The Donald E. Stephens Convention and Conference Center in Rosemont announced today that they will resume hosting trade shows and public events in July of this year. The announcement follows news that the Auto Show will return to Chicago this summer.
“The Stephens Convention Center is a major economic engine not only for our community but for the State of Illinois,” said Rosemont Mayor Brad Stephens. “This one facility is responsible for $800 million in annual economic impact through everything from hotel stays and restaurant receipts to retail and even gasoline sales.”
The Donald E. Stephens Convention and Conference Center is among the largest such facilities in the United States. Staff and management are prepared to reopen with the health and safety of attendees at the top of mind. The Convention Center will be accredited by the Global Biorisk Advisory Council (GBAC) by the time shows resume. Considered the gold standard in the industry, GBAC accreditation is given to facilities that have established certain cleaning and disinfecting protocols that are carried out by highly trained professionals.
“The health and safety of our attendees is our highest priority,” said Convention Center Executive Director Chris Stephens. “We closely track and follow all best practices and guidance from the CDC and the Illinois Department of Public Health.”
Approximately 30 trade shows and public events are tentatively scheduled between July and the end of the year. With close to 1 million square feet available for shows and events, there is ample space for a limited return to events.
Before the pandemic, the Donald E. Stephens Convention and Conference Center hosted around 70 trade shows and 250 meetings and social events per year. Those shows historically bring as many as 1.5 million people to the region.
“We’re excited to take another step towards normal,” said Mayor Brad Stephens. “It’s good for Rosemont and it’s good for Illinois.”
*** UPDATE *** Another one…
Ken Griffin’s Citadel expects to have most of its U.S. employees back in its offices in Chicago, New York and Greenwich, Connecticut, by June 1, according to a person familiar with the matter. https://t.co/qyzMrxJdA7
— Crain's Chicago Business (@CrainsChicago) May 4, 2021
Tuesday, May 4, 2021 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
A new white paper from the Coalition to Protect Telehealth highlights the impact of access to telehealth services on underserved communities across Illinois, underscoring the importance of passing House Bill 3498 in the Senate. Illinois Telehealth Impact: Prioritizing Healthcare Equity, Access & Quality is the collective effort of the 35 organizations that comprise the Coalition to Protect Telehealth.
The white paper emphasizes that telehealth coverage must not be limited to a segment of services or available only to those who can afford the full cost of telehealth services. During the pandemic, telehealth helped advance health equity by providing more options for healthcare appointments, including phone calls and video visits. According to the white paper, telehealth also creates greater access to healthcare professionals who share a patient’s racial, ethnic or linguistic background.
Seven in 10 Illinois family physicians responding to a recent survey identified telehealth services as helpful specifically for their patients from underserved areas. In a broader survey of Illinois physicians, over half said telehealth is an important tool to expand access to care for patients from underserved areas.
* The Sun-Times editorial board demands that Mayor Lightfoot commit Statehouse political suicide by throwing everything she’s got against an elected school board…
One person must be accountable to recruit superb new leaders. One person must be in charge. That one person should be the city’s elected chief executive, the mayor.
Yeah, well, into every life a little rain must fall.
The Catholic Conference of Illinois is lobbying against proposed tax changes for the 2022 fiscal year that would reduce an income tax credit gained for donations to private scholarships.
In a letter released Tuesday, Cardinal Blase Cupich of the Archdiocese of Chicago joined bishops representing the state’s other five dioceses – administrative districts under the Catholic Church – asking Catholics to call their local legislators and ask them to oppose the measure put forward by Gov. JB Pritzker, which they called “an important matter of public policy and social justice.”
Illinoisans convicted of a drug felony would still be able to access cash welfare assistance under a measure approved by the Illinois House last week.
The proposal marks the fifth attempt State Rep. Mary Flowers (D-Chicago) has made to open Temporary Assistance for Needy Families welfare benefits for Illinoisans with drug felony records. But last week’s vote was the first time the idea actually passed out of the House.
