The Judge Judy for Illinois Supreme Court campaign called upon David Overstreet to explain why he allowed the sexual predator of a 6-year-old child back on the streets. The case involves Jerad Peoples, who was convicted of molesting the 6-year-old little girl over the course of four years. Peoples was convicted by a Marion County judge and sentenced to 35 years in prison. He spent 3 years at Big Muddy Prison, and because of Overstreet’s ruling, Peoples is now free, his conviction vacated, and he does not have to register as a sex offender.
“David Overstreet owes the people of Southern Illinois an explanation for why he released a child molester from jail as an unregistered sex offender. The victim and their family have been through enough,” Cates said. “David Overstreet sits silent, hoping that the people of Southern Illinois do not demand an explanation for why he agreed to release a child molester who is now walking the streets,” Cates added.
“David Overstreet is trying to distract voters by making false claims that I am supported by Mike Madigan. I have accepted ZERO dollars from Madigan and his organization. I will go on record to say that I think Mike Madigan should step down from his position because of the obvious corruption that surrounds him. Madigan and I have not been friends and I do not believe in politics in the courtroom,” stated Justice Judy Cates. “And Overstreet claims I pose in my hunting gear, but he knows the truth, that I hunt and fish for my hobbies,” Cates added. “I have challenged Overstreet to a shootout, but he refuses to meet me at a gun range or even show the people that he has a FOID card,” she said.
The campaign acknowledges that David Overstreet rendered this opinion, but he cannot run from his judicial record of releasing this criminal back into our communities, allowing him to continue to terrorize the victim and her family. “This is a prime example of why a judge needs experience. I was a prosecutor and am horrified that some news outlets feel bad for the predator, who took Tylenol in order to avoid his trial,” Cates explained. “But it is the child who was the victim, not Peoples. The Judge Judy Cates for Supreme Court Campaign hopes the victim and her family will speak out or come forward. “Overstreet can try to attack my record, but Jared Peoples is right next to you, shopping at your local grocery store. I do not support Mike Madigan and believe he should resign. Judge Overstreet cannot run from his record with lies,” Cates said.
Governor Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) are announcing COVID-19 resurgence mitigations will be implemented in Region 5, in Southern Illinois, beginning at 12:01 a.m. on Thursday, October 22, 2020. The region is seeing a 7-day rolling average test positivity rate of 8 percent or above for three consecutive days, which exceeds the threshold set for establishing mitigation measures in the region under the state’s Restore Illinois Resurgence Plan.
The administration continues to work aggressively to support small businesses impacted by the ongoing pandemic, distributing $24.6 million in emergency grants and assistance to businesses and communities in Region 5 alone. Businesses in the region will also receive priority consideration for the current round of Business Interruption Grants as a result of the additional mitigations. Region 5 includes Marion, Jefferson, Wayne, Edwards, Wabash, Perry, Jackson, Franklin, Williamson, Saline, Hamilton, White, Gallatin, Union, Johnson, Pope, Hardin, Alexander, Massac, and Pulaski counties.
In response to the recent increase in cases in all 11 regions across Illinois, Governor Pritzker and the administration will resume daily weekday press conferences to ensure transparency as the state continues to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
“While we continue to see a safer pandemic landscape than back in the Spring – in terms of positivity, hospital capacity, and community spread – and safer than much of the Midwest, things have changed,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “Every region of the state has started to move in the wrong direction. Cases, positivity rates, hospitalizations and deaths are rising statewide. Experts have predicted for months that the country could see a resurgence of the virus as temperatures get colder and more people spend more time inside. Here in Illinois, it looks like a new wave could be upon us. To be clear, ours will not be one of the states that takes no action in response to rising cases, hospitalizations and deaths. We will follow public health recommendations to bring our numbers down, save our economy and let more of our kids go to school.”
“We are seeing an alarming trend as the number of COVID-19 cases increases, but we are not helpless to change the trajectory,” said IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike. “Your actions matter. If you wear your mask and keep you distance from others, you help stop the spread of the virus. Your actions also matter if you don’t wear your mask and you are around numerous other people not wearing masks at a large event. You become part of the reason the virus spreads. Help us reduce the spread of the virus so restaurants can stay open, so kids can go to schools, and so loved ones can visit family in long-term care facilities.”
“Southern Illinoisans are known for rising above challenges,” said Dr. Craig Davis, System Director of Hospitalist Medicine at Southern Illinois Healthcare. “I can recall countless examples of powerful community when we set aside differences and work together. Today, we’re in a healthcare crisis that continues to escalate; we’re losing family, friends and neighbors. My appeal to each of you is simple. Wear a mask. Pause large gatherings. Practice social distancing. Wash your hands frequently. Please consider these short-term sacrifices for the greater good. The enemy is disease, not each other.”
