* Press release…
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 802 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 37 additional deaths. In addition, 66% of Illinois adults have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose and more than 49% of Illinois adults are fully vaccinated, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Bureau County: 1 male 50s
Carroll County: 1 female 90s
Clinton County: 1 male 70s
Cook County: 1 female 40s, 1 female 50s, 1 male 50s, 1 female 60s, 5 males 60s, 1 female 70s, 1 male 70s, 1 female 80s, 1 male 80s, 1 male 90s
DuPage County: 1 male 60s, 1 male 70s, 1 female 80s
Iroquois County: 1 female 50s
Johnson County: 1 female 80s
Kankakee County: 1 male 80s
Macon County: 1 male 50s, 1 male 80s
Madison County: 1 female 70s
Randolph county: 1 female 80s
Saline County: 1 male 60s
St. Clair County: 1 male 70s
Stephenson County: 1 male 70s
Warren County: 1 female 70s
Whiteside County: 1 female 50s
Will County: 1 female 50s
Williamson County: 1 male 50s
Winnebago County: 1 male 50s, 1 male 60s
Woodford County: 1 female 90s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 1,381,063 cases, including 22,776 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 61,125 specimens for a total of 24,551,788. As of last night, 1,164 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 313 patients were in the ICU and 164 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from May 22-28, 2021 is 1.8%. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from May 22-28, 2021 is 2.2%.
A total of 11,230,429 vaccines have been administered in Illinois as of last midnight. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 55,252 doses. Yesterday, 54,773 doses were reported administered in Illinois.
*All data are provisional and will change. In order to rapidly report COVID-19 information to the public, data are being reported in-time. Information is constantly being entered into an electronic system and the number of cases and deaths can change as additional information is gathered. For health questions about COVID-19, call the hotline at 1-800-889-3931 or email dph.sick@illinois.gov.
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Just FYI: A quick programming note
Saturday, May 29, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* As usual, I’ve been posting press releases and other stuff on our live coverage post today, as well as retweeting things that then show up on the same post. You really should be following that post for all the latest updates throughout the day and into the evening. New blog posts are also announced on the live coverage post. So, click here.
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“I never knew no Godfather”
Saturday, May 29, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* My weekly syndicated newspaper column…
When reading last week’s indictment of Tim Mapes, it’s important to remember that federal prosecutors have been trying to prove that his old boss, former House Speaker Michael Madigan, was directing the effort to allegedly “bribe” him with favors.
Madigan’s longtime chief of staff was indicted on May 26 for allegedly lying to a federal grand jury and attempting to obstruct the grand jury’s corruption investigation.
It says right there in the indictment that the grand jury is investigating “efforts by [Madigan], and efforts of [Madigan’s former consigliere Mike McClain] on [Madigan’s] behalf, to obtain for others private jobs, contracts and monetary payments, in order to influence and reward [Madigan] in connection with [Madigan’s] role as Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives.”
So, they asked Mapes questions about whether Madigan had directed Mike McClain “to perform sensitive tasks,” or whether Madigan had directed McClain to exercise Madigan’s “power and authority,” or whether Madigan or his staff had sought McClain’s advice, or whether McClain had performed work for Madigan or received assignments from him or served as his communications conduit, or whether McClain assisted Madigan “with matters concerning the Illinois House of Representatives, its members, its lobbyists, or with the entities or individuals having pending matters before the Illinois House of Representatives.”
While these are all central questions to the feds’ probe of Madigan, they are not necessarily questions that would criminally implicate Mapes. The government obtained an order from Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer in March to give Mapes immunity for his grand jury testimony. He could respond without incriminating himself.
Anyone with even basic knowledge of the case against Mike McClain would know that the feds had tapped and then seized his phone and his computer. It’s no surprise, therefore, that the FBI possessed numerous conversations between McClain and Mapes, and prosecutors asked Mapes about those convos during the grand jury proceeding.
Did McClain tell Mapes anything he’d discussed with Madigan or what he was doing on behalf of Madigan during 2017-2019? “No,” Mapes said, according to the indictment. Did Mapes know about any “tasks or assignments” for McClain from Madigan in 2017 and 2018 or any time after McClain officially retired from lobbying in 2016? “No.” Etc.
