* Good question…
* Marni Pyke at the Daily Herald…
Power shifts at the Illinois tollway are raising “who’s on first” questions from at least one state lawmaker after the board recently voted to delegate authority to Chairman Will Evans to reorganize departments and administrators’ duties.
The decision on Oct. 21 has resulted in significant changes in leadership responsibilities, according to tollway documents.
For example, the chief financial officer, who oversees important functions such as budgeting and securing loans, previously reported to Executive Director Jose Alvarez.
Now, however, CFO Cathy Williams reports to Evans as well as Alvarez. In addition, the chief procurement and compliance officer and the head of the information technology department will now report to Williams, not Alvarez.
* Back to Hannah…
In the next few days after the reorganization, two of Alvarez’s former direct reports, Chief Administrative Officer Kimberly Ross and Chief Procurement Compliance Officer Dee Brookens separated from the Tollway. Rozek declined to confirm the pair were terminated from their jobs, but said they no longer work for the agency.
Alvarez now only has one direct recruit: the Tollway’s chief operating officer, who now directly oversees many of the eight executive staff positions Alvarez used to oversee. The chief financial officer, now overseen by Evans, will also directly manage the Tollway’s chiefs of IT and business systems — two positions Alvarez also no longer oversees.
Rozek said that’s another move for better oversight.
“It is beneficial to have all “Order to Cash” operations tightly integrated with the Finance team, and in the Tollway’s case, Procurement, IT and Business Systems are a major part of these operations,” Rozek said in a statement.
* And…
Hopefully, Hannah and Marni can figure out what the heck is going on.
* Meanwhile…
Gov. J.B. Pritzker ousted the chair of the Illinois State Police Merit Board just days after a new executive director was appointed, the latest shake-up at the agency that oversees hiring, promotions and discipline at the department.
The Democratic governor late Friday withdrew his request for the Senate to confirm Andrew Berlin for reappointment as chair, ending his service on the board immediately. […]
Pritzker booted Berlin only days after the five-member merit board he chaired had promoted Emily Fox, the agency’s program director, to the role of executive director.
Fox succeeded Jack Garcia, a former Illinois State Police deputy director who joined the merit board in 2017 and just recently left to become public safety director in southwest suburban Burbank. […]
In September, Jenny Thornley, the board’s finance officer, was indicted on theft, forgery and official misconduct charges alleging she stole between $10,000 and $100,000 by pumping up her paycheck with unauthorized overtime. She has pleaded not guilty.
* Related…
* Illinois tollway reaps rating benefit from state upgrade, traffic recovery: Ahead of the sale, Moody’s Investors Service raised the rating to Aa3 from A1 and assigned a stable outlook to the deal and $6.4 billion of outstanding bonds. Fitch Ratings and S&P Global Ratings affirmed the agency’s AA-minus rating and stable outlook.
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Question of the day
Tuesday, Nov 2, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* News reporter at WBAP/KLIF…
This was yet another bizarro QAnon thing.
* NBC News reporter…
* The Question: Aside from Abe Lincoln, what deceased Illinois statesperson would you most like to meet? Please explain your response.
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* NBC 5 story on Gov. Pritzker talking about the mask mandate today…
“We look at the numbers, I talk to the doctors at IDPH, especially [IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike], and what we’re trying to evaluate is: are the hospitalization numbers, for example, increasing, decreasing, staying the same?” Pritzker said. “We want them to decrease. They’re not currently, just to be clear.”
Pritzker noted the new hospitalizations remain flat across the state.
“That is not a good sign,” he said. “That’s not what’s happened in previous dips from surges. We went down for a while here, but now we’ve leveled out at a level that is much higher than the summer. And so the question is, is that just a temporary situation? Are we going to start heading downward in those numbers?” […]
“The second, of course, is the the number of vaccinations,” Pritzker said. “You know, just watching, are we actually protecting people more and more? Are they getting their first shots? Are people getting vaccinated and are boosters widespread, particularly among older people? Because that’s where we’ve seen breakthrough, you know, disease has sometimes taken lives at a higher rate than in other age groups. And so we want to make sure that boosters are getting out there, especially to seniors in long-term care facilities or a nursing home. So this is all in the mix of consideration.”
