CEO Chris Crane has said [the governor’s proposed $70 million a year subsidy for two of Exelon’s nuclear power plants is] not nearly enough. So how much is enough? The company continues to dodge that question. The only hint Crane has given came in a May 5 earnings call with analysts when he pointed to a recent decision in New Jersey to subsidize nukes there.
“If you take a look at what happened in New Jersey last week, the (state) concluded that the financial challenges faced by nuclear plants there justified a maximum (subsidy) of $10 per megawatt-hour,” Crane said.
Applying that level of support to Dresden and Byron would entail increases in electricity rates sufficient to generate $353 million in annual revenue based on the two plants’ 2019 production. That’s nearly five times what Pritzker is offering—an amount based on an independent audit the governor commissioned of Exelon’s nuclear plants—and well above the $235 million Rauner signed into law in 2016.
The 2016 subsidy adds about $2 a month on average to electric bills throughout the state. A $353 million subsidy would tack on nearly $3 more.
The demanded subsidy is about $120 million more than the 2016 bill signed into law by Gov. Bruce Rauner. But that $353 million figure may actually be low. Subscribers know more.
* I’m told that several performers are demanding that anyone who works backstage at the Illinois State Fair Grandstand must be vaccinated or they won’t play. The state uses an outside company to provide backstage workers and they must be unionized. From Stagehands Local 138…
For those that plan to work the 2021 Illinois State Fair I have some information and requirements to pass along.
The Department of Agriculture has notified us that we will need to ensure all our employees performing services on the Fairgrounds are fully vaccinated with an FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccination. This is an amendment to our current State Fair contract. Here is the definition of fully vaccinated per the Dept of Ag.
“Fully vaccinated with an FDA-approved COVID-19 vaccination” is defined as the person having all doses of a vaccine approved by for public use by the Federal Drug Administration, and being at least two weeks past the final shot. This means either: two (2) doses of the Moderna vaccine within the allowable time apart, two (2) doses of the Pfizer vaccine within the allowable time apart, or one (1) dose of Johnson & Johnson. If additional vaccinations become FDA-approved treatment, these can be included without violating this agreement. Exemptions to this exist for any individual with a religious or medical exemption as defined by the EEOC.
We are also required to notify the Dept of Ag at least one week prior to arrival on the Fairgrounds with a list of all employees and their vaccination status. It can take awhile to get fully vaccinated so we (local 138) are putting a deadline to reporting your verification status.
The deadline will be Saturday July 17th, 2021 by 8pm. Anyone that does not report their vaccination status by this date and time will not be able to work the State Fair.
Note: If we fail to comply with any of these requests it could be considered a breach of our contract, cause for termination or removal from the Fairgrounds. So please help this process go as smoothly as possible. If you have any questions please contact one of your officers of the local.
* On to the fun stuff, if you like Sammy Hagar…
The Illinois State Fair will welcome Sammy Hagar & The Circle, one of rock music’s most dynamic supergroups, featuring Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees Sammy Hagar and bassist Michael Anthony, drummer Jason Bonham and guitarist Vic Johnson to the Illinois Lottery Grandstand Stage Thursday, August 12.
Tickets for Sammy Hagar & The Circle will go on sale Saturday, May 22 at 10am on www.ticketmaster.com.
For the last four decades, Sammy Hagar has been one of rock music’s most dynamic and prolific artists. From breaking into the industry with the seminal hard rock band Montrose, to his multiplatinum solo career, to his ride as the front man of Van Halen, Chickenfoot and his latest supergroup The Circle, Hagar has set the tone for some of the greatest rock anthems ever written with songs like “I Can’t Drive 55,” “Right Now,” and “Why Can’t This Be Love.”
Sammy Hagar & The Circle have quickly established themselves as one of the most emphatic and exciting live acts on tour today. The band seamlessly rips through career-spanning hits from Sammy Hagar’s solo career, Van Halen, Montrose and new music from The Circle’s debut album, Space Between, which debuted at #4 on the Billboard 200 chart and #1 four Billboard charts including Top Rock Albums and Hard Rock Albums charts. The Circle kicked off 2021 with the release of Lockdown 2020, an album collection of their massively popular Lockdown Sessions featuring raw and raucous compact covers recorded remotely by each bandmember during the Covid-19 pandemic, the digital music videos which include hits like The Who’s “Won‘t Get Fooled Again,” Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds, “AC/DC, “Whole Lotta Rosie” and David Bowie’s “Heroes” had already reached an online audience of more than 30 million before the album’s release.
In addition to Sammy Hagar & The Circle joining the Illinois Lottery Grandstand lineup, Dorothy and Dead Poet Society have been announced as opening acts for Badflower on August 19. Dorothy’s first album ROCKISDEAD hit number one on Billboard’s Heatseekers Chart, with two songs from the album in the Top 40 on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Chart. Dead Poet Society’s musical landscape runs the gamut from heavy riff driven songs to stunningly beautiful ballads. Their signature sound is created by fretless guitars and the extraordinary vocals of lead singer Jack Underkofle.
The Illinois State Fair also announced Kelsea Ballerini has canceled her stop at the Illinois State Fair. Ballerini was scheduled to perform with Kylie Morgan and Chapel Heart on Friday August 20. Customers who purchased Kelsea Ballerini tickets directly through www.Ticketmaster.com or through the Ticketmaster mobile app, will receive an automatic refund back to the card used to purchase the tickets.
Tickets for Sammy Hagar & The Circle will go on sale Saturday, May 22 at 10am on www.ticketmaster.com. Please note, fairgoers who purchase grandstand tickets will receive a full refund if COVID-19 prevents the Illinois State Fair from being held.
The Illinois House on Wednesday passed a bill that would expand the scope of the Firearms Restraining Order Act and spread awareness of the law in law enforcement and the general public.
Skokie Democratic Rep. Denyse Stoneback, a freshman legislator, introduced House Bill 1092 last month in response to high profile mass shootings that took place in the U.S. earlier this year, including a shooting at an Indiana FedEx facility. […]
Under the Illinois’ Firearm Restraining Order Act, family members of an individual and law enforcement can petition the courts to remove that individual’s guns and prevent them from purchasing or borrowing guns if it is determined that the individual would pose a threat to themself or others if they were in possession of a firearm.
Stoneback’s legislation would expand the list of family members who can file such a petition to include former spouses and people who have or allegedly have a child with the subject of the restraining order.
HB 1092 would also apply the firearm restraining order to more than just guns. If courts grant the order, under Stoneback’s bill, the individual would also be banned from purchasing or owning ammunition and weapon parts that could be assembled into a usable gun.
Congress banned states from installing new lead water lines in 1986. Yet, most of the older pipes still haven’t been removed. Illinois state lawmakers hope to finally address that issue this year to make sure everyone has clean water.
Experts say Illinois has one-eighth of all lead service lines in the United States. Lawmakers argue it’s past time to replace those pipes.
Their plan could also create a state grant program to fund the project and technical assistance for utility workers. Research from the Metropolitan Planning Council shows Black and Latinx people in Illinois are twice as likely to live in areas with lead pipes than their white counterparts.
Sen. Melinda Bush (D-Grayslake) says her proposal is a reasonable and equitable path forward to ensure every community eliminates this issue. She also feels this plan is a significant long-term economic engine for Illinois.
* I’ve received several not quite literate emails from this group, so I’m glad somebody stepped in to make some sense out of it…
A group of Illinois county clerks opposing a hike in a document fee has coincided with an audit of the Housing Development Authority that found repeated instances of inaccurate financial reporting involving millions of dollars.
Lawmakers are considering legislation that would double the fee for documents obtained through Recorder of Deeds offices from $9 to $18, and the money is supposed to be distributed to the Rental Housing Support Program throughout the state.
Tazewell County Clerk John Ackerman said his county hasn’t received any grants from the program in the last decade despite contributing nearly $1 million in fees. Two of the 10 clerks opposed to the fee hike say their county has received grants from the program.
“Our research found this grant revenue rarely leaves the Chicago Metro Area and not all the expenses could be accounted for, leaving many of us wondering just where is all this already existing revenue going?” according to a statement from the clerks.
The Illinois House has passed House Bill 3498, a bill aimed at removing barriers to telehealth services.
COVID-19 sped up the adoption telehealth, in which patients attend doctors’ visits remotely via video call, but not all have access under existing law.
Charles James, the Illinois Rural Health Association’s president-elect, said the bill addresses at the state level a problem “cooked in” to how providers get paid for telehealth services.
The reimbursement structures for rural health clinics and community health centers meant they weren’t getting paid for remote patient visits.
“There were restrictions on providers being able to be paid in certain circumstances, and there was a hard restriction on patients being able to be at their home,” James said.
And in Kansas City, Mo., Mayor Quinton Lucas in a matter of about seven hours said he would not change his mask order, then that he would think about it, then that he was getting rid of it altogether because there was no good way to know who was fully vaccinated and who was not.
“While I understand the C.D.C.’s theory that they could just create a rule that says vaccinated folks go anywhere without a mask, and everybody else who’s unvaccinated will follow it, I don’t know if that’s the type of rule that was written in coordination with anyone who has been a governor or a mayor over the last 14 months,” said Mr. Lucas, a Democrat.
The abrupt decision by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to free fully vaccinated people from its mask guidance in most indoor and outdoor settings set off a scramble on Friday across the country to update local rules and redefine social norms.
Major corporations and local shopkeepers weighed whether to take down “masks-required” signs on their doors. People heading to the office or coffee shop or grocery store had to navigate rapidly shifting scientific advice and government restrictions. And surprised state and local officials, including some who withstood months of protests and lawsuits to keep mask orders in place, said they needed time to evaluate the new federal guidance.
“We’ve just learned of that prospective determination while we’re on the stage,” Stefan Pryor, the Rhode Island secretary of commerce, said during a news conference on Thursday shortly after the C.D.C. released its new guidance. “But as of now, yes, mask-wearing will be required.”
* The Question: Do you think there will be much confusion or controversy over this new mask policy? Explain, please.
Friday, May 14, 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.
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 1,841 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 49 additional deaths.
Boone County: 1 male 80s
Cook County: 2 females 50s, 3 males 50s, 1 male 60s, 1 female 70s, 2 males 70s, 2 females 80s, 2 females 90s, 1 male 90s
DuPage County: 1 female 60s, 1 male 60s
Edgar County: 1 female 50s
Ford County: 1 female 40s
Franklin County: 1 male 60s
Fulton County: 1 female 50s
Hancock County: 1 female 70s
Henry County: 1 female 80s
Jersey County: 1 male 70s
Kane County: 1 female 40s, 1 female 70s, 1 male 70s
Kendall County: 1 female 60s
Madison County: 1 female 70s
McHenry County: 1 male 70s, 1 male 80s, 1 female 90s
Morgan County: 1 female 60s
Peoria County: 1 female 40s, 1 male 50s, 2 males 60s, 1 female 80s
Rock Island County: 1 male 70s, 1 female 90s, 1 male 90s
Schuyler County: 1 male 90s
St. Clair County: 1 male 60s
Stephenson County: 1 female 80s, 1 female 90s
Tazewell County: 1 male 50s
Whiteside County: 1 male 40s
Williamson County: 1 male 80s
Winnebago County: 1 male 90s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 1,363,507 cases, including 22,369 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 83,624 specimens for a total of 23,677,720. As of last night, 1,708 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 425 patients were in the ICU and 237 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from May 7-13, 2021 is 2.5%. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from May 7-13, 2021 is 3.1%.
A total of 10,229,330 vaccines have been administered in Illinois as of last midnight. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 72,767 doses. Yesterday, 50,326 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 real-time. Information is constantly being entered into an electronic system and the number of cases and deaths can change as additional information is gathered. For health questions about COVID-19, call the hotline at 1-800-889-3931 or email dph.sick@illinois.gov.
Gary Rabine, a candidate for Governor, is calling for Illinois to join the list of a growing number of states opting out of the federal unemployment benefits.
“Small businesses have suffered long enough and now with their inability to find workers to fill their openings, they will suffer longer,” Rabine said. “It is very important that we stop the unemployment stimulus now and get our kids back to school in Illinois.”
The National Federation of Independent Business reported that 44% of small businesses said they can’t find workers to fill job openings. The unemployment bonus is scheduled to expire in September, but by that time the most productive months of Illinois small business will be gone.
“The Biden administration, who our Governor Pritzker is aligned with on almost everything, said there is little evidence that the unemployment stimulus is dissuading people from taking jobs,” Rabine said. “They blamed closed schools and daycare centers, saying many parents have to stay home to take care of children. The Biden administration is wrong, the unemployment bonus is dissuading people from working. Any worker who can make more on unemployment owes it to themselves and their families to consider staying home.”
At least nine states, including Missouri and Iowa, are opting out of the benefit later this summer. Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds said in a statement: “Federal pandemic-related unemployment benefit programs initially provided displaced Iowans with crucial assistance when the pandemic began. But now that our businesses and schools have reopened, these payments are discouraging people from returning to work.”
Businesses have 8.1 million jobs to fill and yet in April, the economy only added a paltry 266,000 jobs suggesting the federal unemployment benefits are keeping workers out of the workplace. Rabine said he is hearing from Illinois employers with concerns about their ability to fill open positions.
“As I travel this state, I see ‘Help Wanted’ signs everywhere and when I talk to the business owners, I hear the same thing – they can’t fill the jobs,” Rabine said. “I don’t blame workers for choosing unemployment benefits over going to a job. It makes total sense to get the same pay or in some cases higher pay staying home than dealing with going to work every day. I don’t blame anyone for making a logical decision, but at the same time we need healthy, able-bodied workers to return to the workforce. We need to follow the lead of Missouri and Iowa and opt out of the federal unemployment benefits. Job growth is the only path forward for a full economic recovery and we can’t have that if our workers aren’t working.”
Rabine said Biden is right that many parents feel they must stay home with their children who are not in school and we can’t blame good parents for this. The Rabine plan is to:
1. Stop the unemployment stimulus bonuses
2. Get Illinois’ public schools open 100%
3. Lower, not raise, taxes
“If we do these things, Illinoisans will want to get back to work and small businesses will have the opportunity to serve their customers again at maximum productivity with millions of career opportunities,” Rabine said. “We need to stop the printing presses, get back to school and back to work!”
* I was on break when Rabine announced his candidacy in late March. Sun-Times story…
“Fifteen years ago in Illinois, we really were the best place in the middle of the country to create jobs and start a business, to grow a business. But over the last 15 years, that’s deteriorated to being the worst,” he told the Sun-Times in an interview between events Tuesday.
He dismisses Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker as a “trust fund billionaire” who doesn’t have the right business experience to lead the state.
“I don’t have any knowledge of him ever building a business from the ground up. I mean, he calls himself an entrepreneur, but I’ve not witnessed real entrepreneurship there,” he said of Pritzker. “Buying and selling companies for profit is a little different from … building a paving business here in Illinois and creating a national platform for paving parking lots.”
Rabine criticized Pritzker’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis, saying that “a total shutdown may not have been necessary” last March.
Fifteen years ago, Rod Blagojevich was running for his second term in office. Just sayin…
Rabine, a Bull Valley resident, said he will avoid the partisan paralysis the state saw with Rauner by bringing an open mind and steady communication to working with the legislature, rather than relying on executive orders as Rabine said Pritzker has done in his response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I believe that I get stronger when I surround myself with people who think differently,” Rabine said. “Because my passion is to understand all sides of the coin, I’m confident that I’ll be able to reach across better than most anybody I’ve seen.”
Rabine said he thinks the legislature will continue to evolve from the one involved in the budget impasse under the Rauner administration after being freed from the grip of former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.
