* Posted in the order they were received. Press release…
Joint Statement on Murray Developmental Center COVID-19 Cases
The following statement can be attributed to State Senator Jason Plummer, State Representative Charles E. Meier, the Illinois Department of Human Services, and the Clinton County Health Department:
The health, safety, and well-being of the residents and employees at Murray Developmental Center are of the utmost importance.
The 56 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the last 19 days, which include 24 residents and 32 Murray Developmental Center staff, are deeply concerning and news we take very seriously. We are taking every precaution for the individuals receiving care and for the staff working at the Murray Developmental Center who have tested positive for COVID-19 – for their families and for their fellow residents and colleagues.
Together, we are urging everyone in Clinton County to work collaboratively in the public interest to limit further spread of COVID-19. We know that Murray Developmental Center is in Illinois’ COVID Region 4, which currently has a 7-day rolling average positivity rate of 16.1%. Currently, the COVID-19 positivity rate in all of Clinton County is 19.5%, exceeding the State target for containing the virus.
To protect the residents and staff of Murray Developmental Center – as well as their families and others in our community – we remind everyone, outside of your home and household: please wear a face covering, wash your hands, and practice social distancing measures.
These actions can save lives and prevent short- and long-term health problems.
* Press release…
Joint Statement on Ludeman Developmental Center COVID-19 Cases
The following statement can be attributed to State Senator Patrick J. Joyce, State Representative Anthony DeLuca, and the Illinois Department of Human Services:
The health, safety, and well-being of the residents and employees at Ludeman Developmental Center are of the utmost importance.
The 46 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the last 18 days, which include 19 residents and 27 Ludeman Developmental Center staff, are deeply concerning and news we take very seriously. We are taking every precaution for the individuals receiving care and for the staff working at the Ludeman Developmental Center who have tested positive for COVID-19 – for their families and for their fellow residents and colleagues.
Together, we are urging everyone in Cook County to work collaboratively in the public interest to limit further spread of COVID-19. We know that Ludeman Developmental Center is in Illinois’ COVID Region 10, which currently has a 7-day rolling average positivity rate of 15.9%. Currently, the COVID-19 positivity rate in all of Cook County is 15.9%, exceeding the State target for containing the virus.
To protect the residents and staff of Ludeman Developmental Center – as well as their families and others in our community – we remind everyone, outside of your home and household: please wear a face covering, wash your hands, and practice social distancing measures.
We will continue to urge area residents to follow the recommendations set forth by the Illinois Department of Public Health and the CDC. These actions can save lives and prevent short- and long-term health problems.
The Illinois Retail Merchants Association (IRMA) has released the following statement regarding the statewide Tier 3 mitigations issued today by Gov. J.B. Pritzker:
“The Tier 3 mitigations announced today by Gov. J.B. Pritzker strikes the right balance between allowing access to retail services and the need to adjust safety measures in response to the latest science about how to address this virus. While additional capacity restrictions will impose significant hardship on retailers already devastated by the pandemic – especially during what is usually the busiest shopping time of the year – we are glad customers will continue to have numerous safe shopping options,” said IRMA President and CEO Rob Karr. “It is our hope the same science that provides for safe shopping can soon be applied to restaurants and bars so they can again allow inside dining, albeit at a reduced capacity. Finally, we look forward to the support of the Pritzker Administration and legislators in ensuring the beleaguered retail sector is best positioned to regain full strength. As the second largest revenue generator for the state and the largest for local governments, without a fully revived retail sector, Illinois faces a more dire future.”
* IHA…
“The Illinois Health and Hospital Association and our member hospitals and health systems across the state commend Governor J.B. Pritzker for his exceptional leadership in this extraordinary time, including his decisive action today to address and mitigate the alarming surge in COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations.
“Hospitals in every area of the state now have higher caseloads of COVID-19 patients than they faced during the spring surge. While hospitals and health systems are continuing to ramp up their capacity and manage their caseloads, the surge in infections and hospitalizations will soon present significant challenges to the healthcare delivery system.
“We support the Governor and Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike as they take important and necessary steps so Illinois’ hospitals and their 285,000 nurses, doctors and other healthcare professionals can continue their heroic work every day to serve their patients and save lives.
“Hospitals, doctors, nurses and all healthcare providers on the front lines are asking Illinoisans to help stop the spread of the virus. We urge everyone to follow these simple but very effective public health measures: wear a mask, watch your distance, wash your hands, avoid large family and social gatherings, and get a flu shot. All of us must act now and work together to protect our families, friends, neighbors, and the healthcare workers who are selflessly serving our communities.”
* IMA…
The Illinois Manufacturers’ Association released the following statement regarding the new statewide mitigations issued today by Gov. JB Pritzker:
“As our state and nation continue to grapple with this virus, Illinois manufacturers remain committed to leading the way forward. Manufacturers are developing life-saving vaccines and treatments, producing needed personal protective equipment, keeping store shelves stocked with important goods and nutritious foods, and powering our homes and businesses,” said Mark Denzler, president & CEO of the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association. “We remain committed to working with state officials and health experts to ensure the protection of all workers, customers and our communities. Indeed, manufacturers have proven they are not only vital to our response to this pandemic but will also be critical to our recovery as they look to hire more workers and pour billions of dollars into our economy.”
* INA…
The Illinois Nurses Association supports Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker’s statewide COVID-19 mitigation measures. Nurses are on the front lines of the state’s health care system and a spike in COVID-19 cases puts them at heightened risk and jeopardizes the health care system’s ability to care for all Illinois patients. Two nurses died earlier this Spring from COVID-19 and even now, nurses continue to test positive. Stringent mitigation measures based on sound science and public health practices are called for to ensure we reduce the infections from COVID-19.
* IPHCA…
-The Illinois Primary Health Care Association (IPHCA) commends Governor Pritzker for making the tough decision to move our entire state into Tier 3 mitigation to combat surging COVID-19 cases. Over the course of the last several weeks, we have seen an exponential increase in the number of new COVID-19 cases, the rate of hospitalizations, and the rates for which patients have been admitted to ICUs and put on a ventilator. Additionally, and more disheartening, we are also seeing an unacceptable increase in the death rate.
Our ability to effectively combat this pandemic is being jeopardized by the number of sick and those requiring hospital-level care. If we do not take immediate action, the consequences will be devastating. It is up to all of us, every resident, business, health care organization, and community leader to combat this COVID-19 surge by staying home whenever possible, practicing social distancing, and wearing a mask.
IPHCA understands the Governor’s decision to move all of Illinois into Tier 3 mitigation was not made easily, but that it was done in an effort to keep our communities safe and to save lives. Community health centers across the state are committed to doing our part, in collaboration with state and local leaders, to fight back against this pandemic.
* IllinoisPIRG…
“The past few weeks have seen COVID-19 surge across the country, with Illinois and the Midwest among the hardest hit areas. As the weather gets colder and people spend more time inside, we are at a critical point. The decisions made by our leaders today will determine how many lives we can save and help us get through the winter as safely as we can. By rolling back some of the most high-risk activities where people gather indoors, Governor Pritzker is protecting public health.
“While the governor’s action is welcome, given how quickly and widely the virus is spreading, more action is needed right away. The quickest way to lower cases dramatically is to issue a temporary stay-at-home order and close non-essential businesses until we effectively curb transmission.
“Two things are as clear as they’ve been for months: It’s in our power to save lives, and taking measures to do so quickly will help, not hurt the economy long-term.”
…Adding… SEIU Healthcare Illinois…
Members of SEIU Healthcare Illinois support Gov. Pritker’s call for increased mitigation strategies as our state confronts the rising number of Illinoisians contracting and dying from the Covid-19 virus.
Our members – many of whom are frontline, essential workers who deliver vital care to patients in hospitals and nursing homes – find it necessary to navigate Covid environments every day. They go to work fearing that they could contract the virus and bring it home to their families.
These workers are predominantly female and mostly women of color who are predisposed to having underlying conditions. When many in the public are cavalier about a life-threatening virus, it endangers the lives of the essential healthcare workers that society depends on to save them.
If we as a society follow safety protocols, we can get through this pandemic with fewer illnesses and loss of life.
* IAMHP…
Illinois has seen a rapid increase in new COVID-19 cases and positivity rates. Since the October 1, new cases are up 516% and the number of Illinoisans hospitalized with COVID-19 has grown by 235%. While deaths are a lagging indicator, statewide data show that COVID-19 deaths are up 260% and we are now averaging 81 deaths per day.
The members of the Illinois Association of Medicaid Health Plans (IAMHP) collectively serve over 2 million Illinois residents. The state of Illinois has entrusted these health plans with caring for Illinois’ most vulnerable residents and improving the health of families across the state.
For these reasons, IAMHP appreciates the Governor’s leadership and supports his tough decision to implement mitigations efforts to slow the spread of the virus and save lives. We recognize that these decisions were not taken lightly, and they are not without a cost, however, we believe they are necessary to save lives.
The Medicaid Health Plans recognize the economic impacts of COVID-19 have put extreme pressure on the already limited publicly available community-based services. In order to assist with this, health plans invested more than $56 million of their 2020 quality payment with providers and community organizations. Of that $56 million, $27.6 million, nearly 50% of the total, was spent in disproportionately impacted area zip codes across the state of Illinois.
During these challenging times, Medicaid health plans will continue to support their members, provider partners and community-based organizations through community reinvestment projects.
* IARF…
“Today Governor Pritzker announced a series of statewide mitigation efforts to try and bring Illinois’ COVID outbreak under control. As developmental disability and mental health service providers across the state are grappling with the impact of COVID-19 on staff and individuals they serve, we support the Governor and his Administration’s move.”
“A recent study by Johns Hopkins School of Medicine noted that persons with developmental disabilities who contract COVID-19 face a higher risk of dying than other populations. With that in mind, we applaud provider agencies across the state that have done their level best to meet their missions of service and prevent the spread of this virus to-date. Unfortunately, the virus has spread rapidly in the past several days and the challenges of meeting our shared goals of maintaining health, safety, and community integration have escalated substantially.”
“The Illinois Department of Human Services sent out further information/guidance late today, which is under review by our team. As we all work diligently to mitigate the spread of this virus, we hope the resources that have been provided to the social safety net so far to ensure providers have the tools and quality staff they need can be maintained – they continue to be needed.”
“IARF stands with efforts to alleviate COVID infection rates and reduce the burden on our decimated health care system. The Governor’s measures are necessary to stem the tide, and all of us must do our part. If we do not, more people will needlessly die. We should all know the drill by now: stay at home if you can, maintain social distance and wear a mask if you cannot.”
* IAC…
llinois Action for Children supports Governor Pritzker’s difficult but necessary decision to issue the order for some nonessential businesses in Illinois to close and/or reduce capacity as COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths continue to rise exponentially throughout our state. The order also asks all people who can work from home to do so for the duration of these Tier 3 mitigations.
From the beginning, the Pritzker Administration has taken a science- and public health-based approach to the COVID-19 crisis. This order announced today is the next step in that approach, as it is necessary to stop the uncontrolled spread of the virus throughout our state.
Child care is deemed an essential business in this order, as workers for other essential businesses that must continue to operate—grocery stores, essential retail, health care, teachers, among others—will still need access to child care to support the community and fight this pandemic.
Early childhood programs and the child care workforce will need additional support to meet their community’s needs during this time—this includes financial support for personal protective equipment, cleaning supplies, and hazard pay for providers who stay open. Additional support is also needed to keep programs afloat while demand for child care diminishes during this order. Providers and caregivers should have flexibility to decide if they can remain open or shut down as community spread of COVID-19 remains high throughout the holiday season.
We thank the Governor for taking the steps needed to help mitigate the spread and devastation of COVID-19 in an effort to keep our children, families, and communities safe, all while supporting the critical early childhood workforce as they serve essential workers during the pandemic.
* ISMS…
he doctors of the Illinois State Medical Society support Governor J.B. Pritzker’s actions today to hit pause for the sake of protecting our public health.
If no action is taken we are on a trajectory that more people will get sick, deaths will increase and our health care delivery system will quickly become overrun.
We want people to stay healthy and we need to make sure medical care is available for all patients. When health systems are overloaded with COVID-19 patients they can’t treat other emergencies and urgent care needs.
It’s important to note many preplanned medical services and surgical procedures remain available in most settings. Illinois doctors, medical clinics and many hospitals will continue to provide timely care during this challenging time. Doctor’s offices remain open and telehealth can be an option for certain patients and treatments.
As the Governor said, hope is on the horizon with the news of the COVID vaccine trials, but we have a way to go until the treatment is available. We will get through this together. To do so it’s important that we wear masks and avoid gatherings. And if able, stay home!
* IHSA…
“The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) recognizes that today’s announcement (November 17, 2020) by Governor Pritzker will temporarily pause the IHSA’s winter sports season. We remain optimistic that these new mitigations, coupled with the emergence of a vaccine, will aid in creating participation opportunities in the New Year for IHSA student-athletes in winter, spring, and summer sports. The IHSA Board of Directors will meet as scheduled on November 19, 2020, to continue plotting out potential paths for IHSA sport and activity participation through the remainder of the school year. Although representatives from the Governor’s office and the Illinois Department of Public Health will be unable to attend the meeting, today’s updated guidance from Governor Pritzker will aid the Board’s decision-making. We have asked Deputy Governor Ruiz and Dr. Ezike to engage with us in the near future, so that we can collaborate on developing a plan to safely conduct IHSA sports and activities as soon as possible. IHSA schools have been exemplary in adhering to state regulations throughout this pandemic and we hope that non-school programs will hold themselves to the same standard as we all put the long-term health and safety of our fellow citizens ahead of short-term athletic competition.”
* The Affordable Assisted Living Coalition…
“As the association representing Supportive Living Communities for seniors and persons with disabilities throughout Illinois, AALC’s mission is to help residents and their loved ones live with the peace of mind that they have high-quality, affordable health care and safe living environments,” said AALC Executive Director Karin Zosel.
“We know that seniors and people with underlying health conditions are the population most at risk for infection. Therefore, with the alarming increase in COVID-19 cases and positivity rates in every region of the state, we welcome additional steps to protect the health and safety of our Supportive Living Communities.
“With increasing community spread occurring statewide, we must protect both our residents and our staff who are working overtime to keep our residents healthy and safe. We fully support the governor’s mitigation efforts to help curb this virus and prevent future hospitalizations and deaths. We recognize that these are difficult choices, but know they are needed to protect those around us.”
Before I take questions today I want to discuss my personal plans for the Thanksgiving holidays.
I think you all know that I try very hard to keep my high school-aged children out of the spotlight. They were not elected to anything. They did not choose this public life. And I have a reasonable expectation that their privacy will be protected.
I was taken aback by yesterday’s question about my family’s holiday plans, in part because my wife and I were in the process of making the very hard decision that we may need to celebrate Thanksgiving apart from one another for the first time ever, and it was weighing heavily on my mind.
I will be celebrating Thanksgiving in Chicago with our son.
Our state is at a crisis point when it comes to the COVID pandemic. And as leader, I believe that the situation is simply too grave for me to be elsewhere.
My wife and daughter are in Florida, and they will remain there indefinitely. Let me tell you why.
Last week, my daughter came under attack. In an attempt to have some political effect on me, a parody Twitter account posted a picture of a group of individuals eating outside at a Chicago restaurant, supposedly breaking the COVID rules the city put in place. And the person posting the photo claimed one of the people in it was my daughter. That was a lie.
It wasn’t her. But the picture falsely identifying her started making the rounds on social media, helped along by the trolls who permeate these social media platforms these days. My office put out a statement making clear this wasn’t my daughter. But that didn’t stop republican elected officials, a network of propaganda publications in the state and some radio shock jocks from telling people that the picture was of my daughter, despite knowing that this was a lie.
Which lent permission to a slew of strangers who sent hateful, threatening messages to my daughter over the subsequent few days. If that wasn’t bad enough, then a well-known lawyer who cares more about headlines than winning cases posted a bounty on his Facebook page, offering money to harass my family at Thanksgiving [click here]. An actual cash bounty, including my kids, harassing them. My high school-aged kids.
Put yourself in the shoes of a high school girl who is being weaponized against her father by his political opponents. Weaponized with lies.
Put yourself in my shoes. We have threats that stream into my office daily while we have watched the kidnapping plot against the Michigan governor unfold just a state away.
I’m the governor, I was elected to this job and while I don’t think it should come with a fear for my health and safety. I accept that sometimes it does. I’m an adult. And I can handle people throwing my face up on anti-semitic picket signs likening me to Hitler. This kind of vitriol is apparently what I have to deal with to keep the state and its people safe.
But my kids. My kids are off limits.
Among elected officials and people in positions of responsibility. That didn’t use to happen. There was a time in American politics when the rule was sacrosanct: Kids are off limits.
This should not be controversial. So I’m appealing to our collective sense of decency and our fundamental understanding of right and wrong to keep my child out of political disagreements, and to understand that I’m going to fight like hell to protect her privacy.
I ask that you all respect that privacy. I’m willing to make the hard decisions that sometimes brings on vitriol from political opponents, but my children shouldn’t have to come under attack. Just like all of you, I want to be with my family for the holidays. And just like all of you, because of COVID, my family is having to make sacrifices to stay safe.
This is not a political fight. This is a fight to save people’s lives. Let’s remember that as we enter the holiday season.
As always, please pardon any transcription errors.