Mitigation measures taking effect October 22 in Region 5 include:
Bars
No indoor service
All outside bar service closes at 11:00 p.m.
All bar patrons should be seated at tables outside
No ordering, seating, or congregating at bar (bar stools should be removed)
Tables should be 6 feet apart
No standing or congregating indoors or outdoors while waiting for a table or exiting
No dancing or standing indoors
Reservations required for each party
No seating of multiple parties at one table
Restaurants
No indoor dining or bar service
All outdoor dining closes at 11:00 p.m.
Outside dining tables should be 6 feet apart
No standing or congregating indoors or outdoors while waiting for a table or exiting
Reservations required for each party
No seating of multiple parties at one table
Meetings, Social Events, Gatherings
Limit to lesser of 25 guests or 25 percent of overall room capacity
No party buses
Gaming and Casinos close at 11:00 p.m., are limited to 25 percent capacity, and follow mitigations for bars and restaurants, if applicable
These mitigations do not currently apply to schools.
Support for small businesses has been one of the central features of the Pritzker administration’s COVID-19 response. Since March, the administration has launched a menu of small business and community relief programs – with over $500 million in grants and programs launched by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO), including emergency hospitality grants, a downstate small business stabilization program, Fast Track Capital, and more.
DCEO is also actively processing reimbursements for local governments impacted by COVID-19 via the state’s local CURES program. All eligible Region 5 governments can submit their certification to the department and begin submitting reimbursement requests. For more information on programs available for businesses and communities, please visit DCEO’s website.
In the coming days, IDPH will continue to track the positivity rate in Region 5 to determine if mitigations can be relaxed, if additional mitigations are required, or if current mitigations should remain in place. If the positivity rate averages less than or equal to 6.5% for three consecutive days, then Regions 5 will return to Phase 4 mitigations under the Restore Illinois Plan. If the positivity rate averages between 6.5% and 8%, the new mitigations will remain in place and unchanged. If the positivity rate averages greater than or equal to 8% after 14 days, more stringent mitigations can be applied to further reduce spread of the virus.
Currently two of the state’s 11 regions have positivity rates above the public health department’s 8% threshold for resurgence mitigations. Region 1, home to Rockford, Dixon and Galena, is currently operating under additional mitigations as the region continues to report a 7-day rolling positivity rate above 8%. Tightened mitigations were implemented on October 3 and the region has continued to see test positivity climb at a consistent pace. However, hospital admissions in the area have stabilized after a period of growth.
As part of the administration’s robust response to the pandemic, the state continues to strengthen its nation-leading testing operation. Illinois is averaging more than three times the testing than the average state. Testing is readily available throughout the state, and the vast majority of test results are returned within an actionable period. Moving forward, testing remains a critical step to reduce the spread of the virus, given that a positive test result begins the contact tracing process and can prevent further spread in communities.
In addition to testing, IDPH continues to monitor each region in the state for several key indicators to identify early, but significant increases of COVID-19 transmission in Illinois, potentially signifying resurgence. Indictors include an increase in the region’s positivity rate with a simultaneous increase in either hospital admissions for COVID-like-illness or a decrease in hospital capacity, or three consecutive days of greater than or equal to 8% test positivity rate (7-day rolling average). These indicators can be used to determine whether additional community mitigation interventions are needed for a region to prevent the further spread of COVID-19.
A full list of mitigation measures pertaining to some businesses and industries may be found on the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) website at www.dceocovid19resources.com/restore-illinois.
* The governor will announce at his 2:30 press conference in Jackson County that he intends to go back to holding daily press conferences on COVID-19. Pritzker stopped doing press conferences when the state moved to Phase 4 in June.
“It’s bad out there,” said one administration official, pointing to recent positivity spikes around the state. The CovidExitStrategy.org website reports that Illinois is one of several states that have entered the “Uncontrolled Spread” stage. Despite all this, opponents appear to be growing louder.
Pritzker has said, however, that a new statewide stay at home order is not in the cards. He’s sticking to regionalization and targeted mitigations.
* The Question: Do you agree with the governor’s decision to return to daily news conferences? Take the poll and then explain your answer in comments, please…
…Adding… Gov. Pritzker just confirmed he will hold daily briefings. “Every region of the state has started to move in the wrong direction,” he told reporters. “So to ensure that you have the utmost transparency on where our state is headed, Dr. Ezike and I will resume,these COVID-19 briefings on a daily basis every weekday until Illinois returns to a better standing in our COVID metrics.”
