The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today announced 724 new confirmed cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 23 additional confirmed deaths.
Bureau County: 1 male 60s
Cass County: 1 female 90s
Cook County: 1 female 40s, 1 male 40s, 1 female 50s, 1 male 50s, 1 male 60s, 2 females 70s, 2 males 70s, 2 females 90s
Kane County: 1 female 60s, 2 males 70s
Lake County: 1 female 70s, 1 female 90s
Rock Island County: 1 male 90s
St. Clair County: 1 male 80s
Tazewell County: 1 female 90s
Winnebago County: 1 female 70s, 1 female 80s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 143,185 cases, including 6,923 deaths, in 101 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 31,069 specimens for a total of 1,602,965. The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from June 23 –June 29 is 2.6%.
The Test And Trace website says Illinois has 611 contact tracers and needs 3,113, which means we’re 2,502. The state says it plans to hire about 3,800 tracers, but the program has had a very slow start. More on that from the COVID Act Now website…
Per best available data, Illinois has 611 contact tracers. With an average of 716 new daily cases, we estimate Illinois needs 3,580 contact tracing staff to trace all new cases in 48 hours, before too many other people are infected. This means that Illinois is likely able to trace only 17% of new COVID infections in 48 hours. These low levels of tracing suggest there may be an active outbreak underway in Illinois, or that little tracing capacity exists. Strong caution warranted.
A west suburban nursing home where 12 residents have died of the coronavirus plotted to kick out an elderly woman because her daughter criticized the troubled facility, according to a lawsuit the daughter has filed in Cook County circuit court.
Following the release of our Transition Joint Guidance for Starting the 2020-21 School Year, the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) has engaged in fruitful dialogue with educators and stakeholders concerning the use of face shields in lieu of face coverings (e.g. masks). Since that time, the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) has communicated that face coverings and social distancing are the goal whenever and wherever possible. Face shields have not been deemed effective for source control and are only to be used when other methods of protection are not available or appropriate. IDPH arrived at this determination after lengthy additional collaboration with the communicable disease team, infection preventionists, and infectious disease specialists and after reviewing available Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance.
In cases where individuals need facial visualization for instruction and communication, IDPH recommends video instruction to promote social distancing. If video is instruction is not available or appropriate, face shields may be used with the understanding that they have not been deemed effective for source control. As such, heightened attention and adherence to 6-foot social distancing is critical for individuals using face shields. Examples of limited situations when face shields may be necessary, if video instruction is not possible, include for teachers of English Learners or world languages, whose students may need to see their mouths form words to facilitate language acquisition.
After the election of President Trump, Politico, the same outlet came to you, curious how a Democrat in your district that elected President Trump could win. It sort of pitched you as I think maybe a Trump voter whisperer, if you’d agree with that there. But you told them that “on sensitive topics,” things like Black Lives Matter, “I don’t dwell on them.” That was back then. Do you wish now that that you had? Do you regret that comment at all?
She talks, in other words, about these kinds of things by not talking about them much, because the people she represents, she says, aren’t talking about them much, either, or don’t want to.
“On these sensitive topics,” she said—Black Lives Matter, transgender bathroom laws and so on—“I don’t dwell on them.”
No. You know, I think, umm. Look, I’m a former reporter, and I know what you do to do research when you interviewing somebody. And you could go back to, you know, looking at articles that I used to write, you know, from the 1980s, for that matter. But the moment we’re living in right now, it’s 2020. And we are in the midst of a movement that is very special. And that is very important. And I think, you know, historically, we’ll look back at this and we’ll say this was a moment of change. And I’m confident that again, as House Democrats, where we are in the majority, we will be voting on a momentous piece of legislation that will pass. And, just, whatever the Senate ends up doing, November is a time of change. And what I was going to say about the last person’s statement: the part that I don’t agree with is, Joe Biden is going to win. And as House Democrats, we will stay in the majority and we will grow our majority. I’m increasingly confident that Democrats will win in the Senate as well. And then, this meaningful change… And this isn’t… You know, I know there’s all the articles about, you know, we’re going far left or whatever it is. We will bring about meaningful change that will pass the House that will pass the Senate that will be signed into law. And, and I just… I think this, what we are living through right now will lead to, to momentous change for the better of our country.
Illinois businesses that suffered a financial loss from recent public protests and looting could get a break from the state.
State Sen. Dave Syverson, R-Rockford, has filed legislation to allow for a property tax credit in the same amount as whatever financial hit was taken.
“While it won’t cover everything, I think, at a minimum, these businesses that have already suffered under COVID, they ought to be compensated, or at least be given a small tax credit to make up for at least a portion of their losses,” Syverson said.
He says many businesses suffered losses that will be higher than the tax bill, which would mean a full waiver of the year’s property taxes.
Last week, Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced Pritzker $25 million from the state’s capital program would go to help businesses that sustained property damage due to looting during recent protests. Syverson said more is needed.
“The ones that won’t help are the stores couldn’t open up due to protests, those that law enforcement [advised] to close because of what might happen, or those businesses that had to hire private security because the city would not guarantee any protection,” Syverson said.
He said it’s most critical to provide assistance in communities where local authorities either chose not to enforce the law or could not provide adequate protection.
“The first job of any municipality is to provide a protection for individuals, their families, and their property,” Syverson said. “If they’re going to allow crimes to occur, then they should at least reimburse those who were victims of the municipality’s unwillingness to fulfill and follow the law.”
So, he addresses this by imposing a possibly huge unfunded state mandate on local governments?
With fireworks readily available in neighboring states, a state senator says it’s time to legalize them in Illinois.
State Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, has attempted to get a bill passed on more than one occasion, but can’t get Democrats to come on board.
“With the massive decline in state revenues due to the COVID, this would be an easy way to pick up some sales tax dollars and put some people to work in our state and they are just not interested,” Rose said.
Despite being illegal, Rose said fireworks already are here and the state is simply losing tax revenue to surrounding states that sell them. He estimates the state would bring in about $10 million a year in sales tax revenue.
Fire safety groups across the state are opposing any sort of legislation to legalize fireworks, something they said they already see enough injuries from. Bloomington Fire Chief Brian Mohr thinks it is a bad idea.
“I enjoy a fireworks show, I like them,” Mohr said. “I think they are entertaining, but unfortunately they are dangerous and there needs to be a higher level of experience before someone is setting them off.”
The risk of misusing fireworks is real. According to the Illinois State Fire Marshall, there are an average of 18,000 fires caused by the improper use of fireworks every year.
Fireworks have been banned in Illinois since 1935 under what was dubbed the Fireworks Regulation Act.
* The Question: Should Illinois lift its ban on fireworks sales? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please…
A federal judge Monday indicated her skepticism that Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s limits on gatherings during the pandemic unfairly infringe on political parties’ rights.
U.S. District Judge Sara L. Ellis during the hour-long phone hearing largely directed her questions toward arguments made by Daniel Suhr, a senior associate attorney for the Liberty Justice Center, which represents the plaintiff Illinois Republican Party, Will County Republican Central Committee, Schaumburg Township Republican Organization and Northwest Side GOP Club.
They sued Pritzker earlier this month alleging his May 29 executive order, which explicitly lifted in-person restrictions for religious gatherings but not for political parties, violated their First and 14th Amendment rights. […]
Ellis agreed that one of the ways to prevent the spread of the virus is to limit the number of people gathering in one place at any time.
And imposing those limits, whether on religious services or political events, does not infringe on participants’ ability to exercise religion or exercise speech, she said.
“They just cannot do it in numbers larger than 50,” Ellis said.
The Illinois Department of Agriculture announced today the July 1st deadline for issuing adult-use cannabis craft grower, infuser and transporter licenses has been temporarily suspended. Due to the previous application deadline extension and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Pritzker issued an Executive Order to extend the deadline. The Illinois Department of Agriculture (IDOA) will announce a new date to issue up to 40 craft grower licenses, up to 40 infuser licenses, and an unlimited number of transporter licenses. View the Executive Order here.
“The Pritzker Administration is committed to creating a fair and equitable adult-use cannabis industry in Illinois. IDOA is helping achieve that goal by providing Illinois residents, specifically those who live in communities that were disproportionately impacted by the failed war on drugs, with multiple entry-points to this new industry,” said Jerry Costello II, Acting IDOA Director. “The COVID-19 pandemic and the 6-week deadline extension granted to applicants have caused unforeseeable delays in the application review process. The Department is working tirelessly to ensure that applications are scored and awarded in a fair, deliberate and equitable manner.”
Once determined, IDOA will publicly announce the new date for issuing licenses.
The deadline is tomorrow and they’re just announcing this today? This, by the way, is the third time the licensing process has been delayed.
The delays could be catastrophic for some applicants, particularly those who were paying to hold real estate for grow facilities. The setbacks also threaten efforts to diversify the largely white industry.
“We’re going to have to write another check to the landlords to hold the building,” said Jamil Taylor, who leased a South Side building for a grow facility through the end of July. “That definitely puts us in a tough spot … We have to shell out thousands and thousands of more dollars.”
Under the law, grow license applicants had to secure property in advance. Taylor, who applied with a group for grow, transporter and dispensary licenses, said some groups won’t be able to afford an indefinite delay, and could lose their properties.
Social equity applicants are particularly at risk, Taylor said.
Unacceptable.
…Adding… Some of y’all in comments just haven’t been paying attention. The authority he has to delay these things is provided for in Sections 7(1) of the Illinois Emergency Management Agency Act…
Sec. 7. Emergency Powers of the Governor. […]
(1) To suspend the provisions of any regulatory statute prescribing procedures for conduct of State business, or the orders, rules and regulations of any State agency, if strict compliance with the provisions of any statute, order, rule, or regulation would in any way prevent, hinder or delay necessary action, including emergency purchases, by the Illinois Emergency Management Agency, in coping with the disaster.
Illinois’ minimum wage will bump up to $10 on Wednesday. The move brings employees one step closer to the state’s checkpoint of $15 by 2025. However, some aren’t happy the state is moving forward with the increase during the current pandemic. The $15 minimum wage plan was the first bill Gov. JB Pritzker signed into law in 2019. Workers saw the first increase to $9.25 per hour on January 1, 2020. The momentum isn’t slowing down due to COVID-19, as workers can expect an extra 75 cents an hour next month.
Minimum wage workers will make $10 while tipped employees will get at least $6 per hour. Teen workers will see a boost to an $8 minimum wage. Some business owners are concerned they won’t be able to pay everyone and may have to cut down on staff.
Republican lawmakers hoped Pritzker would pause the payment ramp during the pandemic to lessen the bleed for businesses. However, the state’s Department of Labor is moving forward as planned.
Um, how could the governor or IDOL “pause” the minimum wage increase on their own without legislation? The article doesn’t say.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said he won’t delay an increase in the state’s minimum wage, which he pushed for and signed into law during his first year as governor.
That state’s minimum will increase to $10 an hour on Wednesday.
Shortly after taking office in 2019, Pritzker enacted a phased increase to the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025. The first of two increases was Jan. 1 of this year going from $8.25 to $9.25 an hour. The second increase this year is set for Wednesday.
Again, how was the governor going to “delay” a minimum wage increase on his own without legislation? The article doesn’t say.
…Adding… From the other end of the spectrum…
Join us in demanding Gov @JBPritzker cancel rent and mortgage payments, especially during this moment of mass unemployment. He can lift the ban on rent control, but he has yet to do so. Click here to get involved from home:https://t.co/mxA3LxijA0
— Grassroots Collaborative (@GrassrootsChi) June 30, 2020
Retired Marine fighter pilot Amy McGrath will face off against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell this fall, after winning a closer-than-expected primary against progressive challenger Charles Booker.
The primary proved to be a nail-biter up until the very end, with Booker and McGrath each pulling ahead at various stages of vote-counting. Booker dominated in Jefferson County, his home area around Louisville and a key area for Democrats. But ultimately, a weaker margin outside of Lexington wasn’t enough to make up McGrath’s showing in rural areas outside the two cities.
Despite election day in Kentucky being held on June 23, a crush of absentee ballots made it impossible to know statewide results until a full week later. Vox’s partner Decision Desk called the race on June 30, around 11:15 am. The week of delays could serve as a preview for the November general election, if it is close.
* We have been conditioned to expect election results on election night. Those days are over, folks…
Again, imagine what this looks like in Nov. when/if Biden or Trump win on absentees after being down on Eday votes. We need SoS across the country & political spectrum to spend next 4 mos on PSAs prepping voters for this https://t.co/q6goUvSXIW
* We’re going to need a massive public awareness campaign. The craziness from the far left on Twitter during the counting of that Democratic US Senate primary has been off the charts. One tiny example…
so….Charles Booker vs Amy McGrath — did they stop counting? What's the deal? Taking a break to figure out a way to cheat Booker out of it?
— Racist Trump Tweeted "White P0wer" on 6/28/20 (@philly_bernie) June 29, 2020
Only 17 states and Washington, D.C. are currently meeting minimum targets for doing enough coronavirus testing, according to a new analysis.
The Harvard Global Health Institute, in collaboration with NPR, finds that 14 states and Washington, D.C. are doing enough testing to mitigate the spread of the virus, meaning it won’t be eliminated but it will not spread out of control. An additional three states are meeting a higher threshold of doing enough tests to suppress the virus and prevent almost any new cases. […]
The 14 states along with Washington, D.C. doing enough testing to mitigate the spread of the virus, according to the analysis, are: Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
The three states meeting the higher goal of suppression-level testing are Vermont, Hawaii and Alaska, with West Virginia, Montana, and New Jersey close behind, the analysis finds.
*** UPDATE 1 *** There is, however, a problem with Illinois prisons. Here’s Hannah Meisel…
The Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) has tested less than three percent of its prison population for coronavirus — a ratio that criminal justice reform group Restore Justice Illinois says is unacceptable, as Covid-19 cases in a northwest Illinois prison facility spike.
According to IDOC, 71 incarcerated men at the East Moline Correctional Center tested positive for Covid-19, along with five staff members. That number has steadily climbed since Gov. JB Pritzker’s administration first acknowledged the outbreak two weeks ago, when 26 inmates and three staff members had tested positive.