With a new wave of COVID-19 surging across the state of Illinois, the Midwest and the nation, Governor JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today announced additional COVID-19 resurgence mitigations will take effect in every region across the state in an attempt to slow the spread of the virus. Tier 3 mitigations build on the Resurgence Mitigation Plan released in July to suppress the spread of the virus and prevent hospitals from becoming overrun. This latest round of mitigations aims to limit gatherings and encourages residents to stay home as much as possible and follow proper safety measures when out in public. The mitigations carefully balance the paramount goal of saving lives while preserving the option for in-person learning for children and protecting as much of the economy as possible from the continued impacts of the virus.
The Tier 3 resurgence mitigations will take effect statewide at 12:01 am on Friday, November 20, 2020.
“To stop this spread and preserve some semblance of the holidays, all of us need to do more than just wear our masks now – though masks are mandatory throughout the state. The simple fact is that COVID-19 is spreading so quickly and so widely, and our hospitals are beginning to experience real strain and at the current infection rate they will be overwhelmed. So whenever possible, we need you to stay home,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “I’m hopeful that by limiting our in-person interactions, we will succeed at avoiding a stay at home order like what we had in the spring – when the choice between saving lives and saving livelihoods was even more stark. Tier 3 may allow us to do both. Like in other states like Michigan and California and Washington, it’s our best effort to avoid a stay-at-home order and save lives.”
The first tiers of the Resurgence Mitigation Plan initially suppressed the virus and protected the progress Illinois made towards bending the curve during the Spring, while allowing each of the state’s eleven regions to progress through the phases based on local metrics. But with COVID-19 spread now exponential in every region of the state, our statewide positivity rate at record highs and hospitalizations already surpassing our Spring peak, an additional tier of more stringent, statewide mitigations is required to combat the surge and preserve hospital capacity.
“There is no denying that the state is headed in the wrong direction with increased cases, hospitalizations, and deaths,” said IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike. “There also is no denying that reducing the opportunities for the virus to spread can reverse our direction. This includes staying home as much as possible, wearing a mask and keeping social distance when we do have to go out, and not gathering with people outside our households. Until a vaccine is widely available and people understand the importance of being vaccinated, we must continue to take preventive actions to stop the transmission of the virus. Right now, our preventive actions are the best way to prevent new cases, hospitalizations, and deaths.”
While this latest round of mitigations does not include a stay at home order, if the mitigations are not adhered to and cases continue to rise in the weeks ahead, another order may be required. For all regions, additional mitigation measures taking effect Friday, November 20th include guidance for the following settings and industries:
Retail
Personal Car Services
Health and Fitness Centers
Hotels
Manufacturing
Bars and Restaurants
Meetings and Social Events
Offices
Organized Group Recreational Activities
Indoor Recreation, Theater, Cultural Institutions
As they have since the start of COVID-19, grocery stores across the state will remain open and available. Child care facilities may continue to operate subject to guidelines from the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. School districts and officials should continue to follow the extensive guidance released by the Illinois State Board of Education in August to make decisions related to in-person and remote learning at the local level.
To prevent the further spread of COVID-19, Illinois residents are urged to stay home as much as possible and celebrate upcoming holidays with members of their household. Illinoisans over the age of two years are required to wear a face covering when out in public and social distancing is not easily achievable. Anyone exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19 or who may have been in contact with someone exhibiting symptoms should seek out testing and quarantine at home; anyone who has tested positive for the virus should isolate at home as directed by their physician or local health department.
IDPH will continue to track the positivity rates and hospital capacity metrics in regions over a 14-day monitoring periods to determine if mitigations can be relaxed, if additional mitigations are required, or if current mitigation should remain in place. In order for a region to move back to Tier 2 mitigations, a region must experience less than 7-day 12 percent test positivity average for three consecutive days AND greater than 20 percent available intensive care unit (ICU) and hospital bed availability for three consecutive days AND declining 7-day COVID hospitalizations average in 7 out of the last 10 days. Follow the latest regional metrics at: https://dph.illinois.gov/regionmetrics
In response to the rising test positivity rate statewide, the administration continues to strengthen its nation-leading testing operation. Last week, the state reported a record high of 114,370 tests within a 24-hour period, now averaging more than 97,800 tests per day. Although the administration continues to build upon this progress, the state’s rate of growth in positivity is outpacing the growth in testing. It is critical to get tested before developing symptoms, as testing remains free to all Illinois residents and readily available throughout the state. To find a testing center near you, please visit DPH.Illinois.Gov/Testing.
More in a minute.
…Adding… Here are the mitigations. Bars and restaurants…
• All bars and restaurants close at 11pm and may reopen no earlier than 6am the following day
• No indoor service
• All bar and restaurant patrons should be seated at tables outside
• No ordering, seating, or congregating at bar (bar stools should be removed) • Tables should be 6 feet apart
• No standing or congregating outdoors while waiting for a table or exiting
• No dancing or standing indoors
• No tables exceeding 6 people
• Reservations required for each party
• No seating of multiple parties at one table
• Indoor gaming terminals must suspend operations
• Includes private clubs and country clubs
* Health and fitness centers…
• Operate at no more than 25% capacity
• No indoor group classes
• Face coverings must be worn at all times, including while engaged in individual exercise regardless of person or machine spacing
• Reservations required
• Locker room areas should be closed
* Hotels…
• Hotel room occupancy should be limited to registered guests only, with the maximum allowance being the number of individuals permissible per existing fire code for each applicable guest room
• Fitness centers should be closed, or operated only on a reservation model with capacity limited to 25% of the maximum occupancy for the room
• Grab and go food allowed
• Event and meeting space closed
* Indoor recreation, theaters, cultural institutions (e.g. casinos, bowling, arcades, movie theaters, museums and zoos)…
• Gaming and casinos close
• Indoor recreation centers, including theaters, performing arts centers and indoor
museums and amusement centers, close
• Live streaming of performances encouraged with social distancing of performers and minimum operational staff
• Outdoor activities allowed at 25% capacity or less
• Outdoor group activities limited to 10 persons or less, participants/guests must
wear face coverings at all times
• Reservations required for each guest for outdoor activities
* Manufacturing…
• Additional COVID training for all employees required even if previous training occurred
• Operators should coordinate with IDPH to implement testing protocols and contact tracing, upon request, consistent with available testing supplies
• All employees must wear face coverings at all times unless eating or drinking. Exemptions only for safety purposes.
• Only manufacturing staff and key personnel allowed in facilities. Non-production employees must work remotely. Non-essential staff and visitors are not permitted. Exemptions only for critical equipment repairs, supply deliveries and safety reasons (“critical visitors”).
• All critical visitors must have an Employee Health and Safety (EHS)-approved risk-assessment done in advance, including travel history, tracking, and temperature check prior to entrance.
• Implement additional workstation realignment when feasible
• Stagger and space shifts, and designate shift entrances and exits (when
possible) to minimize interactions of employees across unique shift groupings
• Station sanitation required at beginning and ending of shifts
• Operators must suspend COVID-related incentive pay and promote staying
home when sick or showing symptoms
• Implement temporary leave policies to accommodate workers who are sick
• Develop and implement safety protocols for employee travel vans to promote spacing, require face coverings, temperature checks, air circulation, and vehicle sanitization
* Meetings, social events and gatherings (including weddings, potlucks, etc.)…
• Limit in home gatherings to household members
• Meeting rooms, banquet centers, private party rooms, private clubs and country
clubs may not host gatherings
• No party buses
• Funerals are limited to 10 family members of the decedents, not including staff, see IDPH guidance
* Offices…
• All employees who can work remotely should work remotely
* Organized group recreational activities (sports, indoor sports and activity facilities, etc.)…
• Pause all indoor group sporting and recreational activities including youth and adult recreational sports, individual training may remain (with facility reservation) Includes park districts and travel leagues
• Outdoor sports and recreation allowed
• Participant groups and practices outdoors limited to 10 persons or less with social distancing
• Face coverings required for all activities at all times
• Locker rooms should be closed
* Personal care service…
• Operate at lesser of 25 clients or 25% capacity
• Face coverings must be worn at all times by clients and service providers
• Suspend services where a face covering cannot be worn (e.g. facials, beard
trims)
• Physical, occupational and massage therapy allowed as deemed necessary by a medical provider, but appointments must be spaced by a minimum of 15 minutes and facilities should take steps to sanitize and circulate clean air through service rooms before and after each service
• Virtual consultations recommended
* Retail (including service counters)…
• Operate at no more than 25% capacity, including general merchandise stores, “big box” stores that offer groceries and pharmacy, and convenience stores
• Grocery stores and pharmacies may operate at up to 50% capacity
• Encourage delivery or curbside pickup options wherever possible
• When in-store shopping is necessary, promote efficient trips and consistent circulation
* More…
The provisions above apply to industries/sectors with Restore Illinois Phase 4 guidance or other mitigations. Other functions (i.e. infrastructure, governments, logistics and warehousing, etc.) that previously have not been subject to specific guidance may continue regular operations but are encouraged to voluntarily take proactive steps to support new mitigation strategies wherever possible. In these areas, customer serving functions should be limited to 25% capacity, aligned with retail mitigations, and maximize work from home wherever possible.
IDPH will continue to track the positivity rates and hospital capacity metrics in regions over 14-day monitoring periods to determine if mitigations can be relaxed, if additional mitigations are required, or if current mitigation should remain in place. In order for a region to move back to Tier 2 mitigations, a region must experience less than 12% 7-day average test positivity rate for three consecutive days AND greater than 20% available intensive care unit (ICU) and hospital bed availability for three consecutive days AND declining 7-day average COVID hospitalizations for 7 out of the last 10 days.
In one of the most aggressive actions taken to confront the looming crisis, Philadelphia officials on Monday ordered a ban on “indoor gatherings of any size in any location, public or private,” except among individuals who live together. […]
In neighboring New Jersey, one of the hardest-hit states in the early phase of the pandemic, Governor Phil Murphy said he was ordering indoor gatherings of individuals from different households to limit to 10 people, down from 25, while the mandatory cap on outdoor gatherings will be lowered next week to 150 from 500. […]
Under Newsom’s announcement, [California’s] commercial and social restrictions will be tightened starting Tuesday in 40 of the state’s 58 counties, covering the vast majority of its 40 million residents.
The crackdown means no indoor service in bars and restaurants and more restrictions on many other businesses and public gatherings. California is also strengthening its face covering guidance to require individuals to wear a mask whenever outside their home, with limited exceptions, Newsom said.
In Ohio, where daily case tallies have increased by 17% and total hospitalizations by at least 25% in the past week, the state’s health department issued a revised order to limit mass gatherings starting on Tuesday, Governor Mike DeWine announced.
I’ve often noted that Gov. Pritzker has never been the first one to take shutdown actions, going back to March.
* The Question: Do you think that now is the time for Gov. Pritzker to impose additional mitigations statewide? If so, what would you have him do? If not, why not?
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 12,601 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 97 additional deaths.
- Bureau County: 1 female 80s, 1 male 90s
- Cass County: 1 female 80s
- Coles County: 1 female 80s
- Cook County: 1 female 30s, 2 females 60s, 3 females 70s, 1 male 70s, 2 females 80s, 3 males 80s, 4 females 90s, 1 male 90s, 1 male 100+
- DuPage County: 1 female 40s, 1 female 80s, 1 female 90s, 1 male 90s
- Franklin County: 1 male 80s
- Greene County: 1 female 80s
- Hancock County: 1 male 80s
- Iroquois County: 1 female 70s
- Jefferson County: 1 female 80s
- Jo Daviess County: 1 male 70s, 1 female 100+
- Kane County: 1 female 60s, 1 male 60s, 1 female 70s, 1 male 70s, 1 female 80s, 1 male 80s, 1 male 90s
- Kankakee County: 1 male 80s, 1 male 90s
- Knox County: 1 female 80s, 1 female 90s
- Lake County: 1 male 40s, 1 male 70s, 1 female 90s, 1 male 90s
- Logan County: 1 female 70s, 1 male 90s
- Macon County: 2 males 70s, 1 female 90s, 1 male 90s
- Madison County: 1 female 50s, 1 female 60s, 2 females 70s, 2 males 70s, 2 females 80s, 3 males 80s, 1 female 90s
- Marion County: 1 female 60s, 1 male 70s, 1 female 80s, 1 female 90s
- Morgan County: 1 female 80s, 1 female 90s
- Ogle County: 1 female 80s, 1 male 90s
- Peoria County: 1 female 60s
- Rock Island County: 1 female 70s, 1 male 70s, 1 female 80s, 1 male 80s
- Sangamon County: 1 female 90s
- St. Clair County: 1 male 90s
- Tazewell County: 2 males 70s
- Vermilion County: 1 male 70s, 2 males 80s
- Warren County: 1 male 60s
- Wayne County: 1 female 80s
- Whiteside County: 1 male 70s
- Will County: 2 females 80s, 1 male 80s
- Williamson County: 1 male 70s, 1 female 80s
- Winnebago County: 1 male 70s, 1 male 80s, 1 male 90s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 597,849 cases, including 10,875 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 94,205 specimens for a total 9,255,658. As of last night, 5,887 in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 1,158 patients were in the ICU and 545 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from November 10 – November 16, 2020 is 12.5%. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from November 10 – November 16, 2020 is 14.5%.
*All data are provisional and will change. In order to rapidly report COVID-19 information to the public, data are being reported in real-time. Information is constantly being entered into an electronic system and the number of cases and deaths can change as additional information is gathered. Information for a death previously reported has changed, therefore, today’s numbers have been adjusted. For health questions about COVID-19, call the hotline at 1-800-889-3931 or email dph.sick@illinois.gov.
* Also…
Bad news: Another record high for Illinoisans hospitalized with COVID. (Numbers always reported as of 11:59 p.m. last night).
There are 5,887 COVID patients hospitalized in Illinois.
Of those, 1,158 are in ICU beds (getting close to that spring record).
* Several of my friends live in the South Loop and one of them sent me this grainy video early in the pandemic of people in her neighborhood lifting each others’ spirits by shouting, turning their lights on and off, shooting off fireworks and playing music…
* If you pay attention to the very beginning of the video, you’ll see this building right across the street…
The man in the window with his dog is my friend’s husband. He’s quarantining in a hotel after contracting COVID-19.
Today, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, and Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers joined together in a social media video to encourage everyone across the region to remain safe heading into the holiday season.
“For eight months, the COVID-19 pandemic has devastated American families everywhere. To fight this virus, governors across the country have listened to medical experts, stepped up, and worked around the clock to protect our families, the brave men and women on the front lines, and our small business owners. And no matter the action we take, we understand that our fight against COVID-19 will be more effective when we work together,” the governors said. “That is why this group of bipartisan governors is joining forces today to urge families across our region, and Americans everywhere, to do their part to protect themselves and their families from the spread of COVID-19. When it comes to fighting this virus, we are all on the same team.”
Over the past month COVID-19 cases have skyrocketed across the Midwest and medical experts are advising people not to host Thanksgiving with people from outside of their households. Together, the governors each addressed the families in their region on how they can protect their loved ones, the frontline workers, and small businesses owners from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Joint Statement of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Jewish United Fund Chicago,
Illini Hillel, Hillel International, Illini Chabad, Arnold & Porter, and
the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law
Students who choose the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for their college education make that decision with an expectation that they will find the freedom and security to grow, to explore and to express their whole and best selves.
But, sadly, that is not the experience of all members of the student community. Anti-Semitic acts and expressions are all too common in our country and in our world, and examples of that intolerance have occurred at this university as well. This is unacceptable. While the university has taken measures in the past to address this problem, the university must do more.
Over the past several months, and especially over the past few days, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, leaders in the Jewish community and counsel for the Jewish students have engaged in meaningful and productive conversations. While we may not agree on all aspects of these complex and critical issues, we are united in a single view that our shared and common goal must be to support a safe and welcoming environment for Jewish and pro-Israel students at the University of Illinois that is free of discrimination and harassment.
We acknowledge and affirm our shared belief in the rights of all members of the university community to express their viewpoints, identity and lived experiences. Every student should have the opportunity to have a transformative and positive educational experience from the day they arrive to the day they earn their degree. But acts and expressions of anti-Semitism—in any form—actively undermine the educational process and are in direct opposition to our core values.
For many Jewish students, Zionism is an integral part of their identity and their ethnic and ancestral heritage. These students have the right to openly express identification with Israel. The university will safeguard the abilities of these students, as well as all students, to participate in university-sponsored activities free from discrimination and harassment.
We deplore anti-Semitic incidents on campus, including those that demonize or delegitimize Jewish and pro-Israel students or compare them to Nazis. This subjects them to double standards that are not applied to others. All Jewish students, including those who identify with Israel or Jewish campus organizations, should be able to participate in campus activities aimed at fighting racism and achieving social justice.
All Jewish students should be able to proudly display religious emblems without fear of being targeted by their fellow students. All Jewish students should feel confident that if they encounter a swastika on campus, the university stands with them in rejecting symbols of hate. Anti-Semitism, anti-Semitic forms of anti-Zionism and other forms of discrimination have no place at this university. We will stand united against all forms of anti-Semitism.
We agree that our mutual priority must be to continue working together to more rapidly advance clear, concrete and actionable steps to support Jewish students, staff and faculty so their lived experiences match the expectations that brought them to the university in the first place. As a result:
• The university will create an Advisory Council on Jewish and Campus Life that will consist of undergraduate and graduate students, staff, faculty and alumni, as well as representatives from the Jewish community committed to the principles set forth in this statement. This advisory group will assist the chancellor and university leadership to identify opportunities to enhance the campus environment for all students, faculty and staff, and to advance its commitment to an inclusive community where all feel welcome. The university expects to have the Advisory Council on Jewish and Campus Life in place before the beginning of the Spring 2021 semester.