By 2022, the “financial crisis” in Illinois will have reached a breaking point where bipartisan cooperation will be necessary, and unavoidable, he said.
Asked by a reporter if he believed, as Trump has falsely stated, that the election was stolen due to fraud, Rabine said, “I’m not smart enough to understand what was the end result, whether it was stolen or not, and I would never say that.” […]
Rabine is an advisory board member of Turning Point USA, the controversial conservative youth group founded by Illinoisan Charlie Kirk. Rabine has called Kirk one of his heroes. Kirk, who has come under fire for spreading disinformation about the pandemic, was one of the first users of the term “China virus.” The Washington Post reported that during last year’s election season his organization funded a deceptive social media campaign aimed at influencing young people. […]
[Rabine] pledged he would “never shut down our economy and ruin thousands of businesses as J.B. Pritzker has.” […]
Rabine pledged a 50% cut in property taxes by 2024. Asked earlier how he would substantially cut property taxes, which primarily fund schools, without hurting education, Rabine offered no details but said he had an “economic team” working on a plan.
* It’s almost the two-year mark for Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, so analyses abound. I’ll just focus on my lane. Here’s Greg Hinz…
One place adjustment clearly is needed is Springfield. Despite a big win in finally getting permission to build a casino—something her predecessors could only dream about—the mayor’s team constantly jostles with Pritzker’s. With her friend John Cullerton no longer the Senate president, Lightfoot suffered a series of humiliating defeats, including being routed on a bill that will raise pensions for some firefighters at a difficult time, dropping plans for a tax hike she wanted for affordable housing and struggling to save her power on the school board.
The advice from such varied figures as House GOP Leader Jim Durkin and Sen. Sara Feigenholtz, D-Chicago: Reach out, personally. “It’s about compromising and collaborating,” Feigenholtz puts it.
That graduated real estate transfer tax issue could’ve been easily resolved had she simply recognized that the other side had enough votes to kill her plan and all she had to do was find a win. She went my way or the highway and it died. Her refusal to deal on the elected school board likely led to the firefighters pension bill, and her elected board counter-proposal was ridiculous. Subscribers know more about another challenge she faces these days.
* But despite all this, she apparently remains above water with the public. This poll was conducted by the same pollster I used last year and found to be pretty darned reliable…
The poll, which had a margin of error of 4.8%, also asked respondents how they rate Lightfoot’s overall performance, with 53% saying they either strongly approved or somewhat approved of the job she’s doing.
Lightfoot did best among respondents age 65 or older; 64% of them approved of the job she’s done. And 70% of Black respondents approved of her performance.
According to the poll, 41% of Latinos surveyed and 50% of whites said they approved of her performance.
Remember, however, that she won her election with 73 percent of the vote. Also, you may notice there are no disapproval numbers in that story.
* I reached out and was able to get the crosstabs. Here are her topline results…
As you can see, she’s at 14 percent strongly approve with all respondents versus 24 strongly disapprove.
The crosstabs show her underwater with Latinos 41-58. She’s at 50-49 with whites, 70-30 with Black people, 44-56 with 18-34 year olds, 59-42 with 35-49 year olds, 54-47 with 50-64 year olds and 64-35 with 65+. Obviously, there’s some rounding to those numbers over four different variables. Methodology is here.
There’s another angle to this poll, so I’ll try to get to that in a bit.
The Lincoln Club of McLean County on Thursday evening hosted its inaugural event at the Bloomington Country Club. Billed as an educational forum, the event was entitled “Can Illinois Be Fixed?”
As debated by a panel of GOP leaders, that question centered largely around another question: Can Republicans unseat Gov. JB Pritzker in the 2022 gubernatorial race?
The answer, according to former Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar is … maybe.
He was joined on the panel by state Rep. Dan Brady of Bloomington and former Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady. The event was moderated by state Sen. Jason Barickman, also of Bloomington.
Edgar said the problem facing Republicans in a gubernatorial race is the growing chasm between a state that’s moving left and a party that’s moving right.
“One of the things I found as a downstater running is you can’t scare the folks up north,” Edgar said. “Now, I could get votes up there and there’s some I didn’t get. But, for the most part, they weren’t scared of me. They didn’t think I was going to be evil, so they didn’t go out and try to beat me. So, if we have candidates who sound pretty harsh and talk about ‘well, let’s [kick] Chicago out of the state.’ that’s not going to play well.”
That was an implicit dig at state Sen. Darren Bailey, R-Xenia, who co-sponsored a resolution last session calling for Chicago to be made its own state. Bailey announced his gubernatorial campaign in 2022. […]
Edgar, when asked about prospective candidates who might have a shot against Pritzker, named U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Taylorville, and Barickman.
Barickman, first elected to the House in 2011 before moving over to the Senate in 2013, said he’s not ruling out a gubernatorial campaign and will make a decision “later this summer.”
House Majority Leader Greg Harris, D-Chicago, told reporters at a Statehouse news conference that the latest information from federal officials indicates Illinois state government will receive $8.1 billion in stimulus funds, not $7.5 billion as initially reported. […]
However, Harris and Zalewski said the additional federal stimulus funds and indications that the state’s economy is recovering quicker as the COVID-19 pandemic wanes don’t mean Pritzker’s proposed repeal of certain tax breaks for companies can be abandoned.
Harris noted that Pritzker now agrees with Democratic leaders that $350 million in spending needs to be added to the fiscal 2022 budget to boost the school-aid formula.
And $296 million more needs to be appropriated for the Medicaid program to deal with pandemic-related medical expenses for low-income residents, Harris said.
Harris says lawmakers are looking at a $1.3 billion hole in the budget right now. That’s down significantly since last week. He explained appropriations groups already started to go through each of the over 12,000 spending lines in the budget.
“The choices are really clear,” Harris said. “We’re either going to find ways to cut to fill that hole or we’re going to have to review the proposals the governor made to close corporate tax loopholes on wealthy individuals and corporations.”
On Thursday, Durbin led a letter from most of the Democrats in the Illinois congressional delegation to Yellen, making the point the Federal Reserve created that fund to “help state and local governments manage cash flow pressures caused by the pandemic.”
Gov. J.B. Pritzker “and his administration have been in frequent contact with the Treasury Department” to overturn the ban, deputy chief of staff Emily Bittner told the Chicago Sun-Times on Thursday.
The White House should not be surprised at the Illinois pushback. Mendoza and Pritzker have been saying for months Illinois would use a chunk of the $8 billion to repay the debt from the Federal Reserve loan.
They are all asking the Biden White House and Treasury Department to recognize the special Illinois circumstances concerning this one specific debt offering and not apply fiscal handcuffs.
While we appreciate the work that the Treasury Department is doing to implement the state and local aid provisions of the American Rescue Plan (“ARP”) Act, we write to raise concerns about limitations on the use of funds included in Treasury’s recently released Interim Final Rule on State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds that will have negative economic impacts on Illinois. We ask Treasury to clarify this Rule to allow State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds to be used to directly repay short-term borrowing necessitated by the pandemic.
Over the course of the pandemic, Illinois and state and local governments around the country have experienced significant budget shortfalls that impacted their ability to fund essential government services. During the most fiscally challenging times for the state’s cash flow during the pandemic, Illinois utilized short-term borrowing to prevent drastic cuts to healthcare, education, public safety, and key social services. As outlined in the attached letter to Treasury from Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza, the State of Illinois used $3.8 billion in short-term borrowing to continue necessary medical payments to the Illinois healthcare industry and purchase urgently needed PPE supplies and equipment at critical points in 2020. Without this short-term borrowing, the state’s recovery would have been jeopardized. These debts would not have been incurred except as a response to the pandemic, which is why Illinois utilized the Federal Reserve’s Municipal Liquidity Facility that was specifically created to help state and local governments manage cash flow pressures caused by the pandemic.
Despite the ARP’s clear intent to allow state and local funding to be used to pay for government services to the extent needed to replace the revenue lost during the last year, Treasury’s Interim Final Rule prohibits the use of funding to repay short-term borrowing even if that borrowing occurred as a result of the pandemic and was used to fund essential government services during the crisis. This limitation that uniquely impacts Illinois runs contrary to the intent of the ARP. We ask that you clarify this Rule to accommodate Illinois’ unique circumstances and allow the ARP’s State and Local Fiscal Recovery funding to be used to directly repay short-term borrowing by state and localities which was necessitated by pandemic and used to help mitigate their response to it.
I firmly believe in following the science and will revise my executive orders in line with @CDCgov guidelines lifting additional mitigations for vaccinated people.
— Governor JB Pritzker (@GovPritzker) May 13, 2021
* Heh…
BREAKING: CDC Officially Announces that We Can Dance If We Want to, We Can Leave Your Friends Behind, Cause Your Friends Don’t Dance and If They Don’t Dance, Well They’re No Friends of Mine
In the months before the state-run veterans’ home in LaSalle saw a massive COVID-19 outbreak that eventually killed more than a quarter of the facility’s residents, leaders at the state agency that oversees the home obscured its inner workings from Gov. JB Pritzker’s office, a top Pritzker staffer told lawmakers on Thursday.
Thirty-six residents at the LaSalle Veterans’ Home eventually died after testing positive for COVID in an outbreak that began in early November and spread to more than 100 residents and more than 100 staff members. A damning inspector general’s report on the outbreak released late last month faulted absentee leadership, lack of preparedness, lax COVID protocols and poor communication as contributing factors for the crisis at the home.
In an appearance in front of the Illinois House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Thursday, Deputy Gov. Sol Flores painted the state’s Department of Veterans’ Affairs as a sort of black box, repeatedly telling lawmakers she believed what top officials at the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs was telling her in the months leading up to the LaSalle outbreak. […]
“It’s not just grief; I also share your rage at the loss of life that occurred at LaSalle,” Flores said. “What I was told was happening there is a far cry from the circumstances set forth in the [inspector general]’s report.”
Mazzochi also noted that on Nov. 11, Pritzker appeared at a ribbon-cutting for a new veterans home in Chicago where he touted the success of the agency in combating COVID-19 in veterans homes despite what was happening at LaSalle.
“We’ve worked very hard. Our veterans homes really have done an outstanding job of keeping our veterans safe. But you can’t 100% keep everybody safe in this environment” when local officials aren’t enforcing mitigations, Pritzker said at the ribbon-cutting.
That was a day before the state public health department and the federal Veterans Affairs sent an on-site team to LaSalle, where they found lapses in protocols and the use of non-alcohol based hand sanitizer as well as staff congregating without masks.
By Nov. 9, two days before Pritzker’s statement, the home had more than 60 positive cases, and by Nov. 13, two days after his statement, 10 veterans had died.
“How could you let him make that statement with a straight face … given the nature of the briefing that you gave him internally on Nov. 9?” Mazzochi asked after Flores said she briefed Pritzker of the intensifying outbreak.
“We didn’t understand the full scope of what was happening until after Nov. 10,” Flores replied.
But she also said Pritzker had ordered the public health agency be “immediately” deployed to LaSalle on Nov. 9. They arrived three days later.
Oof.
The TV ads write themselves.
Ironically enough, Gov. Rauner did a public event with his own IDVA director at the beginning of the Quincy Legionnaires’ outbreak. That came back to haunt him, too.
Over the past three decades, a family-owned construction company got 32 contracts from the city of Chicago to repair sewers and install water mains — work that cost taxpayers more than $295 million.
Now, in a federal lawsuit against the company that was initiated by a whistleblower, City Hall accuses Joel Kennedy Constructing Corp. of lying and cheating to get six contracts since 2013, including falsely claiming to be a Chicago company when it’s actually headquartered in Waukegan.
According to the lawsuit, the company also submitted phony paperwork showing 50% of the work was done by Chicago residents, as required by a city ordinance.
But an investigation by City Hall’s inspector general’s office found that Kennedy’s company submitted its weekly payroll records only after first deleting the names of its suburban employees, making it wrongly appear Chicago residents had done more than half of the work.
A Waukegan contractor who has gotten nearly $300 million in water and sewer construction work from the city of Chicago has been banned from getting any more city contracts.
That’s after City Hall Inspector General Joseph Ferguson found that Joel Kennedy Constructing Corp. cheated to meet the city’s residency requirement for workers employed by a contractor.
Now, Joel Kennedy, who says the ban would put his company out of business, is asking city officials to rescind the order. The company says it has “taken multiple steps to make sure we are fully compliant with residency requirements in the future.”
If he can’t persuade City Hall to drop the ban, “we intend to challenge the city’s debarment decision in court,” according to a written statement from Kennedy.
In a report released today, the Civic Federation offered its general support for Governor JB Pritzker’s proposed FY2022 budget. The reasonable one-year proposal holds most areas of agency spending flat at a time of uncertain revenues, makes the full statutorily required pension payment and appropriately shifts some capital funds to the operating budget for one year. The Federation’s full analysis is available at civicfed.org/FY22ILRecommendedBudget
Governor Pritzker unveiled his spending plan earlier this year, before billions of dollars in funding were made available to the State of Illinois and local governments as part of the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). To balance the budget at that time, the Governor urged the General Assembly to implement $932 million in corporate tax treatment changes.
“Fortunately for the State of Illinois, more than eight billion dollars in federal funding will soon be deposited in its coffers, which will give officials a little breathing room as budget negotiations continue in the coming weeks,” said Civic Federation President Laurence Msall. “Given the increased flexibility, the proposed business tax changes should be excluded from the enacted budget. Increasing taxes during a recession can easily exacerbate the negative impacts of the recession and hamper the economic recovery.”
Because Illinois has a long, bipartisan fiscal tradition of proposing gimmicky budgets during economically difficult times, the Federation was pleased that Governor Pritzker’s initial proposal largely broke with that tradition to hold most agency spending flat and not rely on dubious revenues. The federal stimulus should therefore be used responsibly rather than reversing the Administration’s efforts to balance the budget.
“Not to spoil the potential eight-billion-dollar spending party before it gets started, but these funds absolutely should not be used to create new multiyear programs or new areas of ongoing spending obligations,” said Msall.
Little information about how the bulk of Illinois’ ARPA funding would be spent has yet been made public. Governor Pritzker, Illinois Senate President Don Harmon and Illinois House Speaker Chris Welch previously expressed plans to prioritize paying off $2.0 billion borrowed from the Federal Reserve under the provisions of an earlier stimulus package. Following guidance issued this week by the U.S. Department of Treasury, it is now unclear if the State can pay any debt service with the proceeds. The Office of Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza has asked the Treasury for additional direction.
“The Civic Federation eagerly awaits additional detail on how the federal ARPA funds can and will be used by the State,” said Msall. “No matter the permitted uses, the State must seize this opportunity to work on its long-term plan so that it will not enter future economic crises in the worst shape of any state in the nation.”
In order to achieve fiscal stability, a comprehensive, long-term plan would aim to ensure annual budgets are balanced, eliminate the bill backlog, assist struggling local governments, set aside adequate reserves and address long-term, structural challenges such as unfunded pension liabilities and infrastructure needs.
A compromise could be on the way to reduce the fee on small trailers many Illinoisans have decided not to comply with over the past year.
The fee for small trailers in 2018 was $18. That increased to $118 as part of the governor’s capital construction bill enacted in 2019.
State Rep. Katie Stuart, D-Edwardsville, said her House Bill 36 is an effort to drop it back to $18. She said there was obvious sticker shock last year.
“According to the Secretary of State we had 150,000 fewer trailer license applicants last year compared to the previous year and I worry that we’re going to see that number continue to decrease as people don’t register their trailers,” Stuart said.
* The Question: What’s your outlook for the new state budget?
Amends the General Assembly Operations Act. Provides that the wearing of masks shall not be required for any member of the House of Representatives, or the staff thereof, while present on the floor of the House of Representatives. Provides that any such rule or provision of law mandating the wearing of masks on the floor of the House of Representatives is void. Effective immediately.