Flowers said recent changes in state drug policy, particularly Illinois’ legalization of recreational marijuana in 2019, convinced her the time was right to try again.
* We didn’t get nearly that intensity in Springfield yesterday, but I happened to arrive at the Stratton just after the alarms went off in the building…
Came to the Stratton to get my COVID test and walked right into a severe weather warning pic.twitter.com/jyudobDAwF
Tuesday, May 4, 2021 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Study Finds Expanding Illinois’ Renewable Energy Program Will
Lower Energy Costs for All Illinois Consumers
• A study by former Illinois Power Agency (IPA) director shows that passing Path to 100 (HB 2640 / SB 1601) will lower energy costs for all ratepayers
• Consumers save more than $1.2 Billion over ten years by fully funding Illinois’ renewable energy program to 40% by 2031
• Path to 100 would create 53,000 new construction jobs
Why more renewables = lower costs:
1. Wind and solar generators have zero fuel costs, so they win wholesale energy auctions and displace more expensive power plants. These savings are passed on to all consumers.
2. Rooftop and community solar reduce peak demand, which reduces the amount of capacity that grid operators need to buy. These savings are passed on to all consumers.
3. Rooftop and community solar customers receive direct savings on their bills.
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 2,211 new confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 19 additional deaths.
Cook County: 1 male 50s, 1 female 70s, 2 males 70s, 1 female 80s, 3 males 80s, 1 male 90s
DuPage County: 1male 70s, 1 female 80s
Franklin County: 1 male 70s
Kane County: 1 male 50s
Lake County: 1 male 80s
Peoria County: 1 female 40s
Rock Island County: 1 male 80s
Sangamon County: 1 male 70s
St. Clair County: 1 female 80s
Will County: 1 male 60s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 1,343,988 cases, including 22,066 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 57,483 specimens for a total of 22,929,518. As of last night, 2,074 individuals in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 493 patients were in the ICU and 262 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from April 27-May 3, 2021 is 3.3%. The preliminary seven-day statewide test positivity from April 27-May 3, 2021 is 4.0%.
The total number of COVID-19 vaccine doses for Illinois is 11,970,775. A total of 9,450,418 vaccines have been administered in Illinois as of last midnight. The seven-day rolling average of vaccines administered daily is 72,613 doses. Yesterday, 40,361 doses were reported administered in Illinois. Data from this weekend from several pharmacies (Walgreens, Albertsons, CVS) is not yet available due to a national outage in the pharmacies system so the doses being reported as administered are likely to be low. The missing doses will be reflected in numbers in the next couple days.
*All data are provisional and will change. In order to rapidly report COVID-19 information to the public, data are being reported in real-time. Information is constantly being entered into an electronic system and the number of cases and deaths can change as additional information is gathered. For health questions about COVID-19, call the hotline at 1-800-889-3931 or email dph.sick@illinois.gov.
Some Republicans in the General Assembly, including House Minority Leader Jim Durkin, are calling for a criminal investigation into the coronavirus-related deaths at the state-run LaSalle Veterans’ Home.
The push for a criminal probe comes after a state investigative report was released Friday that found there were widespread failures at the LaSalle facility and the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs that contributed to 36 resident deaths there since November. […]
“I wouldn’t say we’re at the level of probable cause, but it certainly does warrant further investigation on whether or not criminal negligence did take place because not only were (veterans) injured and became ill, but we did have deaths at that facility,” Durkin, of Western Springs, said at a news conference Friday.
* Excerpt from a Sen. Sue Rezin press release…
In March 2019, the Illinois Auditor General released a performance audit following the deadly Legionnaires’ Disease outbreak at the Quincy Veterans’ Home. While some of the audit’s recommendations explicitly dealt with Legionnaires’ Disease, others dealt with responding to any type of outbreak. Those recommendations were:
Recommendation 3 (Report page 100): Monitoring by IDPH
• “The Illinois Department of Public Health should revisit its policies and determine what response timeframe is adequate to conduct on-site monitoring visits in response to a confirmed outbreak…”
• “The Illinois Department of Public Health should increase communication with the facility’s staff during future outbreaks to ensure that IDPH is aware of the severity of the outbreak.”