• As part of its broader and expanding efforts to curb hate and intolerance, and in consultation with the Advisory Council on Jewish and Campus Life, the university will institute focused and regularly recurring educational programming regarding anti-Semitism.
• The university will review, evaluate and, when necessary, revise procedures and practices so they are appropriately aligned with shared values opposing discrimination and harassment on campus, including anti-Semitic actions.
Finally, we emphasize our shared commitment to the values of free speech and academic freedom. Freedom of speech is of paramount importance on a college campus. Also paramount is the university’s commitment to never tolerate harassment or discrimination, including against its Jewish students, and to enforce its nondiscrimination policy to the fullest extent. In this as well as all areas, the university is committed to complying with applicable federal, state and local antidiscrimination laws as a state and federally funded institution.
Though these steps will further our shared goals, they alone will not effectively dispel the environment that many Jewish students have felt to be unwelcoming. Thus, our collective and collaborative efforts will not end with these actions. The university, the undersigned organizations and Jewish students will meet before the end of the semester to discuss additional steps. We will work together to demonstrate that the University of Illinois is a place where people of all faiths, races, gender identities, ethnicities, national origins and viewpoints can live, learn and thrive.
…Adding… Rep. Jonathan Carroll…
This has been an issue for the past few years on UIUC’s campus as well as other schools around the country. I’m glad the school has agreed to take this more seriously, but to be very honest, I’m skeptical that the school will actually follow through. It took a PR campaign and lawsuit to get the school to agree to some changes, but as this story gets older, I’m concerned the school will ignore the blatant acts of anti-Semitism our Jewish students have been facing the last several years. I hope I’m proven wrong.
A Sangamon County judge on Monday ruled Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration has power under state law and the state constitution to issue executive orders that mandate public health measures at schools amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The decision, issued by Sangamon County Judge Raylene Grischow after a roughly two-hour hearing, relates to two lawsuits — Mainer v. Illinois Department of Public Health and Pritzker v. Board of Education of Hutsonville — that arose from Pritzker’s June executive orders regarding schools.
The governor’s executive orders apply to all public and nonpublic schools from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade, and they allow schools to reopen as long as they follow IDPH public health requirements, which include capping the number of people in gatherings, mandatory face coverings and temperature screenings.
In explaining her decision, Grischow cited her Aug. 18 order in Pritzker v. Board of Education of Hutsonville in which she issued a temporary restraining order requiring the schools to follow the state’s public health guidelines set forth in Pritzker’s executive orders.
“My client disagrees. I disagree,” attorney Tom DeVore tells us. “I don’t think the standard applied by the court was consistent with the law… I think they were more concerned about masks, the use of masks, and other safety precautions versus who has the authority to issue those safety measures. My client believes that is for the legislature and we are going to appeal.
* While this has been expected for some time, it’s just awful seeing it play out in real life….
Political writer and columnist Bernard Schoenburg and statehouse reporter Doug Finke have accepted buyouts and will be departing the paper on Dec. 1. Finke has worked at the SJ-R since the 1970s; Schoenburg’s first byline appeared in the paper in 1990.
Their departures will leave the daily newspaper with two news reporters and an equal number of sports reporters, presuming Finke and Schoenburg are not replaced before their departures and current staff isn’t reassigned. The paper, which has no fulltime courts reporter or police reporter or city hall reporter or education reporter, has posted jobs for a statehouse/politics reporter as well as a cultural, diversity and inclusion reporter who will “focus coverage on culture, diversity and inclusion trends across central Illinois,” according to a job listing posted by Gannett, the SJ-R’s parent company.
Gannett is under heavy financial pressure. Stock in the company was trading at more than $6.50 a share when GateHouse Media, which had owned the SJ-R since 2007, bought Gannett in 2019 and dropped the GateHouse name. The stock closed today at $1.74 per share. A $1.8 billion loan from Apollo Capital Management, a private equity firm that financed the GateHouse-Gannett deal, that came with an 11.5% interest rate is due in 2024.
The company is over-leveraged and has completely lost sight of its news mission.
* Hello again! Please keep it Illinois-centric and be polite to each other. Many kind thanks…
Caught the touch and go training from SPI flying through the scene of Abraham Lincoln sculpture being removed from the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum pic.twitter.com/HlMt34z9ds
In July 2020, plaintiffs, Illinois county sheriffs, filed an amended complaint seeking a writ of mandamus against defendants, state officials sued in their official capacities, to compel the Illinois Department of Corrections (DOC) to accept all transfers of prisoners to its custody pursuant to several provisions of the Unified Code of Corrections. Plaintiffs also filed a renewed motion for a preliminary injunction requiring defendants to accept inmates to DOC pursuant to the Code. Plaintiffs contended the Governor, through Executive Order 2020-13, lacked the discretionary authority to limit transfers of convicted offenders during a public health crisis. Subsequently, defendants responded to plaintiffs’ motions stating, in relevant part, plaintiffs failed to establish a prima facie case for a preliminary injunction where the Governor acted within his authority under the Illinois Emergency Management Agency Act. Specifically, defendants pointed to Executive Order 2020-50, which rescinded Executive Order 2020-13 and required DOC to resume accepting transfers from county jails, subject to an intake process designed to ensure health and safety of transferees and DOC staff.
In August 2020, the circuit court entered a preliminary injunction requiring DOC to immediately begin accepting transfers of “all inmates” who would normally be sent to DOC pursuant to the Code, without including any protocols to prevent the spread of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Defendants filed a notice of interlocutory appeal, challenging the preliminary injunction.
On appeal, defendants argue (1) this court should vacate the preliminary injunction requiring DOC to accept all transfers of inmates from all county jails in Illinois without regard for the health screening measures put in place by the Governor and DOC because (a) the circuit court committed legal error regarding the Governor’s emergency powers under the Act, (b) plaintiffs failed to show that they would suffer irreparable injury without an injunction, and (c) the balance of hardships weighed heavily against the injunction and (2) in the alternative, the circuit court’s statewide injunction is overbroad. We vacate and remand for further proceedings.
Q: The IFT is calling on ISBE and you to close all school buildings and have all schooling be remote for the foreseeable future due to the COVID surge. Is this something you will consider what is your response?
A: We’re always thinking about our school children and the parents and the teachers. And it’s right now not something that we’re doing. But I will say that we’ve ensured a set of parameters that are safe for schools. We need schools to follow those parameters. Most are.
I think we’ve got more than 60% of school children in Illinois who are currently remote learning, and about 30 some percent that are doing some form of hybrid learning in school and out.
And, you know, it’s not ideal, by any means but we have a covid storm that’s hitting and I think you know the school districts are doing the best they can.
Make no mistake: our members are working harder than ever - long hours, working in environments that risk their health, learning new ways to reach students, and doing everything they can to make learning successful this year. Our members from preschool to higher education want to be back with their students, but the stakes are too high to open school buildings for in-person instruction while the death toll and infection rates surge. We understand the pain that both parents and students are going through to adjust to this new reality. That’s why we urge the public to adhere to CDC guidelines by wearing a mask and social distancing. Public health officials have warned us that with the winter and holidays ahead, COVID-19 outbreaks will only worsen while the virus thrives in enclosed spaces. The sooner the virus is under control, the sooner we can return to a semblance of normalcy.
* The Question: Should schools go to remote learning during this surge? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please…
* Let’s hope she has a mild case and can quickly recover…
Consistent with medical advice, I will be working remotely from my home in Illinois until cleared by my physician. All individuals that I had been in contact with have been notified.
Across the country and the Congressional District I serve, COVID case numbers are skyrocketing.
“The numbers are devastating right now,” said physician Robert Citronberg, executive medical director of infectious disease and prevention at Advocate Aurora Health.
“Our health care system cannot absorb doubling or tripling of those numbers as might happen if we have many super-spreader events arising out of Thanksgiving,” Citronberg explained at a briefing.
* Speaking of Thanksgiving, check out what happened in Alberta…
Officials say too many residents are disregarding public health guidance as Williamson County grapples with an escalating test positivity rate and death toll from the coronavirus.
“It’s people just not wanting to take it seriously. But how much more real can it get when it’s breaking records every day?” said Williamson County Commissioner Brent Gentry, who also sits on the Franklin-Williamson Bi-County Health Department’s board.
* The Tribune has a story about a suburban school board caught in the crossfire of vocal radicals…
When Brad Paulsen heads out on his regular walks through his Wheaton neighborhood these days, he dons his face mask, pulls on a golf cap and keeps his fingers crossed he will remain incognito.
Paulsen, an architect, father of two and school board president in Community Unit School District 200, is not typically antisocial. But since the district’s decision Wednesday that surging COVID-19 rates demanded a return to remote learning at the district’s middle schools and high schools, Paulsen has been bombarded with angry email messages from parents. One suggested if a student were to die by suicide, Paulsen and the school board would be to blame.
Just a few weeks earlier, when schools reopened for in-person instruction, Paulsen’s LinkedIn account was hit with a menacing message from an anonymous sender warning if their relative, a District 200 teacher, died from COVID-19, it would be Paulsen’s fault.
Social media rants lambasting the superintendent and the school board are even worse, he says, especially when the ballistic comments are posted by parents in his own neighborhood.
In-person classes at high schools and colleges statewide will be suspended for three weeks along with eat-in dining at restaurants and bars under sweeping new restrictions aimed at reining in the exponential growth of coronavirus cases in Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced Sunday.
The new public health order is to take effect Wednesday, and includes the cancellation of organized sports and group exercise classes, though gyms may remain open for individual exercise with strict safety measures, and professional and college athletics may continue.
Casinos and movie theaters, indoor ice rinks, bowling alleys and bingo halls also will have to temporarily shut down, and all businesses are asked to allow employees to work from home if possible.
Gatherings inside homes are limited to two households at any time and health officials strongly urge families to pick a single other household to interact with over the next three weeks.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Monday denounced as shocking and reckless a call from a Trump administration official for Michigan residents to “rise up” over new coronavirus restrictions she announced Sunday.
“It’s just incredibly reckless, considering everything that has happened, everything that is going on,” Whitmer said in a call with Capitol reporters.
The entire state of Iowa is now out of staffed beds, Eli Perencevich, an infectious-disease doctor at the University of Iowa, told me. Worse is coming. Iowa is accumulating more than 3,600 confirmed cases every day; relative to its population, that’s more than twice the rate Arizona experienced during its summer peak, “when their system was near collapse,” Perencevich said. With only lax policies in place, those cases will continue to rise. Hospitalizations lag behind cases by about two weeks; by Thanksgiving, today’s soaring cases will be overwhelming hospitals that already cannot cope. “The wave hasn’t even crashed down on us yet,” Perencevich said. “It keeps rising and rising, and we’re all running on fear. The health-care system in Iowa is going to collapse, no question.”
The Missouri Senate has postponed a special legislative session focused on limiting COVID-19-related lawsuits after a COVID-19 outbreak within its ranks.
Senate Majority Leader Caleb Rowden announced on Twitter Monday that “due to a number of positive COVID-19 cases” among senators and their staff, the upper chamber would postpone the special legislative session until after Thanksgiving.
I didn’t realize Mike Madigan was Speaker of the Missouri Senate. /s
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 11,632 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 37 additional deaths.
- Clinton County: 1 male 50s
- Cook County: 1 female 50s, 1 male 50s, 1 female 60s, 3 males 60s, 2 females 70s, 3 males 70s, 1 female 80s, 2 males 80s, 3 females 90s, 2 males 90s
- DuPage County: 1 female 90s
- Edwards County: 1 male 80s
- Iroquois County: 1 female 60s
- Kane County: 1 male 50s
- Lake County: 1 female 50s
- LaSalle County: 1 male 60s, 1 male 70s, 3 males 90s
- Madison County; 1 male 80s
- McDonough County: 1 female 70s
- Peoria County: 1 female 80s
- Pike County: 1 female 80s, 1 male 80s
- Wayne County: 1 male 80s
- Will County: 1 female 90s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 585,248 cases, including 10,779 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 90,612 specimens for a total 9,161,453. As of last night, 5,581 in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 1,144 patients were in the ICU and 514 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from November 9 – November 15, 2020 is 12.5%. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from November 9 – November 15, 2020 is 14.7%.
*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.
* As I told you last week, the Pritzker administration asked the 2nd District Appellate Court to “publish” its opinion on the Fox Fire restaurant case upholding the IDPH mitigation rules. Publishing the case would make the decision legal precedent.
Researchers from Stanford University and Northwestern University have used the mobile-phone data of 98 million Americans to model how the virus spread during the first wave of Covid-19 in the spring.
The study, published in journal Nature this past week, showed that restaurants, gyms, hotels, cafes and religious organizations carried the biggest risk of spreading infections.
* On to the Illinois Municipal League. I’m not sure why they’re complaining about lack of help with enforcement. Do they ask for state assistance to deal with shoplifters, too? Just enforce the law. How difficult is that to do?…
The Illinois Municipal League (IML) is calling on Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s Administration to convene a working group comprised of mayors and other local officials to better coordinate coronavirus response efforts at the community level as cases surge across Illinois.
Since April, mayors across Illinois have repeatedly asked to be included in the process of developing mitigations and enforcement measures. A lack of communication from the state as well as little support in enforcing mitigation measures has frustrated mayors who are seeking to protect their communities but have been met with resistance. A more collaborative approach will help ensure the state is better informed of local issues caused by the pandemic, including challenges related to mitigation compliance, and will help promote a more effective community-level response by ensuring local officials are apprised of the latest data driving mitigation efforts.
“We have consistently advised all municipal leaders to abide by health guidelines issued by the Illinois Department of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, there is a clear need for additional collaboration,” said Brad Cole, IML Executive Director. “The governor has called for an ‘All-in’ approach to address this crisis yet has rebuffed requests to work hand in hand with local officials to implement solutions that protect our residents. Simply blaming mayors for rising cases does nothing to address the underlying issues preventing more effective mitigation results, including distrust of state mandates among residents and the need for state and county enforcement of mitigation measures. It is time for the state to work together with mayors, not just point fingers at them, to stem this rising tide.”
Most cities, towns and villages have a limited set of tools when it comes to implementing coronavirus mitigation measures. For instance, they have no control over food licenses. It falls on the individual county public health departments to revoke an establishment’s food license for failing to abide by mitigation measures. And county state’s attorneys have the sole authority to prosecute violations of state laws and orders.
Further, many mayors are limited in their enforcement authority because they oversee non-home rule communities, where they are only able to put in place measures specifically allowed by state statute. There are 1,081 non-home rule communities in Illinois, compared to 217 home rule communities, which have more discretion to set their own stricter regulations or impose those outlined in the governor’s executive orders.
While mayors have been told by the state to refer enforcement issues to the county public health departments or state police, there has been little follow up by those entities. This has led to uneven compliance across our cities, villages and towns where some individuals and businesses are abiding by mitigation efforts, but others are blatantly disregarding state and local orders while facing no consequences. Confusion over how data is analyzed by the state has also made it difficult for mayors to explain to residents why additional mitigation efforts are required and why they are only applied to certain professions or specific aspects of the service economy.
“These sorts of inconsistencies have caused some residents to question all mitigation efforts, making it even more difficult for local officials to receive compliance with safety regulations,” said IML President Ricky J. Gottman, mayor of Vandalia. “We will keep asking our residents and businesses to comply with state mandates, but we must work together to put in place effective mitigation strategies to protect our communities and the wellbeing of everyone across the state.”
Um, one big reason why there is “distrust of state mandates among residents” is because so many local officials constantly scoff at the state. Before he caved to reality, Springfield’s mayor was confidently saying that the IDPH mitigations wouldn’t work, without citing a single source.
Also, I’ve asked about this non Home Rule bit. Can’t they just enforce state law?
Sangamon County Public Health officials have suspended the food permits of five Springfield-area restaurants for defying pandemic restrictions and continuing indoor service.
A Sangamon County spokesman told WAND News the action was taken against Charlie Parkers, D&J Cafe, Fox Run, Sweet Basil Cafe and Casa Real.
WAND News learned from county officials that three of the businesses, D&J Cafe, Sweet Basil Cafe and Fox Run, were cited Friday. All received citations for allowing indoor dining.
Each business was fined $500.
…Adding… Contrast that whiny can’t-do IML statement with this one from the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus…
The 275 Member Mayors of the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus called upon residents and businesses today to commit to some common sense steps to help the Chicago region flatten the COVID-19 curve for the second time.
Acknowledging the need to combat the exponential increases in COVID cases across Chicagoland and the State in recent weeks, regional Mayors ask area residents and businesses to take the following actions for at least the next three weeks or until the rate of infection consistently declines:
• Continue to comply with regulations to wear face coverings whenever you are indoors at a public place or outdoors encountering people outside of your immediate household. The Center for Disease Control reinforced the importance of facemasks last week, saying they protect both the wearer and individuals they may encounter;
• When leaving home, continue to practice social distancing by always staying 6-feet apart from others;
• Continue to wash hands or use hand sanitizer often. Avoid touching surfaces frequently touched by others and keep your hands off your face;
• Consider limiting trips outside your home to going to work, attending school, and obtaining vital goods and services, such as medical care, food, or household essentials;
• Limit gatherings to no more than 10 persons – and remember it is safest to only associate with members of your own household;
• If possible, avoid all non-essential travel.