* HB4081, sponsored today by GOP Reps. Andrew S. Chesney, Joe Sosnowski, Blaine Wilhour, Adam Niemerg, Brad Halbrook, Chris Miller and Tony McCombie…
Creates the Vaccine Credential Act. Provides that a unit of local government or the State may not require a person to have a vaccine credential or show a vaccine credential before the person enters a public event or public venue. Limits home rule powers. Defines “vaccine credential” as any written or electronic record evidencing that a person has received a vaccine. Effective immediately.
Amends the School Code. Prohibits the State Board of Education, school districts, and elementary and secondary schools from requiring the teachers, other staff, or students of a school to wear a face mask due to the COVID-19 public health emergency disaster declared by the Governor pursuant to the Illinois Emergency Management Agency Act. Effective immediately.
Not that these bills would’ve gone anywhere anyway, but the Third Reading passage deadline for House bills was weeks ago. These are purely for right-wing social media pops, and maybe a big story on Center Square.
…Adding… Oops. Forgot this one sponsored today by Rep. David Friess…
Amends the Interscholastic Athletic Organization Act. Provides that any athletic team or sport that is under the jurisdiction of an association or entity that provides for interscholastic athletics or athletic competition among schools and student must be expressly designated as (i) a male athletic team or sport, (ii) a female athletic team or sport, or (iii) a coeducational athletic team or sport. Provides that an athletic team or sport designated as being female is available only to participants who are female, based on their biological sex. Requires a school district or nonpublic school to obtain a written statement signed by a student’s parent or guardian or the student verifying the student’s age, biological sex, and that the student has not taken performance enhancing drugs; provides for a penalty for false or misleading statements. Prohibits a governmental entity or an association or entity that provides for interscholastic athletics or athletic competition among schools and students from entertaining a complaint, opening an investigation, or taking any other adverse action against a school district or nonpublic school for maintaining athletic teams or sports in accordance with these provisions.
State Rep. Adam Niemerg said Wednesday he plans to introduce a bill that would do away with face masks in the Illinois House and in schools, which drew immediate criticism from some lawmakers even though it has yet to be assigned a bill number.
Hilarious.
…Adding… And now the ILGOP spox wants to get into the act…
I'm seeing a LOT of twitter replies to the new CDC guidelines saying they will continue to wear a mask because of X, Y, and Z…despite the science.
For many, wearing a mask, especially outdoors, has become a virtue signal. Letting go of their mark of "superiority" will be hard.
People who choose to wear a mask outside are hurting nobody, unlike those who refuse to wear masks indoors. So, maybe mind your own business and let them be, bub.
Dick Kay, a no-nonsense, incisive inquisitor who had one of the longest political reporting careers in Chicago, died early Thursday at 84, according to his son Steven Snodgrass.
Mr. Kay had a stentorian voice that sliced through the noise at crime scenes and news conferences like a bass baritone in an opera. It seemed to command answers from politicians and public relations people who might have preferred to slink away from a mic.
Mr. Kay, who lived in St. Charles and had taken ill earlier this week, worked 38 years for WMAQ-Channel 5, covering countless political conventions, indictments, court trials, aldermen, mayors, governors, senators and presidents. He was hired there as a writer in 1968. Within months, he was covering one of the most tumultuous political stories of the century.
“They sent me out on the street, a green kid. The Democratic Convention, in the middle of it! I was stunned,” he once said in an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times.
He began appearing on air two years later, rising to the post of political editor. He also hosted the show “City Desk” and wrote commentaries for the station. […]
He grew up in New Dellrose, Tennessee, a self-described “country boy” who was born in a log cabin. He was just 3 when his sharecropper-father died. His mother worked as a seamstress or cook all her life, he said in the Sun-Times interview. At 14, he dropped out of school so he could make money digging ditches, picking cotton and washing dishes.
Dick Kay was a giant of Chicago TV news back in the days when all the city’s stations strove for excellence.
He was a gruff, hard-hitting and unsparing reporter and won a coveted Peabody Award in 1984…
With extraordinary zeal and completeness, WMAQ-TV reporter Dick Kay and his associates set out to investigate reports of financial waste and corruption in the Illinois State Legislature. The result was Political Parasites, a series of reports on “dead-wood” committees and meaningless commissions that were costing the taxpayers of Illinois millions of dollars. Through effective interviews backed by documented evidence, WMAQ-TV was able to provide extensive proof of duplication, waste, and nepotism in these committees. The result was the swift passage of legislation eliminating the Political Parasites, along with substantial savings of public funds. For an exceptionally well-done investigative report, a Peabody Award to WMAQ-TV for Political Parasites.
* He could also be a sweet and kind man. I introduced myself to him many years ago by telling him I’d been watching his work since I was a little kid. That was the beginning of a friendship that lasted years. It was one of the highlights of my life knowing that he respected my work. He even commented on the blog.
I disagreed with his post-retirement decision to work temporarily for the Blagojevich administration, but he was excited to promote the governor’s health care proposals. And he really let his freak flag fly on his WCPT show.
But, as a reporter and an inquisitor, I’d be hard-pressed to name anybody better than Dick.
• You can resume activities that you did prior to the pandemic.
• You can resume activities without wearing a mask or staying 6 feet apart, except where required by federal, state, local, tribal, or territorial laws, rules, and regulations, including local business and workplace guidance.
• If you travel in the United States, you do not need to get tested before or after travel or self-quarantine after travel.
• You need to pay close attention to the situation at your international destination before traveling outside the United States.
o You do NOT need to get tested before leaving the United States unless your destination requires it.
o You still need to show a negative test result or documentation of recovery from COVID-19 before boarding an international flight to the United States.
o You should still get tested 3-5 days after international travel.
o You do NOT need to self-quarantine after arriving in the United States.
• If you’ve been around someone who has COVID-19, you do not need to stay away from others or get tested unless you have symptoms.
o However, if you live or work in a correctional or detention facility or a homeless shelter and are around someone who has COVID-19, you should still get tested, even if you don’t have symptoms.
[…] • You will still need to follow guidance at your workplace and local businesses.
• If you travel, you should still take steps to protect yourself and others. You will still be required to wear a mask on planes, buses, trains, and other forms of public transportation traveling into, within, or out of the United States, and in U.S. transportation hubs such as airports and stations. Fully vaccinated international travelers arriving in the United States are still required to get tested within 3 days of their flight (or show documentation of recovery from COVID-19 in the past 3 months) and should still get tested 3-5 days after their trip.
• You should still watch out for symptoms of COVID-19, especially if you’ve been around someone who is sick. If you have symptoms of COVID-19, you should get tested and stay home and away from others.
• People who have a condition or are taking medications that weaken the immune system, should talk to their healthcare provider to discuss their activities. They may need to keep taking all precautions to prevent COVID-19.
“Fully vaccinated” is defined as two weeks after the second dose in a 2-dose series, such as the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, or two weeks after a single-dose vaccine, such as Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen vaccine.
* From the governor’s office…
The Governor believes firmly in following the science and intends to revise his executive orders in line with the upcoming CDC guidelines lifting additional mitigations for vaccinated people. The scientists’ message is clear: if you are vaccinated, you can safely do much more.
The Cubs and White Sox will both increase capacity limits at Wrigley and Guaranteed Rate fields to 60% later this month as Chicago continues to further lift COVID restrictions, the teams announced Thursday. […]
The White Sox will designate Sections 108-109 as vaccinated-only without physical distancing for four games this weekend, starting with Game 1 of the doubleheader against Kansas City on May 14. Fans who purchase these tickets must show proof of vaccination and a photo ID upon entering the ballpark, the team said.
The Sox also announced that beginning May 24, the team will offer two vaccination sites for fans at Guaranteed Rate Field, offering those who get vaccinated before the game a $25 gift card for use inside the ballpark.
At Wrigley, the vaccinated section will be the upper section of the center field Budweiser Bleachers, sold at full capacity and not physically distanced, only available for the Cubs’ four-game series against the Washington Nationals from May 17 to May 20. Tickets will be $20 plus taxes and fees, and all who purchase tickets must show proof of vaccination and a photo ID, the team said.
As Illinois lawmakers continue to push for the passage of an energy overhaul this spring, the Illinois House Energy and Environment Committee discussed the latest proposal to enter the discussion – Gov. JB Pritzker’s Consumers and Climate First Act.
House Bill 4074, sponsored by Rep. Kam Buckner, D-Chicago, was brought before committee for discussion only. Pritzker’s 900-page proposal was released at the end of April with the goal of transitioning Illinois to 100 percent carbon-free energy – including nuclear power – by 2050. […]
Deputy Gov. Christian Mitchell, who also presented the bill in committee, said many of the ideas in Pritzker’s proposal align with the goals of other energy bills, especially the Clean Energy Jobs Act. Sponsored by Rep. Ann Williams, D-Chicago, CEJA was initially introduced to the General Assembly in spring 2019 and has been one of the most publicized bills amid ongoing energy negotiations. […]
No action has been taken on Pritzker’s proposal yet, but as the General Assembly reaches their final stretch of session, negotiations on a compromise measure continue. Mitchell said Pritzker’s administration is willing to continue to work on a final product.
Senate Bill 1965 lead by Rep. La Shawn Ford, D-Chicago, and Sen. Kimberly Lightford, D-Maywood, would make June 19 an annual state holiday to commemorate the end of slavery in the United States after Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863. The holiday is celebrated on June 19 as the day when slaves in Texas found out they were free in 1865, over two years since they had legally been granted freedom.
This version of the bill would take effect immediately upon the governor’s signature. If passed by the House and signed by Gov. JB Pritzker by June 19, this year’s Juneteenth would be an official state holiday. Because the holiday falls on a Saturday this year, Monday would be the day off for state workers. The bill already passed unanimously in the Senate.
Ford and Lightford are leading another version of the bill that is currently in the Senate. House Bill 3922 already passed the House unanimously. However, if this version was sent to the governor, Juneteenth would not be a state holiday until 2022. It also would not give state workers the following Monday off should the holiday fall on a weekend, which makes it less costly than the Senate bill.
NPR Illinois: Your office has one initiative, House Bill 571, which would call for municipalities…to report more details about tax increment financing districts. Could you just first tell me a little bit about what that bill would accomplish? And also because such a big portion of education dollars are wrapped up in property taxes, do you believe that school districts should have a say on whether a TIF is created in their district or whether or not their dollars should be allocated to go towards a TIF, especially since not all TIFs, you know, lead to a return on investment?
Mendoza: Well, look, I feel that transparency has been the hallmark of my administration, and I think that it’s also the road to restoring trust in government. When people believe that all of the decisions related to their school district or in any environment, right, are done behind closed doors without input by the people that are actually toiling away at this endeavor, it creates distrust and animosity towards the process…What happens is that all of these dollars are being generated and districts are missing out on money because it’s going to investments on potential job creation or economic development. But we’ve also seen that a lot of, they’re supposed to be going to blighted areas, and a lot of these TIF dollars are not in what we would consider by any stretch of the imagination blighted areas.
The other issue with the TIFs is that, interestingly enough, the developers are the ones who choose the consultants who determine whether or not this TIF is meeting its expected goals or deliverables in a return on investment for those tax dollars. Which is an inherent conflict of interest…So, we decided to at the very least, as part of our big reform here, is that the city would be responsible for choosing their consultant because they want somebody who will advocate for the city’s position here, not the developer’s position in this deal. Of course, the consultant’s always going to say, “This is going to pay off great in 10 years,” and it usually never does, right? So moving forward, these TIFs will have a lot more transparency and they’re going to have to report to my office whether or not they’ve met their deliverables and what their expectations are for meeting them, their timeline, and most importantly the city will now have a vested interest in choosing a consultant that will make sure that these deliverables are legitimate. And then that gives the constituency a much greater voice.
* Press release…
House Bill 12 passed out of committee and is now poised for passage in the Senate. The legislation was drafted by the Illinois Education Association (IEA) and would expand coverage of the Family and Medical Leave Act to thousands of education support professionals across the state.
“This bill would help those who need it the most. HB12 will lift up our education support staff, knowing they have access FMLA without the risk of losing their job and health insurance,” IEA President Kathi Griffin said. “Supporting working families is important. FMLA is not just for pregnant mothers. It can also be used if an employee needs time to recuperate from a serious health condition, care for a family member with a serious health condition or care for a family member who has sustained injuries while on active service duty for the military.”
Currently, to be eligible for FMLA an employee must have worked 1,250 hours during the previous year. Unfortunately, this disqualifies many of our educational support staff from meeting the requirements of FMLA due to the limited number of days they are able to work during a school year. HB 12 reduces the minimum threshold to 1,000 hours, so that more education support professionals would qualify for FMLA. Education support professionals are support staff in schools like secretaries, teachers’ aides, paraeducators, maintenance workers, school bus drivers and cafeteria workers.
“We currently have a shortage of education support professionals in our schools. COVID helped to exacerbate the problem. These support staff are so important to our children’s education. They support our students every day, some working with our most vulnerable students,” Griffin said. “We should be doing everything in our power to attract new hires to the profession and to keep the talented professionals we already have on staff.”
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 1,918 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 35 additional deaths.
- Coles County: 1 male 60s
- Cook County: 1 male 20s, 1 female 60s, 2 males 60s, 2 females 70s, 4 males 70s, 2 females 80s
- DuPage County: 1 female 60s, 1 male 90s
- Henry County: 1 female 80s
- Kane County: 1 female 70s
- Knox County: 2 females 80s, 1 female 90s
- Lake County: 1 male 70s
- Macon County: 1 male 40s
- McLean County: 1 male 90s
- Peoria County: 1 female 60s, 1 male 60s, 1 female 70s, 1 male 70s
- Rock Island County: 1 male 80s
- Tazewell County: 1 male 50s, 1 male 70s, 1 female 80s, 1 male 80s
- Wayne County: 1 male 60s
- Will County: 1 female 70s
- Winnebago County: 1 male 70s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 1,361,666 cases, including 22,320 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 88,682 specimens for a total of 23,594,096. As of last night, 1,765 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 465 patients were in the ICU and 236 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from May 6-12, 2021 is 2.7%. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from May 6-12, 2021 is 3.2%.
A total of 10,179,004 vaccines have been administered in Illinois as of last midnight. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data tracking, 62% of adults in Illinois have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 76,082 doses. Yesterday, 68,035 doses were reported administered in Illinois. Due to a reporting issue, doses from CVS are not included in today’s count, but will be reflected in the numbers in the next couple days.
*All data are provisional and will change. In order to rapidly report COVID-19 information to the public, data are being reported in real-time. Information is constantly being entered into an electronic system and the number of cases and deaths can change as additional information is gathered. For health questions about COVID-19, call the hotline at 1-800-889-3931 or email dph.sick@illinois.gov.
The U.S. Department of Labor estimates 17,931 new unemployment claims were filed during the week of May 3 in Illinois, according to the DOL’s weekly claims report released Thursday. […]
There were 15,134 new unemployment claims were filed during the week of April 26 in Illinois.
There were 17,141 new unemployment claims filed during the week of April 19 in Illinois.
There were 15,248 new unemployment claims were filed during the week of April 12 in Illinois.
There were 18,986 new unemployment claims were filed during the week of April 5 in Illinois.
Applications for U.S. state unemployment insurance fell to a fresh pandemic low last week as business confidence strengthens and employers seek to fill more positions left open by restrictions.
Initial claims in regular state programs declined by 34,000 to 473,000 in the week ended May 8, Labor Department data showed Thursday. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for 490,000 claims. The prior week’s figure was revised up to 507,000.
That’s still “More than twice a typical non-recession week.”