That rapid spread is a symptom of IDOC’s failure to formulate an adequate Covid-19 testing plan, according to a new report from Restore Justice published Tuesday. The group blasted IDOC for not reporting more data to the public, including how many prisoners are currently hospitalized with the virus and timely reports of Covid-19 deaths among incarcerated populations and prison staff.
“More than any other state, [Illinois has] embraced the most vigorous Covid-19 safety measures and protocols,” Restore Justice President Jobi Cates said Monday. “It baffles me how we could be in late June and still have only tested under three percent of prison population.”
The Department has been closely following the CDC guidelines and working with Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) and University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) based infectious disease specialists to develop strategies to mitigate the spread of COVID 19 in Department facilities. The guidance we have received has not advised utilizing mass testing. However, the Department tests symptomatic offenders, uses focused prevalence testing, screens selected subpopulations, and screens offenders prior to inter-facility movement and medical furloughs. The Department also requires that staff be screened prior to entering facilities. The screenings include responding to a series of COVID related questions and having their temperatures taken. In the event that staff have any of the COVID-19 symptoms outlined in the screening document and/or have a temperature they must go home. The Office of Health Services constantly reviews the evidence and remains open to modifying current practices based on expert guidance.
The University of Illinois System’s Institute of Government and Public Affairs (IGPA) today released a report on COVID-19’s impact in the state’s prisons and jails. […]
The Policy Spotlight says testing should be prioritized in areas where there is a greater risk of the virus either being carried into the facility by staff from the region or spilling over into the community. The spotlight suggests that while the Illinois Department of Corrections has made progress on giving inmates some access to cleaning and hygiene supplies and COVID-19 testing, the conditions still need to be improved.
Illinois’ unionized hospitals have dramatically lower staff vacancy and turnover rates, safer workplaces, and more robust infection prevention and control systems while enabling registered nurses to devote substantially more time to care for individual patients, according to new research by the Illinois Economic Policy Institute (ILEPI).
“The global coronavirus pandemic has put new strain on Illinois’ hospitals and a nursing workforce that was already facing severe shortages,” said study co-author and ILEPI Policy Director Frank Manzo IV. “This report shows that unionized hospitals in Illinois were far better prepared to absorb the impacts of COVID-19. Our findings have important implications for the future of hospital staffing and how we manage public health crises.”
Specifically, the report reveals significant differences between the state’s unionized and non-unionized hospitals in the wake of COVID-19, including:
• Union hospitals have nurse turnover rates that are up to 14% lower.
• Unionized hospitals have nurse vacancy rates that are up to 45% lower.
• Unionized hospitals report 15% fewer OSHA violations and 29% fewer serious violations.
• Unionized hospitals employ more infection prevention and control staff—particularly in Cook County which has seen two-thirds of the state’s COVID-19 caseload.
• Nurses at unionized hospitals are able to devote 1 to 4 more hours of care to each patient, on average.
Despite their weaker staffing and care outcomes, the report notes that the state’s non-unionized hospitals have received 16% more funding per bed than unionized facilities from federal pandemic relief measures such as the CARES Act. All told, Illinois’ hospitals have received at least $1.1 billion, and small Illinois hospitals with under 100 beds have received more than four times the per-bed funding than their larger unionized counterparts.
Prior ILEPI research had documented that Illinois’ hospitals faced a shortage of 20,000 registered nurses before the COVID-19 pandemic, with half of its nursing workforce over the age of 55 and more than three-quarters of the state’s nurses warning of insufficient staffing levels. A proposed “safe patient limits” nurse staffing law– which would have required Illinois’ hospitals to hire more nurses and has been linked to better patient outcomes, including lower fatality and readmission rates for certain respiratory conditions and improved nurse retention, at minimal impact on the financial performance of hospitals– has been pending in the Illinois General Assembly for nearly two years.
But while the Illinois Health and Hospital Association agrees there is a nursing shortage, it argues the lack of preparedness was more of a federal problem, and that the nursing shortage did not diminish the quality of care patients received. It strongly opposes legislation requiring minimum nurse staffing levels at hospitals, and disputes any correlation between the quality of patient care and the presence of a nurses’ union in a hospital. […]
“First of all, we’ve been drilling and doing exercises on pandemics before the pandemic hit,” [Danny Chun, spokesman for the Illinois Health and Hospital Association] said during an interview. “Every hospital in the state, as you know, has an emergency preparedness plan for disasters of all kinds – mass shootings, traffic accidents, biochemical, biohazard, flu epidemics or pandemics. In the city of Chicago last year in the summer of 2019, Chicago hospitals did an exercise, a drill with the Chicago Department of Public Health on this exact issue – pandemics. And we were directly involved in a lot of the planning and discussions back in January, February, March where hospitals got ready for the pandemic.”
Chun said hospitals were directly involved in discussions with Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration in the early stages of the pandemic to plan mitigation efforts, including the decision to cancel or postpone nonemergency surgeries and procedures in order to free up hospital resources for COVID-19 patients.
“Look at the numbers. We flattened the curve,” Chun said, referring to hospitalization data from the Illinois Department of Public Health, which have shown a consistent downward trend since May in hospitalizations, intensive care admissions and ventilator usage by COVID-19 patients.
The controversial lawsuit case between Rep. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia) and Gov. JB Pritzker has regained momentum.
Both parties have waited weeks for a decision on where the case would continue. U.S. Magistrate Judge Gilbert Sison remanded the case back to Clay County on Monday.
The Illinois Attorney General’s office wanted consideration in federal court on May 21. Bailey’s Attorney, Tom DeVore, immediately filed a motion to remand the case to Clay County.
“It is a fundamental principle of federalism that federal courts may hear only certain claims, such as those raising ‘federal questions’ or ‘arising under’ the laws of the United States,” Sison wrote. “A defendant may not remove a case to federal court unless, at the time of removal, a plaintiff’s complaint establishes that there is federal jurisdiction.”
* Bailey’s attorney won’t be awarded legal fees, however. From the opinion…
In his emergency motion to remand, Bailey asks the Court to order the Governor to pay his reasonable fees and costs incurred during the period of time this action was pending in this court. […]
Bailey vigorously argues that Governor Pritzker’s decision to remove this case was frivolous and in bad faith, but the Court disagrees. The removal was timely. The face of the complaint arguably seeks to vindicate constitutional rights, like the right to travel and the right to free exercise of religion, without specifying that it refers only to rights secured by the Illinois Constitution. The Court seriously considered whether Bailey unintentionally pleaded himself into federal jurisdiction by raising a claim under the United States Constitution with this lack of specificity, and the decision in his favor was a close call. As such, the Court does not find that Governor Pritzker lacked an objectively reasonable basis for seeking removal. Thus, the Court will not award any fees under Section 1447(c).
*** UPDATE *** We apparently have a court date…
Thursday July 2, 1:00 pm Clay County Circuit Courthouse, Louisville Illinois. The beginning of the end for J.B. Pritzker!!
The coronavirus is spreading too rapidly and too broadly for the U.S. to bring it under control, Dr. Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said Monday.
The U.S. has set records for daily new infections in recent days as outbreaks surge mostly across the South and West. The recent spike in new cases has outpaced daily infections in April when the virus rocked Washington state and the northeast, and when public officials thought the outbreak was hitting its peak in the U.S.
“We’re not in the situation of New Zealand or Singapore or Korea where a new case is rapidly identified and all the contacts are traced and people are isolated who are sick and people who are exposed are quarantined and they can keep things under control,” she said in an interview with The Journal of the American Medical Association’s Dr. Howard Bauchner. “We have way too much virus across the country for that right now, so it’s very discouraging.” […]
“This is really the beginning,” Schuchat said of the U.S.’s recent surge in new cases. “I think there was a lot of wishful thinking around the country that, hey it’s summer. Everything’s going to be fine. We’re over this and we are not even beginning to be over this. There are a lot of worrisome factors about the last week or so.” […]
“What we have in the United States, it’s hard to describe because it’s so many different outbreaks,” Schuchat said. “There was a wave of incredible acceleration, intense interventions and control measures that have brought things down to a much lower level of circulation in the New York City, Connecticut, New Jersey area. But in much of the rest of the country, there’s still a lot of virus. And in lots of places, there’s more virus circulating than there was.”
A national face mask mandate could act as a substitute to renewed lockdowns that would otherwise deduct about 5 per cent from gross domestic product, Goldman Sachs analysts argue as a number of states in the US have paused or reversed easing measures in response to growth in coronavirus cases.
“We find that face masks are associated with significantly better coronavirus outcomes,” according to Jan Hatzius, economist at Goldman Sachs. “Our baseline estimate is that a national mandate could raise the percentage of people who wear masks by 15 percentage points and cut the daily growth rate of confirmed cases by 1.0pp to 0.6 per cent.”
Goldman said it analysed the impact of face mask mandates in 20 American states and the District of Columbia between April 8 and June 24 and data on mask usage from YouGov and found that they raise the percentage of people who “always” or “frequently” wear masks by around 25pp in the 30 days after the order is signed. They estimate that a national mask mandate would increase usage by “statistically significant and economically large amounts” in states that currently do not require it.
Despite the rise in coronavirus cases mask usage remains a political issue in the US and is voluntary in a number of states. Goldman found that mask usage is highest in the Northeast, which was particularly hard hit by the pandemic, but where conditions have now improved, while the numbers are far lower in the south.
Arizona, Texas and Florida, which were among the first states to reopen and have seen a jump in coronavirus cases in recent weeks, have all reversed easing measures. Indeed, Goldman Sachs analysis found that reopenings have been delayed or reversed for about 40 per cent of the US population, which has raised fears about fresh lockdowns.
• Grundy County States Attorney Jason Helland
• Illinois State Representative Darren Bailey
• Constitutional Lawyer Thomas Devore
• Teacher Tonya Sneed
• Parkview Christian Academy Board President Jed Davis
• Event organizers Dawn Gregory, Kayla Brooks Null and Michael Rebresh
Helland was clobbered by Secretary of State Jesse White in 2018. He’s been a regular at these rallies.
Illinois State Police have investigated 11 violent threats against Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker since the COVID-19 pandemic began, including an email from a man who vowed to “put a bullet through” the governor’s brain.
In another incident, a social media user asked in late May, “Anyone got a high powered sniper rifle I can have? The governor needs to die and I will gladly kill him.” Illinois State Police said they reached that person in the Chicago area, who said it was an attempt to “vent.” […]
Pritzker has been the target of so many threats over his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic that the Illinois State Police needed a PowerPoint presentation to detail them all. […]
The most serious of them came from social media, and each was investigated by agents with the Illinois State Police. The threats led the governor to beef up his security details, from the usual two to occasionally as many as five agents accompanying him to his home and to news conferences. […]
The most violent threat came in late April when State police investigated an email and eight comments sent by the same person. In an April 25 message, the person wrote, “you will suffer death, via a bullet in your brain.”
Go read the rest. Somebody forwarded me one of the threats Tina wrote about and I sent it to the ISP out of an abundance of caution.
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today announced 738 new confirmed cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 14 additional confirmed deaths.
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 142,461 cases, including 14 deaths, in 101 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 26,918 specimens for a total of 1,571,896. The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from June 22 –June 28 is 2.7%.
According to this site, Illinois’ R0 factor is 0.89, which is a good thing. Wisconsin’s is 1.22, Indiana’s is 0.92.
According to IDPH, 43 percent of hospital beds are available and 50 percent of ICU beds are open.
* Weekend numbers…
For Sunday, June 28, 2020:
• 646 new cases for a total of 141,723 cases
• 15 additional deaths for a total of 6,888 deaths
• 23,789 new test results for a total of 1,544,978 tests
- Cook County: 2 males 60s, 1 female 70s, 1 male 70s, 1 female 80s, 1 female 90s
- DuPage County: 1 male 70s
- Kane County: 1 male 50s
- Kankakee County: 1 male 80s
- Lake County: 1 female 90s
- Peoria County: 1 female 70s
- Will County: 1 female 60s, 1 male 70s, 1 male 90s
- Winnebago County: 1 female 90s
For Saturday, June 27, 2020:
• 786 new cases for a total of 141,077 cases
• 26 additional deaths for a total of 6,873 deaths
• 30,237 new test results for a total of 1,521,189 tests
- Cook County: 1 male 40s, 1 female 50s, 1 male 50s, 2 females 60s, 1 male 60s, 2 females 70s, 1 male 70s, 1 female 90s
- DuPage County: 1 male 60s, 1 male 70s, 1 female 80s
- Kane County: 2 males 60s, 1 male 80s
- Kankakee County: 2 males 70s
- Lake County: 1 female 50s, 1 female 80s
- McHenry County: 1 male 90s
- Peoria County: 1 female 80s
- St. Clair County: 1 female 60s, 1 male 70s
- Union County: 1 female 70s
- Winnebago County: 1 male 80s
* As predicted, Gov. JB Pritzker is responding to those Illinois Rising Action ads I told you about last week. Statement from Quentin Fulks, Senior Political Advisor…
We won’t let Donald Trump’s allies at Illinois Rising get away with attacking JB Pritzker and lying about his record just because the Governor is standing up to the President. They know there is no legislator pay raise but they are lying about it anyways because that’s what they do – lie.
18 months ago JB Pritzker inherited a state government that had been hollowed out and destroyed by Bruce Rauner and his allies who cut workers and funding at the agency Illinois Rising is now criticizing.
In his first two years in office, JB Pritzker signed a bipartisan balanced budget into law, worked with Republicans to pass an infrastructure plan that is creating and supporting hundreds of thousands of jobs while repairing our crumbling roads and bridges, raised the minimum wage to a living wage for all Illinois workers, and expanded healthcare to 120,000 more Illinoisans. In the fight against the coronavirus, Governor Pritzker has followed the advice of medical experts helping make Illinois one of the states with the biggest decreases in infections and protecting our hospitals and first responders.
Illinois Rising should stop wasting their time falsely attacking a Governor who has stepped up to lead as Donald Trump hides in his underground bunker and spews his racist diatribes.
Both ads will beging running in the Chicago and Springfield media markets tomorrow.
