
It’s so odd that folks spent decades slamming Mike Madigan for being dictatorial but also want their leadership to be even harsher toward members. McConchie voted against the proposal, as did Barickman. What’s he supposed to do, kick the “yes” votes out of his tiny 18-member caucus?
There was a time when many Illinois Republican legislators supported organized labor and then Bruce Rauner won the governor’s race. Well, Bruce Rauner lost. And that vote was as much about putting Rauner in the rear-view mirror as it was about the issue itself. You can’t get bigger by getting smaller.
As the Commonwealth Edison lobbying scandal has rocked state government, much of the focus has been on laws that resulted in customers paying more for a smart grid and a bailout of nuclear power plants.
But there’s a third, lesser-known measure that also has had a big impact on customers’ wallets: a 2013 law that allowed ComEd to use a trio of accounting techniques to help its bottom line.
The Illinois Public Interest Research Group is out with a new analysis contending the law cost electricity users more than $600 million over the last seven years — a figure ComEd disputes. […]
ComEd maintained the average residential customer monthly bill has dropped by $6 a month since 2011, but PIRG argued that much of that drop is attributable to a lower cost of power that ComEd distributes. Scarr argued ComEd bills could be lower if the company’s distribution costs hadn’t sharply risen.
Aldermen unanimously advanced a measure Tuesday that would pave the way for the sale of the much beloved and equally loathed James R. Thompson Center in the heart of the Loop.
With the endorsement of the City Council’s Zoning Committee, the full City Council will consider on Wednesday the measure introduced by Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd Ward) at the request of Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
The “rather simple” measure was designed to change the rules that determine what city officials would allow to be built at 100 W. Randolph St., Reilly said. The rules were changed by former Ald. Burt Natarus (42nd Ward) while the Helmut Jahn-designed building was under construction, Reilly said.
Rules for the Thompson Center site currently restrict what size building could be erected there. Reily’s proposal loosens those rules to meet those now in place on most other Loop properties, in order to speed the sale.
* The Question: Your “favorite” Thompson Center story?
The country’s declining covid-19 case rates present an unrealistically optimistic perspective for half of the nation — the half that is still not vaccinated.
As more people receive vaccines, covid-19 cases are occurring mostly in the increasingly narrow slice of the unprotected population. So The Washington Post adjusted its case, death and hospitalization rates to account for that — and found that in some places, the virus continues to rage among those who haven’t received a shot.
The rosy national figures showing declining case numbers led the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to loosen mask recommendations last week and President Biden to advise people to take off their masks and smile.
But adjustments for vaccinations show the rate among susceptible, unvaccinated people is 69 percent higher than the standard figures being publicized. With that adjustment, the national death rate is roughly the same as it was two months ago and is barely inching down. The adjusted hospitalization rate is as high as it was three months ago. The case rate is still declining after the adjustment.
* WaPo calculated average new daily deaths per 1 million Illinois residents. The all Illinois residents rate is the black line, the Illinois rate adjusted for vaccinations (defined as anyone who has received at least one shot) is the solid purple line. The adjusted US rate is the dotted purple line…
Illinois had a 7-day average of about 50 deaths per day on February 16. That’s about double what the 7-day average is right now.
There are about 3.5 million totally unvaxed adults in Illinois out of about 9.5 million adults. WaPo reduced the number of fully or partially vaccinated adults by 15 percent to account for “breakthrough” cases to calculate the deaths per million. That’s way too much, but whatever.
Beth Ouimet thought she had lucked out in the summer of 2019 when her father got a placement in the state-run LaSalle Veterans’ Home after an episode of PTSD made it clear that living on his own wasn’t an option for the immediate future.
And even after COVID-19 hit Illinois and locked down the facility, Ouimet still was grateful her dad was there.
“I actually thought I was saving his life by keeping him at LaSalle,” Ouimet said.
But this past fall, the LaSalle Veterans’ Home became the site of one of the largest COVID outbreaks in any congregate care facility in Illinois. In the months that followed, multiple third-party inquiries into what went wrong at the LaSalle home found damning evidence of lapses in responsibility. High-level personnel were fired or forced to resign. Gov. JB Pritzker has promised changes at the facility and the state’s Department of Veterans Affairs.
None of it will bring back Ouimet’s father, a Navy veteran who served as a chief petty officer and hospital corpsman during the Vietnam War.
On Jan. 1, George Ouimet died at age 83 after battling COVID all of November and December. He was the last of 36 LaSalle residents who died after being diagnosed with the virus — more than a quarter of the facility’s population.
* Click here for background if you need it. Press release…
The Senate and House Redistricting Committees today released a proposed map of new Illinois Supreme Court boundaries to bring them into compliance with the Illinois Constitution by reflecting population shifts over the nearly 60 years since the map was last drawn in 1963.
“This map is about equal representation in the state’s most important court,” said Rep. Lisa Hernandez, Chair of the House Redistricting Committee. “As we strive for all to be equal before the law, we must ensure we all have an equal voice in choosing those who uphold it.”
Under this proposal, the number of residents in the Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth Supreme Court districts will be substantially equalized to better reflect the population and demographic shifts that have occurred in the state of Illinois over the course of the last sixty years. Currently, population fluctuates greatly between districts. For instance, the Second District contains 3.2 million people, while the Fourth and Fifth Districts contain under 1.3 million people.
“The boundaries for Illinois Supreme Court districts have not been updated for several decades, it’s time we make changes in recognition of the population changes and demographic shifts that have taken place since the 1960s,” said Sen. Omar Aquino, Chair of the Senate Redistricting Committee. “Illinois is a very different state than it was sixty years ago, and the voters of Illinois deserve to elect members to our state’s highest court that reflect their values.”
This new map will not impact the tenure of the current Appellate and Supreme Court justices. All justices running for retention will have the right to do so in their current districts. Further, this map avoids disruption to the Judicial Branch by ensuring that the Appellate Courts can remain where they currently reside and avoid changing the compositions or boundaries of the Judicial Circuits.
Consistent with the proposed legislative maps, this proposed map was drafted using population information from the American Community Survey’s (ACS) 5-year estimate for 2019. The ACS estimate varies by just 0.3 percent from the state’s official population count released by the U.S. Census Bureau in April.
The public has the opportunity to provide input on this proposed map at four scheduled redistricting committee hearings between the House and the Senate this week. To view the proposed map, visit www.ilsenateredistricting.com or www.ilhousedems.com/redistricting.
…Adding… Either they have a typo, or this was written last Friday and not sent…
Tonight, following the legislature’s release of a new map for the Illinois Supreme Court, the first time this has happened in 50 years, Chairman of Citizens for Judicial Fairness Jim Nowlan released the following statement:
“Forget Congress. Forget the legislature. The one issue that sends shivers up the spines of Cook County Democrats is loss of their unbroken, six-decade long control of the partisan Illinois Supreme Court. Not even Mike Madigan can claim that record.
And now that their control is threatened, Democrats in Springfield displayed a breathtakingly cynical effort to retain that control, when they unveiled a new gerrymandering of Illinois Supreme Court districts days before the end of the legislative session with no public hearings or input to date.
If this thus-far secret map, long rumored in the back alleys of Springfield Democratic circles, goes through this coming week, indeed this year, it will strongly suggest the new Democratic regime in the state capitol may be even worse than the old one.”
…Adding… ILGOP…
Moments ago and just a couple hours before sham redistricting hearings are set to begin in Springfield, Democrats have released their new district map for the Illinois Supreme Court. Illinois Republican Party Spokesman Joe Hackler released the following statement in response:
“Today’s announcement of the redrawing of the Illinois Supreme Court map is the latest example of the extraordinary lengths the corrupt political class will go to keep control of power. For the first time in the state’s history, a Supreme Court justice was removed from the Court because of his ties to the Democrat machine. Now, in an effort to maintain their stranglehold on the Supreme Court and thwart much needed reform, that same corrupt political class is rigging the maps to stay in power, redrawing the map for the first time in fifty years. This is a brazen abuse of our judicial system and nothing more than political gamesmanship with what should be an independent court, free of corrupt influence.”
The most significant changes are in the two districts coving the Chicago metropolitan area outside of Cook County.
One of the new districts covers the northern and western suburbs and a bit of rural territory, running north to the Wisconsin state line and west past DeKalb. Excluded is GOP territory further west that is in the current district.
The other, largely remade district covers the southern suburbs and the Joliet area, but extends to largely rural and lightly populated areas south of Kankakee and west to central Illinois. Democrats presumably think that can win that area, too.
…Adding… Press release…
Statement from John Pastuovic, President of the Illinois Civil Justice League, on Judicial Remap Proposal
“It is clear to me that the Democrats have initiated this first in 50-year judicial remap in reaction to their third district retention loss in 2020 and concern that they could lose that seat to the Republicans in 2022. For example, when looking a party identification voting data, the current third district gives Republicans about a 55 to 45 percent advantage while the new map gives the Republicans a slight 51 to 49 percent advantage.
Additionally, the new second district is a 50-50 toss-up using the same voting data. Since the Democrats only have to win one of those seats to maintain their majority on the court, Las Vegas would probably like their odds.
Calling for a new Supreme Court maps because of a population disparity is a convenient narrative. It is also disingenuous.”