Recommendation 4 (Report on page 100): Recommendations by the CDC
• “The Illinois Department of Public Health and the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs should ensure the state facilities, such as the Quincy Veterans’ Home, implement all recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control following confirmed outbreaks…”
The Pritzker Administration ignored every one of these recommendations. According to legislative testimony by IDPH’s chief of staff, the agency had no policy for conducting on-site monitoring visits in response to a confirmed outbreak. The Pritzker Administration did not implement new communication protocols to ensure IDPH was fully aware of the severity of the outbreak since agency personnel failed to arrive on-site for nearly two weeks. Despite the Auditor General’s recommendation, there were no mechanisms to ensure CDC recommendations were being followed at the LaSalle home or any other state-run facility.
“A LaSalle Veterans’ Home nurse summarized the outbreak response by saying, ‘nobody seemed to know what to do,” said Sen Rezin. “Nobody indeed knew what to do at the Veterans’ Home, and nobody cared to do anything about it at the Governor’s Office.”
She makes some good points.
*** UPDATE *** Press release…
Law firm Levin & Perconti is representing more than a dozen families whose loved ones died from COVID-19 following a massive outbreak at the LaSalle Veterans’ Home in November.
A recently released Illinois Dept. of Human Services Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) report documents extensive failures by the facility’s management and executive leadership at the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs, including a lack of proper staff training and an absence of pandemic-specific policies and procedures, as well as the failure to create a specific plan of action in case of an outbreak, even as COVID positivity rates spiked in the surrounding community.
Levin & Perconti, nationally renowned for its work representing victims in nursing home abuse and neglect cases, is pursuing cases on behalf of COVID victims in multiple private nursing homes across the state and recently filed suit on behalf of the family of 90-year-old Richard Cieski, Sr., a Korean War veteran who died as a result of the LaSalle Veterans’ Home outbreak.
“What has been revealed by the OIG report is very much consistent with what we’ve seen at other facilities where these massive outbreaks happened,” said Levin & Perconti partner Michael Bonamarte. “There are well-documented ways to protect nursing home residents from infection, clearly outlined in federal guidelines, but when leaders fail to put those protocols into practice with adequate policies, procedures and training, we see the devastating consequences of those failures. These are predictable and preventable tragedies.”
Bonamarte and the firm are already representing multiple LaSalle Veterans’ families and urge others to come forward to share their loved ones’ stories as well.
“These Illinois veterans and their loved ones deserved better,” Bonamarte said. “We are seeking to hold the responsible IDVA leaders and managers accountable for their failure to protect the elderly veterans in their care. The veterans’ loved ones want to make sure their voices are heard, their loved ones’ legacies of service are honored, and other veterans receive the quality care they deserve.”
Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Tuesday said she plans to fully reopen the city of Chicago with no capacity limits by July 4, potentially opening the door to bigger events and festivals if the city continues to see progress in its COVID-19 numbers. […]
Lightfoot’s plan may sound optimistic, but if current trends hold, the state could move to full reopening under Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s revised plan by early-to-mid June.
“The trends are encouraging, but we must be cautious as we move forward,” said Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike. “As more venues reopen, it is critical that we increase the number of people who are vaccinated. Immunity is how we stop transmission of this virus, but we need greater community immunity and that requires as many of us as possible getting vaccinated as soon as possible.”
The CTU won an agreement with Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s hand-picked board of education in early April to provide vaccinations to high school students and their vulnerable family members. Thousands of those students and family members hail from precisely the Black and Brown neighborhoods that have been most disproportionately hammered by COVID-19 sickness and death — and which continue to struggle to access shots through the Mayor’s ‘hunger games’ approach to vaccine access. Yet CPS has dragged on implementing the program — and rank and file educators are demanding that the mayor’s CPS management team begin working immediately with the Union to get the vaccination program up and running for students and school communities.