Mapes’ attorneys claim the questions were “vague and imprecise” and were about events that took place “many years ago.”
Maybe some of the questions could’ve been vague, but Tim Mapes was infamous for making it his business to know everything and never seemed to forget anything. He was a detail guy and had a voracious appetite for news and gossip. And the record shows that McClain never made it a secret to almost anyone that he was doing things for Madigan after he supposedly retired from lobbying at the end of 2016.
The feds’ tapes and emails of McClain’s conversations with Mapes himself may have proved just that. As an example, McClain “described to Mapes work and assignments from [Madigan] between 2017 and 2019,” the indictment claimed. Mapes also allegedly provided McClain messages communicated to Mapes from Madigan about tasks McClain was performing “on behalf” of Madigan.
That Mapes would allegedly lie to a grand jury when he most certainly knew what the government had on him is either profoundly stupid and careless or some real-life Hollywood stuff.
“I never knew no Godfather,” Frankie Pentangeli said during his congressional testimony in Godfather Part II. “I was in the olive oil business with his father, but that was a long time ago; that’s all.” Presumably, Mapes’ brother wasn’t sitting in the grand jury room at the time.
It’s natural to be paranoid about the timing of this indictment, coming just five days before the spring session’s adjournment and during a very difficult negotiation over ComEd parent company Exelon’s demand for yet another giant ratepayer subsidy for three more nuclear power plants. The feds have had a habit for a couple of years of announcing indictments at crucial points during Illinois legislative sessions, and this may have been no different. Part of the Madigan probe centers around the 2016 Exelon nuclear bailout, after all.
The indictment contains a single mention of ComEd’s current CEO, although it doesn’t even hint at even a tiny bit of scandal. Mapes was simply asked whether he had any knowledge of Madigan’s “impressions” of the guy. But the feds did throw in that name check, which could make people wonder what the heck is going on because the feds don’t generally toss around names without some sort of purpose — even if that purpose may be chaos.
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[The following is a paid advertisement.]
The Tribune covers Illinois’ renewable energy crisis:
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* I told subscribers about this floor speech early this morning, but I thought you might appreciate the full quote. Rep. Andrew Chesney (R-Freeport) during floor debate last night on the redistricting bill…
To the bill. You know, I understand why my colleagues talk about independent maps. I really do. When we see lawmaker lobbyists we all scratch our heads when we run for for election we say there’s no way you can go the General Assembly vote on a bill and they get paid on the side. So we run for office and we say, yeah, we want an independent map, we want a fair process. I’ve seen members on the other side of the aisle scratch your head, if we had the face mask off it would be a lot better.
But they’re wondering, how the hell do we get tampons in male bathrooms? How does that happen? That’s because you don’t have an independent map.
Sex education today just passed with 60 votes. It’s like a mini HBO porno. How does that happen? It’s because you don’t have independent maps. You need a little balance. Voting booths in county jails. How does that happen? How does that happen? You need to have an independent map, you need to have a fair map. You can’t let politicians, this is what happens when you let politicians pick their voters. They get to vote in county jail. How about for illegal immigrants, the right to vote for their college trustees? That’s legal in Illinois as well.
* Related…
* Excerpts from Illinois House leaders during debate on legislative redistricting bill
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*** UPDATED x1 *** What else happened Friday?
Saturday, May 29, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Sun-Times…
Utilities providing water in Illinois would be required to replace all lead service lines, and schools across the state would need to follow new standards for sex education curriculums under bills that advanced in the General Assembly Friday.
The proposed Lead Service Line Replacement Notification Act would require “water utilities statewide to replace all lead service lines and creates a low-income water assistance program to help fund financial assistance and water projects that include lead pipe replacement,” according to a news release announcing the passage of the bill. […]
After a heated debate, House members passed legislation that would change the state’s sex education curriculum to “provide comprehensive personal health and safety education in kindergarten through the 5th grade and comprehensive sexual health education in the 6th through 12th grades in all public schools.”
Starting in second grade, students would learn to define consent, gender identity and different types of families, including co-habitating and same-sex couples. […]
The state Senate also took up a bill barring law enforcement agencies from stopping, arresting, searching or detaining someone “solely based on an individual’s citizenship or immigration status.”
Republicans objected, saying it would “tie the hands” of law enforcement.