Thursday, May 13, 2021 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
With just weeks remaining in the legislative session, time is running out to pass a comprehensive clean energy bill like the Clean Energy Jobs Act (CEJA) that will hold utilities accountable.
Despite federal prosecutors fining ComEd a record $200 million in a bribery scandal, ComEd continues to profit off their wrongdoing and avoid refunding customers for their corruption.
Meanwhile, Ameren didn’t even show up to an April 27th House Energy and Environment Committee hearing on utility accountability. Instead, they’ve spent more than $80,000 in the last two months on misleading digital ads - outspending every other political advertiser in the state.
In the midst of all of this, both ComEd and Ameren are requesting millions in rate hikes from the state, hurting working families who pay more for their insider deals.
Legislation like CEJA will hold these utility companies accountable, placing an independent monitor in the headquarters of ComEd and Ameren and providing restitution for ComEd customers.
Illinois lawmakers must pass a comprehensive energy bill that will address the climate crisis, create equitable jobs, and advance the strongest utility ethics measures in state history. But we have less than 20 days left to get it done. CEJA can’t wait.
Governor Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) confirmed today the entire state will move into the Bridge Phase of the Restore Illinois reopening plan tomorrow, Friday, May 14th. The Bridge Phase is the final step before the full reopening of Phase 5.
Under Bridge Phase, there are expanded capacity limits for businesses, dining, offices, events, conferences and gatherings. Barring any significant reversals in key COVID-19 statewide indicators, including increasing hospitalizations, Illinois could enter Phase 5 as soon as Friday, June 11th.
The state will continue to follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance on mask-wearing in Phase 5.
“Illinoisans have worked so hard over the past year and a half to keep their families and neighbors safe, and reaching Bridge Phase means that we’re closer than ever to a return to normalcy,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “To keep up this progress, I urge every eligible Illinoisan – now including 12 to 15-year-olds – to get vaccinated as soon as possible.”
More than 10.3 million vaccine doses have been administered to Illinoisans at mass vaccination sites, local health departments, pharmacies, federally qualified health centers, mobile clinics, and other locations across the state. Doctors’ offices are starting to administer vaccine to their patients. Beginning today, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is available to youth ages 12 through 17 years after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday accepted the recommendation from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to expand the use of the vaccine. The Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines are authorized for those 18 years of age and older.
“The more people who are vaccinated, now including our youth as young as 12-years-old, the quicker we can end this pandemic,” said IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike. “While more than 62% of adults in Illinois have received at least one dose of the vaccine, we still need more people to get vaccinated. Please talk with your doctor or health care provider if you have questions about the vaccine and know the facts so that you can make the most informed decision.”
IDPH will continue to monitor the number of ICU hospital beds that are available, the number of patients who are hospitalized with COVID-19, and the number of people being newly admitted to the hospital because of COVID-19-like-illness. Should the state see a significant increase in deaths, hospitalizations, and the number of people being admitted to the hospital because of COVID-19, the state will remain in the Bridge Phase instead of moving to Phase 5.
A bill moving through the Illinois House and Senate in Springfield has private schools worried. It establishes state-mandated “metrics” that schools must meet before they can offer in-person learning. The concern: The legislation could make it harder for schools to reopen this fall.
In-person instruction at schools. The Department shall establish metrics for school districts and public institutions of higher education to use during the public health emergency in determining if the district or institution may safely conduct in-person instruction or if the district or institution must implement remote learning or blended remote learning to keep students and staff safe. .
The Department shall establish requirements by rule for providing in-person instruction at nonpublic schools and public schools that include, but are not limited to, personal protective equipment, cleaning and hygiene, social distancing, occupancy limits, symptom screening, and on-site isolation protocols and shall disseminate information about those requirements to nonpublic schools and public schools with the assistance of the Illinois State Board of Education. The authority to enforce the rules adopted pursuant to this Section lies with the Department and local departments of public health. Upon receipt of a complaint that a school cannot or is not complying with the Department’s rules under this Section, the Department or local public health department shall investigate the complaint within 45 days after receiving the complaint. If upon investigation, a school is found to be in violation of the rules adopted under this Section, the Department has the authority to take the appropriate action necessary to promote the health or protect the safety of students, staff, and the public, including, but not limited to, closure of a classroom, gym, library, lunch room, or any other school space until such time that the Department determines that the violation or violations have been remedied. Nothing in this Section limits the authority or requirements of the Department or local public health departments. All complaints and related documents shall be maintained and are subject to applicable disclosure requirements under the Freedom of Information Act. […]
In order to provide in-person instruction, nonpublic schools and public schools must follow the requirements adopted by rule by the Department of Public Health under Section 2310-705 of the Department of Public Health Powers and Duties Law of the Civil Administrative Code.
In other words, the proposal went from proactive to reactive and basically just codifies what has been happening in Illinois for close to a year. Also, notice that, despite the editorial, local public health departments are involved.
Many private schools, including most in the Archdiocese of Chicago and other faith-based schools across the state, worked with local health officials last summer and fall to figure out how to safely offer in-person learning when many public school buildings remained closed due to COVID-19. […]
But it also removes local control from all school districts which have shown, particularly during the pandemic, that a one-size-fits-all approach would be the wrong one. Each district, each community, had the ability to shape how and when their students returned to school. This would change that.
While each district and private school has been allowed to set their own specific rules, they all had to follow basic guidelines set forth by the state. There was even a lawsuit over this…
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Public Health have won an injunction against three school districts who said they did not need to mandate face masks for in-person learning this year.
The Archdiocese of Chicago’s rules were primarily based on state rules with additional guidance from the city’s public health department.
The editorial board needs to get off Facebook.
*** UPDATE *** The governor was asked about the bill today and he said work is still being done on the legislation. Again, you’d think the largest newspaper in the state would pick up a phone before getting so far over its skis on something like this.
The voice vote to bump Rep. LIz Cheney from leadership happened moments after Republicans said “amen” in a morning prayer. The action was so quick that numerous members, including Illinois Republican Reps. Rodney Davis and Darin LaHood missed the vote.
“I actually wasn’t there,” Davis told POLITICO’s Congress reporter Olivia Beavers. “I had a meeting that went long.” Davis remembered the last time Cheney ran for the leadership spot. “I whipped for her,” he said, recalling that the discussion went on for “four hours.”
Pressed on how he would have voted this time, Davis said, “I am a big supporter of Liz. I am a big fan. … there was no vote but I would’ve been there as a supporter of Liz.”
LaHood, who was seen arriving late to the vote, wouldn’t answer how he would have voted. He issued a statement saying, “I am grateful for Congresswoman Cheney’s leadership as Conference chair.”
The vote to oust Rep. Liz Cheney from her leadership position took only 16 minutes.
Before the House Republican Conference met Wednesday morning to oust the Wyoming congresswoman from her position as the third-ranking Republican member in Congress, sources told CNN they expected it to be quick.
But it happened so quickly that some members arrived just in time for the vote.
Thursday, May 13, 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.
The state of Illinois will open up vaccinations to 12-15 year olds Thursday, following approval from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to distribute the Pfizer vaccine to that age group.
Vaccination sites across Illinois can begin providing the vaccine to the adolescents with sign up commencing Wednesday afternoon. Memorial Health System and CVS also announced Wednesday that they would begin distribution at their sites Thursday, with appointments and walk-ins accepted.
According to a new U.S. census estimate, some 30 million American adults who are open to getting a coronavirus vaccine have not managed to actually do so. Their ranks are larger than the hesitant — more than the 28 million who said they would probably or definitely not get vaccinated, and than the 16 million who said they were unsure. And this month, as the Biden administration set a goal of 70 percent of adults getting at least one dose by July 4, they became an official new focus of the nation’s mass vaccination campaign.
In addition to “the doubters,” President Biden said at a news briefing last week, the mission is to get the vaccine to those who are “just not sure how to get to where they want to go.”
If the attention has centered on the vaccine hesitant, these are the vaccine amenable. In interviews, their stated reasons for not getting vaccines are disparate, complex and sometimes shifting.
They are, for the most part, America’s working class, contending with jobs and family obligations that make for scarce discretionary time. About half of them live in households with incomes of less than $50,000 a year; another 30 percent have annual household incomes between $50,000 and $100,000, according to an analysis of the census data by Justin Feldman, a social epidemiologist at Harvard. Eighty-one percent do not have a college degree. Some have health issues or disabilities or face language barriers that can make getting inoculated against Covid-19 seem daunting. Others do not have a regular doctor, and some are socially isolated.
Technically, they have access to the vaccine. Practically, it is not that simple.
Northwestern University is another local college to require students to be vaccinated before returning to campus this fall.
“As confidence increases in the effectiveness and safety of the vaccine and the supply has met the demand in Illinois, Northwestern will require students to be vaccinated against COVID-19 for the 2021-22 academic year,” the school said. “COVID-19 vaccines are the most important tool to help end the pandemic, and requiring students to be vaccinated will best support the health of our community and position us for in-person classroom and co-curricular activities for the fall term.” […]
NU is not currently requiring vaccination for faculty and staff. “We have not yet made a decision on whether to require faculty and staff to be vaccinated. We are continuing to evaluate the situation,” a spokesman said in an email.
An I-Team analysis of IDPH data since vaccine demand peaked statewide in mid- April reveals in the southern region of Illinois, the seven-day average of vaccines administered is down 60%. For the Northwest regions, demand has dipped 54%. In the suburban regions, including Cook County, there’s a decrease of 46%. Chicago has seen a 48% drop over the same period.
Officials across the United States are looking for unique solutions to overcome coronavirus vaccine hesitancy, and Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine upped the ante in a big way.
In a series of social media posts Wednesday, DeWine announced that the state of Ohio will randomly select five residents who have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, and those residents will receive a prize of $1 million.
The drawings will begin on May 26, and will occur on each successive Wednesday for five consecutive weeks, DeWine says:
*** UPDATE *** Press release…
Following yesterday’s expansion of vaccine eligibility to 12- to 15-year-olds, Governor JB Pritzker announced that Six Flags Great America – the Thrill Capital of the Midwest – will offer 50,000 free tickets to their parks in Gurnee and Rockford to newly vaccinated Illinois residents.
The value of the donated tickets is $4 million.
“Throughout the pandemic, Six Flags has been All In for Illinois, putting the health of workers and visitors first,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “I know it’s been a difficult year – but that just makes it all the more exciting to be back at the park. Thanks to the life-saving power of vaccinations, it feels once again like summer’s in the air.”
“Six Flags Great America is proud to support the state of Illinois vaccination efforts, especially in underrepresented communities,” said Six Flags Great America Park President Hank Salemi. “We’re getting back to the thrills and want to do our part to encourage residents to get vaccinated.”
Health experts agree that getting vaccinated is how we’ll all get back to the things we’ve missed during the pandemic, including thrilling rollercoasters, waterparks and live entertainment.
To make sure the tickets have broad reach, the state is sending Illinois National Guard mobile vaccination teams to their Gurnee location starting the first weekend in June: Saturday the 5th and Sunday the 6th. If turnout is high, vaccination teams will return to continue offering this lifesaving protection to residents. Six Flags Great America will announce additional details in the coming weeks.
In addition, a significant portion of the tickets will be distributed through local health departments to use in the way that will best work in their community. Specific initiatives will be rolled out by the departments of public health in the city of Chicago, Cook County and the Collar Counties — including equity mobile missions in neighborhoods with lower vaccination rates, school-based clinics, full-family vaccination initiatives and mass vaccination clinics. More information will become available on a county-by-county basis.
Finally, to focus on underserved youth and their families, the Vaccine Corps Partnership incubated at Michael Reese Health Trust will deploy the tickets as a part of their hyper-local vaccine education campaign. The organization works with community-led organizations to build trust in the vaccine, primarily in the city of Chicago and Cook County. Learn more about the partnership on their website.
The latest vaccine incentive announcement comes on the heels of the federal authorization of the Pfizer vaccine for 12- to 15-year-olds, which young people can get on its own or along with other routine vaccinations. Residents are encouraged to use the CDC’s vaccine finder tool at www.vaccines.gov to see which locations have vaccine available and to filter by manufacturer.
Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza is asking the nation’s three major credit rating agencies to reconsider the state’s credit rating with an eye toward a possible upgrade.
In an April 28 letter to executives at Moody’s Investors Service, S&P Global Ratings and Fitch Ratings, Mendoza argued that Illinois has virtually eliminated its backlog of past-due bills while keeping current on its bond payments and pension obligations, all in the midst of a global pandemic. […]
Both Mendoza and Gov. JB Pritzker had said in earlier interviews that they wanted to use a portion of the roughly $8 billion in federal relief funds that Illinois expects to receive through the recently-passed American Rescue Plan to pay off the Federal Reserve loans. But new guidelines from the U.S. Treasury Department that were released on Tuesday specifically prohibit using those funds for “payment of interest or principal on outstanding debt instruments, including, for example, short-term revenue or tax anticipation notes, or other debt service costs.”
State Rep. Michael Zalewski, D-Riverside, who chairs the House Revenue Committee, said in an interview Wednesday that he does not believe the relief funds can be used to repay the Federal Reserve and that any repayment plan will have to be “part of a broader budget conversation.”
But Mendoza said in a statement Wednesday that she believes there may be room to negotiate with Treasury on the use of those funds.
Unemployed Illinoisans will keep receiving an extra $300 in pandemic-enhanced weekly benefits, Gov. JB Pritzker said Wednesday, even as Republican-led states around the nation move to end those benefits early, claiming they’re disincentivizing working-age people from getting jobs.
“Our job here is to make sure we’re creating jobs and helping people to rebuild the lives they had before the pandemic, and so we’re not going to pull the rug out from under people,” Pritzker told reporters at an unrelated event Wednesday.
The governor’s comments came a few hours before one of the state’s leading business groups representing employers sent Pritzker a letter asking for an early end to the boosted unemployment benefits, which are set to expire Sept. 6.
In his letter, Illinois Manufacturers’ Association President and CEO Mark Denzler cited data from the state’s Department of Employment Security showing approximately 358,800 fewer Illinoisans in the state’s workforce in March versus March 2020, when the pandemic began. Denzler attributes this labor shortage to the extra $300 in weekly COVID unemployment benefits, which means an individual with no dependents in Illinois can receive the equivalent of more than $19 an hour.
Another loss for the Ice Cream Man. US House rejects Jim Oberweis GOP challenge of election of Democratic US Rep Lauren Underwood to a second term from Illinois 14th CD.
Today the U.S. House of Representatives voted to officially dismiss Jim Oberweis’ 2020 election contest, filed in early January after Congresswoman Lauren Underwood was sworn into the 117th Congress. Underwood campaign spokesperson, Jordan Troy, issued the following statement in response:
“Earlier this afternoon, the House of Representatives voted to dismiss Jim Oberweis’ official election contest against Congresswoman Lauren Underwood. For the past six months, he has taken the attention away from the issues affecting our communities by wasting taxpayer resources with his political theater. And while this chapter may finally be over, many members of the Republican Party still continue to question the merits of our democratic process by undermining our free and fair elections.
“With this election contest behind us, Lauren will continue to prioritize the residents of IL-14 by bringing home the resources our hardworking families and businesses need to fully recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The committee’s Republican minority issued its own recommendation to dismiss Oberweis’ challenge, saying he failed to serve “proper and timely” notice of the challenge to Underwood, calling it “a fatal procedural error.”
The GOP recommendation was issued by the committee’s top minority member, Rep. Rodney Davis, a Republican from downstate Taylorville.
(R)eceipts for both March and April have been booked, and despite final payment deadlines for personal income tax being slightly delayed, revenues have been interpreted to continue to significantly outpace expectations. As a result, as discussed in the following revenue update, the Commission is making a revision for FY 2021, as revenues are expected to total $45.616 billion, or $2.025 billion above the March projection.