Additional Observations:
The population changes in the new map bring the judicial districts within the threshold of substantially equal, with a total average deviation from the mean of 4.425 percent.
The map drawers paid particular attention to the historic nature of the Mt. Vernon, Springfield, and Ottawa appellate court locations, as well as keeping the original circuit breakdowns from the 1897 reapportionment whole, with just the divisions in circuits over the 125-history of the circuit map.
Newly appointed Second District Justice Michael Burke will likely run in the Third District in 2022, his home is in DuPage County and makes up roughly 48 percent of the new Third District. Will County is now 35 percent of the Third District, whereas before it represented almost 39 percent.
The tough job politically is managing the retentions in 2022, where longtime Third District Justices Tom Lytton (D-Rock Island) and Daniel Schmidt (R-Peoria) are up and live a long way from their district.
In the Fourth District, Justice Rita Garman’s home is now in the new Fifth District and she will need to move west to qualify for her 2022 retention. Fourth District Appellate Justice John Turner lives in his revised district and is eligible for a third term on the retention ballot.
There is now an open Supreme Court seat in the new Second District, which was 50-50 in the Attorney General’s race in 2018, and now gives Democrats an opportunity to elect a Democrat from the north and west suburbs. Remapped out of the Second District are Appellate Justices Joe Birkett, who is up for retention, and newly appointed Justice Liam Brennan, who are both from DuPage.
Additionally, several assigned circuit judges, who sit on the appellate courts by assignment, find themselves from circuits outside of the districts, including Winnebago County judge Kathryn Zenoff (Second) and Vermilion County judge Craig DeArmond (Fourth).
* I’ve been telling subscribers about this bill for a couple weeks or so…
A bill passed the House that would amend the Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act to allow Chicago Public Schools principals to unionize.
House Bill 3496 passed through the [Senate] Executive Committee by way of a 9 to 5 vote and has been scheduled for a second reading. […]
The bill would amend a state labor law that prohibits any person in a managerial position from joining a union. President of the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association Troy LaRaviere said passage of the bill was important because policymakers usually miss things principals will see at the bargaining table.
“When school district officials create policies they often can not see unintended negative consequences that Principals could see if they were at the table. In Chicago however, Principals are not at that table,” LaRaviere said.
Mayor Lightfoot isn’t having a great session so far.
* Excerpt from tweet thread…
For the past 20 years @CPMsofIL and Illinois friends and families of/for midwifery have diligently, every session, filed a bill, and worked for support needed to pass. In 2007, the bill passed in the senate. In 2011, it failed in the house 2/x
— Illinois Friends of Midwives (@IL4Midwives) May 25, 2021
And now we are in the Senate. We have passed our committee, but due to a single, non-healthcare or consumer "stakeholder", it appears the Senate lacks the will to complete the task that is so overwhelmingly supported by legislators and stakeholders. 8/x
— Illinois Friends of Midwives (@IL4Midwives) May 25, 2021
I asked about the recalcitrant stakeholder and the group claims it’s the Illinois Trial Lawyers Association.
* Almost a law…
Today, the Illinois Senate voted to approve House Bill 1063, which would end criminal penalties against people living with HIV (PLWH). Under current law, PLWH face the threat of arrest, prosecution, and incarceration even if they do not transmit HIV to another person. Additionally, PLWH may face longer sentences simply because of their HIV status.
“We are thrilled the Illinois Senate took decisive action and voted to end criminal penalties against people living with HIV in Illinois. Thank you to lead sponsor Senator Robert Peters for his steadfast dedication and leadership to this important issue.
HB 1063 has now passed both chambers with bipartisan support, and now it is time for Governor Pritzker to sign this bill and repeal this outdated and dangerous law. The truth is HIV criminalization never improved safety or public health in Illinois - instead, it has only caused suffering to people living with HIV, their families, and their communities. It has promoted stigma and discrimination, and it has discouraged testing, treatment, and disclosure for decades.
We urge Governor Pritzker to sign HB 1063 into law as soon as he can.”
* Wirepoints on the proposed constitutional amendment prohibiting “right to work” laws and ordinances…
State lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are preparing to enshrine the extensive power of Illinois unions into the state constitution.
The Illinois Senate has passed, and the House is preparing to vote on, a resolution for a constitutional amendment creating a new “fundamental right to organize and to bargain collectively” for matters that include workers’ “economic welfare.” The resolution further prohibits the state and local governments from passing any law that “interferes with, negates, or diminishes the right of employees to organize and bargain collectively.” The recent Senate vote was bipartisan, with 11 of the Senate’s 18 Republicans voting for the resolution. No Senate Democrats opposed the measure.
If the House passes the resolution – and voters approve the amendment in November 2022 – essential labor reforms Illinois needs will be blocked. With both pensions and labor union powers protected by the state constitution, it’s unlikely the state can be turned around without falling into some form of chaos first.
I see they haven’t lost their deft touch for understatement. /s
…Adding… Press release…
As Asian American History Month comes to a close, the Illinois State Senate unanimously passed the Teaching Equitable Asian American Community History Act (TEAACH Act), which will require K-12 public schools across the state to include Asian American history in all curriculum. The bill, which passed the Illinois State House in April, will now go to Governor Pritzker to be signed into law, paving the way for Illinois to become the first state in the nation to prioritize Asian American history in such a way.
“Illinois is making Asian American history by recognizing Asian American history,” said Asian American Caucus Co-Chair and Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Commissioner Josina Morita. “Over the last year, we’ve seen a startling rise in anti-Asian hate, making the importance of learning Asian American history even more crucial. With the passage of this legislation, our next generation of Illinoisans will have a better understanding of the Asian American community, helping us become a more equitable and inclusive state where all students can thrive.”
Introduced by State Senator Ram Villivalam and State Representative Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz, the TEAACH Act will paint a more complete picture of the state’s shared history by amending Illinois School Code to include an Asian American History Curriculum in every public school in Illinois.
“In unanimously passing the TEAACH Act today, the State Senate sent a strong message across this state that Asian American history is valued in Illinois,” said State Senator Ram Villivalam. “Future generations will learn about our Asian American history, and Illinois will be a better, safer state because of it.”
The TEAACH Act will ensure that crucial stories and lessons are elevated, and also pairs the five-hour PBS film series and K-12 curricula, compliant with Common Core and National Standards, designed to be easily adopted into lesson plans and curricula.
*** UPDATE *** Press release…
Illinois’ retail cannabis industry would diversify under a bill passed today by state Rep. La Shawn K. Ford, D-Chicago, that aims to correct a flawed license lottery system that has prevented minority residents from being able to open businesses.
“Like the War on Drugs, the rollout of cannabis licenses has disproportionately impacted communities of color,” Ford said. “We now have an opportunity to correct the missteps of the original lottery process by refocusing on the intent of the legalization bill. Instead of allowing the wealthy few to maintain control of this new industry, let’s give people in areas that have been left behind a real opportunity to start a local business that is owned and operated by members of the community.”
“Today’s vote puts us on a more equitable path forward, and I want to thank Representative Ford and everyone involved for their hard work to implement a fair process open to every community,” said Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch. “It’s important that the legislature monitors the progress of this industry in Illinois, and continue to be prepared to act as necessary.”
Under Ford’s House Bill 1443, 110 new cannabis licenses would be awarded through two lotteries targeted toward Black, Hispanic and other minority residents of disproportionately impacted areas. As part of the qualifying criteria, one of the lotteries would prioritize those previously arrested or convicted of previous cannabis-related offenses. The new licenses would be in addition to a batch of 75 licenses intended to have been released in 2020 that have been delayed due to litigation and issues with the selection process’ scoring system.
Along with guiding the new selection process, Ford’s bill helps to clean up the state’s cannabis legalization law by expanding diversity on the state’s Restore, Reinvest and Renew (R3) oversight board and increasing medical cannabis purchase access for patients, among other fixes to rollout concerns.
“As expected, the cannabis industry has been and will continue to be very lucrative,” Ford said. “It’s important as we continue to distribute licenses that we keep track of ownership data and ensure nobody is left behind. I’m hopeful that this proposal will put us on a more equitable path this year.”
House Bill 1443 now heads to the Senate for consideration.
* Everything is still trending down. Get your shots…
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 808 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 17 additional deaths. In addition, 65% of Illinois adults have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose and 49% of Illinois adults are fully vaccinated, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- Cook County: 1 male 30s, 1 male 50s, 2 females 60s, 1 male 60s, 1 female 70s, 1 male 70s, 2 males 80s, 2 males 90s
- Fulton County: 1 female 50s
- Lake County: 1 male 70s
- Livingston County: 1 female 60s
- Logan County: 1 female 80s
- Will County: 1 male 60s, 1 male 80s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 1,377,249 cases, including 22,650 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 42,841 specimens for a total of 24,309,118. As of last night, 1,419 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 350 patients were in the ICU and 180 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from May 18-24, 2021 is 2.1%. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from May 18-24, 2021 is 2.7%.
A total of 10,990,171 vaccines have been administered in Illinois as of last midnight. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 79,485 doses. Yesterday, 49,402 doses were reported administered in Illinois.
*All data are provisional and will change. In order to rapidly report COVID-19 information to the public, data are being reported in-time. Information is constantly being entered into an electronic system and the number of cases and deaths can change as additional information is gathered. For health questions about COVID-19, call the hotline at 1-800-889-3931 or email dph.sick@illinois.gov.