He then said this…
Most importantly, of course, just overall, if hospitalizations are heading downward, if the number of people in the hospital with COVID-19 is heading downward, that’s a really good sign. It means that we’re, getting more and more optimistic about removing indoor mask mandates outside of the schools.
“Outside of the schools.” He’s apparently not giving in on that one.
* OK, the last time Pritzker lifted the mask mandate was on May 17 [for vaccinated people following CDC guidelines] and then on June 11 [for everyone]. Hospitalizations on May 17 were 1,503, down from a peak of 2,160 on April 16. They were at 784 on June 11. Hospitalizations continued to fall, bottoming out at 400 on July 2nd.
Then the delta variant started spreading and hospitalizations began rising again in late July and early August. Pritzker reimposed the mask mandate on August 27th.
Hospitalizations peaked at 2,346 on September 9. They were at 1,274 yesterday, which is lower than when Pritzker lifted the mask mandate [for vaxed people] in May, but well above the June 11 number. Pritzker’s right that the indicator has plateaued for the past couple of weeks or so.
As far as vaccines go, we hit a seven-day average low of about 19,000 vaxes per day in mid-September. Aside from a brief dip, that average is now up to about 60,000 per day, but I’m guessing lots of those are boosters. IDPH doesn’t break down its daily totals into categories of who’s getting what.
Anyway, get your shots, people. According to IDPH, just 0.035 percent of the state’s fully vaccinated population has wound up in the hospital. It’s your best bet.
* Meanwhile, one of Tom DeVore’s TROs has been dissolved…
November 2, 2021 COVID Update from our Superintendent stating the reinstatement of mask requirement at the Hillsboro Community Schools starting tomorrow, November 3, 2021.
Posted by Hillsboro Community School District No. 3 on Tuesday, November 2, 2021
Masks work.
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* Daily Herald…
A judge denied a preliminary injunction for six Naperville firefighters who are suing the city, Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Edward-Elmhurst Health over a COVID-19 vaccine and testing mandate.
Judge John R. Blakey made the ruling Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, deciding the mandate will stay in place for the firefighters. After Blakey issues his ruling in writing in the next 10 days, Jonathan Lubin, the attorney for the firefighters, will have the opportunity to appeal. […]
Also at Monday’s hearing, Blakey discussed the possibility of reassigning two similar lawsuits, one against the city of Chicago and another against Cook County, so all three lawsuits could be heard by Blakey. Consultation with the judges in the other lawsuits, though, first needs to occur.
* Meanwhile, at the local level…
Meh.
* It’s actually a pretty good opinion and follows the law…
Both sides, the City and the police unions, make compelling arguments rooted in public policies that favor their respective positions. The City reminds us that the COVID pandemic has presented the worst public health crisis in over a century with a staggering loss of life and untold human suffering. But out of that crisis has come a remarkable scientific achievement: lifesaving vaccines that are both safe and effective. The City’s vaccination policy represents a legitimate (indeed laudable) effort to protect the health of its employees as well as the public at large. All true.
The police unions argue that their right to engage in collective bargaining and pursue grievances in arbitration is deeply rooted in the public policy of the state of Illinois. The Illinois Public Labor Relations Act enacted expressly provides as much:
It is the purpose of this Act to prescribe the legitimate rights of both public employees and public employers, to protect the public health and safety of the citizens of Illinois, and to provide peaceful and orderly procedures for protection of the rights of all.
Indeed, in approving the Senate bill that would become the Public Labor Relations Act, Governor James R. Thompson declared collective bargaining a “fundamental right.”
The Illinois Appellate Court has further recognized police officers and other public safety employees are prohibited from striking in exchange for the promise of an effective mechanism for resolving labor disputes.