It is important to note that the majority of those upward revisions will be contained within the FY 2021 estimate and should not be assumed to repeat or be considered “baseable” for FY 2022 due to timing and historical receipt pattern disruptions brought about by the pandemic’s impact. That said, there is a measure of base growth that can be expected to be carried forward from the FY 2021 adjustment, particularly as it relates to continuation of underlying improvement of economic conditions as we distance ourselves from the worst of the pandemics impact. Therefore, the Commission’s revised revenue forecast for FY 2022 improves to $41.188 billion. The updated outlook reflects $792 million in total upward adjustments.
Some, like the Illinois Manufacturers Association, say that means the governor should drop his push to close or limit tax incentive programs to the tune of nearly $1 billion.
“In light of record revenue growth and billions of dollars in federal stimulus, there is no need to raise taxes on Illinois job creators that will only serve to constrain job growth and limit economic investment in the state,” said IMA’s Mark Denzler. “As we emerge from the pandemic, the Governor should be looking at ways to help the business community rather than harm them.”
Jack Lavin, with the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, is advocating the extension of the film tax credit that Pritzker is also advocating for. But, Lavin said if the governor cuts or limits other tax incentive programs on the chopping block, that will hurt the economy, especially during a pandemic.
“There’s only so much money that’s gonna come out of Washington D.C. to help us, what happens when that dries up?” Lavin told WMAY. “We have to have these kinds of tax credits that are helping invest in jobs, create jobs, jobs you can raise a family on.”
Josh Sharp, with the Illinois Fuel and Retail Association, said with the better-than-expected revenues reported, Pritzker should find revenue elsewhere.
Except that FY22 projected revenue increase does not appear to be enough to close the projected state deficit. Also, because of these rosier forecasts, Gov. Pritzker last week called for spending $350 million more on K-12 education.
*** UPDATE *** Slightly different, but still upward projections from GOMB…
The Governor’s Office of Management and Budget revised upward its General Funds revenue estimates by $1.469 billion for fiscal year 2021 and by $842 million for fiscal year 2022, compared to the estimates published with the Governor’s introduced budget in February 2021.
Strong year-to-date receipts in the state’s main revenue sources (individual and corporate income tax and sales tax) have led GOMB to revise its estimates. Through April, fiscal year 2021 General Funds revenues were outperforming revenue estimates from the February estimates by about 5 percent.
“While the increase in revenues is good news, and a sign our economy is coming out of the pandemic, much of these funds are one-time in nature and should not be expected to recur in FY2022,” said Deputy Governor Dan Hynes. “The administration was pleased to propose last week that we increase the state’s education budget for the coming year, using these funds and our proposal to end $1 billion in corporate welfare. However, the pandemic is still with us, and we have a lot of work ahead of us to ensure the state remains on sound fiscal footing, including repaying the federal government for loans used to cover current coronavirus expenses.”
Total General Funds state revenues for fiscal year 2021 are now estimated at $36.703 billion, compared to $35.311 billion in February, with total revenues, including federal sources, estimated at $44.949 billion. Total General Funds state revenues for fiscal year 2022 are now estimated at $35.283 billion, compared to $34.589 billion in February, with total revenues, including federal sources and the governor’s proposed closure of corporate tax loopholes, estimated at $42.552 billion.
The one-time sources of revenue include the double final income tax payments receipted in fiscal year 2021, and the tax receipt benefits from economic activity following individual stimulus payments and a full year of enhanced unemployment benefits throughout fiscal year 2021. Expanded unemployment benefits are currently only extended through September 2021, early in fiscal year 2022.
The resilience of the state’s economy and the continued impacts to the state from stimulus payments to taxpayers by the federal government and extended enhanced unemployment benefits led to the changed forecasts.
The revisions were published in GOMB’s April 2021 Report to the Legislative Budget Oversight Commission (LBOC) issued today. The full report is available here.
A Sangamon County judge has taken arguments under advisement in a legal challenge over Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s COVID-19 orders impacting high school sports.
Attorney Laura Grochocki represents the mother of Trevor Till, an 18-year-old who committed suicide in October, among other clients. She filed a lawsuit against the governor over his COVID-19 prohibitions that kept competition for certain high school sports from happening for most of last year.
The case is an equal rights challenge claiming the governor overstepped his authority when he blocked high school sports while allowing college and professional sports to continue. […]
Arguing for summary judgement, Grochocki told the court Wednesday afternoon during a Zoom conference call that the governor is violating equal protection laws by imposing state regulations on high school sports while not leveling any on college or professional sports.
“The issue is the discrimination of different classes of athletes based on age and the wealth of the organization that is sponsoring them. Wealthy athletes, powerful college and pro sports leagues that are worth a lot of money and probably have a lot of political clout, were given the opportunity to determine for themselves what was safe and what was not,” Grochocki said. “This is a fundamental violation of equal protection that is unreasonable, irrational, arbitrary and imposed without a legitimate state interest.” […]
While the initial lawsuit was filed in December when high school sports like football and basketball were not allowed to compete per the governor’s orders, those sports have resumed, but Grochocki said the student athletes still have to wear masks while college and professional teams don’t. […]
The governor’s attorney said college and pro sports have the resources to compete safely and Grochoski hasn’t proven the equal protection violation.
“It is not an equal protection violation if the government adopts a reasonable regulation that applies to some people within a category, but not all people within a category,” said attorney Darren Kinkead, who was representing Pritzker in the virtual courtroom. “It’s not an equal protection violation if the government chooses to address some of the problem, but not all of the problem.”
Just days after announcing his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for secretary of state, South Side Ald. David Moore was admonished by the city Board of Ethics for using the official government 17th Ward Facebook account to campaign for the statewide office.
In a letter written Monday, two days after his formal campaign announcement, the ethics board warned Moore he faced potential fines for mixing posts about his secretary of state candidacy with posts regarding city services and events in his ward. […]
Moore, in a statement, said he makes it a point to “abide by the rules” and had taken corrective action. But he also indicated he felt singled out by a policy others on the council ignore.
“We were even told in those (ethics) sessions that we couldn’t use our official title. Over the last year, I saw this being ignored many times,” he said.
hi if your bills not doing good or bad bills are doing good and thats making you sad i am here to help you feel a little better because its a nice day pic.twitter.com/AjBBD5YUDI
* That Stand for Children Illinois TV ad is here. And ignore the politics in the tweet if you want, but here’s that new mailer…
Corporate Ed Reform Millionaires & Billionaires dropping full color mailers to intimidate legislators & squash the voices of working class @ChiPubSchools families. Don’t buy it @RepAnnWilliams@SenatorSara6 Stand with your constituents who OVERWHELMINGLY support a FULL #ERSBpic.twitter.com/Uv3UkTSE5C
Congressional Republicans voted to remove Rep. Liz Cheney from leadership Wednesday morning over her criticisms of former President Donald Trump, though only one member of Congress from southern Illinois has shared how she voted.
A tweet from U.S. Rep. Mary Miller, R-Oakland, said Cheney “is seriously out of step with Republicans and is no longer capable of effectively leading the party.” […]
Republican U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis of Taylorville echoed Bost’s statement that Republicans need to come together on more pressing issues.
“Liz is a good friend, and I thought she did a good job as conference chair. I’d like to thank her for her leadership. Our country has real problems that are going unaddressed,” Davis said in an emailed statement, “a crisis at the southern border, cyber attack on a major pipeline, gas shortages, inflation and rising food and gas prices, lackluster jobs report, an economy hampered by government, kids still not in school, Israel under attack by Hamas terrorists, the list goes on. Democrats are in total control of Washington, yet they refuse to work on real solutions to these problems we face. I’m 100% focused on policy solutions that will improve the lives of the families and taxpayers I represent, and that’s exactly what Congress should be focused on.”
Miller: All eyes today are on Rep Liz Cheney. Will US House Republicans dump her as their number three leader? What’s your prediction?
Davis: You know I don’t know if there’s even going to be a vote to be honest with you, I was one who… And Liz is a friend of mine and I think, Lis is doing a good job in a very tough situation. Helped Liz during the last attempt when she was able to get 70% of the vote. And from my perspective, I don’t know how she’s gonna fight, she hasn’t talked to me since this new, this new possibility a vote has come up. So we’ll see what happens in about an hour.
Miller: During a speech yesterday on the House floor she said ‘I am a conservative Republican, and the most conservative of conservative principles is reverence for the rule of law, the election is over. That is the rule of law, that is our constitutional process. Those who refuse to accept the rulings of our courts are at war with the Constitution.’ What’s your opinion on where she stands?
Speaking with WJBC’s Scott Miller, Congressman Rodney Davis (R-Taylorville) said he’s received his vaccine and encourages others to do the same.
“Ca’mon, get the vaccine. If you’ve gone through the first one, go get your second vaccine. All three vaccines (Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson) are 100 percent effective against hospitalizations. And that to me shows, that gives us a .0047 percent chance if you get a vaccine to get reinfected and to have that reinfection hospitalize you. You have a better chance of getting struck by lightning.
“If you want our economy and our facilities to reopen again as we used to know them prior to March 2020, stop giving politicians excuses to keep our communities locked down. Go get the vaccine; I did it. I can tell you I don’t have a computer chip in me.”
Folks… I think he’s running.
…Adding… From Rodney Davis’ campaign committee at 4:01 this afternoon…
Friend,
Governor Pritzker has been a disgrace to Illinois.
He’s committed to protecting corrupt Democrats over serving the people of our great state — and it’s time for him to GO.
Chip in just $10 in the next few hours and receive your own FIRE PRITZKER sticker today!
FIRE PRITZKER
Thank you,
Team Davis
Paid for by Rodney for Congress
…Adding… From Democratic Party of Illinois Executive Director Abby Witt (on her first day on the job) in response to the Rodney Davis fundraising email…
“Congressman Rodney Davis has consistently chosen party politics over the people of Illinois by endorsing Donald Trump’s re-election and voting against the American Rescue Plan, denying Illinoisans critical support when they needed it most. Today in Washington, he cemented his place in history as a Trump-loving extremist, while in Illinois he sent a fundraising email attacking Gov. Pritzker and his successful efforts to protect our state in one of its darkest and most unpredictable times. Congressman Davis hasn’t been there for Illinoisans, and they won’t be there for him.”
Plaintiff has not filed responses to the motions, and the time for doing so has passed.
Collectively, Defendants argue that Plaintiffs’ Amended Complaint should be dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction as it fails to allege sufficient facts to establish standing by demonstrating an injury caused by the defendants. The State Defendants also argue that Plaintiff’s Amended Complaint fails to state a claim because (1) the Governor’s Executive Orders pass constitutional scrutiny in a public health crisis and are valid time, place, and manner restrictions; (2) Plaintiff fails to allege sufficient personal involvement by the State Defendants and rest upon a right that does not extend to the Plaintiff’s social associations; (3) Plaintiff fails to sufficiently allege discrimination against a secular entity in favor of a religious one; (4) Plaintiff’s state law claims are barred by the Eleventh Amendment; and (5) the Illinois Emergency Management Agency Act does not limit the State Defendants’ authority to enforce the Governor’s executive orders. […]
The Court may, in its discretion, construe a party’s failure to file a timely response as an admission of the merits of the motion. … Here, having fully considered Defendants’ arguments, the Court deems Plaintiff’s failure to respond as an admission of the merits of the motions. Accordingly, Defendants’ motions to dismiss are GRANTED; Plaintiff’s First Amended Complaint is DISMISSED without prejudice.
The Chicago Police Department started a secretive drone program using off-budget cash to pay for the new technology, the Sun-Times has learned.
Details of the police department’s drone program were included in an email sent last summer by Karen Conway, director of police research and development. In the email, Conway told other high-ranking police officials that the department’s counter-terrorism bureau “utilized 1505 funds for a pilot Drone program that operates within the parameters of current laws.” […]
The department’s “1505” fund is made up of forfeiture proceeds — money and other assets seized in connection to criminal investigations. The money isn’t included in the department’s official budget and has reportedly been used in the past to purchase other controversial technology, like Stingrays, which mimic cell towers and send out signals to trick phones into transmitting their locations and other information.
A state law that went into effect in July 2018 requires law enforcement agencies to report seizure and forfeiture information to the Illinois State Police.
* The Question: Should local police departments be required to transfer proceeds from the sale of seized assets to their municipalities’ general funds? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please…
• A study by former Illinois Power Agency (IPA) director employing the Aurora XMP grid and load modeling program shows that consumers save more than $1.2 billion over ten years by fully funding Illinois’ renewable energy program to 40% by 2031
• A study led by an Illinois State University Professor using the Jobs and Economic Development Impacts (JEDI) Model developed by NREL found that Path to 100 would create 53,000 new construction jobs
The state inspector general who headed an investigation into the November COVID-19 outbreak that killed 36 residents at the LaSalle Veterans’ Home told lawmakers Tuesday that communication issues pinpointed as a root cause of the crisis predated the pandemic.
“There are folks at LaSalle home who were expressing frustrations about communication prior to COVID, prior to 2020…multiple people expressing these concerns,” Department of Human Services Inspector General Peter Neumer said.
Neumer appeared in front of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee Tuesday, answering questions about the process behind his investigation. The committee’s hearing on the LaSalle home outbreak will continue Thursday, when the panel will grill representatives from the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, Department of Public Health and Gov. JB Pritzker’s office.
The Acting Inspector General for the Department of Human Services spoke with Illinois Representatives Tuesday about his recent report regarding the deadly COVID-19 outbreak at the LaSalle Veterans’ Home.
Peter Neumer explained Gov. Pritzker called for the investigation to figure out what led to the deaths of 36 veterans. Rep. David Welter (R-Morris) asked if the Governor’s Office put any pressure on the Inspector General’s Office during the investigation.
However, Neumer stressed the Pritzker administration didn’t have any direct influence on the investigation.
“Again, I know you are hired or technically hired by the Governor,” said Welter. “I’m sure he didn’t want any negative light on his actual administration. But, quite frankly, I think it’s unacceptable that they weren’t looked at as well.”
Neumer explained his team interviewed employees from the LaSalle facility as well as administration within the Department of Veterans’ Affairs and the Department of Public Health.
* Rep. Welter…
Governor Pritzker gave false hope to the families who lost loved ones when he promised a thorough and independent investigation into what went wrong at the LaSalle Veterans’ Home. It’s not a comprehensive investigation when you exempt key participants in the state’s response as Governor Pritzker did. He owes these families an explanation on why the decisions made by the Illinois Department of Public Health and the Governor’s Office were not worth looking into. This investigation – called by the governor – was not about finding answers; it was about hiding the truth.
Partisan accusations aside, it would be helpful if folks in the governor’s office with responsibity over IDVA testified in a legislative committee about their own involvement.
*** UPDATE *** Deputy Gov. Sol Flores and IDPH Director Dr. Ezike are both testifying tomorrow.
* To claim the administration is lying about security concerns is basically to believe in a conspiracy theory that Pritzker doesn’t want unemployed people to obtain benefits. Tribune editorial…
So why, at a time when thousands of Illinoisans have struggled to receive the unemployment benefits to which they’re entitled, have Illinois Department of Employment Security offices remained closed? Doors locked to the public? […]
Pritzker this week cited security concerns and threats as the reason for the still-closed offices. He said the agency is working with state police to figure out a safe reopening plan.
But that doesn’t quite add up. The agency’s website says: “In order to protect everyone through social distancing, IDES offices are closed to the public until further notice.” And plenty of other state offices with public-facing services — and probably a frustrated public — have managed to open their doors.
Doesn’t add up? Riots last year, spiking violent crime, rampant unemployment, general anger. Yeah, what could possibly go wrong?