When running for Cook County commissioner, Bridget Degnen vowed to be a full-time officeholder who wouldn’t profit from outside work.
But six months after Degnen took her seat on the county board in 2018, as reported by Tom Schuba of the Sun-Times late last week, she walked through the infamous political “revolving door” and started cashing in on her prior governmental experience.
After working from 2013 to 2017 as the deputy director of medical cannabis at the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation — the state agency that will issue the next round of licenses for marijuana dispensaries — Degnen hung out her shingle as an adviser to applicants for those licenses. She also landed an ownership stake in a company hoping to open dispensaries across the state.
It’s a perfect example of how the revolving door works, with all its dangers of insider dealing. […]
Like others before her, Degnen says she broke no laws because enough time had elapsed between her state job and the beginning of her work for the cannabis industry. But one applicant said she somehow “knew how these [applications] were going to get scored” and “knew what the application looked like before anyone else did.”
How did she know that?
This is how the revolving door works.
The editorial then calls on Degnen to either resign from the county board or quit the cannabis business.
* As I’ve said before, Degnen has some explaining to do about her broken campaign promise. But exactly how long does the Sun-Times want a state revolving door law to apply? Five years? Ten years? Infinity? I mean, heck, some of the applicants were former government officials, legislators, etc. Also, should outside income be banned for commissioners? OK, fair enough. So, where’s the “Resign!” editorials about the other commissioners?
And, sorry, but quoting an anonymous source claiming that Degnen somehow knew what would be asked on the application is just ridiculous. As Charlie Wheeler always says, “Read the bill.” Anyone who studied that bill would know what questions would be asked because they were essentially written into the legislation. And that goes double for anyone with knowledge of the industry. I hire someone to do my taxes for the same reason. I don’t have time to study and understand tax laws, so I pay somebody to do that for me. Plenty of applicants hired consultants. Some of those consultants were lobbyists who helped write the law itself .
* For some reason, the Sun-Times has decided that the cannabis industry is somehow bad, or yucky or tainted or whatever. A recent story about Degnen called a dispensary a “dope shop.” But dispensaries are licensed and regulated by the state, even more so than lobbyists, insurance brokerage firms, security companies, behavioral specialists and workers’ comp attorneys.
So, how about we get out of the mid-20th Century on this topic, for crying out loud?
* All that being said, the whisper campaign about Degnen’s clients is just brutal. If half of it is true, there’s gonna be heck to pay. But this CST hit is utter nonsense.
Public Health Officials Announce 3,113 New Confirmed Cases of Coronavirus Disease
SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 3,113 new confirmed cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 22 additional deaths.
• Carroll County: 1 female 90s
• Cook County: 1 male 50s, 1 female 70s, 1 male 70s, 2 females 80s, 1 male 80s, 1 male 90s
• DuPage County: 1 female 70s, 1 male 70s
• Fayette County: 1 male 70s, 1 female 80s
• LaSalle County: 1 female 80s
• Livingston County: 1 male 80s
• Monroe County: 1 male 80s
• Montgomery County: 1 male 80s
• Peoria County: 1 male 90s
• Wayne County: 1 male 90s
• Whiteside County: 1 female 90s
• Will County: 1 female 70s
• Williamson County: 1 male 70s
• Woodford County: 1 female 80s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 347,161 cases, including 3,113 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from October 12 – October 18 is 5.4%. Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 48,684 specimens for a total of 6,824,237. As of last night, 2,096 people in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 485 patients were in the ICU and 179 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
*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.
Region 1, which is northern Illinois, continues on its horrid path. It’s been above 9 percent for nine straight days, and above 11 percent for two. Tougher mitigations could be in the cards there.
* Sunday…
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 4,245 new confirmed cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 22 additional deaths.
Adams County: 1 male 90s
Cook County: 1 male 50s, 1 male 60s, 2 males 70s, 3 females 80s
Kane County: 1 male 70s
Lake County: 1 male 70s, 1 female 90s
Macoupin County: 1 female 70s
Peoria County: 1 male 80s, 1 female 90s
Pike County: 1 female 90s, 1 female 100+
St. Clair County: 1 male 60s, 1 male 90s
Tazewell County: 1 male 90s
Warren County: 1 male 80s
Winnebago County: 1 male 60s, 1 male 70s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 344,048 cases, including 9,214 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100. The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from October 11 – October 17 is 5.3%. Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 79,296 specimens for a total of 6,775,553. As of last night, 2,012 people in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 408 patients were in the ICU and 157 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
* Saturday…
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) today reported 3,629 new confirmed cases of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Illinois, including 27 additional deaths.