This case then presents two competing public interests, but one interest need not be scuttled in favor of another. The City’s public health objective and the police union’s desire to pursue their grievances are not wholly irreconcilable. I do not credit any suggestion that the City’s vaccination policy is anything other than an effort to safeguard the health of its employees. Likewise, I do not accept that the police unions’ grievances and alternate proposals are anything other than an effort to protect their members. Indeed, the labor movement has a proud history of advocating for measures to protect the health and safety of workers. It is worth remembering that in the darkest days of the pandemic and the months that followed, when I worked remotely in the safety of my home, the men and women of the Chicago Police Department showed up to work. It should be no surprise then as the City tells us that COVID was the leading cause of death among police in the United States in 2020 and 2021. In light of that terrible sacrifice, the police unions’ request just to have their grievances heard seems a pretty modest ask. […]
Mindful that judicial intervention in labor disputes is disfavored, my intention is to enter the narrowest possible order to preserve the unions’ right to a meaningful arbitration. The balance of the City’s vaccination policy remains fully in effect, including the reporting and testing obligations.
A lesser remedy would be to order the parties to arbitrate the unions’ grievances on an expedited basis, i.e., before December 31. The appellate court has done just that on at least one occasion. The City, however, tells me that I cannot lawfully order expedited arbitration since, under the collective bargaining agreements, such a proceeding must be mutually agreed. The City’s counsel suggested at oral argument that it might be possible to arbitrate the grievances before December 31, 2021, but that is a matter for the parties to resolve among themselves. So, the only remedy left to protect the unions’ right to meaningful arbitration is to stay compliance with the December 31 vaccination requirement until such time as the arbitration is complete. The effect of this Order is to send these parties back to the bargaining table and to promote labor peace by allowing them to pursue the remedies provided for in the Illinois Public Labor Relations Act. The City has it within its own power to avoid any burden, harm, or inconvenience occasioned by this Order simply by pursuing an accelerated arbitration.
That is exactly right and it’s what the state is doing with AFSCME at this moment: Bargain it in good faith, and if there’s an impasse send it to arbitration. The likelihood of the FOP or AFSCME winning in arbitration doesn’t appear to be all that high, as the federal case at the top of this post would indicate. But the state is doing it by the book and the city is just kinda winging it.
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* Not really my sort of story, but I couldn’t resist…
A Northwest Indiana school corporation is suing its former legal counsel for allegedly advising district officials they could receive additional Indiana tuition support payments by enrolling students who live in Illinois.
In January, the State Board of Accounts demanded the South Newton School Corp. repay $751,907.53 distributed to the district by the Indiana Department of Education (IDOE) between 2014 and 2020 to cover the instructional costs for students district officials knew were living in Illinois.
According to the State Board of Accounts, Indiana law permits out-of-state students to attend schools in the Hoosier State, but only if they pay the full cost of their attendance.
[Insert Nelson Muntz “HaHa!” gif here]
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Push to end car air freshener law
Tuesday, Nov 2, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* I don’t think I even knew this law existed, and hadn’t considered that it could be used as a pretext to pull someone over. Interesting…
Democrat candidate for Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias and State Rep. LaShawn Ford want to repeal an existing state law, which prohibits hanging items from a vehicle’s rear view mirror that often serve as a pretext for racially motivated traffic stops.
Illinois is one of just a handful of states that ban items from hanging from a vehicle’s rear view mirror or affixed to a windshield on the grounds that they obstruct a motorist’s vision. The current law allows police to stop motorists for minor vehicle code offenses, but in many cases those encounters can lead to verbal or physical confrontations with deadly consequences.
“Amending the current law will result in greater equity on the road and improve relationships between police and community by eliminating discriminatory traffic stops,” said Giannoulias, the former State Treasurer. “Pulling someone over for merely having an air freshener attached to their rear view mirror is not only archaic, it’s ridiculous. Prohibiting traffic stops that encourage discriminatory practices will ultimately make our streets safer for drivers and police officers.”