Most of the requested actions are strategies recommended to residents since the pandemic began. These strategies are still on the regional Mayors’ recommendation list because of their history of successfully reducing coronavirus transmission. Newer recommended actions such as limiting trips and gatherings are consistent with those proposed by area public health officials. While each of our 275 member municipalities is unique, they all agree that it is critically important that we come together in the days and weeks ahead to combat the coronavirus pandemic. Endorsing these strategies is one of the most coherent methods for dealing with the current increase of positivity results
“We are at a critical point in the fight against the pandemic. This second wave requires serious attention from all of us,” said Mayor Joseph Tamburino, Mayor of the Village of Hillside. “Everyone needs to step up right now to bend the curve downward, save lives and help our businesses remain open or in some cases, to re-open.”
“These are common sense actions that we strongly urge all residents to take,” said Highland Park Mayor Nancy Rotering. “It is incumbent upon each of us to take personal responsibility to stop the spread of this virus. The sooner everyone consistently follows these steps, the better chance we have of reducing the rate of infection, keeping our local economies going and avoiding a complete shut-down.”
As the cuts that would be required to bring Illinois’ budget to balance would harm education and human services programs and damage essential areas of the state’s economy, the Governor continues to believe that cuts alone cannot be the solution and revenue adjustments need to be considered as well. The Governor will work with the legislature to identify corporate and business tax loopholes that can be closed and tax adjustments that can be made that will minimize the impact to lower-and middle-class families while ensuring that Illinois can meet its financial responsibilities. Furthermore, the Governor will continue to work with the Congressional delegation to support additional federal funding to help Illinois bridge the loss of revenues brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
* People have been trying for years and years to close corporate loopholes. But since corporations played a major role in the defeat of the “Fair Tax,” there might just be an opening…
Also available is a range of less-draconian actions that might, in combination, generate enough revenue to fill the gap, if they survive the political gantlet.
A group of Democrats proposes closing corporate tax loopholes. Sales, use, income tax and economic development credits and exemptions totaled nearly $8.5 billion in the 2018 fiscal year. In a press release, 14 House Democrats say “all are on the table.” Rep. Mike Zalewski estimates an “aggressive approach” to cutting some of those could net $1 billion.
Closing Corporate Tax Loopholes: $826.4 - $846.4 million
1. Repeal the Single Sales Factor - $96 million. Illinois changed its method for determining the corporate income tax, from a three-part formula to the single sales factor. Under the single sales factor, corporate income taxable in Illinois is determined solely on the basis of a company’s in-state sales. Under the prior method, in addition to sales, the value of a corporation’s property and payroll in Illinois were considered. Under the single sales factor, large, multinational companies who have a strong presence (facilities and employees) in Illinois, and are therefore the largest beneficiaries of state services, receive major income tax cuts. Small mom and pop shops, who principally make all their sales in the state, receive no benefit. According to a report issued by then Illinois Comptroller, Republican Loleta A. Didrickson, 32 companies were projected to gain at least $1 million per year in tax savings. The result, a net tax revenue loss to the state and local governments that the Illinois Department of Revenue estimated reached $96 million in FY 2001 ($63M state and $33M local) (This is the last year the Department of Revenue analyzed the loss to the state).
2. Reduce the Retailers Discount. The Retailers Discount was enacted in 1959 to reimburse businesses for the burden of computing and collecting the state sales tax that applied to their sales. Under the statute, retailers keep 1.75% of the sales tax they collect. While this discount served a legitimate purpose in 1959, its value is questionable today. With computerized collection and accounting systems prevalent, the cost of collecting sales taxes, especially for large retailers, is built into software packages and is negligible. Twenty-four states do not provide any discounts for sales tax collection. Of the 26 that still have these outmoded discounts, 10 have capped the maximum discount. Capping the Illinois discount at 1.75% of the first $1 million in sales is a practical solution. This preserves the discount for small businesses while greatly reducing the cost of this tax expenditure. This sensible change will save $80-100 million annually.
3. Eliminate public subsidies to the horse racing industry: Illinois currently gives this horse racing industry millions in tax breaks. Elimination of breaks would generate $48 million.
• Newsprint and Ink to Newspapers and Magazines Exemption: $41 million
• Manufacturing and Assembling Machinery and Equip Exemption: $164 million
• Sales of Vehicles to Automobile Rentors Exemption: $43 million
• Enterprise and Foreign Trade Zone Dividend Subtractions: $2.4 million
• Enterprise and Foreign Trade Zone High Economic Impact Business Exemption: $37
million
• Timely Filing and Full Payment Discount: $28 million
• Trade-in allowance: $20 million
• Real Estate Investment Trusts – For tax years ending on or after Dec 31, 2008: $40
million
• Redefining “business income” to include all income apportionable to Illinois by the U.S. Constitution: $29 million
• Sales sourcing rules – for corporate income tax – replace cost of performance rule with market state approach for service industries: $40 million special industry rules (financial organizations/transit companies): $60 million
• Eliminate tax benefit of related party transactions (dividends from subsidiaries with no business substance/insurance premiums paid to capture insurance companies): $40 million
• Discharge of debt: $4 million
• Expense disallowance for exempt securities income: $25 million
• Withholding on non-resident partners/subchapter S shareholders: $4 millions
• Corporate Franchise Tax Amnesty: $25 million
Some of those were accomplished in the capital bill.
Closing Personal Tax Loopholes: $670 - $715 million
1. Create a means test for the Illinois tuition tax credit: There currently is no income limit on the Illinois tuition tax credit. As a result, relatively affluent taxpayers have received by far the most benefits from this tax break. Taxpayers with incomes of $50,000 or more per year accounted for 77% of the tax relief in 2004. Taxpayers with incomes of $100,000 or more accounted for almost 40% of the credit. Limiting the credit to families earning $60,000 a year or less would preserve the credit for low- and moderate-income families while saving the state $40-$45 million annually.
2. Subject pension income earned over $75,000 to taxation: Illinois is one of only three states that exempts all pension income from taxation. Low- and moderate-income seniors work to make ends meet, and subsequently pay taxes on their wages. Affluent seniors, on the other hand, do not have to work and also avoid paying taxes on their pensions. Exclusion of all pension income costs the state over $800 million annually in new revenue. Subjecting pension income over $75,000 to taxation would generate $200 million in new revenue annually.
3. Eliminate or means-test the Property Tax Credit: The Property Tax Credit costs the state of Illinois over $400 million a year. The credit primarily benefits wealthy homeowners, as only 20% of individuals earning $25,000 a year or less own a home. Creation of a means-test for this tax credit would preserve the benefit for low- and middle-income families while saving the state an estimated $200-$240 million annually.
4. Coordination of credits/exemptions: Multiple forms of tax credits/exemptions could duplicate policy purposes. Consolidating all of them into one credit/exemption could eliminate duplication and produce more targeted benefits. This could generate up to $200 million.
Monday, Nov 16, 2020 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
It’s been more than 600 days since the Clean Energy Jobs Act (CEJA) was first introduced, but communities across the state that developed this bill are still waiting for their lawmakers to take action.
Since its introduction in February of 2019, support for CEJA has continued to grow. 82% of Illinois voters support the bill, and 74% of voters say that legislators must pass it this year, not delay it until 2021.
CEJA was recently updated to include stronger utility reforms, end automatic rate hikes and double down on our commitment to equity for Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) communities through meaningful wealth-building opportunities. CEJA isn’t just a set of ideas, it’s a fully drafted bill. You can read about it at ilcleanjobs.org.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to ravage our state’s economy, we need solutions that will create thousands of new jobs by unlocking millions of dollars in private investment, without raising taxes or hiking rates. CEJA can’t wait.
Since there won’t be a fall veto session that was supposed to start Tuesday, and the governor doesn’t seem willing to call a special session, some are looking for joint committee hearings to provide oversight to the one-man rule approach of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s COVID-19 response strategy.
Citing COVID-19 concerns, leaders canceled the fall session for the Illinois legislature.
“There is a strong majority of members who would prefer the House delay convening to a later date; this is primarily motivated by concerns about the rising COVID-19 rates and proximity to upcoming holidays,” House Speaker Michael Madigan’s Chief of Staff Jessica Basham said in a letter to members. “I’m advised that there are similar concerns among Senate members, who were also surveyed over the weekend.”
The governor doesn’t expect them back until January. But there are a growing number of lawmakers wanting to get back to legislating instead of one-man-rule.
Really? Let’s see the roll call. The only Democrat they named in the story was Rep. La Shawn Ford, who appears to be their go-to House Democrat. He’s the sole reason they could run this recent headline…
Bipartisan demand for leaders to call hearings over Pritzker’s handling of pandemic response
Several House committee chairs have said they can’t hold public hearings because of the pandemic, and virtual hearings were not approved as they were in the Illinois Senate. The Illinois Senate voted in May to allow virtual hearings.
The full House rejected the idea of remote committee hearings and floor action back in May. The only way House members can currently participate in hearings is if the Senate allows them to participate in theirs.
Michael Sacks, a top Democratic donor and supporter of Joe Biden, questioned efforts to push Michael Madigan out of the speakership at a time when Democrats need him most.
“We have a raging pandemic, a precarious economy, a huge budget hole and we might be coming into one of the toughest budget-making sessions we’ve ever had. The idea that we don’t have all of our best players on the field protecting social services, education, working families and other things Democrats care about is nonsensical,” Sacks told Playbook in an exclusive interview. […]
Top Illinois Democrats have blamed Madigan in recent days for not capturing the 13th Congressional District and for the graduated income tax’s failure. They say Madigan’s connection to an influence-peddling investigation into ComEd is what crushed Democrats’ hopes of winning.
Sacks disagreed, saying Trump’s supporters toppled any blue wave Democrats had hoped for anywhere. Congressional Democrats sustained losses in places like New York, Florida, California and New Mexico. And former Minnesota Lt. Gov. Michelle Fischbach, a Republican, defeated Democratic Rep. Collin Peterson, a Democrat in that state who voted against impeaching Trump. […]
In the 13th District, Democratic turnout was up, but so was Republican. Betsy Dirksen Londrigan’s race against Republican Rep. Rodney Davis saw Davis receive 187,583 votes to Londrigan’s 126,811. In 2016, Davis received 179,567 to his Democratic opponent’s 148,517.
Sacks isn’t wrong about down-ballot races nationwide, either. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, in 5,876 regularly scheduled legislative races in 44 states, “the big surprise is that only two chambers — the New Hampshire House and Senate — changed hands. The GOP won both.”
There seemed to be one safe bet when it came to the 2020 election results: Democrats would easily hold on to their majority in the House of Representatives. Not only that, but the conventional wisdom held that Democrats would pick up more than the 235 seats they won in the 2018 midterm elections.
While Democrats will have a majority next Congress, Republicans vastly outperformed expectations and nearly pulled off an election shocker.
As of this writing, CNN has projected that Democrats have won in 219 seats. Republicans have been projected the winners in 203 seats. There are 13 races outstanding, per CNN projections.
Of those 13, the Democratic candidates lead in a mere two of them. (One of these 13 is going to a runoff, where the Republicans are heavily favored to win.)
According to the AP count, President Trump is losing Illinois by 17.1 percentage points, which is his same margin as 2016. The House Republicans were saying before the election that if Trump could keep his losing margin under 20 then they’d have a shot at staying in the hunt.
* About a week before the election, Gov. Pritzker’s operation began running this ad telling voters that President Trump wanted them to vote “No” on the graduated income tax…
By that time, a ton of Democrats had already voted and a comparatively few Republicans had yet to cast a ballot. So, there’s a school of thought which believes the Trump ad may have “reminded” at least some Republicans to vote against the Fair Tax. And while they were at the polls, they kept voting Republican down the ticket.
I’m not saying that the governor is responsible for Republicans doing better than expected here because the GOP did that nationally. I’m just saying he may not have made suburban Democrats’ jobs any easier.
With the announcement by Rep. Bob Morgan, D-Deerfield, earlier this month that he will not vote to re-elect Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan in January, the opposition numbered eight House Democrats, with at least a few more privately leaning their way.
They’ll need 13 or 14 Democrats, depending on final general election results, to deprive Madigan of the speaker’s gavel. So, they may need some help to get over the hump.
And there’s one person outside the House who may have enough votes to tip the balance either way.
And, no, it’s likely not Gov. J.B. Pritzker. Not yet, anyway
Pritzker controls no votes in the House. He can’t just push a button and make something happen in that chamber.
Perhaps if he had followed through on his 2018 promises to supplant the moribund state party with a true statewide political organization for all Democrats at all levels, he might have some buttons to push. But he didn’t, and the pandemic intervened and here we are.
Whatever the case, a governor directly confronting the House Speaker has never worked here. Others have tried. All have failed. A governor’s opposition would, as it has in the past, give Madigan something external and concrete to push back against in order to distract from his internal problems.
And if Pritzker’s effort to dislodge Madigan failed, so would the remainder of his legislative agenda. Not to mention that Pritzker certainly hurt himself when he not so subtly threw resources Sen. Kimberly Lightford’s way during her unsuccessful run for Senate President almost a year ago. Once bitten, twice shy.
There is definite pressure on Pritzker to act, though. As the saying goes, “governors own,” so he’ll wear the jacket in 2022 if Madigan is still standing and remains as spectacularly unpopular as he is today.
Maybe Pritzker could quietly do something at the very end to make it happen if the opposition is still slightly short, but don’t expect anything before that unless something major happens with the federal investigation into the House Speaker’s operation. But if Pritzker swings and misses, Madigan will still be around, Pritzker won’t get anything accomplished and the voters will not be pleased.
The dude spent a zillion dollars to get elected governor only to find himself in a dozen trick bags. Welcome to Illinois!
The one person outside the House who could make a real and immediate difference is U.S. Rep. Chuy Garcia. As I’ve told you before, Garcia, the Chicago Teachers Union and Madigan came to an understanding not long after Garcia, with the CTU’s backing, lost the city mayor’s race in 2015. Madigan’s 13th Ward carried Mayor Rahm Emanuel to victory, but that took an extraordinary amount of work in Madigan’s Latino-dominated area. Better to just cut a deal.
Since then, one after another of Congressman Garcia’s close allies have been elected or appointed to the General Assembly.
There are probably no better examples of this than in Madigan’s own neighborhood. Garcia ally Celina Villanueva was appointed to the House in the summer of 2018 when Madigan loyalist Rep. Silvana Tabares was appointed to the Chicago City Council in the neighboring 23rd Ward. Rep. Villanueva then ran unopposed in a special election to replace resigned Sen. Martin Sandoval (Madigan’s senator) and Garcia’s congressional aide Edgar Gonzalez was appointed to Villanueva’s House seat. In between, Madigan successfully supported another Garcia staffer for a Cook County Board slot over Sandoval’s daughter.
Congressman Garcia has significant influence over at least three Chicago Democratic House members (Gonzalez, Aaron Ortiz and Delia Ramirez). But if he makes a strong statement either way on Madigan, several other progressives in the chamber could very well follow his lead.
Garcia, by the way, is also a member of Madigan’s state party central committee. A few committee members have spoken out against Chairman Madigan, but Garcia has a stronger political organization and a larger public platform. He could make a real difference there, too,
But a deal is a deal and, in the long term, Garcia has the better end of it. Madigan gets peace and Garcia gets more of his people into influential positions every time there’s a path (or close to it, like when Madigan tried unsuccessfully to block Eva-Dina Delgado’s appointment to the House this year after Garcia and the CTU supported someone else).
And that probably explains why Congressman Garcia isn’t returning my phone calls and texts these days to ask what he’s planning to do about all of this.
…Adding… Congressman Garcia didn’t respond to the Sun-Times, either…
Five members of the [Democratic state central committee] — including a congresswoman and a newly elected countywide official — are openly calling for Madigan to step down.
Four others — including the Cook County clerk — see no need for new leadership.
What the other 27 are thinking is a mystery, since they didn’t respond to the Sun-Times’ requests for comment.
Despite making substantial progress on Illinois’ fiscal challenges in Fiscal Year 2020, the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has resulted in unexpected and dramatic revenue losses, and Illinois will also continue to face significant financial challenges until it finds a long-term solution to its long standing structural deficit, the annual Economic and Fiscal Policy Report from the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget concludes.
As a result of these recent challenges and with the option for a graduated income tax now off the table, the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget is projecting sizeable deficits in the General Funds budget for fiscal years 2022 through 2026. Without changes to the current trajectory of the state’s finances, year-end accounts payable will continue to grow year by year, the report states.
We can still affect what happens a couple of weeks from now by making sure there aren’t new people getting infected, making sure somebody doesn’t get infected tomorrow by wearing our mask and by keeping our distance and limiting… If we keep doing everything we’re doing and not changing, then no measure that we can do at the state level is going to have, going to allow us to have enough beds. Right?
And so the power, everybody’s saying, ‘What are we going to do?’ What are you going to do? Individuals need to take the responsibility to control this virus. And I’m really wanting people to step up and stop looking for somebody else to do the job that we individually have the power to do.
Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White is announcing Driver Services facilities statewide will be closed to the public for in person transactions effective Tuesday, Nov. 17 and will reopen on Monday, Dec. 7, 2020, due to the worsening COVID-19 pandemic. White is encouraging the public to take advantage of online services.
In addition, White announced that expiration dates for driver’s licenses and ID cards will be extended until June 1, 2021. This June 1, 2021 extension also includes those who have February, March, April and May 2021 expiration dates. As a result, expired driver’s licenses and ID cards will remain valid until June 1, 2021. CDL (Commercial Driver License) holders and commercial permit holders are excluded from this extension due to federal requirements.
“After careful consideration, we have decided to close all Driver Services facilities until December 7, 2020, due to the worsening COVID-19 pandemic,” said White. “The health and safety of employees and the public remains paramount and face-to-face transactions potentially increase the further spread of the virus. We have extended expiration dates to assist people during this difficult time. I am also encouraging customers to consider using online services which are available for many office transactions.”