Bureau County: 1 male 60s
Clinton County: 1 male 70s
Cook County: 1 female 20s, 1 male 50s, 3 males 60s, 1 female 70s, 1 female 80s, 3 males 80s, 1 male 90s
Cumberland County: 1 female 70s
DuPage County: 1 female 40s
Jefferson County: 1 male 80s
Kane County: 1 female 70s, 1 male 80s
LaSalle County: 1 female 90s
Marion County: 1 male 50s
Rock Island County: 1 male 70s
St. Clair County: 1 female 60s
Tazewell County: 1 male 80s
Will County: 1 female 70s, 1 male 70s, 2 males 80s
Currently, IDPH is reporting a total of 339,803 cases, including 9,192 deaths, in 102 counties in Illinois. The age of cases ranges from younger than one to older than 100 years. The preliminary seven-day statewide positivity for cases as a percent of total test from October 10 – October 16 is 5.2%. Within the past 24 hours, laboratories have reported 77,489 specimens for a total of 6,696,257. As of last night, 2,073 people in Illinois were reported to be in the hospital with COVID-19. Of those, 422 patients were in the ICU and 165 patients with COVID-19 were on ventilators.
IDPH is including both molecular and antigen tests in the number of statewide total test performed in Illinois. Previously, due to the limited number of antigen tests and limited information about antigen test accuracy, antigen tests were not included in the total number (which comprised less than 1% of total tests performed). Antigen tests, like BinaxNOW™, are now becoming more readily available, therefore, IDPH has included both molecular and antigen tests in its total number of tests as of October 15, 2020.
Following guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, IDPH is now reporting separately 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. IDPH will update these data once a week.
Gov. Pritzker Announces $50 Million Second Round of Capital Funding to Further Statewide Broadband Expansion
Nation’s Largest Matching Grant Program to Build on $115 Million Leveraged by $50 Million in State Funding from Round One
Staunton, Ill. — Governor JB Pritzker announced today that the state is releasing $50 million in funding for the second round of matching grants through Connect Illinois, the state’s $420 million statewide broadband expansion plan. Illinois’ Office of Broadband will support expanded connections in new communities across the state through an application to be made available today, which will remain open through February 2021. Funding for the program is made possible by Governor Pritzker’s bipartisan Rebuild Illinois capital plan, the first comprehensive infrastructure program in Illinois in nearly a decade.
“Connect Illinois is the largest and best crafted state matching grant program for broadband development in our nation’s history,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “It leverages state dollars to bring federal and private dollars in, more than doubling the number of dollars getting put to work to upgrade our digital infrastructure and delivering demonstrable change to people’s lives and real opportunity for new business development and new jobs. The ability to plug in to the digital revolution revolutionized the lives and livelihoods of so many Illinoisans before COVID-19 – and the lack of fast internet access had unacceptable consequences for too many of our residents. Connect Illinois is about giving all our communities access to 21st century digital connectivity for health care, education, and economic opportunity.”
This availability of additional funding builds on the inaugural round of funding released earlier this year, which supported 28 projects collectively slated to support over 26,000 new or enhanced connections serving every corner of the state.
Eligible applicants include internet service providers, rural cooperatives, nonprofits and local governments. Up to $5 million per project will be available during the second round, and subsequent rounds will follow over the course of the next several years. The second round of Connect Illinois calls for a nonstate match component requiring companies to dedicate funding that will accelerate the delivery of broadband investments.
“Now more than ever before, high speed broadband access is essential to the economic productivity and prosperity of our Illinois communities, which is why we are pleased to bring forward the second round of funding for Connect Illinois,” said Erin Guthrie, Director of the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO). “Through our Office of Broadband, we are committed to ensuring that every Illinois community has the tools they need to plan, implement and ensure utilization of high-speed internet for all of their residents. This latest round of funding will build on the success of round 1, delivering tens of thousands of new connections to places with the greatest needs, which will fuel new economic opportunity for those who live there.”
The application for the second round of funding largely mirrors requirements of the first application – including a 50 percent nonmatch in most cases. To ensure an equal playing field, the administration has instituted an exemption allowing a lower nonstate match for project proposals concerning economically distressed communities. This program change acknowledges the difficulty of connecting the hardest-to-serve areas of Illinois, and the compounding challenges created by the COVID-19 crisis, allowing underserved communities to be competitive when applying for critical infrastructure dollars.
“The lack of reliable access to quality internet service affects every facet of life in Downstate Illinois, and the COVID-19 pandemic has only widened the existing gap between us and the rest of the state,” said State Senator Andy Manar (D-Bunker Hill). “We continue to prioritize broadband expansion in the state budget because it is the starting point for effective remote learning, dependable telehealth care services, and growing small businesses to revitalize the downstate economy. I want to thank Governor Pritzker for his steadfast partnership in continuing to push this important issue in Springfield.”