Seen this ad? It’s paid for by the same Republican group who brought you Donald Trump.
But why are they attacking Governor Pritzker? Because he’s calling out the President’s failed leadership.
Don’t believe their lies. State legislators will not be getting raises. It’s Governor Pritzker who worked to pass a bipartisan budget, finding common ground on issues like investing in infrastructure. And he’s worked night and day to help Illinois confront the pandemic.
Governor Pritzker has risen to this moment.
Not sure if much money will be spent on that ad in Trump country.
The truth is, state legislators will not be getting raises.
It’s Governor Pritzker who worked to pass a bipartisan budget, making education a priority, expanding access to health care and finding common ground with Republicans on issues like investing in our state’s infrastructure. And he’s working night and day to help Illinois confront the pandemic.
Here’s a 50-state breakdown of what policies states already have and still need in order to best protect the November 2020 election from the Covid-19 pandemic.
* Illinois was the only state to meet all of the criteria. Click the pic for the full list. The last column is same-day registration, by the way. It got cut off…
* Quality managers achieve quality results, is I think the best way to sum up Mark Brown’s profile of Liz Dozier, who turned around Fenger Academy High School…
Dozier inherited a bad situation at Fenger, which is located in Roseland, with daily brawls involving 50 to 60 students. In the second week of school, one of her students, Derrion Albert, was clubbed to death in a melee on his way home.
Police made 300 arrests at Fenger in her first year there.
What eventually turned around those problems, Dozier believes, was building relationships with students, not making arrests.
Dozier and her Fenger staff emphasized creating a school more attuned to the emotional needs of its students than to policing them. That required understanding why students were acting out.
Instead of relying on police to enforce discipline, they instituted restorative justice practices, which focus on repairing harm rather than applying punishment, and held peace circles to defuse conflicts. They provided grief counseling and anger-management training to students and created trauma groups to help deal with emotional baggage they brought to school from home.
It might sound like mumbo-jumbo, but these methods work well with young people.
By the time I visited Fenger a few years later, I encountered a warm, friendly atmosphere and a more relaxed student body.
After her first year at Fenger, Dozier moved to replace the police officers assigned to the school with new ones more attuned to her philosophy. She has only good things to say about the work of that second set of school resource officers.
But she thinks her students would have been better off with more counselors, social workers or therapists instead. Security guards from the neighborhood trained in de-escalation techniques are just as effective in providing school security in most situations, she says, and can call in police in extreme circumstances.
Go read the whole thing. Mark Brown proved once again why he’s the best newspaper columnist in Chicago by leaps and bounds.
Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday took his most drastic action yet to respond to the post-reopening coronavirus surge in Texas, shutting bars back down and scaling back restaurant capacity to 50%.
Bars across Chicago reopened this weekend — and people in Wrigleyville lined up to celebrate.
On Saturday night, Clark Street felt and looked much like it did on a normal summer night before coronavirus upended the city, though social distancing and new guidelines are part of the new normal. As patrons bounced from bar to bar in packs, some donned face masks. Many did not.
Crowds waited in long lines with little to no adherence to the 6-feet social distancing guidelines recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Some people said they do have worries about the pandemic and are concerned they’re part of the problem as cases rise throughout the country — but others said they’re young and wanted to get out during the summer.
* Springfield…
Judging by how full some of the bars were in downtown Springfield last night, I'd be surprised if we don't see more announcements like this in the coming weeks. https://t.co/fSIbfFa4Pm
I’m hearing that Illinois bar owners might soon be getting a letter warning them that they’ll all be shut down again if they don’t start enforcing the rules.
Thoughts?
*** UPDATE *** New Jersey…
We have been cautious throughout every step of our restart.
We’ve always said that we would not hesitate to hit pause if needed to safeguard public health.
* Illinois State Bowling Proprietors Association President Bill Brennan…
With the State of Illinois poised to enter Phase 4 of the Governor’s “Restore Illinois” plan, 270 bowling centers, most whom are members of the Illinois Bowling Proprietors’ Association, are extremely excited to open their doors for business. These mostly-independent small businesses have gone to great lengths during the 100 days of the stay-at-home order, preparing their staff and facilities to be the safest destinations for recreation throughout Illinois. Online education, in-person staff training, the purchase of PPE, installation of barriers, and the development of a comprehensive list of best practices and procedures are just a few of the steps centers have taken that make them confident in safeguarding everyone who comes to the lanes
Unfortunately, with the news that bowling centers would be restricted to the extremely limited number of 50 guests in our facilities, many centers are now determining if reopening is even an option. Small to larger centers all share the traits of having large areas to facilitate social distancing, and these facilities have never been better equipped to clean and sanitize high-traffic touch points. Even before the stay-at-home order, the ISBPA’s members had evolved their operations to prevent the transmission of the virus, including Limiting group size, voluntarily reducing capacity, discouraging spectators, and the thorough cleaning and sanitizing of all shared equipment and spaces.
It’s really disheartening that the State of Illinois doesn’t believe that the bowling centers can reopen at a safe 50 percent of our granted capacity with the even heightened awareness and emphasis of safety and cleanliness. The fact that casinos, fitness clubs, gyms, indoor recreation facilities, and other similar location-based industries can open at this percentage of capacity bewilders the bowling community’s business owners. Expecting facilities that have tens of thousands of square feet to even pay their overhead with a maximum of 50 guests is preposterous. What’s worse is throughout the shutdown, numerous phone and camera calls were made in helping shape what Phase 4 looked like for bowling in Illinois. All in attendance knew our emphasis and expectations of safety and sanitation, and all regarded the granting of 50 percent capacity in our centers was a safe and business sound compromise.
* I asked about the viral load issue…
We have centers in membership that range in 4 lanes to 84 lanes. 50 people inside these facilities would look drastically different. Our centers are large enough that if we were granted 50 percent capacity we could responsibly distance groups of customers from each other. The fact that casinos and fitness centers, which have many more high traffic areas and touch points, and are allowed a 50 percent capacity and we are not isn’t logical.
He also sent the guidelines that were distributed to owners. Click here.
* The Question: Should bowling centers be granted the same 50 percent capacity limits as casinos? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please…
• School policies must be flexible and nimble in responding to new information, and administrators must be willing to refine approaches when specific policies are not working.
• It is critically important to develop strategies that can be revised and adapted depending on the level of viral transmission in the school and throughout the community and done with close communication with state and/or local public health authorities and recognizing the differences between school districts, including urban, suburban, and rural districts.
• Policies should be practical, feasible, and appropriate for child and adolescent’s developmental stage.
• Special considerations and accommodations to account for the diversity of youth should be made, especially for our vulnerable populations, including those who are medically fragile, live in poverty, have developmental challenges, or have special health care needs or disabilities, with the goal of safe return to school.
• No child or adolescent should be excluded from school unless required in order to adhere to local public health mandates or because of unique medical needs. Pediatricians, families, and schools should partner together to collaboratively identify and develop accommodations, when needed.
• School policies should be guided by supporting the overall health and well-being of all children, adolescents, their families, and their communities. These policies should be consistently communicated in languages other than English, if needed, based on the languages spoken in the community, to avoid marginalization of parents/guardians who are of limited English proficiency or do not speak English at all.
Cloth face coverings protect others if the wearer is infected with SARS CoV-2 and is not aware. Cloth masks may offer some level of protection for the wearer. Evidence continues to mount on the importance of universal face coverings in interrupting the spread of SARS-CoV-2. Although ideal, universal face covering use is not always possible in the school setting for many reasons. Some students, or staff, may be unable to safely wear a cloth face covering because of certain medical conditions (eg, developmental, respiratory, tactile aversion, or other conditions) or may be uncomfortable, making the consistent use of cloth face coverings throughout the day challenging. For individuals who have difficulty with wearing a cloth face covering and it is not medically contraindicated to wear a face covering, behavior techniques and social skills stories(see resource section)can be used to assist in adapting to wearing a face covering. When developing policy regarding the use of cloth face coverings by students or school staff, school districts and health advisors should consider whether the use of cloth face coverings is developmentally appropriate and feasible and whether the policy can be instituted safely. If not developmentally feasible, which may be the case for younger students, and cannot be done safely (eg, the face covering makes wearers touch their face more than they otherwise would), schools may choose to not require their use when physical distancing measures can be effectively implemented. School staff and older students (middle or high school) may be able to wear cloth face coverings safely and consistently and should be encouraged to do so. Children under 2 years and anyone who has trouble breathing or is unconscious, incapacitated, or otherwise unable to remove a face covering without assistance should not wear cloth face coverings.
For certain populations, the use of cloth face coverings by teachers may impede the education process. These include students who are deaf or hard of hearing, students receiving speech/language services, young students in early education programs, and English-language learners. Although there are products (eg, face coverings with clear panels in the front) to facilitate their use among these populations, these may not be available in all settings.
Existing school immunization requirements should be maintained and not deferred because of the current pandemic. In addition, although influenza vaccination is generally not required for school attendance, in the coming academic year, it should be highly encouraged for all students. School districts should consider requiring influenza vaccination for all staff members. Pediatricians should work with schools and local public health authorities to promote childhood vaccination messaging well before the start of the school year. It is vital that all children receive recommend vaccinations on time and get caught up if they are behind as a result of the pandemic.
There’s a lot more, so click here if this topic applies to you or a loved one.
Southern Illinois school officials got their first glimpse of rules for in-person learning for the next school year on Tuesday and began planning to implement them before the mid-August start of the school year.
Some school districts posted on social media new guidelines and information about how they are developing their plans for in-person learning.
Century School District 100 posted a message on Facebook that included: “We know that everyone is anxiously waiting to see what school will look like for us in the fall. Over the coming weeks, our staff and other stakeholders will be working to develop Century’s back to school plan. Once we have a plan in place, we will disseminate it accordingly.”
They asked that parents have patience and included a link to the new guidelines from the state. School officials also asked that parents not overreact to the guidelines because there are six weeks until the start of school, and things may change before that date.
With new cases of COVID-19 continuing and no vaccine, many parents have questions about what a return to school might look like.
Will young children be able to concentrate with face masks required? Will schools close over and over again if outbreaks occur, disrupting kids’ ability to learn? What if kids contract the disease and spread it to vulnerable family members?
Some parents are considering home-schooling their children.
Kids all over the world are wearing face coverings.
To the Soldiers, Airmen, and Civilian Employees of the Illinois National Guard and Department of Military Affairs:
Diversity brings strength. We want to draw as much as we can from the talents of all our service members and civilians. Inclusiveness and the act of including others into the team, no matter their race, sex, religion, or sexual orientation strengthens our organization and the nation.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of Pride and 10 years since the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Dedicated LGBTQ+ Soldiers, Airmen, and civilians have long served in the military and in the Illinois National Guard, but both policy and prejudice robbed them of the dignity and respect we all deserve no matter how we identify.
Pride means different things to different people. For those of us in uniform, we often talk about pride in our service, pride in the accomplishments of our organizations and pride in those on our right and left. For the Illinois National Guard’s LGBTQ+ Soldiers, Airmen and civilians, Pride carries an extra meaning: it is a celebration of progress, and progress still to come.
It was almost 100 years ago that the first gay rights organization was formed. Henry Gerber, an Army veteran who served in France during World War I, returned to Illinois and founded the Society for Human Rights in Chicago, in 1924, laying the groundwork for future organizations within the community. This mission of this organization was:
“[T]o promote and protect the interests of people who … are abused and hindered in the legal pursuit of happiness which is guaranteed them by the Declaration of Independence and to combat the public prejudices against them by dissemination of factors according to modern science among intellectuals of mature age.”
Gerber’s organization was short-lived, but it served as an anchor for the modern movement that Pride celebrates this month.
Pride comes in June to mark the anniversary of one event, the spark in the fire that still burns today. The “Stonewall Inn,” a hangout for members of the LGBTQ+ community, was raided by New York Police on June 28, 1969. Simply existing as an LGBTQ+ person was not legal at the time and protests and violence ensued. Hot on the heels of the Civil Rights Movement, the LGBTQ+ Rights Movement gained steam. The first Pride Parade was held in Chicago, the very next year in 1970, and has been held all over the world ever since.
We acknowledge the hard-fought battles for civil rights, those already won and those ongoing. Treating every member of our organization with dignity and respect starts with listening and compassion.
* The national media had slowly begun to take interest in US Sen. Tammy Duckworth as a possible vice presidential choice for Joe Biden. Duckworth was then put on the vetted list and a recent New York Times profile elevated her profile even further…
Dan Milberg is a retired Army helicopter pilot who voted for Donald J. Trump in 2016, and does not wish to vote for him again. But before he can consider pulling the lever for former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., he needs to know who his running mate will be.
“It might be someone too progressive,” said Mr. Milberg, who lives in Robertsville, Mo.
The one person who would put him at ease, Mr. Milberg said, is the pilot whose seemingly lifeless body he lifted from a helicopter in 2004, her legs blown off by a rocket-propelled grenade not far from Baghdad: Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois.
It is not so much the event that indelibly marked both of their lives and earned Ms. Duckworth a purple heart that draws him to her, Mr. Milberg said. Rather, he continued, she “is moderate enough that I think she can be appealing.”
* The idea of appealing to the center took hold with NYT columnist Frank Bruni…
But mightn’t Warren also give moderate voters pause? What about her age? She’s 71. Biden’s 77. Can the party of change and modernity, whose last two presidents were both under 50 when first elected, go with an all-septuagenarian ticket?
Governing partners don’t matter if you don’t get to govern. The certain catastrophe of four more years of Trump demands that Biden choose his running mate with November at the front, the back, the top and the bottom of his mind.
Harris also ably prosecutes the case against Trump. But many progressives have issues with her, and the idea that she’d drive high turnout among black voters isn’t supported by her failed bid for the Democratic nomination. She lacked support across the board, including among African-Americans. And in a recent national poll conducted by The Times and Siena College, more than four in five voters — including three in four black voters — said that race shouldn’t be a factor in Biden’s vice-presidential pick.