As White noted, many transactions with the Secretary of State’s office may be conducted online at www.cyberdriveillinois.com, some of which include:
• Renewing a license plate sticker;
• Renewing a valid driver’s license for qualifying drivers;
• Renewing a valid ID card for those age 22-64 (seniors 65 and older have free, non-expiring IDs);
• Obtaining a driver record abstract;
• Filing Business Services documents, such as incorporations and annual reports; and
• Customers with issues involving administrative hearings may contact adminhearings@ilsos.gov.
Those who are eligible for online driver’s license renewal will receive a letter from the Secretary of State’s office with a PIN necessary for online renewal. Those whose driver’s licenses or ID cards expired between Feb. 1, 2020 and Jan. 31, 2021, who qualify for online renewal should receive their PIN letter in December 2020 or January 2021. Those whose driver’s licenses or ID cards expire after Feb. 1, 2021, will receive their PIN letter approximately 90 days before their expiration date.
White noted that 19 CDL (Commercial Driver License) facilities will remain open for CDL written and road exams. These CDL facilities are:
Belleville, 400 W. Main St.; Bradley, 1111 Blatt St.; Charleston, 1010 E. St.; Danville/Tilton, #5 Southgate; DeKalb, 1360 Oakwood St.; Elk Grove Village, 650 Roppolo Dr.; Marion, Mascoutah, 9221 Beller Dr.;
1905 Rendleman St.; Moline/Silvis, 2001 Fifth St., Ste. #10; Olney, 1302 S. West St.; Peoria, 3311 N. Sterling Ave., #12; Princeton, 225 Backbone Rd. East; Quincy, 2512 Locust St.; Rantoul, 421 S. Murray Rd.; Rockford, 4734 Baxter Rd.; Salem, 1375 W. Whittaker St.; South Holland, 41 W. 162nd St.; Springfield, 2701 S. Dirksen Pkwy.; and West Chicago, 1280 Powis Rd.
“Commercial truck drivers provide essential services by ensuring goods can be transported safely and efficiently throughout the state and country during this pandemic,” White said.
CDL driving tests are by appointment only by calling 217-785-3013.
Lastly, White announced that seven facilities will be offering drive-through services for license plate sticker transactions ONLY. These facilities were selected due to the configuration of the buildings which allowed for drive-through transactions. The seven drive-through facilities are: Chicago North, 5401 N. Elston Ave.; Chicago West, 5301 W. Lexington St.; Rockford-Central, 3720 E. State St.; Macomb, 466 Deer Rd.; Springfield, Dirksen 2701 S. Dirksen Parkway; Tilton, #5 Southgate Dr. and Chicago South (opens Nov. 19), 9901 S. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr.
“During the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been the only government agency open statewide offering in-person transactions,” said White. “We have remained committed to serving the public. Protecting the health and safety of our residents is my top priority, and this is the guiding principle of our decision-making.”
All other Secretary of State departments are open to serve the public. Check www.cyberdriveillinois.com for more information.
“Illinois is at a critical juncture. We face a global health crisis unlike any we have seen, bringing with it major challenges for hard-working families and small businesses. We need responsible budgets that meet the new challenges posed by this pandemic, while maintaining a commitment to our children’s future, safe communities, and other critical services that are no less needed.
“At such a crucial moment, I believe we need Speaker Michael Madigan’s leadership working for us in the Illinois House of Representatives.
“These are the challenges Illinoisans have overwhelmingly entrusted to Democrats. I believe Speaker Madigan’s strong, tested leadership will help us address them.”
* The governor announced today that he would be extending the state’s eviction moratorium by another 30 days…
But landlords and property owners are a crucial part of Illinois housing cycle, just as much as renters, and they deserve protection, too.
So with input from smaller landlords and property owners, this new moratorium will ensure that the rents are paid by tenants who may have been taking advantage of the eviction moratorium but are in fact able to pay to make their monthly rent payments in line with the CDC eviction ban on renters, who have earned no more than $99,000 in annual income or $198,000 as joint filers for this calendar year are covered under this extension.
Renters who are unable to pay will be required to submit a declaration form to their landlord certifying that they are unable to pay their rent due to the substantial loss of income or an increase in out of pocket expenses stemming from the pandemic. This form will be available on the Illinois Housing Development Authority website for easy access.
Please pardon all transcription errors.
*** UPDATE *** Press release…
The following statement can be attributed to Michael Mini, executive vice president of the Chicagoland Apartment Association:
“We are grateful that Governor Pritzker has fine-tuned his residential eviction moratorium rules so landlords are not taken advantage of by tenants who withhold rent payments without cause or demonstrated financial losses due to COVID-19. In tens of thousands of instances, landlords are working with tenants in offering extended grace periods and manageable payment plans. The amended eviction moratorium announced today by Governor Pritzker provides for greater accountability by non-paying bad actors who have refused to communicate with their landlords to demonstrate their need for assistance, enabling landlords to better assist tenants truly in need.
The pandemic indeed threatens the financial viability of both tenants and landlords across Illinois as we all face unprecedented pressures. We need more federal funding to ensure renters experiencing hardships can keep paying their rent and property owners can cover their operating costs and maintain safe living conditions for their residents. We join the call in urging members of the Illinois delegation to proactively push for another federal government relief package.”
An obscure but crucial figure in the feds’ years-long investigation of public corruption in Illinois pleaded guilty to an unrelated fraud scheme Friday, six years after he secretly recorded House Speaker Michael Madigan with hopes of future leniency from a judge.
See Y. Wong admitted he scammed a bank and pleaded guilty by video to wire fraud. He did so four months after a federal subpoena sent to Madigan’s office indicated Wong’s undercover work could still be relevant to the probe roiling state politics.
In that subpoena — delivered the day the feds charged ComEd in a bribery scheme that implicated Madigan — the feds sought documents related to Chinatown properties that appear to be part of the recorded conversation Wong had in August 2014 with Madigan and then-Ald. Daniel Solis (25th).
Madigan has not been criminally charged and has denied wrongdoing. Solis later helped the feds build a racketeering case against Ald. Edward M. Burke (14th), who was first criminally charged Jan. 2, 2019. Burke’s lawyers say Solis struck a so-called deferred-prosecution agreement with the feds the next day.
Federal prosecutors first charged Wong in March, days before the coronavirus pandemic took hold in Chicago and upended the federal court system. Their seven-page charging document, known as an information, first revealed the scam that apparently prompted Wong to cooperate. It revolved around the Canal Crossing condominium development in Chinatown.
Lawyers suing scandal-scarred Commonwealth Edison on behalf of the power company’s customers are accusing a consumer-advocacy group of serving as “ComEd’s lapdog,” court records show.
But the Citizens Utility Board says that is not fair — and CUB has now taken legal action itself to try to win back money for the roughly 4 million homes and businesses served by ComEd across northern Illinois.
State officials created CUB 37 years ago to act as an independent watchdog for customers of the power company and other state-regulated utilities.
Lawyers in a class-action suit in Cook County Circuit Court allege CUB instead is trying to shield ComEd, which has admitted to bribing Illinois politicians as it won electricity-rate increases and other lucrative legislation in Springfield during the past decade.
Illinois Farm Bureau President Richard Guebert Jr. described how Illinois farmers and rural residents will suffer if voters approve a state constitutional amendment in November.
During a virtual press conference Tuesday, Guebert joined three other organization leaders of a statewide coalition against the Progressive Tax Amendment.
“After seven years of a depressed farm economy, we don’t need another tax increase,” Guebert told FarmWeek. “It’s hard enough to keep the bills paid and to be as profitable as possible.”
The proposed tax only applied to income above $250,000, so economically depressed farm-owners wouldn’t pay an extra dime, but you already knew that.
“The new tax structure is supposed to pay for our public schools, social services, public safety, and the list goes on and on,” [Guebert] wrote. “However, we know it will be spent in two places: our state’s exorbitantly high pension costs and debt obligations. The government created these two problems, not us taxpayers. We, taxpayers, have done our jobs; we are law-abiding, taxpaying citizens. We should not have to pay to fix the politicians’ mess.”
* As long as we’re talking about taxpayers, farmers get a ton of tax breaks.
Let’s start with their sales tax exemptions. Inputs like seeds, fertilizer and livestock feed and stuff like, um, bull semen, are exempt from sales taxes (click here.) Farm chemicals, farm machinery and equipment, all-terrain vehicles, repair or replacement parts and leased leased equipment are also exempt from taxation (click here).
Most property is assessed at 33 1/3 percent of its fair market value.
Farmland is assessed based on its ability to produce income (its agricultural economic value). A farm building is assessed at one-third of the value that it contributes to the farm’s productivity.
There are even lower rates for other types of farmland (click here).
* The Question: Should the state end its agriculture tax breaks? Explain your answer in comments, please.
[Poll has been removed because it’s obviously being manipulated.]
Friday, Nov 13, 2020 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
“Among all the states, Illinois jumped to the head of the pack when it comes to the environment in 2016 with its Future Energy Jobs Act, a law creating a welcoming market for installing solar energy. But because of delays in acting on a successor law to provide new funding, the solar energy industry is leaving the state in what is being called a falling off of the “solar cliff.”
Illinois is estimated to have lost close to 3,500 solar jobs already, and 1,000 more jobs could be gone by the end of the year…
Illinois has worked hard to become a leader in green energy, attracting jobs in the industry and improving the environment. The state has become an important home to businesses installing solar energy and making use of “community development” projects, in which property owners without good access to sunlight can share projects with other property owners.
Why was the surge hospital at McCormick Place taken down? Clearly there was no one using the space for large gatherings & it certainly could have been mothballed in place. Somebody got rich on this deal. Friends of @GovPritzker and the Illinois Democrat machine perhaps? 🤔#twill
Um, it was taken down because, thankfully, we didn’t need it. And keeping it in place would’ve cost an absolute fortune. It’s kinda funny, when you think about it, that Wehrli would be demanding to give more money to McCormick Place workers whose unions are closely allied with Speaker Madigan. Could Grant Wehrli have been a secret Madigan agent all along???
Of course not, but it makes about as much sense as that silly word salad he tweeted out today. None of it is justified.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said plans have already been drafted for a 3,000-bed COVID-19 hospital utilizing halls A, B, and C at McCormick Place set to open on April 24.
Speaking at the Pentagon, General Todd Semonite said McCormick Place was among 114 sites the Corps of Engineers examined in all 50 states. Semonite said the proposed conversion of the Chicago convention center would house patients in varying degrees of illness.
As hospitals were overrun by coronavirus patients in other parts of the world, the Army Corps of Engineers mobilized in the U.S., hiring private contractors to build emergency field hospitals around the country.
“If the alternate-care facility is needed in the future, this would be a state expense,” says Rebecca Clark, a spokeswoman for Illinois’ emergency management agency. “In addition, the McCormick Place equipment has been prepositioned throughout the state to help hospitals and other congregate-care settings enhance surge capacities.”
I checked with the governor’s office and was told that they had deployed the McCormick Place equipment to IDPH regions. Region 8, which Wehrli represents, has 631 beds available that were once at McCormick Place.
So, not only does Wehrli want to enrich Madigan’s pals, he also wants to deprive his own constituents of medical equipment. /s
* Onward…
Doctor, Perhaps you can explain to us why in a state with 85-90% mask wearing compliance, COVID cases have skyrocketed. If wearing masks works, then why haven’t they? https://t.co/iT5YyWCEZE
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 15,415 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 27 additional deaths.
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 551,957 cases, including 10,504 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 106,540 specimens for a total 8,871,640. As of last night, 5,362 people in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 990 patients were in the ICU and 488 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from November 6 – November 12 is 13.2%. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from November 6, 2020 – November 12, 2020 is 14.5%.
All but six Illinois counties are at the warning level. Ninety-six counties, plus the city of Chicago, are currently reported at a warning level – Adams, Alexander, Bond, Boone, Brown, Bureau, Calhoun, Carroll, Cass, Christian, Clark, Clay, Clinton, Coles, Cook, Crawford, Cumberland, DeKalb, DeWitt, Douglas, DuPage, Edgar, Edwards, Effingham, Fayette, Ford, Franklin, Fulton, Gallatin, Greene, Grundy, Hamilton, Hancock, Hardin, Henderson, Henry, Iroquois, Jackson, Jasper, Jefferson, Jersey, Jo Daviess, Johnson, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Knox, Lake, LaSalle, Lawrence, Lee, Livingston, Logan, Macon, Macoupin, Madison, Marion, Marshall, Massac, Mason, McDonough, McHenry, McLean, Mercer, Monroe, Morgan, Moultrie, Ogle, Peoria, Perry, Piatt, Pike, Pulaski, Putnam, Randolph, Richland, Rock Island, Saline, Sangamon, Schuyler, Scott, Shelby, St. Clair, Stephenson, Tazewell, Vermilion, Wabash, Warren, Washington, Wayne, White, Whiteside, Will, Williamson, Winnebago, Woodford, and the city of Chicago.
*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.
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS 219 SOUTH DEARBORN STREET CHICAGO,ILLINOIS 60604 NOTICE OF PARTIAL TEMPORARY SUSPENSION OF IN-COURT PROCEEDINGS
Dear Dirksen Courthouse and Roszkowski Courthouse Occupants:
In the last several days, there have been marked increases in the numbers of positive COVID-19 test results and hospitalizations in the Northern District of Illinois. Yesterday and earlier today, Illinois Governor Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Lightfoot responded by issuing advisories and recommendations for restrictions on travel and in-person gatherings. As you have seen in many recent letters from me, our court is not immune from the Coronavirus. A number of employees, visitors, and security personnel have tested positive.
Together with the District Court’s Executive Committee and the Restart Task Force, I am ordering restrictions on activities in our courthouses as follows: Effective at 4:30pm on Friday, November 13, 2020, the Clerk’s Office in Chicago and Rockford will close to in-person assistance until Tuesday, January 19, 2020. Clerk’s Office staff will accept filings via CM/ECF, e-mail, mail or the drop box in the lobby of the Courthouses. In addition, beginning Monday, November 16, 2020, all civil case proceedings will be held virtually. Jury trials will remain suspended until after January 19, 2020. To limit the number of individuals in the Courthouses at any time, all hearings in all civil cases will be conducted virtually, either by either via phone or video. We are drafting an order confirming these restrictions with a greater level of detail and will issue it shortly.
* And yet Crain’s Chicago Business just published this bonkers crackpot column today…
It’s time for the governor to take a new approach that allows businesses to reopen fully. The people of Illinois must be allowed to return to their jobs so that they can begin the difficult task of rebuilding their lives.
Those organizations also share a registered agent, who's also the registered agent of another former employer of the dude from the Illinois Business Alliance. pic.twitter.com/PyFbHcwK4K
Anyhow, this is just a reminder that there are people in Illinois churning out content for legacy media publications from a network of NGOs that pretend to be independent from each other. It's been going on for years, it's dishonest, and @CrainsChicago shouldn't facilitate it.
…Adding… Maybe Crain’s should completely cave and hire this guy full time…
Until the Illinois legislature meets and votes to change current law, governor pritzker has absolutely NO authority to do anything that he is saying or attempting. Stand up and stay open!
Democratic U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood won her bid for a second term Thursday, narrowly defeating Republican challenger Jim Oberweis in the west and north suburban and exurban 14th Congressional District, The Associated Press declared. […]
It was the second time Oberweis, 74, failed in a bid for the seat, losing in 2008. It joins a string of losses at the federal level for the investment and dairy magnate that included unsuccessful bids for the U.S. Senate in 2002, 2004 and 2014. Oberweis also lost a 2006 bid for governor and was unsuccessful in a past bid for the state GOP chairmanship.
As a result of his bid for Congress, Oberweis could not seek reelection to the state Senate seat he has held since 2013. Jeanette Ward, a Republican seeking to replace Oberweis in Springfield, conceded her race against Democrat Karina Villa.
This was actually the third time Oberweis lost a 14th Congressional District race. This year, the 2008 general election and the 2008 special general election on March 8. The special was prompted when Denny Hastert resigned from Congress. It was the first time a Democrat had won the seat since the Great Depression.
*** UPDATE *** Sigh…
U.S. Rep. @LaurenUnderwood (IL-14) officially won her re-election bid against @JimOberweis yesterday by a margin of ~4,600 votes now that they’re all counted.
More than one-third of Springfield’s firefighters are in quarantine as a COVID-19 outbreak continues to spread through the department.
Seventy-three firefighters are quarantined, including 19 who have tested positive for the virus.
All fire stations remain open and are providing service to residents.
But two of the city’s 12 fire engines will not be in operation until further notice, according to city officials. The engines in question are each part of a multi-company station house.
With a new wave of COVID-19 sweeping the nation and concerning trends here in Illinois, Governor JB Pritzker launched a new awareness campaign today to encourage residents to take safety precautions throughout the upcoming holiday season to protect themselves and their families — and ultimately save lives.
The Illinois Department of Public Health is recommending that residents stay home as much as possible and only leave for essential activities. To provide safer ways to celebrate, ‘Healthy Holidays to You’ highlights what doctors and scientists consider top methods to reduce your risk of contracting or spreading the virus: limiting gatherings to your immediate family or keeping them virtual, maintaining 6 feet of distance from others and wearing a mask, whether you’re indoors or out.
“Ahead of the holiday season, IDPH has provided recommendations for keeping you and your family safe from the virus,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “We are making every effort to remind people what epidemiologists and other infectious disease specialists say are the best ways to reduce the risk of contracting COVID-19. Traditions are so important to all of us – but this year we all need to celebrate a bit differently.”