The first round of the Governor’s broadband expansion initiative provided $50 million in state funding to leverage $65 million in nonstate match for a total impact of over $115 million. Together, this public-private collaboration will extend the critical reach of fully scalable high-speed internet to more than 26,000 homes, businesses, farms, and community institutions throughout the state – with at least one project in each of the state’s 10 economic development regions.
Roughly one-third of the 18 first-round providers will have broken ground by the end of 2020, including Madison Communications’ $5.1 investment to expand high-speed access to Macoupin and Madison Counties – made possible by a $4.2 million investment by the state of Illinois. The Madison Communications project is the largest expansion project both in terms of geography covered, and with over 9,200 new or enhanced connections to be completed as part of the project.
“For the residents of predominantly rural Macoupin and Madison counties, access to high speed internet has always been a challenge—and it’s only been made more challenging as COVID-19 has made high speed internet a pre-requisite for so many things in school, work and in healthcare,” said Mary Schwartz Westerhold, Vice President at Madison Communications. “Thanks to this public and private partnership, the investments being made by Governor Pritzker and the State of Illinois through the Connect Illinois program and Madison Communications, our communities stand to receive an accelerated upgrade in technology that will help them become more connected and more efficient in their everyday lives. We look forward to delivering these improvements that will help our students, families, farmers and healthcare practitioners with the tools they need.”
“We applaud Governor Pritzker’s commitment to ensuring everyone in Illinois has access to broadband, regardless of where they live,” said Randy Nehrt, Illinois Telecommunications Association. “The Illinois Telecommunications Association and our member companies look forward to continuing the public private partnership established in the Connect Illinois broadband grant program to provide reliable, high-speed Internet that gives all Illinois residents the opportunity to work and learn from home, take advantage of telehealth services and connect with family and friends.”
In addition to providing universal access to basic broadband for homes, businesses, and community anchor institutions by 2024, the State’s broadband plan seeks to improve utilization of broadband for various uses in education, telehealth and economic development. All Connect Illinois projects must meet the minority business participation requirements of the State of Illinois’ Business Enterprise Program.
“Madison Communications is a vital partner to our hospital. In 2007 they brought us a fiber-optic connection that allowed our hospital to transmit data and communicate rapidly and securely with premium quality. This greatly improved the lives and medical outcomes of the patients we serve,” said Sue Campbell, CEO of Community Hospital in Staunton. “With the help of Governor Pritzker’s Connect Illinois grant program, Madison Communications will bring high quality broadband to more of our patients; this will allow for better access to specialty care and critical mental health services in our region.”
Source funding for Connect Illinois is from Rebuild Illinois, Governor Pritzker’s historic $45 billion capital bill. The plan dedicates $420 million toward broadband infrastructure, including $400 million for the Connected Illinois program – the country’s largest matching grant program for broadband ever. The Connect Illinois investment is part of an increasingly comprehensive Illinois Office of Broadband approach that includes new and forthcoming work in broadband community planning and capacity building, interactive mapping, various digital equity initiatives, and a 41-county computer refurbishing network based out of Metro East.
For more information on the Notice of Funding Opportunity and to view the application, please visit the Connect Illinois page.
Lots of folks have talked about expanding high-speed broadband in this state. But it wasn’t until Democrats and Republicans got together last year that it’s finally becoming a reality.
An angry Republican who wants to ‘lock ‘em up,’ regardless of evidence. It’s not Trump. It’s Pat O’Brien.
O’Brien oversaw nearly 30 wrongful convictions as a prosecutor, including personally putting away four innocent black teenagers who together spent 47 years behind bars, helping make Chicago the false confession capitol.
His angry rhetoric? Pure Trump. His record as a prosecutor? Even worse. Pat O’Brien’s wrong for State’s Attorney.
…Adding… I forgot to link to O’Brien’s ad. Click here.
At the beginning of 2020, the number of Illinois teachers opting for retirement was down from previous years, but after schools shut down in the spring because of the COVID-19 pandemic, those numbers climbed.
Typically, the “retirement season” for teachers is between January and June, according to Dave Urbanek, director of communications for the Teachers Retirement System of Illinois. In 2020, though, there was a spike of out-of-season retirements in July, August and September after many districts started announcing their return to learn plans for the fall.
August 2020 saw a 67% increase in teacher retirements from the two Augusts prior, with 217 teachers retiring across the state. In August 2019, 174 teachers retired, and in August 2018, 140 did. July 2020 showed a 38% increase in retirements from the two years prior, and September 2020 had a 34% increase.