The White House on Tuesday told states that coronavirus vaccine supply they leave unordered will become available to other states — the most significant shift in domestic vaccine distribution since President Biden took office, and part of an effort to account for flagging demand in parts of the country.
Three months after Chicago began administering the COVID-19 vaccine to police officers, data from the Chicago Police Department show that only about a quarter of department employees have gotten at least one shot at a city-run site.
The department insists those numbers may be artificially low because they aren’t tracking officers who received the vaccine outside of city-hosted vaccination sites. But in January, the department asked officers if they were interested in getting vaccinated against COVID-19; 38% responded that they were. Since the start of the pandemic, police report more than 3,200 confirmed cases of COVID-19 within the department.
“I think officers are no different than the general population, there is a skepticism. There are unanswered questions when it comes to the vaccine, it rolled out in record time,” said Chicago Fraternal Order of Police president John Catanzara.
Catanzara said there is definitely hesitancy among the rank and file, and admitted he has not yet gotten vaccinated against COVID-19.
“No hurry,” he said. “Some people say I’m too mean to get the virus.”
[Dr. Michael Bauer, medical director at Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital] noted that Israel experienced a dive in COVID-19 infections after the country reached the 40% to 50% range of fully vaccinated residents. “They saw a precipitous drop in the numbers and once they hit 60% they really lowered,” he said.
Three major retail pharmacy chains — Walgreens, Walmart and Sam’s Club — are offering COVID-19 vaccinations to people who walk into their stores without appointments.
New cases of the coronavirus rose 25% in Winnebago County last week. There were also nine deaths from the virus, which is more than the previous three weeks combined.
An analysis of the city’s gunshot detection system released Monday found that nearly 86% of police deployments to alerts of gunfire prompted no formal reports of any crime.
The research, conducted by the MacArthur Justice Center at the Northwestern University School of Law, shows there were more that 40,000 “dead-end deployments” to gunshot alerts recorded between July 2019 and mid-April — an average of 61 each day.
Just 10% of the alerts over that period sent officers on calls that likely involved guns, the researchers found after analyzing records kept by the city’s Office of Emergency Management and Communications. […]
But activists continue to raise concerns about ShotSpotter’s ability to distinguish between gunfire and other loud noises like fireworks. In addition, alarms are being sounded over the technology’s potential to increase the number of highly charged law enforcement interactions in police districts with large minority populations.
“It sends police racing into communities searching, often in vain, for gunfire,” said Jessey Neves, a spokeswoman for the MacArthur Justice Center. “Any resident in the area will be a target of police suspicion or worse. These volatile deployments can go wrong in an instant.”
ShotSpotter has never done a scientifically valid study to determine whether its system can reliably tell the difference between the sound of gunfire and other loud noises like firecrackers, cars backfiring, construction noises, helicopters, and other harmless sounds. […]
The City of Chicago is one of ShotSpotter’s two largest customers, accounting for 18% of its annual revenue in 2020.
Results show that [acoustic gunshot detector systems] simply seem to replace traditional calls for service and do so less efficiently and at a greater monetary cost to departments. Given the tepid results in guiding police to the scenes of crime and given the hidden costs of these systems illustrated here, AGDS might not be well-suited for the audience the technology is marketed toward. High-volume agencies will likely experience substantial increases in their call volumes with remarkably little to show for it, at a cost that might have taxpayers questioning the logic behind the expense. While this technology can be useful, especially from an analytical point of view, it is difficult to see how agencies benefit from expensive technology that increases financial strain on departments with its only discernable impact being fewer founded crime incidents.
Company officials say ShotSpotter improves police relationships with communities by enhancing investigations, more quickly transporting shooting victims to hospitals and responding to gunfire even if no one calls 911, which they say happens in most instances.
“Our technology fills the gap in Chicago and 110 other cities across the United States, helping deploy officers to crime in real-time, saving lives,” ShotSpotter said in a statement.