Representative Ford (D-8) has spearheaded changes in the law and is working with Giannoulias to sponsor legislation in the General Assembly’s spring session that would amend the Illinois Vehicle Code to abolish the air freshener law.
“We need to do everything we can to reduce the need for police interactions with people for non-violent and non-threatening violations,” Ford said. “There is no reason for police to pull over a vehicle just because they have an air freshener on their mirror or for many other minor infractions. Making this change in the law is too important to wait because it’s a safety issue for both the public and law enforcement. Law enforcement is overworked and understaffed. Springfield must use taxpayers’ resources wisely to catch the violent criminals that make all our communities less safe by repealing laws like the air freshener ban.”
Records show that police pull over a disproportionate number of drivers of color for minor traffic violations and result in motorists being unfairly stopped and searched for Driving While Black. Figures released by the state last summer show Black drivers and pedestrians in Illinois are close to three times more likely than whites to be stopped by police.
As part of his campaign, Giannoulias is also working with Representative Ford in seeking to push additional legislation that would curtail the use of pretextual stops for other low-level infractions that have disproportionately targeted Black and Latino motorists.
Other states and municipalities are taking similar action. In October, the Philadelphia City Council passed the Driving Equality Bill with the support of local law enforcement. The new ordinance classifies several offenses — including improperly displayed registration or emission stickers — as “secondary violations” that police cannot use as the sole reason for pulling over motorists. Violators of these infractions would still receive citations, but tickets would be mailed to the driver’s residence instead.
Chicagoan Daunte Wright was killed earlier this year in Minnesota after a police officer mistook her gun for a taser after pulling Wright over for having an air freshener hanging from the rearview mirror of his vehicle. Former Illinois resident Sandra Bland in Texas and Walter Scott in South Carolina each died following encounters with police involving pretextual stops.
Giannoulias and Representative Ford made clear that these efforts would not prohibit law enforcement officers from making legitimate public safety stops, especially in cases of reasonable suspicion or if the driver is suspected in criminal activity.
* There are those who want to end the use of police for traffic stops altogether…
On a hot June evening in Berkeley, California, last year, while his groceries sweated on the couch, 24-year-old Darrell Owens sent a tweet that changed his city.
“Traffic enforcement needs to be totally removed from the police …” it began.
Just a few weeks earlier, Owens had watched George Floyd being murdered in an intersection and had joined in the protests. The Berkeley city council had since promised police reform. But Owens, who, at 6 foot 6, is known by one city-council member as the “youngest, tallest, and only Black” regular attendee of transportation-commission meetings, had been stewing on a more specific idea. His Twitter thread laid out his argument for transforming law enforcement by transforming city streets: “I prefer license plate cameras … and mailed tickets over: ‘ok make sure nobody does anything that justifies this cop pumping 4 rounds of lead into me.’”
To his surprise, the city responded. A council member retweeted his thread. A month later, the city council passed “BerkDOT,” a first-in-the-nation measure to shift traffic enforcement to unarmed Department of Transportation workers.
In the summer of 2020, cities across America made similar commitments: to curtail the use of force, shrink police budgets, and fund fleets of civilian officers. But Berkeley was the first to target the traffic cop. By doing so, it is rethinking police power at its root.
Traffic stops are by far the most common reason that police officers initiate contact with members of the public; they account for 84 percent of encounters, according to data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics. In fact, before cars, ordinary citizens rarely came in contact with law enforcement. As we rebuilt cities around the automobile, historians contend, drivers came to expect to be policed. And communities of color have paid the highest price.
In Berkeley, Black drivers are six times as likely to be stopped as white drivers, and four times as likely to be searched. Stops for minor infractions––a broken taillight, speeding––are also more likely to turn deadly for Black and brown drivers, as the deaths of Philando Castile, Sandra Bland, and Daunte Wright illustrated.
* Chicago Ald. Nick Sposato kinda let the cat out of the bag last month…
“When you get pulled over, anybody can get out of a ticket. All you have to do is cooperate with the police,” Sposato said. “White people just know how to talk their way out of a ticket. They just cooperate.”