Drawing new district lines for state and federal elections is the main focus for lawmakers when they begin the redistricting process every 10 years.
But Illinois Democrats, who control all three branches of government, have some incentive to redraw the boundaries for the five Illinois Supreme Court districts this year as well after a Democratic justice was defeated in a retention bid in the 3rd Judicial District in November.
House Minority Leader Jim Durkin, of Western Springs, said Monday he expects the Democrats in the General Assembly will seek to redraw at least the 3rd District in the northwestern part of the state, spanning from Joliet to the Quad Cities.
“Quite frankly, if they don’t change (the 3rd) district, Republicans win and the balance of power would go to Republicans,” Durkin said at a virtual news conference. “That’s why there is going to be, I imagine, within the next few weeks, some type of map — and it could be this week — that is going to redraw that 3rd Supreme Court District to make it more appealing to Democrat voters.”
They’re gonna redraw more than that. The 2nd District based in the suburbs is ripe for the plucking.
* It looks like it’s coming…
Just remember that redistricting the judicial districts also means big changes for the makeup of the appellate courts AND the administration of the courts throughout Illinois. It determines which precedents apply to which areas of the state, etc. https://t.co/Ss6B5VcnO0
The State is divided into five Judicial Districts for the selection of Supreme and Appellate Court Judges. The First Judicial District consists of Cook County. The remainder of the State shall be divided by law into four Judicial Districts of substantially equal population, each of which shall be compact and composed of contiguous counties.
New state legislative boundaries proposed by Democrats would further cement the party’s dominance in Springfield by using a declining downstate population to pit House Republicans against each other in several areas.
“Make no mistake, these maps were drawn solely for the Democrats to maintain their political power in the state of Illinois,” House Republican leader Jim Durkin of Western Springs said during a news conference Monday in which he ripped the Democratic map proposal.
Democrats already hold a 73-45 advantage over Republicans in the 118-member Illinois House. Under details emerging from a proposed legislative map unveiled by Democrats on Friday evening, the new boundaries would pit Republican incumbents against each other in eight House districts. In east-central and southern Illinois, the homes of four House Republicans are packed into a single district. […]
“What we’ve seen here today is the lowest of lows for the House Democrats, which quite frankly, I did not think was possible after Mike Madigan disappeared. But as Speaker (Emanuel “Chris”) Welch said in January, it is a new day, and that new day is worse than what we witnessed under Madigan,” Durkin said.
I think this map may mess with individual Republicans more than any map I’ve seen since the Republicans won the right to draw the new map in 1991.
Back in 1990, Speaker Madigan won a veto-proof majority in the House. The backlash within the House Republican Caucus against Minority Leader Lee Daniels was fierce and a group of a little more than a dozen launched a subsequent coup attempt. The uprising was tamped down by former House Speaker and newly elected Secretary of State George Ryan and the Illinois State Medical Society. Daniels prevailed.
And then Gov. Jim Edgar vetoed the Democratic remap and the Democrats couldn’t muster enough votes in both chambers to override him and it was sent to the bipartisan commission, which, of course, deadlocked. The Republicans won the drawing for the right to create the new map and several House Republican members who had only recently fought Lee Daniels tooth and nail were suddenly at his mercy and Daniels wasn’t exactly known for being overly merciful.
As a result of the new map, most of the HGOP coup-plotters had to leave, either for the Senate or for other elected offices. One of those who stayed, Rep. Jack Kubik, had to move to a new house.
In a separate news conference Monday, Republicans blasted the proposed maps as a blatant attempt to ensure Democrats retain their supermajorities while undercounting minority populations.
“This is Gerrymandering 101,” said House Republican Leader Jim Durkin, of Western Springs. “And it’s impossible to determine whether or not minority interest will be protected.
“But we do know that when you use ACS data, we know for a fact that minorities will be underrepresented using that information.”
Frankly, I think it’s more like a 400-level course than an intro class. It’s really quite something, particularly considering that both chamber leaders are newbies.
Also, if the Republicans know for a fact that minorities are underrepresented, it would be nice if they used some of their prodigious state budget allocation to prove it.
Rep. Tim Butler, R-Springfield, said the ACS data was inadequate to draw new maps.
“We need the decennial census data that won’t be out until August to be able to draw these maps,” said Butler. The process will go to a bipartisan commission if it continues beyond June 30.
Not mentioned in the story is what happens if that bipartisan commission fails to come to consensus.
Suburban House Republicans could see some losses in the next election based on the proposed Illinois legislative map, which would pit some incumbent lawmakers against one another.
Six Republicans live in three of the proposed districts, potentially whittling down GOP representation and expanding Democrats’ control of the General Assembly. Another suburban Republican would be drawn into the same district as an incumbent Democrat.
“Every one of these districts is unfair,” House Minority Leader Jim Durkin of Western Springs said Monday.
A Democrat snarked last night that truly fair maps don’t take into account legislators’ residences.
But, yeah, this map is definitely in partisan overdrive when it comes to clustering Republicans. Whew. I would not want to be one of them.
“We are focusing on and looking forward to good-faith discussions in our bipartisan redistricting committees this week,” [Jaclyn Driscoll, spokesperson for House Speaker Chris Welch] said.
Today Cindy and I traveled with our friend Pastor Willie Love to attend a Pastors Coalition hosted by Dr. Willie Wilson. We are building a movement to win and together, we will restore Illinois! #standingwithyouin2022
— Darren Bailey for Governor (@DarrenBaileyIL) May 24, 2021
Zooming in…
…Adding… From a reader…
Interesting that Bailey opposed House and Senate remote legislating rules he’s now abusing. I think the Senate contemplated remote voting because of the pandemic, not so a Senator can be in another part of the state campaigning for a different office.
*** UPDATE *** It’s kinda tough to see, but here is Sen. Bailey voting remotely during floor action yesterday. If you go to the 1:00:40 mark of the BlueRoomstream video, you can hear what sounds like helicopter noise in the background…
The Senate definitely needs a rules change. No way was remote voting intended to be used this way.
* Subscribers know that the Democratic governor has had serious problems dealing with the Senate Executive Appointments Committee for a long while now. I think that can explain some of this Center Square article…
For two years, Gov. J.B. Pritzker has used a loophole in Illinois’ political appointment law to shield his picks for the state’s prison review board from legislative scrutiny.
That’s the accusation from a Republican member of the Illinois Senate Executive Appointments Committee.
In their Monday news conference from Springfield, Bryant and Sens. Steve McClure and Jason Plummer said the governor’s office appoints members of the review board and allows them to serve in an acting capacity. Once their two-year time limit nears where they must be considered for approval by lawmakers, they said Pritzker withdraws their nomination and reappoints them, restarting their tenure as acting board members.
“This isn’t OK, it isn’t responsible,” said Sen. Terri Bryant, R-Murphysboro. “It’s a little maneuver that isn’t what our Constitution was designed to allow.”
Pritzker’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment.
“This is a clear and intentional manipulation of the process by the governor of the state of Illinois,” said Plummer, an Edwardsville Republican. “What we have here is an intentional tactic to skirt the process in an effort to hide these individuals from the public and the people of Illinois.”
According to the report released yesterday, the Illinois Prison Review Board has made the controversial decision to parole the following prisoners over the last two years: 68 year old Johnny Veal who was convicted in the murder of Chicago Police officers in 1970; 77 year old Joseph Hurst who was convicted of killing Chicago Police Officer Herman Stallworth and wounding another in 1967 while on parole for armed robbery; the former Theodore Parsons 63, who was convicted of murdering two Mahomet, IL teens in 1977; 82 year old Charles Weger, who was convicted of raping and murdering a woman at Starved Rock State Park in 1961; and 71 year old George Peter who was convicted of rape and murder of a 14 year old girl in 1967 in Chicago. The report specifically called out the Parsons case due to his release in March of this year with the State of Illinois failing to notify family members of the victims that Parsons was set to have a parole hearing.
As a result of these findings, Senate Republicans have filed an amendment to Senate Bill 1475, an ethics omnibus bill. The amendment to the bill would aim to speed up the prison review board confirmation process, requiring the appointments to be confirmed within 90 days of appointment. Failure to confirm or reject within that time period would be an automatic rejection. Additionally, the bill prohibits the governor from withdrawing a member appointment and reappointing them within a span of 2 years.
I haven’t given that deadline idea much thought, but at first blush it might not be horrible. It would definitely put pressure on both the governor and the Senate to get on the same page.
* Response from Jordan Abudayyeh…
For the Prisoner Review Board to be able to undertake its difficult and complex mission, members must be able to make parole determinations entirely independently. Subjecting members to political grandstanding sets a new and dangerous precedent for this constitutional function.
The members’ appointments and votes are transparent, and their meetings are open to the public. Additionally, the Senate Executive Appointments Committee sets the schedule for confirming gubernatorial appointees, and it is routine practice for appointees to be withdrawn so that the Senate has more time to consider the appointments.
Background…
The Prisoner Review Board considers the age and length of time served when making parole determinations.
Appointments
• Joe Ruggiero was appointed by Governor Rauner in July of 2018, but was not confirmed prior to his term’s expiration in early 2021, at which point Governor Pritzker re-appointed him to a new term, similarly only a few days prior to the March hearing.