Statewide, more teachers have retired in 2020 than in 2019 or 2018, but the year-to-year difference is not as stark. In 2020, 4,059 Illinois teachers retired, compared to 3,699 in 2019 and 3,869 in 2018.
Compared to the 2018–2019 average, total retirements have risen 7% in 2020.
* As I told subscribers last month, the Illinois State Board of Elections sided with the IML in this lawsuit, so there was no actual dispute. But the governor was not happy with the board’s decision because the idea was to safely open up more polling places during the pandemic…
A Sangamon County Circuit Court judge has ruled in favor of the Illinois Municipal League (IML) and its member municipalities, stating a mandate to close all government offices on Election Day does not apply to municipalities. The ruling settles ambiguity within a measure passed by lawmakers earlier this year that would have required “all government offices” to close on Election Day.
The judgement, which is in response to a lawsuit (available via this link) filed by IML against the State Board of Elections, will allow individual municipalities to determine whether their offices will be open on November 3.
Without this exemption, this law would have imposed a new unfunded mandate on municipalities that could have cost local communities and taxpayers tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in holiday pay and related expenses for first responders and village staff. These extra costs would have come at a time when cities, villages and towns across Illinois are struggling to fund crucial services, including police and fire, due to drastic drops in tax revenue because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
“We applaud the court’s decision to uphold the authority of local officials. Local leaders understand the needs of their communities and must be able to make decisions in their best interest. This decision allows them to do so in respect to Election Day,” said Brad Cole, IML Executive Director. “At a time when municipalities have experienced added public health costs and decreases in tax revenue, many simply cannot afford the extra costs this mandate would have created.”
The decision by the Sangamon County Circuit Court Judge Raylene D. Grischow can be found via this link.
During President Trump’s rally in Janesville, he struck a chord with many Illinoisans who are frustrated with Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing restrictions.
“I’ll tell you what…Illinois could use a new governor,” the president said, met with thunderous applause.
Rockford is in Region 1, which has a 7-day average positivity rate of 11.1 percent. Winnebago County’s rate is 12.3 percent. Perhaps those fine folks might wanna look inward.
Facing a resurgence of the coronavirus in Illinois, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said in an interview with CNN on Sunday that President Donald Trump and his local allies are in part responsible for rising case numbers and positivity rates in the state.
“He’s modeling bad behavior. He doesn’t wear a mask in public. He has rallies where they don’t encourage people to wear masks in public,” Pritzker told “State of the Union” host Jake Tapper. “Truly, this is now rhetoric that people understand, particularly in rural areas in my state, ‘Well, the president doesn’t wear a mask; we don’t need to wear a mask. It’s not that dangerous.’ The truth of the matter is that it is very dangerous.”
The governor appeared with Tapper a day after Trump slammed him during a rally north of the border in Wisconsin, which is seeing one of the worst COVID-19 surges in the country.
“Illinois could use a new governor,” Trump told supporters in a wide-ranging 93-minute speech in Janesville. “That guy doesn’t know what’s happened. We gotta open up that state. They gotta open up that state. Kids have to get back to school.”
Asked by Tapper to reply, Pritzker said, “the president has made it nearly impossible for states to open up any more than they are now.
“… This pandemic has been around now for seven to eight months, and without much help from the federal government we’ve been fighting it off.”
Pritzker said Illinois is impacted by the higher rates of infections in the border states of Wisconsin, Indiana and Iowa. […]
“So it is dangerous right now. We want people to wear masks. We want people to socially distance. We need to make sure that we have certain mitigations in place, and, of course, we’ve already opened up much of our economy. But we have to maintain certain capacity limits, and make sure that our people are safe and healthy,” Pritzker said.
“He’s modeling bad behavior. He doesn’t wear a mask in public. He has rallies where they don’t encourage people to wear masks in public,” Pritzker said. “But it is the president’s allies in our state, all across the state, who are simply saying to people, ‘Don’t pay any attention to the mitigations, don’t follow the rules.’ Indeed, there are bars and restaurants which are restricted from expanding their indoor service that are just ignoring the rules, and they’re just filling the place up.”
And he defended the state’s performance, saying, “This pandemic has been around now for seven to eight months, and without much help from the federal government, we’ve been fighting it off. Illinois has one of the lowest positivity rates among the Midwest.”
He said that the state is bordered by Wisconsin, which has a 27% test positivity rate. “Ours is about a fourth of that,” he said.
Tapper pointed to things the president has done right, including ramping up efforts to find a vaccine, and pressed Pritzker for specifics.