“I think it’s hard to justify spending $33 million on a tool that sends police hunting for nonexistent gunfire almost nine times out of 10.” [Jonathan Manes of the MacArthur Justice Center said.]
In a press conference Monday, Mayor Lightfoot said the technology plays an important part of the city’s overall crime detection system.
“I’m not confident those numbers are actually accurate, but here’s what I do know; ShotSpotter technology, when coupled with cameras that we have in the SDSC rooms, no question whatsoever is a lifesaver,” she said.
Chicago police uses ShotSpotter technology in 12 of its 22 districts. It led officer Eric Stillman to the area of 24th and South Sawyer before the deadly shooting of 13-year-old Adam Toledo.
In 2018, the City of Chicago entered a $33 million, three-year contract with ShotSpotter. Chicago’s contract with ShotSpotter expires August 19, 2021.
Lightfoot said residents shouldn’t get the idea that the technology is going away.
Stand for Children Illinois has launched a widescale multi-media campaign urging Springfield lawmakers to negotiate a compromise solution for an elected Chicago school board structure that puts students first and on which all sides agree.
The campaign includes a six-figure television buy in the Chicago and Springfield markets, as well as integrated digital, mail, and telephone programs. The campaign urges constituents to reach out to their state senators and representatives and tell them that, when it comes to reforming the Chicago School Board, putting our students first must be their first priority.
It’s time for Springfield to reform the Chicago School Board and politicians and interest groups are facing off with ideas that serve their interests.
Political appointments versus costly elections? A large board or a small board?
Here’s a suggestion: Find a compromise. Choose the best ideas from each side and create a system with diversity, a voice for parents and teachers, and accountability to taxpayers.
Call your legislator. Tell them to support a compromise and put kids over politics.
Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot and Governor J.B. Pritzker today joined elected officials, tourism backers and labor leaders to announce the return of the annual Chicago Auto Show, a marquee event that draws tourists from around the world. While the Auto Show marks the first large convention to take place since the COVID-19 pandemic began, officials expect to welcome other conventions and tourist events this summer with safety precautions.
The Chicago Auto Show will be held at McCormick Place from July 15 to 19 and will incorporate several innovative safety features – including being held indoors and outdoors for the first time since it was held in Chicago in 1901. It is the nation’s largest and longest-running auto show.
“Around this time last year, McCormick Place was turned an alternate care facility that significantly aided our city during the first wave of COVID-19—making today’s announcement all the more special,” said Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot. “In the same spirit of collaboration between government, healthcare, community, and corporate partners, we are now able to bring conventions back to our beloved convention center in a way that is safe and reflective of our progress in slowing and stopping the spread of this virus. I look forward to seeing the McCormick Place reopen its doors for the Chicago Auto Show this July and further enhance our city’s ongoing Open Chicago initiative.”
“With strong public health protocols in place, the Chicago Auto Show will be the first large convention to take place in Illinois since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, setting the stage for the safe return of big events in the months to come,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “The lifesaving power of vaccinations and the hard work by the people of our city and state has led us here. In recent weeks, we have seen our statewide COVID case rates and hospitalizations flatten and begin to fall, demonstrating a surge far short of the one we saw over the fall and winter. To be clear, our fight against the virus isn’t over yet – but things are getting better.”
McCormick Place and the Chicago Auto Show have worked closely with health and tourism officials to detail mitigation strategies to ensure the safety of every attendee, starting with a lower overall capacity for attendees. Among the safety measures in place:
• a move to Hall F in West Building with 470,000 sq ft of indoor space and 100,000 sq ft of outdoor space;
• timed entrance windows and staggered entry to prevent congestion on the show floor and at arrival;
• requirement to wear face masks at all times;
• sanitization stations throughout the event;
• contactless delivery for tickets;
• temperatures will be scanned and a medical questionnaire must be filled out before entry is allowed into the event.
As the State of Illinois prepares to move into the less restrictive “Bridge Phase,” this announcement is also part of the broader “Open Chicago” initiative to safely and fully reopen the city.