The National Federation of Independent Business says a record 44% of all small-business owners have job openings they cannot fill. And according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, in some states workers can collect unemployment for up to 46 weeks.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce wants to end those extra government payouts because they’re enticing people to stay home.
Representatives of the hotel, restaurant and retail industry told aldermen on Tuesday businesses they represent are facing roadblocks to filling jobs as the city reopens. At the same time, a lack of childcare options is keeping some Chicagoans from returning to work, they said.
Amid rising attacks against a line of academic debate called “critical race theory,” I was surprised to see a Black state lawmaker from Chicago’s West Side, La Shawn Ford, introduce a bill calling for its inclusion in police officer training.
As a practical matter, I’d rather see, for example, more violence de-escalation training to help officers avoid shooting unarmed suspects. Just a thought.
“Critical race theory,” or CRT, has become a trigger term for politicians, activists and media voices, particularly on the right wing where it’s competing with “cancel culture” on the hit parade of things we are all supposed to be angry about or afraid of — or both.
But the political allure of the term is understandable, considering how often it has been appearing in the fevered narratives of conservative media and Red State politicians. Texas, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Idaho, Arkansas and Arizona have either passed or are working on bills that would drop CRT or anything that looks like it from public schools curricula.
That’s a lot of agitation over an esoteric school of thought found mostly in graduate schools and law schools.
The bill was introduced a few days before the House’s Third Reading deadline and hasn’t moved an inch.
State Sen. Mike Simmons knows what it’s like to be “humiliated” in front of other kids because of a lack of understanding or acceptance of his hairstyle.
The North Side Democrat made history as the first Black person to represent his North Side area in the state Senate. Decades earlier, his family was one of the first Black families to move into the Lincoln Square neighborhood.
Now the rookie state senator has introduced a bill to address “hair discrimination,” racism related to a person’s hair.
“I understand what this feels like personally, to be made to be humiliated in front of your classmates. To have authority figures belittle you and humiliate you in front of other people because of something that is God-given is entirely unacceptable,” Simmons said.
The bill’s deadline was extended until May 21 - a month after the original deadline.
Dozens of homeowners living near O’Hare International Airport tell us they’re living in limbo, not wanting to spend money to fix up their homes.
The reason? They fear a bill moving through Springfield is a scheme to allow Elk Grove Village to take their property. […]
The 36-acre community may be independent of any municipality, but residents fear they’ll lose their freedom if Elk Grove Village annexes their land. […]
“Senate Bill 658 does not relax the guidelines local governments currently have to adhere to when annexing properties. Recent court rulings have thrown existing statutory requirements into confusion, making it harder not only for municipalities to follow these requirements, but also for residents to know whether their government’s annexation decision is legal. Senate Bill 658 would clarify the laws already in place, providing straightforward language for governments seeking annexation and for residents keeping a check on their local governments,” said [Sen. Laura Murphy] in an emailed statement to CBS 2.
Looks like a story based on a Facebook post. The bill unanimously passed the Senate.
The Senate Education Committee advanced several bills Tuesday, including measures addressing special education, hairstyle discrimination and teaching Asian American history in public schools.
Those were among more than a dozen bills to pass the committee, the majority of which passed unanimously without debate or discussion.
Springfield Democrat Sen. Doris Turner’s House Bill 41 would add a new responsibility for the state when placing children in special education facilities. Under the proposal, before a child could be placed in an out-of-state residential facility, the entity behind that decision – whether it is a school district, Illinois agency or court – must refer the child’s guardians to a comparable in-state facility to consider.
The provision would also require the entity behind an out-of-state placement of a special education student to review that placement annually, and each year refer an in-state facility to the child’s guardians.
House Bill 40, sponsored by Sen. Bill Cunningham, D-Chicago, would change how students using special education services age out of the program. Under current Illinois law, special needs students lose their eligibility and are removed from school the day before they turn 22.
Free menstrual products might become available to college students in Illinois under a plan moving through the Senate.
The proposal that passed out of the House last month would require public universities and community colleges to provide the products in bathrooms of buildings they own and lease.
Sen. Karina Villa says period poverty is real. The West Chicago Democrat says her legislation could truly help students in need. […]
The proposal passed out of the Senate Higher Education Committee on a partisan 9-4 vote. It now heads to the Senate floor for consideration. The plan would head to Gov. JB Pritzker’s desk if approved by the Senate.
State Rep. Anne Stava-Murray (D-Naperville) began her first campaign in 2018 as a mother of two small children, got pregnant with her third, and then took on three more kids because of her campaign manager’s illness. The result, she said, was a debt that was only paid off this past year.
She’s now sponsoring a bill which would make child care a legitimate campaign expense.
“We shouldn’t be limiting people’s opportunities to be government representatives because we’re not allowing for simple expenses that are incurred because of running for office,” Stava-Murray told a committee. “Prior to that, I had been a stay-at-home parent, so these child care expenses. 100 percent due to me running for office for my election.”
* Hospitalizations continue to drop. Vaccinations are looking better. Press release…
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 1,795 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 26 additional deaths.
- Cook County: 1 female 30s, 1 female 40s, 1 female 50s, 1 male 50s, 1 female 60s, 1 male 60s, 1 female 70s, 1 male 70s, 1 female 80s
- Henry County: 1 female 70s, 1 male 80s
- Kane County: 1 male 70s
- Kankakee County: 1 male 90s
- Lake County: 1 male 80s
- Logan County: 1 male 70s
- Macoupin County: 1 male 90s
- Madison County: 1 female 60s
- Montgomery County: 1 male 80s
- Peoria County: 1 female 80s
- Rock Island County: 1 female 60s, 1 male 70s, 1 female 80s
- Schuyler County: 1 male 60s
- St. Clair County: 1 male 60s
- Tazewell County: 1 female 70s
- Winnebago County: 1 male 70s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 1,359,748 cases, including 22,285 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 70,216 specimens for a total of 23,505,414. As of last night, 1,899 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 466 patients were in the ICU and 246 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from May 5-11, 2021 is 2.7%. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from May 5-11, 2021 is 3.3%.
A total of 10,110,969 vaccines have been administered in Illinois as of last midnight. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 80,591 doses. Yesterday, 73,345 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 real-time. Information is constantly being entered into an electronic system and the number of cases and deaths can change as additional information is gathered. Information for deaths previously reported has changed, therefore, today’s numbers have been updated. For health questions about COVID-19, call the hotline at 1-800-889-3931 or email dph.sick@illinois.gov.
*** UPDATE *** Press release excerpt…
In an effort to ensure in-person learning can fully resume as quickly and safely as possible, the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today announced a $235 million investment to expand access to covidSHIELD testing to middle and high schools across the state at low or no cost. The covidSHIELD test, which was developed by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), is a saliva-based test that quickly detects the virus that causes COVID-19, including in people who aren’t exhibiting symptoms. […]
Testing will help quickly identify individuals who are positive for COVID-19 so that people who are close contacts of that individual can be quarantined to prevent further spread. This could include exposure in school, sports, or other extra-curricular activities. The more quickly a case can be identified, the number of potential exposures to other people can be reduced, as well as the number of people needing to quarantine.
Governor JB Pritzker today joined the Illinois Office of Tourism and industry leaders to kick off “Time for Me to Drive,” a new campaign to promote the return of travel across the state. In its first new campaign for tourism since the onset of COVID-19 last year, the State of Illinois is encouraging residents and visitors to get out and enjoy Illinois’ diverse communities and scenic landscapes safely.
To view and download media assets for “Time for Me to Drive” click here.
A multi-state ad campaign set to launch later this week will encourage travel to a broad range of destinations throughout Illinois, while positioning the state to seize on pent up demand. As consumer trends reveal an increased desire to travel by car, the new campaign is timed to highlight Illinois as a top choice for travel ahead of the summer season.
“The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is one of our state’s greatest attractions having welcomed millions of people from around the world. That’s why I chose it as the place to announce Illinois’ new tourism campaign – one designed especially to meet this moment in our history,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “After an incredibly difficult year in which the pandemic kept us all close to home and staying apart, lifesaving vaccines are bringing us back to life and heading toward a summer of fun and venturing out. Today I’m proud to launch the Time for Me to Drive Campaign – inviting people to see all of Illinois, showing off adventures of all kinds: Historic sites and winery tours, state parks and rock climbing, hiking, and zip-lining, hundreds of craft breweries and thousands of excellent restaurants across the state.”
“Time for Me to Drive” highlights the state’s seven national scenic byways and highways as more travelers seek to pack their cars and hit the road, a trend seen increasingly across the country. Featured trips span the state’s iconic museums, world-class architecture, and natural wonders, including Matthiessen State Park in Oglesby, Mississippi Palisades State Park in Savanna, the Shawnee National Forest, and the Garden of the Gods in Herod. Road trip itineraries also promote the discovery of destinations in and around Chicago, including award-winning restaurants, small businesses offering Illinois-made products and unforgettable locations like Chicago’s Navy Pier, the Riverwalk and of course the city’s diverse neighborhoods.
Overall, the Illinois Tourism Office, housed within the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO), has created over 60 original itineraries to help visitors navigate Illinois’ unique communities and natural resources.
The campaign will run on television, radio, digital and print media, and highway billboards spanning 18 markets, and with ads also available in Spanish. “Time for Me to Drive” represents the first phase of the State’s strategy to revitalize tourism in Illinois focusing on summer trips and regional overnight stays. Future tourism promotion efforts will be launched as indoor tourism activities, large festivals and mainstay attractions resume as public health guidelines allow. This gradual approach to tourism promotion will play an important role in supporting a safe return of the industry and its workers, while also boosting tourism revenues.
* US Attorney’s office in Nashville, TN yesterday…
Three Fort Campbell soldiers were charged today with conspiracy and offenses relating to the illegal purchase and transfer of dozens of firearms to the streets of Chicago, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Mary Jane Stewart for the Middle District of Tennessee.
Demarcus Adams, 21; Jarius Brunson, 22; and Brandon Miller, 22, all enlisted members of the U.S. Army and stationed at the Fort Campbell military installation in Clarksville, Tennessee, were arrested this morning by ATF agents and agents of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division. A criminal complaint obtained late yesterday charged each defendant with transferring a firearm to an out-of-state resident; making false statements during the purchase of a firearm; engaging in the business without a firearms license; wire fraud; money laundering; and conspiracy to commit Title 18 offenses.
According to the criminal complaint, this investigation began on March 26, 2021, when Chicago police responded to a mass shooting incident. During this incident, multiple people were shot and one person was pronounced dead at the scene. During the resulting investigation, multiple firearms were recovered from the shooting scene and five of the firearms were found to have been recently purchased from Federal Firearms Licensed (FFL) dealers in the Clarksville, Tennessee area. Further investigation identified Adams, Brunson and Miller as the majority purchasers of these firearms.
A broader investigation into firearms transaction records from FFLs in the Clarksville region determined that since September 2019, the trio had purchased 91 firearms from multiple FFLs in Clarksville; Oak Grove, Kentucky; Hopkinsville, Kentucky; Fort Campbell, Kentucky; and Paducah, Kentucky. The majority of the firearms were purchased during the last five months. The criminal complaint also alleges that after the firearms were purchased, Miller would provide them to individuals he was associated with in Chicago.
On April 28, 2021, a federal search warrant was executed at the home of Miller and Adams in Clarksville, where 49 empty firearms cases were recovered. Many of these empty cases were matched to firearms recovered by the Chicago Police Department at the scene of recent shootings and homicides.
Wednesday, May 12, 2021 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
With just weeks remaining in the legislative session, time is running out to pass a comprehensive clean energy bill like the Clean Energy Jobs Act (CEJA) that will hold utilities accountable.
Despite federal prosecutors fining ComEd a record $200 million in a bribery scandal, ComEd continues to profit off their wrongdoing and avoid refunding customers for their corruption.
Meanwhile, Ameren didn’t even show up to an April 27th House Energy and Environment Committee hearing on utility accountability. Instead, they’ve spent more than $80,000 in the last two months on misleading digital ads - outspending every other political advertiser in the state.
In the midst of all of this, both ComEd and Ameren are requesting millions in rate hikes from the state, hurting working families who pay more for their insider deals.
Legislation like CEJA will hold these utility companies accountable, placing an independent monitor in the headquarters of ComEd and Ameren and providing restitution for ComEd customers.
Illinois lawmakers must pass a comprehensive energy bill that will address the climate crisis, create equitable jobs, and advance the strongest utility ethics measures in state history. But we have less than 20 days left to get it done. CEJA can’t wait.
Wednesday, May 12, 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.
COVID-19 vaccine providers throughout Illinois are again averaging more than 80,000 shots a day after spending all of last week below that threshold.
Illinois Department of Public Health figures show providers averaged 81,265 shots a day over the past week. Four days ago, the state was averaging fewer than 66,000 shots a day as part of a two-week decline in shots administered. At its peak just under a month ago, the state was averaging more than 132,000 shots a day.
Declines in average daily new cases and hospitalizations keep Illinois on track to reach the Bridge Phase on Friday, with loosened capacities for businesses and social gatherings, state health officials say.
Sayer Ji is a 48-year-old proponent of what he calls natural medicine.
“My parents didn’t know about natural medicine, so it really wasn’t until I was 17 that I learned some basic principles of nutrition and self care,” he told attendees at a recent virtual conference. “I was liberated from needing pharmaceutical medicines.”
Ji was also there promoting his website, full of natural remedies and reams of anti-vaccine misinformation. He sells subscriptions for anywhere from $75 to $850 a year.
He is one of many anti-vaccine advocates with a business on the side. They promote false claims about the dangers vaccines pose, while selling treatments, supplementals or other services. Their potential market is the roughly 20% of Americans say they do not want to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, according to recent polling.
While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved use of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine Monday for anyone 12 and older, a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention immunization panel still has to authorize its use for 12- to 15-year-olds. That move is expected Wednesday. […]
“We are now seeing the highest rates of COVID-19 infections in younger people,” said Dr. Gregory Huhn, infectious disease physician and Cook County Health’s COVID-19 vaccine coordinator. “If we want kids to return to school, sports and friends as safely as possible, they should be vaccinated. It is our best chance at giving them some sense of normalcy back.”
Health experts acknowledge many parents are hesitant or opposed to vaccinating their children.
Some parents cite the fact the vaccine has been authorized only for “emergency use” by the FDA. Pfizer is in the process of seeking licensed authorization from the FDA for full use of the vaccine to assuage such concerns.
Cook County data shows more than 55% of north suburban residents having so far received at least their initial dose compared with 46% of those living in the west suburbs, 43% of southwest suburban residents and 36% of south suburban residents.
County health officials in late March rolled out an initiative to boost vaccination rates in 32 suburbs including several south suburban communities, such as Blue Island, Chicago Heights, Dixmoor, Harvey, Riverdale and Robbins.
Medicare will now require nursing homes to report COVID-19 vaccination rates for residents and staff.
That’s as government officials hope to nudge the long-term care facilities to keep giving shots as the worst ravages of the coronavirus pandemic ease but the danger of a rebound still lurks.
A man who was found guilty for acting as the lookout in a double homicide nearly three decades ago is asking the Illinois Supreme Court to find his mandatory life sentence without parole unconstitutional.
A lawyer for Antonio House argued before Supreme Court Tuesday that his life sentence for a crime committed when he was 19 violates the so-called proportionate penalties clause of the Illinois Constitution.
This clause in the constitution states: “All penalties shall be determined both according to the seriousness of the offense and with the objective of restoring the offender to useful citizenship.”