Pritzker responded, “Well, you just saw one of them, which is he’s modeling bad behavior. He doesn’t wear a mask in public. He has rallies where they don’t encourage people to wear masks in public.”
Dr. Robert Murphy, a professor of medicine and infectious disease at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, said lifting even more restrictions would be disastrous right now.
“Everybody is tired of it,” Murphy said of the pandemic. “And so you have that pressure to just open up, and that’s just going to make everything worse. And from an epidemiological standpoint, I can’t support that. And I can’t recommend that. It’s a big mistake. Every time you do that, you pay with a life. You’re going to kill somebody.”
Murphy agrees with Pritzker that pandemic fatigue is playing a role in the recent surge facing Illinois and much of the nation. But Murphy said other factors include the reopening of schools to in-person classes and the relaxation of restrictions regarding bars and restaurants.
Last month, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced bars that don’t serve food can reopen, and restaurants could serve more indoor customers. Since then, infections have steadily grown. The city has a 5.2% positivity rate and is seeing a weekly average of 508 cases per day, according to data released on Friday. […]
But Murphy said local officials can gain control over the outbreak without having to resort to another stay-at-home order by mandating face masks and placing limits on social gatherings, like in Spain, where gatherings are now limited to six people. And Murphy signaled optimism, saying that the U.S. will be in much better shape a year from now when a vaccine may be widely available.
“I’ve studied pandemics, and they all end,” Murphy said. “Every one of them ends. The question is: How long does it take to end? And how many people will die?”
…Adding… Sigh…
"If there's a reporter on, you can have it just the way I said it, I couldn't care less," Trump says.
What: Gov. Pritzker to join local health experts to give a COVID-19 update.
Where: Jackson County Health Department, 415 Health Department Road, Murphysboro
When: 2:30 p.m.
Watch live: https://www.Illinois.gov/LiveVideo
As of yesterday, Region 5’s 7-day rolling average positivity rate was a disturbing 9.1 percent. It had been above 8 percent for two straight days. Three days of 8 percent or higher triggers mitigation.
After Illinois House Speaker Michael J. Madigan appeared in all but actual name in ComEd’s deferred federal prosecution agreement, Terra Costa Howard was among the first Democratic state representatives to call on him to resign without adding “if he did it.”
And the freshman legislator from Glen Ellyn has been breaking pretty much all precedent in the last month by putting significant campaign money where her mouth is.
Madigan’s political operation has continued to back Costa Howard against former Rep. Peter Breen, a Republican from Lombard. Costa Howard, though, has received nowhere near the amount of money that most other Democratic incumbents in difficult reelection battles have received, perhaps because she won her last race by 7 percentage points.
Madigan’s support, though limited, ostensibly cost Costa Howard the endorsement of the Chicago Tribune editorial board, but she has been sending out mailers under the media’s radar screen blasting Madigan.
“For decades, Speaker Mike Madigan has ruled the Illinois House of Representatives with an iron fist,” boomed the first such mailer, which landed in late September. “But when ComEd admitted to bribing Madigan associates for years, with money they got from your electric bills, Terra Costa Howard refused to keep silent. In the face of threats and intimidation from fellow Democrats, State Representative Terra Costa Howard did the right thing: She stood up and called on Madigan to step down, now.”
The second mailer, which hit the boxes around the first of the month, was titled “Why I called for Speaker Madigan to resign.”
“As a mom, I’ve heard the classic ‘Everyone else is doing it!’” the mailer explains. “But as a legislator it was the opposite ‘No one is doing it!’ I couldn’t believe it. As a mom, this was my chance to show my daughters what it means to do what’s right.”
The third mailer landed a week later and focused on legislative redistricting, a process that Madigan has perfected. “Corrupt politicians draw maps that take away the power of your vote,” the reader is informed. “Terra Costa Howard wants to give the power back to us!”
The fourth mailer landed a few days ago.
“Since 1971 Mike Madigan has had Illinois on the same path,” read the headline. “Speaker Mike Madigan is implicated in yet another Illinois corruption and bribery scandal. This time, ComEd officials have admitted that they bribed some of Madigan’s closest allies to get a rate hike that’s costing Illinois customers millions of dollars. Madigan’s failed leadership damages our state’s reputation, hampers economic growth, and discourages people from investing in Illinois. It’s time to set a new course.”
Yikes.
A spokesperson for the Democratic Party of Illinois declined comment but said the mailers were not a surprise. Whatever works, I suppose. Costa Howard won’t be voting for Madigan’s reelection, but not many Democrats want to see a return of the ultra-conservative Breen, who is a nationally prominent anti-abortion attorney and was the House Republican floor leader until he lost reelection two years ago.