Duckworth is neither progressive idol nor progressive enemy. That partly reflects a low policy profile that’s among her flaws as a running mate but could actually work to her advantage, making her difficult to pigeonhole and open to interpretation. Trump-weary voters can read into her what they want. And in recent congressional elections, Democrats have had success among swing voters with candidates who are veterans.
She’s received high marks on legislative effectiveness.
As a freshman senator, Duckworth passed three proposed bills into law, earning her the rank of “Exceeds Expectations” as a freshman senator from the Center for Effective Lawmaking, alongside Republican John Kennedy, for the 115th Congress, 2017-2018.
10. Tammy Duckworth: The senator from Illinois, Iraq War veteran and double-amputee made her case as Biden’s running mate in a New York Times story Thursday: “I can push back against Trump in a way others can’t,” Duckworth said. She added: “I can say, ‘Listen, that American flag is the same flag that would drape my father’s coffin, my coffin, my husband’s coffin and my brother’s.’ It has draped them for generations. No one respects that flag more than I have. But I will respect the right to protest it, too.” (Previous ranking: 9)
An emerging consensus is that Biden should select a woman of color. University of Virginia Professor Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball ranks all five of Biden’s top vice presidential choices as women of color, with Harris, Demings, and Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth leading the way.
•Has kept a low profile in the Senate
•Biden won’t need help carrying IL
•Safe pick
Discuss.
…Adding… I was talking with a pal who brought up a potential issue. Duckworth was a Blagojevich appointee (Veterans Affairs). Blagojevich now describes himself as a Trump supporter. Could be problems there.
I write to you today to call your attention to and urge action on the devastating violence in Chicago. While I have been heartened to see crime reductions nationally the last few years, I have been horrified by the continued violence in this great American city.
I recently read an article from the Chicago Sun-Times on June 8, 2020, “18 murders in 24 hours: Inside the most violent day in 60 years in Chicago,” which discussed the severe crime and lack of law and order in our Nation’s third largest city. The article details how “85 people were shot and 24 killed the previous weekend, the most in modern history in Chicago.” Your lack of leadership on this important issue continues to fail the people you have sworn to protect. I am concerned it is another example of your lack of commitment to the vulnerable citizens who are victims of this violence and a lack of respect for the men and women in law enforcement. The article recounts the following horrors:
A hardworking father killed.
A West Side high school student murdered.
A college freshman who hoped to become a correctional officer, gunned down.
18 people killed Sunday, May 31, the single most violent day in Chicago in six decades.
The weekend of May 29, 25 people were killed and another 85 wounded by gunfire.
The most violent weekend in Chicago’s modern history, stretching police resources that were already thin because of protests and looting.
Violence and death, which are disproportionately harming young African Americans, are tragic and unacceptable, particularly on such a shocking scale. According to the Chicago Sun Times, “shootings across the City increased by 71 percent last month,” and just this past weekend 102 people were shot in the city’s most violent weekend of the year. A 3-year old toddler was killed. More Americans have been killed in Chicago than in combat zones of Afghanistan and Iraq combined since September 11, 2001, a deadly trend that has continued under your tenure.
The American people (hardworking taxpayers) send you millions of dollars in Federal funding each year to support public safety in Chicago. In 2018 and 2019, the City of Chicago benefited from $136 million in funding from the Urban Area Security Initiative Grant Program, and another $68 million was recently announced for Chicago from this important program. The Department of Justice awarded and is in the process of awarding nearly $20 million to support law enforcement and law-enforcement related entities in the City of Chicago and Cook County across 2019 and 2020, including resources for combating opioid abuse and recidivism reduction. The Department of Labor has also awarded funding to programs targeting prisoner re-entry and recidivism reduction in the Chicago area. My Administration allocated $898.6 million to the City of Chicago and Cook County from the Coronavirus Relief Fund, which helps support your first responders on the front lines. In the absence of any modicum of leadership, however, these substantial sums of taxpayer money are not being turned into results, and the safety of your most vulnerable communities continues to deteriorate. These funds are in addition to those collected through your combined insatiable appetite to tax the people of Illinois and Chicago.
I will continue to lead the way to support historically disadvantaged communities and would welcome your help in these endeavors. In December 2018, I signed into law the First Step Act, marking the first major reforms to our criminal justice system in over a decade. This brings historic reforms to make our justice system fairer and to help inmates successfully transition back into society by providing prisoners with a second chance through rehabilitative programs and fair sentencing. Additionally, when I signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, we created Opportunity Zones. Nationwide, nearly 9,000 communities have designated Opportunity Zones, including over 130 in Chicago, which are incentivizing investments in areas that have been forgotten for far too long. My Administration has also provided robust, unprecedented support to Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
Recently, on June 16, I signed an Executive Order advancing important reforms to elevate a noble profession and strengthen the essential bond of trust between police officers and the communities in which they serve. My Administration continues to work closely with Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina and others across the political spectrum to advance further policy improvements and meaningful reforms.
Unlike previous Administrations of both parties, I am willing to tackle unsolved challenges. If you are willing to put partisanship aside, we can revitalize distressed neighborhoods in Chicago, together. But to succeed, you must establish law and order. The combination of crime, high State and local taxes, and onerous State and local government regulations have caused thousands of Illinoisans to flee to other States. Between 2010 and 2019, Illinois lost more of its population than any other state in the Nation. If you are interested, I am willing to ask members of my Cabinet to meet with you and help devise a plan to make Chicago safe, since a successful formula has escaped both you and your predecessors. My Administration would also welcome the opportunity to engage with you and your colleagues as you develop bipartisan policy recommendations to improve policing and make our great cities safer for all.
Unfortunately, you continue to put your own political interests ahead of the lives, safety, and fortunes of your own citizens. The people of Chicago deserve better.
Lightfoot replied: “I don’t need leadership lessons from Donald Trump. As our police officers, street outreach workers and residents continue to work tirelessly to keep our communities safe, he’s using the victims of gun violence in our city to score cheap political points, spew racist rhetoric, and ignore the impact of COVID across this country. It is despicable, disgusting and all too typical. Same old tired playbook. How about some leadership not steeped in the divide and conquer tactics?
“I stand with the Governor in providing for the safety and well-being of our residents.” […]
Trump has focused on Chicago crime since his 2016 presidential campaign, accusing city leaders and then Mayor Rahm Emanuel of thwarting police and at one point pledging to “send in the Feds.”
One of Trump’s oft-cited claims, which has never been proved, is that he talked to a “top police officer in Chicago” who told him he could stop crime in the city “within one week.”
* Pritzker press secretary Jordan Abudayyeh…
President Trump is a failure who has once again resorted to a press stunt in an attempt to distract from his long list of failures, especially his response to the deadly coronavirus and nationwide calls for racial justice. The people of this state and this nation have unfortunately come to expect his unhinged attempts to politicize tragedy with his predictable and worn-out strategy to distract, distract, distract. The Governor stands with the Mayor in working to accomplish meaningful change.
Pritzker and Lightfoot should call him on it. Schedule a meeting with Justice Department officials. Draw up a wish list. Federal dollars and law enforcement assistance are valuable. Maybe it means more manpower, more imaginative approaches, more technology. There are existing, effective social service programs in Chicago, ranging from gang conflict mediation to teen mentoring, that would benefit from a targeted infusion of federal dollars.
Illinois Rising Action, a dark money super PAC, is running a TV ad against Gov. J.B. Pritzker. The group reportedly is putting $1 million behind the spot on both cable and broadcast over two weeks.
Called “Failed,” the ad heaps criticism on the governor for the “toilet scandal,” increased gas taxes, increased taxes on cars and allegedly giving a “huge” pay raise “to his politician buddies.” It also goes after his administration’s response to massive unemployment. The ad is appearing on broadcast and cable TV in Chicago, Champaign/Springfield and in Paducah, Kentucky.
A million bucks isn’t a lot of money in the TV world, but it’s not nothing, either. And since he began running for governor, Pritzker has never allowed an attack ad to go unchallenged and never allowed himself to be outspent.
As I write this, no response ads are airing, but I think it’s safe to say the governor will respond, and will also up the ante in the process. How much is anyone’s guess, but it’ll likely be substantial.
Illinois Rising Action has issued numerous press releases since early March. The group’s hits on the governor have rarely been mentioned by the media, perhaps because some of the attacks have been a bit of a stretch.
For instance, the organization, which does not have to reveal its funding sources, has pointed out that an investment group the governor founded with his brother backed a company that won a $13 million federal contract to develop a test for COVID-19. The story was covered by Fox News, but didn’t gain much traction beyond anti-testing social media paranoids.
Pritzker has put all of his investments into a blind trust. Besides that, the company has no state contracts and, frankly, developing a new federally funded test isn’t exactly the most horrible thing I’ve ever heard.
The organization also attempted to connect the dots between Pritzker’s “toilet” scandal and the massive federal effort to convert McCormick Place into an acute alternate care facility.
The contractor, Bulley & Andrews, was the master contractor for Pritzker’s spare mansion rehab, which blew up in his face when it was discovered that toilets were removed in order to reduce the property taxes on his vacant house. The McCormick Place contract, however, was let by the United States Department of Defense, not the State of Illinois. According to the Department of Defense, 18 firms bid on the $9 million contract.
Nonetheless, “A pattern is beginning to emerge of vendors with close ties to Governor Pritzker being awarded coronavirus related contracts,” the group recently claimed.
Bulley & Andrews is one of the oldest contracting firms in Chicago.
The governor has blamed the group for privately dishing to reporters that his wife and daughter were in Florida and that his family had visited their Wisconsin horse farm. Pritzker has said his wife and kid were in Florida before the first stay-at-home order was issued and that he owns a “working” farm in Wisconsin, so travel to it would be covered by his order.
Both stories visibly angered the governor — a guy who rarely shows that side of himself in public (or in private, for that matter). He claimed at one point that the “GOP super PAC” was “putting my family and my children in danger.”
Illinois Rising is run by a former Mark Kirk/Bruce Rauner operative who also consults for the firm running the opposition to the governor’s “Fair Tax” (some of whom also worked for Rauner before “the purge”). The idea, apparently, is to rough up the governor, and then the group working against the “Fair Tax” will build on that work to try and prevent it from passing. To succeed, the constitutional amendment needs the votes of either 60 percent plus one of those who cast ballots for or against the amendment, or over half of all votes cast in the entire election. The opposition doesn’t have to necessarily win in order to prevail.
A response ad is therefore a bit tricky. If this were only about Pritzker, his advertising team would just kneecap the Republican Party, a not-so-popular entity in this state. But this fight is ultimately about the progressive income tax proposal. So, in order to succeed, Fair Tax proponents will likely need some Republican or GOP-leaning votes.
All we can do now is sit back and wait to see how the Pritzker people thread that needle and track how much they spend.
Hey, at least it’s something to occupy ourselves with while the world burns.
Thoughts?
*** UPDATE *** And here it comes…
Gov. J.B. Pritzker has placed new TV ad spending in Illinois cable zones. Start date is tomorrow, 6/30
* First, a little news from the governor’s press secretary…
Reporters—
Welcome to phase four!
We will no longer utilize a pool system for the Governor’s press conferences and will return to a normal press conference format, with masks and physical distance.
Thank you for your patience as we worked through the challenges the pandemic brought us.
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today announced 857 new confirmed cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 39 additional confirmed deaths.
- Cass County: 1 male 80s
- Cook County: 1 male 20s, 2 females 50s, 1 male 50s, 3 females 60s, 5 males 60s, 4 females 70s, 2 males 70s, 2 females 80s, 3 males 80s, 3 females 90s, 1 male 90s
- DuPage County: 1 female 70s, 1 male 80s, 1 female 90s
- Kane County: 1 female 60s, 1 female 70s, 1 female 80s, 1 male 80s
- Lake County: 1 female 70s
- St. Clair County: 1 male 70s
- Will County: 1 female 70s
- Winnebago County: 1 male 40s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 140,291 cases, including 6,847 deaths, in 101 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 30,425 specimens for a total of 1,490,952. The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from June 19–June 25 is 3%.
Following guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, IDPH is now reporting both confirmed and probable cases and deaths on its website. Reporting probable cases will help show the potential burden of COVID-19 illness and efficacy of population-based non-pharmaceutical interventions.
In what you might call a sign of the times with special meaning, a whopping 78,823 Chicagoans already have applied to vote by mail in the fall general election, even though they won’t get their ballots until late September, cast them in October and have them counted in November.
The explosion in remote voting is only expected to continue, driven by long-term trends and voters’ reluctance to mingle in crowds amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to Lance Gough, executive director of the Chicago Board of Elections, more than 500,000 city residents will likely apply to vote by mail by early October. Anything close to that would swamp the 118,000 mail applications the board received for the March primary election. In the 2016 general election, about 93,000 city voters cast their ballots by mail.
Wow.
* The Question: Do you plan to vote by mail in the general election? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please…
Putting things on “automatic” just makes life so much easier in Illinois, at least for the state’s leaders.
No need to make politically unpopular decisions, because that state gasoline tax automatically goes up on July 1. Same for lawmakers giving themselves $1,800 raises while being able to claim: “We didn’t vote for those. They were automatic.”
And so it is for Gov. J.B. Pritzker. He doesn’t need any courage to face the state’s biggest government worker union and speak the truth about COVID-19 shutdowns blowing a $6 billion hole in the state’s revenues. On July 1 there will be $261 million in raises going to members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31, automatically.
Nearly 1 in 4 Illinoisans is out of a job. Many are still fighting the state’s Rube Goldberg machine of an unemployment system to get the federal money they were promised.
So how fair is it that some of the highest-paid state employees in the nation are getting a raise that must be funded by an economically wounded bunch of taxpayers?
Pritzker dismissed the idea of delaying the state worker raises: “That’s not something that we’re currently having discussions about,” he said in late April.
But other governors, and specifically other Democratic governors, have taken action to preserve scarce cash as they deal with extra costs and crumbling tax bases thanks to the pandemic.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is canceling a 3% pay hike for some state employees and forcing one-day-a-week furloughs on 40,000 others to handle a nearly $9 billion shortfall.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo delayed raises for 80,000 state workers for 90 days, and is now considering employee buyouts. Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam pushed back state worker raises, and Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf stopped paying 9,000 state workers on April 11.