Given the continuous downward trend of the COVID-19 numbers, the state of Illinois and City of Chicago have aligned on guidance for conventions returning later this summer. This news follows last week’s announcement of Expanded Phase 4 regulations and the City’s Bridge to Phase 5 of reopening. Chicago has made significant progress in reversing the rise in COVID-19 metrics that started in March and caused the City to pause the reopening plan. Since last week’s announcement, COVID-19 test positivity rate has continued to drop and is now under 5%.
“We have seen steady progress in recent weeks with a downward trend in our leading COVID metrics and more and more people stepping up to get vaccinated, which is so important in getting us out of this pandemic,” said CDPH Commissioner Allison Arwady M.D. “That has made this exciting day possible.”
“The trends are encouraging, but we must be cautious as we move forward,” said IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike. “As more venues reopen, it is critical that we increase the number of people who are vaccinated. Immunity is how we stop transmission of this virus, but we need greater community immunity and that requires as many of us as possible getting vaccinated as soon as possible.”
Statewide, 55 percent of individuals 16 and over and 79 percent of individual 65 and over have been vaccinated, helping bring down increases in new COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. As these metrics continue to stabilize and decline, the state could soon move into the “Bridge Phase” of the Restore Illinois Reopening Plan. For conventions, this will mean events with the lesser of 1,000 people or 60 percent capacity. Following a 28-day period of continued stability or decline in key COVID-19 metrics, the state would then move into Phase 5, with all capacity limits lifted. The State is on track to be in Phase 5 in July.
“From day one, our priority has been to ensure the health of our guests and our employees, and as we re-open we will continue to be relentless in this area,” said Larita Clark, CEO of the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority (MPEA), owner of McCormick Place. “Importantly, these health measures will not take away from the experience. We know that our guests, whether it is a family wanting to check out the new Jeep Bronco or a doctor seeking the latest clinical trial data, come here for a reason. We are glad that we are able to continue to provide the outstanding experience our customers expect without compromising on health and safety.”
Throughout the COVID-19 crisis, McCormick Place has been worked closely with public health officials and followed all guidance regarding meetings and events. In 2020, the entire McCormick Place campus was awarded GBAC STAR accreditation, the gold standard for health and safety in the industry. In January 2021, Choose Chicago and McCormick Place launched Healthy Meetings Chicago, a virtual experience illustrating the new convention experience.
“Prior to COVID, McCormick Place operations generated more than $1.9 billion in economic impact to the city and state,” said Glenn Eden, Chair of the Choose Chicago Board of Directors. “As we take this step forward and move toward reopening, not only is this a positive development for the health of our city, but also for the health of our economy.”
“We stand committed to providing a safe environment for all involved and will carefully adhere to the health and safety protocols and guidelines set forth by city and state officials,” said Dave Sloan, Chicago Auto Show general manager. “McCormick Place is an important economic engine for our city and state, and we take very seriously the responsibility that comes with helping to get it running again.”
Based on the trajectory of public health metrics, officials are confident that the Auto Show and other conventions can be safely held this summer in line with best practices. However, if conditions change significantly in an unforeseen way, these plans will need to be adjusted, including the announced guidelines.
If CDPH or IDPH determines that case rates or hospitalization rates are too high to allow for the events outlined above, the guidelines will be modified.
…Adding… CFL…
The Chicago Federation of Labor released the following statement regarding the return of the Chicago Auto Show this summer:
“The Chicago labor movement is thrilled to welcome the Chicago Auto Show back to McCormick Place this summer,” said CFL President Bob Reiter. “Not only will the Chicago Auto Show put thousands of convention, tourism, and hospitality workers back on the job after an extremely difficult year, but this move demonstrates to the world that Chicago’s economy can and will bounce back from this crisis stronger than ever. I want to thank Mayor Lightfoot, Governor Pritzker, MPEA CEO Larita Clark, Choose Chicago CEO David Whitaker, Chicago Automobile Trade Association President Dave Sloan, and Illinois Hotel and Lodging Association President/CEO Michael Jacobson for their partnership and commitment to bringing the Chicago Auto Show back this summer! This move would not be possible without millions of people across Chicago and Illinois getting vaccinated, so let’s all continue to follow the guidance of public health officials and move forward with reopening our city.”