“This year’s holiday season is going to be difficult and challenging for many of us,” said IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike. “This campaign was designed to emphasize the importance of making safer decisions and checking in on loved ones during this time in order to stay safe and strong for each other.”
Developed by Illinois-based ad agency O’Keefe Reinhard & Paul, the holiday campaign pays tribute to beloved holiday songs and traditions with its suggestions for safe practices throughout the season. “Over the wifi and through the zoom to grandmother’s house we go” and “if you’re going to jingle, jingle six feet apart” are a couple of the light-hearted advisories with serious messages that the television spots and billboards will feature across the state. The scenarios brought to life in the campaign demonstrate proven ways to reduce the risk of spreading the virus, according to Illinois Department of Public Health epidemiologists and researchers modeling COVID-19 in Illinois.
The campaign will reach Illinoisans statewide in both English and Spanish through a variety of traditional and online media channels, including cable, broadcast and connected TV; streaming audio and radio; billboards and bus shelters; digital display and video; print and social media. Like other coronavirus-related expenses, costs are reimbursable by the federal government.
How likely is it you’ll encounter at least one person who is infected with the coronavirus if you go to a bar in Denver? What about a 100-person wedding in Baltimore? Or a Thanksgiving dinner with 25 guests in Los Angeles?
The answers to these questions — and many more — can be found on the free, intuitive and now peer-reviewed COVID-19 Risk Assessment Planning Tool. Built by a team of researchers at Georgia Tech, the tool is designed to help policymakers, event planners and individuals easily grasp the risks associated with gatherings of different sizes throughout the United States and, increasingly, across the world. […]
The COVID-19 Risk Assessment Planning Tool was conceived in March by Joshua Weitz, a quantitative biologist at Georgia Tech who wanted an easy way to quantify the risk of attending events of various sizes in different locations. […]
“In a way it’s like a weather map,” said Clio Andris, a professor of city and regional planning and interactive computing at Georgia Tech who helped Weitz build out the tool. “It can tell you what the risk is that it will rain, but it can’t tell you if you’ll get wet. That depends on if you carry an umbrella, or if you choose not to go outside at all.”
A judge Thursday denied a request to stop Illinois officials from rescoring applications for recreational marijuana licenses, allowing the disputed process to continue.
Sangamon County Judge Adam Giganti refused to grant a temporary restraining order against state regulators. The judge ruled that the plaintiffs didn’t show they would be irreparably harmed by letting the licensing do-over go ahead, and failed to show that they were likely to prove their case.
The suit was filed in October against Gov. J.B. Pritzker and state administrators by three companies that received perfect scores to qualify for a lottery to win cannabis licenses — SBI IL LLC, Vertical Management LLC and GRI Holdings LLC.
Their attorney, John Fitzgerald, argued that Pritzker was caving in to “political expediency” by giving losing applicants a second chance. He said it was in violation of the state law that legalized commercial sales of marijuana this year and set forth how to award 75 new recreational licenses.
* Gov. Pritzker praised the leaders of governments in Chicago, Springfield, Sangamon County, Champaign-Urbana and Carbondale today for taking action against COVID-19. He talked about another increase in testing capabilities. And then he unleashed…
Those who have stood up at press conferences to question the data and fuel conspiracy theories. Those who have taken their absurd crusade to the courts and lost nearly every single time. Those who have flat-out told the businesses in their communities to ignore what their local and state public health departments and experts, some of the best in the nation, are telling them what is it going to take to get you to be a part of the solution.
Doctor Ezike and I have stood up here every day, telling you the facts. We’ve had dozens of the nation’s leading experts, present, and give you the info or giving you the information there epidemiological information they’re modeling information. They’ve stood here with us to show you how bad things can get. We’ve given you the data here in Illinois and the best studies from across the nation and the globe. We’ve shown you what this looked like in the spring, and how this wave is already worse than that in many regions of the state.
What will it take to make this real for you?
Do we have to reach a positivity rate of 50% like we’re seeing in Iowa today? 50%. Are you waiting for health care workers to get sick to a point where you don’t have enough staff in the local hospital to cover the next shift? What about if the hospitals become so overrun that you’re sick and you’re dying have nowhere left to turn?
Because I promise you, if you fail to take responsibility in your city and your county, that day is coming closer. And it will be on you.
Meanwhile, the rest of us will still do our jobs. The state will do all that it can to help hospitals surge their capacity and find additional staff. Health care workers will take up their posts on the front lines as they have every single day since this began, but more people will get sick, more people will struggle to breathe and more people will die because you’ve failed to do your job.
While good people do the right thing by wearing masks to keep each other safe, elected leaders in some communities have allowed others to infect their constituents because they’re afraid of the few loud anti-maskers or because the elected leaders themselves are anti-maskers.
In too many of these communities, responsible business owners have followed public health guidelines, only to see competitors flout the rules and prolong the mitigations for everyone else.
There may be a vaccine on the way in just a few months, but a lot of lives can be saved before that happens. And when this is over there will be an accounting by your constituents of who worked to keep the public safe, and who just ignored the science. This is the moment to step up and get it right.
Winter is coming, folks.
I pledged to be honest with you throughout this COVID crisis, and that won’t ever change. We’re running out of time. And we’re running out of options. Our growth in new cases is now exponential. We are seeing current numbers and future projections worse than what we saw in the spring. We’re more practiced at responding to this virus now. So we have significant stockpiles of PPE, we have overflow capacity that’s already planned by our hospitals, and we have much more testing available. That won’t slow the spread of the virus.
Since the stay at home order ended in May, we’ve allowed local governments to make decisions about whether they needed tougher mitigations and enforcement. And we’ve only imposed certain select mitigations at the state level on a regional basis. Those tools worked where people acted responsibly in local communities. But with many community leaders choosing not to listen to the doctors, we are left with not many tools left in our toolbox to fight this. The numbers don’t lie.
If things don’t take a turn in the coming days, we will quickly reach the point when some form of a mandatory stay at home order is all that we’ll be left with every fiber of my being. I do not want us to get there. But right now, that seems like where we are heading.
“I am honored to be reelected to represent Illinois’ beautiful 14th District in Congress. This was a tough race under some very difficult circumstances, and I want to say thank you to my supporters, the voters, and our elections officials for their diligent work.”
“We face urgent challenges as a community and a country. I remain focused on getting results: protecting our families, ensuring a robust economic recovery, and lowering the cost of health care. Whether you voted for me or not, I pledge to represent every member of this community. That’s my responsibility, and I take it seriously. It’s a privilege to bring northern Illinois voices and values to Washington and I can’t wait to build upon all that we’ve accomplished, together.”
*** UPDATE 2 *** Travis Akin, Jim Oberweis Campaign Spokesman…
“The Associated Press calling the race in the 14th Congressional District for Lauren Underwood does not change anything in this race from a legal standpoint. Illinois election law has provisions to allow parties in a closely contested race to seek a recount to ensure that all legal votes are counted and to ensure that the final outcome is the right outcome. There are still votes that have yet to be counted. The totals at this point are unofficial totals as the race has yet to be certified. We are committed to exploring all of the legal options at our disposal and will pursue these options that are afforded our campaign under law.”
Close vote margin required
Candidate determines how many/which precincts to recount
Contested election
Candidates “nominated, elected, or declared eligible for a runoff election” for any office may petition for a recount. However, a close vote margin is required: candidates must have received “at least 95% of the number of votes cast for any successful candidate for the same office” to be eligible for a recount. 10 ICSL 5/22‑9.1. These recounts are considered “discovery recounts,” and the results are explicitly not binding on the outcome of the election. The statutes require that the results of the examination and count shall not be certified, used to amend or change the abstracts of the votes previously completed, used to deny the successful candidate for the same office his certificate of nomination or election, nor used to change the previously declared result of the vote on a question of public policy.
Neither candidates nor voters may petition to recount precincts “exceeding 25% of the total number of precincts within the jurisdiction of the election authority.” 10 ILCS 5/22-9.1.
As noted above in “Court-Ordered Recounts,” candidates may also initiate a recount through the election contest process, in which the judge overseeing the contest may hold a hearing to determine if a recount is warranted.
For election contests, any candidate on the ballot and any write-in candidate in any election may contest the election. Candidates may also specifically request an “examination of records and equipment” as part of the contest. Unlike “discovery recounts,” the ruling resulting from an election contest is binding upon the election results. 10 ILCS 5/23 1.6a, 5/23 1.2a, 5/23-1.10a, 5/23-26 and 5/23-28.
…Adding… Chairman Madigan…
“We have won a hard-fought victory in the 14th Congressional District, and I extend my congratulations to Congresswoman Underwood. For the last week, Democratic Party of Illinois attorneys and poll watchers have worked side-by-side with State Central Committee members, including Lake County Chair Lauren Beth Gash and McHenry County Chair Kristina Zahorik, and Democratic volunteers to ensure that every vote was counted until this critical victory was final.”
…Adding… I’m told there are no court-ordered recounts for congressional races…
No Illinois court recount. Goes to the Floor of the House.
C. Congressional Office
The Federal Contested Election Act, Pub.L. No. 91-138, 83 Stat. 284 (1969), controls contests for election to federal office. See also the election contest rules for the house involved. Strict pleading requirements apply. H.R.Rep. No. 759, 94th Cong., 1st Sess. (1975); Young v. Mikva, 66 Ill.2d 579, 363 N.E.2d 851, 6 Ill.Dec. 904 (1977).
* The advisory is similar to what the governor has already issued. The regulations appear to anticipate the state’s Tier 2 mitigations…
Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot, the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH), and the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection (BACP) today launched a new citywide strategy - “Protect Chicago” - an effort to help Chicago bend the COVID-19 curve for the second time. This strategy calls on all Chicagoans to change their behavior through targeted regulations, strong messaging, and a community-based outreach strategy. If changes are not made by Chicago residents, businesses, and visitors to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, the city is on track to lose 1,000 more Chicagoans by the end of the year or even more.
“Chicago has reached a critical point in the second surge of COVID-19, demanding that we undertake this multi-faceted and comprehensive effort to stop the virus in its tracks,” said Mayor Lightfoot. “The gains we have made this past year have been the result of our willingness to work together. Even in this difficult moment, we will continue to unite as we always have for our city in order to halt the rise we’re seeing, shake out of the fatigue we’ve been experiencing, and make the crucial difference in what our future is going to look like.”
A key pillar of the “Protect Chicago” strategy will be the implementation of several regulatory measures aimed at combating the alarming rise in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. Chief among these new efforts is a Stay-at-Home Advisory, which calls on all Chicagoans to follow clear measures to protect their community and help us flatten the curve. Residents are strongly advised to adhere to the Advisory by following these guidelines, which will go into effect on Monday, November 16, 2020, at 6:00 a.m.:
• Only leave home to go to work or school, or for essential needs such as seeking medical care, going to the grocery store or pharmacy, picking up take-out food, or receiving deliveries. If you do leave home, practice social distancing by staying 6 feet away from others and wearing a face covering at all times.
• Do not have gatherings in your home with anybody outside of your household (except for essential staff such as home health care workers or educators), even with trusted family or friends.
• Avoid all non-essential, out-of-state travel; if travel is essential, quarantining or testing negative prior to travel is required, depending on which state a traveler is originating from.
• Comply with City and State Orders, including wearing face coverings, limiting gatherings, and mandating early closure of non-essential businesses at 11 p.m.
• Practice social distancing and avoid touching surfaces frequently touched by others if you go outside to get fresh air.
• Use remote modes of communication like phone or video chat instead of visiting friends or family, especially on holidays such as Thanksgiving.
In addition to the Stay-at-Home Advisory, the City is imposing new restrictions to limit meetings and social events to 10 individuals (both indoors and outdoors), which will also go into effect on Monday, November 16, 2020, at 6:00 a.m. This capacity limit applies to events such as weddings, birthday parties, business dinners/social events, and funerals, and is applicable to any venue where a meeting or social event is taking place, including meeting rooms. However, the capacity limit does not supersede industries that have specific capacity guidelines in place, which include fitness clubs, retail stores, personal services and movie theaters (generally, 40% or 50 individuals max., whichever is fewer). More information on the new restrictions can be found at chicago.gov/reopening.
“We are at a critical point in our ongoing fight against the COVID-19 pandemic,” said BACP Commissioner Rosa Escareno. “Everybody needs to step up right now to flatten the curve, save lives and help our businesses reopen safely.”
These new regulations and the Stay-at-Home Advisory will be paired with the activation of a community-based outreach strategy that aims to reach all Chicagoans, especially those who live and work in COVID-19 hotspots, which are currently on Chicago’s Northwest and Southwest Sides. The “Protect Chicago” strategy will be pushed out citywide on digital assets and through collateral materials, all zeroing in on the guidance that will keep Chicagoans safe and healthy. The City plans to leverage more than 1,000 City workers, up to 550 contact tracers, and a network of hundreds of community-based organizations to reach Chicagoans who have been adversely impacted by COVID-19. The outreach team will be conducting data-based, geo-targeting efforts to focus on the highest-incidence zip codes, neighborhoods and census tracts to provide resources, information and support to individuals and families who have been hardest hit by the pandemic. Chicago has seen spread in every zip code, age group, and race and ethnicity, and the City has partnered with minority-owned communications firms – Flowers Communications Group and Imagen Marketing Consultants – to ensure the strategy is targeted to COVID-19 hotspots and resonates with the communities most severely impacted by the virus.
“Protect Chicago” builds upon already-existing regulations and guidelines designed to manage the second wave of COVID-19. The City continues to recommend that Chicagoans avoid all gatherings in private residences, with an exception for essential staff such as home healthcare workers or educators. Furthermore, CDPH Health Orders require that indoor gatherings within private residences be limited to six non-household members. The City has the authority to fine individuals for breaking this requirement and hosting large social gatherings in their private residences. Lastly, earlier this week, CDPH updated the City’s emergency travel order, however, the recommendation remains for residents to avoid all non-essential, out-of-state travel.
“Protect Chicago” has been developed in coordination with CDPH to respond to evolving public health data and trends that show Chicago deep into a second surge of COVID-19. Chicago, the region, and the nation as a whole have experienced several weeks of steeply rising new daily cases, and the test positivity rate has also been increasing and is now above 14% in the city. Chicago is seeing more than 1,900 new daily cases based on a 7-day rolling average, which is a higher rate than at any time during the pandemic. While Black and Latinx residents continue to be disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, these increases are being seen across age, race and ethnicity.
“The data are troubling, and I’m very concerned we could be looking at tens of thousands of more cases, which would overwhelm the healthcare system and lead to hundreds more deaths,” said CDPH Commissioner Allison Arwady, M.D. “But we know what works and what we need to do to bend the curve. We did it once and I know we can do it again.”
…Adding… Michael Jacobson, president and CEO, Illinois Hotel & Lodging Association…
It’s very disappointing to hear Mayor Lightfoot spread a falsehood that Chicago hotels are actively marketing and hosting parties or other events that violate current Covid-19 protocols or existing fire code capacity limits. That theory simply is not true. Like every sector of businesses, hotels have unfortunately been victims of a citywide uptick in crime in and around our properties throughout the Central Business District. While there are occasional instances where guests violate the hotel’s policy on the amount of people allowed in each room, those rare cases are dealt with by hotel staff immediately and the guests are evicted. Hotels have far exceeded the guidelines that the City of Chicago set in place to control Covid-19 and are dedicated to protecting our employees and guests. We welcome the opportunity to hear from City of Chicago officials of any reports to the contrary so that they can be resolved immediately.
The number of people seeking U.S. unemployment benefits fell last week to 709,000, a still-high level but the lowest figure since March and a sign that the job market might be slowly healing.
The figures coincide with a sharp resurgence in confirmed viral infections to an all-time high above 120,000 a day. Cases are rising in 49 states, and deaths are increasing in 39. The nation has now recorded 240,000 virus-related deaths and 10.3 million confirmed infections.
As colder weather sets in and fear of the virus escalates, consumers may turn more cautious about traveling, shopping, dining out and visiting gyms, barber shops and retailers. Companies in many sectors could cut jobs or workers’ hours. In recent days, the virus’ resurgence has triggered tighter restrictions on businesses, mostly restaurants and bars, in a range of states, including Texas, New York, Maryland, and Oregon.
Last week’s new applications for unemployment benefits was down from 757,000 the previous week, the Labor Department said Thursday. The still-elevated figure shows that eight months after the pandemic flattened the economy, many employers are still slashing jobs.
The Illinois Department of Employment Security reported 67,158 new unemployment claims were filed across the state last week, the week of Nov. 1.
Illinois’ estimated claims were among 709,000 total filed across the country last week.
The most recent claims represent a nearly 9% decrease from the prior week when 73,515 unemployment claims were filed in Illinois, but a 510% increase over the 11,015 claims filed during the same week of 2019.
Well I think I mentioned the other day that we had a huge spike in this PUA unemployment. And a lot of that is fraud-related we believe, based on the analytics. And so we’re trying to address that.
Look, unemployment is never good no matter what that is, it’s not good. We very much want to continue growing our economy. I have believed from day one that the way you do that is tackle the virus, and make sure that you’re doing everything you can. While you’re tackling the virus to keep people safe in the economy that is up and running. And to some degree is continuing to grow from a low that had hit last spring.
* IDPH Region 3, which runs from Sangamon County west to the Mississippi River, now has a seven-day rolling positivity rate of 16.4 percent. Sangamon County’s rate is 16.2 percent, but its most recent one-day rate is 21.2 percent.