1) Illinois didn’t previously index its Motor Fuel Tax to inflation and as a result the revenues lost half their value.
2) The budget didn’t include legislator pay raises and the comptroller won’t pay them.
3) For the umpteenth time, the Illinois governor cannot unilaterally delay pay raises for unionized workers.
5) Washington’s furloughs were not unilaterally forced on unionized workers. Gov. Inslee negotiated with the union and 95 percent of members voted to accept the plan. Why would workers do such a thing? Because state employees will actually make more money from the furloughs. Unlike Illinois, Washington has implemented a shared work program. The state shifted costs to its unemployment system. Check this out…
8) Virginia doesn’t have much of a state employees’ union. The legislature approved raises before the virus hit, but the governor doesn’t have to spend all the money.
9) Pennsylvania’s governor did, indeed lay off 9,000 state workers who were not essential or weren’t telecommuting. They were able to use their paid leave and kept their health insurance.
* Again, there are most certainly budget reductions that should be on the table in Illinois. But after nearly two decades of state operational reductions and those two horrible years without a state budget, there ain’t a whole lot of maneuvering room.
State regulation of the number of people allowed at gatherings does not violate Illinoisans’ First Amendment rights, the attorney general’s office argued in a court document.
A lawsuit filed on June 15 by the state’s Republican Party alleged Gov. JB Pritzker’s executive order limiting gatherings to 10 residents or fewer was unconstitutional because it restricted the party’s freedom of speech. It also contended the order treated religious institutions and protests differently than other groups, which breaches the U.S. Constitution’s equal protections clause.
The governor’s May 29 executive order suggested houses of worship follow COVID-19 safety guidelines — limit indoor services to 10 people, for example — but did not require they do so. The GOP also pointed to Pritzker’s attendance at a Black Lives Matter demonstration as evidence he was not enforcing his order against groups he supports.
But neither allegation is accurate, the state wrote in a document filed Wednesday.
Plaintiffs’ erroneous logic regarding the treatment of houses of worship would require invalidation of numerous exemptions for religious conduct under Illinois and federal law, such as the Illinois Religious Freedom Restoration Act and its federal counterpart. Indeed, the First Amendment itself, which expressly elevates the “free exercise” of religion, would fail Plaintiffs’ ill-conceived test. That is not and cannot be the law.
Plaintiffs are also wrong that the Governor’s personal participation in a protest converts the 10-person limitation into viewpoint discrimination. Plaintiffs allege no facts indicating that the Governor has selectively enforced the 10-person limitation in a way that constitutes state- sanctioned viewpoint discrimination. To the contrary: during the peak of the pandemic, the Governor did not prohibit or sanction the “Reopen Illinois” protests against his own “stay at home” orders that violated the 10-person limit on state property.
Plaintiffs identify no specific instance of actual expression that they fear is prohibited under EO38. Rather, they point to types of events, such as a candidate rally and a July 4 celebration, that they claim are “barred” by EO38. […]
The 10-person limitation on gatherings is no different for First Amendment purposes than a building occupancy limit imposed by a municipal fire code. Political rallies and conventions have always had to abide by occupancy limits, even though overflow crowds (or lack thereof) may signal strong support (or the reverse) for a particular message or messenger. The act of gathering in a confined space, which increases the risk of casualties in the event of a fire, is what is being regulated, not the message being delivered at the gathering. But no one could plausibly contend that a building occupancy limit triggers First Amendment scrutiny, even if applied to a political convention. The same reasoning applies here. Yes, the numerical limit in EO38 is stricter, but only because the risk of COVID-19 transmission increases with each additional person present and the imminence and probability of harm and death from COVID-19 are far higher.
Plaintiffs have also demonstrated their ability to communicate their message to the public despite the numerical limit on in-person gatherings. Although Northwest Side GOP Club chairman Matt Podgorski declared that his committee’s “meetings have been canceled,” the group’s Facebook page indicates it hosted virtual club meetings in April and May, with a video of at least one meeting viewable online. Plaintiff Schaumburg Township Republican Organization announced it was opening its offices on May 14–16 and May 20–23 to collect signatures for a political candidate. Members of the Will County Republican Central Committee held a press conference on June 5; a video posted to the group’s Facebook page shows six people standing shoulder-to-shoulder addressing reporters. And the Illinois Republican Party hosted part of its convention online two days before filing this lawsuit, inviting the public to “gather[ ] with Republicans all across Illinois!” and join over a dozen training and discussion events.
Plaintiffs include a single sentence in their brief that could be responsive to the distinction between conduct and speech, arguing that political speech “is most effective and persuasive when delivered in person.” But the First Amendment does not guarantee a right to the “most effective and persuasive” mode of speech in the midst of a pandemic, and Plaintiffs appear to acknowledge that they can still “deliver[ ]” speech of their choice. Because EO 38 regulates the conduct of gathering in close quarters to limit the spread of COVID-19, and does not limit the content of Plaintiffs’ speech, it does not violate the First Amendment.
* The filing also claims the EO is “a reasonable, content-neutral time, place, and manner regulation.” The AG’s office says plaintiffs “cannot demonstrate irreparable harm” and that the “balance of harms weighs decidedly against injunctive relief”…
Plaintiffs also turn a blind eye to a once- in-a-lifetime health crisis. As one court in this district recently found, “the balance of hardships tilts markedly” in favor of social-distancing measures; deciding otherwise “would pose serious risks to public health. … COVID-19 is a virulent and deadly disease that has killed thousands of Americans and may be poised to devastate the lives of thousands more.”
In granting permits, the Agency may impose reasonable conditions specifically related to the applicant’s past compliance history with this Act as necessary to correct, detect, or prevent noncompliance. The Agency may impose such other conditions as may be necessary to accomplish the purposes of this Act, and as are not inconsistent with the regulations promulgated by the Board hereunder.
* IEPA press release from yesterday…
The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency has issued a construction permit to General III, LLC, along with a document responding to public comments.
The Illinois Environmental Protection Act requires the Illinois EPA to issue a construction permit to an applicant upon a showing that the proposed facility or equipment will not cause a violation of the Act or Pollution Control Board regulations. In such a case, as it is here, the Illinois EPA does not have discretion to deny the permit, but does have the authority to enhance the permit by adding special conditions tailored to the proposed operation – accordingly, such conditions have been included in this particular permit. In addition, an applicant’s past or on-going compliance issues must be addressed through the Agency’s compliance and enforcement programs. This stems from past court rulings holding that permitting and enforcement are two separate functions, that enforcement cannot be conducted through permitting activity, and that the Agency must not deny or base a permit decision upon mere allegations that a source is violating or has violated applicable requirements.
General III is a scrap metal recycling facility to be located at 11600 South Burley Avenue in Chicago. The permit application was received by Illinois EPA on September 25, 2019, and multiple extensions of the statutory decision deadline were obtained to allow sufficient time to review the application and allow for public input. The facility will receive recyclable material for shredding and processing that will be regulated and controlled through the permit’s terms and conditions.
The facility is being moved from its existing location in the Lincoln Park area to the southeast side of Chicago. The Illinois EPA has no legal role in the zoning or siting of facilities; where a facility may locate is the exclusive determination of units of local government, in this case, the City of Chicago. The move of the current General II facility comes following a deal reached in September 2019 between the City of Chicago and General Iron Industries, the owner and operator of the existing General II facility, and RMG Investment Group, LLC, the owner and operator of the new facility. The term sheet signed by those parties calls for the facility to cease operations at its Lincoln Park location by the end of 2020 in conjunction with the relocation of the facility to the new southeast side location. The Illinois EPA was not a party to this agreement. The existing General II location is adjacent to Sterling Bay’s new Lincoln Yards development.
The Illinois EPA is aware of the high level of public concern over this project. To allow for oral and written public comments while still adhering to social distancing requirements brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Illinois EPA held an afternoon and evening “virtual” public hearing to provide two opportunities for participation and also opened a written public comment period of 77 days to accept public input over the proposed draft permit. Over the two public hearings, which were accessible by video web connection, smartphone app, or telephone dial-in, a total of 21 citizens provided oral comments and 203 people participated. At the close of the written comment period, 329 people provided written statements or other submissions or exhibits.
After consideration of all public comments and further review of the permit application and proposed project, the Illinois EPA strengthened the protections afforded by the permit and fulfilled its obligations under law and to the public to create a strict, enforceable, and comprehensive permit.
The special permit conditions impose additional requirements upon General III including:
• Limitations on emissions and hours of operation based on modeling of hazardous metallic pollutants
• Extensive initial and follow-up emissions testing, including capture efficiency testing
• Installation and operation of monitoring devices
• Development and implementation of Fugitive Emissions Operating Program
• Development and implementation of Feedstock Management Plan
• Development and implementation of Operation and Maintenance Plan
• Addition of LEL Monitoring System to the exhaust from the capture system associated with the Hammermill Shredder System, and associated recordkeeping and reporting requirements to prevent explosions at the Regenerative Thermal Oxidizer
A copy of the final construction permit and responsiveness summary are available on the Illinois EPA’s website. Cut and paste the below links into your web browser.
https://external.epa.illinois.gov/WebSiteApi/api/PublicNotices/GetAirPermitDocument/6380 and
https://external.epa.illinois.gov/WebSiteApi/api/PublicNotices/GetAirPermitDocument/6381
However, before the company may begin operations at the Burley Avenue location, it must also receive permits from the City of Chicago, including one pursuant to the City’s new rules for large recycling facilities. The new rules, effective June 5, 2020, implement the City’s Recycling Facility ordinance and include additional requirements that General Iron must meet in order to begin operating at the southeast side location. The City’s rules provide minimum standards for what is required in a permit application, including information to demonstrate that the facility will be designed and operated in a manner that prevents public nuisance and protects the public health, safety, and the environment. The rules also contain location, operational, and design standards applicable to large recycling facilities such as General III, including vehicle and traffic requirements, noise monitoring, air quality standards, and air emission monitoring.
The Illinois EPA recognizes the growing concerns surrounding the location and relocation of emissions sources in communities or neighborhoods that have historically been disproportionately impacted by industrial pollution, particularly areas identified as environmental justice areas. Environmental justice policies and activities should be continually evolving. Oftentimes multiple state and local entities play a role throughout the process of zoning and permitting a facility. The Illinois EPA is committed to continuing to work with legislators, environmental justice advocacy groups, municipalities including the City of Chicago, and other interested parties to identify and implement additional state and local policies to expand statutory protections for environmental justice communities.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot is the last hurdle for a troubled but clout-heavy scrap shredder seeking to move from wealthy, largely white Lincoln Park to a low-income, predominantly Latino neighborhood on Chicago’s Southeast Side.
Brushing aside opposition from neighborhood groups and elected officials, Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration on Thursday granted General Iron Industries a permit to build a new scrap yard along the Calumet River in the East Side neighborhood.
Pritzker appointees at the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency said state law gave them no choice, despite the company’s repeated violations of federal and local health laws.
Moving General Iron would rid the city’s North Side of metallic odors and unsightly piles of flattened cars, twisted rebar and used appliances. But community leaders on the Southeast Side contend Pritzker is perpetuating environmental racism by approving the company’s new location in a neighborhood that has struggled to recover since the steel industry abandoned it during the 1980s. […]
Jordan Abudayyeh, the governor’s chief spokeswoman, said the administration’s “hands were tied” by judicial interpretations of state law. She took a swipe at “statewide or national” advocates, suggesting it was up to them to propose legislation that would address “a broader regulatory problem that most severely impacts the health and safety of low-income communities — especially those of color.”
* The company itself essentially agrees that this is environmental racism on the part of the city…
General Iron and partner RMG have said that the pollution controls proposed for the facility will be “state of the art.” The “decision to build this shredding operation on the Southeast Side was prompted by political and business realities,” company officials said in a letter to Illinois EPA June 15.
“A narrative has been constructed around this operation being moved from a rich white neighborhood to a lower income neighborhood where a majority of the population comprises people of color. Those facts are not in dispute,” company executives said in their letter. General Iron “was essentially zoned out of business,” they added, a reference to the $6 billion Lincoln Yards development being built around the car and industrial metal shredder’s longtime home at 1909 N. Clifton Ave.
* Environmental advocates strenuously contend that the IEPA has too narrowly interpreted case law on denying permits. They essentially made the same argument during the Sterigenics debate. But it looks to me like the statute needs to be changed.
Provides that the Environmental Protection Agency shall ensure that possible adverse economic, social, and environmental effects on environmental justice communities relating to any permit or permit renewal have been fully considered prior to publishing a draft permit or permit renewal for public comment, and that the final decision on the permit or permit renewal is made in the best overall public interest
“We started with 594,000 people working in the [restaurant] industry at the beginning of the year and 321,000 are either on unemployment or furlough,” [Illinois Restaurant Association President Sam Toia] said. “But we’re seeing some light at the end of the tunnel here as we move into Phase Four. What we see as the governor, you know, confirms that the state is ready to safely reopen, that you have to have your tables six feet apart, social distancing is very, very important.”
The association is encouraging workers to wear face coverings and gloves and to clean hands frequently. Groups of diners will be separated by at least six feet. Toia is also asking diners to give a bit.
“So it’s very important when you go into a restaurant you have your face cover on. Then when you sit down you can take it off while you are eating, but if you get up to go to the restroom, you put your face covering back on,” said Toia.
Toia expects about 80% of food establishments to still be in business.
Since the coronavirus pandemic began, hotels across Illinois have worked closely with health experts to implement new safety procedures designed to protect employees and guests. Hotels are tightly controlled environments, making it easier to mitigate risk than in other public spaces. For instance, technology can be used to limit interactions between employees and guests, our ballrooms have far greater capacity for social distancing and we utilize guest lists to assist in contact tracing, if needed.
As an early adopter of these practices, we are confident hotels can safely host larger gatherings in meeting rooms and ballrooms as Illinois enters the next phase of the governor’s reopening plan. By implementing additional protocols, including temperature checks, limiting the number of people seated at tables and eliminating buffet-style food options, we believe occupancy limits can responsibly be raised to 50% of capacity. Under Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s current plan, hotels would face a strict 50-person limit for all events until a treatment or vaccine becomes available — a prospect that could take years and jeopardizes thousands of events already booked in our venues.