* Capitol News Illinois…
The Illinois Senate passed a bill Friday which would strengthen legal protections for immigrants and require the closure of immigrant detention centers in the state.
Senate Bill 667, known as the Illinois Way Forward Act, would amend the Illinois Transparency and Responsibility Using State Tools, or TRUST, Act, which took effect in 2017.
The bill would prevent state and local law enforcement agencies from collaborating with federal agencies such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or from otherwise inquiring about an individual’s immigration status unless presented with a federal warrant.
* More Sun-Times…
State legislators on Friday passed a long-sought bill aimed at ensuring better racial diversity in the state’s cannabis licensing process.
State senators passed the House bill in a 50 to 3 vote Friday afternoon, sending the measure to Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who later announced he planned to sign it.
The legislation, sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Kimberly Lightford, D-Maywood, attempts to fix Illinois’ recreational cannabis law, creating two additional lotteries of 110 total adult-use license dispensaries “for people who are social equity applicants — i.e. from a Black or Brown community,” according to a news release announcing the passage of the bill. In addition, those applicants won’t be subject to rules requiring dispensaries be located at least 1,500 feet apart.
“Existing dispensary owners, all non-minorities, have already taken many of the prime locations in the state,” Lightford said in a statement. “Dispensary owners from disadvantaged communities deserve a fair chance to make a profit by having access to lucrative business locations and not being locked out by distance requirements.”
Those additional lotteries will be broken in two and consist of 55 licenses each round.
* Crain’s…
Despite strong pushback from business leaders and a series of high-level negotiation sessions, it looks a bill that critics say could endanger Illinois’ data-center boom is teed up for final passage.
As now written, the labor-backed bill would require data centers and their tenants to sign a “labor peace argreement” with a union representing those who work on “but not limited to, pumps, chillers and coolers, fire line safety equipment, backup power generators, building automation system controls and water treatment systems.”
In most cases, that means hiring not only union labor but specific job candidates sent to a company.
After meetings involving Deputy Gov. Dan Hynes and others, sponsors have agreed to delay the effective date of the legislation from shortly after passage until Jan 1. That, as one insider puts it, will give the industry time this summer to “make nice and work something out with” labor, particularly the politically powerful International Union of Operating Engineers.
That isn’t Local 150, by the way. It’s a smaller local.
*** UPDATE *** The amended data-center bill passed the House and heads back to the Senate.
* Related…
* Latino Caucus lays out undocumented immigrant protection agenda
* DCFS reform bills head to governor’s desk
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* MarketWatch…
A measure of business conditions in the Chicago region had another strong reading in May, reaching its highest level in 47 years, a trade group said Friday.
The Chicago Business Barometer, also known as the Chicago PMI, jumped to 75.2 in May from 72.1, which had been the highest reading since December 1983.
Economists polled by the Wall Street Journal forecast decline to a 68 reading.
Readings over 50 signal expansion.
The surveyed economists apparently read the Tribune editorial page.
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Remap roundup
Saturday, May 29, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* WBEZ…
Illinois Democrats pushed through their plans Friday night to redraw the district boundaries of the state legislature, state Supreme Court and the Cook County Board of Review – despite objections from Republicans and groups concerned with minority representation.
Movement on the politically-charged political remap, which could lock in Democratic majorities in the General Assembly and the state’s high court for the next decade, dominated a busy legislative day in Springfield as a planned Monday adjournment looms with a stack of still-unfinished business.
The state Senate and, later, the House both approved new legislative maps on partisan roll calls with the top Democrat in the Senate insisting the new political boundaries reflect the true demographic face of Illinois.
“These are fair maps that live up to our promise to reflect the diversity of this state,” said Senate President Don Harmon, D-Oak Park.
* Tribune…
The delay in the census, in part due to the pandemic and also due to unsuccessful efforts by the Trump administration to avoid counting noncitizens, is at the center of the debate over the Democratic efforts to redraw state and federal political districts.
“We would not be here if Donald Trump’s Commerce Department had even a passing interest — even a passing interest — in an accurate and a prompt census,” Senate President Don Harmon, an Oak Park Democrat, said over audible groans from Republicans on the Senate floor.