• Aurthur Mae Perkins was confirmed unanimously by the Senate after her appointment by Rauner in March of 2015, and had a term expire at the start of 2021, which resulted in a re-appointment by Governor Pritzker a few days prior to the originally-scheduled hearing in March of this year.
• Oreal James and Eleanor Kaye Wilson were both appointed in April 2019 and then withdrawn and reappointed, so the Senate committee had more time to review their appointments.
For states with the lowest taxes, an average of four people moved in from other parts of the country for every one person who left over the last eight years. The trend is reversed in high-tax states, where an average of 2.5 people left for every one person who moved in. […]
On the other end of the spectrum, states with high taxes tend to lose residents. New York, which lost more residents than any other state from 2013 through 2020 (for every eight people who left, just one person moved in) has the sixth-highest tax rate in the U.S. Note that recent data from the U.S. Census shows that the population of New York state unexpectedly grew over the last decade, based on births, deaths, immigration and domestic migration. The estimated data in this report is based only on domestic migration.
Illinois and New Jersey are both among the top four states in the country in terms of both taxes and the number of people moving away.
* Crain’s initially ran with the story, then took a look at its methodology and retracted…
Crain’s has delved into a new report on outmigration data collected by Redfin and determined that the underlying methodology reflected in a news story published earlier today is flawed.
Redfin, an online real estate marketplace, compared one year’s worth of inbound moves to Illinois with eight years of outbound moves and reached a misleading conclusion. The methodology Redfin used didn’t only apply to Illinois; it was applied to the company’s analysis of 48 states.
Tuesday, May 25, 2021 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
We can’t have fair maps if those maps aren’t drawn using the full set of detailed Census data. But, due to census delays, Illinois politicians are planning to use outdated, estimated numbers to draw election maps that will last for a decade.
We know those estimates missed tens of thousands of us. We need the next set of election district maps to fully reflect our communities, and the only way that can happen is if those maps are drawn with current, complete Census data to give all our communities accurate and fair representation.
Call Governor Pritzker’s office today to ask that he push lawmakers to seek court permission to delay the process so that the next set of election maps are drawn with COMPLETE Census data, NOT old estimates.
* I told subscribers about this yesterday. Politico’s take…
There’s real talk now that the 2022 primary could be delayed.
Without detailed census data, Democratic leaders recognize they could face added legal challenges in drawing congressional maps. There’s already the likelihood of court fights as the legislative maps are being drawn with census estimates, instead of hard numbers still months away. Drawing congressional maps without census data would give critics even more legal hooks.
There’s also some pressure from the national Democratic Party to delay the primary to avoid legal battles. […]
Waiting for data throws a curve ball in the election process as candidates start gathering petition signatures at the beginning of September.
It’s a dilemma other states have too. Democrats across the country are particularly concerned about their slim 10-seat majority in the U.S. House, knowing that midterm elections usually don’t go well for the president’s political party.
Still, there are some positives in delaying the Illinois primary. Illinois has one of the earliest elections anywhere, so delaying it will make campaigning for the general election less grueling. Even better, candidates will be able to campaign in spring instead of winter — and in-person voting could be in warm(er) weather, too.
The national Democrats don’t want a judge drawing the Illinois congressional maps.
And while moving the primary to June does have its advantages, legislators are in Springfield until the end of May, making it much more difficult to campaign at home. And legislators with primary opponents will have to face voters shortly after making what could be controversial votes.
* This is important because the union has a multitude of Black and Brown members and deep campaign pockets. From an Alexi Giannoulias fundraising email…
We just received its biggest endorsement of the campaign so far!
The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) State Council, representing more than 150,000 Illinois workers, announced their support for our campaign for Secretary of State.
The endorsement is important because it marks the earliest that the labor union has ever announced support for a candidate for statewide office in Illinois. In addition, SEIU Local 73 represents 2,600 workers, or more than half of all Secretary of State’s office employees.
“We’re proud to stand with Alexi who will champion the needs of working families and won’t back down when it comes to advocating for fair wages and benefits for all Illinoisans,” said SEIU Local 73 President Dian Palmer. “Our members understand the importance of continuing Jesse White’s legacy under Alexi’s leadership and that we cannot afford to sit this election out.”
“Alexi understands what critical issues are most important to the hard-working families across our state,” said SEIU Local 1 President Tom Balanoff. “His demonstrated support for worker rights and his clear understanding of the Secretary of State’s office make him the undisputed choice for Illinois’ working families. The janitors, security officers and thousands of others united in SEIU Local 1 look forward to working with him to achieve a more equitable and progressive future for our state.”
I’m honored by this historic endorsement. Middle-class families will have an ally in the Secretary of State’s office who will fight to empower workers and fight on their behalf!
The SEIU support adds to the other endorsements that we’ve worked hard to earn. Earlier this year, we received the endorsement of two locals of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) International Union, Local 881 and Local 1546. In addition, 14 locals from International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) have endorsed our bid.
And earlier this month, the Southern Illinois Democratic County Chairs’ Association, representing 22 downstate counties, voted to endorse us.
Tuesday, May 25, 2021 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Employers in Illinois provide prescription drug coverage for nearly 6.7 million Illinoisans. In order to help keep care more affordable, employers work with pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), who deploy a variety of tools to reduce prescription drug costs and help improve health outcomes. In addition to helping employers, PBMs also work with the Illinois Medicaid program in the same way to help control costs. Over the last five years, PBMs have saved the state and taxpayers nearly $340 million.
Today, Illinois faces a multibillion budget shortfall as more Illinoisans are relying on Medicaid to help meet their health care coverage needs. As legislators work to address these challenges, one way to help ensure continued cost savings is by strengthening the PBM tools that the State and employers use, which are poised to save employers, consumers and the State $39 billion over the next 10 years. These are meaningful savings that will help continue to contain costs, ensure consumer access to medicines and drive savings in public health programs.
Amid a pandemic and economic challenges, now is the time to strengthen, not limit, the tools that employers, consumers and the State rely on to manage costs and ensure consumers can access the medicines they need.
* We reached the $39,000 mark for Matt yesterday. Great work! If you haven’t contributed yet, please try to do so today. Thanks! Click here…
Matt Jones is one of those folks who can disagree without ever being disagreeable. @peoriajones has a rare form of malignant brain cancer and he and his family really need our help right now, so please do what you can. Thanks! https://t.co/A4GJrGnHl9
Most states have laws penalizing catalytic-converter robbers even as legitimate metals’ buyers already abide by the rules. But with the amount of money involved, even with the tiny bits of precious metals inside the devices, many junkyards ignore the laws, turning them into black-market buyers.
There is a measure winding its way through the Illinois legislature, House Bill 0106, which would require licensed scrap dealers, parts recyclers and processors, among others, to keep records related to the acquisition or disposal of catalytic converters, including dates of sales, names and addresses of sellers.
Illinois legislators need to get behind that proposed law to make thefts of catalytic converters more punitive and increase penalties on scrap dealers who willingly accept stolen devices. Until then, motorists who are lawmakers’ constituents may become unwilling victims of the converter crooks among us cruising for easy scores.
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 933 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 10 additional deaths. In addition, 65% of Illinois adults have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose and 48% of Illinois adults are fully vaccinated, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 1,376,411 cases, including 22,633 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 33,010 specimens for a total of 24,266,277. As of last night, 1,393 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 334 patients were in the ICU and 180 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from May 17-23, 2021 is 2.2%. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from May 17-23, 2021 is 2.7%.
A total of 10,940,769 vaccines have been administered in Illinois as of last midnight. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 76,133 doses. Yesterday, 36,358 doses were reported administered in Illinois. Doses administered at CVS pharmacies over the weekend have not yet been reported and will be added in the coming days.
*All data are provisional and will change. In order to rapidly report COVID-19 information to the public, data are being reported in-time. Information is constantly being entered into an electronic system and the number of cases and deaths can change as additional information is gathered. For health questions about COVID-19, call the hotline at 1-800-889-3931 or email dph.sick@illinois.gov.
ICYMI: Speaker Welch stabs 2016 Rep. Welch in the back
Last Friday at 7:30 PM, Illinois Democrats unveiled the Microsoft Paint version of their proposed remake of our state legislative maps. Late Sunday, they released a Google Map version with more detail. Still missing is any shred of data that could help the public understand why the maps look as ridiculous as they do.
The idea of an independent map commission determining new redistricting lines - a proposal previously championed by dozens of Democrat legislators - has been abandoned. Instead, this wholly partisan process conducted behind locked doors in the Stratton Building has been led by a former independent map commission supporter, new Speaker Chris Welch.
Specifically, Welch wrote an op-ed in support of such a commission and stated the following:
1. An independent map commission would “protect minority representation.” And that it would “ensure that Illinois meets federal requirements under the Voting Rights Act to protect minority representation.”
2. “[T]his measure will make the redistricting process more transparent and take the process out of the hands of elected officials, which many of my constituents and residents across Illinois strongly support.”
At any point since becoming Speaker of the House, Chris Welch could have followed through on what is clear were hollow words of politician-speak.
ILGOP Spokesman Joe Hackler responded, saying, “When given the opportunity to protect minority representation and take the mapmaking process out of the hands of partisan politicians, Speaker Welch crumbled. His word meant nothing in 2016 and it certainly means nothing now. The only Democrat left who has the opportunity to live up to their promises, is Governor JB Pritzker. The people of Illinois demand that the Governor follow through on his pledge to veto any new map drawn by politicians.”