Aside from the shady nature of the companies involved, that’s one reason so many people hate red light and speed cams. They can’t talk their way out of those tickets.
* Related…
* The data doesn’t lie: Traffic stops reveal age-old biases in Chicago policing: In Evanston this week, an advisory panel appointed by Mayor Daniel Biss proposed a prohibition on traffic stops based on equipment, license plate or registration violations, and an end to so-called “consent” searches—instead requiring a warrant or probable cause.
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* Kelly Bauer of Block Club Chicago and David Jackson of the BGA…
The FBI is investigating Loretto Hospital’s COVID-19 vaccination program following reports that doses went to ineligible people with ties to hospital administrators, government records show.
Two federal grand jury subpoenas were issued to the Illinois Department of Public Health in May and September after Block Club Chicago revealed the hospital vaccinated ineligible people at Chicago’s Trump Tower, where Loretto’s chief financial officer, Dr. Anosh Ahmed, lived, as well as a luxury jewelry shop and a high-end Gold Coast steakhouse where Ahmed hung out.
The subpoenas, issued “pursuant to an official criminal investigation,” seek patient records and other documents over a two-day period in March when Chicagoans were scrambling to secure scarce vaccination appointments.
Loretto administrators did not respond to requests for comment.
The subpoenas represent demands for records and information and made no allegations of wrongdoing against any Loretto official. They also do not spell out the scope of the grand jury investigation or its targets.
Still, those documents signal a new depth to the turmoil swirling around the small safety-net hospital on the West Side. The Illinois Attorney General’s Office is already investigating the hospital following reports from Block Club and the Better Government Association that revealed one of Ahmed’s friends won contracts worth $4 million from the nonprofit hospital while Loretto board members took hospital-funded Caribbean trips, among other benefits.
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* Politico…
Rep. Bill Foster has taken his concerns about the latest congressional map to his supporters. In a fundraising letter, he said, “Last week new Illinois maps were released, and frankly the results don’t look great for me: My existing 11th District was cut into four pieces. The main city, Aurora, which has stayed with me through thick and thin throughout my political career, was cut in two. Our second major Democratic city, Joliet, was transferred entirely into another district. Our third city, Naperville where I live, remains split in two. Conservative rural areas more than an hour away replaced much of the missing population from the loss of these cities.”
He adds, “most worryingly… our Democratic senator and governor only received 48 percent of the vote in this new district — the worst performance of any Democratic district in Illinois.” With that, he says, he needs supporters’ financial help.
* According to Scott Kennedy’s analysis, Pritzker and Duckworth both won the district…
But Foster’s right that his new district won’t be an easy win, so he had better work extra hard and maybe spend less time out of state.
*** UPDATE *** McHenry County Blog…
U.S. Army Major Michael D. Pierce (ret.) of Naperville filed an amended Statement of Candidacy with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to challenge Congressman Foster’s reelection for an 8th term in Congress.
Pierce, who grew up in Elgin, Aurora and Kankakee, established roots in DuPage County when he enrolled in school at North Central College in Naperville in 1983, and voted in his first election in 1984 in DuPage County.
While working his way through school, Pierce was a youth minister in Ingalls Park (by Joliet), Genoa (DeKalb County) and in Aurora.
After graduating from North Central College in 1988, Pierce was an assistant cross country track coach at UIC for a season, and also coached track at the Illinois Math and Science Academy among other employment at that time.
Pierce enlisted in the U.S. Army in the early 1990s. After his first years as an enlisted man, he was recommended for Officer Candidate School, and earned his officer commission.
Retiring from the Army after 20 years, including a 15-month deployment to Iraq, Pierce published a book on organizational leadership and did project work for the Department of Defense.
McHenry County Blog has learned Pierce will be appearing November 14 with On Target Radio Show at 9PM CST to discuss his candidacy with hosts David Lombardo, and co-host Gretchen Fritz.
Other media appearances will be shared as information becomes available.
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