Lauren Bauser, an assistant appellate defender who represents House, said the court should allow House to be resentenced because “the record in this case demonstrates that Antonio’s mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole for a crime he committed as a teenager, as a teenage lookout, who wasn’t present at the time of the killing, shocks the conscience.”
Although five Democrats are already jockeying to replace Secretary of State Jesse White, Ald. Walter Burnett (27th Ward) told WTTW News that he will not run to replace his political godfather.
Burnett, elected to the City Council in 1995, said he decided that he could not continue to serve as alderman for the West Loop — where the COVID-19 pandemic has only slightly cooled the red-hot pace of development — while running for a statewide office amid the pandemic. […]
Burnett said he would have accepted an appointment from Gov. J.B. Pritzker to replace the 86-year-old White, who was first elected secretary of state in 1998. White won his last term in office with 68% of the vote in 2018, smashing his Republican challenger.
But Burnett said he could never get a commitment from the governor that he would get the nod to replace White as part of a maneuver perfected by Chicago’s Democratic machine during the past several decades to hang onto power by giving the party’s favorite a head start in office via an appointment.
Emily Bittner, a spokesperson for Pritzker, told WTTW News “the governor doesn’t contemplate filling hypothetical vacancies.”
…Adding… Back to hating on RRB…
"Emily Bittner, a spokesperson for Pritzker, told WTTW News 'the governor doesn’t contemplate filling hypothetical vacancies.'"
“The debts that we racked up during the COVID year of 2020, we had to do some federal borrowing in order to cover our bills,” Pritzker said. “We also racked up a bunch of bills, a bill backlog, that needs to be paid back. We need to act responsibly with these dollars.”
Among other things, Illinois owes the Federal Reserve about $3.6 billion from last year. The expectation was that the state could use what now looks like $8 billion to pay that off.
* From the US Treasury Department’s “interim final rule” on the state and local use of American Rescue Plan funds…
Question 17: In the Interim Final Rule, paying interest or principal on government debt is not considered provision of a government service. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of this approach, including circumstances in which paying interest or principal on government debt could be considered provision of a government service. […]
Sections 602(c)(1)(C) and 603(c)(1)(C) of the Act provide recipients with broad latitude to use the Fiscal Recovery Funds for the provision of government services. Government services can include, but are not limited to, maintenance or pay-go funded building of infrastructure, including roads; modernization of cybersecurity, including hardware, software, and protection of critical infrastructure; health services; environmental remediation; school or educational services; and the provision of police, fire, and other public safety services.
However, expenses associated with obligations under instruments evidencing financial indebtedness for borrowed money would not be considered the provision of government services, as these financing expenses do not directly provide services or aid to citizens. Specifically, government services would not include interest or principal on any outstanding debt instrument, including, for example, short-term revenue or tax anticipation notes, or fees or issuance costs associated with the issuance of new debt.
The Illinois Comptroller’s office said they continue to review the interim guidance for what’s allowed and plan to provide comment.
“[Governor’s Office of Management and Budget] and our office will be seeking to clarify with the Treasury that guidance against using these funds to pay debts unrelated to COVID-19 does not prevent their use for paying debts accrued for spending related to COVID expenses,” a spokesperson for Comptroller Susana Mendoza said in a statement.
That’s basically our only hope.
* As House Revenue Committee Chair Mike Zalewski implied, unless the General Assembly decides to push budget passage beyond the scheduled May 31 adjournment (or Mendoza somehow succeeds), this won’t really help the state…
So some caution in folks jumping to conclusion that Treasury guidance barring use of ARP funds to pay off bonds is done deal….this is an "interim final rule" and so chicago and illinois have 60 days to make their case.
— yvette.shields@arizent.com (@Yvette_BB) May 11, 2021
*** UPDATE 1 *** Gov. Pritzker was asked about this today…
The Senate president, the speaker and I have committed that we’re going to be paying back the borrowing that we took out over the last year to cover our Coronavirus expenses.
You know that the rules are still being worked on in Washington and we are in daily communication with the offices of the Treasury Department that are deciding about those rules. They put out a preliminary rule, and they know as we do, and this happened, by the way under the last administration when they had rules around the Cares Act, that there would be adjustments that would need to be made. And so we’re following that trail to make sure that we get everything done that we need to, so we can use those. Look the federal government’s sending US dollars and then telling us that we can’t then send those dollars back to the federal government to pay for the borrowing that we took out last year, clearly doesn’t make a lot of sense. And so we’ve talked to the Treasury Department about that.
Abudayyeh said the borrowed money wasn’t for old debts but to make the state whole for COVID-related spending, and therefore ought to be a justified use.
“Right now, I don’t think this is a particularly huge issue,” she said. “These are interim rules. This isn’t a panic moment.”
Msall said the state clearly “needs to get clarification.” But even if Treasury holds to its position, the state may be able to use the ARP infusion to pay for things such as aid to public grade and high schools, normal pension costs, and some capital expenditures that would easily exceed what the Fed is owed. That would free up cash to repay the Federal Reserve debt. The question is “how much fungibility” is allowed.
Illinois House Revenue Committee Chairman Mike Zalewski, who earlier had described the Treasury guidance as a “bombshell,” today was milder in his comments.
Switching money around as Msall suggested wouldn’t be easy, he said, but overall the situation is “problematic, but not insurmountable.”
*** UPDATE 3 *** Comptroller Mendoza…
Honorable Janet Yellen
Secretary of the Treasury
1500 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20220
Re: Interim Final Rule – Question 17 Response
Dear Secretary Yellen:
Thank you for your recent release of the Interim Final Rule providing guidance on the authorized uses of the Fiscal Recovery Funds provided under the American Rescue Plan Act. As offered in the Interim Final Rule, comments are welcomed in response to specific questions presented in the Rule. As the Chief Fiscal Officer for the State of Illinois, this letter is my response to Question 17.
It is my understanding the Interim Final Rule, as worded, would not allow the State of Illinois to use its federal funds for debt payments directly related to some $3.8 billion in short-term borrowing necessary for medical payments to the Illinois healthcare industry at crucial points during the 2020 pandemic.
This short-term borrowing by the State of Illinois in 2020 includes:
April 2020 - $200 million from other state funds allowing the state to purchase urgently needed PPE supplies and equipment;
June 2020 - $1.2 billion in Municipal Liquidity Facility (MLF) funds from the Federal Reserve allowing payment to Illinois Medicaid providers since the state was experiencing a $3.1 billion revenue shortfall in the two months prior;
November 2020 - $400 million from other state funds for Illinois Medicaid providers as a cash-flow bridge to the larger loan in December; and
December 2020 - $2 billion in MLF funds from the Federal Reserve for Medicaid and other medical providers.
This borrowing was essential for the continued performance of government services during the most fiscally challenging times for the state’s cash flow during the pandemic, all directly related to the COVID-19 crisis. It was critical to get state payments out during these periods, as our Illinois healthcare industry was fighting back the adverse impact of COVID-19.
Illinois could not wait for additional federal relief funds to help mitigate the state’s response, and without this short-term borrowing, the state’s recovery would have been imperiled.
Illinois is the only state that utilized short-term borrowing in order to provide essential government services during the pandemic, allowed under prior federal Covid-19 relief programs. These debts would not have been incurred except as a response to the Covid-19 pandemic. We want to promptly repay federal taxpayers for the crucial help they provided us during the pandemic. This is entirely consistent with the spirit of the American Rescue Plan passed by Congress and signed by President Biden. My specific request is for the Department of the Treasury to clarify this Rule to accommodate this unique circumstance; allowing Fiscal Recovery Funds to be used to directly repay Covid-19-necessitated short-term borrowing.
The Covid-19 pandemic continues while the Governor and the legislature work to balance Illinois’ budget for fiscal year 2022 and beyond. The Department of the Treasury’s timely approval of this request is critical for Illinois’ path toward fiscal recovery.
Thank you for considering this important clarification.
Tomorrow’s showdown vote on whether U.S. House Republicans will dump Rep. Liz Cheney as their No. 3 leader may well tell us a lot about the future of Illinois Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Taylorville, and whether he’s seriously eyeing a race against Gov. J.B. Pritzker next year.
A vote to remove the Wyoming Republican will be taken as a sign that Davis, who has been rising fast in the GOP ranks and is considered a close ally of House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy, wants to stay in the House, where some consider him a committee chairman-in-waiting if the GOP takes control of that chamber next year. […]
(W)hat might be popular downstate or in pro-Trump areas tends to be the opposite in the rest of now- heavily blue Illinois. Says one top state Republican, speaking privately, “If he’s going to run for governor, he can’t vote to get rid of Cheney.”
Davis has a long voting history, so I doubt it’ll come down to that one vote in an actual gubernatorial election. But it will be watched closely by people who follow this sort of thing - a sort of “pundit moment” for Davis.
* The vote will take place behind closed doors, however. So there’s no guarantee we’ll know for sure what happened with individual members. From the DCCC…
Just days after GOP Congresswoman Liz Cheney did the bare minimum and refused to promote the Big Lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, House Republicans shamelessly began their effort to replace her as the Number 3 Republican in the caucus. In her place, Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has propped up Elise Stefanik, a Trump loyalist who peddles dangerous conspiracies about the results of the election.
Evidently, McCarthy’s concern about the silencing of conservative voices doesn’t apply if it’s a woman in his caucus who refuses to lie. If Republicans believe this vote is fair, why are they choosing to hide behind a secret ballot? Rep. Rodney Davis has refused to tell the Chicago Sun Times and Illinois Playbook where he stands — voters deserve to know whether he will punish Rep. Cheney for voicing the truth.
It’s clear that in order to succeed in the House GOP, members must promote dangerous conspiracies like the ones that caused the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
“It’s increasingly obvious that there’s only room in the House Republican caucus for people who will continue to promote Trump’s Big Lie and put our democracy at risk. This vote tells the American people that McCarthy and Republicans would rather punish Rep. Cheney for telling the truth about our elections than denounce Marjorie Taylor Greene’s racist white supremacist caucus or Matt Gaetz’s credibly alleged sex trafficking crimes. Rep. Rodney Davis owes it to his voters to let them know which side he stands on,” said DCCC Spokesperson Elena Kuhn.
* Too bad the chamber’s deadline for Third Reading passage of House bills was April 23rd. It’ll get some nice play, though. And, who knows, maybe it’ll wind up being attached to another bill …
Folks, we have a new bill alert. Illinois could soon allow bars to reward people who got the vaccine with a free beer.
Rep. Mike Zalewski filed the “Shot and a Beer” bill in the House this morning. pic.twitter.com/okxyEAjm8r
backroom gambling deal is being worked out behind closed doors, as the General Assembly nears the May 31 deadline. Three gambling issues under consideration:
Internet Scratch-off lottery tickets. Scratch-off tickets account for 2/3 of lottery sales. Instant scratch-offs are like playing games on phones, with a “Play Again” button that pops up after purchase. Anyone 18 and older could “scratch” tickets for hours on end and lose a great deal of money.
The Lottery simplified online registration during the pandemic, added Apple and Google Pay, and used web-push notifications/nudges on phones to lure gamblers. Having a gambling app in your pocket is a constant temptation to gamble.
Betting on Illinois College Sports. Threats against student athletes are real, especially when people are gambling on college teams. The 2019 gambling bill banned bets on Illinois college sports to protect college players, many of whom are under the age of 21.
The Illinois House has voted to “fire a shot across the bow” of the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund, the massive retirement system that’s been riddled with internal tension and has tapped its board chairman to double as its interim executive director.
In a near-unanimous action, the House voted 114-0 to approve a bill sponsored by Rep. Mark Batinick, R-Plainfield, that would impose a 12-month ban on any board member of a public pension system going to work for that system or any of its vendors. Four representatives did not vote.
Batinick said the measure would not apply to an earlier move by CTPF to make its board president, Jeffery Blackwell, the interim executive director, the fund’s top staff job. But the move is intended as a warning —”a shot across the bow”—to the $11 billion fund because there “seems to be a clear conflict of interest” in Blackwell supervising his own performance as both a board member and the executive director, Batinick told me.
Blackwell got the job in February, succeeding Mary Cavallaro. She resigned after just a few months in the job, saying in a statement that “I can no longer tolerate the chaos and toxicity of the boardroom, along with the vile disrespect and insults directed toward me, the leadership team and the hard-working staff of the fund by certain misinformed trustees.”
Members from both sides of the aisle at the Illinois statehouse say they’re taking small steps to save taxpayers on the $140-plus billion unfunded liability of public sector pensions.
State Sen. Robert Martwick, D-Chicago, said after the legislature changed the pension plans a decade ago from Tier I to a plan with fewer benefits, Tier II may not cut it for some retirees. He passed Senate Bill 1675 requiring more state employees to save more on their own through a deferred compensation plan.
“So it doesn’t cost the government anything,” Martwick said. “It costs the pension systems a small amount of money in administration compared to their larger pot.”
Passions are pouring out on both sides of the issue of a measure to regulate retail pet stores.
House Bill 1711 would change state law to allow the sale of dogs and cats only if they come from an animal control facility or shelter. It passed the House with bipartisan support last month.
Illinois State Director for The Humane Society, Marc Ayers, advocates for the measure.
“And to change that source to shelters and rescues and animal controls so for one we can stop the proliferation of these puppy mills that they’re often coming from but also we can increase life-saving by adopting animals out that need a loving home,” Ayers told WMAY.
Jonathan Berning, co-owner of Happiness Is Pets with several locations in Illinois, said the measure would essentially shut down his business.
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan says she’ll seat a grand jury sometime this month to see if anyone broke any laws in how Governor Rauner’s administration handled the Legionnaires outbreak at the Quincy veterans home. Madigan announced her investigation yesterday. The Quincy outbreak began nearly four years ago and 14 people died from Legionnaires and 70 others became sick. Republicans say the investigation is little more than a last minute election year ploy to smear the governor.
Illinois Republican Party press release in the same time period…
“During her 16 years in office, Attorney General Lisa Madigan has done absolutely nothing to address the corruption from Speaker Mike Madigan and Illinois Democrats that has plagued our state for decades. But now that an independent investigation has found her party’s candidate for governor to be a tax fraud, Madigan has launched a clearly partisan investigation into a serious public health crisis that Governor Rauner took swift action on and has been transparent with the General Assembly and the media. This is nothing more than the politicization of the devastating deaths of Illinois veterans to distract from JB Pritzker’s scheme to defraud Illinois taxpayers hours before a debate.”
Newly disclosed records from the office of Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner document a pattern by the state of slow-walking and soft-pedaling bad news about deadly outbreaks of Legionnaires’ disease at a state-run home for war veterans in downstate Quincy. […]
Some of the details that broke through the black ink are drawing new criticism from a nationally recognized infectious disease expert and prompting one Democratic lawmaker instrumental in establishing a state disease notification law to call for a criminal investigation.
“All aspects of this need to be looked at through the criminal process, whether it be manslaughter, neglect, you name it,” said state Rep. Stephanie Kifowit, an Aurora Democrat and chief House sponsor of the disease notification bill.
State Rep. Stephanie Kifowit (D-Oswego), who chairs the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee set to interrogate Pritzker administration officials about the LaSalle outbreak Tuesday told NPR Illinois she didn’t believe it was appropriate for lawmakers to pressure Raoul’s office to open a criminal investigation.
“I think the Attorney General has to decide for themselves,” Kifowit said. “That’s not the role of the legislature to tell a separate constitutional officer [to investigate]. “We’re going do all we can to investigate the situation and it’s up to the Attorney General to decide what path they’re going to take.”
Lots more in Meisel’s story, so click here and discuss below.
The Illinois Constitution says lawmakers have until June 30 to pass new legislative maps. If they don’t, map-making goes to a commission of eight people, four from each party. This group must agree on maps by Aug. 10. If five members don’t approve the maps, the name of either a Republican or Democrat is drawn from a hat to choose a ninth member to break the tie by Oct. 5.