“The return of the Chicago Auto Show is welcome news to the workers of McCormick Place, countless auto show fans, and the entire city of Chicago,” said CFL Secretary-Treasurer and MPEA Vice Chair Don Villar. “The Auto Show is a beloved tradition that brings fun, excitement, and economic activity to Chicago. While we all need to continue to follow public health guidelines and keep ourselves safe, this move marks a huge step forward in reopening Chicago and will put countless people back to work.”
Tuesday, May 4, 2021 - Posted by Advertising Department
[The following is a paid advertisement.]
Employers in Illinois provide prescription drug coverage for nearly 6.7 million Illinoisans. In order to help keep care more affordable, employers work with pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), who deploy a variety of tools to reduce prescription drug costs and help improve health outcomes. In addition to helping employers, PBMs also work with the Illinois Medicaid program in the same way to help control costs. Over the last five years, PBMs have saved the state and taxpayers nearly $340 million.
Today, Illinois faces a multibillion budget shortfall as more Illinoisans are relying on Medicaid to help meet their health care coverage needs. As legislators work to address these challenges, one way to help ensure continued cost savings is by strengthening the PBM tools that the State and employers use, which are poised to save employers, consumers and the State $39 billion over the next 10 years. These are meaningful savings that will help continue to contain costs, ensure consumer access to medicines and drive savings in public health programs.
Amid a pandemic and economic challenges, now is the time to strengthen, not limit, the tools that employers, consumers and the State rely on to manage costs and ensure consumers can access the medicines they need.
* Chicago City Clerk Anna Valencia, state Sen. Michael Hastings, D-Tinley Park, and Chicago Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd) participated last night in a Zoom event sponsored by Ald. Gilbert Villegas. Alexi Giannoulias said he had a scheduling conflict. From Rachel Hinton’s story…
For Dowell, that includes making transactions “as easy and safe for consumers and employees as possible” and issuing multi-year license plate stickers.
Hastings told those on the call “what matters most to me, is what matters most to you.” He also gave ideas for economic development, such as lowering fees related to starting a business.
Valencia’s vision for the office includes creating an app for taxpayers to make their appointments and pay fees online. She also pledged to boost the state’s libraries, including looking into expanding broadband access and grants. […]
Asked how they’d run a statewide campaign, Hastings said he has the support of colleagues throughout the state. Valencia pointed to connections she made while running U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin’s 2014 re-election campaign that she said could help her build a “diverse coalition” to get elected.
Dowell acknowledged that of the three candidates she was “a little late to the party.
* Gov. Pritzker was asked yesterday if we’ll see an Illinois State Fair this August…
I am very much looking forward to the Illinois State Fair. We’ve obviously been doing all the planning that’s necessary for it. Barring some highly unusual event occurring that would prevent a large gathering, this is a very large outdoor space, if you’ve not been to the State Fair, this is a very large fairgrounds. I think that the IDPH is working with the Department of Agriculture to make sure that people will be safe. So I think we’re gonna have a lot of fun this summer. It’s in August. I hope everybody will come down to Springfield to enjoy it. And then we have a second state fair down in Du Quoin, Illinois, and that also a lot of fun. And, again, an enormous amount of space out there. I think we’ll have a big crowd and everybody will enjoy it.
A new video offers a better look at music icon Prince during one of his most memorable performances: The absolutely blistering guitar solo he pulled off during an all-star rendition of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” at the 2004 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
The moment came during a tribute to George Harrison, who was previously inducted as a member of the Beatles but was being inducted posthumously as a solo artist that year. Prince, then a newly minted member of the Hall of Fame himself, stole the show with a solo that quickly became a career highlight, and it went viral online after his unexpected death in 2016.
Now, Joel Gallen, who produced and directed the event, has released a new cut of the performance.