I asked Speaker Welch’s campaign spokesperson for comment.
*** UPDATE *** Alexandra Sims…
We don’t need to take advice from a party that knows nothing about diversity. Let’s compare the Speaker’s leadership team versus Leader Durkin’s leadership team and Candace Owens doesn’t count.
* You’d think that since both Matt and his wife Sandy have good jobs with good insurance, they wouldn’t need anything but our friendship at a time like this. But paid family and medical leave is temporary, and insurance doesn’t always cover things, so their need is all too real. Please, help them out…
Matt Jones is one of those folks who can disagree without ever being disagreeable. @peoriajones has a rare form of malignant brain cancer and he and his family really need our help right now, so please do what you can. Thanks! https://t.co/A4GJrGnHl9
Last day of radiation. My willpower bear has be powered up. And as a warning to all springfield types, don’t count me out, Mr. Bill and I still know how a bill becomes a law, at least I hope and prayer that he will… well ya’ll know the rest. pic.twitter.com/rJySIYjhmV
* Seeing a lot of this out there already, so listen to Hannah…
Not saying shapes aren't a consideration in whether a district is gerrymandered, but it's not the ONLY consideration and freaking out about ~crazy shapes~ only does your audience a disservice. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.
Please don't take this as me defending the proposed maps or saying there's no gerrymandering (see below https://t.co/0pvJcFwx5z) I'm merely asking people to look beyond the "wacky shapes" and dig deeper. The Voting Rights Act makes strange shapes are inevitable in many districts. https://t.co/orjFb0WQUN
If I had told you during the brief legislative session last May, while the state was still under a stay at home order and everything appeared to be collapsing, that Illinois would have an extra $2 billion laying around to pay off the remainder of a $3.2 billion federal loan, you might have thought I was insane.
But here we are.
A couple of weeks ago, the federal government declared that states could not use any of the billions of dollars they’re receiving from the American Rescue Plan to pay off loans. That caused severe consternation in Illinois, which had planned to use part of its $8 billion federal aid package to eliminate what was left of the loans it received from the Federal Reserve’s Municipal Liquidity Facility.
However, the General Assembly’s Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability revised its revenue estimate for the current fiscal year the same week. The new forecast moved COGFA’s March projections upward by about $2 billion. The Governor’s Office of Management and Budget revised its own forecast upward by about $1.5 billion the same day.
And then last week, the governor, the Democratic legislative leaders and the comptroller announced the state will use its own revenues to pay back the federal government instead of relying on American Rescue Plan money.
The loan repayment will save the state about $100 million in interest, but it also frees up $1 billion in Fiscal Year 2023 that otherwise would’ve had to go to the federal government if the state had remained on the original repayment timeline. “This sets us up for the future,” a legislative budgeteer explained.
The repayment move was also deemed prudent by some because the newly “found” money was prompting a horde of spending requests from members, even though COGFA and the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget both stressed that most of this revenue spike was one-time and would not recur in Fiscal Year 2022, which begins July 1.
Using the increased revenue to repay the federal loan, therefore, has the effect of short-circuiting that flood of new spending demands. It’s a fiscally smart move, which is not something that one can usually say about Illinois.
But it’s not a done deal yet because quite a few Democratic legislators will be upset that they can’t tap into the new revenues to fund what they consider to be crucial programs.
Some are worried that immediate spending pressures will win out in the end and cause Democratic leadership to cave. House Higher Education Appropriations Committee Chair La Shawn Ford, D-Chicago, was pretty firm last week, however, when asked his opinion about using state revenues to pay off federal debt.
Ford warned about both the state’s projected $1.3 billion deficit in the coming fiscal year and the absolute requirement to pay off the federal debt. He said both of those need to be addressed while also finding a way to “protect human services, public safety, education, and general services,” adding, “There is a path to fulfill all our obligations before the end of session.”
As far as next fiscal year goes, the House’s top budget negotiator, Majority Leader Greg Harris, declared last week that new revenues were needed to prevent “severe” cuts to pretty much everything. Nothing, he said, will be left unscathed unless that projected $1.3 billion deficit is closed.
The governor has proposed closing almost a billion dollars in “corporate loopholes” to prevent severe cost reductions, and there is supreme reluctance to using one-time federal aid to patch holes in recurring state spending. Doing that would simply kick the can down the road and not allow the state to finally get its fiscal house on a path to a semblance of stability.
The chair of the Senate’s lone appropriations committee, Elgie Sims, D-Chicago, has been telling me for several days that he hopes the budget produced this spring will result in an actual credit upgrade for the state.
Illinois has hovered just a tiny click or two above junk bond status for a very long time, so an upgrade would be a highly unusual and much-welcomed occurrence.
Comptroller Susana Mendoza has already argued for such an upgrade, but you gotta figure the New York raters will wait to see how the final week of session plays out before venturing into that territory.
The motto on the Illinois state flag is “State Sovereignty, National Union.” But these days, a more relevant one might be in order: “Fiscal Wreckage, State and Local.”
The first set of paired House incumbents. First # is new district; (X-##) are current party/district: 46: Conroy (D-46) and Mazzochi (R-47) 47: Grant (R-42) and Lewis (R-45) 50: Wheeler (R-50) and Ugaste (R-65) 51: Bos (R-51) and Morrison (R-54) 87: Sommer (R-88) and Luft (R-91)
Additionally, these Senate incumbents have been paired: 23: Thomas Cullerton (D-23) and Suzanne Glowiak (D-24) 55: Jason Plummer (R-54) and Darren Bailey (R-55)
* But not all Republicans were on the losing end. Politico…
Stephens gains ground: Republican Rep. Brad Stephens (20th) was an exception among GOP House lawmakers. His seat gained ground in Chicago (from the 41st and 38th Wards) and Rosemont, where he is mayor.
Relief for McConchie: The redraw of Senate Minority Leader Dan McConchie puts primary competitor Casey Urlacher in a different district.
…Adding… More on the packing…
From my analysis, Brad Halbrook and Blaine Wilhour each represent ~30% of the new HD-107, ensuring a heated primary battle. In contrast, Dan Caulkins and Adam Niemerg represent very small portions of the new district, making it unlikely that they will survive a contested primary.
Illinois politicians introduced the set of maps that they have been working on behind closed doors for weeks. These maps use 5-year sampling data that we know undercounts Illinoisans by 41,877 people.
We know this undercount likely has a great effect on people of color. It’s beyond alarming and disappointing. For too long, Black communities have historically been underrepresented, under-resourced, and targeted by large-scale misinformation campaigns designed to further disenfranchise them.
These maps are just another example of this disenfranchisement.
I asked if they could show specifically how people of color would be disenfranchised by the new maps, but I wasn’t given any specific examples.
* Press release…
Good government groups and community advocates strongly reject the attempt by Illinois lawmakers to introduce and pass maps that are built on an undercount of Illinoisans across the state. The proposed maps use American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year sampling data as the foundation, which undercounts Illinoisans by 41,877 people.
To exclude those people would be equivalent to excluding cities the size of Oak Park, Buffalo Grove, Quincy, or Rock Island.
The undercount is likely to have a greater effect on people of color. Black communities have historically been underrepresented, under-resourced, and targeted by large-scale misinformation campaigns designed to further disenfranchise them. The ACS data collection did not have the benefit of the historic, people-powered effort and state funding that the census did to ensure communities were counted, particularly Black communities. The ACS sampling process lacks the trusted community partnerships that are needed for an accurate count in historically disenfranchised communities.
Our state’s fastest growing populations, Asian American and Latinx communities, as well as the fastest growing counties of Kendall, Kane, Champaign, and Monroe, also are highly likely to be undercounted in the ACS sampling.
While the delay from the U.S. Census Bureau was unprecedented, the current predicament is manufactured by lawmakers for partisan advantage. Using ACS data was not lawmakers’ only option. The U.S. Census Bureau made the delays known more than a year ago when operations were severely hampered due to pandemic lockdowns, civil unrest and natural disasters in the West. In response, California and Oregon sought and were granted relief from constitutional redistricting deadlines by their state supreme courts. In Illinois, despite being given advice and options to do the same by National Conference of State Legislatures’ experts, lawmakers rejected the recommendation and even attempted to drum up fears of an undercount to discredit arguments to wait for census data.
Instead, due to the extraordinary investment by the state and efforts of hundreds of organizations, Illinois’ 2020 census count — and actual population — was much higher than the projected population from the ACS. Illinois was a leader in the nation, investing $47.5 million dollars for an accurate count and engaged more than 400 organizations to ensure residents were counted and represented.
The decisions by our current lawmakers will disenfranchise tens of thousands of voices for a decade by creating representative maps that do not include them. How is this equity for Illinois? We owe it to the people of this state and the community organizations that overcame incredible challenges to ensure an accurate Census count to wait for the census results. We owe it to vulnerable people who were hesitant to fill out the census and did so, despite concerns for their personal safety, to make sure they are counted. We owe it to the taxpayers who made a $47.5 million investment to secure an accurate count and accurate representation. Lawmakers should not settle for using the very undercount they railed against months earlier.