Such a limit makes it nearly impossible for hotels to host weddings and business meetings in a cost-effective manner. These events make up to half of a hotel’s bottom line. Unnecessarily limiting attendance will only compound the damage hotels have already experienced, including massive layoffs and closures. In Illinois, state and local municipalities have lost out on $691.8 million in tax revenue generated by the hotel industry, according to a recent study by Oxford Economics.
No mention of how they intend to address the viral load issue.
…Adding… From a JP Morgan report…
"Interestingly, we also find that higher spending in supermarkets predicts slower spread of the virus, hinting that high levels of supermarket spending are indicative of more careful social distancing in a state" pic.twitter.com/k0WNHidIEh
Gov. Abbott: “As I said from the start, if the positivity rate rose above 10%, [Texas] would take further action to mitigate the spread … At this time, it is clear that the rise in cases is largely driven by certain types of activities, including Texans congregating in bars."
Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx has signed on to a pledge urging elected officials to reject political donations from the Fraternal Order of Police, joining a slew of political leaders around the country who say they won’t take money from police unions. […]
Illinois Senate President Don Harmon received $2,000 from the police union in February.
On Thursday, the Oak Park Democrat said he’d be donating that contribution to groups helping West Side communities.
“I won’t be accepting any contributions from the FOP and I will donate the contribution my committee received earlier this year to West Side community organizations working to lift up our community,” Harmon said in a statement.
It’s not like the FOP would’ve ever given any money to Foxx anyway, but the Harmon move is interesting.
The head of the Illinois Department of Public Health took issue Thursday with people who oppose wearing masks to protect others from the spread of coronavirus, saying it’s like playing “Russian roulette.”
Dr. Ngozi Ezike, director of the state’s health department, told mask opponents Thursday: “Your individual actions, or even your inactions, will still affect everyone in this state.
“I’m likening the refusal to wear face coverings to a game of Russian roulette, as we don’t know who’s infected, we don’t know if we are infected,” Ezike said.”We’re just taking a chance.
“This game of Russkaya ruletka is a game that is very risky, the stakes are high. It’s potentially fatal. Let’s not gamble with coronavirus. We don’t even know the longterm affects of having COVID-19 — what might happen to our lungs 5, 10, 20 years after being infected.”
And she said it with what sounded like the proper accent.
…Adding… I’m told Dr. Ezike speaks five languages.
Statewide casino and video gaming operations were indefinitely suspended on March 16, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the pandemic’s impacts, Gaming Board staff across all division have remained at work performing the agency’s functions.
Among other tasks, the Gaming Board has continued its work to implement the provisions of last year’s landmark gaming expansion law, including the analysis and investigation of 10 new casino applications and two new racetrack gaming applications, the launch of online sports wagering, expanded video gaming, and essential rulemaking activities.
The Gaming Board has also been at work planning for the safe, fair, orderly and consistent resumption of statewide public casino gambling and video gaming operations. Guided by public health metrics and safety considerations, and in close consultation with the Illinois Department of Public Health and the Governor’s Office, the Gaming Board issued Resumption Protocols to guide casino and terminals in their resumption planning. The Resumption Protocols were released on June 9, 2020 and are available on the Gaming Board’s website.
Each casino and terminal operator has now provided to the Gaming Board a Pandemic Resumption Plan that will guide their operations when gaming can resume on Wednesday July 1, at 9:00 A.M.
“The Gaming Board worked with the Governor’s Office, the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH), and the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) to develop a gaming resumption process that protects the public health of patrons and employees, while restarting gaming activities in meaningful way,” said Gaming Board Administrator Marcus Fruchter. Video gaming and casino gaming can both resume operations on July 1, 2020 at 9 AM. Fruchter continued, “The video and casino gaming industry have worked cooperatively and professionally with the IGB to develop best practices that create the safest possible environment for gaming, while adhering to IDPH, DCEO, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”) guidance. We appreciate their cooperation and work toward the mutual goal of a resumption that protects the safety and integrity of Illinois gaming”
Today, Governor JB Pritzker announced that every region of the state meets the health benchmarks to advance into Phase 4 of the Restore Illinois plan. Ahead of the transition tomorrow, Gov. Pritzker announced several new efforts to build on the state’s robust response to COVID-19 and help keep Illinoisans safe.
“We’ve seen what’s happened in other states that have allowed politics or short-term thinking to drive decision-making. Many other states are now seeing significant increases in cases, hospitalizations, and intensive care bed usage and they’re being forced to move backward and stay at home – that’s not the story in Illinois,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “Here, we have been gradually restoring business and leisure activities in a highly deliberate manner, guided by doctors’ advice. Illinoisans are following the mitigations that we can each do ourselves, like wearing face coverings, keeping 6 feet distance between us, and washing our hands frequently. It’s because of the people of Illinois that we’re seeing a trajectory of relative success where other parts of the country are not.”
PHASE 4 METRICS
All four Restore Illinois health regions have met the IDPH health benchmarks to advance into Phase 4. Metrics include reductions of positivity rate and hospital admissions and availability of hospital surge capacity.
On a statewide level, Illinois flattened the curve, passed the peak and saw a sustained decline in key metrics since the coronavirus pandemic began. Looking at 7-day rolling averages – which smooth out daily fluctuations and allow trends to emerge – Illinois is seeing marked declines in cases, deaths, case positivity and covid-related hospitalizations.
This post will be updated with some of the Q&A with the governor and Dr. Ezike. Please make sure to pardon all transcription errors when that happens. Thanks.
Blue indicates that the county is experiencing overall stable COVID-19 metrics.
Orange indicates there are warning signs of increased COVID-19 risk in the county.
Illinois has just one orange county right now, Cass County in west-central Illinois. It has a positivity rate of 10.8 percent.
* On to questions for the governor: Governor you mentioned during this that you lost a family friend or a relative or someone close to you. Can you elaborate on that?…
Yeah. Someone that I’ve known for more than 25 years was a leader in our community when I used to live in Evanston, and he was a real leader in Evanston, somebody who cared deeply about young people, in particular those who had gotten in trouble and he wanted to help them reform their lives as he had himself. A man named Hecky Powell. I grieve for his family and I, when his life had been lost I honestly, I had to call people that we all know that are friends with him, too, and share the grief that I’ve had over that loss. And you know I know many others who are suffering have suffered over the time of COVID-19 with the virus, including our attorney general, that we all know is recovering at home. And so I hope we’ll pray for him and for everybody who’s suffering now.
* You mentioned that you would not be afraid to take a step back. Could that include a stay at home order? I know California’s talking about that as a possibility…
Everything that we’ve gone through over the last three and a half months has led us to this point where things are going well and in the right direction and it allows us to gradually open our economy and to do more have more activity and so on. But I’m not afraid to move us backward to the things that we’ve done in the past I you know you can each one of these phases has aspects of it that we may need to return to. I’ll just give one example you just heard that in Texas that they’ve issued an order to eliminate elective surgeries in Texas because they no longer have enough hospital beds. We allowed elective surgeries more than a month ago back in early May, and if we have trouble with hospital beds with the ICU beds, that might be something that we would need to do that’s one example.
* In the country we’ve seen some spikes in cases among young people. Are we seeing any of that in our new cases that have been reported in the past couple of weeks?…
I will say that we’ve seen numbers of young people contract, COVID-19 and indeed very recently there was an accounting of the cases in in Cass County. And I looked at the specific numbers by age bracket, and there are quite a number of people in their 20s, who had contracted COVID-19 and so I immediately called Dr Ezike after I read this article and saw this graph and, and she explained that much of that had to do with an outbreak at a meat processing plant in that area. But that can happen anywhere. I mean it isn’t just meat processing can happen in any office environment in any manufacturing environment. It could happen anywhere and, you know, in many of the places people work there, young people working there. So, it’s a challenge that we are paying very close attention to I know everybody focuses on seniors because it’s had such a devastating effect on people who are over at over 70, and so on. But we can’t forget that many people who are younger than that contract. And sometimes die from COVID-19.
* With some of the executive orders are going to be filing tomorrow would that also include a moratorium on the evictions, would that be extended?…
We’re continuing the course that we’ve been on there are people that are that are very very challenged in these moments from with, you know, paying their rent, as we’re recovering the economy. You know we don’t we want to make sure people are not thrown out of their homes becoming homeless for something that is, you know, that everybody is suffering from. And we’re trying to balance the interests of the people who own those properties with the people who rent from those properties by giving rent assistance for example and quite a lot of rent assistance, we just recently allocated through our COVID-19 relief funds. Those effect, Carlos was mentioning, you know, those are going to be distributed through many organizations throughout the state.
* What’s your reaction to the lawsuit filed by landlords that seek to stop your ban on residential evictions on grounds including that another executive order doing so exceeds your authority?…
I’d just respond with the answer I just gave. It’s important for us to stand up for people who are working class people who cannot otherwise afford to maintain their home we do not want people to become homeless in this difficult crisis.
* Would you be open to carving out exceptions versus a blanket ban for example a ban only on evictions related to renters who cannot pay directly due to COVID-19?…
We could have lots of conversation about different ways in which to preserve people’s homes to preserve the shelter that they live in now and I’m obviously open to conversations like that I always have been. And all the way along I’ve been having conversations. Even with people on the other side of the aisle who deny that those conversations take place. And I’m somebody who’s always looking for a better way to do things. So I would listen to ideas, but suffice to say that my number one focus here is we’ve got to protect the people who are most vulnerable to this virus and most vulnerable to the financial impact of this virus.
* You’ve said if Illinois sees a backsliding in coronavirus data, moving backward through phases is a possibility. But what specific benchmarks will you use to determine whether that’s necessary and to seeing the spiking case and hospitalization numbers in other states that reopened earlier give you pause about Illinois moving into phase four now?…
Well, let me start with the latter part of that question, which is, of course, when I look at states that are moving backward and at such a rapid pace, I always think, are we doing it right, are we handling this right are we measured in our reopening? And I think we are measured in this reopening we’re being careful. So, you know, yes of course I mean, you can turn on the television and see what’s happening in Arizona Florida, Texas, South Carolina, etc. and not ask the question. Are we getting it right?
Sorry, the first part of the question was just, it was benchmark that we’re looking forward to. We’re in the Restore Illinois plan, you can look online we actually do say what what would be the things that would move you backward. Those are examples. But I told you that that we can make adjustments along the way. We start to see hospitalizations go up and are unmanageable. We would cut back on elective surgeries that’s one example of a change that we could make. But, we’re taking this as it comes. We’re watching very carefully the metrics that we’ve been watching all along to move us forward in our phases are the very same metrics that we’re watching about whether or not we need to think about moving backward.
* On the two federal sites have lost the funding yesterday, how will the state be paying for those to stay open?…
We’re going to maintain those sites and you know there has been COVID relief dollars provided by the Federal CARES Act. And so we’ll be using some of those dollars to maintain those sites we obviously can’t use federal personnel anymore. Once those sites are the at least the federal government pulls out of those sites, we’ll be using state contracted providers to manage those sites but it’s very important to us to maintain sites and to grow the number of sites where we’re providing testing especially free testing.
* A study came out today saying that food service jobs are down over 40% due to the strictness of the reopening plan speaking with restaurants in Central Illinois, they say it is hard to hire back for a couple of reasons. One of them being the minimum wage rising on July 1. Has there been any thought of trying to suspend that pay raise to a later date?…
No.
We have a lot of challenges in the state, but one of them is people living in poverty and working at the very low minimum wage that we’ve had. We are working very hard to help our businesses get restarted to open up more you’ve seen me work at this every day we’ve provided relief funds for small businesses across the state. And we’re going to continue to do that but it’s not to the detriment of the people who are working class people in our state it’s to the benefit of them.
* Is Chicago defying the state’s rules by allowing gatherings up to 100 people outside? Have you talked to Mayor Lightfoot about this?…
She has not called me about this. It’s very clear our state has set guidelines and every municipality has the obligation to follow the guidelines, or they can put in guidelines that are more strict than the ones that we’ve set out, but not less strict. So I think that’s known by the city and understood by really all municipalities across the state.
* Amid protests over police brutality and gun violence in Chicago, do you think the city needs police reforms? I know you’ve talked about police reform efforts, but she’s talking about the city specifically…
Yes, I mean I would direct this across the state, but if you’re asking specifically about the city of Chicago, of course we need police reforms, because any question about that… I have stood together with people to protest over that very issue. We have, to address police accountability, we have to address criminal justice reform, something I’ve been working on since day one of my administration and that I worked very closely with the Lieutenant Governor on. And then of course we’ve got to work on investing in our black and brown communities all across the state and that’s something I’ve been doing since day one as well although more recently we’ve been through the federal CARES act, we’ve been able to provide COVID-19 dollars to many of those communities because, unfortunately, in addition to the racial injustice that’s been experienced for hundreds of years in this country by those communities. It’s also being experienced specifically by those communities from COVID-19, which happens to attack Latino communities and Black communities to a larger extent than other communities across the state.
* Gaming reopening…
I’m not an expert about how many times you need to wipe down a video terminal to make it safe, that’s one example of some detail that needs to be handled by people who understand the industry. The gaming board is doing a very good job I think of taking those things into consideration, most especially what we want to make sure is that people are safe when they go back to any activity entertainment or otherwise, but I would caution that we want to be, we’re like other activities we’re trying to do these things in measures, with lots of health and safety guidance, and that what’s the number one driving factor is people should not get sick of doing those activities.
* So we were at 2% positivity rate for three days this week now we’re going back up to 3%. Do we read into that do we need to wait a few more days to see if that goes up?…
…I think you need to wait to really make an evaluation. Here’s why we don’t really look at these on a day to day basis. I know we report them on a daily basis, but the way we look at them the way the IDPH looks at it is really on a seven day rolling average on an ongoing basis. What’s directionally, where are we going, is it stable is it downward is it upward. And also sometimes these get reported as whole numbers, 2% 3% but actually underneath that it’s 2.4% or 2.6%. And if you’re around those, one of them is two and one of them is three. So again, we’re watching closely these numbers but I wouldn’t read anything into the current numbers.