Whatever the case, a campaign like this is unprecedented in Illinois. No incumbent House Democrat has ever been so openly hostile to Madigan in sustained paid advertising. Ever. I mean, the Senate Democrats caught tremendous heat from unions when they ran TV ads calling for leadership term limits two years ago; they had to pull the ads down or face retaliation.
In other news, Costa Howard’s campaign is behind a formal complaint filed with the Illinois Board of Elections. The complaint alleges the Illinois Republican Party has made in-kind contributions of 10 mailings on behalf of Breen’s campaign going back to early August, but at least six of those in-kind contributions have yet to be disclosed by Breen. The Breen campaign denied all wrongdoing and noted that some mailers were reported last week.
Breen’s mailers, unsurprisingly, have tried to weld Costa Howard to Madigan. In one, recipients were told that Costa Howard “lied to you about her ties to Madigan and corruption,” adding that she “is still taking Madigan’s money.”
“According to recently uncovered FBI files,” another mailer claimed, “top Madigan lieutenant Mike McClain raised money for Terra as part of a pay-for-play ‘secret project.’” The footnote points to a Tribune story about McClain raising money for unnamed House Democratic candidates. “Terra’s money man McClain rewarded another Madigan operative for covering up a rape in Champaign, Illinois.”
It’s not hard to see why Costa Howard is taking the anti-Madigan route.
* About 2,100 local newspapers have shut down in the United States since 2004. Brian Timpone is filling the gap with his own sort of publishing empire. The New York Times takes a harsh look…
Maine Business Daily is part of a fast-growing network of nearly 1,300 websites that aim to fill a void left by vanishing local newspapers across the country. Yet the network, now in all 50 states, is built not on traditional journalism but on propaganda ordered up by dozens of conservative think tanks, political operatives, corporate executives and public-relations professionals, a Times investigation found. […]
The network is largely overseen by Brian Timpone, a TV reporter turned internet entrepreneur who has sought to capitalize on the decline of local news organizations for nearly two decades. He has built the network with the help of several others, including a Texas brand-management consultant and a conservative Chicago radio personality. […]
While Mr. Timpone’s sites generally do not post information that is outright false, the operation is rooted in deception, eschewing hallmarks of news reporting like fairness and transparency. Only a few dozen of the sites disclose funding from advocacy groups. Traditional news organizations do not accept payment for articles; the Federal Trade Commission requires that advertising that looks like articles be clearly labeled as ads.
And employees at the Illinois Opportunity Project, a conservative advocacy group, requested dozens of articles about specific Republican politicians in Illinois. The group has paid $441,000 to Mr. Timpone’s companies, according to the nonprofit’s tax records. […]
The Illinois Opportunity Project did not respond to requests for comment. […]
In the publishing tool used by reporters and editors at Mr. Timpone’s websites is a list of names with a peculiar title: “Story watchers.” These are Mr. Timpone’s clients.
The Times reviewed the history behind dozens of articles in the publishing tool, revealing more than 80 story watchers. Many have pitched stories with instructions on what reporters should write, whom they should talk to and what they should ask. Over 17 days in July, these clients ordered up around 200 articles, company records show.
Internal documents show how much influence the clients have. “The clients pay us to produce a certain amount of copy each day for their websites,” said one “tool kit” for new writers. “In some cases, the clients will provide their own copy.”
John Tillman, an activist who once led the Illinois Opportunity Project and whose other groups have paid Mr. Timpone’s companies hundreds of thousands of dollars, said in an email that some of the payments to Mr. Timpone were to underwrite his news operation. Mr. Timpone, he said, allows “community leaders and influencers” to “pitch (not ‘order’) story ideas.” […]
Jeanne Ives, a Republican candidate for the U.S. House in Illinois, has had a direct financial relationship with the operation.
Ms. Ives has paid Mr. Timpone’s companies $55,000 over the past three years, according to state and federal records. During that time, the Illinois sites have published overwhelmingly positive coverage of her, including running some of her news releases verbatim.
In an interview, she said her payments were to create her website and monitor her Wikipedia page. One $14,342 payment included the note “Advertising-newspaper.” Ms. Ives initially could not explain why. She later called back to say Mr. Timpone had bought Facebook ads for her.
Asked if she was paying for positive coverage, she replied: “Oh, no, there’s none of that going on. I assure you. Oh, my gosh, no. Oh, no, not at all.”
Ms. Ives is listed as a “story watcher.” She said she did not know why. […]
After The Times presented evidence that [Monty Bennett, a hotel magnate and major GOP supporter] directly ordered articles, lawyers representing Mr. Timpone sent The Times a cease and desist letter, demanding that it not publish the information.