Just days into their two-week plan to allow bars and restaurants to continue indoor service despite Gov. JB Pritzker’s order to curb COVID-19’s rapid resurgence in the region, Sangamon County and Springfield officials are reversing course.
Beginning Friday, area bars and restaurants must stop serving indoors, or risk their liquor or food license if they stay open. That’s according to new executive orders signed Tuesday by Sangamon County Board Chair Andy Van Meter and Department of Public Health Director Gail O’Neill.
Springfield Mayor Jim Langfelder said at a city council meeting he plans to sign a similar order on Thursday.
Region 3 – which includes Springfield and west-central Illinois – triggered the mitigations late last month after the region saw a COVID-19 positivity rate greater than 8% for three straight days. The rules, which include shuttering indoor dining and bar service, were set to take effect Nov. 1.
When local officials announced the plan to defy the governor’s orders last week, they also said if numbers were bad enough, they’d reconsider and implement all regulations aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19.
In consultation with medical advisors, they set the threshold at an average positivity rate above 12% for the county for three straight days, which would trigger closure of indoor service. The rolling average reached 14.4% Saturday for the county, according to the most recent data available from the Illinois Department of Public Health. It was 13.4% Friday, and 12.5% the day before that. The average rates lag three days behind.
Unfortunately, every day they delayed meant that getting those numbers down to a reasonable level became that much more difficult.
“We are getting very, very dangerously close to overwhelming our healthcare system, which was the point of all this to begin with — don’t overwhelm the healthcare system,” said Ward 6 Ald. Kristin DiCenso. “With flu season coming, we are about to be in very, very bad shape.”
With news of the county’s plans to enter full mitigations breaking just before the meeting started, several aldermen had not been briefed on the subject.
Langfelder, who was on a call with county officials where the mitigations were discussed earlier that afternoon, also appeared unfamiliar with the contents of the new restrictions.
He repeatedly told council members that all bar service would cease under the new order before being corrected and told that outdoor service could continue. During the meeting, he asked a reporter with The State Journal-Register to confirm when the mitigations would actually go into effect.
I’m pleased to see local governments are starting to take action to stop the spread. I urge all local government leaders to put the health and safety of your community above all else.
The coronavirus pandemic and the upcoming winter months are taking a toll on the tourism industry in Illinois.
Add to it the veto session at the Capitol being canceled, which usually brings in money to the capital city.
Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau Director Scott Dahl said now, they are looking ahead.
“Literally thousands of people come in town for session. It is a large impact to the city,” Dahl said. “We are hoping for an early spring session and an extended session, as well, to make up for the spring and fall session loss in 2020.”
A long session will not happen if Springfield and the county don’t prove they’re taking this seriously. The capital city should be setting an example for the rest of the state. Until this week, it had been setting precisely the wrong example.
* Meanwhile in Chicago…
The city's test positivity is 14.1%, per @ChiPublicHealth. 7 days ago, it was 10.9%.
There are 1,920 confirmed cases of COVID-19 per day in Chicago, on average, up 36% in a week.
An average of 8 Chicagoans died every day this week from the virus, up from 5 last week.
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 12,702 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 43 additional deaths.
- Adams County: 1 male 80s
- Brown County: 1 male 90s
- Bureau County: 1 male 90s
- Clinton County: 1 male 50s, 3 females 80s, 1 male 80s, 1 male 90s
- Cook County: 1 female 50s, 2 males 50s, 1 female 70s, 2 males 70s, 1 female 80s, 1 male 80s
- DeKalb County: 1 male 50s
- DuPage County: 1 male 70s, 2 males 80s
- Edwards County: 1 male 70s
- Fulton County: 1 male 70s
- Knox County: 1 male 80s
- Lake County: 1 male 70s, 2 females 80s
- LaSalle County: 1 male 80s
- Macon County: 1 male 80s
- Montgomery County: 1 male 60s, 1 female 80s
- Morgan County: 1 male 50s
- Peoria County: 1 female 70s, 1 female 90s
- St. Clair County: 1 male 80s
- Tazewell County: 1 male 80s
- Vermilion County: 1 female 90s
- Wayne County: 1 male 80s
- Whiteside County: 1 male 40s, 1 female 70s, 1 female 80s
- Will County: 1 female 70s, 1 male 80s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 536,542 cases, including 10,477 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 100,617 specimens for a total 8,765,100. As of last night, 5,258 people in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 956 patients were in the ICU and 438 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from November 5– November 11 is 12.6%. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from November 5, 2020 – November 11, 2020 is 13.9%.
To help decrease the positivity rate, IDPH recommends the following.
Yesterday, IDPH released additional recommendations for how best for Illinoisans to keep themselves and their families safe as cases continue to rise in the state. For the next three weeks, IDPH is asking people to stay home as much as possible, leaving only for necessary and essential activities, such as work if working from home is not an option, buying groceries, and visiting the pharmacy. CDC and IDPH recommend limiting travel no matter the distance. In our current situation, with a rising prevalence of the virus, attending even small gatherings that mix households, or traveling to areas that are experiencing high rates of positivity, is not advised.
*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.
* Wednesday…
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 12,657 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 145 additional deaths.
Adams County: 1 female 70s, 1 male 70s, 1 male 80s
Boone County: 1 male 50s, 1 male 60s, 1 female 70s
Carroll County: 2 males 80s, 1 female 90s
Clinton County: 1 male 70s, 1 female 80s
Coles County: 1 male 70s, 1 female 90s
Cook County: 1 male 20s, 1 male 30s, 2 males 40s, 3 females 50s, 5 males 50s, 6 males 60s, 8 females 70s, 6 males 70s, 4 females 80s, 7 males 80s, 5 females 90s, 2 males 90s
Crawford County: 1 male 70s, 1 male 80s
DuPage County: 1 female 70s, 1 female 80s, 3 males 80s
Edwards County: 1 female 90s
Ford County: 1 female 70s, 1 male 90s
Franklin County: 1 male 80s
Grundy County: 1 male 70s
Hamilton County: 1 female 60s
Henry County: 1 male 40s, 1 male 80s
Jefferson County: 1 male 90s
Kane County: 1 female 50s, 2 males 60s, 1 male 70s, 1 female 80s, 1 female 90s
Kankakee County: 1 male 80s,
Knox County: 1 male 60s, 2 females 90s
Lake County: 1 female 70s, 1 male 70s, 1 male 90s, 1 female 90s
Lee County: 1 male 80s
Livingston County: 1 male 70s, 1 male 80s
Macon County: 1 female 60s, 1 female 70s, 1 male 70s, 1 female 80s, 1 male 80s, 1 female 90s
Macoupin County: 1 female 70s
Madison County: 1 female 70s, 1 male 70s
Marion County: 1 female 40s, 1 male 70s, 1 female 80s
Mason County: 1 female 60s
McHenry County: 1 female 70s, 1 male 70s, 1 female 80s
McLean County: 1 male 70s, 1 female 80s
Morgan County: 1 female 80s
Peoria County: 1 female 60s, 1 male 80s, 1 female 90s
Pike County: 1 female 70s
Rock Island County: 1 female 70s, 1 male 90s
Saline County: 1 male 80s
St. Clair County: 1 male 80s
Tazewell County: 1 male 70s, 1 female 80s
Vermilion County: 1 female 90s
Warren County: 1 male 70s
Wayne County: 1 male 90s
White County: 2 males 80s
Whiteside County: 1 male 40s, 1 male 70s
Will County: 1 female 50s, 1 female 60s, 2 males 60s, 2 females 80s, 2 males 80s, 1 female 90s
Williamson County: 1 male 80s
Winnebago County: 2 males 60s, 1 male 70s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 523,840 cases, including 10,434 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 93,464 specimens for a total 8,664,483. As of last night, 5,042 people in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 951 patients were in the ICU and 404 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from November 34– November 10 is 12.4%. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from November 4, 2020 – November 10, 2020 is 13.6%.
Sadly, another resident at the Illinois Veterans’ Home LaSalle (IVHL) has passed away. This is the seventh resident death at the home. Currently, there are 72 residents with COVID-19 and 72 employees.
The Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs (IDVA) is in regular consultation with IDPH and the Federal Department of Veterans’ Affairs and is following all public health guidance. After the first positive tests at the facility on November 1, 2020, visitation was halted on November 2, 2020 and new admissions postponed. All positive residents are isolating in a separate wing of the facility. Over the summer, IDVA constructed 25 negative pressure rooms with capacity for 44 residents, which is now in use in this wing. IDVA is also ramping up the use of antigen testing in the facility in order to more rapidly test residents and staff.
To help decrease the positivity rate, IDPH recommends the following.
Work from Home if Possible
For the next three weeks, work with your employer to plan to work from home unless it is necessary for you to be in the workplace. We ask employers to make accommodation for this. Our goal is to reduce transmission as we head into the holidays so businesses and schools can remain open.
Participate in Essential Activities Only
For the next three weeks, stay home as much as possible, leaving only for necessary and essential activities, such as work that must be performed outside the home, COVID-19 testing, visiting the pharmacy, and buying groceries.
Limit Travel and Gatherings
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other health experts tell us that gatherings and travel in and out of communities present a high risk of spreading the infection. In our current situation, with a rising prevalence of the virus, attending even small gatherings that mix households, or traveling to areas that are experiencing high rates of positivity, is not advised and is potentially dangerous. Please, travel only if necessary.
*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.
Thursday, Nov 12, 2020 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
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There needs to be a deep dive to determine the reason for this outbreak. Were all of the safety protocols meant to keep our Veterans safe properly followed? These American heroes and their families deserve a full investigation to determine what went wrong!https://t.co/XsoZJ58VmL
Sen. Rezin lives in Morris, which is in Grundy County, which has a seven-day average positivity rate of 20.7 percent. It’s most recent daily rate was 30.3 percent.
The veterans’ home is in a county with a seven-day average positivity rate of 19.9 percent. That virus had to get into the home somehow. Think it might’ve come from the community, whose leaders are resisting mitigations?
Just a thought.
Also, this isn’t a statewide closure of indoor dining. It was done on a regional basis and every region is now in dire straits.
* Meanwhile…
State Senator Sue Rezin (R-Morris) and State Representative La Shawn Ford (D-Chicago) joined together to call on Senate President Don Harmon and House Speaker Michael Madigan to call a joint hearing of the General Assembly to discuss the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We are now eight months into this pandemic. It is well past time for the General Assembly who is a coequal branch to take a more active role in the management of this pandemic,” said Sen. Rezin. “Legislative hearings will allow the public to hear directly from the Governor’s Office, state and local public health officials, small businesses, and other impacted stakeholders about what exactly goes into the decision-making process for our state’s response. In addition to providing the public with much needed transparency, these hearings will finally give legislators the opportunity to directly ask the Administration about the data and assumptions they choose to use. For too long, we have been left in the dark with more questions than answers. This has been particularly true when it comes to the Administration’s mitigation rules.”
Enhanced mitigation has been imposed across the state that disproportionately impacts the hospitality industry despite contradictory claims from local health departments about their role in spreading the virus.
“The surge in positive COVID-19 cases in Illinois forced the cancellation of the Fall Veto Session,” said Rep. Ford. “The General Assembly can’t leave the weight of this virus on the back of the executive branch. In order to protect the well-being of Illinoisans, we need a bipartisan and bicameral plan working with the executive branch.”
Additionally, the two legislators are encouraging Governor Pritzker to join with the General Assembly as an equal partner by supporting public legislative hearings and agreeing to make state officials and consultants available.
Gov. JB Pritzker has created new enforcement rules for mask wearing.
Pritzker said the statewide emergency order allows warnings and then fines of up to $2,500 against businesses and other organizations that do not ensure that people wear masks on the premises.
That much-noted rule was approved by JCAR, so it’s still on the books today.
Q: Are you considering a statewide mask mandate?… Is that a consideration?
*facepalm* *heavysigh* *screamatmycomputer*
For months as I’ve watched these media briefings I’ve been quietly repeating to myself a lesson I was taught growing up: “There’s no such thing as a stupid question.” But I think I’ve finally reached my limit on that.
Combine this with the ridiculously out of control COVID-19 problem in the town where I live, and I feel like I need to take some time off over Thanksgiving and socially distance on some beach somewhere before I wind up at the happy home with trees and flowers and chirping birds and basket weavers who sit and smile and twiddle their thumbs and toes…
Whew. OK. I think I’m better now. Sorry you had to witness this. And I really do like that reporter. He usually does good work and probably just had an off day. We all make mistakes. And Springfield’s mayor does seem to finally be getting the message. We’ll see.
I’m still gonna do the socially distant beach-bum thing, though. And I have just the spot.
* These first two are from the New York Times. Here are the national metro areas with the greatest number of new cases, relative to their population, in the last two weeks…
* The national metro areas where new cases are rising the fastest, on a population-adjusted basis…
Man. Kankakee is a freaking mess. And with Ottawa’s ranking, we can clearly see why there are problems at the LaSalle Veterans’ Home. Also, Bloomington? Do better, please.
* And this is from the Covid Act Now website. Illinois counties sorted by test positivity rate. The Eastern Bloc’s territory dominates..
On Tuesday, Speaker of the House Mike Madigan’s Chief of Staff announced that the fall veto session has been canceled due to concerns over COVID-19 and proximity to the upcoming holidays. In response to the announcement, State Representative Steve Reick (R-Woodstock) issued the following statement:
“No one is discounting the severity of COVID-19, especially now that we are in the midst of a second wave. However, we were able to meet safely in May and, with proper precautions, we can meet safely now. We have a top-notch Springfield staff that pulled together a safe environment in May that included testing, mask mandates, an abundance of hand sanitizer, and more than enough room to practice social distancing. Not one legislator contracted COVID-19 during our session in May, so we know full well the staff is capable of pulling this off.
“I can’t help but wonder if the cancelation has more to do with political unrest within the House Democratic caucus than it has to do with health and safety. I certainly hope that’s not the case, because it would be a great injustice if Speaker Madigan has placed his political problems ahead of our ability to do the people’s work during a scheduled veto session. We have a multi-billion dollar budget hole to fill and we need to be in session in order to have a voice in crafting a solution. In addition, I mentioned in a recent letter to the Governor that we need to return to Springfield so we can hit the reset button on our COVID-19 response and work together on a better plan.”
* Rep. Grant did more than just wonder…
On Tuesday, Speaker of the House Mike Madigan’s Chief of Staff announced that the fall veto session is canceled due to concerns over COVID-19 and proximity to the upcoming holidays. In response to the announcement, State Representative Amy Grant (R-Wheaton) issued the following statement:
“I question the motivation behind this cancelation. We were able to meet safely in May in an environment that included testing, mask mandates, regular use of hand sanitizer, and more than ample room to practice social distancing. No one from the House, Senate or staff contracted COVID-19 during our session in May, so we know staff is capable of putting adequate safety precautions in place. Congress is meeting and there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be.
“The people of Illinois are counting on us to do our jobs, and since we know we can safely meet, I must wonder if the cancelation is more about Madigan’s growing unpopularity within his caucus and the Governor’s disinterest in engaging with the legislature than it is about our health. We have to get back to Springfield and legislators must be allowed to have a voice in future COVID-19 decisions. This cancelation sends a bad message to Illinoisans who want their voices heard through their elected representative to the House.”
* And the Tribune editorial board just came right out and said it…
Rather than bring lawmakers back to the capital where face-to-face interactions could intensify conversations to oust him; rather than deal with a major budget shortfall, a pension crisis or a timely Legislative Black Caucus agenda that includes criminal justice reform; rather than pass overdue ethics legislation that would put the ComEd investigation in the spotlight; Madigan canceled veto session altogether. Let Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who recently joined others in calling for Madigan’s ouster as state party chair, struggle with the budget and pension headaches himself. Make him wear the jacket. This is about that too.
…Adding… Rep. Halpin is the second House Democrat to disclose a COVID-19 diagnosis this week. Subscribers know that Rep. Deb Conroy also contracted the virus…
State Rep. Mike Halpin, D-Rock Island, is recovering from COVID-19 after five days of enduring chills and fever.
Halpin said his test result came back positive on Monday, but he believes he contracted coronavirus from a family friend on Oct. 31.
“I’m feeling better now, but I had woken up on Election Day in the middle of the night with fever and chills,” Halpin said. “At that point, I made the decision to contact the doctor. For about five days or so, I was in a lot of pain with a headache and fever. I never had any trouble breathing, but it was definitely a miserable five days. After that, I started feeling better with less fatigue.”
But, yeah, it’s all Madigan.
* Meanwhile…
Chicago Unions’ Statement on Partnering with Speaker Madigan to Strengthen Worker Power in Illinois
The unions of Chicago’s labor movement, including the Chicago Federation of Labor, released the following statement supporting Speaker Madigan and partnering with him to strengthen worker power in Illinois:
“As the electoral dust settles and we look toward the next legislative session, the Chicago labor movement is excited and energized to bolster worker power and protections through state legislation. Our best chance to do so is in partnership with House Speaker Michael J. Madigan, a staunch defender of working people. Speaker Madigan has steadfastly advanced workers’ rights, resulting in some of the strongest prevailing wage, collective bargaining, gender pay equity, minimum wage, and worker safety laws in the country. He also spent four years valiantly defending the rights of union members from former Gov. Bruce Rauner’s reckless ideological attacks. Given the choice, Speaker Madigan held the line for working people and we thank him.
“There was a time, not that long ago, when Illinois was heading down the same political path as our Great Lakes neighbors— Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and Ohio — where Democrats and labor were shut out of power, and right-to-work-for-less became the law. If it were not for Speaker Madigan, working people would have been marginalized and their voices silenced like those in neighboring states.