Obviously every day I watch the numbers and I think,are we going the right direction? And I’m rooting for it to go the right direction and we’re making policies that we hope will move it in the right direction. So, I’m,we’re watching. I would wait to make a judgment about whether there’s some direction here that it’s going to right now I would call it stable.
* Three months in with continued restrictions and COVID-19 awareness, why not trust Illinois residents and businesses to make smart decisions about how they conduct themselves?…
Indeed, we are. We’ve set parameters and guidance. We’ve provided people with guidelines at the IDPH and DCEO websites and told them what the limits are. But we are expecting businesses to have to be responsible during this time period they do need to encourage people to wear face coverings when they’re indoors. They do need to encourage people to wash their hands and so on. There are lots of things responsibilities that businesses as you know citizens corporate citizens of the state of Illinois must do and we’re absolutely relying upon them to do that. So, and many have been very very responsible I might add, there are some scofflaws that that have just, you know, throwing caution to the wind, and unfortunately made it much riskier for people.
But the fact is that you’ve seen that it would be terrible for business, I think this is the implication of the question that somehow this is worse for business to do it in a measured fashion. But what’s much worse is going backward after you’ve gone forward. That’s hard. Think about a stay at home order that was put in place, things then open up and then another stay at home order. If you’re a business owner, if you talk about killing a business that is what will do it and unfortunately we’re seeing that in some other states.
* Why is the acting director with the Illinois Department of Employment Security not available to take questions at these briefings?…
He’s answered a lot of questions to legislators, for example. But the fact is, I’ve answered many of the questions that have been asked about IDES and certainly ultimately the responsibility for our agencies falls to me. I’ve also talked here about the Department of Human Services and the work that they do and the and the Department of Children Family Services the work that they do. So, we’re working very hard at making available to everybody all the data that we have about the work that we’re doing to make it easier for people to apply for and get unemployment. And I think people have seen that we’ve largely succeeded in getting unemployment to people who can go online get that done and who can call in, we definitely have a have had a challenge as many, many other states have had. The systems that were built for this were not built for the multiples of unemployment claims that have been filed. And so everybody is, as I’ve said before trying to build the plane as we’re flying it.
* Is there any plan to open up employment offices?…
Each of our agencies has kind of a reopen plan that either has been developed or is being developed with a goal in mind of keeping first their clients, the people of Illinois safe. And second, of course, the people who work in those agencies safe.
* Today the government accountability office issued a 400 page scathing report on trillions in federal COVID aid. You once called the nationwide competition for PPE the Wild West. Does today’s report vindicate your frequent criticism of administration efforts during the early stages of the pandemic?…
I don’t think it needed vindication. Honestly, I think every state, you’ve heard so many states talk about their challenges with PPE and many other states haven’t been as frank as I have about the difficulty that they’ve had with the federal government not being of any assistance indeed kind of hindrance getting PPE. We’ve asked for PPE from the federal government we I think we’ve received 12% of the PPE that we asked for. And that’s been the experience of so many other states as well. So I’ve just say, I think unfortunately the White House has been an utter and complete failure at delivering on what states needed at the most critical time during this pandemic. And now, here we are in June, we’d love to get more help with the many challenges that we have and we get some help and that’s great. But, I think the criticisms, prove themselves out as factual along the way. I don’t need today’s report to do that but yes it’s another fact.
* There’s an uptick in new cases this week. 601 new cases were reported on Tuesday and 715 were reported yesterday…
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today announced 894 new confirmed cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 41 additional confirmed deaths.
Cook County: 2 males 30s, 1 female 50s, 3 females 60s, 2 males 60s, 2 females 70s, 3 males 70s, 4 females 80s, 3 males 80s, 1 female 90s, 1 male 90s, 1 female 100+
DuPage County: 1 male 70s, 1 female 80s, 2 male 80s, 1 male 90s
Kane County: 1 male 50s, 1 male 70s
Lake County: 1 male 60s, 1 male 80s
LaSalle County: 1 male 70s
McHenry County: 1 male 70s, 1 male 80s
Monroe County: 1 female 80s
St. Clair County: 1 male 40s, 1 male 80s
Will County: 2 females 80s
Winnebago County: 1 male 80s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 139,434 cases, including 6,810 deaths, in 101 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 31,686 specimens for a total of 1,460,527. The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from June 18–June 24 is 3%.
Following guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, IDPH is now reporting both confirmed and probable cases and deaths on its website. Reporting probable cases will help show the potential burden of COVID-19 illness and efficacy of population-based non-pharmaceutical interventions. See CDC definition of a probable case on its website. IDPH will update these data once a week.
* Let’s move on to a COVID-19 roundup. Here’s Jake Griffin…
More Illinois residents died in April than in any other month since at least 1999, but not all the additional deaths are attributed to known COVID-19 cases.
Illinois Department of Public Health figures shows 12,417 people died in April. From 2015 to 2019, the state averaged 8,875 deaths each April. That’s an increase this year of almost 40% above what the state averaged in the previous five Aprils.
Confirmed COVID-19 cases account for 2,256 of this year’s additional April deaths. But that still leaves almost 1,300 more deaths than what the state sees during the average April.
Public health officials believe those deaths resulted from uncounted COVID-19 cases, heart attacks and strokes in recovered or asymptomatic COVID-19 patients, seasonal influenza, drug overdoses and people who succumbed because they did not seek medical attention while COVID-19 was rampant.
Democratic convention delegates were told Wednesday not to come to Milwaukee later this summer, though the city will “anchor” four nights of programming capped by Joe Biden traveling to the battleground state to accept the presidential nomination.
The COVID-19 pandemic scrambled convention plans for both parties’ conventions in August.
Republicans are still finalizing plans — amid an uptick of COVID-19 cases in Florida — but Illinois delegates to the Republican Convention say they’re all in for attending any variation of an in-person nominating event in the Sunshine State. […]
The GOP’s resounding yes came from an informal survey sent to delegates about whether they’d feel safe traveling and attending a convention during a pandemic, no matter where it’s held.
“At this point from the survey we’ve had no one say that they would not go because of any changes,” said Illinois Republican Party Executive Director Derek Murphy.
A central Illinois Republican state senate candidate who does not have enough valid signatures to qualify for the November ballot asked a federal judge Tuesday to also apply loosened election requirements to him.
After the March 17 primary election, Alexander Ruggieri was chosen to fill the Republican Party’s nomination vacancy for the 52nd senate district race. To succeed in qualifying for the general election ballot, where he would challenge incumbent Scott Bennett (D-Champaign), Ruggieri needed to collect 1,000 voter signatures and submit his petition to the Illinois State Board of Elections by June 1.
According to his court filing, he gathered 1,152 signatures. After election officials reviewed the validity of those signatures, though, they determined only 949 were acceptable. That objection “threatens to keep Ruggieri from the general election ballot,” he argued.
A young boy is among the latest people to contract COVID-19 in Adams County.
The Adams County Health Department said he is the first child in the county to contract the virus.
He is among seven new cases announced on Wednesday in what officials describe as a “mini-wave.”
“We have always expected that we would see an increase once we began to reopen following the stay-at-home order,” Quincy Mayor Kyle Moore said, adding that he believes the region “still has a big fight ahead of us” related to the pandemic. […]
The unidentified boy is under the age of 9. No other information about the child was provided.
McDonald’s Illinois operations and a McDonald’s franchise owner should be doing more to protect employees at their restaurants as they continue to work amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, an Illinois state court judge said Wednesday.
Cook County Circuit Judge Eve Reilly partially granted the McDonald’s employees’ bid for a preliminary injunction against McDonald’s Restaurants of Illinois and franchise owner DAK4 LLC, requiring the companies to provide workers at three Chicago locations with more adequate social distancing training and stricter mask enforcement practices.
McDonald’s has taken several reasonable steps to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, including providing adequate amounts of handwashing stations and protective gear, Judge Reilly said. But it needs to fix the “two serious failures” that remain in the restaurants at issue — two of which have had employees test positive for the virus, she held. […]
“The hardship McDonald’s would suffer by strictly enforcing its mask policy and retraining employees on proper social distancing procedures is slight,” the judge held. “Now, McDonald’s may need to re-envision how it wants to implement the policy so as to ensure full compliance, but that is for McDonald’s to decide.”
Capacity limitations aren’t as low as some feared they would be for Phase 4 of the Restore Illinois plan for recovering from the coronavirus shutdown. The state on Monday released rules and guidelines for the phase, which allows indoor dining beginning Friday.
There’s no set maximum for number of customers allowed in sit-down restaurants, as long as tables are spaced 6 feet apart, parties are limited to 10 people or less and standing areas, such as bars, reach no more than 25% of normal capacity. […]
“As far as our plan to go inside, we again are playing it safe,” said [Wine Tap] co-owner Robbie Fogarty-Hayden. “We’re going to hold off a little bit, especially being that we are such a small location. We’re going to continue to kind of evaluate things, especially see what the first week in numbers look like. But we’ll probably be waiting at least two weeks until we do indoor dining.”
To protect its workers and patients, Clinton’s Warner Hospital and Health Services will continue to operate under the guidance of Phase 3 of the ‘Restore Illinois’ plan despite the state moving to phase 4 Friday.
CEO Paul Skowron told Regional Radio News on the WHOW Morning Show Wednesday they are going to continue to require masks by patients and social distancing guidelines of six-feet separation. He believes it is important for them to not let their guard down and demonstrate maximum safety.
* I’ve waited hours for this train in Springfield. Lots of potential for delays between San Antonio and Chicago…
Amtrak service in Springfield will be further reduced this fall when Texas Eagle service will be cut to three times a week.
The reduction is the result of a severe drop in train ridership nationwide that resulted from the coronavirus pandemic.
* Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot still refuses to open the beaches and playgrounds, even though she could tomorrow. But she’s also apparently going beyond the governor’s Phase 4 limit on the size of social gatherings. WBEZ’s Tony Arnold has been working on this for a couple days now…
Overall, the state is limiting all social gatherings at 50 people. Since local governments can establish more stringent rules, however, Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration is distinguishing between social gatherings inside versus outside. The city has put a limit on social gatherings outside – such as at an outdoor wedding or picnic – at 100 people.
A spokesman for the mayor’s office argued that requirement falls within the state’s 50-person cap so long as two groups of 50 people stay 30 feet apart. When asked about the city’s 100-person limit on outdoor gatherings earlier this week, Pritzker said getting 100 people together is “a goal,” and reiterated that local governments cannot have looser guidelines than what the state has put forward.
*** UPDATE *** The governor was asked about this today…
She has not called me about this. It’s very clear our state has set guidelines and every municipality has the obligation to follow the guidelines, or they can put in guidelines that are more strict than the ones that we’ve set out, but not less strict. So I think that’s known by the city and understood by really all municipalities across the state.
Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara on Wednesday called Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s bluff — saying if she’s serious about making disciplinary changes to the police contract, she’ll eliminate the requirement that Chicago Police officers live in the city and give them the right to strike.
One proposed disciplinary change would allow anonymous complaints — without a sworn affidavit.
“If they want to get rid of the [sworn] affidavit, then take the residency requirement out of the frickin’ contract and also take the no-strike clause out of our contract and then, let’s see how serious you really are. Give us the same ability that teachers have and give us the ability to live outside the city and then we’ll entertain the conversation about getting rid of the affidavit,” Catanzara told the Sun-Times.
“They’re full of it. … You keep talking about the affidavit. That’s a gigantic ask for us. You’re gonna be willing to give up residency and the no-strike clause? I guarantee they’re gonna say `no.’ But, it’s equal to me. It’s what we want you to give up in exchange for what you’re asking us to give up. They’re not gonna do it any more than we are.” […]
The City Council’s Black Caucus has threatened to block ratification of any police contract that continues to make it “easy for officers to lie” by giving them 24 hours before providing a statement after a shooting and also prohibits anonymous complaints (by requiring sworn affidavits) and allows officers to change statements after reviewing video.
(a) Nothing in this Act shall make it unlawful or make it an unfair labor practice for public employees, other than security employees, as defined in Section 3(p), peace officers, fire fighters, and paramedics employed by fire departments and fire protection districts, to strike except as otherwise provided in this Act.
Lightfoot can’t take that out of the contract. The General Assembly would have to pass a bill. And who the heck is gonna carry a bill to allow police officers to strike?
Governor JB Pritzker today announced the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has approved the state’s request for federal assistance to help businesses in the northern Illinois counties of Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry and Will. The declaration stems from looting and other damages that took place in connection to civil unrest occurring May 26 through June 8, 2020. The approved SBA disaster declaration makes low-interest loans of up to $2 million available to eligible for businesses, homeowners, renters, and non-profits.
To help businesses facing damages as the result of recent civil unrest and looting, the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) worked closely with the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA) to survey the damage from recent civil unrest and help businesses submit documentation. To be eligible for an SBA declaration, at least 25 homes and/or businesses in a county must sustain major, uninsured losses of 40-percent or more.
“Without a question, COVID-19 has placed an unprecedented burden on businesses across our state, and recent damage sustained during civil unrest only makes matters more challenging for business owners,” said Acting Director of DCEO, Michael Negron. “These SBA disaster loans will provide an essential resource for Illinois businesses who are looking ahead to make repairs and reopen safely.”
The DCEO-IEMA survey of damages in Cook County identified at least 40 businesses that sustained major damages and uninsured losses. Another 95 businesses in Cook County sustained minor damage. The damage assessment estimates more than $20 million dollars in damages due to recent civil unrest. This input was critical to receiving the SBA’s disaster declaration, and for triggering the availability of targeted, low-interest loans that will now be made available to small businesses and non-profits impacted by property damage and looting. […]
Applications for loans are available now and can be found on SBA’s website. Businesses and non-profits can borrow up to $2 million, homeowners can borrow up to $200k for real estate, and homeowners and renters may borrow up to $40k for personal property
Will state government be next to announce furloughs, layoffs or pay cuts? As cash-strapped state and local governments look to Washington — and wait — for relief money to help pay for the unexpected costs tied to responding to COVID-19, Pritzker was asked about possible cuts: “Obviously, we look at that all the time because we want to be prepared. But the fact is, I think there is also a growing consensus the Senate will likely take up a (relief) bill of some sort … in July,” said Pritzker, sounding reasonably confident.