Everyone should count. Everyone deserves representation. Illinois deserves equitable redistricting.
We urge Illinois lawmakers to seek relief from the courts and halt current attempts to pass maps that erase thousands of Illinoisans. We urge Gov. J.B. Pritzker to fulfill his repeated pledges to veto any partisan map, but especially one built from an undercount of Illinoisans. It’s time to live up to your pledge to veto a partisan map, Governor. As repeated scientific surveys have shown, Illinoisans want independent mapping and fair representation. Illinoisans deserve better than to be erased by politicians who refuse to keep their campaign promises.
Asian Americans Advancing Justice | Chicago
Better Government Association
Blackroots Alliance
CHANGE Illinois
Coalition for a Better Chinese American Community
Common Cause Illinois
Cook County Black Chamber of Commerce
Garfield Park Chamber of Commerce
Illinois Black Chamber of Commerce
Illinois Chamber of Commerce
Illinois Muslim Civic Coalition
IVI-IPO
Latino Policy Forum
League of Women Voters Illinois
League of Women Voters Chicago
NAACP South Side Branch
NWSOFA-Indivisible
One Health Englewood
Reform for Illinois
RepresentUs - Illinois
The Decalogue Society of Lawyers
The National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) North Shore
Monday, May 24, 2021 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Telehealth use has increased among children to seniors, with every demographic quickly growing accustomed to virtual care as a result of COVID-19. Over one in four Medicare beneficiaries had a telehealth visit between the summer and fall of 2020. Similarly, one in five children had a telehealth visit during the pandemic.
The Coalition to Protect Telehealth advocates for patient-centered virtual care that’s high-quality, accessible and safe. The Coalition urges Illinois senators to vote “YES” on House Bill 3498 to preserve access to telehealth.
Coverage of telehealth services by traditional Medicare expanded during the pandemic, with 64% (33.6 million) of beneficiaries saying their providers offered telehealth during the pandemic vs. 18% pre-pandemic. Medicare beneficiaries more likely to utilize telehealth were:
• Those under age 65 with long-term disabilities;
• Black and Hispanic beneficiaries;
• Those enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid; and
• Beneficiaries with multiple chronic conditions.
Among children’s virtual visits, one in three parents chose telehealth primarily for its convenience. Parents said they preferred telehealth for minor illnesses and mental health, and 90% who used telehealth for the first time were satisfied with the visit.
Below are statements from Republican members of Illinois House Redistricting Committee on the Democrats’ continued effort to gerrymander legislative redistricting maps:
“Tonight’s drop of partisan maps is yet another attempt to mislead voters in an effort to block fair elections,” said State Representative Tim Butler (R-Springfield), “after so many promises made by Democrats to have an open and transparent process involving the public. We continue our call upon Governor Pritzker to live up to his pledge to the people of Illinois and veto a map that was drawn by politicians like what we see here today.”
“Releasing new partisan maps late on a Friday night proves that the Mike Madigan playbook continues in the Illinois House,” said State Representative Ryan Spain (R-Peoria). “In a further attempt to skirt any transparency, Democrats dropped partisan maps drawn in a locked room by politicians who hand selected their voters.”
“The Democrats did not listen to the dozens of advocacy groups who have demanded transparency, accurate data, and an open process that takes politicians out of the map making,” said State Representative Avery Bourne (R-Morrisonville). “This should not be a partisan process. We have long advocated for an independent commission, but the Democrats have turned their back on that idea.”
“I am, to say the least, dubious of the process and product of the legislative maps presented after 7 p.m. on a Friday night by the supermajority Democratic party,” said State Representative Dave Severin (R-Benton). “When Speaker Welch assumed his perch after 50 years of Madigan’s reign, he promised a “New Day” in Illinois. Unfortunately, we’re stuck in Groundhog’s Day with a partisan map, drawn by partisan politicians to protect their partisan advantage. Governor Pritzker has to keep his pledge to VETO this partisan map. This is step one in dealing with inherent, generational corruption that plagues our state, and will continue to unless JB Pritzker keeps his promise to VETO a map drawn by politicians FOR politicians.”
…Adding… House and Senate Democrats…
The Senate and House Redistricting Committees have released a proposed map of new legislative boundaries designed to comply with federal and state law and ensure the broad racial and geographic diversity of Illinois is reflected in the General Assembly.
The proposed map incorporates suggestions gathered during more than 45 public hearings held across the state as legislators sought input on how to best ensure communities across Illinois receive fair and equal representation. The proposal can be viewed at www.ilsenateredistricting.com and www.ilhousedems.com/redistricting. The public is encouraged to provide feedback during additional hearings that will take place next week before a map is voted on by the General Assembly.
“Redistricting is about making sure all voices are heard, and that’s exactly what this map accomplishes. This is a fair map that reflects the great diversity of our state and ensures every person receives equal representation in the General Assembly,” said Sen. Omar Aquino, D-Chicago, Chair of the Senate Redistricting Committee. “I’m grateful to all of the community groups and organizations who engaged in this process in a meaningful way and look forward to continuing those conversations in the coming days.”
“This proposed map amplifies the diverse voices of the people of Illinois, allows communities to be represented by people of their choice and ensures that every person in our state has a say in their government,” said Rep. Elizabeth Hernandez, D-Cicero, Chairperson of the House Redistricting Committee. “This fair map reflects input from grassroots individuals and community organizations across our state and I’m thankful for every person who took the time to make their voices heard. I look forward to continued engagement as Illinoisans provide feedback to this proposal in additional public hearings.”
Next week, there will be four hearings on the proposed map:
· Tuesday, May 25 at 4:00 PM – Joint House and Senate Hearing
· Tuesday, May 25 at 6:00 PM – House Hearing
· Wednesday, May 26 at 4:00 PM – Joint House and Senate Hearing
· Wednesday, May 26 at 6:00 PM – Senate Hearing
These will be hybrid hearings with the opportunity for in-person and virtual testimony. Details can be found online at www.ilga.gov.
Redistricting occurs every ten years as each state is required to draw new boundaries for legislative districts in response to shifts in population. While the Illinois Constitution does not require the use of U.S. Census data to draft a map, the Constitution does contain a June 30 deadline for the General Assembly to craft a map.
To fulfill this constitutional obligation and prevent the redistricting process from being turned over to a committee of partisan, political appointees, the proposed map was drafted using population information from the American Community Survey’s (ACS) 5-year estimate for 2019, in addition to robust public input. The ACS estimate varies by just 0.3 percent from the state’s official population count released by the U.S. Census Bureau in April.
Top of mind for the Redistricting Committee is conforming to several constitutional and statutory standards, including the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The Voting Rights Act prohibits the drawing of redistricting plans that results in the denial or abridgment of the right to vote based on race, color, or membership in a language minority. Building on that federal law, Illinois Democrats spearheaded the passage and implementation of the Illinois Voting Rights Act in 2011, which also ensures redistricting plans are crafted in a way that preserves clusters of minority voters if they are of size or cohesion to exert collective electoral power.
In Illinois, legislative redistricting maps must also meet three requirements: districts must be substantially equal in population, compact and contiguous.
Friday, May 21, 2021 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Study Finds Expanding Illinois’ Renewable Energy Program Will
Lower Energy Costs for All Illinois Consumers
• A study by former Illinois Power Agency (IPA) director shows that passing Path to 100 (HB 2640 / SB 1601) will lower energy costs for all ratepayers
• Consumers save more than $1.2 Billion over ten years by fully funding Illinois’ renewable energy program to 40% by 2031
• Path to 100 would create 53,000 new construction jobs
Why more renewables = lower costs:
1. Wind and solar generators have zero fuel costs, so they win wholesale energy auctions and displace more expensive power plants. These savings are passed on to all consumers.
2. Rooftop and community solar reduce peak demand, which reduces the amount of capacity that grid operators need to buy. These savings are passed on to all consumers.
3. Rooftop and community solar customers receive direct savings on their bills.
After months of almost cinematic twists and turns, an overture from a Swiss billionaire and campaigns from journalists for local ownership, shareholders have decided the fate of Tribune Publishing: Hedge fund Alden Global Capital will buy the Chicago Tribune parent for $17.25 per share.
Shareholders voted for the deal this morning in a meeting open only to those who hold stock. The meeting lasted less than 15 minutes. Alden, already the company’s largest shareholder, will pay $454 million for the roughly two-thirds of Tribune Publishing it doesn’t already own. Alden’s per-share price values the company at about $630 million.
The acquisition will put Tribune Publishing fully under the control of Alden, which has a reputation for deep cost-cutting, including newsroom layoffs, at roughly 200 newspapers it has acquired in a buyout spree across the troubled industry.
In a statement on the deal, Alden President Heath Freeman said: “The purchase of Tribune reaffirms our commitment to the newspaper industry and our focus on getting publications to a place where they can operate sustainably over the long term.”
* Republican gubernatorial candidate state Sen. Darren Bailey…
We’ve recently seen now Rodney Davis seems to have joined Adam Kinzinger in some of his antics on going back to January 6 for whatever that’s all about. As bad as everything is in this country we seem to, we can’t get over things and we can’t move on. We’ve got a lot of things to deal with and it’s time to get rid of, put some of this nonsense behind us and let the law take care of that and let our elected officials move on.