* Daily Herald…
The admission that some districts were drawn for political reasons ignited a debate on the House floor about whether an independent commission should have been created. On the floor, Mazzochi called out Democrats who once supported an amendment to create an independent mapmaking panel: Conroy, Terra Costa Howard of Glen Ellyn, Kathleen Willis of Addison, Michelle Mussman of Schaumburg and Stephanie Kifowit of Oswego.
“Many in this room finally have a chance to put their vote where their mouth is and keep their promises to their districts,” Mazzochi said.
Kifowit called the Republicans’ argument “smoke and mirrors” in her floor statement, saying Democrats draw the map because they are the ones who win the votes in Illinois.
“Instead of putting up a smoke screen and talking about how this map is something, this map is just a snapshot in time,” Kifowit said. “The party is what connects with voters, represents the voters and therefore gets elected by the voters. That is the true essence of being an elected official.”
* Sun-Times…
“Transparency is important in our government, and we have had ample time to alert the public about a variety of measures that will be undertaking today, and we have chosen, in every step of the process, to obfuscate the intentions to operate in secrecy and deprive the people of the state of Illinois, or in this case the people, the great people of Cook County, the opportunity to weigh in on to this subject and many more,” said state Rep. Ryan Spain, R-Peoria.
During their debate on the bills, Republicans questioned their colleagues across the aisle, but some of their questions — like who drew the maps — were met by Democrats who at times answered, “I don’t know.” […]
State Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago, said Republicans were “trying to run [out] the clock and gamble on a random drawing.”
“Let’s not pretend that the folks on the other side of the aisle — if the roles were reversed —would be doing anything differently,” Cassidy said.
* Capitol News Illinois…
Lawmakers also approved new maps for the Supreme Court districts outside of Cook County.
The Illinois Constitution requires that those districts have “substantially equal” populations, but the district maps have not been redrawn since the early 1960s.
Voters in those districts also elect judges for the appellate courts. Each of those districts also elects a justice for the Illinois Supreme Court.
Democrats currently have a 4-3 majority on the Supreme Court. But last year, Justice Thomas Kilbride, a Democrat from the 3rd District covering north-central Illinois, lost his bid for retention, setting up an open race in 2022.
* WCIA…
Representative Jay Hoffman said it was the Legislature’s constitutional duty to draw the map. He cited house republican spending on the redistricting political battle while questioning where their version of the map is.
“I have a 4 year old grandson,” Hoffman said. “He draws with Crayons. He’s drawn a better map than you guys have. You didn’t even put one together.”
* Center Square…
Several Democrats characterized Republicans as not working on changes to help disadvantaged communities, but Republicans countered Democrats are ignoring the voices of a broad array of ethic and religious minority groups who want the maps based on accurate data.
State Rep. Blaine Wilhour, R-Beecher City, criticized the origins of the bill hinting at the poor economic performance and gerrymandering under Democratic control.
“I too found the (original) title of this bill very peculiar,” Wilhour said. “Cemetery oversight … I don’t know if it was a hat tip to your voting block or a premonition of Illinois’ future under your leadership.”
* Tribune…
Illinois lawmakers are likely to push back next year’s March primary election until June because of delays in receiving U.S. Census data they will use to draw new state congressional districts, three sources familiar the plan confirmed Friday.
Under the timeline for the currently scheduled March 15, 2022 primary, candidates could begin circulating their nominating petitions to appear on the ballot at the end of August, with filing set to begin on Nov. 22. If lawmakers don’t approve a congressional map until sometime in the fall, as expected, that would leave little time to qualify for the ballot under the current timetable.
The detailed census data that is usually used for the every-decade process of redrawing political boundaries is not expected until at least mid-August, delays due in large part to the pandemic as well as efforts by former President Donald Trump’s administration to eliminate noncitizens from the count.
While the state constitution sets a June 30 date for state legislative mapmaking, no such deadline exists for drawing up a congressional map. Challenges in federal court to new congressional map lines over issues like federal voting rights violations and one-person, one-vote requirements, are much more likely if the boundaries are drawn with estimated survey data rather than actual specific census figures.
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Saturday open thread
Saturday, May 29, 2021 - Posted by Rich Miller
* I don’t expect a huge number of comments today, so blogging will be condensed and light, but I hope to keep it timely. Anyway, I really thought Leader Hoffman was going to launch into another Willie story yesterday, but no such luck…
How’s your weekend going?
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