Illinois, the first U.S. state to tap into Federal Reserve aid for pandemic-battered governments, has reduced its unpaid bills to the lowest level since 2015. […]
The state used $1.2 billion of proceeds from a short-term Fed loan to help pay down the bills, said Carol Knowles, a spokesperson for the Governor’s Office of Budget and Management. The Fed established its Municipal Liquidity Facility to help state and local governments bridge funding gaps created by the pandemic.
Illinois officials have said that if Congress doesn’t approve additional aid they may need to borrow almost $5 billion more from the Fed facility in the upcoming fiscal year to help close a more than $6 billion deficit. In April, after the state delayed its income tax filing deadline to July, officials forecast a $2.7 billion revenue drop for the fiscal year ending June 30.
Illinois’ backlog reached a peak of $16.7 billion in 2017.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker said Wednesday he is not currently considering asking visitors to Illinois from states with spiking coronavirus infection rates to quarantine upon arrival, a measure the governors of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut announced they would impose as summer officially begins.
”That’s not something that we are looking at implementing right now, but going forward if we got the advice to do that, we might,” Pritzker said Wednesday at an unrelated news conference in Geneseo. “All I can say is that New York and New Jersey and Connecticut have been through an awful lot. They’ve had so many people die, so many people hospitalized. A really tragic, tragic situation. I can understand why they might feel a need, when they see other places on the rise, when they’re actually doing a good job of keeping the rates down, that they might look at every possible way in which to diminish or keep down the number of cases.”
* The Question: Should the governor mandate that visitors from states with high infection rates, or Illinoisans returning from those states, quarantine themselves for two weeks? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please…
After a series of changes to protect visitor health, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is finalizing plans to reopen to the public on Wednesday, July 1.
Visitors will find the facility has been meticulously cleaned and disinfected, and protective barriers have been installed in key places to ensure guest and employee safety. Museum-goers will be also be encouraged to stay one “Lincoln” apart – 6 feet, 4 inches, the equivalent of President Lincoln’s height.
“We are thrilled to welcome everyone back to the museum and library,” said acting executive director Melissa Coultas. “In trying times, Abraham Lincoln’s example can be an inspiration and a comfort to all of us. People deserve to be able to come to this special place, learn about one of our greatest presidents and explore some new features we’re proud to offer.”
New measures to maximize public safety include:
• Requiring tickets be purchased in advance, either online or by telephone
• A brief visitor screening, including a temperature check before admission
• Requiring face masks at all times
• Installing signs with outlines of Lincoln’s feet to help visitors maintain proper physical distance
• Reducing the number of theater performances and maintaining safe guest distancing throughout the shows (theaters will be cleaned and disinfected after each performance)
• The temporary closure of the “Mrs. Lincoln’s Attic” play area and Union Station, home to an exhibit on railroad history
• Limiting library access to reservation-only research patrons
• Establishing a strict cleaning and sanitation regimen for the museum and library.
The museum will maintain its usual schedule of being open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., seven days a week. Visitors can buy tickets up to two weeks in advance at www.PresidentLincoln.Illinois.gov.
The library will be open 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, but admission will be by appointment only. Researchers who want to schedule a visit should email ALPLM.reference@illinois.gov or call the reference desk at 217-524-6358.
When it reopens, the museum will feature a new exhibit called “Spies, Traitors, Saboteurs: Fear and Freedom in America.” Created by the International Spy Museum, it examines nine major events in history when Americans were threatened by enemies within the United States borders. This temporary exhibit has traveled throughout the nation over the past few years.
The exhibit does include powerful imagery that may be unsettling to some patrons. Artifacts include fragments of the planes that hit the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001 and powerful imagery from domestic hate groups, including the Ku Klux Klan. The ALPLM respects the decisions of parents and guardians but recommends children under 12 may want to avoid the exhibit. Children 12 and over should visit this exhibit with an adult.
And it won’t be long before the museum welcomes its five millionth visitor. That special guest will receive an array of gifts and special access to celebrate this milestone in the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum’s 15-year history.
Glad it’s coming back. Wish they’d get rid of that giant statue of the sweater-wearing white guy standing with Abe, though.
…Adding… I’m now told that the silly statue is leaving in September when its contract expires. The city of Springfield asked the ALPLM board to extend its stay for a year, but the board declined.
If you’ve never seen the statue, here it is at a previous location…
* I’ve been telling subscribers about this ad since Tuesday and have been waiting for someone else to report on it so I could post it here. Dave Dahl did it…
“Remember when JB Pritzker ripped out his toilets to dodge paying property taxes?”
That’s the opening line of a new commercial from a group that says it wants to hold “Springfield politicians” accountable. It’s actually Democrats under the “Illinois Rising Action” microscope.
The PAC’s executive director, Kayleen Carlson, says Gov. Pritzker is just another tax-and-spend Democrat whose solution to anything is to raise taxes. Pritzker is not on the ballot this year, but the ad campaign wants you to remember two words: Vote Republican.
The number of laid-off workers who applied for unemployment benefits declined slightly to 1.48 million last week, the 12th straight drop and a sign that layoffs are slowing but are still at a painfully high level.
The steady decline in claims suggests that the job market has begun to slowly heal from the pandemic, which shuttered businesses and sent the unemployment rate up to 14.7% in April, its highest level since the Great Depression.
Illinois saw an increase in the number of people filing first-time claims. In the week ended June 20, 46,005 people in the state sought unemployment insurance benefits, compared with 44,694 Illinois residents a week earlier.
* Rep. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia) submitted this op-ed last night…
In Illinois, we are three months into governance by Executive Order.
40 Executive Orders are already on the books since the beginning of the Coronavirus or COVID-19 outbreak.
One-person rule has a poor track record throughout history. Unfortunately, we’ve been living under a one-size-fits-all approach to the Coronavirus, and it’s led to economic, social and educational harm.
According to the Governor’s schedule, Illinois gets to move into Phase 4 of his reopening plans and permissions on June 26:
“Gatherings of 50 people or fewer are allowed, restaurants and bars reopen, travel resumes, child care and schools reopen under guidance from the Illinois Department of Public Health. Face coverings and social distancing are the norm.”
I got news for the Governor, even while we were under his Phase 3 plans (gatherings of 10 people or fewer are allowed), southern Illinois has been getting together in larger numbers, WITHOUT his permission.
We are frustrated. We don’t want a new normal. We want the old normal, and that should have happened at a much faster pace for downstate Illinois.
Our State Fairs in Springfield and DuQuoin are cancelled, as well as the Grand American World Trapshooting competition in Sparta.
I note these particular events because downstate Illinois never experienced the COVID-19 outbreak that impacted Chicago. We should have been farther along on the reopening process.
Wirepoints, an independent online resource for economic research and commentary about Illinois’ government, publishes numerous articles about the Coronavirus’ impact on our state.
In a recent story, Wirepoints claims downstate should have reopened weeks ago even using the Governor’s own data-driven metrics:
“Case positivity rates downstate have collapsed for nearly two straight months…Per capita hospital admissions have also been just a fraction of those in the Northeast region. And there was never the risk of running short of hospital resources downstate like there was in Chicago.”
The Wirepoints article includes a graph showing 90 percent of COVID-19 deaths occurred in northeast Illinois, the Chicago region.
The Governor’s failure to take regionalization into consideration is one of the biggest criticism of his decision-making.
People I talk to are skeptical of what they’re being told about the impact of the Coronavirus, and who can blame them. For example, a Chicago Sun-Times story about virus deaths in nursing homes in April, included an admission by the Governor’s spokesman that a “definitional error” resulted in “cases being counted twice.”
At one news conference, the Director of the Illinois Department of Public Health admitted that Illinoisans who died with the virus were counted as the same as those who died because of the virus:
“I just want to be clear in terms of the definition of people dying of COVID. The case definition is very simplistic. It means, at the time of death it was a COVID positive diagnosis, so that means that if you were in hospice and had already been given a few weeks to live and then you were also found to have COVID that would be counted as a COVID death.
It means that if technically even if you died of clear alternate cause, but you had COVID at the same time, it’s still listed as a COVID death. Everyone who is listed as a COVID death, doesn’t mean that was the cause of the death, but they had COVID at the time of death,” Dr. Ngozi Ezike said.
There are other concerns too.
Rules for Illinois daycare facilities under the governor’s lockdown Executive Orders were delayed for weeks before any set of guidelines were released. The delay caused a lot of economic pain for these businesses, and I fear that some may not be coming back, unable to survive the lockdown orders.
Our schools have only now (as of June 23) received information about reopening.
Will our teachers and administrators have a chance to provide input moving forward? Again, can a one-size-fits-all and top-down approach work for both Louisville and Chicago? What if the schools determine the guidelines to be impractical and unworkable; what happens next? The Governor previously talked about a combination of in-school and remote learning, but many students won’t get the same level of instruction and guidance if they are out of the classroom.
The lockdown orders have also had a devastating impact on the state economy. Sadly, there will be businesses that will never come back.
A recent academic study indicates 100,000 businesses across the country permanently collapsed because of the Coronavirus pandemic. That conclusion was reached more than a month ago. The University of Illinois participated in the research. Here’s an important quote:
“A team of researchers at the University of Illinois, Harvard University, Harvard Business School and University of Chicago discovered at least 2 percent of the nation’s small businesses are now gone after conducting a representative survey of more than 5,800 enterprises between May 9-11.”
The University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health released a related report on June 1 about the immediate and lasting impact of the Coronavirus on the state economy. The report predicts a loss of more than 550,000 jobs by March of 2021:
“The report says it is likely that somewhere between 1 million and 1.5 million Illinois jobs may be affected overall.”
One person rule doesn’t work fairly and equitably anywhere it’s tried, and neither does one party rule. One party rule of Illinois contributed mightily to the current fiscal failure of state government. The state’s public debt is beyond the ability of us mere mortal taxpayers to pay off, yet the most recent budget passed by the majority spends more than ever before in a single year: $43 billion ($43,000,000,000)!
These same people passed two major state income tax increases with promises of better times. It never happened. Instead, they are constantly looking to raise taxes, and are proposing to radically change the way state income taxes are imposed – all designed to siphon more money out of the pockets of hardworking Illinoisans.
It’s long past time for “all hands on deck.” Leadership is about bringing people together, marshalling the forces to meet challenges head on, clearly mapping out a plan and then executing it, but always remaining flexible to adjust and alter it as you move forward. Illinoisans need confidence in its government and a Governor and the Legislature working together rather than one person’s one-size-fits-all approach, which is a one-size-disservice to all.
* FSCJ scientist says Florida COVID-19 data can be misleading: Perle told News4Jax on Wednesday that after watching months of data being released by Florida, he doesn’t think the numbers tell the whole story and have the potential to mislead the public.
The Illinois Rental Property Owners Association (IRPOA) announces our support of the lawsuit filed by IRPOA members JL Properties Group, Mark Dauenbaugh and Steven Cole, challenging Governor Pritzker’s legal authority to deny housing providers access to the courts.
The Governor’s moratorium on evictions essentially ties the hands of housing providers to enforce our lease agreements. While we agree with the Governor’s intent of protecting renters affected by COVID-19, the Governor’s moratorium also applies to people who are not affected by COVID-19 but are choosing not to pay their rent.
Furthermore, the Governor’s moratorium limits a housing provider’s ability to address lease violations that are related to behavior and not COVID-19
Our members have been and will continue to work to ensure that individuals affected by COVID-19 are given every opportunity to remain in their home. We have been waiving late fees, offering payment plans, and directing tenants to resources for rental assistance. But we need access to the courts for those tenants who have been unresponsive or are violating leases in ways unrelated to COVID-19.
Small mom-and-pop landlords, who make up the majority of IRPOA members, have had their interests marginalized by the State of Illinois for too long. Corporate landlords may be able to absorb the losses that the Governor’s eviction moratorium imposes, but the majority of rental housing in Illinois is provided by average working class people who own a handful of rentals and rely on the monthly rent to meet their own obligations. Mom-and-pop landlords cannot go without income for over 5 months when sole proprietors have not been receiving assistance from COVID-19 programs to compensate for the lost income.
The plaintiff’s attorney James Noonan said “While we share the Governor’s concerns on spreading the virus, we believe the eviction moratorium goes too far. It unnecessarily and unlawfully redistributes the cost of protecting tenants to landlords, who deserve the same protection under Illinois law as other Illinoisans.”
We encourage housing providers from across Illinois to join us in this fight. Financial contributions for legal expenses are welcome and we ask all housing providers to add your voices to the growing number of small businesses who are speaking out about being unfairly burdened by the State’s response to COVID-19.
Established in 1994, the Illinois Rental Property Owners Association is an alliance of a dozen independent rental property owner associations across the State of Illinois. With the hundreds of investor-members and the thousands of dwellings they represent, IRPOA advocates for laws and ordinances that are in the best interests of both the owner and the tenant.
*** UPDATE *** Neighborhood Building Owners Alliance…
Yesterday a landlord filed a suit challenging Governor Pritzker’s statewide eviction moratorium in Will County. It is noteworthy that the case concerns tenants who have been in violation of their lease prior to the current COVID-19 pandemic, and who, unlike their fellow residents, have lived free rent since then.
While the Neighborhood Building Owners Alliance (NBOA) appreciates the struggles that housing providers face during this difficult time in paying for their costs and maintaining their properties, NBOA believes it is always better to work with their residents to find solutions, and to support rental assistance, both of which have been done successfully at the local and statewide level in recent weeks.
The owners of Augie’s Front Burner have decided to close the restaurant after this week.
Saturday will be their last night in business.
The restaurant has been a part of Springfield for more than 22 years.
August “Augie” and Sharon Mrozowski say it is just time to relax and slow things down.
Sharon tells us that closing the restaurant was something they had been considering for quite a while. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, it forced Augie to slow down, which is something he has never done, said Sharon.