“Instead of political in-fighting, we encourage everyone to focus their energy on finding ways to support the workers who are sacrificing so much right now, especially Illinois’ public employees who have risked their own health and safety to keep Illinois running during this pandemic.”
Bob Reiter, Chicago Federation of Labor
Don Villar, Chicago Federation of Labor
Rosetta Daylie, CBTU
James Connolly, Chicago Laborers’ District Council
Jesse M. Rios, AFGE
Sam Cicinelli, Automobile Mechanics’ Local 701
James F. Coyne, Plumbers Local 130
Donald Finn, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 134
James M. Gardiner, Iron Workers District Council of Chicago & Vicinity
Terrence J. Hancock, Teamsters Local 731 and Teamsters Joint Council 25
Brian Hickey, IUOE Local 399
Mack I. Julion, National Association of Letter Carriers - Branch #11 Chicago
Thomas Balanoff, SEIU Illinois State Council
Gregory Kelley, SEIU Healthcare
Karen Kent, UNITE HERE Local 1
Ronald D. McInroy, UAW Region 4
William W. Niesman, IBEW Local 9
Robert O’Toole, UFCW Local 1546
Gary Perinar, Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters
Jesse Sharkey, Chicago Teachers Union
John Spiros, Jr., International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council #14
Raymond Suggs, Sheet Metal Workers’ Local 73
James M. Sweeney, IUOE Local 150
James T. Tracy, Chicago Fire Fighters Local 2
The Illinois AFL-CIO issued a similar statement on Tuesday.
Republicans opened the door to voting for a Democrat for House Speaker in January if it meant ousting Madigan — instead of casting their usual ceremonial votes for the House Minority Leader.
State Rep. Mark Batinick (R-Plainfield) last week survived a well-funded Democratic challenger in a race targeted by Madigan’s political organization.
“I’m willing to do whatever it takes to turn the state around,” Batinick said. “For me, the one “no: vote is the vote for Speaker Madigan. Beyond that, I would be willing to engage in conversations and negotiations.”
State Rep. Mike Marron (R-Fithian) said he wouldn’t even mind ending up with a speaker politically to the left of Madigan.
“I’d be happy to take the risk of a more progressive member getting in charge just to have a fair fight in the arena of ideas,” Marron said.
Rather than seeking GOP support for a candidate against Madigan (which could easily turn off a whole lot of Democrats), the easier way to do this is to simply deprive the House Speaker of 60 votes. The House rules require “the affirmative vote of a majority of those elected.” If enough Democrats vote “Present,” then he can’t get to 60. They can then try to coalesce around someone else later.
* Remember, hospitalization is a lagging indicator. The exploding number of positive cases you see today will eventually translate into increased numbers of people in the hospital…
There are now more Illinoisans hospitalized with COVID-19 than there ever were during the pandemic's first wave this spring.
145 more COVID-positive Illinoisans are also reported dead - the most since May.
Illinois COVID-19 hospitalizations have increased 76 percent in the past two weeks. The state also has the fewest number of available hospital beds since the pandemic began.
Faced with a record number of COVID-19 patients, some Illinois hospitals are returning to strategies similar to those they adopted in the early days of the health crisis, including limiting elective surgeries and adding more beds.
One health care provider, NorthShore University HealthSystem, has converted its Glenbrook Hospital in Glenview back into a COVID-19 hospital, meaning it is no longer taking patients in need of overnight care if they don’t have COVID-19. Non-COVID-19 patients who need to be hospitalized are being sent to other facilities in the system.
The five-hospital system also has started evaluating elective surgeries on a case-by-case basis, delaying some depending on their urgency, said Dr. Lakshmi Halasyamani, chief medical officer. […]
Concerns also are growing about staffing levels. Though hospitals can add beds, they can only add as many beds as they have the ability to staff. Amid this second COVID-19 surge, hospitals are seeing their medical workers catch COVID-19, outside the hospital, preventing them from working. Nurses are in high demand nationwide, unlike in the spring when some areas had many COVID-19 cases and others did not.
Hospital leaders are pleading with community members to wear masks and social distance.
The staffing issue is not discussed nearly enough. You can have plenty of beds, but if you have a staff shortage due to illness or whatever, you can’t fill your hospital.
Yesterday, there were 50 hospitalized patients at SIH, a record high since the pandemic began. Staff at SIH is prepared to care for patients, but the extra steps involving PPE make caring for them more intensive.
“It’s not really a bed issue right now, we have the beds. It’s more the staffing demand to care for a patient with COVID-19 is much more substantial than taking care of a medical patient that’s in the hospital or a critical care patient that’s in the hospital. It’s, logistically, it’s just much more difficult” said Chief Nursing Officer Jennifer Harre. […]
Right now, with more than 100 healthcare workers out sick or in quarantine, they stress the need all of us to do our part to stop the spread of the virus.
Like many other healthcare facilities, Carle Foundation Hospital is seeing an increase in staff members with COVID-19. In a statement they said in part…
“We continue to offer leading safeguards in our workplace to protect our staff and patients. While we’re continuing to monitor the situation closely and working through numerous solutions we know we are at a critical juncture in our community.”
The Adams County COVID-19 Medical Capacity dashboard shows hospital bed availability at one percent. […]
[Dr. Mary Frances Barthel with Blessing Health System] said what she’s seeing in the hospital reflects how the community is acting. She says it’s time to stop gathering in large groups, or things are going to get real bad.
“At some point, it will just overrun the system,” Barthel said.
When we said available beds, these aren’t just for COVID-19 patients, they’re for everyone.
So if you get in a car accident, or have another medical emergency, the low capacity of beds could impact you even if you don’t have the virus.
Barthel said the need for staff is more important now than ever, especially if they add beds.
She said like community members, many staff members are out with COVID or possible exposure.
Adams County’s 7-day average positivity rate is 16 percent.
Additional hospital bed sets have been requested by Winnebago County agencies due to the recent surge in COVID-19 patients in Region 1 hospitals.
Winnebago County Emergency Management, city of Rockford Emergency Management, and the Winnebago County Health Department requested the bed sets from the Illinois Emergency Management Agency through the Regional Hospital Coordinating Center
A bed set includes a bed, headboard with suction and oxygen, HEPA filter, lamp, trunk, tent and chair. The bed set does not include additional medical personnel.
“The increasing rate of COVID-19 infection has stressed the healthcare systems in the region and highlights the consequences of unchecked transmission in the community,” officials said in a news release. “All entities should be adhering to the Tier 2 mitigations outlined in Executive Order #2020-62 to protect the community.
A group of Illinois health-care workers wrote an open letter to Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (D) on Monday predicting that “Illinois will surpass its ICU bed capacity by Thanksgiving.”
Two leaders of the group, the Illinois Medical Professionals Action Collaborative Team (IMPACT), said Illinois is “on a bad trajectory.”
“Cases have been rising really sharply, especially in Illinois, where for the past four days we had more than 10,000 cases, which was the highest number of cases that a state had experienced,” said Vineet Arora, chief executive of the team.
Arora, who is also a hospitalist at the University of Chicago, is afraid the rate of infection will reach a point similar to New York at the height of its spring surge, “where physicians were having to decide, does this patient have a higher chance of surviving, or this patient?”
Maybe the Tribune will now revisit its irresponsible May 6 editorial that essentially said Pritzker should declare victory and ease up. This is what happens when you ease up too much.
* Which brings us to the evolving mayor of Springfield…
At the end of October, right before the record-breaking case numbers and positivity rates, Springfield Mayor Jim Langfelder was already worried about hospitals in Springfield.
“Are they bringing people in from outside that region?” Langfelder said in an Oct. 29 interview. “If so, that should stop immediately. We should take care of the ones within their service area. If it’s beyond that, we need to make a determination how to approach that.”
On Wednesday, Nov. 11, Langfelder eased his stance.
“When you’re in healthcare, you’re there to serve the public, so they’re not going to restrict healthcare,” Langfelder said.
HSHS St. John’s Hospital in Springfield confirmed this, saying they don’t plan on turning people away.
The Illinois High School Association announced Wednesday that it has formally invited representatives from Governor J.B. Pritzker’s office and the Illinois Department of Public Health to its board meeting on Nov. 19.
“The board hopes to create a dialogue and build a more collaborative relationship with all the entities involved with developing sports policy in our state as everyone tries to navigate the myriad issues caused by the pandemic,” IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson said. “The board’s decision to move forward with the IHSA basketball season was not meant to be adversarial. It was rooted in a desire to receive more direct communication and data from our state partners. They hope all the groups will see the mutual benefit of increased discourse and be represented at the meeting on November 19.”
The invite comes after only eight of the IHSA’s [813] member schools announced they would participate in the IHSA’s basketball season.
The board’s decision wasn’t meant to be adversarial? Right. They stood by silently while their supporters were picketing outside the homes of administration officials and told the Illinois Department of Public Health to shove their public health rules where the sun doesn’t shine and went full speed ahead for “the kids,” and, of course, their sweet income stream, some of it due to state law.
Without adhering to the COVID-19 guidelines set forth by the governor and the IDPH, insurance companies would not cover the liability costs for schools.
The Southern Illinois University men’s basketball program has paused team activities due to positive COVID-19 test results, head coach Bryan Mullins announced on Thursday.
SIU will not participate in the Wade Houston Tipoff Classic in Louisville, Ky., from November 25-29, as previously scheduled.
“We have diligently followed the safety protocols established by our administration and local health officials, but as we’ve seen throughout the country, Covid cases can and will arise,” Mullins said. “We will resume preparation for the season as soon as our medical professionals deem it is safe to do.”
Dear President Harmon, Speaker Madigan, Leader Brady, and Leader Durkin,
As you are well aware, our state faces an immediate and significant set of financial challenges – revenue loss due to the continued economic impact of COVID-19, uncertainty regarding additional federal aid for state and local governments, need for maintaining vital state services that taxpayers expect, and significant revenue from the fair tax constitutional amendment now taken off the table. The situation calls for us as elected leaders to come together and develop a set of solutions with the goal of bringing our budget into balance.
To this end, my administration is continuing to take pro-active steps in an ongoing effort to responsibly manage our way through this current crisis, including undertaking cost reductions and efficiencies within executive branch operations. In addition, I’ve engaged in regular discussion with Congressional leaders and members about the need for support for replacement of COVID-related revenue losses by local and state governments.
While I have responsibility for making difficult yet necessary internal budget management decisions, this alone cannot solve the current challenge. As you are aware, statutory and court ordered limitations provide varying degrees of legal protections for a large portion of this year’s budget approved by the General Assembly. My predecessor and his administration made the decision to plunge the state into a fiscal disaster for two years in part by utilizing executive powers he did not legally possess. I refuse to follow that same path. With the current pandemic causing health, education and financial turmoil for working families, our state must address our budget challenges without delay.
Given the defeat of the fair tax and given the pandemic’s deepening effect on our fiscal situation as it wears on longer than expected, the time is now for us to act. Therefore, as an important first step, I will be convening a meeting with the two Democratic and two Republican legislative leaders. Our immediate focus should be on reconciling our FY21 budget and bringing it into balance this fiscal year. As you know, without federal coronavirus relief for the state (and local governments), budget stresses remain even in the current year. In short, your ideas, your input, and your feedback are critical at this moment. Ultimately and as always, the legislature will need to approve the efforts to balance our expenditures and revenues.
My Chief of Staff Anne Caprara will be reaching out to your respective offices to identify an agreeable date and time next week to convene this meeting which I hope could take place as soon as possible. While all of us have been asked about both potential cuts and revenue options in the wake of the defeat of the fair tax amendment and the impact the pandemic has had on our state’s revenues, I would suggest that the agenda for our first meeting focus on coming to an agreement on the size and scope of the deficit we face in the current fiscal year. For your review, I have enclosed a copy of the FY21 budget summary reflecting GOMB’s accounting and estimate of revenues and expenditures associated with the General Funds as of the date of this communication.
Thank you for your service to the State of Illinois. I look forward to our discussions ahead.
We’re actually doing well with state revenues and state spending hasn’t exploded out of control. The problem is that the state relied on $5 billion from the federal government which hasn’t come through (and may not, considering the US Senate situation) and the failure of the graduated income tax. Because of that, the budget is $3.9 billion in the red.
“The House Republican Caucus saw this coming back in the early days of the pandemic, but instead of heeding any warning, the majority Democratic Party decided to go it alone and depend on higher taxes and more reckless spending,” Durkin wrote in a letter to Pritzker on Tuesday.
“Passing a budget based on hypothetical revenue and false promises from a now-failed tax increase was unconstitutional and totally disingenuous to the citizens of our state who depend on government services,” Durkin said.
Durkin urged Pritzker to use his authority to make unilateral cuts to bring the budget into balance. “I suggest you begin with the 6.5% cuts your office directed agencies to identify in 2019,” Durkin wrote.
Pritzker has said cuts alone will not be enough to address the state’s long-term structural deficits.
Also, keep in mind that cuts made half-way through a fiscal year have twice the impact that they do at the beginning of a fiscal year. A $3.9 billion cut in January, for instance, is equal to a $7.8 billion cut made during the previous July.
* Senate President Don Harmon was asked about this hole back in May…
Q: Was it responsible to put together a budget with so much borrowing? The Rauner administration, for example, had a $4 billion hole for the grand bargain.
A: There is so much we don’t know today that we hope to know in a few months. We don’t know the depths of the economic hit we’ve taken from this virus. We don’t know how much more we’re going to have to spend in order to respond to it. We don’t know whether the voters are going to approve a constitutional amendment in November. We don’t know how the federal government is going to respond, although I believe that they will. And we don’t know who is going to be in charge in Washington for the next four years. In the next several months, we’re going to know all of that, and that will give us much better information about how to put together a durable state budget.
And, as we all know by now, things didn’t quite go as they hoped. And now here we are.
I figure the state will borrow $5 billion from the Federal Reserve if the US Senate doesn’t come through and try to work things out over time.
According to Jackson, in prevailing political theory, “the American people, and certainly I think the people of Illinois, are what are called symbolic conservatives and operational liberals. That is, they want low taxes. They don’t want any new taxes or new revenue increases whatsoever, and yet they also don’t want any cuts.”
Several years ago, the Senate Republicans proposed a “menu” of possible cuts that they said legislators could pick and choose from to balance the budget. The menu was their argument against a possible income tax hike. The Senate Democrats beat up the Republicans constantly for those “draconian” cuts and the SGOP messaging against tax increases was overwhelmed.
“It’s not Madigan’s fault that they lost the two seats in southern Illinois because just what’s been happening. There’s no Democratic Party down there anymore,” Redfield said. “What the Democrats have been successfully doing is trading suburban seats for downstate seats.”
The problem for Madigan, Redfield said, is that the Democrats were expected to do a lot better in the suburbs than they did.
“It’s the expectations game and the money game,” Redfield said. “They spent an ungodly amount of money to not win seats.”
It looks like the House Democrats are going to come out of the suburbs with a wash. The HDems appear to have lost two seats. With some counting to go, Rep. Mary Edly-Allen of Libertyville is trailing by almost 1,600 votes (down from more than 4,000) and Rep. Diane Pappas of Itasca is losing badly. But they’re also picking up two seats. GOP Reps. Grant Wehrli and Allen Skillicorn both lost.
And, of course, the HDems lost two southern Illinois seats when Reps. Monica Bristow and Nathan Reitz both were defeated by Republicans. Reitz was expected. Bristow was given a shot at winning.
* The Downstate race that isn’t getting much, if any media attention is in the Rockford area, where Rep. John Cabello (R-Machesney Park) is currently ahead of Democrat Dave Vella by just 315 votes with a lot of votes yet to count (including “disinformation” about the tallying).
Rep. Cabello was the first Illinois elected official to endorse Donald Trump for president in the 2016 campaign and now it’s possible that he may not be reelected even though Trump was on the ballot.
Unions were once a Cabello ally, but they went all-out to defeat him in 2018 and again this year because he flipped on organized labor over an important prevailing wage bill. Their candidate this year is the grandson of the father of Rockford Democratic politics, the late Rep. Zeke Giorgi, a mentor to embattled House Speaker Michael Madigan. The state even has a Rockford building named after Zeke. And Madigan was a huge issue in the campaign.
At one point, a video of Cabello went semi-viral. The video showed him saying to Vella during a televised debate: “I call bullsh*t. I cannot believe that you sit here and tell the people of the 68th District that you will not vote for Mike Madigan.” The video (click here to watch it) then played a clip of a Snoop Dogg song as “Thug Life” flashed on the screen and a white ballcap bearing that phrase was superimposed on Cabello’s head along with sunglasses on his face and a gold chain around his neck.
How are y’all missing this?
Cabello was also an early and outspoken opponent of the Democratic governor’s stay at home order, even filing his own lawsuit (which he eventually withdrew). He has been the most vocal critic of the governor’s decision to release inmates early to avoid prison virus outbreaks. Heck, he even held an in-person campaign event right before election day. As mentioned elsewhere on the blog today, Winnebago County’s 7-day average positivity rate is 18.4 percent and its overwhelmed local public health department has requested hospital bed sets from the state.
And to wrap it all up in a nice bow, Rockford has been the scene of several Black Lives Matter protests and Cabello is a city cop who lives in a blue-collar suburb that is less than three percent Black.
It really could be a great news story, perhaps even nationally, but it’s mostly being ignored. Ballot counting will end next Tuesday, so maybe they’ll pay attention then.
* In the meantime, check out what one of Cabello’s supporters made…