Guess what? People that have had this vaccine aren’t guaranteed they’re not gonna get Covid. Actually there’s good odds that they’ll get it again. So this is craziness. The FDA has not even approved this vaccine, ok, over 4,000 people have died and normally if it’s FDA approved if 5 people die a black label goes on this. I just learned this recently, black label about death goes on this, right. If 50 people die they stop it. Ok, 4,000 people, over 4,000 people so far have been reported to die from this.
Man, that’s just nuts.
* Excerpt from Republican gubernatorial candidate Paul Schimpf’s press release…
Members of Schimpf’s Law Enforcement Advisory Council include:
Jefferson County Sheriff Jeff Bullard
Monroe County Sheriff Neal Rohlfing
Randolph County Sheriff Shannon Wolff
Retired Illinois State Trooper Jay Wittenborn
Illinois Fraternal Order of Police Correction Lodge 263 President Scott Ward
Grundy County States Attorney Jason Helland
Correctional Case Work Supervisor Richard Graves
It has been very frustrating to watch this public health issue cause the many problems that we face today. I know many of our residents are struggling with the restrictions we are facing from the state. I will always side with our residents Constitutional Rights regardless to what consequences I may have.
‘Million Unmasked March’ protest scheduled at Illinois capitol […]
Organizers say they will have several guest speakers including Grundy County States Attorney Jason Helland, Illinois State Representative and State Senate candidate Darren Bailey, Constitutional Lawyer Thomas Devore
Loretto’s tax reports do not state who paid for Lightford’s trips.
Carroll said wholly owned insurance companies are not uncommon in the health care industry, and Loretto was forced to create its own firm several years ago “because there was not a single provider in the United States that would provide the insurance required for it to operate.”
“Members of boards who create captives also often serve on those boards, and this is no different in the case of Loretto,” Carroll said. “Board members of captives are required by Cayman Islands’ law to travel at least once a year to the island to attend one of their two annual board meetings. […]
In 2008 and 2012, Lightford used her campaign fund to reimburse Westside for bills totaling $1,833 related to Westside board meetings or other functions in the Cayman Islands, where Westside is registered.
So, at least in those two years, the hospital didn’t pay for her trips.
Loretto’s former hospital management firm and top contractor, Renaissance Hospital Management Inc., gave $38,350 to Lightford’s political fund between 2002 and 2014, records show.
But she has been paid through the hospital’s wholly owned insurance company, Westside Insurance Co. Lightford’s state ethics disclosures list her connection to Westside but do not divulge what she was paid or even her title with the firm.
Illinois lawmakers are required to disclose the name of organizations they received more than $1,200 from in a year but do not have to detail how much money they made or what work they did.
We need a better disclosure law.
*** UPDATE *** Leader Lightford…
Rich, the insinuation that I am somehow “financially benefiting” from the hospital’s captive insurance company is beyond ridiculous. I receive less than the $5,000 a year that’s required to be reported. I report it anyway in an effort to be transparent only to turnaround and now have it used against me. I have followed what are standard business practices, and I am proud of the work I have done for this vital health care resource in a tragically underserved community.
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 1,573 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 21 additional deaths. In addition, 64% of Illinois adults have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose and 47% of Illinois adults are fully vaccinated, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Cook County: 1 female 50s, 2 males 50s, 1 female 90s
DuPage County: 1 male 90s
Kane County: 1 female 60s, 1 male 60s
Kendall County: 1 female 60s
Macoupin County: 1 male 90s
Madison County: 1 male 50s, 1 female 70s
Ogle County: 1 male 40s
Peoria County; 1 male 70s
Sangamon County: 1 female 30s
St. Clair County: 1 male 40s
Tazewell County: 1 male 80s
Will County: 1 male 30s, 1 female 70s, 1 female 80s
Winnebago County: 2 females 80s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 1,373,457 cases, including 22,556 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 73,099 specimens for a total of 24,124,753. As of last night, 1,426 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 360 patients were in the ICU and 206 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from May 14-20, 2021 is 2.2%. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from May 14-20, 2021 is 2.8%.
A total of 10,767,013 vaccines have been administered in Illinois as of last midnight. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 76,812 doses. Yesterday, 126,023 doses were reported administered in Illinois.
*All data are provisional and will change. In order to rapidly report COVID-19 information to the public, data are being reported in-time. Information is constantly being entered into an electronic system and the number of cases and deaths can change as additional information is gathered. For health questions about COVID-19, call the hotline at 1-800-889-3931 or email dph.sick@illinois.gov.
A Tribune analysis of federal vaccination data shows that in Glencoe’s predominant ZIP code, roughly 1 in every 6 residents was given their first dose from Chicago’s vaccine supply during the rollout’s earliest phases.
Residents of other affluent suburbs also had luck finding shots in the city between December 2020 and mid-April, a period when eligibility rules were still in play, people were desperate to find appointments and city officials were promising to steer doses to the hardest-hit neighborhoods. At least 1 in 8 of all residents in ZIP codes covering Oak Park, Kenilworth, Wilmette, Winnetka and River Forest received their first dose in Chicago, the data shows. When looking only at those residents who got vaccinated, the numbers are even more stark: At least 1 in 4 found shots in the city.
In fact, more Northbrook residents received first doses from the city’s supply than people living in Englewood’s primary ZIP code.
Pekin-based Reditus labs has discovered the Indian double mutant variant of the coronavirus in Bloomington-Normal. The lab tests nasal samples throughout the country.
Reditus said the latest batch of 371 randomly selected positive samples showed a single instance of the so-called B.1.617 Indian double mutant variant. Preliminary evidence indicates the Indian variant is potentially more dangerous than previous strains of the virus, Reditus said. […]
The dominant strains of variants in the batch tested by Reditus were the UK and Brazilian variants. Those two strains accounted for 65% of the samples. 85% of the total batch was collected in Illinois. The South African and Santa Clara variants also had a presence.
Chicago Cubs President Jed Hoyer didn’t mince words Thursday, calling his team’s failure to get 85% of Tier 1 employees fully vaccinated “disappointing,” and agreeing the team would be at a competitive disadvantage if they don’t reach the goal.
“It’s disappointing to not be at 85% as a team,” Hoyer said on a teleconference before the game against the Washington Nationals. “We’ve worked hard to get as many people vaccinated as possible. It’s hard to try and convince or educate the people who have been reluctant. […]
About half of the league’s 32 teams — including the White Sox — are already past the 85% mark and have had protocols relaxed. Hoyer pointed to the “conveniences” of having those relaxed protocols, including managers and coaches being able to shed masks in the dugout, players dining out together and eliminating the contract-tracing element.
Hoyer called it “a real competitive advantage we’re going to miss.”
William Stratford, 29, won’t be fully vaccinated until next month, but shoppers and co-workers at the home improvement store where he works had been coming in without a mask even before the CDC put out its latest guidance.
He has complained to management and eats lunch in his car to avoid mask-less people in the breakroom. He gets stares from shoppers and co-workers.
“I know for a fact people have a negative opinion of me,” said Stratford of Valley Center, California, who asked that the store where he works not be named out of fear of reprisal. “It’s become a divisive issue in the workplace.” […]
Marc Perrone, president of the United Food and Commercial International Union, said about 40% of workers who participated in a recent union survey said they were vaccinated. He acknowledged that some many never get the shots, but he said the CDC and companies should have waited a few months to give people more time before shifting the guidance for indoor settings.
Five years ago, Illinois lawmakers passed a law that boldly aimed to build a solar power industry from scratch while also saving thousands of jobs at two struggling Exelon nuclear plants.
Besides bailing out the nuclear plants, the Future Energy Jobs Act promised to create tens of thousands of solar power jobs and get the state moving away from fossil fuels to a point where, by 2025, Illinois would be getting a quarter of its power from “clean energy” sources.
Things haven’t worked out as planned. The 2025 target is now far out of reach, the jobs expectations went unmet, and the solar industry is laying off workers as the funding that was promised has dried up, an investigation by Inside Climate News and the Chicago Sun-Times found.
The plans the law promised sputtered from the start.
Now, state legislative leaders are racing to meet a May 31 deadline to fix its biggest problems — including the impending loss of more than $300 million in funding for renewable energy programs.
An Illinois House committee Thursday unanimously approved a bill designed to create more racial, ethnic and gender diversity in the ownership of marijuana dispensaries.
“There is an entire ecosystem that needs to start to grow,” Toi Hutchinson, senior adviser to Gov. JB Pritzker on cannabis policy, said before the House Executive Committee voted 15-0 to send House Bill 1443 to the full House for a vote as soon as Friday.
Sponsored by state Rep. La Shawn Ford, D-Chicago, the bill would make the first major changes to the state’s recreational marijuana industry since Illinois lawmakers first allowed the cultivation, sale and use of cannabis to people 21 and older in Illinois in January 2020.
Two of the state Senate’s newest members — the chamber’s first LGTBQ senator and a Republican farmer from southern Illinois — clashed Thursday over legislation meant to standardize sex education curriculums in the state.
State Sen. Darren Bailey, a downstate Republican running for governor, accused the bill’s Democratic sponsors of “pushing perversion in our schools.”
North Side state Sen. Mike Simmons, who is gay, called Bailey’s remark “deeply offensive” and asked that it be stricken from the record. […]
The Senate bill on sex education seeks to standardize the curriculum in Illinois schools, ensuring each grade “has the opportunity to be safe and … have access to age- and developmentally appropriate and medically accurate information,” according to the bill’s sponsor, state Sen. Ram Villivalam, D-Chicago.