“It is not my belief that the people of Illinois would rather us have our redistricting on whose name, Republican or Democrat, is pulled out of a top hat,” said state Rep. Jay Hoffman, D-Swansea, arguing he believes Illinoisans would rather lawmakers use the best data they have now than leave map-making up to a random drawing. […]
Democrats say they have to draw a map by June 30 per the constitution. Republicans say they can wait for the Census. The constitution says lawmakers “shall” handle the redistricting process, but does not mandate maps to be complete by June 30 and creates a process for lawmakers to handle redistricting after June 30.
There’s really no need for this he-said/she-said stuff.
The Democrats want to avoid that October lottery, which gives the Republican Party a 50/50 chance of controlling the remap process. Republicans want to delay the process for the same reason. That’s it.
Congressional earmarks — specific projects advanced by individual members of Congress for their districts through the appropriations process — once led to prison terms for congressmen and lobbyists, the rise of the tea-party movement and an earmark moratorium that has existed since 2010.
Well, guess what’s back.
They have a new name — community-project funding and member-designated projects — but earmarks have been revived by the Democrats who run the House and Senate. And Republicans have joined the revival — although not all of them are on board.
Freshman U.S. Rep. Mary Miller, R-Oakland, is the only member of Congress from Illinois who didn’t submit any requests. Miller’s district includes Charleston-Mattoon, Danville, Paris, Rantoul, Tuscola and areas south.
According to Kacich, Rodney Davis requested $37.5 million, Adam Kinzinger requested about $81.8 million and Darin LaHood asked for $91.8 million. These are requests. Final amounts are to be determined.
* Meanwhile, US Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi announced $1.27 billion in higher education funding from the American Rescue Plan, split almost evenly between student aid and institutional awards. The list is long, so click here to see it.
* Just about everything is trending well, except for deaths among younger people, of course…
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 1,562 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 26 additional deaths.
- Cook County: 1 female 30s, 1 male 30s, 1 female 40s, 1 female 50s, 1 male 50s, 4 females 60s, 2 males 60s, 1 female 70s, 3 males 70s, 2 females 80s, 1 male 80s
- DuPage County: 1 female 80s
- Knox County: 1 male 80s
- Lake County: 1 male 50s, 1 female 80s
- Moultrie County: 1 female 70s, 1 female 90s
- Rock Island County: 1 female 90s, 1 male 90s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 1,357,953 cases, including 22,261 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 46,334 specimens for a total of 23,435,198. As of last night, 1,930 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 489 patients were in the ICU and 261 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from May 4-10, 2021 is 2.8%. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from May 4-10, 2021 is 3.3%.
A total of 10,037,624 vaccines have been administered in Illinois as of last midnight. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 83,887 doses. Yesterday, 58,709 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 real-time. Information is constantly being entered into an electronic system and the number of cases and deaths can change as additional information is gathered. For health questions about COVID-19, call the hotline at 1-800-889-3931 or email dph.sick@illinois.gov.
Overall, the AP-NORC poll found about 1 in 5 American adults say they probably or definitely won’t get vaccinated, compared to about a third in January, when the shots were just rolling out. […]
Black Americans likewise are becoming more open to the shots, with 26% now saying they definitely or probably won’t get vaccinated compared with 41% in January. […]
32% of Republicans now say they probably or definitely won’t get vaccinated, down from 44% in January.
Other polls have been finding the same thing for months. There are gonna be hardcore holdouts, but what the government needs to be focusing on the most is making it easier to get the shot (24/7 vaccination sites, mobile vax centers at churches, schools, events, etc.) and using market research to reach out to people whose opinion can be most readily changed. The loudmouths on social media and cable TV will either eventually come around or they won’t. They should be at the bottom of the priority list, except to make sure their arguments are effectively and aggressively countered so that more people aren’t infected with a communications virus.
* Gov. Pritzker was asked about the hesitancy issue today…
There are people who come from communities that have been hesitant for many years about the health care system in general, because it hasn’t treated them properly, that equity hasn’t been brought to them in the health care system. And so I can understand why people choose to maybe step back and wait a little while.
There are others who maybe don’t fully understand the science behind the vaccinations and therefore are hesitant because they haven’t learned enough about it, which I understand. We want to do a good job of educating everybody.
But I would just remind you that literally hundreds of millions of people around the world have been vaccinated. And here in the United States, there’s not a single instance of a vaccination, other than those three that were related, three people, out of tens of millions, I think we’re now past 100 million people that are vaccinated in the United States, three people that had what’s identified maybe as a pre-existing condition, but certainly in a category that it’s now identified. And so I just say it’s safe, you know, talk to your doctor. But talk to your neighbors, talk to your friends, your family, and I think you’ll find that it’s safe. For those of us who’ve been vaccinated, it’s a lot more comfortable to be able to be outside in a small group of people not wearing a mask. It’s a lot more comfortable to be able to go into a restaurant, and just know that you’re highly unlikely to get infected.
* Sun-Times story on Chicago Ald. David Moore’s campaign announcement for secretary of state…
In his announcement speech, Moore said he’d expand the use of technology in the office for access to libraries to help younger state residents “explore their skills” and establish youth engagement offices named for White at the state’s driving facilities as well as place advertisements on license plates in order to bring in revenue.
* The Question: Advertisements on license plates? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please…
Tuesday, May 11, 2021 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Jack Crowe felt a little something in his neck. When symptoms of a chest cold followed, Crowe and his wife left their cabin in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and started driving home to Chicago.
Was it COVID-19? Crowe made a telehealth appointment with Rush University Medical Center to find out. Still far from home, Crowe told an ABC News affiliate, he was connected to a virtual care provider in five minutes.
That provider, nurse practitioner Nicole Marks, told the ABC affiliate that Crowe’s chest pain and shortness of breath were “red flags.” Crowe needed to be seen by a doctor immediately. Taking Marks’ advice, Crowe sought emergency care at a Wisconsin hospital. There, he was diagnosed with aortic dissection, a rare and serious condition of a tear in the main artery that carries blood from the heart.
“I went against my own instincts, which was to keep driving to Chicago another four hours. And if I had done that, I would have died,” said Crowe, who underwent emergency open-heart surgery.
The lifesaving care Crowe received is just one example of the urgent need to pass House Bill 3498in the Senate and make telehealth coverage and payment permanent. Visit https://protectillinoistelehealth.org/ to learn more.
We wanted to share some exciting news. With the passage of the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), states have been provided an additional 10% in federal Medicaid matching funds (FMAP) for Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services. The DDD has developed a plan to incorporate the additional FMAP funds, estimated at $45 million, for an increase in the proposed FY22 budget. This funding, when added to the funding proposed in the Governor’s FY22 budget, will allow for a total investment of $122 million in the I/DD system in FY22.
* While that’s in line with recent state spending, it’s a fraction of what a state study says it should be…
Three years after a federal judge found Illinois had failed to meet the standards of a consent decree mandating sufficient services to residents with intellectual and developmental disabilities, Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s proposed budget falls far short of a state-funded study’s recommendation to address the problem.
The study’s five-year spending plan includes a first year increase of $329 million to the roughly $1.1 billion allocated to community providers who work with people with disabilities such as Down syndrome, cerebral palsy and autism.
Those organizations say the money would go a long way toward addressing the major issues they face: staffing shortages, a lack of day programs such as job coaching and a waiting list of more than 5,000 adults for services including housing. […]
Released in December, the five-year spending plan is the result of a 2018 federal court ruling that found Illinois was not in compliance with a 2011 consent decree requiring the state to make community services more accessible to those with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman ruled the state had failed “to provide the resources of sufficient quality, scope, and variety.”
[John Pingo, President and CEO of the Goldie B. Floberg Center in Rockton] said this is what Illinois gets when the state underinvested in the system far too long.
“It cannot handle a giant system shock. And that’s exactly what the pandemic has done,” Pingo added. “It took a system that was just barely getting by and added a tremendous amount of stress.”
Pingo and [Mark Schmitz, the Transitions of Western Illinois Executive Director] appreciate that the Pritzker administration understands their concerns and continues to work on solutions. However, Schmitz said it could take years of concerted effort to get to where providers need to be.
“The increase in the governor’s budget is just barely keeping up with the increase in the minimum wage in the state. So, it’s not really getting us ahead in terms of fixing the parts of this that are broken,” Schmitz said. “Those keep coming in front of the court monitors to say Illinois has a broken developmental disabilities system.”
A McLean County Board member says his party has been plotting behind closed doors for months to create new district board maps that would make it harder for Democrats to get elected.
Republican Josh Barnett of Bloomington said County Board chair John McIntyre rejected his call for a bipartisan advisory panel to help draw the maps.
“They are trying to dump Republican voters from the rural areas into Bloomington-Normal in an attempt to keep control of the County Board for the next decade,” Barnett said. “They are not being open about that. They are not being honest about it and it’s time that it stops and is brought to light.”
Republicans currently hold an 11-9 majority on the board, but the GOP majority has been trimmed in recent elections.
Barnett said McIntyre responded that Democrats posed a “growing threat” on the board and said he was trying to “contain them.”
A second Republican is having doubts about a GOP-backed plan to dramatically change the way county board districts are drawn in McLean County.
The county board’s executive committee voted 5-3 Monday in favor of a plan dividing the county into five large districts instead of the current structure of 10 smaller districts. However, the outcome of a full board vote, expected at a special meeting Tuesday, is very much in doubt. […]
[Republican board member Randy Martin] did not explain his concerns during Monday’s meeting, but told 25 News he’s worried the redistricting debate is creating an unhealthy rivalry between residents living in the country and those in the Twin-Cities. […]
As a result of what he said was a “shady” process, [Republican board member Josh Barnett] believes funding is at risk for the county-owned nursing home, the county’s behavioral health initiatives, and the McLean County Museum of History.
Meanwhile at the Statehouse, not a single solitary Democratic legislator has publicly threatened to vote against the upcoming remap legislation.
As summer construction season ramps up, Gov. JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) today announced the fourth round of $250 million in Rebuild Illinois funded grants is available to advance municipal, township, and county projects across the state. With the latest round of grants, $1 billion in funding has now been distributed to address local transportation needs. The funding ensures that local governments can continue to invest in projects that sustain good-paying jobs and enhance quality of life for Illinois residents.
“In a sign that Illinois is overcoming years of dysfunction, we put together a bipartisan-backed Rebuild Illinois plan to build new roads and bridges and ports and airports and to fix existing ones. It’s the largest infrastructure investment in Illinois’ history. While other Midwestern states struggle to modernize, Illinois is passing them by. Already, our Rebuild Illinois plan has improved over 3,000 miles of highways, completed over 180 bridges, and launched hundreds more projects,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “But Rebuild Illinois isn’t just about building gleaming new state roads and bridges. It’s also about fixing local roads and bridges that make a big difference in people’s daily lives. Government ought to be all about making life better for our families and our communities right where we live. That’s why I’m so excited to be here in Champaign to announce $250 million in new grants for counties, municipalities, and townships – bringing our total funding for these grants through Rebuild Illinois to $1 billion.”
A total of $1.5 billion spread out in six installments is being invested over three years to advance municipal, township and county projects across the state. Projects include road and bridge improvements, traffic signal upgrades, new storm sewers and bike paths, sidewalk replacements and other long-term maintenance needs, with financial oversight from IDOT.
“At IDOT, there is no such thing as a federal road, a state road, a county road or a township road. They are all Illinois roads that the public depends on each day,” said Acting Transportation Secretary Omer Osman. “Because of the vision of Gov. Pritzker, Rebuild Illinois is making historic investments in our local transportation system. Working together with our partners, we are strengthening all modes of transportation across all jurisdictions.”
The funding is in addition to the regular contributions through the state’s motor fuel tax formula, which have increased due to Rebuild Illinois and already account for $706.5 million to local governments in this fiscal year alone.
Passed in 2019, Rebuild Illinois is investing $33.2 billion into the state’s aging transportation system, creating jobs, and promoting economic growth. The landmark capital program is not only the largest capital program in state history, but also the first one that touches all modes of transportation: roads and bridges, transit, waterways, freight and passenger rail, aviation, and bicycle and pedestrian accommodations.
“This significant investment in new and improved infrastructure will allow our residents to travel safely and draw visitors to our area, helloing our whole community move forward from the pandemic,” said State Senator Scott Bennett (D-Champaign). “Continued commitment to our state’s transportation and infrastructure system is critical to jump-starting the economy and putting us back on track.”
As part of its current FY2021-26 Proposed Highway Improvement Program, IDOT is investing a total of $21.3 billion to improve roads and bridges. Of that, $4.7 billion is identified for the local transportation system.
Arguing that the controversial Loop structure is Helmut Jahn’s definitive achievement, preservation advocates said Monday that the untimely death of the German architect “really does cement the argument that the Thompson Center should be preserved.”
Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who put the building up for sale last week, on Monday said the state lost “a great artistic genius,” but the James R. Thompson Center doesn’t fall under the category of great, artistic work. […]
“I think it really does define his career,” [Ward Miller, the executive director of Preservation Chicago] said of the Thompson Center. “There may still be projects by Jahn in process, but we are never, ever going to see another design by Helmut Jahn be constructed other than what’s already planned, and I think that it really does cement the argument that the Thompson Center should be preserved.” […]
“The James R. Thompson Center was a building that never lived up to his creative genius,” Pritzker said. “We’ve obviously put out [a Request for Proposals] that allows people who are thinking about buying the property to preserve the building or choose something else.”
* Good point…
Not talking about the replaceable units, more the layout, with its many bottlenecks & inherent slowness (which is also a good symbol of proper government, like the open atrium). Seriously: find one person who works there every day who defends it _as a great building to work in_. https://t.co/d8SjKfJMKH
* A bit of harmless silliness, but I laughed about this a lot yesterday so I figured I’d post it. NBC 5…
Speaking at an event alongside Gov. J.B. Pritzker Monday, Lightfoot said she certainly hopes Chicago can fully reopen by June 11, which is when Illinois plans to enter Phase 5, however she didn’t commit to a specific date.
“We’re headed in the right direction,” the mayor said. “But everything about this pandemic has to have an asteroid of caution, because of the twists and turns, and as the governor and doctor said, we’ve got to get people vaccinated, so that we can get ahead of these variants.”
Tuesday, May 11, 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.
The shift to the pandemic’s vaccination phase has prompted many people to dwell at the micro level: When will I be fully vaccinated? When will my family and friends get their shots? When can we all revert to something resembling normal life? But that has lent a false sense of security to the vaccinated and obscured the perils lurking at the macro level, as devastating new waves of COVID-19 crash over countries such as India and Brazil and spread more transmissible variants of the virus beyond their shores.
“The United States may be advancing remarkably [with] the pace of vaccination, but so long as you have uncontrolled pandemics throughout the world, every contagion increases the likelihood of an ‘escape variant’ that eventually, with the level of interconnectedness we have, will find its way even [to] populations that have been vaccinated,” Julio Frenk, a former Mexican health minister and World Health Organization official, told me. “No one is safe until everyone is safe.” [..]
“The more contagion you have, the higher the likelihood that you will have a mutation and that that mutation will lead to a more contagious variant. And that’s exactly what’s happened,” said Frenk, now the president of the University of Miami. […]
Pedro Hallal, the lead investigator for EPICOVID-19, the largest epidemiological study of COVID-19 in Brazil, told me that he’s concerned about new variants popping up in Brazil that could, for example, be more dangerous for children or undermine the effectiveness of existing vaccines. Brazil, he said, has become a “variants factory.” […]
At its current sluggish pace, Brazil will take another 12 months to vaccinate 75 percent of its population.