A bill that would require schools to provide free menstrual hygiene products in all bathrooms for grades 4 through 12 passed the Illinois House and will now be up for consideration in the Senate. […]
Rep. Andrew Chesney, R-Freeport, said he was mostly concerned about the language requiring the products to be available in all bathrooms, which would include male bathrooms.
“There have been male and female bathrooms a hundred years plus in this country and nobody has had a problem taking care of the sensitive nature of being a certain gender,” Chesney said.
“But to perhaps put female products in male bathrooms is not only confusing to a sixth grader, but completely inapplicable. I would really appreciate it if the sponsor would stay the hell out of my bathrooms,” he added.
Hernandez said this is necessary so that male friends can help out their classmates in emergency situations. Rep. Kathleen Willis, D-Addison, added that this is also a more inclusive approach to protect transgender youth.
* I’ve been telling subscribers about this development for several days…
Measures in the Illinois House and Senate cued up for possible passage before the end of the month could ask voters to enshrine union protections in the state constitution.
State Sen. Ram Villivalam, D-Chicago, has Senate Joint Resolution Constitutional Amendment 11 making its way through the Senate.
“It proposes to amend the Illinois Constitution to provide that no law passes on or after the amendment’s enactment may prohibit the ability of workers to collectively bargain over wages, hours, terms and conditions,” Villivalam said during committee Wednesday.
The measure advanced out of committee without any debate.
If passed by the Senate, it would need to pass the House. A similar bill has been filed in the house. Voters would have the ultimate say in the 2022 statewide election.
…Adding… Overwhelming majority…
SJRCA 11 passes with 49 voting in favor and 7 voting against
We’re all for a a bill that passed out of an Illinois Senate committee this week that would require high schools to offer instruction about understanding and evaluating news and social media as part of their computer literacy courses.
Sen. Terri Bryant, R-Murphysboro, questioned how objective schools could be in teaching students how to evaluate news stories by separating factual news from “fake news.”
She was told that teachers would be trained in how to instruct students in media usage and that the difference between fake news and real news is the same as the difference between fiction and nonfiction.
“So the teachers themselves would be deciding what’s fake news, by their own opinion,” Bryant said, according to Capitol News Illinois.
It sounds to us like Bryant could use that course herself.
Teaching critical thinking should always be central to the mission of our schools. That doesn’t mean the teacher decides whether a particular news story or social media post is factual. The teacher would help students learn for themselves how to separate facts from fiction and separate opinions from facts.
* As you may be aware, Rep. Joe Sosnowski (R-Rockford) has been pushing to open up IDES offices. SJ-R…
In a statement to The State Journal-Register on Thursday, IDES spokeswoman Rebecca Cisco said physical safety at unemployment and department offices was a serious concern.
“A local office was vandalized and had a large piece of equipment thrown through the office window while another local office experienced a bomb threat; police reports were filed in both incidents. While there have been other physical incidents of this nature, staff routinely experience verbal threats from individuals via the phone and through email. Collectively, this remains a concern, and is being considered as the Department looks for a way to move forward with a phased reopening,” Cisco said.
Cisco said the department remains closed because of both the pandemic and threats to safety.
“Really that’s a bunch of nonsense. They’ve not shared any additional information other than a case of some graffiti at a Springfield office,” Sosnowski said.
* I asked the administration if Rep. Sosnowski had asked for a security briefing…
He did not. He sent a letter saying open the offices. But has not asked for a meeting or to be briefed on security threats
* As I told subscribers earlier this week, releasing the new maps on a Friday and holding redistricting hearings over the subsequent weekend while most members of both chambers are back in their districts makes sense and is a tried and true tactic. So, we’ll see…
At long last, we should see the first draft of the new Illinois redistricting maps today, according to Senate sources briefed on the matter. We’ve been told several public hearings will follow where advocates can voice concerns and weigh in on the lines.
While Republicans have called for an independent process, spending records and vouchers filed with the Illinois Comptroller’s office show they are also actively working on a backup plan.
The House and Senate combined to spend more than $1.4 million so far to re-draw the maps. In the Senate, Democrats reported spending $557,594.80 so far, dwarfing the $173.731.44 in Senate Republican map-making expenses. Meanwhile, House Republicans reported spending $427,165.77 compared to $260,627.05 for House Democrats. […]
Expense reports show House Republicans are hiring attorneys, redistricting experts, data consultants, and purchasing software and IT equipment — all the tools they would need to draw the maps themselves.
Eleni Demertzis, a spokesperson for House Minority Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs), said, “the majority of the fees are for attorneys/counsel which are necessary to explore all different avenues during the redistricting process.”
There’s no guarantee, though, that the Democrats have actually submitted all their vouchers for payment. So, the numbers may not mean that much.
Tinley Park officials gathered in the center of town Thursday afternoon to give updates and express concern regarding the former Tinley Park Mental Health Center property, where it was recently discovered that 2.1 million gallons of water spilled out of the property’s buildings and into Tinley Park’s storm sewers due to a water main break. […]
“The Village has been pleading with the state to do something about this for years,” [Tinley Park Mayor Michael Glotz] said. “I cannot for the life of me understand why those with the power in State Government to effectuate a transfer of this property to the Village continue to stonewall Tinley Park.” […]
Glotz said he has sent over 13 emails to Sen. Michael Hastings, who represents the 19th District. Hastings never directly responded to Glotz, but the mayor alleged that in an indirect response, Hastings “threatened” to “cut Tinley Park into five different districts, so Tinley Park never gets anything done.” The mayor added that Hastings said “a couple of other despicable comments” that he didn’t want to repeat.
Hastings told the Southtown that the allegations were “baseless.”
For better or worse, despite the popularity of Bitcoin and alternative coins, crypto isn’t likely to disrupt the campaign finance world any time soon. While a number of young candidates made media splashes in the 2020 cycle by announcing that their campaigns would accept Bitcoin contributions, the current federal rules restrict those donations to a degree that reduces such announcements to little more than PR stunt.
Despite the explosive growth of cryptocurrencies in the last year, however, those rules aren’t formalized. They stem from a 2014 Federal Election Commission advisory opinion specific to Bitcoin, but which allows room for materially similar transactions that would extend to alternative denominations as well. Candidates looking to appeal to new donors through cryptocurrency also bristle at other restrictions, such as the $100 cap on individual contributions—roughly three percent of the $2,900 limit for donations made with cards or checks.
But the FEC argues these policies aren’t simply one more instance of a stodgy federal government unwilling or unable to adapt to a transformative new technology. From the agency’s perspective, the features most responsible for crypto’s appeal—privacy and institutional independence—pose threats to the very foundation of campaign finance law.
* So I asked Matt Dietrich at the Illinois State Board of Elections about cryptocurrency regulations here…
Cryptocurrency isn’t mentioned anywhere in statute. In theory, it’s not restricted but it must be accurately reported. We haven’t had cryptocurrency contributions reported, but when we’ve had questions about it we advised candidates to report it as an investment.
Friday, May 21, 2021 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Strong evidence supports the role of telehealth in patient-centered care. That’s according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), part of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.
Reflecting on telehealth during the pandemic, AHRQ researchers identified important benefits of virtual care:
• Increasing access to healthcare services, particularly in rural areas;
• Promoting continuity of care;
• Decreasing healthcare costs; and
• Improving patient self-management and patient outcomes.
“With a robust telehealth infrastructure in place, patients may receive more timely diagnoses and treatment recommendations, more appropriate follow-up care, and a reduced likelihood of experiencing an adverse event as a result of delayed assessment and treatment,” the authors said.
During the pandemic, healthcare professionals throughout Illinois have made sure patients could continue needed healthcare services using telehealth. Passing House Bill 3498 in the Illinois Senate will ensure Illinoisans continue to have access to innovative telehealth services after the pandemic.
The pandemic presented a “unique opportunity to implement innovative and creative approaches to patient care [that] will have long-lasting impacts for the future of telehealth,” the AHRQ article notes. As part of delivering safe, high-quality healthcare “telehealth will become a part of standard practice.”
Former City Club President Jay Doherty asked a judge Thursday to toss parts of a bombshell indictment filed last fall charging him and members of former House Speaker Michael Madigan’s inner circle with bribery, calling the federal prosecution “shaky at best.”
The indictment alleged that Doherty, Madigan confidant Michael McClain, ex-ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore and onetime ComEd lobbyist John Hooker arranged for Madigan’s associates and allies to get jobs, contracts and money in order to influence Madigan. […]
Attorney Gabrielle Sansonetti wrote that one of the federal laws Doherty is accused of violating “prohibits any prosecution where the object of the bribe is a bona fide job in the usual course of business” and added that, “the indictment fails to evidence the grand jury’s consideration of this essential element.”
Without requiring such evidence, the attorney wrote, prosecutors are “free to indict any legislator who recommends any person for a job to any entity that will benefit or may have previously benefited from that legislator’s official action.”
Prosecutors “can easily secure evidence regarding the legitimacy of the job at issue,” Sansonetti wrote. Meanwhile, she added that Doherty “must wait until a jury trial to prove the legitimacy of the jobs.”
